2016 Falk College Magazine

View an original, non-accessible PDF version of this magazine.

Summer 2016

Bridging the past, building the future: Welcome to the new Falk Complex at Syracuse University.

Features

New Falk Complex unveiled

College celebrates move, new facilities at campus-wide dedication.

Falk ACE Center now open

Hands-on learning prepares students for careers in nutrition.

Serving those who serve our country

From understanding the benefits of a local Dogs 2 Vets program to therapies used specific to P.T.S.D., Falk students, faculty, alumni focus on helping Veterans, military families.

Front Cover

Pictured on the front cover, the entranceway to the Falk College Complex. The Falk Complex, signifies a key milestone: for the first time in Falk College's history—which dates back to 1917 when the School of Home Economics began as a course in the College of Agriculture—its academic disciplines and administrative offices are housed in a central location. The front cover photo is courtesy of Steve Sartori.

Departments

Dean's Message

College News

Students

Teaching, Research & Scholarship

Alumni

Supporting Falk College

Credits

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

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Eileen Lantier, Ph.D., R.N.

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

Associate Dean for Student Services: Renie Kehres, Ph.D., R.N.

Academic Department Chairs: Robert Moreno, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Child & Family Studies; Thom deLara, M.S.W., M.B.A., Professor of Practice, Department of Marriage & Family Therapy; Rick Welsh, Ph.D., Falk Family Endowed Professor of Food Studies, Department of Public Health, Food Studies & Nutrition; Carrie Jefferson Smith, M.S.W., D.S.W., Associate Professor, School of Social Work; Michael D. Veley, M.P. S., Rhonda S.Falk Endowed Professor of Sport Management, Department of Sport Management

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

Director of Communications, Executive Editor: Michele J. Barrett G’92

Events and Alumni Manager: Kate Veley

Contributors: Shannon Andre, George S. Bain, Michele J. Barrett, Margie Chetney, Kim Desmond, Kathleen Haley ’92, Rachel Linsner, John Martin, Matt Miselis ’16, Kate Veley

Design: Executive Art

Principal Photography: Alejandro Garcia, Steve Sartori, Syracuse University Archives

Production Coordinator: Melanie Stopyra

The Falk College Magazine is published by the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University. It is distributed free to alumni, friends, partners, students, faculty, and staff.

Direct correspondence to: Editor, Falk College Magazine Office of the Dean 440 White Hall Syracuse, New York  13244, 315.443.2027, falk.syr.edu | falk@syr.edu 

Dean's Message

Dear Alumni and Friends, 

“A place where something normally or naturally lives or is located.” That is how the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word home. To our alumni, friends, students, faculty, and staff of Falk College, welcome home.

For Falk College, the past year encompassed a multi-phase transition from eight different main and off-campus locations to our new home at the Falk Complex. On October 23, 2015, hundreds of Falk students, faculty, and staff stood side-by-side with our campus and community partners, alumni, donors, and friends during a joyous ceremony. Our College benefactors, David and Rhonda Falk, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud, and the chairs of our College’s Board of Visitors and Department of Sport Management Advisory Board, Corey Schneider and Brandon Steiner, conveyed the pride, enthusiasm, and gratitude everyone in Falk College continues to feel today.

For the first time in the College’s history— which dates back to 1917 when the School of Home Economics began as a course in the College of Agriculture—Falk College’s academic disciplines and administrative offices are housed in a central location. The final phase of our move will conclude this summer when reconstruction of the commercial and experiential kitchens is complete. In the meantime, our work moves ahead purposefully and deliberately.

Without a doubt, it is a privilege to work with our dedicated alumni and friends, students, faculty, and staff whose commitment to Falk College and willingness to share a collective vision for it are the driving forces that help us prepare our students for life-changing careers.

Sincerely, 

Diane Lyden Murphy, M.A., M.S.W., Ph.D. 
Dean, Falk College 

Pictured in this section: An image with six people posed in the large stairwell of MacNaughton Hall. Falk College’s dedication event included many families and friends. Falk parents and donors, Steven and Cathy Tabak, are pictured holding a photo with Dean Murphy and their family, including Rachel ’15 C.F.S., Max ’16 S.P.M., and Aaron ’19 S.P.M.

Falk Complex Dedication

Welcome to the new Falk Complex at White and MacNaughton halls

For Falk College, 2015 encompassed a multiphase transition from eight different main and off-campus locations to our new home at the Falk Complex. On October 23, 2015, hundreds of Falk students, faculty and staff stood side-by-side with our campus and community partners, alumni, donors, and friends during a joyous ceremony.

Falk College is the alumni home to the Colleges of Agriculture, Home Economics, Human Development, Human Services and Health Professions, and Human Ecology, and the Schools of Nursing and Social Work.

As part of the event celebration, the College’s newest Falk Endowed Professors were introduced (see related article), and the Dean Diane Lyden Murphy Endowed Scholarship was announced (see related article).

The dedication ceremony was followed by a reception and open house, including an opportunity for all guests to sign a commemorative tree that will hang in Falk College. The dedication included the premiere of the documentary David Falk: Agent of Change.

The Falk College Complex is situated in the adjoining White and MacNaughton Halls, which the College of Law vacated in its move to its new home, Dineen Hall. The two buildings were renovated extensively, with generous support from many loyal Falk College alumni, parents, friends, faculty, and staff. The facility includes technology upgrades to many classrooms, new computer labs, breakout study areas, a student lounge, and on-site food services.

A newly expanded Student Services suite includes a Meditation Room to support the holistic wellness of students, faculty, and staff. A Nutrition Assessment, Consultation and Education (ACE) Center offers a hands-on learning laboratory to prepare students with traditional and emerging professional competencies critical to nutrition practice. A generous and visionary gift from Falk College alumna Rhoda Dearman Morrisroe ’69 made the ACE Center possible (see story).

The Milton Conrad Technology Lab doubles as a student classroom and computer lab that meets the latest programming trends in event and sport venue operations and will provide students live game-day production experiences. The lab was made possible by a generous donation by Richard and Linda Ritholz, whose son Julian ’18 is a sport management major. More than three years of planning went into the convergence of Falk College’s academic departments and its administrative offices. Key campus partners include the Offices of Campus Planning, Design and Construction, Learning Environments, Physical Plant, and Purchasing. 

Pictured in this section: Five students are posed next to the front of the Falk College Complex; these student ambassadors welcomed guests and assisted during the ceremony. David and Rhonda Falk are posed together at the entry to Falk College. A crowd of several hundred people sitting and standing on the patio outside Falk Complex prior to the ceremony.  Chancellor Syverud shakes hands and talks with College benefactors David and Rhonda Falk prior to the ceremony with Dean Diane Murphy in the background. 

Boards create Diane Lyden Murphy Endowed Scholarship

At Falk College’s October 2015 dedication, the College’s Board of Visitors and Sport Management Advisory Board announced the Dean Diane Lyden Murphy Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship provides financial assistance to undergraduates enrolled in Falk College whose mission encompasses educating students for social responsibility and justice. Through a purposeful combination of classroom study, scholarship, practice, and service to others, the recipient of the Dean Murphy Endowed Scholarship is committed to opening the doors of access and opportunity and restoring hope, particularly for those in greatest need, as a graduate of Syracuse University’s Falk College.

As a leader, teacher, mentor and friend, Dean Murphy continues to inspire others through her values and principles of care, compassion, empowerment, community, and social justice. This scholarship created in her honor will support generations of future students, instilling in them a sense of connection with the world around them and the necessary skills to make a difference in it. For more information about supporting this scholarship, visit falk.syr. edu, or contact David Salanger at 315.443.4588 by phone or email at dasalang@syr.edu. 

Pictured in this section: Brandon Steiner, Dean Murphy and Corey Schneider are posed together in front of the entryway to Falk College during the dedication ceremony. Dean Murphy and Brandon Steiner both hold a large framed certificate for the new endowed scholarship while Corey Schneider stands next to them.

Images of the Dedication

The Falk College Dedication Ceremony on October 23 celebrated the past, present and future of the college. The generous support of donors made the new facilities possible. During the event, building donors were recognized, including Falk space and operations manager, Dianne Seeley, Linda and Richard Ritholz, and Susan Klenk.  After the ceremony, the premiere of the documentary, David Falk: Agent of Change was featured in Grant Auditorium.

Pictured in this section: Dianne Seeley receives a gift from a Falk College student ambassador during the Falk College dedication ceremony. Linda and Richard Ritholz receive a gift and shake hands with a Flak College student ambassador during the Falk College dedication ceremony. Susan Klenk and Dean Diane Murphy are posed in the large stairwell of MacNaughton Hall with Susan holding a framed photograph. Ceremony attendees are seated in Grant Auditorium watching the documentary David Falk: Agent of Change. An image shows a fifth floor portion of the Falk College complex still under construction; the final phase of construction will conclude in Summer 2016 when the teaching kitchens and Klenk Café on the fifth floor of the Falk Complex are completed. The director of the social work baccalaureate program, Bette Thoreck, is signing the commemorative thumbprint tree celebrating the important day in Falk College history, next to her is a Falk College student ambassador. 

New endowed Falk Professors named

As part of their visionary and purposeful commitment to academics as a path to success, Syracuse University alumni David B. Falk ’72 and Rhonda S. Falk ’74 established a series of endowed professorships in each of the seven academic disciplines of Falk College. At the Dedication Ceremony, three additional faculty were named Falk endowed professors:

Alejandro Garcia, M.S.W., Ph.D.

Jocelyn Falk Endowed Professor of Social Work

Professor Garcia has taught in the areas of gerontology, social policy, and human diversity for more than 35 years in the School of Social Work, where he served as director. In 2015, he received the Association of Latino and Latina Social Work Educators’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jaipaul Roopnarine, Ph.D.

Pearl Falk Endowed Professor of Child and Family Studies

Professor Roopnarine's recent publications include Fathers Across Cultures: The Importance, Roles, and Diverse Practices of Dads, Caribbean Psychology: Indigenous Contributions to a Global Discipline and Childhood and Adolescence: Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Applications.

Rick Welsh, Ph.D.

Falk Family Endowed Professor of Food Studies

Professor Welsh is chair of the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition. His research and teaching focus on social change and development with emphasis on agri-food systems, science and technology studies, and environmental sociology. He is the 2016 winner of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society Excellence in Scholarship Award.

Meet our endowed professors

Endowed professorships allow Falk College to support internationally recognized faculty to enhance the research, academic, and experiential components of its programs to advance its mission rich in teaching, research, scholarship, practice, and service. Earlier named endowed professors in Falk College include:

Rick Burton, M.B.A., David B. Falk Endowed Professor of Practice in Sport Management Department of Sport Management

Linda Stone Fish, Ph.D., M.S.W. Falk Family Endowed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy Department of Marriage and Family Therapy

Brooks B. Gump, Ph.D., M.P.H., Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition

Merril Silverstein, Ph.D., M.S.W., Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor of Aging Studies School of Social Work Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Aging Studies Institute

Michael D. Veley, M.P.S., Rhonda S. Falk Endowed Professor of Practice in Sport Management Department of Sport Management

Jennifer Wilkins, Ph.D., R.D., Daina E. Falk Endowed Professor of Practice in Nutrition Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition

ACE Center Dedication

Falk College celebrates new Nutrition Assessment, Consultation and Education Center

Falk College’s Nutrition Assessment, Consultation and Education (ACE) Center, a new hands-on learning laboratory to prepare students with traditional and emerging professional competencies critical to effective nutrition practice, is now open. A ribbon cutting ceremony, tours, and a reception were held last fall in addition to a lecture and cooking demonstration entitled “Food as Medicine” presented by Amanda Archibald, founder and owner of Field to Plate.

A generous and visionary gift from Falk College alumna Rhoda Dearman Morrisroe ’69 made the ACE Center possible. The Center includes two lecture halls, one with a demonstration kitchen and one with a teaching station, two small private consultation rooms, a physical assessment room, and a small conference room with a large media screen. A purposefully outfitted demonstration kitchen supports Falk College’s new integrative nutrition curriculum.

“The ACE Center offers a dynamic range of tools for students to conduct research with professors or independently. Students will benefit from the ACE Center in their future careers as dietitians, health care professionals, or researchers. As a student preparing to enter a Ph.D. program, research has guided my career path, and I am confident the ACE Center will do the same for future students,” says Robert Swanda ’16, a double major in nutrition science and biology.

The Center’s counseling and physical assessment rooms are equipped with two teaching mannequins, a tube-feeding placement simulator, wall-mounted stadiometers and electronic scales, pediatric measuring equipment with several multi-ethnic infant mannequins, electronic blood pressure monitors, a lactation education baby, and a variety of new food models. “This facility allows our faculty to develop high-fidelity simulations for medical nutrition therapy, lifecycle nutrition, nutrition education, nutrition counseling, and other curricular enhancements,” says Kay Stearns Bruening, associate professor of nutrition.

“Syracuse University, thanks to support from our generous donor Rhoda Dearman Morrisroe, can now simulate the types of professional settings where its graduates will work while providing on-going, unique learning opportunities that give students a competitive advantage,” says Falk College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy.

In the ACE Center, students will practice nutrition-focused physical examinations on a new patient simulator. The new facilities allow unlimited opportunities for direct practice with indirect calorimetry to measure how many calories someone is utilizing, instead of estimations that use imperfect mathematical equations. Additional enhancements to student learning include class experiences measuring body composition with the BOD POD testing system, used extensively in university and medical facilities, the military, and health and wellness settings to track body composition.

Pictured in this section: Students gather with Rhoda Dearman Morrisroe ’69 and her husband, Paul, in the demonstration kitchen. A ribbon cutting marks the official opening of the ACE Center with Kay Stearns Bruening, Chancellor Syverud, Paul and Rhoda Morrisroe, Dean Murphy, and nutrition student, Eva Li; Ronda Morrisroe is posed in the center with orange scissors over an orange ribbon.

College News

New majors in food studies, sport analytics announced

Falk College is now offering a new master of science in food studies and a new bachelor of science in sport analytics. Teaching and student research is enhanced by active faculty engagements in these fields.

The 36-credit hour food studies M.S. program provides students with a foundation in the political economy of food systems, including human rights, food governance, and food justice and health. Food studies continues to emerge as one of the fastest-growing fields of study in North America. The M.S. in food studies complements Falk College’s existing bachelor’s degree and minor in food studies.

Students earning the M.S. in food studies are prepared for professional opportunities in local and national government work associated with food regulation and industry relations; non-governmental organization engagement in advocacy and policy associated with the human right to adequate food, food sovereignty, food and nutrition security, and trade and food-oriented labor; economic and social development work at the community, national, and international levels; and food production and distribution companies, services, and vendors in established or startup modes.

Falk College’s newly announced bachelor of science in sport analytics—the first of its kind in the country—provides students with a deep understanding of math, statistics, research methodology, sport economics, database management, finance, and computer programming integral to sport analytics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the job market for various data analyst disciplines is growing at 27 percent annually, far exceeding the national job growth average of 11 percent.

The new degree incorporates a mandatory foreign language requirement to prepare students for the global sport industry. “Sport industry executives repeatedly tell us that students who are bilingual are highly sought after, especially in growth areas including South America, China and India,” says Falk College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy.

“Analytics have become an invaluable tool not only in analyzing player performance but also in evaluating the effectiveness and reach of sports sponsorships and advertising. In the second decade of the 21st century, it is almost inconceivable that a sports organization could operate successfully or efficiently without a strong analytics capability,” says Falk College benefactor, David B. Falk, founder and C.E.O., FAME and chair emeritus, Falk College Sport Management Advisory Board. 

Earning credits, expanding skills

For social workers in Central New York and surrounding communities, continuing education programming through Falk College offers an opportunity to fulfill New York State Education Law requirements. Effective January 2015, licensed master and clinical social workers are required to complete 36 hours of approved formal continuing education every three years. Syracuse University’s School of Social Work has been an approved New York State Department of Education provider of this training for more than four decades.

“For participants, some of who are alumni of our social work programs, it gives them a chance to reconnect with Syracuse University,” says Xenia Becher, internship placement coordinator in the School of Social Work who has also presented continuing education seminars, including “A Social Work Perspective: What’s Correct in Corrections?” in 2015.

“For those in the social work profession, learning must be a lifelong process to maintain one’s practice competence. While core learning takes place in the classroom, specialized advanced learning must be obtained through practice experience and continuing education. Today’s social work professionals face an assortment of diverse challenges due to the rate of changing science, policy, and practice, as well as changing community needs. These challenges can be lessened by the learning provided in a strong continuing education program, which allows social workers to continually update their skills,” says Bette Thoreck, director of the undergraduate program in social work.

“Professionals want to get affordable continuing education credits through a trusted provider,” says social work internship coordinator Nadaya Brantley. Thoreck adds, “These offerings are consistent with our mission to educate and help professionals embrace advanced practice.” Topics presented through the continuing education seminars are wide-ranging, including theories and concepts of human behavior in the social environment, research, programs, or practice evaluations, management, administration or social policy, ethics, clinical interventions, evidence-based models, client communications and recordkeeping, and supervision.

In the past year, C.E. programs sponsored by Falk College’s School of Social Work have focused on E.M.D.R. therapy and its applications, supervision framework, mental health and the criminal justice system, and international adoption and foster care. To learn more about upcoming offerings and registration information, visit falk.syr.edu. 

Robert Swanda named 2016 Syracuse University Scholar

Robert Swanda, a double major in nutrition science in Falk College and biology in the College of Arts and Sciences was named a 2016 Syracuse University Scholar, the highest undergraduate academic honor that the university bestows. University Scholars represented the Class of 2016 at the May 15 Commencement ceremony and are selected through a competitive process. This fall, he will move into a Ph.D. program at Cornell University in biomedical science and physiology.

As an undergraduate in the Renee Crown Honors Program he has completed three separate honors thesis projects. “My research has allowed me to explore scientific questions by using proteomic techniques to understand enzyme kinetics, auditing tools to understand obesity related to environmental influence, and gas chromatography mass spectrophotometry and blood sampling to examine environmental influence over rapid evolutionary changes in metabolism. My independent research experiences have solidified my ambition to run a research lab of my own at an academic institution or in industry to bring scientific breakthroughs to my community,” says Swanda.

While service learning is embedded in all Falk undergraduate programs, many students embrace these opportunities outside of the classroom. Robert saw the need in the Syracuse community for instilling skills and values beyond critical thinking when he got involved with the Smart Mentoring Program through the Office of Engagement Programs his freshman year.

