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Class notes, years in this issue: 62 | 68 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 83 | 84| 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02

GRADUATE DEGREES

Joan Orgel Seiden, MSEd '77 writes that she has been teaching pupils with learning disabilities in elementary education for 23 years and still loves being in the classroom.

Ernest Schirmer, MBA '87 was named director of technology consulting at Acentech Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Formerly principal and vice president of Syska Hennessy Group, consulting engineers in New York City, Ernest is also vice president of education for the Association of Information Technologies and chair of the Continental Automated Buildings Association Task Force 3 on intelligent building systems. He is a frequent speaker at industry functions and author of numerous articles, including a monthly online technology column for Buildings magazine.

Lisa J. Kreisler, MBA '88, information technology team leader for Corning Inc.'s customer support center and operations, was named recipient of Corning's 2003 Growing People Award. The award recognizes Corning IT employees who have demonstrated excellence in people development and growth. Lisa and her husband, Harold, live in Westfield, Pa.

Donald Bernardo, MBA '90 was appointed managing director of Lyric Opera Cleveland, a summer opera festival, in December 2002. Don was formerly director of corporate relations for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He writes that he and his wife, Kate Bernardo, MS '93, have 6-year-old twin sons, Lucas and Victor, and that they visit Binghamton regularly to spend time with Don's grandfather, Professor Emeritus Aldo S. Bernardo. "I would enjoy connecting with fellow MBA/arts grads!" he writes.

Ute R. Ferrier, MA '98, an instructor at Ithaca College, is a doctoral candidate at Binghamton University. "ABD as of July 2000," she writes.

Jeremy Galyon, MM '02 performed as Sparafucile the Assassin in Tri-Cities Opera's production of Rigoletto in April and May and joined the Glimmerglass Opera for the summer as a member of the Glimmerglass Young American Artists Program. His roles there include Masetto in Don Giovanni and a compramario role in The Good Soldier Schweik. "I feel that many opportunities are being extended to me which propel me further into a career in singing opera and oratorio," he wrote.

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CLASS NOTES

'62
Louise Gross
man Adler writes that she retired in 2001 from her job as a senior business consultant. "Enjoying bike and canoe trips, the Colorado Mountains and teaching yoga," she writes. "Also thrilled by my three amazing grandchildren, Alexandra (2000), Julian (2001) and Cassandra (2001)."

'68
Richard Elrauch writes: "Retired -- Hooray! I plan to read and read and read some more, hike, climb trees, do woodworking, walk the streets, do museums, courses, conferences, take naps."

Ann Fratantoni Grillo writes that she is retired, but still subbing at East Islip Schools. Ann has one married daughter.

Michael J. Halperin and Nancy Kobischen Halperin '69 write that they have both recently retired. "Mike has retired from a 30-year career as a teacher, coach and school administrator. Nancy is a retiring high school teacher and coach," they write. Mike and Nancy plan to renew old friendships and would like to hear from fellow alumni.

'70
Christian L. Stephens, president and CEO of NRI Community Services, a community mental health center, received the 2003 Harold C. Piepenbrink Award from the National Council of Community Behavioral Healthcare Organizations. The award recognizes lifetime professional achievements on a local and national level. Christian is a fellow in the Association of Behavioral Healthcare Management and past president of the Association of Mental Health Administrators.

Howard Edward Herrnstadt writes: "I've been in real estate management for over a year and really enjoy it. Playing a lot of music. Check it out at www. harmonicabluxpress.com."

'74
Rick Greenberg, attorney-in-charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender, an indigent criminal defense office in New York City, writes that he is father to 13-year-old Zoe (aka Turtle), who goes to Hunter High School. Rick also writes that he is "still in search of the lost chord."

Mary Caufield Baldridge writes: "I have lost track of a lot of friends after a lot of moves. I am currently living in Dakar, Senegal, with my husband, Bill Baldridge, U.S. Treasury representative for West Africa. We have two children, one at the University of Delaware and one at Carrabassett Valley Academy in Maine." At the time of writing, Mary planned to return to Washington, D.C., in July.

Pete Osterhaus, a self-employed writer and publisher and owner of Cottage E-Books, an online publisher, writes: "Recently transplanted from the beehive of Los Angeles to a small, lazy town in northern California with horses, deer walking through the backyard and a profound, blessed peace. Same professional focus, now conducted long-distance."

'75
Steve Sulsky, was named an associate with Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP, following the merger with that firm of his former employer, Silverberg & Hunter. Steve has lectured extensively on pension topics, including IRA distribution planning.

