Falk Professors and Students Teaching Healthy Eating Habits to Pre-K Children
Nutrition Science & Dietetics News
Mindfully Growing
From left to right, the Falk College team of students Rylee Pepper and Kristen Davis and professors Lynn Brann and Rachel Razza lead an activity with Universal Pre-Kindergarten students from Elbridge Elementary School as part of the Mindfully Growing program.
Do you like broccoli?
“I touched broccoli with my feet.”
You like eating watermelon, what does it smell like?
“Snow.”
What does snow taste like?
“Broccoli.”
Welcome to a Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) Age 4 classroom at Elbridge Elementary School in Elbridge, New York, where it’s true that kids say the darndest things but with their five senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch – they’re also learning healthy eating habits through the Mindfully Growing program.
The program’s curriculum is being taught by a team of professors and students from Syracuse University who throughout this school year have been visiting the UPK Age 4 classrooms at Elbridge Elementary on Thursday mornings. On the morning where broccoli was on the children’s minds, professors Lynn Brann and Rachel Razza and doctoral student Kristen Davis focused on touch as they hid baby carrots, clementines, and pea pods in a box and the children used their sense of touch to guess what they were.
After the food was pulled from the box, the children were able to taste it and discover that this healthy stuff isn’t so bad after all.
“The program is getting the students in touch with different ways to experience food,” Davis says. “They’re seeing food in a different way, connecting with where it comes from and ways they can slow down and enjoy it.”
Slowing down and enjoy the food is where the “mindfully” part of the Mindfully Growing program comes into play. The nutrition component is paired with mindfulness practices, which can foster greater empathy and communication skills, improve focus and attention, reduce stress, and enhance creativity and general well-being.
“It works because the kids get excited about being included in activities that their friends are enjoying,” says Elbridge UPK Age 4 teacher Mark MacLachlan. “So, when they are offered to try raw shell peas with all of their friends at school, it’s an easy sell.
“Most of the kids really enjoyed them, too,” MacLachlan adds.
What’s in the bag? With the help of Kristen Davis (left) and Lynn Brann, students try to guess the mystery food.
A Mindful Journey
The Mindfully Growing curriculum was created by Brann, associate professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at Syracuse University’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, and Razza, associate professor and chair of the Department of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) at Falk College whose research focuses on the benefits of mindfulness-based programs for promoting resilience in schools and communities.
The initiative is funded by the Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Brann and Razza recently received a grant from the MetLife Foundation through the Syracuse University’s Lender Center for Social Justice to ensure the curriculum resonates with marginalized populations.
Brann says the curriculum is focused on 4-year-olds because it’s trying to get young children to develop an understanding of where food comes from and increase their acceptance of a variety of foods before they get set in their ways. The 10 lessons start with the origin of plants, fruits and vegetables, moves into using senses to explore foods, and finishes with lessons on hunger vs. fullness and sharing food together.
“It’s a good time to get them to explore food, and we do a tasting pretty much every lesson so they get an opportunity to try something new,” Brann says. “With this group, almost every one of them has tasted the food and several of them have asked for more, which is pretty exciting to see them being so open to it.”
Razza says with preschool children ages 3-5, there’s a significant increase in executive function skills, so they’re better able to delay gratification and inhibit their impulses. Thus, the interventions offered by the Mindfully Growing curriculum are important to introduce to this group of students.
“Can they control their impulses and self-regulate overall and also in the food context?” Razza says. “Lynn and I have been working to determine the overlaps between these two areas and how can we use intervention to simultaneously enhance both of them.”
While Brann, Razza, and Davis are with one UPK class for 30 minutes, the other class is having a 30-minute yoga lesson with yoga instructor Colleen Smith from BeLive Yoga and undergraduate student Christina McCord from Falk College’s School of Social Work. Smith, who has been teaching yoga and mindfulness to preschool children in the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District for several years, helped connect Brann and Razza to Superintendent James Froio and Elementary School Principal Brooke Bastian because, as Smith says, she “continues to be impressed by their support of students and their willingness to offer yoga and programs or events that supplement the students’ daily education.”
In her yoga sessions, Smith says she helps the children learn how to self-regulate their bodies, breath, and even emotions as she tries to “meet the children where they are” by matching their energy level and then bringing them to a brief time of rest.
“One thing that can be difficult for them is trying new experiences and foods,” Smith says. “The yoga and mindfulness lessons can help children pay attention to their bodies, thoughts and breath in the moment so they can self-regulate and make healthy and appropriate choices when presented with new or challenging experiences like a mindful eating lesson.”
Bastian, who’s in her fourth year as principal and 11th in the district, says Elbridge Elementary School has a unique UPK program because it offers a full day for both 3- and 4-year olds. Bastian says she and the teachers have enjoyed the partnership with Syracuse because they know the positive impacts that early intervention can have on students.
“Mindfulness is a focus in UPK to help promote self-regulation, and when mindfulness is approached in a holistic way it can have a greater impact,” Bastian says. “We want children to develop healthy habits in general so food, which is highly motivating, is a great way to begin that mindful journey.”
From left to right, the Falk College team of Rachel Razza, Colleen Smith, Christina McCord, Rylee Pepper, Lynn Brann, and Kristen Davis delivered the Mindfully Growing lessons at Elbridge Elementary School this spring.
Cross-Disciplinary Team
The 4-year-olds aren’t the only students who are having fun while learning. The Syracuse University team is comprised of seven students, three undergraduate and four doctoral, who participate either at the elementary school or on the research team.
The team that visits the school includes Davis, a registered dietitian and second-year HDFS doctoral student; McCord, the social work major; and Rylee Pepper, a nutrition science major and Renée Crown University Honors Program student who’s minoring in psychology and biology.
Davis, who participated in the fall program, is back for the spring and delivers the weekly lessons along with Razza and Brann.
“My career goals are to pursue a position in teaching and research, focusing on child nutrition and the development of healthy eating behaviors,” Davis says. “This program fits into my area of research interest and I hope to learn from it and integrate aspects of it into my own future research.”
Pepper’s role this spring is to observe the lessons and complete a fidelity/tracking sheet that records the number of student and teacher participants, the lengths of sections within the lessons, and the completion of each component (the components include a review of the lesson from the previous week, a food-tasting activity, a story or song, homework if it was given, and if all planned material was covered). She also observes the engagement of the students and their teachers and the overall quality of the lesson.
“As (the children) become more comfortable with our team and the material, each week we see higher levels of participation and thoughtful recall and connections to our past lessons,” Pepper says. “Multiple students have shared with us their experiences with mindful eating at home through their homework assignments, showing they are developing a real interest in the topic.”
