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Meet Lisa Fastenberg, PhD, a math enthusiast, dedicated educator, and now a member of Pace University’s Board of Trustees. As an associate professor and chair of the Mathematics Department in Dyson College of Arts and Sciences at Pace’s Pleasantville Campus, Professor Fastenberg has been shaping minds and leading academic innovation since 2001.

Her three-year term on the Board is the latest chapter in her Pace story—a story rich with leadership and impact. Since taking the helm of the Mathematics Department in 2013, she’s led a redesign of the math curriculum to better support students, improving both their success and retention.

“Lisa’s dedication to education and her innovative approach will be a tremendous asset to the Board,” shared Rob Sands, chair of the Board of Trustees. “She truly embodies what Pace is all about.”

In the classroom, Professor Fastenberg is known for her ability to make math accessible and engaging. From developmental courses to advanced topics in number theory, her passion for teaching is evident. Her research? It dives deep into the rank of elliptic surfaces in characteristic zero—a fascinating area of number theory.

Beyond teaching, she’s been a driving force in shaping Pace’s community. Whether co-chairing the Retention Task Force or leading faculty council initiatives, Professor Fastenberg has been at the forefront of making Pace an even better place for students and faculty alike.

“I’m honored to join the Board of Trustees,” said Fastenberg. “After more than two decades of teaching and working alongside our students, I’m excited to bring the faculty perspective to the Board’s efforts.”

Her journey began with a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in mathematics from Yale University. Before joining Pace, she held academic positions at institutions like McGill and Concordia Universities, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Yeshiva University.

Professor Fastenberg’s appointment underscores Pace’s commitment to fostering leadership and innovation within its community. And with her on board, the future looks bright.

The fall 2024 semester for Pace Athletics was nothing short of eventful. From individual accolades, first ever team wins, and the 2024 Pace Athletics Hall of Fame, the opening months of the school year have been filled with great success on and off respective playing fields.

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Let’s start off by looking at some of the team successes from September to November. We have first ever team victories, broken or almost broken records, major victories and more. Women’s Cross Country secured their first ever team victory in program history at the SJLI Invitational on October 19, Football captured a double-overtime victory over Saint Anselm (26–20) at Northwell Stadium, and Volleyball battled back from trailing 0–2 to win 3–2 on homecoming weekend. For the records, two teams tied a record in the first three months of the season. Field Hockey tied for most goals in a game with eight at Saint Michael’s (10/12) and Women’s Soccer broke a record for most shots in a game with 51 at the College of Staten Island (CSI) (10/30).

Individually, our student-athletes have displayed great dedication to their craft. As the Fall season concluded, we have two All-Americans (FH: Krista Dietz and Jenna McCrudden), 4 CoSIDA Academic All-District Selections (VB: Blas-Cedeno, Cosentino, Ferguson and Muhammad), and 12 Northeast-10 (NE10) All-Conference recipients. But we can’t forget our Women’s Swimming rookie, Eugenia Morossi, who has consistently led the team so far this season and is now the newest record holder of the 200-backstroke event with a fresh time of 2:01.66. She also notched a NCAA Division II National Championship “B” Qualifying Time for the event.

The Pace Athletics Hall of Fame was held on October 27 in Willcox Hall on the Pleasantville Campus. The department inducted five key individuals (Jeane Drury ‘15, Al Elliott ‘02, Casey Gelderman ‘15, Brian Pirone ‘96, and current Softball Head Coach and SWA, Claudia Stabile) who played pivotal roles in their respective Pace Athletics programs along with Joseph R. Iannello ’90 being presented with the Peter X. Finnerty Award for his outstanding leadership and service to Pace University.

As we gear up to transition into our winter sports, Men’s Basketball set a new program record for the best start to the regular season with a perfect 13–0 record while being nationally ranked #7 in all of Division II, their highest ranking in program history. On top of the team’s accomplishments, Tray Alexander was named D2 National Player of the Week (11/12) on top of being the current statistical leader with 10.8 assists per game, Jaden Kealey was named Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Player of the Week (12/10), and head coach, Matt Healing, was named D2 National Head Coach of the Week by HoopDirt (12/16).

Here's to another exciting semester for Pace Athletics!

Jay Duckworth calls it the “golden thread” of education—the invisible, continuous links of knowledge that bond students to their professional ancestors.

