The student success and career advising team in the (ECS) has been selected to receive a 2026 Outstanding Advising Program Award from the Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA).

The advising team  The model pairs every undergraduate student in the college with three advisors: a student success advisor, a career advisor and a faculty advisor.

The model is designed to give students dedicated support across every aspect of the college experience and prepare them for strong career outcomes.

Since its launch, the model has driven measurable gains in student retention and academic recovery. First-year retention climbed from 87.1% before the model to 95.3% for the first fully served cohort and has remained well above pre-model levels ever since (+90%), significantly outpacing the national average for comparable institutions, which is 82%.

“This national recognition is a direct reflection of the excellent work ECS does in support of our students,” says Michelle Blum, associate dean for student affairs. “This recognizes the impactful advising model the faculty and staff of ECS have built and sustained together, and the countless hours the success, career and faculty advisors spend supporting our students, and the genuine care everyone brings to this work.”

“Congratulations to our advising team on this well-deserved recognition,” says Julie Hasenwinkel, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “This award reflects the dedication our success, career and faculty advisors bring to our students every day, and I’m proud of the culture of support they’ve built across the college.”

NACADA is an international professional association focused on student success and quality academic advising in higher education. Its Outstanding Advising Program award is presented annually to institutions that demonstrate excellence in areas including innovation, creativity, institutional commitment and measurable impact on student outcomes.

The award will be presented Monday, Oct. 5, at NACADA’s Awards Ceremony during the organization’s Annual Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

At the center of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole, with a mass millions to billions of times that of our sun and some of the most extreme gravity in the universe.

Some stars that venture too close to such black holes live to tell the tale. Rather than being completely destroyed, they survive to make repeated close passes, producing a new flare of light each time.

These repeating partial tidal disruption events (rpTDEs) give astronomers the opportunity to watch the same star and black hole interaction unfold again and again, thanks to wide-field time-domain surveys that repeatedly scan large areas of the sky for objects that change in brightness.

But in several cases, researchers have noticed a puzzling pattern: The successive flares grow progressively dimmer. For years, theoretical models couldn’t explain why.

Now, a team of astrophysicists at Syracuse University has shown that the answer may lie in a previously overlooked factor—the star’s spin.

The study, published in , was led by doctoral student Ananya Bandopadhyay, working with postdoctoral researcher Benjamin Amend and associate professor —all in the  in the —as well as colleagues at other institutions.

When Stars Meet Black Holes

In a typical tidal disruption event (TDE), a black hole’s tidal force—the difference in gravitational pull across a nearby star—tears the star completely apart.

As the disrupted stellar debris falls toward, or “accretes” onto, the black hole, it loses energy that is emitted in the form of light over the course of days to months.

While black holes themselves emit no light, TDEs provide a short-lived supply of fuel that lights up the surrounding region, allowing astronomers to study these otherwise invisible objects indirectly.

If a star orbiting a black hole does not come close enough to be completely ripped apart, it can, however, lose a fraction of its mass, resulting in a partial TDE. In a repeating partial TDE, the surviving core continues orbiting the black hole, losing more material with each new close pass, a few months to several years apart.

The Dimming Mystery

How much material a star loses during repeated encounters depends partly on its internal structure. Bandopadhyay compares a low-mass star to a fluffy meringue, which can become increasingly vulnerable to the black hole’s tidal forces. By contrast, a higher-mass star has a more centrally concentrated, onion-like star and can shed its outer layers while its dense core remains relatively unaffected, losing decreasing amounts of mass over time.

Those differences can help explain why rpTDEs don’t all behave the same way.

But one pattern in particular has mystified researchers. Of the roughly 10 repeating systems identified to date, four have produced flares that grow progressively dimmer.

Decreasing mass loss might seem like an obvious explanation. But previous hydrodynamical simulations showed that, surprisingly, even as the material lost decreased with each encounter, the predicted flares retained roughly the same brightness.

“We were puzzled by this for two years,” Bandopadhyay says.

�ճ�𾱰��� revealed another effect of the black hole’s tidal forces. In addition to stripping material from the star, they exert a torque that causes the star to spin faster with each close encounter. As a result, although less material falls back toward the black hole, it returns over a shorter period of time, helping to keep the predicted flare at roughly the same brightness.

To reproduce the dimming astronomers were actually observing, the researchers needed what Bandopadhyay called “a new ingredient”—a star that was already spinning rapidly before its first encounter with the black hole.

