05/11/2016
The SUNY Cortland Alumni Association will present its most prestigious honors to seven graduates during the 2016 Alumni Reunion Weekend luncheon in Corey Union on Saturday, July 9.
The 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are:
• Matthew J. Franjola ’64, a former reporter and photographer for The Associated Press who was among the last Americans in Saigon when it fell to the North Vietnamese in 1975. He will be honored posthumously.
• Lynn Wecker ’69, a distinguished research professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine whose work has helped further understanding of brain chemistry.
• Edward J. Zambraski ’71, an emeritus professor of physiology at Rutgers University and a senior consultant for the U.S. Army Medical Corps whose research has helped integrate women in military combat roles.
The 2016 Distinguished Young Alumna Award recipient is:
• Jamie M. Piperato ’12, a national student affairs speaker and higher education consultant who specializes in topics that include leadership, diversity and LGBTQ services.
The 2016 Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award recipients are
• James C. Codispoti ’63, a longtime teacher and coach in the Mamaroneck (N.Y.) Public Schools and the former president of the College’s C-Club who helped established a healthy endowment for SUNY Cortland’s Hall of Fame Weekend and Athletics Banquet.
• Carolyn A. Cooke ’66, an active member of the College’s Alumni Association Board of Directors whose volunteer work reaches many corners of campus, from Reunion to Greek life.
• Ralph M. Shortell ’66, an alumni volunteer for more than 25 years who played a major role in bringing together brothers from the Delta Kappa Beta fraternity to Reunion in 2014.
Since 1968, 123 SUNY Cortland graduates, including this year’s honorees, have received the Distinguished Alumni Award for their career accomplishments and outstanding service to their community and alma mater. In addition, 23 alumni have been recognized with Distinguished Young Alumni awards, reserved for alumni who are younger than 35 years old and have graduated in the last 10 years. Since 1999, 14 alumni have been honored with Outstanding Alumni Volunteer awards.
Here’s a closer look at the seven graduates:
Matthew J. Franjola ’64
Franjola put together a remarkable career covering international subjects in Africa and Asia, earning praise from Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and colleagues in the national media when he died in 2015. His work introduced him to former U.S. President Gerald Ford, Queen Elizabeth, high-ranking military officials and countless others.
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The former physical education major trained for the Peace Corps after graduating, but instead went to work in South Vietnam for a war supplies company. He met journalists there and eventually became a stringer for The Associated Press, even reporting from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon just days before the North Vietnamese defeated the South.
Franjola’s fluency in Vietnamese was attributed to saving the lives of David Hume Kennerly, a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who went on to work for the White House during President Ford’s tenure, and Ed Bradley, who later would achieve fame on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Despite being wounded twice, Franjola stayed in Vietnam through the war’s conclusion and eventually traveled to the South Africa to cover apartheid governments in South Africa and Rhodesia during the late 1970s.
A former track and field athlete at the College, Franjola initially attended SUNY Cortland with the intention of becoming an athletic coach. Following a liver transplant after his career in journalism concluded, he went on to win a pair of gold medals in tennis at the Transplant Games — another sign of his courage, determination and talent.
Lynn Wecker ’69
Recognized for her groundbreaking work in defining brain chemistry, Wecker has earned a reputation nationally and internationally for her teaching and research. The distinguished professor from the University of South Florida (USF) specializes in neuroscience — seeking to understand how brain chemistry affects behaviors, with an emphasis on the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and addiction.
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Wecker, who graduated from the College with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Florida’s College of Medicine, served previously as president elect of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), one of the country’s oldest and largest scientific societies. She also directed USF’s Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory in the Institute for Research in Psychiatry and Neurosciences, which housed many of her pioneering projects.
Wecker joined USF’s faculty in 1990 after serving at Northeastern University, Vanderbilt University and Louisiana State University. She eventually ascended to the position of associate dean for research in USF’s College of Medicine, teaching graduate students, medical students and medical residents along the way. Wecker also was a member of the multidisciplinary team at the USF Ataxia Research Center that focused on finding and testing treatments for the condition that causes the loss of full control of bodily movements. She still remains active at the national level in several neuroscience and pharmacology organizations.
Wecker has published scores of research articles across several disciplines, with much of her work funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her studies involve multidisciplinary approaches to understand how age, drugs, environmental and genetic factors affect the brain and behavior. Her honors and awards are just as numerous. They include many different teaching honors from USF and an elected fellow award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Wecker, who resides in Tampa, Fla., remains a talented and enthusiastic leader in the field of pharmacology.
Edward J. Zambraski ’71
Zambraski served Rutgers University as a faculty member for nearly three decades and worked an additional 11 years as a senior consultant for the U.S. Army Medical Corps, but his accomplishments go far beyond what a traditional scientist or medical researcher might do. The former physical education and biology major at SUNY Cortland has made contributions across a variety of different settings.
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As a physiology professor at Rutgers, Zambraski taught undergraduate biology majors aspiring to become teachers, directed the university’s honors program for a five-year stretch and maintained an NIH-funded research lab over a 27-year period. He also established an academic program in exercise science and served as its department chair for a 10-year period. By the time Zambraski retired from Rutgers in 2003, the program enrolled more than 400 majors.
