The Magazine FOR SUnY FReDOnia aLUMni anD

Transcription

spring 2010
T h e M a g a z i n e F O R S U N Y F R E D O NIA A L U M NI AN D F R IEN D S
Fredonia’s
ThreE
Shades
of Grey
How a trio of graduates made
their way onto the set of
the #1 TV show in the U.S.:
“Grey’s Anatomy”
Open for Business
Business Technology Incubator signals new era of economic
growth in WNY
Wal-mart says ¡Sí!
New partnership allows campus to help more
Latinos succeed
Live from Fredonia, it’s Saturday Night
Black Student Union brings “Saturday Night Live” cast
member Finesse Mitchell to campus Feb. 18
Events Aplenty
A full slate of on-campus performances, regional reunions
and other events for alums to enjoy
alumni.fredonia.edu
i
THE MAGAZINE FOR SUNY FREDONIA ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
4 | COVER STORY: Fredonia’s
Three Shades of Grey
Meet three young alums who
became part of the #1 show on TV.
4
33 | R andom Act of Kindness
Despite having no affiliation, Bob Young
chose SUNY Fredonia to carry out his
wife’s final wish.
33
8
7 | Live from Fredonia, it’s Saturday Night!
The Black Student Union welcomes “Saturday Night Live’s”
Finesse Mitchell to campus on Feb. 18.
7
14 | Recent Political Science Grads Find Early Success
A number of young alums have hit the ground running with their
careers in public service.
Fredonia Alumni Events Calendar
January
First Day of Classes
Monday, Jan. 25
Florida Reunion
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 5 - 7 p.m. The Waterfront Inn at Lake
Sumter Landing, Mangrove
Room, 1105 Lake Shore Drive
The Villages, FL 32159
Complimentary hors d’oeuvres
(cash bar). Reservations by
Jan. 20.
i i
Delray Beach, Florida
Luncheon Cruise
Saturday, Jan. 30
Luncheon Boat Ride, Lady Atlantic/Delray Yacht
Cruises, 1 p.m. boarding.
801 East Atlantic Ave.
Delray Beach, FL 33483 www.delraybeachcruises.com
$20 per person. Reservations by Jan. 20.
Statement Spring 2010
February
April
May
FSU Hockey Alumni Weekend
Friday - Saturday, Feb. 5-6
Campus FSU Hockey Games
President’s Associates
Recognition Event
Sunday, April 25
Invitation only
Alumni Board Meeting
Wednesday, May 12, 3:15 p.m.
Alumni House
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 3:15 p.m.
Alumni House
“Pink the Rink”
(Annual fundraiser for
Breast Cancer Research)
FSU vs. Morrisville
Saturday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m.
Steele Hall Arena
Commencement
Saturday, May 15
10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Steele Hall Arena
Invitation only
New Alumni Directory is Underway!
SUNY Fredonia has again partnered with Harris Connect to
publish an Alumni Directory, due out in June 2011. A series
of mailings, e-mails and phone calls will be taking place
during the coming months as part of the project. Thank you
in advance for your participation!
Children and Grandchildren of
Alumni Scholarships
Several $1,000 Children and Grandchildren of Alumni
Scholarships are available for the 2010-11 academic year.
Criteria and applications may be obtained at www.fredonia.
edu/alumni, under “Scholarships” in the right hand column.
Please mail a completed, typed application along with all
reference letters to: Office of Alumni Affairs, 286 Central
Ave., Fredonia, NY 14063 no later than April 2.
Use the Portal!
Regional and class reunion information is updated regularly
on the Alumni Portal. Visit www.fredonia.edu/alumni,
and click on “Coming Events.” Be sure to check the site
frequently, as content is added often. See you online!
COLLEGE BEATS
8 | BUSINESS
Business Technology Incubator brings new
hope for economic development.
10 | NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Alums return to help shape new science
building.
11 | EDUCATION
Dr. Robert Heichberger honored for program
he founded in 1976.
12 | ARTS and HUMANITIES
Mason Hall getting new bricks and mortar.
16 | A Strong Case for Success
16
18 | “ Terror in the Trees” returns…
with a Vengeance
Soccer and Lacrosse Coach Chris
Case, ’01, earned his third Coach
of the Year honor in seven years.
Discover the secret to his success.
June
July
Class of 1960 Reunion
Friday - Saturday, June 11-12
SUNY Fredonia Alumni
Leadership Conference:
School of Music, “Moving
the School of Music toward
national recognition.”
Friday - Saturday, July 16-17
See page 12 for details.
Fredonia State Alumni
Golf Tournament
Monday, July 26
Mark your calendars! All
proceeds benefit Blue Devil
Athletics and the Mark
Buckenmeyer Scholarship
Fund. Look for details at
www.fredonia.edu/alumni.
18
What began as a good deed for a middle
school kid has turned into a career path...
and a lot of fun…for senior Mike Raisch.
August
October
Wednesday, Aug. 11, 3:15 p.m.
Alumni House
Homecoming Weekend
Friday - Sunday, Oct. 1-3
First Day of Classes
Monday, Aug. 23
Family Weekend
Friday - Sunday, Oct. 22-24
Annual Scholars Breakfast
Saturday, Oct. 23
Steele Hall Arena
Winter/Spring Admissions Events
Open House: Monday, Feb. 15
Saturday Information Sessions/Campus Tours: March 6, April 17
Transfer Saturday: April 17
Students Reception: Saturday, March 27
Accepted
June Preview Day (for high school juniors): Saturday, June 12
alumni.fredonia.edu
1
Dear Alumni and Friends,
It is a fascinating time to be part
of SUNY Fredonia. The campus is
experiencing an exciting period of growth,
both in terms of academic metrics and
physical expansion, while operating in a
tenuous financial environment that places
a premium on prudent resource management. Fortunately, we have found the right
balance between academic success and
strong fiscal management to ensure the
campus prospers.
We are especially excited about four
bricks-and-mortar enhancements: the
design for our new Science and Technology
Center; Fredonia’s highly anticipated
Business Technology Incubator that opened
in December and welcomed its inaugural
class of start-up companies; the Mason
Hall addition that will greatly enhance
our ensemble rehearsal space; and our new
Campus and Community Children’s Center
that opens its doors in early 2010.
Our academic progress is more than
keeping pace with the physical improvements. We began Fall 2009 with our largest
enrollment ever, highlighted by one of the top retention rates in the nation, to go along
with the record applications that led to our most selective freshman class ever. Our students
continue to thrive in classroom and research settings, and annually provide thousands
of volunteer hours as they raise tens of thousands of dollars to benefit a variety of worthy
organizations and initiatives.
SUNY Fredonia’s excellence was cited twice by U.S. News & World Report in 2009. Not
only did we once again receive high marks in its annual ranking of universities (placing
14th among the top public universities in the North), but we were delighted in November
to be found in a new set of rankings. SUNY Fredonia was rated the 15th best university
in the entire U.S. for offering small class sizes (19 or fewer students) among high-quality
universities whose tuition and fees were less than $10,000 per year.
As we witness success and growth throughout the campus, we are ever thankful for those
who support public higher education in general and SUNY Fredonia in particular. The
campus has been challenged by the fiscal realities of this difficult economy, but remains
committed to providing access to students by maintaining a full range of course offerings
taught in a small class setting. It’s what has set SUNY Fredonia apart for many years, and
represents a tradition we are proud to continue.
Any support you can offer — whether it’s a conversation with your local lawmakers
about the importance of SUNY, encouraging prospective students to visit Fredonia in
their college search, or financially contributing to the Fredonia College Foundation — is
appreciated now more than ever. It is only because of you that your alma mater has
achieved all that is described in the pages of this Statement.
THE MAGAZINE FOR SUNY FREDONIA ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
Volume 38, No. 2, spring 2010
Editor
Michael Barone
Assistant Editor
Lisa Eikenburg, APR
DesignerS
Bonny Chruscicki, Lori Deemer
Photogr apher /Contributing W riter
Roger Coda
Contributing W riters
Patricia Feraldi, Christine Davis Mantai, Jerry Reilly
CLASS NOTES
Donna Venn
Production Manager
Paula Warren
College Council
Frank Pagano (Chair), Cynthia Ahlstrom, Angelo
Bennice, Russell Diethrick, Dr. Robert Heichberger, Ann
Manly, JoAnn Niebel, Michael Sullivan, Carla Westerlund
and Kevin Wysocki (student member)
Fredonia College Foundation
Board of Directors
Michael Schiavone (Chair), Phillip Belena, Thomas
Bijou, Carol Boltz, John Campbell, David Carnahan,
Robert Coon, Shirley Erbsmehl, Carla Giambrone, Dr.
Greg Gibbs, Dr. Richard Gilman, Amos Goodwine, Jr.,
Betty Catania Gossett, Walter Gotowka, Brian Gusmano
(student member), Dr. Dennis Hefner, Richard Johnson,
Deborah Kathman, Dr. Jeffery Kelly, Jean Malinoski,
David Mancuso, Cathy Marion, Dr. Michael Marletta, Kurt
Maytum, Judy Metzger, Michael Petsky, Daniel Reininga,
James Sommer, Debra Horn Stachura, Dr. David Tiffany,
Dr. Jeffrey Wallace, Sr., Carol Ward, Thomas Waring, Jr.
and Henry (Mike) Williams, IV.
Honorary Members: Dr. Rocco Doino, Gileen French,
Adelaide Gaeddert, Stan Lundine, Douglas Manly, Robert
Maytum, James Mintun, Jr., Dr. J. Brien Murphy, Edward
Steele, Kenneth Strickler and Nancy Yocum.
Alumni Association Board of Directors
Dr. Greg Gibbs (President), Eileen Star Batrouny, Jean
Blackmore, William Patrick Carlson, Diane Rzepkowski
Chodan, Dr. Russell DiPalma, Betsy Dixon-Lang,
Dr. David Fountaine, Dr. Dennis Hefner, Debra Joy,
Alexsandra Lopez, Emma McFayden, Dennis McGrath,
Esq.; James McLeod, Patrick Newell, Daniel Parker, Kevin
Porteus, Dr. David Tiffany, Clifton Turner, Dr. Sherryl
Weems, Tammy Wilson and Laura Bonomo Wrubel.
Published biannually by the Office of Public Relations at the State
University of New York at Fredonia, 272 Central Ave., Fredonia, NY
14063, (716) 673-3323. Periodical postage paid at Fredonia, NY and at
additional mailing offices. The Statement is mailed to alumni, parents,
graduate students, faculty and staff, and friends of the university.
Articles may be reprinted without permission.
Best regards,
Dennis L. Hefner, Ph.D.
President, SUNY Fredonia
2
Greg K. Gibbs, Ph.D.
President, Fredonia Alumni Association
Where Success is a Tradition
SUNY Fredonia Awarded Wal-Mart Grant to Spur Latino Success in College
A $50,000 Wal-Mart Foundation SEMILLAS grant
has been awarded to SUNY Fredonia from Excelencia in
Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising
the success rate of Latino students in higher education.
One of just 20 colleges and universities across the
nation awarded funding under Excelencia in Education’s
Growing What Works initiative, SUNY Fredonia will use
its grant to launch LEAP2Success/Éxito, an innovative
three-stage program designed to demystify the pathway
to a college education for Latino students. Twelve of the 20
grants went to public universities.
Created by a team of Fredonia administrators, staff and
off-campus partners, LEAP2Success/Éxito will expand
efforts to reach low-income, first generation Latino
students and their families through a partnership with
the Dunkirk School District and Dunkirk’s 21st Century
grant program. Existing pre-collegiate programs, admissions outreach and matriculated student programs will be enhanced
to achieve program objectives. In addition to working with younger
students, the program will encourage Latino students applying to
college and their families, while enhancing support for Latino students
already enrolled at Fredonia.
“We are eager to reach out to this population, which does have
distinct needs, and we recognize that Latino student success in college
means planting the idea of college going early, providing information
to families as well as to the students about what they need to do to be
successful in getting into college, and supporting them once they’re
there,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Virginia Horvath.
Three stages, or leaps, comprise the LEAP2Success/Éxito formula.
The first, developing a concept of going to college, is designed to help
students transition from the thought that “no one in my family goes
to college” to “that could be me, so what do I have to do academically
so that college might be possible?” This shift can be achieved through
interactions between middle-school students and their families, and
the university, its students and faculty. An introduction of the processes
leading to college enrollment is an integral part of the strategy.
The second leap calls for acting on the concept of going to college
by applying targeted outreach to prospective students and their families to reduce barriers by using bilingual pre-admission materials and
events, such as an annual open house where translation is provided.
The third leap enables Latino students to make social, intellectual,
spiritual and emotional associations that are necessary for both shortand long-term success during the first year of study — a critical time for
students of all backgrounds.
A graduate assistant serving as a Latino outreach coordinator based
in SUNY Fredonia’s Office of Multicultural Affairs will direct various
on- and off-campus activities that support the program’s goal.
There were 153 Latino students, representing 3 percent of SUNY
Fredonia’s undergraduate population of 5,175, enrolled in the 2008 fall
semester. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of Dunkirk students are of
Latino descent.
Brad Balentine (center), manager of the Dunkirk Wal-Mart
Supercenter, reviews LEAP2Success/Éxito literature with SUNY
Fredonia’s Vice President for Student Affairs David Herman
and Vice President for Academic Affairs Virginia Horvath.
The program was developed with input from 21st Century
program administrators at Dunkirk schools and Rev. Carlos Llera
of the Assemblies of God of Western New York, representing the
local Latino church community, along with support from the local
Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Wal-Mart Dunkirk Manager Brad Balentine said college literature
that explores higher education programs and opportunities will be
placed in his store’s employee break room. A display, staffed by SUNY
Fredonia representatives, is also planned.
“We’re excited to be able to work with the university to help our
community,” said Balentine, now in his ninth year as manager.
Excelencia in Education is the most recent example of the local
Wal-Mart’s association with SUNY Fredonia. The store assisted
students with a sustainability project for a SIFE (Students In Free
Enterprise) competition and also supported the Fred Ruterbusch
Memorial 5K Run.
“The grant application evaluators were impressed that our local
Wal-Mart manager was involved with the proposal from the outset,”
Vice President for Student Affairs David Herman said.
As members of the grant development team, Drs. Horvath and
Herman gained insight into successful Growing What Works
programs established at other institutions during an Excelencia in
Education honors gathering in Washington, D.C. They also made
key contacts with public and private foundations that support various
educational initiatives.
The acronym SEMILLAS, which is Spanish for seeds, stands
for Seeds for Educational Models that Impact and Leverage Latino
Academic Success.
alumni.fredonia.edu
3
cover story
Fredonia’s
Three
shades of
Grey
How a trio of graduates became
part of the production team for the
#1 show on television.
Communication grads (from left)
Amanda Pecora, ’06; Laura Martin, ’09; and Winter Zemans, ’01, on the set of the hit TV series, “Grey’s Anatomy.”
L
ast May, Laura Martin received
one of the best graduation gifts
ever. She woke up Commencement
morning wondering where her first job
would be. Hours before she received her
diploma in Steele Hall, she got her answer.
She was about to become the youngest
member of the more than 100-member
production crew for “Grey’s Anatomy.”
“I was so excited,” Martin recalled of that conversation. “It was
all happening so fast, but it was so rewarding to know that my
hard work had paid off.”
How did she join the number-one hit drama on television
among adults 18 to 49 straight out of school? For starters, she was
one of the most talented TV and Digital Film majors to come
out of the Department of Communication in recent memory, as
Associate Professor Jane Jackson is quick to attest. It also helped
that the person at the other end of that phone call happened to
have a SUNY Fredonia diploma of her own.
4
Winter Zemans, ’01, is the production coordinator on the set
of “Grey’s Anatomy.” She joined the program — now in its sixth
season — at the start of its second season, after having spent three
seasons in a similar role with NBC’s legendary TV drama, “ER.” Like most successful alumni, she worked extremely hard to get
where she is today, a work ethic she honed at SUNY Fredonia as a
teaching assistant for Professor Jackson, with whom she still keeps
in contact.
One of those conversations came after Laura applied for a
position with Winter on the show. At first there were no openings,
but when that unexpectedly changed just a few weeks before
the semester was through, Laura found herself flying across the
country for an interview most college seniors only dream of.
“I called Jane as a reference for Laura, and she backed her ability
and character 100 percent,” says Zemans. “If Jane says they’re
exceptional, that carries a lot of weight for me.”
Coincidentally, Martin had a second connection to Zemans that
went back to Laura’s high school days in Mendon, N.Y., a suburb
of Rochester where Winter’s mother is a school counselor. She
remembered hearing that Mrs. Zemans’ daughter had gone to
Fredonia and had worked on “ER,” so she contacted her former
counselor to ask for permission to reach out to Winter.
Sounds simple enough,
right? Hardly, according
to Jackson, whose 25-year
professional career included
managing Francis Ford
Coppola’s studio in San
Francisco before she came to
Fredonia.
“Even with those connections, they know within the
first five minutes if you’ve
got any chops at all,” Jackson
noted. “Connections only get
you so far.”
Still, Zemans’ fondness
for her alma mater and her
first-hand knowledge of
how well-prepared Fredonia
students are made her confident in her decision to hire
Laura as a production assistant
(P.A.). That knowledge was
further strengthened because
she was replacing Amanda
Pecora — another Fredonia
graduate with “Grey’s” since
April 2007.
Unlike Martin, however,
Pecora’s path wasn’t quite so
direct.
“I packed up my station
wagon with everything I could fit and just drove out,” Pecora, ’06,
recalls of her decision to follow her dreams and go to California.
She had nothing lined up, and didn’t really know anyone influential, but that didn’t scare her. After all, compared to what she’d
already been through, not much could.
A native of rural Little Valley, N.Y., she always dreamed of
going to college at Fredonia, where her father, Frederick, graduated as a nontraditional student in 1989. She recalls going with
him to school at night as a child and sitting by his side while he
attended art class, or riding her bike with him around the campus
and village. Pecora was inspired by her father’s ambition to start
anew after he and her mother divorced, and when the time came,
Amanda did whatever it took to pay her way through school, which
meant starting out at a community college.
However, after earning her associate’s degree, her father, now
living in Buffalo, had become very ill. Wanting to take care of
him, she transferred to a Buffalo-area college while she tended to
Frederick at every opportunity. As much as she tried, she never
really felt at home in Buffalo, although she admits her father’s
situation had a lot to do with that. When her father eventually
passed away, Amanda responded by returning to where her earliest
and best memories of him began — SUNY Fredonia.
“School was always my refuge,” Pecora recalls. “Whether it was
grade school, high school or college, no matter how bad life got,
I always felt I could escape it in school. So when my father passed
away, it allowed me to re-evaluate my situation and start focusing
on my future.”
