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F A L L 2 0 16
Dr. Lieberman’s
Decisive Moment
When a cardiologist became a photojournalist
Page 12
�Contents
Wagner Magazine Fall 2016
VO L . 1 4 ,
NO.1
F E AT U R E S
12
Dr. Lieberman’s
Decisive Moment
Scott Lieberman ’83 pivoted from hobbyist
to journalist when he captured ‘the digital
image that played around the world’
Where Seahawks Soar
On a sunny October day, the 2016 NEC
championship women’s lacrosse team prepares
for its 2017 season on the new turf that was
installed on Hameline Field this summer.
PHOTOGRAPH: VINNIE AMESSÉ
18
History Tour, Part II
Between 1918 and 1935, a building
program transformed the campus.
We continue our series with Part II:
The Birth of an American College.
�D E PA RT M E N T S
22
We Found Our Voice
2
From the President
The College Choir has enriched
the student experience and
brought Wagner to the world
for more than 80 years.
3
From the Editor
4
From Our Readers
6
Upon the Hill
30 Alumni Link
34 Class Notes
43 In Memoriam
44 Reflections
�From the President
Six Inspiring Graduates of 2016
ON MAY 20,
it was
my great pleasure to
celebrate commencement
again — my 18th at
Wagner College. The
class of 2016 was one of
the very best in Wagner’s
history. Coming to us
from different roads and
for varied reasons, the graduates represented 25 states
and 16 countries. I would like to introduce you to six
of these fine young people who flourished at Wagner.
Drawn by our renowned theater program,
Rosa Taylor came from the United Kingdom to focus
on arts administration. While maintaining a perfect
4.0 GPA, she completed five internships in the New
York City theater industry, leading to her first job
as assistant company manager for the national tour
of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,
winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play. Rosa
represents the dynamism of this class.
Kadijah Singleton came to Wagner from the tiny
town of Rexford in upstate New York. A business
management major, she developed into a formidable
leader within our community, making her imprint on
the Black Student Union, the Urban Footprint Dance
Club, the Management Club, InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship, and LEAD, a leadership development
program for minority students. She did all this while
also completing several professional internships.
Kadijah represents the grace and commitment to
intercultural justice of this class.
Shane Ertter came to us from Scottsdale,
Arizona. He found his academic home as an arts
administration major, and in short time he became
Mr. Radio on campus, leading WCBG to become a
vibrant, comprehensive radio station. In addition,
Shane worked as an assistant producer for Cumulus
Media’s commercial radio stations and interned for
several NBC shows. Shane represents the class’s high
achievement and generosity of spirit.
A local Staten Islander, Arijeta Lajka focused on
English as well as government and politics while
pursuing a career as an investigative journalist.
Arijeta worked for several professional news
organizations, including the Balkan Investigative
Reporting Network, during the semester she spent
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
abroad in Kosovo.
“�Each represents
Arijeta was the third
an outstanding
consecutive Wagner
quality of their
student to be named
a Fulbright Finalist,
class: dynamism, grace,
and she also received
generosity, courage,
admission to the
intelligence, and grit. ”
master’s program at
Columbia University’s
School of Journalism. She represents the class’s
independence of mind and personal courage.
Stephon Font-Toomer, an arts administration major
from Erie, Pennsylvania, excelled on Wagner’s
Division I football team and distinguished himself
as a performer in Wagner College Theatre. A
founding member of the MOVE program, which
connects Wagner athletes with civic engagement and
professional development, Stephon and his teammates
became role models for young teens from the Staten
Island community. Stephon represents confidence,
will, and intelligence to help the next generation
flourish with opportunity and self-determination.
Finally, Aliyya Noor, born and raised in Pakistan,
found her way to New York City and this little
College. She has mentored Port Richmond High School
students from families without any college history, and
interned at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Her academic achievements and contributions to
the community earned her the Julia M. Barchitta
Award for Civic Engagement. Aliyya also translated
for the documentary film He Named Me Malala,
based on the inspiring story of Pakistani Nobel Peace
Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. An accounting major,
Aliyya is now working on her master’s at Wagner
and then plans to begin her professional life with
PricewaterhouseCoopers. She represents the grit and
resiliency that are so critical in sustaining social change.
The class of 2016 has stepped into a time of
great challenges. But I have confidence that their
commitment to learning and their compassion for
others will set all of us on a path to a better world.
Richard Guarasci
President
�“N
From the Editor
Primal Power
ight after night after night, ten measures
into the first piece we sang, we had reached out
and invited audiences to take part in it, and
they did. I can’t remember a single instance of
an audience not responding with an enthusiasm
that sometimes surprised even them.”
Gene Barfield ’75 wrote the above
sentences about his experience with singing
in the Wagner College Choir more than 40
years ago. The memories of that time linger
so powerfully, he says, that they still bring
tears to his eyes.
I can testify that the Wagner choir still has
the same magic today. I think of a concert
at Trinity Lutheran Church on a Sunday
in March of last year. I arrived late, feeling
harried. As soon as I sat down in the quiet
church, the choir started singing Virgil
Thomson’s arrangement of the 23rd Psalm
(to the tune by William Bradbury and words
by Isaac Watts). My skin tingled; my body
relaxed. In short, I was transported. I stayed in
that state of wonder for the rest of the concert,
a tour through multiple styles, times, and
traditions of vocal music.
It feels so ancient and yet so alive, this
tradition of 50 or so young people using
their bodies, minds, and hearts as musical
instruments. Their blended sound reaches you
directly, through vibrations in a shared space,
with all the warmth of a human touch. In this
world where people interact with each other
more and more through the mediation of
Fall 2016 • Volume 14 Number 1
electronic
screens and
sounds, a choir
concert has a
primal power.
I began to
appreciate this
art form even
more last fall,
when for the first time in my life I sang in
a choir — the Richmond Choral Society of
Staten Island, which has a remarkable record
of 65 years of performing great choral music.
In the alto section I found friends like
Gale Tollefsen Bellafiore ’61, who sang in
the Wagner choir under Sigvart Steen. She’s
been with the Richmond Choral Society since
1972 — nearly four and a half decades. In the
1980s, she participated in the summer choral
workshops of the revered conductor Robert
Shaw, even joining his international choir in
France in 1988. She is still singing.
The choir is perhaps the longest-enduring
student group within the institution of
Wagner College (see pages 22–29). It’s a tie
that binds the Wagner generations together
and gives so much that is good to students
and to the world. May it endure for many
more generations to come.
Laura Barlament
Laura Barlament
EDITOR
Natalie Nguyen
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Writers
Laura Barlament
Lee Manchester
Felicia Ruff
Photographers
Vinnie Amessé
Jonathan Harkel
Lee Manchester
Anna Mulé
Illustration
Alberto Ruggieri/Illustration Source
Trisha Tan
Production Manager
Donna Sinagra
Editorial AssistantS
Kolten Bell ’19
John Rodriguez ’16
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
Editor, Wagner Magazine
Wagner Magazine:
The Link for Alumni and Friends
is published twice a year by Wagner’s
Office of Communications and Marketing.
On the Cover
Dr. Scott Lieberman ’83 captured this image of his nephew, Matt
Greene, as he completed a sky dive on May 27, 2006. The occasion
was Lieberman’s son’s bar mitzvah, and Greene stuck a perfect
landing in the parking lot outside of the Tyler, Texas, event hall.
Greene and his Dallas Khaos Khobalt teammates went on to claim
gold in the intermediate four-way division at the 2013 U.S. Parachute
Association National Skydiving Championships. Read about
Lieberman’s equally impressive photography career on pages 12–17.
Wagner Magazine
Wagner College
One Campus Road
Staten Island, NY 10301
718-390-3147
laura.barlament@wagner.edu
wagner.edu/wagnermagazine
PHOTOGRAPH: SCOTT LIEBERMAN
F A L L 2 0 1 6
wagner.edu
�From Our Readers
“
”
Wagner inspired loyalty and camaraderie.
Radio Waves
I have just received the winter 2015–16
issue of Wagner Magazine, and was
surprised and happy to see an article
about WCBG radio (“Radio Revival.”) I
served as both an on-air personality and
member of the executive board during
my education at Wagner, a time when
the station was not extremely popular.
The e-board and I faced obstacles with
getting online broadcasting, and with
no underclassmen to take over after
our senior year I assumed WCBG
would lie dormant for a while. The
station, however, always held a special
place in my heart. I am thrilled to hear
that it has now been revived, and I
hope to be able to hear WCBG on my
own radio soon!
Dawn Farina ’06
Staten Island
Editor’s Note: The Real Tree Story
In Lee Manchester’s fall 2014
Wagner Magazine story, “Rooted
in Grymes Hill,” he established that
the 38 London plane trees around
the Sutter Oval were not, contrary
to popular legend, planted to honor
Wagner’s first female graduates.
Instead, he discovered, 20
red maples were donated to
honor the women, and they
were planted behind
Main Hall in 1936.
Now, Manchester
has discovered the
real story behind the
planting of the trees
around the Oval.
In the June 1932
issue of the Wagner
College Bulletin,
an article entitled
“Campus Plantings”
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
notes that the senior class had donated
38 plane trees to the College.
The article reports on the
celebration of the planting , held on
April 13. Martin Dietrich ’32, class
president, and Herman Brezing ,
Wagner president, gave talks, and “the
first tree was planted by use of the
shovel used to break ground for the
new building.” This “new building”
was Main Hall, which had been
completed only two years earlier.
The article adds a bit more
arboreal history: “Two beautiful
Koster blue spruce trees” were
planted on either side of Main Hall’s
entrance, funded by a donation from
George J. Fox of Buffalo, New York.
Other gifts funded the planting
of “sixteen small evergreens …
numerous flowering shrubs …
[and] a large eighteen-foot circular
flower bed with gravel path approach
… on the entrance side of the oval,
near the street.” It’s doubtful there are
still any signs of these plants in today’s
landscaping , more than 80 years later.
But it’s interesting to note the role
that donations played in beautifying
campus during its early years.
�A Glimpse into
‘the Old Days’
Berna Glover Eich ’69 passed along
to me the winter 2015–16 issue of
Wagner Magazine because she knew
I grew up on the Ward estate in the
1930s and 40s. [The Ward estate,
acquired by the College in 1949, was
located on today’s stadium area; see page
24 for more details. — The Ed.] She
thought I’d be interested in the article
about the early days of the college
(“Wagner College History Tour”).
I liked reading the whole issue.
I went on the Internet to look
up Robert Loggia ’51 (“History
Makers”), and found the recruiting
video “Beautiful upon a Hill”
(1949). That really brought back
memories, which I wrote about in a
short piece called “The Old Gym.”
Janice Jacobsen North
Blue Point, New York
The Old Gym
by Janice Jacobsen North
BACK IN THE OLD DAYS,
the 1940s, my family lived on the Ward estate.
The college was across Howard Avenue (then Serpentine Road), and
activities going on there served as a magnet for us.
The gymnasium was located in the Ad Building (today’s Main Hall)
and was the scene of many events, not just sports. It had a stage, which
was used for plays and speeches, and it was a good place to keep out of
the way of what was happening on the floor of the gym.
My brother and cousin would stand on the stage to post the scores
at basketball games. The spectators were not so lucky; they were on
either side of the action, and players could and would bump into them.
When my parents went to see a game, there was the danger of play
being interrupted by our black cocker spaniel, Wimpy, who would
come looking for them, sneak through an open door, and walk jauntily
right across the floor.
We were also loyal supporters of the football team. We cheered the
water boy as well as the team under Jim Lee Howell’s direction. We
applauded coach Herb Sutter’s efforts in the gym and on the baseball
field. We attended graduation ceremonies and sang the new alma mater,
“Beautiful upon the Hill” [adopted in 1947]. Everyone loved it.
We became friends with faculty and their families. Professor Bacher,
his wife, and son Pierre were refugees from France. Milton Kleintop,
another professor, took a leave of absence during World War II to work
in the employment office of the atomic plants located in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. When I went away to college, an ex-GI attending Wagner
used my bedroom, since there was no room for him in Wagner’s
dormitory for men.
Wagner inspired loyalty and camaraderie. When I have met
Wagnerians in later life, we know right away we have a common bond,
and we tend to keep in touch with each other. Bravo, Wagner!
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU We welcome letters from readers. Letters
Laura Barlament, Editor
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.
Office of Communications, Wagner College
One Campus Road, Staten Island, NY 10301
laura.barlament@wagner.edu
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�MOTIVATED (Front row) Malithi Desilva, Evelin Cabellero, Mary Onifade, (back row) Andrew
Bauch, and Brittany Burke are among the first Port Richmond Partnership Leadership Academy
participants to enroll as Wagner undergraduates.
Green, White, and ‘Purpla’
These freshmen are old hands at being Wagner students
THIS SEMESTER,
the first-year class
includes eight students who actually
started their studies at Wagner College
three years ago.
These eight students were in the
first cohort of the Port Richmond
Partnership Leadership Academy.
Founded in 2013 with a grant from
the New World COIN program, this
three-year learning experience for
students from Port Richmond High
School in Staten Island is a pipeline
to college attainment and civic
engagement for teens who have a lot of
potential, but could use a little extra
push to achieve it.
Ever since they were rising juniors
in high school, these students spent
more than a month of each summer
working on their academic skills
with high school teachers and college
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
professors, and working in communityfocused internships with non-profits,
schools, and government offices. They
continued to meet during the school
year and were mentored by Wagner
College student leaders.
All 12 members of the first cohort
are now in college, whether at Wagner
or elsewhere. Many of them chose
Wagner because of the great support
system they had experienced, and are
continuing to stay highly involved in
community work as participants in
Wagner’s Bonner Leaders program,
which obliges them to do 300 hours
in community work per year at everincreasing levels of responsibility.
“I learned how to be more
outspoken and open-minded, and how
to be more motivated and productive,”
says Malithi Desilva of the academy
experience — which the students, by
the way, have affectionately dubbed
PRPLA, pronounced “Purpla.”
Adds Brittany Burke, “I learned
that college is not daunting and that
everything is possible. My vision
statement is that I want to give back
the opportunity I’ve been given to
someone else.”
Financial support from John “Pat”
’57 H’14 and Marion H’14 Dugan
is making this program possible, and
Wagner is seeking further underwriting
for this program and all of the work
organized by the Center for Leadership
and Community Engagement.
A Minor
Change
Helping students develop
a civic identity
THIS FALL,
many of the PRPLA
and other students are starting
their studies in a new minor:
civic engagement. This program
focuses on leadership, social
policy, methods of assessing
civic progress, and social and
political theory. Communitybased internships and oncampus experiences are also
central to this minor. The goal
is to help students develop
their civic identity and provide
future employers with concrete
evidence of their ability to
engage effectively in civic life.
�{
Quote
Unquote
“You must start doing the thing that you dream
about doing before you are ready to do it — and
you must trust that you will become who you
need to be, and that your idea will become what
it needs to be, along the way.”
Banking Bad
The real-life undercover work
of Bob Mazur ’72 is the basis
for a major motion picture
THIS SUMMER,
the life of a Wagner
alumnus was depicted on the big
screen in a riveting crime drama
starring Bryan Cranston. It garnered
many positive reviews and grossed $5.3
million on its opening weekend.
