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Lienhard School of Nursing alumna Una Hopkins, DNP, '12, has made a difference in critical patient care and clinical research throughout her 36 years in the field. Una was enrolled in LSN’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program under the leadership of Joanne Singleton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, and felt the support of her fellow students and faculty every step of the way. Una is currently the Director of Nursing Research at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York.

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Una's career has led her down many different paths, all of which have allowed her to influence the care of patients in many ways. Una started her journey as a registered nurse on the oncology floor at Westchester County Medical Center, working the night shift for several years along with 13 shifts a month. This resulted in Una missing many holidays, but it also allowed her to find her passion, working with patients and their families. “These were some of the best times; being there for patients that could not be with their families was such a privilege. It was during these times when I realized how important my work as a nurse was, touching lives and being with people during their most vulnerable times.”

As a driven medical professional with the goal of making a difference in patients' lives, Una continued her career and began to participate in clinical trials for people diagnosed with HIV. While working at Montefiore, she ran clinical trials for many years. “I was fortunate enough to work with a physician and participate in clinical trials that changed the fate of HIV from a death sentence to a chronic illness like asthma and diabetes. This is what ignited my passion for clinical research.”

I was fortunate enough to work with a physician and participate in clinical trials that changed the fate of HIV from a death sentence to a chronic illness like asthma and diabetes. This is what ignited my passion for clinical research.

As a result, Una has focused the remainder of her career on research. She has participated in studying many diseases ranging from breast, lung, head, and neck cancers, all while continuing her work in the field of HIV cancers such as lymphoma and Kaposi’s.

Una’s passion for all aspects of the medical field did not end there; she then moved into administration and aided in the creation of the Center for Cancer Care in White Plains, including bringing research to the community setting. She eventually found herself back at Montefiore to develop a nursing research program and facilitate the magnet journey. Along the way she has played her part in teaching students at both NYU and at ���ҹ�����.

As an inspiring medical professional, Una recommends working at Montefiore to all students. “Like many health systems, Montefiore is large and affords many opportunities to advance one's career. The bedside nurse has a voice and a seat at important tables through shared governance,” said Una.

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Haub Law students Meredith Celi and Ryan Contaldi placed second overall in the Transatlantic Negotiation Competition, and first of the United States participants. Meredith and Ryan also won an individual team award for “Best Teamwork.” The team was coached by Natalie A. Pagano, Esq., Director of Student and Campus Affairs and Adjunct Professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at ���ҹ����� and Gillian More, Advocate-in-Residence at Haub Law.

The Transatlantic Negotiation Competition “gives law students on both sides of the Atlantic an opportunity to hone their negotiation and communication skills in a transnational setting, with particular emphasis on the importance of cross-cultural negotiation and communication in resolving disputes and facilitating client agreements.” This year’s Competition was held virtually on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 1–3, 2022. In each round of the competition, one team from the United States and one international team faced each other to resolve a series of problems presented in a particular factual scenario. This year, the extremely complex set of facts that each team had to prepare for included, potential internecine war between two countries where a laser nonproliferation treaty was sought, dealing with a world famous national flag carrier airline’s survival, the absorption of a private feminist militia into a national army, arranging the world cup soccer premier international sporting event, a modern piracy task force on the high seas, and more.

The Haub Law team started strong right away and on the first day of the Competition, they placed second of all United States teams in two preliminary rounds. After the completion of the two preliminary rounds, the four top U.S. teams and the four top non-U.S. teams advanced to the quarter final round of the competition. Meredith and Ryan placed first in the quarterfinal of the U.S. teams, allowing them to then move on to the semi-final round. From there, they placed first in the semi-final round (placing them first of all U.S. teams) and moved on to the final round to compete against University of Auckland - Auckland, New Zealand, where they came in second place for the overall competition.

“Meredith and Ryan really showed their skills throughout this entire Competition. What makes this so special is not only the talented competition that they were up against, but the fact that this is no “typical” competition,” said Coach Natalie Pagano. “Between participants and judges, this competition took place over 15 different time zones, 16 different countries, and had 24 total schools – United States based and international – competing. Meredith and Ryan, along with all of the competitors, should be very proud of the work they put into this Competition.”

