Cleveland State Magazine is for alumni and friends of CSU and is published by the Division of University Advancement, located in the Union Building, 2121 Euclid Ave., RM 501, Cleveland, Ohio 44115.
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A Message from the President
Dear CSU alumni, friends and partners,
At the start of this calendar year, students, faculty and staff returned to campus to find a new photo installation along the main concourse in Berkman Hall. In recognition of the 60th anniversaries of both Cleveland State University and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, our Office of University Marketing partnered with the Department of Africana Studies to create the exhibit “Protest to Progress,” which charted the growth of CSU amidst a city adapting to its newly affirmed inclusivity.
“Protest to Progress” was an important history lesson for us all, summarizing key events and providing the context for how these events impacted the City of Cleveland, CSU and the nation at large. Located in a popular gathering spot in Berkman Hall, members of our campus community came across the exhibit daily, giving them the opportunity to pause, learn and reflect.
In viewing the exhibit for the first time, I walked through six decades of tensions, debates, mutual understanding and, unfortunately at times, setbacks on our campus. I was struck by the tumultuous times in which CSU was founded. Yet, the University came to root itself firmly and proudly in Cleveland. CSU became a pillar of the community, guided by the core value of embracing the diversity of the region. This period of development for CSU was possible because educators, students and administrators were committed to the idea of a public university that would thrive in its urban environment. We would become of the city, not merely situated in it.
This type of dedication is what we highlight in this edition of Cleveland State Magazine. Here we feature the stories of individuals who have shown unique and inspiring commitment to making the world a better place, even in the face of challenging circumstances.
These are just a few examples of our engaged alumni. In honor of CSU’s 60th anniversary, thank you to the many members of the CSU family who have gone on to pursue your own progress and improve the lives of others.
We are Cleveland State University.
Laura Bloomberg, Ph.D. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY
Scan this code to view "Protest to Progress" online.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Remembering Dr. Michael Schwartz
CSU’s fifth president, beloved by many, passed away at the beginning of the year.
The Ringmaster
Physics professor Jearl Walker has stood center ring for 50 years, guiding thousands of students through the amazing, spectacular and aweinspiring Flying Circus of Physics.
Roads Less Traveled
Phil Kidd, recent student in the Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs, is running every street in Cleveland.
On ‘the razor’s edge of fighting for life, while dying right’
Richey Piiparinen (MUPD ’11) weaves his signature approach to urban planning and his battle with glioblastoma in his latest book, Octopus Hunting.
Of pierogis and packzis
Lidia Trempe (BA ’02) has become somewhat of media darling and she’s made her family’s bakery into one of Cleveland’s hotspots.
GONE DIGGING
CSU Director of Anthropology Phil Wanyerka took his Archaeological Field School (ANT 435) class to the Fort Hill Earthwork Complex in Rocky River. Now a part of Cleveland’s Metroparks, Fort Hill is an earthworks site that is believed to have been created by Early Woodland Native Americans over 2,000 years ago. The group included students Lhillian Brown, Jacob Corbitt, Reese Dudley, Jack Filak, Drew Fournier, Abigail Greene, Noah Haugen, Matt Horvath, Jessa Michaud, Brett Schlosser and Clem Skehan.
“We are currently writing the history of this site based on our investigations,” Wanyerka said.
“I’ve published three major reports that chronicle our findings at Fort Hill and so we are the first to really tell the story of the who, what, where, when and how of this important archaeological site. This is the only known earthworks complex in all the Cleveland Metroparks and so we are writing the history and telling the story of this site for the first time.”
Watch the dig and learn what they found on YouTube.
CSU|LAW launches Terry Gilbert Wrongful Conviction Clinic
The Clinic will fill a critical need in Cuyahoga County, where there is no local wrongful conviction program.
Terry Gilbert, a 1973 CSU|LAW graduate and a member of the law school’s Hall of Fame, after whom the clinic is named, has dedicated his legal career to promoting justice and civil rights. He helped fund the Clinic and is its senior advisor.
Cleveland State University College of Law recently launched the CSU|LAW Terry Gilbert Wrongful Conviction Clinic. As part of the law school’s Criminal Justice Center, the new Clinic will provide legal assistance to incarcerated individuals convicted of a felony in Ohio with claims of actual innocence or manifest injustice.
In addition to providing hands-on legal experience to students, the Wrongful Conviction Clinic will fill a critical need in Cuyahoga County, where there is no local wrongful conviction program. The Clinic will accept cases throughout the state, but the focus is expected to be local, including Cuyahoga County. Among all the counties in the country, Cuyahoga has the tenth most exonerations since 1989, accounting for more than one-third of all exonerations in Ohio.
Laura Greig (above) serves as the new Clinic’s director. She joins CSU|LAW after practicing in the Special Matters and Government Investigations group at King & Spalding LLP, where she focused on complex criminal defense matters, crossborder government investigations, and internal investigations. As a law student at The University of Texas at Austin, Greig participated in a similar clinic and knows how impactful and inspiring such an experience can be for law students interested in addressing the inequities in the criminal justice system.
CSU’s new Division of Student Belonging and Success will revolutionize the student experience for every single studentsingle student
Research for the past decade has indicated that a student’s sense of belonging in a campus community is vital for continued success. Generally, this means that when students feel that they are important and matter to others, the likelihood that they will flourish and earn their degrees skyrockets. But a lack of connectedness dramatically impedes academic performance and may lead students to leave college altogether. And once they’re gone, it’s likely they’ll never pursue higher education again.
In short, a student’s attachment to sub-groups of fellow students within a larger university is a crucial prerequisite to academic success, effective professional skill attainment and development of personal and interpersonal agency as young adults.
At Cleveland State University, the wellbeing and academic success of our students are our highest priorities. And we
recognize the challenges. Many students live on campus, but even more students commute to campus and often struggle to build connections with collegiate peers outside of their classes.
In response, the University has launched the new Division of Student Belonging and Success, which realigns several existing programs and initiatives to create greater synergy among these efforts and contribute meaningfully to the ability of our students to thrive, no matter who they are, where they are from, or where they are headed.
Watch President Laura Bloomberg, Vice President Tachelle Banks and CSU students talk about the new division.
LEVIN COLLEGE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND EDUCATION STUDENTS REIMAGINE CLEVELAND’S WATERFRONT
During the mid-90s as Cleveland prepared to celebrate its bicentennial, the city’s waterfront enjoyed a renaissance. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opened in 1995. The Great Lakes Science Center followed soon after in 1996. Though the beloved Municipal Stadium had been demolished after the stunning and gut-wrenching departure of the Browns franchise, there was hope. A new football facility would soon rise, and the Browns would play again. The lakefront would live again. And the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, or RTA, was planning a way to connect Clevelanders to the action.
In July 1996, RTA’s Waterfront Rapid Line opened to great fanfare. Beginning at Tower City, the train traveled just south of Cleveland’s then-Municipal Lot and through the east bank of the Flats, becoming a major attraction. But despite its initial success — ridership soared to 1,000,000 annually in the late 90s — the project, a $70,000,000 legacy project of the city’s 200th anniversary, has seen declining usage through the
years. Today, it operates only during Browns home games and special events like the recent solar eclipse.
Still, there’s so much potential. So says 17th Street Studios, a group of students in CSU’s Levin College of Public Affairs and Education Master’s of Urban Planning and Design program. The team, led by instructors Professor Tom Hilde and Jim
Photo courtesy of GCRTA
Kastelic, spent eight weeks, alongside Cleveland officials, to conduct an extensive study that envisions “transit-oriented development that fosters livable, walkable, and connected communities.”
“A waterfront that offers more people-centered amenities, embraces equitable housing density, and is integrated into a larger transit network will reinforce transit demand, creating a virtuous cycle that supports regular [Waterfront Line] service,” the group said in its vision statement.
That includes resuming the line’s daily operations, rezoning for future land use, investing in public green spaces, and redesigning roads along the line to support cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers.
“We are fortunate to not only have a great institutional partner like CSU in our own backyard, but also students who are
engaged and want to apply their skillsets to local projects like this,” the City said in a statement.
“When government and educational sectors work together, everyone benefits.”
The team, along with Hilde and Kastelic, included students Connor Brentar, Alahjanai Carlisle, Taviana Carr, Christine Fergus, Elizabeth Kravanya, Nate Lull, EJ McGorty, John Miesle, Sam Munro, Jody Olbrecht, Alex Ordodi, Kelsey Phillips, Hanna Sauberan, Krystal Sierra, Celina Sotka and Mae Thompson.