Although she has yet to decide on a specialty, Pepper wants to become a doctor and says the experience she’s getting with the Mindfully Growing team will be useful in whatever area she pursues.
“Learning to interact with these young students in a professional yet approachable manner is valuable experience for engaging with children as a doctor,” Pepper says. “Additionally, becoming familiar with the concept of mindful eating and how to teach members of the public at all ages about its benefits will prove helpful in a world where proper nutrition is becoming an increasing concern surrounding health.”
The other members of the student research team include Min Jin, a psychology major who has assisted with the development of support materials for the curriculum; Kelly Green Kearns, a counseling and counselor education doctoral candidate in Syracuse University’s School of Education whose cognate is humans’ interactions with food and wellness; Qingyang Liu, a HDFS doctoral student who helped deliver the lessons in the fall; Caitlin Smith, a HDFS doctoral student who assisted with the curriculum development; and Anna Waters, who earned her HDFS bachelor’s degree last spring and is now a graduate student in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy in Falk College.
While earning her license in mental health counseling, Kearns worked with children in the field using Child-Centered Play Therapy. In the three years since the Mindfully Growing team was created, she has utilized her experience to help develop the program and she’s currently compiling results from surveys and focus groups.
“I’m starting my dream position as a tenure track professor at SUNY New Paltz next year and I’m excited to bring the findings from this program into the counseling field through teaching and future research,” Kearns says. “My dissertation is focused on the related topic of foodways and wellness for female undergraduate students, and I hope to study more populations in the future. My intention is to increase cross-disciplinary work to best inform counseling practice.”
Elbridge Elementary School Universal Pre-K teacher Mark MacLachlan says “the classroom environment is an ideal place to create enthusiasm” for the Mindfully Growing program.
Growing the Program
On one Thursday morning in March, the 4-year-olds were completely engaged and enthusiastic, clapping and cheering whenever a new type of mystery food was pulled from the box. When they were asked about the beans that they had planted at home, one child said, “It’s going to grow into a big bean stalk!”
For the program to remain successful over the long run, the Syracuse team needs similar buy-in from teachers, administrators, and, most importantly, parents. To that end, the team created a series of three workshops for teachers and parents that focus on developing their own mindfulness and mindful eating practices as well as supporting the children’s practices.
“The classroom environment is an ideal place to create enthusiasm for such a program,” says MacLachlan, a UPK teacher since 2012 who has been with the district since 2000. “When kids are with their peers, they tend to get caught up in the group energy and naturally become enticed to remain open to new things.”
The team has been open to feedback, and Bastian says it has made modifications based on comments from teachers and parents. For example, this spring they separated the lessons by classroom (12 students each) rather than teaching to one large group. The team also added Zoom workshops for parents in addition to a weekly newsletter that provides additional resources to help them implement the program at home.
“What we’re seeing is interest by the parents, but they’re challenged by time,” Razza says. “That’s important information for us, too, when we think about how we ultimately want to move forward and how we can get this information to parents as easily as possible.”
Bastian and MacLachlan say they’d like to see the program continue beyond this school year to give the modifications time to take hold. From what they’re observing with the children, it’s clear the program is working.
“The need is so great in our country for a better understanding of the importance of healthy food,” MacLachlan says. “Childhood obesity, food-caused diseases, increased behavioral concerns, food insecurity, and all of the inaccurate information from the big food manufacturers can be a very confusing area for kids to navigate.”
The Syracuse team has been motivated by the success of the program in its first year and the possibilities it presents to use nutrition and mindfulness to create a healthier society.
“I’ve completed many tasks in the background of developing and improving the preschool lessons, all of which have helped me to develop my research skills and prepare me to complete an independent research project for my honors program thesis,” Pepper says. “Ultimately, I am hopeful for the results of our Jordan Elbridge lessons and I’m excited to see what the future holds for our team.”
For undergraduate students from across Syracuse University who want to learn more about the Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies minor from Falk College, please visit the course catalog webpage for information and course requirements.
New Dean for Research
Katherine McDonald Appointed Senior Associate Dean for Research and Administration in Falk College
Katherine (Katie) McDonald, Ph.D., has been appointed Senior Associate Dean for Research and Administration in Falk College. As Senior Associate Dean, McDonald is responsible for the oversight of research, administration, and support for faculty; the supervision of the Falk College Office of Research Development; the development and implementation of Falk strategic initiatives; and representing Falk College on University-level committees as appropriate. The office reports directly to Falk College Dean Jeremy Jordan.
“Falk College research spans a wide range of disciplines with impactful, practical applications in individual health and community wellbeing,” Jordan says. “Thanks to Dr. McDonald’s leadership and her team in the Falk College Office of Research Development, the College has experienced steady growth in research activity by every measure, including grant funding, publishing, interdisciplinary collaborations, and student engagement. I am eager to see her influence expand as Senior Associate Dean for Research and Administration.”
McDonald’s new appointment follows a three-year appointment as Associate Dean of Research. During her tenure, McDonald worked collaboratively to establish programming to nurture faculty research, enhance connections on campus to fuel interdisciplinary research, and develop policy to foster research success.
“I am delighted to continue to serve Falk College in this new role,” says McDonald. “Falk College is home to students, staff, and faculty committed to creating and leveraging scientific discoveries to enhance human thriving. It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with so many talented people to co-chart our future.”
McDonald is a professor in the Falk College Department of Public Health, where she also served as chair from 2018 to 2020. She is a fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, chair of Syracuse University’s Institutional Review Board, and a member of the Editorial Board for Autism in Adulthood. At Syracuse University, she holds faculty affiliations in the Aging Studies Institute, the Burton Blatt Institute, the Consortium for Culture and Medicine, and the Disability Studies program.
As a scholar, McDonald uses socioecological theory and community-engaged research to understand and promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities. She has made significant contributions to research in disability, health disparities, community-engaged research, and ethical, legal, and social issues in research. Her research has been supported by grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, Rehabilitation Research, and the Patient Centered Outcomes Institute, among others. She is published in leading journals such as the Disability and Health Journal, American Journal of Bioethics, and the American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
She received a B.S. with distinction in human development and family studies with a minor in French from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in community and prevention research psychology with a minor in statistics, methods, and measurements from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Joining the Leadership Team
Mary E. Graham Appointed Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs in Falk College
Mary E. Graham, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Sport Management, has been named Falk College Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs effective Jan. 2, 2024. This newly created leadership position reports to Falk College Dean Jeremy Jordan and is dedicated to faculty development and success. In this role, Graham will guide all Falk College efforts related to faculty development—from hiring to retirement—and work closely with university offices and leadership in Academic Affairs, University Counsel, Equal Opportunity Compliance, Human Resources, and Office of Research.
