A two-year initiative involving Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University has found that bringing memory screenings directly into local Offices for the Aging (OFAs) can help identify older adults with early signs of cognitive impairment, but also confirmed that transportation barriers persist. Plus, fear and stigma keep many rural residents from getting a full diagnosis and follow-up care.

The project, led by Maria Brown, associate research professor in Syracuse University’s School of Education, and Dr. Sharon Brangman, director of the SUNY Upstate Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease, trained 54 case managers and 10 supervisors at seven OFAs across Cayuga, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Oswego and Tompkins counties. Their training involved administering the Mini-Cog, a brief cognitive screening tool, as part of their routine work with clients.

The project built on an earlier pilot in Onondaga County and was funded by the New York Health Foundation and the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.

In total, case managers screened 684 older adults. Roughly 35% of those screened had scores suggesting possible cognitive impairment, and case managers referred them for a comprehensive evaluation with geriatricians at Upstate’s Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Of those referred, 52 ultimately completed the evaluation and only 7 of that group were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Nearly half were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, which is memory changes later in life that do not necessarily lead to dementia but benefit from ongoing monitoring.

“It’s important to draw a distinction that cognitive impairment doesn’t necessarily mean dementia,” Brown says. “For the people we screened, a positive result meant we could connect them with geriatricians for a full evaluation. That’s a chance to get ahead of a problem instead of reacting to a crisis.”

“Early detection gives people and their families more choices,”�� says Brangman, who teamed up with Brown on the project. “When we identify memory changes before they become a crisis, we can determine whether it’s Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment or another condition, and connect patients with the right treatments, support services and planning resources.”

Many people who were referred for further evaluation chose not to go, and Brown says the reasons point to broader gaps in rural healthcare. Long drives to Syracuse, limited transportation options and fear of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis (including worry about losing independence) all factored into people’s decisions.

Even so, case managers at all seven participating OFAs found the screening valuable enough that they plan to keep using it after the project’s formal funding ends, and providers at SUNY Upstate Geriatrics will continue training new OFA staff on the tool going forward.

“Even when someone can’t or won’t follow up with a specialist, the screening itself gives case managers information they can use to better support their clients,” Brown says. “That’s valuable on its own.”

Brown says the results reinforce the need for more partnerships between medical and social service providers, particularly in rural areas where residents already face a shortage of specialists trained to evaluate cognitive changes. She and her Upstate colleagues hope the model along with the training resources developed through the project can eventually expand to more counties across New York state.

The has been ranked No. 11 in the nation among the best online MBA programs for 2027 by —the highest ranking the program has ever received from the publication—further cementing its standing among the country’s top online business education offerings.

The recognition comes at a pivotal moment for the Whitman online MBA. The program is in the midst of a comprehensive reimagining, with significant changes already in effect for the fall 2026 session and additional updates planned for spring 2027. Beginning this fall, the program moves from 54 to 45 credits, can be completed 100% online without required residencies and will allow eligible students to apply up to six prior learning credits toward the degree—reducing total credits to as few as 39 for some students. At a moderate pace, students can complete the program in as little as 15 months.

“This recognition from The Princeton Review reflects what our online MBA students tell us again and again: that the experience is personal, rigorous and genuinely transformative,” says Whitman Interim Dean Alex McKelvie. “At Whitman, we believe an online MBA should feel like our school: live sessions with faculty who know your name, small class sizes, real relationships and support at every stage. That commitment to a high-touch, student-first experience is what sets us apart, and it is what we will continue to build on as we make this program even more flexible and accessible.”

The Princeton Review ranking evaluates programs across a range of factors including academic rigor, career outcomes, faculty quality and student experience—an area where the Whitman online MBA consistently stands out. Unlike many online MBA programs that rely primarily on asynchronous, pre-recorded content, the Whitman online MBA is built around live weekly sessions in small sections of approximately 20 students, taught by full-time Whitman faculty. That personalized, interactive model mirrors the high-touch approach that defines the Whitman undergraduate experience and has become a defining differentiator in the online learning space.

The No. 11 online MBA ranking adds to a strong year of recognition for Whitman’s MBA portfolio. Earlier in 2026, the school’s full-time MBA broke into the Fortune Top 50 nationally for the first time, climbing to No. 47. Together, these rankings reflect the school’s broader momentum as it advances toward its Transformation 2030 goal of becoming a Top 25 undergraduate business school by 2030.

