Class Notes

Julia Lanning ’23 was recently featured in the annual Washington & Lee President’s Report. 

Eliana Calder ’25, after graduating from Brockport this past May, began a full-time position at Finger Lakes Community College, where she serves as Development Coordinator in Advancement. In her new role, she aims to raise $100,000 by the end of the year through giving campaigns and programming. Looking ahead, Eliana aspires to travel as much as time allows. Additionally, she is working toward opening a sustainable refillery, paired with a non-profit organization in the future - a business idea first developed and supported by classmates during a business plan project.

Nicholas Marr ’21 recently started working as a government contractor under the U.S. Navy, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, a subsidiary in the Department of Defense.

Violet Scibior ’19 is leaving CNY Central’s Weather Authority Team in Syracuse, New York, and will be joining WPTV NBC in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she will forecast weather for the station’s weekday evening newscasts.

Cadi Doyle (Baldwin) ’14 was honored with the Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE). The national recognition follows her 2022 Virginia Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year award.

Dr. Richard Deverell ’12/’13 completed a master’s in Information & Library Science through the University at Buffalo in February 2021 and received his New York Public Librarian’s Professional Certificate. Also published a review essay in the Fall 2024 issue of Rochester History and an article based on his dissertation in the journal Mise au Point. This article draws upon and cites research performed for his M.A. thesis at SUNY Brockport.

Daniel Martucci ’16, associate at Barclay Damon LLP, is a new member of the Associate Integration Committee, replacing Sarah O’Brien.

Marisa f. Ballaro ’07, founder of Ballaro Dance, has been recognized by The Guardian as one of the top dance and circus offerings at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Dawn L. Bruner, EdD ’02, has published a new book, 52 Truerealisms: A Pocketbook Companion for Women of Color in the Workplace. This book is for every woman of color who has ever felt unseen, unheard, or undervalued at work. While our workplace environment may significantly impact us, we can find power in how we engage and move forward. Work-hurt does not have to define who we are or how we show up. The 52 Truerealisms in this book invite you to explore your relationship with your work environment (the good, bad, and ugly) and what you ultimately want for yourself. It encourages you to keep it real with yourself and others as you create space for reflection and change. This pocketbook companion is perfect for women of color at the start of their careers, those at a crossroad in their careers, gearing up for a second act, or others looking back on their professional journey.

While working as a full-time teacher for the NYC Dept. of Education, Michael Thayer ’09 is also the owner of a bar in Brooklyn. Sandy Jack’s (@sandyjacksnyc) is an inclusive queer bar in the Park Slope neighborhood, a little over 4 1/2 years old! As of last month, Sandy Jack’s was named “Best of Brooklyn’s” Best Bar in all of Brooklyn for the 2nd year, Best LGBTQ Bar in all of Brooklyn for the 2nd year, Brooklyn’s Best Happy Hour for the 2nd year in a row, and home of Brooklyn’s Best Bartender as of 2026!

Courtney Russell ’05 was recently honored as a Smart Women in Meetings awardee. She is one of 16 planners in the nation to receive the “Innovator” designation for this award.

Dr. April Aycock ’07, of the Monroe County Office of Mental Health, was honored with the Health Care Heroes award in the Mental Health category, which recognizes excellence, promotes innovation, and honors the efforts of organizations and individuals making a significant impact on the quality of healthcare in the Rochester area.

Colonel Chad M. Pillai ’00 is the Director of Strategy, Plans, and Assessment for the Office of Security Coordinator, U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, Israel. He is a senior U.S. Army Strategist who has served in a variety of assignments in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Colonel Pillai is an editor for Emergent Defense Magazine, a member of the Military Writers Guild, and served as a Visiting Defence Fellow (VDF) at the Centre for International Defence Policy (CIDP) at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He earned his Master of International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a Minor in Military Science from SUNY Brockport.

Patrick Slagle ’07 went to law school and worked in a legal aid office before getting a job prosecuting child abuse cases. In 2023, Slagle became the County Attorney for Chautauqua County, and, in 2024, was appointed as the Support Magistrate for Family Court. 

Stephanie Skryzowski ’05 is the Founder & CEO of 100 Degrees Consulting, which ranked 2881 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. The firm provides financial strategy and bookkeeping services to nonprofits worldwide, helping leaders grow their impact and income.

Emily Lottes ’08 was promoted to Director of Nursing Academic Advisement at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she has been employed since 2016.

Troy Pearley ’92 is starting a new role as Executive Vice President of Sales – North America for Witor’s Chocolate, based in Italy.

Penny Bloom ’99, of Catholic Charities, was honored with the Health Care Heroes award in the Nursing category, which recognizes excellence, promotes innovation, and honors the efforts of organizations and individuals making a significant impact on the quality of healthcare in the Rochester area.

Curtis Birthwright ’90 won the Good Energy Award as one of the 2025 Healthi Kids Coalition awards. These awards honor incredible coalition members who go above and beyond to make the community feel supported, healthier, and more playful. 

