Marist alumnus Dr. Edward Summers ’04/’06M, founder of Bronx-based the Thinkubator, has been named to Robin Hood’s Power Fund, a new initiative supporting leaders of color and their organizations.

Marist alumnus Dr. Edward Summers ’04/’06M, founder of Bronx-based the Thinkubator, has been named to Robin Hood’s Power Fund, a new initiative supporting leaders of color and their organizations. Robin Hood, New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization, funds impactful and scalable solutions to lift families out of poverty. The Power Fund invests in leaders who share Robin Hood’s mission of increasing economic mobility while championing racial and economic justice. Summers has dedicated his career to economic development in his hometown of the Bronx.To combat the barriers leaders of color face in accessing philanthropic dollars, the Power Fund takes a three-fold approach: a meaningful investment in an organization; targeted capacity-building and technical support; and a self-directed investment in the leader’s own development and elevation. The Power Fund was seeded with an initial investment of $10 million by Robin Hood and investors such as the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, BlackRock, and Capital One.In 2020, Summers founded the Thinkubator, an innovative nonprofit that provides education, career, and work-based learning opportunities for low-income youth in the Bronx. The Thinkubator harnesses their creativity through a youth-led design thinking consultancy, internships, workforce training, career development, job placement, a Youth Council, educational programming, and advocacy. With financial support from the Power Fund, the Thinkubator can now enhance and expand its work. Said Summers, “I am excited, humbled, and honored by this opportunity to elevate the work and impact of the Thinkubator. I look forward to the transformational impact this funding will have on our organization and on the youth and communities we serve.”A two-time Marist graduate, Summers served for seven years as Presidential Fellow and a member of the senior leadership team under Marist President Dennis J. Murray. He is currently on the College’s Alumni Executive Board as well as its Diversity & Inclusion Alumni Advisory Board. 

21 Jul 2021

The Hunger Walk takes place for the 29th year.

On Nov. 3, Marist students continued the tradition of the Hunger Walk for the 29th year. The walk was part of Hunger Month, a program organized each November by Campus Ministry.More than 600 people took part in the approximately 30-minute walk around the campus. Students donated $3 each. A total of $1,167 was raised, according to Br. Michael Flanigan, FMS, who has coordinated the Hunger Walk for the past 13 years.Additional activities during Hunger Month include the collection of non-perishable food and Buck Hunger, the collection of donations of a dollar or more.The food is donated to the food pantry at Dutchess Outreach of Poughkeepsie. The cash donations are made to Bread for the World, Lazarus House (Lawrence, MA), the Guadalupe Middle School in Brownsville, TX, and the Lunch Box Soup Kitchen at Dutchess Outreach. 

16 Nov 2021

Matthew Szymaszek, DO, has been helping people fight the coronavirus from the outset of the pandemic.

Matthew Szymaszek, DO, has been helping people fight the coronavirus from the outset of the pandemic.The Simsbury, CT, native and long-distance runner for the Marist track and field team graduated in 2007 but returned to the College to finish research that he started with Dr. Zofia Gagnon, a former associate professor of environmental science, before taking the MCAT — the Medical College Admission Test, a standardized test that is part of the medical school admissions process — in 2008. He began medical school at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, PA, where he met his wife, Lindsey, in 2009. After originally settling down in Delaware, the couple moved to Colorado. In the fall of 2019 Szymaszek started working in critical care for Pulmonary Associates in Colorado Springs, CO. Just a few months later, the world was rocked by the coronavirus. In March 2020, his work environment started changing. “I don’t think there was a single non-COVID patient at one time, and we have a couple different ICUs,” he said about the period around Thanksgiving 2020. “I think one of our towers — 16 beds — was all coronavirus patients, all on ventilators.”As the weeks and months went on, more data and research showed that there were more than just respiratory issues to deal with, namely blood clots that formed in kidneys. Still, day-to-day responsibilities didn’t change all that much. Szymaszek’s routine, he said, consists of “seeing everybody, making sure their work of breathing hadn’t changed, making sure they didn’t develop any other secondary organ disfunction — particularly, any kidney dysfunction — and then it’s symptomatic management after that.” Workplace efficiency, Szymaszek explained, was the primary way his job changed. “Taking care of patients is the primary focus,” he said, “but certainly, you still have to document everything that you’re doing. I think that was the biggest time crunch — trying to see everybody, making sure you weren’t missing anything, making sure all the nurses’ needs were addressed, talking with families.” Since the information about the virus was so fluid, the latter task was time-consuming and difficult to address. Hospital procedures and operation plans were updated daily, primarily in the limitation of visitors at the hospital and how to avoid clutter in ICUs. Patients were admitted to higher levels of care only when their need for additional oxygen escalated. Szymaszek and the other doctors gave input to the hospital’s higher-ups as well as each other. “It was our anecdotal experiences day in and day out that we would share with one another and learn from those things,” he said. One experience that proved to be an astute observation by one of the doctors was the beneficial impact of steroids. Results in the Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial involving hospitalized patients with COVID-19 showed that using dexamethasone over 10 days improved mortality.Learning from experience was a critical part of fighting an unknown enemy. “Our system as a whole, early on, developed a treatment algorithm as things were evolving and coming out of other countries,” Szymaszek said. The components of that algorithm have been and continue to be in flux. At first, they used convalescent plasma donations from recovered patients, which contain antibodies that can fight off the virus. Treatments that have been mainstays, Szymaszek explained, are steroids (such as dexamethasone and Solu-Medrol) and anticoagulation medicines, which help protect against blood clots.Of course, no treatments were discovered to be a magic wand. Steroids brought along problems in people with preexisting conditions, namely with blood-sugar levels. “That’s always been an ongoing battle…because they’re on high-dose steroids off and on for weeks and weeks,” Szymaszek said. “And if they have already have some underlying diabetes and other issues, it just becomes a nightmare to get those things under control.”Vaccines initially slowed the progression of cases and severity of disease, but the advent of the delta variant has only spurred more hospitalizations and unprecedented "crisis standards" of care for some hospital systems.  “We continue to have a steady influx of patients infected with coronavirus not just from the local community but also from hospital systems both in and out of the state,” said Szymaszek. “In the beginning of the pandemic, most patients were hospitalized with COVID and there was a noticeable decline in other medical conditions such as stroke or cardiac conditions and even trauma-related cases. Now, we have an increase in both COVID and other medical conditions which is why trying to find open beds for some systems is a challenge. At this stage of the pandemic the vast majority of cases can be prevented with vaccination, and yes, there are going to be breakthrough cases as more people are vaccinated, but the chances of requiring hospitalization or death are incredibly reduced. “The science is constantly evolving and I think that's what is hard for people to understand. What we knew a year or a few months ago may not be true today as we continue to learn more about this virus and its variants.” Szymaszek has paved himself numerous different paths to unwind and get away from work. One of the reasons the Szymaszeks moved to Colorado was to be close to Lindsey’s family so that her parents could help watch their children. Another was that it offered them plenty of outdoor activities. It’s a gold mine for the outdoorsy couple, who live on the north side of Garden of the Gods Park, in the foothills of Pikes Peak Mountain, and within hours of numerous skiing resorts. Szymaszek likes hiking, biking, fly fishing, and taking his boys — six-year-old Owen and five-year-old Evan — walking on nature trails. “My boys are in school and a local mask mandate has dramatically cut cases and quarantines for students and teachers when compared to when it was optional.”Staying true to his roots as a long-distance runner, Szymaszek competes in time trials with his college teammates. The pool of competitors features Sean Hopkins ’05, Sean Prinz ’06, Justin Harris ’07, Michael Schab ’06, and Michael Rolek ’08. Out of boredom during quarantine time, Prinz proposed the idea of doing competitions to stay active. They would pick various events and share the results with each other.Head coach Pete Colaizzo ’86 remembers Szymaszek — or as he called him, CT, the abbreviation for his home state — as “one of the highest-mileage guys on the team,” he said. “Always ran a lot. Always ran twice a day — early morning runs, late night runs, in addition to our practices. He’s the type of guy you just want on the team.”  Szymaszek continues to participate in triathlons and half Ironmans, with more races on the horizon this winter and spring. For him, running has always been more than exercise; it’s an emotional outlet.“I don’t think I would have been able to get through med school if it weren’t for the running,” he said. “That was the only thing that was consistent, [that] I knew I could rely on, to go out and clear my mind, think about stuff. That certainly still holds true now.” 

21 Jul 2021

We are excited to offer this online directory of alumni-owned businesses for alumni to list their business and for fellow alumni to support alumni-owned businesses around the world.

We are excited to offer this online directory of alumni-owned businesses for alumni to list their business and for fellow alumni to support alumni-owned businesses around the world.If you are a Marist graduate and own a business or are a partner in a business and you'd like to include it in the business directory, click here to submit your listing.*The Alumni Office has the right to remove a business listing at any time. To search the Alumni Business Directory, click http://maristconnect.marist.edu/businessdirectory.*Terms of UseThe use of information contained within for solicitation or any reason other than supporting a business is strictly prohibited. Marist College does not endorse or make any other representations concerning any of the businesses registered in the Directory. 

20 Aug 2021

The Alumni Career Network is a password-protected database maintained on the Marist network by both the Office of Alumni Relations and the Center for Career Services.

Marist Alumni Career NetworkThe Alumni Career Network is a password-protected database maintained on the Marist network by both the Office of Alumni Relations and the Center for Career Services. The network contains hundreds of names of individuals who are willing to be contacted by fellow alumni and current students about career choices and paths. You can search the network by occupation type, business title, business name or name of person. By entering the year of graduation or location you will narrow your search. *This network is for business networking purposes only among students, alumni, faculty, and staff. It may not be used for personal or corporate solicitation and contact. Marist College reserves the right to revoke access to any individual at any time. Note: This is a password-protected network. You must use your Marist credentials to log in; all Marist alumni have accounts. If you have not used your account recently or have never used it, please contact the Marist HELP Desk for activation at helpdesk@marist.edu or (845) 575-HELP (4357).Search the NetworkYou do not need to join the network in order to search it. Use your Marist Account to log in. If you don't know your account information, contact the Help Desk at (845) 575-4357. If you have not changed your password recently, you can do so at http://acctmgmt.it.marist.edu/.Join the NetworkThe more alumni who are part of the program the better, so sign up today! You do NOT need to login to your Marist Account to join the network.

20 Aug 2021

Assisting a foundation in supporting Maine nonprofits.

One reason Justin Burkhardt ’02 took his current job with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, in Portland, ME, was because the company was “mission-driven,” he says. Throughout the pandemic, he has had an opportunity to support that mission, alleviating food insecurity.Originally from Milford, NH, Burkhardt was a political science and American studies major at Marist. After graduating, he worked for Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, the first female governor of New Hampshire. When Shaheen became a US senator, Burkhardt joined her Washington, DC, staff and served as deputy chief of staff. After six and a half years on Capitol Hill, he relocated to Maine with his partner, David, and took a position as the marketing strategy manager with Harvard Pilgrim, a not-for-profit health care services company based in New England. The company’s mission is to improve the quality and value of health care for the communities it serves throughout the Northeast.His position involves not only developing marketing strategies but also assisting the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation in supporting Maine nonprofits. One program has been especially meaningful to him: Harvard Pilgrim’s Greater Portland COVID-19 Relief Meal Delivery Project.“During my time at Harvard Pilgrim, I have been involved in dozens of initiatives focused on giving back to the community,” he says. “However, this may be one of the most impactful.”When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March of 2020, Burkhardt was sent from his Portland office to work from his home in Cape Elizabeth, ME, for the rest of the year. That didn’t stop him from making an impact on his community, though. As part of his work with the foundation, he identified a Portland-based nonprofit, Cooking for Community, worthwhile of support. This newly formed initiative brought together food producers, restaurants, and agencies to ease food insecurity in the state. “Both of our missions aligned to help those in need,” said Burkhardt.Harvard Pilgrim partnered with Cooking for Community and the YMCA of Southern Maine to deliver meals to individuals and families impacted by the pandemic. Cooking for Community coordinated with local restaurants to prepare weekly meals, using many ingredients purchased from local farms. The YMCA of Southern Maine delivered the meals to homes across 24 towns. In its first 11 months of operation, from April 2020 to February 2021, Cooking with Community served more than 92,000 meals. Currently 2,200 meals a week are distributed through its partnerships with 20 social service organizations and 20 restaurants, putting dozens of food industry workers back to work.In addition, Burkhardt reached out to Maine’s nonprofit community to raise awareness about additional grant opportunities through the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation. From March to July 2020, the foundation gave more than $1.7 million in COVID-19 relief grants to help more than 70 small and large nonprofits throughout the state of Maine. “It feels,” said Burkhardt, “like we made a positive impact.”

Former Marist rower Hillary Saeger ’07 made the leap from the river to the ocean when she was asked to join the USRowing Coastal Development Group this past February.

Former Marist rower Hillary Saeger ’07 made the leap from the river to the ocean when she was asked to join the USRowing Coastal Development Group this past February. In contrast to traditional Olympic-style rowing, coastal rowing takes place in the rougher waters of the coastline and ocean. Competitors must deal with not only the surf but also other challenges that occur in open waters such as tides and currents. In her role, Saeger hopes to lead the way for the transition from traditional to coastal rowing and to make it more accessible for all athletes. “We want everyone to have the opportunity to try coastal rowing and take it to any level they want to,” explained Saeger. She noted that participants are hoping to increase interest in the sport in anticipation of its entry into the Olympics in 2028 Los Angeles. “I am looking forward to getting someone into a coastal boat for the first time and showing them what it's all about and how much more interesting it can be than traditional rowing,” she said.After graduating from Marist, Saeger returned to Boston, where she joined Riverside Boat Club and learned to scull. She trained for her first national team selection race two years after graduating. “I made the national team in 2009 in the lightweight women's quad and went on to place third at the world champs that year. After that, I stayed in the rowing community in Boston and went on to make a total of seven national teams, and earned three Worlds medals.” She took a break from lightweight rowing in 2019 and instead trained for the Coastal World Championships in Hong Kong, where she raced in the double and quad, placing fifth and sixth respectively.Saeger’s favorite rowing memory is from a race in Bled, Slovenia, for the World Championships in 2011. “I was in the lightweight women's quad and we were getting faster each race we did there and made it into the A final. During the A final race, in the last 500 meters, our stroke seat let out a roar and the whole boat just started moving faster. We finished and we were looking at the giant TV screen awaiting results. We got third by a tenth of a second and we all rejoiced together. All of my favorite memories involve working in a tight group and making something amazing happen because everyone is working together and trusts one another. That's when anything is truly possible.”Saeger was also named to the MAAC's 40th anniversary women’s rowing team, which highlights some of the top rowers in MAAC history. “I am honored to be recognized for my achievements over the years,” she says of the experience. “After college it has always felt like a continuum from what I learned at Marist. I took what I learned from rowing in the eight, but most important I took away what a committed group of women can do if they never doubt what they can achieve together. We were never the tallest, strongest, or most technical boat out racing but we definitely had the biggest heart, and that is what made our boat most successful. I hope my achievements can be shared with everyone I have rowed with at Marist and inspire others to keep going for their goals and dreams no matter what the odds seem against you.”