The Infiltrator movie is based on the
autobiography of Robert Mazur ’72
(published in 2009 by Little, Brown
and Company), which describes his life
as an undercover government agent
in the 1980s, when he infiltrated the
Medellín drug cartel and the money
laundering operation that serviced it.
His work resulted in the conviction
of top drug lords and dirty bankers,
FALSE FRIENDS Benjamin Bratt stars as drug
trafficker Roberto Alcaino and Bryan Cranston
as undercover U.S. Customs agent Robert Mazur
in The Infiltrator.
bringing down the world’s seventhlargest bank, the Bank of Commerce
and Credit International.
Well-known for his starring role in
the hit AMC series Breaking Bad, Bryan
Cranston portrays Mazur in the movie,
which was directed by Brad Furman.
Mazur visited the College in
September to give a lecture about his
Brandon Stanton
}
Creator of
Humans of New York,
Commencement
Address, May 20
work and a film screening. He noted
that the filmmakers took liberties
“with about 35 percent” of the story,
but praised the performances of John
Leguizamo as his real-life undercover
partner, Emir Abreu, and of Benjamin
Bratt as Roberto Alcaino, a top Medellín
cartel official with whom Mazur (in his
undercover identity of Bob Musella)
developed a close relationship.
For Mazur, the film is just a
jumping-off point to understanding
the real issue: the worldwide problem
of money laundering, which supports
not just drug traffickers but also
terrorist organizations. “The problem
goes a lot deeper than what the film
shows,” he noted. Mazur now is a
consultant who works with banks,
police agencies, and other institutions
to combat corruption.
Intellect and Inspiration
New dean of civic engagement is an expert in using the arts for social change
was just named
to the newly created position
of dean of civic engagement
this summer. But this theater
educator and social justice
advocate has been helping to shape the College’s work with
the local community for the past few years already.
While serving as associate director of Imagining America,
an organization that supports artists and scholars in public
life, Bott visited Wagner in 2013 and learned about the Port
Richmond Partnership. He then helped to launch a summer
community theater initiative in Staten Island. Over the past
three years, this program has produced powerful works that
address community concerns about race relations and other
difficult topics.
KEVIN BOTT
P H O T O G R A P H , A B O V E : D AV I D L E E / B R O A D G R E E N P I C T U R E S
A New Jersey native, Bott graduated from Rutgers and
started off his career as an actor in New York City. But,
he says, an undergraduate study abroad experience had
triggered his social consciousness. In Florence, Italy, he
met some students who challenged him with their political
and philosophical questions. “It undermined my foundation
that theater and going to Broadway was what it was all
about,” he says.
When those persistent questions could no longer be
ignored, he enrolled in NYU’s graduate program in theater
education. His dissertation focused on using theater in prisons.
Wagner has a uniquely deep relationship with its local
community, he says. His role is “to shine a spotlight on
what’s happening here at Wagner nationally, and to raise
funds for these programs that deserve to be supported.”
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Upon the Hill
{
First the
Facts . . .
12
41
Number of people who have served as
Wagner College president
Number of years between the building of
Harborview Hall and Foundation Hall
World Scholars
Student and professor receive Fulbright awards
for the Department of English this year,
as one of their students and one of their faculty members
were awarded prestigious Fulbright grants through the U.S.
Department of State.
A double major in English and political science, Arijeta
Lajka ’15 received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant
for an English Teaching Assistantship in Turkey for the
2016–17 academic year. The program was suspended,
however, after the attempted coup of this past summer.
Lajka had also received admission to the Columbia
University School of Journalism, and she is spending this
year working on her master’s.
During her undergraduate years, Lajka started working as
a professional journalist, covering news from the Balkans and
the Middle East, as well as human rights and environmental
topics, for outlets including Vice News and the Balkan
Investigative Reporting Network.
Associate Professor Steven W. Thomas of the Wagner
English department is at Addis Ababa University in
IT WAS A BIG SPRING
Ethiopia this year as a Fulbright Scholar. He is teaching
courses in film theory and cultural studies for the
university’s new graduate film program, and also conducting
research on Ethiopia’s rapidly growing film industry.
Since joining Wagner’s English department in 2012,
Thomas has been fostering connections between his students
in New York and aspiring young filmmakers in Ethiopia.
He has worked closely with the Sandscribe Foundation, an
Addis Ababa-based organization that supports young film
artists and media professionals in Ethiopia. Thomas has also
been researching the long and complex multiethnic history
of cultural connections between America and Ethiopia,
including recent novels and movies.
A College That Creates Futures
Wagner lauded in the Princeton Review’s new, exclusive guide
WAGNER COLLEGE was
one of only
50 colleges throughout the country
that was included in a new guide
to best-value schools published
by the Princeton Review, Colleges
That Create Futures: 50 Schools
That Launch Careers by Going
Beyond the Classroom.
The 50 schools featured this book
comprise only about 2 percent of
the nation’s approximately 2,600
four-year colleges. The selection
process factored in data from the
company’s surveys of administrators
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
at hundreds of universities between
2013 and 2015 and of 18,000
students attending the schools. The
Princeton Review also conducted
200 interviews with faculty,
administrators, and alumni in
making its choices of the final 50
colleges featured in the book.
Specifically, the Princeton Review
editors weighed information about
the colleges’ career center services,
internship, externship, cooperative
learning and collaborative research
opportunities, and student
engagement in community service
and study abroad programs.
“Simply put, Wagner and the
other colleges we chose for this
book are stellar at putting the ‘hire’
in ‘higher education,’” said Robert
Franek, author of the book with
the Princeton Review staff. “We
commend these schools for the
extraordinary opportunities they are
giving their students for practical,
hands-on learning that complements
their academic experiences.”
�1,500
Percentage increase in the
value of Wagner’s endowment
over the past 14 years
1
Answer on Page 11
6
Until the late 1950s, our full name was Wagner Memorial Lutheran College.
5
}
When was Richard Guarasci named
president of Wagner College?
. . . Then
the Quiz!
The “sword of the spirit,” a Biblical image.
Palm branch, a Biblical image of victory (à la Palm Sunday) (later mistaken for a quill pen).
7
The “trumpet of witness” (Biblical).
5
1
6
4
7
3
8
WHAT’S INSIDE
The Original College Seal
2
3
The open book is the Bible.
8
2
4
Here, in tiny little letters, are the graphic artist’s initials: “EK.”
At the time the seal was designed, our campus was located in Rochester, New York.
ON DECEMBER 1, 2016,
the Wagner College
seal celebrates its
100th birthday!
Designed by student
Edgar Krauch of
Buffalo, a member of
the class of 1917, it
was first used on the
College’s stationery.
Early Wagner College motto, “Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’” (“To God Alone on High Be Glory”), title of a 1525 Martin Luther hymn.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Upon the Hill
{
Quote
Unquote
‘Tolerance’ is one of my least favorite words. To me it suggests
ignorance, elitism, and being closed off to experience. ‘You’re
different than me, but I will tolerate you.’ … If we can take it past
tolerance, if we can be open to experience others, to get to know
and understand them, we open ourselves up to new possibilities.
SUMMER SMILES Joan Smihula
’59 (below) helps local kids
discover the joy of reading.
‘Reading Rocks!’
Alumna-sponsored pilot project
helps struggling learners
connect with books
at Wagner
College, Joan Becker Smihula ’59 then
acquired 33 years of experience as a
kindergarten and first-grade teacher
in North Bellmore, New York. Now
retired, she returned to the College
to contribute her expertise, energy,
and financial support to the Wagner
education department and to Staten
Island children this past summer.
Working with education professor
David Gordon, Smihula helped
to develop Reading Rocks!, a pilot
summer reading program for two dozen
rising second graders from nearby
P.S. 78 in Stapleton, Staten Island.
According to P.S. 78 teacher
Giavonna Dupre M’15, the students
selected for the program were reading
at the kindergarten level — that is,
about five levels behind where they
should be — for a variety of reasons.
Both the children and the education
experts learned a lot. “When we first
met with Joan, we thought we could
work with some students who were
having reading difficulties, and figure
TRAINED AS A TEACHER
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
out why,” Gordon said. “In the time we
have with them, we’re finding out who
these kids are, and we’re getting a much
better idea of how learning works.”
The reading program ran for nine
days, with the children spending about
three hours each day in a Wagner
College classroom. Two Wagner
professors, three graduate students,
and two P.S. 78 teachers led the
children in targeted lessons to make
reading more accessible.
Professor Ann Gazzard, for
instance, focused on “philosophy for
children.” “The idea is to get them
excited about the range of ideas found
in books,” Gazzard said, “so they see
how reading can give them access to a
whole new world.
“Many of these kids are quite
bright,” Gazzard added. “Just because
you can’t read or write well doesn’t
mean you can’t think well.”
In another session, led by Professor
Jennifer Lauria and P.S. 78 teacher
Margaret Rucci M’16, the children
engaged in multisensory activities
designed to help them link their
thoughts and feelings with what
they find in books, and “mindfulness
training” to help them learn to focus.
“When you’re defeated and
struggling, that’s a deep hole to climb
Steve Jenkins
}
Professor of
Psychology, Opening
Convocation
Address, August 30
out of,” said Lauria on the fifth day of
the program, “but I can see a change
today from last week.
“Ultimately, we had hoped the
students would recognize that we
truly believed in their abilities to
improve and grow as young readers,
and that we were working with them
to help them find their way,” Lauria
said. “Some children began speaking
more positively about their literacy
skills and demonstrated more effort
in persevering with challenging tasks
during our short time together,
which was wonderful to observe. The
positivity became contagious!”
SHE’S GOT REACH
This summer, Seahawk swim team
member Dorian McMenemy ’19
represented the Dominican Republic in
the 50m freestyle event at the Olympic
Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She
also swam for the Dominican Republic
at the London Olympics in 2012, when
she was only 15. McMenemy was born in
the United States; went to high school in
Northborough, Massachusetts; and is a
dual citizen of the U.S. and the Dominican
Republic, her mother’s home country.
�{
The
Answer
Quiz Question
on Page 9
On June 1, 2002. As of July 1, 2016,
Guarasci became Wagner’s longestserving president. Building
Foundation Hall and the endowment
are two of his many achievements.
Parents, Ground
Your Helicopters
Wagner research reveals benefits of
supporting students’ autonomy
can be a major challenge for
parents when they drop their sons and
daughters off at college for the first time.
Those who don’t let go are commonly
called “helicopter parents.”
A recent study by Wagner College
researchers suggests that letting go is a
critical factor in how well freshmen adjust
to their new independence. “Parental
behavior that encouraged students to do
things for themselves predicts higher levels
of student well-being,” the researchers said.
In other words: Parents, for the sake of your
children’s well-being, ground your helicopters.
It’s time your students learn to make their
own decisions and live with the results.
Through multiple surveys of the
2014–15 first-year class, researchers tested
how much the students’ parents supported
or interfered with their autonomy, and the
level of “flourishing” students experienced
— and what connection could be
determined between the two. (“Flourishing”
is a measure of emotional, social, and
psychological well-being.)
The good news was that “most students
are receiving input from parents that is
supportive of the students’ autonomy,
encouraging them to take independent
action with respect to important decisions.”
There was no evidence that helicopter
parenting promoted students’ flourishing
during the first semester — but there was
clear evidence that students felt happier,
were more optimistic about what they might
contribute to society, and believed they were
LETTING GO
}
“good managers of responsibility” when
their parents supported their autonomy.
On the flip side, students who reported
higher levels of helicopter parenting had
poorer emotional and psychological well-being.
“From surveys,” the researchers reported,
“we cannot determine whether helicopter
parenting causes harm to students who
would otherwise succeed, or whether parents
hover when students are struggling. But
surveys do allow prediction, and helicopter
parenting at the end of a full year of college
is a bad sign of student ability to adjust.”
The study was conducted as part
of the Bringing Theory to Practice
Project at Wagner College, funded by
BTTOP.org, a partnership between the
S. Engelhard Center and the Association
of American Colleges & Universities.
Investigators on the project were professors
Alexa Dietrich (anthropology), Amy
Eshleman (psychology), and Steve Jenkins
(psychology), Associate Provost Anne Love,
Provost Lily McNair, Professor Patricia
Tooker (nursing), and Vice President Ruta
Shah-Gordon.
Gentrification and
Shadow Governments
Whether you’re
a native New Yorker
or a long-time
resident, you’ve
seen a radical
transformation
happen in city life
over the past 30
years. Abraham Unger describes this
much-debated gentrification process in
graphic terms: “The drug-infested parks
of 1980s Manhattan now [host] farmers’
markets and fashion expos.” In his new
book, Unger offers an explanation of
this sea change in the urban landscape
— and an analysis of its unintended
consequences for urban democracies.
Unger is an associate professor and
director of urban programs in the Wagner
College Department of Government and
Politics. His book, Business Improvement
Districts in the United States: Private
Government and Public Consequences
(Palgrave Macmillan 2016), examines
a widespread economic revitalization
tool. Business Improvement Districts,
or BIDs, are public-private partnerships
between property owners and municipal
governments, designed to promote
economic development and boost real
estate values.
Yet, these private organizations have
the public power to tax and spend on
services in their districts. “BIDs raise
substantial questions about how power
gets allocated and used on the most
local level, block by block, neighborhood
by neighborhood. Ultimately, on that level
of the street, is where any discussion of
democracy must begin,” Unger argues.
“In this study, that conversation begins
with a look at how a group of shadow
urban private governments have wielded
their public authority.”
Focusing on BIDs in New York City,
Unger traces their development over
more than a decade and uncovers
their hidden costs. This is important
because BIDs are representative of
the wider phenomenon of publicprivate partnerships, which are
on the increase worldwide.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�DR. LIEBERMAN’S
DECISIVE
MOMENT
�Dr. Scott Lieberman ’83 pivoted from hobbyist to journalist when
he captured ‘the digital image that played around the world’
By Laura Barlament
IT SOUNDED LIKE a heart murmur.
That’s how Dr. Scott Lieberman ’83
knew “something was amiss.”
But the cardiologist was not listening
to a patient’s heartbeat. Instead, he was
listening for the sonic boom caused
by the re-entry of the space shuttle
Columbia into the Earth’s atmosphere,
as it passed above his home in Tyler,
Texas, on February 1, 2003.
Lieberman had been outside,
photographing the event. He was a
serious hobbyist photographer, with a
longtime interest in aerospace as well.
Some years earlier, he had watched the
re-entry of another space shuttle and
admired its emerald green contrail.
Ever since then, he had been looking
for an opportunity to get pictures of
such an event. “I assumed it would be
a mantelpiece photo for me,” he says.
As he was shooting his photos, using
his top-of-the-line 6-megapixel Canon
DSLR camera, it didn’t look quite like
what he expected. His wife, Robyn
Jacobs Lieberman ’85, was filming it
with a video camera, and she said it
seemed like the shuttle was breaking
up. Still, Lieberman never imagined he
could be witnessing, and capturing in
digital images, a tremendous disaster
and worldwide news event.
