WINTER 2014
A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
Renew • Refresh • Restart Get a Jump-Start on Spring
O N T H E COVER We used a universal computer symbol for “Refresh” to represent our cover story package, an inspirational collage of suggestions for getting a jump-start on spring. Check out ideas from our YSU alumni, faculty and professional staff, starting on Page 8.
YSU President
Randy J. Dunn
YSU Board of Trustees Chair Sudershan K. Garg Vice Chair John R. Jakubek, ’79 Delores Crawford, ’68 David C. Deibel, ’75 James B. Greene Harry Meshel, ’49 James Roberts, ’70 Leonard Schiavone Carole S. Weimer, ’89 Secretary Franklin S. Bennett Jr. Student Trustees Eric Shehadi Melissa Wasser ———————————
Magazine Editor
Public Information Officer
Cynthia Vinarsky Ron Cole
Executive Director of Marketing Communications
Mark W. Van Tilburg
Renée Cannon, ’90
Layout Design Artist
Photographer
Graduate Assistant
Bruce Palmer Harry Evans
Director, Office Jacquelyn LeViseur, ’08 of Alumni and Events Management Sports Contributor Trevor Parks Youngstown State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association. Youngstown State University – A Magazine for Alumni and Friends (ISSN 2152-3754), Issue 19 online edition, Winter 2014, is published quarterly by the YSU Office of Marketing Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Periodicals Postage Paid at Youngstown, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Youngstown State University, Office of Marketing Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Direct letters to the editor, comments or questions to the address above, call 330-941-3519 or email universitymagazine@ysu.edu. Youngstown State University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or identity as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era, in respect to students and/or to applicants for employment, and to organizations providing contractual services to YSU. 8-001
Early Snowfall Snow came early across Northeastern Ohio this winter, resulting in this striking campus photo of fall leaves frosted in white. The photograph was taken following the region’s first heavy snowfall in November and shows students walking near Ward Beecher Hall, home to YSU’s Chemistry and Biological Science departments.
Scan the QR Code with your smartphone to see videos related to stories in this edition.
www.ysumagazine.org
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Snow blankets the bronze sculpture of the late Howard W. Jones, YSU’s first president, located outside Tod Hall at the entrance to the campus core. The statue was erected in 2008 as part of YSU’s Centennial celebration. YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY
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Around Campus – YSU's Engineering and Education programs both started the year with accolades. The story leads the campus news pages in this edition.
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Student Success Stories – A regular feature highlighting YSU student achievements.
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COVER STORY: Renew, Refresh and Restart – Get a Jump-Start on Spring. We turn to our own YSU experts – alumni, faculty and staff – to discover some intriguing ways for our readers to enrich their lives in the months ahead. Alumni Spotlight – Featuring two exceptional alumni: Dr. Amit N. Patel, ’93 BS, ’94 MS, is a cardiothoracic surgeon pioneering a new, lifesaving heart procedure, and Paula Brooks, ’75 BA, a Franklin County Commissioner and the only Ohioan named to the president’s Climate Preparedness and Resilience Task Force.
DEPARTMENTS 2 President’s Message 17 Alumni News 18 Class Notes
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President’s Message
Celebrating Generosity That Allows YSU to Achieve its Margin of Excellence
Randy J. Dunn President
Dear YSU Alumni and Friends, I don’t think it is an overstatement to say that there is a growing and palpable spirit surrounding the Youngstown State University campus right now. I’m not sure I can exactly define it, but it is one of higher energy, increasing confidence, forward movement and budding optimism. When I talk with our students, faculty and staff, alumni, friends, government officials, and others who know our university well, this spirit resonates in such things as their active engagement with the campus, expressing their dreams for our institution, realistically acknowledging our challenges, but staying strong in their hopes of what YSU can become. Just like individuals, many places – and almost all universities I’ve been associated with – have personalities. Ours is one marked by a self-respect and independent drive that has long characterized the Mahoning Valley and our community. The university reflects and benefits from that larger shared mindset, and I can tell you that I am proud to be associated with it. No doubt, we have some difficulties ahead: enrollment, declining state support, serious facility needs, and the list goes on. Still, the spirit is there. This thing I’m sensing on campus now is surely a natural outgrowth of the “YSU personality” – a personality which will serve us especially well for the future, providing the institutional resilience to know we can handle whatever comes our way. If we ever lose that, we lose everything. But don’t worry, we won’t. As the cover of the magazine suggests, YSU will continue to renew, refresh, and restart, just as it has countless times before in its unfolding history. As I reflect on my first six months as president, many moments stand out – hosting a major student leadership event at the Pollock House, shaking hands with every graduate at commencement, meeting hundreds of alumni and making new friends, entertaining our donors, and certainly witnessing the outpouring of support at my installation in November. Each of these also shows the personality … the spirit … that is YSU. That spirit is further exemplified in the philanthropic support that Youngstown State University enjoys. This winter edition is the time to honor and celebrate your generosity this past year – a generosity that allows YSU to achieve what I refer to as its “margin of excellence” in programs, services, scholarship support, and facilities that the university could not otherwise afford. We continue to build on last year’s momentum of recordbreaking fundraising as we finalize this year’s contributions and commitments as of this writing. It will be another strong year. With your support, and that of thousands of others who love YSU, I am highly confident of the university’s philanthropic future. As you consider your giving in 2014, please keep Youngstown State University at the forefront – there are few investments with any greater and more direct impact! We are extremely grateful to the university’s loyal alumni and friends for the generosity you continue to show. Sincerely,
Randy J. Dunn, President 2
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Engineering and Education Programs Get Accolades Two YSU academic programs – Education and Engineering – started the year with accolades. The university’s undergraduate engineering program was ranked in the top 25 percent in the world in a listing released by U.S. News and World Report. In the magazine’s analysis, YSU placed 45th out of 203 schools in the category of undergraduate engineering programs accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology and which do not offer a doctoral degree. The rankings are based on the peer judgments of university deans and senior faculty. Meanwhile, for the second consecutive year, graduates Wilson Okello, a 2010 graduate of YSU’s Beeghly College of Education, was doing of YSU’s Beeghly College of his student teaching at Austintown Fitch High School when this photo was taken. Okello went on to earn an MS in College Student Personnel from the University of Education led the state of Ohio in achieving 100 percent passing rates Rhode Island, and he is now a first-year adviser at Miami University of Ohio. on licensure exams. only one with 100 percent passage rates on both exams. All 206 YSU teacher education students who completed Among all 51 public and private universities and colleges the program between September 2012 and September 2013 in Ohio, only five others have perfect passage rates on both passed state licensure tests, according to the second annual tests, all small, private institutions. Ohio Educator Preparation Performance Report released Visit www.ysu.edu/pointsofexcellence to learn more recently. In addition, all 19 YSU students who completed the about YSU recognitions, milestones and initiatives, as well as school principal preparation program passed. student and faculty achievements and activities. Among the 13 public universities in Ohio, YSU is the .
