W&J Magazine Winter 2021

W&J COLLEGE W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE

WINTER 2021

WINTER 2021

“ Elevating the

HUMAN EXPERIENCE ” Walter Cooper’s lifetime of bringing together science, education and activism pg. 22

SHOW YOUR

PREZ

Pride

Vice President for Communication & Marketing KELLY KIMBERLAND ’91

Editor

SARAH DUDIK

Creative Director MATT MICHALKO

Contributors

DANIEL BATES TORY IRWIN ERIN FAULK JONES ’08 KERRI DIGIOVANNI LACOCK ’09 KAYLA MADDEN AARON THOMPSON KALEY TOMSIC

Photographers

ELLIOT CRAMER GREGORY NEISER MARTIN SANTEK

W&J College Magazine, published twice a year by the Office of Communication & Marketing, captures the diverse experience of life and success for W&J faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the college.

We want to hear from you

10 % OFF

YOUR ENTIRE ONLINE ORDER USING CODE

W&JMAG

Campusstore.washjeff.edu Excludes diploma frames, promos, gift cards and special orders.

Know of a good story we should tell?

Need additional copies or back issues?

Want to tell us what you thought of this magazine?

Email wjmag@washjeff.edu or send a letter to: Editor, W&J College Magazine Office of Communication & Marketing Washington & Jefferson College 60 S. Lincoln Street Washington, PA 15301 If your contact information has changed, please let us know at alumni@washjeff.edu.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

4-5

Presidential Perspectives

C O V E R

S T O R Y

“ELEVATING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE”

6-17 Old Main

44-45 Q.

46-47

Walter Cooper’s lifetime of bringing together science, education and activism

22-31

Big Events

48-55

Campus Vision

56-59 The Vault

W&J’s new VP for Development leans into the power of highereducation philanthropy

18-21

60-61 Gallery

62-76 Alumni Notes

Remembering 1970, the year W&J opened its campus to women – and the legacy it created

32-43

4

PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVES

Presidential Perspectives

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

T

he merger of Washington College and Jefferson College at the end of the Civil War not only combined two respected institutions, it brought together students, faculty and alumni who had taken up arms on opposite sides of the bloody conflict.The story of how they reconciled and went forward under the banner Juncta Juvant (Together We Thrive) is familiar to most of us. Less well known, yet equally remarkable, is that within just 20 years of the merger, Washington & Jefferson College was serving degree-seeking Black students – decades ahead of most other public and private institutions across the country.

Our first Black graduate on record was Welcome Turner Jones, who enrolled at W&J in 1886 and went on to complete medical school at what is now Case Western Reserve University. A gifted leader, he co-founded the first hospital to serve Black patients while working as a physician in Newport News, VA. Dr. Jones’s story is one of many that we are now celebrating through an initiative to tell the story of the rich diversity of W&J’s outstanding graduates over time. This issue’s cover features another exemplary alumnus, Dr. Walter Cooper ’50, in whose honor the former Beau Hall has just been renamed. I encourage you to read his inspiring story in these pages. Later this year we will dedicate an official Pennsylvania historical marker near Old Main to recognize Dr. Charles West ’22, who made history as the first Black quarterback to lead a football team in a major college bowl game, the 1922 Rose Bowl. He also qualified for the U.S. Track & Field Olympic team and had a storied career as a physician in Alexandria, VA.

As you will read in these pages, this year we also are commemorating the 50th anniversary of coeducation at W&J. We are especially celebrating the pioneering women who arrived in 1970 and went forth to distinguish themselves as leaders in a wide range of professional endeavors. Our commitment to more fully telling W&J’s story includes plans for visibly adding to the recognition of our female graduates on campus.

Our college has long been enriched by the diversity of the students who choose to live and learn with us. With members of minority groups now constituting a majority of America’s under-19 population, we are pleased that our student body is increasingly multiracial (one in four of our current freshmen is not white). Our commitment to welcoming and supporting a greater diversity extends to every part of the college, including faculty and staff development and recruitment.

Building on our historic commitment to diversity is just one of many steps we are taking to ensure that W&J remains strong, relevant and competitive in years to come. Indeed, the College’s willingness to embrace change while holding fast to a timeless mission is one reason we have successfully met the unprecedented challenges of 2020. An equally important factor continues to be the steadfast support of our alumni and friends, and for that I wish to express my heartfelt thanks.

With my gratitude,

John C. Knapp, Ph.D. President and Professor

PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVES

5

6

OLD MAIN

TOP OLD MAIN A curated glimpse of the extraordinary lives, achievements and events of the students, faculty, staff and alumni of W&J — and the campus that brings them together

By Daniel Bates

100 T

hat’s where U.S. News & World Report ranked W&J for the 2020-21 school year in its annual rankings of colleges and universities. And the Princeton Review recognized W&J as one of the best 386 colleges in 2021.

Meanwhile, LendEDU, in its annual report on student loan default rates, recognized the College for having one of the lowest default rates in both Pennsylvania and in the entire country.

While the national rate is 10.1 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education, W&J’s loan default rate is 1.1 percent.

LendEDU also ranked the College 10th in Pennsylvania as one of the best colleges in the nation for financial aid and 180th out of more than 800 schools nationally.

Says Jeffrey Frick, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College: “W&J’s continued inclusion on these lists speaks to the quality and strength of the education we offer at W&J, the depth of resources and knowledge among our faculty and staff, and the importance we place on ensuring our students graduate with the skills and background they need to be successful.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Bio-Diversity

DIVIDENDS

Celebrating a Big NIH Scholarship Win

T

he National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded only 15 competitive scholarships this past year nationwide as part of its prestigious Undergraduate Scholarship Program. And one of them went to a W&J senior.

Alondra Martinez Osorno ’21, a senior biophysics and French double major from Canonsburg, Pa., has received a scholarship that will pay for a significant portion of her undergraduate tuition in return for her participation in a 10-week summer internship, followed by one year in the NIH Intramural Research Program after graduation.

Osorno then plans to attend graduate school for biomedical engineering, with hopes of eventually launching an entrepreneurial venture focusing on the development of medical devices that integrate naturally with the body’s systems.

“What strikes me about Alondra is her open mind and her diverse interests, ranging from biological physics to French,” says Jennifer Logan Bayline, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at W&J. She was referencing Osorno’s numerous undergraduate research experiences, including a W&J chemistry lab, a summer biomedical engineering research program at Binghamton University, three weeks at a hospital in Leuven, Belgium, studying fetal medicine, and an online bioengineering internship this past summer with the University of California-San Diego.

“Alondra seeks out opportunities, and they’ve paid off,” Bayline adds. “I think Alondra’s genuine interest in and enthusiasm for science and global experiences helped make her a compelling candidate for NIH.” Osorno likewise credits her success to the diverse, global science experience she has gained during her time at W&J, in addition to her professors, who helped her through the application process.

“

The more you

interact with diverse people, the more you diversify your ideas.

-Alondra Martinez Osorno

”

“The more you interact with diverse people, the more you diversify your ideas,” says Osorno, a first-generation college student whose family originally came from Mexico. “That expands your perspective, your input, your consideration for other people. It makes you a more wholesome person, and I think it also helps normalize diversity…If you have a community that’s socioeconomically diverse and racially diverse, then you can strengthen your connections with your community and beyond.”

OLD MAIN

7

8

OLD MAIN

“SPREADING LOVE AND POSITIVITY”

W

hile furloughed from a new marketing position with the Miami Marlins baseball team in 2020, Washington, Pa., native India March ’18 says she lent her voice to local racial injustice protests. But, thanks to support from W&J College and some generous patrons of the arts, she found a greater voice – with greater impact – in her art.

March, a communication arts and fine arts double major and athlete at W&J who had just begun a career in professional sports marketing before the pandemic, had just moved to Miami, Fla., to serve as a project coordinator. As stay-at-home orders began, however, she moved back to Washington temporarily.

Then the protests began.

As March says, “There’s no room for ignorance in life anymore, and I wanted to do something.”

March set out to design wooden representations of what she describes as nine victims of racial injustice, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. She modeled the series after an art exhibit she created for her senior exhibition that depicted representational images of the heads and shoulders of women of different cultures. She recently sold the pieces from that exhibit as part of a campaign to raise funds for the family of Breonna Taylor, who had been killed by police in Louisville, Ky.

For this project, March reached out to W&J’s president, as well as to the art department and the head of campus safety, who granted her permission to use a W&J art studio and wood working equipment over the course of a week to build her art pieces.

“I expected to take a week in the studio,” March says, “but I was so motivated to get it done that I completed it in a day and a half.”

She called her series “Oji,” which means “black” in Igbo, a language spoken in Nigeria, which she says is part of her ancestry. Over the course of three days, she posted – and sold – the nine pieces of art on Instagram and Facebook. She then donated 50 percent of the proceeds, or $500, to 1Hood Media, a Pittsburgh-based collective of socially conscious artists/activists who are making a difference with their art.

“Part of this movement is to support black artists,” says March of the collective and making her art.

“For me, it’s about spreading love and positivity.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Grace Bemis ’23, left, Holly Troesch ’23, center, and April Bonifate ’23 relax in hammocks donated by Eagles Nest Outfitters, in the newly constructed Hammock Grove behind the Howard J. Burnett Center. Up to seven socially distanced hammocks can be set up on the posts, which also prevents damage to campus trees.

T

his is one time you truly could say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

W&J’s Ross Memorial Park recently underwent a complete playing-field makeover, bringing new and extended life to the College baseball stadium with 148,000 square feet of specially engineered artificial turf.

Artificial turf company AstroTurf installed its AstroTurf® Diamond Series RBI System, engineered to emulate the look, feel, and performance of both the grass and even clay portions of the field throughout the infield and outfield of the ballpark, according to Scott McGuinness, W&J’s director of athletics. He says the AstroTurf system is well-known in the world of

baseball for delivering what he describes as the ultimate in playability, durability and ballpark aesthetics.

The outfield also serves as a practice field for W&J’s men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse programs.

“Ross Memorial Park already is a fantastic college baseball stadium, and this turf replacement project will only enhance the experience for our student-athletes who use the facility,” McGuinness says. “We have been fortunate to replace the synthetic surfaces at Cameron Stadium, Ross Memorial Park and Alexandre Stadium within the last two years, which shows the College’s commitment to providing first-class facilities for our student-athletes.”

OLD MAIN

9

10

OLD MAIN

VIRTUAL Success

V

irtual tours, virtual meetings and virtual events led to dramatic success in new student recruitment despite COVID-19 obstacles, thanks to an enrollment team that invested extra time, creativity and technological know-how to reaching prospective new students.

All told, enrollment for first-year freshmen this past fall jumped 16 percent over the previous year’s recruitment effort, for a

VR for

“Despite the setbacks from the pandemic, we made sure our virtual connections with the incoming class were personal, authentic and meaningful,” says Nicole Focareto, vice president for enrollment.

“Our faculty and the enrollment team did a tremendous job of showcasing the value of W&J.” WASHJEFF.COLLEGE-TOUR.COM

total of 338 first-time, first-year freshmen. The total number of new students going into fall 2020 climbed to 357, up eight and a half percent over 2019’s number.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Jakerra Lance ’22’s NSF-funded Journey Into Public-Interest Technology

V

irtual reality this past summer helped bring together Jakerra Lance ’22’s dual passions for history and information science – and in a way that has ignited in her a newfound desire to change the world with technology.

Lance was selected to participate in the National Science Foundation’s Research for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Austin, Texas. The focus: Cyberinfrastructure Research 4 Social Change.

Inspired by a class she had taken at W&J on Prison, Race and Crime, she decided to develop a virtual reality-based historical learning experience that would convey the story of the Attica prison riot in 1971 that resulted in many casualties on all sides

as police were ordered to storm the prison. She presented her research and experience at an REU Poster Symposium.

Later, Lance had an opportunity to participate in a virtual Public Service Weekend at Carnegie Mellon University, where her team’s “moonshot idea project” to mitigate police brutality came up with a mobile app called Blue Rate. The app would allow those who interact with the police to rate their experiences. The app then would aggregate the data for future monitoring. Her team’s idea was ranked as one of the top three of the weekend.

Says Lance: “I was able to use my background to examine how things are now and come up with a way to try to fix it.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

“Unlearning” Gender

S

tevie Berberick, Ph.D., noticed a trend in media that often misrepresents transgender and non-binary people as one-dimensional degenerative characters without goals or hobbies. The assistant professor of communication arts at W&J hopes to bring greater positive dimension to these identities in the media.

From Player to COACH

O

nly two years ago, Phillip Bobich ’19 earned his second All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference honors as a standout offensive lineman for W&J. Now he’s a full-time assistant coach for the team.

Bobich, a business administration major, landed the coveted position after spending the previous year as an intern assistant coach. As a full-time assistant coach, he’ll serve as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach.

“Phil is a product of our program,” says head football coach Mike Sirianni, who coached Bobich and later hired him. “He was an accomplished player on the field, and he has continued that success now as a member of our coaching staff.”

Sirianni describes Bobich as a standout four-year member of W&J’s football program from 2015 to 2018.

“He worked hard for us as an intern coach last year,” Sirianni says, “and hard work should be rewarded.”

Berberick, who uses they/them pronouns, has just published a new book via Lexington Books titled “Reframing Sex: Unlearning the Gender Binary with Trans Masculine YouTube Vloggers.” They wrote the book after observing what they’ve observed as a continuing lack of healthy or complete representations of transgender identity on screen—a misrepresentation that can lead to increased fear, misunderstanding, stigmatization and even violence against transgender people.

“Transgender is such a beautiful and vibrant term that encompasses so many different forms of embodiment,” Berberick says. “But what we’re seeing in the media is mainly a representation of transfemininity that’s really high-femme, which is awesome but also incomplete. One of the biggest shortcomings is that we don’t see transmasculinities on screen.”

Berberick says their academic work largely focuses on trying to explain how sexual identity is grossly misunderstood and how, as a society, people confuse sex and gender.

“I don’t think that’s anyone’s fault,” Berberick says. “I think it’s just how we deal with this culturally, and we need to unlearn it. I hope we can unlearn the binary sexual identity that is prevalent in our culture…When we see human beings as human beings and not a one-dimensional token, that’s when our empathy grows.”

OLD MAIN

11

12

OLD MAIN

How

NEUTRINOS Behave

Physics Grad Student Rebecca Rapp ‘17 Earns Slot with U.S. DOE Research Program

R

ebecca Rapp ’17, an aspiring experimental nuclear and particle physicist and physics Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, found herself recently among 52 graduate students across the country who were awarded positions with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program.

Heading to the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, Rapp will be able to continue her thesis work in studying the behaviors of neutrino particles and measuring the so-called neutron flux produced by a neutron production process at ORNL called the Spallation Neutron Source.

“Under the guidance of the truly fantastic mentors I’ve found in my career, I’ve worked hard and earned this freedom to pursue science that I find interesting,” she said in a release from Carnegie Mellon about the research honor, “to make connections in a different sector of the physics community and to determine

FUNDING

T

how best to transform my passion for this field into a career plan that best matches my personal and professional goals.”

