Ray Scharf '61 professor emeritus and former coach of swimming at East Carolina University, won five gold medals in the NC Senior Games State Championships, and qualified for the National Senior Games to be held at Stanford University in SanFrancisco in August of 2009. Ray placed first in his age group (70-74) in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and in the 50-, 100- & 200-yard breaststroke. Ray returned to competitive swimming in 2007 after a 47-year break since graduating from Brockport in 1961 where he was captain of the swim team and held varsity records in the: 50-, 100- & 220-yard freestyle events. Over the past two years he has won 10 gold medals in the county games and last year won three gold and two silver in the state meet. Ray also has won awards in the county and state visual arts competition with his photography. Ray retired from East Carolina University in 2002 where his teams won 11 consecutive Southern Conference titles. He coached more than 30 All Americans and qualified more than 40 swimmers for NCAA Division I National Championships. He was inducted into the East Carolina University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. He is married to the former Guylene Guthrie of Morehead City, NC, and they have five children and nine grandchildren. Ray and Gigi now live on Harkers Island, NC.
Bruce Mac Gregor '62 retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Washington, D.C. Upon graduating from Brockport, he served for four years in the U.S. Navy in the field of photographic intelligence. While in the Navy he was a member of a championship fast-pitch softball team. After military service, he was employed as a civilian at the Naval Reconnaissance and Technical Support Center, Suitland, MD. In 1972 he left naval intelligence and transferred to the DIA. His career has included positions at the National Photographic Interpretation Center, Wash. D.C., the Defense Intelligence Analysis Center, Bolling Air Force Base, Wash. D.C., and the Pentagon (during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm). On several occasions he taught portions of a class at the Defense Intelligence College, Bolling AFB. Memorable moments in his civilian career include making a short trip behind the Berlin Wall before it came down, and accompanying the crew of an Iceland-based Navy long range patrol aircraft monitoring soviet naval warships. Currently, he is cutting lots of grass on a large lot near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and sings in the choir at the local Methodist church.
Suzanne Burack Ellefson '66 has taken up residence in Delray Beach, FL, after living and working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the past 30 years. You can contact her at suzrio@aol.com
Carol and Jim May '68 recently bicycled one of the routes of the Underground Railroad, from Mobile, AL to Owen Sound, Canada. Their 2,000-mile journey followed the footsteps of slaves seeking their freedom. They will be doing presentations about their adventure in the Rochester area, and will have a book out in the Spring of 2009. In 2004, Carol and Jim biked from San Francisco, CA, to their home in Williamson, NY, a trip of more than 3400 miles. Their travels are detailed in their book, Bicycle Odyssey, A Pilgrimage To Discover The Real America, published by Lulu Press.
Robert S. Gold '69 delivered the 2008 Charles N. Poskanzer Lecture, titled "Emerging Trends on the Future of Technology in Public Health," on Sept. 25. A nationally recognized expert in the application of advanced communications technologies to health education, Gold is a professor in the Department of Public and Community Health and co-director of the Public Health Informatics Research Laboratory at the University of Maryland at College Park. Gold is a pioneer in the area of public health informatics, the application of information, computer science, and technology to public health. Among his many current projects are: the United States Department of Agriculture-funded Maryland Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program-Digital Inclusion Project; the further revision and update of Dr. Healthenstein's Body Fun, a children's program that teaches healthy lifestyle habits, for Web application and a children's online health community; and the creation and maintenance of an online Web portal for the National Task Force on Child Survival and Development that will serve as a gateway to current science on child growth and development and online conferencing for communications and data collection. In his more than 30 years of experience in public, community, and school health education, Gold has served in both the public and private sectors with planning, directing, and evaluating programs on the local, state, regional, national and international levels. He has worked for such organizations as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Disease Prevention/Health Promotion, Macro International Inc., and the World Health Organization. The American School Health Association presented Gold with its John P. McGovern Medal for Distinguished Contributions to Health Education. He has also received the American Association for Health Education's Presidential Citation of Merit, and the Eta Sigma Gamma Honor Award, the highest award given by this national health science honorary society. In 2002 he was elected to the Health Education Hall of Fame.