“I am excited to appoint Dr. Graham to this new role for Falk College,” says Jeremy S. Jordan, Dean of Falk College. “I am very confident that she will be able to further the support and development of our faculty based on her wealth of professional experiences and academic expertise.”
As Falk College Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Graham will work with department chairs to develop strategic hiring plans for faculty and oversee the successful execution of faculty searches. She will participate in faculty review processes, including recommendations for contract renewals and promotion and tenure, and manage operational aspects of faculty affairs. Together with Falk College leadership, Graham will steer the college towards enhanced faculty research and teaching excellence.
“Falk College has an exceptionally talented, diverse faculty with unparalleled dedication to the student experience and the creation of new knowledge,” says Graham. “I am honored to serve as Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs in service to my faculty colleagues and the linked missions of Falk College and Syracuse University. I look forward to collaborating with our visionary Dean, Jeremy Jordan, and his leadership team on strategic and operational faculty matters.”
Graham joined the Falk College faculty in 2012 and is also affiliated faculty in the Whitman School of Management. She teaches applied courses in organizational behavior and strategic human resource management, as well as diversity in sport organizations at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. An expert in gender disparities in employment, she has conducted numerous American Association of University Women salary negotiations workshops for students since 2009.
In 2022, Graham was named Syracuse University’s faculty athletics representative (FAR) to the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In this capacity she serves as a key advisor to Chancellor Kent Syverud and Provost Gretchen Ritter on policy proposals and issues affecting student-athletes’ academic and overall wellbeing, working closely with Tommy Powell, Assistant Provost for Student-Athlete Academic Development; Athletic Director John Wildhack; and their teams of professionals. Graham chairs the Faculty Oversight Committee on Athletics, which reviews student-athlete academic data and conducts exit interviews of departing student-athletes.
She previously served as a Syracuse University Provost Faculty Fellow from 2018 to 2020, where she worked with the Provost and University Senate to develop and implement campus-wide shared competencies for undergraduate students. Graham has been a University Senator since 2018, and she currently serves on the Senate Committee on Athletic Policy.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Graham held faculty positions in business schools at Clarkson University, George Washington University, and Georgia State University. She has served as a visiting scholar at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Central University in Taiwan, and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She also has prior work experience with several members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Graham has published extensively and has been widely cited in the areas of human resource management (HRM), public policy and employment discrimination, gender in employment and HRM in supply chains. She is currently studying the equal employment opportunity transparency among professional sport teams, and the impact of concussions on player misconduct.
Graham is on the Editorial Board of the journal Human Resource Management (Wiley), where she previously served as an associate editor. Her professional memberships include the Society for Human Resource Management; and the Academy of Management, where she serves on the executive committee of the Research Methods Division.
A former CPA, Graham has a B.S. in Accounting from Le Moyne College and work experience in public accounting and human resource management. Graham earned both her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, specializing in human resource management, organizational behavior, and gender studies.
Cooking with Joy
Italian Chef Jacopo Tendi Visits Falk College for Christy Lecture Series
Italian chef Jacopo Tendi (right) provides cooking tips for his guests at the Joan Christy Lecture Series on Food and Culture at Falk College.
This past spring, Falk College nutrition students in the Mediterranean Food and Culture Class had the unique opportunity to cook in the Tuscany home of renowned Italian Chef Jacopo Tendi. And in late October, Chef Tendi had his first opportunity to visit Syracuse as Falk College returned the favor.
Or, to be more precise, returned the flavor.
Tendi was the featured speaker for the Oct. 24 Joan Christy Lecture Series on Food and Culture at Falk College. The lecture series is made possible by the Christy Food and Culture Fund, which was established in 2005 through the generosity of Syracuse University nutrition alumna Joan Christy ’78, G’81 to provide support for a lecture series in the nutrition program.
For about five hours that morning, Tendi cooked with students from Chef Mary Kiernan’s Nutrition Science and Dietetics (NSD) 216 class in the Susan R. Klenk Learning Café and Kitchens at Falk. Tendi and the students created a Tuscan menu of chicken cacciatore, fresh seasonal vegetables, potatoes gnocchi with a pumpkin sauce, four different kinds of crostini, and biscotti that’s made to be dipped in a Tuscan dessert wine.
“But today,” Tendi said, smiling, “we’re not going to dip in.”
During his Christy Lecture demonstration that night, Tendi showed how to make the chicken, gnocchi, and biscotti, and the food made earlier in the day and at night was served to the guests. Tendi was joined at the demonstration by his 19-year-old son, Riccardo, who recently finished culinary school in Italy and like his father was visiting the United States for the first time.
For Tendi, there were other familiar faces in the audience: Nutrition majors Mara Baker, Tess Palin, and Alyssa Quinn, all of whom had cooked with Chef Tendi in his home in Tuscany in May.
“Reconnecting with Chef Tendi was a wonderful experience. He remembered all our names and welcomed us with the same warmth as at home in Italy,” said Quinn, a senior from Cicero, New York. “In his demonstration (at Falk), I wasn’t aware that bruschetta (for the crostini) could be made with cabbage –it never occurred to me.
“Chef Tendi once again expressed his innovative abilities with his recipes, and they were delicious,” Quinn added. “I still can’t stop thinking about how good the chicken cacciatore he prepared with the NSD 216 students was.”
Chef Jacopo Tendi with his son, Riccardo, who recently graduated from culinary school in Italy.
Teaching Nutrition and Sustainability
NSD 452/652 is the “Mediterranean Food and Culture: A Florence Experience” class taught by Nutrition and Food Studies Associate Teaching Professor Jane Burrell in the Spring semester. The class explores Mediterranean culture, lifestyle, and cuisine through lectures, readings, and discussions that prepare students for a 12-day immersion trip to Italy.
While in Italy, students travel through the countryside to tour farms, observe olive oil, pasta, cheese, and wine productions; cook with Italian chefs; and enjoy farm-to-table meals. The trip ends in the heart of picturesque Tuscany–the home of Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Syracuse University Program in Florence–and includes visits to Tendi’s home, where fresh ingredients are readily available from his vegetable garden, fruit trees, and olive trees.
Tendi spent more than 20 years teaching at Syracuse University Florence and now hosts students at his home for cooking demonstrations and takes them on visits to organic and biodynamic farms near his home. Tendi says he enjoys teaching students and he often talks to them about sustainability and how it applies to cooking your own food.
