Traditionally, superheroes wear capes. But in this day and age, the individuals saving the world are the ones who are tackling our planet’s most dire threat head-on: climate change.

Pace students, naturally, are ready to do their part. Through the Project Planet USA competition—an initiative hosted by the Lubin School of Business and The Front Yard at Pace University, students and faculty were encouraged to submit their concepts, innovative ideas, or solutions aimed at addressing climate change for a chance to win a cash grant in the amount of $15,000, plus professional mentoring, public relations, and network connections.

Unsurprisingly, a number of Pace students–Seidenberg’s Shubham Madhavi ‘24 and College of Health Professions’s Danielle Hanson ’24, Nisha Troupe ’24, Anjienna Lowtan ‘24– rose to the challenge and were awarded the big prize.

Their ideas, both ingenious and impactful, may very well make major waves to usher in a greener, more sustainable future.

The Bio-Brick Revolution

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Every cloud has a silver lining. Seidenberg graduate student Shubham Harishchandra Madhavi is taking this proverb to new heights; he’s hoping to take the plastic that has made its way into the ocean into special bio-bricks, designed to restore coral reefs.

“My winning concept revolves around the creation of bio-bricks harvested from ocean plastic, which have the remarkable ability to convert CO2 into coral-restoring nutrients," Shubham explains. “This innovative approach not only addresses the urgent need to tackle plastic pollution in our oceans but also contributes to the restoration of coral reefs, which are vital ecosystems threatened by climate change.”

With the support of the grant and accompanying mentoring, Shubham envisions tangible impacts rippling across oceans and coastlines worldwide.

"By removing ocean plastic and converting it into bio-bricks, we directly mitigate the harmful effects of plastic pollution on marine life and ecosystems," he says.

Naturally Shubham's ambitions extend far beyond the confines of the grant period. His long-term goals are as vast as the ocean itself, encompassing the scaling up of bio-brick production, the expansion of the project to distant shores, and the integration of his innovation into existing reef restoration efforts. As Shubham charts a course towards a greener tomorrow, he’s helping to rebuild our oceans purposefully; one bio-brick at a time.

Hope in a Barrel

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Nisha Troupe, Anjienna Lowtan, and Danielle Hanson, are on a mission to revolutionize clean water accessibility.

"It all started with our Health Science program," says Nisha. "We delved into global health discrepancies, and one glaring issue stood out: access to clean water."

Their winning concept? A barrel filtration system designed to harness rainwater, purify it, and provide communities with a sustainable source of clean water.

"We realized that by tapping into rainwater, we could alleviate the strain on traditional water sources," Anjienna explains. "This means reducing energy-intensive processes like pumping and treating water, ultimately curbing carbon emissions."

The trio envisioned their project not just as a solution but as a catalyst for change, with specific outcomes aimed at amplifying its impact. Scaling up implementation, refining filtration technology, forging partnerships—these were just a few steps towards their overarching goal: ensuring clean water for all, regardless of geographical or socioeconomic barriers.

Their long-term vision goes beyond the grant period, to a future wherein water scarcity was a thing of the past and where communities can thrive in harmony with nature.

"We're not just providing water; we're paving the way for sustainable solutions," Danielle says. "By harnessing technology and fostering community engagement, we're rewriting the narrative of water scarcity."

Learn more about The Front Yard program at Pace University, an educational platform that aims to build the most advanced toolbox for Pace University students, alumni, and faculty to support their entrepreneurial and innovative endeavors.

For the past five years, Kathy Winsted, PhD, has connected her digital marketing students with local small businesses. Her goal is to give her students invaluable real-life experience as they apply their learning to a practical situation, while offering small businesses a free audit of their marketing strategies.

This spring, one of the businesses that students collaborated with was Twenty Sided Store, a board game shop and event venue in Brooklyn. Two groups presented their ideas for how Twenty Sided could continue their marketing efforts, including search engine optimization, expanded social media content calendars, and custom bots powered by Chat GPT to run analytics. One group even reached out to potential influencers and began negotiations for influencer deals.

I felt like I actually got a lot more experience out of it than I would in a hypothetical case study. —Derasmo

For Mike Derasmo '24, a recent Global Marketing Management graduate, the project was a unique opportunity. "It was definitely interesting to work with a real small business,” he said. “It was a lot more interactive and hands-on. I felt like I actually got a lot more experience out of it than I would in a hypothetical case study.”

