ROCKLAND GRADUATE CAMPUS ALUMNI NEWS
Welcome!
ALUMNI INFORMATION AND EVENTS
Please share any news about yourself since you’ve graduated from Long Island University’s Rockland Graduate Campus. We want to inform everyone about your special merit on our Alumni Web page.
Email your news to: christy.wrightington@liu.edu
Alumni Career Successes
Share news about your career successes, advancement or other business related activities on our Web site. Here’s some news about our alumni for you to read.
2000 graduate
Kara Flanagan (SLE) has been teaching Kindergarten in the Bronx for the past 5 years.
Irene Delgado (COU & MBA) has recently been appointed Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY. She is also an advanced candidate for her doctorate in Educational Psychology at The Graduate Center of CUNY.
2004 graduate
Cynthia Benedict (SDA) is an Assistant Principal at Warwick Middle School in Warwick, NY.
2005 graduate
Robert Albanese (SDA) is an Assistant Principal at Warwick Middle School in Warwick, NY.
Eric Nissenbaum (CHI) is in his 2nd year as a 5th grade teacher in Tenafly, NJ.
2006 graduate
The Rockland County Legislature confirmed the appointment of Nancy Genova, MPA'06, to the Rockland County Human Rights Commission.
Lauren Teitel (SCO) is part of the guidance department at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School in midtown Manhattan. The school is four blocks from Times Square. She is the Special Education School Counselor and the Senior College Advisor. As part of her position she plans and oversees the PSAT exam at JKO which is now offered to every sophomore and junior in Manhattan. She is also part of the Academic Instructional Support team which works diligently to improve learning in our school, and teaches a freshman advisory class, which is used to help our youngest students transition from middle to high school. JKO houses 676 students, from every borough of New York.
Katie Anne Basler (LIT) has recently been hired as the Extra Academic Enrichment Teacher at Fieldstone Middle School in Montvale, NJ.
Lauren Chaikin (CHL) works in the Middletown City School District as one of two reading teachers in a k-1 building; her title is AIS Reading. She is really enjoying my new profession.
Patricia Winter (LIT) is the reading specialist at Viola Elementary School in Ramapo Central School District. She supports grade 3-4-5 readers (and their teachers) with AIS services, both in push-in and pull-outs. Pat initiated a leveled book library; now teachers can come into the book room and find something that everyone in their classrooms can read. This fall she started a teacher professional book club. 13 teachers meet every Monday morning to discuss the DuFour's book What Ever It Takes. From these sessions evolved our Classroom Buddy program, where 5th graders are chosen to do tutoring in the lower grade classrooms during their recess time. Feedback so far seems to be very positive.
Jacquelyn Keeley (LIT) is completing her 3rd year of teaching with the New York City Board of Education. She is teaching 4th grade and participating in many different study groups such as Learning Center Initatives and a Japanese Lesson Study.
Colleen Amideneau (SCO) recently finished a 5 month guidance leave replacement position at George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo New York. She is currently seeking employment for the Sept. 2007 school year. For now, she is a "stay at home mom" with a 4 year old daughter as well as keeping busy her 8 year old daughter.
Dana Golden (LIT) is teaching second grade in the Bronx. Her and her husband are expecting their first child in April!
Maria Scaffidi, MPA, RD, CDN is now working as a Clinical Nutrition Manager at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY. She is a registered dietitian and has worked as a clinical dietitian in the healthcare setting for over 10 years. She hopes to work up to a director level in the near future.
Jennifer Osbourne (CHL) is working as a 2nd Grade Leave Replacement in Pine Tree Elementary (Monroe-Woodbury School District).
Heather Salant (CHL) is currently teaching kindergarten in the Bronx at PS 46.
Stephen Pashley (SPE) is currently teaching Art in the Ramapo Central School District at two different Elementary schools. He says that his special education studies at LIU have helped him greatly. He is engaged and getting married this June 2007.
Janet Parry (CHI) finds her teaching position as a first grade teacher at PS 207 in the Bronx both very rewarding and very challenging. She is also currently enrolled in a second masters program at the Rockland Graduate Campus in Literacy.
