URSINUS Spring 2010
MAGAZINE
A Career Defining Excellence Donahue’s Sweet Success Alumni In Haiti
“The addition of new faculty and of new majors, especially in the arts, have enabled Ursinus to become an institution which truly spans the breadth of the liberal arts. The combination of the curricular changes and the focus on student achievement over the past ten years has transformed the undergraduate experience at Ursinus.� -The Middle States Commission on Higher Education
In This Issue Features John Strassburger 7
Perspectives on a Presidency: Four award winning writers talk with John Strassburger about his celebrated career in higher education. Their stories offer an in-depth look at how his leadership changed Ursinus.
20 Cornell’s Powerhouse Steve Donahue 1984 transformed Cornell’s slumping team, and led them straight into March Madness. What will he do in Boston?
22 Haiti In the wake of this Caribbean nation’s worst disaster, Ursinus alumni arrive in Haiti to help. Read their firsthand accounts of the heartache and the healing.
Profiles
34 Aaron Burgstein: Commanding the 1st Combat Camera Squadron 37 Mark Heusser: Researching bird life on St. Eustatius
Campus News 4 Rebecca Roberts: Campaigning for Safer Plastics
Class Notes
30 Alumni sharing milestones
4 Andrey Bilko 2010: Captures Watson Fellowship
On The Cover
“John Strassburger” created by Joe Ciardiello exclusively for this tribute issue. Over his 35-year career, Joe Ciardiello has created illustrations for most major magazines and newspapers. His portraits of authors appear regularly in the The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The New Yorker, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Time and US News and World Report. Among his awards are three Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators.
To Our Readers... Dear Readers, We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together. These are not the contents we had originally planned for these pages. But with the momentous announcement in February that President Strassburger would retire June 30, we made some changes because we wanted to pay tribute to his time here, in the last Ursinus Magazine under his leadership. President Strassburger and The Communications Office have worked together closely for the last 15 years. At some other colleges, I am told, the President has a few layers of administration between the President’s Office and the Communications Office. Not so at Ursinus, where an accessible President is just one of many distinguishing characteristics of the College. From the beginning, President Strassburger’s vision for the Magazine was for it to reflect the high quality of the College itself. Ursinus Magazine recently won an award from the Council of Advancement and Support of Education, letting us know we are moving toward that goal. As Director of Communications, I have overseen both Ursinus Magazine and media relations. I am delighted to let you know that the alumni magazine is being put in the capable hands of Kathryn Campbell, a former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. She brings vast magazine writing and editing experience to Ursinus Magazine. She has a special interest in conservation and science. About the contents that were originally slated for this issue: many of those stories will be brought to you in the fall. We are preparing to expand to four issues in 2011 and, as always, we look forward to your feedback and story suggestions. So, why did we relish putting together a magazine precipitated by the President’s retirement announcement? It allowed us to reflect on his legacy here, and gave us a few more opportunities to sit down with him and to hear in his words how he set and met his goals. We were also able to learn how others who spoke with him see him. Our writers are top notch, from a published author who was with Forbes Magazine, to an essayist in higher education, to our own past chair of the Ursinus Trustees who directed communications at Brown University and a widely published journalist. We are pleased to offer a glimpse of what an extraordinary president John Strassburger has been. Wendy Greenberg Director of Communications April 2010
Ursinus Magazine Volume CVIII, No. 3, Spring 2010
Third class postage paid at Collegeville, Pa. Ursinus Magazine is published seasonally three times a year. Copyright 2010 by Ursinus College. Editorial correspondence and submissions: Ursinus Magazine, P.O. Box 1000, Collegeville, PA 19426-1000. (610) 409-3300 or e-mail: ucmag@ursinus.edu Director of Communications Wendy Greenberg wgreenberg@ursinus.edu Editor Kathryn Campbell kcampbell@ursinus.edu Class Notes Editor Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995 elabrecque@ursinus.edu Contributing Photographers Joan Fairman Kanes, Jeffrey Morgan, Steven Falk, Liora Kuttler 2010, George Widman Design Jeffrey D. Morgan Photography & Design www.jeffreydmorgan.com Chair, Board of Trustees Spencer Foreman M.D. 1957 President John Strassburger Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean Judith Levy Senior Vice President for Advancement Jill A. Leauber Marsteller 1978 Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing Richard DiFeliciantonio Vice President for Finance and Administration Winfield Guilmette Vice President for Student Affairs Deborah Nolan The mission of Ursinus College is to enable students to become independent, responsible, and thoughtful individuals through a program of liberal education. That education prepares them to live creatively and usefully, and to provide leadership for their society in an interdependent world.
Ursinus Magazine is printed on recycled paper. PAGE 2 URSINUS MAGAZINE
The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art
Upcoming Exhibitions
SMOOTH CARTOGRAPHIES: TOWARD A COLLECTIVE BECOMING
ANNUAL STUDENT EXHIBITION 2010
Greg Scranton is a digital media artist working with locative technologies who often seeks to challenge the original intended usage of the technologies themselves and aims to inspire new creative possibilities for their implementation and deployment. He is an Assistant Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Ursinus College. This installation draws from mapping coordinates of land masses that are readapted by the artist and integrated into the public space of the museum. This exhibition will also feature a new augmented–reality work by the art collective Reconstruction in Progress whose founding members Abinadi Meza and Greg Scranton will collaborate with creative writer Jon Volkmer to produce a geosituated hypernarrative between the cities of Philadelphia and Houston.
April 28 through May 15, in the Main Gallery and Upper Gallery, and Ritter Art Studio. Opening Reception: Wednesday April 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. Reception in Ritter Art Studio follows at 5:00 p.m.
The annual showcase for works by studio art majors in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and photography, where students are recognized for excellence in a medium and awarded book prizes, a cash purchase award funded by Winnifred Cutler 1973, juried cash prizes, the Druckenmiller Awards for painting and photography, the Rinde Award for Environmental Awareness, and the Beadle Marple Award for Creativity. Studio Art Majors will be featured in the Main and Upper Galleries of the Berman Museum of Art; work by students participating in a studio art course will be on display in Ritter Art Studio.
THE ART GENE: THE HUTTON FAMILY LEGACY June 13 through August 8, in the Upper Gallery.
Hugh Hutton was an editorial cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer for over 35 years. His wife, daughter and other family members were or are accomplished artists and their works, drawn from the extensive collection of Betty Hutton MacDonald, will be presented. Three generations of the family have been actively involved as members of the Philadelphia Sketch Club which is being celebrated at art institutions throughout the Philadelphia area.
June 1 – August 1, 2010 Opening Reception: Saturday June 5, 2010 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
THE MUSEUM’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITIONS
celebrating the opening of the Henry W. and June Pfeiffer Wing:
ALL MY PLACES: LANDSCAPES, PORTRAITS & WHIMSY – THE ART OF KARL J. KUERNER Sept. 1 through Dec. 15 in the Main Gallery
BASEBALL PAINTINGS/FOLK ART – ALAN NOVAK COLLECTION September – December 2010 in the Upper Gallery
Senior Deanna Hayes prepares work for the 2010 Annual Student Exhibition
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Campus News The Plastics Problem: Professor Rebecca Roberts Testifies on Concerns over BPA Safety
With a prop bag of plastic bottles in tow, Professor Rebecca Roberts drove to Philadelphia for an interview with NBC10 news. The television station had invited her to discuss the safety concerns of reusable water bottles. The news program caught the attention of State Rep. Lawrence Curry (D-154). Curry knew Roberts, an associate professor of biology, could help with his efforts to pass legislation in Pennsylvania that would limit the amount of BPA in products aimed at children. During the TV interview, Roberts explained how a compound that she studies, called bisphenol A, or BPA, is found in some bottles and can be hazardous if ingested. Curry had also read an article that she had published with an Ursinus undergraduate co-author, Aimee Quitmeyer, on the issues surrounding BPA, both on the scientific and policy levels, and on her dual role as a scientist and a mother of a young child. “He wanted a voice that could present to the House Committee both the science behind this compound and the personal side of a mother’s attempt at limiting the exposure of her children,” says Roberts, who spoke in January before the Consumer Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. She testified that a study on premature infants found that they carried the highest burden of BPA of any population – primary exposure occurring through invasive medical devices.
neonatal intensive care unit,” says Roberts, who has studied the biological effects of BPA for ten years. “These babies are the most vulnerable of our population, are most at risk for exposure to BPA, and are most affected by it since they are still developing.” Roberts was one of eight expert witnesses to testify on House Bill 221. Others included Frederick vom Saal from the University of Missouri, who is the national voice for low-dose effects of BPA. Steve Hentges, Executive Director of the Polycarbonate/ BPA Global Group of the American Chemistry Council, testified that the legislation was not necessary. Shortly after the hearing, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed its stand regarding BPA and is now proposing interim steps to reduce exposure of infants to BPA in the food supply. - Kathryn Campbell
“This aspect of the story is close to my heart as a mother of a son who spent 69 days in the
Watson Fellow will Explore Rebirth of Judaism in Post-Soviet World
up in the Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, Bilko experienced a similar reawakening by researching his family’s Jewish past.
Through a grant from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, Ursinus senior Andrey Bilko will explore the Jewish traditions of the postSoviet world, while reflecting on his own experiences. Following the collapse of the Soviet regime, religious practices were no longer prohibited. After being persecuted and discriminated against by the communist government, Soviet Jews could begin returning to their roots and be openly Jewish. Many Jews were rediscovering their heritage, which was dormant for years. While growing
“I wish to learn from elderly Jews who lived through the Soviet regime what their lives were like, what kind of sacrifices they had to make, and what role the return of Judaism has played in their lives,” Bilko says. His research and interests will take him to Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Russia to examine how the practice of Judaism is re-emerging after a period of harassment and persecution caused many to stop practicing in order to protect themselves and their families. He will also
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hear from a younger generation and try to determine what makes some Jews return to Judaism after many years of not practicing, and why others still hide their identities. Bilko, a chemistry major with a pre-medical track, has experienced the Jewish revival in Ukraine first hand, being able to attend religious services and a Jewish day school before moving to the United States with his parents. After moving to York, Pa. he and his parents were able to actively participate in a welcoming local Jewish community. Bilko has been actively involved within the Ursinus community, serving for AmeriCorps, participating in a multitude of clubs on campus, playing intramural sports, tutoring Ursinus students and students from the local schools in chemistry and math. “I realized I need to be engaged with other people which is one of the reasons why I want to be a doctor.” The Foundation offers a grant to seniors nominated by a select group of liberal arts institutions for one year of study Andrey Bilko outside the United States on a project of their choice. The 40 Watson Fellows were selected from 150 finalists and will receive $25,000 for twelve months of travel and exploration abroad. In the Philadelphia area, Ursinus, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore colleges have produced Watson scholars this year. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program was established in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of International Business Machines Corp., and his wife, Jeannette K. Watson.
Transitions
Benner Joins Field Hockey Staff
Janelle Engle Benner has been named the Associate Head Coach for the Bears Field Hockey Team. A 2006 graduate of Old Dominion University, Benner was named Division-I First Team All-American, CAA Player of the year, ODU Female Athlete of the Year, and VASID (Va. Association of Sports Information Directors) Player of the Year. “Janelle is a strong teacher with a terrific work ethic,” says Laura Moliken, Director of Athletics. “She has a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and energy. We are thrilled to have her.” Benner was team captain for her junior and senior years, leading her team to three CAA Conference Championships, four NCAA tournament appearances, and two Final Four appearances. She was named to the 2005 NCAA All-Tournament Team. As a senior, Benner was a 2006 NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist. Ben-
ner graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 grade average and was named ESPN The M a g a z i n e / C o S I DA Academic First Team All American, CAA Female Scholar Athlete of the Year, and fourtime NFHCA Academic All-American. Prior Janelle Engle Benner to joining Ursinus Field Hockey, Benner was the head coach at Manheim Central High School for three years where she led her team to three Lancaster-Lebanon League playoff appearances and two Pennsylvania District III playoff appearances.
Changes in Residence Life
The Board of Trustees has approved the promotion of Deborah Olsen Nolan to Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs. A member of the Dean’s staff since 1986, she is a graduate of Muskingum College and holds a master’s degree from Ohio State University. Also in the Student Affairs Office, Kim Taylor is now Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Campus Safety, advising the Greek fraternity and sorority system, and providing campus leadership on gay and lesbian issues.
Welcome to New Advancement VP
We welcome Connie L. Murphy to the Advancement Office, as the new Vice President for Advancement. Most recently, Connie was the Assistant Vice President for Leadership Gifts and Development Outreach at Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia, and her career includes several executive level positions in the health care advancement field. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and is a member of the Association of Fundraising professionals.
