ne could argue that a College of Mount Saint Vincent education is like a Chanel suit—it never goes out ofstyle.

The Mount provides education forlife and a career—not just a job.

Rather than teaching studentshyper-specialized skills that mayquickly become outdated, the

Mount’s high quality, liberal artscurriculum gives students the ana-lytical and problem-solving skills tobecome leaders, thinkers, and trail-blazers.

“A Mount education develops thewhole person,” says PresidentCharles L. Flynn. “Every field ofstudy emphasizes analytical skills;critical thinking; clear, persuasive

communication; and moral and re-ligious thought—the essentials forsuccess in every profession.”

In a still-faltering economy, whenjobs are scarce and parents mayworry whether a liberal arts educa-tion is still the best investment intheir son’s or daughter’s future, thequestion is particularly relevant.

College of Mount Saint Vincent

college of mount saint vincent

NEWSWinter 2013Alumnae/i, Students, & Friends

EVOLUTION OF A CLASSICBy Erin Walsh

By Pat Conti

FACULTY FOCUS:

ANA RIBEIRO:Of Mice & Mothers

ssistant Professor of BiologyAna Ribeiro and her colleagueshave produced groundbreak-

ing research demonstrating that asingle gene in mice could be re-sponsible for the maternal instinct.

Dr. Ribeiro recently published thefindings of her postdoctoral re-search, which indicates that dimin-ished levels of Estrogen ReceptorAlpha in the medial preoptic area ofthe brain of female mice resulted inthose mice exhibiting infanticidalbehavior.

“The uniqueness of our findings isthat we were able to demonstratethat silencing ER Alpha in a specific

region of the brain and time pointin an adult female mouse’s life ac-tually abolished motherly instinct,”Dr. Ribeiro says.

Indeed, Dr. Ribeiro suggests thatthese findings have many implica-tions, even for humans.

“What’s critical is that having thiskey (ER Alpha) present in the me-dial preoptic, an area that has manyconnections to high order functions,as well as very primal functions, is

Dr. Ana Ribeiro

Continued on page 4Continued on page 8

The Nike swoosh. The Apple core.NBC’s peacock.

All of these symbols instantly conjureup an image of the brand associatedwith these iconic logos.

Ask any marketing guru, and they’lltell you that a strong brand identity isone of the most crucial facets of a cor-poration or nonprofit institution’schances for long term success.

Although the College of Mount SaintVincent doesn’t use a logo (we use theCollege name as the word mark) orcatchy slogan, for the past two years,the Mount has been engaged in an In-tegrated Marketing initiative, the goal of which is to capture and distill its signature strengths and proof points, and usethese to create messages that are synonymous with the College of Mount Saint Vincent to the outside world.

Rather than to hang its identity on a logo or slogan that might quickly fall out of fashion, the Mount has chosen topromote its enduring strength as a high-quality Catholic and ecumenical liberal arts institution through strategic mes-saging and a timeless visual style that differentiate it from competing institutions.

To build upon the efforts of the Integrated Marketing initiative, an internal Branding Committee was formed under thedirection of Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement and College Relations Madeleine Melkonian, andwas tasked with further refining the Mount’s brand identity. The committee held focus groups for students, faculty, staff,and administrators, and used the results and other research to create strategic messages and visual elements that will beused in written and verbal communications to create a cohesive brand identity. The result, a comprehensive BrandGuide, was completed by the committee and distributed to the College community this fall.

“For the College of Mount Saint Vincent, branding represents identifying that which we believe truly defines theCollege and makes us distinctive, for the audiences we want to reach, with an eye towards our

MARKETING THE MOUNTBy Erin Walsh

O

A

Continued on page 3

MOUNT ROUNDTABLE

COLLEGE OF MOUNT SAINT VINCENT6301 RIVERDALE AVENUE | RIVERDALE, NY 10471 | PHONE (800) 665-CMSV | (718) 405-3345 | WEB:WWW.MOUNTSAINTVINCENT.EDU

Winter 2013 32 Winter 2013

The presidential election aside, the other newsworthy topic as oflate has been the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Below is an ex-cerpt of the Mount appearing in the media.

“How to Attack the Gender Wage Gap? Speak Up” New York Times,Dec. 15, 2012

The Start Smart Salary Negotiation Workshop, held at the Collegeof Mount Saint Vincent and jointly sponsored with the AmericanAssociation of University Women, made the cover of the BusinessSection of the New York TimesDec. 15 in an illuminating article bywriter Jessica Bennett. The article addressed the longstanding gen-der gap between women’s and men’s pay. The workshop providedMount students with practical advice on how to negotiate their firstsalary. Read more about the workshop on page 6.

— Erin Walsh

COLLEGE NEWSCOLLEGE NEWS

aroundcampus

CMSV in the

MEDIA

Mount student Sain Mota ’13 participates in the StartSmart workshop. Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times/Redux

Editor Erin Walsh, Director for College RelationsContributing Writers Pat Conti, Leah Munch ’12, Michael Doughty

Photography Ben Asen, Dana Maxson, Suzanne DeChillo

College of Mount Saint Vincent News is a publication of the College of Mount Saint Vincent Office of Institutional Advancement & College Relations.

Madeleine Melkonian, Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement & College Relations

Address all Letters to the Editor and suggestions for future issues to:Erin Walsh, Director for College Relations, College of Mount Saint Vincent,

6301 Riverdale Ave., Riverdale, NY 10471, (718) 405-3345 or

erin.walsh@mountsaintvincent.edu

Send all Address Changes and Alumnae/i Updates to: Alumnae/i Relations Office, College of Mount Saint Vincent, 6301 Riverdale Ave., Riverdale, NY

10471, (718) 405-3336 or alumnioffice@mountsaintvincent.edu

COLLEGE OF MOUNT SAINT VINCENT NEWS

To read the entire article and other articles featuring the Collegeof Mount Saint Vincent, visit www.mountsaintvincent.edu,CMSV in the Media, listed under the News & Events tab.

CMSV DAY OF SERVICE The College of Mount Saint Vincent community joined forces for thegreater good on October 20, for the Mount’s inaugural campus-wide Dayof Service. Faculty, staff, administrators, students, and area alums par-ticipated in the event, which occurred on-campus and at six additionalsites. Activities ranged from cleaning up campus and Van Cortlandt Parkand building homes with Habitat for Humanity in Hoboken, N.J. to mak-ing crafts with children at Greystone Gardens Oktoberfest in Yonkers.

