“My freshman year was a big adjustment,” Rosenthal recalled. “In my sophomore year, I took intro to accounting and intro to economics, and found that I was good at that and I liked it. At that time, I was one of only a few women in accounting, so that was a bit of a spur, too.” The Manhattan native went on to rack up a 4.0 Grade Point Average in all of her accounting classes and was snapped up by Arthur Young & Co., the predecessor of what is now Ernst & Young, when she graduated.

After seven years as an audit manager, Rosenthal moved on to Chemical Bank, where she has handled a range of assignments as the bank has undertaken three mergers in the last decade. Today she is a managing director at Chase, which proposed a merger last fall with J.P. Morgan & Co. The resulting financial titan, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., will have a combined $675 billion in assets. Rosenthal currently oversees administration for Chase Research, which supports the banking giant’s global capital markets activity.

While she describes her role today as primarily administrative, the 45-year-old Rosenthal says her accounting background was excellent training and has turned out to be very “transferable” as she has moved upward in her career.

“It provided valuable skills and insights into understanding business,” she says. “I think the University did a very good job without a lot of the wherewithal that the private universities have. Unfortunately, the SUNY (State University of New York) schools do not carry the same cache (as many private schools), but Albany has certainly served me well. My sense is that it has done a good job for many others, but that its reputation has perhaps not kept pace with the product.”

To help strengthen that reputation, Rosenthal is now serving as national chair of the President’s Club, which recognizes alumni and friends who make an unrestricted annual gift of $1,000 or more to an academic area, the University Art Museum, Division I athletics or the University Libraries. Rosenthal is a founding member of the David Perkins Page Society, honoring individuals who make leadership gifts of $10,000 or more. She also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the School of Business.

“My hope is to bring greater recognition for all that the University at Albany has accomplished, and to better showcase the graduates who have done well, thanks to their education at Albany,” she said.

Her gifts to the University have included support for the School’s newly opened Alumni Office of Career Services, which goes beyond the traditional resource center where students can look up the vital statistics of the top companies in their fields and schedule interviews with on-campus recruiters. The Center offers lectures, roundtable discussions, resume distribution, an alumni mentor program and coordination with the University at Albany’s Alumni Career Network. The year-round activities are geared to giving students practical skills that will prepare them for job searches throughout their lives.

“Being able to do focused giving on behalf of the School of Business was something that appealed to me. It was measurable and specific, and we didn’t have something like that,” said Rosenthal, whose brother, Edward Rosenthal, B.S.’80, is also an alumnus. “Many private institutions have a highly developed process for placing graduates, and it’s part of what creates their mystique. So I thought doing something like that at Albany would make a real difference.”

Annual Fund Leadership Volunteers for 2000 - 2001
The University has expanded its volunteer leadership for the President’s Club and the Annual Fund programs this year. Here are the chapters and their leaders:

National Annual Fund Chair
Gary Jacobson, B.A.’82

President’s Club Chair
Joan Rosenthal, B.S.’76

Parent’s Club Co-Chairs Karen and Daniel Covitt Carla Craft

Foundation Board Chair
Ted Anderson, B.A’82

Reunion Giving Chair
Brian Woods, B.A.’94, M.S.’99

School of Business
Patricia Caldwell, M.B.A.’75 Robert Matza, B.S.’77

School of Education
Candace Groudine, Ed.D.’98
Michael Middaugh, Ed.D.’78