JYM Alumni News Summer 2009 ─ A Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the Junior Year in Munich
Dear Alumni & Friends of JYM, We hope you’ll enjoy this issue of JYM Alumni News. Inside you’ll find: > > > >
JYM Chronicles: JYM Remembers Class Notes 2008 Gift-Giving
Please email me news you’d like included in the next issue : JYM@wayne.edu. mit freundlichen Grüssen, Mark Ferguson JYM Program Director
Junior Year in Munich Wayne State University 401 Manoogian Detroit MI 48202 Tel (313) 577-4605 JYM@wayne.edu
Did you miss the last
JYM Alumni News? Betts Huntley recalls JYM 1956/57 Visit JYM on the web, and click on the ALUMNI tab
www.jym.wayne.edu
The Art of Remembering JYM Some of the earliest musings about memory come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans, who suggested that location and place were somehow central to our ability to arrange our recollections. “Modern” memory notwithstanding, which grabs you when you least expect it, the ancients must have been on to something that still capitvates us. After all, we tend not to ask what were you doing when something happened that left a lasting impression, but rather where were you when it happened. This is how Kristin Cavin reflects upon her JYM experience in the 2008/09 JYM yearbook. For those who have been there (and there of course is Munich), this will surely bring back memories of JYM. Das Geheimleben als Fotografin Kristin Cavin, Trinity University (from JYM Illustrated 2008/09) “This opportunity to spend so long in one place is a special one, and I’ve been determined to record it all, drink the experience down to the dregs. When JYM gave our new group a “scavenger hunt” around Munich to help orient us, I took my camera with me, on my third day in Munich – glorious in its (what would be short-lived) crisp-but-not-cold coolness, pure blue skies as my backdrop – and wandered around the city, in and out of churches, buildings, cafes and gardens, with a smile on my face and my camera in my hands for four and a half hours. It still remains one of my best days in Munich, and I have over 300 photographs to remind me of how happy, how strange I felt embarking upon this new adventure. Now, at the river’s end, I’m looking around me and struggling to capture everything – how contented I am to live in Studentenstadt, how my room is now a testament to my adventures, its once-white walls now littered with ticket stubs, Fahrkarten, photographs, concert posters, postcards I’ve collected, maps, brochures. How much I’ve grown to appreciate my JYM comrades, who’ve gone with me on this strange and interesting journey, my shock at the rare Louisiana-style thunderstorm, my laughter at cultural oddities, the new, varied hobbies and interests I’ve collected like so many foreign coins. But no one photograph – or perhaps, no less than all of them together – can capture how much this semester abroad has changed my life, forced me to come to terms with myself, furthered my evolution into becoming ‘me,’ and truly, truly opened my eyes to the beauty of ways and byways I’ve traveled between arrival and departure, from there to here.”
Email us Your Story of life after JYM and we’ll publish as many as we can. Email us at JYM@wayne.edu
JYM Chronicles
50 Years ago: Memories of JYM 1959/60 by Patrick W. Murphy Next year it will be 50 years--unglaublich! To this day that was perhaps the best and most influential year of my life. I came from Milwaukee and so was accustomed to beer and bratwursts, but the beer in Munich was and is so much better. As I said at the time, it was only a short walk from the beer hall to the concert hall. And unlike Milwaukee, you were only 30 miles from the beautiful Alps with their beautiful man-made architecture as well--a lot prettier than Colorado Springs. We had a Herr Dr. Reh for, I believe, German (I was in the second class of six). Dr. Reh remains in my memory as one of the two or three BEST teachers I ever had, and I went through to a Ph.D. It certainly was not his teaching of German grammar. As I remember him, it was that he was very well informed about just about everything and loved to talk about all kinds of things. This did not intimidate us, as he was always smiling. Instead, he made US think, see new angles of old ideas, etc., all the things a great teacher should do. He was just a great guy. I eventually wrote a Ph.D. dissertation on West Germany and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which took me to Bonn, with a side trip to East Germany. I am a nonproliferation expert to this day. And my wife is a former East German, who crossed the border in Berlin the evening before the Wall went up. We adopted two children from Ukraine, so you could say that Munich opened up both Central and Eastern Europe to me. The last time I was back was in 2004, and I loved it as much as ever, and I believe I got that across to my family too! Again, JYM was one of the greatest experiences of my life and helped lead to many other great experiences!
