Expression Spring 2013

T h e M a g a z in e f o r A lu m n i a n d F r ie n d s o f

EMERSON COLLEGES p r i n g 2013

The Emerson campus is more sustainable than ever before

s e e i n g

2 Expression Summer 2012

A Letter from the President

I welcome the opportunity to write to you about a topic that is featured in this issue of Expression and that requires attention from all of us: sustainability. The need to ensure that we live in a world that sustains itself and its citizens—a world in which resources are used wisely, in ways that ensure their long-term availability, and in ways that respect the needs of all people—has always been present. It has gained new urgency, however, as threats to our communities have increased. Superstorm Sandy is only the most recent example of nature’s force, and whatever Sandy’s relationship to global climate change, the cities, towns, and countryside that were so devastated by its power face ongoing issues of how to survive in the face of such an onslaught.

We need to change the way we live in the world, and higher education can lead us forward.

At Emerson College, we aim to create a culture of sustainability. Our goal is not to maintain the status quo, but to improve our physical, social, and cultural environments. I hope that you will endorse and even join us in these efforts.

Emerson is a signatory of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, and a member of AASHE—the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Our participation in these national efforts signals our commitment to sustainability in important ways, but even more critical are the efforts we make every day to ensure that we live out that commitment on campus. Emerson has, in recent years, made many important steps reflecting good environmental stewardship. Our renovations of the Colonial Building resulted in LEED Gold certification. Piano Row has been certified LEED Silver, and the residence hall in that building includes a Living Green Learning Community. We are also phasing out plastic water bottles on campus and providing hydration stations in order to fill reusable containers.

Small changes can have broad impacts. For example, we have removed trays from our dining facilities, which results in 30 percent less food waste. We offer free-trade and organic food for our students, faculty, and staff. Of course, we recycle as much as we can, including lightbulbs and ink cartridges. Students take courses on subjects such as Energy and Sustainability, Climate Change, Ecology and Conservation, and even Filmmaking and the Environment; students also advocate for issues like these through groups such as Earth Emerson, whose web page urges: Do Something!

We are proud to be doing our part. Going forward, Emerson will continue to implement effective sustainability practices and to do what it takes to make certain that the College—and the communities of which it is a part—thrive into the future. I invite you, as alumni of Emerson College, to join us in these efforts and do what Emerson students do best: translate ideas into action, and make a difference in the world.

Lee Pelton, President

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News

6TalkCommunication StudiesAssociate Professor Tulasi Srinivas

26PeopleAmbassador Ido Aharoni, MA ’90

41Gifts that MatterThe Ellen Reich Scholarship Fund

2Community

24Faculty

28Alumni

36Class Notes

Expression is published three times a year for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Communications and Marketing (Andy Tiedemann, vice president) in conjunction with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations (Jeffrey Schoenherr, vice president, and Barbara Rutberg ’68, associate vice president, director).

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8Love, Emerson Style!Couples who met at Emerson

10Gaining Accents,Losing AccentsActing students master dialects, while CSD clients modify theirs 16The Greening ofEmerson CollegeSustainability measures touch every corner of campus

22Poets PairRecent works by WLP faculty Mazur and Hoffman

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2 Expression Spring 2013

Pro- and anti-gun panelists sought common ground during a February 4 discussion on how the nation should address its gun vio-lence epidemic. The event, “Whose Right Is It, Anyway?,” took place before a full house at Emerson’s Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre.

The panel discussion was the first in a series titled Made in America: Our Gun Violence Culture, and is part of President Lee Pelton’s national initiative to create a dialogue on the issue of firearms.

“Of course, the reason we’re having this discussion is because of what happened on December 14, 2012, when 20 children and six adults were mowed down at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut,” said panel moderator Emily Rooney, host of Greater Boston on WGBH-TV. “That put us over the top. But two days earlier, there had

U.S. gun violence is focus of President Pelton’s initiative

been a mass shooting at a mall in Oregon. We can’t even keep track of it anymore.”

There were 32,163 total deaths from guns in the U.S. in 2011, marking a steady increase since 2000 when 28,663 total deaths were reported, according to Gunpolicy.org. By comparison, in Canada, there were 759 gun homicides and suicides in 2009; 155 total gun deaths in England in 2010; and 11 gun homicides in Japan in 2008, according to Gunpolicy.org.

“God help us if we can’t fix this,” said John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence and a gun owner. “Thirty-three states don’t even require background checks—not even proof of I.D.—if you’re buying from private gun dealers. Only federally licensed gun dealers have to run background checks, and they only sell roughly 50 percent of the guns sold every year.”

Rosenthal said he supports federally mandated background checks and closing gun show and private dealer loopholes.

When asked by Rooney if there should be more gun regulation in the U.S., panelist Steve Moysey, counter-terrorism specialist and director of the Gun Owners’ Action League (the Massachusetts chapter of the National Rifle Association), said there has been more focus on the gun rather than the shooter after recent mass shootings.

“We don’t look at, necessarily, the medical state of the person who was doing the shooting,” Moysey said. “Plus we have the other issue of the use of anti-depressant drugs among children and adolescents.”

Richard Feldman, a firearms rights activist and former gun lobbyist, took issue with some of the language used in the gun dialogue—even more so after Rooney referenced a recent New York Times article and asked if anyone needs to own an AR-15 rifle, which usually has a 30-round magazine and is selling in high numbers in light of pending firearms restrictions.

“No one needs to have several homes in the country,” Feldman said. “No one needs to have automobiles capable of doing 160 miles per hour when … 75 miles per hour is the speed limit. The distinction is we want it. And frankly, any gun that goes on the proposed ban list goes on Richard Feldman’s buy list.”

Rosenthal said civilians should not possess military-style weapons.

Panelist Jack McDevitt, associate dean at Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice, said, “there’s no simple solution” to the issue, but he added,

“I think there are models out there” that would satisfy people from both sides of the aisle.

community news

A panel of experts on guns discussed the topic before a packed house; WGBH’s Emily Rooney (above) moderated the discussion.

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Mellon grant to support 14 playwrights

Play Map, and by using the #newplay tag on Twitter.

In other news, the CTC has released its first book, In the Intersection: Partnerships in the New Play Sector, which examines the relationship between nonprofit and commer-cial theater.

In the Intersection: Partnerships in the New Play Sector can be purchased for $15 on howlround.com. Proceeds from book sales go to the Theater Commons’ Microfund for Artists. The report is also available for free download on the website swag.howlround.com/Online/default.asp and on iTunes.

In the photo above are (from left) Polly Carl, Diane Ragsdale, Robert Brustein, Rob Orchard, and David Dower.

A multi-million-dollar nationwide initiative from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund the work of 14 playwrights over the next three years is anticipated to have a big impact on enhancing theater in Boston and in 10 other cities.

The Center for the Theater Commons (CTC) at Emerson will receive a $760,000 grant—half of which will be used for play-wrights’ travel and research expenses—as part of the initiative. The Mellon Foundation awarded $3.7 million for the entire initiative.

The goal of the initiative is to allow accomplished playwrights to focus more on their work and less on trying to make ends meet in a field in which stable income can be difficult to achieve. Each playwright will collect a salary and benefits over the three years, so he or she can concentrate almost exclusively on theater projects at Emerson and the other institutions.

All of the artists involved will hold short-term residencies at Emerson College.

“Emerson is delighted to play a role in this important and ambitious initiative,” said President Lee Pelton. “As a leading institution of higher education in commu-nication and the arts, Emerson is the perfect home for the Center for the Theater Com-mons, and by extension, a grateful partner with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and these 14 theaters. It’s an honor to be part of an initiative that will continue to move theater into the 21st century.”

The CTC is a research center and com-munications hub for new theatrical work that joined Emerson College last spring as part of the College’s Office of the Arts.

Real-time updates on the playwright initiative will be made using CTC’s online journal, HowlRound, its interactive map, New

Emerson alumni are entitled to a free mem-bership in Money Matters/SALT, a program that allows users to take advantage of online tools and modules as well as webinars and other educational programming on personal finance. Money Matters is designed to help recent alumni who are repaying loans and may need advice, or for graduates who just want to learn more about a wide array of financial topics, such as debt management, identity theft, and other topics.

Students and alumni can choose dif-ferent components of the Money Matters program to best utilize and benefit from the offerings. Students will have access to one-on-one counseling with a Money Matters advisor, webinars, and an online component called SALT.

SALT was created by nonprofit organi-zation American Student Assistance (ASA) to help students take charge of their finances during college and beyond. Emerson College partnered with ASA to provide SALT.

Money Matters advisors are undergo-ing certification to become some of the first college employees in the country to become certified financial counselors for students.

Alumni should log into the Emerson Alumni Associate Online Community at con-nection.emerson.edu for details.

College and Japanese university to pursue joint efforts

President Lee Pelton and Tokyo International University Chancellor Nobuyasu Kurata signed a memorandum of understanding at TIU’s Kawagoe campus in November 2012 to boost academic and cultural exchanges between the schools.

“We hope it’s the beginning of a long, enduring, substantial relationship between the two institutions,” said Donna Heiland, vice president and special assistant to Pelton, who went on the trip.

Also traveling with the president were David Griffin, director of International Study and External Programs; and Paul Niwa, in-terim chair of the Journalism Department.

The memorandum “affirms the inten-tion of the two institutions to work together,” Heiland explained. The memorandum says the two schools will regularly engage in student and faculty exchanges; joint research

and development projects; joint conferences; and joint cultural and summer programs.

“This agreement ties in directly with President Pelton’s desire for global engage-ment,” said Heiland.

President Pelton (left) signs an agreement with Tokyo International University Chancellor Nobuyasu Kurata.

New program offers personal finance tools

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Associate Professor of Visual and Media Arts Eric Gordon has been the driving force behind the College’s applied research initiative the Engagement Game Lab (EGL), since it launched in 2010. The lab’s goal is to develop games that engage people in a meaningful way online—whether they are focused on civic engagement, city planning, and/or collaborative storytelling.

Initially, Gordon, with the help of several graduate students, successfully launched projects such as Participatory Chinatown and Community PlanIt. And in September 2012, the EGL moved into a dedicated space of its own, just off campus, in the China Trade Building on the corner of Boylston and Washington streets. Gordon, who is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University for the 2012–13 academic year, has added new staff members to the EGL.

The EGL team is working with the Smithsonian Institute and the cities of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., using its Community PlanIt game to encourage feedback and participation in an upcoming exhibition titled Americans All, about the history of immigration and migration in the United States.

The EGL has created a new game for Salem, Massachusetts, called What’s the Point?, which will replicate The Point neighborhood—a low-income area with a

Hope springs eternal

high population of Latinos and Salem State University students. Players will log onto a website and complete a series of timed missions that focus on different aspects of neighborhood life, such as playing, doing business, and getting around.

What’s the Point? is being implemented as part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Communities Program in conjunction with the city of Salem, the North Shore Community Development Coalition, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

A similar game, Philadelphia2035: The Game, was created by Gordon’s lab and was launched in Philadelphia in January.

The EGL is also the home of the Design Action Research for Government (DARG) project, a partnership with the City of Boston for researching and evaluating civic innovation tools in urban environments.

The EGL has received external funding to support their research from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Pearson Foundation, Tufts University, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and the City of Boston.

EGL’s community engagement games and programs are being tested and evaluated in a number of cities around the country, including Detroit.

The Engagement Game Lab, which develops games that involve citizens in city planning and other efforts, is directed by Eric Gordon (right), associate professor of Visual and Media Arts.

New center combines social good and gaming

Longtime Emerson faculty member and television icon Rex Trailer, best known for hosting the popular children’s TV show Boomtown, died on January 9, 2013, after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 84 years old and lived in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Trailer was visiting friends and family in Florida when he became ill.

Trailer began teaching broadcasting classes at Emerson in 1974, when Boomtown went off the air after an 18-year run on Boston’s WBZ-TV. He starred in other TV shows in the 1970s, including Earth Lab and The Good Time Gang. He also owned a TV production studio, Rex Trailer Video Productions, in Waltham, Massachusetts, for more than 50 years.

“When his show went off the air, Emerson invited him to teach and that was the biggest honor for him—to be part of Emerson College,” said Mike Bavaro, who filmed a documentary about Trailer and later became his business partner and close friend.Upon news of Trailer’s death, Emerson students and alumni posted numerous comments to Emerson’s Facebook page.

Trailer’s cowboy presence had a tremendous impact on millions of TV-watching youngsters in the 1950s, ’60s, and

’70s, and on Emerson alumni, including Maria Menounos ’00, host of Extra, and Jay Leno ’73, host of the Tonight Show.

“He was huge in New England,” Leno said, after learning of Trailer’s passing, in an

Rex Trailer, faculty member, dies at 84

Despite the cold weather, dozens of students and staff volunteered to plant daffodil bulbs last fall in Boston Common, right across the street from the Emerson campus.



interview with emerson.edu. “He didn’t go to Hollywood, but he’s a big star, as far as I’m concerned.”

More than 250,000 children appeared in the live audience of Boomtown, which reached 4 million children every Saturday and Sunday morning. Trailer was known for showing off cowboy tricks and spouting Western tales—anything to emphasize American history and Western lore. Trailer also performed science experiments and educational children’s games. Boomtown was between three and four hours long, and broadcast live—something almost unheard of in television today.

