Sycamore Stories

Convenience for All: Bindu Pirlamarla ’10 Leads Amazon’s Effort to Make Shopping More Accessible

Through her role at Amazon, Bindu Pirlamarla ’10 is helping to make online grocery shopping easier and more affordable for households across the United States.

From English Major to Award-Winning Reality TV: An Unlikely Journey Transforming Financial Health

After decades in the world of finance, English major, Michael Cyr ’92 takes an unexpected path to the award stage in Hollywood.

Designing Change: Kate Bormann’s ’18 Rise in the New York City Architecture Industry

For Kate Bormann ’18, her most recent recognition as one of the Top 30 Designers Under 30 in New York City by METROPOLIS is the culmination of the work she started as an art major and Bonner Leader at Ursinus College.

From Campus Trendsetter to Philly’s Fashion Vanguard: Sabir Peele ’08 and His Journey to Influencer Stardom

Nicknamed “Brother Shoes” in his fraternity, Sabir Peele ’08 has gone from the best-dressed man on the Ursinus College campus to the top of the Philadelphia fashion world

Imagining a Dream: How One Ursinus Student Started Her Own Business

Thanks to the help of the Ursinus U-Imagine Center, Julia Dees ’26 turned her dream of starting her own doula business into a reality

An Advocate for Intellectual Freedom

Matthew Good, an instructional technology librarian at Ursinus, was selected as the recipient of the 2024 John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award by the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table.

Faculty, staff, and community members gather every Friday for a fun session of pickup basketball.

A 43-Year Legacy of Lunchtime Layups

While it may be impossible to confirm if Ursinus’s lunchtime basketball game for faculty and staff is the longest-running pick-up game on a college campus, surely it must be the liveliest.

Professor of Physics Tom Carroll discussing his love of the sport of ultimate.

Tom Carroll’s Love of Ultimate Approaches 30 Years

When he’s not in the classroom, Professor of Physics Tom Carroll is busy making moves on the field in the sport of ultimate.

Psychology Student Becomes Ursinus’s First SAFE Project Fellow

Sophie Louis ’24 has always had a passion for helping others. Now, she’s putting that passion to work as the first Ursinus student to join the Collegiate Recovery Leadership Academy.

Self-taught Academic Coach Helps 123K Followers Learn to Study

As a student in high school, Dora Zeibekis ’24 struggled with biology. At Ursinus, she excels as a biology (and Spanish) major. If you think she likely has good advice to share on improving one’s study habits, you’re in good company: She has 123,000 followers on Instagram who agree. Known as @coffeestudi, Zeibekis offers study tips and academic coaching.

Tech Support’s “Big Daddy Ray” Stitt Skates Past 102K Followers on TikTok

Whether it’s skating or biking, Tech Support Technician and part-time Campus Safety Officer Ray Stitt has had a lifelong passion for wheels—a hobby he’s been combining with his social media know-how to gain fame on TikTok as @BgDaddyRay.

Twin Spirits

Surrealist artist and Donald E. Camp Award winner Kelsey Gavin ’22 spun her collection of paintings into a significant scholarship at her dream graduate school. This fall, she is pursuing her master’s degree at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts (PAFA), the alma mater of her lifelong inspiration, David Lynch.

Eduardo Ramos holding up a baseball with inscription, Take Me Out.

The Artist’s Sport

Before Eduardo Ramos ’06 was accepting a Tony alongside the cast and crew of Take Me Out (2022), he was captain of the Ursinus College lacrosse team, ahead on credits and needing one more course to be eligible to play his last season.

Hey. Acting sounds fun.

Christine Heren '22 leads a bracelet-crafting workshop to support Ukraine.

Crafter Helps Ukraine One Bracelet at a Time

Driven by her Ukrainian heritage, Christine Heren ’22 has been taking small steps to make a big impact in a country that has suffered eight years of conflict with Russia.

Jenna Menapace '22 (center) at Chenoa Manor with other members of Tau Sigma Gamma sorority.

Tau Sigma Gamma’s Partnership with Animal Sanctuary Extends Beyond Service

A Chester County farm founded by an Ursinus alum provides volunteer opportunities for the members of Tau Sigma Gamma sorority in a symbiotic partnership.