21 Jul 2021

Graduation was upon him and he was tossing around a few different career ideas that were focused on freelancing.

Graduation was upon him and he was tossing around a few different career ideas that were focused on freelancing. Unsure exactly what he wanted to do, Alec Rizzo ’17 decided to stay in his home state of Connecticut and pursue what he really wanted to do: make films, of any kind, including documentaries. He purchased his own equipment and began to freelance, jumping at any opportunity to gain experience behind the camera. He knew this would get him closer to his ultimate career path in film. After a year of freelancing after graduation, Rizzo landed a position as a production assistant for network content at WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) in Stamford, CT. The job has provided him with opportunities and travel he could have only imagined.Over the past year or so, Rizzo has traveled all over the country to produce content for the WWE Network’s original programming, including WWE24, a series of documentaries that chronicle a WWE superstar. One afternoon, he was heading to lunch when his boss, Dan Pucherelli ’02, approached him. “Hey, how do feel about traveling to Africa?” Pucherelli said. Without hesitation, Rizzo said yes, not only to gain experience, but also to embrace the opportunity to capture the culture, upbringing, and career of Kofi Kingston, WWE superstar and WWE champion at the time. The trip would be highlighted in the documentary WWE24 Kofi Kingston: The Year of Return, one of the many documentaries available on the WWE Network.Rizzo’s first step was to get his passport as he had never traveled out of the country. The trip began on May 29, 2020, with an overnight flight to Africa. Going to Ghana was a true homecoming experience for Kingston, his first visit back to his home country in 26 years, since leaving for the United States with his family as a child. With Kingston holding his first WWE championship title, it made for an even more dramatic return. While in Ghana, the film crew traveled to many villages and cities, witnessing a hero’s welcome for Kingston at nearly every stop over the course of the four-day trip. Rizzo and the film crew documented the entire trip, including Kingston meeting the president and king of Ghana.  “I’d do it all again,” said Rizzo of the experience and knowledge he gained not only professionally but personally in learning about the culture and history of Ghana. Following Rizzo’s trip to Ghana, his position has taken him to Des Moines, IA, Charlotte, NC, Chicago, IL, and Houston, TX, just to name a few. Rizzo knew before graduating from Marist that he wanted to be involved in filmmaking. “If you told me at graduation I’d be doing this, I’d say perfect, it’s exactly what I want to do. It didn’t happen right after graduation. I had to go and find it.”  He credits Marist for the internship opportunities and the hands-on classes that provided him with the skills and knowledge to “get out there” and freelance after graduation. More specifically, he recalls Jeff Bass’s class in Avid Media Composer, an industry standard for film and video editing. “I always had the confidence as soon as I got the camera in my hand that I’d be fine, I could do it, because of Marist.”  His freelance work provided him the opportunity at WWE, but ultimately, it was Marist that set the foundation he needed. “I don’t think anything I’ve done is significantly special or is out of reach for anyone at Marist right now. Anyone can do what I did and am doing. There’s so much to do and learn at WWE,” he said. “You have to want it and have the passion for what you want to do.” 

21 Jul 2021

Maxwell Brodsky, Tampa Bay’s digital operations manager, is watching the game from a press box with a few coworkers, preparing content for the end of the game, which at that point they think will end in a Tampa Bay victory.

It’s the third quarter of Super Bowl LV. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are leading the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 21–9. Maxwell Brodsky, Tampa Bay’s digital operations manager, is watching the game from a press box with a few coworkers, preparing content for the end of the game, which at that point they think will end in a Tampa Bay victory. When the Bucs tack on 10 more points, the group feels all the more confident that the Bucs will secure their second Super Bowl in franchise history and first in nearly 20 years.Brodsky, who grew up a diehard New York Giants fan, said that rooting for a team that you work for is a much different experience than simply rooting for a team. “You always root for the team that you’re on ’cause you’re part of it,” the 2013 Marist graduate said. “You’re a family. It’s part of what you do. The NFL’s not a nine-to-five. It’s constant, so it’s a really huge part of your life.”When Tampa Bay linebacker Devin White intercepted a pass with less than two minutes remaining, Brodsky knew they sealed the deal. Brodsky’s been with the Bucs longer than all but six players. They didn’t win double-digit games or make the playoffs during the first four seasons he worked for them. This past season, they cleared both hurdles…and won the Super Bowl in dominating fashion. The press box, Brodsky explained, was a workplace, so there wasn’t supposed to be any cheering. Still, when the game ended, he couldn’t hold back his emotions. “I cried like a baby the second we won,” he proudly admitted. In 2016, the Buccaneers hired Brodsky to be a digital content coordinator, a position that tasked him — among other things — with posting videos and photo galleries to the Bucs’ website. He was promoted to senior digital content coordinator two years later, where he was given more stories to post as well as some new responsibilities — overseeing the format of the team’s website and app, pitching stories to writers, and more.As a digital operations manager, Brodsky is now tasked with dealing with the bigger picture. “What I try to focus on is basically ‘How does everything look? How can fans consume content? How well is our content doing?’ ” he said. Search engine optimization for website content is a big part of his job, as is using Google analytic tools to judge how well the content is doing. Brodsky put in years of hard work for multiple NFL teams before experiencing that dream-come-true moment. He studied sports communication at Marist. “All I knew was I wanted to be in sports in some capacity. I took as many classes as I could in sports comm.” He took journalism classes, which paid off in an unexpected way. Writing stories, he said, “wasn’t one of my fortes” but the classes taught how to write and structure titles and descriptions, a big part of his job.One class that he took and greatly enjoyed was a football coaching class taught by head coach Jim Parady and defensive coordinator Scott Rumsey. Brodsky excelled and inquired with them on being further involved with the team. He was hired as a student assistant. Among the many responsibilities he had, Brodsky cut film, set up drills, worked with quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends during practices, and helped coordinate special teams during games.Brodsky’s start in the sports world came as an affiliate editor for NBCOlympics.com. He wrote recaps of events, compiled analytic reports, and more for the 2014 Sochi Games. Following that, Brodsky interned with the New York Jets for six months and Green Bay Packers for a year. With the Jets, he worked with both digital media (uploading articles, photo galleries, and videos to the team website) and social media (creating posts for various platforms, mostly about the Jets cheerleading squad). He started to drift toward the digital media side in Green Bay, where he updated the team website, posted/created content, and coordinated live interviews from Lambeau Field.Moving to the location of each position, Brodsky said, is a lot to handle. He has lived in the market for each team he worked for, including three different apartments during his time with the Bucs. For the native of Connecticut, each place he has lived in, even New Jersey, the location of the Jets, is unique.Brodsky had to spend much of his time without his then-girlfriend, Rebecca, who was living in Japan and working as an English teacher. He was alone in Wisconsin and for the beginning of his time in Tampa. Rebecca returned from Japan with a cat, which necessitated a move to accommodate Casper, their new pet. They got another cat, Luna, before finding a townhouse to call home and tying the knot this past May.Wedding rings were the only rings in fashion for anyone associated with the Buccaneers when Brodsky arrived. The team hadn’t made the playoffs since 2007 and was toiling in mediocrity since 2015. The football gods finally smiled on Tampa Bay in the 2020 offseason, when Tom Brady decided to sign with the team. Brodsky had to prepare to go live at 8:00 in the morning the next day, which required him waking up four hours earlier to get everything ready.Brodsky, having experience with good and bad teams, said it’s much easier to cover a team that’s good because there is so much more to work with. “You have to be hopeful for the future, which is one of the important things, as well as focus on the specific good things,” he said. “So, if there’s a really cool highlight, roll with that. If the game’s not going so well, you have to just mention it and move on.”That probably won’t be the case as long as the Bucs keep this team intact. The young playmakers surrounding Brady and a rock-solid defense should allow Tampa Bay to compete for more titles until Brady decides to hang up his cleats for good. The excitement isn’t lost on Brodsky. “I get to listen to Tom Brady talk on a press conference for my job. It’s amazing,” he said.All of Brodsky’s work culminated in a night he’ll never forget. “The fact that we get to win it in our own home stadium was the coolest experience of my life,” Brodsky said. The road to get there has been a lifelong journey. He has always been a football fan, taking opportunities to get involved the sport and watching the NFL for as long as he can remember. Now, he’s a part of the league he grew up loving. “It’s always weird when you mix your hobby with your profession. But if you can do it and you can make it work, it’s just a great thing.” 

21 Jul 2021

Lauren Clarke ’13 and her family started a wish-granting charity honoring her sister.

Lauren Clarke ’13 and her family started a wish-granting charity honoring her sister. Colleen Clarke Bucket List Wishes Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation granting wishes to young adults with a life-limiting physical disability or life-threatening diagnosis. Through social media, Lauren reconnected with Allie Pasquale ’13 and Victoria Weisheit ’13. CCBLWishes was able to grant Allie the wish of redesigning a spare bedroom into a healing, oasis escape lounge and art studio. Victoria’s mother, Regina, served as the interior designer for Allie’s project. During the process, another group from the Marist Class of 2013 came together to donate an adorable mini-fridge to the room. “Allie and Victoria and I are forever grateful to Marist for bringing us together,” said Lauren, “and being able to reconnect through this experience was a gift to us all.”  

21 Jul 2021

You’re invited to join the Marist Alumni Book Club!

You’re invited to join the Marist Alumni Book Club! In this online community, alumni can connect with each other and enjoy books related to lifelong learning, social issues, literature, psychology, and other user-submitted ideas. There is no cost to participate — you just have to get a copy of the book to enjoy. You can sign up at https://www.pbc.guru/marist or keep reading to learn more.How it works:The book club will connect through a private online forum where people can discuss the current book and network with each other. The group will spend two months on each book, so you'll have plenty of time to read.Why should you join?1. Connect with fellow alumni2. Be a part of a lifelong learning community3. Reading is good for you! What will we read?We will vote among several options each period and select a book based on reader interests. Previous books have included Educated by Tara Westover and The Power by Naomi Alderman.How do I invite a friend to the book club?You can send a friend the sign-up link: https://www.pbc.guru/marist. The more the merrier!How often will books be read, what is the time commitment, and what are the expectations?We will spend about two months on each book. We will read books highlighting lifelong learning and personal growth, novels, and other books that take an average of nine hours to read cover to cover. If you have between one and two hours a week to read, you can make it happen!Will there be any in-person meetings of the book club?No, the book club will be entirely online. You can participate anywhere you have Internet access and on days and times that are convenient for you.Is there any cost to participate?Participation is free!How do book club discussions work?The book club will be moderated by a PBC Guru moderator who manages the forum and provides additional content related to the book. The moderator will pose questions to the group, share relevant articles, and facilitate conversation about topics in the book. Members will be encouraged to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for readers to connect with each other through the forum.Marist has enlisted PBC Guru to manage the club and moderate the forums. They will help make this program a great experience for all participants. Please email them at info@pbc.guru with any questions or visit their website at http://www.pbc.guru to see more of what they do. 

13 Aug 2021

Each year the Marist Alumni Association presents the Alumni Leadership Award to two graduating seniors at the College’s Baccalaureate. The 2021 recipients of the award are Natalie D. Ford ’21 and Zachary F. Jacobs ’21. 

Each year the Marist Alumni Association presents the Alumni Leadership Award to two graduating seniors at the College’s Baccalaureate. The 2021 recipients of the award are Natalie D. Ford ’21 and Zachary F. Jacobs ’21. Ford, from Madison, MS, majored in fashion design. At Marist, she was president of the Class of 2021 and volunteered on the 2021 Commencement Committee, in Campus Ministry, at New York Fashion Week, in the Marist Community Garden, and as a tour guide with Ars et Fides.In addition, she worked as a campus tour guide and ambassador, a fashion design studio assistant, and a sales associate at Lily Rain.Jacobs, from Holliston, MA, majored in athletic training. He volunteered with Campus Ministry, the New York Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, the WWCGP Cycling Classic, National Athletic Trainers Association District 2 and the Student Leadership Committee and served as president of the Marian Hall Resident Student Council. His paid work experience includes clinical internships at five schools/organizations in the Hudson Valley and serving as a Marist tour guide and admission greeter as well as a Marist peer student tutor.Nominations for the award can be made by employees of Marist who are also graduates of the College. Alumni Leadership Award recipients over the past five years:2016 — Janie Pierson & Nicholas Bayer2017 — Irene Elias & Nicholas Marengo2018 — Brooke DiPalma & Alec Lee2019 — Lauren Vecchio & Matthew Marotti2020 — Jillian Kaczmarek & Spencer Hogan 

01 Jun 2021

Although the Class of 1970 and 1971 Reunion Committees opted to postpone their 50th reunions, Marist hosted a successful outdoor and COVID-safe Homecoming and Reunion on Oct. 23.

Although the Class of 1970 and 1971 Reunion Committees opted to postpone their 50th reunions, Marist hosted a successful outdoor and COVID-safe Homecoming and Reunion on Oct. 23. The day included Marist Singers and Band alumni performing with current student Singers and Band members, the Theatre Hall of Fame induction, the Morehead State vs. Marist football game, and four tents celebrating affinity groups on campus: the Student Government Association, the Study Abroad Program, the Marist Music Program, and the Fashion Department. The day ended with a reunion celebration for all classes under a large tent on the Marist Green.Photos by Al Nowak/On Location StudiosAlumni Join Marist Band and Singers at Homecoming 2021    Homecoming and Reunion Picnic 2021                       Marist vs. Morehead State Homecoming and Reunion 2021        Theatre Hall of Fame 2021         .carousel { color: #170724; --carousel-button-bg: #fff; --carousel-button-shadow: 0 2px 1px -1px rgb(0 0 0 / 20%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 14%), 0 1px 3px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%); --carousel-button-svg-width: 20px; --carousel-button-svg-height: 20px; --carousel-button-svg-stroke-width: 2.5; } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) { const myCarousel = new Carousel(document.querySelector("#moyo_.carousel"), {}); }); document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) { const myCarousel = new Carousel(document.querySelector("#dybk_.carousel"), {}); }); document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) { const myCarousel = new Carousel(document.querySelector("#vdas_.carousel"), {}); }); document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) { const myCarousel = new Carousel(document.querySelector("#iekw_.carousel"), {}); });

28 Oct 2021

Two professors who established pivotal programs at Marist almost 50 years ago now are giving back to Marist in another way. 

