This summer Mialisoa Randria ’28 traveled more than 8,000 miles from the Heights, to Cape Town, South Africa, where she spent five weeks working for the nonprofit organization Africa Unite (AU) through ������’s Ignite Fellowship Program. Randria’s experience reflects the College’s belief that an education goes beyond the four walls of the classroom – or even the boundaries of a college campus. She came away from the experience with a renewed excitement about her future and a clearer understanding of how she hopes to use her energy – and her education – to shape the world.����

Born in Madagascar and raised primarily on the western slope of Colorado, Randria was drawn to work with AU because of its commitment to “uniting voices, empowering change.” The organization was founded in 2001 largely to advance peace by bringing together seemingly disparate groups of people. Today it designs programs to support youth, strengthen communities and bolster social cohesion across South Africa. Randria aided in those efforts, accompanying her supervisor to meetings around South Africa on topics such as children’s rights; attending events like the Africa Day Festival, which was designed to help promote collaboration and understanding among Africa’s 54 nations; and creating a newsletter showcasing Africa Unite’s initiatives, which include the observance of Africa Day to honor the founding of the African Union.

The encounters Randria had while she was abroad uplifted her and reaffirmed her desire to work in international development. Global cooperation and assistance have been important to her since she was a member of her high school’s championship-winning speech and debate team, and informed her decision to study political science and global affairs at ������. Since arriving on the Heights, she has learned about social cohesion and justice in classes such as Public Policy and Power and Justice and about leadership and community building through her participation in organizations such as the Student Government Association, ������ Student Programming Board and Dolphins for Humanity. All of those experiences, in addition to her time in South Africa, have spurred her desire to work with and advocate on behalf of underrepresented groups.��

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The sign recognizes Dr. LeMura’s 23��years of service to ������, including 12 years as president.��In December 2025, she became the longest serving president in ������’s history.��A hallmark of her time as president has been developing partnerships and strong relationships with the city of Syracuse, the Central New York region, and Salt Springs Neighborhood.�� She served on the city’s Syracuse Housing Strategy Task Force that created a study for how certain neighborhoods could be revitalized, and her involvement was one factor that led to Salt Springs being��chosen as����as part of the city’s comprehensive housing strategy.

Coverage of the event included stories in , and . Shown above, from left, are Donald Kirby, S.J., professor of religious studies, County Executive McMahon, Dr. LeMura and Mayor Owens.

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As a middle school student, Emma Gross ’27 was fascinated by news coverage of NASA missions to space, and eager to learn more about, as she put it, “exactly what is out there.” Gross was intrigued by how much we still do not know about the universe, and by the idea of exploring it. That curiosity followed her when she transferred to ������ in August of 2024.�� Not long after she arrived on campus, the Jamesville, New York, native, discovered that not only was ������ developing an astronomy program, but that it also afforded her invaluable opportunities to conduct research as an undergraduate. Both have transformed the way she imagines her future. ��

Today Gross is a physics major and astronomy minor on the Heights. Alongside Professor of Physics Chris Bass, Ph.D., she has immersed herself in studying a relatively uncommon kind of asteroid known as V-type as part of NASA’s MOSAICS program, conducting research at the Maunakea Observatories in Hawai’i. Bass and Gross later presented their findings at the in Poznań, Poland. Not only did the undergraduate have a chance to share her work with an international audience, but she also received invaluable feedback from experts in the field and engaged directly with researchers working on related projects.

Gross is also expanding her understanding of the galaxies in History of Planetary Science, taught by Jesuit Scientist is Residence and ������ing McDevitt Scholar Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., director emeritus of the Vatican Observatory. The class has already bolstered her understanding of and appreciation for how our understanding of the celestial can help us to better understand our existence on Earth.��

The totality of Gross’ experiences at ������ has reinforced her love of and appreciation for the mysteries of the universe, and opened her eyes to what a career in planetary science could look like. She looks forward to continuing her studies and graduate school, and to building a career in research, focusing primarily on smaller celestial bodies.

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“I am deeply honored to join the ������ College community,” said Rummel. “������’s Jesuit mission and commitment to students align with everything I believe about why this work matters. I look forward to partnering with President Linda LeMura and the entire community to build on the institution’s momentum in service of its mission.”

“Demographics and other market forces have changed the enrollment management landscape dramatically,” said President Linda LeMura. “Justin’s background and career path makes him uniquely qualified to move ������ upward in a challenging environment. He has a proven track record of using data to best position an institution for success, from marketing tactics to recruiting outreach and events to financial aid strategy.”

Rummel comes to ������ after spending the past seven years in enrollment management leadership positions at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Penn. He was the university’s vice president for enrollment from 2023 to 2026, recruiting Susquehanna’s largest first-year class this decade in 2024. As vice president he led the admissions and student financial services division, with 30 full-time staff, and spearheaded the implementation of a 36-month admission communication campaign to improve engagement and yield with prospective students. Before serving as vice president, he spent four years as assistant vice president for student financial services at Susquehanna.

Prior to Susquehanna, he was the director of financial aid at Salisbury University in the University System of Maryland, overseeing federal, state and institutional aid administration. During his tenure, he led the university’s recertification efforts with the U.S. Department of Education and implemented the university’s first financial aid quality assurance program. He began his career in higher education at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) and continued his work as an internal audit leader and director of fiscal operations at Strayer University in Herndon, Va.

He has been actively involved with several admission organizations, including the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) and the Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling (PACAC). He graduated with a bachelors in political science from Millersville University and received an MBA from Western Governors University. He and his wife Addy are parents to four children (Nora, Lulu, Cece and Austin) under the age of 12. The family will relocate to the Syracuse over the next several months.