That transformation began with a visit to the Department of
Communication, where Pecora recalls frantically rushing through
the halls on the last day of registration and being “rescued” by
Professor Joe Chilberg. She told him she was an English major but
had, in a moment of clarity, decided she wanted to be a reporter.
“Joe smiled and said, ‘Well, welcome to the communication
department,’” Pecora remembers. “I instantly knew I was in the
right place.”
That’s the feeling she had in California too, even though she
arrived with no job, no apartment, and very few personal belongings. But that didn’t worry her.
“I knew I was a really small fish in a huge pond,” she explains,
so she got a job in a deli and a modest place to live, and started
sending out résumés and placing cold calls.
One of those calls was to Zemans, at Jackson’s encouragement,
before either was a part of the fictional team at Seattle Grace
Hospital. Winter was working on an ABC Studios pilot and,
although at first she had nothing available, eventually a P.A.
position opened up, and Amanda got the interview that led to her
first big break.
Pecora assured Zemans that she was willing to do whatever it
took to make it…and Zemans made sure she knew what that meant.
“When you start in this business, you start at the bottom,”
Zemans advised her.
As a P.A., you do pretty much whatever they ask of you, she
explained. You deliver script revisions all over town, you order
lunches and stock the refrigerator, you run errands for cast
members — and you learn how to do it with your own personal
touch so that people feel you’re indispensible.
How bad can it get?
“I once had to weed out all of the green M&Ms for a producer,”
Zemans proudly states.
Amanda was up for the challenge and, after proving herself to
Winter during the pilot (which unfortunately didn’t get picked
up), found herself on Winter’s short list when she once again had a
need for a P.A. on “Grey’s.”
Zemans also has first-hand knowledge of how hard it can be
to get into the business. Like Martin, she came to California
thinking she had a job all lined up with a film that was in production. However, with everything she owned packed into her mom’s
minivan, she arrived only to find that the film’s budget had been
cut — and with it, her job and place to live.
But Zemans wasn’t going anywhere, she told her mom. She got
a job at a coffee shop, a room in a house for $650 a month that
included kitchen and bathroom “privileges,” and the chance to
work for free on some film projects, which allowed her to start
making her own connections and prove to people that she had
what it takes.
And in Hollywood, word gets around.
One day, Zemans got a call from Warner Brothers, who wanted
her to come in for an interview. This surprised Winter — since
she had never even sent them her résumé. Not one to dwell on
such details, she readily accepted, and just three days later she had
two major hit shows, “ER” and “The Drew Carey Show,” vying
alumni.fredonia.edu
5
cover story
for her services. And although “Drew” was the first to make her an
offer, she was given something that was closer to what she wanted
from “ER,” a show of which she was a huge fan, having watched
every season since it began eight years earlier.
“I was in awe of L.A. in general,” she recalls. “But I just said to
myself, ‘I can do this. I’m scared as hell, but I can do this, and it’s
going to be great.’”
And it has been great for all three Fredonians — although
Pecora made the difficult decision to leave the show earlier this
year. She was offered a job with Playground Media Group, a
post-production company that creates the DVD bonus materials
for “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice” and “Desperate
Housewives,” among other projects.
“The hardest jump in this business is going from being a P.A. to
something else, and that’s where I am right now,” Pecora explains.
“I was ready to learn about a different aspect of the business.”
That “something else” is where Winter is now, with a job that’s
more predictable and where greater skills can be developed. Her
duties include dealing with the studios, sets and contracts, making
sure all departments have the supplies and equipment that they
need, and making sure each shoot goes smoothly and efficiently
for the producers, directors, cast and crew.
She is also starting to get some opportunities to stretch her
wings, such as the six “webisodes” — a series of five-minute
shows available only at ABC.com under the title, “Seattle Grace:
On-Call”— which she was asked to produce this past October.
“My goal is to one day become a producer on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’
so this is a step in that direction,” Zemans says excitedly. “They
are a huge achievement for me and I am very proud to have my
name on them. I only hope the studio asks me to do the next six!”
“[Being asked to produce] is a huge accomplishment for a
woman who I am inspired by every day,” Pecora affirms. “Winter
is a perfect example of
someone who has worked
so hard to reach her goals,
and I’m very proud of and
thrilled for her.”
Martin echoes Pecora’s
sentiments. “Having
heard of Winter’s
accomplishments back
in high school, she was
always a motivation
and inspiration to me.
Now I get to work with
her every day and see
it all close up,” she says
appreciatively. “She
is where I hope to be one
day, and it’s great to be
able to observe and learn
from her.”
Pecora’s decision
Jackson’s Angels: All three graduates
meant an opportunity for
were positively influenced by Professor Jane Jackson and still keep in
Martin, who is making
touch with their college mentor.
sure she learns everything
6
she can and soaks in as much of the experience as possible.
“It’s pretty amazing,” the 22-year-old Martin says of working,
like Zemans, on a show she’s been watching since its beginning.
“I get to work every day with people like Patrick Dempsey (who,
for those who haven’t seen the show, has the on-screen nickname,
McDreamy, due to his extraordinary charm and good looks). The
crew members are very willing to give you advice and help you
learn and grow.”
That’s the role Zemans has often played with Martin as well,
and Pecora before her.
“In many ways I saw this as a chance to give back to Fredonia,”
Zemans agrees. “It’s a big learning curve, and it’s always interesting for me to see people going through exactly what I did. I
wish I had a ‘me’ when I was going through that. I would have felt
a lot more grounded.”
She still has her days when she’s somewhat in awe of what she’s
doing, but most days it’s now a job to her, just like anybody else’s.
“People’s reactions to the fact that I work on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
make me realize just how amazing it is,” Zemans admits. “But
when I’m working, it’s really just my job and I have to be focused.”
It’s also very rewarding for Zemans to see Jackson continuing to
produce such talented and motivated graduates.
“Fredonia was really blessed when Jane came on,” Winter says.
“She brought so many real-life experiences to the department.”
Jackson is equally proud of her graduates, lighting up at the
mention of this trio and their success stories. “It’s a tough business, but you tend to get smitten by the beast,” she explains.
Technical skills are critical, Jackson attests, but personality
traits are equally important in an environment where long days are
the norm.
“You have to ask yourself, ‘Do I want to be in an editing room
with this person for 14 hours? Do I want to be sitting on a loading
dock at 4 a.m. with them?’ It takes a special kind of person,” she says.
Zemans knows she has been lucky to find two of those special
kinds of people.
“Amanda and I turned from co-workers to friends to family,
which is pretty incredible in this wild and crazy life we have
chosen,” she says. “If you are lucky, you take away one or two
really close relationships from each show/project. We’re at work
more than we’re home, so it’s great when you can make personal
connections. I look forward to experiencing that with Laura.”
It’s clear these three Fredonians are indeed special, with long,
promising careers ahead of them. While their show is on top of
the world right now, they know that it won’t last forever. But the
relationships they are building right now certainly could, which is
a comforting thought, because they can hopefully continue to look
out for each other—and maybe some future Fredonia alumni as
well.
And if Jackson’s eye for talent and ability to teach are any
measure…Fredonia’s Alumni Affairs Office had better start
planning more West Coast reunions.
“Saturday Night Live” Cast Member Headlines February’s Black History Month
An impressive array of talented comics, authors and entrepreneurs are coming to SUNY Fredonia in February, courtesy of
the Black Student Union, to commemorate Black History Month,
including an appearance by “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast
member Finesse Mitchell on Feb. 18.
“The Black Student Union wanted to think outside the box,”
said Averl Otis, director of Multicultural Affairs and adviser to
the BSU, of student efforts to bring more well-known speakers
and successful performers to campus this year. A team of six BSU
members worked diligently to assemble programs that are both
entertaining and educational, she added. “It all relates to everybody, regardless of ethnicity, race or sexual orientation. Regardless
of your background, you’ll learn something from the speakers as
well as from the message.”
Otis also noted that the speakers are scheduled to meet with
Fredonia students outside of their scheduled presentations and are
looking forward to getting to know the Fredonia community.
The series of events kicks off Monday, Feb. 1 with Jerald
Cooper, a one-time intern with a major record label who’s become
a successful entrepreneur in the highly competitive world of
marketing consultants. Considerable networking and branding
skills have earned Cooper such clients as Proctor & Gamble,
Interbrand and TAG Body Spray. He’s also done event marketing
for Cadillac, Tradewinds Tea, Miss Behave Magazine and Red Bull
Energy Drink. His appears in the Williams Center’s Horizon
Room at 5 p.m.
Next, a collection of firsts, little-known accomplishments
and contributions by African Americans will be featured in the
traveling exhibit, “African American History on Wheels,” which
rolls into the Williams Center Multipurpose Purpose Room on
Thursday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. The exhibit is part of Clifton Brown’s
non-profit organization, “Reflection in Black Museums,” that
Brown, a motivational speaker, has presented in a half-dozen states.
Two rising authors, Milton “Ranik” Jackson and Kendall
“Chosen” Exume, will present “Poetry to the People” on Tuesday,
Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Horizon Room. The program blends
culture, conflict, social and
sexual responsibility, awareness
and the universal poetic theme
of love.
Then Mitchell will take the
Multipurpose Room spotlight
on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 5 p.m.
In addition to SNL, he has
appeared on the “Today” show,
BET’s “Comic View” and “The
Tyra Banks Show.” He has also
had his own half-hour special
on Comedy Central and writes a
column for ESSENCE magazine
that serves up hip, hilarious
and honest relationship advice.
Screen credits include “Who’s
Your Caddy” and “Mad Money.”
His first book, Your Girlfriends
Only Know So Much, presents
no-holds-barred dating advice
to women seeking answers to
Fredonia welcomes SNL’s
Finesse Mitchell on Feb. 18
age-old relationship questions.
Lastly, Leroy Williams brings
his “Hypnobro” stand-up routine, which incorporates hypnosis
into comedy, to the Multipurpose Room stage on Wednesday, Feb.
24, at 7 p.m. A one-time architect, Williams sidestepped a secure
career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in favor of the
far-from-stable stand-up life that’s taken him to venues all across
the country. He has also been seen on BET’s “Comic View” and
has appeared with Steve Harvey, J. Anthony Brown, D.C. Curry,
and others.
Other BSU events include Cupid’s Ball on Saturday, Feb. 13,
at 8 p.m. at the Clarion Hotel ballroom, as well as the week’s
concluding ceremonies on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26 and 27, at 6
p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, at the College Lodge.
New Scholarships to be Awarded at BSU Fashion Show
The first Nabta Scholarships for students who are active
in the Black Student Union (BSU) and good scholars will be
awarded Saturday, April 17, during the festivities surrounding
the BSU Fashion Show. Three scholarships will be awarded.
Organizers of the Nabta Fund have been involved for several
years in establishing the scholarship. It is named after the oldest
astronomical alignment in the world, located near Nabta in the
Nubian desert. The fund’s name reflects growth, strength and
stability — the very attributes they hope to cultivate in future
generations of black scholars at SUNY Fredonia.
Committee members send their greetings and thanks for
the generous support of so many alumni. While the scholarship
is now fully endowed, further gifts are encouraged so more
scholarship opportunities can be created. Checks can be made
payable to the Fredonia College Foundation, and marked in
the memo section, “Nabta Scholarship.” Online giving is also
available. Go to www.fredonia.edu/giveonline, select “General
Scholarships/Need,” and scroll down alphabetically to Nabta.
Contact Director of Development Karen West at (716)
673-3321 or westk@fredonia.edu to learn more.
alumni.fredonia.edu
7
college beats | school of business
Open For
Business
A few snowflakes didn't stop the new SUNY Fredonia Business Technology Incubator from officially opening. The state-of-the-art
facility in downtown Dunkirk will support up to 30 start-up companies which have a technology-based business model and a commitment
to Western New York.
T
he long-awaited SUNY Fredonia
Business Technology Incubator opened
its doors on Dec. 21 to much fanfare
among business, government, university and
community leaders who have worked together
since 2006 to create one of the most exciting and
potential-filled economic development projects in
Chautauqua County history.
The nearly $6 million facility, located at 214 Central Ave. in
downtown Dunkirk, is capable of providing support and shared
services to as many as 30 start-up companies at a time, thereby
increasing the odds of each company’s survival — and increasing
the chances for economic growth in Western New York.
“Normally, a start-up company has a one in five chance of
succeeding,” SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner told
those in attendance Monday morning. “However, when that startup is affiliated with a university incubator, historically that ratio
increases to four in five. That’s what this facility represents: the
chance to turn that ratio around, and turn our region’s economy
around in the process.”
A partnership between the university, regional government
and economic development organizations, the incubator provides
start-up and spin-off companies with targeted resources and
shared, common business functions such as accounting, marketing
and legal services. In return, the tenant companies must meet only
two criteria: have technology as a significant component of their
business model, and be willing to remain in Western New York
after they become stand-alone entities.
“Small business success is critical to building our local economy
and creating quality jobs here in Western New York,” said U.S.
Congressman Brian Higgins, who helped secure federal funds for
8
the project. “Through this innovative initiative, SUNY Fredonia
and the city of Dunkirk are leading the way in providing start-up
companies with the infrastructure and resources that provide the
solid foundation necessary for long term business growth.”
State Senator Catharine Young echoed those remarks, stating,
“This is certainly a time for celebration, and this is a great thing
to celebrate.” New York State is faced with many economic
issues, she explained, but programs like these provide a means
through which that can change. “Today is a new beginning here in
Dunkirk,” she added, “and this new facility shows that [economic
progress] can and will be done.”
In addition to office space and services, the 21,000-square-foot,
two-story building offers significant shared space, including a
“smart” conference room, meeting rooms and laboratories. The
facility provides support to companies for up to three years until,
assuming they succeed, they will “graduate” and be guided to
settle in Western New York.
“Our goal was to create an incubator that would promote
economic growth in the western Southern Tier of New York,”
Hefner continued. “We are accomplishing this by supporting
young, innovative, technology-based companies with mentoring,
consulting, physical space, and access to capital.”
Five start-ups were introduced as the inaugural class of tenants:
Cell Text Data Systems (CTDS), the Fredonia Shale Institute,
Van Buren Bay Cosmetics, mArté and Zenhire. In addition, the
founders of social media developer Noobis — a graduate from the
temporary facility — were on hand as an example of the success
the new facility hopes to share with many other entrepreneurs.
“Once they are economically viable and capable of operating
independently, these companies will create jobs, revitalize
neighborhoods and strengthen regional economies,” new
incubator Director Robert Fritzinger said. Fritzinger, who has
COLLEGE BEATS | school of business
Meet the New Boss
much experience in starting up companies of his own, is also the founder and
chairman of Zenhire, a search engine technology innovator which operates in
the human resources industry. He and his team are presently in negotiations
with several other entities which are considering entering into lease agreements with the new facility.
State Assemblyman William Parment, one of the first people to join the
university in project discussions, called the new facility, “a gamble which will
pay off if we turn that dream into a reality.” He also called it an effective new
tool for economic development, and asked those in attendance to continue
thinking about other tools the community could use, encouraging the
audience to contact him and share those ideas.
As the first true campus extension of SUNY Fredonia — the third-largest
four-year university in Western New York — the incubator also presents unique
opportunities for the campus community as well, including internships and jobs
for its students, as well as research, teaching and collaboration initiatives for its
faculty and staff.
An example is the Fredonia Shale Institute, a dream of Geosciences
Professor Gary Lash, who has been at the forefront of natural gas and oil
research within the Appalachian Mountains and other regions for decades.
“This is a unique opportunity to foster a strong working relationship
among the college, industry and the community,” Dr. Lash agreed. “For
example, the Shale Institute is working with members of the natural gas
industry, including a number of Fredonia alums, on funding initiatives to
support research that would involve students. We’re also working with a major
industry player to bring its mobile education unit to Western New York to
inform high school students and the public about natural gas exploration.”
The new facility was built with many “green” initiatives in mind. It
incorporates numerous sustainable design elements, including a white roof and
energy management system. Its mechanical systems were fully commissioned
(tested and proven for efficiency) prior to opening, and the construction
materials were recycled. Its laboratories are classified as “dry labs,” meaning
that there are no harsh chemicals or heavy machinery involved. It was also
erected in a dense development area and is well-integrated with existing
downtown infrastructure, ensuring a social symbiosis with the community
that makes it more environmentally friendly.
The incubator has been made possible by the generous support of local,
state and federal assistance. New York State pledged $4.7 million in bonded
funds for the new building and a federal appropriation from the Department of
Housing and Urban Development was also obtained. An additional $605,000
in programming support came from a grant from the New York State
Foundation for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR). In addition,
a $300,000 “challenge grant” from
the John R. Oishei Foundation was
obtained to provide operational
support for the incubator, which
has subsequently been supported by
NRG Dunkirk Power, Lake Shore
Savings, DFT Communications,
Graf Realty and Nestlé Purina.
Significant support has also been
received from Chautauqua County
sources including the city of
Dunkirk, the Chautauqua County
SUNY Fredonia President Dennis Hefner
leads a standing-room-only press conIndustrial Development Agency,
ference to welcome the new Business
and the Northern Chautauqua
Technology Incubator to the community.
Community Foundation.
In November, Robert H. Fritzinger was
named director of the new SUNY Fredonia
Business Technology Incubator. For the past
20 years, he has
been involved in the
creation, development, day-to-day
management,
financing and
sale of multiple
high-technology
companies,
including Voice
Technologies
Group, a cutting-edge telecommunications
vendor which he successfully sold to Intel
Corp. in 2000. He is currently Chairman of
the Board of Zenhire, Inc., a search engine
technology innovator which operates in the
human resources industry along with such
companies as Monster, CareerBuilder.com and
LinkedIn. Next spring Zenhire will relocate
to the incubator, setting the stage for full- and
part-time employment as it grows.
“We are very excited to welcome Bob to the
project,” SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L.
Hefner said. “We opened this facility to attract
and build new businesses in the technology
sector to our region, and then help them flourish
here. Bob has the skills, knowledge and experience we were looking for to make this happen.
We’re very fortunate to have an individual with
his unique qualifications available at this critical
point in the development of the incubator.”
Mr. Fritzinger is affiliated with the Panel of
Advisors for the Science and Technology Law
Center, part of the Albany Law School Center
for Law & Innovation. He has also served as
an advisor to the University at Buffalo’s (UB)
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership within
the Jacobs School of Management, as well
as a judge for both the Henry A. Panasci, Jr.
Technology Entrepreneurship Competition and
the Niagara Frontier Intellectual Property Law
Association’s Inventor of the Year Competition.
