Sean Muzzy, ’99, is President, North America at Matterkind, a new audience engagement company within Interpublic Group, one of the “Big Four” advertising agencies. Muzzy joined Interpublic Group in 2018 to lead help launch Matterkind, formerly known as Cadreon. Prior to that, he spent nearly two decades in senior leadership positions at Ogilvy, including Chief Product & Platform Officer, Worldwide.
CEO of St. Mary’s Medical Center
Cynthia McCauley, ’88, was appointed Chief Executive Officer at St. Mary’s Medical Center and The Palm Beach Children’s Hospital. McCauley previously served as Chief Administrative Officer. The South Florida Business Journal recognized her as one of the “25 Most Influential Business Women in South Florida.”
Italian History for Representatives in Rome
Dr. Vincenzo Pascale, Associate Professor of English, Philosophy and Languages, presented his book Il Secolo delle Navi to the Italian House of Representatives in Rome. The book critiques several prominent Italian and Italian American literary works. Il Mattino, one of the top newspapers in Italy, highlighted Pascale’s presentation in a subsequent article.
Men’s Hockey Scores Inaugural Head Coach
Long Island University has selected Brett Riley to lead the Division I men’s ice hockey program. Riley is a third-generation collegiate hockey coach who joins LIU from Colgate University. He founded and maintained operations of GEN3 Hockey, an elite youth hockey program comprised of 42 teams and 855 players that has developed 12 NHL draft picks. Riley’s father and grandfather both served as head coach at Army West Point. Click here to read more.
Tales of Theodore Roosevelt
The Theodore Roosevelt Institute at Long Island University is hosting “Tales of Theodore Roosevelt,” a four-part virtual lecture series about President Theodore Roosevelt presented by his great-grandson Tweed Roosevelt, Chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Institute and Long Island University Professor. Each lecture will focus on Theodore Roosevelt’s colorful career, and will follow with a Q&A period. The next lecture, “The Navy,” will take place on Tuesday, June 16 at 2 pm. Click here to register or learn more.
Go to https://liu.edu/roosevelt/navy to register or learn more.
Head of Operations at Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company named Lester Owens, ’79, as Head of Operations. Owens joins Wells Fargo from Bank of New York Mellon, where he was Global Head of Operations. Prior to that, he spent three decades as an executive at J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Bankers Trust.
National Geographic Features LIU Veterinary Professor
National Geographic cited the expert anatomical insight of Dr. Meir Barak, Associate Professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, in an article entitled “The Mystery of the Hero Shrew: The Creature with the Extraordinarily Strong Spine.” Barak’s research focuses on studying the relation between bone structure and mechanical properties.
McKenna Named President of New Medical Center
Don McKenna, ’88, ’97, was appointed as President of Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center, a 300,000-square-foot, acute care hospital in Hershey, Pennsylvania scheduled to open in 2021. McKenna previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Jupiter Health in Florida. Prior to that, he spent 10 years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Mary’s Health Care System in Athens, Georgia.
Viral Climate Study Reveals Historic Global Public Health Standards
Dr. Alexander More, Associate Professor of Public Health and Director of the Honors College in Brooklyn, co-authored a paper published in Cambridge University Press that
Public Health Professor Uses Expertise to Educate Students and Help Those in Need
Few people at Long Island University are more vocationally congruent with much of the discourse surrounding the coronavirus pandemic than Heather Butts, Assistant Professor of Health Care Administration and Director of the Honors College at Post.
“I’ve always been interested in the epidemiology of diseases and bioethical issues at it relates to public health,” Butts said. “Anything that has to do with health and protecting people, and doing that on a large scale, interests me.”
Butts, who grew up in Queens, moved 70 miles south after graduating high school to earn her bachelor’s degree at Princeton. She went on to earn a Juris Doctor from Saint John’s University School of Law, a Master of Public Health from Harvard University and a Master of Arts in Psychology in Education. In 2009, she founded H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths, a non-profit that collaborates with schools, community organizations and other non-profits to provide adolescents and young adults with various programs and workshops in the areas of physical health, mental health, social/cultural education and life-skills.
“It’s a labor of love,” Butts said of H.E.A.L.T.H., which that stands for Health, Education, Academic, Life-skills, Training and Help. “We help with young people who were starting that new chapter of their life called adulthood, to help give them the support they are often sorely lacking.”
In addition to her professional expertise in public health, Butts was also well-positioned to serve those in need within the New York City area during the pandemic. As a steward at Little Free Library, a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world, helped lead an initiative that stocked canned goods and additional supplies in Little Free Library stations in the New York City area to help provide COVID-19 relief. The laudable work caught the attention of WNBC and PBS NewsHour, which interviewed Butts in a promotional news segments.
“We’re able to do a lot of wonderful projects that involve community outreach and helping other people,” she said. “We’re doing a number of projects from a food security standpoint as well as gardening projects that give back to the community.”
Another role for which Butts is ideally suited is her leadership position with LIU’s Honors College at Post. For the past year, alongside fellow Co-Director Dr. Daniel Hanley, she has helped guide many of the University’s most exceptional students, some of whom are uncertain as to what career path they intend to pursue – a sentiment familiar to her.
“That’s what I love about the Honors College,” she said of the interdisciplinary structure. “After my first year in college, I spent the next three years exploring.” Butts initially hoped to become a surgeon but found herself more interested in healthcare than clinical practice.
“The trajectory that of how I got to where I am wasn’t exactly a linear path, but I’m happy about that,” she said, having worked as a practicing lawyer, award-winning teacher, esteemed academic in-demand speaker and accomplished author. “When I talk to students, it’s not one dimensional.”