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1969Joseph Pasonelli, a retired principal of public schools in North Providence and Cranston and former executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals, has been appointed principal of St. Joseph School in West Warwick. Pasonelli is the 1994 recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, which recognizes and celebrates professionals who are furthering excellence in education.

1970Scott Molloy, a University of Rhode Island emeritus professor, historian of all things Irish, author and former Rhode Island labor leader, led the 2018 Providence St. Patrick’s Day parade as grand marshal and presented the keynote address at the parade committee’s annual banquet at the Rhode Island Convention Center. A former professor of labor and industrial relations at the University of Rhode Island’s Schmidt Labor Research Center, Molloy has done voluminous research and written extensively about the Irish immigrant experience in the United States, particularly in Rhode Island.

1971After a 37-year teaching career in the North Smithfield School Department, Claire O’Hara is retiring. O’Hara began her career as a science and health teacher for grades three through six. She went on to teach grades four to six. She also coached girls’ softball and spent most of her summers tutoring.

Class Notes

1972Judith Lederman, associate professor and director of teacher education in math and science at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has won the 2018 Svend Pedersen Lecture Award for science education. This annual award is bestowed by Stockholm University’s Department of Mathematics and Science Education to honor a researcher who has made a major and lasting contribution to mathematics or science education. Lederman is known internationally for her science education research, specifically her work on scientific inquiry and the nature of science in informal settings, such as museums, and formal settings, such as schools.

1977Jo-Ann Melcher is a new administrator at Our Lady’s Haven in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, a skilled nursing center owned and operated by Diocesan Health Facilities and sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River. Melcher has worked in skilled nursing facilities since 1979. She is a licensed administrator in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as well as a licensed social worker in Massachusetts. Melcher earned a master’s degree in human services at New Hampshire College in 2001.

1980An ordained minister, psychotherapist and certified counselor, Rev. Melinda Reed has retired. Reed earned a Master of Divinity degree at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and a Master of Science degree at Loyola University in Maryland. She is a recent recipient of the Fairfax (Virginia) County Artists’ People’s Choice Award in the medium of acrylics, and in August 2017 she became the grandmother of Josiah Reed Kaufman.

1981Anthony Annicone directed three shows in Rhode Island in 2018: “There’s a Burglar in My Bed” at the Newport Playhouse, “A Double Wide Texas Christmas” at the Newport Playhouse and “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” at The Arctic Playhouse.

1983Paulette Fitzgerald has been appointed principal of Rundlett Middle School in Concord, New Hampshire. A veteran administrator, Fitzgerald was principal of Claremont Middle School for seven years, an administrator at the Merrimack Valley Learning Center and CSI Charter School for five years, and a special educator for 10 years at the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District. Fitzgerald earned a master’s degree in special education at Keene State College.

Michael Higgins was recently promoted to account executive at the Providence office of HALO Branded Solutions, a global leader of promotional solutions.

David Soucy, president of Soucy Insurance Agency in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, was honored at the 2018 Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner with the Ben G. Mondor Philanthropic Award for going above and beyond. Soucy is co-founding board member of the Stadium Theatre Foundation and the Museum of Work & Culture Preservation Foundation. Soucy served as president of the latter foundation for three years and currently serves as immediate past president to continue to support and promote the museum’s initiatives.

Lynne Urbani was presented the Rhode Island Hospitality Association’s Chairman’s Award at the 28th Annual Meeting at Twin River Casino. Urbani has been policy director for the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives since 2013 and has worked in health care for more than 25 years. She is a graduate of Leadership Rhode Island and the Rhode

Island State Police Citizens Trooper Academy. Urbani is also an active volunteer for numerous foundations and currently serves as a board member of Special Olympics of Rhode Island.

