Class Notes

1954

Joan Whitaker Melvin visited campus this past spring. She met her husband,  Albert Melvin ’52 (now deceased) while attending here. She graduated from college at 19 and went on to become a teacher and then a principal in Cranford,  N.J. She now resides in Indiana.

1979

Mary Ann Donohue-Ryan was recently named chief nursing officer at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. In her new role she will oversee the Nursing Department and its Patient Care Services and Operations. She will lead approximately 800 nurses at the hospital. Donohue-Ryan has previously served as the chief patient care services officer at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island and held nursing leadership positions at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Clara Maass Medical Center, and Hackensack University Medical Center.

1983

The Miami Springs, Fla., City Council recently named Assistant City Manager/Finance Director William Alonso ’83 to the position of city manager. Serving as finance director since 2004 and assistant city manager/finance director since 2012, he was instrumental in setting the city on firm financial footing, improving its credit rating, and increasing its cash reserves to historic levels.

Alonso holds a Bachelor’s in Business/Accounting from Jersey City State College and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Government Finance Officer (CGFO). Before coming to Miami Springs, he was the audit manager for the accounting firm of Grau and Company.

1992

David P. Badger (Political Science Magna Cum Laude) is a section chief for the Department of Homeland Security. He recently received a DHS Secretary’s Award for Excellence.

1995

William Anderson Gittens (BA Media Arts), a resident of Barbados, made a special trip to the NJCU campus to honor the faculty and staff who meant so much to him during his student years. In appreciation, Gittens awarded these NJCU employees trophies and complimentary copies of his books (one such book was dedicated to Dr. Joseph Drew, his teacher, mentor, and advisor at NJCU).

2002

Entertainment lawyer Eldonie Mason recently attended the annual cocktail party for New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), of which she has been a member since 2012. She also attended a NYWIFT Power Player Breakfast at HBO headquarters featuring Sheila Nevins, president of HBO Documentaries; NYWIFT ExperTEAs with Robyn Greene Arrington, TV One; SAG Foundation: Conversations – Blue Bloods and Q&A with Tom Selleck; British Academy of Film and Television Arts New York (BAFTANY) Birth of a Nationscreening and Q&A with Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis and Penelope Ann Miller; An Evening with Academy Award Nominee Thomas Haden Church; Walter’s Dead by Mario Cory at the Thespis Theater Festival; BAFTANY Jackie screening and Q&A with Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard, director Pablo Larrain, and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim; and An Evening with Taraji P. Henson.

Mason also spent a day on set playing the role of “party goer” in the short film Find My Wife.

In December, Mason, under the auspices of New York Women in Film & Television, conducted a workshop on Intellectual Property in the Entertainment and Media Industries.

2007

Bobbie Gallagher, graduate in Special Education, is the author of A Brick Wall: How a Boy with No Words Spoke to the World, a story that chronicles her journey raising two children with autism. Professionals and parents alike have been giving her book rave reviews.

2014

In September, Sherley Demetrius participated in Cooper Medical School of Rowan University’s (CMSRU) annual White Coat Ceremony for the school’s new class of 2020.

During this special ceremony, the first-year medical students were “cloaked” in their first white coats by faculty mentors in the presence of family members, friends, and medical school deans and faculty. The poignant donning of the white coat is a symbolic event that marks students’ official entry into the medical profession, and demonstrates their commitment and dedication as they embark on their lifelong journeys.

Approximately 450 were in attendance, including first year medical students and their loved ones; deans and faculty from CMSRU; and Nate Link, MD, MPH, chief medical officer at Bellevue Hospital Center, and associate professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine.

2016

Former graphic design student, Dioni Cordova, created an advertisement-animation that was shown in Times Square on the Thomson Router Building on April 14. The advertisement is for a nonprofit organization named SCIP Leaders.

Leandro Henriquez graduated with a B.A. in Art specializing in illustration. He recently completed an illustration of Guillermo Del Toro, the first in a series of directors.

Zachary Tevoli recently joined the ranks of the North Brunswick Police Department. He was administered the oath of office during the North Brunswick Township Council meeting on October 17.

Tevoli previously worked as a loss prevention detective at Bloomingdales. He earned his B.S. in National Security Studies at NJCU and an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Middlesex County College.