“When Rex came here in the fifties people didn’t think cowboys would work for Boston television, but it did,” Bavaro said.In 2007, Trailer was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.Trailer is pre-deceased by his wife, Cindy. Among his survivors is his daughter, Jillian.

Students in an Emerson social media marketing class got the rare opportunity to spend time with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski during the fall term to talk Twitter and the awesome power of social media.

Gronkowski visited a class taught by David Gerzof Richard, a part-time Marketing Communication faculty member, who had students repeatedly tweet to Gronkowski to ask him to visit the class.

They set up the @SocialEmerson handle for the class, and used the hashtags #ESM (for

“Emerson Social Media”) and #SpikeOurProf to get his attention.

Patriots’ Gronkowski visits marketing class

“Every time I looked at my ‘at mentions’ it had all you guys on it,” Gronkowski said.

Gronkowski took questions from students for about 40 minutes before he was serenaded with an original song by students Sydney Manning ’13 and Lauren Coritzo ’13. After class, he signed autographs and posed for photos with students.

Aja Neahring ’13

Young scholar from Congo receives Weston Award

A Communication Management graduate student from Congo, Africa, has received the Weston Award from the Institute of International Education, which provides supplemental grants to exceptional students from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Nazaire Massamba, MA ’13, a Fulbright scholar, received the award in late 2012.

“I’m the first-born son of a woman who doesn’t know how to read or write,” Massamba said in a speech last March during an academic conference.

“But I define myself as being the product of that woman.”

Josh Weston created the Weston Awards Program to supplement travel and educational expenses for Fulbright Fellows chosen from the above-mentioned regions.

Unlike wealthier European countries, many nations in Africa and Asia cannot afford to supplement funds provided by the U.S. government for Fulbright Fellowships.

Massamba is the author of Le Monstre du Lac Tele, a true story about catching pythons in Congo’s swamp forest. He is

working on a thesis that examines the hardships of people with diabetes.

In a speech last March, Massamba spoke of his lifelong determination to succeed.

“When I was a kid, my mother earned a living by selling milk, sugar, and eggs in a community market. All the money she made went toward sending me to the most expensive schools in the country.

“I remember those days when I went to school without shoes. I was still smart and intelligent, though. One day, a kid sitting next to me in the fifth grade got rid of his shoes in the classroom. I asked,

‘What are you doing?’ He replied, ‘I’m getting rid of my shoes to be as smart as you are. I know this is your little trick’.”

“I remember one cold night, I was crying because there was no oil left in my lamp so I couldn’t use it to read and prepare for an assignment the following morning. My mother’s hands were on my shoulders to encourage me. She told me, ‘Son, you’ll make it. Trust me.’”

Free app released forExpression magazine Emerson has become one of the first colleges in the country to develop an app for a digital version of its alumni magazine.

The new, free app for Expression, which debuted last fall, sends push notifications to subscribers that alert them to new issues. Users can then access a multimedia-enhanced, digital version of the magazine from their iPads or other tablets.

Expression is distributed three times per year. The app is available at the iPad App Store under “Expression, Emerson College.”

Charles Dunham, director of creative services, developed the app. Rhea Becker is editor of Expression magazine. The creators of the digital Expression won two MarComm Awards for their work.

Rex Trailer (left) in 2008 with former student Maria Menounos ’00, host of Extra, and former Emerson staff member Pete Chvany.

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6 Expression Winter 2013

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Anthropologist Tulasi Srinivas is fascinated by the intersection of globalization and religion, and particularly globalization that takes a seemingly less-traveled route—from the East to the West. She also explores globalization through the prism of food. An associate professor housed in the Communication Studies Department, Srinivas breathes life into complex ideas like this for Emerson students.

Srinivas is the author of Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism Through the Sathya Sai Movement (Columbia University Press, 2010), and will be working on another book on religion, Forging Faith: Ambivalent Globalization and Innovative Ritual in Hindu Temple Publics of Bangalore City (2014), during a spring 2013 fellowship at the Kate Hamburger Kollen Center at the Universitat Ruhr-Bochum in Germany.

She is the co-editor of Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food and South Asia (University of California Press, 2012) and is doing research on the ethno-history of the gin and tonic. Srinivas and her mother, Rukmini Srinivas—who taught Srinivas to savor good food—co-teach Indian cooking classes at a local adult education center in the Boston area. Recently, Srinivas has been invited to be an advisor to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on matters related to religion, faith, and civil society.

Srinivas’s classes at Emerson are intellectually demanding—such as a popular elective called Gender in a Global Perspective—and often oversubscribed. Semester after semester, students give her high marks for her skills, passion, and dedication to teaching.

You wrote Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Movement about the legacy of India’s Guru Shri Sathya Sai Baba, who died last year. Would you explain the significance of Sai Baba and the movement he led?

He is significant for a variety of reasons. One is that he ran one of the largest religious movements in the world, with 20 million followers. It was important for me to look at him because the entirety of my research work is focused on globalization, and how religion and globalization intersect—or don’t.

Second, he was the head of a movement that traveled from India to the Western world. As we understand it from a Western perspective, the West is usually the engine of growth and globalization, exporting to other parts of the world. And there’s the

pushback against the West that comes because of this exporting of ideas, technologies, and ways of living. And here was a movement that came out of India: an alternate cultural, ideological, religious movement that moved to the West. Why did that happen? How did it happen? What were the engines of growth? What can we learn about intercultural communication and how that works, through this illustration?

Third, it’s a question of political economy. When Sai Baba died and his assets were looked into, there was $9 billion, which is a lot of money for a religious movement. How does this play into the story of globalization? What effect do global commerce and what scholars have called “neo-liberalism” have as an ideology?

The Sai movement has a global presence, with followers in 137 countries. That’s significant for this seemingly uneducated peasant leader from the middle of South Asia. This interested me as an illustration of an alternate form of globalization.

Tulasi Srinivas


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How did you gather information for this book?

My research took me all over the world. As an anthropologist, I did live interviews and participant observation. I went with followers to worship and singing sessions. I went with them to the ashram in India. I traveled with them. I became almost like a family member. The followers do a lot of charity work, so I distributed food to the homeless in houses of worship in many parts of the world. In essence, I embedded myself in the movement, although I never became a follower of his. In the introduction to my book, I detail my methods and what disappointments and revelations they led to.

I interviewed the followers at great length and depth about how they perceived their devotion. I found them to be extraordinarily intelligent, very technocratic, very professional, very global—and yet, followers. It’s an interesting religion because it’s a very inclusive religion in that you can be Christian and be a follower. That inclusivity and how religious pluralism works in regimes outside the West interests me.

How would you characterize the differences between the East and the West?

The South Asian scholar F.G. Bailey has argued there is a “civility of indifference,” that we in the West are civil to one another because we are indifferent to one another. The state takes over the role of neighborliness. It essentially mandates how we take care of our old people, how we take care of our children, Social Security, Medicare, etc. My argument is that we have to move from a civility of indifference to a civility of difference, where we recognize that the other person is different and we still engage them.

It is interesting how that works in India because it is highly religiously plural. India has 1.2 billion people. India has the

second-largest number of Muslims outside Indonesia. There are Christians, Jews. There are many major world religions there. There have been eruptions of violence, but far fewer than you would imagine. And it’s a very public notion of religion. So, my question is, how does this work? And coming from India, I have a different way of seeing the world and the way we live in this world. I’m interested in teaching about India as an alternate illustrative case.

You were an architect at one time. What made you decide to teach?

First, I get great pleasure and a sense of purpose from teaching. I really enjoy it on many levels. There are two reasons I teach, and I tell my students this. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I was trained as an architect and I worked for some time as an architect. But both my parents were college professors. I am culturally at home in a university. I believe strongly in the transformative power of education.

Second, American undergraduates are some of the wealthiest, most literate, most powerful people on Earth. The next generation needs to solve certain problems that the previous generations have created. By influencing my students, I believe I influence the world. Their political decisions, their financial decisions affect every part of the world, and they don’t recognize that at ages 18, 19, 20. By showing them how powerful they can be and are, by my presence and my witnessing, it makes them think more self-reflexively and carefully about the future they construct not only for themselves or even for Americans, but for the world. Building a capacity to think globally and responsibly is important.

What do you hope your students take away from your classes?

They need to be able to read and write well; they need to be able to think critically and not just accept what they are given—from the media, from parents, or from anybody. They need to be able to think in a more fluid, creative way. Literal thinking is not going to cut it in the next generation; lateral thinking is going to be necessary.

Some young people are so cynical today, so filled with irony. I want to break them of the habit of cynical thinking. I tell them at the start of the semester, ‘I’m going to give you 80 to 100 pages of reading a week, very difficult and complex reading. I expect you to dislike it. I will push you beyond your level of comfort; that’s what you’re paying the institution for, to dialogue with great thinkers and think with, and through them, to a new tomorrow. We’ll think this through together, and through this process of engagement, you will be transformed, as will I. It will be such fun!’

Your book Curried Cultures explores the relationship between globalization and South Asia through food. How are food and globalization connected?

I’ve always been interested in food. My mother is a fantastic cook and teacher! We teach Indian vegetarian cooking at a nearby adult education center.

There is a real rupture between farm and fork. We have no idea how what we eat is farmed. The thing that strikes me about food and globalization is that the way we eat shifted due to the global movement from agriculture to agribusiness. What happened in America in the 1950s—the industrialized farming of meat, the large-scale agricultural seed manufacture, the shift in genetics of crops—is being exported worldwide, but without the same state-based controls. Therefore, you get the potential for large-scale exploitation of farmers. What we eat is not merely nutritionally questionable, but politically and ethically questionable, too.

In my class Global Consumption, Local Identity, we talk about these politics of food. Why we eat the way we do, why some people go hungry, why some people are fat. It’s not just about nutritional choices; it’s about political choices. My students are very sharp at understanding nutritional choices, but not the commercial-political economy. They are frequently surprised by who actually ‘owns’ the food they eat. E



Emerson College has an extra-special place in many hearts. This spring, we pay

tribute to the scores of relationships whose seeds were sown at Emerson College.

At last count, at least 350 marriages and long-term relationships blossomed on campus.


Gail (Stieber) Bor ’70 and Ron Bor ’70Yes, I did meet my husband at Emerson College! We had both transferred to Emerson in 1968 and met in Suzanne Harrington’s Articulation Disorders class. But our romance blossomed in David Maxwell’s cleft palate lecture held in the Charles Street Meeting House. Ron gave me his first valentine in my mailbox at the Student Union. We will be married for 42 years in April.

Rebecca Dornin ’00 and Mary Ann Cicala ’99Mary Ann was one of the first people I saw when I transferred to Emerson during my junior year, and I just knew I was going to have a crush on her. You could call it love at first sight. She was welcoming new students on a beautiful, sunny day while checking things off on her clipboard in front of the old Student Union on Beacon Street. We officially met later that week, and I knew she was fair game after I attended an Emerson Alliance for Gays, Lesbians and Everyone (EAGLE) event that she had organized. I invited her to go to church with me at Arlington Street. Afterward, I invited her for coffee, even though I don’t drink coffee. That was close to seven years ago, and it was Emerson that brought us together.

Amanda Langlinais Pepper, MA ’01, and Scott Pepper, MFA ’01I met my husband, Scott, while we were graduate students at Emerson. I walked into my very first class, Teaching Freshman Writing, and saw him sitting on the other side of the room. The tables were shaped in a “U.” I chose to sit facing him so I could look at him the entire time without being too obvious. He was so smart and articulate. After that very first class I began to think, “I’m going to marry that boy someday.” And I did!

Louise Letourneau Sylvester ’58 and John Sylvester Jr. ’57Because John commuted from Milton and I commuted from Lawrence, we were part of the group of early birds who met each morning in the cafeteria. After several cups of coffee and lots of pre-Interstate 93 dating treks, John proposed to me in the alley behind the Emerson theater near Storrow Drive. Romantic? You betcha. We married July 12, 1958, have 4 children and 17 grandchildren; we will celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary on July 12, 2013.

Jamison Cush ’02 and Kimberly Hallen ’03I first met Kimberly when she walked into WECB in 1999, where I was the assistant program director. She pitched a workout–themed morning show, which I rejected. We later developed a friendship over tasteless jokes while both writing for Hyena, Emerson’s only intentionally funny publication. Kimberly only laughed at my jokes to be polite. We didn’t become a couple until after I graduated in 2002, while we were both living in Los Angeles, where a friend dubbed us, “Jimberly.” Fast forward 10 years and I finally asked Kimberly to marry me. She replied, “What?” but still took the ring and eventually said yes. Jimberly resides in Somerville, Massachusetts, with an adopted dog. I still think the WECB workout show is a bad idea.

Mandy Grigoraitis Manrique ’02 and Aru Manrique ’00Aru and I met in the winter of 1999 through a mutual friend at Emerson. Aru was a senior studying radio and I was a sophomore in the dance program. We became good friends over the next several months and started dating in the summer of 2000. We’ve lived in the Boston area since graduation and were married at Somerville City Hall by our friend, Mayor Joe Curtatone, in March 2006. We welcomed our daughter, Natalie, into the world on September 8, 2012, and are so excited she has so many of our great friends from Emerson as a part of her life! E


G a i n i n g

Around the World in a Dozen DialectsTraining young actors to speak in many tongues

By Rhea Becker

L o s i n g

Walk into Studio 336 at the Paramount Center on a weekday morning, close your eyes, and listen.

