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LIU Post Voted Best College or University in Best of Long Island Awards

Dr. Kimberly Cline Voted Best University President

LIU Post’s focus on experiential learning and world-class faculty was recognized with two Best of Long Island Awards.  The University was voted as Best College or University and LIU President Dr. Kimberly Cline was voted as Best College President in the 13th annual Bethpage Best of Long Island competition.  The popular contest drew more than 907,000 online votes from nearly 85,000 registered voters.

Winning the Best of Long Island competition is just the latest in a series of accomplishments for LIU Post.

This year, LIU Post climbed 12 places in US News and World Report’s ranking of Regional Universities (North), its second consecutive annual double-digit increase, and was named to The Princeton Review’s “Best in the Northeast” list for the first time in the University’s history. These follow comparable accolades from such prestigious publications and research organizations as Forbes and the Brookings Institution. LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post are also included in The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, where each campus is ranked among the top 500 universities in the world.

LIU was also recognized by researchers from Harvard, Stanford, and Brown as one of the top 20 selective private colleges in the nation on the “Overall Mobility Index,” in a study publicized by the New York Times.

Since joining LIU in 2013, President Cline has facilitated the strongest operating results in the University’s history. Both Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s upgraded their ratings on LIU’s outlook, citing improved operating margins and strengthened financial resources. The LIU Board of Trustees recently unanimously voted to extend President Cline’s tenure through 2023 in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments growing LIU as a top national teaching and research institution.

LIU Post has begun several important partnerships and new programs that are moving the University forward.  Here are just some of them:

Sanford Partnerships: LIU has partnered with celebrated philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, who was named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of America’s 50 most generous donors, on several initiatives:

  • Education: Through the LIU-Sanford partnership, we have delivered programs that have helped more than 200,000 students and inspired more than 1,000 teachers.
  • Innovation: Mr. Sanford made a $5 million commitment to LIU, which has opened an incubator in conjunction with the START-UP New York program, and provides scholarship support for our University to produce the next generation of great entrepreneurs.
  • Philanthropy: The Sanford Institute of Philanthropy at LIU is preparing nonprofit leaders for the 21st Century and helping to dramatically increase the impact of charitable donations and institutions.

Global Institute at LIU: Chaired by former Congressman Steve Israel, the Global Institute at LIU has become our region’s premier regional platform for understanding a world that’s increasingly volatile, uncertain and complex.  Through the Global Institute, top global leaders including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Colin Powell have come to LIU to discuss global affairs.

Hornstein Center for Policy, Polling, and Analysis: This Center conducts independent polling, empirical research and analysis on a wide range of public issues. These studies have been prominently featured in national and regional media, and they inform the public and policy makers about critical issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

Student-Run Businesses: LIU is a national leader in student-powered entrepreneurship and engaged learning opportunities. In 2014, with the input, talent and hard work of our Student-Run Business Committee, the campus community launched businesses that employ students at all levels of the operation. LIU now has more than eight student-run businesses, plus the Browse store, which is student-staffed.  These ventures are part of LIU’s dedication to fostering entrepreneurship and empowering students through real-world experience.

State-of-the-Art Health Care Facilities: LIU has built state-of-the-art inter-professional simulation centers for teaching best practices for collaboration among future nurse and health professionals.  Regional media has prominently featured these centers, which simulate real-world conditions to prepare our students for roles in an increasingly complex and interdisciplinary health care environment.

Global MBA: This year, LIU inaugurated a unique partnership with global leaders, University of Cambridge in London and Fudan University in Shanghai, to offer an accelerated Global MBA.  This partnership is the only program that allows students to take classes at world-class universities in New York, London and Shanghai.

 

News 12 Brooklyn Features LIU Sanford Harmony’s 200,000th Student

Students learn positive peer relations as part of the Sanford Harmony program, which now reaches over 1 million students nationally and over 200,000 in the New York area through a collaboration with National University System and Long Island University. (Amy Sussman/AP Images for Long Island University and National University System)

Sanford Harmony is a social-emotional learning program now reaching more than 1 million students nationally and two hundred thousand students in the New York metro area.

On Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at PS 282 in Brooklyn, N.Y., philanthropist T. Denny Sandford joined Long Island University President Dr. Kimberly Cline, National University Chancellor Michael Cunningham, and the staff of PS 282 to celebrate the historic milestone of the 200,000th student to participate in the program. Students learn positive peer relations as part of the Sanford Harmony program that teaches children to accept and honor each other’s differences in a respectful manner. The result is the reduction of bullying in schools.

