Moravian University Magazine | Summer 2023

MORAVIAN

Portrait of an Artist

Nokukhanya Langa ’13 Steps onto the World Stage

Moravian University Magazine Summer 2023

Editor

Claire Kowalchik P’22

Creative Director

Sandra DiPasqua

Managing Editor

Nancy Rutman ’84

Sports Editor

Mark J. Fleming

Archivist

Cory W. Dieterly

Alumni Engagement

Amanda Werner Maenza ’13, G’17 Executive Director

Matt Nesto

Associate Director of Alumni & Student Engagement

Kathy Magditch Administrative Support Assistant

Copyright 2023 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

This page and cover: Photographs by Stacii Samidin

DEPARTMENTS

Welcome

From the president’s desk

The Hub Campus news and notes

My Story

An alum reflects Maine Life

A writer’s journal

Greyhound Sports Sports news and the Moravian University 2022 Hall of Fame

Lighting the Way

Recognizing alumni who, through their contributions to Moravian, are lighting the way for our students, their future, and the next generation

Alumni Events

Shining Lights (alumni and community partner awards), the 2023 legacy graduates, and photos from the 42nd annual golf classic and Founder’s Day

Class Notes

Catching up with classmates

Hound Advice

Top seven travel tips

FEATURES

Master Artist

At the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, paintings by Nokukhanya Langa ’13 hang alongside those of world-renowned artists. It’s an achievement that once seemed improbable.

Student Composers Score a Win

After the Allentown Symphony Orchestra launched a new music competition for composers throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, Moravian students Grace Young ’23 and Ryan Anderson ’25 scored winning compositions.

Dear Fellow Greyhounds,

I hope summer travels and adventures rejuvenate and inspire you. I write today from an airplane traveling home from Europe. Lea and I were joined by Bishop Hopeton Clennon and Shelia Clennon, along with four Moravian University students and five Central Moravian Church couples, on a 12-day tour. Among the stops on our tour, designed as “The Moravian Experience,” were the two sites nominated along with Bethlehem to become part of the first transnational, transatlantic UNESCO World Heritage Site. This tour was also part of the first year of our global citizenship project, which provides funding for every student to travel internationally.

Our first stop was Prague, the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic. We spent two full days visiting the Comenius Museum and learning about the pedagogical founder of our beloved university. We toured Prague Castle and the Bethlehem Chapel, where Jan Hus, a 15th-century religious reformer and forerunner of the Moravian Church, frequently lectured.

Our adventure took us to Herrnhut, Germany (the first World Heritage Site nominee on our itinerary), where we stayed in an 18th-century hotel and learned about Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, the felling of the first tree by the Moravians to begin building a house, and the worldwide missionary trips by early Moravians. We toured Zinzendorf’s estate and paid homage at his grave and those of his daughter Benigna and his second wife, Anna Nitschmann, in God’s Acre. We explored the restored chapel that is being prepared for World Heritage nomination and toured the new Moravian High School with students who had recently visited Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Our next stop was Christiansfeld, Denmark, after a 10-hour bus ride through Germany and Poland. Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church settlement, is an existing UNESCO World Heritage Site that the three other Moravian settlement sites are attempting to join. There we toured the chapel, God’s Acre, and structures similar to ours, which included the Single Brothers’ House, the Widows’ House, and the Single Sisters’ House.

After a short flight, we landed in Gracehill, Ireland (the second World Heritage nominee), where we participated in Sunday church worship, had a proper British Sunday dinner, and toured all of the village’s buildings. We also had the opportunity to explore the Giant’s Causeway (currently Ireland’s only World Heritage Site), several castles, and Game of Thrones filming locations.

Finally, we rounded out this trip with a walking tour of Belfast, Ireland, and learned about the “Troubles.” No visit to Belfast is complete without visiting the newly renovated Titanic Museum, which completed our scheduled activities. As I travel back, I reflect on several things. Very few colleges and universities have such a rich founding and history as Moravian. For instance, many colleges and universities are named for famous (or infamous) people who have no direct connection to the institution or the mission. In our case, our founders sought to change who was educated and how they were educated, and they are directly connected to us. From its very beginning, Moravian has sought to educate those that others overlooked or thought were not worthy of education. Moreover, a Moravian education has always been experiential, focused on the needs of society, and committed to service to the community at large.

Spending this much time with students has also been a great gift. When I left the faculty for administration, I missed seeing the amazing growth that happens in individual students and the feeling that somehow I contributed, in part, to that growth. Short-term international trips provide that joy for me. Watching our four student traveling companions (two of whom were journeying internationally for the first time) grow and mature, interact with others from different cultures, and become comfortable navigating the new world is a true blessing.

I am forever grateful that my life has led me to Moravian and to a career in education. I am humbled to lead such a noble institution and to participate in the lives of the young people who call Moravian their home no matter where their adventures take them.

With great appreciation and blessings,

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

Marco Calderon

TheHub

to at least one partner—a school district, private or charter school, technical institute, or intermediate unit. Moravian is one of those universities and has received $99,912 in funding. The grant supports an 18-month postbaccalaureate program for assistant teachers and nonteacher professionals of the partnering institution.

Moravian Awarded Education Grant

THE END OF CAMELOT

Though 1963 witnessed the introduction of many iconic brands and pop-music classics, the event that arguably made the largest imprint on the Moravian College campus at the time was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which was deeply felt by students and faculty. Campus activities came to a standstill as the Moravian community joined the nation in a period of mourning.

—Nancy Rutman ’84

Pennsylvania, like many states, suffers from a teacher shortage, particularly in special education. The US Department of Labor Statistics projects roughly 37,600 openings for special education teachers each year across the United States through 2031.

To help address this pressing need, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has awarded $1.5 million in grant funding to 15 universities from across the state who are positioned to offer an Accelerated Program for PK–12 Special Education Teacher Certification

“We have so much aligned with the grant,” says Jean DesJardin, director of early childhood education and early childhood special education. “Through our graduate program, we offer a post-baccalaureate teacher certification in PK–12 special education, we are well trained in online teaching, and we work collaboratively with so many school districts.”

Our partners in this grant are the Allentown School District and Colonial Intermediate Unit 20. In addition to coursework, students will receive summer field experiences, mentoring, and student teaching experience. The program runs from July of this year through December 2024.

“These grants will expedite the process of becoming a certified special educator and enable more teachers to enter the field faster,” says Acting Secretary of Education Khalid N. Mumin.

“These grants will expedite the process of becoming a certified special educator and enable more teachers to enter the field faster.”

—Acting Secretary of Education Khalid N. Mumin

Diego Bervejillo

MORAVIAN MOMENT

A group of 41 Moravian students travels to Washington, DC, for an up-close look at the workings of the federal government. The trip, sponsored by the Political Awareness Coalition, includes visits with US Senator Richard Schweiker (R-PA) and members of President Kennedy’s staff, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Pierre Salinger.

A special one-painting exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, facilitated by the Kennedy White House, opens in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Over the next four weeks, it is viewed by more than half a million visitors, including President John F. Kennedy Jr. and First Lady Jackie Kennedy.

TheHub

Congratulations to the 687 graduates of the

20 23 Class of

Bachelor of Arts—231

Bachelor of Fine Arts—3

Bachelor of Music—10

Bachelor of Science—137

Bachelor of Science in Nursing—116

Master of Arts in Clinical Counseling—7

Master of Business Administration—47

Master of Divinity—2

Master of Education—13

Master of Fine Arts—2

Master of Health Administration—12

Master of Science in Athletic Training—8

Master of Science in Data Analytics—4

Master of Science in Human Resource Management—3

Master of Science in Nursing—41

Master of Science in Occupational Therapy—28

Master of Science in Predictive Analytics—2

Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology—21

Doctor of Athletic Training—11

This spring, Moravian University awarded 19 different degrees at its 281st commencement on May 6 under blue skies and sunshine.

John Kish IV

Student Discovers New Species

As you read this, 12 Moravian University students are tackling real-world research through the program Student Opportunities for Academic Research, or SOAR. Last year, Cielo Disla ’25, working with Assistant Professor of Biology Daniel Proud, studied harvestmen, commonly known as daddy longlegs, from throughout the Caribbean. They worked in the lab with specimens on loan from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Disla and Proud discovered a new genus of harvestmen in Puerto Rico. “Cielo is working on formally describing the genus as Borikenia,” says Proud. “Boriken means Puerto Rico,” adds Disla. To describe a genus and species means to develop a detailed description of it for formal scientific publication.

Barnette’s Brilliance

FEBRUARY TECHNOLOGY

The genus will contain three species: one that was previously described and two new species discovered by Disla and Proud. “Cielo is working on redescribing the known species as Borikenia luquillense, and she is describing the two new species,” says Proud.

One of the new species will be named Borikenia yuizana in honor of the indigenous peoples of the islands. Yuiza was a female leader of the Taino, the native people of the Caribbean. The other species has yet to be named.

Disla presented this work at the International Congress of Arachnology in Uruguay in March 2023 and at the annual meeting of the American Arachnology Society hosted at Cornell University in June 2023.

Curtis “Hank” Barnette, a long-time member of the Moravian University Board of Trustees, has received the Robert P. Casey Medal for Distinguished Achievement. This award from the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities is presented to an individual who has shown extraordinary commitment to the value of independent higher education. One example of Barnette’s commitment is his endowment of the Barnette Internship at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem. The internship is open to college students with interests in history, museums, and related fields, and this year it has been awarded to Brendon Ward ’24, who will help catalog the hundreds of thousands of documents, photographs, films, and other historical records in the museum’s archive.

MORAVIAN

In the February 8 edition of The Comenian, the Moravian College Choir announces the release of its recently completed recording of Haydn’s Heiligmesse (Mass in B Flat Major). The

vinyl album sells for $3.95 plus $.50 postage.

Brendon Ward ’24 stands ready at the National Museum of Industrial History.

The Instamatic 50, the first of a series of pocket cameras manufactured by Kodak, is introduced in the UK.

MOMENT

MORAVIAN MOMENT

The Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski, presents a program in Johnston Hall that includes works by Brahms, Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Wagner.

John Kish IV

John Kish IV

GuestLecture

Perseids to Sizzle This August

By Gary A. Becker Moravian University Astronomy

When I was a kid, money was tight but looking up at the sky was free. Watching for meteors, sketching the constellations, and observing the heavens through my grandfather’s binoculars became favorite pastimes during those early years. This eventually led to a career in astronomy education, first in the Allentown School District Planetarium for 38 years and presently at Moravian University, where I will start my 14th year of instruction this coming fall semester. Without a doubt, it was the Perseid meteor shower that inspired my serious career interests in astronomy and my first scientific observations of the night sky.

The Perseids Explained

As comets orbit the sun, they leave behind a trail of dust and gasses. If Earth passes through one of these trails, the dross can enter Earth’s atmosphere. Once there, it rapidly disintegrates, causing a column of air to glow around it, which creates the meteor or shooting star phenomenon. The Perseids originate from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which was last seen in 1992. The point in the sky from which the Perseids appear to originate is the constellation of Perseus; hence the name of this meteor shower.

Viewing the Perseid Meteor Shower

Saturday morning through Monday morning, August 12 through 14, will present a wonderful opportunity to view the 2023 Perseid meteor shower.

Meteor showers are not meteor storms, so don’t expect to see shooting stars every second or two. Often Perseids occur in bunches. You might catch two or three in a minute’s worth of observation and then not see any for several minutes. In Montana in 2016, I saw six Perseids in a 15-second interval followed by a period of 10 minutes of inactivity. So don’t become disappointed if you hit a lull; you will see many Perseids if you are persistent.

Tips for the Best Viewing

The most critical factor when looking for shooting stars is the darkness of your observation location. Watching from the Sky Deck at Moravian University in Bethlehem, you may see five Perseids per hour. From a dark location like Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania’s dark-sky observation site near Coudersport, you may see as many as one meteor per minute.