The sounds you hear will transport you to 19th-century London, the Civil War South, a German beer hall, and New York City’s Lower East Side.

You’ve happened upon Advanced Voice and Dialects, a semester-long immersion course for Performing Arts students working to master the art of dialect.

“If you’re an actor, you’re going to be asked to do some alteration in speech pattern” at some point in your career, said Amelia Broome, Emerson senior artist-in-residence, who teaches the class. “There’s a 100 percent chance of that.”Continued on page 12

Performing Arts students learn

to master speaking in dialects, while

Communication Sciences and

Disorders students help those who

seek to modify their accents


a c tc e n s

ca c e stn

c e tn sa c

n sec ta c

e ta c c n s

n scc ta e

a nc ec t sDon’t Let Me Be MisunderstoodAccent modification makes a world of difference

By Rhea Becker

Working, going to school, or living in the United States when your first language is not English can be daunting. And even after one learns the language, there may be further hurdles to overcome. What if, for instance, your accent and speaking cadence make it difficult to be understood by others?

Accent modification is making life a whole lot easier for people who want to alter their speech, and Emerson’s Communication Sciences and Disorders Department (CSD) is training future speech and language pathologists how to work with people from around the globe to modify their English speaking skills.Continued on page 14


Continued from page 10Each week, Broome, the accent

expert on the faculty, introduces her students to a new dialect, kicking off the semester with Brooklyn, New York, and moving on to American Southern, because these two are “basic U.S. accents that most of the students have heard a few times. It’s close to home,” she said.

“Then we hop over the ocean for proper British. I like them to get a really good grasp of proper British because that’s the basis for all of the other British-style dialects. If they have that in their psyches and their ears, then they have a jumping-off point for Cockney, Irish, and Scottish. Then we close with German and Russian.” The dialects the students are trained in form “a basic collection that we’re certain most actors will run across,” said Broome, who hails from Georgia and speaks with her own mellifluous Southern accent.

Learning dialects in Broome’s classroom begins with voice exercises drawn from the work of renowned vocal coach and former Emerson faculty member Kristin Linklater. Students must

also become familiar with the nomenclature of dialect acquisition: resonance, kinesthetic triggers, vowel changes, inflection patterns, tempo, lilt, and rhythm.

Sometimes a “kinesthetic trigger” helps an actor launch into a dialect. Another way to refer to kinesthetic trigger is “muscle memory,” she added.

“It’s how the body responds automatically to a learned behavior like riding a bicycle or tying shoelaces—actions that after practice become second nature because the muscles respond to the task without [engaging] the conscious mind.” In the Cockney dialect, for example, “the kinesthetic trigger could be to lift or sneer with the upper lip,” said Broome.

For proper British, “the kinesthetic trigger may be a feeling of openness in the back of the mouth,” said Broome,

“and Irish has a little bit of toughness in the jaw, a good, strong R,” and, she added, “a twinkle in the eye and a smile in the back of the throat.”

Performing Arts Department Chair Melia Bensussen said, “It’s a testament to how serious our acting training is, because both the BFA and BA acting students are exposed to dialect work at the caliber of Amelia’s teaching. It’s an important part of our curriculum.”

That accent becomes youWhen she begins instruction of a new dialect, Broome reviews the rules for that particular accent, demonstrates it, conducts a lengthy call-and-response of sentences written precisely for that dialect, and then works with students individually. For homework, students go home and feverishly practice; they spend the week chatting in the dialect with roommates, store clerks, and just about anybody who will listen. In the following class, each student presents a monologue in the dialect.

For homework, students go home and feverishly practice; they spend the week chatting in the dialect with roommates, store clerks, and just about anybody who will listen.

Claire Hilton ’15 (left) and Rachel Schulte ’13 were part of the cast of Emerson Stage’s Grapes of Wrath, who were coached by Emerson dialect expert Amelia Broome.

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Around the World in a Dozen Dialects


Amelia Broome is the go-to speech coach for Emerson Stage productions, which feature student actors. Last fall’s Grapes of Wrath, directed by Professor Maureen Shea, was a tour de force of accent work, with a large cast whose members needed to master a Midwestern twang.

“Every semester, I’m on at least one show,” said Broome. “Last spring, I coached Golden Age. It was Australian. It had a ‘cast of thousands’, so that took a huge amount of time. I’m working on The Winter’s Tale this spring, which is not as much dialect as embodying and invigorating Shakespeare’s text.”

Alex Ates ’13 worked with Broome a few years ago when he performed in an Emerson Stage play set in Texas. “Amelia was the coach for that production, and I remember learning so much from her. It was that experience that really excited me about taking her [Dialects] class this semester.”

Broome is also an in-demand consultant for theatrical productions throughout the Boston area. For History Boys, produced a few seasons ago at the acclaimed SpeakEasy Stage Company, Broome was “required to individually coach each of the cast members. Some had more facility with the dialect than others. It was all North Country British,” she recalled. “It was quite a heavy job.”

On the other hand, for a production of Big River, the Huck Finn musical staged last

year at Boston’s award-winning Lyric Stage, she simply “went in to listen to the final few rehearsals to make sure nothing was terribly awry with the Southern accent.”

In a nutshell, Broome explained, “There is all kinds of attention to speech here at Emerson, but for acquiring dialects in English from different parts of the world, I’m your girl,” she said, with a warm smile.

Broome studied voice with Nina Pleasance at Boston University. “I was able to carve out my own voice master’s degree,” she said. After earning an MFA, she was hired at Emerson by Kristin Linklater, who was then head of acting and is widely considered the most esteemed voice coach in the acting world.

Besides Dialects, Broome, who has been on the Emerson faculty for 18 years, teaches First-Year Speaking Voice, Musical Theatre Ensemble, and senior and junior BFA acting studios. In her spare time, she appears in stage productions throughout the Greater Boston area.

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During a recent class session, students proffered their Scottish monologues. As each student stood before the class, Broome offered helpful observations: “If your breath is lacking, it sounds like you’ve gone to Ireland,” or

“You were nowhere but Scotland in that speech!”

By the end of the course, the students “have confidence in their ability to acquire any speech patterns required,” said Broome. In fact, one of her recent students attended an audition in which

“they asked her to do five dialects on the spot—and she did them. With confidence and boldness.”

Broome finds it “a pleasure” to teach dialect. “Students are fascinated with it. I love the openness and interest that the students have in approaching all of these different ways to speak and to be understood.”

Alex Ates ’13, a student in last fall’s Dialects class, said the most important takeaway was finding the key to

“unlocking certain dialects. A lot of the class was spent working individually to find your specific trigger for a specific dialect. It could be a sentence, a word, or even learning more about the culture. Once you find the key, a dialect can be unlocked pretty quickly.”

The Accent Queen

When she’s not coaching students in the art of dialect, Amelia Broome appears in stage productions throughout Boston. Here, she plays Arlene in Next Fall, produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company.


Continued from page 11Marie Rimshaw, a speech and

language pathologist and clinical instructor in CSD at Emerson for the past 15 years, addresses accent modification instruction in one of the Department’s Language Acquisition classes and supervises the accent modification program in the College’s Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center.

It’s not that Rimshaw has anything against accents, in fact, quite the opposite. “I love accents. I think it’s part of a person and their heritage,” said Rimshaw, “but some people feel they cannot be understood and have encountered difficulties because of it. They want to change that.”

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the professional arm of the field, recognized the need for accent intervention many years ago. With increasing cultural interchange in America, ASHA began to more visibly embrace accent modification about a decade ago as a viable career path for speech-language pathologists.

A two-way learning experienceOne day last fall, Rimshaw sat at a two-way mirror in an Emerson observation room high above Tremont Street and watched as a graduate-student clinician ran one of the accent modification groups that meets weekly at

Helping international students assimilate to American college life is the aim of Communication Studies Scholar-in-Residence Cathryn Cushner Edelstein’s new handbook, Excuse Me, Can You Repeat That?: How to Communicate in the U.S. as an International Student (Five Star Publications).

The book is designed to help international students adapt to language and cultural norms.

“When international studies arrive on college campuses, they often feel confused and isolated,” Edelstein said. An increasing number of international students are coming to U.S. colleges—with a significant number from Southeast Asia—and colleges need to adapt their inclusiveness and teaching styles to accommodate them, she said.

Many international students worry about their accents. Edelstein’s book delves into common mispronunciations. “Getting rid of people’s accents is not my goal,” she said. “I try to get people to speak with clarity and communicate without frustration.”

Dan O’Brien

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recognizes that accent modification could present a new career path for speech-language pathologists, writing:

“SLPs are ideal professionals to help nonnative English speakers and native English speakers with regional dialects and accents who want to improve communication skills in the workplace. This practice, however, may require expanding one’s perspective—from the traditional school, clinic, or academic setting to an understanding of the business environment. Successful consultants will be those who consider new business models, expand their skills sets, and market to decision- makers. SLPs who expand their level of expertise and understanding of the business environment will be better equipped to be competitive in this growing field.”

Accent(uate) the Positive

A New Career Path

heed

hidShe from me.

many

minnyI have friends.

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood


On this particular day, Rimshaw takes notes to discuss later with the student. The clients, both Spanish speakers from Central America, attend a 90-minute session, as they have for the past several semesters. “We often pair a client with another client, so it’s more of a conversation group,” she said. Clients receive “one-on-one attention and many materials. They also sign releases acknowledging that they will be observed, videotaped, etc., for the education of our students.”

Graduate students in CSD must complete 25 hours of observation before they do clinical work. Then, students adhere to strict ASHA requirements and program guidelines as they are assigned to work with people in the accent modification as well as other clinical programs. “We offer clinical training and academics to provide at least some exposure to everything we expect our students might encounter clinically,” said Rimshaw.

The success of accent modification depends greatly on how diligent the clients are. “They need to put in five hours a week of outside practice,” said Rimshaw. “If you’ve been speaking with a heavy French accent and you’re 35 years old, change can take a long time. But if our clients immerse themselves in English outside of the clinical practice, they will do better. One of our clients listens to lessons on his iPhone and practices on long walks at night.” E

To view a video on Gaining Accents, Losing Accents, visit emerson.edu/videos/finding-losing-accents-emerson-college.

Numerous speech patterns must be addressed in order to modify an accent. As English speakers, “we use many speaking patterns that we’re not even aware of,” says Communication Sciences and Disorders Clinical Instructor Marie Rimshaw, who explains a few of the terms and exercises employed in the practice of accent modification:

The deliberate deletion of a sound or syllable when speaking a target word as an exercise in phonological awareness, e.g., saying

“winter” without the “t”: ”winner.”

The musicality of mainstream American English depends on applying typical patterns of sound linking. In running speech, adjoining words are connected, particularly when, for example, we produce same sounds: “hot tamale”; vowel to vowel sounds: “yellow onions”; or

“t” or “d” followed by “y”: “Could you” becomes “Coudja.”

The rhythm of a language created with stress and intonation.

An individual’s awareness of the sound structure of a spoken word.

The variation in pitch within a spoken word.

The Vocabulary of Accent Modification

the Robbins Center. The Center offers training to the public at a nominal fee while graduate students hone their clinical skills.

Accent modification clients make their way to the Center either by self-referral or referral by their workplace, frequently because “their employer says that people are not understanding them,” said Rimshaw. Students, businesspeople, university professors, and hospitality workers are common clients at the Center.

“We always have more clients than we can accommodate at any one time,” she added.

Although speakers of Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese predominate, the Center has also worked with clients whose first language is Russian, Japanese, Thai, or French. In sessions, speakers of any language may be grouped together.

Initially, each client is assessed by Rimshaw along with a student clinician.

“We determine their competency with English and how their accent affects their intelligibility.” Every client receives an individualized program. “There is no template, no cookbook, but there are three tenets to adhere to,” she said. “First, stress and intonation. You can have the right articulation and right sounds, but if the stress and intonation are off, it will be hard to be understood. Second, we pay attention to patterns of obvious and subtle consonant and vowel differences, as in saying, ‘He heed,’ instead of ‘He hid.’ The third area we address is phonological awareness—the ability to identify and manipulate the sounds of a language in one’s head. To recognize sounds is critically important. If you can’t hear them and identify them, how can you reproduce them?”

Rimshaw supervises all of the accent clients. “I help the graduate student set up the program for each client, but he or she provides the treatment.”

Rimshaw emphasizes that accent-modification clients do not have “a disorder; they have a sound difference.”

I have friends.

Elision

Ligatures, or linking

Prosody

Phonological awareness

Intonation


T h e

Sustainability

measures

touch

every

corner

of

campus



o f E m e r s o n C o l l e g e

Sustainability

measures

touch

every

corner

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campus

“It’s a cultural shift,” said Jay Phillips, associate vice president for facilities and campus services, about how a campus community must embrace green initiatives.

“People have to realize the value of it.” Phillips arrived on campus in May 2012, bringing with him decades of experience in sustainability in higher education (see sidebar).

The curriculum, too, has been greened, with a new Environmental Studies minor added for fall 2013.

With each incoming class of freshmen, “there is a higher percentage of people who come to the table ready to participate in sustainability activities,” said Phillips,

“because that’s the way they have been brought up. There’s a higher expectation” that the College will work toward sustainability, he added. “The programs are often driven by the students.”