Read more about the project and the full study at revivingourwaterfrontline.com
WHITE HOUSE CELEBRATES ONE OF CLEVELAND STATE’S OWN
Dr. Maryam Younessi, faculty member in CSU’s mechanical engineering department, was recently invited to the White House to participate in a roundtable on “Commercializing Climate and Clean Energy Technologies” for proposing a plan on the commercialization of energy technologies of national labs.
Dr. Younessi’s invitation to the White House was a result of her being honored with the prestigious EnergyTech University Prize from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She was awarded one of ten prizes for her plans to increase energy entrepreneurship topics at CSU and emerged as the firstplace winner for her implementation plan to expand energy
technology commercialization of national laboratories at universities nationwide.
Roundtable participants included senior members of the White House and leaders from the DOE, National Science Foundation, and some of the top universities such as MIT, Stanford, Harvard and Princeton.
“During the roundtable, I felt a high responsibility of representing CSU and other universities that have significant roles in educating engineers in the U.S. but did not have a voice in that meeting,” she said.
“After the talk, I was grateful for the opportunity to share my experiences, address some of our challenges, and receive validation for my ideas.”
She will begin implementing her plan — which aims to train engineering students on innovative energy technologies and current entrepreneurship and commercialization tools — at CSU as soon as the fall semester.
THE UNSTOPPABLE ONE
DORIS WEBSTER PROVES ALL THE DOUBTERS WRONG
Following the end of her first year at Detroit’s Finney High School, and after struggling in algebra, Doris Webster sat down with the guidance counselor to devise a plan of attack for the following school year. After briefly scanning her academic resume, the counselor looked at her and said very bluntly: "Doris, you are not college material."
Webster, a 70-year-old retiree, got the last laugh when she crossed the stage as part of Cleveland State's Spring 2024 commencement ceremony.
“I was not aware of the implications of his assessment at the time, but his words have resonated deeply and disturbed me ever since,” she said of her guidance counselor. “I felt it was an indictment of my intelligence and potential, and it closed the door to a future open to my peers.”
After graduation, she married a Clevelander and relocated to Northeast Ohio, where an employment agency matched her skills with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. There, while serving as office manager for the physical anthropology laboratory, she discovered her interest in the natural world and enrolled in a class at Lakeland Community College on the ecology of Northeastern Ohio.
Her ambition was put on hold once more when she divorced, but that didn't stop Webster from learning. She soon volunteered to help a museum curator raise orphan wildlife, learning how to raise baby raccoons and opossums.
Not long after, she married that curator with whom she'd worked so closely, and a son and daughter followed over the next four years. Webster reenrolled at Lakeland Community
College, this time finishing and earning an associate degree in early childhood education.
“In 1994, 14 years after that first college class, I walked across the stage at Lakeland and received my diploma,” said Webster. “It was a proud moment for me and my family [but I still] thought back to that guidance counselor who said I was not college material.”
With a degree in hand, she returned to work at the museum full-time, teaching youth classes while managing the children’s book section in the museum store.
In 2002, Webster’s journey took her to a boutique natural resources brokerage near her home as office manager and she happened to be peering out the window when something caught her attention.
“A major building project had taken place right by the workplace [when] The Holden University Center opened in 2011, directly across from Lakeland Community College,” said Webster. “I had admired the building and was curious about its function. I was intrigued that many area universities, including Cleveland State, offered courses that could lead to bachelor’s degrees [and] my curiosity was piqued.”
Following a successful 16-year stint at the brokerage, retirement beckoned in September 2018, and it was finally time to pursue her dream of furthering her college career. After transferring nearly all her credits earned at Lakeland, Webster enrolled at CSU and, over five years, plunged herself into the world of psychology and neuroscience.
In May, Webster officially realized the dream that had eluded her for many years and became a CSU graduate.
If only that guidance counselor could see her now.
FIGURES AND FACTS
The number of years Professor of Communication, Political Science and Psychology Dr. Richard Perloff has served the CSU community. This spring, CSU named him 2024’s Distinguished Professor. A nationally recognized scholar, he’s received awards from the Press Club of Cleveland, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the University of Amsterdam. Dr. Perloff is a frequent contributor to an assortment of news outlets, including Cleveland. com and The New York Times. He has also been published in Academe, the magazine of the American Association of University Professors.
2
Beginning this fall, two students from Cleveland State's journalism program will join The Land, a local, nonprofit news organization that reports on Cleveland’s neighborhoods, each semester in providing reporting for Cleveland and surrounding cities. They'll learn how to source, report, and edit stories for publication, along with having the opportunity to experience all aspects of the nonprofit news industry, which is growing nationwide.
6
The number of current students and graduates whose films showed at this spring’s Cleveland International Film Festival. Josh Burton (BFA ’23), Rocky Nguyen (BA ’23), Barbara Craig Liu (BA ’22), Aaron Connor (BFA ’23) and students Gabe Gazic and Eduardo Lozada were accepted in the festival’s Local Heroes Student Shorts category. Watch the recent graduates tell their stories on YouTube.
45
9,000
The number of responses we received from our Viking Oral History Project. You shared your memories, your stories, and what you remember fondly about your dear alma mater. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Read more on page 40.
18
Marcia Fudge (JD ’83), the 18th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, stepped down from her role earlier this year, returning to Cleveland. She recently joined the law firm Taft as Partner and Chair of Public Policy.
2,387
That’s the number of graduates who completed their degrees Spring semester and became our newest alumni. This group includes 70 doctoral graduates and over 100 graduates from the CSU College of Law. More than 2,200 graduate and undergraduate students, along with their family and friends, filled the Wolstein Center for two inspiring commencement ceremonies. These graduates join our proud alumni, now over 144,000 in total across the globe.
The minimum number of current students and graduates who worked on set in Cleveland for the upcoming "Superman" film and an unnamed Disney film. NDAs and tightly guarded sets keep us from knowing the exact number, but it’s known Vikings had a presence on the film crews. Both movies were filming in Cleveland with, most notably, downtown transformed into Metropolis.
11
Former CSU Project 60 student and Cleveland artist John Saile celebrated the 11th annual DayGlo art show in the Cleveland’s popular Waterloo Arts District. The 81-year-old founded the exhibit after he began experimenting with fluorescent paint in his own artwork and started using DayGlo’s neon colors. The art show has grown to include 50 regional artists, all of whom use the Cleveland company’s signature pigments. The Project 60 program allows Ohio residents age 60 and older to take courses at any state-supported institution tuition-free.
10
"The search for truth is my religion; and the university is my church."
remembering
DR. MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
CSU’S FIFTH
As Dr. Michael Schwartz was preparing to step down as president of Cleveland State University in 2008, he was most proud not of all the new construction and higher admissions standards, but how he’d finally started seeing students don university apparel.
“I think I was able to give people back their pride," he told The Plain Dealer back then.
Dr. Schwartz, CSU’s fifth president, passed away on January 4.
"When I first came [to campus], if I ever saw anybody wearing a Cleveland State T-shirt or sweatshirt, it was an amazing sight," he told The Plain Dealer in 2008.
"They didn't do it. They wore Miami, they wore Bowling Green, but they didn't wear Cleveland State."
Having come from Kent State University, Dr. Schwartz was taken aback by the low morale among both the students and faculty and staff. So, he set out to turn it around and is largely credited for marking the beginning of the university’s dramatic transformation.
To do that, he established new admission standards, an honors program, faculty initiatives and breathed new life in student services. During his tenure, he led a boom in construction including the university’s new Student Center, recreation center, and dorms.
He is credited by many as leading CSU’s renaissance, turning the university and its campus into an education, community, arts and economic center for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.
To many students, he was affectionately known as “Papa Schwartz,” a genial figure on campus, readily accessible, and ever present. He was deeply beloved and leaves an enduring legacy, not just for Cleveland State, but for Northeast Ohio.
“I will forever cherish Dr. Schwartz’s kind and generous spirit, his dry sense of humor, his steadfast belief in the power of free speech, and his wise approach to mentorship,” said CSU President Dr. Laura Bloomberg. “He has been a true teacher to me.”
PRESIDENT FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES HONORED DR. SCHWARTZ AT A MEMORIAL IN FEBRUARY
"[When he first arrived on CSU’s campus] he went around and gave talks to introduce himself and to get to know some of the various student groups and faculty groups. Those talks were audacious, and they were inspiring. I doubt that students had ever before heard someone in a position of academic authority describe the purpose of the university to them and tell them what they were supposed to be doing and what they were doing at the university."
