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Larry & Bucky n
U N I V E R S I T Y
Sense of Scents
O F
AUTUMN 2018
D A Y T O N M A G A Z I N E
LIFE AS ART
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Autumn blazes with beauty on a brisk walk to class. Photograph by LARRY BURGESS 2
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BRIANA SNYDER ’09/Knack Creative
Where we belong
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PRESIDENT’S COMMENTARY Rich in spirit
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LETTERS
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MAINSTREAM
‘I made such a gUD choice’
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CONVERSATION PIECES
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FLIGHT DECK
Jon Gruden is back in (the silver and) black
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VIEW FINDER Seeing the light
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WHERE ARE YOU READING?
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SPORTS
Larry and Bucky
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THE ALUMNI
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BACK PORCH
Alumni Awards 2018
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CLASS NOTES
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PERCEPTIONS
If it’s Tuesday, this must be Prague
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PARTING WORDS
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CONNECTIONS Cover: “In Loving Arms,” Robert Parkey III See story Page 14.
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.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. CONTRIBUTORS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. LILIA SCIARRETTI is a senior public .. relations major and photography .. .. minor who has worked as a student .. .. photographer for UD Magazine since .. March 2018. She also contributes .. .. her writings, including an essay in .. this issue’s Perceptions section that .. .. started as an assignment for her fea.. ture writing class. She will graduate .. .. in May 2019. .. .. JENNI LAIDMAN is a freelance .. .. writer specializing in science and .. medicine who for this issue wrote .. .. about the role of emotion in decision .. making and the impact of odors. “My .. .. husband and I are house-hunting, .. A look at and I can’t help wondering about the .. longing and .. snap judgments I’m inclined to make . .. belonging when I look at a house,” she said. .. “The real miracle here is that I didn’t .. .. insist we buy the place where they’d .. made chocolate chip cookies before .. .. we got there.” .. .. FRANK PAUER has designed every .. .. issue of the University’s alumni mag.. azine — but two — since 1991. He has .. .. also contributed a couple hundred .. pieces of art over the years, includ.. .. ing the opening spreads on pages .. 28 and 34 of this issue — even after .. .. overcoming the 500-word essay .. “Why I Should Not Draw Batman” .. .. he had to write in Mr. Greenwood’s .. seventh-grade science class. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. DAYMAG ON THE GO Odor leads one professor toward a deeper .. .. Read the magazine anytime, understanding of our mental health .. anywhere, through the free .. .. University of Dayton Maga.. .. zine app or online at bit.ly/ .. UDM_digital. Want the mag .. .. via mail or email? Tell us: .. magazine@udayton.edu. .. .. .. .. .. .. NI V E R S I T Y O F D AY T O N M A G A Z IN E A u t u m n 2018 U 3 .. .. ..
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AT THE TABLE IN GOD’S KINGDOM
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THE HOMESICK RED & BLUES
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SENSE OF SCENTS
COMMENTARY by ERIC F. SPINA Rich in spirit
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Eric F. Spina President, University of Dayton
f I didn’t know the selfless — and visionary — nature of the Marianists, this question might stump me. How in the world can a group of priests and brothers take a vow of poverty, then turn around and give a seven-figure gift to the University of Dayton? The Marianist Province of the United States has made a bold statement about the Marianists’ commitment to social justice and to UD with a $1.5 million gift to fully endow the Father Ferree Chair of Social Justice. Their generosity is not surprising, though it is humbling. I have come to appreciate, in a special way, the Marianist philosophy of life during my two years as president. The priests and brothers live a simple life together as equals, without the trappings of our materialistic society. They describe themselves as “prayerful, joyful men dedicated to the most powerful woman in history.” Drawing their inspiration from Mary, the mother of Jesus, they have devoted their lives in service to youth and the poor. Much of their annual salaries go to the province, which uses the money to reinvest in Marianist schools and social justice initiatives worldwide. I am inspired by their altruism, as I know are our students, faculty, staff and alumni. As an example, for nearly two decades, Brother Tom Pieper traveled to Salyersville, Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, where he helped University of Dayton students live among the people and support their building of community. I am inspired by their service and farsighted leadership.
President: Eric F. Spina Vice President for University Marketing and Communications: Molly Wilson Editor Emeritus: Thomas M. Columbus Editor: Michelle Tedford Managing Editor: Gita Balakrishnan Art Director: Frank Pauer Photographer: Larry Burgess Production Director: Jeaneen Parsons Designer: Brother Bob Hughes, S.M.
Staff Contributors: Jen Clark, Thomas M. Columbus, Michael Dunekacke, Brigham Fisher, Gina Gray, Mike Kurtz, Kim Lally, Shannon Shelton Miller, Brian Mills, Meagan Pant, Teri Rizvi, Shawn Robinson, Cilla Shindell Student Staff: Danielle Damon, Kristin Davis, Matt Trybus, Lilia Sciarretti
University of Dayton Magazine (Autumn 2018, Vol. 11, No. 1, ISSN 2152-3673) is published quarterly by the University of Dayton, University Marketing and Communications, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-1303.
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Brother Ray Fitz, S.M. ’64, the longest-serving president in school history, still serves as an advocate for urban schools and families and believes, as I do, that the University of Dayton, as an anchor institution, must continue to strengthen our deep ties to the Dayton community. I am inspired by their genuine concern for others. Professor Emeritus Father Norbert Burns, S.M. ’45, who taught a popular Christian marriage class to more than 27,000 alumni, has mastered the art of human relationships. When Karen and I visited him just days before he celebrated 75 years as a Marianist, he talked about his deep love for Mary — and his deep concern for others. “The spirit of Mary,” he says, “is the spirit of community.” I am inspired by their wisdom, faith and integrity. Father Martin Solma, S.M. ’71, who recently stepped down as Marianist provincial and vice chair of our board of trustees, pushed us to become a more diverse and inclusive campus. He urged the board to divest from fossil fuels in our investment portfolio, even before Pope Francis issued his groundbreaking encyclical on the environment. These are just a few of the faces of the Marianists, all champions for a more just, sustainable and loving world. All rich in spirit. The province’s gift, a sign of faith in UD’s future, will leave an indelible Marianist stamp on the University of Dayton as we strive to be the University for the Common Good. Like the Marianists themselves, the gift is inspiring.
Website: magazine.udayton.edu
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Email: magazine@udayton.edu
Twitter: twitter.com/daymag
Send class notes to: classnotes@udayton.edu
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Records changes only to: records@udayton.edu or 888-253-2383
Periodicals postage paid at Dayton, Ohio. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to University of Dayton Magazine, Records Office, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-7051.
LETTERS
“We were the ones who converted the attic into a bedroom.” —Bing Miller ’75 Have thoughts about what you read this issue? SEND YOUR LETTERS TO: University of Dayton Magazine 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-1303 EMAIL US AT: magazine-letters@udayton.edu TWEET TO: @daymag Please include your city and state. Indicate whether you wish your email address printed. Letters should not exceed 300 words. University of Dayton Magazine may edit for clarity and brevity. Not all letters are printed because of space. Opinions expressed are those of the letter writers and not necessarily of this publication nor the University of Dayton.
REMEMBERING AND HONORING
Dear Jesse [Bowman, author of “God in the Chaos,” Spring 2018 UD Magazine], You are going through
THAT’S MY HOUSE
what many of us Vietnam Vets (I served with the 101st ABN 1969-70) felt after that war: betrayal and disillusionment. I came back to UD in 1970 to finish getting my degree and
I was pleasantly surprised to see the house I lived in from 1972-75 featured in your article on “My Old House 216 Lowes St.” [Summer 2018 UD Magazine]. I had three of the best years of my life living at 216 Lowes. We were the ones who converted the attic into a bedroom (only accessible through the main bathroom and complete with a botanical garden). A 1975 Dayton yearbook photo of our group includes our kindred spirits, the girls from across the street at 223 Lowes. In the last 43 years, the six guys who lived at 216 Lowes have been quite successful: started eight companies and were presidents, vice presidents or controllers of 12 other companies at one time or another. I never had keys to the house as it was never locked. Friends showed up one time and found
it took a while for me to “fit” back into the college life. Although almost 50 years has passed, I still feel anger and resentment at a government and military brass that also knew
the front door wide open, the stereo blaring and no one at home; we had gone to a farm party in Vandalia. I have visited the house while on business in 1985, 1991 and 1999. I plan to visit in August on my way back from picking my son up from astronaut camp in Huntsville, Alabama. I plan to eat at The Pine Club for the first time; our backyard in 1975 was a parking lot for The Pine Club, but I could never afford to eat there. Go Dayton! BING MILLER ’75
MOUNT AIRY, MARYLAND
Oh good. Glad my roommates and I were not the only ones to order delivery from Milano’s even though we could see the parking lot from our window [“My Old House 216 Lowes St.,” Summer 2018 UD Magazine]. @daymag #daytonflyers #worthit MEGHAN MCDEVITT @MCDEVIMM
POSTED TO TWITTER
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UD IN THE NEWS we could not win that war. The very positive thing I have taken away from the war is the comradeship of my fellow vets, which persists to this day. This will get you through the self-doubts, anger and sadness. Too, dedicating the remainder of your life to family, cause or whatever propels you forward will be remembering and honoring those who fell. And, I will close with the greeting all ’Nam vets give to each other: Welcome home, Brother. DICK MORAN ’71
POSTED TO UDQUICKLY
COMMUNITY FOCUSED
I have spent many enjoyable hours reading and re-reading the last UD Magazine. It makes me feel connected and so proud of my UD experience. I love reading about what alumni have done with their degrees and how much they have enhanced their communities. CHERYL EWING BELL ’95 CARY, NORTH CAROLINA
TOO FUNNY
Loved Bob Casselberry’s 1979 class note from the last UD Magazine [Summer 2018 UD Magazine, Page 53]. Great to see that engineering didn’t sap his sense of humor. SUSAN INCZE HILL ’79 PAUL HILL ’79 LOVELAND, OHIO
ABOUT THE PEOPLE
Congratulations for another great issue. As I was reflecting on the magazine I realized that, for me, what makes it so great is that it is all about people and how they are making a difference. Also, thank you for sharing your thoughts about the exclamation point. I will use only one going forward. BILL BRENNAN ’60
HIGHLANDS RANCH, COLORADO
MORE THAN A LIVING
Such truth in these thoughts from @DaytonPrezSpina [“Three Words to Live By: Make a Difference,” Summer 2018 UD Magazine]. Now more than ever, we are called to Learn, Lead, Serve. @univofdayton @daymag MANDY GOUBEAUX @MLGOUBEAUX POSTED TO TWITTER
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“[T]he more we invest in the people who come out of Dayton Public Schools, the stronger our community is.” —ROCHONDA NENONENE, CO-DIRECTOR OF UD’S URBAN TEACHER ACADEMY, IN THE DAYTON DAILY NEWS
“The sharing of computer code with others to communicate ideas or functionality is protected speech — although the actual printing of the gun can be criminalized.” —ERICA GOLDBERG, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LAW, IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
“North Korea is the most brutal, anti-Christian regime in the world. The only reason an American corporation would be contracting with companies using their laborers would be because their prices are significantly lower.” —TONY TALBOTT, DIRECTOR OF ABOLITION OHIO AT UD, IN AN ASSOCIATED PRESS STORY PICKED UP BY MORE THAN 400 MEDIA OUTLETS
“Cameroon is endowed with tremendous human and natural resources, and as such can be a greater nation.” —JULIUS AMIN, HISTORY PROFESSOR AND ALUMNI CHAIR IN HUMANITIES, IN A COMMENTARY CALLING FOR CAMEROON’S PRESIDENT TO CURB THE NATION’S ANGLOPHONE CRISIS, IN THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS
“The country is in a greater state of crisis today than it was (then).”
—MIRANDA CADY HALLETT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, ON THE END OF TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR MIGRANTS FROM EL SALVADOR, IN THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
“If human rights is to survive this era of mass appeal, we need an alternative model.” —JOEL PRUCE, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES, IN THE NATION; HE OFFERS THE BORDER NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN EL PASO, TEXAS, AS THAT MODEL
mainStream
What you said.
bethhosek University of Dayton
UD Booktore
I miss my place and my people Toni DeVelin
@UDBookstore
Some people choose to come to UD. Other people are born Flyers. The University of Dayton is much more than just a school!
Dr EBP
@doc_ebp
@tonidevelin
When you eat lunch @panerabread and spot someone wearing @DaytonMBB shirt. #GoFlyers #127days #butwhoscounting
“Your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are.” Great day back @univofdayton
reginafaithh
University of Dayton
I made such a gUD choice #goflyers #dayton2022
Rebecca Fahringer @GoFahr
It’s been 7 years since my @univofdayton graduation and I still miss breakfast at KU. @UDaytonAlumni
University of Dayton
Guess who is finally in town?!? Our Flyer Family is excited to welcome our three incoming freshmen to campus... @ellaskeens @davidson_amari @kywhite5 #OneWay #Family #ClassOf2018 #MoveInDay
Blessed to be starting my 3rd year as president of the remarkable @univofdayton tomorrow. Grateful to work w/ so many dedicated faculty/staff & to support our incredible students. I deeply appreciate the alumni, community members, & friends who support UD & me every day. Onward!
