September / October 2008

Nayibe Capellan, Assistant Director of the Public Policy Program
Nayibe Capellan has joined Saint Peter’s as the new assistant director of the Public Policy Program. Nayibe has extensive experience with policies and programs relating to social issues in urban areas. She has worked as a program specialist with the Essex County Council of Prevent Child Abuse-New Jersey. She has also worked as an assistant program manager with the organization’s Family Outreach Program.  She was the assistant director for Parkside Preschool, where she served as a liaison between families and the Newark public school system.  She coordinated the Domestic Violence Crisis Response Team for East Orange Police Department and worked as a probation officer for the state of New Jersey.

Nayibe graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a master’s degree in Administrative Sciences. Her credentials also include certified training in nonprofit organizational development, family development and parent education. In addition, she has more than 10-year’s administrative experience in various programs.

Dr. James Clayton, Assistant Professor of Education and Dr. Nicole Luongo, Assistant Professor of Education
On October 23, James Clayton and Nicole Luongo from the Education department presented at the annual Association of Math Teachers of New Jersey's (AMTNJ) conference in Somerset, NJ. "Bloomin' Cubes: Paper Folding Gives Meaning to Perimeter, Area, and Volume!" was a 90-minute presentation, which included a theoretical and hands-on view of various geometric concepts. The conference participants explored technology and learned hands-on paper-folding strategies with respect to theoretical foundations and current pieces of educational technology. Using Bloom's Taxonomy as the educational foundation, Drs. Clayton and Luongo discussed the basic principles of plane geometry as well as the relationships between perimeter, area, and volume.

Dr. James Clayton, Assistant Professor of Education
On October 24, James Clayton from the Education Department co-presented a second workshop for teachers at the annual Association of Math Teachers of New Jersey's (AMTNJ) conference in Somerset, NJ. "Come Fly With Me: Paper Airplanes Make Math Lessons Soar!" was a 90-minute presentation, which included a theoretical and hands-on view of various concepts of mathematics and physics. The conference participants discussed educational theory before utilizing hands-on paper-folding strategies to explore the science of flight while applying the mathematical concepts of measurement, geometry and statistics. Dr. Clayton was pleased to co-present the workshop with his daughter, Sera, a fourth grade classroom teacher.

Kevin Cummines, Adjunct Lecturer for Fine Arts, Performing Arts Coordinator for The Office of Student Activities
On September 25, Kevin Cummines presented his paper, “A Poor Professor at an Urban College Teaching Music to Struggling Urban Students: Hip Hop and the College Music Curriculum” at the 51st National Conference of the College Music Society in Atlanta.  The paper was presented as part of the “New Curriculums” program, and was followed by a half-hour question and answer session.  The paper argued a constructivist approach to music education in higher learning, as a means to bolster student involvement in traditional academic music practices, as well as to codify the mass of anthropological and musicological research in Hip Hop that has emerged over the last decade.

On October 25, Cummines’ Symphony No. 1: The Peacock will be premiered on campus, as part of the Hudson Symphony Orchestra’s first concert as Symphony-in-Residence.  The concert is at 7:00 p.m. in The Roy Irving Theatre, and will feature the works of Cummines, Aaron Copland, and Samuel Barber.  The Hudson Symphony Orchestra is under the direction of Dr. YiLi Lin, Director of the Hoboken School of Music and founder of the Hudson Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Brian Hopkins, Associate Professor of Mathematics
On October 11 and 12, Brian Hopkins gave an invited talk in the Special Session on the History of Mathematics at the Eastern Section Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. His presentation, "Fleury and Hierholzer on Euler Paths," considered two proofs from the late 1800s that completed Euler's 1736 work on the bridges of Königsberg.

The last week of October, Dr. Hopkins worked with the American Diploma Project's development of an end-of-course Algebra I test that eight states (including New Jersey) plan to require for high school graduation in the next few years. High school teachers, state administrators, and higher education faculty from around the country did "range-finding," a process of validating or changing the scoring rubrics for open response questions based on student work.