Commencement Update
Ursinus College will celebrate its 137th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 15th at 10 a.m. on the lawn in front of the campus. The Baccalaureate Service will be in Bomberger Chapel on Friday, May 14 at 5 p.m. A reception in Olin Plaza will follow the service. The rain location for this reception is Wismer Center. Andrew Delbanco, the Julian Clarence Levi Professor Chair in the Humanities and the Director of the American Studies Program at Columbia University will be the Commencement Speaker and will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1973, and his doctorate in 1980. He began teaching at Columbia University shortly thereafter and was promoted to full professor in 1987. Professor Delbanco is the author of Melville: His World and Work (2005), SPRING 2010 PAGE 5
which won the Lionel Trilling Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in biography. He is also the author of The Death of Satan (1995), Required Reading: Why Our American Classics Matter Now (1997), and The Real American Dream (1999), which were all named notable books by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. The Puritan Ordeal (1989) won the Lionel Trilling Award. His essays regularly appear in the New York Review of Books, and other publications. The Baccalaureate speaker will be Hollis Watkins, president and co-founder of Southern Echo, a leadership development and education organization, that provides training and technical assistance to individuals and organizations throughout the South in the areas of politics, education, environmental programs, economic development, and law. A longtime civil rights activist, he was one of the participants in an historic sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter in McComb, Miss. He is the founder of the Civil Rights Veterans of Mississippi. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. President John Strassburger will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Commencement.
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch
Rabbi Ismar Schorsch returned to campus April 12 for a talk, “Germany Confronts Its Past,” to coincide with Yom Hashoah, a day to memorialize those who perished in the Holocaust. Dr. Schorsch, Chancellor Emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and holder of the Davis Visiting Professorship at Ursinus College, is a member of the Class of 1957. Since retiring in 2006 from the seminary, Schorsch, who holds the title, Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish History, is at work on writing books. His book, Canon Without Closure (March 2007, Aviv Press), is a wide-ranging collection of Torah commentaries written during his tenure as Chancellor. In 2004, he published a two-volume collection of the articles and essays he wrote while Chancellor, Polarities in Balance, and in 1995, he published The Sacred Cluster: The Core Values of Conservative Judaism. Dr. Schorsch was ordained by JTSA in 1962 and holds master’s degrees from JTSA and Columbia University. He was awarded a Ph. D. in Jewish history by Columbia in 1969. The Davis Visiting Professorship of Judeo-Christian Studies was established by Nancy Davis in honor of her late husband Thomas, and was last held by Harvard’s Owen Gingerich, professor emeritus of astronomy and of the history of science.
Princeton Review cites Ursinus
Ursinus College is one of The Princeton Review’s 50 “Best Value” private colleges for 2010. The Best Value list which features 100 schools – 50 public and 50 private colleges and universities – is featured on the websites of The Princeton Review and USA Today, which partnered to present the lists. Of the 50 schools chosen in each category (public and private), the top 10 are ranked, PAGE 6 URSINUS MAGAZINE
and the remaining 40 are listed in alphabetical order and unranked. Ursinus is one of three schools on the list located in Pennsylvania, with Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr colleges. All three are members of the Centennial Conference in athletics. In its profile of Ursinus on USA Today’s website, The Princeton Review editors commend the school for its student experiences. “Ursinus College has roots of reform that have translated into a college experience that makes serious changes in a student’s life,” according to the write-up. “Ursinus participated in the national Project DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practices), and has received high laurels for its transformational experience. The First Year Experience includes excellent first-year advising by faculty, first-year clustering in guaranteed housing, a laptop, and the Common Intellectual Experience where first-year students read, write, and learn in small seminar-style classes.”
Ursinus in the News Upon the Jan. 27 death of author J.D. Salinger, who attended Ursinus in 1938 and wrote for the student newspaper, many media outlets noted his Ursinus connection – Business Week, Yahoo News, the New York Times, and newspapers around the world. Feb. 12, 2010: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on President Strassburger’s announcement that he is stepping down June 30, in an extensive article. The Chronicle of Higher Education features President Strassburger’s essay, “For the Liberal Arts, Rhetoric in Not Enough” in the March 5 issue. Philadelphia Inquirer lead art critic Edward Sozanksi reviews the Berman Museum of Art exhibit, “Edward Burtynksy: Minding the Landscape,” saying that “Burtynsky proves himself a master not only of scale and detail but of the ethical ambiguity inherent in modern industrial processes,” in the March 14 newspaper. The process of deciding to change the Ursinus SAT policy to a test-optional one is recounted in the March 22 The Chronicle of Higher Education. Ursinus senior Laurel Salvo was featured April 14, 2010 in The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Style and Soul front page, as a former intern for musician Joan Jett in New York City. The May issue of Kiplinger Magazine takes a close look at Ursinus to offer helpful information to its readers on the process of tuition and financial aid.
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The Education of John Strassburger By Richard C. Morais
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t was a Saturday morning and the rain was coming down in a biblical deluge, as I made my way through the winding paths of the Ursinus College grounds. Suddenly, a violent gust of wind turned my umbrella inside out, and, in that instant, I thought to myself, ‘The gods are angry and weeping.’ They had good reason. For Ursinus’s president, John Strassburger, was moving on. I am a relatively new friend of John’s. We have only had a few encounters, but I immediately recognized in him a fellow raconteur, and each exchange we had was, for me at least, very enjoyable and stimulating. So I wanted to come by to pay my respects, and indulge in another chat, where from the comfort of our armchairs we could once again efficiently dispatch with all the problems of the world, or, at least, everything that required dispatching from the 12th century onwards. John greeted me warmly me at the door of the president’s house, not this time in his ubiquitous bow tie, the white-haired professor’s sartorial fastidiousness, but in comfortable clothes more suitable to a rainy Saturday morning. We went to the sunporch room in the back of the house. This, I recalled, was where one evening a few months back he had his old friend, the House of Saud biographer, Robert Lacey, surrounded by bright Ursinus students.
cauliflower fields, for 50 cents an hour, in the surrounding farmland of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. “You pull the leaves over the cauliflower head to prevent the head from turning yellow. Housewives would never buy a yellow cauliflower. Personally, I could never tell the difference in taste,” he told me, minutes after I had arrived. That off-the-cuff remark was typical of John and perhaps the reason I so enjoy his company. Within moments he had provided me with a tasty morsel of general knowledge that I could squirrel away for future use. John has a writer’s eye – or possible the historian’s eye – for valuable details harvested from the seemingly inconsequential annals of life. Perhaps that’s because before he discovered his true calling as an academic, John’s early work-life included making metal drums for washing machines, lifeguard, and bank auditor. At one point, he was even a “gastarbeiter” – a foreign-born factory hand in Germany – bunked up in barracks with Turkish migrant workers. This colorful work history led us to a serious discussion about how college students these days are pressured to take on “productive” internships, rarely allowed to serendipitously sample a wide variety of work before they settle in to a career. It’s a shame, we
That night John’s wife, Trudy, held a glass of white wine elegantly in a tapered hand and made my wife and I feel very much at home. I am not sure how I finagled an invite, but it was a very enjoyable evening, and I remembered that afterwards I provocatively asked John why he never told me he had “married up.” True to form, John quickly and effortlessly lobbed back a dry remark about my own wife, and her position relative to our marital status. It’s that damn Cambridge education. You can never get the last word with John. He’s too quick. But I am still trying. John is a self-starter from solid Midwestern stock. At the age of 14, his father, a local business leader, had him working the SPRING 2010 PAGE 7
agreed. These early work experiences enhance the life that comes afterward and inevitably shape the leaders our nation produces. “An essay I read was about the growing social distance between the elites and the rest of the population. It was a very east coast perspective. Take a kid from a prep school, put them in an elite college and fancy internship, and you probably have someone who has never been in a subordinate position.” Sounds like most of Goldman Sachs. I observed his point was proven in the latest reality show sensation, Undercover Boss, about chief executives who secretly try out the grunt-work jobs in their company and are clearly shocked by the reality of the experience. John of course had never heard of the TV show. You get the impression pop culture is not his forte, but of course he has to have some limitations. It’s only seemly. As young man John went to Bates College in Maine, for his undergraduate degree, ostensibly to study math. “I was very cocky, thinking I was the next Newton. I hit a brick wall.” Luckily, a Canadian – a Harvard Ph.D. who taught Western Civilization and was as English as only someone from the commonwealth provinces can be – took a shine to young John. Guided by the professor, John fell in love with history and the humanities. The tutor “had us over to his apartment for brandy. He had 18th century furniture. I had never even seen 18th century furniture. He took us to concerts, chided me when I clapped between movements, and he encouraged me to apply to Cambridge.” Cambridge and British academic life was a revelation. “The other American kids studying history there were from Yale, and I quickly discovered they knew something about the study of history. I thought my job at Bates was to read books and somehow internalize what they were saying. The kids from Yale thought their job was to read books and be able to take them apart and show up their shortcomings. They had much more critical thinking. One tutor would run into me in the library, and say, ‘Strassburger! Get out of the library. Your problem is you need to work on your writing.’ So John walked away from the experience with invaluable lessons
on the importance of writing and critical thinking that shaped his teaching style and, ultimately, the institution he shaped at Ursinus. “The ability to talk well is very valuable in life, and when I began teaching, I was eager to teach students how to criticize a historical argument, probably to a fault. I made them write and write and write. A professor came in and said, ‘I think there may be a flaw in your emphasis on critical thinking. I had a kid in class today and he said “tell me again, what came first, the revolution or the civil war?”’ So there was a ‘little flaw’ in my plan. “So much critical thinking comes out if you can structure an awful lot of conversation. But to me, the best kind of small course also has to have conversation that follows some writing, so that students are coming into class having taken a position or articulated a view on something.” For a while, the college where he taught for 10 years, Hiram College in Ohio, loaned him out to the Reagan administration when William Bennett chaired the National Endowment for the Humanities. That’s where John discovered he had an aptitude for administration. “The point of bureaucracy is to see that the stated purpose of a program is executed by the people who are employed to do it. Some of it was really useful. The guy I worked for was brilliant at pointing out that the first thing I had to do was demonstrate I understood what it was the person was advocating or proposing. That had to be done quickly.” The institutional transformations that John undertook after becoming Ursinus’s president – turning this Pennsylvanian college into a well-rounded liberal arts college with an innovative curriculum – are already well-known to the readers of this magazine. At the core of Ursinu’s transformation, however, stood a profound and rock-solid belief in the intrinsic value of the liberal arts education, even when the rest of the world seemed to be heading in a different direction. “Sometimes you have to be crass about holding the course, because the value of a liberal education is no longer self-evident. I read this wonderful history of the MBA – the author’s whole point was that the thought process in the 1920s and 1930s was that business should be a profession, and a profession by definition is rooted in a larger social purpose. Business schools now
“One of the distinctive things for me about John is that he understands what a liberal arts education means,” says Political Science Department Chair Paul Stern. “He had the insight that we didn’t have to chase after every intellectual fad that was coming through – just do what we could do, the best we could do it. That is what guided his decision there, and throughout his presidency.” PAGE 8 URSINUS MAGAZINE
2001: President Strassburger enjoys greeting students at freshman orientation
teach kids how to get ahead. All the emphasis is now on finance, and how to manipulate the market.” We talked on, but hearing John talk about his life’s journey, I was repeatedly struck by how much of Ursinus’s ethos today took root during his formative years at Cambridge. As part of that experience, for example, John and others at his college in Cambridge worked with underprivileged children. One such boy, David, took John back to his “council flat” to meet his family and see where he lived. John found a photograph of an American serviceman standing against the kid’s wall. It was the boy’s father. The kid had never known him. Afterwards, back in college, clearly moved by the experience, John openly mused with his fellow students, how nice it would be if young David could one day attend Cambridge. They scoffed at the idea. “That appalled me. When I got to Cambridge, I originally thought I wanted to be a medievalist, but I soon became intrigued and fascinated with the question of how the creed of equality, that seemed so pervasive in the U.S., even if the creed and reality were miles apart, how that creed of equality didn’t in fact exist in England. There was a famous philosopher in my college who explained to me that the people in [the city of] Cambridge were happier not buying into the notion of upward mobility.
went to Andover and Yale. There is a kind of exaggerated privilege getting woven into the upper reaches of society now, which has some of the rhetoric of meritocracy, but clearly there are some in it who have had a tremendous head start. “My commitment to Ursinus is in this, in trying to sustain a democratic vision for the college. I don’t have anything against rich kids, but I want rich kids who come to Ursinus saying, ‘I want to be known for what I accomplish.’ The college is a very egalitarian institution. It was a Pennsylvanian-German college. It was a great place for farm kids. It went coed in 1880. It’s never had a train of kids coming from the elite New England schools. So the question is, ‘How do we sustain this vision?’ We want to offer an elite education, but to an egalitarian student body. Well, we sustain the vision through a lot of merit aid, but the board struggles with this issue all the time, particularly in this time of budget constraints.” May the Ursinus board appropriately honor John’s legacy by fighting the good fight well into the future. Richard C. Morais was a Senior Editor at Forbes and the magazine’s longest serving foreign correspondent. An American raised in Switzerland, Morais has lived most of his life overseas, returning to the United States in 2003. He was stationed in London for 17 years, where he was Forbes’ European Bureau Chief. He now lives in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter. The HundredFoot Journey is his first novel, available this summer.
