Dan Scaia ’68 owned DFS Associates, a manufacturer’s representative firm in Syracuse. A regular contributor to The Fund for Oswego and proud member of the 1966 champion men’s soccer team, Scaia helped create the Ernest B. Luongo Memorial Scholarship.

Lisa Marceau Schnorr ’87 serves as vice president, compensation and human resource information system for Constellation Brands in Rochester. Schnorr chaired the Class of 1987 Reunion Giving Committee. She and husband Mark ’89 are also the parents of Nicole ’15.

Mark Salmon ’93 of New York City is a senior network engineer at Bloomberg Financial Networks. Salmon is active in the Delta Kappa Kappa Alumni Association and has served as a New York City Career Connections and Reunion volunteer.

Marc Beck ’93 of Glendale is director of research for Major League Baseball. He has been a New York City Career Connections and Reunion volunteer.

Christie Torruella Smith ’08 is an admissions counselor at SUNY Oswego. She was the senior class gift coordinator as a student and currently serves as a member of the Graduates Of the Last Decade, or GOLD, Leadership Council and Return to Oz IV reunion planning committee. She was the alumni speaker at the 2010 December Commencement Eve Dessert Reception.

OSWEGO’s website, launched in spring 2011, was among seven Awards of Excellence winners in the “Magazines and Journals: Electronic and Web” category. APEX had honored the print edition the previous six years.

The college’s latest annual report, “A Tradition of Learning in the World,” was among seven honored. The Office of Public Affairs produced the winning “Grease” video, one of seven winners in the YouTube category.

First, though, I am delighted to welcome the newest member of our alumni team, LeAnne St. Gelais ‘07. LeAnne returns to her alma mater from her most recent position at Syracuse University. With LeAnne’s arrival, we are now fully staffed in the Alumni Office to re-ramp up our regional events network as well as our other alumni initiatives. We invite your involvement as a volunteer — in helping us relaunch our regional programming, in our GOLD (recent grad) initiatives, in our flagship Reunion Weekend program, in our many career programs for current students, such as ASK and Alumni-In-Residence or in internship and co-op opportunities for our students.

The support of our global network of more than 77,000 Oswego alumni truly enhances the experience of our current students from the day they arrive on campus until they are newly minted graduates launching their careers.

The Oswego Alumni Association sponsors many programs that help prepare students for success following graduation. These include student programs through our Future Alumni Network (FANs) that promote spirit and pride, career awareness programs such as Backpack to Briefcase and New York City Career Connections, Senior Class programming and more.

Following graduation, our GOLD (Graduates Of the Last Decade) programs, regional events network and the Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Program all continue to help recent graduates stay connected to their alma mater and to find success in their careers and local communities.

Volunteering with the Oswego Alumni Association and assisting current students is one of the most valuable ways you can support your alma mater. You can help to foster a mutually beneficial and satisfying alumni/student connection and demonstrate your pride and commitment to SUNY Oswego at the same time! If you are interested in the many volunteer opportunities available through the alumni association, please visit oswego.edu/alumni/volunteer.

We welcome your involvement and look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you soon! And just maybe you’ll see me out walking Bo one morning!

— Betsy Oberst

After 27 years of leadership by Betsy Oberst, who is now associate vice president for alumni relations and stewardship, the Oswego Alumni Association welcomes a new director of alumni and parent relations: Michael Sgro.

He will oversee the direction of all alumni programs and initiatives at Oswego including reunions, regional events and programs, and student/alumni programs.

“We are excited to welcome Michael into the Oswego Alumni family,” said Oberst. “He has a wealth of experience and many exciting ideas.”

Michael Sgro was recently named the new director of alumni and parent relations at SUNY Oswego.

Sgro has been a higher education professional for 15 years, beginning his career in residence life and student activities before moving into alumni relations and marketing.

The Syracuse native most recently was marketing and communications manager at Campus Groups, Novalsys. He served as assistant director of alumni and parent programs at his undergraduate alma mater, Le Moyne College in Syracuse, from 2006 to 2010, and prior to that was senior associate director of alumni affairs at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

He is the founder and a frequent contributor to the blog Alumni Trending, which has grown to more than 600 participants in its first month. It is a forum for sharing best practices among alumni relations professionals over social networks including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

“I get great joy by working with alumni and parents, and alumni who are parents,” said Sgro. He hopes to especially connect with alumni with children who are busy running between schools and soccer practices, and find ways to engage them with Oswego.