Friend, colleague and CSU Professor Emeritus William Bowen
"I'll always remember all the impact that he had on all of us, on this community and this university; I'll always remember his wisdom and smarts, I will always remember his wit and humor, I will always remember his support and mentorship," she said. "And, of course, I will always remember his spirit and dedication to this university and the students he loved."
CSU Vice President of Legal and Compliance Sonali Wilson
"You will live through the countless lives you've changed; you will live through those who never met you but benefit from your life's mission. Michael, it is appropriate that we are here today in the student center, a building that you built; outside of this room and throughout our campus and the Kent State campus, there are thousands of students whose lives will be changed and enriched because of you and what you built.”
Friend and CSU Board of Trustees Vice Chair Tim Cosgrove
A brief timeline of the professional career of Dr. Michael Schwartz
Earns a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Earns a master's in labor and industrial relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Earns his doctorate in sociology with an emphasis in social psychology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Joins faculty at Wayne State University as a professor of sociology and psychology
Joins faculty at Indiana University at Bloomington, appointed Associate Dean of Undergraduate Development
Accepts position at Florida Atlantic University as chair of the department of sociology and social psychology
Appointed vice president of Graduate Studies in research at Kent State University
Named president of Kent State University
Ends presidency at Kent State, returns to the classroom, teaching graduate courses in higher education administration and statistical methods
Named president of Cleveland State
Retires as president of Cleveland State
License suspensions could be costing Ohio a big chunk of its workforce
When Ohioans’ get their driver’s licenses suspended, it could negatively affect the state’s economy.
That’s according to a study released this spring co-authored by Kyle Fee, doctoral student in CSU’s Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and Brian Mikelbank, associate professor in Urban Studies in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education.
The report estimates that about 830,000 people would be at risk of leaving the state’s labor force because of these suspensions.
In 2022, a Legal Aid Society of Cleveland study found that over 1.7 million drivers had their licenses suspended, but not for reasons you might think. Bad driving accounts for less than half of those suspensions and 60% are due to debts, many of which are related to driving and others like child-support delinquencies and court judgements.
That same study also reported that nearly half with suspended licenses had more than one suspension and that 75% had been suspended for more than year.
It creates an unescapable cycle of mounting debts and prolonged suspensions, Fee and Mikelbank wrote.
“Our analysis suggests that these suspensions, especially when combined with increasing driver’s license requirements, make finding and maintaining employment more difficult for a sizable portion of Ohioans, but that instability also affects the broader economy.”
The author’s conservative estimates are that 14% (or 830,000) of those with suspended licenses would comply with the driving restrictions, leading to the reduction in workforce.
“Fewer people in the labor force means fewer people to hire and fewer people to produce and consume goods and services.”
THE RINGMASTER
For over 50 years, Jearl Walker has stood center ring, guiding thousands through the amazing, spectacular, and awe-inspiring Flying Circus of Physics both in the classroom and beyond. And for scores of Vikings, he’s practically a household name.
You’d think that after everything Jearl Walker has accomplished throughout his career, after all of the accolades and the seemingly endless praise whenever he’s mentioned, you’d think that would be enough. Enough for him to sit back and acknowledge that he’s made it to rarefied air, hallowed even. That he’s among the best. That he has “it.”
But it’s not enough. And it likely won’t ever be enough.
He’s grateful, for sure. He just doesn’t think that way. Never one to rest on his laurels. For him, there’s always something else to learn, new challenges to overcome, more ways to improve.
Consider his experience as a college undergraduate.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1960s, Walker will admit that he felt — for lack of a better word — dumb. The prestigious university in Boston was an intimidating space. For one, to a Texas boy like him, New Englanders spoke another language altogether, he joked. But most importantly, the school was filled with some of the brightest, most promising minds in the country. Very smart students and extremely smart professors. Walker personally knows at least two people from MIT who went on to win the Nobel Prize in physics. In fact, he worked for one — Ray Weiss — as a senior. Weiss was responsible for discovering gravitational waves.
But Walker also personally knew students who crumbled under the weight of the institution’s prominence and sadly took their lives.
He distinctly remembers sitting in class like Charlie Brown, listening to his instructors drone on with indecipherable “wah wahs.” He was lost. So, he’d read his textbooks. Then read them again. And again. And again. Sometimes, at least ten times to fully grasp the concepts.
“I slept four and a half hours a day,” he said.
“I studied all the time.”
He also remembers a kid named Ronnie. He hated Ronnie.
“He wore a suit and tie to class everyday,” Walker said.
He jokes that he’s suppressed much of his time during those formative years. Perhaps it’s a joke. Perhaps enough time has passed that the trauma doesn’t sting as much. We can’t tell. He jokes a lot. This one feels like truth, though, but Walker’s
geniality and matter-of-factness belies any apparent PTSD.
But back to Ronnie.
“He wouldn’t take notes,” Walker said.
“He wouldn’t study for the exams. And he’d go in and make the highest grade.”
In comparison, Walker felt like he wasn’t up to snuff, like he was a big poser. It was imposter syndrome before it ever had a name. And for all that he says he’s forgotten about MIT, he’s never forgotten the 20-something Jearl Walker who felt like a dummy, who felt like he was completely out of his depth.
This might explain why the Jearl Walker we know today, Professor Jearl Walker, the inimitable Professor Jearl Walker, a man who, by all accounts, is a walking legend, is as humble as — they say — pie.
This also might explain why generations of students love him so dearly.
And to think: physics wasn’t initially the plan.
Walker has always been concerned with life’s big — often unanswerable — universal questions. Like how particles can go backward in time. Or the nature of time itself. In high school, in Fort Worth, Texas, he considered theology and philosophy.
“I think I would have starved to death if I went into those fields,” he laughed.
But he landed on chemistry. Went to MIT, supposing that would be his major. Earned one point above a failing grade on his first chemistry exam and promptly thought — perhaps — life was guiding him elsewhere. Indeed, it was. So, he turned to physics, something that had also piqued his interest in high school.
“MIT almost beat it out of me,” he said.
But he soldiered through to earn his undergraduate degree and tried to bail on physics when he applied for graduate school at the University of Maryland.
“I applied to the astronomy program,” Walker said.
“But they mixed up my application and I ended up in the physics department. And by that time, I just said, ‘Ok, I’ll stick it out.’”
If he hadn’t stuck it out, who knows who he might have become? He would have become something, for sure. Something great. But it’s likely we would have never known this Jearl Walker. The one who appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. The one who wrote for Scientific American. The one who starred on the PBS show “The Kinetic Karnival of Jearl Walker.” And the one who created “The Flying Circus of Physics.”
It was the height of the Vietnam War and hundreds of thousands of young men were drafted to combat, leaving colleges like the University of Maryland with a lack of instructors. So, the powers that be tapped Walker, a second-
year graduate student to become a full-time instructor.
“I loved it,” he said.
“I loved it.”
In one of his classes, he met a student named Sharon. One day, reeling after a recent quiz, she approached Walker with a gripe.
“She turned to me at the end of it and she said, ‘Jearl, how come none of this has anything to do with my life?” he recalled.
“I said, ‘Sharon, this is the fundamental clockwork in the universe. It has everything to do with your life.’”
She pressed him further. Give her examples. But he couldn’t think of any on the spot. That night he went home and created what would eventually become “The Flying Circus of Physics.” Even then, he knew he was on to something.
At the encouragement of a colleague, he sent what was then a technical report to Phil Morrison at MIT, who then encouraged him to pursue a book contract. In short order, he landed two offers. Morrison, by the way, is depicted in the film Oppenheimer. In one scene, he is holding plutonium in the backseat of a car in route to Los Alamos.
Nearly 400 miles away in Cleveland, a professor at CSU somehow got hold of the report and called the young instructor with an offer to teach at the young university.
At the time, Cleveland State was one of two schools offering tenure, so the choice was easy. They’d let him continue his work on his new book and give him the freedom to be the sort of professor he wanted to be.
“When I came here, I had no idea what a good teacher was because we didn’t have those at MIT. We didn’t have those in graduate school at Maryland,” he said.
“What I really learned at MIT and Maryland was how not to teach.”
But what he did know is that he loved to teach. And so, he worked to gain his students’ trust, remembering what it was like sitting in classes at MIT, feeling like a dope.
Although it took some time to win them over. He dressed as Albert Einstein. Became a cheerleader with a short, pleated skirt to teach the mechanics of a megaphone. (He still has the wig, by the way, and one of his students told him it was one of the grossest things she’d ever seen.) And who can forget sticking his hand in a vat of molten lead or the iconic bed of nails, which, to our surprise and a bit of horror, he still performs today as he approaches 80.
