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ALUMNI MAKING THEIR MARKTheir Passion, Their Vision, Their Lives

Empire State CollegeALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWS VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 2 • SPRING 2005

Empire State CollegeALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWS VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 2 • SPRING 2005

C o n t e n t sF E A T U R E SUpfront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Poet Alice Fulton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Jazz Musician Kenny Barron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Vocalist Laurel Massé . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Journalist, Documentary Photographer Lorna Tychostup . . . . . 5

PR Practitioner Rose-Marie Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Journalist, Original Anchor of CNN Bill Zimmerman . . . . . . . . . 6

Author, Journalist Deborah Gregory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

University of Buffalo Basketball Coach Reggie Witherspoon . . . 8

Dancer, Journalist, Editor Wendy Perron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

President and COO Richard Sager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

President and CEO Brenda Copeland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

President and CEO Carol Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Company President and CEO Christopher Calisi . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Cover Story: Entrepreneur, Inventor and CEO Clifford Gross . 12

Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, Department of Defense Daniel Stanley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Assemblyman Mark J. Schroeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Civil Rights Attorney Helen Ullrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

U.S. Representative Ginny Brown-Waite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Assemblyman Gary Finch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Member of House of Commons, Canada, Walt Lastewka . . . . 18

Assemblyman Luis M. Diaz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Director, New York State Emergency Management Office James Tuffey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Infant Development Expert, Philanthropist Susan Turben . . . . 20

Activist Marcia Pappas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Assemblyman and Labor Leader Brian M. McLaughlin . . . . . . 22

Community Activist, City Council Member Gladys Santiago . . 22

President, Communications Workers of America Morton Bahr 23

President of the New York State AFL-CIO Denis Hughes . . . . . 24

Joseph MoorePresident

Kirk StarczewskiDirector of College Relations

[email protected]

Maureen WinneyDirector of Alumni and Student Relations

Managing [email protected]

Hope FergusonCommunity Relations Associate

[email protected]

Gael FischerDirector of Publications/Designer

Debra ParkSecretary, Office of College Relations

Alumni News and Copy Editor

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Janet Aiello-CerioAlumni and Student Relations

Kim Berry Director of Gift Planning/Campaign Coordinator

Jeremy Jones Executive Director,

Empire State College FoundationRenelle ShampenyDirector of Marketing

W R I T E R S

Hope FergusonLaura Arpey

P H O T O G R A P H Y

Mel Rosenthal

Beatriz Schiller and Len Irish, courtesy of Dance Magazine

Tom Bushey, courtesy of The Times Herald-Record

All other photos courtesy of our alumni

P R O D U C T I O N

Jerry CroninDirector of Management Service

Ron KosibaPrint Shop Supervisor

Janet JonesKeyboard SpecialistCollege Print Shop

Central Services

Empire State College Alumni and Student Newsis published by the Office of College Relations at

Empire State College One Union Avenue

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-4391 518 587-2100 ext. 250 • www.esc.edu

Empire State CollegeALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWS

VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 2 • SPRING 2005

NEW - Travel Abroad Program: Visit Vienna and Prague

Empire State College DAY AT THE RACES

INSIDEBACK

COVER ✈

• •

The function of any great news headline is to make readers,listeners and viewers sit up and take notice. And you might saythat the notable women and men we celebrate in this issue of our

alumni and student news magazine serve that same purpose. They are ourheadliners, our bold face names; their biographies and achievements piqueour interest just enough to keep us reading on.

Representing various years in the college’s extraordinary lifetime, theywere selected by the faculty, staff and friends. And as you read throughthe list you’ll see that their accomplishments are wide-ranging – in thearts, politics and law, public and community service, journalism, sports,business and technology, education and labor. Past the headline andwithin the details of individual successes, is the Empire State College story.Like the old notion of the world in a grain of sand, each of our notables isEmpire State College. And that’s also true about the rest of us.

Don’t be surprised to find that you know some of the notables personally. Because if one thing can be saidabout our headliners it is that they are not strangers to us. Not distant celebrities or people famous for beingfamous. Some on the list may have graduated from your center. Maybe one of them introduced you to thecollege. Perhaps you shared a mentor with one or more of them. Or were enrolled in the same study group.It could be that someone on the list is your neighbor or your best friend. For me, two names stand out. I co-anchored the news with one. And another was the first person to tell me about Empire State College. Ourconversation stayed in the back of my mind for nearly three decades before I enrolled and got to work oncompleting my degree. I still marvel at how my mentor managed to match me up with just the right facultymember and study group for each of my courses.

Something else about our notables, they – like most of us – set aside their formal education for one reasonor another, then at some point down the road, circled back to pick it up again, seeking the best of publicinstitutions for adult learners, and continued on their journeys. Our notables continue to demonstrate thepossibilities and the value of adult education even as they go about distinguishing themselves in their diversecommunities of interest.

When a law professor, who also is an Empire State College alumna, brings her unique learning experience to her teaching, her students – whether they know it or not – are getting a lesson in quality adult educationand the commitment an individual has made to obtain it. And if word gets around that the CEO of aleading technology company is an Empire State College graduate … well it’s no surprise if people who know him begin wanting to know more about how he juggled work, family, social and civic responsibilitieswhile completing an undergraduate degree at one of the first and most successful experiments ever in adult education.

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1E M P I R E

UPFRONT

Past the HeadlineBy Melba Tolliver ’98

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Past the Headline (continued from page 1)

“ The planning,

the prodding,

the strategizing,

the deliberating,

the fund raising,

the prioritizing,

the persuading,

the site-selecting,

the bookkeeping,

the advocating,

the socializing,

the appointing,

the inviting,

the budgeting,

the explaining,

the investing,

the conferencing,

the awarding,

the upgrading,

the expanding,

the consulting,

the acknowledging,

the smoothing over,

the appreciating,

the overcoming –

all in the service of

making student-centered,

mentor-supported,

faculty-guided,

curriculum-appropriate,

technologically-advanced,

outside-the-box learning opportunities

available for education-seeking adults.”

Notice as you read through the list howfar back it goes – 1972, the year one ofour notables was among the college’s firstthree graduates. From then until now thesuccess stories have grown as steadily asthe ranks of alumni and students. Butagain, that’s the headline. The full storylies in the life details, in the hows andwhys of the individual challenges met byour 45,000 alumni and our nearly 16,000currently enrolled students. What’s more,we can’t overstate the importance of whatone of the college’s most generous donorssays is the “vision” of those who havekept the college focused on the studentsand on the ever-evolving future.

I confess that it was only after I joined thefoundation board three years ago that Ibegan to appreciate the magnitude of the“vision” – that is to say the power ofimagination – that created Empire StateCollege and that keeps it going. Theplanning, the prodding, the strategizing,the deliberating, the fund raising, theprioritizing, the persuading, the site-selecting, the bookkeeping, the advocating,the socializing, the appointing, the inviting,the budgeting, the explaining, theinvesting, the conferencing, the awarding,the upgrading, the expanding, the

consulting, the acknowledging, thesmoothing over, the appreciating, the over-coming – all in the service of makingstudent-centered, mentor-supported,faculty-guided, curriculum-appropriate,technologically-advanced, outside-the-boxlearning opportunities available for educa-tion-seeking adults. Whew! And all of thiseven as state tax support for the college isdeclining and costs to keep it going –including tuition – keep rising.

So, you see why your financial support isvital to the vision. And, deeply appreci-ated. Why all of us who can claim anEmpire State College experience must pass it on. Share it; make it accessible to all motivated adult learners while wecontinue writing the story that supportsthe headlines.

Please, read on. And do take us up on theinvitation to keep us informed of yourachievements and activities.

Melba Tolliver ’98, is an award-winningjournalist who has anchored ABC’sEyewitness News in NYC, News 12 LongIsland, and has written for print media,including USA Today.

President Moore greets a new graduate.

3E M P I R E

When she attended EmpireState College in her early20s, poet and “genius

award” winner Alice Fulton ’78, wasalready recognized by her peers andprofessors as something more than astudent poet. Younger at 22 thanmost Empire State College studentswhen she enrolled, she calls her yearsat the college “the happiest and mostcreative years of my life.”

She has been prolifically creative inthe decades since her graduation. Herwork has appeared in such places asThe New Yorker, The AtlanticMonthly, The Paris Review, NewRepublic, and in six editions of TheBest American Poetry Series.

Although she only wrote her firstserious poem while studying womenpoets at the college, she went on topublish in a number of small journalswith names like the Washout Reviewbefore graduation.

Today, the Cornell professor ofEnglish and Troy native is describedas one of the finest poets of her generation. Her literary efforts include award-winning short storiesand an ever-growing roster ofacclaimed books of poetry, including

her latest, Cascade Experiment (W.W.Norton, 2004), a compilation ofselected poems from her previous fivebooks. The Atlantic Monthly notesthat Cascade Experiment “amplydemonstrates not only Fulton’s broadrange of interests, but also hercontinual and evolving sense of howto use the seemingly most insignifi-cant details to illuminate the nuancesof difficult moral ideas.” Felt,published in 2001 (W.W. Norton),was lauded as one of the “Best Booksof 2001,” by the Los Angeles Times,as well as being recognized with the2002 Rebekah Johnson BobbittNational Prize for Poetry from theLibrary of Congress, given on behalfof the nation in recognition of themost distinguished book of poetrywritten by an American during thepreceding two years.

Fulton read a “memoir in poems”at Empire State College’s 2005 AllCollege Conference. Accompanied byher husband, Hank De Leo, Fulton, atiny woman with a cascade ofreddish-brown hair and dressedsimply in a pale beige linen pant suit,shared her love of Dickinson,Whitman and Ammons (as well asher reasons for being a vegetarian)

at a concurrent session after herreading. Dickinson, her favorite poet,is, she explained, “difficult, butstraightforward. The depth ofemotion appeals to me. I startedreading her in grade school. Much ofher life was depressed and lonely; soshe spoke to what I was goingthrough. I have a real affinity with thefact that she lived in such solitude,and I am very solitary. I need time tobe alone to think.” It is Dickinson’s“complexities of syntax … the waythat she uses silence and deletions,that I really like,” she added.