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Jesuit colleges and universities have been celebrating the Mass of the Holy Spirit at each of its institutions since 1548. The Catholic Mass provides an opportunity for members of the ������ community to thank God for the gifts of creation and to ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance in the coming academic year.

“How has the Mass of the Holy Spirit endured for so long?” said ������ President Linda LeMura in her remarks. “There aren’t many traditions with this kind of staying power, this ability to speak to people through time and space, across continents and generations. It’s because the Mass celebrates so many things central to us as an institution of higher learning – a Jesuit institution of higher learning. It unites our foundational Catholic, Jesuit tradition, our understanding of the Spirit at work in the world, and the core of our educational mission.”

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After obtaining his bachelors and masters at ������, Rancy received his Ph.D. in information science and technology at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, completing the doctoral program in 2025. His work connects human-centered research, artificial intelligence, accessibility, student mentorship and institutional innovation and his contributions include developing technology systems for awareness, governance, registration, and entrepreneurship initiatives. He was nominated for the award by Martha Grabowski, professor emeritus and former chair of the information systems program.

Earlier this year, Rancy received a Dolphin Choice Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and the Faculty Career Mentor Award of the Year in Business.

The MOST’s STEM Under 40 Awards recognize the contributions to STEM fields from 30 professionals under age 40 across Central New York. Honoree include individuals in a wide range of professions, including K-12 and higher education, manufacturing, healthcare, science, engineering, architecture, computer science and more. Winners will be recognized in an awards ceremony at the MOST on Thursday, Nov. 5.

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Led by President LeMura, plans to bring the section to campus have been in the works for more than a year. All expenses associated with this project are being paid for through a fundraising campaign with members of the Class of 1971, led by Larry Egan ’71. Two local companies – Heidelberg Materials and JK Tobin Construction – transported��it from the MOST to ������ for free.

In addition to being on display for the campus community and visitors to experience, faculty are currently working with academic administrators to facilitate the incorporation of the deep historical significance of the Berlin��Wall into the College’s curriculum. The placement between Grewen and Reilly halls makes it conveniently located near classroom for faculty to have class or discussions outdoors.

The section now on the ������ campus is one of hundreds of other locations around the globe where sections of the Berlin Wall can be found, as��, a German media company.

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As the Jesuit Scientist in Residence and McDevitt ������ing Scholar, Brother Guy will teach a course titled History of Planetary Science and deliver a public lecture.

Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., has dedicated his professional life to studying the stars, glowing orbs of hydrogen and helium that Lord Byron called “the poetry of heaven.” Brother Consolmagno’s contributions to planetary science are extraordinary. He is an accomplished educator, researcher and author who has served at the Vatican Observatory twice – first as a staff astronomer and curator of its meteorite collection and later as its director. He is now director emeritus of the observatory, and is known in some circles as “the pope’s astronomer.” Highly respected by his peers, Brother Consolmagno is a Fellow of the Meteoritical Society and recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s prestigious Carl Sagan Medal. He even has an asteroid named in his honor, number 4597, a.k.a., Little Guy.��

When asked why he revels in turning his attention to the sky, Brother Consolmagno says it is simple.��

This fall Brother Consolmagno will bring his love of the planets to ������, where he will serve as a Jesuit Scientist in Residence and McDevitt ������ing Scholar. He will teach a course titled History of Planetary Science and deliver a public lecture. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Brother Consolmagno, who first arrived on the ������ campus in 2009 as the Lanigan Chair in Science Medicine and Ethics.��

A Michigan native, Brother Consolmagno says that his faith and religious vocation inform his work as a scientist and an educator. When he entered the Society of Jesus in 1989, he had already accrued nearly two decades of experience as a planetary science researcher and university professor. Today when he stands at the front of a classroom, his approach is not merely to teach his students a string of facts about the stars and planets, but to help them understand what to do with that knowledge, and to consider how it affects their understanding of who they are and what their responsibility is to the world around them. Likewise, he believes that what people call critical thinking is “useless if they don’t have reliable data to assess, or a rigorous context of assumptions and goals to guide where they are trying to go with that thinking.”

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The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the most competitive research awards in Europe: this year only 319 of 3,329 proposals were funded. It is led by Professor Lavinia Stan, a leading Canadian scholar of transitional justice, and centers on a comparison of eight post-dictatorial and post-conflict societies across four world regions.��The project breaks new ground by asking what happens when a post-dictatorial or post-conflict society must confront not one but several difficult pasts that demand recognition and repair simultaneously. Through a comparative study of eight cases across four world regions (Romania, Croatia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Vietnam, Tunisia, and Kenya) MULTIPAST is the first project to examine this problem systematically, with direct implications for public policy, democratization and human rights.

Popescu has also been selected as a guest of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, to work on her book project, “Archives and Ergoglossia: Gender and Romani Labor in Securitate Files.” The IWM is among the most distinguished institutes for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences in Europe and each year it draws roughly a hundred scholars, writers and public intellectuals to Vienna, chosen purely on the merit of their work.

“IWM has been a gathering place for serious thinking across the old East–West divide since long before such conversations were easy to have,” said Popescu. “To be welcomed into that setting is among the more meaningful recognitions a scholar in my area can receive.”

“Professor Popescu has long been recognized as an expert in comparative political theory and both these invitations reflect how highly-regarded she is with her international peers,” said ������ President Linda LeMura. “We are thrilled that she will be making significant contributions on a global scale.”

Popescu is also currently completing two edited volumes:��You Say You Want a Revolution? Lessons from East Central Europe in 1989��(Bloomsbury, 2026), and��The Afterlife of Dissent: Havel’s “Power of the Powerless” in Contemporary Perspective��(forthcoming, 2027).

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