New Angles on Business

Fall 2010

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On the Cover A night view of the new Williamson College of Business Administration building, which opened this fall on the southern edge of the YSU campus. See our cover story, starting on page 10, to read about the building’s green-friendly features and how it is transforming the way business courses are being taught.

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YSU President

Executive Director of Marketing & Communications

Director of University Communications

Magazine Editor

Cynthia E. Anderson, ’73 Mark W. Van Tilburg

Ron Cole

Cynthia Vinarsky

Layout Design Artist

Renée Cannon, ’90

Photographers

Bruce Palmer Carl Leet

Graduate Assistant

Andrea Armeni, ’10

Assistant Director of

Marketing &

Communications

Jean Engle, ’86

Sports Contributor

Trevor Parks

Chief Development Officer

YSU Board of Trustees

Chair

Vice Chair

Secretary

Student Trustees

Paul McFadden, ’84

Scott R. Schulick Sudershan K. Garg Millicent Counts Delores Crawford Larry DeJane John R. Jakubek Harry Meshel Leonard Schiavone Carole S. Weimer Franklin S. Bennett Jr. Lyndsie Hall Ryan Meditz

Youngstown State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association.

Youngstown State University – A Magazine for Alumni and Friends (ISSN 2152-3746), Issue 6, Fall 2010, is published quarterly by the YSU Office of Marketing and Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Youngstown, Ohio.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Youngstown State University, Office of Marketing and Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.

Direct letters to the editor, comments or questions to the address above, call 330-941-3519 or e-mail universitymagazine@ysu.edu.

Youngstown State University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or identity as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era, in respect to students and/or to applicants for employment, and to organizations providing contractual services to YSU. 8-001

in this

3 4 8 10 16 17 18 26

issue

New President Installed – A photo collage from Dr. Cynthia E. Anderson’s formal installation ceremony.

Around Campus – Reporting on the latest news and events on campus.

Student Success Stories – The first in a new, regular feature highlighting YSU student achievements.

COVER STORY More Than Bricks and Mortar – How the Williamson College of Business Administration’s new home is changing business education at YSU. YSU Adds First Ph.D. Program – Chancellor says the program will help the university promote economic growth in the region.

Caroline Oltmanns – Introducing a Dana School of Music piano professor who performs worldwide.

Faculty Bookshelf – Celebrating the success of faculty who have recently published books or released musical recordings.

Alumni Spotlight – Profiles of three outstanding YSU alumni.

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Penguin Puzzler – A crossword puzzle

based on YSU

football trivia.

DEPARTMENTS 2 20 21 22 24 29

President’s Message University Development YSU Foundation News Penguin Sports News Alumni News Class Notes

Check out YSU Magazine's online edition at

Enrollment Continues to Climb

www.ysumagazine.org

If sidewalks seem a bit more crowded on campus these days, it could be because enrollment is still on the rise, reaching 15,194 this fall, a 20-year high. Here, students on their way to class enjoy changing fall colors outside Tod Hall.

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President’s Message

Students ‘The Best Part of My Job’

Cynthia E. Anderson President

Anyone who knows me knows that I love being around students, whether in the classroom, at a football game or just sitting down for lunch at the fountain outside Kilcawley Center. More than anything else, being with students, listening to their concerns and sharing experiences, helps make me a better president.

That’s why ensuring the success of each of these students is the single top priority for my administration. At YSU, we are committed to doing all we can to help all students, in and out of the classroom, so they can pursue and reach their professional and personal goals and dreams.

But what exactly is student success? Sure, success can be measured by getting good grades, earning a degree and securing employment that allows a student to support herself or himself in society. But success is so much more. Success is the ability to collaborate with others, to work hard and think critically, to be engaged in your community and to take an active role in improving your neighborhood and the world in which you live.

We have many such successes walking the core of the YSU campus on a daily basis.

From Rhodes Scholar nominees to Goldwater Scholarship recipients, YSU students are succeeding in ways and on levels comparable to some of the top universities in the country.

YSU Magazine has always celebrated the successes of YSU students and alumni, but this edition introduces a new feature, simply titled “Student Success Stories.” This new section will highlight the successes of current students, such as the two students selected to participate in a national journalism competition this fall and the MathFest team members who year-in and year-out set the national standard for mathematics excellence.

These students, and so many more like them, are well on their way to creating lives where they will find success at work, at home and in the world. Read their stories and you will quickly understand why they – the students of YSU – are the backbone of our university and the best part of my job.

Sincerely,

Cynthia E. Anderson President

Visit www.ysumagazine.org for video on Dr. Anderson’s Installation.

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Youngstown State University

Installation Ceremony for YSU President, Dr. Cynthia E. Anderson

Cynthia E. Anderson was formally installed as YSU’s seventh president on Sept. 24 before a crowd of about 1,000 at Stambaugh Auditorium. In the photo at top right, Anderson accepts congratulations from Lester A. Lefton, president of Kent State University and one of several distinguished guests from across Ohio attending.

Bottom right: Seated on the stage are, from left, YSU alumnus Zachary Brown, Anderson, Provost Ikram Khawaja and Scott R. Schulick, chair of the YSU Board of Trustees; at left, Schulick and Trustee Sudershan Garg place the Presidential Medallion over Anderson’s shoulders; center left, Anderson greets Chet Cooper, biology professor and chair of the Academic Senate; and top left, Stephen L. Gage, professor of music and director of bands, conducts the YSU Wind Ensemble.

Formerly YSU vice president for Student Affairs, Anderson began her duties as president July 1. She is the first YSU graduate, first woman and first Mahoning Valley native to serve as the university’s chief executive.

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Around C

A

M

P

U

enrollment hits

year high

The last time YSU’s enrollment was this high, the first George Bush was president, the San Francisco 49ers were winning Super Bowls and “Seinfeld” was making its debut on TV. Enrollment is 15,194 this fall semester, an increase of 512 students over last year. It is the highest enrollment since 1990. In the past decade, enrollment has climbed by 3,407 students or nearly 30 percent.

President Cynthia E. Anderson said getting students on campus is just the first step. “The job now is to help every single one of our students do well in their classes, to graduate and to pursue their personal and professional goals,” she said. “These students have chosen YSU; we are committed to their success.”

Fall Semester Enrollment

2010 ........ 15,194 2009..............14,682 2008..............13,712 2007..............13,497 2006..............13,183 2005..............12,812 2004..............13,101 2003..............12,858 2002..............12,698 2001..............12,250 2000..............11,787

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Board Creates YSU Research Foundation

YSU’s Board of Trustees has created a new entity, the YSU Research Foundation, to help faculty, business and industry effectively coordinate the growing number of grants and appropriations the university receives.

“As YSU continues its transition into an urban research university, it is imperative that we have the administrative structures in place to efficiently handle research and other funds as they come to us,” said President Cynthia E. Anderson. “This Foundation will help ensure that those dollars are being used in the most productive manner possible and in such a way that we get the greatest economic impact.”

YSU’s external funding totals have been rising steadily. Faculty and staff have secured more than $30 million in external grant support over the past five years, and the university has received more than $15 million in federal grants and appropriations in that same period.

The YSU Research Foundation will be a nonprofit agency, separate from YSU. It will act as a single point of contact for businesses and will help streamline licensing agreements, contracts and partnerships with local industry and entrepreneurs.

Textbook Rental to Expand Next Semester

More than 660 students rented in excess of 700 books under a pilot textbook rental program launched this semester, and the YSU Bookstore plans to expand the program significantly in the spring.

Bookstore Director Chuck Sabatino said the pilot was a success, with upfront student savings amounting to $37,000. Nineteen titles were available to rent; next semester, the bookstore plans to offer more than 100 titles as rentals.

The pilot program is, in part, a response to a growing awareness nationwide of the increasing cost of college textbooks and pressure from Congress to rein in those costs. Congress recently approved legislation to provide nearly $10 million in federal grants to help 10 universities fund textbook rental programs. YSU is among 64 universities that have applied for the grant money.

Around Campus

Fulbright Scholar Returns to Campus Paul Sracic, YSU professor and chair of Political Science, returned to campus this fall after serving as a Fulbright Scholar in Japan.

Sracic – YSU’s first Fulbright Scholar since 2000 and the 10th in the university’s history – taught classes on the American presidency, American politics and Constitutional interpretations Paul Sracic Visit www.ysumagazine.org at the University for video on YSU’s Fulbright Scholar. of Tokyo and Sophia University in Tokyo. In addition, he gave a series of public lectures on the American president and mid-term elections at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, the American Consulate in Nagoya and the Tokyo American Center. He also met with Japanese parliament members, witnessed two changes in the prime minister and observed a general election.

“As a political scientist, I enjoyed being in Japan during a time of tremendous political change and having the opportunity to speak with so many current and former government officials about these changes,” he said.

Sracic also wanted his Japanese students to learn about Youngstown.

“A lot of people there know about the American coasts and Hawaii, but not much is known about life in the center of the U.S.,” he said. “I wanted to bring that to them.” So, he initiated an interactive video exchange and question-andanswer session between students at YSU and in Tokyo.

The prestigious Fulbright Program is the United States’ flagship international educational exchange program, sponsored by the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Lincoln on Lincoln

With the opening of the new Williamson Hall, the old Williamson Hall on Lincoln Avenue has been named the Lincoln Building.

This fall semester, classrooms on the first four floors of the building are being utilized for various university classes. The Department of Mathematics and Statistics is expected to move into the top two floors of the building by the spring semester.

Game of Hope to Benefit Children’s Causes

Local and regional celebrities will hit the basketball court at YSU’s Beeghly Center on Jan. 29 to raise funds for children’s charities in the annual Game of Hope Charity Basketball Classic.

A tradition that YSU alumnus Tony Spano (’04) began in 2005, the event raises funds to provide financial support and volunteer services for chronically and terminally ill children across the region through The Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

The Foundation has raised nearly $45,000 over the past five years through various sports-related benefits, said Spano, its founder and executive director and a YSU parking services employee. The money has benefited charities such as Akron

Children’s Hospital of the Mahoning Valley, the YSU Rich Center for Autism and the Make a Wish Foundation.

“The Game of Hope has become a new campus tradition that brings together local celebrities and the YSU community for a good cause,” said Scott Schulick, chair of the YSU Board of Trustees.

The game will be televised at 8 p.m. Feb. 20 on local Time Warner and Armstrong cable channels. Visit www.hopemv.org for more information.