Coach Gillian More noted, “Unlike a trial case, which has known and established facts, negotiation involves at least half of the facts being obscured and undetected. The amount of original and anticipatory work that was involved was extremely demanding. This Competition in particular has a most unusual intellectually elastic approach to its case studies and our students, Meredith and Ryan, really rose to the challenge.”

“The outpouring of support from the Haub Law community has been incredible. Going into the competition, we wanted to work hard and do our best, and we accomplished that,” said Competitor Ryan Contaldi. “So much of the credit for the result goes to our coaches, Natalie Pagano and Gillian More. They are both incredible educators and women and should be recognized as such. Additionally, Professor Fasulo urged us to take on this challenge, he believed in us and it was his direction and support that gave us the push we needed to compete.”

Both Meredith and Ryan are students in Haub Law’s Flex JD part-time program, with heavy professional workloads and personal obligations as parents on top of their law school coursework. Despite this, they both found time in their busy schedules to meet 2-3 times per week with their coaches to master their negotiation skills and the various fact patterns. Coach Pagano noted, “Their ability to multi-task, yet master what they put their energy into, is truly unbelievable. I am proud to know them and they will undoubtedly continue to make ���ҹ����� proud post-law school.”

"I am exceptionally grateful to have benefited from the great pairing of all of the members of this team,” commented Competitor Meredith Celi. “For Ryan and I, this has been the culmination of nearly a year of working together and months of tireless efforts by our exceptional coaches, Gillian and Natalie. We are so proud of this outcome and overwhelmed by the support we have received."

Director of Advocacy Programs at Haub Law, Professor Louis V. Fasulo stated, “I am proud of our team and their dedicated coaches in achieving a great finish. The experience of competing and winning against both national and international powerhouse programs is very impressive. Ryan and Meredith exhibit the best in our students.”

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law’s impressive trial advocacy program once again ranked in the top 15% of law schools, coming in at number 26 this year. Over the last few years, Haub Law has had 28+ Mock Trial and Moot Court Teams, with an average of over 124 student participants on these teams as a whole. The Law School’s Mock Trial and Moot Court teams regularly place at or near the top in competitions. In the fall of 2021, Haub Law hosted its first Advocate in Residence, Gillian More, a lifelong prosecutor with a worldwide reputation in advocacy. Haub Law’s trial advocacy program is led by Lou Fasulo, Director of Advocacy, Moot Court and Client Counseling programs.

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On March 31, Haub Law’s Fairbridge Investor Rights Clinic participated in the third U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Investor Advocacy Clinic Summit. Clinic attendees included 3L student interns Daiquan Frasier, Shabnam Froogh, Diego Gomez, Jessica Jhingoor, Jonathan Lee, and Omar Youssef, and Professor Elissa Germaine. Fairbridge Investor Rights Clinic student interns Daiquan Frasier, Diego Gomez, and Jonathan Lee were presenters on the Summit panel, Lessons Learned from Harmed Investors – Gamification and Investor Behavior. These Haub Law students collaborated with students from clinics at New York Law School and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law on their well-received presentation. They also answered questions from SEC panelists about this important investor protection issue. Impressively, a comment letter regarding digital engagement practices submitted by these Haub Law students was in his opening remarks. SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, SEC Investor Advocate Rick Fleming, SEC Ombudsman Tracey L. McNeil, and others from the SEC, FINRA, and the AARP also either delivered remarks or otherwise participated in the Summit. Congratulations to all!

Bryan Conway, a prosecutor in Orange County, NY, and Brendan Conway, a 2L at Haub Law, grew up with several family influences in the field of law. Despite this, law school was not always at the forefront of Bryan or Brendan’s mind. After spending some time interning with a family court judge Bryan’s mind was made up and he decided to pursue a career in law. For Brendan, it was during his junior year of undergraduate school that he began to think about law as a potential career. Bryan made the decision to attend ���ҹ�����, in part, based on its excellent academic reputation and location. A few years later, his brother, Brendan, also keen on Haub Law’s location saw his brother’s positive experience at the school and decided to pursue his legal education there. Read more about Bryan and Brendan and their law school journey in this Q+A.

Was your path to law school similar – was law school always on your radar?

Bryan: Initially, I wanted nothing to do with becoming a lawyer. My dad is an attorney, and, from what I could tell, it was long hours (and lots of writing). However, all it took was a few days interning with a family court judge in college to realize the impact that lawyers have on an everyday basis. I decided then and there that I’d like to pursue a career in law.