Phillips noted. “We tested the City of Boston’s water and, not surprisingly, it’s fine. In some cases, it’s better than bottled water. We’ve also added a lot of hydration stations around campus, where people can fill their own bottles. It’s a win-win across the board.”

Green activities implicitly demonstrate ethical and social values, but they also mean cost savings for institutions. Emerson’s move to eliminate bottled water on campus, for example, has saved the College money.

“Emerson, as a community, has really embraced the phasing out of bottled water,”

“Going green” has been the buzzword for business, industry, and higher education for the past decade.And Emerson College is no exception.

With the arrival of President Lee Pelton on campus in 2011, the College has redoubled its efforts, reviewing its water, waste, energy, and transit operations in order to move toward even greater sustainability.

By Katie Gibson



An Environmental Studies minor has been added to the curriculum for fall 2013.

A food donation program sends leftover food from the Dining Hall to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Pre- and post-composting are done in the main Dining Hall.

Emerson’s Dining Hall has been trayless since April 2011, saving energy, water, and food.

Piano Row (a 14-story, 554-bed residence hall) is LEED Silver.

The Colonial Building (a 10-story, 372-bed residence hall) has been deemed LEED Gold.

The College’s new facility, which is being built in Los Angeles, is being constructed to LEED Gold standards.

The Paramount Center was built with sustainable best practices and strict environmental code.

Energy-efficient lighting has been installed throughout much of the campus.

Emerson provides two indoor bicycle parking areas.

The College purchases Energy Star-rated computers and other appliances whenever possible.

Student organizations that address green issues include Earth Emerson, Emerson Peace and Social Justice, the Office of Service Learning and Community Action (operates Alternative Spring Break), Environmental Communicators, and Imagine.

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency named Emerson the 2010–11 Individual Conference Champion for using more green power than any other school in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. Emerson beat its conference rivals by purchasing 12 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing almost 100 percent of the school’s annual electricity usage.

Emerson is a member of the Green Power Partnership, which is a voluntary program associated with the U.S. EPA. The Green Power Partnership encourages organizations to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use.



Green, gold and silver buildings

With the beginning of construction on a major new Emerson facility in Los Angeles, LEED is another buzzword making its way around campus. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized green building certification system. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations, and maintenance solutions.

Emerson has adhered to LEED certification standards for its last several projects, seeking higher levels of certification each time. The Colonial Building, a 10–story, 372–bed residence hall, is LEED Gold, and Piano Row, a 14–story, 554–bed residence hall, built in 2003, is LEED Silver.

The goal of the LEED process, Phillips says, is less about the certification sticker than about taking the long view, and building more efficient, responsibly operated buildings.

“Each LEED certification comes with increasing levels of commitment,” Phillips explained. “The value of LEED, in my opinion, is the scorecard it includes. In Los Angeles, we’re going for LEED Gold [for the new facility], and the process forces us to hold ourselves to sustainable, long-term commitments. This is where construction and operations come together.”

Paper (and cardboard) trail

The College has recycled paper and cardboard for several years, but the effort has been magnified this year by the decision to take the Admission and Enrollment offices paperless, and the purchase of a baler to handle cardboard destined for recycling.

“It’s incredible,” MJ Knoll-Finn, vice president for enrollment, said of her office’s paperless initiative. “Not only are we doing something to benefit the environment, but it’s forced us to look closely at our processes, to find ways to streamline work, and develop more efficient ways to manage the credentials and applications we receive.

“Being paperless allows us to complete files sooner and have more time for personal interactions with applicants and their families,” Knoll-Finn said.

Emerson’s Student Financial Services office, which works closely with both Admission and Enrollment, plans to go paperless within the year.

If Admission and Enrollment can go paperless, anybody can, Phillips noted. “There’s a need for other offices on campus to reduce their paper use. There should be as much focus on minimizing [paper] as how we deal with it once we get it.”

Due to the constant inflow and outflow of students in the residence halls, and the increasing prevalence of online shopping, it seems cardboard boxes are here to stay. But, Phillips notes, the new baler is already saving the College money, time, and headaches.

“We always recycled it, but it was cumbersome,” he explained.

“Cardboard doesn’t stack tightly, and the truck from the Institutional Recycling Network had to come to Emerson two or three times a week.” By using the new baler, the College can store cardboard more efficiently, reducing truck pickups by half.

“It saves us money, it saves fuel for the truck, and it saves space because we can compact the cardboard,” Phillips said. “When recycling becomes a burden, it’s a disincentive to handle it properly, so we’re more inclined to handle it properly now.”

Janitorial supplies are Green Seal-approved. In addition, the College’s custodial staff are trained and certified on Green Cleaning Techniques.

Emerson College is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and a signatory to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.

Emerson’s energy comes from renewable sources such as wind power. Emerson offsets 100 percent of its electricity use through the purchase of renewable energy certificates generated by wind energy.

Expression, the College magazine, and all other print materials produced by the College’s Creative Services Department are printed according to Forest Stewardship Council standards.

Dozens of hydration stations have been installed or retrofitted throughout the campus, and more are being added all the time. Hydration stations are designed for filling water bottles.

Food rescue

Closer to home, Emerson Dining Services is composting, recycling, and saving water wherever it can.

“Aramark [the College’s food service] belongs to a group linked with the Greater Boston Food Bank, which distributes food that can’t be used institutionally to people in homeless shelters,” Phillips explained. “We weigh our excess food.”

While it’s commendable to donate excess food, Phillips stresses that “we want to reduce the over-purchasing of food. We want to minimize how much we buy to match the need for student meals, to mitigate how much we have to deal with in composting or donations.”

Emerson’s Dining Hall went trayless in 2011, joining many other colleges and universities. A study by Aramark found that students waste about 30 percent less food when they make their food choices and move about the Dining Hall without using a tray. Trayless dining also conserves enormous amounts of water (washing trays requires one-third to one-half a gallon of water per tray) and electricity.

Dining Services has partnered with Planet Police, a local compost hauling service, to add composting barrels to the dining hall. Students can empty their leftover food and paper napkins into the barrels, preventing them from ending up in landfills.

Phillips emphasizes that purchasing the appropriate amount of goods is the first step toward fighting excess waste:

“It’s great to say we recycle X pounds of paper or X pounds of cardboard, but a better way to manage the waste stream is to never purchase it in the first place. You see an increase in poundage of recyclable materials, and people think that’s success, when they might not be managing the purchase side well enough. You have to do both.”

Organic and fair-trade products, cage-free eggs, as well as vegan and gluten-free options are also available in the Dining Hall.

Greening the curriculum

Emerson’s curriculum has also been turning green, with a new Environmental Studies minor, which will be offered this fall for the first time. “Courses across many disciplines feature green content, and Emerson is uniquely poised to participate in the sustainability conversation,” said Linda Moore, vice president for academic affairs at Emerson.

Course offerings include: Energy and Sustainability, Climate Change, Ecology and Conservation, Science and Politics of Water, Plants and People, Science in Translation: Environmental Science, Environmental Ethics, Earth Science: Natural Disasters, Environmental Reporting, and Filmmaking and the Environment.

Phillips says the greening of the campus extends to all corners, for example, theatrical lighting, an important part of live performances at Emerson. “We now have products that are dramatically more energy-efficient than their historical counterparts,” he explained. “We’ve tested and proved some of them, and now we, as a community, can commit to embracing and supporting an energy-efficient product to support our curriculum. That’s just one way we can intertwine those things.”

Green activities continue to be advocated for and implemented by student groups such as Earth Emerson and President Pelton’s Committee on Sustainability, which is composed of staff, faculty, and students.

Sustainability is here to stay at Emerson College. E

Emerson’s new sustainability chief, Jay Phillips, has spent the last two decades immersing himself in the development of energy management programs as well as managing sustainability programs. Before arriving at Emerson in May 2012, Phillips, associate vice president for facilities and campus services, spent 22 years at Harvard University, where he implemented various sustainability initiatives across the university. He was eventually appointed senior director of operations at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard’s largest school. He received the “Special Achievement Award” at the Annual Green Carpet Awards (the award is issued to one faculty member and one staff member each year). Phillips was also co-chair of Harvard’s university-wide Sustainability and Energy Management Council.

Phillips also worked as an academic and sustainability advisor for students, helping them brainstorm and implement ideas related to greening the campus.

His certifications related to sustainability include: LEED AP+ O&M (Operations & Maintenance) certificate; Certified Energy Manager with the Association of Energy Engineers; Certified Energy Auditor with the Association of Energy Engineers; and Certified Carbon Reduction Manager with the Association of Energy Engineers.

To view a video of Phillips, visit emerson.edu/videos/jay-phillips-mr-sustainability.

Our Green Guru



Emerson Collegehauled 40.63 tons of compostable material infall 2012

The recycling of this quantity of packaging and raw materials avoided their manufacturing and disposal, thereby conserving the following*:

690.71 Mature TreesThis represents enough saved timber resources to produce more than 8,530,659.49 sheets of newspaper!

166,583.00 Kilowatt-Hours of ElectricityThis is enough power to fulfill the weekly electricity needs of more than 13.88 homes!

142.21 Cubic Yards of Landfill AirspaceThis represents enough airspace to fulfill the municipal waste disposal needs for a community of 114.18 Americans for one week!

18,811.69 Gallons of OilThis represents 271.23 barrels of No. 2 fuel oil, which provides enough energy to heat and cool more than 92.96 homes for one week!

975.12 Gallons of GasolineThis represents enough gasoline for Americans to drive more than 27,123.12 miles!

284,410.00 Gallons of WaterThis represents enough fresh water to meet the daily fresh water needs of more than 114.18 Americans!

*Each ton of fiber recycled conserves:

Paper

Cardboard

Glass, metal, and plastic

Laser, inkjet, and toner cartridges

Rechargeable batteries and cell phones

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs

Electronics

Construction materials

Furniture

Other materials

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Emerson recycles: Emerson participates in Recyclemania, a friendly competition for college and university recycling programs nationwide to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Each spring, colleges across North America report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis.

Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries

17 mature trees463 gallons of oil24 gallons of gasoline4,100 kw-hrs of electricity7,000 gallons of water, and 3.5 cubic yards of landfill air space.

Poets PairSenior Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Gail Mazur and Senior Writer-in-Residence Richard Hoffman, faculty in Emerson’s Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing, have plied the poet’s trade with distinction for decades. What follows is a taste of some of their recent works.

Young Apple Tree, December

What you want for it you’d wantfor a child: that she take hold;that her roots find home in stony

winter soil; that she take seasonsin stride, seasons that shape andreshape her; that like a dancer’s,

her limbs grow pliant, gracefuland surprising; that she know,in her branchings, to seek balance;

that she know when to flower, whento wait for the returns; that she turnto a giving sun; that she know

fruit as it ripens; that what’s lostto her will be replaced; that earlysummer afternoons, a full blossoming

tree, she cast lacy shadows; that changenot frighten her, rather that changemeet her embrace; that remembering

her small history, she find her placein an orchard; that she be her ownorchard; that she outlast you;

that she prepare for the hungry world(the fallen world, the loony world)something shapely, useful, new, delicious.

Gail Mazur, “Young Apple Tree, December” was originally published in They Can’t Take That Away from Me (University of Chicago Press, 2001) and later in Zeppo’s First Wife: New and Selected Poems (University of Chicago Press, 2005).

Michelangelo: To Giovanni da Pistoia When the Author was Painting the Vault of the Sistine Chapel

By Michelangelo Buonarroti—1509Translation by Gail Mazur

I’ve already grown a goiter from this torture, swollen up here like a cat from Lombardy (or anywhere where the stagnant water’s poison). My stomach’s squashed under my chin, my beard’spointing at heaven, my brain’s crushed in a casket, my breast twists like a harpy’s. My brush, above me all the time, dribbles the paint so my face makes a fine floor for droppings!

My haunches are grinding into my guts, my poor ass strains to work as a counterweight, every gesture I make is blind and aimless. My skin hangs loose below me, my spine’s all knotted from folding over itself, I’m bent taut as a Syrian bow.

And because I’m like this, my thoughts are crazy perfidious tripe: anyone shoots badly through a crooked blowpipe.

My painting is dead. Defend it for me, Giovanni, protect my honor. I am not in the right place—I am not a painter.


Gail Mazur

An Old Story

A few days after my mother diedthe furnace went out, and my father,who had been sitting in his chairacross from hers since the funeral,

his unshaven chin on his chest,heaved himself up and went downthe cold gray cellar stairs to see ifhe could relight the pilot himself

or would have to call for help.I know what it must have been likebecause I remember him other timeson his back down there, cursing

match after match, god damningeach for burning his fingers, as hereached through the tiny metal dooras many times as it took. This time

it lit, caught, and roared back to life.When my father sat up he facedthe washer, the dryer, the emptylaundry basket, the ironing board,

and my mother’s radio above the sink,her absence so vivid that climbingthe stairs he thought he heard herbehind him, and he turned around.

Winter Psalm

Boston snowbound, Logan closed, snowplowsand salt-trucks flashing yellow, driftstall as a man some places, visibility poor,I sit by the window and watch the snow

blow sideways north-northeast, hot cupin hand, robe over pajamas.You have made me to seek refugeand charged me to care for my brothers. How cruel. That could only be You out therehowling, cracking the trees, burying everything.What could I possibly want from Youthat would not undo the whole world as it is?

