Alumni Search
Alumni Profiles
National Award Recipients
To search the Honors Alumni Directory, enter your keyword(s) and hit the Search button (an AND is implied between keywords). You can search by name (first and/or last), business, city, state abbreviation or graduated class year.
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Kate (Ryan) McCabe '07
Kate (Ryan) McCabe '07 recently graduated from the University of Texas Law School and received the top law board score in the state of Texas. She resides in Dallas with her husband. To read a profile on Kate from Texas Lawyer, click here (Adobe Acrobat PDF).
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Nadine Harris kept herself busy while at Canisius. She participated in breast cancer research, helped plan the annual International Fest celebration and volunteered for Alternative Spring Break trips. Now, she is enrolled in the joint MD program through Dartmouth and Brown universities and is an International Health Fellow, with funding to complete an HIV medication adherence study in Georgetown, Guyana.
Harris says: "I believe the quality education I received at Canisius more than sufficiently prepared me for medical school. At Canisius I maintained a heavy course load, and learned how to be an active and valued member of the college community, while taking time to care for myself."
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Lucian Sikorskyj '04
He says: "My service work at the college taught me that there is a lot of suffering and injustice in the world. It's not all fixable but each of us as individuals has a responsibility to take a step in his own way to make a difference in correcting some of that injustice."
Adam Zyglis '04
The Buffalo News' editorial cartoonist and former Honors student Adam Zyglis graduated summa cum laude from Canisius in May 2004. He majored in computer science with a concentration in studio art and credits the Honors Program for his success."I feel that I wouldn't have my career as an editorial cartoonist if it wasn't for my experience in the Honors Program," Zyglis says. "I'm extremely fortunate to have landed one of only 85 full time editorial cartoonist positions in the U.S."
In addition to regular features in The Buffalo News, Zyglis' work has appeared in several books, magazines and Web sites such as msnbc.com. He has done storyboard artwork for national commercials including Verizon, as well as advertising and editorial illustrations.
In 2003, Zyglis won first place in Editorial Cartooning from the Associated Collegiate Press and the Universal Press Syndicate. He was also awarded second place in the John Locher Memorial Award, given by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, and was a finalist for the Charles M. Schulz Award, sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation.
Zyglis says: "Writing my honors thesis gave me the opportunity to look beyond my major and discover my true passion. In writing the paper, I got to interview some of the nations best cartoonists and develop my own theory on the craft. This pushed my cartoons to a new level and gave me the confidence to go after my dream job."
To see some of Zyglis' work, click here.
Charity A. Vogel ’97Charity A. Vogel, PhD is doing exactly what she always hoped she would: Writing every day, and making a living at it.
She works at The Buffalo News as a cityside columnist – read her work every Monday on the City & Region section front – and feature-writer. She was hired by the News shortly after she graduated from Canisius College, where she participated in the Honors Program and sat on the Honors Council. Vogel has won many awards for her journalism, including several Associated Press awards, as well as two top honors from the New York State Publishers Association for public service journalism. She also publishes widely in national magazines, including historical research and non-fiction narratives in American History and American Heritage; and old-house renovation and architecture pieces in Old-House Journal, Old-House Interiors, and Victorian Homes.
Vogel, who was Canisius’ commencement speaker in 1997, earned her master’s degree in English from the University at Buffalo in 2000 and a PhD in English from UB in 2004. Her dissertation research focused on images of female virginity in 19th century American literature and art.
She lives in the Southtowns of Buffalo with her husband, T.J. Pignataro, ’94, and their two young daughters. They are restoring – and enjoying – a sprawling Victorian house that was built in 1898.
Marcella Kearns '95
Marcella Kearns is an actor, arts administrator, and theatre educator currently based out of Milwaukee, WI. She was an English major and theatre arts minor at Canisius. As an undergraduate, Kearns was a Hearst scholar working at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. In 1995, she earned the Leslie C. Warren Award. Kearns studied dramatic literature and taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in Vienna, Austria, from 1995-1997 under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship. She completed her master of fine arts in acting at the University of South Carolina in 2003 and served as an acting intern at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater from 2002-2003.
Kearns has performed at Theatre South Carolina, the Sibiu International Festival (Transylvania, Romania), Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Studio Arena Theatre (via in-school tours), Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Chamber Repertory Theatre (Boston), Milwaukee Shakespeare, and Bialystock & Bloom. She will make her debut at First Stage Children’s Theater in January 2009. She was hired by Milwaukee Shakespeare in 2004 to serve its education department and is now the company’s education director. During her tenure, she has secured a National Endowment for the Arts/Arts Midwest /Shakespeare for a New Generation /grant for education operations multiple years, and this year she was the recipient of a Theatre Communications Group Observership grant to study teacher training at other theatres around the nation.
Kearns is also a volunteer with the Sierra Club and secretary on the Board of Directors of the Danihy Alumni Club of Alpha Sigma Nu. She credits the Honors Program at Canisius College with a firm foundation in interdisciplinary study, which she employs now in theatre and education in schools embattled by arts education cutbacks.