2/8

Dick “Butch”

BEATLEMANIA

The Beatles score their first number 1 hit when “Please Please Me” hits the top of the UK singles charts.

WOMEN’S MOVEMENT

The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan’s exploration of the limited gender roles of American middle-class women, is published. The book quickly sells more than a million copies and helps spark second-wave feminism.

Watching for meteors, sketching the constellations, and observing the heavens through my grandfather’s binoculars became favorite pastimes during those early years.

Courtesy of Gary A. Becker

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Kosman ’63 scores 46 points in a basketball game against Lebanon Valley, setting a new school career scoring record of 1,654 points (he will finish the season with 1,833 points). Sadly, Lebanon Valley is still victorious, 76–73.

Inaugural Zora Martin Felton Symposium

Regardless of your locality, you’ll see the most Perseids by looking toward the zenith—the highest point of the sky, which is generally the darkest region of the heavens. All meteors that are part of an organized group move through the sky from an origin point, which is called the radiant. Before midnight, that position will be low in the northeast, so Perseid meteors will appear to be spraying outward from a location near the horizon. As the night progresses, the rate of seeing Perseids will increase as Earth’s rotation moves the radiant higher in the sky. You’ll then be catching meteors from both above and below the radiant. In addition, after midnight, Earth plows into the meteoroid debris, similarly to the front windshield of a moving vehicle getting splattered by more raindrops than the rear window.

Many astronomy enthusiasts call the Perseids the best shooting star event of the year although it does not produce the highest number of meteor counts. For that, try the Geminids in frigid December. The Perseid meteor shower, however, combines relatively high rates of meteor counts with warm summer nights when many families are on vacation, including camping trips away from city lights.

Whether you are one of these folks or simply curious to see a meteor event, spend a few hours viewing the dark sky between midnight and dawn on Sunday morning, August 13, when Perseid rates are predicted to be at their highest. Much success in your Perseid hunting. Ad Astra!

This past April, Moravian University hosted the inaugural Zora Martin Felton Symposium. The workshop-based event addressed high school students and college-age young women and was free to all participants. Students from Liberty and Freedom High Schools and Moravian attended.

The goals of the symposium are to promote the intellectual and educational development of women of color, to engage in meaningful conversations around important issues that promote positive well-being, to identify effective strategies for personal and professional success, and to create a network of empowered leaders. Thirteen workshops were offered. They focused on selfcare, financial literacy, identity building, goal setting, and professional development.

Zora Martin Felton was the first Black graduate of Moravian College for Women in 1952. She earned her master’s degree in education from Howard University in 1980.

The shore of Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana was the setting for this composite image by the author, which records the brightest meteors seen on the night of August 14, 2016, a day after Perseid maximum.

MUSIC

Country music singer Patsy Cline is killed in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee.

MORAVIAN MOMENT Theta Omega, the new Moravian College chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society, is granted national affiliation.

Twenty-three-year-old Jack Nicklaus wins the first of his record six Masters Tournaments at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, setting a new record for youngest winner.

FILM

At the 35th Academy Awards ceremony, David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia wins seven Oscars, including Best Picture.

Bethlehem Mayor William J. Reynolds ’93 with Councilwoman Kiera Wilhelm ’03. To learn more, go to mrvn.co/ homelessness

BOOK SHELF

The Psychology Major’s Companion: EverythingYou Need to Know to Get Where You Want to Go, 3rd edition

By Dana S. Dunn, professor of psychology at Moravian, and Jane S. Halonen

This book will help both prospective and current psychology majors know what to expect from the undergraduate major, the larger discipline, and the marketplace beyond campus. It includes helpful skill-related tips, how to decide on options for course study, and how to apply to graduate school or get a job with an undergraduate degree.

Addressing Housing and Homelessness in Bethlehem

Like cities across the country, Bethlehem is facing a growing homeless population and serious lack of affordable housing. Mayor William J. Reynolds ’03 is on a mission to make long-lasting solutions a priority for his city’s 76,000 residents and their neighbors across the Lehigh Valley.

“We have a housing crisis in the Lehigh Valley and the city of Bethlehem,” says Reynolds. “We’ve been falling short in meeting the needs of the unsheltered population for years, and as homelessness has increased substantially in recent years so too have housing prices and rent, while housing inventory can’t keep up with the demand.”

Bethlehem City Council approved $2 million in the 2023 budget for homelessness services, and the council is also being asked to support $1.4 million in

HOME-ARP funding administered via the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The city hired a consultant to develop a plan and conduct a study for the potential to build the Lehigh Valley’s first year-round permanent shelter for the homeless in Bethlehem. “Most people I’ve spoken to strongly support the idea of a shelter,” says Bethlehem Councilwoman Kiera Wilhelm ’93, who is involved with the project as a Community Development Committee member. Plans include 50 to 70 beds, four family units, and 10 congregant-setting emergency beds. Reynolds is hopeful that this multi-faceted approach, combining a permanent shelter with a transitional housing program and ultimately affordable housing options, will best serve the community.

—Meghan Decker Szvetecz ’08

4/26

MORAVIAN MOMENT

MAY 5/8

In an editorial in The Comenian, associate editor G. Bruce Boyer ’63 lambastes what he calls “this frightfully dangerous delusion known as ‘Civil Defense,’ ”—which is dangerous, he says, because “there is no place one can go to escape a nuclear war.”

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Lawrence H. Gipson, winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize in history, presents a lecture on the causes of the American Revolution in Moravian’s College Union Building.

RETAIL

Retail pharmacy chain Consumer Value Stores is founded in Lowell, Massachusetts. It would change its name to CVS Pharmacy in 1996.

Katie Creighton

MoravianMoment

The Old Nisky Hill Seminary

Many early Moravian schools changed locations multiple times before settling in permanent homes, and the Moravian Theological Seminary was no exception. Established in Nazareth in 1807 as an offshoot of a boys’ boarding school dating to 1743, its original mission was to train ministers and especially teachers, who were in great demand. The school’s curriculum was expanded in 1820 to include a preparatory and classical department. A further expansion of the institutional mission in the mid-19th century prompted efforts to expand its physical campus simultaneously. The school had been moved several times since its founding, and as church leaders searched for a suitable, more permanent location in Bethlehem, the perfect site became available.

In 1855, Benjamin VanKirk had constructed a large building on East Church Street to house his private academy for boys, formerly located on Main Street. Once moved to its new location, the academy was rechristened the Nisky Hill Male Seminary. Shortly after opening the school in the new building, however, VanKirk suffered health problems that forced him to close the academy. A succession of renters occupied the building until 1858, when the Moravian Church took the opportunity to purchase it.

Although under new ownership and officially known as the Moravian Theological Seminary, the campus on East Church Street was sometimes still referred to by the old name Nisky Hill Seminary. It stood on the south side of Church Street, in the block east of North New Street where it now meets Church Street east of City Hall. A writer gave this description in 1873: “Situated on Church Street near Nisky Hill cemetery, it is a fine large commodious brick building, painted lead [grey] color, commanding one of the handsomest sites in the town, overlooking the Lehigh river and mountain, and the rapidly increasing town of South Bethlehem. It is surrounded by a well laid out garden, and a fine large pleasure ground for the recreation of the students.”

By Nancy Rutman ‘84

The old Nisky Hill Seminary building as it looked in the 1850s, as a private academy (above), and circa 1890, when it housed the Moravian Theological Seminary (left)

No doubt such close proximity to South Bethlehem’s many industries, with their noise and smokestacks belching soot, grew less appealing over the years. In any event, by the late 1900s, the deteriorating building was no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the institution. A much larger campus on the northern edge of Bethlehem, anchored by Comenius Hall, was planned and constructed. The last class graduated from the old Nisky Hill Seminary building in June 1892, and by 1897, the building had been demolished and replaced by two large houses—one of which was in turn demolished when New Street was rerouted to make way for the new City Center in the 1960s. Not even a historical plaque remains at the site today to mark this era in Moravian University history.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

The Comenian reports that Winifred A. Kohls of Berkeley, California, and Rudy S. Ackerman of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, will join the faculty for the fall semester as assistant professors of history and art, respectively.

SPORTS Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Coufax pitches his second no-hitter. Later that year, he will win the Cy Young Award and be named Most Valuable Player.

HEALTH Jean Nidetch launches Weight Watchers Inc. Its first meeting attracts more than 400 attendees.

Moravian Moment: Engraving and photograph courtesy of Moravian Archives, Bethlehem

My Life at Moravian

By Andrew K. Semmel

’64

At the urging of friends and family, I have begun to write my memoir. In so doing, I’ve discovered that many of my friendships, memories, and memorabilia readily track back to my undergraduate years at Moravian. Over those formative years, I lived at four different addresses. In my junior year, I had a room to myself for the first time in my life.

After graduation, I went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees, met new friends and colleagues, and enjoyed a wide range of experiences, but none have endured or have been so meaningful as those I experienced at Moravian College in the early 1960s. No one was aware at the time, or few since, that I was effectively

homeless almost from the start of my freshman year. Because of this, I remained on or near campus during school breaks and holidays and between semesters. I did odd jobs to make some income, and I cooked my own meals. I got to know the maintenance and custodial staff, who were from diverse backgrounds, each ready to recite stories and lessons learned from their hardships and their successes in overcoming them. I received no college credits for those conversations and campus jobs, but they enriched my time, helped pay my bills, and unquestionably broadened my education.

Were it not for Rocco Calvo, head football coach at the time, who granted me a tuition-free scholarship, I would not have been able to begin and remain at Moravian. Rocco was a football All-American at Cornell University. As a quarterback at Moravian, I was his star student, having been chosen as the most valuable player (MVP) in our division of the Middle Atlantic Conference my senior year. I learned so much from Rocco’s

Photograph courtesy of Andy Semmel

energy, enthusiasm, and athleticism. He also helped find me a job and a place to live at a summer camp in northeast Pennsylvania.

Fellow classmate Ed Wolfsohn helped me land summer jobs as a busboy and waiter in the Catskill Mountains resorts. There I spent three full summers with a place to live, learn, enjoy Jewish culinary traditions, and earn enough money to come back to Moravian. The work routine was grueling: three meals a day, seven days a week, and no time off, but the camaraderie that developed and lessons learned about persistence compensated almost entirely for the long hours and low wages.

Without the support of Ron dePaolo ’64—fellow student, dorm proctor my freshman year, and off-campus roommate my senior year—I might have succumbed to the stubborn financial, logistical, and other obstacles confronting me and dropped out of school. Ron lauded my academic attributes and urged me to participate in campus activities outside of football, including student government. His encouragement and positive example helped immeasurably to boost my self-confidence and shore up my willingness to stay the course. To this day, we remain the best of friends, and I am deeply indebted to him for his advice and guidance in those early years and since.

Following graduation, I remained tethered to Moravian through select faculty members, fellow students, changing administrations, and special events. I invited political science professor Hwa Jol Jung to lecture at my graduate school. I served on some alumni special task forces at Moravian and later returned to campus on two separate occasions to teach senior-level courses on international relations and foreign policy. One course required that I commute once a week from Washington, DC, where I worked in the United States Senate, to teach a three-hour session. In 1996, I was honored to be granted Moravian College’s Comenius Award [given in recognition of outstanding achievement or service in an alumna’s or alumnus’s field of work], and now I am proud to fund a scholarship in my name.

I occasionally reflect upon those four years, particularly my senior year, when I played two intercollegiate sports—football and baseball—lived off-campus, held three part-time jobs, and bought my first (used) car. It was then that I overcame my shyness and began dating. I also served as president of the student government and stayed on the dean’s list.

None of this was planned, of course. It just happened, and I am the better person for it all.

Left: Andy Semmel receives the Comenius Award for outstanding achievement in his career. Near right: In his senior year, Semmel was president of United Student Government. Far right: Moravian President Raymond S. Haupert congratulates Semmel at commencement.