“I worry about that here in Ursinus. I never want a kid from Ursinus winding up at Harvard Law School and discovering he or she has not had an education equipping them as well as the kid who SPRING 2010 PAGE 9
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A Mission Realized
How Defining Liberal Arts Helped Define John Strassburger By Robert Strauss
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alking into his new office New Year’s Day 1995, John Strassburger took in the wood paneling, yellow crushed velvet sofa and empty shelves waiting for student art. But what really captured his attention was a thick manila folder resting on the desk: a task force report warning that the College was headed toward a $5 million deficit. “There was hardly a faculty member who was not worried,” recalls Hugh Clark, Professor of East Asian Studies. “Insolvency. A new guy. Who wouldn’t be worried?” Strassburger was prepared and eager to advance a well-respected regional institution that clung to what he calls “a PennsylvaniaGerman tradition of aggressive modesty.” In short order, he needed to win over an anxious faculty, embark on campus-wide physical transformations and begin a one-man mission to inform the world an undiscovered gem of the highest class was waiting at this small liberal arts college in the awakening Pennsylvania suburbs. Strassburger was the first Ursinus president to come from outside the College community and credits his predecessor, Richard P. Richter, with recognizing that the College culture had become too insular. Richter, by bringing Phi Beta Kappa and the Berman Museum of Art to campus, set the College on a wider path.
board meeting, I announced we were going to have to borrow $10 to $12 million.”
Building on a Strong Foundation
With that first bold decision past, Strassburger started on a list of sweeping changes. Indeed, when he retires this spring, he will leave Ursinus a radically different place than he found it. The list of renovations is astonishing – Bakes Field House, Pfhaler Hall, Bomberger Hall, Wismer Hall, Wicks honors house, Hunsberger Woods, Snell Field, and the Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center and four new residence halls – including one that he invited the Board to name after President Richter – are just some of the physical changes. The most critical transformation seems to have been the campus mindset. “John turned around the ship of state on a dime,” says Hugh Clark. “Within a year, the worry of a crisis was a thing of the past. People began to relax, and that is when that ship of state started moving forward under John.”
That first week here for Strassburger was relatively quiet. His wife, Trudy, was back in Illinois, finishing her job teaching the disabled. His two daughters were at Colorado College.
From as far back as the 1920s, the calling card for Ursinus was its pre-med programs. “But the chemistry and physics facility was perhaps the worst science building I had ever been in, and I had probably been in a hundred,” Strassburger says. “We couldn’t afford to continue to brag about our pre-med program without improving the facilities. I could not prove there were students who weren’t coming here because of the facility, but I didn’t think I had to.”
“I had many nights to think about things,” he says. In 1995, the challenge was steering Ursinus from a good regional liberal arts school with a good pre-med program, to a national model of liberal education. Ultimately, Strassburger decided that “hunkering down” was not going to solve anything. Though there was reluctance to pare programs, he carefully cut $1 million from the budget. Mostly, though, he decided what Ursinus needed was not slashing, but enhancing. He proposed borrowing to finance projects – especially ones that had defined Ursinus. “At my second
Renovating the science building would lay important groundwork for future projects. “A lot of fund-raising is being evangelical about what you want to accomplish and then having a lot of luck,” he says. “It was almost like we had to say that this building would be great for us, and great for American democracy. We had to sell, and we had to be positive. That gave people the idea that we were serious about getting better. It wasn’t just a hunker down, pull up by the bootstraps, increase the rebates Chrysler model. It was: Yes, we are going to get better.” SPRING 2010 PAGE 11
Pfahler Hall’s refurbishing brought faculty and students together in inspiring spaces for research. The seeds of the College mantras, student achievement and undergraduate research, were sown. “You could have looked at Ursinus as a tough sell in a crowded market,” says Hugh Clark. “John saw it instead as an institution with a lot of promise that his predecessor had started on a good path. There was no previous notion of a lesser Ursinus, just John’s receptiveness to, and enthusiasm for, new ideas.” Strassburger had been chair of the American Conference of Academic Deans while he was Dean of Faculty at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. There he had been immersed in a project to create a way of evaluating liberal arts faculties. “We found that those liberal arts faculties were much better in many cases, than at larger and more prestigious schools.” By applying the same criteria to Ursinus faculty, Strassburger believed Ursinus was home to a pretty elite group. “I was surprised how little the College talked about the quality of its faculty.”
A Critical Course for Every Freshman
As Ursinus was approaching its accreditation review in 1997, Political Science Department Chair Paul Stern, a young hire with a
sible would be involved in. The course would allow students to wrestle with the important questions of human existence. “I told him I could be counted on to either support it, or oppose it, whatever he thought would enhance its chances of getting approved,” says Strassburger. “One of the distinctive things for me about John is that he understands what a liberal arts education means,” says Stern. “He had the insight that we didn’t have to chase after every intellectual fad that was coming through – just do what we could do, the best we could do it. That is what guided his decision there, and throughout his presidency.”
Staying True to Tradition
In 2000, a group from Ursinus was touring universities and colleges looking at theater buildings to get ideas for a new arts facility. During one of those visits, Strassburger remembers the theater director ran up to the group and said, “Well, don’t let them do what they did to me.” The director explained he was “forced to have a theater big enough for the freshman class. When we asked him what was wrong with that, he shot back that student actors can’t be heard in a large facility.”
2009: Lisa Hanover, Jan Heffler of the Berman Foundation, Nancy Berman, John Strassburger, Jill Marsteller at Berman construction
2007: John Strassburger watching Bears Football
Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, knocked on Strassburger’s door with an idea that had been percolating among a few of the faculty. The idea would come to exemplify what a true liberal arts education means: the Common Intellectual Experience (CIE), which has become synonymous with Ursinus.
The criticism shed light on their plans. Instead of building something grand, glorious and impractical, Strassburger says, the new theater at Ursinus would seat 350, smaller than the 475 to 525 students in a typical freshman class. “It is perfect for the student actor, and that is perfect for what Ursinus is all about; we built a theater for student achievement,” Strassburger says. With the vision and construction of the Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center underway, the arts were now intertwined with the sciences tradition here. The legacy of athletics had been cemented in 2001 with the construction of the Floy Lewis Bakes field house and refurbishing of athletic facilities. “Science, arts and athletics, it was the three legs of the stool,” says Strassburger. “We had to be true to our traditions if we were ever to move forward.”
“Like many colleges, we had core requirements, but students were taking them in no order,” says Stern. “I had senior chemistry majors in my introductory courses, and political science majors rushing to finish up some language requirement at the end of their time here.” So the faculty developed a critical course that every freshman would take and as many faculty members as posPAGE 12 URSINUS MAGAZINE
Strassburger understood the connection between sports and the liberal arts experience, says Kevin Small, the Ursinus basketball coach. “He has the imagination to see the art in the block of stone,” says Small. “Yes, we have had many good teams, but John has saved us, frankly, because he has reiterated that it is not about the winning, but about making the student whole and nurtured.” Small, a biochemistry and philosophy double-major who played basketball at St. Joseph’s University, says Strassburger has brought “a certain kind of zeitgeist to the place. Ursinus remains one of the last true places of egalitarian education. This is a grounded place, and it is due to the example he sets.” Construction on the new performing arts center was in full swing when Chris Aiken came to interview. “But that was not really the reason I came,” says Aiken, associate professor of theater and dance. “It was John Strassburger’s vision. This was a person who understood the importance of the arts in a liberal arts education. In his perspective, arts were not simply an activity for a few people, but they had the potential to be a community-builder,” says Aiken. “Students and faculty can come to Ursinus and know how their discipline enhances and is enhanced by the other disciplines. That is the liberal arts ideal, and that is what John promotes. It is the kaleidoscope.”
2008: Trudy and John Strassburger with artist Francoise Gilot
Filling in the pieces of the liberal arts mosaic was part of a larger plan. “I have this pretentious and ambitious notion that the perfect Ursinus would have a time at 2 a.m. when everyone was talking about Euripides,” Strassburger says with a chuckle and a tug at his bow tie. “There used to be mandatory chapel – not religious, but talks – at schools long ago, and I always hoped for a successor to that. “If we are to be serious about fostering student achievement we need ways to have students engage with each other,” he says. “Dance and theater helped to elevate the conversation. The more plays and performances on campus, the more chances there would be for that conversation. Roommates would come, even if just to
heckle, but few people leave a performance and not talk about it.”
Cascade of Change
Strassburger found answers for Ursinus by asking the right questions. “If I look back over my time here, the College has changed more completely and dramatically than anyone on the board thought it would or that I thought it would,” he says. “The usual model in higher education is a lot of people sitting around a room with flip charts and Magic Markers, which always produces a middling result. Long ago, we picked up on the non-planning model, and campaigned for things as they came. It is a cascade of changes that has made Ursinus what it is today,” he says. “We said Ursinus had to be about fostering student achievement. That has driven every budget decision. And we are no doubt the better for it.” At Bates, his undergraduate alma mater, Strassburger, from Wisconsin, found two history teachers who cared about him and challenged him – one, an Ursinus alumnus – and history soon became his passion. He studied at Cambridge University, and then got his Ph.D. at Princeton, and began his professional career teaching at Hiram College, another small liberal arts college, from 1970 until leaving in 1982 to work for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
1995: John Strassburger meets the campus
“But I realized I was an historian and, more than that, I discovered that I really missed being on a campus, missed being in a classroom, missed faculty members, missed shooting the breeze, but really missed being around students,” he said. So after his stint in Washington, he went back to yet another small liberal arts school, Knox, where he became dean of the faculty and executive vice president. It is there that the search committee to replace the retiring President Richter found him in 1994.
Ideals Trump Fears; Trust Builds Concensus
English professor Patricia Schroeder, a 1974 Ursinus alumna, said SPRING 2010 PAGE 13
that when Strassburger arrived he could have been forgiven if he thought he had walked into a proverbial hornet’s nest. “When John arrived, there were many antagonistic factions within the faculty,” says Schroeder. At one faculty meeting soon after he had arrived, there was a particularly vehement discussion of how a voting procedure would work out for a particular election at the meeting. “One professor asked, ‘How will we know that someone hasn’t voted more than once?’” says Schroeder, showing how touchy the antagonisms were. But, she says, Strassburger stood at the podium and paused only a beat, for emphasis, after the comment. “[He] replied, ‘We trust each other.’ With that, controversy died down and the election took place smoothly and without negative repercussions.
he basically surfed, he says. After dropping out, he came home and worked in construction while figuring out what to do next. His father encouraged him to apply to Ursinus. He did, but with lukewarm enthusiasm. “My dad told me to stop by and say hello to his friend, John Strassburger,” says the younger Corson. “That seemed preposterous. What new kid is just going to go over to talk to the President of the college? Well, I poked my head in his office and, amazingly, I found someone so glad a kid poked his head in – and found, too, that other students poked their heads in all the time,” says Corson, now a dean at a college preparatory school in Honolulu. “Every so often, I would stop by or see him on campus or in a café. He always knew what I was up to, and, it seemed, what every student was up to. Great colleges are made that way, and I know Ursinus is far better for having John know every student and staff member than for any building or monument.”