Two professors who established pivotal programs at Marist almost 50 years ago now are giving back to Marist in another way. Drs. Eugene and Eileen Best laid the foundations for key initiatives that impact Marist students today. A scholarship they recently established at Marist offered the opportunity to reflect on what they accomplished at the College.Eugene Best and Eileen Lambden, both Ohio natives, met in high school and married in 1971. That year brought another milestone. At a conference in Ohio the previous year, Gene had met Sr. Florence Michels, who chaired the Religious Studies Department at Marist. When Sr. Florence learned of Gene’s master’s in anthropology and doctorate in sacred theology, she invited him to join the College’s Religious Studies program, an interdisciplinary program.The couple’s first impression of Marist was not exactly positive. “The day Gene went to interview at Marist was in February,” Eileen remembered, “and it was one of the coldest days on record. The winds came in off that Hudson River and shivers went right through my bones. I said to myself, what are we getting ourselves into? It turned out that New York was warmer than Ohio.”Gene accepted the job offer, and he and Eileen moved to Poughkeepsie in 1971. At Marist, he wore two hats: associate professor and affirmative action officer. In the latter role, one of the things he is most proud of, he said, was adding more women to the faculty. He is also proud of the interdisciplinary courses he introduced. As associate professor and chairman of Religious Studies, Gene taught 30 different courses over his 20 years on the faculty.“The most important course and most frequent I taught was World Views and Values,” he says. “It was for me the most exciting course because it required students to challenge their own perceptions.” The course is still taught at Marist today.Eileen accepted a position at Marist teaching English. She had earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Notre Dame and, following post-graduate work at Case Western Reserve and Stanford, earned a PhD in English at the University of Colorado.In addition to teaching English, she supervised student teachers and established what is today the Office of Accommodations and Accessibility. Looking back, she says she was very impressed with the freedom the Marist administration gave her to make facilities more accessible to students with disabilities. “Adjustments had to be made to the physical plant,” she said. “Bathrooms had to be rearranged. They were not big enough for people to get into with wheelchairs. There was all sorts of restructuring that had to go on.” She added that the College was very happy to do it.After two years of juggling part-time positions, Eileen left Marist to join the administration at Dutchess Community College (DCC). There she established a program to assist students who had disabilities and developed credit-free courses and continuing-education programs.While engaged in their academic endeavors, the couple also served the community beyond Marist. Both Eileen and Gene were active in the Dutchess County Democratic party. Gene also served as board member and president of the Dutchess County Interfaith Council and produced a weekly radio program for the Council for 30 years.Eileen served on the board of directors of both the Dutchess County Mental Health Association and Family Services of Dutchess County.Gene and Eileen were always searching for ways to broaden horizons for their students. When Gene went to Asia on sabbatical for six months in 1988, Eileen accompanied him. They visited the Philippines, Thailand, India, Nepal, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. While abroad, they saw poverty and suffering firsthand, said Gene. “I was able to bring insight from those experiences back into the courses that I taught at Marist.”After 13 years at DCC, Eileen retired from higher education. She went on to become director of the Dutchess County Office of the Aging, where she administered programs and supervised 65 employees. Both Gene and Eileen retired in 1992.They spent the next 25 years seeing the world. “We traveled and we traveled and we traveled,” said Eileen. Destinations included Alaska, Nova Scotia, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, and the Caribbean.“We had wonderful, wonderful learning experiences,” she recalled. “Our America is only a small part of our interdependent global world.”In 2008, they moved back to Ohio to be near family. Their home in Hudson, OH, is filled with art and artifacts from their travels. But they’re not ones to sit still. They continue to teach and volunteer, and both enjoy gardening.They established the Dr. Eugene C. Best and Dr. Eileen Lambden Best Scholarship to assist full-time, first-year students who have demonstrated financial need. Their scholarship reflects their interests from their Marist days: preference is given to students majoring in a program offered through the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies or another discipline within the liberal arts. Preference may also be given to students participating in programs offered by the Office of Accommodations and Accessibility. Prior to establishing their scholarship, Gene and Eileen joined the Marist Legacy Society as founding members in appreciation for the invaluable role the College played in their professional and personal lives. 

30 Jul 2021

Phyllis Bassin established the Zachary Alexander Bassin Memorial Scholarship in honor of her beloved son, a Marist student who loved his family, his friends, and all things sports and who lived life on his terms despite severe medical challenges. 

Phyllis Bassin established the Zachary Alexander Bassin Memorial Scholarship in honor of her beloved son, a Marist student who loved his family, his friends, and all things sports and who lived life on his terms despite severe medical challenges. Zachary, who was born with cystic fibrosis, battled medical obstacles his entire life. He passed away in 2017 at age 21. The scholarship continues Zack’s legacy in a meaningful way by helping Marist students achieve their dreams and pursue their interests in the field of sports communication, which was his passion.From an early age Zack loved sports and was a natural athlete. When he grew too short of breath to play his favorite sports, he became an avid fan, memorizing stats for virtually every sport. Eventually he developed a love for golf, a sport he could play regardless of diminished lung function.“The friends he made at Marist freshman year saw him as Zack, not a kid toting an oxygen tank,” wrote Phyllis in her eulogy for her son. “That meant so much to him.”Dan Ketterer met Zack in middle school, and the two attended high school and Marist together. “He was an extremely loyal and caring friend,” said Dan, a 2017 alumnus. “He was always there to talk and listen to people when they had problems, despite how insignificant they were, compared to what he was facing.”Zack had a very forward-looking perspective about his future career and personal goals, Dan said. “He never complained about the cards he was dealt and attacked each challenge with confidence that he would come out on top, and he always did.”“I know I will be battling my health constantly for the rest of my life,” Zack wrote in his blog. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t find joy in the things I do.”Zack was determined to pursue a career in sports communication. At Marist, he fulfilled his dream of an internship in sports communication at Madison Square Garden. There he received accolades from colleagues and MSG management alike.His positive attitude and his courage inspired many who met him. In 2017 Zack was featured in a series called “For the Record” in the Marist Circle, the student news outlet, which highlighted students with compelling stories.Zack received a double-lung transplant in 2015, later developing post-transplant lymphoma. He passed away following chronic rejection of the transplant. More than 100 of his classmates from Marist and North Salem High School attended funeral services for him. In her eulogy, Phyllis asked Zack’s many friends to keep his memory alive by sharing their stories. She cherishes the Facebook posts from his friends and emails from MSG staff that showed her the enormous impact he had on others’ lives.  “The last thing I can do for him as his mother is to pay tribute to his courageous fight to live and ask you to be inspired by his ability to battle every adversity that came his way. Despite his short lifetime, Zachary made his mark and touched the life of so many people with his story.”Phyllis Bassin (center) met Connor Kurpat ’22 (left), the inaugural recipient of the Zachary Alexander Bassin Memorial Scholarship, in August 2021 at Marist’s James J. McCann Recreation Center, joined by Director of Athletics Tim Murray. Kurpat, from Lakewood, NJ, is majoring in sports communication. He is involved in Campus Ministry, is on the Dean’s List, and is an intern to Director of Sports Communication Jane McManus, a reporter for student-run sports publication Marist Centerfield, and a producer for Marist College Television. Friends of Zack Bassin Raise Funds and Awareness with Golf Outing“Zack always loved golf, and even when he had to carry supplemental oxygen, he'd still go out and play as much as he could,” said longtime friend and fellow Red Fox Dan Ketterer ’17. “He was great at it too — better than me and most of our friends — and we didn't have to swing with a big oxygen tank on our backs!” “Emily's Entourage was the perfect organization to work with because their research is entirely focused on Zack's mutation of cystic fibrosis, which is often overlooked by many of the broader CF organizations,” Dan added. “I know Zack would be proud to see so many friends coming together in his memory, and to know that he's directly making an impact on people who are in his shoes.”A group of Zack’s friends has donated almost $30,000 to Emily's Entourage thus far. The tournament raised $9,300 this year and $10,000 each of the prior two years.Shown left to right, kneeling, are Stephen Blyth ’17, Marc Howes ’17, Omar Mendez ’20, Torin Reilly ’17, and Devin Buonano ’18; Back, left to right are Drew DeCarolis ’19, Michael Traina ’19, Jack Ryan ’19, and Class of ’17’s Nick Veglia, Dan Ketterer, Adam Guest, Tana Roslan, Matt Edwards, Nicole Bateman, and Ryan Smith.Zachary Bassin’s music can be found by searching on SoundCloud for artist Zack Bassin. 

29 Aug 2021

Red Foxes Have Had 20 MLB Draftees in Program History

Right-handed pitcher Ryan Cardona, who completed his junior year at Marist in 2021, was selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on July 13. Cardona was chosen by the Cincinnati Reds in the 19th round with the 570th overall selection. "We are really happy for and proud of Ryan," Marist Head Coach Chris Tracz said. "He's dedicated himself to developing with hard work and perseverance. Going back to the recruiting process, this was a goal of his. To see him achieve it is personally gratifying, knowing how much it means to him." In his three seasons with the Red Foxes, Cardona struck out 105 in 91.2 innings. In his freshman year in 2019, Cardona led Marist in saves (five) and appearances (21) as he was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Rookie Team. Over the last two seasons, he transitioned to the starting rotations and posted a cumulative earned run average of 3.20. In this span, he struck out 54 in 50.2 innings. Cardona is the 20th Red Fox to be selected in the draft, and ninth in Tracz's tenure as head coach. Here is the full list Marist baseball's draftees: Marist Baseball MLB Draftees1997 Jorge Santiago - New York Mets (32nd round, 960th selection)Mike Speckhardt - St. Louis Cardinals (34th round, 1,034th selection)1999 Kevin Olore - Seattle Mariners (20th round, 605th selection)2001 Tim Bittner - Chicago White Sox (10th round, 313th selection)2002 Anthony Bocchino - Pittsburgh Pirates (11th round, 313th selection) Steve O'Sullivan - Chicago Cubs (23rd round, 693rd selection)2003 Chuck Bechtel* - San Diego Padres (15th round, 431st selection) Kevin Ool - Boston Red Sox (16th round, 474th selection)Chris Homer - Detroit Tigers (24th round, 700th selection)John McGorty - Detroit Tigers (36th round, 1,060th selection)2009 Jacob Wiley - Cincinnati Reds (41st round, 1,229th selection)2011 Michael Gallic - San Diego Padres (18th round, 563rd selection) Jon Schwind - Pittsburgh Pirates (41st round, 1,232th selection)Ricky Pacione - Los Angeles Angels (48th round, 1,455th selection)Eric Alessio - Cincinnati Reds (49th round, 1,495th selection)2013Kevin McCarthy - Kansas City Royals** (16th round, 474th selection)Zach Shank - Seattle Mariners (28th round, 837th selection)2015Steve Laurino - Baltimore Orioles (25th round, 763rd selection)2017Scott Boches - Seattle Mariners (30th round, 903rd selection)2021Ryan Cardona – Cincinnati Reds (19th round, 570th selection)* - Bechtel was also chosen by the Padres in the 2002 Draft (25th round, 745th selection)** - Has reached the major leagues 

13 Jul 2021

Julie Cullinane Kinney ’90 and author Jeff Kinney take Marist alumni inside his best-selling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

More than 250 alumni and friends along with their families got an exclusive look inside the evolution of the best-selling book series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” thanks to the generosity of Marist alumna Julie Cullinane Kinney ’90 and her husband, Jeff, the creator of the series. In a virtual presentation Oct. 15, Julie and Jeff shared the origins of the 16-book cartoon series featuring hapless middle-schooler Greg Heffley that has become an international sensation. The ticket price to the Marist-only event included a signed copy of Jeff’s newest book, Big Shot, published in October. All proceeds from the event, organized by the Marist Alumni Relations Office, benefited the Marist Alumni Legacy Scholarship Fund, raising more than $10,000. Special thanks go to Julie and Jeff for making the event possible. Julie interviewed Jeff about the evolution of the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid in a virtual program from their bookstore, An Unlikely Story, in Plainville, MA.Since the first Wimpy Kid book made its debut in 2007, more than 250 million copies have been published in 79 editions in 65 languages. The Wimpy Kid series has been a constant on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists and has remained on the New York Times children’s series best-seller list for more than 657 weeks. The series has won a number of regional and national awards including two Children’s Choice Book Awards and six Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for Favorite Book. Jeff Kinney was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people and is also the creator of Poptropica, named one of Time’s 50 Best Websites. The Disney+ movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid premiered in early December.Jeff and Julie took part in the Zoom program from their bookstore, An Unlikely Story, in Plainville, MA. Julie, a communications major in college and a former reporter and editor for a Massachusetts newspaper, interviewed Jeff for the Marist audience. She noted it was the first time she had interviewed him live for a virtual event. Then Jeff took live questions and gave a tour of his studio on the top floor of the bookstore, where his awards are on view.Jeff, a graduate of the University of Maryland, had been developing the book for a year when he and Julie began dating in 1999. He kept a journal jammed with notes and sketches that captured not only memories from his youth but also some of the couple’s early dating experiences. He continued writing and drawing for the next seven years as they dated, married, and had two sons, and as he worked full time as a software programmer. “It proves that you can do two things at once,” he noted, “that you can have your day job and pay your rent and you can also chase a rock-star dream in your spare time.” His dream was to be a newspaper cartoonist like Charles Schulz, the creator of Charlie Brown and "Peanuts.” For three years Jeff tried to make it happen. But “nobody liked my stuff,” he said. Then he decided to try something different. He bought a ticket to Comic Con, a comic convention in New York City, planning to show his sample packet around to editors there. But the convention had oversold its tickets and sent everyone away. While on a bus tour of New York City just for kicks, Jeff noticed that Billy Joel was playing a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden. He called Julie saying he wanted to stay overnight to go to the concert. A huge Billy Joel fan herself, she encouraged him to go for it. “Billy Joel was our thing at Marist in the ’80s,” she said.He managed to get a ticket and went to the show. The next day, he was able to get into the Comic Con. An editor who saw his work said it was exactly what he was looking for. “So it was thanks to Billy Joel that I got to be a published author,” Jeff said.Throughout the presentation the Zoom chat room bubbled over with questions for Jeff. What inspired him to write the Wimpy Kid series?“My own childhood,” he said. “I was reading Harry Potter at the time. I was like, “Man, this is really good writing, it’s a good story.” But I did think Harry was very, very different than I was as a kid. I did think there might be an appetite for a character who was not so perfect and not so heroic as Harry.”He said his newest Wimpy Kid book, Big Shot, shows what it’s like to be in athletics but not be a star athlete. “I think it’s important that a kid can see himself.”Earlier, he had elaborated on the appeal of his wimpy protagonist.“Greg is a messy character. When kids read kids’ books, the character is usually aspirational. They’re heroic. Like think of Harry Potter, characters like that. They’re the hero that we want to be. And Greg isn’t, really. You know, books can be mirrors and windows, right? Windows, you see into another world. That’s Harry Potter. Mirrors are books where you see yourself. That’s Wimpy Kid. And I think a lot of kids are messy.”Another young fan asked where Greg’s memorable nickname “Ploopy” came from.“Ploopy was a nickname that my older sister came up with for me,” Jeff explained. “And for some reason, it just got me. It made me so mad, like it would make my ears turn red.”He got over it, though. “We’ve made our peace. And I’m making money off of her calling me ‘Ploopy.’ So I think I won that situation.” 

