Adelphi University will kick off a yearlong anniversary celebration—Adelphi at 125: Building Tomorrow Together—with the 21st Annual President’s Gala benefiting student success on Thursday, June 24. The gala, which will be held on the University’s Charter Day, will be celebrated with both in-person and online entertainment activities.
The annual event brings together top civic, business and local leaders, and members of Adelphi’s campus and community, to celebrate the honorees and the University. At this year’s gala, Adelphi will honor three individuals with awards for their outstanding service and commitment to the University and its larger community.
David Machlis, PhD, a longtime associate professor of finance and economics in Adelphi’s Robert B. Willumstad School of Business and an internationally known educator about the Holocaust, will receive the inaugural President’s Humanitarian Award. The David Machlis Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund was recently established at Adelphi to combat hatred, intolerance, anti-Semitism and systemic racism through innovative and inclusive programming.
Anita D’Amico ’84, PhD, vice president of market development at the Synopsys Software Integrity Group and former CEO of the recently acquired Code Dx, Inc., a Long Island-based cybersecurity company, and her husband, Joseph Stambouly, MD, chief of pediatric critical care medicine at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island, a longtime strategic partner of Adelphi, will be presented with the President’s Award for Distinguished Service. This award recognizes individuals for their exceptional expertise and service that bring honor to the University.
Each year, Adelphi provides more than $50 million in scholarship assistance to its students, including more than 5,000 undergraduates from across the country. All net proceeds from this year’s gala will support student success and further Adelphi’s mission through three endowed funds: the President’s Student Success Scholarship, the Anita D’Amico Fund for Cybersecurity and Psychology Research, and David Machlis Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund.
The in-person event will run from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Adelphi’s Ruth S. Harley University Center, and the livestream will begin at 6:30 p.m. for those joining virtually.
To learn more about the 2021 President’s Gala, visit adelphi.edu/gala.
About David Machlis, PhD
During Dr. Machlis’ 54-year tenure at Adelphi, he has served as chair of the economics department, director of the University’s Urban Center and associate dean of academic affairs. In the 2017–2018 academic year, he received Adelphi’s Teaching Excellence Award. As vice chairman of the International March of the Living and founding director of March of Remembrance and Hope, Dr. Machlis has created and designed innovative programs to bring diverse communities of people to Poland to study the Holocaust. He has organized missions inclusive of deans of national schools of education and law, commissioners and heads of state boards of education, World War II camp liberators, Oprah Winfrey, and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. Dr. Machlis’ most recent programming, on Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 7, brought together an international audience of medical professionals to reflect on how the lessons of the Holocaust can inform the medical community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was associate creator of a United Nations exhibit titled When You Listen to a Witness You Become a Witness. His work is based upon the belief that the Holocaust is a universal issue and that we must learn from the past so that a more just and tolerant society evolves for the betterment of all humankind. While his international work has focused predominantly on Holocaust remembrance, his work at home is centered on the fight against all ethnic and racial intolerance.
About Anita D’Amico, PhD, and Joseph Stambouly, MD
Dr. D’Amico is vice president of market development at the Synopsys Software Integrity Group and former CEO of the recently acquired Code Dx, Inc., a Long Island-based cybersecurity company.
During her 35-year career, Dr. D’Amico has conducted research on the intersection of the human experience with technology and has designed technologies to improve human performance in fields as diverse as the merchant marine, manned space travel, intelligence analysis and, for the past 20 years, cybersecurity.
Recently, Dr. D’Amico sold Code Dx, a start-up in software security, to Synopsys, Inc., a Fortune 1000 company specializing in silicon chip design, silicon intellectual property and software integrity. As the former CEO of Code Dx, she has added cybersecurity internships and jobs to the Long Island community. She serves the Adelphi community through her service on Adephi’s Derner Advisory Council and professional engagement with the Willumstad School of Business and the computer science program.
Dr. Stambouly is chief of pediatric critical care medicine at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island (formerly NYU Winthrop Hospital), a longtime strategic partner of Adelphi. NYU Winthrop Hospital had the first hospitalized COVID-19 case on Long Island. As the pandemic continued, Dr. Stambouly converted his pediatric intensive care unit into an adult COVID-19 treatment unit, where he and his colleagues worked tirelessly to save lives and comfort the dying. In recognizing Dr. Stambouly, Adelphi is grateful for the opportunity to publicly acknowledge the tremendous work that healthcare providers have performed for the Long Island community throughout the pandemic.