The abnormal sound let him know
something was truly wrong. “It was a
rumble that got louder and then faded
THE IMAGE OF TRAGEDY Scott Lieberman’s
photos of the space shuttle Columbia
breaking apart on February 1, 2003, ran in
more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide.
Above is one of the original images, and at
left is Dr. Lieberman, a cardiologist, in his
medical office with a display of periodicals
that ran his photos of the Columbia disaster.
away, like a freight train approaching
and leaving. It was loud and long, not
‘thud thud’ like the typical sonic boom.”
Indeed, the Columbia was
disintegrating. As soon as Lieberman
downloaded his eight shots and enlarged
them on his computer, he could see the
fragmentation of the spacecraft.
Lieberman called all of his local
news outlets. Through the Tyler
Morning Telegraph, his photos went
to the Associated Press and around the
world. Journalists recognized that these
images — streaks and blobs of bright
light in the deep blue sky — were the
closest they could come to portraying
this inexplicable, fatal event that had
happened 34.5 miles above the Earth,
killing seven astronauts.
The next day, Lieberman’s images
appeared on the front page of
hundreds of newspapers nationwide.
PERFECT TIMING Opposite is an example of Lieberman’s expertise in photography, aerospace, and astronomy: In this six-second time exposure,
the space shuttle Atlantis leaves a streak of light as it passes between the moon and the planet Mercury, at sunrise on September 20, 2006. Longtime
Orlando Sun-Sentinel photojournalist Red Huber said to Lieberman, “When I saw this shot, that’s when I knew you knew what you were doing and the
Columbia picture wasn’t an accident.”
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�1. A FIERY VIEW Lieberman always seeks out
unusual perspectives for his photos. He got this
dramatic shot by climbing to a rooftop opposite
the site where firefighters battled a blaze in a row
of historic buildings in downtown Tyler, Texas, on
February 2, 2009.
1
2. EAGLE EYE Natural phenomena, especially
birds, are another interest of Lieberman’s. If you
want to see eagles, Lieberman says with a laugh,
follow the trash. During a visit to Ketchikan, Alaska,
he asked around and was told a place where
fishermen dump bait. Lieberman found eight
nests at the site and plenty of photo ops of our
magnificent national symbol.
3. DOGPILE Lieberman often covers sports, and
the local junior college in Lieberman’s hometown,
Tyler Junior College, has a very successful athletic
program. Here, the baseball team celebrates
after winning the Division III NJCAA World Series
on May 28, 2014. “This is a classic ‘jubi’ shot,”
Lieberman says. “I just waited for it.”
2
3
4
4. STATE FAIR “I like shooting time lapses of the rides,”
Lieberman says. “The geometric forms represent the
excitement of the fair.” This image was taken at the East
Texas State Fair in Tyler, Texas, on September 20, 2007.
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
�SHUTTLE RIDE Lieberman calls this image of the space shuttle Discovery being transported by a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft “one of my semi-luck,
semi-skilled shots.” It was taken on August 21, 2005, at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, where the 747 had landed to refuel on its trip from California to
Florida. While all of the other photographers packed up, Lieberman kept his camera trained on the sky. He had observed that the 747 took off to the north, so
he predicted that it would make a turn, giving him a chance to get this silhouette shot in the dawn twilight sky. The Associated Press promoted this image as
one of its top photos of the day (APTOPIX).
The New York Times literally stopped
the presses to substitute one of his
photos for an inferior video screen
capture. One made the cover of
Time magazine that week. Globally,
according to Lieberman, his photos
appeared in 1,200 newspapers and were
seen by an estimated 2.4 billion people
within the first 24 hours of publication.
In 2003, few professional
photographers were using digital
cameras. This incident showed the
power of digital photography to the
world of journalism. That’s why Robert
Daugherty, who was then director of the
AP State Photo Center in Washington,
called Lieberman’s photo “the digital
image that played around the world.”
T
he Columbia disaster was
Lieberman’s first foray into the
world of professional journalism,
but it was not his first foray into any
kind of journalism. As a student, both
at Edward R. Murrow High School in
Brooklyn and at Wagner College, he
had started to learn the craft.
He fondly recalls his involvement
with the Wagnerian student newspaper
and the Kallista yearbook. “I learned a
lot. It was a very useful time from an
educational perspective,” he says. “I had
good editors who helped me develop
journalistic and photographic skills.”
This incident showed
the power of digital
photography to the
world of journalism.
Doing photography for the Kallista
gave him the opportunity to get his
photos developed, which at the time
was difficult and expensive. The
Wagnerian didn’t publish many photos,
but he wrote stories, helped convert
the paper to a computerized layout
system, served as the science editor,
and became the managing editor
during his senior year.
At the same time, he majored in
biology and chemistry, completing the
pre-medical curriculum. When he was
accepted into the New York Medical
College, his Wagnerian colleagues made
note of it under the headline “Scott
Accepted” in the May 3, 1983, issue.
“Scott worked on the Wagnerian
for four years, annoyed at least eight
editors, became managing editor
this last semester, and was involved
in many other activities during his
attendance at Wagner,” they wrote.
“We all wish Scott the best of luck in
his medicinal future.”
He graduated from medical school
in 1987, and then trained in internal
medicine and interventional cardiology
at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital.
In 1994, he joined Cardiovascular
Associates of East Texas and the Tyler
Cardiac and Endovascular Center. He
has been practicing interventional
cardiology and endovascular medicine
ever since.
Little did fellow Wagnerian staffers
such as Claire Regan ’80 (who became
associate managing editor of the Staten
Island Advance) and Jim McGrath ’86
(who became a sports journalist as well
as a teacher and coach) know that they
would see him again in the world of
professional journalism.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�ROLLOVER Lieberman is not a licensed pilot, but he loves to fly. In the photo above, the pilot gave him the controls of a World War II-era training aircraft, the
P-51 Mustang “Betty Jane,” and Lieberman executed a roll while shooting photos.
H
aving his photos viewed on
the world stage made a huge
impression on Lieberman.
“Getting published was a fantastic,
visceral event,” he told the Poynter
Institute’s Andrew Beaujon, who covered
Lieberman’s story on the 10-year
anniversary of the Columbia disaster.
It led Lieberman to decide that he
wanted to continue contributing to the
AP. That’s what differentiates his work
from “citizen journalism” — a trend
that some have linked to his story.
“To a certain extent, yes,” he replies
when asked what he thinks about being
called “the father of citizen journalism.”
“But I didn’t work outside of editorial
control, and I haven’t used primarily
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
social media to self-publish my work.”
Instead, he worked with photo
editors at the Tyler Morning Telegraph
and the AP. Eventually he became
so adept at editing his photos and
writing captions that he was allowed to
contribute directly to the AP national
desk as an independent contractor.
Lieberman has enjoyed contributing
to the world of AP photojournalism,
not only professionally but also
personally. He attended the party
for Bob Daugherty’s retirement
from the AP State Photo Center.
He has visited AP bureaus around
the country. “I have made a lot of
connections and dear friends in the
AP news business,” he says.
When you search AP Images online
today, you’ll find nearly 1,000 photos
credited to Dr. Scott M. Lieberman.
“On almost any day, my pictures are
being pulled and used,” he says.
What makes them so appealing
is that he finds the unique angle,
framing, lighting, and timing that
make any scene truly arresting. “I
look for the artistic in the natural
moment,” he says, recalling the
famed 20th-century photographer
Henri Cartier-Bresson’s technique
demonstrated in his influential
book, The Decisive Moment. “I shoot
anything that tells a story.”
�1. DUAL BOLTS Weather,
especially lightning, is one of
Lieberman’s specialties. This
image, from May 1, 2007, was
taken from his backyard in the
countryside near Tyler, Texas.
2. MUD FLIGHT The wild
frenzy of a mud fight seems to
defy gravity in this image from
the Scarborough Renaissance
Festival in Waxahachie,
Texas, on May 5, 2007.
1
2
3. CALM BEFORE THE STORM
In the photo below, used on
the front page of the New York
Times, Lieberman captured
a striking image of over 200
temporary medical beds set up
in the Maytee Fisch Convocation
Center at the University of Texas
at Tyler, in preparation for hospital
evacuations as Hurricane Gustav
approached on August 30, 2008.
3
F A L L 2 0 1 6
��Part II
Wagner College
The Birth of
an American
College
History Tour
By Lee Manchester
When Wagner Memorial Lutheran College moved from Rochester, New York, to Staten
Island in 1918, it was a truly tiny school — just 42 students, enrolled in a high school and
junior college program, with fewer than 10 professors. It used a German curriculum and
prepared young men to become pastors of Lutheran congregations.
But the world was changing in 1918 — and so was Wagner.
The move to Staten Island, spearheaded by local Lutheran minister and 1894 Wagner
College graduate Frederic Sutter, was part of a master plan to bring Wagner College into the
20th century and transform it into a new kind of school: an American college. By the time
that plan was completed, around 1935, we had 18 professors and 280 students working on
their bachelor’s degrees.
And all of them needed places to live, and work, and study on campus.
New Faculty — New Houses
T
he first few years of life on the Staten Island campus
were pretty rugged, by all accounts. Living space was
at a premium for students and faculty alike. Two
professors, George Haas and Clarence Stoughton, lived with
their wives in tiny, two-room apartments on the third floor
of the old Cunard villa. A third, Herbert Weiskotten, could
not join the faculty until better housing was available.
And so, in 1922, work was begun on three new faculty
homes, named for these three pioneering professors —
Stoughton, Weiskotten, and Haas.
The Stoughton and Weiskotten homes were designed
in the Craftsman style with half-timbering highlights,
popular on Staten Island at that time. We have no record
of the architect’s identity, but the structures bear striking
similarities to houses designed by architect Henry G. Otto
on nearby St. Paul’s Avenue. Otto also designed Pastor Sutter’s
home in 1922.
ESTABLISHMENT YEARS Between 1922 and 1930, the Wagner campus grew from six buildings to 10. The additions included a dormitory (today’s Parker
Hall), three faculty homes, and the building that has become the College’s architectural signature, the Administration Building (Main Hall). Only one of these
buildings is no longer extant: the Weiskotten Cottage, pictured above.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�The Stoughton cottage now houses
our public safety and human
resources offices. Affectionately
known as “Prof,” Stoughton (seen
at right) taught English and history,
and later played a major role as the
College’s first lay president.
The Weiskotten cottage, on the other
hand, is one of the very few old buildings
on campus to have been demolished; it stood on the site
occupied by the Horrmann Library, built in 1960.
The Haas cottage is now the home of Wagner’s
Department of Lifelong Learning. (The late Chaplain
Lyle Guttu lived there for nearly 30 years before that.)
It replaced a decrepit gatehouse that stood on the
campus property when we bought it in 1917.
Wagner’s trustees had planned to move that old gatehouse
about 50 feet into campus and refurbish it as a faculty
residence — but the longer they looked at it, the more it
became clear that it wasn’t worth renovating. The problem
was, they had already poured a new foundation for it at the
new location.
Their solution? They took the old gatehouse’s
measurements and built a new cottage with the same
dimensions and the same architectural lines as the old one
— but with some anomalies. The original house was a simple
example of shingle style architecture, so called because the
roof shingles were used to cover the walls as well.
But the Haas cottage was stuccoed instead, like the other
homes on campus. That explains why it has the distinctive
roof lines, doorways, and windows typical of a late 19thcentury shingle style house — but no shingles!
FACULTY AND STUDENT HOUSING Built in 1922,
the Haas Cottage (above) features the shingle style
with a stucco finish. It now serves as the offices of the
Department of Lifelong Learning. The New Dormitory
(right), now called Parker Hall and used for faculty
offices, was dedicated in 1923 (above right).
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
New Students — New Dormitory
P
rofessors weren’t the only members of the young
Wagner community who needed places to live. With
our rapidly growing enrollment — nearly doubling
in the first two years — we would need more student
residence space than the boys’ dormitory (later called North
Hall, and now Reynolds House) allowed, and quickly.
The New Dormitory, as it was first called — later known
as South Hall, but rechristened Parker Hall in 1961 — was
finished in time for the opening of classes in September
1923. It was the first of two new campus buildings designed
in the collegiate Gothic style by architect George Conable,
who had also designed Trinity Lutheran Church, home of
Pastor Sutter’s congregation. It was meant to house up to 70
students, but since fewer beds were initially required, much of
its first floor was used as library, classroom, and office space.
In 1925, College leaders announced the next major step
in the creation of a modern Wagner College: a $500,000
endowment campaign. New York state law required a
half-million-dollar
endowment for any
institution granting
bachelor’s degrees
— and Wagner had
to be able to grant
degrees in order to
survive. By the time
the February 1926
college newsletter was
printed, the campaign
was declared a success.
�WAGNER’S SIGNATURE Main Hall in 1932, when the trees surrounding the Oval were saplings.
LAYING THE CORNERSTONE The photo above
shows the cornerstone-laying ceremony for Main
Hall (then called the Administration Building)
on May 30, 1929. Below is an image of the
cornerstone from the New York Times on June
16, 1929, with the donors of the cornerstone,
Fred Weber and Freda Weber; the Rev. Frederic
Sutter; and the Rev. C. F. Dapp, president.
Bigger Enrollment — Better Facilities
A
lthough it took another two years for Wagner to
jump through the additional bureaucratic hoops
necessary to grant baccalaureate degrees, the stage
was set for growth. The college program doubled in size
between 1925 and 1926, since those enrolling in 1926 could
be fairly sure that they would earn a bachelor’s degree by
the end of their Wagner career.
The increasing enrollment put extra pressure on existing
facilities, making one more new building essential: a
“recitation and science hall,” with multiple classrooms, a
combination gym and auditorium, real science labs, a full
library, and offices for faculty members.
Ground was broken on the new Administration
Building, as it was called — we know it as Main Hall —
over the summer of 1928. Architect George Conable’s
new collegiate Gothic building, which became the college’s
architectural signature, was finished by February 1930.
The official dedication was held on the annual College
Day gathering on May 30.
With the opening of Main Hall, Wagner College had
taken all of the major steps needed to transform itself into
a modern, American liberal arts college. Three smaller steps
completed the job:
1. ending the high school program, in 1932,
so that Wagner would be free to focus
exclusively on higher education;
2. the trustees’ decision, in the winter of
1933, to admit women for the first time in
the college’s half-century history; and
3. the election in May 1935 of Wagner’s first
lay president, Clarence “Prof ” Stoughton.
“It is not our hope to build a great university,” Stoughton
said in his inaugural address. “We are blessed, in this
metropolis, with some of the great universities of the world.
But while we do not need more universities, we do need
the small liberal arts colleges, where personality remains
sacred, where the student is always an individual, where his
individuality is developed and emphasized.”
Next in our series: The building boom of the post-World War II era, 1946–1970.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�We
Found
Our
Voice
FOR MORE THAN 80 YEARS, THE WAGNER COLLEGE
CHOIR HAS HELD TOGETHER IN HARMONY
BY LAURA BARLAMENT
�T
raveling and spreading the joy of music have always been part of the choral tradition at Wagner College.