26 Oct 2021

Healthcare executive Dirk McMahon ’82, entrepreneur and author Kristin Noto ’91, and technology executive Donna Dillenberger have joined the Marist College Board of Trustees.

In 2021 the Marist College Board of Trustees welcomed three new members. Dirk McMahon ’82, president and chief operating officer of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) and Donna Dillenberger, IBM Fellow at the company’s Research Center in Yorktown Heights and CTO of systems research for Hybrid Cloud, were elected to the board at its February meeting, while Kristin Noto ’91, an entrepreneur and author with extensive experience serving not-for-profit organizations, was elected at the November annual meeting. McMahon, who graduated from Marist with a BS in finance, has held senior leadership positions across both UnitedHealth Group business platforms — UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Most recently, he served as chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of Optum, a global health services company, and head of airport operations worldwide for Northwest Airlines. In addition to earning his undergraduate degree from Marist, McMahon received an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He and his family reside in Minnesota.Kristin Noto '91Noto received a BA in psychology from Marist, and her father is also an alumnus of the College. She is the author of Live E.P.I.C.: Invest in Yourself. Cultivate Character, and Embrace the 7 Moral Virtues that Lead to a Happier Life, as well as an inventor with several registered patents on houseware products. Noto also serves on the West Coast Advisory Board for the Child Mind Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of children, families, and communities affected by mental illness and learning disabilities. She is a former executive board member of the USA Lacrosse Foundation. Noto and her family live in Northern California. Donna DillenbergerDillenberger has had a distinguished career at IBM and currently serves as IBM Fellow at the company’s Research Center in Yorktown Heights and CTO of systems research for Hybrid Cloud. Her focus is on machine learning, counterfeit detection, cloud security and availability, and enterprise systems. In the past, Dillenberger has worked on machine learning models for the financial, insurance, retail, and healthcare industries and has designed new features for systems scalability and availability. She is the author of numerous research publications and holds multiple patents, becoming a Master Inventor at IBM. In recognition of her work, IBM’s CEO appointed her an IBM Fellow, the highest technical honor at the company. IBM Fellows are given broad latitude to identify and pursue projects. In the history of IBM, only 317 people have received such a distinction.Dillenberger received her BS in mathematics from New York University and an MS in computer science from Columbia University. She was an adjunct professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Engineering and was a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Stanford University. 

30 Nov 2021

Red Foxes Win Fourth MAAC Championship in Program History

The #1 seed Marist Red Foxes won the MAAC championship on Nov. 14. After a 2-2 tie with Rider through two overtimes totaling 110 minutes, the Red Foxes defeated fifth-seeded Rider by a 5-3 margin on penalty kicks.Grad student Kyle Galloway was named MAAC Tournament MVP. Juniors Henrique Cruz, Demarre Mountoute, and Bernardo Gracindo were named to the All-Championship Team.The team’s season ended with a 2-0 loss at Providence in an NCAA first-round match on Nov. 18.Marist's season came to an end at 12-7-3. The 12 wins are tied for the most in the program's Division I history, a record previously set three times, the most recent coming in 1999. The Red Foxes had entered the contest with a nine-match unbeaten streak (7-0-2). In their history, the Red Foxes have won four MAAC championships (2000, 2004, 2005, 2021). This was their third NCAA appearance (2004, 2005, 2021).Marist had three major award winners this year: Head Coach Matt Viggiano was named MAAC Coach of the Year for the first time as the Red Foxes won their first regular-season MAAC championship in school history; graduate student Huib Achterkamp was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Year; and senior Samuel Ilin was named MAAC Goalkeeper of the Year. 

29 Nov 2021

Anthony Randall Becomes Head Coach of Swimming & Diving following Retirement of Larry VanWagner after 45 Years

The 2021–22 season marks a new era for the Marist swimming and diving program. After 45 years of distinguished service, Director of Swimming Larry VanWagner retired on June 1, 2021. Anthony Randall took over as head coach of the women's and men's programs 24 days later. Randall brings over a decade of Division I experience to the program. He came to Marist from Fresno State, where he served as assistant and associate head coach for five years. The Marist swimming and diving teams opened their 2021–22 seasons Oct. 15. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Foxes did not compete during the 2020–21 season. In the 2019–20 season, the men's program went 11–2 overall, 5–1 against MAAC opponents, and placed second at the MAAC Championships. The women's team was 8–5 on the season, 4–1 in MAAC competition, and took third place at the conference championships. Both the women's and men's teams were picked to finish third in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.  

24 Nov 2021

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion has brought Marist College distinction around the world. And the institute’s renown is a combination of reputation and education.

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College prides itself on opening doors for students. From the classroom to the collection of data on national issues, it’s the student workers who power the Marist Poll.Founded in 1978, the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, commonly referred to as the Marist College Poll or MIPO, was the first college-based research center to include undergraduates in conducting survey research. Today thousands of Marist students have participated in polling, workshops, courses and seminars, field trips, and internships. “Over the more than 40 years since the Marist Poll first started measuring public opinion, we have changed our technology many times as the Poll gained recognition for its accuracy and newsworthiness,” said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, the Poll’s founder and director. But the formula has always stayed the same. If the idea is something I would have liked to pursue as an undergraduate, then we find a way to make it happen at Marist.”Dr. Lee M. MiringoffAlong the way MIPO has become one of the top polling institutes in the country. Its polls are cited by news media worldwide and it received top grades from website FiveThirtyEight, which specializes in opinion poll analysis. The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll was one of five polls used by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates to determine eligibility for the 2020 general election presidential and vice presidential debates. To be chosen, a poll had to meet three requirements: reliable frequency of polling and sample size employed, methodological rigor, and the survey’s longevity and reputation. The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll was the only college-based survey to be included in the group of qualifying polls. The other four were the ABC/Washington Post Poll, CNN Poll, Fox News Poll, and the NBC/Wall Street Journal.“It’s really exciting,” said Amelia Morel ’21, a MIPO worker and alumna now working at NY1 News in New York City. “It’s cool to see that people are recognizing our work.”MIPO’s students are its backbone. The undergraduate workforce’s main contributions are interviews that provide the Poll’s results, but it contributes much more. Just about every aspect of the Marist Poll — from its polling to its media platforms to its data analysis — involves students.Engaging students in the Marist Poll has been a key objective since its inception. The idea for a polling institute at Marist was born out of a classroom activity that Miringoff designed when he was teaching in the fall of 1978. He guided 100 students in conducting an exit poll in Dutchess County, where Marist is located, tallying the responses by hand. “I think what makes the Marist Poll unique from any other poll, even polls that are at other colleges and universities, is the Marist Poll has always been an educational vehicle for the students at Marist College,” said Dr. Barbara Carvalho ’79, the director of the Marist Poll. Barbara Carvalho '79Every student starts as an interviewer who makes phone calls and collects the responses. They read carefully worded questions and click the answer that the respondent gives on a computer screen. Interviewers can be promoted to the managerial position of coach or head coach, who assists interviewers and works with administrators as well. The work is done in teams: one head coach, one or two coaches, and 10 to 12 interviewers. There are other positions beyond the polling side of the MIPO operation that upperclassmen can fill including field assistant, media assistant, podcast production assistant, and many more. Students from various disciplines see the Marist Poll as a workplace that’s appropriate for their field of study. The job appealed to Morel and Victoria Howard ’21 — both political science majors, and the former graduated with a double-major in poli sci and journalism — because it offered a chance to work in areas relevant to their studies. Michelle Maloney ’22, who is studying cyber security, simply saw MIPO as an interesting part-time job opportunity. Hannah Kirk ’20 who now manages the survey center started working with the Marist Poll two weeks into freshman year at Marist because the job is an easy one to secure. “It’s pretty much a guaranteed job as long as you go through all the training processes and you take it seriously,” she said.“I definitely love the job because of how many people I get to talk to, which started out as mostly me interviewing people,” Howard said. “I liked talking to constituents. But then, growing from there, being a coach, you get to interact with other students and help them complete their calls.”Working with the Marist Poll offers plenty of exciting opportunities, such as election-related events and field trips. In their most recent trip, students traveled to the New Hampshire primaries in February of 2020. “We got to see one of the debates in New Hampshire, we went to several rallies for presidential candidates, we got to be in the audience for Meet the Press with Chuck Todd. That was really cool,” Morel said. “It was like being a reporter and following the New Hampshire primary. That was such a unique experience.”Just a month after the trip, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an overhaul of MIPO’s operation. Until the pandemic, rows of students would make calls in MIPO’s survey center, located on the third floor of the Hancock Center, gathering answers from respondents nationwide. In mid-March, when the pandemic led New York State to order the closure of most of its organizations, including all colleges and universities, MIPO implemented a polling system that allowed Marist students to conduct telephone polling from their homes. More than 200 students participated in virtual polling during the 2020 spring semester. In several regards, it actually made the job easier. “It’s hard to find anything positive to say about a pandemic but what it did was it broke down the walls, figuratively, in Hancock where we had a fixed number of workstations,” Miringoff said. The new software allows them to deploy double the number of interviewers, which allows them to run polls more frequently. Carvalho said that students didn’t have any trouble switching to an online workplace. It was one thing that actually kept everyone all connected.During the fall 2020 semester, the Marist Poll continued to use a remote polling setup in addition to its on-premises operations. Similarly, the Poll continued to record Poll Hub, its weekly podcast, coordinating with students remotely.Students participated in polls done in collaboration with the Marist Poll’s longstanding national polling partners NPR and the PBS NewsHour, monitoring public opinion on a range of issues. The Poll teamed up with its battleground-state polling partner, NBC News, to conduct eight polls on the presidential contest in the most competitive electoral states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.The pandemic also created the right environment to create an internship program, College 2 Career. “The C2C program developed during the height of the pandemic,” said Mary Griffith, director of media initiatives and polling news. “We recognized a need for Marist students who may be missing out on the opportunity to experience an internship because of the situation and the circumstances in which we were all living.” C2C has two tracks: the news/marketing side, which combines social media content creation, public relations, and marketing, and the data/project-managing side, which involves statistical analysis and polling. In spring 2021, the Marist Poll welcomed 12 C2C student interns from a variety of majors.With so many avenues for learning, MIPO clearly is dedicated to the student experience first. The latest expansion of the Marist Poll is a pre-college program that launched this summer. Students enrolling at Marist can take a three-week course called “Data Science for Polling and Political Communication” that features lessons about the purpose/impact of polling, the actual experience of conducting a poll, and creating social media content. In the course of fulfilling its academic mission to educate, MIPO has raised awareness of Marist College enormously. According to the media monitoring service Meltwater, the Marist Poll generated an ad equivalency of more than $743 million in 2020.But at MIPO, name recognition and stature are not the main sources of motivation. Six of the nine Marist Poll administrators attended the College, and their goal is to offer an educational experience for their fellow Red Foxes. Howard says that recruiters have noticed the Marist Poll on her résumé and asked about her experience with it. “I think being a poli sci major from Marist and working four years at the Marist Poll shows that it wasn’t just a major,” she said.Kirk said MIPO offers students valuable communication skills. The unique nature of the job — talking with strangers over the phone seeking information and opinions from them — can be a trial by fire at first but still helps students learn.“I think it helps students know how to properly phrase questions and how to speak professionally,” she said. “That’s something that I’ve noticed — a lot of students don’t necessarily have those skills, which is totally understandable if you’ve never had an internship or a job before. But being able to be the first step for a lot of students in the professional atmosphere…is a great resource that the Marist Poll offers.”Revamped and Ready: The Marist Poll’s Client ServicesThe Marist Institute for Public Opinion may be best-known for its public opinion polling, but there’s another, equally as important dimension to the Institute — its Client Services division.The Marist Poll has conducted proprietary research for several of the world’s most influential businesses and organizations for decades. Building on that longstanding history, the Marist Poll recently enhanced its client services offerings in the wake of a global pandemic. From a new high-tech remote survey center to expanded products and services (including Marist Poll Open Surveys which provide cost-sharing benefits to clients), virtual focus groups, online surveys, and consulting services, the Marist Poll is well-equipped to fulfill the needs of clients in need of high-quality, scientific-based research that will provide the crucial insights needed to make key business and organizational decisions.  The revitalized client services arm of the Poll was a silver lining as the survey research industry and the world, at large, grappled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through hard work and innovative thinking, the Marist Poll team addressed those challenges head on and crafted new opportunities. “The coronavirus pandemic led us to reevaluate the way we operate and the types of products and services we offer to our clients,” said Mike Conte, director of data analysis at the Poll. “In adapting to the increasingly virtual work environment, we focused on developing our product and service offerings to ensure that we remain a strong presence in the research field and continue to grow and evolve as a premier research organization for years to come.” The Marist Poll’s Client Services division has collaborated with leaders in the world of business, including IBM, Marriott, Yum! Brands, and the Children’s Health Fund.  p { overflow-wrap: normal; }

