Pioneer Magazine - Summer 2012

pioneerA Magazine of Utica College | Summer 2012

The Foremothers of Women's Athletics

pioneer Summer 20122 Utica College

By Todd S. Hutton

The View from the President’s Office

“Throughout our history, we have

served thousands of highly motivated

individuals for whom the

dream of higher education had

previously seemed unattainable.”

This issue of the Pioneer reinforces a truth that we have always known about our-

selves: that Utica College is, above all else, a community of truly extraordinary people.

From the pioneering achievements of our groundbreaking 1949-50 women's basketball team, to the struggles of a young UC professor caught in the mael-strom of the Egyptian revolution, to the Paralympic dreams of a communica-tion arts major, we represent a remarkable breadth of experience, united in our diversity by the values we all share – a deep commitment to integrity, innova-tion, free expression, and above all, service to others.

I can think of no more inspiring example than that of a recent graduate of our cybersecurity bachelor's program named Craig Friedline '12. Craig was diagnosed with cancer in 2009; his condition was declared terminal in Febru-ary, and yet he remained determined to finish his senior project and receive his degree. He had, however, all but given up hope of ever seeing the diploma he had worked so hard for.

In a very moving letter that I received from him in March, Craig praised Professor Thomas Ryan for providing steadfast support and encouragement through this difficult time. Craig had just learned from Professor Ryan that he had satisfied the requirements of his final project and, thanks to his profes-sor's intercession, would be receiving his diploma very soon – a prospect that brought this brave man great joy.

What this story says about the commitment, determination, and profound humanity of these two individuals is clear. But it also illuminates the unique-ness of this institution and the students, faculty, and staff who bring it to life every day, year after year. Throughout our history, we have served thousands of highly motivated individuals for whom the dream of higher education had previously seemed unattainable. We can take special pride in the fact that these students have always been able to rely on dedicated UC faculty like Professor Ryan to help them succeed.

As we prepare for the start of another academic year and the arrival of a new generation of pioneers, each bringing to the table his or her unique perspec-tive on the world, let us draw inspiration from the knowledge that our richest endowment as an institution is in human capital and in the minds and hearts of the families we serve.

Making the Grade.

HERITAGESOCIETY

During a rocky first semester at UC's Oneida Square campus, Stuart Davis '58 was told by Dean of Men E. Douglas Webster that if he didn't shape up, he was going to get his ˝a** kicked out of here.̋

Davis then switched his major to public relations, studying under the legendary Ray Simon. ˝On the first day of class, Ray told us that he considered B to be an outstanding grade, and that he only gave one B,̋ he recalls. Even so, it was, for Davis, the launch of a grade-A career that included serving on a Presidential council and co-founding a major international IT firm.

Now very actively retired in Norfolk, VA, he and his wife Connie '58 still have plenty to keep them busy. But they always reserve Fridays to share quality time together. They also share an abiding affection for UC, which they express through their generous participation in Planned Giving. UC is doing a marvelous job,̋ Connie says, and we want to continue to support it.̋

High marks indeed.

pioneer Summer 20124

Visit us online.w w w.ut ica .e du

7 Around Campus A brief look at breaking news at UC.

10 Chiaroscuro A photographic essay on Commencement 2012.

18 Delayed by Destiny One professor's experience of the Egyptian revolution.

22 The Art of Science Exploring the connection between chemistry and poetry.

28 Going First UC's pioneering 1949-50 women's basketbal team.

33 Athletic HOF Inductees

34 No Limits Katie Maneen ’13 sets her sights on the 2012

London Paralympics.

36 Sideline Report

37 Class Notes

Contents

10 Commencement

10 Commencement


Around Campus

Perry Serves As Fulbright Scholar in Europe

Associate Professor of Government and Politics Luke Perry spent the spring se-mester serving as a Fulbright scholar at Vilnius University in Lithuania, where he taught a course on American politics and guest lectured on the topic of his current research, the emergence of Mormons in U.S. federal politics. His book on the subject will be published this fall, coinciding

with the presidential election. Perry was also awarded additional grants by the U.S.

State Department and the Fulbright Commissions to

lecture at universities across southern Europe, includ-ing the Universities of Crete, Dubrovnik, and Bucha-rest.

˝My interactions with students have given rise to challenging questions about America's use of military force around the world. Trying to thoughtfully and fairly address these questions has been among the most beneficial and rewarding portions of my work as a Fulbright teaching scholar,̋ Perry says.

˝While it is unusual for a first-year faculty member, brand new to the institution, to go on leave, Luke's Fulbright opportunity was so full of potential benefit for UC and our students that there was no question of his not going,̋ says John Johnson, Dean of Arts and Sciences.

New Lab Upgrade in Gordon Science Center

Work is underway this summer on a complete remodel of the biology lab in room 197 of Gordon Science Center. Part of an ongoing multi-phase capital project to modernize the now 47-year-old facility, the renovation will transform an aging laboratory used for instruction in the classification of organisms and functional anatomy.

˝Some of what is done in this lab is dissection, so that students can learn about the internal anatomy of different kinds of organisms,̋ says Professor of Biology Sharon Wise. Among a host of upgrades will be the addition of new down-draft hoods at student worksta-tions, greatly improving air quality in and around the

laboratory and minimizing exposure to preservation chemicals. Critically needed specimen storage space is being constructed in an adjacent room.

Recent capital renovations in Gordon include the James and Katherine Pyne General Biology Laboratory and a new chemistry research lab, both completed over the summer of 2011.

˝It's a thrill to see yet another of our labs being brought up to snuff in terms of its quality as a teach-ing space. As each new lab gets done, it makes even us more eager to see the Gordon renovation project through to completion,̋ says Dean of Arts and Sci-ences John Johnsen.

pioneer Summer 20127Tradition. Opportunity. Transformation.®

Leonard Pitts Jr. Speaks at UC, Receives Honorary Degree

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Leonard Pitts Jr. gave a presentation on campus April 18th as part of UC's 2011-12 Campus Theme, “Many Cultures, One Com-munity.” He also received the College's honorary doctorate of humane letters.

His talk, “A Single Garment Of Destiny,” addressed the need for different cultures to accept diversity and live as

one. The title is borrowed from the text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter from the Birmingham Jail.

A native of Southern California, Pitts has worked as a columnist, college professor, radio producer and lecturer during his 35-year career. He has authored the critically acclaimed novels Freeman and Before I Forget and the celebrated non-fiction work Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood. In addition to the Pulitzer for commentary, Pitts earned the American Society of Newspaper Editors presti-gious ASNE Award for commentary writing as well as numerous other awards.

“I always knew I was a writer,” Pitts told the UC au-dience. “It was not a matter of deciding, it was a matter of accepting what I already was.”

Pitts previously spoke on the UC campus in 2006.

Pulliam Receives Crisafulli Distinguished Teaching Award

Curtis Pulliam, associate professor of chemistry, is the 2012 recipient of the Virgil Crisafulli Distinguished Teaching Award. The award was presented to him by Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Judith Kirkpatrick during Utica College’s May 13 Commence-ment ceremonies.

In presenting him the award, Kirkpatrick described Pulliam as a role model for colleagues in both their teaching and professional activities, an extraordinarily approachable and passionate teacher, and a tireless and transformative innovator.

Said Kirkpatrick, “He has wonderful ideas about chemistry, how it can be taught, how it can be communi-cated in the laboratory, and he has the quiet patience and resolve it takes to bring his colleagues along in the effort.”

Pulliam joined the UC faculty in 1987, and played a leadership role in transforming his department’s curriculum and facilities, most notably, introducing undergraduates to sophisticated instrumentation often

reserved for graduate students and professionals. He has written successful grant applications to secure funding for state-of-the-art instrumentation, and has garnered national and international recognition for his curricular innovation

“His work has been described as an important and sometimes ignored form of teaching excellence, that of assuring that the curriculum and facilities are in place to allow students to use state-of-the-art equipment and study exciting ideas,” Kirkpatrick added.

Pulliam earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Named for the late Professor Emeritus of Econom-ics Virgil Crisafulli and underwritten by the Crisafulli Fund for the Faculty, the award exemplifies the finest tradition of teaching. It is given annually to a profes-sor on the recommendation of faculty and students in recognition of demonstrated teaching excellence, dedication, and effectiveness.

Fontaine Appointed Athletic Director

David Fontaine has been named director of physical education and athletics. He succeeds Jim Spartano, who retired from Utica College in December following a 38-year career.

Fontaine previously served as UC’s director of intramu-rals, head softball coach, and assistant director of athletics. More recently, he held sales management positions with

Johnson and Johnson and Glaxo Smith Kline. “It is an honor for me to join the Utica College

family once again. This is an opportunity that I have dreamed of for a long time,” says Fontaine, a former captain of the Pioneers baseball team. “I look forward

to fostering the culture of student-centeredness that has been instilled by the current administration, and I’m excited to lead a great group of student-athletes and coaches.”

Says President Todd S. Hutton, “As a former UC student-athlete, head coach, and athletic administra-tor, Dave is intimately familiar with Utica College, our mission, our educational goals for athletic participa-tion, and the landscape and spirit of Division III inter-collegiate athletics. I have every confidence that he will serve Utica College and our students with distinction, and will ably lead a department of remarkably talented and dedicated coaches and staff members.”

