Archive - Mar 2007

            A wide range of Wagner College students will speak on Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in the Faculty Dining Room about their experiences as part of the school’s Expanding Your Horizons overseas studies program last January.
            The presentation, organized by EYH adviser Mohammad Alauddin, will cover trips made to Kenya, Spain, France, Israel and Bangladesh.
            Students may dine while attending the presentation, if they wish.

            STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., March 29 — Roger Wesby, associate professor of music at Wagner College, today announced that Kathleen Pactong, a junior arts administration major from Stormville, N.Y., had won the first Musical Composition Contest conducted in association with the Stanley Drama Award program.
            Pactong’s work, “Three Characters,” was written for oboe, clarinet and piano. The composition will be premiered on April 16 during the Stanley Drama Award ceremony at the Lambs Club on West 59th Street in Manhattan, and a recording of the work will be accessible for the next year on the Stanley Drama Award Web site.
            “Three Musicians,” a composition for two flutes and oboe by senior music major Megan Winkler, was given an honorable mention.
            Both Pactong and Winkler are composition students of Barbara Wesby. Their works, along with those of other composition students, will be performed in a special Composition Recital in Wagner College’s Campus Hall Music Performance Center on Saturday, May 5 at 4 p.m.
            The panel of judges for the composition competition consisted of: Lauren Patsos ’07, music major; Dorian Lake ’02, alumnus; Prof. Ernie Jackson ’87, alumnus and adjunct professor, and Prof. Wesby.
            The Stanley Drama Award composition contest was established and designed by Wesby and associate arts administration professor Todd Price. They intend to continue holding the contest annually.

            STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., March 29 — The Wagner College Music Department on Thursday announced the winners of this year’s Young Musicians Competition preliminaries, which were held on Sunday.
            Students from throughout the New York metropolitan area competed in two age categories — pre-high school (Category I) and high school (Category II) — and in six performance categories: keyboard, bowed strings, plucked strings, woodwinds, brass and voice.
            First-place winners in Sunday’s preliminary competition were:
* Geoffrey Wang , Keyboard (Piano) I, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Helen Yao, Keyboard (Piano) I, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Jesse Burnside Murray, Bowed Strings (Cello) I, New York, N.Y.
* Manami Mizumoto, Bowed Strings (Violin) I, New York, N.Y.
* Luis Diaz, Woodwind (Flute) I, New York, N.Y.
* Chanah Elizabeth Ambuter, Plucked Strings (Harp) II, Vernon, N.J.
* Benjamin Bregman, Bowed Strings (Violin) II, Short Hills, N.J.
* Laura Kegeles, Bowed Strings (Cello) II, New York, N.Y.
            First-place winners will go on to compete for the grand prize in each age category in the Young Musicians Competition finals in May. Grand-prize winners will be awarded $500 each and a solo recital next year at Wagner College.
            Other winners in Sunday’s preliminary competition were:
* Yuree Kim, Honorable Mention, Woodwind (Flute) I, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Kira Elise Mathias-Prabhu, Second Place, Keyboard (Piano) I, Murray Hill, N.J.
* Matthew Fishteyn, Third Place, Keyboard (Piano) I, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Moriah Feiner Trenk, Third Place, Keyboard (Piano) I, Scarsdale, NY
* Harry Chiang, Honorable Mention, Keyboard (Piano) I, Great Neck, N.Y.
* Stephanie Sun, Honorable Mention, Keyboard (Piano) I, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Harry Chiang, Second Place, Bowed Strings (Violin) I, Great Neck, N.Y.
* Asa Capsouto, Second Place, Bowed Strings (Cello) I, New York, N.Y.
* Kira Elise Mathias-Prabhu, Third Place, Bowed Strings (Violin) I, Murray Hill, N.J.
* Tara Frances Mathias-Prabhu, Third Place, Bowed Strings (Violin) I, Murray Hill, N.J.
* Cush Solberg, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Cello) I, Ellenville, NY
* Caelie M.Butler, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Violin) I, Claryville, N.Y.
* Stephanie Sun, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Violin) I, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Sarah-Jane Pinsky, Second Place, Voice (Voice) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Howard Yew, Second Place, Keyboard (Piano) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Irma Daunoraite, Second Place, Bowed Strings (Cello) II, Glendale, N.Y.
* Alexandra Kelly, Second Place, Bowed Strings (Viola) II, Bridgewater, N.J.
* Michael Chiang, Third Place, Bowed Strings (Cello) II, Great Neck, N.Y.
* Nicole Kilroy, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Violin) II, Hopewell Junction, N.Y.
* Marcel Krasner, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Cello) II, Brooklyn, N.Y.
* Sarah-Jane Pinsky, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Cello) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Deborah Milburn, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Violin) II, Brooklyn, N.Y.
* Erik Andersen, Honorable Mention, Bowed Strings (Cello) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Daniel Kim, Second Place, Woodwind (Clarinet) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Ashley Han, Second Place, Woodwind (Flute) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Cynthia Chon, Third Place, Woodwind (Flute) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
* Lynette Ford, Honorable Mention, Woodwind (Flute) II, Staten Island, N.Y.
            For more information about the Wagner College Young Musicians Competition, visit the contest’s Web site at wagner.edu/ymc.