Honorary Degree Presented to Award-Winning Journalist YSU President Randy J. Dunn and Board of Trustees Chair Sudershan Garg present an honorary Doctor of Letters degree to award-winning journalist Simeon Booker at the university’s fall commencement in December in Beeghly Center. More than 600 graduates received degrees that day. Booker’s coverage of the Mississippi murder of Emmett Till in 1955 is credited with galvanizing the Civil Rights movement. In photo at right, Alfred L. Bright, a YSU graduate, internationally renowned artist and trail-blazing African American educator, set up in the back of the hall to sketch the ceremony. Bright, retired professor of Art at YSU, was the featured speaker at summer commencement in August.
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New Scholarship Programs Focus on Freshmen Two new scholarship programs, both targeting incoming YSU freshmen, will reduce tuition costs in the years ahead for students who qualify. The YSU Provost Scholarship aims to attract high-achieving prospective freshmen living outside Ohio by providing up to $4,000 toward YSU’s out-of-state surcharge. Nine scholarships were awarded under the new program this fall. Provost Scholarships can be combined with any of YSU’s merit scholarships. Provost awards are not available, however, to Ohio residents or prospective students living in the region included under YSU’s Affordable Tuition Advantage program. That program drastically reduces outof-state surcharges for students living in some sections of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. YSU has also created the new First Opportunity Award scholarship program, providing $1,000 to incoming freshmen that qualify, starting with Fall Semester 2014. YSU projects that between 200 and 300 students could be eligible to receive the award. To qualify, applicants must have a 3.0 high school grade point average and a score of 20 on the ACT or 900 on the SAT exam. Gary Swegan, associate vice president for Enrollment Planning and Management, said the award is part of the university’s Scholarships for Excellence program that provides scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 annually for nearly 3,000 students based on high school GPA and ACT/SAT scores. The YSU Foundation, as well as the university, funds the scholarships. “The new First Opportunity Award is aimed at a group of students currently not covered in our scholarship program,” Swegan said. “These are students we believe are deserving of the financial support.” For more details about either scholarship program, visit www.ysu.edu/finaid or call YSU Financial Aid and Scholarships, 330-941-3505.
Record 47 Student Athletes Post Perfect GPAs in Fall Semester YSU student athletes were hitting the books this fall with the same vigor they showed on the athletic field. The result? A record 47 student-athletes had perfect 4.0 grade point averages for the fall semester. Sixteen teams had at least one athlete with a perfect GPA. Overall, 209 had grade point averages of 3.0 or above for the semester, and 193 had a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, including 25 with a 4.0. As a group, the 349 student-athletes posted a cumulative GPA of 3.07 - second-best ever for the department. Only last spring’s mark of 3.09 is better. Penguin student-athletes have maintained a 3.0-or-higher GPA in seven of the past eight full-time semesters.
Magazine Gets Top Award in National Competition YSU Magazine – A Magazine for Alumni and Friends, the university’s quarterly alumni publication, won a Gold Award in the national 2013 Collegiate Advertising Awards competition. YSU’s entry took the top award in the university magazine series category for schools with enrollments between 10,001 and 20,000 students. “Peer-reviewed honors like this are very rewarding,” said Mark W. Van Tilburg, executive director of YSU’s Office of Marketing Communications. “Our magazine staff has worked hard to transform YSU Magazine into one of the best in the country.” The Collegiate Advertising Awards is an elite program designed to recognize educational marketing professionals for excellence in 39 award categories that include print, web, video, television and social media. Judging is performed by a panel of design and education marketing professionals with decades of combined experience. The annual contest typically attracts about 700 entries from colleges and universities nationwide.
Sundance Festival Premiers Film Version of Prof's Book “Jamie Marks Is Dead,” the film version of a novel by Chris Barzak, YSU assistant professor of English, made its world premiere in January at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. The film was among 16 nominated in the category of Best U.S. Dramatic Film. The author and actors starring in the film attended the festival in Park City, Utah. They are, from left, Cameron Monaghan, Morgan Saylor, Barzak, Madisen Beaty and Noah Silver.
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Printing Laboratory Opens on Campus YSU has opened a new Center for Innovation in Additive Manufacturing, a 3D printing laboratory that that puts YSU at the forefront of the 3D printing industrial revolution. “We are committed to establishing a leadership position in additive manufacturing and developing YSU as the best place in the world for educational opportunities on this breakthrough technology,” YSU President Randy J. Dunn said. The center, located in Moser Hall, features two high-end 3D printers that will enable research for undergraduate- and graduate-level students, as well as students in the university’s new PhD program in materials science and engineering. The lab also allows for education and workforce development in additive manufacturing. YSU is only the second university in the world with this specific equipment fully installed and operating, said Martin Abraham, dean of the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The center will be supervised by two new faculty members: Brett Conner, associate professor of Mechanical and Industrial Systems Engineering, who came to YSU last summer after nearly 15 years in research and development for the U.S. military and for Alcoa; and Guha Manogharan, assistant professor of Mechanical and Industrial Systems Engineering, a PhD candidate at North Carolina State University who boasts several years of research experience in metal additive manufacturing and its applications. YSU is partnering with the University of Texas at El Paso to develop multifunctional 3D printing for aerospace applications and with the Youngstown Business Incubator to advance the adoption of 3D printing technologies for the foundry industry. Examining a new 3D printer in YSU’s Center for Innovation in Additive Manufacturing are, Visit www.ysumagazine.org for a video of the 3D printing lab.
from left: Ashley Bowers, student; Guha Manogharan, assistant professor, Mechanical & Industrial Systems Engineering; Brett Conner, associate professor and director, Mechanical & Industrial Systems Engineering Department; and Ashley Martoff, student.
Don Constantini to be Named The YSU Penguin Club has chosen Don Constantini of Canfield, a successful area business mogul and 1966 YSU alumnus, as Penguin of the Year. Constantini is chief executive officer and founder of Don Constantini Falcon Transport and Comprehensive Logistics, both based in Youngstown. Constantini earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at YSU, then started his career with General Motors. He joined the McNicholas Transportation Company and advanced through the ranks, eventually serving as company president. In 1982, he and two others co-founded Compass Transportation and purchased Falcon Transport. In 2000, Compass was merged into Falcon and a new affiliate, Comprehensive Logistics, was created to provide supply chain management to the automotive and steel industries. Falcon Transport, with nearly 2,000 employees
OF THE YEAR
and 1,200 trucks operating in 38 states, has been listed in the Top 100 Truck Lines in the United States. Comprehensive Logistics employs 1,145 people and operates more than four million square feet of facilities in nine locations in U.S. and Canada. A staunch supporter of YSU Penguin athletics, Constantini has maintained a loge in Stambaugh Stadium for more than 25 years and is a long-standing member of the Penguin Club. His leadership gifts to YSU include $150,000 to the YSU Foundation to endow an athletic scholarship, a gift of $150,000 toward the construction of the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center and $200,000 for the Williamson College of Business Administration building campaign. In 2005, he was recognized as the “Outstanding Business Alumnus” by the Williamson College of Business Administration.
