IUP Magazine, Summer 2020

The Next Corner

Charting a Path through the Twists and Turns of COVID-19

SPRING SWITCH

He may have been alone in the room, but Employment and Labor Relations chair David Piper ’84, M’89, M’92, D’00 was leading his Financial Management class using videoconferencing. As coronavirus cases rose in Pennsylvania, IUP switched to all-remote instruction in March. Classes like Piper’s, which had previously brought together both in-person and remotely connected students, had an easy transition.

IUPMAGAZINE

SUMMER 2020 VOL. XXXVIII, NO. 1

FEATURES

The Next Corner

Facing a global pandemic, the IUP community has learned how strong and nimble it can be. President Michael Driscoll details the journey.

Camaraderie in a Crisis

Members of the IUP family demonstrate hometown heroics. Even beautiful art and architecture can disappear into the background. Try to place these campus features.

Distinguishing Features

A Winning Recipe

Culinary Arts alumna Kristin Butterworth is blazing a trail for female chefs in fine dining.

Partnering with Police

Well before the death of George Floyd, anthropologist Abigail Adams had been helping Indiana Borough police officers relate to cultural differences.

DEPARTMENTS

Letters

Milestone Generosity

Achievements

Mentors

ABOVE LEFT: Kristin Butterworth is executive chef of restaurants at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.

BRIAN HENRY

WEB

IUPMAGAZINE

PRESIDENT OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Michael Driscoll

VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT: Khatmeh Osseiran-Hanna

EDITOR: Elaine Jacobs Smith ’93

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Regan Houser, Bob Fulton ’75, Karen Philippi Gresh ’67

NAMEDROPPERS EDITOR: Matthew Burglund ’98

DESIGN: David Raymond ’99

PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Henry

IUP MAGAZINE ONLINE On the Rise

Drones are charting new territory, far beyond recreation. A new certificate program explores the possibilities.

WEB

Art on the Side

Last fall, the University Museum’s spotlight shone on part-time alumni artists.

ABOVE: In July, Facilities employees Ed Buterbaugh and Barry Haldin, in back, placed decals on desks in Humanities and Social Sciences building classrooms to guide students in sitting at safe distances from one another. IUP’s fall plan outlines a number of practices to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

COVER: IUP’s Oak Grove is bordered at the top by McElhaney Hall, Sutton Hall, and Stapleton Library in this drone’s view by Emily Jaros Smith ’03, M’05, IUP assistant director of video services.

IUP Magazine

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BRIAN

HENRY

Turning a Corner. Steering to the Next.

By President Michael Driscoll

Unprecedented. Fluid. A course set for parts unknown.

Those are things we’ve all said about COVID-19, which slammed into our world early in the spring semester, causing us to delay resuming classes at the close of spring break. Shortly after, it led us to move all classes online for the balance of the spring semester.

Of course, we are concerned about the future, but I have placed my confidence in

all that I know about IUP’s people—how determined a bunch we are, how strong and flexible, and how much we care about what we do to make the world a better place through our students.

While we’ve adapted quickly to the pandemic, we are considering what comes next—planning for a future in which we prepare tomorrow’s best humans and do so with a possible resurgence of coronavirus. I’ll get to that in a moment, but I first want to say a few words in praise of our faculty

and staff’s fortitude and hard work in the face of a fast-developing situation.

Our academic community mobilized with efficiency in response to the global pandemic—all with an unwavering focus on serving students. Within a week and in a mad dash, our professors had all classes ready for remote delivery.

Our student services areas, in partnership with facilities, custodial services, and the police, safely moved our students out of on-

From his Sutton Hall office, President Michael Driscoll connected with more than 300 employees through videoconferencing technology during a town hall in May. BRIAN HENRY

campus housing and then made counseling and tutoring available online, as well as activities that students find vital to a sense of community. Over the course of that time, we arranged to issue appropriate refunds, and the Student Affairs Division established the Student Support and Engagement Team to maintain connections with students.

Our admissions area kept the next class of IUP students engaged through online visitation events, while the University Advancement Division launched the Emergency Response Fund—led by a gift from Terry Serafini ’61 of $50,000, matched by Tim Cejka ’73 and Deb Phillips Cejka ’73, and bolstered by an additional $15,000 from the IUP Alumni Association—to assist students who have been affected financially. The division also developed a web page that provided support, advice, and other resources from alumni and other members of the IUP community to help people through the pandemic.

Through a survey, our students told us they want a face-to-face education, which fits with what we know works best for them. Right now, we are planning for the next academic year with caution.

I am writing this a few weeks before the start of the fall semester. With an uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases in western Pennsylvania, we changed our plans for an in-person experience and have opted to bring to campus those who most need to be here to succeed academically—firstyear students, undergraduates whose coursework requires significant face-to-face experiences, and some graduate students. With around 3,000 students on campus, we should be able to manage keeping all who

are present safe through distancing and other safety measures. The balance of the student body will be encouraged to learn remotely, although we are prepared to make exceptions when needed and may switch that for the balance of the year. We also are prepared to go fully online if we experience an unmanageable outbreak.

Student activities will work the same way—a mix of both in person and remote. Our staff is looking for more ways to engage students online and to reduce large gatherings. Most students who live in residence halls will have single rooms within suites, so they’ll have some distance but won’t be isolated, and no more than two students will share a bathroom. We also are working to ensure that dining halls are not crowded and that students will have plenty of space while queued in lines. Thanks to a partnership with Indiana Regional Medical Center, our students will have access to COVID-19 testing.

Many of our faculty and staff members attended Summer Academy, a learning experience that helped them take the excellent work that occurs in a face-to-face setting and to polish and perfect it, minus the rush, for a longer span online, if needed. They honed their skills in technologyassisted education, activities planning, counseling, and other services to better apply them online—whether that’s fulltime or as a supplement to their work in a face-to-face environment.

A course set for parts unknown, I wrote in my first line. That’s true for us—somewhat.

Before COVID-19, we were in a mode of thoughtful change to meet our students’ needs. IUP has a great formula for shaping

new leaders. We know that our students are changing, and we must change some of our own practices to meet them where they are. You can read more about that in my 2019 report, Making an Impact in Changing Times.

While we’ve had to be nimble to tackle circumstances presented by the pandemic, I know that doing so will make IUP a stronger university. This crisis has taught us that we can change even faster, with more confidence and purpose than we thought possible.

As we have closed the door on our last strategic plan, which prepared us to tackle the tough issues ahead, it’s now time to implement a new one. You will see us pruning and reshaping our academic offerings to create a superior educational experience. You will see us modifying our processes and procedures to erase red tape. You will see us providing students with better services, like assigning each new freshman student a staff guide to serve as a resource and mentor. You will see us reaching out to different types of students, such as displaced workers who can carve out new careers with new credentials, as well as traditional students who need the same foundational, eye-opening experience presented through a mixed palette of inperson and online tools.

We are creating a community in which every student can find a sense of belonging, will learn without barriers, and will come to understand the world they’ll face after they graduate.

At the end of 2019, we were turning a corner to reach IUP NextGen. And, through the pandemic, we are steering our way to the next corner. m

Crisis Inspires Camaraderie

“Take care of each other,” often repeated during the coronavirus pandemic, is a message many in the IUP community have taken to heart.

Put to the Test

Since April, Narayanaswamy Bharathan has provided COVID-19 testing at Indiana Regional Medical Center, in addition to serving as professor and chair of IUP’s Biology Department.

IUP Associate Dean for Research Hilliary Creely coordinated the partnership, which involved moving IUP equipment to IRMC, as well as training hospital personnel in coronavirus testing.

“I felt that it was imperative that I jump into this work,” said Bharathan, whose expertise includes work with RNA viruses and with protocols for testing and identifying them. “It’s the best way that I can help during this crisis.”

Bharathan learned his desire to help from his parents, he said, and subsequently passed it along to his daughters, who assist him with testing. Tanvi Bharathan M’19 is a medical school graduate who plans to start her residency later this year. Her sister Tashi

’19 is a Cook Honors College graduate who will enter medical school in the fall.

As research associates, they’re steeped in their father’s belief that “the incredible spirit of human camaraderie is vital and should be more infectious than COVID-19 itself.”

As of early July, the hospital had completed more than 2,000 tests, mostly of hospital patients but also of nursing home residents and local jail inmates. Widespread testing and reporting are critical in preventing the spread of the virus, Bharathan said.

“A concerted, collaborative effort is needed to identify as quickly as possible people who have come in contact with infected individuals and to advise self-quarantine,” he said. “Widespread testing will allow the detection of virus in ‘transporters’ without obvious symptoms who could infect others. Only rapid testing will help us to understand and uncover the full scope of the public health problem.”

‘Avengers Assemble’ PPE

Before coronavirus became a household name, Homer-Center Junior/Senior High School teacher Brad Adams ’06 was already discussing with IUP and other area high schools ways they could collaborate on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) projects.

During the school year, Adams was piloting a class in three-dimensional printing. When the pandemic caused schools to close and lessons to move online, he thought of a collaboration that would benefit his students and the community.

Amid talk of shortages of personal protective equipment for health care and emergency workers, Adams and his students sprung to action. They borrowed 3-D printers from the school and began making face shields to donate to hospitals and other vital services. For their heroic efforts, they became known as the Indiana County COVID Avengers.

Soon, students from other local schools and many community volunteers joined in. Adams’s wife and fellow Homer-Center teacher Lisa Peightal Adams ’99 began

Seven Months of COVID-19

Wuhan government reports cases of pneumonia of unknown cause.

Days later, China identifies new virus.

First US coronavirus case identified in Washington state.

World Health Organization declares global health emergency.

China reports first death from virus. IUP spring 2020 semester begins.

First US death from coronavirus (confirmed April 21).

Trump administration restricts travel from China.

IUP postpones resumption of faceto-face instruction after spring break.

IUP spring break begins.

Pennsylvania’s first two coronavirus cases reported.

IUP announces all classes will move to remote delivery for rest of semester. Organized moveout from residence halls begins.

Classes already offered online resume.

Pennsylvania K-12 schools close.

President Trump declares national emergency.

Narayanaswamy Bharathan in an Indiana Regional Medical Center lab

INDIANA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Brad Adams has been making faceshield visors from home.

organizing the requests on a spreadsheet, and Pittsburgh-area alumni Rob Ruscher ’09 and David Altrogge ’06 conducted an online fundraiser.

To aid the initiative, two IUP students made use of university 3-D printers, and the IUP Research Institute donated two more printers, several boxes of filament, and other supplies.

More recently, the Avengers have grown to roughly 50 members, Adams said, some as young as third grade. As of early July, the team tracked the distribution of 3,800 face shields, but he estimates actual orders have topped 5,000. While most of the equipment has stayed local, shipments have also gone

to Florida and Arizona and even to the Philippines.

“It’s amazing what a community can do in a time of crisis,” Adams said.

Response Time

When IUP switched to all-remote learning in March and students had to vacate their residence halls and change their plans, many encountered unexpected expenses— for technology, travel, rent, groceries, storage, and more.

To help students overcome those hardships and stay in school, IUP’s Division of University Advancement established

the Emergency Response Fund as part of its $75-million Imagine Unlimited comprehensive campaign.

As mentioned elsewhere in this edition, the fund’s lead gifts came from alumni—Terry Serafini ’61, Tim Cejka ’73, Debra Phillips Cejka ’73, and the IUP Alumni Association Board of Directors. The fund was also the focus of the University Family Drive for employees and of IUP’s Day of Caring in April.

The latter event transitioned into a campaign called IUP Cares. On its accompanying web page, more than 25 IUP alumni offered advice on coping with the pandemic—everything from relieving neck and back pain caused by poor home-office ergonomics to eating well on fewer trips to the grocery store to helping kids learn better during online schooling.

By late July, the IUP community had raised upward of $270,000 for the Emergency Response Fund and fulfilled more than 400 student requests. m

How to Help

If you would like to assist IUP students through the Emergency Response Fund, go to IUP.edu/emergencyfunds or call 724-357-5661.

All IUP classes resume remotely.

Confirmed coronavirus cases exceed 1 million worldwide.

Pennsylvania stay-at-home order begins.

IUP and Indiana Regional Medical Center partnership begins COVID-19 testing.

Governor Tom Wolf announces plan to reopen Pennsylvania in phases.

IUP announces plans for face-toface instruction and residential living in the fall, with safety modifications.

IUP spring 2020 classes end.

US coronavirus deaths surpass 50,000.

Pennsylvania counties begin moving to green phase of reopening plan.

US coronavirus deaths surpass 100,000.

After an uptick in coronavirus cases among Pennsylvania young adults, IUP decides to bring only a third of students to campus this fall, with the balance learning remotely.

Global coronavirus deaths surpass 500,000. Confirmed cases exceed 10 million.

COURTESY OF BRAD ADAMS

Distinguishing Features

The IUP campus has many features of historical interest that, to some, now blend in with the scenery. Can you identify the location of these? Answers are on page 13.

LETTERS IN BRIEF

More Pulitzers

As an addendum to your story on alumni who have won the Pulitzer Prize, I was lucky enough to be part of teams at the Los Angeles Times that won two Pulitzers in the 1990s for coverage of the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and the North Hollywood shootout in 1997. Though it doesn’t compare to those who won for work on the front lines, page designers and copy editors are essential to prize-winning work.

I have no doubt that there are others with Pulitzers on their shelves who had their first journalistic experience at the Penn and in the classrooms of [David] Truby and [Bob] Russell.

Doug List ’78 Glendale, CA

Editor’s Note: Melissa Tkach ’99 also wrote in response to “Paths to the Pulitzer” from the Summer/Fall 2019 edition. As multimedia producer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , she contributed to the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. More about her is in All about Alumni.

A Lasting Influence

I thoroughly enjoyed your article [“‘Old’ Hawk Soars to New Heights,” Summer/Fall 2019] on DJ Horton, as his commitment and perseverance are an example to all of us. However, you missed an opportunity to recognize an IUP tie that helped him develop his abilities, enabling him to succeed—his high school coach, Tom Cecchetti, a former IUP football player and a 1975 IUP grad.