Dr. Shane Caswell ’98 was given the Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Social Impact at George Mason University for his professional research, scholarship, and community engagement.

Susan Herrmann ’92 recently published a book, Breaking Up with the Patriarchy: Decolonizing our Lives and Returning to Kinship Worldview.

Kelly O’Neill-Rossi ’91 was recently promoted to Director of McHarrie Life Foundation.

Tim Nekritz ’90, Director of Communications at SUNY Oswego, was inducted into the State University of New York Council for University Advancement (SUNYCUAD) Hall of Fame during this year’s conference in Rochester. Nekritz served on the SUNYCUAD board of directors for 12 years and has worked at SUNY Oswego for more than two decades. One of his proudest accomplishments was attracting speakers from across the Northeast and beyond from a network he had established via social media and presenting at international conferences. At the 2025 conference, Nekritz also presented a session titled “In a World of Rising AI Use, Stand Out by Being Human.”

Greg Warren ’95 received a Distinguished Service Award from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA). A dedicated athletic administrator, Warren is the District Athletic Director at Blind Brook High School in Rye Brook, New York.

Carl Cafarelli ’80 recently published his third book. Following two nonfiction books about music, his first fiction collection, ‘Guitars vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies’, which gathers tales of a foul-mouthed rock ‘n’ roll guitarist hijacked into space, an Old West gunslinger, a film noir gun moll who longs to be in a musical, a humorous fill-in superhero suddenly called to greatness, a former boy band star turned record company fix-it man, a would-be painter, an obsessed collector, a fated swordswoman, a fallen giant, a frustrated time traveler, a condemned sinner guiding tourists in Hell, a departed soul interviewing for a spot in Heaven, a 1976 Beatles reunion concert, and other untruths detailing love, loss, disappointment, miscellaneous hijinks, a fascination with shiny objects, and—occasionally—a juvenile sense of humor. His two previous books were ‘Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones’ (2023) and ‘The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)’ (2024).

Scott Gallagher ’88 recently retired after 30 years in broadcasting, with 25 years at WBNG TV-Binghamton and 5 years at WICZ TV-Binghamton. The highlight of his career was covering Penn State Football for 27 years. During that time, he was the only full-season credentialed media member outside of the State of Pennsylvania.

Deborah Tyler-Bennett ’85 is a poet, editor, fiction writer, and visual artist. Her latest sequence will be published by Long Poem Magazine and is a Victorian-based folk-tale, ‘Long Tom and the Rat Queen’ (2026). Her chapter book, ‘Servants and Labourers,’ was made into a short film by Pudding Bag Productions (2023). She has ten collections of poetry and three of short stories published by various presses. Work for museums and galleries has included Keats House, Hampstead, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and Lincoln’s Usher Gallery. She regularly performs her work.

Peter Gallivan ’87 recently celebrated his 30th anniversary at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo. Pete co-anchors the station’s morning show, Daybreak.

Mary Ciranni Callon ’85, of Trillium Health, was honored with the Health Care Heroes award in the Physician category, which recognizes excellence, promotes innovation, and honors the efforts of organizations and individuals making a significant impact on the quality of healthcare in the Rochester area.

Frederick Wolfgang Schwab ’80 recently defended his dissertation and is now a Professor of Anthropological Research.

Gerard Postiglione ’70 published a new book entitled: Higher Education in China: Domestic Demands and Global Aspirations.

Mary Cole ’76 has published 2 books: Wisdom Warriors and More Wisdom More Warriors. Both books are stories to help African American children develop their self-esteem and self-awareness.

The 1972 Baseball Team, Brockport’s first to win a SUNY Conference Championship, will be gathering for a 55th reunion the weekend of October 3, 2026.

Robert Montana ’72, Retired College Basketball Coach and Assistant Basketball Coach at Hamilton College (1979-1982), Assistant Basketball Coach at Union College (1982-1996), and Head Basketball Coach at Union College (1996-2013) was inducted into the Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Greater Utica (NY) Hall of Fame in 2025.

John Feeney ’76, Head Coach of Brockport Women’s Gymnastics, will be inducted into the NCAA NCGA (National Collegiate Gymnastics Association) Division III Hall of Fame at the 2026 National Championship, happening at SUNY Cortland in March 2026.

Annette Williams ’79 retired at the end of June 2025 with the honor of professor emerita from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco after serving as chair of the Women’s Spirituality Department within Philosophy and Religion.