The new study found that this initial rotation prevents the star from being significantly spun up during each passage. Without that additional spin-up, the timescale over which the stripped material falls back remains relatively constant. As the star loses less material with each encounter, the peak fallback rate—and the predicted brightness of the flare—can finally decline.

Tracing the Star’s Past

But why would the star already be spinning so rapidly?

“It is also extremely difficult to ‘bind’ a star to a supermassive black hole so tightly that it orbits the black hole in a matter of months, and yet they seem to do so in rpTDEs,” Coughlin says.

The so-called Hills mechanism may explain both. Under this scenario, a pair of closely orbiting stars passes near a supermassive black hole, which tears the binary apart, ejecting one star and capturing the other.

In a close binary, the stars can become tidally locked, causing each to rotate on its axis at the same rate that the pair orbits each other. The tighter the binary, the shorter that orbital period and the faster a tidally locked star spins. The binaries capable of leaving a captured star on the short orbit observed in rpTDEs would have to be extremely tight—also leaving a tidally locked star spinning rapidly before its capture.

“Ananya’s work demonstrates that each of these peculiarities can be explained by the same underlying phenomenon: the tidal destruction of a binary system and the capture of one of the stars,” Coughlin says. “From a theoretical standpoint, this is a major step forward in our understanding of the physics at play in these systems.”

Zooming out, Coughlin notes that Hills capture may also have produced some of the stars orbiting Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The new findings could therefore help explain some of the properties of stars in what he calls “our own cosmological backyard.”

Story by Olivia Hall

The journey to Syracuse from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, took Ryan Nugraha 28 hours. He arrived at night, exhausted.

But the greeting he and other Fulbrighters received from administrators of the Fulbright Pre-Academic Program gave a boost.

“Suddenly, to me at least, it didn’t feel as tiring anymore because we got to see the warmth of Syracuse,” Nugraha says.

Nugraha was one of 26 students from 20 countries who spent four weeks on the Syracuse University campus over the summer, participating in the program designed to prepare international graduate students for academic life in the United States.

The program, which returned this summer after a yearlong hiatus, is administered through the in the . The scholars spend their mornings sharpening their English and academic skills, and their afternoons meeting guests—librarians, deans and experts who offer information on topics ranging from conducting research to the U.S. political system to mental health.

The rest of the time, scholars are provided experiences outside the academic realm: dinners with host families and field trips to regional historic sites and cultural experiences.

, director of international programs, says the dinners in particular offer a cultural exchange that runs both ways.

“Families offer scholars a personal window into local life, and scholars offer families their own introduction to a new country and culture,” he says. “That kind of exchange is really the heart of what Fulbright is about.”

The program culminates with a poster session where the scholars present on a topic within their academic focus. When the program is over, the scholars head to their home institutions, where they will begin their graduate study in the United States.

But even after their departure, the program’s impact is felt on campus, Lind says.

“Faculty, staff, and students across departments get a chance to connect with incoming international scholars early, building relationships that often carry into the academic year and beyond,” he says. “It gives the university a meaningful way to live out its global engagement mission, showing that Syracuse invests in international students’ success.”

The Experience for Scholars

For Melanie Lemus, who participated in the program before going on to pursue a master’s degree in global studies at Oklahoma State University, her arrival in Syracuse marked her first time leaving home. She was nervous and scared when she said goodbye to her family in Honduras.

“I was almost crying because it was my first time away,” she says of her arrival. “It was at night. It was tiring. I was so homesick and so nervous.”

Within a few days, she says the warmth of the people participating in and administering the program and the many engaging activities—a trip to Niagara Falls was a favorite experience for both her and Nugraha—overtook her homesickness as she found support and friendship in her cohort.

“The professors were really warm and really kind,” she says. “It was really nice to feel supported by them, the facilitators, too. We have a really good group of Fulbrighters. We all got to know each other, and we had a great time with each other.”

Coming into the program, Lemus says she wasn’t expecting to learn so much outside of the classroom and academic preparation or for those experiences to prove so meaningful.

“I love how everything was planned to make us enjoy not only the academic side, but also to know where we are, what is in our surroundings,” she says.

The Impact on Campus—and Beyond

Nugraha, who is pursuing his doctoral degree in health service policy and management at the University of South Carolina, agrees that it was the warmth of the people of Syracuse and the program’s administrators that made the experience amazing.

