DePauw Magazine Fall 2022

AGAZINE

DePauw

IN THIS ISSUE:

Science in the liberal arts / Scientific and personal discoveries in the lab / DePauwmade connections / and more

The Liberal Arts AND SCIENCES

THANKFUL

During this season of Thanksgiving, there is much at DePauw for us to celebrate and be thankful. 2022 marks DePauw’s one hundred and eighty-fifth year. This past spring we launched our Bold and Gold 2027 strategic plan, and this fall our largest first-year class in four years joined our wonderful community of scholars.

I am thankful to have been one of the members of our faculty and staff during our Opening Convocation to have the honor of formally welcoming this tremendous firstyear class, 535 strong, to DePauw. In my interactions with them, I have been impressed by their intellect and creativity; the ways in which they have already “jumped into” their studies and campus involvement opportunities; and their excitement and enthusiasm for all things DePauw. While their first year is just the beginning of the DePauw experience, I am inspired by each interaction I have with our new and our returning students. Choosing DePauw when they had many options for their college education demonstrates their trust in our educational promise to provide them with a liberal arts education that will enable them to think critically, communicate effectively, understand the power of ideas and become leaders the world needs. I am so glad they have chosen to join our amazing DePauw family and so very thankful for our incredible faculty and staff who support our students in innumerable ways on their educational journey.

I am thankful the tradition of excellence at DePauw has again been recognized by the U.S. News & World Report. We certainly do not want to hang our hats on the whims of rankings. However, we have had an exceptionally good year in this regard, and so I will brag a little about our work and accolades. DePauw has again been recognized by U.S. News as the No. 1 national liberal arts college in Indiana. We are also the No. 45 best liberal arts institution in the country (up from No. 46 last year) and the No. 16 most innovative institution! This is the first time we have appeared on the list of the most innovative institutions. We attribute our inclusion to our announcement of the Bold and Gold 2027 strategic plan and the dedication of those on campus to work hard toward our bright future. We also received recognition for our undergraduate teaching and value. While our collective whole is more than numbers and rankings, it is always wonderful to have the outstanding quality of a DePauw education recognized on a national platform.

I am thankful for our devoted alumni as we work to make the goals of the Bold and Gold 2027 strategic plan a reality. I appreciate the dedication and commitment to DePauw demonstrated by so many of you and your notes of support, calls and making the time for in-person meetings. The outpouring of the time, talent, testimony and treasures you share with DePauw, to ensure we continue to flourish for the next 185 years and beyond, is humbling. The power of the DePauw alumni network for a small liberal arts college is unmatched!

I am, as always, thankful for the opportunity to lead DePauw.

Sincerely, Lori S. White President, DePauw University

Photo: Joe Angeles/Washington University in St. Louis

AGAZINE

Fall 2022 / Vol. 85 /

2 depauw.edu/offices/communicationsmarketing/depauw-magazine/

Joel Bottom, university videographer; Emily Chew ’99, associate director of strategic communications and donor relations; Anne Cunningham, vice president for development and alumni engagement; Sarah McAdams, internal communications manager; Leslie Williams Smith ’03, executive director of alumni engagement; Sarah Steinkamp, chief of staff and interim vice president for communications and marketing; Brittney Way, university photographer; and Chris Wolfe, director of content and digital strategy.

Access a digital version of DePauw Magazine: www.depauw.edu/offices/ communications-marketing/depauwmagazine/.

Front cover: Rachel Delancey '23 conducts summer research in the lab of biology professor Nipun Chopra. See

Back cover: Zebra fish tanks from the lab of biology professor Henning Schneider. See story on page

Photos: Brittney Way

By Mary Beth Petrie

This is my favorite time of year because the Enrollment Management team and I get to see the hard work of recruitment and selection of a new, fresh-faced class of students arrive on campus and officially begin an incredible journey at DePauw.  DePauw can be proud to welcome 535 first-year students who have already accomplished so much in their lives and have chosen to come to DePauw to do so much more. The Class of 2026 is filled with success stories: 12 valedictorians and salutatorians and 170 honor scholars and fellows. Twelve Lilly scholars. Classmates who have raised money for charity, done research for a civil rights advocate, built robots and toured with a Broadway show. Three state athletic champions and 50 captains of sports and athletic teams. Some have already started their own businesses.

Used to winning, these young people have chosen DePauw to prepare them for success in their future careers, but there is so much more in store for them over their next four years.

To be sure, a DePauw education provides great training for a career. But it also prepares young people to think critically, analyze carefully, explain cogently and write clearly. To be flexible and able to pivot. To freely express themselves and listen when others do the same. To be good citizens. To live in harmony with people different from themselves. To take risks and confront challenges. Even to fail.

A DePauw education will teach them how to learn from failure and to be resilient enough to get back up and try again.

DePauw alumni know well what makes the education and campus experience special. That is what makes you some of our best advocates with prospective students. A volunteer corps of more than 150 alumni is engaging with prospective students through college fairs, admission interviews, letter-writing and personal connections. The Class of 2026 includes 29 students who were referred by alumni.

We invite you to join the DePauw Alumni Enrollment Ambassadors by telling us about your interest: apply.depauw.edu/ register/alumnivolunteer.

We also invite you to consider high school students whom you know who would be a great fit for DePauw and send an official referral: www.depauw.edu/ referastudent.

As many of the alums featured in this issue – in every issue! – attest, DePauw provided experiences that made them who they are today as professionals and people. We welcome the Class of 2026 as its members embark on a journey that will change their lives, and we urge you to help the young people in your life to start their own journey here at DePauw.

Petrie is DePauw’s vice president for enrollment management.

Creating a Bold and Gold Future

The impact of alumni giving means …

Students received scholarships to access a DePauw education.

Students studied off campus around the world.

Students learned valuable skills through athletics.

Students collaborated with faculty on research projects.

Students interned with business startups and nonprofit organizations.

Thank you!

Donate today to create a bold and gold future for DePauw students.

DePauw appreciates your gift before the calendar year ends on December 31. Scan the QR code, visit www.depauw.edu/give or use the enclosed envelope to donate today.

Shining stars

Six alumni, including a coach whose career spanned nearly 50 years, are set to be inducted into the DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame Nov. 5.

Inductees are: Katie Doogan ’08, who was swimming in honors during her careers as an individual medley swimmer and relay-team member; Rachel Gill ’09, who caught plenty of accolades as a softball team catcher; Jim Hardy ’62, whose slugging ability meant DePauw’s team lost a lot of baseballs; Tim Hreha ’73, whose star started shining on the football field but burned brightest for the nearly 50 years he was an assistant coach; Jeremiah Marks ’08, who left his mark on the football record books for rushing yards, points, touchdowns and rushing touchdowns; and Lauren Reich ’10, who ran away with numerous cross country and track honors.

A little history

DePauw began its 185th academic year with the opening of classes Aug. 24, 2022.

When Methodist Church leaders founded the university, they envisioned it to be an ecumenical institution of national stature that would be “conducted on the most liberal principles, accessible to all religious denominations and designed for the benefit of our citizens in general.”

The people of Greencastle had vied to persuade the church to locate the university in their community and raised $25,000 – more than $770,000 today – to sweeten the pot.

Other events that occurred in 1837, courtesy of Wikipedia (which includes DePauw’s founding on its list): Michigan became the 26th U.S. state. The Indiana General Assembly organized Lake County. Thomas Davenport obtained the first U.S. patent on an electric motor. Martin Van Buren was sworn in as the eighth president. Illinois granted a city charter to Chicago. And Grover Cleveland and James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok were born.

More shining stars

DePauw President Lori S. White and 10 alumni were named to the inaugural Indiana 250, a list compiled by IBJ Media of “the state’s most influential and impactful business and community leaders.”

White was noted for leading DePauw “through the challenges of COVID and generating renewed enthusiasm among students, alumni and employees. She’s a national leader and voice on freedom of expression on college campuses.”

Alumni on the list were David Becker ’75, founder, chair and CEO of First Internet Bank and member of the DePauw Board of Trustees; Margaret “Meg” Held Christensen ’04, office managing partner, Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP; Darrianne Howard Christian ’95, Newfields chair; Justin Christian ’95, founder and CEO of BCforward and a member of the DePauw Board of Trustees; Deborah Daniels ’73, of counsel, Krieg DeVault LLP; David M. Findlay ’84, president and CEO of Lakeland Financial Corp.; John Hammond III ’76, partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP; John Hirschman ’91, president, CEO and principal, Browning Investments; John A. Kite ’87, chair and CEO, Kite Realty Group Trust; and Jennifer Pace Robinson ’92, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

Getting down to business

Demolition on portions of Harrison Hall will begin in December to make way for the new School of Business and Leadership. Construction is set to begin in January.

Representatives of Studio Ma, the peoplecentered architectural firm that designed the space, were in Greencastle in late August to hear from university leaders, faculty members and students about how to accommodate modernday learning and make the space welcoming.

The design, while not finalized, will feature flexible classrooms that can be configured to accommodate collaboration and other learning styles; a common area; and an atrium to signal connections and bring light into the building.

Principal Christiana Moss said her company wants to “imbue all of the ideals and the goals for the business school” into Harrison Hall. “We’ve really been focused on the idea that space can”convey the new school’s emphasis on business leadership and ethics, she said.

Dave Berque, vice president for academic affairs, said university leaders decided against erecting a new building, having seen that “other business schools have struggled with being set apart from their campuses and not having their students feel like they’re part of the campus in general, and not having students on the rest of the campus feel like the business school is open to them.”

Supernova

The preeminent list that ranks colleges and universities placed DePauw at No. 45 – up a spot from last year – and ranked the university as the 16th most innovative school.

U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 college rankings, published Sept. 12, also ranked DePauw No. 49 for undergraduate teaching; No. 45 for best value; and No. 102 for social mobility – schools that enroll and graduate large proportions of economically disadvantaged students who receive Pell grants.

“The rankings recognized the very attributes that permeate the DePauw brand: great academics, superior teaching and an education that creates futures of meaning and means,” President Lori White said. “I’m especially pleased that U.S. News & World Report also took notice of DePauw’s innovative approach as we begin implementing the bold and innovative steps called for in our strategic plan.” The plan calls for centering and strengthening the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; creating the School of Business and Leadership; and reimagining the Creative School.

Some info

Thank you to all the readers who responded to our recent survey about DePauw Magazine. To clear up a few matters:

• Several respondents said they wanted more Class Notes. We depend on your submissions to populate Class Notes. Submit a note about a new job, marriage, baby, award or any life event to Donna Grooms at dgrooms@ depauw.edu.

• A few respondents lamented that they weren’t included in issues that touched on their professions or activities. Submit a Class Note about your accomplishments and activities to Donna Grooms at dgrooms@ depauw.edu and keep Alumni Engagement informed, as well. Send news tips and book notices to communicate@depauw.edu.

• Several said they want to read the magazine digitally. You can! Go here – www.depauw. edu/offices/communicationsmarketing/depauw-magazine/ – and click on the magazine for the current issue or on “past issues” to read older ones.

DePauw

Searching for Shackleton Adventure!

Send letters to the editor to communicate@depauw.edu. We love to hear from our readers!

TO THE EDITOR:

I just have to tell you how marvelous the (summer) edition of the magazine is! … From the excitement of the adventure stories (25 pages of them!) through the description of the new Bold & Gold program to the Posse testimonials, it all adds up to an excellent (shall I guess awardwinning?) publication. I was engaged from front to back. In addition to providing more insights into DePauw “then and now,” the variety of inspirational tales therein should be useful in inspiring present and future students to follow their dreams. To the many folks involved: the concept, layout, photography: Everything is topnotch.

– Dave Gilbert ’65

Early in 1963, I transferred to DePauw University. When I arrived on campus it was still Christmas vacation and the campus was deserted. but I found an unlocked door in the biology building … I soon noticed that the office at the far end of hallway was open and the light was on. I started to turn back so as not to disturb the person in that room, but before I could do so the person called out to ask if he could help me. That was how I met Dr. Jim Gammon. … He stopped what he was doing and for the next couple of hours we developed, course by course, the academic program I would complete to earn my bachelor’s degree. … He also graciously sent a letter of recommendation to the graduate school of my choice – which must have been a good one because I was accepted. Dr. Gammon and I were occasionally in touch over the years, and he never seemed to age. Always enthusiastic, always busy. Even in 2021, when he was 90, we had an exchange of emails that indicated that he was still very active and his memory was sharp as ever. But now he is gone. I mourn his passing.

– Steve Zimmerman ’65

Is a recent read occupying your thoughts? Has a book indelibly imprinted your life? We want to hear from you. Send your recommendation to communicate@depauw.edu.

What We’re Reading

By Laurie Hooton Hamilton ’58 and Don Hamilton ’57

“The Personal Librarian” by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is the remarkable story of J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, a Black American woman who passed as white to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation. The book tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style and wit. She must preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

The author, Marie Benedict, in order to do justice to the book, collaborated with Victoria Christopher, a Black woman, who has more than a million books in print. A compelling read!

From the back cover of “The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen 83 ¼ Years Old”: “Technically speaking, Hendrik is elderly, but at 83 ¼, this feisty, indomitable curmudgeon has no plans to go out quietly.” He has decided to rebel – on his own terms. Charming, inspiring, laugh-out-loud funny with a deep and poignant core, it is a page-turner, a delight for readers of any age. For the Class of 1957, this is required reading.

The Book Nook features notable, professionally published books written by DePauw alumni and faculty. Self-published books will be included in the Gold Nuggets section.

Geoffrey D. Klinger, Jennifer Adams and Kevin Howley

“Money Talks: Alan Greenspan’s Free Market Rhetoric and the Tragic Legacy of Reaganomics”

“Dear Wild Child”

“Mythbusting the Great Outdoors: What’s True and What’s Not”

Amy Kossack Sorrells ’94 “Miracle at the Sideshow: An Astounding Novel of the First Infant Incubators”

Seth Friedman, associate professor of communication and theatre (co-editor)

“Prestige Television: Cultural and Artistic Value in Twenty-First-Century America”

Wallace J. Nichols ‘89

Jamie Berglund Siebrase ’06

New college name emphasizes importance of sciences in a liberal arts education

By Mary Dieter

DePauw University’s new name for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is an affirmation for what many alumni scientists already know: An undergraduate education grounded in the liberal arts is great preparation for a career in science.

DePauw Bold & Gold 2027, the strategic plan issued in March, added the words “and Sciences” to the college’s name and called for the “centering and strengthening” of the college as part of DePauw’s academic renewal.

Since the ancient Greeks opined about learning, the term “liberal arts” has been thought to include the humanities, the arts, the social sciences and the natural sciences. DePauw now is making the connection explicit for anyone who is unfamiliar with that classical definition – or with the many scientists among its alumni, including:

• Ferid Murad ’58, a Nobel laureate, physician and Ph.D. pharmacologist

whose work has saved the lives of premature babies and cancer and heart patients and inspired 160,000 publications that build on his discoveries.

• Chemist Percy Julian, a 1920 graduate whose work resulted in more than 130 patents and made it possible to synthetically produce large quantities of cortisone for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.

• Astronaut and physicist Joseph P. Allen IV ’59, a mission specialist on space shuttles Columbia and Discovery who took an untethered spacewalk to wrangle two wayward satellites.

“DePauw has always had strong science programs,” said Dave Berque, vice president for academic affairs. “And indeed, sometimes people think the phrase ‘liberal arts’ means the humanities. That’s

not what ‘liberal arts’ means. ‘Liberal arts’ is broader than just the humanities. It has always included the sciences, certainly in the DePauw context.

“Adding the words ‘and sciences’ helps recognize something that DePauw has always done well and it’s something that will help prospective students and families who may not be familiar with the liberal arts understand that this type of education prepares students to think critically in the context of a wide range of disciplines, including sciences.”

The college’s expanded name also emphasizes the interdisciplinary approach DePauw offers throughout its curriculum, Berque said. Global health, for example, ensures students study a variety of science, math and the humanities. Even computer science – Berque’s discipline – calls for interdisciplinary study; students are required to take an allied course that relates to computing in some way, and

“those allied courses come from all over the university,” he said.

David Alvarez, associate English professor and a leader in the strategic planning process, said he hopes the university’s new structure of one college and two schools will build on interdisciplinary collaboration “to tackle a complex question, to which we can bring the resources of both the humanities and also the sciences to bear.”

Mary Beth Petrie, vice president for enrollment management, said she welcomed the college’s expanded name and thinks “it will impact us positively (because) we are going to increase our value proposition and therefore become more attractive to prospective students.” However, “quantifying is difficult to do because we are in a market landscape where there are more spots at colleges than there are students available.”