As for Fulton, she composes in anorderly sequence, she said, writing,and then polishing a poem line byline. “I used to never revise,” sheadmitted, “so it was hard for me toteach my students how to revise. Myprocess was very linear – line 1, line2, line 3, they were all finished beforeI went on.” Lately, she said, herprocess is more like doing collage.

Fulton, who has been a recipientof a John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation Fellowship(popularly known as the geniusaward), was also given an honorarydegree from the State University of New York during an Empire State College graduation ceremony in 1994.

Fulton is now working on a shortfiction collection, and also will soonpublish a new book of poems,although she has yet to write most of them, she said. However, she has a comfortable relationship with hereditor at Norton, and is not forced to meet contract deadlines or shopnew books around to variouspublishers. Instead, “I’ll say to myeditor, I think I have a book, andshe’ll say, that’s wonderful!” ❏

Poet Alice Fulton ’78Northeast Center

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4 E M P I R E

Kenny Barron has been named “one of the top jazzpianists in the world” by the Los Angeles Times and“the most lyrical piano player of our time” by Jazz

Weekly. With five Grammy nominations to his name, he hasconsistently won plaudits and awards from such arbiters ofthe style as Downbeat, JazzTimes and the Jazz JournalistsAssociation, who has named him best pianist every year since1997. A Philadelphia native, Barron has been playing thepiano since the age of 12. He received international attentionwhile touring with the Dizzy Gillespie group, which then ledto working with jazz musicians such as Freddie Hubbard,Buddy Rich, Yusef Lateef and Ron Carter. Throughout the’80s, Barron toured with Stan Getz, and he remains indemand as a pianist by musicians who appreciate his“elegant playing.” Barron developed an interest in Latin andCaribbean rhythms while playing with Gillespie, and hislatest CD, Canta Brasil, with Trio De Paz, is a reflection ofthis. According to his web site, Barron was convinced toreturn to college by fellow musician Lateef, earning a degreein the arts from Empire State College in 1978. He was atenured professor of music at Rutgers from 1973 to 2000,mentoring such musical luminaries as Terence Blanchard andRegina Bell.

Jazz Musician Kenny Barron ’78 Metropolitan Center

Hudson Valley Center

Laurel Massé – co-founder of the Manhattan Transfer, a jazzvocal group with a meteoric

rise in the 1970s, has a voice that hasbeen called “luminous,” “full-bodied”and “idiosyncratic” ranging from a “melting tenor sax” to the edge of soprano.

The Holland, Michigan nativebecame the self-described “originalredhead” in the Grammy-awardwinning quartet, when, while workingas a waitress, she by chance got into acab driven by musician Tim Hauser,who was looking to start up a vocalgroup. With the addition of singersJanis Siegel and Alan Paul, theManhattan Transfer was born, andwent on to record a number ofGrammy-winning albums and to tournationally and around the globe.

Singing with the group from 1972 to1979, Massé left to recuperate froman automobile accident. After asabbatical in the AdirondackMountains, she has sincegone on to forge acareer as a soloist whohas performed atwell-known venuessuch as CarnegieHall, Salle Pleyelin Paris, theSmithsonianInstitution andthe governor’smansion inAlbany.She haswonglowingreviewsin suchpublica-

tions as The New York Times, Peopleand The Village Voice. After seeing herperform at the Hollywood Roosevelt,a critic at the Los Angeles Timesproclaimed, “she didn’t just sing thesongs, she lived them, and in doing soshe held the audience in such dramaticsuspension that they had no choice but

to live them with her.” Today Massé is known

as one of the finest inter-preters of song of hergeneration. Performing inclubs and concert hallsnationally and interna-tionally, she alsohosted The LaurelMassé Show onWAMC Northeast

Public Radio from2002 to 2004,

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Vocalist Laurel Massé ’05

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5

Lorna Tychostup’s hope for peacehas led her to document what sheterms “the most conspicuous

crisis” of our time – war-torn Iraq.Tychostup, senior political editor forChronogram magazine, a progressivepublication based in the mid-HudsonValley, has traveled to Iraq four times –once before the war, and finally, lastJanuary, where she witnessed the Iraqielections. She continues to chronicle, inword and image, theeveryday lives of ordinaryIraqis in the midst ofextraordinary times.Tychostup, who admits shewas against the war, said shehas learned that the situationin Iraq cannot be viewedthrough the polarized lens ofAmerican politics.

Tychostup’s reputation isbuilt on her ability to reportstories that go beyond main-stream media coverage.During her trips to Iraq, shechose to get as close to thepeople as possible. Living inmodest, unprotected hotelsand traveling in beat-upcabs, she found her wayfrom the ordinary people in the street, tothe squatters living in bombed-out,government-owned properties, to high-ranking state ministers and judges of thenew Iraq who have chosen to participateat incredible risk to their lives. Her

haunting photographs and poignantstories enable her audiences to share thetragedy, the struggle and the triumph ofthe various communities that make upthe Iraqi people.

The photographs posted on her website: www.LornaTychostup.com, demon-strate this. In a series of photos of awedding party, the bride, with a shy/proud expression on her face, is shownin Western dress, as she clutches a

bouquet of red roses; in another, thegroom beams proudly in the mirror, andlater, a guest is seen swinging half of hisbody out of a moving vehicle on the wayto the wedding in an expression ofunadulterated joy.

Another photograph shows an olderman holding his young child whiledisplaying a finger stained with thepurple ink that shows that he has voted.

Tychostup brings these images tocolleges and other organizations acrossthe U.S., via a Powerpoint presentationcontaining over 150 photos titled,“Looking Into the Eyes of the Enemy –The War You Won’t See on TV.” As partof the presentation, Tychostup takes

people on a journey to Iraqand attempts to explain thecomplexities of life theretoday. Her work has appearedin Foreign Policy, YES!, Z Magazine, Covert ActionQuarterly, War Times andMajor League BaseballMagazine. She has been interviewed frequently, onboth radio and TV, includingFox’s Hannity & Colmes andNBC’s Nightly News withTom Brokaw.

Tychostup believes thatmuch can be learned from the meeting of Iraq and theWestern world. “This comingtogether of cultures cancontribute to the healing of

the planet, as well as individual lives,”she says. “I have fallen in love with acountry and its people, and in theprocess I am rediscovering my own inno-cence. I could not not go back.” ❏

E M P I R E

Journalist, Documentary PhotographerLorna Tychostup ’99Hudson Valley Center

Lorna Tychostup learning the story of the country firsthand in Iraq.

Veteran journalist Bill Zimmerman’s illustrious career has taken him acrossthe United States and around the globe as an ABC bureau chief andWashington correspondent. He has covered stories as diverse as wars and

presidential campaigns, the election of a pope and the death of Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadat. Zimmerman has filed reports with datelines such as Capetown,South Africa, Port Said, Egypt, DaNang, South Vietnam, Beirut, Lebanon andWashington, D.C. Assigned as bureau chief in Lebanon, Zimmerman recallsarriving when that city was known as “the Paris of the Middle East.” Within oneyear, it was embroiled in an ugly civil war. Such mercurial changes were all in aday’s work for Zimmerman.

In 1980, Zimmerman helped make television news history as one of twooriginal primetime anchors (with Kathleen Sullivan) on a nascent CNN.

Zimmerman began his career as a DJ for a radio station in Richmond, Virginiain 1961. After making his own documentary about John Glenn’s orbital flight, hewas recruited by a local news station. In his 35-year career, Zimmerman saw newsgrow from the basic five-minutes local, five-minutes weather, five-minutes of sportsto the virtually 24-hour news cycle as pioneered by CNN. More recently, he wasthe driving force behind the creation of News 12 Long Island, the first regional all-news cable channel.

One of the highlights of Zimmerman’s career was being in on the start of thecable news network. According to Reese Schonfeld, in his book Me and TedAgainst the World: The Unauthorized Story of the Founding of CNN, Turner hadno interest in news and no liquid money, but since other cable networks werealready doing movies and sports, he turned to Schonfeld to remake the news land-scape as we knew it. So Schonfeld recruited names like Lou Dobbs, Bernard Shaw,Daniel Schorr, a fresh-from-college Katie Couric, and Zimmerman, among others.“When CNN started it was sort of a band of renegades,” Zimmerman, recalled ina phone interview from his Long Island home. “ I went there from being a corre-spondent at ABC, so it was like going from first class to steerage – we got anopportunity to do everything!”

Bill Zimmerman has received a New York Emmy, a Houston International Film Festival Gold Award, and been named the Long Island Press Club’sOutstanding Journalist of the Year. Semi-retired, he currently heads BillZimmerman Communications, producing occasional cable television and informational video programs. ❏

6 E M P I R E

Journalist, Original Anchor of CNN Bill Zimmerman ’96Long Island Center

PR PractitionerRose-MarieArmstrong ’74 Metropolitan Center

Magazine writer, publicrelations whiz, adver-tising executive,

administrator of a faith-basedprogram, Rose-Marie Armstronghas variously worn all of these hats,but the common thread in her life isthat she enjoys doing things to serveothers. “Generally, that’s the kind ofperson I am,” she explains.

A former fashion and beautyeditor for Brides and Essence maga-zines, Armstrong has, over theyears, contributed to several maga-zines including New Woman,

Christian Century, US, McGrawHill Travel Guide, WorldWideReports, as well as Brides andEssence, in addition to working as asenior account executive for AyerAdvertising. From 1987 to 1989,she was an appointee to the NewYork State Division for Youth,where she served as director ofcommunity relations. She moved on,from 1990-1999, to become areadirector for Prison FellowshipMinistries in the Washington, D.C.area. The ministry, founded by theconvicted Watergate figure ChuckColson, who became born again inprison, equips churches withresources to volunteer and ministerin prisons across the nation andaround the globe.