But they weren’t just stunts for attention; they were earnest attempts to make physics accessible.
That’s who he was then and who he is today, celebrating half a century at CSU.
“It went by in a flash,” he says.
“It seems like I was starting last year, but a lot of people have come and gone.”
He estimates that he’s taught roughly 25,000 students.
A few years ago, students started telling him that their parents were in his class. Then, a couple years ago, students started telling him that their grandparents were in his class.
“What I’m dreading, you can guess, [are having] great grandparents in my class,” he said.
“Maybe it’s time to bail out at that point.”
But that’s not happening anytime soon if he can help it.
He wants to face the blank stares in the classroom. He wants to take the students who feel like they’re ill-equipped by the shoulders and tell them they’re more than capable.
All these years later it’s still what drives him.
“I'm perfectly satisfied going in front of an audience of students and teaching them,” he said.
“I don't need any great big thing to do otherwise. The students are the main thing.”
Roads Less Traveled
Few, if any, Cleveland residents know their city through and through. Sure, they live and work in their respective neighborhoods, but who can say they’ve explored every street? Come 2025, Phil Kidd, a recent student in the Levin School of Urban Affairs, will be able to say just that.
We met up with Phil Kidd on Columbus Road in the Flats of Cleveland, near a bridge that crosses the Cuyahoga River, on a warm evening. Catty-corner to us was C4, a CrossFit gym with a class working out on rowing machines. Next door at The Foundry, a rowing and sailing organization, high school students were prepping their boats for the water. And a group of what seemed to be tourists gathered at the river’s edge for impromptu photoshoots at one of the locations of what is now the iconic Cleveland signs.
But we were there for Phil. We wanted to capture him in his element. On Cleveland’s streets. Taking in its history. Up close and personal.
Almost immediately, he couldn’t help himself. It was almost as if a dam of information had broken. He was the teacher; we were the students. And class was in session. He told us how where we were standing was one of the oldest parts of the city. He told us about the origins of nearby street names. How a building near us stood on the site of what was St. Mary’s on-the-Flats, the oldest Catholic church in the area. How a near-civil war erupted between eastsiders and westsiders because of that Columbus Road bridge just steps from us.
You’d think he was a lifelong Clevelander having amassed his knowledge throughout decades of living here. But he’s not. He moved from Youngstown to Cleveland about a year before the pandemic in 2020. And the reason he knows so much is because he’s committed himself to run every single street in the city. Phil estimates that’s about 1,300 miles. By the time you read this story, he will have completed well over half of his journey.
Many of us who picked up pandemic hobbies — think breadmaking, refurbishing furniture, knitting — have long moved on. But that’s not the case with Phil. Talking with him now, well over three years after he started, and you’ll see he hasn’t lost any of that initial optimism. If anything, his commitment has only deepened.
He works for the City of Cleveland as a complete and green streets and trails coordinator. He’s the one responsible for new bike lanes on the road, pedestrian clocks, enhanced crosswalks, lane reductions, tree lawns, tables, and benches. He also helps manage Cleveland’s trail projects, from neighborhoods to the lakeshore. So, running Cleveland’s streets gives him a unique perspective of the landscape he’s charged with improving and shaping for years to come.
“It’s kind of coincidental that I started the [running] project before I started this job,” he said.
“It’s really helped me…because I have context for all of these locations where we’re working on different roadway projects.”
That’s because Phil isn’t just running the streets. He’s learning the streets, delving deep into the stories of the past. Before any of his runs, he maps his routes and extensively researches the history, the landmarks and how the area has transformed through the years.
Phil documents each of his runs on everystreetcleveland.com, a blog that’s garnered both local and national attention. His first post back in June 2020 — “And We’re Off” — has all the eagerness you would expect from someone embarking on an exciting new project, especially one no one else has ever accomplished.
“Today starts the journey - to run every street in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. I have no idea how this will go,” he wrote.
“There's a feeling of ‘do-ableness’ but also an overwhelming sense of naivete.”
Back in May, he started the first leg of his run in the Union Miles neighborhood. Readers of his blog learned how on one of the streets — East 147th — Jesse Owens, American track and field Olympian, once lived. Just south in the Lee Seville area, he passed the house where Author Johnson, Ohio’s first Black mayor, lived. It has since been designated a city landmark. “That's a lot of notable Black history for one city street,” he writes. He passed simple brick homes. Vacant buildings, ripe for rehabilitation. All while stopping to soak in what once was, admiring what is, imagining what could be.
At the time he started the project, Phil was hoping to break up the monotony of the quarantines and isolation of 2020. He thought it might give people locked away in their homes something interesting to follow. And as a relatively new transplant to the area, having accepted a job as special projects manager for a community development organization on the west side, it was an opportunity to get to know his new
home. Plus, he’s a city planner by trade, and also by heart.
What he’s learned is that for all that Cleveland has lost — stunning architecture, housing, and some of its once vibrant neighborhoods — there’s a lot left intact, and it tells an incredible story.
“You can see the culture of Cleveland in a physical manifestation layered in different neighborhoods, and almost by concentric rings in some ways,” he said.
Phil can see how city planning has shaped the city for better or worse. He marks the ways some of those decisions currently hamper revitalization efforts. But he also notes how city officials are now turning an eye to prioritize areas that have long been ignored.
And then there’s the art. Not the formally commissioned works, but the stuff most Clevelanders won’t ever see. In the alleys and on the side streets. Born from the lived experiences of city residents. The highs, the lows, the losses, the loves, and everything else in between.
Phil anticipates he has about two years left in his running project. He’s busy. Really busy. If you follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter), you’ll see posts where he’s attending lectures about making Cleveland a livable city. There’s one where he’s back in Youngstown, giving Columbia University business school students the lay of the land. In several, he’s planting trees with the Cleveland Tree Coalition. And then also he’s a man about town. At the Happy Dog. Or grabbing a burger at Stevenson’s in North Collinwood. Or running with one of his running groups.
He plans on ending his odyssey in the Columbus Peninsula where we met up with him in the Flats. Only he called it the “Cleveland Centre Historic District.” Who among us knew that bit of trivia? Phil, that’s who. It’s something only someone like him — brimming with city history — would know.
And when he’s done, he’ll mark the occasion with a party at one of the bars down by the river and show photos from his runs.
“As far as projects after that? Not sure,” he said.
“Maybe I'll try to run from Cleveland, Ohio, to Cleveland, Georgia which is close to where I lived for a few years in what seems like a lifetime ago.”
On ‘the razor’s edge of fighting for life while dying right’
You wouldn’t expect parallel themes of fighting brain cancer and the life cycle of a city, but Richey Piiparinen’s new book weaves his signature approach to urban planning and his battle with glioblastoma.
JUNE 1991
A young 14-year-old Richey Piiparinen rides with his dad in a black GMC Jimmy on Cleveland’s west side after an Indians game. Suddenly, a car blasts through a stop sign, slamming into the Piiparinens’ SUV, tossing Richey and his father around as it flips down the road, settling on its roof. In the collision, Richey tumbles in the back seat; his father, a Cleveland police officer, is thrown into the passenger seat. Miraculously, Richey is relatively unscathed save for a cut on the thigh when he climbs out of the back. Paramedics rush his father to MetroHealth’s trauma center, but he dies from head trauma.
JULY 2007
A drizzly summer day. Richey, now 30, rides his bike again on Cleveland’s west side, coincidentally — eerily — near the site of his tragic childhood accident. He comes to an intersection and emerges, riding into the middle of the street when a car turns and speeds toward him. Richey is trapped by a wall of traffic on both sides, so he braces for impact. The car hits, knocking him on the hood, into the windshield, through the air and then headfirst into the pavement. Paramedics rush him to Metrohealth’s trauma center, the same place where his father succumbed to his injuries 16 years earlier. Richey is diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury including a hematoma in his right frontal lobe.
JANUARY 2021
Richey is 46. He’s been having migraines, recurring multi-colored “auras” in specific fields of his vision. One specialist says he needn’t worry but orders an MRI to be sure. A couple hours after the exam, he gets a call. It’s a brain tumor. Malignant. But more specifically, horrifyingly, it’s glioblastoma multiforme, what’s conventionally known as “the terminator."