BALASOLE DANCE COMPANY BalaSole, the Mount’s new dance-company-in-residence, and itsFounder and Artistic Director Roberto Villanueva, danced ontocampus this fall with a full roster of activities planned for the Mountand local community. In addition to teaching Contemporary Dance &Ballet as an adjunct faculty member, Mr. Villanueva serves as an advi-sor to the student-run Words Dance Club, founded by Mount seniorJoseph Saldoriga ’13. This past fall, BalaSole provided members ofthe CMSV community with free tickets to its past two performancesin Manhattan, to give students direct exposure to the field of profes-sional dance. In the spring, Mr. Villanueva will begin a BalaSole DanceCompany internship program forMount students. For more informationon BalaSole, visitwww.mountsaintvincent.edu/campusevents.

UPCOMING EVENTSDUST OFF YOUR DANCING SHOES! Scholarship Tribute Dinner April 29

The annual Scholarship Tribute Dinner is scheduled for April 29, 2013at the New York Public Library. Honorees are David Walsh, presidentand chief executive officer of Amalgamated Life Insurance Companyand CEO of Alico Services Corporation, and his wife, artist, libraryadvocate, and theater producer Alice Chebba Walsh.Visit www.mountsaintvincent.edu/tributedinner to purchase your ticket.

REUNION WEEKENDReturn, Reconnect, Revisit

The College of Mount Saint Vincent celebrates Reunion Weekendfor classes ending in “3” and “8” from June 7-9, 2013. Celebrate withfaculty, friends, classmates, and other alums. Learn the latest Mountnews and developments, visit the College’s newly renovated facili-ties, and engage in exciting programs. Visit www.mountsaintvin-cent.edu/reunion.htm for more information, and to register online.

Vice President forStudent Affairs &Dean of Students Dr. Dianna Dale withMount students whovolunteered at POTSSoup Kitchen in theBronx during theMount’s inauguralDay of Service.

The Red Monkey Theater Group, a Westchester-based theater company,started its residency at the College of Mount Saint Vincent with a debutperformance of Uncle Vanya at the newly-renovated Cahill Theater thispast fall.

The company’s second performance of the season,Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuresMount students as members of the cast and crew.The addition of a professional theater company-in-residence gives students the opportunity to gain professional experience both onstage and behind-the-scenes.

Students will gain an understanding of acting theoryby working with experienced performers, get involvedwith stage management, and work with a fully func-tioning production crew, all of which helps to expandthe recently introduced theater minor, says AssistantProfessor of Communication Brad Crownover.

Tal Aviezer, artistic director of the Red Monkey Theater Group, has di-rected 16 productions over the company’s past 13 seasons. Many of theproductions are works of Shakespeare. He manages to preserve Shake-speare’s plays, which are signature works for the company, in their classicform. But he also modernizes them by incorporating in elements of light

comedy and fun and fast paced acting tech-niques.

“We want fundamentally for people to cometo our shows to find themselves,” he says.“That’s why we go to the theater, to find our-selves.”

This is also one of the reasons why Mount stu-dents and faculty are involved. Dr. Crownoverstudied under Mr. Aviezer in the past. Now, heis deeply involved with the Mount’s theaterminor and participates in Red Monkey TheaterGroup productions as an actor, appearing inthe company’s production of Uncle Vanya.

“Red Monkey has a great reputation,” he says.“I think the audiences for Uncle Vanya speak tothat. We had students (attend). We had fac-ulty and staff. We had people visiting the cam-pus for the first time from all over Westchester

County and New Jersey. We had a U.S. Congressman. We had small audi-ences. We had sold out shows. It was everything you could hope for as afirst production.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream premiered at the College of Mount Saint Vin-cent on January 24 and ran through January 27. The next Red Monkeyperformance is Neil LaBute’s Reasons to be Pretty, opening in May. Bothshows will have open auditions, giving the Mount community ample op-portunity to get involved.

By Leah Munch ’12

BEHIND THE SCENES:

RED MONKEY THEATER GROUPSETTLES INTO NEW CMSV HOME

Members of Red Monkey Theater Group and the Mountcommunity rehearse "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

competitive landscape,” says Ms. Melkonian. “Defin-ing how we want to communicate those key factors,whether visually, in written form, or verbally, whenwe represent the College. It means relying on thisdefining framework in a consistent way to informour efforts across all communications platforms andinitiatives, in ways that support our strategic goals ofgrowth and increased visibility.”

She continues, “Ultimately, this branding initiativewill make it easier for every member of the Mountcommunity to express our mission, and our iden-tity, and our most important assets and values, con-sistently and reliably in every communicationsdecision faced, no matter the audience we are ad-dressing or the platform we use to do so.”

The next phase of the Mount’s branding process iscurrently underway. The Mount’s Professional De-velopment Academy (PDA) team is charged withensuring that branding is fully, successfully inte-grated into College-wide messaging.

The PDA Team is composed of a broad representa-tion of Mount administrators, including Admis-sions, Athletics, Student Affairs, Campus Ministry,Finance, College Relations and Web Communica-tions, and is led by Assistant Professor of Businessand Economics and Coordinator of MBA Pro-grams Dr. Nina Aversano, who draws upon yearsof experience as an executive in the private sector.The purpose of the PDA is to streamline processesand to ensure that all mid-level managers work to-gether effectively to ensure maximum efficiency.The team is using the Brand Guide to review theCollege’s written and verbal communications andrelated activities produced by every department toassess whether they are consistent with the stan-dards and messaging defined by the guide, and toidentify opportunities to enhance and improvebranding.

Vice President and Dean of Admission & Finan-cial Aid Tim Nash is also instrumental in refiningthe Mount’s brand identity and working with the

team entrusted with defining ways to implementthe branding standards.

Dean Nash says, “In the world of admissions, hav-ing a clear, compelling brand identity is absolutelyessential. Everyone associated with the Mount—alumnae/i, parents, students, faculty—knows thatwe provide a high quality education, coupled withthe opportunities of New York City, but we wantthe rest of the world to know as well.”

After completing its review of internal communi-cations and related activities, performing a com-petitive analysis of peer institutions, and compilingthese findings, the team will make recommenda-tions to President Charles L. Flynn on ways tostrengthen the Mount’s brand identity.

“The end product of this branding process shouldultimately be consistently recognizable materialsand messages that communicate to the outsideworld the Mount’s many strengths,” says PresidentFlynn. n

Marketing the Mount Continued from page 1

Winter 2013 5

FACULTY FOCUS PROFILE

necessary and sufficient for maternal behavior tooccur in mice,” she says.

Dr. Ribeiro says her research team first identi-fied the traits of a good mother mouse, such asnursing, licking, grooming, retrieving and pro-tecting her pups from intruders. Then throughthe use of viral vectors to deliver genetic mate-rials to a cell, Dr. Ribeiro and her team silencedthe ER Alpha gene in female mice and recordedthat the “silenced” mice stopped exhibiting thecharacteristics of good mothers.

