A knife empire that began in a dorm room. More on p.18.
JWU’s Core Curriculum is more relevant, flexible and innovative than ever.
The campus hub where Jeff Binczyk helps ideas take flight.
How Noah Rosen ’19 launched a cutting edge handmade knife startup.
“There’s
James Beard and “Top Chef” winners; keeping kids safe online; a Cantonese cookbook and more.
VICE PRESIDENT
OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Matthew Montgomery
EDITOR
Judy Hill
CREATIVE
Skelton Sprouls
CONTRIBUTORS
Scott Bowers
Jennifer Brouillard
Ruby Canfield
Kris DeRaimo
Pete DiVito
Greg Mably
Chris Massa
Rachel Nunes
Janine Rewell
Clara Schwager
Katelyn Silva
Dana Smith
Lauren Rebecca Thacker
Marie-Ines Valdepeñas
Johnson & Wales University Magazine is published twice a year. Letters to the editor and story ideas can be sent to:
Johnson & Wales University Magazine, 8 Abbott Park Place, Providence RI, 02903 or emailed to jwumagazine@jwu.edu.
Johnson & Wales University Magazine is produced by University Marketing & Communications in cooperation with the department of Advancement & Alumni Relations.
CHANCELLOR
Mim L. Runey, LP.D.
CAMPUS PRESIDENTS
Providence Joe Greene, ’89, ’98 M.S., CPA
Charlotte
Richard G. Mathieu, Ph.D.
“I am proud of the ways our graduates continue to redefine hospitality in their own lives and careers.”
At Johnson & Wales, the meaning of hospitality has been evolving for decades. When JWU launched its first formal hospitality program, a degree in tourism, back in 1971, it set the stage for a university that would grow to distinguish itself in preparing students to serve, innovate and lead across industries that connect people and experiences.
Today, our definition of hospitality encompasses a dynamic academic discipline, a range of global industries and the complex business frameworks that enable exceptional human experiences — from the energy of a sports arena to the connection forged through travel.
At its foundation, hospitality is grounded in a timeless principle: making others feel welcome, comfortable and valued. This philosophy informs and invigorates our curriculum, inspires our community and empowers our graduates to lead with empathy and purpose.
In the following pages, you will meet Wildcats who exemplify this mindset. They have invented new products, launched successful startups and earned recognition at the highest level of their fields. Their success is rooted in a shared understanding — true hospitality begins with curiosity, compassion and respect for others.
I am proud of the ways our graduates continue to redefine hospitality in their own lives and careers, reminding us that while industries and technologies may change, the power of human connection endures. And that’s something Johnson & Wales will always stand for.
MIM
L. RUNEY, LP.D. CHANCELLOR
TALKING POINTS
“When we allow men space to be whole people, messy, emotional, open, we create a healthier, more connected world for all of us.”
CAMPUS NEWS INCLUDING
5 Picture This
ROSENTHAL,
PH.D.
College of Health & Wellness professor talks about mental health challenges faced by men.
“Public Health Out Loud,” June 2025
This fall, Joe Greene, ’89, ’98 M.S., CPA, became president of the Providence Campus, following the retirement of Marie Bernardo-Sousa (see p. 31). Though the role is new for Greene, the campus, where he most recently served as vice chancellor of finance and administration, has been a second home for more than 30 years.
While working on the JWU cleaning crew and attending community college, Greene learned about the staff tuition benefit program and took a job in the mail room so he could study for his B.A. in accounting at the university. More JWU roles followed, and after graduation Greene passed his CPA exam and returned to JWU in 1993 as an accounting manager.
“I’m a first-generation college student, like many JWU students,” says Greene.
“And both of my children are alums. So, I’ve been an employee, a student, a parent. I really understand what it’s like to be a member of this community and I know firsthand how a Johnson & Wales degree can change someone’s life.”
Future focused
Greene says that one of his proudest moments at JWU was securing the university’s first bond ratings, which helped build the Bowen Center, the Cuisinart Center and other structures on campus.
As he takes on his new role, Greene is future focused.
“Here at Johnson & Wales we’ve always been focused on student affordability, and we always have had career-focused programs. Our expansion into the JWU pledge and our three-year bachelor’s degrees will help us keep moving forward.”
OneJWU, the university’s annual day of giving, exceeded all expectations this past spring, with alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends donating more than $86,000, well above the goal of $60,000.
Here’s the breakdown:
$86,605 Dollars Raised 618 Donors
177 First-Time Donors
“There’s a nutritional label on a bottle of water, with zeros running down the side. But we can’t know what’s in our hard cider.”
Brian Warrener, hospitality associate professor, on many corporations’ lack of transparency around what we’re consuming. The Boston Globe, May 2025
“They might try to see if they can secure Ocean House. Could you imagine asking Taylor Swift, ‘Are you flexible with your dates?’”
Katie Davin, hospitality associate professor, on the possibility of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married in Rhode Island next summer. The Boston Globe, September 2025
ONEJWU IS MARCH 18!
Each year, alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends come together to support the JWU initiatives they care about most. Save the date and join in to make your gift of any size. It all adds up to oneJWU! giving.jwu.edu
“The other thing that we can do is really make sure we have the programs that students want. That means having a very nimble academic portfolio.”
Meredith Twombly, vice president of enrollment management, on how Johnson & Wales is preparing for the looming “demographic cliff.” The Public’s Radio (now Ocean State Media), May 2025
With its culinary prowess and College of Health & Wellness, Johnson & Wales has unique expertise in exploring the ways food impacts health. The university recently partnered with the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (TKC), a global network of organizations that use their kitchens as learning environments to share knowledge about food as medicine.
Through teaching kitchen programming, nutrition and dietetics students on both campuses regularly team up with their culinary peers in the kitchen to get hands-on experience and learn how to make the meals they have designed in class to address different health needs.
“Johnson & Wales has had a foot in the culinary nutrition world — which is really the nexus of food and wellness — for a very long time,” says Jason Evans, Ph.D., dean of the College of Food Innovation & Technology. “Our Culinary Nutrition program is pretty unique, as is our Dietetics and Applied Nutrition program. It really has to be one of the only dietetics programs in the country — maybe the only — where students actually go through a significant amount of in-kitchen labs and cooking training.”
In Providence, faculty and students have developed a sports nutrition workshop with the AHL’s Providence Bruins and trainings with Brown University Health doctors, as well as creating an educational video series for One Cranston Health Equity Zone, which works to improve health outcomes in that community.
In Charlotte, culinary nutrition students work with The Bulb, a local nonprofit that distributes recovered produce to lowincome communities. The students have created recipe cards and nutrition education materials and conducted food demos at farmer’s markets. 3
4
Charlotte’s CFIT Care Cupboard and Providence’s Wildcat Food Rescue are addressing food insecurity among our own college students by recovering food from culinary labs to create free takeaway meals that are placed in coolers around campus for students to take as needed.
Major: Animal Science
Hometown: East Haddam, Connecticut
Sangillo, a lifelong animal lover, has long known she wanted to work in a zoological field. Though she has a particular interest in marine creatures, she chose a degree with more flexibility so she could work with many animals, not just those in the sea. JWU’s Animal Science program grounds students in all facets of animal-focused industries and services from veterinary medicine to food and fiber production, so students can explore different career possibilities.
This past summer Sangillo worked as an aquarium education intern for Save The Bay’s Hamilton Family Aquarium in Newport, Rhode Island. As a part of her Animal Science degree at JWU, Sangillo must complete two separate internships related to her major, and her time at Save The Bay is her first. “Having the option to work in an aquarium and get that aquatic marine life experience has been amazing,” she says. “It really has solidified that this is probably something I want to pursue in the future.”
Sangillo learned about Save the Bay while taking a Coastal Ecology class with Ryan Tainsh. As part of that class, Sangillo went on a boat tour of Save The Bay’s Providence Bay location, adjacent to the Harborside Campus. Not only did she gain hands-on experience in water analysis and clarity testing, she also became connected to staff at Save The Bay, which motivated her to apply for an intern position.