JYM Class of 1959/60
25 Years ago - Memories of JYM 1983/84 Interview with Tom Howard What have you been doing since your JYM? Since my JYM experience was now 25 years ago, quite a bit actually. My career path since then, however (in fact launched by my JYM experience), has been almost exclusively in the field of Study Abroad/International Study. After my JYM, year I returned to Luther College in Decorah, IA, and graduated the following Spring ('85) with degrees in Political Science and German. Contrary to my Law School plans, though, I applied for and took a position instead as a Residence Hall Director - something which I'd done at the undergraduate level for two years. This experience led me to the city of Cape Girardeau, MO, and my JYM experience played a significant role in my hire. My plan had been to work for that year and retake my LSAT (which I did more than once, until I was 30), but I was allowed that year to donate a 1/4 of my time to the 'then new' SEMO Study Abroad Office. The following Summer ('86), I received a stipend from the university, and was allowed to also participate in the International Student Exchange program (ISEP), which we were a member of. I not only spent a month learning French in the Alpine city of Annecy, but was also able to conduct Site Visits in France and Germany. This took me back to München for a couple of weeks, and back to my Adelheid Strasse friends - several of who were still studying at the LMU. From there I spent a year directing a Residence for a study abroad program in London (where my friend and fellow '83/'84 JYM student, Don Smith, also lived), and continued working with that organization for another two years. In the meantime, I started a Masters in History (which I completed several years later), and then began working with Australian study abroad. During the '92/'93 academic year, I moved to Washington DC, and opened and served as the first Director of the Australian Education Office, located in the Embassy of Australia. This time my fiancée accompanied me, and we were married the following July. An East Indian from Uganda who grew up in the UK, my wife Daksha has further internationalized my life - a process again begun with my JYM experience. Today I direct my own educational organization, which works primarily with Australian universities and educational entities. We have a 12 year old son, Joshua, and an 8 year old daughter, Isabella, and reside in Wisconsin, about a mile from where I grew up. As a 'full circle' to this, my children attend the same schools that I did, and my son (as was compulsory for me) took German during the first half of this year. He was taught by Jane Klinzing - my first German teacher, and a graduate of JYM in the 70's!
What do you remember as a highlight of your JYM experience? Living in Adelheid Strasse, on a Stockwerk with German students who I am in touch with to this day. From landing and wishing I'd been dropped off in StudentenStadt, within one week of arrival I was turning down requests from friends there to trade rooms - that made the year great. Also, a cooking class which Frau Dr. Riegler taught to 5 of the male students, once per week in her apartment. After each of us showing up with a bottle of wine the first night, we quickly learned to make hors d’oeuvres - before learning to make several other wunderbare Bayrische delights. Dave Gordon, Tom Howard, Dave Pratt, Kristin Makholm and Kirsten Bolda skiing in the Italian Alps during the semester break.
JYM Remembers Dr. Marianne Riegler, as we reported last year, passed away in April 2008. Dr. Riegler’s career with the Junior Year in Munich began in 1955 when she was hired as a JYM instructor, and would ultimately span four decades. Over the course of the next thirty-four years, 2,569 students would participate in the JYM program under the guidance and supervision of Frau Doktor Riegler, or FDR. As JYM resident director from 1960-94, thousands of students gained from her unwavering dedication to the program and to the lifelong benefits of study abroad. In recognition of her unparalleled contribution to the mission of transatlantic goodwill, friendship and understanding embodied in the tradition of the Junior Year in Munich, Dr. Riegler was awarded the honor of Ehrenbürgerin of the LMU Munich. On the occasion of JYM’s 50th anniversary in 2003, Dr. Riegler was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wayne State University during a ceremony held in the Grosse Aula at LMU Munich. Reflecting upon her many experiences as JYM Resident Director, Frau Dr. Riegler accepted the honor “on behalf of the students.” (Visit “50th Anniversary” on the ALUMNI section of the JYM website to read her entire speech.) In 2005 the JYM Class of 1968-69 initiated a successful campaign to establish an endowed scholarship in honor of Frau Dr. Riegler. To date, the Dr. Marianne Riegler Endowed Scholarship stands at $84,600 (see p.7).