Gail Mazur is the author of six books of poems, most recently Figures in a Landscape, published by the University of Chicago Press, 2011. Zeppo’s First Wife: New and Selected Poems won the 2006 Massachusetts Book Prize in Poetry and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and They Can’t Take That Away from Me was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award. Her poems and essays have been published and anthologized widely, including in The Atlantic, Poetry, the Paris Review, the Pushcart anthologies, and online at Slate.com. She is founding director of the Blacksmith House Poetry Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Richard Hoffman is the author of the poetry collections Without Paradise; Gold Star Road, winner of the 2006 Barrow Street Press Prize and the New England Poetry Club’s Sheila Motton Award; and Emblem. His prose includes Interference & Other Stories and the celebrated memoir Half the House.


Richard Hoffman


Performing Arts’ McCauley selected as U.S. Artists Fellow

faculty

Professor Robbie McCauley, who staged an autobiographical play, Sugar, at Emerson last year, on her personal struggle with diabetes and the effect of the disease on African Americans, has been named a United States Artists Fellow.

“I got the news in September but I couldn’t tell anyone until December,” said McCauley. “It was awarded to so many incredible people,” she said. “I’m in great company.”

Sugar debuted in January 2012 and McCauley plans to continue production and to use some of the $50,000 she received from the fellowship to enhance the play and bring it to more venues. McCauley won after being nominated by someone who wishes to remain anonymous.

Sugar, directed by Performing Arts Professor Maureen Shea, delves into McCauley’s diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes in her late teens while living with her family in Georgia, where there were disparities in treating the disease due to racial segregation.

She said Sugar illustrates the difficulty of staying healthy while living in a traditional Southern family in which food is used as a symbol of love and affection.

Sugar was made in collaboration with ArtsEmerson and the Performing Arts Department.

Grossman awarded grant for work on autismRuth Grossman, assistant professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders, has won the Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award for 2012–2013. Grossman’s research is focused on various aspects of face-to-face communication in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). She is specifically interested in how children with ASD integrate and produce verbal and nonverbal information, such as facial expressions and prosody. The award will allow her to do an in-depth analysis of the relationship between facial movement patterns and perceived awkwardness.

The Mann Stearns Award is presented annually to one full-time faculty member to fund a scholarly or creative endeavor in which travel is encouraged. Irma Mann Stearns ’67, who established the award, has served on both the Emerson College Board of Trustees (chair emeritus) and the Board of Overseers.

Anya Belkina, assistant professor of Visual and Media Arts, won the award for the 2011–2012 academic year. She gave a talk this year about the positive impact of receiving the award, which she used to help create Moston, a 12-foot-tall, suspended inflatable sculpture that conjures a technology-driven combination of Moscow and Boston.

Faculty published in Best American Poetry 2012

Cooper receives McLuhan awardVisual and Media Arts Professor Thomas Cooper received the Medium and the Light Award last fall at the Marshall McLuhan Conference held at the University of Toronto.

Howard R. Engel, co-director of the Marshall McLuhan Initiative, presented the award to Cooper on behalf of the Engel Family Fund and Richard Osicki, director of the Marshall McLuhan Initiative.

The Award is given to honor contributions to religious communication inspired by notions put forward by McLuhan.

Livesey selected for yearlong Radcliffe fellowshipMargot Livesey has won a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard for 2013 and her latest novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, was selected for the New England Independent Booksellers Award. She will work on her next novel during her fellowship.

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Family communication is topic of West bookCommunication Studies Professor Richard West recently released the fourth edition of his book Perspectives on Family Communication, co-authored by Lynn H. Turner of Marquette University.

Perspectives on Family Communication examines the role communication plays in both creating and solving family issues. Fifteen case studies are woven throughout the chapters, and serve as the book’s foundation. The book was recognized by the Family Communication journal as the premier book that addresses family diversity in multiple ways.

“We have so many different issues and challenges in family life,” West explained. “This book is a beginning in unpacking many of the complexities related to them. It examines the importance of communication as families grapple with both large and small issues in their lives.”

Poems by Peter Shippy (left), a longtime part-time faculty member in the Writing, Literature and Publishing Department, and Professor and Interim Dean of the School of the Arts Daniel Tobin (below, left) has been selected for publication in The Best American Poetry 2012, an anthology edited by Mark Doty and David Lehman.

Tobin’s poem “The Turnpike” was selected, as was Shippy’s “Our Posthumous Lives.”

Tobin has published six books of poetry. Shippy has taught at Emerson for 26 years. Young people’s cell phone use is

basis of media-habits study

Marketing Communication Assistant Professor Paul Mihailidis’s Tethered World Project explores university students and their mobile phone use.

The study, released last year, evaluated the mobile habits of 793 students from eight universities around the world. The students were directed to track their mobile use over a 24-hour period and complete an in-depth survey and a 500-word reflection about their media habits. The responses were used to answer the question: How have mobile technologies changed the information habits of a digital generation?

A Tethered World revealed a generation that has fully integrated mobile technologies into their lives. The results of this study, broken into general insights and top data takeaways, collectively show a homogenized, technologically dependent population who use their

phones to tether themselves to communities and to social networks—but not much else. Reading news or even gaming is far down the list of what the study participants do with their mobile phones. This trend is not only taking place in the United States, but across the world.

The findings of A Tethered World were featured in The Huffington Post.

Mihailidis teaches media studies at Emerson. His research explores media literacy, civic voices, and participatory culture. He is the director of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, a program that annually gathers scholars and students from around the world to investigate media and global citizenship. His newest book, News Literacy: Global Perspectives for the Newsroom and the Classroom (Peter Lang Publishing), was published last spring.

Mihailidis was aided by graduate research assistants Eivind Michaelsen, MA ’13, and Kristin Berg, MA ’12.

A Tethered World was completed in coordination with the Salzburg Academy and the International Center for Media and Public Agenda.

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p e o p l e

People always try to put their best foot forward, so why should countries be any different? asks Aharoni, who is Israel’s consul general to New York. “Imagine if the city of New York talked only about fighting crime. They are fighting crime every day—there’s no question about it. But crime is only one part of the conversation about New York. The same holds true for Israel. We have problems. They are real. They cannot be brushed off and they cannot be sidelined. But we cannot allow those issues to define who we are. Because if that’s the case, we’ll never be able to attract investors or tourists, and we’ll never be able to expose our talent and culture to the world.”

Israel often brings to mind conflict, said Aharoni. “The sad thing is that people think they know everything they need to know about Israel because they watch the news.”

About a decade ago, viewing a country as a brand began to catch on. In the days before country branding, “governments sent

Places have personalities, just like people do, Ido Aharoni, MA ’90, is fond of saying. And Aharoni should know. He is responsible for the branding, or positioning,of the nation of Israel.

the same message to everyone, with the goal of appearing on the national and international stage,” said Aharoni. But media now employ narrowcasting—engaging in and creating conversations in niche markets.

Cities such as Nashville and Las Vegas have figured out “what it is that distinguishes them from their competition,” said Aharoni. “Nashville is about country music and Las Vegas is about entertainment. Once you determine what the place or brand offers to the consumer, then you must communicate it to a relevant audience.”

In 2004, Aharoni and his team launched the first phase of Israel’s brand strategy by selecting one niche market—people who care about architecture and design—and sending a group of 12 reporters from North America to cover Israeli architecture. “Obviously, each writer has an opinion about the geopolitical situation in Israel, but they all share a passion for architecture, and this is why they came,” Aharoni said. After successfully

introducing the media to Israel’s architecture and design, new areas were targeted such as wine, cuisine, and sports.

In fact, Aharoni’s team has identified six areas that are the pillars of Israel’s brand identity: “Lifestyle and Leisure, which is the number one draw for younger audiences. It’s everything that has to do with food, wine, fashion. Second is Environment. Israel is the world leader in three areas of the environment: renewable energy, water management and technologies, and desert agriculture. The third area is High Tech and Science. Many of the innovations that were developed in Israel have changed our lives, from the design of the most advanced computer chip to the invention of the first cellular phone by Motorola. The fourth area is Culture and the Arts: literature, dance, filmmaking, music. The fifth area is People and Heritage: the human diversity and hundreds of ethnic and religious groups that are represented in Israel. Lastly, Israel’s

Meet Ido Aharoni, MA ’90, an expert on country “positioning”

From left: Picnic table, by Itamar Grinberg; wooded Gospel Trail in Galilee, by Tal Glick; water skiing, by Shai Gitterman


year Number 28, and currently number 27 out of 113 countries that are sampled. With all the regional upheaval, all the talk of Iran’s nuclear threat, and all the talk of the tumult, tourism is going up in an unprecedented fashion. So I think we must be doing something right.”

Aharoni credits Emerson College for his success: “Everything goes back to my experience at Emerson. The reason I got my first job, and where I got to today goes back to Emerson. And I love my job.” To return the favor, Aharoni spent a day on campus last fall sharing his expertise with students in the Global Journalism and Global Finance classes.

Rhea Becker and Nicole Miscioscia

international aid programs. Israel is active all over the world, extending aid. The Israeli government sent a rescue mission to Haiti that stayed there for over a year and opened a hospital.”

To develop these branding niches, Aharoni’s team spends time conducting interviews and focus groups with the stakeholders globally, “the people who own the brand, who carry Israel in their hearts.” “Just as in the case of Boston,” Aharoni explained, “I would talk and consult with Bostonians, people who carry Boston in their hearts.”

“Once you’ve talked to the stakeholders and you understand what they see, then you check the perception,” he said. “This is how Israelis see themselves; let’s see how the world sees them. And you then map the gap. There’s always a gap, by the way. The question is, how big is the gap. In the case of Israel, the gap was so enormous that we felt that the gap is not only working against us, it’s actually becoming a devastating impediment.”

The country positioning process for Israel involved seven quantitative studies outside of Israel; two comprehensive studies in Israel; 30 focus groups in North America and Europe; 450 in-depth interviews with “influentials” in Israel, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom; as well as a comprehensive pilot program that was implemented in Toronto in the summer of 2009.

An independent tool called the Country Brand Index, an annual survey of the top country brands, serves as a yardstick for nations. “When we started the process,” recalled Aharoni, “Israel was way down at the very bottom of the list with North Korea in terms of a place that people were not attracted to. Three years ago, we were Number 45, two years ago Number 31, last

Above, from left: Stained glass at a Roman Catholic Church, by Itamar Grinberg; a Circassian woman in traditional garb, by Itamar Grinberg; pilgrims at the Roman Catholic Chapel on the Mount of Beatitudes, by Itamar Grinberg. Below, from left: a camel and rider, by Rafael Ben Ari; a Galilee

An alley in old Jaffa, by Dana Friedlander. All travel photos courtesy of GoIsrael.com.

cheese boutique, by Itamar Grinberg; the planetarium at Eretz Israel Museum. Background: biking on Tel Aviv promenade, by Dana Friedlander


alumni news

A message from David G. Breen ’78, president of the Alumni Association

Dear Fellow Emersonians,

What a dynamic and exciting first half of the academic year we’ve had. The alumni presence on campus continues to be very strong. This year, the Alumni Board has committed to increasing engagement opportunities between alumni and students and with the College as a whole. Many of you have tapped into this effort and I believe have rekindled your personal connection to this amazing school.

Opportunities for alumni to connect to each other around the country and the world are also increasing, with more offerings of webinars, events, mentoring, and online communities.

At our fall Alumni Board meeting, those in attendance enjoyed a number of occasions to interact with students, and we came away impressed with their spirit and drive. We also participated in a campus plan focus group with a long-term goal of establishing a campus center that serves to enhance and define campus identity. This meeting led to some very stimulating and thought-provoking discussions that will add to the continued development of Emerson College. President Pelton shared in more detail his five major goals, delivered at his inauguration ceremony in September, for moving Emerson from “excellent to extraordinary.” These goals are far-reaching and embody a belief in the tremendous foundation that already exists and the amazing prospects for Emerson to lead. The Emerson “brand” continues to be strengthened, underpinning many of our business and personal success stories.

Our Alumni Association Scholarship Auction was a rousing success! We have committed to awarding six scholarships to Emerson students in the amount of $4,000 each year, based on financial need. I am pleased to announce that this year we raised more than $40,000 in support of this worthy initiative. This will allow us to expand the scholarship program. While we are proud of this accomplishment, we were saddened by the death of a dear Board member and longtime supporter of Emerson, William (Bill) White III ’69. In honor of his support and eight years as a member of the Alumni Board, we have voted to name the 2013–2014 Alumni Scholarships in Bill’s name. EC4Life,David G. Breen ’[email protected]

Did you enjoy your time at Emerson? Why not come back?

Emerson offers 10 master’s degrees to help you advance your career.

Communication Disorders (MS)Communication Management (MA)Creative Writing (MFA)Global Marketing Communication and Advertising (MA)Health Communication (MA)Integrated Marketing Communication (MA)Journalism (MA)Media Art (MFA)Publishing and Writing (MA)Theatre Education (MA)

Funding is available.

To find out more and apply for Fall 2013, visit our website at emerson.edu/connect.

EBONI gathering draws hundreds More than 200 Los Angeles alumni enjoyed entertainment by fellow alumni, a festive reception, and reconnecting with the West Coast Emerson community at Ramsey’s Club in November 2012. The event was sponsored by the EBONI Alumni Association, the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter, and GOLD LA. Stephen Farrier ’75 of the EBONI Alumni Association kicked off the evening by discussing the importance of EBONI’s support of Emerson’s Mary Burrill Scholarship and

welcoming Doug Herzog ’81, Emerson Trustee and president of Viacom Entertainment Group, who made introductory remarks. Herzog introduced President Pelton who spoke about his vision for the College and how the new Emerson Los Angeles Center will be an integral part of transforming Emerson from

“excellent to extraordinary.”