(continued on next page)

Author,JournalistDeborahGregory ’86Metropolitan Center

True story: Two little girls,ages 6 and 7, are presentedmatching outfits with

leopard trim on the skirts at theirjoint birthday party. Immediately,one squealed, Cheetah Girls! That’swhat’s called “brand recognition,” and that’s what Deborah Gregory hasachieved with her hit Cheetah Girls series of books. The now 14-book series(Disney Publishing Worldwide) is geared to preteens ages 8-12, and was adaptedinto an original Disney movie produced by Whitney Houston’s BrownstoneProductions in 2003. Now there’s even more for the group’s growing number of young fans: The Cheetah Girls Supa Star Scrapbook (Disney books) came out in May. The Cheetah Girls Bindup (books 13-16) Off the Hook! (Disneypublishing) will hit the shelves in September. Also, Gregory reports that plans for a Cheetah Girls movie sequel are in the works. Not only that, but theCheetah Girls soundtrack is Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)certified platinum, and has to date sold 1.4 million copies. In 2001, Gregory was recognized with the 2001 Blackboard Children’s Book of the Year for theCheetah Girls.

In the series, Gregory, a former fashion model, chronicles the growing painsof five ninth-grade girls who are looking for stardom through their Destiny’sChild-style singing group. According to Gregory’s web site, the “message issimple: Pounce on your dreams and make them come true … These five fiercedivettes-in-training are gonna pounce, of course, when they finally get discoveredand signed for that Beyoncé-sized record deal. But while they’re trying to honetheir musical chops, these singing sensations learn all about the joys and chal-lenges of growing up and getting along.”

Besides her Cheetah Girls projects, Gregory says she is currently at work onan adult novel, Leopard Lives, “about a girl who grows up in the foster caresystem in New York City, becomes involved in the underworld, then reinventsherself to wholeness.”

Gregory got her start by writing a beauty column for Essence, and has goneon to write for Redbook, Seventeen, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, More andGrace magazines. But it is the Cheetah Girls series that has really put Gregoryon the map as a writer. And that seems only fitting for a former foster child witha love of books.

“You know, the most glamorous thing to me is a book,” Gregory says.“Maybe it has something to do with my foster mother being illiterate. As muchas I love movies, as much as I love clothes, there’s something about a book Ihave tremendous respect for. No movie can compare to the power of a book; tosomething on the written page.” ❏

7E M P I R E

Rose-MarieArmstrong(continued from page 6)

“My guiding philosophy is JesusChrist, but not everyone believes.So I think you must have a strongmoral foundation regardless ofyour beliefs – and you have to befaithful to it. People tend tocompromise. I think you cannotcompromise if you want to builda strong foundation,” she says.

After graduating from EmpireState College’s MetropolitanCenter, Armstrong went on toearn two master’s degrees, one injournalism, from ColumbiaUniversity in 1975, and a second,in faith and culture, from TrinityInternational University in 2002.In 2001, she became a fellow atthe C.S. Lewis Institute. Lately,Armstrong, who is semi-retired,has turned her attention to herwork as a public affairs reservistfor the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency, where shehandles media inquiries and helpspublicize resources available tovictims of disaster, natural andotherwise. She also volunteersthree days a week with theAfrican Medical & ResearchFoundation (AMREF), a Kenya-based nongovernmentalorganization, with the mission ofalleviating suffering on theAfrican continent.

After reading a story in TheNew York Times about the civilstrife in Sudan, Armstrong pickedup the phone and volunteered herservices to AMREF. It just sohappened that the organizationwas in need of a public informa-tion officer.

As they say, if the hat fits,wear it. ❏

Center for GraduatePrograms

After more than 30 yearsas a dancer, teacher and choreographer in

New York City, and four years as a part-time editor, last yearWendy Perron was named editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine, thepremier publication for profes-sional dancers.

“It’s a huge job,” Perron saysof her current assignment. “It’slike being an editor-in-chief, exec-utive editor and copy editor all atonce.” She assigns almost all thefeatures, works closely with thewriters, approves the layouts, and reviews every story of everydepartment. If it’s a big feature,she will typically take the writerout to lunch.

Perron began dancing at agefive when her dancer motheropened a modern dance school inthe basement of their New Jerseyhome. Her first professional jobwas performing in a local produc-tion of Hansel and Gretel at theage of 14, for which she earned$2 per performance, pretty goodpay for the time, she recalled in arecent interview.

In the 1970s, the BenningtonCollege graduate joined the TrishaBrown Dance Company beforegoing on to found her owncompany in the ’80s, performingnationally and internationally.Perron has danced for manyrenowned choreographers overthe years, becoming associatedirector of Jacob’s Pillow in theearly ’90s. She has variouslytaught technique, composition,


8 E M P I R E

Dancer, Journalist, EditorWendy Perron ’01Dancer, Journalist, EditorWendy Perron ’01

SPORTS

University ofBuffaloBasketball CoachReggieWitherspoon ’00Niagara Frontier Center

Western New York nativeReggie Witherspoon isentering his sixth season as

the head coach of the Bulls, the men’sDivision I basketball team at theUniversity of Buffalo (UB) and it’s beenthe team’s most successful season yet.As this issue was going to press, the

team was poised to be “invited to thedance,” – the 64-team NCAA tourna-ment, that would solidify UB’s place in the big leagues. (Although a laterloss to Ohio shattered that dream, UBdid make it to the National InvitationalTournament, the next biggest thing.)The team also had recently played their first nationally televised game inschool history in February, a 67-58 win against Ball State on ESPN2.Reached at his office at UB, Wither-spoon was low-key, despite the factthat the local NBC affiliate had justpacked up their cameras, andWitherspoon had three more interviewslined up that afternoon.

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Wendy Perron(continued from page 8)

improvisation, criticism and dance history at Bennington,Princeton, SUNY Purchase, Rutgers, New York University andthe Trisha Brown studio. In 1997, Perron was commissioned byLincoln Center to present a full-length work, in which she inte-grated the work of subway musicians.

Although she wrote on and off for publications like theVillage Voice and The New York Times since the ’70s, she didnot devote herself more fully to writing until the advent ofcomputers, she says. “Every time I sat down at a typewriter I’dget a pain in my back, so I said, I will wait until I’m 80 yearsold before I write.”

Because of her interest in artists who are also politicallyactive, she was considering a book-length treatment of thetopic. But when she was approached to be the part-time NewYork editor of Dance five years ago, “I was happy to do it. As I grew older, it became harder to dance and keep up the dancelife,” she explains. Without a graduate degree, teaching jobsalso were more difficult to find, despite her prior experience.That was one reason Perron decided to pursue her master’sdegree at Empire State College.

Being an editor – especially of a dance magazine – allowsher to be in both of her worlds – dance and journalism, at once.“I am around dancers and dance writers who love it. Everyoneis so passionate. People in the field just love it, and crave it too– it’s the total art.”

Perron also likens her work to teaching – noting how she antici-pates what one of the 20 or so writers she has in regularrotation, or a new or occasional writer, will come back with fora given assignment. “If they come in with something halfbaked, and I bake the other half, it’s a challenge.” She may urgeher writers to go back for better quotes, dig more deeply or toput more heart into the story. “Like a teacher, you want themto be the best they can be, to turn in the best assignment. I do alittle hand holding along the way. It’s like having a gardenwhere you must tend to all the different flowers, or you may goback and find thatone is wilting.”

She’s also founda solution for themore sedentary lifeof an editor, wherethe focus shifts tothe mind over theintense physicalityof dance. “I have akneeling chair,which is good formy back; otherwiseI wouldn’t be sogood at sittingdown,” she says.“In this job, I amawake in all partsof my body.” ❏ \

Company President and COO Richard Sager ’78Central New York Center

If you’ve used an iPod, a cell phone or a DVD, then chances are you’ve used aproduct with components made by Williams Advanced Materials Inc. RichardSager, the president and chief operating officer of the multinational precious

metal/specialty alloys firm based in Buffalo, NY, says the company provides productsto the cell phone, data storage (hard disc/DVD’s), dental, semiconductor andconsumer electronics markets, as well as to the auto industry.

Sager graduated with a degree in business, management and economics fromEmpire State College in 1978, after completing courses in electrical technology atSUNY College of Technology at Canton in the late ’60s, and earning an associatedegree from Herkimer Community College in accounting. Sager has gone on to caphis educational career with an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI),partly through an extension program based in the Utica-Rome area.


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Richard Sager(continued from page 9)

He began his career with Mohawk DataSciences, a $500 million dollar mini-computer systems firm that was locatedin Herkimer County. He worked his wayup to vice president of sales for theservice division of the company. After thecompany was dissolved, Sager partici-pated in a leveraged buy out and boughta business called Advanced MaterialsTechnology. Fifteen years ago, BrushEngineered Materials Inc., the parentcompany to Williams AdvancedMaterials, acquired the firm, and Sagerjoined the company as director of sales,responsible for sales at Williams and twoother Brush operating companies. In1992, he was promoted to vice presidentof sales and marketing. In that position,

he led Williams’ successful commercialefforts to broaden its product range and expand internationally. In 1997,Sager was brought into general manage-ment with his appointment to executivevice president. In 2001, Sager becamepresident and chief operating officer for Williams.

With manufacturing sites in Taiwan,Singapore and the Philippines, and withoffices throughout the world, Sager saidthat the main challenge he faces “is tostay ahead of the technology curve. Ifyou don’t morph yourself and continueto diversify, you won’t survive. Acompany must accept change as a chal-lenge – product change and culturaldiversity. The way we do business is alittle different from the way business isdone in Taiwan, the Philippines andChina, and a lot different than in Europe.

You must be willing to stay abreast oftechnology and be willing to moveforward. Twenty-five percent of ourbusiness – product, customer and market– changes in any given year. We have toreplenish that 25 percent. It can be costlyif we make the wrong moves. Thepersonal challenge is to keep everyonefocused on making sure we know whowe are to the market we serve.”