The first reference to an organized student singing group is found in a May 1931 German Lutheran church
newspaper, Der Lutherische Herold [The Lutheran Herald]. In a “Report on Mission Work Among Immigrants in
New York Harbor in the Year 1930,” Pastor E. A. Sievert describes worship services he is conducting on Ellis Island.
A photo accompanying the story shows four members of the Wagner College Glee Club on their way to Ellis Island to
support the pastor “with music and song,” as he writes. “May God reward them for what they have done for these people who
often feel unfortunate,” he concludes.
Up to this day, the choir continues to help students find their voices, discover the vast cultural riches of music from all ages
and all around the world, and share the joy of human harmony with audiences locally, around the United States, and beyond.
As the cover notes of the choir’s 1975 album puts it, they are Wagner College’s “ambassadors in song.”
What follows is a glimpse into the history and the lived experience of the Wagner College Choir — one of the few
institutions within the College that has such longevity and continuing vitality.
FOUNDING: SILAS H. ENGUM, 1935–43
THE CHOIR WAS FOUNDED in 1935. Silas H. Engum, its
first director, represents the choir’s roots in the Midwestern
Lutheran tradition, shaped by F. Melius Christiansen, the
genius of a cappella choral singing from St. Olaf College.
Engum was one of his students, as were most Wagner choral
conductors who followed him through the early 1980s.
The Wagner College A Cappella Choir, as it was
known, performed only religious music with no instrumental
accompaniment (as the designation a cappella indicates). The 1936 Kallista boasted
that Wagner’s choir “sings in the style of the famous St. Olaf choir” and that its 40
members were selected from 85 applicants.
The choir went on its first tour in March 1939, visiting nearby areas: Long
Island, New Jersey, and central New York State. During the following years, it
expanded its travel to Pennsylvania and western New York State. The choir also
performed regularly for radio broadcasts on major New York City stations.
WAR AND POST - WAR PERIOD:
JOHN L. BAINBRIDGE, 1944–49
STARTING IN 1942, the impact of World War II on College
life, including the choir, was significant, as most young men
were drafted into military service. The choir was briefly
disbanded during 1943, and Engum left the College. But
by early 1944, the choir had been reorganized as an allwomen’s ensemble under the direction of music professor
John L. Bainbridge. During the post-war enrollment boom,
choir membership exploded, reaching its all-time high point of
80 members in the spring of 1948. The choir gained popularity through local
concerts and radio broadcasts. It resumed touring in 1946, appearing throughout
New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
The choir’s first-ever LP recording was made in 1949. A superb Juilliard-trained
organist, Bainbridge did not stick strictly to the Lutheran a cappella tradition.
The LP represents Bainbridge’s mix of repertoire, from the sacred and classical to
the secular and popular. Although the album cover features the words “Wagner
College A Capella [sic] Choir,” some of the selections are accompanied by organ
and piano, as appropriate for those varied styles of music.
SERVICE IN SONG Members of the Wagner
Glee Club travel to Ellis Island to sing for a
worship service in 1930 (above).
CENTER STAGE The Wagner College Choir with
Director Sigvart Steen on the stage of Lincoln
Center’s Philharmonic Hall, where they gave a
sold-out concert on February 17, 1966 (opposite).
Voices
UNLOCKING POTENTIAL
“No other course at the College was, I
think, capable of offering its students
the prospect of realizing so much of
their own potential [as was choir]. …
We learned many specific things that
can be cast in an academic mold. And
we built a community among ourselves,
one we were thrilled to share in the best
possible ways with anyone who would
show even the slightest interest, one
that endures to this day. Night after
night after night, ten measures into the
first piece we sang, we had reached out
and invited audiences to take part in it,
and they did. I can’t remember a single
instance of an audience not responding
with enthusiasm that sometimes
surprised even them.”
— Gene Barfield ’75
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�THE ESTABLISHMENT ERA: SIGVART J. STEEN, 1949–68
SIGVART STEEN USHERED IN a long-lasting
and very memorable era of the Wagner College
Choir. Dynamic, intense, and committed to choral
excellence, Steen was already a noted conductor
when he moved to the New York City area in
the summer of 1948, so that his wife, contralto
Margery Mayer Steen, could further her operatic
career. A graduate of Luther College and St. Olaf
College, he had conducted the U.S. Navy’s Great Lakes
Blue Jackets Choir and founded the Luther College Nordic
Cathedral Choir. In the fall of 1949, Wagner College hired
Steen as professor and chair of music and choir conductor.
THE CHOIR’S HOME
Also in 1949, the College purchased the old Ward family
estate, located across Howard Avenue (then known as
Serpentine Road) from the main campus. Today, it’s the
location of the Wagner football stadium; but from 1949 to
1992, the 18-acre property included a gracious
19-room mansion built in 1867 by William Green
Ward, a wealthy banker who had served as a
colonel in the Civil War.
The Ward house became the choir’s home for
about 35 years. The long schlep from the main
campus to the Music Building (as it was known)
for choir rehearsals, in all kinds of weather, is a
leitmotif of chorister lore. During most of the Steen years,
these rehearsals took place daily, first thing in the morning.
Once the students reached the building with its wraparound
porch, they ascended a large stairway to the second floor,
where the choir used the old home’s ballroom as its rehearsal
space. This special place — a beautiful old house devoted
to the art of music — bestowed a certain romance upon the
choral identity at Wagner College.
TOURING
Steen took the choir on 16 tours across the United States
and Canada, plus one time to Europe, when they were
invited to sing at the convention of the Lutheran World
Federation in Hannover, Germany, in July and August of
1952. The only American college choir at this event, they
were received rapturously by large audiences.
The regular tours were three-week journeys, undertaken
during January and February, by bus or by train. The timing
often meant extreme winter weather. In 1955, they traveled
3,500 miles throughout the Midwest and Canada, singing for
as many as 13,000 people during their travels. Washington,
D.C., became a regular stop starting in 1956. In 1960, the
tour incorporated 18 states, from the Midwest to California
and back through the South. In 1962, they appeared in
Florida for the first time, as part of an 11-state tour.
PASSING OF THE BATON, 1969
STEEN WAS DIAGNOSED with bone marrow cancer in
1965. Nevertheless, in January-February 1966, he led the
choir on a 7,000-mile, 24-concert, coast-to-coast journey,
which concluded with a sold-out homecoming concert at
Philharmonic Hall (now known as David Geffen Hall) in
Lincoln Center.
In December 1968, “Steen was vigorously rehearsing the
choir for its annual Christmas Concert when he fell seriously
ill and was admitted to the hospital,” writes his son, Richard
Steen, in a biographical essay. “He had in fact made music
with his students up to the week before he succumbed to
the fatal illness on December 20, 1968.”
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
�HIGH STANDARDS This photo of the Wagner College Choir with Sigvart Steen in the fall of 1968 was given to us by choir alumna Kathryn Lee Hume Arn ’72.
Steen died in December 1968, having firmly established the choir’s reputation for excellence throughout New York City, the United States, Canada, and even in
Germany, where he led the choir at the Lutheran World Federation’s convention in 1952.
Voices
REHEARSING AND PERFORMING
ON THE ROAD
“On the first day of rehearsal, we were given music and told
that it would be collected within a week. Wow! We spent
a great deal of time in the piano room of our dorm trying
to memorize the music and be prepared for the collection.
Fortunately, there were many choir members who had been
in the choir for several years and were able to carry the bulk
of us while we learned as we went along.
“The concerts were always a cappella. Our full attention was
on Dr. Steen. And we ended each concert with ‘Beautiful
Savior.’ We would all sing the first verse and then, as we
began to hum, Dr. Steen would point to one of the choir
members, and have them sing the next verse. They all sang
so beautifully.”
— Gale Tollefsen Bellafiore ’61
“In January or February of 1951, while traveling on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike en route to New Kensington, west of
Pittsburgh, we stopped for lunch at the midway rest area,
where we ran into the Concordia College Choir, led by
Paul Christiansen, son of F. Melius Christiansen of St. Olaf
College fame. We had an impromptu mini-concert as dueling
choirs. It was a great time. Back on board the bus, Dr. Steen
told us that the reason we were required to wear jackets and
ties, and dresses for the women, was so we would appear as
professionals. The Concordia students were wearing army
fatigues, jeans, etc. They looked rather ragtag and sloppy
compared to us — point made.”
— Bill Wehrli ’53
AROUND THE UNITED STATES
“I met June Billings, my future wife, on the 1956 choir
tour. … I took an immediate liking to her. … [Before
tours,] the choir seniors would convene in order to
determine which guys would chaperone which gals
while on tour. As it happened, another bass also had
his eyes on June, but I persisted, and won. The rest is
history: 59-plus years of marriage to this very bright
and beautiful Swede. We always describe our relationship
as a ‘college choir marriage.’ June and I still sing
together at Hope Lutheran in Bozeman, Montana.”
— Jeff Safford ’56 M’59
“The single most important part of my days at Wagner
was my membership in the choir. The extended choir tours
defined those years, when we sang in Lutheran churches,
colleges, and famous concert halls around the country.
Night after night for three weeks we rolled along, our
concerts following church suppers given by our hosts;
afterwards we stayed in people’s homes. In the days before
‘reality TV,’ I experienced the diversity of the lives of
everyday folks in many different parts of our country.”
— Caroline Runyon Zuber ’58
GENESIS OF A CHOIR COUPLE
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�4
A small selection of Wagner College Choir
programs from its first four decades.
1
2
3
1. APRIL 24, 1948, Bassick High School
Concert, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
John L. Bainbridge, director.
2. 1962–63 CONCERT SEASON.
Sigvart J. Steen, director.
3. FEBRUARY 11, 1954, Homecoming
Concert, Wagner College Gymnasium.
Sigvart J. Steen, director.
4. NOVEMBER 12, 1978, St. Andrew’s
Church, Richmondtown, Staten Island.
Arnold Running, director.
5. MAY 19, 1979, Commencement Concert.
Arnold Running, director.
6. 1938–39 CONCERT SEASON.
Silas H. Engum, director. Pictured:
Irma Gramm ’42 and Ruth Haas ’42.
5
6
7
Voices
BAPTISM BY FIRE —
OR BY ICE?
“The train trip across Canada and
back across the northern USA
was during one of the coldest
years on record, culminating in
-40º temperatures, the trains
freezing to the tracks, and delays
in the Rockies due to avalanches.
We performed at Orchestra Hall
in Chicago and some very large
cathedrals and churches in Canada.
… It was a true ‘baptism by fire.’”
— Allan DiBiase ’72
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
7. 1958–59 CONCERT SEASON.
Sigvart J. Steen, director.
Steen left his choir with a complete plan for another coast-to-coast tour in
January and February of 1969, crossing the breadth of Canada and returning via
the Upper Midwestern U.S. The choir’s 60 members unanimously voted to go
on with the tour in Steen’s memory. His widow, Margery Mayer Steen, as well as
Walter E. Bock, Wagner director of church relations, accompanied them. A junior
music major, Allan DiBiase ’72, who had been working as Steen’s assistant and
rehearsal accompanist, was selected as the conductor.
‘THE DEEP FREEZE
TOUR’ Kathryn Lee
Hume Arn ’72 wrote
this postcard to her
parents from Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada,
in January 1969. This
choir tour coincided with
a record cold spell.
�TOURING ABROAD Snapshots from
the albums of Diane Wehrli Mathisen
’79 show choir members in Germany
in June 1978, left with a concert poster,
below with the tour bus.
Voices
A GENTLE MAN
GROWING THE TRADITION:
ARNOLD RUNNING, 1969–79
HIRED IN THE FALL OF 1969, Arnold Running, like Steen, trained in the
F. Melius Christiansen tradition at St. Olaf College. Before coming to Wagner,
he experienced great success as a choral director at Parsons College in Iowa and
Augustana College in South Dakota, leading both ensembles on tours of the
United States and of Europe.
A highlight of the Running years was the choir’s return to Europe. Running led
the choir on three month-long trips, in May–June of 1972, 1975, and 1978. Every
year the choir tour began or ended in Bregenz, Austria, where Wagner College
had operated a satellite campus since 1962. Other tour stops included Munich,
Berlin, Hannover, Darmstadt, Bonn, and Stuttgart.
Running continued the Steen tradition of extensive annual U.S. tours, although
the travel time was reduced from three to two weeks. Running also introduced
some significant innovations: The choir’s first tour under his direction included
47 choir members — and 15 instrumentalists! Traveling in New York and New
England, the choir and chamber orchestra performed a challenging program that
included Renaissance music and 20th-century compositions, as well as a selection of
folk songs, hymns, and spirituals. At the end of the March 1977 tour, the Wagner
College Choir made its second appearance in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.
A PART - TIME INTERIM:
RICHARD STEEN AND JAN MEYEL, 1979–86
“Although I was a nursing major,
my four years at Wagner centered
around the choir. I was too immature
to appreciate what a fine human
being Dr. Running was. His patience,
kindness and musicianship seemed to
know no bounds. I sang with some
very fine choral conductors for about
30 years after graduation, but I
always have kept a very special place
in my heart for Dr. Running and his
‘Love Principle.’ Once a year or so, Dr.
Running would explain to the choir
that his approach to making music
with others was to approach every
rehearsal with love. When he did that,
everything simply worked out the way
God planned.”
— Kristine Iwersen Moore ’77
THE MUSIC
“What Dr. Arnold Running managed
to bring forth from us, most of whom
were not music majors, continues to
astound me to this day, more than
40 years later. We did not believe, at
times, that we were capable of creating
such magic.”
— Gene Barfield ’75
DR. RUNNING’S FORMER
STUDENTS say he was forced to
retire in 1979. It was a time when the
College was at its nadir, veering to the
edge of bankruptcy. The Ward house
was closed in 1984, because its heating
system was deemed irreparable.
Neglected, the grand old house fell
victim to vandals and fires; it was
demolished in late 1992 or early 1993.
North Hall (today’s Reynolds House)
housed the music department, and the
choir rehearsed in a Spiro lecture hall.
‘AMBASSADORS IN SONG’ The 1970–71
Wagner College Choir with Arnold Running,
director, went on a tour of 15 cities in the
Northeast and Midwest in January–February 1971.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Voices
ONE HARMONIOUS VOICE
Richard Steen
Jan Meyel
Patrick Gardner
Jeffrey Unger
The choral directors were part-time instead of full-time faculty, limiting the choir’s
activities. Yet students from this time still recall the joy of the music they made.
Sigvart Steen’s son Richard grew up at Wagner College and became a musician
himself. In fact, he gave his first voice recital in Guild Hall in 1968, with Allan
DiBiase as accompanist. A graduate of St. Olaf College and the Yale School of
Music and former music professor and choral conductor at the University of
North Carolina-Wilmington, he served part time as Wagner’s choral director from
1979 to 1981. He led the Wagner College Choir on a wide-ranging tour in March
of 1980, encompassing nine states and Washington, D.C.
Jan Meyel, an affable and talented vocalist who performed internationally, then
took over as choir director from 1981 to 1986. Former students like Annmarie
Lambiasi ’85 remember his “larger-than-life personality,” his warmth and humor.