A New Cloak

Leslie New’s early fascination with Star Wars has accompanied her her whole life, from struggling in early math classes to completing her Ph.D. on birds of prey in Scotland. Today, she serves in the 501st Legion, a Star Wars cosplay charity group that hosts events like children’s hospital events and charity fundraisers. She has assembled two fantastic costumes so far. While teaching math and statistics at Ursinus College, New is working on her most ambitious uniform yet.

Political Science Major Turns Disappointment Into Dream Internship

Last summer, Emelyn Rodriguez ’22 and her Bronx-based family made a five-hour trip to Washington, D.C., to move her things to the nation’s capital, where she planned to complete an internship during the fall semester. When plans for what the political science major intended to be a dream internship on Capitol Hill didn’t work out, she made the difficult decision to move—again—back to Ursinus.

Championing Digital Equity

Simra Mariam ’21 has been a BIPOC feminist advocate and a professional journalist since she was a teenager. At Ursinus College, she opened the door to a new generation of marginalized writers and artists through an online publication that would become impactful and illustrious: Reclamation Magazine.

Performer in Transition

Today, Abbie Painter ’23 is a rock star, theater scholarship recipient, psychologist, and non-binary luminary. Eighteen years ago, they were drumming on their dad’s workout equipment. Painter’s evolution since then, especially from 2019 when they stepped on the Ursinus stage, has been a feat of transformation.

Bob Kelly, Latonia Brown '04, and Mike Jerrick on the set of FOX 29's Good Day Philadelphia

Alum Paints Success Story with Hobby-Turned-Business

Roughly 10 years after graduating from Ursinus, Latonia Brown ’04 took up a new hobby—face painting—and, in the process, laid the foundation for a future as a special effects makeup artist.

Wellness Through Yoga—On and Off the Mat

In desperate need of work/life balance at a former job, Katie Bean found healing in yoga—and is now on a mission to show students, faculty, and staff the benefits of the practice. “It’s so much bigger than tree pose.”

Author of Illusion

On stage and on the page, Ursinus College Creative Writing Award recipient, Literary Society president, and longtime illusionist, Anastasia Dziekan ’22 recreates truth with something up her sleeve.

Twice in a Generation

Scientist sisters Andrea ’23 and Diana Cando ’24 are first-generation students with a lot in common, and even more in distinction.

Becoming an Inspirational Leader

When Jadidsa Perez ’21 is asked where she gets her drive and her focus, she doesn’t hesitate in providing an answer.

A Home Away from Home

Senior Simba Kanjanda’s path from Zimbabwe to Ursinus wasn’t as circuitous as one might imagine, but a bit of circumstance certainly helped him to find the perfect school.

Kate Foley '23 (center) with (left to right) Ruby Serafin '20, Liam Worcheck '22, Jessica Celli '22, and Benjamin Joh...

English and Theater Double Major Plays with Business Idea and Scores

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, working parents have struggled with meeting the needs of their jobs while simultaneously tending to children who are not only learning from home but also spending less time with friends. Kate Foley ’23 and her family created a business that could help.

Ursinus Professor John Mauchly and University of Pennsylvania Professor J. Presper Eckert

World’s First Modern Computer, Born from an Ursinus Professor, Celebrates 75th Anniversary

On February 15, 1946, Ursinus Professor of Physics John Mauchly and University of Pennsylvania Professor J. Presper Eckert unveiled their invention to the public: ENIAC, the first modern computer. Historians, engineers, and tech aficionados are celebrating its creation in a weeklong series of events.

N'Namdee Nelson '02, executive director of Rising Leaders Global

An Alum’s Career Calling: Serving At-risk Youth

Just six years after graduating from Ursinus, N’Namdee Nelson ’02 founded Rising Leaders Global, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing positive role models and mentors for at-risk youth in Camden, N.J. FOX 29 recently spotlighted his important work.

Students Apply Entrepreneurial Thinking to Pandemic Problem-Solving

Challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic were the focus of the UC-Imagine Fest, a 15-hour marathon event during which students work together to find innovative and creative solutions for existing problems.

Share a Story Idea

We want to share your good news with the campus community! We’re looking for more good stories—both professional and personal—to populate our news page, social media channels and “Good Morning, Ursinus!” Share your news ideas, anecdotes, experiences below: