In charge
During her time at Amherst, Angiolillo has served as treasurer of the AAS, publisher of The Amherst Student and editor-in-chief of the Olio. As treasurer of the student government, Angiolillo quickly developed a reputation for dedication, organization and efficiency. In times of challenge, she provided stability and helped to restore confidence in many organizations.
The student government was in disarray when she became treasurer of an institution with a new constitution and a new name. However, after running on the platform of "I won't steal," Angiolillo made an immediate impact, streamlining the finances from the old SGO to the new AAS.
As treasurer, Angiolillo spent so much time crunching numbers for different organizations that she practically had them memorized. "I would joke with her about how she carried the budget book with her wherever she went. Even when she slept, it was nearby," said Assistant Dean of Students Samuel Haynes.
While presiding over student finances was not always the most exciting job, her colleagues had fond memories of her as treasurer. "Liv was an awesome chair of the [budgetary committee] BC," said former vice president of the AAS Elan Ghazal '05. "There was never a dull moment. As tedious and thankless job as it was, I would do it again it if I knew she would be leading the meetings."
Angiolillo also joined the newspaper staff after a crisis. The previous publisher had just embezzled over $12,000 from the paper's account, and Angiolillo's reputation for fiscal responsibility, her dynamic personality and "wickedly hilarious" sense of humor was needed. "Liv helped to restore confidence in the paper ... something we badly needed," said Eunice Park '04, former executive editor of The Student. "My favorite memories are the late Tuesday nights, when we would be draped all over the chairs and exhausted. We would laugh hysterically at the smallest things-at 3 in the morning, anything is funny."
Angiolillo's colleagues weren't the only ones who were fond of her. Her dedication and commitment to the College earned her the admiration of many in the administration. "I have never met a student who embraces the concepts of scholarship, community and citizenship as some sort of collective creed for how to give to others," Haynes said.
It is somewhat ironic that Angiolillo spent most of her extracurricular time organizing finances when she has no interest in business. "Basically, I'm just totally obsessed with organization," she said.
Enthralled by art
Although her extracurricular activities consumed a lot of her time, Angiolillo was always academically motivated and gifted. She entered the College determined to succeed, and planned on being an English major. "She's extremely driven-Liv's one of the few people I know who came to this school knowing what they wanted to do, and did it," remarked Meredith Petrov '04.
Now, four years later, she graduates as an English and fine arts double major. It is a testament to Angiolillo's perseverance and abilities that she majored in a subject that she had never taken a class in before entering Amherst. Angiolillo had no real interest in art, but took basic drawing her freshman year at the prodding of her mother, and found herself "ridiculously in love" with it.
Angiolillo's willingness to take art and expand her horizons is a major feature of her personality. "Liv's also wonderful because she is extremely comfortable with herself," said Petrov. "She's willing to look a little different, do something new and doesn't care what other people think about her."
As a result of her enthusiastic attitude, Angiolillo went on to take many more art classes, with her favorite class being Painting 1. She especially appreciated this class because it allowed her to understand color, dimensions and perspectives in just a few short classes. She enjoyed her art classes because "it was something different, it didn't feel like a class."
Besides her introductory painting course, Angiolillo gives credit to her three thesis advisors, Professor of Fine Arts and Asian Languages Samuel Morse, Professor of Fine Arts Robert Sweeney and Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Betsey Garand, for giving her a love and appreciation of art. She was constantly encouraged and challenged by these professors. "Professor Morse was a great sounding board, and he made me feel as though I had the ability to accomplish anything ... Professor Sweeney was my most influential professor and he was very patient with my slow work; he would say 'gee, Livia, you painted an inch' … Professor Garand demanded so much, continually pushing me to do another painting," she said.
Angiolillo was a meticulous and dedicated student, often spending countless hours at work in the studio. Her passion and ambition earned her the respect of her thesis advisors. She is "remarkably hardworking, very enthusiastic … one of the most mature students whom I have taught," said Morse.
Angiolillo's thesis, entitled "They Pretend Victory: An Exploration of the Figure," was an investigation of pain through body language. It captured the relationship between the bystander and the subject.
Angiolillo became interested in the project after reading Virginia Woolf, Susan Sontag and Elaine Scarry. Using Woolf's letters and journals as well as current materials such as war tribunals and domestic abuse cases, Angiolillo focused on the physical ailments that the patients suffered. Angiolillo also did local research, interviewing people in the five-college area who were suffering from different degrees of physical, emotional and mental pain.
Her research drove her to focus on the body and its adaptability to language. She became fascinated by trying to use images instead of words to describe pain. For instance, she studied how doctors now use pictures of happy and sad faces to measure the degree of pain a patient is in.
In order to translate her research to the canvas, Angiolillo photographed her interview subjects and found nude models willing to assume other people's poses. This allowed her to isolate the gender, personality and character of the people, and only work with the sickness and body. "All of my canvases are relatively androgynous and unidentifiable because I wanted any person-male, female, healthy or sick-to be bombarded with painful imagery that seemed perfectly possible in their own lives," Angiolillo said.
Angiolillo's thesis took up a large part of her senior year. Thus, it is only fitting that her thesis opening at Fayerweather Art Gallery was one of her favorite memories. "I know people from all different walks of life … and seeing everyone's reaction was really amazing," she said. "It's not the artist's perception, but people's interpretation."
Committed to helping others
After she leaves the College, Angiolillo hopes to try and ease the pain and suffering of impoverished students. Next year, she will attend Columbia University Teacher's College and begin work on a masters degree in Social Organization and Leadership which will prepare her for later work in urban and post-secondary politics.
Angiolillo should have a smooth transition from Amherst to Columbia because both colleges de-emphasize a pre-professional orientation. "There is an understanding that the College is supposed to be enriching for me, and what's enriching for me may not be for another student," she said. According to Angiolillo, the Teacher's College at Columbia has a similar academic bend-focusing on learning for the sake of learning.
"The school does not just encourage its students to just take classes to become a professional. Instead, it empowers students for social change and movement," Angiolillo commented.
The degree seems like a perfect combination for Angiolillo, who always had a great desire to teach and an extreme interest in the homeless population. "She's well on her way already and she is going to make it," said Petrov.
Angiolillo's passion for addressing the problem of homelessness stems from a long-term commitment to community service. She actively did volunteer work throughout high school, and participated in the Winternship program at Amherst, working for the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C.
Although she is far too modest to discuss all of the volunteer work she has participated in, her commitment to helping others and making the world a better place has not gone unnoticed. "Livia is one of the kindest, generous, caring and helpful people I've ever met," observed Haynes.
Angiolillo's sense of humor and her ability to lead organizations will be useful in her future career as a teacher. "She is a great organizer of people and people listen to her," Park stated.
Remembering Amherst
In addition to her volunteer work, Angiolillo also has a passion for reading and writing. With any free time that she found at Amherst, she might have been reading one of her favorite books, either "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen or "The World According to Garp" by John Irving.
According to her friends, besides reading, one of Angiolillo's favorite activities was rating nachos at restaurants in the Pioneer Valley. She has been described as the biggest nacho connoisseur at the College, with an ability to consume them for a full course at dinner. Petrov mused that if Angiolillo could wish for anything, it would probably be "nachos served by Sigourney Weaver or maybe the entire fall collection by Marc Jacobs."
Even though she wasn't particularly drawn to the College as a pre-frosh, Angiolillo now has developed a sense of community with many at Amherst. "I never went by Liv until I got to college. It was something I reserved for people who were really close to me. Now, I am so used to it, that it freaks me out when people call me Livia."