Moravian University Magazine Spring 2025

Gretchen Morning ’92: From philosophy major to executive producer at Warner Bros. Discovery

Alums make it big in the entertainment biz. Plus, 50 years of dance at Moravian

VIEW FINDER

Springtime at Moravian photographed by Rob Cardillo

Editor

Claire Kowalchik P’22

Art Director

Sandy DiPasqua

Sports Editor

Mark J. Fleming

Copy Editor

Beth Bazar

Archivist

Cory W. Dieterly

Contributing Writers

Samantha Anderson ’13, Jeff Csatari, Mike Zimmerman

Contributing Photographers

Carlo Acerra, Theo Anderson, Matt Brush, Marco Calderon, Rob Cardillo, Nick Chismar ’20, Thomas Kay

Contributing Illustrators

GreatPetsPortraits.etsy.com, James O’Brien, Colleen O’Hara

Alumni and Parent Engagement

Amanda Werner Maenza ’13, G’17

Assistant Vice President

Dylan Star

Associate Director

Kathy Magditch P’13

Administrative Support Assistant

Copyright 2025 by Moravian University. Photographs and artwork copyright by their respective creators or by Moravian University. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reused or republished in any form without express written permission.

Moravian Greyhound family and friends, It is always my pleasure to share the remarkable growth and success Moravian University has experienced over the past decade. Our enrollment has soared from 2,096 in 2013 to 2,967 in 2023, making Moravian the fastest-growing university in the region. This growth is a testament to our unwavering commitment to preparing students for successful careers in vital industries such as nursing, health sciences, business, education, technology, and the arts.

This issue of the Moravian University Magazine celebrates alumni who have made significant contributions to the performing arts. This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of dance at Moravian. What began as a component of physical education has blossomed into a vibrant minor, with a dedicated dance studio on our South Campus made possible by generous alumni, whose contributions provided state-of-the-art facilities.

We are incredibly proud of those alumni who have excelled in the arts. Gretchen Morning ’92 is an executive producer at Warner Bros. Discovery, overseeing all aspects of production of many network series. Her leadership and creativity shine as a beacon of what Moravian graduates can achieve.

Amy Zdunowski-Roeder ’96 is a celebrated celebrity makeup artist who has worked with some of the biggest names from the runway and red carpet to stage and screen. Her expertise and artistry exemplify the diverse career paths our graduates pursue.

One of my dear friends, Brian Dailey ’90, is the senior vice president of International Media at Paramount Pictures. He credits his success in the film industry to the strong foundation he built at Moravian. His journey stands as an inspiring testament to the transformative power of a Moravian education.

We remain committed to nurturing our students’ talents and ambitions as we grow and evolve. Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community.

Warm regards,

President Bryon L. Grigsby ’90, P’22, P’26

BY

PHOTO

MARCO CALDERON

Gretchen Morning ’92 didn’t plan on showrunning some of the biggest hits on the Discovery Channel. She didn’t plan on anything, in fact, and that’s made all the difference in her world. 34

The university celebrates a half century of

42 A Blush with Greatness

Makeup artist Amy ZdunowskiRoeder ’96 fine-tunes some of the world’s most iconic faces.

Gretchen Morning, executive producer at Warner Bros. Discovery, photographed by Matthew Brush

The Hub

With this year’s fall enrollment surpassing last year’s record, which broke all prior records, it’s not a far leap to learn that Moravian is the fastest-growing university in the region, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). A dive into the numbers also reveals that Moravian has experienced a 51 percent increase in full-time enrollment since 2014. While this seems perfectly plausible to most, here’s a fresh look at the reasons for this momentum.

Future Focus

The successful rehabilitation sciences program at Moravian was born out of the foresight that the need for such services would increase as the population ages. The university continues to explore new programs to meet future societal needs, expanding career opportunities for students.

Moravian also supports postbaccalaureate success through Elevate, which encompasses the entire four-year

PHOTO BY NICK CHISMAR 20

In fall of 2024, Moravian University welcomed the biggest class ever.

undergraduate experience. Elevate provides opportunities for valuable international experience, teaches essential skills in leadership and teamwork, and emphasizes experiential learning, research, and internships that further prepare students for their careers.

Technology

Moravian University’s status as an Apple Distinguished School recognizes the institution’s commitment to innovative use of Apple technology in teaching and learning.

Every student receives a MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPad Pencil when they enroll at Moravian, ensuring equal access to technology. This past fall, the university added the Apple Watch to the tech bundle. The watches record health and fitness data and encourage wellness behaviors as part of Moravian’s wellness initiative.

The next tech on the institution’s radar is generative AI. Several professors currently use gen AI in their classrooms, while others are exploring its possibilities. A small task force of faculty and staff participates in the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum, where they are immersed in education about AI. They share their learning across campus and are working with campus partners to deliver a variety of programming during the 2025–26 academic year.

Community

Ask students at Moravian what they love about the university, and you’ll hear the word “community” repeatedly. They’ll tell you that the welcoming environment captured their interest from their first visit. With an average class size of 16 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, students benefit from close relationships with faculty.

Building on a foundation of community, Moravian has developed a wellness initiative that recognizes the challenges

young people face today and responds with measures that support physical, mental, and emotional health.

The HUB renovation will deepen community by serving as a true hub of the Moravian University experience: the counseling and health centers, career services, dining, a wellness center, a multifaith suite, a student organizations suite, offices for the Center for Inclusive Excellence and the alumni association, and a conference center that will hold events.

At Moravian, community reaches beyond campus borders. Every September, the university holds Heritage Day. Classes are canceled, and students, faculty, and staff volunteer their services to nonprofit organizations in the Lehigh Valley.

The Reed Raymond ’74 College Readiness Program of the Lehigh Valley at Moravian University is a comprehensive, fiveday, overnight campus experience that prepares college-eager students and their families from the Lehigh Valley region for the extensive college search process.

Moravian’s School of Professional Studies and Innovation opened in fall 2024 to serve working adults in the community who may or may not have families and who want to complete a bachelor’s degree, earn a graduate degree, or obtain a certificate that adds to their professional skills. As President Grigsby points out, Moravian is committed to education for all.

Heritage

Everything that Moravian University stands for is rooted in the university’s heritage. Future-focused, innovative, and technologically advanced, the Moravians who settled Bethlehem in 1741 developed the United States’ first industrial park, an area that we now call the Colonial Industrial Quarter. By 1747, 35 crafts, trades, and industries conducted their work there. Mills were powered by waterwheels fed from the Monocacy Creek, and in that space, in 1745, the Moravians

What young person wouldn’t want to be part of a university informed by such a rich, progressive history and an institution that continually evolves to provide the best education and environment for student success?

built the Waterworks, a system that pumped fresh water out to the community. A Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, it is America’s first pumped municipal water system.

Moravians believe in equality and respect for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. They were the first in America to educate girls, teaching them the same subjects that boys learned. Native American children were accepted into the schools. Everyone worked for the betterment of the community and was supported by it.

On July 26, 2024, the Moravian Church Settlement in Bethlehem was inscribed as part of a World Heritage site for its historic and cultural significance.

What young person wouldn’t want to be part of a university informed by such a rich, progressive history and an institution that continually evolves to provide the best education and environment for student success, as well as gratifying service to the greater community?

Appel Awarded Fulbrigh t

Anize Appel, dean of the Center for Global Education, has received a Fulbright US International Education Administrators Award to Taiwan for the academic year 2025–26 from the US Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

The objectives of the US–Taiwan International Education Administrators Award are to help US international education professionals, senior higher education officers, and higher education administrators learn more about Taiwan’s higher education system, society, and culture, and to establish networks between US and Taiwanese professional colleagues.

Appel is the first International Administrators Fulbright recipient and looks forward to building partnerships that will allow for a vibrant cultural exchange.

An Apple Every Day

Moravian University has been named an Apple Distinguished School for the 2024–27 term, marking the third time since 2018 that we’ve earned this prestigious distinction. This recognition highlights Moravian’s ongoing commitment to academic innovation, student engagement, and the seamless integration of technology in education.

Apple Distinguished Schools are recognized globally for their leadership in leveraging technology to support a culture of innovation, academic excellence, and personalized learning. As one of only a select group of these institutions worldwide, Moravian continues to set the bar high for educational excellence, creating a transformative environment where students can thrive through cutting-edge tools and personalized instruction.

Moravian Hosts IRS Citizen Academy

In the fall, Moravian hosted the IRS Citizen Academy, a daylong event in which students participated in a simulation of a criminal investigation. The goal of this academy is to provide students with a firsthand look into what it’s like for IRS special agents to carry out a federal tax crime investigation and track illicit money from the crime to the criminal.

Moravian students with an accounting major or in the criminal justice track in sociology portrayed IRS special agents and worked together to solve a crime and arrest the mock offenders—IRS Special Agents Nick Sacco ’93 and Tyler Boyer ’07.

“This is just one of the many ways we’re committed to transforming our students’ lives through experiential learning,” says Sonia Aziz, dean of the School of Business and Economics. “This opportunity [showed] how the skills [students are]

PHOTOS

developing in accounting or sociology can be used to make a real impact and highlight the diversity of jobs that are available.”

Research Coauthored by Thévenin and Nine Students Is Published

Through a complex set of proteins and enzymes, cells talk to each other. What they say in these conversations can facilitate or disrupt cellular activities, be they healthy or unhealthy.

With the help of nine undergraduate students over several years, Anastasia Thévenin, associate professor of biological sciences, studied one facet of how cells communicate, specifically examining a cancer-suppressing protein called connexin 43 (Cx43) and three major cell signaling proteins called MAP kinases (MAPKs). Their research study, “Differential Substrate Specificity of ERK, JNK, and p38 MAP Kinases Toward Connexin 43,” was recently published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry ( JBC ). The paper was coauthored by the following students: Marissa Cusimano ’19, Victoria Vargus ’21, Sonal Arora ’21, Liz Perez ’22, Reem Turk ’22, Ryan Kulp ’24, Lauren Latchford ’24, Sophia Shienvold ’24, and Hailey Belvario ’25. “I couldn’t be more proud of their work,” says Thévenin.

Expanded Career Center to Empower Students

The new Haupert Union Building (HUB) will house an expanded career center dedicated to preparing students for successful, fulfilling careers. Formerly known as the Center for Career and Civic Engagement, the new Laurie Riley ’82 Center for Career Success honors Laurie Riley Brubaker ’82, a devoted alumna and former trustee passionate about mentoring students. Her family chose to name the center using Laurie’s maiden name, reflecting the way she was known during her time at Moravian and honoring her legacy.

The Laurie Riley ’82 Center for Career Success will be three times larger than the career center’s original space, offering enhanced resources for one-on-one

career coaching, employer engagement, and student programming. Dedicated meeting and interview rooms will provide a professional environment for students to connect with mentors, alumni, and potential employers, fostering meaningful career-building opportunities.

“Laurie Riley Brubaker ’82 and Lloyd Brubaker’s generosity is truly making a lasting impact on career development at Moravian,” says Ryan Smolko, director of career engagement. “This growth enables us to offer more interactive workshops, expanded networking events, and additional opportunities for career exploration and create a more welcoming and dynamic environment for students to engage in meaningful career conversations and planning.”

The Laurie Riley ’82 Center for Career Success embodies Moravian’s commitment to empowering students with the tools, guidance, and connections they need to thrive in their careers.

Presidential Power

Lehigh Valley Business named President Grigsby to its Power List for Education, which presents the individuals who hold positions that give them the ability to shape our communities and influence our quality of life through education.

Fleming Honored with Communications Award Director of Athletic Communications

Mark Fleming has been recognized with the College Sports Communicators’ (CSC) Warren Berg Award. The award is named for Warren Berg, a longtime sports information director (SID) at Luther College and the first SID from a college division school to serve as president of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), in 1963–64. The Berg Award is presented annually to a college division member (NCAA Division II, Division III, NAIA, two-year college, or Canadian institution) who has made outstanding contributions to the field of athletic communications and who, by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.

Moravian University’s Mirrulations Is Up and Running

WHAT THE HECK IS MIRRULATIONS?

Background: The regulations.gov website allows users to view proposed rules and supporting documents for the federal rulemaking process. The site contains about 27 million pieces of text and binary data, but the application programming interface (API) that provides access allows a user to obtain only 1,000 items per hour. As a result, it would take approximately three years to download all the data.

Solution: Mirrulations (MIRRor of regULATIONS.gov) is a system that uses a collection of donated API keys to create a mirror of the data. In addition, for each pdf in the dataset, the system extracts available text and stores it as a separate text file. Mirrulations has successfully downloaded all historic data and continues to run and collect data each hour. As a result, 22 million public comments on proposed federal rules are now accessible via the Registry of Open Data on the Amazon Web Services cloud.

The Mirrulations project began six years ago as a summer research project with Ben Coleman, professor of computer science, and six undergraduate computer science majors in collaboration with Fred Trotter from CareSet. Since then, 81 additional Moravian University students have worked on the project as part of the course System Design and Implementation, the senior capstone experience for the computer science major. Pete Lega ’85 and Michael Turnbach ’17 also advised on the project. To access the Mirrulations dataset, visit registry.opendata.aws/mirrulations

Greyhounds Claim Victory on the Gridiron

The Moravian University football team defeated Shenandoah University, 35–14, in the 2024 Cape Charles Bowl in Salem, Virginia, on November 23, as part of the Chesapeake Challenge Bowl Series between the Landmark Conference and Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The postseason appearance was the first for the Greyhounds since 2015, and the win was the first postseason victory since 2010, when the Hounds defeated Wilkes University in the ECAC Division III Southeast Bowl.

Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Game after completing 27 of 37 passes for 234 yards with five touchdowns and running for 75 yards on 11 carries. Jenkins finished the season with single-season school records of 265 completions, 387 attempts, 2,892 yards, and 33 touchdowns. He became just the fourth quarterback in Moravian’s history to surpass 6,000 yards in passing (with 6,221 yards), along with a school record of 64 touchdown passes.

