A 75-Year Legacy on Campus

Hitting a 75th anniversary isn’t just a fun milestone—it’s a testament to student grit.

Launching right after World War II, The Delphian quickly became the heart of campus conversation. Whenever history unfolded, Adelphi communications, history and political science majors were on the front lines, documenting everything from cafeteria menus to major national turning points like the Vietnam War protests, the Civil Rights Movement, Watergate and the COVID-19 pandemic.

While earlier publications existed—like the Adelphi College Fortnightly (1921–1946) and the Adelphi Guidon (1946–1951)—it was The Delphian that truly took root, growing from a scrappy four-page weekly paper into an award-winning newsroom.

In its very first issue, the inaugural student editors issued a bold call to action that still drives the team today:

“Take notice, Adelphi, and give your representative voice all your backing. The Delphian is new, but most of all, the year is new. What better time is there to get those dingy scowls off our faces and ‘do something’?”

Today, The Delphian is winning recognition—including three awards in 2025 from the Press Club of Long Island, and many others over the years, including Best College Newspaper and Best College Reporter.

Time Travel in the Campus Archives

How did past generations handle absolute chaos? In the spring of 2026, Professor Maria Cristina Zaccarini, PhD, took students from her sophomore history deep into the archives at Swirbul Library to find out.

Heading down the stairs and into the stacks, students cracked open old issues of The Delphian from the 1960s and 1970s, analyzing how past Panthers reacted to the Vietnam War, the political earthquake of Watergate and the fight for gender equality.

“Adelphi was ahead of the curve in many ways with the free speech movement and protesting the Vietnam War,” Dr. Zaccarini explained. “There were incredible insights that made you understand the mindset of the entire community, just like our newspaper today helps us understand who we are right now.”

Launching Real Careers (and Bestselling Authors)

Joining the Delphian team isn’t just an extracurricular—it’s a hands-on career accelerator. You learn how to ask tough questions, connect with people of all kinds, meet real deadlines and lead teams.

Consider Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.). Before she became the New York Times bestselling author of the hit novel Practical Magic, she was sitting in the Delphian newsroom developing her writing voice.

Liza Burby, senior adjunct at Adelphi and faculty adviser for The Delphian from 2013 to 2025, emphasizes that student journalism pushes people out of their comfort zones in the best way possible, preparing them for their careers.

“Having to come up with article ideas, figure out how to get the information you need to tell the story, and then being able to either interview someone on the phone or across a table—those are skills that a lot of people are really hesitant to pursue,” she said.

Professor of communications Paul Thaler, PhD, who preceded Burby as advisor to the paper, sees work on the paper as a powerful rite of passage for students.

“As a student-journalist, you are an active witness to events and also a commentator to ongoing matters of importance on campus, with the power to heighten the collective consciousness of the University,” he said. “In short, a student writing for The Delphian now wears the badge of a journalist—and that is an empowering feeling.”

That culture of mentorship creates a chain reaction where experienced editors help train the newest writers on campus.

“I’ve grown so much as a writer,” said Arpan Josan, a recent editor-in-chief who will graduate in December 2026. “It has challenged me to create meaningful articles and engage with different topics. As an editor, I’ve been able to help younger writers develop their skills while sharpening my own.

The Next Page

The Delphian is not standing still. Current faculty adviser Suzanne Valenza and the student staff are focused on leveling up their digital footprint.

“Our goal is to make the absolute go-to spot for campus news,” Valenza said. “We are building a strong staff with regular meetings in our redesigned office—a space where students can hang out, swap story ideas, debate current events or just kick back with friends.”

Alumni and current students are also invited to celebrate 75 years of student voices at a special anniversary event on October 17 as part of Spirit Weekend.

It’s a homecoming for generations of writers, photographers and designers who left their mark on campus—and proof that student voices at Adelphi continue to shape the future.

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The film, What the Notes Say, was created under the guidance of three faculty mentors and ultimately submitted to the prestigious competition. For the students involved, the project became far more than an academic assignment—it was an unforgettable lesson in the power of storytelling, creativity and collaboration.