Moss and Terrence Echols ’21 Also Selected for Unique Mentorship Program

Kaylin Moss ’21 has received the 2021 Generation Google Scholarship, a Google-sponsored program. She is one of 42 college students nationwide to win the award. Moss is majoring in computer science with a concentration in software development.The Generation Google Scholarship was established to help aspiring students pursuing computer science degrees excel in technology and become leaders in the field, according to buildyourfuture.withgoogle.com. Selected students receive $10,000 USD (for those studying in the US) or $5,000 CAD (for those studying in Canada) for the 2021–2022 school year. The scholarship is awarded based on the strength of each candidate's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, demonstrated leadership, and academic performance.Moss was also one of two Marist students selected for the inaugural Gumbo Coalition University Mentorship Program. Moss and Terrence Echols ’21 each received a $1,500 scholarship from Resorts World Casino.Following a competitive application process, Echols and Moss were selected to enroll in the mentorship program sponsored by Resorts World Casino.They were two of 10 college students who earned the opportunity to participate in the intensive six-week virtual mentorship program to hear from prominent authors and speakers from all over the nation.The lecture series is based on Marc Morial’s book The Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve. Students in the program read chapters of the book and participated in virtual discussions with other leaders on the topics and lessons contained in the chapters.“Throughout history, effective leadership has guided us through the most challenging times,” said Michelle Stoddart, vice president of community development at Resorts World New York. “Now more than ever, a new generation of students must be equipped to lead boldly in the face of the medical, political, and environmental challenges we face as a country. By teaming up with the renowned civic leader and former New Orleans mayor Marc Morial, Resorts World is proud to present the Gumbo Coalition University, a virtual platform that will shape the leaders of tomorrow.”Morial, who was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002, is president and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization. Both Marist students learned about the Gumbo Coalition University Mentorship Program from Desmond Murray, associate director for the employer experience in the Marist College Center for Career Services. Their applications included an essay discussing their professional experience and career-related goals. Candidates who advanced to the next round were invited to meet virtually with the program’s speakers and talk about what leadership meant to them.Echols majored in communications with a concentration in public relations/advertising and has already begun graduate work in Marist’s five-year dual degree program in integrated marketing communication. He was a student-athlete on the men’s basketball team and a senior researcher in Marist’s chapter of the American Advertising Federation. As an AAF member, he wrote copy and helped prepare presentations with his group for the National Student Advertising Competition. “Collaborating with everyone using online platforms like Zoom, FaceTime, and Google Meet has really helped me get comfortable having meaningful conversations in a virtual environment,” Echols said.He mentioned how joining the Marist Radio Club as a freshman inspired him to create his own podcast, which has helped him articulate his thoughts and ideas on a variety of topics. This summer he is interning with Galaxy Media, a multidimensional media company that services clients in Syracuse, NY. He has thought about owning his own advertising agency one day but definitely aspires to a leadership role in marketing or public relations. He said participating in the Gumbo Coalition University Mentorship Program aligned with these goals.“I’m learning how I can be someone who others look to for guidance, and that’s inspiring.”Moss participated in the Marist/IBM Joint Study program for one year and completed a virtual internship with IBM in the summer of 2020. “The joint study exposed me to a lot of public speaking roles and presentations,” she said. “So I felt like I had a lot to draw on from that experience when applying for the (Gumbo Coalition University Mentorship) program.”In October 2020 Moss founded a chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at Marist. The honor society’s main goal is to create an inclusive community for Black students and other students who are interested in pursuing opportunities in technology, engineering, and other sciences. In addition, Moss was recently named the winner of the health technology company Zillion’s Women in STEM Scholarship. She was chosen for her commitment to learning, perseverance, and advocacy for women in science. Moss sees computer science as an industry where she can hone her artistic talents.“In my career, I want to focus on things like software development, web design, user interfaces, and anything else that creates new digital experiences.” 

Rowing Alumni Pay Tribute to Bill Austin

On Dec. 5 in Poughkeepsie, 21 alumni who were rowers at Marist in the 1970s got together to honor former crew coach Bill Austin. Bill was presented with a framed and signed picture commemorating the dinner that he hosted for the rowers during their September alumni weekend. Throughout his eight-year head coaching stint spanning the late ’60s thru mid-’70s, Bill brought together countless oarsmen to represent Marist, most of whom remain close friends to this day.

17 Dec 2021

The College offers students the opportunity to study all around the globe or spend freshman year in Florence or Dublin.

Marist College was recently ranked second in semester-length study abroad and academic-year study abroad programs for master’s level colleges and universities in the latest Open Doors report, a U.S. Department of State-sponsored report, for the 2019–2020 academic year. Rooted in the ideals of the Marist Brothers, a global education has always been at the heart of Marist’s culture and curriculum. The College offers students the opportunity to study all around the globe as well as at Marist’s Florence campus in Italy. First-year students have unique year-long opportunities to study through the Freshman Florence Experience and the Freshman Dublin Experience. Living, studying, and exploring in the heart of the Renaissance, students in the Freshman Florence Experience spend their entire first year in Florence, Italy. Or Marist freshmen can spend their first year exploring the cultural history of Dublin, Ireland.Semester, Faculty-Led Short-Term, and Summer Programs With a global education being a foundation at Marist, the College offers 75+ study abroad programs, enabling students to stay on track in their studies while expanding their cultural experience. A range of semester-long, academic year, and short-term study abroad opportunities allow students to customize an experience to best fit their interests. With no academic restrictions, every major — including sciences and technology — offers the opportunity to gain a cultural perspective.Dr. John Peters, dean of international programs, finds that students who have the opportunity to study abroad are exposed to new experiences that allow them to grow as students and professionals. “International and intercultural engagement is a signature aspect of the Marist experience, and an important part of this is our abroad program. Through study abroad, our students not only experience new horizons but also reexamine the familiar through a new lens,” said Peters. “Learning to successfully negotiate and thrive in unfamiliar cultures and environments helps students to develop many of the skills we seek to foster as educators, including flexibility, problem-solving, and global competency.”Marist was also highlighted in other rankings in the Open Doors report. The College was ranked second in the number of students participating in study abroad, up from ninth in 2019. Additionally, with 46 percent of students participating in study abroad opportunities, Marist ranked seventh for undergraduate students participating in study abroad. Organized and distributed by the Institute of International Education, Open Doors is a comprehensive resource that examines data on U.S. students studying abroad for credit at their home institutions. The report is released annually. 

06 Jan 2022

On Saturday, May 22, the sidewalk along the Marist riverfront popped with a blue, orange, purple, and yellow covering, each color taking up a roughly 20-foot strip of the carpet that stretched from the Marist Boathouse to the very end of the walkway.

On Saturday, May 22, the sidewalk along the Marist riverfront popped with a blue, orange, purple, and yellow covering, each color taking up a roughly 20-foot strip of the carpet that stretched from the Marist Boathouse to the very end of the walkway. The light posts were decorated with streamers matching the corresponding color on the ground. Folding chairs were set up six feet apart alongside the grass, facing the river. Marist students lined up inside the boathouse, flaunting the creations by their classmates, ready to walk the runway for the 35th annual Silver Needle Runway Show. “Open your eyes past the distorted lenses you have built,” a voice implored through the speakers placed behind the audience before the models began their strut. “Liberate your mind to the world beyond your perspective. Now, what will you see?”The producers of the SNR show had been asking themselves that question for roughly a year. Bringing the show back to an in-person spectacle took exhaustive planning. After SNR 34 had to transition to a completely online venture because of the pandemic, this year’s edition of the Marist Fashion Program’s annual show looked, unlike any show before it. It was outside. There was a virtual show in addition to the in-person one. It was an entirely student-produced show, save for the efforts of Faculty Director Juan-Manuel Olivera-Silvera. Several factors changed in the show’s production that made it happen. The most impactful change was the omittance of outside help. Due to a crunched budget and social distancing guidelines to follow, there was no outside production company or experienced professional model corps at the SNR team’s disposal, unlike in years past. The production team had to make do with the resources they had. Olivera-Silvera — who is a senior professional lecturer of fashion and the Fashion Program’s internship coordinator in addition to being the SNR faculty director — wants SNR to be a “laboratory of innovation” for his students. They had to make the laboratory look different this year, but still, the experimentation produced results that the team was proud of.The student production team for this 35th edition of SNR was formed shortly after the virtual 2020 show. They started meeting on Zoom to get to know each other before working more with the show during the school year. Creative Director Ariana Pittelli ’21 took the reins on the “aesthetic visual” — the color palette and story that created the theme they wanted to express. Production Directors Kennedi Hudnut ’21 and Elizabeth Knight ’21 organized three sub-teams: model, wardrobe, and logistics. All in all, more than 30 students came together to tackle the production aspect of the show.The 18 designers, all of whom were seniors, created their outfits with the theme SNR35: illusion in mind. “Our whole goal is to give a deeper message about how your perspective is similar and we all see the world differently, but we need to recognize that and try to undo some of the walls we’ve built,” Pittelli said. Since working around the coronavirus pandemic was the theme of last year’s show, they wanted to do something different while still providing a meaningful, relevant message. “We thought a lot about the societal issues going on, like Black Lives Matter, and all the prejudice in our world,” Pittelli said. “We wanted the show to be a chance to recognize that and give people the message of, ‘We need to undo this illusion.’ ” Designer Jenna Mitarotonda took inspiration from traditional Scottish clothing by incorporating plaid designs and shades of red and light brown into all her designs. Her collection featured skirt-like shapes with baggy sleeves and black boots. She started designing the collection in the fall. Sketching the idea is the first part, followed by draping — taking pieces of fabrics and applying them on a dress form — and then making the actual garments, some of which were scrapped or redone. “I would say this whole design process is trial and error because you learn from your mistakes, or sometimes mistakes are actually really successful,” Mitarotonda said.The trial-and-error nature of collection designing is the same across the board, but the actual steps are not. Designer Natalie Ford is not a fan of draping. Instead, she focused on pattern making, which she took a class in and developed a knack for. She found inspiration in grocery stores, an idea she had had since freshman year. Her collection featured two ensembles with bright colors reminiscent of candy and one dress depicting waffles, accessorized by a round handbag with a waffle design and golden-brown color. Chloe Goldstein’s collection took inspiration from Morocco, which she visited for a few days while studying abroad in Italy in the fall of 2019. She utilized her line of handmade macrame bags in her pieces. Her collection focused on sustainability. She omitted the use of non-natural fibers and toxic dyes and sourced everything from small vendors. It took more time, research, and connecting with small businesses to make her collection, but for her, it was well worth the effort to make it more eco-friendly. The models for the show were all students. Hailey Keenan, a sophomore majoring in fashion merchandising, was selected as a model for Jenna Mitarotonda’s collection. Her only experience modeling had been for a capping project last year. She sent an audition video and auditioned in person before being selected to model Mitarotonda’s collection. Keenan and two other models met with Mitarotonda a week before the show for fitting. Production Director Kennedi Hudnut said that the team working out the logistics themselves and having only fellow students at their disposal involved a big learning curve. They didn’t realize the entirety of the picture that went into logistics, which included obtaining fire inspections and permits. “Stuff like that, we never thought we’d have to do being in the fashion show production class,” she said prior to the show. “But I think it’s going to make us grow stronger as a class and it’s really a great thing to know that it’s all student-run, from top to bottom.” The SNR project served as a capping class for Fashion students but was open to students of any major within the School of Communication and the Arts. The expansion drew students with a wide array of skills. And the production crew needed to reach even further within the Marist community to make the show go. Pittelli said they tapped several departments to set up certain aspects of the show — Athletics for tents, IT for Wi-Fi hotspots, the Marist Media Center for live-streaming capabilities. She added that the sense of feeling rewarded is not due just to their hard work, but because they’re setting up the group of younger students to take the reins and continue to thrive. Along with the in-person show, the SNR team created virtual content. They streamed the show live on Vimeo, using multiple camera angles and shots A 12-minute YouTube video shows the models’ walks around the Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne estate, a mansion owned by Marist 20 minutes north of the main campus on the west side of the river. They also created a documentary and a 17-minute film titled What you’ll see. The story follows Eliza, a young woman, going through the motions of her life without trying to find much more.“The virtual show has a greater reach than you could ever have with an in-person show, so that’s really important,” Pittelli said. “We’re always thinking about the future of the class, the future of the Fashion Program, the future of the industry, and [we] try to instill that into our teams and give them the experience they need moving forward in the industry. So it only made sense to do this.”Olivera-Silvera said the pandemic forced the fashion industry into some introspection. He said that due to the high costs and the copious amounts and forms of waste— trash, electricity, energy— that fashion shows produce, the current system wasn’t sustainable. “The pandemic has brought to light the fact that the industry needed to change, and the virtual platforms have been an amazing vehicle to bring that change,” he said. “Going forward, I think the virtual show will always be something that Marist Fashion does,” Production Director Elizabeth Knight said.The SNR show has been a staple of Marist Fashion for decades. But now they’re looking to become more than that. Leaning heavier into digital content is just one of the ways they’re doing so. SNR started a newsletter called “Through the Needle”, a four-part publication that took readers behind the scenes of the show. They also launched “More Than Fashion: The SNR Podcast,” a five-episode series that discusses different aspects of fashion with a guest. SNR launched their own social media accounts rather than use those of the Fashion Program. “It’s all about creating buzz for us,” Pittelli said. “We’re trying to make SNR not just a school fashion show, but a brand.”The College already has a strong reputation as a school for the study of fashion. This past May, Forbes named Marist one of the “Best Colleges That Are Shaping the Future of Fashion.” Forbes lists only 10 programs worldwide, only four of which are in the United States.The efforts to further expand as a brand went down to the wire during the week of the show. Olivera-Silvera consulted three different weather apps to ensure the team would be ready for anything. They prepped for bad weather by placing umbrellas behind every seat, stashing some for the models, and putting a rain date in place. Luckily, it wasn’t needed, as the weather was cooperative enough for the show to go on.Everyone came together the night before the event for a dress rehearsal around 5:00. A tent on the side of the boathouse, out of the sight of visitors, served as their headquarters. Olivera-Silvera gave instructions about walking paths for the models and pitched in to help where it was needed as everyone prepared for a test run. Models changed into their outfits on the second floor of the boathouse, which was restricted to everyone but the models themselves and a few SNR staffers. The first floor had water bottles, snacks, wipes, cotton swabs, lint rollers, hair straighteners, cotton balls, and more. SNR staffers strung a banner across the opening of the boathouse to mark the start and end of the runway. Members of the SNR creative team manned the upstairs balcony, working with the video and sound side of the operation after the models were ready. The models started their walk in the tent and through the first floor of the boathouse. They began their first practice run around 6:30. Olivera-Silvera watched from the side, offering tips to models as they walked. A few practice runs later, the only thing left to do was put on the show the next day. Or actually, to put it on five times: to accommodate the large audience SNR always draws, they organized five shows debuting every half hour, beginning at noon and ending with their last show at 6:00.On the day of the event, the SNR team’s check-in station featured two big tents with other elements of the show and the Fashion Program to explore — merchandise tables for SNR and Mporium, a student-run boutique, a funhouse mirror painted with SNR colors, a table promoting the new student-run magazine Measure, and a separate tent showing a short film on a projector.  John Bartlett, the director of the Fashion Program, spoke to the SNR production students before the show. “What you all have accomplished this year is Herculean.”He also addressed the audience at the start of the event. “Design students, you have simply moved me with your talent, your creativity, and your natural gifts — and also, your ability to lift each other up. You are all going to go very far in this industry and in life.”To see a video of SNR35, go to www.marist.edu/snr35. For related media, go to https://linktr.ee/silverneedlerunway 

10 Jun 2021

Dr. Kevin C. Weinman takes over as Marist’s fifth president.