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Around Campus

YSU’s Phi Kappa Phi Earns National Excellence Award YSU Deemed a ‘MilitaryFriendly School’

For the second consecutive year, YSU has been named a Military Friendly School by G.I. Jobs magazine, a publication designed for military members transitioning back to civilian life.

The honor ranks YSU in the top 15 percent of all colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide for its efforts in welcoming and accommodating postmilitary students.

“It’s difficult to come out of a highly structured environment into one that’s not,” said Jim Olive, program manager of YSU’s Office of Veterans Affairs, of the transition into university life.

“We set up the Office for guidance and referral as a single point of contact for student veterans.”

Launched in May 2009, the YSU Office of Veterans Affairs helps military veterans adjust to college life by “building an environment that’s familiar and recognizable” for those still adapting to the change, Olive said. For more information, visit www.ysu.edu/veterans/.

Chapter 143 of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi at YSU has earned the honor society’s 2009-10 Chapter of Excellence Award and is one of just 13 chapters nationwide to receive the honor.

The award, earned under the leadership of former president Tammy King, associate dean of the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services, recognizes Chapter 143’s success in maintaining an active local organization involving students, faculty and professional staff. Becky Geltz, director of Institutional Research at YSU, is the current chapter president.

YSU’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter has inducted more than 3,000 students, faculty, professional staff and honorary members since it was chartered in 1972. The chapter also administers several local scholarships and award programs, through which it has presented thousands of dollars in scholarships and awards over the years, and its members have earned national scholarships and awards as well.

F&PA Partners with Jewish Community Center YSU’s College of Fine and Performing Arts and the Youngstown Jewish Community Center have started a new partnership that brings YSU student musical, theatrical and arts events to the JCC on Youngstown’s North Side.

The partnership also provides for $500 per semester in scholarships from the JCC to students in the Dana School of Music.

“This venture is part of our increasing outreach mission as a university and a college to engage with the community and advance the cultural life of the region,” said Bryan DePoy, dean of F&PA. The Jewish Community Center Cultural Arts Series features performances from the YSU Dana School of Music and Department of Theater and Dance, as well as exhibitions from the Department of Art.

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Youngstown State University

The YSU Jazz Ensemble performs at the Youngstown Jewish Community Center.

Around Campus

Sundial is Memorial to Planetarium Producer

Heritage Awards

An educational sundial outside Ward Beecher Planetarium will serve as a permanent memorial honoring the late Richard Pirko, a YSU alumnus and longtime planetarium technician and show producer.

“Rick’s passion for astronomy exposed thousands of people to the wonders of the universe,” said Warren Young, retired chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and former director of the planetarium.

“This is a fitting tribute to a very dedicated educator.” Pirko worked as a member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy for more than 30 years. He died in October 2008 at the age of 55. Friends and family used donations to purchase the sundial, which was designed and built by Anthony Armeni, from YSU’s Department of Art.

YSU, Eastern Gateway Emphasize Partnership

The presidents of YSU and Eastern Gateway Community College held a news conference in late October to emphasize the shared vision of both institutions to help improve education throughout the Mahoning Valley and beyond.

“If YSU is to reach its full potential as an urban research university of regional and national prominence, it is imperative that we have available in this area a robust community college education, something that we have been lacking for too long,” YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson said.

With its main campus in Steubenville, Eastern Gateway was created under the Strategic Plan for Higher Education 2008-2017 developed by Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. In the plan, the chancellor calls for increasing educational attainment levels across the state, enrolling nearly 250,000 additional students and keeping more graduates in Ohio.

Eastern Gateway currently offers a variety of courses at sites throughout Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, which lead to degrees on the associate level. Students can then transfer to YSU and other universities to seek bachelor’s degrees and graduate-level studies.

“We look forward to continuing to develop a lasting partnership that will help increase educational attainment across the region,” said Scott R. Schulick, chair of the YSU Board of Trustees.

Dec. 31 is the deadline for nominations for the 2011 Heritage Award, YSU’s most prestigious honor for former employees. The award, started in 1981, recognizes former faculty and professional/ administrative staff who have made major contributions to the university.

The nomination form and the names of all past Heritage Award recipients are available online at www.ysu.edu/hr. For more information, contact Linda D. Moore in the Office of Human Resources at 330-941-2137 or lmoore@ysu.edu.

Journalism Program Honored

The YSU journalism program added two more feathers to its cap this fall.

YSU is now the national headquarters of the Society for Collegiate Journalists. The move came as the result of Mary Beth Earnheardt, assistant professor of journalism, being elected national executive director of the SCJ. SCJ is the nation’s oldest collegiate journalism honorary and has Mary Beth Earnheardt about 80 active chapters nationwide with 800 members.

In addition, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the largest private foundation devoted to journalism, awarded $79,000 to YSU’s TheNewsOutlet.org initiative.

Tim Francisco, associate professor of journalism, said the grant is “hugely prestigious.”

Since its inception in September 2009, TheNewsOutlet.org has been awarded $124,000 in grant funding.

The program is a collaboration between the journalism program, WYSU 88.5 FM and The Vindicator in which selected YSU students work as interns reporting and producing multi-platform content, including written news articles, video and audio news pieces that are published in The Vindicator and aired on WYSU. For more information, visit www.thenewsoutlet.org.

Fall 2010

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s s e c c Su STUDENT

Highlighting the achievements of exceptional YSU students

stories

Going For

Green

Six YSU students from the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics qualified to compete as a national finalist team in the 2010 Green Energy Challenge in Boston in early October. The Challenge, sponsored

by ELECTRI International and the National Electrical Contractors Association, required teams to Brittany Stillwagon run an energy-use audit on a local business and to create an in-depth proposal for alternative energy options. The YSU team chose M-7 Technologies in Youngstown. Pictured with M-7 president Mike Garvey, second from right, in the company’s Youngstown manufacturing plant are, from left, Juren Raske, Chris Barcey and Justin Hosseininejad, all electrical engineering majors. Team captain Brittany Stillwagon of Bloomingdale, Ohio, graduated this spring with a degree in electrical engineering; team members David Wright and Josh Mashburn are not pictured.

Senior Biology Major Nominated for Rhodes Scholarship Senior biology major Erik Johnson of Boardman has been nominated for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. If selected, Johnson would become YSU’s first Rhodes representative.

Johnson, who plans to pursue a career in dentistry, is a four-year member of the YSU football team, where he has earned two varsity letters and received the Missouri Valley Football Conference Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Award, a Football Book Scholarship and the honor of being an MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

Johnson is also a Leslie H. Cochran University Scholar and has an extensive community service record that includes coaching youth basketball, umpiring youth baseball games, reading to second graders, volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club of America and raising homelessness awareness through the annual “Shantytown” event at YSU. The Rhodes Scholarships, established in 1902 after the late Cecil Rhodes, are the oldest international educational fellowships.

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Youngstown State University

Two Compete in Science Journalism Competition Two YSU journalism majors – Doug Livingston and Joe Giesy – were chosen to participate in the national Invent Now Collegiate Science Journalist Competition.

Invent Now sent Livingston to Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., and Giesy to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where they reported stories about inventions produced by students on those campuses.

Their work was featured at the national Invent Now Collegiate Inventors Competition in Washington D.C., Oct. 26 and 27.

The Collegiate Inventors Competition has been recognizing leading collegiate researchers since 1990 for their innovative work. For more information about Invent Now, visit www.invent.org.

Gravestone Researcher Grave markers dating back to the 1800s in three Trumbull County cemeteries are the focus of YSU graduate student Lauren Worona’s master’s thesis.

With the help of volunteers from Vienna Township, the history major is studying and helping to restore the old stones.

Two Seniors Named John D. Beeghly Fellows

Sarah Stafford of Boardman, Ohio, and Michael Turner of Baden, Pa., seniors in the Williamson College of Business Administration, were selected as the John D. Beeghly Family Fellows for the 2010 fall semester.

Stafford and Turner each receive a $2,400 scholarship and the opportunity to work on business-related projects with clients of the Ohio Small Business Development Center at YSU. Stafford, a marketing major, works as chief of staff for the Student Government Association and as a sales associate at a retail store.

She joined the WCBA’s China Study Abroad Sarah Stafford tour in 2009 and more recently participated in a four-week individual study abroad session in Argentina.

Turner is an accounting major and recently served as an international business intern with the Regional Chamber. He participated in the WCBA London/Dublin Study Abroad tour, was a YSU Scholar Athlete for golf, has been on the Horizon League Academic All-Team and was an Evans Scholarship recipient.

Students Continue

MathFest Winning Streak

YSU’s six-year winning streak at the MathFest competition in Pittsburgh continued this summer in Pittsburgh, with two students bringing home awards for excellence in student exposition and research and a third recognized for outstanding exposition and research in environmental mathematics.

Award-winning students, all Ohioans, were Matthew Alexander of Espyville, Lisa Curll of Columbiana, and Sepideh Khavari of Howland. Alexander and Curll both won awards at previous MathFest meetings.

It was the sixth consecutive year that YSU students won three or more speaking awards at the contest, which is held at the annual conference of the Mathematical Association of America and Pi Mu Epsilon. No school other than YSU has ever won more than three awards in a single year.

Michael Turner

Fall 2010

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Skylights, comfortable furnishings and a giant-screen television tuned to financial and business news stations are features of the three-story-tall atrium on the first floor of the new Williamson College of Business Administration building.

Visit www.ysumagazine.org for video on the WCBA building opening.

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Williamson College of Business Administration

New Building Transforming Business Education at YSU

W

By Cynthia Vinarsky

hen accounting major Matthew Pollock leads a tour through YSU’s newest building, the home of the

Williamson College of Business Administration, he likes to watch how people react to the high, sky-lit

ceilings, technology-enhanced classrooms and expansive public spaces.

“There’s such a ‘wow’ factor, some people are actually speechless,” said the Lowellville senior. “They always say that it’s more like a corporate business environment than a classroom building.”

But students and faculty who use the building every day are learning to appreciate more than its good looks.

In the four months since a ribboncutting ceremony marked the building opening in August, they’ve seen how strategic design and technology features are producing real, practical and transformative results.

“This building is changing the teaching-learning process in the college of business,” said WCBA Dean Betty Jo Licata, who took the lead in planning the $34 million project, the largest capital improvement in YSU’s 102-year history. “Our mission is to prepare students to be leaders, and everything in this beautiful, state-ofCelebrating the August ribbon cutting at the new Williamson College building are, from left, the-art space supports that mission.”