“For people in theater, the golden thread goes all the way back to Thespis, the first actor who ever stepped out onto a stage, in ancient Greece,” said Duckworth, an associate clinical professor of theater at Pace University’s Sands College of Performing Arts.

“That thread goes through all of us, right down to my students,” he said.

Each year, Pace recruits some of the world’s greatest educators—practitioners like Duckworth—to join the University’s full-time faculty. With authority and unrivaled expertise, Pace’s professors help students tie their own threads to careers in health care, humanities, law, business, performing arts, education, and technology.

As Pace’s Spring 2025 semester approaches, seven of the University’s newest full-time faculty, experts who’ve reached the pinnacles of their professions, share what motivates them, and how they’re working to develop the next generation of leaders.

From Practitioners to Professors

Duckworth may be the most influential props designer alive today. A self-defined “proptologist,” Duckworth has created for film, television, music videos and more than 65 Broadway shows. He’s worked with Broadway heavyweights like Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda and actors like Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and John Lithgow.

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And yet, last year, after some 36 years in the props business—solving design puzzles like an edible arrest warrant (Measure for Measure) and a 13-foot guillotine that never falters (Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams)—he left it behind to become a full-time Pace professor.

“I've worked on huge shows and with incredible people, but during the pandemic I decided that I wanted to start teaching full time,” he said. “I was taught that the price you pay for living in a good community is community service, so it was important that I give back."

Like many of his colleagues, lived experience underpins Duckworth’s pedagogy. His father was a construction worker (“He taught me how to build”), his mother an artist (“I learned about colors from her”). But the golden thread that pulled him in was sewn by a former monk-turned props virtuoso. “During a carpentry job at George Street Playhouse, the prop master said to me, ‘If you ever want to stop building boxes—which is all sets really are—and use your talent, I can teach you.’”

The offer “set me on the road to becoming a prop master myself,” Duckworth said.

"When a student comes with passion for the arts, I can help them harness it so that they can become the best at whatever they want to be.”

That transaction, almost a spiritual connection to the work, is what Duckworth hopes to transfer to his students. “I can teach anybody to build. What I can't teach is passion,” he said. “But when a student comes with passion for the arts, I can help them harness it so that they can become the best at whatever they want to be.”

Like Duckworth, Professor Ty Defoe, a clinical associate professor and Writer-in-Residence at Pace’s Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, is a visionary in his field. But Defoe’s medium is sentient, and his outputs are new communities committed to what he calls “radical acceptance and radical care.”

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“To me, building community relates to the concept of decolonizing, moving things into the center that have been historically invisible or forgotten,” Defoe said. “At Pace, I’m drawing upon a lot of Indigenous philosophies to imagine and create a different kind of future” for our students.

As a writer and interdisciplinary artist, Defoe’s award-winning work spans a range of genres and forms, from Indigenous activism to environmental justice. He engages a wide range of forms, from Indigenous activism to environmental justice, using dance, music, and the written word to unite people in exploring contemporary challenges through the lens of traditional culture, history, and values.

One such workshop occurred in November 2024, when, for the first time in Pace’s history, an indigenous group from the Wampanoag Nation joined students, faculty, and staff to mark the National Day of Mourning, an annual demonstration to dispel myths surrounding the Thanksgiving story in the United States. In a university setting, especially one in New York City, such an event brings attention to Indigenous voices and practices that are often overlooked or misunderstood. This blending of academic space with cultural practice is rare and reflects Pace's growing emphasis on inclusivity and cross-cultural understanding.

“Here we were, having this conversation, removing the chairs in Pace’s Art Gallery and standing in a circle together to hear Wampanoag traditional music and listen to life lessons,” Defoe said. “It was revolutionary.”

“Fostering civic engagement and collective actions and bringing people together in new ways—this is why I’m here.”

Another project Defoe is focused on at Pace is The Ground Beneath Our Feet, an experiential humanities research and curriculum initiative to connect Pace’s students to the stories of the places on which their classrooms sit.

The project’s objective, said Defoe, is to unite the Pace Community through the exploration of its history. “Fostering civic engagement and collective actions and bringing people together in new ways—this is why I’m here.”

An Eye on the Future

For students, what happens at Pace may be second only to what comes after college. Carrieann Sipos, a clinical assistant professor at Pace’s School of Education, understands this, too.

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Whenever Sipos needed to fill an opening at the Ossining school district, in Westchester County, where she worked for 34 years before becoming a full-time professor, she’d make two piles of resumes on her desk. The first included applicants with degrees from Columbia University, Bank Street College of Education, and Pace.