This takeaway is exactly the reason Winsted continues to team up with businesses for this project. “I'm a huge believer in learning by doing,” she said. “Students have to not only learn the course material but figure out how to apply it to a specific business situation. You can only learn so much by watching a video. Real learning happens when you have to create an ad or present Google analytics findings to a real client."

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Morgan Beetham, who leads Twenty Sided’s marketing efforts, was thrilled to get outside input on the work the Twenty Sided team has put in over the past 13 years they have been in business. "Seeing our business through the eyes of someone navigating our website for the first time was really helpful,” she says. “The students at Pace had some great ideas for ways to reach a younger generation and clarify our brand."

I'm a huge believer in learning by doing. —Winsted

Lauren Bilanko, co-owner of the store, wasn’t sure what to expect from the final presentations and found herself excited by the enthusiasm and efforts of the students, who went above and beyond to understand their business. “The amount of research and development the students did to evaluate our marketplace was impressive,” she said.

At the end of the class, the Twenty Sided team left with a whole new perspective and a list of potential, actionable items. According to Beetham, “I've already started implementing a posting schedule more in line with their suggestions.”

Professor Winsted has developed a great program that mutually benefits both the students and small businesses like ours. —Bilanko

Students had the opportunity to not only apply their learning to a real-life scenario but practice their skills collaborating with and pitching to a real client. Derasmo cites it as a transformative experience, saying, “It's definitely helped me prepare for a professional career. Whether it’s applying the skills I learned to a new job, or even creating my own company now that I’ve seen how all these decisions get done. It was a great experience to have.”

Bilanko agrees, seeing the value not just to businesses like hers, but through the enthusiasm of the Pace students. "Professor Winsted has developed a great program that mutually benefits both the students and small businesses like ours. We hope to be invited to participate again next year."

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“I’m always interested in some aspect of us. What makes humans tick? Why are we the way we are?”

While some aspiring academics gravitate towards established topics or research labs, College of Health Professions Associate Professor of Communication Science and Disorders Sethu Karthikeyan, PhD, took a different route. She has spent her academic career exploring topics in which she is curious and intellectually consumed by, no matter the external interest—a route that by her estimation has been a bit more circuitous, but one that has been rewarding at every step along the way.

Primarily, Karthikeyan has used speech and language as a tool to better understand human nature. Says Karthikeyan, “It’s so broad and multidisciplinary, so the question is the king. It drives your literature review, and you really have to dip into psychology, biology, anthropology, and sociology and integrate them into your work.”

“It’s so broad, so multidisciplinary, so the question is the king. It drives your literature review, and you really have to dip into psychology, anthropology, and sociology and integrate them into your work.”

Recently, she’s been exploring the phenomenon of voice pitch in relation to sexual preference. As Karthikeyan explains, on average, men have a vocal fundamental frequency (objective measure of voice pitch), that is five standard deviations below the female vocal pitch. This dimorphism, as it's called, is not unique to humans. However, the unusually high degree of dimorphism among apes suggests that this is not just something we’ve inherited, but has also been a target of evolutionary selection.

For Karthikeyan, the main question is: why?

“Men with deeper voices may be attractive to potential mates because it is associated with some aspect related to health, physical formidability, social competence and/or status. This may have been a female mate preference beneficial in ancestral environments. That’s based on the intersexual selection proposal by Darwin,” explains Sethu. “The other argument is that it could be a result of male-to-male competition, i.e., intrasexual selection, where individuals of the same sex compete against one another for highly sought after resources, including mates.”

According to Karthikeyan, it appears both these mechanisms factor into why the dimorphism in voice pitch exists—just with one of those factors being arguably a bit more prominent as detailed in the theoretical piece by David Puts (2010) and further supported by a recent study by his team (see Aung et al., 2023).

“What’s interesting is when we consider the two mechanisms together, intrasexual competition appears to be the stronger driving force. For example, the lowering of men’s voice pitch has larger effects on perceptions of dominance than attractiveness.”

Karthikeyan sees this review as a launching pad to explore other avenues of related research, such as how social context may make one change their voice pitch and other aspects of speech such as articulation and fluency and how these could influence one another.

“It is important to remember that the social context makes one change one's voice,” she explains. “Pitch is determined by the size of my vocal folds, but how much I tense or relax my folds, which affects pitch modulations, could depend on the context that is triggering my physiological response, for example, stress levels. Also, changes in vocal pitch seem to be associated with other psychological measures that look into your propensity to empathize with others, just to cite one example.”

