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FA L L 2 0 1 4
THE
LINK
FOR ALUMNI AND
FRIENDS
The history of
Wagner trees helps to tell
the College’s story. Page 26
Rooted in
Grymes
Hill
#Awareness
The Next Frontier
Master Mixologist
Page 12
Page 16
Page 20
�Contents
Wagner Magazine Fall 2014
F e a t u r e s
vol.12,
12
16
20
26
no.1
#Awareness
Seniors Kerri Alexander and Jarrid Williams speak about their experience
of race at the College and their leadership in mentoring other students.
The Next Frontier
Higher education is at an inflection point. We find out where it is
headed by listening in on the national and local conversation.
Master Mixologist
From stained glass to beverage design, Cliff Oster ’69 is a man who ‘just
knows what goes together’ — intuitively.
Rooted in Grymes Hill
From the “Old Apple Tree” to the London planes on the Oval, the
history of Wagner trees helps to tell the College’s story in this place.
departments
2
From the President
3
From the Editor
4
From Our Readers
5
Upon the Hill
32
Alumni Link
36
Class Notes
42
In Memoriam
44
Reflections
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
Photograph: anna mulé
�Writing a New Story
At an after-school program at PS 20 in
Port Richmond, Staten Island, Wagner
education faculty and graduate students
work with immigrant children and their
parents to build up their literacy skills
and confidence. Read more at
wagner.edu/wagnermagazine.
F A L L
2 0 1 4
�From the President
Why ‘U.S. News’ Is Important
IF YOU saw the 2015
edition of the U.S. News
& World Report “Best
Colleges” guidebook, you
surely noticed that the
accomplishments of Wagner
College were celebrated in a
number of the book’s pages.
Wagner, for example,
was one of seven colleges to be cited at least four times
in the guide’s “Focus on Student Success” section, which
recognized our first-year experience, internships, learning
communities, and service learning opportunities as among
the best in the nation.
This recognition is especially significant because it is an
acknowledgment not only from U.S. News, but also from
our competitors. Inclusion in this part of the guidebook
comes through a survey of college presidents, provosts, and
enrollment officers nationwide. They decide which schools
best fit these categories, look up the unique codes for the
particular colleges and universities they are nominating,
copy those codes, and enter them into the guidebook’s
questionnaire. It takes a bit of time and effort, indicating
that our colleagues feel strongly about our work in these
areas.
You’ll also see that Wagner is prominently mentioned
in the book’s main feature. The magazine discussed our
emphasis on civic learning from the first year onward, and
notes how we create learning communities that combine
courses from different disciplines that are seemingly
unrelated, but help our students approach and analyze reallife challenges. Wagner’s 2014 graduate Kellie Griffith, who
is now teaching English on a Fulbright award in Ecuador,
was quoted as an example of the success that the Wagner
Plan can help our
“All of this … speaks
students achieve.
to the role that Wagner plays
All of this,
as a leader and an innovator
I would argue,
speaks to the role
in higher education.”
that Wagner plays
as a leader and an innovator in higher education. This is
important because higher education is at a crossroads —
or, as a friend of mine likes to say, at an inflection point.
As members of the Association of American Colleges
and Universities (AAC&U), Wagner faculty and
administrators have been participating in some of the most
interesting discussions that are now going on about higher
education reform and innovation. AAC&U is essentially a
think tank. It is important that we thoroughly understand
how the landscape of higher education is changing under
our feet if we are to truly thrive and not just survive. In
the current environment, I believe even survival will be
difficult for some institutions. At Wagner, we must be
prepared for these changes in order to continue to prepare
our students well.
You will read more about these challenges and changes
in Wagner Magazine Editor Laura Barlament’s excellent
story on the future trends in higher education. (See page 16.)
Please come and visit campus in the new year. Much
is happening here, as always, and I would enjoy the
opportunity to say hello.
Richard Guarasci
President
An Education That Works
Professor Cyril Ghosh teaches a government course, which together
with an education course makes up the Intermediate Learning
Community “Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and Disability
Rights.” Wagner is celebrated for its programs leading to student
success, including its sequence of three learning communities.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
�A
From the Editor
What the Survey Said
bout a year ago, we asked you, our
readers, to take a survey and tell us
what you think about Wagner Magazine.
More than 400 of you completed the
questionnaire, which was administered
online. I’m deeply grateful for your time
and your interest!
Considering that I usually answer
surveys only when I have some bone to
pick, I felt all the more gratified that,
by and large, people felt good about the
publication: Around 90 percent rated
it good or excellent for content, ease of
reading, design, photography, and writing.
The most interesting part of the survey
to me was finding out what types of stories
you would most like to read. Now, I have a
Wagner Magazine readership Top 10 list.
In the spirit (though not the humor)
of David Letterman, here we go:
10. Alumni in their personal lives
9. Student achievements
8. Individual alumni profiles
7. Alumni chapter activities and
regional programming
6. Campus facilities and growth
5. Cultural events and performances
4. Obituaries
3. Institutional history and traditions
2. Alumni in their professions
1. Class notes
Fall 2014 • Volume 12 Number 1
Another area the survey is helping
me to address is the role of the website.
Survey respondents tended to favor print
heavily — 77 percent said they prefer
print, whereas 6 percent prefer online and
17 percent prefer both. But a good slice
of the pie, 44 percent, said they would be
interested in seeing additional online-only
content.
If you haven’t visited wagner.edu/
wagnermagazine lately, now would be
a great time to check it out: We have a
brand-new website, launched in December!
I believe it’s much more attractive and
functional than the first version we built.
And we do, indeed, have online-only
content for this issue, such as a slideshow
of the spectacular stained glass windows of
Cliff Oster ’69. (See story page 20).
I was also very happy to hear that
Wagner Magazine strengthens your feeling
of connection to the College, because that’s
its main purpose. Please do let me know
if you have other ideas about how this
magazine can better fulfill its mission and
serve you and the College in new ways.
Laura Barlament
e di t or
Shaowei Wang
gr a ph ic de sig n e r
wr iters
Laura Barlament
Arijeta Lajka ’16
Lee Manchester
phot o gr a ph e r s
Vinnie Amessé
Jim Gipe
Lee Manchester
Anna Mulé
Shaowei Wang
produc t ion m a nage r
Donna Sinagra
Wagner Magazine
Advisory Board
Lisa DeRespino Bennett ’85
Susan Bernardo
Jack Irving ’69
Scott Lewers ’97
Lorraine McNeill-Popper ’78
Brian Morris ’65
Hank Murphy ’63 M’69
Andy Needle
Nick Richardson
Wagner Magazine: The Link for Alumni and Friends
is published twice a year by Wagner’s Office of
Communications and Marketing.
Laura Barlament
e di tor , wag n e r m ag a z i n e
Wagner Magazine
Wagner College
One Campus Road
Staten Island, NY 10301
718-390-3147
laura.barlament@wagner.edu
wagner.edu/wagnermagazine
On the Cover
This Norway maple, located in front of Cunard Hall, is one of
the many magnificent trees on campus, such as the red maple
(see page 26–27) on the other side of Cunard or the European
beech (see page 28–29) in front of Main Hall. Visit wagner.edu/
wagnermagazine to see a picture of our rare American elm.
Photograph: shaowei wang
FA LL 2014
wagner.edu
�From Our Readers
An Abiding Enigma
is impressive, and good.
Willard was and, perhaps, remains an
enigma, but he changed my way of
looking at the world, and when I think
about it, that’s what a college education
is supposed to do. I had Willard Maas as
my professor at Wagner College, and he
changed my life.
YOUR WORK
“
I had Willard
Maas as my
professor at Wagner
College, and he
changed my life.
George Semsel ’59
West Yarmouth, massachusetts
“
Clarifications
story “Who’s the Source for
‘Virginia Woolf’?” (Wagner Magazine
winter 2013–14), the source of the
quotation by Kenneth Anger on page 20
was Scott MacDonald’s book A Critical
Cinema 5: Interviews with Independent
Filmmakers (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2006), pp. 39-40.
We regret any misunderstanding of
the source.
IN THE
Several readers responded to the Winter
2013–14 feature “Who’s the Source for
‘Virginia Woolf’?” about Wagner
Professor Willard Maas and his wife,
Marie Menken, as the inspiration for
Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?
Dining Hall
Dialogue
summer of 1961, I was a house
proctor at Wagner’s North Hall, taking
summer courses and working part time
at the Wagner dining hall as well as
lifeguarding at South Beach. I met a
group of people in the dining hall who
were at a playwriting workshop. The
workshop was headed by Edward Albee.
I knew Willard Maas but did not know
he was involved with the workshop. At
IN THE
the dining hall, the workshop members
talked about playwriting, and Edward
Albee was particularly sharp and
dismissive of a middle-aged woman
workshop member. I did not know who
Albee was, but was told he had had a
couple of short plays produced. I do not
know the woman.
I did not see the play Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?, but when I saw the
movie, I recognized the method of
delivery and dialogue as being very
similar to what I heard in 1961 from
Edward Albee. I drew the conclusion
that Albee was in the process of writing
the play, and he was trying out dialogue
on his workshop member.
Your article filled in some holes in my
memory of over 50 years ago.
John C. Schaller ’63
CHICO, CALIFORNIA
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU We welcome letters from readers. Letters
should refer to material published in the magazine and include the writer’s
full name, address, and telephone number. The editor reserves the right
to determine the suitability of letters for publication and to edit them for
accuracy and length.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
The “Flashback” archival photo
feature of the Wagner College Seahawk
Marching Band, ca. 1969 (Wagner
Magazine winter 2013–14) mentioned
that the band performed in the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1971.
Kathy Van Tassell Maxcy ’71 contacted
us to say that the band also marched
in that parade in 1969, as confirmed by
a dated photo and by clippings in the
Wagner archives.
Laura Barlament, Editor
Office of Communications, Wagner College
One Campus Road, Staten Island, NY 10301
laura.barlament@wagner.edu
�PREPARED FOR ANYTHING Wagner’s DNP graduates will be trained to deal with global health emergencies, such as the West African Ebola outbreak.
This photo shows a worker in England wearing the protective clothing needed to treat Ebola victims and prevent the disease’s spread.
A New
Generation of
Nurse Leaders
Wagner’s first doctoral program
proves itself a timely offering
AS THE West African Ebola outbreak
grabbed headlines this fall, the relevance
of Wagner’s first doctoral program, a
Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP),
became all the more sharply defined.
The DNP program, launched this
fall by the Evelyn L. Spiro School of
Nursing, provides advanced training for
nurses, with a special focus on disaster
preparedness and population health
worldwide.
The program, currently open to boardcertified family nurse practitioners, is for
working professionals. Those enrolled in
the program are expected to complete
their doctorates in two years and three
months, including two summers.
According to Kathleen Ahern,
professor and director of graduate
nursing studies, watching the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina inspired her and
Paula Dunn Tropello, dean of the Evelyn
L. Spiro School of Nursing, to create the
DNP program.
“When Katrina happened, what really
touched me was that the doctors and the
nurses were so poorly prepared to handle
that kind of disaster,” Ahern says. “We
discussed that we really needed to prepare
leaders who could function in those kinds
of devastations.”
The interdisciplinary program features
courses in biostatistics, taught by biology
professor Don Stearns, and in medical
ethics, taught by philosophy professor
John Danisi. A course on global nursing
requires a 50-hour clinical experience,
where students observe international
health systems. The nursing program
has established partnerships in Haiti and
Mexico and with the Navajo Reservation
in Arizona.
This fall, 15 students were accepted
into the program. “Some of them
P h o t o g r a p h : O w e n H u m p h r e y s / PA W i r e
would like to become faculty with their
doctorate and continue their practice,
while others are looking to take a larger
role perhaps in their city or state health
departments,” Ahern says.
Kathleen Oberfeldt, assistant dean for
Wagner’s Center for Health and Wellness,
is in the DNP program’s first cohort. She
says that the program will enhance her
ability to plan for public health crises,
especially in the context of a college
campus.
The program has already broadened
her comfort level with helping in case of a
natural disaster. “I never thought I would
see myself in that role, but I am emerging
and taking a step out of my comfort
zone,” she says. “It’s great to be able to
have that opportunity. Opportunities
like working on the Native American
reservation, that really touched my heart.
“Going with a group that is already
established and has confidence in the
work that they do — I am very happy to
be part of that kind of group. I am capable
of doing more than I ever thought I was
capable of,” Oberfeldt adds.
F A L L
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�Upon the Hill
{
First the
Facts . . .
40
35
M i n i m u m n u m be r of wo ody pl a n t t y pe s
on c a m pu s
N u m be r of Lon d on pl a n e t r e e s
lo c at e d on t h e Ova l
Looking
Back
BACK WHERE YOU BELONG Wagner College’s No. 1-ranked theater program specializes in musical theater training. This year’s Main Stage season
kicked off with Hello, Dolly! starring Allie Luecke ’16 as Dolly Levi, directed by Norb Joerder.
‘The Power of Storytelling’
Wagner back at the top of the Princeton Review best collegiate theaters list
WAGNER COLLEGE THEATRE was ranked #1 in the nation, and
The Wagnerian student newspaper was ranked among the
country’s top 20 collegiate news publications, in this year’s
Princeton Review Best 379 Colleges guide.
Wagner College Theatre has been ranked among the top
5 collegiate theater programs in the United States by the
Princeton Review for the last decade, but this is the first time
since 2005 that WCT has claimed the #1 position.
“The Wagner College Theatre Department — faculty,
staff, students, alumni and audiences — is honored by our
Number One ranking in the Princeton Review,” said Felicia
Ruff, department chair.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
The department, created in 1968, has a long list of
distinguished alumni, from Tony Award winner Randy
Graff ’76 to Jersey Boys film star Renée Marino ’04.
“Wagner College’s tradition of doing theater, particularly
musical theater, clearly remains strong,” Ruff said. “We take
pride in our work on stage and in the classroom, but we are
even prouder of our community, which is united by our
belief in the importance of live performance. Our Number
One ranking is a well-deserved endorsement of our excellent
faculty and the values they teach, but it is also evidence of
the power of storytelling to impact our culture, especially our
campus culture.”
Photograph: Karen O’Donnell
�1
. . . Then
the Quiz!
R a r e A m e r ic a n e l m
lo c at e d on c a m pu s
How many deer have been
sighted on the Wagner campus
this fall? A n sw e r on Pag e 11
}
A Good Turnover
After 34 seasons, Hameline hands off to Houghtaling
ON NOVEMBER 22, Walt Hameline
completed his 34th season as head
football coach and athletic director with
a riveting 23–20 win over Bryant, giving
the Seahawks their second NEC title in
Making It
Practical
New MBA program in media
management draws a lively
cohort of students
THERE’S EXCITEMENT in Campus Hall
this fall, where Wagner College has
started a new MBA program in media
management. Former film company
executive Stephen Greenwald, who
helped design and build the program,
gave us an update at the end of its
inaugural semester.
Photograph: David Saffran
the past three years.
And, he announced the following
Monday, he also completed his long
and successful head coaching career at
Wagner. He handed the reins over to a
beloved Wagner insider, Jason “Hoss”
Houghtaling M’09, associate head
coach. Hameline remains as athletic
director.
The 2014 campaign was the 24th
winning season for the Green &
White under Hameline. Hameline’s
win record, 223-139-2, ranks fifth
among active Football Championship
Subdivision (FCS) head coaches.