Far left: Semmel was a member of the Triangle Honor Society, which recognizes students for academic achievement, social service, and athletic contributions. Near left: a standout quarterback for the Greyhounds, Semmel would be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Master Artist

At the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, paintings by Nokukhanya Langa ’13 hang alongside those of world-renowned artists. It’s an achievement that once seemed improbable.

by Anndee Hochman

Photographs by Stacii Samidin

As a child, Nokukhanya Langa ’13 decorated rocks with crayons and got her hands sticky with papier-mâché. After school, she scrambled to the classroom chalkboard to draw spokes of yellow sun radiating down on kid-renditions of people.

On museum jaunts with her mom and older sister, Langa viewed the paintings of the “masters,” an artistic canon dominated by white, European men. She didn’t know any professional artists, and it never occurred to her that the work of a young, Black, female painter could hang beside those classics.

Still, she felt driven to draw. When an older cousin who lived with her family hunched over a school art assignment, Langa stared, fascinated with his work.

“[Art] wasn’t a hobby; I was obsessed by it,” she says. “I was fixated with anything related to drawing or painting. My earliest memories were of arts-andcrafts projects. My mother wanted us to use our imaginations.”

That was in Clinton, Maryland, where Langa was born to an American mother and a South African father, a political exile from apartheid. But when that country’s system of racial segregation and brutality ended in the early 1990s, the family returned to her father’s birthplace.

She lived in South Africa from age 5 to 12, then returned to the United States. The culture jolt was internal: “Oh, I’m not really as American as I thought I was. In America, there are really sharp lines racially. In South Africa, I was in the majority, but not in the US. It was hard to find common ground to get along with other kids.”

“[ART] WASN’T A HOBBY; I WAS OBSESSED BY IT.“

Drawing and painting grounded her: Langa, 31, who is “Nana” to her family and “Noku” to friends, took summer art classes during high school. At 17, she knew she wanted to study art in college.

By that time, she’d been to seven or eight different schools between first grade and 12th. There were gaps in her education; there was more she wanted to learn outside of the art studio. “I decided to go to Moravian, where I’d have a liberal arts education and take courses outside my art degree.”

The art department was traditional and rigorous. Langa remembers “hours and hours painting still lifes” and honing her skill with figure drawing. “I appreciate how much time was spent making sure we had a good foundational base of form, light, and material. I was cultivating something I would carry for years.”

Even in introductory classes, Langa’s work stood out, says Angela Fraleigh, professor of art and head of the studio track. “She was incredibly skilled, talented, and smart. She’s an incredible draftsperson.”

Outside the art room, Langa hung out with classmates who were passionate about political science and education. “I took theology courses and thought, ‘This is engaging my brain in a different way than in my art courses.’”

She also ran track and field, excelling as a hurdler, and that rigor carried over to her art. “When I made art, I found I could push myself further, work very long hours because I had the discipline track had given me—how to be uncomfortable and work through something. Track also gave me this flow state, which I sometimes get when I’m doing art.” But it wasn’t always easy to be a Black woman with a globe-spanning history in a majority-white environment. Langa’s high school was racially and ethnically diverse; Moravian was a sharp contrast. “The first year, I wondered if it was a good fit for me.”

“I WAS CULTIVATING SOMETHING I WOULD CARRY FOR YEARS.”

But she stayed, found friends, and considers those four years part of her catalog of crucial life experiences. “With each one, it adds to your library of how to get along with people who are different from you, how to get by in situations that may not feel all that comfortable.”

By the time she graduated, Langa knew she would pursue art somehow. She’d heard all the disheartening counsel—“You’ll never make money; you’ll need a ‘real job’ ”—and plunged ahead. She calls it a kind of faith. Delusion. And obsession.

“I had this brazen confidence, the feeling that I had nothing to lose. I was never in it for the money. But some things, you’re just so into it you never think about the longevity. You almost have to be a little bit crazy.”

When Langa was a sophomore, her mother moved to India for work; Langa joined her after graduation and lived there for three years before starting a master’s degree at the Frank Mohr Institute in the Netherlands.That’s where her work took a sharp turn. For years, she’d been refining her technical skills with tradi-tional media—graphite on paper, oil paint— and figure drawing. “But I felt frustrated. I didn’t know how to do anything other than draw and paint technically. I didn’t know if I was making art.”

During her master’s program, Langa did an exchange at Hunter College in New York. It was too cumbersome to tote canvases, easels, and brushes overseas, so she began to scavenge trash bins for materials: plaster, wood, plastic bags. She made things that were intentionally “ugly.” She let go of accurate representation.

Her work began to include playful, imaginative elements, juxtapositions of text and image, squiggles of color, rough surfaces, a kind of cheeky humor. “I felt a lightheartedness,” she says. “For the first time, I was using my imagination and pushing myself creatively. I had the confidence to explore abstraction.”

Fraleigh describes her former student’s work— including a painting recently acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp and another that hangs in the Centre Pompidou in Paris—as “grounded in various visual languages... it’s an investigation of this kind of contemporary, internet swirl” that pulls in cartoonlike elements, advertising tropes (such as the Morton salt-shaker girl with the umbrella), and scraps of remembered or overheard text.

Langa keeps journals and sketchbooks of those tidbits—“things I’ve heard or collected, this kind of memory bank, things you know culturally.” One piece, painted on what looks like a rumpled patch of blue sky, includes multicolored arrows connecting brief phrases: “wake up and scream...trouble remembering...do you die?” Sentence fragments or words often occur in a gyre of color winding toward the center or radiating outward. Outsized, googly eyes are a frequent motif. Her materials include linen, oils, acrylic, metal, lacquer, plaster, and wood.

Langa used to think she needed to convey a single, consistent message—an “oeuvre”—in her paintings. Now, she says, she rejects the idea of being “boxed in” by a single identity, technique, or theme. The through lines in Langa’s work are freedom, playfulness, energy, and experimentation. “I try not to think about how people will interpret things. No two people will look at it the same way,” she explains.

Over time—the liberating stretch of graduate school; a two-year postgraduate residency at the HISK Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium; the grants that followed; her home now in the Netherlands, a country that generously supports artists with funding and resources—she’s come to embrace the idea that her art, like her life, is a kind of multiverse.

“I often tell my mom, ‘We don’t really have a home.’ My sense of identity isn’t so much tied to a place; it’s informed by all these contrasting, sometimes contradictory, experiences. My life has helped me have a kind of freedom in my work.”

Now Langa’s had solo shows in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. She’s been honored through awards and grants including a 2021 Collectors of Contemporary Art (CoCA) Award for promising artists in the Netherlands and the Mondriaan Fund Stipendium for Emerging Artists. She earns her living as a creator of art. Her paintings hang in the sorts of places she once visited as a young person— museums that still hold scant work by women and people of color.

“It’s a big deal that as a Black woman I’m represented in these collections,” Langa says. “It’s really cool that maybe one day, someone who looks like me will see my work and think, ‘Maybe I could do that.’ For me, that’s a really important part of the story.”

Anndee Hochman is a journalist, essayist, and storyteller. Her column, “The Parent Trap,” appears weekly in the Philadelphia Inquirer

THE THROUGH LINES IN LANGA’S WORK ARE FREEDOM, PLAYFULNESS, ENERGY, AND EXPERIMENTATION.

Student Composers

After the Allentown Symphony Orchestra launched a new music competition for composers throughout southeastern

Photographs by Theo Anderson

Pennsylvania, Moravian students Grace Young ’23 and Ryan Anderson ’25 scored winning compositions.

by Claire Kowalchik P’22

Score a Win

Chris Rogerson finished reviewing the last of 44 scores written for a string quartet and submitted to the Allentown Symphony New Music–Chamber Music Composers Competition. An additional 23 compositions, including one from Japan, had been pulled because they came from outside southeastern Pennsylvania. Rogerson, a composer himself, whose work has been performed by the San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston symphonies, among others, teaches at the acclaimed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He has been the composerin-residence with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra for three years and was charged with judging the competition submissions.

“It was extremely difficult to select from such a strong pool of applicants,” says Rogerson. Finally, he chose eight pieces, including those from a composer-in-residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra, a doctoral candidate in music composition at the Curtis Institute, and two music composition majors from Moravian—Grace Young ’23 and Ryan Anderson ’25.

Their works debuted on March 28, 2023, at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts as part of the Allentown Symphony New Music Chamber Series. The finished compositions were performed brilliantly by the quartet pulled from the Allentown Symphony Orchestra: Eliezer Gutman, violin and concertmaster; Inna Eyzerovich, violin and associate concertmaster; Pamela Jacobsen, viola; and Jameson Platte, cello.

Young and Anderson had listened to their pieces through the composition programs they used to notate their scores, but those renditions sound synthetic and electronic. The concert provided them with the first opportunity to hear their work performed live—and by masterful musicians.

“I chose Moravian because it is close to home, my church, family, and friends, and I really like the music professors here and the small classes. I feel valued as an individual.”

—Ryan Anderson ’25

“It was so awesome!” says Young. “It was unreal to hear a piece that I composed being performed by such a high caliber of musicians. I was so honored!”

Inspired by Art

A year earlier, in the Contemporary Music course taught by Larry Lipkis, professor of music and Moravian’s composer-in-residence, Young had watched a presentation about the art installation The Dinner Party by feminist artist Judy Chicago. In Chicago’s work, three 48-foot lengths combine to form a table in the shape of an equilateral triangle, representing equality for women. The triangle is also an ancient symbol for woman and goddess. On the table, 39 individual place settings (13 per side—think The Last Supper) represent 39 significant women in history. The first side of the table honors women from prehistory to classical Rome; the second side, Christianity through the Reformation; and the third side, the American Revolution through the women’s movement. The names of 999 additional women are inscribed on the Heritage Floor on which the table stands.

Young was captivated. “I thought it was so cool, and I started researching it. I brought it into my composition class and said I wanted to write something about it.” The piece, Dinner Party, celebrates Chicago’s art and earned Young a place among the final eight.

Applying the theme of three, Young composed Dinner Party in three movements performed by three instruments: violin, viola, and cello. The movements correspond to three periods in history: medieval, early modern, and modern. Young modeled each movement after a piece written by a female composer from each of those three historical eras:

“A big reason for coming to Moravian is this is the only school in the area where I could major in music composition and have bass as my primary instrument.”

—Grace Young ’23

● “Rubor Sanguinis,” a chant by German Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)

● Motetti con le Litanie della Beata Vergine, Op 10: Ave Regina Caelorum, by Italian composer Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704)

● “March of the Women,” the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement, by English composer Ethel Smyth (1858–1944)

Hildegard and Smyth are honored with place settings at Chicago’s table.

“For each movement, I took a very small quote from the melody of the piece and composed around it.”

Young writes out the melody and then sketches the shape of the piece—what the peak should sound like, whether she will follow a storyline. Next she focuses on the harmony and rhythms, combining period and modern musical sensibilities and techniques, working out her piece on the guitar before transitioning to music composition software.

“I match the era but modernize it,” explains Young. The first movement, based on a chant, uses simple harmonies and is full of space. The second incorporates dance rhythms, and the third movement uses repetition to echo a march.

“Grace is a very talented polystylist composer who can write confidently in a variety of styles and genres from classical to Big Band,” says Lipkis. “Here, she taps into her classical roots and spins her own take on the works of three legendary women composers.”

“It was a really imaginative idea—original, interesting, and thoughtfully composed,” says Rogerson, “and the music was compelling.”

Impassioned by Ukraine

Also compelling is Anderson’s winning composition, Apassionata, written in response to the war in Ukraine.

Anderson grew up in Effort, Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. His family has its roots in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, from which his great-grandparents emigrated to the United States. A powerful connection to Ukraine formed in Anderson through his heritage and his church, St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Allentown, established in the early 1900s largely due to the efforts of his great-grandfather. Anderson has attended mass at St. Mary’s with his family every Sunday since he was

a baby. He still does today. The proximity to his church and his family and friends was a factor in his decision to choose Moravian. The quality of the music faculty and the intimate classes confirmed his choice.