Tom, my brother-in-law [married to Daleen Danielson Cecchetti ’79], has a history of producing state-champion pole vaulters. Although retired, he still holds summer evening sessions at Kane High School for any vaulters in the area who are interested in his coaching and knowledge, free of charge. It is rare in this age that a person with such expertise is willing to share this freely with any athlete open to putting the time in and working hard. Many vaulters, even those at the university level, love to fit in a few sessions with Coach Cecchetti whenever they can.

Being a graduate of both Kane HS and IUP, I am proud of both DJ Horton and his longtime supporter and coach, Tom Cecchetti.

Jocelyn Danielson Raught ’84 Peoria, AZ

IUP Is Everywhere

I was a career Army officer after graduating from IUP and Army ROTC in 1974.

My final assignment was ROTC at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and our family decided to call Missouri home. I had just started a part-time job in October 2019 at the local veterans’ homeless shelter, Welcome Home, as a housing specialist. One of the first guys I met was Zachary Warlow, who is an Army combat veteran of Afghanistan. Zach is in his early 30s, and I asked him where he went to college. He said, “Oh, you’ve probably never heard of it—Indiana University of Pennsylvania.” I thrust out my hand, smiled, and said, “IUP Class of 1974.” It turned out Zach had graduated from IUP in 2011 and is now my boss. What are the odds?

Al Vargesko ’74 Columbia, MO

A Hacky-Sack Regular

In the hacky-sack photo that you published in the magazine [Summer/Fall 2019], I have my back to the camera (wearing the striped shirt). I don’t recognize any regulars in this particular photo. Classmate Paul Kohler ’89 identified me and brought that to my attention.

Kirk Anderson ’87 State College, PA

Editor’s Note: The writer shared additional 1980s hacky-sack photos, which appear on the magazine website. Taken by Elliott Cramer ’89, a former student photographer in IUP’s University Relations Division, the photos also include alumnus Rick Maljan.

New Vice President

Debra Fitzsimons started in December as IUP’s vice president for Administration and Finance. Having worked in business and finance in higher education for more than 25 years, she was most recently vice chancellor of business services and chief financial officer at South Orange County (California) Community College District, where she also stepped in as interim chancellor and CEO. Originally from Hermitage, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Penn State, a master’s from Slippery Rock, and a doctorate in administrative policy studies from Pitt.

Camp Retires as Dean

Robert Camp retired in June as dean of Eberly College of Business and Information Technology and now serves on the Management Department faculty. He led IUP’s business school for 32 years, including during the naming of the college for the Eberly family of Uniontown and during construction of the Eberly complex in the 1990s. Other achievements under his leadership include earning and maintaining accreditation from AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) International, establishing the School of International Management, expanding international partnerships to include offshore graduate programs in India and Palestine, and adding the PhD in business, among other programs. Geofrey Mills, a former university administrator in the US and abroad who has received three Fulbright fellowships, is serving as interim dean.

State System Redesign

As part of its redesign efforts, Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is reviewing the financial impact of integrating operations at some State System universities. Chancellor Daniel Greenstein will examine potential affiliations between California and Clarion, Edinboro and Slippery Rock, and Lock Haven and Mansfield. Act 50 of 2020, signed into law in July, allows the State System to create these affiliations, except at institutions whose fall 2019 enrollment surpassed 10,000. That exception covers IUP and West Chester only. The chancellor is to complete his review by October. After planning and public comment, integrated operations could begin as soon as fall 2022. More is at passhe.edu/news

Honoring Their Father

Through the Quinn Keystone Legacy Trust, brothers Gerald “Jeep” Quinn Jr. ’91 and Brian Quinn ’96 established the Gerald Quinn Sr. Family Scholarship with a $150,000 pledge. An entrepreneur, Gerald Quinn Sr. stressed the importance of education and made sure his children attended college. The Quinn family has a rich legacy at IUP. Jeep and his wife, Jennifer Thomas Quinn ’94, and Brian and his wife, Rebecca Ruffner Quinn ’95, began dating as students. In addition, several family members are employed by IUP, three nieces and one daughter are current students, and another daughter will be a freshman in fall 2020. With their own children now entering college, the Quinn brothers realized how much the university and the town of Indiana have meant to them. They established this endowment to support education in a way that is meaningful and that honors the life of their father and his accomplishments. The scholarship assists incoming freshmen who are graduates of Greater Latrobe High School.

Enhancing Nursing and Allied Health

Mary Ann Dickey, of Dover, Pennsylvania, wife of the late Jim Dickey ’64, continues to assist IUP nursing students through significant annual scholarship and program support. Most recently, that included a $45,000 gift to the Nursing and Allied Health Professions Department Enhancement Fund. Several years ago, the Dickeys purchased clinical kits for an entire class of nursing students.

Supporting Culinary Excellence

Linda Drummond Deabenderfer has been a member of the Punxsutawney Area College Trust and is now serving on the College of Health and Human Services Dean’s Advancement Council. She and her husband, David, made a $50,000 estate commitment to establish the Linda Drummond Deabenderfer Scholarship for students enrolled in the IUP Academy of Culinary Arts. In 2009, the Deabenderfers supported Fairman Centre’s transformation in honor of Linda’s parents. Fairman Centre is situated in downtown Punxsutawney and houses the academy’s Baking and Pastry Arts program.

Milestone Generosity

The university community also is grateful for the following gifts and pledges of $25,000 or more, made through the Foundation for IUP. The gifts described at left are included.

David Baughman ’74 and Debra Marinelli Baughman ’74, a bequest of $400,000 to establish the Baughman Mathematical and Computer Science Enhancement Fund

Tim Cejka ’73 and Debra Phillips Cejka ’73, a gift of $350,000 in support of diversity and inclusion initiatives and a gift of $50,000 in support of the Emergency Response Fund

Punxsutawney Area College Trust, a gift of $200,000 in support of the Culinary Academy Enhancement Fund

Gerald “Jeep” Quinn Jr. ’91 and Brian Quinn ’96, a pledge of $150,000 to establish the Gerald Quinn Sr. Family Scholarship

William Lafranchi, a pledge of $100,000 to establish the William E. and Sylvia P. Martin Lafranchi Sutton Scholarship to support students pursuing a degree in nursing, a pledge of $25,000 to establish the William E. and Sylvia P. Martin Lafranchi Library Endowment to support the greatest needs of the IUP Libraries, and a pledge of $10,000 in support of the Dr. Tony Atwater and Dr. Beverly Roberts

Atwater Presidential Scholars Fund to support freshman students enrolled at IUP Blane Dessy ’73, a gift of $100,000 to support the Myth Collaborative in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Fairman Family Foundation, a gift of $100,000 to support the Culinary Academy Enhancement Fund

Addison Gibson Foundation, a gift of $100,000 to support the Addison Gibson Foundation Scholarship

Donald Green, a gift of $100,000 to support the Allenwood Enhancement Fund

The Hardy Family Trust, a gift of $100,000 to support the Culinary Academy Enhancement Fund in honor of Kristin Butterworth CA’02

Eugene O’Sullivan ’71 and Saundra O’Sullivan, a gift of $100,000 to support the Eugene and Saundra O’Sullivan Scholarship for students in Eberly College of Business and Information Technology

Beaumont Foundation of America, a gift of $60,000 to support the C. Edward Keller Scholarship for Criminology and Criminal Justice

Judith Kralik Sterner ’69 and Stephen Sterner, a charitable gift annuity in excess of $59,000 to establish the Kralik Family Scholarship to support students in the Department of Human Development, Fashion, and Interior Design

IUP’s $75-million Imagine Unlimited campaign is inspiring the university community—both on and off campus—to come together in support of IUP’s future. The campaign is enabling IUP to step forward as a national leader by transforming the student experience through scholarships, program enhancements, and new and modernized facilities. Learn more at IUP.edu/imagineunlimited

William Daugherty, a gift of $53,000 to establish the William E. Daugherty Scholarship for Northpointe Campus

Allen Childs ’81 and Glenda RileyChilds, a planned gift of $50,000 to establish the Allen Childs Business Scholarship to support students in Eberly College of Business and Information Technology

David Deabenderfer and Linda Drummond Deabenderfer, an estate commitment of $50,000 to establish the Linda Drummond Deabenderfer Scholarship for students in the IUP Academy of Culinary Arts

Linda Clemmer Hagey ’65, a gift of $50,000 in support of the Center for Family Business

Frank and Sharon Roberts, a gift of $50,000 to support the Culinary Academy Enhancement Fund

Mary Ann Dickey, a gift of $45,000 to support the Nursing and Allied Health Professions Department Enhancement Fund

James Staples, a gift of $34,785 to support the Dr. James Staples Piano Scholarship

William Wagner ’69 and Diane Wynn Wagner ’69, a gift of $28,445 to support the William G. and Diane Wynn Wagner Scholarships for Trombone and Voice

Marilyn Silvey, a gift of $26,492 to establish in her husband’s memory

the Bedford John “B. J.” Silvey Jr. (’62) Scholarship, which will support firstgeneration freshman students

Charles Baltzer ’53, a gift of $25,000 to support the Sutton Scholarship

The Central Pennsylvania Community Foundation, a gift of $25,000 to establish the John and Delores Hillard Scholarship for Diversity in Fine Arts

James Conrad ’87 and Debbie Conrad, a pledge of $25,000 to support the James Victor and Debra Conrad Business Scholarship

Susan Snell Delaney ’64 and John Delaney, a gift of $25,000 to support the John J. Delaney and Susan S. Delaney Family Scholarship for an incoming freshman who is a resident of Indiana County or Westmoreland County

J. Thomas Frantz ’73, M’77, D’00, a pledge of $25,000 to support the Culinary Academy Enhancement Fund

John Laudeman ’71 and Dorothy Laudeman, a gift of $25,000 to establish the John R. and Dorothy J. Laudeman Sutton Scholarship, with a preference to support students in Eberly College of Business and Information Technology

William and Darla Mechling, a pledge of $25,000 to establish the William and Darla Mechling Family Sutton Scholarship, with a preference to support students in the College of Fine Arts

Ralph Morris ’69, a pledge of $25,000 to support the John E. (’66) and Ralph R. Morris Endowed Scholarship in Music

James Shea ’56 and Darlene Shea, a gift of $25,000 to establish the Jim and Darlene Shea Sutton Scholarship to support students who are members of the IUP golf team

Daniel Simoni ’94 and Michelle Costanza Simoni ’95, a pledge of $25,000 to establish the Mary Louise Costanza Business Scholarship/Wayne Norman Simoni Scholarship for an incoming freshman pursuing a degree offered by Eberly College of Business and Information Technology

Elizabeth LaTorre Travis ’65 and Jerry Hyde, a gift of $25,000 to establish the Elizabeth LaTorre Travis Research Fund

ACHIEVEMENTS

Young Alumni Achievement

In November, IUP recognized six recent graduates with the Young Alumni Achievement Award. Each academic college dean chooses one recipient:

Eberly College of Business and Information Technology: Jonathan Sebolt ’07, director, Information Services Division, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

College of Education and Communications: Daniel Reichard ’12, teacher, Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School, Stafford, Virginia

College of Fine Arts: Danielle Kuntz ’07, assistant professor of music history, Conservatory of Music, Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio. Kuntz is a Cook Honors College graduate.

College of Health and Human Services: Steven Moy M’08, vice president, Labor Relations, Fox Corporation, Los Angeles

College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Gina Russo Tam ’08, assistant professor of history, Trinity University, San Antonio. Tam is a Cook Honors College graduate.

Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics: Danielle Chirip Miller ’06, astronomy teacher, Orange County (Florida) Public Schools

Distinguished University Professor

Alida Merlo, professor of criminology and criminal justice, is IUP’s 2020-21 Distinguished University Professor. A member of the IUP faculty since 1995, Merlo is nationally known for her scholarship in juvenile justice policy. She has been recognized for her teaching and research and was twice honored by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for her mentoring. Only the third woman to be elected the academy’s president, she has also received its Fellow Award for contributions to justice education and scholarship and its Founder’s Award for service. At IUP, she has chaired nine dissertation committees and has served on another 12. She also chairs her department’s Speakers’ Committee, administers its internship program, and for many years coordinated its graduate program in criminology at IUP’s Monroeville Center (now Pittsburgh East). During her tenure as Distinguished University Professor, she will assess educational programs for delinquent

youth and explore implications of the 2019 legislation that authorized trauma-informed education in Pennsylvania public schools. Faculty members honored as Distinguished University Professor hold the title for life and receive a grant and a reduced teaching load for one year to assist with research and scholarship.

Senate Awards

The University Senate recognized four faculty members and a staff member in May:

Francisco Alarcón, professor and chair of the Mathematical and Computer Sciences Department, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Service. Since joining the faculty in 1992, he has held leadership roles in the University Senate, in IUP’s chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, and in the Center for Statistics Education in Pennsylvania and other IUP and community entities.

Stephanie Caulder, professor and past chair of the Music Department, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Creative Arts. A member of the faculty since 2002,

JAMIE ISENBERG EMPFIELD ’02

Front, from left: Gina Tam, Steven Moy, and Danielle Kuntz. Back: Daniel Reichard, IUP President Michael Driscoll, Jonathan Sebolt, and Danielle Miller

she is principal oboist with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and Keystone Wind Ensemble and has performed with many orchestras and ensembles in southeastern states. She also toured Russia with the IUP Faculty Woodwind Quintet in 2015.

Dana Driscoll, professor of English and director of the Jones White Writing Center, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Research. Now in her sixth year at IUP, she researches how people learn to write and to transfer that knowledge to other circumstances and how to support researchbased writing center practices. She is involved in the Writing Transfer Project and in a decade-long study of student writers.