“For humans, this means it could be possibleto correlate the amount of ER Alpha in the me-dial preoptic area of a woman to her maternalabilities and that varying the expression of Es-trogen Receptor Alpha in individuals may re-sult in different maternal capacities,” she says.

Dr. Ribeiro’s discovery began with sleep re-search at Fordham University and eventuallyled her to Rockefeller University, where shestudied the effects of estrogen on genes andanimal behavior.

For example, after birth, estrogens drop 100 to

1000 fold, and therefore cannot bind to thenormal receptors mediating this bonding be-havior with the young, says Dr. Ribeiro.

“So, any unusual changes (dramatic decreases)in estrogen could potentially interfere with thisbalance and cause deficits in maternal bond-ing that are commonly seen post-partum,” inhumans, as well as in mice, she says.

“Our study provides a mechanistic way inwhich the changes that we observe in decreasesin estrogen after birth could cause post-par-tum deficits in maternal behaviors.”

Dr. Ribeiro teaches a full course load in biology,human genetics, physiology, and neurobiology atthe Mount and continues her research at Rocke-feller, proudly including her Mount students inmany of her new investigative endeavors. Someof her past students include Stephanie Widmer’11, a psychology major, who worked on the ef-fects of estrogen in food anticipatory behavior, aswell as biology majors Angela Gerona ’12, KatlinEnriquez ’12, and Stacey Thomas ’12, whoworked on the signaling cascades underlying es-trogens effects on locomotor behavior. Thesestudents, along with Dr. Ribeiro, presented theirwork at the National Conference for Undergrad-uate Studies and at the Annual Professional SleepSocieties Meeting (SLEEP). Currently, biologymajor Nadimar Rojas ’14 and Dr. Ribeiro arecollaborating with a post-doctoral fellow atRockefeller University.

“My students are intellectually involved in everypart of the process,” she says. “I take them toRockefeller to conduct experiments; then webring all of our data and video recordings backto Mount Saint Vincent and analyze them,” shesays.

Although she acknowledges that her work ispretty advanced for college students, Dr. Ribeirostresses that she’s happy to offer her students thechance to participate in her research.

“A lot of my students want to have this experi-ence because it’s a very nice thing to add to aresume and makes them more competitive intheir future careers,” she says.

So what’s next for Dr. Ribeiro?

“My students and I continue working on dif-ferent themes, and since this research is some-thing everyone can identify with andparticipate in, I can continue having my stu-dents assist me,” she says.

Citing the intuitive nature of her behavioralneuroscience research, Dr. Ribeiro encouragesmore students to get involved.

“My work is not so technically challenging thatstudents won’t know what they’re doing, andat the same time, they develop critical think-ing skills that they will need in life,” she says.

Dr. Ana Ribeiro earned her B.A. from WesternConnecticut State University and holds an M.S.and Ph.D. from Fordham University. She conducted her postdoctoral training at the Rock-efeller University and currently teaches a wideselection of biology classes at the College ofMount Saint Vincent. n

ANA RIBEIROContinued from page 1

SCIENCE COMMUNITY ABUZZ WITH MOUNT RESEARCH ON FRUIT FLIESBy Leah Munch ’12

Associate Professor of Biology James Fabrizio and a group of student researchersconducted research on fruit flies that was first presented at the National Conferenceon Undergraduate Research at Ithaca College during the Fall 2011, and was pub-lished in the Landes Bioscience Journal Fly in Fall 2012.

The research was a study identifying mulet, a gene required for late-stage spermdevelopment, as the gene for the Tubulin-binding cofactor E-like (TBCE-like) protein. Since TBCE-like destroys microtubules, this work suggests that the removalof microtubules by TBCE-like is necessary for proper sperm development.

Dr. Fabrizio’s researchers, Nour Aqeel ’10, Yolisept Bencosme ’15, Joy Cote ’12,Joshian Estevez ’11, Mary Jongoy ’12, Vanie Mangal ’12, Ashley Rivera ’13, WinnieTema ’12, and Jerrica Wnukowski ’13, were named co-authors and are past and current undergraduate research students at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

Their manuscript “mulet (mlt) encodes a tubulin-binding cofactor E-like homologrequired for spermatid individualization in Drosophila melanogaster” was publishedin the October-December issue of Fly.

“Working with Dr. Fabrizio was amazing,” says Ms. Cote. “Being a co-author wasjust icing on the cake. Not only did I have an amazing time doing something I loved,but we achieved something that will help us progress in our scientific careers. Thisproject confirmed that I wanted to do research professionally and continue on toearn my Ph.D. in the sciences.”

Ms. Cote currently attends Wesleyan University, and is working toward her Ph.D. inchemistry, specifically studying biochemistry.

“The only way to teach science is to do science,” says Dr. Fabrizio of the publica-tion. “This is a major achievement for my students and I—it is pure undergraduateresearch published in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal.”

Of Mice and Mothers

As one of the Mount’s most accomplished alumnaeand a generous and loyal benefactor, KathrynSwintek ’74 has become one of the inauguralmembers of the Centennial Society, a group ofdonors who have chosen to support their almamater with a planned gift.

Ms. Swintek is a Managing Partner of GoldenSeeds Fund 2 LLC, and Managing Director ofGolden Seeds LLC, one the five largest angel in-vestment networks in the U.S. Previously, sheserved as Head of Leveraged Finance and GlobalHead of High Yield at BNP Paribas. Ms. Swintekserved for 11 years as a Trustee of the College ofMount Saint Vincent. Committed to advancingwomen’s leadership, she is Chair of C200, the leading businesswomen’sorganization for successful entrepreneurs and C-suite corporate execu-tives, and is a Director of several private corporations and not-for-profitorganizations. We sat down with her recently to find out what impact theMount had on her success, and why she chose to support the Collegewith a planned gift.

She chose to attend the Mount after having a “most inspiring meeting”with the late Doris Smith, S.C., who was then chair of the EconomicsDepartment, and later became president of the Mount. Ms. Swintekstudied economics at the College, and was an active member of thecampus community, writing a column for the student newspaper, thencalled The Alembic, and studying abroad during her junior year at theUniversity of Vienna in Austria. She has fond memories of the Mount’sbeautiful campus,” lasting friendships, and proximity to New York City.

