2011 Fall, Insights

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Defining Moment: Falk Family Makes $15 Million Gift

Falk Gift

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Features

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Social work alumni, interns help veterans heal at the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center 

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Report gives voice to veterans and their families in the debate over reducing Social Security 

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Nutrition major coaches others on the connection between healthy eating and well-being 

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A new course illuminates the cultural and commercial effects of the Super Bowl 

Departments 

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Credits

Executive Editor: Michele J. Barrett G’92

Editor: Kathleen M. Haley ’92

Design: Amy McVey

Editorial Support: Cynthia Moritz

Contributors: Jordan Cooper ’11, Alyssa Fuller ’11,  Kathleen M. Haley ’92, Wendy Loughlin G’95, Sara Miller,  Amy Rood G’09

Photography: Michele J. Barrett G’92, John Dowling Photography, Alejandro Garcia, Susan George, Sarah Peng ’13, Gabriela Perez ’14, Eric Persons, Steve Sartori, Masha Snitkovsky ’13 

Production Coordinator: Clare Merrick 

Published by: The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Syracuse University 119 Euclid Avenue Syracuse, New York 13244 315-443-5555, falk.syr.edu 

Dean: Diane Lyden Murphy, M.S.W., Ph.D. 

Senior Associate Dean of Faculty, Curriculum and Alumni: Eileen Lantier, Ph.D., R.N.

Interim Associate Dean of Research: Deborah J. Monahan, M.S.W., Ph.D. 

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs: Renie Kehres, Ph.D., R.N. 

Assistant Dean For Advancement and External Affairs: David A. Salanger

Department of Child and Family Studies

Department of Marriage and Family Therapy

Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition

School of Social Work

Department of Sport Management 

Our Shared Purpose 

Dear Alumni and Friends: 

I would like to welcome and congratulate our college’s newest alumni from the Class of 2011, which includes 276 undergraduates, 105 master’s, and 5 Ph.D. students. In May, some received degrees in child and family studies, hospitality management, public health, and marriage and family therapy, while others earned degrees in nutrition/nutrition science, sport management, and social work. 

As you know, our college is home to a wide spectrum of current academic and alumni disciplines. Many times I am asked, “just how do these majors and programs fit with one another in a single college?” 

The answer is one I am consistently proud to share. 

Our current students and alumni will always be united by a shared purposeful mission: to be socially responsible and engage social justice to make a difference where they live and work. In the pages that follow, you will see this mission come alive. At the very core of all of our academic programs is an interdisciplinary philosophy that offers unlimited opportunities for students to work closely with students and faculty in different majors across the college (and the S.U. campus as well). 

As educators, our faculty and staff are focused on students’ academic programs and set very high expectations for them in their classroom programs. But we recognize service to others is a critical part of this education—and students see it too. That is one of the reasons we know they choose Syracuse University and, specifically, this college. 

It is our demonstrated record of social responsibility and community service, complemented by our interdisciplinary academic strengths, that make our college a perfect fit with the commitment S.U. alumni David and Rhonda Falk have to students and education. On July 1, the College of Human Ecology was renamed the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics following a $15 million gift this past March made by the Falks in support of all of our academic programs. We are grateful for their support and vision. 

I hope you will spend some time reading this edition to learn more about our students and their faculty, as well as our academic programs, explorations and unique course offerings, research projects, study abroad and immersion programs, and hands-on learning opportunities. Our college is growing. We welcomed the Class of 2015 this fall, which included 316 first-year students and additionally, 32 transfer students and 179 new graduate students who hail from 20 states across the United States, 6 countries, and 1 territory. Our college is currently home to more than 1,500 students and tens of thousands of alumni worldwide. 

As you read these pages to follow, I hope you are as proud as I am to witness social change agents locally and globally who are making a difference in their worlds. 

Sincerely, 

Diane Lyden Murphy, Dean, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics 

Social Change Through Professional Practice 

David B. Falk ’72, Rhonda S. Falk ’74 make $15 million gift 

S.U. Trustee David Falk ’72 is recognized as one of the sports industry’s leading figures, representing top players in the N.B.A. and others in the N.F.L. For more than three decades, his vision and innovative approach helped shape the evolution of the business of sports. Yet his actions beyond board rooms and negotiating sessions are those he mentions when reflecting on the qualities he describes essential to success. “I’m a hard worker who is fair in business. I am loyal to family and friends. I truly appreciate the gifts I have been given in life, and I want to share them with others,” Falk says. 

Along with his wife, Rhonda S. Falk ’74, who he met when both were students in the College of Arts and Sciences, Falk has supported S.U. and its students in very significant ways. Most recently on March 24, Syracuse University announced the Falks pledged $15 million to the College of Human Ecology—the most funding ever received at S.U. for academic programs within human services. 

In honor of the Falks’ generosity and support, the College of Human Ecology was renamed the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics in July 2011. The Falks’ gift will allow the newly named college—portions of which are housed in eight different campus buildings—to relocate to a new, central location to be created at MacNaughton and White halls, currently home to the College of Law. The move will occur once the College of Law relocates to Dineen Hall, a new building for which planning is under way. 

“For many years, David and Rhonda have partnered with Syracuse University and, most recently, with our college because they believe in and embrace our ultimate mission of social responsibility and social change through professional practice,” says Diane Lyden Murphy ’67, G’76, G’78, G’83, dean of the newly named David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. “We are tremendously grateful for their extraordinary transformative gift and generous ongoing support.” 

"By blending academics, experience, and community service purposefully into its degree offerings, the college is positioning its students for success in leadership roles in both traditional and emerging career fields."

—Rhonda Falk 

Founding supporters of the Department of Sport Management who have played a key role in the program’s rise to national prominence, the Falks expanded their commitment to the entire academic curriculum because of the college’s deep roots in social responsibility and community service, complemented by a strong emphasis on experiential learning locally, nationally, and globally. 

For decades, the college has maintained professional field placements in social work and marriage and family therapy in Central New York communities. This year, the college sponsored numerous study abroad programs, including public health studies in Amsterdam that focused on global perspectives of alcohol and other drug policies; a comparative review of social work services across France, Germany, and Switzerland; and, exploration of the history of the ancient and modern Olympic Games spanning Athens, London, Paris, and Lausanne. 

The college also launched two new spring break programs. One developed from an ongoing collaborative relationship with the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, allowing students in child and family studies to observe and participate in education and social service settings there. The other was a sport management immersion program in Los Angeles that introduced students to representatives from such organizations as E.S.P.N., the Los Angeles Lakers, and the L.A. Coliseum. “By blending academics, experience, and community service purposefully into its degree offerings, the college is positioning its students for success in leadership roles in both traditional and emerging career fields,” Rhonda Falk says. 

After creating the Pearl W. Falk Endowed Chancellor’s Scholarship in the late 1990s, the Falks established the David B. Falk Center for Sport Management in 2008. The following year, Rick Burton ’79 was named the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management, an endowed professorship aimed to recruit nationally recognized faculty to enhance the program’s research, academic, and experiential learning components. Most recently, the Falk Center has combined the expertise and leadership of faculty members from the college, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and the School of Information Studies to create a model interdisciplinary master’s degree program in sport venue and event management to debut in fall 2012. 

At the college’s Convocation on May 14, David Falk delivered the keynote address, talking about leadership, success, and passion. He encouraged graduates to always look ahead, view obstacles as challenges instead of barriers, and not to fear failure as long as they learn from it. He also urged them to use their passion to make a difference. 

He is currently the C.E.O. of Falk Associates Management Enterprises (FAME). Among his accomplishments, Falk negotiated the highest contract in N.B.A. league history for Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks, sports’ first $100 million contract in 1996 for Alonzo Mourning, and Michael Jordan’s groundbreaking deal with Nike, in the process coining the phrase “Air Jordan.” David Falk’s career also includes serving as executive producer of several films, including Space Jam and On Hallowed Ground. Rhonda Falk spent the majority of her career in operations and international software sales management for S.T.S.C., a software company in Rockville, Maryland. She also was responsible for admissions counseling for the George Washington University, where she was focused on recruiting students from New England states and the Caribbean. 

The Falks’ belief in social responsibility is evident in their personal lives. Rhonda is involved in the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure of breast cancer. David has served as chairman of the annual Sports-a-Thon to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America, raising more than $2 million in the past decade, and he currently sits on the board of directors of the Congressional Award Foundation, which honors young Americans for volunteer public service and other achievements. 

The couple credits their parents’ strong work ethics and the priority they placed on education for their achievements as alumni and their desire to support education. David’s mother, Pearl W. Falk, was a public school educator who was passionate about her students achieving all they were capable of. “She always told me and her students to reach for the stars,” David says. She herself was a high-achiever, with two master’s degrees and fluency in six languages. During World War II, she was sought out to serve as an interpreter by Nelson Rockefeller, who was handling Latin American matters for the U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs. 

Rhonda’s father, Leon, owned an oil heating company that took him away from home frequently and required her mom, Florence, to care for the family. “My dad encouraged good grades and a strong work ethic. He was a wonderful provider, a good husband, and a loving father—the kind of man any little girl would want as the first man in her life,” notes Rhonda Falk. “He had a heart attack at 38 yet continued to work hard and provide for our family with all that was needed and much of what was wanted, including a college education for my sister and me.

“My mom provided a supportive, loving, and comfortable home for all of us. She taught us the importance of strong values and stood steadfastly by her principles. I didn’t truly appreciate all of this until I was older and realized the value of what she gave us. I have hopefully done the same for my daughters as my mother did for me,” Rhonda says. The Falks have two daughters: Jocelyn, a 2010 graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and Daina, a Duke University graduate. 

Personal gratitude played an important role in the Falks’ motivation behind one of the largest-ever single gifts made to Syracuse University. “I think about the time, effort, love, and nurturing it takes to shape a child,” notes David Falk. “My mother sacrificed so much for me—there is no way I can ever thank her for all she’s done,” he says. “This gift is a way Rhonda and I will honor our parents’ memories. What better way to say thank you to our families and to Syracuse University?” 

Pictures with captions in this article include: David ’72 and Rhonda ’74 Falk talk with graduating sport management majors. David Falk ’72 with sport management majors Brad Kallet ’10 and Andrew Park ’10 at the 2008 dedication of the David B. Falk center for Sport Management. David Falk ’72 shares some of his insights with the college’s class of 2011 during his convocation address on May 14. 

College News

Students Honored with Chancellor’s Awards 

Nutrition educators at a kids’ camp, Sport Management Club fundraisers, and child and family studies’ students who logged thousands of volunteer hours were among many Falk College students recognized with a Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement Scholarship in March. A total of 12 awards were presented to Falk programs and courses and the students who took part in them.

Students enrolled in the Department of Child and Family Studies’ internship courses were recognized for contributing more than 5,800 hours of service at many sites, including Head Start Programs, Planned Parenthood of Central New York, and A.R.C. services of Onondaga County.

Students in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition earned eight awards. “Service learning helps students understand the community around them and the people in it,” notes instructor Kim Johnson. Her students in Ethics and Issues in the Hospitality Industry, received an award for their work with the Westcott Community Center, Loretto, Jewish Family Services, Meals on Wheels, and the InterReligious Food Consortium.

Awards were also presented to students in the courses Influencing Healthy Behavior, Health Literacy, and Culturally Competent Healthcare; The Genesis Health Project; and Healthy You magazine. The groups were selected for outstanding work in improving the health of others. Nutrition students were recognized with three awards. Awards were presented to the nutrition educators at Lion’s Camp Hickory, a camp for youngsters with diabetes, and two courses: Nutrition Education and Orange Wrap.

The S.P.M. Club, a student group in the Department of Sport Management, received its sixth consecutive award. Since its founding in 2005, the club has donated nearly $125,000 to Central New York charities. Its latest auction in December generated $24,000 for the C.N.Y. S.P.C.A. (see related story).

Students in the School of Social Work were recognized for their work in the Syracuse community. As part of their program requirements of 500 hours of professional service, students were placed in 75 agencies throughout Central and Upstate New York, including the Alzheimer’s Association of C.N.Y., Vera House, Elmcrest Children’s Home, and the Hiscock Legal Aid Society. 

Pictures with captions in this article include: Students sort shoes and socks collected during a drive led by associate professor of public health, Mary Ann Middlemiss, Ph.D., R.N., and internship placement coordinator, Susan Scholl, M.S., C.A.S.A.C., N.C.A.C.I.I., C.A.S., C.H.E.S. The drive benefited Amaus Health Services, a health clinic for the uninsured. 

Gala BenefitsThe Smile Train 

Students in the Hospitality Management Program (pictured in article) hosted the eighth annual senior class gala, Una Bella Notte: Sapori d’Italia (a Beautiful night: Tastes of Italy), April 8 at the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center. The guest list included members of the hospitality industry, former and current faculty, administrators and staff, parents, and alumni. This year’s gala featured a silent auction and active raffle that benefited The smile Train, an organization that supports children by providing funds to surgically repair their cleft lips and palates. 

Cowart Receives H.O.P.E. award 

In recognition of her contributions and achievements addressing the health promotion needs of underserved populations, Luvenia Cowart, Ed.D., R.N., was named the 2011 Robert F. Allen Symbol of H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Through Empowerment) Award. Presented annually by the American Journal of Health Promotion, this award recognizes those who have devoted their careers to serving underserved populations and promoting the innovative and effective strategies used to do so. 

A professor of practice in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition, Cowart is the executive director and co-founder of the Genesis Health Project Network. This initiative reduces health disparities in minority populations by collaborating with community organizations to identify and address health needs in greater Syracuse and Central New York. Focused on black families in low-income areas of Syracuse, this community-designed, culturally sensitive initiative promotes healthy lifestyles among African Americans who have the highest rates of obesity in the United States. Community members are empowered to improve their diets, food preparation techniques, and exercise habits. 

Her work and the Genesis Health Project were recognized with the prestigious National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Director’s Award in 2008 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health. 

Interim Associate Dean of Research Appointed 

Professor Deborah J. Monahan was named interim associate dean of research of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics effective July 1. Monahan will direct faculty research, scholarship, and entrepreneurship efforts. The central focus of the Falk College Research Center is to advance scholarly productivity of faculty. It identifies funding sources to support grant activities, assists faculty and students in the development and submission of external grant and award applications, and provides seed funding to faculty to conduct early studies that may develop into grant proposals to external funding agencies. The research center also provides opportunities for scholarly discussion on important research topics through a seminar series. 

Monahan, a professor in the School of Social Work at Syracuse University since 1990, is also a faculty affiliate of the All-University Gerontology Center. She has an extensive portfolio of funded research awards and leadership, serving as a research investigator on projects related to the efficacy of support groups, community alternatives to long-term care, family care giving, kinship care giving, and adolescent pregnancy prevention. Funding agencies for her research have included the Administration on Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, A.A.R.P.-Andrus Foundation, and the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2011, she co-edited Education and Support Programs for Caregivers: Research, Practice, Policy. Her publications appear in such journals as Gerontologist, Families in Society, Nursing Economics, Journal of Gerontology, Psychology and Aging, and the Journal of Gerontological Social Work. 

A Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, Monahan has been a member of its publications committee and secretary of the Social Research, Policy, and Practice section. A licensed master of social work, Monahan has also been a member of the board of directors of the American Society on Aging. She earned a Ph.D. in education from the University of Arizona, an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, and a B.A. in sociology from Temple University. 

A Close-up Look at L.A.’s Sport Industry 

Sixteen sport management students spent spring break 2011 in Los Angeles immersing themselves in the sport industry. They met with executives and key players, such Kobe Bryant from the L.A. Lakers (pictured in this article) as well as others from the L.A. Dodgers, Mandalay Sports, Creative Artists Agency, NASCAR, FOX Sports, E.S.P.N., A.E.G., and the P.G.A. Tour-Toshiba Classic. This immersion opportunity included tours of the Rose Bowl, Home Depot Center, and L.A. Coliseum. Students also toured downtown Hollywood and the Grammy Museum, and as part of the studio audience, participated in a taping of the C.B.S. comedy Rules of Engagement. To round out the experience, they attended a Kings-Blues N.H.L. game and a Lakers-Timberwolves N.B.A. game in the press box. 

Soccer Commissioner Visits S.U. 

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, one of the chief architects of the U.S. bid to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup, presented “The Creation of a Soccer Nation in America: Why the sport matters here in the U.S. and why it will matter more in the future” during the fall 2010 semester. Pictured in this article  with David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management Rick Burton, Garber spoke with students and other audience members before his presentation. 

Healthy You Spring 2011 

The latest edition of Healthy You news magazine is now available. Promoting health literacy and healthier behaviors among college students, the publication is produced by and for students through the leadership of Luvenia Cowart, professor of practice in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition. View the latest edition of this award-winning publication. 

Raising Awareness 

The leadership society, a student organization in the Falk College, helped raise awareness for child abuse Prevention awareness Month in April. The group collected donations to benefit the Syracuse-area McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Site and planted a pinwheel garden on Syracuse University’s campus. 

Child and Family Health in the Global Community

Beginning in August 2011, a new 36-credit hour master of science degree in child and family health in the global community is available in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. The M.S. program offers students an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the health and well-being of children and families in the context of the global community. The degree program examines a broad spectrum of topics, including infectious and chronic diseases, genetics, and disabilities that require families to interface with medical care providers, service agencies, and policy decision-makers in their communities. The program includes education in and outside the classroom. Students will be well trained professionals in health and social policies, program development and implementation, and program evaluation, which will allow them to work in policy, research, and service settings. 

Therapist, Author Presents at Sex Therapy Conference 

“Can’t Get No Satisfaction: An Integrative Couple’s Approach to Sex Therapy,” was held April 29 featuring presenter, David Olsen, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., L.M.F.T., author, educator, minister, and clinician. The conference was designed to help therapists understand the most prevalent sexual dysfunctions, the history of sex therapy, and how the field has changed over time. The event was sponsored by the college and its Department of Marriage and Family Therapy in collaboration with the Central New York Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the Samaritan Counseling Center of the Mohawk Valley Inc. Olsen is an American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy-approved supervisor who teaches both sex therapy and couple’s therapy at Sage Graduate School. He is the author of Integrative Family Therapy, The Couple’s Survival Workbook, and The Spiritual Work of Marriage, and executive director of the Samaritan Counseling Center of the Capital Region. 

Exploring Public Health Nutrition 

When Assistant Professor Leigh Gantner joined the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition in August 2010, her expertise in public health nutrition was a logical fit for a new class the college was envisioning. 

In January 2011, Gantner introduced Public Health Nutrition. Twenty students enrolled from a variety of disciplines, including nutrition and public health, as well as biology, psychology, and journalism. The introductory course was organized into three major sections on public health nutrition: assessment, core concepts and controversies, and evaluation and policy development.

“For this course, students had to think systematically about root causes at the population level of public health nutrition issues,” says Gantner. “This approach not only gets them thinking about how the food system is currently structured and why this may be problematic, but also how these problems can be solved.”

Gantner purposefully involved current events in the class, using case studies to discuss the scope of public health issues, including where they began, epidemiology, stakeholders, ethical implications, and possible public policy solutions.

Alisan Kales, a nutrition science major graduating in December 2011, was thrilled to see Public Health Nutrition offered for the first time. “This class combines two of my biggest passions, nutrition and the health of our society, allowing me to approach nutrition in a different mindset while opening my eyes further to the epidemiological correlation between nutrition and public health,” Kales says.

In a class segment on maternal and child nutrition, Gantner included two case studies for discussion on food advertising to kids and domestic breastfeeding policies. During a discussion on food safety, the class focused on food-borne illness and selected recalls of the FDA-Regulated Foods, including the worldwide recall of peanut butter that made headlines in 2009.

“Because the course only contained 15 to 20 students, we frequently had class discussions where we could debate and discuss possible public health interventions,” Kales says.

For their final project, students had to find a public health nutrition challenge of interest, preparing an intervention with a detailed description of its impact for different stakeholders. “Based on the innovative and progressive ideas in their final projects, many are prepared to be true public health advocates for improving the health and well-being of adults and children,” Gantner says.

“There are many aspects to the public health system that I was not aware of,” Kales says. “This class has taught me how to analyze nutritional situations and think of plausible ways to implement interventions that individuals would likely partake in.”

Before her appointment at Syracuse University, Gantner worked as a nutrition educator at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County in Auburn, New York. She completed a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences at Cornell University, with a thesis titled “Building Environments to Promote Health Weights among Childbearing Women.” Gantner has presented her research at several national conferences, and her publications include research on food advertising and poverty alleviation in developing countries.

A Fresh Outlook on School Menus

S.U. dietetic interns Avis Caplan and Heidi Dashnaw stepped off the S.U. campus and into a different kind of classroom last winter. The East Syracuse-Minoa School District’s food preparation facility was their classroom during a required six-week rotation with the district’s Food Service Department.

The school district’s kitchens serve meals to 3,500 K-12 students in seven buildings every school year, and Caplan and Dashnaw were an active part of the process to provide nutritious food and promote healthy eating to the growing youngsters. “We weren’t just shadowing people,” Caplan says. “We were hands on, and we could pick what we wanted to do.”

On their first day, Caplan and Dashnaw met with food service director Nancy Kerrigan, who gave them a list of more than 30 internship project ideas, from educating elementary school P.T.O. members about national school breakfast and lunch programs to providing nutritional messaging for monthly menus.

Kerrigan has welcomed interns for nearly two decades. She represented one of the very first school districts in Central New York to partner with S.U. dietetic interns in the 1990s at the prompting of S.U.’s internship program director Debra Connolly. “I love having the students to work with—they see things differently,” Kerrigan says. “They bring fresh ideas and expertise in dietetics.”

Caplan and Dashnaw distributed heart-healthy facts that were read over the schools’ broadcast systems each morning. They developed a gluten-free, casein-free diet prescribed by one student’s doctor. The two students also reached out to “School Meals that Rock,” a program established in the Midwest by dietitian Dale Hayes to put an end to school lunch-bashing by celebrating the positive aspects of school lunch programs.

Hayes’ program, using social networking sites like Facebook and other marketing tools, showcases school districts that offer model-worthy best practices for other schools across the country. Caplan notes that Hayes was so impressed with the district’s menus that the school was highlighted for an entire week rather than one day.

Both students agreed it was the variety and quality of food available that surprised them the most about their experience. “I get lunch here—it’s really good,” notes Dashnaw, whose son is a student in the E.S.M. district. “He’s a picky eater, but he likes the food. And because I know the healthy choices available, I encourage him to get school lunch,” she says.

In the past, students studying to be dietitians received a thorough background in nutrition but lacked the first-hand experience. In response to this need, the College for Human Development (the precursor to the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics), with generous support from the Allen Foundation, created the Community Service Project in 1989 to prepare young dietitians for careers in community nutrition and this support continues today.

Syracuse University’s Dietetic Internship Program helps students gain the necessary competency for careers as entry-level dietitians. The program requires students complete a minimum of 1,200 hours of supervised practice experience. Caplan and Dashnaw’s rotation with the school district is one of five rotation areas students complete in the program, which covers the following categories: acute/critical care, food management (schools or senior feeding), long-term care, outpatient/specialty, and wellness.

Upon completion of the program, graduates are eligible to take the registration examination for dietitians offered through the Commission on Dietetics Registration. Syracuse University’s first-time pass rate is 83 percent, one of the highest rates in the country. 

Pictures with captions in this article include: Dietetic interns Avis Caplan and Heidi Dashnaw review “graband-go” salad options at east Syracuse-Minoa high school. 

Inaugural Champion Award 

In recognition of his service to benefit students and the Department of sport Management, Brandon Steiner ’81 received the inaugural Champion Award from the Sport Management Advisory Board. The award honored Steiner’s initiative, commitment, guidance, philanthropy, and exemplary service to the advisory board, the college, and the Department of Sport Management. Steiner was one of the first members of the Sport Management Advisory Board created in 2006 to provide strategic insight to the department.

Pictures in this article include: pictured are David B. Falk, chair, Sport Management Advisory Board; Steiner; and Michael D. Veley, director and chair, Department of Sport Management. 

Newly Named Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition

To reflect faculty research and applied interests, the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics has reconfigured its existing departments focused in health and wellness, hospitality management, nutrition science and dietetics, and public health into a singular academic department—the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition. Chaired by associate professor Kay Stearns Bruening, it encompasses the following degree programs: 

• Child and Family Health in the Global Community, M.S. 
• Hospitality Management, B.S. 
• Nutrition, B.S. 
• Nutrition Science, B.S., M.A., M.S. 
• Public Health, B.S. 
• Addiction Studies (C.A.S.) 

The Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition blends the legacy of academic programs in health, nursing, nutrition, and dietetics that date back to 1917 with the college’s newest academic major in public health and evolving programs under development. At this time, the college is currently exploring opportunities for interdisciplinary study in the emerging area of food studies, with the first faculty member in the area of food studies appointed this year. 

Clinic and Clinical Placements Provide Important Resource

The Westcott Community Center (W.C.C.) opened as a new placement site for Department of Marriage and Family Therapy (M.F.T.) students this past summer. W.C.C.’s executive director, Steve Susman, and literacy coordinator, Paul Harvey, approached the department to develop a partnership to bring therapy services to their clients. Due to the overwhelming response to the service now being offered at W.C.C., three student interns will be placed at the W.C.C. for the 2011-2012 school year. 

The students’ work at the center is a portion of the thousands of client visits that M.F.T. students take part in. At the Goldberg Couple and Family Therapy Center, located at M.F.T.’s facility at 1045 James Street, first-year graduate students register more than 5,000 client visits annually. M.F.T. students in their second-year clinical field placements in community agencies provide an additional 5,000 client visits each year. 

The department partners with many community agencies, including Liberty Resources, Catholic Charities, The Salvation Army, Weldum Family Therapy, Cortland Family Counseling, Cayuga Counseling, SUNY Upstate, Hospice of C.N.Y., and Vera House. The M.F.T. transgender team, under the supervision of M.F.T. instructor Deborah Coolhart, Ph.D., is one of the largest providers of clinical services to transgender clients in Upstate New York. 

Sport Management Club Raises Nearly $125,000 

Since its founding in 2005, the SU Sport Management (S.P.M.) Club, a student-run organization in the Department of Sport Management, has donated nearly $125,000 to Central New York charities. As a result of its most successful annual sport auction to date in December 2010, the S.P.M. Club made a $24,000 gift to the C.N.Y. S.P.C.A. to fund the equipment needed for its new on-site medical facility. 

“Giving back to the Syracuse community—that our students call ‘home’ for four years—was the founding premise of the S.P.M. Club, and we’re so pleased by how they’ve embraced this philosophy,” says Kate Veley, manager, career center and event planning, for S.U.’s Department of Sport Management and the 2010 auction chair. “We also sincerely appreciate the support of the greater Syracuse community and all the companies and individuals who have contributed to our success over the past six years.” 

Other local charities supported by the S.P.M. Club’s auction proceeds in previous years have included the Syracuse Boys & Girls Clubs, the American Diabetes Association of Central New York, the Golisano Children’s Hospital at Upstate Medical University, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of C.N.Y. 

Save The Date

The Sport Management Club’s Seventh Annual Charity Sports Auction is December 10, 2011.

A Commitment to Veterans 

Social Work Alumni, Interns Fulfill Many Needs at Syracuse VA Medical Center

Upon entering the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center, a person can’t help but notice the sincere and compassionate staff, the welcoming family-friendly waiting areas, and a deep camaraderie amongst the veterans regardless of age, military branch, or deployments. 

And the care is first rate, according to the patients. 

The Syracuse facility has consistently ranked in the top three on the national list of VA medical centers for patient satisfaction. 

In addition to the main Syracuse V.A. Medical Center, the network offers primary and behavioral health care in a 13-county area of Central New York through its community-based outpatient clinics in Auburn, Binghamton, Freeville, Massena, Oswego, Rome, and Watertown. It currently employs 65 professional social workers—many of them alumni of the Syracuse University School of Social Work. The medical center and its affiliates also serve as hands-on training sites for students in the M.S.W. program. “We offer a very rich experience to students because they can touch all aspects of care,” says Kathleen Glow-Morgan ’90, M.S.W. ’97, L.C.S.W.-R., social work executive for the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center, who provides administrative and clinical oversight for the social work staff and field placement program. “Our collaborative, interdisciplinary team takes care of patients and helps us take care of one another and ourselves, which is an important philosophy students can benefit from.”

The V.A.’s social work professionals, and the interns they guide, are responsible for case management, administration, clinical assessments, and outreach/education in areas that include specialty services specific to growing numbers of returning young veterans of conflicts in the Middle East. These include homelessness reduction; treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.) and military sexual trauma (M.S.T.); and palliative care. While their roles vary, the professional social work staff is united by its commitment to veterans. 

“The chance to participate in a vet’s healing is incredibly rewarding,” says Shawne E. Steiger M.S.W. ’91, L.C.S.W.-R., who is the P.T.S.D. clinical team lead. Steiger’s team of three psychologists and three social workers offers a range of treatment options for veterans with PTSD related to a trauma that occurred during active duty military service, such as combat, sexual assault, or a training accident. 

