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Fond Farewell
As associate vice president for Alumni Relations for nearly five
years, I have enjoyed meeting thousands of loyal alumni around the
world and working with an outstanding staff to provide the services
and programs that keep our alumni connected. Together, we have started
new alumni clubs, launched the Orange Grove, and expanded such offerings
as our online alumni directory and permanent e-mail forwarding.
I
have always welcomed new challenges and experiences, especially
when they pertain to furthering the University’s mission. While
my time in the Office of Alumni Relations has been a very special
part of my 20 years in higher education advancement, the opportunity
to work for SU’s College of Arts and Sciences was one I could
not pass up. As the college’s new associate dean of advancement,
I am very pleased to work with Dean Cathryn Newton and her staff.
And as an alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences, I look forward
to helping make the college even stronger by coordinating a strategic
plan that includes fund raising and outreach for alumni and students. Syracuse University remains committed to keeping its alumni a vibrant part of campus life. Your status as alumni brings with it many privileges and responsibilities, and I am personally counting on each of you to stay involved, stay connected, and give back to the University community. Thank you for your partnership in working toward the betterment of SU.
Lil
Breul O’Rourke ’77
Staying in
Touch |
Keith
Gatling ’81, G’87 will never forget the day he arrived
on campus—or the way University Avenue looked with a mile-long
orange stripe running down its center. In the past, scores of freshmen
have been greeted by the sight, painted by members of the Goon Squad
the day before new students arrived. “It was a path to campus
and a fun way to make sure no one would get lost,” says Gatling,
a member of the student organization from 1975-81. The
orange stripe is just one of many ways the Goon Squad has assisted
incoming students over the years. Created in 1944 by the Traditions
Commission, the squad is best known for helping freshmen move into
their residence halls. “I remember the Goons charging up to
our car in their bright orange shirts, yelling ‘Welcome, welcome,’
when we pulled up to the dorm on my first day,” says Lori Zisk
Rosner ’76, G’77, who later became known as “Mama
Goon” for her leading role in the organization. For Naomi Weinberg
’03, being part of the Goon Squad was about meeting new people,
making friends, and giving back to the University community. “I
was nervous and scared on my first day at SU, but the Goons made
me feel at home,” she says. “I wanted to get involved
and help others the same way.” In
addition to helping students move in, the group was originally intended
to enforce the wearing of freshman beanies, which enabled upperclassmen
to spot the newcomers and offer them help. Beanies became obsolete
in the ’70s, but the Goons continued to spread school spirit
throughout campus during Opening Week and at football games, where
they led placard cheers. Members also performed in the annual Goon
Show, a parody of freshman year told through skits and original
student music. “The Goon Show had a song or an act for almost
everything, from saying goodbye to your parents to doing laundry,”
says Gatling, who composed many of the show’s songs and directed
it for three years as an undergraduate student. The
Goon Squad of today no longer produces a show, leads cheers, or
paints the road orange, but its mission is still the same: to welcome
incoming students to Syracuse University and to help them feel at
home. And the Goons are busier than ever. Membership has jumped
from approximately 200 in 2000 to more than 400 in 2003, the result
of increased involvement on the part of student organizations across
campus. In addition to assisting with the move-in process, this
year Goons helped with such Opening Week events as the Chancellor’s
Convocation, bus trips to the New York State Fair, Lunch on the
Turf in the Carrier Dome, Orangefest 2003, and Late Night at the
Gym. “Members of the Goon Squad have a strong sense of Orange
pride,” says Mariana Lebron, director of orientation and transitions
services. “Their excitement and enthusiasm fosters school spirit
and a sense of belonging among new students.” —Kate
Gaetano
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Hope through Hospice Perhaps nowhere is the interdisciplinary nature of the human services and health professions more evident—and more relevant—than for those who work with people who are terminally ill.
In his role
as manager of spiritual care and bereavement services for Visiting
Nurse Service of New York Hospice Care, Vincent Corso G’96
is part of a team that includes medical care professionals, social
workers, and spiritual care providers—all working together
to help people who are dying to do so in comfort and with dignity.
“Hospice offers terminally ill people choices at the end of
life,” Corso says. “We help our patients feel at home
with themselves, with their illness, and with the uncertainty and
unfamiliarity that accompanies the process of dying. We help facilitate
saying good-bye.” A former Catholic
priest who received a master of social work degree from SU, Corso
is responsible for the training and clinical supervision of eight
full-time staff members, including chaplains who provide spiritual
care for people who are dying, and bereavement counselors who offer
emotional support for grieving families. “We may help patients
reconnect with their spiritual selves, provide counseling, or serve
as a resource for tackling such existential questions as ‘Why
is this happening to me?’” he says. Corso must also
be aware of the emotional toll that such work can have on the staff.
Because of this, he meets regularly with staff members, watching
for signs of needed support. “It’s especially important
for people in this field to celebrate,” he says. “We need
a source of replenishment, something beautiful, whether we find
it in relationships, the arts, or in nature. It’s important
to have a life outside our work—a source of joy.” Corso, now married to School of Education alumna Christine Maloof Corso G’96 and the father of two young children, says his family provides him with a sense of delight that helps him avoid the burnout that can result from hospice work. “I love this work, and I wish more people were aware of it,” he says. “Spirituality in hospice care is about journeying with patients and family members, helping them to recognize their capacity for transcendence, and cultivating their awareness that we all are part of a spiritual reality within and among ourselves.” —Amy Speach Shires |
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Born to Teach Charline Barnes ’82 is not one of those people who spends a lifetime searching for a calling. She knew she wanted to teach while she was still a teenager.