Houghtaling’s deep relationship with
Wagner football goes back to 2006–09,
his first coaching stint on Grymes
Hill. He returned during the 2011–12
season and again this year for a total of
seven years on the Wagner sidelines.
His accomplishments include
coaching the Seahawks’ record-setting
quarterback Nick Doscher ’13 during
Wagner’s 9–4 NEC Championship
season of 2012, when the Seahawks
became the first NEC team to win an
NCAA FCS playoff game.
“I am thrilled that Jason Houghtaling
will take over as Wagner head coach
and I have full confidence that he will
continue to keep the Seahawks on the
path to success for years to come,” said
Hameline. “His work ethic, passion,
football knowledge, recruiting contacts,
and familiarity with Wagner College
are all major assets that will pay huge
dividends for our program.”
“We have seven students in our first
cohort,” Greenwald said. “They’re into
different aspects of media — sports,
TV, music — and bringing a mix of
backgrounds and aspirations to the
program, so it’s a lively bunch.”
The group is taking its first three
foundational courses this semester —
among them, a course in media law and
ethics taught by Greenwald.
“In our class, we’re trying to make it
practical,” he said. “They’re not lawyers,
and they’re not training to be lawyers —
but they need to know enough about
media law to know when they need a
lawyer!”
Looking forward, Greenwald is
particularly excited about two aspects
of Wagner’s media management MBA
program.
“For their capstone project, our
students will come up with a business
plan for a media venture — and then
they’ll work on getting it launched,”
Greenwald said.
“And we have some very solid
international content programmed into
this MBA, with weeklong intensive
seminars abroad. Students can study at
Israel’s Kibbutzim College of Education
or the HFF München in Germany, one
of the 15 best film schools in the world.”
F A L L
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�Upon the Hill
The Women’s Executive Perspective
Alumnae speak about the triumphs and challenges of corporate success
LEADING WOMEN Kathleen Haggerty ’80,
Cynthia DiBartolo ’84, Lisa Bennett ’85,
Mary Caracappa ’82, and Joan Arnold ’75
all serve in executive positions at major
financial corporations and law offices.
WHILE FEMINISM may have “conquered
the culture,” as a recent New Republic
cover story proclaimed, the discussion
about women’s equality is far from over.
One new effort to promote women’s
leadership in the workplace is the Take
the Lead organization, co-founded by
Gloria Feldt and Amy Litzenberger, a
former investment banker (connected to
Wagner College via her husband, Robert
Litzenberger ’64).
On the public launch date of Take
the Lead, February 19, a panel of five
Wagner women graduates who have
been highly successful in the corporate
world spoke to a packed audience in the
Manzulli Board Room of Foundation
Hall.
All five talked about how their
careers have evolved. “It’s a fascinating
industry,” said Mary Caracappa ’82,
managing director for firm strategy and
execution at Morgan Stanley, where
she has worked since 1986. “I’ve been
afforded so many different types of
roles.”
Kathleen Haggerty ’80, vice president
of global credit for American Express,
has had a similar experience, having
held leadership roles in correspondent
banking, collections management, global
rewards, and global data. “I have
re-engineered myself out of a job several
times,” she said.
Cynthia DiBartolo ’84, a political
science major, left college with a desire to
work on Wall Street. She left after being
told that she had been hired because she
was “easy on the eye.” She entered law
school, and ended up becoming director
of corporate compliance for Citigroup.
Now she runs her own company, Tigress
Financial Partners.
Lisa Bennett ’85, executive director
of communications for technology and
digital business at J.P. Morgan Chase &
Co., said that women are forced to make
choices between family priorities or
workplace advancement. “You can’t have
it all,” she said. “The women I respect
make their choices and are happy with
them.”
Bennett’s comment sparked a
discussion about whether workplaces
‘She Touched
Countless Students’
Professor Janice Buddensick dies at age 59
are becoming more accommodating to
both men’s and women’s commitments
to family. “There’s been a generational
shift,” argued Caracappa. “This next
generation is going to radically change
all these horror stories we’re talking
about. Firms have to figure out how to
balance lifestyles and career cycles in
order to retain women and men.”
Joan Arnold ’75, a partner and chair
of the tax practice group with Pepper
Hamilton LLP in Philadelphia, said that
the discussion of women in leadership
roles needs to be conducted with the
male leaders at the table as well. “The
senior male leadership of the firm has
to be there and deal with the barriers to
women’s leadership,” she said.
With the help of these alumnae,
Wagner has started a Women’s
Professional Network for students.
In October, DiBartolo hosted the
students in her office.
“For me, the biggest takeaways were
her personal story and career tips,” said
Arijeta Lajka ’15, one of the student
participants. “She almost died of cancer,
and she still managed to rise again and
build up a company. She also taught
us how important diversity is in the
workforce: Diversity of different races
and also diversity of talent are needed to
build a successful company.”
since the previous fall semester.
“It is a very sad day for the Wagner College community,” said
John Carrescia ’99 M’06, interim CFO and adjunct accounting
professor. “Janice was my faculty adviser many years ago, and
has had such an impact on my teaching career. She touched
countless students and will be deeply missed by so many of us.”
THE WAGNER community was deeply saddened to hear of the
death of Janice Buddensick, associate professor of accounting,
on September 20, 2014. She had been on leave for health reasons
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
Read more about Janice Buddensick’s life and service to the College
on page 43.
�{
“The nice thing about environmental
writing … is that you can start to get at the
question of, ‘Who’s right? Where does the
weight of the evidence lie?’”
Quote
Unquote
7
Dan Fagin
2014 Pulitzer
Prize Winner,
at the 2014
KaufmanRepage Lecture
}
The wall is now impervious to Nor’easters with new brickwork and mortar.
6
2
New internal risers and fan coils in each room have greatly improved the building’s HVAC system.
Kathleen’s mother breeds champion show pugs.
7
2
6
3
4
5
1
WHAT’S INSIDE
Harborview Hall, Room 613
of service, Harborview
Hall underwent major renovations
last summer to make it watertight and
energy-efficient. Here’s a glimpse into
one room and its residents.
AFTER DECADES
1
Kathleen Thieme ’18 of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who loves music, dance, and science.
3
4
5
Nicole Farkouh ’18, a physician assistant major, wasn’t at home, but the wall art that she created shows her personality.
Nicole keeps a live mint plant in the windowsill (all new throughout the building) for her tea.
One of the 400 new double-pane, energy-efficient windows installed this summer.
Photograph: shaowei wang
F A L L
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�Upon the Hill
{
Quote
Unquote
“Here, I have met Africa, the [Africa] I have
always believed in. She’s beautiful.
She’s young. She’s full of talent and
motivation and ambition.”
A Quiet Friend
Estate gift establishes a sizable endowment for
student scholarships
how sometimes your
quietest friends can turn out to be your
best friends?
That’s how it was with the late Helen
Raminger Abichandani ’54 and her
alma mater, Wagner College.
For many years, while the Bronx
native lived in California, she did
not maintain an active connection to
the campus where she had studied
to become a teacher. But she never
forgot the College or her gratitude to
her parents for supporting her Wagner
education.
Abichandani moved to California
for the sunny weather, says Joni Magee,
who knew her late in her life while
serving as her case manager at Siegel &
Associates. Tall, striking, and elegant,
she was also funny, outspoken, and
talkative, Magee recalls.
She taught elementary school. “Her
former students kept up with her for
years,” Magee says. “She was funny, and
YOU KNOW
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
I’m sure she made her classes fun.”
She married Krishin Abichandani,
an aeronautical engineer who
immigrated to the United States from
India. They lived in the Hollywood
Hills in a striking Mid- Century
Modern home.
Helen began reconnecting with
Wagner College in 1999, attending her
first class reunion. Krishin died shortly
after that visit, and Helen continued to
enjoy Wagner events, even an alumni
cruise on the Queen Mary II.
Former alumni director Gail Kelley
’97 and President Guarasci also visited
her in Los Angeles, and she spoke with
them about her desire to use her estate
to boost her favorite cause, education, at
Wagner College.
Helen Abichandani passed away on
February 25, 2013, one day short of her
80th birthday. Her Hollywood Hills
friends organized her memorial service
at the Unitarian Universalist Church
Sobel Ngom
A Mandela
Washington
Fellow from
Senegal, at
Wagner for a
summer seminar
}
A PASSION FOR EDUCATION
The late Helen Raminger
Abichandani ’54 moved to
California years ago but never
forgot her gratitude to her parents
and to Wagner College.
of Studio City. “She was an incredibly
wonderful and generous soul,” says her
former neighbor, Shane Nguyen. “I miss
her dearly.”
Her estate plans included an
$868,000 gift to Wagner College to
establish an endowed scholarship in
memory of her parents, William and
Erna Raminger. Polish immigrants of
German descent, they worked hard
to make sure their only child received
the gift of education. Neither of
them graduated from high school, but
William built a successful auto parts
business in the Bronx, and even held a
patent on an antiglare headlight.
Inspired by her parents, Helen
Abichandani is passing along the gift of
education to future Wagner students.
As many as five students per year will
benefit from the William and Erna
Raminger Scholarship Fund.
�}
{
The
Answer
QU i Z qu e st ion
on pag e 7
Groups of 2–3 deer have been seen crossing
campus frequently this year. The New York City
Parks Department estimated the Staten Island
deer population at almost 800 as of early 2014.
‘The Wagnerian’ at 80
Current staffers of the student newspaper take lessons from the past
student newspaper,
The Wagnerian, turned 80 years old
on November 8, 2014. From political
movements to campus tragedies, The
Wagnerian has been through it all, giving
students the opportunity to voice their
thoughts and report the news.
This year, the venerable journal
even received its first accolade from
the Princeton Review, earning a top-20
college newspaper listing.
To celebrate the anniversary, editors
rummaged through the archives to create
an issue highlighting The Wagnerian over
the decades.
Working through the 1950s issues,
Sports Editor Grace Zhang ’15 pointed
out the cigarette ads, gossip columns,
and the dean’s list, which are no longer
Wagnerian fare.
Co-Editor Erik Parshall ’15 drew
attention to how The Wagnerian took
stances on major political issues over the
years, such as racial justice in the 1960s
and the Watergate scandal in the 1970s.
Throughout Wagnerian history, the
WAGNER COLLEGE’S
Photograph: Olivia Pea
campus has been the biggest topic of
all, with perennial coverage focusing on
issues with the College administration,
food in the dining hall, and campus life
policies.
“What separates The Wagnerian from
other news is that we talk about Wagner,
which is more relevant to students.
Students are excited to see their names
in the paper and are excited to know
that somebody’s listening,” Co-Editor
Audriana Mekula ’14 explained.
Parshall said that looking through
old issues inspired him to feature more
stories on major social and political issues.
“There was more open conversation
back then,” he noted. “In one issue, a
pregnant girl wrote about her experiences
being pregnant on campus and how it
affected her mental state. I think that’s
fantastic.
“I want to run stories that will stand
the test of time, as the cliché goes,” he
added.
— Arijeta Lajka ’16,
Wagnerian contributor
}
Gustav Klimt:
Why Not ‘Degenerate’?
Duke University’s lecture series “Art,
Conflict, and the Politics of Memory”
featured Wagner art history professor
Laura Morowitz this November.
Her subject: an exhibition of Gustav
Klimt’s works staged by Vienna’s Nazi
governor, Baldur von Schirach, in 1943.
Blogging about the Neue Galerie’s
“Degenerate Art” exhibition earlier
this year, Morowitz explained how
Klimt, a product of fin de siècle Vienna,
escaped the Nazis’ “degenerate” label,
despite his provocative style and his
prominent Jewish patrons.
One example of why Nazi cultural
officials accepted Klimt’s work is his
Beethoven Frieze (detail seen below).
“Klimt’s frieze hails the triumph
of idealism over materialism, an
idea often found in Nazi aesthetics,”
she explained. “The rescuing knight
around whom the frieze revolves can
easily be read as a proto-Fuhrer figure,
leading his people to a higher realm.”
On the other hand, Klimt’s sensual
subject matter made his work suspect
to many. Von Schirach took a risk,
promoting the Klimt retrospective as
an example of the glories of Germanic
art, Morowitz said, and erasing their
connections to the Jewish community.
Morowitz is teaching an honors
course, Art and Aesthetics in Nazi
Germany, next semester. She is also at
work on a novel about Klimt’s art and
cultural legacy.
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�#Awareness
Student leaders find their way at Wagner
and mentor the next generation
R
ace is an undeniable force in American society.
This summer, it was brought to the fore by the
tragic deaths of several African-American men and
boys, including Staten Island’s own Eric Garner, in violent
encounters with white policemen.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
Photograph: anna mulé
�a predominantly black and Hispanic
public high school in Poughkeepsie,
New York.
Wagner Magazine:
How did you decide to
come to Wagner College?
Kerri Alexander: Well, I knew I wanted
to be in New York City. When I visited
Wagner, I thought, “Wow, this campus
is beautiful!” and I knew I wanted to
be here.
Jarrid Williams: I am a football
player, and I had a few scholarship offers
from different schools. When I visited
campus, I got sold on the “family” feel
of Wagner. My little brother sat with a
vice president at the basketball game,
front row. Everyone knew who everyone
was, the president knew the names of
kids all over campus — and that was a
completely different feel than what I got
from any other college.
WM: Once you enrolled,
what was it like? Was there
any culture shock?
Like many predominantly white
colleges, Wagner College has had its
share of challenges over white privilege
and diversity. Fortunately, Wagner
has also had some extraordinary
students who have led us in an ongoing
conversation about social justice and
civic engagement.
Wagner Magazine talked recently
with two of those student leaders,
seniors Kerri Alexander and Jarrid
Williams. Kerri came to Wagner
from a Catholic high school in West
Hartford, Connecticut. Jarrid attended
JW: The makeup of the student body
here was quite a culture shock for me,
coming from Poughkeepsie High. The
only people at Wagner who looked like
me were my teammates. You would go
to class and look around, and you would
be the only person who looked like
you — it almost made you feel like “the
other.” My high school wasn’t the best
— we had a ridiculous graduation rate,
something like 52 percent — so when I
started to get into college classes, I was
nervous. I didn’t want to be the guy that
answers the question wrong and have
people think, “Wow, look at that stupid
black kid,” so I stayed to myself. I hung
out with the other football players, and I
wasn’t open to other students for my first
couple of years.
And then, “the Wagner way” kind
of pulled me onto the right track. I
say “Wagner way” because I think Dr.
Guarasci has created a good atmosphere
and put the right people in place to
help you become a leader. Sam Siegel
[Samantha Siegel ’12 M’13, director
of the Center for Leadership and
Community Engagement] taught one
of my education classes, and I started to
meet with her outside of class. I started
to gain more confidence in myself, and
I met some of the other students in the
civic engagement program who helped
me, people like Kerri.
Before, I was just getting by. I was the
football player, an athlete here at Wagner
College, but civic engagement helped me
create a new identity for myself, a civic
identity, and a sense of community. I felt
empowered enough to talk over things
I thought were problematic, things that
we can change. … That’s why I think
President Guarasci did a good job of
putting people in place, because we have
a lot of young leaders here who are active
enough to change things and to really
have their own voice — to speak up for
what they believe in.