Karthikeyan is excited to continue to delve into complex questions at the intersection of communication sciences and disorders and evolutionary psychology. She is currently exploring how articulation may change based on cultural identities and conversational partners, evaluating how foreign-accented and native-accented speakers accentuate or mitigate certain syllables in American English depending on their conversational partner. She’s also recently received approval for a book proposal alongside collaborators, Glenn Geher, Psychology department in SUNY New Paltz, and Andrew Gallup, Behavioral Biology Program at Johns Hopkins, which would take the form of an evolutionary psychology handbook, an edited volume published by the Oxford University Press.

All in all, Karthikeyan hasn’t stopped following her curiosity—and by doing so, has set an admirable example for her students and colleagues alike

“I need to be very curious about the research question; and need to make sure I have the space to think independently about everything leading to that question without falling into the trap of blindly following mainstream narratives. I’ll always ask myself; why did I get into this in the first place?”

As we step into another exciting chapter in Pace University's history, we are thrilled to share with you the Summer 2024 edition of Pace Magazine. This edition is a testament to our continuous commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and Pace’s driving mission of Opportunitas.

This summer, our campuses are buzzing with energy and transformation. We are making significant strides in enhancing our student spaces through ongoing construction and renovations. These improvements are designed to provide an even more enriching environment for our students, ensuring they have the best facilities to support their academic and extracurricular endeavors.

From leading the charge in integrating Artificial Intelligence across disciplines to fostering a profound understanding of civil rights history through interdisciplinary field studies, our faculty and students are continually pushing the boundaries of knowledge and impact.

We are incredibly proud of our Elisabeth Haub School of Law, which has once again been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the nation’s top program for Environmental Law. Achievements like these reflect the hard work and dedication of our faculty and students and underscore the excellence of our legal education.

Civic engagement remains at the forefront of our mission. We recently celebrated a historic milestone as our students voted on campus for the first time, enhancing voter accessibility and engagement.

These results have not gone unnoticed. The extraordinary success of the 1906 Challenge and the recent Spirit of Pace Awards showcases the strength and generosity of our Pace Community.

In this edition of Pace Magazine, you will also find stories of our groundbreaking research, inspiring updates from our alumni, and insights into the innovative programs shaping the future of our students. From the new game development major fostering a vibrant community to our impactful digital marketing class making real-world impacts on local businesses, there is much to celebrate.

We are honored to welcome new faculty members who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our community, including acting luminary Kathleen Turner at the Sands College of Performing Arts.

As we reflect on these accomplishments and look forward to new horizons, we remain steadfast in our mission to provide a transformative education that prepares our students to lead and innovate. Thank you for being an integral part of Pace. Together, we continue to make a difference.

Warm regards,

Marvin Krislov
President

Rob Sands, JD ’84
Chair, Board of Trustees

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

The above quote is not in fact from an algorithm-chasing social media influencer; but rather from one of the original influencers of the United States of America: Benjamin Franklin.

In many respects, the concept of higher education has long been about this simple premise. Picture the first-year student who has had their world entirely rocked by a new political idea. Or a group of budding friends staying up late into the night, fiercely debating the concept of free will. Young minds, completely electrified by an environment of intellectual curiosity, where knowledge is pursued for knowledge’s sake with the general understanding that it will pay off later.

For many reasons, this idyllic notion of college life does not necessarily reflect the higher education experience of today. For one, this type of education was largely only ever available to a privileged segment of society. And between rising costs, the ever-changing economy, and the competitive nature of the marketplace, this type of mindset may simply be impractical and outdated; there can only be so much leisurely intellectual exploration when employers are demanding, well, everything from today’s new grads.

Yet in a perpetually changing world, this essence of a college education—which can be broadly defined as well-rounded education in the humanities—may be more important than ever. Because in a world where technology is evolving by the nanosecond and our interconnected global world is yielding dilemmas more complex than ever, there is one skill that will always stand out amidst the ever-growing minefield of rising disinformation, distraction, and future unknown obstacles: The ability to think.

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Humanities at Pace: The Experiential Way

“We are a leader nationally in building what we call experiential humanities–where we empower students to learn by doing. This is a shift away from the historical model of universities of a one-way flow of information.”

These are the words of Kelley Kreitz, PhD, director of Experiential Learning at Pace and associate professor of English within the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences. Kreitz has been instrumental in bringing humanities education into today’s classrooms in a way that is both relevant and engaging. She’s been working diligently with University faculty and with large organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities to bridge innovative learning concepts with the funding to make them happen.