Lowry Stewart, Martha Stewart, J.D. Williamson II, YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson, YSU Indeed, Licata said the buildTrustee Chair Scott R. Schulick, Dean Betty Jo Licata and Warren P. "Bud" Williamson III. ing is well on the way to fulfilling

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Kristin Hawkins, a 2006 YSU alumna who is now pursuing an MBA, and Matthew Pollock, a senior accounting major, stand in the new building's financial services lab.

the two main goals that its planners envisioned: to provide a world-class professional business environment for YSU students and faculty and a multi-faceted community resource for Mahoning Valley businesses.

Room for Teamwork

The new facility is a welcome change for students said Kristin Hawkins, a 2006 YSU accounting graduate from the Cleveland area who is back on campus pursuing an MBA. “It’s unlike any higher education building that I’ve ever been in and such a dramatic change from the old building,” she said.

Hawkins talked about how close quarters in the old Williamson Hall forced students to head off campus when they were asked to meet in teams or study groups. “It was always a struggle to find places to work together. Here, there are plenty of team rooms, and all the open spaces make it so much easier to interact with students and professors,” said Hawkins, a CPA who works full time in an accounting position for the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and takes graduate courses at night.

Nearly double the size of the WCBA’s former quarters, the new building offers a range of small meeting rooms equipped with wireless Internet and white boards for data sharing and problem solving. There’s also a spacious atrium 12

Youngstown State University

with a giant flatscreen television used to broadcast business and financial news, several comfortably appointed smaller collaborative areas and a café with outdoor seating. In short, there are plenty of options for quiet study or small-group brainstorming.

And learning teamwork is an essential skill in the business world, said William Vendemia, an associate professor of Management. “In business, we emphasize working in groups because that’s the way they’ll work when they get into their professions,” he said.

The atrium and other meeting spaces are also important, Vendemia said, to encourage informal student and student-faculty interaction. “It helps students to feel more like they’re part of a community, instead of just commuters driving in and out without making any personal contacts.”

Even the way that faculty offices are organized was uniquely designed with collaboration and synergy in mind. InWilliam Vendemia stead of grouping by department, faculty offices from the various disciplines are mixed, said Licata, to encourage interdisciplinary discussion and research.

High-Tech Classrooms

In the new building, classrooms are equipped with a broad range of the latest technology, including document cameras that project from the ceiling and keypad-response systems designed by Youngstown-based Turning Technologies that can be used for impromptu quizzes and class surveys. Student workstations have wireless Internet connections, and some classrooms are set up to accommodate distance learning.

As consumers, students demand the latest and best technology in their college classrooms, said Karin Petruska, assistant professor of Accounting in the Lariccia School of Accounting and Finance. Likewise, it’s critical for the business college to provide every opportunity to ensure that students become adept in the use of technology, she said, because employers expect job applicants to be technology-savvy before they are hired.

Petruska said the advanced technology services provided in the Karin Petruska new WCBA classrooms are helping to create an environment conducive to learning. “Students can visualize what it would be like to work in a professional, businesslike atmosphere,” she said, “and we’re providing them with the on-hands learning that engages them and helps them to develop the necessary skills.”

Jim Kohut, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Marketing, said the building also offers a sales lab where students can hone their presentation skills.

The lab includes a classroom with four small breakout rooms equipped with cameras and laptops and designed to simulate an office environment.

Jim Kohut

Just the Facts: New Home for Williamson College of Business Administration for start of ✓ Opened classes, Fall 2010.

Three-stories, ✓ 110,000 square feet. goals: to ✓ Building provide a professional

business environment for students and a multi-faceted resource for the community. on Rayen Avenue, ✓ Located occupies most of a city block on the southern edge of the YSU campus overlooking downtown Youngstown.

Strollo ✓ Architects: Architects of Youngstown, and Perkins + Will, an international firm with locations across the U.S. and the world.

✓ ✓

Total cost, $34 million, the largest single capital expenditure in university history.

✓

The lead gift of $5 million, the largest gift in YSU history, came from the family of the late Warren P. Williamson Jr., founder of WKBN Broadcasting Corp.

✓

The Lariccia School of Accounting and Finance was named in honor of Tony Lariccia, a YSU alumnus and chair of the YSU Centennial Campaign. Lariccia and his wife, Mary, gave $4 million to the campaign, the largest gift by an individual in the university’s history.

✓

Features include a 200-seat auditorium, a conference center, an executive board room, a sky-lit atrium, a café with outdoor seating, computer labs, a financial services lab and a sales and focus group lab.

More than 900 individuals, families, corporations, trusts and foundations contributed nearly $16 million toward the total project cost.

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“Students practice their sales presentations in a realistic setting. We record the presentations and then view and critique them on a large screen in the classroom,” he said.

Kohut noted that sales lab facilities are a valuable tool that’s available to any class group or individual student in the business college looking to sharpen sales or presentation skills or to prepare for job interviews.

There are other specially equipped spaces as well, he said, such as the focus group room equipped with a video camera and a one-way observation mirror. That feature can be used for student research projects and will eventually be made available to local businesses to assist them in conducting consumer product research.

gional community and to support related academic programming, said Tony Kos, associate professor of Management and special assistant to the dean. “It really allows us to fulfill our

A Community Resource

University planners and architects purposely chose a building site on the southern edge of campus overlooking Youngstown’s downtown with the idea that it would help link the university to the central business district. “We made a strategic decision that our building, our programs and our faculty would become resources for the business community,” Licata said.

Five business centers have offices on the first floor : the Ohio Small Business Development Center at YSU; the Nathan and Frances Monus Entrepreneurship Center; the Center for Nonprofit Leadership; the Williamson Center for International Business; and Partners for Workplace Diversity.

These centers offer services and programs for the re-

Betty Jo Licata, dean of the Williamson College of Business Administration, and Tony Kos, associate professor of Management and special assistant to the dean, stand in the 200-seat auditorium in the new WCBA building.

New Building Designed with Green-Friendly Features From the neat rows of bicycle racks outside to expansive skylights overhead, YSU’s new Williamson College of Business Administration is chock-full of green-friendly features. It is the first building on campus constructed with environmental responsibility in mind, from rooftop to foundation.

“The decision to make the building sustainable puts YSU on the leading edge of business colleges across the country,” said architect Dave Dimond of Perkins + Will, the international architectural and planning firm that collaborated with Strollo Architects of Youngstown on the building design.

The economic model for environmentally sound building features is changing. “Those improvements used to be considered cost add-ons.

Now, we consider how those changes will reduce our cost to operate over five years, 10 years, and the life of the building,” Dimond said. “And that matters in a business school, where we are providing lessons to our future business leaders.”

Architects and university planners were determined from the start that the WCBA building would qualify for certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. Established by the U.S. Green Building Council and known as LEED, the certification is internationally recognized as the standard for environmentally responsible construction.

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Youngstown State University

“It’s all about taking the reduce-and-recycle mentality and applying it to construction,” said Richard White, associate director of planning and construction at YSU. “There were some additional costs, but most of these changes will save us money in the long run.”

LEED certification is determined by a team of inspectors from the Green Building Council that awards points for each green-friendly improvement. Projects exceeding the basic number of points required for certification are ranked silver, gold or platinum.

YSU officials won’t know what level of LEED certification the building has earned until March or April, White said. The inspection team generally waits six to nine months after a building is complete before scheduling its evaluation.

The WCBA executive committee that worked with architects to plan the building originally aimed for a silver certification, White said. Now it appears that the building has enough green features to safely qualify for the higher gold rating.

“Some points are subjective, and the judges may see things differently.

That’s why we aimed for the higher number of points,” White said. “We feel pretty confident that we’ll get gold.”

Architect Greg Strollo said strategic use of windows and skylights is one of the building’s best energy-saving features.

“Part of the design process was commitment to a high level of quality

mission of business education and economic development in the region,” he said. “It works both ways. We’re providing resources for local businesses, and these resources bring business people in to interact with our students.”

Even the way the building is positioned diagonally on the site was intentional, said Greg Strollo of Strollo Architects, which designed the building with Perkins + Will, an international design and planning firm. That positioning was meant to encourage people to walk through instead of around the building for what Strollo calls “productive collisions” between faculty and students and business people. “And it’s working,” he said.

Already, local businesses are lining up to book events at the Williamson conference center on the third floor, the 200-seat auditorium and the executive boardroom with its impressive view of the downtown. More than 1,500 business professionals have participated in conferences, meetings and other events in the building’s first few months of operation.

YSU planners made “a bold and strong move” when they called for a building that would engage and serve the business community and that could play a role in economic development, said Dave Dimond of Perkins + Will.

“By including a conference center, they created opportunities for business and community leaders to come in and interact with students and professors. They were looking for that synergy.”

Pollock, the senior accounting student who gives building tours in his role as president of YSU’s Beta Alpha Psi financial information honorary, said the available space is also creating opportunities for more student projects and events.

For example, the tutoring services provided by student groups are increasing in popularity – some sessions are filled to capacity. Pollock relates the change to the high visibility of the tutoring sessions, which are held in the glass-walled Packer Thomas team room on the second floor.

And student organizations are making plans to use the new building for an ambitious series of Ethics Week events in February, including a breakfast or luncheon and a speaker.

“Before, we were so limited,” Pollock said. “Now, we have the space and the resources to do things we couldn’t do before.”

natural light throughout,” Strollo said. “Too much glass can be an energy sieve. We used skylighting, shared lighting and building orientations to make maximum use of natural light without having to cover the whole exterior with glass.”

Some of the other environmentally friendly features that will qualify the building for LEED certification include: • A raised access floor and displacement ventilation system that provides a 30 percent increase in fresh air and reduces energy use.

• A structural steel frame comprised of 90 percent recycled steel.

• Water-efficient landscaping – native shrubs, plants and grasses that are draught-resistant, and no permanent in-ground sprinkler system.

• Energy-efficient electric lighting and lighting occupancy sensors that turn on when someone enters a room and turn

off when the room is vacant.

• Use of low-emitting carpet, paints, adhesives and sealants,

meaning they release little or no chemical vapors.

• Bicycle racks to encourage alternate transportation, and a locker room and shower on the third floor to accommodate cyclists who travel a distance to campus and want to shower before starting the day.

• Rain gardens on the north and south ends of the site, also planted with native plants, designed to absorb the water from heavy rains, reducing storm sewer use and diminishing the chance of road flooding.

