Class Notes
River Campus /Graduate
1960
George Stricker (PhD), a former dean and a distinguished research professor emeritus of psychology at Adelphi University, writes that Adelphi has established the George Stricker Fund to support undergraduates, graduates, and faculty of the university’s Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies.
1962
John Stroupe (PhD) has been appointed to the editorial advisory board of Explorations, a literary and research journal that’s been published since 1969 by the English department at Government College in Lahore, Pakistan.
1965
Kathi Cellura W (MA) sends an update. She’s an advocate for the arts in Venice, Fla., through her Kathleen F. Cellura Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. She writes that a Rochester Review article on classical keyboardist and composer Barbara Harbach ’81E (DMA) (September–October 2009) inspired her to collaborate with Venice Symphony maestro Kenneth Bowermeister to ensure that the 2010–11 season-ending pops concert, which she sponsored, included the work of a woman composer. In April, the symphony performed its season finale on the theme “American Legends” and included work by Gwyneth Walker, composer of more than 200 pieces for orchestra, chamber ensemble, chorus, and solo voice.
1966
Marty Dvorin (MS) writes that he celebrated his 88th birthday with two of his former students, graduates of Monroe (N.Y.) Community College’s optical systems technology program, who helped at the 2011 Photonics West Exposition in San Francisco last January. Celebrating with him were Mike Mandina, president of Optimax, and Jim Sydor, president of Sydor Instruments. “Since their leases have been extended for five years, they want to do it again in 2012! I live in Novato, Calif. My wife, Harriette Gandel Dvorin ’72W (Mas), died in 1992.”
1969
Robert Rich S (MBA), the chairman of Rich Products Corp., a food processing company based in Buffalo, has been elected chairman of the board of directors of Cleveland Clinic.
1972
Harriette Gandel Dvorin W (Mas) (see ’66).
1976
Jon Lawrence (PhD), a retired professor of physics at the University of California at Irvine, has coauthored a book, Violent Encounters: Interviews on Western Massacres (University of Oklahoma Press), with his wife, Deborah, a professor emerita of English at California State University at Fullerton.
1981
Steven Alcott S (MBA) has been promoted to vice president of the Utica National Insurance Group. He’s been with the company since 1983 and was most recently an assistant vice president.
1988
Stephen Kennedy (MS) has been named executive vice president of research and development at Mascoma, a New Hampshire biofuels company. . . . Mike Neer W (MS) has been recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches with its Outstanding Service Award. During his 34-year career at Rochester, from 1976 to 2010, he coached the Yellowjackets men’s team to 563 wins and 326 losses, 12 NCAA tournaments, four spots in the Final Four, and the 1990 NCAA Division III national championship.
1989
David Mason (PhD), a professor of English and codirector of the creative writing program at Colorado College, was designated poet laureate of Colorado last June. He also appeared on the PBS NewsHour reading selections from his 2007 novel-in-verse, Ludlow (Red Hen Press), about the Ludlow coal field massacre of 1914. A second edition of the book was released in 2010. . . . Greg Pinto S (MBA), the chief investment officer at Baystate Wealth Management, has been selected as a Boston 2011 Five Star Wealth Manager. The designation, bestowed on fewer than 3 percent of Boston-area wealth managers, is given by Five Star Professional, a company that researches client satisfaction records of service professionals, in partnership with Boston magazine.
1991
Chris Carosa S (MBA) writes that he has launched an e-zine, www.GreaterWesternNewYork.com. Designed for people who are visiting or who live in western New York, the e-zine highlights “hidden gems” and covers art, commerce, cuisine, history, sports, real estate, and nature.
1997
Bing Li (PhD) has been appointed to the board of the biopharmaceutical company China Biologic Products. He’s been an advisor at Warburg Pincus Asia since last June.
1999
Melanie Caoile S (MBA), the director of global creative solutions at Microsoft, was honored last January by the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation, a Seattle-based organization that fosters leadership and community-building among Asian Americans in the Pacific Northwest. At the foundation’s January Women of Color Empowered luncheon, Melanie was named one of 13 women of color in the region who have broken the glass ceiling in the technology field.
2001
Shannon Phillips Champion (MS) (see ’00 undergraduate).
2002
Dan Bartholomew (MS) (see ’01 undergraduate).
2004
Lisa Szefel (PhD), an assistant professor of history at Pacific University, has published a book, The Gospel of Beauty in the Progressive Era: Reforming American Verse and Values (Palgrave Macmillan).
2005
Jenica Schmidt Nuccitelli W (MS) (see ’04 undergraduate).
2010
James Sunser W (EdD) has been named president of Genesee Community College in Batavia, N.Y. James was most recently the vice president for continuing and extended learning at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse.