“Sometimes ideals really can trump fears,” she says. While he was thinking big, Strassburger carefully tended to what would eventually become his hallmark – his connection with students and faculty. Flynn Corson’s dad, J.E.F. Corson, is an Ursinus Trustee and incoming Interim President. But Flynn came to Ursinus as a transfer student in 2001 with a bit of cynicism. He had grown up in nearby Blue Bell, Pa., but had gone to private Mercersburg Academy and then on a wrestling scholarship to Cal State/Fullerton. There,
In retirement, Strassburger will continue as President Emeritus, dealing with development issues, and continuing to write and publish on the state of education. “I know he will continue to be a mentor to me and other younger college presidents, especially those at liberal arts schools,” says Tori Haring-Smith, the president of Washington & Jefferson College in western Pennsylvania, who has known Strassburger since he and her father were colleagues at Knox. “I know Ursinus will find someone good. It is a college on the move,
2003: President Strassburger and Queen Noor of Jordan on the podium at commencement
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but in so many ways, especially the personal touch, John will be hard to replace.” That personal touch is what students find so memorable. In addition to creating a place where student achievement is paramount, John, with Trudy, cheered on the Bears in Helfferich, at Snell, Patterson and Wilkes fields, applauded at plays and dance performances in The Kaleidoscope and enjoyed events such as Airband, all likely after a meal at Wismer. With more than a foot of snow blanketing the campus, J.E.F. Corson watched as Strassburger made his retirement announcement Feb. 11 in Bomberger Hall. Filling John Strassburger’s shoes won’t be easy, Corson told the audience of faculty, students and staff who had just given two standing ovations to the president. “Those shoes right there,” he told the crowd, “have made a significant impact on the College.” Then he thought about his son, Flynn, and added, “You walk with John to the office and he knows everybody. He chats with them, he mentors them. It is the students that he knows that really marks the man.” Trustee Bob Brant 1977, whose daughter, Sarah, will graduate from Ursinus this May, remembers one afternoon walking across campus with Strassburger. “First he’s talking to the guy mowing the grass, and then something with a student, and then a little colloquy with a faculty member. Then I think he was going back to his office to write a treatise on higher education,” says Brant. “The faculty is strong and the student body is as diverse as it has ever been, but the big difference at Ursinus is just John’s spirit, his openness, and it has made everyone else the better for it.” Robert Strauss is a freelance writer living in Haddonfield, N.J. His work most often appears in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Strauss was a former features writer at the Philadelphia Daily News and reporter at Sports Illustrated.
Fall 2009: President Strassburger talks with honors science students
“If I look back over my time here, the College has changed more completely and dramatically than anyone on the board thought it would or that I thought it would.” SPRING 2010 PAGE 15
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Substance Meets Style By Robert Reichley
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W
hile walking across the campus at Ursinus one day, I had an odd thought from I know not where. I had John Strassburger on my mind and with a question mark: Why is it that male college presidents are tall, handsome and almost never overweight? A second thought immediately popped up: Who cares? Easy: I do. Serving on the Ursinus Board of Trustees for a long period, and six years as its chairman, I seldom saw President Strassburger without the widest smile in higher education. He sets a style for overworked presidents, many without much to smile about. If you will pardon my adding some rambling personal thoughts or two, I have mulled over my own nearly 40 years as a senior officer in education. More than 30 of those years were in service to four presidents of Brown University and almost 10 years in a senior position to a U.S. Air Force Major General at Culver Academy in Indiana. His weight was in question. And that doesn’t count the years at Ursinus with John Strassburger and on the Board of Trustees. Among all of these men and women, I did not find one I disliked but I wouldn’t want to jump into the crater by comparing one with the other.
With all of that, I see John Strassburger through a different lens. I see the smile constantly, and it comes automatically because it is real and a symbol of confidence. Not sloppy, but real at the admission and development offices, and in a very rugged time of recession everywhere. He once told a reporter that Ursinus was hiding its light under one of its lovely campus monuments. Not a good environment when greater transparency is needed. That has changed. “No buzz….too self-effacing of justified accomplishments and strides forward,” he said. There is something to the saying that if you have to tell your audience that you’re great, you probably aren’t. Accomplishments are the game and they are now in abundance. A historian, John has not been afraid to step out on such issues as science and talk the talk. He said: “…I have marveled that when I have asked scientists what they learned from their first research experiences, over and over again the first thing they mention is integrity… Liberal arts colleges that have a culture of scientific research are the most likely to promote discussion of moral issues and ethical dilemmas. Such discussions are, in fact, the essence of the liberal arts.”
“I see John Strassburger through a different lens. I see the smile constantly, and it comes automatically because it is real and a symbol of confidence.”
Then there is John Strassburger, who has boosted my alma mater to heights not reached by his predecessors, an accomplishment to talk about, but more importantly a symbol of success in terms of attracting the next generation of talented men and women preparing for the next step in their education.
We are a three-generation Ursinus family. Sara and I began our long marriage in Collegeville. It became a second home for us when son John became an Ursinus graduate and our Seattle grandson Matthew received his diploma last Spring. Both have good and promising jobs, and coincidentally work for the same company. Nice, but I don’t have spies on the campus anymore.
That is but one tiny example of the larger truth that we are now witnessing with the retirement of a President who will go down in our history as having put our College on the map. John Strassburger got stronger, not weaker, as these years have gone by and has earned what he has gotten and then some. And not to forget Trudy, who in her lovely way, fulfills the good words of the song: “Someone to lean on.” I thank and applaud my former colleagues on the board who had the great, good sense to keep John Strassburger on duty for two more years to do the good things he will have on his mind. Robert A. Reichley 1950, immediate past chair of the Ursinus Board of Trustees, is executive vice president of Brown University and headed its University Relations office from 1971 until his retirement in 1995. He is also the parent and grandparent of Ursinus graduates. His expertise has been solicited on numerous occasions by the Ursinus Communications Office. SPRING 2010 PAGE 17
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A Bright Light in Higher Education By Wick Sloane
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hope Ursinus College will erect a statue of my friend John Strassburger – of course, Trudy, too. Perhaps, like the statue at Hyde Park, where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt beckon us in. I hear John and Trudy saying to arriving students, “Welcome to Ursinus College. We believe in you, and we’ll guarantee to teach you something both challenging and useful.” As a stranger to these pages, I disclose that I am a cranky person and a vitriolic critic of higher education today. I have said and will say to anyone that John Strassburger and the Ursinus faculty are my heroes. I still pinch myself to be sure that John Strassburger and Ursinus exist at all. The cause of my wonder? John and the faculty are the only I know of who actually commit to teaching students not just a little bit, but a lot. John’s years at Ursinus are a bright light in what history – if I have anything to do with writing that history – will call “The Age of Excuses” in American higher education. To the shame of us all, college and university presidents earned handsome salaries and funded pensions traveling the land, well, whining. We’re all weary of their cries. “Without more money, we can’t possibly….” “Without this new building, students we accept will go to X instead.” “We could spend less – if we agree that we are willing to sacrifice excellence.” Now, I know that John and Ursinus raised money and built buildings. They did this, however, without losing sight of the goal – education. We met with an e-mail John sent after The Philadelphia Inquirer published an op-ed I wrote, in the previous century, charging that the Ivies and other self-described most-highly-selective colleges (SDMHS – I have a word limit) had confused endowment size with education. Where was all the money going? John wrote, inviting me to check out Ursinus, a college unafraid to commit to providing a fantastic education without demanding millions more or insisting that all freshmen arrive with several Ph.D.’s already. I wish I had kept John’s note. I knew I had a friend for life when he wondered if many colleges had just become, I think his words were, “tax-free investment-management companies” burdened by faculty, classrooms and students. I’ve watched Ursinus with great admiration and envy ever since. Here’s what I admire. John had the confidence to see Ursinus and the faculty at their true value – a wonderful college lost in the noise of “U.S. News and World Report” rankings. Ursinus didn’t try to game the ratings. Ursinus took the steady route – PAGE 18 URSINUS MAGAZINE
educate students. Slow and steady. Support the faculty and bring attention to what that faculty was already doing. No wonder U.S. News had Ursinus on its list of up and coming colleges for two years. In theory, focus on teaching and learning by a college president is too obvious to mention. Over the years John has been president at Ursinus, though, holding onto those obvious values has taken more courage than many outside higher education might imagine. The SDMHS world considers the Ursinus strategy and accomplishments a threat. That the challenge comes from a president with John’s unassailable academic gravitas including Cambridge and Princeton makes matters worse. I suspect that’s led to some lonely moments for your president. I am thrilled that John’s retirement coincides with the recent accreditation by the Middle States Commission, which sent a team with representatives from tony colleges – Barnard, Vassar and Grinnell. This Commission reported that what was actually happening at Ursinus was, in fact, what the faculty promised – not just to teach but that the students would learn. Two quotes from that report: “The combination of curricular changes and the focus on student achievement over the past ten years has transformed the undergraduate experience at Ursinus.” And “The [accreditation] team was struck again and again by the extent to which the entire Ursinus community shares fully in a common vision with student achievement at the center.” Over a decade when most of U.S. higher education was complaining and making excuses, the Ursinus faculty and staff and president decided instead just to do the job at hand for the Ursinus students. My hope? That scores of those students will become professors and presidents themselves. U.S. education needs accomplishers, not excusers. I can’t find better words than those of the accreditation itself: “Bravo, Ursinus.” Wick Sloane’s midnight expository writing class at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston made the front page of The New York Times last fall. The bio on his recent pamphlet, “Common Sense: The Bachelor’s Degree is Obsolete,” states: “Wick Sloane, who writes the column ‘The Devil’s Workshop’ for Inside Higher Ed, holds degrees from the nation’s most highly selective institutions of higher education, Williams College and Yale University. Therefore, by the standards of the academy itself, he must be right.”
“John’s years at Ursinus are a bright light in what history – if I have anything to do with writing that history – will call ‘The Age of Excuses’ in American higher education.” SPRING 2010 PAGE 19
Sweet Success:
Steve Donahue Transformed Cornell’s Waning Basketball Program into a Powerhouse
Photos courtesy of Cornell University Athletics
By Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995
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teve Donahue, Class of 1984, led the Big Red of Cornell to the NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Sweet 16 this March. His journey has been one of triumphs, as well as setbacks. Donahue, in his tenth year as the Robert E. Gallagher ’44 Head Coach of Men’s Basketball, led the team to a 29-4 record. His teams have won back-to-back Ivy League titles. This season his men’s basketball team was nationally ranked for the first time in 59 years.
Now Donahue will face a new challenge in an even more competitive arena. In April, he was named the new head coach at Boston College, part of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). “People asked me what it would take to leave Cornell,” says Donahue. “I said it had to be a home run. I’ll tell you what Boston College is: It’s a grand slam, over the Green Monster, versus the Yankees, in Game 7.”
“Before I even got the job at Cornell, I interviewed for six or seven head coaching jobs that I didn’t get,” Donahue says. “You wonder if you are ever going to get your break.” As an economics major at Ursinus, Donahue always knew he wanted to coach. He played basketball and baseball throughout his college career. As a freshman on the basketball team, he helped the Bears finish with a 23–8 record and advance to the Final Four of the NCAA Division III tournament. A cerebral point guard, he captained the team his junior and senior years.
After graduating in 1984, Donahue followed Werley to Springfield High School in Delaware County, Pa., where Werley became head coach. Steve was his assistant for three years. He later became assistant coach at Monsignor Bonner High School for a year, then onto Philadelphia Textile (now Philadelphia University) as assistant for two years. He went to the University of Pennsylvania where he worked strictly as a volunteer coach for five years.
“Steve really understood the game,” says Skip Werley, his Ursinus coach. “He not only understood his role on the court, but everybody else’s as well.” PAGE 20 URSINUS MAGAZINE
“I was working selling MAB Paints during the day to support myself,” Donahue says. “Every April, I’m sure people were sitting around wondering what the heck I was doing. I was 33 years old before I had a full-time coaching position.”
Donahue was learning everything he could about the game and about coaching. He trained with some of basketball’s best minds including Fran O’Hanlon, whom he worked for at Monsignor Bonner and who is now head coach at Lafayette College. Herb McGee at Philadelphia University was also a mentor. McGee won his 900th career game this past season, to Fran Dunphy at Penn, who is now head coach at Temple University. “It was unbelievable how much they taught me,” Donahue says. “You need help along the way, and I was really fortunate enough to get that help.” In 1995, Donahue became a full-time assistant at Penn, and five years later, he got his first shot as boss at Cornell. He was inheriting a team that had finished last in the Ivy League the previous season, and had a long history of dwelling at the bottom of their conference. Donahue’s first five seasons at the helm didn’t go much better. His teams had a combined record of 45–90 over those seasons, and only once finished higher than fifth in the League standings.