She and her team provide services that are especially critical with many veterans under 30 years old who were involved in Operation Enduring Freedom (O.E.F.), Operation Iraqi Freedom (O.I.F.), and Operation New Dawn (O.N.D.). Additionally, many older retired veterans are now realizing they have symptoms consistent with P.T.S.D. that may have been masked for years. Consequently, it is a service area that continues to grow consistent with the number of veterans served by the facility. In the mid-1990s, the Syracuse VA served 18,500 veterans. Today, more than 41,000 veterans are served and this number continues to grow. 

Lauren Love B.S.S.W.’86, L.C.S.W.-R., is the program manager for O.E.F./O.I.F./O.N.D. serving returning combat veterans from the Middle East. She was responsible for building this program from the ground up in 2005. The program informs combat veterans of available VA benefits and also screens them for P.T.S.D., depression, substance use, traumatic brain injury (T.B.I.), and environmental exposures. Ongoing care management and advocacy for O.E.F./O.I.F./O.N.D. veterans with other agencies are also essential aspects of her job. 

“At S.U., I built skills in casework, community organizing, research, and administration, which prepared me for the things I do today,” says Love, whose career goal was initially focused on school social work, though she began her professional work in health care. “I remember watching the news reports on September 11, 2001. I wanted to help and be involved,” she reflects. “By October of that year, I was working at the V.A. I’ve built a program that supports many veterans and their families. The rewards of this work are tremendous.”

Similar to Love, Adams J. Ormsby's early career path began outside of hospital social work. Ormsby, M.S.W. '94, L.C.S.W., is an Air Force veteran who was activated during the Persian Gulf War when he was studying advanced psychology. Upon his return, he changed his academic program to social work. "When I walked through the doors of the V.A., I felt and immediate connection to veterans and their families. I would encourage students not to fear walking through the open door of opportunity, as very special things could await."

Ormsby, the team leader for the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program at Syracuse is leading the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (V.H.P.D.) Program focused on President Obama's directive to end homelessness amongst veterans. According to national statistics, 107,000 male and female veterans are homeless on any given night, and twice that number experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Veterans represent 13 percent (over one out of 8 persons in homeless shelters) of the totaled sheltered adult population.

Currently the Syracuse V.A.-run site is one of five nationally developing models for successful intervention strategies as part of the Obama administration's five-year plan. The administration's goal is to eliminate homelessness among veterans by ensuring all eligible homeless and at-risk veterans have access to the programs and services available to them. The case management includes locating and informing veterans about the services and care for which they are eligible since many do not realize what the V.A. can offer.

"We go out into the community to find our veterans who are homeless—whether that is on the streets or under bridges,. We walk them through our system and place them into safe housing, doing what we can to engage them and keep them there. We advocate for them," Ormsby says.

Another important initiative under the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (H.C.H.V.) program is the Veteran Justice Outreach Initiative (V.J.O.), which is run by V.J.O.  coordinator, Kynna Murphy, M.S.W.  ’94, L.C.S.W.-R. 

The program’s goal is to avoid unnecessary criminalization of mental illness and extended incarceration among veterans by ensuring eligible justice-involved veterans have timely access to the mental health, substance abuse and other services available to them as veterans. 

On any given night, there are more than 63,000 veterans in jails across the United States, many whom are homeless. Murphy travels all over New York State, from the Pennsylvania border to the Canadian border, covering a 14-county geography in search of veterans in the justice system. Whether she meets with them in booking or behind bars, her message is the same. “I tell them I’m not a judge and I’m not a lawyer. But I do reassure them the V.A. has not left them and wants to help.” 

Working with lawyers, judges, and probation officers, Murphy represents jailed veterans to identify alternatives to their incarceration, such as treatment for drug or alcohol addictions or mental health treatment options, which are more beneficial than prolonged time behind bars. 

“The people I see are honorably discharged, decorated war veterans who have fought for our country. Many times, their behaviors that result in incarceration may have been inflicted through war-related traumas. They are often despondent and alone suffering from P.T.S.D. and other disorders. They are left behind from the support systems they have always known,” says Murphy. “It is my job to get them connected to the services they need and the benefits they deserve.” 

Janice Creamer M.S.W. ’95, L.C.S.W.-R., fills dual roles at the Syracuse V.A. Behavioral Health Outpatient Clinic, a new off-site facility located minutes away from the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center. Her primary responsibility is as a psychotherapist treating all types of psychiatric disorders. Additionally, she serves as the M.S.T. Coordinator where she is the point of contact for information and advocacy for staff and veterans. 

“Treatment for M.S.T. is an area that continues to grow because more people are aware of it,” Creamer says. Through her advocacy work helping veterans affected by M.S.T., she is grateful for the structure of the academic program at S.U., including its focus on family systems. She often reflects upon the words of social work professor emeritus William McPeak. “Dr. McPeak always told us we would learn so much from our clients, and he was right,” Creamer says. 

Like her colleagues, Ruth Strodel, B.S.S.W. ’90 is focused on quality of life issues for veterans and their families. As the advanced illness care coordinator who is an integral part of the Center’s Palliative Care Consult Team, she works closely with physicians, nurse practitioners, and the VA chaplain. Much of Strodel’s work revolves around acute care settings. She regularly meets with veterans and family members following a terminal diagnosis to provide support, planning, and community referrals. 

“Decisions related to end-oflife care are something each one of us faces at some point in our lives. If I can help someone and his or her family be more comfortable, while helping them build on their strengths in a difficult time, then I am honored to help,” she says. 

There is no team in the V.A. organization that is without a social worker on it. Glow-Morgan is a member of the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center’s leadership team, which she credits to the comprehensive training in systems theory she received at S.U. “As social workers, we are trained to see the whole picture, and the Syracuse V.A. as an organization is interested in how to provide the best comprehensive care that is seamless to patients and their families,” she says. 

When Glow-Morgan joined the V.A. three years ago, there were approximately 30 social workers. Now that number has doubled and continues to grow. Construction is well under way on a six-floor addition to house a new spinal-cord injury/disease center with a therapeutic pool, expanded outpatient services, expanded dialysis unit, and seven new operating rooms. This expansion will require more social workers, which is great news for students of social work—and current social workers.

"As we grow as an organization, we continue to ask ourselves, how do we continue to excel?" notes Glow-Morgan.

"Our 65-plus social work staff truly enjoys working together as a team and knows this organization values them. Consequently, at the end of the day we feel good about what we are doing, where we're doing it and, most of all, that we are doing the right things for our vets."

School of Social Work-V.A. Medical Center Field Instruction Partnership 

Student interns have been placed at the Syracuse V.A. Medical center in various positions and geographies, including Syracuse and the Fort Drum area in Watertown, since 1958, according to Bette Thoreck, assistant director of field instruction in the school of social Work.

This past year, five students were placed at the SyracuseV.A. Medical center, including service at the hospital and the off-site V.A. Behavioral Health Center. one M.S.W. student was placed with the Rome V.A. outpatient clinic working with homeless veterans, and two M.S.W. students were placed at Fort Drum in the U.S. Army Medical Activity Unit.

Students placed on the medical social work floors in the hospital conduct bio-psycho-socio assessments, provide support for patients and family members, attend interdisciplinary medical staff meetings, and do discharge planning and resource referral. They also determine safety needs for discharge, research legal rights and outpatient services available to veterans, coordinate inpatient and outpatient care, maintain accurate medical records, and identify any ethical concerns when they arise.

Students placed in the Behavioral Health Center provide individual therapy and facilitate group sessions with veterans suffering from P.T.S.D. and mental health and/or substance abuse issues. students are also asked to do bio-psycho-socio assessments, develop treatment plans, and make community referrals.

Students in the Rome Clinic work with homeless veterans via outreach, assessment, relationship development, resource referral, emergency assistance, and education about services available through the V.A.

Training Veterans for Trauma Research

The Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition is pleased to announce a new program for veterans of the U.S. Armed Services interested in becoming trauma researchers led by associate professor Brooks Gump as part of a collaborative project between S.U. and SUNY Oswego. 

Sponsored by the national science foundation, the joint effort has created a Research Experience for Undergraduates (R.E.U.), which includes a month-long program in June 2012 on the shores of Lake Ontario. “for undergraduates interested in graduate school, it can  sometimes be challenging to find meaningful research experiences that offer hands-on  opportunities coupled with close work and mentoring with skilled faculty researchers. The R.E.U. program is an ideal way to gain valuable research experience,” notes Gump. 

Participating in this experience-rich, hands-on research opportunity with faculty mentors, students will develop their research skills while increasing marketability for admission to competitive graduate programs. in addition to training on research methods, students will participate in an intensive four-week summer research program at SUNY Oswego from June 4-29, 2012—and earn $3,000 by attending it. as students continue being mentored by their faculty, they will conduct research on a trauma-related topic and present their findings. 

For veterans pursuing an undergraduate degree who may be interested in this training, visit the project website.

Keeping The Promise

By Kathleen Haley 

Social Security provides millions of veterans and their families with modest, yet vital, benefits that are essential to make ends meet. As the U.S. government debates the challenges of balancing budgets and a trillion-dollar deficit, some proposals call for reducing social benefits, which would require “real sacrifice in basic necessities and quality of life” for veterans, according to a report compiled by Social Security Works and the Strengthen Social Security Campaign (www.strengthensocialsecurity.org). 

The report, titled “Social Security: Serving Those Who Serve Our Nation,” specifically focuses on veterans to strengthen their voices in the debate over Social Security reform. “We believe that voices of Americans are not being heard very well by political and media elites in Washington,” says School of Social Work professor Eric Kingson, co-director of Social Security Works, and co-chair of the campaign, a coalition of more than 300 state and national organizations that seeks to strengthen Social Security for everyone. “The more we can bring in the voices of veterans—and all groups that are affected—the better the outcome of the policy debate.”

More than nine million veterans (about 4 in 10 veterans) receive Social Security benefits, and veterans and their families make up 35 percent of the adult Social Security beneficiary population, according to government statistics. Also, more than 4,000 children who lost a parent in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars receive survivors’ benefits, and 771,000 veterans receive disability benefits.

The Social Security Works veterans’ report was released in May by two members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, at an event on Capitol Hill that featured world-war two veteran and Tuskegee Airman, Dabney Montgomery. Montgomery was one of several veterans, along with two military widows with children, who shared their stories in the report. They discussed how the benefits are necessary to help with their basic living expenses and their ability to build a better future for themselves and, in some cases, their children.

Montgomery, 87, who worked for the City of New York, receives 70 percent of his income from Social Security and the rest from his pension. “If we [my wife and I] had to live on just 5 or 10 percent less Social Security right now, we’d have to cut back on everything—home repairs, heat, food, a decent standard of living,” he states in the report.

Ten veterans’ organizations, including the American G.I. Forum; Gold Star Wives of America; and the Union Veterans Council, A.F.L.C.I.O., partnered with Social Security Works to place their support behind the report’s goals to advocate for Social Security. In a letter to members of Congress, the veterans’ organizations call for legislators to “honor the promise of Social Security” to veterans and Americans. It also states that the federal debt is a separate issue from Social Security, since it has not contributed to the federal debt, and by law the benefits plan cannot borrow or go into debt. The letter goes on to point out that the average benefit is a modest $15,500 annually to veterans.

Social Security, however, has become a negotiating chip by politicians in the budget debate. “The polling data across all political groups shows a large majority of Americans do not want to see benefit cuts, and they are far more open to tax increases,” says Kingson, who served as policy advisor to two presidential commissions on entitlement reform and was part of an advisory group for Social Security as part of President Obama’s transition. 

Kingson and the other co-director of Social Security Works, Nancy Altman, convened the group of 300 organizations, and in 2010, the Strengthen Social Security campaign was started. Staffing is provided by Social Security Works, which is funded primarily by the Atlantic Philanthropies. 

Other recent efforts by the veterans groups, in coordination with the Strengthen Security campaign, has been a letter to the president and legislators advocating a different cost of living increase formula, developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that takes into account higher health care costs. 

“Social Security is a system that works; it’s a system we need to invest in,” Kingson says. “It’s about having a society in which if you work hard, you get something in return. But you also have some responsibility not only to work but to care for your family and neighbors. This is a system that lets you do that to maintain yourself and others with a dignified life.” 

Don't Super Size Me

Watching the documentary, Super Size Me, Scott Pepperman knew he wanted to do something about the negative impact fast-food chains can have on physical and psychological well-being. The 2004 documentary film examines the influence of the fast food industry and its role in the obesity epidemic. 

Pepperman, a nutrition major who will graduate in 2012, has a passion for understanding the relationships between food and health. His desire to give back to the community has not only helped him put his classroom learning to practical use, but it has also benefited children and veterans in the Syracuse area. 

As a nutrition student, Pepperman must fulfill 250 hours of volunteer service. His advisor, nutrition department director Kay Stearns Bruening, recommended he get involved with the MOVE! program at the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center to gain nutrition-related clinical experience. Directed by Dr. Tammy Anthony, MOVE! helps overweight and obese veterans improve their weight, blood pressure, diabetes, and other weight-related risks through behavioral changes, nutrition education and counseling, and fitness activities. 

Pepperman’s volunteer work with MOVE! includes weighing patients and assisting staff during their large-group education classes twice weekly on a range of topics that can include dairy and calcium and the types of fat. “This opportunity is a great way to give back,” notes Pepperman. “The most rewarding part is that people are genuinely grateful for the help you give them, and they really want to help themselves.” 

“Scott’s experience as a veteran helps him relate to the patients,” Stearns Bruening says. 

Pepperman served in the U.S. Army from 1994 to 1998, responsible for supervising and training other soldiers. While working in the private sector, he continued to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve as a civil affairs sergeant. With deployments to Afghanistan once and Iraq twice, he led a unit in assisting governments with rebuilding and reconstruction, communicated the concerns of civilians, and managed reconstruction projects with a $4 million budget. The U.S. Army awarded him several medals during his time of service, including two Bronze Stars. 

Pepperman was named a 2011-2012 Syracuse University Remembrance Scholar, one of 35 students chosen in their junior year through a rigorous and competitive process awarded on the basis of distinguished academic achievement, citizenship, and service to the community. He will serve as a department marshal in 2012 at Commencement. 

“Scott has demonstrated an extraordinary level of citizenship, academic achievement, and community service, all of which are tied to his life experiences,” Stearns Bruening says. 

During the spring 2011 semester, Pepperman took Nutrition Education, which included a special project with an after-school program for children ages 9-11 to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables. This summer, Pepperman volunteered to help at Lions Camp Hickory in Baldwinsville, New York. The camp program is designed for children with type 1 diabetes and offers activities that teach them how to manage their diabetes, including nutrition education. 

Looking ahead to his senior year, Pepperman says, “I can’t wait to get into the good stuff,” such as advanced coursework that includes medical nutrition therapy, he says. “I like to explain the why of ‘why you need this nutrient or that nutrient,’ and what it will do in your body.” His ideal job includes working with children, though he wants to experiment in many different areas to broaden his experiences as a future professional. 