Sangillo hopes to get a master’s degree in animal behavior and become behaviorist-certified so she can work with and train different kinds of marine animals. Ultimately, she dreams of working with the beluga whales she grew up visiting at Mystic Aquarium.
NSF AWARDS ALMOST
Kristin Rosler, Ph.D., and Nicole Urban, Ph.D., in the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, were awarded a $999,960, five-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program for the JWU S-STEM Scientific Identity and Belonging (SIB) Program. The new JWU S-STEM SIB Program includes a scholarship of up to $15,000 renewable for up to four consecutive years of undergraduate study.
“We hope that implementing this proposal will increase access to life science careers and support Rhode Island’s growing biotechnology job sector.”
and Nicole Urban
NURSING
EARNS FULL ACCREDITATION
JWU’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program has earned accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
“This tells our healthcare employers and clients that nurses receiving their education at JWU have an extensive nursing education that is quality driven, well balanced and built on strong, evidence-based curriculum,” says David Hudson, director of the Nursing Program at JWU Charlotte.
Kiley Medeiros, Ph.D., director of the Providence Nursing Program, added that “We’re incredibly proud that our first cohort achieved a first-time 100% NCLEX [licensure exam] pass rate, which speaks volumes about their commitment and the strength of our faculty.”
EARN CACREP ACCREDITATION
Johnson & Wales’s Master of Science programs in Addiction Counseling and Clinical Mental Health Counseling have earned accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Relation Educational Programs (CACREP) — the highest standard in the counseling profession.
Awarded following a rigorous, multiyear review process, this accreditation signifies that a program meets the profession’s most respected standards for curriculum, learning environment, clinical experience and ethical practice.
If you’ve been to an outdoor event on the Providence Campus in recent years, you’ve likely been offered an ice cream from Green Line Apothecary’s distinctive 1949 Chevy ice cream truck. Now, Green Line and JWU have teamed up to create a brandnew ice cream flavor inspired by Johnson & Wales.
“We jumped at the opportunity to make an ice cream that embodies a university known for its culinary excellence,” says Ken Procaccianti, co-founder and president of Green Line Apothecary.
“It is quite an honor!”
The new flavor, which features a lemon cream cheese ice cream with a wild(cat) blueberry compote and graham cracker crumb, is made from scratch at Green Line’s kitchens in South Kingstown.
Right now, students can pick up a tub at Liberty Market, Clocktower Deli and JWU Local. Procaccianti says he hopes it will soon be in freezers at the 50 or so stores statewide that sell his ice cream.
“40 UNDER 40”
“It’s a reminder that none us succeed alone, and I carry that truth with me every day,” says Director of Academic Success & Accessibility Services RJ Kilgore, after being Charlotte Business Journal’s “40 under 40” list.
Ten JWU students recently saw their names in print in the Rhode Island Medical . The June 2025 issue features a special section of research around the topic of young adult mental health, a growing public health issue, which debuted six original research studies by students and faculty.
Michelle Pearson, RDN, LDN, a dietetics and nutrition instructor, received the Rhode Island Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Courtney Huard Compassion Award. This award recognizes a person in the dietetics field who demonstrates passion for the field through patience and empathy, with a genuine interest in the clients or population they serve.
More than 5,500 miles south of Newark, Delaware — where Johnson & Wales women’s lacrosse head coach Olivia Duarte grew up — lies the nation of Argentina, known for the Andes Mountains, salsa dancing and soccer. The words ‘Argentina’ and ‘lacrosse’ are rarely referred to in the same sentence.
Now, seven years after Duarte first suited up for Colgate University in 2018 — realizing a lifelong dream to play collegiate lacrosse — she is a member of the Argentina women’s lacrosse national team.
“Growing up, I didn’t think playing internationally was something that was in the cards for me,” says Duarte, citing the strength of the USA women’s lacrosse program.
“They’re the best of the best. One day, I received an email from the head coach of the Portugal national team because he thought my name sounded like I could be from Portugal. At that moment I realized that if he was looking for players, perhaps the coach of Argentina was as well. I emailed Nicolas Prandi, who is the head coach of Argentina and an assistant coach at Endicott, after I was hired at JWU. He sent me the dates for their training camp, and I ended up making the team.”
This past May, Duarte helped Argentina to a first-place finish at the Heritage Cup, an international lacrosse event held outside Boston. Argentina — which placed third one year earlier — poured in a combined 59 goals in wins over Mexico, Israel and Wales to finish atop the standings for the first time in the history of the program. Duarte then traveled with Argentina to Auburndale, Florida, to compete in the World Cup Qualifier at the Pan-American Lacrosse Association. Following a win against Peru in the opener, Argentina dropped back-to-back games to Canada and Haudenosaunee, leaving them one win shy of qualifying. The team responded with another win over Peru before taking down Mexico to secure the fifth and final berth in the World Cup, which will take place next summer in Japan.
“I am fortunate to have a lacrosse field that is a five-minute walk from my office, so I train just like I did when I was in college.”
Olivia Duarte
Understanding that her spot is constantly up for grabs, Duarte is hopeful to be included on the World Cup roster. “I am fortunate to have a lacrosse field that is a five-minute walk from my office, so I train just like I did when I was in college,” says Duarte. “I believe I played a role in our success in the qualifier and am hoping the way that I played speaks for itself and earns me a spot.”
OUT WITH A BANG
JWU completed its final season in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference with Wildcat wins in four championships (field hockey, baseball, softball, outdoor track & field) and a fourth-consecutive Women’s Commissioner’s Cup. Emily DeRoehn ’25 was named GNAC Woman of the Year, joining Jordan Restivo ’23. JWU will now compete in the Conference of New England.
The 2025 NCAA Division III Wrestling National Champions were recognized at halftime of the women’s soccer match on Homecoming Weekend. Longtime head coach Lonnie Morris was joined on the field by former associate head coach Brian Allen, the longest tenured assistant coach in JWU history, who stepped down at the end of the season. Twice named National Assistant Coach of the Year, Allen was inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2023.
> 3.0
ACADEMIC PROWESS
All 16 varsity athletic programs finished the 2024–25 academic year with a GPA at or above 3.0. The softball program finished with the seventhhighest GPA in the nation (3.770) for NCAA Division III institutions.
Duarte adds, “I also want to make my student-athletes proud. I want them to look at me and see that I am living the dream that I wanted to live. That definitely keeps me motivated.”
Next up for Duarte and Team Argentina is a trip to Puerto Rico in December to train for the World Cup, where they will compete against Pan American Lacrosse Association (PALA) teams in
Sixes, which is 6-on-6 lacrosse played on a smaller field with a 30-second shot clock. “The more I am around this team, the more I realize how proud I make everyone that is Argentinian in my family,” explains Duarte. “You realize that you’re playing for something so much bigger than you. I am so proud to be Argentinian and to be around so much of that culture has been very special.”
Sport: Tennis
Stats: Team Captain, Student Government Chair, Student Athletic Advisory Committee Chair
Major: Accounting Hometown: Clemson, S.C.
6:30 AM – WORKOUT
If it’s sunny we might do sprints, run on the track, and then do the treadmill, squats, weight room exercises.
8:00 AM – WORK
I’m a tax analyst intern at Continental Tire. I’ll be looking over tax notices and sorting different tax codes and brackets.
12:30 PM – CLASS
I have an accounting elective in this slot. It’s a cliché but it’s true, accounting is like learning a language, the language of business.
2:00 PM – BUSINESS
I’ll be answering emails for my business. I came up with a phone case with an interchangeable backplate. I won Sharkfest for my idea.
3:30 PM – PRACTICE
We’ll do different drills to simulate matches, and we’ll play singles and doubles against each other. It’s intense.
7:30 PM – TUTORING
When I’m mentoring a chef or a nurse and I see them understand how the numbers work it’s really satisfying.
The recent refresh to JWU’s Core Curriculum makes it more relevant, innovative and flexible than ever.
By Judy Hill
For Jada Pina ’26, the gen ed classes she’s had to take to complete her bachelor’s degree in Media & Communication have sometimes felt like a burden. “I was all for it when it applied to something I want to do careerwise,” she says, “but subjects like math, not so much.”