Said Dan Brouillette, Secretary of Energy, in the Carnegie Mellon release about student awardees: “They represent the future leadership and innovation that will allow American science and engineering to excel in the 21st century.”

Kudos to Rebecca Rapp.

DRAMA

here’s never enough drama – for playwrights, especially.

Pittsburgh’s City Theatre hopes to ignite more drama, particularly among young, African-American playwrights in the region, with the creation of the new Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights. The fund’s first recipient is playwright Ty Greenwood ’17, a Pittsburgh native who graduated from W&J with a degree in communication arts, an emphasis in rhetoric, and honors in theatre.

Greenwood is a recent graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama’s Master of Fine Arts program in Dramatic Writing.

The funding, according to City Theatre, will provide flexibility for Greenwood to develop a new play, as well as developmental support throughout the process.

City Theatre created the fund with the financial support of award-winning playwright Kemp Powers, whose play, One Night in Miami, was performed at City Theatre in 2019. The fund will offer an annual commission

and developmental support to early-career Black playwrights such as Greenwood.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

“

TREE-MENDOUS

HEARD ON CAMPUS

As I got older…,

I realized that

it wasn’t about

mere diversity for diversity’s sake,

but it was about

celebrating who we are, affirming our ability to belong and creating a

system of justice that allows our people to be protected and thrive.

”

-Civil rights activist and Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometti, who spoke to a group of students at W&J this past fall, in a program supported by the Maxwell fund as part of the J. Robert Maxwell ’43 Visiting Scholar Series

MENTOR

B

randon Marcucci ’21 is standing tall these days among Washington & Jefferson College’s own trees.

And he’s documenting their growth, thanks to mentoring that paired Marcucci with Associate Professor of Biology Jason Kilgore, Ph.D., whose passions for the outdoors and the environment have rubbed off on Marcucci. As W&J’s designated arboretum information specialist, Marcucci and his mentor are monitoring the health of at least 1,200 trees on campus that make up the W&J Arboretum, even as Marcucci now pursues his own newfound passion for environmental studies.

Marcucci also is working with Dr. Kilgore to study the invasive Emerald Ash Borer in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest and documenting the process that will allow future students to measure ash tree plots.

“I’ve grown so much and learned so much from Dr. Kilgore,” Marcucci says of his faculty mentor and adviser. “I like his enthusiasm. You can tell he’s really excited about what he’s teaching, and that threw me more into the subject matter.”

Of course, one also could say Dr. Kilgore practices what he preaches.

He recently was recruited to serve as the new associate director (a volunteer position) for the Washington County Conservation District. In that capacity, he’ll provide technical expertise and guidance on issues that affect the soil, water and other natural resources in the county.

OLD MAIN

13

14

OLD MAIN

COVID-19 and COMPETITION W&J athletes adjust amidst the pandemic

T

By Aaron Thompson

he COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for collegiate student-athletes across the United States—and has caused the longest disruption of athletics at W&J since World War II. But that isn’t keeping the coaches and athletes from training amidst this “new normal.”

“Even with wearing masks while practicing, the ability to practice with teammates and coaches has been as close to normal of an activity as they’ve experienced in many months,” says Scott McGuinness, director of athletics at W&J. “Our student-athletes have adhered to the

protocols established, and that is a big reason why we have been so successful in navigating this semester past together.”

The athletic program’s challenges began in March 2020, when the NCAA announced the cancellation of the remainder of its championship events for the 2019-20 academic school year, which included the

Division III wrestling championships and the entirety of its championships for the spring season.

Initial hopes to return to form during the summer proved impossible, due to the NCAA Division III Presidents Council’s decision to cancel the national championships for fall sports and the Presidents’ Athletic Conference cancellation of fall and winter competition. Still, athletic administrators and coaches at W&J worked tirelessly to provide meaningful athletic experiences during the fall semester.

Mark Lesako, associate director of athletics and head athletic trainer, along with his staff, have implemented a host of safety measures to create a safe environment for student-athletes. Among them: daily temperature checks and symptom screenings; appointment-only treatments in the athletic training room; social distancing, “drill-and-skill-only” practices; proper hygiene; and sanitization measures.

“The College has done an amazing job of implementing rules for the entire campus,” Lesako says. “The athletic department and sports medicine staff truly appreciate the cooperation and willingness of everyone involved in athletics – especially our student-athletes – who complied with all of our guidelines during the fall semester.”

Recruiting efforts have continued successfully as well.

“Our coaches always work hard on recruiting,” McGuiness says, noting the unprecedented new NCAA allowance of virtual recruitment as a boost to these efforts. “They have tweaked their methods and are producing terrific results. We are maximizing the opportunities and resources available to them and will continue to attract talented student-athletes to W&J College.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Bringing Hope With an Organ

I

t’s not what you might think. Alice Lee, Ph.D., a professor of biology at W&J, when not teaching or studying biology, brings to life her passion for music as organist at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Canonsburg, Pa. This past summer, she performed a solo recital, which she titled “Organ Chorale Preludes on the Theme of Hope,” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon, Pa. Pieces included works by Bach, Brahms, Willan, and Vaughan Williams.

View her performance on Facebook at wandj.co/organ

“A Lasting Impact” on W&J Sports

W

&J student-athletes and coaches for the past 30 years have leaned on Rich Stevens as both their equipment manager and a compassionate advocate and friend. This past fall, after 41 years working for W&J – and literally thousands of W&J victories, including most of the school’s NCAA playoff wins, Stevens has turned in his equipment room keys and retired.

“Rich is simply one of a kind,” says Scott McGuinness, director of athletics. “Every athletic department needs staff members like Rich Stevens.

More than anything, Rich cares about every student-athlete and every coach he’s worked with.

With more than four decades of service, he leaves a lasting impact of hard work and dedication to W&J.” Also leaving a lasting impact is Debby Lowe ’11, who has retired as the athletics department secretary after 20 years. She helped get W&J’s student-athletes

safely to their games and competitions, as well as finalized game contracts and planning for the annual Athletics Hall of Fame induction and other big events, according to McGuinness.

“Debby has been a huge part of helping to ensure safe transportation for our student-athletes, while also making special events like our annual athletic hall of fame ceremony successful,” says McGuinness of Lowe’s retirement. “We are so thankful for the work Debby and Rich have conducted for our student-athletes over the years, and we wish them the best in their retirements.”

OLD MAIN

15

16

OLD MAIN

Library Lifelines

W

hile the Clark Family Library has had to offer only limited access to its facilities this past year, its online presence is flourishing.

That, thanks to a growing collection of books, journals and periodicals available online – and the available expertise of library staff via an online Help Desk.

The Help Desk, which the library launched two years ago, has taken on a life of its own in this unusual pandemic season.

“Users have transitioned to asking questions using chat very easily,” says Ronalee Ciocco, director of library of services. “We see that in the number of questions that we have handled remotely since the pandemic began.”

In fall 2019, the librarians answered about 20 questions online, as most questions were asked in-person. In spring 2020,

librarians fielded more than 160 questions online, and that number continues to climb.

“This tells me that even though we may not be in the library together, faculty and students are still connecting with librarians when they need research assistance,” says Librarian Samantha Martin.

In addition to fielding reference questions online, librarians have

transitioned their information literacy instruction sessions online.

During fall 2020, librarians interacted with 43 class meetings using Teams or Zoom.

“The nice thing about W&J,” Martin says, “is it’s a community that really pulls together and makes the situation work.”

Poetry Pro

G

eorge David Clark, Ph.D., an assistant professor of English at W&J, recently earned national recognition – and a cash prize – for his work as a bard.

The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers (ALSCW) named Dr. Clark a co-winner of its latest Meringoff Poetry Prize, which includes a $3,500 prize. The recognition also gave his poetry additional exposure at a national ALSCW conference and banquet for the winners this past fall at Yale University, and his work will be published in Literary Matters.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

GOOD CHEMISTRY

M

ichael Leonard, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at W&J, recently brought national attention to his successful JayTerm class, CHM 165: Easing the Transition from Organic Chemistry I to II.

’ in

k n c Rohe L aw t

The American Chemical Society’s Journal of Chemical Education accepted and published a paper he wrote about the course, titled “Easing the Transition from Organic Chemistry I to II: A January-Term Bridge Course.”

T

he Rock the Lawn celebration was the first social event for on-campus students after they completed their mandatory quarantine period post-move-in. Students received commemorative blankets to encourage social distancing for the event and to use at future campus social events, and they enjoyed individually packaged hotdogs provided by W&J Dining while listening to live music.

OLD MAIN

17

18

F E AT U R E

Endowing

TRAN SFOR MAT ION

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

By Sarah Dudik

W&J’s new VP for Development leans into the power of higher-education philanthropy F E AT U R E

19

20

F E AT U R E

Carolyn Campbell-Golden, Ph.D., welcomes guests at the dedication of Cooper Hall

C

arolyn Campbell-Golden, Ph.D., knew that Washington & Jefferson College was the right fit for her and her family before ever setting foot on campus.

After hearing about the open position of vice president for development and alumni engagement from a colleague, she started researching W&J and learning about the College’s unique culture. As she got further along in the hiring process and more familiar with the W&J community, she confirmed that W&J is an exciting place to be and W&J confirmed that she was the right fit to lead the Development and Alumni Engagement teams. Dr. Campbell-Golden first came to campus a month after accepting the position and found that what she felt from afar lined up with her first-hand experience.

“Throughout the interview process, I was told about

the welcoming spirit and friendliness of the W&J family. I have found that to be true and am delighted to be a part of it,” Dr. Campbell-Golden says.

Dr. Campbell-Golden has worked as an administrator for higher education and non-profits for nearly 30 years. She joined W&J in August, coming from Auburn University in Alabama where she spent 22 years and was most recently Vice Chancellor for Advancement at Auburn Montgomery.

As a senior administrator, she served as co-chair for the university strategic planning process, provided leadership and direction throughout the university’s accreditation processes, spearheaded initiatives promoting diversity and inclusion, established and implemented faculty and staff advocacy committees, provided expert leadership and worked collaboratively with governing and foundation boards within the

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

university system, and participated in countless projects and initiatives in the local community.

Dr. Campbell-Golden’s first experience in higher education development and alumni relations occurred when she worked to establish the foundation for Central Texas College in 1991. At the College’s first scholar and donor luncheon, Dr. Campbell-Golden recalled a young woman sharing the impact receiving the scholarship made on she and her family.

“I will never forget her words – ‘Had it not been for this endowment, I would not have been able to achieve my lifelong goal of a college degree,’” Dr. Campbell-Golden says. “This statement hit me like a lightning bolt. It demonstrated the critical role philanthropy plays in higher education and the power of a college education in transforming lives and a family tree.”

As a first-generation college student, a proud mother of three daughters, and a continuous pursuer of her own education, Dr. Campbell-Golden relates to the transformative power of higher education.

“First generation students and their stories still inspire me almost 30 years later. I find it incredibly rewarding to be able to play a role in facilitating partnerships that connect our alumni, foundations, corporations, and other stakeholders with deserving students, faculty research, critical programming, and capital initiatives,” she says.

A mentor of Dr. Campbell-Golden’s once said that for colleges and universities, “philanthropy makes the difference between mediocrity and excellence.”

“W&J has a great tradition of alumni supporting the life of the College. Now during this challenging and critical time in the life of the College, alumni support and engagement is more important than ever,” Dr. Campbell-Golden added. “Through the philanthropy of W&J alumni and friends, W&J will be able to continue to build its tradition of excellence and reach greater heights.”

Though many of her introductions to the W&J community have happened through screens, she looks forward to a time when she will be able to meet with alumni in person. In the meantime, she has been

“

Through the

philanthropy of

W&J alumni and

friends, W&J will be able to continue to

build its tradition of

excellence and reach greater heights.

-Carolyn Campbell-Golden, Ph.D.

”

using the wide array of virtual tools at her disposal to make connections.

“What is most important is making the connection, however it may be, and making sure it is meaningful.

It will be these contacts that can begin to build a bridge towards a relationship until we get on the other side of this challenge, can meet face-to-face, and exchange handshakes and hugs,” Dr. Campbell-Golden says. “Take heart and have faith, it will be here before we know it! Juncta Juvant!”

Dr. Campbell-Golden holds a master’s degree in Management from Faulkner University, master’s and doctorate degrees in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University, completed Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management program, holds a certificate in College and University Teaching, and is distinguished as a Fulbright Scholar. She has taught as an adjunct professor and has established an endowed scholarship for working mothers who are pursuing a degree. ●

F E AT U R E

21

22

F E AT U R E

“EXPER ELEVATING Walter Cooper’s lifetime of bringing together science, education and activism

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

THE HUMAN

IENCE

By Daniel Bates

24

F E AT U R E

H

ow does one even begin to capture the essence of this leader’s lifelong impact on science, education, civil rights, and humanity? Especially when he has crossed paths along the way with the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Eleanor Roosevelt and Robert Kennedy?

Or, as a visionary leader, has helped to guide the grand visions of statewide education and educational institutions, started new churches and activist organizations across the world, contributed to new science and innovation, and influenced the lives of possibly thousands of students looking for greater purpose, direction and change in a turbulent, unfair world?

“

He’s pretty

amazing. I take

inspiration from

him, as he’s kind of

a daunting example.

I’m not going to fill his shoes.

-Brian Cooper, Ph.D.

”

When Washington & Jefferson College invited alumnus and trustee emeritus Walter Cooper ’50 Ph.D., to the campus this past fall to honor his legacy by renaming a student residence hall after him, Dr. Cooper graciously attended a private ceremony with W&J dignitaries. Then he joined those leaders at the entrance of the former Beau Hall to unveil the new name.

But as those dignitaries walked through the building’s newly renovated common area – designed to honor this storied W&J graduate, star athlete, activist and leader, Dr. Cooper sat in a chair beneath his newly hung portrait and earnestly focused his attention on a young, African-American student sitting across from him.

Despite the celebratory distractions of the morning, the two engaged in a brief conversation about life, her ambitions, the history of an African-American church in her native Philadelphia, and his work with the African country of Mali to establish a Sister City program in the city of Bamako. Moments like these offer a glimpse of the essence of this 92-year-old’s character and legacy as a lifelong steward of science, education, civil rights and humanity.

“My father is always interested in who other people are and treating others with respect and dignity,” says Brian Cooper, Ph.D., Cooper’s 62-year-old son and an attendee of the October ceremony and building tour.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

“He always has been really interested in going beyond the basic ‘how are you doing?’ and hoping they would flourish. He’s pretty amazing. I take inspiration from him, as he’s kind of a daunting example. I’m not going to fill his shoes.”

Nobody will be filling his shoes anytime soon, if Dr. Cooper can help it. He remains active in his adopted home of Rochester, N.Y., still driving civil rights and championing education as the path to racial equality and a unified and shared human experience.