Fritzinger is a SUNY alumnus as well, having
earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science
from UB in 1976, followed by a master’s degree
in Counseling Psychology from UB in 1979. In
addition to being a lifelong resident of Western
New York, along with his wife, Deborah, he has
spent summers at Dunkirk’s Van Buren Point
continuously for the past 52 years, making him
well-versed in the Chautauqua County business
and political landscapes.
alumni.fredonia.edu
9
college beats | natural and social sciences
Campus Turns to Top Graduates for Guidance in Shaping Future Ones
SUNY Fredonia is tapping the minds of 12 of the world’s most
talented science, technology and education professionals to help
design its new Science and Technology Center. Though they’re
spread across the U.S., they all have one thing in common: a
Fredonia diploma.
Many of these distinguished alumni returned to campus last fall
as members of Fredonia’s Natural Sciences Advisory Council
to assist in the planning of the new center, set to break ground
in 2011.
Dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences David
Ewing welcomed the opportunity to consult with these leaders
as Fredonia designs its first new stand-alone academic facility
in 35 years. Their collective expertise encompasses science,
research, science-technology business and patent law. Several
have experience in planning new academic buildings as well,
which is extremely valuable. High on the agenda is a facility
that educates students for the working world.
“All these folks are prominent in their field,” Dr. Ewing
said. “They have their pulse on different careers in science
and know what the trends are, so they are in a good position
to advise us. Are we designing the right kind of facility to prepare
students for careers in science down the road?”
Council members have already suggested ideas relating to
curriculum and fundraising since forming at the 2007 Alumni
Leadership Conference. They have also advocated an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and abundant hands-on experience.
“This is the way you do science today,” said Dr. Christopher
Mirabelli, ’77, managing director of a Boston healthcare venture
capital firm. The whole idea is to put biology in the same facility
with chemistry, he stressed, so students can collaborate on research
and projects.
“To be involved at this level is truly exciting,” added Dr.
Mirabelli, who has participated in numerous lab/facility build-outs.
“Modern science requires a multi-discipline approach and should
be taught in the same kind of environment.”
Dr. Michael Marletta, ’73, has also pushed for the interface of
biology and chemistry. As Chair of the department of chemistry
at the University of California-Berkeley, he believes the separation
of biology and chemistry into distinct departments was inherited
from medieval universities.
“While it makes organizational sense, the natural world doesn’t
work that way, and to truly understand it, a broader, interdisciplinary education is required,” Dr. Marletta said.
At Berkeley, Marletta is based in a building designed to be
interdisciplinary and interactive, so he brings that bonus experience
to this process.
Like Mirabelli, Dennis Costello, ’72, is also a venture capitalist,
but he has devoted his 30-year career to energy technology and is
interested in the energy efficiency of this new building.
So far, design plans have earned high grades from these alums,
ALUMNI ASSISTING WITH THE DESIGN OF THE NEW SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY CENTER INCLUDE (STANDING, FROM LEFT) DR. MICHAEL
MARLETTA, ’73; DENNIS COSTELLO, ’72; DR. CHRISTOPHER MIRABELLI,
’77; AND DR. JEFFERY KELLY, ’82. THEY ARE JOINED BY (SEATED, FROM
LEFT) DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DAVID
EWING, VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS VIRGINIA HORVATH,
AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT DAVID TIFFANY.
according to Ewing. Plans call for an open structure that offers
plenty of natural sunlight. It will also ensure that the various
departments are not relegated to separate floors.
“That’s the way science is going, and students need to see that.
That’s how people work now; the disciplinary lines are breaking
down in the sciences,” Ewing added.
Drs. Marletta and Mirabelli, along with Costello and Dr. Jeffery
Kelly, ’82, professor of Chemistry and Chairman of Molecular
and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute,
also took time during their visit to meet with upper-level students
majoring in biology, chemistry, geosciences and physics at a panel
discussion in the Williams Center.
The advisory council also includes Dr. John Baust, ’65; Dr.
Christopher Cahill, ’93; Dr. Amy Diegelman-Parente, ’95; Dr.
Deborah Good, ’87; Dr. Norman Karin, ’76, ’78; Dr. David
Mittlefehldt, ’73; Dr. Susan Schall, ’81; and Steve Schultz, ’72.
PAUL, ’69, AND BARBARA FEIN WITH DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES CHAIR JACK
BERKLEY IN FRONT OF THE NEW MINERAL/SPECIMEN/ARTIFACT DISPLAY IN HOUGHTON
HALL. THE FEINS DONATED A COLLECTION THAT MURRAY FEIN, PAUL’S FATHER, HAD
GATHERED OVER MANY YEARS. THE DISPLAY CABINET, PURCHASED THROUGH THE
FAHNESTOCK MEMORIAL FUND, WHICH HONORS THE LATE DR. KEN FAHNESTOCK OF
THE GEOLOGY FACULTY, ALSO HOLDS ITEMS COLLECTED BY THE FACULTY RELATING TO
EARLY MINERALOGY RESEARCH.
10
COLLEGE BEATS | EDUCATION
Educational Leadership Program Celebrates Milestone, Honors its Founder
As anniversaries go, 10 is seldom heralded a milestone.
But it was for the College of Education, which marked 10 years
since it reinstituted its Educational Leadership Program, which
trains teachers to become principals and other educational leaders.
Alumni gathered during Homecoming for a reception to
celebrate the milestone and honor Dr. Robert Heichberger, whose
distinguished career at SUNY Fredonia spans five decades and
includes founding the original Educational Administration/
Supervision Program in 1976. Over 100 graduates gathered, a
testament to the program’s value as well as the admiration for
Heichberger. In fact, two members of his inaugural class, Dr.
Estelle Crino and Martha Christian, attended along with current
candidates and former professors and administrators.
An executive assistant to SUNY Fredonia President Dallas
Beal, Heichberger was uniquely qualified to launch the program,
Fredonia’s first Certificate of Advanced Studies. Not only did he
have experience as a teacher and principal in East Aurora, N.Y.,
beginning in 1951, and extensive instructional and administrative
service on campus he had strong ties to local schools.
“He was a person who could balance a big vision with attention
to detail, so he really designed a program to answer a need and
really understood the larger vision,” said Janeil Rey, visiting
assistant professor and a former student of Heichberger. “He
was able to register a program with the state and have it accepted
without any modification. And that’s unusual.
“There is a lot of research in the field that points to the
importance of school principals in student achievement. This
program was a response to a need expressed by superintendents for
a rigorous, local program to prepare principals,” Rey added.
Over 300 educators have completed the program, including
125 who hold leadership positions across Western New York and
beyond, said Charles Stoddart, program coordinator.
Heichberger possessed a unique ability to easily bond with
students. “As I walked into a class 20 years ago, I did not realize
that I was making a lifelong friend. That class had 50 people, but
after a couple classes, Bob knew me, and when I finished with
the requirements, he did all the formal things that you expect
from a college professor, such as writing recommendations,” Rey
explained. “But he also did informal things, such as calling me and
mentioning school districts that might be a good fit for me. And
he took the extra step of calling people in that school district and
say, ‘why don’t you look at this candidate.’”
The program was halted in the early 1990s, but restored in 1999
in response to the migration of principals without Chautauqua
County ties to other regions of the U.S. Far too few local teachers
were certified as principals during the hiatus.
At the reception, Heichberger
recognized widows of three former
Fredonia presidents, Esther
Lanford, Margaret MacVittie
and Kris Beal, who attended. He
extended praise to their husbands as
well as to current President Dennis
Hefner, for visionary leadership and
steadfast support. President Hefner
proudly reported to the roomful of
administrators that his father, too,
was a principal.
Heichberger and his family have
also established the Heichberger
Family and Scholars of Leadership
Endowment Fund to connect the
past with the present as the program
builds a strong future. The fund
will provide resources to enhance
school leader preparation and enable
the College of Education to host
national speakers and conferences
Dr. Robert Heichberger,
to support alumni and others.
shown here with the
Fund founders also include Suzette
ceremonial mace in the
Benson, Dr. Michael Jabot and Drs.
foreground, enjoys
Rey, Stoddart and Crino.
SUNY Fredonia’s 2009
To learn more, contact Dr.
Commencement from his
Stoddart, (716) 673-3245 (stoddart@
seat on the Steele Hall dais.
fredonia.edu) or Dr. Rey, (716)
673-4650 (reyj@fredonia.edu).
grant Awarded to mentor future science teachers
Dr. Kathleen Lesniak (left) and Milissa Albano,
’99, meet with prospective science teachers
who will benefit from the NEA grant.
A $5,000 Learning and Leadership Grant to create better science teachers has been
awarded by the National Education Association Foundation to Dr. Kathleen Lesniak
of the College of Education and Milissa Albano, a Fredonia alumna and mentor
chemistry teacher at Southwestern High School in Lakewood, N.Y.
Budding science educators in Fredonia’s accelerated Master of Arts in Science
Teaching program will benefit from a study group of veteran secondary teachers, led
by Dr. Lesniak and Ms. Albano, ’99, who will mentor student teachers. The study
group will learn about topics and issues related to successful mentoring of preservice
science teachers by building on mentors’ knowledge and experiences, and studying best
practices. In addition, collaborative lessons using digital video will allow the mentors
to confer explicitly with students to improve their teaching knowledge and instruction. Insights gained from this research-based practice will be shared to enhance the
teaching knowledge of mentors and students.
alumni.fredonia.edu
11
college beats | arts and humanities
Mason Hall Getting New Bricks and Mortar
Construction began in October and will finish in late spring
for a $3 million addition to Mason Hall to provide expanded and
improved rehearsal space for the School of Music.
The new addition is situated between rooms 1051 and 1053,
which were built in 1961 as large group performing/recording areas
for the School of Music, and King Concert Hall. It will include two
rooms, a larger 60- by 66-foot space which will face Dods Hall,
and a smaller 53- by 62-foot space which will face the amphitheatre
and Reed Library. Plans are for the front facades to match the
existing brick of the adjacent sides of Mason Hall. The new rooms
will be separated from the existing rehearsal space by a corridor.
Eventually, Room 1053 will become a storage area and the older
existing sound recording studio will be removed. The addition will
also serve as an enabling project to the upcoming planned addition
to Rockefeller Arts Center, providing a little “surge space” for
rehearsals if necessary for the Department of Theatre and Dance.
In addition to new and improved rehearsal/performance space,
it will address sound volume and quality issues as recommended
by engineers. Director of Bands Paula Holcomb noted, “We are
so excited to have these rooms available for the students! As a
result of an extensive and diligent partnership with the acoustical
and architectural design teams, the students will be able to hear
musicians across the ensemble so they can interact with, support
and respond to each other as they create passionate music.”
Designer/architect Foit-Albert Associates and SLR Contracting
An Architectural rendering of the completed mason hall expansion.
& Service Co., Inc., both of Buffalo, N.Y., are joined by acoustical
consultant AVL Designs, Inc. of Penfield, N.Y., in forming the
construction team, which is being guided by Markus Kessler,
SUNY Fredonia’s director of Facilities Planning.
School of Music Director Karl Boelter added, “As our School
of Music has evolved, the size of ensembles and the range of the
repertoire have grown. The existing rooms simply became too
small for both the number of students in the instrumental groups
and the amount of sound that they create. These rooms will be two
and three times the size of our existing spaces, making it possible
for the ensembles to have full flexibility in designing a current and
relevant curriculum for the way our school is now and likely to
develop in the future.”
Piano Professor Emeritus Robert Jordan
Returns to Perform on his 70th Birthday
Friends of Professor Emeritus Robert Jordan and the School of Music will be
privileged to hear the pianist in concert on Sept. 11 in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall.
The concert will be in celebration of Professor Jordan’s 70th birthday.
Mr. Jordan was among the faculty from 1980
to 2004 and touched the lives of thousands
of students. As a teacher and pianist, he has
always been committed to the art of musicmaking and the development of young talent.
In appreciation of Professor Jordan’s talent
and influence, piano alumni, former colleagues
and friends have responded to a challenge
to raise funds in his name to establish an
endowment for piano scholarships and student
enrichment. The fund will be used to grow
and develop the School of Music’s piano
program, promote student diversity and
international initiatives, and generate discretionary resources that can bring special
events to campus which will enhance learning.
If you would like to be part of this cause, contributions can be made to the
Fredonia College Foundation or at www.fredonia.edu/giveonline. To learn more,
contact Betty Gossett, associate vice president for Development, at (716) 673-3321 or
gossett@fredonia.edu.
12 Statement Spring 2010
School of Music to Host
Alumni Leadership Conference
“Moving the School of Music toward
national recognition”
July 16-17
Fredonia will host its first-ever Alumni
Leadership Conference for the School of Music.
The conference offers alumni a chance to
reconnect with each other and faculty members,
and help the university shape the direction of its
programs.
This is an opportunity for successful alumni
to share their experiences, enhance their alma
mater and advance its mission of producing the
best graduates possible.
If you would like to participate, please contact
Rich Ryan, associate director of Development at
(716) 673-3321 or Ryan@fredonia.edu.
spring preview | events and performances
To purchase tickets for all events, contact the
SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office at (716) 673-3501
(1-866-441-4928), www.fredonia.edu/tickets, or
in person in the Williams Center. For a full list of
all campus events, visit department websites at
www.fredonia.edu.
ROCKEFELLER ARTS CENTER / THEATRE
AND DANCE EVENTS
“Expect the Impossible” with Mark
Nizer’s 3D Show
Friday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m.
Marvel Theatre, Tickets: $12
A Kaleidoscope Family Series Event. Mark
Nizer has changed the way people view
the world – the impossible is possible, the
improbable is probable. Mark brings his
world-famous juggling talents to RAC in a
show that’s fun for children and adults!
“Electra”
Feb. 19-20, 25-27, 8 p.m.; Feb. 21, 2 p.m.
Bartlett Theatre, Tickets: $15
A Walter Gloor Mainstage Series Event.
This Sophocles’ Greek tragedy is set after
the Trojan War. A king is murdered by
his wife and her lover, sending his son into
hiding. Years later, the son returns to seek
revenge against his own mother and claim
the throne with the aid of his sister, Electra.
“Tibet – A Light in the Darkness” with
Patricia Keith
Saturday, Feb. 20, 7:30 p.m.
King Concert Hall, Tickets: $7.50
A World Travel Series Event. Travel by
land cruiser and horse cart to Tibet — the
“top of the world” — where singing and
laughter ring through the mountains and
valleys. Visit Buddhist monasteries, join
pilgrims on a sacred Kora, sing with blind
children and view Mount Everest up close.
The Western New York Chamber
Orchestra
King Concert Hall, Tickets: $20
• The Great Classicists
Sunday, Feb. 21, 4 p.m.
Symphonic gems by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert.
• Benjamin Britten’s “Turn of the Screw”
Tuesday, March 30, 8 p.m.
Regarded by many as Britten’s finest stage work.
Fredonia Dance Ensemble
March 5-6, 8 p.m.; March 7, 2 p.m.
A Walter Gloor Mainstage Event. The
Fredonia Dance Ensemble returns for its
fourth major concert. This showcase for
Fredonia’s best students features a variety
of styles, from classical ballet to Latin jazz
to modern dance.
“The Hobbit” by Thèâtre Sans Fil
including soprano Barbara Kilduff, alto
Laurie Tramuta, tenor Alan Schneider and
baritone Erik Angerhofer.
A Kaleidoscope Family Series Event.
Fantasy, poetry, magic and puppets come
together for the adventure, based on the
Tolkien classic. Hobbit Bilbo Baggins finds
himself battling goblins, a dragon and the
infamous creature known as Gollum after
being persuaded to leave his cozy hobbit hole
in a quest for a long-lost treasure.
*Additional levels of giving are welcomed;
call (716) 673-3686 to learn more.
Friday, March 12, 7 p.m.
“Hidden Jerusalem” with Dave Banks
Saturday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.
King Concert Hall, Tickets: $7.50
A World Travel Series Event. Explore one
of the most well-known and revered sites on
earth, including out-of-the-way places that
tourists never get a chance to see. This film
offers a colorful look at the world both in
front of and behind the camera.
“Kiss Me Kate”
April 23-24, 29-30 and May 1, 8 p.m.;
April 25, 2 p.m.
Chamber Orchestra
Wednesday, April 28, 8 p.m.
Rosch Recital Hall, Free.
Music by Vivaldi, Lully, Elgar, Diamond
and Bizet.
Scholarship Recital Series
Rosch Recital Hall
FREE and open to the public
Sunday, Jan. 31, 4 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.
Faculty: Maureen Yuen, violin, with
Sean Duggan, piano. Complete Works of
Beethoven, Concerts 3 and 4.
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m.
Faculty: David Rose, viola.
Saturday, Feb. 13, 4 p.m.
A Walter Gloor Mainstage Series Event.
“Kiss Me, Kate” ran for more than 1,000
Broadway performances and earned the
first Tony Award for best musical —
a comeback triumph for Cole Porter.
A “play within a play,” music and comedy
come together in a rousing experience.
Faculty: Dr. Angela Haas, soprano.
All That Jazz: Commencement Eve Pops
Faculty: Sean Duggan, piano.
Friday, May 14, 8 p.m.
King Concert Hall, Tickets: $25, $22.50, $20
Monday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m.
Faculty: Silverwind Duo: Dr. Andrew
Seigel, clarinet, and Nicole McPherson,
flute.
Sunday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 7, 4 p.m.
A DFT Communications Pops Series Event.
Jazz classics from the 1930s through today
will come to life as Bruce Johnstone and the
Little Apple Big Band are joined by some of
Fredonia’s best student vocalists.
Guest Artist: Hamilton Tescarollo, piano.
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Faculty: Dr. Jonathan Mann, piano.
Thursday, March 11, 8 p.m.
Guest Artist: Dr. Nick Phillips, piano.
Friday, March 26, 8 p.m.
College Symphony Orchestra
Sunday, April 11, noon
Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with
Hung-Kuan Chen as soloist and Prokofiev’s
Symphony No. 5
Art of the Guitar Series
Saturday, March 6, 8 p.m.
King Concert Hall, Free
Masterworks Scholarship Benefit
Concert
Sunday, April 18, 4 p.m.
King Concert Hall, Tickets: $20* General, $10
Students
Featuring Brahms, “Variations on a Theme
by Haydn,” and Beethoven’s Symphony No.
9 “Choral.” The concert, with over 100
voices, brings together
the College Symphony
Orchestra, directed
by Dr. David Rudge,
and Masterworks
Chorus, directed by
Dr. Gwen ColemanDetwiler, with faculty
and alumni soloists
Guest Artist: Andrew Garland, baritone,
and Donna Loewy, piano.
All are free, open to the public.
All recitals take place in Rosch Recital Hall
• Stephen Aron
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.