“To make a pasta dish, you need no more than five or six ingredients,” Tendi said. “If you buy a premade past dish and look at how many ingredients are in it, you can imagine that it’s not something you want to eat. It’s mainly preservatives and flavors and colors to make it look good.
“With good ingredients, you don’t need to do that; the force of the ingredients come out,” he continued. “This is what I like teaching to young people because they’re our future generation and maybe they’re the ones that will change how we feed ourselves.”
Jacopo and his wife, Anna, founded a non-profit organization, Salati Bene, which promotes educational programs regarding nutrition and sustainability for Italian and American students.
“It was a surreal experience to cook in Chef Tendi’s home this May with the guidance of him, his wife, and his daughter,” said Palin, a senior from New Hampshire. “My biggest takeaway from that experience was that you do not need loads of ingredients to make something delicious. You just need local food cooked well to make a spectacular dish.”
Baker said what she learned most from cooking with Tendi was how to cook and improvise with fresh ingredients.
“As someone from North America who loves to cook, being able to cook in Italy and experience the cultural differences firsthand was extremely valuable,” said Baker, a senior from Toronto. “Ever since my return from Italy, I have made more of an effort to make my meals completely from scratch when possible.”
Working with students from Chef Mary Kiernan’s Nutrition Science and Dietetics class, Chef Jacopo Tendi created a Tuscan meal that was served during the Christy Lecture.
Feeding Your Body and Heart
The Syracuse students who had an opportunity to cook with Tendi and his family in Tuscany were excited to see him at Falk and came away from the demonstration with an even better understanding of his methods and philosophies.
Palin says she learned about different cooking mediums and their uses, particularly pairing the right pans with the type of stove in your home. By being able to observe Tendi in his home and then in an unfamiliar kitchen, Baker said she realized that “it’s not just the ingredients that make the dish, but it’s the atmosphere.”
“While Syracuse has state-of-the-art kitchens, Chef Tendi had a harder time navigating the kitchen as he’s used to his cooking methods and his own kitchen at his home in Tuscany,” Baker said. “Establishing a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere in the kitchen is important as it adds to that sense of comfort and joy that comes with food.”
The emphasis on cooking with joy–and cooking with your family–was at the heart of Tendi’s lecture and demonstration at Falk.
“It’s important that parents cook with their children because that’s the way to infuse in children the joy of cooking,” Tendi said. “Cooking is with love, passion, and joy; it doesn’t have to be a competition or war like with the TV shows. You don’t have to win anything, just enjoy. And if you’re spending time with your relatives or friends, you feed your heart, too.”
For the students who were in Tuscany to witness Tendi in the kitchen and with his family, those lessons will always be an ingredient in their meals.
“Cooking with him in his kitchen was a stress-free, relaxing experience, and coupled with the wonderful dining experience in his backyard is something I have taken home and implemented in my own house,” Palin says. “I prioritize cooking and eating with my roommates, even on busy days as that’s the time to relax and bond with my roommates.”
“Cooking with Chef Tendi reignited my passion for cooking at home again,” Quinn said. “Cooking is a time to let the creative juices get to work, and I take that into consideration every night when I cook at home. I’ve begun experiencing new ways of cooking a variety of produce since my experience with Chef Tendi, and plan to continue to do so.”
Visit the Nutrition Science and Dietetics and Food Studies homepages to learn more about these programs at Falk College.
From the Finish Line to the Classroom
What do marathons, Pearl Jam, and the Phillies have in common? Jeremy S. Jordan, dean of Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
What five words best describe you?
Well, this is what I would hope for: Kind, empathetic, fun(ish), focused, humble.
Three fun facts about yourself that others may not know?
I have run 12 marathons and 25 half-marathons. I love live music and try to go to as many concerts as a I can. One of my favorite places to visit is Japan—I love the people and the culture.
Do you play a sport or follow a sports team?
During COVID I bought a Peloton bike, so now I spend a lot of time riding a bike that goes nowhere. After living in Philadelphia for 15 years, I tend to root for the Phillies and Eagles.
Favorite band?
Pearl Jam, I am old.
Favorite podcast, book, movie or hobby you’ve enjoyed recently?
I have been reading Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. It is a unique book that I have enjoyed quite a bit. Fun that he is a faculty member at Syracuse.
Most interesting travel experience you’ve had?
I love to travel abroad and experience all that is available at the destination, especially the food. The most epic travel day I have had was in Tokyo. The day started with a bike tour through the city where we stumbled upon one of the best Oktoberfest celebrations I have seen (it was in May by the way). The day ended with some amazing street food and a visit to the robot bar. I got to share this day with my spouse, Laurel, and a good friend, which made it even more special.
Best advice you’ve received?
Listen more, talk less.
What most appeals to you about living in Central New York?
I have really enjoyed learning about all the different outdoor activities and festivals.
How do you bring out the best in your students?
Understanding their academic and career aspirations and making sure we provide the necessary support and resources for them to be successful. We work collaboratively with our students to help them achieve their goals.
What do you look most forward to in your role as dean?
Working with the faculty and staff to provide a transformational experience for our students. We will tell the story of Falk, in part, through the outcomes of our students.
An SU Story by Maren Powell originally published on November 3, 2023.
Q&A With Falk College Dean Jeremy S. Jordan
Building Connections, Supporting Students, Faculty, Staff in Their Goals
Jeremy S. Jordan, new dean of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, was inspired to become an academic leader to be of service to others in pursuit of their aspirations.
“I enjoy creating processes and building structures that help others achieve their professional goals. My role as dean is to help our students, faculty and staff in Falk by removing barriers that can prevent individuals from accomplishing their goals,” says Jordan, who was most recently vice provost for faculty affairs at Temple University in Philadelphia. “Additionally, I enjoy the ability to work across campus and form interdisciplinary partnerships that are mutually beneficial for all parties.”
In this Q&A with Syracuse University News, Jordan, who started in his new role Sept. 1, discusses the academic journey that brought him to Syracuse, shares the opportunities ahead for the Falk College and reveals something unexpected that keeps him going the distance.
Tell us about the academic and professional journey that brought you to this point.
After I completed my Ph.D. at The Ohio State University, I served as a faculty member in sport management at the University of Memphis, Mississippi State University, University of Miami and, for the past 15 years, at Temple University. My different roles at Temple included professor of sport management; director of the Sport Industry Research Center; senior associate dean in the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management; NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative; and, this past year, vice provost for faculty affairs. My time in administration these past six years prompted me to pursue additional leadership roles, which is how I ended up as the dean of the Falk College. I am thrilled to join the team at Falk and become a member of the Syracuse community.