Commercial and Cultural Implications of the “The Big Game” 

More than just a game, the Super Bowl is an American institution. Sport management faculty crafted this cultural staple and economic powerhouse into the focus of a new course, The Super Bowl and Society.

“The Super Bowl has been the most-watched television show in America each year for more than a decade,” says Dennis Deninger, one of the faculty members who taught the new course that debuted during the spring 2011 semester. “Because of its social, cultural, economic, and political impact, Super Bowl Sunday has become as much a national holiday as any other official holiday on our calendar,” he adds.

With enrollment of more than 100 students, the new course explored the evolution and strategic brilliance that has allowed a football game to become a social phenomenon with international audiences, big business impact, and cultural implications.

Three S.P.M. faculty worked together to teach the course. Deninger, an adjunct professor in the Department of Sport Management and the Newhouse School’s Department of television-radio-film, won three Emmy Awards as a producer working at E.S.P.N. for more than 25 years. Michael Veley is director and chair of the Department of Sport Management, and also serves as the Carrier Dome’s public address play-by-play announcer. Rick Burton is the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management and worked for a sports marketing agency with experience on the N.F.L. account, attending three Super Bowls during the mid-1990s. 

“We’ve long known the Super Bowl plays a unique role in shaping contemporary American society,” Burton says. “We felt our expertise and focus on sport management made this a logical class for SU students and the Falk College to explore.” 

The course featured historical perspective on the Super Bowl’s evolution, citing original research and highlights of recently conducted exclusive interviews with broadcast executives, including those from Super Bowl I. 

The faculty recruited a host of impressive guest speakers throughout the semester, including N.B.C.’s Drew Esocoff, director of N.B.C. Sunday Night Football, each of N.B.C.’s recent Super Bowls, and the Olympics. He met with the class two days after Super Bowl XLV to do a critical analysis of the game telecast. 

“The class was designed with notable rigor as it relates to understanding complex concepts that make this single football game such a touchstone for so many people,” Burton says. “The T.V. production, the advertising, the spending, the history, the cinematic representation, and the massive audience all make this a unique story for contemporary students.” 

Not-so-famous facts about the super bowl:

The Super Bowl and Society course featured historical perspective on the super Bowl’s evolution, citing original research and highlights of recently conducted exclusive interviews with broadcast executives, including those from super Bowl i. some not-so-well-known facts about that first super Bowl students heard included: 

• Super Bowl I did not sell out. The L.A. coliseum was only 70 percent full. N.F.L. commissioner Pete Rozelle came out onto the field before the game started and realized C.B.S.’s cameras would see too many empty seats. so he instructed that announcements be made to move fans who bought the $6 tickets into more favorable locations. 

• Rozelle didn’t like the title “Super bowl,” so the first two Super Bowls were officially called the “A.F.L./N.F.L. World championship game.” But for fans and the media, the game was the Super Bowl from the very beginning. 

• Super Bowl I was aired live on both C.B.S. and N.B.C. The second-half kickoff came while N.B.C. was still in commercial. so after the network complained, the referee actually allowed a “do-over,” and they kicked off again. luckily, the first kick resulted in a touchback, and there had been no run back. 

Students

A Passion for Soccer Fuels International Career Path 

by Jordan Cooper ’11 

Jordan Cooper is a 2011 Syracuse University graduate with a degree in sport management. During summer 2011, he completed his Senior Capstone project in New York City at Mercury Communications Group, a marketing firm that specializes in organizing fan mail for its clients. Below he shares details about an independent study project with Professor Rick Burton, which has played a role in his future career plans. 

Since I was five years old, soccer has always been a major part of my life. When I had a chance to study abroad in London during the 2011 World Cup, I knew I wanted to do more than just experience the culture. 

I wanted to be a part of it. 

Since the United States and England were in the same group for the World Cup and playing each other for the first time since the United States beat England in the 1950 World Cup, there was a great deal to talk about. I was able to hold my own through my passion and knowledge about the game and was treated like any other Londoner. 

Witnessing so much passion around the sport all throughout Europe, I wondered what fueled this excitement. I wanted to explore it further. When I returned to campus last fall, I sought out Professor Rick Burton (the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management), who has tremendous experience in the international sports world and many colleagues within the English Premier League. With his guidance to create an independent study, I decided to investigate the European Soccer League’s structure of promotion and relegation. 

I took an in-depth look at how the structure affects the league dynamic, each team’s business model and evolving trends in the European club marketplace. Interviews with Don Garber, the commissioner of Major League Soccer (who visited S.U. in the fall 2010 semester); Gary Hopkins, a business consultant for Manchester Football Club City (England); and Tom Fox, the chief commercial officer for Arsenal Football Club (London), gave me invaluable insight that truly enhanced the validity of my study. 

During the study, I learned that for a team not guaranteed to be playing in the top division in its country is unfamiliar to the average American sports consumer and adds many different exciting and detrimental elements that do not exist in American professional sports leagues, such as meaningful games at the top and bottom of the league standings. In addition, the smaller teams tend to overextend their financial capabilities to keep up and end up incurring large amounts of debt they cannot pay.

I fully applied key concepts from my sport management courses focused on sponsorship, sustainable business models, brand awareness, balancing of finances, and corporate structure, which offered valuable perspective for my conclusions. I have learned a great deal about the European soccer industry and some of the major trends shaping the way the game is played, consumed, and managed. Gaining this hands-on experience has prepared me for situations I will encounter when I enter the workforce.

And there is no doubt the connections made during my independent study will be critical in pursuing a career overseas in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

A Semester of Public Health in South Africa 

by Alyssa A. Fuller ’11 

Alyssa A. Fuller is a graduate of the Syracuse University Class of 2011 with a major in public health. Her career aspirations in international health were further reinforced by her study abroad experience in South Africa. During this trip, she and fellow public health major Kristen Culmo posted a blog of their experiences at suphsouthafrica.blogspot.com. 

As a public health major, I’ve studied vulnerable populations and learned about such pandemics as H.I.V./AIDS. Some of my required courses involved service learning components, including teaching Somali women refugees aspects of health care in a culturally conscious manner while also maintaining appropriate literacy levels. 

Because my first-hand experiences were so valuable, I decided to study abroad. 

I wanted my experience to be pertinent to public health, which led me to a program in community health and social policy in Durban, South Africa that included a multitude of experiences focused on health concerns and policies. 

During the fall 2011 semester, I had some of the greatest learning experiences of a lifetime, including an intensive Zulu language course; field studies at local hospitals, clinics, hospices, nonprofit organizations, and orphanages; and a four-week-long independent study project. My experience also included a five-week home-stay with South African Zulu families in a township outside of Durban. During my three rural home-stays throughout South Africa, resources such as clean water, electricity, and plumbing were scarce. My host families were absolutely wonderful and I left South Africa feeling that I really had family in South Africa. 

The final independent study project gave me the opportunity to learn more about any topic of interest. I became interested in the population of orphaned and vulnerable children as I learned how the number of orphans continues to rise in South Africa as a result of H.I.V./AIDS. I contacted an orphanage in a rural village about three hours from Durban. I lived on site while I completed a needs assessment of the orphanage and got to know the children well. It was heartbreaking to leave. 

There were times I felt like I was living in a National Geographic magazine. We were privileged to attend the annual Zulu Reed Dance, where 50,000 girls danced for the Zulu King as he and the royal men chose new wives from the group. As we drove home from the Reed Dance, we had to stop for an elephant to cross the road. Experiencing those moments was absolutely incredible. 

I learned a lot about myself throughout the trip and surprised myself with my ability to adapt so easily and quickly to new surroundings. In total, we lived in more than 11 different locations and it was amazing how quickly a new place could really feel like “home.” 

My experiences in South Africa have influenced my decision to pursue international health in graduate school. I would like to continue working with the orphaned vulnerable child population abroad, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa. 

For students who are considering studying abroad, I would advise them to go for it. I kept an open mind as I went into this experience and was willing to be flexible, which I think really helped me to adapt so quickly. Though challenging at times, I can easily say that it was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. 

Focus on Child and Maternal Health 

Improving the way of life for others has always been important to May 2011 public health graduate Shanique Campbell. And living in the health and wellness residential learning community her first year paved a career path to do just that. 

All students in the learning community are required to take Personal/Social Health. Campbell, who entered S.U. as an undeclared student, fell in love with the subject area her first semester on campus. 

That spring, she declared a major in public health. 

“I always knew I wanted a career focused on medicine and the well-being of others. Learning how to protect and improve the health of the population makes you feel you can make a difference in the world,” she says. 

Named a McNair Scholar in 2010, Campbell identified maternal and child health as the focus of her research project. The McNair Scholars Program at Syracuse University, which includes a hands-on research project, supports high-achieving undergraduate students in preparation for graduate and doctoral studies. 

After talking to her McNair mentor, public health professor Sandra Lane, Campbell was interested in studying sweetened soda consumption in pregnant women. During the 2010 McNair Summer Academy, Campbell developed her project’s rationale. While an intern at the Center for Maternal and Child Health at SUNY Upstate, she created consent forms and study fliers eventually shared with the study subjects: pregnant women in their third trimester. 

Campbell shared information collected with obstetrical residents who will abstract data from the delivery charts, including pre-pregnancy weight and height; weight gain; blood glucose measurements; infant gestational age and birth weight; maternal pre-natal or perinatal illness or infection; type of delivery; and maternal age, race, and ethnicity, among other variables.

Campbell notes her coursework in public health has been very useful for her research. “What I learned in my health literacy course helped me create a study flier on an appropriate grade reading level,” she says. Another class that helped Campbell prepare for this experience was Culturally Competent Health Care. “In interviewing women from many different cultural backgrounds, I had to be aware of, and respectful of, each culture I encountered,” she adds.

This fall, Campbell enrolled in Johns Hopkins University’s accelerated B.S.N. nursing program, with plans of matriculating into the M.S.N. program. Once she completes the M.S.N. nursing degree at Johns Hopkins, Campbell plans to practice as a certified nurse midwife and attain a Ph.D. in nursing to conduct more research to benefit the maternal and child health community.

Campbell’s professional development portfolio includes study aboard in London, Geneva, and Amsterdam in the Comparative Health Policy Program. Service learning was a highlight of Campbell’s S.U. career and included work with the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center, the Genesis Health Project and Professor Luvenia Cowart, and the Refugee Assistance Program.

“Community engagement teaches you skills needed as a professional—skills that cannot be learned in the classroom,” Campbell says.

Pictures with captions in this article include: “Community engagement teaches you skills needed as a professional,” notes Shanique Campbell, pictured here at the center for Maternal and child health. 

Sweetened Soda Consumption by Pregnant Women 

During the interview phase, Campbell set out to survey 75-100 pregnant women in their third trimester to understand their intake of sweetened beverages, asking the following questions: 

• When you first got up in the morning, what type of liquid did you drink with breakfast? 
• Did you drink any liquid between breakfast and lunch? 
• What liquid did you drink with lunch? 
• In between lunch and dinner, what did you drink? 
• What liquid did you drink with dinner? 
• What liquid did you drink after dinner, before you went to bed? 
• In the past week did you drink any soda? If yes: 
• What type of soda did you drink? 
• Was the soda “diet” or “regular”? 
• Looking at the empty bottles that I have here, please choose the size that looks like the size that you drank.
• How many cans/bottles/glasses of soda did you have each day in the past week?
• Did you drink more soda on some days than others in the past week? 
• Is the amount of soda that you drank in the past week different than when you first became pregnant? 
• Is the amount of soda that you drank in the past week different than before you became pregnant? 

Faculty

Advancing Nutrition Education in Chile 

An invitation to share her insights and expertise on dietetic education and program accreditation sent nutrition associate professor and chair of the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition, Kay Stearns Bruening, south of the equator last fall. Stearns Bruening traveled to Chile in November at the request of a group of Chilean professors from a consortium of three universities: Valparaiso, Concepcion, and Bio Bio. The group had visited several American universities, including Syracuse University, in 2008 and 2009, to learn more about U.S. dietitian programs and asked Stearns Bruening to meet with their colleagues in Chile. “It was a tremendous honor that after all those visits to these various universities they invited me to go down there and work with them,” says Stearns Bruening, who was there for two and a half weeks.

Stearns Bruening was asked to consult as part of the consortium’s effort to strengthen dietitian education programs as they move to competency-based education. In Chile, virtually every primary care practice employs a nutritionist, which has led to enormous growth in the numbers of new dietitian education programs. However, the quality of the programs varies and standards that measure competency and outcomes for students do not exist as they do in the United States.

At each of the three universities, Stearns Bruening reviewed and critiqued their proposed new curricula, comparing learning outcomes with those required by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetic Education (C.A.D.E.). Stearns Bruening has been a program reviewer for C.A.D.E. since 2002 and served as a commissioner from 20052008. She also presented to faculty, students, and practitioners on dietitian education and practice in the United States, including an extensive overview of C.A.D.E. standards and an exploration of international C.A.D.E. accreditation.

“Their programs are similar to ours and they face a lot of the same challenges, one of which is finding enough student placement hours,” she says. “But, they want to show that their programs are comparable to those in the U.S. and be recognized by the accrediting organization for dietitian education.” 

Stearns Bruening also conducted interactive workshops to give them a model on how to assess student learning. One example at the Falk College is nutrition professor Tanya Horacek’s outcome-based model for the nutrition counseling course. Students learn about counseling theory and techniques and are paired with a patient—an actor playing a simulated condition that can be addressed with nutrition counseling. Once they pass the exam, they are then assigned a client and complete two or three counseling sessions. “We bring the students up to competency, assess whether or not they are there, and then we give them the chance to practice,” she says. 

Along with dietitian education, Stearns Bruening shared her specialty knowledge in the area of the pediatric obesity epidemic—a health care challenge for professional nutritionists in both Chile and the United States. She addressed the epidemiology and demographics of the epidemic in the United States, including effects of gender, age, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. She noted both the nutrition factors, such as increased portion sizes, overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and low intake of healthy foods, and the decrease in the amount of physical activity that have contributed to the epidemic. 

As discussions on best practices for the shared obesity epidemic grew at each institution, the possibility of exchange programs between Syracuse University and universities in Chile emerged. S.U.’s study abroad program has facilities in Santiago and an existing relationship with the Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica. “A cross-cultural study of the obesity epidemics in the U.S. and Chile could be a wonderful opportunity not only for students, but also for faculty researchers and practitioners,” Stearns Bruening says. 

Outside of her academic experiences, Stearns Bruening appreciated the hospitality of her Chilean hosts. “They opened their homes and families to me,” she says. She also visited a ski resort on the edge of a volcano and sampled the wealth of fresh foods. “I had fresh local avocado, possibly for the first time in my life,” she says. “Experiencing the local culture was more my personal interest than what they brought me to do there, but I was certainly awake, alert, and paying attention.” 