Work has already begun on a second potential LEED project on the YSU campus – the refurbishing of the historic Porter and Mary Pollock

House on Wick Avenue. Built in 1893, the house is being renovated as the residence for YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson and future YSU presidents, and work is scheduled for completion by fall of 2011.

Workers slowly “deconstructed” the hotel wing that had been built onto the rear of the original house, separating the steel, concrete, metal and other materials so that they could be sold to salvage dealers and recycled. “LEED regulations are different for renovations than for new construction,” said William Spencer, YSU staff architect. “Instead of a traditional demolition, it was a dismantling and recycling.”

(Editor’s Note: For photos from the Donor Recognition Dinner celebrating the opening of the WCBA’s new home, see pages 20-21.)

The WCBA is accredited by AACSB International-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The college offers the BSBA degree with nine majors, an MBA program and certificate programs in entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership and enterprise resource planning.

Bicycle racks outside the new WCBA building.

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Chancellor: First Ph.D. Program Represents ‘New Era’ for YSU

Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut and President Cynthia E. Anderson celebrate state approval of YSU's first Ph.D. program.

YSU’s first-ever Ph.D. program is much more than just another graduate program – it will be a vehicle to grow the intellectual capital of the region, attract business and foster the creation of new homegrown companies.

“Ohio’s future economic prosperity will be built on the strength of our state’s ability to use its powerful network of higher education to provide the talent, research and entrepreneurship critical for competing in today’s global economy,” said Eric D. Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. “This proposed Ph.D. program will help YSU step into its role as an urban research university that can drive economic growth in the region.”

Fingerhut brought his pen to YSU this summer and signed off on the university’s proposed Ph.D. program in materials science and engineering in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, YSU’s institutional accrediting body, must approve the Ph.D. before students can be admitted in fall 2011.

Upon approval, it would be YSU’s first Ph.D. program.

The university also offers an Ed.D. in Educational Administration and a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.

Fingerhut and YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson made the announcement at a news conference and signing ceremony on campus attended by dozens of area legislators, faculty, staff and others. The consensus in the room was that the new Ph.D. represented a major step in YSU’s evolution into a research university of note throughout the state and region.

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Youngstown State University

The good news continued two weeks after Fingerhut’s visit when Gov. Ted Strickland came to campus to designate YSU and Youngstown as an Ohio Hub of Innovation and Opportunity. The designation is designed to help develop, manufacture, market and apply next-generation materials and to build on the Youngstown region’s emerging strengths in advanced materials.

“With the new Ph.D. program being launched next year, YSU will become a major destination for students looking to advance their skills in the STEM disciplines,” Strickland said. “As part of the Hub, it will help bring some of the best and brightest minds back to the Valley.”

The new Ph.D. and the Hub designation are the latest in a string of successes in YSU’s growing materials science program. Earlier in the summer, Strickland designated YSU as an Emerging Center of Excellence in Materials Science and Engineering. In the spring, the governor was on campus to cut the ribbon on the university’s new $2.1 million Center for Advanced Materials Analysis, the university’s first Ohio Third Frontier research facility.

Fingerhut said approval of the Ph.D. is an historic moment for YSU, and he threw his full commitment behind ensuring that YSU reaches its full potential as a research institution.

“We have every confidence that this first Ph.D. program … will not be the last by far, but will simply mark the beginning of a new era for Youngstown State, in which the research and the innovation and the technology and the training of scientists takes its rightful place among the other urban research universities in our state,” Fingerhut said.

Story by Ron Cole

Caroline Oltmanns

Professor, World-Class Pianist Caroline Oltmanns doesn’t really remember when she first started playing the piano.

“Growing up in Germany, in so many families, everyone just played,” said Oltmanns, a native of Fürth, just outside Nümberg. “It was just so much of growing up. We all played, and still do.”

Now a professor of piano in YSU’s Dana School of Music, Oltmanns is a world-class pianist with five critically acclaimed musical CDs and a schedule of performances and master classes that keeps her on the road several weeks a year. From South Africa to Sacramento, Germany to Greenville, Pa., Oltmanns has delighted thousands of classical piano fans across Europe, Africa and North America, earning her the title International Steinway Artist.

In June, she and her husband, South African composer-pianist James Wilding, toured across Germany, where her family still lives. Her latest tour in October included five recitals in Switzerland, in addition to a concert and three-day workshop in Germany.

So, what is it she likes most about playing? “Do you like driving fine cars?” she asks. “It’s like driving a fast car. There’s a thrill. There’s a high.

It’s like nothing else in the world.”

If performing keeps her inspired, teaching keeps her grounded. In her piano studio in Bliss Hall on the YSU campus, Oltmanns (who came to YSU in 1994 after earning master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Southern California) provides one-on-one instruction for 13 to 18 students every semester. Many of her students have advanced to graduate-level study at prominent conservatories, including the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, while others are now professors at various universities.

“I love teaching because it informs my playing,” she says.

Her latest solo CD, Pastorale, features selections by Beethoven, Chopin and her husband, James Wilding. Oltmanns says her sixth CD is in the formative stages and could feature 19th century salon pieces, or possibly some “relaxation” music.

For more on Oltmanns’ recordings and travels, visit www.carolineoltmanns.com.

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faculty B O O K S H E L F

Faculty Bookshelf is an annual feature in YSU Magazine, celebrating the successes of YSU faculty members who have recently published new books or released new musical CDs. Student Workbook for College Physics: A Strategic Approach, 2nd Edition, Volumes 1 and 2, by James H. Andrews, professor, Physics and Astronomy, and Randall D. Knight. Published by Addison-Wesley (Pearson Higher Ed), 2010. The workbook is designed to build students’ confidence by providing short exercises designed to develop problem-solving strategies.

The Book of the Maidservant, by Rebecca Barnhouse, professor, English. Published by Random House Children’s Books, 2009. This historical novel for young adults follows a servant girl’s journey as she accompanies her mistress on a pilgrimage from England to Rome in 1413. The story is based on The Book of Margery Kempe, a 15th century text which is considered to be the first known autobiography written in English.

The Coming of the Dragon, by Rebecca Barnhouse, professor, English. Published by Random House Children’s Books, 2010. Inspired by the Anglo-Saxon poem “Beowulf,” this young adult novel tells the story of a young warrior who comes to the aged King Beowulf’s aid when a dragon ravages his kingdom.

Interfictions 2, edited by Christopher Barzak, assistant professor of creative writing, English, and Delia Sherman. Published by The Interstitial Arts Foundation, 2009. An anthology showcasing 21 original and innovative writers from six countries, this book was selected by Amazon.com as one of the Best Books of the Year. Barzak is also the author of two novels, “One for Sorrow” and “The Love We Share Without Knowing.”

English Firsthand, by Steven Brown, professor and coordinator of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, English, with co-authors Marc Helgesen and John Wiltshier. Published by Pearson/Longman, 2009. A four-volume series of textbooks designed for teaching English as a foreign language to university students and young adults in Asia.

Numerical Analysis, Ninth Edition, by Richard L. Burden and J. Douglas Faires, both emeritus professors, Mathematics. Published by Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 2010. Written for undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics, engineering and the sciences, the book shows mathematical methods for approximating solutions to science and engineering problems that cannot be solved exactly. In its numerous editions, the text has been used at more than 1,000 institutions domestically and internationally and translated into Chinese, German, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Charlie Parker, Culture And Influences: Analysis Of His Solos With The Jay McShann Orchestra, by Kent Engelhardt, coordinator of Jazz Studies and associate professor, Dana School of Music.

Published by VDM of Germany, 2010. In this, the first of his two books tracing the development of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, the author includes transcription and analysis of 16 early solos which illuminate Parker’s improvisational language from the years 1940-42.

Charlie Parker, Culture, And Influences: Analysis Of Selected Early Solos, by Kent Engelhardt, coordinator of Jazz Studies and associate professor, Dana School of Music. Published by VDM of Germany, 2010. In his second book tracing the development of jazz sax player Charlie Parker, the author 18

Youngstown State University

analyzes Parker’s improvisational techniques, demonstrating the importance of the African-American oral and aural transmission of musical vocabulary in the jazz tradition. Both books include interviews with primary sources that provide new information and insight on Parker’s early years.

Get Fit, Healthy and Happy with Behavior Analytic Training (BAT), by Stephen Ray Flora, professor, Psychology. Published by Createspace/Amazon.com, 2010. The author explains the concept and organization of Behavior Analytic Training, or BAT, and describes it as a user-friendly way to maintain health and fitness and to lose weight.

Peak Performance, Personal Records, Ultimate Fitness and Winning Athletic Competitions with Behavior Analytic Training, by Stephen Ray Flora, professor, Psychology. Published by Createspace/Amazon.com, 2010. In his second book on Behavior Athletic Training, or BAT, the author takes a behavioral approach on training for peak performances and winning athletic competitions, presenting the training method in a manner that a non-specialist can effectively implement.

Sonatas by C.P.E. Bach, by Francois Fowler, assistant professor of guitar, Dana School of Music. A musical CD released by Clear Note Publications, 2010. Solo classical guitar performances arranged for solo guitar by Francois Fowler and featuring compositions by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, J.S. Bach, Agustin Barrios, Gregorio Huet and Domenico Scarlatti.

Emergency Care, Ninth Edition, by Joseph Mistovich, professor and chair of Health Professions. Published by Prentice Hall Health, 2010.

This 45-chapter textbook is based on the National Emergency Medical Services Education Standards for emergency medical technicians.

Mistovich is the sole active author; co-author Keith Karren retired from Brigham Young University and has had no involvement with the book since the fifth edition.

The Way of the Sly Man, by Dave Morgan, associate professor, Dana School of Music. A musical CD, released by Being Time Records, 2010. This musical recording features a 70-minute suite that the artist composed based on the ideas of the Greek/Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff. The project was made possible by grants from Chamber Music America and the Bascom-Little Fund.

Pastorale, by Caroline Oltmanns, professor of piano, Dana School of Music. /a musical CD, released by Filia Mundi records, 2010. In her fourth solo musical recording, and her fifth overall, Oltmanns performs a collection of favorites by composers Beethoven, Chopin and Wilding, using a format that is intended to evoke a concert-like experience.

Teaching the Selected Works of Gary Paulsen, by Gary M. Salvner, professor and chair, English. Published by Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H. 2009. The author provides research and practical suggestions for teachers using the work of Gary Paulsen, one of America’s most celebrated and prolific writers for young readers. The text is designed for use in middle school and high school classrooms.