'77
Tom Yulsman, who has published Origins: The Quest for our Cosmic Roots, writes this about his book: "From the interior of protons to the edge of the universe, and from the control room of an atom smasher to an observatory atop a volcano, Origins takes readers on a journey at the cutting edge of science. How could the universe have sprouted from nothing? What is the origin of galaxies? How do solar systems form? And how did Earth become an oasis of life -- one that has produced a species intelligent enough to ask these questions? I began the journalistic research to answer these questions in 1996, when I joined the faculty of the University of Colorado's School of Journalism and Mass Communication as an associate professor [where Tom is co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism]. I live near Boulder with my wife, Sylvia Fibich '77 and our two children, Sam, 12 and Anna Rose, 9."

Theresa DiMassino Cram writes that her oldest daughter, Melissa, is off to Cook College at Rutgers in the fall, and the youngest, Jennifer, will be a junior in high school.

'78 REUNION
Diane D. Weaver Wheeler, principal of Chenango Forks High School, has taught in Binghamton schools for 21 years. She has two daughters, Laura and Kristin.

'79
Ellen M. Conway is serving at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, with her husband, Peter, and their sons, Cormac and Aidan.

Jan Arabas, assistant professor of art and graphic design at Middlesex Community College in Melrose, Mass., writes: "I recently had an exhibit of my art work in Johannesburg, South Africa, and have upcoming exhibits in Havana, Cuba; Montreal, Canada; Deer Island, Maine; and Chelsea, New York City. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston recently purchased my artwork."

'80
Gary Mazart, a partner in tax, trust and estate department of the law firm Schenck, Price, Smith & King, as well as co-chair of the firm's elder and disability law practice group, has been named to New Jersey Monthly's list of top New Jersey lawyers. Gary has written widely on estate tax planning and elder law and disability law topics, helped to found the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and serves as editor for the New Jersey Elder Law Practice.

Keith M. Balter writes that he retired recently and would like to hear from his dorm mates and classmates.

Robert Wolf is a partner in a real estate brokerage office in San Diego. "Visit my website at www.robertwolf4re.com," he writes.

'81
Louise I. Tudor has joined KMZ Rosenman in New York City as a partner in the firm's national employee benefits and executive compensation practice. She focuses her practice on a full range of legal services arisin

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'83
Dana Grun Gold writes that she received her MBA in finance from Hofstra University in 1990 and is president of her own risk management and insurance consulting firm, as well as a freelance insurance writer. Dana lives in Atlantic Beach with her husband of 17 years, Lloyd, and two children, Mallory, 12, and Alex, 10.

Michael J. Garcia, who was designated as acting commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service by the president in November 2002 and took office on Dec. 1, 2002, was nominated by the president to assistant secretary of homeland security, according to a Jan. 29 White House announcement. Garcia was formerly assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement. From 1992 until 2001, he served as an assistant United States attorney in the southern district of New York, where he participated in the successful prosecution of four defendants in the first World Trade Center bombing trial.

'84
Steve Hecht was appointed vice president of the Blues Music Association, an industry trade organization dedicated to the commercial success and growth of blues music. Steve serves on the board of directors of the Memphis-based Blues Foundation, a non-profit arm of the blues world.

Todd A. Gurvis writes that life is good in sunny California, where he and his wife, Wendy, live with their two sons, Avidan, 6, and Eitan, 4. Todd sends greetings to all his old SUNY friends, "especially the crew from 73 1/2 Grand, and the NYPIRG and WHRW alumni."

'85
Peter '88 and Judy Boros Temes write: "We met in Arthur Clement's Rhetoric 127 class in 1983. We moved in together on Roberts Street in Johnson City in '84 and got married in '85. Our adventures have taken us to Boston, New York, Connecticut and Chicago, and included Judy's work as a journalist for dailies in Boston and New Jersey and for Crain's New York Business, and Peter's graduate work at Columbia, teaching at Harvard, stint as president of the Great Books Foundation in Chicago and now his job as the president of the Antioch New England Graduate School in New Hampshire. Peter's new book, Against School Reform (And in Praise of Great Teaching), is good reading for anyone involved with schools."