This February, for example, Pace was one of only 30 Universities in the nation to be awarded $350,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities through two grants to fund the creation of new curriculum, teaching spaces, and projects that highlight the stories of marginalized people in the historical record through a series of public projects. The first of these grants, led by Kreitz along with Assistant Provost for Research Maria Iacullo-Bird and Professor Sid Ray, will fund an initiative titled The Ground Beneath Our Feet: Centering Place-Based Humanities in the Curriculum, which recognizes the location of our New York City Campus on unceded Lenape land near the African Burial Ground–at the convergence of Chinatown, Civic Center, Financial District, and the Seaport. The project will support courses specifically dedicated to advance experiential learning in humanities courses in partnership with a Lower Manhattan Humanities Consortium of cultural and service organizations in Pace’s backyard.

“We are a leader nationally in building what we call experiential humanities–where we empower students to learn by doing. This is a shift away from the historical model of universities of a one-way flow of information.”

The Ground Beneath Our Feet project presents an opportunity on an unprecedented scale through LMHC partnerships to excavate the layered, intersecting, and often conflicting histories of Lower Manhattan,” said Assistant Provost Iacullo-Bird, who is also the President of the national Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). “Undergraduate research will be embedded throughout the project in developing new interactive, research-infused, and immersive experiential learning.”

One aspect of this initiative is the upcoming launch of the specialized digital mapping platform, The Ground Beneath Our Feet, which will house classroom-based initiatives ranging from an exploration into New York City’s 19th-Century Spanish-Language Press, taught by Kreitz, an oral history and archival project surrounding the impact of Super Storm Sandy in Lower Manhattan taught by Professor Erica Johnson, an investigation of mutual aid networks in New York City taught by Professor Meghana Nayak, and an exploration of arts and cultural organizations of the Hudson Valley taught by Lecturer Alysa Hantgan. Through these semester-long studies, students will be able to leverage today’s technology, engage in real-life learning in spaces of historical significance, interact with local communities, and partake in more traditional classroom elements such as close analysis of texts to, as Kreitz notes, “put our past in conversation with the present.”

The Ground Beneath Our Feet is just one of many experiential learning programs happening at Pace. Over the next few years, the University is dedicated to expanding this classroom-based model, and a considerable number of classes in topics ranging from "African Burial Ground and Slavery in NYC," currently under development by Adjunct Professor Tamara Kelly, to a course centered around Chinatowns in the Americas, developed by Associate Professor Stephanie Hsu, will empower students to engage heavily with historic locations right in our community. Recently, the National Humanities Alliance, featured the University’s Writing for Diversity and Equity in Theater and Media program in a report on diversity in the humanities for the program’s combination of humanities and theater courses, as well as hands-on professional development experiences with working professionals through master classes and field trips.

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In addition, a new Makerspace and Humanities Lab funded through a second NEH grant, led by Kreitz; professors Luke Cantarella and Charlotte Becket; and Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Gary Laermer ‘80, and Director of Campus Planning Wayne Chen, will support courses in our humanities majors and our experiential liberal arts core that invite students to explore and present their ideas through critical making practices, such as bookmaking and other forms of fabrication. The new space will also provide students with access to historical small-press and DIY publications from New York City through our Pace Zine Library collection, co-founded and co-directed by Instructional Services Librarian Susan Thomas and Clinical Assistant Professor Derek Stroup. These and other initiatives show that when it comes to giving the Humanities a modern makeover, we’re just getting started.

A Research-Based Approach

A humanities education can propel innovation and advancement that drives today’s knowledge economy. In Pace’s experiential model, traditional humanities skills such as close and contextual reading come together with research projects that employ digital and public humanities methods, including visualizing communities represented by archival materials, making visible absences in the archival record, and engaging academics, students, and the public in contemplating history and its relationship to present challenges.

For example, students in a recent civic engagement section of a core curriculum course called Modern Latin America, taught by University associate professor and Project Pericles Fellow Michelle Chase, students are partnering with a local nonprofit, the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), an organization dedicated to advocating for social justice throughout the Americas, focusing specifically on Latin American migration to the United States, and U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America. Students in the course combine the academic portion—studying recent history of Latin America—with civic engagement, exploring significant events in Latin America through NACLA’s archives, located in Washington Square, which include photos of Fidel Castro speaking at a rally in Cuba, protests in Puerto Rico, and agricultural projects in Mexico.