The second pile? Everyone else.

“Pace students were always among the best hires we made,” said Sipos. “Anyone graduating from the School of Education was incredibly well prepared.”

As a new full-time faculty member, it’s now her job to ensure that Pace’s students remain at the top of the stack.

“My students are ambitious and want to make a difference; I see a lot of my younger self in them,” said Sipos. “But the teachers I train will be up against very different challenges than what I faced. Take diversity. Ossining, when I began teaching, looked very different from the Ossining of today.”

Sipos tells her students that to thrive as a modern educator, they must become “equity warriors,” committed to embracing diversity in all its forms. She emphasizes the importance of community, student-centered learning, and equity in education.

“My students are ambitious and want to make a difference; I see a lot of my younger self in them.”

“To really know what a child needs in a highly diverse classroom, teachers must have a deep relationship with their students,” she said. “It’s that sense of care I hope to instill in my students at Pace.”

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Preparing students for the future of work is also what motivates Birgit Elchoueri, a clinical assistant professor at the Lubin School of Business. With more than two decades of experience in global finance, leadership, and strategic management—most recently as chief of staff to the CEO at Allianz North America—she joins the full-time ranks with a focus on helping students prepare for how new technologies, like OpenAI, will affect their careers as future business leaders..

Preparing students for the future of work is also what motivates Birgit Elchoueri, a clinical assistant professor at the Lubin School of Business. With more than two decades of experience in global finance, leadership, and strategic management—most recently as chief of staff to the CEO at Allianz North America—she joins the full-time ranks with a focus on helping students prepare for how new technologies, like OpenAI, will affect their careers as future business leaders.

“Teaching business strategy at Pace University is exciting because of the rich diversity that students bring to the classroom. My students come from all different domains, such as management, general business, marketing, finance and accounting, this diverse knowledge and expertise allows us to create innovative team projects” said Elchoueri. “The interesting thing about new technologies and innovations is that they affect everything, from how business is conducted to how we interact with others as global societies.”

“Teaching business strategy at Pace University is exciting because of the rich diversity that students bring to the classroom."

Her teaching philosophy is grounded in a student-centered teaching approach that focuses on integrating theoretical concepts with real-world scenarios into her lesson plans to illustrate the practical and strategic implications of new technology trends. To hammer the point home, Elchoueri plans to introduce new hands-on OpenAI technology assignments in her classes this semester, including one critiquing generative AI’s outputs.

“My goal as an educator is to teach my students how to become strong leaders with the ability to analyze strategic and ethical dilemmas," she says. "It is important to embrace new technologies but at the same time business leaders must understand and anticipate potential unintended negative consequences of their innovations.”

Learning from the Doers

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Several of Pace’s newest full-time faculty remain professionally active outside the classroom, particularly those in rapidly changing fields.

Rhonda D'Agostino, DNP, a clinical assistant professor at the College of Health Professions, and Camila Bustos, JD, an assistant professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, are among these “practicing” professors.

“I’ll be working a weekend shift at the hospital, thinking, ‘Hey, this is a great case study I can bring to my class next week.’”

For D'Agostino, the office is a hospital. After earning her bachelor’s in nursing from Pace in 2003, and a master’s in acute care nursing from New York University three years later, she landed a job as a critical care nurse practitioner at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Among her innovations: she built advanced nursing practice teams for critical, rapid response, and sepsis care, and was the inaugural associate medical director for the hospital's critical care center.

Today, on top of a full-time teaching load, D'Agostino works several shifts a month at a medical center near her home in Middletown, New York. The work helps her stay relevant as an educator, she said. “What I did 20 years ago as a nurse is completely different from what I'm doing today.”

The arrangement benefits her students, too. “I’ll be working a weekend shift at the hospital, thinking, ‘Hey, this is a great case study I can bring to my class next week.’”

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Bustos, whose work focuses on human rights, environmental, and climate change law, agrees that staying professionally involved strengthens her teaching.

“I try to stay connected to these cases. It's important for me professionally, and for my ability to teach effectively.”

In 2023, she testified in front of the Canadian Senate about global migration and climate change, and presented similar testimony in Barbados last year. She also frequently files amicus briefs, expert advice or information presented to courts by non-parties in a case.

“We recently submitted briefs before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a regional human rights court for the Americas, which is issuing an advisory opinion on climate change and human rights,” Bustos said. “I try to stay connected to these cases. It's important for me professionally, and for my ability to teach effectively.”