John Lipinski, professor of management, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching. In his eighth year on the faculty, he coordinates IUP’s domestic MBA programs and codirects the Excellence in Entrepreneurial Leadership Center. From his corporate career, he brings a global perspective to the classroom. Through videoconferencing technology, he has welcomed international guest speakers and conducted a virtual study-abroad program.

Julene PintoDyczewski ’87, M’89, associate director of Residence Life in the Office of Housing, Residence Life, and Dining, received the Distinguished Staff Award for Service. She has spent most of her 30 years at IUP training students for leadership roles. She is a Difficult Dialogues diversity facilitator;

a Safe Zone co-coordinator; a trainer for Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention; and a Green Dot Bystander Intervention trainer.

New Trustee

In January, Jennifer Hartman Baker ’05 of Armstrong County was appointed to a sixyear term on the IUP Council of Trustees. A teacher at St. Luke Lutheran School in Cabot, Baker replaced James Miller, a council member since 2005.

Board of Governors

Last fall, Alex Fefolt, a history/pre-law and political science major from Indiana, was confirmed as a member of the board of governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. A student in the Cook Honors College, he is president of IUP’s Student Government Association.

International Scholarships

Khala Vines, an international studies and Asian studies major from Duncansville, has received three scholarships—the David L. Boren and Benjamin A. Gilman international scholarships and the Freeman Award for Study in Asia—to support her studies at Korea University next spring.

Goldwater Scholars

Vincent Thompson, a physics and mathematics dual major, and Arie Van Wieren, a biochemistry major in the Cook Honors College, were recently selected for the Goldwater Scholarship. This is the first time IUP has had two Goldwater recipients in one year.

Impact Awards

In February, IUP’s College of Education and Communications presented Impact Awards to six alumni for outstanding achievement in their professions: Scott Pitts ’92, owner of Spit Digital Creative; Laura Metz Crothers ’95, D’01, Duquesne University school psychology professor; Matt Curci M’02, D’12, Apollo-Ridge School District superintendent; Palmaann Darenkamp ’03, M’13, learning lab facilitator at IUP’s Career and Technical Personnel Preparation Center; Erin Clark ’14, director of the IUP Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic; and Henry Lewis III M’14, student services administrator at Virginia Commonwealth University. m

Distinguishing Features: Answers (from page 8)

Waller Hall, room B-14

Home since the late ’80s to what is now the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance, Waller Hall was once the school’s athletic facility, with a swimming pool on its ground floor. Vestiges of the pool tile remain in the building—in the floor of a design classroom and as inspiration for the lobby décor.

McElhaney Hall, western façade

Two round, third-story windows have framed the Oak Grove from inside since the Arts Building’s completion in 1931. In 1949, the building was renamed in honor of Jean McElhaney, an 1885 graduate of Indiana Normal School who went on to lead the art faculty. A renovation in the 1990s created a contemporary home for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences while restoring the building’s exterior in its historical style.

Stapleton Library, Second Floor

My Toy Blocks followed the theme of large, wooden, climbing structures for playgrounds that Christopher Weiland ’72 had worked on during an artist-in-residency program in Lewiston, New York, shortly before he joined IUP’s art faculty in 1978.

Displayed as a wall sculpture for many years, the piece was originally freestanding, with the letters in tripod formation.

Gorell Recital Hall, Sutton Hall

Completed in 1981, Gorell Recital Hall inherited chandeliers from the dining area of Thomas Sutton Hall, demolished in 1979 to make room for Stapleton Library. Originally the school’s chapel, this space later served as an auditorium, classroom, and reading room before its transformation through a gift from Frank and Mary Gorell. In 2016, an anonymous gift funded improvements to the recital hall, including installation of energyefficient bulbs in the lighting fixtures.

Breezedale Library

Appearing in opalescent glass in a west-wall window, Lady Justice is symbolic of the room’s history as a law library. Built in the 1860s, Breezedale was originally a home—first for James and Sarah Stansborough Sutton and later for John and Adda Prothero Elkin. The Elkins added the law library for John, an 1880 graduate of Indiana Normal School who became a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice. Acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1947, Breezedale has served as IUP’s alumni center since the building’s restoration in the late ’80s.

NAME DROPPERS

BY MATTHEW BURGLUND

team, and tennis players Katya Minchenkova (all-district) and Joanna Stralka (Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year) earned honors.

The success continued in the winter. In basketball, IUP was the center of the NCAA Division II universe, with the men’s and women’s teams combining for an overall record of 56-5. Both were set to host the Atlantic Region tournament when the season was canceled. Also, women’s swimmer Paige Mikesell had earned a spot at the national championships, and Dre Carr was headed to the indoor track and field national championships when the season was halted.

For the first time since World War II, some 75 years ago, the athletic fields and courts at IUP are quiet.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit the US last winter, the NCAA canceled winter championships and, soon after, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference wiped out the entire spring sports season. That meant IUP’s baseball, softball, track and field, and lacrosse teams did not compete, and its men’s golf and women’s tennis teams did not complete the seasons they had started in the fall.

Conferences and schools at all levels of NCAA competition began making plans for a return to normalcy in the fall. But then came summer.

As the virus continued to spread, conferences began pushing back fall schedules, and the PSAC announced in mid-July that it, too, would be without sports this fall for the first time since the peak of wartime in 1944 and ’45.

IUP President Michael Driscoll, a member of the PSAC’s board of directors, acknowledged the difficulty of the decision.

“Athletics add a great deal to university life and to the life of our community,” he said. “But, this is the right decision to make to keep our students, our coaches, and our prospective spectators safe and healthy.”

If the spread of the virus slows, the PSAC may hold some, if not all, fall sports in the spring.

Before March, IUP sports teams were having quite a year. In the fall, the men’s golf team won its 29th PSAC championship, and the football team advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs for the third time in four years, ending the season ranked No. 21 in the country. Sam Lenze represented IUP at the men’s NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, Paige Wess earned all-region honors for the women’s cross country

Reports in the spring also showed that IUP had the best combined winning percentage (.904) in football and men’s and women’s basketball among all 653 NCAA schools at all levels.

Field House Facelift

Until recently, Memorial Field House looked pretty much the same as when it opened in 1966. But thanks to a recent facelift, it has been rejuvenated.

“We have reimagined the space, and we’re telling the history, the accolades, and the stories of our teams and our studentathletes,” said Todd Garzarelli, IUP’s athletics director.

Lining many spots on the walls are large murals of former IUP athletes and teams, along with mention of their accomplishments. Outside the football offices, a wall decal shows every member of the IUP football family who has spent time with an NFL team as a player, a scout, a coach, or an executive. Along the back (west) wall is a display of IUP All-Americans in every sport.

What used to be the ticketing office is now a fueling station

Memorial Field House’s main hallway now showcases standout student-athletes from the recent past.

After the cancellation in March of the Atlantic Region men’s and women’s basketball tournaments that IUP was set to host, the Kovalchick Complex’s Ed Fry Arena remained dark for much of the spring.

COURTESY OF ANDREW THOMPSON

BRIAN HENRY

for student-athletes to get quick nutrition. The downstairs auxiliary gym has been resurfaced with artificial turf and is available to all teams for indoor workouts, and one of the racquetball courts in the basement has been converted to a golf lab, where players can work on their game when the weather doesn’t allow it.

On the South Campus, Owen J. Dougherty Field and Ruth Podbielski Field, the homes of IUP’s baseball and softball teams, respectively, are also improved. Both fields now have artificial turf on their infields and warning tracks and in their bullpens. The outfields will remain grass.

In Memoriam

Jeff Ditch, IUP’s baseball coach from 2006 to 2016, died March 15. In his time with the Crimson Hawks, he won more games (253) than any previous coach.

A 2015 inductee into the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame, Bob Green ’54 died May 2. A fouryear starter at IUP, he went on to be a successful coach, winning more than 250 games in 35 seasons at Hollidaysburg High School.

Sam Kelly, longtime head coach of the IUP men’s ice hockey club team, died March 17. He was at the forefront of hockey in the Indiana area, coaching youth, high school, and college teams. At IUP, he had a 406-227-51 record, and his

Last fall, IUP honored its Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2019. Seated, from left: Rob Allen ’85 (track and field), James “Skip” Ashton ’64 (football), Lisa Bonaccorsi Lucas ’88 (cross country/track and field), David Cessna ’67 (football), Pawel “Paul” Glowiak ’09 (swimming), Ed Hartman ’86 (baseball), and Amy Hood ’05, M’08 (lacrosse). Standing: Todd Garzarelli, IUP athletics director; Jahzinga Tracey ’09 (basketball); C. J. Spadafora, who accepted the honorary Bell Ringer Award for his late father, Chuck Spadafora; Barry Threats (football); Jodie Swavely-Brown ’06 (softball); and Michael Driscoll,

teams won 11 regular-season conference championships.

Regis Laughlin ’58, a member of the IUP men’s basketball team from 1953 to 1957, died April 20. Laughlin still holds a school record after going 16for-16 from the free-throw line against Juniata in 1956.

The first IUP player to be selected in the NFL draft, Dave Smith ’70, died May 16. The Pittsburgh Steelers chose Smith in the eighth round of the 1970 draft. He played four seasons

in the NFL, with Pittsburgh, Houston, and Kansas City. He was inducted into the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

Making Headlines

In his sixth season as coach of the Polish national men’s basketball team, Mike Taylor ’95 led his squad to an eighthplace finish at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup.

Based on his success as a high school and college soccer coach, Adel Heder was inducted into the PA West Yough Soccer Hall of Fame in January. He has coached the IUP women’s team since 2001 and owns a programrecord 212 wins and 14 PSAC playoff berths. He coached high school soccer for 15 years before coming to IUP.

For their contributions to local athletics, Lou Idzojtic ’73 and Tony Coccagna were inducted into the Indiana County Sports Hall of Fame. Idzojtic is a longtime high school basketball official, and Coccagna has been the Indiana Gazette’s sports editor since 1993.

In his first season at James Madison University, former IUP

football coach Curt Cignetti (2011-16) led the Dukes to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision title game, in which they lost to North Dakota State.

Coaching Moves

Former men’s basketball manager Matt Howerton ’14 was recently hired as an assistant coach at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Among the many NFL coaches with IUP ties, four alumni landed new jobs as assistant coaches heading into the 2020 season: Chase Haslett M’15 as quality control coach for Dallas, Jim Haslett ’91 as linebackers coach for Tennessee, Jim Hostler ’90 as wide receivers coach for Washington, and Ben McAdoo ’00 as quarterbacks coach for Jacksonville.

In the college football ranks, Frank Cignetti Jr. ’89 was hired as offensive coordinator at Boston College. m

IUP president.

A transformed racquetball court in the field house now serves as a golf lab. Jeremy Eckenrode practiced in January.

BRIAN HENRY

KEITH BOYER

A Winning Recipe

Bringing Fine Dining down to Earth

By Bob Fulton

Editor’s Note: Most Nemacolin Woodlands Resort restaurants, including Lautrec, reopened in May at limited capacity as Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 restrictions eased. Executive Chef Kristin Butterworth spent much of her spring updating kitchens and reworking menus—essentially preparing for a fresh start. “We wanted to show that we can adjust,” she said. “Your safety comes first, but you’re still able to get that luxury experience.”

BRIAN HENRY

Kristin Butterworth could never have imagined being the only chef of her kind on the planet.

While a student at the IUP Academy of Culinary Arts, Butterworth was assigned to write down her 5- and 10-year goals. Some were decidedly lofty. Even so, Butterworth— the executive chef at Lautrec, both a Forbes Five-Star and a AAA Five-Diamond restaurant at the exclusive Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington—didn’t foresee reaching such stratospheric heights so soon after her 2002 graduation.

She was 28, in her first year running Lautrec, when the restaurant earned a Forbes fivestar rating.

“I was taking my team to the Inn at Little Washington [in Virginia] for dinner. I wanted them to experience a restaurant where I had worked—a five-star restaurant,” Butterworth said. “It ended up being a celebration. The Forbes ratings had just come out, and we found out that our own restaurant—Lautrec—had gotten five stars.”

The chef at the inn, Patrick O’Connell, told her he didn’t know of another female chef at a five-star restaurant.

“He did some research, and that’s when we found out that not only was I the first female chef to have a fivestar restaurant, I was also the youngest,” she said.

Under Butterworth’s leadership, Lautrec has earned both Forbes and AAA top ratings continuously since 2009, and it’s one of only 30 restaurants in the world to hold both distinctions in each of the last 10 years.

If Butterworth has rocketed to the top of her field, IUP’s culinary school was unquestionably her launching

pad. Guiding forces were everywhere on the academy’s Punxsutawney campus.

“All of the professors there were amazing,” Butterworth said. She specifically mentioned current faculty members Lynn Pike ’04, M’06, chair, Martha Blake ’05, M’09, and Hilary DeMane and faculty emeriti Albert Wutsch ’03, former chair, and Mindy Wygonik ’90, M’91, who taught computer, business, and other classes at the academy.

“They were all really impactful,” Butterworth said.

A little clairvoyant, too. They sensed she was destined for great things.

“From the very beginning,” Blake said, “she was extremely focused and really showed the kind of flame, the passion, that we see in our very special students. The ones you just know are going to do something, and it’s going to be pretty spectacular.”

Pike believes Butterworth’s willingness to evaluate her work objectively proved especially beneficial.

“I think part of anyone’s success is being able to accept where you have failed or had difficulty and to look at that and make improvements,” she said. “If you can critique yourself, take an honest look at how you’re doing, and then work to improve yourself, that’s so important. I think Kristin has been able to embrace that and use that to catapult herself through the industry.”

Indeed, Butterworth’s rise in her profession was practically meteoric. After completing her externship in Arizona and graduating with honors from the culinary academy, she landed a job at Nemacolin and went from cook to sous chef within two years. From there, she helped open the Georgian Room at Georgia’s five-star Sea Island resort, where she worked

her way up from cook to sous chef, was hired as sous chef at the Inn at Little Washington, and joined Lautrec in 2010, assuming responsibility for managing the restaurant.