Applications for the fall 2026 online MBA session are due Aug. 13. For more information and to apply, visit .

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Eleven Syracuse University students and alumni have been selected as 2026 recipients of awards, with three additional students named as alternates. The prestigious program, which funds English teaching assistantships and study/research grants in more than 140 countries, will send this year’s Syracuse cohort across four continents to teach, conduct research and build cross-cultural connections.

The 2026 recipients are the following:

• Bobby Battle ’26 (School of Education), English Teaching Assistantship (ETA), Spain
• Christian Bevilacqua ’24, G’26 (School of Education, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences), study grant, United Kingdom
• Gabriel Calloway ’26 (Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Brazil
• Andrew Danik G’23 (Maxwell School), research award, Namibia
• Molly Grow ’26 (School of Education), ETA, South Korea
• Troyesha Parks ’22, G’23 (Falk College of Sport, Maxwell School), ETA, Taiwan
• Maya Philipp (Ph.D. in biology, College of Arts and Sciences), Azores Regional Government Research Award, Portugal
• Sarah Schreiber ’26 (Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Cambodia
• Iona Volynets ’24 (Maxwell School and A&S), research award, Kazakhstan
• Anya von Wolff ’26 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Fulbright Combined Award, Austria
• Ernestine Whitaker G’26 (Ph.D. student in anthropology, Maxwell School), study grant, Italy

Three additional students were named alternates: Nathaniel Hasanaj ’25 (Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Kosovo; Sarah Leonard ’26 (School of Education), ETA, Spain; and Lilyan Minicozzi ’26 (VPA), study grant, United Kingdom.

Two of the recipients—Maya Philipp and Sarah Schreiber—show the two sides of the program up close: one heading abroad to conduct research, the other to teach.

Maya Philipp: Tracking Whales in the Azores

Philipp will spend her Fulbright year in the Azores, working with researchers at the Institute of Marine Science–Okeanos at the University of the Azores to study sperm whale distribution and behavior.

Her project draws on high-resolution biologging tags that capture audio, location and movement data from whales, paired with satellite oceanographic data, allowing her to model where the animals are likely to be and what they’re doing at any given time.

The work will form the third chapter of her doctoral dissertation, which examines how large whales’ movement patterns reveal the “prey landscapes” they navigate in shifting marine environments.

Philipp’s research carries real stakes beyond her dissertation. The Azores sit along one of the busiest shipping corridors connecting the Americas and Europe, and rising vessel traffic has coincided with a growing number of sperm whale injuries and deaths. By predicting where whales will surface and travel, Philipp’s models could help ships steer clear of high-risk zones, reducing collisions while also helping whale-watching operators locate the animals.

Beyond the science, Philipp sees the year as a chance to deepen her Portuguese and immerse herself in local life, serving as a cultural ambassador as much as a researcher.

“By the end of the program, I hope to come away with insights that can help protect sperm whales while serving the local economy, and collaborations that will continue well after my time as a Fulbright researcher,” she says.

Sarah Schreiber: Teaching English in Cambodia

Schreiber says her background in international relations and environmental policy gives her a unique perspective on the English��language learning classroom.

“I have been a language student myself many times, which will aid me in understanding my students’ needs and designing exercises that work best for them,” she says. “My studies at Syracuse taught me the intercultural communication skills necessary to succeed.”

Her interest in Cambodia traces back to an undergraduate paper on women under the Khmer Rouge, which she wrote for a course on atrocity studies. It left her wanting to understand more about how Cambodia has rebuilt itself over the past three decades. She’s spent the months leading up to her departure studying Khmer and connecting with fellow Fulbright grantees headed to the region.

Beyond the classroom, Schreiber plans to volunteer after school hours running English clubs, and possibly a dance club as well, as part of a broader effort to serve as a thoughtful guest in the country and a genuine cultural bridge between Cambodia and the United States.

All students were assisted by the (CFSA) in the preparation of their Fulbright applications. Students and alumni interested in the 2026-27 Fulbright cycle should contact the CFSA at cfsa@syr.edu.

Grocery prices have remained a persistent strain on household budgets, and according to a supply chain expert in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, that pressure isn’t expected to ease before the end of the year.

Patrick Penfield, professor of supply chain practice, says a combination of rising costs across the supply chain is driving food prices higher. A shrinking cattle supply is compounding the problem, pushing up the cost of beef and other proteins.

