Sophomore Camila Tabora has been selected to the 27th Class of Jeannette K. Watson Fellows, a highly competitive three-year fellowship supporting top student leaders across 12 New York City colleges. A member of the Honors College, Tabora is double-majoring in Media Arts and Computer Science. The Watson Fellowship provides funding for internships, mentorship, and global experiences, with alumni going on to earn prestigious honors including Fulbright and Truman scholarships.

Playbill spotlighted LIU’s premiere of Feels Like the First Time: The Foreigner Musical, a major new production developed in collaboration with Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and LIU’s Post Theatre Company. Directed by Adam Pascal, the Tony-nominated Broadway star best known for Rent, the show brings the iconic music of Foreigner to the stage for an 11-performance run at LIU’s Little Theatre this April. The production features a cast of 26 performers, primarily LIU students alongside professional actors.

Alumnus James Flanagan ’82, former Chief Operating Officer of PwC, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Integer Holdings Corporation, a leading global medical device contract development and manufacturing organization. Flanagan earned his B.S. in Accounting from LIU and previously served as PwC’s U.S. Financial Services Practice Leader from 2006 to 2014.

Joshua Loeschorn ’22 made his MLB Spring Training debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates, marking a major milestone in his professional baseball career. The former Shark—who helped lead LIU to the 2022 NCAA Tournament—pitched against the Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers in Grapefruit League play. The New Jersey native was drafted by the Pirates in 2022.

Fashion Merchandising and Management students worked behind the scenes at New York Fashion Week, supporting the debut of new collections from top designers including Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, and Christian Siriano. In collaboration with Runway 7—an award-winning fashion production company—students assisted emerging and global designers in bringing their collections from concept to catwalk. Runway 7, featured on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies, also celebrated its 10th year at NYFW.

Men’s basketball defeated Mercyhurst 79–70 to capture the NEC Championship and secure its spot in the NCAA Tournament. Led by NEC Tournament MVP Greg Gordon and All-NEC standouts Malachi Davis and Jamal Fuller, LIU heads into March Madness with 24 wins — the most in Sharks history.

Researcher at the 3DS Center of Excellence and world-class congenital cardiac surgeon Ignacio Lugones is advancing a groundbreaking approach to pediatric heart surgery. Lugones’ work on Aortic Valve Trileaflet Autologous Reconstruction (AVaTAR) features the first in-silico modeling of a semilunar valve designed to grow with pediatric patients. This innovation has the potential to transform treatment for children living with life-threatening heart disease.

Maria Michta-Coffey ’08, an Olympic race walker and biomedical scientist, was added to the Society for Science’s “Notable Alumni” list, which includes 15 Nobel Prize winners, 2 Fields Medal recipients, 28 MacArthur Fellows, and 72 Rhodes Scholars. Michta-Coffey, a member of the LIU Athletics Hall of Fame, is a physician assistant as well as a two-time Olympian with American records in the 5km, 10km, 15km, and 20km distances of race walking.

Physiology and Immunology Professor Xiaolei Tang will share his novel therapeutic technology to treat multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases at the American Association of Immunologists Annual Meeting in Boston. The innovative therapy has the potential to circumvent side effects due to broad immune suppression associated with currently available therapies, as well as possibly cure and stop the diseases.

Honors College students in the Pre-Law Society recently visited the offices of Barton LLP, a nationally recognized law firm in New York City. During the visit, students met with Managing Partner Roger E. Barton and several of the firm’s attorneys, who shared their career journeys, discussed the evolving legal landscape, and offered insights to help students better understand the diverse opportunities within the legal profession.