Fontaine earned an A.A. in Liberal Arts and Sci-ences from Mohawk Valley Community College, a B.S. in Psychology-Child Life from Utica College, and a M.S. in Physical Education Administration and Man-agement from Syracuse University.

pioneer

EditorKelly Adams ’00

Graphic Design and PhotographyLarry Pacilio

Graphic DesignKevin Waldron

Class Notes EditorMark C. Kovacs

ContributorsJoe Perry ’90Jamie CallariGil BurgmasterKeith Henry ’08Chris Leogrande ’81Kathy Novak

ProofreaderBarbara Lambert

Utica College Advancement

Laura M. CasamentoSenior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer

Tim NelsonAssistant Vice President of Advancement/Alumni and Parent Relations and Development

Anthony VillantiExecutive Director of Developmentt

Christine KisielExecutive Director of Alumni and Parent Relations/Volunteer Coordinator

John ForbesDirector of Annual Giving

The Pioneer is published periodically by the Office of Marketing and Communications at Utica College.

©2012 Utica College

Send correspondence regarding the Pioneer and ad-dress changes to:Office of Alumni and Parent RelationsUtica College1600 Burrstone RoadUtica, NY 13502-4892Or call 1-800-456-8278 or (315) 792-3025Or fax (315) 792-3245Or e-mail [email protected]

Send items for Class Notes to [email protected], or visit the Utica College online alumni community at pioneerstation.com.

Check out our Web site at www.utica.edu


Odds that future travelers to Mars will find the Loch Ness monster there: 909,000/1.

Odds that your gift to UC made a real difference: 1/1.

Thank you for your support.

The Utica College Annual Fund


ChiaroscuroA TImE OF SELF REFLECTION

A graduating senior checks her look in her smartphone before walking.


mOVING FORwARDLeft: Bachelor's degree candidates process into the Utica AudRight: Commencement Speaker Malaak Compton-Rock


BIG DAyLeft: Scenes from just after the undergraduate ceremonyRight: The first-ever graduate commencement at the Stanley Performing Arts Center


I t had been a long process, but finally, days after the start of classes, he received the documentation he needed to start his new teaching position in America. All that remained was to obtain his visa from the U.S. embassy in downtown Cairo, just

two blocks west of Tahrir Square. Seemingly an easy enough task. Only this was late January of 2011, and history had

other plans.At the time, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Ahmed Radwan had just joined

the faculty at Utica College. The Cairo native had received offers from other institutions, but chose UC for reasons both professional and personal. “The D.P.T. program is a very good program,” he says. “I knew the people in the department and how friendly they are. They made me feel very comfortable.”

He had come to the United States originally in 2006 on a research fellowship from Egypt’s Ministry of Education, and, while here, stayed at UC for two years as a D.P.T. student and part-time instructor before returning to Egypt to finish his Ph.D. Radwan taught online classes in UC’s transitional post-professional D.P.T. program from his

Delayed by DestinyFor Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Ahmed Radwan, the road to UC led straight through the Egyptian revolution.


home in Cairo, then accepted a full-time position in the College’s physical therapy department in Novem-ber 2010.

His plan was to be on campus for the start of the Spring 2011 semester, when he would begin working with a class of entry-level PT students, but his paper-work took longer than expected. When classes started in January, he resorted to teaching and advising online as a short-term solution.

Days later, mass non-violent protests began in Cairo and other cities across Egypt, inspired in large mea-sure by the successful uprising in neighboring Tunisia. The “Arab Spring” had arrived in this most populous of Arab nations. Demonstrators began their occupa-tion of Tahrir Square, and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo suspended visa services shortly thereafter.

“I contacted them several times,” Radwan says. “I said that I have the paperwork and I have students waiting for me in the U.S.”

His entreaties made no difference. He didn’t know it at the time, but the embassy was to remain closed to visa requests for more than four months. “They had no intention of opening it soon,” he says.

The embassy staff advised him to try to get a visa at a U.S. embassy in a neighboring country, such as Jordan. This was not an impracticable suggestion. Egyptian nationals do not need a visa to travel to Jordan, and

with his classes already underway, he was tempted to follow the embassy’s advice.

Keeping vigilThen on January 28, as hundreds of thousands

of Egyptians took to the streets on what organizers dubbed the “Friday of Anger,” police forces withdrew and the nation’s prisons opened their doors, releasing inmates en masse in what was thought by many to be a deliberate attempt by the regime to sow terror among the protesters. Like many of his neighbors, Radwan feared for the safety of his family.

“We were without civilian police. Can you imagine New York City without the NYPD? Cairo is bigger than New York – it has 18 million citizens. So we had to maintain security in our neighborhood ourselves. It was really hard,” Radwan says.

At the time, he lived with his wife and two young sons in a 20-unit apartment building about 10 miles from the center of the city. He and some of the other tenants organized an informal self-defense group to protect the building and their families from criminal activity. “We took turns guarding the building. I was holding whatever stick I could find, standing out front. We did that for about 10 days, until the police went back to work again,” he recalls.

It was something of an exercise in ad-hoc self-gov-ernment, as Radwan tells it – neighbors working with one another, sharing responsibilities, and making the best of a bad situation.

“There was no cell phone service,” he says, “so we de-cided who would go to market if we needed anything. Some of the men in my building chose to go to Tahrir Square. I didn’t go there myself, because I had one of two choices – protect the building or go to the Square. We sort of divided the roles amongst us.”

It could have been far worse. Radwan attributes this in part to the fact that his building was located in an area with a relatively high standard of living. What chaos was spawned by the prisoner release and the police stand-down fell largely on people in poorer neighborhoods.

While most Egyptians were convinced that this had been a deliberate tactic of the government, he was not so certain.

“I had some friends who were policemen, and they told me that they had not actually received official orders to withdraw. People were angry and the police kind of feared what the people would do to them, so they decided to stay away, and the Army stepped in to protect the city. The police were disoriented and dis-connected from one another. It’s hard to blame them – they are human beings. Blame their leaders for the chaos,” says Radwan.


Arriving at “enough”Whether due to poor leadership or the actions of

rogue officers, the Egyptian uprising was prompted in part by a police misconduct scandal that gripped the nation the year before.

“There was a lot of underwater movement that led to the revolution,” says Radwan’s colleague Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Ashraf El Azazzi, who is originally from Zagazig in the Nile Delta. “One event that set the stage was the killing of a young pharma-cist by the name of Khaled Mohamed Saeed by police in 2010. He had posted a video of the police dealing drugs, and they dragged him out of an Internet café and beat him to death. It was a horrific event. There were a lot of demonstrations, and they set up a Face-book page called ‘We Are All Khaled Saeed,’ as if to say, we are all subject to the same brutality.”

Then when the Tunisian revolution took place in January 2011, it sparked a mass uprising in Egypt that had been brewing for a long time. “Change was ready to happen. Just a year earlier, there had been a big movement called kifaya, which in Arabic means, ‘enough.’ When the Tunisian revolution happened so quickly, people felt there was a hope of changing the regime,” El Azazzi says.

Radwan contends that a particularly important role was played by former International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohammed El-Baradei more than a year earlier when he raised the topic of changing Egypt’s constitution to open up the political process. “He probably triggered the revolution,” says Radwan, “but we needed the Tunisian example.”

But the single largest factor in prompting the upris-ing, he feels, was government corruption.

“There was an extreme level of corruption in the last two or three years of Mubarak’s regime. Maybe 80 percent of Egyptians felt there should be a revolu-tion and another 20 percent – the old guard – thought, okay, that’s enough, they’ve learned their lesson, let’s let Mubarak finish his term and then someone else will take over. But everyone agreed about the corruption,” he says.

President Mubarak’s departure came on February 11, 2011. Even so, the U.S. embassy remained closed and Radwan was conflicted. He felt confident that he could obtain a visa in Jordan, but his family would have to stay behind. The boys had already started school. It made sense at this point for his wife to re-

main with them in Egypt so that they could finish the semester. But he did not want to leave until the politi-cal situation was more settled.

Then, of course, he had graduate students waiting for him at UC. Fortunately, he had been able to work with them online, drawing on his experience as an instruc-tor in the online physical therapy program.

“I’ve always taught online students. It’s not a prob-lem for me,” Radwan says.

So in the midst of the massive social and political upheaval that was the Egyptian revolution, he was able to advise his students on their thesis projects using the same Web-based digital technologies that helped facilitate the protests in Tahrir Square.

Living the dreamIn March, when the turmoil had quieted down, Rad-

wan was able to make his way to the U.S. embassy in Amman, Jordan, get his visa, and depart for America soon thereafter. His wife and sons followed in July, once the embassy in Cairo was back in business and able to issue them visas.

As for his students back at UC, he was gratified at how well they did, despite his delayed arrival.

“My students did a wonderful job together. They had a very successful defense of their dissertation, and we have even submitted an article for publication out of their thesis,” he says.

Radwan is cautiously optimistic that Egypt is on the right track. “I contact my parents almost every day, and they every day is better than the last,” he says. “These things take time.”

