We welcome your career and professional development news and accomplishments. To submit a class note, please fill out our Update Your Alumni Information form.
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Matthew Lax (BFA ’11)
This January Matthew will be the subject of a dedicated survey program at the 2025 Rotterdam Film Festival. Two of Matthew’s films, “Gay Men’s Book Club” and “A Tired Dog Is a Good Dog, Part Two” will be making their world premieres at the festival. Among other events, there will be two programs surveying Matthew’s recent and older films, including “A Tired Dog Is a Good Dog, Part One” (2022), “Fabricated in the Actual Arctic” (2018), “American Folk” (2017), and “Lil’ Tokyo Story” (2016). These premieres follow on the heels of a recent solo exhibition at Human Resources LA, which was funded in part by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and which includes a new publication with Inga Books.
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Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)
Jay recently completed a run as the Captain in “Anything Goes” at Gulfshore Playhouse. Three performances starred drama department graduate Rachel Revellese ’24 as Hope Harcourt.
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Natalie Weaver (BS ’18)
Natalie is leading the marketing department of the leading independent business book publisher, Kogan Page, in New York City.
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Katie Bell Powers (BS ’91)
Katie is currently working as the assistant to the town supervisor in Poestenkill, New York, a beautiful upstate New York hamlet that has been her hometown for 22 years. Her Orange Pride has grown exponentially since her son Henry (VPA ’26) started at Syracuse University. She enjoys visiting SU often and going to School of Music concerts.
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Bari Hochwald Cagnola (BFA ’85)
Bari was a Fulbright Scholar 2024 in Slovakia, where she lectured at the Academy of Performing Arts, Bratislava, and created a community participatory event based on her approach to arts-in-community: Art for Social Renewal. This is a relationship-based approach to community transformation based on her work with the founder of Community Renewal International, which centers our commonality as a point of connection and healthy community and social development.
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Cheryl Patton Wu (BFA ’75)
“A View from Home,” Cheryl’s solo show at The Noyes Museum of Art of Stockton University, consists of 23 of her fiber/fabric landscapes. The exhibition runs through January 5, 2025 at the Noyes Galleries at the Seaview Hotel, 401 S. New York Rd., Galloway, New Jersey, with an artist reception on Thursday, December 12, from 6 – 7:30 p.m. View more of Cheryl’s work on her website and Instagram (cherylpattonwu).
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Pam Dickler (BFA ’86)
Pam performed a solo show in Chicago on November 3 that tells the unbelievably true story of how Andrew Breitbart and the Alt-Right tried to use her small Chicago theater company (Terrapin Theatre, founded by Syracuse University alumni) to take down President Obama, who’d served on a panel for them years earlier following their production of “The Love Song of Saul Alinsky.” (Several Syracuse University stories are included as well.) Visit her website.
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Michael Ambrosino (BS ’52, MS ’55)
Created by Michael, “Nova” is celebrating its 50th season on PBS. This represents over 950 documentaries exploring how the world works through the lens of scientific discovery.
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Daniel Fenski (BFA ’81) and Barbara Battles (BFA ’80)
Daniel and his wife Barbara, owners of Windsor Gallery in Colts Neck, New Jersey, celebrated 22 years in business as one of the area’s top art galleries and custom framing studios. They enjoy enriching lives immeasurably by representing many New Jersey artists and providing outstanding service framing and re-framing customers’ art, collectables, and treasures. They opened the gallery after working as retail and commercial interior designers, respectively, for years in New York City.
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Rivita Goyle (MA ’18)
Rivita released her debut album “Snow Angels,” a genre-bending, 13-track album reflecting on her journey through life, the stories of growing up in India, leaving home, and traveling across the world. Written, produced, and mixed by Rivita, the album was made in collaboration with more than 20 musicians from across the world.
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Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)
Jay recently sang in “Here’s Love to the Music Man,” a tribute to Meredith Willson, at 54 Below in New York City. He will open in November as The Captain in “Anything Goes” at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, Florida. He will be sharing the stage with fellow VPA alumna Rachel Revellese (BFA ’24).
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Kinsey Robb (BFA ’04)
Kinsey was appointed executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). In this role, Kinsey will lead the foremost nonprofit membership organization of the nation’s premiere fine art galleries and oversee the ADAA’s presentation of The Art Show, one of the longest-running and preeminent philanthropic art fairs in the country benefiting Henry Street Settlement. The ADAA represents over 200 members across nearly 40 U.S. cities and is a leader on issues pertaining to connoisseurship, scholarship, ethical practice, and public policy.
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Sophie Burnham (BFA ’16)
Sophie’s debut novel “Sargassa” will be released on Oct. 8 from DAW Books and Hugo Award-winning editor Navah Wolfe. In the modern-day North America of a world where the Roman Empire never fell, an unlikely group of rebels is ready to burn down the empire in the first book of a new speculative trilogy that explores gender, sexuality, and oppression within an empire teetering on the brink of rebellion. Told from multiple POVs: a young heiress, an undercover spy, a bastard brother and a fugitive who has history with all three, “Sargassa” is equal parts political intrigue, queer romance, and revolution.
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Adair (Wilson) Heitmann (BFA ’75)
Adair will perform her new personal narrative story, “This Little Light of Mine,” on Oct. 29 with the True Tales Live Show on the theme of “Uh-Oh!” at 7 p.m. It launches from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and is on Zoom. Register on Facebook for the performance or contact to register. Adair’s award-wining personal narrative essays and poems are published in books and anthologies. She is a poet-in-residence teaching artist in under-resourced schools in Connecticut and is a guest lecturer in colleges and universities nationwide.