Working as a team, the students learned firsthand what it takes to bring a meaningful vision to life: balancing roles, supporting one another through challenges, and combining individual talents into a shared success. The experience underscored how teamwork and dedication can transform a student project into something with lasting impact.

Two students were flown to Hollywood to attend the awards ceremony, where the project received national recognition. When the moment arrived, the announcement was unforgettable:

“And the winner is… What the Notes Say!”

As then-Department Chair and Adelphi alumnus Paul Pitcoff ’65 reflected, the honor was “a testament to how significant student hard work, dedication, and passion can guide and affect educational advancement.”

Their achievement remains a lasting example of the creativity, teamwork, and excellence that define our alumni community—and a reminder of what students can accomplish when they come together with purpose.

We proudly recognize the talented student filmmakers from the Classes of 1974, 1975 and 1976: Rich Baron, Patrice Benneward, John Bencivenga, John Costello, Kurt Derner, Rosemary Ravinal, Sharon Thompson, Walter Trepashko, Tom Bisset, Sean Britt, Ken Cohn, Dorie Hightower, Karen Grossman and Rich O’Neill, along with their faculty mentors Marge Hudson, Len Price and Paul Pitcoff.

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Liza N. Burby, Adelphi senior adjunct professor and Delphian faculty adviser, was also recognized as a reporter of the year. They were honored among hundreds of top journalists on Long Island on June 5 at the 2025 PCLI Media Awards at The Fox Hollow restaurant and hotel in Woodbury, New York.

The Delphian took second place in the Best College Newspaper category. In addition, Adelphi student William Conboy won second place in the features category for his article “How a Class Project Turned into a New ASL Club.” And Adelphi student Karla Pena won third place in the editorial/commentary category for “Slowing Down the Pace of Fast Fashion.”

Burby won six awards, including second place for reporter of the year for her reporting in Newsday and other publications. Burby, who teaches in Adelphi’s Department of Communications and serves as the student newspaper faculty adviser, also won first and third place in the narrative arts category, first place in real estate, third place in race and diversity, and third place in profiles.

Learn more about ������Ƶ’s The Delphian.

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Akuya earned her Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, focusing on children’s media and showcasing her leadership skills as class president and an Orientation leader. After graduating, she went on to build up her career, from a senior brand director at Nike up to her current role at Lego, a position she’s held since 2021.

Pharrell Williams Tells His Story in Lego

The company got into Lego-themed movies in 2014 with The Lego Movie. The new film project, , is a collaboration with Pharrell Williams to tell the multi-Grammy Award-winning artist’s life story in brick form. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10 and released in theaters on October 11. In addition to Williams, the film portrays—and features the voices of—artists such as Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z.

Akuya recently : “Inspired by Pharrell’s passion for space, together with The Lego Group, we have embarked on a mission to inspire creativity and curiosity through Lego play.”

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Lego Superpower Studios

Continuing to expand the brand’s universal appeal, Lego’s new collaborated with several artists to create the first Lego Superpower Studios, which opened its doors to guests in Paris in September.

In a story in , “It’s probably the most experiential brand in the world—so how do you demonstrate that at scale?” She added, “There’s always a wow factor with Lego. It’s about creative problem-solving.”

Lego and Nike Join Forces

As announced in a news release on the in August 2024, Lego and Nike will begin partnering next year.

In the release, Akuya said, “By combining the creativity of Lego play with the energy and passion of sport, we want to inspire new ways for kids to play and be creative. We are excited to partner with Nike, Inc., on this journey and help reimagine how creative play and sport can unite. Together, we will create unique experiences that will engage and excite kids around the world, inspiring them to explore their imaginations.”

Building a Community Around Play

“The best part about the job is that, at the end of the day, we’re talking about play,” . “And we get to play all day long if we so choose—it’s really welcome in the workplace. We have Lego bricks in every conference room, table or desk. It’s encouraged in meetings that we make playful games and incorporate that into our dialogues, or we think playfully about the ideas that we’re developing. For me, it’s the playfulness of the work environment and the playfulness of my colleagues that’s really enjoyable.”