Philanthropist T. Denny Sanford was presented with a proclamation from New York Mayor Bill De Blasio declaring February 27, 2018 as Sanford Harmony Day in New York City.

LIU Post Alumna Christine Finn Picked to Lead Shelter Island Schools

Christine Finn, Shelter Island's new school superintendent (Photo courtesy The Islander)

Long Island native Christine Finn (’84 B.A. in Adolescence Education in English, ’86 M.S. in Childhood Education; ’99 Advanced Certificate in School District Leadership) is the new superintendent and principal of the Shelter Island School District on eastern Long Island.

Growing up in Islip, Finn started her career in public education teaching first and fourth graders in Brentwood on the South Shore of Long Island.

“I taught a lot of kids how to read, and I was really proud of that,” Finn told The Islander, which did a profile of her. After getting her undergraduate and master’s degrees, she earned her doctorate in education from St. John’s University. Over the years she admits she’s had to learn on the job herself. Originally she had set out to be an English major in college but a summer spent working at a nursery school made her consider teaching.

“I don’t think I was a natural, but I became very good at it,” recalled Finn. “I was fortunate [that] the women I worked with showed me the tricks.”

She’s shared her experience with others following in her footsteps.

“When I see a teacher struggling,” Finn said, “I know it can be fixed—that I can help them.”

After a decade in the classroom, Finn made the shift to administration because a principal encouraged her to consider the transition. She worked her way up from a low level position in the Patchogue-Medford district to become an assistant principal, a principal, and finally an administrator in the district office. She left to become the assistant superintendent for curriculum in the Herricks School District in New Hyde Park, which has 3,000 students.

Now at Shelter Island, she oversees a system that has fewer than 300 kids but she says she welcomes the direct involvement with students and staff.

“I felt I could be myself,” Finn, 55, told the Shelter Island Reporter about why she wanted to make the move. Shelter Island’s Board of Education reportedly picked Finn over 51 other applicants for the top job.

Finn is “great for this community,” Board President Thomas Graffagnino told The Shelter Island Reporter, adding that “I think this one’s a keeper.” The district, nestled between the twin forks of Long Island, has seen seven superintendents come and go since 1986.

“This is the place I want to be,” Finn confidently told The Islander, “and I hope the teachers all feel that way, too.”

LIU Post Student Journalists Win Coveted Folio Awards

Jackie Escobar, first place Folio Award winner for feature story.

Two LIU Post students and one alumnus are among the winners of the 2018 Fair Media Council Folio Awards in Journalism.

Jackie Escobar, a freshman HEOP student and staff writer for The Pioneer, won a Folio Award for her Pioneer feature story: “To Counter Prejudice? Excellence is the Answer: Overcoming the Labels.”  Kristina Huderski, a senior broadcasting major and journalism minor who is the features editor of The Pioneer, won a Folio Award for her Pioneer feature story: “Dance Student Takes on Broadway.”

Kristina Huderski, Folio award winner.

And Jennifer Shepardson (a recent graduate) was recognized with two Folio awards for work done during her internship last year with Waldo Cabrera at MYLITV: “Ride on the Beach and Go Inside the Fire Island School” and “How an Ice Rink is Made.”

“On behalf of the Fair Media Council Board of Directors and the judges, congratulations to this year’s Folio winners, representing the best in local news and social media,” said Jaci Clement, CEO and Executive Director of the Fair Media Council. “The entries were outstanding works of journalism, telling stories that matter and providing the public with the news and information they need to know.”

The awards ceremony takes place on Wednesday, March 21, at The Garden City Hotel. The New York Times’ White House Correspondent and CNN Political Analyst Maggie Habermas is slated to be the keynote speaker at the luncheon, which is the largest media event on Long Island.

Long Island University Announces Polk Awards in Nationally Televised Event

Washington, D.C. — Elevating one of the most prestigious awards in journalism, Long Island University (LIU) held a nationally televised event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce the winners of the 69th Annual George Polk Awards.  The event continues the University’s longstanding tradition of honoring and celebrating the impact of courageous and authentic journalism on our national and global discourse.

Click here to watch C-SPAN’s coverage of the Polk Awards.