Academically, Nugraha says that even though he’s been working in classrooms as a lecturer in Indonesia, the program helped him get back in touch with “being on the other side of the table.”

“This program really warms up our academic brain before actually getting to our home institution,” he says.

Getting a re-introduction to balancing classes, assignments, events and excursions gives a preview of what academic study will be like for him, he says.

“We’re getting exposed to that academic environment again, to that social environment again and also to really know and get in touch with other cultures,” Nugraha says.

Lemus says the program was essential to providing an introduction to that academic system in the United States.

“We can go to our home institutions, knowing what is going on, knowing what we are going to face,” she says.

The Fulbright Pre-Academic Program has been hosted by the College of Professional Studies for a decade, but what Lind says makes it so successful is how many people from all corners of the University participate.

“The Fulbrighters get plugged into conversations with deans, professors and specialists from , the , , , and the , to name just a few collaborating units,” he says. “That kind of reach only happens with institutional backing behind it. Administrative and academic leadership have consistently championed the program’s value to the University, treating it not as a one-off but as a standing part of Syracuse’s international mission.”

For male humpback whales, singing is serious business. Their haunting, complex songs can last for hours and travel for miles underwater, playing a central role in reproduction during the winter breeding season. But despite decades of research into what these songs sound like, scientists have had far less insight into what the whales are physically doing while they sing. Understanding that connection could reveal how singing affects a whale’s energy use, oxygen management and vulnerability to underwater noise and vessel strikes.

A new study by Julia Zeh G’24, a Ph.D. biology graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and member of biology professor ‘ , reveals a previously unknown link between the structure of a humpback whale’s song and the whale’s movement through the water. Published in , the research shows that specific song themes are tied to specific parts of a dive, offering a new window into the biology and evolution of one of the animal kingdom’s most elaborate acoustic displays.

Eavesdropping on a Whale’s Playlist

To gather the data, Zeh and her collaborators temporarily attached sound-and-movement recording tags to singing humpback whales off the coast of Maui, part of a research effort spanning 2018 to 2024. The non-invasive tags are small suction-cup devices about the size of a tablet. Researchers attached them from small boats using long poles and, more recently, drones.

Once affixed, the tags recorded both the whale’s underwater sounds and its movement before eventually losing suction and detaching, allowing researchers to retrieve the devices and download the data. In total, the team tagged 16 whales, a substantial sample from a tagging perspective and one selected to be broadly representative of the larger Hawaiian breeding population.

The team was surprised to find that some whales repeated their songs continuously for up to 16 hours without stopping. More importantly, recurring song elements known as themes lined up consistently with specific portions of a dive. While earlier researchers had noticed that certain themes tended to appear as a whale approached the surface, no one had previously connected an entire song structure to an entire dive cycle.

What the Songs Reveal

The connection between song and depth points to something deeper than coincidence. According to Zeh, themes sung while whales remained at a relatively constant depth during the deepest part of a dive showed different levels of variability than themes sung elsewhere, suggesting those sections may be more strongly shaped by sexual selection. This means they could serve as signals of a male’s individual quality. Themes tied to other parts of the dive, by contrast, may be constrained by physiological or environmental factors, such as the demands of managing oxygen and buoyancy while singing.

“This gives us direction for which parts of the song to investigate if we’re interested in variation, which is likely driven by sexual selection,” Zeh says, noting that variation concentrated near a whale’s deepest points in the water column may be where a male’s song is doing the most work to stand out.

The findings also have practical applications. Because acoustic monitoring is already a common tool for tracking whale populations, understanding how song relates to movement could allow researchers to determine a whale’s depth or position directly from a recording. That, in turn, could help scientists establish a clearer baseline for normal humpback behavior, an essential reference point for detecting when whales are disturbed by human activity such as vessel traffic or ocean noise.

Whether the same patterns hold for humpback populations outside Hawaii remains an open question. Zeh notes that while she would expect similar physiological constraints to apply broadly, documented differences in song evolution between hemispheres raise the possibility that different populations experience different pressures on song structure. Testing that would mean collecting comparable tag data from singing whales on breeding grounds around the world.

A Foundation Built in the Field

The research reflects years of fieldwork and analysis carried out during Zeh’s doctoral studies in Parks’ lab at Syracuse, where she focused on the intersection of animal behavior, acoustics and marine biology. Her time in the lab gave her the tools to combine bioacoustic analysis with biologging technology in a way that had not previously been applied to humpback whale song, allowing her to ask new questions about a subject long studied primarily through sound alone.