Megan Witte @MeGwiTTe1
Dayton has some awesome people/ @UDaytonAlumni and boy do they know how to do Reunion Weekend right! So great to see everyone and already counting down the days until 2023 @univofdayton Rudy Flyer
@DaytonRudyFlyer
The @Lakers offered me a contract, but I turned it down. I mean, How could I leave this? UD Arena>Staples Center #FlyerNation
@km_rafferty
Spotted outside my office window @univofdayton @DaytonAlum4life @UDaytonAlumni
Eric F. Spina @DaytonPrezSpina daytonweareone
Kathleen Rafferty
UD DFW Alumni
@UDaytonDFWAlum
Tom Hirt @FLYRFN
You know it’s a good wedding reception when @DaytonRudyFlyer walks in! #GoFlyers #Dayton
What a great morning with @cpdtx! Together we stuffed 1,492 backpacks for kids in the Dallas area! Thanks to our adopted Flyers today too :-) @UDaytonDFWAlum #WeAreUD #ForeverFlyers
Jordan Sibert
@Smooth_Jordan
Daniel Poole @danpoolio
Come all the way to Rome, to find my Dayton Flyers represented! Thanks Tommy for the suggestion! #goflyers #happydanimal #pooleparty2018
Had a great time today at my second home @univofdayton! Always a great day to be a Flyer #WeAreUD LeeAnn Sangalang
@lsangalang
85 and sunny at College Park! @univofdayton
Kristin Freeman @teamfreeman09
TFW your mom makes the cover of your alumni magazine #udayton
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—CHARLIE HALLINAN, WHO RETIRED IN JULY AS PROFESSOR OF LAW HAVING SERVED ON THE FACULTY SINCE 1983
“Father Marty’s joyful laugh is contagious.”
—PRESIDENT ERIC SPINA IN A TRIBUTE TO FATHER MARTIN SOLMA, S.M. ’71, WHO STEPPED DOWN AFTER EIGHT YEARS AS PROVINCIAL OF THE SOCIETY OF MARY
CONVERSATION PIECES
“I’m the kind of professor who answers a question with a question.”
Lombardi legacy As Jack Giambrone ’81 has honed his coaching philosophy during a more than 30-year career in athletics, he said he keeps coming back to one role model: Vince Lombardi, best known as the Super Bowl-winning coach of the Green Bay Packers. “It starts with perseverance, a commitment to excellence,” said Giambrone of Lombardi’s credo. To better understand the man, Giambrone has amassed in his home in Beavercreek, Ohio, what is believed to be the largest collection of Lombardi-related memorabilia, including this football signed by nearly every player in Super Bowl I. Giambrone loans pieces to exhibits nationwide, sharing Lombardi’s dedication to family, hard work and success. See the collection by contacting Giambrone on Facebook at The Lombardi Collection and Legacy.
“They expanded my understanding of what it means to be a leader.”
“We’re not messing with the soul of the bowl.” —SCOTT DEBOLT, DIRECTOR OF UD ARENA; RENOVATION PHASE TWO OF THREE WILL BE COMPLETE FOR THE FALL BASKETBALL SEASON
“Students need a safe space to share their true, authentic selves.” —JENNIFER BAKER, UD CENTER FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION AND COUNSELOR WITH THE EXPRESS YOURSELF PROGRAM AT ST. ANTHONY’S CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN DAYTON
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—LUCAS CALDERON, JUNIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MAJOR, ON HIS CO-OP AT GE AVIATION AND PARTICIPATION IN GE’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
High Flyer Wearing a Blue Angels VIP flight suit, Margie Hudock Pinnell ’88 climbed into the cockpit of an F/A-18 Hornet and headed for the skies. “We did some loops, did some Gs, turned upside down and flew for a little bit,” said Pinnell, who was chosen for the fly-along during the 2018 Vectren Dayton Air Show as one of the region’s key influencers. Pinnell, associate dean in the School of Engineering and The Bernhard Schmidt Chair in Engineering Leadership, said pilot Lt. Andre Webb showed her the sights from up high — including the University of Dayton. “It was an amazing experience,” she said.
panels, a portable generator, AC motor control centers, advanced batteries and a solar-powered mobile house. “We envision the Energy Experience Center to eventually be a showcase of best-in-class technologies in energy generation, storage, controls, efficiency, cyber-security, monitoring and load management,” said Eric Lang, UDRI senior research scientist.
A wind turbine spinning above UD Research Institute’s Energy Experience Center will help test and demonstrate the benefits of a multi-energy-source microgrid. The 6 kW turbine, valued at more than $25,000, was donated by OGW Energy Resources, whose vice president is Kevin Mader ’93. The center, located at UD’s Daniel J. Curran Place, features two wind turbines, solar
Propelling alternative power
Christmases past It’s the kids and the unending cups of hot chocolate that come to mind when thinking about Christmas on Campus. But what about Ellie Kurtz ’47? Students in lecturer Cassandra Secrease’s course on public memory found few of their classmates know of Kurtz, who founded Christmas on Campus in 1964. Their class project sought to remedy this by proposing an evergreen tree planted near a park bench with her name on it. “Christmas on Campus is a great representation of our Marianist values,” said junior business major Kristen Hisek. While the monuments proposed by the course’s five teams were an academic exercise, they succeeded in deepening understanding of some of UD’s greatest people and programs during their 2018 Stander Symposium presentations.
The Last Straw University of Dayton Dining Services joined CNN’s celebration of World Oceans Day and the #ZeroPlasticLunch and #TheLastStraw initiatives June 8 by announcing Au Bon Pain, which opened last year in Kennedy Union, would transition from plastic containers to compostables throughout the summer. Dining Services, which has been plastic-free since 2009, was featured on CNN’s World Oceans Day blog. There are no trash cans in the dining halls; instead, students place waste in a central area that is sorted into waste for recycling
and composting. Since 2009, the University has diverted more than 2,622 tons of waste from the landfills — including 638,000 compostable straws in the last four years.
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FLIGHT DECK JOIN US
FAMILY WEEKEND n Sept. 21-23 Campus events include a cornhole tournament, murder mystery dinner, UD football game and more. Details: go.udayton.edu/familyweekend. IMPROV ALL-STARS NIGHT n 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 This fundraiser, highlighting talents from UD’s On the Fly, Black Box Theatre Improv of Dayton and #Hashtag Comedy Improve from Columbus, will benefit Brighter Connections Theatre, a camp for youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Brighter Connections artists also will perform, in Kennedy Union Boll Theatre. Tickets: $12, $8 for students and faculty. Call 937-229-2545. MARIAN CONSORT n 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 A UK-based vocal group performs Marian music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception as part of the Marian Library’s 75th anniversary. Free but tickets required. Call 937-229-2545. TOLTON: FROM SLAVE TO PRIEST n 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 A play in Kennedy Union ballroom about Father Augustus Tolton, the first black Catholic priest in the United States. Free. Info: www.stlukeproductions.com/ dramas/tolton/story. More events and information at udayton.edu/calendar.
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Elevating social justice The Marianist Province of the United States UD President Eric F. Spina said the Marianis making a $1.5 million gift to elevate the presists’ gift will further strengthen the University’s ent Father William J. Ferree Professor of Social commitment to advance scholarship, teaching Justice to an endowed chair and place an enand community engagement in social justice in during stamp of Catholic Social Thought and pursuit of the common good. Marianist character on the academic life of the “We are deeply grateful to the Marianists for University of Dayton. this gift, which will expand the scope of this poBy transforming the current position into the sition in alignment with the missions of the UniFather Ferree Endowed Chair of Social Justice, versity and the Society of Mary,” said Spina. “This the Marianists intend ensures the legacies of Father Ferree and to continue Ferree’s legBrother Ray Fitz will continue to live on, acy as a leader in Cathinspiring generations of students and olic Social Thought advancing social justice.” and social justice and The Ferree professorship was estabto build on the work lished in 2002 with an initial gift of $1 milof President Emeritus lion that has grown to $1.5 million. The Brother Raymond Fitz, Marianists will add an additional $1.5 milS.M. ’64, who has served lion to fully support the endowed chair. as Ferree Professor Born in Dayton in 1905 and a two-time since the professorship UD graduate, Ferree was created in 2002. ‘With this ’28 was a respected “Father William Catholic theologian gift, the Ferree was very forwhose work on the ward thinking and a common good has province man ahead of his time,” been highly influential saw an said Father Martin Solin shaping contempoopportunity to really elevate ma, S.M. ’71, Marianist rary Catholic teaching provincial when the on social justice. social justice throughout the gift was announced in Ferree’s thinking University and create a living July. “He was a leader revolved around the in advancing and develact of social justice, legacy to support President oping existing Catholic the moral responsiSpina’s and the board of Social Thought beyond bility to continually trustees’ vision for UD as the charity, looking at the reorganize society for structures of society the common good. University for the Common that create poverty and His theory argues that Good.’ defining our responthe understanding of —Father Martin Solma, S.M. ’71 this concept of social sibility to work for the former Marianist provincial responsibility — as opcommon good. “With this gift, the province saw an opportuposed to individual responsibility — is relatively nity to really elevate social justice throughout the new in human history, and that we all have a reUniversity and create a living legacy to support sponsibility to work toward solving the dispariPresident Spina’s and the board of trustees’ vision ties and social injustices that exist in the world. for UD as the University for the Common Good.” —Cilla Shindell
U NI V E R S I T Y O F D AY T O N M A G A Z IN E A u t u m n 2018
Welcome, Class of 2022 The University of Dayton Class of 2022 set new records for diversity and academic talent and is part of a record undergraduate student body. Seventeen percent of the 2,200 incoming students are from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations. Socioeconomic diversity is also greater; more than 15 percent of the class is eligible for the federal Pell Grant awarded to undergraduates with financial need, the highest percentage
since 2010. The class, which comes from 39 states
$168M in new contracts for UDRI
Landing gear on fully loaded aircraft endure a lot of force. The UD Research Institute is working to keep them strong on the job. UDRI has been awarded a $96 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity Air Force contract to perform engineering services for landing gear systems. Work performed under the 11-year contract will support the Air Force Materiel Command at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. In a second contract, UDRI will continue to support the Air Force Research Laboratory in reducing costs, creating a safer working environment and increasing Air Force systems availability. The six-year, $72 million-ceiling AFRL contract supports AFRL’s program in quick-reaction evaluation of materials and processes. The contract included an initial award of $11.7 million for research, evaluation and testing in the areas of corrosion prevention and control. “Our goal is to support the Air Force Research Laboratory in its goals to reduce the cost associated with corrosion maintenance, create safer working environments and increase the availability of Air Force systems,” said Dennis Buchanan, UDRI division head for structural integrity and program manager on the quick-reaction evaluation program. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as well as at UD. —Pamela Gregg
and 18 countries, also has the highest standardized test scores and high school GPAs. It is the second-largest class in school history, following the Class of 2021. “As a Catholic, Marianist university, we are committed to access and we know diversity, equity and inclusion are linked with excellence,” said Jason Reinoehl, vice president for strategic enrollment management. “We’re excited for this talented and diverse class to join our community and to make their own mark on our journey toward becoming the University for the Common Good.” The incoming class includes 49 new Flyer Promise students. The program, which launched last year, removes financial barriers for high-achieving underrepresented students at partner high schools. All 42 students in the first cohort also return this year as sophomores. —Meagan Pant
Opioid documentary wins student Emmy A UD student-produced documentary about Dayton’s deadly opioid epidemic won a student Emmy Award from the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The chapter’s four-state region includes Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia. Epicenter: Dayton’s Opioid Crisis, a 16-minute documentary that looks at the epidemic through the eyes of recovering addicts, their families and community leaders, won in the long-form nonfiction category. This marks the first time the chapter has awarded a Pillar — the student equivalent of the Emmy — in the long-form nonfiction category since 2015. Documentaries by University of Dayton media production students earned honorable mentions in the same category in both 2016 and 2017. Epicenter will now be submitted to national student competitions. It can be watched on YouTube at bit.ly/UDM_Epicenter.