Sager attributes his success not only to“being true to myself and walking thetalk,” but also to the recognition thatany organization is a team effort. Assomeone who rose through the ranks toCOO, he knows his job is pivotal, but soare the jobs of the rank and file.“Everyone else has equally importantpositions. If you have respect for, andtake care of employees, it benefits yourshareholders and customers.” ❏ \

From the time she accepted anentry-level position at the Bank ofCastile following her graduation

from business college, Brenda Copelandhas loved community banking. Risingthrough the ranks to bank manager andsenior vice president before being namedto the top job of president and CEO,Copeland’s career path paralleled thegrowth of the bank. She retired from the Bank of Castile as president/CEOfollowing its sale to a multi-bank holding company.

Copeland is now president and CEOof Steuben Trust Company, anothersimilar-sized independent communitybank with 11 branches in Western andSouthern NY and about $300 million inassets. She recalls that she always had anaptitude for, and an interest in, business –especially “fostering the growth of smallbusinesses and its intrinsic job develop-ment.” She likes working with allcustomers, and helping them meet theirbanking needs, but found that she partic-ularly enjoyed small business lending.

Although Copeland had businesscollege experience and several years of

specialized banking training fromRutgers and the University of Delaware,along with Cornell University agricul-tural bank training, she needed to pullher education together, and Empire StateCollege offered the wife, mother andexecutive the opportunity to do so.Because Copeland had so many businessand banking classes as part of her educa-tional and career experiences, she wasable to concentrate on liberal arts –

taking such courses as Chinese andAmerican art history, poetry and othercourses as part of a broader educationalexperience, all while she was senior vicepresident of a burgeoning bank.

Looking back, Copeland attributessome of her drive and initiative to herparents. “Both parents were people whoappreciated a solid work ethic, meaningnot just to work hard but to work smartand balance your life.” She also thinksthat juggling so many roles calls for thesteady support of both employer andfamily, which for Copeland meanthusband, Lyle, and two now-adultchildren.

“I always enjoyed taking additionalinitiative in the community,” saysCopeland, who is active on a number ofboards and committees. “It soundscliché, but I think it never hurts to havenot only a strong work ethic, butcommitment to the communities andresidents where you live and serve.”

Although it’s rarer today for a youngperson to be able to rise steadily throughthe ranks of one company, Copeland stilllikes to encourage gifted junioremployees to follow their dreams. “Iwork diligently at identifying people tobring along. I look for opportunities tomentor those people with the rightattitude, initiative and work ethic, tomake a difference for themselves andtheir families, as well as their companiesand communities.” ❏

President and CEO Brenda Copeland ’92, ’94 Genesee Valley Center

11E M P I R E

Carol Evans, CEO and president of Working Mother Media, wife, andmother of two teenagers, is committed to changing the career land-scape for working mothers. Starting as a sales representative for

McCall’s in 1979, Evans’ impeccable timing led her to be in on the launch of a new magazine that would focus on a newly emerging force, WorkingMother. She moved up through the ranks becoming, at age 27, national adver-tising manager for the magazine, and, at age 32, was named the youngest vicepresident in McCall’s history.

Evans’ 10-year tenure at the magazine, ending as publisher, had seen thepublication’s circulation rise from 100,000 quarterly to 700,000 monthly.Evans left to pursue another exciting business challenge – the opportunity tohave an ownership stake, under the leadership of former Securities ExchangeCommission (SEC) chairman Arthur Levitt, Jr., in Playbill, the theatermagazine. As president, she grew the circulation by more than 45 percent,before overseeing the sale of the publication to Primedia in 1995. She went onto bring another publication, Chief Executive, to profitability.

When Working Mother, along with a roster of other magazine titles, wenton the block in 2001, Evans, in partnership with MCG Capital, jumped at the opportunity to purchase the group, renaming it Working Mother Media.The flagship publication underwent a total makeover and relaunch. ExecutiveFemale Magazine, the publication of the National Association of FemaleExecutives, was freshened up. The third magazine, Working Woman, was retired.

In the four years since she has been reunitedwith Working Mother magazine, Evans has

retained its influential annual list: “100Best Companies for Working Mothers,”and launched the brand-new list “TheBest Companies for Women of Color,”with ancillary conferences and events.

Evans added the new listbecause, according to executive editorBetty Wong, “Thirty percent of our

readers are women of color, andthey’re looking for companies

in which their voices will be heard, their talent developed, and theircompensation commen-surate with theircontributions.”

Ahead for Evans’company is the launchthis year of a newannual publication,Working ThroughPregnancy. ❏

President and CEOCarol Evans ’77 Genesee Valley Center

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

CompanyPresident andCEO Christopher Calisi ’86 Long Island Center

When Christopher Calisi,now president and CEOof Overland Storage, a

data storage firm, decided not to goto medical school as planned, he leftSUNY Stony Brook and took a“ground floor” job as a stock boy

at a small computer firm on LongIsland. After that, he joinedComputer Associates and eventuallyworked his way up to a sales job.When the sales force was cut back,he was asked to join the develop-ment team – which, Calisi notes, isthe opposite of the typical careerpath. He spent many years onsoftware product development, andduring that time, in the mid-’80s, healso decided to return to school tofinish his Bachelor of Science degreein computer science from EmpireState College.

Although he enjoyed working onthe development side, “as a peopleperson I wanted to get back out


12 E M P I R E

Entrepreneur, Inventor and CEO Clifford Gross ’79

Entrepreneur, Inventor and CEO Clifford Gross ’79 Long Island Center

13E M P I R E

It all began at the University ofSouth Florida (USF) where Gross wasa researcher and professor. His friend,colleague and then director of USF’sResearch Foundation, GeorgeNewkome, Ph.D., asked Gross tocome up with the reasons why such agreat amount of newly developeduniversity technology was not makingit to the marketplace. This was acommon frustration shared amonguniversity researchers. As a favor,Gross developed a business plan whichincluded his ideas about setting up acompany that offered technology to itssurrounding areas. Newkome tookone look at the recommendation andtold Gross, “Great idea, you shoulddo it!”

With Gross’ ingenious ideas, UTEKCorporation was started in Plant City,Florida, in 1997. In a recent phoneinterview Gross explained,“Companies need to tap universitiesfor their ideas.” As a technologytransfer company, UTEK’s mission isto link emerging technologies fromuniversities and federal laboratorieswith companies that need them. At thecore of the UTEK Corporation is itsuniversity-to-business (U2B) plan. Thismodel enables the transfer ofmarketable university-developed tech-nology to the companies in need ofthem most. UTEK identifies theuniversity technology, evaluateswhether or not it will be a good fit toa specific organization, acquires thelicenses to the technology from the

university and then transfers it to thecustomer, in exchange for equity in thecompany. In 2000, Gross took hiscompany public, where it trades on theAmerican Stock Exchange. UTEK hassince acquired six companies and hasequity stakes in more than 30 others.Currently, Gross is working onexpanding the company. He discussedUTEK’s goal of “becoming the world’sleading technology-transfer company.”

Gross, who holds a Ph.D. inergonomics and occupational biome-chanics from New York University,has 19 patents for ergonomic productsto his name, including a back belt,self-adjusting chairs, ergonomicscissors and a computer keyboardwrist pad to help reduce wrist stress.In the biomechanics area, Gross’sexpertise has been tapped by a numberof corporations, such as Black &Decker and Knoll, where he hashelped to guide them as they imple-ment ergonomic principles into theirdesigns and processes. He and histeam helped Black & Decker developthe DeWalt cordless drill, whichbecame the leading selling cordlesstool in Black & Decker’s history, wona gold medal from BusinessWeek fornew product development and wasfeatured in a Smithsonian Institution’sexhibit on ergonomic design. His firstbook, The Right Fit: The Power ofErgonomics as a Competitive Strategy(Productivity Press), is described as “amanifesto for corporate strategicdecision makers to incorporate an

ergonomic focus into their entirecompany, from the design of the work-place to its manufacturing processesand its final products.” More recently,he also is the author, with Joseph P.Allen, of Technology Transfer forEntrepreneurs (Praeger Publications)and with Uwe Reischl and PaulAbercrombie, The New Idea Factor:Expanding Technology Companieswith University Intellectual Capital(Battelle Press). These two books cover the developing field of tech-nology transfer.

Gross is a 1979 graduate of Empire State College. He earned hisbachelor’s degree in cultural studies.He acknowledges that students atEmpire State College need a greatamount of discipline in order tosucceed, and this discipline is not onlyuseful in terms of school, but in theoutside world as well. He believesknowledge provides a huge advantagein life. Gross’ advice to current EmpireState College students with high goalsis “to work hard and master an areaclose to your heart.”

Gross explains that he has foundthe best of both worlds with UTEKCorporation. The company seeks tocreate value for its shareholders whileimproving the quality of life throughthe introduction of socially responsibletechnology. “Although it is a job, italso is at times thrilling. It is veryexciting to see university discoveriesintroduced into the marketplace,”Gross explains. ❏

By Laura Arpey

Billions of dollars are spent each year on university research and thousands

of new technologies are developed in federal labs and universities. Seventy

percent of these developments go to waste. Clifford M. Gross, Ph.D., chief

executive officer and chairman of UTEK Corporation, saw the need and had a

vision for a more efficient marketplace.

COVER STORY

When Daniel Stanley,now the acting assis-tant secretary of

defense for legislative affairs,joined the Pentagon in 2001, hewas excited about the opportu-nity to be part of PresidentBush’s and Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld’s statedmission to transform themilitary from a post-Cold Warmonolith, to a lighter, quickerforce to be deployed against thechanging threats of the 21stcentury. “That was my view,”he explains. “Resistance tochange squanders taxpayers’money.” He was pleased thatthe military’s restructuring hadbeen set “as a priority for thesecretary and for the nation. Iwas excited about the desire tomake a change.”

However, within one week,the abstract became alarminglyreal when a plane hit thePentagon, just yards fromStanley’s E-ring office over-looking the Arlington Cemetery.Stanley’s job changed, he saidduring a phone interview from his officeat the Pentagon, “quite dramatically.”

Stanley, a career Navy officer andformer staffer for former U.S. SenatorBob Dole, had just finished watching aplane hit the first trade center tower onCNN. Not knowing exactly what hadhappened, but knowing that the military,as the executive agency for civil support,would need to quickly respond, he got ahold of the Army Operations unit severalfloors below. Then, the second tradecenter tower was hit. This time, the first

thought that came to his mind was Bin Laden.