The choir did not go on tours, but performed at local churches and on campus, with
repertoire ranging from Lutheran hymns to classical pieces to Broadway medleys.
A TURN OF FORTUNE:
CASTLEBERRY, GARDNER, AND UNGER, 1986–96
THE CHOIR’S FORTUNES started to turn around in the mid-1980s. A new
music department chair, Ronald Lee (a graduate of Luther College, where Sigvart
Steen had founded a famous Midwestern choir), hired David Castleberry in 1986
as the first full-time faculty member and choir director since Arnold Running’s
retirement. During his four years, this Texas-trained musician built the choir
back up from around 20 to more than 40 members. The choir resumed its annual
spring tours starting in 1988, a tradition that has continued unbroken to this
day. In addition, in May–June of 1990, the choir went on a 20-day Europe tour,
performing in Germany, Austria, and Italy. “For me, it represented a culmination
of four years of building,” Castleberry says.
When Castleberry departed Wagner to become the choir director at Marshall
University, he connected the department with another excellent conductor,
Patrick Gardner, who led the choir until 1993 — when he went to Rutgers, where
he is still director of choral activities. Jeffrey Unger, who was previously a high
school and college choral conductor in New Jersey, then led the Wagner College
Choir for three years. Gardner and Unger both maintained the choir’s local
performing schedule and annual tours in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
CHOIR ANGEL During the 1990 tour of Europe, Choir Director David
Castleberry presents a T-shirt to Martha Megerle in honor of her support.
Martha and Eugen Megerle, longtime supporters of Wagner College, were
natives of Schorndorf, a small city near Stuttgart, Germany. The choir tours
of the 1970s, 1990, and 2013 all included concerts in Schorndorf in honor of
the Megerles’ support. Martha Megerle died in 2002, but a provision of her
estate plan underwrites choir tours to this day.
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
“I joined the Wagner College Choir in
the fall of 1979. … Dr. Richard Steen
was the choir director, and his passion
for music was demonstrated at each
and every practice and performance.
The choir included a diverse group of
male and female students, who came
together at least twice a week, to
create one harmonious voice. While
we all were different majors, at choir
practice and performances, we were
all the same: singers. … Being a choir
member provided me with discipline,
time management, and leadership
skills. All of these have added to my
success as a nurse leader today.”
— L� orraine DiBartolo Flood ’83,
MSN, RN
A UNIQUE SOUND
“I was a music major with a
concentration in voice at Wagner, but
one reason I loved the choir so much
was that it wasn’t all music majors. We
just had everyone who liked to sing.
We had a unique sound, with beautiful
trained and untrained voices, all voice
types. Dr. Unger was a perfectionist.
One trick I learned from him, which I
still use when I’m directing shows at
Shawnee Playhouse [a regional theater
in Pennsylvania], is to position the
voices in the ensemble for the best
sound, matching up different timbres
and vibrato. Also, from Wagner College
Choir I learned to love all different
styles of music. There are so many
types of pieces out there for choir, so
many styles and sounds you can get.”
— Sara Schappert Ferguson ’97
�A PROUD CHOIR ALUM
“Being a member of the choir was
one of the best things I did after I
transferred to Wagner from a state
school in Massachusetts. I was the
choir tour manager my junior and
senior years, planning a Northeastern
tour in the spring of 2005 and a
Florida tour in spring of 2006.
So many memories were made on
those trips, meeting new people and
building stronger friendships. Another
[highlight] would be performing at
Carnegie Hall in the fall of 2003. …
Looking back, I still can’t believe I sang
at Carnegie Hall. Dr. Wesby was one
of the most important people of my
college career at Wagner, and I thank
him for all of his support, guidance,
and believing in me for my three years
at Wagner. I was also a member of
Espresso and Stretto, close-harmony
jazz ensembles, and loved that as well.
I’m a proud Wagner College choir
alum and wouldn’t trade my time at
Wagner for anything in the world!”
— Kara Plant McEachern ’06
GROWING IN MUSICIANSHIP
“I came to Wagner knowing that
I would enjoy the college choir,
because my friend Sylvia Maisonet
’16 told me about the fun she had
in Dr. Roger Wesby’s choir. On the
first day of choir, we did vocal warmups that I’d never encountered in my
previous years in choir. It made me
feel excited to join such a professional
and hard-working group of musicians.
… The music we encounter on a
weekly basis ranges from sophisticated
Aaron Copland pieces to soulful
jazz masterpieces by the Wesbys to
dramatic Bach chorales. As an aspiring
musician, college choir has taught me
to be disciplined, humble, and versatile
as a singer and composer.”
— Ariel Ubaldegaray ’18
VOCAL POWER Michala Williams sings a solo with the Wagner College Choir at Opening Convocation,
September 8, 2015.
EXPANSION AND EXCELLENCE:
ROGER WESBY, 1996–PRESENT
ROGER WESBY came to Wagner College in 1996 with
wide-ranging musical and cultural experiences that he has
poured into his work with the Wagner College Choir. His
wife, Barbara Wesby, is the choir’s accompanist and an
adjunct faculty member who teaches composition and
musicianship. Both are composers as well, and they have
had long experience with teaching music in El Salvador
and Costa Rica as well as in the United States. In addition,
Roger Wesby has a background in jazz: For quite a while early
in his career, he says, he was torn between pursuing classical trumpet,
jazz trumpet, and choral conducting. He even had his own big band in Costa Rica,
before he finally settled on choral conducting as his main focus, returned to the
United States after 14 years abroad, and earned choral conducting degrees from
the Westminster Choir College and Indiana University.
Every year, Wesby has led the choir on spring tours covering the Northeast, the
Southeast, California, and Florida. Along with choir alumni, the Wagner College
Choir returned to Germany and Austria in 2013 — the first such trip since the
Castleberry choir’s in 1990. Under Wesby, the Wagner choir has joined other U.S.
choirs several times for concerts in Carnegie Hall, and they have performed great
works such as Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Brahms’ Requiem, and Orff ’s Carmina
Burana. And the innovations continue: In March of 2017, they will strike out into
uncharted Wagner Choir territory, with a 10-day tour of Spain.
Fitting with his diverse background, Wesby says, “There is worthy music in
every genre.” The choir’s repertoire now includes music ranging over a 500-year
span of history by composers and folk traditions from around the world.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Time to Reconnect
Reunion brings classmates together to support each other and the next generation
MORE THAN 400 ALUMNI AND FRIENDS of
the College returned to campus on the weekend of June
3–5 to reconnect with each other, celebrate each others’
achievements (see opposite page about the Alumni Award
honorees), and have fun on the Hill.
Some relived their college days by staying in the residence
halls. Many painted the anchor; some even took a painting
class while sipping pinot with Jenny Toth, professor of
art. The alumni choir rehearsed and performed at the
annual memorial service. Alumni who wanted to learn
about today’s Wagner could take campus tours, learn about
transformational programs with Provost Lily D. McNair
and faculty members, and chat with President Guarasci.
And there was plenty of time to relax and play, from
a beanbag tournament to a beer blast to a 1920s-themed
cocktail party and dinner dance.
Each milestone reunion year had the chance to gather
at designated tables for their classes at the Saturday lunch
on the Oval.
Wagner’s newest class of Golden Seahawks, the class
of 1966, enjoyed a well-attended dinner together on Friday
evening. Bob O’Brien ’66, a former trustee of Wagner
College, and David ’66 and Naomi Klc ’66 Pockell led the
50th reunion effort.
Because David Pockell fell ill, they were not able to
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
come to the reunion. “It was very regrettable that I couldn’t
attend,” he said in September, noting that he’s ok now.
David and Naomi met at Wagner College and were married
the day after graduation, June 6, 1966, so they had planned
to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with classmates.
“The older you get, the more you like to see people
from those days,” he says. “We have an intense shared
experience, and we have lived lives of interest that I would
like to hear about.”
Class of ’66 members recorded a video message for the
Pockells, which meant a lot to them, David said.
The class also contributed a sizable reunion gift to the
College, totaling up to more than $1.8 million, including a
planned gift from Nils ’66 and Evelyn Goysick ’68 Larson.
The majority of this spectacular 50th reunion gift will
support the College’s endowment.
The class of 2006, celebrating its 10th anniversary, used
the occasion to come together and remember Kira Marshall
’06, an inspiring friend who died much too young, in April
2011. Many of them attended the dedication ceremony for
a bench placed on campus in her memory. Members of the
class raised an extraordinary sum of more than $108,000
in honor of their 10th anniversary. Some of it funded the
Kira Marshall memorial, but most of it helped provide for
general educational needs through the Wagner Fund.
�Alumni Association Honors
The 2016 annual awards recognize leaders in serving the College
and the community and in professional achievement
ALETTA KIPP DIAMOND
’65 H’15 AND ROBERT
DIAMOND were named the
DENNIS K. GALANAKIS
’58, M.D., was named the
John “Bunny” Barbes ’39 and
Lila T. Barbes ’40 Wagner
Alumni Laureates. Aletta
was elected to the College’s
Board of Trustees in 2003
and is now serving her fifth
term. She and Bob have
supported the Wagner community
in many ways: cheering on the
Seahawks, helping to found the Chai Society, and raising
scholarship money for sorority Alpha Delta Pi, among others.
Distinguished Graduate.
A professor of pathology and
medicine at the Stony Brook
School of Medicine, and
director of the blood bank at
Stony Brook Medical Center,
he is an international expert
in transfusion medicine. He has
pioneered a procedure that uses
the patient’s own platelet-rich plasma to
stop excessive bleeding from surgery and to minimize transfusion
in open-heart surgery and the treatment of burn patients.
CHARLES “TAD” BENDER ’06 was
ERIK UNHJEM ’72 received the
awarded the Dr. Kevin Sheehy ’67 M’70
M’92 H’99 Alumni Leadership Medal. He
served as vice president and president of
the Alumni Association from 2006 until
2013. He was also a member of the Capital
Campaign Committee.
Reverend Lyle Guttu award for his spiritual
contributions, which include working with
Rev. Guttu to raise money for the campus
carillon, named in memory of Erik’s father,
the late Rev. Dr. Arne Unhjem, who was a
professor of religion and chaplain at Wagner.
ELIZABETH DAWSON BARKER ’66
MELISSA D. POWERS ’05 was named
was named a Wagner Alumni Fellow in
Nursing. She earned a doctorate in nursing
from the University of Texas at Austin, and
she now serves as a clinical professor,
director of master’s programs, and director
of the family nurse practitioner program at
the Ohio State University College of Nursing.
a Wagner Alumni Fellow in Education. She
has taught high school science, coached
softball and volleyball, advised her school’s
student government, organized Super
Science Saturday, and directed summer
day camps in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She
recently earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University.
RANDY DEMENO ’82 was named a
LUKE F. MORRIS ’06 was awarded the
Wagner Alumni Fellow in Computer Science.
Chief technologist for Windows products
and Microsoft partnership at Commvault,
DeMeno was named Computer Reseller
News Top-25 Innovator and Top-100
Executive of the Year. He has attained many
patents for Commvault’s data management software.
Wagner Alumni Key for his professional
achievements. Named vice president/
financial consultant for Fidelity
Investments in 2012, he was one of the
top-ranked advisors in the nation last year
and earned the Fidelity Charitable Award for
assisting clients involved in philanthropy.
GREGORY J. KOVAR ’89 was named a Wagner Alumni Fellow
ROBERT PERRETTA M’12 received the
in Sociology. As the day habilitation director for Lifestyles for the
Disabled in Staten Island, he provides meaningful opportunities
and experiences for more than 200 adults who are disabled.
Certificate of Appreciation for his recent
work with the Alumni Association. A
technology project manager at Citigroup,
he mentors Wagner business students and
helps the hockey team.
SCOTT M. LIEBERMAN ’83, M.D., was named a Wagner
Alumni Fellow in Biology. Read about him on pages 12–17.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Alumni Link
NAME GAME “I told you I’d get you to join my fraternity one day,”
Anthony J. D’A ngelo ’07 (left) jokes.
Confusion Turned
into Business Gold
The story of two class of 2007 alumni
who share something unique
WHEN ANTHONY DEANGELO ARRIVED at
Harborview Hall, in August 2003, to check in to his
freshman room at Wagner College, the registration desk
staff told him, “You’ve already checked in!”
“No, I didn’t,” he replied in confusion. “I just got here!”
“Look, you signed your name,” they replied.
But the scrawl on that paper was not his. Turns out,
there was another freshman that year at Wagner College
named Anthony D’Angelo.
Throughout four years as fellow business administration /
finance majors at Wagner, and nearly seven years as business
associates, Anthony J. D’Angelo ’07 and Anthony V.
DeAngelo ’07 have learned to turn their shared names from
a point of confusion into a significant asset.
Since 2009, the two men have built a financial services
team that has become one of the busiest and most
productive nationwide for AXA Advisors, LLC.
They love to meet with new clients together. “Here’s the
hardest thing you’re going to have to do,” they say, and lay
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
down their two business cards. Everyone laughs. “There
has never been a better ice breaker than putting down the
card with the same names,” says Anthony V. “It makes the
connection we need to get our clients to trust us.”
The two Anthonys met soon after the room confusion
incident. During their first conversation, they made an
agreement: “We have the same name, so let’s keep a
strong reputation.”
They also became very good friends. Anthony J. joined
the fraternity TKE, becoming its chief recruiter. Anthony
V. started his own event planning business that catered to
fraternities, so he always resisted joining TKE but became
an “honorary brother.”
Anthony J. started working for AXA Advisors
immediately after graduation, whereas Anthony V. went into
the family realty business. In 2009, Anthony J. was promoted
to be a vice president of AXA Advisors’ New York City
branch, and he was able to recruit and train a new team of
financial professionals. The first call he made was to a man he
knew was brilliant at connecting with people.
“I’m in,” was Anthony V.’s simple reply.
Both were excited. Anthony J. remembers thinking,
“Anthony and Anthony working together is going to be
something big and special. We’re going to change this
company.”
They had a few things going for them: their friendship
and trust in each other, and the fact that sharing a name
allowed them to double book appointments. (A trick
somewhat similar to covering for each other in business
classes back at Wagner.) Their team has grown exponentially
and now competes with another team in Austin, Texas, for
the company’s top spot.
They also share a
devotion to their clients’
well-being, realizing that
the advice they give has
a long-term impact on
people’s futures.
“Our goal is to do
well by doing good for
people,” says Anthony V.
“We get business by doing
a great job for our clients.”
(Visit www.anthony-dangelo.com and
www.anthonyvdeangelo.com to learn about their practices.)
“I told you I’d get you to join my fraternity one day,”
Anthony J. jokes. “It’s so much fun to work with a friend.”
�Upcoming Events
NOVEMBER–
DECEMBER
Wagner College Theatre:
Anything Goes
November 17–December 4,
Main Stage
Cole Porter hits, including “I
Get a Kick out of You” and
“You’re the Top,” sparkle in this
lighthearted romance.