Scott L. Sroka '94Sroka has also served as counsel to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he drafted the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act (which makes it a felony to steal and sell cell phone billing records), and advised Senator Schumer during the confirmation proceedings of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Prior to moving to Washington, Sroka served as Senator Schumer’s Western New York Regional Director in Buffalo, where he worked with the Senator on local issues including the Buffalo waterfront, the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus, and designating Niagara Falls a National Heritage Area. Sroka also worked for three years after law school as a trial attorney at the Buffalo law firm of Phillips Lytle LLP.
Sroka’s other activities have included serving as president of the board of directors of Shakespeare in Delaware Park, and founder of “Shakespeare Lives! Buffalo-Niagara,” a partnership with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in
While at Canisius. Sroka served as editor-in-chief of the Griffin, was a senator in the Undergraduate Student Association, spent a semester studying abroad in London, and played in a rock band on campus. After graduating from Canisius, he earned his juris doctor from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Journal of College and University Law.
Alisa A. Lukasiewicz '92In January, 2006 Honors Program alumna Alisa Lukasiewicz was appointed Corporation Counsel for the City of Buffalo. Lukasiewicz earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and Political Science at Canisius in 1992. She is a 1995 cum laude graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Law.
Lukasiewicz served as an Assistant Erie County Attorney in the Gorski Administration from 1997 through 2000, where she developed a strong knowledge of municipal law, litigating civil claims on behalf of Erie County in civil rights actions, personal injury, medical malpractice, property damage and employment discrimination in both state and federal court.
From 2000 to the present, she has been employed at the law firm of Hurwitz and Fine, P.C., beginning as an associate and then being named a partner in July 2005. She has specialized in municipal litigation, defending the interests of Niagara County, Genesee County, the Village of East Rochester and the Town of Evans among others.
Fidelma Fitzpatrick '91Attorney Fidelma Fitzpatrick is breaking new legal ground by holding the lead pigment industry accountable for the childhood lead poisoning crisis. As trial counsel in the landmark case against the lead pigment industry on behalf of the State of Rhode Island, she won an unprecedented verdict for the state. In 2006, she was named Rhode Island Attorney of the Year.
She represents hundreds of lead poisoned children in Wisconsin in legal battles against the lead pigment industry. Thanks to Fitzpatrick, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court became the first to recognize the legal rights of poisoned children in suing the lead pigment manufacturers. She also works intensively on similar litigation filed by the City of New York, the City and County of San Francisco and several New Jersey municipalities.
Fitzpatrick is an attorney with Motley Rice LLC, one of the country’s largest plaintiff’s litigation firms. She earned her law degree from American University in 1994.
Matthew E. Raiff, '91Matthew E. Raiff, PhD is a founding Partner of Bates White LLC, a leading economic consulting firm with offices in Washington D.C. and San Diego. He oversees numerous matters for some of the firm’s largest clients, including E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Crowell & Moring LLP, and Dickstein Shapiro LLP. Dr. Raiff is a co-leader of the firm’s antitrust practice and serves as an expert economic consultant on matters primarily involving alleged anticompetitive conduct. He has published on various topics related to auctions, procurements, and collusion.
Raiff is a strong supporter of Canisius and created a joint Bates White/Canisius research initiative that provides opportunities for students to work closely with a faculty member of the All-College Honors Program on one or more research projects. To read more about the Bates White Research Experience, click here.
In addition to his degree in economics from Canisius, Raiff holds both a master’s degree and a PhD in economics from Duke University. He was also a postdoctoral economist at The Pennsylvania State University and an instructor in the Department of Economics at Duke University.
John J. Hurley ‘78 John J. Hurley was appointed the 24th president of Canisius College on October 19, 2009 and assumed the position on July 1, 2010. He is the first lay president in Canisius College’s 140-year history.
Hurley is a graduate of St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, Canisius College (BA, English and history, summa cum laude) and the University of Notre Dame Law School. Prior to coming to Canisius, he practiced law for 16 years including 13 years at the Buffalo firm of Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blaine & Huber.
To read more about him, click here.
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Lawrence J. Vilardo, founder of Buffalo-based litigation firm Connors & Vilardo, has a record of more than 20 years of distinguished legal achievement and leadership. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Canisius College and earned his law degree at Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Vilardo served as law clerk to Hon. Irving L. Goldberg, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in Dallas, Texas. More recently, he was Editor-in-Chief of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Journal and he served as a member of the governing Council of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Membership in that organization is by invitation only and is limited to a total of 500 appellate lawyers in the United States.
After working for five years as an associate with Terrence M. Connors '68, Vilardo shared his mentor’s vision and joined him in opening Connors & Vilardo. He heads the firm’s appellate practice and has written briefs and petitions to state and appellate courts at all levels, including the United States Supreme Court. He regularly litigates against some of the largest firms in the area and across the country. He participates in setting strategy for all the firm’s largest cases.