Q: How did your experience at CMSV impact your career and/or life decisions?A: Studying in Vienna set me on track to a career in international busi-ness. I joined the Foreign Credit Department of Irving Trust Companyupon graduation, and within three years, I was an officer in the MiddleEast and North Africa Division, travelling extensively to that region. Thegreat liberal arts education and grounding in economics that I receivedat CMSV was key to connecting with clients in that region. I was later thecompany’s representative for France, based in Paris. I learned French inthree months, and was among a minority of Americans posted therewho were fluent and able to participate fully in French life, whether the-ater, film, dinner parties, or travel throughout France, another impor-tant bridge builder to my new client base. The environment at CMSVencouraged scholarship and inquiry, which served me well throughoutmy career. Three years after my return from Paris, I joined BNP Paribas,to lead their Structured Finance Division in the U.S. I also married awonderful Frenchman who I met while living in Paris. We’re married26 years now.

Q: What inspires you to be so generous to CMSV and why is that important to you?A: I am very conscious of the role that CMSV played in my intellectualand spiritual growth. I am keen to help the next generation be exposedto the same opportunities and nurturing environment that I was. Allprivate colleges and universities need support from donations to sus-tain themselves and grow. I have a strong connection to CMSV andthus choose to support it. The College’s motto, “Teach Me Goodness,

Discipline & Knowledge,” really spoke to me, andhas governed my actions and decisions throughoutmy life and career.

Q: When you think of CMSV, what key words orphrases come to mind?A: Sisters of Charity. Beautiful campus. Receptive.Nurturing. Integrity of mission and leadership. In-tellectual pursuits have priority. Science Hall. Repu-tation in the sciences. My economics professor, Dr.Mary Pranzo.

Q: What aspect of your education or involvementwith CMSV gives you the most satisfaction?A: I was very pleased to serve as a Trustee for 11 yearsand participate in the many growth initiatives un-

dertaken by President Flynn. Currently I am pleased to serve as a MountMentor, having helped to found that initiative more than three yearsago. The program benefits from the strong leadership of (Mount Men-tors Director and Assistant Professor of Sociology) Dr. Kristin Lawler.

Q: What was the single most important consideration in your decision to make a planned gift to CMSV?A: I have given generously to the College for several years now.Making a planned gift was a way of ensuring financial support whenI have passed from this world.

Q: What prompted you to make a planned gift at this particulartime?A: I changed my professional pursuits in 2008 from working as a seniorexecutive at one of the world’s largest banks to working in venture cap-ital backing women entrepreneurs and serving as a director on boardsof private companies and not-for-profit organizations. In the course ofthis change, my husband and I reviewed our estate planning, and, asboth of us are pleased with the leadership of the College, we decided tobe generous to the College and the Sisters of Charity.

Q: What impact do you hope your gift will have on future generationsof students?A: It is my hope that my gift will provide the financial support required toenhance learning opportunities in the field of economics, particularly forfemale students. Research shows that a still disproportionate share ofyoung women do not choose business as a career. Programs and studiesthat inspire female students to choose to enter the business worldequipped with the critical thinking skills that a CMSV education provideswould be wonderful. The education that students receive at the Mountprovides them with a solid foundation for the future. It gives them a con-text in which to fully participate in society. Even though I was an eco-nomics major, I greatly enjoyed my courses in art history and anIndependent Study that I completed in Advanced Literature. I routinelyvisited NYC museums and New York City Public Libraries, reading at onepoint a first edition book by Washington Irving. Taking advantage of whatNYC offered prepared me to take advantage of Vienna and later Paris, andto pursue rich business and personal relationships with people fromaround the world. I received a rich education at the College, and wouldlove for future students to benefit from the opportunities offered to me.

To find out more about planned giving at the Mount, visit www.mountsaintvincent.edu/giving.php, or contact Vice Presidentfor Institutional Advance ment Colette Atkins at (718) 405-3744.

KATHRYN SWINTEK ’74: A LASTING LEGACY OF PHILANTHROPY

4 Winter 2013

“Our study provides a mechanistic way in whichthe changes that we observein decreases in estrogen after birth could cause post-partum deficits in maternalbehaviors.” - Dr. Ana Ribeiro

By Erin Walsh

Winter 2013 76 Winter 2013

COLLEGE NEWS PROFILE

or many people, being stuck at an unfamiliarairport as a result of a delayed flight is a cause for annoyance, frustration, or anxiety.

But for College of Mount Saint Vincent gradu-ateRex Ugorji ’07, being delayed in the Denverairport terminal led to a fortuitous encounterthat would change his life forever.

The American-born, Nigerian-raised Mr.Ugorji was attending Kings College, a privatecollege in Manhattan, at the time, slowly earn-ing his associate’s degree, while also workingfull-time at a record store in Jamaica, Queens.Given his religious upbringing in Nigeria andlongstanding commitment to service, he wouldfrequently travel and deliver motivationalspeeches on behalf of Kings College to highschool students.

“On one of those trips, we had a bit of delay inthe airport (in 2002 or 2003),” he says. “Dr.Flynn was sitting next to me, and I said ‘Hi,’ andI introduced myself, and he asked me what Iwas doing, gave me his card, and said to thinkabout applying to my College.”

Given the length of time—three years—that itwas taking him to earn an associate’s degree,Mr. Ugorji had all but given up on his dreamsof earning a medical degree. In addition toworking and studying full-time he was alsosupporting his older sister while they lived to-gether and she earned a medical degree atSUNY Downstate, as his family could only af-ford to fund one sibling’s education.

Still, he could never quite quell the desire tohelp others through medicine.

“Kings College organized trips to Ethiopia, andone of the kids fell sick,” he says. “I realized that Icould be of so much more help as a physician—no matter how long it took, or what it took.”

When an opportunity arose through a familyfriend who is a bishop in New York to purchasea reasonably-priced property in Yonkers, inwhich he could live while earning rental in-

come, he jumped at the opportunity and beganapplying to local schools with strong scienceprograms.

He applied to the College of Mount Saint Vin-cent and Lehman College, and decided to at-tend the Mount.

Mr. Ugorji looked through a stack of businesscards that he kept, and found the card from Dr.Flynn in the pile.

“I was thinking, what are the odds that thiswould happen? CMSV accepted all my creditsand offered me a $5,000 merit scholarship.”

He enrolled in biology, chemistry, and calculusclasses during his first semester, and had an 8:30a.m. class his first day.

“They had just installed the new biology lab,and Dr. Flynn was walking out,” he says. “I said,“You remember me? He said that I should comeby and visit him from time to time, which I did.”

Mr. Ugorji has fond memories of Dr. PatriciaGrove, Dr. Felix Bocchino, Dr. James Fabrizio,Dr. Pamela Kerrigan, and Dr. Mary EdwardZipf, S.C., whom he remembers as the “FlyingNun,” all professors in the Division of NaturalSciences.

He began medical school in 2009 at AlbertEinstein School of Medicine, and is now com-pleting his coursework and interviewing forextremely competitive residencies in dermatol-ogy and radiology, his two passions.