Dr. Diether Haenicke, former president of Western Michigan University, succumbed to a head injury incurred during a cardiac arrest February 2009. Dr. Haenicke’s relationship to JYM and Wayne State University began fifty years ago. As a doctoral student at LMU Munich in 1959 he was hired by WSU Prof. Carl Colditz, JYM’s Resident Director 1959-60, to teach German language and literature. It was in Munich and through JYM that he met his future bride, Carol Colditz, to whom he would be married 46 years. When Wayne State opened its second Junior Year in Germany program in Freiburg in 1961, Haenicke moved to Freiburg to work for the new program as an instructor. After earning his doctorate from LMU Munich in 1962, he came to Wayne State as a Fulbright Fellow, where he was an assistant professor in German from 1963-65. He returned to Germany in 1965 as Resident Director of the Junior Year in Freiburg program, and served the following year as Resident Director of JYM 196667. Haenicke emigrated to the US in 1967 and joined the German faculty at Wayne State University. He served again as resident director of the Junior Year in Freiburg program 1969-70, and was Program Director of both Junior Year in Germany programs from 1970-75. During this period he advanced quickly within the university administration: 1971 he was appointed Chair of the Department of Romance and Germanic Languages and Literatures, received tenure 1972, was appointed Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts 1972-75, and subsequently appointed Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs 1975-78. Haenicke left Wayne State in 1978 to become Dean of the College of Humanities at Ohio State University 1978-82 and then Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs 1982-85. In 1985 he accepted an offer to become President of Western Michigan University where he served until his retirement in 1998. He came out of retirement when called upon to serve Western Michigan University as interim president 2006-07.
Karl Sanders (JYM 1968/69), who passed away unexpectedly August 2008 due to complications from pneumonia. Don Verity recalls: “Karl and I were roomates at the beginning of our 68-69 year in Munich. It was interesting for all of us to see how a young man from rural Georgia reacted and adjusted to the bright lights and constant swirl of activity of Munich. Guess What: He Loved It! Karl was committed to keeping our friendships going and was a regular at our JYM 68-69 reunions. He was helping us plan our next get-together, reunion # 4 just completed in Milwaukee, when he suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. He'll be missed and remembered as we raise our steins at future reunions.”
Karl Sanders (left) at the JYM Class of 1968-69 reunion in Boston 2005
JYM Class Notes 1956-57 Ken Kurze wrote in to report the sad news that one of his classmates, Eugene Lane, passed away in November 2008. 1957-58 Frank Lyman and his wife moved to Pennsylvania in 2007 to be nearer their grandchildren. Frank worked at the University of Maryland for 26 years as a field based teacher educator. He has never lost touch with the German friends he made in the dormitory in Munich and they visit each other regularly. Frank says that the JYM experience “provided me an adventure that differentiated me from my former youthful self and was the springboard for the maturity I still seek.” Frank is trying to organize a reunion of his classmates. 1965-66 JYM has learned that James Pusack, Associate Professor of German at the University of Iowa, passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack December 2008. Visit the Alumni section of the JYM website for a link to a Memorial. James Weisz recently retired and is living in Florida. He thinks he might return to Western Pennsylvania in the near future. 1971-72 Belinda Carstens-Wickham is a Professor of German at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and is in her third term as Chair of her department. She was moved to contact us last year when, flying back from Munich after a Goethe Institute Seminar, she came across an article about JYM in the journal Unterrichtspraxis. 1975-76 Craig Everhart has worked for the U.S. Government in various capacities since graduating Duke University in 1977. Nearly half of his 31 years of service have been spent in Europe (Germany, U.K., Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic). Currently he works at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. 1976-77 Lisa Neal (formerly known as Lisa Baldwin) is a writer / storyteller / spoken-word artist living in North Carolina. www.lisaneal.net 1977-78 Kathy Hughes spent two years in Munich because she loved it so much. After graduating from Gettysburg College she became a German/French teacher, then got her MA in ESL in San Francisco before moving to Japan where she taught at Temple University. After that she taught in Oman and UAE, then returned to California for a few years and took up tango dancing. She studied Spanish in Mexico and then moved to Buenos Aires where she now lives in the historic district. [Phew!] She says “JYM was the most fabulous experience of my life!”
1987-88 Susanne Ollmann has a baby girl, Elise. She got her Master's from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service; held policy positions with AARP International and PhRMA; did a Bosch Fellowship at the German Ministry of Economics and VFA; did German Bundestag and European Commission interships; taught English in Japan. I have also been working as a freelance photographer and jewelry designer (see skophotodesign.com and jewelrybysusanne.blogspot.com). 1989-90 Todd Welsh writes: “After I left I completed college at the Univ. of Mass. and went on to grad school in clinical psych at the Univ of Hawaii. However after doing that for a year I decided it wasn't for me and moved to Philadelphia to take pre-med courses at the Univ of Penn. I was later accepted to med school at the Univ. of Connecticut in Hartford and graduated in 1999. From there I did residency training in Emergency Med at SUNY Buffalo where I met my wife Judy. From there we took a job for 3 years in Rochester, NY, then decided to move to Cleveland where we currently work at Elyria Memorial Hospital. We just completed building a new house and we're expecting our first baby in July of this year (2009).” 1992-93 Christopher Kredo has been living in the Munich area since 1997 and works at Amazon.de 2004-05 Megan Walker is currently pursuing a Masters in International Human Rights and International Security at the University of Denver. 2005-06 Katharine Bente graduated from Kenyon College and had a Fulbright teaching grant in 2007-08 in Heidelberg which she enjoyed immensely, not least because she had the opportunity to return to Munich several times. Beth Uding is living and working in NYC since graduating from the University of Minnesota. She works for CDS International. [JYM now partners with CDS for internship placements.] 2006-07 Steven Walker stayed in Munich after his JYM and is now working at Munich Re Group as a financial controller. Baseball is still a big part of his life and in his free time he still plays with The Caribes. He also likes to get to the Alps for hiking and skiing whenever possible.