Wagner College Theatre:
The Trojan Women 2.0
November 29–December 4,
Stage One
Stretto and Espresso:
Vocal Jazz Set
December 6, 8 p.m.,
Performance Center,
Campus Hall
Wagner College Choir:
Holiday Concert
December 11, 4 p.m.,
Trinity Lutheran Church,
Staten Island
Wagner Guild Luncheon
December 14, 12 p.m.,
Wagner Union
Wagner College Theatre:
Titanic
February 23–March 5,
Main Stage
This masterfully crafted musical
examines the lives of the
passengers aboard the doomed
luxury liner Titanic .
Wagner College Theatre:
The Dance Project 2017
February 28–March 5,
Stage One
Wagner College Choir:
Send-Off Concert
March 5, 4 p.m., Park Avenue
Christian Church, Manhattan
Wagner College Choir and
Alumni: Spain Tour
Alumni Event:
Wagner Salutes Educators
Treble Concert Choir:
Spring Concert
May 2, 5:30–8:30 p.m.,
Flagship Brewery, Staten Island
April 23, 4 p.m., Trinity
Lutheran Church, Staten Island
Alumni Event:
Nursing Night Out
Wagner College Theatre:
Stupid F @ %king Bird
May 8, 5:30–8:30 p.m.,
Flagship Brewery, Staten Island
April 25–30, Stage One
Baccalaureate
A heartbreaking and hilarious
sort-of-adaptation that takes a
baseball bat to Anton Chekhov’s
The Seagull .
Wagner College Choir:
Final Concert
April 30, 4 p.m., Trinity
Lutheran Church, Staten Island
May 18, 4 p.m., Main Hall
Auditorium
Commencement
May 19, 10 a.m., Sutter Oval
JUNE
Reunion Weekend
June 2–4
March 26, 4 p.m.,
Trinity Lutheran Church,
Staten Island
Alumni Event: Career
Conversations
March 30, 5:30 p.m.,
Union League Club,
Manhattan
Choirs and Jazz Ensemble:
Tribute to Black Music
APRIL
February 25, 12 p.m.,
First Central Baptist Church,
Staten Island
May 2, 8 p.m., Performance
Center, Campus Hall
Wagner College Choir and
Alumni: Home Concert
FEBRUARY
Wagner College Choir:
Black History Town Hall
Meeting
Based on the hit French play
and movie, this hilarious and
sentimental musical reveals the
true meaning of family.
Vocal Jazz Set/Espresso
March 5–19
Students network with alumni
and friends to learn about life
and work after college.
February 22, 9 p.m.,
Performance Center,
Campus Hall
April 20–30, Main Stage
MAY
Alumni Link
Playwright Charles Mee
fuses elements of Euripides’
Greek tragedy, high art,
and pop culture.
MARCH
Wagner College Theatre:
La Cage Aux Folles
Songfest
April 1, Spiro Sports Center
Wagner Guild Luncheon
April 12, 12 p.m.,
Wagner Union
Alumni Event:
Sushi & Sake 101
April 18, Sushisamba,
Manhattan
MORE INFORMATION wagner.edu/calendar
Nadia Lopez ’98 H’16 The Bridge to Brilliance: How One
Principal in a Tough Community Is Inspiring the World
(Viking, 2016). The founding principal of Mott Hall
Bridges Academy in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Nadia
Lopez gained national fame via the well-known blog
Humans of New York . (Both she and Humans of New
York’s Brandon Stanton spoke at Wagner College’s
2016 commencement.) In Lopez’s new book, she
describes her uphill battle to launch and run her
school. She gave a TED Talk featured on PBS’s
series Education Revolution on Sept. 13. Go to
wagner.edu/wagnermagazine to watch it online.
Norman Black ’60 M’73 Combat Veterans’ Stories
of the Korean War (2016) In this two-volume work,
journalist Norman Black presents 35 first-hand
accounts that tell of bloody combat and also of
dedication to duty and commitment to comrades.
They give readers an understanding of what
draftees, volunteers, and professional military
men experienced in the Korean War, adding to
and sometimes even countering official reports
and other historical accounts.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�1946
Gloria Gilmour Lindsey
wrote to us a few of her
memories of being part
of the U.S. Cadet Nurse
Corps at Wagner College.
“I remember walking to
and from Staten Island
Hospital so I could save
the travel allowance we
cadet nurses were given,”
she said. “I am not Scotch
for nothin’!” She is retired
and lives in Cairo, N.Y.
1949
Hon. Dr. Guy V. Molinari ’49
H’90, a former borough
president of Staten Island,
was named one of the 50
most influential Staten
Islanders this year by the
weekly political magazine
City & State.
1950
was inducted
into the Staten Island
Jewish Community Center’s
Sports Hall of Fame in
Joel Cohen
2015 for his numerous
sports biographies and
instructional books for
young readers.
1952
We were informed of
the passing of Dr. Morton
Kurland by his daughter,
Abby Irish. He died on
August 22 at the age of
83 after a lingering illness,
she said. He is survived
by his wife, Adrienne,
their four daughters,
and 10 grandchildren. A
psychiatrist, he had retired
in 2014 from his work as
director of psychiatry for
the Betty Ford Center and
the Barbara Sinatra Center.
More sad news came from
Michael G. Viise , who lost his
beloved wife, Neva, to an
inoperable brain tumor on
September 24, 2015.
1953
Charles “Chuck” Babikian
Diplomajoy
Grace Woodward ’15 was so clearly overjoyed upon receiving her
diploma on May 22, 2015, it looked like she wanted to jump right out
of the picture. This jubilant image, captured by veteran Staten Island
Advance photojournalist Jan Somma-Hammel, won a feature photo
prize from the 2016 New York State Associated Press Association.
A theater performance major from Dallas, Woodward was especially
proud because she struggled with dyslexia and learning differences.
“But, as my dad always says, ‘If you want to do something, you have to
figure out how to do it.’ So I figured it out, and I went to the college of
my choice: Wagner.” She is acting in commercials and films in New York
City and plans to move to Los Angeles in the near future.
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
is semi-retired, but still
operating CBS Realty in
Harrington Park, N.J. In fact,
he is celebrating his 60th year
in the real estate business.
1954
’54
M’57 continues to serve as
a poet-in-residence for the
New Jersey State Council
Wanda Schweizer Praisner
on the Arts. In early June,
she was in residence at
the Salt Brook School in
New Providence, N.J. Her
poem “The Pera Palace
Hotel, Istanbul” was
nominated for a Pushcart
Prize last year — her
10th such nomination.
1955
The Rev. William M.
deHeyman has been living
in Shannondell retirement
community in Audubon,
Penn., for 10 years. On
Sundays, he offers a special
ministry called First Steps
to Worship, for children six
years and under and their
families, at St. Thomas
Episcopal Church in Fort
Washington, Penn.
1956
received the
Citation for Meritorious
Service, one of Rotary’s
highest awards. George
is known as “the Water
Man” for his tireless work
to supply clean drinking
water around the world. He
is also an artist, with many
of his paintings featured
in a book, Oil 4 Water
(Olmstead Publishing).
He donates the proceeds
from the sale of his
paintings. “People who buy
the book or my paintings
George Lewis
�get the extra satisfaction
of knowing that they are
helping to make the world a
better place,” George said.
1957
James V. Canfield ,
1960
received the
Compass Award at the
Distinguished Educator
Awards at Wagner College
in June. Lou has been the
CEO of United Activities
Unlimited, a multipurpose
nonprofit human services
organization on Staten
Louis DeLuca
1962
Elise Benedict Browne
contacted Wagner Magazine
to inform us of the passing
of her dear friend and
classmate, Georg Bohsack,
on November 18, 2015,
after a short illness. He was
very involved during his
student years at Wagner,
serving as captain of the
soccer team and president
of Pi Ki Omega fraternity
when it became Theta Chi,
among other activities. A
successful businessman, he
founded the ophthalmology
equipment distributor
GWB International. He
is survived by his wife
of nearly 42 years, Anne
Pomerantzeff Bohsack, their
children and grandchildren,
as well as many beloved
friends. Beverly Hoehne
Whipple was interviewed
in December 2015 by a
colleague, Dr. Eusebio
Rubio from Mexico City,
about her research on
human sexuality, especially
women’s sexuality. The
interview is in English, and
you can find it on YouTube
by searching “Personajes:
Beverly Whipple.”
1963
spent
the spring semester of 2016
in Africa, teaching at the
Lumen Christi Institute
in Arusha, Tanzania, and
then traveling for five
weeks in Morocco. Lois
Schutz Laurence and her
husband, Ron, are in their
14th year of operating a
pick-your-own blueberry
farm in Stratham, N.H.
They also grow many
vegetables, berries, and
other fruits. They welcome
all to visit, and you will
want to go after you see the
photos on their website,
BlueberryBayFarm.com.
Charles Gravenstine
1966
is retired
after serving as the CEO
Maureen Ward Gallo
of two hospitals. She
earned a Master of Public
Administration from Penn
State and is a fellow of
the American College of
Health Care Executives.
She and her husband
have two children — an
attorney and an orthopedic
surgeon — and three
grandchildren. She serves
as a board member of the
Kiwanis Club and secretary
of the Pennsylvania Kiwanis
Foundation. She is also
board chairperson for
the Emergency Health
Services Federation for
an eight-county area of
Pennsylvania. Carolyn Haas
Henry wrote to us with
many fond memories of her
career and time at Wagner.
“I look back on 50 years
since graduation and realize
how my nursing education
at Wagner prepared me
for my career — from
hospital, to home, to
nursing home, to school,
to Kaiser Permanente,
where I was a supervisor. I
taught Lamaze childbirth
and diabetes education; the
teaching aspect of nursing
was a favorite.” In July,
she celebrated the 50th
Alumni Link
who
received a Ph.D. in
economics education from
Ohio University in 1971,
retired as superintendent of
high schools for Manhattan
in 1989. He served as mayor
of the city of Palm Coast,
Fla., from 1999 to 2007. He
is now president of the Palm
Coast Historical Society
and Museum. Kenneth
R. Von der Heiden moved
from high mountains to
Sutter Creek, Calif., for
health reasons. “Doing
fine at 1,350 feet instead
of 9,000 feet,” he writes.
Island, for more than
a quarter century. His
three education degrees
— Wagner bachelor’s,
NYU master’s, California
Coast University
doctorate — prepared
him to be a powerful
advocate for education.
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
Deadlines: This issue reflects news
received by September 12, 2016. The
submission deadline for the Summer
2017 issue is June 1, 2017.
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.
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. Prints
should be on glossy paper with no
surface texture; they will be returned
at your request (please attach your
address to the photo). Digital photos
must be jpegs of at least 250 pixels per
inch; low-resolution photos converted to
a higher resolution are not acceptable.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�anniversary of her marriage
to Paul Henry, a retired
Lutheran pastor. They
have nine grandchildren
from ages 12 to 20. Her
father, the Rev. Dr. Harold
Haas ’39 H’58, just passed
away on August 15. She
lives in Rochdale, Mass.
Roberta P. Seaton has been
living in the independent
townhouses in the Courts
of Fellowship Community,
Whitehall, Penn., since
her husband died. “It has
a wonderful Christian
atmosphere. I’d recommend
it to anyone,” she writes.
James H. ’66 and Janet
Yorkston Schuttler ’66 M’70
celebrated their
30th wedding anniversary
on October 6, 2015.
They met on freshman
registration day, September
10, 1962, and were married
on October 6, 1985.
Wassmuth
1967
’67 M’72
published the second
book in his Detective
Pete Nazareth crime
novel series, A Measure of
Revenge, in March 2016.
You can find it on Amazon
and at Barnes & Noble.
James Robb ’67 M’75 wrote
to us in late 2015 that he
planned to relocate to San
Antonio, Tex., in 2016.
Russ Johnson
1968
Dr. Warren Procci, chair of
the Wagner College Board
of Trustees, received the
Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Wagner
College DaVinci Society
in September. A Wagner
chemistry major, he earned
his medical degree from the
University of Wisconsin,
where he completed his
residency in psychiatry.
He holds a diploma from
the American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology.
In addition to his private
practice, his career
includes a 42-year history
of scholarship and service
at both L.A. County/
USC Medical Center and
Harbor/UCLA Medical
Center. Rev. Edward Voosen,
along with his wife, Ruth
Sandberg Voosen ’71, gave a
series of performances and
talks about church music at
the First Christian Church
in Tullahoma, Tenn., in
September. They led the
singing with their guitar
and flute accompaniment.
Ed, who earned his way
through college and
seminary by giving guitar
lessons, retired in 2010
after serving as pastor of
Bethel Lutheran Church in
Auburn, Mass., for 36 years.
Ruth, a flutist and soprano,
worked as a college nurse
and nursery school teacher.
They have three children
and five grandchildren.
1969
’69 M’72 is director
of the IDD Leadership
Group, a leadership
learning and development
consulting practice that he
founded a few years ago.
He has had a diverse career,
including teaching high
school chemistry, marketing
for several manufacturing
industries, and facilitating
executive development. He
is working on a leadership
book entitled The Chemistry
of Leadership — A SelfPaul Fein
Don’t You Miss
Oval Days?
Keep the Oval in
your life by joining
the Oval Society,
a new group
recognizing donors
who establish
monthly gifts.
How? It’s easy.
1. Visit wagner.edu/give
2. Decide your total gift for the year.
3. Divide it into 12 equal
segments charged monthly
to your credit card.
Gifts from alumni and friends like you
ensure our students thrive and grow
— this year at Wagner, and beyond.
888-231-2252 wagner.edu/give
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
Discovery Formula to Finding
the Leader in You. “My
learning journey all started
with ‘chemistry’ at Wagner
College,” he writes.
1970
retired after
39 years as a registered
nurse with the Department
of Veterans Affairs. “It was
an honor to work with the
veteran patients, especially
the Vietnam era veterans,”
he wrote. “The education I
received at Wagner College
was instrumental in this
pursuit.” Bobby earned
a BSN at the University
of South Florida after
graduating from Wagner.
His clinical assignments
included the V.A. Medical
Centers in Bay Pines, Fla.;
Salisbury, N.C.; Tuscaloosa,
Ala.; and Grand Junction,
Colo. He has lived in
Colorado since 1989.
Robert Dapolito
1971
Kathy Damberg Clark retired
in the summer of 2015. She
attended the Bregenz 1970
reunion. Leland Jacob ’71
M’79 is the coordinator of
volunteers at Crossroads
Farm at Grossmann’s in
Malverne, N.Y.
1972
passed away on
March 4, 2016; his friend
and colleague, Richard
Mollette ’67, informed us of
the news. Jacob attained his
Administrative Certificate
in Public Education from
the Danforth Program
Jacob Ellis
�1973
’73 M’81
retired in November
2015 after 42 years as
a microbiologist for the
U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. After
spending the first 14
years of his career at the
New York Regional Lab
located in Brooklyn, he
transferred to the FDA’s
Winchester Engineering
and Analytical Center in
Winchester, Mass., and
became a specialist in the
sterility testing of medical
devices. He and his wife,
Sue, live in Nashua, N.H.,
and have two daughters,
Kaitlyn and Kerry-Rose,
and one dog. He has been
attending classes in the
Phil McLaughlin
senior education program
at a local university. “I have
found an indoor golf driving
range, which allows me to
make sure my golf game
does not get worse over the
winter, and I have continued
to play the trumpet, as I
did in the Wagner College
Marching and Concert
Band,” he writes.