Master Class: Thursday, Feb. 25, noon;
2018 Mason.
• Gaëlle Solal
Thursday, March 4, 8 p.m.
Master Class: Friday, March 5, noon;
1001 Mason.
• Marko Feri
Tuesday, April 6, 8 p.m.
Master Class: Wednesday, April 7, 11 a.m.,
Room TBA.
alumni.fredonia.edu
13
youth is served
Recent Political Science Grads Find Early Success
Cody Meyers, ’08, at U.S. Senator Charles Schumer’s Buffalo
office, where he was hired shortly after graduating.
When most people describe SUNY Fredonia, chances are the
words “teacher” or “music” will leave their lips. But another area
has produced accomplished alumni for decades: Political Science.
Lately, this department’s profile has been steadily climbing, as
several graduates have hit the ground running by obtaining some
impressive experiences, including working for U.S. senators,
county executives and major public service organizations.
Take Cody Meyers, a Student Association (S.A.) president who
graduated in 2008. Little did he know as he received his diploma
that he would return a year later as a staff assistant to U.S. Senator
Charles E. Schumer. Yet, there he was as part of the logistics team
for a six-campus graduation tour, escorting the Senator to a seat
on the very dais where Meyers sat just 12 months earlier.
“I never planned to do any of this…never in my wildest dreams,”
Meyers said from the Senator’s downtown Buffalo office.
In fact, Meyers almost didn’t do any of this. He came to
Fredonia intending to be a Spanish major in hopes of one day
joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, as he was in
the Registrar’s Office selecting his classes for his first semester, he
decided on the spot to switch to Political Science.
James B. Foley, ’79 (English), a former Diplomat-in-Residence in the
Department of Political Science, was nominated by President Barack Obama and
confirmed this summer by the U.S. Senate as the new U.S. Ambassador to the
Republic of Croatia. He was sworn-in on Sept. 8 by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton. Ambassador Foley, his wife, Kate Suryan, and their daughter, Madeleine,
are now residing in Zagreb. Prior to his confirmation, Ambassador Foley was
serving as the U.S. State Department’s Senior Coordinator for Iraqi Refugee
Issues, and is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He previously served
as U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, and as a faculty member and Deputy Commandant
of the National War College. In 2005, he was Fredonia’s Commencement speaker
and the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the
State University of New York. He noted, “I’m enjoying the job immensely and the
country is spectacularly beautiful. We’ve received a very warm welcome.” To learn
more about Croatia and its U.S. Embassy, visit http://zagreb.usembassy.gov/.
State Dept. photo by Michael Gross
14 “I’ve always been that weird kid who was interested in politics
at a young age,” Meyers recalled. “I always stayed up late and
watched the State of the Union address.”
As he progressed through school, Meyers especially enjoyed
the classes he took from Professor Jim Hurtgen, who focuses on
Political Philosophy, Law and Society, and Ivani Vassoler, whose
forte is International Politics. His hiring less than a month after
he took off his cap and gown comes as no surprise to Dr. Hurtgen,
the department’s senior statesman who joined the faculty in 1971.
“We know our students probably more than they realize,” said
Hurtgen, who watched Meyers’ progress with a keen interest
during his days on campus. “I think we all develop a personal
awareness of students and their abilities.”
Another recent alumnus who found early success is Jeffrey
Bochiechio, ’07, executive director for Erie County Executive
Chris Collins’ privately held political fundraising arm, Collins For
Our Future. While Meyers landed his first job within a month of
earning his diploma, Bochiechio started his the very next day, as
deputy campaign manager for then-candidate Collins.
“The campaign was a real rollercoaster ride, but nothing
was more exciting then our landslide victory on Election Day,”
Bochiechio said of the race that many considered Collins to be a
long shot to win as a Conservative candidate in a 3-to-1 Democratic
county.
How does someone fresh out of school land a position this
significant so quickly? For Bochiechio, it was all thanks to the
experiences he made sure he gained while still in school.
“I was fortunate to have interned for (former U.S. Congressman)
Tom Reynolds in 2005,” he recalled. “I essentially managed the
Erie County portion of his campaign (for re-election), so that gave
me a lot of experience for this role.”
A double major in Political Science and History, Bochiechio
bolstered that experience by joining Fredonia’s European Union
simulation program, which included a conference in Europe.
Following Collins’ election, Bochiechio moved into a new role
within the Collins administration, leading the fundraising efforts
for his next campaign in 2011 — the same year Bochiechio is slated
to complete law school at the University at Buffalo.
“That’s going to be a very busy year,” he acknowledged with a smile.
Erie wasn’t the only county executive campaign to have
Fredonia grads in critical roles. This fall’s Chautauqua County
Executive race saw former students on both sides of the aisle,
with Joel Keefer, ’98, working for Republican incumbent and
eventual winner Greg Edwards as his executive assistant, while
Democratic challenger Chuck Cornell had the support of two
highly accomplished students from the 2008-09 academic year.
Nicholas Dhimitri — a two-semester S.A. president and the only
Fredonian ever to earn a perfect score in the national Mock Trial
Competition — was Cornell’s campaign manager. Joining him as
Cornell’s communication manager was John Mackowiak, ’09, a
Communication major and recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s
Award for Student Excellence.
Many recent majors have landed a door-opening, high-profile
internship. Since 2004, Fredonians have interned for Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi,
the 2004 Bush-Cheney Presidential Campaign and the U.S.
Supreme Court, to name just a few. Government agencies such as
the Federal Communication Commission, the Hispanic Institute,
the National Whistleblower Center, and the World Wildlife
Federation have given equally valuable experiences.
Not bad for a department that produces only 20 to 25 graduates
per year. However, Political Science is one of the most visible
departments on campus, due to the large number of non-majors
taking courses to satisfy the College Core Curriculum.
“Many of our lower-level classes are made up of non-majors,”
explained Dr. David Rankin, who was named department chair in
2009. “We offer seven sections of our Introduction to American
Politics class each term; that’s 300 to 400 students per semester,
and probably 95 percent are non-majors, so we get in front of a lot
of faces.”
Another popular course, especially among Communication
majors, is Media and Politics, also taught by Dr. Rankin, who has
helped develop a strong bond between these departments through
their natural collaboration opportunities, especially during major
election years such as 2008. Communication professors Linda
Brigance, who studies political communication and rhetoric, and
Elmer Ploetz, a former Buffalo News reporter, have teamed up with
Rankin, Hurtgen and others to offer students unique programs,
guest speakers and travel experiences, including the inauguration
of the nation’s first African American President last January.
“We offer a lot in the classroom,” Rankin admits, “but we
provide our students numerous opportunities outside of it.”
Mackowiak is an excellent example of this dual department
pedigree. In the fall of 2008 with Dr. Rankin’s guidance, he
completed an internship with the Investigative Unit of NBC
News’ Washington, D.C. Bureau, where he assisted veteran
correspondent Lisa Myers and a team of producers with reports for
“NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” and the “Today” show.
In addition, while at Fredonia he worked as a part-time technical
producer for WBEN-AM, a news/talk radio station in Buffalo
known for its politics.
“As a Communication major, I found myself trying to figure out
a way to help government be a positive influence on people’s lives,”
explained Mackowiak, who actually had the choice of working for
either NBC News or CNN’s White House unit. “When you work
in the media, you’re working for the people, serving as a watchdog.
But blending communication and politics seems to be a better way
to do that. As far as the rest of my career goes, I can’t really see
myself being too far away from politics.”
Mackowiak isn’t the only recent Communication major to
be drawn to the political arena. Maggie Perrigo, ’07, recently
completed an internship with U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman
in Washington, D.C., as part of a dual master’s program in
International Relations and Public Relations at Syracuse
University. Despite being the daughter of the Republican
Committee chairwoman of Cattaraugus County (N.Y.), her mother
was thrilled when she learned of her daughter’s plans to serve the
well-known Independent senator from Connecticut.
“She said that’s as far left as I’m allowed to go,” joked Perrigo,
who is currently business development director for the chamber
of commerce in her home town of Olean, N.Y., while she helps out
an ill family member. She hopes to one day return to the nation’s
capital, where she grew quite attached during her internship.
“It’s such an experience being there on ‘The Hill,’” she said.
“You just pick up so much.”
Perrigo raves when asked about her Fredonia years. She’s fairly
certain she took every course offered by Rankin, who began many
classes with a clip from Comedy Central’s news/political satire
program, “The Daily Show.” She also enjoyed fellow Political
Science professor Ray Rushboldt, as well as Public Relations
professor Ann Carden.
Maggie Perrigo, ’07, served as a press intern to Connecticut
Senator Joseph Lieberman while completing her master’s degree.
“We were so lucky to be at Fredonia. They have so many terrific
teachers,” Perrigo insists.
Perrigo also brings an interesting perspective, having just
completed her studies at the larger and more nationally recognized
Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse.
“Fredonia has become a force to be reckoned with,” Perrigo
observed. “They [Syracuse’s admissions officers] are starting to
take more Fredonia grads.”
If this recent crop of young guns is any indication, people will be
reckoning with Fredonia grads for a very long time.
alumni.fredonia.edu
15
fanning the Fl ames
A Strong Case for Success
by Jerry Reilly, sports information director
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any successful organization, and Chris
Case, ’01, knows this well. A head coach at Fredonia State in two sports, he
has recruited a steady stream of players who have repeatedly put their names
in the record books.
In women’s soccer, the top two leading scorers in program history are Case
recruits. A third — currently a sophomore — is scoring at a rate that would put
her on top by the time she’s through. He also gets credit for bringing in the
team’s all-time leading goalkeeper as well.
In women’s lacrosse, two Case recruits have been named SUNYAC Player of
the Year and Rookie of the Year — the first Blue Devil women to land either.
Case, too, has received many awards. He has been named SUNYAC Coach of
the Year three times — twice for soccer and once for lacrosse.
The first honor came in 2003 in only his second season as women’s soccer
head coach. Then, in 2008, he was honored in women’s lacrosse after a recordsetting, 11-win season — the most in the program’s 14-year history.
His third and most recent, however, may be his most cherished. Picked to
finish eighth in the pre-season SUNYAC coaches poll, the Blue Devils surprised
the 10-team conference by finishing second with an 11-5-2 record — including
a program-best six conference wins — and advancing to the semifinals in the
SUNYAC Tournament for the first time.
“I’m always trying to find players who can come in and start for us,” said Case.
“And even if they can’t start, good players give you depth.”
Case was more than just a good player when he came to Fredonia in 1997. He
was, in the assessment of his coach, one of the best goalkeepers in the region.
“Chris was a top recruit to our program,” former men’s head coach Mike
Middleton said. “He was one of the top ’keepers in the region and developed
into one of the very best in the whole Division [NCAA III].”
Case appeared in only three games as a freshman, but he made 57 starts over
the next three seasons and posted a 43-10 record with four ties. He was credited
with 26 shutouts and an 85.6 save percentage which, together with his 0.69
goals-against average, rank among the all-time team leaders.
“More importantly,”
Middleton said, “you
could see straight away
that he was a good guy.
He was fun to be with.
The other players really
liked him, and I just
thought he was great.”
Well, maybe not
everyone liked him. Kyle
Marvin was his teammate
for two seasons and has
Head women’s soccer and lacrosse coach Chris Case,
’01, earned SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors this fall
for his soccer campaign. It was the third time in seven
years that he has received the honor, a success which
he credits to steady recruiting and a genuine focus on
his players’ best interests.
16
been an assistant soccer
coach for him the last
five years. He remembers
Case as a driven player
who demanded much of
himself and his teammates, even if it meant
getting into their faces.
One of those instances
was with Marvin, who
spring season
lineup
MEN’S HOCKEY – The team posted a 9-4 record during
this fall, including 5-3 in SUNYAC play and wins in six
of their last seven games. Upcoming home dates include
Buffalo State (Jan. 29), Geneseo (Feb. 5), Brockport
(Feb. 6), and Morrisville State (Feb. 20) — the team’s
annual “Pink the Rink” fundraiser. This year, fans can
buy jerseys before the game and place the last name of a
loved one on the back. Fredonia’s players will then wear
those jerseys during the game. Each jersey is $250 and
benefits the American Cancer Society. To learn more,
contact Coach Jeff Meredith at 673-3334 or meredith@
fredonia.edu.
MEN’S BASKETBALL – The fall included just one
conference game, a stirring come-from-behind victory
over Buffalo State before a raucous home crowd. The
remaining 17 SUNYAC games are in January and
February, when the team did some its best work last year,
including a late run that led to the SUNYAC Tournament
championship game. The team hosts eight home games
to start the New Year, including Feb. 13 vs. Oneonta,
which will be preceded by the annual alumni game at
1 p.m. that day in Dods Hall. Contact Greg Prechtl at
673-3101 or prechtl@fredonia.edu to learn more.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL – With a schedule that mirrors
the men’s, the lady Blue Devils have 17 of 18 conference
games in the spring. The women are also 1-0 in the
SUNYAC following their home win over Buffalo State.
And, like the men, the alumni game is Feb. 13 at Dods
Hall at 11 a.m. Contact Coach Donna Wise at 673-3120
or wise@fredonia.edu to sign up.
SWIMMING and DIVING – Steele Hall remains a favorite
stop for visiting teams, as eight of the Blue Devils’ 11
regular-season meets are at home. In all, 19 opponents
will compete at Fredonia this season, including nine from
the Blue Devil Invitational in December. The SUNYAC
championship is Feb. 10 to 13 at the Flickinger Center
in Buffalo, N.Y.
TRACK AND FIELD – The Mary Phillips Invitational is
Jan. 23 in Steele Hall. Alumni are invited to return – and
compete – by contacting Coach Liz Aldrich at 673-3700
or aldrich@fredonia.edu. Other highlights include The
Valentine Invitational Feb. 12-13 in Boston, Mass., and
the SUNYAC Indoor Championship Feb. 27 in Geneva,
N.Y. The seven-meet outdoor season starts April 3 with
the University of Rochester Alumni Invitational.
SPRING TEAMS – Women’s lacrosse is the first of the
three stick-and-ball teams to play, at home March 7 vs.
Oberlin before heading to West Palm Beach, Fla., for
three games during spring break. Baseball and softball
open their seasons with trips to the Fort Myers, Fla., area
March 11 to 18.
took offense at what he felt was an overly aggressive slide tackle by Case.
“It probably happened,” Case laughed when asked about it. “I was a senior and
didn’t want to lose.”
Marvin believes Case’s goalkeeper pedigree has helped him coach. A top-notch
goalie has to see the big picture and scan the field to stop an opponent’s offense.
He also has to be a solid communicator.
“As a goalkeeper, he wasn’t afraid to talk during every minute of the game,”
Marvin said. “Luckily, he doesn’t have to yell as much anymore.”
That’s now the job of his players, such as Becky Scroger, ’09, a three-time
All-SUNYAC goalkeeper, who is normally soft-spoken. Yet, at Case’s constant
urging, she learned to bark out defensive signals. It paid off. Scroger established
school records for career and single-season goals-against average (1.03 career;
0.67 in 2007) and career shutouts (23).
This year’s starting goalkeeper, freshman Meaghan Meszaros, is learning
this too. As she told the campus newspaper, The Leader, “Coach Case gave
me training that would prepare me for all aspects of the game. He taught me
techniques [for] how to stop shots and also how to talk to the players on the field
to help them keep the other team from shooting.”
Case prepares for every game. His scouting reports are full of details and his
recall of opponents is uncanny. His training methods, however, have matured
over time. When he started coaching, hard runs up “Tin Man Hill” were
routine, but these days his players do most of their running with a ball, and even
play little games as they run — a tactic he learned from Middleton.
“They drill harder than if they spent the whole time sprinting,” Case revealed.
The players also get days off in the middle of some weeks. It gives them time
to focus on their studies, and saves their legs for later in the season. He discovered he shouldn’t push his players too hard or else they might push back. It’s the
same with recruiting.
“Not everyone is the same, but if you push, push, push and give deadlines,
if they’re not ready by the deadline, it puts you out of the game,” Case said of
talking to recruits. “[So] you have to read each situation. If they’re eager to
make a decision, that’s when you push the envelope. If they’re up in the air, you
reiterate the points of why Fredonia is good for them.”
This proved true with Reilly Condidorio, who learned of Fredonia’s program
at a college fair as a senior at LeRoy High School. That sparked her to write to
Case and express an interest in playing for him. During a series of follow-ups, she
sensed he was looking out for her best interests as much as his own.
“He was different than other coaches,” she said. “He asked me tough questions
about aspects of the game and what I could bring to his team. I think these types
of questions are important because a player should be confident and know the
answer to that question about their skill level. I felt welcomed at Fredonia but not
pressured to come here, which was a big plus for me because some coaches put
too much pressure on coming to their schools and it is overwhelming.”
It’s been a terrific fit for them both. In her first two seasons, Condidorio
has been named First Team All-SUNYAC twice, Second Team All-Region as
a freshman, and the only First Team All-Region selection in Fredonia State
women’s soccer history this past fall. Her 20 goals and 50 points over two seasons
are more than half the current school record in each category (33 goals and 80
points by Lauren Heilweil, a teammate of Condidorio’s the past two seasons).
Case says he looks for players with the right attitude and work ethic who
appear willing to accept coaching — and who won’t affect team chemistry
negatively. Once he’s found a player with those qualities, he encourages them to
visit to see the impressive facilities and meet the dedicated people.
“I found,” he said, “that if you can get a kid on our campus, it sells itself. I
think that’s one of the big reasons we’ve been able to bring so many quality
players here.”
fall season
results
WOMEN’S SOCCER – The team earned the program’s
first NCAA regional ranking while school records for
goals and points fell. The ranking came Oct. 20 with a
No. 6 ranking in the East Region, in addition to being
ranked regionally by the NSCAA. School records were
set by senior forward Lauren Heilweil, who surpassed
Jessica Weiser on the goals and points lists. Sophomore
midfielder Reilly Condidorio became the first lady
Blue Devil to be named First Team NCAA Division III
Women All-East Region. She was also named First
Team All-ECAC and First Team All-SUNYAC. Heilweil
was named Third Team All-East Region, Second Team
All-ECAC, and First Team All-SUNYAC. Sophomore
defender Lyz Dembrow made All-SUNYAC Second Team,
and senior defender Lisa Curtis made the Third Team.
VOLLEYBALL – Sophomore libero-defensive specialist
Sarah Zureck earned honorable mention NCAA Division
III All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches
Association. She is Fredonia’s first volleyball player to
become an All-American. “Sarah worked very hard in the
off-season to prepare for this year and it showed in her
performance,” Coach Geoff Braun said. She was also
one of 14 women named to the New York All-Region, a
precursor to the national award. Junior middle blocker
Kaitlin Erdmann was named honorable mention New York
All-Region as well as SUNYAC West Division First Team.