Dr. Donald F. Staffo '69 recently did an interview that appeared in Touchdown Alabama Magazine.
Michael J. Singleton '70 is currently the Interim Superintendent at Southern Berkshire Schools in Massachusetts. After 20 years in the New York State public school system, Singleton retired from the New York State school system in 2003. From 2003 to June of 2008, he worked as the special education director in the Williamstown (MA) Public School system.
Gary Moore '74 was named head coach of the full spectrum of running sports at Alfred State College: men's and women's cross country, men's and women's indoor track, and men's and women's outdoor track.
Dave Evans '77 is a communications consultant focused on word of mouth and social media. Dave is the author of "Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day," a practical, hands-on guide to implementing and measuring social media as part of an integrated marketing program. Building on the approach he outlines in his book, Dave listens to what a client's business communications needs are, then evaluates current operations, marketing, and management processes. Working alongside his clients, Dave develops an effective, measured approach to using social media and achieving organizational and business goals. Dave cofounded Digital Voodoo in 1994. Digital Voodoo provides strategic marketing services for clients wanting to tap the power of the social Web. In 2005, he co-founded HearThis.com, a podcasting service firm focused on social media and marketing. Dave has served on the Advisory Board with ad:tech and the Measurement and Metrics Council with WOMMA. His latest article, Why Johnny Won't Buy Your Ad can be viewed on the The ClickZ Network at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630939
John G. O'Leary '78 has been certified as a life member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is recognized as one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements. The organization was founded in 1993 and there are approximately 300 members located throughout the country. Fewer than one-percent of U.S. lawyers are members. Forum membership acknowledges excellence in advocacy, and provides members with a national network of experienced colleagues for professional referral and information exchange in major cases. Members of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum must have acted as principal counsel in at least one case in which their client has received a verdict, award or settlement in the amount of one million dollars or more.
Les Judd '79 is teaching a class on "How to Live Sustainably in NYC" at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in October. He is President of Green Boroughs, a company that helps people discover the greener side of NYC.Joe Torres '85 reports and anchors the weekend evening news on WABC-TV in New York City. He joined the Eyewitness News team as a general assignment reporter in 1997. Throughout the last nine years he has established himself as one of the premier street reporters in the nation's number-one television market. Joe's distinctive storytelling ability garnered him a Peabody Award and the Edward R. Murrow Award for his reports on the world-changing events of September 11th. Joe also earned an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Greenpoint Gas Tank Implosions in 2001. Joe started his television career in 1987 as an NBC Page in New York. His first reporting job was at WSAV-TV in Savannah, GA, where he served as a general assignment reporter and beat reporter covering county government. Joe then moved to the ABC affiliate WNEP-TV in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA, to work as a Consumer Reporter, general assignment reporter and Weekend Anchor. In 1992 Joe landed a job as the Jersey Shore correspondent for Disney/ABC-owned WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.
Dr. Christopher Scalzo '90, assistant professor of business administration at Morrisville State College, has received an Enitiative eTeam grant from the Enitiative program at Syracuse University to expand entrepreneurship in the community. Scalzo is teaming up with the Madison County Chapter of Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). The initiative is focused on a "boot camp" for SCORE members, an entrepreneurial video tool kit, and consulting projects for students at Morrisville State College in the bachelor of business administration degree in entrepreneurship and small-business management. Scalzo has worked at Morrisville State College for seven years.
Joe Carmiechiel '90, an education consultant and freelance journalist, has taught high school English in some of America's most challenging schools and has a wealth of firsthand experience with teens, gangs, and violent adolescents. He is the author of Permanent Adolescence: Why Boys Don't Grow Up published by New Horizon Press. You can visit his website at: http://www.permanentadolescence.com/ to view more about the book.
Andrew E. Dowd '92 earned his Master's in Education from Portland State University, in June 2008. He is looking for adjunct teaching positions at local community colleges, and is currently doing some private tutoring of adults in the area of ESL, Reading Comprehension, and Writing/Composition.
Peggy (Bennett) Johnson '92 recently accepted a position with the University of Colorado Hospital as a Credentialing Specialist.
Brett Fingland '94 has been named the new principal at Weedsport High School.
