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Denis Cronin ’69, Chair, Board of Trustees


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

– Of Counsel, Vinson & Elkins law firm, New York City
– Alumni Council, 2 years; Board of Trustees, 10 years; James B. Colgate Society; Maroon Citation, 1999; Wm. Brian Little ’64 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service, 2009

What was your first job ever? Sharing a paper route with my brother, starting when I was 11. Then, starting when I was 12, we worked at a local gas station. But the best was working summers as head busboy at Louie’s in Port Washington, N.Y., starting when I was 15. I got to hire about 35 of my friends. I had to manage them, and I had to fire some of them. I learned early on that you have to explain what you want and what you expect, and then hold people accountable. It was very hard to do, but it was a great lesson and a terrific job.

What do you enjoy most about your work as an attorney? In the restructuring and bankruptcy business, losing jobs — and losing the self-esteem that comes with that — is a to-the-core experience, so I’ve always gotten great joy out of preserving jobs and giving people the opportunity to turn around their troubled businesses.

What’s been the proudest moment of your career? In the late ’80s, there was a headline case over the acquisition of Getty Oil where Pennzoil sued Texaco and got an $11 billion judgment. Texaco could not pay the judgment and went into Chapter 11. We worked out a settlement, all creditors were paid in full, and Texaco was able to exit Chapter 11. I’ve worked on more than a thousand matters, including most of the largest Chapter 11s ever — GM, Chrysler, Lehman Brothers — but that was one of the best economic successes I was involved with.

Who at Colgate had the most impact on you? It’s hard to name just one, but I’ll mention Prof. Doug “Doc” Reading. He brought history together for me such that I understood that it included economics, politics, government, and all aspects of life. I’m very thankful to him.

Why did you decide to commit to serving as Colgate’s board chair? Being in the cocoon of Hamilton creates an intense connection with Colgate. Another part is, I went here on scholarship, so there’s an element of paying back those who made that possible. And, of course, two of my three children went here; talking with them about Colgate still makes me tingle.

Tell us more about your family. Linda and I got married at Colgate my senior year — we had dated since we were 17. We got married at Chapel House on the Ides of March. Megan graduated from Colgate in 2010, Denis in 2009; and our oldest, Maureen, went to Tufts.

What do you do in your spare time? We travel. I’ve run the New York Marathon a couple of times, and many half-marathons. I’ve been taking the “Great Courses” for about 20 years, on virtually every discipline — that’s what I do when I’m training. I learned opera by taking 72 lectures while running. Now, when we go to the opera, I understand what I’m listening to. And, I read poetry and history before bed. It soothes me.

Do you have a motto or a personal philosophy? I keep a quote from Teddy Roosevelt in my wallet. It’s from his “Citizen in a Republic” speech, about the man in the arena who, if he fails, at least knows he failed greatly. Whenever I’m hesitating about something, I read it. The message is “go for it.” That’s how I try to live.

— Rebecca Costello


Linda Maynard
Associate nurse manager, Health Services


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

A nurse at Health Services since 1996, Linda Maynard takes care of ailing students as well as provides counseling and education. She says that, at times, her job even involves a little mothering. Maynard also takes on that role as a “host mother” through a campus program that matches international first-year students with Colgate families who volunteer to help them adjust to college life in America.

How long have you been a host ‘mom’ for international students?
I have worked at Colgate full time for 15 1/2 years and have had at least one student every year. I probably have had about 40 kids over the years. I had 26 last year because there were not enough hosts, and I always take any student who does not have a host parent. I have two Chinese students this year.

What types of things do you do together?
I take them to the Barge to get to know them the first year. I usually try to take them out for their birthdays and I try to give them a gift at Christmas. I am also available to help them get used to American ways. If I am free, I take them to the plane, bus, or train and pick them up. I have been a surrogate mom for the students whose parents cannot come to graduation. I helped one Bulgarian young lady move to Penn State for the master’s/PhD program.    
    I attend as many special events as I can that involve the international community — banquets, dinners, etc. Last fall, I hosted a breakfast for dinner where we had pancakes for supper; I got help from other health center employees and staff.

