Alexis Sandler, an attorney with two decades of experience handling complex and diverse legal matters for a broad range of clients, including in the arts and entertainment and non-profit fields, has been named vice president and general counsel for Pace University.

In making the announcement, Pace President Marvin Krislov cited her background working on an array of legal matters; her experience at The Museum of Modern Art and Fox Entertainment Group; and her understanding of the university’s core mission as reasons that she is the right fit for Pace.

Image

Sandler succeeds Steven Brodsky, who retired after serving 39 distinguished years with the university, including 24 years as university counsel. In her role, Sandler will be a key member of the president’s leadership team, and as leader of the Office of University Counsel, will manage all legal matters pertaining to Pace University and its campuses in New York City, Pleasantville, and White Plains.

“Alexis Sandler is a seasoned professional and accomplished attorney who understands our core mission and philosophy of creating opportunities for a diverse student body,” said President Krislov. “We are pleased to bring her expertise to Pace, and we are grateful for Steve Brodsky’s distinguished tenure of service.”

“When you work for a non-profit, particularly as an attorney, it is important to be passionate about the mission,” Sandler said. “I was drawn to Pace University's commitment to diversity, including and especially its emphasis on first-generation college students. Pace's values in this space align with my own, and I'm looking forward to being part of the Pace team and helping to further its mission.”

Prior to joining Pace, Sandler served for nearly a decade as in-house counsel for The Museum of Modern Art and its contemporary art museum affiliate, MoMA PS1, where she was also Secretary of the Board. Prior to that, Sandler worked as the director of business and legal affairs for a division of the Fox Entertainment Group and in private practice for two prominent law firms.

She earned her AB from Harvard University and her JD from the UCLA School of Law. She also holds a Master’s in Museum Studies from New York University. She is a member of the State Bar of New York and the State Bar of California.

About Pace University

Pace University has a proud history of preparing its diverse student body for a lifetime of professional success as a result of its unique program that combines rigorous academics and real-world experiences. Pace is ranked the #1 private, four-year college in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights, evidence of the transformative education the University provides. From its beginnings as an accounting school in 1906, Pace has grown to three campuses, enrolling 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in more than 150 majors and programs, across a range of disciplines: arts, sciences, business, health care, technology, law, education, and more. The university also has one of the most competitive performing arts programs in the country. Pace has a signature, newly renovated campus in New York City, located in the heart of vibrant Lower Manhattan, next to Wall Street and City Hall, and two campuses in Westchester County, New York: a 200-acre picturesque Pleasantville Campus and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains.

Manuel Crugliano

Senior Digital Analyst, Nagarro

Class of 2022
MS in Social Media and Mobile Marketing

Member Of: Beta Gamma Sigma, Pace Investment Club, Pace International Students Club, Pace Advertising Club

Pronouns: He, His, Him

While working as a materials scientist in his home country of Italy, Manuel Crugliano realized he needed to make a change. He packed up his life and moved to New York City to enroll in the Lubin School of Business to work towards a master's degree in Social Media and Mobile Marketing. Between multiple on-campus activities and a successful internship at NBCUniversal, Manuel is getting ready to graduate—and he encourages anyone looking to pursue social media and mobile marketing to take the plunge with Lubin.

Why did you choose Pace University and the Lubin School of Business?

Pace and the Lubin School of Business offer the ideal advanced degree in Social Media and Mobile Marketing. I decided to join because the program offered the chance to improve my skills and be ready for my new career. The balance between analytical classes and marketing strategy classes was perfect. Also, the expected return on investment is really favorable.

How have clubs on campus helped enrich your student experience?

Knowing about different activities through clubs opened my mind to a new way of thinking and living in the United States. These kinds of activities are not typical in my home country, so it was extremely helpful to experience the openness and enthusiastic approach of other students. As a former NBCUniversal intern, I was recently asked by the TEAM Pace club to participate as a speaker in an event highlighting NBCU professionals. It was a great experience, and I am thankful to the TEAM Pace president, Jennifer Zaurov, and my friend Andrew Tsentner, who invited me and moderated the event.

Tell us a bit about being an international student at Pace.

Being an international student at Pace is amazing. I feel included, supported, and valued. Career Services does a great job evaluating all possible strategies to help students successfully land a full-time job. As international students, we have intrinsic issues that we are forced to experiment with in our journey, but with Pace's support and a very well-structured strategy, we can feel covered by experienced professionals and not overwhelmed by the system.

Being an international student at Pace is amazing. I feel included, supported, and valued.

After spending years as a materials scientist in Italy, you discovered your passion for digital and social media marketing. What advice for you have for Lubin student looking to get into the industry?

Do not underestimate your analytical skills. To anyone who is dreaming about a career in digital marketing and social media—I assure you that there's an increasing need of new methods to measure performance in reliable way. Having strong analytical skills will help you stand out from the competition and reassures potential employers that you're not only up to date on the latest social media and digital strategies, but you are also able to demonstrate your findings numerically.