That’s a common refrain among undergraduate students everywhere. Many also find they reap significant benefits from those core classes, as Pina did when an anthropology course sparked her interest in different cultures and religions and made her realize that “understanding how people’s behavior is influenced by the culture and societal norms they grew up around could help me become a better journalist.”
That’s the kind of light-bulb moment that makes a professor’s day. To get more of those, and to continue to be able to answer the question “Why is this relevant?” Johnson & Wales recently took a good hard look at its Core Curriculum.
But first, what is the Core Curriculum? And why does Johnson & Wales, a career-focused institution, require students to fulfill general education requirements at all?
“The core introduces students to the core disciplines of the liberal arts, the arts and sciences, humanities, social sciences, math and science,” explains dean of the School of Arts & Sciences Michael Fein, Ph.D. “It provides strong supports in oral and written communication and focuses on the interrelationship of all those fields and disciplines through an emphasis on integrative learning.”
The answer to the second question is that the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) mandates that a certain number of credits for a college or university be dedicated to general education. In Johnson & Wales’s early years, the gen ed curriculum was largely designed to fill in the gaps for some of the majors. “If you were a business student, you might need to plug in an economics class,” says Fein. As
“ When students come to school at 18 or 19 years old ... they’ve had little exposure to many of the things that you can learn in university.”
Ann Kordas, History Professor
the university evolved, the core was revised to complement every major.
With the last major revamp now more than a decade old, Provost Richard Wiscott, Ph.D., charged a committee of faculty and staff on both campuses to revisit the Core Curriculum. The goal of this deep dive into the core was to give it a
stronger sense of relevance and to increase its experiential and active learning components.
The rationale for the core has not changed. For students who enter JWU uncertain of their major, taking core classes can help clarify areas of interest. “When students come to school at 18 or 19 years old, they may have an idea of what they want to study, but they’ve had little exposure to many of the things that you can learn in university,” says Ann Kordas, Ph.D., a history professor and member of the committee charged with redesigning the core. “Giving them that background and the freedom to explore can help them figure out the pathways they want to go down.”
Core classes can be equally clarifying for students who feel more certain about their academic path. They are an opportunity, says
Associate Professor of Chemistry Chris Roy, Ph.D., to say, “‘Why am I doing this?’ To see if there might be something else that they’re more passionate about or verify how passionate they are about the discipline they’ve picked.”
Sometimes, says Fein, taking core classes can shift a student’s trajectory. “We might have a student who comes to the university with a strong interest in culinary, and they spend time in the lab, and they decide, ‘You know what, I love food, but I really love my food writing class so I’m going to go into food journalism and leverage my interest in blogging and photography.’”
Core classes also develop transferable skills. “What we’re talking about is helping to develop analytic and expressive abilities in our graduates — critical thinking and problem solving, scientific and ethical reasoning,” says Fein. “These are skills that are needed and are exceptionally valuable across all fields. They’re also helpful as people transition across fields, because many of our students take somewhat nonlinear paths through their degree and they will definitely end up in a nonlinear career path. If they’re going to inherit an economic landscape that requires that they move not up a career ladder, but across a career lattice, those skills — the ones not trapped in a specific field or professional pathway — are the ones that will allow them to traverse that lattice.”
The world evolves, adds Roy. “Society evolves, people evolve. If we don’t have the ability to change with the world, which is what these liberal arts classes give us the foundational knowledge to do, then how do we succeed?”
The humanities are also asking fundamental questions about who we are as human beings, what makes a life meaningful and how we are fulfilled, insists Professor Mark
Ruby Canfield ’26 Media & Communication
Frankly, I was not at all enthusiastic about taking core classes, and I was definitely not thrilled to be taking an environmental science class since I have never had any particular interest in science. I’m glad I did, though. I now think all students — regardless of major — should have to take that class simply for the deep understanding of the causes of climate change it provides. It also opened up for me the idea of pursuing environmental journalism, something I hadn’t considered before.
“I do think it’s valuable to be able to explore all these different areas.”
Intro to biostatistics was another class I would not typically have chosen, but it made me appreciate statistics and all that the mathematics world does. I don’t know if I’ll be pursuing that one professionally, but I was able to prove to myself that even if it’s a subject that you’re not comfortable with, you can succeed.
The classes that are specifically for my major are very focused but with my goal of being a journalist I do think it’s valuable to be able to explore all these different areas. I learned valuable information and it just gave me a much more wellrounded education as a whole.
Peres, J.D., who teaches courses on ethics and a class called The Good Life. “Education serves more than simply professional degree purposes. It’s about our mental and social development and it’s the humanities and social sciences that really activate all those questions that catalyze our development as human beings.”
In redesigning the core, faculty met frequently with students. From those working groups, says Jessica Sherwood, Ph.D., an associate professor of sociology and a member of the redesign committee, they learned that when it comes to choosing core classes, there are two types of student. “One says, ‘Please let me do my own thing and explore.’ The other says, ‘Help! There’s no roadmap, and it’s too wide open, and I need some guidance.’” To meet the needs of the latter group, the committee came up with a framework of optional Guided Journeys that make visible a thematic strand in the course catalog
that might not be readily apparent to a first- or second-year student.
Guided Journeys identify key areas of interest to students — Food Studies, Media, Entertainment & Popular Culture, Global Citizenship and Health, Medicine & Wellness — and suggest a path through the core related to their interests that will also satisfy their gen ed credit requirements.
“You can explore all that the core has to offer, but you can do it in a way that captures an area of interest for you,” explains Fein.
A student majoring in Public Health, for example, might take core classes on global food security, disease and illness in Western art and the economics of pandemics. For a culinary student a suggested path might include courses on food in film and literature, food writing and the politics of food, human security and social justice.
The Johnson & Wales approach to education has always been richly
experiential. Now, that real-world, hands-on focus is being fully integrated into every course, including those in the Core Curriculum. By 2026, all undergraduate face-to-face courses across the university will have at least one active learning component built into them through a JWU initiative known as REAL (Reimagining Experiential and Applied Learning).
“The overarching connective tissue of experiential learning is something we want Johnson & Wales students to experience no matter what course they’re taking,” says Fein. “Whether it’s a course in the core, or whether it’s in their major.”
Assistant Provost for Experiential Education and Industry Relations Sheri Young, Ed.D., who is heading up the REAL rollout, says what she is most excited about is the scalability of this approach. Using the Kolb Learning Cycle model, which leads students through a sequence of experiencing, reflecting, thinking and acting, all JWU faculty can directly connect the content of their course
“If we don’t have the ability to change with the world, which is what these liberal arts classes give us the foundational knowledge to do, then how do we succeed?”
Chris Roy, Chemistry Associate Professor
Adam Smith, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics, Charlotte Campus
CLASS DESCRIPTION
A survey course covering the foundations of economics and focusing on macroeconomic concepts such as capitalism, the market system, national income, business cycles, macroeconomic theories and monetary and fiscal policy.
“Macro is difficult to
make active because
you
and
I
live in the micro world. Once I found a way to make this project relate directly to their lives, suddenly even that student sitting in the back was engaged. For
me, that’s a slam dunk, a home run.”
Adam Smith, Economics Associate Professor
Students evaluate the overall health of the economy by focusing on their own career trajectory within the economy. To determine this, they investigate a number of economic measurements including the economic growth rate, unemployment rate, inflation rate, interest rates and their own economic mobility, along with looking up salary data for their occupation of choice. Students then compile this data into a report that outlines each measurement finding, along with discussion and analysis about how it relates to their own chosen career path. The purpose of this project is to show the student how the economy moves in time and how they can anticipate these changes while navigating their own career choices.
“If I get a chef who comes in and they’re unsure whether economics is helpful or not, all I have to do is explain to them why it is.”
Adam Smith, Economics Associate Professor
with the career skills or competencies being sought by employers.
An active learning component could be as simple as taking students on a site visit, says Young, or staging debates or embedding simulation tools into class or working with an industry partner for project-based learning. A critical piece, she says, is having students reflect on their own learning though essays, journal writing or group discussions and then bringing their insights back to the course content through some kind of tangible output such as a classroom presentation. Including that reflective/thinking step, she says, “leads students to be more invested and makes them more likely to retain and maintain that skill set.”