What sparked your interest in pursuing a leadership position at Syracuse?
This is a world-class institution with a proud tradition of academic excellence; I am inspired to be part of this community. Additionally, Syracuse has demonstrated a strong commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA); student success; and social justice. All these areas align with my professional and personal interests. I view Syracuse as a place where I can continue to grow both personally and professionally by working with some very talented colleagues.
As you begin in your new post, what are you most excited about?
Learning more about the traditions at Syracuse and enjoying living in Central New York. I am also excited about the opportunity to advance the Falk College by working with all the different stakeholder groups that comprise the overall community.
Looking at academic priorities specific to your college, what are the greatest opportunities ahead?
Complete the Academic Strategic Plan for Falk so that we understand our priorities and how we plan to achieve our established goals. Invest in areas of the college that provide the greatest opportunities for academic excellence and future growth.
In five years, what do you hope to have achieved as dean of the college?
- Elevate the research profile of the Falk College by providing the necessary resources and support for our students and faculty.
- Increase the percentage of Falk students who study abroad and away.
- Build stronger connections with industry partners, alumni and donors.
- Be viewed as a leader in DEIA programming and practices.
- Achieve a level of financial stability that provides opportunity for continued growth and support for students, faculty and staff at Falk.
What advice do you have for our incoming students, both undergraduate and graduate?
- Be an active learner. Take ownership of your education and professional development.
- Meet as many new people as you can. Expand your personal and professional networks.
- Plan to study abroad or away; these are life-changing experiences.
- Use your time and talents to improve the lives of those around you, especially those who have not been provided as much opportunity.
- Attend a play, art exhibition, sport event, lecture, concert or some other new experience. Give yourself the opportunity to grow and learn new things.
- Utilize all the resources available at Syracuse that will help you achieve your academic and professional goals.
- Enjoy your time at Syracuse; it will go by much too quickly.
Quick questions
Kindle/e-reader or old-school books? Old-school books.
Movies or series? Series—I never seem to have time to watch a full movie unless I am on a plane.
Take out or dine in? Favorite cuisine? Dine in. I love all food but really enjoy a good taco.
Museums or theater? Theater.
Ocean, lake or mountains? Domestic or abroad? R&R or adventure? Ocean, abroad, active relaxation.
Night owl or early riser? Early riser—definitely not a night owl.
Favorite season? All of them except for winter. I realize I might be in trouble moving to Syracuse.
Something about you no one would expect? I have run 12 full marathons and over 20 half marathons. I will never be fast enough to win but I enjoy the experience, most of the time.
View original story on Syracuse University News.
Video: Explore Careers in D.C.
In October 2022, Falk College students traveled to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD for the Falk in D.C. Career Exploration Trip. This trip takes place annually and offers students an opportunity to connect with alumni and career pathways related to all Falk College majors. The 2022 trip included site visits to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The National Council for Mental Wellbeing, The Capital Area Food Bank, St. Coletta of Greater Washington, and Living Classrooms. During panels and networking receptions, the students spoke with Syracuse alumni from the FDA, USDA, USAID, Childrens National Hospital, Medstar National Rehabilitation Network, American Red Cross, and many others D.C. area employers in Health, Human Services, and Sport.
Falk College will return to D.C. October 22-25, 2023. Learn more about the Falk in D.C. 2023 trip and apply.
Welcome from the Dean
Dear Falk Students,
It is with great excitement that I welcome you to campus as we start the fall semester. Like many of you, I am new to Syracuse and look forward to learning all that I can about this amazing institution, I encourage you to do the same. A special welcome to the Class of 2027 and our new transfer and graduate students. We are thrilled that you have joined the Falk College family and we look forward to working with you as you pursue your academic and professional goals.
As classes begin, I want to remind you of resources on campus that will help you succeed.
Official Syracuse University Communications
Syracuse University email is the primary communication method at the University. Your professors and University offices will contact you with important information using your Syracuse University email address (ending in “@syr.edu”), not your personal email address. It’s important to read your University email at least once every day so you’re aware of the latest information that’s essential to you.
Student Support Services
Falk College Student Services is an important resource in your support system at Syracuse University. Student Services counselors are here to provide you with academic advising and help you meet your requirements and goals. In addition, they are your resource for private consultation related to student social and emotional concerns. If you have any concerns throughout your academic career, please contact Student Services or visit Falk 330, Barclay Suite in the Falk Complex.
I encourage you to connect with the staff at Falk Career Services, who can help you prepare for life after college through career exploration, internship and job searching, professional networking, and more. They are also located in Falk 330, or you can search for opportunities through Handshake, the University’s job search and professional events portal.
In addition, you can connect to spiritual life on campus at Hendricks Chapel, as well as health and counseling services in the Barnes Center at the Arch.
Student Spaces in Falk College
The Student Lounge, located in Falk 216, is available to you anytime the Falk Complex is open. The lounge has a microwave, refrigerator, and vending machines for student use. Across the hall is the Falk Café on 2, open 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday starting August 28. Visit the Food Services website for up-to-date operating hours for cafés and dining centers across campus. Just down the hall is Falk 229, the quiet student lounge.
There are several computer labs in the Falk Complex. Falk 113 is a PC lab, and Falk 229 is a quiet study area that has both PCs and Macs available for your use. Both spaces are available to students at any time. Falk 400 and 407 are PC labs that are also used as teaching classrooms. When class is not in session, they are open for student use. You may check their schedule of availability using the 25Live website. You may also use the quick-print stations in Falk 216 and 229 for printing and email. These stations log out automatically after 10 minutes of use.
Ways to Get Involved
The Student Involvement Fair will be held Thursday, September 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Quad. There are more than 300 student organizations at Syracuse University. Be sure to explore organizations that might be outside your usual interests, too. Remember, this is a great way to meet new people and discover something new about yourself!
There are many exciting events planned for Fall 2023, including two signature Syracuse University events: Family Weekend November 3-5 and Orange Central, Syracuse University’s annual homecoming and reunion weekend, September 28-October 1. You can discover activities and events on campus by visiting the Syracuse University Calendar.
There are countless ways to get involved at Syracuse University, and these are just a few suggestions to get you started. I encourage you to visit syracuse.edu/life/students for more resources and opportunities to make the most of your Syracuse experience.
All Falk students are invited to join me and Falk College faculty and staff for refreshments in Falk 335 during meet-and-greets on Wednesday, September 6 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Thursday, September 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. We hope to see you there.