Sean P. Murphy '94 recently finished his book Academic Cultures: Professional Preparation and the Teaching Life. The book gives voice to diversity in postsecondary education, a strength of the system rather than a problem to redress. Contributors, whether they work at a private high school or a public comprehensive university, an open-access institution or a religiously affiliated college, disclose to readers the details and outcomes of their cross-sector transitions. Their accounts show how faculty members from a range of institutions have built rewarding professional lives based on the traditional components of the professoriate—teaching, service, and scholarship. The Modern Language Association published the book and it can be purchased at http://www.mla.org/store/CID22/PID345.
Dawn M. (Short) Cwierley '96 has been named Public Relations Manager for Kenmore Mercy Hospital, part of Catholic Health. She most recently served as Media Relations and Communications Specialist for the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn. Prior to that, she served as a Publishing Specialist and Senior Editor for Thomson Reuters. Cwierley has been in the marketing communications industry for more than ten years, including work with entertainment and emergency service organizations in her hometown of Rochester, NY.
Jennifer Arbore '98 has been named the first female partner at Eldridge Fox & Porretti, LLC, an accounting firm based in Rochester.
Ryan Nobles '98 is a news anchor with WWBT-TV in Richmond, VA. He has done a 1-on-1 with both Presidential candidates.
Jennifer (Hudack) Staskiewicz '01 received her master's degree and CAS in School Psychology from Robert's Wesleyan College. She is currently employed at the University of Rochester.
Tom Lutsic '02 has been named secondary school principal in the Hamilton Central School District. Lutsic came to Hamilton from a previous stint as an assistant principal at East Ridge High School in Irondequoit. Before then, Lutsic taught English and creative writing at Geneva High School for seven years.
Daniel T. White '02 has been appointed the new district superintendent for Monroe County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) 1. White served as superintendent of the Perry Central School District from 2005 to 2008 and as a senior high school principal from 2002 to 2005. White was also a school counselor in the Caledonia-Mumford Central School District from 1995 to 2002, and is an adjunct instructor in the educational administration program at the College.
Paul Hendricks '03 moved to Washington DC after graduation and worked as a Communications and Marketing Manager for The Performance Institute, a leading Government Think. He then moved to Hawaii in January of 2006 and is to publish his first book entitled, Wake Up! The Enlightenment of an American Misfit and Outlaw, which is of the autobiographical fiction genre. He will be getting married to Diane Blasitc in February of 2009 on a white sandy beach on the island of Oahu.
Jason Barnett '05 is currently working as a Technical Support Analyst in the Office of Information Technology at St. John Fisher College.
Mark Laurri '06 recently graduated with a master's degree in physics from the University at Buffalo and accepted a position of Imaging Scientist with I.T.T. Space Systems in Rochester.
Gregory Galliford '94 married Kristen DeRue on July 21, 2007.
Kristen Klos '99 married Craig Swing on May 5, 2007.
Heather Wolf '02 married Brian Rochford '03 on August 9, 2008.
Cathleen and Steven Fancher '90 announce the birth of a son, Elijah John, on August 9, 2008. Elijah John also is the grandson of Sally Brunell Fancher '55 and Thaddeus Wenzka '69.
Carrie (Gorton) Ciripompa '93/'97 and Glenn Ciripompa welcomed twin boys on June 12, 2008: Glenn Edward Ciripompa, Jr. and Michael Aidan Ciripompa.
Gregory Galliford '94 and KristenGalliford announce the birth of a son, Grayson Paul,
on August 11, 2008.
Kristen (Klos) Swing '99 and Craig Swing announce the birth of a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, on August 1, 2008.
Jennifer (Hudack) Staskiewicz '01 and Adam Staskiewicz have two beautiful children, a son, Logan, born on March 24, 2005, and a daughter, Addison, born on July 1, 2007.
Bert Mercer '34
Ruth M. Morgan '35
Margaret DeLaVergne Lyon '42
James E. Maxson '48
This page is maintained by the Division of Advancement. Call us at (585) 395-2451 or e-mail us at alumni@brockport.edu
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Zotero (Education focus)
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ADP Distinguished Speaker Series "The Audacity to Heal: Our Rape Culture"
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