Anderson is deeply affected by the war in Ukraine, and his feelings for the events there have fueled his compositions. Apassionata is the second in a threepart series he composed for Ukraine. “It’s not narrative,” says Anderson. “It doesn’t follow a story— the life of a Ukrainian soldier, for example. It’s an overview of the country and what’s happening and my emotions and feelings regarding those events.

Anderson works out his pieces on the piano.

Listen to the Music

The only way to truly appreciate a composition is, of course, to hear it performed. Go to mrvn.co/dinner-party to listen to Dinner Party, by Grace Young ’23, performed by Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO) members Eliezer Gutman, violin and concertmaster; Pamela Jacobson, viola; and Jameson Platte, cello. Thanks to Andrew Young (Grace’s dad) for sharing his video with us.

You can listen to Apassionata, by Ryan Anderson ’25, at mrvn.co/ apassionata. The piece was performed by the aforementioned ASO musicians and Inna Eyzerovich, violin and associate concertmaster. The video was provided by Daniel Anderson (Ryan’s brother).

Anderson’s first piece in the series, And Yet the Sunflower’s Still Standing, a duet between piano and violin, was performed by the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. The third composition, Lament, for string symphony, may be performed in the fall 2023 semester by the Moravian University Orchestra.

“What I’ve been writing recently is in light of everything I’m absorbing from the news about Ukraine, but it’s an outpouring of what I’m feeling,” Anderson says. He compares his approach to that of Gustav Mahler, one of his favorite composers. “We are similar in that we both write music from the heart—emotional, impassioned, and speaking without using words—so when I compose music, I write my emotions, I write what I feel, I write what pours out of me.”

That outpouring can be heard and felt when one listens to Apassionata, and it influcenced Rogerson’s selection. “It is a beautiful composition and heartfelt,” he says. “That artistic vulnerability should be celebrated.”

Pointed toward the Future

Currently, Anderson is working with Lipkis on a composition for a brass quintet. He will write more music, seek more opportunities with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, and explore additional competitions. He is working toward his ultimate goal of becoming a composer and conductor. “Composing is my thing,” he says. He also plans to continue with his education to earn a doctoral degree so that he can teach at the college level and help young music majors toward their goals.

“It starts off mourning, almost weeping as expressed by a descending melody that begins with the viola— in a low register—then moves to the cello, which is an even lower register. Next it stacks on violin 2 and violin 1 and expands into this larger complex thing. It’s insanely difficult because of the key signature— there are no open strings.

“It speaks to the complexity of the situation in Ukraine—so many moving parts, so many different things going on, people losing family or homes or both. And there are the beheadings.”

Says Lipkis, “The music is intense and passionate; very challenging to perform, but also very gratifying.”

Young wanted to compose scores for films after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean, but despite her success writing music, she wants to play music. “After composing pieces for a while here at Moravian, I don’t think I can make a career of it—it is exhausting.”

Her alter ego, the bass player, has performed on the upright and electric bass in pit orchestras and pit bands since eighth grade (while at Moravian, she performed with local high school musicals). Bassist Young hopes she can get picked up by a tour. Looking ahead long-term, she wants to become a conductor. “I love conducting and working with ensembles,” she says.

Wherever their journeys take them, Young and Anderson are sure to find success. As Rogerson says confidently, “They have great futures.”

Young uses the guitar in her composition process.

Let There Be Light—and Dark

I hate the light, the variety that robs the darkness of any wonder, any mystery... takes away its very existence.

I should modify that animus. Light serves a purpose, of course. It fuels our lives. Without it, perish the thought, we’d be in our dark shelters from sunset to dawn. No—the light I despise is the encroaching kind that erases the natural order of things, that disrupts circadian rhythms and the very metabolism of life that requires some

measure of darkness. Light pollution affects a host of innocent creatures from migrating birds to nesting turtles. Even trees!

According to a March 2022 report out of the US Department of Energy, 83 percent of the global population lives under a light-polluted sky (mrvn.co/doe).

I grew up in northeast New Jersey, which was then very rural. New York City was 40-some miles away by crow flight, and at

Illustration by Alexa Grace

night our local darkness was total. Unless there was a full moon, you could barely see your hand in front of your face. Some very dark nights, I would negotiate the 500-yard trek to the top of the little hill near our home, seek out my favorite flat rock ledge, lie back, and watch the heavens. The stars cast the only light, save for an occasional shooting star. And as my eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness, the stars’ light intensified, the Milky Way became visible, and I marveled at the unimaginable distances I was trying to see but really could only fantasize about.

I didn’t know then what a light-year was or that the stars I saw twinkling and alive above me were evanescent objects, perhaps long dead—that I was seeing images cast eons and eons ago. Five billion light years is, as old characters from ’40s Westerns put it, “a far piece.” Zillions of zeroes.

Those memories flooded back 50 years later when I built my dream house on the western side of that little mountain. My hometown had become the vanguard of the Crabgrass Frontier, the far edge of Greater New York–New Jersey suburbia, but I owned enough land to let me pretend nothing had changed. Not another house in sight. Deep, dark nights. Wildlife and wind in the trees the only sounds.

My first night in my new home was in late April. The maples and oaks had yet to leaf out. No moonlight. Just stars. I dozed off but woke up startled. The mountaintop of my youth was bathed in an eerie light. It seemed like a fleet of cars were parked up there aiming their headlights right at me. I dressed and went to investigate, accompanied by Dudley, my faithful Dalmatian, sleepy but not wanting to be left out of any adventure.

No cars. But in those years of my absence, the world had closed in. The light, called sky glow, was almost bright enough to read

by. Suburbia was creeping inexorably closer day by day. Greater New York–New Jersey was exploding westward at the rate of 100 yards a day, by one estimate. At that rate of expansion, Greater NY–NJ would soon be crossing the Delaware and eyeing Harrisburg. I would be a forested island washed over by a flood of humanity, with minimalls and all the other amenities endemic to suburban life, including floodlights to keep the dark away from all this valuable stuff. Omnipresent light erasing the dark.

The hardwoods leafed in soon enough and shielded me from the night’s glare, but autumn soon denuded them again. The light seemed even more pervasive and persistent. Every house of those suburban enclaves stood secure in its encasement of floodlights, warding off who knows what sort of evil doer that might be skulking in the dark. Lawnmower thieves? Tool shed bandits? These lights came on at dusk and stayed on until dawn.

And there was nothing I could do about it. Powerlessness isn’t comforting, especially to a curmudgeon like me. I was a victim of light pollution, ambient illumination that is both annoying and mostly unnecessary. One home had a light fixture over the garage door that never went off. Never.

In Maine, electricity is expensive. The state requires power providers to maintain miles and miles of poles and attached wires. It’s called delivery, and the charge on the bill is often higher than that for the power.

So Mainers tend to be much more judicious about their use of light. Motionactivated lights that shut off after a minute or so suffice.

Summer visitors, the folks “from away,” as natives call them, don’t seem as careful, but their night lighting does attract our mosquitoes, so the trade-off is worth it. Once the “away people” leave, darkness reigns again, just the way most of us like it.

The first place in Maine I visited billed itself as Sunrise Lodge, so named because it was at nearly the easternmost point in the United States. If you got up at 4:15 a.m. and looked eastward, you could think of yourself as the first person in the whole country to see sunrise. The downside was night, which also came lots earlier, say 3:30 p.m. come October.

But because there is no ambient light, the night skies are so stunningly brilliant they take your breath away and let your imagination go where it will. A star voyager in this vastness. Nothing but you and the dark. Perfection. The way, as we say up here in the North Country, life should be.

Ron dePaolo ’64 Penobscot, Maine

Ron dePaolo enjoyed a distinguished career as a journalist for Life and Business Week, and his articles have been published in Audubon, Smithsonian, and Outdoors magazines, among others.

Once the “away people” leave, darkness reigns again, just the way most of us like it.

GreyhoundSports

Wartman Inducted into MAC Hall of Fame

Former Moravian University cross country and track & field studentathlete Tracy Wartman ’96 is a member of the 12th class to be inducted into the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Hall of Fame. Wartman ran for both the Greyhound cross country and track & field teams from 1992 to 1996 and achieved several titles:

l Six-time All-American: twice in cross country, once in indoor track, and three times in outdoor track

l National Champion in the NCAA Division III outdoor track & field

1,500-meter run (1994)

l Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Champion and NCAA Division III Regional Individual Champion (1994)

l MAC Individual Champion (1995)

Greyhounds Go All the Way!

The 2023 Moravian softball team began the year facing several challenges, including adjusting to a new head coach for the first time in 30 years as Josh Baltz ’08 took over guiding the Greyhounds with a roster that had 18 freshmen and sophomores among 23 total players. But Baltz and his players let nothing stop them from getting to the national championships.

The Blue & Grey ran through the Landmark Conference regular season to a 10–2 mark, earning top seed and the right to host the 2023 Landmark Conference Tournament at Blue & Grey Field for the ninth time. Home fans cheered as their Greyhounds took the Landmark Conference Championship—the 10th for the Greyhounds in 15 Landmark Conference Tournaments since the start of the conference in 2008 and the 18th conference title since 2000.

After next winning the regional championship—their sixth—the Greyhounds headed north to the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Super Regional, hosted by MIT on May 26–27. In the final contest, the Blue & Grey posted an 8–0, five-inning victory for the first Super Regional title in program history and a berth in the national championship finals in Texas.

At nationals, the Greyhounds were the only nonranked team among the final eight schools and stunned the crowds by defeating top-ranked Salisbury University, 4–1, on the first day of the tournament. Moravian finished the tournament tied for fifth, capping off a season with a 38–12 record, and ranked sixth in the final 2023 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 Poll.

Women’s Relay Team Competes at NCAA Championships

The Greyhounds’ 4 ✕ 400-meter relay team—seniors Rachel Byrne, Helen Davis, and Crystal Robinson and sophomore Abby Giamoni—tied the school record in their final chance to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships. They entered the meet, hosted by St. John Fisher University on May 25, ranked 15th in the nation, to place fifth in their heat and 12th out of 16 teams in a time of 47.47 seconds.

Moravian Leads the Way in Play4Kay

For the 15th consecutive year, the Moravian University women’s basketball program tops NCAA Division III schools in raising funds through Play4Kay, a grassroots initiative of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. This not-for-profit organization is committed to supporting women’s cancer research and projects that assist the underserved community. Its primary support comes from women’s basketball teams across the country that participate in Play4Kay to raise money and awareness. This year, Moravian raised $18,012 in donations.

Endler Named Assistant Coach of the Year

Moravian University Assistant Coach Amy Endler ’93 has been named Assistant Coach of the Year for NCAA Division III by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. This recognition is awarded to one associate head coach or assistant coach in each membership division who demonstrates commitment to their program, their student-athletes, and their head coach through their coaching on the court, their mentorship of other coaches, and their professional manner and attitude.

Endler, a member of the Moravian University Athletics Hall of Fame, helped guide the Greyhounds to a mark of 371–191 and 20 postseason appearances, including five NCAA Division III Tournament bids. “The Assistant Coach of the Year honor is a well-deserved honor for Amy,” says Mary Beth Spirk, athletic director and head women’s basketball coach. “She embodies all that is defined in an assistant coach: loyalty, hard work, passion and consistent effort every day, in and out of season.”

Lighting the Way: The Campaign for Moravian University is more than a fundraising initiative—it is our promise to change the life of every Moravian student through scholarships, meaningful experiences, and leading-edge technology and learning facilities.We are so grateful for our valued alumni and supporters who are lighting the way for our students, their future, and the next generation. We are lighting the way together!