I wish you every success on your journey here at Falk College. I am eager to see all the ways in which you will become part of—and add to—the Syracuse community.
Go Orange!
Jeremy S. Jordan, Ph.D.
Dean, Falk College
Welcome to Falk College!
Syracuse Welcome for All Students Scheduled for Aug. 24-27
Syracuse Welcome, the University’s required orientation program, is scheduled for Aug. 24-27. At Falk College, we’ll be welcoming a student body that includes more than 2,100 undergraduate and graduate students.
The newest Falk students in the Class of 2027 are a talented group from 31 U.S. states and 10 global countries. Joining the Falk family are 319 first-year students, 16 transfer students, and 283 graduate students (123 in residential programs and 160 in online programs).
For everything you need to know about Syracuse Welcome, please visit the Welcome Schedules webpage, where both University and Falk College-specific events can be found. Welcome to Falk College and Syracuse University!
Together for Better: Diane Lyden Murphy’s 45 Years of Service
Diane reflects on her time at Syracuse University, and the people and experiences that prepared her for leadership.
Diane Lyden Murphy
Many know Diane Lyden Murphy as the Dean of Falk College, a position she has held since 2005. But her journey and impact at Syracuse extend well beyond her deanship. In many ways, her leadership in Falk College was shaped by the people and experiences in Diane’s life before Falk College even existed.
As we approach the end of August 2023 and the conclusion of her deanship, we sat down with Diane to reflect on her personal journey to academia; her calling to social policy, social justice, and feminist scholarship; and her remarkable 45 years of service at Syracuse University. Here is her story:
Moving In a Crowd
“Do you want to be a jumping hyena? Or do you want to play ball?” One of the sisters who taught at Our Lady of the Valley, a Catholic high school in Orange, New Jersey, was encouraging a young Diane Lyden to join the basketball team. It was the early 1960s, a time when women’s competitive sports were still new and most young women were cheerleaders. “The nuns were my first feminist teachers,” she said. “I didn’t know it then.”
Thanks to the nuns’ encouragement, Diane joined the women’s team, which won several state championships in northern New Jersey. “I wasn’t top of the team. But my very best friend Bernie was. She was a top shooter in Jersey. Boys would get scholarships every year. But there were no scholarships for Bernie, so she did not go to college.”
Growing up in North Jersey, there were Irish, Italian, and Polish neighborhoods. At home, she was part of a multi-generational household of first-generation Irish Catholics. Diane was the eldest of 10 children—four girls and six boys. The house was huge, and it needed to be—it was home to her siblings, grandparents, and aunt and uncle “I’ve always lived in a gang, that’s how I moved around and knew life. There were always little kids around. There was always lots of activity. We went to school, and church, and athletics. You had to do well in your own role.”
In school and at home, Diane found a mix of “old world” culture mixed with the social justice values of her Jesuit education and home upbringing. “The whole ethos and modeling and life I had was always built around issues of social justice and giving back and philanthropy, mutual aid, and leadership in that area. The concept that what you’re given must be returned,” she said.
The family went to mass every day, and they all worked by the time they were 16. “I either volunteered, or by 16 I had a job.” In high school, Diane was a hospital volunteer, often called a “candy striper.” Even there, Diane was marching to her own drum. “I kept getting into trouble because I kept on serving the people. You’re supposed to just give them their food and leave—but I kept on feeding the old people,” she said, grinning. “The nurses finally said to me, ‘You’re only supposed to leave the trays, you’re not doing the right job, you’re fired,’” she laughed. “I had a little rebel streak. If anybody said don’t, I did.”
But as traditional and new ideas of the world in the 1960s found themselves at odds, Diane found a way to preserve the best of both and still push for progress. Perhaps her biggest act of individual thinking was her decision to go to college. Diane had a knack for academia; she took three years of math, and even won a state award for her four years of Latin language education.
Although she was at a college prep school, her family did not understand why she wanted to go to college. No one in her family had earned a bachelor’s degree, and the women didn’t receive any college education. Money for higher education was reserved for the men in the family. Her father, an Irish biological orphan raised by an adoptive Polish family, had an associate degree and a stable white-collar job in traffic control. Just as Diane was finishing high school, her father was being transferred to Upstate New York. Since her family was relocating to Syracuse, Diane enrolled at Syracuse University.
A Born Social Worker
Diane became part of the progressive action movement in the community and on campus. “It was a social activist time. It completely meshed with my own mission and values. So, I became an activist scholar.” She majored in sociology at the Maxwell School and was part of the honors program. At the time, social work was not an undergraduate major.
“My parents didn’t help me financially because they couldn’t. I always worked. I worked at the bookstore, lifeguarding, water safety. I worked all through college. I did my schoolwork at home at night.” As an undergraduate student, Diane lived with her family in a big farmhouse. She shared a room with her two sisters. Second in birth order was Diane’s sister, who was following a more traditional path. And while her grandmother gave her sister a dowry, Diane only wanted books. “Grandma would say, ‘Any money I give you will not go into a book!’ It was so far from her experience as a farm child in the Catskills.”
As a senior, she received her honors degree in Hendricks Chapel. “My parents came for the first time to campus, and my father said, ‘What are you doing?’ Meaning, ‘What is this all about?’ My family always loved me and supported me, but, having never experienced it themselves, did not understand higher education.” Although her family did not understand Diane’s chosen path, she credits them with setting her on it. “My inclination to social justice comes out of my early preparation as a child. My parents showed the way,” she said. “All my brothers and sisters do this work. We’re all involved in human services: Doctors, healthcare workers, lawyers, social workers, teachers, and on and on it goes.”
While at Syracuse, Diane met Fred Murphy, a graduate student in economics at the Maxwell School, five years her senior. “He was also an activist scholar. He was employed by the City of Syracuse doing tenant organizing.” One week after her graduation in 1967, Diane and Fred were married. In January 1969, their twin daughters were born.
No Stopping Her
Diane was working at Elmcrest Children Center with a team of six women, each of whom had their Master of Social Work. “You’re a born social worker,” her supervisor told Diane. After a year at Elmcrest, she made her way back to Syracuse to earn her own M.S.W.
Diane arrived at the admissions office with her twins and was greeted with a comment she’d never forget: “‘What are you doing with those babies sitting in my office for admissions?’ he said to me. ‘I’m applying to graduate school.’ ‘And what makes you think that’s reasonable, young lady?’ I said, ‘Because women do it all.’ I was so upset, it got me charged up. I said to myself, ‘I’m really going to do this!’”