“As I worked with students ages 10-14, I began to notice a large gap in their understanding around critical issues such as race, religion, and interpersonal conflict. To help them, Fareya Zubair (E.S.F. ’16) and I took a scientific approach, and read psychology journals on the development of empathy. This work later evolved into Empathy Matters, an eight-week mentoring program Fareya and I cofounded for students ages 7-8 to develop their compassion, leadership, and confidence skills, while tying all lessons back to empathy,” says Swanda.

“It is inspiring to work with a young person such as Robert whose personal philosophy puts into action the belief of helping others, paying it forward, and being a role model for all students at Syracuse University. We look forward to watching the contributions he will continue to make in the communities where he lives and works,” says Falk College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy. 

Pictured in this section: Rob Swanda is outside at a community location examining a glucose blood test result.

Tatiana Williams named 2016 Syracuse University Marshal

by Shannon Andre

Alexis Peña and Tatiana Williams were the senior class marshals for the Class of 2016 at Syracuse University’s 162nd Commencement ceremony on May 15. Senior class marshals are among the most prestigious honors at Syracuse University. These students excelled during their time on campus and exemplify the spirit of the senior class. The selection committee assesses the nominees on scholarship, academic honors, student organization involvement and campus and community service.

Williams, a native of Rochester, New York, majored in social work, with a minor in psychology. Williams was also a Renée Crown University Honors student whose senior thesis and honors capstone focused on integrating social work theory and practice into the legal setting. She has earned dean’s list honors and is a member of the Phi Alpha National Social Work Honor Society.

Williams actively applied her social work experience and legal interests as an intern with the Hiscock Legal Aid Society. She was also a member of the University Conduct Board and the Pre-Law Chapter of the National Black Law Student Association. Her on-campus involvement also included her role as a resident advisor and member of the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble. Williams has also grown as an orator and spoken word poet while on campus, earning first place at the 2014 Martin Luther King Showcase and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Frederick Douglass Oratorical Competition. “Taking the knowledge and tools bestowed upon me and applying that to my work and interactions with the members of the University and Syracuse communities has been so valuable. I connected to Syracuse more than I ever expected to and I value every moment of my experience here,” Williams adds. In addition to her commitments on campus, Williams has dedicated much of her time to community service. She founded a nonprofit volunteer organization called Making a Difference for You (MAD4U) that supports teen moms, and also designed an interactive learning program on argumentation, debate and trial skills for youth in the City of Syracuse. Her impact on her local community also earned her the Rochester Police Department’s Do The Right Thing Award, the Outstanding Youth of the Year Award from the Urban League of Rochester and a two-time Young Citizen of the Year by the Monroe County Legislature. Williams has also earned the Princeton Prize in Race Relations from Princeton University for her volunteer activity.

Meet the Class of 2016 marshals

by John Martin

Being selected as Senior Class Marshal is more than a recognition of school spirit, commitment, and scholarship—it’s an opportunity to reflect on your college years.

“Falk has meant the world to me,” says Colleen Downey ’16. “I have met faculty and staff that have guided me in the right direction for my postgraduate career and encouraged me to think outside the box and experience all the opportunities available to me at Syracuse University.”

Jeremy Losak ’16, the other Falk College Marshal, says, “I’ve invested my soul into making Falk the best it can be, and the college has done the same in return. I have grown tremendously with the college and know I will be leaving behind a legacy I am proud of.”

Downey, from Havertown, Pennsylvania, is getting a double major in social work and policy studies with a minor in psychology and has been on Dean’s List every semester. Her activities include financial vice president of the Alpha Chapter of Gamma Phi Beta, president of Phi Alpha, teaching assistant, and two internships.

Losak, from the Bronx, New York, is a sport management major. He also made Dean’s List every semester and is a member of the Renée Crown University Honors  Program. His campus pursuits have included the Sport Management Club (vice president of programming), the Baseball Stats and Sabermetrics Club (executive vice president of research), Falk College Ambassador, and Peer Advisor. 

Downey will attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. Losak will pursue his Ph.D. in economics at Clemson University.

Among other duties, Senior Class Marshals speak at their college’s Convocation, help select the Commencement speaker, and lead the Commencement procession.

Both are touched by the accolade. “Being selected as Class Marshal means a lot to me, and I consider it a great honor and a privilege,” Downey says. “It reassured me that all of my hard work at Syracuse has been recognized. I have a lot of Syracuse pride, but especially Falk pride.” Says Losak, “Falk College is my second home. It’s a great honor and acknowledgement, and I am proud to have represented the graduating class at Convocation.”

SPM baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club

Falk College's SPM Baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club formed in 2013 with sport management professor, Rodney Paul, as its faculty advisor. The club conducts in-depth discussions about baseball statistics and sabermetrics and members take part in a fantasy baseball league. Guest speakers are brought in throughout the year, and the club takes part in a trip each semester.

In March 2016, members of the Sabermetrics Club participated in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeremy Losak '16, Justin Perline '17 and Justin Mattingly '17 attended the annual Society of American Baseball Research Analytics Conference, of which the competition is a part, for four days and attended various baseball analytics panels, discussions and multiple Spring Training games. As part of this year's competition, the S.U. representatives were tasked with creating the perfect bullpen for any National League team for 2016.

In November 2015, Club members participated in a S.A.B.R. Diamond Dollars Competition at Columbia University in New York City. Falk students, along with eight other schools, were tasked with ranking the top 10 pitchers in the 2015-16 free agent market. 

In spring 2014, the Club saw its research published in E.S.P.N. The Magazine. Dr. Paul and S.P.M. students Matt Filippi '15, Greg Ackerman '15, and Zack Albright '15 also co-authored a research paper that was presented at the 2014 M.I.T. Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. Their paper, "The Effects of Atmospheric Conditions on Pitchers," studied the impact of air density on pitch selection and pitcher performance. It was one of 16 papers selected from more than 300 submissions worldwide.

Pictured in this section: Club members Brandon Lane, Willie Kniesner, Jeremy Losak, Evan Weiss and Olivia Lavelle pose with S.A.B.R. President Vince Gennaro at the S.A.B.R. Diamond Dollars Competition, Columbia University, November 2015.

A.A.M.F.T. reaccredits Marriage and Family Therapy program

The Ph.D. program in Falk College’s Department of Marriage and Family Therapy was recently awarded reaccreditation by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education. Accredited programs are reviewed at least every six years.

The marriage and family therapy program at Syracuse University is one of the longest-standing and most distinguished programs of its kind in the country. In addition to its Ph.D. program, the department offers a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy as well as a dual-degree program in social work. The newest offering in the department’s academic portfolio is a Certificate of Advanced Study in trauma studies, with additional specialty tracks under development. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that employment of marriage and family therapists is projected to grow by 30.6 percent by 2022, much faster than the average growth rate for all occupations. 

Faculty receive national honors

Lynn Brann, assistant professor of nutrition, was named a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This honor recognizes Academy members who have distinguished themselves among their colleagues, as well as in their communities, by their service to the dietetics profession and by optimizing the nation’s health through food and nutrition. 

Deborah Coolhart, assistant professor of marriage and family therapy will receive the 2016 Early Career Award from the American Family Therapy Academy in June. The honor is presented annually to recognize a scholar who has made significant contributions to the field of marriage and family therapy early in their career. 

Jocelyn Falk Endowed Professor of Social Work, Alejandro Garcia, received the 2015 Association of Latina and Latino Social Work Educators Life Achievement Award. Garcia, who is also a faculty affiliate in the Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute, was honored for highly significant contributions to social work education and scholarship that promote the well being of Latinas and Latinos over a long period of time. 

Eric R. Kingson, professor of social work and a faculty affiliate in Syracuse University’s Aging Studies Institute, was named the 2015 recipient of the Donald P. Kent Award from The Gerontological Society of America. The award was presented at the 68^th Annual Scientific Meeting in recognition of professional leadership in gerontology through teaching, service, and interpretation of gerontology to the larger society. 

Sandra D. Lane, a Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of public health and anthropology, received the 2015 Henrik L. Blum Award for Excellence in Health Policy from the American Public Health Association. The award honors Lane’s excellence, creativity, and innovation in developing and implementing health policy. 

Rick Welsh, the Falk Family Endowed Professor of Food Studies, is the 2016 winner of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society Excellence in Scholarship Award. The award recognizes outstanding research that enriches a transdisciplinary web of scholars spanning sociology, economics, agroecology, geography, policy, and engineering. 

Falk College launches Ann Selkowitz Litt Distinguished Speaker Series

“Food and Fear: How Therapists and Dietitians Collaborate in Understand-ing and Treating Eating Disorders” was the featured topic for the inaugural Ann Selkowitz Litt Distinguished Speaker Series in November. Guest presenters included Sandra Pinney, R.D.N., and Laura K. Ratner, L.I.C.S.W., L.C.S.W.C., B.C.D. The purposeful pairing of perspectives from a registered dietitian nutritionist and a mental health professional for this inaugural lecture was based on an approach Falk College nutrition graduate Ann Selkowitz Litt ’75 practiced throughout her career.

Litt, who for many years was a partner in private practice with Ratner, was a nationally known nutritionist who helped children and adolescents with eating disorders and assisted developing athletes in reaching their full potential. The author of The College Students’ Guide to Eating Well on Campus, Fuel for Young Athletes, and the A.D.A. Guide to Private Practice, Litt was the nutritionist for the N.F.L.’s Washington Redskins. After her death, the Ann. S. Litt Foundation was created to support nutrition education. The lecture offered continuing education credit for social work and dietetics professionals (read related story). 

Pictured in this section: Featured speaker Sandra Pinney stands at a podium with Laura Ratner during a question and answer session following the Inaugural Ann Selkowitz Litt Lecture. Friends and family of Ann Selkowitz Litt attending the inaugural lecture pose with a poster about Ann Selkowitz Litt; including: Kim Schifrin, Mark Schifrin, Becca Litt, David Litt, Margie Lyons, Laura Ratner, Karen Jatlow, Howard Jatlow. 

Sport and human Development institute focuses on experiential learning, research in social inclusion and change

Sport is a powerful tool to facilitate social integration and tolerance while promoting inclusion, citizenship and respect. Sport for development programs are playing increasingly significant roles in many global humanitarian and charitable organizations because of sport’s ability to highlight commonalities and bridge cultural and ethnic divides.

The Sport and Human Development Institute in Falk College explores the intersection of sport with human development, social change, and social inclusion. Created in partnership with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the Institute aims to provide professional education and learning opportunities for students while supporting interdisciplinary, sport-focused research to advance understanding and application of sport in this developing discipline. The Institute’s initial student experiential learning and faculty research opportunities are made possible with generous support from Falk College donor and Syracuse University alumnus, Keith Rubenstein ’86.

“The Institute aims to collect and disseminate important research findings and to share best practices among leaders, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners who influence sport-for-development initiatives,” says Teresa MacDonald, director of the Institute and a faculty member in Falk College’s Departments of Child and Family Studies and Sport Management. “It also provides exposure, experience, and networking for our students interested in professions and non-profit entities that incorporate sport as a tool for engagement.”

This spring, Falk College students worked closely with MacDonald to create and implement the first university model for UNICEF’s Kid Power Program to allow kids to get active and save lives in collaboration with fourth and fifth grade students and their teachers at Lemoyne and McKinley-Brighton elementary schools in Syracuse. UNICEF Kid Power (unicefkidpower.org) gives kids the power to save lives. By getting active with the UNICEF Kid Power Band, kids go on missions to learn about new cultures and earn points. Points unlock funding from partners, parents and fans, and funds are used by UNICEF to deliver lifesaving packets of therapeutic food to severely malnourished children around the world. The more kids move, the more points they earn and the more lives they save. Details are forthcoming for the Institute’s Inaugural Sport Development Symposium that will report on current initiatives in the field.

Brandon Steiner receives Arents Award

Brandon Steiner ‘81 received Syracuse University’s highest alumni honor, The Arents Award, in October. He has continued his commitment to Syracuse University and its students through service to Falk College and its Department of Sport Management as a member of its Advisory Board, which he chairs, and as a teacher and guest lecturer in several classes.

In January 2015, Steiner began involvement in both sections of Sports Marketing Management. He travels to campus a few times throughout the semester to teach the class. The students work on semester-long projects with Steiner and Steiner Sports to develop marketing plans that address issues Steiner Sports faces.

Steiner established the Brandon Steiner Endowed Scholarship Fund, which offers essential need-based financial assistance for students who may be limited in the money they deeply privileged for the opportunity to work with Brandon have to pay for tuition and other expenses. “With a family of and have him involved as a founding visionary and advisory his own, Brandon has always found a way to stay connected board member in our sport management program,” says Falk and committed to our Syracuse University family. We are College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy.

Pictured in this section:  Arents Award honoree, Brandon Steiner stands with Chancellor Syverud and Dean Murphy while he holds a glass award. 

Food, family, culture focus of new study abroad offering in India

A new S.U. Abroad summer offering brought Falk College students to points of significance in northern and western India, including New Delhi, Agra—home of the Taj Mahal—and Baroda to immerse themselves in the culture, food and healthcare systems of South Asia.

Created by associate professor of nutrition, Sudha Raj, and associate professor of child and family studies, Kamala Ramadoss, the course incorporated online instruction on community-based projects and traditional food and healthcare systems prior to the group’s May 31 departure.

Upon arrival to India, students visited schools, community program sites, such as a school for children with special needs and a senior citizens’ center, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, and traditional and modern healthcare facilities. Other highlights included visits to an ayurvedic center, a working dairy farm, and homeopathy hospital.

It was when they were working together on a project a few years ago that professors Raj and Ramadoss realized they graduated from Madras University in India, both with bachelor of science degrees in nutrition and dietetics seven years apart. Raj went on to complete her Ph.D. in nutrition science at Syracuse University and Ramadoss pursued degrees in child development and family studies at the University of Madres, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and Purdue University before coming to Syracuse University. The combination of their expertise in food, nutrition, and family development presented a win-win situation for Falk students with this new offering in India. “Understanding food in a family context was something our students in nutrition and child and studies could benefit from,” says Raj. And so the new course started to take shape.

The course will help students understand the diversity of families in a multilingual, multi-faith Indian society given the wider global forces influencing Indian society. They will get an up-close view of the food and health systems in India given the impact of globalization on Indian socio-political, cultural and commercial life. Their exploration will have them analyze and evaluate the interrelationships among families (including food systems and health care), governmental policies and community programs.

Pictured in this section: Professor Raj is posed with nutrition professor Tanya Horacek in front of the Taj Mahal in India.

Falk College recognizes staff for excellence 

Seven Falk College staff members were honored for excellence in a ceremony held in August 2015. Dean Murphy and Falk College presented awards to:

Rising Star Award: Jaime Grillo, internship coordinator, Department of Sport Management Community

Ambassador Award: Nadaya Brantley, internship placement coordinator, School of Social Work College

Diplomat Award: Annette Hodgens, recruiting specialist, Office of Admissions

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mamie Hensel, counselor, Office of Student Services

Lifetime Achievement Award: JoAnne Turner, manager, student records, Office of Student Services

Staff Member of the Year: Tracey Reichert-Schimpff, director, clinical services, Department of Marriage & Family Therapy

Dean’s Award: Kate Veley, alumni and events manager, Office of the Dean

Good luck Falk College retirees!

In July 2015, Syracuse University introduced a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (V.S.I.P.) for staff whose age plus years of service equaled 65 or more. Many staff members across campus—and nine in Falk College—participated in this program, completing their service prior to December 31, 2015. In Falk College, we wish the following employees well in their retirements: Kim Carlson, Stephanie Cole, Vicky Crego, Mamie Hensel, Susan O’Brien, Beth Sotherden, Linda Thomas, JoAnne Turner and Cindy Wiestling. Tim Barr, a long-time instructor in our Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition also announced his retirement effective December 2015.

Pictured in this section: Cindy Wiestling poses with Susan O’Brien. Dean Murphy poses with Tim Barr and wife Terry. JoAnne Turner poses with seven members of her family.

Serving Those Who Serve Our Country

Falk College’s long, proud association with veterans 

Seventy-two years ago this June, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, known as the G.I. Bill, was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt. Among many things it provided for was financial support for veterans who wished to earn a college degree. For Syracuse University Chancellor William Tolley, the G.I. Bill marked a great opportunity. He helped lay the foundation for the G.I. Bill and, at his direction, Syracuse welcomed any veteran who wanted a chance at a college education. By 1947, Syracuse’s veteran enrollment was larger than any other school in the state and among the largest nationwide. In June 2014, Chancellor Kent Syverud wrote an op-ed piece in Syracuse. com about S.U.’s history of supporting veterans, noting the seventieth anniversary of the G.I. Bill provided “an opportunity to both acknowledge the bill’s historical impact and affirm its important role in easing veterans back into civilian life today. History shows that when we empower opportunity for our veterans, we all gain.”

Like Syracuse University, Falk College has a long and proud association with veterans on many levels. For example, student interns from the School of Social Work 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. Many have continued their professional careers at the Syracuse center or other V.A. medical centers across the country. New and evolving pro-grams in Falk College help prepare our students, many who are veterans themselves, for professional careers serving those who serve our country.

The pages that follow illustrate current projects ongoing in Falk College specific to veterans and military families. 

A veteran’s best friend

by John Martin

Humans domesticated the dog thousands of years ago, and the bond is as strong as ever. That’s the rationale behind Dogs2Vets, which provides emotional support to veterans with post-traumatic stress, military sexual trauma, or physical impairments by establishing a reliable relationship between them and a canine companion.

“There are three areas of focus— service dog training, emotional support training, and community training,” says Melissa Spicer, executive director and co-founder of Clear Path for Veterans, the Chittenango, New York-based organization that runs the program. “All options require the veterans, paired with professional trainers, to train their own dogs.”

Dogs are selected from shelters and matched with veterans based on specific needs and interests; some veterans bring their own dog. The program is getting results, says Kate Hannon, program director.

“Veterans have become less isolated and more interactive, less hypervigilant and more physically active,” Hannon says. “We have witnessed their sense of humor reemerging, as their level of anxiety decreases and their trust begins to return. We have seen their confidence levels rise, as they witness the success of their training efforts with their new partner. They have to problem solve and make important decisions with respect to their canine partners, and this spills over into decision making in other aspects of their lives."

Dessa Bergen-Cico, an associate professor in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition at Falk College, wants to quantify those gains. She's principal investigator and primary architect of a study that is measuring things like post-traumatic stress, quality of life, and negative thoughts among participants in the program.