“Steve has built a family up there,” says Jack Devine 1983, who played ball with Donahue at Ursinus and remains one of his closest friends. “It reminds me of the kind of team we had at Ursinus. Steve will make sure the bonds his teams build will turn into friendships for a lifetime.” After a series of calls and meetings, Jeff Foote transferred to Cornell, and arrived at school in time for the second semester. “He’s now our star center and an NBA caliber type talent,” Donahue says. “He’s one of the biggest reasons for our success.” Another reason for the team’s transformation is Donahue’s change in recruiting philosophy. Early in his head coaching career, he focused on recruiting students in the Northeast corridor. But those players had a lot of options. Instead, he began recruiting talent from the Midwest. Seven players on his current roster come from the Midwest, including his top scorer, Ryan Wittman, the son of Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Randy Wittman.
“The first couple years here were a struggle – no doubt,” Donahue says. “The program was down for so long. I tried to instill what I wanted the culture to be like, but the last place you see things change is on the scoreboard.” The Big Red was showing little signs of progress in the beginning of the 2005-06 season. But, after a tragic accident at practice on Jan. 24, Donahue’s perspective on coaching, and life, suddenly changed. The Big Red had just come off a tough one-point loss to conference rival Columbia. The team was doing a drill in a controlled scrimmage. There was a loose ball and three players scrambled after it. Two of the players collided. One of them, sophomore Khaliq Gant, didn’t get up. “It is still hard to talk about even today,” says Donahue. “I’ve seen a lot of collisions, but never anything like that before.” Khaliq suffered a severe spinal injury that required a seven-hour operation to fuse his vertebrae. He was paralyzed for two months, but eventually, despite warnings he would not, learned to walk again. He graduated from Cornell in the spring of 2009. “Khaliq’s injury and eventual rehabilitation changed how I coached,” Donahue says. “It made me appreciate what I was doing. I realized if I do things the right way, we would eventually get things turned around. And since that accident and his miraculous recovery, things have spiraled upwards.”
“We have a Big-Ten type of campus. I thought those kids would appreciate it,” he says. “I think they’re overlooked [by recruiters] sometimes out in those rural areas.”
Khaliq’s nurse in the rehabilitation center in Atlanta, Georgia, happened to have a seven-foot son named Jeff Foote. He was playing basketball at St. Bonaventure University at the time, but wasn’t happy with the program. When the nurse met Donahue, the team assistants and Khaliq’s teammates, she was impressed. She thought her son would fit in well with the close knit atmosphere Donahue created.
Well-established now as a top Division I coach, Donahue is ready for whatever happens next. He’s okay if the change unfolds slowly. “I know how fortunate I am,” he says. “My wife, Pam, and I have four healthy kids, and I don’t care what day of the week it is; I go to work every day of the week, and I look forward to every day. Wherever I end up, I know I’ll coach in the right manner. I’ll make changes at the right pace. That’s the way things work best for me.”
SPRING 2010 PAGE 21
A Rock
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n January 12th, at 4:53 p.m. EST, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude started approximately ten miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It lasted anywhere from 35 seconds to a minute. The earthquake in January killed at least 200,000 people and injured 196,595. Close to one million people were displaced with the extreme damage suffered in Portau-Prince. Geologically speaking, it was the result of energy released 6.2 miles below the earth’s surface. The Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system, the subduction zone between the Caribbean tectonic plate and the North American, is the same fault system that produced the major earthquakes of 1751 and 1771, both of which destroyed Port-au-Prince. The good news, if any, was that the earthquake occurred on land and not the ocean which might have resulted in a tsunami. PAGE 22 URSINUS MAGAZINE
in the Sun By Wesley R. Harden III M.D. 1971
“In Haiti there is a saying that describes the poverty and isolation here: The rock in the cool water knows not the pain of the rock in the sun.”
As I had done after the tragedies of September 11th and Hurricane Katrina, I volunteered my services as a general and thoracic surgeon with several private and governmental agencies. After waiting several days with no response, I gave up the pursuit, assured that somewhere my name was on a list. One week after the earthquake, my operating room circulating nurse, Mike Vandervort, an old hand in Haiti from mission work in years past, told me he was leaving for Haiti in three days. Within a matter of hours, I was on the roster to go with him. My wife, Debbie, also volunteered. And so it was the four of us, Mike, his wife, Dawn, also an R.N., and Debbie and I were on a trip which ultimately landed in Cap Haitian on the northern coast of Haiti. Cap Haitian was unaffected by the earthquake except for the huge influx of displaced persons, surviving family members and refugees who streamed north from the earthquake zone. It was my
first trip to a Third World country, and it was an opportunity to see what Haiti was like before the earthquake. Haiti was more destitute and impoverished than I could have possibly imagined. It was hot, crowded and dirty. The smell was overpowering. But it is also a place of raw beauty where people make due, live for today and smile a lot. When we arrived at the mission, we had to fill out insurance forms required to underwrite the risks incurred by those of us entering the earthquake zone. In addition to contact information, there was the disquieting request to name the place where we would want to be interred. Mike wrote, “where I drop.” Debbie and I wrote a more realistic location. When we went to bed that evening we were told we would be going to Leogone, also severely hit by the quake. In the morning we were told plans had changed. The next day, Sunday morning, we, along with luggage, supplies, and SPRING 2010 PAGE 23
“Haiti was more destitute and impoverished than I could have possibly imagined. It was hot, crowded and dirty. The smell was overpowering. But it is also a place of raw beauty where people make due, live for today and smile a lot.”
People gather on the street in front of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince
Haitian translators, got on a truck and went down to Carrefour. It was a long, bumpy, dusty eight hour trip to Port-au-Prince. The pot holes would easily swallow a small automobile and how the axle was not ripped from the chassis I will never know. The road was a bone jarring combination of ruts, craters and foot-high speed bumps. Debbie, because of her bad back, and me, presumably because I was the oldest member of the party, were afforded the luxury of riding in the cab. The folks in the back, sitting on narrow benches and on luggage, were in short order covered with a choking, tenacious dust. The road is the main north-south highway connecting Port-au-Prince and the north coast of Haiti. The only semblance to a highway is that there are occasional sections which are paved. We passed many small towns and villages. They all appeared the same; one or two room cinder block and cement hovels. Invariably, there were small, slightly clad children, old women, chickens, goats and the occasional prized cow or hog tethered to a bush or tree trunk. The women were sweeping dirt off of the dirt. Laundry dried on lines strung between tree limbs or simply flung over bushes. We waved, they waved back. As we approached the Port-au-Prince suburbs we began to see toppled hovels with fallen walls. We thought this was evidence of earthquake damage. But later we were told this is how Haiti normally looks. People milled around looking distracted for the most part, going about the activities of daily life. Motorbikes laced in and out of traffic with suicidal abandon often carrying several people at once. I once counted five adults hugging each other on a motorscooter like slices of bread in a loaf. PAGE 24 URSINUS MAGAZINE
Later that afternoon, we unloaded our luggage and went up the hill to Daquini to the abandoned home that would be the site of our clinic. The home had a commanding view of the Bay where we could easily see a small flotilla of naval vessels swinging at anchor and, of course, the USNS Comfort. I found it reassuring to have a completely self-contained tertiary medical center a short helicopter ride away. I asked Gavin McClintock, an emergency room physician from Northern Ireland and the head of the mission’s activities on the hill, what contingency plans he had to evacuate a critically ill patient off the hill.“None,” he replied. We set up the pharmacy in a lawn care materials shed and pitched the five tents, donated by the Rotary Club International, that would serve as our clinics and, it turned out, our operating room. As we approached the gate to our clinic the next morning, we noted that both sides of the path were lined with patients. When they saw us putting together the clinic the evening before, word must have traveled quickly. They parted ways as we drove into the clinic. No rush, no disorder. Patience is the Haitian way. We started seeing patients immediately Monday morning. Many were refugees from Port-au-Prince, displaced by the damage to their homes and neighborhoods. They lived in a tent city which grew by the hour on the side of our dusty hill. Most had simple problems like bellyaches, most often related to intestinal parasites, headaches, aches and pains, scabies and general anxiety manifesting as somatic complaints. Virtually all got treatment for worms. Most left with acetaminophen, ibuprophen and an oral cephalosporin. Debbie and I worked together in the dispensing
area of the pharmacy. I poured anti-scabies medicine into little bottles between cases. The ER docs were convinced many of the patients were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Many related the loss of a child, spouse, parent, brother or sister. I started seeing neglected wounds on arms and especially legs. Some were infected and required debridement of necrotic tissue. People back in the States figured I would be doing a lot of amputations from crushed and badly mangled extremities. But by the time we arrived all of the limbs requiring amputation had already been removed or the patient had expired. One memorable case was that of a two-week old little boy named, Daniel, who appeared dead as his mother handed him to me. He was critically dehydrated, lethargic and did not move. It turns out that his mother had tossed him out the window when the earthquake started. She and the rest of her family got out before the building collapsed. From what we gathered in the translation from Creole to English she was advised not to breast-feed her baby if it was crying. This admonition resulted in the rapid dehydration of this infant. His eyes were glazed over and his anterior fontanel was completely hollow.
arm, shoulder and chest. Before arriving at the clinic someone had covered the burns with gentian violet. He was covered with a thick, dried, purple crust. We gave him a tetanus shot and some antibiotics and pediatric analgesics. We treated him the next day and were pleased with his progress. We never saw him again. Once word got out that there was a surgeon in the clinic all manner of minor surgical issues appeared. It wasn’t long before we had numerous lipomas, sebaceous cysts and a large congenital nevus of the face and a chondroma of the ear to remove. These minor procedures were performed under the most primitive conditions using nothing but local anesthesia. We sterilized our instruments between cases with bleach and rubbing alcohol. In each case the patient was very happy to lose a disfiguring lesion. (We later learned that they returned for follow up visits and suture removal. All wounds were healing very nicely without infection.) Several cases broke my heart. One woman had a large, untreated breast cancer eroding out of the skin. I knew how to fix this but had none of the tools to do so. A young man came in with lymph nodes enlarged all over his body. I suspected he has lymphoma, probably Hodgkin ’s disease, a highly treatable and even curable cancer in the U.S. They will die of these diseases because nothing exists here to treat it. We also saw numerous cases of AIDS that were also untreated.
I used everything I could remember from medical school pediatrics classes on Daniel. We had no intravenous fluids available so I started to feed On several occasions after arriving him a solution of water and brown in Carrefour we experienced aftersugar. The baby wasted little time shocks. It caused panic among the sucking down the fluids. One of our nurses sending them screaming into nurses pulled out some Propel which the night. But I managed to sleep we also mixed in water and fed this through all the excitement. One Wesley Harden feeds Daniel, a Haitian newborn, to him as well. Several hours later who was brought to the clinic particularly severe tremor occurred we convinced the mother to resume during breakfast. Again, panic with breast-feeding and he took to the breast with great abandon. She everyone heading for the door. I continued calmly eating my panbrought the child back every day until we left and each day he cakes. The night before, an American contractor who happened showed further improvement. He was a survivor. to be a structural engineer had told me his inspection revealed the building was earthquake proof. I felt rather smug, grinning at Haitians are very proud, resourceful and resilient people. For my own bravado. Haitians, seeing a doctor was a privilege and they came to us in their finest clothes. Even little Daniel, near death was dressed as One afternoon a U.N. truck arrived at our gate with boxes of doif he were about to be baptized. Their gratitude for our services nated food. Each contained a bag of noodles, rice, sugar and cans was plain to see. Other issues requiring surgical attention started of tuna and meat. Each box was meant for one family. Within to appear. A two-year-old boy was brought to us by his mother. minutes a crowd of people had arrived seeking food. The tent He had suffered first and deep second-degree burns over his right city, we were told, was populated by over a thousand families. SPRING 2010 PAGE 25
Perplexed and uncertain what to do, the Haitian driver, asked me through the fence what he should do. I had no easy answer for him. Not wanting to start a riot, he turned the truck around, still loaded with the parcels, and left. The last day at the mission, I was approached by Winkney, one of the villa drivers and managers. He asked if we could immunize his children, his nieces and nephews and the children of the cooks in the kitchen. But we had long since run out of tetanus toxoid. He and I were both aware of tetanus (lockjaw) which was affecting many injured Haitians. Then, miraculously, several multi-dose vials of tetanus-pertusis and diphtheria immunizations were delivered to the clinic. I asked Winkney how many he needed. Twenty. Dawn tucked two vials into her backpack and twenty syringes. After dinner we had an inoculation party. Unfortunately, more kids showed up than we had immunizations. A dozen or more had to be turned away. Something we as parents take for granted, ‘well-baby visits’ and ‘getting baby shots’ for our kids, is a luxury for these people. It broke our hearts. In just four days on the hill, the clinic saw 1,104 patients. As we left Port-au-Prince, we drove through the earthquake zone in the central part of the city. The damage was staggering. Buildings were knocked down like dominoes. Some of the wreckage had not been touched and no doubt still contained bodies. The Presidential Palace had simply imploded leaving the once elegant rotundas cocked to the side. The cathedral was a ruin as if bombed from the sky. When Debbie and I tried to leave Haiti, more adventure awaited us. We were put on a standby list and none of the little transCaribbean airlines that service Cap Haitian had available seats. Discouraged, we got up at 5 am Sunday morning and went to the airport to be first on standby. After waiting for several hours it was clear we would not get out then either. Late morning, a Navy Blackhawk helicopter landed to off-load some supplies. I asked
PAGE 26 URSINUS MAGAZINE
the crewman if we could get a lift to Port-au-Prince to get a flight out. He checked with his superiors and we were taken aboard. What had taken eight or nine hours by truck took us about 45 minutes by chopper. We refueled on the back end of the frigate USS Underwood before finally arriving at the airport. We were taken into custody by some State Department officials and waited in a tent. We had two choices: fly to Miami in an Air Force C-17 cargo plane without certainty when we might leave, if at all, or we could get on a United 767 that had been chartered to bring in supplies. It would be deadheading back to Chicago. If we wanted to go along we could then make our own arrangements to get home. It was a no brainer. We boarded the 767. The crew treated us like returning heroes, which of course we were not, but it felt good to be heading back to the U.S. We caught a late flight from O’Hare to Dulles and finally got home at 3 a.m., nearly 22 hours after leaving the mission. It is difficult to image abject poverty on the scale we saw everywhere in Haiti. People in our country living at or below the poverty level would live like royalty in Haiti. Haiti’s history and politics are complex. Simply put, it is a country devoid of infrastructure. In Haiti there is a saying that describes the poverty and isolation here: The rock in the cool water knows not the pain of the rock in the sun. Looking around, I found it difficult to know where the endpoint is after this disaster or who will know it or when it might arrive. But for a brief time, we did our best to make it better. Wesley R. Harden III graduated from Ursinus College in 1971 with a B.S. in Biology. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1975. He is a surgeon at Hanover Hospital and has been married to Deborah Vassel Harden for 34 years. They have three children, Stacy (Harden) Baran, Class of 1998, Wesley IV, Class of 2005, and Lindsey. They live in Hanover, Pa.