KA: My story is very similar to Jarrid’s. I
spent my first two years here very much
on the outskirts of the social scene. My
two or three best friends were people I
met in my first-year learning community.
We weren’t the same race. That didn’t
mean we couldn’t be friends — but,
being the only black woman in this
group, it was difficult to feel valid in
those relationships — and they were the
only ones I had. After that, I decided, “I
think I will be on my own for a little bit,”
just because it’s hard to feel “heard” when
you’re the outsider of the group.
And then Dr. Guarasci stepped in.
He was my teacher during my freshman
year; he always knew my name when we
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�ran into each other on campus, and he
would always say hello. Toward the end of
my second year at Wagner, I went to him
and said, “I don’t know what I am doing
here.” He introduced me to Samantha
and many other people who helped me
examine what I wanted to do and the type
of person I wanted to become. Once I
clarified that for myself, I started attracting
people who needed to be in my life, and
vice versa. We had such similar goals and
values. Some of them looked like me and
had the same textured hair as me, and
some of them didn’t — but they were
the people I was able to connect with,
regardless of who they were. And I made
those connections through the help of Dr.
Guarasci and the people he put in place.
WM: Both of you have
become very active student
leaders in the past few years.
JW: I was one of the students involved in
starting a program for student athletes
on campus called MOVE — Motivate,
Overcome, Visualize and Empower — to
help them with the same process I had
gone through, finding their real identity
instead of just being “an athlete.” For the
past three summers, the student athletes
enrolled in MOVE spent 20 hours a week,
either working in the community or in
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
seminars on things like building a resume,
creating an elevator pitch, writing a cover
letter. The community work is with innercity children and youth at a boxing gym
run by a Staten Island nonprofit. Through
boxing, we were able to build relationships
with those kids, a mentor kind of thing.
For me to see that, and to know that’s
where I was once — it’s re-energizing
for me.
I’ve also been involved with the Black
Student Union all four years I’ve been
at Wagner, and this year I became BSU
president. I felt that our black students
needed more, and I wanted to take
that role and work my butt off to
change things.
KA: During my sophomore year, I
started working with Unified Theater, a
performing arts program that promotes
inclusion by bringing people together
through theater productions — people
with disabilities, traditional students,
everyone. And when Dr. Guarasci
introduced me to Sam Siegel, she got
me involved in something similar in Port
Richmond. With help from community
partners and allies like Imagining
America, Project Hospitality, and El
Centro del Inmigrante, we conduct a
theater workshop and put together a
show that tackles social justice issues. Last
year, we covered interracial relationships;
this year, we covered gun violence — all
from the perspective of Port Richmond,
a predominantly black and Hispanic
community. It’s been such a great
experience to work with them and to
merge creativity with democracy and
citizenship and what it means to be part of
a community.
And two years ago, I helped start a
student organization called My Sistah’s
Keeper, an activism and mentorship
program for women of color. It grew out
of the challenges of being both a student
and a woman of color. We wanted to
create that space on campus where the
female student of color could feel, “You’re
valid, you’re empowered, your dreams are
accepted and beautiful.” And to pass that
on, we started mentoring students in the
nearby Park Hill housing project — we
brought books with main characters of
color and held workshops and had a lot of
fun with the students. I am in my second
year as MSK president, and I hope that we
can do some great things in the time we
have left this year.
WM: The Black Student
Union and My Sistah’s
Keeper were both part of
Wagner’s response last
spring to a campus incident
�that, for many of us, had
insensitive racial overtones.
Photos taken at a party
sponsored by two campus
Greek organizations were
posted on Instagram. The
white students’ photos
featured captions that were
meant to be humorous,
but made fun of the terms
“African” and “African
American.”
KA: That was kind of the last straw for
a lot of people, because it wasn’t the
only thing that has happened. As in any
community, black and other minority
students at Wagner face small racial
indignities, microaggressions, all the
time. I think that, because this was so
high-profile, it kind of made everyone
wake up, it made everyone say, “Okay,
this is actually happening, and we are not
doing what we thought we were doing; we
are not being mindful or aware.” That’s
when BSU and MSK came together and
started the #Awareness campaign, which
asked everyone to just be aware of each
other and our differences and accept
one another — and be aware that not
everyone has the same experiences as
you, so they may not know what might
offend you. We organized two long group
discussions over Awareness Weekend
and from that, bigger conversations
began. We started proposing an
awareness component in the orientation
program, and a space on campus where
students can feel comfortable expressing
themselves.
JW: It’s like Martin Luther King Jr. once
said: “A man can’t ride you unless your
back is bent.” After the posting of those
pictures this spring, the black people on
campus stood up and said, “We’re not
going to tolerate this. We are going to
take action for ourselves.” The voice that
we struggled to find, a lot of people felt
was controversial and adversarial, but it
empowered a lot of people to speak and
come out of their shells and get involved
on campus. It was kind of hard at first to
see how challenging this climate was for
black and other minority students, but it
was great to go through the process and
finally be able to say, “Now we know, we’re
aware of it,” instead of trying to escape or
hide from the realities that are happening.
We are aware of this; and now the
question is, “What can we do together?”
That’s how a lot of programs like this start
forming, get their legs; people had been
thinking about them, they were in the
works, but to get started they just needed
that extra push.
WM: You two worked with
Campus Life Dean Curtis
Wright this summer on a
new mentorship program,
LEAD, to help first-year
students of color at Wagner
find a place for themselves.
How did you and Dean
Wright come up with
LEAD?
KA: Every year there are students
coming to Wagner College from different
backgrounds, experiencing the culture
shock of being the only African-American
or Latino student in a class, and we’ve
been there. In LEAD, we tell our mentees,
“What you say matters, and it’s OK to
speak up for yourself.” There are a lot
of people who don’t have a seat at the
decision-making table; the Jarrids and the
Kerris are sitting at that table, and behind
them are a bunch of people they have to
represent. We are trying to say to them,
“No, you can come, too, and you should
be here. You are valid; you are worth it.”
JW: We talk about being the only black
kid in the classroom — and that’s an
experience that’s probably hard for
someone else to imagine: being the token
black, and having to speak not only for
yourself but for all the black kids who
have the capacity but don’t have the seat
you have in that classroom. That decisionmaking table Kerri spoke of — if you’re
not at the table, then you’re on the menu.
That’s what it ultimately comes down to.
In LEAD, older minority students share
their experiences with younger minority
students about things like this, and that
helps them see those experiences in a
positive light.
RELATED VIDEOS on
wagner.edu/wagnermagazine
•
New York 1 television news interview with
Kerri Alexander, Jarrid Williams, and Provost
Lily McNair following the Staten Island grand
jury’s decision not to indict a police officer in
the death of Eric Garner.
•
Seeds of Change documentary by Brian Morris
’65, about an earlier generation of student
leaders and their campaign to make Wagner
College more inclusive.
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�
Where is higher education headed?
By Laura Barlament
As the nation debates the value of college
education, Wagner College and the university
associations to which it belongs are continuing to
develop educational quality while also expanding
accessibility and vigorously defending the core
principles of liberal education.
P
resident Guarasci, for one,
is worried about the state of
the conversation in the public
sphere. “Where is higher education
going?” he asked rhetorically in an
interview with Wagner Magazine.
“We hear about online learning,
people sitting around in their pajamas
and never meeting anybody. Where will
people learn about diversity? Where will
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
they learn about citizenship, being
an engaged citizen in a democracy?
Where are all the social and affective
pieces? How do you build a strong,
vibrant democracy? How do you
build teamwork? Where are students
going to develop ethical values?
That bothers me.”
Over the past year, we listened in on
the conversation in a couple of venues:
the annual meeting of the Association
of American Colleges & Universities
(AAC&U) last January, and a Wagner
College symposium held in October.
The discussions were challenging
and exciting — just as you might hope
and expect from the people who drive
so much innovation and discovery and
development of the next generation in
our society.
�An Efficiency Problem?
A
giant hotel conference room
gradually begins to fill at
the opening session of the
Association of American College &
University’s annual conference.
I introduce myself to a woman sitting
near me. “My name is Funke Fontenot,”
she says. “I’m a dean at Georgia College
in Milledgeville, Georgia.”
Why is she here? I ask. “This is one
of the major conferences on higher
education,” she tells me. “It’s where the
conversation is happening, and I want to
be a part of the conversation.”
When Debra Humphreys, AAC&U’s
vice president for policy and public
engagement, kicks off the session by
announcing, “This is the 100th meeting
of the AAC&U,” a few “woots!” are
heard from the audience. The attendees
represent 45 states, she says, and the
attendance may be the biggest on
record.
“We’re all here seeking to work
together for a shared purpose, to make
sure today’s college students get the
quality college education they need,” she
says, adding that the AAC&U recently
expanded its mission to encompass
extending the advantages of liberal
education to all students, in all the
sectors of higher education.
And it is this issue — access to
and affordability of high-quality
education — that haunts many of the
conversations at this conference.
Introducing the opening panel, Scott
Jaschik, editor of the widely read website
Inside Higher Ed, asked the crowd,
“How many here think that higher
education has a quality problem?”
Only a few people raised their hands.
But when he asked, “How many here
think that higher education has an
efficiency problem?”, many more hands
were raised.
The Way of the ‘Ugly Ducklings’
I
n a panel discussion the
next day, I heard about an
association of colleges that is
working to preserve residential liberal
education through a “provocative” (to use
President Guarasci’s word) new model of
collaboration.
Wagner is one of the 22 institutions
in the New American Colleges &
Universities (NAC&U), a national
coalition of small-to-medium-sized
schools dedicated to the “purposeful
integration of liberal education,
professional studies, and civic
engagement.”
Once lovingly called “the ugly
ducklings of higher education,” colleges
and universities of this type started
banding together 20 years ago. Now
they are seriously starting to break
down institutional walls and offer more
opportunities to their students and
faculty throughout the network, while
preserving their individuality.
“We’re creating a new and innovative
type of academic community,” said
Thomas Kazee, president of the
University of Evansville. He compared
the association to a free trade zone,
creating access to resources that one
institution alone can’t provide.
Already, the association shares special
programs for students, such as study
abroad programs and also “study away”
programs — a domestic version of
experiencing a different campus with
different resources, specialties, and
opportunities.
“This collaboration is a better
response to the crisis facing colleges than
increasing competition and stratification,”
said Guarasci.
The College of the Future
N
ext up, a thought experiment:
It is 10 years in the future,
January 2024. A generous
alum has made it possible to restart
Able College, a residential liberal arts
college that has failed. You have free
rein to design a new program to develop
students’ critical thinking and problemsolving, communications, intercultural
competence, and teamwork — but
the tuition can’t exceed $60,000 for
the entire program, and a four-year
residential degree would cost a minimum
of $104,000. What would you do? What
is your new business plan?
In this “flipped session” led by Richard
Holmgren, vice president for information
services and planning at Allegheny
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�College, everyone in attendance gathered
into small groups around the tables in the
room to form a mock leadership team for
the new Able College.
My team brought together professors
and administrators from real universities,
both public and private, co-educational
and single-sex, in New York, Alabama,
Rhode Island, and California. Despite
this diversity of backgrounds, the
conversation was soon bubbling with a
plan for a three-year, intensive degree
program. Three semesters’ worth of
studies would be completed each year. A
transformative first-year program should
kick it off, they agreed, immersing the
students in the local community. Next,
all students would leave campus for
internships or co-op programs, overseen
by faculty. Finally, the students would
return to campus for their capstone year
and another culminating project serving
the local community.
As all of the groups in the room
presented their business plans, the idea
of reducing the time spent completing
the degree was a common thread, as was
incorporating local service and work as a
part of the educational experience.
I left the room thinking that, whether
or not any of these business plans could
work, the idea of “flipping” the conference
room activities is great: problem-solving
with a group is more fun and inspiring
than listening to someone else give you
the answers.
Responding to Disruption
W
agner College has long been
a leader in developing new
trends in undergraduate
education that have become widely
adopted across the higher education
landscape. Now, the College is
considering the next phase.
The faculty took one day of the
College’s fall break in October for an
Innovation Celebration — a symposium
by and for Wagner professors to share the
latest methods in teaching and learning.
President Richard Guarasci kicked off
the day by noting, “We’re at an interesting
point in higher education. We’re at a
moment of what the business folks would
call disruption.”
Technological change and economic
uncertainty is driving colleges to
reconsider and adapt what they do.
But at Wagner, innovation and
adaptation — around a core set of
principles embodied in the College’s
signature curriculum, the Wagner Plan
for the Practical Liberal Arts — is a way
of life.
“In my time here,” Guarasci said, “we’ve
always risen as a faculty and staff to say,
‘OK, what do we need to do next? How
do we take this [Wagner Plan] model and
tweak it or reform it?’ And we’re at that
point again.”
The core principles, according
to Guarasci, are “active learning,
experiential learning, collaborative
learning, and interdisciplinary learning.”
Throughout the day, more than 40
faculty, staff, and even a few students,
presented posters, videos, discussions, and
talks about classroom projects, avenues
of collaboration, assessment studies,
effective use of teaching technologies,
and other aspects of their teaching and
scholarly work.
Multifaceted Learning
M
any of the projects presented
at Wagner’s Innovation
Celebration encompassed an
amazingly broad range of constituencies
and communities to create rich learning
experiences.
Take, for example, the chemistry
research summer program for Port
Richmond High School students
presented by Nicholas Richardson,
associate professor of chemistry and
department chair.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
It started with a chemistry major of
long ago: Clarence A. Faires ’46, who
worked for Exxon for many years.
He and his wife, Anna R. Faires,
designated a portion of their estate for
the improvement of Wagner’s chemistry
department. That endowment fund now
provides about $20,000 per year for the
department to use for special projects.
For the past several years, Richardson
has been thinking about involving the
department more in the Port Richmond
Partnership, the college-community
collaboration focused on a single Staten
Island neighborhood with great economic,
educational, and health needs. He
envisioned a summer program that would
expose high school students to advanced
laboratory research and give Wagner
students valuable mentoring experience.
In 2014, he launched the program.
For three weeks, four students from
Port Richmond High School lived on
campus and worked every day in the lab
�under the supervision of Mohammad
Alauddin, professor of chemistry and an
internationally known expert in the field
of environmental pollution.
Their focus was on Alauddin’s
specialty: the problem of water
contamination in Bangladesh. The high
school students analyzed water samples
collected by Alauddin’s research team,
using advanced tests and instrumentation.
To bring their learning back home, they
also did field tests on water samples in
Staten Island.
Two senior chemistry majors guided
the high school students in the lab.
Another Wagner student, who is a
member of the Bonner Leaders program,
provided co-curricular activities and
supervision.
This past summer, Wagner College
also launched another summer program
for Port Richmond students: a leadership
academy for potential first-generation
college students, which combined a
community-focused internship with
instruction in writing and math.
Integration of the summer chemistry
research program with this leadership
academy is under discussion,
Richardson said.
Intelligent Redesign
T
he one non-Wagner speaker
at the Innovation Symposium
was Carol Geary Schneider,
president of the Association of American
Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
She admitted at the outset of her keynote
speech that much of what she and
her organization have learned and are
promoting as the best model of college
education came from Wagner College.
And, she said, “the next frontier in
higher education” is also to be found at
Wagner College.