"We want to help Clear Path, and organizations like it, establish evidence-based outcomes for programs like Dogs2Vets," Bergen-Cico syats. "There is a lot of personal testimony and observable benefits for these types of programs, but to sustain and fund them requires scientific evidence."

Preliminary results of the program assessment look good, including a marked decrease in P.T.S.D. symptoms and negative thoughts and increased quality-of-life scores—The opposite of outcomes observed in a control group waiting to enroll in Dogs2Vets.

The researchers are working as volunteers. With department colleague Professor Brooks Gump, Bergen-Cico has been able to pay for gift card incentives for the veterans, with funding from a grant Gump directs from the National Science Foundation.

One of the volunteers is Colin Gooley G'17, who's pursuing his master's in social work at Falk; Gooley interns at Clear Path. "From what I have witnessed here, and what I know of military culture, the sense of purpose and the goal-oriented structure of the Dogs2Vets program offer something to veterans that not many other programs can offer—where the mission at hand is to work hard alongside the dog and eventually have the dog become certified as a service dog," he says.

Gooley is gratified he can give back to those who served their country. "U.S. military personnel may endure a lot of traumatic life events," he says. "Being able to show my support in this behind-the-scenes way—helping with the research—means a lot to me."

Bergen-Cico appreciates his help and all the volunteers. "I am just the person working on the numbers and research behind the scenes," she says. "The people at Clear Path and the veterans and volunteers are the stars, the people who are doing the real work."

Bergen-Cico is an advocate of complementary and integrative strategies that help people suffering with depression, anxiety, P.T.S.D., and addictions. Dogs2Vets fits that to a T.

"I have witnessed the profound effect companion and therapeutic dogs can have on people and that people can have on dogs," she says. "There is a nonverbal bond there. Dogs are the only animal that is naturally attracted to and curious about humans. As a researcher, I want to know how and why we benefit so much from this type of relationship."

The veterans just know they do. Asked about the benefits of Dogs2Vets, one veteran said, "to have a companion, and someone to always have my back. To help keep me calm, and level, and balanced. To help me do better in public, and be brave and visit more places, and try more and new situations, plus things I haven't done in years" (see related stories).

Pictured in this section: A graduate veteran and his dog visit an elementary school classroom in a local school as a community outreach to give back to the community. 

Addressing a wartime call for nurses 

In 1943, Chancellor William P. Tolley directed Edith H. Smith to establish a Syracuse University School of Nursing due to the wartime call for nurses. Smith, a graduate of Stanford and Columbia Universities, served in the Navy Nurses Corps during World War I. She later worked as a teacher in the nursing division of the League of Red Cross Societies.

World War II shaped the early years of the new school. Within a week of its opening, Congress passed the Bolton Nurse Training Act, which created the Cadet Nurse Corps. In this program, students received subsidized tuition in exchange for active war service upon completion of the program. In response to this act, Smith planned an accelerated nursing program that would prepare students to quickly enter war service, condensing a 36-month program into a 30-month period. She strongly encouraged students to return to the school to complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program after their war service was completed.

Syracuse University’s School of Nursing continued to grow after World War II.

Helping military personnel and their families

by Rachel Linsner

During my first year of graduate school, I became interested in the experiences of military personnel and their families. In the summer of 2014, I worked as an intern at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (C.S.T.S.), a part of the Department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress responds to the psychological outcomes of traumatic events, including war, natural disasters, and terrorism.

While at C.S.T.S., I worked closely with Dr. James McCarroll, a retired Army psychologist. McCarroll conducts research on mortuary affairs soldiers and family violence in the Army, in addition to assisting in other research projects at the center. He taught me about military structure and culture, as well as stressors and strengths specific to Army soldiers and families. I also assisted his research on the psychological stress of Army mortuary affairs operations, the military operation that returns fallen soldiers home.

After my incredible experience at the C.S.T.S., I wanted to continue studying military families. I am fortunate to work as a research analyst at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University, which has greatly contributed to my continuing education on service members, veterans, and military families. My main responsibilities have been for the Blue Star Families 2015 Military Family Lifestyle Survey.

I primarily focused on the transition from military to civilian life for service members and their families. The data indicated that many transitioning service members, veterans, and their families have little awareness of available transition resources and benefits.

Additionally, many veterans reported particular difficulty in their employment and financial transitions. Since the transition from military to civilian life is a significant and often challenging time for military families, I plan to further study the factors that ease or worsen this process for families. Additionally with the help of Rachel Razza, associate professor of child and family studies, I hope to propose and evaluate a mindfulness program for military children and parents in the local areas.

Rachel Linsner is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Child and Family Studies. Her research interests are in military families, trauma, child maltreatment, and family/parenting stress.

Training students in effective trauma treatment

by Michele Barrett

“Once you start working in trauma, you see it everywhere,” says Tracey Musarra Marchese, social work professor of practice in Syracuse University’s Falk College and a practitioner in the community working with individuals and families. “Because of the amount of trauma out there, we need to have more people trained in treating it.”

And Marchese is doing just that.

Marchese, who also holds a clinical faculty appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at Upstate Medical University, provides E.M.D.R. Therapy basic training for psychiatry residents and community practitioners. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or E.M.D.R. Therapy, helps people of all ages relieve many types of psychological distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.) and other psychiatric disorders, mental health problems, and somatic symptoms. E.M.D.R. was originally studied on Vietnam veterans with P.T.S.D. and continues to be used to treat veterans with P.T.S.D.

“Because E.M.D.R. is an integrative therapy, it appeals to many clinicians who are trained in other types of therapies,” says Marchese. “Additionally, it offers students and clinicians the opportunity to develop more advanced skills that are specific to treating trauma.”

E.M.D.R. targets past experience, current triggers, and future potential challenges. This therapy helps clients decrease or eliminate the distress from a disturbing memory while improving the client’s view of the self and creating coping mechanisms to resolve present and future anticipated triggers. E.M.D.R. is designated as an effective treatment by the American Psychiatric Association, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, and many other international health agencies.

Marchese was exposed to E.M.D.R. Therapy early during her career working as a psychotherapist/clinical social worker helping clients with depression, anxiety, and P.T.S.D.

She is an E.M.D.R. International certified therapist and an E.M.D.R.I.A.-approved consultant, which means she has completed E.M.D.R. training, engaged in more than 300 E.M.D.R. clinical sessions and 20 hours of consultation with an E.M.D.R.I.A.-approved consultant, and attended numerous continuing education workshops on advanced applications of E.M.D.R. Therapy. She recently became an E.M.D.R.I.A.-approved E.M.D.R. Basic Trainer, a role held by only approximately 100 clinicians worldwide.

“It is so rewarding to help people relieve emotional pain. I love to see people transform their lives because they transform the way they think and feel, thanks to E.M.D.R.”

Exploring, advancing adaptive sports

Numerous sport management courses are help in students gain a better understanding of the power of adaptive sports. Student projects, in turn, are educating others on campus, locally and beyond about the important role adaptive sports play in the lives of individuals, families and communities.

During the Spring 2015 semester, seventeen graduate students in associate professor Gina Paulines advanced sport event management course, produced the 2nd Annual Syracuse Sport Summit. The day-long event focused on what it would take to bring a multi-sport statewide competition for athletes with physical disabilities—including wounded military veterans-to Syracuse in the future.

A presentation from the sport management graduate students revealed logistical findings and suggestions for the possibility of the Syracuse area hosting the statewide summer athletic competition to include sports such as track and field, judo, power lifting, swimming, wheelchair basketball, bocce and goalball, among many others.

In 2014, students enrolled in the course, The History of Sport, focused their research efforts on sports that have been adapted to transform and enrich the lives of athletes with physical disabilities. Student projects provided the collected body of research that aided in production of the documentary film entitled Changing Sports, Changing Lives. Teaching the course and directing the film was professor of practice, Dennis Deninger, a three-time Emmy Award winner.

The film covered the origins of adapted sports, including the founding of the International Paralympic Games as the Stoke-Mandeville Games in England 1948, development of adaptive sports equipment, and adaptive sports' impact on wounded veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among many other topics.

Pictured in this section: Celebrating the premiere of Changing Sports Changing Lives are Sitrin STARS athletes Jimmy Joseph, Hermin Garic, who was presented with the Perseverance in Sports Award by the S.U. Sport Management Club, and Vincent Bevivino. Also pictured in the photo, S.P.M. professor of Practice Dennis Deninger and three of his History of Sport students: Jesus Ortiz, Jose Wells, and Matt Miselis. Photo take by Michale Barletta.

All in the family

by John Martin

Kirsten Lesch G’16 comes from a family with a tradition of military service. Her paternal grandfather was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran; he spent time in a P.O.W. camp after his P-51 Mustang malfunctioned and he was forced to parachute into enemy territory. Her paternal grandmother was an Army nurse during World War II. Her father served in the National Guard.

“Growing up, I often wondered how my grandparents’ military experiences affected the generations following,” she says.

Now she knows—and has found her calling. “While completing my yoga certification, I learned about the positive effects that yoga and meditation can have on veterans diagnosed with P.T.S.D. I began to discover what I wanted to do with my life. And while I knew that yoga would help veterans, I quickly realized that I wanted to learn other therapeutic methods as well.”

Lesch, who has a bachelor of fine arts from Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts, is a dual-degree student working toward a master’s of social work and master’s of arts in marriage and family therapy. She interned at the Syracuse V.A. Medical Center, working at its Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center with veterans who are severely mentally ill.

Military families face a wide range of stressors, Lesch says; even the anticipation of being deployed can bring problems. “Not only is the family worried about their loved one remaining safe; they are anxious about how the family duties and responsibilities will be handled. The parental stress filters down to the children and can impact their behavior at home and in school.”

Over time, some families get accustomed to life without their loved one. “Once the family has been reunited, they may be surprised to discover that reintegration is difficult. This can be compounded when the soldier is affected by the wounds of war, physical or psychological.”

That’s why it’s crucial to involve everyone in the therapy. “By treating the whole family, you help make the family whole,” says this veteran’s daughter and grandchild.

Research training program for veterans enters fifth year

Syracuse University’s Undergraduate Trauma Research Training program is a National Science Foundation Research Education for Undergraduates (R.E.U.) opportunity directed by Brooks B. Gump, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health, and co-directed by professor Karen Wolford, who also coordinates the interdisciplinary graduate certificate program in trauma studies at SUNY Oswego. Other faculty from these institutions and SUNY Upstate Medical University are involved in the program, including Falk College associate professors Keith Alford (social work) and Dessa Bergen-Cico (public health).

The month-long R.E.U. immersion program, now in its fifth year, brings together veterans and non-veterans in a safe environment to pursue trauma research activities and is currently planning for its 2016 program in June. It involves coursework, mentored student faculty interactions, and development of a research project. Participating students receive a stipend for attending the summer session. Room and board are provided free of charge, as needed, with some travel cost assistance available for out-of-state participants.

The R.E.U. program draws on personal experiences of veterans who understand the nature and context of traumatic events. By gaining a scientific understanding of trauma, students who complete the program gain essential tools they can use to improve the quality of life for themselves and others, including veterans. The program is purposefully structured to span one full year. Following the summer program, students continue their research under the mentorship of R.E.U. faculty. Students are expected to present their research at a national or international conference.

With generous support from Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (I.V.M.F.) and Falk College, Ivan Castro, a veteran and past participant of the R.E.U. program, now supports it as project manager. “The biggest benefit for me was being exposed to what it takes to do research, actual research. I took statistics and research courses in the past, but I didn’t see any purpose for this material outside of school work. In the program, everything lined up and was put in perspective for me. I enjoyed doing research and understood its value.”

Castro explains the program offers great exposure to a multitude of areas that prepare students for a variety of important paths. From Castro’s 2012 classmates, multiple veterans went on to earn graduate degrees in psychology and public health.

The collaborative partnership with I.V.M.F. also makes it possible to bring special guest presenters to campus. The Summer 2016 program organizers are coordinating a feature presentation by Dr. Linda S. Schwartz, V.A. Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning. In her role, Dr. Schwartz serves as the V.A.’s principal advisor on all matters of policy and organizational strategy by providing V.A. decision makers with the advice, counsel, and support necessary to fulfill the V.A. mission.

Up close and personal

by John Martin

Natasha Ramroop G’15 has an advantage when it comes to understanding military families. “My partner is a service member,” she says. “I have witnessed the impact of military service on service members, couples, and families. I think it’s a population that needs more attention.”

Ramroop, a graduate of the Marriage and Family Therapy program, helped create therapy groups for military families for her master’s project. She’s currently on staff at Cayuga Counseling Services as a clinic therapist, working on trauma with families, couples, adults, and children.

Her personal experience with a service member as partner has given her a close-up look at the challenges military personnel face. “One of the hardest challenges is going through deployment with a loved one,” she says. “Communication becomes difficult and sometimes impossible. The time apart is a huge struggle; stress and worry about the significant other’s well-being can be very painful. This is also a concern of parents of service members.”

Homecoming can be equally challenging, as the service member readjusts to everyday life. This can be even more difficult if service members are experiencing symptoms of P.T.S.D. “It’s not only tough for the service member, but for the families as well,” Ramroop says. “Children often watch their parent become a different person and may become confused.”

Another struggle revolves around the constant uprooting of families, which can be especially hard for children. “They build communities and make friends, and then have to leave those people behind when their parent is P.C.Sed [assigned a permanent change of station],” she says.

Marriage and family therapy creates a space where families can discuss these issues and learn effective communication patterns. “Families use the therapy room as a safe space to talk about their frustrations and finally let out things that have been building up for them,” Ramroop says. 

Falk Students

Brainfeeders partners with local farm

by Kathleen Haley

Lindsay De May ’16 and Imelda Rodriguez ’16 had planned for about 20 people to participate in their student organization’s new community supported agriculture (C.S.A.) project last fall.

Their group, Brainfeeders, partnered with a local farm to bring fresh produce to campus for those who purchased a share. The response was overwhelming from students, faculty and staff. The number of shares reached 40 and more wanted to join. An increasing number of consumers nationally are participating in C.S.A.s and attending farmers markets, making regional food more popular.

De May and Rodriguez, both food studies majors, started the organization after taking the “Human Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition” course with Professor Anne Bellows in the fall of 2014.

Falk Endowed Professor of Food Studies, Rick Welsh, department chair of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition, the group’s initial advisor, was impressed by the students’ work in starting the organization and quickly organizing events. “They were actively meeting, recruiting people and looking at succession strategies to keep the organization going after they graduated,” Welsh says.

They began looking into the C.S.A. and also started meeting with Food Services to see about sourcing more food locally or regionally—a long-term goal to bring more sustainable, local and organic food to campus.

The students, who often share meals as a group and created meals from their own C.S.A. shares, are also working with Food Services on creating a spot in Schine Dining that will use local, organic produce in a menu that will vary from soups to salads and hot dishes. Brainfeeders members will connect local farmers and food producers to Food Services and work on a meal plan. The hope is to launch the effort in the fall.

Another of the group’s projects has been to provide free bus transportation to the Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse on Saturdays through the support of the Student Association.

Through their coursework in food studies and in developing Brainfeeders, De May and Rodriguez, who were also asked to speak before the campus sustainability committee in December, say they have become more informed about food systems and how it relates to the economy, politics and the environment. Food studies students explore many facets in the program, including labor, agroecology, transnational/international trade, food security and culinary processes.

“The students’ work reflects what they’ve been learning in the classroom,” says the group’s advisor, Assistant Professor Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern.

“They’ve been able to apply their learning to student activism on campus, organizing events and educating their peers,” Minkoff-Zern says. “Their C.S.A. initiative touches beyond students and into the campus community. It shows they will be able to apply these ideas outside of Syracuse when they graduate.”

Pictured in this section: Members of the student organization Brainfeeders are distributing food studies materials to interested students at an annual Earth Day festival in Thornden Park; pictured are Ashia Aubourg, Lindsay De May, Imelda Rodriguez and Evelyn Burgess. 

Behind the scenes at Ottothon

by John Martin

Students love to dance, and they love a good cause. That’s the idea behind OttoTHON, which has raised more than $152,000. The 12-hour dance marathon raises money for Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. OttoTHON has been awarded the Orange Circle Award, which recognizes S.U. students, alumni, and friends who believe in the power of philanthropy and who have done extraordinary things for others in their communities.

OttoTHON was started on the Syracuse campus in 2014 by Jillian Lynch ’16 and is one of 250 dance marathon events held at colleges and high schools across the United States in conjunction with the Children’s Miracle Network. “Jillian is one of the hardest workers, and an incredible role model to everyone who is a part of OttoTHON,” says Ottothon executive director, Laurie Beth Koller ’18. “OttoTHON wouldn’t be here without her.

Koller, a double major in communications and rhetorical studies, and child and family studies, has plenty of “family” help. “The S.U. community loves being part of such an incredible event,” she says. “Our executive board has 20 students and 30 to 40 committee members. Student volunteers also help—checking people in, hanging out with the families, helping with the food line.”

Their faculty advisor marvels at them. “This is the most ambitious group of students; they work tirelessly throughout the year for the children and families in our community,” says Colleen B. Cameron, professor of practice in the Department of Child and Family Studies. “Not only have they created a signature campus event, they have created a tradition of humanitarianism that carries a longlasting and far-reaching impact.”

OttoTHON is especially poignant for Koller, who suffered from a childhood illness herself and spent time in a hospital. With that came a different outlook on life.

“This cause is so close to my heart,” she says.

Pictured in this section: Ottothon participants dance the night away, including Victoria Hope, Sara Eckhardt and Elizabeth Young. The 2015 OttoTHON executive Board (23 members) poses for a photo on stage with the OttoTHON banner.

A legacy of giving

by Kate Veley 

On January 30, the Sport Management Club at Syracuse University presented the Salvation Army with a check for $40,470 (pictured right). The 11^th annual Charity Sports Auction was held at the Carrier Dome December 2, 2015, in the backcourt of the S.U. vs. Georgia Tech men’s basketball game. To date, this organization made up of students from across campus has raised more than $312,000. 

The club was formed in 2006 when the Department of Sport Management welcomed its inaugural class of 25 students. The auction was conceived to put into practice the skills that students were learning in the classroom, while also allowing them to give back to the community they’d call home for the next four years. 

With honors that include the Champion for Children Award from the Boys & Girls Clubs, multiple Syracuse University Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement, the Orange Circle Award, and Macy’s Awards for Outstanding Philanthropy, the club was honored recently with the 2015 Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award from the Central New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. 