From left: Lili Kaytmaz ’11, Colleen Stewart (Mark’s daughter), Heather Settles ’11, Mike Lanoue ’12, Mark Stewart ’77, and Stephen Christy ’07

From left: Laura Kinson ’11, Evan Ong ’11, and Adam Kipfer ’11

Clifton Powell ’78 (left) and Leslie Moraes Davis ’80

President Pelton (left) and Wade Williams ’93

From left: Scott McGowan ’07, Chrystee Pharris ’98, and Billy McDonald ’75

From left: Kim Swann ’81, Leslie Moraes Davis ’80, Barbara Perkins ’80, Stephen Farrier ’75, Doug Herzog ’81, President Pelton, Susan Banks ’76, Chrystee Pharris ’98, and Daphne Valerius, MA ’06

Digital media examinedA panel on “Digital Dominance: The Effect of Digital Media on Entertainment Content and Revenue” was held in December in Los Angeles by Emerson’s Office of Alumni Relations. Panelists were (from left) Alex Kruglov (head of content acquisition, Hulu); Dan Cohen (executive VP, Pay television and Interactive Media for

Disney-ABC Domestic Television); Richard Wellerstein (VP, Content for U-verse TV, AT&T); Shira Lazar

’04 (host and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated live interactive show What’s Trending); and John Orlando (director, digital development for Crackle and Sony Pictures Television). The event was hosted by Linda and Bob Gersh, P

’10, at the Gersh Agency.

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From left: Kim Swann ’81, Doug Herzog ’81, and Charles Stewart ’86


Boston

Young graduates take in a show GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) alumni indulged in a little theater as they attended a private reception at Now Or Later, a political drama by Christopher Shinn that played at Boston’s Huntington Theatre last fall. Boston GOLD

Council Chair Thom Dunn ’08, who is web and new media manager at the Huntington Theatre Company, hosted the reception. It was a truly Emersonian event as the critically acclaimed production involved two alumni: cast member Grant MacDermott ’09 who played the central character, and Assistant Director Omar Robinson ’06.

Funders meet recipients at dinnerThe College hosted a dinner to honor schol-arship funders and recipients in fall 2012. In addition to comments from President Pelton and Tripp Clemens ’13, attendees were treated to a sneak preview of some songs from the Emer-son Stage production of Standardized Testing – The Musical!!!!!

From left: Omar Robinson ’06, Grant MacDermott ’09, and Thom Dunn ’08 (Boston GOLD Council Chair) celebrate a successful night among fellow alumni.

Vin Di Bona ’66 (left), Jan ’69 and Jeff ’68 Greenhawt, Mel Kutchin, Jerry Rutberg, and graduate student Kristen Kesler ’14

Angeline Vo ’13 (left), Jim and Jan Coppersmith, Ross Lippman ’13, and Abigail Ledoux ’14

EC4Life connects with alumni An EC4Life event brought together members of the Emerson Alumni Board

and students. Board members from a variety of fields, from film and television to publishing and media, networked with students. There wasn’t a dull moment as students, who were invited based on their campus leadership presence, moved throughout the room.

Author speaks on women’s leadership Alyse Nelson ’97, president of Vital Voices Global Partnership, came to campus in fall 2012 to speak to students and to talk about her new book, Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around

the World (Jossey-Bass), which has a foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nelson is a cofounder of Vital Voices, which identifies and invests in extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives.


Film fest attendees meet up at brunchEmerson students and alumni gathered at a brunch sponsored by the Emerson Alumni Association during the Austin Film Festival in

October 2012. Among the attendees were Stephen Scaia ’98 and his writing partner Matt Federman, whose credits include the TV series Warehouse 13 and Jericho.

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Southeastern alumni aim to energize chapterAtlanta-area alumni met at Davio’s of Buckhead in October 2012, with attendees ranging from the Class of 1966 to 2012, all with the same mission: to maximize alumni engagement, focus on promoting the chapter and the city, and connecting the approximately 300 alumni in Greater Atlanta and the state of Georgia. Participants included

Atlanta Chapter President Mark Granger ’04 (right) and Mackleen Desravines ’06 were part of the crowd of Atlanta-area alumni who met last fall in Buckhead.

Reba Bachrach ’66, Melissa Boss ’12, Jeff Coons ’91, Allana Da Graca ’02, Mackleen Desravines ’06, Erin Grass ’99, Peter Hall ’09, Kim Krebs ’89, Robert Mathers ’95, Chelsea Phillips ’08, Suley Usman ’85, Mark Granger ’04, and Andres Leon, MA ’00, from the Graduate Admission Office. “Atlanta is an exciting city where alumni get to experience it all,” said Chapter President Mark Granger,

Providence

Social change agents in R.I.Rhode Island-area alumni gathered to hear Rhode Island Senator Beatrice A. Lanzi, MA ’91, (far right) and Student Government Association President Tau Zaman ’13 speak about using their


experiences at Emerson as motivation for social change. Lanzi earned a master’s degree in Communication Studies.

“from art to fashion, music, television, and film. Georgia continues to expand its role, and make its place as an entertainment hub.” Longtime chapter volunteer Suley Usman

’85 added, “Looking at the talent that made up the Atlanta group of Emersonians, it struck me that we have great potential to realize our goals and objectives here in Atlanta and the Southeast.”


Jacquie Gales Webb ’77 and Steve McDonnell ’85

Washington, D.C.

From left: Alessandra DiMonda ’13, Fred Baldassaro ’96, Art Silverman ’71, Amelia O’Connor, P ’16, and Theresa Terrible ’15

From left: Wayne Barbin

’86, Peter Loge ’87, Evelyn Woolston ’47, and Barbara Rutberg’ 68

New York

Professional development is focus of event series The New York Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) has partnered with the New York Alumni Chapter to host a professional development series. The first event in the series examined “How to Optimize Your Job Hunt Using Social Media.”

From left: Host David Gwizdowski ’80 of Associated Press; NY Chapter Co-Presidents Andre Archimbaud ’94 and Linda Corradina ’81; Speaker and Director of Digital Strategy for BillMoyers.com Joel Schwartzberg ‘90; Moderator and Chair of the NY GOLD Council Kristen Berke ‘09; speaker, author, and entrepreneur Jill Tipograph, P ‘12; and speaker and social media strategist for Google Margarita Vaisman ‘00

Emersonians in WashingtonStudents and Washington, D.C.-area alumni and parents attended a gathering at Logan Tavern in December 2012 for EC@DC: A Capitol Experience. The event provided an opportunity for alumni to learn about the D.C. internships that Emerson students are participating in and hear from D.C. faculty, Interim Dean of the School of Communication Phillip Glenn, and Program Director Richard West.

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mailto:EC@DC:%20A%20Capitol%20Experience.


Adelaide O. Rice, of Trumansburg, New York, died November 30, 2012, at age 101.

Rice was a 1932 graduate of Emerson College, and attended a summer program at Oxford University following her graduation. While working as the director of a traveling theater production company, her travels to the Trumansburg area led to an introduction to James E. Rice Jr. They were married in 1933 and spent many years traveling the world.

Rice worked late into her seventies as a copy writer, account executive in advertising, manager for political campaigns, and as an administrative assistant for Tompkins County Medical Society.

She painted in her retirement and her work was exhibited in a show as recently as October 2012, where several hundred Trumansburg residents and friends gathered for the opening. Emerson College sent flowers for the occasion, which were presented to Rice before the large audience.

She is survived by her son, James E. “Jerry” Rice III (Linda Sugnet); her granddaughters, Ara Karlberg of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Tracey Jimenez (Michael), and Jennifer Heise (Patrick), all of Trumansburg; her great-grandchildren, Morgan Williams, Julia Jimenez, and Riley Heise; and a great-great-granddaughter, Ella Peterson. Rice was preceded in death by her husband in 1998.

Adelaide Rice ’32 dies at age 101

Ann Stookey, former Parents leader, dies

The former co-chair of the Emerson Parents Leadership Council died unexpectedly No-vember 6, 2012, while vacationing in Paris. She was 60.

Ann Stookey, a longtime Philadelphia-area resident who recently moved to Los Angeles, died of a brain hemorrhage as she and her husband, retired Comcast Corp. executive Joe Waz, traveled through Europe while visiting friends. Stookey was an accomplished choral singer who was active in her church choir. In October 2012,

MyAlumni Weekend

Celebrating all classes ending in 3s and 8s. All are welcome!

Milestone Reunions

65th Rho Delta Omega 20th Alpha Epsilon Phi Special Celebration for Orientation Leaders

Get the latest details and start planning your trip at emerson.edu/alumni/weekend

Join us for these and many other events

Harbor Boat CruiseReunion LuncheonsAlumni & Faculty SeminarsFaculty BrunchReunion Showcase at the Cutler Majestic TheatreWeekend Celebration at the Fairmont CopleyAnd more!

For more information: 617-824-8535

Registration opens in March.

The GOLD Council brings the energy of Emerson to your city through networking, social, and professional development events. Whether you want to join the

Interested in Networking?Want to meet other young

alumni in your city?

Council or you’re just looking to connect, visit emerson.edu/GOLD to learn more and to see what we’re up to in your area!

Boston | New York | Los Angeles | Other cities coming soon

» emerson.edu/GOLD

she participated in a recording session with Crossing, a professional chamber choir, according to her obituary on Philly.com.

Stookey and Waz were co-chairs of the Emerson Parents Leadership Council in 2009–2010. They have a son, Jack, who graduated from Emerson in 2010. Survivors include her mother, Martha Ann Stookey, and two brothers.

Save the DateMay 31-June 2, 2013

http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-09/news/35017381_1_ann-stookey-comcast-corp-joe-waz


Pahigian sets mystery novel in Maine

Josh Pahigian, MFA ’01, author of several nonfiction baseball tomes, has turned his hand to mystery writing. His first effort, Strangers on the Beach (Islandport Press), is set in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. MaineEdge.com calls Pahigian’s novel a “complex thriller, filled with engaging and eccentric characters.” A Maine native, Pahigian is the author of seven books, including The Seventh Inning Stretch, 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out, and The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: A Fan’s Guide to Major League Stadiums (co-authored by Kevin O’Connell, MFA ’00).

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Van den Berg’s short stories to be published Laura van den Berg, MFA ’08, has great reason to be proud: Her short story collection The Isle of Youth is being published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and will hit shelves later this year.

At Emerson, van den Berg said she dis-covered a “sense of purpose and community.” Although she initially found it challenging to receive critical feedback from her peers, she came to value the workshop setting. It toughened her up, taught her how important it is to have readers while still engaged in the writing process and, finally, helped her learn better listening skills—when to push back and when to simply take something in.

The Isle of Youth is a series of short stories, all narrated by women who have committed criminal acts, such as spying or robbing banks. Van den Berg described it laughingly as perhaps “transgressive impulses [of my own] being worked out.” Van den Berg’s first book was her MFA thesis, titled What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, published in 2009 by Dzanc Books. After graduating, she completed a teaching fellowship—the Tickner Writing Fellowship at the Gilman School in Baltimore—and is now an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

O’Connor named a top Broadway marketerTom O’Connor ’03 was named one of the

“Top 25 Under 35” Emerging Broadway Players by Blouin ARTINFO. The online arts and culture magazine praises O’Connor for his innovation in using the digital age to

“create a hunger for theater that people might not even know they have.”

Memoir by D’Aries draws positive reviewsAnthony D’Aries ’04 was featured in the Boston Globe for his new memoir, The Lan-guage of Men (Hudson Whitman). The article describes how D’Aries’s relationship with his father inspired his interest in language. The book has been called “compelling, brave, and honest” by The Huffington Post. Andre Dubus III (House of Sand and Fog), a former Emerson faculty member, said, “This man writes like Charlie Parker played the alto sax, with grit and verve and a willing free-fall into hard-won, illuminated truths…a profoundly important book by a major new talent.”

O’Hara debuts novel

Former Ploughshares fiction editor Maryanne O’Hara, MFA ’95, was profiled in the Boston Globe in conjunction with the publication of her debut novel, Cascade. In addition, The Library Journal named Cascade a “best bet” among upcoming first novels and Publishers Weekly highlighted the novel in its Galley Talk section, calling it “tightly woven.”



Just a few months after receiving an MFA in Media Art last May, Jordan Salvatoriello, MFA ’12, learned that she had been selected for the Directors Guild of America Jury Prize in the women filmmakers category. Her work, Graceland Girls, is a documentary about the education of girls in Kenya, which she shot at the Graceland boarding school for girls in rural Kenya while still enrolled at Emerson. Education is a serious issue in the developing country, where sending girls to school is not the norm, she said. The film served as her master’s project.

The award is a shining moment, too, for the Media Art program, which is just four years old, said Graduate Program Director and Emerson Professor Jan Roberts-Breslin.

“We’re particularly proud of Jordan,” she said. “It’s an award open only to big film and media art graduate programs. It’s a beautiful and inspiring film that champions the cause of educational opportunity for all young women.”