“All things that live must move,” says Dr. Cooper, laughing from his Rochester home at his continued busyness even today, despite his age.

Adds Brian Cooper about his father’s life mission: “He’s always active – he doesn’t slow down. He just keeps on going.”

RACE AND THE STUDENT-ATHLETE Dr. Cooper grew up in Clairton, Pa., in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Monongahela Valley. Upon graduating from W&J in 1950, he attended graduate school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he met Helen, his late wife of almost 52 years. He then went to the University of Rochester, where he became the first African-American student at the school to earn a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. He has remained in the Rochester area since, enjoying a 30-year career as a research scientist and innovator at photographic technology giant Eastman Kodak while also leading civil rights activities, with better education as their foundation.

As W&J President John C. Knapp, Ph.D., says, “Dr. Cooper’s remarkable legacy spans nine decades, but his passions still lead back to Washington & Jefferson College.”

Dr. Cooper graduated from high school in Clairton in 1946 and was named “All-Monongahela Valley” for his football prowess in that same year. Another local university offered him a full academic scholarship but wasn’t going to be able to offer him an opportunity to play football, a talent which he had hoped would lead to additional scholarship funds for room and board.

Dr. Cooper describes his meeting with an admissions official at that university as going well until he asked about athletic opportunities.

“He flushed, and I knew something was wrong,” Dr. Cooper recalls of the official. “He said the university’s football schedule included some southern schools.

If they had a colored student on their team, the other schools would cancel the games.”

Dr. Cooper respectfully declined the academic scholarship – and the school, not ready to give in to segregation and the systemic racial inequalities of the day. But he didn’t let racism dampen his desire to get an education and to stay on the field.

Fortunately, Dr. Cooper had befriended Dan Towler ’50, an African-American who had played high school football in the Mon Valley town of Donora.

Towler, who later went on to play professionally for the Los Angeles Rams, convinced Dr. Cooper to apply to W&J. He did and received a full academic scholarship, as well as an athletic scholarship. And he joined the Presidents football team.

“When I left home, I had $60 in my pocket, three pairs of Levi’s, my sister’s luggage, and my parents’ prayers,” Dr. Cooper says.

Dr. Cooper always had been interested in science, but he chose chemistry as his major at W&J because “I didn’t know any black chemists, so I looked at it as a challenge.”

Cooper roomed with Towler in Hays Hall, suite 518. In the off-season, he worked in the cafeteria to help pay for room and board. He studied hard and eventually became president of W&J’s National Honor Society.

“As a student, this was a continuation of the discipline process I grew up with, which was to learn as much as I possibly could,” Dr. Cooper says, illustrating his belief that a good education will help improve the human experience and transcend racial inequality. ‣

F E AT U R E

25

26

F E AT U R E

Introducing…

COOPER HALL Renovated Beau Hall renamed to honor Walter Cooper ’50, Ph.D.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

GROWING UP POOR – AND “RICH” – IN A MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY W&J’s Beau Hall, a student residence hall previously named for the street on which it is located, and one of the campus homes for first-year students, has undergone a $1 million renovation – and a name change to honor the work and life of distinguished W&J alumnus Walter Cooper ’50, Ph.D. The College celebrated the name change with a private dedication ceremony, residence hall tour, and reception on October 2, 2020. Dr. Cooper, 92, along with family members and several close friends from his long-time home in Rochester, N.Y., traveled to Washington, Pa., for the special occasion.

“I just want to say that my life was shaped, my life was enriched, and my life led to dedication of other human beings based upon my early experience at Washington & Jefferson College,” Dr. Cooper shared with the audience at the dedication ceremony. “This is an honor that I will cherish forever, and I will pass it on to my children and hopefully my grandchildren, and generations of Coopers afterward.”

The newly renovated dorm’s entry hall and common area pay particular tribute to Dr. Cooper and his life’s work, as well as to his contributions as a student at W&J and, later, as a member of the College’s board of trustees. On the wall facing the entrance, a portrait of Dr. Cooper, painted for the dedication, is paired with the following quote, reminding students about how to treat one another: “I think you live a life trying to understand other human beings. Whenever I see an individual, firstly I see their humanity. Because of that fact, there is certain dignity and respect that I will always accord them because they are human beings.” (from a 2014 article on Dr. Cooper in the March/April issue of POST in Rochester) Said W&J President John C. Knapp, Ph.D., about the design updates in the common area of Cooper Hall: “This is the principal location where new students come to know each other and make friends. And now, from this point on, it will also be the place where they come to know Walter Cooper.” ●

Dr. Cooper says he learned his educational self-discipline, along with his broader, less-racially divided views of humankind, from his parents and neighbors in what he describes as a multicultural community that included immigrants from Italy, Sicily, Hungary, Poland, and Russia among other countries. Most men worked either in the coal mines or steel mills, as Dr. Cooper’s father did, or in small businesses that served the community.

“We were surrounded by what I consider a compilation of humanity in terms of origins. It was highly ethnic and African-American,” Dr. Cooper says.

He names families such as the Pavliks, Grisniks, Podoliaks and other neighbors as influencing his early years, along with his five sisters and brother. “I thought it was a very rich environment in coming to grips with where we were. It was a situation where we saw how people worked hard trying to survive.”

While his father “didn’t have a day of education and couldn’t read or write,” Dr. Cooper’s mother – with only nine years of education – instilled in him the importance of reading and staying informed as a means of rising above poverty, race, and ignorance.

That upbringing drove his passion for education.

“My mother was an avid reader and always had a daily newspaper and weeklies,” he says, crediting her as a major influence in his life and educational philosophy. “We were poor, but we were rich in terms of reading materials, which led to general discussions around the house. I think reading opened up for me new worlds, new ideas and discussions.”

His philosophy today on reading remains the same, even amidst the current political turmoil and racial unrest: “My message to you is that the book shall set you free, not the things you hear in the street. It will free your mind to achieve what you want to achieve as an adult.”

His father, meanwhile, taught him the love of the outdoors, which ignited his interest in science at an early age. ‣

F E AT U R E

27

28

F E AT U R E

“

I think education

is very important

because, if you have

historical knowledge of any situation, it

better prepares you for the human experience.

-Walter Cooper, Ph.D.

”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

EDUCATION, ATTITUDE AND HISTORICAL MEMORY Then there were his teachers, who further fostered his love of reading and science.

“I was always dedicated to reading, and they respected my interests,” he recalls, mentioning school librarian Miss Nixon by name. When he was 16, she encouraged him to read a biography of scientist George Washington Carver by Rackham Holt, which he says was a turning point for him regarding both his vocational interests and humanitarian attitude, particularly toward racism and the inequalities that so blatantly stemmed from that racism.

“In 1853, George Washington Carver was sold for a racehorse,” Dr. Cooper says, slipping easily into educator mode. “If a person like him can undergo an experience like that – a human experience of that magnitude with the intent to destroy – and still become one of the world’s great agricultural technologists, then I had to be of that same attitude.”

SCIENCE AND ACTIVISM After moving to Rochester with his wife, who was also a chemist, to complete a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Rochester, Dr. Cooper began a job at Eastman Kodak that would fuel a career as a research chemist and inventor. He is credited with three process patents in photographic chemistry, which he says is thanks to that company, which allowed Black scientists to succeed.

That falls in stark contrast, however, to an earlier interview experience he had with a large chemical company, which had sought him for a position after being impressed with his academic record. When the recruiter met with him in person and saw that he was Black, Dr. Cooper says the man seemed surprised, and his demeanor changed. Such incidents did influence his fight for civil rights, he says, but they didn’t deter him from pushing to succeed.

This is just one example of the importance Dr. Cooper places on education, knowledge and history in “elevating the human experience” across races, ethnicities, genders and religions without polarizing and dividing.

As such, he found himself settling long-term in Rochester, embedded in a community rife with civil unrest and civil rights activities. Even as he worked hard as an innovator at Eastman Kodak, Dr. Cooper would find himself drawn more and more toward the center of the civil rights world, emphasizing his humanitarian perspective and passionately held views that better education was the answer.

“I think education is very important because, if you have historical knowledge of any situation, it better prepares you for the human experience,” says Dr. Cooper, who has made this one of the tenets of his lifelong stewardship as a scientist and educator, as well as a civil rights leader and activist. “History is so important. A people without a historical reference or memory are doomed.”

Along the way, he helped to found Rochester’s chapter of the Urban League and served as president of the Rochester chapter of the NAACP, which he says had more than 3,000 members, at least half of whom were white. In the early 1960s, he even took a leave of absence from Eastman Kodak to launch a new organization called Action for a Better Community in Rochester.

Dr. Cooper met Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1958 and had a couple of discussions with him about civil rights. “King gave a really nice talk dedicated to peaceful protest. It was a very brilliant talk,” Dr. Cooper says. He says King emphasized the importance of being very disciplined and orderly to achieve success with a peaceful protest. Cooper later participated in a march on Washington led by King, and says it was “the most orderly march I’d ever seen.” ‣ F E AT U R E

29

30

F E AT U R E

Dr. Cooper also had an opportunity to meet Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom he describes as a very interesting man, and he spent some time with Malcolm X, whom Dr. Cooper called “Big Red,” during his visits to Rochester in 1963. He also served on a committee with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and knew Robert Kennedy.

As W&J’s Dr. Knapp says of Dr. Cooper’s storied career and the many honors he has received, “The list goes on of accolades from those who know that our students will now have the opportunity for generations to come, to know about a man who is, indeed, an ideal role model for W&J students.”

At the center of Dr. Cooper’s civil rights activism, though, was his desire to improve education for Black people and other underserved children in Rochester and across the state of New York.

Connecting his activism with his education activities eventually led him to serve for many years as a member of New York State’s Board of Regents, which supervises all education activities in the state, from grade school to the state’s university system.

In his speech to a small audience of W&J dignitaries, faculty, students, family and a few friends from Rochester as part of the dedication of the newly minted Cooper Hall, Dr. Cooper summed up his life’s mission of promoting education as a means of overcoming racial inequality.

In 2010, the City of Rochester honored his many contributions to local education and named one of its local grade schools, Rochester City School Number 10, after him. The school now emphasizes research and interactive learning, which Dr. Cooper had promoted as a Regent.

W&J first recognized Dr. Cooper’s many accomplishments on behalf of education and civil rights in 1968 with its Distinguished Alumni Award.

He was 40 years old then. In 1975, Dr. Cooper was elected to W&J’s board of trustees, and he was named a trustee emeritus in 2000.

“Life has been very good to me in a sense because I think I used lots of energy and time in promoting my own future and the future of the others around me,” he said to those gathered at the dedication ceremony. “That’s why I take a great interest in education, because it’s the leveling field for those who come from poverty, for those who are unnoticed in this great society.

I have an undying commitment to try and to make life more promising and more pleasant for people who are in conditions of poverty and lacking much hope.” ●

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

The Life of Dr. Walter Cooper ’50 Walter Cooper ’50, Ph.D., has spent a lifetime championing science, education and

civil rights in the lab, in the halls of academia, on the field, and in city neighborhoods.

His contributions to his community are many, as are his distinguished accomplishments and honors. Below are just some of the highlights of his decades of work.

•

•

•

•

Graduates from Clairton High School, Clairton, Pa., in 1946.

Named All-Monongahela Valley in football.

Earns full academic as well as football scholarship at W&J in 1946. Majors in chemistry, minors in physics and math. Becomes star athlete and student leader, eventually elected president of the College’s National Honor Society.

Graduates in 1950 Earns a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1957 from the University of Rochester, the first African-American to do so at the university.

Research scientist at Eastman Kodak; receives three patents for photographic film chemistry; retires in 1986.

•

Founder, Action for a Better Community in Rochester, 1964.

•

Co-founds the National Urban League’s Rochester chapter, 1965.

•

President of the NAACP Rochester Branch.

•

Elected to Board of Regents, New York State Education Department.

•

Establishes Rochester’s Sister City program with Bamako, Mali, 1975; named a Knight of the National Order of Mali, 1981.

•

Receives W&J’s Distinguished Alumni Award, 1968; awarded honorary doctoral degree from W&J, 1987.

•

Elected to W&J’s board of trustees, 1975; named a trustee emeritus, 2000.

•

Named to W&J’s Athletic Hall of Fame, 2000.

•

Awarded honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by SUNY Geneseo, 2005.

•

Awarded Frederick Douglass Medal from the University of Rochester for his lifelong involvement in civil rights, 2008.

•

Rochester City School #10 is renamed the Dr. Walter Cooper Academy School #10, 2010.

F E AT U R E

31

32

F E AT U R E

THE “NEW 50 YEARS

” JAYMEN Remembering 1970, the year W&J opened its campus to women – and the legacy it created

By Daniel Bates

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

34

F E AT U R E

T

his time of year, white snow blankets the campus lawn, creating a bright and contrasting backdrop for the kaleidoscopic stainless steel and glass polygon hoops of the sculpture that changes kinetically, with the touch of the wind or creative hands. Without the snow, this fixture of W&J’s landscape for the past six years almost begins to blend in with its surroundings, much like the fully integrated blend of young men and women who crisscross the campus daily between classes today. Almost.

Chicago artist Guy Bellaver designed the 12-foot diameter sculpture in 2014, after winning a public art competition that would honor an iconic year for W&J – a no-turning-back year that would change the face and future of the College forever. Its title, simply: “1970.”

1970 was the year when W&J opened its campus to women for the first time after nearly 200 years as a male-only institution of higher education. This year, W&J celebrates the 50th anniversary of that transformational moment in our long history.

This decision was discussed, debated, questioned and studied over the years by the College’s leadership, contemplated by the all-male student body, and driven largely by the economic realities of declining enrollment, the Vietnam war draft, and growing competition from institutions that already were co-ed. The College’s Board of Trustees made its final decision during their meeting on Friday, December 5, 1969, and the work of recruiting new students began.

It took time, but their arrival would eventually change the way faculty taught and administrators led. It would raise the academic bar for all W&J students and open the door to female professors and administrators, women’s sports opportunities, campus sororities, multi-generational student legacies, and storied careers in business and science. It would prove a commendable beginning for both the College and a fraternity of women leaders who consider themselves fortunate enough to have been part of that first co-ed graduating class, the Class of 1974.

Not surprisingly, the change also drew its share of dissent. As the female students arrived at their dormitory in September, for instance, they were greeted with a sign stretched across the building across the street that declared, “Co-eds, go home!”

Students from Chatham College, a women-only institution at the time, added to the dissent with their own sign, according to Betsey Hurwitz-Schwab ’74, a current W&J trustee. It stated, “If you want an education, go to Chatham. If you want an MRS, go to W&J.” But as Hurwitz-Schwab adds, “Despite the fact that there were so few of us, we stuck together pretty well.” And so they did.

The College’s student newspaper, the Red & Black, ushered in the new era in the January 3, 1970, edition with this rather dubious headline: “The New Jaymen,” and its editorial team minced no words while setting their expectations for the changes.