Through Pace’s experiential learning ethos and emphasis on the digital humanities, we’re placing those timeless principles of a traditional humanities education within the boundary-pushing, future-forward potential of 21st century classrooms. This is a model with relevance for humanities majors, as well as for students who encounter humanities courses through our experiential liberal arts core.

A Competitive Advantage for All Students

A strong humanities education is not just for the English or Art History majors at Dyson. Rather, it’s a throughline across all of Pace’s schools and departments.

“The humanities play a key role in education, especially for those of us teaching students to solve problems using technology,” says Seidenberg Clinical Professor of Information Technology Andreea Cotaranu, PhD. “They provide essential context and understanding of the human condition, fostering critical thinking, empathy, and ethical considerations.”

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For example, consider the soon-to-be-launched Humanities, Art, and Computing minor, housed both in Seidenberg and Dyson. Specifically designed to merge the digital humanities with equity-centered design thinking, the program will employ the use of new technology, advanced computing, and public engagement to investigate and analyze questions in the humanities.

Says Kreitz, “My position has always been that the traditional and digital humanities have to work in tandem with each other. There’s no world in which I can make sense of what I’m able to access through a digital map, for example, without the type of close and contextual reading—and discussion-based learning—that’s always been part of the humanities.”

“It’s not a replacement,” she adds. “But it’s a rethinking.”

At Pace, this “rethinking” of humanities is popping up everywhere. Consider our School of Education, where classroom content is often reverberated into the classrooms of the future.

“At schools and universities we tend to divide the human experience into math, science, language arts, but that’s very artificial because our life experience, everything is integrated.” says School of Education Professor Peter McDermott, PhD.

McDermott, alongside School of Education Professor Sharon Medow, MSEd conceived the course Teaching 212: Understanding the Potential of the Humanities and Creative Arts in Children’s Education and Development. This course, which includes an experiential learning element related to the many museums and cultural centers of New York City, examines how the arts can provide children opportunities for using culturally-based sign systems for composing meaning, interpreting, and analyzing their worlds.

In many respects, its aim is simply to help children understand the world and their place in it.

“The humanities have tentacles in so many different disciplines; they give us so many wonderful opportunities to think about ourselves and our place in the world, but also to learn about others,” says Medow. “I think we need the tech tools, but there’s nothing more important than the human experience. And there’s richness to that.”

The Humanities for Career Outcomes

As per a New Yorker article in 2023, the study of English and history at the collegiate level has fallen precipitously over the past decade, dropping by approximately one-third. While this is not the case at Pace University—in fact, we’re seeing a significant year-over-year increase in English majors, up 47% over the past few years to more than 200 majors—the trend nationwide is difficult to ignore. Universities are increasingly moving away from foreign language programs, realigning humanities departments entirely, and simply not devoting resources to the humanities, despite its long-standing status as a crucial pillar of academia.

Is this a mistake?

According to a 2020–2021 study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 95% of employers prioritize hiring candidates with the intellectual and interpersonal skills that will help them contribute to innovation in the workplace. ​A further 93% of employers indicated that candidates’ capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their specific undergraduate major. ​

In other words: to win over employers upon graduation, a strong grounding in the humanities is arguably more important than ever.

This sentiment has been echoed by Pace’s Career Services, which partners with the comprehensive career management tool Handshake to attain market insight and connect students to its 750,000+ employer network. In a recent joint study with Handshake and the Society of Human Resources Management that investigated how employers evaluate emerging talent, soft skills topped the charts.

Phyllis Mooney, Pace's AVP and Executive Director of Career Services and Employer Relations noted in reference to the study, "Among the top 6 skills employers seek in college students entering the workforce, 81% cited communication skills and 77% critical thinking. This mandate is what we hear time and time again from employers."

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"There is no job, not even the most technical, that cannot be improved by the position holder having excellent communication and critical thinking skills," she added. "That is why at Pace, we provide a strong liberal arts foundation for all our majors, even ones outside of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences."

While the technical skills to excel at a job are certainly important in getting your resume noticed, perhaps the best return on investment is an education that offers more than just the hard skills. At Pace, we’re also equipping our grads with the soft skills they need to help them thrive in their careers.