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Jubilee for Father Burns More than 350 friends, colleagues and former students joined in an Aug. 9 campus celebration for Father Norbert Burns, S.M. ’45. But if you wanted to shake the hand of the man who has taught more UD students than any other — an estimated 27,000 — you had to be patient: The reception line was three hours long. This August, Burns celebrated 75 years as a Marianist — 67 in the classroom, 65 as a priest and 50 as a professor at University of Dayton, best known for his popular ChrisKaren Spina and President Eric F. Spina bookend Father tian Marriage course. He marked Norbert Burns, S.M. his 94th birthday the same week. “My work has been my great expression my convictions — have been manifested of my love for Mary,” he wrote in a reflec- through my apostolate.” Burns lives in a community with four tion for his jubilee. “Who I am — as well as
other Marianists in a home not far from campus on Sawmill Road. “All of creation, we are one,” he said during a recent visit by President Eric F. Spina and his wife, Karen. “We belong to each other, somehow or another. We’re all brothers and sisters, though I don’t even like to use that phrase anymore. I don’t like anything that divides people.” Though he left the classroom more than a decade ago, Burns is not done teaching. His talks and counseling are still accessed online, and his life continues to be a lesson in love, communication and living in the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus. “To spend every moment of my life in her honor and for her glory was the course of life that made the most sense to me,” he said. “To me, her presence was my way to Jesus.”
Faculty remembered JOHN W. “BILL” FRIEL, 6-11-18 Professor emeritus, mathematics “I can say that Bill was as devoted to the University of Dayton and the mathematics department as anyone I knew. He held himself to a high standard and he expected his students to strive to do their best in the mathematics course that he taught.” —Jerry Strange, professor emeritus, mathematics ROBERT B. GORTON, 5-31-18 Professor emeritus, mathematics “I think Galois theory was the most challenging subject I ever studied. If we had a question and went to Dr. Gorton, he would say, ‘Your question is illogical; go back and study until you can ask it correctly.’ But when we could ask it correctly, we would also know the answer without asking.
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We learned a lot from Bob Gorton, including how to really study math.” —Jeff Vaughan ’70 MARY T. LEONARD, 5-6-18 Professor emerita, physical and health education “No one more embodied the commitment to Marianist education than did Mary. She was beloved, respected on campus and among professional colleagues all throughout the country. In addition to her stellar scholarship as a professor of anatomy, she was an accomplished athlete from her undergraduate years and a founding member of the Senior Olympics of Ohio.” —George De Marco, associate professor, sport science NORMAN GEORGE, 7-24-18 Former dean and faculty, School of Law “Without Norman George there probably would not be a
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University of Dayton School of Law. Norm and Barth Snyder were professors in the School of Business Administration and the inspirational leaders behind the creation of the law school.” —Dennis Turner, professor emeritus, law ALDEN E. RAY, 4-16-18 Professor emeritus, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and research scientist “He initiated, established and headed an academic program that is known today as materials engineering. He also contributed to the development of rare earth permanent magnets along with professor Karl Stranat. The work brought global reputation to pioneering research in the area of magnetics.” —Binod Kumar, visiting research fellow
DON A. VERMILLION, 7-27-18 Executive-in-residence, political science, and former director of public projects, Brother Raymond L. Fitz Center for Leadership in Community “For many, Don was the mentor who helped them figure out that they had a passion and vocation for the public sector. For many, he was the teacher who helped them learn and make the connections between theory and practice. And for many, he was the professional acquaintance who became a dear and trusted friend. It would be impossible to count the number of lives he touched.” —Michelle Pautz, associate professor, political science
VIEW FINDER Seeing the light
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Truth, beauty Willis “Bing” Davis, a prominent Dayton artist and educator, curated the exhibit BLACK LIFE as Subject MATTER 2 for display this summer and fall in the president’s residence. The exhibit is the product of a friendship that began more than two years ago when Davis welcomed President Eric F. Spina into his studio on West Third Street in Dayton. On these pages we share Davis’ reflection on the exhibit, as well as pieces by local African-Americans whose art demonstrates insight, understanding and appreciation of the broad range of black life as worthy subject matter. It is often said we express best that which we know the most about. So one’s life observations and experiences can always be worthy subject matter for the artist. In the 2016 BLACK LIFE as Subject MATTER exhibit, we spoke of the artists as visual griots — storytellers who capture aspects of life as they see and experience it by using their artistic and creative gifts. The artists, while expressing a personal vision, have the potential through their artistic skills and sensitivity to speak to a universal condition that allows the viewer to “feel” and appreciate what they are attempting to say through their visual language. The arts not only document what is happening in the community and the nation but often are indicators of “what time it is” and what the “temperature” is in the community and nation. To better understand a community we need to listen to the songs, the spoken words that are being crafted, the dramatic events being performed, the movement of the dancers and the images that hang on the interior and exterior walls. The arts may not have solutions to all of the problems of society, but the arts have the energy and power to identify things to not only celebrate and preserve but to also reveal concerns and issues in the community and nation in need of our critical attention. When we look around the country and see youth protesting an overabundance of guns, unarmed men of color continuing to be shot, and friendly watering holes like Starbucks drying up, we know that the temperature of the community indicates that it may be a long, hot summer and that it is “nation-building time.” Black life in all its manifestations is, indeed, worthy subject matter for creative expression by AfricanAmerican visual artists in search of truth and beauty. —Willis “Bing” Davis
“Looking Back,” ABNER COPE
“Story Teller,” FRANCES TURNER
“Tell Me a Story,” ANDREA CUMMINGS 14
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“Playgrounds as Battlegrounds,” WILLIS “BING” DAVIS
“I, Too, Am American,” MORRIS HOWARD
“Line Dancing,” CLIFF DARRETT
“Winter Suit,” JAMES PATE
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ASK A MARIANIST
So you’re becoming a nun? Ellie Rizzo ’19 became a lay Marianist. So we asked the senior international studies and math double major, “What’s a lay Marianist?” When I told my parents I was going to become a lay Marianist, my mom would tell her friends that I was essentially becoming a religious sister. Mom! Trust me, that takes much longer than a semester to discern and commit to. If not a vowed religious, then what is it? I had been searching for a long-lasting community, and while attending the December 2017 lay commitment ceremony for a friend, I saw exactly that. So I dove headfirst into the formation process in spring 2018. It began as a way to officially join the Marianist family, one I’ve grown to depend on over the past three years. The Marianists have welcomed me into their homes no matter where I am or how I show up. Through their example, they have pushed the limits of what it means to love others as Christ does. Throughout the spring, Carlos, Jess, Joanna, Liz, Mia and I met on Thursdays for formation. We would learn about the Marianists and share our own experiences with Mary, God and faith. On April 28, we committed ourselves and took the Greek word Meraki for our community name. Meraki: to do something with soul, love or creativity; to put something of yourself into your work. We collectively chose this to represent how we strive to inspire one another to be the person God created us to be, to bring our full selves to the table, broken and bruised, yet unconditionally loved. And that is the spirit we seek to embody in responding to the needs of both our community and the world. As lay Marianists, we commit to one year at a time together, meeting online, praying for one another and keeping God at the center. It is a challenge, but our community is fueled by hope in this seemingly desolate world. And it is our collective mission to spread that same hope Mary brought into the world.
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Tops in sustainability
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education lists UD among the world’s top performers in research and purchasing. UD tied for third in the research category and is fourth in the purchasing category in the AASHE 2018 Sustainable Campus Index. The publication also highlights UD’s green roof installation and monitoring system at Kennedy Union, and the “report card” system used to inform students living in university-owned houses of their energy savings based on behaviorial changes. Rankings are based off the association’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), which includes more than 900 participants in 37 countries.
A transformative college Money, a magazine published by Time, named the University of Dayton one of the 50 most transformative colleges in the country. The designation is given to schools that report high graduation rates and alumni success and help students “do far better than would be expected from their academic and economic backgrounds,” according to the magazine. The University ranks 22nd and is the only institution in Ohio to make the list. Princeton Review also announced kudos to campus in its annual Best Colleges publication. Among the designations for 2019 were No. 1 for Everybody Plays Intramural Sports, No. 8 for Their Students Love These Colleges, No. 10 for Best Run College and No. 12 for Happiest Students.
Law@Dayton
Starting in August 2019, students can begin their journey toward a University of Dayton School of Law degree online through Law@Dayton, one of the nation’s first accredited hybrid Juris Doctor programs, blending online and on-campus instruction. The School of Law, which received approval for an American Bar Association variance to offer this hybrid degree, is now accepting applications to the Law@Dayton program. The School of Law is partnering with 2U Inc., a global leader in education technology, to develop and deliver the hybrid Juris Doctor degree. This is the first Juris Doctor program for 2U, which partners with top universities around the world to deliver quality digital education. Dayton law faculty will teach students through weekly live classes and faculty-developed interactive coursework on an online platform, and students will come to the University of Dayton campus for one week each semester for additional live classes and networking opportunities. Just as with the on-campus J.D. program, Law@Dayton will feature substantive exploration of legal doctrine as well as skill-based education to prepare students for the practice of law. 2U also works with the University of Dayton School of Business Administration to deliver MBA@Dayton as well as with the University of Dayton School of Education and Health Sciences to deliver a suite of education-focused degree programs.
Where are you reading University of Dayton Magazine? Send us a photograph — at home or abroad — to magazine@udayton.edu. View more photos on Facebook at facebook.udayton.edu.
Cindy Oppenheimer Bishop ’84 enjoyed reading UD Magazine when she was getting ready to run the Antarctica Marathon March 16, 2018. She writes, “After I finished the marathon, I became a member of the Seven Continents Club — Antarctica was the seventh continent where I have run marathons.” She was also one of the first American women to complete the Abbott World Marathon Majors in 2013. Jerry Allaire ’62 and his son, Stephen ’99, visited Longboat Key, Florida, in April and broke out their UD Magazine during one of the amazing sunsets they were able to enjoy on their trip. They visited Sarasota, Anna Maria Island, Cortez, Bradenton and several other small towns and villages in the area. Zach Burke ’10 and his wife, Lauren Maybury Burke ’10, toted their UD Magazine along while they trekked the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Jimmy Parks ’08 and Trevor Wall ’02 enjoyed a vacation with their wives Lindsay Camella Parks ’09 and Stephanie Ryan Wall ’02 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico . Jimmy and Trevor both work for Smith and Nephew Orthopedics and won a prestigious Sales Elite/ President’s Club trip. Brian LaPorte ’00 and Kristen Hanzel LaPorte ’00 took UD Magazine along for the ride as they celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary at the peak of the Sleeping Giant (aka Nounou Mountain) in Kauai, Hawaii . The formation received its name from its resemblance to a reclining human figure. Katherine “Kay” Kelly Ivcevich ’66 and her husband, Joe, visited Bolivia and Colombia and enjoyed taking a break with UD Magazine at the airport as they were waiting for one of their connecting flights.
WHERE ARE YOU READING UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON MAGAZINE
? Daniel Riehle ’70 visited South Africa in April. He stands on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town with children Elle Riehle ’15 and Joe Riehle ’00 and Peace Corps volunteer Sidney Jasper ’15. Margaret Barrett ’13 writes, “My fellow 2013 classmates and I took a picture at Macchu Pichu in Peru with UD Magazine for our five-year reunion.” Pictured from left to right: Bridget Neylon ’13, Maria Caci ’13 and Margaret. Kate McCarthy Hoffman ’85 spent two weeks traveling around China from the Great Wall of China in Beijing to the Terracotta Army in Xi’an. She embarked on a four-day cruise down the Yangtze River and also traveled to Shanghai. She writes, “My trip culminated with a visit to my daughter, Tara ’19, who is studying for the semester at the University of Dayton China Institute in Suzhou . The University made the semester amazing for the students with trips around the country — providing an exceptional classroom education abroad.” Deb Trimbach, a retired UD employee, along with son David Trimbach ’06, recently visited Olympic National Park in Port Angelas, Washington . David is currently a research associate for the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Puget Sound Partnership at Oregon State University. Class of 1979 alumnae Laura Mayar Dantuono, Barbara Aaron Cheroke, Cindy Ellis Coyle and Jane Edwards Lott took UD Magazine along with them on a recent visit to Oak Island Beach, North Carolina . Rita Homan Shrack ’75 and Don Homan ’63 took UD Magazine with them in March to visit the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, which was the site of the battle in 1836.
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Bird art by BROTHER ROBERT HUGHES, S.M.