Following W&J’s 40th anniversary celebration of going co-ed, Hurwitz-Schwab and others led a committee of alumnae to recognize the transformation that had taken place over the years, thanks to the W&J leaders and students who embraced the co-ed opportunity.

This movement generated the public art competition that resulted in the now-iconic “1970” statue on campus, which was dedicated in October 2014.

Notably, the statue is located near the Howard J. Burnett Center, which is named for the College’s 10th president, whose presidency began in 1970 during the transitional period.

“…It can be noted that we look forward with some interest to what we hope will be the ‘humanizing’ of W&J,” the editorial stated.

Next to the sculpture, a commemorative dedication plaque sums up the “tumultuous” year of change for the school and for all who have attended since then.

That fall, 77 female freshmen, along with 39 other female students – only about 12 percent of the College’s total enrollment of 976 – arrived on campus and, simply by virtue of being there, changed everything.

The sculpture, according to the inscription on a plaque next to the sculpture, “commemorates the sweeping changes that took place that academic

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

year. Each of the interior eight polygons can be turned in relation to all the others, a metaphor for how one change brings about many others. ‘1970’ is dedicated to that time, and to the commitment of Washington & Jefferson College to maintain its place among the best liberal arts colleges in the nation. MOTION IS CHANGE. CHANGE IS MOTION.”

To capture a glimpse of that unique moment in time and the effect it has had on the College and its students since then, we talked with Hurwitz-Schwab and a few other notable alumnae to share their experiences. While each story is a bit different, all involve opening doors to opportunities for themselves and others to follow. ‣

36

F E AT U R E

PIONEER LEGACY Trustee Louise Ross’s lifelong affinity with W&J

The timing couldn’t have been better. W&J’s board of trustees had just voted to become a co-educational college in December 1969. In January 1970, Ross’s family drove her to Washington, Pa., to visit W&J.

Louise Kirkpatrick Ross ’74 grew up in Vandergrift, Pa., raised primarily by her grandmother, mother and aunts.

“I had a great visit,” she says. “It felt warm and welcoming.”

“They were a force to be reckoned with,” she says fondly of the women in her family – their determination showing even when it came to her choosing a college. “I had applied to a handful of liberal arts colleges that my mother and aunts had allowed me to apply to. I really liked William & Mary College. They said I could apply there, but I couldn’t go there.”

Washington & Jefferson College was another story.

Her grandfather, “an Italian immigrant, didn’t have the benefit of an education but was a very learned man,” she recounts. “Male relatives went to W&J, and he wanted to send a child there.”

She joined the unique community of young freshmen women who would become part of the College’s first co-ed graduating class of 1974, with a double major in psychology and economics. She worked at W&J for five years in the admissions office as a recruiter and later married Pete Ross ’74, who become a dentist.

Following the 40th anniversary of W&J going co-ed, Ross helped drive the effort to bring the College’s “1970” sculpture to campus in 2014. She continues to lead the College today as a member of its Board of Trustees.

“I don’t think anybody expected any less of us because we were women,” Ross says of her experience as a student and beyond at W&J. “I’ve had a wonderful experience. I’ve felt welcomed; I’ve felt accepted.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

As active, lifelong alumni fixtures at W&J, Ross and her husband (who had settled in Lancaster, Pa., where they raised their family and built a successful dental practice) couldn’t wait to take their daughter, Abbey Ross ’04, to see their alma mater as she considered where she would spend her college career.

“We took her there and said, ‘Let’s just go out for a walk,’” Ross says of their visit, laughing. “And people would say, ‘Hi, Pete and Louise.’ That turned her off.”

Abbey enrolled at another institution out of state for her freshman year.

That didn’t last long, though, Ross relates. “Abbey said, ‘I made a mistake. I should have gone to W&J. Do you think they’ll take me?’ I said, ‘You’ll have to find out.’ To be honest, she loved it so much I wasn’t sure we’d get her out in four years.”

“

We were

pioneers, I guess.

-Louise Kirkpatrick Ross ’74

”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS Red & Black’s 1970 Predictions on Going Co-ed

Not knowing what to expect in the fall of 1970, the all-male student editors of Red & Black took it upon themselves to speculate on the types of women who would launch co-education at W&J. Here’s what the editors wrote in the February 20, 1970, edition of the paper:

“Many young women will come to W&J with their heads full of fraternities, their parties, their pins and their lifestyles…

On the other hand, there may be a group of women not oriented to the

Exactly 30 years after they graduated, Abbey Ross, a French and history major, became a graduate of W&J. She had been mentored by Theresa Cavoti, wife of Nick Cavoti, professor emeritus of psychology, who had a high-level administrative position with a clothing company. Abbey now works as a designer in the fashion industry in New York City.

oppressing fraternity ritual. They will

Such experiences, Ross says, influenced her decision to support and help drive an alumnae effort to launch a public art competition that ultimately would lead to the installation of Chicago artist Guy Bellaver’s “1970” sculpture on campus next to the president’s house.

will not expect the little niceties

“I just always thought there should be something to remember the first class of women,” Ross says of the monument. “We were pioneers, I guess.” ●

only if you can do the same for them.”

adhere to the concepts of a present movement in the U.S., the Women’s Liberation Movement. These women

accorded ‘wanted’ women but will accept and respect you as students

F E AT U R E

37

38

F E AT U R E

“GET OVER IT, GUYS,

WE’RE HERE

”

How the W&J co-ed experience prepared Susan Kepler ’74 for a career in the Army…and a second career back at W&J Kepler grew up on a farm near Avella, Pa., in a family with a long military history. She originally set her sights on Penn State University, particularly given her involvement in the 4-H Club growing up. But in 1970, the school’s main campus was accepting only military veterans. So she considered other co-ed colleges and universities and landed at W&J.

Susan Kepler ’74 didn’t let a big “Go home, co-eds!” sign, which hung from a building across from her new dorm, scare her away. In 1970, Kepler was among the first female students on campus helping to transform W&J into a co-ed institution after 189 years as a male-only school.

On the contrary, she says, her pioneering co-ed experience actually prepared her well to take on a 21-year career as an officer in the male-dominated U.S. Army. And that same experience would leave her with an indelible fondness for the College that would draw this now-retired lieutenant colonel back to Washington, Pa., as an employee for nearly 27 years.

“It was a growing experience for everybody – a change,” Kepler says, looking at attending W&J in 1970. “In the early years, we had to go above and beyond, but it was like, ‘Get over it, guys, we’re here.’

“I appreciate that we broke a huge tradition,” she adds. “It took time because it was a huge change. We worked hard. I always just took it as a challenge.”

Kepler retired from W&J this past November, most recently serving as a major gifts officer.

W&J FEMALE FIRSTS 1970 •

First woman to register for fall classes – Janet Bawell

•

First female instructors hired – Deliea Bohm (Spanish), Roseanne Karlo (Phys. Ed.), Elaine Levitt (French), Martha Thompson (Sociology)

•

First female administrator – Ruth Riesenman, Associate Dean of Student Personnel

•

First woman to receive a scholarship from the Washington County Chapter of the W&J Alumni Association – Bernadette Spossey

•

First female cheerleading squad

1971 •

First four women to receive their degrees at W&J – Suzanne Jamison, Amy Martin, Marian Ream and Peggi Yi

1972 •

Women competed for the first time in intramural sports, including volleyball, table tennis, basketball, paddleball and tennis

•

First all-female service sorority – Gamma Sigma Omega

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE

“

WINTER 2021

I appreciate

that we broke a huge tradition.

-Susan Kepler ’74

”

Apparently, so did the women of what then was called Chatham College, an all-female school that previously would collaborate with W&J when it came to Homecoming and other co-ed events. Kepler says she remembers a big note from Chatham students that was pinned to a bulletin board in the common area of her dorm.

According to Kepler, it stated: “You can have them during the week, but on the weekend, they’re ours,” referring to the men of W&J, of course.

“It didn’t really bother me,” she says of being part of the College’s first co-ed class. “The only thing that bothered me was [the College administration] treated us as little girls. They were very protective of us.” ‣

1973 •

Phi Beta Kappa’s W&J chapter inducted its first women into this national honor society.

Of 24 new members from the Class of 1973, five were female.

•

First co-ed Homecoming Queen – Patti Callagy

•

First women’s varsity field hockey team

•

First female commencement speaker – Dr. Emily Mudd

1974 •

First women’s varsity basketball and volleyball teams

•

First time women were added to the W&J swimming squad

•

First female editor of the Red & Black – Debra Mayconich

1988 •

First woman president of Student Government – Penny Davis

40

F E AT U R E

Still, Kepler says, the co-ed challenge helped to strengthen her resolve – which she needed when she decided to apply for a direct commission into the U.S. Army as an officer in 1973, while still in school. She accepted the commission as the “Army didn’t have enough men to fill positions because of the [Vietnam] war,” Kepler says, and the Army’s ROTC program at local colleges wouldn’t accept women until 1976.

“When I came to W&J, men really didn’t want us there,” she says. “Then I went into the Army, and men really didn’t want us there either. I said, ‘Oh, get over it,’ and we laughed.”

Kepler says her big turning point in the Army came when she and a group of women soldiers were training on an Arizona mountain. Some struggled to keep up. That’s when Kepler says she stepped up and declared, “Pick up your gun and suck it up.”

Her two-year commission turned into a 21-year career in military intelligence, with stints in 17 different locations, including Alaska and, finally, Virginia. She retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1993.

That’s when she had an opportunity to come back to Washington, Pa., and work for her alma mater as the assistant director of development and director of alumni operations.

Along the way, Kepler also served on the committee that commissioned the public art sculpture “1970” in 2014 to commemorate the year W&J went co-ed – and recognize those like her who enabled that transformation. After almost three decades of working at W&J, she retired this past November.

“My years at W&J have been an absolute joy,” Kepler says. “I will miss it.” ●

MOTHER-DAUGHTER

LEGACY How the Worthingtons leveraged a prominent Pre-Health Program, the liberal arts, and a strong alumni network of friends to build their medical careers

Not that she’s counting, but Janice Durham Worthington ’85 says she’s only days away from retiring after serving as an optometrist for Kaiser Permanente for more than three decades on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu. That’s almost 4,700 miles away from her native Venetia, Pa., and roughly 40 years since she first stepped foot on W&J’s campus to begin her journey to becoming a doctor of optometry.

Worthington, who had also been accepted to Carnegie Mellon University, chose W&J because of its historically prominent Pre-Health educational track, and because it was closer to home. She recognized the still-early and unique opportunity for women at W&J, thanks to the College’s decision to begin admitting female students 11 years prior, in addition to a solid Pre-Health chemistry program and a supportive network of fellow students who would become lifelong friends.

Thirty years later, her daughter, Hawaiian native Ke’alohi Worthington ’19 began her own Pre-Health pursuit in neuroscience at W&J – with the support of her mother’s network of alumni friends in the region.

“I knew she wanted to do medicine, and she loves to travel,” Janice Worthington says of her daughter and her decision to travel across the country to attend W&J in 2015. “It was a small enough community where she wouldn’t get lost in a big college, and W&J has good placement for medical schools.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Janice Durham Worthington ’85, left, and daughter Ke’alohi Worthington ’19

Just as importantly, Janice Worthington’s parents still live in Venetia, and some of her network of lasting friends from college – local alumni such as Chong Park ’83, who today is president of both Jefferson and Canonsburg Hospitals, and others – would be able to support her daughter’s academic efforts and offer her internship opportunities as well as the chance to have “Thanksgiving with friends.”

“I think it was excellent,” says Janice Worthington.

“My mom said I should consider W&J,” says Ke’alohi Worthington, who currently is attending the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health. “I said, ‘What’s W&J?’ She definitely was very excited for me. I was one of those kids who was not focused on one thing. She knew a liberal arts education would interest me.”

Ke’alohi Worthington says she hopes to go back to Hawaii when she finishes graduate school to study the chronic health conditions of – and work with – indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands. She spent the previous spring and summer as an intern

conducting demographic studies of the effects of Covid-19 on various indigenous groups as part of a larger study by the Hawaiian Department of Health.

Janice Worthington went on to attend graduate school at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry after graduating from W&J. From there, she ventured out to Hawaii for a “three-month” stint and is still there 32 years later. However, distance has not diminished her connections with W&J. “She was super-well connected here,” Ke’alohi Worthington says of her mother. “It was a unique experience with so much flexibility but also with a career path. I got to work on a lot of cultural things.

“It’s like a big family there,” Ke’alohi Worthington says. “She and I both had great experiences at W&J.” ●

F E AT U R E

41

42

F E AT U R E

LEADING WOMEN Opening doors in student government, then and now

The 50th anniversary of Washington & Jefferson College’s transformation to co-education has not been lost on Cathryn Halie Hess ’21.

As the current president of W&J’s Student Government Association (SGA), Hess acknowledges the roles of other women before her who opened doors for female student leaders.

Cathryn Halie Hess ’21

Leonard Vaccariello ’88 (“Penny and Lenny,” she laughs) before moving to Long Island, where they continue to own and run a real estate management company.

Vaccariello credits Cynthia Hendricks, assistant dean of students at W&J at the time, for getting her involved in the SGA.

“W&J has a long history, and remembering that women have only been a part of it for such a short amount of time is somewhat surreal,” Hess says of the 50th anniversary of co-education. “I have been lucky to have a lot of women in student leadership roles before me and who have mentored me during my time here. To think of the women who didn’t have that experience, but instead created those opportunities for us many years later, is amazing.”

“She was a real catalyst and got me involved in student leadership,” Vaccariello says of Hendricks.

“I was a little farm girl (from Galley, Pa.,) and more on the shy side. I met her early on. I had been a nervous wreck the first time I had to give a speech, and I think she gave me more confidence.”

Hess joined the SGA as a freshman when she was elected a freshman class representative, followed by her election as executive board secretary and later as vice president before earning the presidential role.

“It was still a man’s world then, but I didn’t feel that way when I was there,” she says. “Most of the women at W&J were go-getters. It was a wonderful experience.”

“I had a lot of great mentors and role models to help me achieve this,” she says. “Our past two presidents also were women, and they really helped me and prepared me for what to expect.”

Hess, a history major, with her sights set on teaching and educational administration, says the current SGA is “relatively even in representation” when it comes to gender, and includes non-binary members.

The first woman to take on the SGA president role and open such doors for future leaders such as Hess was Penny Davis Vaccariello ’88 – 18 years after W&J became a co-ed school. Vaccariello earned a business degree in human resource management and labor relations and married fellow alumnus

“I think that is important to acknowledge too,” she says, “because, not only have we created a platform for women in the last 50 years, but also a platform for all identities…W&J is a unique college with exceptional opportunities.” ●

Even 18 years after it began, the co-ed transformation still was taking place, Vaccariello says.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

The first women to receive undergraduate degrees from Washington & Jefferson College at the May 29, 1971 Commencement.

Pictured from left are Amy Martin, Suzanne Jamison, Peggy Yee, and Mrs. Marian Ream.