In the veritable blink of an eye, the Northern Cambria native made the leap from smalltown girl who enjoyed cooking for her family to cooking for the rich and famous, some of whom arrive at Nemacolin

via the resort’s private airstrip. Since taking the reins, she has strived to remove perceived stuffiness from fine dining. A pancake order at Lautrec is accompanied by bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup served in a vintage Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle, name-dropping in a fashion that invariably elicits giggles from diners. A meal of charred octopus, wood-ovenroasted bison, or Hokkaido scallops is capped by a visit from an old-fashioned candy

“He did some research, and that’s when we found out that not only was I the first female chef to have a five-star restaurant, I was also the youngest.”

cart that features everything from imported truffles to goldfish crackers. Even the most humorless of diners will crack a smile as servers invite them to select their favorites.

“A lot of times, fine dining has a certain pretentiousness to it, and people don’t feel comfortable,” Butterworth said. “So my goal is to make sure that it’s comfortable and relatable to everybody. This experience shouldn’t be, oh my gosh, I don’t know which fork to use. It should be fun.”

Butterworth has garnered plenty of praise for both her casual approach to fine dining and her skill and creativity in the kitchen. She is, for example, a three-time semifinalist for a James Beard award as the premier chef in the MidAtlantic region.

“It’s a huge honor even to be considered for it,” Butterworth

said. “It’s great for the restaurant—it recognizes my team and the amazing things they’re accomplishing, so it’s not just a nod to me. One person can’t run a restaurant. I’m lucky to have an amazing team behind me.”

In 2018, Butterworth was one of Pittsburgh Magazine’s 40 under 40 honorees. The annual

list spotlights those making a difference in their professions and communities who are under 40 years of age.

“You read about the other people who are featured in that edition—doctors and lawyers, just amazing people—and you wonder how you measure up to that,” she said. “It’s very humbling.”

But the honor that most moved Butterworth originated with the Hardy family, which owns Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and 84 Lumber. The family recently made a sizable gift to name the demonstration kitchen in the culinary academy’s forthcoming building—a key initiative of IUP’s Imagine Unlimited campaign—in Butterworth’s honor.

“I’m thrilled to be able to support IUP in honor of Chef Kristin Butterworth,” Maggie Hardy Knox, president and owner of the resort, said in a statement. “Nemacolin is beyond proud to have Kristin as part of our Nemacolin family. It’s truly exciting to think about the creativity and culinary skills that will be developed in this new demonstration kitchen.”

Butterworth was overwhelmed by the Hardys’ generosity. It’s just the latest recognition for this one-of-a-kind chef.

Sometimes she can’t believe all that’s transpired since she wrote down her 5- and 10-year goals while attending IUP’s culinary academy. She has realized most of them—and at a younger age than she ever dreamed possible.

“I’ve been really lucky,” Butterworth said. “To be able to work in such a beautiful place—a lot of people don’t have that kind of opportunity in the course of their career. To have it happen so quickly, to win awards, to accomplish the things we have here, it’s just . . . unreal.” m

“So my goal is to make sure that it’s comfortable and relatable to everybody. This experience shouldn’t be, oh my gosh, I don’t know which fork to use. It should be fun.”

Butterworth prepared a new menu item, CranberryOrange Posset, in December. BRIAN HENRY

Professor Partners with Police

Two years before George Floyd’s death during his arrest in Minneapolis, Abigail Adams, associate professor of anthropology, began training police on social justice issues. She recently answered questions from Stephanie Keppich M’09, IUP assistant director of Media Relations, about her partnership with Indiana Borough police and how it can model training on a broader scale.

How are you training the police?

What I talk to them about is seeing the whole person, using terminology in their interactions that respects and validates the person they’re engaged with. I also talk to them about the racism that is embedded in Appalachia. Indiana is in northern Appalachia, and there’s tension in this town—the same kind of tension that exists in many university towns. I teach ways to look at the cultural differences and explain how to use them in a positive way. Through my interactions with the police force over the last 24 months, I have grown in my understanding of police and what they face when they approach a scene. This allows me to better develop instruction and training that I know will lead to substantive change.

The success of this collaboration is founded on the department’s openness and willingness to have a social scientist come in and tag along. I would get nowhere without the help of the force, and it is Chief Justin Schawl [’01] who has made this all possible. In addition to larger half-day trainings, I also organize short discussions and presentations in their roll-call meetings on topics that are relevant to situations as they arise.

How does a medical anthropologist get involved with police training?

I study stress and what it does to the body, and, in turn, how stress impacts health and community. The Indiana Borough Council voted a few years ago to be a welcoming community. Inside that designation were recommendations. One of those suggestions was broader training for the police force in the areas of social justice and equity.

I develop my instruction with a goal of bringing better health to the community through positive police work. The police force wants to be a part of a community where people can thrive.

What about your research will help police?

My research helps me speak to the issues: inequality, racism, police brutality. The phase of research I’m in right now is a larger ethnographic project with the Indiana Borough police. I’ve been doing three- to four-hour ride-alongs in their patrol cars, while they’re on duty, so I can witness the culture, interactions, and challenges they face. Immersing myself in the department in that way allows me to view the profession in a more intimate way to truly see where strengths and weaknesses are.

I’ll be able to review what I found and start to develop more authentic material to present to the department that is grounded in research and speaks to the mentality officers have when they do their job and the organizational culture in which they operate. Our goal is to publish our findings in academic journals and police periodicals and then, ultimately, to be able to share training materials with police departments interested in content that speaks to their rank and culture at all levels of the organization.

What are your thoughts on race relations and police departments?

I had to challenge my own perceptions and stereotypes of police when I started this work. I now know and believe that change can happen within police forces. But it won’t happen without a national dialogue on systemic racism. I feel that change happens at the local level—community people engaged with their police forces daily. It’s not going to happen only with laws and directives from Washington or from statehouses. It happens with real people in these roles who are invested in the betterment of their community and the health of each other.

It’s important to remember that humans lived for thousands of years in a world where the color of your skin didn’t determine your worth within society. Our understanding of race in the United States is only about 300 to 400 years old. In America, we can’t even imagine a world without race, because we’re conditioned to think this way, but we can live in a world again where racial division does not exist. This isn’t the way the world is ordered; this is the way we’ve ordered it. m

Abigail Adams, associate professor of anthropology

BRIAN HENRY

ALL ABOUT ALUMNI

The Winter-Spring 2020 edition of IUP Magazine was suspended in response to changes surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. Submissions for All about Alumni from that edition are included here.

1940s

They were Theta Sigma Upsilon sorority sisters at Indiana State Teachers College and, later, fellow teachers in Saegertown. Since then, Florence Webster Gillette ’46 and Jean McDougall Cornelius ’47 have continued to get together to visit all the western states and walk the Golden Gate Bridge. Florence, 94, lives in Connecticut and Jean, also 94, in Florida.

1950s

Dorothy Jakovac Wratcher ’53 sends greetings to all members of her ISTC graduating class. This August, she will celebrate her 89th birthday. She has lived at Concordia of Monroeville more than two years. Dorothy said her rooms in John Sutton Hall were 437, 315, and 301-N.

1960s

Former IUP Alumni Association board member Bob Shoemaker ’60 died January 29. A retired principal, he worked in the Seneca Valley School District for 35 years. His survivors include his wife, Lorraine; their three sons, Daniel ’86 and wife Rebecca, David ’89 and wife Karin Marchu Shoemaker ’89, and Bryan ’91 and wife Lee Ann Chuba Shoemaker ’93, M’94; and three grandchildren.

Artist and retired professor Bruce Bobick ’63, M’67 was

Recognized as a head coach who brought football prominence to Indiana State College and IUP, Chuck Mills celebrated his 90th birthday in December 2018 at a party in Las Vegas. Among the more than 130 in attendance were several of his former IUP players: Joe Saffron ’63, Bill Leonard ’64, Bob Jamison ’65, Ron Peters ’65, Al Vaccaro ’65, M’66, Ron Yuvan ’65, Barry “Buck” Lippencott ’67, and Bob McAndrew ’67, as well as their fellow alumnus Don Mash ’64. A 2009 inductee into the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame, Chuck led the program to its first national ranking in 1963, his second and final season at ISC.

While on active duty in the US Army, Dave Bunton ’65 served twice in both Germany and Vietnam, as well as in France and Thailand. In 1995, he retired as a colonel in the Army Reserves after 30 years of combined service, but his love of hiking still takes him around the world. Last summer, five months after hip-replacement surgery, Dave hiked the 96-mile West Highland View Trail in Scotland. His other treks have included 100 miles on Mont Blanc in the Alps and 50 miles in Patagonia, South America, as well as long hauls in the Canary Islands, Rocky Mountains, and Smoky Mountains. Dave has spent most of his civilian career as a computer systems engineer and a project engineer, and he currently works for Consolidated Nuclear Security at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He and his wife, Linda, a retired teacher, have four children and five grandchildren, all in the Knoxville area.

one of only three Americans to exhibit work in Taoyuan, Taiwan’s international watercolor biennial, Flowing 2019. During his three-day stay in September, he gave presentations on watercolor in the US and on his watercolor series. A Clymer native, Bruce said he was fortunate to be able to attend IUP while commuting from home. After earning an MFA from Notre Dame, he taught at Western Illinois University and at the University of Georgia and served as a visiting professor at several schools. Bruce shared the paintings he exhibited in Taiwan on the Alumni Extra website. More about him is at www.brucebobick.com

Last September, John Hranitz ’63, M’70, D’73 held a book signing at the IUP Co-op Store, with proceeds benefiting scholarships for IUP education and nursing students. All 16 of his books, including his latest, Albert: The Cold Case of Bodies at the Farm, are available through the Co-op Store.

In October, retired science teacher Larry Sobotka ’63 traveled from Florida to IUP to formally dedicate the Larry F. Sobotka Science Discovery and Outdoor Learning Center near Stouffer Hall. Growing and evolving since 2012, the center helps local children learn about plants and animals native to Pennsylvania.

Retired teacher Vivian Bigley Sylvester ’65 recently returned from her second mission trip to Africa. At the Needs Care School in Zambia, she taught classes and provided materials for 1,500 students in first through seventh grades. More than half the students are orphans, and a large percentage are HIV positive, she said. A mother of two and grandmother of four, Vivian is a lay leader at her local Methodist church and a certified lay speaker for the

COURTESY OF BUCK LIPPENCOTT COURTESY OF DAVE BUNTON

From left: Ron Yuvan, Buck Lippencott, Chuck Mills, and Bob Jamison

IUP recently lost two graduates of the early 1970s with records of distinguished service to their alma mater: Glenn Cannon ’71 died January 20, and Andrew Stephenson ’72 died May 5.

After serving in public-safety leadership positions in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Glenn joined the US Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2006 as an administrator, overseeing disaster operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He later spent four years as director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. IUP presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985, the Presidential Legacy Award for Civic Service in 2010, and an honorary doctorate in 2010, when he was the commencement ceremony speaker. A former IUP Alumni Association board member, Glenn had served on the IUP Council of Trustees since 2013 and was its secretary. He is survived by his wife, Cathie Cannon M’04, two sons, and three grandchildren.

An attorney and a partner in the Washington, DC, office of Holland & Knight, Andrew specialized in construction law. A longtime member of the Foundation for IUP Board of Directors, he played a pivotal role in IUP’s Residential Revival project, which replaced most of the university’s residence halls with suite-style buildings. The project’s final building was named in his honor in 2010. At that time, Tim Rupert ’68, former foundation board president, said, “Andrew was not just a key player in the success of the Residential Revival project; he was the key player.” A 2016 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Andrew was also an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law. He is survived by his wife, Cyndi, and daughter, Meghann.

church’s Pittsburgh district. She is also mission and outreach coordinator at the Olive Branch, a fair trade store in Wexford.

At its 25th officials’ convention last August in Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association recognized Herb Moore ’67 of Windber for more than 50 years of high

school officiating. His tally includes 54 years for basketball and 45 for baseball.

Retired from Ohio’s Medina City Schools since 2000, Jane Diamond Ross ’67 serves as director of music at Trinity United Church of Christ in Wadsworth and gives private music lessons.

Tau Kappa Epsilon brothers from the late ’60s got together in July 2019 at the home of Willie Silverstein at Nemacolin. He welcomed Ben Bruns ’68, Holland Donaldson ’68, Ray Marcon ’68, Jim Meighan ’69, M’77, Paul Noonan ’69, M’85, Ron Wolf ’70, and Bill Aucker. A photo appears on Alumni Extra. Tekes who would like to attend future reunions should contact Ben at bkbruns@ yahoo.com.

Last summer, Joan Cimino ’69 of Arlington, Virginia, Linda Hall Davis ’69 of State College, Celeste Biordi Janosko ’69 of Pittsburgh, Laurine Suatoni Mennell ’69 of the Villages, Florida, and Vic Flick White ’69, M’90 of Butler got together in Arlington to mark 50 years since their graduation. Over those years, they reunited at various locations and lost two group members, Carol Klamar D’Andrea ’69 and Cheryl Thomaswick Reitnauer ’69. Then-and-now photos from graduation day in May 1969—taken at the Tri-Halls fountain, which Celeste said was a popular spot for pinning ceremonies among fraternity and sorority members—and from the group’s July 2019 gathering appear on the Alumni Extra website.

In September, the IUP Council of Trustees voted to name the Department of Chemistry in honor of Bill Madia ’69, M’71 and Audrey DeLaquil Madia

’70. Cochairs of IUP’s Imagine Unlimited comprehensive campaign, the Madias received the IUP Alumni Association’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 2012 for their many years of hosting alumni events. A 1988 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Bill recently retired after more than a decade as Stanford University’s vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which Stanford operates on behalf of the US Department of Energy. He previously directed two other national laboratories and worked for 33 years at Battelle before retiring as an executive vice president in 2007. In retirement, Bill focuses his consulting work on executive coaching of research and development leaders.