Second-year Head Coach Jeff Long led the Greyhounds to a 7–4 record this fall, and the squad finished 4–2 in Landmark Conference action. To read more, go to moraviansports.com

Champion Greyhound Runners

The Moravian University men’s cross country team won the 2024 NCAA Division III Metro Regional Championship, hosted by Stockton (New Jersey) University, to claim an automatic berth in the 2024 NCAA Division III National Championships. The Hounds finished the race with six of their top seven runners earning All-Region honors, the most in a single regional in program history.

The team headed to the 2024 NCAA Division III National Championships, hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. Led by Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann, the Greyhounds finished with 29 points, placing 32 points ahead of next-placed Rowan University and finishing 22nd of 32 teams. This was the first time the Hounds qualified as a team. Prior to 2024, Moravian had only qualified individuals, with six runners earning 11 appearances.

Earlier this fall, the Blue & Grey captured their fourth-straight Landmark Conference Championship with a perfect score of 15 points.

ATHLETICS RECAP

Junior Tara Smurla was 29th of the 290 runners at the NCAA Division III Women’s Cross Country National Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, with a personal best time of 21:37.6 on the 6000-meter course to earn All-America honors.

Smurla and senior Amber Poniktera garnered 2024 NCAA Division III Metro All-Region honors for finishing in the top 35 in the regional meet, where the Hounds placed fifth. Moravian was the runner-up at the 2024 Landmark Conference Championships by one point.

Moravian University senior defender on the women’s soccer team Hailey Scaff and graduate-student goalie Riley Spingler were named to the 2024 United Soccer Coaches Division III All-Region V Second Team. Scaff also repeated as the Landmark Conference Defensive Athlete of the Year while making the All-Conference First Team for the secondstraight fall. Spingler made the Landmark AllConference Second Team.

“ I would rather have a good pass than a good shot. My coaches say I’m too nice of a player; I pass the ball too much. But having an assist or a good pass is so satisfying. I feel like I’m making other people better.”

—Brielle Guarente ’25

Assist and Score

It was the first game of the 2022–23 women’s basketball season. The Greyhounds were battling it out with the Albright College Lions, and the teams went into the final seconds of the game tied. Then Brielle Guarente ’25 took the ball out of bounds off a foul and threw an overhead pass to Tessa Zamolyi ’23, who made the gamewinning shot. “It was awesome,” Guarente says of what was one of the highlights of her basketball career at Moravian.

“I would rather have a good pass than a good shot,” says the forward, who plays the three and four positions.“My coaches say I’m too nice of a player; I pass the ball too much. But having an assist or a good pass is so satisfying. I feel like I’m making other people better.”

Guarente, who grew up in Caldwell, New Jersey, first stepped on the basketball court in third grade. She played several other sports, but basketball spoke to her.

“Basketball means so much to me because I appreciate where it’s taken me. Without basketball, I wouldn’t be here [at Moravian] and I wouldn’t have experienced so many things. I am involved in a lot of clubs. I say yes to as many things as possible, and I feel that’s benefited me in so many ways that will always stay with me. And I have the best friends and support system ever.”

Basketball has also guided Guarente, who has coached kids at summer camps, to her career choice. Though her major is sports management, she’s decided she wants to go to graduate school to become a teacher.

In her eventual career, Guarente will do what she loves most about the role she chooses to play on the basketball court—making other people better.

PHOTO BY CARLO ACERRA

The Moravian Athletics Hall of Fame

Six student-athletes, one head coach, and one team were inducted into the Moravian Athletics Hall of Fame on October 25, 2024. Congratulations to the Class of 2024!

John Byrne ’82 enjoyed an outstanding career as the head coach of the Moravian softball program for 29 seasons. He retired in 2022 with an overall record of 923–257. The team earned 27 postseason appearances, including three NCAA Division III Championship appearances, with the program playing for the national championship in 2007. Under Byrne’s tenure, the Greyhounds made 25 conference playoff appearances and won 17 conference championships. Byrne and his staff were named the Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year seven times and earned recognition as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Regional Coaching Staff of the Year four times. Byrne was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in December 2023.

Jenna Carmon Hegarty ’12 was a four-time NFCA All-East Region pitcher on the softball diamond and threetime Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year. She pitched 639.1 innings with a 75–23 record, 342 strikeouts, a 1.37 earned run average, 26 shutouts, seven saves, and one no-hitter.

Joe Moore ’04 won the NCAA Division III Indoor national title in the long jump as a junior in 2003 with a mark of 7.15 meters (23 feet, 5.5 inches).

Over his career, he was an eight-time MAC champion, capturing the long jump title three times indoors and twice outdoors to go with indoor titles in the 55-meter and 200-meter dashes and the 4x100-meter relay outdoors. Moore’s indoor long jump mark of 7.38 meters (24 feet, 2.5 inches) in 2003 remains the school record.

Bruce Morris ’89 was a three-time All-Middle Atlantic Conference honoree on the soccer field. As a defender, he recorded six goals and 28 assists in his career for 40 points, and his 16 assists in 1987 still stand as the Moravian record.

Brian Reckenbeil ’09 was a threetime All-Conference honoree as a kicker on the football gridiron. He set 11 school records and still holds 8, including the longest field goal (47 yards) and kicking points in a career with 226.

Jon Van Valkenburg ’77, number 14, was selected to the All-MAC South First Team in 1975 and 1976 as a punter on the Moravian football squad. He still tops the Moravian record book in career punts with 187 and career punting yardage with 6,973 yards. Van Valkenburg also set the Greyhounds’ career passing mark during his playing days, throwing for 2,547 yards.

Paul Woodling ’94 was an AllConference player for both the Greyhound football and baseball squads during his four years. In football, Woodling made the All-MAC Second Team and AllECAC South Team in 1993. Over his four seasons as a defensive back, he recorded 149 tackles, 17 pass breakups, seven interceptions, four fumble recoveries, a forced fumble, and a blocked kick. He also returned 52 punts for 386 yards, which both rank in the top 10 in program history. On the baseball diamond, Woodling was selected to the All-MAC Southwest First Team and the All-ECAC South First Team in 1991 and 1992. An outfielder, he posted a .345 career batting average with 97 hits, 13 doubles, three triples, five homers, 64 RBIs, 21 walks, and 15 stolen bases in his four years. Woodling passed away in 2021.

The 2010 softball squad achieved a 34–5 record on the year, including an 11–1 mark in the Landmark Conference regular season. The team captured its third-straight Landmark Conference title before heading to Providence, Rhode Island, where the team won its third NCAA Division III Regional title. The Hounds finished the season in the NCAA Division III Championship Finals, having made the championship round for the third time in seven years.

Community

Realizing His Passion

After graduating from Moravian, Brian Dailey ’ 90 stepped into what seemed the perfect career. It was lucrative, secure, and low stress. But he found it highly uninteresting. So he took a chance on chasing his dream.

As I write this, my city is still battling the devastation brought by tragic wildfires, coming two weeks after mourning at two different funerals. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to tell this story now.

I live in Los Angeles and work at Paramount Pictures, overseeing the International Media campaigns (paid advertising) for more than 60 countries. It’s another interesting turn on the winding road that has been my career in this industry. But did I see myself in this exact place when I graduated from Moravian in 1990? Absolutely not.

I was a math/business major at Moravian, and in my mind that would set me up for a comfortable career close to my original home of Allentown, Pennsylvania. My advisor introduced me to the actuarial career path, and it seemed perfect. It paid well, was low stress, and at the time ranked as a “best job.” It certainly was all of those things—for the right person.

I quickly realized that I wanted something different. I wanted to work in a business that I loved, zeroing in on something I was truly invested in and taking my current skills with me. I also quickly realized that my primary interest was entertainment. I loved movies and TV, and any downtime I had was focused on consuming, or reading about, that content.

But I didn’t think working in the entertainment/film business would be possible. It seemed like something to dream of. But if I was going to enjoy my career (and life), I needed to focus on what inspired me, even if it meant starting over. I had to give it a shot.

The short version is that I packed up and drove to California to see how I could make this happen. I took an eight-week film business course at the University of Southern California, and through a mix of “pounding the pavement,” resourcefulness, and new friendships, I landed my first job as a temp on the marketing finance team at MGM. I was starting over, with lower pay in a more expensive town. But it was a way in, and I was able to tap into some of my analytical skills in a role that also exposed me to every marketing discipline in the film business. It wasn’t easy, but I promised myself I’d give it 5 years.

That was almost 33 years ago.

Over those years, I focused my time on absorbing as much information about this business as I could, even if it had nothing to do with my immediate role. As I moved from job to job, I homed in on the career that made the most sense for me, focusing on paid media and marketing research. It was a perfect mix of the analytical mind that I’d nurtured for so long and the creativity that fueled my love of this business. It’s

Brian Dailey’s marketing work on Top Gun: Maverick helped make the film a huge success around the world.

When I started at Moravian, I was very insecure (despite what some may have thought). I was a small guy who was comfortable with the life and friends that it had taken me 17 years to develop. My time and experience with new friends, advisors, and professors helped me realize that I was more than that.

not the sexiest job in the biz nor the most glamorous, but I found the perfect way to do work that I truly enjoy on a product I care about, all while building a successful and fulfilling career and life.

Along the way, I’ve learned to appreciate all the successes, regardless of size. I’ve enjoyed massive cultural milestones over three decades, including being a part of the marketing team for the wildly successful Blair Witch Project and helping Paramount make Top Gun: Maverick the global sensation that it was. And there are more personal highlights, such as being accepted into the Academy as an Oscar voter (a lifelong dream) and meeting my amazing husband. Between those major milestones lies a sea of smaller but no less significant moments to be cherished just as much.

So, what on earth does all this have to do with my experience at Moravian? The answer is—a lot. Sure, Moravian gave me the practical math and business skills to succeed in this career path, but the real gift lies in how my years at Moravian helped shape me into the man I am today.

When I started at Moravian, I was very insecure (despite what some may have thought). I was a small guy who was comfortable with the life and friends that it had taken me 17 years to develop. My time and experience with new friends, advisors, and professors helped me realize that I was more than that. Those 4 years at Moravian, which were not always easy or kind, made me stronger and more resilient than I ever thought I could be. They pushed me into adulthood, whether or not I knew it at the time.

I recognize that getting to where I am today isn’t only because of those formative 4 years, and I certainly did a lot of the heavy lifting. But my time there gave me a strong foundation from which to start. My Moravian experience helped make me confident enough to quit that comfy actuarial job, pack up a car, and drive across the country. It helped make me resourceful enough to find my footing in LA and plant the seeds for what was to come. It helped make me brave enough to commit to 5 years, regardless of how hard it was. It helped me recognize that every moment, big or small, should be cherished. And it helped make me resilient enough to keep looking forward during rough times, just like I am now.

—Brian Dailey

’90

The confidence Dailey gained at Moravian helped him take the risks that would lead to a dream job at Paramount.

What was one of the most memorable events of your undergraduate years?

It wasn’t the Pulitzer Prize winners that stood out, but rather those events that left a personal imprint.

My most memorable event at Moravian was a special flag-raising around the library amphitheater. When I was a junior (and serving as an international student advisor), the flags representing our international students were vandalized. The International Club and the administration chose to make lemonade out of lemons: We bought new flags and had a flag-raising ceremony, inviting each international student, accompanied by the professor of their choice, to raise their country’s flag. It was a beautiful fall day, and such a meaningful moment for our international students and American students alike.

—SARAH SODEN ARMSTRONG ’99

I truly enjoyed seeing Kenan Thompson at Moravian in 2017. The week prior, the B&G offered up a version of the Good Burger, and all over campus you’d see fun infographics hyping the event. Kenan gave an encouraging talk along with, obviously, a dash of comedy. I remember it well because it was nostalgic (millennial vibes and Nickelodeon memories), and I went with a group of my friends, one of them being my current fiancé. Will never forget!

—KARINA FUENTES ’18

One of my most memorable experiences was planning and attending a trip to watch the New Jersey Devils, who clinched their first playoff berth in years that night! We were able to go down to the locker rooms, sit only a few feet from the ice, and even get on the ice after the game. It’s truly unforgettable to have the opportunity to witness such a historic moment for free. This is just one example of how Moravian excels in offering programming that aligns with the unique interests of its students. The university’s commitment to providing meaningful, tailored experiences speaks volumes about the culture, where student engagement is prioritized and celebrated. (Go, Devils!)

—MICHAEL IRVING ’24

NEXT UP

Submit your answers ?

Tell us about the most interesting course you took during your years at Moravian and what made it so engaging.

At Kenan Thompson Event

collegial relationship among faculty themselves and with us, the students. It made the college experience thoroughly enjoyable and learning new things a pleasure— even physics with [physics professor] Jack Ridge!

—WARREN A. BRILL ’64

A Conversation with Natessa Amin

Assistant Professor of Art Natessa Amin is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the hybrid nature of identity through painting, drawing, sculpture, and site-specific installation. Based in Philadelphia, Amin earned her bachelor of fine arts in painting from Boston University and master of fine arts from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her role at Moravian, Amin is the co-director of FJORD Gallery in Philadelphia, a space that invites experimental works, challenges conventional curatorial models, and explores alternative approaches to exhibiting art.

Painting, drawing, sculpture, and site-specific installation—do you enjoy them all equally, or do you have a preferred medium, and why?

I approach most of my work through the language of painting, which has been central to my creative foundation since high school. I became fascinated by translating the world around me into paint, and this foundation expanded further in college. However, in graduate school, I began to realize that not every idea I wanted to explore could fully materialize through painting alone. This realization led me to experiment with video, animation, installation, and sculpture, opening a rich dialogue between these forms. Navigating between media keeps the creative process exciting, each offering a new avenue for experimentation beyond the limits of a single form.

Across my work, I aim to evoke a tactile, immersive experience—a quality that painting gestures toward, but which other materials and forms can enhance. This exploration has led me to work with dyes on antique or handmade papers, sculpt with plaster and clay, and extend painted imagery beyond the canvas and onto the wall itself. Each choice allows for a more visceral interaction between material, space, and viewer, creating a dynamic visual experience.

You’ve said that your art ties into your heritage. Would you please expand on this?