Looking at President Kevin C. Weinman’s calendar during his first months at Marist would make anyone’s head spin. On Oct. 4, Weinman took over the role of president from Dennis J. Murray, who led Marist for nearly 40 years. Since then, Weinman has taken part in more than 300 meetings to get to know students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and community members and attended dozens of athletic contests, theatre performances, concerts, and cultural celebrations. He holds open office hours to engage individually with students and hosts weekly lunches with faculty and staff to get to know them better and hear what is on their minds.  He also welcomed alumni to Marist’s Homecoming and Reunion celebration on the campus green.“There is so much to experience each and every day and evening at Marist. I have really enjoyed crisscrossing campus to take it all in, meet so many people, and learn as much as I can — and as quickly as I can — about this amazing institution,” he said. He came to Marist from Amherst College, where he served as chief financial and administrative officer, and previously Dartmouth, where he was assistant vice president of finance. But he has no plans for Marist to imitate either institution. “Marist has a unique combination of values, strengths, and assets that no other college or university can match. My primary focus is to build upon the elements that make it distinct.”Education On and Off CampusHis own academic journey encompassed both the liberal arts paired with a career orientation. A first-generation college student, Weinman enrolled at Notre Dame thinking the point of college was to get an accounting degree and a job. Along the way he discovered a love for history and double-majored in accounting and history. He went on to earn an MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He then pursued an MA in history from the University of Colorado and a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire. Outside of academe, Weinman indulged his passion for exploring, especially for traveling by back roads. By the age of 24 he had visited all 50 states, mostly in a beat-up Toyota 4Runner followed by a two-door Ford Escort once the 4Runner was pushed beyond its breaking point. There was one epic road trip in particular, a three-week camping tour of the West that, perhaps thanks to his budgeting skills, cost under $300 in total (“lots of Wonder bread,” he recalled). He also enjoys competitive outdoor sports and has completed seven marathons, nine half-Ironman triathlons, and 32 half-marathons. Calling himself a “compulsive counter,” he has maintained a spreadsheet since 2004 where he has logged every ride, swim, run, and even kayak paddles (“even though I know that those are supposed to be just for fun,” he quipped). He passed 50,000 total miles in 2021.After college and graduate school, he held a number of senior roles in finance and marketing at corporations before deciding to pursue a career in higher education. It was at Arthur Andersen in Charlotte, NC, that he met his wife, Beth, who worked there as well. She is a contract administrator and associate controller for an engineering research and development company in Amherst, MA. Their son, Alex, 20, is a college student at Colorado College, and their daughter, Brooke, 17, attends high school in Massachusetts. Once Brooke finishes high school, Kevin’s family will join him full-time in Poughkeepsie. For now, Kevin and Beth each feel like they can drive the Taconic with their eyes closed (“though we know that is a very bad idea,” Kevin reassures us) from the many weekend traverses in either direction between Poughkeepsie and Western Massachusetts for mini family reunions.Challenges and OpportunitiesWeinman has boundless enthusiasm for Marist’s future. “Marist has retained the very best of a liberal arts tradition while becoming a leader in pedagogical innovation,” he said, citing programs such as the doctorate in physical therapy and rapid growth across a variety of disciplines where Marist has unique strengths such as cybersecurity, fashion, and sports communication, giving students more exciting options for learning than ever before.But challenges lie ahead, he acknowledged. One obstacle Marist already faces is that the number of high school graduates is declining, especially in the Northeast. Competition is increasingly intense for talented students. Marist will need to continue to distinguish itself from other institutions by telling its story to prospective students around the globe, he said.“We will need to continuously innovate in and out of the classroom to provide our students with an outstanding experience and send them off to do incredible things in the world.”In his previous academic positions, Weinman saw up close the impact that philanthropy can make on an institution, which is why he and Beth, just two months after joining the Red Fox community, made a pledge to give $250,000 to the College. Their generous gift will support a number of priorities designed to improve the quality of a Marist education for all students and make it more accessible and equitable for talented students regardless of their financial situation.Beth and Kevin Weinman“In my short time here, it is already abundantly clear to me that Marist is thriving, yet has the potential to achieve even greater heights,” Weinman said. “One of the ways Marist can do so is to attract, enroll, and retain a diverse group of talented students and enable them to experience the full range of curricular and co-curricular offerings once they arrive, regardless of their financial circumstances. Our pledge is intended to be one small step towards helping all of our students to reach their full potential and get the most out of their Marist experience.”“Members of the Board are extremely pleased that Kevin and Beth have decided to provide not only their time and talents to making Marist the very best it can be, but also the generous contribution of their financial resources,” said Ross Mauri, chair of Marist’s Board of Trustees. “Their support is an early indication that they have a deep commitment to Marist College and have tremendous confidence in its future.”Their pledge will support five institutional priorities:•    Expand the Dennis and Marilyn Murray Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance to extremely talented students who might not otherwise attend Marist. The fund, now valued at over $3 million, was established in the Murrays’ honor in 2016. •    Create the Presidential Internship Support Fund to assist students with financial need in securing internships in fields where such experiences are often unpaid and thus create barriers for students with financial need to pursue careers in these fields. •    Create the Presidential Academic Travel Fund to enable students with financial need to enroll in courses that include a travel component. •    Create the Presidential First Year Academic Support Fund to enhance the support that incoming students receive to assist in their successful transition to Marist. •    Contribute to the Marist Fund. The fund, which raises over $1.3 million annually, is an important means by which Marist alumni, parents, and friends provide financial support to the College. With their pledge, the Weinmans are excited to begin a lifetime of giving to Marist. “Beth and I believe that an investment in Marist College is an excellent one. As president, I will do all I can to ensure that these and other sources of support will have the highest degree of impact on the College and its students,” Weinman said. Kevin and Beth invite Marist alumni, parents, and friends to consider supporting the College in ways and at amounts that are meaningful to them. “With the collective support of its community, Marist can achieve great things,” Weinman said, “and become the very best institution of higher education that it can be.” 

07 Jan 2022

Marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, this class is unique in every way.

The Mindset List, aka the “always/never” list, is a compilation of key points about incoming college students. Created at Beloit College in 1998 to reflect the world view of entering first year students—and to help faculty understand incoming classes—the list started with the members of the class of 2002, born in 1980. In 2019, the list moved to Marist, becoming the Marist Mindset List. The list is widely considered a cultural touchstone.Read more

07 Sep 2021

Marist is grateful to alumni and foundations for their generous support

The Marist College community was delighted to welcome upperclassmen, transfers, and first-year students for the 2021–22 academic year. The campus is bustling once again as classes and activities are in full gear. From academics to athletics, the Marist College experience is made possible only because of the generosity of dedicated alumni, parents, trustees, and friends. We are pleased to share news of recent gifts to the College.Scholarships remain Marist’s most urgent fundraising priority, and alumni continue to step forward to help deserving students realize their dreams of a Marist education.Trustee Don Duet ’88 and his wife, Madoka, have expanded their exceptional support of scholarships for top technology students through the Duet Family Technology Scholarship program. The Duets’ recent pledge includes the creation of renewable term scholarships for an incoming freshman in 2022, 2023, and 2024, as well as the establishment of an endowed technology scholarship that will exist in perpetuity. Their support has significantly enhanced the College’s ability to attract, enroll, and retain some of the most sought-after future leaders in computer science and information systems and technology in the nation.Marist Trustee Rob Shanahan ’83 and his wife, Heather, recently made a generous gift to establish the Shanahan Family Endowed Scholarship. Beginning in the fall of 2022, this scholarship will be awarded to a freshman enrolled in the School of Management with strong leadership potential and demonstrated financial need. A business major during his years at Marist, Rob played on the Marist hockey team and went on to an accomplished career as a technology executive and entrepreneur, serving most recently as president and CEO of Lightower Fiber Networks.Joshua ’99 and Carolyn Matheus ’02 recently made a generous pledge to launch a new endowed scholarship, the second endowed scholarship that they have established at Marist.Dedicated alumni couple Joshua ’99 and Carolyn Matheus ’02 recently made a generous pledge to establish a new endowed scholarship that further supports the College’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The Joshua & Carolyn Matheus Diversity Scholarship will be awarded to entering freshmen pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM majors offered in the School of Computer Science and Mathematics and the School of Science. Preference for this renewable scholarship will be given to historically underrepresented students and first-generation college students. Josh and Carolyn have also made a special gift to activate the scholarship while the endowment is building, which has enabled an initial award to be granted to a deserving freshman who entered this fall. This is the second endowed scholarship that Josh, a managing director in the Technology Division at Goldman Sachs, and Carolyn, associate professor of information systems and director of Marist’s Honors Program, have established at Marist. The Joshua & Carolyn Matheus '99/'02 Endowed Scholarship was created in 2017 and supports women in STEM majors.Longtime Marist supporters Frank ’70 and Maureen Liantonio, founding members of the Marist Legacy Society, recently made a generous pledge to expand the Liantonio Family Foundation Endowed Scholarship. Originally established in 2015, the scholarship provides assistance to academically talented students majoring in business with demonstrated financial need. A member of the Class of 1970 50th Reunion Planning Committee, Frank also made a generous gift to support the Class of 1970 Scholarship. The Class of 1970 successfully established a new endowed scholarship in honor of its 50th Reunion, which will be held in the fall of 2022. Led by 50th Reunion Gift Co-Chairs Bill Leber and Ed Zujkowski, the Class of 1970 Scholarship surpassed the endowment threshold with more than $66,000 raised and welcomed its first scholarship recipient this year. In addition to Bill and Ed, the 50th Reunion Planning Committee members include Bill Dourdis, Larry Kazemier, Bro. John Klein, FMS, Frank Liantonio, Jim McGlumphy, Anthony Miserandino, Bro. Sean Sammon, FMS, Doug Stuart, Ed Walzer, Bob Krenn, Jack McGowan, and Vince Begley. The late Martin Gyves actively participated as a Committee member as well. The Committee’s ongoing engagement and outreach to classmates are contributing significantly to building enthusiasm for the Class of ’70’s landmark celebration.In celebration of its graduation from Marist 50 years ago, the Class of 1971 launched a scholarship drive to create an endowed fund to assist students with significant financial need. Co-Chaired by classmates Phil Glennon, Dr. Anne Berinato Matheus, Mike McNeely, Dr. Terry Mooney, and Dr. Steve Wysowski, the effort far surpassed its goal of raising $50,000 with over $102,000 committed to date. In addition to the co-chairs, Gift Committee members include Louis Emery, Tom Ferrara, Ed Fogarty, Joe Gebbia, Don Hinchey, Jack McDonnell, Terence Nash, Bill Rooney, and Bill Spenla. Their excellent work was complemented by the terrific outreach efforts of members of the 50th Reunion Planning Committee which, in addition to the co-chairs and Gift Committee members, include Jim Aridas, Bob Bergin, Paul Browne, Dean Gestal, Russ Jones, Brendan Mooney, John Murphy, Tony Parga, Patricia Picco, Joe Rubino, Jim Steinmeyer, Bill Thonack, Mark Tynan, and Bob Yurch. The first Class of 1971 Scholarship will be awarded in the fall of 2022 during the Class of 1971’s 50-Year Reunion.  The Louis Greenspan Charitable Trust has made another significant commitment to the College to further build the endowment of the Louis Greenspan Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship has made a significant impact over the years, providing invaluable financial assistance to 39 deserving Marist students since it was first awarded in 2004. The longstanding support and advocacy of Greenspan Trustees Dan Curtin and Gary Koch has advanced a number of priority capital projects as well as this meaningful scholarship initiative over the years.Christopher Bricker ’91 and his wife, Jennifer, recently established a new endowed scholarship in memory of Jennifer’s father, Michael C. Holland.Christopher Bricker ’91 and his wife, Jennifer, recently established a new endowed scholarship in memory of Jennifer’s father, Michael C. Holland. Created to honor his extraordinary commitment to serving the public, the scholarship will be awarded to a first-year student who has shown a strong devotion to community service. Chris, who serves as head of Alliance Bernstein Arya Partners and a member of the board’s Operating Committee, cites his Marist experience as a key factor in his career success. As head of AB Arya Partners, he is responsible for the leadership, strategic direction, and overall results of the group. Chris and Jennifer are very excited that their daughter, Amanda, is a member of the Class of 2025.Dedicated Marist couple Elizabeth (“Beth”) Marshdoyle ’75 and James (“Jay”) A. Doyle ’75 are generously supporting the establishment of a new endowed scholarship in loving memory of their infant daughter.Dedicated Marist couple Elizabeth (“Beth”) Marshdoyle ’75 and James (“Jay”) A. Doyle ’75 are generously supporting the establishment of a new endowed scholarship in loving memory of their infant daughter. The Emily Marie Doyle Scholarship will be awarded to a first-year student majoring in science with demonstrated financial need. Preference will be given to environmental science majors, though consideration may also be given to students majoring in biology or chemistry. Beth, an executive at Apple, Inc., majored in environmental science at Marist and went on to earn a master’s degree from The Ohio State University and an EdD from Northeastern University. As one of 14 children, Beth greatly appreciated the scholarships she received at Marist. Jay, a political science major who also earned a master’s degree from The Ohio State University, is a senior project director at AECOM. A cross-country and track student-athlete at Marist, Jay values the important role that the Marist community has played in his life.The Lavelle Fund for the Blind has again made a meaningful gift to support scholarships for blind or visually impaired students at Marist in memory of beloved Trustee Bro. Jim Kearney, FMS ’53. Brother Jim served on the Lavelle Fund Board since its inception in 1999 and chaired the board’s Scholarship Committee. Marist is honored to offer these scholarships in memory of Brother Jim, who in the great tradition of the Marist Brothers dedicated his life to teaching and service.Marist also recognizes the continued generosity of the James J. McCann Charitable Trust. The trust recently provided a grant extending its invaluable support of scholarships for deserving traditional-age Marist students who live in Dutchess County and graduate from county high schools. This is the 53rd year the trust has supported this special program that has benefited innumerable local students who have gone on to complete their degrees at Marist.The James J. McCann Charitable Trust has also made possible landmark athletic facilities that continue to serve Marist and the entire Hudson River Valley community well. Over the years, support from the trust and its trustees — the late John “Jack” Gartland, Jr.; his late son, Mike Gartland; Mike’s son, Patrick Gartland; the late Richard Corbally; and Richard’s son, John Corbally — truly has been transformational.The premier annual fundraising event to benefit School of Management scholarships for seniors was the School of Management Advisory Board Golf Outing. This year’s outing at the Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, honored one of the School’s most successful graduates: Marist Trustee and co-founder of Priceline.com Tim Brier ’69. Pictured with Tim, far right, are classmates Dan Mahoney, Bill Rowley, and Tim Keneally.The School of Management (SoM) Advisory Board, led by Chair Tim Keneally ’69, again raised meaningful support to provide scholarships for graduating seniors who demonstrate both academic excellence and financial need. For the third consecutive year, the board will award six one-time scholarships in the amount of $5,000 each to deserving SoM students to help reduce the burden of their student loans. In addition, the board’s fundraising efforts this year include garnering support for an endowed scholarship that will help ensure that much-needed assistance continues to be available for SoM students for generations to come.The premier annual fundraising event to benefit this important scholarship initiative was the SoM Advisory Board Golf Outing. This year’s outing, held Sept. 27, 2021, at the Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, honored one of the School’s most successful graduates: Marist Trustee and co-founder of Priceline.com Tim Brier ’69. The outing significantly surpassed its fundraising goal, securing more than $65,000 toward term and endowed scholarships. Special thanks go to dedicated Golf Committee members Michael Babic ’04, Tim Keneally ’69, Greg Garville ’74, Kevin Hogan ’02, Tom Murray ’02, Maureen Solero, and Kim Viggiano ’02 for their outstanding work leading this successful and impactful effort.