She started courses in social work in the fall of 1969. “By this time there was no stopping me. I really loved my studies in social work.” At the time, her twins were not yet 1 year old. There were no childcare services on campus for students with children, and since Fred was working full time, they went to class with Diane. “I took them to school. I brought them to class,” she said. “Still to this day my friends from graduate school talk to me about holding them on their lap. I often rode on a bike with them—one on the front and one on the back. It was a little challenging, but all my friends I met in class helped me do it.” In the M.S.W. program Diane became president of the social work Graduate Student Organization.
Diane (left) at the all-university Gerontology Center, established in 1972 by the School of Social Work. Today, it exists at the Aging Studies Institute.
Diane paid for her education through scholarships and teaching assistant stipends. These turned into formative experiences for her. “I was given the opportunity to make family-friendly structural changes for all members of the university community, working side-by-side with mentors, university leaders, and countless collaborators.”
In her first year as a graduate student intern, Diane worked with Central New York Legal Services in local family court cases. In her second year, she worked with Dr. Charles Willie, then-Dean of Student Affairs and previous chair of the sociology department whose research focused on mental health in African American families. “That was an unbelievable adventure working with him as his graduate assistant. What a privilege. He ended up being tenured at Harvard University’s School of Education. Under his mentorship, we developed and founded the Syracuse University Early Childhood Education Center.”
By the early 1970s, there was a large population of married students and families, many of whom were having children. But there were only minimal health benefits at Syracuse University. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was more than 20 years away. “Dr. Willie said to me, ‘Married students are a poverty population.’ And they were.” And although Syracuse University had the Bernice M. Wright Laboratory School, the school was a cooperative model, and it didn’t take infants. Together, Dr. Willie and Diane as his graduate assistant established the Early Childhood Education Center funded between the Department of Psychology, the School of Education, and the Office of Student Affairs. They also created a program with SUNY Upstate Medical University to help students access affordable childbirth delivery.
After completing her M.A. social science in 1976 and her M.S.W. in 1978, Diane decided to continue with a Ph.D. “Obviously I was kind of pushing against things all along, and now it became pretty obvious what the mission was. There’s no question of the intentional effort that we would make this university a model for family friendly policy.”
When Diane was a graduate student, the School of Social Work was located at “Crouse House” (left), three buildings on South Crouse Avenue, until 1974 when it moved to Brockway Hall (right).
Trained by the Very Best
Throughout her doctoral studies, Diane worked with Dean of the School of Education Burton Blatt, Doug Biklen, Bob Bogdan, Steve Taylor, and other scholars and partners at the Center on Human Policy in the School of Education. “These were the School of Education’s flagship signature moments, and we were the literal pipeline of funding from Washington. Most of the federal funding for the nation came to Syracuse University for disability studies.” In part, the Center worked on deinstitutionalization and the promotion of community care models. “This was a big part of my journey in my 30s and 40s and this movement in disability studies transformed America,” she said.
Diane’s colleagues at the Center were trailblazers for inclusive education. The Jowonio School was an early pilot of inclusive education modeling that was created by the School of Education. They integrated these models into the Early Childhood Education Center and the Bernice M. Wright Laboratory School before they became the model for the surrounding Syracuse community, and eventually the world. “Now inclusive education is mainstream. Syracuse University School of Education built that,” she said. “I am pleased to say every one of my children have been educated within an inclusive education environment. It makes a world of difference, and everyone benefits.”
All of Diane’s doctoral work was done with the Center on Human Policy. In her graduate assistant office on campus, she kept a crib for the twins where they would sleep while she wrote her dissertation.
She earned her Ph.D. in 1983 and by then, Syracuse University was truly her home. “I had a lot of good fortune,” she said. “I had been trained by the very best and got to do the work I love, which is organizing and planning social change, having the university engage in the community and the community engage in Syracuse University.” She loved academia, and she felt part of the community. And perhaps most importantly, she could see an opportunity to make change in the place she had grown to call home. “I realized I could do activist organizing within the university community and make this a better place for all,” she said. “So, I stayed, and I never left.”
Together You Create the Shift
As a member of the University Senate since 1979, Diane was deeply involved in writing new policies for the university. She and her colleagues formed policies for women’s concerns, gender pay equity, and sexual harassment. They established benefits for parental leave, adoption, domestic partnerships, and retirement. “We looked across the nation and even in Europe to see what best healthcare policies to have at a university. We adapted them, we brought them in, we pushed for them. You have to be strategic and skilled in community change and movement and organization theory—and we were. So, we’ve attended to all those things and we’re a better place because of it.
“But we can’t rest on this,” she continued. “Although there has been accomplishment, we realize there is a harsh political context to consistently work in. But the university has been responsive through its legislative and statute process, through the University Senate, our chancellors, and our provosts, and community leaders have been responsive to working towards a progressive site. That’s a gain for the entire community.”
Active in the early women’s movement in the wider community, Diane was one of four charter members of The Women’s Center, which operated consciousness raising (or “CR”) groups in Syracuse and surrounding towns. It’s still active and located on Allen Street and Harvard Place. From 1993-1994, Diane served alongside her colleague Dr. Marie Provine, a lawyer and Chair of the Department of Political Science, as consultants to Chancellor Kenneth Shaw on women’s issues.
In 1989, Diane took on a new role establishing women’s studies at Syracuse University. She recalls university leadership asking, “Why do we need women’s studies?” “Because everything else is men’s studies,” she said. She was Director of Women’s Studies for more than 16 years. Together with her colleagues, they established women’s studies as a department in the College of Arts and Sciences, and created a major, a minor, and a certificate of advanced study. “Women’s studies is an articulation of giving women the opportunity to study every subject through the lens of women and their history and contributions. It shifts the perspective by focusing on women in all academic fields. And it has created the movement of women’s perspective entering every field of knowledge without exception. This perspective is not yet universal, and there is more progress to be made,” she said.
“You do that collectively,” she continued. “Collectively means you have women that are interested in doing this and leading this as mentors in every possible place in the university and community, and together you create the shift in knowledge.”
Following Dr. Claire Rudolph and Dr. Nancy Mudrick, Diane in 1978 became the third female faculty member to join the School of Social Work. She taught macro policy and law in mental health and developmental disability policy, emphasizing the importance of building change into structures, processes, and systems. “I know as an organizer, until you build it into the structure, it goes with the wind.” She loved teaching her students how to work with people to make progress–something she’s been doing her whole life. But perhaps her biggest challenge was yet to come.