A World Turned Upside Down Dr. Judith D’Amico 1967 lived through the January earthquake and many other trials in Haiti. She knows firsthand the resilience of the people here. Through a series of email correspondence days after the disaster, she shared some of what she experienced with Ursinus Magazine Editor Kathryn Campbell.
I
t was just before 5 in the evening on January 12th and Judith D’Amico was talking with her boss, Dr. Antoine Fadoul. Then the earth tore apart. “We both ducked under his desk. I felt that the shearing force was so strong that if it lasted any longer the floor would break open right beside me,” says D’Amico, who has lived in Haiti for 15 years working in public health and community development. She arrived in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere a self-described “city girl from Philadelphia” who knew nothing about basic living skills. “Since then, I’ve managed to drive all over Haiti, live through several coups d’états, and to hang in through horrible political violence and insecurity. It has been absolutely amazing how well the Haitian people have bounced back from this monumental tragedy. The people will rebuild. They are extremely resilient.” D’Amico works for SCMS, Supply Chain Management Systems, an organization that acquires, stores, and distributes lab, medical supplies and medicines for HIV positive individuals as part of the U.S. Government’s PEPFAR initiative. Her office in the Musseau area of Port-au-Prince, is about halfway between downtown and Pétion Ville. Though the center of the tremor was at Carrefour, the southernmost part of the capital, her neighborhood was directly hit. “Many, many houses were down,” she says. “When the tremor subsided, we took the bare essentials and left the office.” A collapsed office wall allowed them to see across the street. She tried to assess the damage and look for wounded people. A young woman who worked for the U.S. Consulate was outside. Her house had been destroyed. “It was surreal,” says D’Amico. The carport was the only structure intact. Three of the woman’s colleagues were semi-buried, but reachable. “It took a while to get a ladder to free them from the rubble. Finally other embassy workers arrived and did a super rescue job. We assessed their wounds and did what we could to stop bleeding and keep them lucid.” Fortunately, a fresh delivery of water was still standing nearby. They used it to wash wounds. Later a neighbor, a surgeon, came and reinforced the makeshift dressings. “We treated about a dozen people,” says D’Amico. “Amazingly, things seemed to go smoothly although we’d no resources to speak of. Later in the night, the embassy folks decided to walk the three most severely wounded out on improvised stretchers using everything from ladders to doors. All
hospitals had closed, overwhelmed by the need and no resources.” The largest neighborhood supermarket, Caribbean, collapsed with about 500 people inside. D’Amico says her offices were so damaged that they were forced to work out of a warehouse. “Our staff was one of the first to respond to the crisis, distributing medicines and medical supplies to the main hospitals within three days of the earthquake. Our project’s focus is to purchase, store, and deliver drugs and laboratory supplies to treat HIV positive persons, but we also supply other more general medicines and supplies for them.”
Since her world turned upside down, D’Amico has had a chance to reflect. “We’ve been prepared, in a way, by the series of smaller tragedies that have stricken Haiti: the horrible political violence between 1986 and 2007; the mudslides in 2004 that took the lives of around 2,000 persons; the flooding of Gonaïves, twice, that saw roughly 2,000 deaths; and the other hurricanes in 2008 that destroyed countless homes and many lives. Perhaps these have prepared us for times of crisis. I’ve been awed at how calm the people are.” In the weeks after the earthquake, D’Amico heard complaints of the slow response of aid. Some experts said it not only ranks as one of the worse humanitarian crises of all times, but that it is the first time that this degree of life was lost in such a focalized area. “Even on a good day the roads are horrible in Port-au-Prince,” says D’Amico. “They are narrow and can be impassible if just one car decides to stop to talk to a friend on the side of the road. Now that these same roads are covered with rubble, you can imagine how that impedes relief efforts. That’s not counting the loss of the main port and damage to the main airport.” Considering the obstacles, D’Amico says, aid efforts went well. During the height of the rescue efforts her team distributed about 57 kits of over 1,000 pounds each of drugs and medical supplies. Although the aid is beginning to catch up with the need, D’Amico says, the real story of recovery is just beginning. How will the hundreds of thousands dispersing into small rural areas across the country exist? How will Haitian people safeguard their sole possessions, now trapped in rubble? How will they rebuild? “I long ago made the decision to choose strength over personal ease and comfort, and I’ve had to redouble that commitment each time I’ve elected to stay in Haiti,” says D’Amico. Originally from Upper Darby, Pa., she first visited Haiti 23 years ago. “The Haitian people haven’t had that choice to make. Many journalists interpret events here through the eyes of cultures who have not been bathed in the kind of adversity that Haitians were born into. Haitian people form networks of family and friends. They reach out to them and receive help. “Solutions will take time,” she says. “Hope goes a long way to make the other things bearable.” SPRING 2010 PAGE 27
Giving Shelter Minjoo Kim helped set up a tent city for survivors of the earthquake. He turned 24 in February while volunteering in Haiti.
W
hen Minjoo Kim 2008 first saw the news about Haiti’s earthquake, he donated one hundred dollars to American Friends Service Committee. But he longed to do more. Then his pastor, Thomas Yi, former General Secretary of an NGO called Good Neighbors International asked him if he wanted to go to Haiti. “Pastor Tom knew I was interested in humanitarian work,” says Kim, now a community health representative at Horizon NJ Health. Their goal was to deliver tents to a campsite that Good Neighbors had set up in Damien, a small town outside of Port-auPrince. The camp, called Single Mom’s Camp, started as a place for women and children who had lost their fathers or husbands after the earthquake. “When I arrived in Port-au-Prince, my senses reacted to all the destruction,” says Kim. “The collapsed buildings and houses, the smell of death, hungry people crying for help.” Kim shared hugs and handshakes with refugees living in tents. It was a heart wrenching experience, he says, seeing sick and injured babies living in huts. “I wanted to give all I had for the people of Haiti.” PAGE 28 URSINUS MAGAZINE
The next days were spent preparing tents to start the Single Mom’s Camp project. Kim was also inspired by a team of Korean celebrities who came to help. A Korean television show called “Love’s Request” arrived to shoot the tent set up. One celebrity, an actor named Lee Gwang Gi, had experienced a personal tragedy three months earlier when his six-year-old son died from swine flu. He came to Haiti with all his son’s clothes and donated them to the children at the camp. “Even amidst all the destruction, love was being poured upon the city,” says Kim. “Today I miss Port-au- Prince. I miss the people I met. Those four days were a time of affirmation for me that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to humanity,” says Kim. He credits Walter Greason, assistant professor of history, for inspiring him. “My real aspirations,” says Kim, “are to follow in the footsteps of Ambassador Joseph Melrose in becoming a diplomat and become a great professor like Dr. Walter Greason.” - Kathryn Campbell
Floor 43 – Who Did UC?
Alumni were dazzled January 27 by the breathtaking 43rd floor view at a gala evening at the Philadelphia Comcast Center. The sold out celebration in January was hosted by the Ursinus Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving and attracted 225 alumni of all ages. The elegant setting was thanks to David Scott, an executive vice president at Comcast, and the parent of current student Karli Scott 2011. Guests heard from President Strassburger, Ursinus Emissary Brian Thomas, Ursinus Athletics Director Laura Moliken, Senior Vice President of Advancement Jill Marsteller and Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving Brie Conley as they enjoyed hors d’ouvres. Among the guests were, pictured clockwise, Ashley Higgins, 2008, Jill Alspach, 2008, Heather Turnbach, 2008, Alex Peay 2009 and David Kargman, 2009, Bob and Helen Turnbull, 1960, Adele D. Rentschler, 1966 and William Spencer. Bottom right photo, Judy Wolstenholme, 1965, Laura Moliken, Jill Leauber Marsteller 1978 and Margery Watson, 1952.
SPRING 2010 PAGE 29
Housing for the Elderly: Laverne Joseph 1960
As a senior at Ursinus, Laverne Joseph was uncertain about his future. A history major with a love of theology and music, he went so far as to speak with the Pastor of his church for guidance. “He told me to consider how I wanted to touch people in my life,” the Rev. Joseph says. “He told me I was a very talented musician and I gave people a lot of pleasure when I played. But, was I giving people something that was lasting? Well, that really laid a trip on me.” The summer after graduating from Ursinus, Dr. Joseph, who still sings and plays the piano, attended music school. “I thought I would go to music school in the summer, and divinity school in the fall and basically postpone a decision on what I wanted to do,” he says. But, he soon discovered music school wasn’t for him. He left early to attend Lancaster Seminary in Lancaster, Pa. and then on to the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. He soon became the Senior Pastor of a United Church of Christ on the city’s Southside. The church, Peace Memorial, had an affiliation with a nursing home and senior housing facilities in which Joseph became involved. In 1987, Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF), which is based in California and is associated with the United Church of Christ, needed a new CEO. RHF is one of the nations’ largest non-profit housing providers, with 17,000 residents. The residents are seniors, low-income families and persons with disabilities. RHF wanted a Pastor as well as somebody with experience in nonprofit living facilities. “There weren’t too many of us to pick from at the time,” he says with a laugh.
Little Theatre Production. She directed the Fantasticks last season. Sandra (Miller)Lovett and J. Robert Lovett 1953 were honored for their philanthropy by the Baum Museum of Art in Allentown, Pa. The couple was presented with an original painting by artist Rosemary Geseck.
1956
Several classmates got together in July at the home of Nick 1955 and Marilyn (Durn) Chapis in Avalon, N.J. They include Marge (Parkhurst) DeMille, Barbara Wagner Cressman, L. Carol Loper Evans and K. Jane Hagner McDonald. Theodore and Marion Sholl write they are still volunteering on the USS Midway Museum – an aircraft carrier located in San Diego, Calif.
Perhaps this was so, but Joseph was the most natural fit. After accepting the position, he moved his family to California to become CEO. Under his leadership for the past 23 years, RHF thrives in a state of constant expansion and planning. “We have residents who lived on the streets and ate out of dumpsters before they moved into one of our residences,” he says. “They tell me RHF has given them their lives back.” At their 49th annual meeting this May, Joseph will receive the Aging Services of California Award of Honor, which is ASC’s highest award (ASC is made up of about 400 non profits that provide housing and services for older adults in the full continuum of care from in-home services, housing, assisted living, and skilled nursing.) Joseph received a similar award from the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, (AAHSA) which is made up of about 5,600 members in the full continuum. - Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995
1957
Joan (Clement) Howard writes she and her husband, Thomas, celebrated their 50th anniversary with their four children and their spouses and five grandchildren in July 2009.