The data backs him up. Grocery (food-at-home) prices rose for the fifth time this year in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the projects food-at-home prices will climb 2.8% for all of 2026—faster than the 20-year historical average.

Beef is a standout: farm-level cattle prices were up nearly 17% in May compared to a year earlier, and wholesale beef prices were up nearly 16%, driven by a cyclical contraction in the U.S. cattle herd.

Food prices are expected to keep climbing through the rest of 2026,” Penfield says. “[Fuel, fertilizer, trucking and transportation, packaging materials and labor costs are] key pressures pushing prices higher across the supply chain… With farmers now heading into the start of harvest season, these elevated input costs are expected to work their way through the supply chain and translate into higher prices for consumers by the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2026.”

Penfield notes that until these underlying cost pressures ease, shoppers shouldn’t expect meaningful relief at the grocery store in the near term.

About Penfield

, professor of supply chain practice and director of executive education, teaches and researches supply chain management, procurement and logistics.

Media Contact

Reporters interested in speaking with Professor Penfield about grocery prices, supply chain disruptions or related topics may contact:

Daryl Lovell
Syracuse University Media Relations
M��315.380.0206
dalovell@syr.edu����

Are you a Syracuse University alumnus who turned your entrepreneurial drive into your own business or nonprofit?

If so, you’re encouraged to apply for the University’s fourth annual��, which celebrate 50 of the fastest-growing global businesses and nonprofit ventures owned or led by Orange alumni.

In the first three years of the ’CUSE50 Alumni Entrepreneur Awards, honorees have included the heads of global investment and advertising firms; the co-founder of a market leader in sustainability impact measurement; the president and CEO of a national nonprofit that advances evidence-aligned reading instruction; an inventor who created smiley-faced sponges for a worldwide cleaning product company; the managing partner of global operations for a leading distributor of high-quality, fresh flowers; and many others.

Applications for the����are being accepted through July 27.

Alumni of any school or college, graduates of the University’s executive education programs and alumni of entrepreneurship programs operated by the����are eligible to apply.

“The ‘CUSE50 Awards have become one of my favorite Syracuse traditions, and this fourth year feels more exciting than ever,” says��Lauren Villanueva, vice president of .��“These awards celebrate the innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of alumni who honed their talents at Syracuse and are eager to come back and share what they’ve learned with the next generation of Orange innovators. Watching that ‘full-circle moment’ unfold on campus never gets old. It’s inspiring for our students, and it’s a powerful reminder of just how far a Syracuse education can take you.”

The ’CUSE50 Alumni Entrepreneur Awards ceremony will occur on campus on Thursday, Nov. 12, in the National Veterans Resource Center at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building. Earlier in the day, during the ’CUSE50 Student Summit, honorees will share insights with current students as part of a series of campus engagement sessions held at the Whitman School.

“What makes the ’CUSE50 celebration so special is what happens in the room before the awards are handed out,” says , interim dean and professor of entrepreneurship in the . “Our students get to sit down with alumni entrepreneurs and hear about what goes into building a successful business. That kind of access is one reason why so many of our students leave the summit already thinking differently about what’s possible for them.”

Ready to Join the Fourth Annual Class of ’CUSE50 Awardees?

Review the����for the ’CUSE50 Awards.

The deadline to apply for recognition is��Monday, July 27. To learn more about the ’CUSE50 Awards and nominate your company for recognition, visit����or send an email to��cuse50@syr.edu. Past ’CUSE50 applicants, including previous winners, are encouraged to apply again.

Aaron Lener ’27 still remembers the exact moment linguistics stopped being a subject he was curious about and became the work of his life.

As a high school senior sitting in on a historical linguistics class by , associate professor of linguistics in the , Lener heard about the Bantoid languages of West Africa.

By the time classes started that fall, he had a research proposal in hand and a seat on Green’s research team. Three years later, that early spark has grown into a body of work substantial enough to earn him a , one of the most competitive graduate fellowships in the country.

The Beinecke Scholarship provides substantial funding for the graduate education of young people of exceptional promise. It is open to junior-year college students and was created to enable them to be courageous in selecting research or creative-focused courses of graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Lener was one of 16 Beinecke Scholars selected from a national pool of nominated students in 2026.