1985Richard Stang, Esq. was hired by Coastal Commercial Real Estate as a commercial sales and leasing broker for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Stang earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

1986Maryann Seebeck is Block Island’s first coordinator of human services, a new position added to the town’s 2017-2018 budget. A registered nurse since 1986, Seebeck has spent much of her nursing career in various leadership roles at Women & Infants Hospital, including the role of nurse coordinator of the hospital’s High Risk Pregnancy Program, research coordinator of various projects involving at-risk women and children, clinical manager of the hospital’s Institutional Review Board and nurse manager of the Women’s Primary Care Center. Seebeck earned her master’s degree in nursing at the University of Rhode Island.

1988Joseph Hurley, M.Ed., was named 2018 Rhode Island Secondary School Principal of the Year. Hurley has been principal of Barrington High School since 1999, after working as a teacher and administrator at public schools in Taunton, Massachusetts. Hurley is also a commission member for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, representing Rhode Island.

1990A music teacher at Ranger Elementary School in Tiverton, Rhode Island, Renee Bond, M.Ed. 2000, was voted the Lion’s Club Teacher of the Year by faculty.

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1991Marilyn Busch continues her multi-hyphenated careers in New England in the fields of film, stage, TV and journalism. She is a member of the American Theater Critics Association and a regular reviewer for Motif Magazine. Busch was recently honored with the 2018 Rhode Island Press Association Award for her business writing and won the 2017 Broadway World RI Best Actress Award. She was also a nominee for the 2018 Motif Theater Award for Best Actress for her role in the play “Self-Help,” performed at the Newport Playhouse and Cabaret. As a SAG-AFTRA actor, Busch can be seen in Netflix’s “The Polka King,” the short indie film “Wise Gals” and Showtime’s “Brotherhood” (now streaming).

Michael Convery, M.Ed. 1997, has been appointed superintendent of the New Shoreham School Department on Block Island. Convery retired as superintendent of the Coventry School Department in 2016, after a 25-year career as teacher and administrator. He was assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent. Convery also served for two years as director of curriculum for the Narragansett School District.

1993Stephen Gobewole, M.S. 1997, has had his second book published, “Continental Impoverishment,” by Dog Ear Publishing. In it he explores why Africa became a continent of poor nations and how this can be changed. His first book is titled “Liberia’s Political Economy: An Examination of Public Institutional Quality.” Raised in Liberia, Gobewole followed up his two degrees at RIC with a certificate in financial planning from Bryant University and a Ph.D. in public policy, with a concentration in public management and leadership, from Walden University. He served as assistant vice president for SunTrust Bank for about four years, and for more than a decade, he managed bank branches – Sovereign Bank, Citizens Bank and Eastern Bank.

1994Jamie Marcoux has been appointed director of athletics at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. She brings to the job 20 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics. Most recently she was director of athletics at Johnson & Wales University in Providence. At Assumption, Marcoux will be responsible for implementing key priorities as they relate to the college’s strategic plan.

Jennifer Miguel, M.S.W. 1999, has been promoted to executive vice president of the Justice Resource Institute, Inc. (JRI) in Needham, Massachusetts. JRI is a nonprofit provider of trauma-informed care for children and families in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Miguel will help oversee and manage agency leadership and programming. She joined JRI in 1998 as a clinical social worker and has held a number of leadership positions over the years. As senior vice president, she helped manage the agency’s overall operations while also directing JRI’s community-based programming and day school services throughout Massachusetts. As vice president, she oversaw JRI’s youth behavioral health programs in Massachusetts. And as division director, she managed JRI’s regional resource centers and several other community-based programs.

1995Heidi Ebert Paul has been appointed assistant to the chief justice of the Superior Court in Boston, Massachusetts. Paul graduated from Rhode Island College with a degree in sociology and then enrolled in the paralegal program at Bridgewater State University. She was recently married to Markus Paul.

Mark Bradbury, who earned an M.P.A. and Ph.D. in public administration at the University of Georgia, was promoted to associate dean in the College of Arts & Sciences at Appalachian State University. He has directed their Master of Public Administration program since 2010.