The AAC&U promotes the ideal of
“liberal education” — an education that
provides broad knowledge, cultivates the
“power of the mind,” and promotes civic,
social, and ethical responsibility. “These
goals are worth fighting for, in a moment
when higher education is besieged by
a narrow, reductionist, instrumentalist
conception of why people go to college,”
she emphasized.
Added to those goals is another
essential learning outcome of the 21st
century: integrative and applied learning.
“It’s what students can do with their
knowledge that makes it an empowering
education,” Schneider said.
The AAC&U has also studied and
defined techniques for achieving these
liberal education outcomes: “high-impact
educational practices” such as the firstyear seminars, learning communities,
service learning, and internships that are
hallmarks of the Wagner Plan.
But now, Schneider said, a new vision
is emerging that ties together all of these
learning outcomes and high-impact
practices: “an intelligent redesign of the
undergraduate experience,” she said. “And
it’s all here — you were pioneers in it —
it’s a notion of a cornerstone-to-capstone
form to the curriculum.”
In other words, the new thrust of liberal
education is to help students better tie
together all that they are learning, to
provide themes that thread throughout all
parts of the students’ educational journey,
and to promote student involvement in
answering the big, real-world questions
that they want to solve.
Specifically, this new frontier requires
rethinking the general education portion
In summary, Richardson said, the
summer chemistry research program
provided invaluable mentoring
experience for Wagner students, critical
research experience for Port Richmond
High School students, and engagement
with the Port Richmond Partnership for
the chemistry department.
“And it exposed more people to
science,” he concluded — not as an
abstraction, but as a hands-on, real-world,
problem-solving experience.
of the curriculum and making it as
vital and meaningful to the students
as their major.
In a reflective session that concluded
the day, the Wagner faculty started
thinking creatively about ways that the
whole educational experience could
be redesigned to make it even more
meaningful for students. Ideas included
having students from different disciplines
write on a common theme, holding a
senior conference on a common topic,
and threading themes into the general
education curriculum.
“Great ideas to further explore,
discuss, and pursue,” said Mary Lo Re, a
business professor who has been named
Wagner’s new dean of adult education and
extension programs, and who organized
the symposium.
The symposium grew out of the
work of a faculty committee on teaching,
learning, value and cost; that group, as
well as a special committee on general
education requirements, will keep
the conversations going on these
important topics.
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�
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
�From stained glass
to beverage design,
Cliff Oster ’69 is a
man who ‘just knows
what goes together.’
Intuitively.
BY LAURA BARLAMENT
Evidently I must have
a good palate,” says
Cliff Oster ’69. That’s
his modest explanation
of how he became intimately involved
in formulating the debut flavors of
Vitaminwater — a drink that became
a sensational success and changed the
beverage industry.
Pressed for an example of his flavor
sensitivity, he tells this story: He was
at an internationally renowned flavor
company, tasting one of the beverage
products he was helping to develop.
He took a sip and declared, “The taste
isn’t clean enough. Just add one drop of
lemon juice concentrate.” The flavor
experts scoffed. One drop added to a
batch? “No one can tell if that one drop
is in there or not,” they replied.
“Yes, I can,” he said, and accepted a
challenge to test his taste buds. The staff
brought him four samples of the drink,
one of which had a single drop of lemon
juice concentrate added to the batch.
Oster picked it out of the lineup.
Still not convinced, they gave him
another test. They made four batches
of another drink with a completely
different flavor, one of which contained a
single drop of lemon juice concentrate.
Oster tasted all four, and picked the
one with the added lemon. The flavor
experts scoffed no longer.
“
I believe in intuition,” says
Oster. And it’s no wonder he
does — his career has taken
some extraordinary twists and turns.
The Wagner history major grew up in
a blue-collar family in Farmingdale,
Long Island. An aspiring attorney, he
became a top debater for the College
team. But instead of going to law school
after college, he worked as a buyer for a
department store, and then as a teacher,
earning his master’s in history at night.
Along the way, he got into stained
glass making, and invented one of the
world’s foremost silver stains, used by
prominent stained glass artists around
the world to create rich, vibrant gold
colors. He procured materials for a
manufacturer of aluminum ladders,
and natural ingredients for a pioneering
natural-juices company, After The
Fall. He ended up becoming famed
entrepreneur Darius Bikoff ’s right-hand
man as he created the international
phenomenon Vitaminwater.
F A L L
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�COLOR PALETTE Cliff Oster makes his silver stain at his home in rural New Hampshire. The late stained glass artist Dick Millard created this
“Salesman Sample” to demonstrate the color range and vibrancy of Oster’s Ancient Walpole stain, from a soft yellow to a deep amber.
But this man who helped make some
of the hippest beverages on the market
really values old-timiness: He collects
painted glass lamps from the early
20th century, restores rare vintage cars,
writes about the homespun wisdom of
his elders, and makes music on wooden
flutes. And, he believes in liberal arts
education.
C
liff Oster lives with his wife,
Marcia, in a lovely, light-filled
house on a hilltop in rural New
Hampshire — her family’s ancestral
farm — where a visitor can marvel at the
pristine view of green fields, forests, and
mountains.
Wearing a Panama hat and a white
linen shirt, Oster serves his visitor
neither juice nor nutrient-enhanced
water. Instead, he offers a rich and
fragrant cup of coffee, with beans he
roasts himself in small batches and grinds
to perfection. He brews the drink in a
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
1940s Chemex coffeemaker, immersing
the beans in water for 90 seconds before
letting it drip. “The beans get wet and
release a lot of flavor,” he explains.
During a consulting trip to coffee
plantations in Guatemala, he found
out that Chemex is the preferred
coffeemaker of the most astute coffee
buyers. Because of his reputation in the
beverage industry, he often receives
requests for help from entrepreneurs
seeking to make the next hit beverage
— especially health-related ones. On this
trip, Oster was looking into the idea of
creating a beverage out of the luscious,
highly perishable fruit of the coffee tree.
(Coffee beans are actually the seeds of
this fruit.) He didn’t have enough time
to spend on the experimentation that
would be required for such an endeavor,
he says, “but I learned about coffee!”
Oster’s ability to tackle a task with
minimal previous knowledge and make
himself into a noted expert in the field is
legendary. Mark Panely, the founder of
After The Fall Beverages, still wonders at
his former employee’s achievements.
“Cliff is one of the best, if not the best
beverage purchaser I’ve ever encountered
in 37 years in the business,” says Panely.
“He was brilliant at it. But, when he
applied for the job, his resume showed
me nothing to believe that he was
qualified for the job.”
At that point, in 1991, Oster was in
charge of purchasing for White Metal
Rolling and Stamping in Walpole, New
Hampshire. Its main business was
producing aluminum ladders for Sears.
Through a combination of charm and
persistence, Oster persuaded Panely to
hire him as the purchasing director of
the beverage company, located in nearby
Brattleboro, Vermont. And Panely never
regretted it.
“I feel like Christopher Columbus
discovering a diamond in the rough,”
says Panely, enthusiastically mixing his
P H OTO G R A P H : J I M G I P E
�metaphors. “I believe he’s a genius in
some form, by virtue of his extraordinary
intuition and knowledge of people.”
Through his skills in relationshipbuilding and his attention to the details of
every deal, says Panely, Oster helped After
The Fall get better prices on the highestquality ingredients, packaging materials,
and manufacturing contracts. While
traveling extensively to do research on the
company’s purchases and manufacturing
processes, Oster also started developing
his palate.
“Beverages are created not just on
taste,” says Panely, who is a trained
chemist. “There is a science behind it.
Clifford just jumped on the science.
And, I wanted to teach him more to
make him a better
purchaser.” One of the
fundamental aspects of
beverage formulation
is the balance of
sweetness and tartness,
known as the brix/
acid ratio. “He got very
good at it and took it
and made it his own,”
Panely says.
Oster was an integral
part of the team during
the company’s best
years, says Panely. This
success led to Oster’s
being out of a job: a
bigger competitor,
Smucker, acquired
the small, entrepreneurial company in
1994. Most of the staff of After The Fall,
including Oster, were laid off.
by Darius Bikoff, founder of an innovative
beverage company known as Glaceau
and Energy Brands. It was the late 1990s,
and Bikoff was just starting a new venture
called Vitaminwater. It was an idea whose
time had come, as consumers were
becoming more and more conscious of
the nutritional content of their food and
drinks. The FDA’s nutrition facts label
had been implemented in 1992. Now,
drinks formerly considered healthful, such
as the natural juice products of companies
like After The Fall, were seen in a more
negative light because they were high in
calories and sugar.
Bikoff hired Oster as his director of
operations and explained his new concept
to him: To add vitamins to water in a
“
doing quality control on the positioning
of the labels.
Oster says he doesn’t remember the
exact discussions about how they chose
the flavors; but “everybody knew that
we were all about being natural, not too
sweet. And we insisted on good flavor,”
he says, with emphasis. “We were making
something that was healthy and had
benefits, but it had to taste good. So many
beverages now are not refreshing and
flavorful in a real way.”
According to Mark Panely, it was
Oster’s genius to experiment with
the expected sweetness content of a
beverage — the brix/acid ratio — and to
drastically reduce it while maintaining an
acceptable taste for American consumers.
“That was a radical
and brilliant move on
his part,” says Panely.
“He should be in the
beverage hall of fame.”
I said, ‘That’s a
home run; no, that’s
a grand slam.’
Everyone knows you
should take vitamins
and you should drink
water.
O
ster and some of his After The
Fall colleagues started their own
company. “It didn’t do well,”
Oster says. “We had great products, but
we didn’t know our way around the sales
world.” Oster also worked for Panely’s
second company, Journey Foods. But
then, he got a call from another of his old
colleagues.
Frank Bombaci, the former head of
sales for After The Fall, had been hired
”
drink that would be low-calorie and
flavorful. “I said, ‘That’s a home run;
no, that’s a grand slam,’” Oster recalls.
“Everyone knows you should take
vitamins and you should drink water.”
It became Oster’s mission to realize
Bikoff ’s vision. “From the very beginning,”
says Bombaci, “Cliff worked very closely
with Darius Bikoff, the founder, to
develop the idea of creating a great waterbased beverage that had nutrients and
great taste and a low sugar profile.” Oster
did everything from overseeing the flavor
formulation in the lab and making sure a
high-quality product was manufactured to
B
ikoff ’s
company
began to
grow exponentially
with the introduction
of Vitaminwater. Before
then, it had been doing
less than $1 million
in sales annually;
sales tripled annually
during each of the
following three years.
In 2007, six years after
Vitaminwater’s introduction, it was sold to
Coca-Cola.
Oster retired just before the CocaCola purchase. Since then, the company
and its signature beverage have come
under quite a bit of public criticism,
including two major lawsuits accusing
the company of deceptive marketing
practices. It’s now common to find
critiques of Vitaminwater’s sugar content
and marketing claims in the media.
What does Oster have to say about
these complaints? “I don’t know. I’m not a
critic,” he says. “But what we claimed was
in the bottle was in the bottle. If we said
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�there was 100 percent vitamin C in the
bottle, we put more in. Because vitamins
degrade over time, and we wanted to
make sure that consumers got what they
paid for. It was an ethical company right
from the beginning. Our goal was not to
make money and hoodwink people, but
to make a healthy beverage.”
Oster points out that Vitaminwater
was first sold in health food stores.
“People who go to those stores will read
and question labels, and we met their
expectations big time.”
O
ster’s colleagues in the beverage
industry admire him not only
because he was effective at his
job, but also because he is just a mensch,
a good guy with a great attitude and
sense of fun. “He always treated other
people with kindness and always handled
tense situations in a reasonable way,” says
Bombaci.
Bombaci also says that to understand
Cliff Oster, you have to know about his
work in a very different part of the human
endeavor: the world of stained glass art.
“I’m jealous of him creating those stains,”
says Bombaci. “Those are something
really special.”
The world’s foremost stained glass
artists agree.
John Kebrle, for example, has created
stained glass windows for 43 Hard Rock
Cafes around the globe, and each one of
them features the golden glow of Oster’s
Ancient Walpole stains. “The reason for
this is that Clifford’s stains are simply the
best available anywhere and have always
been so,” says Kebrle. “The others were
just not up to snuff.”
Another fan is John Reyntiens, one of
whose recent works was Queen Elizabeth’s
Diamond Jubilee window. This gift made
by the Houses of Parliament in 2012 is
the first new piece of permanent art to be
installed in Westminster Hall, the oldest
building of the English Parliamentary
Estate, since the Renaissance. It uses
about 1,500 pieces of glass to depict the
Queen’s coat of arms, and 60 percent of
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
‘DEPTH OF COLOR’ Oster’s Ancient Walpole silver stain captures the fall foliage
of the gingko tree in this piece designed and painted by Nikki Vogt, with the glass
cutting, leading, and building completed by Oster.
used the stain, and
“ He
everyone went nuts.
”
the window features the Ancient
Walpole stain.
“I’ve always used Clifford’s stain,” says
Reyntiens. “It’s the best I’ve used. You get
a really good consistency of shade. There
are cheaper alternatives, but I prefer not
to use them.”
Silver stain is distinct from other types
of color used in stained glass art. Whereas
most colors are paints that adhere to the
glass’s surface once fired, obscuring the
passage of light through glass, silver stain
actually “stains” the glass. (Hence the
name, “stained glass.”) Based on silver
nitrate, silver stain chemically bonds with
glass when fired and alters its molecular
make-up, creating a transparent color
that varies from yellow to gold to orange.
“Stain gives you another dimension of
color,” explains stained glass artist Paul
Coulaz of the famed Durhan Studios.
Oster learned the craft of stained glass
in the 1970s at Durhan Studios, then
located in Manhattan and owned by
Coulaz and the late Albinas Elskus. Oster
created his silver stain in 1983, a few years
after he had moved to New Hampshire
and established his own stained glass
studio. One day his teacher and friend,
Albinas Elskus, came for a visit and
showed him how to make silver stain and
fire it into glass, using an old kiln Oster
had refurbished.
“The first results … were mediocre,”
�Oster wrote about the experience.
“I knew that I could do better. After
reviewing our initial firings, I instinctively
knew what changes had to be made.”
Oster kept working on the formula,
aiming for maximum vibrancy. “I
somehow knew what to mix in, and in
what proportions,” he says. “And on
the very first experiment, I got it right.
The stain was named Ancient Walpole:
‘Walpole’ for the town of its creation,
and ‘Ancient’ because the depth of color
resembled stains from previous centuries.”
Elskus liked it so much that he used it in
his next commission, a series of windows
honoring Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the
first American Catholic saint, for her
namesake church in Shrub Oak, New
York. “He used the stain, and everyone
went nuts,” says Oster.
Word spread quickly. Over time, in
response to artists’ requests, he developed
two additional shades of silver stain,
Ancient Winchester and Ancient Lemon.
They were all featured in a 2010 book by
J. Kenneth Leap, Silver Stain: An Artist’s
Guide, which compared Oster’s stains
with others made in the U.S., Germany,
and France. Oster makes the stains at his
home in individually prepared batches.
are not
“ We
limited. You
hard work, have guided Oster far in
life. But there’s also one other factor.
“I attribute it to my liberal arts
education. At one time I doubted
it, but it’s prepared me to do a lot
of different things. My Wagner
liberal arts education gave me the
confidence to talk to anyone about
almost anything. It also introduced
me to the art of listening.
“I want people to value a liberal
arts education,” he continues. “It’s
almost like a religious feeling I have
about it now.”
