Sent on behalf of Dr. Jonathan Hill, the Dean of the Seidenberg School at Pace University.
Dear friends, colleagues, and members of the Pace community,
The loss of Jean Coppola on October 29th was a huge hit to our community. We received many messages of support, as well as memories of times with Jean ranging from recently to several decades ago. It has been truly special to experience the sharing of warmth and memories over the past few weeks.
Jean was an integral part of our community – and will remain so for many years to come. Her influence on students, colleagues, and the work she was most passionate about continues to blossom, and it is evident that she had a meaningful impact on many people.
To commemorate and celebrate the life of one of our most esteemed faculty members, we will be holding memorial events on both our New York and Pleasantville campuses. We welcome students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all of our friends in the Pace community who wish to attend and celebrate the many extraordinary achievements of Jean Coppola.
We would also like to share photos of Jean during the services and ask that if you have any you would like to share to please send them to Allie Gallagher at agallagher@pace.edu
Please see below for further information and forward it widely to those who will want to participate.
Pleasantville
Thursday, December 7
Butcher Suite
Kessel Student Center
3:25pm-4:25pm
New York City
Tuesday, December 12
Seidenberg Lounge
163 William Street, 2nd Floor
3:25pm-4:25pm
We are deeply saddened to share that our much loved Pace community member, professor of information technology, and friend, Jean Coppola, passed away on Sunday October 29th, 2017.
As an integral part of our community, Jean leaves an incredible legacy behind: the creation and management of the WestchesterSMART Mobile App Development Bowl, which ran for three consecutive years with increasing attendance and success; her outstanding work in her life’s passion of gerontechnology, as a founding member of the Pace University Gerontechnology Program, through the mobile app contest, and through the classes she taught; the passion she instilled in her students; her incredible baking skills; her prowess on the softball field; her choir leadership; as a board member for her alma mater St Francis Prep, and so much more.
One year ago, Jean was recognized by the Westchester County Association for the second time as she received a Women in Tech Award. A month after that, she was honored at Pace for an astounding 30 years of service to the University, our students, and our greater community.
Jean has been a powerhouse in the field of technology, appearing in Westchester Magazine just this summer to discuss the critical issue of cybersecurity, an issue that is “not going to go away.”
Jean in her element wearing her famous red suit.
She has been known around Pace for being one of the sharpest dressed faculty members on campus. As recognizable for her suits as for her intelligence and creativity, Jean always made an impression whether in front of a class of students or interviewing for any one of the international publications that featured her.
And, thanks to Jean’s passion and determination to share her love of technology in the classroom, her teaching, leadership, and memory will live on in the thousands of students and colleagues she met over the years.
Here are some of the unique ways Jean instilled user experience design and empathy in her students:
Students experienced the challenges that older people might experience in their everyday lives.
This gave them the ability to create apps with the perspective of the user in mind.
Even if it was completely different from their own.
Students learned about living with visual impairment and its challenges when combined with technology.
Jean Coppola taught these and many more memorable lessons.
Jean, you will be greatly missed by all of us at Seidenberg.
Once again, the #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl enabled hundreds of talented young high school and college students showcase their STEM skills in a competition to build apps to improve the lives of older people.
In partnership with Westchester County, this year’s iteration of the competition was its biggest yet, with over 440 students from 18 high schools and three universities taking part.
The mobile app bowl takes place over three monthly sessions, the first two consisting of intense training where students learn how to build mobile applications catered to aging populations. On the third day, which took place on Friday, April 28, at Pace University’s Pleasantville Campus, teams presented their apps and the winners were decided.
County Executive Robert P. Astorino presented the awards to the winners in a variety of categories, including awards for creativity, usability, and functionality. Winners of the YouTube Social Challenge earned trips to Google and YouTube studios in New York City, and prizes were also given for high school coach of the year and college coach of the year – the latter being won by our very own Jean Coppola.
On top of the category awards, the #WestchesterSmart award, a grand prize of $1,000 cash and swag from Panasonic was up for grabs.
“The #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl sends a strong statement to our students, as well as our communities and businesses, that Westchester is a place where smart things are happening,” said County Executive Rob Astorino.
The grand prize was snatched up by KanjiStick, the team from the New School’s Parsons School of Design, who created an app aimed to assist older people overcome issues typically experienced when interacting with technology. The team focused on creating an app that assisted with hearing, vision, and dexterity problems, allowing users to enjoy a smoother experience.
Dean Jonathan Hill with Daniel Citardi and Ricky Harris (Run DMR), and Rob Astorino
Teams Run DMR and Programmers Box took second and third prize in the Mobile App Creativity category respectively.
Team QWERTY accepts their prize for mobile app usability
Team QWERTY won second place in the Mobile App Usability category.