The event included opening remarks by LIU President Kimberly Cline and a special panel discussion on the role of the press moderated by Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan and featuring top national correspondents Greg Miller of the Washington Post and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times.

“There is an interesting dichotomy between information and truth,” President Cline said.  “With smart phones and social media, we have never had more access to information.  And yet, truth is more elusive than ever.  The Polk Awards honor truth.”

In all, the Polk judging panel considered 485 submissions, resulting in 17 winners in 14 categories.  In three categories, the judges chose multiple winning entries.  The winning entries were announced by John Darnton, curator of the Polk Awards and recipient of two Polk Awards and a Pulitzer for his work with The New York Times.

The George Polk Awards are conferred annually to honor special achievement in journalism. The awards place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results. They were established in 1949 by LIU to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war.

The winners of the 69th Annual George Polk Awards will be honored at a luncheon ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Friday, April 6, 2018. This year’s David J. Steinberg Seminar of the George Polk Awards will be held Thursday evening, April 5, 2018 at LIU Brooklyn’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts. The seminar topic will be announced shortly.  That event, which will start at 6:30 p.m., is free and open to the public.

Below are the winners of the 69th Annual George Polk Awards (for work published in 2017):

  • Special Award: The staff of The New York Times and the staff of The Washington Post for revealing ties between Trump campaign officials and Kremlin-connected Russians that gave rise to the Mueller investigation.
  • Foreign Reporting Award: Iona Craig of The Intercept for documenting the destruction and civilian casualties of a covert U.S. Navy SEAL raid on a remote village in Yemen.
  • National Reporting Award: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of The New York Times and Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker for exposing the decades-long sexual predation of the movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the campaign to cover it up.
  • Local Reporting Award: Melissa Segura of BuzzFeed for drawing attention to innocent men framed for murder by a Chicago police detective with stories that led to their release from prison.
  • Immigration Reporting Award: Maria Perez of The Naples Daily News shared the award for exposing the practice of Florida companies hiring undocumented workers in dangerous jobs to avoid compensating them when injured, in some cases by arranging their deportation. Antonia Farzan and Joseph Flaherty of Phoenix New Times also won for revealing that Motel 6 motels in Phoenix, Arizona, provided nightly guest rosters to ICE agents investigating undocumented immigrants.
  • Financial Reporting Award: The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for mining a trove of 13.4 million records to reveal how corporate giants and prominent wealthy individuals use financial manipulations to evade taxes.
  • Medical Reporting Award: Nina Martin of ProPublica and Renee Montagne of NPR for explaining the reasons and portraying the tragedies behind an alarming increase in maternal deaths in pregnancy and delivery in the United States.
  • Political Reporting Award: Alice Crites, Stephanie McCrummen and Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post for digging into the past of U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama to disclose on-the-record accounts of sexual assault upon a 14-year-old girl and his pursuit of other teenage girls.
  • Magazine Reporting Award: Ben Taub of The New Yorker for showing the humanitarian devastation caused by the shrinkage of Lake Chad in Africa and underlining the connection of the ecological disaster to famine and armed uprising.
  • Photography Award: Adam Dean and Tomas Munita of The New York Times for capturing the plight of the Rohingya people desperately fleeing burning villages in Myanmar and pouring into woefully ill-equipped refugee camps in Bangladesh.
  • National Television Reporting Award: Elle Reeve of VICE News for her on-the-scene up-close coverage of the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that probed the motivations and tactics of white nationalist leaders behind the rally that turned deadly in August.
  • Foreign Television Reporting Award: Nima Elbagir and Raja Razek of CNN for uncovering a hidden modern-day slave auction of African refugees in Libya.
  • Public Service Award: David Begnaud of CBS News for capturing the destructive power Hurricane Maria unleashed on Puerto Rico in September and documenting how limited aid from the federal and territorial governments delayed the island’s recovery.
  • Commentary Award: Gail Collins of The New York Times for her columns of satiric wit and neighborly wisdom that probe the oddities of American politics and social mores, skewering public figures on all sides of the aisle with equal-opportunity zest.

 

LIU Announces Winners of 69th Annual George Polk Awards in Journalism

WASHINGTON, DC (Feb. 20, 2018) – In a ceremony held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Long Island University (LIU) announced the winners of the 69th annual George Polk Awards in Journalism, continuing the University’s longstanding tradition of honoring and celebrating the impact of courageous and authentic journalism on our national and global discourse.