Nancy Genova (MPA) is the Program Coordinator of Bronx Community Action for Prenatal Care Initiative & Family Centered Care at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center/ Department of OB/GYN/ HIV Women's Services. Nancy feels that the cost and time of pursuing her MPA degree was a very good investment. Her direct supervisor was very impressed by the content of the courses at the Rockland Graduate Campus and how she was able to integrate her new skills into the daily tasks at work. Her new skills have helped run programs more effectively and efficiently. Nancy also helped to organize an event sponsored by the 100 Hispanic Women on November 15, 2006; 'Mind, Body, Spirit the Inner Power of Women'. There were over 300 participants and the magazine 'Salsa & More' featured a story she wrote covering the event.
Michael Menichiello (MHC) published his first book shortly before graduating in May: "A Gay Couple's Journey through Surrogacy; Intended Fathers." It's a no-holds-barred account of the emotional toll, the legal matters, the financial concerns, and the ultimate fulfillment of parenting a child. After graduation he started working at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Cornwall, New York, in their inpatient psychiatric unit as a social work screener. His job was to complete psychiatric evaluations on patients who presented in the emergency department and report the findings to the psychiatrist on call. A decision would then be made as to whether or not the patient would be admitted to the unit or discharged after receiving mental health referrals. It was an amazing clinical experience as it put him face-to-face with case studies that he had only read about in text books. In September of last year he took a full time position as a Case Manager at The Turning Point, a 28 day inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Beacon, New York, on their dual diagnosis unit. He is assigned a case load which is generally comprised of up to four patients along with running groups and conducting individual and family sessions. The clientele is mainly comprised of chronically homeless men and women from the New York City area. They have generally completed multiple rehabilitation programs and have endured many relapses. It's highly challenging work!
Melissa MacAdam (LIT) is in her fourth year of teaching at West Nyack Elementary School. She started teaching third grade, then fourth for two years, and is now back in third. Melissa was lucky enough to get a job out of her student teaching experience.
Dawn Grant (SDA) coauthored a grant for a mini school for her school's district and it was approved. She will also be one of the coordinators of a summer academy this year. The academy is a test run for a possible third middle school.
Frances Rivera (SCO) is currently the Family Resource Center Coordinator at Upper Nyack Elementary School (Nyack School District). She is working with the families of the students from Upper Nyack with referrals, parent workshops, etc., as well as running educational counseling groups for the K - 5th grade students.
Peg Terp (SPD) worked over the summer as a special education teacher in the Jawonio summer camp program. Then, a great job fell into her lap at Jawonio in the Early Intervention Program. She now works full-time as a special educator, with children aged 2-3 with mild-severe disabilities.
Monica C. Balta (MBA) was presented with an opportunity shortly after graduation to be a co-lead project manager in the conversion of the current financial applications for the Mexican plants of her company by converting all the financial aspects to an integrated application. The go-live is July 1st! This opportunity has given her the chance to utilize her MBA background to coordinate on site meetings, lead on-site presentations to numerous levels of the company's organization, as well as extensive traveling outside the United States. In addition, she is involved in analyzing GAAP Accounting standards and Mexican statutory requirements as they relate to the conversion of this project among some of the finance aspects. She extends her gratitude to LIU for being well prepared for this new role.
Barbara Quinn (SDA) is an Assistant Principal at the Crispell Middle School in Pine Bush, NY.
Scott Courter (SDA) is an Assistant Principal at Washingtonville High School.
Jennifer Nimmo (SDA) is an Assistant Principal at Minisink Valley Intermediate School in Slate Hill, NY.
Deborah Mendelson (CHI) is currently working in the Bronx in a K-2 school. She teaches first grade and is on a team with another LIU graduate. There are 24 students in her class; they represent the full range of learning styles and levels. She is very happy, and finally doing what she was meant to do.
Rochelle Greenberg (MPA) is currently employed by New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia Campus as a Patient Care Director.
Monisha Batra (SCO) is a 7th Grade Guidance Counselor at Hackensack Middle School in Bergen County, NJ and loving the many challenges of her position. She presented last October at New York State School Counselor Association's (NYSSCA) annual conference in Bolton Landing, NY, and will be presenting in March at the National Youth At Risk Forum in Savannah, GA for the second time. She has been entrenched in research on relational aggression and the interplay of bullying and culture, and is also beginning to write what she hopes will be her first book on the second generation South Asian American experience.
Let us know how you’re doing!