JYM Class of 1968-69 made a MUST SEE YouTube video of their reunions visit the JYM website for a link
2008 Gift-Giving We wish to extend our sincerest thanks to all alumni and friends of JYM who donated to our annual scholarship funds, endowed scholarship funds, and program advancement fund in 2008. Because of your generosity, we were able to award scholarships to 22 students from 17 colleges and universities in 2008-09.
1972-73 Roy E. Bertolatus Jan L. Simpson
1993-94 Brett L. Carnito Gregory W. Drake Elizabeth Sklad
1973-74 Carole Shereda Margaret F. Smith
2000-01 Brian M. Jaskolski
1975-76 Rita A. Boie Joanne Hutson Hranac 1976-77 Pieter M. Judson
Matching Gifts Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Global Impact Microsoft Matching Gifts Program West-FSI, LLC
1978-79 anonymous 1980-81 anonymous 1953-54 William W. Hay Elizabeth Hatch Hemkes Mr. & Mrs. Martin Klaver 1954-55 Julia Keydel 1955-56 Reid D. Huntley Suzanne E. Petri 1956-57 Mr. & Mrs. Yngve and Elizabeth Kant Jane W. King Margaret M. Seeley 1957-58 Eleanor Oliver 1958-59 Helen Fritschi Harriet H. Onello 1959-60 Ralph Bayrer Richard H. Hart Marie Jaanus Jean E. Wolf 1960-61 Heide C. Hemker 1961-62 David E. Dix
1962-63 Mr. & Mrs. Stevan Bauman 1963-64 anonymous 1964-65 Ara and Roz Basherian Edward L. Morris 1965-66 Steven L. Hagey Susan H. Ray Elizabeth A. Weaver 1967-68 Heinrich A. Brinks Michael Ross 1968-69 Richard C. Crispin Carolyn Dittmar David M. Lillvis Jerry K. Stonewater Roderick M. Stewart Donald W. Verity 1970-71 Pamela J. Flynn Gregory J. Mangan 1971-72 Howard Adler Joseph J. Handly Christine P. Von Klencke
Friends of JYM Margaret Strobel Donofrio Donald Haase Frederick Hoffman German American Cultural Center Max Kade Foundation, Inc.
1981-82 Juergen M. Barbusca Mary E. Philipps Robert D. Tobin
FAQ about donating to JYM
1982-83 Robin Hackley
“When I donate to JYM, does my gift go to JYM or to Wayne State University?”
1984-85 Jeffrey C. Norris 1985-86 Jennifer G.S. Diefenbacher Charles Rhodes Paul Soprano
Gifts to JYM are deposited into JYM accounts at Wayne State University and are used only by and for JYM; gifts to JYM are not used to support any other WSU program.
1986-87 Cynthia Sperry 1987-88 Kendel J. Darragh Scott B. Darragh Peter Schweitzer Kirsten Stoppel 1988-89 Linda M. OgdenWolgemuth 1990-91 Matthew Sanger
Re-Connect to JYM Classmates on Facebook & at LinkedIn.com The “Junior Year in Munich (JYM) Alumni Group” on Facebook has grown to 239 members, and the “Junior Year in Munich Alumni and Community Group” at LinkedIn now has 74 members. Visit the Alumni section of the JYM website for a direct link to join. www.jym.wayne.edu
Grüss Gott –
FDR Endowed Scholarship Update
Nachrichten aus München
The Dr. Marianne Riegler Endowed Scholarship Fund is growing and now stands at $84,600. At present we can distribute $4000 in awards annually. As we reported in our last newsletter, the first Marianne Riegler endowed scholarship was awarded in 2007 to a student whose mother, in fact, was on JYM in 1974-75. We thought the continuity of JYM through two generations made the student an excellent candidate for the first scholarship considering Dr. Riegler’s multi-generational association with the program. Thanks to the generosity of alumni who donated to the endowment (including a generous gift of $10,000 from Dr. Riegler and $2,040 in donations from Friends of JYM and Matching Gifts), we were able to award two scholarships in 2008 and two in 2009. Many people have asked how much their class has contributed to the fund. To the right is a breakdown of gifts by JYM class.
