Who We Are

Jacob M. Appel, MD, JD, MPH, is a psychiatrist and professional bioethicist who writes about issues at the nexus of law, medicine and morality. Dr. Appel taught ethics for many years at Brown University and later at NYU and Columbia, before joining the faculty at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, where he holds an appointment as Director of Ethics Education in Psychiatry.  He is also an attending physician at Beth Israel Hospital and serves on the Institutional Review Board.  He has been a regular ethics columnist at the Huffington Post, Opposing Views and Education Update, and has contributed Op-Eds and commentary to dozens of national and regional newspapers including The New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, San Francisco Chronicle and Providence Journal. His twelfth volume of fiction, a novel, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2017.    

Susan Arbetteris the Emmy Award-winning host and producer of the syndicated public radio program the Capitol Pressroom, which broadcasts live from the 3rd floor of the State Capitol in Albany weekdays from 11am to noon.  Arbetter also holds the title Director of News & Public Affairs for Syracuse public broadcaster, WCNY.  Susan’s news career has taken her from WBOS-FM in Boston to Albany where she cut her teeth at WPYX/WTRY in the early nineties.  After several years in commercial radio she fell in love with public broadcasting at WAMC Northeast Public Radio where she worked for 13 years, 6 of those as News Director.  She is one of the creators and co-hosts of the award-winning Roundtable Show.  She had her first taste of television at WMHT, the PBS station which serves the capital region.   There, she created, produced and hosted the political show New York Now as well as a number of statewide public television specials on issues ranging from the fall of former Governor Eliot Spitzer to veterans returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq.  Susan is the recipient of over 30 awards for electronic journalism, including a 2013 Emmy Award for Best Public Affairs Series for the television show Insight and a 2016 Emmy nomination for Best Political Program, Connect: NY.   She has also received one or more of the following awards for radio broadcasting: Edward R. Murrow, Scripps-Howard, AP, PRNDI & NYSBA, among others.  The Capitol Pressroom is also the recipient of a 2016 NYSBA Award for Community Service and a 2016 Media Award from the Erie County Bar Association.  Susan was also awarded the Women’s Press Club’s “Excellence in Career Achievement Award” in 2015. 

Rosemary Armaois an investigative editor and Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at The State University of New York at Albany. For more than 32 years she was a reporter and editor at various wire services and newspapers. She has trained journalists and worked on media development projects throughout Eastern Europe and Africa. She is a former Executive Director of Investigative Reporters and Editors and former President of the Journalism and Women Symposium. Professor Armeo is a host of WAMC’s The Media Project and a regular contributor on WAMC’s The Roundtable.

Frankie Y. Bailey, Ph.D.,is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany (SUNY). She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of a number of non-fiction books, including Wicked Albany: Lawlessness & Liquor in the Prohibition Era (2009) and Crimes of the Centuries (2016). She is the 2010 recipient of the George N. Dove Award for research on mystery and crime fiction. She has been nominated for several other awards, including the Edgar, Agatha, and Anthony, and is the winner of a Macavity Award for African American Mystery Writers (2008). She has five books and two short stories in a mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart.  Frankie’s near-future police procedural novels set in Albany, New York, The Red Queen Dies (2013) and What the Fly Saw (2015), feature Detective Hannah McCabe. Frankie is a former Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America and a past national president of Sisters in Crime. She is at work on a nonfiction book about dress, appearance, and disorder in American crime and justice. She is also working on a historical thriller set in 1939.

Roshni Bhambhwani is currently Science Festival Manager for the Museum of Innovation and Science in Schenectady, NY. Roshni is a Museum Studies A.L.M student at Harvard University and a Board Member for YWCA Northeastern NY.  A New Jersey native, Roshni quickly fell in love with the history, culture, and politics of her adopted home in the Capital Region.

Kimberly Breedon is an Assistant Professor of Law at Ohio Northern University College of Law. Her research focuses primarily on the constitutional and international law dimensions of corruption, or potential corruption, by government officials. She has published articles in several major law journals and has presented her work at international and national conferences, symposia, and workshops. She earned her J.D. degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and her LL.M. from Columbia University Law School, and she has served as a judicial law clerk for federal district courts and federal appellate courts in the United States.

James Coll is an adjunct professor of American and Constitutional history at Hofstra University and the founder of ChangeNYS.org, a not-for-profit dedicated to non-partisan civic education and political reform in our state.  He has written numerous articles on NYS government in Newsday, Politico, NY Daily News, Albany Times-Union and other publications.  James lives in Seaford on Long Island.

Creighton Michael, American artist Creighton Michael served on the faculty at Hunter College in New York City from 2005-2013. Michael is a member of American Abstract Artists and the International Sculpture Center, where he was on the Board of Directors from 2010-2013. His work is in many public and private collections including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Father Christopher DeGiovine served as Dean of Spiritual Life and Chaplain at the College of Saint Rose for twenty five years. During his tenure at Saint Rose, Father DeGiovine was a leader in promoting interfaith dialogue. A native of Greenville, NY, Father DeGiovine is currently Pastor of St. Matthew’s parish in Voorheesville.

Rabbi David Gordis, a resident of Albany, is Senior Visiting Scholar at the University at Albany and President Emeritus of Hebrew College. He has served as Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Committee. He has taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the University of Judaism, Vassar College, UCLA Law School and Brandeis University.