“People tell me life is almost back to normal,” says El Azzazi. “It’s just party politics now. One very posi-tive thing is that a lot more people are involved in the political process. Before, people would throw up their hands because their opinions didn’t matter. Now people can have their opinion and stand behind them, though perhaps a bit too stubbornly. But at least they can speak their minds and make a change. That’s very positive.”

Like many, he is taking a wait and see approach. “Always say, to be continued. The final chapter is not yet written,” El Azzazi says.

For his own part, Radwan is glad to be where he is today.

“For young men like me in Egypt, we dream of someday being like America, of having the ability to express your opinions without fear. It’s such a blessing to be in the United States,” he says. “People here take a lot of things for granted. If they go to the other side of the world, they would see how we would love to have those rights.”

“For young men like me in Egypt, we dream of someday being like America…”


Juan Thomas is used to getting funny looks when he talks about his fields.

Yes, fields. The associate professor of Spanish holds two doctoral degrees in what most consider to be vastly different disciplines – a Ph.D. in linguistics and one in inorganic chemistry. But where others see divergence and perhaps even incoherence, Thomas has found intellectual harmony and shared ground.

“I was at a small gathering recently and [Associ-ate Provost] Robert Halliday introduced me to a new faculty member, saying, ‘Juan is in the Spanish depart-ment, but he also has a Ph.D. in chemistry.’ And the new professor looked at me as if she were thinking, this is a schizophrenic person standing in front of me,” he says, laughing. “But linguistics is not what people think it is. It’s a science just as much as chemistry is.”

And Thomas is a skilled practitioner in both sciences. He earned his chemistry degree at M.I.T., where

he did research on technetium, the lightest element with no stable (i.e. non-radioactive) isotopes. One of the isotopes, technetium-99m, provides the basis for radiopharmaceuticals like Cardiolite, a widely-used compound for heart imaging developed by some of Thomas’s colleagues at M.I.T.

The Art Of ScienceProfessor Juan Thomas explores the connections between medieval poetry and radioactive isotopes.


Much of Thomas’s work was focused on synthesiz-ing technetium compounds with specific structural properties. “I wanted to make this molecule,” he explains, pointing to an illustration of a technetium complex. “But Mother Nature would not give it to me. She almost gave it to me, I can’t deny it. But what we ended up with was not what we initially had designed on paper.”

He likens this to the process of creating a work of art. The sculptor starts with a vision and a piece of stone, a slab of clay, or some other material, then sets to work, pursuing his or her vision with the tools available, working within the physical limitations of the medium. The chemist also starts with a vision, and the ultimate product of his or her work is determined by the laws of nature. Both the artist and the chemist often produce results that could have scarcely been imagined at the outset.

“I consider the chemistry I was doing at M.I.T. a kind of art,” Thomas says. “In fact, the very name technetium comes from the Greek technikos, which means ‘art.’ For the Greeks, that included anything that man construct-ed, whether it was poetry, sculpture, or technology.”

Though working with radioactive materials, Thomas readily admits, is a great deal more complicated than working with clay, plaster, or paint.

The facility he worked in at M.I.T. was a registered radioactive lab, and, as such, was required to follow a complicated system of safety procedures in the early 1990s when he was there. Even so, standards have grown much more stringent over the past 20 years. Thomas says that if current procedures had been in place back then, it would have been impossible to do the work they were doing.

“As a courtesy, DuPont would send our lab some technetium every month in liquid form, sealed up in a medical vial. We would take quantities out with a sy-ringe and keep a record of it. Now, if you followed the same procedures today, they’d probably put you in jail. Stronger controls were put in place after that to restrict how the material was being handled and disposed of,” he says.

Sourcing technetium did become more of a chal-lenge by end the of his time at M.I.T., prompting Thomas on one occasion to somewhat naively venture a call to Oak Ridge National Laboratory – whose initial mission was to produce uranium and plutonium for the atomic bomb – and request a shipment of the material.

“I called Oak Ridge and said, ‘I’m just wondering, is it possible to buy technetium?’ And the guy down on the other end said, ‘Who is this?’ I realized then

Uppercase text is written in Andalusian Romance. Lowercase text is in Andalusian Arabic. Translations by Juan A. Thomas and Lotfi Sayahi.


that I hadn’t told him who I was or where I was calling from,” he recalls, laughing.

Probably the greatest impediment to his work was dealing with low-level radioactive waste, which was becoming more and more difficult to dispose of safely. “At that time, in 1992, it was getting hard. It cost $50 to get rid of one barrel of radioactive waste and people were starting to worry about the price. Now I don’t think you can pay people to take it,” he says.

Moving on In the context of his doctoral study in chemistry,

Thomas was doing basic science. When he graduated and moved on to IBM, it was a different story. He took a position in 1992 as a chemist in the quality control and environmental analysis labs at IBM’s Essex Junc-tion, VT facility – a post he held for 10 years.

“You work on projects that make the company mon-ey,” Thomas says. “Publishing was allowed, but it had to go through the company censors and get approved.”

Then in 2002, IBM dramatically downsized the Vermont facility, laying off a large number of workers, including research staff. Thomas found himself unex-pectedly at a crossroad. He suddenly had the oppor-tunity to pursue another interest. And while change came as something of a shock, he wasn’t altogether sorry. The experimental work he had been doing, how-ever monetarily rewarding, carried with it significant health risks. So he chose to move on.

When Thomas first explored the field of linguistics, there was a kind of chemistry right from the start. He had opted to sit in on some linguistics classes during his final semester at M.I.T., while he waited to receive the final blessing on his dissertation, and something just clicked.

“I was in seminars with [renowned linguist Noam] Chomsky and with others. I was also in some high level Spanish literature and Latin classes. I had a re-ally good experience,” he says. “The scientific study of language intrigued me.”

Thomas’ rekindled passion for language stayed with him throughout his tenure at IBM. He began taking night classes in linguistics, gradually building upon the foundation he had started back in Cambridge. Then when his job was eliminated in 2002, he went back to graduate school in earnest, this time studying linguistics at the University at Albany. “Language was something I had always had an interest in,” he says.

“But when I went back to school, everything came together.”

Andalusian Romance Al-Andalus is the name given to a large area of

present-day Spain and Portugal by the Umayyad caliphate of Damascus, which had conquered much of southwestern Europe by the early eighth century A.D. A large swath of the Iberian Peninsula would be ruled under this moniker for the next 800 years.

It is also the cultural crucible at the very center of Thomas’s work as a researcher in sociolinguistics.

“My area of research is languages in contact. For instance, my thesis at Albany was on Neapolitan and Spanish. I was interested in the relationship between these two languages. They’re both derived from Latin, but there’s a connection even more intimate than that,” he says.

Thomas is particularly intrigued by the phenomenon of “code-switching,” when a speaker switches from one language to another within the space of a sentence or even a single word. A common phenomenon among bi- and multi-linguals, this blending can seem almost effortless and, to the uninitiated, incoherent.

“A lot of people think it’s just random mixing, that it’s just putting languages together any way you want to. But I would argue that that’s a small percentage of code-switching. To make it sound like it’s effortless, like one continuous stream of language, you have to be an advanced bilingual. You’re using different languag-es for different functions, and my job is to study what those functions are,” he says.

One of his recently-finished projects focuses on a group of 1,000-year-old Andalusian poems written mostly in classical Arabic, though in the closing lines of each poem (the kharja) the author switches to An-dalusian Arabic and Romance – an extinct offspring of the Latin language family that includes modern French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. Buried in libraries across North Africa and the Middle East for centuries, the poetry came to the attention of western scholars in the 1940s, though they were dismissed by many as being nonsensical and not up to the strict formal standards of Arabic poetry.

Others attempted to place these bilingual works in service to a particular cultural/political agenda, Thomas explains. “The kharjas are at the center of a debate that has been going on for 50-60 years. Some


scholars believe that they are evidence of a Christian literary culture in Romance before the Muslim inva-sion of 711. Others believe that they incorporate some extra-Arabic realities but that they do not deal with Christian themes,” he says.

Code-switching kharjasThomas wanted to look deeper. In collaboration with

one of his mentors at Albany – Associate Professor of Linguistics, Hispanic, and Italian Studies Lotfi Sayahi – he delved into the structure of the poems with spe-cific attention to the sections where the author shifts from one language to the other. The code-switching invariably takes place in the kharja.

“With respect to the kharjas, our first question was, is this behavior random? Is this just a random mix-ing of language that has neither rhyme nor reason, or is there some underlying structure here? How can we explain why Arabic is put next to Romance? The stud-ies that have been done over the past 30 years show that when someone switches from one language to the other there’s usually a reason why,” Thomas says.

Those reasons often reflect the specific circumstanc-es of a conversation. “If you are a bilingual and you want to swear in front of someone who, for example, is a monolingual speaker of English, you may switch to Spanish to soften the force of your anger,” he explains, though he is quick to add that it is unusual for bilin-guals to code-switch in the company of monolinguals. “When we talk, usually our objective is for people to understand us. We usually try to speak in ways that facilitate communication and not hinder it.”

Sometimes personal connections with a given language will prompt code-switching, such as associa-tions with friends or family. “If you remember Christ-mas in Puerto Rico, and you talk about the dishes your

grandmother used to make, you’re naturally going to gravitate to Spanish,” he says.