By reframing whale song through the lens of movement, Zeh’s work opens a new avenue for studying how physiology, environment and the social transmission of song interact to shape one of nature’s most complex learned behaviors. It also offers a model that researchers can apply not only to future humpback studies, but potentially to the study of complex acoustic communication across species.

“My time at Syracuse changed the way I think about what’s possible in this field,” Zeh says. “Projects like this one, where we combined acoustics with movement data, gave me the tools to ask exciting questions about whale behavior and the opportunity to be creative in how we look at well-studied phenomena like humpback whale song. These experiences inform how I conduct research and have given me the foundation for my current work in ecological monitoring and conservation.”

Since completing her doctoral studies, Zeh finished a postdoctoral appointment with the Passive Acoustics Branch at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She now leads the Archival Passive Acoustic Monitoring Team at the Maine Department of Marine Resources in West Boothbay.

, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the  (ECS), has been named director of the University’s .

“My vision is to build a trust-based community where we elevate our research together. I am optimistic about securing center-scale and collaborative funding and championing new entrepreneurship and industry partnerships,” Soman says.

He also plans to help incubate a new generation of Syracuse University-based entrepreneurs in BioInspired’s core focus areas.

Soman succeeds , senior associate dean for faculty affairs in ECS, who has led the institute since 2023 and remains an active member.

Soman joined the Syracuse faculty in 2013 as a member of the Biomaterials Institute and later as a BioInspired affiliate. He also served  as a program director for the National Science Foundation.

His lab builds light-based tools to grow lab models of organs, print living tissue at scale and study how biological systems process information. The work could transform how scientists model disease, build replacement tissue and understand the limits of biological intelligence.

Institute founding director , William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, says Soman brings valuable perspective to the role.

“Pranav has a strong commitment to supporting both fundamental scientific advances and translating those advances into products that help people,” she says. “Those qualities make him an excellent choice to move the institute forward to build an entrepreneurial biotechnology and material science workforce and to champion researchers and trainees in a time of substantial research funding uncertainty.”

During his time as BioInspired director, Henderson has grown the institute on nearly every front. Nine new faculty joined its ranks, and co-located lab space expanded twice over to house five new affiliates in 2023 and five more in 2024. Equipment also kept pace with the acquisition of a new Zeiss Sigma 360 field emission scanning electron microscope, a first-of-its-kind addition to the .

Henderson also pushed the institute into new intellectual territory: an NSF-funded emergent intelligence research training program, led by Manning as principal investigator,  serves 115 graduate students over the program lifetime. A new focus group, Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences, bridges research across the arts, humanities and sciences. Intramural funding from the institute backed projects on polar fungi survival and shape memory polymers.

That momentum is clear at the institute’s annual research symposium, where student poster presentations grew from 79 in 2023 to 115 in 2025, and research distinction awards rose from student poster presentations to 11 in 2025.

There’s a new face leading this year, and he’s already feeling right at home. Lt. Col. Jared C. Larpenteur has stepped into the role of professor of military science, taking charge of one of the longest-running Army ROTC programs in the nation.

Becoming a professor of military science is a competitive process. Officers apply and their records go before a selection board. If chosen, they rank their preferred universities. The Army then matches officers to programs based on those preferences and each program’s needs. For Larpenteur, Syracuse was the clear favorite.

“Syracuse was my number one choice, so my family and I were extremely excited when I was selected to come here,” Larpenteur says.

A Leader at Fort Drum

That excitement didn’t come out of nowhere. Larpenteur has served at Fort Drum in Watertown, N.Y., several times over the course of his career, most recently as a battalion commander in the 10th Mountain Division. Those years gave his family a chance to fall for the region.

“Over those assignments, my family really fell in love with Central and Northern New York, the people, the outdoors and the community,” Larpenteur says. “When Syracuse appeared on the list, putting it first was an easy decision for us.”

Since arriving on campus, Larpenteur says one thing stood out to him right away.

“The first thing that stood out to me was the level of support Syracuse University provides its ROTC program and its military-connected community,” Larpenteur says. “A successful ROTC program depends on having a strong relationship with the university, and I saw immediately that Syracuse values that relationship.”

He’s also been struck by the people he’s inherited.

“I have also been impressed by the professionalism of our cadre and staff and, most importantly, the quality of our cadets,” Larpenteur says. “I inherited a program with a strong culture and a record of success. My responsibility is not to come in and reinvent it, but to understand what has made it successful, take care of our people and continue moving the program forward.”