Art-making is a way for me to process memory, reflect on personal history, and explore my heritage. Through this process, I connect with family stories and cultural identities that span diverse geographies and traditions. My father, who is Indian, grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, while my mother’s family has roots that go back generations in Pennsylvania. Their contrasting backgrounds have always fascinated me, and my work often serves as a translation of this family narrative. It’s a mapping of lineage, histories, and the complex cultural influences that shape identity.

My visual language blends influences from Indian and African textiles, the architectural hybridity of Indian palaces, and Pennsylvania Dutch craftsmanship. These intersecting elements form an abstract and symbolic language in my compositions and assemblages. Through these works, I explore postcolonial histories, personal memory, and the intersection of painting and sculpture, creating a space where different heritages converse.

What ideas do you bring to your art that you hope to communicate to your viewers?

As I explore the complexities of transcultural identity, I hope that viewers sense the layering of cultural influences and histories within each piece. I want them to feel both the tension and the harmony in these intersections—to see how creation and destruction, preservation and evolution, are intrinsic to both cultural identity and the art-making process. By combining painting with sculptural forms and site-specific installations, my work invites viewers into an immersive experience where postcolonial history, personal memory, and heritage come to life in a space where painting and sculpture merge.

What do you most hope your students will take away from your classes?

I hope my students leave my classes with a sense of personal transformation and growth, having developed not only a deep appreciation for art but also an enduring drive to create. My aim is for them to feel confident taking risks, embracing curiosity, and continually questioning themselves and the world around them. I want them to understand that art is not only a practice of skill but one of critical awareness, where something is always at stake. Most importantly, I hope they carry forward a sense of urgency and purpose in their artistic journeys, recognizing their role as creators and interpreters in a larger cultural conversation.

ILLUSTRATION BY COLLEEN O’HARA

The Glee Club Tour of 1920–1921

Student organizations come and go, but the effect they have on their student participants, as well as on the institution and the community at large, can be lasting. One student organization that started small but evolved into something significant is the Moravian College Glee Club. Formed in October of 1894 by seminarian Howard E. Rondthaler ’96, the glee club was a student-organized choir made up of 9 students (at a time when the Moravian College and Theological Seminary had only 37).

Faculty member William N. Schwarze (far left) accompanied 20 members of the Moravian College Glee Club on a tour of the Midwest. Schwarze would become president of Moravian in 1928 and was succeeded in 1944 by Raymond Haupert (fourth from right). PHOTO

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, glee clubs were particularly popular among young men who took pleasure in singing short “college songs,” such as “We Meet Again Tonight, Boys” and “Rowing Song,” as a means of spreading cheer among the student body and giving the college a good public face by entertaining crowds around town. The Moravian College Glee Club would frequently surprise fellow students and faculty by showing up at students’ dorm rooms (which were then located on the third floor of Comenius Hall) and at local

professors’ homes to serenade individuals on their birthdays.

The glee club performed at the annual John Beck Oratorical Contest, meetings of the Comenian Literary Society, local church fundraisers, and many other events. One highlight of the club’s performances came in January of 1896 when they serenaded Chief Albert Tobias of Moraviantown, Ontario, Canada, during his visit to Bethlehem and Moravian College. They sang several songs for Chief Tobias and surprised him when they performed one piece in his native Delaware tongue.

For the next few years, participation in the glee club ebbed and flowed. Then, in 1920, membership swelled to 29, triple its original size, and the group decided to take their act to the next level by organizing a concert tour to be held between the fall and spring semesters, from December 26 through January 8. For months, students in the club carefully planned and negotiated a schedule of 11 concerts to be held at colleges, theaters, opera houses, and Moravian churches across Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio.

The group put together a two-hour program of vocal numbers interspersed with instrumental performances by a slidetrombone quartet and several guitar solos. To prepare, members began rehearsing three months in advance, with five hours of intensive practice scheduled each week. When the day finally came to catch the train at the Lehigh Valley Railroad, 20 students and faculty member William N. Schwarze eagerly climbed aboard.

Each day of the tour, the glee club performed in a different city and at a variety of venues but primarily for audiences of Moravian congregations. When time permitted, the students contributed to the public worship services of these congregations and their choirs and Sunday school classes.

When the club returned home to Bethlehem, they were utterly exhausted but at the same time extremely proud of all they had accomplished. Before the Midwestern Concert Tour, people believed that embarking on such an ambitious journey with so many students and in such a limited amount of time wasn’t feasible. Surely there would be some who wouldn’t follow instructions and would miss their trains or get into mischief. But that was not the case, and afterward, the glee club would go on to successfully organize many similar tours.

The Midwest Tour of 1920–1921 proved to the faculty, administrators, and students that through careful planning and disciplined preparation, students could accomplish anything they set their minds to. They demonstrated their ability to work together as a team to accomplish their shared goals as well as step up in leadership roles in organizing the trip and while serving the church congregations. And, as Moravian College junior Raymond S. Haupert wrote, “This recent tour has been by common consent the greatest single advertisement that our Alma Mater has yet had, and it has helped ... the people of the western congregations to realize more than ever before that a real Moravian College and Theological Seminary does exist.”

The glee club continued to be a staple of the college until 1957, when the men’s and women’s colleges merged. The men’s glee club combined with the women’s choir and the women’s octet (“The Moravatones”) to form the Moravian College Choir, under the leadership of musical director Richard Schantz. Today the Moravian University Choir, led by Paula Zerkle, still fosters student growth and continues the tradition of touring to show audiences “the real Moravian.”

—Cory W. Dieterly, university archivist

The Dance Healer

Victoria Fauntroy is an athletic trainer to dancers. She’s been honing and furthering her skills at Moravian’s doctor of athletic training program for a career to which she is passionately committed.

Ahigh school girl—a dancer and pianist—spends two weeks at football training camp for the school team. She watches the players practice and observes the athletic trainer attend to their strains and sprains. And after those two weeks, Victoria Fauntroy thinks she’d like to become an athletic trainer.

Today, Victoria Fauntroy is an athletic trainer. You won’t see her on the sidelines of any gridiron, though. Rather, she can be found in the dance clinic at Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. She is an athletic trainer to the dancers.

“I always knew I wanted to do something in the medical field because I love helping people, and the body is really interesting to me,” says Fauntroy. “At the football camp, I saw the relationship that the athletic trainers

had with the team and the jokes and banter as the ATs took care of their injuries.”

That interaction spoke to Fauntroy’s desire to help people and build relationships, but athletic training unites even more of her passions. “I love sports. I love being where the action is. I love the body and figuring things out.” She also loves dance.

Growing up in northern Virginia, Fauntroy started dancing when she was six years old—ballet and modern dance, “a couple little hip-hop classes here and there.” She continues to perform and recently danced a solo choreographed for her by a colleague.

“I’m a very cerebral person and an internal processor. I hold a lot of things in my brain. Dance allows me to release that into physical activity. It allows me to express myself in a way that’s not academic,” says Fauntroy.

It was as an undergrad at George Mason University that Fauntroy connected dance with athletic training. Her advisor recommended she talk with a professor who was conducting research focusing on dance medicine. That professor invited Fauntroy into his research and set her up in a clinical rotation with the dance department and its athletic trainer.

“I worked there the spring semester of my junior year, and I was like, yep, this is it.”

Fauntroy earned a bachelor’s in athletic training in 2018 and, two years later, a master’s in exercise fitness and health promotion—“it’s basically kinesiology”—also at George Mason. After graduation, she was hired at Belhaven, which has a nationally accredited dance program. Fauntroy performs injury evaluations, rehabilitation, and strength training with students, attends all

performances, and often accompanies students to orthopedic appointments, because many doctors don’t appreciate the physical challenges of dance.

In athletic training, Fauntroy says, “we have the opportunity to be a part of the full breadth of care for our patient.” From treating an injury to finally clearing an athlete for performance, the athletic trainer stands with the athlete.

“It’s a really beautiful space to be in. We get to see the growth, we get to see the good days and the bad days, we get to walk alongside them and help them get back to where they want to be. It’s something I truly love to do.”

That fierce passion has propelled Fauntroy to pursue a doctor of athletic training (DAT) degree at Moravian. “I came to Moravian because I liked the diversity of the topics,” she says. The course in spinal evaluation and assessment has been particularly relevant, since Fauntroy sees so many spinal cases. But the faculty make the program, she says—not only for their knowledge but for their flexibility with their students, who have full-time jobs. “The faculty have been really great. I love them so much.”

Fauntroy shares that people often ask her why she doesn’t go into professional football or another pro sport. “Those are great avenues, but the reason I stay in dance is because I am a dancer. I understand what they do, and I also know people don’t always respect what they do. So if I can give back in any way to them in taking care of their bodies and advocating for them and teaching them how to advocate for themselves, I’ve done my job. That’s fulfilling enough for me.”

BY

PHOTOS

DAVID SPRAYBERRY

Victoria Fauntroy guides a dancer through the hip bridge for core, pelvic, and hip strength and stabilization.

“

It’s a really beautiful space to be in. We get to see the growth, we get to see the good days and the bad days, we get to walk alongside them and help them get back to where they want to be.”

—Victoria Fauntroy, DAT ’25

The dancer performs ankle dorsiflexion to improve range of motion and strength.

On Assignment: Super Bowl LIX

Dateline: New Orleans. Super Bowl LIX. It was the most-watched NFL championship of all time, with a TV audience of 127 million; 133 million tuned in for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show. The average price of a ticket: $8,000. That’s if you were lucky enough to score a seat at the Caesars Superdome, where the Philadelphia Eagles demolished Kansas City 40–22 and denied the Chiefs their third-straight Super Bowl victory.

Right in the center of all the glitz and glamour of the biggest game on the planet, amid the fried oyster po’boys, spilled beer, and alligator sausage, just one section above President Trump’s box suite, stood

Right in the center of all the glitz and glamour of the biggest game on the planet, just one section above President Trump’s box suite, stood Moravian University senior Ashley Rodrigues.

PHOTO

Moravian University senior Ashley Rodrigues, bantering with Eagles and Chiefs fans as well as a few Secret Service agents.

Who were you rooting for, Ashley?

“Um, I’m a Miami Dolphins fan.”

Wha—??

No matter. Rodrigues wasn’t there to cheer on Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, or, gosh no, AFC nemesis Patrick Mahomes. She was on a mission to network in pursuit of her dream job as a sports broadcaster.

A communications and media studies major, Rodrigues spent 11 days in New Orleans as an intern for Living Sport International Sport Business Program, which gives students work experience for careers in sports and entertainment.

“It was so inspiring and so much fun,” Rodrigues says.

Rodrigues has known she wanted to be on camera since taking a TV and film production class at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway, New Jersey.

“I wasn’t good at editing,” she says. But for her high school capstone project, she tried recording voiceover for a soccer game. Rodrigues was a three-sport athlete in high school, playing soccer, basketball, and softball; at Moravian she’s on the track team.“I love sports, and I enjoyed doing commentary,” she says.“I like to talk, if you haven’t figured that out.”

At Moravian, Rodrigues had been taking game statistics for the sports information director when she was asked about doing postgame interviews.“I said,‘I’ll give it a go.’ Instantly, I fell in love with it. It was cool to make connections with coaches and players.”

Knowing what you want to do for a career is one thing; getting that first job is not so easy, especially in a highly competitive field like sports communications.

Rodrigues had been applying for internships and jobs for months without luck.“I was getting so frustrated,” she says. Then

Moravian University Sports Information Director Christine Fox told her about Living Sport. Rodrigues aced her interview and was accepted into the Super Bowl LIX internship program.

A Super Experience

If you’re a sports nut like Rodrigues, it’s hard to imagine a better opportunity than spending 11 days in the Big Easy for the Big Game. Here’s an abbreviated list of her experiences:

• Hit the Café du Monde.“The first thing I did was eat some beignets” (pronounced “benYAYS”), the famed N’awlins fried pastries sold at this iconic café in the French Quarter.

• Joined the Living Sport digital media team in interviewing fans. During the opening ceremony for Super Bowl week,“Each of us had an iPhone with a mini microphone, and we walked around asking fans fun questions,” Rodrigues says.

• Networked at a sports business mixer hosted by reporters from Fox News Sports. “We practiced how to be professional in that setting,” Rodrigues says.“We learned that before you go up to a player, you need a purpose. You’re not there as a fan; you’re on the job.”

• Made (and ate) New Orleans jambalaya and pralines at a group cooking class.

• Interviewed fans at the Super Bowl Experience at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.“There seemed to be way more Eagles fans there than Chiefs fans,” she says. “And they were pretty rowdy.”

• Participated in Media Day. Rodrigues got on-camera experience interviewing two Olympic medalists who are Living Sport program ambassadors: LaShawn Merritt, who won the 400 meters at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and Moushaumi Robinson, gold medalist in the 4x400-meter relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.“I asked Robinson what it meant to her to win gold in the city that hosted the first Olympic Games [in 1896],” Rodrigues recalls.“I was so nervous, I don’t remember her answer, only that my hand holding the mic was shaking.”

• Learned about ticket sales in a presentation by the New Orleans Pelicans (basketball) and Saints (football) ticketing teams.

• Was selected as one of four Living Sport interns to greet attendees at a star-studded party hosted by Leigh Steinberg, the real-life inspiration for the agent in the film Jerry Maguire.

• Hung out on the ESPN set during a live broadcast with former Pro Bowl safety Ryan Clark and current analyst Laura Rutledge.

• Served as team captain, overseeing interns greeting and seating fans at the Super Bowl.

• Was voted MVP for the Living Sport Super Bowl Program by her peers, who cited her as “kind, helpful, and hardworking.”

What did Rodrigues gain from this whirlwind experience?

“I realized that women are working so hard and have to be so much more knowledgeable about sports than men have to because sports broadcasting is such a maledominated field,” she says.

“I’ve always been hard on myself; I never thought I was good enough, but this program gave me confidence. I belong in the sports industry.” —Jeff Csatari

Rodrigues had the opportunity to interview two Olympic gold medalists.