Brendan: I went to James Madison University and graduated with a business degree in Finance. I originally wanted to start working right after college, but during my junior year I started to think about going to law school. I did not always want to be a lawyer, but the idea of going to law school was not as intimidating to me as it ordinarily might have been because my dad, brother, and aunt all went to law school and currently practice law. Once I decided for sure that this was something I wanted to pursue, it was nice to be able to lean on them for support during the application process. I graduated college in May of 2020 and started at ���ҹ����� the following fall.

My dad is an attorney, and, from what I could tell, it was long hours (and lots of writing). However, all it took was a few days interning with a family court judge in college to realize the impact that lawyers have on an everyday basis. I decided then and there that I’d like to pursue a career in law.

Why did you both choose ���ҹ�����?

Bryan: I knew I wanted to be close to my family in Rockland and that, ideally, I’d like to practice law in New York. ���ҹ����� has an excellent academic reputation, is affordable and allowed me to commute from home - it made the decision an easy one.

Brendan: After living in Virginia for four years, I knew I wanted to come back to the tri-state area to attend school. I wasn’t completely sold on going to school in New York City, so I wanted to expand my search. I liked how ���ҹ����� was located in Westchester, but also has ties to the city for postgraduate employment. Additionally, seeing how ���ҹ����� helped my brother successfully secure a job only made the decision easier.

Which classes or professors left a positive impact on each of you?

Bryan: Trial Advocacy, Evidence, and Criminal Procedure, to name a few. Professors Hatcliffe and Mushlin left a major impact on me as a student. It was evident that both loved teaching and practicing law-, those two factors coupled with their personalities made it easy to look forward to their classes.

Brendan: I took Wills, Trusts, and Estates with Professor Crawford this past fall. I really liked everything about the class and loved having her as a professor. I also enjoyed taking Contracts with Dean Anderson during my first year.

Bryan, you are currently a prosecutor in Orange County. Brendan, are you also interested in criminal law?

Brendan: I am interested in both estate planning and real estate law, and I hope to practice as an estate planner after graduation. Seeing my dad and brother both practice criminal law has definitely been interesting, but I have never had a strong desire to work in that field.

Bryan – was there any advice you gave Brendan upon entering law school?

Bryan: I really tried to convince him that medical school was a better option (kidding!). Generally speaking, I told him to take advantage of all of the internships/externships/clinics that ���ҹ����� has to offer- doing so exposes you to practical legal work and allows you to see what fields you like or dislike.

It’s rainy today, but it’s still starting to feel like spring is really here.

Temperatures are warming up, flowers are starting to bloom, the New York region feels more vibrant than it has in a long time. Here at ���ҹ�����, we’re feeling a real sense of renewal and reinvigoration, too.

In New York City, we’ve nearly completed work on 161 William Street, where we’ve taken over the full building, where we have a new lobby just for us, and where, finally, big, bold ���ҹ����� signage went up on the facade. In Pleasantville over the last few weeks, we had the chance to cheer on our Setters basketball teams—both women and men—in the NCAA’s March Madness, where the women made it to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2001. And at Haub Law, U.S. News has ranked our environmental law program as No. 1 in the country for the second consecutive year and the third time in four years.

We’re all excited for our first in-person Commencement in three years, at which we’ll celebrate this year’s Class of 2022 and also graduates from the Classes of 2020 and 2021. It’ll be our biggest and best Commencement ever, a huge celebration for 20,000 graduates and guests at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. We’re going to have some big announcements coming very soon about honorees and speakers, and I can’t wait to see all our graduates in person. You can learn more about plans for Commencement 2022 here.

Finally, we’re just as focused on making ���ҹ����� an even better place for our faculty and staff as we are for our students. We for the Great Colleges to Work For survey, which will help identify ways we can improve our workplace environment. Faculty and full-time staff, if you haven’t completed the survey I really hope you’ll do so by this Friday, April 8. Check your ���ҹ����� email for your survey form, sent from surveys@modernthink.com.

I wish a Ramadan mubarak to all those who are currently celebrating, and a happy Passover and Easter to those who soon will be celebrating. Enjoy the spring.