One of the primary topics of this genre and period of Andalusian poetry is romantic love, and the kharjas Thomas is studying reflect this. One in particular is written in the voice of a young woman who, having just killed her lover, laments to her mother over what she has done. (See translation on page 24.)

Tools and methodsHow does Thomas plumb the depths of this mys-

tery? In a manner very similar, he says, to the approach he took in developing new technetium complexes.

“To solve problems in both chemistry and linguis-tics, you are ultimately asking the same questions. And in many cases you’re using the same tools and similar thought processes. I believe that structure is one of the unifying concepts because it can unlock our under-standing to so many different things,” he says.

Another concept that is common to both disciplines is that of synthesis. “For my molecule, I had to start with a simple technetium starting material, then I had to react it with a ligand, which binds the technetium and sort of captures it. In linguistics, you start with distinctive features, the features make the phonemes, the phonemes then are combined to make the syllable, and the syllables can make units - the word, the phrase and the utterance. So you’ve got a building-up process in both,” Thomas explains.

Both disciplines also rely upon a deconstruction process – disassembling a molecule or a sentence into its basic components to better understand how it is put together.

The keystone for Thomas, however, is reliance on data and sound methodologies for analyzing it. “You’ve really got to question your data,” he says. “You have to know where it’s coming from and how to interpret it without imposing your view on it.” He sees this as being at the core of successful research by scholars in both the sciences and the humanities, whatever those scholars may believe.

“I remember explaining my thesis project to a pro-fessor at Albany who was a scholar of medieval Italian literature, and she said, ‘What is your method? You can’t just take words from here and there and say what you want about them!’ That scholar understood the scientific method, even though she had probably never heard it described as such,” says Thomas.

Tradition. Opportunity. Transformation.®

Trending on facebookTim Nelson, UC’s founding men’s lacrosse coach and current assistant vice president for advancement, has been selected for induction into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. A three-time All-American and three-time recipient of the Lt. Col. Jack Turnbull Award as the nation’s top attackman, Nelson helped lead

Syracuse University to its first national championship in 1983 and two more national championship ap-pearances in 1984 and 1985. He concluded his college career as the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader, and still holds the Division I record for assists in a career. He is one of eight selections for the 2012 hall of fame class announced by U.S. Lacrosse on May 23, and will be formally inducted in a ceremony of October 20 in Hunt Valley, MD.

That was UC alumnus Michael Albano ’91 stand-ing on the postgame stage with Eli Manning follow-ing the New York Giants’ victory in Super Bowl XLVI. Albano, director of Chevrolet communications for General Motors, had the honor of presenting the

star quarterback with keys to a new Corvette in recog-nition of his Super Bowl MVP performance.

Former UC student Jermaine Paul was named the season two winner of NBC’s The Voice. The R&B/soul singer and songwriter attended UC before pursuing his professional music career, which prior to The Voice included signing a record contract with Shaquille O’Neal’s record label and sharing the stage and studio with artists like Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige.

Stay plugged into the UC community by “liking us” at facebook.com/uticacollege.

While he believes more generally that the sciences and the humanities share a lot of common ground, he doesn’t overstate the matter. “Chemistry and linguis-tics are different, ultimately,” he points out. “They speak different languages. There are different termi-nologies and different concepts you have to learn to be fluent in both of them. Once you get beyond the terminology, though, a linguist can solve a chemical problem and a chemist can solve a linguistic problem.”

Thomas’s collaborative research on 11th Century Andalusian poetry will be published later this year in The Journal of Language Contact. This is not his only project, however. He is planning to write a history of the Spanish speaking community in the Mohawk Val-ley – an endeavor that he will pursue in cooperation with the Eugene Paul Nassar Ethnic Heritage Studies Center at Utica College, of which he is a member.

“The second most spoken language in Oneida County is Spanish, and the numbers of Spanish speak-ers and Spanish language businesses are growing and growing. Only people don’t see it, and they don’t be-lieve it. Pioneering work in U.S. Spanish has been done in New York City, Miami, and California, but very little has been done in smaller communities like Utica. So, I would like to contribute something about the lo-cal Hispanic community, because the Spanish speakers here are just as legitimate as those in larger communi-ties. And the linguistic community agrees that this Spanish variety needs to be studied,” he says.

With a full teaching load, Thomas is careful not to spread himself too thin. “I learned early on that it is important to concentrate and be systematic. You’ve got to be focused on your research objective, and use time wisely,” he says.

Even so, he will approach this new task with the same balance he brought to his study of technetium – painstakingly collecting and analyzing data and yet never losing sight of the aesthetic dimension. Having dwelt in both worlds, he is more than content to have a foot in each.

“You can study language with statistical tools. And you can do a chemistry project as if it were the design for a sculpture,” Thomas says. “There’s more linking those two disciplines than people imagine.” ■

Among an exclusive membership reserved previously for exceptional individuals, they are in a class of their own. While others are sure to follow, the 1949-1950 Utica

College women’s basketball team will forever be the first team inducted into the school’s Pioneer Athletic Hall of Fame. It’s a distinction that’s not lost on the surviving members of those 10, truly, pioneers.

“It’s special,” says Elsie Shemin-Roth ’50, her emotions shifting on a dime, grappling with conflicting feelings of gratitude and gratification. By her own admission, Shemin-Roth, as glib at 86 as she was at 21, has rarely struggled for words. In fact, in more ways than one, it was her ability and proclivity to express herself that led her to dais on April 28, ready to accept, on behalf of her teammates, her alma mater’s invitation into its hall of fame.

Going FirstFor UC's pioneering 1949-50 women's basketball team, getting started was the greatest victory.



The imprimatur of hall of famer, indeed, carries with it special, if not easily explained, meaning – for Shem-in-Roth as well as Jonnie Koch, Iris Davidson, Vivian Bienenfeld, Janet Fahning, and, posthumously, Jean Halladay, Jean Soter, Mildred Leepa, and Paula Rob-bins. To the foremothers of women’s athletics at Utica College, the honor is both the ultimate legitimization of their struggle and their cause and, more impressive-ly, a celebration of the rewards their persistence reaped for the thousands who have followed.

Shemin-Roth was the team’s captain and its vision-ary. In the fall of 1949 – 23 years before the enactment of Title IX, 27 years before women’s basketball debuted at the Montreal Olympics, and 33 years before the NCAA awarded its first national women’s basketball champion-ship – her vision began, somewhat spontaneously, in Plymouth Church, where Utica College, then a 3-year-old institution, held registration for the new term. While registering for fall classes, she gazed around the make-shift administrative hall at various signup sheets posted throughout the lobby recruiting for a host of sports: men’s soccer, men’s baseball, men’s basketball, men’s tennis, men’s bowling, men’s golf, not to mention several junior varsity and intramural teams – of course, for men.

“I said to myself, ‘This just isn’t right,’” Shemin-Roth recalls, her voice still twitching with irritation some six decades later at the unequal playing field. “There were something like 10 or 12 varsity teams for the men. What were we co-eds to do with our leisure time – really? Some of us were quite athletic. I know I loved to swim and ride horses. I was never on a team because there weren’t teams.”

The University of California Berkeley and Stanford had competed in the first intercollegiate women’s basketball in 1896 – less than four years after Dr. James Naismith invented the sport as “an indoor activity for overly aggressive young males during the harsh winter months.” Nevertheless, women’s basketball was slow to gain acceptance. In the half-century that followed the historic Cal-Stanford game, only a small number of in-stitutions introduced the sport, and many of those that did were all-women’s colleges – not co-ed institutions, where the term “gender equity” didn’t yet exist and where the mainstream struggled with the idea of wom-en, as journalist and historian Sally Jenkins described, “balancing their femininity with their athleticism.”

Shemin-Roth suggests, “Since (Utica College) was vigorously creating itself, I figured now was the time to introduce a sports program for women – even though I knew we would always be referred to as girls.”

After discouraging visits with several administrators – each of whom cited budgetary constraints and quickly turned her away – she made an appointment to speak with Dean Ralph Strebel. Strebel had two things going for him, Shemin-Roth reasoned to herself. One, he had the authority to overrule the other administrators and honor her request, and, two, he was known as some-thing of a progressive thinker on a range social issues.

Sitting face to face in the dean’s office, Shemin-Roth, with a determined but respectful reverence, made her case for a women’s athletic program. “I pointed out that Utica College had varsity and junior varsity teams for men that were managed by an athletic director with two assistants, but nothing for women,” she says. “He looked at me dumbfounded and said, ‘What do you mean noth-ing? There are municipal tennis courts, a nine-hole golf course, a skating rink. You can ride horses.’

“I said, ‘That’s not the point. We’re talking about teams that we can play on within and for the school,’” she continues. “One could see even this wonderfully progressive man didn’t understand the concept of women seriously playing sports.”

Unlike his colleagues who were quick to subtly shut down the conversation, Strebel appreciated the inequity that Shemin-Roth saw, even while he gave the student one reason after another why he couldn’t address it.

Shemin-Roth held her ground, and when the Dean asked her what sport she had in mind, she quickly sug-gested basketball, even though she had never played the sport, much less dribbled a basketball. “Equip-ment-wise, it was the most economical,” she explains. “After all, it just required a ball and two baskets.”