To the outside observer, it would appear that Richey (MUPD ’11) has endured an unrelenting series of cosmic cruelties. Coincidences so improbable that the only explanation would be that a malevolent force had been conspiring against him. To recap, there was the tragic loss of his father in the car accident. Then, the bike accident on the same road. And then, being treated in the same hospital in the same rooms within that same hospital for similar injuries that claimed his father. Finally, over 30 years later, brain cancer. Head trauma, reoccurring once more in its final form.
But Richey doesn’t see it as the workings of a universe hellbent on wreaking havoc in his life or random, disconnected accidents. Sure, the first one was a crushing blow, but Richey believes it very well may have set the second two in motion as if they were inevitabilities in one shape or another.
And he may have a reason for it. Unresolved trauma.
It’s the sort of trauma that, if left unchecked, embeds itself in our bodies, in our psyches, and manifests outwardly at some point in our lives, he said. For Richey, unfortunately, that means a cascade of events that brutally aligned themselves throughout his adolescence and adulthood.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ohio University, his master’s in clinical psychology from Roosevelt University in Chicago, and then his master’s in urban planning, design, and development from Cleveland State. He’s spent his career mostly in urban planning and research, but it’s been largely informed by his background in psychology, more specifically social psychology, and centered on sociologist Emile Durkheim’s concept of collective conscience.
“Just as an individual has emotions and conscience, so do groups of individuals have emotions and conscience. So, everything I do is through the lens of the collective,” Richey said.
“It's not just the individual psychology; it's the aggregation of individuals in their psychology. That's how I look at a city.”
Richey weaves his story of battling brain cancer — the psychology of it all, his philosophy of it all, coming to terms with his fate — with the rises and falls of Cleveland in his recently released book, “Octopus Hunting.” It’s an unflinching look at where the city has failed, the opportunities for growth, along with his hope for the future. The book jacket
calls it a love song to the city where he was born, where he was shaped, where he lived, where he thrived.
“It's the story of a person fighting for life against death, in a city, that in itself is fighting for life against death, in a region that in itself is fighting for life against death,” he said.
Soon after his diagnoses, Richey says that the idea for the book came to him.
“It's not a moment I chose. It's a moment that chose me,” he says.
There are those who would have crumbled under the weight of his prognosis, and rightfully so. That’s not to say Richey’s knees didn’t buckle, the wind sucked out of him as if he’d been sucker punched in the gut. That is, at least, initially. And not just him, but his wife Andiara, his three kids Angel, 13; Lara, 10; and Artur, 7 and his parents. Of those with glioblastoma, most make it 12 to 14 months. Richey’s on year four. Take that cancer. But Richey gained sobering clarity in the days, weeks and months after he got the news:
“There was (and is) shock, yes. There was (and is) immense sadness, yes. But I wouldn’t’ say hopelessness. Or helplessness. Rather, there’s some vague seed of a sense of purpose that is skating the razor’s edge of fighting for life while dying ‘right,’” he writes in his book.
If anything, that’s what you take from talking with him. A profound sense of purpose, a call to live. A challenge to face what haunts us. What looms over us. What stops us in our tracks and thwarts our progress.
“You gotta accept your losses, confront your fears that are built from the inside out,” he said.
“Having a chronic or terminal illness, you got two choices: face it or run from it. It doesn't mean I'll be alive forever, but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna be kicking and screaming and not fighting.”
So, he took the moment that chose him, said, “ok,” and in the process, became more fully himself than ever before.
In “Octopus Hunting,” Richey sees a city grappling with a way forward despite enduring its own traumas — population loss, deindustrialization, economic woes.
“Traditionally, urban planning has always been about nuts and bolts, thinking like an engineer, instead of thinking like a counselor in a sense,” he said.
“So, the first thing is dealing with the trauma not only on the individual basis, but on the collective basis.”
If we can move beyond the bike paths, street grids, traffic patterns, and new development, unpack the trauma and fold in the psychosocial context of the city, he thinks we’ll see more success.
For his part, Richey says he’s unloaded his trauma. Cancer shoved him “beyond the veil,” connecting him with a world often shrouded by life’s many distractions. It’s a world that we don’t often see until we must, until we’re thrust there. But that’s where he is, a place where he’s found acceptance.
“Yeah, I’m at peace,” he said.
“Even with brain cancer. I’m at peace.”
"Octopus Hunting" is available on most major online booksellers.
Of pierogis and paczkis
Lidia Trempe has taken her family’s bakery and made it quintessentially Cleveland and one of the city’s hotspots.
“Be sure to come hungry,” Lidia Trempe prepped us.
We were coordinating a visit to her Parma, Ohio, bakery Rudy’s Strudel and she had plans for us.
“I am an eastern Euro mom and feeding people is my passion.”
That passion has fueled Lidia for the past 16 years as the second-generation owner of the popular bakery. And yet, “passion” doesn’t seem to fully capture what you feel when meeting her. She bounds around her shop with an infectious, seemingly bottomless well of energy. It’s magnetic, her voice bright, full, welcoming.
When we met her, she immediately pulled us in for an embrace.
“I’m a hugger,” she boasts.
Indeed, she is. And perhaps that is the best way to describe Rudy’s: a warm hug. The walls are plastered with memorabilia, news clippings, vintage album covers. The smell of freshly baked kolachkis, strudels, tortes, breads, and pastries waft through the air. For the regular and newcomer alike, it feels like home, a warm eastern European home. And that’s the way Lidia wants it.
“The customers are everything. That’s the motivation,” she says.
What business isn’t focused on customers? They’re the driving force behind profits, behind staying afloat and open. But Lidia sees beyond the expense sheets, bottom lines, and dollar signs. This isn’t about money for her.
“I’ve been to weddings and birthday parties. Customers that are no longer with us, I go to the funerals.
“This has become my family. We share tears with them, and we share laughter with them. And then we share our dinner
table with them.”
In 2008, Lidia took over running Rudy’s from her Ukrainian mother, Eugenia, who, with her late husband, Roman, purchased the bakery in 1977. Lidia was in Chicago with her then-husband working as a lobbyist armed with her CSU degree in political science. But when her mom called with the news that Rudy’s was on the brink of collapse, she came running. She’d grown up at the bakery. It was a second home. When she was a baby, her crib was behind one of the ovens. She started waiting on customers when she was five. One of her first memories was standing on a crate folding kolachki cookies. And now, all of that sacrifice, all of that hard work was in jeopardy. It was a no-brainer. Lidia had to return.
It took a year, but she breathed new life into the bakery. She started hosting paczki (pronounced puhnch·kee) parties, like the Fat Tuesday Paczki Day festival that now draws hundreds to the shop. She started developing new pierogi flavors like The Christmas Story with meatloaf, sour cream, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and The Ballpark with kielbasa, sauerkraut, sour cream and stadium-style mustard. She started collaborating with local breweries and popular ice cream shops.
It's won her acclaim throughout the city, made Rudy’s a go-to destination for Clevelanders, now anchors Parma’s Polish village, and has caught the attention of national news outlets.
Just in April, Lidia appeared on “Good Morning America” — in her signature floral babushka and “born to the babushka” shirt, no less — to share her Eclipse-themed paczkis, one with chocolate buttercream with swirled fudge and white ganache and the other with vanilla buttercream with a chocolate
ganache. The coverage isn’t a one-off though. Through the years, she’s been featured in The Plain Dealer, Newsweek, on CNN and PBS’s Ideastream.
And though she’s incredibly grateful for all the coverage, it’s a safe bet to say she’d be just fine without it, Rudy’s would be just fine without it. She has her faithful regulars and a new, steady stream of newcomers who’ve heard about the bakery. That’s because she’s not just serving up pastries and pierogis. There’s a big of helping of love along with it.
“Food is one of the most loving, incredible ways to express how you feel about somebody,” she said, adding:
“… sharing our cultures. I think it takes down boundaries. We share each other's cultures, and we learn about each other, and I think that's so incredibly important. But it's loving. I think that sharing a meal, sharing your cuisine: it's a hug.”
She’s got big plans for Rudy’s. Though some have suggested she move elsewhere, she scoffs at the idea. Think of it as the original McDonald's in California; this is not going anywhere, she said. Rather, Lidia’s planning on expanding its current location, adding a record shop, a coffee shop, offering cooking classes and hosting parties.
She sees herself not as Rudy’s owner, but a steward. Life, the universe, chance — whatever you want to call it — has designated her as the leader for now. And she’s sure it will live on forever.
LIGHTS UP THE NIGHT
President Laura Bloomberg said next to commencement, Radiance is her favorite event of the year. It’s a fitting acknowledgment. Each year, we’re left with a sense of awe at what our donors help us accomplish. We hear from students who have directly benefitted from generous support, and we honor some of our biggest and proudest supporters. This year was no different. In fact, we heard from lots of attendees that it was the best yet.