“Contributing to charitable projects from their planning stages all the way through execution is a wonderful experience, and no student should go without that opportunity,” says Brian Goodman, ’08, a sport management graduate. To date almost 1,500 students can cite the auction as a component in their S.U. experience and many continue to mention the skills, leadership opportunities, and networking benefits that have enhanced their job search and ultimately their careers. 

S.P.M. Club Charity Sports Auction beneficiaries: 

2005 – 2006, Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse, $15,000

2006 – 2007, Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse, $20,000

2007 – 2008, American Diabetes Association, $20,000

2008 – 2009, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Upstate, $20,000

2009 – 2010, Ronald McDonald House Charities of C.N.Y., $20,000

2010 – 2011, S.P.C.A. of C.N.Y., $21,500

2011 – 2012, Upstate Cancer Center, $30,444

2012 – 2013, Special Olympics New York, $35,239

2013 – 2014, Food Bank of C.N.Y., $30,500

2014 – 2015, Make-A-Wish of C.N.Y., $59,185

2015 – 2016 Salvation Army of Syracuse, $40,470 

Auction Fast Facts:

1,424 – Total number of club members over 11 years

4,590 – Approximate number of auction items raised over 11 years

21,360 – Estimated total number of community service hours spent throughout Onondaga County 

S.P.M. Club’s lasting contributions to the Syracuse community:

• Respiratory therapy, equipment work room, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Upstate
• Two guest rooms, Syracuse Ronald McDonald House
• Surgical, medical supplies, C.N.Y. S.P.C.A. Vet Center
• A patient nourishment station and double-sided fireplace, Upstate Cancer Center
• A total of 79,300 meals, Food Bank of Central New York
• Five wishes for seriously ill children, Make-A-Wish of C.N.Y.

Pictured in this section: A check presentation is made to the Salvation Army at halftime of the January 30, 2016 Syracuse University men’s basketball game at the Carrier Dome; in the picture are Kevin Reese, 2015 Charity Auction co-chair; Major Karla Clark, Salvation Army; Captain Brian Clark, Salvation Army; Kate Veley, S.P.M. Club co-advisor; Jack Moriarty, 2015 Charity Auction co-chair. This fall, the Salvation Army will award its Community Team Spirit Award to the S.P.M. Club in recognition of its 2015 Annual Charity Sports Auction fundraising efforts. An additional images shows five S.P.M. Club members posed in front of a table of items before bidding officially begins at a Charity Sports Auction in the Carrier Dome. 

Travis Davis reflects on community health internship, McNair Scholars research

by Matthew Miselis ‘16

When Travis Davis ’16 began his summer internship with the University of Michigan Hospital Community Health Department, it was an opportunity for him to reflect on the transformations he has made throughout his life.

Born in Jamaica, Davis moved with his parents to the United States at eight years old. He was passionate about his education, and utilized the abundance of educational opportunities in New York City to help jumpstart his dreams of making a difference in the lives of others.

With the guidance of Associate Professor of Public Health, Maureen Thompson, he made the decision to pursue a degree in public health. Davis intends on using his experience and knowledge to continue improving the awareness of public health and the lack of diversity in the workforce.

Davis received an internship at the C.D.C. Undergraduate Public Health Scholars (C.U.P.S.) program. This program selects students through a highly competitive application process and places them at various universities across the United States. He was placed at the University of Michigan, where he took part in the Future Public Health Leaders program. After hearing various perspectives on public health, he served a seven-week internship at the University of Michigan Community Program and Services Department. 

He conducted a community benefit report of the 200 different programs affiliated with the Community Program and Services Department. Since all hospitals are required to report a community health needs assessment, Davis was responsible for looking into whether the programs were targeting the health needs established in the assessment from the previous year. 

Davis is a member of the McNair Scholars Program at Syracuse University, which prepares undergraduates for graduate and doctoral studies through undergraduate research and financial support. He is researching the underuse of services in the African American population and its correlation to the lack of representation in the health force today. 

“After this internship with the University of Michigan, it became destiny. I know what I want to do,” he says. “I started to see the value of public health, and I realized the impact that we as a community can make.” 

Recipes for change

by John Martin

It’s a bitter irony of history that the Native Americans who taught the first European settlers about food—instructing them on how to plant, grow, harvest, preserve, and cook nutritious, indigenous food—now often depend on U.S. government food supplies that are high in sodium, unhealthy fats, and high-fructose corn syrup.

“Natives were once planting white corn that was high in fiber and protein and low in sugar,” says Elizabeth Daly ’16. “But now, this life-prolonging crop has been altered, and its sugary sweet syrup is ailing its consumers.

Daly, a nutrition major and biology minor in the Renée Crown University Honors Program, is cooking up a solution. Her capstone project, “Decolonizing Diets: The Health and History of the Haudenosaunee,” examined the traditional Native American diet of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) through a collaborative cookbook among the Iroquois White Corn Project, Friends of Ganondagan, and the Seneca Nation. 

Daly says the first evidence of maize, or “Indian corn,” has been dated to 3500 B.C. By A.D. 400, beans and squash had been domesticated; together, they were called “the three sisters.” Tribes then began living more settled lifestyles. “As their crop yields rose, their population increased, due to better nutrition and lower infant mortality rates,” she says. 

The settlement of the new world and the tribes’ displacement has changed all that. “The foods typically eaten by natives today are riddling their populations with obesity, diabetes, and other chronic health concerns,” Daly says. “A dietary transformation back to traditional foods can reverse the effects of these diet-related health concerns.” 

Daly, who hails from Marlborough, Massachusetts, got interested in the subject through an honors course called Women’s Rights: A Native American Tradition. She received the Crown Award, which helped fund travel to the Iroquois White Corn Project in Victor, New York, to collaborate on the cookbook and defray other costs. She plans to become a registered dietitian. “I want to serve with the FoodCorps in native communities,” she says. 

Daly says Syracuse is culturally relevant for her project—it was on the shores of Onondaga Lake where the “Great Peacemaker” founded the Haudenosaunee community, bringing together the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca nations. 

“Building relations with Native American community members we often do not recognize, on land that is historic and sacred to their culture yet shared with this university, is so meaningful,” she says. “It is such a privilege and opportunity to partner with the Seneca Nation.” 

Sport management senior basks in Super bowl atmosphere

by Margie Chetney

For the average football fan, securing a ticket to Super Bowl 50 was a near impossible task. But for sport management senior Kathryn Petkevich, Super Bowl 50 was more than just a game.

Petkevich spent August 2015 to February 2016 with the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee on her Senior Capstone. She worked as a hospitality associate in the Hospitality and Events Department and as an intern in the Marketing and Communications Department.

“My main focus was celebrity and talent engagement and V.I.P. gifting,” she said. “I booked and managed over 65 current and former N.F.L. players for game week lead-up events, game-week and game-day events, as well as managed gifting orders for our V.I.P. clients. I was fortunate to have so much responsibility.”

The Host Committee’s Hospitality Department was responsible for coordinating hotels and corporate housing, food and beverage, V.I.P. services, sponsor activation, tourism, celebrity engagement, event management, entertainment, and product placement.

One of her main responsibilities included working on Super Bowl City, which was the Host Committee’s fan village that opened nine days before game day. It featured free musical performances, player appearances, and a fan stage. Petkevich booked and managed N.F.L. celebrities such as Jerry Rice, Terrell Davis, Justin Tuck, and Marshall Faulk, among others. Data showed that more than 1 million people passed through Super Bowl City during those nine days.

The Host Committee was comprised of 32 full-time staff members. including Petkevich and a student from Duke. In the weeks leading up to the game, the committee then added 17 part-time interns. A goal of the committee was not only to put on a flawless Super Bowl, but also to raise money for San Francisco Bay Area non-profits. Petkevich said the committee was proud to report it surpassed its goal of $13 million, the most ever raised by a Host Committee.

“This opportunity was truly once in a lifetime,” Petkevich said. “It is incredible how much work goes into one event. We had sleepless nights and stressful days, but it was all incredibly worth it. I had the chance to learn from the best in the industry and the friendships I made will last a lifetime.”

Sport management director and chair Michael Veley was proud to place another Sport management senior with a Super Bowl Host Committee.

“The Super Bowl is the pinnacle of U.S. sporting events, and placing our students with this marketing, branding and event management extravaganza is an incredible educational opportunity,” Veley said. “Our students have worked with Super Bowls in Phoenix, New York/New Jersey and San Francisco and each has had a unique and rewarding experience.”

On February 7, game day, Petkevich and members of the Host Committee went to Santa Clara to work the pre-game party and attend the game. When her work ended, she enjoyed the game as a fan.

“Our seats were high up, but the view of the field was unbelievable,” she said. The whole experience was unreal and made me more ready than ever to work in the sport industry and to truly make a difference.”

Pictured in this section: Kathryn Petkevich poses with Stephanie Martin, Ricky Watters, Sarah Hawkins and Michelle Villanueva in the Super Bowl V.I.P. area.

Social work meets veterinary medicine

by John Martin

“The first time I considered becoming a social worker was when I was mistaken for one,” says Katherine Goldberg ’18, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), who is studying for her master of social work (M.S.W.) degree at Falk College.

Goldberg was giving input during a discussion of euthanasia on the Veterinary Social Work listserv. “I guess my two cents had a considerable amount of ‘social work-speak’ in it because I received more than one email indicating that listserv members thought I was a social worker, before realizing I was a veterinarian,” she says. “I took this as a serious compliment.”

Goldberg who got her D.V.M. from Cornell, founded her practice, Whole Animal Veterinary Geriatrics & Hospice Services, in 2010. She is also co-founder of the Veterinary Society for Hospice and Palliative Care, which aims to advance veterinary medical knowledge, professional education, community engagement, and research in hospice and palliative care.

Goldberg stresses the concept of family as patient. “This is a core value of my practice,” she says. “It is important that we ask about people’s values and priorities regarding the treatment of their pets. These may change over time, this is not a one-time conversation, but needs to be revisited. We need to know what values and fears we are dealing with so we can best facilitate individualized support. This is called ‘goal-concordant care,’ and is a central principle of my work.”

Goldberg says we would never dream of providing 24-hour care to aging and ill human family members without professional assistance. “Yet this is what we expect of ourselves for our beloved pets, and then we feel guilty when we can’t do it. I think people deserve support around this, and it needs to be something that we are talking about within the veterinary profession.”

That’s where social worker expertise comes in. “Social workers can provide skilled support for animal caregivers in areas like navigating end-of-life care, loss and bereavement,” she says.

Veterinary professionals also can benefit from their assistance, as pets become more important in families. Goldberg cites research that states that more than 75 percent of pet owners say their dog’s health is as important to them as their own; 30 percent of pet owners report grief lasting more than six months following pet loss; and 12 percent experience severe grief, resulting in a major life disruption.

Assuaging all these owners is taking its toll. “There is a mental health crisis in the veterinary profession; compassion fatigue, moral stress, and high suicide rates are serious concerns,” Goldberg says. “The connection between these issues and end-of-life care in veterinary practice is now being explored. Veterinarians experience death five times more than human physicians, yet end-of-life training is not required in veterinary school the way it is for physicians. The impact of all this needs more attention and support.”

Goldberg’s practice blends medical care with a respect for the unique relationship between animals and their caregivers. This human-animal bond is recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association as a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals, “influenced by the behaviors that are essential to the health and well-being of both.”

Teaching, Research & Scholarship

human-animal bonds and implications for social work practice

by Michele J. Barrett

Evidence of the power of relationships between humans and their animal companions is invigorating a growing interest for social work professionals to know about these connections and incorporate them into practice. Social work faculty in Falk College continue to develop new courses focused on the human-companion animal bond and the therapeutic role of animals while infusing these topics into existing offerings.

During the first course meeting of Social Work and the Human-Animal Bond that debuted this spring, students shared varied perspectives on the important connection between humans and animal companions and considered the implications of these relationships in social work practice. “The readings and discussion for the first class really tried to address the question, ‘why in the world should we study animals in social work?’ And the reason is that nonhuman animals matter deeply in the lives of human animals,” says Assistant Professor of Social Work Yvonne Smith, who created the course in consultation with a working group of other social work faculty, staff and students.

The course introduces students to theory and research on human-companion animal relationships in social work practice and their role in overall well-being. The class spends time studying pet-related grief and loss (see related article), an issue veterinary practices face daily.

“There is a great need for social workers equipped to work with people grieving the loss of a pet and with veterinarians and other animal professionals who suffer high rates of suicide, depression and emotional distress,” says Smith.

Texts and articles that include companion animal issues such as the link between animal cruelty and other forms of family violence and how to assess for other animal relationships are critical for courses in human behavior, social work practice, families and children, domestic violence, and child welfare. The therapeutic impact that companion and other animals can have for children, families, and the elderly population can be woven into courses on human development and mental health courses.

“For many of our clients, relationships with companion animals are among the most important in their lives, so it is essential for social workers to understand those bonds,” says Smith. 

Pictured in this section:  Yvonne Smith poses with her horse Falcon. After a childhood of mucking stalls in exchange for riding, Yvonne Smith bought her first horse, Falcon, with saved up lunch money and Christmas presents when she was 16. Falcon passed away December 30, 2015 at the age of 28. In a separate image are 16 members of S.W.K. 400/600: Social Work and the Human-Animal Bond with Canine Good Citizen, Kimberly, and her handler, Matthew Spitzmueller, assistant professor of social work, who participated in a class activity on animal-assisted interventions.

A new course for Falk, and for a child’s life

by John Martin

Big ideas beget new pedagogy. In this case the idea is mindfulness, and the course is Mindfulness in Children and Youth, taught by Rachel Razza, associate professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies.

In the course description, Razza offers this portrayal of mindfulness from Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child: “Mindfulness is a refined process of attention that allows children to see the world through a lens of attention, balance and compassion. When children learn to look at the world with attention, balance and compassion, they soon learn to be in the world with attention, balance and compassion.”

The course aims to provide students with a foundation in mindfulness practice among children by focusing on its role in child and youth development. C.F.S. 452/652 includes a review of current intervention studies in the school and community that target mindfulness, as well as information regarding mindful parenting.

The course includes experiential exercises; students keep a reflective journal. “This is integral to the course, as it allows students to experience and interpret the mindfulness practices that they are learning about,” she says. “One student said she now realized that to understand how these practices benefit children, she would have to first experience them for herself.”

Razza got involved in the subject through her research, which focuses on the development of self-regulation among children. “Given the benefits of early self-regulation for children’s later academic achievement and social competence, I have been interested in ways to promote these skills, particularly among disadvantaged children,” she says.

Several types of students can benefit from the course. “Early education teachers in particular have been increasingly interested in using mindfulness in their classes; this course would be an introduction to this topic for them,” Razza says. “The course could also be of interest to students in the child life specialist track in C.F.S., as well as other undergraduates in the health sciences.” The discipline is crucial today. “The growing interest in the use of mindfulness with children and youth is backed by accumulating research documenting its benefits for self-regulation, socioemotional competence, attention and cognitive skills, and health and well-being,” she says. “These practices are increasingly popular with developmental scientists, educators, and practitioners.”

The course is required for the mindfulness and contemplative studies minor, which is coordinated by Razza. It ties in to the Contemplative Collaborative (Razza is associate director), a group of faculty, students, and staff involved in contemplative practices via their teaching, research, and/or personal lives. The course also fits with the Meditation Room in the Student Services suite and was a link with Falk’s sponsorship of Dacher Keltner (author of Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life) for the University Lecture series.

In short, mindfulness can affect, and benefit, everyone.

“Mindfulness and contemplative practice are experiential modes of learning and self-inquiry,” says Razza. “Contemplative practices are widely varied and include various forms of meditation, focused thought, writing, creative/performing arts, and yoga. Mindfulness and contemplative practices can foster greater empathy and communication skills, improve focus and attention, reduce stress, and enhance creativity and general well-being.” 

Interest in history, appreciation for human rights pave career path for Keith Alford

by Michele Barrett

“The African proverb, ‘I am because we are, and because we are, therefore I am,’ celebrates the inter-connectedness we all share,” explains Keith A. Alford, associate professor of social work. Alford firmly believes actively understanding another person’s life journey is not only enlighten-ing and rewarding, but is an essential mindset professional social workers must embrace. In speaking of his own life journey, Alford recalls the positive influence of his parents and extended family, which ultimately drew him to the profession of social work.

Alford was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and attributes his tireless work ethic to his parents. His father was an insurance salesman turned barber. “Most days from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., James Granville Alford served his customers well. His work ethic rubbed off on me and I still feel the professional allegiance to get the job done my father unknowingly bestowed,” Alford recalls. He fondly recollects his mother using her summers developing creative lesson plans to better engage students for the coming school year. Marilyn Johnson Alford was an elementary school social studies teacher and a strong proponent of public education. “In 1976, the bicentennial year of our nation’s founding, she was responsible for producing a school-wide assembly program about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Our home was adorned with red, white, and blue memorabilia and posters highlighting historical figures and events associated with 1776 she eventually used for the assembly program. I believe this ignited my interest in history and more specifically, my appreciation for human rights.”

“Listening to my mother talk about the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, I was drawn to Thomas Jefferson’s words and wondered, do they ring true for every person?” As a young African American boy in the late 1960s and teenager in the late 1970s, Alford recalls a number of racial and racialized incidents that did not make sense to him given the poignant text of the Declaration of Independence. “I came to the realization that oppression and prejudicial attitudes exist in many forms. Because of these ills, many people are disenfranchised, held back from achieving their true potential or actualizing their inalienable rights,” says Alford.

Given these experiences and the positive influence of his family, Alford embraced the empowerment a career in professional social work promised. He majored in history and sociology with a concentration in social services. Upon graduation, he was employed by the Child Protective Services division of Darlington County Department of Social Services in Hartsville, South Carolina. He decided to pursue his Master of Social Work degree at The Ohio State University where he also earned his doctorate with a specialization in family therapy.

Alford joined the Syracuse University faculty in 1996. His areas of expertise include mental health service delivery to children and families, culturally specific human services intervention, child welfare, contemporary rites of passage programming and loss/ grief reactions among African American families. In 2015, his edited book titled, Rural Families and Reshaping Human Services, was published. Again this summer he will teach two courses addressing self-care as a researcher and racial and cultural variations in response patterns associated with veterans and P.T.S.D. during the four-week National Science Foundation-supported Research Education for Undergraduates program (see story).