Hollywood and Television’s Platinum Age

How

By Joel Nathan Rosen Associate professor of sociology and media and director of the communications and media studies program

In my current capacity, I am often asked about Hollywood’s 21st-century decline and its prospects for surviving a new age replete with inspired television franchises, technologies that place the world literally at our fingertips, AI looking to kick creatives to the curb, and a pandemic that closed theaters and shut down production for longer than anyone might have imagined. Still, this is a much dodgier question, involving much more than merely bad luck and mounting competition.

Trading Places

Hollywood has indeed lost significant ground to its diminutive cousin. Somewhere in an atmosphere brimming with big-budget

television programming pulled viewers’ attention away from the big screen

blockbusters, nostalgia-induced reboots, and enough superhero universes to make Superman’s creators reach for their airsickness bags, the film industry somehow managed to forget that it built its once-storied legacy on engaging storytelling and intriguing special effects wrapped around plausibly adult themes. But somewhere between saving the world and offering to lord over it, the silver screen turned to plastic, leaving the erstwhile “vast wasteland” that once marked the American television airwaves to pick up the slack.

What has led to television’s emergence is that, of the two, the “box” finds itself serving as the medium that presumes to cater to grown-ups while Hollywood wallows in toys, fanboys, and Michael Bay’s exploding alloys. That American television as an industry and as a cultural artifact finds itself virtually on par with the movie industry marks a huge step forward for what has long been considered a first-rate technology hawking second-rate product.

To be sure, television had always served as something of a mixed bag for the visual arts—all flash without the dash and all plotline in search of substance. It was never really meant to be much more than a diversion—an opportunity to power down from a hard day’s night. And yet, as the medium worked its way from the novelty of “radio with pictures” during the cultural hellscape that marked the 1950s Cold War years, the last thing anyone imagined was that the FCC’s addled medium would ever amount to anything more than an exasperating novelty.

That is until 1997, when something unusual started happening inside the walls of a fictional correctional facility that the occupants called “Oz.”

The Coming of Oz

HBO’s Oz, the network’s first in-home production in over a decade and cable television’s most uninhibited program to date, offered up stylized fare that would prove to be as ruthless as it was charming.

Oswald State, the facility’s proper name, was as innovative as it was chaotic, but it was also chock-full of just enough references to the children’s tale and the 1939 classic film to keep just inside pop-cultural lines.

It also featured budding talents well before they would become recognizable, including Law & Order SVU’s Christopher Meloni, Edie Falco of The Sopranos and Nurse Jackie fame, Oscar winner J.K. Simmons, and the ubiquitous Dean Winters, who plays that insufferable prat “Mayhem” in those Allstate commercials.

As it happens, most of these emergent talents would ultimately find stardom only after they each doubled back from Hollywood to an already-burgeoning 21st-century small-screen talent pool, which reinforces what our eyes have been telling us since HBO followed Oz with The Sopranos, The Wire, and Game of Thrones, while others, including Showtime (Dexter, Homeland, and Ray Donovan), AMC (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead), and FX (Justified, The Shield, and Sons of Anarchy), chimed in with their own contributions.

The door finally splintered, and the torrent of gritty realism that followed the new “Oz” marked an unprecedented period in media history as the pendulum that had rather casually continued to swing toward the dominance of the film industry returned in what television critic David Bianculli would come to recognize as television’s “platinum age.”

That the once-vaunted cinema would (or even could) cede ground to a medium known for airing such drivel as Cop Rock, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, and Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell still seems inconceivable. And yet, the cream that a oncevibrant film industry continued to skim from atop the television pail has curdled as film stars ranging from Nicole Kidman to Jessica Lange to Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Fishburne have traded their silver bona fides for a medium once governed by inventor Lee de Forest’s Audion tube.

Hollywood has indeed lost significant ground to its diminutive cousin. Somewhere in an atmosphere brimming with bigbudget blockbusters, nostalgia-induced reboots, and enough superhero universes to make Superman’s creators reach for their airsickness bags, the film industry somehow managed to forget that it built its once-storied legacy on engaging storytelling and intriguing special effects wrapped around plausibly adult themes.

Hollywood may no longer own the “biz,” as it were, but its wounds, all foreseeable, and reversible, are also self-inflicted. And, as Walter Cronkite would say, “That’s the way it is. . . .”

BY MIKE ZIMMERMAN

PHOTOS BY MATTHEW BRUSH

EXECUTIVE THE

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER aCCIDENTAL

Gretchen Morning ’92 didn’t plan on showrunning some of the biggest hits on the Discovery Channel. She didn’t plan on anything, in fact, and that’s made all the difference in her world.

Gretchen Morning ’92 at her home in Burbank, California

“Honestly, I thought I was going to be a journalist,” she says. “I always loved nonfiction, and I loved people’s stories, but I ended up taking another route.”

how it started: “Wanna make a student film?”

How it’s going: “Wanna produce another hit for Warner Bros. Discovery?”

That’s the short version. The long version begins on what was then the Moravian College campus circa 1988. South Jersey girl arrives fresh and focused and utterly rudderless like a lot of us at age 18. You have dreams and a new reality in which to make them—maybe, possibly, who knows— come true.

“Honestly, I thought I was going to be a journalist,” she says.“I always loved nonfiction, and I loved people’s stories, but I ended up taking another route.”

The first stretch of that route was majoring in philosophy.

The next was multiple semesters abroad doing intensive language study.

In some ways she was living the liberal artist’s dream scenario—world traveler and philosophy major.

“Moravian allowed me to just explore without judgment,” she says.“Philosophy is very much questioning the human condition. For me it was just this way of looking at the world. It was a pathway into a mindset. And that can be useful.”

That was the real seed for her—not some declarative “I will be X” or “I want to accomplish Y” or even “get a load of Z’s starting salary.”

She realized through her studies and experiences that she had one of the sharpest weapons a lot of people never use: curiosity.

And that, folks, was the beginning for Gretchen Morning, Class of 1992.

● ● ●

This is really a story about how one person answered some commonly asked questions—the first being, What does one do with a philosophy major? Again, a short answer first: Anything one wants.

For Morning it really was about developing a seeker’s mindset.“I’m the kind of person who grew up not knowing what I wanted to do. I had a vague idea of it, and Moravian allowed me to explore interests until I found one that really suited me.”

She cites Moravian’s willingness to work with her “rather unconventional sort of undergraduate degree.” She studied abroad in Israel twice, fall semesters her sophomore and junior years, doing immersive language study as well as independent studies. Israel wasn’t even a preset destination. Morning is not Jewish and had no connection to the country at the time.“I just wanted to go really far away to a place I knew nothing about. Israel was so foreign to me.”

She lived on a kibbutz and started speaking Hebrew, and all through this she worked with the folks back at Colonial Hall to adapt what she was doing into degree requirements and course credit.“I always felt like they were working with me in terms of getting that really deep liberal arts foundation and allowing me to do it in my own way.”

It all goes back to the mindset, the curiosity. Really, those were her only guides.“At that age, you just want,” she says.“Maybe you’re not even sure what it is, but I think if you’re able to latch onto [the want], you wind up in interesting places. I mean, literally interesting places, but it also takes you into your

Having

in

majored

philosophy, Morning is still an avid reader.

Executive producer of the hit TV series Naked and Afraid, Morning is not afraid to reveal her playful side.

own head: Where am I going? And where do you find yourself now? It’s not a clear path at all, but it’s a path.”

● ● ●

Another common question: How does one break into the TV/movie biz?

The theme of the unclear path continues. After graduating in ’92, Morning decided on grad school—for philosophy. And doing it in Israel . . . in Hebrew. “I figured, I’m just going to keep with this for a while,” she says.

That’s as brutal as it sounds, it turns out. Morning’s mistake—seen only in hindsight, of course—was taking no time off between undergrad and graduate study. She graduated in May and was back in Israel in June. On top of that, she had to take degreedependent courses the summer before her senior year, so she’d been in school essentially two years straight and then jumped into grad school right after graduation. “I was just exhausted,” she says.

She put her studies on hold and came back to the United States, settling in the tranquil and relaxing environment of New York City. She figured she’d get a job and “see what happens.” Fluent Hebrew got her a gig in the library at Yeshiva University “doing nothing that had to do with my degree,” she says.

One day her roommate said,“Hey, Gretchen, my cousin goes to NYU, and he’s making a film and needs an art director.” The roommate only mentioned it because she knew Morning could sew.“Somehow the fact that I knew how to sew meant that I could do art direction on a student film out of NYU,” Morning says.“And I was like . . . sure!”

Curiosity wins again. She says the film had a decent budget for a student film, plus New York City locations, so the experience was professional level (mostly). And something clicked.

“I just loved the energy of it,” she says. “I loved the fact that a group of people is working like an army, but you’re doing something super creative. I was just like, wow.”

She now saw an opening on that hidden path. How to move forward? With a garbage-paying entry-level gig, of course. She found a night job logging videotapes for ABC News as part of Peter Jennings’s “20th Century Project,” a retrospective being prepared for the incoming Y2K.

Tedious? No. Transformative.

“I would go in at night and be there all by myself watching archival footage from all over the world,” she says. “Stuff that had never been seen before because it had been tucked away in archives. And again, it was one of those things where I was like, Oh my God, I didn’t know this existed. I’m seeing this footage and this world and learning these things I never knew.”

She was now hell-bent on trying anything that came her way in the major media world. And that led to another stepping stone Morning had no awareness of at the time. She took a job answering phones at a small production company. Not a dream job by any stretch, but she found herself staying because the owner was always open to people trying something that looked interesting to them. One day a delivery arrived at the office: a massive film-editing machine called an Avid.

“The owner was like, ‘This cost more than my first house,’” Morning says.

She started watching the pro editors work the Avid. Editing machines back then were far less complex than today’s systems, she says, so what she was seeing—alien at first— slowly came into shape for her.“I could sit in there and watch the keystrokes of the editors and kind of understand what was going on. And I was already fascinated by storytelling, so what I saw was just this fun, interesting world. I went on from there.”

It wasn’t long before she was a professional film/TV editor. ●

Another common question, especially for film and TV fans: What exactly does an executive producer do?

A Grand Legacy

Gretchen Morning ’92

One thing I forgot to mention in case it interests you is that I’m not the first member of my family to graduate from Moravian. My grandfather Joseph Schrader graduated in the 1950s, after WWII. My great-grandmother Evelyn Betge attended the girls’ school. And my grandmother Jeanne “Jinka” Schrader was a local artist. When she passed away in January of 2024, it was suggested that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to the Moravian University art department in her memory.

There is no short answer, just a series of medium-long ones.

Sometimes executive producers own the production company behind the project. Steven Spielberg on Back to the Future. Reese Witherspoon on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Reboot Will Ferrell on Succession

Sometimes executive producers have ownership or other crucial ties to the project. Ynon Kreiz, CEO of Mattel, on Barbie. George R. R. Martin on Game of Thrones and its spinoffs. Gillian Flynn on Gone Girl.

Sometimes executive producers gain the title through financial backing. This can lead to some strange bedfellows, like Eva Longoria providing $6 million in last-second funding to help John Wick get made.

And then there are the executive producers, like Morning, who are executives who produce things. If, say, Warner Bros. greenlights

a film, a WB executive will be attached to the production to make sure all goes the way it should.

“Right now I work for Warner Bros. Discovery,” she says.“My group is very much the Discovery team. So we do mostly male programming, and it is Deadliest Catch, it’s Naked and Afraid. It’s all of those big Discovery brands.”

Morning is responsible for certain shows produced by outside production companies—a current example being Naked and Afraid. She’s there to oversee all aspects of the show, from preproduction and budgeting through casting and shooting. And her past editing expertise really comes into play when the team starts sending her rough and refined cuts for approval, all the way to “locking” a final version.

She works with everyone involved. She’s the hub holding all the spokes.

“When I’m on a production that’s working well,” she says,“I always envision it like a disco ball of greatness, all these lights. It’s a team of people who have all these different talents. And for whatever reason, we’re all meshing and everyone is amplifying each

other. The best shows are made with this great combination of people and talents, and when everyone is firing on all cylinders.”

● ● ●

All of it, the philosophy, the language immersion, the student filmmaking, the midnight video bingeing, the editing, and now the producing, is all one thing, the thing Morning mentioned before, the thing you feel in school but just can’t see yet.

She’s a storyteller.

That lightbulb finally clicked on while she logged long hours in dark editing bays. Editing is true storytelling, taking raw footage and making it propulsive, logical, and alive.

“I didn’t go to film school,” Morning says. “I didn’t go anywhere to learn how to be a producer or editor. I just fell into it and loved the minutiae of it. I loved the logic of it. I loved being able to create a story out of nothing. I learned very intimately how stories are constructed.”

She jokes,“I’m always the one who will give notes on cuts and say,‘That makes no sense, man.’”

She took some larger storytelling opportunities when she was able, a big one being the 2011 documentary Gone, about a police officer mother traveling to Europe to investigate the suicide of her son. Morning wrote, produced, codirected, and, yes, edited the project.

“You get a little lonely being an editor,” she says.“I spent 15 years in a dark room with loud music playing. I was like, I think I’d like to see people out in daylight and get out into the world again. That transition was really invigorating because I was able to use everything I learned in this minutia sort of storytelling.”

Now she’s responsible for the storytelling of a major studio brand and knows what each show is and whom she’s trying to reach. And the fundamentals remain the same for her as they do for the folks working on other Warner projects on the same lot in Burbank.

“I’m in reality TV, which is often the redheaded stepchild of the nonfiction genres,” she says.“But for me, they’re all people pursuing something. Real people with real hopes and different lives, just so vastly different in every way. And I love meeting them and learning about what they do and why and how they got there. I love reality television. I do.”

● ● ●

Morning has some advice for those at Moravian today or those who are about to be. She knows you’re driven and ambitious and ready to build a life. Just don’t be so certain about everything, especially your future.

Maybe while you’re digging into specifics like comp sci or accounting or psychology, you’re simultaneously feeling a little scared of it, or uncertain, or just plain “I really and truly have no idea if this is what I want.”

That’s okay. Morning didn’t have a plan B because she was improvising the entire time. In literal terms she majored in philosophy and immersive language learning and foreign travel, but in practical terms, she majored in curiosity.

Morning rides her bike to work on most days.