Color-Coded Health Care Uniforms

In Chile, health care workers wear uniforms that are color-coded to depict their professional specialty. for example, nurses wear blue, pharmacists wear black, and dietitians wear lavender. 

SEED Grants Awarded

Seed grants are awarded in the college annually through its research center to stimulate externally funded research. Awardees for the 2011-2012 academic year include: 

A Study of Cortisol Reactivity and Recovery in Young Adolescents 

Juye Ji, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work 

Understanding the Dynamics of the Central New York Food System 

Leigh Gantner, Assistant Professor, Department of 

Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition 

Everyone Succeeds* 

Eunjoo Jung, Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Family Studies 

Carrie Smith, Chair, Associate Professor, School of Social Work 

WISE Industry Pulse Study 

Gina Pauline, Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Management 

The review team was led by associate dean of research Tim Dye and made up of committee members Deb Monahan, Rick Burton, Robert Moreno, Linda Stone Fish, Tanya Horacek, and Katie Keough. 

*Everyone Succeeds prepares future teachers to work effectively with students by tutoring struggling readers. 

Professors Lane and Pauline Honored by S.U.

Syracuse University named Sandra D. Lane, professor of public health and anthropology, one of this year’s Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professors. She was recognized at a reception in April, along with the 2011 recipients of the Teaching Recognition Awards, who included assistant professor of sport management Gina Pauline. 

The Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorships were established in 1995 to recognize and reward outstanding teaching at the University. Lane focuses on child and family health disparities due to discrimination based on gender, racial/ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and other issues. She is recognized as an extraordinary teacher and advisor who offers students challenging research and community engagement opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom in a real-world setting. Lane’s courses, such as Community Based Health Policy, Epidemiology, and Public Health Ethics, give students the chance to become involved in student led, participatory, community-engaged research projects in public health practices and research methods. The projects allow them the opportunity to network with public health workers, physicians, and community members. 

“My teaching is grounded in problem-based and community-engaged methods, which I learned about early in my academic career when I visited the medical faculty at Gezira University in Sudan,” Lane says. “Gezira had been established as an entirely community-oriented, problem-based university. Each week the teaching addressed a ‘problem module’ and all courses focused their hands-on laboratories on that week’s module.” 

Lane’s Meredith project proposal includes holding a set of workshops for S.U. faculty who want to learn more about her model of student-led scholarship in order to undertake such projects themselves. To complement the workshops, she will arrange community agency site visits, hands-on mentoring of interested faculty and a monthly lunch meeting where faculty can share their experiences in developing community-oriented projects. 

Lane is also a research professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and has published among her works Why Are Our Babies Dying?: Pregnancy, Birth and Death in America (Paradigm Publishing, 2008). 

As an instructor for principles of sport management and event management, among other sales-, marketing- and law-related sport management courses, Gina Pauline engages her students in the concept of S.U.’s vision of Scholarship in Action by integrating real-world scenarios—interweaving sports, social justice, and citizenship in both the classroom and public engagement. By combining classroom lectures, real-world case studies in event planning, sponsorship, and marketing with experiential learning opportunities, Pauline earns high marks from her students. Pauline is also an advocate for supporting women pursuing careers in sport management, and has mentored several of her students to successful careers within the sport industry. She was also instrumental in establishing the first collegiate chapter of Women in Sport and Events (WISE) at S.U. 

Eliminating Barriers to Quality Care 

Because many physicians’ offices and medical facilities are not properly designed for persons with physical disabilities, the quality of the health care they receive is often compromised. 

“Heavy doors and unusable door knobs, incorrect sink heights, the absence of grab bars, and inadequate space for someone using a wheelchair exist in many medical office restrooms,” explains School of Social Work professor Nancy Mudrick. “Even if a patient can enter a physician’s office, the inability to use the bathroom presents a significant barrier to appropriate medical care and diagnostic tests.” 

Despite documentation that the quality of health care for people with disabilities is negatively affected by physical and programmatic barriers in doctors’ offices, estimates accurately depicting the proportion of providers who offer full access do not exist. This finding was one of several lessons learned by Mudrick and a team of colleagues led by the Berkeley, California-based Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (D.R.E.D.F.) in preparing a report, titled “The Current State of Health Care for People with Disabilities” (2009), for the National Council on Disability. 

The absence of this information is significant because the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act requires doctors’ offices to provide equal access to medical services. The 2010 Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. health reform) requires that the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board develop standards for accessible medical exam equipment. It also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to collect data on the number of providers with accessible facilities and equipment. 

To address this information gap, Mudrick and D.R.E.D.F. colleagues Mary Lou Breslin, senior policy advisor; Silvia Yee, attorney; and Mengke Liang ’10 M.S.W. have created a unique dataset. A grant from the California Health Care Foundation supported their compilation of what is perhaps the largest single dataset nationally on provider office access, with 2,389 provider sites serving more than 2.5 million Medicaid-insured patients in California. 

The data analysis indicated that, while the parking arrangements and exterior entrances of most medical buildings are accessible to a patient with a disability, significant barriers still exist inside the physician’s office. Only 34.3 percent of provider offices met all of the interior office access criteria appropriate for their setting, with the most serious office barriers existing in the bathrooms. 

Among the most disturbing findings is that only 8.4 percent of providers’ offices have height-adjustable examination tables and 

3.6 percent have accessible scales. Consequently, many patients are examined seated in wheelchairs or lifted onto exam tables by inadequately trained nursing staff. Others are never weighed. Conditions may be missed if a patient is only examined seated or in a wheelchair. Moreover, height-adjustable exam tables are useful to a broad range of patients, including people with obesity, arthritis, balance difficulties, vision impairments, and various mobility impairments. Accessible scales are important because weight and weight change are often used as indicators of many health problems. 

“Additionally, many patients with disabilities don’t seek treatment because of the access barriers, which is costly to the individual and to the health care system,” Mudrick says.

Pictures with captions in this article include: Research colleagues Nancy Mudrick, professor, School of Social Work, and Mary Lou Breslin, senior policy advisor, D.R.E.D.F., who is in her wheelchair, illustrate an accessible weight scale. Photo courtesy of Nancy Mudrick.

New Faculty 

With an exceptional wealth of academic and practical experience in their respective fields complemented by their passion for teaching, research, scholarship, and service, six new faculty members joined the falk college this fall, including: 

Maria Brown, PH.D., LMSw 

Professor of Practice School of Social work 

Maria Brown is a 2008-2010 John A. Hartford Foundation Doctoral Fellow in Geriatric Social Work. She earned a Ph.D. from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Her dissertation, which was titled, “Psychiatric history and cognition trajectories in later life: variations by sex, race and ethnicity, and childhood disadvantage,” examined the relationship between psychiatric history and cognitive function in later life. Her work has been published in The Gerontologist, The Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy, and The Encyclopedia of Health and Aging. She has recently worked as the research coordinator for I.M.P.A.R.A.: The Rodney and Marjorie Fink Institute at Menorah Park for Applied Research on Aging, and as a research project coordinator in the Center for Policy Research at S.U. She earned an from the School of Social Work at Syracuse University where she also earned a master of arts in sociology from the Maxwell School. 

C. Bonnie Everhart, Ph.D.

Professor of Practice Department of Sport Management 

Bonnie Everhart most recently served as an assistant professor and director for the Sport Management program at Cazenovia College. Previously, she was a lecturer and coordinator of special events at Ohio State University, and served as assistant athletic director at Dartmouth College, assistant professor at Colorado College, and a lecturer at the University of Illinois. Everhart’s research addresses race and gender as they relate to selecting coaching as an occupation. Her work has been published in national and international publications, including the International Journal of Sport Management and the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. Everhart’s current research studies a comparison of perspectives in the interests and experiences of students in intercollegiate athletics. Everhart earned a bachelor’s degree from Otterbein College in Ohio, and two master’s degrees, one from University of Illinois and another from Indiana University. She earned a Ph.D. at the Ohio State University. 

Katherine McDonald, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor, Public Health Faculty Fellow, Burton Blatt Institute 

Katherine McDonald assumed a dual appointment as assistant professor of public health in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and as a faculty fellow at the Burton Blatt Institute. Through the dual appointment, McDonald will contribute to strengthening students’ understanding of disability and working to improve the lives of persons with disabilities. McDonald comes to S.U. and B.B.I. from Portland State University (Oregon), where she served as an assistant professor of psychology. Her current research examines the inclusion of persons with intellectual disability in research, participation in online communities and its relationship to autistic adults’ social connectedness and well-being, health disparities among and health care experiences of autistic adults, and community participation among persons with disabilities. She received the Stevens-Shapiro Fellowship from the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities and was an International Visiting Fellow at the University of Western Sydney in Australia. McDonald received a B.S. with distinction in human development and family studies with a minor in French from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in community and prevention research psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Rodney J. Paul, Ph.D.

Professor Department of Sport Management 

Rodney J. Paul was most recently a professor of economics at St. Bonaventure University. He has also held a visiting faculty position at Montana State University. His fields of specialization include the economics and finance of sports, as well as macroeconomics and international economics. His work has been published in The Journal of Sports Economics, International Journal of Sport Finance, Applied Economics, Atlantic Economic Journal, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, and the Journal of Economics and Finance. He has authored numerous book chapters on sport economics and business, including co-authorship of the chapters, “Uses of sports wagering-based prediction markets outside of the world of gambling,” in the book, Prediction Markets: Theory and Applications, and “Behavioral biases and sportsbook pricing in Major League Baseball” in the Oxford Handbook of Sports Economics. He earned a Ph.D. and a master of arts in applied economics from Clemson University and a bachelor of science in mathematics and a bachelor of arts in economics from Lebanon Valley College. 

Evan L. Weissman, Ph.D. Candidate

Assistant Professor Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition 

Evan L. Weissman is a Ph.D. candidate in geography at Syracuse University. Weissman holds a master’s degree in sociology and a minor in environmental policy from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University in environmental policy, administration, and law. He has held instructorships at S.U. focused on America and the global environment, as well general sociology, social justice, and social change at the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State Technical Community College. Additional professional experiences include service as a public outreach associate for Scenic Hudson and an education and outreach assistant for the environmental organization, Riverkeeper. His research interests include food justice, urban agriculture, food policy, the political economy of agriculture, urban political ecology, and food and environmental justice. Weissman is a founding member and currently serves on the board of Syracuse Grows, a food justice network promoting urban agriculture and community gardening. 

John T. Wolohan, J.D. 

Professor Department of Sport Management 

John T. Wolohan most recently served as a professor of sport management at Ithaca College and served as an adjunct instructor at S.U. in sport management. Prior to joining the faculty at Ithaca College, Wolohan served as an assistant professor and director of the Department of Sport Management at Iowa State and Rice Universities. Wolohan’s expertise is in the area of sport law. With an extensive list of publications, his research has been published in International Sports Law Journal, the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, and the Journal of Sport Management, as well as several law reviews and trade publications. In addition to writing several book chapters, Wolohan’s book, Law for Recreation and Sport Managers, is now in its fifth edition. Wolohan earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, and a juris doctor degree from the Western New England University School of Law. 

New Titles from the Falk College

Education and Support Programs for Caregivers: Research, Practice, Policy 

Caring for a chronically ill family member can often be the reason for an individual’s emotional hardship, physical stress, and social isolation. But there are skill-building, coping, and psychoeducational programs that continue to emerge in communities to help caregivers meet the changes and challenges in their—as well as the patients’—lives. 

School of social Work professor Deborah J. Monahan co-edited the publication Education and Support Programs for Caregivers: Research, Practice, Policy, which explores the diversity of today’s caregiver population and their experiences and needs. The book introduces a solid framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating caregiver programs and synthesizes current trends while exploring the effectiveness of different types of programs and groups, and how supportive programs lead to improved care. 

In addition to the book’s introduction and identification of current and future directions, Monahan authored the chapter “utilization Patterns of caregiver education and support Programs.” 

War and Drugs: The Role of Military Conflict in the Development of Substance Abuse 

Dessa Bergen-Cico, assistant professor in the Department of Public health, food studies, and nutrition, will under Bergen-Cico’s leadership, the Department of Public health, food studies, and nutrition initiated publish The War on Drugs, which explores the relationship between military incursions and substance use and abuse throughout history, later this fall. in addition to offering detailed geopolitical perspectives, this book explores the intergenerational trauma that follows military conflict and the rising tide of substance abuse among veterans, especially from the Vietnam and Iraq-Afghan eras. addiction specialist Bergen-Cico raises important questions about the past and challenges people to consider new approaches in the future—especially to that longest of u.s. wars: the erstwhile “War on Drugs.” With a research appointment at the Syracuse Veterans Administration Medical Center, Bergen-Cico teaches international courses on drug policies and addiction studies. a drug policy collaboration with the Pompidou Group-Council of Europe with the goal of executive education and training for European professionals working in the field of addictions, drug policy, and alcohol. 

The Darkest Mission 

Combining historically accurate military and espionage details, David B. Falk Professor of sport Management rick Burton published his first novel this spring. The thriller spans two generations of complicated intrigue and dark double-crosses. The Darkest Mission follows the crew of a doomed 100th Bomb group B-17 bomber through a 50-year odyssey targeting one of America’s most honored public figures. With a whirlwind plot, it falls to a south Boston detective, turning to an N.F.L.-linebacker-turned-priest, to explain one clue (a Bible verse that does not exist). it leads to a series of gritty homicides and a puzzle-filled plot that ends with a blazing conclusion. 

Immigrant Children: Change, Adaptation, and Cultural Transformation 

The continuous influx of immigrant families into North America has greatly transformed the demographic profile of such countries as Canada and the United States. This increase in multicultural diversity has posed significant challenges for educators, human service providers, and policy makers as they attempt to understand the newest generations of immigrant families. These challenges have been exacerbated given that our understanding of normative families have been based largely on middle-class Euro-Americans. 

The recently published book, Immigrant Children: Change, Adaptation, and Cultural Transformation, by coeditors Robert Moreno and Susan Chuang, expands our current knowledge of immigrant families and examines how their development and well-being is influenced by a variety of sociocultural factors 

Robert Moreno is an associate professor at Syracuse University where he also serves as chair of the Department of Child and Family Studies. his research examines familial and cultural influences on children’s learning and academic achievement among latinos and low-income families. other recent publications include On New Shores: Understanding Immigrant Fathers in North America (co-edited with Susan S. Chuang), “Chicano Families and Schools: Challenges for strengthening family-school relation” appearing in Chicano School Failure and Success: Past, Present and Future (edited by Richard R. Valencia), and “Parental Involvement: A critical view through a multicultural lens” appearing in Critical Voices in Bicultural Parent Engagement: Operationalizing Advocacy and Empowerment (edited by Edward. M. Olivos, Alberto. M. Ochoa, & Oscar Jiménez-Castellanos). 