The Media Takes Notice

Many media outlets are reporting on Lego’s moves. Here are a few:

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Two examples are graduate students Mujjabi Ian Sebbowa and Peace Olutoye. Although they are in very different programs at Adelphi, they each share a common interest in inspiring a love of STEM subjects in younger students.

Teaching the Next Generation of STEM Students

Sebbowa, who will graduate with his MBA in December 2024, and Olutoye, who is getting her MS in Biology, spent the summer as interns at Arthur Morrison Mentors, a nonprofit that holds STEM classes for students in the Hempstead Union Free School District on Long Island.

MBA student Mujjabi Ian Sebbowa helping students develop professional skills with the STEMpower Scholars program.

As program coordinator for the STEMpower Scholars program at Morrison Mentors, Sebbowa led daily sessions to help students develop professional skills and created personalized practice plans for each student.

“Leading personal development sessions for the scholars has allowed me to apply concepts from my organizational behavior and leadership courses, helping me develop my coaching and mentoring abilities,” he said. “This experience has been particularly rewarding as it combines the business acumen I’m gaining from my MBA with the opportunity to make a positive impact on young minds in STEM fields.”

As a tutor for students from Pre-K to fifth grade, Olutoye designed and delivered lessons and hands-on experiments to help students grasp topics such as scientific methods, weather and climate.

“Morrison Mentors’ focus on STEM education for young students aligned perfectly with my desire to promote scientific literacy from an early age,” said Olutoye, who will graduate with an MS in Biochemistry in December 2024 and plans to become a researcher and biology teacher. “The excitement on a child’s face when they grasp a new concept or successfully complete an experiment is incredibly rewarding.”

Paid Summer Internships at Nonprofits

Sebbowa and Olutoye were members of this year’s class of Adelphi’s prestigious Jaggar Community Fellows, a competitive program that connects students with local nonprofits for paid summer internship placements.

Twenty-five graduate and undergraduate students won fellowships this summer, including Annabelle Ali, a communications major with a media studies concentration, who worked as a production intern at North Shore TV (NSTV). Other fellows interned at a wide range of nonprofits, including the American Cancer Society, the National Urban League, the Northwell Institute for Nursing, Community Counseling and Mediation, the Financial Women’s Association and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association.

Biology Graduate Student Peace Olutoye mentoring students in STEM studies as part of her Arthur Morrison Mentors internship.

Senior Joe Sawma, a pre-med biology major and marketing minor, used his fellowship to combine his two passions in one internship. At Northwell Health’s Lions Eye Bank, a nonprofit fighting corneal blindness, Sawma not only shadowed surgical technicians but also pitched marketing campaigns to the hospital’s CFO.

“This internship has been extremely valuable and certainly indispensable to my Adelphi experience and future career goals,” said Sawma, who received Adelphi’s Outstanding First-Year Student Award in 2022 and won a prestigious Newman Civic Fellowship from Campus Compact the following year. “I’ve enjoyed coming to work this summer as every day has been a new experience and a new discovery for me.”

Researching Nanotechnologies in Poland

Summer internships took Adelphi students abroad as well. Chemistry major Joshuah Tavarez conducted research on nanotechnologies in Poland as part of International Research Experiences for Students (IRES), a program led by Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, professor of chemistry and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works, and funded by the National Science Foundation. President of the Adelphi Chemistry Club on campus, Tavarez spent his summer conducting research at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences.

“Our lab focused on the use of absorbents to purify wastewater,” Tavarez said. “Many people don’t realize how polluted water can be; pollutants can range from dyes to antibiotics.”

After graduation next year, Tavarez aspires to pursue a PhD in Chemistry and “help the world, using science.”

Launching an Accelerated Career in Finance

Closer to home, Monish Churaman interned as a global markets analyst at the financial services company Société Générale in New York City. Churaman, who received his degree in finance this May after completing Adelphi’s accelerated three-year business track, shadowed junior and senior analysts, completed his own projects, and participated in “Lunch & Learn” meetings with senior analysts.

“Working as a summer analyst at Société Générale has been nothing but an incredible experience,” he said. “I can confidently say that this is one of the best financial firms to work at, and an even better place to build the foundation of a banking career in my short time there.”