Morning has some advice for those at Moravian today or those who are about to be. She knows you’re driven and ambitious and ready to build a life. Just don’t be so certain about everything, especially your future.

Curiosity has led Morning along the path to her career success.

In fact, she says having a super-specific career goal while in college may even be limiting. It can guide you, for sure, but it can also confine you if you’re afraid of being outside the boundaries of that path. Detours can lead to amazing places, people, and experiences. When someone asks you to art-direct their student film, for example, are you in a position to say yes?

“It’s really hard to lay out a life,” she says. “You can limit yourself with your expectations. You only see yourself in one way doing one thing, and it might not be the thing that you’re meant to be.”

Morning uses her own industry as a prime example—all those creative kids dying to be film directors or performers or writers. You get locked into a dream.“I never dreamt of being Spielberg. My aspirations were always driven by, again, curiosity. I always went from project to project, being driven by my curiosity and my love of what I was doing. I just kept on moving forward without really worrying about my future.

“One thing social media has done is it makes us feel like we have to follow certain pathways to get to a point. And I think sometimes you’re better off just being oblivious. Know what I mean? Where you’re just like, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to try it and not try to game it all out. Not try to know what step 10 is going to be. If you can keep the goal in mind, you have a North Star, but the way there might be unexpected, and that’s okay. A lot of magic can happen along the way.”

From All Sides

Gretchen Morning has worked the stories for television shows from every angle.

Executive Producer

Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch, 2021–2024

Game Changers, 2024

Sin City Tow, 2024

Naked and Afraid, 2022

Million Dollar Wheels, 2022

Dino Hunters, 2021

Street Outlaws: Gone Girl, 2021

Expedition: Back to the Future, 2021

Small Town Throwdown, 2020

Race Night at Bowman Gray, 2018

Writer/Producer

Gone, 2011 (also director and editor)

Dr. G: Medical Examiner, 2004–2009

Editor

Fast n’ Loud, 2012–2016

Misfit Garage, 2014

Hoarding: Buried Alive, 2010–2014

Wicked Tuna, 2012

This Week in History, 2000–2003

History’s Lost & Found, 1999–2005

ON LOCATION

Morning on location (left to right): in Guyana for Naked and Afraid, in the jungles of Colombia, at the site of the show Race Night at Bowman Gray, for the series Dino Hunters, wearing her remote work shoes.

Cielo Disla ’25 sets up long-term study plots on Hog Island.

The executive producer of Naked and Afraid with a high-protein meal foraged from the wild

Moravian University celebrates a half century of dance

By Samantha Anderson ’13

Photos by Theo Anderson

Members of the Moravian University Dance Company rehearse the piece “Murmurations” for the 50th anniversary dance concert in April. In front, Giovanna Panno ’27; left, Amanda Koehler ’27; right, Ella Corley ’26 . Top left photo: Moravian’s first dance concert in 1975.

WWearing T-shirts, leggings, and sweats, six members of the Moravian University Dance Company show up at the still-seems-likenew dance studio on South Campus. They stretch arms, legs, and torsos with uncommon range and flexibility and warm up with high knees and arm circles as they walk counterclockwise around the room. They practice pliés, arabesques, jumps. Arms extend into long, fluid gestures.

Bodies now warm and limber, senior Lexi Chamberlain, junior Ella Corley, and sophomores Morgen Johnson, Nadia Hendrixson, Amanda Koehler, and Giovanna (Gia) Panno are ready to practice phrases from the contemporary ballet piece “Murmurations,” choreographed for them by Jordan Miller and Tiffany Mangulabnan, artistic directors at konverjdans, a Brooklyn-based contemporary ballet company.

For this rehearsal, Miller and Lisa Busfield, artistic director of the Moravian University Dance Company, set up Zoom using a USB camera, a projector, speakers, and a 119-inch screen hung from the southwest corner of the studio, allowing Miller to observe and critique the practice and students to ask questions.

They begin with the phrases the dancers find most challenging.

“Gia, bust out of your center when you do that toss,” Miller instructs.

“Ground yourself with that plié,” she tells all the dancers.

“How do chest movements connect with the whole step?” Miller asks, as a reminder that the entire body is involved in every movement.

Busfield helps guide the dancers and sometimes demonstrates a move.

And no detail goes unnoticed.

Looking at one of the steps, Miller asks whether the foot should be pointed or flexed during the turn. Pointed, they all agree. While the framework of the choreography was laid down back in October, phrases and details are worked out and tweaked in rehearsal.

“Murmurations”—named for the synchronized, shape-shifting patterns that groups of birds (usually starlings) make when they fly together—is one of seven works that will be performed at the spring concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of dance at Moravian.

First Steps

Dance tiptoed onto Moravian’s campus in 1971 when Dawn Ketterman-Benner, a health and physical education professor at the time, was asked to teach it as part of her health and wellness curriculum. With Title IX coming into law on June 23, 1972, the college pushed to provide more opportunities for women. So Ketterman-Benner offered a class in modern dance, which was held in a small room—what’s now the trainers’ office—in the back of Johnston Hall.

Looking at one of the steps, Miller asks whether the foot should be pointed or flexed during the turn. Pointed, they all agree. While the framework of the choreography was laid down back in October, phrases and details are worked out and tweaked in rehearsal.

It wasn’t long before Ketterman-Benner organized the Moravian College Dance Club.“I was motivated by my love of dance but also by Title IX,” she says. Originally the club had about 10 members, but that would grow to 20 to 25 as students with more experience and training joined.

The club performed its first full dance concert, Shouldn’t the World Be Dancing?, in 1975 in Johnston Hall.

Giovanna Panno

“It was a grassroots effort,” KettermanBenner says about the early days. The club members all pulled together to make the concerts and events happen.

That same year, Ketterman-Benner cofounded the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (better known as LVAIC) Dance Consortium, bringing in Muhlenberg College, Allentown College (now DeSales University), and Cedar Crest College. Lafayette College and Lehigh

University joined later. The institutions pooled their resources to bring professional performers and dance companies to the Lehigh Valley.

“The ’70s and ’80s were great dance years,” Ketterman-Benner says.

The Moravian College Dance Club became the Moravian College Dancers and performed in Prosser Auditorium and the Johnston Hall gymnasium.“It was standing

room only in the gym for years,” recalls Ketterman-Benner.

The dancers also performed during halftime at the homecoming football game, often to music played by the marching band. “We performed everywhere we could,” Ketterman-Benner says,“on campus, at other schools, out in the community.”

And during the break between semesters, Ketterman-Benner would take the dancers

The dance company rehearses “Murmurations.” On the left, Amanda Koehler, and on the right, Nadia Hendrixson ’27.

to New York City for a week to take classes with professional companies.

As the years went on, new directors and additional faculty came on board to help grow the program, including Tina Hainey, Meredith Manley, Melanie Hnatt, Lynne Jerrett, Pattie Bostick, Mary Anne Hoffman, and Melissa Rowbottom and assistant directors Jennifer Dite-Weaver, Madeline Moore, Gina Mento, and Karen Riehl. They invited professional companies to Moravian to teach workshops and master classes and

arranged for Moravian students to see a professional show at least once a year.

The Moravian College Dancers eventually became the Moravian College Dance Company, and in the summer of 2015, they moved from the athletics department to the music department, thanks to the efforts of Ketterman-Benner; Hoffman; Blair Flintom, Hilde Binford, and Neil Wetzel, of the music department; and company alumna Susan Gangwere McCabe ’79.

“I was pleased when I learned the dance program was to become part of the music department,” says Wetzel, professor and chair of music.“It makes so much sense, and over the years, the dancers and music ensembles have collaborated on many great projects and presentations.”

A Leap

In fall of 2018, Lisa Busfield came to Moravian to take on the role of the company’s artistic director, and under her tenure, the

Senior Juliana Vojtash practices a combination in modern technique class.

The Moravian University Dance Company’s 50th Annual Concert

Dancers in Concert will feature seven pieces: two from faculty choreographers Nicole Hockenberry and Karen Riehl; four from students John Cole ’26, Matea Melton ’26, Giovanna Panno’27, and Veronica Stangl ’27; and “Murmurations,” an artist-inresidence piece from Brooklyn-based dance company konverjdans.

Artistic Director:

Lisa Busfield

Assistant Director: Karen Riehl

Company Advisor:

Mary Anne Gillen Hoffman

Founding Director: Dawn Ketterman-Benner

Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12, 2025, 7:30 p.m.

Foy Concert Hall, Hurd Campus, Moravian University, 342 Main Street, Bethlehem

In honor of the 50th anniversary of dance at Moravian, several special features are being planned, including classes for alumni, a reception, and retrospective dance pieces featuring snippets from past concerts decade by decade, developed and directed by Samantha Anderson ’13, company manager.

Morgen Johnson ’27 (standing) and Gia Panno rehearse a phrase from “Murmurations.”

dance program has made great strides. “When I started at Moravian, our studio was situated on North Campus in a small room off the gymnasium,” Busfield says.“Dance was more of an activity on campus. The program consisted of a group of dancers wanting to see dance develop more fully at their school.”

Work on forming an academic dance minor program had already begun, and Busfield continued the effort with her team and the music department to polish off the pro-

posal. With the approval of the dance minor in 2019, faculty members were brought on to teach different technique and elective courses, including tap, ballet, modern, jazz, improvisation, dance composition, history of dance, tap-dance history, and introduction to dance science.

“And within a year of the minor approval, we secured generous donor funding to expand our dance facilities and move onto South Campus, closer to our department,” Busfield says.

Collaboration among the music and athletic departments, facilities, the United Student Government, and Gangwere McCabe determined that the Root Cellar, a dining space in the HILL on South Campus, could be converted. Construction began in March 2020 and was completed in time for the 2020–21 academic year.

This new space provided the company with two dance studios, a dressing room, storage,

a space for an athletic trainer, new sound systems, and a projector and screen, which saw lots of use during the pandemic—the dancers were even able to use the technology to take a workshop from a professional dancer in Tanzania.

Gangwere McCabe donated the floor of the main studio, and Honnie Spencer, MD ’90 gifted the floor in the second studio, which is primarily used for tap classes. Both studios are dedicated in honor of the mothers of these alumnae.

Other strides for the program include access to athletic trainers through the school’s athletic training program, with Grace Kennedy currently serving in the role; participation in the American College Dance Association festival; invitations to perform in the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange SpringUp Dance Festival; and a fall showcase featuring combinations learned in classes and from guest artists.

“Being a member of the dance company has provided me with a space to openly be myself and explore dance with people that I love,” says dance minor Abby Mai ’27. “I am incredibly grateful to have been able to meet such amazing people and make lifelong friendships through the company.”

Reaching Forward

Currently the company boasts 16 dancers, 9 of whom are pursuing a dance minor. Busfield’s long goal is to grow the company, and she points out that a bigger space (without green columns in the middle) would be needed. In the meantime, she is exploring interdisciplinary studies with other departments.

Busfield collaborated with David Wilkenfeld, program director for the master of science in athletic training (MSAT), and faculty member Gayanne Grossman, who is a dancer, physical therapist, and performing arts medicine specialist, to develop a dance science course that is cross-listed for the dance minor and health sciences major.

There have been discussions about other educational opportunities in the dance

sciences, including a master’s in athletic training for the performing arts, but those talks have not yet reached the development phase. Bets are on, however, that more academic programs in dance are in Moravian’s future.

Stephanie Firling ’23 majored in health sciences, minored in dance, and performed with the dance company during her undergraduate years. She will graduate this May with an MSAT from Moravian after completing a clinical placement at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

“Much of my interest in becoming an athletic trainer stemmed from negative experiences I had with healthcare providers as a dancer when I was growing up,” Firling says. “I felt like whenever I had an injury related to dance or that affected my ability to participate in dance, the healthcare providers didn’t really know how to help me, since I wasn’t a traditional athlete. It wasn’t until I came to Moravian and joined the company that I had an AT who specifically worked with dancers and performing artists. It was a huge inspiration and brought me to where I am now.”

Several members of the Moravian University Dance Company await instruction for their modern technique class. From left: Amanda Koehler, Juliana Vojtash, Ella Corley, Morgen Johnson, Caitlin McCormick ’27, Nadia Hendrixson, Abby Mai ’27, Veronica Stangl ’27, and Lexi Chamberlain ’25.

When there’s a need, Moravian University provides an answer.

For now, Busfield, Ketterman-Benner, the assistant directors, the advisors, the students in the Moravian University Dance Company, and all who work so passionately for dance at Moravian look forward to the company’s 50th annual dance concert and celebration in April.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of what Lisa has done with the company,” says

Ketterman-Benner.“She has taken it to a professional level, and the choreography they’re doing is so exciting. I can’t thank her enough for all that she has done to secure the future of dance at Moravian.

“And my heartfelt thanks to and appreciation of all the wonderful artistic directors and assistant directors, past and present, who have kept my Moravian dance dreams alive,” Ketterman-Benner adds.“Onward to the next 50 years!”

An Alum Reflects

By Emily Bolger ’20, PhD student at Michigan State University

My participation in the Moravian University Dance Company was a highlight of my undergraduate years. For the first time in my dance career, I felt that we were all dancing for the right reasons: to build community with each other, to release the stress and tension of school, and to learn movement in a fun and relaxed environment.

The dance program is one of the reasons I chose to attend Moravian. Coming from an intense competitive dance studio, I saw the program as the perfect stepping stone for how I wanted dance to fit into my life at that time. The classes offered structure, but there was flexibility in choosing the pieces you wished to perform. The Moravian University Dance Company allowed me to continue living my artistic passion while pursuing my STEM studies.

In the Florida Aquarium, Brian Reckenbeil ’09 poses with Acropora cervicornis (branching corals) that were spawned, born, and settled at the aquarium.

The program developed rapidly in the time I was at Moravian. I served on the company’s executive board for all four of my years there and had firsthand experience of the changes that took place, including a beautiful new space, access to an athletic trainer, and professional photography.

I worked with amazing guest choreographers, took insightful master classes, and watched compelling dance performances. I also experienced the joy of choreographing and developing my own pieces—it is a wonderful thing to see your vision come to life. I’m particularly proud of the development of the dance minor, as my self-designed dance minor helped launch the program. I miss my dance community more than I ever thought possible.