“A liberal arts education provides our students with a competitive advantage,” says Kreitz. “Being able to demonstrate skills in writing, communication, collaboration—these are all skills that we know help students get higher salaries on average when they graduate from college. Importantly, these are also skills that empower students to grapple with today’s pressing challenges within and outside the workplace, and ultimately to live fulfilling lives.”

Putting it All Together

Go back to the students invigorated by a compelling political or philosophical idea, talking late into the night. Now, place them within the context of an experiential, interdisciplinary education that enables students to truly grapple with deep questions in texts and in real-world settings.

At Pace, it is our mission to link these things in a way that is not only captivating but enables students to make a positive impact in their daily lives and in their careers as future leaders; to provide students with an investment in knowledge that, as Ben Franklin would appreciate, truly does pay the best interest. That’s the Pace difference.

“Our approach to experiential humanities is about empowering students to explore their curiosity–and ultimately to learn in a way that makes them partners in producing knowledge about the past and putting, in conversation with present challenges,” concludes Kreitz. “Ultimately, we are preparing students to create the future in which they want to participate.”

When it comes to academics, Pace University has many student-athletes who raise the bar in the classroom. The Northeast-10 conference remains one of the highest achieving conferences in academics throughout the NCAA, and in the past year, Pace Athletics has earned several academic accolades.

During the 2023–2024 academic year, Pace student-athletes recorded a combined 3.37 cumulative grade point average. Overall, they earned 651 spots on the Northeast-10 Academic Honor Roll, during the fall and spring semesters combined. In the spring semester alone, 45 student-athletes finished with a 4.0 GPA to earn Academic Excellence distinction after 37 recorded a 4.0 for the fall semester.

The Setters also captured 26 Northeast-10 Academic All-Conference awards, with women’s lacrosse and baseball leading the way with four selections each. In addition, the Pace women’s basketball and baseball teams captured the Northeast-10 Team Academic Excellence Awards, given to the NE-10 programs with the highest cumulative grade point average in each sport. Women's basketball held the highest GPA among NE-10 programs with a 3.659 average, while the Setters’ baseball squad had the highest GPA of all baseball teams in the conference at 3.473.

Regarding major awards, two athletes from each school in the Northeast-10 are nominated for male and female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Noelle Meij (field hockey) and Patrick Gleason (baseball) represented Pace for this year's ballot following their impressive semesters. Pace also collected 24 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Honors—five softball, four men’s lacrosse, four women’s lacrosse, four women’s basketball, four football, and three men’s basketball.

In the fall, the Northeast-10 Sport Excellence Award was given to Krista Dietz (field hockey) for her significant contributions on the field and stellar performance in the classroom. The junior managed to take home the award after her All-American season that led the Blue and Gold to an NCAA Tournament bid.

From the softball team, Brianna Shea was selected for the NCAA Division II 50th Anniversary Scholarship. Awarded to student-athletes who have distinguished themselves in athletics and professional achievement, Shea exemplifies an outstanding mentality on and off the field.

Aside from individual achievements, Pace captured an esteemed honor from the NCAA. In January, the NCAA announced the recipients of the President’s Award for Academic Excellence. In another showcase of the Setters’ academic talents, Pace earned the prestigious honor after maintaining an academic success rate of 90 percent.

Overall, Pace continues to solidify itself as one of the leading academic performers in the conference.

Standing before a sea of eager faces at Pace University’s Commencement, Tony Award-winning actor LaChanze addressed the graduating class of 2024 with a message of liberation and creativity.

“Let go of the reins that you have held onto for the past few years,” she urged. “Let go of the impulse to control outcomes. Let go of the voices in your head telling you to worry, to be anxious, and to fear the unknown. This challenge is meant to assure you that by letting go, you make room for this new perspective. For inspiration, creativity, and the energy you will need to keep evolving.”

Before a crowd of nearly 20,000, including 4,093 graduates, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, LaChanze shared her journey from the Broadway stage to other creative endeavors. She reminded students that while the path to their dreams would not always be easy, the rewards would be worth every effort.

Your hard work and dedication have brought you to this pivotal moment. As you embark on your new journeys, I encourage you to stay true to your values, embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, and pursue your dreams with relentless determination.

The day was filled with memorable moments. LaChanze, honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, was one of many highlights in a celebration that featured five ceremonies, student speakers, a vibrant food village, music, and an array of Commencement festivities. Nearly 4,100 degrees were conferred, including 2,382 master’s degrees—the largest number in over five years.

