Howard Murad ’62, an internationally renowned dermatologist, pharmacist, clinical professor, and founder of Murad Skincare Inc., offered remarks to LIUBrooklyn graduates at the Class of 2025 commencement ceremony. Dubbed the “Father of Modern Wellness” Murad is the author of more than a dozen books and has been awarded 19 patents for a wide range of health and wellness breakthroughs.

Sibylla Biotech appointed Dieter Weinand ’87 as Chairman of its Board of Directors. Weinand is the former President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Bayer Pharmaceuticals AG and has held senior management roles at Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Pfizer and other leading pharmaceutical companies.

Anait S. Levenson, Professor of Cancer Research and Pharmacology in Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, is working on drug discovery for human and canine cancers. Levenson’s lab is focused on developing much needed targeted therapies in prostate and urothelial cancer. The research aims to identify and characterize novel molecular targets and drug-like natural compounds that can be used for chemoprevention and therapy.

The American Academy of Physician’s Associates (AAPA) named Phoebe Zhang national PA Student of the Year. Zhang serves as an AAPA House of Delegates Student Delegate, the 2025 PA History Society Student Trustee, and the Student Academy Representative for her class. She founded HowMedWorks.com, a healthcare advocacy website that now reaches thousands of readers every month with informational articles about healthcare-related topics.

Rich Calvert has been named the head coach of the softball program. Calvert joins LIU after a successful 21-year run at Drake University (2003-2023). Calvert completed his tenure at Drake as the winningest coach in program history, amassing 568 wins.

Alumnus Steve Bandrowczak ’88, CEO of Xerox, spoke to LIU Post graduates at the Class of 2025 commencement ceremony. Prior to joining Xerox in 2018, Bandrowczak held high-ranking executive roles at DHL, Lenovo, Nortel, Avaya, and Hewlett-Packard. Xerox consistently appears in the Fortune 500 and was recognized on Fortune’s ranking of the World’s Most Admired Companies in 2022.

Alumnus Irene Natividad ’71, president of the global summit of women and chair of the corporate women directors international was the distinguished speaker for the Honors College annual conference on the Brooklyn campus. Chris Wozny ’96, director of compensation at The Capital Group and a former Compensation Lead and CFO at JP Morgan and AIG spoke on the Post Campus.

Brian Waterman ’86, Executive Vice Chairman at Newmark, Frank Mangano ’88, COO and CFO of Havas North America, and Rich Lacourciere ’87, Chief Revenue Officer at UNIVISION participated in a panel discussion led by LIU’s Sean Collins. The three discussed their careers and gave students advice on how to be successful in business.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni appointed Adonia Ayebare ’11 as an ex officio member of the Cabinet tasked with strengthening Uganda’s diplomatic efforts and aligning its foreign policy with its domestic development goals. Ayebare has served as Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the UN since March 2017.

Women’s rowing teams claimed three gold medals at the 2025 New York State Collegiate Rowing Championships. Kylee Gross and Krista Graziano finished first in two Women’s Double races while the all-first-year crew of Molly Thornton, E’lise Lyrse, Samantha Antonios, and Amanda Cayea, coxed by Lacey Minihan, captured gold in the Freshman Four final. The same crew coxed by Melanie Campos won the Novice 4+.