Churaman has had a great deal of success on the Adelphi campus as well. He received a 2024 President’s Student Leadership Award and won the 2023 Business Plan Competition with his partner Amita Radakichenane; they pitched an innovative business called SmileLab Printing Technologies, which would allow dental clinics to print crowns, bridges and dentures on-site instead of in a lab.

“This accelerated three-year business program has freed up a significant amount of time for myself, allowing me to get into the industry as quick as possible,” he said. “I can’t say enough positive things about the program, as my professors, advisers and other leaders at the business school have all played an integral part in shaping me into the person I am today and helping me move towards the goals I have set for myself.”

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Every semester, students taking film, screenwriting and production classes offered by the Department of Communications work hard on creating their individual short films. They work under the guidance of professors in the department, including Joan Stein Schimke and Terrence Ross. While the films, which range from comedy to thriller to documentary, reflect each student’s vision, the students collaborate with one another, giving them the opportunity to highlight their work at the end of each semester. And then there’s Jack.

Jack Furtado, technical director, has become a legend in the department, from offering production assistantships to students, to production club and being a mentor to students. He’s teaching a new class next semester called “S/T: Audio Production and Post Production for Film.” Once again, he hosted the department’s , where filmmakers discussed a little snippet of what their films are about. And student Landon Ohanian even made him the star of the opening segment shown in the beginning of the festival as a theater-like promo for what was to come.

After the screening, attendees headed to the production room of Blodgett Hall for an after-party, which is held at the end of every film festival and where winners are announced. Alumni and faculty judges, including Sebastiano Ricci ’20, now a professional puppeteer, met with students along with Gabriel Flores ’19 and adjunct faculty member Erika Bagnarello-Arguello.

“The best part of the festival is that students get a chance to share with the larger community what they have worked to create,” Ross said. “It is a great motivator to get students to complete their movies—their knowing it might be screened for an audience on the big screen. It also creates such a strong sense of community—since everyone works on everyone else’s movies and then we come together to celebrate them.

This year, a new category was introduced for best screenplay to acknowledge student screenwriters who did not submit a film but still wanted to share their work.

The award for Best Screenplay went to Mariane Sagna for Please Listen. Ethan Bloch ’24 and Ghila McBrien were named finalists for Damage Control and With Love, A Goodbye, respectively.

Student Films and Filmmakers

The films screened, in order of appearance, and their filmmakers are:

• Absence of Color, Gabbie Banton ’24
• American Dream, Mariam Shvangiradze
• Undetected, Nina Berntzen ’24
• Green Your Block, Eva Haishun ’24, first place, best editing
• Blacking Out, Harrison Borod
• Resonance, Jonathan Bauman, second place, best cinematography, best sound design
• Que Quieres Decir, Kennie Dionisio ’24, best comedy
• Gemini, Olivia Reid
• Mystery Trip, Emily Kelliher
• Andrea, Brian Bucalo ’24
• Get a Clue, Lizz Panchyk ’24
• Chant du Cygne, Emilia Matarrese ’24, audience choice

Student filmmaker Olivia Reid said, “I would encourage people to submit to the festival or simply attend because it’s fun, first and foremost. Especially if you have friends whose films are being shown, the festival at its heart is just a fun community experience at the end of the semester.”

Watch more .

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The $150,000 grant awarded to Adelphi’s Suraj Uttamchandani, PhD, assistant professor of learning sciences; Matthew Curinga, EdD, associate professor of education; and John Drew, associate professor of communications, funds their project, “Spatial Justice as a Bridge to Responsible Computing,” which focuses on the role of maps as digital artifacts to support spatial justice.

During the Spring 2024 semester, they redesigned Associate Professor Drew’s New Media course to help students learn user experience design through the creation of data-laden digital maps about social issues. Students investigated case studies with strong spatial justice elements, such as housing inequality, gerrymandering and school segregation on Long Island. Inspired by these cases, they formed teams to design and code their digital maps, which shed light on issues of spatial justice, while learning key computer science concepts. In the Fall 2024 semester, Dr. Uttamchandani and Dr. Curinga will co-lead a first-year seminar on these topics.

