Age: 26

Major: psychology, Honors College

Minors: French and Judaic studies

Post-graduate study: M.S. in biology, 2012, from New York University; post-baccalaureate in pre-medical studies, Fordham University

Future study: St. George University Medical School, beginning Fall 2014

Career plans: neurology: “I would love to work with children diagnosed with developmental disorders.”

Rob Spring Photography

Lisette Miranda is helping to foster confident, adaptable women … a few interns at a time.
Gayana G Photography

UAlbany senior Miles Thompson and his brother, junior Lyle Thompson, are sociology majors who will graduate in Spring 2015. They are also standouts in Great Danes athletics: In May, the attackmen became the first joint winners of the Tewaaraton Award, lacrosse’s version of the Heisman Trophy, and the first Native Americans to earn the honor. John Strohsacker

Age: 26

Undergraduate major: accounting

Master’s: taxation

Employer: Ernst & Young

Title: tax senior

Location: New York, N.Y.

Rob Spring Photography

When former English major Amanda N. Prescott decided to attend law school, she found her University at Albany degree a great asset. “The core of being a successful attorney is the ability to be an excellent and efficient writer,” says Prescott, who minored in women’s studies and criminal justice.

Age: 30 Major: human biology

Minor: Spanish

Employer: Suffolk Obstetrics and Gynecology

Title: OB/GYN

Location: Port Jefferson, N.Y.

Rob Spring Photography

As a human-biology major and psychology minor at the University at Albany, Robbie Freeman completed a community-service internship that transformed his life. “I volunteered at Albany Medical Center’s ER and heart-transplant unit,” he recalled, “and was amazed by the clinical knowledge and bedside manner of the nurses. I realized quickly that nursing was the right profession for me.”
Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Simone N. Sneed has a unique job title: social entrepreneur.

“A social entrepreneur pursues innovative solutions to the pressing social challenges of our time, such as poverty, environmental sustainability, educational inequity, by leveraging enterprise,” explained Sneed, 29.

Four months after graduating from the University at Albany with a degree in public administration and policy, Joe Bonilla was not only employed. He was self-employed.

Bonilla, with friend and fellow alumnus Rich Fazio, founded Relentless Awareness, a public-relations and advertising firm, in January 2012. As its name suggests, Relentless Awareness provides “non-stop outreach through public relations and digital outreach solutions to a variety of clients.”

Though he hails from Long Island, Matthew Peter adopted Albany as his home while attending UAlbany. “I love this city,” said Peter. “It’s a great place to live.” Peter, 29, now has a hand in helping to shape the city’s future – as chief of Staff for Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan. Colleen Piccolino

Age: 26

Majors: criminal justice and psychology

Advanced degree: Ed.M.’11, prevention science and practice, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Employer: The Bronx Institute at Lehman College-CUNY

Title: assistant director – ENLACE Program

Location: Bronx, N.Y.

Rob Spring Photography

“UAlbany helped me build a solid foundation to ensure I have a successful future,” says Lisa Fund, 30. “The University taught me how to balance my time, and confirmed the importance of giving back to the community and being involved with the Alumni Association. Without strong support from the athletics and math departments, the School of Business and many mentors, I do not think I would be where I am today.”

Age: 21 Hometown: Tarrytown, N.Y.

Class year: senior

Graduation year: 2015

Major: sociology

Minor: bioethics

During Summer 2014, Skovron joined Town of Greenburgh [N.Y.] Supervisor Paul Feiner and clerk Judith Beville to act on “the dearth of internships and jobs for college students and recent graduates. I sought them out after I wasn’t hearing back about jobs and internships I had applied to months in advance.

Twenty-eight-year-old Steve Severin possesses the knowledge and determination necessary to succeed in any field. But he credits the University at Albany’s business curriculum and career services as “key contributors to my success in my current career path, information-technology audit.”
Marty Heitner

Founder and executive of multiple companies. Designer. Writer. College professor. Media personality. And that’s all within two years of graduation. “I’ve been so busy for so long that I couldn’t imagine life simpler,” noted the multi-faceted Jacques Bastien.

Fine arts majors Mic DeBellis, 23; Dana S. Owens, 29; and Kateryne Lora, 22, met in Nathan Meltz’s screen-printing class at UAlbany. Their friendship became a partnership with the June 2013 founding of The Machine: A Creative Co-op in Albany.

Casey Wittchen published her first book in January. And the 21-year-old UAlbany junior has several more “in the works.” Kyle Adams/Mechanicville Mile

Age: 29

Major: philosophy, Honors College

Former employer: University at Albany

Titles: assistant director, Global Institute for Health and Human Rights, and program assistant, International Academic Program (left in May to “explore opportunities in New York; Philadelphia; and Washington, D.C. I look forward to moving to a new city at the end of the summer.”)

Founder, director and project coordinator, The Wishi Project. Gray raised funds to establish a school in rural Ecuador for children of the indigenous Wishi community.

Since the 1960s, Detroit has struggled with economic woes, population loss, surplus housing stock, curtailed municipal services and a host of other issues. But self-described “urban mechanic and futurist” Jason Zogg sees his adopted hometown as a place where “everyone matters,” and he’s eager to revitalize the city.

Eric Fisher, chief meteorologist at WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston, had a unique childhood, to say the least. “I was that kid sitting out on the porch with Mom yelling at me to get inside during thunderstorms. I would watch endless hours of The Weather Channel, get pumped up for big snowstorms, and even had a backyard weather station where I kept observations in a notebook. So you could say the path was laid out. I knew I wanted to work in weather,” recalls Fisher, 30.

“We see an entire generation that is up for grabs … young people who have been overlooked or underestimated by most media outlets,” explained James Allen. “They consume content through new channels: social and mobile. And they happen to be the largest generation in American history.”

Zane Krumanocker defines the American Dream as “the never-ending pursuit of reaching your goals and enjoying every minute of your life. Both are easier said than done.”

Still, he and Melissa, married since August 2013, are giving the effort their all. The founders of Cape Crabbers, which Melissa describes as “a nautically inspired lifestyle brand,” are “having fun creating a product that people are excited to wear” while “making it a point not to take our brand too seriously.”

“My work is my passion,” explained Jordan Edelson. Whether you’re a fan of the NBA, Lady Gaga, beer, perfume or a growing range of games, you may have held his work in the palm of your hand.

Matthew Alfieri is living a dream: working in London as vice president on the Principal Strategic Investments team at Goldman Sachs. “I almost don’t believe it’s real. It’s like an extended holiday,” he observes.

Dumbstruck, the application Mike Tanski and Peter Allegretti created last year, also aptly describes the UAlbany doctoral students’ reaction to the popularity the app has achieved in a short time. Colleen Piccolino

If the folks at Google will pardon the pun, Stacey Gammon is truly an embodiment of the phrase “Google Plus.”

Gammon, who simultaneously earned her B.S. and M.S. in computer science in four years at UAlbany, is currently a senior software engineer for the Internet giant’s AdWords Editor Team. Her team is responsible for providing solutions to help large advertisers manage their immensely complex “adword” accounts. But she also has another passion: pet photography.

Age: 30

Major: criminal justice

Advanced degree: J.D., Albany Law School

Employer: Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP

Title: associate in the Litigation & Arbitration Group

Location: New York, N.Y.

Rob Spring Photography