Creating a Space for Peace and Renewal

So much about Dr. Herman E. Collier Jr. P’86 and Jerline W. Collier P’86 has to do with chemistry. As a couple, Herm and Jerri had an immediate and lasting chemistry that endured for 72 years. Herm studied chemistry as an undergraduate student at Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. His advanced studies in chemistry brought them north to Bethlehem so he could pursue his master’s and doctorate from Lehigh University. Herm

later served as a research chemist for DuPont until he eventually became the first lay president of Moravian College in 1969.

Today, the study of chemistry at Moravian takes place in the Collier Hall of Science, which will be visible from the Jerline Weston Collier Wellness Terrace, a new space designated as part of the Haupert Union Building (HUB) expansion project and a fitting tribute to them both. “My dad

was fortunate to be recognized with his name on the science building, but it was always my mom and dad working together to create the family ‘feel’ on campus,” says Ed Collier, the eldest of Herm and Jerri’s three sons and daughter.

Dr. H. Edward Collier III, Thomas W. Collier ’86, and their wives and children (their brother Michael and sister Kathryn are deceased) wanted to honor Jerri in a way that was more personal to who she was and how she was known. The three

courtesy of Ed Collier

Modern portraits

The Collier sons (from left): Mike, Tom, and Ed

boys grew up in Historic Bethlehem in the shadow of Central Moravian Church. For several years they had the monopoly on the paper route of Church Street, jokes Ed, who has fond memories of that time. “Mom was a big baker and would do teas for the women in the Sisters’ and Widows’ Houses. People would sometimes drop off sweets for her to share. I always noticed that when she returned the containers, there were more cookies going out than coming in,” remembers Ed. “She would say that you always have to give away at least one or two more than you receive, as things should flow away from you. I think she meant not only cookies but just service that you do for people—the way you approach life.”

Through the Lighting the Way campaign, Moravian aims to invest in spaces that adapt to the changing needs of its students. This ambitious fundraising priority gave the Collier family the perfect way to honor Jerri. To her, wellness was more about taking care of others than herself. While many mothers and wives are selfless and devote their time to those around them, benevolence was Jerri’s mission. “People sought counsel with her. I remember coming home from high school, and there would be one or two women from next door at South Hall sitting and talking. Later, I would ask who they were, and she would just say ‘new friends,’ ” recalls Ed. “I think she had to help some people.”

Through the Jerline Weston Collier Wellness Terrace, the Colliers want to create a space where students can take time to center themselves—to “look beyond the noise and find the quiet miracle,” as Jerri would say. According to a BestColleges survey of 1,000 undergraduate students in the United States in 2022, more than three out of every four college students (77 percent) experienced moderate to serious psychological distress, 35 percent were diagnosed with anxiety, and 27 percent had depression. Almost 9 in 10 students (89 percent) who face academic challenges say it affects their mental health. This is in addition to all they are already experiencing, including social stressors,

being expected to plan financially, and in some cases living away from home for the first time.

Plans for the Wellness Terrace include biophilic design practices like access to fresh air, nature, and light to reduce stress and improve cognitive function, creativity, and well-being. Students will be able to use the space to recharge in the safe company of friends or in solitude. “College life can be quite stressful. Looking at communities and schools today facing safety issues, we hope that the HUB will create an environment where people know they matter—where there is a family,” states Ed. “Mom knew mindfulness before we knew what that was. She would say, ‘find gratitude for the day you’re in.’ ”

It is that sort of positive attitude and thinking that Ed and Tom want students to find in this space. Just as they were taught at home, Ed and Tom want students to know that there is never a problem that cannot be heard or worked out. Even on the toughest days, the Wellness Terrace will be a place where students can go for peace and renewal. “Not everyone had the nurturing that I had when I was younger. If we had an exam or were stressed and we were bringing lunch to school, somewhere would be a note hidden by Mom that said, ‘Hang in there,’ ” recalls Ed. “We’d like the Terrace to sort of act like when you drop a pebble in the pond—there will be a ripple effect of one student looking out for many. One phrase I always remember hearing Mom say is, ‘Take care of each other.’ ”

To learn more about Herm and Jerri Collier and their continued legacy, visit moravian.edu/lightingtheway.

Running Toward a Bright Future

It was bold of Joshua Mangini ’24 to become a Greyhound instead of a Husky. After all, his brother, mother, father, and grandparents all attended the University of Connecticut. But Mangini is considering a future in his parents’ healthcare profession, which may make up for it a little bit. “I am from New Hartford, a small town in northwest Connecticut, and I first heard about Moravian through a college guidance counselor,” he says. “I decided to visit and instantly knew I was going here. I really loved Main Street and the beautiful campus.”

Moravian appealed even more to Mangini when he earned the Gail Smith Winson ’66 Scholarship, a merit award designated for students recruited from outside of Pennsylvania, New Jersey,

“She would say that you always have to give away at least one or two more than you receive, as things should flow away from you. I think she meant not only cookies, but just service that you do for people— the way you approach life.”

— Dr. H. Ed Collier III

New York, and Delaware. Scholarships are a Lighting the Way campaign priority. They can include criteria for how they are awarded, like the Winson Scholarship, which is meant to enhance the reach and reputation of the university. “This scholarship is really the only reason I am able to attend Moravian,” Mangini explains. “It has allowed me to make lifelong friends and pursue my dreams both academically and athletically, and I could not be more thankful.”

Regardless of where he matriculated, Mangini’s family is proud of him. He is studying business and plans to earn his MBA from Moravian in healthcare management. “I really want to do all I can for the healthcare industry,” Mangini says. “Growing up going to work with [my parents] often made me realize how I always wanted to stay in the field.” His goal is to someday run a business similar to the one that employs his father, a physical therapist, and his mother, a physical therapist assistant.

Mangini’s parents’ transformative work treating athletes piqued his interest in sports. He knew he wanted to run in college, and finding a respected coach was just as important to him as finding the right academic home. Under Coach Jesse Baumann, Mangini was named a US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic and made the 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country Team for NCAA Division III schools. Both accomplishments require athletic and academic excellence. “Coach Baumann has been amazing since I stepped on campus,”

states Mangini. “He is very caring and passionate about the sport as well as the athletes he coaches. He makes you want to be better.”

Meaningful experiences, such as the opportunity to participate in athletic competitions and for athletic and academic excellence awards, are another campaign priority. Moravian strives to offer its students and student-athletes opportunities to cultivate critical leadership and teamwork skills that serve them well beyond the classroom. In Mangini’s case, running meets his need to stay active, stay focused on school work, and even achieve his postgraduate goal of competing in marathons. “I enjoy running because it brings people together and is super relaxing for me,” he added. “I feel like I found a really good balance of academics, sports, and friends and am able to stick to it.”

Mangini says the opportunities he was afforded at Moravian will compel him to give back one day. “I think this scholarship has influenced me to be philanthropic in the future. I know how much it means to me, and I would only want the same for others,” he says. “After finishing my master’s, I hope to get a job at a hospital nearby and possibly help Coach Baumann. It has always been a dream of mine to coach, and what better place to help out than at the university that gave me so many opportunities.”

Celebrating Community and Creativity

This past spring, Moravian University held dedication events to honor the generous contributions of Honnie Spencer, MD ’90 and her support of Moravian’s public health, music, and dance programs.

On April 20, trustees, faculty, staff, students, and Dr. Spencer’s family gathered to formally dedicate the Honnie Spencer, MD ’90 Public Health Professions Research & Advisory Suite, located in the Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz Center for Health Sciences. President Bryon L. Grigsby ’90, P’22, ’P26 and Colleen Payton, PhD, assistant professor and director of the public health program, thanked Dr. Spencer for providing students a space to learn about community health, environmental health, and epidemiology through experiential lessons and research opportunities.

Get to Know Our Lighting theWay Subcommittee Chairs

Rev. Bruce M. Weaknecht ’77, S’81, P’03, P’04, P’11 Chair, Seminary Alumni Subcommittee

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

Upgrading technology resources and modernizing the HUB shows that Moravian prepares for the future.

What are you most excited to see Lighting the Way make possible for Moravian? The scholarship funds will help more students follow their education dreams.

Larisa Fava ’21, S’26 Chair, Students Subcommittee

What is your personal motto? Serve Jesus where he leads me.

How do you spend your free time? Walking on the beach or playing with grandchildren.

Share your favorite memory from Moravian. The acceptance and encouragement from my classmates in both class time and social gatherings.

What advice would you give to a current student?

For seminary students to cultivate their daily prayer life.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?

Most people are surprised to learn I was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and adopted on my first birthday by my parents.

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

I have so many favorites, but at this moment I have been really rocking out to the band AJR. I love the energy, danceability, and message that their songs share.

What is/was your favorite meal in the dining hall?

I always looked forward to cheeseburger quesadilla night, and since graduating, I have made it at home a few times to relive the “good ol’ days” in the dining hall.

What advice would you give to a current student?

Do not be afraid to ask the questions you have in class. Nine times out of 10 you are not the only person in the room with that question.

Why is it important for you to serve/ volunteer?

I would not have been able to call Moravian home without the help of our supporters, so I was excited and honored to join this subcommittee to help allow for many more students to be able to call Moravian home for years to come.

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

I am excited to see Lighting the Way allow for more students to find new opportunities to grow academically here at Moravian in preparation for their lives beyond the Greyhound Pack.

On April 22, Dr. Spencer, President Grigsby, and Neil Wetzel, EdD, professor and chair of the music department, toured the Keithley & Emerald Spencer Recording Studio, which Dr. Spencer named in honor of her parents. It is currently under construction and will provide students in Moravian’s music audio program the space and technology to practice digital audio recording, design, and production, broadening their skill set for future careers.

Later that afternoon, Moravian University Dance Company faculty and students, community members, and Dr. Spencer’s family and friends gathered to dedicate the Emerald Spencer Dance Studio, also named after Dr. Spencer’s mother. President Grigsby and Lisa Busfield, artistic director of the dance program, expressed their gratitude to Dr. Spencer for her service and leadership in expanding the dance studio and providing

a dedicated space for tap dance instruction and a sports medicine room for injury treatment and rehabilitation. The ceremony ended with a tap dance performance and reception. Attendees were then welcome to attend the company’s annual performance.

For a full profile on Dr. Honnie Spencer and the inspiration for her generosity, visit moravian.edu/lightingtheway/ spencer-gift-2023

AlumniEvents

Shining Lights

On April 21, the Moravian University Alumni Association presented its annual awards to alumni, students, and community partners who are exemplars of the Moravian University mission and demonstrate transformative leadership in a world of change.

Kris McGurrin Rooney is an MD, but her work supporting young medical professionals and promoting overall well-being makes her an educator at heart.

Kris has served as a mentor to numerous resident physicians, guiding them to reach their desired fellowship programs and career sites. She has held faculty appointments at Penn State College of Medicine and currently holds an appointment at University of South Florida College of Medicine. Kris has developed and implemented a robust certifying board exam preparatory curriculum that integrates adult learning styles to improve residency board pass rates.

When the COVID pandemic forced learning to go virtual, Kris developed online lessons for clinical rotations, allowing residents to continue their training and stay on track for graduation.

Benigna Education Award

Kris McGurrin Rooney, MD ’97

The Benigna Education Award recognizes an alumnus or alumna for his or her outstanding contributions to the field of education. Administrators, college professors, elementary and secondary teachers, and all those in the teaching profession are eligible. To be considered, nominees should have made significant innovations in the teaching profession or otherwise substantially impacted the education process and, in addition, have demonstrated dedication to the community at large.

Kris graduated magna cum laude from Moravian in 1997 with a degree in clinical psychology and a minor in biology. She went on to medical school at the Penn State College of Medicine, and after graduating in 2004, she completed her residency and fellowship training at Penn State Children’s Hospital in Hershey. Kris accepted a physician role at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital of the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), where she also serves as chief wellness officer.

Kris first found her calling in graduate medical education while serving as a rotation leader in inpatient pediatrics. She developed a formal curriculum for students and emergency and family medicine residents rotating through her clinical area. In 2012, she helped found LVHN’s Pediatric Residency Program, the network’s first accredited program of its kind. Since then, the program has graduated eight classes of pediatricians, and it is in the process of expanding.