Other First Team picks: sophomore setter Brittany Lis
and senior outside hitter Rebecca Zimmerman. Junior
opposite Jenna Tatu made SUNYAC Second Team. The
team was 24-12 overall and 7-1 in SUNYAC play.
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY – Running what his coach
called “a perfect race,” sophomore Eddie Novara finished
29th overall – and third best among all SUNYAC men –
at the NCAA Division III cross country championships.
Novara’s top-35 finish earned him All-American status.
Starting conservatively and picking off tiring runners
as he went, Novara finished in 26:03 for 8,000 meters
on a soft, damp course. “It was a good time for the
course,” Coach Jeff Beck said. One week prior, Novara
and senior Tom Williams made the Atlantic All-Regional
team. Novara, Williams, and junior Nick Guarino turned
in All-SUNYAC runs during the season, and the team
finished seventh in its region and third in its conference.
MEN’S SOCCER – Freshman midfielder Ryan Smith was
chosen SUNYAC Rookie of the Year. Junior forward Peter
Dagel was All-SUNYAC First Team. Senior goalkeeper
Thom Cavanaugh and junior midfielder Eli Lubberts made
All-SUNYAC Third Team.
alumni.fredonia.edu
17
stell ar students
“Terror in the Trees” Raised from the Dead
SUNY Fredonia is always on the lookout
for new majors it can offer. Mike Raisch,
however, came up with a new one on his own.
“I’m a Halloween major,” said Raisch.
If you comb through the course catalog,
you won’t find it, but that doesn’t deter him.
Raisch, a senior from North Tonawanda,
N.Y., is president of Fredonia’s Interactive
Theatre Society, which hosts “Terror in the
Trees,” an annual walk-through attraction
which features a cast of more than 50 of
the campus’ most passionate Halloween
enthusiasts. His Halloween degree is, in
reality, an Interdisciplinary Studies major
which, like any good potion, is a perfect
blend of ingredients not usually found
together — in this case, business, theatre
and gothic literature courses.
Raisch and his fellow students created
more than a dozen “haunts,” the industry
term for the gory and disturbing scenes
that populated the walking tour of ghastly
horrors and bone-chilling scenarios that
took place in the campus woodlands off Ring
Road the last two weekends in October.
For Raisch, it was the continuation of
a good deed he began in middle school,
together with the good fortune of being able
to pick up where previous Fredonians left off.
Raisch was saddened by the tragedies of
Sept. 11, 2001, and wanted to raise funds
for the Red Cross. So, he and two friends
created a haunted house on his lawn, which
became a neighborhood tradition. By his
senior year of high school, he was creating
more elaborate haunts and raising $5,000.
Fredonia’s haunting history dates back
to 1997 when Patrick Mandia, a residence
hall director, gathered dozens of students
and a budget of just $100 to create a wooded
walking tour called “Haunted Forest.” It
operated one weekend per year, drew a few
hundred attendees, and donated its proceeds
to Camp Good Days and Special Times.
However, after several years of growth
and prosperity, the Haunted Forest lost its
momentum and ceased operations after 2005.
Enter Raisch who, following his freshman
year, learned of this history — and the many
props and resources that lay dormant in the
Student Association office. What more could
a Halloween lover ask for: the chance to
bring something back from the dead!
But Raisch and his fellow fright-festers
took it to a new level, making the haunts
more elaborate and realistic, choosing
the best actors, and even commissioning
contractors to create more intricate sets.
The organization has become selfsufficient, going from $1,300 in revenue in
its first year to more than $5,600 in 2009.
The group also hopes to revisit the charitable
roots of its predecessors and create a scholarship in the future.
In his final year, Raisch is making sure this
gets passed down to strong leaders that will
keep it going long after he’s moved on in life
— which will start with an apprenticeship
Mike Raisch, chief organizer for the
annual “Terror in the Trees” event, with
a giant Venus flytrap that was part of
this year’s attraction.
at The Bates Motel, a professional haunt
near Philadelphia named after the famous
setting in the horror classic, “Psycho.” He’s
developed a “how to” brochure that he’s
passing along to the Interactive Theatre
Society members, the majority of whom,
Raisch says with relief, aren’t seniors.
“I’m trying to leave a legacy behind,”
said Raisch. “We’ve created something very
special. We need to make sure people get to
enjoy this for many years.”
Hopson a Finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year Award
Fredonia State’s Julia Hopson, ’09,
is flanked by ESPN personalities
Doris Burke and Stephen Bardo at
the 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year
banquet Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.
18
Julia Hopson, ’09, was a finalist for the 2009
NCAA Woman of the Year award. She and eight
others were chosen from an initial pool of just
132 nominees among all NCAA colleges and
universities nationwide. The award recognizes
NCAA female student-athletes for their
athletic and academic excellence as well as their
community service and leadership.
Hopson was honored Oct. 18 at the 19th
annual NCAA Woman of the Year dinner at
Indianapolis, Ind. The evening culminated
with University of Arizona swimmer Lacey
Nymeyer, an Olympic silver medalist, receiving
the 2009 Women of the Year award. Television
coverage of the dinner was shown on ESPNU
and re-aired several times on the CBS College
Sports Network.
A native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Hopson
earned five All-American awards in track
and field throwing events at Fredonia State,
including a national championship — the first
by a Blue Devil woman in any sport — in the
2009 women’s 20-pound weight throw. She
was an academic All-American, a Dean’s list
student, and received academic recognition
from the State University of New York Athletic
Conference several times. She was also honored
with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for
Student Excellence. A Graphic Design major,
her artwork was displayed at the 2009 NCAA
Convention in Washington, D.C., and also
featured in the NCAA’s Champions magazine.
New “Hippies” Bring Seriousness to Sustainability
When most people think of environmentalists, they think of tiedyes, bell bottoms and sandals. Today’s environmentalists, however,
are substantially changing that stereotype with suits, cell phones and
strategy—and in doing so, are improving their clout and credibility.
This is absolutely true for four SUNY Fredonia seniors. Susan
Kornacki, Adam Malchoff, Joe McGrath and Alex Staunch have
taken student involvement in environmental issues to a new level,
not only changing the campus’ view of sustainability, but making
major strides in regional and national political circles as well.
“There is a certain sophistication to being environmentally
conscious,” said Malchoff, a History and American Studies double
major.
The four have brought light to the seriousness of sustainability
as members of the Campus Climate Challenge, the Department
of Environmental Affairs (DEA), and Fredonia’s Sustainability
Committee, a group of administrators, faculty and students focused
on reducing the negative impact the college has on the overall
environment. Joining these groups early in their college careers has
led them to leadership roles and altered their academic paths to more
clearly express their points of view. In addition, each has adopted a
personal issue for which they are passionately advocating.
As chairman of the campus’ chapter of the DEA, Malchoff, from
Phelps, N.Y, is currently working to implement a $5 increase to
every student’s activity fee, to be allocated for sustainability projects
on campus each semester through a program called the Green
Initiative Fund.
Staunch, a native of Fairport, N.Y., would like to make the campus
plastic bag-free. Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade in
a landfill, he explained, and take the lives of many animals, which
often mistake them for food.
“My hope is to eventually have the school supply every student
with a cloth bag, which would be funded by the Green Initiative
Fund,” said Staunch, a Biology and Geology double major.
Kornacki, a Visual Arts and New Media and English double
major, was the intern coordinator for Earth Week 2009 and the
inspiration behind the campus’ first Eco Fashion Show, which
featured ethically made clothing, locally designed styles and handme-downs with a twist. The Elma, N.Y. native is trying to develop
a new major at Fredonia, Environmental Studies, where students
would apply social, economic and cultural impacts on environmental
issues, a major she says she would have loved to pursue as a freshman.
As president of Fredonia’s Campus Climate Challenge chapter,
McGrath, a History and American Studies double major from
Clifton Springs, N.Y., recently worked with the Faculty Student
Association (FSA) to provide information to visitors of Erie Dining
Center, promoting tray-free dining habits in an effort to reduce
water usage and wasted food.
“Last semester on ‘Trayless Tuesday’ during Earth Week, food
waste decreased from 6.4 oz. to 4.2 oz. (per person),” said McGrath.
“Our hope is to eventually get FSA to cut down the amount of trays
in dining halls across campus.”
Each of these students also rides a bike or takes a bus most places
instead of driving a car—although, they admit their relative lack of
Photo by Lisa Jennings
by Lisa Jennings, ’10, and Lauren Wilbur, ’10
Seniors Alex Staunch, Susan Kornacki, Adam Malchoff and
Joe McGrath have each tackled a personal sustainable cause
on campus, in addition to working together on larger,
difference-making initiatives.
“green” (money) plays as much of a factor in this decision as does
their desire to live “green” (reduce carbon emissions).
They do, however, make an effort to recycle everything possible,
buy products made from recycled material, and eat locally grown
or organic foods. Staunch has not used a single plastic bag in over a
year, while Malchoff proudly admits to using hemp hair products.
While this may sound as if the hippie stigma is still intact, these
students disagree.
“The environment became a top issue in our world because it
became a respected issue,” said Malchoff. “It’s no longer a hippie
issue; it’s a political issue.”
During the 2008 presidential election, these four Fredonians
worked on an Energy Action Coalition (EAC) campaign called
“Power Vote,” designed to send a message to candidates that young
voters were focused on the environmental and economic future of
the country. Through their efforts, 814 Fredonia students — the
seventh highest percentage among all participating colleges —
signed the Power Vote pledge, promising to vote for the candidate
that best supported green jobs and green energy.
Staunch also organized a trip to Washington, D.C., for 43
students in February 2009 to rally with 12,000 others for the
American Clean Energy and Security Act, designed to help the
country transition to a clean energy economy. The House passed the
bill in June.
“This experience was empowering for me as a brand new activist,”
said Kornacki. “It gave me a clear look at the kind of change we have
the power to enact.”
All four students have discovered that getting involved in these
initiatives has opened their eyes to the changes that need to be
made throughout the world. They have been changed forever, and
for the better. Thanks to their efforts and dedication, so has SUNY
Fredonia.
alumni.fredonia.edu
19
fall ’09 wrap up
Homecoming Honoree Solving Parkinson’s Disease Mysteries
Award-winning scientist Kimberlee
(Neifer) Caldwell, ’87, returned to campus
to accept the Outstanding Achievement
Award during Homecoming and deliver
a seminar to students and faculty about
her ground-breaking research into the
possible causes of Parkinson’s disease. Dr.
Caldwell was honored with fellow biology
alumnus Dr. John Baust, ’65, and Business
Administration alumnus Clifton Turner,
’84, at the Homecoming Awards Luncheon.
In receiving her award in Cranston Marché,
she singled out Biology professors Dr.
Wayne Yunghans and Dr. Ken Mantai for
giving her a head start in research.
Her seminar, titled, “Worming out a
potential cause for Parkinson’s disease,”
covered neuroscience, human health and
microbial ecology in a discussion of new
data Dr. Caldwell has published on a novel
environmental cause of neuronal cell death.
Dr. Caldwell has found that excretions
from a common soil bacteria kill dopamine
neurons in two different worms and in
human neurons in culture — the same
neurons that die in Parkinson’s patients.
Her research team hypothesizes that this
soil bacterium could be an undiscovered
contributor linked to idiopathic Parkinson’s
disease.
Since 90 percent of all Parkinson’s
cases do not have a discovered genetic
component, Dr. Caldwell’s team is excited
about the environmental lead. She believes
that the disease could likely be due to an
environmental cause alone or a combination
of environment and genetics. However, she
emphasized that her team is still a long way
from proving that this bacterial toxin is
involved in human Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Caldwell is a native of North Collins,
N.Y., and a tenured faculty member at the
University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where
she performs research on proteins associated
with Parkinson’s. In 2005, the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute and National
Academy of Sciences named Dr. Caldwell an
Education Fellow in the Life Sciences, and in
2008, Dr. Caldwell, along with her research
partner and husband, Dr. Guy Caldwell,
shared the inaugural HudsonAlpha Prize for
Outstanding Innovation in Life Sciences.
She has also
received a prestigious CAREER
Award from the
National Science
Foundation.
She received
her undergraduate degree
in Recombinant
Gene Technology
from SUNY
Fredonia after
performing
research under
the mentorship of Dr. Yunghans, and later
her master’s and doctoral degrees from the
University of Tennessee.
She has held post-doctoral research
appointments at The Rockefeller University
and Columbia University in New York and
has published in many outstanding peerreviewed journals including Nature, Science,
and Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
University Stadium Completes Final Phase of Construction
A dedication for the completion of Phase II of the soccer/lacrosse stadium was held during the
annual soccer tournament, the Clarion Classic, on Friday, Sept. 11.
Joining President Dennis Hefner to commemorate the occasion were Director of Athletics
Greg Prechtl, ’69, SUNYAC Commissioner and inaugural Fredonia State soccer Coach Pat
Damore, Fredonia College Council Chair JoAnn Niebel, the men’s and women’s soccer teams,
the Fredonia State cheerleaders, Student Association President Anthony Faraco and Vice
President Nicole Matteson, and other campus officials.
Members of the Dunkirk High School Junior ROTC program were on hand to present the
colors. Joining them were some of the top vocalists from the School of Music who, under the
direction of Dr. Gerald Gray, sang a rendition of the national anthem specially arranged by Drs.
Robert Deemer and Karl Boelter. This same group of singers performed the anthem at a Buffalo
Bills game later that fall (see back cover).
The stadium, which began operating in 2007, now boasts such amenities as a new entrance and
traffic circle, ticket office, restrooms, team meeting rooms, concession stands and a press box.
“It was a long time coming, and I think a lot of our competitors will be envious of what we
have here,” said Prechtl. “It will give our coaches a leg up when it comes to recruiting, and it’s a
real positive for the athletic program.”
The Blue Devil men proceeded to beat St. Joseph’s College that evening by a 2-1 score, and
went on to win the tournament the next day with a 2-1 victory over Penn State-Behrend. The
Lady Blue Devils dropped an earlier game Friday to St. Lawrence by a 3-0 margin, but had
better success the next day with Penn State-Behrend, which it played to a 2-2 tie.
2 0
Statement Sprin
Spring
g 2010
Worldwide Stefan Zweig Scholars Gather at Fredonia for Symposium
Scholars from the United States and
throughout the world assembled in early
October at SUNY Fredonia, home of one
of the world’s most significant collections
of Stefan Zweig materials, for a three-day
symposium devoted to the life and works of
the prominent early 20th century AustrianJewish author.
“We felt the Zweig Symposium was
an unqualified success,” said symposium
co-chair Jeremy Linden, head of Archives
and Special Collections at Daniel Reed
Library. “The first gathering of Zweig
scholars in North America in more than
25 years, the support and participation of
our own students, faculty and community,
and the positive response of our visitors to
our campus and community made for an
exciting and enlightening experience.”
Those three days proved to be an
enriching experience for students by clearly
demonstrating how scholars gather to
examine an author and his/her works. “I
learned much that weekend not only about
Zweig himself but also literature and the
way it is studied at the doctoral level,” said
Andy McGirr, a first-year graduate student
in English from Tonawanda, N.Y.
Highlights included keynote addresses
by Dr. Klaus Weissenberger of Rice
University, and Zweig biographer Oliver
Matuschek, author of, The Three Lives of
Stefan Zweig.
The symposium featured an exhibition
of numerous archival materials from the
university’s internationally known Zweig
collection, many of which were on public
display for the very first time. Symposium
presentations addressed the following
themes: Transatlantic Zweig; Zweig’s
Connections; Zweig and Brazil; and Zweig
and Politics.
The U.S. premiere of the Brazilian
feature film, “Lost Zweig,” (2002) was
held at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House.
Filmmaker Sylvio Back, its director,
attended the screening and answered
questions from the audience.
The symposium followed the opening
of, “The Life, Works & World of Stefan
Zweig,” a semester-long exhibit at Reed
Library that presented an overview of
Zweig’s life and works and the significance
he held during the European Modernism
period of the 1920s and 1930s.
Zweig’s prolific literary
career and extraordinary life
offer unique insight into the
artistic and political turbulence
of the first half of the 20th
century, explained Dr. Birger
Vanwesenbeeck, symposium
co-chair and SUNY Fredonia
assistant professor of English.
“As a self-styled humanist and
pacifist as well as a longtime
advocate for European unification, Zweig was deeply affected
by the carnage of World War
I and subsequently sought to
redeem its trauma through
Stefan Zweig biographer Oliver Matuschek delivers
artistic-cultural solidarity,”
the keynote address at the opening of SUNY Fredonia’s
Vanwesenbeeck said.
three-day symposium devoted to the prominent GermanBorn in 1881, Zweig — like
Austrian author.
many other Austrian and
European Jews — was forced
into exile during Hitler’s rise
Personal correspondence is viewed as the
to power in Germany. Zweig, whose books
collection’s most valuable component, said
were burned by the Nazis, fled Vienna in
SUNY Fredonia reference librarian Gerda
1934, moving first to England, then to the
Morrissey, who also serves as associate
U.S. and, in 1941, to Brazil. Shortly after
moving to Brazil, and distraught by another curator of the collection. More than 8,000
pieces of correspondence, manuscripts and
war that was ravaging his European
personal and family items comprise the full
homeland and its culture, Zweig took his
collection, which is Fredonia’s largest and
own life through a suicide pact with his
most significant.
second wife, Lotte, in 1942.
SUNY Fredonia President Dennis
SUNY Fredonia’s connection to Zweig
Hefner, along with College of Arts and
was made through the late Dr. Robert Rie,
Humanities Dean John Kijinski, offered
a professor of modern languages from 1963
welcoming remarks at a reception held at
to 1981 and a longtime colleague of Zweig.
Reed Library’s Japanese Garden.
Rie’s enduring friendship with Zweig
began while both were living in Austria.
Following Zweig’s death, Rie remained in
regular contact with the author’s first wife,
To hear presentations
Friderike, who ultimately entrusted him
made at the 2009 Stefan
and SUNY Fredonia with many of Zweig’s
personal effects. The materials on display
Zweig Symposium, visit
from the collection include personal items,
http://podcasts.fredonia.edu/
such as his signature seal, naturalization
zweig2009.
papers and family photographs, as well as
And to view the symposium
manuscript drafts of plays, essays, poetry
program and items from the
and short stories.
His stature in the literary world is
collection, visit www.fredonia.
revealed in hand-written and typed letters
edu/library/special_collections/
between Zweig and William Butler Yeats,
zweigsymposium.asp.
Joseph Roth, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf
and other prominent early 20th century
European artists, also on display.
alumni.fredonia.edu
21
fall ’09 wrap up
U.S. News Ranks SUNY Fredonia 15th for Small Classes
SUNY Fredonia’s pledge to provide small classes to its more
than 5,300 undergraduate students has earned the university the
15th spot in a nationwide survey of affordable, well-regarded
colleges and universities, as compiled by U.S. News & World Report.