1970s

On Trombone Day in October, nine alumni joined the IUP Trombone Ensemble, directed by Christian Dickinson, in concert at Johnstonbaugh’s Music Center in Pittsburgh’s North Hills. Alumni who performed were Dennis Cramer ’75, M’82, Steve Poff ’76, Tim Cramer ’00, James Mauck ’00, M’02, Walt Sposkoski ’01, Rob Keith ’02, Ryan Moser ’02, Rebecca Wojtaszek Showalter ’12, and Michael Waddell ’12. Several others, including store manager Larry Conway ’77, were in the audience, which was treated to music arranged and composed by Dennis Cramer, Ron Hickey ’70, Roy Mitchell ’89, and Jared Clark ’13. Special guest James Nova of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was a soloist. Photos appear on the Alumni Extra website.

Brothers John Krause ’71 and Joseph Krause ’76 have a growing number of IUP graduates in their extended

KEITH BOYER KEITH BOYER

Glenn Cannon at IUP’s 9/11 remembrance ceremony in 2015

Andrew Stephenson in front of Stephenson Hall in 2010

Have you noticed this icon at the end of a class note? It means that more information and often photos are available on the IUP Magazine website under Alumni Extra, www.iup.edu/magazine/alumniextra.

family: John’s daughters

Jennifer Krause Statler ’01 and Amanda Krause Kolling ’05, a Cook Honors College graduate; their brother Steve’s daughter, Emily Krause ’12, also a Cook Honors College graduate; and their sister Milissa’s daughters, Hannah Woodward ’14 and Mikayla Woodward, a current student. A family photo appears on the Alumni Extra website.

Last summer, Darlene Miller ’72 married Gary Nicolay in St. Augustine, Florida. They live in the Villages.

A group of IUP friends from the ’70s gathered for their sixth consecutive year. Organizer Ralph Barone ’73 of Ohio said that, after their first two reunions in Indiana, the friends began meeting in northwestern Pennsylvania and calling the gathering IUP-in-theWoods. Again last summer, they met at Flying W Ranch near Tionesta for a weekend of golf, kayaking the Allegheny River, visiting local hotspots, gathering around a campfire, and listening to classic rock. Joining Ralph were George Bender ’73 and Bob Young ’73, both of Sarver, Gary Cleaver ’73 of Easton, Paul Beam ’74 of Natrona Heights, Charlie Morgan ’75 of Verona, Fred Gagliardi of Freedom, and the newest member, Greg Jack ’73 of Wexford. Regulars Jim Griffith ’73 of Bethel Park and Charlie Parke of Presto were unable to attend. Friends who would like to attend the reunions should contact Ralph at libra50man1@yahoo.com. A photo from July 2019 appears on the Alumni Extra website.

Several Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity brothers from the ’70s got together last summer at Murrysville’s North Park Lounge. They were Ed Bouchette ’73, Ray Burchill ’73, Leigh Cornelius ’73,

Dave Fleming ’73, Ken McDonald ’73, M’80, Tom Volkar ’73, Bill Porter ’74, Joe Romano ’74, M’80, Bob Zollner ’74, Donald Toy ’75, Denny Luce ’76, M’92, and Dave Flodine

A partner at Pittsburgh-based law firm Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, Andrea Ocepek Geraghty ’74 recently received two top honors. In February, the Boy Scouts of America’s Laurel Highlands Council gave her the Silver Beaver award for her service on the executive board and her work with membership, diversity and inclusion, and outreach. In March, the Women’s Law Association at Duquesne University School of Law named her its 2020 Woman of the Year, based on her distinguished career and dedication to advancing gender equality. Andrea earned her juris doctor degree through Duquesne.

Recently retired as vice president of research at biotech company Prime Synthesis, Dianne Mittura Rothstein ’75 and her husband, Marc, contributed $10,000 to IUP’s Research Experiences for Summer Scholars program, recently renamed Undergraduate Summer Opportunities for Applying Research. Dianne keynoted the program’s closing event in 2017.

The endowed speaker series created five years ago by Regina Dressel Stover ’75 and Dennis Stover ’76 brought global trends expert Daniel Levine to IUP last October. Regina is a 1999 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

After 34 years as assistant food service director at New York’s Webster Central School District, Peg Ellstrom Aderman ’76 celebrated her retirement in June 2019.

A retired audit services director at Waste Management, Don Baronitis ’76 joined another Texas-based alumnus, Robert Kervin ’02, in representing IUP at a Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District college fair in October.

After 33 seasons, Elizabeth Michaliszyn Cramer ’76 recently retired from the cello section of the Butler County Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she had performed with the Susquehanna and Potomac symphonies in Maryland, where she taught stringed instruments in Washington and Harford counties in the ’70s and ’80s. Liz then worked as a substitute music teacher in the Armstrong County School District until 2016. She lives in Kittanning with her husband, Dennis Cramer ’75, M’82

Karen Bosch M’77 and her daughter, Morghan, recently wrote a book, Being Charley: Embracing Differences, for children with autism. The title character is a Canada goose with autism who finds swimming, honking, and flying challenging and even tries to fly upside-down to avoid the bright sun. The theme, Karen said, is that people can be different and still belong. Published by Covenant, the book is available through major retailers.

In January, Frank Bozzarelli ’77 retired after five years with the US Navy as a civilian employee providing cost estimates in Jacksonville, Florida. Previously, he served four years as a Navy contractor. Photos from his retirement party appear on the Alumni Extra website.

In November, roommates from the ’70s traveled by catamaran to the British Virgin Islands. Barb Whitaker Reeher and Bruce Reeher, captains

and co-owners of the vessel, brought along Dawn Miller Lisi, Karen Basile O’Hara, Margie Clark Poeppelman, Caron Thomas Sharp, and Jack Sharp for the weeklong adventure. All members of the Class of ’77, they left their mark in stone—spelling out IUP and leaving a cairn, or stack of rocks, on the beach. A photo appears on the Alumni Extra website.

A veteran of cruise vacations, Joseph Waltenbaugh ’77 drew upon his experiences to craft a murder mystery aboard a luxury liner in the Caribbean in his new novel, Jamaican Farewell His third book, it is available through major retailers and at JamaicanFarewell.com

Chairman and CEO of Warner Music Nashville, John Esposito ’78 served as keynote speaker for the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce’s annual membership luncheon in December. In addition to discussing his career path and his work with artists like Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, and Gabby Barrett, Espo took the stage with local band Somebody to Love. Both he and his late father, Jerry Esposito ’66, cofounder of Citizens’ Ambulance Service, received IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Espo is also a member of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Hall of Distinction.

In response to the story “Paths to the Pulitzer” from the Summer/Fall 2019 edition of IUP Magazine, Doug List ’78 noted that, as a page designer at the Los Angeles Times, he was a member of teams that won the Pulitzer in 1994 and 1997. After 30 years as a journalist, he began teaching English and journalism at California’s Diamond Bar High School in 2012. His letter to the editor appears on page 9.

After more than 20 years of service, Mary Lykens ’78 recently retired from Altoona Area Public Library. She now teaches at Stepping Stones Day Care and Preschool.

A former vice president at card and board-game manufacturer Cartamundi in Massachusetts, John Popp ’79 is enjoying retirement. During his career, in which he also served as a vice president at Hasbro, John was honored by the American Society of Safety Professionals, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association.

Philadelphia software firm iPipeline, which grew in sales from $5 million to $200 million under the leadership of Tim Wallace ’79, sold for $1.6 billion in August 2019. A 1997 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Tim recently gave up his role as company CEO but has stayed on as strategic advisor. The Inquirer’s Joseph DiStefano chronicled the firm’s rise in a column last September.

1980s

At last summer’s IUP Business Golf Classic in Verona, the event’s founders—Terry Serafini ’61, Tim Wallace ’79, Tom Wallace ’80, Terry Dunlap ’81, and Nadav Baum ’86 (who cochaired the outing with Cyndy Stewart Strittmatter ’83, M’87)—were recognized as legacy sponsors. Organizers are recruiting alumni from the 1990s and 2000s to help plan future events. Those interested may contact Nadav at baum. nadav@gmail.com. Last year’s event raised $42,000 for IUP scholarships.

Accounting firm PKF

O’Connor Davies has hired Jeff Gittler ’80 as a partner in the commercial practice area with a focus on the firm’s cannabis industry services. His experience includes 35 years with leading accounting firms in New York City and eastern Pennsylvania.

Founder and principal of consulting firm Seventeen Gorman Advisors, Jeff Leventry ’80, M’81 recently published his first book, In Your Quest for Excellence— Practical Advice for Improving Individual and Organizational Performance. A graduate of Villanova Law School, Jeff is also an adjunct management professor at the College of New Jersey and at Rider University. His book is available through major retailers and his website, www. seventeengormanadvisors. com

Former Ohio congressman Jim Renacci ’80 has published a book, The GOP’s Lost Decade: An Inside View of Why Washington Doesn’t Work, in which he analyzes the nation’s political function and offers solutions to correct its course. A recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Jim represented Ohio’s 16th Congressional District for eight years and was the Republican nominee for US Senate in 2018.

Marilyn Karaffa Wells ’80 recently started her new position as chancellor of Pennsylvania State University’s Brandywine campus in Delaware County. She previously served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Bill Creighton ’81, M’93, D’04 died October 14, 2019. He retired from IUP as telecommunications manager in 2010 after 35 years of service.

Maryland State Police retiree David Reichenbaugh ’81 has written a book, In Pursuit: The Hunt for the Beltway Snipers, a firsthand account of the pursuit and capture of two snipers whose 2002 crime spree included 10 murders in the Washington, DC, area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia. As criminal intelligence operations commander, David was commanding officer at the arrest scene at a Maryland rest stop. Published by ForeEdge, the book is available through major retailers.

An emergency medicine physician at Geisinger Health System for 30 years, Doug Kupas ’86 gave the keynote address, “Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Scholars,” at IUP’s Research Experiences for Summer Scholars closing program in August 2019. (The program was recently renamed Undergraduate Summer Opportunities for Applying Research.) A 2015 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Doug holds a number of other high-profile positions—commonwealth EMS medical director for the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, professor of emergency medicine at Temple University, medical director of Danville’s ambulance service, and director of mobile integrated health care and resuscitation programs at Geisinger. But rather than discuss his career, he gave the students advice, which included the need to determine their life’s mission. He discovered his mission early—while watching the 1970s television show Emergency. At 16, he began volunteering with the Lower Kiski ambulance service in his hometown of Leechburg. “Basically, that show set the tone for a 40-year EMS career,” he said. He also discussed the influence of his IUP biology and chemistry professors: Frank Liegey, who taught him “luck favors the prepared”; John Wood and Richard Hartline, from whom he learned “meticulous attention to detail”; and Andy Browe, in whose physiology class he developed a “voracious interest in how everything works.”

A WPSU Penn State host and producer for 30 years, Patty Sheerin Satalia ’81 was inducted into the Silver Circle Society of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Mid-Atlantic Chapter in September. She has been retired since 2017.

After 12 years as a test engineer at Northrop Grumman, Bill Moreland ’82 has retired. He also published the third book in his Adventures of Puck the Magic Penguin children’s series. Released in 2018, An Adventure in Puckovakia is available through major retailers.

Cynthia Vallina ’82 recently celebrated her retirement from the US Office of Management and Budget in Washington, DC, with a gathering at the

Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s Truman Bowling Alley.

Holly Geiser Chang ’83 recently became executive director of Pottstown Regional Public Library. In her 20 years with her hometown library, she has managed its passport acceptance facility, coordinated service projects and volunteers, and served as reference librarian, computer instructor, notary public, and, most recently, circulation manager.

Sheet-music retailer J. W. Pepper & Son of Exton has hired Bob Cooper ’83 as chief innovation officer. In this newly created role, Bob is tapping his 25 years of entrepreneurial experience to identify opportunities and practices that will keep the

Doug Kupas at IUP in August 2019

143-year-old company strong into the future.

A reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Press for three decades, Karen Kane ’83 was named managing editor of the Post-Gazette in January. She previously served as deputy managing editor of the opinion section.

US Navy Vice Admiral Matthew Kohler ’83 was keynote speaker at IUP’s Cyber Security Symposium in November. The Erie native recently retired after a 36-year naval career. Most recently, he served as deputy chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and director of Naval Intelligence.

An associate pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, Jeffrey Brown M’84 announced in May that his church was giving away $125,000 to those struggling financially because

of the coronavirus pandemic. Jeffrey was featured in IUP Magazine’s Fall/Winter 2015 edition for his peace efforts in Boston.

After marking 25 years of employment at Pennsylvania State University, Beverly Singel Molnar ’84 began a new position last summer as public relations specialist for Penn State Libraries.

University archivist and head of Special Collections at Catholic University of America, William Shepherd ’84, M’86 recently added to his list of publications three journal articles in Military History, four book reviews, and six posts on the Archivist’s Nook, a CUA blog. Links to his 2019 publications appear on the Alumni Extra website.

Senior executive vice president and chief banking officer at Indiana-based S&T Bank, Becky Stossel Stapleton ’84 keynoted the second annual

ARRIVALS

1990s

To Matthew Cox ’99 and Keri Cotter Cox ’03, a daughter, Vera Lenora, August 31, 2019.

2000s

To Farid Zerfa ’03, M’06 and Teresa Reilly Zerfa ’04, a daughter, Nora, August 26, 2019. To Kellie Brown Makar ’06 and Joey Makar, a son, Brody James, September 4, 2019. To Samantha Jones Parks ’08 and Craig Parks

Women Who Lead conference in Pittsburgh last fall. A 2018 inductee into IUP’s Eberly College of Business Hall of Distinction, she presented “Just Start: Small Ways to Elevate Women.”