1975
M’75 was
profiled in the Staten Island
Advance on July 5. “Fan in
the Spotlight: Helen Settles
Keeps Ahead of the Game”
by Jim Waggoner captured
an interview with her at a
Staten Island Yankees game.
A retired teacher, Helen
uses her time to support
youth participation in
sports — especially for kids
with special needs. She cofounded the Staten Island
Special Olympics in 1975
and has volunteered for the
organization for 41 years;
she recently took a group
of Special Olympians to a
New York Yankees game,
courtesy of Con Edison,
Waggoner reported.
Helen Settles
1976
was
crowned Ms. Missouri
Senior America 2016 on
July 10. A Wagner theater
major, she wowed the
judges with her song and
dance routine to “People
Will Say We’re in Love.”
Peggy Lee has had a long
and successful career
on stage and on screen,
including several movie
Peggy Lee Brennan
roles and a guest star
appearance on M*A*S*H
as Radar’s love interest.
1977
won a Cinema
Audio Society (CAS)
Technical Achievement
Award in January for his
work as a re-recording mixer
for the television special
Live from Lincoln Center:
Danny Elfman’s Music from
the Films of Tim Burton.
Kenneth Hahn
1980
Ed Burke ,
deputy borough
president of Staten Island,
was named one of the 50
most influential Staten
Islanders this year by
weekly political magazine
City & State.
1987
was featured
in the January/February
issue of Industry: Staten
Island magazine. He is the
executive director of the
Staten Island Zoo, a position
that he took on an interim
basis initially, and which
became permanent in 2010.
Since he took the zoo’s
leadership, annual attendance
has increased from 158,000
to 190,000. The zoo’s
collection includes more
than 1,200 animals, including
the rare amur leopard,
added in 2014. The zoo
features the Conservation
Carousel, opened in 2015.
The zoo’s aquarium, built
in 1985, is undergoing a
complete renovation.
Ken Mitchell
1990
Monica L. Ursillo Passante
celebrated 25 years of
teaching ELA in the public
school system and 26 years
of a successful kidney
transplant given to her by
her mother. Her son finished
his first semester of college
at the University of New
Haven with a 3.55 GPA.
Her daughter is a successful
junior at St. Joseph by the
Sea High School, Staten
Island, with a 96 average.
1993
was back
in NYC during March
Madness this year to show
his basketball players from
Brigham Young University
where to get the best pizza,
wrote Staten Island Advance
sports columnist Cormac
Gordon. Quincy is now a
BYU assistant coach, and
the team made it to the
NIT semifinals. He joined
BYU in 2015, after 12
years at Lone Peak High
School in Utah, where
he transformed a modest
basketball program into
one that won seven state
titles and one national
championship.
Quincy Lewis
Alumni Link
at the University of
Washington, and he worked
in schools in Seattle,
Washington: as a school
counselor at Nathan Hale
High School and then
as an assistant principal
and talent development
specialist at Cascade
Middle School. He is
greatly missed. Anthony
Ferreri ’72 M’81 finished
his doctorate in business
administration from
California Coast University
earlier this year. He is the
executive vice president and
chief affiliation officer for
Northwell Health System,
the parent company of
Staten Island University
Hospital. Also, the weekly
political magazine City &
State named him one of the
50 most influential Staten
Islanders this year.
1994
’94 M’96
received the Distinguished
Administrator Award at
the Distinguished Educator
Awards at Wagner College
in June. He is headmaster
of the Austin Preparatory
School in Reading, Mass.
James Hickey
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�UNCOMMON LIVES
Yana Demian ’09, aka Space Girl
From concert hall
to delivery room
CLAIM TO FAME: Yana Demian ’09 is a
Wagner-trained RN who works at Staten
Island University Hospital. But from 1997
to 2003, Yana Demian was Space Girl,
“the Queen of Acid Trance.” Demian’s
keyboard performances for live rave
audiences drew as many as 100,000
fans. Her catalogue includes three EPs
and three full-length LP recordings.
TALENT AND TORMENT: Born in
Moscow, Demian started serious studies
of the piano at age 4. “My mom forced
me to practice every day for 2 or 3
hours,” she says. “And I had a very strict
teacher, very old school. She smoked all
the time, and when I got a note wrong
she would burn me. It got to the point
where I started hating it.” As a teenager,
Demian rebelled, listening to anything
but classical music. Her tastes ranged
widely, from Ella Fitzgerald to AC/DC.
Nevertheless, she became a student at
the prestigious Moscow Conservatory.
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
�MATERNAL AMBITION: On March
8, 1991, Demian’s mother brought her
15-year-old daughter to America to visit
her grandparents; however, Mom had
a secret agenda: to enroll Demian at
Juilliard. “She took me down to apply,
supposedly just on a whim. I got in right
away,” she says. Still, Demian knew
that classical music was not for her.
SPACE GIRL STARDOM: One night,
LIGHTS ON: “Around 2003, 2004, they
declared war on the raves,” Demian
recalls. “The cops would come in,
turn up the lights and clear everyone
out. There were too many people
involved with drugs.” Almost overnight,
her performing career was over.
FROM RAVING TO HEALING:
Influenced by her father, a surgeon, she
felt drawn to medicine. “While I was
performing, I saw people overdose at
the raves,” she said. “It was part of the
culture, and I felt at least somewhat
responsible for that. It felt like nursing
would be good for me, kind of a way to
make amends.” After trying a pre-med
program and finding it was not the right
fit, she discovered the 15-month, seconddegree nursing program at Wagner
College, tailored for people like her who
had already earned a bachelor’s degree in
another field and were changing careers.
A NEW ADRENALINE HIGH: The
transition to nursing was rough. “I’d never
had to work with people, I’d never been
a part of a team, and I wasn’t used to
being surrounded by women all day.
But now, I love it.” She found her niche
working in the delivery room, first at Mt.
Sinai Hospital and now at Staten Island
University Hospital. “It’s like an emergency
room, but for delivering babies,” she says.
“There’s a feeling of accomplishment
when you come home from work and
you’ve brought new life into the world. It’s
very rewarding, and very high adrenaline.”
Perfect for a former Space Girl.
1995
was named a
2016 Staten Island Advance
Woman of Achievement
for her compassionate
and effective work as a
probation officer on Staten
Island. “‘I believe in change,’
says the 18-year veteran. ‘I
believe people can change.’”
Sheree Goode
1996
was featured
on the blog Madame
Noir on May 27. She is
the founder and CEO
of a wellness company,
HolistiCitiLyfe. A social
worker, Leslie went through
a big change in her life after
a traumatic experience in
her family. Now, she offers
retreats for women of color
seeking increased wellness.
Christine Pedi Gise ’96 M’98
and her husband, Andrew
Gise, announce the birth of
Adrianna Elizabeth Gise on
April 17, 2015. They also
have a son, Andrew, who
is four years old. See Crib
Notes, page 41, for a photo.
Leslie Carrington
Alumni Link
a friend took her to a rave in Brooklyn,
where she heard a new type of electronic
music: acid trance. She was hooked.
The next day, she went out and bought
a Roland XP-50 keyboard. She picked
her stage name, “Space Girl,” from a
song by German electronic music artist
D. J. Hooligan. At her first performance,
a 1997 rave at Mount Airy Lodge in the
Poconos, “The audience went completely
crazy,” she recalls. “Taking New York
City’s nightlife by storm, Space Girl was
soon headlining clubs like the Tunnel
and Limelight, entertaining thousands
of rapturous fans,” wrote one reviewer.
“Soon she was being booked all over the
States and overseas, from mega-clubs
in megalopolises to moon-drenched
desert parties miles from civilization.”
1998
Jennifer N. VanDerWarker
Serventi ,
a neuro-oncology
physician assistant at
Wilmot Cancer Institute at
the University of Rochester
(N.Y.) Medical Center,
received the Luminary
Award from Adding
Candles, a not-for-profit
that funds brain cancer
research, in September.
Jennifer also earned a
master’s in leadership in
healthcare systems from
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�the University of Rochester
School of Nursing this year.
As a final project for her
master’s, she designed the
Neuro-Oncology Connect
Telemedicine Program,
through which she and her
team will provide expert
brain tumor treatment and
access to clinical trials for
patients throughout rural
New York State.
2000
Lauren Rinaldi Grimaldi
M’00, a teacher at the
Eden II School for Autistic
Children on Staten Island,
received the Distinguished
Wagner Alumna Teaching
Award at the Distinguished
Educator Awards at Wagner
College in June.
2002
at Green Valley Ranch in
Coram, Mont. According to
a wedding write-up in the
New York Times, Kinsey
is the deputy chief of staff
for the chancellor of the
University of Pittsburgh,
and Rick is the director
of strategic initiatives and
engagement at Carnegie
Mellon University in
Pittsburgh. They met in
2004 as staff members for
John Kerry’s presidential
campaign. Paul Martuccio
M’02, principal of P.S. 13 on
Staten Island, received the
Distinguished Educational
Leader – Hank Murphy
Award at the Distinguished
Educator Awards at Wagner
College in June.
2003
Andrea R. Gulino Freeman
married Rick
Charles Siger on July 3
Kinsey Casey
published a book, Messages
From My Grandparents …
In Heaven: How You Can
Knot Notes
Laura Marie Agostino ’06 married Damian Salatino on
August 13 at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Staten Island.
During their reception at the Hilton Garden Inn, the new
couple paused to take a picture with their Wagner guests.
Pictured: Katie Ehrman Young ’06 (seated); Marilyn Kiss,
professor of Spanish; Damian Salatino and Laura Agostino
Salatino; Emily Dillon Hernández ’06; and Irina Carrasco
Conte ’06. Photo by Arielle Maggio-Ferguson ’06 M’08.
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
Keep Contact With Yours.
“It’s a nonfiction book
that offers a narrative on
coping and healing after
the loss of a grandparent,
as well as the ability to
recognize and maintain a
connection with departed
loved ones,” she writes. It is
available through Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, and
Balboa Press. Her website is
www.angelicmotivation.com.
2004
Dr. Stephanie Famulari,
who is a podiatrist on
Staten Island, received
the Community Service
Award from the Wagner
College DaVinci Society
in September. She gives
her time to Camp Good
Grief, Richmond University
Medical Center, Workman’s
Circle Nursing Home
in the Bronx, as well as
Bishop Ahern High School
on Staten Island. John
Charles Kiernan received the
Distinguished Community
Educator Award at the
Distinguished Educator
Awards at Wagner College
in June. He is principal
of the St. Charles School
on Staten Island and also
varsity hockey coach for
Monsignor Farrell High
School on Staten Island.
2005
and Amanda
’08
announce the birth of
Rocco Andrew Intoccia
on June 5. See Crib Notes,
page 41, for a photo. David M.
Osborne Jr. was sworn in as a
Mark Intoccia
Concilio Intoccia
new officer of the Montclair
Police Department in
Montclair, N.J., in May.
Previously, he had been a
substitute teacher and coach
with the Montville Board
of Education as well as a
dispatcher for the Montclair
Police Department.
2006
married
Damian Salatino on August
13 in Staten Island. See Knot
Notes, below, for a photo.
Laura Marie Agostino
2007
Christopher and Laura
announce the
birth of their second child,
Christopher Joseph Duni,
on April 23. Big sister
Natalie (born November
2013) is loving her little
baby brother. See Crib
Notes, page 41, for a photo.
Woodruff Duni
Rebecca Kelly Arnold Golfman
is teaching a course on
arts, activism, and race
this fall for the Wagner
College Department of
Theatre and Speech. She
received her J.D. from the
University of Connecticut
School of Law in 2012 and
works on several projects to
teach and advocate for civil
rights, legal education, and
empowering girls through
theater.
2008
and
’05 announce
the birth of Rocco Andrew
Intoccia on June 5. See Crib
Notes, page 41, for a photo.
Amanda Concilio Intoccia
Mark Intoccia
Becky Giannatasio McCoy
�2009
was named
director of financial aid
and admissions at Penn
State Hazleton. He also
completed his master’s
in higher education
administration at
Northeastern University.
Previously, he worked
at Mount Saint Mary’s
College in Newburgh,
N.Y. Sirena LaBurn attended
the New York Studio
School’s Summer Session
after graduating from
Wagner and discovered
her love of landscape
painting. She returned to
Wagner on April 13–14
to give presentations on
the influences, inspiration,
Allen Koehler
Crib Notes
1.
2.
3.
1. �C hristopher Joseph Duni, born on April 23, to Christopher ’07 and Laura Woodruff ’07 Duni.
2. �Adrianna Elizabeth Gise, born on April 17, 2015, to Andrew and Christine Pedi Gise ’96 M’98.
3. �Rocco Andrew Intoccia, born on June 5, son of Mark ’05 and Amanda Concilio ’08 Intoccia.
We’d love to see your baby’s face.
and methods of making
art. Al Phillips was featured
in the sports section of
the Arizona Republic in
July. A defensive back for
the Arizona Rattlers, an
Arena Football League
team, Al is also serving
in the Army National
Reserves. The team honors
his commitment to service
by accommodating his
Army duties. He also had a
successful season with the
Rattlers in 2016, including
(as of July) 25 solo tackles,
four pass breakups, and one
interception.
2010
returned to
Wagner on April 7 to speak
about digital marketing.
He is copy director of an
agency located in SoHo, and
he has provided strategic
and creative direction on
Jesse Hagen
Please see page 35 for publication guidelines.
digital marketing campaigns
for the NFL, DirecTV,
BET, L’Oreal, Hain
Celestial, and more. Caitlin
McGee booked a regular role
on the series Crunch Time,
NBC’s hybrid game show/
comedy pilot, according
to Deadline Hollywood. Jake
Shore staged his play, Holy
Moly, at the Flea Theatre
in Tribeca in August. The
play is part of his novel,
A Country for Fibbing, and
the simultaneous debut
and publication of the
related works was a first
in the U.S. The e-book
version of the novel is
available on Amazon.
2011
went on a trip
to Salavan, Laos, in March
to train medical providers
as part of the CleanBirth/
Yale School of Nursing
Gabrielle Gill
Alumni Link
launched a new podcast
on March 3, featuring
interviews with people
who have dealt with loss
and how they survived in
times of adversity. Look
for her stories on social
media at #UnfoldingGrace.
Kevin Richard launched a
vintage-inspired collegiate
clothing company, 1883
Clothing Co. The year
1883 is a subtle reference
to Wagner, as it’s the year
of the College’s founding in
Rochester, N.Y. “I’ve always
identified with Wagner’s
story,” he wrote, “as I’m
from upstate New York
and moved down to the
city for school and work so
that I, too, could grow and
succeed.” He sells Wagner
men’s and women’s sweaters.