Examples of experiential and active learning in core classes include Kordas’s Food, Philosophy and Religion course, where students design an interfaith banquet menu that must be cost conscious and include symbolically meaningful dishes that the majority of attendees can eat without violating some rule of their religion. Students become so invested, says Kordas, that they have often cooked and sampled the dishes themselves.
Howard Slutzky, Ph.D., a psychology professor, has students
The Core develops key career competencies. Here’s how.
To give students a better idea of the transferable skills they will learn through the Core Curriculum, the redesign committee came up with new names for course groupings — Interacting, for example, instead of Social Sciences. “The learning objectives are right in the name,” says Chris Roy. For example:
A business major might take ENG1030: Communication Skills, a public speaking course, and then apply those skills in a marketing pitch competition.
A student interested in public health could take LIT2415: Disease in Film and Literature to explore how these media shape our understanding of the human condition through illness.
In MATH1002: A Survey of Mathematics students prepare and live with a budget based on all the expenses related to dorm life.
A student contemplating a food policy career might take SOC3020: Culture and Food, to explore how food shapes human experiences and how cultures share and adapt each other’s foods.
Students taking SCI1010: Environmental Science explore the impact of human population and economic growth on the biodiversity and ecosystems of our planet.
Students taking ILS2300: The Good Life examine essential questions about what it means to lead a purposeful and fulfilling life.
Chris Roy, Ph.D. Chair of the College of Health & Wellness and the College of Arts & Sciences, Charlotte Campus
Jessica Sherwood teaches sociology, but she says her students are also picking up critical thinking and analytic skills.
in his intro psychology class engage in role-playing exercises so they can practice applying psychological theories to real-world scenarios and become better able to handle complex issues. Students in English Professor Terry Novak, Ph.D.’s Rhetoric and Composition II course volunteer at the Better Lives RI food pantry and reflect on their experience in journals and class discussions while also using research on food insecurity to engage in critical thinking about the population served at Better Lives.
Associate Professor Adam Smith, Ph.D., who infused REAL into his macroeconomics class (see On Course, p. 15), says that including active learning in all his courses has made him a better teacher. “My teaching style used to be lecture heavy. A while ago I realized I could have stood on my head and eaten a
pineapple and maybe five students would have gotten excited because that’s not how they learn anymore.” Since he added active learning, he says, the difference in his students’ level of engagement is stunning. “After I’ve done an experiential class, the next class always goes better because they’re still feeling that energy.’”
As part of the core redesign, colleges outside of Arts & Sciences can now apply to have their courses included in the gen ed core. As well as adding to the menu of courses a student can take to fulfill their core requirements, this initiative, which is still at an early stage, could help students view their core classes as more relevant to their major.
“If a student from the College of Health & Wellness is taking a
course from the College of Health & Wellness that also satisfies a gen ed requirement, they can more readily see how that fits in with their degree in health science or exercise physiology,” says Kordas, who sits on the committee piloting the project.
To help students connect the dots, core courses are now organized (and searchable in the catalog) around attributes — communicating, experiencing, interacting, measuring, exploring and connecting — rather than departments or disciplines such as social sciences, life sciences or math.
“I think these terms resonate better with students,” says Roy, “and also give them a better idea of what they’ll come away with, what sort of transferable skills they’ll learn. The learning objectives are right in the name.”
“The overarching connective tissue of experiential learning is something we want JWU students to experience no matter what course they’re taking.”
Michael Fein, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences
Persuading students about the value of the Core Curriculum is part of his obligation as a teacher, says Smith, and something he embraces. “You have to sell it. You have to make it relevant to them. If I have a chef who comes in and they’re unsure whether economics is helpful or not, all I have to do is explain to them why it is. That piece has to be there.”
When Kordas is explaining to a pastry student why the core matters, she’ll talk to them about how sociology courses can teach them about different cultural traditions related to food, while art history courses can refine their understanding of art and design, and history courses can teach them about food and world history. “Those are all applicable to their chosen careers,” she says, “and certainly you need math and science to be a good baker.”
For Sherwood, the key outcomes of the Core Curriculum remain her north star. “Because in the end,” she says, that’s what I’m teaching — the thinking, analytics, communication, media literacy. Those are skills that matter, no matter what your major or future profession.”
By Katelyn Silva
What can two savvy 20-somethings achieve in the world of handcrafted Japanese-style kitchen knives in less than eight years? Quite a bit it turns out.
Forge To Table, a business conceived in a first-year student’s room at JWU, has completed 20,000 online orders since 2017. Its CEO, Noah Rosen ’19, was named to the Forbes “30 under 30” food and drink list. The company’s knives are in restaurants, hotels, private homes and cruise ships all over the world. The Cheesecake Factory and Casamigos use their products, and they’ve established brand partnerships with DirectTV, Ecolab and Dole & Bailey.
Born in a Dorm
Rosen has had a knack for culinary entrepreneurship from an early age. He started a food blog at 12, a catering company at 15 and a pop-up eatery by 17, so perhaps it’s not surprising that he launched a successful kitchen knife business while still a teenager in college.
Forge To Table (FTT) began with a chance meeting. On school break his first year, at a housewares show in Chicago, Rosen met Carole Zheng who was selling knives hand-made by her husband, Alex, a third-generation craftsman from China who mastered Japanese-style forging in Seki, Japan.
The two chatted about the forging process (shaping a metal object through heat) and the Zheng family business; they hit it off.
“I’d already been cooking seriously for years by then, and I’d really learned to love Japanesestyle knives. I loved the quality and craftsmanship of what Carole had to offer,” explains Rosen, who double majored in Culinary Arts and Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship.
Never one to dream small, Rosen thought perhaps he could help to design an affordable, quality knife for import to the U.S. and become the family’s North American business partner. Back at JWU, he received knife samples from the Zhengs and tested and tweaked the design. He brought samples of that knife to JWU’s Club of Culinary Excellence to get feedback from his peers and faculty advisors and sold his first knife to a student in his Plated Desserts class.
That was the birth of the FTT 8" Gyuto knife, a Japanese-style steel chef’s knife with a thin curved blade. (It’s still FTT’s best seller, retailing at $104.)
Classmates kept asking how they could get the knife, so Rosen took out a small loan to have his first batch of 200 Gyuto knives made. He had no formalized business plan yet, and the Zhengs’ operation in China was so small it took six months to deliver the order.
“I’d already been cooking seriously for years by then, and I’d really learned to love Japanese-style knives. I loved the quality and craftsmanship of what Carole had to offer.”
Noah Rosen ’19
Rosen continued to sell knives to classmates and launched a store on Etsy, but it was Chef Ray McCue, Rosen’s Restaurant Foundations class instructor, who suggested selling to Stock, a culinary goods store in Providence. The store agreed to take a handful. Rosen left the store and 25 minutes later received a call that they needed more knives! Building on that momentum, Rosen created a formal business and marketing plan and launched the Forge To Table website in his second year at the university.
“My entrepreneurship professors, Daniel Feinberg and Ezenwayi Amaechi Ejiribe, provided such incredible mentorship and guidance to me as I was fumbling through starting all of this and really put us on the path to success.” That was an enormous piece of the puzzle, says Rosen, who officially partnered with the Zheng family in 2017. As well as helping to design the knives, which the family forges in Asia, he handles marketing and distribution from his FTT office in Southern California.
Every effective CEO needs a righthand person. For Rosen, Sam Burgess ’18 became that valued colleague and thought partner.
“Noah and I were kind of rivals at first,” says Burgess, who earned his bachelor’s in Culinary Nutrition, Food Science and Product Development at JWU. “Noah was the president of the Club of Culinary Excellence, while I was the president of Cooking Asia. These two clubs historically fight over members and meeting space, so I raised my eyebrow a bit when meeting him.”
The rivalry was short lived. The two worked together to ensure the clubs could share space and through that built an enduring friendship. In 2019, Burgess joined the FTT team as vicepresident of culinary and outreach.
Burgess currently leads the sales team and represents the company at pop-up markets, culinary competitions, live demos and fundraising events. During COVID, Burgess was the brains behind the launch of the company’s test kitchen, where he works to create new recipes featuring FTT knives.