With a generation of young people who

may dedicate only a moment to a message before they’re on to the next thing, it’s important that the words “and sciences” instantaneously inform students what they’ll find at DePauw, Petrie said.

That became clearer than ever to her team during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were left with the website to do a lot of heavy lifting, and all digital information to do a lot of heavy lifting,” she said, “because students were primarily conducting at least the first several stages of their college searches almost entirely online, almost entirely on their own, without as much guidance from school counselors. … The last two years have shown us how much more important it is for us to get the language right and to make it up front and concise.”

In addition to the name change, the strategic plan calls for “centering and strengthening” the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Leaders envision the college at the center of DePauw’s academic offerings, with the new School of Business and Leadership and the reimagined Creative School flanking it on either side, Berque said.

“Centering and strengthening” also means that the liberal arts and sciences will be deliberately infused into every discipline. And that, Berque said, will set DePauw apart.

“These other two schools are going to be influenced by the approaches that are happening in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,” he said. “That’s central to what we do.”

For Alvarez, “centering and strengthening” the liberal arts and sciences means the college “offers the fundamental way of thinking that is going to inform the entire university.” Regardless of where a discipline is housed in DePauw’s structure

of one college and two schools, everything the university offers will be viewed through the liberal arts lens, “the kind of education that’s suitable for a free person,” he said. “What we’re supposed to be teaching is how to enable our students to be freer, and what that boils down to, for me, essentially, is that capacity to think critically.”

The message that DePauw is centering and strengthening the liberal arts and sciences is a good one for prospective students, Petrie said. “What the world needs are college graduates who are able to be flexible, creative, innovative, who are able to share their thoughts, learn from others, debate respectfully. Those are all things that are key and core to liberal arts,” she said. “And so it’s important that we help students make that connection that what they experience at DePauw, regardless of what their major is, … prepares them for all of that.

“It has to be an important part of the story that we’re telling. That is why it is important to center the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, because it emphasizes all of those things that are going to be important to students.”

n

Numerous alumni found that DePauw provided the science education they craved. Following are stories about several of them and the wide variety of ways they applied their science education to create their careers. Some do scientific research; others treat patients, advocate for policy or teach in formal and informal settings. Collectively, they demonstrate the breadth of careers that DePauw-trained scientists can and have pursued.

SCIENTIFIC Research

The Ethiopian school system required Amerti Guta ’23 to choose the career pathway she would pursue after 10th grade: STEM or social sciences. She planned on becoming a physician, so she chose the science, technology, engineering and math curriculum. But at age 17, already in her first year in medical school and learning facts about diseases and medications and treatments, Guta constantly found herself asking “why?”

She came to realize that a career in research would let her ask and seek answers to that question. That’s how she landed at DePauw University, where she has conducted research since she approached assistant biology professor Philips Akinwole in her first semester and told him “I do not have any research experience but I want to learn.”

Said Akinwole: “I could see a high level of interest and curiosity all over her, and a ‘try me’ attitude. She was in my Introductory Biology class in her first semester and she was among the top 5% and that, with her enthusiasm, allowed me to have her do more rigorous research. She proved to be dedicated to research and hardworking. She has helped in the lab to find easier ways to do things that are oldfashioned and I appreciate her creativity.

“I have no doubt that she will succeed in research or any chosen career pathway, either as a bench scientist or a liberal arts professor.”

Her trajectory was validated in June when Guta got rave reviews for her presentation to The Changing Microbiomes Symposium of a research project she and two 2022 graduates, Madeline Draper and Mahaila Martin,

did with Akinwole’s guidance. Guta was the only undergraduate invited to present at the symposium, and her presentation prompted tweets: “Stunning example of undergraduate research. Ready for graduate school!!!” “Anyone looking for a grad student in the next couple of years, this is one impressive candidate.” “Hands down best undergrad talk I’ve ever seen.”

Guta – who double majors in cellular and molecular biology and biochemistry, is a presidential ambassador and is in her third year as a residence adviser – has thrived on the interdisciplinary

opportunities at DePauw too.

“Just getting to take creative writing especially was such a humbling and very good experience for me,” she said, and one that proved that she can do more than science.

She plans a research career and is dedicating the fall semester to applying to graduate schools. That means she is taking the semester away from her work in the STEM Guides Program, in which she and other advanced students tutor other students, often those dubbed PEERs – Persons Excluded because of their Ethnicity and

Photo: Brittney Way

Amerti Guta ’23: Answering ‘why?’

By Mary Dieter

Race – in introductory courses in DePauw’s eight STEM departments.

Guta said she will return in the spring to the STEM Guides Program, which has been gratifying. “I had a class who actually was so devoted, motivated, they wanted me to hold review sessions once a week on Sundays,” she said. “So I did that for them. …

“It was really nice for me too, because I’d be learning, I’d be refreshing and I’d be developing different skills. I’d be thinking ‘I’m tutoring them,’ but actually it’s the reverse. They were tutoring me, asking me really good questions, really challenging me.”

Megan May ’13: Aligned stars

By Mary Dieter

Having just completed a landmark report calling for a U.S. response to plastic waste in the oceans, Megan May ’13 had moved on to the next big project in her job at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

But when she learned that the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research was looking to hire someone with science and policy experience, it seemed that “the stars aligned,” she said. Her father has Parkinson’s disease and a dear friend has an undiagnosed neurodegenerative condition, so the work was “something I personally care about. And it just worked out.”

Since January, she has been associate director of public policy for the foundation, established in 2000 by the actor, who has Parkinson’s, to fund external research. Her new position was a natural progression in her career as an environmental microbiologist, she said.

“Only 20% of Parkinson’s cases can be tied to genetics, so that means there are a lot of other causes that we can look at,” she said. “Maybe a genetic-environment interaction. Getting to focus in on that was something that was incredibly exciting for me.”

She is a member of the public policy team, which researches, develops policy and advocates on issues such as resources for veterans with Parkinson’s or the legal availability of cannabis to be used in scientific research. She also provides an environmental perspective to the organization, which only recently has taken on such a focus.

At her previous job at the national academies – private nonprofits that provide expert advice to agencies that contract for it – May was the responsible staff officer for the committee that produced “Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean

SCIENTIFIC Research

Plastic Waste,” a December 2021 report that called for a strategy to reduce plastic waste America deposited in the oceans. During nearly two years at the academies, she also worked on the fourth iteration of “Oil in the Sea,” updating its 2003 predecessor, and a project assessing long-term environmental trends in the Gulf of Mexico.

It was gratifying work in which she got “to listen to a bunch of incredibly smart people talk, discuss and think about really complex issues” and “eventually work toward tangible products that you get to hold in your hands.”

May’s scientific prowess was evident since her DePauw days. As a senior, she won a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which enabled her to pursue her Ph.D. at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; she also took classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She graduated in January 2019 and headed into a yearlong National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Knauss Fellowship in which she worked on environmental issues in the office of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin. During that year, she won a competition to do research in Antarctica, and used travel funds provided by the fellowship to do so.

May, a Rector scholar and science research fellow who majored in biology and minored in sociology and Spanish, chose DePauw “because it seemed like they were, from the get-go, offering so many experiences that other schools weren’t offering,” including lab research throughout her four years and the interdisciplinary nature of a DePauw education.

“There’s a distinction between knowing your subject area really, really well and then also being able to see how your subject area connects to other societal things of relevance or importance,” she said. For example, “I think a lot about pollutants and contaminants and, in my mind, you can’t think about those without also thinking about racism and environmental justice and how those things are overlaid with each other.”

She appreciates the close relationships she had with her professors and credits especially Lynn Bedard, associate biology professor, and former faculty member Dina Leech. “I don’t know if I would be an environmental microbiologist now if I hadn’t had both of them as my research mentors,” she said. “They are just both badass women scientists.”

Said Bedard: “It is humbling to hear about the influence that Dina and I had on her career. I am not at all surprised that she has continued to do important work past her time at DePauw. She was brave enough to work with us at the start of a new collaboration and working with her was really like working with a peer, rather than a student. She routinely went above and beyond my expectations for an undergraduate student.”

Kasey Aderhold

An Earthshattering career

By Mary Dieter

Kasey Aderhold ’10 took some detours on her career path, but these days she figures she is right where she ought to be.

That’s home again in Homer, Alaska, in a job as an earthquake seismologist for Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, a consortium of U.S. universities that advances seismological research and education.

“There have been a few things that came up that were kind of random chance that, if they hadn’t happened, I would have probably been on a different path,” she said.

She grew up just 168 miles southwest of the epicenter of the second-largest earthquake ever recorded – the magnitude 9.2 Good Friday 1964 event in Prince William Sound – and heard stories

from her mother and aunt about their experiences. She also has experienced enough earthquakes that she considers them commonplace.

But “I didn’t think it was a really a career” to investigate earthquakes, and working briefly for a scientist studying orca whales caused her to consider marine biology for her career.

DePauw brought her to campus for an interview that would land her a Rector scholarship, and that – plus “that classic campus feeling where you’re there to be a scholar” – cinched her decision to study marine biology in Greencastle. But Aderhold, who also was a science research fellow, was unable to get into her first biology class, and computer science professor Gloria Townsend swooped in and poached her for the Computer Science Department.

“The computer science degree was a bit of a sidetrack from where I thought I’d be in my career,” Aderhold said. “But a good sidetrack. … It opened a lot of doors,” and she found it particularly valuable to be exposed to “the problem-solving aspect that all of the professors in that department really instill in their students. … I was prepared to tackle things, any kind of questions across other fields too, with those tools of computer programming.”

Aderhold realized, however, that it wasn’t her passion. She had envied the geosciences students who took field trips while she sat behind a computer, and she remembered her intrigue when, while studying abroad, she met a Boston University undergraduate majoring in Earth sciences. She ended up pursuing a Ph.D. in the same field at Boston, where she focused on oceanic earthquakes.

“It was just this whole thing of random connections you make with people,” she said. “I guess in a way they’re not random, right? It’s keeping your eyes open, making sure you talk with different people about different things and consider something different from the path you’re currently on.”

DePauw fosters that sort of curiosity “in many different fields at the same time” and encourages students “to try new things,” she said.

Aderhold earned her doctorate in 2015 and immediately went to work for IRIS, where she was the data contact for the Ocean Bottom Seismograph Instrument Pool, a facility that provides seismometers to support research on the ocean floor. She also worked on the “transportable array,” a 17-year project, concluded last year, that involved the installation of 400 geophysical stations across the lower 48 states and 280 more in Alaska.

Aderhold is in management, overseeing multiple projects at a time and handling tasks ranging from getting permits to finding cooperative landowners, overseeing construction of stations, budgeting and reviewing data.

She works remotely from Homer. She was visiting her sister when COVID-19 trapped her there for seven months and, happily, that expedited her coveted permanent assignment in her hometown. It also enabled her to get out into the field, when COVID thwarted the people who were supposed to install some of the stations from reaching the area.

“I jumped in on that, just because I was down the road,” she said. “I’m hoping for a few more of those kinds of projects. … I love going out and helping other people with their work.”

SCIENTIFIC Research

Brooke Hayward Ro ’97: A mathematical approach

By Mary Dieter

Brooke Hayward Ro ’97 came to DePauw to study a pre-med curriculum, but soon realized that “I’m not like the other pre-med students.

“I keep taking math classes,” she recalled thinking. “I’m melting my backpack in chemistry class and I get lightheaded when I think about bones and blood or surgery.”

So no to medicine.

Then, after conducting research as a science research fellow, “I knew I didn’t want to be a lab scientist.”

So there she was, a biology and chemistry major beginning her senior year and lamenting that “I don’t know what to do” to her professor, Kathleen Snell Jagger ’75, now president of Newman University in Kansas.

Jagger told her: “Your passion is in biology. Your skills are in math. There’s this place where you can combine them … called biostatistics, where you do the math, but you apply it to medical research.”

With that “just priceless” information, Ro determined “that’s where I want to be.” She switched her major to math and pursued a career that she did not even know existed when she started at DePauw. In fact, she regularly tells young people that “the job that you’re going to fall in love with, that you’re meant to do, doesn’t exist yet.”

She has been a biostatistician since earning a master’s degree in biostatistics from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public

Health in 1999; she later got an MBA from Yale School of Management. For nearly 14 years, she led the biostatistics work at EMD Serono Inc. and, since September, has done the same work at Global Blood Therapeutics, a Californiabased company specializing in sickle cell anemia. Her work focuses on drugs already approved by the Federal Drug Administration to treat patients.

She might be on the lookout for new information that physicians, nurses, insurance companies and patients themselves have discerned from using a drug. She considers whether the drug is really working; “who cares if the lab tests get better if the patient doesn’t feel better or can’t afford the treatment?”

She poses safety questions: “Is there something that never showed up in the phase 3 trials that we need to put in the label, that doctors need to be looking for? Sometimes you can find those things in the real-world data after it is approved when it’s used in the general population,” she said. She also analyzes how a drug compares to competitors in the market.

Her analyses are conducted in two ways: one, she designs and conducts a study to answer those questions; or, two, she seeks out existing data sources that can be analyzed more quickly but require more complex statistical tools.

Ro supervises junior biostatisticians, contracts with others and admits that

“I keep my hands dirty” by keeping choice projects for herself. “I like this post-approval space because you have all these different audiences that you need to communicate with but that are also giving you insights,” she said. She also appreciates that in finding the right data source and the right statistical tool to match the research question the job allows her to be creative, something she has long recognized was important to her.

In fact, she chose DePauw because it enabled her to pursue not only science, but her other love – music – and more. She played xylophone and marimba in the DePauw Percussion Ensemble, and “I did cello lessons and I took guitar lessons; I took Russian and French and Italian and Shakespeare and all these things to be well-rounded, to use a different side of my brain (and) not be bogged down by too much science all the time.”

Photo: Jennifer Dominick

SCIENTIFIC Education

This summer, biochemistry professors Sharon Crary and Dan Gurnon (pictured above) worked with a team of DePauw students to investigate some reallife cases of rare genetic disorders. They focused on variants of the gene responsible for making lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), an enzyme that provides energy to muscles under stress. By duplicating and testing the performance of these mutated enzymes, the lab can report findings back to a global database – and hopefully, provide a path forward for patients in need.

Photo: Brittney Way

SCIENTIFIC Education

Wallace “J.” Nichols ’89: Water therapy

By Mary Dieter

It would seem that Wallace “J.” Nichols’s childhood predilections were the perfect predictor of the 1989 DePauw graduate’s expansive professional pursuits.

“Like a lot of kids, at least back in the day, I spent a lot of time outside … and particularly loved being in or around water,” he said. “I loved checking out wildlife, catching turtles, catching frogs.”

During summers spent around Chesapeake Bay, down from his New Jersey home, Nichols, his brother and a friend caught snapping turtles and painted numbers on their shells before tossing them back. “Then we would use algebra to try to figure out how many snapping turtles were in the bay,” he said. “… Our experimental design was

the kid version. But I loved math and I loved being outside. And fast forward, I learned that there’s this field of career that could bring those things together, and so I decided I would become a marine biologist.”

That, and a lot more. Nichols, a selfstyled “turtle nerd,” has a Ph.D. from University of Arizona and master’s degrees from Northeastern University and Duke University. He is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and a senior fellow at the Center for the Blue Economy, part of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. And he consults on turtle projects, including the organization he co-founded, SEEturtles.org, which raises funds to support sea turtle nesting, with a goal of hatching a billion babies.

But he spends most of his time as an evangelist for the restorative power of water.

“I started observing that a lot of people that I worked with or just observed say that they felt a lot better when they were near the water or in the water. And I became curious about that,” he said. “People visiting us at sea turtle beaches say it was transformative for them to be outside and near the ocean and interacting with wildlife. … Instead of just saying, ‘wow; that’s neat,’ I got more interested in the biology of that.”

At the time, however, he couldn’t find anything to read on the topic. He encouraged his mentor, the late neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, to write such a book. “It’s a fine idea,” Nichols recalled Sacks saying. “You write it.”

So Nichols did. “Blue Mind,” which describes how being in or near water

makes one happier and healthier, was published in 2014 and, with Nichols eschewing trademarking or copyrighting the name, the movement has exploded.

“What I was taught about the environment is that there’s an ecological value, there’s an economic value and there’s an educational value,” he said. “Those are all very important; I’m not downplaying anything. But what we’re not taught … is that there’s also an enormous, vast emotional value to that – creativity, restfulness, calmness, romance, a sense of peace and freedom that we achieve throughout our lives, as children, as adults and even at the very end.”