“I am committed to ensuring that students leave my classroom competent in engaging diverse populations. Seeking to understand another person’s journey is hard work. It requires relinquishing preconceived notions and being open to stories that may address the ‘isms’ of society. We must listen when stories are told. Appreciating diversity is not enough. Actively embracing the worth and dignity of all individuals should be our goal,” says Alford. 

Bergen-Cico, Nancy Mudrick named Fulbright Scholars

Associate professor of public health Dessa Bergen-Cico and professor of social work Nancy Mudrick have received Fulbright Scholarship Awards.

Bergen-Cico’s Fulbright Scholarship spanned the 2015-16 academic year, when she taught and conducted research in the Republic of Georgia. Her research supports development and implementation of primary prevention and drug education in Georgia and the region, including Azerbaijan,Turkey, and Armenia. She taught at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia, in support of its work on school-based drug education and primary prevention programs. Her project title is Assessing theNeeds and Feasibility for Drug Education and Primary Prevention in Georgia.

Mudrick received a Fulbright/Alsace Regional Award in France for spring 2016 and was hosted by Institut Supérieur Social de Mulhouse and Université de Haut Alsace. Her Fulbright project, Implementation of the 2005 French disability law at the local level; Strengthening a French-U.S. partnership in social work education, studies the implementation of the 2005 French disability law’s goals of self-determination and autonomy of people with disabilities. She lectured on disability and evaluation methodology, consulted on bachelor’s- and master’s-level social work education, and further developed a collaborative course for S.U. and French social work students.Her Fulbright application resulted from relationships built during the seven years that she has led M.S.W. students to the R.E.C.O.S. seminar in Europe as part of S.W.K. 710— Topics in Advanced SocialWork Practice and Policy.

Pictured in this section: In addition to research and scholarship, professors Bergen-Cico and Mudrick engage in their respective surroundings. Dessa Bergen-Cico participates in what the State Department calls sports diplomacy, running a charity race. Nancy Mudrick is shown in the Place de la Réunion in the historic center of Mulhouse, France with the original city hall (now a museum) in the background. The building, with its trompe-l’oeil façade, dates back to 1553. Other buildings in the square show the half-timbered architectural style typical of the Alsace region of France.

Recent faculty titles from Falk College

Falk faculty research and scholarship include the following recently (or soon-to-be in 2016) released titles, some of which include collaborations around the world

Anne bellows, Professor, Food Studies - Gender, nutrition, and the human right to adequate food: Toward an inclusive framework.

Rick burton, David B. Falk Endowed Professor of SportManagement - Sport business unplugged: Leadership challenges from the world of sports, and Global sport marketing: Sponsorship, ambush marketing, and the Olympic games.

Deborah Coolhart, Assistant Professor, Marriage & FamilyTherapy - The gender quest workbook: A guide for teens and young adults exploring gender identity.

Ellen deLara, Associate Professor, Social Work - Bullying scars: The impact on adult life and relationships.

Alice Honig, Professor Emerita of Child and Family Studies - Literacy, storytelling and bilingualism in Asian classrooms, and Experiencing nature with young children: Awakening delight, curiosity, and a sense of stewardship.

Eric R. Kingson, Professor, Social Work - Social Security works!: Why Social Security isn’t going broke and how expanding it will help us all.

Jaipaul l. Roopnarine, Pearl S. Falk Endowed Professor of Child & Family Studies - Caribbean psychology: Indigenous contributions to a global discipline, Childhood and adolescence: Cross-cultural perspectives and applications, and Fathers across cultures: The importance, roles, and diverse practices of dads.

Thomas J. Schur, Instructor, Social Work - Mag or min, which are you? Two patterns of decision making that make you who you are.

Project EThiCS filmed for upcoming documentary 

In 2013, Falk College associate professor of public health, Katherine McDonald, received a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a part of the National Institutes of Health, to address the pressing need for scientific knowledge to improve the health of persons with intellectual disability. “If we can do more to address ethical barriers to inclusion in research, more health research can take place,” says McDonald. 

During the study, an expert panel created a survey administered to 500 people across the United States to learn about their views on ethical issues in research with adults with an intellectual disability. One of the panel members was Micah Fialka-Feldman ’15, a Syracuse University teaching assistant and staff member. Fialka-Feldman, who has a certificate in disability studies from the School of Education, helped design the Project ETHICS survey and assisted with recruitment and sharing findings. During the project, McDonald was contacted by documentary filmmaker Dan Habib, an Emmy-nominated creator of the award-winning documentary films Including Samuel, Who Cares About Kelsey?, Restraint and Seclusion: Hear Our Stories, and many others on disability-related topics. Habib wanted to include Project ETHICS in his newest film project. 

The film, Intelligent Lives, explores how segregation of people with intellectual disability became the norm, why this segregation is slowly being dismantled, and how some people with an intellectual disability are blazing a bold new path, including Fialka- Feldman, the film’s central character. Fialka-Feldman says, “Dan’s film will help show people how those with disabilities can do great things.” 

“Project ETHICS is community-engaged research,” says McDonald, principal investigator for the Project ETHICS study and a faculty fellow at the Burton Blatt Institute. “Rather than trained scientists controlling research, we work hand-in-hand with community members. This way of working legitimizes the value of lived experience and emphasizes that a broad array of stakeholders can (and should) contribute to research.” 

A video preview of Intelligent Lives (working title, coming Fall 2017) is currently available online. 

Pictured in this section: A portrait of Katherine McDonald and a photo of Dan Habib and Micah Fialka-Feldman following documentary filming on the S.U. campus. 

Walsh honored for consumer sport research

by Matthew Miselis ‘16

Patrick Walsh, an assistant professor in Falk College’s Sport Management Department, received the Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence in 2015. This award honors interdisciplinary research that makes an impact on practitioners and others members in the academic field.

His paper, “Team brand extension or licensed products? Examining consumer awareness of two distinct brand strategies” looked at whether consumers were aware of who is responsible for producing and marketing the sports products that they see.

He began focusing his research on brand extensions, which is how a corporation uses its pre-existing brand name to enter a new product category. He began looking at how those extensions impact consumer opinions of the known brand.

“For instance, you have the Yankees. The Yankees primary brand is in professional baseball, but they also have a restaurant. They have Yankees Clubhouse Shops,” Walsh says. “They have extended that core brand into new business ventures.”

In his award-winning paper, he used the N.F.L.’s Indianapolis Colts and their brand extensions as a basis for the study. 

Pictured in this section: Patrick Walsh poses in his office holding a certificate.

Falk College receives grants to address trauma 

Grant awards from the Community Foundation of Central New York and the John Ben Snow Foundation are supporting a collaborative project, led by principal investigator, Linda Stone Fish, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy. The project, entitled, “In This Together,” provides workshops to help social service professionals, educators, health care practitioners, juvenile justice workers, clergy, and mental health counselors learn how to identify and address signs of trauma. The program will also provide grief counseling, healing circles, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and therapy to community members impacted by violence. 

“We believe that offering trauma-informed practice in the neighborhoods of greatest violence will begin to address the most often ignored trauma, and may reduce the grief and rage that fuels the next act of violence,” says Professor Stone Fish. “Our unique partnership with therapists and Trauma Response Team members who are trusted by the community make us ideal to address this need. In this process, we are training our students in culturally competent and trauma-informed practices so they are ready to meet the community in ways that can be helpful.” 

Stone Fish is the co-author of the book, Treating Complex Trauma, along with Mary Jo Barrett, which presents the Collaborative Change Model (C.C.M.), a clinically evaluated model that facilitates client and practitioner tools for clients struggling with the impact and effects of complex trauma.

In This Together partners

In addition to Linda Stone Fish, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, the In This Together collaboration includes:

• Tracey Reichert-Schimpff, director of clinical services in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy;
• Sandra Lane, professor of public health and anthropology;
• Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate professor of public health;
• Rachel Razza, associate professor of child and family studies;
• Robert Rubenstein, professor of anthropology and international relations, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and;
• Psychologists Ron Fish and Bill Cross who specialize in the Trauma Resiliency Model (T.R.M.).

Additional partners include:

• Syracuse University’s Couple and Family Therapy Center;
• Syracuse Trauma Response Team (T.R.T.), led by founding director, Timothy ‘Noble’ Jennings-Bey and Arnett Haygood El, both from the Street Addictions Institute, Inc.;
• Mother’s Against Gun Violence;
• Syracuse Police Department, and;
• Area healthcare institutions and community agencies. 

Grant awards support study of religious engagement in later life

The John Templeton Foundation awarded a $1.49 million grant to Merril Silverstein, the Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging, for a three-year study entitled, “Religious Transitions, Transmissions, and Trajectories Among Baby-Boomers and their Families.” Additionally, the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) awarded Silverstein $401,072 for the project, “Religiosity and Mortality Risk in Later Life.” Jointly appointed in Falk College’s School of Social Work and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ Department of Sociology, Silverstein is a faculty affiliate in the Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute.

Both projects focus on positive outcomes for older individuals, their families, and society related to religious engagement in later life. Given the rapidly growing older population and concerns about the viability of families as conduits for transmitting and preserving religious traditions, the research projects provide much-needed data analysis on a major social issue.

Earlier this year, Silverstein received the James Martin Fellowship from Oxford University in its Institute of Population Aging that supported a residency in population aging. With active projects around the globe, Silverstein directs a longitudinal study of older adults in rural China entering its second decade. He currently serves as principal investigator of the Longitudinal Study of Generations (L.S.O.G.), a long-term study of multigenerational families that began in 1971 that has continued to collect data up to 2005 and, now with the current project, up to 2016.

Silverstein was recently elected chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society of America (G.S.A.) for the 2017-18 term. His duties include organization of the G.S.A. 2017 national scientific meeting, which will be integrated with the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics to produce the largest scholarly conference on aging in the profession’s history. 

Food: A woman’s right, a human right

by John Martin

In March 2016, the U.N. Human Rights Council was in session in Geneva. It was International Women’s Day, and Anne C. Bellows took advantage of the occasion to co-host a side event focused on both issues, human rights and women. The parallel event—“No Right to Food without Women’s Rights: Women Exposing Violations from around the Globe”—was designed to shed light on structural barriers that women find in their everyday lives.

“Despite calls for the inclusion of women and a gender perspective in food and nutrition security, the status of hunger and malnutrition of women and girls is still not improving,” says Bellows, professor of food studies in Falk College. “These groups are particularly susceptible to a dominant economic and development model that exploits people and natural resources.”

The event brought together women’s rights activists from around the world to present an understanding of the right to adequate food and nutrition that does not limit them to their traditional role in families but empowers them as women’s and human rights agents for change. The women made presentations on the situation of women’s rights to food and nutrition in their respective countries and constituencies and how they are advocating for this human right. They spoke on behalf of tea plantation workers in India, peasants in Spain, women affected by mining and displacement in Togo, and women’s analysis of, and recommendations to, address malnutrition in Guatemala.

Bellows, in her presentation, “Structural Disconnects that Frustrate Women’s Rights to Food and Nutrition,” discussed issues that frustrate women’s right to adequate food and nutrition. She touched on the lack of attention to women’s and girls’ specific needs and rights to food in the umbrella International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and subsequent General Comments; and the omission of women’s and girls’ right to adequate food and nutrition in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Bellows was there in her capacity as a board member of F.I.A.N.-International, which orchestrated the event; the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food also participated. Founded in 1986, F.I.A.N.-International (formerly the FoodFirst Information and Action Network) was the first international human rights organization to advocate for the realization of the right to adequate food and nutrition.

“True social and food justice comes from self-determination, not chronic charity,” Bellows says. “Local and national food systems require sustainable and productive food economies responsive to human rights principles. Public policy, including food governance, must reflect broad public welfare through decision-making bodies that answer to the people, not corporate shareholders.”

Bellows recently co-authored the book Gender, Nutrition, and the Human Right to Adequate Food: Toward an Inclusive Framework, a collaboration between university-based researchers and two international nongovernmental organizations. “All of the authors are focused on aspects of under-recognized food and nutritional justice within the framework of the human right to adequate food and nutrition,” Bellows notes.

She adds that Falk College is the perfect setting for her scholarship, teaching, and advocacy. “The Falk College dean, Diane Murphy, has had the insight of pulling together a Food Studies program at a moment when the new disciplinary field is exploding,” she says. “We in the department are focused on the social, political, and economic conditions of food systems.”

It’s a mutual admiration society. “This event was a wonderful acknowledgement of Professor Bellows’ work, which is recognized around the globe,” Murphy says. “We at Falk College are so proud of her scholarship. The caliber of her work brings great focus to the work in our Food Studies program.” 

Alumni

A champion for college students: Jonathan Gibralter

by Michele Barrett

Understanding the connection between healthy decision making in college and lifestyle choices after graduation has always interested Jonathan Gibralter G’96. As a Ph.D. student in child and family studies, he explored the relationship between college life-styles and a person’s future life course. Might a 1970s graduate live a more liberal lifestyle than graduates from the 1980s or 1990s? His research concluded a person’s decade of graduation did not impact future lifestyle decisions. Today, his thorough understanding of human development provides a foundation critical in his role as the 19th president of Wells College.

Gibralter is recognized nationally as an expert thought leader on curbing binge drinking and promoting responsible behavior on college campuses. “I didn’t set out to have a national reputation on college students and alcohol. But the work needed to be done,” he says. “College presidents must be willing to take a stand on this issue, to be role models, to set a level of expectation for their students, to just do the right thing to save lives.”

Gibralter co-chairs the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (N.I.A.A.A.) President’s Working Group to Address Harmful Student Drinking. Sought out regularly as a leading voice on preventing dangerous college age drinking and related harms, he has provided expert testimony for the U.S. Department of Education and Congress. Honors for his work include a $50,000 national Presidential Leadership Award from Outside the Classroom, The Gordie Foundation, and a group of seven major higher education organizations for his leadership in fighting dangerous drinking, with which he created an endowment to fund alcohol education programs.

Gibralter began his career in higher education with the State University of New York system. After appointments as a faculty member, academic program director, and associate dean at Morrisville State College, he served as dean of academic affairs, campus dean, and interim president in the community college ranks.

He didn’t intend to become a college president, a role he has held for the past 16 years at Farmingdale State College, Frostburg State University, and since July 2015 at Wells College, a school of nearly 600 students in Aurora, New York. “I thought I’d be a teacher,” he says. “I’ve always felt passionate that higher education is important because students are our future. We have a responsibility to the next generation”.

Gibralter earned a B.A. in psychology from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a master’s degree in counseling psychology from New York University, and a doctorate in child and family studies from Syracuse University. During his tenure as president at Frostburg State, he earned an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.

Of his studies in the College for Human Development (now Falk College), Gibralter fondly recalls emeriti professors Harlan London, Robert Pickett and his advisor, Eleanor Macklin. While at Syracuse, Gibralter met his wife, Laurie, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work.

“Syracuse University always has a place in my heart and in my life,” he says. In speaking of memorable counseling and child development courses, Gibralter’s favorites were “any courses with Dr. Macklin. She was a wonderful teacher and mentor who was intelligent, kind-hearted, and incredibly generous with her time.”

Following in Professor Macklin’s footsteps, mentoring students is a priority for Gibralter. In a Fall 2015 Huffington Post blog feature, “A Call for Mentorship and Meaningful Relationships,” Gibralter speaks passionately about making connections with students, “from encouraging a student to study abroad even if they have never been out of the country, encouraging them to engage in faculty-led research and present their findings when students have not yet recognized their aptitude for the subject matter, or encouraging first-generation students to continue their studies in graduate school when they have never considered the possibility of further learning.”

Gibralter is active on social media and continues teaching online. From student convocation to honors ceremonies, he embraces all opportunities to interact with students, even if it means occasionally keeping the same late-night hours they do. At a late-night study breakfast in the dining hall, Gibralter, along with Wells College administration, faculty and staff, served meals to 500 students. “I scooped eggs for close to two hours so our students could have adequate nutrition as they began studying for finals,” he says.

“College students are our future. If you can really connect with a student so college is more than memorizing and sitting in class, that person has a chance for a meaningful life and career.” 

Serving New York’s older adults

by John Martin

Greg Olsen G’94 gained firsthand experience of the aging pro-cess as a child, when his grandmother came to live with the family. “I was very close with her,” he says. “She had many health problems at the end of her life, and I vividly recall her last years, struggling with those issues and trying to maintain her independence and financial health.”

Now he’s one of New York State’s top advocates and policy makers for older adults. As executive deputy director of the New York State Office for the Aging (N.Y.S.O.F.A.), Olsen oversees and manages day-to-day operations—with a mission to help older New Yorkers to stay as independent as possible for as long as possible.

He’s working on a major initiative to explore the feasibility of creating an Office of Community Living. “The 2015-2016 final budget authorized N.Y.S.O.F.A. to study this,” Olsen says. “The goal is to improve service delivery and program outcomes by expanding community living integration services for older adults and persons of all ages with disabilities.”

As a team member on the project, Olsen provided strategic advice on design and implementation, developed the work plan, testified on behalf of N.Y.S.O.F.A. at hearings, and negotiated the final budget language with the Senate and Assembly.

Olsen graduated from Falk with a master’s in social work, with a specialty in gerontology. “Falk College really changed my focus and career path,” he says. “After I took a public policy course from Professor Alejandro Garcia, I knew that I should be doing something in the public policy and advocacy realm. Professor Garcia impressed upon me the responsibility to be active in the decision-making process, bringing the social worker’s knowledge of serving individuals and their challenges to the attention of policy makers.”

That’s crucial for New Yorkers right now. The state has 3.7 million adults ages 60 and older, as well as more than 4 million informal caregivers— family, friends, and neighbors—providing daily or intermittent care for older adults and disabled people of any age.

“Independence and self-sufficiency are part of our culture,” Olsen says. “Most people, at some point, need objective information and/or assistance to help them sustain that. People overwhelmingly want to stay in their homes and communities, and want to stay connected to friends, family, and community. Our job is to help them achieve these goals.” 

Capitol advocate for seniors

by John Martin

Someone turns 65 every 8 seconds in the United States, and Hannah Meryl Berner ’13, G’14 is looking out for them. She’s senior policy aide at the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, and she loves her job.

“The committee does very important work. We have a responsibility to seniors all over the country to protect their interests,” she says. “And I enjoy the fast pace of working on Capitol Hill. It’s an exciting place to work, with something new always popping up.”