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law, recently ranked No. 1 for Environmental Law by U.S. News & World Report for the fourth consecutive year, graduated 254 students. Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, the Honorable Rowan D. Wilson, received the Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, in recognition of his lifelong contributions to public service and the legal profession.

“Put honesty first, whether you are interacting with courts, clients, adversaries or colleagues,” Judge Wilson advised. “Remember that the historical core of your profession is compassion, not craftiness. Devote some meaningful measure of your time to helping those who cannot afford your assistance but desperately need it.”

Paul Levitz, former president of DC Comics, addressed the joint ceremony for the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Sands College of Performing Arts, and School of Education. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. David L. Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens, spoke to graduates of the College of Health Professions and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Pace also honored Angella and Danroy Henry, founders of the DJ Henry Dream Fund and parents of former Pace student Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., with the Opportunitas in Action Award. DJ Henry’s life was tragically cut short on October 17, 2010, when he was shot and killed by a Pleasantville police officer.

Pace University President Marvin Krislov commended the graduates for their strength and resilience, particularly noting that many did not have a high school graduation in 2020. “Everyone has faced obstacles—a health challenge, a career setback, a loss,” Krislov said. “But I have learned that everyone has kindness, generosity, and unique talents. As you move forward through the world, I urge you to always practice empathy.”

In closing, Krislov asked graduates to remember three things: to commit to being citizens of the world and keep learning; to be open and share their stories with others and learn from their stories; and to remain active members of the Pace Community.

New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and addressed graduates via video. “Your hard work and dedication have brought you to this pivotal moment,” she said. “As you embark on your new journeys, I encourage you to stay true to your values, embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, and pursue your dreams with relentless determination.”

Relive Commencement 2024! Check out all of our photos from the day. 

Found in a corner of Pace University's Seidenberg Lounge, a retro-style arcade machine invites players to step up and play games made by Pace students. This machine wasn’t just born out of a love for gaming, but also out of a sincere passion for community and inclusivity.

The idea to create and install an arcade machine for Pace students to showcase their work originated from computer science major Andrew Dinspechin ’25. Andrew saw an abandoned cabinet and an empty corner of the Seidenberg Lounge as an opportunity to create something for the Pace Community. “That’s literally what started the idea,” he says. “That there was an empty corner of the room that I thought could be used to make the community a bit better.”

Andrew is president of the club G:AME, which stands for Games: Artists, Makers, Engineers. Like G:AME, his project expanded beyond the realm of game design alone and encapsulated the many trades and skills that the gaming industry requires. To see this machine come to life, Andrew enlisted the help of the club’s vice president Victor Zapata ’25, a first-year grad student in computer science.

That there was an empty corner of the room that I thought could be used to make the community a bit better. —Andrew

With a background in robotics, engineering, and 3D modelling, Victor was the perfect person to make their machine reality. Creating a video game is already an achievement, but an arcade machine that can house several games takes even more consideration. “When you make a game, it's all software,” Victor explains. “You make digital art, digital 3D models, and put it all together in a digital environment…When it comes to an arcade machine, you're dealing with the real world. You can't just edit one number and change something physically.” They had to figure out their operating system, wiring, the casing, display, aesthetics, and more.

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Accessibility, however, was one of the most crucial parts of their machine’s design. “I am disabled myself and I've been in relationships with people who are disabled. I have family members who are disabled as well. It’s always in the back of my mind to ensure the experience is accessible to everyone,” Andrew says. Victor shared this commitment. “Pace has a very diverse community,” Victor adds. “I wanted to make sure as many people as possible can enjoy it, so no one misses out because the machine wasn't designed for them.”

Andrew remembers looking at other arcade machines as he began the project and how many of them had design aspects that could provide barriers for people with disabilities to play. “There’s this quote from Satoru Iwata, a famous video game producer, which says that video games are meant to be fun for everyone,” Andrew noted. “People focus on the fun part and not so much the everyone part.” For video games to be fun for everyone, they must first be accessible to everyone.

Pace has a very diverse community. I wanted to make sure as many people as possible can enjoy it, so no one misses out because the machine wasn't designed for them. —Victor

The machine’s current design includes several considerations. Its height is optimized to be comfortable for various heights and for people who use wheelchairs. Its width allows two people to stand side by side comfortably regardless of shoulder width. The joysticks that control the player movement are not the classic spherical shape, instead a tapered shape that help accommodate people who have disabilities that might impact motor function. Andew and Victor also added storage for two variable-height stools, so people with chronic pain or those who fall outside of average height metrics can sit and enjoy the games.

