LEF Announces Hall of Fame Inductees for Homecoming Weekend October 2011
June 6, 2011 – On Monday, June 6, members of the Livingston Education Foundation (LEF) attended meetings of the Town Council and Board of Education to announce the names of five distinguished alumni that will be inducted into the Livingston High School Hall of Fame during the Second Annual Homecoming Weekend 2011 scheduled for October 14, 15 and 16. A portion of the weekend will include honoree visits to Livingston High School where they will meet with current students in the morning and then attend the Hall of Fame Dinner at the Cedar Hill Country Club on Friday, October 14 at 7:00 p.m.
Selected to represent four nomination categories including, science and math, social sciences, creative arts, and business and technology, selections were made from nominations made of individuals who have distinguished themselves through accomplishments that have influenced not only their local communities, but have far reaching effects at the state, national and international levels. As in the past, there is an emphasis on recognizing those who have served as educators.
This year’s honorees include: Robert E. Grady, class of 1975; Charles “Chuck” Jaffe, class of 1980; Alan B. Krueger, class of 1979; Alfred Savia, class of 1971; and Joanne Silberner, class of 1973.
LEF members Sharon Cimbol and Amy Saffer hold the poster announcing the
2011 LHS Alumni Hall of Fame Honorees at the June 6,2011 Board of Education meeting.
Bob Grady has been a top aide in Congress, the Governor’s Office and the White House; a highly successful investment banker and venture capitalist; and a close personal advisor to Presidents and Governors over the course of three decades. He is a frequent commentator on public affairs and economic policy in both print and televised media. He has served on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and the International Advisory Board of the Harvard Center for Environmental Economics. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Mr. Grady will be visiting Livingston from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Chuck Jaffe is a senior columnist for MarketWatch, writing three columns per week that are syndicated nationally to an audience of more than 20 million readers. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Nightly Business Report, Fox Business News, National Public Radio (NPR) and more, and is the author of three books: “Getting Started In Finding a Financial Advisor”, “The Right Way to Hire Financial Help” and “Chuck Jaffe’s Lifetime Guide to Mutual Funds.” A past president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, Mr. Jaffe joined MarketWatch after nine years as personal finance and mutual funds columnist at The Boston Globe. Mr. Jaffe will be visiting during the Homecoming Weekend from Boston’s South Shore.
Alan B. Krueger is the Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Princeton University. He has published landmark studies on unemployment, labor demand, income distribution, social insurance, labor market regulation, education, terrorism, environmental economics, and “rockonomics”. Since 1987 he has held a joint appointment in the Economics Department and Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He is the founding Director of the Princeton University Survey Research Center. He is the author of What Makes A Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism and Education Matters, and co-author of Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage, and co-author Inequality in America: What Role for Human Capital Policies? He is a trustee of the MacArthur Foundation. Professor Krueger served as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2009-10. In 1994-95 he served as Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. Professor Krueger will be visiting Livingston from Princeton, New Jersey.
Alfred Savia is an award-winning music director who has an internationally respected career as conductor, orchestra builder and teacher. He is a frequent guest conductor throughout North America and around the globe. His American appearances have included performances with the St. Louis, Detroit, Phoenix, Savannah, Alabama, Southwest Florida (Ft. Myers), Columbus, Illinois, Memphis, Winston-Salem, Roanoke, Battle Creek, San Antonio, Spokane, Duluth-Superior and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestras. Internationally, he has conducted the Korea Philharmonic Orchestra, State of Mexico (Toluca) Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in Florence, Radio & Television Serbia (Belgrade) Symphony Orchestra, Denmark’s Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Ankara, Turkey, the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra in Germany and the Symphony Orchestra of Xalapa, Mexico. Under his leadership, Maestro Savia has expanded the Evansville Philharmonic to include youth and family programming. Maestro Savia will be visiting us from Indiana.
Joanne Silberner has served as a health policy correspondent for NPR for 18 years covering everything from health care reform issues to the earthquake in Haiti. She has a special focus on medical and health policy issues, mental health, FDA, Medicare and international health and neglected diseases. She has also worked for U.S. News & World Report and the Science News. Ms. Silberner is an Artist-in-Residence for the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. With an educational foundation in the sciences, and specifically biology, Ms. Silberner’s career in journalism is a wonderful story to share with current Livingston students that the blending of one’s interests and talents can lead to an unexpected and interesting journey. Ms. Silberner will be visiting us from Washington State.
Weekend events will also include the Homecoming Football Game on Saturday, October 15 at 1:00 p.m. featuring our student athletes and Marching Band. Additional activities for Saturday and Sunday will be announced. “We plan to reach out to individuals, our schools, the township, and local organizations and businesses to support our efforts to plan activities and raise funds for the Livingston Public Schools,” said Walter LeVine, Vice President of LEF. “Proceeds from the weekend will go to our campaign to provide the resources for Technology for the 21st Century Classroom”, he continued. This past April, LEF made a donation of $18,000 to the Livingston Public Schools. During his Superintendent’s Report to Board of Education members and the public, Dr. Brad Draeger noted that “59 Document Cameras were purchased with the funds donated by the LEF. The cameras were distributed to all nine public schools and are now being used by teachers in the classrooms.” Information about how to support Technology for the 21st Century Classroom will be made available on the LEF Website, www.livingston.org/lef.
This year, the Livingston 5-K Run has been scheduled for the weekend following the Homecoming and will take place on Sunday, October 23. The event will be planned in partnership by LEF, the Big ‘L’ and the West Essex YMCA. Proceeds for that event will go to each individual organization. “We look forward to once again working with our Livingston Education Association, (LEA) which includes Livingston teachers and staff in support for the Second Annual Homecoming Weekend 2011 and for the Livingston 5-K Run. Members serve on committees, as volunteers and share in getting communication out to the school community. Their participation is part of what makes these events such a wonderful success!” said Heidi Cislo, President, LEF.
“We are hoping that our new LEF affiliation with the now official Livingston, NJ High School Alumni Association will reconnect past LHS graduates with one another to provide personal and professional links while bringing alumni back to their educational roots,” said Amy Saffer, Co-chair of the Hall of Fame Committee, board member of the LHS Alumni Association and past Hall of Fame inductee. “At this time of general economic difficulty, we are looking forward to their interest and support in the continued pride and success of the Livingston Public Schools and the Township of Livingston.”
To learn more about the Hall of Fame Honorees and the LHS Alumni Association, to participate in the Second Annual Homecoming Weekend 2011and the Livingston 5-K Run or to support Technology for the 21st Century Classroom be sure to visit the LEF website at www.livingston.org/lef or contact the Foundation at lef@livingston.org.