John Clarke ’77 and Karen (Benz) Clarke ’77 recently returned from a 9-day trip to Uganda to view wildlife with particular focus on Mountain Gorillas. The trek to visit the gorillas involved climbing steep slippery slopes in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forrest of southern Uganda. In Bwindi, there are eight gorilla families that are tracked by scouts on a daily basis. Each of the gorilla families are visited by up to eight visitors on a given day. The visits last only an hour, which seems short given the number of hours it takes to climb up to reach them (about 5 hours round trip). To make up a party of eight, John and Karen were united with visitors from Germany to visit the Kanywani gorilla family. The Kanywani’s are a family of six gorillas, including the silverback alpha male, the mother, two black back teens, and a very cute and energetic 6-month old. “We were fortunate to have porters who helped us with our packs and with climbing up and down the slippery slopes” said Karen, retired IT manager at Delta Airlines and an avid travel buff. The porters stayed with the travelers for hours and only cost $20 each. “These fees are a major source of income for the porters; Uganda is one of the poorest countries we have ever visited,” said John, retired geohydrologist at the US Geological Survey. To protect the gorillas from human disease, all visitors are required to wear masks when they get close to the gorillas. In addition, all hiking sticks were left with the porters as they neared the gorillas because they are threatening to them. The hiking party was also accompanied by three scouts who searched for the gorillas, and two armed rangers. The stars of the show were the gorilla family, who were lying around eating vegetation as the group took hundreds of photographs. The silverback, as alpha male of the group, would grunt/growl if they got too close. The guides also knew how to grunt/growl to keep the silverback from advancing too close to visitors.

Bob Gross ’78 has published his first book, based on his successful tours of the neighborhoods of Palm Springs, California, that had a high concentration of homes that Hollywood stars lived in. Palm Springs Star Tours - A Self-Guided Tour of Palm Springs Homes from Hollywood’s Golden Age is now available and the perfect companion if visiting the Coachella Valley and wanting to either drive, walk, or bike to see where Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, and hundreds of other stars lived when they weren’t in Hollywood.

David Marks ’78 recently received the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award by the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. This prestigious award recognizes Texas accounting educators who demonstrate excellence in teaching and have distinguished themselves through active service to the accounting profession. 

Carl Savalli ’66 passed away in July 2026.

Chet Lukaszewski ’63 took home the ‘Best in Show’ Award at a local car show for his restored ’48 Chevy Woodie — complete with two original surfboards on the rack. He brought the classic back to life with the help of some good friends.

William Mull ’66 got the opportunity to join friends who were participating in a Scuba Diving junket to Fiji. Mull did workouts at the local YMCA pool followed by coursework to get up-to-date on best practices to secure a passing score on the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver examination and earn the renewal of his 1998 PADI Scuba Certification. The 2024 trip was such a delight, that Mull returned in September 2025 for 3+ weeks to continue to enjoy the wonders of Fiji. This trip also included a truncated week in the Republic of Samoa.

John Nelson ’55 had two books, The Portrait of Jordy, a novel about a young couple that goes from rags to riches, and Facts and Fantasies, a compilation of articles, some factual, some fictional, written for a local newspaper. Both are published on Amazon Books under the pen name Jack Nelson.

Howard Keith Stott ’51 passed away on June 17, 2026.

Constance Koenig McIntyre, former chair of KSSPE, passed away in July 2026. 

Kay Thomas Finley, a cherished husband, father, and educator, passed away peacefully on March 1, 2026, in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. Born on August 29, 1934, in Elmira, New York, he lived a full and vibrant life of 91 years. Kay proudly served his country in the United States Navy before embarking on a career at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY. However, it was in education that he found his true calling. Kay earned his AAS and BS in Chemistry from Rochester Institute of Technology and went on to get his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Rochester. Kay dedicated the majority of his professional life to shaping young minds as a professor at SUNY Brockport, where he was honored with the title of Professor Emeritus in 2010. In addition to his academic achievements, Kay was a passionate author who, alongside his beloved wife Patricia Siegel Finley, co-authored a notable book on Women in Science. His love for writing extended to numerous articles and books throughout his lifetime. Beyond his professional endeavors, Kay relished the leisure pursuits of golf and travel, with a particular fondness for cruising. Known for his sweet tooth, he never turned down a good cookie. In his community, Kay was an active member of Our Lady of the Cape in Brewster, always willing to lend a helping hand when needed. Kay’s life was marked by love, dedication, and service to others. After retiring in 2010, he and Patricia settled permanently in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, where they enjoyed their golden years together. He is lovingly remembered by his wife, Patricia Siegel Finley, his children John Michael Finley and Sarah (Finley) Donnangelo, along with her husband John Donnangelo. Additionally, he was sadly preceded in death by his children, Moira Elizabeth Finley and Mark Thomas Finley, his brother Paul Leo Finley, and his parents. Kay Thomas Finley leaves behind a legacy of unpretentious intelligence, kindness, and wisdom that will continue to inspire all who knew him. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to either the Marfan Syndrome Clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital OR a charity of one’s choice. A Mass of Christian burial will be held on May 6, 2026, at 10 am at Our Lady of the Cape Catholic Church in Brewster, MA. Visitors may offer in-person condolences and visit with the family starting at 9:15 am in the Church just prior to Mass.