He founded The Blue Mind Movement and the Live Blue Foundation, which puts blue mind science and best practices into action. He started the Blue Marbles Project, a “wildly popular, absurdly simple, neuroscience-based initiative,” his website says, that “has shared blue marbles as the universal symbol of #bluemind around the world.” He distributed 7,000 blue marbles when he gave the commencement address and received an honorary doctorate from DePauw in 2010.

He has lectured about the blue mind concept in more than 30 counties and nearly all the states, including a TED talk in 2013. He has spoken at museums, aquariums and zoos, as well as conferences about birthing, end-of-life care, prisons and architecture.

He has been interviewed by hundreds of print, web and broadcast media outlets; he was on the cover of Outside magazine and GQ dubbed him “keeper of the sea.” He has written more than 200 scientific papers and book chapters and

two children’s books, including the recent “Dear Wild Child,” a story inspired by the loss of his family home to a 2020 wildfire. And he has been an adviser on three films: the 2007 documentary “The 11th Hour,” the 2008 thriller “Battle in Seattle” and the 2015 documentary “The Plastic Age.”

Nichols said his detour from scientific fieldwork was the result of his desire “to be a problem-solver, not a problem-spotter. Certainly not a complainer. I wanted to be somebody who worked to fix things, not just describe things. A lot of people in science describe the world and then, when they’re asked, ‘well, what should we do?’ they say, ‘well, I don’t do that part. I’m an unbiased scientist. … Here’s the description of the problem. Good luck.’ Then somebody is supposed to take that work and do something. I wanted to be involved in both. I wanted to be somebody who would identify, describe and work hard to solve problems.”

He learned how to do that at DePauw, he said. He also “got to try things,” such as “sing in the men’s a capella choir, but also be athletic and volunteer and write for the newspaper and pursue my studies and meet all the department heads and cycle all over the state and paddle all the waterways. …

“The small liberal arts experience certainly served me really well in this endeavor that I’m in right now.”

SCIENTIFIC Education

Olivia Castellini ’99: The whirlwind

By Mary Dieter

t was closing time at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and Olivia Castellini’s parents and six siblings were filing out when 5-year-old Olivia stopped abruptly to gaze, mesmerized, at a space capsule suspended above her head.

Only after the family regrouped outside the museum’s locked doors did her parents realize that their fifth child was missing.

“In the time it took my dad to bang on enough doors and get a security guard to open it and explain what happened, the woman who ran the gift shop had found me and brought me in and I was eating astronaut ice cream,” said Castellini, a 1999 DePauw graduate. “I was incredibly disappointed when my father came to claim me.”

Fast forward 40 years, and Castellini is still fascinated by science. The scene again is the air and space museum. But this time, an orange, life-size, 3D-printed statue of Castellini created for #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit was locked in. When her statue, and 119 others honoring women in science, technology, engineering and math, were distributed among Smithsonian buildings last March, Castellini’s was, coincidentally, deposited at the site of her youthful adventure.

“It makes me endlessly happy that I was displayed in the air and space museum,” she said.

One might say that Castellini had come full circle. But that conclusion ignores the zigzags and the twists that occurred along her path to become a physicist and a senior exhibit strategist at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

As a high schooler considering colleges, she was unsure which passion to pursue: music or science. She had played violin since she was 5, and auditioned for admission to several conservatories, “but in my heart of hearts, I wasn’t ready to give up the science.”

Her mother suggested she look at DePauw, and Castellini found it provided “the opportunity to study science in a very serious

way but also not have to give up studying music in a very serious way.” She ended up double majoring in physics and music, and playing in the University Orchestra. Though she had been skeptical about DePauw’s size, she came to realize that meant she could engage in all sorts of activities and develop relationships with her professors, she said.

One of her most valuable DePauw experiences, Castellini said, was a senior seminar course that required her to read technical papers and present them in class.

“Just having a very low-risk, supportive environment to do that, to learn that skill, was very important,” she said.

She went on to pursue master’s and doctorate degrees in physics at the University Wisconsin-Madison, with plans to go into research. While in graduate school, she supported herself by working several jobs simultaneously, including teaching physics and martial arts (she’s a second-degree black belt), nannying and modeling for Ford Models. Later, she started running so seriously that she has competed in seven marathons and a half IRONMAN triathlon. She also plays violin in the Lakeview Orchestra, a community ensemble.

While doing research during her doctoral program, “there was just some little voice in

the back of my head that (asked), ‘in another, five, 10 years, are you really going to jump out of bed and be excited to go do this?’”

She fretted that the answer was “no,” and, as her doctoral program was ending, got “genuinely excited” when she learned about a postdoctoral program doing public science outreach. “I took it to my adviser,” she said, “and he verbatim said, ‘You are throwing your career away.’”

That scared her, but “I’m a big believer in gut instinct.” Despite her fear, she instinctively knew “that was going to be the right choice for me,” she said. “… I started the postdoc, and I just loved it – that challenge of trying to translate ‘nerd’ to English.”

Soon thereafter, a Milwaukee museum engaged her postdoc program to be content experts. It was “the first time I ever thought about museums,” and “I fell in love with it.” Then, only nine months into her postdoc, Castellini learned of an opening for an exhibit developer at the famed Chicago museum.

“This just feels like it makes no sense whatsoever,” she told a different adviser. “I’ve never developed a new exhibit. But it just sounds like fun. And I think I could be good at it.” Castellini remembered the adviser, a female scientist, replying: “My job is to prepare you for whatever’s next, and if you think this is what’s next, you have to apply.”

She was hired in a temporary position in February 2006 to work on “Science Storms,” a 7,000-square-foot exhibit; within six months, it morphed into a $38 million, 26,000-square-foot permanent exhibit featuring an avalanche, a 40-foot-tall tornado and five other natural phenomena.

Her job also morphed into a permanent one. She leads a team that conceives of and develops exhibits; “if it’s a linear movie, an interactive piece of media, if it’s text on a

wall or pictures on a wall or if it’s bolted to the floor and you can touch it, that’s the stuff I make,” she said. In August, her title was tweaked to be senior exhibit strategist; she still develops exhibits but also oversees the creative and content strategy for the exhibits across the museum.

Castellini applied for #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit, which promotes what the honored women do professionally and provides professional development opportunities for them. It’s a huge honor, she said, and when she meets fellow recipients, they discuss “how we don’t feel like we’re cool enough to fit in with the other people. Everybody is so enamored with each other and so in awe of each other.”

The most gratifying aspect, however, is that the exhibit sponsor, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, asks recipients to make appearances as role models to girls and young women. Castellini relishes the opportunity.

“Being in the field a while, I understand how unusual” it is to see women scientists, she said.

“Looking back on it, I have benefited from having strong female role models in science from high school to DePauw to grad school,” she said. “On the list of strong female role models” is Mary Kertzman, the Paul B. Kissinger professor and chair of physics and astronomy.

Castellini “is part of a rare group of women who persist in a field that is historically unfriendly to women,” Kertzman said in an email. “When Olivia graduated from DePauw, only 19% of the degrees in physics in this country went to women. When she earned her Ph.D., the percentage of women Ph.D. recipients in the U.S. was about 15%, and continued to increase to 19% in 2008, where it has remained.

SCIENTIFIC Education

Chris Amidon ’02:

The storyteller

By Mary Dieter

Two classes – Geology of the National Parks and Physical Science – that Chris Amidon ’02 took in his first semester at DePauw reassured him that his childhood interest in rocks translated into a serious academic endeavor.

But those first couple of puzzle pieces didn’t yet reveal the final picture of his career. Another piece was added when, as a science research fellow heading into his senior year, he chose to pursue an internship on a trail crew at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota rather than conduct more research with geology professor Scott Wilkerson.

More puzzle pieces fell together upon Amidon’s graduation, when he landed a coveted summer job as a park interpreter at Wind Cave, a position he held two years. As a double major in geology and English writing, Amidon spent the off-season writing.

The picture of his future was forming. After a season, he knew the National Park Service “was what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be,” he said. After two seasons, “I loved it,” he said. “I was basically telling stories about geology every day that I came to work. And it was just it was so much fun.”

Soon, the full picture was clear: Amidon would set aside his writing ambitions and get serious about becoming

a full-time park ranger. Meanwhile, he spent a couple summers at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan and went back for a couple more at Wind Cave before landing a full-time position at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico in August 2009.

Amidon later moved to Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota and, in 2016, to his current spot at remote Isle Royale National Park, the least-visited national park in the lower 48 states. The park, on an island in Lake Superior, has no roads and is accessible only by ice plane or a ferry that operates from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula only mid-May through September. The park is open only slightly longer.

Amidon said his job requires him to use his geology chops and writing skills. He oversees the visitors’ center and ferry operation, handles fees paid to the park, hires and trains staff members, writes news releases, handles media inquiries and creates an annual trip-planning newspaper. But

“the thing that is always the most interesting is just telling different stories about the national parks, whether they’re geological or cultural,” he said.

Early in his career, “I called myself a geologist … and I interpreted from the scientific understanding of the Earth.”

But after doing underground work to restore Wind Cave, “I called myself a cave explorer, or a caver. I got absolutely bitten by the cave exploration fanaticism,”

and found that park visitors loved to hear stories about his underground adventures.

Northern Michigan has far fewer caves, so he canoes and backpacks. “I take the opportunities of the location where I’ve worked,” he said. He also plays the violin in local orchestras and recently started a string quartet.

Amidon chose to attend DePauw because it offered him the opportunity to study science but also take a few music classes and play in the DePauw Orchestra.

“I was mostly focused on the geological sciences in terms of where I wanted to go,” he said, so music “was more a creative outlet for me, in terms of something I love to do.”

Cynthia Vernon ’76: An informal educator

By Mary Dieter

She has a zoology degree from DePauw University and a master’s in animal behavior. She works for the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, one of the country’s largest and most renowned facilities dedicated to ocean conservation. Cynthia Vernon ’76 most decidedly is a scientist. And yet she considers herself “an informal science educator,” a title that summarizes the essence of a career spent encouraging people to “think about the natural world and connect with the natural world. …

“When people come to the aquarium, we want them to get excited about the ocean, excited about the animals and plants and the environments in Monterey and beyond, and the ocean beyond,” she said. The goal is to persuade people to adopt conservation behavior.

As the aquarium’s chief operating officer, Vernon oversees a number of programs, including education, exhibitions, guest experiences, facilities, husbandry and visitor research.

“Part of my job is walking around and connecting with our staff, our facilities, our

SCIENTIFIC Education

exhibits, our exhibitions. So I do get to see lots of cool animals every single day,” she said. Her staff knows about her affection for animals so, when something unusual happens – a new chick in the aviary or a new jellyfish in the tank – they’ll summon her “and give me enrichment,” she said.

She had known since she was a little girl that she wanted to “do something with animals;” she just wasn’t sure what. She was attracted to DePauw because of the zoology program, now part of biology, and sealed the deal after learning about winter terms and the opportunity, though limited so soon after Title IX passed in 1972, to play sports.

After graduation, she had a “vague notion” that she could work for National Geographic; she was interested in photography and shot photos for The DePauw student newspaper. She considered the National Park Service, “something out in nature, if it wasn’t specifically with animals. … I was really specific about that, but then didn’t have a path forward until a little bit later, when I was in grad school.”

Indeed, her science career nearly ended before it started. She had spent many summers as a camp counselor so, after graduating from DePauw, she went to work for a Milwaukee high school, developing customized learning programs for students who needed remedial help and for gifted and talented students. Her bosses wanted her to run a similar program at the middle school. The position required a teaching certificate, and she enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

A semester in, “it just didn’t feel like that was where I wanted to be,” she said. So she shifted her studies to biological sciences, “which was just far more interesting,” especially when she did a preceptorship at the Milwaukee County Zoo and worked in its education department. She remembers thinking “what I really want to be doing is communicating conservation, talking with families and kids about the importance of the natural world and getting them excited about animals in nature. And that’s how I got on my career path.”

She subsequently worked, among other places, at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo for almost six years and Brookfield Zoo for nearly 13. She joined the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2001, working first as vice president of education and guest programs and, for the last seven years, as COO.

Though Vernon had considered going to a larger school, DePauw provided “just the experience that I needed, just the right type of atmosphere that I needed to continue to develop my leadership skills, but also to have that well-rounded feel,” she said. “And that’s what a liberal arts school does. It really gives you those experiences and prepares you later on for being able to problem-solve and to build relationships with people, which I think is far more important in career development, in a career path, than being so focused on knowing stuff.”

It took a while for Katherine “Katie” Farnsworth ’93 to realize that she could be a scientist.

When she started at DePauw, she planned to be an accountant. Young people often pursue “careers that you know,” she said, and her father had gone into business after retiring from the U.S. Navy.

An introductory geography class diverted her interest, and she ended up majoring in geography. She knows now that geology may have been more on point, but “I didn’t think of myself as a science person.”

More interested in being a pirate than a scientist, she took time away in her junior year to study oceanography, maritime history and nautical science in Massachusetts for six weeks, then spend

the ocean,” but until she had the Woods Hole experience, “I just had never realized that there are people who studied things like marine geology, and the physics of the water. And suddenly, I was just opened up to this world of oceanography that just blew my mind.”

Marine geology is the study of the ocean basins and sediment and rock on the seafloor. “You can study the history of the Earth through that. It preserves hundreds of millions of years of Earth’s history,” she said.

Katie Farnsworth ’93: Yes, a scientist

By Mary Dieter

six weeks sailing at sea. Only then did she home in on marine geology, and only when she was studying that in graduate school did she finally identify as a scientist.

These days, with master’s and doctoral degrees from Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary, Farnsworth is an associate professor of marine geology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And she understands why she did not identify as a scientist back in the day.

“I kind of liked science, when I was younger, but when it got into where I had to dissect things, I’m not a biologist in any way, shape or form,” she said. “It turns out I like physics now, but I didn’t like physics in high school.”

Perhaps even more significant was

that, while her mother was a psychologist, Farnsworth didn’t see many women in science careers. That began to change at DePauw, where professor Kit Price “was a huge influence on me. Having a mentor who helped me do an undergraduate research project – a woman scientist, to be honest – made a huge difference,” she said. “That was a big shift in my mind, working with her and seeing her as a scientist.”

Exposure to Price and computer science professor Gloria Townsend, who advised Farnsworth for her minor, means that “even though I am … often the only woman in the room or one of only a few, I have that confidence in myself to be able to move forward in the field.”

Farnsworth was “always fascinated by

Coastal science informs policymakers about land use. At her landlocked university, “I’ve been focusing on undergraduate research projects with students on storm water issues. … I think it’s great to do research in places where you live, especially for students, because they can really get a grasp and they also can understand the impact that science can have on the community.”

Farnsworth has taught almost nonstop since getting her doctorate; she worked briefly for the U.S. Geological Survey, but missed teaching. “I really thrive off of the interaction with students, and I really enjoy spending time doing research with undergraduate students especially,” she said.

Doing research at DePauw influenced that, she said. So did the liberal arts experience, from which she gained “the ability to critically think about things, but also to have that freedom to explore lots of different courses and lots of different ways of thinking about things and also understand that pretty much all disciplines are actually interconnected.”

SCIENTIFIC Medicine

Star Long ’23, kinesiology major, spent 10 weeks this summer in one-on-one research with kinesiology professor Brian Wright. Long and Wright used motion capture tools to analyze a free throw. By measuring kinematic variables – how the shooter’s body moves through the motion –they studied not only how to improve someone’s technique, but also how to speed up healing an injury that might affect performance.

Photo: Brittney Way

Photo: Brittney Way

Mikey Padilla ’13: Harmony

By Mary Dieter

It was a hard choice: Would music or medicine better provide the meaningful personal connections Michael “Mikey” Gabriel Ramos Padilla ’13 sought?

“I had this intuition that much of the world’s suffering was related to … having to do it alone, or having to do it unseen, or being isolated, neglected – that much of suffering is in that isolation,” he said. “… I knew I wanted to connect with people.”

As an opera singer with training in piano and violin, he figured his performances could draw audiences in. As a physician, he thought, the connection would be more immediate.

“I actually think music and medicine are very similar in what drives them and what they can bring to the world,” Padilla said. “Having people be seen. The main difference is that, with music, … I’m asking people to step into my world and hope that that makes a difference for them. And with medicine, I step into their world.”

And so Padilla, a Rector and honor scholar who double majored in music performance and biochemistry at DePauw, ultimately chose medicine, earning a degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2018. He now is a family doctor in the Franciscan Health Network,

practicing on the south side of Indianapolis; he also runs Franciscan’s fertility clinic.