Alumni

Greetings, Alumni and Friends:

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading our newly redesigned magazine and that it reconnects you to Syracuse University and the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. As the college continues to evolve and grow, one thing remains constant—our pride in you. Our alumni are an important part of the college’s history and an even more important part of our future. 

We’ve made some changes in the last year. In addition to our new name, the college has developed a new feature on our web site for submitting class notes. You can find it on our web site at falk.syr.edu. Please visit the site to update us and to stay updated on the many exciting events, programs, and initiatives that are planned throughout the year, including Orange Central. The annual celebration of class reunions, special group reunions, and Homecoming is all rolled into one exciting weekend, which will take place Thursday, November 10, through Sunday, November 13, 2011. 

Last year, our college hosted several alumni events, including a Boston Alumni Reception as a part of the American Dietetic Association’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, as well as the Joan Christy Lecture Series, featuring nutrition alumna Cynthia Sass. I’m always looking for new ideas and welcome your feedback—how can we better serve you? 

I would welcome your valuable insight regarding ways to better engage and support you. Please feel free to e-mail me at aarood@syr.edu or call me at 315-443-5579 to discuss any ideas you may have. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Sincerely, 

Amy Rood G’09

Coordinator Alumni Programs and Events 

Class Notes 

Stay in touch with the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. Please use our Submit Class Notes feature on our web site, falk.syr.edu, to keep us updated! 

1940s 

Berte Berger Darr ’47 (Nutrition and Dietetics) resides in San Diego, California. Currently retired, she taught at the University of Mississippi, and owns two motels and an interior design company. 

Beverly Mach Geller ’47 (Nursing) resides in East Windsor, New Jersey. She enjoyed careers in nursing and interior decorating before earning a second bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and a master’s degree from the College of New Jersey. She wrote six children’s books, and her poetry has been published in several anthologies. 

Dolores H. Salanger ’47 (Nursing) resides in Syracuse and is enjoying retirement, her 18 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. She is thrilled to have a granddaughter currently attending S.U. 

1950s 

Virginia E. Miller ’52 (Human Development) resides in Horseheads, New York. She had a long career as an elementary school teacher and librarian. 

Barbara Atwell Roberts ’52 (Nursing) had a successful nursing career in Cooperstown, New York, and is currently retired, residing in Concord, New Hampshire. 

Frances Gailey Read ’53 (Human Development) earned a master’s degree at Cornell University and a doctoral degree at Ohio State. She is a professor emerita at SUNY Oneonta. 

Rita H. Palmer ’55 (Nursing) has three children and is enjoying retirement in Florida. 

Phyllis K. Feinberg ’56 (Human Development) is enjoying retirement and winters in Florida. 

Roberta (Bobbie) C. Schofield ’57 (Human Development), G’77 (Social Work) is enjoying retirement and was elected president of The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Community in Florida. 

Gale A. Dennis ’58 (Human Development) is retired and teaching literacy at the Los Angeles Public Library. 

1960s 

Connie Lane ’62 (Nursing) resides in Vermont, working part-time as an educator for nursing assistants. She was honored with Franklin County Home Health Agency’s Make a Difference Award 2010. 

Helen F. Obrist ’67 (Human Development) resides in Dewitt, New York. Throughout her career, her most interesting job was teaching sewing to female prisoners at Jamesville State Penitentiary. 

Joan E. Rockwell ’68 (Nursing) resides in Portland, Oregon, and is employed by Maxim Healthcare Services. In the position, she cares for medically fragile children in their homes. 

1970s 

Patricia Demyan ’72, G’77 (Social Work) has been at S.U.’s Counseling Center for 30 years and is currently serving as its director. 

Ellie Peavey G’74 (Human Development) retired in 2010 after developing a state-of-the-art district career education program for the North Syracuse Central School District. During her career, she created a comprehensive job shadow program and a unique collaborative school/ business partnership program. 

Linda Pasto (Allan) ’76 (Child and Family Studies and Nursing) is a professor of nursing at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. She received Convatea’s Great Comebacks award for the East Region and was featured in Gallup’s Strengths Quest Insights national newsletter. 

1980s 

Rochelle Altarac Pachman ’84 (Social Work) resides in Commack, New York. She was appointed assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine. 

Phillip Levant Benton ’85 (Nursing) is enjoying retirement and overseas travel. 

1990s 

Shelli l. Haynes (Stiverson) G’92 (Social Work) serves as a mental health specialist at the Oregon State Penitentiary (Oregon Department of Corrections), working with behaviorally disordered and mentally ill male inmates. 

Ann McGuire G’92 (Social Work) is a vice president at Indiana University Health, Ball Memorial and Blackford Hospitals in Indiana. 

Dan Kluger ’95 (Hospitality Management), a chef at New York City’s A.B.C. Kitchen, was honored as one of Rising Star Magazine’s Rising Stars for 2010 in New York City. Subsequently, A.B.C. Kitchen was named 2011 Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. Additionally, Kluger and his recipes have been featured on Martha Stewart Live. 

Ildiko E. Monahan (Kovacs) ’97 (Nursing) is a nursing instructor at St. Elizabeth College of Nursing in Utica, New York. and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in education at Sage College. She is married to Jim Monahan and has four children. 

2000s 

Susan G. Wiitala G’02 (Nursing) is a faculty member at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. 

Saliena Alaimo G’05 (Social Work) resides in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She earned A.S.W.-G. certification in July of 2010 and serves as the intake coordinator and advanced social worker in gerontology at LIFE Geisinger. 

Jennifer W. Hayes (Wheat) ’05 (Nursing) resides in Richmond, Virginia. She earned an M.S.N. from Old Dominion University in Virginia in 2008 and works for a pediatric hospice and palliative care organization and teaches pediatrics. She is married to a lifelong S.U. fan, Chris Hayes, and the couple welcomed their first child, Ryan Christopher Hayes, in 2010. 

Jacob Serbonich ’06 (Nutrition Science) resides in Baltimore, Maryland, and earned his graduate degree in 2010 from George Washington University in biostatistics. He is working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. 

Jena Hart (Ashworth) ’07 (Nutrition) graduated with a master of science degree in nutrition from James Madison University. Residing in Massachusetts, she works with adolescent and adult psychiatric patients at Carney Hospital. 

Kate Callahan ’10 (Nutrition) was selected as a fellow in the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship program (see sidebar this page). 

Brittany Chin ’10 (Nutrition) was awarded the Outstanding Dietetic Student Award by the Charleston Trident Dietetic Association in South Carolina. 

Rebecca K. Greenblatt ’10 (Hospitality Management) serves as conference concierge at Hershey Resorts and Entertainment Company. In the role, she is responsible for guest services and coordinating special projects in the Catering and Conference Services Department. 

Congressional Fellowship

Kate Callahan ’10, nutrition science and dietetics alumna, was selected as a fellow in the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship program. Callahan is currently completing her dietetic internship at Simmons College in Boston. The fellowship program is a year-long leadership development program that trains emerging leaders in the fight against hunger in the United States. The Bill Emerson Fellows are a living tribute to the late Rep. Bill Emerson, who devoted his energies to assisting the poor. 

The Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship, a project of the Congressional Hunger Center, is a leadership development opportunity to help eliminate hunger and poverty. Fellows are placed with urban and rural community-based organizations all involved in fighting hunger at the local level, including grass roots organizing groups, food banks, economic development agencies, local advocacy groups, and faith-based organizations. They complete the fellowship in Washington, D.C., working with national organizations involved in the anti-hunger and poverty movement, including national advocacy organizations, think tanks, and federal agencies. 

In Memoriam 

Since our last publication, the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics has learned of the passing of our alumni noted below. 

College for Human Development 

1924 Vernon Pickering 

1928 Alice Wheeler Hill, Christabel Wiltse Parker 

1929 Lora Rowley Foote, Mary Cassidy Simpson, Dorothy (Abrams) Wilkins 

1933 Dorothy B. Borcherdt 

1935 Blanche (Dougherty) Horsman, Bula Lincoln Palcic 

1937 Mildred Thompson Dickinson, Laura (Holmes) Donner, Gertrude Zelma (Godard) Van Lengen, Harriet Bowen Ward 

1938 Roma Lear Loren, Hazel Engst Stearn 

1939 Beatrice Curtis Bartley, Marjorie (Benedict) Gribbon, Estelle Hoffman Moorhead, Miriam Kinne Ruby, Ruth Iles Waxman 

1940 Margretta (Luff) Agnostopulos, Mary Virginia (Wilson) Baron, Sherie Doongaji, Nancy (Taylor) Hilfinger, Harriette Mila (Charlesworth) Lanning, Mary (Ludlam) Toelaer, Shirley (Hungerford) Walworth, Mary Saunders Wyatt 

1941 Dorothy Ione (Fox) Ellis, Dorothy Bertha (Gellner) Griffin, Sally Ellen (Field) Hawkinson, Mary Lou (Hammerle) Lutz 

1942 Grace Aspray Fronden, Margaret Stafford (Bisgrove) Rugg 

1943 Mary Henrietta (Sears) Morgan, Caroline (Hemingway) Norton, Nancy (Smith) Williams, Norma (Hallock) Zabel 

1960 Kay (Eagan) Meier, Josie (Mershon) Moyer 

1961 Cynthia (Bowman) Dee 

1962 Joan G. Walker 

1964 Katherine (Schultz) Robb 

1965 Sandra (Botnick) Ettinger 

1975 Suzanne Wirt Van Swall 

1976 Laura (Hawkins) Turner, Donna (Giltner) Wagner 

1977 Rinanne S. Martin-Weigel 

1978 Anne E. Cranmer, Mimi (Marianne) Sinopoli Murray 

1989 Lynn M. Wescott-Patnaude 

1992 Kristen Ardinger Karn 

1994 Nada Van Dusen Sliss 

1997 Luciana M. Liberato 

College of Human Services and Health Professions

2003 Louis M. Tape 

College of Human Ecology

2009 Valerie Jean (Scirocco) Graziano 

College of Nursing

1918 Helen (Bates) Algier 

1923 Viola (Anderson) Petit 

1931 Christine (Boynton) Gyure 

1932 Marjorie Mount Klein 

1933 Violet (Spencer) Schoff 

1934 Eileen Avery Liddle, Florence Brisky Staszewski 

1935 Marian Woodford Bailey, Doris (Bumgarner) Hayes, Ann Gilchrist Stewart 

1936 Alice Bohl Broadhurst 

1937 Josephine (Messina) Brennan 

1938 Marion Sunderhaft Barnes, Jeanne (Murphy) O’Keefe, Augusta (Ness) Tancredi, Aldene (Shrader) Valent 

1939 Anita (Thompson) Twichell 

1940 Aldeen (Stearns) McCabe, Elizabeth Russell VanWormer 

1941 Geraldine (Calderwood) Coons 

1942 Mary Langtry Collins, Lena Lytle Rogers 

1943 Mary (Durkee) Brownell 

1945 Jeanne Eaton Blakely, Roberta Many Marsland 

1948 Vivian (Tully) Baxter, Shirley (Crocker) Whelan 

1949 Eleanor (Tretheway) McLaughlin 

1950 June (Madowsky) Britton, Violet (Plaisted) Hayes, Pauline Shutts Larock 

1951 Marjorie Wells Devoy, Jane L. Stewart 

1952 Mina (Gates) Brownback Hayn 

1953 Emily LachendroTriggs 

1955 Marie (Kreitzer) Mathes, Josefa Schmitt McShan 

1956 Elizabeth (Haig) Byrne 

1959 Ann Louise (Ketcham) Huniford 

School of Social Work

1962 Efraim S. Zimrot 

1963 Margo (Hathaway) Thomas, Ruth (Wyant) West 

1966 Cecelia N. Rosenthal, Claire Dennery Stratford 

1967 Edward R. Davis 

1970 John Thomas Mullen 

1971 Gary W. Drake, John L. Seebach, Anne Fairchild Stevens 

1972 Julie A. Charles, Roslyn E. Lehman 

1975 Maura M. Murphy 

1976 Edward F. Kernan 

1977 John A. Brennan, Cheryl (Baum) Lavin, Mary A. Raponi 

1979 Sarah Harvey-Nelson, Dorothy (Hammerman) Kehoe, Linda (Taylor) Louise 

1980 Constance (Harris) O’Dell 

1984 David Evans Mordovanec 

1986 Brenda J. Ware 

1987 Adrian O’Keefe 

1990 Joan M. Emerick, Kay Krantz 

1993 Kathleen M. Caprio, Paula (Ryan) Golden 

1996 Karen Willson Carozza 

Thomas Calsen

Thomas Calsen, professor emeritus of the School of Social Work, who retired from Syracuse University after 31 years of teaching, died at age 77 on April 2, 2010 in Homer, New York. Carlsen was born in Massachusetts and a graduate of Cushing Academy and Dartmouth College. He earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Chicago. Prior to graduate school, Carlsen served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Germany. He was a former member and president of the Tully Central School Board,Cub and Boy Scout Leader, volunteer firefighter and E.M.T. ambulance attendant, and a commissioner in the Fabius Fire District. 

Making a Difference One Life at a Time 

Social Work Alumna Receives Social Justice Award 

“My hope is on fire,” says Debra Person G’08, as she describes her vision for Exodus House, a seven-bed, faith-based women’s shelter under renovation in the Syracuse community. Person, who developed and leads the effort to open the shelter, has significant plans for the establishment to become a place of safety and personal growth for women. 

Person, who is known as a tireless advocate for women experiencing homelessness and feelings of hopelessness, was honored with the 2011 Daniel and Mary Lou Rubenstein Social Justice Award presented by the School of Social Work and its student organization, Social Workers United, in April. 

The Social Justice Award was established in 1980 and recognizes a person who reflects the values of social justice in his or her professional and personal life. The award is given annually in honor of the late professor Daniel Rubenstein, a former faculty member in the School of Social Work, and his late wife, Mary Lou, a former school social worker. 

“Going to Syracuse University was a life-long dream, and walking across the stage at graduation was a highlight of my life,” explains Person. “Now to be honored by the School of Social Work is so meaningful to me as I role model positive behaviors for my nieces and nephews and other young people today.” 

According to director of the School of Social Work, Carrie Jefferson Smith, Person was chosen to receive this award because, based on her own need and history, Person identified that there was a shortage of shelters for women. “She took this problem and created a solution. Her determination and passion created the Exodus House that provides a place to live as well as life skills. It was Debra’s drive to create this project and her combination of micro and macro policy that made her the perfect recipient of the Social Justice Award,” Smith says. 

Person was cited for her leadership as founder and executive director of Exodus 3 Ministries (E3M), a not-for-profit, faith-based organization serving homeless adult women in the Syracuse community. Currently, this ministry offers spiritual support and assistance with basic needs. 