1958
Richard Goldberg, M.D. is facilitating and moderating a program entitled “The Autistic Visual Artists” in Doylestown, Pa., this April. He is an artist. Donald Todd and Nancy (Springer) Todd 1960 write “they made the downsize move to Center City, Philadelphia.” They would be pleased to see visitors in person in Old City or by email, ntodd@verizon.net.
Ann Irish Wilderom and her husband, Jim, write that she is retired from the Girl Scouts and enjoys time to ski, kayak, sail, and visit with their grandchildren. They also travel, cut wood, and read.
1959
Carol LeCato writes that a group of Tau Sig sisters had such a good time at the 50th reunion in May that classmates held a mini-reunion in Arizona this past February. They included Elizabeth (Wheeler) Beaver, Cora Lee (Eddy) Phillippi, Mary Lou (Adam) Weber 1957, Faye (Dietrich) Berk, and Carol. Jack C. Prutzman writes “we are expecting our sixth grandchild in April 2010.” Cherrie L. Soper, writes she retired from teaching at Indiana State University in SPRING 2010 PAGE 31
Phyllis (Dugan) Gill reports she was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors for NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counseling) in September 2009.
1969
Madeleine Humbert Poole writes she is “happily retired from teaching” and now spends her time songwriting, traveling extensively and enjoying the tropical atmosphere of Florida. She says she has 55 different species of exotic tropical fruits and nuts in her gardens. She is also performing in musicals and pursuing photography as an art. “Life is good!”
1970
John R. Danzeisen writes he is happily retired and doing lots of philanthropic work. He enjoys his three grandchildren and the rest of his family. Ken Schaefer was elected to the Board of Directors for the Collegeville Economic Development Corporation.
1971
Alan Paul Novak was named to Pennsylvania’s Top 50 Republicans Lists by Politics Magazine. Alan is president of Novak Strategic Advisors, a government and public affairs firm based in Harrisburg, Pa. Karl and Karen (Leicht) Weiland report that “Karl began a full time private psychotherapy practice in 2004 and Karen continues to teach at the Waldorf School of Lexington, Mass.” They have three adult children and a granddaughter.
1972
Ned W. Schillow was recently appointed chairperson of the Mathematics for AAS Program Committee for the American Mathematics Association of Two Year Colleges.
1973
Steve Klesczewski reports that after spending almost 30 years in the Electronics Industry, he has started a new career of buying and selling real estate in Los Altos, Calif. He looks forward to meeting new clients and helping old friends.
1974
Elsie (Van Wagoner) Nicolette 1974 writes
Joy of Sailing:
Edward C. Stemmler 1984 Many of us wish for a hiatus from the day-to-day grind of life. But the resources, as well as the courage, to do so are often hard to find. Ed Stemmler was one person who happened to have both. “I realized I wanted to be outside more in my life,” he says. “Every day in my cubicle felt like agony. It wasn’t where my heart was.” A senior data analyst for the University of Pennsylvania, Stemmler took a three-month sabbatical from his job this past summer to set off on a voyage. He climbed aboard the tall ship Bounty, a 180-foot-long ship that was used in the Marlon Brando film, Mutiny on the Bounty. The historic vessel left from Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 20th and landed in Belfast, Ireland after 22 days on the sea. Stemmler spent two weeks in Ireland, then sailed around the tip of Scotland and eventually flew back to the States. His days on the sea were spent standing watch (four hours at a time) and helping out with any and all ship duties to keep the Bounty on the right course. “The routine of the days didn’t change much at all, but on the ocean, there is a comfort in that,” he says. His love of sailing and the open water stemmed from his time as a boy vacationing on a New Hampshire lake. “My mom loved to sail and she would invite us kids to serve as ballasts.” While living in Philadelphia in the early 1990s, Stemmler joined the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild. For a small yearly membership fee, and the willingness to help maintain and operate the tall ship vessel, Gazela, he sailed on the ship for free. “I learned everything you can learn about sailing that ship,” he says. “It is an unbelievable experience and organization.” Stemmler was supposed to sail on the Gazela to Halifax and then leave on The Bounty. But, when the Gazela trip was cancelled, he forged ahead anyway and arrived in Halifax by more traditional means (the high-speed ferry from Portland, Maine). Although he raves about the beauty of sailing, he also admits there are difficult lessons to be learned. “There’s the misery side – the sea sickness, the loud fog horns, and cabins creaking while you are trying to sleep, and most importantly the realization that you can’t just get off. Sailing is a true test of human strength and endurance. But, then there is the romantic side: the calm soothing waters, the deep orange and blue sunset. The kind of stuff that makes me want to be out on the open sea all the time.” - Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995 SPRING 2010 PAGE 33
that after eleven years, she has stepped down as executive director of the Burlington Center Mall Ministry to help care for her parents. This past May, her daughter, Sara, was married in Philadelphia. Pamela (Poole) Parkinson writes she and husband, Tom, “completed our 20 year long journey of hiking the Appalachian Trail (2,180 miles). We also enjoyed my 35th Ursinus College reunion.”
1975
Craig Oceanak retired after nearly 31 years with Schering-Plough and has made Timberline Outfitters and ranching his full time job. “We built the big game guiding service in Wyoming into a business that I really enjoy and have my 26-yearold son on board right now as well. We
guide for elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mule deer, antelope, bear, and mountain lion in some of the most beautiful country known to man!” Gary Rose took an early retirement and is now working Ticketing and Special Events Crowd Control in Disney World, enjoying the warm weather and Florida lifestyle. With this prime location, they would love to see Ursinus friends “as they travel this way.” Barbara (Pittner) Seizert, M.D. reports she moved to Minnesota in 1985 after serving six years in the Navy as a flight surgeon. She now specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Her son, Curtis (24) is a chemist in graduate school at Colorado State University and daughter Becky (22)
Combat Camera: Aaron Burgstein 1995
The Internet images are surreal and haunting. Through Facebook and YouTube, the 1st Combat Camera Squadron share the work they are doing in times of worldwide crisis and wartime operations: a desperate child with haunted eyes who survived the Haitian earthquake, a burned out tank, soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. These images give the sense of the magnitude of responsibility for Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Burgstein, who was recently promoted to Commander of the 1st Combat Camera Squadron in the United States Air Force. He is now based in Charleston, S.C. Burgstein’s squadron is responsible for still and motion imagery in support of air, sea, and ground military operations. Although he isn’t always the one with the camera in his hand, he is in charge of the men and women who are holding them. In fact, the Lt. Colonel has 137 Airmen under his command. “The name of my Squadron is Combat Camera with an emphasis on combat. I know it is my responsibility to make sure my squad is mentally, emotionally, and physically ready for war,” says Burgstein. “Any of the images of war, or relief efforts taken from aircrafts or even on the ground – chances are they probably were taken by one of my folks.” Burgstein was promoted to the position of Commander in July 2009, but he has served in the Air Force for the past 14 years. Three months after graduating from Ursinus with a B.A. in communications, he attended Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Since then, he has earned two master degrees, lived all over the world, including Japan, Korea, and PAGE 34 URSINUS MAGAZINE
recently graduated from Binghamton University and is looking for “the perfect job.”
1976
Robert M.D. and Donna (Loeffler) Brosbe M.D. report that they are still in Lancaster and that Bob is a radiologist at Ephrata Community Hospital, and Donna is a pediatrician with Beittel-Becker Pediatrics. “Our children are doing well, but far from home.”
1977
Anita (Clamer) Kuhnle is still employed by the Chester County Intermediate Unit, at the Chester County Prison in West Chester, Pa. teaching high-school age inmates. Samuel S. Laucks II writes that his son, S. John Laucks, will be graduating in 2010.
Germany, and served as deputy director of public affairs, media action officer, and one of his favorite positions as Strategic Communications Advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force. His current position is a two-year assignment and then he will be deployed overseas. Burgstein doesn’t know where he will be next, but he wouldn’t have it any other way: “My wife, Cindy, and I have two girls, ages five and three. The girls have moved four times already, but they seem to love it. The opportunities you get in the service to travel, and the responsibilities you are given as a recent college graduate are unmatched.” - Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995
name) a week after graduation. He worked for the St. Eustatius National Parks Service and lived in a house in a botanical garden with three other interns. “The only tough part was we had to sleep under bug nets,” says Heusser, “which got old quickly.”
Conservation in the Caribbean: Mark A. Heusser 2009
The Caribbean Island of St. Eustatius is described as “beautiful, pristine, with reefs teeming with fish, gentle trade winds.” It’s no wonder that when Mark Heusser recently spent six months at this Netherland Antilles island working as an intern, he didn’t want to leave. “It was an awesome experience,” he says. “I was doing something different everyday; teaching about conservation at a local school, working on hiking trails, or doing research on orchids and birds.” Heusser’s research work and writing produced the first bird population report for the island that will be used by their government. A Biology major at Ursinus, he arrived on Statia (the Island’s nick-
The house was just a short distance to The Quill, the island’s dormant volcano, where Heusser worked on building and maintaining parts of the trails. The island, just 8.1 square miles and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, is also considered a snorkeling and scuba diving paradise. Heusser earned his dive certification and helped out with marine dive research. “I did some diving with sharks,” he says. “No great whites or tiger sharks, luckily – but ones that won’t likely attack you like Nurse and Reef sharks.” Heusser returned from Statia the second week of December and began a new challenge. This spring, he was a student teacher with 10th grade biology students at Pottsgrove High School. Although he hopes to be a full-time teacher soon, he won’t rule out one or two more adventures before committing to the classroom. “I’m looking into internships in Barbados, Australia, Oman, and even Alaska,” he says. “I can’t wait to see where I could land next.”
Mr. and Mr. Brian Meilinger (Monica Binkley), a daughter, Molly Anne, on May 8, 2009.
Mr. and Mrs. Steven McDevitt (Michele Moran), a son, Jackson Patrick on November 30, 2009.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rush (Anne Alleger), a daughter, Vanessa Anne, on December 9, 2008.
Mr. and Mrs. (Kelly Knapp) William Schmidt, a son, Brandon Roscoe, on January 23, 2008.
1999
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Haberbusch (Juliet Hutcheson), a son, Owen Robert, on June 22, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hines (Shannon Kendzior), a daughter, Hannah Marie, on July 22, 2009.
2000
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Banff (Jessica Kilian), a son, Austin Thomas, on April 16, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Galczenski (Jennifer Harvan), a son, Evan Stephen, on August 28, 2009.
Drs. Christopher (Carin Restivo, M.D.) Got a son, Thayer Grayson on Sept. 7, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Karl W. Schreiter (Jennifer Hansen), a son, Harry James, on July 19, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Wiatrak (Terri Savidge), a son, Beau Willen, on September 19, 2009.
2001
Mr. and Mrs. Coleman Barry (Heidi Rhodes), a daughter, Mikayla Lynne, on December 19, 2007.
- Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995
2004
Mr. and Mrs. Phipps (Kristin Galie), twin daughters, Ava Marie and Olivia Anne, on September 29, 2009.
MARRIAGES & COMMITMENTS 1976
Mary Shope Bartholomew and Kenneth Carpenter were married on August 1, 2009.
1983
Julie Brion and Dean Mioli were married on December 4, 2009.
1992
Yadira Romandia and Brian Toleno were married on October 10, 2008.
1999
Shannon Kendzior and Tom Hines were married on May 31, 2008. SPRING 2010 PAGE 37
name) a week after graduation. He worked for the St. Eustatius National Parks Service and lived in a house in a botanical garden with three other interns. “The only tough part was we had to sleep under bug nets,” says Heusser, “which got old quickly.”
Conservation in the Caribbean: Mark A. Heusser 2009
The Caribbean Island of St. Eustatius is described as “beautiful, pristine, with reefs teeming with fish, gentle trade winds.” It’s no wonder that when Mark Heusser recently spent six months at this Netherland Antilles island working as an intern, he didn’t want to leave. “It was an awesome experience,” he says. “I was doing something different everyday; teaching about conservation at a local school, working on hiking trails, or doing research on orchids and birds.” Heusser’s research work and writing produced the first bird population report for the island that will be used by their government. A Biology major at Ursinus, he arrived on Statia (the Island’s nick-
The house was just a short distance to The Quill, the island’s dormant volcano, where Heusser worked on building and maintaining parts of the trails. The island, just 8.1 square miles and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, is also considered a snorkeling and scuba diving paradise. Heusser earned his dive certification and helped out with marine dive research. “I did some diving with sharks,” he says. “No great whites or tiger sharks, luckily – but ones that won’t likely attack you like Nurse and Reef sharks.” Heusser returned from Statia the second week of December and began a new challenge. This spring, he was a student teacher with 10th grade biology students at Pottsgrove High School. Although he hopes to be a full-time teacher soon, he won’t rule out one or two more adventures before committing to the classroom. “I’m looking into internships in Barbados, Australia, Oman, and even Alaska,” he says. “I can’t wait to see where I could land next.”