This feels like CSU’s beloved community. When we bring our students and our scholars and our deans together with community members, it just feels special. So, I’m really, really grateful we’re here together.
- Laura Bloomberg, CSU President
And at one point recently, I found myself needing unexpected financial support to finish spring semester. So, I reached out. And CSU reached back, found a scholarship for me, and I could breathe easy again. The day I found out, I cried all day from gratitude, from relief. That’s why we celebrate Radiance. Because there are lives attached to the impact of your gifts to the university. You’re woven into our life stories. Our families feel it. Careers start because of it.
- Chaney Sims, Radiance MC
We are so lucky to have this university in our city and I treasure every minute that I’ve spent here. I love all of you and the students that I am now providing assistance to.
- Marjorie Shorrock, 2024 President’s Medal Recipient
Watch a recap, the speeches, and student stories at radiance.supportcsu.org.
Looking back at my first year, I am not disappointed with my decision to come to CSU. I remember the late nights working on homework with my friends in the dining hall. I remember how it felt to score a goal in Ultimate Frisbee with the team cheering me on. And I can never forget the looks in people’s eyes when you sacrifice the time and effort to go out of your way to help them. These are some of the best college memories I’ve had and I will always remember your support that helped make this possible. I’m only a freshman and I have many more memories to make.
- Adam Ricco, CSU Student Scholar
Record numbers ‘give it up’ for Giving Day
This one is for the college kids that couldn't graduate without a scholarship
That want to change the world and bring jobs to Cleveland
So they studied hard to get a doctorate
And then they did that
You can help
So give back
This is where alumni raise their kids at And for them to have it better than we have
We can’t just sit back we have to act
Its giving day
Give it up
They are the now immortalized lyrics from what we consider our iconic, first-ever Giving Day theme song by alumnus Ryan Tobbe (BA ’18), aka TobyRaps. When we approached him this year to help us spread the word about 2024 Giving Day, he didn’t bat an eye. He quickly laid down a track with his producer, sent us a demo, and we were floored. We smiled. Bobbed our heads. And the consensus among the staff? This. Is. Awesome.
It fits his brand of music. Inked on the local rapper’s chest is a tattoo of his life’s mantra: make people smile.
“It’s my, perhaps, overly simplistic, answer to a world rife with anxieties and unsolvable problems,” he said.
“So, while I may not be able to stop war, or end world hunger, I can make a concerted effort to make people smile.”
Mission accomplished.
Ryan’s contribution was just another way the CSU community helped us reach record numbers this year. Altogether, 3,242 donors gave $819,886 to support scholarships, academic programs and athletics.
Thank you to everyone who contributed.
2.29.24
Watch the Giving Day music video
How we found TobyRaps
Our introduction to Ryan was through Instagram and a catchy LaCroix jingle. In it, he sits atop a colorful mountain of boxes of the seltzer water and raps through the brand’s collection of flavors. He wasn’t commissioned by the company to create the song; he just loves the drink. We also saw another clip where he’s in a pink bunny suit, rapping in front of “The Christmas Story” house in Tremont. Follow him @tobyraps.
VIKING ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, BY THE NUMBERS
Last fall, we partnered with Publishing Concepts Inc. and embarked on the Viking Oral History Project to gather stories from our 140,000 plus alumni community and you didn’t disappoint. Here’s a look at the response.
We received over 9,000 responses.
Over 1,200 people submitted stories about CSU’s impact on their lives.
Almost 500 people gave a donation.
And over 500 people chose to purchase a limited-edition project package.
If you provided a story, we may contact you in the coming months. And although the official project has wrapped, you can also let us know what CSU means to you. Send us a note at alumni@csuohio.edu.
…one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Diane Eierdam (BA ’94)
My experience at CSU was life-changing in more ways than one.
Vincent Lombardo (JD ’81)
I owe it all to CSU.
Francis Charles (BA ’90)
I met my wife at CSU while I was in the nursing program.
Nicholas Johnson (BSN ’10)
[At CSU’s commencement] I ran into a friend who had a six pack of beer in his graduation coat.
Dennis Vail (BBA ’73)
I was one of the last graduates of the old Fenn College in 1965.
James Opalek (BS ’65)
1960s
Alexander Bartko (BECE ’68) shares this update:
“Dear classmates, graduates in the degree of Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.
I am in relatively reasonable health. I have been married to my wife Joan for 52 years. We have children, which all graduated from colleges in Virginia. Our first son graduated from the University of Virginia, Susan from Cambridge in England with a PhD in neuroscience, Nicholas in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and Katie a board-certified nurse practitioner.
Thanks to CSU, I was successful in working for the federal government and then as a contractor for the Metro Corp. I worked at the National Recon Organization and saw the launch of ACTS satellite Ka-band. I traveled to England, Germany and Italy, Amsterdam, Paris, Stuttgart, the Panama Canal Zone, lived in California and attended a seminar at MIT. Joan took a tour of the Harvard Yard.
I would like to hear about fellow grads experiences. You can contact me at Joan’s email account at wsnkbar@ aol.com.”
1970s
Richard Spotz (JD ’73) joined Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC in the firm’s Cleveland office in the Trusts & Estates Practice Group.
1980s
Maureen O'Connor (JD '80) was honored as one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year
for her service as an Ohio Supreme Court Justice.
Robert McGee (JD '80) won 7 gold and 1 silver medal at the 2023 Taekwondo Championship in Phoenix.
Gwido Norbert Dlugopolsky (BE '81) was featured by Forbes Magazine for his success within the manufacturing industry.
Renee Richard (MBA '81, JD '88) was appointed to CNB Bank Board of Directors.
Dave Wickman (BS '83) and his wife Chelsea opened Eleventhree Brewing Co., a craft brewery, in Chardon.
Richard H. Nemeth (J.D. '84) was elected President of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.
Carter E. Strang (JD ’84) received the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Living Legacy Award for extraordinary leadership, innovation, and professional excellence.
Karen Fedchock (BBA '86, MBA '95) was named CMO at MAI Capital Management.
Mary Legerski (MPA '87, JD '93, MBA '02) has been appointed to Western Reserve Group’s Board of Directors.
Corine R. Corpora (BBA '88) has been ranked in Chambers USA 2023 in the area of Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (Ohio).
Effie Sikoutris Nunes (BA '88) was appointed as Interim Executive Director for the Cleveland Arts Prize.
NEWSWORTHY AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
Steven M. Auvil (JD '93), Terry Michael Billups (JD '05), Monica K. Brown (MA '99), Dana C. Capers (BBA '94), Daniel Joseph Cohn (MS '21), Jacob William Duritsky (BA '05, MA '07), Leah Weissman Epstein (MPA '08), Asha K Montante (MBA '11), Marcia Veronica Moreno (MA '07), Tracy Lee Miller (BA '97), and Marie Scalia (MBA '19) were named to the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2024. The group was recognized as being the region’s foremost forward-thinkers, trendsetters, and groundbreakers.
Jared Christopher Anderson (BA '20), Reilly Hannah Burke (MBA '21), Nichole Davis (BSHS '20), Sandor Gyerman (BA '21), Samira Malone (BA '17, MA '20), Selena Marie Pagan (BA '18), Cameron E. Tolbert (BBA '21) were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for the Cleveland area.
Luis Carrion (JD ’08), Diana Centeno-Gomez (MS ’94), Gladisa Guadalupe (BA ’97), Ricardo Leon (MSUS ’15), Nicole McGee (MA ’10), Marcia Moreno (MA ’07), and Carmen M. Verhosek (JD ’17) were recognized as Crain’s Cleveland Notable Latino Leaders.
Peter Bode (BS ’12), Jenna Gauntner (BBA ’18), Paris Lampkins (M.Ed. ’07), Marcus Madison (BA ’21), Megan Wilson (MPA ’16), Cheng-Han Yu (MUPD ’13) were included in this year’s class of Crain’s Cleveland 40 Under 40.
Michael L. Cantor (JD '00), Isabel Anne DeRoberts (BA '13, MUP '17), Jason M. Russell (MAS '07), and Diana Whisenant (MAS '07) were named Crain's Cleveland Notable Leaders in Commercial Real Estate.
1990s
Robert J. Patton (BA '90, MA '93, JD '96) was appointed Judge for the Eleventh District Court of Appeals, serving Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage, and Trumbull counties.
Stefanie Meade (BBA ’90) was named one of Crain’s Cleveland 2024 Notable Leaders in Finance.