I am eternally grateful that Dawn Ketterman-Benner started the company 50 years ago, and I am in awe of all the directors, choreographers, and students who have shaped it to the quality program and loving community it is today.

Blush A with Greatness

Makeup artist Amy Zdunowski-Roeder ’96 fine-tunes some of the world’s most iconic faces.

By Jeff Csatari

Photos by Nick Chismar

When most of us meet a celebrity, we might get a handshake, and maybe a selfie. Amy Zdunowski-Roeder gets in their face—close enough to count their pores.

The celebrity makeup artist and Moravian grad has powdered the cheekbones of Hillary Clinton, made John Stamos’s eyes look even more dreamy, smoothed Jon Stewart’s laugh lines, and brushed the bangs of SNL’s Kristen Wiig and Laraine Newman. When legendary Pink Floyd cofounder and bassist Roger Waters needs a touch-up for a photo shoot, Zdunowski-Roeder is his goto stylist.

“He’s a magical, magical being,” Zdunowski-Roeder says of Waters.“His

“There’s a correlation between violin and makeup; you are working with your hands,” she says. “Play the notes right, apply the blush correctly, and you see the fruit of your labor immediately.”

music has influenced me since high school, and—oh my God—I’m touching his face! I’m comfortably numb,” she adds, recalling the song title from the band’s epic album The Wall, which she played on repeat in her Moravian dorm room in the early ’90s.

Zdunowski-Roeder didn’t set out to be a cosmetologist to the stars. She came to Moravian to be a violinist.

“Oh, I loved being here,” she says on a recent visit to Bethlehem.“The creative energy on South Campus was wonderful. I felt enlivened.”

By the time she was ready to graduate, however, Zdunowski-Roeder questioned whether she had the chops for a career as a performing violinist.“I remember Time magazine ran

an article about the 10 most useless college degrees, and music performance was number one,” she says, adding,“I wasn’t a very good violinist; I had terrible performance anxiety. But I knew I wasn’t done with music.”

By chance, she found an advertisement for the Institute of Audio Research in New York City in a trade magazine. That postgrad schooling led to a position in the recording department at The Juilliard School performing arts conservatory, where she worked recording sessions with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and opera singer Placido Domingo. She continued in music as an A&R (artists and repertoire) rep for Atlantic Records and later in marketing classical music at Sony Music Entertainment, where she met her husband, Joseph. In 1999, when Napster threw the music industry into a tailspin, ZdunowskiRoeder knew it was time to shift again.

Staying Creative

She enrolled in the MUD (Make-up Designory) school in New York City to learn the art of special effects makeup and hair and beauty makeup. That was a comfortable shift, she says. After all, she loved makeup, having grown up with a mother who would do her face and style her hair just to go to the corner store.

“There’s a correlation between violin and makeup; you are working with your hands,” Zdunowski-Roeder says.“Play the notes right, apply the blush correctly, and you see the fruit of your labor immediately.”

It turns out that violin playing gave her the edge when she applied for a position as assistant to famed makeup artist Frances Hathaway, who was renowned for her work

It turns out that violin playing gave her the edge when she applied for a position as assistant to famed makeup artist Frances Hathaway, who was renowned for her work on Princess Diana and David Bowie, and in the pages of Italian Vogue. The discipline and attention to detail required to play the instrument illustrated her potential as a makeup artist.

Grooming Tips for Women LookFastFabulous

Makeup is meant to accentuate the natural beauty of your face, so never go heavy. “Use foundation that matches your skin tone exactly and apply it in thin layers, building only where needed,” advises Amy Zdunowski-Roeder. “Blend well along the jawline and add a bit of warmth with bronzer or blush to create a more natural, radiant look.” Here are more master-class makeup tips.

1. Hydrate with Eye Cream …on Your Lips!

Before applying lipstick, dab a little eye cream on your lips. The delicate texture of eye cream smooths and hydrates, helping lipstick glide on and stay put without feathering.

2. Give Yourself an Instant Facelift

Apply blush higher on your cheekbones, instead of right on the apples of your cheeks, and blend toward your temples. It gives a fresh, lifted look that’s especially flattering in photos.

3. Make Lipstick Last Longer

Apply your favorite lipstick, blot with a tissue, and then add a light dusting of translucent powder over the tissue. This sets the lipstick, making it last longer without losing color or comfort.

4. Use Your Bronzer as a Crease Shade

For a cohesive eye look, sweep your bronzer into the crease of your eyelids. This eyeshadow hack adds natural depth and warmth, tying your whole look together without extra products.

5. Revitalize Your Mascara

If your mascara’s feeling a bit dry but still has some life left, add a drop or two of saline solution to the tube. It’ll help loosen the formula without making it clumpy. Just like new!

6. Master the Inner-Corner Highlight Secret

A touch of highlighter or light eyeshadow on the inner corners of your eyes brightens up your whole face. This little trick gives a fresh, wide-awake look that’s perfect for early mornings.

7. Tackle Flyaway Baby Hairs

Keep flyaways in check by using a clear or tinted brow gel to smooth down baby hairs. It gives a polished look with just the right amount of hold—plus, you’ll look instantly put together.

on Princess Diana and David Bowie, and in the pages of Italian Vogue. Hathaway told Zdunowski-Roeder that the discipline and attention to detail required to play the instrument illustrated her potential as a makeup artist.

“Frances helped me unlearn everything I had learned at MUD,” Zdunowski-Roeder says. She explains that most makeup artists—and even aficionados like the Kardashians—will whitewash the face with a heavy matte foundation to create a blank canvas.“Frances said, ‘Why take away what you’re just going to put back?’ She taught me that our faces have naturally beautiful dimension and highlights; you don’t have to make them flat like a Kabuki doll. That changed my entire perspective on makeup: Take what you have and make a wonderful version of yourself.”

Her work with Hathaway and the robust portfolio it generated launched her solo styling career. Quickly she was hired by an e-commerce studio that put her on its Calvin Klein account for many years. Her knack for marketing herself led to other agency gigs. She did makeup for the late James Gandolfini, Nathan Lane, Bridget Moynahan, and Lesley Stahl and worked book tours for Simon & Schuster authors; the latter job rewarded her with a ride in a presidential motorcade with Clinton.

Most, not all, celebs were a pleasure to work with. Zdunowski-Roeder spent hours with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, whom she calls “a genuine good soul.” They shared stories about a mutual favorite restaurant, the Tick Tock Diner on Route 3 in Jersey near the Meadowlands.“I told him I’d always get sick whenever I ordered the buffalo chicken salad there. In that iconic Stewart voice, he says, ‘Amy, Amy, you don’t ever order buffalo chicken salad at a diner! You order bacon and eggs!’”

Other clients were downright mean, she says. Not willing to mention names, she shares the story of a particularly arrogant French model. After Zdunowski-Roeder

Help yourself to makeup artist Amy Zdunowski-Roeder’s favorite beauty-enhancing hacks

Grooming Tips forMen Put On GameYourFace

7 ways to make an instant impression

“The most common grooming mistake men make is neglecting skin care,” says stylist and makeup artist Amy Zdunowski-Roeder. Grooming doesn’t have to be complex, she says. Pay a little extra attention after shaving and combing your hair and you’ll gain an advantage over 95 percent of the other guys walking out the door.

1. Master the Basics

Wash your face with a gentle cleanser. Don’t rub your face dry with a towel; leave your face damp and apply a hydrating moisturizer, then sunscreen. This simple routine can prevent dryness, wrinkles, and irritation, while promoting a healthy, even skin tone and keeping skin resilient and youthful over time.

2. Trim and Shape Facial Hair Regularly

Whether you’re sporting a beard, mustache, or clean-shaven look, regular grooming is key. Keep facial hair well-trimmed and defined to maintain a polished, intentional appearance. Investing in a quality trimmer and learning to shape facial hair to suit your face shape can make a huge impact.

3. Don’t Ignore Eyebrows!

Grooming your eyebrows opens up your eyes and makes you look more attentive and alert. A quick trim or brush-up can refine the face, while a little brow gel keeps hairs in place all day.

4. Keep Nails Clean and Neatly Trimmed

Often overlooked, well-groomed nails are a small detail that makes a big impression. Regular trims, a quick file, and occasional cuticle care speak volumes about your attention to detail.

5. Hydrate and Care for Your Lips

Dry, cracked lips are uncomfortable, not to mention unkissable. Keep a nourishing lip balm handy to ensure that your lips are smooth, hydrated, and ready for any meeting or event.

6. Choose a Signature Scent—but Go Easy

A subtle, well-chosen fragrance is memorable and adds a personal touch. Aim for a light spritz on pulse points, ensuring that it complements rather than overwhelms.

7. Polish Your Look with Proper Posture

A great grooming routine shines even brighter with good posture and confidence. Standing tall and maintaining eye contact can make as much impact as the best grooming products, projecting poise, professionalism, and self-assurance.

had worked on her for an hour, the model turned to her and said,“I feel sweaty,” and proceeded to take a shower. ZdunowskiRoeder had to do her hair and makeup all over again.“Sometimes you take a lot of crap, but you need to stay professional, and you need to know when to stand your ground.”

Zdunowski-Roeder’s advice for budding makeup artists could apply to any career choice:

• Be on time or, better yet, 20 minutes early. If you’re a minute late to a job, you won’t be called back.

• Silence your cellphone. Never, ever, ever be on your phone during a shoot. You must be watching, ready for when a hair falls out of place.

• Be prepared for anything. She often lugged a 90-pound backpack full of hair and makeup supplies to jobs because “you never know what a client will require.”

• Take risks but know the rules.“Never sculpt a man’s eyebrows.”

• Follow your heart. And recognize when it’s time for a change.

The life of a makeup artist isn’t as glamorous as it may seem, Zdunowski-Roeder admits. She recalls schlepping her heavy makeup kit to Paterson, New Jersey, in a snowstorm for an all-night Netflix gig that ran from 1 a.m. to noon the next day.

New York City, where most stylist work is found, can be a difficult place to raise a family. Living through the pandemic in Manhattan made the decision for her; she moved with her husband and son, Zane, to a small farm in East Amwell Township, New Jersey, where she now sells real estate.

Zdunowski-Roeder still plays violin at home and does makeup on special occasions for her pals, including Mr. Waters, who she says defies his age. The 81-year-old rocker has “incredibly smooth skin,” and cheeks with a natural flush of, well, pink.

Most, not all, celebs were a pleasure to work with. ZdunowskiRoeder spent hours with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, whom she calls “a genuine good soul.” They shared stories about a mutual favorite restaurant, the Tick Tock Diner. “Amy,” Stewart said, “you don’t ever order buffalo chicken salad at a diner! You order bacon and eggs!”

A Commitment to Opportunity Alumni

Across the United States, college students are increasingly struggling to meet their basic needs, and this growing crisis is no different at Moravian University and Theological Seminary. In response, alumni and supporters have created two new funds aimed at removing barriers and enabling students to fully engage in the college experience.

Laurie Riley Brubaker ’82 devoted her time to others. Balancing a robust career in the health insurance industry, active volunteerism and philanthropy as an alum, and a vibrant family life, she was “an absolute superwoman,” according to her husband, Lloyd, and children, Christopher and Jessica.

“She was loving and caring and strong,” says Jessica.“I never realized how hard she worked because she was such an amazing mom.”

Jessica says her mother gave to others every chance she could. Jessica recalls a holiday shopping trip, Laurie hopping out of the car at every street corner to hand out bags of food to the homeless. These kind acts were a way of life for Laurie, who created a sense of community throughout her life.

“She always had people in her corner,” Christopher remembers.“I think they were always drawn to her. She was so kind and so positive, and you just wanted to be around her.”

Even Laurie’s cancer diagnosis did not dim her light or her drive. The bonds she formed continued to bless her family even after her passing, particularly the lifelong relationships she maintained with the four roommates she met her first day on Moravian’s campus.“They’ve continued to support us in her absence and stayed

very close to us,” shares Christopher. “It’s a testament to the strength of those friendships and the community they formed at Moravian.”

The Power of Opportunity

“Laurie deeply believed in the transformative power of opportunity— how if someone is given support and the right resources, they can find success in challenging circumstances,” says Lloyd.“She insisted that you can always turn it around.”

This belief guided her commitment to supporting Moravian students. While advancing to senior management roles at Aetna, based in Connecticut, Arizona, and Texas, she mentored students, donated to scholarships, and served on the Moravian Leadership Council, campaign cabinet committee, and board of trustees. Her dedication earned her the Comenius Alumni Award in 2010 for her professional achievement and service, and the Moravian Star Award in 2015.

Lloyd says he encouraged Laurie’s commitment to her alma mater, and after joining her for Moravian’s Homecoming and Reunion Weekend one year, he realized the school was special.“The uniqueness of the campus was just a draw for me,” recalls Lloyd. “I loved the intimacy of people just saying hello to people on the sidewalks and in the buildings. That’s not what I remembered from being in school.”

Laurie and Lloyd, both first-generation college students, understood the challenges many students face. Together, they established the Moravian Tomorrow Endowed Scholarship Fund in 2013 to support students with financial need.

After Laurie’s passing in 2019, Lloyd honored her legacy with two more impactful initiatives. The Lloyd and Laurie Riley ’82 Brubaker Endowed Internship Fund provides stipends to students gaining practical experience through internships.

“If I had not received the stipend, I would not have been able to commit to a 22-hourper-week internship,” says Ava O. Piotti ’25.“This opportunity helped me develop essential skills in patient care, rehabilitation, and clinical operations, which shaped my undergraduate career and will continue to guide me as I enter Moravian’s master of science and doctorate occupational therapy programs.”

Lloyd also contributed to Lighting the Way: The Campaign for Moravian University, supporting the expansion of the Haupert Union Building (HUB) student center. His gift renames Moravian’s career center in the new HUB to the Laurie Riley ’82 Center

for Career Success, purposefully using Laurie’s maiden name to honor her legacy at Moravian, and expands the center’s original footprint by three times its original size. The new layout provides more space for one-on-one career coaching, employer engagement, and student programming, as well as dedicated rooms for meetings and interviews, making it easier for students to connect with mentors, alumni, and potential employers in a professional setting.