Mr. and Mr. Brian Meilinger (Monica Binkley), a daughter, Molly Anne, on May 8, 2009.
Mr. and Mrs. Steven McDevitt (Michele Moran), a son, Jackson Patrick on November 30, 2009.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rush (Anne Alleger), a daughter, Vanessa Anne, on December 9, 2008.
Mr. and Mrs. (Kelly Knapp) William Schmidt, a son, Brandon Roscoe, on January 23, 2008.
1999
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Haberbusch (Juliet Hutcheson), a son, Owen Robert, on June 22, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hines (Shannon Kendzior), a daughter, Hannah Marie, on July 22, 2009.
2000
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Banff (Jessica Kilian), a son, Austin Thomas, on April 16, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Galczenski (Jennifer Harvan), a son, Evan Stephen, on August 28, 2009.
Drs. Christopher (Carin Restivo, M.D.) Got a son, Thayer Grayson on Sept. 7, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Karl W. Schreiter (Jennifer Hansen), a son, Harry James, on July 19, 2009. Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Wiatrak (Terri Savidge), a son, Beau Willen, on September 19, 2009.
2001
Mr. and Mrs. Coleman Barry (Heidi Rhodes), a daughter, Mikayla Lynne, on December 19, 2007.
- Ellen Cosgrove Labrecque 1995
2004
Mr. and Mrs. Phipps (Kristin Galie), twin daughters, Ava Marie and Olivia Anne, on September 29, 2009.
MARRIAGES & COMMITMENTS 1976
Mary Shope Bartholomew and Kenneth Carpenter were married on August 1, 2009.
1983
Julie Brion and Dean Mioli were married on December 4, 2009.
1992
Yadira Romandia and Brian Toleno were married on October 10, 2008.
1999
Shannon Kendzior and Tom Hines were married on May 31, 2008. SPRING 2010 PAGE 37
Daniel J. Gedrich and Samantha A. Kraviz 2001 were married on October 11, 2009.
2001
Samantha A. Kravitz and Daniel J. Gedrich 1999 were married on October 11, 2009.
2003
2006
Rufina Nelson and Joseph Bottillo were married on October 10, 2009.
Kate O’Neill and Kennedy Menezes were married on November 7, 2009.
Kate Gallagher and Robert Jackson were married on September 26, 2009.
2005
Shaina Schmeltzle and Jarred Mitchell were married July 12, 2009.
Tavenner Karlson and Andrew Bonsall were married on September 26, 2009.
Caitlin McGuire and Randy Taylor were married in January 2010.
Matthew Ciesinski 1996 and Lara were married on May 23, 2009.
Jocelyn Gaspar 2005 and Shane Borer 2005 were married on September 25, 2009.
Patricia Ruby 2004 and William Bachmann Jr. were married on Sept. 27, 2009.
Melody Mumbauer 2005 and James Davis were married on July 5, 2009.
Amber Frame 2003 and Brian Stephenson were married on June 13, 2009.
Dr. Michelle Janelsins 2002 and Christopher Benton were married on August 15, 2009.
We welcome news of Ursinus weddings! Please continue to send informatin and photos to Ursinus magazine, Bomberger Hall, P.O. Box 1000, Collegeville, PA 19426. Digital photos can be e-mailed to ucmag@ursinus.edu. Ursinus Magazine reserves the right to reject publication of photos which are not of publishable quality. We regret that we are not able to return print photographs. The wedding date must be given and the group photograph should include only Ursinus alumni. Please sign onto the Ursinus Online Community: www.ursinus.edu/alumni for full captions including names of the Ursinus alumni pictured in the photo. A second option for brides and grooms is to send a close-up for the magazine, and a group shot for the Online Community. Questions can be addressed to the Office of Alumni Relations, 610.409.3585, or by e-mailing ucalumni@ursinus.edu.
PAGE 38 URSINUS MAGAZINE
2008
Tavenner Karlson and Andrew Bonsall were married on September 26, 2009.
ALUMNI DEATHS
1932 Marguerite Vining (Goldthwaite) Godshall died on December 6, 2009.
1933
Ida E. (Wagner) Peterson died on May 27, 2009.
Ruth (Jones) Wardlow died on December 29, 2009.
Barbara (Manning) Allgair died on November 23, 2009.
Frances “Terry” (Thierolf) Glassmoyer died on January 9, 2010.
Jean (Rahauser) Rogers died on December 21, 2009.
Vera G. (Harley) Pflieger died on January 14, 2010.
Ralph I. Mendenhall died on January 9, 2009.
1941
Ann (Baird) Lee died on March 1, 2010.
Dorothy K. Shisler died on February 9, 2002. Mary Alice (Lord) Cassell died on November 25, 2009.
Frances (Gray) Freeborn died on September 15, 2009.
E. Jane Hartman died on March 6, 2010.
1935
1943
Sylvia (Acri) Shenesky died on August 1, 2009.
Mary Anna (Wiley) Ross Cowper died on August 2, 2009.
1937
Rev. William “Bill” H. Daniels died on January 1, 2010.
Lillian (Lucia) Baker died on January 28, 2010.
1944
Dr. Richard E. Miller died on January 29, 2010.
V-12 Donald C. Olson died on August 17, 2009.
1938
Eli Broidy died on July 16, 2007.
Kenneth M. Hayes died on January 8, 2010.
Anna Mae (Markley) Kleinbach died on October 26, 2009.
Martha (Hess) Bowman died on February 5, 2010.
1939
1945
Dorothy (Hutt) Leland died on October 6, 2009. Mary Helen (Stoudt) Burkey Robinson died on February 11, 2010. William L. Yeomans died on February 10, 2010.
1940
Richard M. Alford, M.D. died on January 7, 2009.
1946
V-12 John E. Keefe died on September 12, 2009. V-12 Elmer Webster died on December 2, 2005.
Mary Jane (Schoeppe) Gale died on March 2, 2010.
1948
Drew E. Courtney, M.D. died on August 19, 2009. Ann Weaver Harting died on December 17, 2009.
1949
Lt. Gen. Raymond B. Furlong USAF died on September 28, 2009. John R. Kajmo, Sr. died on July 4, 2009. Richard Copp Roberts died on October 20, 2009. Roy B. Love died on October 22, 2009.
1950
Guilliam G. “Gil” Clamer died on March 10, 2010. Anne (Hughes) Loetzbeier died on June 26, 2009. J. Richard Hanna died on October 17, 2009. James B. Moore died on July 3, 2009. Raymond Douglas Smith died on August 5, 2009.
Margaret (Kerstetter)Deardorff died on March 01, 2010.
V-12 Ralph F. Demi, Jr. died on April 7, 2008.
Ruth (Von Kleeck) Landis Vetter died on July 15, 2009.
Gladys (Howard) Wynkoop died on November 14, 2009.
Elwood J. Reber died on August 29, 2009.
1947
1951
Elliot G. Parks died on November 14, 2009.
Kenneth B. Oelschlager died on May 28, 2007.
Marion (Kotko) Kuehnle died on November 5, 2009.
John F. Thompson, M.D. died on August 13, 2009.
William M. Myers died on October 12, 2009. John J. Chesna died on February 19, 2010. Louise (Granniss) Schaeffer died on March 1, 2010.
SPRING 2010 PAGE 39
John B. Law died on November 28, 2009. Manfred E. Drummer died on January 6, 2010. Miriam (Kulp) Smith died on February 5, 2010. Stanley “Pear” B. Swenk died on February 17, 2010. Eugene Glick, M.D. died on January 9, 2010.
1953
Carmen J. Alameno, M.D. died on June 23, 2009.
1954
Norman G. Lewis, M.D. died on January 29, 2010.
1955
Rev. John A. Shannon died on March 6, 2010. Carolyn (Cooke) Howell died on January 17, 2010. Barbara (Rack) Nye died on February 12, 2010. George Martin Sensenig died on February 27, 2010.
1956
John B. Strickler died on July 16, 2009. Eric H. Vollmer died on May 3, 2009.
1957
Dolores “Dolly” (Lamm) Derstine died on December 28, 2009. Kenneth E. Dunlap died on February 17, 2010.
1959
Alvin J. Wilson died on July 19, 2009. Patricia Anne (Robinson) Paiko died on October 21, 1998.
1961
Maryann (Dempsey) Kuhl died on June 22, 2009.
PAGE 40 URSINUS MAGAZINE
1963
1978
1964
Cynthia F. (Clark) Bean died on January 27, 2010.
Alethia (Grubb) White died on December 9, 2009. Wade A. Alexander died on May 23, 2009.
1965
Mary Jo (Banyai) Frank died on November 2, 2005.
Wendi Lynn Kober died on July 31, 2009.
1981 evening
Francis A. Sayers, Jr. died on September 2, 2009.
1985 evening
H. Judson Mac Phee died on July 4, 2009.
Robyn R. Fusco died on December 3, 2006.
1967
1990
Lynne A. (Johnson) Masters died on September 9, 2009.
1968
Kenneth W. Bosler died on August 18, 2009. Kerry J. Pursel died on September 10, 2009. Andrew E. Beck died on October 28, 2009.
1969
Scott J. Odgers died on August 16, 2009.
1999
Daniel C. Jones, M.D. died on December 8, 2009.
2000
Jennifer Stellato died on December 19, 2009.
IN MEMORIAM
Denise (Brewer) Read died on September 15, 1993.
Marguerite Vining (Goldthwaite) Godshall, 98, died Dec. 6, 2009 in Schwenksville. Formerly of the Perkiomenville/Collegeville area, she was the widow of Horace E. Godshall, and a member of the Class of 1932. She was library assistant at the Myrin Library for many years. Survivors include sons Frederic, Class of 1945, and Douglas.
Elizabeth R. Landes died on November 13, 2009.
Wilfred Schrack, retired campus safety officer, died March 8, 2010.
Francis B. Reed died on July 26, 2009. Charles “Donald” Gulick, Jr. died on September 20, 2009.
1970
1971
Paget Ann Erwin-Donohue died on November 3, 2009.
1974 evening
Harry D. Cirullo died on July 25, 2009.
1975
Robert Eric Pierce, Esq. died on April 17, 2008.
1976 evening
William A. Snyder died on October 12, 2009.
1977
Diana C. (Moles) Carinci Wickersham died on January 19, 2009.
Ethel Marie (Ackerman) Wagner, spouse of Paul R. Wagner 1932, faculty member and Chair until his death in 1970, died Feb. 6, 2010. Anne M. Crouse, widow of former board member, James Crouse; died Oct. 28 2009 in Vero Beach , Fla., where she lived. She also was a resident of Limerick, Pa. A real estate broker and interior designer, she was also the author of several children’s books, as well as an editor and publisher. The Rev. Milton E. Detterline, former Chaplain at Ursinus College, died April 4. He was Chaplain at St. Peter’s UCC church in Knauertown.
RECONNECT REVISIT REGISTER!
Alumni
Academy&
Reunions Weekend
June 4 - June 6, 2010
• Annual Friday Evening Lobster Bake • Classes led by Ursinus’ most dynamic faculty & alumni • Alumni Awards Ceremony • Fourth Annual Alumni Art Exhibit • President Strassburger’s last Town Hall Meeting • Class Reunion celebrations: 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005
• Alumni Golf Outing at Raven’s Claw Golf Club • Group tours of new and old campus sites • All alumni are welcome; most events are free! For more information contact The Office of Alumni Relations & Annual Giving at 610.409.3585 or ucalumni@ursinus.edu. Visit our website www.ursinus.edu/alumniweekend for the latest updates. Note: Childcare activities will be available for children ages 3 to 13, supervised by responsible Ursinus students. Contact the Office of Alumni Relations & Annual Giving for fees and more information.
AWARD HONOREES
Friday June 4 in Bomberger Auditorium Professional Achievement and/or Service to Humanity Thomas P. Loughran, M.D., 1975 Margaret A. Williams, Ph.D. , 1980 Excellence in Education John N. Forrest, Jr., M.D., 1960
Rising Stars Monyca White, Esq. 2000 Michael B. Adenaike, M.D. 2000 Senior Alumni Award Danielle M. Harris 2010 Mark G. Smedberg 2010 SPRING 2010 PAGE 41
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