Richard Delarosa (BBA '91) published his book “The Blameless Body Routine.”
Patricia Brubaker (MA '92) was one of six emerging writers named to Literary Cleveland’s Breakthrough Writing Residency.
Christopher L. Haddock (BBA '93) retired from the Euclid Fire Department after serving the city for more than 33 years, including the last nine years as fire chief.
Elizabeth Becka Lansky (BS '93) published her suspense novel “What Harms You” under the pseudonym Lisa Black.
Mark West (MBA ’93) co-authored the recently released book “Advancing Strategic Sourcing and Healthcare Affordability: Our Discovery of the Lacuna Triangle,” an exploration of ways to retool the healthcare industry’s supply chain.
Lee Ann Lizka (MBA '94) was named President of Vanderbilt University Hospital.
Ronald Van Johnson Jr. (BBA '95) was named Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
John Roman Fortuna (BS '95) has announced the inception of his medical scholarship, "Dr. John Fortuna Scholarship for Medical Students."
Sarah Moore (JD '95) is rejoining Fisher Phillips LLP as Of Counsel.
James Benedict (JD '96) has been appointed President of Allegheny Health Network by Highmark Health.
Bethany Bryant (MBA '96) was appointed Cleveland Regional Director at Glenmede Wealth Management Firm.
Matthew J. Cole (BA '96, MA '01) is the Director of Human Resources at Cleveland City Hall under the Bibb administration.
Russell Stokes (BBA '96) was inducted into the Shaker Schools Alumni Hall of Fame for his work as President and CEO of Commercial Engines and Services at GE Aerospace.
Sam McNulty (BA '97) opened Clandestina and Smoke and Mirrors, a twoin-one dining and speakeasy experience in Ohio City.
2000s
Michael J. DiCesare (BBA '00) was named Vice President of Information Technology at Swagelok Company.
Theresa A. Holstein (BA '00) has joined Hudson Valley Hospice as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
L. William Erb (JD '00) has been named a member of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP.
Paul Putman (MA '02, Ph.D. '12) is the new resident and Chief Executive Officer of Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund (TREE Fund).
John Skrtic (BA '02, MPA '06) meets the people behind some of Cleveland's favorite stops and write for Cleveland Magazine.
Jerraya R. Mason (BA '04) published her third novel Stolen Pieces, which details the local dating experience.
Carla Jackson (BA '05) has been named Vice President of the Akron Public School Board.
Cole Whaley (BA '05) was featured by the Harvard Business School for his work at his non-profit Food for the
Holidays, which provides weekly meals to families in need.
Sarah Elizabeth Parker (BBA '06) has joined SageView Advisory Group, one of the nation's leading independent RIA firms, as a retirement plan consultant.
Tim Carr (MBA '07) was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Statesville, North Carolina.
Tara A. Hill (BA '07) was inducted into the Prestigious Marquis Who's Who Biographical Registry.
Jennifer M. Stonebrook (BA '07) is retiring after almost 25 years as Director of Patient Care.
ALUMNUS SCORES ON ABC’S SHARK TANK
Maurice Bachelor (BBA ’10) appeared on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” He is the founder and CEO of Bot-It, a subscription-based company that uses artificial intelligence to help consumers buy tickets and book reservations. After originally requesting $150,000 for 10% equity, he walked away with a deal of $300,000 for 30% equity with billionaires Mark Cuban and Michael Rubin.
ROSEMARY MUDRY (MUPD '12) NAMED THE FIRST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE HISTORIC WEST SIDE MARKET
The newly formed nonprofit, Cleveland Public Market Corporation (CPMC), is taking over management of the market while the city maintains ownership.
“I probably started coming to the West Side Market when I was in high school,” Mudry said.
“Maybe I’d been couple times sooner, but my first memories are really coming in high school with friends and kind of going up and down the produce stalls.”
John Tatarko (BS '08, MS '10) was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Clarkson University.
Nathan Shaker (MBA '09) has been appointed as Judge to Wayne County Municipal Courts.
2010s
Veranda Rodgers (BBA '10) is the founder of Pregnant With Possibilities, a resource center that supports Black mothers in Cleveland throughout their pregnancy and postpartum journeys.
Brandon Pauley (JD '11) was promoted to Member at Brennan Manna Diamond Firm in Columbus.
Grant Joseph Styer (JD '11) is a partner at the Intellectual Property Law Firm of Renner Otto.
Jennifer Falb (MBA '12) is the founder and owner of Pnut Butter Cups Company.
Joel Lefkowitz (BA '12) is assistant librarian for Cleveland Public Library South Branch and developed an innovative music studio program for patrons ages 13 and up.
Renee T. Willis (Ph.D '12) was named the Executive Director of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.
Bilal Akram (BA '14, MA '16) is the CFO and CEO of Code Media Group LLC after his retirement from the Cleveland Fire Department.
Sara Continenza (MPA '14) was nominated for the Ruth Ratner Miller Award by Downtown Cleveland Alliance for her work as founder and executive director of Food Strong, a nonprofit organization.
Gabby Hart (BA '14) is an investigative reporter for Cleveland 19 News.
Brenden Patrick Kelley (JD ’15) received the Movers and Shakers Award from the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club. The award recognizes young leaders that have a record of excellence in their work, civic engagement and philanthropic efforts.
Ayden Ergun (MUPD ’16, JD ’16), partner at Potomac Law in Cleveland, was added to the firm’s Corporate and Transactional practice.
Malek A. Khawam (BA '16, JD '20) joined Hanh Loeser & Parks LLP as an associate.
Joshua Lawhorn (BA '18) served as the director and editor of "A. Periplum," a onewoman dance performance with live music.
Jenna Melia (JD ’18) is an attorney at Mazanec, Raskin & Ryder Co., L.P.A.
Steve Regovich (BA '18) has joined JLL Value and Risk Advisory as Vice President of Business Development.
Danielle Mihalcea (BA ’19, MA ’20) received the Movers and Shakers Award from the The Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club. The awards recognize young leaders that have a record of excellence in their work, civic engagement and philanthropic efforts.
2020s
(Dan Boyer (BS '21) is director for Mathnasium, a tutoring center in Rocky River, Ohio.
Bryan Fisher (JD ’21), associate at Potomac Law in Cleveland, was added to the firm’s Corporate and Transactional practice.
Grace Marie Karam (JD '21) has joined Benesch Law as an associate in the firm's Labor & Employment Practice group.
Ri Rosecrans (BA '21) is one of three local artists honored as 2023 Artist in Residence from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Cam Godfrey (BA '24) is a Cleveland-based comedian who has recently won Rookie of the Year (2023), Improviser of the Year (2023), and Sketch Performer of the Year (2024) at the Cleveland Comedy Awards.
CSU|LAW NAMES ITS 2024 INDUCTEES INTO HALL OF FAME
Established in 2017, the College of Law’s Hall of Fame honors the outstanding contributions to the success and prestige of our law school by distinguished alumni, faculty, staff, friends and community leaders. The group will be officially inducted at a ceremony in the fall.