Strebel finally relented, and gave Shemin-Roth permission to start UC’s first women’s basketball team – and the school's first women’s team of any kind.

The Dean’s permission came with several condi-tions. First, Shemin-Roth would be responsible for assembling the team. Second, she would have to find a place to play and other teams to play against. Last, but not least, she would have to do all of this without any


funding for uniforms, transportation, or anything else for that matter.

However, Strebel left open a crack in the doorway to the future – a very important one, as history would have it – promising that if the team were to succeed, the College would fund it the following year. In a mo-ment, the stakes grew, and Shemin-Roth realized, if she didn’t already know, that she had a greater purpose than finding a new outlet for her leisure time. She seized the moment and the opportunity it presented.

“I was 20 years old, and had no doubts about any-thing,” she recalls. “We shook hands; it was a deal.”

From square oneThirteen women answered Shemin-Roth’s initial

call (several dropped out following the first practice). And she needed less than five minutes socializing in the student union to pitch and recruit Hank Scalise, a multi-sport athlete and captain of the men’s soccer team, to coach her newly minted team. Scalise recalls laughing, “Elsie was a real pepper pot. She had a way of letting you think you were volunteering, when you didn’t have much of a chance if you told her ‘no.’”

At that, Shemin-Roth had a roster of women who were brimming with excitement, energy, and sense of

purpose – even if they were short on basketball experi-ence. “I think there was only one of us, Jean Halladay, who had even shot a basket in her high school,” she says. “Hank had a tall order in front of him.”

Next, she visited athletic director Hank Varley, whom Strebel had asked to help the women locate uni-forms. In this case, “help” came in the form of a barrel of discarded men’s uniforms that sat in the corner of the athletics office. Since the men’s basketball tops were too revealing, Shemin-Roth settled for a batch of moth-eaten, wool soccer jerseys that were cut for men with athletic-builds, not for women nearly half their size. Undeterred, she accepted the offer, and put her creative energies to work.

She rescued from the barrel enough smaller sized basketball shorts, all of which had over-stretched elas-tic at the waist. Inside their residence hall at Watson Place, the team members repaired and tailored the tattered uniforms, rolling and sewing the sleeves to hide the holes.

“Sadly, the leather high top shoes were all too big, even with several pairs of socks. So we wore our own sneakers or saddle shoes, and called it good,” Shemin-Roth says.

UC women's basketball: generations then and now. (Left to right) Current head coach Michele Davis, Katie McGee ’12, Justine Karst ’12, Elsie Shemin-Roth ’50, founding head coach Hank Scalise ’51, Iris Davidson Schwartz ’53, Mallory Davis ’09, current assistant coach Britni Mohney, and Jessica Berry ’11.


The next order was finding a facility in which to practice. Surprising to no one, the gymnasium that hosted practices and games for the men’s basket-ball team was not available to the women. The team held its first practice in a Quonset hut, where, on the structure’s concrete floor, Scalise taught his charges the basics of dribbling. His and Shemin-Roth’s search for a more suitable venue initially landed them at the Utica YWCA, located a couple of blocks away from the women’s residence hall. The YW allowed the team to use their courts for free, but only after 9:00 p.m. so as not to disrupt the programming the organization sponsored for its members. Later, the team moved its practices and game to the Knights of Columbus gym, where Scalise negotiated better hours.

For better or naught, Shemin-Roth’s recruiting class yielded a largely blank canvas in terms of basketball credentials. Leepa, a Navy veteran, was the tallest of the lot at 5-foot-8. With the only other exception of Shemin-Roth, who stood 5-foot-5, the rest of the players were 5-foot-2 or 5-foot-3. These shortcomings were not lost on Scalise, who bore the task of creating a competitive team from a group that was as short on skill as it was size.

“I still have no clue why he gave so much of himself to help us,” Shemin-Roth says. “He taught us the right way, and he was as patient as they come. Everyone was given a chance, no matter what your ability was. In retrospect, that’s not saying too much.”

Starting with the basics “For probably the first week, all we focused on was

bouncing the ball so the ladies could get a feel for the basketball. Most of them had never even held one in their hands until then,” Scalise says.

After two weeks of practices that grew increasingly more intense, Scalise wanted to take a measure of his team’s progress. He called around to schedule the team’s first game. While very few other colleges had women’s teams, the local area provided several formi-dable opponents.

“Utica was a mill town. There were tremendous women’s teams that came out of those mills, but they were not varsity teams at a college,” Shemin-Roth says. “They were teams of girls who played together forever, and they had a lot of money behind them.”

First up, on January 9, 1950, was the Polish Legion of American Veterans (PLAV), a sponsored semi-pro-fessional team in Utica. Even before the opening tip, Shemin-Roth, who scored UC’s first bucket, realized her team was outclassed.

She recalls, “These long-legged Polish girls arrived in their own bus, with their own athletic director, wear-ing real women’s basketball uniforms and leather high top basketball shoes that fit. They were razor sharp. It was a total disaster. We were completely humiliated and physically beaten.”

Needless to say, the final score reflected as much.

Their own V-J Day They trudged on. “This was a very brave group of women,” Shemin-

Roth says. “When we got shellacked, they didn’t com-plain. Nobody turned around and said, ‘This is not for me. Women don’t do this. This is too hard.’ It was far more than learning the game and winning. It was an underlying principle here of accomplishment, and we weren’t taking no for an answer.”

To a person, they urged Scalise to push them harder and accelerate the learning curve. They practiced three or four times a week, with Scalise expanding the play-book with new pass and cut plays each practice. After practices, which ended shortly before midnight, the women would walk back to Watson Place, complete whatever schoolwork remained, and practice on their own in the residence hall.

“We had to learn fast, and we had to take a beat-ing. And we were always beaten up – bruised, tendons pulled because we didn’t know. Hank was teaching us reverse layups, and we got our legs twisted and dumped on the floor over and over again,” Shemin-Roth says.

Within a few weeks, Scalise scheduled a rematch with PLAV.

Final score: a more encouraging PLAV 22, UC 21. “They were so elated that it was like a victory at that

point,” Scalise says of his team.Scalise sought additional opponents. Soon, other

local semi-professional teams, including Utica Cutlery, as well as academic institutions like the Utica School of Commerce, Mohawk Valley Technical Institute, and some area high schools dotted the schedule. Road trips


outside of the city limits placed a particular emphasis on the customary trappings that the team was forced to forgo. In lieu of even the most modest van or bus, for example, the nine player-squad packed into Scal-ise’s 1936 Plymouth – two in the front passenger seat next to Scalise, four on the back seat, two on the floor, and tiny Jean Halladay sprawled across the car’s rear deck.

“We came to our games dressed in our uniforms under street clothing,” Shemin-Roth says. “After the game, we simply put our clothing back on over our uniform, piled back in Hank’s car, and went home.”

Their second-class citizenship was never more ap-parent than when they played on their home court, as the “preliminary game” before the men’s team. Bleach-ers that were typically filled beyond capacity during the men’s games, sat empty as the women played the first home games.

As the season went on, a small crowd of fans began to show up early for the “main event” and caught the end of the women’s game.

The team’s play continued to improve. Even while the losses mounted, the women’s desire and resolve never waned. Meanwhile, there was a growing buzz on campus for the winless team.

The noise rose to a crescendo as the women entered the final game of the season, carrying an 0-7 record into a gymnasium lined with spectators.

“We walked into the gym, and we didn’t know what all the commotion was,” Shemin-Roth says. “It was shocking to us – in our rotten old uniforms and our saddle shoes and our cockamamie everything. They stood. They applauded. People came to watch women play sports. We played hard, and by George we won.”

The victory caused a celebration that Scalise jokingly equates to V-J Day. A Tangerine reporter wrote in the following week’s newspaper, “The girl’s team was orga-nized just eight weeks ago, with the majority never hav-ing been on the basketball court. By diligent practice, patient coaching, Scalise produced a working team. With this type of teamwork and floor play displayed at this game, the girls posted a successful season.”

With proof in writing, the women had satisfied Dean Strebel’s challenge and collected on his promise of future funding.

“We had more than a successful season,” Shemin-Roth says. “We brought women’s sports to this won-derfully open school.”

Fixing the unfairness Scalise, who earned hall of fame-worthy credentials

as an athlete, says he could not be happier to enter UC’s athletic hall of fame for his part as the coach of the school’s first women’s athletic team – a privilege he rates ahead of any of his personal athletic achievements.

“I learned a lot just from being with the girls,” says Scalise, who has stayed in contact with the team mem-bers over all these years.


Scalise has attended several UC women’s basketball games in recent years. “Those kids are way faster than we were. I wouldn’t stand a chance,” he says, laughing at the thought of a cross-generational matchup.

“We never thought that it’d be at the level it is today,” he continues. “Maybe the girls did, but I didn’t. I’m sure Elsie thought it would.”

Sure enough, the current generation’s team has regu-larly competed for conference titles, has twice reached the NCAA championship tournament, and has placed athletes in All-American consideration. That success – as well as the success and opportunities that women student-athletes have enjoyed at UC over the past 60-plus years – was built on a bedrock-sturdy foundation laid by nine dedicated foremothers.