James Edward Hood, research historian and archaeologist at Old Sturbridge Village, New England's largest outdoor living history museum, has played a key role in creating the museum's new exhibit, "The Enduring People: Native American Life in Central New England." The exhibit challenges the commonly held belief that Native Americans disappeared from New England centuries ago and, drawing both on historical records and on the memories of local Indians, tells the story of the area's Native Americans and places the museum's Native American artifacts in context. James, who earned his BA in anthropology and went on to receive his MA in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, says that working on this project "drew extensively on my training and experience as an anthropologist and archaeologist that I received at Binghamton."

Nadine Durr Bereza writes: "Wencel and I are still in Rome. I work full time in an elementary school during the school year, and during the summer I'm the health director for an overnight Christian camp. We have two children, both teenagers. They keep us busy."

Lynn Marie Veselak Shane writes: "Recently divorced, but happy! Have two great children! Christine, 12, Matthew, 7."

'86
Peter Bohush has launched his own residential and commercial real estate firm, Wicked Good Homes. Bohush also hosts and produces a companion television show of the same name, seen by more than 200,000 households in central Massachusetts. The company's award-winning website, www. wickedgoodhomes.com, contains more than 400 pages of real estate information.

Robert S. Kline writes that he is enjoying his eighth year as a certified financial planner with Dan Ross Financial Services in Binghamton, and is also enjoying married life in Vestal with his wife, Dee, and their 1-year-old daughter.

'87
Roxanne A. Henkle, an art director at Inky Fingers Printing in Jacksonville, Fla., has become something of a local celebrity in her neighborhood of Riverside, where she stakes out large letters that spell the "Word of the Week" in her front yard. She also provides a large pad of paper propped up on an easel in her front yard, next to a written invitation to passers-by to "please leave a message." Since last October when Roxanne started doing this, she's met more of her neighbors than she had in the previous 10 years, she said in an article about her in Folio Weekly: Northeast Florida's News and Opinion Magazine. "Henkle admits that some of her neighbors find the whole thing Ôa little odd,' but others embrace the concept," notes the article. Another story about her in the Riverside Avondale notes that Roxanne's idea of sharing her love of words with others works: "One night in the course of an hour someone rearranged the word Ôaltruism' to Ômuralist' to Ôrum tales.'" You can find Roxanne's Word of the Week at her website at http://www.spazhouse.com.

Michael Bloom writes: "I would love to hear from old friends. I am married to Robin and have two beautiful twin girls born Dec. 10, 1992, named Randi and Rachel. They are now in the fourth grade and bring my wife and myself much joy. I have a dental practice in Bethpage, where I perform all phases of general dentistry, including both cosmetic and implant dentistry. I live in Commack and share a home with our golden retriever, Harry. We treat him as our son, there should be no other way . . . "

'88
K Rick Krisburg, MBA '90,
rkrisburg @triangulate.com, writes that he has started Triangulate Group LLC, a promotion marketing agency.

Glenn Dolphin, MAT '95 was named 2003 Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for the State of New York by the Eastern Section of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. "He was selected due to his dedication to the teaching profession and to the concepts of geoscience," said Ron Fisher, Union-Endicott High School chair. Dolphin received his award at the annual meeting of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers -- Eastern Section meeting in Buffalo May 17.

Michelle Courtney Berry took her collection of autobiographical poems and stories, The Month of Not Speaking, to the stage in March in a solo performance of the same title at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca. "Berry said the piece Ôstarts at a young place' and explores moments from her childhood growing up in a small town in the Catskills," read a review in the Ithaca Journal. "She goes further back from there into her mother's Southern upbringing in rural North Carolina and her stepfather's drinking problem. ÔI hope that this is anyone's story. Anyone who tried to make sense of their parents should relate,' she said. ÔThe subtext is it's a play about love.'" A former spokesperson for the mayor of Binghamton, Michelle is an entrepreneur who works as a stress management counselor, motivational speaker and reiki master.

Michele Jachim was promoted to director of communications within the division of student affairs at Syracuse University. She was formerly coordinator of communications and special events for the division.

Anthony Ross LoBiondo graduated from Albany Law School in 1991, served as Orange County assistant district attorney from 1991 to 1997 and has been in private practice, with a focus on civil and criminal litigation since then. He and his wife, Juliana, who is also an attorney, married in 1998 and have a son, Christian, 2.

Paul Solomon is proud to announce he is a contributing author to the book Winning in the New York Small Claims Court (www.smallclaims.com). Paul and his wife, Aliza, live in Bay Terrace.