1996Gilman Whiting presented the 2018 Rosel Schewel Lecture in Education and Human Diversity at Lynchburg College in Virginia. Whiting is associate professor and director of graduate studies in the African American and Diaspora Studies Department at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. An internationally known expert on education, Whiting founded the Scholar Identity Model, which helps entire communities re-conceptualize their approach toward helping young black men achieve goals in the classroom. His Rosel Schewel lecture was titled “The Urgency of Now: Theorizing Education Frameworks in Action.”

Alison Mello, who began her teaching career as a math specialist, has been named assistant superintendent of Foxborough, Massachusetts, public schools. She holds a master’s degree in education from Bridgewater State University and is a candidate for a doctoral degree in educational, instructional and curriculum supervision at Johnson & Wales University.

1999After 18 years as an educator and administrator, Jessie Butash has been appointed middle school principal/director of teaching and learning at Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Previously she served as assistant principal of Cumberland High School. Butash began her career as a social studies teacher in the Woonsocket school system and was promoted to house leader at Woonsocket Middle School. Later, as an induction coach for the Rhode Island Department of Education, Butash mentored teachers new to the profession. She is also the founder of the Open Door Initiative, a statewide effort to connect superstar educators as they build on their professional practice.

Patricia Petty, M.A. 2007, LPS, MHSP, has her own private practice as a licensed professional counselor in Madison, Tennessee.

Annamaria Salisbury has been promoted to executive director of Fallon Health’s Summit ElderCare® program. She first joined Fallon Health as site director in 2010, overseeing the daily operations of one of Fallon Health’s Summit ElderCare® PACE Centers. She later served as senior site director, senior director of operations and interim executive director of Summit ElderCare®. Prior to joining Fallon Health, she was administrative manager of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island. She also held several directorial positions at Fellowship Health Resources in Lincoln, Rhode Island, a behavioral health-care nonprofit organization.

2001Donna Coderre, principal of the Leo Savoie Elementary School in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, was one of 62 public school administrators across the United States to be named a 2017 National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals. Coderre is also a facilitator at Harvard University’s Principal’s Center. Coderre earned her master’s degree at Providence College in 2006.

City Councilman David Salvatore, who has represented Ward 14 in Providence’s North End since 2011, was elected Providence City Council president in December 2017 and sworn in by Providence Probate Court Judge John Martinelli. Salvatore served as chairman of the Special Committee on Ways and Means from 2012 until 2014, overseeing the budgetary process, and chaired the council’s Subcommittee on Pension Sustainability, which laid the groundwork for numerous changes in the city’s pension system under then-Mayor Angel Taveras.

2002Nicolas Benoit was recently promoted from director of operations to chief operations officer for Royal Arcanum Insurance in Boston. Benoit began his career at Royal Arcanum as home office

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manager of operations in 2012. Previously he worked for John Hancock Life Insurance Co. and Sovereign Bank.

2003Arthur Lisi is the new principal of the Msgr. Clarke Catholic Regional School, a co-educational school in Wakefield that educates pre-K-8 students. Lisi was previously principal at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School in Coventry, where he also served as assistant principal for three years.

2004Former Democratic state Sen. Tom Coderre, a national leader in the field of addiction recovery, has returned to the Rhode Island State House as a senior adviser to Gov. Gina Raimondo. Coderre’s responsibilities will include coordinating the administration’s various tactics to combat the addiction/opioid crisis and serving as a liaison to the legislature. Coderre represented Pawtucket in the Senate from 1995 to 2003 and served as chief of staff for then-Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed from 2009 to 2014 before President Barack Obama appointed him a senior adviser to the assistant secretary for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Michelle Moniz has been appointed senior vice president of retail banking at bankHometown in Oxford, Massachusetts. Moniz will be responsible for retail banking and branch administration, including business development and sales. She was previously a senior retail district executive

for Santander Bank, managing 14 banking centers. She later became senior vice president/market manager at Webster Bank in Rhode Island.

Joseph Padykula was named captain of the Wrentham, Massachusetts, fire department. Padykula joined the department in 2014 after working at the Franklin Fire Department and serving two stints at the Attleboro Fire Department. He was also emergency department technician at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. Along with earning a bachelor’s degree at RIC, Padykula earned a bachelor’s degree in fire science at Columbia Southern University and is working on a master’s degree in health care administration at Grand Canyon University.

