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

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

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

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.” 

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

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

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.