Lener’s résumé is wide-ranging. He is a double major in linguistic studies and international relations, a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program and is a 2026-27 Remembrance Scholar. He has engaged in fieldwork on endangered Nigerian languages, a policy internship in Brussels, Belgium, and a courtroom-observation stint in New York’s court system. During a study abroad semester in Strasbourg, France, he also held a position inside the Council of Europe’s Directorate General of Social Rights, where he researched case law affecting more than 700 million people.

A Family Connection

All of Lener’s work around the power of language traces back to his home. Lener grew up in rural Homer, New York, 35 minutes from the Onondaga Nation, with a great-grandmother born to Mohawk Nation parents.

Hearing family stories about language repression left him, in his words, with “an acute understanding of the dangers of language loss,” an awareness that now animates his research on Jhar and Gwak, two severely understudied Jarawan languages spoken in Nigeria.

As the only syntactician on Green’s team, Lener has spent three years building an analysis of how these languages express negation, working from recordings gathered through WhatsApp calls with native speakers thousands of miles away.

It is at times frustrating work—Lener describes trying to parse grammatical structure over calls with motorcycles in the background—but it has already produced a first-author paper under review at Studies in African Linguistics and presentations at conferences from Cornell to the University of Notre Dame to the Annual Conference on African Linguistics in Buffalo.

Scholarship Based on Experience

Much of Lener’s distinctive scholarship draws on experience outside a linguistics department. His Russian minor, initially a personal interest, turned out to connect directly to his fieldwork.

Much of the foundational theory behind modern syntax emerged from the Russian Formalist movement. Lener has researched that history alongside his African-language work, a link made more urgent, he says, by Russia’s growing military presence in West African nations like Burkina Faso and Niger, not far from where his Jhar and Gwak language consultants live.

A summer with Education International in Brussels had him producing a policy toolkit on mother-tongue education for teachers’ federations across Africa. His work in Strasbourg, reviewing European Social Charter compliance and researching labor protections for platform workers, has little to do with Jarawan syntax on its surface. But Lener sees it as one more facet of the same conviction: that language, whether encoded in grammar or in law, is fundamentally about how people are seen and protected.

After noticing members of his own rural community were struggling to connect with the Spanish-speaking migrant workers who had recently moved there, Lener started a series of community Spanish classes in Homer. He later taught English to refugees from Ukraine, Sudan and Afghanistan through a Syracuse resettlement program. Showing people that unfamiliar languages and cultures “are not scary” is one of the most direct ways to combat the fear that comes from a lack of exposure.

Jolynn Parker, director of Syracuse’s , says Lener has “extraordinary energy, boundless curiosity and a keen analytical mind.”

“Aaron is poised to be a leader in the field of linguistics and to contribute meaningfully to the description and preservation of threatened languages,” she says.

As for the future, Lener is certain he will be using language to make a difference in the world.

“I want to look in the mirror and tell myself, with confidence, that I am doing something good for others,” he says.��

Angelie “Angie” Serrano Baéz ’27 has never been one to do things halfway.

The rising senior from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, is pursuing not one, not two, but three majors—political science, international relations, and law, society and policy in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, along with a minor in Latin American studies. And, she just completed a semester abroad at Syracuse University’s center in Madrid, Spain.

That drive extends well beyond the classroom. Serrano Baéz participates in the Renée Crown University Honors Program and Kappa Alpha Pi pre-law/pre-government professional fraternity. She is active with La L.U.C.H.A., the Latinx student organization, and the Puerto Rican Student Association, where she will serve as president in her senior year. She has also volunteered as a tutor with the University’s Literacy Corps and served as a peer mentor through the Wellslink program, which pairs incoming students with returning students.

Her combination of academic achievement and commitment to others made her the selection committee’s choice for the 2026-27 Matthew Ross Wanetik Memorial Scholarship, which honors a Maxwell School student who passed away from an undetected heart ailment while studying abroad in 2008.

The parallels between Serrano Baéz and Wanetik are striking. Wanetik majored in political science and international relations and was deeply engaged in campus and community life, including service work through his fraternity. Serrano Baéz shares that spirit of involvement. She volunteers with the Make-a-Wish Foundation and We Rise Above the Streets Recovery and Outreach, a nonprofit that serves homeless and marginalized members of the community.

When asked who inspires her, she says, “My parents, because they have worked so hard to make getting an education possible for me and for my siblings.”