He chose osteopathy – a field in which practitioners consider the whole body and concentrate on prevention – because “I wanted to continue what I’ve been calling my liberal arts approach to medicine,” he said. He was aided by DePauw’s “whole culture of genuine academic pursuit,” including learning that continued outside the classroom. That “opened up my mind to how different people’s experiences can be” and caused him to recognize that “I could be any one of my patients.” Living and interacting with his Sigma Nu

SCIENTIFIC Medcine

fraternity brothers taught him valuable communication skills, he said.

As a physician, “I’m definitely learning science on a daily basis to keep up with what to apply to my patients,” he said. But medicine is not raw science, Padilla said. “Something every doctor goes through a little bit is stepping away from the science, knowing that there’s more to it than the science. The science isn’t where it ends, but where it starts.”

He is still interested in music, sings at weddings and hopes someday to have the time to do community theater. He also writes poetry and is gathering material for a comedy routine. And he remains intrigued that music and science are not only complementary, but also defy conventional wisdom about what it takes to practice each.

“There’s something very precise about music,” he said. “… It’s physically and discipline-wise exact and rigorous. I think people think that music is touchy-feely, but when you’re studying it, when you’re doing it, when you’re building the skills, (you see) the approach is very scientific.”

Meanwhile, “there’s something creative in science and something adventurous that we’ve weeded out a little bit from the culture of science. It’s inherently investigative, but in a creative way,” he said. “… Seeing science, and thinking about the how and the why and what this means, really allowed me to create a story within science, as opposed to it just being facts.”

Music Connection

Craig Paré, professor of music and director of university bands, says it’s common to have science students find a respite in music, which helps them “open up a different way of how they think and how they create. …

“Over the years I’ve seen a good number of students who have been in biochemistry, students who were eventually going to go into medical school or really enjoyed physics or any of the sciences really enjoy making music,” he said.

Science alumni in this issue connected to music:

• Olivia Castellini ’99, physicist and museum exhibit developer, plays violin in the Lakeview Orchestra.

• Chris Amidon ’02, national park ranger, plays the violin in local orchestras in Northern Michigan.

• Michael “Mikey” Gabriel Ramos Padilla ’13, osteopathic physician, performed opera at DePauw.

• Brooke Hayward Ro ’97, biostatitician, played marimba and xylophone in DePauw Percussion Ensemble.

Photo: Brittney Way

Johari Miller-Wilson ’94: A childhood dream

By Sarah McAdams

Johari Miller-Wilson ’94 knew at age 5 that she wanted to be a doctor. Just not a pediatrician.

Growing up in Indianapolis, she had aspirations of going east to an Ivy League school. But her mom had a different idea, and took her to DePauw for a campus visit. Miller-Wilson fell in love immediately.

She recalled that, during an interview at DePauw before starting her freshman year, she was asked what kind of doctor she wanted to be. “I said, I don’t want to be a pediatrician because kids can’t tell you what’s wrong with them.”

But during her sophomore year winter term, she participated in an internship with one of her mom’s good friends, who happened to be a pediatrician.

“Pediatrics definitely became my jam after seeing how she interacted with her patients,” she said. “I thought, ‘this is amazing, and it’s what I want to do.’ My pediatric rotation in med school solidified that commitment.”

With a major in chemistry and a minor in biology at DePauw, she went on to earn a medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. She has been a pediatrician at IU Health Arnett in Lafayette, Indiana, since 2001.

She also is a volunteer member of the West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission and previously served nine years on the Lafayette Police Department Civil Service Commission merit board, including 13 months as secretary.

Through lots of interactions and close connections in the Chemistry Department at DePauw, Miller-Wilson got to know all the professors well and felt at home. That’s a benefit, she said, of a small school.

With chemistry and biochemistry professor Bridget Gourley, she helped establish the DePauw Women in Science program, which was developed to create a supportive environment for female science students to achieve their full potential.

They visited local high schools and invited students to campus to share their excitement about science. Miller-Wilson has returned to campus in recent years to talk to members in the program.

“My DePauw experience helped mold me into who I am today and gave me the foundation needed to be ready to deal with all the things that life throws at you,” she said. “Anything in our lives that helps us to be more rounded and see a broader view than what’s right in front of us is good.”

SCIENTIFIC Medicine

When a few former cancer patients sought treatment from cardiologist Vijay Rao ’96 for heart issues, he harkened to his research fellowship a few years earlier, where he learned about precision medicine, a breakthrough treatment for breast cancer.

He put two and two together.

“Recognizing that these patients who had developed heart failure from some of the therapies that they had received really hit home for me,” he said.

He had learned during the fellowship that certain chemotherapies target a specific molecular pathway, and “it looked like those same signaling pathways were really important for cardiovascular function. …

Vijay Rao ’96: Trailblazer

By Sarah McAdams

“I wanted to learn more about this,” so he persuaded an oncologist colleague at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis to attend the inaugural Global Cardio-Oncology Summit in 2015, where the emerging multidisciplinary field would be discussed. “We both came back with our eyes wide open, and that led to multiple discussions about how we could be doing more for oncology patients,” he said. “We started to build our own program within our hospital system.”

Since then, Rao and his team have treated more than 1,000 oncology patients at Franciscan, which has been designated a Gold Center of Excellence by the International Cardio-Oncology Society. He leads the society’s Centers of Excellence committee and was the society’s first fellow in Indiana and one of only 17 internationally. He presents at national meetings and publishes papers, and has been traveling around Indiana to “educate the oncologists about what the field is and also to engage the cardiologists

… to start thinking about how they would develop a program.” He also directs the month-long cardiology clerkship for fourth-year students at Indiana University School of Medicine and the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Marian College.

He enjoys “being able to work collaboratively with another specialty, which traditionally hasn’t been done in medicine.” But most satisfying, he said, is “developing a relationship with that patient, helping them recognize that I am part of their team and that I’m going to help them get through this safely.”

He credits DePauw for setting him on this pathway, which led to him earning a medical degree and a Ph.D. in molecular cardiology at the Medical University of South Carolina and completing an internship and a residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center.

At DePauw, he majored in biology and was a science research fellow who loved science “but I wanted to be well-rounded, too. And that’s why a liberal arts education really made a lot more sense to me.”

Rao especially credits Delores “Dee” Seketa, a former lab supervisor and biology instructor, for recognizing his potential in science.

“She and I really connected,” Rao said. He was a teaching assistant in one of her courses, and “I think she recognized the fact that I was looking for more challenge.” She suggested he apply to the Science Research Fellows Program during his first year. “I was accepted, and the rest is sort of history. But honestly, without her, I’m not sure that the path would have been the same.

“I don’t think any of the things I am accomplishing today can stand in isolation from the time that I spent at DePauw.”

Joseph Webster Jr. ’89: Lessons from Shakespeare

By Sarah McAdams

Like any future physician, Joseph Webster Jr. ’89 took a lot of science classes at DePauw.

But “one of the professors who left the biggest impression on me was not in science, but it was someone from my liberal arts courses,” he said.

In a course on Shakespeare, former English professor Fred Nelson “thought my take on different interpretations of Shakespeare was unique, and he completely embraced me and allowed me to start thinking outside the box.”

That, Webster said, is what DePauw does. Taking required courses outside one’s major “keeps you well-rounded and you meet other people you may not have met,” he said. “You may find yourself taking philosophy, intro to music or Shakespeare – like I did.”

Webster, who majored in chemistry and minored in math, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and went on to earn a medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed a surgery internship and anesthesiology residency at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Today he is a physician anesthesiologist for Northside Anesthesia Services LLC and medical director at Carmel Specialty Surgery Center.

As an undergraduate, however, he was “all over the place” and having a difficult time deciding his career path.

Two experiences enabled him to home in on anesthesia.

The first occurred at DePauw, where Webster pledged Beta Theta Pi fraternity and had a serendipitous connection to a fraternity brother who had graduated several years earlier.

He found a notebook in the fraternity with notes for a biochemistry course. “This notebook was immaculate, amazingly detailed with perfect handwriting. And I’m super meticulous and have nice handwriting, too. So I thought, this guy is like me.” The notes were so accurate that Webster said that, as his professor lectured, he felt as if he were reading from the notebook.

Fast forward a few years to alumni reunion weekend. Webster made it his mission to see if the owner of the notebook was on campus. “And finally, I found him!” he said. The owner was Andrew Satz ’84.

They stayed in contact, and “I shadowed him a couple times while I was in med school, but I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to do anesthesia,” Webster said.

Satz, an anesthesiologist at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital, said of Webster: “I don’t really know where to begin to describe what Joseph has achieved in his career as physician. I am honored to be a mentor.

“He is truly one of the finest physicians I know and a vital part in the success of one of the largest independent physician companies in America. Joseph’s positive influences on patients doesn’t end in the operating room. He is an engaged board

member on the St. Vincent Ascension Hospital Foundation along with numerous other philanthropic endeavors emblematic of his desire to be constantly giving back. Both in and out of the operating room he is truly a remarkable human being, one of which I am extremely proud.”

The second experience was when his counselor at the University of Michigan suggested he do an anesthesia rotation. They had had a discussion that included a process of elimination of sorts.

“I did the rotation, and literally, the way I felt when I first arrived on DePauw’s campus is how I felt when I was at Wishard (Hospital, now Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital) the first time I was doing anesthesia.

“And I knew – right away – that it was the right thing.”

SCIENTIFIC Network

Bamlak Deju ’23 worked on student-faculty research with biology professor Nipun Chopra '06 for multiple semesters. He and Rachel Delancey ’23 (cover) were part of a student team involved in two lines of research in the Chopra lab. They looked into the use of microRNA to regulate a protein connected to traumatic brain injury and collaborated with chemistry professor Jeff Hansen ’86 and his students to test the effects of an experimental compound on cancer cells. Both students are also currently involved in two review papers that will be submitted this year.

Richard Born ’83: Lab discoveries

By Mary Dieter

Richard “Rick” Born ’83 was well on his way to becoming an orthopaedic surgeon. Until he wasn’t.

While originally attracted to orthopaedics, as he progressed through Harvard Medical School, Born became more and more interested in the nervous system. Yet clinical rotations in neurology and neurosurgery were not “super satisfying. … I didn’t feel like these were my people or this was my career.”

With a desire to learn more about the nervous system, Born asked for a yearlong release from medical classes. The dean of students gave his blessing and financial support, and Born landed a lab job in Harvard’s neurobiology department. “It was during that year, really, that I discovered that’s what I really wanted to do,” he said. He completed his medical degree, worked in postdoctoral programs at Harvard and Stanford University and in 1995 won a faculty position at Harvard Medical School.

“My journey wasn’t quite as linear as someone who goes undergrad, grad school, postdoc, faculty job,” he said. “But in the long run, what matters is spending the time in the lab and really developing your ideas and what you’re interested in and passionate about and running with that as far as you can.”

His Born Lab studies the visual cortex of alert monkeys trained to report aspects

of their visual experience, with a goal of learning the complex way mammals’ brains work to create vision.

“The basic goal of my lab and other labs like it is to just understand at a basic level how it is that we are able to see things in depth, how we’re able to detect motion and track things with our eyes,” he said.

“… We’re still in the very early stages of understanding how that all works. We’ve made some really good progress, and that has been manifested in advances” such as facial recognition technology.

Born recently has been winding down some of his research to focus more on teaching and pedagogy, including developing materials to enhance rigor in biology classes at Harvard and beyond.

Born, who grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula before his family moved to Milwaukee during his senior year of high school, was a Rector scholar and chemistry major who tested out of enough courses that he graduated from DePauw in three years. He chose DePauw because its size enabled him to “do a lot of things I liked.”

He swam on the swim team; sang in the Festival Chorus; rode in the Little 500 for Longden Hall; and wrote for The DePauw.

He conducted laboratory research at the Medical College of Wisconsin during two winter terms and did a chemistry project in a DePauw lab for his senior thesis.

Even with those research experiences,

Born – for the time being – stuck to his plan to pursue orthopaedics. “In retrospect,” he said, “the things that started my head turning away – although I didn’t realize it at the time – were some of the philosophy classes I took” that delved into the philosophy of neuroscience or philosophy of the mind.

“Those courses had a big influence on me in terms of starting my interest in research and in neuroscience in particular.”

His career trajectory, he said, “has been a real testament to the value of a liberal arts education,” which he sought when he chose DePauw.

“It was a place where I thought I would be able to grow as a person and as a scholar.”

Photo: Anna Olivella Photography

Network

Henning Schneider: Diverging roads

By Mary Dieter

As the acquaintances emerged from their respective postdoctoral programs at Harvard Medical School, Rick Born ’83 and Henning Schneider chose different pathways.

And for each, that has made all the difference.

Born teaches Harvard medical and graduate students in a couple of classes a semester, with the assistance of teaching fellows. But his primary role is conducting research, and most of his salary over the years has been paid by research grants.

For Schneider, the Winona H. Welch professor of biology at DePauw, “teaching and research go hand in hand; they belong together. The question is, where’s the balance?”

At a school such as DePauw, where he has taught since 2003, the balance favors teaching, but Schneider intentionally incorporates his own research into courses “so students don’t do cookie-cutter lab projects.” The Schneider lab studies nicotine-seeking and avoidance behaviors in zebrafish and the neurogenetic and genomic variances in zebrafish that increase their risk of becoming dependent on nicotine.

While teaching undergraduates during his postdoctoral program, Schneider said he learned “how satisfying, how much fun it is, to work with undergraduate students.”

What’s more, “one of the big advantages and, I would say, goals” of teaching at a liberal arts institution is “to teach critical thinking and data analysis and develop ideas, reading, writing,” he said. “All of that is greatly integrated into the research. I find the combination wonderful.”

As a product of the German education system, Schneider had known little about liberal arts institutions when he came to the United States but learned about them from American friends. It used to be that German students with designs on a science career attended 13 years of elementary through preparatory school, then went directly into a master’s or medical degree program. Schneider earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Konstanz, then looked to America for his postdoctoral program.

Later, when he began his job search, he applied to research institutions and liberal arts colleges, and got a better response from the latter. “They liked the teaching part that I had done and my philosophy of combining that with research,” he said.

Schneider figured that, in his 19 years

at DePauw, he has overseen 80 to 90 student researchers in his lab, and many have gone on to become physicians or conduct research. His first lab student, Jesse Williams ’07, runs his own lab at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Other students have followed Schneider into teaching. They include Nipun Chopra

’06, an assistant biology professor at DePauw, who did not work in the lab but credits Schneider and his classes with interesting him in neurobiology, Chopra’s ultimate field of study.

Said Chopra: “He has been a tremendous influence on my life, and continues to be.”

Photos: Timothy D. Sofranko

Network

Photos: Brittney Way

Nipun Chopra ’06: New ways to use science

By Mary Dieter

Nipun Chopra ’06 had his career path mapped out: He would become a microbiologist, return to his native Kolkata, India, and battle malaria.

In his senior year at DePauw, however, he took a course in molecular neurobiology taught by Henning Schneider, the Winona H. Welch professor of biology, “and that changed my career trajectory to neuroscience.”

Chopra ended up following Schneider not only into neuroscience but also into teaching; he recently began his fourth year as an assistant biology professor at his alma mater. He studied Alzheimer’s disease for several years, intrigued when “I realized that something as small as a misfolded piece of a larger protein could lead to something as huge as Alzheimer’s disease. That was a transformative moment.”

Then, while studying for his Ph.D. at Indiana University School of Medicine, Chopra – who played soccer a year at DePauw and coached it for three years at Greencastle High School – became “more and more interested in understanding what is happening in the brain in concussive injuries in all kinds of sports.” He earned his doctorate in December 2016, then spent two years in a med school lab researching traumatic brain injury.

In fall 2019, he returned to DePauw to teach and mentor students conducting laboratory experiments involving S100β, a protein that is overproduced when a brain injury occurs, destroying healthy neurons.

At DePauw, “my No. 1 goal is to teach students how research works,” he said. “… I want students to leave my lab and say, ‘OK, research is for me,’ or ‘it’s not for me.’

I’ve had students go both ways, and that’s perfectly fine.”

His second goal, he said, is helping students build their curriculum vita. Having worked on an admissions committee during his postdoc, he knows that robust undergraduate research experience is “a hugely important weight” in an application for graduate school.

Chopra’s interest in sports-related brain injuries spurred him to write a June 2020 opinion piece for the soccer-oriented Soc Takes website about the Hiji® headband. It was developed by Movement Interactive Inc. to sense the change in gravitational

force in the skull when an athlete is hit.

The company was partnering with the Women’s Premier Soccer League to test the product, which signals a coach or a trainer when a player experiences a blow of sufficient magnitude. Chopra wrote that data on concussive prediction and diagnosis were “equivocal at best” and largely based on “poorly controlled studies.”