“These courses will use responsible computing as a framework to design new learning experiences around data, maps and spatial justice, and thus engage students in perspectives from geography, design, computer science, the learning sciences and educational equity,” said Dr. Uttamchandani. “One of our goals is to help a wide variety of students, including those outside of STEM majors, understand how computer science can help them tell stories about and challenge inequality. This project aims to broaden equitable participation in technology fields through innovative, research-informed, multidisciplinary and equity-forward course designs for computing education.”

Mozilla welcomed the professors to their new U.S. cohort at a dedicated RCC summit in October 2023, hosted by in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“AI and other computing technologies have an outsized impact on our lives, powering everything from banking to public services to law enforcement. As a result, we desperately need trustworthy AI systems —and responsible technologists who build them,” said Ziyaad Bhorat, PhD, fellow of the RCC, in an announcement of the cohort.

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The women choose their mentors, and Schimke chose film and television director , whose directing credits include American Horror Story, A Million Little Things, and ABC’s Station 19, as her mentor. The mentorship program started in September 2023 and runs until May 2024.

“I’m very lucky,” said Schimke. “Tessa’s done everything—she’s directed television series, made feature and documentary films, mentored so many female directors and taught at the .”

Making Films, Teaching Film

Schimke has had a notable career herself. Her short, nonfeature-length narrative films cover diverse topics. The aforementioned One Day Crossing, which was her MFA thesis film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, is about a Hungarian Jewish woman trying to save her family from the Nazis during World War II; shows the destruction of lifelong relationships at a birthday celebration in Poland during Communist times, and is about a boy and his mother trying to escape war-torn Syria to reunite with family on Long Island.

Her most recent film, Vacation Memories, the story of a mother and daughter’s experience while vacationing together, was screened this fall at the Centre Film Festival in State College, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey’s Lighthouse International Film Festival at Long Beach Island.

Schimke joined the faculty of Adelphi’s Department of Communications in 2004. “The classes I teach keep my directing muscles active and keep me up to date on new skills and technologies,” she said.

Her classes benefit students as well. Case in point: She put advanced film students to work on Saeed, a film that she and , associate professor of communications, created that was partially funded by an Adelphi faculty development grant. Some of the students were later hired for projects by the working production professionals whom she and Drew had brought in to work on the film.

She has also organized for 20 years.

Building a Network of Women Filmmakers

One Day Crossing’s clutch of awards and hundreds of screenings at worldwide festivals helped Schimke break into a notoriously competitive industry. But advancing in the film industry is challenging for anyone, particularly moms like Schimke with full-time jobs. “Everything is step by very slow step,” she said. “If you’re not working on a show and not working full time in the industry, it’s a challenge. You’re an unknown in an industry that works with the same people over and over again. When I think of how I directed a Law & Order episode while I was teaching, I’m amazed that I was able to accomplish that.”

Schimke would like more opportunities in TV directing. “The program is about how to help get you to the next step in your career, and to help you build a network,” she explained.

Schimke talks regularly with Blake, who invited her to Los Angeles in January to shadow her on the set of ABC’s Station 19. “It was a fantastic experience,” Schimke recalled. I learned so much by watching Tessa work her on-set magic.”

In addition to one-on-one mentorships, the 13 members of the Class of 2023 meet together on a monthly Zoom to inspire and update one another and get advice from guest speakers who are working directors. “A great network of mentees and mentors is being developed,” Schimke said. “It’s pretty incredible.”

About Barbie and Oscar®…

As far as , when asked if she thought Barbie director Greta Gerwig was snubbed by the Academy, Schimke said she wondered if it’s because there were so many great films to be nominated. “And yet, Barbie was the highest-grossing film last year. Gerwig is a great director who knows how to tell an amazing story, so I’m really not sure why she wasn’t nominated.”

As for which of the films nominated for Best Picture Schimke finds the most memorable, she mentioned , which garnered nominations for sound, writing and directing. “I was struck by the sound design as well as the art and craft of the director, Jonathan Glazer. He has an uncanny ability to bring us deeply into a dark subject matter.”

We’ll have to wait until March 10 to see if the Academy agrees.

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