Using Nonfiction Text Structures for Better Comprehension and Responses, Grades 4-8, by Gail Saunders-Smith, assistant professor, Teacher Education. Published by Maupin House, 2009. Designed for use by middle school and high school teachers, the book examines different text structures used in nonfiction, such as cause/effect, sequence, question/answer and compare/contrast, and addresses the key words and comprehending skills associated with each text type.

Consider Philosophy, by Bruce N. Waller, professor and chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies. Published by Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2011. An introductory philosophy text, the book uses a problems-oriented approach to introduce students to philosophical issues.

Connect, Disconnect and Reconnect: How Chinese Students Adapt to a New Culture via the Net, by Ying Wang, assistant professor, Marketing. VDM Publishing House, Germany, 2009. The author explores the role the Internet plays in the cross-cultural adaptation process and how different Internet use patterns affect Chinese students’ socio-cultural and psychological adaptation to the American culture.

www.ysu.edu

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University Development

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WCBA Donor Recognition Dinner 2

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An Evening of Celebration and Appreciation for Donors 9 Visit www.ysumagazine.org for video on the new WCBA building.

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Leadership donors to the campaign for the new Williamson College of Business Administration building celebrated the opening and enjoyed a sneak preview of the facility at a dinner held Aug. 13, two days before the official opening.

Photo IDs are on the adjacent page.

YSU Foundation

All names are listed from left to right.

1. Representing the Williamson Family are: J.D. Williamson, Warren P. “Bud” Williamson III, Martha Stewart and Lowry Stewart.

2. WCBA Dean Betty Jo Licata presents a commemorative gift to members of the Lariccia Family: Tony, Mary, Dana and Natalie Lariccia.

3. Pausing during a tour of the new building are: Daniel and Margaret Kollay; Daniel Linsalata, Frank Linsalata and Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata.

4. Representing several donor groups and families are: William J. Bresnahan and William W. Bresnahan, Bresnahan Family Foundation; Frank Hierro, Huntington National Bank; Ted Schmidt, PNC; Bruce Sherman, J. Ford Crandall Foundation; Don Constantini; Lee and Bonnie Burdman, Marsha Burdman; Joseph Schwebel.

5. Taking time for a photo are: Janice Strasfeld, The Youngstown Foundation; Andrew Weller; James Weller; Garry Mrozek, Watson Foundation; E. Wayne Cliffe; Carole and Alan Cope; C. Reid Schmutz; Judy and Samuel Roth; Dean Licata.

6. Donors and donor representatives attending the dinner included: Thomas Barsody and Franklin Bennett, Jr., Pollock Foundations; Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata; William J. Bresnahan, Hynes-Finnegan Foundations; Paul Williams and Gregory Ridler, Andrews Trust; Albert Blank, First Place Bank.

7. YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson visits with: Thomas Cavalier, Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.; Gregory Gett, Packer Thomas; Dean Licata.

Scholarship Endowment Benefits Science and Math Students

William Spencer starts every weekday with the Wall Street Journal, and he’s read a lot over the years about the United States falling behind other countries in science, technology, engineering and math.

In 2005, the retired Youngstown business owner and his wife, Margaret, decided to do something practical about what they saw as a serious problem for the United States. They created an endowment at the YSU Foundation to fund scholarships for qualified students majoring in math and science.

“Everybody wants to do something constructive,” Spencer said. “My wife and I thought about it a lot. We believe there’s a chance that, through the university and the foundation, we can have some impact, help some students, and maybe help our country.”

Reid Schmutz, YSU Foundation president, said the William L. and Margaret M. Spencer Scholarship in Engineering, Mathematics and the Sciences is one of the foundation’s largest endowments, funding several scholarships annually in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Spencer earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and then went on to study law at the University of Michigan. He joined his father in his successful Youngstown-based insurance business in 1951, the same year that he and his wife were married. Spencer and his father shared a friendship with Howard W. Jones, who served as the university’s first president from 1931 through 1966, and developed a respect for what the founding president was doing at YSU. To apply for a Spencer Scholarship, students must have completed at least 31 semester hours, major in engineering, mathematics, biology, chemistry or physics, and carry a GPA of 2.75 or higher.

Students who work to help finance their college education are given preference, and financial need is a consideration. One-year scholarships are awarded, renewable for up to four years. For more information, contact the YSU Foundation, 330-941-3211.

Mended Hearts Chapter Provides Scholarships for Health Majors ▼

Photo IDs for the Williamson Donor Recognition Dinner.

8. Also attending the preview event are: Leonard and Gina Schiavone; Gregory Bestic, Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic; Laura and John Scotford; Kevin Owens, Turning Technologies; David Yeager; Jack Monda.

The Youngstown-Warren area chapter of Mended Hearts Inc., a support group for heart patients and their families, awards two $1,000 scholarships annually to qualifying YSU students in health majors. The scholarships are awarded in conjunction with the YSU Foundation.

Celebrating this year’s awards are, from left: Patricia Feindt, scholarship chair for the local Mended Hearts chapter; scholarship recipient Alyvia Allegretto of Boardman, a sophomore nursing major; recipient Terra Koontz of Youngstown, a senior nursing major; and Don Feindt, a heart bypass surgery survivor and treasurer for the chapter.

9. President Anderson shares a moment with donors: Richard Schiraldi, Cohen & Co.; C. Gilbert James, Jr.; Donald and Gloria Cagigas; William and Joyce Bresnahan; Ruth and Michael Harshman; J. James Gerlach, Anness, Gerlach & Williams; Michael Kurish, ASECU; James Geller; Dean Licata.

Mended Hearts Inc., Chapter 7, has been sponsoring scholarships since 1999, raising funds through its annual nut sale. To apply for a Mended Hearts Scholarship, students must be Ohio residents majoring in a health-related field, must carry at least a 3.0 GPA and must demonstrate financial need.

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sports news

Kicking Off the Season at Penn State

Head football coach Eric Wolford runs along the sidelines as senior wide receiver Dominique Barnes carries the ball to the end zone (top photo) in the first quarter of the Penguins' opening game against Penn State on Sept. 4. Moments later, Wolford congratulates Barnes (bottom left). Before the game, Coach Wolford shares some laughs with Penn State head coach Joe Paterno (bottom right). At 83, Paterno is in his 45th season as coach of the Nittany Lions. YSU held a lead late into the first half of the season opener in front of a crowd of more than 100,000 fans at Beaver Stadium before Penn State moved ahead to win the contest.

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Youngstown State University

For more information on team schedules and highlights in the YSU athletics department

www.ysusports.com

Sports News

Men’s Basketball Looks to Made-Over Roster for Success in 2010-11 For the third time in the last four seasons, the YSU men’s basketball team will rely on an abundance of talented newcomers fused with five veteran players to lead a program resurgence.

Senior Vytas Sulskis, the Penguins’ top-returning scorer, senior Dan Boudler, junior Ashen Ward, sophomore Damian Eargle and redshirt freshman Sheldon Brogdon will join 10 newcomers on the court this season.

The Penguins’ backcourt has a combination of speed, versatility and scoring ability. Numbers-wise, the backcourt has the most depth but only two of the10 players have played in a Division I game – Sulskis and Ward.

Two newcomers – Blake Allen and Kendrick Perry – are targeted to lead the Penguins at point guard.

The Guins will have plenty of options at shooting guard led by Ward, who made 26 three-pointers a season ago.

Brogdon averaged 18.7 points per game as a senior in high school and was a third-team all-state selection as a junior after averaging 21 points and three assists per game.

Junior-college transfer Devonte Maymon spent two seasons at John A. Logan College and connected on 40 percent of his three-point attempts.

Freshmen Shawn Amiker, Jr., Nate Perry and Mike Podolsky will also battle for playing time in the backcourt.

At the small forward slot, Sulskis returns for his fourth season and needs just 81 more points to become the 32nd player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Also at the “three” is junior college transfer DuShawn Brooks, who scored a total of 589 points in two years at junior college.

In the frontcourt, YSU will depend upon a quartet of big men headed by Boudler and Eargle and freshmen Josh Chojnacki and Fletcher Larson.

Boudler played in 27 of 30 games last season and made two starts, averaging 11.9 minutes per game.

Eargle is eligible after sitting out the 2009-10 campaign fulfilling NCAA transfer requirements. He was named to the Southern Conference All-Newcomer Team after averaging 9.2 points and 5.6

Vytas Sulskis

rebounds per game.

Chojnacki, a 6-foot-9 post, was a four-year letter winner and Class AA First-Team All-Pennsylvania selection in 2009-10 at Mercyhurst Prep in Erie, Pa., and Larson, a 6-foot-8 forward, was named First-Team All-Western N.Y. at Jamestown High School.

Women’s Basketball Starts Rebuilding Effort Under Boldon

Brandi Brown

The YSU women’s basketball squad kicks off its 2010-11 season with a new head coach at the helm. Bob Boldon, a Northeast Ohio native, has an outstanding resume that includes 13 seasons as a collegiate coach, most recently as top assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.

Boldon and his staff have a solid base to begin a rebuilding effort, as Brandi Brown returns from one of the best season performances ever by a Penguin freshman. Brown was the runner-up for the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year award and was the lone player in the league to average a double-double in 2009-10.

Senior Bojana Dimitrov and juniors, Macey Nortey and Kenya Middlebrooks are also returning, along with four other student-athletes who didn’t get a chance to play at all last

season because of injuries and academic requirements. Three incoming freshmen complete the team.

“I’m very proud of this opportunity,” Boldon said of his new position at YSU. “It comes with a great responsibility to return this program to the winning tradition that the people of Youngstown are accustomed to.

We have to change our culture. We have to develop and get better. Nobody wants to win more than this team wants to win. Nobody wants to win more than I want to win.”

Boldon grew up in Canton, Ohio, has three years of head-coaching experience, and has been an assistant with highly accomplished head coaches, two of whom have been voted national coaches of the year. He spent 2006-08 as an assistant coach at Akron, and as head coach at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn., he led the team in its best season in school history in 2008-09.

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Alumni in Tampa Organize Cocktail Reception Ever wonder how YSU graduates living hundreds of miles from their alma mater manage to organize a successful gathering to bring Penguins together in their home city?