Movement Interactive CEO Eric Luster admitted he expected a fluff piece when he agreed to an interview with Chopra, “but he was brutally honest. And we appreciated that candor. … Later on, we were looking for that type of scientific

integrity going forward,” and Chopra immediately rose to the top of prospective advisers. “We found that Nipun was very unbiased. And he will tell it like it is.”

Chopra became the company’s scientific adviser in 2021 and, since February, its chief scientific officer. He oversees the pilot study and will do the same for future, expanded studies; he also interprets information about biomarkers that change when a player sustains a blow. The goal, he said, is to identify what it takes to experience a diagnosable concussion, as well as that for a subconcussion, something less than a concussion but that, when repeated over and over, can lead to serious damage, even chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

He loves the work, he said, because it marries his interests in neuroscience and soccer and is teaching him about business. What’s more, “it actually helps me as a teacher, as a professor, because I’m constantly reminding my students that there aren’t just two tracks out there. It’s not just medical school or graduate school, right? There’s this whole other world.”

It’s a world that tantalizes him, too, maybe enough to lure him away someday from full-time teaching, he said. But not entirely away from the classroom and the lab.

“Teaching will always be a part of my life,” he said, mentioning the joy he felt when a student recently explained a sophisticated phenomenon that Chopra would not have expected him to understand at this stage of his education.

“That feedback gives me so much more gratification than extra zeroes on a check.”

Jesse Williams ’07: Connections

By Mary Dieter

Two connections that Jesse Williams ’07 made at DePauw University set him on a path toward running his own research lab at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

In his first semester of college, Williams asked Henning Schneider, then in his first year teaching at DePauw, if he could work in Schneider’s lab. Williams, with plans to become a physician, was urged by Schneider to apply to the Science Research Fellows Program and was accepted.

lecture for the fellows program. Williams, then a biology major and chemistry minor, sent Lingen a letter to thank him for the lecture and ask for a summer internship. Lingen said yes.

“That internship was really what drove me to start applying for Ph.D.-specific programs,” Williams said. “… I went and worked with him and then decided I want to do research.”

Though he considered Lingen’s same education route – dual Doctor of Dentistry

disease and obesity and, after getting his doctorate, Williams landed in a postdoctoral program at Washington University School of Medicine, where his mentor “let me work on the projects I wanted to work on.”

Williams started as an assistant professor at Minnesota in March 2019. Last May, his lab won a $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to study how chronic stress is regulated, and it also has received research funds from the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the state of Minnesota.

Williams also works with pharmaceutical companies running earlystage clinical trials on existing drugs, with a goal of repurposing them.

Much of his work focuses on macrophages, which perform important functions in all human tissues but, in disease, get out of control. They’re the primary cell type in the plaque that builds up in arteries and causes life-threatening blockages.

“We’re trying to reprogram the macrophages to perform the functions we want them to do better and to not become pathogenic,” he said. “If we can make them be really great at removing cholesterol from arteries, then it’d be super fantastic.”

“It ended up being really valuable and it connected me to later research experiences that probably drove my interest in becoming a bench scientist, a research scientist, rather than a provider of health care,” Williams said.

A couple years later, DePauw alumnus Mark Lingen ’86, an oral-cancer researcher at the University of Chicago, was a guest

and Ph.D. degrees – Williams ended up getting his Ph.D. in immunology from University of Chicago. “I got really interested in cardiovascular disease because, clearly, we all know somebody who has heart failure, had a stroke or had a heart attack,” he said.

At the time, scientists were just beginning to study how inflammation and the immune system were involved in cardiovascular

Williams values “the mentoring aspect” with students in the lab and he is grateful that he had the same connection with Schneider, whom he called “amazing,” and for the opportunity Lingen provided.

“The DePauw network,” he said, “certainly helped me out in showing me what options were available.”

SCIENTIFIC Network

Mark Lingen ’86: Detour from family footsteps

By Mary Dieter

His father, uncle, grandfather and great-granduncle had all been dentists, and Mark Lingen ’86 figured he’d go into the family business that dates to 1896.

But a wrestling injury caused his intended undergraduate school to rescind its athletic scholarship offer, and he and his family scrambled to find a college that would admit Lingen at a late date. With the help of his parents’ friend – the spouse of a DePauw University professor – Lingen discovered DePauw, where he encountered a person who would change his life.

Biology professor Charles Mays “introduced me to research my freshman year,” Lingen said. “He’s really the person who then got me interested in science.”

Lingen researched with Mays all four years, and their work showed that pregnant mice exposed to secondhand smoke gave birth to fewer offspring that were smaller in size and weight than normal. It was cutting-edge research in the early 1980s, and they published a paper, Lingen’s first. He has published more than 200 papers and book chapters since.

The research so entranced Lingen that, by the time he graduated, he knew he didn’t want to be a “wet-hands dentist” like his relatives.

He went to Northwestern University Dental School, just as they all had, but continued on to earn a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular pathology, work a fouryear residency in oral and maxillofacial pathology and complete a two-year clinical fellowship in the same discipline, all at Northwestern.

Lingen then worked two years at Northwestern and five years at Loyola University Medical Center before joining the University of Chicago in 2002. He is a professor in the pathology and medicine departments and runs a lab that researches oral cancer and provides pathology consultations.

He and his researchers are trying to understand how tumors trick a body into providing blood vessels that nourish the tumor and to figure out how to stop them from doing so without interfering with healthy processes. Breakthroughs may be applicable to all cancers, he said. He also is working on a saliva test that will identify mouth lesions before they become malignant; it may be ready by 2024.

Several years ago, Mays, who died in

2015, invited Lingen to give a lecture to the Science Research Fellows Program. Mays started the program after Lingen graduated, but Lingen praised it for helping students “figure out whether they really liked science” and exposing them to research in a way that will reassure graduate school admission committees.

After the lecture, Jesse Williams ’07 asked Lingen if he could work in his lab the following summer. Lingen agreed “because I wanted to give something back to DePauw. …

“If it were not for Chuck, I probably would not have gone into science,” Lingen said, “and thus if I did not go into science, who knows what direction Jesse’s life would have taken? … If Chuck hadn’t started the science fellow program in the early 1990s, who knows if all of the future DePauw science fellows would have had the wonderful opportunities they have been afforded?”

DePauw has always been successful in producing strong graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM. However, those graduates haven’t always been reflective of the wider student body or the U.S. population.

To make science and math more equitable and accessible to all interested students, especially those traditionally marginalized in STEM, DePauw applied for and received in 2018 a five-year, $1 million Inclusive Excellence grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. DePauw’s proposal requested funds for STEM departments to evaluate and revise their curricula and teaching methods; to enable students to attend professional conferences and apply to graduate and professional school; for professional development workshops and conferences for STEM faculty and staff members; and for community building and visiting scholars.

The most successful aspect thus far has been the STEM Guide Program, which in August received the 2022 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award from

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

STEM guides are advanced students, ideally students of color, who serve as teaching assistants, mentors and role models for students in DePauw science and math classes. Students in courses with STEM guides benefit from seeing a greater representation of Black, indigenous and people of color in the classroom and having an additional resource who might be less intimidating than a faculty member.

Each of DePauw’s eight science and math departments has used STEM guides, involving 113 individual guides and affecting thousands of students enrolled in introductory classes. Brittany Davis ’20, a clinical research coordinator at IU Health who double-majored in neuroscience and global health, said that, for her, the most valuable part of being a STEM guide was providing a sense of community and confidence, especially for students in groups traditionally marginalized in STEM.

We have sought input from students and recent graduates through focus groups, surveys and interviews regarding barriers to their success and suggestions

for improving DePauw. We are using this information to refine our approach. As the project moves forward, we recognize the need to normalize the importance of considering equity in STEM all the time and across all departments. The ultimate goal is to institutionalize programs such as STEM guides.

Our team, which also includes Selma Poturovic, program coordinator and associate chemistry professor, is pleased with the progress thus far, but realize that there is still much to do before the project achieves its ultimate goals: All DePauw STEM instructors teaching with inclusive content and practices, and all students (especially BIPOC, first-generation college students and women) feeling welcome and confident that they can succeed in STEM.

Roberts is the Howard C. and Mary Ellen Black professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the primary investigator for the Hughes grant. Dudle is a professor of biology. Propsom is a psychology professor emerita. Renick is assistant director of graduate and professional advising and pre-health adviser.

Colleen McCracken Renick

Jackie Roberts

Dana Dudle

Pam Propsom

In appreciation of scientists

By Duane Nickell ’80

Someyears ago, I was browsing around in a bookstore and picked up an interesting-looking book with brief biographies of noteworthy people from Indiana. I started thumbing through the pages; the profiles included athletes, authors, musicians and politicians. As I continued turning the pages I noticed something: There were no scientists. I kept turning – still no scientists. Finally, near the end of the book, there was a short entry on Alfred Kinsey. Out of the nearly 200 names listed in this book about famous Hoosiers, there was only one scientist. At that moment I decided to write a book about Indiana scientists.

Science should be appreciated and celebrated, but a significant fraction of the population of the United States just doesn’t trust science or scientists. They dismiss egg-headed intellectuals and know-itall experts. They prefer to believe what they want to believe and ignore facts and evidence. This attitude is a prescription for disaster. For example, within a year of the time the COVID-19 pandemic brought the modern world to a grinding halt, scientists had a vaccine that worked with remarkable effectiveness and saved thousands of lives. But many people stubbornly refused to take the vaccine and died as a result.

Climate change is another example of what happens when science is ignored. Scientists first warned about the problem more than 100 years ago. Now we are dealing with the consequences of our

inaction: torrential rains, deadly heat waves and rising sea levels. Scientists can suggest ways to combat climate change and reduce its effects, but these ideas won’t work unless we have the political will to take action.

DePauw has produced many scientists who have made significant contributions to their disciplines, but I’ll mention just two. In 1916, a young Black man from Alabama came north to Greencastle to earn a college degree that he was not allowed to pursue in the Jim Crow South. His name was Percy Julian. Julian started DePauw with the equivalent of a 10th-grade education; he finished as valedictorian in 1920. His most important discovery was a chemical called physostigmine, useful in treating glaucoma. He went on to become a leading industrial chemist and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Ferid Murad ’58 is another notable scientist trained at DePauw. Murad won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for discovering that nitric oxide was a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. This discovery has led to medicines that regulate blood pressure, treat heart and lung conditions and fight infections, but by far the most famous application is the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men.

Scientific discoveries contribute to our understanding of the universe and improve our standard of living. Instead of making stuff up, scientists figure things out. The modern world exists because of science. Science sends astronauts to the moon and puts a cell phone in nearly every pocket. Every student in Indiana should know about Julian, Murad and other Hoosier scientists. President Barack Obama once said “Scientists and engineers ought to stand side-by-side with athletes and entertainers as role models.” I hope that by writing books about scientists, I can make a small contribution to this vision.

Nickell, a retired high school physics teacher, has written four books, including “Scientific Indiana.” Having majored in physics and math at DePauw, he holds a doctorate in education from Indiana University. In 2002, he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the U.S. government’s highest award for STEM teachers.

CLASS NOTES

GOLD NUGGETS publishes submitted updates about DePauw alumni’s careers, milestones, activities and whereabouts. Send your news to DePauw Magazine, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, IN 46135-0037 or dgrooms@depauw.edu. Faxes may be sent to 765-658-4625.

Space considerations limit our ability to publish photos. Group photos will be considered if you include each person’s name (first, maiden and last), year of graduation and information about the gathering or wedding. Digital photos must be high-quality jpegs of at least 300 dpi. Submitted hard copies cannot be returned.

Questions? Contact communicate@depauw.edu.

1944

Jean MacRae Jones recently celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends. She had a career with Illinois Power Co. She and Donald Jones ’43 were married in 1944. As a member of the DePauw Alumni Association, Jean was active in planning many reunions and was involved with her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma for many years. Today she enjoys working on puzzles and keeping up with eight grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. (See photo.)

1957

H. Dale Bracey and Marilyn Meyer ’60 were married March 27 in McLean, Virginia. Dale wrote that, when he and his first wife, Barbara Nelson Bracey ’60, were married in 1958, Marilyn was the maid of honor. Barbara was the maid of honor for Marilyn’s first marriage. Barbara died in 2013 and Marilyn’s first husband died five years ago, and

Dale and Marilyn later reconnected in a phone call.

Ann Luttrell Grant and her husband, Thomas J. Grant ’56, stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on their way to Cincinnati to watch a tennis tournament. They met Ann’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority sister, Donna Hostetter Peebles ’57, at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, where they had a good time reminiscing about their DePauw days. (See photo.)

1958

Doug Holmes swam in the Southern Masters Championship competition in Shreveport, Louisiana, in August. He has been a master swimmer for 50 years, placing 260 times in the U.S. Masters Swimming Top 10 and ranked first in his age group 24 times. At age 50 he held the national record for the 100-meter breaststroke. At 86 he still enjoys competing as the oldest man on

The Greek Community Board supports all fraternity and sorority organizations across all four councils and both active and legacy chapters. It supports alumni, facilitates communication and collaborates with the university to ensure the Greek experience complements the university’s academic endeavors and advances preparation for leadership. Alumni interested in learning more about the ways to support the fraternity and sorority experience are encouraged to visit https://www.depauw. edu/campus-life/greek-life/greek/ or contact Frae Binder, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

the starting blocks. Doug notes that he and Amanda Stier Janszen ’09 serve together on the Southern Masters board.

1961

Hathaway K.  Harvey was given a lifetime achievement award in the 2021 Champions of Health Care, a recognition made by the Chattanooga Times Free Press; EDGE, a Chattanooga business magazine; and the Chattanooga Medical Society. Hathaway, who retired from his otolaryngology practice after more than 50 years as a head and neck surgeon, still assists frequently with ear, nose and throat surgeries. The award honors a health care leader who has left a legacy on the quality and delivery of health care. He was profiled in EDGE magazine last September.

1963

Philip N. Eskew Jr. received the J.O. Ritchey Award from Indiana University School of Medicine, from where he is a retired OB-GYN and emeritus professor. The award recognizes individuals who have made enduring commitments to the school, the medical profession and their patients.

1966

Stephen W. Hayes recently received the Fellow of Distinction award from the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. He also was honored as an Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition of Adoption Institute, a group of federal lawmakers who support adoption efforts. When Stephen retired from Grady, Hayes &

Delta Kappa Epsilon members from the classes of 1964-67 reunion. Those attending included David P. Jerrett ’64, George H. Belhobek ’65, Kenneth N. Riggs ’65, Dennis H. Krutz ’65, Robert T. Thoms ’66, Reynar Meadowcroft Jr. ’66, Harry G. Dandelles ’67, Steven A. Jerrett ’67, Michael J. Demaray ’67 and John T. Casey ’67.

Jean MacRae Jones ’44 with husband Don

Ann Luttrell Grant ’57, Thomas J. Grant ’56 and Donna Hostetter Peebles ’57

CLASS NOTES

Neary LLC, he had participated in more than 4,000 family-building cases.

1967

The 150th anniversary of the founding of Beta Beta chapter of Delta Tau Delta at Indiana Asbury College, predecessor of DePauw, was held May 14. President Lori White spoke. Attendees included Bert M. Wilhoite ’65, Thomas M. O’Neil ’69, Kenneth D. Handley ’67, Curtis W. Bush ’65, Jack M. Hogan ’67, James M. Hess ’65, James W. DeArmond ’61, Steve W. Sanger ’68, John S. Null ’61, Max W. Hittle Jr. ’66, Mark E. English ’64, William G. Gerber ’61, James B. Nelson ’63, George “Bud” L. Meisenger ’61, Richard G. Baumgartner ’65, W. David Wilson III ’65, Robert W. Orthey ’67, James A. Fisher ’68, Thomas S. Yeo ’70 and John C. Harbottle ’65. Also attending but

not in the photo were S. David Siff ’68, Mark W. Ford ’71, Sterling E. Doster ’63 and Scott C. Norris ’72

Ten members of Delta Kappa Epsilon from the classes of 1964-67 gathered in Greencastle June 23-24 for a reunion. They had a meal at the Fluttering Duck, golfed and visited Moore’s Bar and the house at 620 Anderson St.Pictures from the 1960s were shared and many remarked how little they had changed. The next reunion is planned for June 2024. (See photo, page 37.)

1969

Thomas W. Dinwiddie has joined the Board of Directors of Merchants Bancorp, parent company of Merchants Bank of Indiana.

1970

Members of Phi Gamma Delta class of 1971 hosted a luncheon at the newly renovated Fiji house for the 50th anniversary reunion classes. (See photo.)

1972

The class of 1972 celebrated 50 years since graduation at Alumni Reunion Weekend 2022. Kathryn Schurz Peters, Vicki Vance Stanton and Mary Hickcox Magura were unable to attend but sent greetings from Arizona. (See photo.)