Berner began work on the committee in June 2014 as a legislative intern, moving up quickly to staff assistant, then health policy assistant, and now senior policy aide. She helps draft committee hearing materials and prepare for hearings (including working with witnesses), assists investigators, researches new issues, and meets with constituent advocacy groups.

She worked on a hearing on Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on caregivers. She was also involved with a hearing on the practice of Medicare providers admitting patients into the hospital under “observation status”—versus inpatient status—and its effect on the seniors being treated.

“My studies at Falk College equipped me with on-the-ground social work experience with seniors that has been an invaluable resource in my job,” says Berner, an under-graduate dual major in social work and policy studies with a master’s in social work. “Social workers are not very common on Capitol Hill, and I have found that my unique experiences and perspective add a different dynamic to discussions about policy. My undergraduate and graduate work at Falk taught me to weave social work principles into all aspects of policy work.”

She loves being in the nation’s capital. “Working in D.C. is really amazing, particularly for a young professional who is passionate about policy,” she says. “It is never lost on me that I walk by the Supreme Court on my way to work, regularly attend meetings in the Capitol, and interact with members of Congress.”

But most gratifying are the improvements she can make to the lives of older adults.

“We hear from seniors all across the country who are affected by the issues we examine,” she says. “It’s always inspiring to know that we are doing everything that we can to help these people, and with the power of the United States Senate, we can enact real change.” 

Alexis laCombe cherishes chance to play professional hockey in Austria 

by Margie Chetney 

As a little girl, Alexis LaCombe ’15 dreamed of playing professional ice hockey but never thought her dream would come true. Until now. 

On August 18, 2015, LaCombe, a sport management graduate, flew to Austria, where she joined the roster of the Vienna Sabres of the Elite Women’s Hockey League (E.W.H.L.). 

“Although my job is different from what I was planning on after college graduation, playing professional hockey is something I dreamed of as a child but never thought was possible for women,” she says. “Now that I am a young woman, not only have I worked in a male-dominated industry, I am now playing professionally and I couldn’t feel more thankful.” 

LaCombe played center for the Syracuse University women’s ice hockey team for four years, leading the nation in faceoffs during the 2014-15 season. She graduated in August 2015 after completing her senior capstone with the Fort Myers (Florida) Miracle, the Class A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. She did not expect to then step into professional hockey in another country.

“I was planning on moving into the sport industry after my capstone,” says LaCombe, who has played hockey since age 6. “However, I think I made the best decision for my growth as an adult, athlete, person, and young working professional. The chance to get paid to play and travel Europe was something that I could not pass up.” 

LaCombe is among 15 players on the Sabres, who play in the E.W.H.L. with teams from Inglolstadt, Germany; Bozen, Italy; Bratislava, Slovakia; Planegg, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; Zurich, Switzerland; Salzburg, Austria; and Almaty, Kazakhstan. The players are paid a salary plus stipends for housing and utilities.

LaCombe said her time at Syracuse University taught her how to fight for positions in the work industry, act as a professional, and gain the tools and skills needed to succeed in sports. 

“Sport management provided me with a community in terms of communication, advice, and direction throughout some of the most crucial years of professional development,” she says. “The staff and professors were mentors and people who challenged me. They pushed me to be more creative, pursue my passions, and helped me grow.” 

In Memoriam

Falk College was notified of the following deaths from February 1, 2014 through December 31, 2015. If there is a name that has been omitted from the list, please contact kmdesmon@syr.edu. 

Human Development

1934

Marian White Bellamy Wedow

1935

Marion Frances Survillo Beardsley, Edith Millicent Bishop Bolles, Thelma Jane Fancher Rieless

1937

Ruth Hemmer Sarkus Costello, Mary Pendergast McCullough, Kathryn Fehr Seelye

1938

Barbara Leah Bliss Hager, Muriel Janice Cowan Humbert, Helen Kingston Lindemuth, Ruth Ingalls Morrison

1939

Marion Runkle Smith, Eleanor Brown Wendt

1940

Mary Armandine Lavallee Handy, Emily Wolak Lozoski, Maude Nickols Montague, Josephine Buell Moseley, Ruth Evelyn Mosher Burns Newell, Mercia Graham Palmer, Ruth May Gillette Rogers, Wilma Swiatlowski Rondomanski, Marion Hogan Stook, Luella Hurlburt Stout, Jean Watts Zimmerman

1941

Louise Sargent Brewer, Ruth Doolittle Kish, Frances (Jill) Whistler Lowrie, Esther Harriet Carmontry Miller, Clara Weaver Wood Pietsch

1942

Elizabeth Jane (Betty) Crowe, Edith Windels Illick, Janet VanDenburg Millis, Neva Curtiss Severance

1943

Phyllis Fay Gordon Teitelbaum Kisch Blenner, Dorothy Corey Brown, Leona Sarah Walker Choffin, Emily Grey Martin Sakornbut DeMello, Beatrice Marie Fuller Ford, Elizabeth (Betty) Goettel Fuller Gerace, Miriam Beth Chamberlain Gifford, Olive Althea Hall, Betty Cooper Hays, Mary Fellows Lasher, Margaret Ruth (Mike) Schaefer Lewis, Mildred Katherine Lonergan McAuliffe, Mildred Arison Rosenberger, Elsie Gertrude Riemer VanOrden, Irene Iris Johnson Walker, Sadie Richardson Wilson, Florence Adelaide Strite Bolton, Sara Louise (Sally) Brown McCormick, Constance Danyew Espinal, Ellen Louise McPhail Fant, Mary Fimiani Clark, Marion Pollak Fredericks, Janet Truex Perrin, Mary Helen Lynch O’Brien Petrina, Marie Voorhees Turner, Elizabeth (Betty) Reisert Williams

1945

Barbara Kimmey Balisado, Carol (Betty) Hixson Marcellus, Suzanne Gilhams McClenachan, Lillian Milanof, Marie Elizabeth Vouaux Muller, Mary Early O’Neill, Clara Louise Bump Reed, Jean Sherman Haight Remington Timerson

1946

Natalie King Cochran, Kerry Arnold Douglas, Mary Tortorello Gallaro, June Kathleen Scutt Gaston, Doris Elizabeth Knights Parker, Carolyn Barbara Voght Spraker

1947

Doris Marie Kent Aurich, Barbara Fisher Gill, Jacqueline Bratton Hart, Florence Ruth Klein Hoyt, Elsie Magill Zellner, Joann Hirt Windholz

1948

Janice Horton Moore Huebner, Alysse Eileen Bassett Irion, Ellin Bloomberg Kronthal, Barbara Crandall Lipe, Barbara Williams Stone

1949

Bettie Ann Pleet Cohen, Dorothy Young Gifford, Jeanne Gordon, Margaret (Margie) Bauer Langan, Marjorie Ruth Allan Novotny, Jean Whalen O’Connor, Janet Copeland Clark Page, Beverly Chan Williams

1950

Nancy Devine, Silvion Freeman, Leona Thorne Pelkey, Alice Cross Schwartz, Betsy Goldsmith Yetra

1951

Constance Ells Armstrong, Dora Rifenbary Birks, Lois Tobin Coates, Patricia Wright Ellis, Joanne Haney Francis, Helen Gillespie Smith Heidgerd, Vivien Mayer Lichtman, Audrey Patsy Blumenfeld Markovits, Elizabeth Wylly Seguine Overfield, Janet Wolff Robinson

1952

Shirley Irene Simonton Foster Bancroft, Joan Farrand Conlon, Elizabeth Jane Westover Domin, Joan Mary Hamilton Rohde Holcomb, Nancy Auer Naatz, Mary Frances Wood Strodel, Katherine Shults Hambrecht Garner Young, Joan Cecilia Nies Zell

1953

Rita Kenney DiNoia, Anita Lucille Bennett Failmezger, Ann Gilboy Feucht, Irene Guercio Cody Flandera, Janet Albright Friedricks, Doris Reynolds Whitney

1954

Rosalind Turner Devine

1955

Eleanore Hawie Lesser, Marilyn (Merm) Nelson Moreen- Tane, Patricia Vaughn Gainor Ryan

1956

Ruth Ann Werly Brennan, Ann Embury Gouinlock, Nora Hutton Doherty, Joan Sebesta Jean

1957

Gail Clyma, Virginia Howard Cross, Anne McCorquodale Dahl, Patricia Wray Lovelace

1958

Anne Louise Price Dennis, Cynthia Wood Marrion

1960

Mary Elizabeth (Mary Beth) Riday Hull

1961

Jean Merriken Schafer, Marjorie Dalzell Schirm

1964

Sheila Kling Becker, Naomi Annette Peel

1965

Jane Osborn Clark, Shirley Ann Rich Murray

1966

Susan Wahl Erickson, Constance Short Jeffers

1967

Brook Lou Nielson Polick Lorthioir

1971

Susan Paula Schwartz Green Dietz

1972

Elaine Rudakiewicz

1974

Frank Adam Halse, Jr., Mary Louise Jones Inkell, Doris (Missy) Ryan

1975

Caralinda (Linda) Rohr Oken, Leslie Drexler Salzberg

1978

Joan LaBarbera Acorace, Kathleen Mary Carney Spinoso

1979

Ida Beemus Buzzard, Alison Mettler Wilson Coakley, Bonnie Martin McCoy

1981

Drusilla Layman Frateschi, Kimberly Smith Freund, Linda Raleigh McNally

1982

Violet Silverstein Verrillo

1984

Jeffrey Alan Briggs Leaman

1987

Juanita Yarnes Robinson

1988

Betty Lawrence-Grainger

1991

Lois Anne Mehalick

1992

John Lawler, Rita Feltenberger Stackus

1996

Laura Hunter Ferri

1997

Brian Clark, Diane (Dee) Smith Case McCarl

1998

Aleza Baltuch Winslow

Nursing

1933

Jeannette Stryker Hoagland

1935

Katharine Deyo

1936

Edith Elizabeth (Betty) Baldwin Kernek Bothman, Rena Ila Browning Collins, Ruth Marie Schwarting Luques, Ruth Annette Smith

1938

Doris Crane Gerrish

1939

Katherine Gordon Meeks, Leora Marion Hughes Sorenson

1940

Elizabeth (Betty) Ames Holmes, Anastasia Keefe Isachsen, Dorothy Elizabeth Gordon Jones, Thelma Matthewson Todd Dillon, Ruth Birdlebough Richardson, Mary Fritz Yorkey

1941

Marian Mumbulo Shaw

1942

Sarah (Sally) Stoddard Kimmett Burnham, Jeanne Hale Jenkins

1943

Rose Dobrzycki Flowers, Elizabeth Heigl McKendree

1944

Carolyn Jennings Cox, Beverly Kime Fink, Mary Eileen Dupree Gilliland, Genevieve Dopp Pollard

1945

Dorothy Lincoln

1946

Marjorie Ruth Hoste Shaw

1947

Dorothy Kennedy Benedict, Caroline Daley Benoit, Vivien May Rowan Frantz, Edna Slentz Hart, Vilma Dolores Richards Ramage, Elizabeth Jean Bush Richards, Barbara Drake Yonker

1948

Rita Middleton Armstrong, Eleanor Rosebud Gilday McCartney Herron, Meredith Jane Wolcott Kilmer, Audrey Campbell Reagan

1949

Joanne Stonerod Kilgore, Johanna Rose Nelson MacDonald, Phyllis Christine Merchant Williams

1950

Ruth Carolyn Shackleton Bilek, Patricia Ann Murray Hussain, Mary Jean McAllister Rafferty, Jean Mildred Campbell Smith, Donna Jean Murray Trowbridge

1951

Marian Flood Camillo, Mary Jane Dadey Murphy, Marguerite Ross, Jane Ann Phoenix Sheldon, Shirley Engle Spearing, Mable Eloise Rowland Young

1952

Nadzia Drumluk Sturbin

1953

Joan Mt. Pleasant Ainslie Chapman, Rhoda Sung Sun

1954

Elizabeth (Betty) Scaia, Clara Annette Church Zogg

1955

Rita Harvey Frierer Palmer

1956

Mary Ungerman Lewis, Elizabeth June Tavers Werner

1957

Janet Calace-Mottola, Janet Anne Letham Fooks, Linda Stenger Swigert Reese

1958

Joanne Nina Kysela Hastings, Carol May Cook Lyons

1959

Sylvia Buell, Jane Clarke Bender Gentzler, Hazel Depew Lewis

1960

Avard Huestis McGarvin

1961

Mary Manch Boduch

1964

Carolyn Reid Keiper, Nancy McCormick

1965

Ann Wright Downs, Sylvia Dodson Prestopnik

1967

Jacquelyn Schriver Onderdonk

1970

Julianne Fenlon Rey

1973

Kathleen Condon

1976

Doris Elinor Quackenbush Phillips

1977

Joan Lipovsky

1978

Judith Rupnow Elliott Madge, Maureen Higgins Schnittger

1979

Margaret (Peg) Frandman Litty

1980

Sister Rosanne LaManche, O.S.F.

1981

Anthony Fonehouse, Margaret Rose Dart Kennedy Valderrey

1982

Gloria Saltarez Stefano

1989

Petra Arthur, Carole Pineo Lang

1995

Gail Denise Riese Fish

1996

Kristen Andresen Simmons

1997

Judith Reynolds

Social Work

1961

Myla Greene

1962

Betty Baer, Virginia (Ginny) Paquette Sieling

1963

Angelo Louis Cid, John William Hickey, Jr., Patrick Liverio

1965

Charles Ames, Robert Eugene Johnson

1966

Lawrence Bois, Raymond McGraw

1967

Elizabeth (Beth) Cooper Siegel Mohler

1969

Andrew Cammuso

1970

Joseph Congel, Donald Johnson

1971

Eugene Lutz

1972

David Blatchley

1972

Marie Gettino McMahon

1973

Nancy Holton Bolton Calhoun, Cora Dixon

1974

Evert Van Voorst

1975

Ned Bergstresser, Burton Edward Smith, Priscilla Alden Wessels

1976

Mary Nolin Greene

1977

Suzanne Shapiro Presser

1978

Roberta McKenna Brabant, Jean Dingee, Linda Pullen

1979

Washington Brown, Gail Gillett Shults

1980

Marjory Morales Arseneau, Gerard (Jerry) Martin, Maureen Lauretta O’Neil

1981

Sister Anne Eleanor Maloy

1982

Nina Suzanne Rapisarda, John Anthony Saracene

1985

Judie Cook Till

1987

Steven Gruebel

1989

Mary Jo Lawyer Spano

1990

Donald Danforth

1991

Shannon Griffen Scott

1992

Lynn Scott

1994

Margaret Arneson, Lorraine Born, Katrina Hubbard

1995

Colleen Mullaney Fisher, Robert Rix

1996

Dale Woolson

1997

Mary Zane Khiemdavanh, Jennifer Anne Whitehead

2001

Bobbi Jo Nelson Nowak Bastedo

Human Services and Health Professions

2002

Rosemary Saville

2003

John Patrick Cook

2008

Annmarie Wagner

Falk College

2009

Ralph Fitzgerald

2012

Victoria Li

2014

Kathleen Bergamo Delavan

2015

Sabrina Marsha-Gaye Cammock

2016

Kimberly Aucter

Professor Bettye Caldwell: pioneering work provided foundation for head Start 

Retired professor of child and family studies, Bettye Caldwell, passed away on April 17, 2016. Her work in the 1960s at the Children’s Center of Syracuse provided the foundation for what became one of the most important components of the Great Society programs known today as Head Start.

Professor Caldwell, who chaired the Department of Child and Family Studies, worked for more than five decades in comprehensive early childhood development programming primarily serving low-income preschool-age children and their families. During this time, she worked closely with Dr. Julius Richmond, then-chairman of pediatrics at Upstate University. In 1967, they formed the Children’s Center in Syracuse, the first early intervention program in the country. At that time, it was forbidden in New York State to care for infants in groups. Dr. Caldwell’s advocacy resulted in a special waiver that paved the way for creation of the Children’s Center.

Receiving huge national interest, the Center—operating from an old house on East Adams Street—had more than 1,000 visitors in its first year, including Eunice Shriver. Caldwell credited these national figures with drawing attention to the program and helping it survive in the early years. Richmond eventually became surgeon general and went on to serve as national director of Head Start for President Lyndon Johnson.

“Dr. Bettye Caldwell was a true pioneer in her field. Syracuse University is so very proud of her lifetime dedication focused on putting the best interests of children first, and providing countless individuals and families the tools they needed to do the same,” says Diane Lyden Murphy, Dean, Falk College. “We are forever grateful that her commitment touched our campus and community so deeply in the time she and her family spent in Syracuse.”

In 1969, Caldwell relocated with her family and served on the faculty of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock for many years. In Little Rock, she established the early education project at Kramer School for young children through age 12. “Bettye thoughtfully and deliberately created an infant center in the school so that young students in different grades and classes could visit and learn nurturing ways with babies and well-trained caregivers who were available right in their own school building,” reflects former graduate student of Professor Caldwell and now professor emerita of child and family studies in Falk College, Alice Sterling Honig.

In an interview in 2014, Professor Caldwell noted, “I met Alice Honig professionally in 1963 when I had my first major research grant, Infant Learning and Patterns of Family Care. The grant had one position for a research assistant, and I hired Alice. It is with great happiness and pride that I claim that her experience on this early research project helped prepare her for her own independent and self-initiated research in the years that followed.” While they worked together at Syracuse University, Caldwell and Honig found little documentation was available to plan curriculum that would help children thrive. “Bettye and I and others would meet at night back at the Center, after putting our children to bed (and getting babysitters), to hammer out what we thought theorists would want us to do to help the littlest ones flourish,” recalls Honig. “We’d ask ourselves, how would the theoretical writings of Erikson and Piaget translate into practice and programmatic interactions? We truly felt like pioneers.”

Caldwell led a team of psychologists and psychiatrists to China, which included Honig, that was the very first such group after the Cultural Revolution to be allowed by Mao Tse Tung to visit child care centers and children’s hospitals. With a reputation and scope of influence that was global, Caldwell received many awards throughout her career, including the 1978 Ladies Home Journal Woman of the Year for which she was honored at a ceremony joined by Betty Furness, Maya Angelou, Kate Smith and Betty Ford.

In September 2014, a generous gift from Professor Caldwell created the Dr. Alice Sterling Honig Endowed Scholarship Fund to benefit students majoring in child and family studies at Syracuse University. “Thanks to her visionary generosity, students of the future will have the opportunity to build upon Dr. Caldwell’s innovative work that is such a critical part of both Falk College history and national social programs in early childhood intervention,” adds Dean Murphy. For more information on making a gift to the scholarship created by Professor Caldwell, please contact the Falk College Office of Advancement at 315.443.8989. 