Alums in the Tampa, Fla., area did just that in mid-October – they planned and orchestrated a gala wine and food pairing event for YSU alumni at beautiful Westin Tampa Bay. Here’s how the event came together: In March of 2009, several YSU graduates living in the Tampa area started communicating on LinkedIn, the social networking site, and asking whether there was a Penguin alumni group in the area. They discovered that the only regular gathering in their part of Florida is the Youngstown Day event held every spring in Sarasota and typically attracting more than 400 people with Youngstown ties. At that point, Nick Diorio (’74, ’84), Tim Moyers (’07), Bob Riddell (’81) and Jeff Young (’92) decided to organize an event of their own.

The four agreed that a cocktail reception would be the best way to encourage those attending to mingle and socialize, and they decided on Westin Tampa Bay, with its elegant banquet room and attached outside patio, as an ideal location.

They met with catering coordinators at the Westin to discuss food and beverage options and considered several factors, including cost, in their choice to offer an hors d’oeuvres and wine menu.

Next, the Tampaarea alumni worked with the staff at YSU’s Office of Alumni and Events Management to design an invitation, and the office mailed invitations to all YSU alumni

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Youngstown State University

living in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, as well as graduates living in other parts of Florida.

Alumni and Events kept track of the RSVPs as they came in, provided favors to be distributed to the alumni attending and created a YSU-themed gift basket to serve as a door prize.

One staff member who represented Alumni and Events at the reception brought along a multimedia presentation that she designed to highlight recent facility improvements and advancements on the YSU campus.

The YSU Office of Alumni and Events Management stands ready to assist any alumni interested in organizing a gathering for Penguins in their area. If you would like help planning an event in your city or would like to attend an event in your area, contact Mollie Hartup, assistant director of Alumni Relations, at mahartup@ysu.edu, or 330-941-3086.

Enjoying a YSU alumni cocktail reception in Tampa, Fla., are, from left, Bill Isaly (’65) of Palm Harbor, Fla., Mel Pentecost and Bonnie Pentecost (’65) of Sarasota and Judith Isaly, also of Palm Harbor. In the photo at left, YSU graduates Jeanne Feld (’69) of Oldsmar, Fla., left, and Gayla Snyder (’67) of Tampa, were also among alumni from across the state of Florida attending the mid-October event.

Alumni News

M ark your calendar

Why Join The YSU Alumni Society?

From pride to perks, there are many reasons to join the YSU Alumni Society: • Opportunities to keep in touch with alumni and friends.

• Committee involvement opportunities on campus.

• YSU Maag Library and OhioLINK access with borrowing privileges.

• Eligibility to purchase an on-campus parking pass.

• Use of YSU Career Services resources.

• Associated School Employees Credit Union eligibility.

• Legacy Scholarship program for children of Alumni Society members.

• 10-percent discount on apparel at the YSU Bookstore.

There are several ways to become a member of the YSU Alumni Society – single and joint memberships, annual memberships and life memberships are available. Download an application at www.ysu.edu/alumni_events, or call 330941-3086 for more information.

YSU Night with Youngstown Phantoms Hockey Youngstown Phantoms offer a special rate for alumni, faculty, staff and students, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Covelli Centre, downtown Youngstown. Tickets, $5 per person, include reserved seat, parking, a hot dog, soda and snacks.

Contact Jackie LeViseur at 330-941-2136 or jmleviseur@ ysu.edu.

Bitonte College Alumni Recognition Dinner Second annual Bitonte College of Health & Human Services Alumni Recognition Dinner, 5 p.m. Feb. 11, Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. Contact Heather Belgin, 330-941-1591 or habelgin@ysu.edu.

Alumni Travel from 15 States for Canfield Fair

When YSU’s Office of Alumni and Events held a contest to find the alum who traveled farthest to attend the 2010 Canfield Fair, Dorothy Savka, ’74, ’81, of Santa Monica, Calif., took the top prize.

Savka traveled 2,422 miles from her home to attend the Labor Day weekend attraction. Her prize? A one-year membership to the YSU Alumni Society and free admission to a Terrace Dinner – the dinners are served at Stambaugh Stadium prior to every Penguins home football game.

Heather Anastos, ’93, of Kennewick, Wash., came in a close second, traveling 2,365 miles to attend the fair.

In all, alumni representing 15 states outside Ohio stopped and signed in at the YSU tent at the fair.

Y S U A lumni:

Sigma Tau Presents Scholarships Representing the Alumni Chapter of Sigma Tau Gamma, Bill Kish, left, and John Africa, right, present a scholarship to YSU senior accounting major Ray Michaels at the fraternity’s annual mixer. Michaels also accepted an award for Dan Reed, a senior accounting major and scholarship recipient, who was unable to attend the event. Michaels has a 3.91 GPA, serves as Sigma Tau Gamma president; Reed, with a 3.14 GPA, is executive vice president. The fraternity alumni chapter established its scholarship fund in 2009, with plans to award scholarships annually to active members of YSU’s Sigma Tau Gamma chapter.

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YSU has more than 1,800 alumni living in the West Coast states of California, Oregon and Washington.

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Alumni

SpotlighT Celebrating Accomplished Graduates

Doing His Part to Revive One City’s Downtown Paul Clouser ’87 When Paul Clouser decided to buy and restore a ramshackle old building in the center of downtown Warren, Ohio, he had plenty of critics. Vacant for years, the building’s back wall was buckling and floors had rotted through. “I was told it was three months from the wrecking ball,” he said pensively. “You could see right through the floor.”

But Clouser and his wife, Holly, liked the location, directly across the street from the historic Trumbull County Courthouse and the park-like Courthouse Square where they attend concerts, bicycle and enjoy cross-country skiing. Besides, they love the city of Warren, Clouser’s hometown, and couldn’t bear to see such an important building leveled.

So last spring, Clouser started an ambitious, $600,000 renovation of the 149-year-old building on West Market Street. Workers began by gutting the interior and hauling away 100 tons of debris. “The dump asked us not to come back,” he quipped.

It was the second financial leap of faith in as many years for the 1987 YSU engineering grad. In 2008, he took out a second mortgage on his home to buy National Fire and Water Repair, a Youngstown family business that traces its history back to 1913. Clouser was general manager and vice president, an 18-year veteran of the company, when the founder’s grandson asked him to consider the purchase, making it clear that the future of the successful Mahoning Valley business and its 35 employees was at stake.

Clouser sees his downtown Warren building renovation as the logical next step to his decision to buy National Fire and Water Repair.

He plans to open a Warren office for the company in half of the ground floor space – the business will retain its Youngstown headquarters.

He’ll rent out the remainder of the ground floor commercial space and two second floor apartments; he and his wife will live in a spacious 4,700-square-foot apartment on the top floor.

Construction on the first and third floors Paul Clouser

26

Youngstown State University

should be complete by year’s end, he said, and the second floor should be finished by spring.

Living downtown is a key component to Clouser’s effort to bring new life to Warren’s center. “Having people living in center cities is an important part of reversing decline,” he explained. “It’s called ‘filling in the doughnut.’ I’m heavily invested in the business and in this community. I need them both to succeed.”

And Clouser’s investment seems to be having an impact already. He said several downtown buildings have been sold since he bought the property on West Market Street. Warren government leaders and building officials have supported his effort, and people stop him on the street to thank and congratulate him for saving the old building. “I feel like a celebrity,” he said, grinning.

Clouser has worked in construction for most of his life, including his years as a student pursuing a BSAS in electrical engineering at YSU, so he’s well-prepared for his role as owner and president of National Fire and Water Repair. The firm specializes in repairing homes and businesses damaged by fire, flood and other disasters, and the new owner recently added home and business remodeling to its list of services.

He has two adult children – Jonna, 21, and Graham, 19 – both college students. Clouser and his wife enjoy spending time at festivals, concerts and other events in Warren, and even when they travel, they like to visit cities. “We like the vibe, the excitement, of living in town,” he said.

A Plum Assignment: Singing at Sea Amanda Beagle ’03 Amanda Beagle is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

The Dana School of Music graduate and former Miss Ohio has been cast as a featured vocalist aboard the MS Statendam, a luxury Holland America cruise ship. She’ll depart in December to begin her eight-month assignment, cruising the Caribbean in winter and along the northwest coast to Alaska in the summer.

Beagle looks forward to life aboard ship and visiting exciting ports of call, but she’s even more thrilled about the opportunity to star in the cruise company’s innovative Showroom at Sea. She’ll be part of a five-member repertory group performing a variety of musical programs, from Broadway tunes to pop rock and classical crossover.

“I wanted to see the world, and this is a great resumé builder,” she said. “I did a lot of research and sent out press kits to several cruise lines, but Holland America was the one I really wanted.”

Born and raised in Warren, Beagle graduated YSU with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance in 2003 and was crowned Miss Ohio the following year. She spent 2004 touring the state, promoting the value of arts education to improve literacy, and in 2005 she was a talent award winner in the nationally televised Miss America Pageant.

She credits the Dana School of Music for providing her with a wealth of performance experience as an undergraduate student, and the regional, state and national pageants were additional confidence builders. “I really grew a lot during that period,” she said. “The Miss America system is the ultimate self-improvement program.”

Beagle won $30,000 in scholarships as Miss Ohio, which she used to continue her studies, completing an MS in entertainment business this summer through Full Sail University in Orlando. She deliberately chose one of Full Sail’s online graduate programs and stayed in the Mahoning Valley rather than moving to New York and hiring an agent – a more typical career route for a would-be entertainer. “I just wanted to manage my own career,” she said.

While pursuing her master’s, Beagle worked as a private voice instructor with a roster of 30 students and taught ballroom and Zumba dancing. She also served as a teaching artist for YSU’s SMARTS Students Motivated by the Arts, an arts program for children that was the model for her community service platform as Miss Ohio.

And Beagle made time for her first

Amanda Beagle

love – the stage – amassing a long list of regional theater, opera and concert credits, most recently in leading roles with Easy Street Productions in Youngstown.

Despite her impressive credentials, Beagle encountered some resistance when she first tried to land a Showroom at Sea audition with Stiletto Entertainment, the Los Angeles company that produces Holland America’s shows. Stiletto generally considers only performers who are represented by an agent, she said, and have Broadway credits “or something juicy” on their resume.

Her persistence, combined with her Miss Ohio and Miss America pageant experience, finally won her an audition in New York, and she aced it. She was hired in May, began rehearsing in Los Angeles on Oct. 28 and will set sail for the first time on Dec. 10.

And it will be a first. Beagle has never been on a cruise. “I’ve never been away from home and family this long,” she admitted with a smile and a shrug.