And he jumps into his 1937
Starlight Blue Pontiac sedan
convertible, which he has been
painstakingly rebuilding over the past two
years, to guide his guest to the highway.
can do things
people don’t
expect you
to do.
”
See more examples of Ancient Walpole
stained glass, including the Queen’s Jubilee window, at
wagner.edu/wagnermagazine.
“
We are not limited,” Oster
insists. “You can do things
people don’t expect you to do.
Mark [Panely] called me ‘Lazarus Man’
because I’ve been up and down, and I
just get up and keep going. That’s a good
quality people need to have. Always move
forward. End of sermon for today.” And
he laughs, with two high-pitched wheezing
breaths.
Lately Oster has been working on
another new venture: writing a book.
“It’s about how to achieve a good life
based on things many of us learned as
kids,” he explains. “Like how my father
would say, ‘Anything worth doing is worth
doing well.’ Or my aunt, ‘A promise is a
promise.’”
Those words of homespun wisdom,
plus an absolute belief in intuition and
P H OTO G R A P H : J I M G I P E
JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT Oster, who played in an award-winning drum and bugle
corps as a boy, started collecting and playing wooden flutes when he traded a case
of Vitaminwater for one during a business trip to California.
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�Rooted in Grymes Hill
The history of Wagner trees helps to tell the College’s story in this place
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
�s in the book of
Genesis, a tree plays a
major role in Wagner
College’s creation story.
And our first
yearbook, published
in the spring of 1918,
serves as our bible.
It tells the story of how two
Lutheran pastors founded the
school in 1883 in Rochester, New
York. Next to a photo captioned
“The Old Apple Tree,” the editors
wrote, “This particular tree is
intimately connected with the
founding of our Alma Mater. . . . It
was in its shade that the venerable
patriarchs . . . often met to discuss
the project which was so dear to
the hearts of both.”
BY LEE MANCHESTER
THE UR-TREE In Wagner’s first yearbook, published
in 1918, the editors described the school’s founders
meeting under “The Old Apple Tree.”
P H OTO G R A P H : S H AOW E I WA N G
FA LL 2014
�BRANCHING OUT A limb of the Founders
Tree was used in Main Hall’s dedication.
That apple tree, known as the Founders
Tree to the early Wagner community,
continued to be a powerful symbol
throughout our early years on Staten
Island. According to the 1925 yearbook,
plans were even made “to transplant a
shoot of the tree on the Hill next year
with the hope that it will grow up as a
‘new Old Apple Tree.’” No record has
survived, however, of the success or failure
of those plans.
But that was not the end of the
Founders Tree in our early history. In
February 1930, a branch cut from that
tree was brought to Staten Island for
Main Hall’s dedication ceremonies. As
a church official handed the branch to
the College president and the trustee
chairman, “he admonished them to …
have Wagner grow in numbers and service
in the future as she has in the past since
the days of its humble beginning under
this old apple tree.”
I
t was no wonder that trees were
such powerful images in the
College’s early life on Staten Island,
considering that our first permanent
home in Rochester had been a single
three-story building on a tiny urban lot,
just a block away from the city’s busy
railroad yard. By comparison, Wagner’s
new home was a veritable park, “located
in a region of tranquil seclusion. … Tall
and stately trees, stretches of greensward
truly give Wagner something which
may be referred to as a ‘Campus,’” the
Wagner College Bulletin said in its spring
1918 issue.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
In 1922, four years after the new
campus opened, a Pennsylvania miners’
strike created a shortage of the coal used
for heating throughout New York City.
“There is a shortage of 40 per cent. in
anthracite of domestic sizes, and by no
possibility can it be made up this Winter,”
said the New York Times early that
December.
“All the professors’ homes and the
dormitory are hard hit for coal,” said
the Wagner College Bulletin in November
1922. “There is but thirty days’ supply of
coal in the borough of Richmond for the
86,000 inhabitants.”
Our solution to the coal shortage?
Culling the deadwood from our
campus forest.
“Our students have been very faithful
during the past few weeks in cutting
down dead trees and sawing them up
for fire-wood,” the Bulletin said. “They
are organized into ‘gangs,’ led by
upperclassmen, to attend to this work at
least two hours each week.”
T
he next episode in Wagner’s
arboreal history began in
September 1933, when the
first women enrolled on Grymes Hill,
�“Tall and stately
trees, stretches of
greensward truly give
Wagner something which
may be referred to as a ‘Campus.’”
NEW GROWTH Left: Some of the first women to enroll at Wagner College in fall 1933.
This page: The campus in 1938 shows the saplings lining the drive to Main Hall.
ending a half century of
male exclusivity. The
enrollees included
17 first-year students and
four others who transferred from
other colleges.
Two years later, the father of one of
those pioneering women pledged to give
Wagner 17 maple trees honoring our first
co-eds. According to a December 1935
story in the Wagner College Bulletin, the
trees “will be planted in an open space
behind the administration building [that
is, Main Hall] sometime next Spring.”
Sure enough, that pledge was fulfilled
the following spring, according to the
April 1936 Bulletin: “From Mr. Fred J.
Biele of Huntington, Long Island, [have
come] twenty sugar maples.”
Several varieties of maple trees can be
found today on the inner campus behind
Main Hall — red maples, Norway
maples … and, yes, sugar maples. As this
article is being written, they are bright
with autumn colors.
So, how does this documentary
information mesh with the popular but
unsubstantiated campus myth that the
trees around the Sutter Oval were the
ones planted to honor our first co-eds?
There are, after all, 17 trees rising from
the inside of the walkway around the Oval
— is that just a coincidence?
Our best answer to that question is,
“Yes, it is.”
A campus aerial photograph from
1938 shows a neat array of saplings that
had recently been planted on both sides
of the driveway in front of Main Hall
— the area we know today as the Oval.
Another aerial photo taken in 1950 shows
maturing trees rising around the Oval in
the same array as the 1938 saplings —
and the height of those trees is consistent
with the known growth habits of the
London plane tree, which reaches about
60 feet in its first 20 years.
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�The fact that there are 17 London
plane trees on the inside of the Oval,
and 18 trees on the outside, is just a
fluke: The blank space between two
trees in the pattern on the inside of
the Oval shows where one of the 18
original trees was removed at some
point, possibly because of disease.
The trees memorializing
Wagner’s first co-eds, however, were
maple trees, not London plane
trees, and they were planted behind
Main Hall, not on the Oval in
front of it.
I
n 1960, a new organization
was created to share the
botanical resources of
Wagner’s park-like campus with its
neighbors on Staten Island.
“An arboretum — a botanical
garden specializing in trees and
shrubs — will be established on
the Wagner College campus,” wrote
Robert Olwig in the Sept. 1, 1960,
issue of the Staten Island Advance. “A
joint announcement was made today
by the college and a new citizens group
called Staten Island Arboretum Inc.”
While “the arboretum will include
plantings throughout the 75-acre hilltop
campus,” Olwig wrote, “the focal point
… will be the heavily wooded ravine off
Howard Ave. between Hillside Ave.
and the library building now being
constructed.”
The purpose of the Staten Island
Arboretum, according to the October
1960 Wagner College Bulletin, was to
“demonstrate the wide variety of trees
and shrubbery suitable for local soil
and weather conditions and serve an
important service to home owners” who
were landscaping their new houses.
By 1964, however, the Arboretum
was “being challenged by ‘progress,’”
according to the Advance. “The college
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
‘WOODY PLANTS OF WAGNER COLLEGE’ Want to take a look at this 1974 survey of campus trees?
You can download a copy at wagner.edu/wagnermagazine.
is completing a new dormitory, other
structures are being planned and a large
area between Wagner College Rd. [the
main entranceway] and Hillside Ave. is
being filled in with dirt from the Staten
Island Expressway.” That fill created what
we know today as the Tiers parking lot.
We don’t know what arboretum
activities were undertaken in other parts
of campus, or for how long. We do know,
however, that by 1977, the Staten Island
Botanic Garden (as it had become known)
had moved to the campus of a former
retirement home for merchant seamen,
Sailors Snug Harbor, that had been
landmarked and purchased by the City of
�New York for refitting as a cultural center
on Staten Island’s North Shore.
T
he next stage in Wagner
College’s consciousness of its
own sylvan resources came in
1974 with the publication of “Woody
Plants of Wagner College,” a 16-page
illustrated guide to the common tree
species found at that time on our Grymes
Hill campus. It was written by biology
professor Dean Christianson and student
John Cain ’73, with leaf drawings by Paul
Grecay ’74 and a species locator map by
Alice Cook Taylor ’74.
“We were really an active group at the
time,” Christianson told us. “Earth Day
had been celebrated for the first time in
1970, and we were pretty fired up.”
The booklet, however, was not
created as a tool for the Staten
Island Arboretum, Christianson
said. In fact, Christianson doesn’t
recall ever hearing of the arboretum
project during his tenure at Wagner,
which ran from 1969 to 1975.
“Woody Plants” wasn’t meant to
be a definitive, exhaustive inventory
of all the tree species found on
Grymes Hill, just “a guide to some
of the more common woody plants found
on the Wagner Campus. … Many other
species are also found on Campus, but
most are not common in this region other
than for ornamentals.”
was right on the outskirts of town — on
one side of us were fields; on the other,
forests.”
Some years back, after Onken
happened upon an old copy of
Christianson’s “Woody Plants” in a lab
drawer, he decided to create an updated,
informal tour of Wagner’s modern trees
for new biology students — his way
of introducing them to the varieties of
woody life in their new community. He
gave us an abbreviated version of that
tour early this fall.
As we walked through Trautmann
Square, next to the library, Onken knelt
and picked up the spiny, open seed cover
of an American beech tree.
“Squirrels love the beechnut,” Onken
O
ur last exploration of
Wagner’s campus trees was in
the company of Long Island
arborist Maryann T. Matlak, the mother
of Corrine Matlak ’15, a student worker
in our Communications Office. Maryann
Matlak helped us look with a landscaper’s
eye at the trees currently growing on the
Inner Oval, the small yard behind the
Cunard family villa that served as the
core of Wagner College’s original 1918
Staten Island campus.
“Most of what you see here is for
shade,” Matlak explained, pointing to the
two magnificent red maples, the ash, and
the sassafras in the yard, and the towering
old white oaks that ring the area. “You
also have lots of ornamental trees along
the margins — the cherries lining
the walks, the crabapple off one
corner of Cunard, a little dogwood
on the south end, a magnolia. With
all of those blossoms, this must be
lovely in the spring.”
And so it is, as all Wagnerians
know — but, of course, it’s lovely
all year around, and inspiring, too.
The trees of Wagner College, these
great, huge creatures rising into the
sky, serve as a powerful nonverbal
counterpoint to the river of words
that flows through our classrooms and
textbooks, a silent, strong testament to
the diversity and durability of Being.
And the Wagner woods endure.
“Squirrels love the
beechnut,” Onken said.
“They’ve already got the
nuts from this one.”
F
inally, to bring us into the
present day, we enlisted the
help of two current members
of the Wagner College community. One
of them was biology professor Horst
Onken, an animal physiologist who grew
up surrounded by the greenhouses and
orchards of his family’s nursery in western
Germany, a business started by Onken’s
father and uncles.
“I enjoyed that a lot,” Onken said. “It
said. “They’ve already got the nuts from
this one.”
Onken guessed that the beech tree in
Trautmann Square was probably about
the same age as the twin European beech
trees planted on either end of Main Hall
after the building opened in 1930. One
of those trees succumbed to illness half a
decade ago; it was replaced with a young
tree of the same variety — and since
the beech only grows to a certain
height, and no more, eventually the
two Main Hall beeches will again
be of matching height,
Onken explained.
FA LL 2014
�Tricks and Treats on
Fall Festival Weekend
A three-day event drew more than 700
students, parents, and alumni
COMBINING TWO HUGE annual Wagner fall events —
Homecoming and Family Weekend — along with Halloween
and NYC Marathon Sunday, Wagner’s Fall Festival weekend
generated a lot of energy and school spirit on campus, despite
the not-always-hospitable weather conditions.
The weekend kicked off on Halloween, with open classes
for curious parents and alumni, followed by an open house
in Harborview Hall for little trick-or-treaters. Hardier souls
visited the Towers of Terror, a haunted house in Wagner’s
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
spookiest residence hall. A spirit rally with free food trucks and
a parade by the Seahawk Marching Band, cheerleaders, and
dance team warmed everyone up for the game day.
On Saturday, November 1, a big tent kept everyone dry
and decently warm as a cold drizzle fell outside. Staten Island
food vendors Alfonso’s Pastry Shoppe, Cucumber Sushi and
Salad Bar, Jimmy Max, Joe & Pat’s Pizzeria, John’s Restaurant,
Marie’s Gourmet, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Planet Wings, Venga
Mexican Grill, and Wagner Dining Services provided a wide
variety of eating options. Staten Island’s new craft beer brewery,
Flagship, was also on hand for sampling.
The Wagner Seahawks fell to the Sacred Heart Pioneers,
7–23, the team’s only NEC loss of the season. But everyone was
able to warm up, dry off, and forget their cares that evening
while watching the Wagner College Variety Show, featuring
student performances by magician Mathieu Loiselle and a
cappella singing groups Fermata Nowhere and Vocal Synergy.
P H OTO G R A P H S : V I N N I E A M E S S É
�Upcoming
Events
Robert Geronimo ’09 Little Maia and the Coral City and Agent
87 and the Black Train (Ascalon Press, 2014) A successful
Kickstarter campaign allowed Geronimo to publish his first solo
book, Little Maia and the Coral City , which tells a story entirely
in pictures. Through Ascalon Press, he is publishing more books
that feature strong female characters overcoming adversity —
such as the protagonist of his second work, Agent 87 and the
Black Train , whom Geronimo describes as “a cross between
Indiana Jones and James Bond.”
Wanda Schweizer Praisner ’54 M’57 Sometimes When
Something Is Singing (Antrim House, 2014). Praisner’s fourth
collection of poetry “reflects on a lifetime of close family ties
and far-flung travels, with an eye for local color, period detail,
the surprise flash of memory,” according to poet Maxine
Susman. “She brings an unflinching candor to poems about the
death of her son, and her own survival as a wife and mother.”
FEBRUARY
Wagner College Theatre:
Monty Python’s Spamalot
Main Stage, Feb. 18–March 1
This outrageous musical comedy (lovingly ripped
off of the 1975 film classic Monty Python and the
Holy Grail) opens on Ash Wednesday.
College Choir: Black History Month Concert
Feb. 21, 12 p.m.
First Central Baptist Church, Staten Island
College Choir: Tribute to Black Music
Feb. 24, 9 p.m.
Music Performance Center, Campus Hall
Wagner College Theatre:
The Dance Project 2015
Stage One, Feb. 24–March 1
MARCH
College Choir Mini-Tour
March 5–8
Hear “Wagner’s best choir ever” (according
to Director Roger Wesby) on March 5 in the
Washington, D.C., area; March 6, St. Mark Lutheran
Church, Yorktown, Va.; March 7, Trinity Lutheran
Church, North Bethesda, Md.; and March 8, Trinity
Lutheran Church, Staten Island.
APRIL
Treble Concert Choir: Spring Concert
April 19, 4 p.m.