The rankings, announced in the article, “Colleges That Offer
Small Classes on a Budget,” published in the magazine’s Dec. 10,
2009 edition, placed SUNY Fredonia among 30 colleges across
the country whose in-state tuition and fees were under $10,000
in 2008. In that year, Fredonia enrolled 5,178 students and had
in-state tuition and fees of $6,258.
“I was glad to see Fredonia being recognized for something
that is clearly a hallmark of educational quality: a commitment
to keeping class size small, despite the economic challenges we
face,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Virginia Horvath.
The numbers announced in the survey demonstrate that Fredonia
students are learning primarily in small classes, she explained,
due to the university’s commitment to that proven learning
environment.
According to the article, more than half — 54 percent — of all
classes at SUNY Fredonia contained 19 or fewer students, the
definition the magazine set for “small class size.”
A common worry among students is that their educational
experience will be comprised by cavernous lecture rooms and lack
of individual attention from professors that typically occur in large
class sizes, according to the article’s author, Kim Clark. Studies
confirm that learning is enhanced in smaller, more intimate
classrooms.
“Attending a big, affordable public university doesn’t doom a
student to large lecture halls,” Clark wrote.
Classes are often small, even individual, in the fine and
performing arts at SUNY Fredonia, but small classes are found
throughout the curriculum, Dr. Horvath said. While higher level
courses are more likely to be seminar style, many first-year courses
— such as English composition and mathematics classes — are
deliberately kept small.
Geosciences Professor Michael Wilson works with
students in a field experience class setting.
2 2
Statement Sprin g 2010
Dr. Cynthia Smith leads a small group discussion in a recent
Mathematics Education class.
Class size is a major concern of high school seniors, affirmed
Admissions Director Chris Dearth. “Many students that choose
mid-size institutions such as Fredonia do not want to get lost in
large classes. They are looking for an experience where they can
know their professors and classmates. The average class size and
student-to-faculty ratio are questions that are asked every time a
prospective student and his or her parents visit campus,” he said.
Continuing to offer small classes in such great numbers is indeed
an accomplishment, particularly at a time when colleges and
universities across the country are seeking ways to control costs,
often resorting to packing more students into classrooms, laying
off faculty, or both, while at the same time at least maintaining or
increasing enrollment to generate new revenue.
SUNY Fredonia’s commitment to offer small class sizes will not
change in the future, university officials said. In fact, initial plans
for the $60 million Science and Technology Center include a single
lecture hall, while most of the space in the new facility will consist
of flexibly designed learning spaces for no more than 25 students at
a time, with plenty of informal social studying areas.
“We at Fredonia pride ourselves on the close faculty-student
collaborations that are possible when people have a chance to know
one another and work together on research,” Dr. Horvath said.
SUNY Fredonia’s small-class ranking follows its placement
last fall by U.S. News as the 14th best public, master’s granting
university in the Northern U.S., according to the magazine’s 2010
edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”
“It’s no surprise that Fredonia shows up regularly in these
prestigious rankings. Fredonia is a highly respected institution and
offers students a tremendous value for the level of instruction they
receive,” Dearth said.
Gift by Biology Alum Funds New Imaging System
Dr. Christopher Mirabelli, ’77 (left), listens as Biology professor Scott Ferguson
demonstrates the new Syngene imager
that Dr. Mirabelli donated to the biology
department. The imager allows faculty and
students to photograph DNA and protein
samples.
Student and faculty research projects in
Jewett Hall biology classes are being greatly
enhanced by the gift of a new Syngene gel
documentation system, thanks to a donation
by Dr. Christopher Mirabelli, ’77, who
has held senior research and development
positions in the pharmaceutical industry.
The Syngene imager, consisting of a
high-sensitivity, low-light digital camera, a
light-tight chamber and desktop computer,
is used to photograph DNA and protein
samples. It enables students and faculty
to conduct a far wider range of experiments and subsequent analysis, said Scott
Ferguson, assistant professor of biology.
This state-of-the-art equipment, valued
at $20,000, is being used by undergraduate
students in genetics labs and molecular
genetics classes, as well as by biology
department faculty members that include
Drs. Wayne Yunghans, Ted Lee and
Ferguson.
“This will enable us to perform experiments that previously we were unable to do.
The sensitivity and quantitative capabilities
of this instrument are a major step up
for the department,” Ferguson noted. It
replaced an earlier, more rudimentary
instrument that was no longer functioning.
Dr. Mirabelli, who earned his doctorate
in Molecular Pharmacology at Baylor
College of Medicine, is managing director
of HealthCare Ventures LLC and
chairman and interim CEO of Proteostasis
Therapeutics, Inc. He was a founder of Isis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he worked
in research and development, and was
also a member of Smith, Kline & French
Laboratories R&D Division.
Dr. Mirabelli is also a member of SUNY
Fredonia’s Natural Sciences Advisory
Council that is offering design input for
the new Science and Technology Center.
While on campus in October to attend an
advisory council meeting, Dr. Mirabelli had
the opportunity to see the new imager and
discuss its uses with the faculty.
The annual Scholars Breakfast, which recognizes numerous scholarship recipients and their families, gives them
the chance to meet and thank many benefactors in person,
was held Oct. 17. This year — its 20th anniversary — a sea
of 750 students rose as their names were called in recognition of scholarships that totaled more than $1 million.
By contrast, the first event in 1989 included just 87 students and $17,000 in scholarships.
Café Operators Create New Scholarship
Buster Brown Bean Company, purveyors of cappuccinos, espressos and assorted pastries and
sandwiches for hungry SUNY Fredonia students and staff, is establishing a scholarship fund to benefit
those very students who work behind the counters.
David Culver, ’02 (Speech Pathology) and Gregory Wollaston, ’96, (Theatre Arts), who operate
the chain of six eateries, are establishing the Buster Brown Bean Company Scholarship Fund to help
full-time students who work for them defray tuition costs. The fund’s goal is to award at least one
$400 scholarship each year. The company presently employs about 35 students.
“The main point for Greg and me in establishing the scholarship was to give back to the campus
and the community. We both started here, we’re both alumni, and it’s really great for us to be back and
be a part of Fredonia again,” Culver said.
Culver (shown at left) and Wollaston recently adopted a baby girl, Lily Mira, born July 1, 2009. All
three will also appear in an upcoming episode of HGTV’s “Dear Genevieve” in early 2010.
alumni.fredonia.edu
23
cl ass notes
1930s
Helen (Darling) Karl, ’35,
(elem. ed.) at age 94, recently
played a violin solo in church,
“His Eye is on the Sparrow,” to
the delight of the congregation.
1940s
William “Bill” Noyes, ’47,
(music ed.) is a retired U.S. Air
Force Lieutenant Colonel and
assistant professor of music at
Penn State University. Bill is
also a Dallas K. Beal Legacy
Society member.
1950s
Warren C. Wohltjen, ’51,
(music ed.) and Anne (Tiffert)
Wohltjen, ’51, (elem. ed.)
have moved to Mansfield,
Texas, where Warren is playing
euphonium with the Mansfield
Wind Symphony.
Charles Burnsworth, ’53,
(music ed.) was inducted into
SUNY Oneonta’s Music Department Hall of Fame. He joined
the college faculty in 1957 and
served as chairman of the music
department and conductor of the
women’s glee club. After retiring
in 1994, he taught part-time for
several more years.
Shirley (Miller) Erbsmehl,
’58, (elem. ed.) participated in, “A
Celebration of Quilting Tradi-
tions,” sponsored by the Dunkirk
Historical Society at the Clarion
Hotel, Marina and Conference
Center in Dunkirk, N.Y.
1960s
Dr. Douglas Houck, ’60,
(elem. ed.) reviewed non-fiction
work at the Florida Writers
Association conference.
Ron Corsaro, ’61, (music
ed.) will be performing at The
Ontario House Jazz Reunion
and has released six CDs during
his career which began at the
Ontario House. He is music
director for the Lewiston Jazz
Festival.
Carol (Schrader) English,
’63, (elem. ed.) after 45 years
of teaching, segued into a new
career as a day care director. She
is also a newly-elected member
of the Wellsville (N.Y.) School
Board.
Sharon (Clark) Bertrand,
’64, (soc. studies/sec. ed.) and
her husband, Lou, have been
married for 43 years; they have
three adult children and three
grandchildren. Sharon is a retired
high school educator and has
lived in Hiram, Ohio, for the past
40 years.
At a recent meeting of the
International Society for
Cryobiology in Japan, Dr. John
Baust, ’65, (biology) was named
Edna (Hollenbeck) Merchant turns 100
A large family celebration was held in Columbia,
Mo., on Nov. 27, to celebrate the 100th birthday
of Edna (Hollenbeck) Merchant, a member of
the Class of 1931. Mrs. Merchant attended the
Fredonia Normal School from 1928 until 1931,
and her roommate, Dorothy Wilson, became a
lifelong friend. After her Fredonia years, including
professional development training in Fredonia,
Randolph and Dunkirk, Mrs. Merchant was hired by Randolph
Central School District, teaching at Steamburg Area and Sample
Hill one-room schools, where she rang the school bell and fired-up
the heating stove. She left teaching to marry Chester Merchant
and to raise four children, later returning to teach in Erie, Pa.,
East Longmeadow, Mass., and Owensboro, Ky., and was one of
the first Title 1 reading teachers in Kentucky. After the death of
her husband, she moved to Missouri and, until three years ago,
volunteered at a nearby elementary school. She is a food bank and
gift shop volunteer, and enjoys Bible study and Canasta.
24
SUNY Fredonia alumna Dianne Kricheldorf, ’54, stands with President Dennis
Hefner and (far left) Benjamin Marchione and Linda Sroka (far right), chair
and vice chair, respectively, of the National Philanthropy Day celebration
sponsored by the Western New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising
Professionals. Dianne was recognized for her many efforts supporting SUNY
Fredonia, and in particular, her work to organize fundraising which honored
the late Dr. Georgiana von Tornow, a professor of theatre arts. Through her
efforts, the Marvel Theatre lobby was dedicated as the Georgiana von Tornow
Lobby in 2009 and a Fredonia College Foundation scholarship has been
established in Dr. von Tornow’s name.
a Fellow of the Society for his
legacy contributions in developing a curative cancer therapy.
Richard Sowinski, ’65,
(elem. ed.) was the featured
clarinet soloist for the performance of, “The Tale of Viktor
Navorski,” by John Williams at
the annual Veterans Day concert
by the American Legion Band of
the Tonawandas.
School of Music alumni and
spouses gathered in Skaneateles,
N.Y., in July 2009 for a minireunion, including Kathy and
Larry Balestra, ’71 (music ed.);
Dr. Bill, ’67, (music ed.; faculty,
’69-’82) and Julie (Ary) Dederer,
’70, ’73 (music ed.); Mary and
Tom Huhn, ’69, ’73 (music ed.);
and Ken, ’68, (music ed.) and
Carol (Haile) Pick, ’68, (music
ed.). Some hadn’t seen each other
Margaret (Shuler) Wyckoff turns 100
Family, friends and former students
gathered in Las Cruces, N.M., to
celebrate the 100th birthday of Margaret (Shuler) Wyckoff, who dreamed of
teaching music and was a member of
the Fredonia Normal School Class of
1930. She continued voice and piano
studies in Ithaca and California, and taught music in Interlaken,
N.Y., served as a music supervisor in Cayuga County, and was
a music instructor in New Jersey. Continuing to play the piano
and solving crossword puzzles are two things that Ms. Wyckoff
attributes to her long life. This past summer, she published her
autobiography, The Silent Keyboard: Memoirs of a Musical Life. She
credits the title to a suggestion made by President Dennis Hefner
(pictured with Ms. Wyckoff above) after hearing that she, as a
child, had found herself a long wooden board, painted it black,
sketched in the appropriate keys and used one of her mother’s old
music books to teach herself how to play the instrument. She is a
member of the Dallas K. Beal Legacy Society.
Tom Rasely, ’73, (music ed.)
performed in the “Chenango
Guitar Heroes” benefit concert for
The Chenango County Council
of the Arts in Norwich, N.Y.
Daniel Ryel, ’73, (English/sec.
ed.), a former English teacher,
just completed his 32nd year in
the financial services field.
John Bowen, ’74, (sociology)
is the new pastor of the Magnolia
United Methodist Church in
Mayville, N.Y.
Marcia Gillineaux-Hubert and Rodney Brown, both members of the Class of
1964, join President Dennis Hefner at the re-dedication of the William Daley
sculpture, “Protected Dialogue,” a gift by the Class of 1964. The sculpture,
a celebration of academic freedom at the University, was removed and
placed in storage during construction of University Commons. It has been
re-installed at University Commons, adjacent to Starbucks.
since graduation and they had a
grand time reminiscing. On their
last morning, they gathered on
the shore of Skaneateles Lake
(thinking of Lake Erie!) and sang
the alma mater, to the delight of
passersby.
Rita (Blum) Cooper, ’69,
(elem. ed.) retired from Hampton
(Va.) City Schools in June ’06 and
is mentoring first year teachers and
doing limited substitute teaching.
Verland “Butch” Cooper, ’69,
(math./sec. ed.) is retired from the
federal government and spends
time volunteering for the Boy
Scouts of America.
She has four gloves patented, one
of which sits in the the Baseball
Hall of Fame in Cooperstown,
N.Y. Carol is Registrar at the
University of Virginia.
Dr. Tom Tarantelli, ’71,
(pol. sci.) completed his Ph.D.
in Education Administration
and Policy Studies at the State
University at Albany.
Tony Caramia, ’73, (applied
music) performed Gershwin’s,
“Rhapsody in Blue,” with the
Eastman School of Music Wind
Ensemble during the grand opening season of Kodak Hall at the
Eastman Theatre in Rochester.
Judy (Shumway) Kayhani,
’69, (elem. ed.) is retired and
suffering from nerve damage
from treatments/surgeries for
inflammatory breast cancer. She
has lost use of her right arm and
hand but reports she is a 12-year
cancer survivor.
1970s
Dr. Greg Gibbs, ’71, (elem.
ed.) was promoted to associate
professor of education and
granted tenure in the School of
Education at St. Bonaventure
University, where he is also chair
of the Educational Leadership
program.
Carol “Stash” Stanley, ’71,
(theatre) came up with an idea to
help softball and baseball players
prevent injuries and patented
the Stan-Mill Mitt, a glove to
protect baseball players’ hands.
Dr. Martin Moskowitz,
’75, (special studies) is Director
of the Division of Critical
Care Medicine at North Shore
University Hospital at Glen
Cove (N.Y.).
Nancy Battaglia, ’76,
(psych., sociology) received the
Bruce Wally Walford Community Service Award. Nancy
is a Mental Health Clinician at
The Resource Center’s Gateways
Continuing Day Treatment
Program in Dunkirk, N.Y.
Paul Kurzanski, ’76, (pol. sci.)
received the 2009 Environmental
Excellence Award from the Association of American Railroads,
for demonstrating outstanding
performance in environmental
awareness and responsibility
during the year. He is a 30-year
rail industry veteran stationed in
Jacksonville, Fla., and manages
about 125 environmental remediation projects annually in six states
and two Canadian provinces.
Elizabeth Petiprin, ’76,
(English/sec. ed.) is semi-retired
but still teaches part-time
at Jamestown Community
College, including an Honors
Literature course.
Karen (Bjornland) Desjardins, ’77, (English) is Miss
December in the 2009 Colondar
(www.colonclub.com), an annual
calendar that raises awareness
of colon cancer in men and
women under age 50. Karen is
a survivor of breast, colon and
ovarian cancers.
Keith McFayden, ’77, (bus.
admin.) was named one of 2009’s
Black Achievers, sponsored by
Tops Friendly Markets. He has
more than 29 years of experience
in the food industry and is
also treasurer of the Learning
Disability Association of Western
New York.
Kathleen Wise, ’77, (sociology) is the legislative advisor to
New York State Assemblyman
David R. Townsend.
Dr. James R. Ebert, ’78,
(geology) chairman of the earth
sciences department at SUNY
Oneonta and a member of the
faculty since 1985, has been
promoted to the rank of SUNY
Distinguished Teaching Professor.
Holly (Schmidt) Lawrence,
’75, (elem. ed.) retired in June
’08 after 33 years of teaching
third grade at Brockport (N.Y.)
Central School.
James Gormley, ’73, (pol.
sci.) who practices corporate law,
was selected for inclusion in, The
Best Lawyers in America 2010, as
announced by his firm, Damon
Morey of Buffalo, N.Y.
David Herweg, ’73, (soc.
studies/sec. ed.) retired after
teaching for 36 years in the Buffalo area, and in 2009, received
the RIT Distinguished Teacher
Recognition award. He also
received the Ignatian Teacher of
the Year Award from Canisius
High School.
Alumni gathered in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., on Nov. 4. Front row, from left:
Juliet Black, ’94; Molly (Martha) Rodgers, ’02; Stephanie Ross Plafker,
’84; and James Sliwa, ’81. Back row, from left: President Dennis Hefner;
Bernard Prabucki, ’83; Dr. Neil Moore, ’80; Maria Thiele; Associate Vice
President Betty Catania Gossett, ’76; Dennis Thiele, ’78; David Plafker ’81;
and Vice President for University Advancement David Tiffany.
alumni.fredonia.edu
25
cl ass notes
ATTENTION Classes of 1979 and 1980:
The Career Development Office maintains credential files for 30
years from the year of your first degree from SUNY Fredonia. Files
older than 30 years that have not been active (new letters of reference, sending file out, correspondence regarding file contents)
within five years will be destroyed unless you contact the CDO by
Sept. 1 of the year the file is to be destroyed. Therefore, files from
1979 and 1980 grads not active within the past five years will be
eliminated after Sept. 1, 2010.
James Walter, ’75, (English)
is celebrating 32 years of
teaching English.
Allan Wilson, ’75, (music
perf.) was invited by London’s
Philharmonia Orchestra to
conduct the group at a festival
concert in Abu Dhabi in January
2009 for a program of Disney
film music and Stravinsky’s
“Firebird” Suite, and has been
asked back for a concert this
month.
Nancy J. (Ponosuk) Ianson,
’77, (bus. admin.) was elected
secretary of CSEA Nassau Local
830, and attended the Annual
Delegates Meeting of CSEA in
Buffalo, N.Y., in September 2009.