“It’s not like I can come home for a few days. I’ll be out to sea. If people want to see me, they’ll have to book a cruise.”

Fans, friends and family, including her brother Nathan Beagle, a senior theater major at YSU, can follow her travels at her website, www.amandabeagle. com. She’s also completing a CD project, her first solo album, which will be available on her website and on the MS Statendam.

Profiles by Cynthia Vinarsky

Fall 2010

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Alumni Spotlight

Degree Tops Off a 46-Year Career in Sports Ron Allen ’10 Ron Allen had just accepted his diploma from President Cynthia E. Anderson at YSU’s 2010 summer commencement when a sense of déjà vu hit him. Just a year earlier, Anderson had given him a blank diploma that she had inscribed with a message: “Always remember your mother.”

The note was designed to remind Allen of a promise he made to his mother nearly 50 years ago.

“It was the only way my mother let me sign with baseball,” said Allen, who dropped out of what was then Youngstown University to play professional baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964. “She made me look her straight in the eye and promise that I would finish college.”

Now 66, Allen finally made good on his pledge after retiring from a 46-year career in sports that included Major League baseball, racehorse breeding and training and a run for the Kentucky Derby.

His mother, Era Rhodes Allen,

Ron Allen

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Youngstown State University

raised Allen and his nine siblings on her own, and she always hoped to have at least one college graduate in the family. He thought of following his two older brothers into pro baseball, but when 116 basketball scholarship offers poured in for him after high school, his mother insisted on college. “She got staunch on that – and quick,” laughs Allen.

Accepting a scholarship to play YSU basketball for legendary Dom Rosselli in 1961, he left his small town of Wampum, Pa. – “population 1,009” – to join the Penguins.

Allen led the team to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1964 with a 24-3 season, scored 1,001 total points during his collegiate career and has since been inducted in YSU’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

But baseball was still in his blood. In 1964, just two semesters from graduating and newly married to his college sweetheart, Marthella, Allen signed with the Phillies. He later played for the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals as a first baseman. His first hit – a homerun.

“It felt good,” he said. “I loved playing across the country, experiencing things you thought you never would. I wouldn’t trade it.”

When his brother, Rich, ventured into the horseracing business in the late ’60s, however, Allen followed.

He worked with Rich, and later partnered with another brother, Hank, in 1974. Together, they ran a stable in Bowie, Md., breeding horses and traveling to Canada, Germany, Italy and France for big-stakes races. “It was quite a business,” said Allen, who recalls a $1 million offer he and Hank received for a horse they had raced only once.

“But one of the greatest thrills of my life, next to having my children, was racing in the Kentucky Derby,” he said. His horse, Northern Wolf, finished sixth in the 1989 race.

Throughout his wide-ranging career in sports, Allen’s promise to finish college was always in the back of his mind.

He retired from the Maryland Race Track Association in 2000 and watched proudly as his four children earned degrees from Ohio universities. When the youngest graduated, Allen decided it was his turn.

In August 2009, he met with Anderson, then vice president for Student Affairs, and she discovered Allen needed only three classes to complete a bachelor’s degree in general studies. In one whirlwind day of meetings and scheduling, Allen was a YSU student once again.

And within a year – a graduate.

“She [Anderson] handed me my diploma, and it just brought tears,” said Allen. “Sitting in that auditorium listening to her, I could hear my mother’s voice saying, ‘Well done, son.’”

Someone else was watching Allen that Saturday morning, too. The following day, he watched his three-year-old grandson – one of eight grandchildren – pulling on an oversized t-shirt that fell to his feet like a gown. “He put that thing on, and I asked him, ‘What are you doing?’” Allen smiled. “He said, ‘I’m graduating.’”

Profile by Andrea Armeni

class 60s

notes

James D. Hetherington of Bethany, Okla., ’66 BSBA in public relations, recently completed 30 years as a volunteer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Hetherington retired as supervisor of instructor training at the Federal Aviation Academy in Oklahoma City and was an adjunct professor of marketing and management at Oklahoma City University for 33 years. His 31-year FAA career included service as an air traffic control specialist at the Youngstown Airport and the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport and as an air traffic supervisor at Salt Lake City International Airport. He also earned MBA, MA and MLS degrees.

Ali Keyhani of Columbus, ’67 BE in electrical engineering, has been named to the Ohio Power Siting Board by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. Keyhani has been on the electrical engineering faculty at Ohio State University since 1981 and has been a professor since 1990. He also serves as director of the Mechatronics Green Energy Systems Laboratory at OSU. He earned his master’s degree from OSU and a doctorate at Purdue University.

70s Karen Conklin of Liberty, ’70 BSBA, has been named director of the newly organized American Red Cross of the Mahoning Valley, created Karen Conklin in the merger of the Mahoning and Trumbull County Red Cross chapters. Conklin had been executive director of the Humane Society of Greater Akron, and before that served as executive director of the Lake-to-River Girl Scout Council for 16 years.

Susan Bleggi of Columbiana, ’73 AAS, was named assistant wellness director at the Copeland Oaks retirement community in Sebring. A registered nurse, Bleggi is also certified as a personal trainer and as an instructor in group exercise, Zumba, mat science, resistance training and yoga.

Jim Villani of Youngstown, ’73 AB, ’81 MA, was elected in May as a central committee person for the Green Party of Mahoning County, which adopted the title Mahoning Valley Greens. Villani is editor and publisher of the Pig Iron Press in Youngstown.

Penguin

Jazz

Jazz drummer Chris Massey of New York, ’00 BM in jazz performance, has signed a worldwide distribution deal with the Spectra Jazz label of Spectra Music Group LLC. Massey recently released his debut album, titled Vibrainium, under the Spectra Jazz label.

The album features Massey with the Nue Jazz Project, a modern jazz group that performs regularly at venues around New York. His CD was released in September online and digitally through iTunes and Amazon outlets; retail store sales are scheduled to start in December.

positions in school districts in Texas, Kansas, Georgia and Illinois.

He earned his Ph.D. in public school administration from Ohio State University.

Nicholas F. Paolini of New Castle, Pa., ’75 BSBA, was elected to a two-year term on the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Council. His term on the governing body expires in 2012. A CPA, Paolini is director of operations at Packer Thomas in New Castle and a past president of the PICPA.

Chris Massey

Saxaphone player Matt Corey of Canton, Ohio, leader of the Matt Corey Band, began a 36-city tour in August that includes performances in Miami, Atlanta, Houston and Indianapolis. Corey, ’02 BM in music education, previously played for five years with Skinny, a popular touring band that opened concerts for the Dave Matthews Band, Lil Wayne and O.A.R. Corey also had featured roles in a musical show at Walt Disney World, performed the same show on a 40-week bus tour and then starred in a new version of the same show that ran for eight months in London. He released his first solo album, titled “Matt Corey Band,” which is available online at www.mattcoreymusic.com.

Joseph W. Pasquerilla of Masury, Ohio, ’75 MSEd in guidance and counseling, has joined the Mars Area School District in western Pennsylvania as an assistant superintendent of technology and curriculum. Previously, he was assistant to the superintendent and director of curriculum, instruction and assessment at the Ambridge Area School District. Pasquerilla has a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Pittsburgh.

Jack Skinner of Sharon, Pa., ’75 MS in mathematics, was presented a teaching excellence award by Penn State Shenango, where he is a part-time faculty member teaching mathematics. Skinner earned a bachelor’s degree in math at Purdue University and spent most of his professional career as a partner and executive vice president of software development at Eastern Software Corp. in Sharon. He has also taught math courses at YSU.

Matt Corey

Lisa Gentile Farrell of Melbourne Beach, Fla., ’76 AB, is a contracts manager with Harris Corp., an international communications and information technology company. She earned a Certified Federal Contracts Manager certification from the National Contract Management Association in February, and in June was awarded the Fellow Award, the NCMA’s third-highest honor. She has an MBA from the University of Central Florida.

Peter F. Harris of Orange County, Calif., ’77 BSAS, is marking his 16th year as partner in the law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, a national firm with nearly 800 attorneys. He serves as vice-chair of the

Jeffrey Weaver of Upper Arlington, Ohio, ’73 MSEd, has been elected president of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators. He joined the Upper Arlington Schools as superintendent in 2006 and previously held teaching, coaching and administrative Peter F. Harris

Fall 2010

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Class Notes

firm’s real estate department, with a client list that includes the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, Los Angeles World Airports (LAX, Burbank and Ontario Airports), BMW of North America and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

After completing his undergraduate degree at YSU, Harris earned his law degree at the University of Akron.

Rebecca Hovey of Northampton, Mass., ’77 AB in philosophy, has been appointed dean for international study at Smith College and co-director of the college’s new Global Studies Center. Hovey earned a master’s degree in education at San Francisco State University and a doctorate in city and regional planning from Cornell University.

Previously, she served in executive positions at World Learning, a nonprofit that offers international education programs in more than 75 countries. She has served as a visiting faculty member at Cornell and Dartmouth College.

Pam Riley of Aurora, Ill., ’77 BA in applied science, was named clinical nurse manager for the home support program at Monarch Landing, a continuing care retirement community in Naperville, Ill. Riley’s nursing career spans 30 years, and she also serves as parish nurse for Grace United Methodist Church in Naperville.

Pam Riley

80s Gary Kennedy of Westerville, Ohio, ’81 BS in psychology, is employed by Ohio State University as a statistical analyst in the Office of Enrollment Management in Institutional Research. He earned a master’s degree in psychology and a doctorate in philosophy, both from OSU. His doctoral dissertation was entitled “The Influence of Academic Values and Concerns of Achievement Goals in First Quarter Freshmen and the Relationship to Academic Performance and the Role of Procrastination.”

Thomas Bunosky of Santa Barbara, Calif., ’82 BE in civil engineering, has been named operations manager for the Goleta Water District. Previously, he was vice president of operations for the California American Water Co., and he helped to develop the Central Coast Water Authority for Santa Barbara County. Bunosky has an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College.

Stanley P. Feret of Poland, ’83 BSBA in finance, has been named senior vice president and chief lending officer at the Cortland Savings and Banking Company.

Feret’s career in the financial Stanley P. Feret service industry spans more than 26 years, with a focus on commercial banking, and most recently he was senior vice president for Huntington National Bank. He is an honors graduate of the American Bankers Association National School of Commercial Lending.