Trinity Lutheran Church, Staten Island
Wagner College Theatre: Cats
Main Stage, April 22–May 3
flashback
Cheerleaders, Homecoming 1968
One of the world’s most popular musicals makes
its long-awaited Staten Island debut right here at
Wagner College. “Memory” will be made.
Wagner College Theatre: Helen Keller:
The Eighth Wonder of the World
Stage One, April 28–May 3
This year’s Fall Festival recalled the big Homecoming celebrations of yesteryear,
featuring a parade and student-designed floats. Here, Linda Barbes Stein ’69 and Anita
Carroll-Sabattino ’69, co-captains of the 1968–69 Wagner College football and basketball
cheerleading squad, spur the Seahawks on to victory for the 1968 Homecoming game.
Jack Cummings III applies his acclaimed theatrical
storytelling to this extraordinary woman’s life.
More Information
wagner.edu/calendar
F A L L
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�Alumni Link
Who in the Wagner World Was... Joan Venes ’56?
Although today women make up half of all medical school graduates,
their numbers are vanishingly small in specialized fields — only 5 percent of
neurosurgeons, for example, are female.
That perspective makes the achievements of the late Dr. Joan Lisbeth
Venes ’56 all the more remarkable. In the 1960s, she was one of only two
women certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. “Dr. Venes
was a legendary figure,” said Alan R. Cohen, secretary of the American Society
of Pediatric Neurosurgeons. “She helped to define the field of pediatric
neurosurgery.”
Venes grew up in a blue-collar, immigrant neighborhood in Queens. According
to her sister, Virginia Riffey, the family lived in poverty. But Venes was driven to
make a change — and to help children, especially.
Venes was the first in her neighborhood to attend college, graduating
from Wagner in 1956 with a degree in nursing. She started her career as an
emergency room charge nurse, but she wanted more. “Nursing tended to become more and more of an administrative thing,”
she said. “I very quickly saw that the things which interested me in medicine just weren’t in nursing.”
She earned her M.D. with high honors from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1966. She found her calling during her
surgical residency, when she witnessed the sudden death of a bright young boy who was being treated in the hospital for
hydrocephalus.
Joan became the first woman neurosurgery resident at Yale, and later taught neurological surgery at the University of
Michigan medical school. In 1990, she became a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, and served as a health policy
assistant for the U.S. Senate. That year, she was also named one of Wagner’s 500 most successful alums ever.
She made many significant contributions to her field through research and practice. She was the third woman to be
admitted to the American Board of Neurological Surgery and a founding member of the American Society of Pediatric
Neurosurgeons. Her proudest possessions, however, were the letters she received from children and parents thanking her for
her lifesaving care.
Venes spent her retirement years in Maryland and California, and died on March 31, 2010.
O
n the Wagner alumni China tour, September
2–15, about a dozen Seahawk travelers not
only saw many of the must-see sights — from
the Great Wall to the Yangtze River — but they also
gamely (pun intended!) involved themselves in cultural
learning opportunities. Aboard the Yangtze River Cruise,
Rita King ’62 and Tim Keneipp, Christopher and Nancy
Myers ’69 Benbow, and Irma Bahr Madrid ’71 got a
lesson on playing mah-jongg. The origins of mah-jongg
can be debated — some believe it was invented around
500 B.C. by Confucius, while others believe Chinese
army officers developed the game during the Taiping
Rebellion in the late 19th century. Regardless of origin,
the playing of mah-jongg, a game similar to gin rummy,
is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture.
中国行
When in Beijing …
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
�3
4
2
1
1
7
6
5
8
Alumni Link
HONORED At Reunion 2014, the Alumni Association recognized those who have given outstanding service to the College, the
community, and their professions. 1. The awards were presented by President Richard and Carin Guarasci. 2. Representing the
late Donald M. Fox ’64, posthumously named the John “Bunny” Barbes ’39 and Lila T. Barbes ’40 Wagner Alumni Laureate, are his
brother-in-law, Charles Barnett, and his sons, Alex and Graham. 3. Ernie Jackson ’87, professor of music technology and director
of the jazz band at Queensborough Community College, was honored as an Alumni Fellow. 4. Harold Theurer ’79 received the Dr.
Kevin Sheehy ’67 M’70 M’92 H’99 Alumni Leadership Medal for his consistent service to the Alumni Association. 5. Bianca ’80 and
William ’81 Formica were given the Certificate of Appreciation for their support, dedication, and commitment to Wagner College.
6. The Reverend Bruce Buchanan ’73 received the Reverend Lyle Guttu Award for his spiritual contributions to his community.
He is the associate pastor of community ministries for the First Presbyterian Church in Dallas and leads the Stewpot, the church’s
ministry to the homeless and hungry. 7. Joyce Anastasi ’79, honored as an Alumni Fellow, is the Independence Foundation
Endowed Professor of Nursing and founding director of the Division of Special Studies in Symptom Management at New York
University. 8. Nancy DeBasio ’68, president of the Research College of Nursing in Kansas City, was named the 2014 Distinguished
Graduate. Not pictured: Renée Marino ’04 received the Alumni Key, which recognizes career achievements of graduates from the
last decade. (See story, page 41.)
Reunion News June 5–7, 2015
CELEBRATE your Wagner
memories with old friends and
reconnect with today’s campus
during a weekend packed with
fun events. If your graduation
year ends in a 0 or a 5, this is
a special anniversary year for
your class.
HONOR a fellow Wagner
graduate with a 2015 Wagner
College Alumni Association
achievement or service award.
Recipients are honored during
Reunion Weekend. The
deadline for nominations is
Fri., Jan. 23, 2015.
SERVE your alma mater.
Applications for the Board
of Directors of the Wagner
College Alumni Association
are being accepted for the
term 2015–18. The deadline
for nominations is Friday,
February 27, 2015.
More Information and Forms: wagner.edu/alumni • 718-390-3224 • alumni@wagner.edu
PHOTOGR A PHS : V I N NI E A M E S SÉ
FA LL 2014
�1951
sent in an article
he wrote, “Religious Freedom in
This Nation Is a Gift from God,”
defending the importance of
religious liberty in the United
States. He lives in Austin, Tex.
Gerry Kern
1952
Chris Hamann, son of Elaine Lopez
Hamann ’60 and the late Herman
C. Hamann ’60, sent the following
note about his aunt: “ Elizabeth
Hamann Lawrence passed away
quietly on February 13, 2014. She
was preceded in death by her loving
husband, Douglas Lawrence , in
2002, and her brother, Herman
C. Hamann ’60, in 2008. She is
survived by her sister-in-law, Elaine
Lopez Hamann ’60. Elizabeth held
many fond memories of her years at
Wagner College.”
1953
85 filmmakers attending. Betsy
escorted the group from Capetown,
South Africa, representing the
opening night film, I Live to Sing,
and also took a writer from the
Danish Film Society sightseeing
around the Coachella Valley.
“Fascinating people!” she says.
1964
left Wagner after
three years, without finishing
his bachelor’s degree, to attend
the Tufts University School of
Dental Medicine, where he earned
his doctorate in dentistry. After
celebrating the 50th anniversary
of his non-graduation at the 2014
commencement ceremony at
Wagner College, where he led the
procession as a Golden Seahawk, he
looked into what it would take to get
his Wagner undergraduate degree.
Wagner awarded him his Bachelor of
Science as of August 31, 2014, and
he is invited to commencement next
May to receive the degree with the
class of 2015.
John E. Dreslin
wrote several articles
about her experiences overseas
and her family history, which were
published in Creative Expressions
magazine.
Miriam Plitt
thoroughly
enjoyed serving as the home stay
host chair for the 2014 American
Documentary Film Festival in Palm
Springs, Calif., in March. It included
135 films from 18 countries, with
Betsy Ebers Press
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
past president of the Educational
Testing Service (ETS), had a
great honor bestowed upon him
in April 2014: ETS President and
CEO Walt MacDonald dedicated
a 105,000 -square-foot building
on the ETS campus in his honor.
Landgraf Hall provides a highperformance working environment
that encourages excellent human
and environmental health, reduces
impact on the environment, and
incorporates significant operational
efficiencies. Mary Ellen Peeling
Markant published a book,
Pondering Leaves: Composing and
Conveying Your Life Story’s Epilogue,
in 2014. The book offers a new,
personalized, and fun approach
to planning funerals. A nursing
major and former obstetrical nurse
educator, Mary Ellen became an
end-of-life pre-planning facilitator
after realizing the joy of organizing
a memorial weekend to celebrate
her father’s life. She promotes
“revised approaches [to funeral
planning] that reflect an individual’s
unique characteristics and personal
tastes.”
MUCTARR JALLOH ’05 paid a visit
to the Wagner campus in April with
his wife, Houssainatou Balde, and
their son, Mohamad Hady Jalloh.
They received a hearty greeting
from President Guarasci. Muctarr
works as a care coordinator at
Coney Island Hospital.
1972
was honored with the
annual Staten Island Advance Service
Award in 2013 for his decades of
teaching and dedication to sports on
Staten Island, including service to
Wagner College Athletics.
John Iasparro
1973
retired in 2012 after
teaching high school English for 38
years. Ed spent 36 of those years
at Cañon City High School in
Cañon City, Colo. In June 2014, Ed
graduated from Pueblo Community
College with a degree as an RN.
Ed Bray
1976
published a novel,
Daddy, It’s Only a Game (Bookstand
Publishing, 2014). This gripping
account of what happens when
student-athletes are pushed too far
is a “must-read” for anyone with
children involved in organized
sports. A retired public school
teacher and coach, Lou remains
active in physical fitness and
education as well as volunteer work.
He lives in Sayville, N.Y., with his
wife, Margaret.
Lou D’Aquila
was featured
in the Santa Fe Reporter in January
2014 in an article entitled “History
Re-Beating: Local Jazzman John
Trentacosta Is Here to School
You.” He is a drummer, public
school music teacher, KSFR DJ, and
professor at Santa Fe Community
College, where he teaches the history
of jazz and the history of rock and
roll. He also founded a non-profit,
the Santa Fe Music Collective.
1977
1971
1979
John Trentacosta
Manfred W. Lichtmann
1958
Kurt M. Landgraf , immediate
1970
1954
recommends reading The War That
Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan
(Random House), in memory of
World War I beginning 100 years
ago. “It is a remarkable account of
the events that led to this terrible
conflict,” he says. Wanda Schweizer
Praisner ’54 M’57 has published
her fourth collection of poetry,
Sometimes When Something Is Singing
(Antrim House, 2014).
1968
was appointed
director of the Norwich University
School of Nursing in 2013. The
school is located in Northfield, Vt.
Sharon Richie
attended the 2014
Winter Olympic games in Sochi,
Russia, with his son, Josh. Josh
trained with many of the 2014
Olympic luge competitors. Jerel,
who is a pastor in Pennsylvania, is
an official for international luge
racing events.
Jerel Gade
Ann Marie Stanger Henderson
was named senior vice president
and general counsel for Raritan Bay
Medical Center in Perth Amboy,
N.J., in March 2014. Ann Marie was
previously senior associate attorney
for North Shore-LIJ Health System
and associate vice president and
deputy general counsel for Staten
Island University Hospital.
�1980
Claire Regan , journalism professor
at Wagner College as well as
associate managing editor for the
Staten Island Advance, received
the Charles R. O’Malley Award
for Excellence in Teaching at the
90th annual spring convention
of the Columbia Scholastic Press
Association in 2014.
1981
left Wagner College,
where he had been associate head
coach and offensive coordinator
for the football team for the past
two years, to become defensive
coordinator at the University of
Massachusetts in 2014. He has
previously been the head coach at
Fairfield, Boston University, Central
Connecticut, and Fordham.
Tom Masella
’82 M’84 was
appointed in January 2014 to the
management team of the financial
services firm Lee, Nolan &
Koroghlian LLC, a general agency
of the Massachusetts Mutual Life
Insurance Company. He is focusing
on expanding the firm to a new
location in Edison, N.J. Before
joining MassMutual, Dominick
worked for many years at MetLife
in a variety of leadership positions.
Dominick Iorio
1984
’84 M’88 marked
his 30th year with the YMCA in
June 2014, including 17 years with
the YMCA Retirement Fund and
13 years with the YMCA of Greater
New York. Robert O’Neill M’84
was named assistant director for
Christian Miller
1993
had two of her plays
staged in February 2014: Black Bee,
given a reading at Keep Soul Alive
Mondays at the National Black
Theatre in New York City, is about
a celebrated violin virtuoso whose
love is oppressive to his family; and
Generation T, produced by Adelphi
University, is about two Marines
returning from Afghanistan. She is
also working as a communications
associate at Artemis Partners.
Pia Wilson
1996
’96 M’98 is senior
vice president, Ocean Freight Asia
Pacific, at DHL Global Forwarding.
He and his wife, Natawan
Phichetkorn Goldberg M’98, live
in Taipo, Hong Kong, with their son,
Matthew. Natawan launched a new
women’s clothing line, Zuri Zuri
By Flora. The brand is registered in
the U.S., Europe, and Asia, with a
design office in Hong Kong, and a
production location in Shanghai.
David Goldberg
1998
released a short
romantic comedy film in 2014, Two
Sides of Love, which was shown at
film festivals including the AOF
International Film Festival in
Monrovia, Calif., and the Garden
State Film Festival. Two Sides of
Love was originally a play, which
premiered at the Roy Aries OffTom Baldinger
Broadway Theater in 2011 and
toured throughout New Jersey,
earning three NJACT Perry Award
nominations. Tom founded the
company 624 Productions LLC,
which allows writers, actors, and
producers to work in a collaborative
environment on screen and stage
projects.
2000
Frank Cafasso ’00 M’02 and
Kara McGann Cafasso ’07 M’09
announce the birth of Olivia Grace
Cafasso on January 21, 2014.
See Crib Notes, page 38, for a photo.
Victoria Crispo ’00 M’02 was
selected as a career coach for the
website WomenWorking and wrote
blog posts for the site throughout
June 2014. Victoria’s advice was also
featured in an article, “7 Common
Career Mistakes That Can Hold
You Back,” published on DailyWorth in July 2014. She is a
managing partner and career
coach with Career Services USA,
based in Morganville, N.J.
2004
was the subject of a
story published on the Columbia
University website in March. A
violist and student in Columbia’s
post-baccalaureate pre-med
program, Michael “has worked to
reconcile his passion for music with
his medical studies,” the story said.
“He teaches music part time, is a
violist in a piano quartet through
the Columbia University Music
Performance Program, and serves
as an assistant principal of the
Columbia University Orchestra.”
A native of Cebu, Philippines, he
gave benefit concerts to raise money
for his community after Typhoon
Hainan devastated the area.
Michael also revived the Columbia
University Medical Center
Michael Alas
Orchestra, which includes practicing
physicians, medical professionals,
and Columbia University College
of Physicians and Surgeons faculty.