Claire S. Rudolph, professor emerita of social work 

Professor emerita Claire S. Rudolph died peacefully at home January 5, 2016. A resident of Syracuse since 1952, when she and her husband, Lionel, relocated to continue their graduate studies, she earned a Ph.D. in social sciences from Syracuse University and joined its faculty in 1965. 

As a faculty member in the School of Social Work, she developed the curriculum for its health care concentration and served as chair for nearly 20 years. She also served as director of the Maxwell School’s Health Studies Program. 

“A pioneer on many fronts in social work, Claire was an accomplished educator and trusted mentor to her students. A colleague and dear friend to many at Syracuse University and around the community she loved, her passing is a huge loss,” says Diane Lyden Murphy, dean of Falk College. 

Her research focused on regional perinatal care, case management, domestic violence risks of pregnant women, and child health outcomes. She brought in several training grants from the Children’s Bureau (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) that focused on professional training for child welfare workers. 

A particularly significant project was a five-year curriculum development grant that created the child welfare concentration curriculum in the School of Social Work and also supported tuition. This project enabled current caseworkers from several upstate New York county Department of Social Services agencies to earn their M.S.W. degree on a part-time basis. “Professor Rudolph’s dedication to ensuring that workers in the child welfare field were appropriately trained allowed myself and other caseworkers to provide to families the tools they needed to make necessary behavior changes to adequately provide for and protect their children,” says Mark J. Jachim, M.S.W. ’98, casework supervisor in the Training Unit, Onondaga County Children and Family Services, who earned his M.S.W. through the child welfare grant. 

“Claire made a special effort to make me feel welcome and supported. She was a respected colleague who remained ever-ready to help junior faculty achieve their scholarly goals,” says Carrie Jefferson Smith, director of the School of Social Work. 

“Claire Rudolph was a mentor, research collaborator, teaching colleague, and long-standing friend. Our collaborations strongly influenced the course of my career,” says Nancy Mudrick, professor of social work. 

Professor Rudolph was honored with the Knee/Wittman Health and Mental Health Achievement Award by the National Association of Social Workers (N.A.S.W.) as well as the N.A.S.W.’s Outstanding Achievement Award. She received the American Public Health Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award in Public Health Social Work in 1994. Syracuse University honored her in 1988 with the Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement. 

Victoria Li ’12, co-founder of “Books and Cooks”

Class of 2012 Nutrition graduate Victoria (Tori) Li passed away in November 2015. She was working as a clinical dietitian after completing her dietetic internship, spreading her knowledge and compassion to her clients in New York City. As a student, she coordinated and oversaw tutoring, nutrition education, food demonstrations and cooking classes with the volunteers for the Hillside Family Agency’s after school programs. She co-founded “Books and Cooks”—a program recognized by former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative to help realize literacy and improved health.

Falk College has created a scholarship award to be given to a deserving dietetics student annually. For more information, and to donate, contact David Salanger, assistant dean for advancement and external affairs, Falk College, dasalang@syr.edu. 

Supporting Falk College

Something very special at Falk College

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Thank you.

The generosity of so many during our renovation project and relocation to the new Falk Complex has made something very special possible.

On October 23, 2015, Dean Diane Lyden Murphy led a dedication ceremony to commemorate the opening of the new home of Falk College. The multi-phase transition from eight different main and off-campus locations that began in January 2015 will conclude this summer when reconstruction of the commercial and experiential kitchens is complete.

The Falk College Complex is spectacularly renovated, thanks to generous support from many loyal alumni, parents, friends, faculty, and staff (view a full donor listing). A new Nutrition Assessment, Consultation and Education (ACE) Center with a purposefully outfitted demonstration kitchen supports Falk College’s new integrative nutrition curriculum. A visionary gift from Falk alumna Rhoda Dearman Morrisroe ’69 made the ACE Center possible. The Milton Conrad Technology Lab doubles as a student classroom and computer lab that meets the latest programming trends in event and sport venue operations. It was made possible thanks to Richard and Linda Ritholz, whose son Julian ’18 is a sport management major.

During the Falk dedication, our College’s Board of Visitors and Sport Management Advisory Board announced the Dean Diane Lyden Murphy Endowed Scholarship to support students whose life paths are focused on social responsibility and social justice. Members of both boards donated to establish this scholarship to benefit generations to come.

As you can see, the good work in Falk College continues—all made possible with your support. Alumni gifts at any level are much needed and always greatly appreciated. To learn more about giving opportunities in Falk College, whether it is a gift to our newer funds, such as the Dean Murphy Endowed Scholarship Fund (see story), or the Sport for Human Development Institute Fund (see story), or any of our individual academic departments, we welcome your support. Please contact me at 315.443.4588 or dasalang@syr.edu to learn more about the many differ-ent ways your gift benefits students and Falk College. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David A. Salanger

Assistant Dean for Advancement and External Affairs 

Class of 2016: how do you say thanks?

Over the last four years, who were the people at Falk College who truly made a difference in your life and enhanced your time at S.U.? Did you take a trip that opened your eyes to possibilities you’d never considered? Did a speaker or an alum share a story that will resonate with you for years to come? Did someone open a door that will forever change the course of your career and if so, how do you thank them?

The 2016 Class Campaign is a wonderful opportunity to do just that, while helping the students who will follow in your footsteps. By donating just $20.16 to the fund, scholarship, department or program that made a difference in your life, you can leave a legacy that will benefit our college and its students for years to come.

So please, pay it forward and consider a gift to the Class Act campaign at classact.syr.edu. 

Thank you, Falk College donors!

Falk College gratefully acknowledges the following gifts recorded from February 2014-December 2015. 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 or via e-mail at kmdesmon@syr.edu.  The listing below is organized alphabetically by last name or by the first letter of the organization name.

A

Katherine Michelle Abreu, Absolute Coatings, Inc., Richard Ackah, Gerald Ackerman and Eleanor D. Macklin, Gregory Joel Ackerman, Dr. Kenneth R. Ackerman and Debra T. Ackerman, Corie Lee Adamucci, Katharine M. Agliata, Rachel Ann Ahart, Jason T. Akeson, Salem Alechammas and Marsha A. Alechammas, Frederick J. Alexander and Constance G. Alexander, Shannon Layne Alvord, Edward J. Amantia and Diane C. Amantia, Jeffrey D. Ambers, American Chiropractic and Wellness Center, LLC, Dr. Ann Martha Anderson, Richard Anderson and Melissa Anderson, Brittany M. Andrews, Anheuser-Busch Foundation, Robert J. Anthone, Rebecca L. Antinozzi, Taylor Fawn Appel, Gail B. Appleton, Barbara Arcuri, Joanne T. Asbill, Stephen M. Austin and Nadine L. Austin, Dr. Zaven S. Ayanian, Anika Azad

B

Lori Bachman-Oot, Karen S. Bacon, Charlotte A. Bakeman, Linda A. Baker, Olivia A. Banick, Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund, David A. Banta and Caroline E. Coggeshall, Chuck H. Baren and Renee A. Baren, Thomas S. Barkhuff and Donna W. Barkhuff, Alvin J. Barnes and Elizabeth C. Barnes, Scott A. Barrett and Michele J. Barrett, Catherine H. Bastian, Allison Nicole Baynes, Kenneth C. Bean and Susan C. Kamp, Danielle M. Beatt, John R. Beaudoin, Michael Beck, Elizabeth C. Beckwith, Gwynne Bellos, Ruth M. Bender, Phillip Levant Benton, Janet D. Benz, Teresa Furtak Berard, Regina F. Berg, Sam Berman Charitable Foundation, Inc., Arnold J. Berman, Danielle Elizabeth Berman, Ronald C. Bernard, Susan Bianchi, Alexa Folk Bickhart, Terry A. Bickhart and Kathy F. Bickhart, Mark L. Bienstock and Maxine Bienstock, Abby Binder, Yvonne Bisel, Nancy R. Bissell, Kerry A. Blask, Nina Blendman, Brian Scott Blewis, Gordon G. Blewis and Julie G. Blewis, Autum L. Blood, Jane R. Bloom, The Boeing Company, Howard J. Bongiorno, Carol W. Bonwich, Alexander M. Boory, Drew Lewis Bossman, Robert A. Bossman and Francie E. Bossman, Sandra C. Bostow, Steven A. Botwinick and Stacy G. Botwinick, Katherine N. Boyle, Emily Lynn Bracken, Michael Brady and Lisa Brady, Sarah J. Braithwaite, Barbara A. Braley, Russ Brandon, Carol V. Braund, Dr. Steven R. Brechin and Dr. Nancy Cantor, Eric Barnett Brest, Kelly A. Bridges, Bruce W. Brockett, Joan P. Brodsky, Beau Smith Brooks, Dr. Carol A. Brooks, Mary Jane Brown, Nancy P. Brown, Barbara E. Bruening, Craig T. Bruening, Kay Stearns Bruening, Mary W. Bryant, Anne M. Buckley, Scott Burlingame, Professor Richard H. Burton and Barbara A. Burton, Stephanie E. Burton, Lois Seeger Bush, Robert J. Byrnes and Joanne R. Byrnes

C

Susan M. Cain, Duncan C. Caird and Jill E. Caird, Dr. Bettye Caldwell, Marie R. Call, Susan L. Call, Gloria Burlingame Cameron, Kendrea A. Cameron, David E. Campeas and Faye M. Brookman, Dr. Jodi Ann Canfield, Mary C. Canole, Aida P. Caputo, Deborah P. Carey, Debra D. Carey, Kelly Rebecca Carr, Andrea Marie Carrera-Marquez, Jennifer Corn Carter, Thomas Carter and Victoria F. Carter, Rosamond Cassell, Katelyn E. Castro, Joanne Caulfield, Kathleen C. Cavanaugh, Caroline Centner-Conlon, Central New York Community Foundation, Inc., Gerald F. Chandler, Jr., Jean S. Chaplin, Jeannette B. Chappell, John R. Charles and Mary Lou Charles, Dr. Kenneth M. Chavis and Dr. Geraldine G. Chavis, Dr. Anne Chew, Brittany Lai Chin, Joan M. Christy, The Honorable Lisa F. Chrystal, Lisa Christine Cianciotta, Heather L. Ciccone, Andrea Elizabeth Ciciarelli, Anthony T. Cimino, Dr. John A. Clapp, Dr. Barry A. Clark and Rochelle A. Clark, Deborah J. Clark, Martha L. Clark, Stephen R. Clark and Michelle P. Clark, Alicia Elizabeth Clifford, Elliot N. Cohen, D.M.D., Dr. Jessica I. Cohen, Judith G. Cohen, Lee E. Cohen and Dr. Cynthia B. Green, Matthew Benjamin Cohen, Dr. and Mrs. Paul D. Cohen, William D. Cohen and Barbara K. Buck, Chenette D. Cole, Joan W. Compson, Dr. Rick Conetta and Andrea Conetta, Jane C. Conley, Debra Z. Connolly, Michael E. Connolly and Sharon S. Connolly, Chelsea Philip Convery, Gloria T. Conway, Jennifer Lynn Cooper, Peter Louis Corasaniti, Dr. Robert L. Cosby, Jr., Mary Elizabeth Costigan, Nancy M. Coughlin, Dr. Leslie Jane Couse, Lisa M. Coutu, Meredith Rachael Cove, Rose Marie Cregg, James E. Creighton, Teri L. Crisp, Diane R. Crossley, The Crown Goodman Family, Atsuko Crum, Thomas H. Curtin and Kathleen A. McAvinue, Ellen L. Cyr, Jennifer Anne Czelusniak, Danielle Renee Czysz

D

Shawn D. Danziger and Lori E. Danziger, Rebecca A. Darby, Linda E. Davies, Jackie DeCecco, Gregory J. Decker and Linda M. Decker, Samantha M. Decker, Hannah Elizabeth Degen, Cynthia S. Dellavilla, Dr. Patricia D. DeMatteo, Sylvia Brooklyn Denhoff, Kristen Marie Denick, Dennis C. Deninger and Gail I. Deninger, Ritchy Stevens, Desir Chuck Desmond and Kim Desmond, James C. DeSocio and Debra A. DeSocio, David Lloyd Deutsch and Elyse E. Deutsch, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Cathy Dexter, Paul D. Diamond and Vivian D. Diamond, Corrie DiBello, Muriel P. Diefendorf, Nina J. DiFrancesco, Catherine Ann Dillon, Jean Julia Dingee. Linda Billups-Donalson and Larry Donalson, Laurie B. Donovan, Mallory E. Doolan, Dr. Mary Ann Dowdell, Susan P. Downey, Scott A. Downing and Lori E. Downing, Susan G. Downing, A. David Drezner and Esther B. Drezner, Michael A. Droll, Lena C. Dubensky, Emily Elizabeth Dumas, Dr. Ruth E. Dunkle, Rev. George E. Dunn and Lorraine L. Dunn, Rosanne B. Dunn, Vania Shanell Duran Moncion, Helen Y. Duryea, Barbara E. Dutcher-Campbell, Barbara B. Duttweiler, Katherine Dyroff, Deanna M. Dziedzina, Judith A. Dzikowski

E

Helene Moran Eberts, Beatrice Ebinger, Audray A. Edwards, Jessica Leigh Ehrens, Jillian Zahava Elbaum, Deborah C. Ellick, Elizabeth Cross Elliott, Carolyn Rogers Ellis, Mark A. Ellman and Anne S. Ellman, Samuel Spar Elman, Claire Embry, Equity Sports Partners, LLC, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Esposito, Bruce J. Evans and Jeannie J. Evans, Elizabeth C. Evans, Sandra J. Ewen, Kristen M. Exner

F

Jeff P. Fagan and Lynda M. Dmoch, Raymond C. Faigle, Fairfield County Community Foundation, Inc., David B. Fallick and Patricia L. Kleinman-Fallick, Dr. Joseph P. Fanelli and Jeannette S. Fanelli, Stacie Fanelli, Eileen Feldman, James R. Ferrante and Marie P. Ferrante, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Matthew Filippi, Financial Innovations, Jane Finkle, Sara Fischer, Samantha M. Fisher, Carrie L. Fitch, Joseph W. Flanagan, Linda Joan Flederbach, Alice M. Floyd, Barbara C. Ford, Shirley D. Forssell, Constance A.M. Foster, Kathena Lorraine Francis, Susan C. Frank, Nancy M. Frazier, Beryl T. Frederick, Gregory C. Frederick and Alisa G. Frederick, Jina Freiberg, Marissa Terese French, Patricia E. Freyberger, Stephen M. Friedberg and Madalyn Felix Friedberg, Meredith Offerman Friedman, Alfred A. Friedrich and Denise A. Friedrich, Karise Keshawna Fyfield

G

Marcia S. Gaffney, Dr. Alejandro Garcia, Polly Price Gardner, Michael J. Garofalo and Julie A. Garofalo, Shawn P. Garrity, Marilyn T. Gast, Keri Gausney-Jones, James Edward Geant, Geddis Holdings, Inc., Mark R. Geddis, Samantha H. Gelon, Susan W. Gibbons, Dr. W. David Gibson and Larissa W. Gibson, Barbara J. Gifford, Stuart M. Ginsburg and Laurie Orlando, Jud H. Gittelman and Ann E. Gittelman, Daniel K. Glazier, Abby Louise Goldberg, Joy L. Golden, Rose A. Golden, Jamie Elizabeth Goldfarb, Judyth L. Goldstein, Albert Gomolka, Jr. and Shelley J. Gomolka, Brian S. Goodman, Daniel Joseph Gorman, Marilyn E. Gorman, Loretta A. Graceffo, Steven E. Gramet and Dr. Pamela R. Gramet, Dr. Evelyn C. Granieri, Barbara B. Grant, Reverend Robert D. Grant, Suzanne M. Grassel, Jazmin D. Gray, Nicholas A. Green and Beth Anne Radics-Green, Paul Greenberg, Brett Andrew Greenfield, Jonathan D. Greenhouse, Ira B. Greenstein and Amy J. Greenstein, Dennis Greenwald and Sheryl Greenwald, Chelsea Marie Greenway, Sister Ida Gregoire, R.S.M., Kathleen P. Grenier, Matthew K. Grodd. Dr. David S. Grossman and Nancy E. Grossman, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, James Sawalla Guseh, David P. Gwilt, Jr. and Melissa J. Gwilt

H

Steven C. Haas and Carla Bachman Haas, April D. Hackley, Frances C. Hahn, Dr. Wilson R. Haines, Jr. and Gwen Anne Haines, Margaret L. Hale, Susan M. Haller-Peck, Sherry L. Hanson, Mark S. Hard and Nancy A. Hard, Linda W. Harelick, Eugene Hares, Suzanne M. Harrington, John F. Hartnett, Hope Hartwigsen, Ellen P. Harvey, Ann C. Harvey-Morgan, Gretchen S. Hassenplug, F. Thomas Havern and Arleen E. Havern, Wanjuri Hawkins, Health Foundation for Western & Central New York, Cynthia P. Hedges, Linda Heimann, Risa Miriam Herbstman, Heritage Fund, Michael E. Herzig, Jacqueline P. Hicks, John-Christopher E. Higgins, John Hill and Nicole Hill, Fred W. Hintz and Elizabeth A. Hintz, Mark G. Hirschberg and Debra S. Hirschberg, Rolana Starr Hobb, Philip R. Hochberg, Stephen D. Hodgens and Annette M. Hodgens, David W. Hoeldtke, Dr. Cheryl L. Hoffman, Randy Holland, Pamela Gordon Hollander, Leslie K. Holmberg, Dr. Eric Holzwarth, Amy Hong, Marc J. Honigfeld and Rona G. Honigfeld, Chris A. Horacek and Dr. Tanya M. Horacek, Todd E. Horowitz and Carol S. Levine, Larry S. Howard, II and Renee M. Howard, Patricia C. Howe and Renee E. Lubowich, David A. Hughes, Robert W. Hunter, Sr., Jonathan T. Hutter and Lisa M. Hutter, Dr. Ellen J. Huyck

I

Beverly R. Ianuzi, ICON International, Laura Ann Illiano, Anne C. Ingraham

J

Rhonda L. Jaffee, Dr. Barry Jaffin and Roberta Jaffin, Arielle B. Jerome, Stacey Jerrold, Jewish Communal Fund of New York, Jewish Endowment Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Dr. Bora Jin, Kelly Gerald Johnson, Mina P. Johnson, Rachel E. Johnson, Lawrence W. Jordan, III, Simone H. Jordan