Andrew and Victor were supported across schools and disciplines throughout the entire process. Seidenberg Professor Carmine Guida, PhD, director of the game programming major, advised both the GAME club and offered guidance. Dyson College of Arts and Sciences’ art studio director, Tommy Nguyen helped build the machine in the Pace woodshop at 41 Park Row, making their game not only a community offering, but also a community effort. “Victor made a great plan. I had to make sure that he knew the reality of the build,” says Nguyen. “We basically built the arcade together, teaching them how to use the tools and help refine the arcade unit for the next round… I am glad to have been there to aid, almost every step of the way.”

There’s this quote from Satoru Iwata, a famous video game producer, which says that video games are meant to be fun for everyone. People focus on the fun part and not so much the everyone part. —Andrew

Nguyen, who also teaches animation and graphic novels, also connected Andrew and Victor to art students Joseph Boumoussa ’24 and Xandria Anderson ’23, who offered their artistic skills to make the machine stand out and look its best. “It was great that students came together to problem solve from different departments,” Nguyen expresses. “At Pace, we talk about thinking differently and find new ways to solve problems. Seeing the students come naturally together out of similar interests was a good way to see it happen naturally.”

Now, this machine, which truly embodied the collaborative spirit of Pace, is a permanent fixture on the ninth floor of 15 Beekman, featuring four games (three of which are created by students) with more to come (including one where players are a skateboarding dog). Not only do Andrew and Victor hope to add more games, but to create other machines across campus of different designs, spreading the joy of gaming.

For Andrew and Victor, and all of the people who helped bring this machine to life, the arcade machine in 15 Beekman is more than just a game. It’s an invitation, a place for the Pace Community to gather around, share, have fun, and (of course) play games.

“I’m looking at the population of students and wanting to see them reflected in the case studies that professors ask them to analyze. It came out of a place of anger and frustration, but where it’s going, is this idea of how we can represent the real world.”

Lubin’s Ivan Fox Scholar and Professor of Law Jessica Magaldi, JD, has spent her professional academic career at the intersection of business and law, traditionally a male-dominated realm. This dichotomy, however, is changing, both on the undergraduate and graduate levels. According to a 2021 study conducted by the Forte Foundation, more than half of business schools now report 40% or more women enrolled. And another study concluded that today’s MBA programs are much closer to gender parity, with 14 of the top business schools having achieved women’s enrollment of at least 45% in their full-time programs, as compared to 27% two decades ago.

Certain aspects of business education however, are in need of an update.

As a 2023–2024 Faculty Fellow at Pace’s Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Magaldi has been assessing the gender inclusiveness of case studies. Through her research project, An Examination of How Business School Case Studies Reflect Gender Diversity in Educating Future Business School Graduates, Magaldi and her co-authors are examining the representation of women as protagonists and antagonists in case studies over the past two decades, as well as the gender of case study authors.

What exactly then, are case studies? Broadly defined as narratives and stories that facilitate discussion about a particular issue, case studies are a primary source of curriculum material in business school. As per MIT’s Sloan School of Management, “Case studies give students the chance to be in the shoes of a protagonist. With the help of context and detailed data, students can analyze what they would and would not do in a particular situation, why, and how.”

Through her status as a former board member at the Society of Case Research a journal reviewer, and a case study author herself, Magaldi had a front row seat to how these studies are created. Reviewing case studies, she noticed a continual lack of women’s representation—sometimes conspicuously so. After a particularly egregious example, which was also incorrect on the law, Magaldi and her co-authors decided to take matters into their own hands.

“We all think these this is a worthy goal—wanting to have the materials we use in the classroom, particularly real world examples, to be representative of the real world. While 50% of our students are women, we don’t have anything near 50% of case studies featuring women,” says Magaldi.

Magaldi is still in the process of collecting and analyzing results, but so far has gathered that case studies have about twice as many male characters as women, and that there were no significant year-over-year changes in representation despite the major gains of women enrollment over the past two decades. She also uncovered that when the team of authors is all men, 49% of the protagonists were men, but when the team was all female, only 17% of the protagonists were women.

Overall, Magaldi is excited to continue this work and raise awareness about this discrepancy in order to better reflect the composition of today’s student body, and help promote a more equitable classroom experience that encourages and inspires the business leaders of tomorrow.

“The idea is that if we use case studies to portray the real world, do they?"