Fall

MICHAEL BOTTICELLI, the acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for 25 years. He has held this position since March 2013.

DONNA LOPIANO was recently named one of “The Ten Most Powerful Women in Sports” by Fox Sports for her internationally lauded leadership championing equal treatment for women in sports. As president of Sports Management Resources and a member of the National Sports Hall of Fame, she has testified before Congress advocating gender equity in sports. A former athlete, she participated in 26 national championships in four sports, including volley ball and softball.

RICK MASTRACCHIO, a NASA astronaut, has made four trips to the International Space Station since 2000. His latest expedition lasted 188 days, beginning November 7, 2013 and ending May 14, 2014. There he joined an international team of astronauts that included the Italian astronaut, Luca Parmitano, and walked in space three times to repair faulty equipment.  The crew completed 3,008 orbits of the earth and traveled 79.8 million miles during this mission.

ROBERT PANARA, a pioneering scholar in deaf studies, died July 20 in Rochester, NY of a heart ailment. He was 94 years old. The son of Italian immigrants, at age 10 he contracted spinal meningitis and lost his hearing.  A teacher and a poet, he helped translate into sign language Shakespeare and other dramatic works; helped develop a national technical school for the deaf; and was a noted scholar and teacher of the deaf.