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Birds of a feather
Just as students flock back to campus each autumn, there’s a nearby neighborhood that also attracts a gaggle of fall migrants. It’s along the Great Miami River, which winds through downtown Dayton and runs between UD Arena and UD’s River Campus. It’s a highly urbanized environment, with water flowing between artificial levees constructed of soil, stone or concrete. But the birds seem not to mind in areas that receive high habitat ratings as observed by biology major Hannah Scharf. From September to December 2016, Scharf tromped the river’s banks and counted the variety and number of waterbirds — 14 species in all, including waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, herons, cormorants and grebes. “It could be pretty loud underneath the overpasses, especially where I-75 crosses, but many parts of the river are quite beautiful,” she said. Scharf then looked closely at the habitats in two areas of high bird diversity and two areas of low bird diversity. Each was given a rating using the Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index, which the Ohio EPA uses to evaluate fish habitat. Scharf and her professor, Jeff Kavanaugh, hypothesized that good fish habitat — measured by the quality of the banks, the presence of habitat cover, the flowing characteristics of the water and more — would also appeal to birds. The results support their supposition. Scharf found the two segments with the highest numbers and diversity also had a QHEI rating of “good”; the two segments with fewest birds were rated “poor” and “fair.” In a subsequent survey in 2017, she found an area that previously rated “poor” during a construction project — and had few birds — now qualifies as “good” and increased species diversity 250 percent. The goal of the study, Scharf said, is to determine environmental features that affect waterbird diversity, with an eye toward better managing urban habitats to appeal to the bevy of migrants looking for nourishment and shelter. Having graduated in May, Scharf began her doctoral research in bird behavior this fall at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. But the Great Miami River bird project continues in the biology laboratory of Kavanaugh, where he focuses on providing experiential learning opportunities for students interested in water resources and how to improve the Great Miami River watershed for the wildlife living there and those who gather there to enjoy it. —Michelle Tedford
Finalists in China-US makers competition Two teams of University of Dayton entrepreneurs won prizes this summer in the China-U.S. Young Maker Competition, an international contest that challenges participants to come up with innovative ideas that will make the world more sustainable, efficient and interconnected. Both UD teams first competed in a regional round held in Suzhou, China, and organized by the University of Dayton China Institute. Gonzalo Perez ’17 and Bernard Dalichau, a former UD student, won the second-place prize worth 80,000 Chinese yuan (about $12,000 USD). Their Code E Drone is designed to fly into national disasters or other emergency situations inaccessible to police, paramedics and other first responders. Michael Sundermeier and Nick West, both junior entrepreneurship majors, tied for second and won a prize worth 80,000 yuan for Guardian Angel Directions, an app that gives directions based on the safest route. Both teams also won free travel to the finals in Beijing Aug. 13-17, where they competed against 70 teams in the first round UD teams prepare for their presenbut did not place. The competition tations at the regional competition is supported in part by Google in Suzhou. Top, Michael Sundermeier and the Ministry of Education of and Nick West. Bottom: Bernard the People’s Republic of China. Dalichau and Gonzalo Perez. “This is the first year any team from UD has participated, and despite the challenges of jet lag, and logistics, they were able to demonstrate their technical capabilities as well as the significant opportunities they are trying to address,” said Vince Lewis, director of the L. William Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Community college partnership adds more majors The UD Sinclair Academy has increased the number of majors students can enroll in that will provide seamless transfer to UD bachelor’s programs after students achieve associate degrees at Sinclair Community College located in downtown Dayton. The 30 majors from which students can choose now include exercise science, exercise physiology, dietetics, pre-physical therapy and sports management, among others. The UD Sinclair Academy, launched two years ago, eases the transition between Sinclair and UD and helps remove financial hurdles that might exist for some students, making a four-year education more accessible and affordable. This fall, 13 Academy students transferred from Sinclair to UD’s campus.
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Back in (the silver and) black in Cincinnati so we took the Monday Night Football bus to campus. We ate at that great steak house right next to Timothy’s, the legendary Pine Club. It was awesome — had the onion straws. Then we knocked on the door at 1532 Brown St., and there were some young ladies that were living there. I introduced myself and asked is there any way I could get a tour of this place. I think Mike Tirico [Monday Night Football play-by-play announcer] was with me. I showed him where we used to live, and it just brought back great memories. I got to reunite with Mike Kelly, my old UD football coach.
First UD dorm room?
I lived up on the hill, Stuart Hall.
Last UD house?
I lived on 1532 Brown St. with Rob Diorio and Mike Bencivenni. We had a lot of fun, but it wasn’t the Taj Mahal, if you know what I mean.
Favorite Milano’s sub?
Meatball, every Wednesday and every Saturday night.
Why Wednesdays and Saturdays?
My mom would send me some money, and it would get there on Wednesday, and I usually had enough left on Saturday to get my meatball sub. I was eating at the dorm the first couple years, then I moved off campus and I really struggled to eat, so Milano’s meatball sandwich came through — it was a real clutch situation. When was the last time you were on campus?
A couple years ago. We had a game
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Describe coach Mike Kelly in three words.
Energetic, passionate and consistent. He’s very energetic — he drives too fast to get to work. He just loves every day, he loves Dayton, he loves football, he loves to see young people get better, and he’s consistent or relentless — one of those two words. That’s why he’s a Hall of Famer, and I’m very fortunate to have played for him. In stories about you accepting the Raiders’ coaching position, you are reported to have said the football gods were calling you one more time. How did they speak to you?
When you get to be 54 years old, in quiet moments you get to reflect on how fast time has flown by and what you get to do with the rest of your life. I just kind of felt this calling to come back and coach, and try it one more time, and see if we can help the Oakland Raiders. Why the Raiders?
I loved the Raiders as a kid growing up, and Al Davis [Raiders then-owner and general manager] gave me, as a young coach, an opportunity that very few young people get. I think I was 34 years old when I became the head coach of the team. They have so much tradition. When you close your eyes and you think of the silver and black, you think of the Raiders.
Your dad, Jim Gruden, is a veteran of collegiate and professional football. You and brother Jay are NFL coaches. Your brother James is a doctor. If you were the normal brother, what would you be doing instead?
Probably the 6 o’clock sports on local TV somewhere. I was a communi-
Illustration by RANDY PALMER
Oakland Raiders football fans will see a familiar face on the sidelines this year — head coach Jon Gruden, who last coached for the team in 2001. And Flyers might also recognize something familiar. Gruden, a 1986 UD communication graduate, played back-up quarterback for Flyer football team. With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he became in 2003 the youngest head coach at that time to win the Super Bowl, and for the last nine seasons he’s provided color commentary for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. We caught up with Gruden to ask about everything from his days wearing the red and blue to today’s colors of choice, silver and black.
cation major. You know that education I got at Dayton came in handy. They taught us LOMM — large open moving mouth. Enunciate your words. Speak clearly. Some of those persuasive speaking classes I took came in big-time handy. Five words to describe UD.
Fun. Friendships. Diversity — it’s a Catholic school, but it has something for everyone. Recognition. Competitive — it was competitive on the football field, it was competitive in the classroom, and I just felt good about waking up there every day and knowing I was going to be pushed.
Hello from 1969
Read the full interview at bit.ly/UDM_ GrudenInterview.
COUNTERPOINT We asked coach Mike Kelly, “What three words would you use to describe Jon Gruden?”
He’s a grinder, he’s committed and he’s strategic. Their senior years, I did exit interviews with my guys. I asked them all to tell me what they’re going to be doing in 10 years. Jon comes in, points a finger at me from across the room and says, “Coach, I don’t know where I’m going to be in 10 years, but by the age of 40 I’m going to be the head coach of Michigan.” Here’s this guy — he wasn’t a starter, but he was a player. How’s he going to be a head coach? After graduation, Jon got a position as a graduate assistant at Tennessee, and he was strategic in his moves from that moment on. He grinded his butt off. And by the age of 39, he told a major college program that shall remain nameless, “No, thank you.” He made it.
An old copper box everyone had forgotten gave students, faculty and staff a look back to 1969, when Kettering Labs became home to the School of Engineering. On Friday, July 27, spectators patiently waited as Kevin Pierson, senior lab manager for the Kettering Labs Makerspace, took a rotary blade to the welds on the box and opened it for the first time in 49 years. Scott Segalewitz, associate dean for experiential learning and student success, removed and shared on Facebook Live each item, including a map of campus, a program from the 100th anniversary celebration of the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, a photo of then-president Father Raymond A. Roesch, S.M. ’36, at the Kettering Labs groundbreaking, and a Dayton Daily News from Aug. 17, 1969. In 1969, UD had a student population of 7,547, with 771 students in the School of Engineering. The time capsule was discovered during construction on the building’s second floor in what is believed to have been the dean’s office in the late 1960s. But the box almost didn’t make it to the ceremony. Julie Rammel Motz ’93, senior lab manager for electrical and computer engineering, found it in a trash pile and decided to take a closer look. Kelly Mofield, director of communication for the School of Engineering, said the materials create a nice snapshot of UD engineering during that time. “It gives us some much-needed historical context for the building,” she said. Among the crowd was Bob Wolff ’58, who worked as an engineering professor at UD around the time the capsule was Kevin Pierson and Scott Segalewitz pry placed in the building. open the lid from the copper time capsule “It was very interesting and brought before interested onlookers. back a lot of memories,” Wolff said. The University plans to digitize the photos, letters and brochures and store all the materials in University archives. Anyone with information on the history of the box can email magazine@udayton.edu or call 937-229-3298. —Lilia Sciarretti ’19
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Blessed. Beatified.
University of Dayton participants celebrated the beatification of Mother Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon with visits to a shrine to and the home of the Marianist co-founder.
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Waving colorful scarves joyfully in the air in a transformed conference center in Agen, France, a University of Dayton contingent joined thousands of voices from around the globe in the closing song, “Allez,” at the June 10 beatification Mass for Mother Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon. At that moment, the founder of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate joined Father William Joseph Chaminade, founder of the Society of Mary, on a path that places both one step closer to sainthood. Allison Leigh ’05, director of Marianist strategies on campus, was among those celebrating in Agen. “Over the past year, Adèle has come to mean a lot to my faith,” she said. “I often struggle with my role as a woman in the Catholic Church, but our women founders are a source of hope and remind me that God puts no limits on the ways we can be a force of love in this world. “The beatification celebration, in dance, song, tears, prayer, readings and rituals, united a community of thousands, all of whom have been blessed by this woman we have never ‘The beatification met.” celebration, in That’s just one heartfelt reflection from this dance, song, tears, year’s participants in the prayer, readings Chaminade Seminar who spent spring semester in the and rituals, united classroom learning about a community of Marianist history before thousands, all of embarking on a two-week pilgrimage to live it. Many of whom have been them jotted their reflections blessed by this during a quiet moment on the train ride between cities woman we have meaningful to the Marianist never met.’ family. “I thought that I had gotten to know her pretty well by reading biographies and some of her letters over the past few years, but she really came to life for me in a special way at her beatification Mass,” said Nick Cardilino ’89, associate director of campus ministry.
Photos by SYLVIA STAHL ’18
Adèle welcomes its first student Students carried comforters and alarm clocks, posters and pots and pans into their rooms in the new Adèle Hall Aug. 19 during move-in weekend. Ah, the smell of fresh paint and new carpet. The four-story residence hall and center located between Campus South and ArtStreet in the student neighborhood has 96 beds for upper-class students in suitestyle apartments similar to the Caldwell Street Apartments, which UD opened in 2012. Whereas the McGinnis Center, which once occupied the site of Adèle Hall, boasted a room of washers and dryers for student use, each suite in the new building has its own energy-efficient laundry machines, among other amenities. The ground floor area includes the McGinnis Multipurpose Room, named in honor of the McGinnis family that provided the gift for the previous center. The multipurpose room provides space for student services, meetings and worship. Among those moving in was junior communication major Lilly Barnett. “I love how spacious the living room is and all the natural light we get from the big windows,” she said. The building, named in honor of the founder of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, also known as the Marianist sisters, will be dedicated later this fall.
“Her gentle spirit breathed through the choreography of the young, graceful Vietnamese sisters. Her excitement to offer everything she had shone through the offertory procession in which sisters from Togo sang and danced to the beat of an African drum. Her commitment to deepen the faith of young people was expressed by one of the best youth choirs I have ever heard.” Amy Anderson ’09, associate provost for global and intercultural affairs, said Mother Adèle’s work to uphold human dignity and create inclusive communities continues to inspire today. “Seeing sisters from the U.S. — including our own Laura Leming and Leanne Jabolonski — as well as from India, Korea, Japan, Togo, Vietnam and France dance, sing and offer gifts during the ceremony in an expression of love and cultural unity was inspiring,” Anderson said. Lee Dixon, associate professor and chair of the Department of Psychology, said he was “struck by the notion that while Adèle
was going about her work, it probably never occurred to her that 200 years later thousands of people from around the world would be celebrating her life and what it produced.” “From what I’ve come to understand, Adèle simply followed her heart and day by day did what she felt she was called to do,” Dixon said. “Surely, this is what we all are meant to do.” John McCombe, director of the Honors Program, had not previously heard of Agen, a dot on France’s map. “I was struck by the civic pride of this small city that was once Adèle’s home. While the beatification Mass reflected the truly global nature of the Catholic Church, one could never forget that Adèle was a girl born and raised in a particular corner of southwestern France. … And though she is now Blessed Adèle, she will always be Adèle from Agen as well.” Added Father Joe Kozar, S.M. ’69, assistant rector: “She belongs to the people of Agen and France and now to the world.” —Teri Rizvi A u t u m n 2018 U NI V E R S I T Y O F D AY T O N M A G A Z IN E
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Stranger than fiction Jesseca Ynez Simmons is among the 89 new full-time faculty members who began teaching at UD this fall. The assistant professor of communication brings to campus experience making traditional and experimental documentaries, most recently as filmmaker-inresidence at Northwestern University. She once set a piano on fire for a film, which necessitated an expansion beyond her usually compact and agile three-member crew. “Four were on camera and three on fire extinguisher duty — you can only burn a piano once,” she said. We tap into Simmons’ experience to learn more about her craft coming off one of the hottest summers for documentary films in recent years. Documentaries such as Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and RBG brought in millions at the box office this summer. What’s the secret to having a hit? Tim Horsburgh, director of communications and distribution at Kartemquin Films, told me making a film is 49 percent of the work, and getting it seen is 51 percent. It’s important to engage a lot with your audience, think about who needs to see your film and start a relationship well before the film is finished so you already have a rallying cry. And to have a really good story? Yes — a connection. What initially drew me to documentary is I wanted to use real, live people’s stories to help real, living people. I studied political science as an undergrad and wanted to become a lawyer, but then something just flipped in me. It’s still the same aspiration but a totally different way to achieve that goal.