Relieving Housing Insecurity

As Lloyd explored additional ways to support Moravian students, he discovered stories of students declining financial aid or dropping out due to basic needs insecurity.

One student nearly left college after his bike was stolen, leaving him without transportation to his job, his lifeline to support himself. Another almost turned down a full academic scholarship because he couldn’t afford housing.

“I can’t even begin to imagine the challenges of simply finishing high school—let alone excelling—when you don’t know where you’ll be living from one day to the next,” says Lloyd.

“ Laurie deeply believed in the transformative power of opportunity— how if someone is given support and the right resources, they can find success in challenging circumstances.”

—LLOYD S. BRUBAKER

Moved by these struggles, Lloyd, Christopher, and Jessica created the Brubaker Family Foundations Endowed Fund, the first at Moravian to specifically address housing insecurity.

“Accepting this scholarship will, for the first time, give [a] person a real address— somewhere they can share with friends and family, a place to call home,” says Lloyd. “And that’s something so many of us take for granted.”

Lloyd, Christopher, and Jessica hope the fund will empower students to seize every opportunity at Moravian, free from the burden of housing insecurity.

“My parents imparted to us the importance of education to completely transform your life,” adds Christopher.“Through education, we’re giving others the chance to experience that same profound change.”

For Jessica, the initiative honors Laurie’s enduring spirit.“There was just so, so much compassion and empathy and kindness in my mom’s heart,” she says.“I just hope that

Lloyd, Christopher, and Jessica are committed to furthering the legacy of their wife and mother, Laurie Riley Brubaker ’82, at Moravian University.

what we do gets others to understand and feel what she offered to others.”

Growing Need

Food and housing insecurity among college students has become a growing concern nationwide. According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study conducted in 2020 by the US Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, 23 percent of undergraduate students and 12 percent of graduate students experience food insecurity, while 8 percent of undergraduates and 5 percent of graduate students experience homelessness. This study, conducted every five years, highlights the urgent need for support systems in higher education.

At Moravian, awareness of food and housing insecurity has largely come through personal stories. But Greg Meyer, dean of community wellness, is working to gather real numbers to better understand the scope of the issue.“We’re set to launch the Hope Center Student Basic Needs Survey— the nation’s largest, most well-established basic-needs survey—and soon we’ll have concrete data to support our efforts and drive meaningful change.”

Providing Critical Support

Moravian’s on-campus food and resource pantry, Mo’s Cupboard, has been instrumental in addressing food insecurity. Last year, 685 students visited the pantry a total of 6,505 times. Since its opening in 2018, student use of the pantry has increased by an average of 142 percent annually, reflecting the growing demand for basic necessities.

Additionally, Mo’s Fund, Moravian’s emergency-support fund, assists students experiencing financial hardship that affects their ability to meet basic living expenses, such as the death of an immediate family member, uninsured medical expenses, or damages from unforeseen disasters. Last year, Mo’s Fund provided more than $18,000 in aid to nine students.

To better strengthen student support, Moravian established the Helping Hounds Student Fund, offering flexible

assistance to students facing difficulties accessing essentials, such as food, shelter, transportation, and other basic needs, or navigating unexpected hardships.

Funded entirely by donor contributions and grants, the initiative aims to support students, ensuring they not only remain in school but also thrive.

“We don’t just meet needs—we empower students with knowledge, guiding them toward better planning and valuable resources,” says In-Chi Chow-Rivera, executive administrative assistant for student life.“Our goal isn’t just success at Moravian but a foundation for success far beyond.”

Taking the Worry Out of Education

Placido “Pat” A. Corpora ’78 is a dedicated supporter of the Helping Hounds Student Fund, believing it makes critical aid more accessible.“Moravian has come a long way in supporting students,” says Pat, who also serves as a trustee.“When I was there, the support mechanisms were in place, but you had to go out and search for them.”

Pat immigrated from a small Sicilian village to the United States at the age of 5, driven

In addition to their philanthropic priorities, Pat and Sandra Corpora enjoy traveling and staying active outdoors.

by his parents’ dream of providing their children with education beyond their own fourth-grade level. Following in the footsteps of his older sisters, Santa Corpora Zanchettin ’70 and Maria Corpora, Esq.’72, Pat attended Moravian, where scholarship support played a key role in their decisions.

“Without the scholarships that were available, we would not have ended up at Moravian. We would have gone to another school, I’m certain,” recalls Pat.

His first year was challenging—he maintained a 2.0 grade-point average—but by his second year, he found a supportive community and a passion for running and grew more mature.

“One of the guys who lived in Clewell Hall was a distance runner, and he had the idea of starting a cross country club that later became Moravian’s varsity team,” remembers Pat.“That was really a great opportunity to develop some discipline. It gave me a lifelong interest in distance running, which helped me in school and after school in my career, business, and personal life.”

After graduating with degrees in criminal justice and accounting, Pat built a successful

Get to Know Our Lighting the Way Subcommittee Chairs

George R. Wacker ’03 Chair, University Alumni Subcommittee

What is your personal motto? “Show, don’t tell.”

How do you spend your free time?

Spending time with my family, listening to vinyl records, creating memes, engaging in my community, kayaking, running!

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

I love quilts. Especially comfortable ones. I’ll make an ill-advised financial decision based on a really nice quilt.

Who is your favorite musician/band/performer and why?

This is always such a tough question. But right now it’s probably IDLES. They create incredible, passionate, culturally relevant music out of the simplest of ideas. Plus, they are also fans of Hall & Oates! Also check out Puscifer, Viagra Boys, and Big Wreck. There are so many ways to experience music and support the artists by buying directly from them.

Who at Moravian most influenced you and how?

I’d have to say my peers. While I had some amazing professors and other faculty, I felt I was engaging the most when I was working directly with my peers on projects and events. That was always a great feeling that I try to replicate today!

Share your favorite memory from Moravian. When, in the middle of class, Michael Jordan called the cell phone of our adjunct professor, and Sports Illustrated writer, Jack McCallum. Class dismissed!

career in marketing and consumer sales. Grateful for the education he and his sisters received, they established the Santa & Vincenzo Corpora Scholarship Fund to support first-generation immigrant students.

Pat has supported student-need initiatives since 2022, but as a trustee, he was struck by the magnitude of student hardship.“I was always surprised to hear how many students show up for food at Mo’s Cupboard. There’s a need for food, for supplies, for books.”

What was your favorite meal in the dining hall?

Really jogging my memory here, but the cereal selection was impressive in the early 2000s at least, and they always had enough ice cream.

What advice would you give to a current student?

Keep an open mind and be prepared for change. Roll with it. It’s part of the whole thing.

Why is it important for you to serve/volunteer?

I was able to have an incredible education due to those who came before me and chose to give back. I want to continue that.

How do you believe Lighting the Way will help our students, their future, and the next generation?

Moravian students deserve and need the best if they are going to compete in a rapidly changing world. The only way to ensure that is to continue to strategically invest in that future together.

What are you most excited to see Lighting the Way make possible?

While the academic and hands-on learning opportunities are paramount, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really excited about watching a soccer game from the upper floors at the new HUB!

To learn about all our community members leading us in the Lighting the Way campaign, visit moravian.edu/lightingtheway/leadership

In response, he and his wife, Sandra, decided to extend their generosity by creating the Corpora Endowed Student Fund to support the Helping Hounds Student Fund in perpetuity.

“When you go to college, you’re thinking about your education and paying for your room and board, but there’s so much in day-to-day needs,” explains Pat.“We want students to be able to focus on their education and not worry.”

Through initiatives like the Helping Hounds Student Fund and the generosity of dedicated supporters like the Brubaker and Corpora families, Moravian is working to alleviate financial stress for students, helping them focus on achieving academic success and building a brighter future. To support students facing food and housing insecurity, give a gift at moravian .edu/help-a-hound or contact the Development office at development@moravian.edu or 800-429-9437.

Class Notes

The editors of Moravian University Magazine publish all class notes that we receive. We reserve the right to edit for space or style. Some information may appear only online at moravian.edu/classnotes. You can submit your information at moravian.edu/classnotes, email it to alumni@moravian.edu, or mail it to Class Notes, Alumni Engagement Office, Moravian University, 1200 Main St., Bethlehem, PA 18018.

Deadlines for Submissions

Summer 2025 issue: May 5, 2025

Fall 2025 issue: August 15, 2025

Photo Policy

Please send us your image as a jpg file at 300 dpi or higher. For photos taken with a smartphone, send the largest image file. We publish one photo per wedding or birth. We welcome photos of gatherings of alumni.

For More Information moravian.edu/classnotes

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

The Vietnam War finally ended. Microsoft was formed. And several firsts made their mark in 1975: a Black man won Wimbledon; high school girls were allowed to compete with boys in sports; and at Moravian, with a significant influx of male students, boys were permitted to live in Clewell Hall for the first time since 1959. This was deemed part of an “anti-sexism movement.”

All in the Family premieres on CBS.

WORLD Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman elected to lead Britain’s Conservative Party. TELEVISION

1961

John P Bregman enjoyed seeing Ken Sepe ’61 and his wife, Alice, for lunch. John has also spoken on the phone with Sam Maczko ’61 and Joe Castellano ’61 and is happy to report everyone is doing well as they continue to navigate their amazing journeys.

1971

John C Prestosh, DO, FACOEP-Dist, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians (ACOEP) on October 7, 2024, in Houston. He served as president of the ACOEP from 2015 to 2017 and has been a member since 1984.

1975

Fred Rooney has received a Fulbright Specialist Program award. He will complete a project at Women in Liberation and Leadership in The Gambia that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the

United States and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within law.

1980

Cynthia Greb wrote a book titled Grief and Grace: Stories at the Intersection of Life and Death about her experiences caring for her aging parents as well as various hospice clients and private clients. She shares the myriad emotions at play as one cares for others at such a vulnerable time in their lives and the grace and beauty that unexpectedly shine through the sorrow and exhaustion.

For the past several years, Cynthia has been going on pilgrimages/learning expeditions/journeys around the United States. Her focus has been to visit sites that are ancient and sacred to Native Americans, and she offers prayers at sites of large massacres of First Peoples. Cynthia has been offering presentations about ancient earth mounds, Native American people today and the issues that concern them, and how we can pay respect at places of sorrow.

Christopher D. Ochs is an author, editor, and illustrator, and he has written the book Eldritch, Inc . After an alien intrusion mutates grad student Michael Yeager’s fiancée into a monster, Yeager is dragged into the world of magic, super-science, spirits, demigods, parallel realities, and amazing coffee. The X-Files meets The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in this sci-fi/fantasy/ horror/humor mashup.

1982

Rev. David G. Sommers is enjoying his 30th year at Moravian Academy, where he teaches Spanish, comparative world religions, and art history and has served as a chaplain. In addition, he is a resident artist at the Banana Factory.

1987

Pamela Messerschmidt Pfeiffer and Ray Pfeiffer recently celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. They were married on Moravian’s campus, with the ceremony in Peter Hall and reception in the HUB cafeteria. Several of their Moravian

Upcoming Events

Details and registration for any of these events can be found at moravian.edu/alumni/events

APRIL 11, 2025 Shining Lights

APRIL 11 & 12, 2025

50 Years of Dance at Moravian University

MAY 8, 2025

Alumni Night at the Iron Pigs

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Motivated Energy, a 12-foot, brass-covered steel sculpture by Rudy Ackerman, chair of the art department, is placed near the Hall of Science.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

To finish an album, Bruce Springsteen cancels a performance in Johnston Hall, and Billy Joel takes his place.

WORLD

Iran and Iraq announce the Algiers Accord to settle territorial disputes along the border.

TECHNOLOGY

Spectacles for dogs are patented in England.

friends were in the wedding party and among their guests. Pam is a librarian at Wellesley College, and Ray is an accounting professor at Simmons College.

1992

Claudio Cerullo founded Sneakers for Smiles, through which sneakers are sent to students who have been bullied. As of today more than 1,235 pairs have been delivered to young people worldwide. Dr. Cerullo is also the author of Inside the Mind of a Bully : From Victim to Advocate . He was featured in the November 2024 issue of Philly Current magazine and the February 2025 issue of Lehigh Valley Style magazine. Dr. Cerullo’s story has been featured previously on several other news outlets, including 6 ABC Action News and Good Morning America .

1993

Nick Sacco has spent the better part of his career as an IRS special agent, and on October 17, 2024, he helped run an IRS Citizen Academy, a daylong event at

Moravian in which students participated in a simulation of a criminal investigation. Special agents are required to retire after 23.5 years of service, so in December of 2024, Nick accepted a position as senior financial investigator and vice president at Truist Bank, covering the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He plans to continue his role as assistant football coach at Moravian.

1996

Bradley Lamm, chief of foot and ankle surgery at Paley Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida, has been named a Palm Beach Media Group Top Doctor of 2025.

1997

Erlinda Agron Aguiar is running a national financial empowerment program called Bank On. She is the Bank On Ambassador and is responsible for managing the program and the Bank On Lehigh Valley Coalition.

2000

Fang Zhang is an accounting expert in auditing in the areas of healthcare, state and local government, and not-for-profit industries. She has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected based on current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all considered during the selection process. Fang has established a distinguished career as a senior auditor at KPMG LLP, where she has been a pivotal figure since 2000.

2001

Jessica Kistler has been named Director of Life Enrichment for Health Care and Personal Care for Landis Homes. She recently became a Certified Engagement Leader through Positive Approach to Care (PAC), created by occupational therapist and educator Teepa Snow. Jessica is also working toward becoming

a PAC Certified Consultant. Engagement leaders and consultants are a vital part of the Dementia Friendly Experiences team at Landis Homes, helping to navigate challenges and experiences related to dementia and other brain changes.

2010

Kevin Horn has retired from teaching high school language arts after 25 years and is focused on pursuing his passion for photography. During January and February of this year, he was featured in a solo exhibition at M Galleries PNA in Washington, New Jersey. Kevin is also a street photographer who shoots candids and portraits.

