Saint Rose Alumni and Faculty Honored for Outstanding Service

ALBANY (August 17, 2015) — Four Capital Region residents have received recognition from The College of Saint Rose and the Saint Rose Alumni Association for their distinguished service.

The College awarded the 2015 “Carondelet Lifetime Achievement Award” to Mary Lou Grady Lamb of Waterford.

The Alumni Association awarded the 2015 “Distinguished Alumni Award” to Joseph DiPiazza of Schenectady and to Deborah Catalfamo Riitano of Albany. The 2015 “Thomas A. Manion Distinguished Faculty Award,” an honor that recognizes a faculty member for excellence in teaching, outstanding professional accomplishment and concern for students, was awarded to Assistant Professor Mary Alice Molgard, a resident of Berne.

The awards were presented at the College’s annual Alumni Weekend.

Mary Lou Grady Lamb (’55) – Carondelet Lifetime Achievement Award

Lamb was a guidance counselor at Shaker High School in Latham for 28 years and, before that, a Spanish teacher at Columbia High School in East Greenbush. Her late husband, Dr. Robert B. Lamb, was an Air Force veteran and a veterinarian, operating the Boght Veterinary Clinic in Cohoes for more than 30 years. Mary Lou Lamb was an active partner, helping with surgeries and care of the animals. Currently, she volunteers at Unity House, assisting with meals at the Troy day shelter. She also has served as president. In her retirement, she continues to use her teaching and counseling skills as a mentor at Troy High School for Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar and with Apostalo Hispano, an outreach group through her church. At Saint Rose, she established the “Mary Lou Grady Lamb and Dr. Robert Lamb Endowed Scholarship in Education” for undergraduate students majoring in education and the “Dr. Robert Lamb Veteran’s Assistance Program,” which helps bridge the gap between veterans’ benefits and college costs. Lamb earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish from The College of Saint Rose and a master’s degree in counseling from Siena College.
  

Joseph “Joey” DiPiazza (G’03) – Distinguished Alumni Award

DiPiazza has been a special education teacher in the Albany city schools for 12 years. He supervises Albany High School’s award-winning Transition Program, which helps students with disabilities prepare for life after high school. In addition to his teaching, DiPiazza has coached school athletic teams for more than 15 years. In 2008, he was named the Times Union’s “Large School Coach of the Year” and in 2009 led Albany High’s baseball team to its first title in 20 years. He spent three years coaching baseball at Hudson Valley Community College and currently is head football coach at Albany High. Anyone familiar with DiPiazza knows he is an outstanding advocate for his students and their families, always available to assist them at any time.
  

Deborah Catalfamo Riitano (’71, G’81) – Distinguished Alumni Award

Riitano has been active in the Capital Region interfaith movement for more than 30 years. Currently, she is executive director of the Capital Area Council of Churches, a federation of more than 90 churches. Prior work includes The College of Saint Rose, the Roman Catholic Diocese, Episcopal Diocese and Jewish Family Services. She also has taught at Cardinal McCloskey High School, Draper High School, Albany Business College and Mildred Elley Secretarial School. Riitano has lived in the Capital Region all her life, attending South Colonie High School and Saint Rose.
  

Mary Alice Molgard – Thomas A. Manion Distinguished Faculty Award

An assistant professor of communications, Molgard joined the faculty in 1985. She has directed the department’s internship program for nearly 25 years, placing countless students in rewarding intern posts. In addition to a full academic life, Molgard volunteers as a disaster public affairs team member for the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York and has been a volunteer firefighter in the town of Berne for more than 20 years, serving more than 12 years as a commissioner in the Berne Fire District. Currently, she also serves as treasurer of the Upper Hudson Library System and secretary-treasurer of the Hilltown Regional Fire Training Center, a non-profit organization planning a million-dollar training facility for firefighters in rural areas of Albany County. Prior to Saint Rose, she worked in broadcasting in Illinois and taught at Appalachian State University in North Carolina and Radford University in Virginia. A native of Antioch, Illinois, Molgard holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in communications from Illinois State University.

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The College of Saint Rose (www.strose.edu) is a dynamic, progressive college in the heart of New York’s capital city where teaching is the first priority. With 59 undergraduate programs, nine undergraduate certificates, 37 master’s degrees and 26 graduate certificates, and a mission of service to the urban community, the Saint Rose experience empowers students to improve themselves and the world around them.

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