What’s one thing you want your students to learn? It’s OK for documentaries not to look like 60 Minutes. It’s OK to employ experimental techniques — reenactments, staged set-ups, animation. Do you use those techniques in your latest film, I Can Only Be Mary Lane, about an 82-year-old Chicago blues singer? She’s such a straightforward person and her blues is fairly traditional. That’s what makes her so great — she’s one of the last blues singers who came up through the Great Migration. I felt like I shouldn’t mess with that and get too creative. I just want to let her tell her story and let her sing . What’s one thing you’ve learned from all the documentaries you’ve watched this summer? We all have Google; we can find things out if we need to. So it’s not about the facts — it’s about experiencing something. Most of the time with really great documentaries you didn’t even know you wanted that experience before you have it. —Michelle Tedford The campus premiere of I Can Only Be Mary Lane will be 7 p.m. Sept. 26 in the Sears Recital Hall on campus. Admission is free.
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What do you look for in documentaries? In Encounters at the End of the World, the filmmaker goes to Antarctica and asks, “Who’s here?” He ties it together in a way that makes life
so beautiful. Then there’s a scene with a scientist studying penguins, and one penguin won’t stay with the group. It’s so cute and quirky. And then the scientist says, “We turned him around but he keeps going in that direction. We can’t explain why — that’s all mountains. He’s walking to his death.” Oh my gosh — penguin suicide. With documentaries, you get exposed to things you never would have expected.
Student houses receive ‘report cards’ Gone are the days when students living in University houses could crank up the AC, open the windows and leave lights on without realizing the impact of their actions. Energy GPA, launched in fall 2017, is a program that sends “report cards” to studentneighborhood homes, providing a grade based off their monthly electricity and gas usage. The report compares current and past energy use against weather data, so students can see the impact of their behaviors on energy consumption. The report also provides energy-saving tips
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to help residents better understand how to conserve energy. Allison Saracina, a senior who lived in a house on Stonemill Road last academic year, said all the housemates became aware of their collective responsibility when they received a C on their Energy GPA report card. “I’ve always been conscious of proper recycling methods and made sure I turn off lights and water when I’m not using them. I wasn’t sure about my roommates, though, and I wasn’t really sure about how to help them understand the
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importance. The report card made that easy,” Saracina said. The Hanley Sustainability Institute, Housing and Residence Life, School of Engineering’s Center for Energy Informatics, and Facilities Management collaborated to design the program, one that would effectively reduce the University’s carbon footprint. With more than 400 houses in the student neighborhood, UD officials say Energy GPA has the power to significantly lower the University’s energy usage. —Anna Lagattuta ’19
ERIK SCHELKUN/instagram: @flyer_images
Larry and Bucky
As Bucky Bockhorn begins his 50th season as a Flyer announcing phenom, an unlikely duo enters its 36th season By Tom Archdeacon ’72
Clark Kent would emerge from a phone booth as Superman. Bruce Wayne would slip into the bat cave and come out as the Caped Crusader. For Bucky Bockhorn ’58 and Larry Hansgen, the transformation into the Dayton Flyers’ Dynamic Duo happened in an old, dark storeroom that once overlooked the upper reaches of UD Arena. It was a month before the start of the 1983-84 men’s basketball season and University of Dayton athletics director Tom Frericks needed a new play-by-play announcer to team with Bockhorn, who had followed his Hall
of Fame career at UD and seven solid seasons in the NBA with color commentary on Flyer radio broadcasts since 1969. Bockhorn’s partner, Chris Harris ’55, another Hall of Famer, had moved on; and some early considerations for a replacement hadn’t worked out. That’s when Hansgen volunteered. He was only four years out of college and had joined WHIO radio two years before, previously having broadcast prep games for a station in Bryan, Ohio. “At first Tom Frericks said, ‘Hell no!’” Hansgen smiled. “He thought I was too young and too inexperienced. He put value on the product and thought I wasn’t worthy.
“But when their search didn’t land anyone, he said, ‘All right, I want to hear you and Bucky together.’ And that’s what amazes me to this day. Bucky agreed to give me a chance.” Bockhorn laughed as he remembered Hansgen back then. “When we first met,” Bockhorn said, “I immediately liked him even though, man, he was a nerd. “He had a big Afro and didn’t know crap about basketball, but there was something about him. He was a good guy and you could tell he was smart. We just hit it off.” Hansgen described the auditions: “We went up to that dusty storeroom and we put a tape recorder on top of some cardboard boxes and sat on bar stools. When the team scrim-
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“Back when we started, I dominated the broadcast, but Larry was a quick learner and he’s become a real star now,” Bockhorn said. “And we still do everything together.” These days Hansgen looks out for Bockhorn when they travel. “I came in wide-eyed and naïve, and he didn’t let me get hung out to dry,” he said. “Bucky looked after me, so now I’m paying back.” The UD players’ affinity for Bockhorn is seen before every game when each of them comes over to the broadcast table during warmups and exchanges a fist bump with him. “Outside the coaching staff, he is one of the first people a player gets to meet when he gets to Dayton,” Hansgen said. They respect him not only because he’s a former UD and NBA player, but because they can tell he cares about them. He attends almost every practice. “I’d venture to say, Bucky spends more time at practice in a year than Tony Stanley ever did in his career,” a smiling Hansgen said in reference to the Flyers’ former “wild child” star, as Bockhorn called him. While Hansgen and Bockhorn say they won’t hesitate to criticize a player on air for lack of effort, they don’t make it personal. “I would never maliciously hurt one of those kids,” Bockhorn said. “I played the game. I know.” Bockhorn’s farm boy work ethic carries over to his preparation before broadcasts. “He’s the hardest working person I ever met,” Hansgen said. Bockhorn gets copious pregame notes from UD sports information director Doug Hauschild and a scouting report from Flyer coaches. He boils all that down onto a chart he keeps in front of him on the broadcast table. Also, there are a caffeine pill and a small Snickers candy bar, both of which he ingests at halftime for “energy,” though he admits it’s more psychological. Hansgen is more of a natural on the microphone and not just because he’s a professional broadcaster. He’s also a budding stand-up comedian who regularly plays local DAVID JABLONSKI/Dayton Daily News
maged, we watched through the little window he learned to work — and more — at an early age. up there and called the action.” “We’d work late on the farm and then we’d After two tapes he said Frericks told him, drive our tractors into this little town, Louis“OK, you’re in.” In November Hansgen and Bockhorn will ville, about two miles away,” Bockhorn said. He said his dad would tell a local tavern begin their 36th season together, an on-air partnership that’s tied for the third-longest in owner there, “My boys work like men, so treat ’em like men. If they want a drink, let them college basketball. And Bockhorn — a beloved local fixture drink.” The memory made Bockhorn laugh. “So about to start his 50th season with the Flyers — has the longest one-team tenure in the there I was,” he said, “sitting at a bar when I was 13 years old, drinking Falstaff.” nation. Soon, though, it was with hoops, not hops, The duo has covered six head coaches, hundreds of players, 636 victories, 11 trips that Bockhorn made his statement. to the NCAA Tournament, two runs to the Elite Eight, an NIT crown, the dismal early 1990s when three seasons produced 17 wins, and the tragic losses of Flyers’ big men Chris Daniels and Steve McElvene, both of whom died of heart defects. As they’ve taken Flyer fans along on the journey, they’ve done it with a deep passion for the program, unvarnished insight, a healthy dose of laughter and a sincere appreciation of each other. “There’s no jealousy in this Hansgen, left, and Bockhorn at work on the floor during an A-10 broadcast,” Bockhorn said. “I tournament game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. think he respects the hell out of After high school, he had a stellar career me and I respect him.” That bond is equaled by the one they have — interrupted by two years in the Army — at UD and then was drafted in 1958 by the NBA’s with the Flyers’ fans. “I was at Lowe’s and a guy there didn’t Cincinnati Royals where, as a take-no-guff, know my face, but he still knew who I was,” 6-foot-4 guard, he eventually was teamed with Bockhorn said. “He goes, ‘Aren’t you Bucky?’ Oscar Robertson in the backcourt. After his pro career, Bockhorn said FreWhen I said I was, he said, ‘Man, we all know your voice anyplace. I’ve been listening to you ricks convinced him to take a job doing color commentary on TV broadcasts of Midmy whole life.’” A decade ago, Hansgen was reminded they American Conference games. “I didn’t want to do it,” Bockhorn said. often are serving up more than just plays and “Sportswriters and radio guys used to come scores to listeners. “Back in 2009,” he said, “when we did up for an interview when I played and I was Brian Gregory’s coach’s show at Buffalo Wild scared to death. I hated it. … I was really shy.” Hansgen said he still is: “He’s more of an Wings, I remember a guy named Steve getting up to talk to BG. He said. ‘I lost my job this introvert than people think.” year. It’s been a really tough time, but the one Some 23 years younger than Bockhorn, thing that got me through it was Dayton bas- Hansgen knew little of the Flyers before he ketball. took the job. “‘I want to thank you for that.’” Hansgen grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and followed Ohio State before going to Bowling Growing up one of 10 kids on a hardscrab- Green and then studying a year in Salzburg, ble farm in southern Illinois, Bockhorn said Germany.
comedy clubs. The pair has plenty of stories from covering the Flyers. Hansgen told of the night they were waiting to talk to a seething Don Donoher after a disappointing loss, only to have the tension dissolve into laughter when the UD coach — furiously chomping on a glass of ice — suddenly spit out a tooth. He also mentioned the game where he developed his special appreciation for one of his many favorite players, Flyers’ workhorse Ryan Perryman. “He was a freshman on a terrible team,” Hansgen said, “and they were playing Delaware State whose center was shoving people around and not getting called for it. Finally, Perryman tells Oliver (Purnell), ‘Coach, I got this!’ “After the time out, Dayton misses a shot, Delaware State gets the rebound and heads down the floor … with just four guys. The center was on all fours, not moving. “Later, I asked Oliver what happened. He shows me the tape and when the ball went up, everybody was looking at it. That’s when Perryman hit the guy with a karate chop in the Adam’s apple. After that, the guy’s dirty play stopped.” When it comes to the Flyer coaches, Hansgen and Bockhorn have had unique relationships with each. Bockhorn and Donoher were both Flyer players in the 1950s and have been friends since. When Archie Miller took over the job, one of his first calls was to Bockhorn, who said he immediately gave the young coach a goodnatured needling and then grumbled, “Why the hell you calling me? “And he says, ‘Bob Huggins told me to call because you know where all the bodies lie.’ We got off to a good start right away.” The Flyer coach who holds a special place with both of them is Brian Gregory. “BG is a friend to this day,” Hansgen said. “I get a card from him every birthday, every Christmas. He never misses. He’s a good man.” Bockhorn agreed. “I became very close to him,” he said. “And two years ago when my son (Dave) died, he showed up at the wake. It absolutely blew my mind.” He and Hansgen both have a soft spot for Anthony Grant, whom they first knew as an earnest UD player and now see the same traits in him as the Flyers’ new coach.
Hansgen said Grant could have won more games during his inaugural 14-17 season last year had he played a couple of the disgruntled players who have since left, but “he’s a man of principle, and he’s developing a culture here.” Bockhorn said, “He’s one hell of a man, morally, physically, and he’s pretty damned smart, too. He’s going to turn this around. I just hope I’m here to see it all. I mean, I’m 85. “But truthfully, what I can’t get in my
mind is that Larry’s 61 years old. I still think he’s 25 or 30. One thing I do know, I wouldn’t have lasted this long with anyone else.” Hansgen feels the same. “I’ve been with Bucky longer than I’ve been with my wife,” he said. “He’s my best friend, my mentor, a father figure, my brother. It’s turned into quite a partnership.” One that began in an old, dark storeroom high atop UD Arena 36 seasons ago.