2011

Joseph C. Koerwitz has been elected to partnership in the firm Post & Schell, PC. Joseph is a principal in the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Department, focusing his practice on the representation of a variety of employers, including commercial retailers, retail and manufacturing centers, small and large corporate entities, as well as long-term

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Faisal of Saudi Arabia is assassinated by his nephew Prince Faisal, allowing the king’s half brother, Crown Prince Khalid, to ascend the throne.

A New Book from Shane Burcaw

Shane Burcaw ’14 has spinal muscular atrophy (SMS), a disorder that affects the neurons that control voluntary muscle movement. In people with this disease, signals from the brain cannot reach muscles, which then atrophy from inactivity.

SMS hasn’t inhibited Burcaw’s intelligence, humor, or positive outlook on life. In 2011, he launched his blog, Laughing at My Nightmare, followed by a book of the same name, in which he shares his experiences living with SMS. He is the author of the books Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having

care facilities, and defending their rights and interests. Joseph was named “One to Watch” in 2024 and 2025 by The Best Lawyers in America in the category of Workers’ Compensation, Employers.

2013

Garth Denton-Borhaug, manager of post-harvest and distribution at Coastal Roots Farm, was featured in the story “Coastal Roots Farm Tackles Food Insecurity Through Sustainability,” published in The Coast News on December

a Disability, aimed at kids age 6 to 9, and Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse Burcaw’s girlfriend, Hannah, became his wife in September of 2020, and they produce the YouTube channel Squirmy and Grubs, where they talk about their relationship.

Now, Shane and Hannah have coauthored Interabled: True Stories About Love and Disability from Squirmy and Grubs and Other Interabled Couples, which was released on January 14. This collection of interviews and stories will make you cry and laugh, and they’ll warm your heart.

23, 2024. Coastal Roots Farm is a 17-acre nonprofit farm in Encinitas, California.

2015

Shamus J. Matthew serves as a staff coach at Princeton FC, a premier soccer club in Princeton, New Jersey, with 37 travel teams competing at a high level inside and outside the state. Shamus is responsible for developing training programs and coaching players at various levels. In addition, he holds the

position of Head of College Recruitment and Media. In this role, he focuses on identifying and recruiting talented athletes while managing the organization’s media presence to effectively communicate their programs and achievements. And that’s not all! Shamus is the head women’s soccer coach at Union College in Union County, New Jersey, where he oversees all aspects of team management, player development, and competition preparation. His responsibilities include designing training sessions,

implementing game strategies, and fostering a positive and inclusive team culture.

2017

Melody Jackson Moore will retire from education in 2026 and will complete training to be a spiritual director.

2022

Grace Adele Hochella has accepted an offer to be a staff chaplain with Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest.

Connors. (AP photo)

Jonathan Clark’s Primal Wound Selected by Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards

The leap from writing poetry to screenplays put Jonathan Clark ’16 on a new path to an art form that also captures his passion and engages his creativity—and is garnering him significant recognition.

Clark earned an MFA in creative writing in 2022 from Louisiana State University (LSU), where he specialized in poetry and successfully published several of his works. LSU permits students to study across genres, and after a course in screenwriting

for video games, Clark enrolled in advanced screenwriting. Entering his final semester, he chose to put aside the poetry collection he was writing to complete a feature-length screenplay for his master’s thesis.

That screenplay, Ghost Kingdoms, earned him the Ruth McClain Screenwriting Award, as selected by filmmaker Shanti Thakur, and it placed in the quarterfinals at the Austin Film Festival. Maybe I’m on the right track, Clark thought.

And indeed he is.

Last fall, Clark submitted his latest work, Primal Wound, to the Chicago Script Awards and within a month received solicitations from screenplay festivals in New York, London, and Tokyo (festival jurors are a tight group and share their discoveries, Clark explains). But the biggest prize came when Primal Wound was officially selected by the Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards. Clark created Primal Wound out of his own

experience.“It is a fictionalized short screenplay that jumps between the past and present and explores an adoptee’s experience as he tries to find closure by forging a connection with his birth mother to make sense of his identity and to reconcile his abandonment issues,” Clark says.

Production of the film began in late February, and Primal Wound will be packaged and ready to distribute by the beginning of the summer. Clark will submit it to the Sundance, Austin, and Toronto film festivals as well as film festivals in the Lehigh Valley.

MOMENT

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Regina LaCaruba ’05 is so proud of her younger daughter, Felicity (in red at right), who performed the “Morning Star” solo at Vespers on December 15, 2024, and older daughter, Amelia, who sang the solo at Vespers in December 2023.

Hannah Pellicciotti ’21 and Keegan Schealer ’22 were married on October 19, 2024, at The Farm Bakery & Events in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

Gary Zack ’12 and Natalie Lawrence Zack ’12 welcomed their third child, Cecilia Adeline, on August 19, 2024. Cecilia joins big brother Levi and big sister Bianca.

Gene Molisso ’15 and Chelsea (Huber) Molisso were married on September 14, 2024.

Roberta Lieby ’75 enjoyed and was blessed and honored by her granddaughter Veronica Myts’s solo singing performance at the Moravian University Vespers Service on Friday, December 13, 2024.

Saturday Night Live debuts featuring Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and others.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Harvey Gillespie passes away. Over 37 years as baseball coach, he had only one losing season and led the Greyhounds to win the MAC Northern Championship.

Spanish dictator Francisco Franco dies, signaling the end of one of Europe’s longest dictatorships (1939–75).

Matthew Gist ’16 and Meghan Santamaria Gist ’16 welcomed Emily Ann on May 11, 2024.

Corinne Frick ’21 and Adam Strouse 21 were married on October 11, 2024, at the Stone Gables Estate in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

American folk artist Janis Ian performs on campus. Ticket prices are $4.50 for students and $5.50 for the public.

An Elegant InspirationalandLeader

Betsey Tait Puth’s 14-plus years as a member of the governing board of Moravian College spanned my tenure as the college’s president. She was at once an elegant, gracious lady and an inspirational leader.

Betsey’s passion for the fine arts, her generosity, and her commitment to Moravian students combined to make a profound impact on our college’s culture. Her encouragement of aspiring students in art, music, and writing was transformational. Whether it was the need for new academic facilities or restoration of Peter Hall’s stained-glass windows, Betsey’s generosity and leadership were prominent. As president, I always sought Betsey’s guidance on major college issues.

Yes, Betsey Tait Puth’s role was crucial in creating Moravian’s level of excellence. Our college was truly blessed by her presence. Erv Rokke, president of Moravian University from 1997 to 2006

Betsey’s passion for the fine arts, her generosity, and her commitment to Moravian students combined to make a profound impact on our college’s culture.

Club of Chicago. For many years we hosted Moravian’s president, alumni, and students at a reception in Chicagoland. We enjoyed bringing in some Moravian music students to perform for us and talk about their experiences at the college.

I remember working with Betsey as a joyful experience because she was inclusive and had an unassuming demeanor.

Betsey was a quiet, lovely lady, beautiful both inside and out. Always cheerful, she had a twinkle in her eye. She and I became well acquainted when we served on Moravian College’s Board of Trustees. As we both traveled from Chicago, we had plenty of time to reminisce about similar experiences living on South Campus, although we attended Moravian 17 years apart.

Betsey and I were both “Jersey girls,” enjoying our summers at the shore on Long Beach Island. We both married Lehigh men and ended up living in the same Chicago North Shore community, Winnetka, Illinois. As we got to know each other, we found we connected through the boards at the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University Women’s Board, and the Fortnightly

Both she and her husband, John, gave many gifts to Moravian, some of them anonymously. Their love of beauty inspired them to lead the campaign to restore the stained-glass windows in Peter Hall, the former chapel for the Moravian College for Women and the current home of several musical events.

I benefited from Betsey’s gentle spirit one weekend at Moravian when I was to give an important speech and was extremely nervous. She spoke to me from her Quaker roots, encouraging me to keep calm. Her words came from her heart and were just what I needed.

It was a fortunate day when Betsey Puth’s path crossed mine. She enriched my life and was a most excellent mentor.

Connie Hodson ’68

Betsey Tait Puth ’51 December 6, 1929–June 3, 2024

PHOTO

1950 MARY STOCKER JONES August 14, 2024

1950 DELORIS ASHCROFT WALLACE October 5, 2024

1950 MARGARET HOLLAND JAYNES October 12, 2024

1951 DOROTHEA SHOFFNER ATALLAH September 3, 2024

1953 MARY YVONNE NELMES SEAGREAVES November 30, 2024

1954 PHILIP JOSEPH DEREA November 16, 2024

1956 SHERWOOD GUM September 13, 2024

1956 MARLENE LILLIAN WADHAMS December 9, 2024

1956 MARY L. KOHL December 29, 2024

1958 FRANK L. HETTLINGER SR. November 14, 2024

1958 MICHAEL JAMES GALLAGHER December 18, 2024

1959 ANTHONY HEISER SR. March 27, 2023

1959 WAYNE H. PYSHER June 7, 2024

1961 NEIL ZIMMERMAN September 23, 2024

1962 GAIL EKSTRAND March 22, 2024

1963 BEVERLY NEEDS SEARS September 8, 2024

1964 REV. DR. JAMES C. WYRTZEN ’64, S’67 December 12, 2021

1965 SALLY ANN FLAD-CARPENTER September 15, 2024

1966 GAIL I. WINSON October 11, 2024

1966 CAROL COLES GRAF December 31, 2023

1967 JUDITH ANN ORAVEC FARQUER September 19, 2024

1969 RICHARD H. ROWE, DPM February 13, 2024

1969 JOHN ROCCO CORRIERE October 9, 2024

1969 WILLIAM “BILLY” R. RYAN October 19, 2024

1973 HAROLD WAYNE DURHAM S’73 August 18, 2024

1973 ALLEN T. RADTKE September 10, 2024

1973 DARRYL W. ARNER November 1, 2024

1974 PHILIP O BADGER March 2, 2024

1975 MARY DIAMOND MACK September 15, 2024

1976 LYNN KUHLMANN BURKE August 29, 2024

1976 JACQUELINE S. PEEKE October 2, 2024

1976 DAVID STANLEY WELSH October 2, 2024

1978 JOHN D. HOENIG September 10, 2024

1978 ROBERT T. FAULDS JR. November 28, 2024

1981 REV. CANON GWENDOLYN-JANE ROMERIL November 2, 2024

1982 KAREN ELIZABETH SLOAT-OLSEN August 19, 2024

1989 WILLIAM KONKOLICS September 5, 2024

1990 JENNIFER LYNN SMITH-DIETER January 3, 2025

1993 CHARLES ZARTMAN April 5, 2024

1993 REBECCA A. KESSELRING August 26, 2024

1997 AIDA B. CORVELLI August 13, 2024

1997 ANNA PATRICIA GIORDANI September 29, 2024

2007 SHAUN JORDAN March 21, 2024

2012 SANJIN VARGA August 22, 2024

Faculty and Staff in Memoriam

BETTIE SMOLANSKY, professor emerita, sociology November 28, 2024

Bettie Smolansky worked at Moravian for 45 years. In addition to her faculty position, she served as dean of the faculty and dean of academic affairs. She truly embraced the spirit of the Moravian University community.

REV. WALTER WAGNER, served on the faculty of the Moravian Theological Seminary January 17, 2025

MARGUERITE GUTSHALL, served as the secretary to Moravian President Roger H. Martin January 27, 2025

LILLIAN DAVENPORT, served in many roles in student life and received the Heller Award for her outstanding service and commitment to our community January 28, 2025

PHOTO BY ROB CARDILLO

Get to know Toby

Toby is a 14-year-old Sheltie who lives with Daina Smolkis ’13. He had been registered as an emotional support dog for Smolskis’s mom, who was undergoing chemotherapy at the time. “When she passed away in 2017, I took him in,” says Smolskis.

1

What is something your dog taught you?

He played a very important role in my mom’s life and how she coped with her cancer. I look at him every day and marvel at how important dogs are in our lives and how even on the toughest days, all it takes is a cuddle to be okay.

What is the funniest thing your dog has ever done?

He loves playing with soccer balls. One day my mom and I took him to my younger sister’s soccer game, and Toby got out of his collar and ran onto the field to go after the ball. We were all embarrassed at the time, but it’s funny to look back on.

In what special way have you pampered your dog? He has grown accustomed to getting ice water. He sometimes won’t drink his water if it doesn’t have ice in it.

What is your dog’s favorite toy, food, or activity?

His favorite food is ice cream. He knows it comes from the freezer, so any time the freezer is open, he watches carefully. He also knows what container it comes from, and if he sees it, he waits patiently by his food bowl for a scoop.

What major would your dog choose as an undergrad or graduate student at Moravian? Probably psychology. He senses emotions, and I’m sure he would want to know more about the science behind them.

SUBMIT YOUR DOG’S BIO

Who doesn’t think their dog is the pick of the litter? Tell us about your best friend, send us a pic, and he or she just might be featured on this page. Go to mrvn.co/hounds-mu to fill out a submission form and send us a photo— a clear portrait shot of your dog’s face.

23% OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS NATIONWIDE STRUGGLE WITH FOOD INSECURITY*

12% OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS NATIONWIDE SUFFER FROM HOMELESSNESS*

Imagine a student who dreams of becoming a teacher, nurse, scientist, or artist but struggles daily to find enough food or a safe place to sleep. This is the reality for college students who are juggling their academic aspirations with the challenge of their own basic needs.

The Helping Hounds Student Fund provides flexible support to students having difficulty accessing basic needs or navigating unexpected hardships. Born out of our students’ critical need for food, shelter, transportation, and other essentials, the fund is dedicated to empowering students not only to stay in school but to thrive.

Together, we can create a world where no student has to choose between their education and survival. Every dollar counts, every act of generosity matters, and every student deserves the chance to succeed. Learn how student need at Moravian is growing at moravian.edu/helping-hounds-student-fund

*According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study conducted in 2020 by the US Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics

Support the Helping Hounds Student Fund

moravian.edu/help-a-hound

BY

Dancers in Concert, Moravian University’s 50th spring dance concert, will be held on April 11 and 12.

PHOTO

THOMAS KAY