2005Ashley Rose Folgo, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, is an ANCC-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. After graduating from Rhode Island College with a B.S. in chemical dependency/addiction studies and a B.A. in psychology, Folgo earned a B.S. in biological sciences at the University of Rhode Island and a B.S. and M.S. in nursing at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, Massachusetts. She went on to earn a Doctor of Nursing Practice at Yale University. Folgo is recipient of the Rhode Island College Victoria Lederberg Psychology Faculty Award, the McLean Hospital Partners in Excellence Team Award and the Rhode Island State Nurses Association Scholarship.

2006While obtaining her degree at Rhode Island College, Pamela Bliss conducted a study demonstrating the benefits of using volunteers to assist impoverished individuals in navigating social and community-based services. This study led her to found On Common Ground in 2009. This grassroots social agency in Attleboro, Massachusetts, assigns mentors to people in need, often people

near or at the poverty level. On Common Ground currently has more than 60 volunteers, 36 of which are mentors, and is currently offering mentor training.

Selected out of more than 400 teachers in the Cumberland School Department, Kristen Costa was named 2018 Cumberland Teacher of the Year. A special educator, Costa teaches grades K-2 in the Success Program at B.F. Norton Elementary School.

2007Anthony Rainone earned his Masters of Arts degree this year at California State University, Northridge, and teaches at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. He is author of “Tommy the Spaceman,” “Tundora” and “Little Bean’s Busy World.” He was a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter on “The Immortal Machine,” Nick Menza’s final record before his death. The song “Kings & Queens” on Rainone’s first album is available on digital jukeboxes worldwide.

Ashley Sadlier, who has worked for Bayada Home Health Care for the past five years, has been promoted to director of government affairs for Rhode Island and New York. Sadler was formerly director of Bayada’s Pediatric and Adult Nursing office in Rhode Island. In her new capacity, she will represent the interests of Bayada Home Health Care at all levels of local, state and federal government, regulatory agencies and community organizations. Her new role is also dedicated to advocacy and legislative initiatives affecting medically fragile children, adults and seniors in Rhode Island and New York.

2009Rachel DeNofio, M.Ed., was named 2018 Providence Teacher of the Year. DeNofio is one of the first teachers to introduce “blended learning,” a mix of traditional instruction and technology, into a city classroom. She now mentors

other teachers in this practice in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She has taught for the past 11 years at Asa Messer Elementary School, where she is praised for her dedication, her classroom innovation and her commitment to families.

Nicole Riley, a star pitcher in the mid-2000s for RIC’s softball team who was inducted into RIC’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014, was this year inducted into the Little East Conference Hall of Fame at the Italian Heritage Center in Portland, Maine. Riley helped lead the Anchorwomen to the NCAA National Championship Round and to the NCAA New England Regional Championship in 2007. She also participated in three Little East Conference regular season championships and two LEC Tournament wins.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has announced the diaconal ordinations of seminarian Brendan Rowley. After entering the seminary in 2013, Rowley was assigned to St. John’s Seminary in Boston for his formation for the priesthood. His summer assignments as a seminarian included parishes in Woonsocket, Barrington, North Kingstown and Westerly. After his diaconal ordination, he will serve as deacon at St. John Paul II Parish in Pawtucket before returning to the seminary to complete his formation for the priesthood.

2010Kevin Andrade has joined the Providence Journal as a news reporter. Andrade began his career as a journalist while researching public reaction to SB 1070, Arizona’s immigration law. This led him to write news articles on the U.S./Mexico border in both countries. Andrade reported for the Massachusetts-based bilingual weekly O Jornal before moving to the Yuma Sun in Arizona, where his assignments included stories related to the border, immigration, agriculture, health and education. More recently, he spent two years living and working as an English teacher in the Dominican Republic. Andrade received a master’s degree in Latin American studies at the University of Arizona in 2012.

(Continued)

Class Notes

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degree in theater and travels as a motivational speaker.