SPORTSShorts
Mavericks draft Antetokounmpo
You can come home again
Kostas Antetokounmpo, a 6-foot-10, 197-pound forward for the Dayton Flyers last year, was an early-entry candidate for this year’s NBA draft. He was selected in the second round, 60th overall, by the Dallas Mavericks. Antetokounmpo played for the Mavericks in the NBA Summer League in July in Las Vegas. Also playing in the NBA Summer League were former Flyer guards Charles Cooke for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Scoochie Smith for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A number of men’s Flyers basketball players do. And while on campus, a number have been autographing a signing board by the offices of the men’s basketball program. Soon Brian Roberts ’08, after after the board playing in Germany and was created this Israel, played hundreds of summer, Scoochbasketball games in the ie Smith ’17 hapNBA for the New Orleans Pelicans, the Charlotte pened by and Hornets and the Portland became the first Trail Blazers. This coming grad to sign it. year he will play in Spain. His name is During the summer he took being joined by a time out to visit the Flyers’ number of other basketball camp. While on Flyer greats as campus he added his name they stop by camto the men’s basketball pus, so far includsigning board. ing such names as Bucky Bockhorn ’58, Don May ’68, Ken May ’71, Brian Roberts ’08, Alex Robertson ’94, Jordan Siebert ’15 and Keith Waleskowski ’04.
Known by the company you keep The NCAA’s Public Recognition Awards go to teams based on their Academic Progress Reports, an annually released multi-year measure of eligibility, retention and graduation. Dayton is one of 15 Division I institutions to have had at least three teams earn APR recognition in each of the 13 years of the program. The 15 institutions are clustered in six conferences: Atlantic 10 (Davidson and Dayton), Atlantic Coast (Duke and Notre Dame), Big Ten (Northwestern), Ivy (Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale) and Patriot (Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh).
Dayton, Butler to battle
Men’s tennis regionally ranked The Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranked the UD men’s tennis team No. 10 in its region this past season. The team advanced to the A-10 Championship Finals for the first time since 2005. Flyer junior Jordan Benjamin, the first Flyer to qualify for the NCAA Tennis Championships, was Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year.
The first men’s basketball game in the Battle 4 Atlantis exempt tournament will be against Butler Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m. All tournament games will be on an ESPN channel. Dayton, which finished the 2017-18 season 14-17, returns four of its top five scorers and three of its top four rebounders. Leading the way is All-Atlantic 10 selection Josh Cunningham, a two-time captain, who led the Flyers in both categories (15.6 ppg., 8.4 rpg.).
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Illustration by FRANK PAUER
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At the table in God’s kingdom
Pope Francis portrays the humanity of the papacy with pastoral spirit
The pope is a human being. Perhaps sometimes in the past the pomp and circumstance associated with the bishop of Rome have obscured that fact. That’s changing. For example, as early as the eighth century, the pope wore a tiara, which in the Middle Ages took the form of three crowns. It is no longer worn by the pope. The pope also used to be carried on a platform, an elevated throne. No longer. Pope Francis has been notable for his efforts to portray the humanity of the papacy. He, however, was not the pope who ceased using the triple crown or the elevated throne. Pope Paul VI, perhaps breathing some of the air that came in through the window opened by St. John XXIII, abandoned use of the tiara, last wearing it in 1963. Pope John Paul I discontinued the practice of sitting on a throne, the sedia gestatoria, on a platform carried by others. And before Francis
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THOMAS M. COLUMBUS
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mingled with crowds, St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict shook hands and kissed babies. But somehow Francis is different. “He is in sync with his immediate predecessors,” said William Johnston, associate professor of religious studies, an expert in religious education and lay ministry. “But he has his own stamp. “He made that clear from the get-go.” Traditionally, when a new pope is introduced to the throngs waiting in St. Peter’s Square for white smoke, he comes out on a balcony, the loggia delle benedizioni, says a few words and blesses the crowd. After Francis had blessed the people, he also asked them to pray for him. Often Francis communicates with few or no words. He does not, for example, reside in the Palace of Sixtus V, which was built in the 16th century and houses offices, chapels and museums as well as the papal apartments. During the conclave, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio stayed at Casa Santa Marta, a guesthouse where bishops and cardinals often stay when visiting Rome. The pope’s change in residence has been seen by some as emblematic of living a life not of luxury but of simplicity. The pope certainly stresses concern for the poor. In the 2018 film Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, Francis looks directly into the camera and says, “Poverty is at the center of the Gospel.” He pauses. And he repeats, “Poverty is at the center of the Gospel.” But Francis has said that is not the reason for living where he does. “I cannot live alone or with just a few people! I need people, I need to meet people, to talk to people,” he said in a 2013 speech. “And that’s why when the children from the Jesuit schools asked me: ‘Why did you do that? For austerity, for poverty?’ No, it was for psychological reasons, simply, because psychologically I can’t do otherwise.” He lives, perhaps influenced by his background as a Jesuit, in community. At the guesthouse, said Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH, director of the University of Dayton’s Institute for Pas30
toral Initiatives, “he celebrates Mass with people, he eats in common, he invites people to his table. He communicates not just with words but with the way he lives.” Using a term from his discipline, Joseph Valenzano, chair of UD’s Department of Communication, said the pope is using a “rhetoric of spectacle.” The term, Valenzano said, is applied to actions such as a nation’s president visiting an area that had recently suffered a disaster. The president often says little and doesn’t bring immediate aid. But he is present. And that says a lot. Marianist founder Blessed William Joseph Chaminade wrote, “The main spirit of the Society [Marianist Family] is to present to the world the spectacle of a people of saints, and prove in this way that, today, as in the primitive church, the Gospel may be practiced in all the vigor of its spirit and letter.” Francis communicates with words often in a manner somewhat different from his immediate predecessors. He uses Twitter. But he isn’t the first pope to do so. Pope Benedict XVI originated the Twitter account @pontifex, which means “bridge builder.” Soon after the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications launched Pope Benedict’s Twitter account, Ashley Puglia Noronha ’96 began working for the council as its English language official. Noronha acknowledged that such a high-profile account comes with risks but said doing it was similar “to how Pope Pius XI saw the potential of the newly invented radio and called upon Guglielmo Marconi himself to collaborate and develop Vatican Radio in 1931.” The communication styles of the three most recent popes show both differences and continuity. “John Paul II,” Noronha said, “was known as a great communicator and used the media very effectively during his papacy.” John Paul II may have been the most media-savvy pope in history, according to Valenzano. But, Noronha said, John Paul II “entrusted Cardinal Ratzinger and his collaborators at the Congregation for the
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Doctrine of the Faith to screen his official and theological communications to ensure accuracy and clarity.” When Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, official communications would be checked by the papal theologian even though, Noronha said, “Benedict is considered a brilliant, encyclopedic, theological genius.” With Francis, Noronha said, “we see that he has a very free style of communication, as seen in his off-the-cuff replies to journalists. He deviates from his official scripts and keeps journalists always on their toes.” Journalists and Church officials may get a headache or two from that and official clarifications and amplifications may be slow in coming out of the Vatican, but the reaction of the flock to the shepherd who is Francis is often joyous. For example, at the end of a 2015 papal trip to South America, Reuters reported: “‘They wrote a speech for me to give to you. But speeches are boring,’ the Argentine pontiff said to loud cheers, casting aside his script. ‘Make a mess, but then also help to tidy it up. A mess which gives us a free heart, a mess which gives us solidarity, a mess which gives us hope.’” He has the freedom to make a bit of a mess because of those who came before him. “He is building on John Paul II and Benedict, who were clear teachers,” said Gloria Falcão Dodd, director of academic programs for UD’s International Marian Research Institute. “The teaching has been done. He has the gift of applying the teachings.” She sees him as helping us to answer the question of how do we live today. “Everybody has his own gift,” she said. “That his is different is good.” His approach to using his gift of applying teachings is partially rooted in his Jesuit background, said Vincent Miller, who holds UD’s Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture. “Francis usually speaks,” Miller said, “in the mode of a Jesuit spiritual director.” So the pope talks about “the believer’s encounter with Christ in Scripture and in everyday life. He talks about the relation-
CNS photo/PAUL HARING
Pope Francis eats lunch with the poor after celebrating Mass marking the first World Day of the Poor at the Vatican Nov. 19, 2017. Some 1,200 poor people joined the pope for the meal.
ship, not about what he wants them to do. He assumes they have a relationship with Christ already in the nitty-gritty of their lives.” So his focus is not on doctrine. As Dodd pointed out, that teaching has been done and done clearly. Francis, Miller said, “is focusing on people’s lives. He is offering the Jesuits’ tools of discernment. He doesn’t simply talk about ideals but tries to move people toward Christ.” Miller, like Noronha and Dodd, sees Francis building on the work of his predecessors — a continuity but with a somewhat different focus. “John Paul II,” he said, “was a heroic figure stating the Christian message against the modern world. A great author, he focused on the Christian ideal.” Benedict as pope was an academic, a systematic theologian, “a man,” Miller said
admiringly, “who thought in paragraphs. Every word was the right word.” Francis, however, speaks to believers personally, said Miller. He helps them to discern. “What is really Jesuitical about him,” Miller said, is the Examen, a prayerful reflection on one’s day, an attempt to put Jesus into one’s life. As a Jesuit spiritual director or as pope, Francis is trying to help people do that. Johnston sees the “particular stamp” of the current pope is being that of “accompaniment.” Speaking at World Youth Day in 2013 in Brazil, Francis said, “We need a Church capable of walking at people’s side, of doing more than simply listening to them; a Church which accompanies them on their journey.” Johnston sees that statement as helping to explain why Francis asked, as he was being introduced as pope, people to pray
for him, why he paid his own hotel bill, why he carried his own bag, why he eats with a variety of people, why he literally walks with them. “Francis wants to see the whole Church transformed, the papacy, the diocese, the parish,” Johnston said. There is some thought that is why he was elected. “Going into the conclave,” Zukowski said, “it appears that cardinals had reached consensus on three areas on which the new pope would need to focus — the Roman Curia (the administrative apparatus of the Holy See), the finances of the Vatican and communication. And there was some belief that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had a good pulse on these areas even though he kept a low profile.” Benedict as pope was a great theologian — “one of the best among popes,” Zukowski
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Being South American, Francis himself brings to the papacy the voice of a new (for a pope) continent. Dodd believes that background may cause “some in North America and Europe to misunderstand him.” For example, the lifting of the fees for the annulment process did not represent a weakening of Church teaching but acknowledgement of economic reality. “Here,” Dodd said, “most dioceses have had a sliding fee schedule. Some dioceses in South America are poorer. So policy in those dioceses was, ‘If you can’t pay, come back when you can.’” His South American background may also have shaped Francis’ abhorrence of clericalism, said history professor Michael Carter, a former chair of the University of Dayton Forum on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Today. “Francis has spoken of saintly priests he knew there. On the other hand, some priests,” Carter said, “saw their vocations as careers.” In his 2014 Christmas address to members of the Curia, Francis enumerated 15 diseases or illnesses to which his listeners might fall prey, such as rivalries, backbiting and indifference. 32
What’d he say, really?
a change in personnel but a change in heart.
Soon after he became pope in March 2013, Francis engaged reporters and others in lengthy free-wheeling conversations. One took place July 28, 2013, on his return flight from Brazil where he spoke on World Youth Day. The transcript runs for 9,300 words. Media reports generally quoted a couple of sentences. Here is a little more context.
With some audiences, however, his words are either misunderstood or distorted in the retelling, through either ignorance or willfulness. Some situations have a higher risk of distortion occurring than others. For example, the pope was quoted about hell by an atheist Italian “journalist” who does not take notes. That the reference sounded radically different from the other references the pope has made about hell should have prompted a skeptical reading of the reporter’s work but, in some quarters, did not. While much of what Francis says is in a pastoral context, Miller said, “it is too often seen in political terms. The media, for example, focus on a few paragraphs in his recent document on holiness (“Gaudete et Exsultate” — Rejoice and Be Glad) and miss that the whole thing is on the beatitudes.” And sometimes listeners or readers of the pope seem to take little note of the vehicle or context of a papal statement. An ex cathedra proclamation is different from saying the soup needs more salt. (Since papal infallibility was defined at Vatican I in 1870, the only ex cathedra decree has been Pius XII’s definition in 1950 of the Assumption of Mary as an article of faith.) And there is a lot in between. Vehicles used to communicate doctrine, teaching and caring also vary much. A tweet is not an encyclical; nor a homily, an apostolic exhortation. Early in his papacy, Francis added something new to the mix of communication vehicles, according to William Portier, who holds the Mary Ann Spearin Chair of Catholic Theology at UD. Francis has fashioned, Portier said, a sort of interview and conversation, “minimally authoritative but unprecedented in its reach.” An example of this is the inflight interview with reporters in which there is give-and-take; the pope does not control the flow of the conversation. Since this reality did not have a Latin name, Portier created one. Noting that Francis had referred to himself as a “street priest” who felt somewhat confined in the Vatican, Portier suggested that the pope’s utterances while traveling might have the notation, de fide in viis, “concerning the faith in the streets.”