            On Wednesday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m., a panel of Wagner College alumni will speak in Spiro Hall, Room 2, about their experiences as special agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
            The panel will include Frank Spero ’62, Matthew Tricorico ’62, Harold Brantley ’85 and Darren Greco ’97.
            Spero and Tricorico are perhaps the best-known members of the panel. Frank and Matty were part of the FBI operation that brought mobster John Gotti to justice, breaking the Gambino crime family, in the early 1990s.
            For more information about Wagner’s “Wise-Guy Patrol,” call Natalie Johnson at (718) 420-4269, or e-mail her at njohnson@wagner.edu.

      Wagner College’s Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society circle held its annual Dr. Norbert H. Leeseberg Annual Awards program on Saturday, March 24. In all, ODK gave thirty awards, with scholarships totaling $2,750. This year marked the first time that the Mildred and Georg Olsen Graduate Studies Award was presented. This award is funded by a generous bequest from Mildred and Georg Olsen, both Wagner alumni, now deceased. Mildred was a member of the Wagner Guild and was named a Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement. Graduating senior Jenna Pollack, an accounting major who will attend graduate school at Wagner next year, was the first recipient of the Graduate Studies Award. “Mildred had a strong commitment to funding scholarships, and we are very appreciative,” said Prof. Joedy Smith, faculty advisory to ODK. Mildred also created the education major award presented by ODK, in 1995. Now, both Olsen awards are funded by the endowment she established.

            Ali B. Ali-Dinar will be speaking on “Genocide in Darfur” at Wagner College on Wednesday, April 11 at 3 p.m. The lecture, part of Wagner’s ACE Event Series, will be given in the Union Building, Room 201. The public is invited.
            Ali-Dinar’s earlier speaking engagement at Wagner College, on Feb. 14, had to be rescheduled for April 11 because of snow.
            Ali-Dinar will be introduced by Ahmed Elmahdi, a Wagner College sophomore. Last year, Elmahdi won first prize in Wagner’s Rosa Parks Tribute art contest for his charcoal drawing, “A Singing Portrait,” depicting Asma Mahmoud, an unsung heroine of the Sudanese exile community. (Drawing at left)
            Ali B. Ali-Dinar is the outreach director for the African Study Center at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the Darfur Information Center, a digital online clearinghouse. Widely regarded as an expert on the Darfur Crisis, he is a grandson of the legendary Ali Dinar, last sultan of Darfur.
            For Ali-Dinar’s summary of the Darfur Crisis, see his article, “Why Khartoum Wants a War in Darfur,” from the Parliamentary Brief, an official British political journal of similar stature to the Congressional Quarterly.
            For further information about the Darfur Crisis, visit the Darfur Information Center online.

    On April 26, Wagner College will host its first Civic Engagement Recognition Day. Our special guest will be David Eisner, chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the Senior Corps, Americorps and Learn and Serve America programs. Wagner College has received a three-year grant to develop its Civic Innovations program through Learn and Serve America.
    Civic Innovations is a strategic initiative that addresses the needs of disadvantaged youth. The program is a collaboration between Wagner College and youth- serving agencies on Staten Island. CI promotes two program strategies: Community-Connected Departments, and a Youth Advocacy Consortium. At the completion of the grant period, six academic departments will be linked to six community partners. The overall model transforms college and community dynamics by implementing institutional and curricular changes that integrate experiential learning and civic engagement values, while utilizing college student and faculty expertise to enhance programming tailored to the needs of disadvantaged youth. The model coordinates services and provides a means for community-based organizations to share resources and collaborate with one another.
    As part of the first Civic Engagement Recognition Day festivities, which we hope will become an annual event, Wagner College will present awards that recognize and honor exceptional individuals and community partners who exemplify a sense of caring and responsibility for others that connects citizens and works to address community problems. The awardees give their time to community activities, inspiring others to serve and act as role models while improving the lives of others. One winner from each category (faculty, staff, student and community partner) will be chosen. Award winners will be announced at the Civic Engagement Recognition Day festivities on April 26, 2007 at 4:15 pm in Spiro 2. Each awardee will receive a commemorative plaque and cash award of $250.
    The first Civic Engagement Recognition Day will wrap up in Spiro 2 with the kick-off of the fifth annual Staten Island Community Days event, an Island-wide effort involving more than 50 faith communities who come together for a weekend of activities — outdoor cleanups, blood drives, health fairs, nursing home visits, food and clothing collections. Moderated by Wagner College President Richard Guarasci, this year’s panel discussion will consist of heroic leaders from each of the major faith communities, answering the question, “How do we accomplish what our faith requires of us in serving others?”