Mr. Ugorji became interested in radiology dueto his love of anatomy, which started with Dr.Bocchino’s class. At Einstein, he was nominatedby peers to be an anatomy tutor for first-yearstudents. In his third year, while completingclinicals, he discovered that radiology is very fo-cused on anatomy, which cemented his love forthe field.

His passion for dermatology arose when he wasoffered a scholarship from the American Acad-emy of Dermatology, which allowed him tocomplete a month-long mentorship programwith a dermatologist at Mt. Sinai and in his pri-vate practice.

“What I liked about (dermatology) was thatyou were treating both kids and adults, andcould pursue so many different paths,” he says.“That one month completely opened my eyes.”

Mr. Ugorji hopes to fill a void in the predomi-nately Caucasian-dominated field of dermatol-ogy. In addition, he could also lend his expertiseto Africa, “the continent where I spent most ofmy life,” where there is a noticeable shortage ofdermatologists, he says.

He is currently interviewing with nearly 30 es-teemed medical institutions, including JohnsHopkins University, Mayo Clinic, Emory Uni-versity, Columbia University, University ofRochester, Albert Einstein, Stony Brook Uni-versity, and University of Texas, San Antonio,to determine where he will complete his resi-dency.

Whether Mr. Ugorji completes a residency inradiology or dermatology, it’s a win-win, hesays.

“When I came to medical school, there were veryfew African-American males in medical school,2.6 percent,” he says. “The graduating class (formedical students) nationwide is 20,000; blackmales make up 400-some. It bothers me—whatcan I do in my lifetime to bring about change? Iwould like to get more African-American malesto graduate from medical school.”

With Mr. Ugorji’s determination and talent,there’s no doubt that he will effect positivechange in the field of medicine. n

REX UGORJI ’07:

“TERMINALLY” SUCCESSFULBy Erin Walsh

CORRECTIONS TO THE 2011-2012 ANNUAL REPORT:The College deeply regrets that the following individuals were incorrectlylisted as deceased in the Class Notes section of the 2011-12 Annual Report:Theresa Cullinan, Class of 1989Miriam Kevin Phillips, S.C.

In addition, the gift made by Doris Laffan ’47 in memory of Catherine Sherry, S.C. ’47 was erroneously omitted from the 2011-12Annual Report.

The College of Mount Saint Vincent sincerely apologizes for these errors.

FMount students attend the Start Smart Workshop

he College of Mount Saint Vincent hosted the Start SmartSalary Negotiation workshop on

Thursday, November 29, 2012. Spon-sored by the Sociology Departmentand the Mentorship Program at theCollege, the American Association ofUniversity Women (AAUW), and TheWAGE (Women are Getting Even)Project, the event benchmarked start-ing salaries and discussed negotiationtechniques to bridge the gender gap.

Assistant Professor of Sociology andDirector of the Mount Mentors pro-gram Kristin Lawler introduced JanePendergast, president of the AAUWWestchester branch, and workshop fa-cilitator Annie Houle, national direc-tor of campus and communityinitiatives for WAGE.

Start Smart is a workshop that ad-dresses discrimination in the work-place and overcoming the gender paygap. The objective is to give each ofthe attendees the knowledge to ensurefair pay after graduation. The work-shop was supported by a grant fromthe AAUW Legal Advocacy FundCampus Outreach program, whichprovides funds to local AAUWbranches to implement gender equity-focused programs at local colleges anduniversities.

The Mount Mentors provided the per-fect forum to offer the Start Smartworkshop. The program pairs stu-dents with professionals who workoutside their field of interest to em-phasize the transferability and univer-sal nature of the skills necessary forsuccess in any field and vocation. Thepairs meet frequently throughout the

year to socialize, network, and attendcultural events.

Armed with the knowledge and lessonsfrom the Start Smart workshop, grad-uates will have a better chance to flour-ish in their careers early on, says Dr.Lawler.

“This is just the kind of professionalsocialization that is so important forstudents to gain before they hit the jobmarket,” she says. “Given how muchpressure Americans are currentlyunder to work longer and harder forless, it’s key that young people under-stand how to negotiate a fair salary andbenefits package based on the cost ofliving in their own city. For women,whose wages still lag substantially be-hind those of men, this is an especiallycrucial set of skills,” she says.

Roughly 20 students attended theevent, including a small cluster ofmales.

Sophomore Danielle Heumegni ’15says that she chose to attend the work-shop to gain more knowledge abouthow to effectively negotiate a salaryand to ensure fair treatment in theworkplace.

“I want to know my rights and betreated with respect,” she says.

Senior Jessica Figueroa ’13 related aswell. Being equipped with the knowl-edge of how women can negotiatetheir salary is extremely powerful, shesays.

“I want to see how much I can learnfrom these independent, professionalwomen,” she says. n

NEGOTIATING THEIRWAY TO SUCCESSBy Leah Munch ’12 The College of Mount Saint Vincent received a highly

competitive $599,956 National Science Foundation (NSF)grant to establish a Scholars-on-Track Scholarship programin Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics(S-STEM) for natural science majors.

The award will provide up to $9,000 per student to sup-port scholarships for academically talented students whodemonstrate financial need and show a strong poten-tial in the sciences. In addition to financial support, theprogram also includes peer mentorship, tutoring, confer-ences, career panels, internships, and an original researchproject. To remain in good standing in the program,students must maintain a minimum 3.0 G.P.A. in a sci-ence major and must actively participate in all compo-nents of the program.

“The College of Mount Saint Vincent is proud to haveearned the support of the National Science Foundation.These grants are immensely competitive. This one willenable the College to offer its nationally-recognized pro-grams in the natural sciences to even more talented anddeserving students,” says President Charles L. Flynn.“Wehave a longstanding history of producing standout grad-uates in STEM fields, and this grant, applied in conjunc-tion with the Scholars-on-Track program, will enable usto expand on this tradition.”

Scholars-on-Track promotes achievement in the fields ofbiology, chemistry, and biochemistry. The program is out-lined and measured by goals, including advancement ofacademic performance, degree completion, and opportu-nities available post-graduation.

Director of the Division of Natural Sciences and Profes-sor of Biology Patricia Grove developed the proposal andwill serve as principal investigator of the grant. “In devel-oping my activities to present for the proposal, I was ableto broaden the College’s impact on the scientific world,”says Dr. Grove. “These activities caught the eyes of the re-view panel at the NSF, making the Scholars-on-Track Pro-gram possible. Now students not only receive anoutstanding opportunity, but also the student supportfrom the entire College community, all thanks to the hardwork of the members of the science department,” she says.

