Fairfield University's College of Arts and Sciences announces the formation of an advisory board of 21 distinguished alumni, parents and faculty to guide the school in strategic planning and development activities for long-term growth. Jorge Figueredo, '82, president of Liz Claiborne International, chairs the new board, which held its first meeting this fall.
"In putting together our board, we sought, over all, a membership diverse in experience, viewpoint and expertise," said Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "This group embodies the notions of life-long learning and service that are hallmarks of our Jesuit tradition, and they are committed to strengthening the College's teaching, scholarship and service."
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest of Fairfield's six schools. It includes roughly two thirds of the full-time faculty in 15 departments and 19 interdisciplinary programs and its faculty provides about four fifths of Fairfield's undergraduate education, according to Robbin Crabtree, Ph.D., the College's faculty chair. The Board of Advisors will help the College preserve traditions of excellence while moving forward as a cutting-edge educational leader through problem solving, development work and ongoing innovation.
"Our interdisciplinary programs are a great example of how the College has been in the forefront of meeting the new challenges presented by the natural environment, the political landscape, and the social world, as we stretch our teaching and research to reflect increasingly rapid changes in the circumstances around us," Crabtree told the Board at its initial meeting.
The Board of Advisors will be working to develop projects proposed by the departments of Biology, Religious Studies and Visual and Performing Arts, three areas identified by Snyder as funding priorities at this time. Each department will work with a two-year, $50,000 supplementary budget to be raised by the Board.
Some of the goals include: bolstering student-faculty scientific research and creating a mentoring program in Biology; increasing the number of students preparing for a broad array of careers by studying religion through extensive curriculum review, increased course offerings and expanded endowment; helping to institute a visiting artist/scholar program in Visual and Performing Arts; and aiding in the creation of a new museum for the University's growing collections.
The new Board of Advisors consists of 21 members. They are:
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Susan Freel Alexander
, '78. Alexander, who has worked in sales and human resources, is currently a full-time mom to her three children and a member of the board at her high school alma mater, Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, N.Y.
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James Cafferty
, '94. Cafferty is part of UBS Investment Bank's institutional fixed income sales team, a representative for the class of 1994 and a member of the Trustees Advisory Council. He has been a member of The President's Circle.
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Raul Juan Escudero, Esq.
, '74. Escudero is a senior vice president at UBS Financial, where he is a member of the firm's Chairman's Council and Chairman's Circle.
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Patricia T. Femia
, '82. Femia is a key account manager for Biacore, Inc., an instrument company headquartered in Sweden. She has chaired major fundraising campaigns at her parish and her children's parochial school.
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Jorge Figueredo
, '82. Prior to becoming president of Liz Claiborne International, Figueredo has served as senior vice president of Human Resources and has been a member of Liz Claiborne's Leadership Council and Executive Council. He has served on the University Board of Trustees Advisory Council since 1998.
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Thomas A. Franko
, '69. A former teacher, Franko is managing director, general counsel and a member of the executive committee at Pershing, LLC. He is a trustee of Fairfield University.
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Robert Harrison III
, '98. Harrison is an attorney with Edwards Angell Palmer Dodge LLP, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison is president of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, president of the Connecticut Chapter of the Boston College Law School Alumni Club, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Fairfield University Alumni Association.
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Samuel Harvey, Jr.
, '72. Harvey teaches law to undergraduate and graduate business students at Howard University and is a consultant for special projects to the president of Georgetown University. He has served on many university and community boards, including the board of directors at Fairfield.
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James Hoefner
, '79. Hoefner is vice president and general manager for TEK, a multi-branched industrial distribution organization with operations in Boston and Chicago. He was treasurer and then president of Fairfield University's Boston Alumni Club and has served as a member of the Alumni Board and his class reunion committees.
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William D. Hulseman
, '98. Hulseman teaches world religions to ninth and twelfth graders and is a campus minister at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Newton, Mass.
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John A. Joyce
, '92. Joyce is vice president of Credit Derivatives Brokerage at GFI Securities, LLC.
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Kathi P. Loughlin
, '80. Loughlin, one of the first employees of MCI who later formed her own marketing and advertising agency, is currently writing a book series. She is a former member of Fairfield's Board of Trustees.
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Mary McGuinness
, '83. McGuinness worked in sales and was a major accounts representative for GBC before leaving in 1987 to raise her three children. She is a founding board member of Spectrum Charitable Foundation, which helps fund substance abuse treatment, prevention and mental health services in Massachusetts.
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Margaret Kelly Murray
, '08 parent. Murray is founder and merchandise director of Whispering Pines, a home and apparel lifestyle and web retailer. She is on the board of directors of AmericanTowns.com, LLC, and serves as a trustee of the Matthew Gaffney Foundation and Lawyers for Children.
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Robert Ollwerther
, '79. Ollwerther is chief operating officer for Merrill Lynch's Hedge Fund Development and Management Group. He is a member of the Fairfield Trustees Advisory Council.
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Felipe Polanco
, '01. Polanco is an operations analyst at Sempra Energy Trading Company. In addition, he is a member of the Class of 2001 reunion committee.
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Harry A. Rissetto
, '65. Rissetto is an associate and partner at the Washington, D.C. law offices of Morgan Lewis & Bockius. He has been an adjunct professor of Law at Georgetown University and a guest lecturer at Catholic University Law School. He has served on Fairfield's reunion committees and established an undergraduate scholarship with his wife Grace Rissetto.
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Dr. Katherine Schwab
. Schwab is associate professor and program director of art history in Fairfield's Department of Visual and Performing Arts and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Plaster Cast Collection at Fairfield University.
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Dr. Edmund J. Sybertz
, '72. Sybertz is senior vice president and general manager of Drug Discovery and Development at Genzyme Corporation and the author or co-author of more than 100 scientific publications in the fields of drug discovery and pharmacology.
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Laura Neville Toner
, '80. Toner worked in the fields of fine arts and education before becoming a full-time mother to her three children. She has served on a town-wide education board in Natick, Mass., and the board of directors of the New England Baptist Hospital.
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Robert T. Zito
, '75. Zito is the chief communications officer at Bristol-Myers Squibb and is the former executive vice president of communications for the New York Stock Exchange.