Springfield College Alumni News from Around the Globe

Springfield College has had strong representation at the Super Bowl for nearly 20 years and this year was no different. Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo '82 and Assistant Head Coach Dave Toub '84 both played football at Springfield College prior to their impressive NFL careers. Spagnuolo made NFL history as the first offensive or defensive coordinator to win four Super Bowls. Congratulations to our Super Bowl Champions! 

Springfield College alumni, students, and faculty loudly and proudly represented our alma mater at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting Conference in Boston. So many connections, reunions, and "what a small world" moments made for a great get together at the alumni social in Faneuil Hall.

What a fun (and warmer than New England) Florida Alumni gathering recently held in St. Pete's Beach. Thank you to all who attended another great night of connecting and fellowship.

"Ricky Peacock '13 and I were both at a UGA basketball game vs. Florida," writes Gabby Gaudrealt '14. "I am an assistant coach for cross country and track, and Ricky works with marketing for BMW and has an account with UGA. We haven't seen each other since we graduated so it was really cool that UGA reconnected us. Go Pride!"

Springfield College alumna Jennifer Steier, G'01, was recently honored with the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program Alumni Excellence Award. Steier received the honor in recognition of displaying excellence in her profession and engagement with the Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Human Resources Management professional community.

Steier returned to Alden Street on Thursday, February 8 to receive her award, and she had the opportunity to meet with current faculty, staff, and students to talk about her professional journey, and recap how her educational experience at Springfield College prepared her for her career after graduation.

“It’s always enjoyable to visit the campus, and it’s rewarding to spend time talking with current students and answering their questions,” explained Steier. “I had a great experience at Springfield College, one that prepared me to be successful. I really appreciate the award, it means a lot to me.”

Tom and Vin, both of Backyard Sports, a leading provider of community team sports, also spoke to sport management students during their time on campus.

Steve Farrell, PhD, FACSM ‘78 recently retired from The Cooper Institute in Dallas after 41 years. He held a number of positions at Cooper during his unusually long tenure. Early in his career, he was part of a team that delivered employee wellness programs for the Dallas and Richardson TX school districts, as well as for City of Dallas employees. He then directed similar wellness programs for employees of Union Life (Little Rock, Arkansas) and Fireman's Fund (Green Bay, WI) insurance companies. 

The next three decades were spent in the Education Division at Cooper where Steve and his colleagues trained over 12,000 Federal, State, and Municipal law enforcement fitness leaders in various week-long workshops that were delivered at the Institute, as well as across nearly all 50 states. He also taught workshops for several thousand fitness leaders from all branches of the U.S. military. 

These workshops took him to dozens of military bases around the world. During this time, The Cooper Institute became just one of a handful of organizations to achieve national accreditation for personal trainer certification. Steve completed his career in the Research Division of the Institute, where he published numerous papers in medical journals based on the 175,000 patient visits to the Cooper Clinic since 1970.  

Elena Marchand '98 has been promoted to chief human resources officer at PACE-RI. In her new position, Marchand will report directly to the chief executive officer of the Rhode Island-based nonprofit organization. Marchand joined the HR team at PACE-RI in 2017 as an HR generalist. Most recently she was serving as senior director of human resources. Marchand's professional career (prior to and including her tenure at PACE-RI) has been dedicated to working within the nonprofit sector in various administrative, training, and healthcare management roles.

“Elena is a remarkable professional who possesses the right level of skill and leadership abilities to assume this new position. I am grateful for her dedication to this organization and the energy she will bring to this new role,” said CEO Joan Kwiatkowski. “I look forward to working with Elena as we expand the duties of the human resources department to serve and support our current employees and our future workforce.”

Congratulations to Shaun Ermi '17, G'22, who has been named Assistant Coach for the Women's Volleyball team at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to his current role, Ermi served as the assistant coach at Loyola Chicago.

In 2022, he served as a volunteer assistant at Ohio State, helping with coding and statistics in game for real-time trends for both the men’s and women’s programs. The women reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2004 while the men reached the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Prior to his stint in Columbus, Ermi spent two seasons at Springfield College as an assistant coach for the men’s volleyball program. Ermi joined the college coaching ranks after coaching at the club level for Elite Volleyball Club from 2019 to 2020.