44 Q.

Q. Insights, perspectives, and lessons learned from the most influential thought leaders representing the W&J experience

By Daniel Bates

Betsey Hurwitz-Schwab ’74

ADVOCATING FOR EQUALITY Life lessons from a member of W&J’s first co-ed class Fifty years ago, an outspoken, college-age Betsey Hurwitz-Schwab ’74 left her home outside of Washington, D. C., to join a seemingly radical experiment at Washington & Jefferson College. The experiment, with its share of supporters and skeptics, not to mention a bevy of committees, board meetings, debates, student opinions and planning, would introduce women students to campus -- and end a 189-year male-only tradition. That was September 1970.

She joined another 76 freshman females, along with 39 female upper-class transfer and other students – still only about 12 percent of the total enrollment that fall – and helped ignite a historic, no-turning-back transformation at W&J. But the transformation also left indelible, foundational marks on Hurwitz-Schwab that have strengthened her fortitude as a female leader in global corporate and grass-roots non-profit environments, ignited her passions for serving the neglected and abused, and

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

prepared her well for a career that has culminated in guiding W&J as a current member of its board of trustees.

“I was pretty outspoken and showed up on campus as a big-city Jewish girl with some radical ideas,” Hurwitz-Schwab, who was a member of W&J’s first co-ed graduating class, says of her arrival to on campus. She liked the idea of W&J, she adds, because she viewed the school as a “smaller, more intimate college with an opportunity to be known.”

Says Hurwitz-Schwab: “I didn’t think I was [outspoken] at the time, but if you ask other people, they would say I did shake things up.”

That hasn’t really changed, she suggests, in a world that, even today, continues to need some shaking up, especially when it comes to leadership and equality.

Here’s what Hurwitz-Schwab, who served as a W&J trustee from 2004 to 2015 and then began another six-year term in 2017, has to say about both: As a member of the first co-ed graduating class, how would you sum up your experience and what you learned from it?

Our first year was difficult. Many guys didn’t want us there. In fact, Chatham students [Chatham University at the time was female-only] would say, ‘If you want an education, go to Chatham. If you want an M.R.S., go to W&J.’ Some women decided not to come back the next year. For me, I became much stronger, more independent and unwilling to accept that ‘a woman had never done whatever before.’ In several of my jobs, I have been the first and/or only woman to hold the position. I have been able to succeed in whatever endeavor I have pursued.

What does diversity bring to education and society?

Given the opportunity, anyone can succeed.

You just need the tools and drive. And that includes different viewpoints and an understanding of different viewpoints – not necessarily to adopt them. We need to hear and understand. And we need to have civil discourse.

You once ran a human resources department for a global corporation. How should organizations introduce greater diversity in meaningful ways that enhance their missions and visions?

Organizations have to be strategic in the way they go about their diversification. They need to look at what an individual brings to the organization and who best would bring that viewpoint. That’s why we need diversity. Being strategic, you have to make sure the person buys into the mission of the organization. Will they support that mission?

In what ways can leaders be champions for gender equality in the work force?

It’s really important that women support one another, and we still have a long way to go. There needs to be child care [that allows more women to work] and equal pay for women to succeed – and being seen as equal and as competent as anyone else.

The ideal female brings up other women, supports other women, stands up for other women and is competent. And she shares her competence with other women. ●

BETSEY HURWITZ-SCHWAB

AT A GLANCE •

W&J Board of Trustees member, 2017-2023

•

Founder and board member, Child Advocacy Center in Cumberland, Md.

•

President, H&S Development, LLC, 2006-present

•

Vice President of Human Resources, S. Schwab Co., 1986-2004

EDUCATION: •

Bachelor of Arts, Psychology/Sociology, Washington & Jefferson College, 1970-1974

•

Master of Social Work, University of Maryland School of Social Work and Community Planning, 1977-1979

Q.

45

46

BIG EVENTS

COMING UP

BIG EVENTS Campus events, past and future, that influence and shape W&J, the student experience, and the lives of all who participate

Free

Join us for W&J’s annual Symposium on Democracy as we explore the collision between freedom and security in crises

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

dom FEAR AND

When it comes to fostering a democratic society with constitutionally guaranteed personal freedoms, there’s nothing like fear – ignited by the likes of deadly pandemics, violent protest, war and terrorism – to stoke a monumental debate about how much freedom should be sacrificed to ensure the safety and security of a nation and its citizens.

Should freedom be sacrificed at all, and if so, how much and for how long? And perhaps just as importantly, who should have the power to decide?

Join W&J President John Knapp, Ph.D., Feb. 17, 2021, for W&J’s annual Symposium on Democracy as some of the nation’s most prominent constitutional thought leaders explore the complexities of how – or whether -- its citizens should impose restrictive safeguards against disease, threats of terrorism, hate speech, immigration and other issues in ways that limit the foundational freedoms outlined in the U.S. Constitution. The theme: “Democracy in Times of Fear: When Freedom and Security Collide.”

For more information about the Symposium on Democracy, updates on participating speakers, and registration information, go to

WASHJEFF.EDU/DEMOCRACY.

47

48

CAMPUS VISION

Despite The Pandemic...

Re-imagining the

(liberal arts)

student experience

CAMPUS VISION Looking ahead toward W&J’s aspirations and opportunities for growth, investment, sustainability, and the future

By Kelly Kimberland & Erin Jones

While the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normalcy of a calendar and academic year, it has not slowed down W&J College’s commitment to its strategic plan, which was approved in the fall of 2019.

The College’s subcommittees have been working diligently to bring forth an academic curriculum and student experience that distinctly positions W&J as a preferred higher education institution for future students and leaders.

The Subcommittee on Academic Strategy (SAS) has focused on creating an academic curriculum which offers a more robust emphasis on a student’s intellectual and professional outcomes. Faculty have been deeply engaged in designing the revised curriculum from the start; open meetings with faculty were held to gather ideas and share information on research and subcommittee progress.

“Task forces were formed to specifically study models for building skills, inventory, and portfolio,” says professor Amanda Holland-Minkley, Ph.D., chair of the Computing and Information Studies program, as well as chair of the subcommittee. “The goal of the revised curriculum is the way it helps students identify programs and courses from across the College that will add depth to their intellectual development.”

At the heart of a liberal arts philosophy of education, she says, is the opportunity to explore courses outside of the major(s) that contribute to a student’s intellectual curiosity and professional success. In addition to the revised curriculum, all students will have a practicum requirement to ensure that they are able to use the content and skills learned in their classes to navigate challenges and solve problems in non-classroom settings.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

“From the students’ choices of majors and minors and an updated advising process which includes more reflection of a student’s entire set of skills, we are preparing them for academic success but also constructing a pathway that will help them achieve their long-term professional goals,” says Holland-Minkley.

Success in the classroom is only one-third of the strategic plan’s student experience focus.

Working with a group of colleagues, faculty and staff, the RISE (Re-Imagining the Student Experience) subcommittee has developed a comprehensive plan to integrate outcome-driven advising and mentoring.

The plan begins the summer before students arrive on campus as freshmen. They start to engage with Student Success Consultants and academic support before they matriculate at W&J, and connection points throughout their freshman year help them develop a customized first year, as well as their four-year plan.

“The plan is designed to ensure that each student benefits from individualized advising and mentorship throughout the four years,” says Eva Chatterjee-Sutton, vice president for Student Life and chair of the RISE subcommittee. “Equally important, each student will develop a plan that encompasses experiences that lead to successful outcomes – job acquisition, grad school acceptance, and successful life skill development.”

In addition to declaring areas of study, creating a portfolio of extracurricular activities is a critical opportunity for students to develop their customized W&J experiences.

“Developing a well-rounded experience will benefit students by adopting a deeper understanding of themselves as learners and leaders – well-equipped to become engaged citizens of the W&J community, well beyond their years on campus,” says Chatterjee-Sutton.

The final piece of the academic and student experience focuses on ethical leadership. This subcommittee conducted virtual focus groups with current and prospective students to gain their insights into the approach and outcomes of an ethical leadership program.

“Our goal is for all W&J students to emulate and practice those activities that foster communities of respect and inclusion, advocate for ethical values, lead change, and resolve ethical issues and conflicts,” says W&J President John C. Knapp, Ph.D.

“

Our goal is for all

W&J students to...foster communities of respect

and inclusion, advocate for ethical values, lead change, and resolve ethical issues and conflicts.

”

-President John C. Knapp, Ph.D Through academic content, student orientation, community-based experiences, periodic assessments and other programs, students will be immersed in the philosophies and practical application of ethical leadership. Knapp acknowledges that the public health crisis slowed the progress of the strategic plan implementation, but only slightly.

“The commitment of the faculty, staff and students working on this strategic plan throughout a global pandemic demonstrates that the community is one of uncommon integrity,” he says. “By keeping focus on the longer-term commitments, these subcommittees are ensuring that W&J and its students are well-positioned for future growth and success.” ●

CAMPUS VISION

49

50

CAMPUS VISION

COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS W&J College is committed to fostering a universal respect and embracing individual differences so that we are all able to thrive in our increasingly diverse campus and global community. It is our belief that, to fulfill our mission of producing individuals of uncommon integrity, we must proactively address and remove barriers that prevent our students and employees from realizing their full potential.

To that end, the College has started a series called “Courageous Conversations.”

These conversations, which began this fall, are designed to identify opportunities for W&J to become a more inclusive and equitable place for all students and employees. To lead the conversations, W&J College has enlisted the expertise of Larry Roper, Ph.D., who has worked with colleges and universities across the country to combat racism and foster cultures of inclusion. Dr. Roper will advise the College on the practical implementation of needed changes within the student, faculty and staff populations.

PANDEMIC

PLEDGE

How W&J will keep its faculty, staff and students safe this spring

By Erin Jones With an unprecedented fall semester behind them, W&J faculty and staff are looking forward to spring.

Even though it still won’t be exactly “normal,” they acknowledge, they’re ready.

The Spring 2021 semester continues with the model W&J adopted for Fall 2020, which includes remote and in-person instruction, as well as JayFlex, which allows students to take advantage of both options.

These models were designed carefully to maintain safe learning and living environments while providing for students the holistic experience that is so critical to W&J’s mission.

As they did for Fall 2020, returning students, faculty and staff will again be required to sign the Pledge to Promote Safety this spring, ensuring that all campus community members are aware of and committed to following the College’s safety guidelines, which were designed, and have been updated, by the College’s COVID-19 Committee. Residential students will also be required to quarantine upon arrival to campus, and random-sample COVID testing will occur each week.

“A lot of our success had to do with just constant vigilance to our testing and our Pledge,” says Eva Chatterjee-Sutton, vice president for student life and dean of students. “The diligence around people following the protocols we set out has been really important for us. It’s what we want all the time – looking out for each other, keeping each other safe. but COVID demanded it. We’re always interdependent in a community, but the stakes are much higher now.”

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Chatterjee-Sutton and her team are working to ensure the student experience is strong and positive for both remote and in-person learners. That includes W&J Dining, which surveyed students for feedback on quarantine meals so they can plan differently for spring. The team is also working on a program to allow parents to send treat baskets to their students.

Fraternity and Sorority Life recruitment will be held virtually, and new students will have a virtual Winter Matriculation ceremony. However, they’ll be able to cross the College seal in person in small groups as students did in the fall. Student Life is also planning signature events for seniors to make their last semester special.

“It’s a blend of keeping our traditions and adapting them to an environment where everyone can safely access them as well as actively searching for new opportunities,” Chatterjee-Sutton says.

W&J’s academic environment also has adapted to the “new normal.” The College always had the ability to operate online in some capacity through Sakai and Microsoft Teams, but as COVID safety mandates stretched that capacity to new levels, it also led to innovation that will serve the College well as it continues to provide all services at a high-quality level this spring.

The Remote 2.0 Committee, working in conjunction with Information Technology Services, implemented Owl Labs Educational Technology in classrooms across campus, allowing for a more connected classroom experience. “[The Owl technology has] real advantages which a regular webcam does not have,” says Professor of English Linda Troost, Ph.D., who co-chaired the Remote 2.0 Committee with Professor of Biology Ronald Bayline, Ph.D. “It allows students to see and hear each other whether they are in the classroom or remote.”

Troost says the fall semester was, in many ways, more tiring and stressful than she anticipated, which she attributes to difficulties in trying to incorporate ‣

CAMPUS VISION

51

52

CAMPUS VISION

Tiffani Gottschall, Ph.D., teaches Economics 101 to both remote and in-person students

multiple technologies to teach a class. Teaching in a classroom is the fun part of the job, she says, and she does miss it. She notes that, while faculty have had to adapt their teaching styles and syllabi, students also have had to adapt, modifying their study habits and schedules to accommodate jobs and internships, and, in some cases, navigating family needs and connectivity issues.

But, Troost adds, the ability to record lectures and interact remotely also comes with opportunities.

Students in one class, for instance, were required to record and submit videos of themselves giving presentations they normally would have given in front of their peers. Those students now have recordings of their work which they can share with potential employers. Professors now are recording lectures which students can access anytime.

Faculty have been working since last spring on a larger initiative to set up best practices for teaching online and adapting W&J’s signature high-touch practices, like small-group discussions, to the new environment. Troost says professors are looking for opportunities to do more asynchronous work in their Spring 2021 classes to reduce stress and also accommodate technical inequities with which remote students may be grappling.

“You’ve got to level the playing field for everybody,” she says. “This could all be helpful in future semesters, after the pandemic is over. It opens up a lot of freedom, but a gentle balance is needed right now.” ●

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

W&J’s

PANDEMIC PLANNERS

The logistics of navigating as a liberal arts college through the daunting perils of a continuing global pandemic aren’t for the faint of heart. But don’t tell that to the teams of tireless W&J faculty, staff, students and trustees, as well as more than a few dedicated alumni experts, who have been leading the charge on the College’s behalf.

The W&J COVID-19 Response Team has met regularly since March 2020 to plan for a wide range of potential scenarios, and it recently expanded this work with the appointment of several subcommittees. The team, comprised of campus community members, has collaborated closely with other colleges and universities and sought input from leaders of W&J’s board of trustees, faculty, and student body as it shapes safety plans for campus.

Like the Fall 2020 plan, the Spring 2021 plan is informed by the best available guidance from the federal CDC, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health, American College Health Association, and local healthcare partners, according to the Team. It will be updated as necessary to reflect any new guidelines or restrictions that may be recommended in response to a future resurgence of the COVID. W&J also has been able to tap the health care expertise of its alumni, who have volunteered along with W&J employees to lead W&J’s Clinical Advisory Council. The clinical team has met frequently this past summer and fall to advise W&J on COVID topics and best practices and has been instrumental in ensuring the safety of faculty, staff and students.

Kudos to the following alumni members of the Clinical Advisory Council: •

Leonard Blass ’74, M.D. is a retired director of infectious disease at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Ohio.

•

Amy Hartman ’98, Ph.D. works at UPMC in the Center for Vaccine Research in Pittsburgh. She recently published a paper on COVID and has been in the Pittsburgh press for her work with the virus.