In her senior year, Serrano Baéz plans to complete her international relations capstone and honors thesis and begin preparing law school applications. She is considering her options. Corporate law is one possibility. She credits the scholarship with helping keep that path within reach.

“Scholarships like this are such a meaningful way to honor the legacy of Syracuse community members while also supporting current students like me who might need a little extra help to pursue higher education,” she says. “Receiving the Matthew Ross Wanetik Memorial Scholarship has truly been a blessing, and I hope it also encourages other students to take advantage of the resources available to them and apply for opportunities like this.”

The 2026-27 selection committee included two Maxwell alumni: Marshall Spevak, who received a �����������ǰ�’s degree in political science in 2010 and serves as CEO of the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, and Erin T. Hamilton, who received a �����������ǰ�’s degree in international relations in 2019 and works in the U.S. State Department. Hamilton received the Wanetik scholarship in spring 2018.

Earth has a natural thermostat that has kept the planet habitable for more than a hundred million years. Scientists have struggled to fully explain how it works, but new research identifies a missing link between phosphate availability and sea level. Temperature influenced the size of polar ice sheets and sea level. Sea level changes drove the availability of this nutrient and controlled how much carbon was buried in the ocean, which in turn regulates how much carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere and how warm or cool the planet runs.

��co-authored by��, professor of Earth and environmental sciences in the University’s , traces how fluctuating sea levels and dissolved oxygen content controlled the availability of phosphate in the ocean and atmospheric carbon dioxide accumulation stretching across the last 60 million years. The research was published in .

“We know that atmospheric carbon dioxide decreased substantially as Earth cooled over the last 60 million years, but we have had remarkably little understanding of where that carbon ended up,” says lead author��, professor of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford,��. “Our results suggest that enhanced burial of organic carbon in marine sediments played a much more important role than was previously appreciated.”

The key to the study is phosphorus, specifically phosphate, an essential nutrient for marine life that the researchers describe as a previously “invisible” piece of the puzzle. At high sea levels, broad continental shelves efficiently trapped phosphate in shallow sediments, starving the open ocean of the nutrient. With less phosphate available, marine productivity declined, less organic carbon was buried on the seafloor and the ocean became well-oxygenated—while carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere.

As sea levels fell, that dynamic reversed. Shrinking shelves released more phosphate into the water column, fueling a bloom in marine life. As that organic matter sank and decomposed, it consumed oxygen from the water until low-oxygen zones began to emerge. When those low-oxygen zones extended into contact with carbon-rich shelf sediments, they triggered a feedback loop in which oxygen-poor conditions caused more phosphate to be released from sediments, driving further organic carbon burial and pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere.

“Our co-author, Christian Bjerrum, studied the connection among sea level, ocean oxygen and phosphate with a computer model two decades ago,” Lu says. “We finally pieced together the geologic records necessary to test this hypothesis.”

The researchers identified a sea-level “sweet spot,” roughly 10 to 40 meters above modern sea level, where this feedback was most powerful. At that range, oxygen minimum zones overlapped precisely with the organic-rich sediments of the continental shelf, maximizing carbon burial for millions of years at a time. The team matched these patterns against 60 million years of geological data, including carbon isotope records, phosphorus accumulation rates in deep-sea sediments and a novel iodine-to-calcium proxy developed to reconstruct past ocean oxygen levels.

Lu’s lab conducted the iodine-to-calcium measurements, a technique that uses the chemistry of ancient foraminifera, microscopic marine organisms preserved in seafloor sediments, to reconstruct oxygen conditions in the ancient water column. Samples were analyzed using a mass spectrometer at Syracuse University, funded by the National Science Foundation.

The Eocene epoch, which lasted from roughly 56 to 34 million years ago, stands out as a period when this carbon burial mechanism was effectively switched off. Sea levels were at their highest, shelves were flooded, phosphate was efficiently buried in shallow sediments and the ocean was highly oxygenated. Without the feedback loop, carbon accumulated in the atmosphere and the planet remained warm.

Over geological time, the study proposes, the zone for carbon burial has narrowed as oxygen minimum ranges have deepened—a process that has progressively stabilized both atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide. The oscillations between carbon burial and atmospheric accumulation have grown more muted, making Earth’s climate system increasingly resilient.