A Syracuse-area native who earned a master’s of social work degree from Syracuse University in 2008 focused on the Community Organization, Policy, Planning, and Administration (C.O.P.P.A.) track, Person is currently working to open Exodus House, modeled after the City Mission of Schenectady/Family Life Center, to offer women housing, food, clothing, life skills, and other services that will help them become self-reliant at no cost to the resident or its referring agency. 

In addition to preparing for house renovations and related issues, Person is focused on fundraising to support the work of the ministry. E3M will hold its second annual Virtuous Women’s Fashion Show in the fall, including a silent auction. Monies raised will support renovations and programming. 

“One life at a time, together, we will carry out our mission to impact the City of Syracuse,” Person says. “It’s about giving back, and through divine intervention, I know this is where I’m meant to be.” 

Pictures with captions in this article include: Debra Person with Randi Bregman, executive director of Vera House; Claire Buffie, Miss New York, who was the featured speaker for the event; and the director of the School of Social Work, Carrie Jefferson Smith.

Nurses Alumni Association Impacts University Community 

To All Nursing Alumni: 

As the president of the S.U. Nurses Alumni Association, it is always a pleasure to hear from nursing alumni reaching out from all corners of the world as well as other nursing professionals staying connected within our campus and local communities. A nurse working at Syracuse University Health Services recently shared the following with me: 

“We are so grateful for the opportunities the Tindall Fund has allowed for the advancement of nursing education here at Syracuse University Health Services.” 

This individual is one of several professionals who have benefited from The Jeanette Kirsch Tindall Scholarship Fund of the former School of Nursing because it provided financial support for her to pursue national certification as a Family Practice N.P. In hearing her gratitude, I began thinking of the Syracuse University Nurses Alumni Association’s rich tradition of campus involvement and support that continues to benefit current students, faculty, and professional staff in the Falk College and the University at-large. I’d like to share some updates on this ongoing support and let you know about the grateful beneficiaries. 

The Tindall Scholarship Fund was redirected to Syracuse University Health Services by the S.U. Nurses Alumni Association in July of 2006 and supports the professional development of nurses dedicated to the health and wellness of S.U. students through their work at Health Services. In addition to the story I shared above, the Tindall Fund supported many professionals at Health Services in this past year. Specifically, three nurses were sent to the national college health conference in Phoenix, with a fourth nurse sent to a conference on preparation for accreditation sponsored by the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Heath Care. The Tindall Funds also supported two nurses’ attendance at an advanced E.K.G. course. 

Another very special example of nursing alumni support impacts our current students directly. When Falk College students returned this fall, they were greeted with expanded computer lab space and resources in Lyman Hall where many public health, nutrition, and hospitality courses are taught, thanks to support from the Endowed Fund for Technical Innovation. This fund was established by alumna Rosemary Whitman Somich ’74 N.U.R. and her husband, Michael ’73 W.S.M., who served as the president of the Syracuse University Alumni Association for many years, and in that capacity served on the University Board of Trustees. Originally established for students in the College of Nursing to advance the use of technology in their learning environments, these funds today support students in the Falk College enrolled in courses ranging from public health and hospitality to food studies and nutrition. The new computer lab is used by students for projects and also as a teaching classroom. It includes 22 student and one teaching stations complemented by a 70-inch, large-screen T.V. used for instructional purposes. 

Many nursing alumni can recall a fund honoring former College of Nursing Dean, Cecilia F. Mulvey, N.U.R./E.D. ’62, G’71, 75, Ph.D. ’89 that was created upon her retirement to fund student participation in local, state, and national conferences and workshops. This fund is currently being used to support nurses in the new master’s program in child and family health in the global community, which was launched this August in the Falk College. 

These updates represent just a handful of the many ways our nursing alumni continue to impact our campus community in significant and meaningful ways. We’d like to stay in touch with you and welcome you to do the same so we can keep you updated on these and other highlights. On Friday, November 11, 2011, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., we will be celebrating our nursing alumni with a special celebration at our former home at 426 Ostrom Avenue. All nursing alumni and their guests are invited. We will be reworking our web presence in the coming months to make it easy to keep you informed and updated and make it easy for you to be connected with us.

Sincerely, 

Eileen Hayes Lantier ’74 N.U.R., G’76, Ph.D.’92

Senior Associate Dean, of Faculty, Curriculum, and Alumni President, Syracuse University Nurses Alumni Association 

Pictures with captions in this article includes: Last October, college of nursing alumni gathered as part of Syracuse University’s all-campus orange central celebration of alumni. Pictured at the reception held at the former college’s home at 426 Ostrom avenue are nursing alumni: Peg Scheffler, ’58 N.U.R., Bobbi Harris, ’61 N.U.R., M.B.A., Ph.D.’90, Eileen Hayes Lantier ’74 N.U.R., G’76, Ph.D.’92 and Kay Buschle, ’57 N.U.R., G’62. 

Nursing Alumn Named SU Trustee

Ann McOmber Stevenson ’52 N.U.R. has been an active and engaged alumna for many years. With her late husband, Milton, she generously supported engineering, athletics, and nursing at Syracuse University. In the greater Syracuse community, Ann has been involved with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Stage, the MOST, Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure, the Boys & Girls Club, and the Rosamond Gifford zoo at Burnet Park. Early in her career, she worked as a visiting nurse in the Syracuse hospitals; she retired in 1990 as vice president of Anoplate Corporation. 

For Syracuse University in addition to service on the Board of Trustees, Ann serves on the board of the S.U. Nurses Alumni Club and is an emerita member of the Falk College’s Board of Visitors. She previously served on the National Alumni Board. She and Milton established the Stevenson Professor of Practice, in cooperation with the Setnor School of Music and the Syracuse Symphony and created the Milton and Ann Stevenson Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering. With their generous support, the Stevenson Biomaterials Lecture Series was established in 2007. 

Ann is a former member of the Athletic Advisory Committee and, in 1999, received the LetterWinner of Distinction Award jointly with Milton. As a student, she was active in the School of Nursing Club and Westminster Fellowship. Ann is a member of the Benefactor and Visionary gift clubs. 

Writing it Down 

Janice Putrino G’94, L.M.S.W., is a certified journal therapist. She describes her experiences developing journaling programs to assist people in gaining health and wellness and dealing with stressful challenges. 

In 2005, Janice Putrino began volunteering at Gilda’s Club, Rochester, a cancer support community for men, woman, and children living with cancer. She facilitated support groups for about a year when she was asked to start a journal writing group. A six-week curriculum using a guided journal titled My Healing Companion, by Beverly Kirkhart, a breast cancer survivor, was developed. “After facilitating my first group I was truly surprised at the positive impact writing had on the individuals in this group. I was so inspired that I facilitated six more six-week groups. It was at this time that I realized the power of writing for those living with cancer,” Putrino says. 

Putrino has developed journaling programs and lectures, workshops, and groups, teaching survivors, caregivers, and health care providers how to use journaling to deal with the challenges of living with and treating those with cancer. On behalf of Gilda’s Club, Putrino wrote a grant requesting financial support from a pharmaceutical company to sponsor a community-wide journaling program, which received funding for three years. “I discovered the Center for Journal Therapy in Denver, where I received extensive training and certifications in journal therapy,” she adds. 

Health and mental health providers often asked Putrino how they can use journaling to deal with the stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue that they face daily working with those who are experiencing extreme illness, stress, and trauma. Inspired by their requests, she co-authored a guided structured journal specifically for providers. My Healing Companion: A Journal for the Healthcare Provider is a self-directed journal filled with therapeutic stories, exercises, and writing prompts designed to help the health care provider decrease stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue—and promote self care. 

In 2009, she started Writing for Wellness, located in Rochester, New York, to teach individuals and groups how to use writing to achieve wellness of body, mind, and spirit. She is currently on staff at the Therapeutic Writing Institute at the Center for Journal Therapy, in Denver and teaches online courses in therapeutic writing. Additionally, she has developed and teaches a therapeutic writing course for the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Medical Humanities Division. She continues to work with individual clients, organizations, and health care providers teaching concrete writing techniques that increase self-awareness and promote self care. Clients include the University of Rochester, Rochester General Hospital, Pluta Cancer Center, Hematology-Oncology Associates of C.N.Y., Oncology Nursing Society, The Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Treatment Center, and Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield. 

“It was at S.U. that I learned the importance of treating the whole person, not just simply their disease, disability, or current life challenge. This focus prepared me to work in a clinical hospital setting, and it also allowed me to branch out and develop programs and services that truly focus on education, empowerment, and treating the whole person,” Putrino notes. 

“Seeing what journaling has done for hundreds of individuals searching for their own wellness has inspired me to bring this resource to as many people as possible,” she says. For more information about Writing for Wellness visit www.writeforwellness.com. 

Convocation-Commencement 2011: A Celebration of Excellence 

On May 14, the Class of 2011 college Convocation recognized 386 degree candidates, including 276 undergraduates, 105 master’s candidates, and 5 Ph.D. students. Syracuse University Trustee David B. Falk ’72 was the featured speaker. 

Maria Cannavo and Ashley Robbins served as college marshals who led the academic procession of students and shared their reflections during Convocation. Senior class marshals are distinguished individuals who have excelled during their time at S.U. and who exemplify the spirit of the senior class. Cannavo of Princeton, New Jersey, graduated with degrees in child and family studies and psychology. Robbins of Leominster, Massachusetts, graduated with a degree in sport management. 

Two awards were presented by Dean Diane Lyden Murphy for 2011 Faculty of the Year: instructor Sudha Raj, Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition, and David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management Rick Burton. 

Jessie C. Gruman, president of the Center for Advancing Health, was the recipient of an honorary doctor of humane letters degree at the Syracuse University Commencement May 15. On May 13, she presented “The Patient in Patient-Centered Care: What Clinicians Need to Know,” sponsored by the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. During the presentation, Gruman shared her own experience of treatment for four cancer diagnoses, surveys, peer-reviewed research, and interviews with patients and caregivers as the basis of her work. She is involved in advocating for policies and practices to overcome the challenges people face in finding and receiving good care. 

Gruman is president of the Center for Advancing Health, a non-partisan Washington-based policy institute focused on patient engagement. She has authored The Experience of the American Patient: Risk, Trust and Choice (Health Behavior Media, 2009), Behavior Matters (Health Behavior Media, 2008), and AfterShock: What to Do When the Doctor Gives You–or Someone You Love–a Devastating Diagnosis (Walker Publishing, second edition, 2010), as well as scientific papers and opinion essays and articles. 

Pictures with captions in this article include: Jessie Gruman receives an honorary degree on May 15; college Marshalls Maria Cannavo and Ashley Robbins address the class of 2011; Dean Murphy and David Falk prepare for convocation 2011. 

Giving

The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics gratefully acknowledges the following gifts during the 2010-2011 year. Every effort is made to be as accurate as possible in reporting our donors. If there is an error or omission, please contact us at 315-443-8989. Thank you for your support. 