K

Kurima H. Kaisa and Joann C. Kaisa, Clifford L. Kaplan and Janice Kaplan, Mr. and Mrs. Noel H. Kaplan, Dana Rachel Kappel, Dr. Gary S. Karlin and Jane A. Zamost, Sydney Morgan Karp, Cheryl K. Karpinski, Daniel M. Kaseman and Dr. Theresa Kaseman, Masato Kawahatsu and Alice R. Kawahatsu, Dr. Andrea L. Kaye Kali, Catherine Kearns, Jane M. Keggi, Dr. Irene E. Kehres, David J. Kelley, Betsy J. Kempner, Nicholas D. Kent and Patricia A. LaRose-Kent, Beverly R. Kenyon-Haase, Scott Michael Kevy, Jennifer Han Kim, Dr. Eric R. Kingson, Stephen H. Kirsch and Laurie B. Kirsch, Klear Electrical Corporation, David M. Kleinhandler, Susan R. Klenk, Iris Lee Knell, Dr. Thomas J. Kniesner and Dr. Deborah Freund, William V. Koenig, Lenore Kohn, Denise M. Kolankowski, Pamela B. Kolb, Kristina Korolev, Vera Korolev, Steven Matthew Kozar, K.P.M.G. Foundation, S. Scott Kraemer and Linda Tousey Kraemer, Emily Laura Kratz, Andrew R. Kritzer, Ann T. Kronner, Nicole Kugler, Patricia F. Kulha, Carol C. Kurth, Akua M. Kusi,

L

Beth T. Laddin, Beverly C. Laforse, Andy Lai Harrison, Ross Laifer, Jeffrey M. Landsman and Jamison M. Landsman, Deborah A. Langley, Janet S. Langsam, James D. Lantier and Dr. M. Eileen Lantier, Byron J. Lapham, Jr. and Joan B. Lapham, Gretchen Elizabeth Larchick, Vanessa Heart Larracuente, David A. Larsen, Larry Lau and Grace Lau, Donald A. Lawler, Dina Lawson, Helen Lawson, Lax United Marketing, LLC, Daniel C. Lee and Carolyn J. Lee, Mari K. Lee, Mihn Y. Lee and Hyun S. Lee, Richard B. Leeds and Suzanne L. Leeds, Dr. Scott H. Leist and Amy F. Leist, Christopher Lencheski, Annette M. & Theodore N. Lerner Family Foundation, Inc., Charles Joshua Lerner, Judith L. Lev, David Levin, John L. Levitow, Jr., David R. Levy and Niki B. Levy, Barbara B. Lewis, Karen B. Lewis, Cindy Lin, Julie Lin, Rudolph L. Linde and Phyllis J. Linde, The Ann S. Litt Foundation, Inc., Anne R. Loach, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Jeffrey Lomasky and Andrea Lomasky, Paul H. Longchamps and Karen A. Longchamps, Joseph F. Lopez, Victoria R. Lounsbury, Deborah Love-Combs, Jeralyn Delisi Lowe, Lawrence C. Luckwaldt, Helen Luedde, Joshua Lee Lukin and Lauryn B. Lukin, Nigisty Lulu, Mylinh Vong Luong, Ruth J. Lyman

M

Gail L. Maas, John R. MacCallum, Sr. and Gloria Virginia MacCallum, John O. Maggard, Bennigan Patrick Maher, James F. Maley, Gayle Anne Mallore, Michele D. Mandeville, Meg Elizabeth Mankowski, Allison Paige Mann, Felicia A. Marasciulo-Graham, Virginia B. Marczak, Samantha Maristany, Kenneth L. Marks, Tracy A. Marshall-Whitmer, Alyssa Marie Mason, Susan G. Mason, Lonita Marie Mathis, Wakako Matsushita, Deborah Matteodo, Matteson Counseling Services, LLC, Susan C. Matteson, George F. Mattice, Dr. Robert K. McAndrews, Edmund E. McCann, Galen Thomas McCown, Maxine D. McDonald, Laura E. McDonald-Hills, Carol A. McGrath, Steven M. McGrory and Robitine S. McGrory, Lynn Y. McLean, Timothy P. McMahon, Dr. William R. McPeak and Judy T. McPeak, Joanne Grieco McPherson, Kathleen R. McQueen, John G. McWhirter and Maureen McWhirter, Mead Johnson Nutrition, James V. Mecone and Nancy M. Mecone, Katrina V. Melei, Ellen S. Mellis, Eric J. Mendelson and Debbi B. Mendelson, Ann S. Merrill Katherine S. Merriman, Joan L. Merzbach, Deborah C. Messulam, Alfred J. Meyer and Jill A. Meyer, Brian Meyer, M. John Meyer and Kris A. Meyer, Abraham Miller and Monica S. Lercher, Lynne Miller, Dr. Susan A. Miller, Susan K. Miller, Sarah Ann Mills, Debra Mimaroglu, Stephanie Ann Mindock, Ronald O. Mitchell, David M. Mizruchi and Marcia G. Mizruchi, Moat Builder, Inc., Rhonda A. Mona, Richard M. Monihan, Jr., and Shelagh Monihan, Ann Winsor Moniz, Sandy R. Montag, Christopher Montferret and Monica J. Montferret, Carol R. Montiel, Sharon Moran, Dr. Linda G. Morgan, Rhoda D. Morrisroe, Frederick C. Morse, Jr., Donald J. Moskal, Dr. Nina S. Mounts, MSA Research, Joanne K. Mudd, Mary Lue Mueller, Jean S. Mufuka, Dr. Matthew K. Mulvaney, Robert A. Mulvey and Beth Mulvey, Frederick R. Murphy and Dr. Diane Lyden Murphy, Robert James Murray, Aziza Mustefa, Kathryn Marie Mutter, Mutual of America, Ruth J. Myers

N

Jessica L. Nabewaniec, David L. Nagle and Jill H. Nagle, Nader Abbas Nanjiani and Saba Nanjiani, The National Philanthropic Trust, Richard M. Nells, Stephanie M. Nelson, Nicholas James Neu, Edward Nickerson and Paulette Z. Nickerson, Valerie L. Nielsen Jennison, Helen M. Nieznalski, Alice A. Niger, Carlee A. Noecker, Barbara P. Nolan, David H. Northrup, Jr. and Sharon C. Northrup, Laurel A. Norton, Charlene Ntahobari, Patricia H. Nugent

O

Owen M. O’Donnell, James P. O’Hara and Michele V. O’Hara, Ugochukwu L. Okoroji, Gary R. Olivella, Omaha Community Foundation, E. John Orsenigo, IV, Richard C. Ostroff, Jenny C. Overeynder

P

Rochelle A. Pachman, Dr. Donald L. Pair and Tracy A. Payne-Pair, Bram Palm, Cheryl Denice Palmer, Jane S. Palmisano, Julia A. Paradiso, Robert E. Paredes, John Park, Helen O. Parker, Olive P. Parker, Michael J. Patent, Norman F. Paul, Linda L. Pendleton, Taylor Marie Perry, Samantha Michelle Perzin, Mark A. Peterson, Angela M. Petty, Dr. Susan L. Peverly, Gary L. Philipson and Lisa B. Philipson,, Jeremy Louis Philipson Cindy Chan Phillips, Leonard R.B. Phillips, Ellen Anne Pickett, Jennifer Michelle Pinos, Colonel Doris A. Piper, U.S.A.F., Retired Laurie K. Platt, David O. Plaut and Dr. Joan B. Cooper, Mary J. Plesac, Veronica R. Plovanich, Deidre Hester Plumley, Erika N. Politano, Dr. Carleton Potter, Glen E. Potter and Jean A. Potter, Lana M. Potter, Angela Veronica Powers, Jean H. Powers, Christopher A. Prather and Carla A. Carpenter, Ellis May Prather, Jonathan Charles Junior Prinsell, Procter & Gamble Company, Kristen Marie Pyles

Q

Barbara L. Quinby

R

Carly Genevieve Raimo, James M. Raimo and Carol E. Raimo, Dr. Sevilimedu P. Raj and Dr. Sudha Raj, Stephen Michael Rathbun, Melissa A. Reade, Mitchell & Deborah Rechler Foundation, Inc., Benjamin Ian Rechler, Mitchell D. Rechler and Deborah A. Rechler, Judy L. Reed, John A. Reese and Kathie L. Reese, Susan Reisbord, Barbara N. Reiss, Jessica Taylor Rice, Nancy K. Rice, Kathleen M. Riches-Amyot, Thomas H. Richey and Dorothy A. Donaldson, Samuel Richter, Dr. Anthony L. Riello, Jr., Esmine Barnestean Riggins, Donald P. Rindfuss and Nancy D. Rindfuss, Barbara J. Ripa, Graham Ritchie and Maudie W. Ritchie, Linda D. Ritholz and Richard S. Ritholz, Dr. Howard J. Ritt and Patricia Wolff Ritt, Deborah R. Ritz, Robby B. Robinson and Dr. Damita Edwards, Sam Rodgers, Michael M. Rollins, Bruce N. Rooney, Jocelyn Rosa, John H. Rose, David B. Rosen and Penny A. Rosen, Jill F. Rosen, Sally A. Rosenberg, Lauren Hope Rosenstein, Joanne M. Ross, Suzzanne C. Rosselot, Gregg M. Rossetti and Holly A. Rossetti, Jack R. Rouff, Lawrence N. Royer and Doretta S. Royer, Loryn Ann Royer, Gabrielle Rubach, David A. Ruben and Carolyn A. Ruben, Kate Nicole Ruben, Keith G. Rubenstein, The Rubin Financial Group, LLC, Earl A. Rudy and Michelle A. Rudy, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan R. Rutenberg,

S

Andrew Keith Sagarin, David A. Salanger, Matthew Dylan Samost, Scott P. Samost and Carol A. Samost Sandelman Foundation Jeffrey S. Sandelman Jane R. Sanders Reverend George R. Sanderson and Reverend Diane B. Sanderson Arlene O. Sanoy, Janet C. Sapio-Mayta, William Michael Savage, Laura J. Sawyer, Dr. B. Todd Schaeffer and Jeri Schaeffer, Peter S. Schapero and Ilene J. Schapero, Carol A. Schnaer, Corey A. Schneider and Shari B. Schneider, William C. Schofield and Roberta C. Schofield, Patricia Schoonover Jones, Melanie L. Schreiner, Dr. Edward T. Schroeder and Dr. Lois A. Schroeder, Schwab Charitable Fund, Jonathan D. Scott and Martha G. Scott, Hana Rose Seckler, Linda F. Seeland, Dianne R. Seeley, Akua Sekyere, Bruce J. Senn, Linda L. Sgroi, Shimon Shahar and Martine S. Shahar, Leonard H. Shapiro and Caryl S. Shapiro, Phyllis Shapiro, Heather D. Sharpless, John L. Sheets, Warren M. Shelmidine and Brenda C. Shelmidine, Dr. George J. Sheplock and Lynne M. Sheplock, Carol Shepperd-Peterson, Barbara G. Sherman, Miriam Shields, Colleen E. Shufelt-Baker, Robert N. Shwartz and Susan J. Greenberg, Dr. Marc E. Siegel and Lillian O. Siegel, Sonja Rae Simpson, Gursewak Singh, Kathleen R. Sinicropi, Michael D. Sirota and Miriam L. Sirota, David Samuel Skwiersky, Joanna N. Slater, Victoria Marie Sloan, Ruth Slovenski, John C. Sly and Patricia F. Sly, Suzanne Smallwood-Massey, Judy & Donald Smith Foundation, Carrie J. Smith, Marc Smith and Deborah M. Smith, Stephen J. Smith, Susan O. Smith, John Ben Snow Foundation, Inc., Jane F. Sorenson, Dr. Gail P. Sorrel Mosk, Joan E. Southgate, Kathy Rubin Sparrow, Eric R. Spector and Ellen B. Spector, Jennifer Joy Spellicy, Leslie W. Squire and Sandra C. Squire, Shelby Scott Squire, Suzanne I. Stacy, Barbara A. Stark, Jayson I. Stark and Lisa B. Stark, Nancy P. Stark, Patricia Steigerwald, Steiner Sports Memorabilia, Inc., Brandon S. Steiner, Janna G. Steinke, Richard J. Stemmer, Adam Hale Sternbach, Nancy H. Stickles, Nancy A. Stitzel, James L. Stone, Kevin P. Stone, Dr. Patricia A. Stone, Joan A. Storer, Thomas C. Strand and Linda J. Strand, Jan Martin Stransky, Marc R. Stuart and April L. Stuart, Sugar Plums II, Inc., John P. Sullivan and Betty A. Porter, Alexander Joseph Suskind, Ben C. Sutton, Jr., Kathrine V. Switzer, Mary P. Switzer

T

Rachel Tabak, Steven D. Tabak and Cathy J. Tabak, Taishoff Family Foundation, Laurie B. Taishoff, Capt. Robert P. Taishoff, U.S.N. Retired, Beth K. Tauber, Linda Goodnough Taylor, John Templeton Foundation, Gary Domet Thomas, Jeffrey J. Thomas and Lima H. Thomas, Josephine D. Thomas, Elizabeth B. Thoreck, Barbara L. Thorogood, Kyle Joseph Thweatt, Nkumeh F. Tifah, Susan B. Tiller, Time Warner, Inc., Michael T. Tirico and Deborah G. Tirico, John M. Titus, Dr. Anibal R. Torres and Isabelle Wilczewski, Donald R. Trendell and Karen M. Trendell, Sandra M. Trento, Laurence P. Tumminia and Nicolina A. Tumminia, Kathryn M. Tunkel, Breanna Nicole Turner

U

Patricia G. Utke

V

Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, Michael Tyler Velasco, Michael D. Veley and Katherine O’Neil Veley, Verizon Foundation, Carol L. Vernon, Constance E. Vickery, Thomas A. Vigna and Patricia P. Vigna, Robert A. Visalli and Claudia M. Visalli, Pamela R. Vredenburgh

W

Doris Wachsler, Helen W. Wadsworth, James R. Wagner, Lynn Hanig Waite, Ronald W. Wall, Nicholas S. Walsh and Susan G. Walsh, Walt Disney Company, Rebecca A. Walter, Jonathan B. Wanderstock, Craig T. Ward, Steven M. Warshaw, Marjorie B. Washbon, Tyler Jay Wasserman, Rachel Lauren Watkins, Wendy Haberman Webber, Joanna Rose Weinberg, Ellen Weinlich, Jamie Rose Weinstein, Allie Daryl Weiss, Wellsboro Pediatric Health Care Associates, Karin Grady Welsh, Susan M. Wendelgass, Jack Everett Wentzell, Kaylah Wicks, Rachel C. Wicks, Susan M. Wiegand, Lucinda L. Wiestling, April Lynn Wilcox, John R. Wildhack, Edward G. Wilkens and Denise K. Wilkens, Delana R. Williams, Shanique Tiana Williams, John Vincent Wilson, Mary A. Wilson, Robert M. Wilson and Marilyn L. Wilson, Thomas G. Wise and Justine M. Woolner-Wise, Michael David Wohl and Betty N. Wohl, Dean E. Wolcott, Edward L. Wold, Jr., Donna M. Wolf, Bernhard I. Wolff and Ann E. Wolff, Scott M. Wolfson and Randi Masor Wolfson, Women of the University Community, Alyssa Michelle Wood, World Racing Group, Inc., Linda M. Wright, Richard D. Wroblewski

X

Xerox Foundation

Y

Philip H. Yawman, III, W. Dewees Yeager, III, Carl S. Young and Priscilla H. Young, MaryAnn Beth Young, Tyler Morgan Young

Z

Patricia R. Zaccari, Brian M. Zacchilli and Maggie A. Zacchilli, Eric M. Zachs and Jessica P. Zachs, Zoe Isabelle Zachs, Catherine M. Zbieszkowski, Deborah Danielle Zeger, Emily Suzanne Zimmerman, David H. Zuber 

Congratulations Class of 2016!

On Saturday, May 14, Falk College hosted Convocation for the Class of 2016 at Manley Field House. The graduating class included 474 degree candidates representing five academic departments and schools, and seven different academic degree programs. Associate dean of student services, Renie Kehres, welcomed the audience of proud parents and grandparents, spouses and partners, brothers and sisters, family members and friends. Dean Murphy addressed the graduates. “No matter where your lives take you, please always remember in the spirit of Ghandi that you’ve been taught in Falk College, ‘you must be the change you wish to see in the world. It is up to you to make a difference.’ We are very proud of you, and we want to tell you your work has just begun. Our world needs you and all you have to offer.”

The keynote address was given by Floyd Little, Syracuse University Class of ’67 who received an honorary degree for exceptional achievement at the University’s 162nd Commencement on May 15. Little, one of Syracuse’s all-time great running backs, was a three-time All-American and the 1966 Eastern College Athletic Conference player of the year. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos, where he played for nine years. A member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, Little has received numerous prestigious recognitions for civic endeavors, including the 1992 N.C.A.A. Silver Anniversary Award, the 2012 Walter Camp Football Foundation Distinguished American Award, and the 2014 Doak Walker Legends Award.

Student reflections were presented by marriage and family therapy graduate student, Karla Brenes Solano. Falk College’s undergraduate class marshals, Colleen F. Downey (social work) and Jeremy Mitchell Losak (sport management) also shared remarks (see related article). Congratulations and best wishes, Class of 2016! 

Pictured in this section: Marriage and family therapy graduate, Karla Brenes Solano, offers the graduate student reflection during the May 14 Falk College Convocation. Floyd Little, Class of 2016 members Stanley Moise (social work), Patricia Exy (public health), Dean Murphy,  are posed for a picture in Manley Field House prior to the May 14 Falk College Convocation ceremony. A close up photo of three smiling Falk graduates as the May 14 Falk College Convocation ceremony begins. Falk’s Class of 2016 marches into the May 15 Syracuse University Commencement ceremony, holding a banner for Falk College. Dean Murphy acknowledges and shakes hands with Floyd Little, recipient of Doctor of Humane Letters on stage during the May 15 Syracuse University Commencement. Falk College would like to extend its deepest appreciation to Professor Alejandro Garcia and Steve Sartori for sharing their exceptional photographs from Convocation-Commencement 2016.