Larpenteur is a native of Plaquemine, Louisiana, where he and his wife, Clare, met in high school. The two have been married for more than 16 years and have two children, Ruthie and Charlie. The family doesn’t have deep roots in Central New York, but years stationed at Fort Drum made the area feel like a second home well before the move to Syracuse. His last assignment was command of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division. “Being able to finish that assignment and move just down the road to Syracuse, rather than across the country, was a great opportunity for our entire family,” he says.

Larpenteur was commissioned as an infantry officer through Army ROTC at Louisiana State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. Over 19 years of active-duty service, he has served with the 1st Cavalry Division, the 82nd Airborne Division and the 10th Mountain Division, with deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. His assignments and training have also taken him overseas to Japan, Australia, Poland and Germany. He holds a master of science degree in adult learning and leadership from Kansas State University and a master of military operational art and science degree from the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Developing the Next Generation of Leaders

Looking ahead, Larpenteur hopes his time leading the Stalwart Battalion becomes more than just another assignment.

“I hope Syracuse becomes a genuine home for my family and me,” Larpenteur says. “From my first interactions with the university, people have been incredibly welcoming, and I want to contribute to that community rather than simply work here for a few years. Professionally, what excites me most is the opportunity to develop the next generation of Army officers and leaders. The Army has given my family and me tremendous opportunities over the past 19 years. At this stage of my career, I see this assignment as an opportunity to invest some of that experience back into young people who are just beginning their own careers.”

For the broader campus community, Larpenteur has a simple message: get to know your cadets.

“I hope the campus community continues to see Army ROTC as part of the Syracuse community, not something separate from it,” Larpenteur says. “Our cadets are Syracuse students first and foremost. They are in classrooms, on athletic teams, in student organizations and throughout the university while also preparing to serve as U.S. Army officers.”

While the cadets will continue to be a core component of the university’s culture, Larpenteur hopes for even more visibility beyond those moments the cadets are most known for.

“You’ll certainly continue to see us at some of the more visible Syracuse traditions, our cadets presenting the colors at major events and carrying the large American flag onto the field in the JMA Wireless Dome before football games,” Larpenteur says. “But I also want our cadets engaged with the university beyond those events. The Stalwart Battalion has established a very strong record of performance nationally. My goal is to build on that foundation while developing good officers, good leaders and people who positively contribute to Syracuse University.”

For more information on the Stalwart Battalion, and the support programs available for ROTC cadets, visit the website.

The dances were varied.

A shuffle reminiscent of the salsa followed by two bounces low to the ground. A modified running man on a spin, accompanied by high kicks. Hip sways punctuated by claps and a smile.

Those were the moves three customers busted out at a gas station in Halfmoon, New York, prompted by a sign at the register: “Want a discount? Show us your best dance move.”

The of the customers cutting a rug at Sunoco and Halfmoon Car Wash quickly went viral.

’24, social media coordinator for the business, says seeing the clips garner so much national attention is gratifying.

“We were not expecting this specific video to blow up or take off as it has, but being able to see my work being shared by all of these different news stations and the national news, being asked to be in interviews and people being curious about, ‘How did you come up with this?’ It’s definitely been extremely rewarding,” Sirtori told Syracuse University Today.

‘Our Goal Was to Bring a Smile’

For almost a year, Sirtori, who majored in in the , has been working as the communications coordinator for Bruce Tanski Construction and Development in Clifton Park, New York, running social media accounts for several businesses, including the Sunoco and Halfmoon Car Wash, owned by the company.

She came up with the idea for the video after seeing other businesses, like restaurants and bars, offer similar “dance for a promotion” opportunities.

Sirtori thought the gas station could offer a discount instead, knowing the biggest complaint from customers was the .

“We knew we wanted to do something to give back to our customers,” Sirtori says. “We were looking for a way to show them some kind of appreciation, and we knew this would definitely help them. Our goal was to bring a smile, bring some laughs to people.”

With the owner and store manager onboard, the Newhouse grad says the thought was that some regulars, who have been in the business’s videos before, might participate. At minimum, Sirtori thought they’d get a fun video they could post to their account.

Sure enough, most of the regulars saw the sign at the register and asked about it. Other customers, too, inquired, questioning if it was real. The manager behind the counter told them it was, and asked if they could record.

Ultimately, Sirtori said eight people danced for the discount, but only three were OK with their videos being posted on social media.