Charles “Chip” Fesko, ’78,
(history) had his first public art
showing in California, where he
has resided since 1991. His watercolors were exhibited at Newport
Beach City Hall in 2009. For
the past three years, he has been
Senior Director of Advertising and
Strategic Alliances for the George
Lucas Educational Foundation
(www.edutopia.org), which is “all
about inspirational education
stories for K-12 public schools,
teachers and administrators.”
He was also an associate producer on the Everest Peace Project.
2 6
Carmela (Dubose) Thompson,
’78, (elem. ed.) has been appointed
Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Buffalo State College.
1980s
Eric Blomquist, ’80, (music
ed.) was elected to the National
Board of Governors for the
Human Rights Campaign. A
longtime advocate for LGBT
equality, Eric has been a member
of the HRC Greater New York
Steering Committee and, as
Co-chair of the Corporate
Committee for the Greater New
York Gala, received the National
Corporate Excellence Award for
his fundraising. Eric is on the
staff of The Graduate Center
CUNY. For information on his
CD, “Eric Blomquist Heldentenor,” go to www.CDBaby.com.
James Knapp, ’80, (music
ed.) received the Certificate
of Congressional Recognition
for his cultural contributions
as artistic director of Bayou
City Performing Arts, a choral
organization of over 150 singers
in Houston, Texas. In addition to
the honor, Houston Mayor Bill
White made a civic proclamation
that June 13, 2009, was “James
Knapp Day.” James now resides
in Boston, Mass., with his
partner. Friends can reach him at
knapper58@sbcglobal.net.
Brenda (Geloff) McGuinness, ’80, (pol. sci.) helped to
raise money for the Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society by completing a 100-mile ride along the
New Hampshire seacoast.
Carl Vahl, ’80, (pol. sci.)
visited Niger in western Africa
in August 2009 to inspect eight
water wells drilled by hand at
the cost of $2,000 as part of the
Olean (N.Y.) Rotary Club’s Niger
water well project. In addition
to the wells, the club is raising
money to supply two local clinics
with essential medical supplies.
Jerome Moss, ’81, (special
studies) was named boys’
basketball coach at Dunkirk
(N.Y.) High School.
David Sluberski, ’81, (special
studies) after 25 years as Senior
Audio Technologist for WXXI,
started a new career at Rochester
Institute of Technology as a
visiting assistant professor for
film and animation.
Mark Bruner, ’82, (biology/
sec. ed.) was promoted to
Associate Director in Pharmaceutical Development
Formulation of Monoclonals at
Johnson & Johnson.
Ken Toal, ’82, (sound rec.
tech.) is Executive Director of the
Commercial Division of Audio
Analysts, coordinating installations of performance audio and
video systems for high profile
venues across the U.S. Previously,
he was Superintendent of Audio
for the U.S. Air Force Academy
Band (formerly the Air Force
Band of the Rockies) and was the
head audio engineer for the band.
He also engineered and produced
numerous CDs and videos for the
band before retiring as a Senior
Master Sergeant in 2002. Ken
would love to hear from any old
“Tones.”
named Chief Marketing Officer,
and then President in September
2008.
Brian De Lorenzo, ’84, (mus.
theatre) has been keeping busy
with cabaret, theatre and concert
performances, mostly in the Boston, Mass., area, with occasional
stints in New York City and on
cruise ships. He and his husband,
John, celebrated their fifth year
of legal marriage in June ’09.
Brian would love to hear from old
friends at Brian@BrianDeLorenzo.
com or at LinkedIn.
Mary (Herbach) Lawhon,
’84, (bus. admin.) was appointed
marketing coordinator by Erdman Anthony in its Buffalo-based
Civil Engineering department.
Michele Musulin, ’84, (bus.
admin.) is celebrating her 16th
year as a Program Consultant at
Hilton Head Health, a weight
loss and health resort.
Karen Cataldo, ’85, (art)
represented SUNY Fredonia
at the inauguration of the State
University at Stony Brook’s new
President on Oct. 23, 2009.
Carmen (McCray) Green,
’85, (English) earned her M.F.A.
in Creative Writing from
Fairleigh Dickinson University
in August 2009, and her 28th
book, The Perfect Seduction, will
be released by Harlequin Books
this month.
Howard Klayman, ’85,
(music ed.) has been appointed
to the board of directors at HDF
Defense Systems of Arlington,
John DeTolla, ’83, (commun.)
has, for the fourth time in his
career, earned an Emmy Award.
The latest came for his work
as a freelance technician for
NBC during the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing, China. He
will also be working the 2010
Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Bruce Cummings, ’84, (coop.
engineer/physics) has been named
Chief Executive Officer of Gila
Corp. (d/b/a Municipal Services
Bureau) and Gila Group. Bruce
joined the company in 2007 as
Vice President of Marketing and
Business Development, was later
Emanuel “Manny” LaCarrubba, ’85,
a Sound Recording Technology
(SRT)graduate, with School of
Music Director Karl Boelter.
Manny is president of Sausalito
Audio Works in Novato, CAlif. He
returned to campus in October
to tour the School of Music and
work with SRT students.
Va., and will chair the board’s
Committee on Government
Strategy and Congressional
Affairs. Howard has also been
appointed Director of Business
Development for Ultra Electronics Criticom of Lanham, Md.
Deborah (Franklin)
Tederous, ’85, (commun.) was
appointed the new full-time
Executive Director of the United
Way of Northern Chautauqua
County.
Deneen Hernandez, ’86, (pol.
sci.) a forensic examiner with the
FBI, visited Erie 2-ChautauquaCattaraugus BOCES’ Hewes
Educational Center, where she
led students through three crime
scene scenarios.
Mike Kaupa, ’86, (applied
music) joined the faculty of the
Eastman Community Music
School in Rochester, N.Y. He
is featured on two new jazz
recordings, “Jentsch Group
Large, Cycles Suite, featuring
Mike Kaupa,” and “Facing the
Mirror” with the Dave Rivello
Ensemble.
Composer and conductor Dr.
Timothy Brown, ’87, (special
studies) had two unaccompanied
choral compositions premiered
by the Aquarius Kamerkoor in
Antwerp, Belgium, in June 2009.
Robert Dietch, ’87, (sound
rec. tech.) has been music director for the Traveling Cabaret
of Irondequoit (N.Y.) for more
than five years and accompanist
for the West Irondequoit School
District’s music department
since 1996. He also was musical
director on a production of,
Zorba, with Blackfriars, a theater
company in Rochester, N.Y.
Sharon (Eckert) Pawlak, ’87,
(music therapy) is a representative
for the National Indoor Mold
Society in Tennessee. She is a
board certified music therapist
and laboratory animal scientist as
well as an ordained minister.
Dr. David Bower, ’88, (music/
music perf.) was appointed Director of Music and Organist at St.
Michael’s Church in Cranford,
N.J., in September 2009. He is
also the new assistant conductor
of the New Jersey Schwaebischer
Saengerbund, a 100-voice New
Jersey-based choral group
performing German repertory.
Freedonia Marxonia Set for Spring 2010
James Ranney, ’88, (comm.)
was promoted to Station Manager
of WNED-AM and WNED
Director of Public Affairs.
The zany fun of the annual Freedonia Marxonia Marx
Brothers Film Festival and Symposium returns to campus
Saturday, April 24, from 1 to 5 p.m. in 105 Fenton Hall.
This year’s festival features a presentation by Marx
Brothers aficionado Matthew Hahn, who is sponsoring
this year’s event along with his wife, Cheri. Marx Brothers
expert Paul Wesolowski will exhibit items from his extensive
collection of memorabilia. Douglas Canham, ’87, a founding
member of the festival and sponsor of the 2009 “rebirth” of
Freedonia Marxonia, will also be on hand.
The 2010 festival will contain many surprises, but its
traditional elements will remain, including the Marx
Brothers contests. Cash prizes with be awarded for best-inclass original Marx works created by students, alumni and
community members in three categories: short films (four
minutes or less), art (any medium) and look-a-like efforts
(individuals or groups).
Free “Groucho Glasses” will be distributed to all participants, “Duck Soup” and other Marx Brothers’ films will be
shown, and a group photo will be taken of the attendees.
Freedonia Marxonia celebrates the unique link SUNY
Fredonia has with the 1929 Marx Brothers film, “Duck
Soup,” which takes place in a fictional country of Freedonia.
In addition, there is a great deal of area folklore that
suggests there is “more to the story.” To enjoy the fun of the
legendary comedians — SUNY Fredonia style — make sure
to visit campus April 24. To learn more, contact Karen West
at westk@fredonia.edu.
David Foley, ’89, (soc. studies/
sec. ed.) was re-elected to his
second term as Chautauqua
County District Attorney.
Sean Patrick McGraw, ’89,
(applied music) drew rave reviews
at the Stagecoach Festival, California’s mammoth country music
event, and his band appeared on
“Jimmy Kimmel Live.” His video
of, “Dollar Ain’t Worth a Dime,”
has been on CMT and his band
played at Darien Lake. He also
has a new CD awaiting release.
Jonathan Sherman, ’89,
(biology) is the secondary science
department chair and high school
union representative for Medina
(N.Y.) Central School and the
chief negotiator for the Medina
Teachers’ Association.
1990s
Pam Swarts, ’90, (art), a digital
arts instructor at Genesee Community College, was invited by the
United States Embassy in Belarus
to perform with the group, The
Gifted Children, of Rochester
(N.Y.), in the fifth annual festival
of Belarusian music.
Tyler Renaud, ’91, (pol.
sci.) was named head coach of
the women’s soccer program at
SUNY IT of Utica (N.Y.).
Scott Hirschler, ’91, (elem.
ed.) has landed a new position
as principal of Scribner Road
Elementary School in Rochester, N.Y.
Paula (Chisholm) Orcutt, ’91,
(elem. ed./early child.) is on the
advisory board of a YMCA, and a
board member of the Junior League
of Greater Winter Haven (Fla.).
Photo taken at home of Reg Spiller, Houston, Texas, during a Fredonia
alumni gathering, June 2009. From left: Ann Kern. Freda Spiller, Chris Kern,
’75; Denee Weir, Gary Weir, ’75; Dr. Mike Wilson, ’71, ’74; Judy Peterson, Reg
Spiller, ’74; and Dr. Mike Peterson (faculty, ’70-’81).
Renee (Kreitzberg) Gerace,
’92, (history, French) joined the
University of Rochester (N.Y.)
Medical Center as an administrator to the board of governors.
alumni gathered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on August 13, 2009, at the Saratoga
Springs Tavern.
alumni.fredonia.edu
27
cl ass notes
Stay in the Picture!
Join hundreds of Fredonians on the new alumni web portal
Since its late-August launch, 750 members have joined the
new SUNY Fredonia Alumni & Friends Online Community!
Now alumni can search for fellow Fredonians by name, city,
state, major, or class year — a great way to find long-lost
friends and keep your information current with our Office of
Alumni Affairs.
Former faculty and staff are also invited to register, as are
Fredonia seniors, who are preparing to transition into the
alumni community.
The new website is updated regularly and packed with
relevant information for you — reunions, on-campus events,
career assistance, photo galleries, academic and athletics news,
alumni accomplishments and articles from the Statement.
Much of the site is public, but a highly valuable section,
“FREDConnect,” is reserved for those who register. This
social networking tool lets graduates connect by forming
and joining discussion groups, networking professionally,
or making friends and talking privately. Members can post
photos, résumés and other information for all to see or keep
certain things private.
Society of Newspaper Editors’
2009 Convention for three sports
feature submissions.
Judy Schwartz, ’92, (health
serv. admin.) has been named
Director of Library Services at
Trocaire College of Buffalo, N.Y.
Judy has been at Trocaire for
10 years and can be reached at
schwartzj@trocaire.edu.
Shawn Connolly, ’94, (pol.
sci.) and Justin Azzarella, ’00,
(pol. sci.) are among a diverse
group of honorees for the 18th
annual Business First 40 Under
Forty class.
Gregory Robinson, ’94,
(English) earned his Ph.D. in
English from the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas and is now
an assistant professor of English
at Nevada State College.
Keith Chartrand, ’95, (commun.) was awarded first place in
Sports Division C at the Florida
2 8
Sharon (Hansen) Powers,
’95, (psych.) was elected Director
of Leadership Development
for The Eastern Association of
Colleges and Employers, and
received its Outstanding Member
Award. She is Assistant Director
of Career Development for Bryn
Mawr College and Haverford
College in Pennsylvania.
Heather (Morey) Foley, ’96,
(elem. ed./reading) has provided
AIS (Academic Intervention
Services) since 2008 at Cassadaga
(N.Y.) Elementary School.
Lyndsey (Smith) Wilcox, ’96,
(commun.) and David Wilcox,
’96, (bus. admin.) live in Saratoga
Springs, N.Y., where David works
for Eli Lilly and Lyndsey is a parttime school counselor. They have
two children, Elle and Parker.
Michael Woloz, ’96, (English)
has been married to Claire Rose
of London, England, since 2000.
They have two children, Gabriel
and Olivia, and live in New York
City. Michael is Vice President
of Connelly & McLaughlin, a
You can get help from the Career Development Office,
which supports alumni throughout their careers regardless of
their age. Got a big life change? Submit a Class Note. Want to
post a job to recruit fellow alums or student interns? Request a
transcript? Buy a Fredonia sweatshirt? Become a mentor? It’s
all right there.
The new site also contains an online giving tool, making
it easy to make a general gift or support scholarships of your
choice. More than 500 funds are conveniently listed according
to department and major, so users can search and choose
where they’d like their dollars to go. Gifts can even be split
among multiple funds, and recurring options are available as
well. No passwords or complicated registrations are required.
All you need is an e-mail and a mailing address, and our safe
and secure system takes care of the rest.
We truly hope you find this new website chock full of
meaningful information. Visit often, tell your friends and stay
involved in all things Fredonia — a place you can always call
home.
public affairs firm located in
Manhattan, and in September
2009 was named a “Rising Star:
40 under 40,” by City Hall, a
Manhattan Media Publication.
He is also active in numerous
non-profits and charities and
is a board member of Young
Audiences New York.
Edward Luce, ’97, (art) was
nominated for an Ignatz Award.
The awards are independent comics’ awards presented at the Small
Press Expo in Bethesda, Md.
Brent Moore, ’97, (pol. sci.)
was promoted to Principal at Porzio Bromberg & Newman, where
he practices in the Corporate
Bankruptcy and Financial
Restructuring departments.
Matthew May, ’98, (theatre/
interdis. studies) has written a
new play, Still Untitled, based
upon stories by Terrance Olear,
’96, (acting) that had its world
premiere production in July 2009
at the Rising Action Theater in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Justin Pomietlarz, ’98,
(music/music perf.) performed
in the OperaBuffs 2009 Curtain
Up program in September. He is
in his fourth year of teaching at
Amherst (N.Y.) High School.
Kimberlie (Fergen) Ball, ’99,
(commun.) was named Assistant
Director of Admissions at
SUNY Fredonia.
Christy (Klahn) Bottoms,
’99, (bus. admin.) has been
recognized by Cambridge Who’s
Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence
in cosmetology.
Alexsandra Lopez, ’99,
(speech path.) has been chosen by
the American Speech Hearing and
Language Association (ASHA) as
a “Diversity Champion.”
Dr. Joy (Stepinski) Musser,
’99, (speech path.) completed
her Ph.D. in Communication
Sciences and Disorders at the
University of Cincinnati in
January 2009 following a successful defense of her dissertation
pertaining to extraesophageal
reflux. She is on the faculty
at Indiana University-Purdue
University of Fort Wayne, where
she lives with her husband, John,
and son, Liam.
2000s
Jessica Fortunate, ’00,
(elem. ed.) is in her 10th year
of teaching, currently eighth
grade ELA, in the Wilson (N.Y.)
Central School District.
Brian J. Miga, ’02, (physics/
coop. engineer.) recently
received his M.B.A. from the
University of Minnesota’s
Carlson School of Management.
He is a Staff Product Engineer
at Cypress Semiconductor in
Bloomfield, Minn.
Christopher Ash, ’03, (theatrical prod. and design) received a
nomination for a Joseph Jefferson
Award, Chicago’s version of
the Tony Awards, for his work
on, Pump Boys and Dinettes, for
the Drury Lane Theatre in
Oakbrook, in the category of
Scene Design-Large.
Elizabeth Bennett, ’03,
(bus. admin./market.) received
M.B.A.s in Management,
Human Resources Management, and Marketing, all from
American InterContinental
University Online.
Jason Fishner, ’03, (comm./
pub. rel.) has accepted a new
position as the assistant director
of college housing at SUNY
College of Technology at Delhi.
John Horan, ’04, (theatrical
prod. and design) received a
nomination for a Joseph Jefferson
Award, Chicago’s version of the
Tony Awards, for his work on, Dr.
Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, for the Northlight Theatre, in the category of
Lighting Design-Large.
Allison Mosher, ’04, (English)
earned her Master of Science
degree in Human Services with a
specialization in Nonprofit Management from Capella University.
She recently accepted a position
as the Child Safety Manager at
ACCORD Corporation.
Paul Nandzik, ’04, (English)
has written a short story, “Old
Mountain Spirit,” which was
published by North Country
Books in its compilation volume,
Adirondack Mysteries, in 2009.
James H. Kontrabecki, ’05,
(music ed.) was appointed to the
string faculty at SUNY Fredonia
starting in the 2009 fall semester.
Jerry Hovey, ’05, (bus.
admin.) is an insurance agent for
Liberty Mutual and is working
on his M.B.A. at St. Bonaventure University.
Ellen Przepasniak, ’05,
(English) is a staff writer for
Artvoice, Buffalo’s alternative
weekly newspaper. She is also
working as the communications
coordinator for LittleSis.org, a
project of the non-profit Public
Accountability Initiative. The
website tracks relationships
between powerful Americans.
Joseph Flaxman, ’06, (music
perf.) has performed in several operas including the role of
Kromov in The Merry Widow with
St. Petersburg Opera; as Wagner
in Faust with Opera Memphis;
as Valentin in Faust for an Opera
Memphis broadcast on National
Public Radio for the mid-south;
as Marcello in La Bohème with the
Martina Arroyo Foundation, and
just recorded the role of Roberto
in a new opera, Piazza Navonna,
with the Accadia Foundation.
He will sing Guglielmo in Cosi
fan tutte with Opera Memphis
and this winter will be one of 24
young artists at Sarasota (Fla.)
Opera in three productions.
Steve Greenberg, ’06,
(account.) is an assistant coach for
the Capital Centre Pride Midget
Major AAA team that plays in the
Northern Lakes Hockey League.
Jolene Woleben, ’06,
(psych.) graduated from Alfred
University with her master’s
degree in School Psychology and
is working on her certificate of
advanced study at Geneseo (N.Y.)
Central School District as a
school psychologist intern.