Dr. William Luhr, Professor of English
On September 19, Dr. William Luhr organized and co-chaired a presentation at Columbia University titled, “Re-Locations: A Journey in Post-Cinema and Italian Urban Spaces” by Professors Francesco Casetti of the Catholic University of Milan, and Jonathan Crary of Columbia University. William Luhr also edited the book Screening Genders with Krin Gabbard, published by Rutgers University Press.

Dr. Kathleen Monahan, Professor of English
On September 12, Dr. Kathleen Monahan presented the paper, "Their Story: History, Community and Family in the City of Dreams” at the Annual Colloquium on Literature and Film at the University of West Virginia.

Patricia Redden, Professor of Chemistry
Pat Redden’s daughter Maggie competed in the Paralympics in Beijing as a member of the USA track-and-field team.  The Paralympics, a part of the Olympics, are a series of games for elite physically disabled athletes including wheelchair athletes, amputees and blind athletes.

Different from the Special Olympics, which requires that an athlete have a developmental or intellectual disability, the Paralympic athletes have only physical disabilities.  According to the Paralympic Web site, "In Beijing, a total of 4,000 athletes from around 150 countries will be competing in 20 sports and the U.S. will be represented by 213 athletes."

The games ran from Saturday, September 6 to Wednesday, September 17.  Maggie competed in the 100- and 200-meter wheelchair events on Thursday, September 11 and Saturday, September 13 in the Bird's Nest venue, the same venue used for the Olympic track events. Maggie was also profiled on the Paralympic Web site. There will be a special presentation of the events on NBC-TV on October 18.

Eight new full-time professors joined Saint Peter's faculty:

Lori Buza, J.D., Assistant Professor, Business Law
Buza practices law for the Law Office of Kirsten Scheurer-Branigan, P.C., with a focus on employment negotiations, contracts and litigation matters, workplace investigations, corporate and business policies and training.   In addition to her legal practice, Buza has worked as an adjunct professor at Saint Peter's for the past eight years. Last year, she held a one-year term as a full-time faculty member, instructing all four of the College business law courses.

Richard Cosgrove, Ed.D., Lecturer, Criminal Justice
Cosgrove recently retired from his position as a lieutenant for the New Jersey State Police.  As a member of the State Police, he served in myriad positions, including a 7-year tenure as an academy instructor and, most recently, the administrative officer for the Homeland Security Branch.

Jacqueline Cusack, Ed.D., Lecturer, Education
Cusack joins Saint Peter’s with extensive experience as a teacher and administrator in the New Jersey public school system.  She has served in several capacities, beginning as a music teacher and concluding as a superintendent of schools. Cusack is also the founder of “My Sister’s Keeper,” a non-profit organization, whose mission is to provide mentoring services and scholarships to girls, and emergency financial assistance to families, especially single female-headed households.

Ernabel Demillo, Lecturer, Communications
Demillo has more than 15 years of professional journalism experience. She has worked for the Orange County News Channel and the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, then joined the staff of the Fox-5 popular morning news show, "Good Day New York." She spent 9 years on the Fox-5 morning show, where her many roles included breaking news reporter, investigative reporter, feature/entertainment/lifestyle reporter, anchor and host.

Michael Finetti, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Graduate Education
Finetti comes to Saint Peter’s after serving as a member of the New Jersey State Police. He holds a number of certificates issued by the Department of Education of the State of New Jersey and has focused his post law-enforcement career on the education of children with special needs.

Christina Poli, Lecturer, Biology
Poli received both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  She joins Saint Peter’s after teaching Anatomy and Physiology at Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

Hamid Yazdekhasti, Ph.D., Lecturer, Chemistry
Yazdekhasti has experience teaching at New York schools Hostos Community College, the Fashion Institute of Technology and City College, and at New Jersey’s Kean University and New Jersey City University. He has also worked as a research scientist in several pharmaceutical companies. Yazdekhasti’s teaching responsibilities will include organic chemistry for science majors and nursing students. 

Reynaldo Zamudio, RN, M.A., Clinical Assistant Professor, Nursing
Zamudio comes to Saint Peter’s with clinical experience in the areas of critical care, medical surgical nursing and home care nursing. An educator in his native country of the Philippines, he has taught in hospitals as a preceptor, and in the academic setting at the associate degree level, generic baccalaureate level as well as in the RN-BSN level.