He is also principal violist with the
Weill Cornell Music and Medicine
Initiative Orchestra. The story
concluded, “After finishing the
post-bac program, Alas intends to
apply to medical school with the
hope of becoming a pediatrician,
though he doesn’t plan on putting
down his viola any time soon.” Kyle
Breuninger married Margaret
Bristol on May 11, 2013, in New
Rochelle, N.Y. See Knot Notes,
page 39, for a photo. Dr. Stephanie
Famulari graduated from the
New York College of Podiatric
Medicine with a doctorate in
podiatric medicine. She completed
her surgical residency in foot and
ankle surgery at Lutheran Medical
Center, Brooklyn, in July 2012,
and is in private practice on Staten
Island. On May 29, 2010, she
married Jon Fundaro at the Pierre
Hotel in New York City. The maid
of honor was cousin of the bride
Amanda Savino ’08. Dr. Dana
Romano , Frank Giusto , Michael
Vicidomine , Michael Savino ’13,
and Brittany Fundaro ’14 also
served in the bridal party. Many
other Wagner graduates were also
in attendance and helped the couple
celebrate this special day, including
Michela Agozzino Schiavarelli ,
Kelly Dalton Noto ’03, Nicole
Gaeta Barone , Jessica Errico
DiMarco , and Lauren Babcock
Rymer. See Knot Notes, page 39, for a
photo. Dawn Yngstrom Perniciaro
and her husband announce the birth
of Abigail Grace on December 27,
2013. They live in North Bellmore,
N.Y. See Crib Notes, page 38, for a
photo.
Alumni Link
1982
financial services of the New Jersey
Courts in Trenton. Robert oversees
financial operations, including
budgeting, financial reporting,
spending plans, accounting, and
other areas. He lives in Readington
Township, Hunterdon County, with
his wife and two children.
2005
’05 M’08 left Wagner
College, where he had been serving
Jake Browne
Keep in Touch!
Email: alumni@wagner.edu
Web: wagner.edu/alumni
Mail: Alumni Office, Reynolds House,
Wagner College, One Campus Road, Staten
Island, NY 10301
Content: Wagner welcomes your news and
updates, and we will happily share them with
the Wagner family. We ask that you send
us announcements of weddings, births, and
graduations after the fact.
Deadlines: This issue reflects news received
by October 15, 2014. The submission deadline
for the Summer 2015 issue is June 1.
Photos: We accept photos of Wagner groups
at weddings and other special events. With the
photo, send the names and class years of all
alumni pictured; birth date, parents’ names,
and class years with photos of children; and
dates and locations of all events.
Photo Quality: Digital and print photos must
be clear and of good quality. Digital photos must
be jpegs of at least 250 pixels per inch;
low-resolution photos converted to a higher
resolution are not acceptable.
FA LL 2014
�Crib Notes
2
1
3
4
1. Frank ’00 M’02 and Kara McGann ’07 M’09 Cafasso welcomed their first child, Olivia Grace Cafasso, on January 21, 2014.
2. Christopher ’07 and Laura Woodruff ’07 Duni welcomed Natalie Claire Duni on November 22, 2013. 3. Dawn Yngstrom
Perniciaro ’04 and her husband welcomed Abigail Grace on December 27, 2013. 4. Mark ’05 and Amanda Concilio ’08 Intoccia
announce the birth of Joseph Victor Intoccia on February 16, 2014, in Staten Island.
We’d love to see your baby’s face.
Please see page 37 for publication guidelines.
2005 cont.
as director of admissions, to become
director of admissions at Eckerd
College in St. Petersburg, Fla., in May
2014. Mark Intoccia and Amanda
Concilio Intoccia ’08 announce the
birth of Joseph Victor Intoccia on
February 16, 2014, in Staten Island.
Corrine Mertz finished her Master
of Social Work at Smith College.
Jeannine Morris , founder of the
blog Beauty Sweet Spot, has found
great success as a beauty and lifestyle
blogger. She has appeared on the
Emmy red carpet for the E channel
several times as well as on Today and
The Wendy Williams Show. In January
2014, she was featured in a national
Crest 3D whitening strip campaign.
The print ad reads, “Beauty Sweet
Spot blogger Jeannine Morris gets
in the holiday spirit with teeth that
sparkle.”
32
WA G N E R M A G A Z I N E
WA G N E R M A G A Z I N E
2006
’06 M’07 gave
a talk at the TEDx Fulton Street
location, in Lower Manhattan,
in June 2013. She discussed the
founding of her company, Caffè
Unimatic, and her journey in
entrepreneurship, inspired by her
father. Caffè Unimatic products are
now sold at the famous Di Palo’s Fine
Foods in Manhattan’s Little Italy
and at Lioni’s and Papa Pasquale’s in
Brooklyn, and they were approved
for sale at Whole Foods Markets
as well. Seth Golden and Kristen
Guerra Golden celebrated their first
wedding anniversary on August 3,
2014. They live in Denver, Colo.
Victoria Opthof-Cordaro gave birth
to her first child, Dahlia, on October
30, 2013. David Osborne and Ashley
Morgan Caprio were married in West
Milford, N.J., on December 29, 2013.
David works for the Montclair Police
Department, and the couple settled in
Oak Ridge, N.J.
Elisabeth Cardiello
2007
Kara McGann Cafasso ’07 M’09 and
Frank Cafasso ’00 M’02 welcomed
their first child, Olivia Grace
Cafasso, on January 21, 2014. Laura
Woodruff Duni and Christopher
Duni announce the birth of Natalie
Claire Duni on November 22, 2013.
Monette McKay married Preston
Warren Dugger III on September 29,
2014, in Flanders, N.J. How do we
know this? Because it was written up
in the New York Times on October
5. (Look it up online to read their
charming love story.) The article
reveals that the couple met in 2011
while performing in the ensemble of
Memphis: The Musical on Broadway.
Monette has ended her run with
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and
she has paintings on display at the
jazz club Birdland. Preston is an actor
in Motown on Broadway. Gina Watzka
graduated from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison with a Doctor
of Veterinary Medicine degree in
May 2014.
2008
M’08 married Cara
Liander on September 19, 2014, in
Staten Island. Their wedding and the
story behind it attracted the attention
of the Staten Island Advance. The writeup was titled “Love Is A Brewing,”
because the two first met at a Staten
Island coffee shop, and are now part
of the leadership team of Staten
Island’s new craft beer company,
Flagship Brewing. John is CEO and
president of Flagship, as well as a
portfolio manager at Reich & Tang
Asset Management in Manhattan.
Cara is a producer, writer, and actor at
ROAM Productions in Staten Island
and the public relations director for
Flagship. Flagship was also featured
by the New York Times on May 23,
2014, in a piece by Alex Vadukul
entitled “Staten Island Gets a Craft
Brewery of Its Own.” Amanda
Concilio Intoccia and Mark Intoccia
’05 welcomed Joseph Victor Intoccia
on February 16, 2014, in Staten
Island. Greg Mescall M’08 was
John Gordon
�spotted on ESPNU in March 2014,
calling women’s water polo. He lives
in Long Beach, Calif., and works for
USA Water Polo.
2009
Matt ’09 M’11 and Alissa Cafaro
’09 M’11 Abbey , who got married in
Jacob Shore , a Wagner creative
writing instructor, wrote a play,
Sick City Blues, that premiered at
Manhattan’s Connelly Theater, part
of the New York International Fringe
Festival, in August 2014. His entry for
the 2013 festival, Down the Mountain
and Across the Stream, earned him an
Excellence in Playwriting Award.
Shauna Sorensen talked to Wagner
students in March 2014 about her
life as an artist. She is thriving as a
master’s student at CUNY Hunter
College, manager of Brooklyn’s Open
Source Gallery, and an administrator
and artist with the Ligo Project’s Art
of Science program, an artist-inresidence program that pairs artists
with scientists to learn about research
and create science-inspired art.
Shauna also got one of her Wagner art
professors, Jenny Toth, involved in
the Art of Science program.
2011
left her job with
Wagner’s External Programs to join
the Customer Centricity Office of
MetLife as a project leader. She works
Christine Angeli
my Hebrew to living through the
most recent war, I can truly say I had
a wonderful time abroad and learned
a lot in and out of the classroom.”
Connections she made through
Wagner helped her through the
good times and the bad: She spent
many Shabbat meals and holidays
at the home of a family she had met
in 2010 while on Wagner’s program
at Hebrew University; she went to
Kenya during her winter break to
volunteer at the orphanage and school
founded by Jennifer Musick Wright
’09. “Finally,” she writes, “during the
mentally, emotionally, and physically
exhausting war, I had numerous
peers, professors, and staff reach out
to either check in or offer places to
stay if I felt unsafe.”
2012
was featured in
the comedy-horror film Jersey Shore
Massacre, produced by Jennifer
“JWoww” Farley in 2014. Danielle
has also appeared in NBC’s Law and
Order: SVU, MTV’s One Bad Choice,
Brooklyn Valentine, and a national
Pepsi commercial that aired during
the 2013 MLB All-Star game. Anna
Demenkoff received kudos in the
Huffington Post for her work with an
Danielle Dallacco
Alumni Link
September 2013, moved to Newport
Beach, Calif., this fall. They plan to
open a franchise of the CKO cardiokickboxing gym. For the past three
years, Alissa worked at Wagner, two
years in financial aid and one year as a
staff accountant in the business office.
Matt was working as an insurance
underwriter at C.V. Starr. Christine
Seraphin moved to Germany and
competed in Keep Your Light Shining,
Germany’s version of American Idol.
With only three singers left standing,
Christine sang “Burn It Down”
by Linkin Park and was crowned
“Soul Queen” by German Grammy
nominee Andreas Bourani. Christine
performs regularly with her band,
Seraleez Quintet, which combines
the sounds of soul, jazz, hip hop,
and fusion.
2010
closely with the communications,
marketing, and human resources
departments. The office is located
in Manhattan. Emily Burkhardt
was featured on the AmeriCorps
blog on Mother’s Day, May 12,
2014, for sharing how her mother,
Councilwoman Molly Markert of
Aurora, Colo., inspired her to service.
Emily was with New York City
Service, a program of AmeriCorps,
for two years. She went on to work
for New York Cares as a disaster
response program manager. She also
mentored students in Wagner’s new
Bonner Leaders program. Now she
has joined Teach for America and
is teaching middle school science at
Martin Luther King Jr. Early College
in Northeast Denver. Colin Shaw was
hired as the head coach for lacrosse
at the University of Oxford in 2013.
He also plays in lacrosse tournaments
all over Europe, where his prowess
has earned him the nickname
“The Force of Nature.” Katie Jo
Younkins ’11 M’13 finished her
master’s in counterterrorism studies
at the Interdisciplinary Center in
Herzliya, Israel, and returned to the
United States in September. She is
looking for jobs in intelligence in
the public and private sectors. She
writes, “Reflecting on my diverse
experiences, from trying to remember
Knot Notes
Kyle Breuninger ’04 married Margaret
Bristol on May 11, 2013, in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Many alumni joined the celebration. Pictured
here: Jared Andrus ’01, Phil Maravolo ’01,
Ryan Scanlon, Kyle Breuninger, Chris Zaki
’04, Venus Cowan Roman ’05, Alfredo
Roman ’04, Ray Breuninger ’71, Denise
Kyle Breuninger ’74, Michael Hiney ’05,
and Tauny Ventura ’07.
At the May 29, 2010, wedding of
Dr. Stephanie Famulari ’04 and
Jon Fundaro ’04, many Wagner
alumni joined in the celebration,
including these members of the
bridal party and of the bride and
groom’s family: Amanda Savino
’08, Brittany Fundaro ’14, and
Michael Savino ’13.
Have a wedding photo with “Wagner family”?
Please see page 37 for publication guidelines.
FA LL 2014
�UNCOMMON LIVES
Russ Johnson ’67 M’72
The Way of the Foot and the Hand*
CLAIM TO FAME: Russ Johnson ’67 won the USA Taekwondo
National Championship for the men’s fourth master division
(ages 66 and over) in July 2014, and he took the bronze medal
in the World Poomsae Championships in Mexico in November.
A sixth-degree black belt, Johnson has been a student of
Taekwondo since 1972.
POOMSAE? “Poomsae is the Korean word for what most martial
artists know as ‘forms,’” Johnson says. “Poomsae is a complex
set of techniques — strikes, blocks, kicks, etc. — organized into
a rigidly choreographed ‘fight’ with imaginary opponents. When
you perform one of the eight black-belt poomsae required by the
World Taekwondo Federation (the Olympic governing body), you
are expected to perform it precisely the way it was designed. My
execution of a given poomsae, in other words, should be precisely
like that of a competitor from Korea, Australia, Mexico, or any
other country.”
MASTER OF MANY TRADES: Armed with Wagner’s bachelor’s
and master’s degrees in English, Johnson became a captain in
the Air Force and taught at the Air Force Academy; vice president
for development at Wagner College in the late 1970s; and an
executive for several different investment banks. He retired from
Citigroup in 2001, having served as founding chairman and CEO of
Tower Square Securities, Inc.
WHERE HE WAS MEANT TO BE: After his retirement, Johnson
went back to his first love: art. “I’ve been a full-time watercolor
artist and workshop leader since 2001, having taken full advantage
of all those art classes I took as both an undergrad and graduate
student at Wagner,” he says. “Although I majored in English, which
seemed a bit more practical for an aspiring job-seeker, I suspect
that art was where I was meant to be.” Check out his work and his
workshop schedule at www.rhjart.com.
*A loose translation of the Korean words that make up taekwondo.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
�2012 cont.
Off-Broadway show, Elizabeth Irwin’s My Mañana
Comes, in September 2014. Drama critic David
Finkle wrote, “Congrats to all concerned — that
includes set designer Wilson Chin and props
designer Anna Demenkoff — for achieving the
kind of verisimilitude that Arnold Wesker also
stalked and captured in The Kitchen, his 1959
play that followed restaurant workers through a
single morning to night slot.” Francyna Evins was
featured in the Staten Island Advance for her gold
medal performance in the college/open 55-meter
dash at the 40th Colgate Women’s Game finals in
December 2013, held at the Armory Track and
Field Center in Manhattan. Francyna finished in
7.2 seconds.
2013
Wagner College is all about growth: Students develop in
body, mind, and spirit. Knowledge expands.
The local community progresses. The world benefits.
Be a part of it! Make a gift today, and watch us grow tomorrow.
James Alicea
wagner.edu/grow
than 150,000 views. Douglas Donato was hired
as a development associate at Shakesperience
Productions Inc. in 2014. Concetta Raineri , whose
stage name is Chetti, released her first single, “In
the City,” in January 2014, followed by her first
EP, also called In the City. It’s available via iTunes.
Dominique Williams signed an NFL free agent
contract with the Minnesota Vikings in May 2014.
Dom was an outstanding running back for the
Seahawks football team from 2009 to 2013.
2014
joined the admissions team
at Avenues: The World School, an international
private school in Manhattan, last summer. “It’s
a great school with an even greater mission,” he
says. He is also serving as vice president for a new
non-profit organization, Interview Forward, which
connects women and girls cross-generationally.
Christopher DeFilippi
Alumni Link
is in his second year at Cornell
Law. He returned to Wagner in October 2014
to talk to students about how to prepare for law
school and what to expect once admitted. Sara
Auerbach returned to Wagner to discuss her
work as a child life specialist at K. Hovnanian
Children’s Hospital in Neptune, N.J. D’Mya Clay
M’13 began coaching for the National Basketball
Academy in Orlando, Fla., in June 2014. D’Mya
was previously an academic advisor for the football
program at the University of Central Florida.
Anthony Colasuonno has been getting a lot
of attention on YouTube for his music videos.
Under the stage name Anthony Corvyx, his cover
of “My Immortal” by Evanescence has more
Grow Wagner
From Stage to Screen
Renée Marino ’04 makes her film debut in
Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys
A veteran of the stage (including recent Broadway productions
West Side Story, Wonderland, and Chaplin), Renée Marino ’04
took on her first film role in Clint Eastwood’s summer musical,
Jersey Boys.