“I’m really excited about connecting with Oswego graduates and parents whom we already know, and meeting thousands more, identifying what they love about the institution and why they come back,” Sgro said.

He is enthusiastic about partnering with colleagues across campus, sharing his expertise in things like event planning, and helping to advance the goals of the institution.

He is proudest of his partnerships with community organizations, like Le Moyne’s early collaboration with the Rosamond Gifford Zoo’s Brew at the Zoo. “Supporting your community is what it’s all about,” he said. “Your community thrives and we (the alumni association) thrive.”

Stressing that “every alum is different,” Sgro hopes to provide a menu of opportunities so alumni who are busy can choose the ways they can become involved.

“Oswego’s 150th anniversary is a great time to continue traditions, but also to start new ones,” Sgro said. He stresses that alumni can become involved in multiple ways that “meet the needs of people today,” from providing email updates to helping current students prepare for or begin their careers, speaking to classes on campus, hosting an event in their homes, or helping a fellow graduate land a job.

He hopes to use social media to engage and connect alumni and to help them share their Oswego stories.

“I would love to, but I know we will not get all 75,000 alumni back to campus,” Sgro said. “So I want to put Oswego on the brain — every day — of our graduates, have them thinking about Oswego
every day.

“My dream is that every alum will believe that the relationship can change and grow stronger, even if they have not been involved for 30 years.”

Donna Goldsmith ’82 is the former vice president of licensing for the National Basketball Association and former chief operating officer at World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. She recently accepted a position as general manager of operations for the 2014 New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee. She is a frequent volunteer for New York City Career Connections and Alumni-In-Residence programs. Donna has been a Torchlight mistress of ceremonies and the recipient of an Anniversary Class Award from the Oswego Alumni Association. She resides in New York City.

Amy Vanderlyke ’01 is an attorney at Sugarman Law Firm LLP. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Oswego School of Education. Amy has served as an adjunct professor at Oswego and Newhouse School of Public Communications. She volunteers her time with Make-A-Wish of Central New York. Amy has also served on the Oswego Graduates Of the Last Decade Leadership Council and the Reunion 2011 Giving Committee. She resides in Syracuse.

Koren Vaughan ’95 is an assistant marketing director and director of promotions for two of Inner City Broadcasting Corp.’s radio stations, New York’s No. 1-ranked WBLS-FM and the city’s first 24-hour gospel music station, WLIB-AM. Koren has a master’s degree in media management from Metropolitan College of New York and a bachelor’s in business administration from Oswego. She has participated in New York City Career Connections and at the 2009 Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit on the Career Connectors panel. She resides on Long Island.

Joe Yacura ’74 was looking for someone to do research into wineries’ presence on the Internet in preparation for the launch of his new website, winerypatron.com. So he contacted School of Business Dean Richard Skolnik. It wasn’t the first time Yacura had given students an opportunity for real-world experience. Two years ago he had three business majors doing research into the wine industry in the Finger Lakes area.

Students paid an afternoon visit to BET/CBS Studios hosted by Zelkadis Elvi ’91 in January as part of the Oswego Alumni Association’s annual NYC Career Connections program.

This time, the dean suggested Joe Massaro ’11 and Yacura was impressed with him from the very first phone call.

“Joe contacted me and we talked — He had high energy, and did follow through right away,” Yacura said. “He had done some research on how various wineries were using the Internet.”

Yacura was so pleased with Massaro’s work as an intern, he offered him a job.
“I said, ‘What are you doing when you graduate? Why not come and work for us and get the website going?’”

Massaro is now managing the Facebook and Twitter correspondence for winerypatron.com and will be managing an online “Local Services” section of the site.

