Thiel welcomes five new faculty members: Dr. Sarah Swerdlow joined the faculty as an assistant professor of biology. She most recently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Swerdlow holds a doctorate from the pathology department of the cancer biology training program of Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology/ biotechnology from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Russell B. Richins was named assistant professor of mathematics. He holds a doctorate and master’s from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree from Weber State University. Richins comes to Thiel from Michigan State University where he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Michigan Center for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Dr. Jared Johnson took a position as assistant professor of English. He holds a doctorate from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, a master’s from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla. He comes to Thiel from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Dr. Eugene Takeo Torigoe joined the faculty as an assistant professor of physics. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and bachelor’s degrees in physics and philosophy from Binghamton University in New York. He comes to Thiel from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. Dr. Laura R.G. Pickens ’06 moved from an adjunct position at Thiel to assistant professor of psychology. She holds a doctorate and a master’s degree from Kent State University in Ohio and a bachelor’s degree from Thiel College. Along with the courses she led at Thiel, Pickens served as a teaching fellow at Kent State. New adjunct faculty for the 2012-2013 academic year include Emmett Rafferty, environmental science; Gregory Hungerford, sociology; Ronald Friend, communication; Burton Speakman, communication; Kimberly Banic, education; Erin McKinney, education; Kristina McCartney, education; Nancy Castor, education; Anthony Giaramita, business administration; Paulina Montaldo-Stader, languages; and Aaron Fairbourn, mathematics.
Pictured (l to r) are Dr. Eugene Torigoe, Dr. Sarah Swerdlow, Dr. Russ Richins, Dr. Laura Pickens and Dr. Jared Johnson.
Fleming Named Entrepeneur of the Year “We are all entrepreneurs” was the message Kim Tillotson Fleming, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Hefren-Tillotson Inc., delivered in October when she received the 2012 Haller Enterprise Institute Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which is given annually to a business owner who has demonstrated entrepreneurial leadership. Fleming has served as president of HefrenTillotson—a privately held Pittsburgh-based firm offering comprehensive financial planning and investment advisory services for individuals, foundations, trusts and qualified retirement plans— since 1996 and, in December 2010, was elected to her current positions. The company, started by Fleming’s father in 1948, prides itself on strong family traditions that give them an uncommon perspective in serving its clients. Fleming shared that each employee in any successful company or business is an entrepreneur in their own right and brings different creative perspectives and ideas to the table. Fleming is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in economics and holds several professional designations. The Haller Enterprise Institute, originally named the Thiel College Enterprise Institute when it was organized in 1983, was renamed in 1996 when Pittsburgh residents Dr. Henry E. and Grace Mary Haller provided a $1 million gift to develop entrepreneurial education at Thiel College. The Bell • Fall 2012
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