•

Katie Palladino ’12, MPH, CPH is an infection preventionist at UPMC in Pittsburgh.

•

Keith Ghezzi ’77, M.D. is a managing director with alvarez & marsal healthcare industry group in Washington, D.C. His expertise is in emergency medicine.

And to W&J’s own panel representatives: •

Eva Chatterjee-Sutton, vice president for student life and dean of students

•

Kelly Kimberland ’91, vice president for communication & marketing

•

Shelly Lear, Psy.D., director of student health & counseling services

•

Kerri Lacock ’09, assistant vice president for alumni engagement & annual giving

CAMPUS VISION

53

54

CAMPUS VISION

PAYING IT FORWARD Joe Gigler ’77 endows a scholarship to honor his cousin’s education legacy Joe Gigler ’77, back row, third from left, and his cousin Mark Schweers ’75, front row, second from left, on cross country team in the 1970s.

Mark E. Schweers ’75 and Joe Gigler ’77 were more than just cousins – they were classmates who both shared a love for their time at W&J. Schweers was a model student-athlete – excelling both on and off the field – and someone his younger cousin always admired.

“Everybody wanted to be like Mike [basketball player Michael Jordan]. I always wanted to be like Mark,” Gigler says.

When Schweers passed away unexpectedly in 2016, Gigler wanted to find a way to honor Schweers’ legacy in a way that would make a positive impact in the lives of others.

After graduating from W&J with a degree in English, Schweers completed his graduate degree from Duquesne University School of Education. Over the

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

course of his undergraduate and graduate careers, he developed a passion for working with students with disabilities.

Mark Schweers ’75

At the time of his passing, Schweers was a special education teacher at Pine-Richland High School, where he worked for nearly 14 years. Gigler says his cousin was known throughout the school and his community as an immensely kind, patient, and selfless individual. Though teaching special education can be a challenging profession, Schweers formed strong, lasting relationships with his students and continually pushed them to excel both inside and outside the classroom.

“Mark had a true calling as a special education teacher and a wonderful gift,” Gigler says. “My wife, Carol, and I wanted to find a way to honor Mark’s legacy by continuing to inspire future generations of students.”

So, in 2017, Gigler met with Professor of Education James Longo, Ph.D. and former W&J President Tori Haring-Smith to explore how he could make a difference for W&J students.

From that meeting, Gigler decided to establish the Mark E. Schweers ’75 Memorial Endowed Scholarship in memory of his cousin. Awarded annually to one W&J sophomore, the scholarship aids students majoring in education who intend to pursue a career in special education and display financial need.

“So many students struggle to fund the costs of college, and I want to do my part to help attract the best and brightest students [to W&J] without regard for economic status,” Gigler says. “This felt like the perfect way to honor Mark at the same time.”

When asked how Schweers would feel knowing his memory is encouraging students to follow their dreams, Gigler says: “I know Mark would feel very good about inspiring W&J students to make a positive impact on kids and their families – just as he did throughout his life.” ●

To learn more about the power of endowed scholarships, contact Carolyn Campbell-Golden at 724-223-6519 or ccampbellgolden@washjeff.edu.

CAMPUS VISION

55

56

T H E VA U LT

Ben SAVING

THE VAULT A peek inside W&J’s historic legacy through its artifacts, collections, photos, documents, oral histories and bygone traditions

By Daniel Bates

Indeed, Benjamin Franklin would be grateful.

When this renowned colonial entrepreneur, journalist, statesman and American Founding Father donated 50 pounds sterling to the fledgling Washington Academy in 1789 to buy books for the school’s library, he probably hadn’t envisioned that some of those books still would be available to the College’s students and faculty 231 years later.

Thanks to a recent donation from alumnus Jess Costa ’82, W&J has taken significant steps to preserve the five books that remain of that original Benjamin Franklin-funded collection.

“With a generous donation, we were able to purchase custom handcrafted bespoke book boxes for all five volumes,” says Kelly Helm, college archivist in W&J’s Clark Family Library. “The new housing for each book will provide better protection from outside elements and degradation. Additionally, the boxes have a unified look, allowing the books to be displayed for visitors and exhibits with the honor they deserve.”

W&J’s predecessor, Washington Academy, acquired the books to start its library only eight years after the school was established in the southwestern reaches of the Commonwealth. When word was received of Franklin’s donation – which would amount to roughly $8,000 today, the Academy sent its own David Redick to Philadelphia to acquire the books and bring them back.

The last remaining books of that collection offer no light reading, though. Among them: “The Art of Drawing in Perspective Made Easy, to those who have no previous Knowledge of the Mathematics,”

by James Ferguson, F.R.S (1778); “Physical and Chemical Essays; Translated from the Original Latin of Sir Torbern Bergman…,” translated by Edmund Cullen, M.D. (1784); “A Fragment on Government;

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Franklin’s being An Examination of what is delivered, On the Subject of Government in General, in the Introduction to Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries” (1776); “Element of Geometry. Containing the Principal Propositions in the First Six, and the Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Euclid,” by John Bonnycastle (1789); and “The Philosophical Dictionary: or, the Opinions of Modern Philosophers on Metaphysical, Moral and Political Subjects. In Four Volumes. Volume 1” (1786).

Costa, the donor, says he wanted to preserve the books as a way to give back to W&J for the great liberal arts education he received there.

“I just love books,” he says of his interest in the Ben Franklin collection. “When I looked at those books, and you think of where those books have been and the minds those books have inspired, that is amazing.

They were the first books that we [W&J] had. The opportunity to fund that was wonderful.

BOOKS

It reads: “Good Lord was the author of this incomprehensible stuff in Bedlam or out of it when he wrote this.”

“I read that and started laughing, thinking of that 1700s smart-aleck comment,” Costa says. “Someone today may use different words but would say the same thing. We’re all students, and we all share the same experience.”

Helm agrees with Costa’s sentiments. ‣

“I want students 100 years from now to get the same joy from those books that I did,” Costa continues.

“I am hoping to pass along that joy with my donation. They show where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

Costa recalls a specific note hand-written into the margin of “A Fragment on Government…,” presumably by a student during the early days of Washington Academy. The note, he says, brought him joy.

F E AT U R E

57

58

T H E VA U LT

“An important part of my job is to preserve not only the papers and documents that pertain to W&J’s history, but the books as well,” says Helm. “We have a large collection of rare books that date back hundreds of years before the College’s founding – our oldest is from 1491 – and these five volumes are the cornerstone of our rare books and special collections.”

Adds Carolyn Campbell-Golden, vice president for development and alumni engagement: “The special collection provided by Benjamin Franklin is an institutional treasure. We appreciate the gifts made toward the preservation of these books, which will help to ensure the collection can be shared with future generations of the W&J family.” ●

“

makes a full

man, meditation a profound

man, discourse -Benjamin Franklin

Names You Should Know

WHO: Jonathan Letterman, M.D. WHAT: Dr. Letterman was a famous American surgeon who, during the Civil War, developed new strategies for medical management on the battlefield as medical director of the Army of the Potomac.

His innovative system, which included field triaging, mobile field hospitals, and a new Ambulance Corps., saved the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers during the war.

As a result, Dr. Letterman is known today as the Father of Battlefield Medicine. In fact, an act of Congress in 1864 adopted his system as the military’s official procedure for the treatment of battlefield casualties.

Reading

a clear man.

W&J

”

WHY: Dr. Letterman epitomizes the legacy

of W&J’s Pre-Health Professions program.

A native of Canonsburg, Pa., Dr. Letterman was an 1845 graduate of W&J’s predecessor, Jefferson College, whose pre-health education prepared him well for his studies at Jefferson Medical College (known today as the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC)) – and his renowned career in battlefield medicine. W&J maintains an affiliate agreement with SKMC even today.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

A TIP OF THE DINK Never walk past an upperclassman without tipping your dink.

That was the rule of the Freshman Court, or Lex Ultimo, at W&J in the early and mid-20th century. Failure to tip, of course, could land a freshman student in front of the Lex Ultimo. Or possibly worse.

So what was a dink? It was a small, red and black cap with a felt-covered metal button on top and a small bill in the front.

All freshmen – at the time male-only – were required, in accordance with the Freshman Rules, to wear the caps.

When they walked past an upperclassman, they had to take off their dinks and hit the buttons on the top of the ground. The most respectful students, therefore, were the ones with the felt worn off their buttons. ●

If you have your own story to share about wearing and tipping your dink, or the consequences for not doing so, email us at COMMUNICATIONS@WASHJEFF.EDU.

T H E VA U LT

59

60

G A L L E RY

GALLERY A showcase of art that ignites the power of creativity, culture, diversity, and the human experience, shared by W&J’s Olin Fine Art Gallery and its visiting artists

By Daniel Bates

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

TRANSFORMATIONS OF IDENTITY ARTIST: Quoctrung Kenny Nguyen of Charlotte, N.C. EXHIBIT TITLE: “Infinite Threads” Mixed-media artist Quoctrung Kenny Nguyen, a native of South Vietnam, sees his art as a means to capture the many transitions and transformations in his own life. These changes have taken him from his training as a fashion designer in Ho Chi Minh City to his BFA degree in painting at the University of North Carolina.

These days, he has combined his interests, working with traditional silk materials, paint and other media to create a colorful wall-hanging exhibit, titled “Infinite Threads,” with artworks that change shape with every pin and shift of the fabric.

“I just love the way fabric is constructed around the body, so whenever I sculpt a new piece, I really imagine there’s a body underneath the surface, and with the intention of using the push-pin, I can keep changing it over and over,” Nguyen, who was invited to W&J this past fall as a visiting artist, says of his work. “It’s just the idea of the transformation of identity – our identity is changing every day. It keeps changing all the time.”

The silk, he says, represents the cultural history of his homeland, which then is transformed by the layers of paint and canvas, as well as the push-pins.

Says Nguyen: “Painting becomes a medium that glues the two cultures together.” ●

G A L L E RY

61

62

ALUMNI NOTES

1950’s

ALUMNI NOTES

George Schwimmer ’53 was interviewed on “The Conspiracy Show with Richard Syrett” for his book “DOPPELGANGER: The Legend of Lee Harvey Oswald” Nov. 20, 2019. In addition, he was interviewed on “Coast to Coast A.M.” Dec. 9, 2019 and the “Howard Hughes’ Unexplained Show” Dec. 22, 2019. Schwimmer currently has 22 books/ booklets listed on Amazon.com.

“Remembering the fatigue that occurred in our 2019 Beach Volleyball Tournament, we had decided to be better prepared for this year’s reunion and athletic endeavor.

We were invited to take part in a sculling event in Benderson Park. This world class facility just North of Sarasota will be the training camp for the US Olympic Rowing Team for the 2020 (2021) games, and they wanted local exposure in anticipation of this major undertaking.

Documenting the extraordinary accomplishments and lives of W&J’s alumni Paul Smilow ’55 and Don Kamerer ’55 discovered this opportunity last fall, and they sent each of us an ergometer (training tool) so that we could train and feel comfortable with this special device. When Steve Oliphant ’55 realized that we would need a Shell (fiberglass boat to accommodate four oarsman and a coxswain), he contacted the Athletic Department at Stetson University in Florida where his old football coach at W&J Joe McMullen was Athletic Director many years ago, and his grandson Joe McMullen III was still on staff, and arranged for the transporting and housing of this unique vehicle.

We were the only non-rowing college invited because Don and Paul shared our superior senior athletic prowess with the marketing group at Benderson, and they thought we would add comic

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

relief to our competition from Stanford, Princeton and Yale, who are the only colleges that still have super senior competitors.

Our team was led by Coxswain: Steve Oliphant ’55 Port side: Paul Smilow ’55 (Stroke) and Mort Davidson ’55 Starboard side: Don Kamerer ’55 and Arthur Sohn ’55 What was most impressive was that after taking some verbal abuse from Princeton and Yale, we were able to whip them over the 2000-meter course, while the Stanford team was fantastic and capable, and we were invited to celebrate their victory.

Still looking for classmates to partake in our Florida fun!!” -Arthur Sohn ’55

1960’s

Alan Allen ’60, a W&J physics major, published his first non-technical book “Clues Can Light the Way” at age 82. The book describes how unexplainable events and profound connections with others awakened his understanding and excitement for life, revealing how such experiences often serve as valuable clues while handling life’s challenges.

“Clues Can Light the Way” is available on Amazon.com.

Ronald D. Snee ’63, Ph.D., founder and president of Snee Associates, LLC, was honored as the 2020 Entrepreneurial

Leadership Award recipient at the College’s annual Entrepreneurial Leadership Dinner Feb. 20, 2020. “Being recognized as the W&J 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year is a very high honor. In my view, there is no

higher honor than your contributions being

recognized by the community in which you were raised.” To read Snee’s full remarks, visit: https://bit.ly/SneeRemarks

Tom Martindale ’67 semi-retired in June 2020 and remains an active office and industrial broker for select clientele. He also serves part time in the role of president emeritus of TRI Commercial/CORFAC International in order to facilitate intra-company communications during the COVID-19 crisis.

Martindale joined TRI in 1988. He previously served on TRI’s Board of Directors and also on the executive committees of both TRI and CORFAC International, an alliance of privately-held entrepreneurial firms with expertise in office, industrial and retail real estate leasing and investment sales, multifamily property acquisitions and dispositions, property management and corporate services, servicing clients locally, nationally and internationally.

Frederick Nesta ’67 has taken up an honorary associate professorship in the Department of Information Studies at the University College London Nov. 1, 2020, as the contract for the MA program in Library and Information Studies he managed in Qatar since 2013 has expired. He will return to Athens, Greece, to work on his next book on Victorian publishing and other research.

Keith Bendis ’68 has an illustrated version of Ambrose Bierce’s satirical masterpiece “The Devil’s Dictionary” available on Amazon.com.

Robert G. Walker ’69 had planned to make his second trip to Africa in spring 2020, but that has been rescheduled for spring 2021. He still is hopeful he will be able to make that trip, in addition to a trip to Florence, originally scheduled for September 2020. Two scuba diving trips this past summer were similarly canceled, but Little Cayman is now on the schedule for June 2021. When Walker isn’t traveling, he continues to enjoy retirement in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he writes about 18th century literature and is a contributing editor and reviewer for the Scriblerian.

His most recent two essays have appeared in fall 2020 in Philological Quarterly and in The Shandean, an annual publication of the International Laurence Sterne Society (The Netherlands).

ALUMNI NOTES

63

64

ALUMNI NOTES

1970’s

John Carroll ’70, head coach of the Aquinas Academy fencing team in Hampton, Pa., was featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette along with the team for their recent successes.

Mark Schwartz ’71 was inducted into the Pennsylvania High School Indoor Track & Field Hall of Fame. An induction was held March 1, 2020, during the Pennsylvania State High School Track & Field Championships at Penn State University.