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Surgeon Donates Medical Artifacts to Melnick Museum Retired surgeon Dr. Rashid Abdu of Canfield has donated his collection of more than 50 medical artifacts, some dating to the 1780s, to the Rose Melnick Medical Museum at YSU. “These items are impressive and will fill significant holes in the museum’s collection,” said Cassie Nespor, museum curator, noting that the donation is the largest to the museum in nearly a decade. Abdu, a native of Yemen, said he was given the items when he was a teenager by his foster father, Dr. Alfred M. Palmer, of Falls Church, Va. “I wanted to find a good permanent home for the pieces and thought the Melnick Museum was the perfect place,” he said. Some of the items are on exhibit in a new set of display cases at the Lincoln Avenue entrance to Cushwa Hall; others will be included in new display cases now being constructed on the second and third floors of Cushwa. Among the items is a trephine set that dates to circa 1780, making it the oldest item in the museum’s collection. Trephines were used to cut holes in the skull to relieve pressure from swelling or headaches or to retrieve projectiles, like bullets. Abdu earned his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine and came to Youngstown in 1960 as an intern at St. Elizabeth Health Center. Over the course of his career as a general surgeon, Abdu was director of Surgical Education at St. Elizabeth and a professor of surgery at the Northeast Ohio Medical University. He led the campaign to create the Joanie Abdu
Video Game Music Conference Attracts Scholars to Campus YSU welcomed scholars from around the world in mid-January when the university hosted the North American Conference on Video Game Music, the first event of its kind in the United States. The event, held Jan. 17 and 18 at YSU’s McDonough Museum of Art, featured scholar presentations and papers on topics relating to music produced for video games. “The study of video game music is quickly emerging as a legitimate academic discipline,” said Steven Reale, assistant professor in YSU’s Dana School of Music and the lead organizer of the event. Karen Collins, Canada research chair in Interactive Audio at the Canadian Centre of Arts and Technology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, gave the keynote address. Collins is the author of Game Sound and Playing With Sound: A Theory of Interacting With Sound and Music. Visit www.ysumagazine.org for a video of the video game conference.
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Cassie Nespor, curator of YSU’s Rose Melnick Medical Museum, displays some of the medical artifacts donated by Dr. Rashid Abdu.
Comprehensive Breast Care Center at St. Elizabeth, named after his wife, who died of breast cancer in 1994. (For more on the Melnick Museum, see the outside back cover of this issue.)
Game of Hope Scheduled Feb. 22 in Beeghly The Hope Foundation presents its 10th annual Game of Hope Charity Basketball Classic on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Beeghly Center. This year’s event also includes a new children’s feature, sponsored by Roth, a Sodexo Company. Doors open at 2 p.m. for Kids Fun Zone; game tipoff is at 4 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, a non-profit organization that raises funds to benefit chronically/terminally ill children. The event has raised nearly $90,000 during its first nine years. For more information, visit www.hopemv.org, or contact Tony Spano, executive director, at 330-728-2669 or avspano@hopemv.org.
s t u d e n t
success S T O R I E S Highlighting the Achievements of Exceptional YSU Students
Drill Team Ranks First in National Contest YSU freshman Cadet Capt. Emily Conroy of Canfield accepted a resolution before the Ohio House of Representatives on behalf of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station Composite Squadron 051 Drill Team, which placed first at the 2013 National Cadet Competition in Dayton. It is the first Ohio team ever to win the national contest.
Grad Student’s Research Wins Honors Sreevani Kalapala, a graduate student in Chemistry, received a certificate for the Best Environmental Science Research Poster at the annual Student Symposium on the Environment. Her project focused on removing hydrogen sulfide in landfill gas using a solar-regenerable adsorbent, and her work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Kalapala, who earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in India, her native country, plans to graduate from YSU this spring.
Exhibit Studies Italian Immigration An exhibition by YSU senior Paula Schaefer that chronicles a mass immigration of Italians to the Mahoning Valley from 1890 to 1924 was featured at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor and is now at YSU’s Maag Library. Schaefer, of Niles, Ohio, expects to graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Italian.
YSU Team Excels in Moot Court Regionals Seven of YSU’s 17-member moot court team won the right to compete in the national competition of the American Collegiate Moot Court Association after excelling at regional tournaments in the fall. The YSU team of Catie Carney of Poland, Ohio, and Jacob Schriner-Briggs of Liberty, Ohio, qualified for the nationals by winning the Midwest Regional Tournament in November; the YSU team of Sean Varsho of Austintown, Ohio, and Mike Goldthwait of Liberty, Ohio, placed second and also qualified. All 17 team members competed in the Midwest tourney.
Student’s Logo Makes It Big in L.A. A Vulcun logo designed by YSU student Zach McCartney was featured at the 2013 League of Legends World Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. McCartney, a graphic design major who graduated in December with a BFA, sold the logo to League of Legends, a competitive and free online game that attracts 32 million active players monthly. McCartney created the symbol for Team Vulcun, one of the top North American teams.
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Renew, Refresh and Restart Get a Jump-Start on Spring What is it about mid-February, with winter winding down and the promise of spring just a few weeks away, that gets us thinking about making a new start? For the green thumb set, it’s the perfect time to browse through seed catalogs and strategize about spring planting. Beachgoers know it’s time to start getting back in shape for swimsuit season. And with tax time approaching, the practical among us are looking for new ways to beef up their IRAs. In this issue of YSU Magazine, we turn to some of our own YSU experts – alumni, faculty and professional staff – for ideas on ways our readers can renew, refresh and restart their lives in the months ahead. We think there’s something for everybody. Maybe it’s a simple change, like picking up a new book or making time to watch that film you’ve heard so much about. Or perhaps you’ll choose something more life changing – like signing up for a class or planning a vacation trip for your family. Whatever you decide to try, we hope you’ll be inspired!
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Read a new Best Seller
Volunteer
Take a Trip Y ur Time
Visit a Museum
P lan a trip. Ever since WYSU-FM started promoting group tours abroad in 2000, Barbara Krauss has been traveling the world. That’s when Krauss, a 1974 YSU grad and WYSU’s longtime news and fine arts announcer, happily added the role of trip coordinator to her job description. She’s helped hundreds of travelers, many of them first-timers, with her practical, experienced advice. For example, she tells tour participants to budget for an additional $75 per day for meals, souvenirs and other expenses not included in their prepaid tour cost. “The amount will be more some days, less for others, but if they plan in advance for those daily expenses, they’ll enjoy the tour so much more,” Krauss said. She’s convinced that travel can have life-changing benefits. “For one, it keeps the brain and body fit,” she said, remembering an 87-year-old who was part of last year’s tour to Peru, and another traveler in his 90s who joined the tour to China. So far, Krauss has been to Great Britain, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Ireland and Peru – and in May, the WYSU tour heads back to France to visit Paris, Provence and the French Riviera. “I encourage people to just give themselves over to the travel experience,” she said. “They will find that 99.9 percent of the time, it will be mind-expanding and wonderful.” Visit www.wysu.org/travel to read more of Krauss’ travel tips.
WYSU-FM trip coordinator Barbara Krauss, at right wearing sunglasses, enjoys a gondola ride with fellow travelers during a recent trip to Venice, Italy.