“My education
career started when I was a paid tutor in a peer tutoring program
at Bay Ridge High School in Brooklyn,” says Barnes, an associate
professor of literacy education at Adelphi University in Garden
City, New York. “Of course, the wonderful teachers I had at
school and church also influenced me.” Barnes came
to Syracuse under the University’s early admission program
on the advice of a guidance counselor. “I was a little intimidated
and had to adjust socially to a private, predominantly white institution,”
she says. “But I survived with support from my professors and
other minority students.” While studying for a B.A. degree
in English education and psychology at SU, she worked as a volunteer
reading tutor and as a student teacher at Syracuse public schools.
“I discovered that about a third of my junior high school students
could not proficiently read or write. I had to become a reading
specialist,” she says. Following graduation, she earned an
M.A. degree in reading education at George Washington University.
Barnes spent
the next decade teaching in the Washington, D.C., area, though,
she says, “I was shocked to discover how little teaching paid.”
Despite this, her interest in education continued to grow. In 1995,
she received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her dissertation, “Against
All Odds: The Natural History of an Alternative-Adult High School,”
drew on her teaching experience with former high school dropouts.
Since that time,
Barnes has waged a lifelong battle against illiteracy and subliteracy
as a teacher of teachers. She served as director of the reading
clinic at the University of Northern Iowa, where she was a professor
of curriculum and instruction. A member of the International Reading
Association’s board of directors, she has published widely
in her field and recently broadened the scope of her writing with
two books: Life Narratives of African Americans in Iowa (Arcadia,
2001) and Iowa’s Black Legacy (co-authored with Floyd
Bumpers, Arcadia, 2000). Named a 2002-03
Fulbright Scholar in residence at the University of the West Indies,
Barbados, Barnes offered a course that was attended by teachers
from several Caribbean nations. The course examined the African,
Asian, and European influences on the region’s language and
culture, with a focus on implications for contemporary teachers.
She was also honored by her election to the board of directors of
the International Reading Association, a professional organization
that promotes literacy throughout the world. “Too many
experienced teachers are leaving the field because of poor work
conditions and public backlash,” she says. “We, as a society,
need to continue to identify, recognize, and empower veteran teachers,
as well as new ones, so they can be there for the students. I hope
I can assist teachers by means of networking, collaboration, and
intellectual vitality—the same things I have found in my professional
journey.” —David Marc |
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A Commitment to Giving University Trustee Dan Mezzalingua ’60 is the kind of alumnus most schools dream about.
In awarding
him the Dean’s Citation for Exceptional Service in 2002 from
the School of Management, Dean George Burman said, “Danny has
known success in every business arena he has entered. All the while,
his career has been guided by a commitment to old-fashioned honesty
and social responsibility. He personifies the values of entrepreneurship
and has shone The record justifies
such high praise on both accounts. When Mezzalingua became president
of Production Products Company (PPC), a Syracuse-based manufacturer
of coaxial cable connectors for the cable television industry, PPC
had 30 employees. When he retired from the position nearly two decades
later, its labor force had grown to 1,000, with offices and distribution
centers in California, Canada, and overseas locations on four continents.
Now an acquisitions
analyst for FTO, a venture capital company, Mezzalingua and his
wife Kathleen Damico ’62 make their home in Central New York.
They have six children and two grandchildren. During the years he
was building PPC into an international industrial force, he gave
generously of his time and energy to many Central New York community
institutions. He is past president of the board of trustees of the
Manlius (N.Y.) Pebble Hill School, and a board member of the Community
General Hospital Foundation, the Manufacturing Association of Central
New York, and the Metropolitan Development Association. He serves
on the parish council of St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church in
Manlius, and has headed the Parent Association of St. Lawrence University.
His activities
on behalf of Syracuse University include the Society of Fellows,
the Chancellor’s Council, and the School of Management Advisory
Council. He was elected to the University’s Board of Trustees
in 1999. A political science major who earned a B.A. degree from
the College of Arts and Sciences, Mezzalingua speaks with an evident
affection for his days on the Hill. “I took a lot of classes
in speech and was active in the debate club because I was fascinated
by the structuring of thought, which is necessary for effective
public speaking,” he says. “I got creamed in some of those
debates, but I developed a skill that’s been helpful to me
ever since. I also had a lot of fun in college. I was a member of
Sigma Phi Epsilon, which gave me some great lifelong friendships.”
Mezzalingua
currently serves on the search committee to replace Dean Burman,
who announced his retirement last spring. “The new management
building is just fantastic, and I’m hoping its completion will
provide the new dean with an opportunity to focus efforts on an
overall strengthening of the school’s M.B.A. program,”
he says. As a University
trustee, Mezzalingua was elected vice chair of the board in 2002
and his committee assignments include chairing the Board Nominating
Committee, which is charged with recruiting new members. “Buzz
Shaw has done a fabulous job and we are competing handsomely in
many areas, ” he says. “Now we want to build on that by
bringing in trustees who can challenge a new Chancellor to continue
to raise the University. I’m looking for ‘younger-than-me’
candidates. Youth is the key; it’s the lifeblood of any institution.”
The same can be said of alumni like Dan Mezzalingua—at any
age. —David Marc |
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