Kris has presented countless medical lectures, grand rounds, and symposiums through the years to medical students, residents, and faculty. She has been invited to speak at numerous regional and national education conferences, presenting on topics such as residency program development, mentorship, clinical teaching, leadership, exam preparation curriculum, and navigating residency training during the COVID pandemic. Kris is also a published author in multiple journals in the health sciences, critical care, and pediatrics.

2023 Alumni Fellows

The Alumni Association annually recognizes several full-time Moravian University students for their superior scholastic merit and the outstanding contributions they have made to campus life and to the community. This year, the association honored Sophia Rivera ’24, Sophia Shienvold ’24, and Grace Young

.

’23

CIVIL RIGHTS

White supremacist Byron De La Beckwith shoots civil rights activist Medgar W. Evers in the back outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers dies within the hour; his murder will not be convicted until 1994.

MUSIC

Columbia Records releases The FreeWheelin’ Bob Dylan, the singer-songwriter’s second studio album.

CIVIL RIGHTS

Alabama Governor George Wallace blocks the entrance to the Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in Birmingham to prevent the school from being integrated, prompting President Kennedy to federalize the Alabama National Guard to enforce desegregation laws.

Photographs by John Kish IV

Young Alumni Achievement Award

Elizabeth G. Sgambelluri ’13

The Young Alumni Achievement Award is presented to an alumnus or alumna who has achieved exceptional success in his or her profession and who has graduated within the past two to 10 years.

She is often described as a Renaissance woman. With six degrees, four publications, a patent, and a medical license, the sky is the limit for Elizabeth “Lizzy” Sgambelluri. The incredible work she is doing, which links her passions for wildlife and human health in the United States and around the world, will influence generations.

For as long as she can remember, Lizzy has refused to package the wants of her heart and mind into one small box. Fascinated by health matters from a very young age, when she monitored the behavioral patterns of deer populations in her backyard, and motivated by her mother, a renowned physician, she says she has always had an “insatiable thirst for learning.”

Lizzy received her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Moravian in 2013. From there she completed two master’s degrees simultaneously—one in biodiversity, wildlife, and ecosystem health at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; the other in environmental studies at Antioch University New England in New Hampshire. She graduated with high honors.

Lizzy completed her thesis research on noninvasive strategies for monitoring stressinduced immunosuppression in African lions. She realized there were no viable methods to effectively monitor stress and health in large felines, so she devised and patented the first-ever device to collect their saliva noninvasively. “This opens a huge door in the potential for monitoring stress—as well as reproductive and immunologic health—in both captive and wild populations,” explains Lizzy.

While conducting her research, she also served as an adjunct professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire and taught courses ranging from genetics and cellular biology to ecology and evolution. Her multidisciplinary research allowed her to augment her lessons to better help her students in their career paths.

“There is something to be said about illuminating and empowering those around you; especially if doing so enables the other party to build upon themselves and grow their knowledge base,” Lizzy says. “I think those lightbulb moments were just as exciting for me as they were for my students.”

In 2021, Lizzy obtained her master of science in physician assistant studies degree from Pace University in New York City. She was a member of the Phi Alpha

honor society and graduated in the top three of her class. Lizzy currently practices medicine as a board-certified physician in both primary and urgent care at Medemerge Primary Care. She also just recently accepted a position as a clinical professor for the physician assistant program at Pace University-Lenox Hill Hospital, teaching new physicians navigating the same program from which she graduated.

Of course, her work doesn’t end there. Lizzy applies her diverse knowledge across species as a founding member of One Health Initiative, a collaborative, multidisciplinary movement focused on recognizing the interconnection between humans, animals, and the environment.

“There is much we can learn about our own health from animal counterparts and much to learn about our role in the health of the world around us,” Lizzy says. “Unfortunately, most individuals [studying these areas] practice solely within the constructs of wildlife, veterinary, and ecological health. Lacking are individuals further excelling in human health. I could serve such a role, I realized. I could be that missing link.

“Slowly, we can create a world where we operate harmoniously within our environment, with surrounding species, and with each other—and perhaps better understand our place within a complex system of interconnections.”

In her “spare” time, Lizzy serves as a consulting statistician as well as a grant reviewer for the National Geographic Society, where she has the opportunity to help other insatiably inquisitive minds.

LAW

The US Supreme Court rules on School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, deciding 7–1 that mandatory Bible reading or prayer in public schools is unconstitutional.

MUSIC

At the Berlin Funkausstellung (radio exhibition), Philips introduces the Compact Cassette and recorder.

During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a massive civil rights demonstration in the nation’s capital, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech, which advocates for more direct action by the federal government to address racial inequality.

BEATLEMANIA

The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool for the last time.

AlumniEvents

changer for Gary. He got his scores up, checked out area colleges, and in 1969 came to Moravian, where he played football for four years and captained the team. Gary double-majored in psychology and business administration, and during his freshman year, he met his wife of 46 years, Barbara Hassler Martell ’73.

Haupert Humanitarian Award

Gary M. Martell ’76, P’07

The Haupert Humanitarian Award honors an alumnus or alumna who has rendered outstanding service in the cause of human welfare. The recipient’s service to humanity should achieve standards “above and beyond” the expected duties and responsibilities of the recipient’s career. In addition, the recipient should have made a positive difference in the lives of others, in the community in which he or she lives, or in the community at large.

The impact Gary Martell has had in the Moravian and Lehigh Valley communities transcends his more than five decades working with and coaching Lehigh Valley youth. His influence has been called immeasurable and immense, and many praise him for keeping them on a positive life path.

Gary grew up in an Irish Catholic family in Philadelphia, the youngest of four boys. He played sports in high school but readily admits he was not the best student. Following graduation, his father sent him to military school in Virginia. It was a game

Gary signed as a free agent with the NFL and played three seasons with the Baltimore Colts. Shortly after, he reconnected with Moravian coach Rocco Calvo, who convinced him to help coach the football team. In 1974, he returned to Moravian, finished up his degree, and began his coaching career. In helping raise money for the athletic department, Gary was instrumental in starting the Blue and Grey Club and Moravian Athletics Hall of Fame.

Gary and his wife started raising their family in Bethlehem. In addition to coaching, Gary worked a few jobs but always wanted to have a greater impact. He spent some time in Philadelphia shadowing at a school for individuals with visual impairment and blindness. He enjoyed his experiences and decided to pursue the work as a career, so he applied for a similar position in the Lehigh Valley. While waiting for his interview, he chatted with another candidate who he noticed was visually impaired. Mid-interview, Gary rescinded his application, deferring to the other candidate, who he felt needed the position more than he did. The opportunity was not lost—one of the interviewers served on the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem (BGCOB) and invited Gary to apply for a bookkeeping position. He started working there in 1977.

According to the organization, Gary’s passion for athletics and engaging young people perfectly matched the mission of

the BGCOB. He took on various responsibilities and roles, helped start and enhance dozens of programs, bolstered fundraising efforts, and strengthened the club’s relationship with the community, eventually advancing to the role of CEO. He led a successful capital campaign that funded the renovation of the club’s game room, class spaces, and gym—providing hundreds of young people with an updated space to play basketball, soccer, and kickball and participate in other recreational activities.

Gary retired from the BGCOB in 2019. To honor his 42-year career and dedication to the organization, a special gathering was held. Dozens of alumni returned to the facility to celebrate with current members and Gary’s family and friends.

“[Gary’s] true impact is immeasurable and immense. Many club alumni today attest that Gary was a father figure to them during their childhood years and how they are grateful for the positive life path he helped keep them on. He has helped drastically improve the lives of thousands of young people and their families during his 42 years with BGCOB,” says the organization.

Gary is still an assistant coach for Moravian football, and in his free time, he enjoys volunteering at the BCGOB.

2023 Shining Star Community Partnership Awards

This award is presented to a business, organization, or individual that supports Moravian University’s mission to prepare individuals for a reflective life, fulfilling career, and transformative leadership in a world of change. Strategic partnerships may include collaboration for shared resources, opportunities for innovation, and philanthropic engagement. This year’s award went to the City of Bethlehem, Department of Community and Economic Development and the Helen & R.K. Laros Foundation

Comenius Alumni Award

Moravian. “What helped me in my career was the diversity of classes I took. My liberal arts education allowed me to morph during my career,” says June. “I started in logistics but also ran manufacturing and global customer service. My baseline undergraduate education allowed me to do that. It also made me a better speaker and communicator, a better leader.”

Throughout her career, June learned how to include and position herself well among her male colleagues, but she is also quick to acknowledge the men who offered her opportunities for growth and advancement, including a CEO who promoted her to run manufacturing in a significant sector of the business, citing his trust in her leadership ability.

The Comenius Award is given in recognition of outstanding achievement or service in an alumna’s or alumnus’s field of work. This is the Alumni Association’s lifetime achievement award.

June Slawinski Youngs ’79

Since her time at Moravian, June Slawinski Youngs has been breaking barriers to achieve the top level of her career in the male-dominated field of supply chain logistics. But to June, it has always been about recognizing that every person has a seat at the table—a principle she adheres to as a leader.

June enrolled at Moravian to explore its engineering and liberal arts programs. She pursued a liberal arts background, majoring in English with minors in political science and music. She attributes much of her success to her academic track at

June’s first role in logistics and supply chain was at Nabisco, where she rose from specialist to director of transportation/distribution services. She then moved to toy and game company Hasbro in Rhode Island first as vice president, then senior vice president of supply chain logistics. Her career eventually brought her to CVS Health in Rhode Island, where as vice president she was responsible for all aspects of corporate logistics and distribution center operations across 4,000 CVS Pharmacy retail locations, nine distribution centers, and 3,500 employees. She helped develop and implement strategies to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of distribution operations, store service levels, and productivity.

June navigated the male-dominated profession at every level. She says she was the one woman among dozens of men in every meeting. While aware of her status, she refused to let it affect her role and her growth. “You need to understand that you are providing value, and there will always be people that don’t accept where you are coming from, what you are doing, or your background. If you provide value in whatever situation you are in, you can overcome it,” she says.

June says it’s about ignoring one’s own unconscious bias. “We all have it. It’s not recognizing that the person has a seat at the table,” she says. “As I moved through my career, I made sure men, women, and people of all backgrounds had that seat at the table—literally. I learned that some of the best ideas came from those who were most quiet, so if I was leading a team or running a group, I always made sure that those folks had time and space to think about the issue at hand and had an opportunity to speak. It’s what I learned from my own experiences of having to push my way into discussions. I wanted to open the door for others. We need to make all people feel comfortable in moving things forward.”

June has received lots of recognition for her achievements. In 2000, she was lauded as one of the Top 20 Logistics Professionals in Who’s Who of American Women. In 2007, she received the Women of Influence in the Northeast award from the Griffin Report of Food Marketing. She has also been featured in Chief Logistics Officer Magazine as the first female chairperson in the 90-year history of the National Industrial Transportation League.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

The Comenian reports that Helen Paty Eiffe, currently serving as a secretary and administrative assistant for UNICEF, has been named the first fulltime director of the College Union Building.

COLD WAR

President Kennedy establishes the first “hotline” (actually text communication via telegraph) connecting the White House and the Kremlin.

CIVIL RIGHTS

Fifteen sticks of dynamite explode in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four African American girls. The suspects, four members of the KKK, are never conveicted.