“We knew this would be a fun way to promote our store, but also give back to our customers,” Sirtori says.

A month after it was posted, , which features Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” as the soundtrack, has over a million views and nearly 100,000 likes on TikTok, along with thousands of comments.

“I love sharing my content and my videos with other people, and just [people] telling me that it made them laugh or made them so happy,” Sirtori says.

Applying Lessons From Newhouse 

Sirtori, who is responsible for ideation, filming, editing and posting the content for the businesses, says she uses the skills she learned at Newhouse daily.

When she arrived on campus, she didn’t know anything about filming, editing or post-production, so her first-year production classes were essential. Her time at also helped her refine her career goals, she says.

“I learned how to storyboard and how to properly write scripts and take your idea that you have and be able to execute it, whether it be a 30- to 60-second video or a 5-minute video. I’ve used all of those skills in this specific job,” Sirtori says. “I’m the only social media person, so I’ve really touched on every single skill I learned from pre-production to production and even post-production.”

Applying those skills on the job, Sirtori has learned not to give up on her ideas, and she advises current students to do the same.

“Don’t give up on yourself and always advocate for your idea and use your resources that you have at Newhouse,” she says. “Rent the equipment from . Go to your office hours. Listen to your professors.”

Since the dance videos went viral, Sirtori says the gas station likely will offer another fun option for customers. They’re currently brainstorming other ideas, such as “sing for a discount” or “dance battle for a discount.”

“We’re going to do another thing for our customers along that line,” she says. “It won’t be specifically dancing, but we liked how many customers and new people were coming into the store and asking us about it and wanting to be a participant in it. We’re like, ‘We have to do it again. We had to give them what they want.’”

Throughout her career, Nancy A. Mattison, Ph.D., ’69 took risks, forged new paths, broke glass ceilings and made decisions based on the “rocking chair theory,” which essentially suggests that one should consider any decision through the lens of being retired and rocking leisurely on a front porch.

“I would ask myself whether in my elder years I would be satisfied that I had taken advantage of as many opportunities offered as made sense,” Mattison says. “For example, if I did not take the opportunity—and risk—of moving to Europe, and pushing the envelope of what I could achieve as a woman, would I have regrets when I was older?”

Mattison’s recent $1.2 million gift to the is designed to give graduate students more opportunities to make rocking chair decisions.

“Financing one’s education always presents challenges, and some may forego a graduate program for that reason,” Mattison says. “This gift is intended to help allow a student to engage in graduate studies sooner rather than later.” And she believes Maxwell can help develop thinkers and leaders who will seize opportunities, take risks and help solve problems around the globe.

For Mattison, her undergraduate degree in international studies was the catalyst for graduate work and a fascinating career in healthcare policy, with a decidedly international focus.

A Curiosity About the World

Though she grew up on a dairy farm in Central New York, Mattison’s vision for her future was expansive, and Syracuse University nurtured both her intellectual curiosity and interest in the world.

Mattison’s college experience was inextricably intertwined with societal and global change: the Vietnam War was in full swing; Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated; the National Organization for Women was established with an active Syracuse chapter; curfews and dress codes were eliminated at the University.

After earning a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of South Carolina, Mattison brought an international perspective to the Center for the Study of Drug Development, an academic group studying public policies affecting medical innovation. This was soon followed by an active role in influencing those policies in positions at Novartis and Roche in the U.S. A move to Switzerland to work at Roche headquarters offered a chance to be more directly involved in international efforts.

Mattison then headed the London-based Pharmaceutical Partners for Better Healthcare, a global strategic policy group sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. Among other projects there, Mattison was instrumental in the creation of the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations, the first and only such global patient advocacy group, still influential in healthcare policy worldwide 30 years on. Ultimately, she returned to the states to launch The Mattison Group, an international consultancy specializing in healthcare policy and strategy.

“Each of these career opportunities was possible in part because I had such a strong grounding in international studies,” Mattison says. “It was both a challenge and a pleasure to work closely with people from so many different cultures, as part of a global community of interests.”

Mattison’s gift to Syracuse University recognizes its commitment to global citizenship and civic responsibility. “The University has always impressed me with its focus on community. It does not close itself off, but tries to be part of a community,” she says. “This gives students both invaluable opportunities and an important perspective.”