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Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)
Jay recently sang in “About Time,” a new musical review by Maltby and Shire for their class reunion at Yale. The show also featured Gretchen Cryer, Jason Danieley, Daniel Jenkins, Q. Smith, and Lynne Wintersteller. Jay is playing Achish in the Off-Broadway musical “David” through July 13 at the AMT Theatre.
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Matthew Barba (BM ’18)
Matt has taken full ownership of a growing audio-visual production company based in Brooklyn, New York, known as FullStack Productions NY. After years of honing his craft as an audio engineer and learning other technical disciplines in the world of live events, Matt will be leading the growth and vision of FullStack NY while orchestrating resources to provide excellent service to the audio-visual and events industry in New York City and beyond.
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Laurie (Hackett) Maddalena (BS ’96)
In November, Laurie was an inaugural honoree for the ‘CUSE50 Alumni Entrepreneur Award recognizing the 50 fastest growing alumni businesses. Laurie is a professional speaker, leadership consultant, and CEO of Envision Excellence in Maryland. Her company facilitates leadership development programs for managers and executives to help companies create cultures where people love to come to work.
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Tyler K. Smith (BFA ’77)
Tyler will have the solo exhibition “ROCKIN’ BOTZ: The Lowbrow Art of TYLER K. SMITH” at the Lighthouse ArtCenter Galleries in Tequesta, Florida, Jan. 16- Feb. 22, 2025. Visit his website.
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Kathleen (Reilly) Beausoleil (BFA ’90)
Kathleen is in a three-person show at The Painting Center in New York City through May 18.
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Tara Sandlin (BM ’23)
After years of working in non-profit religious and artistic spaces around Central New York, Tara will matriculate to Harvard University this fall to pursue a master of divinity degree on a full scholarship. Tara is excited to bring her musical background to a cohort preparing for careers as leaders in the academy, religious sites, government, non-profit, and more.
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Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)
Jay recently performed at 54 Below in New York in “54 Below Loves Cast Albums.” The show also featured Karen Akers, Christine Pedi, Ben Jones, Michael Portantiere, Matthew Martin Ward. Megan Styrna, Robbie Rozelle, George Anthony Papas and John Griffin.
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Margaret Sáraco (BFA ’81)
Margaret recently published her second book of poetry, “Even the Dog Was Quiet” (Human Error Publishing, 2023). Tamar Jacobs, associate editor of Iron City Magazine, commented, “This book is a kind of memoir in poems, a careful recounting and examination of the way Sáraco’s relationships over the course of life have shaped her, and how her memories have sustained and helped her find and make meaning from life. The poems study small interpersonal moments embedded in everyday life and pan back to consider the meaning of a life, and heart, full of thousands of these moments. This is a gorgeous book.” “Even the Dog Was Quiet” is widely available, including online in Barnes & Noble and Amazon and at the Syracuse University Campus Store.
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Jonathan Lavan (BFA ’85)
Jonathan is the owner of Underpressure Diving & Nature Photography. In his role as a photographer, naturalist, citizen scientist, and wildlife expert, he leads diving and photography trips all over the world. His award-winning nature photography has shown in galleries in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Barcelona, and his home state of Maine. Jonathan is a staunch environmentalist and educator of young people. He is committed to making a difference on this planet through his images and his message of goodwill to all creatures.
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Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)
Jay recently played Ezekiel Foster and Mr. Snoring Man in Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. On January 25 he will be featured in an encore presentation of “Jerry Orbach’s Broadway” with Anita Gillette, Lee Roy Reams, William Michals, Nikita Burshteyn, and Chris and Tony Orbach at 54 Below in New York. Jay can also still be seen in Episode 302 of “Only Murders in the Building” with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez on Hulu.
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Jessica Whitley (BFA ’18)
Jessica, who received an M.P.A. from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School this summer, designed a colorful asphalt mural painted on the pavement in front of Syracuse’s city hall. The winning submission in a contest offered by Adapt CNY and the city last year, the image shows a skyline bordering a vibrant tree supported by several hands. This project was funded by a $25,000 grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative, which sponsors community art projects. The grant supported materials, technical support, volunteers, and furniture to engage the public.
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Adlai Hurt (BS ’04)
Adlai earned a Ph.D. in learning and leadership, with a concentration in higher education administration, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His dissertation is titled “The human capital campaign: the relationships of burnout and investment in employee development on intent to leave.”
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Joanie Leeds (BFA ’00)
Joanie, a Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter, released her latest children’s album “FREADOM: Songs Inspired by Banned Children’s Books” on September 15. “FREADOM” illustrates the melodic power of solidarity, resistance, and diversity. Joanie and her all-star Book Band celebrate many of the banned children’s books with a new collection of eight original songs that joyously amplify messages of love and inclusion.
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Phillip Gregory Burke (BFA ’07)
Phillip’s play, “He’s the First,” was a top 13 finalist out of 850 submissions at this year’s 48th Annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival.
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Jeanne Finkelstein Goodman (BFA ’73)
Jeanne’s work is included in numerous corporate collections in the United States, as well several university and college gallery collections, including Atlantic Shores Corporation, Capital One, Central Fidelity Bank, Charles H. Taylor Arts Center (Hampton, Virginia); Chowan University (North Carolina); Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, and many more. View a full list on her website.
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Kieran J. Murphy (BFA ’06)
This past year Kieran had the opportunity to direct a TV series with his brother Brendan titled “History’s Greatest Heists” hosted by Pierce Brosnan. Debuting on the History Channel, it is currently on demand and also on KLM flights. For the series they used new volume LED technology to put Brosnan into the actual heist. Kieran also just finished his 10th anniversary of helming “Shark Week” as a director of photography for Discovery Channel. Recently, he finished a film starring Tyrese Gibson (“Fast & Furious” franchise), which will come out at the beginning of 2024.
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