B F e adventurous. “Life is an adventure,” says Michael Bowman, “but only if you make it one.” Making life adventurous is what Bowman does for a living. As overseer of the Adventure Recreation and Aquatics program at YSU’s Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center, Bowman has taken hundreds of students on what he calls “adventurous adventures,” from crawling the tight passageways of bat-infested wild caves in West Virginia to rafting the white water rapids of the Youghiogheny River in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. “These activities are not for everyone,” said Bowman, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education from YSU. “But some say it makes them feel alive. It’s a passion.”
Plan a
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Barbara Krauss
Bowman, whose job includes supervising activities on YSU’s 53-foot tall climbing wall, said it’s important, for people of all ages to be active. “And what better way to keep in shape than pursuing activities that take you to some of the most breathtaking places in the country,” he said. As an added bonus, the activities help develop teambuilding and leadership skills. “Most of the time, these activities require you to rely on other people, so if you do this with your family and friends, it builds bonds that you can’t get anywhere else,” he said. “Just think about that for a minute. If we could get more people involved and apply this type of trust, respect and friendship in our daily lives, what a better place our world would be to live, work and play.” For more information, visit http://web.ysu.edu/reccenter. Michael Bowman, at center, standing, leads a group of YSU students on a white water rafting adventure.
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ead a book.
Books, author Stephen King once said, are “portable magic.” So, go ahead, make some magic this year. For advice on where to start, we turned to YSU’s resident award-winning novelist, Christopher Barzak, associate professor of English. Barzak is the author of One for Sorrow, adapted for Christopher film under the name “Jamie Marks Barzak is Dead.” The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Here are Barzak’s five favorite books: The Passion, by Jeanette Winterson Babel Tower, by A.S. Byatt Feed, by M.T. Anderson Four Ways to Forgiveness, by Ursula K. Le Guin 5. Beloved, by Toni Morrison 1. 2. 3. 4.
P lant a tree.
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So you’re looking for a way to break out of that rut. Ron Chordas may be the guy to help. Chordas, YSU associate provost for Outreach, oversees more than 100 classes offered annually at the YSU Metro College. “So many people are looking for relief from the daily grind and want to pursue learning – not necessarily to advance their careers – but something that’s fun, something they’ve always wanted to discover, but just haven’t had the time,” he said. That’s where the Metro College can help. Every year, more than 1,800 people sign up for classes ranging from “International Fencing and Swordsmanship” and “Home Winemaking” to “Simply Sewing” and “Brides, Grooms and Others.” You can learn to draw cartoons, develop web pages, speak a new language, ballroom dance, decorate your house or dive into the world of social media. “Of course we have a lot of offerings that will help people in their careers, but more and more people are looking for stress-free classes of personal interest,” Chordas said. The most popular course? “Parties for 2 or 200.” The 3.5-hour seminar is for anyone interested in the fine art of party-throwing. The next class is set for March 17. More info at 330-941-2465.
Few urban campuses can match YSU’s abundance of trees, flowers and lush green spaces, and Catherine Cala knows the numbers. Director of development at YSU, Cala chairs the Campus Beautification Initiative, which was established in 2009 to support the perpetual care and maintenance of the campus grounds, with special emphasis on trees. Through the initiative, donors may have a tree planted on the campus core to memorialize a loved one or honor a milestone occasion, such as a graduation, anniversary or retirement. One goal of the beautification initiative, Cala said, is to diversify the tree population on campus, so donors are encouraged to select species not yet present on campus. YSU has been recognized as a Tree Campus USA, with 2,000 trees representing 78 species. Some of the unique trees recently added by donors include: • Sassafras, one of the most ancient tree species on earth • Striped Maple • Golden Catalpa • Chinquapin Oak • White Fringetree • A disease-resistant cultivar of American Elm For more information on YSU’s tree and commemorative campus bench program, contact Cala at 330-941-2752 or cacala@ysu.edu.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY
g et connected.
Photography classes are among numerous offerings available for adults at YSU Metro College.
Patrick Bateman, assistant professor of Management and a scholar on social networking, gives this advice on getting connected on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional Patrick Bateman network with more than 250 million members in more than 200 countries: 2014. A new year and new potential. What better time to think about moving forward professionally. And this year, more than any other, social networking sites are key to moving forward. Follow these 14 tips for ’14 to start your professional year off right: 1.
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ose weight.
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It’s February. The list of New Year’s resolutions is forgotten, including the promise to lose weight. But, maybe it’s time to give that one another shot. Matt Good has some advice: “Keep it simple. Change what you can. Forgive yourself for your mistakes.” Good, YSU human ecology instructor and owner of Good Health Industries in Youngstown, knows about losing weight – he shed more than 100 pounds and has kept it off for more than a decade. He’s now written a book with some advice, Zero Matt Good Resistance Weight Loss: How to Lose Weight Naturally and Fast. Some tips: • Eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. There’s no magic happening here. The body needs certain nutrients to operate effectively. • Don’t eat in front of the TV. People who eat mindlessly are more likely to overeat. • Never go more than four hours without eating something. People who skip meals are more likely to have a weight problem. “There is not a single page dedicated to food or exercise in my book,” he said. “It is a journey of identifying the single biggest obstacle that stands in the way of a vast majority of us ever being able to lose weight – ourselves.”
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
Get on LinkedIn – this is where professionals connect. Define your professional “brand” or “image.” Start building your profile. A profile is not just your resume copied online. Do NOT share details about your personal life. No one cares (this isn’t Facebook). Get yourself a professional photo. No “selfies” or cropped grouped photos. List your relevant skills. Connect with professionals you know. Be discerning with whom you connect … birds of a feather, LinkedIn together. Try to connect with a few organizations or people you aspire to work with. Join a few professional and field oriented groups. Get connections to endorse your skills; Endorse others for their skills. Reach out and build connections BEFORE you are actually looking for a job. Monitor who is looking at your profile. Remember LinkedIn is public. Be professional. Remembering this will payoff; forgetting this will cost you.
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F ind a way to serve. Want to leave a legacy? Maureen Drummond says a great way to do it is to volunteer. As executive director of HandsOnVolunteer Network of the Valley, Drummond connects wouldbe volunteers with the public service agencies and government entities in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties that need their skills. “It works both ways. Volunteers call us, looking for placement, and agencies call seeking volunteers,” she said. Volunteers often tell her that they gain more from the experience than they give. “At a certain age, people start to think about making a difference, having an impact on someone else’s life,” said Drummond. “Not everyone has millions of dollars, but they can tutor; they can mentor; they can teach life skills. There’s no end to the opportunities.” Carol Ross of Boardman is one of those satisfied volunteers. A YSU alumna (’75 BSEd, ’81 MSEd), she needed something more to fill her days after retiring as a Youngstown City Schools teacher. She came to HandsOn a year ago and accepted an assignment with its Telephone Reassurance Program. Now, Ross spends six hours a week chatting on the phone with homebound senior citizens. “I really
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Maureen Drummond
found my niche when I started here,” she said. “I fell in love with these people. They light up my life!” Drummond, also a YSU alumna (’85 BA), serves on the YSU Alumni Society Board. HandsOn Volunteer Network has offices on Market Street in Youngstown and in the Williamson College of Business Administration on the YSU campus. For more information, visit www.HOVN.org.