Mary Grace Diehl '74After graduating from Canisius in 1974, Mary Grace Diehl earned her juris doctorate at Harvard Law where she was active in moot court competition and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She coached varsity debate at St. Anselm's College in Manchester, NH to finance her law education. Her first job after graduation was in the litigation department at an Atlanta law firm then known as Troutman, Sanders, Lockerman & Ashmore (now Troutman Sanders LLP and a 500 lawyer firm). In 1977, she married Michael Jablonski whom she met during his days as a college debater at Emory University. The couple has two daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca.
The early years of Diehl's career as a lawyer were spent on a wide variety of litigation cases including commercial real estate disputes, securities fraud litigation, contract disputes and, increasingly, debtor-creditor disputes. Over time, she came to concentrate primarily in the area of business bankruptcy and now heads the Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group of Troutman Sanders. It is a practice area which Diehl says matches well with her skill set. The the cases move quickly, there is a lot of court time and the variety is in the nature of the businesses that seek protection in bankruptcy court.
Diehl has served in many leadership positions with bankruptcy bar organizations. She's chaired both the Atlanta Bar Bankruptcy Section and the State Bar of Georgia Bankruptcy Section. In July 2008, she began a term as president of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, an educational non-profit which sponsors a large seminar each spring in Atlanta. In 1998, Diehl was elected to the American College of Bankruptcy and is listed in both Best Lawyers in America and Chambers Guide to America's Leading Business Lawyers.
She has also devoted herself to issues involving the role of women in the law, chairing the Women in the Profession Committee of the Atlanta Bar and speaking at Harvard's Celebration 50 which recognized 50 years of women graduates from Harvard.
William Schoenl '63 William Schoenl is professor of modern history at Michigan State University. His research focuses on twentieth-century European intellectual and cultural history as well as the founder of analytical psychology Carl Jung. Schoenl’s book C. G. Jung: His Friendships with Mary Mellon and J. B. Priestley is based on his original research in Jung's unpublished correspondence. The book depicts how it felt to live in Switzerland during World War II and demonstrates, through Jung's letters to Mary Mellon, that the psychiatrist was anti-Nazi during the War.
Schoenl was the editor of another book about Jung, Major Issues in the Life and Work of C.G. Jung, as well as New Perspectives on the Vietnam War: Our Allies’ View. He is the author of The Intellectual Crisis in English Catholicism. He has contributed numerous articles and reviews to journals. He is also an author of poetry. He served as a member of the Committee on Research of the American Society of Church History and a trustee of the Center for Jung Studies of Detroit.
Interested in service, he has been a member and chair of the disbursement committee for dire needs overseas, St. John Student Parish, East Lansing, since 1971; chair of the international iodine deficiency disorders project and of the human and spiritual values committee, Kiwanis Club of Okemos; and founder of a Meridian Non-Traditional High School scholarship for beginning college. He recently founded the Michigan State University Honors College Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas as well as the Schoenl Scholarship for a Canisius Honors student who participates in an international service-immersion trip arranged by Campus Ministry. Schoenl earned his PhD in history from Columbia University.
Honors Graduates Earn National Awards
| Fulbright-Hays Scholarships | |||
| William Golba | 2010 | Austria | |
| Adam Walters | 2008 | Peru | |
| Melanie Horton | 2007 | Mexico | |
| Elise Garvey | 2007 | Ukraine | |
| Edward Snyder | 2002 | Germany | |
| Stephen Altieri | 2002 | Canada | |
| Amy Lyons | 2001 | France | |
| Michael Slosek | 2001 | Canada | |
| Elizabeth Mangus | 2000 | Canada | |
| Benjamin Krass | 1999 | Spain | |
| Michael O’Sullivan | 1999 | Germany | |
| Rebecca Cressman | 1997 | Australia | |
| Marcella Kearns | 1995 | Austria | |
| Dan Sherman | 1995 | New Zealand | |
| Michael Klier | 1994 | Germany | |
| Erick Filipink | 1993 | Belgium | |
| Maria Miller | 1993 | New Zealand | |
| Lisa Kuriscak | 1993 | Spain | |
| Carolyn Dudek | 1993 | Spain | |
| Matthew Klaben | 1991 | Germany | |
| Thomas Malucci | 1988 | Germany | |
| Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship | |||
| Steven Seegel | 1999 | ||
| Truman Fellowship | |||
| A.J. Bellia | 1991 | ||
| NCAA Woman of the Year | |||
| Mary Beth Riley | 1991 | ||
| Arthur H. Carter Scholarship in Accounting | |||
| Brian Laibble | 1999 | ||
| Stephen Bubar | 1993 | ||
| Joyce Adzilka | 1991 | ||
| Jacob Javits Scholarship | |||
| Maureen Cody | 2000 | ||
| Amy Whipple | 1997 | ||
| Rotary Fellowship | |||
| Meghann Drury | 2001 | ||
| Lynn Pokrzyk | 1998 | ||
| Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program | |||
| J.R. Lipartito | 2001 |
For a list of Professional School placements, click here. (Adobe Acrobat .pdf)