Before Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, ABC-7 Chicago veteran meteorologist Tracy Butler ’85 reported in an on-air segment that she was doing well after undergoing treatment for breast cancer. In her message, she stressed the importance of screenings and early detection.

’09, a son, Harrison Carter, October 31, 2019. To Matt Briggs ’09 and Meghan Wise Briggs ’09, M’11, a son, Bradley John, September 22, 2019.

2010s

To Matt Swackhammer ’11 and Elizabeth Guckes Swackhammer ’11, a son, Noah Stephan, April 12, 2019. To Tyler Dummermuth ’14 and Desiree Donley Dummermuth ’15, a son, Kash Jaxon, August 9, 2019.

updated version of 2004’s Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece, by Michael Streissguth ’88. The book recounts Cash’s 1968 performance at the California prison in the larger context of his career. Founding chair of the Communications and Film Studies Department at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, Michael has written and produced three documentaries and authored numerous books about Cash and other country music legends.

Back in 1989, Maria McDonald and other members of the IUP Student Activities board persuaded administrator Frank DeStefano ’75, M’85 to allow use of his infant son Vince’s likeness on a Winterfest T-shirt. A week of pre-finals activities, Winterfest that year advertised performances by Bobcat Goldthwait and Cabbage Patch Kids on Ice among its highlights. Thirty years later, as coworkers at Literacy Pittsburgh, Maria McDonald Polinsky ’91 and Vince DeStefano ’12 discovered their earlier IUP connection. Maria even dug through a box of memorabilia to show Vince the shirt. Maria joined the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council in 2005 as director of development. Thirteen years later, in her new role as director of marketing and communications, she led the literacy services provider’s rollout of its new name and brand. She and her husband, Brian Polinsky ’93, live in Churchill with their son, Matthew. Vince joined the organization in 2016 and now oversees its South Hills volunteer tutoring program. A graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College, he is married to Emily Manno ’14.

Founder and executive director of Chesapeake Therapeutic Riding, Cathy Schmidt ’85 announced that the organization now has a permanent home in Street, Maryland. Providing adaptive riding and physical therapy on horseback for people with physical, emotional, and mental challenges, CTR made a down payment on the property in October after completing the first phase of a capital campaign. Cathy said her IUP internship with the Devereux Foundation inspired her work with people of differing abilities.

The University Press of Mississippi has released an

Jeffrey Moran ’89 recently took on a new role, running the Consumer Packaged Goods division, at global communications firm Ketchum.

1990s

Rick Ayers ’90 was recently appointed chief marketing officer and assistant dean for strategic communications at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business in University Park.

As vice president of brand development and strategic partnerships for Egoscue, a therapy aimed at relieving chronic pain and increasing mobility, Brian Bradley ’90 was featured in an Omnisport story about his company’s work with the San Francisco 49ers

Maria Polinsky and Vince DeStefano with the Winterfest T-shirt

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and with mixed martial artist Conor McGregor. The story ran shortly before the 49ers’ appearance in Super Bowl LIV last February.

A 2002 inductee into the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame, Margo Hinton ’90 has published the first two books in her You Can Do Anything! children’s series. Lailah’s Lesson was released in July and JoJo’s Dream in October. Both are available

through major retailers. Among the top 20 scorers in IUP women’s basketball history, Margo has taught health and physical education in the North Allegheny School District for 27 years. She also coaches basketball and volleyball and serves as a basketball and lacrosse official.

The University of Miami recently recognized John Ness ’90, M’93 with its highest

honor, induction into the Iron Arrow Honor Society. John is a professor and PhD graduate of the university. He is also a member of the UM chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa honor society’s spring 2020 class and the recipient of Student Government’s 2019-20 Unsung Hero Award.

In February, Jack Thomas D’90 was named the ninth president of Central State University in

Wilberforce, Ohio. Previously, he led Western Illinois University for nearly a decade. Jack is a 2013 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Peter Ford ’91 was recently promoted to senior counsel in the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel, Income Tax and Accounting. Previously, he worked in the National Tax Department of Ernst & Young, spent 10 years in the US Navy Reserve, held financial analysis positions with two Fortune 500 companies, and served as a budget analyst with the US Department of Homeland Security. He has also taught in the business schools of the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins.

After nearly 30 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, Dave Stadelmyer ’91 retired in 2018 and was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal for his contributions. “I was blessed to live on four continents, visit 35-plus countries, and rise to become a senior executive,” he wrote. Dave said his career path started with an IUP internship with the CIA. Today, he is a consultant and leadership coach with his own company, Acorn Coaching and Consulting, LLC. In April, he spoke via videoconference with the Student Advisory Council for IUP’s Eberly College of Business. Dave also shared the story of meeting his wife, Gianna Bailor Stadelmyer ’92, at IUP on the Crimson Couples website, located at www.alumni.iup.edu, under Alumni Achievements.

Human resources director for the Wilson Group in Pittsburgh, Carol Daniels Washington ’91 keynoted an IUP women’s leadership program in November, sponsored by Eberly College of Business and Information Technology and the Women’s

WEDDINGS

1970s

Darlene Miller ’72 to Gary Nicolay, July 23, 2019.

2010s

Kyle MacDonald M’11 to Andrew Parlato, September 27, 2019. Chase Keibler ’13 to Laura Sweeney ’13, September 27, 2019.

Cameron Campbell ’15 to

and Gender Studies program. A 2017 inductee into Eberly’s Hall of Distinction, Carol is the author of Rules of Engagement: My Road to Leadership, which documents her professional journey. The book is available through major retailers.

The North Carolina Music Educators Association recently named Ed Yasick ’91 its 2019 High School Choral Teacher of the Year. A Penn Run native, Ed is choral director and fine arts chair at Cary High School, where he has taught since 1996.

In October, Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris announced he was donating $300,000 to the Center for Black Educator Development, which aims to recruit African Americans into teaching. Soon after the announcement, the Inquirer ran a feature about the organization’s founder, Sharif El-Mekki ’92, who served as a teacher and principal in Philadelphia for 26 years. Statistics show that only 7 percent of teachers nationally and 3 percent in Pennsylvania are African American.

Assistant vice president of people and compliance at the Godman Guild Association, an Ohio social services agency, Lora Mitchell ’92, M’97 was recently named communications officer, a national board position, for highIQ society American Mensa.

Last summer, Savoy Magazine named Danielle Mashaw Brown ’93, vice president and chief information officer for

Lauren Super ’15, August 17, 2019. Richard Lauri ’15 to Ella Tessari ’15, June 29, 2019. Corey Pool ’15 to Christina Maziarz ’17, March 2, 2019. Amy Graham ’16 to David Stewart, July 27, 2019. Kristen Morris ’18 to Randolph Imler, August 31, 2019. Reza Parchizadeh D’18 to Aiden Dickson, June 7, 2019.

Brunswick Corporation, among its “Most Influential Women in Corporate America.” Also in 2019, she was named to Crain’s Chicago Business’s Tech 50 list and was selected as a finalist for Chicago CIO of the Year. Director of strategic accounts at G4S Secure Solutions, David Serafine ’93 was named Outstanding Contract Security Director during the 2019 Outstanding Security Performance Awards. Before joining G4S, David spent 15 years managing global brand protection for a Fortune 100 and a Fortune 50 company. He has also written three books and the Security World International article “Cargo Crime, the Silent Killer.”

Recently named vice president and head of Hyundai Steel’s safety planning group, Michael Shuble ’93 became the first foreign executive on the Korean steelmaker’s leadership team. In an interview with the Korea Herald, he detailed the company’s investment of more than $400 million in safety programs. Michael has worked in Serbia and Russia and most recently was a vice president at Union Tank Car Company in Chicago.

Last summer’s Bill Sugra Memorial Golf Outing in Bethlehem raised nearly $72,000 for charitable causes, bringing the 18-year total to $813,602. The event honors Bill Sugra ’93, who died in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

Alumni who recently returned to IUP’s Eberly College of Business and Information Technology as speakers include Kristen Ulzheimer Flanagan ’94, a partner with accounting firm Friedman, LLP, in Philadelphia; Joanna Fetzer Sutton ’94, an entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Pittsburgh and adjunct professor in Pitt’s Executive MBA program; Jim Leda ’95, managing director of fraud investigation firm KRyS Global and president and founder of Mount Vernon Capital Advisors; and Brady Wise ’95, head of enterprise risk management and chief operating officer of independent risk management at PNC.

Last summer, Robert Gregory ’94, M’96, D’08 completed the Allegheny Mountains Challenge 300, a 192-mile bike ride, in 16 hours and 54 minutes. He went on to set the following marks in powerlifting competitions in the 165-pound masters men’s category: world record of 500 pounds in the singleply deadlift at the Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate Fifth Set Black Redux meet near Pittsburgh, state/American record of 518.10 pounds in the multi-ply deadlift at the US Powerlifting Association Fourth Drug-Tested West Virginia State Championship, American record of 518.10 pounds in the multi-ply deadlift at the American Powerlifting Federation Ohio Cup, and state/ world record of 500 pounds in the raw deadlift at the International Powerlifting Federation’s Pennsylvania State Powerlifting Championships in York. Bob is a psychologist in the Jeannette City School District.

In May, Almar Latour ’94 became CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal. He started with the company in 1995 as a news assistant in Washington, DC, and went on to serve as a reporter in Europe, as editorin-chief of the Journal’s Asian edition, and most recently as publisher of Barron’s Group and executive vice president

of Dow Jones. A 2010 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, he was featured in IUP Magazine’s Summer 2016 edition.

In April, the Fox Chapel Area School Board hired Mary Catherine Rankin Reljac ’95 as the district’s superintendent. Previously, she was assistant superintendent at Franklin Regional School District in Murrysville.

Ron McGarvey ’97 was promoted to associate professor, with tenure, at the University of Missouri. A faculty member since 2013, he has a joint appointment in industrial engineering and public affairs. Ron is also an adjunct researcher at RAND Corporation, where he spent 11 years on the research staff.

A professor of economics and management at Albion College in Michigan, Vicki Baker ’99 recently released her third book, Charting Your Path to Full: A Guide for Women Associate Professors. Published by Rutgers University Press, the book provides tools and advice to help women in academics reach their career goals. Earlier this year, Vicki served as a Fulbright specialist in the Netherlands, supporting faculty development at University College Utrecht.

In August 2019, Matthew Cox ’99 and Keri Cotter Cox ’03 welcomed a daughter, Vera Lenora. She weighed exactly 8 pounds and measured 21¼ inches. Photos of Vera, including one in IUP gear, appear on the Alumni Extra website.

Members of the 365th Engineer Battalion in Schuylkill Haven, Captain Jamie Horton ’99 and Major Chris Lauff ’06 recently participated in Operation Beyond the Horizon in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Led by the US Army, this annual humanitarian mission gives service members training in tasks such as construction and the provision of medical, dental, and veterinary care while also helping

communities in the designated Central American country.

Dana Sosnick Jedrzejek ’99, who worked in IUP’s Highway Safety Center from 2000 to 2009, died October 28, 2019.

At the IUP Criminology and Criminal Justice Department’s “No Place for Hate” event last November, Kareem Jordan ’99, M’01, D’05 gave the keynote presentation, “Being Black or Latino in Juvenile/ Criminal Court Outcomes.” A Philadelphia native, Kareem is an associate professor and graduate director in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology at American University in Washington, DC. He has also served on the faculties of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of Central Florida, and University of North Florida.

Following up on their 2018 children’s book Princess and the Power of Melanin, Anthony McBride M’99 and IUP doctoral candidate and adjunct professor Jeremy McCool have teamed up on a second, The Adventures of Darrius, the Hall Monitor, the story of an African American child who discovers his strength and gains selfconfidence while dealing with a bully. In an early review, Jack Thomas D’90, Central State University president, praised the book as “engaging and captivating.” Jack is former president of Western Illinois University, where Anthony is an associate professor in the School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration and where Jeremy received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The book will be available through major retailers.

Executive director of the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state, Chris Taylor ’99 was a guest judge in the

Have you noticed this icon at the end of a class note? It means that more information and often photos are available on the IUP Magazine website under Alumni Extra, www.iup.edu/magazine/alumniextra.

first season of Blown Away, a Netflix reality series in which glass blowers competed for a cash prize and a residency at the Corning (New York) Museum of Glass.

A multimedia producer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Melissa Tkach ’99 joined Paula Reed Ward ’96 in contributing to the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. In response to the story “Paths to the Pulitzer” from the Summer/Fall 2019 edition of IUP Magazine, Melissa wrote that she worked with video, photo galleries, and 911 audio recordings used in the Post-Gazette’s web coverage of the tragedy. She joined the newspaper staff in 2000 and moved back and forth between the sports and web desks until she settled in the video (now visuals) department in 2007. She is also an executive board member and mobilization chair for the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and president of the Great Lakes District Council. Melissa credits IUP retirees Jay Start and Bob Russell, among others, for teaching her the skills she uses every day.

2000s

Editor World founder Patti Fisher ’00 won a gold Stevie Award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year/ Consumer Services category for businesses with 10 or fewer employees. Her editing and proofreading services company is based in Newport, Virginia.

An accountant with Maher Duessel since 2001, Amy Gechter Lewis ’00 was recently named a partner. She works in the firm’s Pittsburgh office.

A member of the first class to graduate from IUP’s Cook Honors College, Dave Reed

’00 was among the speakers at the class’s 20th anniversary celebration, which coincided with a ribbon cutting in October for newly renovated Whitmyre Hall. Dave served eight terms in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives and was twice elected House majority leader. A recipient of IUP’s Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2005 and of a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016, Dave is now regional president for First Commonwealth Bank.

Nominated by Quota International of Indiana, Josh Rosenberger ’01 received the Leader’s Circle of Indiana County’s Male Civic Leader Award in September. He owns the 700 Shop in downtown Indiana.