Programmers Box won third place for mobile app functionality
In the Mobile App Functionality category, teams Bice and Programmers Box achieved second and third place respectively.
Downtown Developers won functionality and YouTube Social Challenge awards
Tours of Google and YouTube were won by Downtown Developers, and Vida is Real.
Rob Astorino with team Vida is Real, Arton Mirakaj and George Samuels, and Dean Jonathan Hill
“Once again, we are blown away by the talent of the students who participate in the Westchester Smart Mobile App Development Bowl,” said Jonathan Hill, dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace. “Their work will improve the quality of life for older citizens throughout the area, helping them do everyday tasks and manage their lives better. This event grows every year and we hope to see even more student app developers next year.”
We would like to extend many thanks to our 2017 Partners and Sponsors, including Robert P. Astorino, Westchester County Executive; Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University; The Westchester County Office of Economic Development; Saberpoint; conEdison; Acordia Therapeutics; XL Catlin; The Bristal: Assisted Living; New York-Presbyterian; Virginia LeTourneau; Ursuline Foley; Liberty Lines Transit, Inc.; Sal’s Pizza and Pasta; and Nancy Goodman.
The third annual #WestchesterSMART Mobile App Development Bowl is almost ready to kick off at Pace University, but there’s still time to register for the chance to win cash prizes, paid internship, and plenty of awesome tech gear.
The Mobile App Development Bowl is run through a partnership with the Seidenberg School and Westchester County’s Office of Economic Development.
The free-to-enter event, which puts teams of college and high school students in competition to create the best mobile apps, will commence officially on February 3 with a pep rally and design and development workshops aimed to teach competitors how to build quality mobile apps.
As ever, teams must build MAAPs – Mobile Apps for Aging Populations. The prevalence of technology grows along with our population, and there is a great opportunity to use technology to improve the daily lives of people aged 65 or older.
Creating apps, hardware, and other bits of tech for aging populations is part of a field called gerontechnology, which is one of Seidenberg School’s research areas. The idea is to research ways in which technology can be used to improve the daily lives of older people, and many excellent solutions have been explored by students at the mobile app bowl in the past two years.
Despite being heavily underrepresented in the mobile app development field, the aging population is the fastest growing consumer group, meaning that a focus on older mobile users is key to keeping the app development industry vibrant and innovative.
It’s also an excellent opportunity for students from the Pace community and beyond to hone their skills, get some real world experience, and feel out potential career paths.
Over two sessions of workshops before judging on April 28, teams will work together to build an app that truly aims to do some good in the world.
Last year’s event included extensive news coverage and was attended by Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino. The series was created by Seidenberg faculty member Jean Coppola and brought 250 students to Pace’s Pleasantville campus to compete in the 2016 challenge.
If you have an idea for a mobile app or want to take part in an exciting challenge that helps the community, register today. Registrations are open for both teams and individuals, who will be placed into teams before the kick off.
On Thursday, November 17, 2016, several of our hard-working and dedicated faculty and staff members received Pace University Employee Recognition Awards.
Pace President Stephen J. Friedman was on site at Pace University’s Pleasantville campus to congratulate the recipients, who were being recognized by the University for their years of service. Pace employees typically start to garner recognition for service after 5 years, but these awardees are just a tad past that point!
Susan Feather-Gannon with Stephen Friedman
Lisa Slingerland, the Online Student Services Coordinator for NACTEL, was recognized for 15 years of service.
Associate Dean Susan Feather-Gannon and Administrative Director Fran O’Gara received awards for 20 years of service.
Faculty members Jean Coppola and Ron Frank were recognized for an amazing 30 years of service!
Jean Coppola receives her award
We are proud of the amazing people that work so hard to make Seidenberg great. Thank you to our awardees for your excellent contributions to our school and our students!
On October 20th, the Westchester County Association (WCA) will be recognizing five women for their extraordinary efforts in STEM fields as part of their third annual “Women in Tech” awards. One of these women happens to be our very own, Professor Jean Coppola!
The WCA started this event in 2014 in order to recognize women for their remarkable contributions and achievements while working in science, technology, math and engineering (STEM).
Professor Coppola will be recognized as an award-winning educator, author and professor of gerontechnology at Pace University.
“We are delighted at this recognition of Dr. Jean Coppola’s work,” said Seidenberg Dean Jonathan Hill. “Through her research into healthcare IT in general and gerontechnology specifically, Jean has made great contributions to the discipline and, through this work, has made vital contributions to the Westchester County community. Her work has enabled hundreds of Pace University students to become engaged with their neighbors in life saving ways and we all benefit from this work.”
Coppola has won numerous national awards for her extensive research and work with the effects of technology on the quality of life for older adults, including attitudes towards aging and cognitive functioning.
