An Entirely Different Track

By Patrick Bohn, October 28, 2025

Susan DiPace panel during Homecoming weekend provides alumni a chance to share their unconventional paths to success.

Casey Carroll, Dan Wenger, Niki Ray-Israelsohn

(From left) Casey Carroll ’07, Dan Wenger ’17, and Niki Ray-Israelsohn ’15 were this year's speakers at the Susan DiPace Alumni Panel and Networking Event, held during Homecoming weekend.

(Photo by Chris Kitchen)

The path to a fulfilling career isn’t always a straight line. While some students find immediate success in careers that closely mirror what they majored in during college, many others find their journeys influenced by other passions and experiences stoked over the course of a lifetime.

That was the belief of Susan DiPace ’74, whose own path—a history major with a career in human resources—was not linear. She believed in the power of personal connection and the value of alumni mentoring students.

DiPace was a longtime member of the college’s Alumni Association Board of Directors before passing away in 2006. “Susan loved and appreciated her education,” said Michael Kaplan ’85, a close friend of DiPace, and former alumni trustee on the Ithaca College Board of Trustees. “But she also felt that Ithaca was not just about eight semesters and 120 credits. She believed that Ithaca College prepared you for life, and that getting involved and making connections with others was how you got the most out of a private school education.”

And that’s why, during Homecoming Weekend, current students and alumni alike packed Clark Lounge for the Susan DiPace ’74 Alumni Panel and Networking Event to hear from and meet a trio of recent successful graduates whose careers took them in an unexpected direction.

“[Susan] felt that Ithaca was not just about eight semesters and 120 credits. She believed that Ithaca College prepared you for life, and that getting involved and making connections with others was how you got the most out of a private school education.”

Michael Kaplan ’85, former alumni trustee on the Ithaca College Board of Trustees

The three alumni featured in this year’s panel were Dan Wenger ’17, Casey Carroll ’07, and Niki Ray-Israelsohn ’15, who each shared stories with the audience about the twists and turns of their careers.

Wenger is a certified music therapist with his own practice in Maine. He came to IC as a transfer student who had studied microeconomics and was originally focused on music performance. But, as he told the crowd, that changed when he took a course called Music as Medicine.

Casey Carroll '07 encouraged students to trust their own intuition and have faith that decisions would make sense later. (Photo by Chris Kitchen)

“The students would go to Cayuga Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and play music for the residents,” he said. “One day, I’m coming off the elevator with a friend on our way to the room of a resident who has agoraphobia; I have a trombone, he has an upright bass, and we get stopped in the hallway by some other residents who want us to perform for them. So we started playing ‘Buffalo Gals.’”

“As we were playing, I was getting kind of irritated, because we had been stopped from going to the room of the person we were scheduled to see,” Wenger continued. “But then I look up, and I see that a nurse had wheeled that resident into the hallway. She heard the music and came out of her room to be a part of it. That’s really when I started thinking about music as way to support and connect with people.”

Wenger similarly encouraged students to find new ways to connect with those around them.

“Putting yourself into a position you’re not comfortable with mentally can open you up to different ways of learning,” he said. “We’re all constantly looking to evolve and grow in ways that have meaning to the people around us, but we have to go outside our comfort zones to do it.”

Carroll was a writing major at IC and has seen her career evolve constantly. Today, she co-owns Coray Kitchen in Delmar, New York, is the founder of the BWB creative agency, and is a leadership coach. She’s also worked on both coasts. Surprisingly, her ‘a-ha’ moment of wanting to create something of her own came when a former employer was doing an in-house story on her about her career goals within their company.

“If you can learn to cultivate trust in your own intuition and be comfortable with the unknown, you’re going to be a better leader.”

Casey Carroll ’07

“I was working at [marketing and PR firm] Ketchum as an account supervisor, where I was the client lead for major foodservice accounts,” she shared. “The interviewer asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, ‘I want to own a business and transform the industry.’ That’s when I realized I was going to need to leave the company eventually.”

Taking that leap from working for a company to working for herself was a big one, but Carroll never doubted it. Her biggest piece of advice to students? Believe in yourself.

“If you can learn to cultivate trust in your own intuition and be comfortable with the unknown, you’re going to be a better leader,” she said. “You should always be thinking about where you are with trusting yourself. Keep asking yourself that and listening to the responses.

Niki Ray-Israelsohn '15 advised students to lean into their hobbies and not think of themselves as just their jobs. (Photo by Chris Kitchen)

“Also, trust that it’ll all make sense later,” she added. “I had judgements about myself and what I was doing, but the more I look back at things the more I realized I should have told my younger self it was all going to make sense.”

Ray-Israelsohn was a music education major at Ithaca and began their career teaching middle school students in Brooklyn, but when it came time to get their masters’ degree, they realized they wanted a change.

“I wanted to work in more cultural institutions,” they said. “So I got my degree in arts and cultural management from the Pratt Institute.”

An avid bicyclist who rode to work, school, and social events around the city, Ray-Israelsohn started to notice how transportation barriers kept people away from institutions.

“Even as a teacher, I realized that I could create the most warm and welcoming classroom environment, but that transportation challenges were making it hard for some of my students to get to my classroom,” they said.

After working with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Ray-Israelsohn eventually moved back to Ithaca, where they now serve as the director of BikeWalk Tompkins, a nonprofit dedicated to making biking, walking, and rolling safe and convenient.

When asked what advice they would have for students who want to make a career change, Ray-Israelsohn drew on their own experience.

“Realize that you’re not just your job,” they said. “You’re a culmination of your interests and hobbies. Lean into those, be curious, and try things you’ve never done before.”

After the panel discussion, students networked with the panelists — and other alumni — creating a valuable learning experience. (Photo by Chris Kitchen)

When the panel concluded, the networking portion of the evening began, which enabled deeper, one-on-one connections and was enjoyed by both students and alumni.

Claire Gardiner ’29, a legal studies major, attended the event on a whim after hearing about it during another Homecoming event.

“I’m on track to be a lawyer, but I want to get involved in social advocacy, and talking with people here tonight expanded my mind to what was possible,” Gardiner said. “I realized there are so many paths open to me at IC, and just because I’m passionate about one thing doesn’t mean I can’t pursue others.”

Computer science major Jagrit Dhingra ’28 spent time at the networking event talking with Carroll about a business idea he has for an app for pet owners.

“She was giving me fantastic advice,” he said. “It was fascinating learning about business from someone who has successfully started one.”

“I give these students so much credit,” said Israelsohn, who said riding the bus to IC and seeing students on it energized them for the evening ahead. “I don’t remember being as brave as they are, so I give them a lot of credit, the fact that they’re here talking to alumni is a wonderful sign about what they want their time at Ithaca to be.”

“I realized there are so many paths open to me at IC, and just because I’m passionate about one thing doesn’t mean I can’t pursue others.”

Claire Gardiner ’29

Wenger summed up the evening nicely.

“Sometimes, I get worried that people are losing creativity and optimism, but I saw and heard so much of it from the students here tonight,” he said. “I can tell that they’re inspired and that’s great.”

DiPace would likely have been inspired by what took place as well.

“This series keeps her spirit alive and reintroduces students to what she thought was important: engaging with people,” Kaplan said.

Chart Your Course — or Go Off-Script

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