‘Who am I to judge?’ If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this in a beautiful way, saying ... wait a moment, how does it say it ... it says: “no one should marginalize these people for this, they must be integrated into society.” What is his position? Reporter: In Brazil we have seen a great many young people. You did not speak about abortion, about same-sex marriage. … Why did you not speak about this? Pope Francis: The Church has already spoken quite clearly on this. It was unnecessary to return to it, just as I didn’t speak about cheating, lying or other matters on which the Church has a clear teaching! Reporter: But the young are interested in this ... Pope Francis: Yes, though it wasn’t necessary to speak of it, but rather of the positive things that open up the path to young people. Isn’t that right! Besides, young people know perfectly well what the Church’s position is. Reporter: What is Your Holiness’ position, if we may ask? Pope Francis: The position of the Church. I am a son of the Church.
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believes. “But administration was not his forte, nor that of most popes.” One of Francis’ first steps in his administration was not to plunge into reorganizing the Church’s bureaucracy, but to listen. He appointed a commission of nine cardinals, representing all six inhabited continents, to advise him. “He wanted the thinking of people from all over the world,” Zukowski said. “He really wanted to listen to the grass roots and respond.” His restructuring of the Curia and his choices for new cardinals reflect his interest in bringing voices from around the world into the governance of the Church. Such a decentralization of the Church is an implementation of the Second Vatican Council. “In my opinion,” said Dodd, whose teaching area runs from the Council of Trent to Vatican II, “it takes 100 years to implement a council. Decentralization was on the agenda of Vatican I, but it ended early because of war, having dealt with papal infallibility but not yet with the role of the bishops.”
“Some saw that as a tongue-lashing to his closest collaborators,” Johnston said. “But he has held similar positions” as those to whom he was directing his remarks. So it could be seen, Johnston said, as “a genuine examination of conscience.” Francis did, in his 2017 address to the Curia, offer a 19th-century witticism that some in his audience may not have found amusing: “Making reforms in Rome is like cleaning the Sphinx with a toothbrush.” Whatever impediments there may be to reform of the Curia, one can assume that its members understand what the pope is saying to them — that they know what he means when he says what is needed is not necessarily
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Such an approach comes with risks. They are the risks of a shepherd who wants his Church’s ministers to know, as Francis has said, “the smell of the sheep.” Assuming that a firm foundation has been set by his predecessors, he is reaching out globally to the poor, the marginalized, the discarded — to those who may have neither his faith nor his understanding but who seek hope. That can be messy. It can make people uncomfortable.
The man was not a Catholic. Nevertheless, he had come to see Francis. The reason he came, Dodd said, was that “the pope had inspired him to take up a life of service.” UD n n n A Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sexual abuse by 300 Roman Catholic priests and on the ensuing cover-ups by bishops and other church leaders was released as University of Dayton Magazine was going to press. On Aug. 20, Pope Francis wrote about “sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons.” The “Letter of His Holiness to the People of God” can be found at bit.ly/UDM _Francesco, which links to the index of a massive collection of papal writings. To read the letter, click on “Letters,” then on “2018.”
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To those in pastoral ministry, dealing with the messy, the controversial is not new. But for a pope to be doing it, said Crystal Sullivan, executive director of UD’s Campus Ministry, is refreshing. “He speaks and acts,” she said, “with his pastoral spirit, consistently.” Francis washing the feet of Muslim women may have made some people uncomfortable, she said. “This should cause us discomfort. That’s what being a practicing
Christian is. Christianity should not be an ivory tower protecting us but should take us out to the other.” In dealing with the Church’s Chilean sex abuse situation, Francis met with victims. One, Juan Carlos Cruz, spoke afterward of the meeting. He knows the Church’s teaching. But whether it could change was not to him the point. What impressed him was a fellow man reaching out to him, accompanying him. “I saw a compassionate man,” Cruz said. “I saw someone who was caring for someone, not worrying if we are gay, straight, brown, white.” The power of this pope’s gestures, actions, words reach beyond his Church. Dodd told a story of going to Washington, D.C., when the pope was visiting. “I was too short to hold my camera high enough to get a photo of the pope,” she said. “A tall, young man next to me sent me one he took.”
Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) Excerpts from an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis from the Vatican Publishing House 221. Progress in building a people in peace, justice and fraternity depends on four principles related to constant tensions present in every social reality. These derive from the pillars of the Church’s social doctrine. … Time is greater than space 223. … Giving priority to space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the present, trying to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion; it is to crystallize processes and presume to hold them back. Giving priority to time means being concerned about initiating processes rather than possessing spaces. Time governs spaces, illumines them and makes them links in a constantly expanding chain, with no possibility of return. … 224. Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fullness. … Unity prevails over conflict 226. … But if we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart. In the midst of conflict, we lose our sense of the profound unity
of reality. 227. The best way to deal with conflict … is the willingness to face conflict head on, to resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new process. “Blessed are the peacemakers!” (Matthew 5:9). 228. In this way it becomes possible to build communion amid disagreement, but this can only be achieved by those great persons who are willing to go beyond the surface of the conflict and to see others in their deepest dignity. … 230. The message of peace is not about a negotiated settlement but rather the conviction that the unity brought by the Spirit can harmonize every diversity. It overcomes every conflict by creating a new and promising synthesis. Realities are more important than ideas 231. There also exists a constant tension between ideas and realities. Realities simply are, whereas ideas are worked out. There has to be continuous dialogue between the two, lest ideas become detached from realities. It is dangerous to dwell in the realm of words alone, of images and rhetoric. So a third principle comes into play: realities are greater than ideas. This calls for rejecting the various means of masking reality: angelic forms of purity, dictatorships of relativism, empty rhetoric, objectives more ideal than real, brands of ahistorical fundamen-
talism, ethical systems bereft of kindness, intellectual discourse bereft of wisdom. 233. … The principle of reality, of a word already made flesh and constantly striving to take flesh anew, is essential to evangelization. … The whole is greater than the part 234. … We need to pay attention to the global so as to avoid narrowness and banality. Yet we also need to look to the local, which keeps our feet on the ground. … 235. The whole is greater than the part, but it is also greater than the sum of its parts. … 236. … There is a place for the poor and their culture, their aspirations and their potential. Even people who can be considered dubious on account of their errors have something to offer which must not be overlooked. … It is the sum total of persons within a society which pursues the common good, which truly has a place for everyone. … 237. … The good news is the joy of the Father who desires that none of his little ones be lost, the joy of the Good Shepherd who finds the lost sheep and brings it back to the flock. … The Gospel has an intrinsic principle of totality: it will always remain good news until it has been proclaimed to all people, until it has healed and strengthened every aspect of humanity, until it has brought all men and women together at table in God’s kingdom. …
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A look at longing, belonging and how the place we’re homesick for
The homesick red & blues can change through life
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“I’m homesick. What do I do now?” By Mary McCarty
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That’s what a student named Penny recently wrote to “Dear Posey,” the anonymous advice columnist for the Flyer News. It’s a conundrum as timeless as The Wizard of Oz and as contemporary as Lady Bird. We have all been there. For most, it started in high school when we couldn’t wait to escape the oppressive protectorate of our parents, our stifling hometowns; and the second we hit campus — or perhaps a month or two later — homesickness struck like a hammer on an anvil. The Princeton Review consistently ranks the University of Dayton as one of the happiest campuses in the country, but even here, as Posey acknowledges, “the homesick blues hit deep and hard and wide.” At a university that attracts students from down the block and around the world, understanding and addressing homesickness is important for both the individual student and the larger campus committed to building community based on our Marianist identity. Embedded in our sorrow for a lost place are truths about how a place becomes home, how we cope — and how adapting sets us up to be homesick all over again.
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Which, of course, does not mean we’ll ever stop loving our homes. As Posey sagely advises, “To be fully known and fully loved — that’s what home is. Find your community, dear Penny. Find them and run toward them. Build home here.” UNIVERSAL YEARNING More than 2,000 first-year students started classes at UD in August, and Brother Tom Pieper, S.M. ’67, campus minister for Stuart Hall, knew just what to expect. Year after year, he witnesses the jarring disconnect between fantasies of college life compared to the reality. “They have this glorious picture about having a great time and having so many friends,” he said. “And all of a sudden they realize, ‘Wait a minute, nobody is my friend here.’ You are crammed into a small bedroom with a virtual stranger, without even your cat or dog to confide in.” It begs a fundamental question of college life: How do I build home here? College often marks the first time we are in charge of our destinies, breaking away from the safe and familiar terrain of childhood. It can be one of the most exhilarating and terrifying adventures of our lives, forcing us to redefine our very concept of self — and home. “There is a feeling of loss as you go from being essentially a child to that first exciting, painful, wonderful, difficult transition to adulthood,” said Erin Shiner, associate director of UD’s Counseling Center. “Young adulthood is a time to question who it is we want to be. Values we grew up with are often questioned, and new ways of being are tried out.” But that doesn’t keep us from being terrified, Pieper said. “The most sacred night on campus is when the parents leave, when all the students are lying in bed wondering, ‘Where am I? What am I doing here? I just left everything!’ There is more praying on that night than on any other.” An estimated 69 percent of first-year students report feeling homesick, according to a survey by the UCLA Higher Education Institute. Shiner believes it goes far deeper than missing particular places or people. Home, after all, is the place where everybody knows your name — the place where we discover our identities and our core values. “Home is where we develop our sense of
self — who we are, what are our strengths and struggles, how we are seen by others,” Shiner said. “That sense comes in large part from the people in our lives — parents, extended family and all those who have helped us develop, be that teachers, friends, coaches or members of religious communities.” That sense of self can falter when students head off to college. “You are heading from a safe harbor into unfamiliar territory,” Shiner said, “and that is always scary.” Many students are blindsided by homesickness, and professors can see the effects as they interact with students. “They’re so psyched to finally be adults that when homesickness hits that first year, it can be kind of whiplashing for some students and even traumatic,” said English department lecturer Ann Biswas. “They feel not only a deep longing for home and the familiar, but also that they haven’t measured up if they feel homesick, especially if no one around them is talking about it.” ‘A TOTALLY DIFFERENT SPACE’ Shalis Rucker suffered from severe homesickness during her first year at UD — even though home is only a few miles away in Dayton. She lived on campus but stayed overnight at her family home four or five nights a week. “Being on campus felt like a totally different space, so far from those who were once so close to me,” recalled Rucker, now a junior communication major. “I was kind of scared. There were so many people I had never seen before, and I felt like I had to start over.” Geology student Qusai Khamis Said Alshekaili dreamed of building a snowman for the first time when he arrived at UD in January. He didn’t anticipate how desperately he would miss his mother’s home cooking and his eight brothers and sisters back home in Oman. He longed to snuggle in front of the TV with his 4-year-old sister, Moza, instead of Skyping with a suddenly shy girl who seemed to regard him as a stranger. He couldn’t understand American accents at first, to the point that even simple bank transactions left him baffled and exhausted. “One night I remember being in the apart-
ment listening to sad music and missing my family very much, and I started to cry,” he said. It’s worse for some than for others, depending on personality style, anxiety levels or the vicissitudes of the roommate lottery. “We shouldn’t underestimate their pain, and the longer it lasts, the more serious it is,” Shiner said. “It often co-exists with isolation,
Shalis Rucker
anxiety and depression, and it can lead to significant difficulty in functioning, both academically and emotionally.” A recent research project by UD students confirms that homesickness should be treated as a health issue rather than a mere rite of passage. Senior Kennedy Hale was part of a team of students researching homesickness for a class project — and later a Stander Symposium presentation — in Biswas’ spring 2018 course Writing in the Health Professions. If left unchecked, Hale said, homesickness can lead to college transfers or even to alcohol abuse, depression and eating disorders. “You’re only 18 — not an adult yet — and this is the biggest change you have ever dealt
with,” Hale said. Biswas has observed this in her students. “I think students in general are experiencing more and more homesickness because of the intense pressure to do well and succeed,” she said. “They feel that in high school and that doubles in college.” Multicultural students such as Rucker face particular challenges, according to Carlos Stewart, a senior associate director with student development. Coming into an environment where there are few people who look like you can be uncomfortable. “You are here to get an education, but sometimes you are the one doing the educating as people make assumptions about what you represent,” he said. Hale, a predentistry major, was the first member of her close-knit family from Fishers, Indiana, to leave home for college. “I got lucky because I got close with a lot of girls on my floor,” she said. Homesickness didn’t hit until she went home for fall break. “I realized how much I yearned for those relationships you can’t make overnight,” she said. Flyers from earlier generations didn’t have FaceTime or Snapchat or the assurance that their loved ones could be found only a keystroke away. Yet the experience of homesickness remains virtually unchanged. When his parents dropped him off at UD in September 1959, Tony Pascale ’63 struggled to find his footing. He had never ventured far from his hometown of Bradford, Pennsylvania. “It was a 10-hour drive, taking a twolane highway the whole way,” he said. “And I couldn’t afford to fly.” He felt trapped in Dayton, 450 miles from his girlfriend, Martha. “I was the first of our family to go to college, and I was scared of screwing up,” he said. “I stayed in my room and studied and didn’t go to parties.” The problem can be compounded for students thousands of miles from home. UD’s international students hail from 62 countries, but they share the same yearning for their native culture, climate and cuisine. “At first, it’s all very exciting and new, but
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CURING THE HOMESICK BLUES Reaching out to others is the one constant in the many solutions to homesickness. “Talk about it with somebody,” Pieper counsels his students in Stuart Hall. “Probably the person sitting next to you is having the same thoughts. And give yourself some time.” That outreach can be as simple as asking a classmate to go out for ice cream, or as long-term as joining a special-interest housing program. The University offers resources to combat the problem, including through the Counseling Center, Campus Ministry, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Center for International Programs. UD also offers more than 250 campus organizations, from club sports to dance companies to Quidditch Club. “Get involved!” Pascale advises, as true now as it was nearly 60 years ago. “The more active you are, the less time you have to think about it.” Pascale found a new home at UD when he finally took some study breaks to hang out with friends. Armed with more confidence and a high GPA, he started playing pickup basketball games with his buddies and attending UD games at the Fieldhouse. For Kurra, the answer came in the form of her many student jobs — at Marycrest Residence Complex, RecPlex, the Marianist Library and as a teaching assistant. “I have become an independent woman,” she said. “At home in India I never made any decisions on my own, and now I feel very confident in my decisions. That transformation is something I really wanted in my life.” Rucker was drawn out of her isolation and the constant pull of home through her participation with a mentoring program in the Office of Multicultural Affairs designed to help first38
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typically that wears off and it’s followed by a low period,” said Suzanne Richardt, assistant director for international student and scholar services. Himabindu Kurra experienced culture shock when she came to UD from her native India 18 months ago to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. “Coming to the U.S. was the first time I ever traveled alone, even for a short distance,” she said. “I was a pampered girl, a protected girl, and I used to like to have someone around me at all times.” It would take time to find her way toward independence at UD.