“To hear their story, it really adds a layer of perspec-tive to all the success we've had,” says Michele Davis, current women’s basketball coach and senior women’s athletics administrator. “Speaking with them, I know they are proud of where the program they started has come and just how exciting it is to be a Utica College athlete – whether you're male or female. They should be proud; they can take ownership of that."

Their trailblazing efforts helped set the stage for the advancement of women in sport, not only at Utica Col-lege, but across the country. While breaking down a gender barrier is no small cause, the legacy of the team and its movie-script story extends further.

For Shemin-Roth, a nurse, operator of an animal rescue shelter, and an internationally recognized humanitarian, the experience was a springboard to a lifetime of fighting inequality. Among her acts of service, she was a relief worker in two wars. During the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s, she volunteered her services for a year in Israel, providing relief to immigrant Ethiopian Jews, and later brought medical supplies into Ethiopia to help those who were too weak to be airlifted.

“The lack of fairness has always bothered me, wheth-er it be an animal that is hurt or neglected or a person who needs help in any way,” she says. “If I can fix the unfairness of life, I want to at least try to do that. And that has just spread from starting up the first women’s sports team.” ■

MoREWatch Elsie Shemin-Roth's induction speech at www.utica.edu/hof-wbt.

“If I can fix the unfairness of life,

I want to at least try to do that. And that has just spread from starting up the first women’s sports

team.”


Jim SpartanoA model of student-centeredness,

Jim Spartano mentored and in-spired thousands of students – both athletes and non-athletes – as both a coach and administrator over parts of five decades.

He joined UC in 1973 as head baseball coach, and later served stints as head coach for both the

men’s and women’s basketball teams. He had a win-ning record coaching both sports; most noteworthy, his baseball teams had only two sub-.500 seasons in his 17 seasons on the bench, capturing three ECAC Upstate championships.

In his 29 years as athletic director, the athletic department grew tremendously, now supporting 25 intercollegiate sports – including 14 new sports since 2000, more than 50 coaches and administrative staff members, and 640 student-athletes. Moreover, he was a driving force behind the Empire 8 Conference’s nationally-recognized sportsmanship initiatives, and was among the most fervent ambassadors of the Divi-sion III philosophy and values.

Under his leadership, the UC athletic program earned national attention for the integrity with which its teams compete and the principles in which the program is rooted.

Keith Walker ’85

Keith Walker was a cornerstone of UC’s first Division I men’s bas-ketball recruiting class, and is the only UC student-athlete found in the NCAA Division I record books.

Walker helped guide the Pioneers to a then-best 15-win season in 1985, including victories against multiple eventual postseason teams.

During that season, he recorded a 71.3 field goal per-centage, which led the country and, to this day, is the

third best single-season percentage in NCAA Division I history. Over his four season, he shot 62.8 percent, tops in school history.

A Philadelphia native and former member of the Benjamin Franklin High School 1981 city champion-ship team, Walter is also one of only 12 players in UC history to score 1,000 points in a men’s basketball career.

Jessica Berry ’11

Jessica Berry concluded her col-lege basketball career in rarefied air. She is one of only 11 players in Division III history to reach at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. Following her senior season, she was named to the 2011 Women’s Basketball Coaches Asso-ciation All-American team, which honors the top 10 players across

all of Division III women’s basketball – a pool that includes nearly 450 teams.

As well, she was a finalist for the Jostens Trophy, awarded to the national player of the year, and was recognized as Division III Upstate Player of the Year, East Region Player of the Year, and a D3Hoops.com All-American.

Berry was a two-time Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year – 2010 and 2011 – and a four-time all-confer-ence first team selection.

The Rome, NY native finished her career at Utica College with a school-record 2,111 points and 1,065 rebounds. She helped the Pioneers to four consecutive Empire 8 tournament appearances, two conference titles, a program-best 22-7 record in 2010, and two NCAA tournament berths.

Pioneer Hall of Fame Class of 2012


In most people's minds, liv-ing without a limb means

limiting one's expectations. Apparently Katie Maneen '13

never got the memo.Maneen was born with a

missing fibula in her right leg. She underwent a below-the-

knee amputation at 11 months and has been walking with a

prosthesis ever since. It clearly hasn't held her back.

A member of the women's track and field team since her ar-

rival at UC this past January, she is now preparing for the

U.S. Paralympic trials in late June. In April, at the Mt. SAC

Relays, she took bronze in both of her races and set a new per-

sonal record in the 200 meter. She sounds confident about her

prospects, but this is not mere bravado – rather, it springs

from a much deeper place. “I think because I've had this

disability all my life; it's who I am,” she says. “I've always just

been Katie, and this just hap-pens to be who Katie is.” Maneen was an athlete in

high school, playing volley-ball, softball, soccer, and golf,

but the possibility of being a competitive runner never oc-

curred to her until she was at Herkimer County Commu-

nity College and met a young man – a double amputee – on

an opposing track and field team. “He was just incredible.

He ran. He did long jump. And he told me, ‘You should get a

running leg.’” Para-athletes have been us-

ing prosthetic running legs – such as the Flex-Foot – for

years. Maneen contacted a firm in Syracuse that was able

to fabricate one for her, and she began competing very shortly

thereafter. Up to that point she had been attending track and

field meets as a javelin thrower, sitting on the sidelines during

heats. Now that she had her running leg, her coach started

putting her into events. Initially, running was a

casual interest for Maneen. “I just got into it because I

thought it would be something different. It was something ex-

tra for me to do rather than sit-ting around waiting to throw,”

she says. When it was sug-gested to her that she should

try out for the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field team, she was

hesitant. “I didn't do anything for a

couple of weeks. Then I finally decided to email the repre-

sentative at the Paralympic committee. I thought, if any-

thing happens, it happens. Within 24 hours she emailed

me back, telling me to come to the national championships.

It all just happened very, very quickly, and it's been an awe-

some experience,” she says. Her first Paralympic meet

was at the national champion-ships in Miramar, FL in June

2011, just following her gradu-ation from community col-

lege, and it was a strong start. She took second place in the

200 meter and third place in the 100.

That fall Maneen transferred to Oswego State, intending to

compete on their track and field team, but it wasn't a good fit for

her. She had trouble connect-ing with the coaching staff and

consequently sat out the semes-ter. That's when she considered

UC's program. “I wanted to come here to study communi-

cation arts, so I sent [Track and Field Coach] Jason Rose this

longwinded email telling him my story. Within a day he had

set me up for a campus visit and meetings with admissions

and with him and [Assistant Coach] Eric Parker. It was just

an instant connection. I knew I

No Limits.Katie Maneen ’13 sets her

sights on the 2012 London Paralympics


had to be here,” she says. From the moment Maneen

arrived at UC, Parker was im-pressed by her motivation. “She had a mature mental-

ity about her. When she came in, I knew she would be a hard

worker and a good leader on the squad,” he says. Parker's focus on forward

progress resonates with Ma-neen. It serves as a kind of

motto as she works to improve her times in preparation for

the Paralympic trials. But even with that immediate goal, she

takes the long view. “I would love to go to Lon-

don for the games. If I don't, they have world champion-

ships in January, so I would love to make the team for that.

Long term, there's 2016 in Rio,” she says. While competitive running

occupies something close to center stage in Maneen's life,

it has not come at a cost to her academic work, according to

her adviser, Assistant Profes-sor of Communication Arts

Carol Downing. “Katie is truly an exceptional young woman,

as a student, an athlete and as a human being. She is one

of those dream students who comes to her education with

motivation, common sense, and intelligence. As an advi-

see, I would like to place an order for two dozen more just

like her,” says Downing. “Professor Downing is in-

credible,” Maneen says. “The support she's given me is just

out of this world. She's my number one cheerleader be-

side my parents. She was even watching the live Web feed

when I was competing in Cali-fornia. That I can get that kind

of support from someone I've known for a matter of weeks is

just so touching.”

Never an attention-seeker, Maneen is accepting of the

occasional spotlight being directed at her. She has been

profiled in print and on tele-vision and, as a consequence,

receives Facebook messages, emails, and letters from view-

ers and readers who find her story compelling. And while

she doesn't set out to be an ex-ample to others, neither does

she shrink from it.

“I received one message from the mother of a six-

year-old boy who was born the same way I was. She told

me showing her son what I've been able to do has given them

both hope for his future. So I am honored if someone looks

at me as an inspiration. I just don't want them putting me

on a pedestal or anything,” she says.

She, in turn, draws inspira-tion from the fact that she is

sharing the track with some of her sport's most accomplished

athletes, such as April Holmes, who holds the world record in

the 100, 200, and 400 meter events. It sometimes makes her

wonder how it is possible that she – a young woman from

Frankfort, NY, who just start-ed running a year and a half

ago – can find herself compet-ing in such lofty company.

“I'm blessed to be who I am,” Maneen says. “Do I wish

it was different? Sometimes. But I don't have any reason

to feel sorry for myself, and no one else has any reason to

feel sorry for me. I mean, two feet would be great, but I like

having one. It works for me. I wouldn't change it”

“I've always just been Katie,

and this just happens to be

who Katie is.”


