Most of the recruiters who came to the Career Development Center's annual Employer Fair on September 18 knew exactly what our students are going through right now, since they were once here themselves. Of the 58 companies that recruited positions from all disciplines -- from accounting to human resources to management to health care -- one third included recruiters who are alumni of the University.

Left: Michelle Robbins '03 of PricewaterhouseCoopers talks to Paul Phelps '04, whom the company just hired to work in their Rochester, NY office. Right: Alan Piaker '74 of Piaker and Lyons answered questions and accepted resumes from job-hunting students.

The alumni were clearly impressed by our students. "They have a lot of experience," remarked Stefany Meier '99 of Friedman, Alpren & Green, LLP, an accounting firm. "They are very professional and well spoken," said her coworker Marc Belard '01.

"We're always excited to come back to Binghamton. The quality of the students is exceptional," said Joe Maturando '96, representing Ernst & Young. "It's one of our top schools nationwide to recruit from."

"We are thrilled to see all of the great organizations represented, "said Dariusz Lozny, the employer fair chairperson from Delta Sigma Pi, the accounting honor society that cosponsored the event. "We are especially pleased that so many alumni came back to recruit at their alma mater. The turnout, both of students and employees was better than expected."

For some recruiters, the thrill came from being on the other side of the resume. After spending last Spring as an intern at Cleaner's Supply in Conklin, NY, Albert Wang '03 attended at the Fair -- this time representing the company as an employee.

For Michelle Tillapaugh '02, being at this year's Employer Fair felt like she had come full circle. An executive team leader at Target in Vestal, she applied for the job she has now at last year's Employer Fair. She is now preparing to move to Poughkeepsie to open a new Target there, which she will help manage.

"It's almost surreal being here," she said. "It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was a student. Now I have an idea of what they're looking for, and I wonder, 'wow, that was me?'"

Click here for photos of the event.

photo credit: V. Tony Hauser

Molly Peacock '69, an internationally recognized poet, read from her works when she came to campus Sept. 23 as the third annual Milton Kessler Distinguished Poetry Reader for the Creative Writing Program's Fall 2003 Readers' Series. The Readers' Series brings well-known poets to campus each fall, in memory of poet and BU professor Milton Kessler. Peacock is the author of five volumes of poetry, president emeritus of the Poetry Society of America, founder of the Poetry in Motion project, and poet-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and BU grad. To read some of her poems, and to find links to Peacock's home page and to an interview of her, go to http://english.binghamton.edu/readers-series/Fall%202003/Peacock.htm .

James Ojala MA '71, PhD '74 visited campus Sept. 19 to visit with President DeFleur and with several members of the history department. Ojala follows dual pursuits: he devotes half his time to his publishing company, Publish/America and spends the other half of his time as independent business consultant who specializes in the Russian shipping and transportation industry: As president of AviaBusiness/America, Ojala focuses on advising and facilitating connections between Western and Russian clients, primarily in port development but also in the construction, aircraft production and shipping industries. Ojala was profiled in the summer 2001 issue of the Binghamton Alumni Journal.

130 students sign up for SOM's Mentoring program

Twenty-six School of Management mentors, both alumni and friends of the Alumni Associatioin, were on hand to meet with SOM students the morning of Oct. 11, during Homecoming weekend. More than 130 students, including both juniors and seniors, signed up to meet with alumni mentors. "It was a great success," said John P. Barden, CFE, CPA, director of the MBA/MS Accounting Program at BU and coordinator for the mentoring weekend.

The morning began with a presentation by Dean Upinder Dhillon followed by a breakfast for the students and mentors. Mentors offered five concurrent panel discussions on accounting, finance, human resources, management information systems and marketing. After a break, each mentor met with small groups of 5-6 students for more than an hour. "Students are matched with the mentors' occupation, then by the year of graduation, concentration and by an information sheet each student completes," said Barden. Following Dean Dhillon's wrap-up of the event, students and alumni enjoyed lunch at Homecoming's Hot Hula barbecue on the Peace Quad.

Alumni who came to campus to participate in the day's SOM mentoring program included Michael Cyran '87, Dev Parekh '01, Deep Parekh '01, Eric Forti '03, Robert McNamara '03, and Mike Lieb '03, all of Ernst & Young; Robert Cline, MS '68 of Binghamton University; E. Kay Adams '75 of Lockheed Martin; John Walker '78, entrepreneur; Allen Zwickler '79 of First Manhattan; Raymond Russolilli '80 of The Charles Schwab Corporation; William Forgione '81 of TIAA CREF; Gary Moran '81 of Bearing Point; Francine Butler-Groat '82, MBA '86 of IBM; Tony Kendall '83 of Mitchell Titus; John D'Aquila '86, entrepreneur; John Malone '93 of GE Capital; Anthony Nappo '94 of Caxton; Todd Rothman '99 of J.P. MorganChase; Angie Guo '00 of Cornell Medical; Harris Beber '01, MBA '02 of 1-800 Flowers; Edson Barton '02 of Goldman Sachs; and Alex Feinstein '02 of New York University's Law School. Richard Botnick of Botnick Enterprise, Michael Zuckerman, private attorney and Sally Goff of McIntosh Labs, all friends of the Alumni Association, also participated.

The SOM mentoring program is in its second year. "The first year was a tremendous success," said Barden. "We surveyed the students and the mentors and it offered overwhelming benefits to both parties."