What does being a host mom mean to you?
I will never get to travel outside the United States because we have a dairy farm and my husband cannot leave. So, I see the world through the students’ eyes. Each has a story, and I love to listen to them.

Do you ever bring students to your home?
Some of them have been to the farm, where my husband has taught them to parallel park.
    
Tell us about your ‘global’ office.
Some of them bring me small gifts from their homeland, and I display them. I’ve received jewelry from Bulgaria and India, pottery from Mexico, papyrus from Egypt, wooden animals from Ethiopia and Libya, wooden shoes from the Netherlands, and more. Material-wise, I have the most diverse office on campus!

Do you have kids?
I have two grown children, a son and a daughter (who lives in Kodiak, Alaska), and two grandsons.


Joel Sommers
Assistant professor of computer science


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

Describe your research.
I’m interested in measuring different aspects of the Internet and using what you can learn from those measurements to improve it. The Internet has grown in such decentralized ways that no one has a global view of what it looks like. I’m interested in what’s going on out there, and how can we improve it in terms of security or performance.

How can your research help us?
One of the things I’m working on now is to create a new network simulator that basically can give a high-level view of traffic patterns on a relatively large simulated network. There’s a lot of “attack traffic” out there — a lot of people trying to create either worms or viruses. But, there are no really good simulation tools to re-create both benign or normal-looking flows as well as anomalous-looking flows. One goal with this work is to use simulation capabilities to better test algorithms for quickly identifying attack traffic. A device employing one of these algorithms could alert a human to take action, or possibly take action itself.

With what research projects have your students helped?
One is an effort within the networking research community to build a nationwide test bed for experimentation with new networking ideas — it’s called GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovations). No one’s really sure if this can be pulled off, because nothing of this kind has been built before. I have a grant with a couple of principal investigators at other institutions to build a system to measure certain aspects of this test bed, so that when a researcher wants to run an experiment, they will use our system to take measurements of their experiment. The last two summers, we’ve had Colgate students working on this.

How secure is the Internet?
The side of me that does banking online and buys things online tends to not worry about that too much. The side of me that knows what websites might be doing once they get your data says that none of us should be doing any of this. You’re trusting a company to handle your data in a sensitive manner and, as more companies have become dependent on the Internet and on computational infrastructure, it’s been harder for them to keep track of what their systems are doing, and whether they have appropriately secure mechanisms for keeping data private. So, anywhere you look, I’m sure you could find loopholes. But to me, that’s not a good enough reason to not do stuff online.

What do you do with your free time?
I’m an avid runner. I ran the Boston Marathon last spring for my second time. I was signed up to run the New York Marathon last fall, but I deferred that, so I have an automatic trip to New York next year. I really like being out there and essentially switching my brain off and just enjoying the countryside. I have the goal of running 10 marathons before I turn 40. I’ve done 7, and I’m 38, so I’ve got some work to do.

— Tim O’Keeffe


Lynn Plant ’77


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

– Alumni Council communications committee chair; Real World participant, 5 years; Thought Into Action Institute mentor
– Owner, Brandcentric Strategic Marketing Communications, Fairfield, Conn.

Much of your executive marketing career has focused on the cosmetic industry. How did you come into that arena? After graduating with an English degree, one of my jobs was writing press releases for WBZ-TV in Boston. I didn’t even know what PR was, but apparently I was good at it. It’s more than writing skills; it’s being able to sift through what makes a good story, what people care about, and what’s culturally relevant at the time – basically, sound journalism with a hit of hype! I wrote a freelance article on a spa in Bedford, Conn., which ultimately led to John Frieda and the opportunity to grow his hair care company from a start-up to a global beauty company.

So you weren’t the girly girl putting on mom’s makeup when you were five? Oh, so not! Actually, I will be at a meeting with cosmetic executives who all have beautiful manicures and I look like I’ve been clawing on cement because I’ve been refinishing furniture! My cosmetic career is a lucrative fluke... I tell people, I wanted to write a novel, but I put my boys through college on lipstick copy. Who knew?

