John Trizzino, ’81, serves as Executive Vice President at Novavax, a global biotechnology company that has collectively earned over $2 billion in funding to support development of a COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. government will pay Novavax $1.6 billion to develop a coronavirus vaccine as part of its Operation Warp Speed program, in addition to a Department of Defense (DoD) investment of up to $60 million of funding. Additionally, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a global partnership founded by Bill and Melinda Gates, awarded Novavax its largest-ever investment of a grant worth up to $388 million.

Long Island University athletics set a new Northeast Conference single-season record for the highest cumulative GPA during the 2019-2020 academic year, winning the prestigious Institutional GPA Award in the process. The University also claimed a conference-best six Team GPA awards, two more than any other institution in the conference.

Wayne A. Stone, ’92, senior executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is a Recanati-Kaplan Senior Fellow at Harvard University. He formerly served as Acting Inspector General for the Intelligence Community. Stone has earned numerous honorable distinctions over the course of his decorated career in the Intelligence Community, including the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, a National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal and a National Intelligence Medallion.

The Independent featured insight from Dr. Si Sheppard, Associate Professor of Political Science, in an article examining the potential voting breakdown in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Dr. Sheppard shared the historical context around past incumbent victories, including Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Sam Pepper was appointed Chief Operating Officer at EagleBank, a full-service commercial bank with branches in in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Prior to joining EagleBank, Pepper was President and CEO of UFS Bancorp & Unibank for Savings. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Commercial Banking President for Equity Bank.

Award-winning author and educator Robin Hemley will serve as Director and Polk Professor in Residence of the George Polk School of Communications at Long Island University. Hemley is a winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Nelson Algren Award for Fiction from The Chicago Tribune and three Pushcart Prizes in both fiction and nonfiction. Hemley joins LIU from Yale University, where he directed the Writing Program in Singapore. He previously directed the Nonfiction Writing Program at The University of Iowa for nine years.

Money Magazine featured Kimberly Cummings, ’08, ’13, as part of an Instagram Takeover. Cummings answered the most frequently asked questions from readers to a live viewing audience from the nearly 500,000 Money Instagram account followers.

Sharon Sarsen, ’91, head coach of Lakeland High School’s varsity girls field hockey team, will be inducted into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame. Sarsen is the winningest varsity field hockey coach in New York State history as well as the second-winningest varsity girls lacrosse coach in the state.

Long Island University has established a COVID-19 Scholarship Fund to support LIU students who lost a parent due to the coronavirus. The University is grateful to KPMG and Rob Arning, ’84, Chair of the KPMG Foundation, for its generous gift to this important new fund. Click here to learn more.