Creating Global Citizens

The Nancy Mattison ’69 Endowed Graduate Scholarship, enhanced in part by The Syracuse Promise scholarship initiative, will provide scholarship and financial assistance to Maxwell graduate students with a preference to those pursuing a master’s degree in international relations.

“Nancy is the embodiment of what it means to be a global citizen,” says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “Throughout her career, she focused on improving the health of people around the globe. Her philanthropy maintains that vision, allowing our students to pursue similarly meaningful careers that make a tangible difference.”

“Nancy’s foresight is aligned with Syracuse University’s historic commitment to providing opportunities to talented students who dream big but need some support to deliver on those dreams,” says Chancellor J. Michael Haynie. “The Syracuse Promise initiative, when activated by the generosity of donors like Nancy Mattison, ensures that ambitious dreams remain within reach for every deserving and driven student.”

“Education clearly expands and hones one’s ability to understand how different countries and cultures view the world and how that affects both public and private decision-making,” says Mattison. “Universities are where the leaders will come from, people who can think critically and solve whatever problems we are facing.”

Inspiring Generations

As Mattison was making her own private decisions about “estate matters” she envisioned a gift that would have lasting impact. By combining an estate gift with enough current funding to make the graduate scholarship active now, Mattison can see the impact of her support for students during her lifetime.

This is not the first time Mattison has given the gift of opportunity. “Years ago, I established a smaller endowed scholarship in my mother’s name at her alma mater, Keuka College. It was one way of thanking her for encouraging me to pursue a career path that would be both intellectually challenging and make a positive contribution to the world,” she says. “I have been pleased with the benefits it has brought to students.” Doris A. Mattison G’60 also attended Syracuse, earning an M.A. from the in 1960.

Mattison is currently writing a biography of her mother, whom she describes as “an extraordinary ordinary woman who made a difference in all the lives she touched. She is one of those unsung women who represent and pass on the best of humanity.”

With her new gift to graduate students at Maxwell, Mattison is hoping to inspire new generations to pass on the best of humanity.

“Without reliable leaders, and thoughtful voters, the future is bleak,” she says. “Maxwell offers outstanding programs that are invaluable. Supporting that seemed to me to be just the right choice, particularly at this point in history.”

Syracuse-area veterans will have a chance to connect with benefits specialists, health care enrollment help and local support services under one roof when the ’Cuse Vet Fest for 9/11 Day comes to the on Friday, Sept. 11. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Levy  Atrium. Admission is free, with free parking available in the Irving Garage.

The event is a joint effort between the , the College of Law’s and the. It is open to all veterans, including University students, faculty and staff.

Regardless of whether individuals have healthcare and benefits set up, the breadth of available resources to veterans in the Syracuse region guarantees there will be something new to learn. An annual event, attendees will have the opportunity to directly interact with representatives from over 20 offices and organizations which serve veterans and military connected families.

While at the event, attendees can:

• Learn how to enroll in VA healthcare;
• Explore veterans benefits (disability, education, employment, community and more);
• Connect with VA professionals;
• Engage with Syracuse University’s veteran resources;
• View and connect with a variety of community resources;
• Try the Clearpath for Veterans food truck
• Learn about the VA’s Mobile Prosthetics Center; and
• Visit the Mobile Vet Center.

Representatives from the University’s and Office of Veteran Success will take part, and event staff will be on site to guide attendees while they explore the participating organizations. This year’s event is sponsored by Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, along with the 9/11 Day Foundation and AmeriCorps.

For additional details, contact veteranadvocacy@syr.edu.

The recently unveiled a plaque honoring two of Syracuse University’s military-connected alumni at . Brothers Charles Vincent “Vin” Byrne ’47 and William M. “Bill” Byrne ’49,  who were the prominent leaders of the Central New York business Byrne Dairy, were inducted into the Capt. Floyd “Ben” Schwartzwalder Hall of Honor, where their legacy will live alongside more than a century of notable military-connected University alumni.

“As we honor Bill and Vin Byrne, we celebrate not only their individual accomplishments, but also the enduring legacy of a generation that changed Syracuse University, strengthened our nation and demonstrated what is possible when service, education and opportunity come together,” says retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dwayne Murray, deputy director of the OVMA, who emceed the ceremony. “Their journey reminds us why Syracuse University’s commitment to veterans remains as important today as it was 80 years ago.”