Check out his website
for more information:
www.1883clothingco.com.
team. CleanBirth works to
prevent the needless deaths
of mothers and babies
in Laos, where maternal
and infant mortality rates
are among the highest
in the world. Gabrielle is
a registered nurse and a
Yale-trained midwife. Sam
Mailloux was appointed a
senior associate with the
Siegfried Group, LLP, a
national CPA firm. He
will work in the New York
metro market. He was
previously at Deloitte for
four years. He is working
on his MS in accounting
from Wagner College and
also volunteers for Big
Brothers Big Sisters of
NYC. Colin Shaw wrote a
story for Outsports, a gay
sports news website, about
his positive experiences in
coming out to his Wagner
lacrosse teammates and
coach several years after
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�graduating. The article,
entitled “Straight Lax Bros
Greet Gay Teammate’s
Coming Out Exactly
How They Should,” was
published on June 29,
shortly after the Pride
Parade in Manhattan,
which Colin attended
with a couple of lacrosse
teammates. “Staying in
the closet for 14 years was
the biggest regret I will
ever have. I know now
that people who truly
love you will love you no
matter what,” he wrote.
2012
M’12 M’16
was featured in Bloomberg
Business on February
29 in an article entitled
“Corbat Heads to Cancer
Benefit as Staff Beats
Fundraising Target.” Rob is
an assistant vice president
in Citigroup’s technology
compliance department;
Michael Corbat is the
CEO of Citigroup.
The story was about a
benefit for the Stephen
D. Hassenfeld Children’s
Center for Cancer and
Blood Disorders, and Rob’s
leadership in fundraising
for the center, as well as
his story of overcoming
cancer during his college
years. He was treated at
the Hassenfeld Children’s
Center. “I am just trying
to help out the place that
saved my life as much as
I can,” he told Bloomberg
Business. Citigroup
employees donated
$34,320 at the benefit.
Robert Perretta
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
2013
performed on
the nationally broadcast
Tony Awards ceremony on
June 12, as a cast member
(Voice of Moritz) for the
Deaf West production of
Spring Awakening, which was
nominated for three awards,
including Best Revival of
a Musical. Doug Donato
started working at Hartford
Symphony Orchestra
in Hartford, Conn., as a
production assistant in the
spring. Rhea Francani has
transformed her training in
theater and music education
(she earned a master’s from
Columbia) into country
music singing and writing.
In July, she was interviewed
on New York City radio
station NASH FM 94.7.
She spoke about her path
into the world of country
music and the release of
her first album, Now or
Never. She gave credit to
Wagner College in helping
her pursue her dreams,
saying, “That experience
at Wagner, that theater
training, really helped me.”
Alex Boniello
2014
won a 2016
Teacher Excellence Award
from Success Academy
Charter Schools, a 34-school
charter network in New
York City. Jennifer was
selected from among 1,400
faculty members for the
ETHOS Excellence Award.
This award reinforces
the schools’ key values:
Excellence, Teamwork,
Humor, Ownership, and
Jennifer Bauer
Students. Jennifer teaches
dance at Success Academy
Fort Greene in Brooklyn.
A sociology and education
major, she says, “My
education allowed me to
see that biology, the psyche,
culture, and geography are
all factors that go into the
development of a child.”
Katherine Liu received her
master’s from Juilliard in the
spring. Her violin recital on
March 11 in Paul Hall at
the Juilliard School included
works by Gershwin, Mozart,
Strauss, and Tchaikovsky.
Keila McCracken is founder
and president of the
Northern Minnesota
Fibershed, a group of
farmers and fiber artists
who promote environmental
sustainability by using
local fibers, dyes, and labor
to fulfill the community’s
fiber needs. Adriana Peri
opened Peri’s Pearl Tea in
Tottenville, Staten Island,
in 2015. “I knew when I
went to Wagner College I
would major in marketing
and management so I could
learn exactly what it takes to
manage a business,” she told
the Staten Island Advance.
2015
won
a National Science
Foundation Graduate
Research Fellowship to
support her doctoral
work in molecular biology
at Clemson University.
Kayleigh Macchirole biked
across Tanzania this
summer in a fundraising
effort for the nation’s
2 million orphans. “Not
Michelle Greenough
only will I get to see
Tanzania in a really
unique way, I’ll also get
to see firsthand how my
fundraising is helping the
children there,” she told
Southold Local in April.
Kayleigh raised $3,000 for
Foundation for Tomorrow,
a nonprofit organization
that funds education and
support for orphaned
children in Tanzania.
“The more I read about
the situation there, the
more I know I’m doing
the right thing,” Kayleigh
said. Allie Sethares renewed
her Fulbright English
Teaching Assistant grant
in South Korea for another
year. She will continue to
teach at a middle school
in Mokpo, about 200
miles south of Seoul, until
July 2017. Heather Wolf,
who works as an alumni
relations officer for Wagner
College, won the title of
Miss Staten Island 2016.
In the competition for
Miss New York 2016, she
won the interview award
among the non-finalists.
“Winning a title in the
Miss America Organization
gives you the opportunity
to speak about something
you’re passionate about on
a much larger scale. For
me, that passion is suicide
prevention. I hope to reach
as many people as I can,”
Heather said. She is raising
money and awareness
for You Can NOT Be
Replaced, an organization
that promotes kindness and
communication as a means
of suicide prevention.
�Celebrating lives that enriched the Wagner family
Dr. Harold Haas ’39 H’58
Mr. Carl E. Heilsberg ’43
Mrs. Cornelia Borgemeister Reynolds ’44
Rev. Edward H. Wiediger ’44
Mrs. Joan M. Welch Stubbs ’47
Mrs. Lillian Intemann Arnesen ’48
Mr. Anthony Marraccini ’49 M’50
Mr. John Gaczi ’50
Rev. Henry W. Kircher ’50 M’53
Rev. Henry Sterling George Sheppard ’50
Mr. Arthur R. Vakiener Jr. ’50
Hon. Charles J. D’Arrigo ’51
Mr. Richard E. Meyer ’51
Mrs. Marie Young Ballweg ’52
Mrs. Evelyn Pedersen Gordon ’52
Dr. Morton Kurland ’52
Mr. Ralph J. Powelson ’52
Rev. Dr. William Bodamer ’53
Mr. George E. Pontoppidan ’53
Mr. Charles Rockefeller ’53
Dr. Richard C. Van Name ’53
Mrs. Tyra Rydell Hobbs ’54
Col. Leon F. Mangin ’55
Dr. Francis J. Byron Jr. ’56
Mrs. George F. Carstens ’57
Rev. Dr. John M. Brndjar ’59
Mr. Ernest A. Farris ’59
Mr. Paul I. Holman ’61
Mr. William R. Van Heertum ’61
Mr. Georg W. Bohsack ’62
Mr. Ronald C. Jones ’63
Mrs. Janet A. McIver DeRoche ’63
Mr. Arnie Magenheim M’63
Rev. Robert W. Busch ’65
Mrs. Lynne Smith Danesh ’65 M’72
Mr. Arthur Chester Grannis III ’65
Mr. Hank Pedro ’65
Mr. Michael J. Yellin ’66
Ms. Carol Nicolaysen ’67 M’72
Mr. Edward Koynian Jr. ’68
Ms. Michelle Cliff ’69
Mr. Lawrence Wunderle ’69
Mr. Richard Laszlo M’70
Mr. Jacob Ellis ’72
Mr. John C. Kachadurian ’72
Mr. Douglas Matthius ’72 M’77
Mr. David G. Koza ’73
Mrs. Christine Maiorano McCabe ’73 M’78
Mr. James J. McNamara M’73
Mrs. Christine Lautenberger Simone ’75
Mr. Joseph A. Zaborowski ’81
Mr. Brian R. Huff ’06
FAC U LT Y R E M E M B R A N C E
Professor of Psychology Lee Borah
Dedicated to his students, known for warmth and whimsy
Lee A. Borah Jr., professor emeritus and former chair of
the Department of Psychology, died on June 7 at age 84.
Dr. Borah held a B.A. and Ph.D. from the University
of Minnesota and an M.A. from the University of
Washington. He was valedictorian of his Cokato (Minn.)
High School class of 1950.
He thrived on teaching and inspiring his students
during a career that spanned from 1962 to 1997.
He brought lecture material to life through personal
anecdotes and through his writings in the department
newsletter, Hallucinations. In addition to student
perspectives, the newsletter included his regular columns:
“From the Big Ashtray,” “Sylvester Speaks” and “Report
from Higher Brook,” a detailed account of a small,
intimate community and the people who lived there.
The community itself was an elaborate set of miniatures
arranged on his credenza, changing with the seasons.
“People who know me should be able to identify
where I live in Higher Brook,” he wrote in 1995.
“Naturally, the front door is blue, and there are lilacs
blooming on each side of the front door, and around the
back door are crepe myrtle trees.”
In the summer, he wrote, the village
“disappears into the mists of time …
into closets, chests, etc.”
Lee’s sense of whimsy extended to his nickname for
himself, “the happy hooker,” a reflection of his love of
creating hooked rugs. He designed some in the style of
Monet, including a version of Monet’s “Water Lilies.”
He created a family for his students. Psychology Club
and Psi Chi members joined him for potluck dinners at
his apartment and end-of-semester parties on campus;
both included his signature dessert, trifle. All were
joyous gatherings filled with laughter. Dr. Borah also
mentored his students individually, sometimes with the
text of an article and his handwritten note, “Read, and
let’s discuss.” Many of the friendships he developed with
students lasted more than 40 years.
— �Compiled from alumni reminiscences by
Elissa Alkoff Malcohn ’79
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Reflections
‘Real Talk’
Listening to Stories That Are Hard to Hear By Felicia Ruff
E
ach year, when I put “College
Professor” and “Wagner College”
into TurboTax to describe my
profession and my employer, I have
a flood of memories. As I type those
words, I feel so proud — so proud
that I reread it. A lot.
Now, anyone who teaches knows
that time passes differently for us.
The people in front of you stay the
same age, so you assume that you do
as well — when, in fact, a decade
(or two) has passed.
As I reflect, I realize President
Richard Guarasci and I have been
doing this college thing together for a
while; Richard hired me as a visiting
professor in 2001 when he was provost
— and, well, I just never left.
This fall, I began my 10th year as
department chair and my 17th year
as a Wagner professor. Richard and
I have been through a lot together.
Times haven’t always been easy. We’ve
lost some people who were very dear
to us. While I am confident that being
a college president offers struggles of
which I am not aware, he knows many
of the unique challenges of being chair
of the “drama department.”
But through it all, I can’t escape
how proud I am to work at Wagner,
to work with leaders like President
Guarasci and Provost Lily McNair,
each of whom are never satisfied,
never rest on past accomplishments,
but who are always looking to do
better. To be better.
W A G N E R
M AG A Z I N E
“
But they didn’t
turn away.
They saw it as
an opportunity
to do better.
”
Last year, Provost McNair
exemplified this quality to me as she
brought issues to the faculty that are
hard to talk about. In my church,
we call that “real talk.” Lily got us
engaged in “real talk” about race and
about the way students of color feel
on our campus.
These conversations started with
our leaders listening to our students.
Lily told us that Richard and his wife,
Carin, had invited students to their
home for a lovely dinner. But they
didn’t leave it there — they had “real
talk.” And some of what was said
was, evidently, hard to hear. But they
didn’t turn away. They saw it as an
opportunity to do better. To educate.
To advocate. And to make change.
In turn, Lily gently but persuasively
introduced us to this conversation in
a way that we, her colleagues, could
hear and reflect on. These were
heartfelt conversations. And I was
deeply touched when my department
drew praise from Lily and from Curtis
Wright, dean of campus life and chief
diversity officer, for producing
Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman and
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street
— two plays that depict some of the
difficulties faced by people of color
in our society.
This dialogue opened other paths. I
am proud that we have hired Rebecca
Kelly Arnold ’07, a theater graduate
who went on to earn a law degree, to
teach a course on race, performance,
and activism this fall.
I believe Wagner College Theatre
has always been committed to fighting
for the individual — particularly
regarding sexual orientation, gender
identity, as well as differing body
types. We don’t recruit a look —
we recruit a person.
But last year, our department
discovered ways in which we are
looking past people with physical
disabilities. And we’ve had some
“real talk” among our students
and faculty. Our department has
joined a conversation on what we
can do better, not just at our school
but in our industry, to represent
other stories and other people.
My senior seminar members did
their thesis research on disabilities
and theater, identifying issues that
face commercial theater audiences
and producers in New York City,
for example.
Earlier this year, theater alums Alex
Boniello ’13 and Emilia Martin ’07
were part of a show that “awakened”
�a consciousness for better access and
inclusion among Broadway producers
and audiences — the Deaf West
production of Spring Awakening, a
critically acclaimed staging that was
performed simultaneously in American
Sign Language and spoken English.
During the spring semester, our
department hosted their fellow
Spring Awakening actor Ali Stroker
to speak to over 200 students packed
into Spiro Hall. Some of what she
shared was stunning.
In 2015, Stroker became the
first wheelchair-bound actor to ever
perform on a Broadway stage. She said
with delight that the producers were
proactive about renovating the theater
to accommodate her wheelchair. But
she also told a very personal story —
which she called humiliating — of the
company’s trip to the White House
to perform in celebration of the 25th
anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. In the ultimate irony,
they did not provide wheelchairaccessible transportation to this event.
We will make changes at Wagner
as a result of these conversations. But
what’s so special to me about Wagner
is that we know that when our students
leave us, they will make real change.
They will find themselves in leadership
positions, casting, producing, directing,
teaching, and they won’t look past
someone based on their color or
physical ability.
That’s what makes me excited to do
our work together. We at Wagner are
privileged to watch as these students
grow up to become art makers, arts
administrators, and activists — not
just arts activists but social activists.
Change-makers.
And while, particularly in an
election year, people look to politicians
and pundits for leadership, I like to
remind us that it is the artists and the
storytellers who are the true changemakers. They show us what others
want to keep hidden. From Uncle Tom’s
Cabin to Hamilton, from Stanley Drama
Award winners Rent (Jonathan Larson,
1993) to Bad Hearts (Mike Bencivenga,
2016), these are stories of people who
must be represented.
I am so proud that our department
and our College takes the time to
listen to one another’s stories.
I L L U S T R AT I O N : A L B E R T O R U G G I E R I / I L L U S T R AT I O N S O U R C E
I am particularly grateful that we
honor the storytellers and makers
of change — our community of
theater artists.
Felicia Ruff, Ph.D., is a professor and
chair of the Department of Theatre and
Speech. This essay is a revised version of
the opening remarks she gave at the 2016
Stanley Drama Awards on March 14.
F A L L 2 0 1 6
�Office of Communications and Marketing
Wagner College
One Campus Road
Staten Island, New York 10301
Defying Gravity
Mark Kaweesi of Uganda was one of the 25 Mandela Washington
Fellows at Wagner College last summer through President
Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. Wagner’s six-week
institute on civic leadership built the capacity of dynamic
community leaders like Kaweesi, who uses break dancing and
other art forms to empower economically disadvantaged youth.
P H O T O G R A P H : J O N AT H A N H A R K E L
�
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Wagner College Alumni Publications
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This collection contains the publications created for the alumni of Wagner College. Starting in 1948 and known as the Link, this series has gone through a variety of name and format changes and is currently known as Wagner Magazine.
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Wagner
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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Fall 2016
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48pp
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eng
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Text