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Co-Principal Investigator Pamela Kerriganwill help run the Scholars-on-Track program. Dr. Kerrigan will assist in the selectionof the scholars and the development of the freshman sem-inar course. She will also help train the scholars as peer tutors, and supervise their summer research experiences.

“I think we will attract very successful students to ourprogram and increase our visibility as an excellent scienceprogram,” says Dr. Kerrigan. “This grant will give studentsmore opportunities to do undergraduate research andbecome involved in other professional activities that theymight not otherwise be able to do, such as attending national and regional scientific meetings,” she says.

Scholars-on-TrackBy Leah Munch ’12

T

Winter 2013 98 Winter 2013

FACULTY HIGHLIGHTSMOUNT ROUNDTABLE

Richard Barnet (Acting Chair and AssociateProfessor of Fine Arts) had three sculptures dis-played at Art 101 in Brooklyn, N.Y. as ofMarch. He exhibited two sculptures at theClass of 1962’s Art Show at the 50th Yale Col-lege Class Reunion at Yale from May to June.He had four sculptures on exhibit at the An-nual Art Show at Christ Church in Riverdale,N.Y. in June. He had one sculpture on exhibitat Netherfield Fine Art in New Hope, Pa. fromJune to September. His sculpture, Portrait ofSomebody, was on exhibit at the 2012 AnnualInstructors Exhibition at The Art StudentsLeague of New York in September. He has asculpture in the Sideshow Gallery in Brooklyn,as well as a sculpture in the show GO FIGURE,which will open at the Greenhut Gallery inPortland, Maine in April. Images of his sculp-tures and drawings can be viewed online atnewyorkartworld.com.

Alfred D’Anca (Chair and Associate Professorof Sociology) presented Shame and Criminal Jus-tice: A Road Less Traveled, at the annual confer-ence of the Society of Catholic Social Scientistsin October.

Brad Crownover (Assistant Professor ofCommunication) appeared as Telegin in the playUncle Vanya in Cahill Theater at the College ofMount Vincent in November.

James Fabrizio (Associate Professor of Biol-ogy) and his Mount student researchers NourAqeel ’10, Yolisept Bencosme ’15, Joy Cote ’12,Joshian Estevez ’11, Mary Jongoy ’12, VanieMangal ’12, Ashley Rivera ’13, Winnie Tema’12, and Jerrica Wnukowski ’13 published theiroriginal article “mulet (mlt) encodes a tubulin-binding cofactor E-like homolog required forspermatid individualization in Drosophilamelanogaster,” in the October – December issueof the Landes Bioscience Journal Fly. The re-search centered on a study identifying mulet, agene required for late-stage sperm development,as the gene for the Tubulin-binding cofactor E-like (TBCE-like) protein. Since TBCE-like de-stroys microtubules, this work suggests that theremoval of microtubules by TBCE-like is neces-sary for proper sperm development.

Enrico Giordano (Associate Professor ofFine Arts) had 17 paintings and works onpaper in an exhibition at the Blue Hill Corpo-rate Gallery in Pearl River, N.Y. from June toAugust. Three of his works of art will also be

featured as part of the set design for an up-coming film, as yet untitled, staring CatherineKeener and Mark Ruffalo, which will be re-leased early next year.

Sabine Heinlein’s (Adjunct Instructor, Eng-lish) narrative nonfiction book Among Mur-derers: Life After Prison,will be published by theUniversity of California Press in March 2013.

Andrea Minei (Assistant Professor of Chem-istry) has been published in the Journal of Mo-lecular Spectroscopy for the article “Singularvalue decomposition based broadband mi-crowave spectroscopy of 1H, 2H-perfluorocy-clobutane,” with co-author Assistant Professorof Chemistry Stephen Cooke of SUNY.

Victor A. Miroshnikov (Assistant Professorof Mathematics) delivered a lecture on “Spa-tiotemporal cascades of the Poiseuille-Hagenflow in invariant elliptic structures” at the 64thAnnual Meeting of the American Physical So-ciety (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics onNovember 21, 2011 in Baltimore, Md., whichwas published in Bulletin of the APS. Theseand other results were published in the paper“Dual perturbations of the Poiseuille-Hagenflow in invariant elliptic structures” in theJournal of Advances and Applications in FluidDynamics. He also organized a session in Ap-plied Mathematics at the XIX Hudson RiverUndergraduate Mathematics Conference(HRUMC) on April 21, 2012 at Western NewEngland University in Springfield, Mass.,where he made a presentation on the develop-ment of courses in Computational Mathemat-ics titled, “Existence of invariant ellipticstructures and their application to conserva-tive dynamical systems.” Abstracts of this pres-entation were published in Abstracts of the XIXAnnual HRUMC. In addition, he reviewedthree papers for the journal Mathematical Re-views of the American Mathematical Societyin the 2011-2012 academic year.

Omar Nagi (Associate Professor of Sociology)co-authored the article, “Why Enough Is NotEnough: Toward a General Theory of Crime inthe High Suites by Integration of Sociologicaland Catholic Social Perspectives,” with Chair andAssociate Professor of Sociology AlfredD’Anca,which was published in the CatholicSocial Science Review.

Tracy Prout (Assistant Professor of Psychol-

ogy) presented the poster “Coming in Contact:The Power of Experiential Learning to ShapeStudent Perceptions of Mental Illness,” at theNew England Conference for Teachers of Psy-chology in October. She is co-authoring thetextbook Essential Interviewing & CounselingSkills: An Integrated Approach to Practice withMelanie Wadkins, Ph.D. of Ferkauf GraduateSchool of Psychology, slated for publication bySpringer Publishing in January 2014.

Ron Scapp (Professor of Teacher Education)was elected president of the National Associa-tion for Ethnic Studies after serving for 10months as interim president. He was named ed-itor of the Ethnic Studies Review this fall. He hasbeen named the 2012 recipient of the CharlesC. Irby Award for outstanding scholarship andservice in the field of ethnic science. In addi-tion, he is currently working with the Superin-tendent of Schools for the Diocese of Brooklynon a project that will include a conference onurban education. He is editing Living With Class:Philosophical Reflections on Identity and Mate-rial Culture (forthcoming Palgrave/Macmillan,2013), and he has been invited as a speaker atthe 42nd Annual Frank Church Symposium,along with Dr. Anthony Lake, former nationalsecurity advisor to President Clinton, and OscarArias, Nobel Peace laureate and former presi-dent of Costa Rica.