Special recognition goes out this year to the staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post for their extraordinary effort in uncovering the connection between the Trump presidential campaign and the Kremlin that led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation. The Polk judges felt the investigative work, based on the cultivation of sources, was equally outstanding on the part of both newspapers and may play a significant role in safeguarding our democracy from foreign interference. But the important topics of sexual abuse, immigration enforcement, ecological disaster and modern-day slave auctions also gained award-winning coverage in this year’s prizes.

“It’s a time of both crisis and triumph for responsible news media. Of vilification and vindication,” says John Darnton, curator of the Polk Awards and recipient of two Polk Awards and a Pulitzer for his work with The New York Times. “They’re attacked almost daily as purveyors of ‘fake news’ to undermine their credibility. Yet they’ve delivered on their promise to keep the American public informed. Without them, we wouldn’t know what’s going on in Myanmar or Yemen or Charlottesville or Washington. Without them, there’d be no Mueller investigation. So, this year the George Polk Awards have decided to highlight the achievements of the nation’s press, television and online news organizations by announcing the winners in the capital.”

The George Polk Awards are conferred annually to honor special achievement in journalism. The awards place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results. They were established in 1949 by Long Island University to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war.

Below are the winners of the 69th Annual George Polk Awards (for work published in 2017):

The staff of The New York Times and the staff of The Washington Post win a Special Award for revealing ties between Trump campaign officials and Kremlin-connected Russians that gave rise to the Mueller investigation.

Iona Craig of The Intercept wins the Foreign Reporting Award for documenting the destruction and civilian casualties of a covert U.S. Navy SEAL raid on a remote village in Yemen.

Jody Kantor and Megan Twohey of The New York Times and Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker win the National Reporting Award for exposing the decades-long sexual predation of the movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the campaign to cover it up.

Melissa Segura of BuzzFeed wins the Local Reporting Award for drawing attention to innocent men framed for murder by a Chicago police detective with stories that led to their release from prison.

Maria Perez of The Naples Daily News shared the Immigration Reporting Award for exposing the practice of Florida companies hiring undocumented workers in dangerous jobs to avoid compensating them when injured, in some cases by arranging their deportation. Antonia Farzan and Joseph Flaherty of Phoenix New Times also won the Immigration Reporting Award for revealing that Motel 6 motels in Phoenix, Arizona, provided nightly guest rosters to ICE agents investigating undocumented immigrants.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists won the Financial Reporting Award for mining a trove of 13.4 million records to reveal how corporate giants and prominent wealthy individuals use financial manipulations to evade taxes.

Nina Martin of ProPublica and Renee Montagne of NPR won the Medical Reporting Award for explaining the reasons and portraying the tragedies behind an alarming increase in maternal deaths in pregnancy and delivery in the United States.

Stephanie McCrummen and Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post won the Political Reporting Award for digging into the past of U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama to disclose on-the-record accounts of sexual assault upon a 14-year-old girl and his pursuit of other teenage girls.

Ben Taub of The New Yorker won the Magazine Reporting Award for showing the humanitarian devastation caused by the shrinkage of Lake Chad in Africa and underlining the connection of the ecological disaster to famine and armed uprising.

Adam Dean and Tomas Munita of The New York Times won the Photography Award for capturing the plight of the Rohingya people desperately fleeing burning villages in Myanmar and pouring into woefully ill-equipped refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Elle Reeve of VICE News won the National Television Reporting Award for her on-the-scene up-close coverage of the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that probed the motivations and tactics of white nationalist leaders behind the rally that turned deadly in August.

Nima Elbagir and Raja Razek of CNN won the Foreign Television Reporting Award for uncovering a hidden modern-day slave auction of African refugees in Libya.

David Begnaud of CBS News won the Public Service Award for capturing the destructive power Hurricane Maria unleashed on Puerto Rico in September and documenting how limited aid from the federal and territorial governments delayed the island’s recovery.

Gail Collins of The New York Times won the Commentary Award for her columns of satiric wit and neighborly wisdom that probe the oddities of American politics and social mores, skewering public figures on all sides of the aisle with equal-opportunity zest.

