The Sharks are undefeated in NEC competition. The team’s success has coincided with several conference awards for individual players. Midfielder Brooklyn Menard was named NEC Rookie of the Week twice, forward Grace Hennig was named NEC Player of the Week, and goalkeeper Keely Thomas earned NEC Defensive Player of the Week honors twice.

Mitch Albom, #1 best-selling author, launched his new novel, Twice, as part of the Centennial Author Series at Long Island University. Albom is the author of international bestsellers including Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, For One More Day, Have a Little Faith, The Time Keeper, and The Stranger in the Lifeboat. His books have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

LIU’s women’s volleyball team won eight consecutive matches. During the win streak, Junior Sara van Gisteren, junior Yasmeen Muhammad, and senior Karly Klaer all received NEC Prime Performer honors, while sophomore Miabella Musignac was named the NEC/Molten Women’s Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week. Van Gisteren was named the NEC/Molten Women’s Volleyball Co-Player of the Week.

Tony, EMMY, and five-time GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, and actor Josh Groban’s performance at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts raised funding for Tilles Center’s arts education programs and other initiatives.

The Society of Presidential Descendants announced the finalists for the 2025 Biennial Presidential Leadership Book Award: Derek Leebaert’s Unlikely Heroes, James H. Read’s Sovereign of a Free People, and Harold Holzer’s Brought Forth on This Continent. The winner will be announced at the award dinner on October 23 at the University Club, hosted by former Congressman Steve Israel. The event will also feature the presentation of the 2025 Distinguished Presidential Historian Award to Mark K. Updegrove, President and CEO of the LBJ Foundation.

Buy Tickets ›

Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy ’95 was appointed to the Board of Directors at Liquidity Services, a leading global commerce company powering the circular economy. Hennessy has served as the CEO of Shutterstock since July 2022. He has over 30 years of leadership experience, including CEO positions at Vroom and Priceline.com, as well as Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a $2.3 million grant to Long Island University and The School House, in partnership with American Emergent Curriculum Inc. (AEC), as part of the American History & Civics—Semiquincentenial initiative. The grant will equip over 300 educators to reach 50,000 students nationwide with new civics resources and projects that empower the next generation of citizens as America approaches its 250th anniversary.

The men’s and women’s ice hockey teams opened their seasons in impressive fashion. The men’s team shut down West Point with a 3–0 exhibition victory in head coach Brendan Riley’s debut behind the bench. The women’s team swept the University of Delaware on the road with 4–1 and 5–2 victories against the Blue Hens. Clara Kammholz was named conference Goaltender of the Week for her .960 save percentage in the season opener.

A team of LIU researchers advanced a whole-organ virtual liver model in Nature Portfolio’s npj Digital Medicine, outlining multiscale simulations of drug-induced liver injury that can guide safer therapies, accelerate discovery, and reduce reliance on animal testing. The model bridges vascular, lobular, and cellular scales to simulate dynamic blood flow, drug transport, and injury mechanisms that accurately reflect clinically observed spatial heterogeneity.