“In the thick of COVID, people were home looking for something great to make for dinner, and Sam had the brilliant idea to turn the cooking he was already doing into easy-to-make recipes for all these new home cooks,” explains Rosen, who notes that the COVID years saw their highest sales numbers.
The latest JWU addition to the FTT team, Maya Alderman ’23, had known Rosen and Burgess by reputation long before meeting them.
“Noah is kind of a legend at JWU, so I knew all about him and his inspiring story. JWU entrepreneurship classes have been known to feature the company — [with its] name redacted — as a case study,” says Alderman. She met Burgess when he returned to campus for a dumpling event at the Cooking Asia club.
When COVID hit at the close of Alderman’s first year, she returned home with an “excess of creative juices flowing,” she says, so she purchased a camera, started taking photographs of executed recipes and posted them on her Instagram account (@kuishinbo_maya).
“Noah is kind of a legend at JWU, so I knew all about him and his inspiring story. JWU entrepreneurship classes have been known to feature the company — [with its] name redacted — as a case study.” Maya Alderman
Burgess reached out to see if she wanted to use some of their knives while making her recipes. Alderman’s creativity impressed Burgess, and FTT hired her as their media director in 2021. She now handles all the company’s graphic design, social media and photography. “I ended up stumbling into this unexpected place where I have a new creative outlet,” says Alderman who recently joined the rest of the team on a trip to China to visit the forge where the knives are produced.
Though Forge To Table is a small company, it donates over $30,000 a year.
“We truly believe that if we don’t give back to the future of the industry, there is no future for the industry,” says Rosen.
Sam Burgess, Maya Alderman and Noah Rosen, the JWU alums behind Forge To Table.
One of the most significant ways the team gives back is through their participation with ProStart, a culinary arts and restaurant management curriculum for high school students that hosts culinary competitions where students can compete for college scholarships.
Rosen was a ProStart student in high school and that experience allowed him to earn scholarships for an accelerated program at JWU. Both he and Burgess regularly volunteer their time to travel around the country and serve as ProStart culinary competition judges.
The Sky’s the Limit Today, FTT knives are used in more than 50 countries in the home kitchens of amateur chefs and in the professional kitchens of fine dining chefs like Romain Littiere at Onii-San Izakaya in Paris. Littiere even has an FTT custom knife tattooed on his body. Last year, the New Yorker featured an FTT knife in the magazine’s Gift Guide. The knives have appeared in cookbooks like Chef Antoni Porowski’s “Let’s Do Dinner” and in Jose Cuervo ads. JWU alums have taken them to famed restaurants like Alinea in Chicago, the Dabney in Washington, D.C. and Damian in Los Angeles.
Why do the knives resonate so well? “Cooking with beautiful, functional tools is joyful,” says Rosen. “We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional tools that blend time-honored techniques with modern precision and that won’t break the bank.”
Visit our alumni business directory for alumni perks and discounts. jwuconnect.com
By Judy Hill
Jeff Binczyk ’23 DBA is a busy man. A typical day might include advising a budding entrepreneur on how to turn their passion into profits, coaching a sophomore on a Sharkfest pitch and talking to a baker in Queens who needs help marketing their bread pudding.
Having spent most of his career working for successful food entrepreneurship startups, Binczyk wrote his JWU doctoral dissertation on startup failures. Now, as director of the Larry Friedman Entrepreneurship Center — known as the Launch Pad — he is focused on helping JWU students develop their ideas and dreams into solid commercial enterprises.
For Binczyk, helping the Launch Pad blast off at JWU makes all kinds of sense when he considers “the incredible heritage of Ms. Johnson and Ms. Wales, who were focused on entrepreneurship from the very beginning in 1914.”
Students seek out the Launch Pad from every college at the university — from psychology, animal science and product design majors to those studying culinary arts, health and wellness, and food & beverage enterpreneurship, all have drawn on Binczyk’s business savvy. The recent merger of the colleges of hospitality and business, he predicts, will encourage more hospitality students
to take advantage of the one-on-one mentoring and workshops the Launch Pad offers all students free of charge.
Some of the young entrepreneurs who visit the fourth floor of Xavier (or over Zoom) have only the seed of an idea. Others are further on the journey but need feedback, and a few have all the pieces in place and need help with their pitch to potential investors.
“My ultimate goal,” says Binczyk, “is to have them walk off the commencement stage with a diploma in one hand and a business plan in the other.”
Catalina Baclawski ’26 came to Binczyk with a bakery concept but no clear direction. “He helped me figure out that I wanted to do an elevated bakery in the morning and a bar with small bites and live music in the evening,” she says. “His approach was, ‘I want to hear what you want and then we can go off of that.’”
Often, says Binczyk, when the talk turns to dollars and cents, students get nervous. Baclawski was no exception. “In previous classes, we had touched on financials, but we really never did a deep dive,” she says. “Jeff laid it all out like, ‘This is what we’re going to have to do. This is everything that needs to happen.’”
Maddy Stange ’26, a Baking & Pastry Arts student, had several summers of selling cupcakes at her hometown farmers market under her belt when she began talking to Binczyk. She had a sense of what her customers liked, but Binczyk encouraged her to confirm her hunches with a survey.
Working with Binczyk gave him “a mentor that I can go back and forth with. He understands what we’re building, and he’s an excellent sounding board.”
Randy Benitez ’26
The Launch Pad began life two years ago, when Jeff Binczyk was hired to direct what is officially called the Larry Friedman Center for Entrepreneurship. Binczyk’s background in successful startups, two of which were bought by private equity firms, made him a natural choice to help students commercialize their business ventures.
125
The Launch Pad currently works with 125 students, who receive mentoring and coaching in oneon-one sessions with Binczyk at no charge.
65%
Almost 65% of Launch Pad participants are women. “They are rock stars,” says Binczyk. “They’re unbelievable and so motivated.”
30
The Launch Pad works with 30 online students. “They are amazing, says Binczyk. “Many of these folks started college, stopped, and now they’re starting back up. They have families. They have full-time jobs. Their perspective and maturity is so valuable.”
Students in Binczyk’s entrepreneurship class have provided consultation to Gold Door Realty, the Harlem Baking Company and a group of GI doctors launching a line of extra pure water in glass bottles. Up next, a Queens-based baker specializing in bread pudding.
100%
Binczyk works with students and faculty from every college at JWU.
90 SECONDS
In the bi-annual Fishbowl pitch event, students have 90 seconds to share their business idea and receive immediate feedback from fellow students.
That revealed that what her customers really wanted was donuts, so the next summer they got top billing at her stall. “We keep looking at the data every year,” says Stange, “and now I have all this information compiled for when I go for funding for a brick and mortar.”
“It’s a diverse profile, with students from every college in the university, and I think that generates multiple ways of approaching things.”
Jeff Binczyk
Randy Benitez ’26, an online B.S.B.A. Entrepreneurship student who won third place in this year’s Sharkfest competition, already had a fledgling business up and running when he first met Binczyk. ReWriter, the music transcription app he founded, was out in the world but struggling to gain traction. Working with Binczyk, he says, gave him “a mentor that I can go back and forth with. He understands what we’re building, and he’s an excellent sounding board.”
This fall, as well as consulting with “Dr. Jeff” in one-on-one sessions, students can join one of four tracks — Food & Culinary; AI, Tech and Health & Wellness; Nonprofit and Services — to bounce their ideas off fellow students with similar interests in online sessions.
Once a semester, Binczyk also teaches a marketing class, where he brings in small businesses looking for help. There’s always a waiting list, says Binczyk, because students are eager to take what they’ve learned and use it
in a real-world context. “It’s a diverse profile, with students from every college in the university,” says Binczyk, “and I think that generates multiple ways of approaching things.”
For the Harlem Baking Company, which makes to-go desserts in reusable glass jars, the class created a marketing and social media strategy. Since a new logo was part of the remit, it seemed like a no-brainer to team up with design students in Associate Professor Deanna Marzocchi’s class.