'89
Jon Wilson is the artistic director of Appleseed Productions, a community theater in Syracuse. The company will celebrate its 10th anniversary during the 2003-04 season. That season will also be Jon's fifth year as artistic director. The season will feature productions of three shows from Appleseed's past -- You Can't Take It With You, Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin, and The Lion in Winter -- plus three productions new to Appleseed -- The Dining Room, I Hate Hamlet and High Society. Jon will be directing High Society, the movie version of which starred Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly. The last two shows Jon directed, Ten Little Indians and The Foreigner, both received four out of four stars from the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Ed Lopez has been named director of information technology and facilities at Quantum3d in San Jose, Calif.

'90
Margaret Butler accepted a tenure-track position as assistant professor of musicology at the University of Alabama. She was formerly the associate director of the Center for West European Studies and European Union Center at the University of Pittsburgh. Margaret conducted dissertation research in Turin, Italy, as a Fulbright fellow and was recipient of a Presidential Fellowship from the graduate school at Ohio State University. Her dissertation, on 18th-century Italian opera, won the distinguished dissertation award in music from the Ohio State School of Music in 2000 and was published in Italy by the Instituto per i Beni Musicali in Piemonte in 2001.

'91
Dan Brownstein, MA '99, MAT '99, Earth sciences teacher and science department chair for grades 6-12 at Hastings High School, Hastings-on-Hudson, was selected as one of 110 teachers nationwide to receive the Radio Shack National Teacher Award. The award was established "as a commitment to promote and encourage educational excellence in high schools across America." Last year, Dan was awarded the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award for New York State by the National Association off Geoscience Teachers. "In my fourth year of teaching at Hastings High School, I have reorganized the entire middle school science program, changed the way we designate honors and Regents status, played a major role in redesigning all of the science classrooms, and have introduced several new science electives, including advanced geology and weather and climate change," writes Dan. "Last summer, I led 12 students on a 28-day geological field trip of the Western United States that was written up in The New York Times. This summer, I am taking 13 students to Hawaii on another geological field trip.
...The education I received at Binghamton has been a major contributor to my success. In particular, the training and guidance I received from Dr. David Jenkins (geology) and from Dr. Thomas O'Brien (SEHD) were very important."

Sue Glassman graduated from Rutgers College of Pharmacy in 2000 and is working in Arizona as a staff pharmacist at Walgreen's.

Jana Wachsler-Felder writes that she received her PsyD in clinical psychology in August 2000 from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and went on to complete a two-year post-doctoral fellowship through the University of Rochester in pediatric family systems therapy. In September 2002, Jana was hired as a clinical psychologist at KidsPeace, a residential treatment center for adolescents ages 10-18. She works in the center's intensive program. Jana and her husband, Andreas, an architect, live in Canandaigua with their daughter, Emilie, 4, and their son, Julian, 2.

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'92
Janine Mangoian Ortell received her MBA from Northeastern University in 1999, moved to California in 2001 and started Travel Flair, a full-service travel agency, in southern California in 2003.

Robert M. Kahn, robkahnnyc@ yahoo.com, is living in Manhattan, where he works as an entertainment reporter for Newsday. He'd love to hear from old classmates.

Daniel Hanlon, bureau chief of the drug enforcement unit of the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office since 1999, also served as acting first assistant district attorney in 2001-02 while the first assistant was fulfilling military obligations. Dan has been named recipient of several awards in recognition of his work in drug enforcement, including the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association Special Award of Honor, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Certificate of Appreciation, a Troy Police Certificate of Appreciation Award and a Public Safety Certificate of Appreciation. Dan and his wife, Paula, live in Troy. "We are all very proud of Dan's accomplishments!" writes Paula.

'93 REUNION
Robert Murdoch received his MST in biology from Plattsburgh in May 2001 and graduated from the Academy of Military Science, McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn., as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force in April 2002. "After that I completed Aircraft Maintenance Officer School, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, before taking over the duties as aircraft maintenance officer for the 106th Maintenance Squadron of the 106th Rescue Wing, Westhampton Beach, N.Y.," he writes.

Nicole A. Stein was promoted to vice president of Scanlon Communications Group, a full-service public relations firm she joined in 1999. She was also elected president of the New York Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association and took office in July 2003.

Shana Fried Schwartz was promoted to assistant director of financial aid at Hofstra University. She is also pursuing her master's in secondary education. Shana lives in Levittown with her husband, Gary, and their son,
Benjamin, 2.