His job changed in one instant.“Instead of the learned, thoughtfulrestructuring of the armed forces” he hadbeen prepared for – “we were at war.”He began to pace the office to plan whatto do next, when he felt the buildingshake. “I stepped out of my office andfelt a pressure change,” he relates, andthe next thing he knew, he was blownback into his office by the force of theexplosion. A third plane had hit thePentagon, and the ensuing fire eventually

burned his office. However,he counts himself amongthe fortunate. ThePentagon had been underrenovation, and the workwas running about 30 days behind schedule. Had he been in his new,renovated office, “theplane would have flownthrough my window.”

Stanley’s job haschanged again, albeit notas dramatically. With theexit of his former boss,Powell Moore, Stanleynow answers directly toSecretary Rumsfeld and thedeputy secretary of defense– who until his appoint-ment to the World Bank,was Paul Wolfowitz –meeting with the two meneach morning as they plotthe priorities of the day asit relates to the secretary’sand deputy secretary’sdealings with the WhiteHouse, cabinet members,members of Congress and

the Department of State.Stanley’s day begins before 7 a.m.,

when he gets into the office and goesover press clips from the previous day tosee how members of Congress have beenquoted on the various military issues.Each issue is tracked and evaluated toprepare the secretary to address them asthey arise.

At 7:30 a.m., it’s on to a meeting withsenior staff leadership, to go over thesecretary’s and deputy secretary’s


14 E M P I R E

Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense forLegislative Affairs, Department of DefenseDaniel Stanley ’79Northeast Center

15E M P I R E

The first time New York State Assemblyman Mark J.Schroeder ran for public office was for the ErieCounty Legislature when he was 24 years old, having

just graduated from Empire State College. He lost that raceby 600 votes, and went into a career in sales for the next 20years. When he ran for the legislature again, he won handily.

“When I ran for the first time, I was very green. I wantedto be a politician, wanted tobe in government, but I don’tknow if I had it well thought-out,” Schroeder said during arecent phone conversation.

What his life in the privatesector taught him was thatone must work “by objectives– that’s the only way to become a success.”

By the time of his second run in 2001, Schroeder’s objective was to brighten the bleak economic picture in hisown neighborhood. Schroeder spent three years in the countylegislature where he worked on business revitalization, andeducating and retraining workers. By his count there were 54 vacant storefronts on Seneca Street, and the South Parkbusiness district, with 27 vacant storefronts, “had fallen to sleep.”

“We knew we could do better,” he said. Today, in part due to Schroeder’s efforts, the multi-million

dollar Seneca Street Redevelopment Project aims to remakethat sagging business strip.

In November, Schroeder was elected to a seat in the stateLegislature. He represents the 145th Assembly District,encompassing 10 distinct neighborhoods, seven of which hecalls the “old neighborhoods of South Buffalo,” largely blue-collar enclaves, which thrived during the heyday of BethlehemSteel, but are struggling with the loss of their manufacturingbase. He sees his current job as a continuation of the workbegun at the county level, but with the ability to do evenmore for his constituents with state funding.

Among his accomplishments, he counts the opening of theGreater South Buffalo Chamber of Commerce three yearsago. “It now has over 150 paying members,” said Schroederproudly, 49 days after his swearing in as assemblyman.

The South Buffalo Education Center, which offers freeG.E.D. classes, was the answer for another problem: the smallbands of teenagers hanging out on street corners during theday “loitering, smoking, turning on.” The center now has thehighest graduation and retention rates of any similar programin Erie County, according to the Buffalo Board of Education.Schroeder easily credits the main teacher at the site – StaceyWatson. “She’s absolutely amazing,” he says. The other thingSchroeder is excited about is a job placement and trainingcenter, which goes hand-in-hand with the G.E.D. center, that

is helping people in hisassembly district with résuméwriting and job training. “InErie County, there are 66,000workforce-age people who donot have a high schooldiploma or a G.E.D., so we’redoing something about that.”

Seniors can come in andget acquainted with computers and learn e-mail to stay intouch with their children and grandchildren. Youngerworkers as well as older ones benefit from the retraining andreferrals offered. Schroeder pointed to one former factoryworker who came in at age 54, got a G.E.D., some computertraining and was able to get a job in the private sector.“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” says Schroeder.“What we are doing is listening … ”

Schroeder himself is a product of the neighborhoods heserves, having grown up in South Buffalo in a strong tradi-tional Irish Catholic family, attending local public and parishschools before graduating from Empire State College’sNiagara Frontier Center. “How you are raised, where youcome from, influences how you see the world,” he says. ❏

Assemblyman Mark J. Schroeder ’82 Niagara Frontier Center

“How you are raised,

where you come from,

influences how you see the world.”

“How you are raised,

where you come from,

influences how you see the world.”

16 E M P I R E

Reggie Witherspoon(continued from page 8)

An article on the Sports Illustrated website calls Witherspoon a tireless recruiterand promoter for his team. However,Witherspoon gave credit to the “char-acter” of the young athletes as well astheir success for generating a sense ofexcitement on the campus. When askedabout the key to his own success, hetalked humbly about his ability to workwell with people.

Witherspoon was first appointed asinterim coach during the 1999-2000season after the previous coach was fireddue to NCAA violations. According toESPN, when Witherspoon took over,there wasn’t much buzz about the team,especially compared to those of othercolleges in the state. In fact, the positionwas considered “an impossible job.”

That season, Witherspoon tripled theteam’s wins over the previous season.During the 2002-03 season, he faced thechallenge of guiding a team consisting ofplayers who were mostly freshman andsophomores. Despite an early losingseason, he is becoming known as thecoach who is turning things around.

Honors include being named theMid-American Conference Coach of theYear and collegeinsider.com Mid-MajorCoach of the Year after the 2003-2004season. That year, Buffalo won 12 of itsfinal 15 games of the season. A UB newsarticle notes, “The 12-win improvementfrom the previous season was thesecond-best turnaround in the nation in2003-2004.”

With nearly two decades of coachingexperience on the high school and colle-giate level, including a stint with ErieCommunity College, Witherspoon isactive in the community as well; servingas director of the Amateur AthleticEvents for the Big 4 from 1996-98, andas one of the founders of Buffalo TeamACE (Athletes Committed toExcellence), a youth developmentprogram. A college basketball playerwho, at Wheeling Jesuit College, playedunder Philadelphia 76ers head coach JimO’Brien, Witherspoon earned an asso-ciate degree from Erie CommunityCollege and his bachelor’s degree ininterdisciplinary studies from EmpireState College in 2000. ❏

There were a few gainsayers whenHelen Ullrich decided, at age 48,to enroll in New York Law

School. An occasional young – usuallymale – student would question why amiddle-aged woman was taking spacefrom a younger student with a poten-tially longer law career. Ullrich hadworked in administrative posts in thehealthcare industry for much of hercareer. She later began selling real estateto spend more time with her then-teenage children, whom she was raisingas a single mother following a divorce.She wasn’t about to let a little criticismderail her long-held dream.

“I didn’t necessarily have a lifetimeahead in terms of a career,” explainsUllrich. “I was going to do what Iwanted to do – and not be drawn intothe ‘new hot area,’ or sit in a back officepracticing tax law. I was a big girl andlife was too short.”

Ullrich graduated magna cum laude in1996, after a stellar law school careerthat included being Law Review notesand comments editor, Moot Courtmember and a research assistant to twoof her professors. Ironically, the olderstudents were disproportionately repre-sented in the top quarter of the

graduating class, Ullrich recalls withsome satisfaction. “I knew I was going tolaw school when I began Empire StateCollege,” says Ullrich, who is now apartner in the law firm Thornton,Bergstein & Ullrich LLP. She has made a reputation for being a tough constitu-tional lawyer, taking on civil rightslawsuits in such areas as sexual discrimi-nation and harassment, employmentdiscrimination, freedom of speech andreligious freedom. Several cases haveinvolved public officials who overreachedby retaliating against employees.

The case that put Ullrich, who wasthen practicing solo, on the map,involved two nursing administrators who

worked for a medical contractorfor the Orange County Jail. Thenurses complained to the countyexecutive about the conditionsin the jail regarding inmatessuffering from mental illness.“These inmates were subject toinadequate care. For example,they were often overmedicated,there was a lack of adequate

emergency services, and so on,” Ullrichexplains. In 1998, the nurses’ supervisor,fearing he would lose his county contractbecause of their actions, fired them. Aftertwo years, the case went to trial, with thehelp of Scott Thornton, a friend who hadextensive trial experience, and withwhom she is now in partnership. Thejury awarded the nurses $2.2 million(later reduced to about $1.2 million,which Ullrich deems “just about right”).

Other recent cases have been broughtby a volunteer ambulance company, asmall local newspaper, and a member ofthe Republican committee fired for notrevealing a vote against a town super-visor whom she says “governs throughfear and intimidation.” What all threelawsuits have in common is that they all involve constitutional violations,according to Ullrich.

Recalling the case of the nursingadministrators, Ullrich remarks, “Thejury was furious. They awarded $1million in punitive damages against thecounty executive, which I think was agood lesson for county officials.” Suchoutcomes, she says, “put public officialsin Orange County on notice that theycannot ignore the U.S. Constitution.” ❏

Helen Ullrich ’93Hudson Valley Center

Civil Rights AttorneyCivil Rights Attorney

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Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite, now in her second term inthe U.S. House of

Representatives, puts the needs of herconstituents in Florida’s Fifth Districtfirst, sometimes even before supportingthe plans of her Republican Party. Oneexample of her independence andcommitment to her constituents stemsfrom the makeup of her FifthCongressional District, which is home tothe highest concentration of SocialSecurity beneficiaries in the nation.Because she puts the needs of herconstituents first, Rep. Brown-Waite hassponsored a bill to ensure that SocialSecurity cannot be cut for thoseAmericans currently receiving benefits.

According to her web site, “I willnever support any effort to cutSocial Security benefits for today’sretirees or near retirees, nor will Isupport any effort to privatize theSocial Security program.”