Alexie Gerve ’26, a Business Administration major and winner of Sharkfest 2025, says that “working with other students from a wide variety of majors on the project contributed so many different ideas, with Baking & Pastry Arts students focused mostly on the food aspect, others on marketing or packaging and some more interested in operations.”
“Often, with a case study everything is on paper,” says Baclawski, “but here
we were actually meeting the business owners and hearing their story and also discussing our strategy with everybody else in the class who had their own perspectives.”
Most recently, the class worked with a group of GI doctors from Mass General looking to launch a line of extra pure water in micro-plastic free bottles. The students developed the name, logo and packaging design for the bottle, as well as website recommendations and strategy for social media strategy, pricing, promotion and placement.
“The world was our oyster to come up with ideas,” says Gabrielle Tringali ’26, a Baking & Pastry Arts and Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship major and copresident of the Launch Pad’s student club. “They didn’t have a name or a marketing plan or even a full concept.”
In the same way, she says, “many students have a ton of ideas but don’t know what to do with them, and this class was a good way for them to see how you can get started and implement your own vision.”
Binczyk’s overarching goal, he says, is to create a “brave and safe collaborative space” where students can talk about their dreams as well as their struggles. There’s no silly question or stupid idea, he insists. The question is simply, “What is it going to take?”
Haneul Kim
JWU was well represented in this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards, with three Wildcats — Derek Wagner ’99, Brian Lewis ’89 and Sky Haneul Kim ’14 — in the final round of the Best Chef: Northeast category. It was Chef Kim, though, who ultimately claimed the award in June for her cooking at Gift Horse, a raw bar and seafood restaurant in Providence.
“I love to do something that brings back memories.”
Sky Kim
The dishes that secured the win for Kim represent an artful amalgam of the flavors of her native Korea merged with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Think fried rice cakes with braised whelk, mozzarella and kimchi cream or smoked scallops
Adding to a growing list of accomplishments, Tristen Epps ’09 was recently crowned winner of the television cooking competition “Top Chef.”
“This means I took the right step,” says Epps. “The reason I decided to do this had a lot to do with increasing visibility for different cultures and cooking techniques. I did it for people that look like me and want to have the same success in fine dining.”
“From bold flavors to flawless execution, his dishes told powerful stories rooted in Afro-Caribbean heritage, Southern tradition and global technique,” says Fred Tiess, a master instructor who taught Epps at JWU.
“The reason I decided to do this had a lot to do with increasing visibility for different cultures and cooking techniques.”
Tristen Epps
in a split-top brioche with cilantro mayo and pickles.
“I love to do something that brings back memories,” says Kim, who grew up eating food cooked by her grandma, including a memorable squash soup.
Kim credits her time at JWU with giving her a good grounding in foundational culinary skills such as knifework and with learning how to work with teams and with people from different cultures.
Will winning the award change her approach to cooking? Not at all, says Kim. “I’ll just keep doing whatever I did before. Nothing changes.”
Nothing except her home base, that is. Kim recently moved back to South Korea with husband Chris Pfail as they await the arrival of their first baby.
Epps was particularly proud of the oxtail Milanese crepinette with curry-spiced Carolina rice grits and bone marrow gremolata he created for the finale. “I think it summed up who I am and what I was out there to do,” says Epps. “And for the judges to really like it and give great feedback on it was fantastic.”
With Trinidadian roots, Epps has cooked all over the U.S. and on several continents, including at celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurants. In 2024, Epps earned a James Beard Semi-Finalist nomination for Best Chef: South. Now based in Houston, he has plans to open Buboy, a fine-dining Afro-Caribbean tasting menu restaurant.
For Daron Sklar ’27, attending the New York Produce Show has been a highlight of his time at JWU. “It was invaluable for creating real-world connections with farmers and purveyors,” says the Culinary Science & Product Development major. “I’m still in contact with people I met there.”
Sklar had that opportunity in part because of a donation to support CFIT travel from the Klapper Legacy Fund, created by Susan and Andrew Klapper. Their son, Joshua Klapper ’21, had benefited from similar experiences while at JWU, and, Susan Klapper says, “we really like the idea of giving students exposure to different areas via field trips.” Plus, she says, “field trips are fun — it’s a way to get out of the classroom and see what’s out there.”
With the Klappers’ support, CFIT Dean Jason Evans and his team were able to build “Friday Travel Lab” opportunities where students visited farms,
food manufacturers and food service businesses. Students also attended the Fancy Food Show in New York City and Bar & Restaurant Expo in Las Vegas, as well as participating in an immersive experience at Marriott properties in Boston. “This year, we’ll be able to do all of this and more!”
Extracurricular opportunities are invaluable, he says, for reinforcing core learning outcomes and introducing students to industry professionals. “We simply would not be able to offer these at the scale and scope we currently do without the Klappers’ support.”
Support students and enjoy one-of-a-kind experiences with chefs and sommeliers.
Learn more and join today in Providence or Charlotte.
Eileen L. Inglis Newtown, Connecticut
Eileen retired from IBM in June 2023 following an almost 40-year career and now works part-time as executive assistant to the CEO and founder of AROSE Group and as a cashier at Big Y Supermarket in Bethel.
Sharon B. Gofberg Portland, Oregon
After too many years cooking for humans, Sharon has decided to start their own dog food company, Eat This, featuring home cooked flash frozen meals based in Portland.
Joseph E. Krenn Charlottesville, Virginia Joseph Krenn, CCM (certified club manager), CCE (certified chief executive), was installed as the secretarytreasurer of the Club Management Association of America (CMAA) Board of Directors at its 2025 World Conference and Club Business Expo, held in Tampa, Florida, in February 2025. Krenn has served as the general manager/ chief executive officer of Farmington Country Club since 2012. Krenn first joined CMAA in 1998 as a student member at Johnson & Wales’s Providence Campus.
Parikshat Chawla ’01 MBA Kuala Lumpur Parikshat is the Head of Global Operations/COO for Chestertons Global in London, England.
Randall Britto
Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Randall has been promoted to supervisor of engineers supporting the United Space Force, Space Systems Command at KBR Inc. in El Segundo.
Joshua I. Gorra Providence, Rhode Island
Joshua is the Founder of Gorra Financial Group based in Providence.
James Reisig Mahopac, New York
James Reisig, CCM, CCE and the chief operating officer of The Tokeneke Club in Darien, Connecticut, was elected to the Club Management Association of America (CMAA) Board of Directors at its 2025 World Conference and Club Business Expo, held in Tampa, Florida, in February 2025. He was elected for a one-year term.
Tarah Warner ’16 MBA Elliston, Virginia
Tarah is the president & CEO of TMW Productions, LLC in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
Elizabeth E. Craighead Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth is VP, experiential at Live Nation Entertainment in Philadelphia.
Ryan M. Judge Poughkeepsie, New York
Ryan is the chief of human resources & professional development for the Hyde Park Central School District in Hyde Park.
MICHAEL SHANNON ’21
Executive Chef at Philadelphia Country Club
“You have to be able to run a high-end wine dinner for 20 people and also do a great smash burger. That eclecticism is a huge part of what I do every day.”
RYAN KENNY ’07
General Manager at Philadelphia Country Club
“We’re not just hospitality. Private clubs have opportunities for HR, accounting, all these other areas that JWU has strength in.”
A couple of years ago Michael Shannon ’21 found himself at a crossroads. For a decade he had headed up a private club kitchen in Boston, but he knew it was time to grow. A culinary school graduate, Shannon earned his bachelor’s degree at JWU in Hospitality Management, and that’s where he joined an alumni network that would open doors as he explored next steps.
While Shannon was on the lookout for a new position, Ryan Kenny ’07, general manager of the Philadelphia Country Club, happened to be searching for a new executive chef. “Once we started talking and I understood his management philosophy, it seemed like a great match,” says Shannon, who now leads all food operations for the club, which boasts seven dining rooms and a wide-ranging menu that spans poolside snacks and fine dining.
Kenny, who has mentored and provided opportunities for many JWU students through his association with the Club Management Association of America, says hiring Shannon was the clear choice. “Chef Michael brings that rare balance of leadership, discipline and creativity. Just as important, he is a nurturing mentor, committed to developing young culinarians.” Their JWU connection, he says, gave an “additional layer of confidence.”