Michelle Scollo (Assistant Professor of Com-munication) received the National Communica-tion Association (NCA) Outstanding PublicationAward for Language and Social Interaction Schol-arship for her article “Cultural Approaches toDiscourse Analysis: A theoretical and method-ological conversation with special focus on DonalCarbaugh’s Cultural Discourse Theory,” in No-vember. She also presented the paper titled “An-tiguan Contrapuntal Conversation in Bronx, NewYork” at The Ethnography of Communication:Ways Forward Conference at Creigton Universityin June 2012, and organized and chaired a round-table discussion for the conference entitled “KeyLeaders in the Ethnography of CommunicationTheory and Methodology: Taking Stock andWays Forward.”

Joanne Pagano-Weber (Adjunct Instruc-tor, Fine Arts) has a sculpture in the SideshowGallery in Brooklyn, N.Y. through March 2013.

Facultynews & notesfaculty members Dr.Sarah Stevenson, Asso-ciate Profes sor of Eng-lish, and Dr. DanielAmarante, AssistantProfessor of Chemistry,discuss why a liberalarts education is stillthe best investmentthat can be made inone’s future.

Q: Why is a liberal arts education still the bestpreparation for life?

SS: In spite of many colleges moving towardsprofessionalization and specialization in educa-tion, and politicians’ demands for more ‘effi-ciency’ in education, the liberal arts is still indeedthe best preparation for life, both in terms ofpreparation for a career and for the rest of whoyou are (as a family member, friend, citizen ofthe world, thinking being).

DA: Liberal arts education is still the best prepa-ration for someone’s life because this providesstudents with the skills (just to name a few: com-munication, analytical, computer skills) neededto successfully navigate within rapidly changingbusiness, economics, and scientific realities.

Q: How does pursuing a classic liberal arts ed-ucation prepare students for a wide variety ofcareers, as opposed to studying a narrow field?

SS: In terms of preparing you for a career, it isparticularly important to note that it is a rare 18year old who can pinpoint exactly what he or shewill do as a career track, predict the twists andturns that a career will take, and predict whatspecific skills he or she will need to achieve them.A specific set of practical skills may or may notturn out to be applicable to the actual trajectoryof a career. If a student instead acquires the keytools of a liberal arts education—analytical skills,critical thinking skills, and communicationskills—he or she will be able to apply those, nomatter the path that his or her career takes.

Even if a student knows exactly what career pathhe or she wishes to pursue, and pursues it, as heor she climbs the ladder of a field, more andmore liberal arts skills are put into play. An Eng-lish teacher might not seem to need much in theway of quantitative reasoning, but once she ispromoted to principal, suddenly she has budgetsto balance. A future nurse might not think hiswriting matters, but once promoted to supervi-

sor, he or she might be writing reports, grant ap-plications, and even research studies.

The importance of ethical reasoning skills, andthe deep engagement with the common hu-manity of our world, and our fellow beings, isone that transcends subject matter, and, throughthe liberal arts, students learn to draw connec-tions that will assist them in becoming moreprofoundly engaged humans. Outside of ourjobs, we need to be able to engage in the widerconcerns of humanity — and my being an Eng-lish Professor doesn't excuse me from under-standing the basic numerical facts of theeconomic crisis, or the fundamental science be-hind global warming, to name only a few.

DA: Supervisors are required to have excellentcommunication, teamwork, and leadership skillsto motivate a diverse workplace, which a liberalarts education will help provide. There is muchdebate about particular college majors that arelosing popularity among students due to thecurrent job market in those fields. However,there is a growing demand for doctors, scientists,nurses, teachers, computer programmers, andengineers, all of which are rooted in the liberalarts.

Q: How does a well-rounded liberal arts educa-

tion permit the quick acquisition of job-specificskills?

SS: The ability to reason well and to writeclearly are two of the most important elementsthat are emphasized in a liberal arts education,and, not coincidently, are two of the most im-portant elements that employers are seeking injob candidates.

DA: If you teach students one trade, that skillmight be obsolete in a few years. But if you teachpeople how to think and look at lots of infor-mation and connect dots—all skills that a clas-sic liberal education gives you—you will thrive.

Q: How do you respond to skeptics who say thata liberal arts degree is no longer practical, in adifficult economy, when jobs are scarce?

SS: I would respond by saying that, especially ina bad economy, merely training yourself for aspecific job is no longer practical, since it limitsyour job search in significant ways.

DA:A liberal arts education is designed to providea comprehensive foundation for many careers,rather than specialized training in a career field.Many employers respect the core skills that a lib-eral arts education cultivates: problem-solving,critical analysis, communication, and teamwork.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

DR. SARAH STEVENSON Dr. Sarah Stevensonis an Associate Pro-fessor of English at the College ofMount Saint Vincent.She is the Directorof the College's CoreCurriculum and theFirst Year Experi-ence program (FYE).She recently over-

saw major revisions in both of these pro-grams, and also implemented a new andvibrant Freshman Seminar program at theCollege. Her academic interests focus onmodern drama and the work of womenplaywrights. She is a frequent presenter atthe Association for Theatre in Higher Edu-cation (ATHE). She is a Board Member ofthe American Theatre and Drama Society(ATDS). Dr. Stevenson holds a B.A. in Lit-erature from Harvard University, and anM.A. and Ph.D. in English Language andLiterature from New York University.

DR. DANIEL AMARANTEDr. Amarante gradu-ated from St. John’sUniversity with a B.S.in chemistry and aminor in mathemat-ics and physics, be-fore earning his Ph.D.in chemistry with anemphasis in inor-ganic chemistry andx-ray crystallographyfrom Stony Brook

University. He has published three peer-re-viewed journal articles and two pendingpublications in inorganic and medicinalchemistry. In 2012, Dr. Amarante received aHamilton Syringe Grant that entitles the Di-vision of Natural Sciences to new equipmentfor research and teaching purposes. He hasintroduced new courses at the College inbioinorganic chemistry and meteorology.This past fall, Dr. Amarante introduced thedual B.A./Pharm.D. accelerated programwith the University of Saint Joseph (Hart-ford, CT) at the Mount.

EVOLUTION OF A CLASSICContinued from page 1

10 Winter 2013 Winter 2013 11

A DAY IN THE LIFE ATHLETICS

The Men’s Wrestling Program, thenewest varsity sport at the College ofMount Saint Vincent, is in full swingduring its inaugural season. The Dol-phins have competed in two duelmatches during the first semester,posting a 1-1 record, and been in-volved in four tournament styleevents.

In its first ever contest, the Mounthosted Yeshiva on November 8 andcame away with an impressive 42-15victory over the Maccabees. Four Dol-phins won their bouts by pinning theiropponents, with three of the four fallscoming in the first minute of thematchup.

During the fall semester, the Mount also ap-peared in the Ursinus College Fall Brawl, theNew York State Collegiate Tournament hostedby Cornell University, the Bob Quade Openhosted by Centenary College, and the Long Is-land Open.