We asked Lou Zona, executive director of the Butler Institute of American Art, YSU professor emeritus of Art and a 1966 YSU graduate, to list his five favorite art museums. Here are his top picks and why he chose them: • The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown – You had to expect that my favorite museum is the Butler. A view of the Butler Institute of American Art photographed using a fisheye lens. There is no finer or more comprehensive collection of art created by Americans, and the recent addition of the former First Christian Church enables the Butler to present its outstanding collection of Folk Art and Americana. • The Museum of Modern Art, New York City – What a wonderful experience to walk through those galleries, the greatest collection of modern art in the world. This museum is in itself a reason to visit New York. • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City – It would take a few days to really see everything that the Met has to offer. From Egyptian art to modern and contemporary art, the Lou Zona museum presents man’s greatest artistic achievements. • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles – With so many things to see and marvel over in Southern California, many miss this marvelous museum with a terrific outdoor sculpture garden. • The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio – The Toledo Museum is a world-class museum of art with a magnificent collection, from antiquities through the modern period. The glass collection alone is worth the drive.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY
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ee a classic ilm.
F ind a way to save. F
We shot off an email to Richard E. Johnson, part-time lecturer in Film History at YSU, and asked for a list of his five favorite movies. Johnson, who holds an MFA in Cinema and Television from the University of Southern California and has spent more than four decades in the film industry, sent the following: “I’ve been mulling over the question of which films I’d choose for a list of the five best of all time. I’d probably have to change my mind on this list if I think about it much longer, so here they are: • “City Lights” by Charlie Chaplin, 1931. • “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock, 1954. • “Lawrence of Arabia” by David Lean, 1962. • “Zorba the Greek” by Michael Cacoyannis, 1964. “ • The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” by Francis Coppola, 1972 and 1974. (They really do amount to a single work.) Even as I write this, I can already hear the jeers from friends screaming, “How could you not include ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ‘Singing in the Rain,’ ‘The Grand Hotel,’ ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’ ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ ‘The Searchers,’ ‘On the Waterfront,’ ‘Raging Bull,’ etc.” My only excuse is, I had a gun to my head (figuratively, of course). So let’s not call this the list of the five greatest films, but only a list of five great films I’d recommend for general viewing, like those on Turner Classic Movies’ ‘The Essentials.’ ”
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et to your roots.
Martha Pallante’s fascination with genealogy began with a visit to Bagnoli Irpino, the Italian village where her paternal grandparents lived before emigrating to the United States in the late 1800s. It was a natural fit for the YSU History professor Martha Pallante and chair, a ’77 YSU alum who has a special interest in immigration. Soon, she found herself immersed in exploring her own family roots, and now she’s an advocate and local authority on the subject. “I tell people that exploring your family history is like unraveling a mystery or solving a puzzle,” she said. “It’s a way of connecting yourself to the past.” But how do you start exploring your roots? Pallante gave these suggestions: • Start with what you know and then move backwards. Interview family members, get full names, birth dates and death dates of those recently deceased. • Try checking census records online, free of charge. • City directories, also known as criss cross directories, are generally available at public libraries. Documents to look for include birth certificates, death certificates, voting registrations, church memberships, military service records, and marriage records. • Two helpful free websites: EllisIsland.com, for those whose ancestors came through Ellis Island; and Castlegarden.org, to track those who arrived before Ellis Island opened in 1892. • Ancestry.com and other websites like it are very efficient. You’ll save time, but you pay a fee.
At age 37, Brian Pinkerton already has impressive banking credentials – a 1999 BSBA alumnus, he’s a vice president and wealth chief risk officer for Akron-based FirstMerit Bank. It’s no surprise that the married father of two has strong opinions on the Brian importance of saving, and Pinkerton he’s developed effective strategies to help save for emergencies and build wealth. Here are some tips that are working for his family: • Make a budget. Itemize monthly expenditures, and then look for ways to scale back so you can divert more cash to savings. You might reduce your cable TV services, for example, eat out less, or get rid of your land line. • Open accounts for specific purposes – emergency fund, Christmas, vacation – and set up automatic transfers to those accounts every pay period. If you have money set aside automatically for specific purposes, you’re less likely to touch it. • Contribute to your 401(k) plan at work, and take full advantage of your employer’s matching contribution. That’s free money. • Meet with a financial professional for advice on opening investment accounts for specific purposes, such as IRAs and 529 college savings plans. • Pay off credit card debt – card interest rates generally far exceed what a savings account earns. • When you pay off student loans and other debt, reroute the money to savings. Pinkerton’s career in banking and financial services spans 14 years, and he serves on the YSU Alumni Society Board. In addition to his YSU business degree, he holds an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University.
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alumni
SPOTLIGHT
C E L E B R AT I N G A C C O M P L I S H E D G R A D U AT E S
YSU Graduates Making National News This edition of Alumni Spotlight profiles two exceptional YSU graduates and newsmakers: Dr. Amit Patel, a cardiothoracic surgeon based in Utah pioneering a new lifesaving procedure for heart patients; and Paula Brooks, a Franklin County Commissioner and the only Ohioan chosen to serve on President Obama’s national climate change task force.
Dr. Amit Patel, third from left, performs a groundbreaking retrograde gene therapy for the first time ever on actor Ernie Lively at University Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. The procedure was performed in November and Lively is recovering.
“This is exciting because it is ultra-minimally invasive, a much safer and more cost-effective way to deliver the therapy to the heart, and we are the first in the world to do it.” - Dr. Amit Patel
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Introducing a New Therapy to Heal Failing Hearts Dr. Amit Patel ’93 BS in Biology, ’94 MS in Immunophysiology
YSU alumnus Dr. Amit Patel is making medical history at the University of Utah School of Medicine. A cardiothoracic surgeon and associate professor, Patel has developed a promising new heart procedure that has lifesaving potential for many of the 5.1 million patients nationwide diagnosed with heart failure. In the procedure, called retrograde gene therapy, the surgeon threads a needle through a major leg vein to reach the heart. That channel is used to deliver a gene, SDF-1, which acts as a homing device to attract stem cells that naturally exist in the patient’s heart, blood and bone marrow. “When a person suffers a heart attack, SDF-1 is produced and stem cells travel to the heart, but for only a short time,” Patel explains. “In retrograde gene therapy, we marinate the heart with the gene, so it sticks around for 30 days. That gives the stem cells 30 days to start working so the heart can repair itself.” He calls the procedure “ultra-minimally invasive,” because it is performed on an outpatient basis while the patient is awake. Patel was the first in the world to perform retrograde gene therapy last November. The patient was Ernie Lively, a well-known television and film actor diagnosed with heart failure. The actor, whose film credits include “Passenger 57” and “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” has seen promising results. Now, Patel is the principal investigator in a clinical trial for retrograde gene therapy that includes 10 other physicians and will eventually include 72 patients from across the country. “We’ll be watching them to see: Are they walking further? Are they feeling stronger? Are their hearts functioning better?” said Patel. Doctors are optimistic. Stem cell therapy has been used successfully to treat heart patients for more than a decade, Patel said, but previous techniques were much more invasive, requiring open-heart surgery or catheters. “This is exciting because it is ultra-minimally invasive, a much safer and more cost-effective way to deliver the therapy to the heart, and we are the first in the world to do it.” Patel was born and raised in Dallas and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a heart surgeon. He came to YSU as an undergraduate, planning to take advantage of its six-year BSMD partnership with the Northeast Ohio Medical University. However, Patel finished his bachelor’s
Dr. Amit Patel
degree in just 18 months and decided to stay at YSU to earn a master’s degree in immunophysiology. “I met a lot of incredible people at YSU,” he said, “great people who work hard and strive for excellence.” Patel earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University, completed an internship and residency at Baylor University Medical Center and a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. Now, he is an associate professor in the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine and director of Clinical Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering at the University of Utah. He and his colleagues at U of U are also involved in 17 other clinical trials, many involving gene therapy, stem cells and non-surgical procedures. “I have a very unusual job description. I am a cardio vascular interventionalist,” he said. “I feel very fortunate that I can do both open heart surgery and catheter-based intervention to help a wide range of patients.” Patel and his wife, Megna, have two sons, ages 5 and 7, and live in Salt Lake City. His favorite activity after hours is “hanging out” with his family. They especially enjoy traveling and pursuing winter sports such as skiing and ice-skating.