We’re Going to Build It
In 2001, Syracuse University merged the College for Human Development, the School of Social Work, and College of Nursing together to form the new College of Human Services and Health Professions (renamed the College of Human Ecology in 2007), led by Dean William Pollard, former Dean of the School of Social Work. The merge raised questions from faculty about the future of their programs. What does it mean for the formerly independent disciplines? How would the programs continue as a collective College? “It was a challenging time,” said Diane.
In the fragile early years of transition, the university began a search for Pollard’s successor. Although a dozen candidates were vying for the job, Diane wasn’t one of them. But the university leadership identified her as a strong candidate, thanks to her track record of success in leadership and community organizing. She was heavily recruited. Still, many of the university’s leaders openly expressed their doubts about the ability of the college to succeed. She recalls a conversation with one member of university leadership who said, “If I were you, I would take the job and let it fall to its own because it’s never going to work. Let it fall apart and that’ll be the end of it.”
Even Diane had her doubts. But taking the job under the assumption of failure was unacceptable to her. She would accept the job under only one vision: that it would succeed. “I remember saying to myself, ‘If I’m going to do this, we’re going to do it! If these schools must be arranged like this, then we’re going to build it so that we can live and thrive in this structure. Otherwise, all the programs will go away.’ And that’s what I said to the committee: We’re going to build this thing.” In 2005, she was selected unanimously by full faculty vote.
After being named Dean, Diane was photographed for “Woman at the Top: Dean Diane Lyden Murphy Hits the Ground Running,” a story that appeared in the Fall/Winter 2005 issue of the college’s magazine, Insights.
For Diane, failure wasn’t an option. The programs themselves—professional programs in health, nutrition, social work, human development, and others—were too vitally important to society in promoting health and equity. “I said to the faculty, ‘We’re going to take this College and make it what we want it to be. What we know it is. But we will do it. We won’t let it fail because our subject matters are too important. We can do this together—and we will do this together.’”
Diane was the perfect choice to join people together to create a new community. “I was raised in a crowd from the time I was a young person in a large family. I move in a crowd.
“I never make decision alone,” she continued. “I assume that I have other experts around me—we bounce off ideas, we have discussions, and we come to collective work that I think represents the best of everyone. And that’s guided me even to the deanship.”
As the College structure was being formed, so was its identity. With Diane at the helm, the college was built on the principles of social justice and civic engagement. It became a college where putting theory into practice is about more than just gaining practical experience, but about serving others and fostering humility and understanding in diverse global cultural contexts.
Among the merged colleges was a curriculum for sport management, written by faculty in consumer studies, one of the academic programs that had been newly introduced as part of the merge in 2001. In 2004, Falk College launched sport management built on the framework of social justice and corporate social responsibility. In many ways, a socially minded business program was ahead of its time. But the students embraced it, and since 2006 they have raised more than half a million dollars for local charities and continue to lead discussions about diversity and equity in sports.
Diane at the podium for the Falk College Complex dedication ceremony in 2015. Seated behind her from left to right are Rhonda Falk, David Falk, Chancellor Kent Syverud, Falk College Advisory Board Chair Corey Schneider, and Sport Management Advisory Council Chair Brandon Steiner.
With support from Syracuse University alumni David Falk ’72 and Rhonda Falk ’74, the College was renamed the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics in 2011. The Falk College Complex, former home of the College of Law, was dedicated 2015. Falk programs which had been dispersed in eight different locations across campus were finally all together under one roof. “It’s 18 years since I became Dean, and we have built it. We are a huge success on every dimension,” she said. “We’ve done it as a collective. We’ve done it as a community.”
Today, Falk College boasts impactful interdisciplinary faculty research in human services, health, and social equity. The curriculum integrates highly effective theory-to-practice learning models for student training. Falk College created new undergraduate and graduate academic programs in food studies, esports, and sport analytics at Syracuse University, new programs public health from the legacy of the former College of Nursing, and new programs in exercise science which began in the School of Education. Students also benefit from new global study abroad programming across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
But most importantly, every year the College graduates a cohort of students who are prepared to make their communities stronger, healthier, and more just places. “When students come and study in Falk College, they’ve already made decisions about what they want to do in their life. They want to be largely involved in improving the lives of others through their professional career. They bring such joy, commitment, eagerness, and innovation. That’s the everyday lift you get from being around Falk students.”
Diane at the 2019 Syracuse University Commencement.
Accomplishment in Doing Good
Diane recalls words from a colleague and friend who said to her, “I have never seen anybody fight so hard and forget so easy. You can work with anybody.” She has grown to be admired for her ability speak truth to power in a way that maintains respect and preserves unity.
“I have an ungainly and probably not grounded sense of self confidence, and still do to this day,” admitted Diane, a self-described “straight-shooter.” But she is still inclined toward a bit of humor. Empathy and humility have been guiding principles in her life and leadership. “I don’t feel above anybody else, and I always value diverse perspectives,” she said.
For the campus community, Diane’s legacy will be her effectiveness as an advocate for change and her ability to move groups of people together for better. “It’s a sweet and lovely feeling of accomplishment in doing good.”
Diane invited her grandchildren to the stage as she received Syracuse University’s highest honor—the Chancellor’s Medal—at the One University Awards Ceremony April 21, 2023, in Hendricks Chapel.
But for Diane, her legacy is the one she shares with her late husband, Fred: Their five daughters, their grandchildren, and their commitment to their communities. “I am certainly a feminist. I get it right back at me now from five feminist daughters of whom I am immensely proud.” All her daughters work in education, health, and helping professions. All are heavily involved in civic activity, and not by accident “Fred and I raised our family in the City of Syracuse by determination. We’re urbanists.” Still today, Diane is a proud member of the Westcott community.
Over the years, Diane’s big family home just kept getting bigger, encompassing her family, her Syracuse neighbors, and the university community. “I feel privileged to have had the chance to practice my own values, my own mission, my own journey as I saw it with my family. To be able to execute that and to live that life comfortably and bring that to work, I mean, what an opportunity. I get to work every day at what I love to do. It is quite a privilege and I know that.”
Thanks to Diane and the progress she helped forge in favor of social justice, more people can enjoy that same privilege of shaping their own path in life and living out their own personal mission in all circles of influence–at home, at work, and in the community–instead of having to choose. After all, if Diane has demonstrated one consistent truth, it’s that change can only be achieved if it is achieved together.
Story by Valerie Pietra. Special thanks to Matt Michael for editorial collaboration and contributions and Syracuse University Archives Special Collections Research Center for research and photography.
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