Rep. Brown-Waite, an Albanynative who served as a Florida statesenator, Senate Majority Whip andas the Senate President ProTempore, began her political careeras a legislative director in the NewYork State Legislature. She has alwaysprided herself on her political indepen-dence, telling Empire State CollegeAlumni and Student News, “I ask somany questions, I know I drive peoplecrazy. I am no-nonsense and have alwaysbeen upfront. I stick to my word.”

Florida’s Gulf Coast Fifth District alsois home to the highest concentration ofveterans of any congressional district inthe nation. Rep. Brown-Waite is proud tohave authored legislation designed toreduce the long waits that veterans facewhen seeking medical care at VeteransAffairs facilities. Specifically, the billmandates that veterans must receive carewithin 30 days of their initial request.She has continued her service to theveterans’ community as an outspokenmember of the House Veterans AffairsCommittee in the 109th Congress.

One of the biggest issues of Rep.Brown-Waite’s first term was the war inIraq. She took part in a Congressionaldelegation trip in 2003 that traveled toIraq to see firsthand the conditions onthe ground. She came back convincedthat the media were not reporting thewhole story and that conditions therewere better than were reported back inthe United States. She notes on her website that all of the Florida soldiers shespoke to in Iraq said they valued theirmission and would do it again.

Besides fighting to preserve andstrengthen Social Security, enhanceMedicare benefits and fight for Veterans’issues, Rep. Brown-Waite will continueto focus on increasing access to health-care and prescription drugs, betterfunding for public schools, and compre-hensive tax reform. She strongly supportsstrengthening homeland security, and isinterested in water, energy and environ-mental issues. ❏

17E M P I R E

U.S. RepresentativeGinny Brown-Waite ’76Northeast Center

Daniel Stanley(continued from page 14)

calendars. That is followed by a roundtable with Rumsfeld and his deputy to bringbefore them the issues being debated in Congress. This could be anything from Iraqi security, to troop rotations, to up-armoring Humvees, to increasing the deathbenefits paid to the families of soldiers killed in combat. The rest of the day is filledwith attending Congressional hearings, or, three or four times a week, meetingswith various members of Congress or other government officials in person or by phone.

Stanley, a native Kansan, began his career as a Navy enlisted man. During atour of duty at the Knolls Atomic Power Lab, he enrolled in Empire State College’sNortheast Center, because the flexibility allowed him “to pursue my college educa-tion and my rotational shift work.” He earned a degree in math, science andtechnology with a concentration in nuclear technology. He later served as secretaryof administration of the state of Kansas; and as an administrative assistant, legisla-tive director and defense policy advisor for Senator Dole. As a member of the ArmsControl Observer Group staff, Stanley attended the first congressional delegation to Berlin after the fall of the wall, monitored START (Strategic Arms ReductionTreaty) and Defense and Space Talks negotiations, as well as the Chemical/Biological Treaty negotiations. In the private sector, between 1985 and 1987,Stanley served as director of strategic planning for the McDonnell DouglasCorporation responsible for the corporation’s 10-year defense forecast and otherstrategic planning initiatives, according to his official bio. Stanley has assumed anumber of roles since joining the Department of Defense. Most recently, he hasserved as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs. Healso served concurrently as the principal deputy assistant secretary of the army(manpower and reserve affairs), and the deputy assistant secretary of the army (for training, readiness and mobilization).

In all of his many roles, and as he has ascended to the top of the Pentagon hier-archy in an especially crucial and difficult time, Stanley keeps his guiding mottoemblazoned on a rock on his desk: “Never, never, never quit.” ❏

AssemblymanGary Finch ’90Central New York Center

Gary D. Finch was elected to the New York StateAssembly in 1999,

representing the 126th AssemblyDistrict, which includes all of CayugaCounty and parts of Cortland andChenango counties.

Assemblyman Finch first threw hishat into the ring in 1979, running as avillage trustee in Aurora. In 1982, hewas elected mayor, serving for eightyears, during which he undertook anumber of initiatives to improve thevillage’s finances.

A successful small business owner,Assemblyman Finch operates Brew-Finch Funeral Homes, which havelocations in northern, central andsouthern New York.

He also is anextremely activemember of hiscommunity andhas been recog-nized with avariety ofawards for thiscommitment.He has chairedthe Board ofTrustees of Cayuga CommunityCollege, and, as a member of theAssembly’s Education Committee, is astrong and knowledgeable advocate foreducation. Most recently he wasnamed Assemblyman of the Year bythe New York State Association of BigBrothers and Big Sisters.

He resides in Springport with hiswife, Marcia Herrling Finch, and alsohas raised two children, Amy andGregory. He graduated from EmpireState College in April of 1990 with amajor in interdisciplinary studies. ❏

Member of House of Commons, CanadaWalt Lastewka ’03FORUM Management Education Program

Walt Lastewka, an industrial engineer by training, has,since 1993, served in Canada’s House of Commons,representing St. Catharine’s, Ontario Electoral

District. Lastewka spent 30 years as an industrial engineer and asa senior executive at General Motors in the U.S., Canada, andMexico. Under the banner of the Liberal Caucus, he was re-elected in 1997, 2000 and 2004, serving as chair or vice chair ofnumerous standing committees and subcommittees, including the

Standing Committee on Science and Technology, the International Trade Committee,the Environment Committee, and the joint House/Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

He was chair of the Task Force on Commercializing Government Science Researchand the Federal Caucus Advocate for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

Since December 2003, Lastewka also has served as parliamentary secretary ofpublic works and government services, with an emphasis on procurement review. Hisparliamentary secretary task force report on government-wide procurement has beenapproved by the government and is being implemented at a cost of $90 million andoverall savings of $2.6 billion over five years.

Lastewka has been active in the community as well – he has been involved in St.Catharines’ Museum, the United Way, Brock University, and he served as aJaycees/Junior Chamber International vice president (JCI), 1976. ❏

18 E M P I R E

Christopher Calisi(continued from page 11)

front.” He went on to take positions astechnology marketing manager at UnifyCorp., before moving on to SymantecCorp., another software developmentfirm that specialized in creatingsoftware security products. He rosethrough the ranks at Symantec todirector of development, generalmanager, vice president and finallyexecutive vice president, reporting tothe CEO. Under his leadership, hisdivision climbed from revenues of justunder $10 million to $300 millionannually. Calisi “had such a wonderfultime, I got the itch to take a CEOposition.” The Long Island born andbred Calisi was soon recruited by eHelpCorp., in the process moving his familyto San Diego. When Calisi wasappointed CEO of eHelp, it was a smalldesktop software maker. Under hisleadership, eHelp became, according toa company statement, “an acknowl-edged leader in the Internetdevelopment tools market.”

Recruited by Overland in 2001, at atime when the company was expandinginto new markets and developing newproducts, Calisi said it was a challengemoving from a privately held companyto steering a large publicly tradedcompany with a quarter of a billion inrevenue in the post-Enron age.“CEOs,” he noted, “are guilty untilproven innocent.” He regularly fieldsnumerous phone calls from thecompany’s shareholders.

The company’s products aredistributed through such leading firmsas HP and IBM, and its clients includecorporations like Daimler Chrysler,Merck and Pfizer.

“One thing that has guided mycareer is focusing on results,” said theself-described “Type A” personality,husband to fellow Empire State Collegealumna Christine Calisi ’97 and proudfather of two. “It doesn’t matter howhard you work at the end of the day,but how many beans you’ve put in the bank.” ❏

Assemblyman Luis M. Diaz, whorepresents the 86th District ofthe Bronx, has always held the

needs of the community close to his heartand high on his agenda. When he was amember of the board of the HispanicVoter Registration Drive, Diaz partici-pated in local and national voterregistration drives resulting in 10,000newly registered Hispanic voters. Spurredon by this success, he joined theCommunity Planning Board #5, tofurther organize at the grassroots level.Prior to his run for the Assembly, he wasthe male district leader for the 76thAssembly District. In 1993, he becamethe executive director of NeighborhoodEnhancement and Training Services

(NETS, Inc.), a not-for-profit communitybased group in the Bronx. ThroughNETS, he worked to improve the socialservices delivery system. Under his lead-ership, and through his tenacity andperseverance, the organization’s missionwas expanded to include education,economic development and computertechnology. As a result, according to hisofficial bio, the organization grew froman agency providing services to seniorcitizens, to a “stable, multifaceted organization that serves the young andelderly alike.”

Diaz’s priorities for his district, whichwas newly created just prior to hiselection, are health care, education andeconomic revitalization for the predomi-

nately lower- to lower-middle class neigh-borhoods that comprise the district.Diaz describes himself as a doer. “Toomany people spend a lot of time thinkingof what they could do and nothing evergets done. Everything is possible if we arewilling to just take that first step.” ❏

James W. Tuffey wasnamed director of theNew York State Emergency

Management Office(SEMO) by Gov. GeorgePataki last July. In thispivotal position, Tuffey isresponsible for coordinatingthe activities of all stateagencies in the case of anemergency, whether man-made or natural disaster.

“Our challenge is to makesure that we’re prepared tosupport local and stateagencies with the best tech-

nology and the best methodology to prepare for all hazards,”Tuffey said during an interview from his office.