The Byrne brothers’ Syracuse story began in the early 1940s, when boxing was one of the University’s marquee sports. In 1943, the brothers made collegiate boxing history when Vin Byrne won the Eastern Intercollegiate Flyweight Championship and Bill won the Eastern Intercollegiate Middleweight Championship, the first time brothers had claimed Eastern Intercollegiate boxing titles in the same year. Later that  same year, with the country at war, both brothers left campus to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps and join the 16.1 million who served in the U.S. armed forces throughout World War II.

The Byrne Brothers Return With the G.I. Bulge

Bill and Vin’s return to Syracuse charts a course through an impactful decision the University made at the closing of World War II that still defines its legacy today. Following the war, Chancellor William Pearson Tolley opened Syracuse’s doors to returning veterans on the G.I. Bill, at a time when many colleges were reluctant to do so. More than 7,000 veterans enrolled at the university that fall, growing to 9,500 the following year, making up nearly half the student body. Bill and Vin Byrne were part of that wave, often referred to as the “G.I. Bulge.”

The discipline they built at Syracuse, in the ring and in their military service, followed them into business. Their father, Matthew Byrne, founded Byrne Dairy in Syracuse in 1933, bottling milk and delivering it by horse-drawn wagon. Bill and Vin took over as the family’s second generation of leadership and ran the business the way they’d trained for military service: prepared, disciplined and unwilling to cut corners.

That foundation has carried the Byrne family through multiple generations since. Three of those five generations returned to campus to see the plaque unveiled, from Bill and Vin’s own children to great-grandchildren just starting their careers.

That through line, from campus to combat to career, was the catalyst to bring the Byrne brothers’ story to the Hall of Honor.

“Some of us spent decades in close relationships with Vin and Bill, and others of us were born decades after their passing. That makes it hard, and it means that those of us who knew them well have a responsibility to the younger generations to tell the stories of their lives to their great- grandchildren and their great-great grandchildren,” says Bill Byrne, past president of Byrne Dairy and a member of the family’s third generation. “Bill and Vin have left an amazing legacy that deserves to be passed down to their family, and this display will tell some of their story to the community.”

To mark the occasion, the Byrne family and the OVMA announced the William M. Byrne ’47 and Charles “Vinnie” Byrne ’49 Endowed Scholarship for military-connected students, made possible through Byrne Dairy. The gift also supports the football head coach’s fund and the Veterans Legacy Fund.

Bill Byrne unveiled the commemorative plaque on behalf of the family and Byrne Dairy, on what he noted, by coincidence, would have been William M. Byrne’s 104th birthday.

For more information about Syracuse University’s notable military-connected alumni, and to find out about the programs and services available to military-connected students, visit the .

Based on user feedback, Syracuse University Libraries has expanded the “things” available for borrowing in its community items that are loaned for free to any users with an SU or SUNY ESF ID, and extended in Bird Library.

New items available for borrowing from the “Library of Things” include a ladder ball lawn game, pickleball set, level/stud finder, Onondaga County Parks pass (good for admission to Beaver Lake, Jamesville Beach, Oneida Shores, Pratt’s Falls or the Rosamond Gifford Zoo) and an Empire Park Pass for New York State Parks.

Like all its loanable items, items from the Library of Things can be borrowed by students, faculty and staff. They are available for pickup at the Bird Library Check Out Desk. Loan periods vary depending on the item.

In addition to technology items, such as laptops and computer accessories, cables and plugs, chargers, adaptors, calculators, cameras and audio and visual devices, the following are also available at the Check Out Desk in Bird Library:

• Career and presentation items like an easel, green screen, necktie or portfolio.
• Home goods such as a toolbox, sewing machine or kit, clothes steamer, garment bag, air compressor or utility cart.
• Board games such as cards, education, family, party, strategy, thematic or war games.
• Recreation items such as knitting and crocheting materials, glue gun, button maker, lawn games, ghost hunting kit, karaoke machine, virtual reality headset and adventure kit.
• Wellness items like weighted blankets, light therapy lamps, coloring book kits, massage pillows, meditation kits and noise cancelling earmuffs.
• Academic support items like desktop fans, whiteboard markers, phone lockers and graphing kits.

Some individual study rooms in Bird are also now available for SU and SUNY-ESF students to reserve for up to. Most individual  by SU and SUNY ESF students.

In addition to individual reservable study rooms, there are also:

• individual student study rooms for up to three hours per day.
•  for up to three hours per day.
• .
•  for up to three students for three hours per day.
• for up to five students for three hours per day.
• for up to three hours per day.

For more information on resources available through SU Libraries, visit .