Ed Boroszvich

Senior Enrollment Services Clerk
College at Florham

How long have you been at FDU?

Since November 2002.

A perfect weekend afternoon is ...

… laying under the tropical sun rays, on an unknown beach.

If you could meet anyone in the world, whom would you pick? Why?

If you meant someone living, I would pick Jesse James from [the Discovery Channel show] “Monster Garage,” because he’s incredibly talented and so laid back. If it was someone dead, I would like to meet Bob Marley, because his messages provide a strong impact.

One of the things I must have in my refrigerator at all times is:

Chicken parmesan and blue sugar water.

What book or film did you recently enjoy? Why would you recommend it?

A film (that was originally a book) that I recently enjoyed was “The Notebook.” It gives a positive spin on the later years of life.

My proudest moment was …

… purchasing my brand new car in January.

Complete the phrase: People would be surprised to know that I …

… no longer have that brand new car because it caught on FIRE a week later from an electrical problem.

What profession other than your own would you most like to attempt, and what profession would you want nothing to do with?

I would love to become a club owner, because I enjoy seeing people having a good time. I would not want anything to do with nursing. I don’t mind the actual profession but I do mind the work and studying that I see my sister involved with every day. Her stress stresses me out. That nursing program is tough.

Hester Coan

Assistant Professor of Communication, Internship Director and Alumni Outreach Facilitator, Department of English, Communication and Philosophy
College at Florham

How long have you been at FDU?

I am in my fifth year at the [Maxwell] Becton College [of Arts and Science]. I arrived at FDU in September 2001 after two years on a research team with NASA at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and traveling to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Before that, I had a range of other careers related to knowledge management and interaction.

A perfect weekend afternoon is ...

… spent outside and exploring. When I was in high school I worked with Budd Wilson, a state archeologist, and a team of local students and residents on a dig at The Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J. Combining hard physical labor, digging and sifting through dirt for hours on end, with the precise structure of systematic research is my idea of a great time. Talking during breaks with dirt-covered teammates about our discoveries and listening to Budd’s detailed analysis while watching him eat Tandy Takes and drink Yoo-Hoo gave me insight into the joy of research. I still like this combination of being outdoors and learning something new. I like to wander around in little towns or neighborhoods checking out their histories, looking at architecture, sifting through junk in old shops and talking to strangers.

If you could meet anyone in the world, whom would you pick? Why?

Roman Jakobson, the poet, semiotician and linguist is the person I would pick. While writing my dissertation, a collection of his writings, On Language, was always on the floor to my right. On the cover is a photo of Jakobson, with his hands up in the air as if reaching out for ideas. I would look down at him for inspiration, saying, “Roman, Roman, Roman, what should I do?” His reaching out with ideas has always been a source of inspiration and of renewal. I’d love to thank him. Jakobson’s two models: of the fields of communication studies and of the speech event are foundational to all of my research. The breadth of his life work — from the study of the poetic and psychophysical basis of potentially intelligible sound, to his explorations of languages in combination with all semiotic systems, like time and music, as constitutive of culture — makes him, for me, one of the most fascinating scholars of the 20th century.

One of the things I must have in my refrigerator at all times is:

Milk for my coffee!

What book or film did you recently enjoy? Why would you recommend it?

I teach a course on Risk, Error and Blame in the corporate and organizational communication master’s program and one of the scholars I introduce is the sociologist Ulrich Beck, and particularly his book World Risk Society. Beck’s insight into globalization and the resulting shifts in responsibility and risk for world citizens is very clearly developed. I recommend the book because, in spite of the imminent risks in all of our lives that he so clearly outlines, he also offers hope through responsibility, global engagement and active citizenship.

My current favorite film would have to be “Napoleon Dynamite,” and I recommend it to everyone. In fact, one of my students, Sofia Pigna, is using Napoleon’s talk this semester in my course, The Semiotics of Sound, to analyze and explore the “sound elements of cool” in adolescent speech.

My proudest moments are ...