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Preparing the Nation for Climate Change
Paula Brooks
Paula Brooks, ’75 BA in Political Science, Pre-Law Paula Brooks was just stepping to the podium at a government energy conference in Chicago last November when the White House called. Within minutes, the YSU alumna had accepted an invitation from President Obama to serve on a prestigious national climate change panel. “The whole thing was a surprise to me,” said Brooks, a Franklin County Commissioner and the only Ohioan on the president’s 25-member Climate Preparedness and Resilience Task Force. “I feel honored, and a great sense of responsibility.” The bipartisan panel met for the first time in early December, charged with creating a “With climate change, draft report for Obama by late summer on we have some pretty how the nation should deal with climate good science, and we change issues. A final action plan is due can forecast what may by late November. “We’ve been asked to do a lot of very important work in a very happen. We should be short time span,” she said. prepared.” science/pre-law and a strong desire for a When Brooks thinks about climate Paula Brooks career in public service. change, her mind goes to infrastructure – Brooks moved to Columbus where she bridges, sewer lines, power lines and culverts worked in a succession of government positions – that are vulnerable to the increased flooding, for Ohio’s attorney general, and later, for Gov. Richard power outages and high winds that new weather patterns Celeste. Taking classes at night, she earned a law degree can bring. She is setting up meetings with community from Capital University, then spent several years practicing leaders across Ohio now, looking to gather facts and ideas in both the public and private sectors. She remains licensed for reinforcing and expanding the state’s infrastructure, while in both the State of Ohio and District of Columbia and is preserving agriculture and addressing concerns over the safety active in the Ohio State Bar Association. and security of the water and food supply. As a Franklin County Commissioner, Brooks has been “I’ll never forget being a student at YSU when the steel a leader on environmental issues over more than a decade mills closed in Youngstown. It was such a shock. It has taken in public office, and as board president in 2006, she ensured decades for the region to turn itself around, and I applaud all adoption of one of the nation’s first county environmental the progress that has been made,” she said. “But with climate sustainability resolutions. She said her proudest change, we have some pretty good science, and we can accomplishment was drafting a financial security resolution forecast what may happen. We should be prepared.” that has allowed the county to maintain a double-AAA bond Brooks grew up on a family farm in East Liverpool, rating. “My frugal farm roots and my education at YSU both the first in her family to go to college. “Dad said I needed a taught me the importance of using money wisely,” she said. trade,” she recalled, so she went to cosmetology school and Brooks and her husband, Greg Kontras, a business then worked as a hairdresser to pay her YSU tuition. owner and Columbus native, are the parents of two adult “YSU was a real eye-opener for a farm girl like me,” children. The couple enjoys spending time with family, she said, remembering how class projects and her work as a including her sister and fellow YSU graduate Dr. Barbara Jo hair stylist put her in contact with diverse groups of people Brooks Rayo, a pediatrician, and three other sisters, all living – immigrants, senior citizens and a holocaust survivor she’ll in the Columbus, Ohio area. never forget. She left YSU in 1975 with a BA in political Profiles by Cynthia Vinarsky
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! e e t v a a D S
alumni news
THE
Alumni Lecture Series, “The Outlook for Individuals’ Retirement Security in the United States”, Jill McCullough, assistant professor, Finance – Feb. 19, Williamson College of Business Administration. Bitonte College of Health and Human Services Alumni Recognition Dinner – Feb. 21, Chestnut Room, Kilcawley Center. YSU Night with the Phantoms – February 27, Covelli Center. Thomas Colloquium presents Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes – March 4, Stambaugh Auditorium.
Celebrating a Half Century Penguin alumni who earned their degrees at least 50 years ago made YSU their destination for a luncheon in October, celebrating their membership in YSU’s Half Century Club. From left, the honorees were: front row, Jay Stein, Bonnie Bennett, Rosemarie Paini, Millicent Counts, Linda Miyashita, Jacquelyn Carte and Maria Galante; second row, YSU President Randy Dunn, Jean Sylak, Joanne Diana, Barbara Banks, Robert Cooley, Tom Grohl, Don Cagigas, Lew Galante and Jackie LeViseur, director, YSU Office of Alumni and Events.
Skeggs Lecture Series presents Dr. Michio Kaku – March 20, Stambaugh Auditorium. For more information about any of these events, contact the YSU Office of Alumni and Events Management, 330-941-3497.
Vets Honor Jim Olive
Penguin Briefs
Jim Olive, ’73, center, accepts the Cincinnatus Award at the YSU Veterans and ROTC Alumni Reunion Dinner in November, while YSU Trustee and Sen. Harry Meshel, ’49, left, and Vernon Haynes, professor of Psychology, look on. An Army veteran, Olive retired in 2012 as the founding administrator of the YSU Office of Veterans Affairs. (Veterans and ROTC alumni, let us add you to our mailing list. Email your contact information to habelgin@ysu.edu.)
Gathering in the Big Apple YSU alumni and friends living in or near New York City had an opportunity to reconnect during an alumni reception Oct. 25 at Hotel Indigo, located in the Chelsea neighborhood. YSU alumnus Bill Mehalco, ‘05, is general manager of the hotel.
Life Member Reception More than 100 attended the annual YSU Alumni Society Life Member Reception, held this year at Fellows Riverside Gardens. Guest speaker for the afternoon was Linda Kostka, ’80, director of marketing and development for the Mill Creek MetroParks.
Alumni Society Joins Student Recruitment Effort YSU Alumni Society Board members David Moore, ’74, ’77, and Ed Brannan, ’78, got involved with student recruitment by helping to address postcards to the hundreds of high school seniors who attended “Crash Day” on campus Nov. 22. Crash Day is an innovative new open house format at YSU that gives prospective students opportunities to tour the campus and sit in on classes.
Youngstown Day in Colorado YSU alumni and friends living in the Denver area, along with a few devoted Penguins who traveled west to join them, gathered in September to celebrate their ties to Youngstown and YSU. Colorado Youngstown Day was held at the Lone Tree Golf Club & Hotel in Lone Tree, Colo.