26 Oct 2021

Seven Student Winners Announced

Seven Marist fashion students were recently announced as winners of the Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF), a nonprofit organization that awards more than $1 million each year in scholarships to some of the most talented fashion students in the country, helping these students succeed in all sectors of the industry.With seven student winners, Marist was ranked among the top three overall for scholarship recipients, reinforcing the College’s excellence in fashion education. Marist is proud to have 25 projects submitted, with six design winners and one merchandising winner among the 439 submissions from 55 institutions nationally. Students must create a 14- to 20-page submission including an executive summary, research, target market information, omnichannel launch plan, six-month financial plan, inspiration boards, various fashion boards, and sketches. “I am thrilled to see seven of our Marist Fashion students excel in such a competitive landscape,” said John Bartlett, director of the Fashion Program. “Two of our winners received the Virgil Abloh ‘Post-Modern’ Scholarships, a new partnership created by the late Mr. Abloh to celebrate the work of Black students." The students who received the Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarships are individuals who excel academically and show promise in the industry; these students, along with all winners, receive $7,500 and individual mentoring. “The mission of the Virgil Abloh ‘Post-Modern’ Scholarship Fund is to foster equity and inclusion within the fashion industry by providing scholarships to students of academic promise of Black, African-American, or African descent,” according to the FSF webpage.Recently named by Forbes magazine as one of the Best Colleges That are Shaping the Future of Fashion, Marist Fashion has a storied history in graduating students who have won FSF awards. This is a result of the dedicated faculty who act as mentors throughout the timeline of their projects. “This reiterates Marist Fashion being ranked one of the top 10 fashion schools by Forbes magazine and standing out amongst our competitors,” said Rebecca Brown, professional lecturer of fashion merchandising. The 2021 winners include: •    Madi Breeman ’23 – Merchandising•    Mark Bissell ’22 – Design/Product Development•    Shannon Wines ’23 – Design/Product Development•    Ashley Catalano – ’22 Design/Product Development•    Camille McHenry ’22 – Design/Product Development – Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” •    Taliyah Coles ’22 – Design/Product Development – Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern”•    Madeline McCarthy ’22 – Design/Product DevelopmentFSF Scholarship winners receive numerous networking opportunities including career fairs, mentorship, masterclasses, and more. “I am very proud of our students and our faculty mentors who support them. I believe these honors speak to the value of a fashion program within a liberal arts institution,” said Jacqueline Reich, dean of the School of Communication and the Arts. 

10 Jan 2022

Winter 2022

Updates on graduates from the class of 1980 through the class of 1989

01 Jan 2021

Winter 2022

Updates on graduates from the class of 1970 through the class of 1979

01 Jan 2021

In keeping with the traditions of great American and European universities, Marist’s gates are an important part of campus and an iconic symbol of the institution.

In keeping with the traditions of great American and European universities, Marist’s gates are an important part of campus and an iconic symbol of the institution. Celebrating the history of the College and the surrounding Hudson River Valley, these three distinctive gates provide entrance to the western half of the Marist campus from Route 9. During colonial times, Route 9 was known as the Albany Post Road and later the King’s Road; it ran north from New York City to Albany and remains a well-traveled thoroughfare today. The College’s campus gates were designed by Kevin M. Smith, a partner in the world-renowned firm of Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA). The gates’ design and materials – grey stone, red brick, and limestone – reflect Marist’s unique architectural palette, which is derived from the Greystone, Kieran Gate House, and St. Peter’s buildings. These 150-year-old structures are original to the Bech estate on which Marist is built, and they serve as architectural inspiration for more modern campus buildings.  Together, Marist’s gates establish a presence for the College along Route 9 and help define the campus’s evolving architectural language.Smith and the RAMSA team coined a specific term to describe the architectural style they designed for Marist: “Hudson Valley Modern Gothic,” which pays homage to the region’s tradition of picturesque architecture, beginning in the 19th century, when the Hudson River developed into “America’s Rhine.”  The idea of castle-like buildings seen from the river against the area’s stunning topography relates to the similar aesthetic underpinnings of the Hudson River School in painting, which was active during the same period.  Hudson Valley Modern Gothic represents a cleaner look for the architecture, mostly without pitched roofs, that looks to the future while acknowledging the region’s history, and particularly the architecture of Greystone, with its rubble stone walls trimmed in red brick. This feature is common in parts of Europe, especially in eastern France and parts of Germany. Read more about the gates here.

25 Aug 2021

In memory of alumni, friends, faculty, and staff of Marist that have passed away.

AlumniNorman E. Gagnon ’50Br. Eugene Trzecieski, FMS ’52The Rev. Owen J. Lafferty ’61Br. Bernard G. Matthews ’61Edward M. Wilcenski ’61George M. Conboy ’62Lloyd G. Smiley ’62John James McGalagly ’63John P. O'Donnell ’63Dennis F. Tierney Jr. ’63Anthony J. Causa ’65Edward T. Towsley ’65Br. John A. Allen, FMS ’66Br. Sumner Herrick, FMS ’66Nicholas J. Pulichene ’66Casper Barnett Swaney ’66Francis Michael Xavier Corliss ’67Gordon S. Foster ’67John J. Glynn ’67M. Kevin Bearese ’68Arthur J. Duane ’68Martin John Scanlan III ’68Mark A. Breckenridge ’69Charles H. Button ’69Frank W. Fredericks ’69John Kevin Gilhooly ’69Br. Donald Nugent, FMS ’69Frank P. Russo-Alesi ’69Francis G. Sainsbury ’69Dean A. Stewart ’69Dr. Carl Edward Cerniglia ’70Martin J. Gyves ’70John J. Hurley Jr. ’70William Iacobellis ’70Joseph P. Iamascia ’70William H. Laman ’70Dominick LoBosco ’70Thomas Paul Nocket ’70Kenneth C. Russell ’70Roberts T. Mallabar ’71Roy W. McLaren ’71John B. Rizzuto ’71James Anthony Seirmarco ’71Thomas A. Tucker ’71Arthur F. Haab ’72Bill C. Davis ’73Laurie Joseph (LJ) Cormier ’74Charles W. Correll Jr. ’74Elizabeth A. Mullen ’74Kevin F. Nash ’74Edwin C. Thompson Jr. ’74Geraldine J. Alessi ’75Jean Forrestal-Seloske ’75Janet A. Kanwit ’75MAEdward J. Mulvey ’75John Joseph Tracy Jr. ’75James L. Dziedzic ’76John Hughes, Jr. ’76Nancy Dervin ’77Charles V. Gormley ’77Francis E. King ’77Vincent R. Capozzi ’78Edward G. Matthews ’78Dean P. Mogan ’78Mark Joseph Bierbower ’79Kathleen Merrins-Johnson ’79MAEdward Vitus ’79David B. Wasilenko ’79Thomas R. Watson ’79Robert E. Davis ’80MBAJulie M. Quirindongo ’81Thomas J. Serkes ’81Eugene N. Feldman ’82Donald C. Miller ’82MBAWilliam C. Nolan ’82Edward V. Tucker ’82MPABruce H. Link ’83Frank N. Lorica ’83Zita A. Gabrik ’84 William David Brinnier IV ’85MAEmory John Butcher Jr. ’85Steven D. Eastwood ’85Elaine C. Midulla ’85Dwight L. Moody ’86MSChristin A. Rossi ’86James P. Fedoryk ’87SPC Jeffrey D. Moore ’87William E. Jones Jr. ’88Georgette L. Kurdt ’88Richard S. Martino ’88Kevin J. Gillespie ’89Jay John Duhamel ’90Terrence R. Kleissler ’90Joseph F. Purschke ’90Irene Bunin ’92Jeffrey L. Janota ’92Christopher J. Shea ’92Katie Turner ’92Matthew Antonecchia ’93Michael J. Gagliardi ’93Sgt. Brian E. Mohl ’93Jo Carol Smith, JD ’95Barbara D. Davis ’97Helen M. de Prado ’97Amity Currie ’98MAAlbert Sieh ’99/’20MSDavid M.  Brandon ’00Katie A. Salerno ’00Lisa M. Whelan ’00MSScott William Donaldson ’01Susan M. Leader ’01Jessica L. Garbus Stefanowicz ’01Joseph V. Tomaszewski ’01Joshua R. Van ’02Susan Tully Tooker ’05Melissa Anne Gray ’08Jillian Elizabeth Price ’08Natalie M. Fouche ’11Nicole Marie Wiley ’14Kristofer David Ariola Bautista ’15/’20MSSpenser Steven Rose ’15 FriendsAtwood L. EdwardsGeorgieann R. ElmendorfJoan HrabanMary Ellen KondysarMarion M. KingDr. Richard J. McGovernTeresita PletcherPamela SmithAmbassador William vanden Heuvel Faculty & StaffKathy L. Butsko ’07/’09MAMary Ann HoffmannZhaokai Yan 

01 Jan 2022

Winter 2022

Updates on marriages of graduates.

01 Jan 2021

Discover news and updates from your fellow alumni

Discover news and updates from your fellow alumni: Click here and use the dropdown menu to search by decade. Share your news with the Red Fox community! You can easily and securely update your information online by logging into Marist Connect with your Marist account and password at maristconnect.marist.edu. You can also email the Alumni Office at maristalumni@marist.edu or call (845) 575-3283.

21 Jul 2021

The College’s bachelor’s degree program in professional studies, master’s degree in business, and MBA program were named “Best Online Programs” by U.S. News.

Three of Marist College’s online offerings were ranked in U.S. News’s “Best Online Programs” lists for 2021.The programs included are the bachelor’s degree program in professional studies; master’s degree in business (non-MBA); and master’s in business administration (MBA).An early adopter of online programming, Marist has long been a leader in distance learning. This wealth of experience benefited the College greatly when all courses pivoted to fully remote during the spring 2020 semester due to COVID-19. In fall 2020, the College had a successful in-person reopening with courses ready to switch to online if needed.“We appreciate the continued recognition from U.S. News for our online programs. The College is fully committed to innovation and the online format benefits a variety of students—including working adults—by delivering flexible, rigorous, and efficient programs that lead to career-enhancing degrees. The lifetime value of a college degree has been well-documented; it is imperative to offer higher education opportunities that are widely accessible,” said Sean P. Kaylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing, and communication.For the 2021 ”Best Online Programs” ranking, U.S. News assessed a record 1,641 online programs. The list measures overall academic quality; complete rankings are available at usnews.com.Marist prides itself on flexibility in its offerings to reach students of all backgrounds and life situations. Recognized program highlights include:Marist’s Online BA/BS Majors in Professional Studies and Management StudiesThe professional studies major is an integrative, accelerated bachelor's degree completion pathway that can be customized to draw upon previous college, service, and professional experience while learning new career-related skills. Multiple degree concentration options and accelerated eight-week courses, in both online and hybrid formats, allow adult students to tailor this option to meet their interests and career goals and finish on a schedule that suits their needs. For more information on Marist’s online BA/BS in professional studies, visit the School of Professional Programs website.The management studies major is designed for the adult learner who is motivated to advance their career. A compact yet comprehensive general management curriculum forms the heart of this accelerated bachelor’s degree completion program. It is designed to combine the insights of the Marist faculty with guidance from practicing professionals.Marist’s Online Business Graduate ProgramsMarist offers a 100 percent online master’s degree in public administration. The MPA program features distinct areas of concentration including ethical leadership, healthcare administration, public management, analytics, and nonprofit management. The MPA program is accredited by NASPAA (Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration), the recognized global accreditor for graduate programs in public policy, public affairs, public administration, and public and nonprofit management. In 2018, Marist launched a master’s in professional accountancy program.For more information about these offerings, visit the School of Management’s MPA and MS in professional accountancy siteMarist’s Online MBAMarist launched New York State's first AACSB-accredited 100 percent-online MBA program in 1998, one of the first such programs in the nation. AACSB is the premier business school accrediting body. Also known as the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, it accredits fewer than five percent of business programs worldwide. The program was recently recognized by The Princeton Review as a Top 50 Online MBA Program.For more information on the Marist MBA program, visit the MBA program website.