R. Burke McLemore Jr. ’73 was named 2021 Lawyer of the Year in the field of workers’ compensation for the Harrisburg region by “The Best Lawyers in America©.” He has been listed in the publication annually since 1995. Since it was first published in 1983, “The Best Lawyers in America©” has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. “Best Lawyers” is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey. Over 60,000 leading attorneys cast more than 7.8 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers in 145 practice areas.

McLemore is an adjunct professor of law for the Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law. Philip Friedman ’75 was the silver medalist for the age 65-69 group of the male sprint competition in the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Lausanne, Switzerland. His combined time for the swimming, cycling, and running legs was 1:15:48. The sprints race’s .8-mile swim in Lake Geneva was followed by a 12.7-mile cycling course and a 3.1-mile run throughout the city of roughly 140,000 residents.

David Petti ’75 released his feature film, “That’s Amore,” in February 2020. Petti wrote and starred in the film along with Pittsburgh actress Barbara Russell, who is known for her role on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” The Pittsburgh premiere included four screenings at the Strand Theatre with over 1,000 attendees.

1980’s

Doug Hummer ’80 earned his Ph.D. in educational research and policy analysis at North Carolina State University’s College of Education. “One of the answers I give when asked what I learned at W&J is that ‘I learned how to learn.’ Learning is a life-long process, and 40 years after earning my B.A. in economics at W&J, I have completed my Ph.D. in educational research and policy analysis at North Carolina State University’s College of Education. And to bring balance to this update, we rescued/adopted a new addition to the family: CoCo.” Kent Manno ’82 is a 38-year member of Delbarton School’s faculty and coaching staff. He was named Swimming Coach of the Year three times by the Daily Record. Manno led the team to 12 Morris County Swimming Championships and NHC Championship, State Prep School and NJSIAA Sectional Championships. He also coached JV soccer and freshman lacrosse. At Delbarton, he teaches World History and serves as the assistant librarian, school archivist, and director of

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

transportation. Kent lives in Budd Lake, N.J., with his wife of 30 years, Elizabeth, his daughters, Samantha and Jennifer, and his grandson, Joshua.

John “JD” Koch ’86 left U.S. government service and now lives in Budapest, Hungary. He is working part time for various defense contractors, advising and consulting on the benefits of computer simulations for joint, intergovernmental, interagency, and military training.

Bruce Long ’87 opened his own law practice, brucelonglaw.com, focusing on commercial, office, and industrial leases as well as a wide variety of retail and shopping center contracts. Prior to this, he was vice president and legal counsel at Trans World Entertainment which owned retail stores nationwide including FYE Music & Movies, Sam Goody, Media Play, and Camelot Music.

Scott McIntyre ’87 is the CEO of Guidehouse, a $2 billion management and technology consulting firm employing 8,500 professionals globally. In 2020, he was ranked #1 on the Wash100 list of top DC area executives by Executive Mosaic Magazine, and last year, he was named one of the Top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine. Scott sits on several boards and is currently the Chairman of Ecofys based in the Netherlands.

Gregory Borowski ’88 has joined the orthopaedic team of providers at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall Health, and Cabel Huntington Hospital as an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery after 27 years in private practice.

the advancement of pediatric patient care through discovery, education and research, helping to continue pushing the organization to the forefront of pediatric plastic surgery innovation and clinical-care excellence.

Jacqueline Wilson ’90 obtained her Master of Arts in teaching from Oregon State University, Cascades Campus, with a social studies endorsement. She is currently a high school social studies teacher for the Redmond School District in Redmond, Ore. Bethany Sage Curtis ’92 celebrated her 10th anniversary this spring working as a proofreader and references editor for the academic journal Demography.

Additionally, she has been active for the past two decades in the areas of marketing and communications for multiple non-profit organizations in the St. Louis region. This summer, after serving six years on the board of directors and completing a two-year term as president, Bethany became the 30th chairman of the board at Sign of the Arrow, a premiere non-profit needlepoint and gift shop that has donated millions of dollars to St. Louis charities and scholarships since the organization was founded in 1966.

Bethany lives in Webster Groves, Mo. (St. Louis) with her husband Randy and two daughters, Jane, 18, and Cate, 16. She also serves as a member and vice president of the Board of Trustees for the Webster Groves Public Library.

1990’s

Aaron Mason ’90, M.D., accepted the role of division chief for the division of plastic and reconstructive surgery of Children’s Hospital Colorado. In his work at Children’s Colorado, Dr. Mason hopes to contribute to

ALUMNI NOTES

65

66

ALUMNI NOTES

Robert Frioni ’98 was appointed the new principal of Perry High School on Pittsburgh’s North Side July 2020 by the Board of Public Education of the School District of Pittsburgh.

Christopher Musuneggi ’98, president of The Musuneggi Financial Group, accepted an award by H. Beck, Inc., on behalf of the Firm for its “Superior Record of Community Service.” The Musuneggi Financial Group supports and provides services to

community organizations such as the Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, Dress for Success Pittsburgh, Single Steps Strategies, The Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University, as well as Keystone Oaks Foundation for Educational Excellence.

Licia Beaver Lentz ’99 received her doctorate in education from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020.

2000’s

Tammy Johnson ’00 earned her Ph.D. in education from Claremont Graduate University where she explored the importance of culture, teachers’ beliefs, and effective instructional practices in teaching English as a second/ foreign language in classrooms in 19 developing countries. This study earned her the prestigious dissertation award from Claremont Graduate University.

Jared Olanoff ’01 was featured in a Netflix documentary “How to Fix a Drug Scandal,” released April 1, 2020. It is a four-part series about the work Olanoff and fellow dedicated attorneys undertook in exonerating thousands of defendants whose drug samples were analyzed by former Massachusetts state lab chemists.

Andrew Hartman ’02 was nominated to the board of directors for the STAFDA Trade Association in November 2019.

Brian Blackwell ’05 was named by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) as the 2019-2020 NFHS Pennsylvania Boys’ Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year. Blackwell has been coaching Seneca Valley High School Swimming & Diving since 2011.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Steven Berk ’07 has joined Western Reserve Land Conservancy, the largest local land trust in Ohio, as director of public policy. Berk will be working to enhance the Land Conservancy’s mission through public policy and collaboration with federal, state and local leaders as well as lobbying groups and coalitions.

Maxwell Briskman Stanfield ’08, attorney with Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP, was included in the 2021 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America®” Ones to Watch list for Mergers and Acquisitions Law. Elisabeth Kelley ’08 earned her Certified Property Managers® (CPM®) designation through the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).

2010’s

Disha Mahendro ’10 accepted the role of director of diversity initiatives and community building for the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. She began her new role Feb. 24, 2020.

a commercial real estate blockchain startup, and STEX, a crypto trading platform, after analyzing the synergies between their communities and resources.

When remembering the start of the process back in January, Kyle said, “When I first stumbled on STEX, their focus on providing users a great and safe experience was immediately apparent. Companies that focus on users first will succeed with the right tools and unlimited resources. Luckily for us and the crypto community, STEX have been doing the right thing for years now and they are at the stage where capital and resources can bring them exponential growth.”

Joshua Tropp ’15 , Ph.D., was selected as a 2020 CAS Future Leader. This group of elite Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars from around the world will visit CAS headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, this August to blaze a trail toward scientific leadership.

Tropp also published an article with the American Chemical Society titled “A Sensor Array for the Nanomolar Detection of Azo Dyes in Water” June 1, 2020. To read the article: https://pubs.acs.org/ doi/10.1021/acssensors.0c00342 Natalie Gill ’16 was sworn in as an attorney |to the D.C. Bar July 6, 2020, by fellow alumnus and mentor Judge Kevin Ohlson ‘82.

Joshua Habursky ’13 is the chief lobbyist for the Premium Cigar Association and adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. Josh recently finalized a second location for Taco Rock, a fast casual restaurant that specializes in Tex Mex cuisine. Taco Rock’s first location opened in Rosslyn, Va., and the team plans on expanding to a half dozen locations by 2021 in the DC area.

Kyle White ’13, an active angel investor with Jointer. io, was featured in an article from Yahoo! News.

Kyle led the funding conversation between Jointer, ALUMNI NOTES

67

68

ALUMNI NOTES

Emily Golling ’16 has been working with the Allegheny Land Trust (ALT) as well as local Pennsylvania representatives and senators to preserve 148 acres of green space in Penn Hills and Churchill with the hope of repurposing it for public recreational use. The efforts of Emily, along with various other organizations, townships, and representatives, have secured $700,000 in grant and individual donations to purchase this land. In June 2020, The Pittsburgh Foundation awarded ALT a grant of $150,000 toward the acquisition of the land.

Dakota Holloway ’16 was promoted to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army. Cpt. Holloway was a vital member of the U.S. Army’s 10th Chemical Company and, during his tenure, served as the executive officer (XO) and led 3rd Platoon “Rogue.”

Sarah Elizabeth Iaquinta ’16 graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a Master of Arts in student services administration.

Prior to graduation, Sarah completed an internship with Theta Phi Alpha Fraternity where she conducted research on alumni and collegiate engagement, diversity and inclusion, retention rates, and membership experience. Sarah is currently seeking employment at higher education institutions.

Ty Greenwood ’17 was awarded a grant by the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company to assist him in his current projects as well as to support one new production of an existing work.

2020’s

Cameron Frawley ’20 accepted a position with Atlas Wholesale Supply Inc. in Pittsburgh.

Alex Richards ’20 accepted a position with Atlas Wholesale Supply Inc. in Pittsburgh.

Jacob Darr ’20 was named to the 19-20 NCAA Division III Early Wave Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) June 17, 2020. This marks the second straight year that Darr was named an All-America Scholar by the GCAA.

WEDDINGS

Yianni Barakos ’08 and Nicole Confer were married May 5, 2019, in York, Pa. The W&J alumni in attendance included Dan Hart ’10, Brent Kennedy ’08, Nick Uram ’08, Brittany Clayton ’07, Marc Clayton ’08, Travis Brown ’08, Phil McCormick ’07, and Mike Frank ’09.

Kimberly Vanni-Ulishney ’13 and Jacob Ulishney ’13 were married Oct. 21, 2020, at Valley of Fire State Park in Overton, Nev.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Brad Hanne ’14 and Maureen McRae ’16 were married Nov. 6, 2020.

The wedding was held at The Gathering Place at Darlington Lake. The wedding party included Ron Graf ’14 (best man), Scott Ryan ’13, en Kopchick ‘13, Ph.D., Alex Mey ’14, Anthony Bocchine ’14, Haley Roberts ’14, and Brittney Traynor ’16.

Lia Barnes ’15 and Alex Carr ’15 were married Oct. 5, 2019, at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden in Oakdale, Pa. Jillian Tutino ’15, Caitlin Datt ’15, Madison Marks ’15, Mark Wesolek ’14, Jared Baird ’15, and Kyle Smith ’15 were members of the wedding party. In addition, 35 W&J alumni were also in attendance for the celebration.

Anna Jeffries ’18 and Samuel Schaub ’18 were married Jan. 25, 2020, in Mt. Lebanon, Pa.

BABIES

Jim Matthews ’05 and Cassandra Nicastro Matthews ’05, Pharm D., welcomed Angelina Marguerite Feb. 5, 2020. She joins big brother James and big sisters Elliana and Mila.

Nathan Roberts ’05, DO, FACOS, and his wife, Jennifer, proudly welcomed their second child, Callahan Joseph, March 31, 2020.

Patrick ’06 and Ashley Vallely ’08, along with big sister, Blake, welcomed Taylor Brynn to their family March 6, 2020.

Holly Caputy ’08 and her husband, Scott, welcomed their daughter, Ryleigh Anne, Dec. 27, 2019.

Polly Von Dollen ’10 welcomed baby Lenora in August 2020 and is enjoying every minute.

ALUMNI NOTES

69

70

ALUMNI NOTES

OBITUARIES Edwina Webb and Richard Riley Cameron, Summer 2020 Washington & Jefferson College this past summer lost two of its most giving, life-long supporters and friends from the Washington community.

Edwina Webb Cameron died July 14, 2020, at the age of 91. Her husband of 69 years, Richard Riley Cameron, died August 22 at the age of 93. Both were generous benefactors of W&J, giving of their time and financial resources.

Richard Cameron, along with his brothers Peter and Donald, was among the third generation to own and successfully run Washington-based Cameron Coca-Cola, considered the ninth-largest Coca-Cola bottling company in the United States, when they sold the company in the late 1990s.

Edwina Cameron, known as Winnie, first became involved with the College in the 1970s through her friendship with W&J President Howard Burnett, Ph.D., and his family. That led to her joining the W&J Women’s Auxiliary, where she planned house tours at the College. In 1987, Dr. Burnett invited her to join W&J’s Board of Trustees. She served in that role through 1999 and then was named a Trustee Emeritus.

As a W&J Trustee, she served on the College’s property and grounds committee and was instrumental in the decision to build the Rossin Campus Center. In 1999, when the aging College Field needed major renovations and enhancements, the Cameron family supported the renovation with a substantial donation. When completed, the sports facility was renamed Cameron Stadium.

The couple also established the Richard R. and Edwina Webb Cameron Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to local students who live within 15 miles of W&J. Winnie Cameron received the W&J Distinguished Service Award in 1997 and a Doctor of Public Service honorary degree in 2000.

“My mother was a woman of uncommon integrity who believed we should all be connected by love and concern for one another,” says William Cameron, one of the Cameron’s five children and a W&J professor emeritus. “Her devotion to W&J was inspired by this ideal. Mom loved the College, supported its mission, and took pride in her association with W&J. I’m proud to be her son.”

Addressing the death of his father a little more than a month later, William Cameron told the Washington Observer-Reporter, “We believe it was a situation where he couldn’t bear being without her. They really were pillars of the community.”

The Camerons are survived by four sons and a daughter, including: William Cameron (Susan Martinelli), James Cameron ’80 (Nancy ’81), Steve Cameron (Diane), and Lynn Pentecost ’87 (Alex); 12 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

1940’s

Richard Jones ’44, Albuquerque, N.M., died Oct. 5, 2020, at age 98.

Spencer Free ’45, Upper Darby, Pa., died Jan. 13, 2020, at age 96.

Luther Rhine ’46, Youngstown, Ohio, died July 10, 2020, at age 96.

Dean Elson ’48, San Antonio, died Sept. 23, 2020, at age 101.

William Thompson ’48, Franklin, Pa., died Oct. 7, 2020, at age 93.

Israel Davis ’49, Woodstock, Ga., died Sept. 20, 2019, at age 92.

David Grimes ’49, Nashville, Tenn., died June 15, 2020, at age 93.

Charles Heberling ’49, McCandless, Pa., died Dec. 9, 2019, at age 94.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Edwin Hollowood ’49, Waynesburg, Pa., died Aug. 28, 2020, at age 97.

Roger Bartoli ’51, Natrona Heights, Pa., died Oct. 7, 2020, at age 97.

Robert Reeves ’49, Raleigh, N.C., died Sept. 28, 2020, at age 95.