The film has been selected for inclusion in the Chicago International Social Change Film Festival and the Women’s Independent Film Festival (West Hollywood). In addition, Salvatoriello won the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors’ Foundation Gold Circle Award.

Doc on Kenyan education wins Directors Guild award

Snipe visits class on Argument and AdvocacyAaron Snipe ’94, a Foreign Service official, gave insight into his career when he returned to his alma mater in fall 2012 to speak with Communication Studies students on a topic that most youth never think of—how one’s educational aspirations can change with the passage of time. Speaking to students in Associate Professor Gregory Payne’s Argument and Advocacy class, Snipe answered questions about his work at the Foreign Service, where he is the spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Snipe, who is a graduate of both Emerson and Suffolk University Law School, taught English in Japan, and has worked for the Foreign Service domestically and abroad for more than 10 years.

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Wentworth named a top L.A. publicist Business Insider ranks Executive Vice President of CBS Television Distribution John Wentworth ’81 as one of the “20 Most Powerful Publicists in Hollywood.” The list is based on accomplishments; readers’ nominations; input from industry insiders, including journalists and producers; and each publicist’s client roster. Wentworth’s clients include Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, and Judge Judy.

Houton named managing editor of The PhoenixJacqueline Houton, MA ’08, has been named managing editor of The Phoenix, Boston’s newly launched weekly. The Phoenix Media/Communications Group recently combined its lifestyle magazine Stuff and its premier alternative weekly The Boston Phoenix into a single glossy magazine focused on lifestyle, local politics, media, arts, and entertainment. Houton was previously senior managing editor of Stuff.

Grosso speaks on how to get a job in politics About once a year, Kathryn Grosso ’05 returns to campus for a whirlwind tour: She visits her former teachers and gives informal talks to aspiring, young politicos. Last fall she spoke to students in Associate Professor Gregory Payne’s Argument and Advocacy class, and met with numerous others for informal discussions.

Grosso started her career at the White House during the Bush Administra-tion and followed that up with a post in Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. She then directed the Republican National Com-mittee’s War Room, helping the GOP take back the House, and, since February 2010, has been working for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as deputy director of research and response.

Grossman debuts third political thriller Award–winning television producer, College Trustee, and author Gary Grossman ’70 last fall debuted his third political thriller in his

“Executive” series. His new book, Executive Command, joins his earlier novels, Executive Actions and Executive Treason. The fact-based novel deals with an attack on America’s most vulnerable natural resource: water. The nation’s water resources are high on terrorist target lists, but low on America’s consciousness, he explained.

Grossman is an Emmy Award–winning network television producer and co-partner of Weller/Grossman Productions, a prolific television production company.


class notes

1955Ellie Van Arsdale’s first book, L.I.S.T.E.N., has been published. The book uses dialogue, illustrations, and poetry to reveal how our disappointments can become gifts and blessings.

1963 50th Reunion

Sue Butler will exhibit her art-work at Gallery Z in Providence, Rhode Island. The work will include paintings of interiors, flowers, and portraits. Sue has won several awards and exhibited in numerous venues.

1964Charles Dittell announces the publication of two eBooks. Transcending Anger provides tools to let go of anger by utilizing current therapeutic approaches to problems such as compulsive behaviors or unrealistic thoughts and beliefs. Survey of Siam Sterling Nielloware is the only eBook to provide a comprehen-sive survey on the jewelry and related items of Siam Sterling Nielloware.

1970Gary Grossman released his third political thriller in his “Executive” series, Executive Command. All three books in the series are available from major retailers.

1971Ira Goldstone has been elected to serve on the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s board of directors. Ira is vice president of engineering for Univision Television group and a longtime participant in the ATSC and industry digital TV efforts.

1972Peter Reinhard has joined CSI Management Services as a general manager in Aventura, Florida.

Howard Lapides executive produced I’m Positive, a television special in honor of AIDS Aware-ness Day, which aired on MTV in December 2012. The special follows the lives of three young people with HIV.

1973 40th Reunion

Eliza Solender won the Circle of Excellence Award from the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network. The award

is CREW Network’s top honor, which recognizes those individu-als and companies who consis-tently deliver excellence in their personal and professional lives, and whose efforts advance the commercial real estate industry. Eliza is president of Solender/Hall, a commercial real estate company based in Dallas that specializes in representing non-profit organizations. Addition-ally, she served on the Emerson College Board of Overseers for many years.

1979Julie Kelleher has been elected to the board of directors at Malden Access Television. Julie also received an MA in management communications and public relations from Emerson in 1995 and a professional certificate in media production in 2008.

1981James Schpeiser, MA ’84, volun-teered in the campaigns of Joe Kennedy III and Elizabeth War-ren for Congress and U.S. Senate, respectively. James is education director of the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club in Newton, Massachusetts. He teaches kids how to make model boats and planes, to play chess, and learn math strategies.

1985Reenie Duff, MA in Theatre Arts, is producer/artistic director for Teatro ZinZanni, a long-running European-style circus/cabaret/dinner show that has now opened a third location, in Costa Mesa, California. Reenie would love to see some fellow Emerso-nians at the show.

Donna Ebbs, head of program-ming at The Hub, was named in Daily Variety’s Youth Impact Re-port for 2012 as one of the year’s influencers. The Hub replaced Discovery Kids last year and had its largest audience in July in target demographics of kids 2–11 and 6–11. The Hub features spins on animated brands (such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) and game shows. Additionally, The Hub has added original series such as R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, which received six Daytime Emmy nominations for its second season.

1986Marc Anthony Douthit has been elected chair of the Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust. Trust members are appointed by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners and the Trust is charged with creating and implementing programs designed to generate economic development, business growth, and entrepreneurship in targeted urban areas in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

1982Brett Walker is a sales representa-tive for Pavestone, the national leader in patio block and retain-ing wall. Brett covers the New Hampshire area.

1983 30th Reunion

Bob Ward received the 2012 Hal Lipset Truth in Action Award from the World Association of Detectives in ceremonies at Boston Park Plaza Hotel in September 2012. Bob is a crime reporter for WFXT-TV, Fox25 Boston. This award was given in recognition of his in-depth coverage of cold cases, which are featured on his New England’s

“Unsolved” segment. Many of his stories have resulted in new leads and arrests.

1984James Ford Nussbaum is execu-tive producer and director of the documentary IMPACT: Jewish Boxers in America by Galileo Productions. The film will air on Cablevision Systems. The project took over two years of research, and the film profiles current and past Jewish boxing greats.

Emma Palzere-Rae is director of development & communications of Safe Futures, the domestic vio-lence and sexual assault service provider for southeastern Con-necticut. Her role was expanded to reflect her work ushering the agency through a re-branding from Women’s Center of SE CT to Safe Futures. She was happy to work with board member and fellow alumna Liz Mugavero

’02 on this project. In addition, Emma produced a film for the celebration event, her fourth for the agency.

Mary Geddes Avery ’50 (left) and Joan Steen Sliberschlag ’50 have been traveling together ever since their Emerson days. Mary writes: “I left from New Orleans last April for a week on a Breast Cancer Survivor Cruise in the Caribbean. Before the cruise, we had two days in New Orleans. Joan had been on several of these cruises before, so

Glenn Alterman ’69 has signed on with Smith and Kraus publishers to write his 25th book, Writing the Ten-Minute Play (A Book for Playwrights and Actors Who Want to Write Plays). His play Second Tiers was selected for 2012: The Best 10-Minute Plays, his 13th play to be included in the anthology series. Glenn still models, as he did back in his days at Emerson and occasionally acts in TV and in video games. He is shooting a video game playing the role of The Aging Rock Star.

she introduced me to many new and wonderful

‘survivors.’ My favorite stop was Cozumel. We shopped till we dropped. This coming April we will once more be cruising, this time to celebrate our 85th birthdays. We have about 20 other people joining us, so it should be lots of fun.”


1987Izzy Smith is director of programming at NPR. Izzy has been running his own firm, I.S. Marketing, for the past 15 years, along with his wife and their business partner Joan Miller ’86. Izzy would love to hear from old friends at: [email protected].

1989Tim Stanley writes, “Thinking about the Rev. John Coffee, whose iconic history and religion classes defined my Emerson experience. I only wish he had lived long enough to know that I was the on-loan campaign manager of North Dakotans Against Measure 3, the coalition organized to defeat the so-called Religious Liberty Restoration Act. He would have been proud that I was standing up for true religious freedom and that we defeated Measure 3 by 29 points.”

1990Amy Neale is creative com-munications coordinator at CU Solutions Group in Metro Detroit. She handles the company’s social media, public relations, and copy-

writing. In collaboration with the company’s graphics team, Amy’s work has won more than a dozen marketing and design awards.

1991Michael R. Smith is seeking a literary agent and/or publisher for his new book Madonnastrol-ogy, which finds the 12 studio albums of rock star Madonna have matched up with the 12 zodiac signs, resulting in some amazingly accurate astrology read-ings. Michael can be reached at [email protected].

Catherine Vlasuk has finished working as production coordina-tor on the Warner Bros. feature Gangster Squad. Set in 1940s Los Angeles, it stars Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, and Emma Stone.

1992Eric Beetner’s novel, The Devil Doesn’t Want Me, was published last October by Dutton’s Guilt Edged Mysteries. This is Eric’s seventh book. In addition to writing, Eric continues to work in Los Angeles as a TV editor and producer.

April Lewis-Parks is the head personal finance writer at MissMoneyBee.com, the latest buzz on personal finance news. April’s advice has been quoted on ABC News, Real Simple, Newsday, Politico, and other media. Focusing on being money smart and living a dis-cerning financial lifestyle, the blog covers managing credit and debt, empowering ideas, practical tips, daily freebies, and bargains.

1932 Adelaide (Osgood) Rice

1944 James H. Metcalf

1947 Joan Bauer

1948 Rita Gentile

1950 Martha (MacDowell) Carpenter

1950 George Grzebien

1951 Eleanor (Muser) Collins

1951 Franc Skirball

1952 Constance (Irving) VanDeusen

1956 Patricia Renn

1957 Alexander Wolfson

1958 Rhoda Hurwitz Marks

1960 Francis McCoy

1963 Jill (Victorine) Zichichi

1965 Anthony “Tony” Goldman

1966 Samuel A. Lombardo

1967 Judith (Kahn) Diamond

1969 William H. White III

1970 Donald G. Denhoff

1970 Joy Heyman

1975 Deborah (Homer) O’Leary, MA ’79

1989 Eric T. O’Neil

1991 Marci (Liepshutz) Werner

1991 Jaime Triplett

2001 Tara De Rogatis Allen E. Koenig, former president Charles W. Gibbes, former overseer

in memoriam

Jill Kovalich, MA ’87, married Christian Rubenbauer on May 19, 2012, at a ceremony overlooking Long Island Sound in Westbrook, Connecticut. Among the 74 guests were fellow alumnae and longtime friends Dana Klein ’89 and Martha Thomas Menchinger ’87. Jill joined award-winning business consulting organization CONNSTEP as a sales consultant. The couple live in Portland, Connecticut.

Sachiko Maeda, MA ’02, Ayumi Takahira, MA

’02, Barry Mehrman ’76, and Hirofumi Nakano, MA

’02, gather at Barry’s Tokyo apartment. Barry, senior director and HR business partner for McDonald’s Asia Pacific, and his wife Ann hosted a small group of Emerson alumni. Barry writes: “I have been connected with Hirofumi Nakano since I first arrived in Tokyo and these were some of his Emerson

classmates. Hirofumi works as an announcer, news commentator, and reporter for various radio and television programs in Tokyo. Sachiko Maeda is a program director and on-air talent for TV Asahi, and Ayumi Takahira is a producer and on-air talent for NHK World.

Lisa DiPrete ’95 was named director of communication at Rhode Island Quality Institute. Lisa is a senior marketing and brand strategist and has extensive experience managing enterprise communication functions in healthcare, higher education, financial services, and global manufacturing. She will develop communication and brand strategies that promote RIQI’s identity and mission, and strengthen the visibility and reputation of RIQI programs.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


1994Shawn Donnelley, past chair of the Goodman Theatre, was named a Life Trustee, the Goodman’s highest honor. When Donnelley was elected chair in 2007, she became the youngest trustee ever to lead the board. Donnelley is president of Strategic Giving, a firm that provides consultation on philanthropy, and serves on the executive committee of the Chicago Community Trust, as well as University of

Cambridge, Guild Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and on the boards of numerous organizations.

David Klotz is a music editor and owns his own company, Fonda Music. David received an Emmy for music editing for his work on Game of Thrones. David has also worked on Glee and American Horror Story.

Jennifer O’Connell was named head of U.S. television for CORE Media Group. She

1996Thessaly Lerner is The Ukulady, a musical entertainer for kids and adults. Her debut children’s record has been released on Mopp’s Music, a new label for awesome kids music, co-founded by The Ukulady & the offspring of famous hippies, Trixie Garcia (Jerry) and Devin McDonald (Country Joe).

1997Sean Ferrell’s second novel, Man in the Empty Suit, will be published in February by Soho Press. His first book was published in 2010 by Harper Perennial.

1998 15th Reunion

Andrea Janakas co-wrote the Life-time Original Movie Holly’s Holi-day, about an ad exec who looks for the perfect love, but discovers that there’s no such thing. The romantic comedy stars Claire Coffee and Ryan McPartlin.