Dr. Jacqueline Reich has been appointed dean of the School of Communication and the Arts, effective Monday, July 12. Reich has a robust background in higher education and brings a wealth of knowledge to Marist.

Dr. Jacqueline Reich has been named dean of the School of Communication and the Arts.Reich came to Marist from Fordham University, where she was professor of communication and media studies and recently finished a seven-year term as chair. She was also a member of the doctoral faculty at the University of Florence’s History of Art and Performance PhD program. As department chair, she oversaw the creation of four undergraduate majors and five new minors, an interdisciplinary program in new media and digital design, and a new master’s program in public media. Under her leadership, enrollments grew 40 percent in undergraduate and 50 percent in graduate programs. In addition, she supervised more than 60 full-time and part-time faculty.  Prior to Fordham, Reich spent 18 years as an assistant and then associate professor of cinema and cultural studies at Stony Brook University. There she was responsible for the revision of three undergraduate majors and two minors, participated in the merger of two departments into one, and supervised a staff of nine in her role as faculty director of the Undergraduate College of Arts, Culture, and Humanities. During her career she has served on a number of university-wide committees. Reich is the author of two books and co-author of another, including The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema (Indiana University Press, 2015), which won Best Book on Film and Media from the American Association of Italian Studies and was a finalist for the Best Book on Film for the Theatre Library Association. Other honors and awards include a visiting professorship at the University of Florence and a Howard Fellowship from the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation at Brown University. She has an MA and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and a BA from Dartmouth College. She divides her time between Yonkers and Garrison, NY, with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. 

Marist is once again recognized as a Top and Most Innovative institution in the Regional Universities–North category.

Marist was once again recognized as a Top 10 Regional University – North by U.S. News and World Report. In addition, the College was also named one of the Most Innovative Schools in the region (#2 overall) and highly ranked for its focus on undergraduate teaching (#7 overall). These last two rankings are based upon surveys of college presidents, provosts, and admissions deans who were asked to nominate schools making substantial innovative improvements in the higher education industry.“Over the last decade Marist has been very intentional in how we have built our academic programs, which combine very distinctive educational opportunities and high-impact global experiences with an intimate liberal arts approach that provides highly personalized attention from faculty,” said Thom Wermuth, vice president for academic affairs. “These are the very reasons why our students are very satisfied with their experience at Marist and are highly successful after graduation.” A few of these areas are highlighted below:Study abroad: Study abroad is one of many experiential learning opportunities that add value to the Marist experience for students. Ranked #3 in the United States for study abroad by Open Doors Report, Marist creates pathways for its students to grow by utilizing the world as a classroom. Marist offers two very unique full-year study abroad programs for first-year students in Florence, Italy, and Dublin, Ireland. Marist’s Florence branch campus was founded to be the international face of the College’s commitment to global education and serves as the hub for our study abroad program. Over 50 percent of all Marist students study abroad during their undergraduate experience.Real-world experience: Marist has created numerous Centers of Excellence at its main campus in New York that provide unique opportunities and combine in-classroom learning with real-world professional experiences. These centers include the Hudson River Valley Institute, the Marist Poll, the Marist/IBM Joint Study, the Center for Civic Engagement and Leadership, and the Center for Sports Communication, among others. In addition, Marist has established significant partnerships with industry leaders including but not limited to the FDR Presidential Library & Museum, ESPN, and American Red Cross, to name a few. The College leverages these relationships to enhance the educational experience for our students. Approximately 85 percent of Marist students participate in at least one credit-bearing internship during their undergraduate experience. Accelerated degree programs: Marist currently offers six dual degrees which provide students with unique and affordable options to work toward their bachelor's and master's degrees simultaneously. Through these programs, students streamline their academic journey and are equipped with the knowledge and skills to enter the workforce. Dual degree programs offered at Marist include:•    Accounting (BS)/Professional Accountancy (MS)•    Communication (BA)/Integrated Marketing Communication (MA)•    Computer Science (BS/MS)•    Information Systems (BS/MS)•    Teaching (BA/MA)•    Psychology (BA)/Educational Psychology (MA)Marist’s first-rate educational experience is validated by its students. Ninety-five percent of students are satisfied with their college experience, highlighted by a strong first-year retention rate of 88 percent. Marist’s graduation rate is among the highest in the country at 85 percent, and following graduation, its five-year rolling average indicates that 97 percent of students are employed or enrolled in graduate school within six months. 

21 Sep 2021

Fourteen earn degrees from Marist’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, the College’s first doctorates.

Three years ago, 14 young adults began their studies toward Marist College’s Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, the College’s first doctoral program. In December 2020, they completed their journey. This past spring, prior to returning to campus for their commencement in May, several of the graduates looked back fondly on how Marist’s DPT program has launched their young careers. Established in the Allied Health Building across Route 9 from Marist’s main campus, the program is designed to prepare students for the National Physical Therapy Examination and for successful careers as doctors of physical therapy. Inaugural DPT graduates credit Claudia Fenderson, PT, EdD, the program’s director, for selling them on the brand-new program. “I had a lot of faith in Dr. Fenderson’s reputation because she had been a program director at a different college for a number of years,” said graduate Katherine Whitman.A hugely impactful part of the program was its faculty, always available to help students with anything and offer experience from varied backgrounds. Students stay with the same cohort throughout the program, and all of their courses are taught by the program faculty, who get to know the students extremely well. In addition to traditional lectures, students and faculty engage in hands-on experiences in multiple lab courses. Additionally, students have a faculty advisor who assists them during their three-year tenure.  “The close interaction between faculty and students allows for support of the students academically, professionally, and emotionally,” said Fenderson. Having such a small cohort allowed the students more access to professors, and they took advantage of it. The faculty also brought in professionals from the area to speak with students and sometimes provide guidance in the lab. The program uses a variety of labs to provide students experience with the same equipment they will use in the field. It also incorporates volunteer work into its 115-credit curriculum. The mix of lab and volunteer service work provided a well-rounded pathway to becoming a physical therapist. Yara Adely was a big fan of the service-hours requirement because “it really put you in the community, advocating for all your future clientele in a sense…It just makes you feel like you’re making a difference.” The program provided several ways to accrue those hours. Adely mentioned fundraising walks for Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and filling backpacks with school supplies for kids in the area. Madison Ward was one of four students to be selected for a medical mission trip to Ecuador in February of 2020. The week-long trip placed the students in hospitals to provide physical therapy services, mostly to children. The method of establishing professional clinical rotations was beneficial, too. Students are required to have four full-time clinical rotations, each of which features working in the field in a different way. At Marist, Whitman explained, students integrated their clinical work with their classroom instruction, whereas other programs have all clinical work at the end of their programs. Students were also able to choose their clinical sites themselves. The only requirement was that they had to work in at least one hospital setting and one outpatient setting. “Some schools choose your rotations for you and I’m so glad Marist lets you participate in the process,” Whitman said. Spending so much time as a cohort allowed students to form close relationships. Going through the same stressful classes and studying together created a unique and tight bond. They still keep in touch with one another and will all attend a wedding for one of their DPT classmates this summer. “I think that’s what helped us get through, too. We had the support of each other,” Ward said. The students weren’t shy about offering their input, Fenderson said, which was valuable in shaping the program. “The first cohort understood that their feedback was valued and necessary as it was used to inform the decision-making process about many areas of the program including the curriculum, teaching methodology, and the need for additional resources. When they engaged in full-time clinical experiences, the students provided information regarding their perceptions of strengths of the program and areas needing improvement. This input all factored into the success of the program.”In 2020 the program was granted accreditation for five years by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Five-year accreditation is the maximum period granted to a new DPT program.Some of the highlights of the past three years, said Fenderson, was observing the students “as they advanced to becoming such amazing, caring professionals, seeing their dedication to service of the local and global communities, watching their passion for helping patients evolve and flourish, and of course, developing close connections with these remarkable graduates.” Having 100 percent of the students pass the National Physical Therapy Exam was also a high point, she added.Although the cohort had almost completed the program when the coronavirus hit, the pandemic did have some implications for their studies. Clinical rotations were thrown off-kilter and students had to finish most of their classes online, which is extremely difficult for a profession and course of study that’s so hands-on. “The clinical experience is an invaluable part of the curriculum. The purpose of clinicals are not only for students to demonstrate the skills they have learned, but to continue their education in ways we can not simulate in the classroom. Students return after each rotation more confident in their skills and better able to absorb the new material they are taught. As a clinician and an educator, this is very exciting to observe,” shared Julie Fineman, PT, EdD, the program’s Director of Clinical Education.  The pandemic also affected the job market. Ward said that jobs she was eyeing in the Hudson Valley began offering only part-time or per-diem work or reduced work time and/or salaries. Still, opportunities were out there. Whitman is a physical therapist at Moriarty Physical Therapy in nearby Lagrangeville, NY. Adely works in the outpatient department of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, NY, where she worked per diem as a DPT student. Ward is a physical therapist at Professional Physical Therapy on Long Island, NY, and works part-time for Healthie as a marketing associate.Fenderson is proud of the inaugural class. “Witnessing their graduation marks the end of their three-year journey,” she said. “It is a milestone for the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program but also one for Marist, as this is its first doctoral offering. For the DPT Program, this is the culmination of a six-year journey the spans the demonstration of the need for the program, building support from the community, gaining state approval, recruiting faculty, staff, and students, and finally gaining full national accreditation. This moment is the result of the unwavering dedication and commitment of the faculty and so many at the College. “We were fortunate to have accepted and graduated an extremely talented cohort of students who are making important contributions to our profession and enriching the lives of their patients.”Being the first group of students to take on the program, as well as the first to earn doctoral degrees from Marist, is something the graduates hang their hats on, especially because everyone in the original cohort made it all the way through. “It really makes my heart happy,” Adely said, “knowing that we were able to shape the program to what it is today.” 

Two incoming Marist students have been selected to receive the newly established Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (GLI) Scholarship at Marist College.

Two incoming Marist students have been selected to receive the newly established Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (GLI) Scholarship at Marist College. The scholarship is awarded to students from GLI’s vast national network of affiliated schools who demonstrate exceptional achievement in the study of history.This unique and impactful collaboration between Marist College and GLI was cultivated and primarily funded by a family with longstanding commitments to both institutions. Trustee Genine McCormick ’88 and her husband, Michael ’88, made a very generous pledge to help establish this scholarship initiative in collaboration with GLI. About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American HistoryFounded in 1994 by noted philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, GLI is widely recognized as one of the leading institutions in America dedicated to the promotion of knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources. The institute has an archive of more than 75,000 historical documents and provides educators, students, and the public with direct access to these unique primary resources. GLI also has an impressive network of more than 29,000 affiliated high schools around the country, and their programming reaches nearly five million students each year. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is supported through the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations.The McCormick Family Foundation – Gilder Lehrman Institute Scholarship Program will be the cornerstone of an exciting partnership developing between Marist and GLI. The McCormicks’ support, combined with that of other donors, will provide meaningful term scholarships for 12 deserving students recognized as top high school history students by GLI’s recently launched National Academy of American History and Civics (NAAHC); NAAHC represents GLI’s highest-achieving, most accomplished students. Eight scholarships will be reserved for students with significant financial need, and the remaining four scholarships will be awarded exclusively based on academic merit. While recognized for their achievement in the study of history, scholarship recipients will not be required to major in history at Marist. The McCormicks’ gift also includes a generous allocation to establish a special society to more formally connect scholarship recipients through meetings, programming in conjunction with GLI and Marist, and an annual dinner. The society will add another important dimension to this distinctive program. Michael and Genine have had an immeasurable impact at Marist through their exceptional philanthropy and thoughtful leadership over many years. This signature program is yet another example of their dedication to students and unwavering commitment to advancing the College’s mission. Impressive Inaugural RecipientsThe inaugural recipients hail from New York and have impressive academic and extracurricular achievements:•    Elisabet Guerrero Hernandez, from Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, NY, completed a research project with the Museum of Natural History and served as an intern at Fordham University’s History Makers program. Guerrero Hernandez is secretary of the Women’s Alliance Club and a member of her high school’s bowling varsity team. She is very interested in a career in adolescence education and aspires to be a history teacher.•    Harumi Kameda, from Hyde Leadership Charter School, NY, is second in her class and is looking to find her niche at Marist. Kameda is the co-captain of her high school debate team, member of the National Honor Society, involved in Environmental Club, and plays saxophone in the pep band. She hopes to study pre-law and has an interest in history and environmental science.Through this partnership, Marist GLI scholars will make trips to the GLI office in New York City to access GLI’s extensive archives and participate in special programming and internship opportunities. For students with financial need, the scholarship will grow during their time at Marist, providing for increases in award amounts to eliminate the impact of annual tuition increases as well as matching funds for the money they earn through part-time employment.GLI students also will have the opportunity to participate in Marist’s highly ranked Summer Pre-College Program, which is also available to all students at GLI partner schools around the country. In addition, GLI students can take advantage of other special events and activities both on and off campus and avail themselves of the rich historic resources of the Hudson River Valley.A Strategic PartnershipThe collaboration with GLI is a complement to Marist’s deep work in the field of history. The College’s Hudson River Valley Institute studies and interprets regional history, hosts lectures every semester, and publishes a peer-reviewed journal, the Hudson River Valley Review. Numerous students intern with HRVI each year, learning valuable research skills.The College’s partnership with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum makes it one of only six colleges and universities nationwide affiliated with a presidential library. Marist also hosts the Library’s digital archives.Among the first to join the McCormicks in generously supporting the scholarship initiative are Kimberly ’02 and Frank ’00 Viggiano, Jill ’02 and Mark ’00 Viggiano, Lisa and Scott Sweeney ’04, and Marist Trustee Pat Lavelle ’73. Eight scholarships remain to be sponsored in the program.Realizing the vision for this exciting new initiative will require the support of other generous Marist donors, and alumni, parents, and friends are invited to consider sponsoring and naming individual term scholarships offered within this innovative pilot. To learn more about this special opportunity, please contact Chris DelGiorno, vice president for college advancement, at chris.delgiorno@marist.edu or by phone at (845) 575-3412. 

02 Aug 2021

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