1954/55 1955/56 1956/57 1958/59 1959/60 1960/61 1961/62 1962/63 1963/64 1964/65 1965/66 1966/67 1967/68 1968/69 1969/70 1970/71 1971/72 1972/73 1973/74 1974/75 1975/76
$50 $305 $2,985 $740 $765 $100 $275 $250 $450 $1,070 $120 $430 $1,005 $5,200 $60 $1,090 $1,595 $530 $675 $200 $25,554
1976/77 1977/78 1978/79 1979/80 1980/81 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 1984/85 1985/86 1986/87 1987/88 1988/89 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94
Mein Life in München $900 $1,150 $5,325 $250 $1,705 $1,170 $350 $150 $500 $415 $210 $295 $300 $535 $150 $1,500 $30 $1,040
by Justin Brooks, The Citadel (from JYM Illustrated 2008/09) “So, wenn people fragt me about mein life in München, what will I say zu them? Will I tell them about all the Zeit I spent in Potschampel, drinking beer? Or will I tell them how I went to my Kurse and knew gar nichts when I zuerst got here, but by the end of the zweites Semester I knew just about jedes Wort that was said to me? Will I tell them about how I got myself completely lost in the Hauptgebäude and so therefore had to schwänzte my class? Will I tell them about the super JYM Reise to Neuschwanstein, or wandern in the Alps? Nein. I probably will tell them gar nichts, because they will not versteht my study abroad Erfahrung.”
2009 Gift-Giving Opportunities Yes, I would like to support the JYM program and its students. Enclosed is my tax-deductible gift of: __ $60 __ $120 __$300 __ Other____________________
You can double the impact of your generosity if your employer offers a MATCHING GIFT program. Contact your personnel office for the proper form and mail it with your check.
Name ___________________________________ JYM Class _________
I wish to designate my gift to:
Family Name while on JYM __________________________________
JYM GENERAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND __ Alumni and Friends of JYM Scholarship Fund, 447529
Address ____________________________________________________ City, State, Zip ______________________________________________ Payment Method __ check, made payable to Wayne State University __ VISA __ Mastercard Card Number ______________________________________________ Expiration Date ____________________________________________ Signature (required for credit card gifts)
JYM ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS __ Dr. Marianne Riegler Endowed Scholarship Fund, 060217 __ Prof. Marvin S. Schindler Endowed Scholarship Fund, 060244 JYM ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS __ Tyler Stutzman Memorial Scholarship (JYM 2001-02), 447529 __ Timothy Dolan Memorial Scholarship (JYM 1980-81), 445173 __ Eugene C. Strobel Memorial Scholarship Fund, 445047 JYM PROGRAM ADVANCEMENT __ for sustaining JYM and developing new programming, 223876
____________________________________________________________
Please return to: Attn. Louise Speed · Junior Year in Munich Wayne State University · 401 Manoogian Detroit MI 48202
Gifts to Wayne State University's Junior Year in Munich program are taxdeductible as allowable by law. WSU is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, classified as a publicly supported educational organization and listed annually in Publication 78 of the Cumulative List of Organizations described in Section 170(c) of the Code. Wayne State University's Federal tax-free ID number is 38-6028429.
Alumni Stammtisch in Munich
Things to Do at the JYM Website Update your Address Request a JYM Transcript View/Post Upcoming Events Read past Alumni Newsletters Find Fellowships & Internships Explore the JYM Job Board Make a Gift to JYM Read Donors Stories This past year saw the inauguration of a JYM Alumni Stammtisch in Munich! Meeting at various places in 2008 (Unionsbräu, Max Emanuel Brauerei, Park Café Biergarten), those who gathered to re-connect and share experiences included Carrie Andrews (2000-01), Jeff Bastien (1998-99), Adam Cory (2006-07), Stacey DePauw (2003-04), Anna Giesen (2004-05), Robert Johnson (2002-03), Alaina Koerber (200304), Jill Ray (2007-08), Renee Remy (2005-06), Ben Walvoord (2005-06), and Stephen Walker (2006-07). Thanks to Sommer Sherrit from the Munich office for starting the Stammtisch!
Watch the JYM Video!
Click on the ALUMNI tab at the JYM website
www.jym.wayne.edu