In Memoriam Dr. Earnest Perry of Liberty, a well-known and respected surgeon, YSU alumnus, Youngstown community leader and YSU Trustee Emeritus, died July 19 at the age of 73. Perry earned his bachelor’s degree in pre-med at Youngstown University in 1959 and completed his medical degree at Meharry Medical College in Nashville in 1964. He was chairman of Surgery at Forum Health – Western Reserve Care System, maintained a medical practice in Youngstown and was an associate professor of clinical surgery at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Dr. Earnest Perry

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Dr. Perry and his wife, Doris, a retired Youngtown City Schools teacher, established two endowments to provide scholarships for minority students at YSU, and Mrs. Perry established a nonprofit called Women Hand in Hand that awards YSU scholarships to young mothers in financial need.

The family requests that contributions in Dr. Perry’s memory be made to: Women Hand in Hand, P.O. Box 18260, Cleveland, OH 44118.

Youngstown State University

Michael Hanshaw of Liberty Township, ’83 BS in education, is the newly appointed superintendent of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center. Hanshaw had served as the county’s assistant superintendent for one year, coming from the Weathersfield School District where he was employed for 25 years as a teacher, principal and schools superintendent. After earning his undergraduate degree at YSU, Hanshaw earned a master’s degree in education at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa.

90s Melissa Gilliland of Hermitage, Pa., ’91 BSBA, was promoted to senior vice president and loan operations manager at First Place Bank. She will be working at the bank’s headquarters in Hermitage.

Patrick Ginnetti of Rocky River, Ohio, ’94 BFA in graphic design, has joined Hitchcock Fleming and Associates, a marketing communications firm based in Akron, as senior art director in the creative department. Ginnetti has served as art director for various marketing companies and has taught as adjunct faculty at Lorain County Community College.

Christine T. Cossler of Cleveland, ’95 BE in civil engineering, has been elected to partnership in the Cleveland law firm Walter & Haverfield LLP, where her practice is focused on private and public sector labor Christine T. Cossler and employment law and school law. Cossler earned a law degree at Case Western Reserve University, where she graduated as class valedictorian, summa cum laude, in May, 2002. She was a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge James S. Gwin of the Northern District of Ohio and spent three years in private practice with another Cleveland law firm before joining Walter & Haverfield in 2006.

00s Stanley J. Magielski of Boardman, ’01 BSBA in finance, was named a vice president of commercial lending at Cortland Savings and Banking Company. He will serve as a commercial loan officer and Stanley J. Magielski vice president, working out of the bank’s Warren branch and its Victor Hills Plaza branch in Boardman. Previously, Magielski was a commercial loan officer for Home Savings & Loan Company in Youngstown.

Class Notes

Lukas P. Samuels of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ’02 BSBA, was presented with the CVS/Casemark’s President’s Club Award at the company’s national sales meeting.

Samuels, a regional business manager Lukas P. Samuels for a CVS Specialty Division, was recognized for top sales performance in his division, transplant and cardiopulmonary diseases.

Dr. Matthew Gugliotti of New Middletown, Ohio, ’03 BS in education, has joined Poland Medical Center as a family practice physician. He graduated in 2007 from Wright State University School of Medicine Matthew Gugliotti in Dayton and completed his residency in family medicine at St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown.

Joseph Latess of Cranberry Township, Pa.,’03 EdD, was named superintendent of the Highlands School District.

He joined the district in June 2009 as assistant superintendent, and before that was assistant superintendent in the Shaler Area School District. Latess earned Joseph Latess his undergraduate and master’s degrees in education at Slippery Rock University.

Michael R. Valiski of Johnston, Ohio, ’03 BE in industrial engineering, has completed the requirements to be named an ASQ-Certified Quality Engineer. Valiski is employed as a quality engineer at Treemen Industries in Boardman.

Jarrod Davis of Medina, ’05 BA and ’07 MA, both in computer information systems, is a business solutions provider for Antares Management Solutions in Strongsville, Ohio. He has been promoted several times, is now ranked as a level 3 administrator and was recently awarded the company’s Shining Star certificate. Davis is also in his third year as assistant men’s and women’s track and field coach at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. His wife, Lindsay (Cobey) Davis, also earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education at YSU in 2007.

Adam Fill of Canfield, ’07 BS in Education, is starting his fourth year as a business technology teacher at David Anderson Junior/

Alumna’s Weight Loss Victory Featured on TV Special

Erica Perna

Weight issues had always been a struggle for Erica Perna of Niles, ’99 BA in English, but she reached a turning point two years ago when her weight reached an all-time high of 240 lbs. Determined to set a better, healthier example for her infant son, she created her own diet and intense exercise routine and dropped more than 100 pounds in 16 months.

Perna, now an avid bodybuilder who is employed as a fitness instructor and personal trainer, was one of five success stories featured in a TLC television special, “How I Lost 100 Pounds,” broadcast nationally in August. TLC learned about her story through one of several bodybuilding and weight loss blogs that Perna used to chronicle her lifestyle changes.

Perna, who earned an MA in English at the University of Toledo after completing her undergraduate work at YSU, said she taught herself about nutrition by reading every available book and researching online. Bodybuilding is her new passion, and she’s working with a diet coach to help her prepare for competition.

Perna’s one tip for staying in shape? “I change my workout every three months,” she said. “Nothing changes if nothing changes.”

Senior High School in Lisbon, Ohio. He also serves as head baseball coach and assistant basketball coach at the school, and he was assistant football coach in 2009.

Jason S. Kelly of Cache, Okla., ’07 BA in telecommunications studies, graduated from the Defense Information School in Fort George G. Meade, Md., where he studied digital multimedia. Kelly is the art director for Jason S. Kelly the Office of Strategic Communications at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence in Fort Sill, Okla. He was commissioned as a U.S. Army officer through YSU’s ROTC program in December 2007.

Marina Hanes of Canfield, ’08 BA in professional writing and editing, owns a home-based business called Cat’s Eye Editing, LLC, and recently had her fiction writing published in 6S, The Green Bike Stories, an anthology of flash fiction. Hanes has also published a children’s

book, Ling Ling, The Kitten Who Changed Her Ways, available on Amazon.com.

Harmony N. Ramunno of Cleveland, ’08 BSBA in marketing management, recently joined Chancellor University’s Jack Welch Management Institute as an admissions adviser, and she began studying for an MBA there this fall.

Previously, Ramunno was an admissions Harmony N. Ramunno counselor and recruiter for Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Zachary Brown of East Liverpool, Ohio, ’10 BA in philosophy and political science, was named the Ellsworth C. Dent Man-of-theYear by YSU’s Beta Gamma chapter of Sigma Tau Gamma. The award was established to recognize the chapter’s distinguished graduating seniors.

www.ysu.edu

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Fall 2010

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Class Notes

Penguin Puzzler 1

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Test your knowledge of YSU football trivia, then check your answers below.

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ACROSS

DOWN

1. As inventor of the penalty flag, he was a coach of firsts.

2. The fight song assures, “Once a-gain the Pen-guins will ____ for ____.”

7. Pete’s pretty pal.

3. After YSU football, Paul McFadden became NFL Rookie of the Year for this Pennsylvania team.

8. Nickname for a football field because of its marked yard lines.

9. Exercise ROTC members perform at home games when YSU scores.

11. 1979 AFCA College Coach of the Year from YSU: Bill ____.

15. In 1995, the Penguins traveled to visit Bill as Ohio’s first sports team to be invited to the ____ ____.

16. They wear different colored jerseys, but players in YSU’s Red and White game are on the ____ team.

18. In 1997, this team finished silver to YSU's gold: ____ State.

22. Famous “Polish Rifle” YSU quarterback and current ESPN analyst (last name).

24. Excited fans make lots of this when their team scores.

25. YSU football’s new Emperor Penguin (last name).

27. YSU placekicker with success in Super Bowl XXXIV as a St. Louis Ram.

4. Number of Tressel playoff appearances.

5. Each team’s _____ meet on the 50 yard line with the referee before the game.

6. OSU was this man’s past and future during his stay at YSU. 10. The Penguins’ new uniforms are provided by athletic apparel firm _____ Armour.

12. Goal of every football team: The end____.

13. City of the two most recent Penguin appearances in the National Championship game.

14. The ____ line is made up of ends and tackles who blitz and rush the quarterback.

17. We’ll take winning two out of three championships against this Herd.

19. This toss starts every football game.

20. The YSU “_____ Pride” boasts an impressive halftime show.

29. A quarterback usually throws a forward ____ to an open receiver.

21. Chilly home of the Penguins: The “____ ____”.

30. By sewing together the first official penalty flag, Irma Beede became the “____ ____ of football,” after another historic American seamstress.

23. The side of the ball that moves it downfield.

26. A quarterback tries to make first downs until they result in a scoring _____.

28. Number of YSU championship victories.

ACROSS: 1. Dwight Beede, 7. Penny, 8. Gridiron, 9. Pushups, 11. Narduzzi, 15. White House, 16. Same, 18. McNeese, 22. Jaworski, 24. Noise, 25. Wolford, 27. Jeff Wilkins, 29. Pass, 30. Betsy Ross DOWN: 2. Win YSU, 3. Eagles, 4. Ten, 5. Captains, 6. Jim Tressel, 10. Under, 12. Zone, 13. Chattanooga, 14. Defensive, 17. Marshall, 19. Coin, 20. Marching, 21. Ice Castle, 23. Offense, 26. Drive, 28. Four

32

YSU – We’re

Veteran Friendly Youngstown State University salutes its women and men in uniform and the many veterans who have served our country.

The Office of Veterans Affairs invites you to help us spread the word about the many services we offer for veterans.

(See story on YSU’s ‘Military Friendly’ status, p.6.)

S TAT E

UNIVERSITY

Office of University Development One University Plaza Youngstown, Ohio 44555-0001

Office Technology, 1935 The notorious kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932 and the highly publicized trial of the child’s murderer three years later created new interest in court reporting and in the machine shorthand method used to record proceedings of what was known as “the trial of the century.” In this 1935 photo, Youngstown College students enrolled in Vera Jenkins’ machine shorthand course practice operating stenotype machines used by court reporters, considered the latest in office technology at that time.

The class was held in what is now Jones Hall, called the Youngstown College Main Building when it opened in 1931. The building was renamed in honor of Howard Jones, YSU’s first president, when he retired in 1966.

To browse additional historical photographs, visit the University Archives at Maag Library at http://digital.maag.ysu.edu.