The distinguished winners of the 69th Annual George Polk Awards will be honored at a luncheon ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan on Friday, April 6, 2018. This year’s David J. Steinberg Seminar of the George Polk Awards will be held Thursday evening, April 5, 2018 at LIU Brooklyn’s Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts. The seminar topic will be announced shortly.  That event, which will start at 6:30 p.m., is free and open to the public.

About Long Island University (LIU)
LIU, founded in 1926, is a nationally recognized teaching and research institution which continues to redefine higher education.  Recognized by Forbes for its emphasis on experiential learning and by the Brookings Institution for its “value added” to student outcomes, as well as accolades and recognitions from US News and World Report, The Princeton Review, and Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education.   LIU’s network of 200,000 alumni includes industry leaders and entrepreneurs across the globe. LIU’s renowned faculty, the LIU Promise student mentoring program, innovation in engaged learning, further distinguish LIU as a leader among the nation’s most respected universities. Visit liu.edu for more information.

LIU’s Palmer School Ranks in Nation’s Top 20 Online Master of Library Science Degree Programs

Being a librarian is not like the old days when the most important task was keeping the reading room quiet. Today’s modern librarian has to be widely versed in a range of disciplines in order to help people find the information they seek.

There’s more to it than just loving books—although that certainly helps. Knowing how to conduct the right kind of research matters most. That’s why getting a Master of Library Science (MLS) degree is key to working in this demanding profession. To launch their careers, would-be librarians are increasingly turning to online masters degree programs.

The Palmer School of Library and Information Science at LIU Post was rated by Master’s Programs Guide as No. 17 on its list of the nation’s 50 best programs.  The Palmer School offers a Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MSLIS) degree program with a School Library Media specialization completely online.

The ranking is a composite of several important validators of quality, including U.S. News and World Report, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the  iSchools consortium, and the American Library Association. Three criteria determined which programs made the grade: affordability and accessibility, accreditation and commendation, student support services and specializations.

At LIU, students come to learn that “the school library represents the buried treasure at the core of our civilization.” The MSLIS degree program requires 36-credit hours to graduate. LIU Post also provides a fully online 18-credit hour Certificate of Advanced Study in Archives and Records Management.

To read more, click here.

Student Spotlight: Dylan Silva (’18)–The $10 Million Pioneer

When Dylan Silva goes on a job interview, he has a unique talking point — he has already successfully pitched an eight-figure idea — thanks to his extensive internship experience.

A senior from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Silva majors in Business Management at LIU Post’s nationally-ranked College of Management, and is also the face behind the mask of LIU Post’s mascot, the Pioneer.

Silva began an internship at 1-800-Flowers in digital marketing.  1-800-Flowers is an innovative company that operates 17 different companies under its flagship umbrella, giving Silva the opportunity to work with subsidiary companies – Florist.com, Fruit Bouquets, and Personalization Universe.

He was then accepted into an exclusive internship program as a business analyst at Meijer, the $16.6 billion company, ranked as the No. 19 largest privately held company by Forbes. There, he pitched a $10-million idea to the executives. Silva based his proposal to provide wider width shoes in a variety of styles on market research he had found that showed that wearing casual footwear had the effect of widening feet over time. Meijer implemented his finding.

Silva later returned to 1-800-Flowers where he was accepted into its elite Digital Leadership Program.

“I am in charge of testing theories and breaking hypotheses about the technology industry,” he explained. “1-800-Flowers works very closely with Google, so I utilize Google analytics and Google adwords to create marketing campaigns. I recently developed the go-to-market strategy for one of their new companies: BerryliciousBerries.”

After graduating this May, Silva plans to continue in the Global MBA program, which partners LIU Post’s internationally recognized business school with Cambridge University and Fudan University.

“I want to go into the consulting industry so the fact that I can get an MBA where I study in three different countries will really help me stand out amongst my competitors when it comes time to apply for jobs,” he said.

 

 

Student Spotlight: Julia Raie (’17), Road to the Big Four

 

Julia Raie came to LIU Post as a student who knew exactly what she wanted.  She enrolled in LIU Post’s School of Professional Accountancy — part of its prestigious College of Management — because of its established network with the Big Four accounting firms.

Excelling in her studies, Raie approached her Accountancy professor Dr. Jeffrey Hoops, a former partner at Ernst and Young, for an internship opportunity with the prestigious corporation. Dr. Hoops connected Raie with key associates who facilitated the challenging entry into this exclusive program, which included an interview for the EY Emerging Leaders Program, a three-day session that consisted of formal meetings and interviews within the company, attendance at a professional baseball game, and a barbecue at a partner’s home.