AlumniEvents

Legacy Class of 2023

Daniel Apryasz, son of Henry Apryasz ’87

Brianna Barbadora, niece of Stephanie Ashton ’89

Jonathan Britt, son of Maria Serrao Britt ’79

Michael Burke, brother of Danielle Burke ’21 and Ryan Burke ’26

Connor Cavey, son of Kristen Cavey ’96

Jacob Danser, grandson of Sheila Danser Gillen ’90

Aidan Evans Gartley, brother of Wyatt Evans Gartley ’20

Bryce Haffner, daughter of Laura Allan Haffner ’86

Michael Hanifan, nephew of Kathleen Hanifan Hoke ’87 and Harris Hoke ’85

Kristy Harrison ’18, G’23, wife of John T. Desmond IV ’18

Caroline Hart, daughter of Elinor Hart ’91 and Andy Hart ’90

Sam Houser, grandnephew of James Houser, MD ’60

“I was thrilled when our daughter Bryce made the decision to attend Moravian University so she too could experience the unique, rewarding, and valuable educational experience Moravian offers. It’s wonderful to have another Hound in our family!”

—Laura Allan Haffner ’86, P’23

Photographs by Nick Chismar ’20

Helen Meckstroth, daughter of Mary Lynnette Delbridge ’84 and Andrew Meckstroth ’80, G’86

Matthew Miller-Brown, son of Kevin Brown ’92, G’17 and Krystal Miller-Brown ’91

Marissa Notte, sister of Alyssa Notte Longenbach ’14

Jennifer Pinto, wife of Joe Pinto ’96

Kieran Pisani, brother of Kellen Pisani ’20 and son of Ann Pisani ’86, P’20

Gabby Rader, sister of Scott Rader ’20

Alex Roginsky, son of Lynn Roginsky ’92

John Sabo, nephew of Valerie Sabo ’90, ’00, G’01 and son of Jack Sabo ’90, ’94, G’98, P’18

Theodore Smith, son of Dorothy Wambold Smith ’86 and brother of Benjamin Smith ’25

Reed Sturza, son of Todd Sturza ’92

Madison Warminsky, daughter of John Warminsky ’87

John Watson, son of Cheryl Strzelecki Watson ’91

Stephen Hoyer, son of Robert Hoyer ’95 and Grace Zarnas-Hoyer ’91, grandson of Stephen C. Zarnas ’68, P’91, P’94, P’00, P’06, and nephew of Christina Zarnas Donahue ’94 and Constantine Zarnas ’00

Caitlin Krum, daughter of Jarrod Krum ’95 and Colleen Brennan Krum ’95

Kyle Laub, son of Jeff Laub ’83

Kiana Mamrak, daughter of Dianna Riley Mamrak ’88 and sister of Jeffrey Mamrak ’25

Cecilia Zimmerli, daughter of Ellen Zimmerli ’88 and sister of Johanna Zimmerli ’26

“The interactive community at Moravian is what made it so special to me.The people that I met throughout my four years at Moravian are what I loved most.”

—Kieran Pisani ’23

AlumniEvents

The 42nd Annual Moravian University Golf Classic

May 22, 2023

Saucon Valley Country Club

All proceeds from the event support the Moravian Scholarship Fund and Greyhound Athletics.

Founder’s Week

March 27–March 31

Main Street and Church Street Campuses

Events included a scavenger hunt; Morning Tea with First Lady Lea Grigsby P’22, P’26; the unveiling of a portrait of Edwin Heath, president of Moravian College for Women from 1926 to 1949; and a reception in honor of the inaugural recipient of the Anna Nitschmann Society Scholarship, Catherine Lovett ’25. At the reception, President Bryon L. Grigsby ’90, P’22, P’26 gave a special presentation on the integral part Moravian has played in Bethlehem’s prestigious World Heritage Site nomination.

ClassNotes

to the Chicago area seven years ago from Brooklyn. Nancy and her husband enjoy traveling, babysitting their grandchildren, and participating in activities in their vibrant community. They travel to Northern California as frequently as possible to visit their older son and his five children. Nancy and her husband enjoy keeping up with Moravian friends and participating in the school’s events as they can. They would love to catch up with fellow alumni in the Chicago area.

1966

Rev. David Berg; dgberg@starpower.net

1957

Pearl Stein; steinpearl18@gmail.com

Joan DeLaurentis and Pearl Stein have been enjoying concerts in Philadelphia together for several years. It has been a wonderful way for us to keep in touch.

1961

Sam Maczko; sfmaczko@yahoo.com

Nancy Warren-Van Dyke and her husband relocated to the Chicago suburbs two years ago from Long Island, New York, where they lived after graduate school. They moved to be closer to their younger son and his family, who moved

Ken Davis was recently inducted into the Abington Senior High School Hall of Fame in recognition of his accomplishments in government, politics, and business. After graduating from Moravian, he earned a master’s degree in government from American University, then served as chief of staff to Pennsylvania’s US Senator Hugh Scott. Following Scott’s retirement, Ken worked as a government relations consultant and lobbyist for Rohm and Haas Company, after which he founded his own firm and eventually merged it with a Philadelphia law firm. After retirement, Ken remained active in political and civic affairs, serving as a Lower Merion Township commissioner and Montgomery County party chairman. He has also served on the faculty of Temple University’s long-term learning institute, teaching a course in government and politics. Indulging in his love of music, Ken served on the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra, traveling with it on concert tours in Israel and Japan.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

A new sport is introduced on campus when Moravian plays its first soccer game on Steel Field.

COLD WAR President Kennedy joins the UK and USSR in signing a limited nuclear test-ban treaty.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

The Moravian College Board of Trustees is informed that enrollment for the fall semester has hit an all-time peak of 942 students.

1967

Kathie Broczkowski Klein; kathieklein45@aol.com

Kathie Broczkowski Klein is proud to share that this past spring her daughter, Holly Klein, was presented with the Eddie Award for her editing of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which won the 2023 Oscar for best animated feature. Holly had worked on the film for almost three years. An exhibit of the animated work followed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Holly lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Oliver Jones, and their daughters, Penelope and Lucille. She had attended the Academy Awards in LosAngeles in a prior year when her husband built an entire Japanese village for the film Kubo and the Ten Strings. Holly and Oliver studied animation at the Royal College in London.

Elaine DeReamer Conner was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2019 and underwent Whipple surgery. She has beaten the odds so far, surviving four years. Despite the discomforts and treatments, Elaine continues to play tennis, organize round robins, and perform her duties as Oakmont Tennis Club Board Secretary. She also loves to spend a lot of time with her two granddaughters, ages 13 and 15, and attend their tennis, basketball, and softball competitions.

1971

John Madison; moravianalum@aol.com

Janice Fischel sends greetings from New Hampshire, where she and her husband have lived since 1973, save

for several sabbaticals on the West Coast. Her husband retired in 2019 after 46 years of teaching at Dartmouth College. Janice is still happily busy with her photographic note card business, jgfischel.com. She does the photography, makes the cards, and sells them to gift shops and independent bookstores, among other locations. Her son, Josh, daughter-in-law, Cameren, and their son live in Acton, Massachusetts. Both Josh and Cameren are teachers.

1976

Lisa Mansback Berk; lman405@msn.com

June Rhoda; june.rhoda@yahoo.com

Robert Huth Jr. retired in May 2023, having served most recently as chief financial officer at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, for 12 years and prior to that as executive vice president at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, for nearly 13 years. Robert earned his MBA at Lehigh University. He and his wife, Barbara Colbourne Huth ’77, have four daughters and eight grandchildren. Bob and Barbara will spend time visiting family and plan to spend time in Vermont and Florida in the coming years.

1977

John Fauerbach has been living in Florida near Daytona Beach. He was diagnosed with and treated for life-threatening non-Hodgkin lymphoma and associated immune thrombocytopenia (a blood platelet disorder). Fortunately, his home is 20 minutes from the Florida Cancer Specialists. After intensive chemotherapy, his cancer is in remission, and his blood numbers are out of the danger zone and slowly improving.

1980

Molly Donaldson Brown; unsinkable2010@hotmail.com

In 2007, after working in church ministry, Cindy Caporaso decided to head back into a kindergarten classroom. She had been working part-time at the WorkFamily Connection until they offered her

TECHNOLOGY

Roberta “Bobbie” Lieby ’75 and her husband, Robert, were recognized at the Northampton County Outstanding Senior Awards ceremony for the volunteer work they do within the community. The ceremony included honors from Representative Bob Freeman and other congressional recognitions.

RETAIL

Kenner Products introduces the Easy-Bake Oven, one of the century’s most iconic toys. By the end of the year, more than 5 million are sold.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

International students Peter Nyamweya of Kenya and Lloyd Williams of the Virgin Islands are denied haircuts at a local barbershop. The barber later apologizes and an out-of-court settlement is reached.

The first phone call is placed using the TouchTone dialing system, developed by Bell Labs and Western Electric. Touch-Tone phones are first made available to the public in towns of Carnegie and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

MORAVIAN MOMENT

The Moravian College Blackfriars present the opening performance of Jean Girardoux’s Electra in Prosser Auditorium.

ClassNotes

a full-time salaried position, which she accepted at the height of the COVID pandemic. Cindy is happy in her work, and during the COVID shutdown she became a vegan and an avid walker. Life can change on a dime, however, as she was recently reminded. Last fall, Cindy was diagnosed with a very rare kidney cancer, and in November, she underwent a cryoablation procedure. She has been on “active surveillance” since then. She is hoping for the best and tries to keep in mind that the tumor was small and caught early, and her doctors have been optimistic.

1986

James and Lynda Farrell Swartz; Lfswartz@rcn.com

The board of governors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Miami Branch appointed Kathleen Cannon to a term beginning January 1, 2023, and ending December 31, 2024. Kathleen is president and CEO of United Way of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and she serves as the cochair on the board of Prosperity Partnership, an organization aimed at supporting economically sustainable communities in Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County.

1987

Diane Hvizdak Taylor; dianektaylor@hotmail.com

1983

Karen Skoyles, Esq.; skoyles@lakesnet.net

Jim Roberts is proud to announce his new business venture, The Roberts Consulting Group LLC (TRCG). TRCG offers its clients an array of consulting services, including nonprofit management, strategic fundraising, sponsorship, special events, and communications. As the principal of this group, Jim brings 40 years of expertise serving in leadership roles in the corporate and nonprofit sectors, professional and amateur sports, and the entertainment industry. His unique experience of working on the giving and funding sides of philanthropy and sponsorship brings an unparalleled perspective to clients. You can visit his website at therobertsconsultinggroup.com

Nora J. Kubat Diaz was promoted to senior director of human resources for the ODP Corporation and its subsidiaries, which include Office Depot, Veyer, and ODP Business Solutions. In her role, Nora oversees the Associate Relations Center of Excellence, HR Shared Services, and the Emergency Response Team, providing leaders and associates support across the various legal entities.

1993

Jeffrey Maddock is excited to announce his graduation from the University of Wisconsin with a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. His dissertation is titled “Engineering the Body, Mind and Soul: Engineering Endurance in a Technoscientific Society and the Creation of New Entries through Power/ Knowledge Assemblages and Practical Scientific Technologies in Education.” His research will have an impact on the philosophy of science education. Jeffrey

is a graduate of Phillipsburg High School in New Jersey and earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Moravian University and a master’s degree in integrated science education from the University of Pennsylvania. He plans to continue to work in science education after graduation.

1994

Denise Bradley; dbradley023@gmail.com

Anne Shea Gaza, partner at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP, one of Delaware’s largest law firms, and cochair of the firm’s intellectual property litigation

Last November, Hugh Norwood and brothers of Alpha Phi Omega traveled to Scotland to celebrate milestone birthdays of certain members. Pictured at Loch Ness, from left to right: Josh Dodd ’99, Sam Norwood ’95, Scott Seymour ’95, Hugh Norwood ’90, Bill Westerman ’94, and Tom Hartle ’95. Photo courtesy of Joshua P. Dodd 11/22

11/27

NATION

TELEVISION

NATION

MORAVIAN MOMENT

Lee Harvey Oswald shoots President John F. Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally in Dallas as they pass the Texas School Book Depository in an open limousine. The president is pronounced dead about half an hour later.

Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shoots assassin Lee Harvey Oswald as Oswald is being transferred from police headquarters to the county jail. Television viewers witness the shooting live.

