Endeavors - Fall 2025

Springfield College head diving coach Pete Avdoulos and head swimming coach Howard Hinds represented Springfield College in Montague, Mass., at the dedication of the Turners Falls High School pool in July 2025. The pool was named after Springfield College alumnus Wes Snapp ’58, who was a long-time educator and coach. Snapp and his family attended via Zoom from Florida.

Effrosyni Kokaliari, PhD, professor of Social Work, was invited to participate in a podcast in Austria in June 2025 for the European Association on Social Work Education. The topic was “AI and Social Work Pedagogy,” which she recorded it with colleagues from New York, Sweden, and England.

Sherri VandenAkker, PhD, professor of Literature, Writing, and Journalism, earned first place in the Photography Division of the 58th Annual Juried Art Show at the Plymouth Center for the Arts in Plymouth, Mass., in September 2025. The show featured approximately 150 local, national, and international artists. VandenAkker also had two works accepted into the center’s juried Fine Art of Photography Exhibit in the summer of 2025. In addition, two of her works were accepted into the Summer National Juried Exhibit at the Cape Cod Art Center in Barnstable, Mass. VandenAkker is a juried fine art photographer at the Cape Cod Art Center.