Zehra Abid-Wood was named president of Lasell Village in February. She arrived at Lasell Village with more than two decades of leadership experience, most recently as senior vice president of strategy and transformation at Alerislife (formerly Five Star Senior Living).

“I am committed to reshaping the future of aging in place and the continued pursuit of lifelong learning,” said Abid- Wood. “Lasell Village and Lasell University have such a special relationship that offers countless opportunities for continued growth, partnership, and transformational initiatives in education across the lifespan.”

Jeffrey Simon, chair of the Lasell Village Board of Trustees, says that the Village deserves a leader who balances a strategic focus with creative thinking to preserve its distinctive environment. “Without question, Zehra is that person,” he said.

If you misuse a person’s name or pronoun, own up to it, apologize at an appropriate time, and move on. That is the advice from a group of Lasell students who led a workshop, “The Importance of Honoring Affirmed Names and Pronouns at Lasell,” at the 2022 Career Readiness Symposium: Engaging with Your Communities.

The students shared experiences of being addressed by an inaccurate name or pronoun in a public setting like a classroom and said it can be devastating when the mistake is ignored. But it can be just as painful when the offender keeps calling attention to it by apologizing profusely. A better option is to privately follow up and express regret for the error.

The students encouraged attendees to understand the importance of pronouns and become more comfortable talking about gender identity.

Students in Lasell’s News and Entertainment Marketing course traveled to New York City this winter to meet with industry professionals at “Good Morning America” and “The View,” and sat in on editing and graphic design production sessions with the ABC News creative team. The course was taught by Alan Ives, senior vice president of marketing and creative at ABC News.

“I love hanging with the students,” said Ives. “They have such an incredible range and diversity of interests and areas of excellence, and that doesn’t happen at every school.”

Will Marshall ’25, a communications major, is grateful to have been taught by Ives and for the accompanying industry exposure.

“Making the connection to Alan and his team was priceless,” he said. “To have had him review and critique my work and give his insights was nothing short of amazing.”

Lasell University lowered the published price of tuition by 33 percent to $26,000 for the fall 2023 semester. The all-in cost to attend Lasell with standard room and board will be less than $40k per year. The “reset” is part of an effort to increase transparency of the real cost of college tuition and present pricing in a way that is clear and easy to understand; lowering the published cost of tuition opens up the possibility for more individuals to see themselves at Lasell and join the community.

“For many students, the college application process can be overwhelming,” said President Michael B. Alexander. “This new approach to pricing will mitigate ‘sticker shock’ and help students and families make informed financial and academic decisions. We believe this initiative will expand, further diversify, and enrich our school’s vibrant community.”

There is only one way to top a semester spent creating marketing plans for the Red Sox Foundation — presenting them at Fenway Park. Students in Professor Young-Tae Kim’s sport marketing class did just that, sharing their final proposals with three members of the foundation’s programming team inside the storied home of the Boston Red Sox. Student groups received feedback from Brad Schoonmaker, the foundation’s director of programs.

“The work that you put in was really excellent, and that is so appreciated,” Schoonmaker told the students. “I feel really strongly about experiential learning, and I hope that you got more out of this semester by [working with us on] a real-life experience.”

Schoonmaker and Kim have collaborated on this Connected Learning project since 2019. In the coming months, they, along with Assistant Professor of Writing Sara Large and Associate Professor of Psychology Sarahbeth Golden, will delve into the project’s success with a research study, “Lived Experience of Performing Real-World Projects: A Phenomenological Approach."

Lasell received two major grants last fall: a highly competitive $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to enhance training for teachers of English learners with academic challenges, and $700,000 from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to purchase laboratory equipment and instrumentation.

The Department of Education grant was awarded to only a handful of private universities. The funds will provide full scholarships for five annual cohorts of Lasell graduate students who will earn master’s degrees in education and graduate certificates in bilingual special education. Claudia Rinaldi, the Joan Weiler Arnow ’49 Professor of Education, will serve as principal investigator for the grant. She is widely recognized for her work in attracting more people of color to the teaching profession and enhancing the preparation available to special educators.

“We are honored to have been awarded funding for this project,” said Rinaldi. “We believe that our graduate scholars program has the potential to serve as a national model for improving special education instruction and services for bilingual students who are learning English and have academic challenges.”

The life science grant supports Lasell’s biology, biochemistry, and forensic science majors, and makes possible plans to expand into biotechnology and the health professions.

School of Fashion and Michal Longe ’95 School of Business students attended the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show, an industry trade event for more than 35,000 professionals, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. Multiple students left the expo with interviews and job offers.

Spencer Villinski ’25, a fashion merchandising and management major, feels confident in his career aspirations. He interviewed on site with Nordstrom’s recruiting team in pursuit of a summer retail management internship.

“The Big Show reinforced my decision to major in fashion merchandising, which is a hugely profitable industry,” said Noelle Engrassia ’23. After graduation, she will work for Burlington Coat Factory as an assistant buyer in its New York office — thanks to an NRF virtual career fair held in October 2022.

Lasell is a founding collegiate member of the National Retail Federation Student Association (NRFSA).

Lasell’s newest core course, Equity and Intersectionality, is required of all first-year students to help them appreciate differences, develop empathy, and understand perspective-taking early in their college career. First taught in fall 2021, the class looks at aspects of identity including race, socioeconomic class, sex, gender, religion, and more, and asks students to relate those with their own lived experiences.

“This is a way for all of our students to learn skills for communicating across differences and valuing the individuality that we each express,” says Lori Rosenthal, professor of psychology and dean of the School of Humanities, Education, Justice & Social Sciences.

The unique cohort experience helps students gain a sense of community and trust early on in their time together.

“This class offered me a great opportunity to grow as a person through hearing all different kinds of people’s opinions, experiences, and perspectives,” says Regan Atchue ’25. “This class should be a mandatory piece of the curriculum at every college and university so that everyone has a chance to better understand others and have a voice.”