Marino had played the role of Mary Delgado previously on
Broadway and on the national tour of Jersey Boys. She’s also
a true Jersey girl, of Linden, New Jersey, just to the west of
Staten Island.
She says that Eastwood was the perfect director, for her and
for this movie.
“Clint Eastwood is one of the most upstanding gentlemen I’ve
met in my whole life. He is so genuine, so down to earth. He has
no ego,” Marino says. “I had to keep reminding myself that I was
speaking with Clint Eastwood, a legend.”
Marino says that Eastwood’s background in Westerns
influenced his directing style in an unexpected way. “When Clint’s
on set with you, he just kind of moseys up and says, ‘Whenever
you’re ready,’” she says, leaning in and squinting at me with one
eye in classic Eastwood fashion. That approach dates back to his
early acting experiences, she said; yelling “roll!” or “cut!” would
startle the horses, so directors would start the action quietly.
You may hear a bit of authentic Marino dialogue in the scenes
P H O T O G R A P H , B E L OW : K E I T H B E R N S T E I N
STAR POWER Renée Marino ’04 as Mary and John Lloyd Young
as Frankie Valli in Warner Bros. Pictures’ musical Jersey Boys.
between her and Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young). “We would
finish the scripted scene, and [Eastwood] would keep the camera
rolling. There was one time where Frankie and I were going at
each other, back and forth and back and forth, for probably 10
minutes. Then we finally cut, and he said, ‘That was great. I can’t
wait to edit that.’
“You just got to do what you do as an actor. And I really
appreciated that.”
— Laura Barlament
FA LL 2014
�Celebrating lives that enriched the Wagner family
Alumni
Mrs. Jane Davies Newhouse ’37
Mr. Edward J. Jones ’38
Mrs. Glorya Muller Stevenson ’40
Dr. Philip A. Marraccini ’41
Mrs. Cornelia Gurka Iversen ’43
Dr. Charles A. Fager ’44
Mrs. Violet Dittmer Geffken ’46
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Longair Rose ’46
Mr. Claude F. Geffken ’48
Mrs. Alice Jensen Hamlin ’50
Mr. Ernest Kiefer ’50
Mr. Martin Ratner ’50
Mr. Joseph J. Shannon ’50
Dr. Raymond A. Amoury ’51
Mr. Francis P. Hannigan ’51
Mr. Herman J. Methfessel ’51
Mr. Richard “Swede” Norlander ’51
Mrs. Elizabeth Hamann Lawrence ’52
Mrs. Norma Zawadzki Banta-Maute ’53
Mr. Francis E. Goodell ’53
Mr. Clarence F. Schneider ’53
Mrs. Phyliss Schmidt Seigel ’53
Mr. Albert Tosi ’53
Mrs. Emily George Bradt ’54
Mr. Clarke De Waters ’54
Mr. Jean-Paul Pillet ’54
Rev. Daniel Uzupan ’54
Rev. Harry A. Reis ’55
Mrs. Diana E. Young Thiemer ’55
Mrs. Elizabeth Traeg Hunter ’56
Mr. Philip Mione M’57
Mr. Donald L. Roper ’57
Mrs. Sara Walker Smith ’57 M’58
Mr. Fred E. Thiemer ’57
Mr. Andrew A. Crocco ’58
Dr. Thomas H. Falk ’58
Rev. Stanley M. Phillips ’58
Mr. Albert T. O’Donnell ’59
William J. Skeen ’59
Dr. Aaron M. Taub ’60
Mr. Peter Thompson ’61
Mrs. Nancy G. Luquer Wallich ’61
Mr. William R. Garrison ’62
Mr. Steven R. Grunsfeld ’62
Mr. Robert Lapen ’62
Dr. John E. Lehmann ’62 H’93
Mr. Robert G. Rebollo ’62
Mr. Gerald P. Bourne ’63
Mr. Francis J. Herel ’63
Dr. Anthony J. Scalia ’64
Rev. Dr. Paul D. Hrdlicka ’65
Mr. Richard C. Roman ’65
Mrs. Emily Fischler ’67
Mr. Thomas D. Olsen ’67
John E. Lehmann ’62 H’93
Lifetime trustee, businessman, and nursing scholarship donor
Lifetime Trustee John Edward Lehmann ’62 H’93 died on April 18, 2014,
at his home in Florida, following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He
was 82 years old.
After serving in the Air Force during the Korean War, Lehmann worked
full time as a mail carrier while taking night-school courses at Wagner College.
He graduated in 1962 and became an accountant with Butterick, the sewing
patterns publisher. In 1983, he was part of a Butterick management group that
acquired the company in a leveraged buyout. In 1987, Lehmann was named
president of Butterick; the following year, he became CEO. He retired from
the company in 2001.
In 1988, Mr. and Mrs. John E. Lehmann endowed the Kim Adrienne
Lehmann Scholarship in Nursing in memory of their daughter. It helps four
nursing students continue their education each year. John Lehmann joined
Wagner College’s Board of Trustees in 1989. He served as treasurer and as
vice chair, until 2001, when he was named a lifetime trustee.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
Mr. Marvin Lax ’68
Mrs. Marilyn Borack Spierer ’68
Mrs. Jacqueline W. Wolf ’68
Ms. Lynda Benedetto ’69
Mr. John Brand ’69
Mr. Wendell C. Martin ’69
Mr. James Herman ’70
Mr. Douglas Petersen ’70
Mr. Alexander Labetti ’71
Ms. Anna Savastano ’73
Mr. John B. Bonner ’74
Mr. Dennis M. Forde ’74
Mrs. Maureen McGrath Lynch ’76
Mr. William P. McGuire ’77
Dr. Gail Flathmann Palmisano ’77
Mr. Gregory C. Hiby ’85
Mrs. Patricia Smith Amis ’90
Ms. Maureen Dicks Ross M’91
Mrs. Aileen Sein Gupta M’96
Mrs. Mary K. Catandella Bonner ’05
Faculty, Staff,
and Friends
Prof. Janice C. Buddensick
Prof. Margery Mayer Voutsas
�Faculty Remembrances
Professor of Accounting Janice Buddensick
Beloved and dedicated teacher and colleague
Janice Buddensick, associate professor of accounting in the
Department of Business Administration, died on September 20,
2014, at the age of 59, in Staten Island University Hospital.
A native of Brooklyn, Buddensick earned her bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in business administration from Pace University
in Manhattan. She married her high school sweetheart, Thomas J.
Buddensick, in 1974, and they settled in Staten Island.
Buddensick taught at Wagner College for 28 years and even
served for a time as the College registrar. She helped Wagner
launch its master’s in accounting program and the Wagner
Plan undergraduate curriculum. She connected students with
internship opportunities, served many years as director of the
undergraduate business program, helped redesign the business
curriculum, and was a key member of important faculty
committees.
“Janice was a highly dedicated and brilliant teacher,” says
fellow business professor Mary Lo Re. “Janice embodied our
‘learning by doing’ ethos and was always willing to experiment
with different pedagogies to better reach her students. Her
integrity and devotion to her students’ success earned her their
respect and love. As a colleague, Janice was a superb collaborator
in research, a true and dear friend, someone I could always count
on. I will sorely miss her and her zest and passion for living.”
Her survivors include her husband, Thomas; her two children,
Thomas Jr. and Julie; and two grandchildren.
Professor of Music Emerita Margery Mayer Steen
International opera star and top-notch vocal coach
Margery Mayer Steen Voutsas, former music professor at
Wagner College and contralto with the New York City Opera,
died on May 12, 2014, in Cupertino, California, at age 96.
Known professionally as Margery Mayer, she enjoyed great
success as an opera singer, starting at an early age in her native
Chicago. In 1946, two important events occurred that brought
her to New York City and to Wagner College: her New York
City Center Opera Company debut, as Suzuki in Madame
Butterfly; and her marriage to Sigvart J. Steen, who served as
chair of Wagner’s music department and conductor of the
Wagner College Choir from 1948 until his death in 1968.
Mayer became a leading contralto at the New York City
Center Opera, starring in dozens of roles, including highly
acclaimed performances in Carmen, Aida, and Il Trovatore. She
was also an accomplished oratorio singer and performed with
major orchestras.
In 1961, Mayer was appointed assistant professor of music
at Wagner, where she taught voice lessons and also developed
a popular course in opera appreciation, drawing on her many
contacts in the New York City opera world to enrich students’
experience. Recalling her own teacher’s motto, “If you can
speak, then you can sing,” she taught singing for personal as
well as professional enrichment. A few of her students found
significant professional success, such as Olivia Brewer Stapp
’57, who received a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy and sang
major roles in Berlin, Vienna, New York, and San Francisco.
Mayer retired in 1977. The following year, she married
George Voutsas, a retired NBC music producer. Her survivors
include two sons, two granddaughters, and six great-grandsons.
The family requests that memorials in honor of Margery
Mayer be sent to the Sigvart J. Steen Scholarship Awards at
Wagner College.
F A L L
2 0 1 4
�Reflections
The Heel
Notes on building a grown-up relationship By Ethel Lee-Miller ’69
I
n the early years of my second marriage, I felt confident in
my ability to avoid the mistakes of the past. After all, I had
invested thousands of dollars in self-actualization (my lofty
description of years of therapy). I had gone on to professional
family dynamics training. And Hank was the best of partners.
“We are the architects of our relationship; we are not copying
the blueprint of another,” I would say. “Yes, we can take what
we like and leave the rest,” he would reply.
Yet, in spite of this academic and therapeutic background,
I sometimes — oh, all right, very frequently — smashed up
against the wall of self-centeredness, and was forced to crawl
through the door of humility into the land of awareness to
regain the cozy glow of our togetherness. With a blush of
embarrassment, I recount one example — and its background.
My favorite meal is a scrumptious and luxurious breakfast.
Is it a reaction to my childhood breakfasts, planned first and
foremost with nutrition in mind? My sisters and I were served
one soft-boiled egg, one piece of
whole wheat toast swiped with
a knife that had barely kissed
the margarine, freshly squeezed
orange juice, and a small alphabet
of vitamins. And the torture of
chewing dry toast was multiplied
when you got the last piece at the
end the loaf: the dreaded heel.
The heel, as most people know,
is almost all crust. It is not as soft, not as comforting to eat as
the other slices. Sometimes by the time a loaf of bread has been
reduced to the heel, it has aged and is less than fresh. “It’s still
good for you,” my mother would insist. “We’re not going to
waste food. Eat it.” We ate briskly, in an atmosphere of what
can only be described as utilitarian dining. Food on plate;
utensils, glass, and napkin on the oilcloth that served as our
table covering for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sit, eat, swallow
vitamins, clear dishes, leave table.
During my years at college, I discovered new modes of meal
serving and dining. College cafeteria food, though not inspiring,
was certainly abundant. No limits on the number of times
you could go through the line with your plate piled high. I
discovered I loved toast with butter — real butter — and
jam. On the bread trays, the heels were abandoned like so
many orphans.
It was before my 8 a.m. Spanish class that my love affair
with breakfast began. I liked piles of bacon. I loved pancakes
smeared with syrup. Imagine my burgeoning gluttony when
I discovered the world of New Jersey diners! In a New Jersey
diner, the waitress (not “server”) has a coffeepot permanently
affixed to her pouring hand, deftly refilling as she goes by
your booth with another order. And the bread! Rye, wheat,
sourdough, challah, pumpernickel, and white. Toast, bagels,
grilled cheese sandwiches, three-decker clubs, French toast, with
never a heel to be seen.
Fast forward to the year Hank and I got married. We were on
a pretty strict budget and rarely went out to eat. My answer to,
“What do you want for your birthday?” was, “I’d like breakfast
in bed.”
Hank was inspired. He brought it in on a white wicker tray
with the New York Times in the side pocket, a tall glass of OJ,
two eggs over easy, and two slices of rye toast slathered with
butter and cut on the diagonal, which is always so much better
than rectangles. The good silverware
made an appearance, with a linen
napkin folded on the side. My saliva
glands stirred, the taste buds on my
tongue perked up. This was living.
This was a gift from a loving husband.
A bite of egg, a sip of juice, and
then, the climax: biting into the toast.
My hand froze. I physically recoiled.
The toast was … the heel. Was that the
last of the bread? Was he being funny?
My sweetie was waiting expectantly. I spoke from love. “It’s
wonderful. Thank you.”
Such was the success of this breakfast that, two months later,
on Mother’s Day, the wicker tray made an encore appearance
— scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, cranberry juice, and a rose in a
tiny acrylic bud vase that had “LOVE” etched into it. My eyes
scanned to the bread first. I couldn’t help it. I poked at it with
my index finger. Again … the heel. Come on. I felt my face
get hot.
“Eth, what is it? What’s wrong?”
We had agreed never to say “nothing” to the question “what’s
wrong?” when, in fact, something was wrong.
Possessed with the perceived deprivation of childhood, I
whined, “Why did you give me the heel? What kind of present
is that?”
Hank’s mouth made an O of genuine astonishment. He had
was before my
“It8 a.m.
Spanish class
that my love affair with
breakfast began.
WA G N E R
M A G A Z I N E
“
�no response.
Ha! See, he is being mean. My actualized, adult Ethel vanished.
The petulant child in me took over. I believe the look on my
face could be labeled a pout.
Hank turned and left the room. I almost cried. So much for
talking things out. When he returned, he had the loaf of bread in
his hand: a package containing about six pieces. So why’d he give
me the heel?
“Let me tell you something,” he began, as he sat on the side of
the bed. “I wanted to give you a really special breakfast in bed.
So I fixed all this and deliberately gave you the heel. When I was
growing up, whoever my mother gave the heel to was the special
one for the day and sure to have good luck. When someone got
the heel, my sisters would say, ‘Oh, you’re the special one.’ So,
honey, you’re the special one.”
The heel of my childhood or the heel of his? We kept the one
from his.
This essay is an edited excerpt from Seedlings: Stories of
Relationships (Wheatmark, 2014) by Ethel Lee-Miller ’69. A
former elementary educator in New Jersey, she now lives in Tucson,
Arizona. Her business, Enhanced Life Management, is at the core of
her work as a writer, educator, coach, and observer of life. Learn more
at etheleemiller.com.
Answers to Pop (Art) Quiz (see back cover, clockwise from left): Keith Haring dog, Frida Kahlo backpack with monkey, Van Gogh “Starry Night ” umbrella,
Cubist coat, René Magritte “The Son of Man” hat, Roy Lichtenstein pop art Wagner letter jacket, Piet Mondrian shoes, Henri Matisse boots, late 19th-century
boots, Andy Warhol blue shoe.
F A L L
2 0 1 4
�Office of Communications and Marketing
Wagner College
One Campus Road
Staten Island, New York 10301
Pop (Art)
Quiz
Last spring semester,
the art department
got creative with an
unused coat rack in
the stairwell outside
of their offices in
Main Hall. Seniors
Carly Schmidt and
Laura Salerno, with
assistance from
Professor Jenny Toth,
designed and painted
this mural alluding
to famous images
and styles of various
artists and eras. How
many can you identify?
Answers page 45.
P H OTO G R A P H : N I C K RO M A N E N KO
Photograph: lee manchester
�
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Wagner
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