“The whole process was like an informal interview – although there were formal parts where we had to interview, there were informal parts where they were watching how you would behave in different settings,” Raie said. “Like the baseball game was informal where we were dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but the whole process was an interview so we were on our toes.”

Raie shined in the Emerging Leader’s Program and was accepted into the discriminative summer internship program that commenced with a week-long training in Chicago, where interns were introduced to a rigorous learning session that prepared them for the work ahead. They were taught the specific systems practiced by Ernst and Young, the rules and regulations, and the tax code information that they put to use throughout the summer. Each intern was assigned a mentor to help navigate the corporate atmosphere, creating an ideal learning environment.

Raie knew that she wanted to work in international tax law and was therefore assigned to that department, where she gained valuable experience meeting with clients and inputting data. Ernst and Young concluded the internship period by sending the students to Orlando for four days where they experienced more training, along with visiting Disney World and meeting with partners, senior managers, recruiters and Marc Weinberger, Global Chairman and CEO of Ernst and Young.

Today, Raie has her BS degree in Accountancy, and she is forging ahead through LIU’s accelerated Global MBA program with a coveted internship experience and a full-time position awaiting her at esteemed Ernst & Young.

“This two-month process confirmed that this is what I want to do and this is the company I want to launch my career from,” Raie said.

The job offer confirms that the feeling is mutual.

LIU Brooklyn’s Soccer Star Gio Savarese Is Named New Head Coach of Portland Timbers

Gio Savarese, LIU Brooklyn's class of '94, is the new head coach of the Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer's Western Conference. (Photo courtesy MLSsoccer.com)

Giovanni Savarese, once upon a time a star forward on LIU Brooklyn’s soccer team, has scored again.

Savarese has just been named the manager of the Portland Timbers, which play in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference. And so, in barely half a dozen years of his managerial career, he’s risen to the top tier of professional men’s soccer in the United States and Canada.

Before he became a coach, Savarese made a name for himself as a ferocious player. After he graduated from LIU in 1994, Gio joined the Long Island Rough Riders before being drafted by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls), where, soccer writer Dave Martinez writes, he was “the dynamic attacking marauder who won the hearts of MetroStars fans in the founding years of the league.”

Since then, Savarese has become “one of the hottest coaching commodities” on the continent, adds Martinez.

After Savarese joined the Cosmos in the USL Premier Development League, he led the team to the North American Soccer League title in 2013. He didn’t stop there. In 2016 his team, nicknamed the “Cardiac Cosmos” because of their heart-stopping tenacity on the field, won the third club title since he took over as their manager.

Born in Caracas in 1971, Savarese came to the U.S. with his parents from Italy and demonstrated his soccer prowess with the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. As a senior in 1993, he earned All-American honors, having scored 50 goals in four years. During his 18-year professional playing career, he racked up 52 goals in 121 MLS regular-season and playoff appearances, according to MLSsoccer.com.

Merrit Paulson, owner of the Timbers, couldn’t be happier that he’s brought Savarese to Oregon. “Gio is an intelligent, attack-minded coach,” said Paulson in a statement provided by the team, “and is a driven individual who is both a great fit with us on and off the field. We are extremely pleased to welcome Gio and his family to Portland.”

Savarese called the move “ideal.”

“The passion, ambition and support surrounding this club is truly inspiring,” he said in a statement. “I am sincerely honored and grateful for this opportunity to lead it on the pitch and to build on the club’s history of success for the community and the incredible supporters of the Portland Timbers.”

He is their third full-time head coach since they entered the MLS.

Savarese likes to credit the trajectory of his success to his own coach at LIU, Arnold Ramirez.

“He was someone who was there all the time for all the players he coached,” Savarese recalled last summer when he was still involved with the Cosmos. “For me, that was a great lesson from a young age, to see how much he cared for us, not only from the standpoint of doing well in soccer, but that we advanced with our studies and in our lives—and that we developed as people.”

He enjoyed coaching the Cosmos but now he’s gone west to show what he can do at another level. Brooklyn’s loss is now Portland’s gain. But he’ll always be remembered here as a Blackbird who learned how to fly above the rest.

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