For other newcomers, like Soheyla Amirian, PhD, an assistant professor at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, research is their second career.

Amirian leads the Applied Machine Intelligence Initiatives and Education (AMIIE) laboratory at Pace, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of faculty, students, and investigators to design, build, validate, and deploy AI algorithms in various real-world applications, including public health, imaging informatics, and AI-powered education.

“In my lab, students work on real-world challenges, gaining hands-on experience in AI development."

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One of her projects focuses on using responsible, explainable, and fair AI to computationally analyze knee joint space in older populations, a critical factor that helps to investigate the mobility of aging adults.

“In my lab, students work on real-world challenges, gaining hands-on experience in AI development while understanding its societal impacts,” Amirian said.

Prestige Without the Ego

In the Pace academic catalogue, the emblematic faculty member is someone who can “balance academic preparation with professional experience to bring a unique dynamic to the classroom.” That’s true. But to the University’s newest full-timers, a Pace professor is so much more.

To many of these newcomers, warmth and approachability distinguish the Pace faculty. “Brilliant and humble,” Bustos said of her colleagues. “Prestigious without ego,” said D'Agostino of hers. They’re also “beautiful” (Sipos), “interdisciplinary” (Amirian), and “supportive” (Elchoueri).

To Jay Duckworth, the props master at Sands, another adjective comes to mind: exceptional.

“At Pace, you've got teachers who’ve worked with the best of the best in every aspect of their industries, right here, in the city where the future auditions.”

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Nathan Lanum

Class of 2025

Writing for Diversity and Equity in Theater and Media, BA

How did you become interested in pursuing a BA in Writing for Diversity and Equity in Theater and Media (W4DETM)?

I had been interested in playwriting, as well as activism and political issues, so when I received an email about the WDETM program, I immediately knew it was something I was interested in. Upon meeting the program director, Assistant Dean S. Brian Jones, and learning about the program’s vision, I was fully on board.

Why did you choose to attend Pace?

Originally, I decided to come to Pace to see what my life would look like in a totally different environment, thinking New York would be a good place for that. I am from Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, and I started saying things like "when I'm in New York," instead of "if." At some point, it just hit me that there's really nowhere else I'd rather be. And now that I'm here, and at Pace, I have so many things keeping me here.

What have your experiences been like in this program? What faculty have been instrumental in your academic journey?

Assistant Dean Jones and Colby Hopkins, program coordinator, are two people I always look forward to seeing and working with, not only because their knowledge and wisdom are so valuable, but also because they are just wonderful people. I love Colby's willingness to work with us and meet us where we are at with things such as service projects and social justice workshops, and Dean Jones's incredible ability to brighten a room, capture its attention, and teach. I look up to them not only as mentors in this program, but as people as well.

There have also been other incredibly helpful Pace professors along my academic journey. I would be remiss to not include professors Molly Rydzel and Becky Scott, from the Film and Screen Studies department as instrumental in how I think of and shape stories, as well as Beto O'Byrne for his incredible teachings in both playwriting and critical race theory.

I love [Program Coordinator] Colby Hopkins's willingness to work with us and meet us where we are at with things such as service projects and social justice workshops, and Dean Jones's incredible ability to brighten a room, capture its attention, and teach. I look up to them not only as mentors in this program, but as people as well.

What kind of research and/or activities have you been engaged in as part of this program and how have they been meaningful to you?

This program has me interested in all kinds of research, all the time, about so many different things that it can be difficult to just pick one. As of late, I've been researching a lot about topics related to the "manosphere," which are not particularly fun, but important to me. This research has led to wanting things to change in regard to how men treat each other and others, and so I've been working hard at combining my passion for both this research and creating something out of it artistically. I hope to share this work within my program when it's ready.

What other activities or organizations are you involved in at Pace?

I am a co-founder and president of Pace's improv club on the New York City campus, Setters Unscripted. Through this role, I help decide where we play improv games and prepare for our shows which occur every few months. It's been a lot of fun creating this club and seeing it grow and change over time. I really love doing it; it's something I have a lot of passion for, and I think it sort of ties into my passion for writing and thinking creatively. I also try to be as active a member as possible of Setter Stage, the theater club on campus.

What would you like to do upon graduation/what are your career goals?