Key Takeaways From the Study:

• Phosphate, an essential nutrient for marine life, acted as a hidden regulator of Earth’s carbon cycle for the last 60 million years — but how it plays this role exactly has not been fully understood.
• Sea level controlled how much phosphate was available in the open ocean, which determined how much carbon was buried in seafloor sediments and how much carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere.
• A sea-level “sweet spot” — roughly 10 to 40 meters above modern levels — maximized carbon burial for millions of years at a time, acting as a natural brake on warming and helping drive Earth’s transition to today’s cooler climate.

The research was conducted with collaborators at the University of Oxford (Rickaby and��) and the University of Copenhagen ()��and was supported by two National Science Foundation grants.

The new findings build on a body of research from Lu’s lab using the iodine-to-calcium proxy to reconstruct past ocean oxygen conditions. An earlier study, published in January in��Nature Geoscience, used the same technique to reveal that��—the exact reverse of today’s pattern—and that a planetary tipping point hundreds of millions of years ago flipped that distribution.

Two recent graduates from the University’s have 2026 Laureates of the , one of the highest honors bestowed by the nation’s engineering honor society.

Tova Fink ’26 and Sadie Meyer ’26, both members of Syracuse University’s New York Beta chapter of Tau Beta Pi, join a select group of just 130 laureates chosen since the recognition program began in 1982.

Tau Beta Pi, founded in 1885, is the second-oldest honor society in the United States and the only engineering honor society representing the full range of engineering disciplines. The laureate designation recognizes graduating members who have distinguished themselves through academic achievement, leadership and service to their communities.

Both Fink and Meyer studied biomedical engineering and held leadership roles within the University’s Tau Beta Pi chapter. ��Meyer was chapter president, and Fink was chapter vice president while also being active in campus organizations, including the Biomedical Engineering Society.

“Tova and Sadie represent the very best of what our biomedical engineering program strives to produce: rigorous, curious engineers who also lead with integrity and give back to their communities,” says Julie Hasenwinkel, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “This recognition from Tau Beta Pi is a tremendous honor, and one that Syracuse University is proud to celebrate.”

As part of the honor, Fink and Meyer have been invited to attend the Tau Beta Pi Association’s 2026 Convention, set for Oct. 8-10 in Tucson, Arizona. Each laureate and a guest will be recognized during the Laureate Banquet.

Tau Beta Pi has more than 600,000 initiated members and 255 collegiate chapters nationwide. The laureate program remains one of the association’s most exclusive honors, with fewer than three recipients selected on average each year since its inception.

Syracuse University’s Office of Alumni and Constituent Engagement (ACE) announces the newest members of the Syracuse University Alumni Association (SUAA) Board of Directors and the Generation Orange Leadership Council (GOLC).

These passionate alumni began their terms on July 1. Under the guidance of SUAA President Alonna Berry ’11 and VP/President-elect Katie Walpole ’12, they will work in partnership with the ACE to foster connections within the Orange community and advance the mission of Syracuse University.

New Members of the SUAA Board of Directors

James Balducci G’69

Generation Orange Leadership Council

The Generation Orange Leadership Council (GOLC) welcomes several enthusiastic new members, all of whom are graduates from the last 10 years. The council strives to nurture relationships and encourage lifelong engagement among the University’s young alumni through programming and communications that are uniquely tailored to their own needs and perspectives.

Dana Casullo ’20

Casullo earned a degree in broadcast and digital journalism from the Newhouse School. Based in Stoneham, Massachusetts, she is a communications and public relations professional with experience as a television news reporter and boutique agency marketer, including representing a New England Patriots player. She currently volunteers with the Audax Charitable Foundation and is passionate about mentoring young alumni.

Sam Cestari ’21, G’23

Cestari earned a master’s degree in public diplomacy from the Maxwell School after majoring in finance in the Whitman School with minors in economics, psychology and sport analytics as an undergraduate. Based in Washington, D.C., Cestari works in government affairs and brings professional experience in media relations and AmeriCorps service. He aims to grow the University’s D.C. presence and enhance young alumni career development resources.

Kelsey Davis ’19, G’20

Davis earned a master’s degree in entrepreneurship from the Whitman School after graduating with television, radio and film and innovation design degrees from the Newhouse School. Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, Davis is a product designer at Walmart, working on global associate communications. She is also an adjunct professor and a former LaunchPad entrepreneur who scaled a national creator-brand platform.