A geologist and cofounder of Rusk Energy Corporation, Robert Kervin ’02 joined another Texas-based alumnus, Don Baronitis ’76, in representing IUP at a CypressFairbanks Independent School District college fair in October.

Farid Zerfa ’03, M’06 and Teresa Reilly Zerfa ’04 welcomed their fourth child, daughter Nora, in August 2019.

In July 2019, CNN published an opinion piece by Kurt Couchman ’04 on the potential of Justin Amash, US representative for Michigan’s Third Congressional District, to upend the 2020 elections as a third-party presidential candidate. A graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College, Kurt served as a policy advisor in Amash’s Washington, DC, office for four years.

In August 2019, Jennifer Grayson ’06 completed the Master of Arts in Adult and Community Education program at IUP. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in curriculum and instruction.

In September, Brody James Makar was born in Pittsburgh to Kellie Brown Makar ’06 and Joey Makar. He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and measured 21½ inches.

Senior field organizer for the ACLU’s Smart Justice Campaign in Allegheny County, Terrell Thomas, who attended IUP with the Class of 2006, was a speaker for IUP’s Six O’clock Series in September. The campaign aims to reduce the US jail and prison population by 50 percent and to combat racial disparities.

Cori Frede ’07 was one of 25 US educators selected as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Fellow for 2019-20. The MIEE program recognizes educators for using Microsoft technologies to improve learning outcomes.

In October, Bryan Moore ’07, managing director of South Carolina’s Retirement System Investment Commission, spoke to an IUP Finance Seminar class and met with members of the Student Managed Investment Portfolio and Student Finance Association.

Last summer, Jeff Raykes M’07, D’17 started a new position as planning director for the City of Greensburg. He previously served as deputy director of the Indiana County Office of Planning and Development.

An associate professor in teaching and learning at Indiana State University, Larry Tinnerman D’07 was recently named director of doctoral studies in curriculum and instruction.

A registered dietitian and nutritionist at the University of Virginia Health System, Tegan Medico ’08 was named national Clinician of the Year by her company, Morrison

Have you noticed this icon at the end of a class note? It means that more information and often photos are available on the IUP Magazine website under Alumni Extra, www.iup.edu/magazine/alumniextra.

In January, Kristin Shymoniak ’09 returned to Indiana to keynote the local NAACP’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. An Aliquippa native, Kristin is a special education coordinator in the Arlington (Virginia) Public Schools and a community activist who credits Project ROCS (Retaining Our College Students), a onetime IUP retention program for minority students, as an early inspiration. As community service programs chair and later as president of Thursday Network, an affiliate of the Greater Washington Urban League, she led an after-school empowerment program for middle-schoolers, a food pantry, and a male mentoring program for youth. Through her board memberships, she has fought lead poisoning with Black Millennials 4 Flint and child hunger with the Darrelle Revis Foundation. In November, she became one of the youngest to join the DC mayor’s Commission on African American Affairs, which addresses disparities Black residents face. In her speech last January, she emphasized the power multiple generations can have by working together to advance King’s dream of equality.

“It is our time to reclaim our power, to unite, to take responsibility, to raise up a great generation, and to create that change that we want to see in our world—not just for us but for our legacy centuries down the line,” she said. “If our generations unite, everybody unites, and we combine the wise and the strong together, just imagine how great an impact we would make in this world.”

Healthcare, a Compass Group member. From a field of 80 nominees in her region alone, she was selected to vie for the national title against winners from the company’s other 19 regions. Tegan serves on a national committee that targets pediatric malnutrition and has been recognized for leading efforts at her hospital to improve malnutrition screenings, diagnosis, and documentation. She was the first non-physician invited speaker at Curso de Actualización en Pediatría, an annual conference in Costa Rica that grew out of a partnership between the

University of Virginia and National Children’s Hospital in San Jose. In addition, she recently coauthored a book, A Kid’s Guide to Short Bowel Syndrome, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Takeda and available at no cost (see Alumni Extra). A graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College, Tegan is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia and at Piedmont Valley Community College.

raising executive. To earn the credential, he met CFRE International standards, which included passing an examination that tested his fundraising knowledge.

2010s

In February, Corey Crocco ’10 spoke to an IUP Business Model class about how he started his Johnstown-based, independent catering company, Flair of Country.

A medical anthropologist and UPMC pediatric clinical coordinator, Sarah Morrow ’10 presented “Embedding Anthropology in Community Health and Biomedical Programming: Stories from the Field” in October for IUP’s Anthropology in Action series.

Director of Data Science and Advanced Analytics at advertising agency BBDO, Ray Edwards ’11 helped his firm win one of the industry’s highest awards, a Gold Lion at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. BBDO’s winning project was Gracie AI, an online presence that stops potential buyers in the child sex trafficking industry. Predators connect with Gracie through online ads, and when they solicit underage sex via text chat, Gracie sends their information to law enforcement and directs them to resources for help. In five months, the tool reported more than 6,000 would-be predators. Gracie AI has also been recognized at the American Advertising Awards, the Atlanta Addys, and the One Show awards. A graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College, Ray was the IUP Council of Trustees’ student member from 2009 to 2011. He and his wife, Emily Trenney Edwards ’11, live in Georgia.

work of many alumni. Anthony O’Toole ’11 composed the title track, and Jim Self ’65, a 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, lent his composition, “Dozeandeeze.” An ensemble conducted by Jason Worzbyt ’93, IUP professor of bassoon, that included George Alberti ’11, Mike Waddell ’12, Anne Smith Sertz ’13, Zack Grass ’14, Abby Weaver ’17, and current student Logan Carnes performed many of the album’s works. David Surtasky ’89, Fisher Auditorium technical director, helped with recording the album in that venue, and Craig Peterson ’12 created the cover art. Chronicle is available through major streaming platforms.

In September 2019, Kyle MacDonald M’11 and Andrew Parlato were married at the Bostonian hotel in Boston.

Accounting firm Maher Duessel recently promoted Jon Mentzer ’11 to senior manager and Kurt Laird ’15 to supervisor at its central Pennsylvania offices.

In April 2019, Cole Swackhammer became big brother to new arrival Noah Stephan. They are the sons of Matt Swackhammer ’11 and Elizabeth Guckes Swackhammer ’11.

In December, the Pennsylvania Department of Education named Joe Welch ’11 its 2020 Teacher of the Year. Joe, who teaches American history at North Hills Middle School near Pittsburgh, has been honored in past years as Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year and National History Teacher of the Year.

A development officer for Shriners Hospitals for Children, David Schumacher ’08 has been named a certified fund

Chronicle, a new album by Zach Collins, IUP professor of tuba and euphonium, features the

Senior enterprise technology analyst at First Horizon Bank, Phill Yu ’11 earned an MS in computer science, specializing in interactive intelligence, from Georgia Tech last fall.

Maddie Sabo ’12 received the Leader’s Circle of Indiana County’s Athena Young Professional Award last fall. She is president of Quota International of Indiana, which nominated her for the award, and works as an assistant branch manager at S&T Bank.

Members of the same IUP Administration and Leadership Studies PhD cohort in Harrisburg, Amy Diehl D’13 and Amber Stephenson D’13, along with other research partners, recently created a scale to measure how women leaders perceive and experience gender bias. Their study, which can help organizations measure a range of bias factors and apply interventions, was published in April in Human Resource Development Quarterly. Amy is associate vice president and chief information technology officer at Shippensburg University; Amber is an assistant professor of management at Clarkson University’s Reh School of Business.

In September 2019, Chase Keibler ’13 and Laura Sweeney ’13 were married at the governor’s mansion in Columbia, South Carolina. Laura teaches science at Richland County’s Summit Parkway Middle School, which

Both Danny Ayebo ’13 and Freddie Phillips ’16 came to the US from Ghana as children and went on to major in accounting at IUP. However, their paths crossed only recently, after IUP faculty member Kim Anderson recruited them for the Accounting Department’s Business Advisory Council. “Just goes to show that great IUP connections can be made after graduation,” she said. A former member of the basketball team, Danny is an accounting manager with JLL in Pittsburgh. Freddie works in Assurance Services at Ernst and Young in New York City.

Barefoot ’16, Cook Honors College graduate and project manager for PNC’s Grow Up Great; Sarah Begany ’16, Cook Honors College graduate and senior tax associate, Sisterson & Co., LLP; Marc Colon ’16, senior navigator, Vanguard; Meghan Donegan ’16, account manager, Merkle; Karen Sadaka ’16, transition specialist representative, Paycom; and Deric Schmidt ’16, technical project manager, PNC.

When Richard Lauri ’15 and Ella Tessari ’15 were married last summer at the Indiana Country Club, more than 40 alumni from the 1950s through the 2010s were in attendance. Photos appear on the Alumni Extra website.

County hospice services. A veteran of the US Air Force, Peter previously worked at Broward Health in Fort Lauderdale and at various UPMC facilities in roles ranging from practice manager to flight paramedic to emergency medical services coordinator at UPMC Presbyterian.

When Amy Graham ’16 married David Stewart in Columbus last summer, five of her IUP basketball teammates were in the wedding: maid of honor Ashley Stoner ’15, Alexis Aiken ’16, Zhane Brooks ’16, Leslie Stapleton ’16, and Marina Wareham ’16. Many other alumni and coach Tom McConnell were in attendance. A photo appears on the Alumni Extra website.

recently named her Teacher of the Year. A former captain of the IUP hockey team, Chase is now a licensed attorney practicing in Columbia. They met at IUP in 2009 and began dating four years later.

Founder of Zauben, a Chicagobased firm specializing in green design, Zachary Smith ’13 was named to Forbes magazine’s “30 under 30” list for the energy sector. His company’s green roofs and living walls are said to extend roof life, reduce stormwater runoff, and improve insulation.

Born in August 2019, Kash Jaxon Dummermuth was welcomed by big sister Kennedy. They are the children of Tyler Dummermuth ’14 and Desiree Donley Dummermuth ’15

After getting engaged in the Oak Grove in October 2018, Cameron Campbell ’15 and Lauren Super ’15 were married the following August.

In April, Phi Gamma Nu, an IUP Eberly College of Business and Information Technology student organization, hosted a panel presentation via videoconference with these PGN alumni: Jeff Hulse ’15, operations manager, DHL Supply Chain; Bethany

Communications Media alumni who have recently connected virtually with IUP Digital Sports Production classes include Dakota London ’15, a video producer for Sports Illustrated’s digital platform; Terrance Cook ’16, a production assistant for Bay Area sports teams including the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, and Oakland A’s; and Connor Joyce ’17, a content associate at ESPN.

Having met at IUP, Corey Pool ’15 and Christina Maziarz ’17 were married in March 2019 in Bala Cynwyd. Corey is now a US Army captain, and Christina, a Cook Honors College graduate, is studying genetic counseling at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The Penn, IUP’s student newspaper, reported that its former editors Cody Benjamin ’16 and Chris Hayes ’18 recently published a book, What About the Movies?

Exploring Cinema’s Place in a World Full of Screens, Streams, and Smartphones It is available through the publisher, Lulu, and major retailers.

In January, VITAS Healthcare of Florida hired Peter Frenchak M’16 as general manager of its Palm Beach

Among the speakers IUP’s Student Accounting Association recently welcomed were Morgan Hoover ’16, a Cook Honors College graduate and international tax consultant with Deloitte in Pittsburgh; Sarah Zbur ’16, senior audit associate with KPMG in Pittsburgh, who keynoted SAA’s Career Day in September; Pittsburgh BDO employees Nicole McCourt ’17, senior audit associate, and Anne Katchmarchi ’19, tax associate; Mitch O’Shell ’18, M’19, a risk associate with PNC who also met with the Student Finance Association; Samantha Frye ’19, Finance and Accounting Development Program analyst with PNC; and Victoria Schlott ’19, an associate with Fort Washington-based G-Squared Partners.

In October, geology graduate Jon King ’16 spoke at IUP about his Peace Corps service in Zambia, where his focus was sustainable development and water resource planning.

A music teacher at New Town High School in Baltimore County Public Schools, Sadie Spencer ’16 was a member of a National Association for Music Education committee tasked with developing a new music curriculum for public schools.

From left: Danny Ayebo, Kim Anderson, and Freddie Phillips

COURTESY OF KIM ANDERSON

As a clarinetist in the 399th Army Band at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Jennifer Dibert Arnold ’17 won the Soldier of the Year title for her installation in the 2019 Best Warrior competition. The contest involved three consecutive days of mystery challenges that included a 13-mile ruck march with a 50-pound load, demonstrations of Army knowledge, physical fitness and marksmanship tests, crawling in the dirt beneath night fire, and a navigation challenge using only a map and compass.

“There was no use of watches, cell phones, or electricity,” Jennifer said. “We averaged four hours of sleep each night in a hut with cots. We were just waiting to be told what to do next, without any idea of what they had in store for us.”

After winning at her installation, Jennifer went on to represent Leonard Wood as the only female competitor in the Training and Doctrine Command Best Warrior competition at Fort Rucker, Alabama, last summer. “Even though I did not win in a tough field of males, I still represented the installation and the Army Band,” she said.

A native of Mechanicsburg, Jennifer was a musician and pole vaulter at IUP. She counts music faculty members Rosemary Engelstad, who helped her prepare for her Army audition, and Jason Worzbyt ’93 among her IUP mentors. Jennifer and her husband, Danny, who plays trumpet, recently moved to Hawaii and are members of the 25th Infantry Division “Tropic Lightning” band.

History and fashion merchandising graduate Samantha Barna ’17 curated an exhibit, Rising to the Occasion: Featuring the Designs of Louise Welch, for the Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County last fall. The show featured gowns that local seamstress Louise Welch created for her daughter Joan (now Joan McCreary), who was Miss Indiana in the 1955 Miss Pennsylvania pageant.

An early childhood teacher at Bright Horizons in Pittsburgh, Michael Pampena ’17 recently coauthored The Best Version of You: A Mission to Create Equality and Income

Available through major retailers, the book aims to help readers “cut through the imaginary glue that we are stuck to” and achieve success and happiness.