There are so many paths to take that it can be difficult to choose, but I think I would like to stay in New York and be a musical theater writer for a time, picking up opportunities where I can, before eventually moving on outside of New York wherever the wind may bring me. One thing I love about my program is the versatility it equips me with, so if I end up doing something I may not enjoy, I have the ability to switch to something else.

What advice would you like to give to our current students?

Both within and outside of college life, I’ve discovered that attitude will make or break an experience. If I go into a class excited to take it, I'm more likely to enjoy it, but if I go into a class expecting to hate it, I probably will. Sometimes your expectations can feel out of your control, but when you don't know what to expect, I find the safest option is always to err on the side of positivity, rather than negativity.

Growing up in a modest family in Eastern Europe, hard work wasn’t just a value for Remila Jasharllari ’25—it was a way of life. “My parents did not have the luxury of college degrees, but they gave me something even greater: the passion for education and learning, and the belief that I could dream bigger than I ever thought,” shared Remila. “As the first in my family to pursue a degree beyond high school, every step felt monumental – graduating college, receiving my acceptance letter from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, and walking into my first class. It was not always an easy journey, and I had my own moments of doubt, but I will always honor where I came from while creating opportunities for those who come after me.”

Remila’s journey at Haub Law has been shaped by transformative experiences that challenged and inspired her to grow both personally and professionally. “There are so many opportunities for growth at Haub Law and I took advantage of every that could provide me with hands-on experience in the legal practice,” said Remila. She participated in both the Federal Judicial Honors Program and the State Judicial Externship offered at Haub Law. “Both programs offered me a rare glimpse into the judiciary and provided me invaluable insights into judicial decision-making.”

In addition to these experiences, Remila also served on the Board of the Pace Law Review, which she describes as both impactful and empowering. “Working alongside my fellow students to publish cutting-edge legal scholarship was extremely meaningful. It fostered my leadership abilities while sharpening my legal research and writing skills.” Remila’s desire to give back to the Haub Law community also led her to serve as a Dean’s Scholar for both Contracts and Civil Procedure. “As a Dean’s Scholar I was able to deepen my understanding of the subjects at hand while providing a meaningful opportunity to give back to the fantastic Haub Law student community. All of these experiences not only shaped my legal education but also instilled in me the confidence and resilience to pursue a meaningful career in law.”

In addition to these hands-on learning opportunities, Remila feels the courseload at Haub Law allows students to sharpen their analytical skills while also exploring areas of interest in preparation for specific career paths. “At Haub Law, I took classes such as Investment Advisors Law & Compliance, Corporate Governance, Negotiations, Secured Transactions, Corporate Finance, receiving a solid foundation on corporate law. Each class brings the excitement of uncovering how corporations are built, governed, and transformed through deals and regulations. I had the opportunity to analyze the successes and failures of real-world transactions, gaining insights into the delicate balance of strategy, compliance, and client interests.” Remila also remains grateful for the mentorship she received from faculty, alumni, and other fellow students at Haub Law. “Whether it was guidance on finding a job opportunity or expanding my understanding of the law, these relationships provided me with invaluable support. They equipped me with the skills and confidence necessary to successfully transition into the legal profession, leaving a lasting impact on both my education and career journey.”

Remila’s dedication has paid off. She is set to graduate in May 2025 as part of the part-time program and will join Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP as an associate in the fall, pending bar admission. She looks forward to this amazing opportunity and is particularly excited to explore the intricacies of transactional law. “Transactional law creates value and is always forward looking. I am eager to be part of that at Arnold & Porter.”

As a first-generation immigrant student, Remila acknowledges the challenges of navigating unfamiliar territory. She credits Haub Law’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) with lightening that burden. “Whether it was career advice, refining my interview skills, or finding job opportunities, the CCPD was instrumental in lightening that burden, providing me with unwavering support every step of the way. The support system at Pace is truly remarkable- it made me feel like I was never navigating this journey alone.”

Looking back, Remila reflects with gratitude on her time at Haub Law. “Haub Law believed in me right from the start. Without the generous financial support from the school, I do not think I would have been able to attend law school. Haub Law is a school that values its students and invests in their future, and I am the living proof of that commitment. The part-time program was another blessing, offering me the flexibility to balance my responsibilities while pursuing my studies. I am deeply grateful for the like-minded, inspiring students I’ve met along the way – connections that have turned into lifelong relationships. Haub Law didn’t just shape my career; it gave me a sense of belonging and a community I will cherish forever.”