Anton Mestrovic ’51, Cary, N.C., died Oct. 2, 2020, at age 91.

1950s

Robert Ivie ’52, Pacific Grove, Calif., died June 17, 2020, at age 90.

Harry Ayers ’50, Churchville, N.Y., died Oct. 29, 2020, at age 92.

William Paul ’52, Columbus, Ohio, died Nov. 4, 2020, at age 90.

Charles Devic ’50, Fort Myers, Fla., died Nov. 30, 2019, at age 95.

Edward Jaeger ’53, Media, Pa., died June 11, 2020, at age 88.

James Hook ’50, Waynesburg, Pa., died July 16, 2020, at age 91.

George Lantz ’53, Parkersburg, W.Va., died Feb. 8, 2020, at age 88.

William Meanor ’50, Charlotte, N.C., died June 3, 2020, at age 93.

Murray Sachs ’53, Pittsburgh, died March 1, 2020, at age 89.

Nicholas Teteris ’50, Columbus, Ohio, died Aug. 1, 2020, at age 91.

Vincent Staffileno ’53, Hudson, Ohio, died March 17, 2020, at age 89.

Clinic and received the Distinguished Fellows Award of the Clinic’s Alumni Association. He retired in 1979 but continued research and writing for many years.

“He was always an academic - he loved that world and the pursuit of knowledge,” said his son, John Proudfit ’63.

William L. Proudfit ’35, M.D., died Feb. 11, 2020, at age 105. He was a 1939 graduate of Harvard Medical School. After interning at Geisinger Memorial Hospital in Danville, Pa., he trained in internal medicine and cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic from 1940-1943 and served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1943-1946.

He returned to the Cleveland Clinic in 1946 as a member of the staff in the Department of Cardiopulmonary Disease. Soon he was the head of the section of Electrocardiography; years later, he became the head of the Department of Clinical Cardiology and helped establish Cleveland Clinic’s preeminence among the world’s heart centers. Author and co-author of many papers or chapters of books, he served a term on the Board of Governors of the

Proudfit was a member of a proud family of Presidents, dating back to the 1800s. His father, two uncles, and three cousins, most of whom were reverends, graduated from W&J before 1900. His brother Paul Proudfit ’31, M.D., graduated a few years earlier than William. Since William’s time at W&J, his son John, nephew William Proudfit ’64, grandson Matthew Proudfit ‘90, granddaughter-in-law Ann Hartle Proudfit ’90, grand-nephew James Proudfit ’95, and most recently, his great-grandson Austin Proudfit ’18 have attended W&J, resulting in five generations of W&J graduates in the family. Three generations, William, John, and Matthew, were all members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

He was the husband of Thelma J. (nee Janaske), the father of John P. Proudfit (Donna); Ann P. Iannarelli (Dennis J. deceased); James H. Proudfit (Karen), grandfather of seven, and great-grandfather of nine.

ALUMNI NOTES

71

72

ALUMNI NOTES

Robert Harris Stevenson ’64, Esq., Pittsburgh, died Feb. 21, 2020, at age 77.

Stevenson graduated from George Washington University School of Law in 1968. He began his career at Anderson, Moreland & Bush, a Pittsburgh law firm.

He rose to general counsel, senior vice president at Union National Bank, then Integra Corporation, National City, and ended his legal career as general counsel for Denovus Corporation, Ltd. A dedicated member of the Washington & Jefferson College community, Stevenson served on both the W&J Board of Trustees and the Pre-Law Professions Alumni Advisory Committee. In 2012, he was honored with the W. Edward Sell ’45 Legal Achievement Award during the College’s annual W. Edward Sell ’45 Legal Lecture. Stevenson also was involved in the acquisition of the coal miner statue, which is currently located outside of the Tech Center.

Stevenson also was a member of the Board of Trustees at George Washington Law School, the Executive Committee of the George Washington Law School Board of Advisors, and the Board of Directors at the George Washington Law School Alumni Association, as well as a George Washington Law School student mentor.

Stevenson was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and stayed close with his brothers throughout his life. He was instrumental in organizing a reunion that began in 1978 and became an annual tradition for the next 44 years. The event drew together a dozen Presidents each year and moved around the country to celebrate brothers’ various life events and milestones. He also organized an annual family reunion for more than two decades.

“He was always drumming up something to get people together,” said longtime friend and fellow ATO brother Don Murray ’64. “He had a very strong allegiance to [W&J] and to our ATO fraternity brothers. I will remember how concerned he was about friends, family, fraternity brothers, and the College.”

He is survived by one sister and two brothers. He was a loving, devoted, and fun uncle, adored by his nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews. He is also survived by many cousins, friends, and caregivers. His love and generosity for family and friends was boundless.

James McCool ’54, Warson Woods, Mo., died Aug. 12, 2020, at age 87.

John Dean ’55, Lewes, Del., died April 12, 2020, at age 86.

Duane Dull ’55, Minneapolis, died Feb. 10, 2020, at age 87.

Charles Muetzel ’55, McKeesport, Pa., died April 21, 2020, at age 87.

Charles Richard ’56, Lancaster, Pa., died Sept. 20, 2020, at age 86.

William Frey ’57, Indianapolis, died Feb. 12, 2020, at age 85.

Metropolitan Theodosius Lazor ’57, Canonsburg, Pa., died Oct. 19, 2020, at age 86.

Charles Lutton ’57, Uxbridge, Mass., died July 12, 2020 at age 84.

Benson Schultz ’57, Durham, N.C., died Feb. 12, 2020, at age 83.

James Durig ’58, Columbia, S.C., died Jan. 7, 2020, at age 84.

Arnold Eisenfeld ’58, Louisville, Colo., died Nov. 30, 2019, at age 83.

Robert Glad ’58, Toledo, Ohio, died Oct. 27, 2020, at age 82.

William Bartolotta ’59, Pittsburgh, died April 6, 2020, at age 87.

Robert Brinton ’59, Novi, Mich., died Oct. 19, 2020, at age 82.

Robert Gilliland ’59, Akron, Ohio, died May 25, 2020, at age 83.

Edwin Spragg ’59, Saint George, Utah, died Nov. 15, 2019, at age 82.

1960s

Edward Higbee ’60, Connellsville, Pa., died Nov. 21, 2019, at age 85.

Norman Myers ’60, Newport Beach, Calif., died Oct. 6, 2019, at age 84.

Stuart Paskow ’60, Miami, Fla., died Aug. 22, 2020, at age 82.

Larry Smith ’60, Exeter, N.H., died Oct. 7, 2020, at age 81.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Learned T. (“Dag”) Bulman ’48, Hackettstown, Md., died Jan. 4, 2020, at age 96.

Bulman served in the United States Army from 1943-1945. He graduated from Washington & Jefferson College with a bachelor’s degree in history and earned his master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1949.

During his successful 35-year career as a librarian, Bulman served as associate director of the County College of Morris Library and the director of East Orange Public Library. He served as the finance chairman, treasurer, and archivist for Morris Country Historical Society (MCHS) in Morristown, New Jersey,

where he retired in 1983.

Bulman also served as the president of the New Jersey Library Association, counselor for the American Library Association, and is an emeritus member of both the Rockaway Township Library Board of Directors and MCHS Board of Directors.

Bulman was a member of W&J’s Old Main Society for his commitment to preserving the College’s rich history through the establishment of the Learned T. Bulman Charitable Remainder Trust. In addition, he established the Learned T. Bulman 1948 Scholarship Fund to support deserving W&J students who demonstrate financial need. In the Clark Family Library, the Learned T. Bulman ’48 Historic Archives & Museum houses items related to W&J and its history, in addition to a large collection of manuscripts and other material related to the 18th- and 19th- century history of the United States, with an emphasis on Southwestern Pennsylvania.

John Duda ’61, Brownsville, Pa., died Nov. 16, 2020, at age 89.

Edwin Tomko ’65, Dallas, died June 17, 2020, at age 76.

Bertil Hanson ’61, Wooster, Ohio, died Oct. 16, 2020, at age 86.

Thomas Boyd ’66, Chattanooga, Tenn., died Aug. 3, 2020, at age 75.

Martin Baker ’62, Newark, Ohio, died June 6, 2020, at age 81.

John Caicchiolo ’66, Fair Oaks, Calif., died Jan. 28, 2020, at age 75.

Dale Jacobs ’62, Morristown, N.J., died Sept. 16, 2020, at age 80.

James Chester ’66, Houston, died Oct. 23, 2020, at age 78.

Thomas Torchia ’62, Olyphant, Pa., died Feb. 2, 2020, at age 81.

Myles Gaythwaite ’66, Palmetto, Fla., died Aug. 28, 2020, at age 75.

John Bardonner ’63, Springfield, S.D., died Sept. 11, 2020, at age 78.

Gerard Kendzior ’66, Franklin, Pa, died Aug. 16, 2020, at age 75.

George Benzinger ’63, Saint Louis, Mo., died Sept.

10, 2020, at age 80.

Arthur Gramse Jr. ’67, Milton, Vt., died April 8, 2020, at age 77.

Daniel Chilko ’64, Morgantown, W.Va., died Jan. 10, 2020, at age 78.

Samuel Pangburn ’67, Washington, Pa., died Aug. 20, 2020, at age 74.

Harold Hersch ’65, Chevy Chase, Md., died Nov. 9, 2020, at age 77.

Edward Beslow ’68, Hackensack, N.J., died March 24, 2020, at age 74.

John Mucha ’65, Rosenberg, Texas, died March 11, 2020, at age 76.

J. Michael Lacey ’68, New Kensington, Pa., died Oct. 17, 2020, at age 73.

ALUMNI NOTES

73

74

ALUMNI NOTES

Adam Deal ’07, Mayfield Heights, Ohio, died Dec. 3, 2020, at age 36 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was a senior accountant at BSB Partners in Mayfield, Ohio.

Adam loved spending time with his wife and best friend Amanda and their boys, Shai and Abel, at their home.

At W&J, he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, where he developed strong connections and deep friendships with his brothers. They remember him as a selfless friend who always put others first. He grew to become like family and a true brother to many of them.

“What I’ll always remember is how genuinely kind he was to everyone he met. He wasn’t just a once in a lifetime kind of friend, he was a once in a lifetime kind

1970s

of man,” said Keith Pisarcik ’07 , a fellow member of Beta Theta Pi. “He was always more concerned with others than he was himself, even during his fight with cancer.”

Since his diagnosis three years ago, Adam generously gave his time to advocate for pancreatic cancer research through the Pancreatic Cancer Network.

“He went to battle not for himself, but for his wife and kids. With PanCAN, he became an advocate to bring awareness to pancreatic cancer and raised tens of thousands of dollars for research,” said Jordan Sokoloski ’10 , also a fraternity brother of Adam’s.

“He became a light to so many facing dark days and gave hope to those impacted that there were better days ahead.”

“Since Adam has passed, the outreach we have received from the PanCAN community is unbelievable. People that I have never met have reached out with helping hands, and I couldn’t be more thankful for their love and support during this difficult time,” said his wife, Amanda.

1990s

Dominic Colaizzo ’70, Philadelphia, died Oct. 7, 2019, at age 70.

Frank Bauer ’93, Beaver Falls, Pa., died July 28, 2020, at age 49.

Michael Gilmore ’70, Brighton, Colo., died Feb. 8, 2020, at age 73.

Joseph Francis ’98, Washington, Pa., died Jan. 24, 2020, at age 43.

Philip Helm Jr. ’70, Sunbury, Ohio, died Sept. 9, 2019, at age 71.

Brent Gordon ’98, Woodland Hills, Calif., died Jan. 4, 2020, at age 43.

Bruce Wolf ’70, Pittsburgh, died Jan. 4, 2020, at age 71.

Glenn Hughes ’71, Freedom, Pa., died March 11, 2020, at age 70.

Samuel Roberts ’71, Elkins, W. Va., died Dec. 20, 2019, at age 70.

William Hartman ’73, Saluda, N.C., died June 26, 2020, at age 69.

Stephanie Tomasic ’74, Norvelt, Pa., died July 21, 2020, at age 67.

2000s

Anthony Rizzo ’06, Richland, Pa., died June 24, 2020, at age 36.

2010s

Chelsea Cummings ’15, Pensacola, Fla., died Dec. 18, 2019, at age 28.

W&J COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2021

Friends

Linda Ankeny, Eighty Four, Pa., died Sept. 26, 2020, at age 73. She was employed by the College for 35 years in the Office of Financial Aid. Jeffrey Bartel, Pittsburgh, died Dec. 3, 2019, at age 47. He was a former assistant professor at W&J. Laverne Ealy, Washington, Pa., died Oct. 3, 2020, at age 82. He was a former staff member in W&J’s Office of Facilities Services.

Edward Fullgraf, Washington, Pa., died May 19, 2020, at age 78. He was a former security guard at W&J. Margaret Gargano, Charlotte, N.C., died Jan. 26, 2020, at age 97. She was a former faculty member at W&J. David Honomichl, Clarksville, Pa., died April 4, 2020, at age 56. He was a security guard at W&J. Betty Jenkins, Madison, Ala., died July 27, 2020, at age 84. She was a former staff member in W&J’s Office of Alumni Engagement.

Sandra Johnson, Washington, Pa., died Nov. 15, 2020, at age 77. She was a former staff member at W&J. Blanche Kurnal, Houston, Pa., died Feb. 4, 2020, at age 103. She was a former staff member at W&J. Robert Luce, Pittsburgh, died May 1, 2020. He was a retired professor of physics at W&J. Joseph Nuzum, Washington, Pa., died Oct. 1, 2020, at age 82. He was a former staff member in W&J’s Office of Facilities Services.

The campus community suffered a tragic loss when longtime assistant football coach Todd Young passed away on March 5, 2020.

Young, who was 47, spent the past two decades making an impact on the lives of W&J student-athletes. He coached the offensive line and served as recruiting coordinator for the program.

He was responsible for bringing student-athletes to campus and molding them into young men. Coach Young developed amazing bonds with students and their families that extended well beyond their time on campus.

The Presidents totaled 186 wins, 11 Presidents’ Athletic Conference championships and 14 NCAA Division III playoff appearances during his time on staff. He coached five All-Americans and 51 All-Conference performers along the offensive line.

Todd’s love for the Presidents went beyond the football program. He could often be seen supporting his colleagues and student-athletes who donned the Red & Black, including men’s lacrosse, which he served as the program’s first head coach in 2002.

“Todd Young means as much to W&J football as any player or coach in the history of the program,” said head coach Mike Sirianni. “He was a great football coach and recruiter, as evident by the amount of championships he was a part of and the number of All-Conference and All-American football players he coached. He was truly one of the best people I have ever been associated with.”

“Nobody loved W&J like Todd,” Sirianni continued.

“Not just W&J football but every aspect of the College. There hasn’t been a day since his passing that I haven’t thought about him.”

ALUMNI NOTES

75

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Bolingbrook IL Permit No. 1963

WASHJEFF.EDU