You recently completed a digital research internship with NBC News. How did Lubin help prepare you for this internship?

Enrolling in Lubin classes that included the use of analytical software, like Tableau and SPSS, was one of the most important things in helping me prepare for my internship. When I was hired, I was ready to contribute from day one because I was already aware of how to use some of the software. Talking with the Career Services was also helpful, as they explained the possible interview process I could encounter and trained me to be prepared.

What has been your favorite opportunity at Pace?

Besides being immersed in such a vibrant environment, I truly appreciated Pace's mentorship program, which gives students the opportunity to connect with experienced professionals that support and guide them through a challenging path. Establishing a relationship with a mentor not only helps professionally, but also stimulates personal growth.

Do you have any advice for other Lubin students?

First, do not stop believing in yourself—I know it sounds repetitive, but it's true. Second, try to embrace an environment that is supportive of the things you are good at, so you can express yourself at your best.

What does #LubinLife mean to you?

It means opportunity, and the chance to do what I like, which is exactly what I was looking for on this journey.

Connect with Manuel:

• Connect with Manuel Crugliano on LinkedIn
• Follow Manuel Crugliano on Instagram
• Follow Manuel Crugliano on Twitter

Works focus on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

Pace University will host, “At a Point of Change,” an outdoor student photography exhibition, which will line the fence on Frankfort Street outside One Pace Plaza in Lower Manhattan. The exhibit is open to the public and will run for two months, beginning May 9, 2022.

“At a Point of Change,” features the photography of 13 students enrolled in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences interdisciplinary course entitled “Seeing the World Differently Through Economics and Photography,” which combines concepts from economics with photography. The course focuses on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a group of 17 objectives set to be achieved by 2030 to better our world, focusing on issues such as poverty, equity, climate action, and sustainable economic growth.

“The goal of this exhibit is to create a powerful visual statement that Pace is committed to sustainability, equity, and inclusion,” said Associate Professor of Economics Anna Shostya, PhD, who co-teaches the course with Associate Professor of Art, Inbal Abergil, MFA. The photographs in the exhibit and the accompanying written pieces showcase the students’ understanding and creative interpretation of these underlying principles. “This exhibition creates a platform for students to connect to these subject matters on a personal level and highlights the power of photography and storytelling.”, emphasized Inbal Abergil.

“This course has developed my view of the world both creatively and critically. It was also a pleasure to be guided through this course by Professor Abergil and Professor Shostya, who consistently demonstrated their passion and love for both topics. This exhibit is proof that creativity and analytics don't sit at two opposite ends of a spectrum, in fact, without one the other fails to reach its full potential,” said psychology major, Megan Sanchez, ’24.

About Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

Pace University’s liberal arts college, Dyson College, offers more than 50 programs, spanning the arts and humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and pre-professional programs (including pre-medicine, pre-veterinary, and pre-law), as well as many courses that fulfill core curriculum requirements. The College offers access to numerous opportunities for internships, cooperative education and other hands-on learning experiences that complement in-class learning in preparing graduates for career and graduate/professional education choices.

About Pace University

Pace University has a proud history of preparing its diverse student body for a lifetime of professional success because of its unique programs that combine immersive academics and real-world experiences. Pace is ranked the #1 private, four-year college in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights, evidence of the transformative education the University provides.

Creating opportunities for underrepresented students and women is the primary focus of my research,” Lauren Birney, EdD, told us. She’s an associate professor of STEM education, and she’s been putting her experience to incredible use. Birney is co-leading a powerhouse group of collaborators to build upon the New York Harbor School’s project to put science into the hands (quite literally) of middle school students in low-income neighborhoods with high populations of English language learners and students from groups underrepresented in STEM. “I was so very fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly talented professors, teachers, and mentors,” she explained. “I just want to do the same.”

“We want to give students the opportunity to learn outside the school building and benefit enormously from an increased awareness about their ecological place.”

Birney has been hard at work developing the curriculum used by teachers at the New York Harbor School to teach children about the importance of restoring the oyster beds in New York Harbor through the Billion Oyster Project. “The harbor is like a living laboratory for education in STEM,” said Birney. “We want to give students the opportunity to learn outside the school building and benefit enormously from an increased awareness about their ecological place.” Along with other students, teachers, scientists, volunteers, businesses, and local organizations, Birney is at the forefront of efforts to reestablish New York as the oyster capital of the world—and they recently secured a $2.5 million dollar grant from the NSF. No small feat in the STEM field! “We have been very fortunate and very blessed with the wonderful partners we have on our NSF-funded grants,” she told us.

