Download - Winter 2014 Alumni Scoop
If, like more than 1.5 million people will daily, you pass through Times Square between October 1, 2013 and January 4, 2014, you'll be able to look up and see advertisements for LIM College displayed on the 520 square-foot CBS "Super Screen."
Strategically positioned on West 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue, the Super Screen is in the heart of world-famous Times Square Plaza. The 15-second ads will run once each hour for 18 hours every day of the 96-day period, for a total of more than 1,700 showings.
These animated digital billboards are an extension of the College's Fall 2013 transit advertising campaign. They showcase LIM College's distinctive identity, speaking to a focus on fashion and business, in the heart of New York City. Given the increased influx of visitors to NYC at this time of year, this campaign will result in significant exposure for the LIM College brand.
LIM College Featured on the CBS 'Super Screen' in Times Square
Dear Alumni,
The year 2014 will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of LIM College. As we cele-brate this significant milestone, it’s also an opportune time to recognize the thousands of men and women who embody the success that an LIM College education can make pos-sible. Your accomplishments are the foundation upon which this institution is built.
LIM College has been a part of the New York City landscape for three quarters of a cen-tury. During that time, an untold number of changes have transformed the fashion and business worlds, as well as the College itself. Yet our mission has always remained the same – to prepare our students for successful careers in the business of fashion.
What my grandfather Maxwell F. Marcuse founded in 1939 as a one-year certificate pro-gram exclusively for women, is now, 75 years later, a master’s degree-level institution
with multiple graduate programs and a growing global footprint.
The fashion industry, and the world at large, continues to change and evolve. Therefore, so does LIM College. We have heartily embraced the challenge of preparing young wom-en and men from all corners of the globe to compete for career opportunities in an in-
creasingly global and technologically advanced society.
As we approach the College’s 75th anniversary, we are filled with pride when we reflect upon the achievements of our alumni and look forward to what the future holds for us all.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth S. Marcuse President, LIM College
A Message from the President
Gina’s the merchandise coordinator at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, where she can team her passions for the
arts and sports.
What do you think has formed your interesting career?
I lived a dual life growing up. I was born and live in Colonia, N.J., but spent my
weekends at our apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I like to say I
lived in New Jersey but the city raised me.
How did you feel about Brooklyn?
I grew up terrified of Brooklyn. It was a thousand miles away from the Upper West
Side.
And city life developed your interest in the arts? Or in sports?
Both. My mother would take me to Lincoln Center and my father would take me to
Madison Square Garden.
On which side did you land?
When I was young, in the theater, I studied acting in the Young Actors program at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film
Institute.
But sports won out in the end?
Actually, visual merchandising won out in the end. I applied to several college programs – for law, for theater, for writ-
ing, for architecture – but ended up at LIM. My role model is Norman Bel Geddes, the innovative industrial designer, and
he started out designing stage lighting for the theater, which is a form of visual.
How did that lead to sports merchandising?
My college job was merchandise supervisor for the Prudential Center in New Jersey, where the Nets and Devils played.
After school, when Jersey kids were coming into the city I was taking the train to Newark.
What has the Barclays Center meant to Brooklyn?
It’s incredible. The Dodgers were well before my time. But I can see how a home team gives the streets of the borough
a unifying feel. Everybody in Brooklyn loves the place.
Three different worlds aren’t they – theater, retail and sports?
Not really. They’re all about eliciting an emotional response and pushing a pleasing aesthetic, and you want to walk
away from each of them feeling rewarded.
Is the theater still in you?
It resonates in everything I do. It made me view the world in a grandiose level, no limits, everything is attainable. I kept
pushing because I didn’t know I couldn’t.
Catching up with...Gina Mercantili (Class of 2012)
Inspired by the work of artist and LIM College alumna Barbara Bachner
(Class of 1955), teams of Visual Merchandising students in Grailing King's Visual Merchandising: History, Theory & Practice class created three-dimensional works of art using paint, applied materials, and their
own imagination. These sculptures, along with artwork created by LIM College faculty, were displayed and auctioned off the evening of November 5 to raise funds for the LIM Fashion Education Foundation.