Megan Edenfeld ’25

Syracuse University today announced the launch of a sweeping for Fall 2026, giving students an unusually complete set of pathways into one of the most consequential fields of the century.

The portfolio includes standalone �����������ǰ�’s and �������ٱ��’s degree programs, cross-disciplinary minors, hands-on co-curricular opportunities and research that together make up a single, coherent ecosystem.

“While AI degree programs are proliferating nationally, few institutions are bringing the full picture to market at once,” says , vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer. “This is an entire environment for students who want to master AI and shape what it becomes. Whether they want to build the technology, govern it or apply it to a wide range of disciplines, there is now a clear path for these students at Syracuse.”

Academic Opportunities in AI

The Syracuse AI portfolio includes new and degrees in artificial intelligence science; a new �����������ǰ�’s degree in ; a �������ٱ��’s degree in ; seven AI minors; a broad research portfolio across multiple schools and colleges; and a peer-led bootcamp designed to provide students with hands-on AI experience as soon as they arrive on campus.

“Artificial intelligence isn’t confined to a single classroom or discipline at Syracuse University—it’s woven into how our students learn, how our faculty conduct research and how we prepare graduates for a workforce being reshaped by this technology,” says , senior vice president for digital transformation, chief digital officer and interim dean of the . “From new degree programs to cross-campus research initiatives, we’re building an AI portfolio that reflects both the urgency and the opportunity this moment demands.”

The breadth and depth of this portfolio are what distinguishes the Syracuse approach. The �����������ǰ�’s in integrative artificial intelligence is designed for students who want to combine AI with other interests, from public affairs to design to the life sciences. The seven new minors let students in any major add AI fluency in areas like policy, ethics and data. And the AI Bootcamp, a student-led program offering stackable microcredentials, provides students with AI immersion even before they declare a major.

Students are also driving the momentum through the student-led AI organization, United AI, which gives undergraduates hands-on research experience through its Foundry program, cross-campus education initiatives and direct partnerships with leading AI companies.

“Students don’t experience AI as a single subject, and we didn’t want to teach it that way,” says , interim dean of the and associate provost for academic programs. “We built this portfolio so that a future engineer, a future policymaker and a future artist can all find a serious path into AI here and can start the moment they arrive on campus.”

Robust Research

Syracuse University boasts a robust and growing portfolio of research and creative activity related to artificial intelligence. With work spanning engineering, computer science, law, public policy, communications and the humanities, faculty and students are applying AI to challenges ranging from cybersecurity and health care to media literacy and the arts. This interdisciplinary momentum reflects the University’s commitment to advancing AI research that is both technically rigorous and grounded in real-world impact.

“Our faculty are not studying artificial intelligence in the abstract,” says , vice president for research. “They are building systems that detect synthetic media, investigating how algorithmic decision-making affects communities, developing new approaches to cybersecurity and creating new AI capabilities beyond today’s large language models. Students who come to Syracuse will learn from researchers who are actively shaping how AI is built, governed and understood.”

Learn more about artificial intelligence at Syracuse University by visiting .

From “Rocket League” and “Valorant” to “Overwatch 2” and “Counter-Strike 2,” it doesn’t matter what game student casters Carson Kass ’28 and Ryan Blankenhorn ’26 are calling.

The play-by-play and color commentary duo has developed an uncanny ability to predict what the other is going to say during a competition. After broadcasting hundreds of matches, Kass and Blankenhorn have formed a back-and-forth rapport and an understanding of what it takes to effectively call esports for Orange fans.

“When I came to Syracuse, [Executive Director of Esports] said he wanted me to bring the broadcast element of what Syracuse could be as an esports program to our broadcasts. Working with Carson has helped me excel in what it means to be a color caster,” says Blankenhorn, who followed Gawrysiak from Shenandoah University to Syracuse and��earned an major from the ��and the��.

Kass brought a traditional background as a sports broadcaster to the esports realm and says he prepares for an esports match with the same attention to detail as if he were calling a baseball or a soccer game.

“You have to get the color commentator involved explaining why something just happened. Ryan and I have called so many games together that we’ve formed this great on-air chemistry,” says Kass, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from the Newhouse School. “But how we cast a match is different for each game.”

We asked faculty and staff to share photos of their favorite recent high school graduates. Congratulations to all, and good luck as you continue your journeys!