And she’s working to create even more opportunity, too. Right now, Birney has her eye on obtaining another grant from the STEM Collaboratory NYC Learning Center. “I can’t wait!” She enthused. “This will be an opportunity for STEM industry professionals, scientists, researchers, students, and teachers to come together while creating, designing, constructing, inventing, and initiating STEM innovations.”

_{This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 issue of Pace Magazine.}

Image

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University team placed first in the 9^th Annual Stanley M. Grossman Innovators Invitational. The event is held annually by The Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) at Brooklyn Law School. The Haub Law team consisted of students Gabriella Mickel, Daniel Guarracino, and Lili Caparosa and was led by Elyse Diamond, Director, Public Interest Law Center and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

Competitors were invited to develop and pitch their legal technology startups to a prestigious panel of judges, including industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors, to compete for prize money to help launch their ventures. To enter, student teams were required to submit an application consisting of a 150-word explanation of their legal tech idea. From there, only select teams were invited to participate in this unique opportunity.

For the competition, the Haub Law team created a video demonstrating their legal innovation prototype and developed and submitted a business plan for the tool’s development. The prototype was created with a larger interdisciplinary team of Haub Law and Pace University computer science students, along with Haub Law’s Professor Elyse Diamond and Andreea Cotoranu, Clinical Professor and Director of the NYC Design Factory in Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, in this fall’s inaugural Access to Justice Lab course. The Access to Justice Prototype is a low-cost, mobile-friendly web application that will help low-income tenants and their advocates in Westchester navigate habitability issues. The Haub Law team placed first, winning the Manne Prize and $9,000 to help launch the project from an idea into reality.

Professor Elyse Diamond said, “I am so proud of our Haub Law team for taking what was developed in our new Access to Justice (A2J) Lab class and creating a pitch and plan to make it a reality. These students are developing real-world solutions to address gaps in access to justice.” The A2J Lab course is a key component of Haub Law’s new Pace Access to Justice Project, which aims to direct the combined legal knowledge, skill and energy among Pace faculty, staff and students to close gaps in access to justice in our communities.

Additionally, on April 29, the Haub Law student team Gabriella Mickel, Lili Caparosa and Daniel Guarracino, joined by Pace Seidenberg graduate students Aastha Bhadani and Aram Stepanian, also presented the inaugural A2J Lab prototype and a business plan at Georgetown Law’s Iron Tech Lawyer Invitational, a highly competitive international competition, held virtually, that is in its 12^th year. The other finalist competing teams were from Georgetown Law, University of Denver Law and Universities in Singapore, Alberta, Canada, and Sydney, Australia. The program opened with a welcome from William Treanor, Dean of Georgetown Law, who discussed the critical importance of programs like these that are training students to develop legal tech solutions to address access to justice gaps, and shared several new initiatives on this front at Georgetown Law - beyond their established Institute for Law & Technology. The team from Alberta was named the winner. Professor Diamond, who attended the live (virtual) competition day, praised the Haub Law team’s “impeccably and professionally executed presentation.” “It is truly incredible that the work our interdisciplinary team did in this inaugural Lab could complete at this level;” described by one of the judges as, “among the best in the world”.

Image

On April 27, students from various degree programs, including occupational therapy (OT), the PhD program, nursing, and health science showcased their scholarly projects on the NYC and Pleasantville campuses.

Project topics from OT included trends within predictors of resilience; faculty experience during the pandemic; effectiveness of 3D printing splints compared to traditional thermoplastic splints; using experiential learning to teach ergonomics in OT curriculum, the best practices of shape capturing methods for creating custom contoured wheelchair cushions, and COVID 19's impact on the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) pass rates. "I cannot even begin to express how proud I am of our students," said Lisa Raymond-Tolan, clinical associate professor of occupational therapy.

Image

Students in the PhD, Health Science, and Nursing programs conducted research on topics such as liver transplant outcomes, comfort assessments for hospitalized adult patients, high rates of diagnostic errors in health care, medication noncompliance, and more.

Students tend to be drawn to areas of research that have affected them in some way. Jessica Barresi, junior nursing student in the RN4 program at the Pleasantville Campus, collaborated with her team to focus on the major issue of medication noncompliance, targeted specifically in the geriatric population. She said this topic was inspired by her elderly grandmother who has multiple underlying health conditions therefore leaving her to be prescribed with various different medications. Because discharge instructions in the healthcare setting can be so cumbersome and overwhelming, her grandmother tends to forget to properly take each medication. "Our idea is to create an age friendly pamphlet with easy-to-read medication instructions, allowing administration details to be more accessible," said Barresi.

Image

Another student, Grace Henderson, a senior health science major, was motivated to do her project on diagnostic error after having family members experience it firsthand. "I wanted to address the high rates of diagnostic errors in health care and ways in which these can be prevented," she says. After conducting a series of interviews, she found that all participants experienced some form of a diagnostic error when trying to obtain a diagnosis for their chronic illness. She discussed with participants the possibility of interprofessional collaboration (alliance between multiple healthcare providers working together to ensure quick and accurate diagnoses) as a possible prevention strategy.