Joseph Velleca earned a Master of Arts degree in history at Providence College this year. He holds a B.A. in history from Rhode Island College.

2014After serving as interim director since 2017, Shontay Delalue, a higher education administrator and scholar, has been appointed vice president for institutional equity and diversity at Brown University. She is also assistant provost for global engagement and director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program at Brown.

Julia Maguire was hired as weekend sports anchor at television station KXRM/Fox 21 in Colorado Springs. Previously Maguire reported on sports and was anchor at KREX-TV in Grand Junction, Colorado. There, she covered local high school and collegiate sports along with reporting live at Mile High Stadium during the Denver Broncos football season.

2016Paul Kelley has been promoted to sergeant, after serving in the patrol division of the Coventry Police Department. Kelley graduated from the Rhode Island Municipal Police Academy in 2008 and became a field training officer for the Coventry Police Department. He is also a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Rhode Island National Guard and has been twice deployed to the Middle East.

2017Elena Yee, M.S., recently co-authored a paper with former RIC Assistant Professor Prachi Kene. The paper is titled “Suicide Assessment and Treatment: Gaps Between Theory, Research, and Practice.” The paper was published in the “Journal of Death Studies.” Yee was a student of Kene’s in RIC’s Department of Counseling, Educational Leadership and School Psychology

Adriano Cabral is assistant professor of theater at the University of Nevada, Reno, having previously taught at the University of West Georgia and Arizona State University. Cabral earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in theater performance at Arizona State University.

2011Caitlin Massey has been appointed online admission associate at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. Massey earned her Master of Education degree in higher education administration at Baruch College, CUNY, in 2016 and worked for two years as a senior academic advisor at Baruch.

2012This year Justin Bibee was elected to a three-year term as town meeting member representing District 3 in Brattleboro, Vermont. He will preside over the $26,000,000 annual school budget.

Thomas Ricci, M.P.Ac. 2018, was recently promoted to finance manager for Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.

2013Dr. Eric Ricci graduated from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine with a doctorate in dental medicine and recently joined Ricci Family Dentistry in Providence, where he practices with his father, Dr. John Ricci. Eric married Alison (Hammond) Ricci at Sacred Heart Church in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, on Sept. 30, 2017.

This year Brennan Srisirikul performed a one-man show, “In My Little Corner,” at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse. The show chronicles Srisirikul’s personal journey as a disabled man and includes “stories of the twists, turns and triumphs of living life on wheels.” The performance features songs from musical theater and from the pop music canon. Srisirikul graduated from Rhode Island College with a

Alumni Weddings

Dorothy Pieniadz A Living Legacy is Honored by

Big Brothers Big Sisters

2001Ryan J. McNelis to Maureen Fitzpatrick in October 2017

2012Kathryn C. Chase to Nathan Leaf in May 2018

At age 94, former RIC Dean of Students and Professor Emerita Dorothy Pieniadz, one of the founding mothers of Big Sisters of Rhode Island, was honored for dedicating more than 50 years to bettering the lives of thousands of Rhode Island’s children.

On March 15, 2018, at the headquarters of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ocean State (BBBSOS), a room was formally dedicated in her honor – The Dr. Dorothy Pieniadz Training Room – and a Certificate of Special Recognition presented by BBBSOS Executive Director Katje Afonseca on behalf of R.I. Gov. Gina Raimondo.

“Dr. Dorothy had a vision and knew how to execute it,” said Afonseca. “Every day that I sit at my desk, I think of her. Her vision must continue.”

In 2000 Pieniadz secured BBBSOS’s financial security through the establishment of the Dr. Dorothy Pieniadz Endowment Fund along with a scholarship fund for BBBSOS high school graduates pursuing postsecondary studies.

A lifelong leader and advocate of education, Pieniadz has always stressed the importance of earning a degree. “Our children are our future,” she explained. “Without an education in this country there is no future. My hope is that Big Brothers Big Sisters will continue to be aware of the changing needs of young people in a changing society. As for me, I will continue to help out in whatever way I can.”

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