He was recruited during retirement to chair the military performance division of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., with research areas that included musculoskeletal injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, concussions and suicides. In 2012, Zambraski was trusted with executing the Army’s Physical Demands Study, a first-of-its-kind project to determine the physical demands associated with combat positions. That work, successfully completed in 2015, led to the completion of Occupational Physical Performance Assessment Tests, a valuable gender-neutral tool that has received national attention for integrating women in combat roles.
Zambraski, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, has served multiple terms on the board of directors for the American College of Sports Medicine, delivering more than 200 invited research presentations during his career. He offered the keynote address at SUNY Cortland’s Scholars Day in 2009 and he has devoted a significant amount of time and energy to crucial causes that include multiple sclerosis, heart disease and Parkinson’s Disease.
Jamie M. Piperato ’12
The youngest member of SUNY Cortland’s Alumni Association Board of Directors continues to champion inclusion and social justice in her professional career just as she did during her time at the College. Piperato, a former Student Government Association (SGA) president, now serves as an independent speaker on topics that prove crucial on college campuses and in life.
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She holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a master’s in student affairs in higher education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She previously worked during graduate school at Penn State Altoona as its assistant coordinator of the Office of Equity, Diversity and International Student Services prior to becoming the assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Student Services at Coastal Carolina University.
Piperato joined the College’s Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2014 and created Jamie Piperato, LLC, last July, leading more than 20 workshops and talks at conferences and campus events across the country in the time since. She also launched a podcast titled “JP Speaks” in March to discuss social justice and inclusion issues with a wider audience.
As president of SGA, Piperato increased efforts to educate student leaders on topics related to multicultural life and diversity. The Columbia, S.C., resident currently serves on three committees for the Alumni Association, including one on diversity, equity and inclusion.
James C. Codispoti ’63
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Known affectionately by many as “Codi,” the lifelong teacher and coach has offered tireless support of the College, most notably to the College’s C-Club. A 2002 C-Club Hall of Fame inductee himself, Codispoti served as president of its executive board from 2011 to 2014 and currently acts as past president. He helped oversee the creation of the C-Club Endowment, which has raised roughly $300,000 since it was established.
The former physical education major excelled in basketball and track and field at the College then went on to enjoy a successful 37-year teaching and coaching career in the Mamaroneck Public Schools. He earned many awards and recognition for both his teaching and coaching success, especially in the sports of basketball and golf. He also remained an active presence within the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
A former member of the Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity (1927-1995), Codispoti contributed to a successful Reunion event in 2013 that brought back to campus more than 100 members of the fraternity.
Codispoti and his wife, Lois Kornrumpf Codispoti ’64, reside in Rye, N.Y., and continue to be loyal supporters of alumni initiatives that benefit physical education, athletics and SUNY Cortland’s success overall.
Carolyn A. Cooke ’66
An active member of the College’s Alumni Association Board of Directors since 2010, Cooke’s volunteer efforts represent deep connections to several corners of campus — from Reunion activities to Greek life to scholarship and support of current students.
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The former physical education major devoted 35 years to teaching physical education and special education in the Syosset (N.Y.) and White Plains (N.Y.) School Districts before her retirement in 2001. A certified gymnastics judge and former coach of several sports at the middle school and high school levels, she helped develop many SUNY Cortland student teachers during her career.
After attending her own 25-year class reunion in 1991, Cooke became more closely involved with the College. She has offered immeasurable support to the Alpha Kappa Phi/Agonian/Sigma Sigma Sigma/Sigma Rho Sigma Scholarship Committee, Reunion committees for both her sorority and her class, and the Alumni Association Board of Directors. In 2014, she was appointed the chair of its Awards, Scholarship and Recognition Committee.
From the Lynne Parks ’68 SUNY Cortland Alumni House to the College’s many programs at Raquette Lake, Cooke’s efforts benefit alumni efforts near and far.
Ralph M. Shortell ’66
A rewarding career in recreation emphasized the importance of volunteerism for Shortell, who has been actively involved with the College’s Alumni Association since 1990. Most recently, his work on the Delta Kappa Beta (1925-1991) Reunion Planning Committee in 2014 helped bring together 170 fraternity brothers for the first time in decades.
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A former recreation education major, Shortell spent the majority of his career as the director of student activities and student center at Tompkins Cortland Community College, where he worked from 1975 to 2010. Recognition for his work included a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service in 2010.
Shortell has taken a “hands-on” approach to volunteering during his 25-plus years of active involvement with the College, whether that meant serving on the Alumni Association Board of Directors — which he did from 1990 to 1993 — or securing a 1966 Ford Mustang convertible to be used for photographs at his 45-year class reunion in 2011.
When Delta Kappa Beta (1925-1991) brothers reunited in 2014, Shortell was crucial in bringing them together — planning a formal dinner and even preparing a historical print piece on the fraternity with photos. The Dryden, N.Y., resident currently serves on the Alumni Association’s Awards, Scholarship and Recognition Committee and remains actively involved in planning a 50-year class reunion that will take place this July.