1973

William F. Carroll Jr. is the 2023 recipient of the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award, which honors outstanding public service by a member of the American Chemical Society.

1976

Joseph R. Lagomarcino is senior vice president of mortgage lending at OriginPoint LLC.

1977

A mini reunion of DePauw alumni in June at the Optometry’s Meeting®, the annual meeting of the American Optometric Association, included Erica Griffin ’08, president of the New Hampshire Optometric Association; Stephen Polezonis ’77, president

of the Connecticut Association of Optometrists; and Karly R. Gruett ’20, a student at Illinois College of Optometry. They compared notes about their years at DePauw and the state of health care and optometry in their home states. (See photo.)

Kreg S. Kephart had a 36-year career as a high school teacher and football coach at Gaithersburg High School in Maryland. He was inducted into the Maryland High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame this year.

1978

Mark E. Small won the May 3 primary to become the Republican nominee for the Indiana House of Representatives, District 86.

1979

Gregory Ensing in June received the Richard Popp Excellence in Teaching Award, given to a physician who epitomizes the ideal qualities of a mentor and role model. The award, given by the American Society of Echocardiography, recognizes an outstanding teacher who was nominated by his or her students and peers. Greg is clinical professor of pediatrics and pediatric cardiology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor.

1980

Gregory L. Holzhauer, an attorney with

Luncheon at the Phi Gamma Delta house for 50th anniversary classes. Those attending include Larry R. Downs ’70, Jeffrey L. Lane ’71, Joseph F. Vosicky Jr. ’71, Robert H. Shaykin ’71, Michael W. Allee ’71, James A. Yoder ’70, Randolph D. Isham ’70, Douglas D. Mitchell ’70 and John P. Doan ’71. Attending the reunion but not in the photo were James E. Sanford ’71, Steven R. Jacobs ’71, Christopher A. DeGraw ’72, Wade R. Nichols ’72 and Harry J. Cangany ’72.

Kathryn Schurz Peters ’72, Vicki Vance Stanton ’72 and Mary Hickcox Magura ’72

Erica Griffin ’08 with Stephen Polezonis ’77 Robert S. Martino Jr. ’81

Winderweedle Haines Ward Woodman P.A., was named in the 2023 Best Lawyers in America© list

1981

Lisa A. Hendrickson’s book, “Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West,” was a finalist in the creative nonfiction category of the WILLA Literary Awards, sponsored by Women Writing the West. The book also was selected as one of two finalists for the Evans Handcart Award, presented by the Mountain Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University.

Robert S. Martino Jr. graduated with a Ph.D. in science education from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago in May. He is a chemistry and physical science teacher at Chesterton High School and has taught secondary science for 22 years. (See photo.)

Jayne Proudfoot Klose is the project manager for the Dayton Metro Library art committee, which commissioned artwork by Willis “Bing” Davis ’59 and his son Derrick for the library’s west branch and another by Bing for the main library. (See photo.)

1983

The 1983 class of Kappa Alpha Theta held a reunion June 2-5 at the Bumpass, Virginia, home of Julie Friar Palmore (See photo.)

1984

R. David Edwards has rejoined Premier Inc. as national vice president of business development.

1985

Brad S. Grabow is senior vice president and regional credit manager for Lake City Bank in Indiana.

Stephen P. Walker works for the USDA National Organic Program in the compliance and enforcement division.

1986

Rita Allis Powers, co-managing shareholder and co-chair of the real estate litigation practice at Greenberg Taurig LLP, was named to Crain’s Chicago Business 2022 Notable Women in Law. (See photo.)

Susan Mahan Fasig was named board president for the Indianapolis Propylaeum, a historic women’s organization founded by suffragists in 1881. The organization’s mission is to connect and celebrate women. (See photo.)

1987

Paul A. Melkus is chief financial officer and head of capital markets for 29th Street Capital.

1991

Members of the Delta Tau Delta classes of 1991 and 1992 held a mini reunion to visit their pledge brother and classmate,

Michael J. DoBosh, in Southport, North Carolina, the weekend of June 24-26. Mike, who was ill at the time, died July 27. (See photo.)

1992

Carlos Ortiz is the new head of the Special Victims Division of the New York City Police Department. He hopes to turn around the long-troubled unit by boosting morale and getting detectives to connect with survivors by treating them like family.

1993

Julie Ruffolo Gilpin is president-elect of Impact100 Greater Milwaukee and

Jayne Proudfoot Klose ’81 with Willis “Bing” Davis ’59

Mark S. Flegenheimer, chief executive officer and president of Michigan Sugar Co., is retiring after 40 years.

Kappa Alpha Theta class of 1983 reunion. Those attending included (back row) Brynne Williams Shaner, Julie Frier Palmore, Valerie Mora Ovaert, Stephanie Rychlak Stilson, (middle row) Nancy Riker MacDonald, Gayle Soderstrom Gaeth, Mary Matson Latta, Megan Cassidy Walls, (front row) Margaret McCarty Shelly and Debra Doyle Zablock.

Members of the Delta Tau Delta classes of 1991-92 mini reunion in Southport, North Carolina. Those attending included James H. Grant ’91, Eric A. Hopp ’91, George S. Weems ’91, Anthony M. Mazur ’91, Kris C. Gruner ’91, John W. Gray ’91, Gregory A. Rohlfs ’92, W. Randy Dippell ’91, Michael “Jud” Fisher ’91, Lawrence J. Kemper ’91, J. Kenneth Borgerding ’91, Thomas L. Brunt ’91, W. Allan Garvin ’91, Matthew R. Phelan ’91 and Michael J. DoBosh Jr. ’91.

Rita Allis Powers ’86

Susan Mahan Fasig ’86

will lead the organization for 2023-24. Impact100 Greater Milwaukee is a collective-giving organization that helps women become philanthropic decisionmakers. She and her husband, Brian, live in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, with their three children, Jack, 15; Luke, 12; and Kate, 5. (See photo.)

Joseph M. Wilferth is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Converse University.

1994

Phyllis Barkman Ferrell has been named director of the Healthcare Preparedness Systems program of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, a global partnership of organizations mobilizing the world against Alzheimer’s disease. She is overseeing implementation of global commitments to cooperate on future innovations in treatment, diagnosis and care for Alzheimer’s patients. (See photo.)

Jeremy L. Sadler is the regional vice president of business development for Davey Resource Group.

1997

Benjamin D. Goad is the news director of The Tennessean, where he oversees day-to-day operations.

1998

Jason T. Gardner is an academic adviser for the Mary Black College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina Upstate. He and his family, including children Mason, 13, and Mia, 11, live in Greer, South Carolina.

1999

Bartholomew W. Cassida has published a book, “A Dark Embrace/A Collection of Poems of both Light and Dark.”

2000

Sarrah Brace Grubb, an assistant professor of education at Indiana University Kokomo, was honored with a 2022 Trustees Teaching Award for excellence in the classroom.

2003

Allison Matters Taylor is director of Indiana’s Medicaid program. She was elected this year to be the president of

Braden Nordman’s 40th birthday celebration. DePauw alumni attending included Anthony R. Kaufman ’05, Traci Abbott Kaufman ’05, Kaitlynn “Katie” McCartin Hurt ’10, Christopher B. Williams ’03, Ariane Jaskolka Daniels ’05, Brian T. Daniels ’04, Philip A. Crow ’04, Annette Hammes Brolsma ’05, Christopher W. Brolsma ’05, Carlton F. Albrecht ’05, Ross E. Browning ’04 and Braden D. Nordman ’05. Attending but not pictured was Michael A. Valentine ’04.

the National Association of Medicaid Directors, a position in which she will lead collaboration with other state Medicaid programs, industry stakeholders and federal regulators to improve Medicaid across the country.

2004

Sarah B. Bennett has joined Fredrikson & Byron, a Minneapolis law firm, as an officer in the real estate, corporate & securities, bank & finance and mergers & acquisitions groups.

David V. Blackburn was promoted in June to director of college scouting for the Baltimore Ravens.

John Stanley was named chief administrative officer for Indianapolis law firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.

2005

Mark J. Farmer is a partner at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs LLP, where he concentrates on general business law. Louisville’s Business First named him to its “Forty Under 40” list.

Braden D. Nordman celebrated his 40th birthday with DePauw friends at a Cubs-Mets game at Wrigley Field the weekend of July 16. (See photo.)

2006

Brian J. Culp has been promoted to group creative director at Highdive, a Chicago advertising company, where he recently

created a top Super Bowl spot for Lays featuring Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd. He is now the lead creative overseeing the National Hockey League account.

Brenton A. Shultz co-authored an article published in Bloomberg Law

2007

Jackie Young Burkhardt received the St. Louis Business Journal’s Corporate Counsel Award for 2022.

Caitlin Kramer, who plays oboe and English horn, has signed with Yamaha Music USA as an endorsed performing artist. She also started a new position teaching at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. (See photo.)

2009

Siobhan Lau Hunter was promoted to vice president of development for Teach for America.

Alycia D. Tidrick is the director of the Bluegrass Community and Technical College campus in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

2010

Elizabeth Blue Guess and Lance Rohrecker were married May 7 in Marion, Kentucky. (See photo.)

Marella McMillon Holmes '94 joined her son Mark William Holmes Jr. on campus as he became a member of the Class of 2026.

Julie Ruffolo Gilpin ’93

Phyllis Barkman Ferrell ’94

2011

Jacob P. Lane has been named a Newsmax “Insider.” He will provide frequent commentary and analysis for the network’s webpage.

2012

Emily Reavis Boehme joined TOTUS Gift Card Management as a co-owner and director of implementation.

Molly E. Sender is the special project officer of philanthropy at the San Francisco Symphony. She previously was director of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute in Highland Park, Illinois.

2014

Michael A. Paniccia announced the launch of Awesome Opossum Records. Its first release was a seven-inch single of “Father Christmas” by The Riverboat Gamblers. It also has released a single of “Starstruck” by Wheatus and a Kinks tribute compilation featuring Wheatus and members of Sum 41, The Offspring and Everclear.

2015

Patrick K. Wise graduated from Purdue University with a Ph.D. in chemistry.

2016

Dana E. Hart is the social media coordinator and press secretary for Gary Snyder, the Democratic candidate in Indiana’s third congressional district. She is the director of IT for Allen County Young Dems in Fort Wayne.

Heather O’Brien Hunt and Matthew P. Hunt ’17 announced the birth of their daughter, Maeve Margaret Hunt, on March 31.

2019

Victoria A. Mpistolarides and Matthew J. Meyer ’18 were married Aug. 13. (See photo.)

2020

Aziza Shemet Pitcher received her master’s degree in biomedical sciences from Kansas City University May 7. Her thesis was titled “Investigating the Role scaRNA2 Plays in Modifying mRNA Splicing with Relevance to Tetralogy of Fallot.”

2021

Danielle N. Adams is the director of the LaPorte Historical Society Museum in Indiana.

2022

Jacqueline A. Robertson ’19 and Taulbee R. Jackson ’18 wedding. DePauw alumni attending included Jacob A. Bertucci ’18, Seth C. Brawner ’20, Kyle E. Frohning ’16, Connor M. Stader ’18, Paulo Aco ’20, Samantha Witt Crosby ’17, Mats A. Klein ’17, Levi S. Hoffman ’18, Taulbee Jackson ’18 (groom), Joshua C. Clark ’17, Jesse W. Crosby ’17, Joshua D. Smith ’17, Elizabeth C. Brunell ’19, Zoe Yeshayahu ’19, Samuel J. Schmelzer ’18, Alexander J. Da Silveira ’18, Jacqueline Robertson Jackson ‘19 (bride), Christopher D. Kelly ’19, Lucas A. Eckrich ’18, Cosetta Righi ’19, Noah W. Benckendorf ’18, Katherine E. O’Laughlin ’18 and Angela Nees Lee ’01.

Elizabeth Blue Guess ’10 and Lance Rohrecker wedding. DePauw alumni attending included Emily M. Terrell ’11, Mary Stoecklein Pillman ’10, Christopher R. Jennings ’13, Greer C. Mackie ’10, Carolyn M. Tubekis ’10, Caroline E. Tell ’10, Sarah G. Beatty ’09, Ashley E. Lytle ’09, Michael R. Jennings ’17, Matthew R. Jennings ’09, Kristen Kane Knox ’10, Lauren A. Pucci ’10, Rebecca A. Rasor ’10, Justin T. Bull ’09, Kristopher D. Schmelzer ’12 and Jessica K. Dudar ’09. Not pictured but attending were Hallie M. Patterson ’07 and Andrea E. Sununu, DePauw professor of English.

Jacqueline A. Robertson and Taulbee R. Jackson ’18 were married May 28. (See photo)

William Berens is a sales and leasing associate for Midland Atlantic Properties’ Indianapolis office.

Caitlin Kramer ’07

Victoria A. Mpistolarides and Matthew J. Meyer ’18 wedding.

DePauw Magazine marks the death of alumni, faculty and staff members and friends. Obituaries do not include memorial gifts.

When reporting a death, please send as much information as you have about the person and his/her affiliation with DePauw to Alumni Records, DePauw University, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, IN, 46135-0037 or to jamahostetler@depauw.edu.

IN MEMORIAM

1933

Mary A. Prickett Price, 110, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Aug. 29. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. After graduating from DePauw, she earned a degree at New York University. She taught English, speech, drama and humanities and directed plays and musicals in Indiana and Ohio public schools. More than 400 people whose lives she touched sent cards and messages to congratulate her on her birthday in June. In a 2020 interview with WANE-TV, she said she has voted in every election since the 1930s. “If we couldn’t vote, where would we all be?” she said. “This is why it’s so necessary that everyone vote. It’s a great privilege that you have to help build the future.”

Survivors include her daughter, Mary Ann Price Swain ’63, and granddaughter Brenda Swain Kuberek ’91

1943

Dorothy Gardner Goodnough, 99, Massillon, Ohio, December 27. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi. She worked as a bank teller and a teaching assistant at Ohio State University. Her interests included history and art, painting, gardening, reading, genealogy and patriotic endeavors. She was preceded in death by a sister, Marjorie Gardner Schweitzer ’50

1944

Marjorie Hamblin Sheridan, 99, Grand Blanc, Michigan, June 16. She was a member of Alpha Phi. She taught creative dramatics and parent workshops and tutored students at Ross Learning Center. Survivors include a daughter, Cynthia Sheridan O’Connor ’73. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles H. Sheridan ’43.

Bettyjean Hendrickson Stroup, 99, Burr Ridge, Illinois, May 1. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta. She was involved in philanthropic activities and enjoyed entertaining and traveling. She was preceded in death by her first husband, William S. Anderson ’44, and a brother, William F. Hendrickson ’40. Survivors include a son, Gregg W. Anderson ’72

William G. Hibbs, 100, Kettering, Ohio, Aug. 13. He was a member of Delta Chi. He was an Army veteran who owned his own business as a metallurgist and later worked as a forester for the park district. He was an avid sailor and woodworker. Survivors include a grandson, Jeremiah M. Kermes ’02. He was preceded in death by his wife, Marilyn Johnson Hibbs ’45

1946

Nancy Wittgen Burks DeVoe, 98, Indianapolis, June 24. She was a member of Alpha Phi. She was a businesswoman and an active community volunteer, including many years with Alpha Phi International Fraternity. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Cynthia DeVoe Price ’70.

1947

Merrill D. Dooley, 99, Indianapolis, June 27. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta. He was a financial services professional. He enjoyed golf, bowling, fishing and traveling. Survivors include a son, Michael D. Dooley ’89

Romaigne Thomas Adams, 96, Decatur, Georgia, April 22. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi. She played viola in the

Atlanta Symphony for 13 years, as well as symphonies in Savannah, Charleston and Recife, Brazil. Survivors include a niece, Kathryn Peterson Quinn ’80. She was preceded in death by her husband, John L. Adams ’47, and a sister, Marilyn Thomas Peterson ’52

1949

Mary Giles Stuart, 94, Crown Point, Indiana, Aug. 23. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Beta Kappa. She was a retired elementary school teacher. Survivors include a sister, Dorothy Giles Dyer ’47; a daughter, Susan P. Stuart ’73; and a son, James S. Stuart ’75

Nancy Rockhill Walters, 95, Tempe, Arizona, June 2. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta. She taught at several high schools in Indiana and was a professor of psychology and counseling for almost 30 years at Central Missouri State University. Survivors include a son, Joel R. Walters ’77. She was preceded in death by a brother, H. Benjamin Rockhill ’49

1950

Martha Bower Marr, 94, Columbus, Indiana, July 20. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was a real estate broker who was committed to historic preservation and to saving farmland from development. She was an award-winning gardener.