'95
Daniel J. Rootenberg received his master's in physical therapy in 1997 and has since founded the SPEAR C

'95
Heidi M. Young earned her MFA in painting from Lehman College in 2002. She also received her teacher's certification and teaches at an all-boys Catholic high school in White Plains.

'96
Gil Weitzman finished his residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital in June 2003 and is a fellow in gastroenterology. "I married my college girlfriend, Lynn Schlank '00," he writes.

'97
Benjamin Kagan writes that he finished his PhD in pharmacology at Georgetown in the summer of 2002 and is doing a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, where he is researching the pharmacology of steroid hormone-receptor interactions. "I love living down here in the nation's capital and it's great seeing the Bearcats, nŽe Colonials, play some Division I ball . . . "

Joseph M. Somodi, owner of Gryffen Productions in New York City, sold and co-produced a segment on HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel about the third NFL player to come out of the closet. His production company is in pre-production on two new documentaries. Living Close to the Knives is about homeless gay youth in New York City and will document the evolution of the only gay homeless shelter, the Ali Forney Center. He is also teaming up with Johnny Symons, an award-winning documentary filmmaker in California, to produce an overarching film profiling gay athletes. Go to outjocks.com to find out more.

Tracy Boller graduated from the Yale University Physician Associate Program in 2002 with her master of medical science degree and is practicing as a physician assistant in orthopedic surgery near Washington, D.C.

Robin Tapken Dodds writes that she received her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in 1991, married in 2001, and that she and her husband, Gregory, have a daughter, Alice Elizabeth, born Aug. 2, 2002. "Life is so good," Robin writes. "God is so good."

Barry X. Friedman received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in August 2002 and is an assistant professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in southeastern Pennsylvania.

'98 REUNION
Shannon Odenweller, human resources group leader with Target, writes that she moved from Phoenix to Cedar Falls, Iowa, due to a promotion with Target. She has been in human resources with Target Distribution Centers for 1 1/2 years.

Paul Jacob Gabel, library information assistant, New York Public Library, writes: "Though I have enjoyed invaluable employment experiences at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art since moving to New York in 1998, since 2001 I have dedicated most of my time servicing the public at the New York Public Library's art collection at the Mid-Manhattan Branch."

Melissa Szymanski, a dancer whose stage name is Melissa Manski, performed with the Vasquez Dance Ensemble at Lincoln Center in Reel to Real's season finale, Go West, in June. A native New Yorker, Melissa studied dance and theater at Binghamton, where she received the Jack Berman Award, the William Baldwin Memorial Scholarship, the Mildred Sweet Award and the Don A. Watters Scholarship. As student manager of Binghamton University's Children's Dance Theater, she toured a variety of schools in New York. Her theatrical roles include Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, Daisy in Bloomer Girl and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In addition to her regional theater credits, Melissa has performed as dance captain of Yorktown Performing Arts Theatre's Babes in Arms, directed by Buck Heller. She teaches dance in Greenwich, Conn., and is pursuing her master's degree at Bank Street College of Education.

'99
Suzanne Marie Frieser earned her MS in family nursing in January 2003.

Lauren Mastracchio graduated magna cum laude from New York University with her degree in speech pathology and works as a speech pathologist at the Children's Rehab Center at St. Agnes Hospital.

Patrick C. Shaw is a systems analyst in the Tactical Electronic Warfare Division at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

James Rodriguez writes that as a fourth-year medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, he was accepted to spend the month of March at NASA to do a rotation in aerospace medicine. He lived at Cocoa Beach and worked at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. He worked directly with astronauts and flight surgeons, and also worked on research projects focused on improving medical protocols in space. "I encourage all pre-med students at Binghamton interested in working with NASA to start e-mailing and making contacts, and I'll help them out in any way I possibly can," he writes. "Just give me a call."

'01
Carly Bedell, assistant to a financial adviser at Sontag Advisory, LLC, which she describes as "a small financial advisory firm that handles a strong base of high-net-worth clients," writes that she has been working there since graduation and loves it. "Although the economy is struggling, Sontag is fortunate enough to be expanding its client base," she writes. "I feel very fortunate to be working here!"

Matt Tisdale was named editor-in-chief of the Suffolk University Law School Law Review.

'02
Melisa C. Clarke is a pursuing her master's in public health education at New York University. She writes that she hopes to go on to medical school afterwards and is condensing the two-year program into one year to give herself enough time to decide. In her job as a consultant/intern at Housing Works in New York, she helps to provide homes for HIV/AIDS clients and also provides training for job placements.

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