Tuffey retired at the rank of detective after 20 years with theAlbany Police Department. He went on to become a confiden-tial investigator in New York State Department of Labor before

becoming Public Safety Commissioner for the City of Cohoes.In 1998, he joined the Department of EnvironmentalConservation (DEC), first as labor relations director and then asassistant commissioner for the Office of Public Protection over-seeing the Divisions of Law Enforcement and Forest Rangers.He also served as liaison to SEMO where he was instrumentalin developing the state’s Y2K preparedness plans. In addition,according to his SEMO bio, he has served on the Weapons ofMass Destruction Task Force since 2000 and was executive leadfor more than 500 DEC members involved in the response tothe terrorist attacks of September 11. In naming the formerAlbany police officer and detective, the governor wrote, “JimTuffey has had an outstanding career in law enforcement andemergency management. I am confident that under Jim’s leader-ship SEMO will continue to be the nation’s premier emergencymanagement organization … ”

As evidenced by his own ability to take on new and complexjobs after retiring from his first career in law enforcement,Tuffey said his guiding principle has been “to never stoplearning. No matter where you are, you can learn fromsomeone. You need to take on every challenge that you face –and don’t ever be afraid to ask someone for advice.” ❏

AssemblymanLuis M. Diaz ’87, ’88 Long Island Center

Director, New York State Emergency Management Office James W. Tuffey ’04Northeast Center

19E M P I R E

20 E M P I R E

Susan H. Turben,Ph.D., infant devel-opment expert,

community advocate,philanthropist, and oneof the earliest graduatesof Empire State College,has recently embarked onone of the most ambi-tious projects of her longcareer. In partnershipwith the JewishCommunity Federation

of Cleveland, she is working as a volun-teer professional, four times a year, in St.Petersburg, Russia where she is sharingthe fruits of her education (a Bachelor ofScience degree from Empire State Collegeand a dual doctorate in infancy and earlychildhood education) and her more than35 years of experience working withbabies and youths.

Turben is a pioneer in the early inter-vention field, receiving her first grant forthe Handicapped Children EarlyEducation Program (HCEEP) in 1974.She started the first infant stimulationprogram in the Capital District, and shenow is the principal in TurbenDevelopmental Services, based inBeachwood, Ohio. Turben and herhusband, Jack, are active in a number ofcommunity activities and Turben serveson many boards, including the EmpireState College Foundation board.Through the Turben Family Foundation,Susan and Jack are also regularsupporters of National Public Radio andother organizations, which focus onstrengthening families through education,and providing access to services thatpromote healthy lifestyles.

In Russia, she is working with specialneeds children up to the ages of 12 to 13,

helping parents, teachers and medicalprofessionals recognize and appreciateearly human development, and, as shelikes to say, “How smart and competentbabies are. What I do in St. Petersburg, isto teach preschool and toddler caregiversand parents about the many abilitiesinfants have in utero through birth, andthen demonstrate how all children learnso that adults can guide their children’sdevelopment knowing the very important

capacities children have since birth.Because these teachers are used toworking with older kids, they are alwaysstunned to see how much babies are ableto learn.”

Turben believes that it is incumbentupon countries like the United States,who have a wealth of infant researchavailable, to take it to other parts of theglobe, which have not been able toaccrue such knowledge. “All children canlearn,” she states firmly; adding, “Fromthe age of three months, it is possible toobserve that all children have skills and

talents. Sharing the knowledge is soimportant in light of current worldwideevents, which prove how vulnerablechildren are and how small and inter-woven the world has become,” she said.

Not only is Turben bringing herknowledge to St. Petersburg, where thereare 28 child care centers in just one smallarea of the city and up to 83,000children living full time in orphanages,but she is learning individual familycultures and language, as well. She’s beenstudying Russian with a coach and tutorfor nine months, taking classes two timesa week, and says, “I am doing okay withreading; but there’s always that barrieramong us English speakers – we fearusing the wrong words, when really anywords at all are greeted with so muchwarmth just because I’m trying!”

The people in St. Petersburg under-stand that it’s a two-way learning street.They asked Turben to speak to them in their native language, and she does,using an interpreter to fill in the morecomplex subject matter. Using pictures,dolls and working with children them-selves, Turben hopes to open up a doorof promise to young special-needsRussian children.

And when she’s finished her work inthat center? “I’ll ask them to take me tomeet the director of another school downthe street,” she jokes.

Turben also has been busy on herhome turf, in partnership with the LakeCounty NAACP, to help prison inmatesconnect with their children. In her workwith family intervention, she realized thatmany of the families she visited were notintact; in fact a significant number ofthese parents were incarcerated in jails inplaces like Cincinnati and Columbus,

(continued next page)

Infant Development Expert,PhilanthropistSusan Turben ’72Northeast Center

Susan Turban(continued from page 20)

miles away from their kids. Not onlythat, due to the vagaries of findingsomeone to look after children – whowere often placed in relatives’ homesand in various day care arrangements– Turben realized that parents did notknow where their own children werefrom day to day. Turben made a callto the local NAACP, of which she is amember, and together, they arefunding a program that transportschildren and caregivers to physicallyconnect incarcerated parents withchildren. By “coincidence” the groupwas already looking for ways topurchase a van and raise funds forfood and clothing to begin trans-porting kids to prisons. The John andSusan Turben Family Foundationoffered help two years ago, and nowthe program serves over 1,500 care-

givers and kids. The mission is tofoster healthy relationships in families.

Turben points out that in situationswhere families cannot see their incar-cerated family member, teleconferencingand distance education will be offered.“We believe in the innate ability ofevery parent to be proud of their

children, and to be competent andnurture their children. Essentially, nomatter how terrible the situation, thisprogram proves to parents in prisonthat others embrace their family andrespect and share pride in these specialchildren.” As Turben puts it, “allparents need to physically see theirchildren to believe how smart andtalented they are becoming. Freedom

Fund Prison Ministry project ismeeting that need.”

Turben, who herself started out asa Head Start mom, knows whereof shespeaks. She juggled school, andresponsibility for her husband whohad multiple sclerosis, while at thesame time, trying to raise three kids.Her strong faith prompts her towardthe responsibility “to do all I can, foras many people as I can, in all theplaces that I can, and for as long as I can. My faith guides me to be aservant witness to the community, andwhen the right thing seems to come tome that way, I put my time, moneyand energy into it. Beyond that, I feelour own five children, now grownwith their own children to raise,deserve to see their parents asexamples of community advocacy.Families can be helped to grow betterand stronger – if we all work together.It’s not all about me.” ❏

21E M P I R E

Marcia Pappas ran success-fully for the presidency ofthe New York state

chapter of the National Organizationfor Women (NOW), taking the helmof the 13,000-member organizationrepresenting 24 local chapters acrossthe state in December. As the propri-etor of a small business in theCapital District for 30 years, it wasthe stories she heard from her clients

that led to her interest in NOW. Inaddition, as the granddaughter of aPanamanian immigrant, she hadgrown up hearing how her familyfaced discrimination during their firstyears in this country, and early onrecognized the vital importance ofadvocacy. Her interests eventuallybrought her into a leadershipposition as president of the 325-member Albany chapter of NOW. At the end of 2004, she challengedincumbent Kathryn Lake Mazierskito the statewide presidency and won,making her, in the words of a news-paper account, “one of the mostvisible activists in the state.”

Pappas ran for the presidencybecause, after 15 years as a volun-teer, she loved the work so much thatshe wanted to deepen her involve-ment. Under her leadership, shehopes to include the grassroots

membership in more of the orga-nization’s decision making.

“Because NOW is an organi-

zation that deals with all issues thataffect women, it can sometimes feellike a daunting task,” she said.“There are times that I may feel aparticular issue should take priority,but as president, it is my job torepresent the membership and theirwishes.”

The New York state NOW website says that it advocates for womenwho have been victims of domesticviolence; for pay equity in themarketplace; for working womenjuggling the “triple burden” ofcareer, household and childrearing;against sexual harassment anddiscrimination; and what NOW isperhaps best known for – itsadvocacy of legal abortion.

Pappas says her job requires thatshe be highly organized and able tostay on task. But she also knowswhen to loosen the reins.

“Sometimes in leadership youmay want to steer the group oneway, but the membership has otherthoughts. That’s democracy at itscore – sometimes it hurts, and youflinch because democracy is reallydifficult at its core, but it’s really thebest way.” ❏

Activist Marcia Pappas ’93Northeast Center

“All parents need to physicallysee their children to believe

how smart and talented they are becoming.”

22 E M P I R E

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Community Activist, City CouncilMember Gladys Santiago ’96Genesee Valley Center

Gladys Santiago, the senior vice president ofIbero – American Action League, Inc. inRochester, New York, oversees the develop-

ment of all programs and fund-raising activities forthe organization, handling a $6 million budget. This unique program is designed to foster growthand development in the Hispanic community. Theorganization has a wide variety of programs forchildren, youths, seniors, the developmentallydisabled and more.

Santiago also is the vice president of the Rochester City Council where sherepresents the city at public events. In her years as a council member at large,she has sponsored legislation to reduce gun violence (Project Exile) expand theHomework Hotline Program, and provide additional funds for the purchase ofSpanish language materials for the library system.

After attending the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and MonroeCommunity College, Santiago graduated from Empire State College with adegree in Human Service Management and Business Administration. In 2004,Santiago accepted an appointment as RIT’s Frederick H. Minett Professor for2003-2004. ❏

Brian M. McLaughlin, president ofthe New York City Central LaborCouncil/AFL-CIO and New York

State Assemblyman for the 25thAssembly District covering Flushing andWhitestone, Queens, (“one of the mostculturally diverse communities on earth,”he has said), is known as a consummatelabor organizer and mobilizer. The nativeNew Yorker and grandson of Irish immi-grants has been active in the labormovement for more than 20 years – eversince his days as a journeyman electri-cian in IBEW, Local No. 3, who receivedhis tutelage from esteemed late laborleader Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. As if hisplate wasn’t already full, McLaughlin,who also is active in a number ofcommunity groups, has had his namebandied about as a potential New YorkCity mayoral candidate.

McLaughlin is credited with revital-izing the labor movement at thegrassroots level through organizing,public education, social justice and polit-ical action. The New York City CentralLabor Council, a chartered body of theAFL-CIO, is a grassroots advocacygroup representing more than onemillion workers in 400 unions, includingteachers, truck drivers, sewing machineoperators, train operators, dock workers,doctors, nurses, orderlies, constructionworkers, cooks, janitors, and jazz musi-cians. The Central Labor Council sees itsmission as helping working familiesachieve civil rights, fair wages, safeworking conditions, a political voice,and the respect and dignity that theirlabor should afford them, according toits web site. The labor council has joinedwith The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Centerfor Labor Studies to establish anOrganizing Institute, which will trainrank and file union workers to be“highly skilled organizers.”