Owner of Thurner Photography in Pittsburgh, Becky Thurner ’17 spoke to an IUP Advanced Photography class in November.

Political theorist and analyst Reza Parchizadeh D’18 recently began work for the Free Iranian Security Research Center in Washington, DC. As project manager, he assists the US Departments of State and Treasury in addressing

security threats that originate from the Middle East. He has also advised Congress on foreign policy, national security, and promotion of democracy in Iran. On the academic side, electronic database World Shakespeare

REUNIONS

Bibliography recently cataloged two of Reza’s works: “How Shakespeare Perpetuates the Tudor Myth,” from the Journal of the Far West Popular and American Culture Associations, and his IUP dissertation, “The Recurring Progress of English Political Thought in Shakespeare’s Histories.” Reza recently married Aiden Dickson, an application developer with IBM and aspiring data scientist and Jungian psychoanalyst. Living in western Maryland, they enjoy classic movies and are planning a wedding ceremony in B’er Chayim synagogue in Cumberland.

A teacher in the Harford County (Maryland) Public School District, Bridget Scanga ’19 and her former IUP professor, Janet Walker, coauthored two articles recently published in the Ohio Journal of School Mathematics. “Problem Solving the Hungarian Way,” a two-part series, was based on Bridget’s summer 2018 participation in the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Education program. She is a graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College. m

Brothers of Phi Alpha Zeta/Tau Kappa Epsilon from the classes of 1950 to 1970 will get together Thursday, September 10, at 1:00 p.m. at Benjamin’s Restaurant in Indiana. For more information, contact Sam St. Clair ’56 at 814-353-4135 or Cliff Cox ’56, M’59, M’68 at 814-734-1081.

Have you noticed this icon at the end of a class note? It means that more information and often photos are available on the IUP Magazine website under Alumni Extra, www.iup.edu/magazine/alumniextra.

DEATHS

1942: Dorothy Howe Beemer, Mardelle Fish

1943: Helen Barry Dinkins, Mary Woodle Weamer, Jane Corazza Zwirek

1944: Marie Hetager Jenks

1945: Esther Campbell, Mary

Jane Fiscus Rudge

1946: Della “Billie” Speelman

Diehl, Elizabeth Wallace

1947: Elizabeth DiTullio

DellAntonio, Ruth Johnson

Peters

1948: Roberta Thomas Fisher, Ann Kestner Matthews

1949: Robert Fisher, Pearl Coughanour Hemphill, Louis

Jacobs

1950: John Joll, Iolene Giles

Shields, Charles Shontz, Robert

Vargo

1951: Julia Knapp MacLeod, Virginia Nestor

1952: Robert Hunter, Arlene

Shevel Leidy, George Michael, Helen Hildebrand Myers

1953: Mona Brown Beatty

1954: Jane Repine Abel, Robert Green

1955: Donna Orr Anderson, Marjorie West Christopher, Lois Watson Harvey, Alma Zacur

Jones, Olga Sherotsky Malcolm, Raymond Malcolm, Dolores Dick Matthews, Lois Hysong

Shay

1956: Lee Stauffer

1957: Marilyn Burke August, Doyle Corman, Joan Wrobleski

Kosmack, Lawrence Novak, Janet Winslow Taylor, Geno Zambotti*

1958: Thomas Coder, Patricia Newell Hartman, Regis

Laughlin, Winnifred Truax, Robert Young

1959: Francis Salvamoser

1960: Carolyn Loch Allen, Howard Mandigo, Bernard

Meisel, James Sandy, Robert Shoemaker

1961: Alton Walker

1962: Carol Logan Weimer

1963: Anthony Amato, Sharon

Lux Detar, Judith Muenz

Leeper, Marjorie McHenry, Diana Mott Naggy, Vernon

Reamer, Andrew Ruben

1964: Perry Miller, Robert Munden (M), Valerie Valdiserri Over, John Sheffler

1965: James Bobick, Jon Gross, Steven Joseck, Adrienne Kapisak, Ronald Paullo, John Schrock, Donald Stull

1966: William Kiel, Cecilia McKinley McGrath, Catherine Allen Zaranek

1967: Gerald McKnight

1968: Charles “Lee” Edwards, Richard Lockard, Mary Ellen Scahill Shellenberger, Margaret Skelton (M), Roland Syphrit

1969: Linda Anderson, Sandra Ballantyne, Daniel Fako, Kathleen Rankin Fitzgerald, Sandra Mack, Shirley Lawer Neal, Joseph Oliver, Thomas Smetanick

1970: Reed Booth-Fairman, James Botti, Allan Campbell, Timothy Drover, Judith Gnibus, John Katana, John McCoy (M), David Smith, Janet Watrous Woodard

1971: Patricia Maceyko Bilyeu, Marita Sciullo Bon, Glenn Cannon, Suzanne Derek Miller, Robert Nebel, Daniel Newman (M)

1972: Jay Buhler, Gerald Carasea, Daniel McQuillen, Andrew Stephenson, Joseph Venturella

1973: Sandra Sivulich Dudash, Richard Harvey, Hugh McKee, Linda Powers Shoop, William Stump, James Waldron

1974: Christine Pribanich Spanbauer, Karen Matter Storm

1975: John Robostello, Richard Stahura, James Stephens

1976: William Blake, Betty

“Jean” Harbaugh Bobella, Janice Vockroth DeMaria, Bernard Dill, Leonard Grecek (M)

1977: Clarice Spicher Noll, Nelda Sinisi

1978: Constance Petrill France

(M), Alan Meyers, Diane Smith

1979: Deborah Haseman Bui, John deBlecourt, Brian Faust, Lesley Rutledge Ridgway

1980: Carolyn Green Hartnett

(D), Edward Kunze

1981: William Creighton*

1982: Ronald McClosky (M), Cynthia Toth Smarsh, Patricia Hennequant Stillman (M), John White

1983: Alexia Hart Morris, Hemalataben Patel

1984: Beth Baumert, Mary Mowry Beegle, Kenneth MacLean (D)

1985: Patricia Lukehart, Carl Vonden Steinen (M)

1986: Joann Gallagher (M)

1988: Jennifer Hammond, Paul Wilson

1990: Janice Kitchen-Zbur, Leonard Valko

1991: Kevin Boyer, Terese Compton Briggs, Troy Miller

1992: Molly McKnight Barnes, Timothy Bowlin (CA), Peter Miltz, Kelly Orf Smith (AA), Bernice Trask

1993: Chad Dionis

1994: Michael O’Shea, Tania Peiffer Willforth

1995: Mark Bramer, Robert Durbin, Jeffrey Eppley, Susan Hyland, Rona Yuvan

1996: Dallas Dillon (D), Richard Glass (M), Mark Karla, Jason Michaels

1997: Joanne Smith Sivillo

1999: Dana Sosnick Jedrzejek*, Juanita Prescott Martin

2002: Kimberly Bonnar Behr

2004: William Kegel

2006: Matthew Mazzoni (CA)

2007: Michael McCoppin

2008: Robin Robertson, Christopher Williams

2009: Megan Smicklo Hill (CA)

2010: Corey Cook, Nathan Griffith

2016: Sara Austin

2019: Jacob Johns (CA)

*current or former faculty member, staff member, or administrator

Note: In cases in which an IUP degree beyond the bachelor’s degree was earned, only the first degree is indicated. Deaths of faculty members are reported in the Mentors section of this issue.

Other Deaths

Gerson Bence, who retired from Custodial Services in 2003 after 16 years of service, died August 19, 2019.

Walter Burba, an instructor in the IUP Highway Safety Center from 1995 to 2000, died October 5, 2019.

Brenda Carter, who retired as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2003 after 13 years of service, died December 7, 2019.

Dylan Harris, a junior from Downingtown majoring in finance, died August 25, 2019.

Betty Lou Isenberg, who retired from the Food and Nutrition Department in 1991 after 18 years of service, died November 25, 2019.

Béla Jobb, a senior from Strattanville majoring in music, died December 21, 2019.

Rothard Johns, who retired from the Auto Shop in 1991 after 34 years of service, died September 14, 2019.

MENTORS

DEMYSTIFYING MARS

While the first human mission to Mars may be more than a decade away, IUP associate professor and planetarium director Ken Coles is giving the average person a closer look at the planet now. Coles teamed up with Ken Tanaka of the US Geological Survey’s astrogeology team and Phil Christensen of Arizona State University to create The Atlas of Mars: Mapping Its Geography and Geology, released by Cambridge University Press last year. The result of eight years of work, this publication replaces a NASA Mars atlas that was 40 years old.

Intended for scientists and lay space enthusiasts alike, the new atlas explores the planet’s geology and geography, including prominent features such as Valles Marineris, a canyon system more than four times larger than Earth’s Grand Canyon, and Olympus Mons, a volcanic mountain more than twice the height of Mount Everest. The atlas also examines changes in the planet’s environment over time, as well as current debates and outstanding questions in Mars research. “It’s still a case of the blind man and the elephant when it comes to Mars,” Coles said. “Remote sensors on robotic spacecrafts are helping, but we’re still putting the pieces together.”

A member of IUP’s Geoscience Department since 2004, Coles discussed the atlas at the Ninth International Conference on Mars at Caltech in July 2019.

Crème de la Crème

While leading students on a studyabroad experience in Nancy, France, last summer, IUP associate professor Charles McCreary was honored with the city’s gold medal. That visit marked the 30th anniversary of McCreary’s first trip with the Nancy program in 1989, four years after it was established. He has coordinated the program since 2004. In its coverage of the award, a local newspaper recognized McCreary as “one of the most ‘Nancified’ Americans” and a “son of [French region] Lorraine forever.” McCreary has been a member of the French faculty, now within

IUP’s Foreign Languages Department, since 1986.

Professor on Loan

In January, Steve Hovan, longtime chair of IUP’s Geoscience Department, took a temporary position as a rotator with the National Science Foundation. In this role, he will make recommendations on which grant proposals NSF should fund. Hovan has twice received NSF awards for his research, which has focused on relationships among atmospheric circulation, oceanic currents, and global climate change. Rotators are expected to stay with NSF between one and four years. “I’m not retired,” Hovan said. “I’m just on loan.” Named IUP’s Distinguished University Professor in 2007, he has served on the faculty since 1993.

Faculty Deaths

The following faculty and former faculty members died in recent months:

Steven Cord, a professor emeritus who retired from the History Department in 1987 after 25 years of service, died April 20, 2020.

Marlin Hartman, a professor emeritus who retired from the Mathematics Department in 1992 after nearly 25 years of service, died July 16, 2020.

Olive Holt, a faculty member who retired from the Nursing and Allied Health Professions Department in 1996 after nearly 25 years of service, died June 19, 2020.

Lynda LaRoche, a faculty member who retired from the Art Department in 2013 after almost 16 years of service, died January 23, 2020.

Arthur Martel, a professor emeritus who retired from the Economics Department in 2002 after 32 years of service, died November 15, 2019.

John Matolyak, a professor emeritus who retired from the Physics Department in 2003 after nearly 37 years of service, died December 31, 2019.

Robert Morris, a professor emeritus and former dean of International Studies who retired from the Political Science Department in 1997 after nearly 35 years of service, died November 22, 2019.

Muriel Munro, a faculty member who retired from the Special Education and Clinical Services Department in 1994 after nearly 14 years of service, died September 14, 2019.

Helmut Paschold, a faculty member in the Safety Sciences Department since 2012, died September 21, 2019.

Malcolm Stilson, a Library faculty member from 1966 to 1969, died this year.

Marilyn Thomas, who taught in the English Department between 1982 and 1988, died January 29, 2020.

Ken Wilson, a professor emeritus who retired from the English Department in 2002 after nearly 40 years of service, died March 20, 2020.

Nanci Wilson, a professor emerita who retired from the Criminology Department in 2005 after almost 16 years of service, died March 18, 2020.

Edward Wolf, a professor emeritus who retired from the University Libraries in 1992 after 30 years of service, died April 20, 2020.

Geno Zambotti ’57, M’62, a professor emeritus who retired from the Chemistry Department in 1994 after nearly 28 years of service, died February 9, 2020.

BRIAN HENRY

COURTESY OF CHARLES MCCREARY

Ken Coles, IUP Geoscience

If you, too, would like to transform lives through the Imagine Unlimited campaign, please contact the University Advancement office at 724-357-5661 or visit IUP.edu/imagine-unlimited.

Epic Affection

When Blane Dessy ’73 learned what the IUP English Department had planned for a new initiative on the study of myth, he was blown away. It included developing programming across academic departments and capitalizing on a resurgence of mythology-inspired pop culture—from the Avengers film series to network television shows Grimm and Once upon a Time

It reminded Dessy of his IUP days studying with nowretired professor Rosaly Roffman and diving into Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey

“She made everything come alive, and she demonstrated how these poems and themes are universal and timeless,” Dessy said. “They are applicable today just as they were when originally composed. She taught me the power of creativity and how to communicate across time and generations. It was an epiphany.”

Inspired by the combination of memory and present day, Dessy, who is now retired from a distinguished career with the Library of Congress, has made a generous gift to support the new myth collaborative. In turn, the university has named the collaborative in honor of both Dessy and Roffman.

“Myth structures creativity and provides a way to organize the natural, the human, and the divine into stories. It gives societies roots,” said Michael Williamson, a member of the English Department faculty who coordinates the newly named Dessy-Roffman Myth Collaborative. He said the interdisciplinary project will make resources available to students from across the region as well as to anyone who has an interest in mythology, and it will provide an avenue for recording folklore and legends—in essence, preserving culture.

“Because of this gift, so many students will be able to experience what Blane did when he was a student,” Williamson said. “His gift truly reflects the spirit Rosaly brought to the English Department.”

Blane Dessy

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Without fall sports at IUP or elsewhere in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, Miller Stadium and Cignetti Field will remain quiet. Story on page 14.