The Boston pitmaster grilled up a feast for this spring’s Epicurean Society Dinner in Providence. We stopped by his blazing hot grill to fire off some questions.
FIRST THING YOU EVER COOKED?
In second and third grade I used to make cakes, and I would get really angry and throw them out because they wouldn’t work. They weren’t good.
FAVORITE JWU CLASS?
I loved my accounting classes. When I got my first real chef job, under James Beard award-winning chef Chris Schlesinger at East Coast Grill, he pulled out a comparative analysis and I was so excited. Still today, I love P&Ls.
RIDE-OR-DIE KITCHEN TOOL?
Partner with JWU to provide students hands-on industry experience in hospitality, business, arts, tech, health and more.
Providence: careerservices.pvd@jwu.edu
Charlotte: exed.clt@jwu.edu
Tongs. I don’t care how hot the grill is, I like the feel of a good 12-inch pair of tongs in my hand. I don’t know how anybody does anything without them.
LESSON FROM JWU?
My teacher told me, ‘You need to get involved.’ So I participated in No Kid Hungry in 1988. To this day, I am still involved with the charity.
Did you recently start a new job, receive a promotion, move to a new city or have a baby? We want to hear all that and more.
Email alumni@ jwu.edu or submit a note at bit.ly/ jwuclassnotes
2011
Sharifa Chambers Marietta, Georgia
Sharifa started a new business, Pop That Thing Popcord, around Atlanta.
2012
Stevie J. Curcio Ewing, New Jersey
Stevie is an assistant food service director with Pomptonian Food Service for Hopewell Valley Regional School District in Hopewell. Rae Rosen
Seattle, Washington
Rae is the chief operating officer of BW Events Tech located in Glasgow, Scotland.
2015
Nicole Theohary Providence, Rhode Island
Nikki is the director of client experience at Slang AI in New York City, leading customer success, implementation and support.
Jasimine D. M. Dyson ’17 MBA
North Charleston, South Carolina
Jasimine is the owner of Harper Dyson, an online women’s clothing boutique. harperdyson.com
Jacqui Smith
North Providence, Rhode Island
Jacqui has joined Gilbane Inc as executive assistant to the CEO and chairman in Providence.
2017
Aia Jean R. Labja ’17 MBA
Cranston, Rhode Island
Aia is managing partner of Shared Escapes LLC in Sherdan, Wyoming.
2019
Noah Rosen
Laguna Hills, California
Noah was recently selected as a featured entrepreneur for a new global campaign by the website development platform, Wix.
Adee O’Kelley Lillington, North Carolina
Adee is the owner of The Wild Rover, a mobile bar in the Charlotte/Asheville area. thewildroverbar.com
Sharonda Sheriff Brentwood, Maryland
Sharonda earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Strayer University.
Victoria L. Russian Milford, Massachusetts
Victoria is the executive sous chef at Edgartown Yacht Club in Edgartown. Victoria previously assisted in opening The SHED in Franklin and was the executive chef for Franklin Country Club also in Franklin.
2006
Bridget Ayerle
Newton, New Jersey
Bridget gave birth to twins — a boy and girl, Charles and Scarlett, in October 2024.
2012
Denzyl Amankwah ’12 and Brittany Sandoval ’13 Plainfield, New Jersey
Denzyl and Brittany got married on April 24, 2024, in Shrewsbury, surrounded by family and former JWU Providence alumni. Denzyl and Brittany met at the JWU Providence Campus back in 2010. They were both very active in various student clubs and organizations including residential life, student government, Caribbean Student Association and Greek life (Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and Sigma Lambda Upsilon Señoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority Inc.).
Matthew Raymond & Shirrell Miller ’15 Little Ferry, New Jersey November 10, 2024
2019
Victoria L. Greco ’19 & Marcus Maggiacomo Cranston, Rhode Island With a celebration filled with love, laughter and late-night dancing, with friends and family traveling from near and far to join the festivities, Victoria Greco married Marcus Maggiacomo on May 25, 2025 and honeymooned in Aruba.
How do you ensure a birthday getaway to Dubai for a trio of sisters who just lost their mother is perfect? For Elijah Brown ’25, a firstgeneration student and Hotel & Resort Management graduate, the answer is to go above and beyond.
Brown assisted the bereaved sisters, while he was an intern at The Ritz-Carlton Dubai, by helping to plan everything from a custom purple birthday cake to a sunset photoshoot in honor of their late mother. The sisters were so overwhelmed that one burst into tears and said, “Thank you for bringing a piece of our mom to Dubai.” Helping them became personal, he says. “Hospitality is more than a job. It’s an opportunity to create something meaningful for people.”
“This work is so much bigger than us. It’s about healing, joy, connection and unforgettable moments,” says Brown who is currently a rooms operations voyager at The Times Square EDITION, part of Marriott’s global leadership development program.
“In hospitality, we make traveling dreams come true.”
Brown says his experience at JWU, where he was also a Tiefel Scholar, helped instill confidence and a sense of purpose that
he carries into every hospitality role. When he first traveled to Rhode Island from Florida, he admits he was filled with trepidation as well as excitement.
Brown managed to harness those anxieties and turn them into a remarkable experience. Maximizing every opportunity, he worked as a campus tour guide, completed the Dubai internship and spent three years working his way up from laundry to front desk supervisor at Aloft Providence Downtown hotel before being named Employee of the Year.
“Everyone has desires to discover new cuisines, travel to exotic places, see that special concert,” says Brown. “I get to be a part of those dreams. Hospitality isn’t just a job for me — it’s home.”
We asked three JWU alums working in or around the cyber world what their experience — professional and personal — has taught them about how to help young people navigate the all-consuming and potentially dangerous world that beckons online.
Aqueelah
Emanuel ’02
Cybersecurity Analyst; Author, “Emani and the CyberHero Response Team”; Founder, AQ’s Corner LLC
Knowing what kids face online is essential: being groomed by strangers, harassment and depression linked to social media. If we can’t name the threats, we can’t start the right conversations. That’s why I host community events, to spark dialogue, not just awareness. Through roleplay, read-alouds and hands-on activities, we equip families with tools to talk, think and act. Digital safety isn’t just about what apps block; it’s about what families build together: trust, critical thinking and the confidence to ask better questions. That’s how we raise safer digital citizens, by preparing them, not just protecting them.
Gian Gentile ’16
CEO, SecurityRI.com; Winner, Providence Business News
“40 Under 40”
We’ve been navigating parenthood and security as technology has kept on evolving. Our 12-year-old isn’t on social media yet. We try to keep the balance between being a parent and giving her some leeway to make her feel that she at least has some access. We have a family plan for our iPhones where you can monitor your child’s access and approve what apps they can download, so she can’t just download something like TikTok by herself. She pushes back, but we try to teach her why we’re doing it, to protect her in a world that is not always perfect for young girls.
Leandre Mewborn ’20
Institutional Marketing Manager, Johnson & Wales University
One of the best ways to keep kids safe online is by encouraging media literacy and critical thinking. Help them understand that not everything they see on social media is accurate, and that their digital footprint matters. Setting boundaries around what to share, such as avoiding personal information or photos they wouldn’t be comfortable showing outside of family, is a strong first step. Just as important is teaching kids to pause and think before they post, ask questions about what they consume, and be mindful of how content can shape their perspective. Awareness is the best safeguard.
ALUMNI
1968
Michael R. Charpentier
March 18, 2025
1974
Ray Gesick
January 25, 2025
1975
Susan E. Gardiner
March 10, 2025
1976
Joseph F. March Jr.
May 24, 2025
David P. Mencarini
February 22, 2025
1977
John F. Greene Jr.
May 14, 2025
Alvin F. Mann
February 15, 2025
1978
Anthony J. DeCesare
July 4, 2025
Richard R. Walz Jr.
July 29, 2025
1979
Lorraine E.