Men’s soccer team captain Jeff Kassouf ’12 was pro-filed in NCAA Champion Magazine and on ncaa.org for his work – in the press box. The defender/midfielder and journalism major has developed an extensive portfolio covering women’s soccer. Kassouf has covered the sport for Sports Illustrated, ESPN W, and Fox Sports. He also created and maintained his own women’s soccer website, EqualizerSoccer.com, and wrote a book, Girls Play Soccer to Win. He is now working as a producer for NBCOlympics.com, and will be covering the upcoming Summer Game in London.

Track runner Joe Pruckno ’12 became UC’s first three-time All-American, earning an automatic selec-tion with a sixth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Champion-ships, which were held in May in Claremont, CA. It was the fourth NCAA appearance for the former ju-nior college national champion in his two years at UC.

UC and Hamilton College competed in the 25th Jackie Robinson game on April 11. The tradition dates back to 1987, when the backyard rivals began celebrat-ing the memory of Robinson, the hall of famer who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 while a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, during the annual game. Former Tuskegee Airman Herb Thorpe threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game, which UC won 13-11 in extra innings.

Tim Coffman ’12 was named to the U.S. College Hockey Online East Region All-American Team. The two-year team captain concluded his college career as UC’s all-time scoring leader. He is just the second UC men’s hockey player to receive All-American recogni-tion, joining Jimmy Sokol ’05. Coffman has signed a professional contract with the Greenville Road War-riors of the ECHL.

Sideline Report


Class NotesScored a new job or promotion? Tied the knot? Been spotted with a Baby on Board sign in the window? Do tell. Send your news for Class Notes to Pioneer magazine, Utica College, 1600 Burrstone Road, Utica, NY 13502-4892, e-mail [email protected], or visit UC’s online alumni community at www.pioneerstation.com.

1950Paul M. Ganeles, Rye, NY, retired af-ter 62 years working as an accountant.

1952Vincent A. DeIorio, Port Chester, NY, in 1999 was appointed to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and designated by Governor Pataki to serve as the chairman the fol-lowing year, which continued until 2011. Currently he is serving as, per Governor Cuomo’s request, a commissioner on the newly created Joint Commission on Public Integrity (JCOPE).

1952Richard A. Whitaker, Mt Pleasant, SC, was one of 19 World War II veterans honored during a commemoration of the 70th anniversary

of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The veterans also visited the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where 15 Marines from their company are buried.

1954Frank. H. Gru-enewald, Marcy, NY, received the North Utica Senior Citizens Community Center’s Community Service Award.

1958J. Michael Lougran Jr., Goshen, NY, was part of the IBM team that won PRWeek’s 2012 Campaign of the Year for its Wat-son computer on Jeopardy campaign.Albert S. Mazloom, Hartford, NY, was named 2012 Business Person of the Year by the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce.

1961Howard W. Bushinger, Utica, NY, authored a book titled North Utica – A Look Back in Time. Copies are available through the Oneida County

Historical Society.

Michael B. Levine, Boynton Beach, FL, and his wife, Myra, are anxiously anticipating the birth of their fifth grandchild, by way of their daughter who resides in Israel.

1963Rachel H. Netzband, Syracuse, NY, is a mathematics instructor at Mor-risville State College.

1965Rodger P. Potocki, New Hartford, NY, wrote a political memoir/histori-cal book titled From the Inside.

1996Jennifer A. Barillo, Lake Ariel, PA, owns Access Design, a home modi-fication and accessibility consulting company.

1968Barry Roth, Montgomery, NY, pub-lished his fourth book, The College Student’s Companion.

1971Jean B. Davis, Utica, NY, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utica/Oneida County Branch of the NAACP.Anthony J. Talerico, New Hartford, NY, was appointed vice president of marketing and business development at the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Utica.

1972David J. Bonacci, Utica, NY received an Award for Preservation of Historic Properties from the Landmarks Soci-ety of Greater Utica. David B. Kiner, Clinton, NY, was named associate professor of manage-ment and executive director of busi-ness and economics at Utica College.

1973Anthony J. Spiridigloizzi, New Hartford, NY, was named president of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute.Philip G. Vanno, Jr., Utica, NY, is the labor relations specialist for the City of Utica.

1974William Grammati-cas, Randolph, NJ, was elected president of the New Jersey Chapter of Financial Executives Interna-tional. In addition, he serves on the

board of the Morris-Essex Chapter for Management Accountants. William was also spotted at Super Bowl XLVI with Pat Helbach ’74, holding a sign “UC 74.”

1975James A. Murphy, Burnt Hills, NY, was appointed chief of staff for the mayor of Utica.

1976Robert E. Baber, Westmoreland, NY, was appointed marketing director for Fiber Instrument Sales.Lisa A. Crabtree, Lutherville Timonium, MD, earned a Ph.D. in occupational therapy from Nova Southeastern University, and is on a tenure track at Towson University, teaching courses on children, youth, and autism. She is also the director of research for the TU Center for Adults with Autism.James E. Roman, Oriskany, NY, retired from the Utica National Insur-ance Group after 26 years of service as operations manager.

1979Sylvia B. Liebers, Schenectady, NY, is a board certified genetic counselor at Genetic Counseling Services.Charles D. Spinelli, Frankfort, NY, was named director of information technology at Slocum-Dickson Medi-cal Group.

1980Linda M. Randulfe, Williamsburg, VA, received an Emmy award from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of informational/ instruc-tional programs for the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip The Bill of Rights.

1981John P. Casellini, Albany, NY, re-ceived the Raymond Simon Institute for Public Relations and Journalism at Utica College 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award.Jesse D. DeGroodt, Chatham, NY, was re-elected town supervisor for the Town of Chatham. Jesse also works as a marketing representative for The Mac-Haydn Theatre, and writes fea-ture stories for the Chatham Press.Robert C. Flaherty, Croton-on-Hud-son, NY, is senior partner and presi-dent at Ketchum, which was named the Public Relations and Marketing Agency of the Year.Gary F. Grates, Carmel, NY has joined WCGC, the newly formed par-ent company of the independent firm WCG. As a member of the senior leadership team, he will be respon-sible for building the firm’s global capabilities in areas such as change management, corporate positioning, employee engagement, and labor management.Randall M. Moore, Fredonia, NY, received the 2012 President’s Award for Excellence from the State Univer-sity at Fredonia for excellence in work performance. He is a lieutenant for the New York State University Police at State University at Fredonia.

1983David B. Armon, New York, NY, was named president of the Critical Men-tion unit of Critical Media.Richard Evans, Whitesboro, NY, was named assistant nurse manager for Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare.

1984Brian W. Johnson, Manlius, NY, earned Certified Fraud Examiner des-ignation at Dannible and McKee LLP.

1985Stephen M. Romanow, New Hart-ford, NY, was named an officer of the Utica National Insurance Group.

1986Heidemarie U. Echtermann-To-ribio, Tenafly, NJ, was recognized as one of the Leading Ladies of Business at 38th Annual YWCA of the City of New York Salute Luncheon. The


award is presented to women who inspire leadership and dedication to building an agenda focused on positively affecting the experience of women in industry.Luke A. Lambert, Cross River, NY, was promoted to the expanded role of president and chief executive officer of Gibbs and Soell Inc.

1989Angelo A. Aiello, Herkimer, NY, was promoted to assistant vice president at Utica National Insurance Group.

1990Lee Rankins, San Diego, CA earned his master’s degree from the Uni-versity of Phoenix. He is manager of e-commerce sales for Staples Inc.

1991Kimberly J. Gavagan, Mendham, NJ, joined Chubb Personal Insurance as internal communications manager.Jeffrey D. Pinard, Baldwinsville, NY, joined Homestead Financial as vice president of retail lending.

1992Michelle M. Droll, Cuyahoga, Ohio, exhibited Michelle Droll: Landslide/Between a Rock and a Place at the Akron Art Museum.

1993Eugenia A. Walters, Oriskany, NY, retired from Oneida County BOCES after 31 years of service.

1994Matthew D. Waddell, Marbleton, GA, was installed as chairman of the board of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Georgia Inc.Scott H. Truax, Sugar Hill, GA, attended the Turner Construction’s Subcontractor Appreciation Din-ner representing Middle Georgia Concrete Constructions Inc., and received the Outstanding Subcontrac-tor Performance Award for Turner Construction’s southeast region.

1995Leslie M. Abrew, Fort Lee, NJ, is in her sixth year of work as an elementa-ry school principal. She also provides mentoring to organizations like Teach for America (TFA) and Aspiring Principals at Columbia University.

1997Elizabeth Snyder Fortino, Utica, NY, is president of the Oneida County Bar Association.

1998Dennis C. Webster, Clinton, NY, published his new book Wicked Mohawk Valley.

1999Aida A. Mariani, Clinton, NY, was named the director of communica-tions and development at The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter.

2002Adnan Cemer, Liverpool, NY, joined the internal medicine department at Slocum-Dickson Medical Group.

2003Cassaundra Baber, New Hartford, NY, was named marketing and com-munications officer for The Com-munity Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties.Calvin J. Fortune Jr., Syracuse, NY, was promoted to second lieutenant officer in the U.S. Army.Eric D. Ozanam, New Hartford,

NY, is an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton.

2004Heather Lawlor, Syracuse, NY, is a financial consultant with Advanced Financial Service.

2006Elizabeth M. Strodel, Syracuse, NY, received the Brian Bourke Award for Best New Artist at the Syracuse Area Music Awards. Her album Nights and Weekends is available on iTunes.

2007Joseph E. Stabb, Syracuse, NY, re-ceived the 40 under 40 recognition.

2008Adam J. Lawless, Utica, NY, is the community engagement and commu-nications manager for the United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica Area,

2011Michael T. Bohne, Albany, NY, was named public relations coordinator at Gramercy Communications.Lauren M. Ludlow, Clayville, NY, is a risk management and insurance trainee at Gilroy Kernan and Gilroy.

Weddings and Anniversaries1950Alex P. Dudajek and his wife, Helen, celebrated their 65th wedding an-niversary on December 11, 2011.

1953Bernard S. Hein and his wife, Marilyn, Silver Spring, MD, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary June 1, 2012.

1961Donald C. Daniels and Benjamin A. DeIorio ’62, Remsen, NY, were mar-ried on October 16, 2012.

1962Benjamin A. DeIorio and Donald C. Daniels ’61, Remsen, NY, were mar-ried on October 16, 2012.

1975E. Daniel Powers and his wife, Julee Arbuckle, Oklahoma City, OK, were married on May 21, 2011.

1977Sylvia C. Guarini and her husband, Joseph, Rome NY, celebrated their 50th anniversary on November 18, 2011.

2002John M. Griffin and Erica L. Jones, Mercellus, NY, were married on July 2011.Laura S. Werler and Paul J. Werler, East Moriches, NY, were married on September 18, 2009.

2003Aaron M. Kahler and Sharon M. Maddock, New York, NY, were mar-ried on October 8, 2011.

2005Julie M. Sarafin and Salvatore P. Acquaviva, Ilion, NY, were married on October 15, 2011.

2006Catherine E. Touron and Ryan D. Touron ’07, Jamestown, NY, were married on August 6, 2011.

2007Ryan D. Touron and Catherine E. Touron ’06, Jamestown, NY, were married on August 6, 2011.

2008Adam J. Lawless and Don Shipman, Utica, NY, were married on October 8, 2011.

Dana M. Smith and Ronald F. Ely, Ava, NY, were married in September 2011.

2010Maura M. Jones and Adam J. Davis, Rome, NY, were married on July 16, 2011.

Class Notes continued


Births and Additions1950Paul M. Ganeles and his wife, Joan Merdinger, Rye, NY, welcomed their great-grandchild, Annie.

1977John E. Konyak and his wife, Lynn M. Konyak ’78, Whitesboro, NY, celebrated the birth of their first grandchild.

1993Susan M. Finkst and her husband, Joseph, Little Falls, NY, had a son on February 2, 2012.

1999Leonard L. Morgan III and his wife, Opal, Roxbury, MA, had a daughter, Aliyah Rebecca, on October 14, 2011.Melissa L. Milham-Wilkosz and her husband, Michael J. Wilkosz ’00, Whitesboro, NY, had a daughter.

2000LaToya D. Jordan and her husband, Bijoun, Brooklyn, NY, had a daughter, Billie Evelyn Jordan.

Michael J. Wilkosz and his wife, Melissa L. Milham-Wilkosz ’99, Whitesboro, NY, had a daughter.

2002Laura S. Werler and her husband, Paul, East Moriches, NY, had a son, Andrew Martin, on August 30, 2010.

2003Alicia E. Grant G’05, and her husband, Todd, Clay, NY, had a daughter, Layla Grace Grant, on December 8, 2011.

Gerald E. Sangiacomo and his wife, Christina, Watervliet, NY, had a son, Brayden James, on August 26, 2009.

Gina L. Sangiacomo ’03 and her husband, Michael Sangia-como ’05, Utica, NY, had a son, Marco Daniel, on October 28, 2010.

2004Anthony J. Fus, Jr. and his wife, Lauren, North Port, FL, had a son, Harrison James.

2005Michael Sangiacomo

and his wife, Gina L. Sangiacomo ’03, Utica, NY, had a son, Marco Daniel, on October 28, 2010.

2007Geoffrey W. Brandt and his wife, Melissa, Lancaster, PA, had a daugh-ter, Elliot Renee, on February 4, 2012.

Griffin A. Reid and his wife, Allison E. Reid ’07, Syracuse, NY, had a son, James Fraver Reid, on April 26, 2012.

In MemoriamMichael J. Colacicco ’49, Utica, NY, November 28, 2011.Ford Bongard ’49, Cliffside Park, NJ, May 9, 2011.John F. Edwards ’50, Albany, NY, May 11, 2011.Robert J. Gerstner ’50, Liverpool, NY, October 4, 2011.Gordon Kilts ’50, Queensbury, NY, October 25, 2011.Edward M. Olesky ’50, Basking Ridge, NJ, October 4, 2011.Edward Drake ’51, Carteret, NJ, January 1, 1999.James M. McEvoy ’51, West Melbourne, FL, September 19, 2011.William M. Rettie ’51, Canandaigua, NY, October 30, 2011.Edna Stappenbeck ’51, Utica, NY, December 31, 2011.Arthur E. Kirchheimer ’52, La Jolla, CA, March 27, 2011.Albert W. Spindler ’52, Metairie, LA, January 17, 2012.Robert J. Hawkins ’53, Ormond Beach, FL, November 7, 2011.Robert P. Moran, Sr. ’53, New Hartford, NY, November 11, 2011.Morton Ross ’53, Brevard, NC, August 2, 2010.Arnold C. Craig ’54, Bozeman, MT, January 7, 2011.Robert J. Hoffman ’54, Ilion, NY, June 27, 2010.

Salvatore Alberico ’55, Whitesboro, NY, January 27, 2012.Robert L. Hardy ’55, Bossier, LA, November 28, 2009.Thomas F. Hellenack ’55, Herkimer, NY, March 9, 2012.Ronald A. Esposito ’56, Fairport/Utica, NY, November 1, 2011.William T. Pope, Jr. ’56, Indian Harbor Beach, FL, July 24, 2005.Richard F. Tedesco ’56, Orange City, FL, December 8, 2011.George Massoud ’57, Utica, NY, December 5, 2011.Beverly F. Bissell ’58, Orlando, FL, November 7, 2011.Frank R. Dastoli ’58, Asheville, NC, December 8, 2011.Marie Terese Kelly ’58, Little Falls, NY, November 29, 2011.Donald W. Sypek ’58, Utica, NY, October 5, 2011.Brenda V. Engleman ’59, Baltimore, MD, November 29, 2010.Ellen L. Mc Lean ’59, DeWitt, NY, January 24, 2012.John C. Rich, Sr. ’59, New Hartford, NY, March 28, 2012.Fred C. Wilson ’61, Cocoa Beach, BL, October 16, 2011.Donald Sheehan ’63, Berlin, CT, May 21, 2010.George A. Via ’63, Utica, NY, November 27, 2011.

Anthony V. Angelichio ’64, Ilion, NY, March 12, 2012.Gary A. Slaboc ’64, Little Falls, September 26, 2011.Edward J. Conte ’65, Ocean View, DE, March 8, 2012.Wanda B. Finkle ’65, New York Mills, NY, October 17, 2011.Melvin Granik ’65, San Benito, TX, December 29, 2010.Robert L. Anderson ’66, Flat Rock, NC, October 6, 2011.Richard K. Lewis ’66, Portland, OR, August 17, 2011Barbara H. Granik ’67, San Benito, TX, December 20, 2010.Anthony P. Mattia ’68, Utica, NY, January 15, 2012.Bruce W. Archibald ’69, Lenox, MA, March 25, 2012.Irene R. Ewing ’69, Tallahassee, FL, October 14, 2007.James R. Loosman ’70, Oneida, NY, December 24, 2011.Frank R. Degni ’71, Utica, NY, November 26, 2011.Timothy P. Fitzgerald ’71, Waterville, NY, October 23, 2011.Francis J. Mazurowski ’72, Utica, NY, December 7, 2011.Keith A. Lockwood ’73, Whitesboro, NY, October 25, 2011.Dolores R. Gentile ’74, Rome, NY, December 14, 2011.

Joyce V. Hadity ’74, Utica, NY, October 16, 2011.Ronald G. Smith ’75, Calexico, CA, April 11, 2011.Lawrence J. Fallon ’77, Utica, NY, February 27, 2012.Ellyn S. Found ’77, Iowa City, IA, August 23, 2011.Anthony A. Iannone ’77, New Hartford, NY, February 3, 2012.Michael J. Nackley ’78, New Hartford, October 13, 2011.Wava L. Wall ’79, Rome NY, November 26, 2011.Daniel J. Cozza ’81, Yorkville, NY, March 13, 2012.Judith M. Murray ’82, Camden, NY, March 2, 2012.Mark E. Barry ’83, Rome, NY, April 13, 2012.Stanley J. Karwowski ’83, Schenectady, NY, June 24, 2011.Sebastian C. McCorkle ’87, Yonkers, NY, December 25, 2011.Karen L. Baker Robinson ’90, Remsen, NY, November 30, 2011. Ronald J. Miers ’96, Berlin, CT, January 12, 2012.Deborah C. Prue ’98, New Hartford, January 4, 2012.

Faculty and staff who have passedAndy Lazarek, campus safety officer, May 1, 2012

Class Notes continued

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