Tell us about Brandcentric. I help companies design their brands. I develop content, I ghostwrite blogs. This past year, much of the work has been in the social media arena.

Tell us about your family. My younger son, Sam, goes to Miami University in Ohio; he’s studying in Sydney, Australia, this semester. My older son, Jon, is a mechanical engineer. He designs helicopters at Sikorsky, so I can say I truly am a helicopter parent! And my “daughter” is Maggie, my fabulous adopted dog.

What else do you do in your spare time? I play tennis. I love to cook — I like to have big gangs of people cook and eat with me. In 2007, I started Fairfield Town Green, a coalition of local environmental groups to encourage an exchange of ideas and coordinate efforts and expenditures. I also love biking and have been working to enhance bike transportation options around town.

We hear you have a new venture. If you could see me right now, I’m sitting in piles and piles of vintage clothes. I’m starting a membership website, Pieces on Earth. The concept is sustainable chic; the planet is already full of beautiful things. There’s a no return policy — everything is inexpensive, so when you’re done with an item, you can pass it on, to a women’s shelter, for example, using the website’s state-by-state directory of charities.

Sounds like you have a strong environmental ethic. Part of that is, I got very sick in 2007 from toxic mold poisoning in my house. I had to leave the house and get rid of most of my possessions. I got better, but now I look at material things very differently. I decided, it’s time to edit my life. People should only own the things they care about. Keep what you love, lose what you don’t. If someone asked me my favorite four-letter word, it would be “edit.”

— Rebecca Costello


Dana ‘Coco’ Vonnegut ’13


(photo by Andrew Daddio)

How she got her nickname: When my mom was pregnant with me, she found this Coco Chanel ad with a really fit model. She hung it up as a joke about getting in shape post-baby. My dad thought it was hilarious and started calling the baby bump “Coco.” Once I was born, the name stuck.

Art appreciation: I've tried my best to explore all of the different mediums Colgate offers as classes, but my favorites are drawing, painting, and printmaking. I like using art as a form of social commentary. Painting or sketching by the lake is a great way for me to practice observing from life, as opposed to a photograph.

Upstate Institute Fellow: I have been working on an Upstate project called the Visual Arts Network, a forum for Central New York artists’ work. I helped catalog them and designed the webpage. This summer, I was a Field School fellow, so I had a job at a local nonprofit. I worked at the Adirondack Museum, an outdoor museum that teaches about history and environmental conservation in the Adirondack area. As the visitor studies and marketing intern, I explored ways to market the museum to a broader audience.

An affinity for India: After freshman year in high school, I went to India for the summer with a community service–oriented program, pretty much on a whim. I’d studied India in world history class and thought it would be fun, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. I liked seeing the similarities between people distanced from each other geographically — such as with India and America — because that seems to often go unnoticed.

Giving back: In India, I worked at the Fabindia school in Pali, Rajasthan. We taught kids English and tutored them in a variety of subjects. I also went on a community service trip to Nusa Pendia, an island in Indonesia, where I helped build temples, worked with village organizers on environmental initiatives, and got the chance to take private stone carving lessons. Since coming to Colgate, I started a COVE group, Fabindia, which raises scholarship money for the school I worked at in India.
 
Studying abroad: I’m spending this semester in India as part of a consortium. My fieldwork project there will look at modern guru movements and how they differ from the more traditional models. I’m also hoping to indulge my love for henna and Bollywood.

Theater scene: I manage [Colgate’s] student theater component of Masque and Triangle, and I’ve gotten into writing short plays. Eventually, I’d love to write a full-length play.

Alice in Wonderland: I collect Alice in Wonderland books because I love the story, the zany people Alice meets along the way, and how whimsical Lewis Carroll’s writing is. I don’t admire Alice for her qualities, but I’m jealous of her adventures. I wallpapered my room with the children’s book edition this year.

Any relation to Kurt? He’s my dad’s fourth cousin. But, Kurt never bothered with numbers — he signed my copy of Slaughterhouse-Five “to cousin Coco.”

— Monica Dutia ’13