… the time I spend with our communication studies majors, either in the classroom or in advising meetings. We are committed to making clear for our students the ways in which communication theory and practice are always interwoven. I am very proud of the theoretical sophistication our students can master and demonstrate. For example, last year I received a Curriculum Enrichment grant to take 14 of our almost 200 majors to the New Jersey Communication Association Conference to present panels on their research and internship experiences. After listening to a panel of student presentations from another prestigious college in New Jersey and peppering them with questions about their research, my students proudly reported when we were crowded together in the elevator, “We’re smarter than they are, Dr. Coan! They couldn’t explain their own research! They never heard of critical theory and they think that the media is ‘unbiased’!” That was a great moment. When students see their talents, interests and studies all fitting together and turning into a path toward a future that excites them, I feel proud of them and of our program.

Complete the phrase: People would be surprised to know that I ...

… sat in the captain’s seat of the space shuttle, Endeavor. When I finished my PhD, I served on a NASA research team offering a communicational perspective on aviation safety. Much of my research involved talking with the space shuttle technicians at Kennedy Space Center, who gave me the insiders’ tour of the shuttle and allowed me to stand at the top of the launch pad looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. It was an amazing experience that focused my research interests in risk, error and blame.

What profession other than your own would you most like to attempt, and what profession would you want nothing to do with?

I have already had a rewarding and varied mix of careers. I’ve been a children’s librarian, a folksinger and storyteller, a management consultant, an administrator, a researcher and an aviation scientist.

As a scholar and professor, I strive to bring insights and perspectives from these varied career paths into my research, writing, teaching and advising. My dissertation examined the concept of “guided becoming” through a natural history analysis of an instructor’s moves in a lesson. I am interested in the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and I study “becoming” as a social, interactional engagement. I encourage my students to remain curious and show them through an exploration of the range of opportunities both existing and emergent in our knowledge and service-based society how curiosity can transform into knowledge and into new possibilities of understanding “work.”

I ask students to be willing to engage in life’s complexities and to reach out for opportunities to grow and learn.

James “Jim” Kenny

Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Metropolitan Campus

How long have you been at FDU?

Seven years.

A perfect weekend afternoon is ...

… going to a ballgame or doing some form of exercise.

If you could meet anyone in the world, whom would you pick? Why?

[Hockey player] Mark Messier. He is not only a great athlete, but is tough, confident and an outstanding team leader.

One of the things I must have in my refrigerator at all times is:

Spinach; better there than on my plate.

What book or film did you recently enjoy? Why would you recommend it?

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation [by Joseph Ellis]. We take for granted our security and way of life. If it were not for a few great leaders in our early years, the United States might not be a great power today.

My proudest moment was …

… the birth of my two children.

Complete the phrase: People would be surprised to know that I …

… received my BA in political science and worked in politics.

What profession other than your own would you most like to attempt, and what profession would you want nothing to do with?

I would like to be a full-time violence-prevention consultant. I would not want to be George W. Bush’s image consultant.

JoAnna Steiner

Student Services Coordinator, Online Programs
Metropolitan Campus

How long have you been at FDU?

Almost 30 years! Initially I was an undergraduate student, then a graduate student, then a computer science faculty member, and now I’m part of the professional staff.

A perfect weekend afternoon is ...

… spent gardening in our yard under blue skies in a temperature of 68 degrees while Gil (my husband) prepares dinner because all four of our children will be home for the evening. It may sound ordinary, but dinner at our table is always most enlightening and entertaining.

If you could meet anyone in the world, whom would you pick? Why?

Robert Anton Wilson, philosopher, physicist, novelist and self-described “guerilla ontologist.” I find his novels and lectures extremely provocative, yet infused with a weird sense of humor.

One of the things I must have in my refrigerator at all times is:

Cheddar cheese, the one food everyone in the family eats.

What book or film did you recently enjoy? Why would you recommend it?

The Constant Gardener, by John le Carré, is a riveting novel and film. The story is made more relevant by the author’s epilogue indicating that, although it is fiction, the events closely resemble real-world corporate corruption and government complicity.

My proudest moment was …

… beating my husband two out of three games in bowling.

Complete the phrase: People would be surprised to know that I ...

… love nature and animals — especially dogs, frogs and birds.

What profession other than your own would you most like to attempt, and what profession would you want nothing to do with?

I can think of more professions of which I would not want to be a part than those that I would like to attempt. I have never aspired to be part of the medical or health industry; however, I would enjoy computer architecture design or detective work.

April/May 2006

View text only for this complete issue.

Flor =
College at Florham, Madison, N.J.

Metro =
Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, N.J.

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