The first episode of the BBC television series Doctor Who, “An Unearthly Child,”airs in the UK, after a one-day delay caused by extended coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination.

The Comenian reports that Moravian has hosted two services in Borhek Chapel in memory of the late President Kennedy and cancelled its traditional football game with Muhlenberg College.

group, has been named 2023 Litigator of the Year–Delaware by Managing IP. The Managing IP Awards are the most comprehensive and widely respected IP awards in the world.

1996

Deb Yuengling Ferhat; jdferhat@comcast.net

Mary Kate Andris has been named president and CEO of the Civic Leadership Institute, whose aim is to connect executive leaders through service to improve life in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.

2001

Courtney Parrella; sunshine92779@msn.com

Erin Cody is currently pursuing her PhD in community research and action at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York.

2007

Emily Starner married Matthew Applegarth on April 7, 2023, in Hallam, Pennsylvania.

Steinert Debuts in Broadway National Tour

She has appeared as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera (concert), Catherine in Pippin, Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, to name a few of her recent credits. This past year, Lauren Steinert ’20, who earned a bachelor of music in classical voice, made her Broadway National Tour debut in Fiddler on the Roof under the direction of esteemed Tony Award winners Bartlett Sher and Sari Ketter. Steinert was cast in the role of Rivka and was the understudy (first cover) for the lead female roles Tzeital (whom she did get to play) and Hodel and second cover for Fruma-sarah. The production opened in September 2022 and ran through May 17, 2023, showing in 55 US cities and three major cities in Canada.

2008

Amelia Dietrich; ameliajdietrich@gmail.com

William Miller teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) at Tulsa Public School in Oklahoma. Being an educator has always made him feel good about himself, and he thanks his family and friends at Moravian.

2011

Rachel Kleiner; kleiner.rachel@gmail.com

Carolyn Whyley-Anderson has opened the shop Happy Little Rectangles on Etsy. You can find her on Instagram as well.

2013

The original music score for the award-winning feature film Balloon Animal by composer Alexandra L. “Alexa” Borden is now available across all streaming platforms. The film was released on Amazon, Vudu, and VOD

on April 7, 2023. Alexa created the score with longtime composing partner Connor Cook. The scores for their recent short films—Love Song, Worst Enemy, Mourning Sick, and Well-Rounded— will be available later in 2023.

2015

After graduating from Moravian with a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry, Kelianne Comitalo earned a master’s degree from the Drexel School of Medicine and then served as a scribe at Scheie Eye Institute while waiting to attend medical school. She graduated from St. George’s University Medical School on April 28, 2023. Kelianne matched in internal medicine at Thomas Jefferson Health Network (Northeast) and began her residency this June.

2021

Melissa Strom had her first solo exhibition at Steel Pixel Studios in Bethlehem. The exhibition ran from May 15 to July 7 and included an artist’s reception on May 25.

Steinert had to learn four roles (two lead, one supporting, one ensemble), four costume tracks, and four blocking/ choreography and transition tracks (where to move on stage in relation to other characters, props, and lighting). As an understudy, she was constantly studying the performances of the lead women and practicing those roles again and again backstage or in her room.

Touring with a show is grueling but, for Steinert, also extraordinarily rewarding. “I am overjoyed to create art. It is exciting to use all the tools that I have been trained in over the years. I am most grateful for the platform to use my skill set, because it is what makes me feel fulfilled,” she says.

You can read the full version of Steinert’s experience with the Fiddler on the Roof tour at mrvn.co/steinert

Lauren Steinert ’20 in costume for the character Rivka in the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof

Catching up with classmates

ClassNotes

Weddings

Mary Schlosbon ’16 and Steven Maurer ’14 were married on June 17, 2022. Front row, from left: Amanda Dizinno ’13, Taylor Mihalik Gonzalez ’14, Dior George Mariano ’15, Niki Maffettone ’17, the groom and bride, Kaela Kane ’19, Megan Taylor ’18, Jackie Marshall ’18, Lindsay Sullivan ’16, Matt Tuorto ’16, Lauren Hostetler ’16, Lexi Fabey ’19. Back row: Chris Lott ’17, Chase Zimnik ’14, Brandon Lesko ’14, Drew Vanderhorn ’14, Nick Fitzsimmons ’14, Eileen Black ’13

Kate Polles ’17, the groom and bride, Kyle Upton ’19

Angela DelGrosso ’14 and Zachary Stein ’11 were married on October 7, 2022, in Lake Winola, Pennsylvania. Front row, from left: The groom, Lindsay Bacovin Narzikul ’14, Danielle Joseph ’02, the bride. Back row: Casey Scanlan ’14, Erin Gilbert Shrewsbury ’14, Elyssa Deeb ’14, Benjamin Heiserman ’13, G’19, Aisling Doyle ’17

Submissions to 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. If your class year is not listed either here or online, email your information to alumni@moravian.edu or mail to Class Notes, Alumni Engagement Office, Moravian University, 1200 Main St., Bethlehem, PA 18018.

Gabrielle Scherff ’20 and Jarod Frekot ’21 were married on October 1, 2021, at the Barn at Stoneybrooke in Atglen, Pennsylvania. Front row, from left: Tamar Giorgadze ’21, Thomas Durham ’20, Danielle Burke ’21, the groom and bride, Kaitlyn Nemes ’20, Gillian Bartholomew ’20, Lauren Mann ’20, Mikayla Dennis ’22, Theresa Frekot ’94. Back row: Tyler Geroulo ’21, Colby Hillman ’21, David Donio ’21, Jeffrey Frekot ’87, Alec Brisbois ’21, Patrick Mullin ’21, Kris Shea.

Deadlines for Submissions

Fall 2023 issue: August 15, 2023

Spring 2024 issue: October 30, 2023

Photo Policy

For More Information moravian.edu/classnotes

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.

Kristy Harrison ’18, ’23 and John T. Desmond IV ’18 were married on December 2, 2022. Left to right: Cristina Cardinale ’17,

Brielle Popolla ’19 and Zach Pawlikowski had their large wedding and reception on June 17, 2022, at SkyView Golf Club in Sparta, New Jersey. Front row, from left: Morgan Popson-Madilia, Christina Karcher ’21, G’23, Shae Duka ’19. Back row: Patrick Martin ’19, Justin Madilia ’19, Chris Brennan ’19, the bride, Ray Uzoaru, Maike Krischer, Connor Phillips ’18, Brian Stock ’19, Kelly Martin ’20

1942 Mary Veronis Thompson—January 28, 2023

1944 Betty Jane Ramsdell—March 18, 2023

1947 Jean Louise Achey Schrader—March 24, 2023

1950 Irma Kaufman—April 2023

1951 William “Bill” John Werpehowski—April 20, 2023

1952 LTG Bernhard T. Mittemeyer, MD—January 25, 2023

1953 Joan Wagner Koehler—February 23, 2023

1953 Rev. Earl Edward Stephan—March 15, 2023

1954 Sister Millicent J. Drake—February 10, 2023

1954 Elynor Fishel Rights—May 19, 2023

1956 Richard S. Stine—February 20, 2023

1957 Michael Ackerman—November 2022

1957 Patricia A. Weaver Boyle—April 12, 2023

1958 Richard F. Egge—March 8, 2023

1959 John W. Illingworth III—May 10, 2023

1960 Richard F. Donchez—March 9, 2023

1960 Arthur M. “Tudo” Guerrieri—May 4, 2023

1961 Thomas A. Stametz—April 17, 2023

1962 Sylvia Perkins Nespoli—May 5, 2023

1963 David Hunscher—February 1, 2023

1964 Marvin Stanley Koontz—March 10, 2023

1965 Glenda Silber—April 24, 2023

1966 Henry L. Martin IV—September 25, 2018

1966 Sen. Alexander A. Moorhead Jr.—March 24, 2023

1966 Judith S. Yaphe—May 4, 2023

1967 William Stevenson Cumings Jr.—January 19, 2023

1968 Patricia Pierce—February 28, 2023

Brielle Sutter ’15 and Tyler Dwyer ’16 (front row) were married on April 23, 2022, at Historic Hotel Bethlehem. In attendance were Dan Schmucker ’16, Ryan Karnopp ’16, Steve Rahn (former Moravian track and field sprints/hurdles coach), Ryan Sickler ’16, Austin Gardener ’16, Zac Arcona ’16, Gavin Bailey ’16, Brianna Bailey Gammel ’19, Kyle Hagerty ’17, Destiny Sharack ’15, John Barr ’16, Carolyn Rauch Cerswell ’15, and Dianna Henao ’15.

*Births

Dylan Ricciardi ’14 and Marisa Clark-Ricciardi ’15 welcomed a son, Dominick James Ricciardi, on September 19, 2022.

1969 Gregory M. Fota—May 3, 2023

1971 Rev. Glenn F. Heintzelman ’71, S’76—May 3, 2023

1973 James Nelson Bevan—February 27, 2023

1973 Julius F. Horvath Jr.—April 17, 2023

1974 Thomas W. Werley—March 4, 2023

1974 George Infantino—March 25, 2023

1976 James John Holzinger—March 28, 2023

1977 Mark Stoye—March 21, 2023

1985 Lori Schmeisser—April 21, 2023

1990 Earle Jardine—March 30, 2022

1994 Frank S. Ricicki—March 5, 2023

2002 Alan Daugherty—March 15, 2017

2005 Rev. Adam Spaugh—February 19, 2023

2019 Jacqueline M. Kost—March 25, 2023

Get Healthy with Houseplants

Angela DelGrosso Stein ’14 has loved and cared for houseplants since she was a little girl. Today, in addition to her full-time job as the director of mayor’s initiatives for the City of Bethlehem, Stein owns and operates Steel City Plant Co., which specializes in pet-friendly houseplants and all things necessary to excel at plant parenthood. Founded in Bethlehem, the shop will relocate this summer to downtown Easton’s Belleville Market.

Stein’s houseplants are not only pet-friendly; they’re people-friendly, too. She quotes an article from Psychology Today: “Researchers found that people who surround themselves with plant life and other forms of natural beauty, indoors and out, experience emotional and mental health benefits that have a positive impact on their social, psychological, physical, cognitive, environmental, and spiritual well-being.”

Here are a few of those benefits:

● Relief from stress and revived mental energy

● Reduced symptoms of depression

● Improved memory

● Sharper concentration and increased productivity

● A boost in creativity

Stein’s top recommendations for life-giving houseplants? Palms, ferns, and spider plants. They’re also easy to take care of if you are an indoor-plant novice.

Sharon Watts

A New Era

JOIN US THIS FALL AS HEAD COACH

JEFF LONG LEADS THE GREYHOUNDS IN HIS INAUGURAL SEASON.

2023 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Friday, September 1 | 7 p.m. at Muhlenberg College

Saturday, September 9 | 12 p.m. at Utica University

Saturday, September 16 | 1 p.m. vs. the Apprentice School

Saturday, September 23 | 2 p.m. vs. Morrisville State College

HOMECOMING

Saturday, September 30 | 1 p.m. vs. Keystone College

Saturday, October 7 | 12 p.m. at The Catholic University of America

Saturday, October 21 | 12 p.m. at Juniata College

Saturday, October 28 | 1 p.m. vs. Susquehanna University

FAMILY DAY

Saturday, November 4 | 1 p.m. at Lycoming College

Saturday, November 11 | 12 p.m. vs. Wilkes University

SUPPORT THE BLUE & GREY FUND

Join us in lighting the way for our student-athletes by giving a gift to the Blue & Grey Fund. This fund supports all varsity athletic programs, including recruiting trips; facilities, equipment, and gear upgrades; strength training and conditioning; and tournament fees and travel. Your support enhances the experience of our Greyhounds and provides the resources they need to excel on and off the field.

Supporters who give $100 or more annually become members of our Blue & Grey Club. Members are invited to cheer on our Greyhounds at the Blue & Grey Pavilion during all home football games. Visit moravian.edu/blueandgrey for more information or to give a gift.