At the New York State Collegiate Tournament,the Dolphins competed against programs at theDivision I and III levels, including nationalpowers Cornell and Binghamton. The Dol-phins placed 17th at the event with student-athletes Brian Latham ’14 and Brian Slattery’15 each recording a win.

The Bob Quade Open on December 2 was ahistoric event for the Mount, as three Dolphinsearned fourth place finishes in their respectiveweight classes. Nicholas Coco ’16 won threebouts in the 184 weight class, Mr. Latham wonfour matches at the 141 pound class, and Mr.

Slattery picked up three victories in the 285pound class.

The following weekend, two additional MountSaint Vincent wrestlers earned fourth place fin-ishes at the Long Island Open. Vincent Lom-bardo ’16 earned the honor in the 149 pounddivision and Dan Matrazzo ’16 took fourthplace in the 165 pound class after each wrestlerscored a pair of victories.

First year Head Coach Ryan Cooley is encour-aged with what he has witnessed from the Dol-phins thus far.

“In our two most recent tournaments, we havehad five different wrestlers place,” he says. “Welook forward to building on this success in thesecond semester and beyond.”

Mount Saint Vincent ended the first semesterof competition on December 15 when it hostedBaldwin-Wallace College in its second home

match of the season. Inthe spring semester, theDolphins will participatein three more events, in-cluding a duel match withNew York University andthe first annual CMSV In-vitational, a tournamentthe Mount is hosting onJanuary 19, featuring nineteams, with competitionsoccurring on three matssimultaneously. n

CMSV WRESTLING TEAMSPORTS SIGNATURE MOVES IN INAUGURAL SEASONBy Michael Doughty

There’s a new literary star in New York. So far,her byline hasn’t appeared in The New Yorker,Vanity Fair, or The Paris Review. Yet.

Her name is Ariel Pimentel ’13, and she is anEnglish literature major and writing minorhailing from East Providence, Rhode Island. Aseditor-in-chief of The Underground, theMount’s literary journal, she has made it hermission to revamp the publication and increaseits frequency from a twice yearly to a quarterlypublication.

She has, together with faculty advisor and As-sistant Professor of English Anthony Lee andco-editor Bo Fisher ’15, a sophomore Englishmajor and writing major from Columbus,Ohio, steadily revamped the publication dur-ing her four years at the Mount.

“When I attended Accepted Student Day, I washanded an issue of The Underground, and knewthen that I was going to be a part of the publi-cation somehow,” she says. “When I became ed-itor, I realized that The Underground could be

more than a twice yearly publication. Mr. Leehad told me that, at one time, the founder ofthe magazine (in 2008) had a vision much likemine, an Underground that was open to thepublic for submissions and accepted work notonly from the CMSV community, but from theworld at large. My co-editor and I also decidedthat we wanted to re-establish ourselves as a lit-erary journal—a periodical dedicated to litera-ture in a broad sense.”

Dr. Lee says of the revamp, “Ariel’s decision wasenthusiastically welcomed by everyone on thestaff. The idea of an open call beyond the Col-lege for submissions, to be included beside thesuperb work of Mount Saint Vincent students,alums, faculty, and staff, has been the wish ofthe editors since The Underground’s incep-tion—a vision of a traditional, college literaryquarterly with a slightly edgier, undergroundpotential, a place for fine works of literature andart, and also experimentation.”

Working with a staff of 10 Mount students, Ariel

and Bo have made enormous progress towardstheir goal of a fully realized literary journal.

“The completion of that kind of project isdaunting for a small staff of even the hardestworking full time students,” says Mr. Lee. “Whata testament to this remarkable group thatthey’ve brought this dream to life.”

Ariel says that she is inspired by publicationssuch as The New Yorker, and one day hopes towork in publishing or as a literary agent.

Besides being published quarterly, Ariel wouldlike to garner national recognition for The Un-derground within the next five years.

“This fits in with my career goals, because in thepublishing industry, you have to be an advocatefor authors, a warrior for their cause. To get adeserving manuscript printed, bound, and intothe hands of readers, you have to believe in itsworth. That’s exactly how I feel about The Un-derground. It is an entity unto itself, and I amhere to take my turn in supporting its success.”

THE UNDERGROUND REVOLUTIONBy Erin Walsh

Members of the Wrestling Team compete against NYU.

Ariel Pimentel ’13 and Bo Fisher ’15 (far left) with members of The Undergroundstaff and advisor Anthony Lee (rear, far left)

Higher education has increasingly comeunder criticism for the escalating costs of tu-ition and the ongoing need for additional gov-ernment funding. Many critics have assertedthat colleges should do less programmatically,and both require and deserve less funding.

The recent closure of one of the College ofMount Saint Vincent’s sponsored programs,the Institute for Immigrant Concerns inManhattan, is an example of the impact ofthat thinking.

The Institute for Immigrant Concerns is animportant organization, which fulfills a realand important need, says College of MountSaint Vincent President Charles L. Flynn.

“Its work has a significant impact on thelives of the clients that it serves—providingimmigrants, asylees, and refugees with Eng-lish language instruction, job placement,and other skills—to the betterment of thoseindividuals, their families, and the New Yorkmetropolitan area,” he says.

Although the mission of the Institute forImmigrant Concerns fits very well with theCollege’s mission, Dr. Flynn notes that itsmission is not fundamental to the College’smission, as an academically excellent, au-thentically inclusive, Catholic and ecu-menical liberal arts college.

Slashing funding comes at a price, he says,like this unavoidable but regrettable decision.

“When the College agreed to have the Insti-tute become one of its programs seven yearsago, it was with the explicit necessity that theInstitute fund all of its direct costs,” he says.“That has not been possible for the Institutein recent years, and the subsidies requiredhave increased to unsustainable levels.”

The College has worked with the Instituteto help them address the problem of fund-ing cutbacks. Despite efforts to reign in op-erating deficits and secure additionalresources, cuts to the funding the Instituterelied on made this impossible to achieve.

“The College deeply regrets that it has ar-rived at this difficult juncture, but has nochoice given the continued and escalatingoperating deficits the Institute faces,” says Dr. Flynn. “The College cannot—andshould not—use undergraduate tuition tosubsidize the work of the Institute. It is apainful conclusion for those who the Insti-tute serves and for those who have made theInstitute their life’s work.”

– Erin Walsh

COLLEGE OFMOUNTSAINTVINCENTSEPARATES FROMINSTITUTE FORIMMIGRANT CONCERNS

The idea of an open call beyond the College forsubmissions, to be included beside the superb workof Mount Saint Vincent students, alums, faculty,and staff, has been the wish of the editors sinceThe Underground’s inception...

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