Karen Abbott, Ronald Bernard, Joanne Bursich Vincent and Christine Corso, Alexander Abramo, Mark and Maxine Bienstock, Melanie Burton, Robert Cosby Jr., Gerald Ackerman and Eleanor D., Abby Binder, Kay Buschle, Joan Cote Macklin, Tafewa Blackman, Lois Seeger Bush, Leslie Jane Couse, Jeffrey and Rita Adler, Kerry Blask, Robert and Joanne Byrnes, Lisa Coutu, Aetna Gordon and Julie Blewis, Susan Cain, Leslie Crane, Beverly Alessi, Frederick Bobenhausen, Amber Cain, Rose Cregg, Frederick and Constance Alexander, The Boeing Company, Marie Call, Teri Crisp, Stan and Caron Alpert, Deborah Boland, Suellen Callahan, Tracy Cromp, Mrs. Karen Anagnost, Mariama Boney, Marian Camillo, Thomas Curtin and Kathleen McAvinue, Ann Martha Anderson, Frank and Susan Bonomo, Faye Brookman Campeas, Lois Anderson, Carol Bonwich, Mary Canole, Ellen Cyr, Robert Anthone, Robert and Francie Bossman, Aida Caputo, Josephine D’Alessandro-Thomas, Gail Appleton, Kelly Boswell, Deborah Carey, Linda Davies, Barbara Arcuri, Monica Aynsley Sullivan Bracken, Debra Carey, Ann Davis, Manuel Arrospide and Natalia Assis, Barbara Bradford, Gerald Case, Edward Davis, Joanne Asbill, Barbara Braley, Sara Cass, Lorraine DeCarlis, Anetnhe and Geraldine Asres, Russ Brandon, Rosamond Cassell, Jackie DeCecco, Beth Anne Astramskas, Susan Bresnahan-Hollar, Kathleen Cavanaugh, Thomas and Ellen DeLara, Zaven and Lorraine Ayanian, Bruce Brockett, Ellen Cetlin, Joy Delfosse, Peter and Ragnhild Baade, Carol Brooks, Gerald Chandler, Cynthia Dellavilla, Colleen Baker, Darrell Levert Brown, Anne Chew, Michelle Delongchamp, Linda Baker, Georgette Brown, Marston Chickering, Sylvia Brooklyn Denhoff, Barbara Balisado, Mary Jane Brown, Joan Christy and Thomas Bersani, Jacqueline Denis, Robert Bassler Jr. and Anne Bassler, Nancy Brown, Anthony Cimino, Karen Denton, Catherine Bastian, Barbara Bruening, John Clapp ,Chuck and Kim Desmond, Mary Virginia Kelley Bauer, Craig Bruening and Kay Stearns Bruening, Barry and Rochelle Clark, Robert Detor Jr., John Beaudoin, Barry and Caryn Cohen, Michael and Cathy Dexter, Elizabeth Beckwith, Mary Bryant, Jessica Cohen, Paul and Vivian Diamond, Rebecca Beers, David and Hildy Bubier, Susan Collins, Giselle Diaz, Neal and Gwynne Bellos, Anne Buckley, Jean Conklin, Kenny and Shoshana Dichter, Phillip Levant Benton, Jean Budden, Debra Connolly, Natalie Dickinson, Regina Berg, Marilyn Burday, Gloria Conway, Muriel Diefendorf, Arnold Berman, Scott Burlingame, Maria Cooper, Walt Disney Company, Michael and Stacey Berman, Sarah Burnham, Stephen and Randy Cooper, Robert Donovan, Ellen Douglas, Marcia Gaffney, Elizabeth Sumner Gulesian, Mary Ann Dowdell, Alejandro Garcia, Virginia Gunn, Susan Downey, Polly Price Gardner, Emily Gutchess (Estate), Mary Ann Drewry, Marilyn Gast, April Hackley, A. David and Esther Drezner, Barbara Gatewood, Alana Hager-Johnson, Barbara Dubin, Mark Geddis, Frances Hahn, Michael Duda, Gary Geisenheimer, Margaret Hale, Helen Duryea, General Electric Fund, Ann Hamilton, Barbara Dutcher-Campbell, Lawrence and Elayne Gewirtz, Sherry Hanson, Rodney Eaton, Susan Gibbons, Ellen Harvey, Helene Eberts, W. David and Larissa Gibson, Gretchen Hassenplug, Beatrice Ebinger, Barbara Gifford, Martha Hauser, Audray Edwards, Sarah Gilman, Janine Ann Haver, Joseph and Mary Esposito, Margaret Gilmore, F. Thomas and Arleen Havern, James and Marian Farrell, Daniel Glazier, Frederick Hawke Jr., Nancy Farrell, Neil and Helene Gold, Wanjuri Hawkins, Betty Fehlman, Sylvia Goldmann, Lisa Hebert, William Feigin, William Goodman Jr., Linda Heimann and Nancy Mittleman, Feigin and Susan Goodman, Suzanne Hirst, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Frances Goodrich, Mary Kate Hodgens, Sheri Fischer, Debra Gordon, Stephen and Annette Hodgens, Mimi Flack, Marilyn Gorman, David Hoeldtke, Alice Floyd, Loretta Graceffo, Leslie Holmberg, Barbara Ford, Mary Beth Grady, Chris and Tanya Horacek, Gloria Forgione, Steven and Pamela Gramet, Todd Horowitz and Carol Levine, Shirley Forssell, Evelyn Granieri, Elaine Howard, Stephen Fossing, Barbara Grant, Larry Howard II and Renee Howard, Kathena Francis, Rev. Robert Grant, Jacqueline Howell, Susan Frank, Peter and Ellen Gray, Robert Hunter Sr., Nancy Frazier, Cynthia Green and Lee Cohen, Muriel Huttenbach, Stephen Friedberg and Madalyn Felix Friedberg, Frannie Friedman, Jackie Friedman, James Fuller, Sister Ida Gregoire, Kathleen Grenier, M. Elizabeth Grillo, Bertha Gross, Ellen Huyck, Beverly Ianuzi, Abdullahi Ibrahim, iUniverse, Kim Jaffee, R. Joseph and Barbara Jalbert, Chris and Kari Jarmuz, Jennison Valerie Nielsen Jennison, Beverly Johnson, Janet Johnston, Genevieve Jones, Patricia Jones, Juracka Ruth, Juracka, Richard Kalinowski and Valerie Torres, Noel and Myra Kaplan, Jane Keggi, Irene Kehres, Betsy Kempner, Shelly Kempton, Lowell Kent, Nowell King, Stephen King, Stephen and Laurie Kirsch, Steven Klausz and Katherine Sinclaire, Patricia Klein, David Kleinhandler, Susan Klenk, Christine Knuth, William Koenig ,Denise Kolankowski, Pamela Kolb, K.P.M.G. Foundation, S. Scott Kraemer and Linda Tousey Kraemer, Elana Kuflik, Sidney and Madeline Kuflik, Patricia Kulha, Carol Kurth, Laurie Malasky, Neilsen Hing-Mahn Kwan, James Maley, Maryann LaBella, Jennifer Mann, Beverly Laforse, Virginia Marczak, Deborah Langley, Tracy Marshall-Whitmer, James and Eileen Lantier, Susan Mason, Marion Laube, Massachusetts Mutual, Stephen Lawless and Kathleen Riley-Lawless, Wakako Matsushita, Susan Matteson, Elizabeth Lemon, George Mattice, Christopher Lencheski, Kathleen McArdle, Marie Letterii, Maxine McDonald, Judith Lev, Patricia McDonald, Levitt Foundation, Laura McDonald-Hills, Mark Levitt, Anne McDonough, Barbara Lewis, Lynn McLean, Karen Lewis, Timothy McMahon, Virginia Lewis, William and Judy McPeak, Charles Lincoln, Kathleen McQueen. Robert Lipsky, John and Maureen McWhirter, Sarah Marie Lipsky, Ellen Mellis, Zef and Maria Ljekocevic, Ann Merrill, Donald Loach, Katherine Merriman, Lockheed Martin, Joan Merzbach, Jeffrey and Andrea Lomasky, Alfred and Jill Meyer, Victoria Lounsbury, Lillian Milanof, Rebecca Love, Susan Miller, Deborah Love-Combs, Marc and Tina Mitchell, Jeralyn Delisi Lowe, Ronald Mitchell, Helen Luedde, Paul A. Moczarski and Tamar Keller-Moczarski, Ruth Lyman, John MacCallum Sr., Ann Winsor, Moniz and Gloria MacCallum, Sandy Montag, Angelia Mack, Maria Moore, Alan and Wendy Joy Madoff, Brian and Margaret Moran, Anne Magill, David Morris, Rhoda Morrisroe, Michael and Helen Petrina, Marsha Mosher, Richard Petty, Donald Moskal, Susan Peverly, Nina Mounts, Kelly Pflaum, Joanne Mudd, Steven Pflaum, Mary Lue Mueller, Cindy Chan Phillips, Dean Diane Murphy and Fredrick Murphy, Leonard Phillips, Kimberly Pieroni, Mutual of New York, James Prinsley, Carol Napoli, Colonel Doris A. Piper, U.S.A.F. Retired, Alexander Nason, Richard Nells, Anton Plano, Mary Kay Nels, David Plaut and Joan Cooper, Paulette Nickerson, Amy Jo Polly, David and Sharon Northrup, Jean Powers, Patricia Nugent, Kathy Press, Owen O’Donnell, John Preston, Bernice Olcott, Elizabeth Prince, Andrew and Jennifer Olsen, Proctor and Gamble, Laurie Orlando and Stuart Ginsburg, Linda Pullen, E. John Orsenigo, Barbara Quinby, Charles Osborn, Linda Quinn, Jenny Overeynder, Anthony Rabasca, Jane Palmisano, Joella Rand, Julia Paradiso, Donald and Beverly Reeb, Rita Pardella, Susan Reisbord, Edith Parker, Nancy Rice, Helen Parker, Thomas Richey and Dorothy Donaldson, Susan Parker, Jeffrey Pastor and Donna Rosenstock, Graham and Maudie Ritchie, Sharon Rockwell-Leroy, Norrick and Elaine Peart, Kathleen Dickinson Rockwood, Kenneth and Mary Jane Pellegrino, Dakila Romano, Justin Pellingra, Bruce Rooney, Linda Pendleton, Elizabeth Root, Edward and Jeanne Peterson, John and Rhoda Rose, Frederick and Elizabeth Rosenstein, Celine Perle Sinaw, Lucy Swanson, Karin Grady, Welsh John and Maxine Ross, Marilyn Hoyt Slater, Karen Sweeney, Sara West-Carman, Suzanne Rosselot, Walter Slovenski, Kathrine Switzer, Joyce Wickizer, Melissa Rowe, John and Patricia Sly, Mary Switzer, John Wildhack, Grace Roznowski, David Smith, Rosalyn Syp, Gerard Wildner, Earl and Michelle Rudy, John and Jean Smith, Theresa Taylor, Mary Wilson, Henry and Linda Salmon, Marion Smith, Elizabeth Thoreck, Robert and Marilyn Wilson, Scott and Carol Samost, Stephen Smith, Branson Thurston, Paul Winitz, Jane Sanders, Susan Coman Smith, Susan Tiller, Adam Wolvovsky, Arlene Sanoy, Susan Smith, Maureen Tillman, Woman of the University, William Savage, Susan Pannier Snowdon, John Titus Community, Lisa Scarsella, Debra Solomon, Julianna Tobak, Richard Wroblewski, Jean Schafer, Kathy Rubin Sparrow, Michael and LindaMarie Todd, Chu-Chu Wu, Marc Schlemovitz, Mitchell and Marisa Spitz, Joanna Tompkins, Philip Yawman III, Corey and Shari Schneider, S.P.M. Sport Management Club, Anibal Torres and Isabelle Wilczewski, Carl and Priscilla Young, Melanie Schreiner, James and Regina St. Lifer, MaryAnn Beth Young, Edward and Lois Schroeder, Suzanne Stacy, Patricia Torretti, Myung Yun, Irene Schu, Jonathan Stahler, Aaron Tripp, Patricia Zaccari, Vincent and Rhonda Scicutella, Jayson and Lisa Stark, Jeffrey Tulman and Elaine Rogers, John and Victoria Zazyczny, Judith Scott, Brandon Steiner, Sheryl Tuttle, Robin Zelle, Ethel Scully, Janna Steinke, Patricia Utke, Elsie Zellner, Mark and Beth Seckler, Thomas Stephens, Nancy Van Cleave, Lawrence and Joan Zombek, Linda Seeland, Evelyn Stevens, Nan Van Den Bergh, Maureen Shafer, Rebecca Stewart, Verizon Foundation, Leonard and Caryl Shapiro, Sandra Stewart, Constance Vickery, Phyllis Shapiro, Nancy Stitzel, Doris Wachsler, Laurie Sheller, Janet Stock, Susan Walsh, Patricia Shepard, James Stone, Jonathan Wanderstock, Bethanie Sherwood, Joan Storer, Steven Warshaw, Miriam Shields, Dorothy Stransky, Marjorie Washbon, Carol Shuman, Sandra Stuhr, Tina Wasserman, Robert Shwartz and Susan Greenberg, Amy Subar, Wendy Haberman Webber, Bryan Sullivan, Marvin Weiner, Jana Stanford Sidler, John and Betty Sullivan, Nancy Chase Weinstein, Jack Silver, Ernest Sunega, Gail Weiser, Sonja Simpson, Ben Sutton, Jr., Harry and Robyn Weller.

Making a Difference Together 

Dear Alumni and Friends, 

This past spring, I had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles with 16 students majoring in sport management, along with faculty and administrators, as part of an educational immersion program into the sport 

industry. During that week, students met with executives from many organizations, including Creative Artists Agency, the P.G.A. Tour-Toshiba Classic, NASCAR, and the L.A. Dodgers, as well as FOX Sports, A.E.G., and E.S.P.N. 

The students toured numerous sites, including the Rose Bowl, the Home Depot Center, and L.A. Coliseum. 

Seeing the students’ enthusiasm for their future profession and watching them interact with key industry leaders by asking thought-provoking questions and making professional observations was a true testimonial to the value of this type of experience, which is only made possible through alumni support. This particular immersion opportunity was the direct result of alumni who have asked us, “how can we be involved, and what can we do to help?” Thanks to financial support and networking connections our alumni have offered, we expect to repeat this experience again in spring 2012. 

Furthermore, we would like to expand opportunities for our students to experience their professions in numerous ways throughout the college. If you have ideas for doing so, please let me know. While we always welcome financial support to fund student opportunities like this immersion trip, we are also interested in networking opportunities and mentoring you may be able to offer our students. 

If you would like to learn more about the work we are doing, or should you have an idea for other areas you might be interested in supporting, please let me know. As I travel from city to city, I would welcome the opportunity to meet you in person. You can reach me at 315-443-4588 or dasalang@syr.edu. 

We invite you to visit us often online to see what our students are doing in the classroom and how they are changing our communities and making a difference. We welcome your involvement in making a difference in the lives of our students too. 

We look forward to hearing from you. 

Sincerely, 

David A. Salanger

Assistant Dean for Advancement and External Affairs David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics 

You showed Orange pride then… do it again now at Orange Central 2011! 

Orange Central is for everyone whose Orange pride still runs strong. This can’t-miss weekend is packed with traditional homcoming and reunion events and exciting new ways to connect with your fellow alumni, including our 2011 co-chairs: 

EMME ’85, the supermodel who is also a television personality, author, lecturer, clothing line creative director, and nationally recognized advocate for positive body image and self-esteem. 

JEFF GLOR ’97, the CBS News correspondent who has covered some of the major stories of the past decade, and who is now news anchor on C.B.S.’s The Early Show. 

ROOSEVELT “RICK” WRIGHT G’93, the associate professor who has taught radio and television at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications for more than 35 years. 

Plan to join us November 10–13! 

More details about Orange Central 2011 will be coming your way soon. Until then, check orangecentral.syr.edu for updates. Questions? E-mail sualumni@syr.edu or call 800.SUALUMS (782.5867). 

We—and our Orange Central co-chairs—hope to see you there! 

 Greetings Alumni!

With the start of a new academic year, exciting things are happening across the SU campus and at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. As you read this issue of Insights, it is my hope that these updates reignite your connection to Syracuse University. As the college continues to evolve and grow, one thing remains constant—our pride in you. Our alumni are an important part of the college’s history and an even more important part of our future. 

As the coordinator of alumni programming and events for the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, I am here for you. I know that we have experienced change as a college (lots of it!), but let me assure you that I also know that the Falk College has been built on a strong foundation with committed and dedicated alumni. 

I am working with Dean Murphy to offer you opportunities to reconnect with our college and Syracuse University. Already, many exciting events, programs, and initiatives are being planned. Please check our web site, falk.syr.edu, for up-to-date information. I would also like to invite you to join our network on Linkedin, to allow you to connect with current and former students. 

Please take this opportunity to complete the “Update Card” below and mail it back to me. This will be an extremely helpful tool as we work to more effectively communicate with you in the future. 

I would also welcome your valuable insight regarding ways to better engage and support our alumni. Please feel free to call me at 315-443-5579 to discuss any ideas you may have for our growing college. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at Orange Central, November 10-13. 

Sincerely, 

Amy Rood G’09

Coordinator of Alumni Programming and Events 

 Save the Date! Mark your calendars today… 

Through the fall semester, there are many activities of interest in the Falk college. stay updated by visiting our web site at falk.syr.edu. Also noted are syracuse university’s commencement and convocations for 2012. 

Falk College Graduate Information Session 

November 5, 10 a.m. Shaffer Art Building 

Learn about our graduate programs in: 

• Addiction Studies (C.A.S.) 
• Child and Family Studies 
• Child and Family Health in the Global Community 
• Marriage and Family Therapy 
• Nutrition Science 
• Social Work 

Orange Central 2011 

November 11-13 

Nursing Alumni Reception 

November 11, 4:30-6:30 p.m. 426 Ostrom Avenue 

(R.S.V.P. through Falk College Dean’s Office) 

Falk College Faculty Authors Book Signing and Reception 

Discussions, book signings, and reception November 11, 1:30 p.m. Schine Student Center 

Alumni Breakfast with the Deans 

November 12, 9 a.m. Life Sciences Atrium (R.S.V.P. through Office of Alumni Relations) 

S.P.M. Club’s Seventh Annual Charity Sports Auction 

December 10 (During S.U. Men’s Basketball Game vs. George Washington) Carrier Dome 

David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics Convocation 2012 

May 12 

Syracuse University Commencement 2012 

May 13