Recently, under McLaughlin’s leader-ship, the labor council has taken on thebehemoth, Wal-Mart, criticizing it for itsnonunionized workforce.


Assemblyman and Labor LeaderBrian M. McLaughlin ’81, ’83 The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies

23E M P I R E

President, CommunicationsWorkers of America Morton Bahr ’83 The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies

Brian McLaughlin(continued from page 22)

Asked what advice he’d have for a current Empire StateCollege student, the labor leader and Queens assemblymanreplied, “As I look back over my professional life, one thingthat stands out is that you can never be 100 percent certainwhere your career path will lead you. An electrician by trade,with a love for community involvement, 20 years later, I’m now

a state legislator, a district leader and the president of an orga-nization representing more than 1.3 million union workers.From one who sat in the same classrooms, walked in the samebuildings and experienced the same type of educational chal-lenges, albeit some years ago, my advice is simple: Take it all in.Squeeze the most out of every hour. Go down every road ofopportunity. One day you may be repairing a street light, thenext day you may be lighting a nation with your ideas.” ❏

Because of the fluidity of today’s workplace, Americanfrontline workers don’t know what their jobs will looklike, or even what relevant skills they will need, several

years down the road. This is the assessment of Morton Bahr,president of the powerful Communications Workers of America(CWA), the 700,000-member union that represents workers inthe telecommunications, media, information technology,printing, manufacturing, airline and electronics industries.Therefore, workers need higher and continuing education morethan ever, and Bahr has made this a guiding principle in hisleadership of the CWA.

Bahr, who celebrated his 51st anniversary with the union inApril, is recognized as a leading voice of the labor movement,both in the United States and internationally. He said he hasbeen interested in lifelong learning for 20 years, but the issuereally came into focus for him six years ago, when he wastapped to chair the President’s Commission for a Nation of

Lifelong Learners. “As global competition becomes even fiercer,workers are going to be required to continue to upgrade theirskills – and not only their technical skills – because it’s so diffi-cult to predict five to six years from now what will still beneeded,” he said in a recent interview from CWA’s Washington,DC headquarters. Bahr maintained that young people preparingfor college must have a broad-based education, including in theliberal arts. They should hone the ability to communicateclearly in both the written and spoken word, and they must beable to work with people, in order to fit into the “high perfor-mance workplace.”

Bahr recalled a commencement speech on a SUNY campus,in which he stressed the importance of lifelong learning. Tworecent graduates approached him afterwards, saying ruefully,“but we thought we were finished!”

Bahr, however, took the same advice that he gives,completing his degree at The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center forLabor Studies in 1983.

Bahr has been tireless in implementing his vision. As a vicepresident of the AFL-CIO, he chaired the federation’s WorkersEducation Committee, and has been unyielding in the push tocreate a highly educated union membership. In 2001, EmpireState College established the Morton Bahr Scholarship programin his honor. This program has so far enabled 21 union workersor their family members to pursue a college degree through thecollege’s Center for Distance Learning. Under his guidance,CWA has also pioneered a number of other innovativeprograms in the area of worker education. These includenationally recognized education programs with majoremployers; a partnership with Cisco Systems to provide certification and skill training for workers in Internet tech-nology; and a partnership with telecom employers and PaceUniversity that has produced the first online degree program in telecommunications.

He stresses the importance of investing in training rank andfile workers as well as managers. Traditionally, he said, onlytwo percent of an organization’s resources is put aside fortraining and educating the frontline worker; but the companythat will gain and keep its technological advantage will be thecompany that “recognizes the value of frontline workers whenspending resources.”

Although joking that he got to where he is because, “I wasin the right place at the right time,” Bahr in fact progressed upthe ranks one step at a time, his horizons broadening from eachnew venue. He took the helm of the CWA in 1985, afterserving 16 years as CWA vice president for District 1, coveringNew York, New Jersey and New England. Under Bahr’s leader-ship, CWA is demonstrating that it continues to be a highlyeffective and vital union for the information age. ❏

President of the New York State AFL-CIODenis Hughes ’93, ’99 The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies

24 E M P I R E

Denis Hughes, president of the2.5 million-member New YorkState AFL-CIO, does not

hesitate to take on the powerful inpursuit of his aim to further the cause ofworking families in New York state. LastDecember, The New York Times detailedhow Hughes wouldn’t back down whenGov. George E. Pataki vetoed a bill thatwould raise the minimum wage forworkers across the state. He lobbied thestate Senate and the Assembly for anoverride of the governor’s veto, andsucceeded in spurring the passage of abill that would raise the minimum wagefor three consecutive years, beginning last

January, when it saw an increase to$5.65. By January 2007, the minimumwage will be $7.15 per hour. Althoughmost minimum wage workers do notbelong to labor unions, Hughes is quotedas telling The Times that, by creating a“wage floor,” it benefits all workers.Besides the fight to increase the minimumwage, under Hughes’ leadership, farmworkers now earn the same minimumwage as other workers in the state.Another victory has been legislation thatprevents the state from using funds todeter union organizing.

Hughes maintains that there is still alot of work ahead for unions, despite thetrend among many companies towardoutsourcing or manufacturing overseas.Another challenge is from large compa-nies unfriendly to union activity. Forexample, the AFL-CIO is undertaking ahuge public education campaigntargeting Wal-Mart’s employment prac-tices. Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in theU.S., is currently nonunionized. “Whatwe have to do is bring more and morepeople into the labor movement,”Hughes said during a recent interview.“The mission and role of labor hasn’tchanged. We are still a mechanism for

helping working men and women achievethe dignity they deserve. There are still alot of workers here (in the U.S.) thatdon’t have the benefit of collectivebargaining and there remains a lot wecan do.”

Hughes, a former journeyman electri-cian who enjoys motorcycling in his freetime, joined the state AFL-CIO, anumbrella organization that encompasses3,000 unions in New York, as a politicaldirector and assistant to the president in1985. In 1990, he was promoted to theposition of executive assistant to thepresident before assuming the presidencyin 1999. As his official bio explains, hehas “made creating a more mobile, activeand aggressive statewide labor movementa top priority … [and has] set the tonefor organizing new members into themovement and has led the way in devel-oping proactive legislative and politicalstatewide strategy.” Reflecting his clout,in 2003, Hughes was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors ofthe Federal Reserve Bank.

Hughes says that the key to success isdoing something that you love. “Dosomething you would do whether youwere paid for it or not.” ❏

Laurel Massé(continued from page 4)

where she interviewed and played with such jazz luminariesas pianist Lee Shaw, Latin-jazz ensemble Mambo Kikongo,Peter Eldridge of the New York Voices, Matt Glaser ofWayfaring Strangers, and cornetist Peter Ecklund.

Although often described either as a jazz singer or acabaret singer, Massé doesn’t see herself fitting neatly intocategories. “I just call myself a singer,” she says simply.“What comes from jazz is the willingness to hear a piece ofmusic in a different way, and that could be anything from aCole Porter tune to a Bach suite.”

In 2001, Massé released Feather & Bone (Premonition),a CD that experiments with a number of musical vocabu-laries, from the ancient Hymn to the Muse and a sung arrangement of Bach’s Suite #1 for Unaccompanied Cello,to folk songs with a Celtic inflection, to sacred music andspirituals. In 2004, she received the MAC (ManhattanAssociation of Clubs and Cabarets) Lifetime AchievementAward. Massé also is the recipient of a Richard PorterLeach Fellowship in the Arts and a SUNY Chancellor’sAward for Student Excellence. She hopes to “continue togrow and develop my personal voice in my art … I [also]want to be able to bring the same experience that I carrywith me onto the stage into the classroom so that I can bepart of passing along the vocal tradition.” ❏

Please complete and return to:

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Make your check payable to: Empire State College Foundation.

The box lunch will include a sandwich, side salad, dessert, fruit and chips. Drinks are on your own.

Please check one sandwich and side salad❏ Turkey ❏ Roast beef ❏ Chicken salad ❏ Baked ham ❏ Vegetarian

Side salad❏ Penne pasta with turkey and bacon ❏ Tomato provolone with basil ❏ Red potato ❏ Cole slaw

Please circle a bread and condiment choice❏ White ❏ Wheat ❏ Rye ❏ Sourdough ❏ Sundried tomato wrap

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Registration begins at 10:30 a.m., at whichtime you will pick up your pass, program and lunch. We will be serving coffee andpastries during that time. The handicappingseminar will begin around 11:00 a.m. Posttime for the first race is 1:00 p.m. Seating islimited and on a first-come, first-served basis.We will reserve your seat when we receiveyour check made out to Empire State CollegeFoundation. Simply use the order form below.You may make a copy of the order form foryour guest(s).

• Grandstand admission• Grandstand seat• Program• Coffee and pastries at the college

• Box lunch• Handicapping seminar• President Moore’s “winning”

selections

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Come join us for our annual

Empire State College

DDDDaaaayyyy aaaatttt tttthhhheeee RRRRaaaacccceeeessssSaratoga Springs Friday, August 12, 2005

Graduation Year

“Empire State College Track Pack” for $30 includes:

Our trip includes:• six nights accommodation in first-class hotels (based on

twin bedded rooms with private facilities) with daily breakfasts• porterage in and out of the hotels (one piece of luggage

per person)• English speaking tour escorts• deluxe motor coach according to the itinerary• welcome dinner in Vienna• farewell dinner in Prague• reception in Prague on our final evening with our

Prague alumni and students• half-day local guide for city tour of Vienna and Prague

All this for $1,890 (not included are tips, extra fees, meals, exhibitadmissions, single traveler supplement and air departure tax ofapproximately $175 per person). Pricing based on 30 participants,subject to cost increase below 30 passengers.

For more information or to reserve your spot, pleasecontact Celtic Tours at 800 833-4373 or Ellen Ascone [email protected]. To see the itinerary, visit us atwww.esc.edu/alumni.

Travel Abroad Program

A Tale of Two Cities

await you!

October 14 - 21, 2005

Please join us as we tour two of the most beautiful

cities in Europe, Vienna and Prague, and visit with

some of our international alumni. You’ll come to

find that Empire State College alumni and students

are everywhere!

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