Nick Bernardone, ’07,
(comm./TV and digital film)
has worked on and appeared
in seasons three and four of
the NBC show, “30 Rock.”
During the summer he worked
on an upcoming Disney film,
“Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” starring
Nicholas Cage. In April ’09, he
wrote and directed a comedy
web series, “Bromos,” (http://
thebromos.com) that was selected
into Channel 101’s Primetime
line-up for four episodes.
SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher received her very own
“Pink the Rink” jersey from President Dennis Hefner during
her inaugural visit to campus last August.
The Fredonia State men’s hockey team will wrap
up the SUNYAC regular season in high style, while
promoting a very good cause, by staging its fan-favorite
“Pink the Rink” game. The annual event, which serves
as a fundraiser in the fight against breast cancer and has
garnered national media attention in the past, will take
place on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m., against Morrisville
at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.
The Blue Devils will once again don their pink
jerseys and socks for the event, launched as a student
class project by former assistant hockey coach Greg
Heffernan in 2007 to raise money for the American
Cancer Society. All proceeds from the sale of these
jerseys will once again be given to the American Cancer
Society.
In past years, jerseys from all team members were
auctioned off to the highest bidders and awarded on the
ice immediately after the game. Each winning bidder
received the pink jersey that bore the team logo on the
front and the player’s name on the back.
There’s a new twist this year for acquiring one of
these unique jerseys. Fans are invited to make arrangements before the game to purchase a pink jersey for
$250. These pre-game sales will enable the team to have
the last name of a loved one of the person buying the
jersey — instead of the player’s name — printed on the
back of the jersey to serve as a tribute to be seen by all
fans at the game.
“We feel it will be an inspirational evening and are
excited about joining in the fight against breast cancer,”
said Head Coach Jeffrey Meredith.
To purchase a jersey, contact Coach Meredith at (716)
673-3334 or Meredith@fredonia.edu.
alumni.fredonia.edu
29
cl ass notes
Will Barlow, ’07, (bus.
admin./mgmt.) has re-signed
for his third season with the
Southern Professional Hockey
League (SPHL) Columbus
Cottonmouths as a defensemen.
He played four seasons at SUNY
Fredonia, picking up 29 points
in 83 games over his collegiate
career.
Lianne Coogan, ’07, (art/
graphic design) has been named
Art Director for The Martin
Group, a Buffalo-based branding
and creative marketing firm.
Jared Scott Tesler’s, ’08,
(commun./pub. rel.) editorial,
“Boys, Dollhouses, and Stereotypes,” was accepted for publication by, The Father Life, an online
men’s magazine for dads.
Victoria Vargas, ’08, (music
perf.) performed at the 2009
OperaBuffs Curtain Up event in
Buffalo after her work with the
Martina Arroyo Foundation and
the Manhattan School of Music,
where she is pursuing her Master
of Music degree.
John Mackowiak, ’09, (comm.
– audio/radio) was campaign
communications director, for
Chautauqua County Executive
candidate Chuck Cornell.
Births
A daughter, Mallory Bennett
Evans Brown, to Timothy
Brown, ’82 (chem.).
Anne Marie Miller, ’09,
(music ed.) and Alexander
Palmquist, ’09, spent four
months in Quito, Ecuador,
volunteering for the Center for
the Working Girl in late 2009.
A son, Mason, to Bart and
Melissa (Uhteg) McGloin, ’91
(curr. and instr.).
Emeritus Notes
A son, Casey Dillon, to
Christian and Katie (Kane)
Weinowski, ’96 (psych.).
Dr. Phillip Morse (English,
Education) wrote the book,
Gloria Mae, The Heroine of
Dunkirk Harbor, a story about
an old fishing tug that had been
a fixture in the Dunkirk (N.Y.)
harbor for years that was involved
in a lake rescue.
Dr. Robert Deming
(English) and Dr. Anne Deming
(Counseling Center, Psychology,
Development) recently returned
from a special trip to India under
a volunteer program through
Cross-Cultural Solutions.
Leah Loefke, ’09, (comm.
disorders) began graduate
school at Canisius College in
Mental Health Counseling in
January 2010.
A son, Jackson Thomas, to Jim
and Lori Randles, ’95 (elem. ed./
Spanish).
A daughter, Clarissa Elizabeth,
to Jason, ’99, (commun., pol. sci.)
and Pamela (Smith) Enser, ’03,
’06, (literacy) of Lake View, N.Y.
A son, Kyle Joseph, to Patrick,
’99, (bus. admin.) and Meghan
(Deery) Farrington, ’99 (speech
and hear. hand.).
A daughter, Evelyn Ray, to
Ellen Pennock, ’99 (art).
A daughter, Ada Frances, to
Paul, ’01 (sound rec. technology)
and Allison (Hahn) Weiss, ’00
(speech path.).
A daughter, Genevieve Ann, to
Nicholas, ’02, (English) and Lori
(Pawk) Koziol, ’03, (curr. and
instr.) from Dryden, N.Y.
A son, Aiden Leo, to Jerry and
Tricia (Boyer) Titus, ’02, (elem.
ed.) of Charlotte, N.C.
A daughter, Evelyn Ross, to
Jonathan Fuller, ’07 (music perf.)
and Betsy Stambach-Fuller, ’05
(music ed.).
A son, Eliot Jameson, to James,
’07, (math./adol. ed.) and
Stephanie (Bye) Wares, ’03
(psych.).
Marriages
Michael Piret, ’79, (English)
to Sian Williams.
Michelle Adams, ’98,
(sociology) to Michael Adler.
Casey Gross, ’00, (psych.) to
Melissa Zeh.
Meredith Cooper, ’01,
(English/sec. ed.) to Jeffrey Surdel.
Alexis St. Clair, ’02, (music
ed.) to R. Scott, Ziomek, ’03, ’04
(elem. ed./Spanish, TESOL).
Tonirae Mansfield, ’03,
(speech and hear. hand.) to John
Christian Hoffman.
Katie Metzger, ’04, (music
ed.) to Rich Ryan, ’04 (commun.).
Kara Davis, ’06 (bus. admin./
market.) to Cameron MacVean,
’06 (comp. and info. sci.).
Jeremy Hulbert, ’08, to Laura
Stultz, ’08, (elem. ed.).
The Alumni Association hosted a Long Island Reunion on Sept. 12,
2009 at the Snapper Inn in Oakdale, N.Y.
Alumni Gathering in Hudson, Ohio, in October 2009.
The Alumni Association also hosted a reception for Illinois and
From left: Kimberly Briggs, Randy Briggs, ’80; Jill Stroud, Joseph
Wisconsin alumni in Chicago on Sept. 17. The gathering took place
(Jim) Stroud, ’82; Kathy Schultz and Stephen Schultz, ’72.
at the Intercontinental Hotel Chicago O’Hare.
3 0
Deaths
A lu m n i
Andrew G. Currie,
Class of 1941
Doris (Himelein) Currie,
Class of 1942
Jane (Reid) Woods,
Class of 1943
Delores Catalano,
Class of 1944
Thomas L. Barresi,
Class of 1951
Robert F. Gibbs,
Class of 1952
Joseph C. Crupi,
Class of 1952
Sanford Bach,
Class of 1955
Gertrude (Sniegocki) Wojcik,
Class of 1971
Evelyn (Frontuto) Hudson,
Class of 1973
Marianne (Hoffman) McElrath,
Class of 1973
Bradford E. Hall,
Class of 1980
Loretta M. Carey,
Class of 1992
Fa c u lt y/ Staff
Dr. Walther Barnard,
Geosciences, 1964-’10
Dr. Munir A.S. Choudary,
Economics, 1987-’02
Frank DiNoto, Student Financial
Department, 1963-’75
Robert J. Franklin, University
Police, Environmental Health and
Safety, 1966-’09
Frank Leone, Commissary,
1968-’82
Virginia K. (McClenathan)
Maher, Health Center, 1964-’84
Helen (Clees) McKee, Classes of
’40, ’57, ’62; Campus School, TEMC,
1954-’82
Rose M. Meyer, Political
Science and History, 1969-’93
William S. Myott, Accounting,
1978-’84
Regina A. Ormsby,Housekeeping,
1956-’76
Delia Wallis, School of Music,
1999-’09
Mildred A. Wolfe, Faculty Student
Association
The SUNY Fredonia campus received a great loss to start the
new year with the sudden passing of Walther M. Barnard, professor
of geosciences and former chair, on Jan. 1. Dr. Barnard joined
the faculty at Fredonia in 1964. As the longest serving active
faculty member on campus, Dr. Barnard served as the official
Commencement "Mace Bearer" since 2001, a distinction he held
with great pride, respect and humility. He was recently honored for
45 years of teaching and service to the campus at a special ceremony
in the spring of 2009. The family has requested that memorials in
his name be made to the Walther M. Barnard Scholarship Fund,
c/o Fredonia College Foundation, 272 Central Ave., Fredonia, NY
14063. To honor his memory, the campus will lower its flags to half
staff on the first day of classes, Monday, Jan. 25.
In 2006, the Seneca community lost a beloved leader, mentor
and friend, Midge Dean ’78. She worked with the Seneca Nation of
Indians (SNI) Education Department, SNI Library, Seneca-Iroquois
National Museum, Title VII Program and Science Technology Entry
Program (STEP), among others. A Midge Dean Memorial Scholarship
Endowment was created at Fredonia in honor of Midge’s commitment
to improving the education opportunities of Seneca children. We are
grateful to the family and friends of Midge who have given generously
to the fund. A recent gift of $5,000 from the Seneca Nation of Indians
has now fully endowed the scholarship.
Delia Wallis, a faculty member within the
voice area of the School of Music since 1999,
passed away peacefully in her Fredonia home on
Sept. 15, surrounded by family and music, after
a strong and brave battle with cancer. Delia was
a talented, refined and fiercely strong woman
with an unwavering devotion to her family. Her
generous spirit, humor and love will be missed
by her family and the many friends, colleagues
and students whose lives she touched. To help
honor Delia, her family has established the Delia Wallis Scholarship
Fund to benefit voice majors. If you would like to join in honoring Delia,
call (716) 673-3321, or make a donation at www.fredonia.edu/giveonline to
the Delia Wallis Scholarship Fund or by mail to the Fredonia College
Foundation, 272 Central Ave., Fredonia, NY 14063
Philip (’81) and Patrice Antz stand
arm in arm with members of the
Advanced Leadership Development
class and the Sigma Gamma
Phi sorority at a special event in
memory of the Antz’ daughter and
Fredonia student, Hope, who died
suddenly following complications
from a surgery in the summer of
2009. The Nov. 6 event, “Camp
in for Hope,” drew more than 200
attendees to Dods Hall and raised
more than $1,700 to establish a scholarship and start it on a path toward endowment. “They were the
most wonderful people I have ever met,” Philip would later say. “The whole thing made me prouder
than ever to be a Fredonia alumnus. It was very emotional for us to see our daughter remembered
in such an overwhelming way. We can never thank all of those students and staff members enough.”
Anyone wishing to contribute to the Hope Antz Memorial Scholarship may still do so by calling (716)
673-3321, giving online at www.fredonia.edu/giveonline, or visiting the Foundation House on campus.
alumni.fredonia.edu
31
career Corner
A new approach to landing a job
We are in the midst of a highly challenging
A few sites job seekers can use:
economy. The nation’s unemployment rate
surged to 10.2 percent in October, reaching
double digits for the first time in 26 years,
according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Yet, as a Fredonia graduate, you can use the
services of the campus’ Career Development
Office at any stage of your career if you need to
navigate toward a new position.
While some organizations have stopped hiring
or have even begun layoffs, other industries
within this economy are actually hiring. Health
care, green technology and government, for
example, have benefited from stimulus spending
and are likely to continue to grow.
Technology has drastically changed the rules
of job-hunting. New tools such as Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook offer new ways
to hear about prospective job openings. Since 85
percent of jobs are never advertised, networking
is a critical component of the job hunt. Social
media sites can connect you with people who can
help in growing your career. However, it works
both ways. As you develop your online presence,
be careful what you post, as it is open for the
world to see.
Several trends continue to drive job growth
throughout the U.S.: technology, health care,
environmentalism and globalization. They are all
clearing the path for new careers to surface.
• LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com): Create an account and you can
start communicating with people in your professional circles and
connect with groups by career interest. The SUNY Fredonia
Alumni Group has job openings posted.
• Facebook (www.facebook.com): Facebook is seeing a phenomenal
growth in the number of users who are 35 and older. There are
several SUNY Fredonia alumni group pages you can join.
• Twitter (www.twitter.com): Organizations and job boards
regularly post vacancies on Twitter.
• Ning (www.ning.com): Ning is an online service to create,
customize, and share a social network. Ning can be used to create
online social networks about lots of subjects, including jobs and the
job search.
• Doostang (www.doostang.com): an invite-only community
founded by a Stanford M.B.A. and an MIT engineer that connects
young professionals to career opportunities through social
networking.
Need Help?
You can schedule an appointment to meet with one of our career
development counselors in person or over the phone by filling out
an online appointment request at www.fredonia.edu/cdo or calling
the office at (716) 673-3327.
Judy Elwinger Career Development Internship Endowment Established
Judy Elwinger, director of
the Career Development Office
(CDO) for three decades until her
retirement this past fall, has begun
building an endowment to provide
resources for summer student
internships. The first Fredonia
fund to support internships, the
awards are meant to provide
travel funds and other assistance
for students to take advantage of
domestic and international internships that are often exceptionally
valuable, yet financially out of
reach for some students.
A retirement reception honoring
Ms. Elwinger occurred in December and, in lieu of a gift, she asked
that friends and colleagues give a gift to the endowment through
the Fredonia College Foundation.
3 2
If you’d like to make a gift to this new fund, visit www.fredonia.
edu/giveonline/. The Judy Elwinger Career Development Internship
Endowment and all of its details are listed.
A graduate of Clarion University and the University at Buffalo,
Elwinger directed the Career Development Office from 1979 to
2009. Prior to that she served as assistant director to the CDO,
assistant dean of Students, and a Residence Hall director, all during
a career that began in 1969.
In 1992, she was the first recipient of the President’s Award for
Excellence in Professional Service at SUNY Fredonia. In 1994,
she earned the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in
Professional Service. She was also a leader in Career Development
across the SUNY system, serving as president of the SUNY Career
Development Organization, in addition to winning two SUNYwide Awards for Excellence in Programming.
Judy will be notified regularly of donors who have given to this
fund in her honor. To learn more, contact Director of Development
Karen West at (716) 673-3321 or westk@fredonia.edu.
making a difference
Lifelong WNY Resident Chooses SUNY Fredonia to Leave a Legacy
Bob Young and his late wife, Betty, shared a love for music,
in addition to their love for one another. Before his wife passed
away three years ago, the couple decided they should find a way to
support that love through a financial gift to a worthy organization.
The only question was, how should they best do that?
“My wife liked music and the piano, and we talked about what
we might be able to do,” said Bob, who was married to Betty, a
homemaker who also played the piano, for over 55 years.
Then Mr. Young was reminded by a friend about the School of
Music at SUNY Fredonia and, despite the fact that neither he nor
Betty had any direct affiliation with the university, he found the
answer that would make Betty’s dream a reality and help students
pursue a career in music.
Bob, 86, presented a $100,000 check to President Dennis
Hefner this past summer to establish the Bob and Betty Young
Endowment Fund, a memorial to his wife. Income generated by
the fund, established through the Fredonia College Foundation
and its Doors to Success capital campaign, will fund School of
Music scholarships and provide strategic support to the music
program.
This gift will have a profound impact on the School of Music by
enhancing its ability to furnish scholarships to talented students
and fund programs that assist in the recruitment of high school
students or enrich the experiences of SUNY Fredonia students.
Beyond creating the endowment, Mr. Young committed to
an additional $100,000 bequest to the foundation to benefit the
university and its students.
“Everybody I met was very nice,” he said of foundation
representatives who hosted a luncheon and conducted a tour of
the university that included, of course, a look at Mason Hall. “It
looked very nice,” he noted.
A native of Collins, N.Y., Bob was a mechanic at Bethlehem
Steel for nearly 20 years and also worked as a field superintendent
for Herbert F. Darling, Inc., a construction company based in
Williamsville, N.Y., until his retirement in 1989. He is a U.S.
Army veteran who earned the rank of sergeant and was stationed
in the South Pacific during World War II from 1942 to 1945. He
and Betty, a native of Dayton, N.Y., have always called Western
New York home.
Bob Young (right) met with President Dennis Hefner to
establish an endowment fund for the school of Music
in memory of his wife, Betty, pictured with Bob in the
photo they hold.
The foundation relies upon private gifts such as Mr. and Mrs.
Young’s to fund scholarships, support research, teaching and
capital projects, and enhance academics through speakers, special
events, student life and social and cultural programs.
Those gifts often impact people for years to come, a lesson not
lost upon Bob who, during a visit to his bank to transfer funds for
the endowment, had an unexpected surprise. After noticing the
recipient listed on the check, the banker who oversees Mr. Young’s
accounts remarked that he was a SUNY Fredonia alumnus. “I
made the check out to the college,” Young recalled, “and (the
banker) said, ‘I graduated from there with a business degree.’ And
I said, ‘it’s a small world.’”
This small world is now a little brighter, thanks to Bob and
Betty Young’s generosity.
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN | Goal $15M by 2011
progress as of 12/31/09
10 m
alumni.fredonia.edu
33
NONPROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
BUFFALO, N.Y.
PERMIT NO. 367
Office of Alumni Affairs
286 Central Avenue
Fredonia, NY 14063
A dozen of the top student vocalists
from the School of Music performed
the national anthem at a Buffalo Bills
game Nov. 29 before a sold-out crowd
at Ralph Wilson Stadium. They sang
National Football League photo by Craig Melvin
under the direction of Dr. Gerald Gray,
using an original arrangement by Drs.
Karl Boelter and Robert Deemer created
especially for this event. The performers
(from left) included sopranos Patricia
Carpenter (Rochester, N.Y.), Claudia
Feeney (Mastic, N.Y.) and Sarah Fisk,
(Wading River, N.Y.); altos Kristina
Jackson (Buffalo, N.Y.), Gillian Cotter
(Clarence, N.Y.) and Kristyn ChristmanMcCarthy (Liverpool, N.Y.); tenors Casey
Gray (Wheeling, W.Va.), Ethan Depuy
(Rochester, N.Y.) and James Judd
(Unadilla, N.Y.); and basses Christopher
Adams (Rochester, N.Y.), Michael
Aiello (Clarence, N.Y.) and Benjamin
Pfeil (Whitney Point, N.Y.). To see
this amazing performance, visit: www.
youtube.com/user/sunyfredonia.

The Magazine FOR SUnY FReDOnia aLUMni anD

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