Albin Miklovich
April 26, 2025
John A. Barrie
June 9, 2025
Adam Gitomer
July 14, 2025
Robert P. Shillaber
June 6, 2025
1980
Bruce Franklin
May 20, 2025
Peter A. Pinkhover
January 30, 2025
1981
Susan M. Konkol
December 4, 2024
Dana W. Nelson
January 19, 2025
1983
Matthew G. Flood
May 26, 2025
Faith R. Kling
July 11, 2025
1984
Wesley J. Neal
July 25, 2025
1985
Joseph M. Ellwanger
February 9, 2025
Colonel John
Brooks Harris
May 4, 2024
Laurie A. Narey
April 19, 2025
Thomas M. Wolf
December 4, 2024
1986
Keith J. Czarsty
May 22, 2025
Randall S. Murphy
January 15, 2025
Glenn R. Ohler
March 1, 2025
1988
Wendy M. Strigo
May 9, 2025
Leslie C. Swiacki
March 20, 2025
1989
Francis G. Marino
April 8, 2025
Catherine J. Phillips
February 13, 2025
Steven J. Stavros
July 5, 2025
1990
John J. Johnsen III
February 16, 2025
1992
Lisa M. Bramley
July 16, 2025
Nicholas Buczkowski
June 19, 2025
Christine Liboula ’92 MBA
June 22, 2025
Michael J. Mccue Jr.
February 27, 2025
1993
Alex DeMambro
January 18, 2025
Geoffrey M. Driscoll
April 5, 2025
1994
Frederick J. Farland
April 27, 2025
William E. Matters
July 14, 2025
1995
George L. Agostini ’95 Hon.
June 9, 2025
Doris P. Mederer
February 4, 2025
1996
Leslie L. Bartosh
January 30, 2025
Richard D. Fogel
March 30, 2025
Danielle T. Simpson
March 12, 2025
1997
Kathryn A. Schacklin ’02 MBA
December 30, 2024
1998
Ryan P. Spesock
July 15, 2025
1999
Suzanne Palucki
June 30, 2025
2002
Marie Bouchard ’05 MBA
March 13, 2025
Brian E. Canipelli
February 6, 2025
Scott K. Keefer, J.D., ’02 Hon.
June 28, 2025
2003
Justin M. Keegan
April 14, 2025
2004
Casey A. Canevari
May 1, 2025
Mark Fakkema
June 17, 2025
Adam J. Good
July 3, 2025
Luther “Luke”
Devanie Murden II
March 6, 2025
Emily Radosta
February 5, 2025
Arthur L. Sutton III
April 15, 2025
2006
Catherine A. Schupak ’08 MAT
April 16, 2025
2008
William E. Long ’13 MBA
April 15, 2025
2009
Joseph J. Epps ’09
June 5, 2025
2016
Kyle A. Hickman
January 27, 2025
2021
Richard C. Popovic
March 19, 2025
2025
Declan C. Katz
June 10, 2025
FACULTY, STAFF AND FRIENDS
Peter P. Costa
May 16, 2025
Paul M. Llewellyn
January 25, 2025
John W. Meredith
July 18, 2025
After 36 years of service to JWU, Marie Bernardo-Sousa, LP.D., ’92 retired from her role as Providence Campus president in August.
A Wildcat through and through, she began her journey at JWU as a student and went on to serve in nearly every corner of the university before becoming president in 2019.
“Whenever JWU called, she answered, armed with willingness and dedication,” said Chancellor Mim Runey, LP.D., as she presented the Outstanding Achievement Award to President Bernardo-Sousa at this spring’s Distinguished Alumni Award celebration.
“She has had a steadfast and compassionate presence for our students and alumni for decades now, and she will be missed by all her colleagues. She is a true public servant in spirit, a lifelong learner and an educator at heart.”
“I’m grateful and always will be — and I will always wear my JWU blue!”
On accepting the surprise award, Bernardo-Sousa talked about the “distinct privilege” to be a part of campus for so many years. “JWU was a wonderful place where I got to see so many people grow and change and find success and be their authentic selves. I’m grateful and always will be — and I will always wear my JWU blue!”
In an interview for the “This Week at JWU” podcast earlier this spring, she talked about the importance of prioritizing students. “I hope my legacy is a student-centric culture,” she said.
“That everything we’re doing should be for the betterment of our student experience, both in the classroom and out of the classroom. To be true to our mission, it has to be transformative. They need all of us pushing them to step out of their comfort zone. To say yes when someone says, ‘Come and do a study abroad’ or ‘come try out for this varsity team.’ Giving them the confidence to do that.”
Dana H. Gaebe, 81, passed away on June 22, 2025.
Dana is remembered on the Providence Campus for his long and dedicated service to Johnson & Wales University. He served as a trustee for 20 years (1989-2009) and on the Board’s Finance & Budget Committee for 15 years, six of which as chair. He was recognized with a Doctor of Business Administration at the Providence Campus in 2009.
Dana attended the College of William & Mary, where he met his wife, Elizabeth, and earned his law degree from Boston College Law School. After his service in Vietnam, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star, Dana built a distinguished legal career in corporate law and estate taxation. He was elected to the Rhode Island Bar Foundation, received a Special Commendation from the Rhode Island Supreme Court for ethics in practice,
and was awarded the Foundation’s highest honor for service to the community.
Dana’s father, Morris Gaebe, was Johnson & Wales’s second president, leading the university from 1969 to 1989 before becoming its first chancellor in that year. In 1947, Morris Gaebe had purchased Johnson & Wales Business School from Miss Johnson and Miss Wales with his friend and partner in education Edward Triangolo. Under their visionary leadership, Johnson & Wales University grew to over 15,000 students with campuses in four states.
Dana will be remembered for his generosity and unwavering commitment to service. His life was defined by integrity, humility and a deep love for family, country and community.
What does it mean to write a Cantonese cookbook through an American lens?
Calvin Eng ’15, a Brooklyn-born chef and restaurant owner who majored in culinary arts and food service management at JWU, is betting culinary minded readers are eager to find out. His new cookbook, “Salt Sugar MSG: Recipes and Stories from a Cantonese American Home,” includes more than 85 recipes that combine American and Cantonese flavors inspired by the food of his childhood. Eng, who owns the widely praised Bonnie’s restaurant in Brooklyn, is a James Beard Emerging Chef finalist, Food & Wine Best New Chef, Forbes “30 under 30” recipient, StarChefs Rising Star, and two-time James Beard Best Chef: New York State semi-finalist.
Why did you write the book? I love cookbooks and reading about an author’s culinary journey. After opening my own restaurant in 2021, it felt like the right time to reach an even wider audience and educate them about the richness and vibrancy of Cantonese food through the eyes of an American-born Chinese kid.
What is a favorite recipe?
The BLT Fried Rice recipe hits all the right notes, combining fried rice, a staple in many Asian cultures, with a good oldfashioned American BLT. There’s something nostalgic Americana about a BLT. When you rub every grain of rice with smoky, salty bacon fat and add mayonnaise, it might confuse you at first, but once you start eating it, I promise it all makes sense.
How did your JWU years influence your professional success? It was the best decision I ever made. I truly believe everything that happened in my career during school and afterwards stemmed from my time at JWU.
JWU’s dining and sustainability staff put their heads together regularly to talk about ways to reduce food waste on campus. Their multi-pronged approach includes composting and donating excess food to local nonprofits.
JWU Providence also partners with Izzo Brothers Farm in Johnston, Rhode Island, which picks up leftover food from the campus to feed its pigs. “It helps us keep food waste out of the landfill and instead use that food to feed animals,” says Michelle Galvin, JWU’s sustainability coordinator.
JWU has teamed up with Izzo Brothers Farm to reduce campus food waste since 2014.
Several times a week Carlo Izzo visits JWU dining halls and culinary labs to pick up unused or leftover food, which he takes back to his farm to feed his 50 or so pigs.
In 2024, Izzo Brothers Farm completed 516 pickups from three of JWU’s dining halls, totaling 227,040 pounds of food scraps and organic waste.
“Pigs will eat pretty much anything if they are hungry enough,” says Izzo. “When they have options, I would say their favorite foods are sweets.”
This year, the National Association of College & University Food Services Waste Reduction Awards (NACUFS) named JWU a bronze award winner in Waste Reduction for efforts including the partnership with Izzo Brothers Farm.