Ambassador Robert Gosende served for 36 years as Career Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Information Agency and at the U.S. Department of State. He retired in 1998 and became Associate Vice Chancellor/Senior International Officer in the central administration of the State University of New York and the John W. Ryan Fellow in Public Diplomacy at the University at Albany. Ambassador Gosende received Presidential Awards for his service as USIA’s Director for African Affairs and as President Clinton’s Special Envoy for Somalia. 

Gretchen E. Guenther-Collins, M.S., J.D., CPA, Accounting Department Chair, Associate Professor of Accounting, The College of Saint Rose Huether School of Business.

Michael Johnston, Ph.D., is Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science at Colgate University. Dr. Johnston’s areas of interest include Comparative and American politics, public policy; corruption, democratization, and development.

Katherine Burton Jones, is Director of Museum Studies at the Harvard Extension School. She is a member of the board of directors and chairs the Museum Committee of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum in Newport, RI. She is a member of the board of the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum in Chestnut Hill, MA. Jones was an assistant director at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology from 1994 to 2000, where she introduced the importance of websites and multimedia to all of the Harvard museums.  While at the Peabody, she served on the boards of the Museum Computer Network and the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Mildred Morse Allen Center. Katherine Burton Jones edited and contributed to two books on the use of technology in museums, The Wired Museum (American Association of Museums, 1997), and Museum Informatics: People, Information, and Technology in Museums (with Paul F. Marty, Routledge, 2007). In the last two decades she has also authored numerous articles on topics related to museums, and given presentations at national and regional museum conferences

Charles Lewis, is an investigative journalist based in Washington D.C.  He is the founder of The Center for Public Integrity and the executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at the American University School of Communication in D.C.  Lewis was an investigative producer for ABC News and the CBS news program 60 Minutes. In 2018, Lewis was awarded the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard’s Nieman Foundation.  Lewis has taught journalism at Princeton and Harvard universities and is currently a tenured professor of journalism at American University in Washington, D.C. 

John Mathues holds a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from The Pennsylvania State University.  In his current role in the energy industry in the Pittsburgh, PA region he liaisons with local and state level government agencies to ensure critical infrastructure projects meet all laws and regulations.  His primary interests include genealogy and researching New York legal history.  A proud descendant of a NY Supreme Court Justice, he is passionate about promoting the history of the NY Courts, it’s heritage of landmark legal decisions, and it’s long record of establishing and upholding Rule of Law.

John Murtagh, J.D., is a partner in the White Plains, NY law firm Gaines,Novick, Ponzini, Cossu & Venditti, LLP. A graduate of Fordham College and Fordham Law School , for eight years John served as a City Councilman in Yonkers. As a first term Councilman John authored what the New York Times called New York State’s toughest government ethics code. A 2008 candidate for the New York State Senate, in 2011 John was the Republican candidate for Mayor in Yonkers. John hosts “The John Murtagh Show,” a talk program covering local, state and national issues on WVOX 1460AM

Morgan Pehme is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and political commentator. Most recently, Morgan co-directed, wrote and produced the critically acclaimed Netflix Original documentary Get Me Roger Stone, which made its premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival before being released in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and worldwide on Netflix. Previously, Morgan co-directed the narrative feature Nothing Sacred and co-wrote and produced the psychological thriller Nightmare for IFC Films. Currently, Morgan is an on-camera political analyst for PIX11 News. He is the former editor-in-chief of City & State magazine and co-host of Effective Radio on AM970 in New York City. Among the publications to which Morgan has contributed articles are The Daily Beast, New York Daily News, The Hill, and HuffPost. Morgan has appeared as a guest on The View, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and NPR, and given print interviews to publications including The Washington Post, Playboy, and USA Today.

Sarah Rodman,  A.L.M., Museum Studies, Harvard University

Susan Rose-Ackerman, is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence, Emerita (Law and Political Science). She has taught and written widely on corruption, law and development, administrative law, law and regulatory policy, the nonprofit sector, and federalism. Her recent books are Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences and Reform, second edition with Bonnie Palifka, and Greed, Corruption and the Modern State (edited with Paul Lagunes).  She was a visiting researcher at the World Bank and a member of the Inter-American Development Bank, Expert Advisory Group on Transparency, She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University and a B.A. from Wellesley College. Her current research and teaching focus on the political economy of corruption and on comparative administrative law and public policymaking.

Paul Rosenthal transforms ideas into experiences. A writer and exhibition consultant for more than 35 years, he has helped museums, visitor centers, and historic sites worldwide attract, inform, and touch a broad audience, planning and writing exhibitions for the Smithsonian Institution, International Spy Museum, New York State Museum, Baseball Hall of Fame, Barnum Museum, Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, and many dozens more. As a children’s book author, he has been honored by the International Reading Association and Children’s Book Council

R. Mark Sullivan, Ed.D. served as President at The College of Saint Rose before becoming Director of the College’s newly created Institute for Higher Education Leadership. Dr. Sullivan holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University, a Master’s degree in public policy from the Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Rhode Island.

Cecilia F. Tkaczyk was the member of the New York State Senate for the 46th district.  She was the ranking member on the Senate Committee of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, and on the Senate Elections Committee as well. She also served on the Agriculture, Environmental Conservation, Education, Children and Families and Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs committees. She and her husband own and live on a small sheep farm in Duanesburg, New York.