Paul Brennan ’93 helped Sarah Rabideau ’09 launch her career in the highly competitive world of broadcast advertising in a tough economy. Rabideau reached out to Brennan through ASK and met with him during the Career Connections event. “I had no idea where to start. He helped me figure out where I’m going,” Rabideau said. Brennan, senior vice president for ad sales at SONY Pictures Television, set up interviews for her at CBS, Major League Baseball and A&E. She landed a job at MPG and earlier this year was promoted to national media buyer. Rabideau is one of dozens of Oswego students Brennan has helped, passing on the career boost he received early on from a mentor.

Cinema and screen studies and English major Kimberly A. Behzadi ’12 met film producer Andrew Miano ’95 at an Alumni-In-Residence class appearance last fall, and he helped her land a coveted internship as a summer production development intern at New York City’s Focus Features.

“Mr. Miano has been more than a miracle to me,” wrote Behzadi. “His guidance and encouragement has been a major support throughout my internship search.” She called him, “friendly, open and willing to help.”

“All I did was help push the door open a little bit,” said Miano, who called contacts at the studio he’d recently made a film with, to recommend Behzadi.

“I’m proud of my time at SUNY Oswego and had wanted to come back for some time,” he said of his AIR visit. “I spent 36 of the craziest hours I ever had on campus running around speaking to classes and answering questions.

I’m also hopeful that I will be able to come back and speak with students again.”

At New York City Career Connections in January, Marco Ellman ’79 opened a door for student Mike Marchetta ’10. During the alumni presentation Ellman, who is president and owner of Ellman Realty Advisors in New York City, caught Marchetta’s attention and the student hurried over to talk with him. “He ended up asking me to come shadow him the next day and we really hit it off. Now I have a job offer there and I am moving down to the city,” Marchetta wrote. “Kind of funny that I can honestly say, that networking event pretty much changed my life.”

Alumni interested in helping students launch their careers can contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 315-312-2258 or alumni@oswego.edu to volunteer for the AIR or Alumni Sharing Knowledge programs or invite students to shadow them or visit their workplaces.

Sometimes I struggle with what to write about in this column. On my 6 a.m. walk with our “rescue” dog, Bo, it hit me! What do I love about Oswego? The answer is longer than this space allows, so I’ll try to recap a few of the things that I love about Oswego.

I was hired 27 years ago (along with my colleague, Lisa Potter!) in a part-time position as advisor to a student group in the Alumni Office. Those “kids” I worked with are now going on 50 years old — I’m not sure how that happened! I also never imagined when I took that part-time job, that it would become my life’s work and passion and prove fulfilling in a way that many people only dream of. As I say time and again, it is truly a labor of love to work in the Alumni Office and with Oswego alumni.

So some of the things that I love most about working with Oswego alumni are their overwhelmingly unabashed love for this place and for their experiences here. I love their ongoing commitment to helping our students — to find internships and jobs, to mentor them. I love their enthusiasm in helping organize reunions to get their friends to come back to campus. Scores of them have become personal friends over my 27 years — people with whom I would not have had a connection if not for Oswego. And for that I am blessed and is one of the reasons I love Oswego.

I love working in an intellectually stimulating environment. And I love and truly believe that education changes lives and enriches our world. It’s a great feeling to think Oswego (and I in a small way!) are making a small difference in this big world of ours.

Then there’s the “personal.” Jerry ’77 and I and our kids, Caitlin (28), Megan (26) and Connor (23) have benefitted, along with the entire local Oswego community, from the many cultural, artistic, athletic and educational opportunities that SUNY Oswego brings into our local community every day.

But, most of all it is the people I love about Oswego — the people who work here and the students and alumni who went here. It truly is a special place. And I am proud of our 150-year history and all that is yet ahead. And those are just a few of the many things that I love about Oswego!

May 2–6
Senior Week activities*

May 4
School of Business Alumni Reception, New York City*

May 5
School of Communication, Media
and the Arts Alumni Reception,
New York City*

May 13 Torchlight Ceremony*

May 14
Commencement

June 10–12
Oswego’s Sesquicentennial Reunion, kicking off a yearlong celebration of the college’s founding*

June 11
Oswego Alumni Association annual member meeting*

June 18
Washington, D.C., alumni event*

July 28-31
Alumni Harborfest Housing*

For more information:

* 315-312-2258

** 315-312-3003