1. Kim Bixenstine Co-Owner, Bixenstine Resolutions, LLC CSU|LAW Health Law & Policy Leader-inResidence
2. Brent Buckley, Class of 1982 Managing Partner, Buckley King
3. Kevin Butler, Class of 2001 Counsel, McDonald Hopkins, LLC
4. Hon. Cassandra Collier-Williams, Class of 1990 Judge, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
5. Matthew Crawford, Class of 1994 Chairman & CEO, ParkOhio Industries
6. Julie Crocker, Class of 2006 Partner, Taft Law
7. Ronda Curtis, Class of 1992 Chief Corporate Counsel (Retired), City of Cleveland Law Department
8. Rosalina Fini, Class of 1994 Chief Legal and Ethics Officer, Cleveland Metroparks
9. Frank L. Gallucci III, Class of 2000 Partner, Plevin & Gallucci Co., L.P.A
10. Mary Groth, Class of 1983 Director of Member & Donor Engagement, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
11. Edward T. Haggins, Class of 1966 Owner, Matthew Prison Ministries; Owner, Precious Realty
12. Jacqueline A. Johnson, Class of 1983 First Assistant, Federal Public Defender, Northern District of Ohio
13. Gertrude Bauer Mahon, Class of 1940 Assistant Prosecutor (Retired), Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office
14. Hon. Nancy R. McDonnell, Class of 1985 Judge (Retired), Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
15. Hon. William T. McGinty, Class of 1979 Judge, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
16. Hon. Timothy McMonagle, Class of 1974 Judge (Retired), Ohio Court of Appeals, 8th District
17. Vicki Plata Budget Director (Retired), CSU Law; Associate, Cleveland State University
18. Callista Puchmeyer, Class of 2007 Chief Counsel, Glenn Research Center, NASA
19. Rob Remington, Class of 1988 Partner, National Litigation Area and Construction Practice Group Chair, Hahn Loeser & Parks
20. Daniel A. Richards, Class of 1992 Managing Partner, Weston Hurd, LLP
21. Rev. Dr. Stephen Rowan, Class of 1980 Senior Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church
22. Roger M. Synenberg, Class of 1977 Principal, Synenberg & Associates, LLC
23. Frederick Widen, Class of 1981 Partner, UB Greensfelder, LLP
24. 2024 LEADER ON THE RISE: Drew Odum, Class of 2010 Senior Legal Counsel – Litigation, The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
In Memoriam
ALUMNI
1940s
Joseph B. Wagner (AS '45)
1950s
George Eichenberg (BBA '50)
Arthur Beifus (BS '51)
Ralph Masten (BA '51)
Richard Jarold (BS '53)
Muriel Yeagle (BBA '54)
John W. Fenkner (BS '55)
Bennet "Ben" L. Harris (BBA '57)
George F. Quinn (BBA '57)
1960s
Daniel Kranjc (BS '60)
Stanley Gabriel (BBA '61)
Thomas Joseph Polka (BS '63)
Joseph J. Ochaba (BS '65)
Jane Gaydos (BBA '66)
Harriet B. Young (BA '66)
Emerson G. Garber (BBS '67)
Gordon Jagusch (BA '68)
Lavern Hall (BA '69)
Alan E. Kollar (BS '69)
Arch T. Ritchie (BBA '69)
1970s
Donald J. Rozick (BBA '70)
Bruce A. Sheppard (BS '70)
John Richard Weber (BS '70)
Linda Hassik (BS '71)
Florence Weiss (BS '71)
Edward G. Bilek (BBA '72)
Romualdas Bublys (MS '72)
Terrence Joseph Palisin (BS '72)
Robert E. Bowers (BS '73)
Terrence Sawyer (BBA '73)
James M. Burg (BA '74)
Lawrence R. Burns (JD '74)
Susan M. Carraway (BA '74)
Raymond Moczadlo (BS '74)
Thomas C. Roach (BS '74)
Gary Alan Mayer (MBA '75)
Thomas Metcalf (BA '75)
Monica Glad (BS '78)
William E. Mattox (BS '76)
Carl L. McKinnie (MA '76)
Joseph Mucciarone (MA '76)
Stanley Ryncarz (BS '76)
Shirley Shulman (BBA '78)
Diane L. Swidarski (BS '78)
Thomas F. Cahill (BBA '79)
Judith Newell (MA '79)
Kimberly Roach (BBA '79)
John R. Thomas (MA '79)
1980s
Jerry Armstrong (BS '81)
George Kiss (BA '81)
Mary W. Trevor (BA '81)
Mary Elizabeth Fritzsche (BA '82)
Charles Hooper (BS '82)
Arleen Shirley Kalo (M.Ed '82)
Carolyn Patton (MS '82)
Thomas Petrick (MBA '82)
David John Rowe (BA '82)
Patricia M. Stanton (JD '83)
Robert Weaver (MA '84)
Gregory Jones (BBA '85)
Lawrence Marecki (MBA '85)
Nancy M. Sabath (MA '86)
Martha Ferris (BA '87)
Jacalyn R. Golden (BS '88)
Joel M. Tomkalski (M.Ed '89)
Jane Eleanor Wilds (BBA '89)
1990s
Robert Chester (BA '90)
Michael Bakonyi (BBA '91)
Ann Fickenscher (MA '91)
Paul F. Gianni (JD '91)
Susan Ruth Slovensky (M.Ed '91)
Patti Thompson (BA '91)
David J. Watson (BA '91)
Deborah E. Williams (BA '92)
Llewellyn Price Swope (BS '93)
John Patrick Zajaros Sr. (BA '93)
Aduke Bennett (Ph.D '94)
Fredrick Green (MBA '94)
John "Jack" St. John (BS '98)
Danyl Louis Smedley (BA '99)
2000s
Kenneth J. Froelich (MBA '03)
Eileen Morgan (M.Ed '03)
Susan Diane Birdsong (BA '06)
Charles Radune (MA '06)
Kathryn Lee Beckes (M.Ed '08)
Jose Kenneth Magbag (BA '08)
CSU DEATHS
Harriet Alger in May 2023
Mildred Barnard in May 2023
Peggy Ratcheson in May 2023
Rodney Ehlert in June 2023
Nancy Klein in June 2023
Sheila Koster in June 2023
Martin List in June 2023
Cecile Kraus in July 2023
David Adams in August 2023
Darlene Wiegandt in August 2023
Harry Margulis in September 2023
Harold Babbit in October 2023
Kevin Bogdanowicz in October 2023
Karl Bonutti in October 2023
Gerald Gable in October 2023
James Lock in October 2023
Lizabeth Moody in May 2023
Jandhyala Sharma in August 2023
Leigh Archibald in September 2023
Suzanne Brown in September 2023
Kenneth Nevadomi in September 2023
Theresa Fecekin November 2023
Jerry Reed-Mundell in November 2023
Robert McNew in December 2023
Michale Schwartz in January 2024
Lavern Hall in January 2024
Zita LeFevre in January 2024
Richard Swain in January 2024
Jonathan Messemer in January 2024
Lee Gibbs in February 2024
Rebecca Laird in February 2024
Paul Pangrace in February 2024
Stephen Talbott in February 2024
John Tolls in March 2024
C.J. PRENTISS WAS A FIERCE DEFENDER OF EQUALITY
C.J. Prentiss (BS ’69, MA ’77), a state lawmaker who was an advocate for education and civil rights, died in April.
A racial and social justice activist since the 1960s, Prentiss served on the State Board of Education from 1985 until 1990, then served in the Ohio General Assembly as a Democrat from 1991 until 2006. Her time includes eight years in the Ohio State House of Representatives before serving eight years in the Ohio State Senate, representing constituents in Bratenahl, Brooklyn Heights, Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, East Cleveland, Newburgh Heights, and University Heights. In 2005, Prentiss became the second Black woman to serve as Senate minority leader, and she was the first Black woman to lead the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.
“C.J. didn't just reach across the aisle but jumped across it to passionately make her case,” an obituary said.
“She was simultaneously a realist and a pragmatist, nimble enough to cut a deal while strong enough to stand by her principles.”
Her signature issue was education, fighting for fair and appropriate funding for all children. Along with her husband, she led efforts to craft legislation that helped decrease the academic achievement gap, secure funding for full-day kindergarten, reduced class sizes, support for at-risk Black male students, and literacy support for elementary school students.
After her time on the State Board of Education and in the Ohio legislature, Prentiss created the C.J. Prentiss Emerging Leaders Project to help train young progressive leaders, and she helped form the liberal think-tank Policy Matters Ohio.
COMPOSER OF ALMA MATER POSSESSED DEEP LOVE FOR MUSIC AND CSU
Bill Lovell (BA ’72, MA ’75) was in the second month of what would be an 11-month hospice stay when he handed his son, Vic, a note card. Vic could tell that it took his father painstaking effort to write what would be some of his final wishes and knew that it was now his duty to honor them. Among those was to contact CSU’s Alumni Association to share just how much he loved CSU.
“Cleveland State provided the opportunity for him to follow his passion and distribute that in small doses to young aspiring artists,” Vic said.
You may not know the name Bill Lovell, but chances are you’ve sung a song of his once or twice. In 1989, Lovell composed CSU’s alma mater along with Gregory Nailing, who wrote the words. By the time he wrote it, he was already a fixture in the music department. After graduating with his master’s in music, Lovell stayed at the university, working as an office manager until he retired in 2009. The scope of his work, however, went far beyond administrative duties.
Music students often searched him out when they had challenges and Bill was quick to help them.
“And since he had the keys to all of the practice rooms, he would go he would go the extra mile with so many students and give them so much extra attention, so that they could achieve learning their instrument,” Vic said.
“That’s who Bill Lovell was.”
Point of View
Russell Lang is a May 2024 graduate, who started dabbling in photography in 2021, and CSU’s campus is among those he frequently captures.
“CSU has a beautiful campus,” he said.
“I made it my mission to showcase its true beauty through my photography.”
His work has racked up millions of views on social media. Find him on Instagram at @russ_lang_photography.
