About the Nurturing Innovation Campaign

Scholarship recipient Allison Mullin, '17, (left) chats with Dianne Kricheldorf, '54, (right) who helped to fund a scholarship that benefits College of Education students.

A message from the campaign co-chairs:

We encourage you to join us in the Nurturing Innovation campaign, as we work to raise $20 million for the State University of New York at Fredonia. Our university provides a unique educational experience that prepares people to be leaders - anywhere. Its small class sizes and focus on undergraduate education, coupled with its affordability, makes it a unique institution. But public funding is falling just as the importance of a college-educated workforce is rising. The Nurturing Innovation campaign will help keep Fredonia affordable while it redefines how it educates students.

Joseph Falcone, '74 and Dennis Costello, '72 — Capital campaign co-chairs, Joseph Falcone, '74, (left) and Dennis Costello, '72, (right) at Fenton Hall.

A stronger Fredonia means a stronger regional economy. In fact, 95 percent of the Class of 2015 reports being employed or in graduate school just one year later. This kind of success is just what we would all hope to see from our public universities. Your active support is critical to continuing this success.

Fredonia's leaders are guiding the campus through a transformation. If you haven't been back recently, we encourage you to visit, so you can see all the improvements yourself. In addition to fostering strengths such as the arts, humanities and education, they are bolstering high-demand areas such as technology, business, and the sciences. This creates a broader array of academic expertise capable of withstanding the ebbs and flows of market influences, and ensures that more students can choose Fredonia to earn a degree in many of today's fastest-growing professions.

Fredonia has proven to be an excellent steward of our investments to date, and is deserving of our continued trust and support. Help us ensure the success of this fine academic institution - and most importantly, its graduates.

Sincerely,

Dennis Costello, '72
Joseph Falcone, '74

Campaign Co-chairs

Fredonia College Foundation
2025 Board of Directors

Officers

Chair, Diane Burkholder, '76; Managing Director, JPMorgan Chase IMA Operations (Ret.), Eden, N.Y.

Vice Chair, Prudence Bradley, Ph.D., '68; Cranford, N.J.

Treasurer, Louann Laurito-Bahgat, '88; Vice President, Bahgat, Laurito-Bahgat, CPAs, Fredonia, N.Y.

Secretary, Rachel Martinez-Finn, ’82; Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Immediate Past Chair, Jeffrey L. Fancher, '82;Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor, RBC Wealth Management, Williamsville, N.Y.

Directors

Phillip Belena, '92; New York, N.Y.

Gopal Burgher, J.D., '94; Partner, BurgherGray, New York, N.Y.

Julia Butchko, Ph.D., '93; Chief Development and Technology Officer, Immunovant Inc.

Christa Cook, '97, ; Bond Attorney, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, Syracuse, NY

Joseph Falcone, '74; Owner, Falcone Farms, Silver Creek, N.Y.

James B. Foley, '79; U.S. Ambassador (Ret.), Falls Church, Va.

Joseph Gugino, ‘91; CFP, Gugino & Ryel Financial, Fredonia, N.Y.

Kim D. Harrington, Ph.D. '89; Interim Associate Vice President for Arts, Belonging and Community. Student Engagement & Well-Being, Georgia Institute of Technology, Douglasville, GA

Dennis L. Hefner, Ph.D.; Former President, State University of New York at Fredonia

Karl Holz, '73; President, Disney Cruise Line (Ret.), Windermere, Fla.

Kyle Leikam, ‘10; AVP Senior Portfolio Advisor, Merrill Lynch, Fredonia, N.Y.

Barbara Mallette, Ph.D.; Professor Emeritus

Michael A. Marletta, Ph.D., '73; Class of 1936 Chair Departments of Chemistry and Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Kurt Maytum; President/CTO, DFT Communications, Fredonia, NY

Christopher Mirabelli, Ph.D. '77; Chairman of the Board of Directors, Leap Therapeutics, Inc. and Managing Director, HealthCare Ventures, L.L.C., Cambridge, MA