Class Notes for April 2021

Find out which of our alums is celebrating a promotion, a new career, or their start-up business in Class Notes. See who is making news, and take a moment to remember those who have passed on.

Every month, we find ourselves short on news from classes before the 1990s. We want to share all of our alumni’s accomplishments, but we don’t know what you’re up to if you don’t tell us. Please email us at alumni@strose.edu with your job changes, retirement news, promotions, or wedding and baby announcements, and write “class notes” in the subject line.

2020s

Jacqueline Bove G’20 is proud to announce that she officially passed the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination. She is a behavioral health consultant at Community Care Physicians, P.C.

Jessica Pugliese G’20 is the new assistant principal for Nassau BOCES Center for Community Adjustment (CCA) in Garden City, New York. She most recently was a behavior-support coordinator at P256Q in Rockaway, New York, and has worked for more than a decade at District 75 of the New York City school system in varied roles including special education teacher, inclusion teacher, and early-childhood district coach.

2010s

Megan Hardy ’19 was promoted to editor-in-chief, Commercial Division Online Law Report at St. John’s University School of Law, New York City metropolitan area.

Patrick Fronk ’18 is an associate investigation specialist at Regeneron in Schenectady, New York.

Jessica Holden ’18 is a communications strategist for EYP in Albany, New York.

Keith Pero ’18 is a senior accountant at Stanley Black & Decker Inc. in the Albany, New York area.

Casey Bergeron ’17 is deployment manager at UniFirst Corporation in Buffalo, New York.

Molly Farrell ’17, G’20 is a mental health clinician at With Grace Mental Counseling in Albany, New York.

Ojwanna Wilson ’17 has joined Teal Media as a designer in Washington, D.C.

Emily Armstrong ’16 G’16, who is a software engineer for The Hartford in Charlotte, North Carolina, received the 2020 Presidential Service Award for her more than 100 hours of volunteer service.

Morgan Denman ’16 is a graphic designer II for MORI Associates for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Cocoa, Florida.

Cesar Nina G’15 has been appointed the new principal of Jefferson Elementary School in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Romia Khan ’14 is director of quality, health home at Community Healthcare Network in New York, New York.

James Taber ’14 is a senior acquisition specialist at pSemi in San Diego, California.

Stacey Ratner G’12 is chief clinical compliance/ethics officer at Beyond Boundaries Autism Specialists and Therapeutic Services in Syosset, New York.

2000s

Monica (Gerbino) Capogna ’05 has become a senior strategist at Perficient in Schenectady, New York.

Peter Gannon ’02 announced that the United Way of the Greater Capital Region made 41 grants totaling $575,000, part of a $1.6 million investment strategy in the ongoing pandemic recovery. Gannon is president and CEO of the United Way of the Greater Capital Region.

1990s

Rhonda (Weber) Delmoluno ’91 is a fine artist and owner of the White Owl Art Studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to creating custom sentimental artworks, she is creative service manager for Colorado Springs Therapy Center, where she provides special activities for children and adults receiving speech, occupational, or physical therapy. She creates prayer-inspired artwork for Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church High School youth group. “After 2020, I have started offering Zoom creative painting lessons in acrylic for beginners and intermediate artists to reconnect people who are separated by social distancing. The goal is to relax and have fun with others, enjoy the process of creating simple paintings, and take a break from daily stresses. Currently, I have three Saint Rose alumni living in Washington, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey who all come together through my studio in Black Forest, Colorado, to laugh and reminisce while creating artwork on Monday nights. It does the soul good to both create and reconnect!”

1980s

Cynthia Dite Sirni ’89 recently published her sixth book, “It’s All Fun and Games Until You Can’t Order A Cake: Musings From A Teacher’s Desk.” Sirni, who is a teacher at Rome Free Academy (Rome, New York), wanted to honor her colleagues and share her recollections of being a public-school teacher for 30 years.

The collection of vignettes, observations, and poems addresses everything from her early days as a student through her travels around the world and musings on the COVID-19 pandemic. She began her writing career at the age of 18, when Teen magazine published her poem, “Ode to an old purse.”

Jillmarie Murphy G’89, the William D. Williams Endowed Professor of English and director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies program at Union College (Schenectady, New York), has authored several books, peer-reviewed articles, and book chapters. Her current book project is “The Politics of Human-to-Animal Attachments in Trans-Atlantic Literary Naturalism.”

Sue Nigra ’89, director of development for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region, reports that she has a Saint Rose intern working for her. “His name is Nick Dwyer, and he is doing an outstanding job!”

1970s

Aaron Sitawisha Carter ’73 and Ujima Journey, the nonprofit organization he cofounded to help Black children and families learn more about their history and traditions, cohosted a Black History “walk-through museum” with the local organizing committee of Justice or Else, in Albany, New York, on April 24.

In memoriam

Marilyn Jean (Pezzulo) Bauer G’79
Lois J. Gruner ’90
Joan Ward Mullaney, Ph.D, ’54
Alice B (Boynton) Barley ’51
William Farias ’01
Sister Marilyn Donnelly, CSJ ’68
Susan Washburn G’92

Friends of Saint Rose

Andrew “Andy” Harnichar
Ernie Tetrault
Peter Rozonewski, security sergeant at Saint Rose