Visit www.ysumagazine.org for a video on Crash Day.
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notes
’50s Jim Shaffer of Cortland, ’50 BE in mechanical engineering, was recently profiled by the Warren Tribune Chronicle Jim Shaffer newspaper in an article describing his service in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. An Army veteran, he retired in 1985 as chief engineer for Fairfield Machine, then started his own engineering design company. At age 94, he continues to play 18 holes of golf two or three times a week when weather permits.
’60s Ray Wylam of Fairborn, Ohio, ’60 BE in mechanical engineering, served as a volunteer at the 2013 Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio, this fall for the 17th consecutive year. As a runner, Wylam has participated in 32 half-marathons and 20 full marathons, including seven Air Force Marathons. He is retired after working for 32 years in the fracture and durability division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and now spends his time volunteering regularly for a local theater, a state park and other venues. Stuart Schwotzer of Dayton, ’68 BS in earth science, is a senior geologist in the construction services division at Bowser-Morner Laboratories in Dayton. He Stuart Schwotzer was recently recognized by ASTM International – one
of the largest international standards development and delivery systems in the world – for his contributions to the development of standards for road and paving materials. Schwotzer served in a succession of positions with the Ohio Department of Transportation, including testing laboratory administrator and aggregate section head, before joining Bowser-Morner in 1997.
’70s Sheila Jackson Williams of Youngstown, ’71 BA in psychology, has been hired as the first coordinator of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Sheila Williams Mahoning Valley & Western Pennsylvania. The chapter awards $100,000 in grants annually to local organizations that serve youth in the areas of health and education, and it recently partnered with Akron Children’s Hospital of Mahoning Valley to provide the McFamily Respite Center for families whose children are hospitalized. Bhanoji R. Yedavalli of Hoffman Estates, Ill., ’71 MS in mechanical engineering, was appointed an honorary member of President Obama’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” effective July 16, 2013. Yedavalli is also a member of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Illinois and a retired senior technical specialist/senior advisor for the Illinois Capital Development Board. Joe Tucciarone of Cocoa, Fla., ’76 BS in physics, ’00 Honorary PhD, had his animation and artwork featured in “Firefall,” a show presented throughout
Alumna Plans Boston Marathon Run Kristine Beauchamp of Boston, ’11 BS in fashion merchandising, has been accepted to participate in this year’s Boston Marathon in April. She will run in honor of her grandfather, the late Phil Snyder, a long-time and beloved YSU administrator who retired as director of University Relations in the early 1970s. Snyder was a runner and died of cancer, so Beauchamp will also run to raise funds in support of cancer research. She’s been running for three years, and this will be her first marathon. She is employed as global reference manager for the enterprise & mid-range systems division of EMC, a global provider of IT storage hardware solutions. She is studying for a master’s degree in information technology management at Brandeis University in Boston. To sponsor Beauchamp’s marathon run, visit http://go.liverfoundation.org/goto/kristine.
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November at YSU’s Ward Beecher Planetarium. Tucciarone has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Toledo. His dinosaur paintings Joe Tucciarone have been published in magazines such as Time, Discover, and Science; his illustrations and animation sequences have appeared in TV documentaries on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and the Turner Broadcasting System.
’80s Gregory Pysh of Midland, Texas, ’80 BM in vocal performance, won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Award in the Concert Music Division in 2013 for the second consecutive year. Pysh teaches music and private voice at the University of Texas Permian Basin and is conductor of its choir and vocal ensemble. He also serves as minister of music for the First Presbyterian Church of Midland, where he conducts the adult and hand bell choirs for a 1,500-member congregation. He has a master’s degree in choral conducting and voice performance from Bowling Green State University. Cheryl L. Waite of Youngstown, ’82 BA in English literature, was elected secretary/ treasurer of the Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges Association. She has served as Judge of the 7th District Court of Appeals – a district comprised of Mahoning, Columbiana, Jefferson, Carroll, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe and Noble counties – since she was first elected to the position in 1996. Previously, she was an assistant law director for the City of Youngstown, eventually becoming first assistant, and also took a position as acting risk manager starting in 1991. Maryann Fiala of Oviedo, Fla., ‘83 BSBA, has been elected to the board of advisers to Gamxing of San Diego. Fiala is co-founder of Innovectis, an association formed to provide a national networking platform and business development opportunities for emerging and mid-tier technology companies. Previously, she was regional vice president for TechAmerica, and she has lobbied state and federal government officials on technology related issues. Jeffery Tolnar of Raleigh, N.C., ’84 AAS, ’86 BSAS, is the new vice president of systems and products for Elster Electricity. He came to the company in October with more than 25 years experience in
engineering, operations and product development in the smart grid and communications industries. Previously, Tolnar held a succession of positions, most recently as chief information and technical officer at BPL Global. He has an MBA from Baker University. John D. Yurchison of Canfield, ’86 BSBA, has joined Cortland Banks as vice president, commercial banking, and will be based at the bank’s Canfield location. Yurchison has more than 27 years of banking experience and previously served as vice president of commercial lending with First Place Bank in Youngstown. Kelly Wilmouth Battoglia of Rochester, N.Y., ’88 BSN, recently accepted a position as an OB/ GYN nurse practitioner at Genesee Valley Obstetrics and Gynecology. Previously, she worked for 20 years as a nurse practitioner for Planned Parenthood in Rochester. Debora Chizmar of Canfield, ’89 BSEd, has joined Millwood Inc. in Vienna, Ohio, as assistant director of organization development. Her responsibilities will include developing, organizing and reviewing training programs and higher education initiatives. Chizmar has 14 years experience in employee training and auditing. Kathy Cook of Kinsman,’89 BSN, has been named president of St. Joseph Health Center in Warren by Humility of Mary Health Partners. Previously, she was chief nursing officer at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, and she has been part of HMHP since her days as a student nurse. In addition to her YSU degree she has a nursing diploma from St. Elizabeth School of Nursing, a master’s in nursing administration from Gannon University, and she is a graduate of Catholic Health Partners Leadership Academy. Greg Ellis of Newton Falls, ’89 BA, was recently promoted to senior manufacturing consultant for North America at Solving Efeso Consulting. Ellis, who also holds a master’s degree from the University of Akron, joined Solving Efeso in 2008, and his primary focus and specialties are in the areas of Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement in light and heavy industrial settings.
John Yurchison
Kelly Battoglia
Debra Chizmar
Kathy Cook
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alumni
After nearly 20 years as a psychotherapist, YSU alumna Linda M. Herman of Kent, Wash., has published a non-fiction book, Parents to the End: How Baby Boomers Can Parent for Peace of Mind, Foster Responsibility in their Adult Children and Keep their Hard-Earned Money (NTI Upstream, Chicago, 2013). Herman, who earned a BA in sociology at YSU in 1971, also earned MEd and EdS degrees at Kent State University. In her practice, she has seen an influx of Baby Boomer parents who are anxious, confused and often guilt-ridden about their grown kids. “Witnessing this phenomenon was what inspired me to research and write about the topic of parenting adult children,” she said. The book has received excellent professional reviews, has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, a PBS online magazine and Forbes.com.