Image

After over two years of COVID-19 restrictions, everyone was pleased to be back on campus. Dean Tye, faculty, and staff made their way around the room, engaging with students about their research and offered congratulations. "Not only did we have a great turnout from our second-year students who are presenting, but our entire first year cohort is here,” said Raymond-Tolan. “It was so nice to have everybody together in one space and see the work that people have been spending so much time and energy on."

See all of the research projects (PDF) this year.

Christal Wong

Assurance Associate, PwC

Class of 2022
Currently Studying: BBA/MBA in Public Accounting

After graduating from the Lubin School of Business with her BBA, Christal Wong kept the momentum going and is now gearing up to graduate with her MBA in Public Accounting in May 2022. After juggling competitive sports, internships, and working on the Pleasantville campus, Christal now has a full-time job waiting for her at PwC starting in January 2023.

Why did you choose Pace University and the Lubin School of Business?

I chose Pace University because it allowed me to continue my passion of playing volleyball competitively. I also love that the class sizes are smaller than other universities, so I have a better chance of developing stronger relationships with my professors and peers. Alumni relations, networking events, and career resources made Pace and Lubin very attractive to me, as well. The campus is also beautiful and the plethora of study rooms incentivized me to sit down and utilize the tools to prepare for my tests.

After receiving your BBA from Lubin, you decided to return for your MBA in Accounting. What inspired you to continue your education at Lubin?

Initially, I was only going to pursue a bachelor's degree and graduate in 4 years, but I saw how great Lubin's combined BBA/MBA program was and figured I might as well get my masters, especially if I needed 150 credits to become a certified public accountant (CPA). I haven't decided my endgame yet but having a master's degree and being a CPA could open more doors for me in the future. My parents, who learned English as a second language, both achieved their bachelor's degrees, which inspired me to go above and beyond since they gave me the opportunity to aim higher. I want to show them that they did a good job raising me.

Not only are you a public accounting student, but you are also an accounting tutor on campus. Why was it important for you to get involved to help your peers better understand accounting?

I remember struggling with my classes when I first started out and then having several "aha" moments after either sitting by myself, staring at a textbook for hours, or with the help of a tutor or professor. I want to be able to help others reach that "aha" moment sooner and to provide them with another resource to succeed, so they don't feel like they're alone. Since I had people there to help me, I want to pay it forward and help others who may be struggling or just need some additional support. Having a mentor or role model helps students gain confidence to get through whatever challenge they are facing at the moment.

You were a member of the Pace University volleyball team. What did you learn from being on a team?

Being a member of a sports team improved my communications skills and showed me the importance of being a team player. It helped me become more responsible—I had to balance my priorities and practice time management to do well on and off the court. I also learned the importance of working with those from different backgrounds and setting aside differences to achieve a common goal. Being on the team made me a more confident and mentally strong person.

On top of being a student-athlete, you also held internships at PepsiCo and PwC and worked on campus as a PaceFit employee, student assistant, and accounting tutor. You are also the recipient of Lubin's Scholastic Achievement Award. What motivates you to work hard?

What motivates me to work hard is definitely my parents and making them proud. They are immigrants from China working to provide my brother and me with more opportunities. Seeing how hard they work inspires me to do the same. I have a lot of support from my friends, family, and Lubin faculty, so I don't want to let them down. I also naturally like to keep myself busy and challenge myself. I have always felt like an underdog, so I like proving to myself and others that I can do whatever I set my mind to if I work hard enough, which hopefully shows other underdogs that they can do it too.

Do you have any advice for other Lubin students?

Take advantage of all the resources provided by Pace University and Lubin. Be proactive in furthering your career and expanding your network. There will times where you are stressed, confused, or overwhelmed, but just try to do your best. Everything has a funny way of working out in the end. Making connections and having a good support system will make a huge difference in your time at the university.

Take advantage of all the resources provided by Pace University and Lubin. Be proactive in furthering your career and expanding your network. Making connections and having a good support system will make a huge difference in your time at the university.

What does #LubinLife mean to you?

To me, #LubinLife means being open-minded and willing to learn and absorb new information. It means putting yourself out there and moving out of your comfort zone by engaging with other members of the community to continue growing as a professional and individual.

Do you have any post-graduation plans that you would like to share?

I plan on passing the remainder of the CPA parts by the end of 2022 and traveling as much as possible before working full-time at PwC starting in January of 2023. I want to learn Mandarin, as well. I plan on being a mentor and will probably be back at Pace once in a while to provide advice and answer questions.

Connect with Christal:

Instagram: @christahhhl
LinkedIn: Christal-Wong