Lee Miller, MFA, wrote and directed Hotline, starring Camryn Manheim, which will be out soon. Lee’s film with Alfred Molina, Lessons in Self-Defense, is available on iTunes.

2000Christie Leigh Bellany will release a new full-length album Deep Down Damned, produced in Nashville. Christie Leigh wrote and sang all 11 songs, featuring Derek Wells on guitar (Josh Turner) and Nate Buda on drums (Taylor Swift).

Mario Papathanasiou was fea-tured in Boston Common maga-zine (2012, Issue 5, pg. 54). The article describes Mario’s years at Emerson, where he honed his skill as a DJ, his time spent in LA, and his current business, Every Second Counts (ESC): Music and Design.

joined the company’s Los Angeles headquarters in mid-October and is responsible for oversight of original scripted and unscripted production and development. She works closely with the company’s producer partners and focuses on establishing CORE as a significant content provider. She is an 18-year veteran of the television business, and was executive producer of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City. She lives in Sherman Oaks, California, with her hus-band and their two children.

Sasha Patsenka is one of the edi-tors on Top Chef Season 10 with Magical Elves.

Adam Us is an attorney practicing in the Boston and Metro West areas.

1995Deb Kaplan Jacoby has launched a marketing agency, DebWeb Marketing, focusing on social media, marketing strategy, and brand management geared toward the small business owner–“Marketing big ideas to small business owners on the web!” Deb would love to connect with classmates or alumni in the LA area and can be reached at [email protected].

Pamela Whittaker (nee Abdy) and husband Mitch Whittaker have a new baby girl, MacKensie Camille Whittaker, born Novem-ber 15, 2012.? Over the years, a number of Emerson’s academic

departments have changed names. To help you find your field, please consult the directory below. Communication Sciences 1997–present and DisordersCommunication Disorders 1972–1996 Speech Pathology and Audiology 1957–1972 Speech and Hearing Therapy 1951–1957 Communication Studies 1982–Present Speech and Communication Studies 1971–1982 Speech 1938–1970 Marketing Communication 2002–present

Mass Communication 1969–1997 Performing Arts 1986–present Drama 1933–1955 Dramatic Art 1969–1980 Theater Education 1969–1980Theater Arts 1955–1969 1980–1986 Visual and Media Arts 1997–present Humanities Fine Arts 1961–1997 Writing, Literature and Publishing 1984–present Creative Writing and Literature 1983–1984 English 1933–1983

What was your department called?

Nate Walker ’98 co-edited Whose God Rules? Is the United States a Secular Nation or a Theolegal Democracy? (Palgrave Macmillan). The book originated from a sermon he delivered at the First Unitarian

Laura Wareck, MFA ’09, was promoted from director to senior director at O’Neill and Associates. She will continue to provide clients with a full range of public relations services, including strategic planning, media outreach, messaging, and profile building. She works with clients in various sectors, including health care and nonprofit. She also serves on the board of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teenage Pregnancy.

Church of Philadelphia, where he serves as senior minister. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote the foreword and contributors include Alan Dershowitz and Martha Nussbaum.


2002Pete Dulin, MFA, published his first book, Last Bite: 100 Simple Recipes from Kansas City’s Best Chefs and Cooks (KC Star Books) in fall 2012. The cookbook in-cludes recipes, food photography, and portraits and profiles of 40 chefs and cooks in Kansas City’s culinary scene. Dulin was hired as editor-in-chief at Anthem Publishing Inc. in January, where he manages the editorial depart-ment and oversees production of KC Magazine, KC Business, and Good Health KC.

Sarah Quigley has launched an event planning company, Full Moon Events, which man-ages events of all sizes from conception to execution. Since the launch a few months ago, Full Moon Events has produced Camporee (the 100th anniversary Girl Scouts event) for more than 6,000 attendees as well as vari-ous celebrity private events, non-profit fundraisers, and numerous weddings in the LA area.

Hillary Saylor is working as assis-tant director of student financial planning at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is also part of Leadership Berks Core Program Class of 2013, a community program that advo-cates for nonprofit board partici-pation in local organizations.

2003 10th Reunion

Gregory Crafts’ original chil-dren’s play, Super Sidekick: The Musical, will be published by Samuel French. Greg’s theater company, LA-based Theatre Unleashed, staged a successful co-production of the show with New York’s ArtEffects Theatre Company at the SoHo Playhouse. The production opened in August 2012 as a part of the New York International Fringe Festival. Super Sidekick was a critical success, becoming a New York Magazine Critics’ Pick and became the first children’s show at FringeNYC to be named both Best of Fringe and earn an invitation to the prestigious FringeEncore series.

Dori Kornspan is the talent producer of the new syndicated daytime show, Katie, hosted by Katie Couric. The show debuted to high ratings.

Michael Sepavich is a senior online marketing specialist at the Bose Corporation. His band, A Wish For Fire, released a new album, The Allegory.

2001David Ertischek launched Roslin-dale Patch at roslindale.patch.com in September 2012, after launching the first Boston Patch.com site, westroxbury.patch.com in 2010. David is the editor of both hyperlocal websites.

Nate Gibson’s latest work, The Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built (University Press of Mississippi), won the 2012 Belmont Book Award for Best Book on Country Music as well as a 2012 Award for Excellence in Best Research in Record Labels. Gibson lives in Helsinki, Finland, is recording for the Goofin and El Toro record labels, and completing his PhD in ethnomusicology.

Erin Moulton has sold two books to Philomel/Penguin. The first will be a middle-grade novel in the style of her previous books, Flutter and Tracing Stars. The second is an action-packed young adult novel that takes place in Crete, Greece.

David P. (Bibeau) Sanchez ’99, PsyD, LMFT, completed a two-year clinical certificate in infant/family clinical practice from the Harris Infant Mental Health Training Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. David participated in the clinical certificate program on full scholarship.

Morag MacLachlan, MA, is director of communications for the AIDS Clinical Trials Group based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Morag man-ages the group’s social media channels, writes articles for the website, creates a monthly newsletter, produces videos for clinical trial recruitment, and helps researchers gain press for published studies.

Peer Perez Oian directed a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler that has been invited to the Kennedy Center festival “Nordic Cool 2013.” Peer has studied directing at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in his native Norway, earning an MA in stage directing in 2010. Peer has staged a number of suc-cessful productions at Norway’s most prominent theaters, includ-ing an award-winning production of Ferdinand Bruckner’s Pains of Youth.

Kerri Peterson was married in September 2012 to Eric Spencer. They met six years ago at the company where they worked, and the rest is history. The couple lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, and have their own company together, Making Whoopie. They specialize in fresh whoopie pies in various flavors and sizes. Their retail store is in Franklin.

Adam Saltzberg is supervising producer for A&E’s Duck Dynasty.

2005Michelle Mastrobattista has been promoted to social media manager at Propel Marketing. She oversees the social media campaigns of more than 35 clients across multiple platforms and business categories.

Julie D. Polovina is an associate at Ropes & Gray in Boston. Her corporate and regulatory practice focuses on health care, life sciences, and media law. Ryan Shibley’s comedic music video “Background Anthem Lose Yourself” won the award for the “Best Music Video” at the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival. Ryan’s comedy group “East Coast Exports” will try to use this momentum and get the video entered into many other film festivals over the next year. Ryan also released a humorous music video entitled

“It’s Hoboken,” which focuses on all the great aspects of Hoboken, New Jersey.

2006Steve Bocsi recently executive produced the film Alex Cross, starring Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Ed Burns, Rachel Nichols, Cicely Tyson, and Jean Reno.

Natalia Garcia, MA, created and executive produced the docu-series for Showtime that she also wrote and directed, Polyamory: Married & Dating. The show premiered last July.

Amy (Sommer) Andrews ’02 (right) and Jeri Jo Andrews were married in Seattle, Washington, on August 12, 2011.

Maggie Janes ’02 and Thomas Tancred ’02 were married March 31, 2012, in Austin, Texas. They were surrounded by many of their Emerson friends, including two of Maggie’s bridesmaids, Sara Laffer Grabarnick ’02 and Joanna

Manning Simon ’02. The couple are working in film and television and living happily ever after in Los Angeles.


Stephanie Simpson received an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Smith College in May 2012. She is on the faculty at Central Connecti-cut State University and Elms College and is directing/choreo-graphing in the area. She started a dance company called Reject Dance Theatre.

2007Tyler Ashley performed in One Extraordinary Day by Elizabeth Streb last summer. A Brooklyn vi-sionary, Streb has been called the Evil Knievel of dance. Commis-sioned by the Mayor of London and London 2012 Festival, Streb and her dancers thrilled London with an electrifying series of daredevil, surprise events right on its doorstep. After a bungee dance off of Millennium Bridge and flying through Trafalgar Square, the day culminated when Tyler and 31 others mounted and performed on every other spoke of the world-famous 443-foot London Eye.

Chris Strickland completed his first year as social media manager for the LA-based digital media company Break Media. Previously, he was on the team that won Ashton Kutcher’s Dream Bigger video competition for Mr. Social, a web series about one man relying on social media to survive.

2008 5th Reunion

Kenneth Gold, Bryan Fennessey, and Nick Hesketh were associate producers behind the Emmy that MLB Network won for Best Studio Show Daily.

Mike Carrier has written a comedy about backyard wrestling, which has been selected as a finalist in the Hollywood Screen-play Contest. Also, he has been signed as an actor with the Reign Agency.

Chris Cullari spent last fall on the film festival circuit with his short film The Sleepover. The film received top honors at Shriekfest and the world-renowned genre festival Fantastic Fest. The crew included several Emersonians: director of photography Elie Smolkin, cast member Walker Davis ’09, and producers Kristen Murtha ’09, Greg Hutchinson, Nico Raineau ’09, and Micah Levin. View the full short at chriscullari.com.

2009Michael Kennedy will graduate soon from Bentley University’s Human Factors in Information Design master’s program and is working as a user experience researcher for Constant Contact.

He recently had an acting role in Ryan Cook and Derek Desmond’s Lost on a Mountain in Maine feature film trailer, shot on location in northern Maine. Mi-chael is developing a world-class board game based on the food truck industry.

Amanda Kyed, MA, teaches media arts to 7th–12th grade students at Windward School in Los Angeles.

Maria Rios is national sales coor-dinator for WDCA Fox network.

2010Jamie Reich was nominated for the Pushcart Prize for the second time under her pen name, J.E. Reich. She was first nominated in 2010 for a short story pub-lished in The Emerson Review.

2011Marissa Giambelluca is a project editor with Page Street Publish-ing Company, a start-up funded by Macmillan.

Expression magazine at Emerson College welcomes alumni news: promotions, career changes, marriages, births, volunteer work, and other news.

Class Notes are printed on a space-available basis. For publication purposes, photos must be high resolution (300 dpi is ideal). In general, a larger file is better than a smaller file.

How to submit class notes and photosEmail: [email protected] Online: http://ow.ly/8As5H U.S. Mail: Class Notes, Emerson College, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116-4624

Submitting Class Notes

Marylee (Picciano) Carroll ’01 and husband Jeff Carroll are thrilled to announce the birth of their son and future Emersonian (Class of 2034), Jack Buckley Carroll.

Lisa J. Levine ’78, Lili Kaytmaz ’12, Nate Larkin-Connolly ’07, Greg Holstein

’07, Mark M. Stewart ’77, and Heather Settles ’12 gathered at Mark’s home to welcome Lili and Heather on their move to Southern California.

G i f t s t h a t M a t t e r

Dav

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The Ellen Reich Scholarship Fund

When Marilyn Reich enrolled at Emerson in the mid-1960s, she knew she’d struck gold.

“I had the best experience at Emerson. I loved it,” she recalled. A member of the Class of 1970, Marilyn’s enthusiasm for her alma mater inspired her younger sister Ellen (at left) to enroll.

While a student at Emerson in 1972, Ellen’s life was tragically cut short. The Reich family responded by transforming their grief into a celebration of Ellen’s life by establishing a scholarship in her name and funding it for the past 40 years. Over the decades, generations of Emerson students have benefited from the family’s generosity and love of education.

“My parents wanted to keep my sister Ellen’s memory alive and this is how they felt we could do it,” says Marilyn.

“Education for my parents was primary, and giving an opportunity to another person is very important.”

And the Reich family’s Emerson connections don’t end there. Other family members hold Emerson degrees: niece Amy Reich Weil’s husband, Michael Weil

’92, and their daughter, undergraduate Maddie Weil ’16 (at right).

“The school has always been a part of my life,” says Maddie.

Marilyn and her brother Steve continue to make gifts to the scholarship fund, and family members gathered in Boston several years ago to tour the campus. They have also contributed to the College’s Annual Fund and named seats at the Paramount Mainstage.

One of the first Emersonians to receive funds from the Reich scholarship, Pat Peyton, was recently elected president of Emerson’s Alumni Association. The legacy of Ellen Reich lives on.

Whether you ease a student’s way with scholarship support, foster creativity and promote academic excellence by giving to the Emerson College Annual Fund, or support any of our other giving opportunities, your gift matters. To learn more, please contact Danielle Reddy at [email protected] or 617-824-8543.

120 Boylston StreetBoston, MA 02116-4624

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage PaidBurlington, VT 05401Permit Number 4

Evening on the Common

By lamp glow, a light snow falls on Boston Common, next door to the Emerson College campus.

Expression Spring 2013

Documents

Transcript of Expression Spring 2013