Russell H. Hart Jr., 94, Lafayette, Indiana, July 14. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha. He was an attorney who represented railroad companies and provided civil, environmental and insurance counsel. Survivors include a daughter, Holiday Hart McKiernan ’80, and a son, Robert R. Hart ’82. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Gehres Hart ’51; a brother, Samuel W. Hart ’54; and a nephew, James W. Hart ’81

E. Zillah Janes Novak, 92, Burbank, California, May 21. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi who contributed to a round-robin letter with her sorority sisters for 65 years. She was a preschool teacher an an executive secretary. She

volunteered as a docent at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. She enjoyed travel, photography, swimming, reading, piano playing and singing. Her talents included writing, painting and needlework, and she published her memoir in 2020. She was preceded in death by her sister, Patricia Janes Light Karns ’53

1951

Jeanne Ashbaugh Schirmer, 92, Saginaw, Michigan, July 22. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She enjoyed cooking, playing bridge, traveling and family. Survivors include a daughter, Cynthia L. Schirmer ’76

Thomas E. Davenport, 92, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Nov. 16, 2021. He was a member of Sigma Nu and a Rector scholar. He had a career with Lincoln National Life, for which he managed his own office and later a premier office in Cleveland. He was a golfer.

Selma Kamphaus Caldwell, 91, Indianapolis, June 6, She was a member of Delta Zeta and a community volunteer. She enjoyed playing bridge. Survivors include a daughter, Ann D. Caldwell ’91

Carol Sanford Baldwin, 91, Baldwin, Missouri, Jan. 13, 2021. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Beta Kappa. She was an art and crafts teacher and a substitute teacher. She enjoyed nature, long drives, camping, swimming, boating and painting. She was preceded in death by her father, Otis R. Sanford 1925, and her husband, Arthur Kirby Baldwin Jr. ’50

John R. Stauffer, 93, Warsaw, Indiana, May 17. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He was a math teacher and coach of basketball and golf. He enjoyed tennis, fishing, boating, reading, art, travel and gardening.

1952

Beverly Baird Bugher, 92, Carmel, Indiana, Aug. 9. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi and Phi Beta Kappa.

She worked in hospital patient accounts. She enjoyed reading, bridge, board games, crossword puzzles and the arts. Survivors include her husband, William D. Bugher ’51

Robert E. Dahms, 90, Shorewood, Illinois, March 30, 2021. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta and a Rector scholar. He was a urologist. He enjoyed fishing, hunting and other sports, singing and dancing.

Ned A. Smith, 93, Savannah, Georgia, May 12. He was a member of Delta Upsilon and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He held legal and management positions at Ford Motor Co., concluding as the chief executive officer of several subsidiaries. He volunteered in his community and church. Survivors include a son, Wade Smith ’82

Glenn W. Thompson Jr., 89, Columbus, Indiana, May 22, 2021. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta. He was a photo shop owner for 35 years and a community volunteer. Survivors include a daughter, Debra Thompson Vaky ’76; a son-in-law, Peter C. Vaky ’75; a granddaughter, Katherine Vaky Loftis ’14; and a brother-in-law, C. Richard McQueen ’58. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ann McQueen Thompson ’53; and his father, Glenn W. Thompson, past chairman of DePauw Board of Trustees.

1953

Martha Grant Likins, 90, Nashville, Tennessee, May 27. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi. She was an elementary school teacher and a community volunteer.

Donald A. Wells, 91, Tucson, June 12. He was a member of Sigma Nu and a Rector scholar. He taught economics at the University of Arizona for 43 years and Southern Illinois University for nine. He had a special interest in teaching workshops for elementary and secondary teachers. He is survived by his wife, M. Jeanne Blandin Wells ’54 He was predeceased by his sister-in-law, Nancy E. Blandin ’60

1954

Phillip R. Brown, 90, Noblesville, Indiana, July 3. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta. He was an elementary school teacher, coach and principal. He was a community volunteer and enjoyed golf.

James E. Dudley, 90, Naperville, Illinois, June 20. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and a Rector scholar. He worked for Illinois Bell Telephone for 18 years before joining the family real estate business. He enjoyed bridge and other games and was an amateur photographer and an avid fisherman.

Dorothy Porter Rouse, 89, Chrisman, Illinois, May 29. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was a speech pathologist and taught in public schools. She was a community volunteer who enjoyed travel and boating, She was preceded in death by a sister, Virginia Porter Dolk ’49

1955

Robert L. Cox, 93, Clinton, Illinois, May 1. He was a systems engineer who enjoyed reading, chess, bridge and bowling. He sang in the church choir and a barber shop group. Survivors include a sister, Virginia Cox McCoy ’63, and a brother-in-law, Jerry D. McCoy ’63

Richard M. Fuller, 87, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, Jan. 20, 2021. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and a Rector scholar. He was a physics professor at Gustavus Adolphus College. He was followed in death by his wife, Judith Wheaton Fuller ’55.

Judith Wheaton Fuller, 88, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, Jan. 19, 2022. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and a linguistics professor at Gustavus Adolphus College. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard M. Fuller ’55

William M. Keller Jr., 89, Darien, Illinois, Aug. 10. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta. He taught high school English and speech and coached football.

Donald E. Theobald, 88, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Dec. 9. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a Rector scholar. After retiring as a U.S. Air Force pilot, he had a long career in computers. Survivors include his wife, Anne Matheny Theobald ’55.

1956

Cynthia Brooks Holmberg, 87, Glenview, Illinois, May 27. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta, Phi Beta Kappa and the Washington C. DePauw Society; a former member of DePauw’s Board of Visitors; and a volunteer chair on several reunion committees. She was an elementary school teacher, an avid reader and author of four books. She loved music and loved to sing. Survivors include her husband, Ronald K. Holmberg ’54, with whom she established an endowed scholarship and contributed to other DePauw priorities, including Holmberg Hall at Rector Village and the Men’s Hall Association scholarship.

Jane Carpenter Andersen, 87, Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in November. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and the Washington C. DePauw Society. She won national awards as a teacher. She was an elder representative for University of Southern California Gerontology School and an active volunteer with the American Cancer Society and her church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lee H. Andersen ’57

Donald C. Findlay II, 87, Elkhart, Indiana, Aug. 21. He was a member of Sigma Nu and a Rector scholar. He was a former member of the DePauw Board of Trustees from 1990-2002 and an advisory trustee until his death and a former member of the Alumni Board of Directors. He was a trustee of Malpas Scholarship Foundation since 1994. He was a dentist for 42 years and provided free and low-cost dental care to underserved families. He volunteered for a number of organizations, including United Way, the Boy Scouts, Elkhart General Hospital, the YMCA and the

YWCA, the Indiana University South Bend Dental Program, the IUPUI School of Dentistry and the Elkhart County Health Board. The United Labor Agency of Elkhart County and the University of Illinois at Chicago named him humanitarian of the year, and he was named a Sagamore of the Wabash in 2003. Survivors include his wife, Judith Lilly Findlay ’57; his son, David M. Findlay ’84; a brother-in-law, Thomas E. Lilly ’59; a granddaughter, Audrey C. Findlay ’15; a nephew, Edward M. Lilly ’87; and a niece, Sarah L. Valle-Snyder ’85. He was preceded in death by his father-in-law, Horace N. Lilly ’29

William F. Lawrence, 88, Naples, Florida, Aug. 12. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi, a businessman and a community volunteer. Survivors include a brother, Jere D. Lawrence ’63. He was preceded in death by his father, Richard H. Lawrence ’26, and a brother, John R. Lawrence ’56

Bruce W. Parker, 87, Albuquerque, June 1. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Beta Kappa and a Rector scholar. He was an ophthalmologist who enjoyed travel. Survivors include his wife, Janet Allen Parker ’56, and sisters-inlaw, Marjory A. Allen ’51 and Kathleen Anderson Parker ’56. He was preceded in death by his brother, Carlisle K. Parker Jr. ’53; his father-in-law, L. Howard Allen 1922; and his mother-in-law, Helen Shafer Allen 1924.

1957

John L. Yarling, 87, Kokomo, July 19. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and a Rector scholar. He ran a psychiatry practice for almost 30 years and taught as an associate professor at Indiana University School of Medicine. He later worked at Four County Counseling Center in Logansport for 26 years. He enjoyed travel, the Indianapolis 500 and doing home improvements.

1958

Robert J. Hotopp, 86, The Villages, Florida, June 13. He was a member of Sigma Nu and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a Rector scholar. He was a certified public accountant and a professor of law and accounting at Indiana University for 37 years. He enjoyed golf, history and time with his family and church.

Martha Morgan Bull, 86, Westfield, New Jersey, July 12. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She was an elementary education teacher and a community and church volunteer. Survivors include nieces Mary L. Halfmann ’85 and Debra Halfmann Nelson ’83 and a brotherin-law, George C. Halfmann ’57. She was preceded in death by a sister, Mary Morgan Halfmann ’59.

Judith Neighbours McSwine, 85, Clearwater, Florida, July 17. She was a member of Alpha Phi. She enjoyed travel, cooking and bridge. Survivors include a sister, Patricia Neighbours Sendra ’60, and a brother-in-law, Robert F. Sendra ’61.

Kim T. Rawlinson, 85, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, May 30. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association. He taught math and computer science at the University of Minnesota and then embarked on a 23-year career working on computer programming projects for the aerospace industry. He was an accomplished amateur radio operator. He was legally blind from an early age and lived with declining eyesight, but learned to read and play music in his later years. He enjoyed listening to women’s sports and the Indy 500 auto race on the radio.

Jane Rightsell Wesner, 85, Leavenworth, Kansas, June 25. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. She was a teacher and church administrator. She enjoyed time with family, reading, tutoring, quilting, composing newsletters for the homeowners’ association and volunteering with mission trips. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon E. Wesner Jr. ’58, and her mother, Elizabeth Hollister Rightsell ’28

Christopher N. Reinier, 85, Berkeley, California, April 19. He was a member of Sigma Chi. He was a carpenter who made artisan furniture and intricate wood carvings and wrote poetry, plays and songs. He worked for many years as a permit and building consultant. He wrote four children’s books, two poetry books and a song book.

Harry P. Shewmaker, 85, Lafayette, Indiana, May 13. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association. He was a United Methodist minister and served many congregations before retiring in 1976. After that, he was an interim pastor for many years.

1959

Elizabeth Curtis Cohn, 85, Tucson, May 2. She was a member of Delta Gamma. She was involved with many charities and civic organizations. She enjoyed travel, family and friends, the theater and her dogs. Survivors include a sister, Nancy Curtis Stocking ’55. She was preceded in death by a brother-inlaw, Charles D. Stocking ’55

Martha Feicht Neitman, 85, Beavercreek, Ohio, Aug. 17. She was a member of the Washington C. DePauw Society. She was a secretary and was a community volunteer. She was preceded in death by a sister, Carolyn Feicht Noss ’49

Richard C. Murphy, 84, Kaufman, Texas, July 29. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He was a certified public accountant and president of Dallas General Life Insurance. He enjoyed ranching and fishing. Survivors include his wife, Nancy Turner Murphy ’59.

Marcia Novak Niemi, 83, Gurnee, Illinois, Jan. 9, 2021. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. She was a middle school teacher, a world traveler, an avid reader and a Jeopardy! lover.

Russell P. Peterson, 84, Savannah, May 31. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega. He retired as a regional vice president from Allstate Insurance after 35 years. Survivors include a sister, Kay Peterson Styrkowicz ’70

Larry L. Smiley, 85, Banning, California, May 6. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association. He had a career as a professor and administrator at the University of North Dakota and Central Michigan University. He built three houses from the ground up, wrote a book, traveled the world and enjoyed sports, puzzles and creative writing. He was preceded in death by his father, Charles N. Smiley ’28, and and his stepmother, Christine Dietrich Smiley 1926

1960

Maryann Bauer Tebbutt, 84, Ames, Iowa, Aug. 22. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi. She managed real estate investments. She enjoyed dancing, travel and vacationing in Door County, Wisconsin. She was preceded in death by a sister, JoAnne Bauer Taylor ’55.

Michael D. Hogan, 84, Raleigh, North Carolina, Aug. 19. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and worked as a biostatistician. Survivors include his wife, Gayle McBride Hogan ’60

Dorothy Nordlund Harris, 83, Thomasville, Georgia, June 17. She was a member of Delta Zeta, an elementary school teacher and a curriculum coordinator. She worked to raise funds for scholarships for her students.

Thomas H. Waltz, 84, Elkhart, Indiana, June 29. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He had a career in retail advertising. He enjoyed bridge, Rummikub with family and friends, antiquing and yardwork.

Claudette Witt Doyle, 84, Chicago Heights, Illinois, July 23. She was a member of Alpha Phi. She was a youth and family counselor. She enjoyed music and attended countless concerts.

1961

Nan Collins Shively, 82, Columbus, North Carolina, June 11. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She was a career counselor, a mental health counselor and director of bereavement services for Hospice of the Carolina

Foothills 1991-98. After retirement she continued to work as a facilitator for hospice support groups.

Athalie McMillen Long, 83, Seattle, May 13. She was a member of Alpha Phi. She was a teacher, photographer and community volunteer. She was an avid reader, a lover of animals and movies and a wonderful cook.

Mary Miller Cross, 83, Greenfield, Indiana, May 8. She was a member of Delta Gamma and the Washington C. DePauw Society. She worked with her husband in the insurance business and was active in the community. She was preceded in death by her mother, Christine Armour Miller Henderson ’33.

1962

Donald G. Blackmond, 82, Dowagiac, Michigan, Aug. 9. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He was a lawyer for 45 years. He enjoyed traveling and had a passion for knowledge, history and perfect grammar.

Peter E. Roller, 82, Monona, Wisconsin, July 29. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He was a teacher and worked for the Wisconsin Education Association Council. He was a musician, a storyteller and an author of three historical fiction novels.

1964

David A. Beery, 80, Hinsdale, Illinois, June 29. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He was a banker and a financial adviser. He was an avid motorcyclist and occasional golfer. Survivors include a daughter, Sarah Beery Ortiz ’94.

Robert P. Buchenberger, 80, Denver, Jan. 28. He served in the Air Force and worked for IBM before becoming an entrepreneur in the restaurant, athletic club and real estate fields. He served on several nonprofit boards and enjoyed outdoor activities.

Lee E. Tenzer ’64, whose passion for technology led him to create the Tenzer Technology Center at DePauw, died Sept. 19. He was a month short of his 80th birthday. He was a member of the DePauw Board of Trustees for 18 years and also of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Board of Visitors; he volunteered time for fundraising campaigns and a class reunion. Tenzer founded LETCO LP in 1984 in Chicago and led the trading firm until TD Services bought it in 2002. He and his wife Marilyn establishing the technology center to give all DePauw students, regardless of their majors, access to cutting-edge technologies. They also created the Tenzer Family University Professor in Instructional Technology and invested in downtown Greencastle, including the Tenzer Hub for Entrepreneurship, a business incubator. They bought the Windy Hill Country Club golf course, renamed it Tiger Pointe and renovated its clubhouse to provide event space. After Tenzer graduated with a math degree from DePauw, he served in the National Guard and then earned an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago in 1977. Tenzer is survived by Marilyn, his wife of 50 years; daughters Kathryn Tenzer McClain ’99, Rebecca E. Tenzer ’02 and Melissa K. Tenzer; and a nephew, Daniel K. Cetina ’12

Thomas R. Gibson, 79, Villanova, Pennsylvania, and Naples, Florida, June 20. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He was a member of DePauw’s Alumni Board from 1987-95 and the Board of Trustees from 1994-95. He guest lectured at DePauw and was his class’s 25th reunion speaker. He was an automotive executive and a senior adviser at Cerberus Operations and Advisory Co. He held numerous leadership positions and was cofounder, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Asbury Automotive Group.Survivors include a son, Matthew B. Gibson ’93; a daughter, Katherine Gibson Wallace ’95; a sister, Nancy Gibson Prowitt ’76; grandson, Connor P. Gibson ’24; nephews, Jeffrey G. Gibson ’90, Michael G. Gibson ’04, Thomas M. Gibson ’84, Greg C. Gibson ’82 and John W. Gibson ’85; grandnephew, John P. Gibson ’16; grandniece, Nicole G. Gibson ’17; and nieces-in-law, Margaret Mullen Gibson ’82, Ann Senger Gibson ’84 and Kristyn Tekulve Gibson ’04. He was preceded in death by brothers John A. Gibson ’68 and Robert W. Gibson ’60

Jon S. Halstead, 79, Glen Allen, Virginia, June 7. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He worked 30 years with Richmond Public Schools as a federal program evaluator, grant writer, system analyst and school psychologist. He and his wife traveled to Europe, England and Scotland. He was a musician and played in jazz, blue grass and rock bands.