Pianist Jon Weber, saxophonist/clarinetist Dan Levinson and
vocalist Molly Ryan also performed at the event.
An Evening of Jazz & Art
LIM Alumna Comes Back on Campus
DID YOU KNOW...?
LIM College has launched a new Continuing & Professional Studies program (www.limcollege.edu/cps),
featuring a lineup of fashion, business and personal enrichment courses.
Offered during weekday evenings and on weekends, these non-credit, non-degree-granting classes are
intended to provide professional and/or personal enrichment to those interested in fashion, the fashion
industry and/or entrepreneurship.
During the Fall 2013 inaugural semester, three courses ran – in personal branding, event planning, and fabric
identification. All were taught by LIM College adjunct faculty.
According to Nancy Miller, coordinator of the Continuing & Professional Studies program and a full-time
faculty member in the Fashion Merchandising Department, future plans include adding courses in fashion
blogging, social media, and career planning. Single-session evening seminars on fashion and career
development-related topics, as well as online delivery of Continuing & Professional Studies classes, are also
being considered for introduction in the spring and summer of 2014.
Barbara Bachner
with student
attendees at An
Evening of Jazz &
Art
Barbara Bachner, My Hero. cast found objects. 2000
Barbara Bachner and President Elizabeth
S. Marcuse stand with Visual
Merchandising students Bianca Bartolo,
Liz Berardi, and Rachel Cuda and their
sculpture Reverie.
On June 6, six LIM College students participated in the DDI Student
Window Challenge, a competition presented in cooperation with Saks
Fifth Avenue. The daylong event, which was held directly inside Saks
Fifth Avenue's 49th Street windows, gave Visual Merchandising students
from LIM College a highly visible platform to show off their skills and
creativity.
The challenge culminated with a party and awards presentation at
Saks’s Café SFA. Industry executives also attended the party, giving the
students a chance to mingle with prominent retailers and visual
merchandisers.
The DDI Student Window Challenge participants were: Erin Mino, Erin
Meade, Sarah Montgomery, Bianca Bartolo, Jenna Brandt, and Vinessa
Soluri. Meghan McDermott and Morgan Walsh were selected as
alternates.
During the competition, the students were given a design challenge centered on a specific theme, which was
only revealed that morning. Two-person teams created window presentations using provided materials,
merchandise from Saks, and their own artistic ingenuity. Teams worked independently, but received feedback
from Saks visual directors, who circulated among participants to provide advice and guidance. The students
did not know what materials they had to work with until they arrived that day.
Challenge participants also gained valuable exposure for their work in print and online. Photos of the
challenge and final designs were featured in the August 2013 issue of DDI Magazine.
Visual Merchandising Students Display Their Skills
in Saks Windows
Saks window designed by Erin
Meade and Sarah Montgomery
Alumni Career Roadmap
UPCOMING CAREER EVENTS:
CAREER BOOT CAMP, JANUARY 22, 2014
LINKEDIN & JOB SEARCHWORKSHOP, FEBRUARY 19,
2014
RECRUITER AND ALUMNI NETWORKING EVENT, MARCH
19, 2014
CAREER DAY, MAY 6, 2014
Save the Date
CONTACT US:
216 E. 45th Street, Maxwell Hall 8th Floor
212-752-1530
The Department of Experiential Education and Career Management is another tool to assist you in your
career. The assistance that is available for you includes Resume and cover letter writing, mock interviews,
job search guidance , critique and direction on your LinkedIn profile, skills and interest assessment, and
assistance navigating Symplicity.
12 EAST 53RD STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10022
Around Campus
Clockwise from top left: Cameron
Rexroat a.k.a Marilyn at the 2013
Alumni Holiday Party; Alexis
Michaelides and the winners of the
2013 Iron Merchant Competition;
Sara Molinaro talking to students
during the Alumni Mentor Ice Cream
Social; The 2013 Rising and Shining
Star, Deborah Waknin and Carla
Guastella.