Vernon T. Jones of Alpena, Mich., ’73 BA in sociology, said he has been combining his business world experience with the theological insight he’s gained through his own personal spiritual pilgrimage to work with church congregations as a spiritual consultant and a director of small group ministry. In August of 2013, he published a non-fiction book that outlines the discipleship principles he’s been teaching, Discipleship – A Lifelong Spiritual Pilgrimage, released by Wipf and Stock Publishers. Jones has a master of theological studies degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
Linda Herman
Vernon Jones
Fuels and Combustion Systems Safety – What you don’t know can kill you! is the title of a John Puskar new book authored by John Puskar, ’81 BE in mechanical engineering. Puskar, who lives in Parma, Ohio, said he started a company called CEC Combustion Services in 1984 and built it into a worldwide organization with 50 employees that serviced major industrial clients such as Ford, General Motors, Alcoa and US Steel. He sold the company in 2011. Puskar’s book chronicles lessons learned from testing thousands of combustion systems in industrial plants. He also has an MBA from Case Western Reserve. The book was published by John Wiley & Sons.
’90s Jennifer Roller of Youngstown, ’91 AB, ’95 MSEd, has been appointed acting president of the Raymond John Wean Foundation. She joined the foundation in 2007 and served most recently as vice president and interim president. Previously, she was director of Upward Bound and SCOPE at YSU, and she recently completed a one-year fellowship with the Association of Black Foundation Executives, an independent Jennifer Roller membership organization that promotes effective and responsive philanthropy in black communities. Jasun Stanton of Pittsburgh, ’95 BE, has been promoted to production manager for Pennsylvania American Water. In his new position, he will manage operation and personnel for the company’s 11 western Pennsylvania water treatment plants and three wastewater treatment
plants. Stanton has more than 18 years experience in the water utility industry, most recently as field operation manager in Pennsylvania American Water’s Pittsburgh District.
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Class Notes
Scott Cunningham of Rochester, Minn., ’97 BS in biological science, has been named a research associate in clinical microbiology in the Mayo Clinic’s department of laboratory medicine. He was also named the ScheragoRubin Laureate for 2014 Scott Cunningham by the American Society for Microbiology, an award that recognizes an outstanding, non-doctoral clinical microbiologist. After earning his first degree at YSU, Cunningham earned a BS in clinical laboratory science from Wright State University and completed an MS at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
’00s Sarah E. Blalock of Bloomfield Township, Mich., ’02 BA in professional writing and editing, has joined the law firm of Collins Einhorn Sarah Blalock Farrell in Southfield, Mich. She is working in the general and professional liability practice groups and will focus on the defense of general and professional liability claims. Previously, she was a trial lawyer for the Wayne County, Mich., Prosecutor’s Office. After graduating magna cum laude from YSU, she earned her law degree from Case Western Reserve School of Law in Cleveland. Robert M. Brooks of Chattanooga, Tenn., ’04 MBA, has been appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer for Erlanger Health System, a multi-campus hospital system. Previously, he was chief executive officer of St. Cloud Regional Medical Center near Orlando, Fla. Brooks is board-certified in healthcare management and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Besides earning his MBA and a post-graduate certificate in health care management from YSU, he earned a BS in nursing and credentials as an EMT-paramedic from Kent State University.
Anne Marie Setting
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Anne Marie (Dull) Setting of Niles, Ohio, ’07 BSBA in marketing management, was recently promoted to account executive for the state of Ohio at Aesynt (formerly McKesson Automation). Aesynt, based in Cranberry Township, Pa., offers integrated pharmacy automation solutions.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY
Penguin at YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY
How We Met… Since the summer of 2013 we’ve been asking married YSU couples to share their love stories for our new Penguin Mates feature. We’re introducing the couples who wrote us most recently here, and we invite you to visit ysumagazine.org to see all their stories and photos. Richard “Chip” Hanuschak, ’86 AA, and Mary Beth Chance Hanuschak, ’74 BSEd, were married July 8, 1978. They live in Youngstown. Bill Laird, ’89 BS in computer science, and Christy Conn Laird, ’98 BS in math, married Sept. 28, 2002. They live in Willoughby, Ohio. Chris Morrone III, ’01 BE in mechanical engineering, and Danielle Ditullio Morrone, ’01 BS in nursing, were married Sept. 27, 2003. They live in Canfield, Ohio. Benjamin Muniz, ‘08 ATS in electric utility technology, and Samantha Cope Muniz, ‘09 BSEd, were married June 25, 2011. They live in Hanoverton, Ohio. Matthew Pitsch, ’10 BE in civil engineering, and Betsy Pfiller Pitsch, ’10 BSEd in early childhood education, were married Sept. 10, 2011. They live in Pittsburgh. If you and your spouse are both YSU graduates, you can be part of our new Penguin Mates feature. Tell us your love story in 300 words or less, and send it with a current photograph and/or wedding photo. The photo should be a close-up, headand-shoulders shot; if emailed, it must be a high-resolution .jpg, at least 3.5”x 5” and 300 dpi. Be sure to include your degrees, graduation years, city of residence, an email address and phone number so that we can contact you. Send to: cevinarsky@ysu.edu or Editor, YSU Magazine, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.
James Robert Jackson of Cincinnati, ’07 BS in electrical engineering, has joined Sedasys, a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, as a senior scientist. Jackson recently completed a PhD in biomedical James Jackson engineering at the University of Cincinnati, and he completed his graduate research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Cristina Cala of Brooklyn, N.Y., ’08 BA in professional writing and editing, is employed by Condé Nast Publications, where she was recently promoted from copywriter to copy Cristina Cala manager. Two of her latest assignments include writing a fullpage advertorial for the October issues of Glamour, Allure and SELF magazines and a three-page advertorial for the December issues of the same three Condé Nast publications.
YSU Distance Education Offering Eight New High-Demand, 100% Online Degree Programs
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Master of Arts in Financial Economics
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Master of Business Administration
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Master of Science in Engineering Management
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Master of Science in Criminal Justice
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Master of Science in Respiratory Care
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Master of Science in Teacher Education, Early Childhood Education
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Bachelor of Science in Applied Science in Public Health
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Bachelor of Science in Applied Science in Allied Health
Through easy-to-use technology and backed by dedicated customer service aimed at ensuring student success, YSU provides students with degree programs that are academically rigorous, fully accredited and recognized by employers worldwide.
www.ysu.edu/distance 330-941-1526
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Office of University Development One University Plaza Youngstown, Ohio 44555-0001
Penguins Help to Launch Vaccine Program, 1962
1962
Members of the Youngstown University basketball team line up to take Type II Sabin oral polio vaccines before a game in February 1962, in this photo from the YSU Melnick Medical Museum collection. Dr. Kurt Wenger and his wife Margo, at left, distributed the vaccine as part of a program sponsored by the Mahoning County Medical Society and endorsed by the American Medical Association. The team members were participating in the nation’s first mass immunization drive using the oral vaccine developed in 1961 by Albert Sabin. Previously, polio vaccines had to be administered by injection. (For more details about the YSU Melnick Medical Museum, visit www.melnick.ysu.edu.)