Judy Hartline Elbring, 79, Santa Rosa, California, April 15. She was a member of Delta Gamma. She earned a nursing degree in the U.S. Army and served two yearlong tours as a combat nurse in Viet Nam. Later, she and her husband produced workshops aobut selfknowledge and relationship awareness. Survivors include her husband, William K. Elbring ’64; a sister, Sally Hartline Harvey ’65; and a brother-in-law, James A. Harvey ’63. She was preceded in death by her father, John D. Hartline ’34

James B. Howard, 79, Cochiti Lake, New Mexico, Feb. 13. He was a member of the Washington C. DePauw Society. He was an emeritus professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota. He was a member of the American Society for Biochemistry for more than 40 years and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry from 1986-1991.

Timothy A. Stabler, 81, Portage, Indiana, July 20. He taught upper-level biology classes at Indiana University 32 years. He taught cooking classes, wrote lab manuals and enjoyed photography, amateur ham radios, painting and drawing.

1965

George K. Blanchard Jr., 78, San Antonio, June 9. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He retired as a

commanding officer from the U.S. Navy, then went into business. Survivors include a sister, Elizabeth Blanchard Grenzebach ’71

Jeffrey E. Lortz, 79, Orlando, Florida, Aug. 27. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta who lettered four years in football. He was a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors for six years and worked on many reunion committees. He served in Korea with the military for two years and then spent most of his career with Telerent Leasing Corp., where he was vice president of sales and marketing. After retiring, he was a volunteer high school coach and a key fundraiser for the Athletic Department. He also enjoyed other volunteering activities, golf and traveling. He was preceded in death by his father, George Lortz ’34. Survivors include brothers George C. “Kit” Lortz ’62 and Eric Lortz ’68; sisters-in-law Becky Watts Lortz ’63 and Linda James Lortz ’68; and nephew Peter H. Lortz ’90

James V. Palmer, 79, St. Louis, July 4. He was a member of Delta Tau Delt anda business owner. He will be remembered for his infectious laugh, his ability to connect immediately with anyone he met and his gift of finding humor in every situation.

Kay Reinhart Woike, 78, Tonawanda, New York, April 18. She was a pastor for nearly 30 years at the Church of the Nativity, United Church of Christ. After retirement, she was interim pastor at various churches and worked with refugees and immigrants. She took up watercolor painting and showed her work for several years at the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society. She was preceded in death by her husband, Glenn V. Woike ’66

1966

Hannah Hofherr Ten Eyck, 77, Zionsville, Indiana, May 29. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was an elementary educator for 36 years. She volunteered in the community and enjoyed gardening, golf and bridge.

Survivors include sons Peter P. Ten Eyck ’99 and Nick R. Ten Eyck ’01. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert L. Ten Eyck Jr. ’66

Colby H. Kullman, 77, Oxford, Mississippi, Aug. 9. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and Phi Beta Kappa. He was an English professor at the University of Mississippi and an author of books on theater. He gave tours of Tennessee Williams’s Mississippi Delta from 1995-2014.

Ann Ridings Hughes, 78, Wellesley, Massachusetts, July 31. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She was a teacher and an educational consultant. She grew peonies, watched goldfinches at her feeder and loved holidays.

Survivors include her husband, Winston C. Hughes ’66. She was preceded in death by a sister, Mary B. Ridings ’70

Susan Sperber Lipscomb, 75, Greenville, South Carolina, May 23. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta who taught second grade and devoted herself to her family and church.

1969

John A. Cogar, 75, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 2. He was a lawyer and retired from PNC Bank Wealth Management as a senior vice president and senior wealth strategist. He enjoyed fishing and teaching others to fish. He was a talented cook who loved cycling and European soccer. He was preceded in death by an uncle, Harold T. Cook 1926

1970

Susan Knoef Rogers, 74, Milledgeville, Georgia, June 17. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She practiced criminal defense law and later worked 30 years as director of legal and special services for the Central State Hospital. She was preceded in death by her parents, Raymond J. Knoef Jr. ’42 and Dorothy Dustman Knoef ’42

R. Dennis Rasor, 73, Chicago, June 29. He was a member of Sigma Chi and

Phi Beta Kappa and a Rector scholar. He was a medical malpractice defense attorney. Survivors include a daughter, Rebecca A. Rasor ’10, and a stepson, Aidan E. Power ’23

1971

Alice Allen McKeehan, 90, Bainbridge, Indiana, Aug. 12. She was a teacher and community volunteer. She enjoyed garage sales, traveling, reading, bird watching, going to the beach and attending the Indianapolis 500. Survivors include a daughter, Marsha McKeehan Davidson ’84

1973

Schuyler J. Baab, 71, Bethesda, Maryland, June 10. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He was a political consultant for 45 years, working to elect Republican presidents and lobbying for the state of Wisconsin in Washington D.C. He founded his own firm, Pathfinders Government Relations, in 2006. He was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed fishing and golf.

Richard P. Bojrab, 71, Fort Wayne, May 7. He was a member of Delta Upsilon. He was a pharmacist and taught pharmacy to nursing students. He enjoyed being a grandfather and taught his grandchildren life lessons, including gardening, his secret popcorn recipe and cards.

Deborah Haverstock Crowder, 69, Wayzata, Minnesota, Sept. 30, 2020. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She was a classically trained pianist and a linguist who spoke fluent French. She worked 44 years at Berlitz Language as head of the Minneapolis school and later head of coaching and development for North America. Survivors include her husband, Russell H. Crowder Jr. ’73

1974

James P. Dewar, 69, Muncie, May 7. He was a member of Sigma Chi. He had a career in banking and acting. He was an avid Indiana University basketball and Chicago Cubs fan.

1975

J. Allen England, 69, Greenwood, Indiana, July 24. He was a member of Delta Chi. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he earned a law degree. He later worked for the Public Defender of Indiana for many years. After retirement, he served clients pro bono. He was a prolific reader and had a deep love of animals, rescuing numerous pets over the years.

Kathryn Heaton Benjamin, 68, Tipton, Indiana, Aug. 8. She was a member of Alpha Phi and a business owner who enjoyed cooking, crocheting, playing the piano, listening to music and outdoor activities such as gardening, camping, boating and water skiing. Survivors include a brother, James J. Heaton ’78

1976

Diana Hewlett Wofford O’Niell, 77, Houston, July 16. She was a business owner. She was a writer who had an interest in words and language. She enjoyed literature and the visual and performing arts.

Deborah Mills Barker, 68, Lafayette, Indiana, Aug. 21. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi. She taught elementary school music, sang in church choirs and accompanied students for the State School Music Association’s solo and ensemble contest. Survivors include a sister, Lois Mills Anderson ’79

Sandra “Sonn” Moody Mitchell, 84, Danville, Indiana, Aug. 22. She taught in Indianapolis Public Schools for many years. She was a seamstress, a quilter and an excellent cook.

John A. Speicher, 68, Indianapolis, June 20. He traveled extensively, earned a law degree and was employed in the family business. Survivors include a sister, Susan Speicher Lee ’77. He was preceded in death by brothers David R. Speicher ’68 and Stephen L. Speicher ’71

1983

Daniel T. McCurdy III, 61, State College, Pennsylvania, May 2. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He loved learning and his academic career spanned multiple institutions and disciplines. He had a successful career in wealth management. He enjoyed sports, especially tennis.

1984

Deborah Kenshol Jones, 60, Maidenhead, United Kingdom, June 22. She was co-director of the Craft Coop, which created small stores where craft people could sell their creations. She taught English as a second language to immigrant parents and organized “story stacks” to encourage parents to read to their children. She was a world traveler who resided in the United States, Japan, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom.

1991

Michael J. DoBosh Jr., 53, Southport, North Carolina, July 27. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta who played football on the 1990 conference championship team. His team won the Monon Bell four times. He was a futures trader and broker for firms in London and Chicago and also worked as a renowned chef in Southport, North Carolina, in the last 10 years. He came back to Greencastle for Monon Bell weekend in 2021, his first trip back in more than 20 years, and he got to ring his beloved bell before the game.

2002

Emily A. Shagley, 42, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, May 30. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi. She founded SAWA Life, a sustainable social enterprise whose mission was to spread the good life by empowering disadvantaged women through employment and health benefits in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. She lived a life centered around health and wellness.

Faculty

Louis Smogor, professor emeritus of mathematics and DePauw’s longest-serving full-time professor, died June 27 in Greencastle. He was 78. He estimated that he taught 5,000 students at DePauw over his 51 years, with subjects ranging from 100-level math courses to computer science, astronomy, filmmaking, Asian studies and popular Chinese culture and film. He also was a member of the steering committees for the Science Research Fellows Program and Asian studies. He translated a Chinese primer “The Three-Character Classic” after taking only two Chinese classes. In a 2018 first-person essay that ran in DePauw Magazine, Smogor said he urged students to embrace lifelong learning, and that DePauw was teaching them to be able to absorb new lessons long after they graduate.

By Angela Casteneda

Mistreatment of women during childbirth is not new, but activists, researchers and international organizations have settled on a term – “obstetric violence” – that conveys the gravity of this mistreatment. Castañeda, the Lester Martin Jones professor of anthropology and coordinator of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, is a co-editor of “Obstetric Violence,” a new book that delves into the perspectives of birthing women, care providers, advocates and researchers from around the world. We asked her:

What is obstetric violence?

Givingbirth is an intensely transformative experience that not only shapes how a new parent will feel at the start of the parenting journey, whether joyful and confident or defeated and silenced, but for a lifetime.

Some people’s birthing experience is violated by “obstetric violence,” a term used in the last 15 years by activists and medical providers as we become more aware and concerned about disrespectful, abusive and violent maternity care. Though concerns about mistreatment in obstetric care are not new, the terms used to describe such mistreatment have shifted over time and now recognize its severity. The global scale of this concern is evident from reports released by the World Health Organization 2014 and the United Nations 2019 that address the prevention and elimination of disrespect during facility-based childbirth. These large international groups frame violence against women during childbirth as a form of gender-based violence and a violation of human rights.

Over the past decade, a surge of scholarship sought to define and describe

obstetric violence, including its link to the medicalization of childbirth and its roots in gender inequalities and violence against women.

So what does obstetric violence look like? It can take many forms, including abuse (physical, sexual or verbal), disrespect, discrimination and mistreatment. This violation of human rights can manifest as lack of consent or being forced into procedures against one’s will, for example, unconsented vaginal exams, forced cesarean surgery or unconsented episiotomy.

This research acts as an important reminder to all of us that what happens during birth matters. In my work as an anthropologist studying the role of doulas or labor assistants in birth culture, I am tasked to not only bear witness, but also to advocate for people giving birth. Our first step should be making the cultural shift to understand that a birth experience has a profound and lifelong effect on birthing people, their partners and families.

Many studies demonstrate that obstetric violence can happen to anyone; however, it is clear that marginalized and

vulnerable women are at a higher risk for experiencing obstetric violence. In addition to these structural challenges contributing to obstetric violence, we now must begin to calculate how the global COVID-19 pandemic has affected birthing people.

From increased isolation, lockdowns and new institutional restrictions, the opportunities for increased obstetric violence are widespread.

The time for a global recognition of obstetric violence – of the larger structural forces embedded in systems that cross cultures and violate bodies in acutely vulnerable life moments – is now. By naming it and saying it out loud we recognize obstetric violence exists and can together begin the processes of systemic change necessary to prevent it.

FIRST PERSON

By David Gellman

What took so long?

The first time I received funding from DePauw to conduct preliminary research for the topic was summer 2000! I finally held a copy of my book, “Liberty’s Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York,” in my hands last April. That is a long time.

When I arrived at DePauw in 1999, my main historical focus was the abolition of slavery in New York state, the largest slave state north of Maryland. I also had a burgeoning interest in the transition from enslavement to citizenship for African Americans in this crucial northern state.

I was working on ways of publishing my findings on these subjects. The general public and even scholars knew far too little about slavery and emancipation in the North.

Meanwhile, in the Jay family I stumbled upon a potentially sweeping yet intimate story about the complicated relationship between the nation’s founding and the ensuing decades of struggle over slavery that led to the Civil War. In John Jay, prominent revolutionary-era diplomat and first chief justice of the United States, I had one of the most important and least studied of the major Founding Fathers. Jay was also the inaugural president of New York’s antislavery society and governor of New York in 1799 when the state finally passed a gradual emancipation law. For decades, Jay also enslaved men, women and children. Aside from a few dedicated volunteers and staff at the John Jay Homestead historic site, few knew their stories.

I became increasingly aware that Jay’s sons Peter and William were consequential abolitionists. In the wake of William’s

1858 death, no less a figure than the great African American abolitionist

Frederick Douglass eulogized, “In the great cause of universal freedom his name was a tower of strength, and his pen a two-edged sword.” Among the actions that drew Douglass’s admiration was William’s bequest of $1,000 to support his son John Jay II’s work on behalf of people pursued as fugitives from southern slavery.

We all have families. We are shaped by their presence, absence, failings, contradictions and strengths. I kept wanting to know more about these households, as they wrestled with past, present and future. The latter Jays embraced the causes – abolition and racial justice – most likely to rend the nation that the revered patriarch John Jay had helped to found. They did not forget their family’s legacy of slaveholding. The last surviving formerly enslaved person in the Jay household, Zilpah Montgomery, is buried in the family’s church plot; free since 1817, she died in 1872. Through repeated trips to archives and countless revisions, I sought a fresh way to trace the arc of U.S. history from the Revolution through Reconstruction and beyond.

What took so long?

The question is far bigger than my book. The legacies of slavery, emancipation, civil war and racism still define and divide us. My book pursues stories of courage, cruelty, callousness and caring, of inspiring

progress and crushing regression.

Yet I continue to struggle with the question, what takes so long?

Gellman is professor of history and codirector of the Asher Office for Undergraduate Research. His book, favorably reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, was published in April.

Painter uses art to make a difference … and celebrate differences too

Whenshe learned that her sixyear-old cousin Becca had been diagnosed with brain cancer, Julie Whitney Dawson ’58 decided the little girl “needs something silly in her life.” So Dawson sent her a painting she had done of characters “wearing silly things and doing silly things.”

Dawson later used her poems and those Sillybilly characters to cobble together homemade books she hoped would delight Becca. “Then I said to myself, in my most modest manner, damn, these are too good; other children might like them, too. As they say, confidence is amazing, isn’t it?”

Confidence, yes, and so is Dawson, who has written and illustrated six Sillybilly books and, at age 85, creates and gives away art for causes she cares about. For the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, she created art for 22 exam rooms and, using a computer, a 29-foot mural for the emergency department. To raise money for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, she researched the national flowers of 153 member countries and painted 51 of them in a design rendered as a scarf bearing the message “seeing the

beauty in our differences.” She also has created art for a center for abused and neglected children.

Dawson said she is passionate about four things: the future, women, women in leadership and her motto: “Changing hate to appreciate to celebrate.”

“I’m so upset with all the hate now in our country and around the world,” she said. “And I thought, well, I can keep moaning about it or I could do something about it.” The something was writing and illustrating her latest book, “The Sillybillies Find Stripes and Spots,” which conveys a message about bridging differences and recently won a Next Generation Indie Book Award. Dawson is working on a seventh book, this one about leadership, commissioned by the World Association.

She has been a Girl Scout for 78 years. As a teen, she represented the United States at an international conference on world peace and later was a leader at a similar conference. The experiences honed her passions. After graduating from DePauw with a degree in English – a pursuit that “prepares you for thinking well, organizing well, expressing yourself

well, reading well” – she traveled the country for two years as a national field secretary for her sorority, Delta Gamma, and later worked 10 years for the Girl Scouts, an opportunity “to be creative and have responsibility and make a difference in the world.”

She moved to Detroit to take the latter job. Though she had been an avid volunteer, she knew no one and didn’t know how to revive her volunteerism in a new city. So she took a watercolor class, where she discovered her artistic talent. She also met her late husband – Peter Dawson ’55 – in Detroit and their travels to 101 countries provided “a lot of material worldwide on which to – no pun – draw.”

In 1973, she began working full time as a watercolor artist; her fabric, wallpaper, videos and products are available on her website, JulieDawsonArtist.com. Having shot thousands of photos during her travels, she created a coffee table book about bells around the world. And 50 years on, she still creates art more than full time, with no plans to retire. Ever.

“Why would I retire?” she asked wryly. “So I could take up art?”

Nonprofit