Home for the holidays Lisa Witt ’13 wasn’t going to bother with Christmas. “I had started to boycott putting up a tree; I always got stuck putting it up and taking it down,” recalled Witt, career services assistant director at the University of Dayton. But Yasir Fraish Al-Busaidi — her honorary son from Oman — was so excited about Christmas that he passed up a trip to Florida with friends. “When are you decorating the tree?” he asked, eager to celebrate the holiday in true American fashion. Witt couldn’t resist his enthusiasm. They met only last fall, when they were paired through UD’s International Friendship Families program. Yet Al-Busaidi calls Witt “mom” — and nothing feels forced about the endearment. “It’s not just the name,” he said. “I feel like she is my mom. She is always thinking about me, asking about me and taking care of me. She tells me when I need to go to the doctor.” Echoed Witt, “Yasir is such a caring, genuine, kind person; he already feels like family.” It’s the kind of relationship fostered by International Friendship Families, which connects international students with local families to share meals, holidays or campus and community events. The program, sponsored by the Center for International Programs, exemplifies one way UD alleviates homesickness by integrating international students into American culture. The partnership benefits the University community as well. “The students get the practical skills they need to interact successfully, yet still be who they are,” said Suzanne Richardt ’06, assistant director for international student and scholar services. “And that makes us stronger. They bring their traditions to make UD a more global place.” His activities with the Witt family have been as ordinary as raking leaves or going on a camping trip — or as profound as sharing religious beliefs and attending church for the first time with an American family. Along the way, stereotypes are dissipating — for both families. “I knew about the depth and tightness of the family unit in Middle Eastern culture,” Witt said. “But it’s one thing to read about it and another thing to experience it.” And Al-Busaidi was forced to confront his preconceptions about Americans leading isolated lives. “I learned there are still families taking care of their children, meeting together celebrating together,” he said. “It wasn’t true what I saw in the media.” Now a senior, Al-Busaidi was only 17 when he arrived in the U.S. — his first time away from his parents. “I grew up in a loving home, with my mom always taking care of me,” he says. “And now I have that here at UD. It’s a great feeling to know you have someone standing by your side ... if you need it.”
year students make the adjustment to college. “Through my mentor I learned how to be willing to meet new people and not to have my guard up,” she said. Rucker is busier than ever, serving as a mentor herself and starting her own online business — Live the Luxe Lifestyle — selling lipsticks, fanny packs, sunglasses and purses. “During the summer, I miss going to class, and I miss being at UD,” she said. “School is like another home.” For Alshekaili, deliverance came in the form of UD’s Intensive English Program, a seven-week language program that introduces students to U.S. culture while they develop strong English language skills. That’s where he made friends from all over the world — France, Japan, Italy, China and his native Oman — who eased the pangs of
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homesickness. The students continue to get together at the Center for International Programs, where they take part in game nights open to all students. “The American students are so friendly,” Alshekaili said. His new buddies helped him to build that first snowman. “It was even more beautiful than I thought it would be,” he said. His group of friends call each other “the family,” he said, and that feels about right: “They make me feel that I am home.” Shiner sees many similar stories of struggle and self-discovery in her work with the Counseling Center, demonstrating that homesickness can be a blessing as well as a burden, spurring students to personal growth. “It’s so hard to be aware of it at the time, but learning the skills to survive a painful sea-
son in your life is invaluable,” she said. “The sunny days and the hum of conversations in only way to have resilience is to have pain.” the common areas between classes regularly.” Parents should avoid trying to solve their Woods, who has landed a job back home in children’s problems, Shiner said: “There’s Atlanta as a researcher for TV One, also said nothing worse than seeing your child hurting. she feels more homesickness now than she But the parental impulse to say ‘I can fix this’ did as a first-year student: “I realized I am not undermines the student’s ability to cope. The going to be right next door to these people. risk is not moving forward in self-reliance, which is a really critical task in moving forward into adulthood.” Concurred Kurra, “I have learned that being alone is fine. You have to be really strong and fight against the loneliness. This is the way you grow up.” Another hedge against homesickness is UD’s status as one of the most residential campuses in the country. Students may come from Chicago or Shanghai, but they end up living in the same neighborhood, often as part of special-interest housing programs and Integrated Learning-Living Communities of students who live in the same residence hall and take many of the same classes. “Our housing situation makes it more family-oriented; they feel such a strong connection because of the way they live in neighborhoods, sharing a street with their fellow students,” said Anita Brothers, director of alumni relations and engagement. And then there’s the spirit of UD. It might take time to find it through Yasir Fraish Al-Busaidi the homesickness, but once you do, it can envelop you and help get you through, said Jada Woods ’18: “The whole UD spirit — that’s real. Being in a learning-living community my first year re- Thank goodness for Snapchat!” ally helped, with a foundation of friends living Countless alumni feel the same way. Duron the same floor and the same hall.” ing his first year at UD in 1960, Pascale considered transferring to his girlfriend Martha’s HOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS college, but he reconsidered because of his That community bond is so powerful that friendships with what he refers to as “people many alumni experience a reverse homesick- I wanted to know the rest of my life.” ness — an intense longing for their Flyer days That prediction came true, even after he — after they graduate. and Martha married, raised three children “Frankly, a longing for my Flyer fam- and moved all over the country with his caily crept up the second the chapel was in the reer. Pascale, who has been a volunteer for the rearview mirror of my sufficiently stuffed se- University Alumni Association for about 40 dan mere hours after graduation,” said Kelsey years and is currently chair of the Golden FlySmith ’18. “As a very recently student-turned- ers, stresses “it is so important to give back.” alum, I find myself missing the clusters of It’s small wonder that UD boasts such an students strung across porches on those rare active, engaged alumni, with 35 Alumni As-
sociation communities in the U.S. as well as communities in England and China. “Alumni just love volunteering and sharing their expertise and their own UD story with our students,” Brothers said. “Through their gifts they want to ensure that students today have the same experience they had.” It explains the phenomenal response to Reunion Weekend — attracting 3,200 attendees this past June — as a way to ease the homesickness, even if it’s only every five years. Alumni yearn for the oh-so-tangible joys of life as a Flyer: The ringing of the chapel bells. Breakfast potatoes in the dining halls. Late-night intramural softball games on Stuart Field. Milano’s. Father Burns’ marriage class. Being on your feet the entire game to cheer wildly as part of the Red Scare at Dayton Flyers basketball games. Befriending local children at Christmas on Campus. Brother Pieper sees the whole arc of homesickness in his work with Campus Ministry. He recalled encountering in May two students sitting on benches at Stuart Hall — where they had met four years earlier — and sobbing. “This is it!” they lamented. “Where did our four years go?” It’s an example of UD’s special gift of community-building that, Pieper said, “just happens because we meet each other on the street or the porch, where we sit down and talk to each other and share a meal together.” “It’s what Jesus did all the time; he stayed at the table. We have to learn to be present with each other and deal with each others’ pains and joys and sorrows.” And that may be the ultimate cure for homesickness. “This is your purpose at college: to make friends who feel like family,” Rucker observed. “And when you have family, you feel like you’re home.” UD n n n Remember being homesick at UD? Or homesick for UD when you graduated? Share your stories with us, and we’ll share some with our readers. Email magazine@udayton. edu or tweet @daymag.
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How odor is leading professor Julie Walsh-Messinger toward a deeper understanding of our mental health
S E Nof S E SCENTS In Julie Walsh-Messinger’s narrow lab in St. Joseph Hall are tidy rows of what look like felt-tip color markers. The psychologist pops the top from one and raises it to the nose of her guest. The reaction is quick and predictable: the visitor rears back, her nose wrinkled, her eyes narrowed as she encounters the acrid smell of rotting fish. That fish stick is among the sharp probes in Walsh-Messinger’s toolkit; they’re called Sniffin’ Sticks, and with them, she can peer into the brain. Or, to be more precise, Walsh-Messinger,
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By Jenni Laidman
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peers into the brain’s emotional machinery. The eyes may be the window to the soul, but the nose, it turns out, is the peep hole into gut feeling. While every sense makes its way to your gray matter, odor travels like a maglev train with no local stops. In an instant, an aroma arouses revulsion or a flood of warm fuzzies. You may, on reflection, realize the smell reminded you of your daughter as a newborn, but the warm fuzzies came by themselves, the reaction hairtrigger. You love it. You hate it. It makes you happy. It’s depressing. It’s scary. Before you think it through, you have the emotion. Because of odor’s direct access to feelings, Walsh-Messinger is using her Sniffin’ Sticks to help solve the riddle of schizophrenia, a disease in which emotions fail to do the motivational work that life requires. Although we seldom realize it, every decision we make is impelled by emotion, Walsh-Messinger explains. It may be as simple as the pleasure of getting things done. Or it could be avoiding the discomfort of a missed deadline. Despite what Mr. Spock on Star Trek claimed, without a steady stream of emotional charges, he would have found no reason to stand on the bridge and warn Capt. Kirk of his errors in logic. He would have done nothing at all. AN EMOTIONAL CHAIN
In schizophrenia, something in the emotional chain is broken. By prying into the matter, Walsh-Messinger hopes to eventually develop treatments for schizophrenia and even strategies to prevent the devastating mental illness. Most people are familiar with what psychologists call the “positive” symptoms of schizophrenia: hallucinations, delusions, disordered behavior — the stuff that gets you checked into the hospital. But fewer are aware of the “negative” symptoms: the lack of facial expression known as “flat affect,” impaired social functioning, social withdrawal, lack of motivation. Walsh-Messinger realized early in her training from 2004 to 2006 that the deepest trouble in schizophrenia lies in these negative symptoms. She was working with young people at risk for the disease — some already exhibiting low-level symptoms — in the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University. 42
“I saw that the things that were most concerning to family members and most concerning to the people treating them were not the odd ideas or the perceptual abnormalities,” she says. “It was more their lack of motivation, their social isolation, their social fear.” In fact, Walsh-Messinger’s mentor and collaborator, Dr. Dolores Malaspina, a professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, explains that the isolation and withdrawal symptoms tell practitioners who is most likely to get better. “If your symptoms of acting out really go out of control and get you hospitalized repeatedly, if you’ve [maintained] social and emotional capacity, that predicts a good outcome,” Malaspina says. The negative symptoms wreak a special kind of havoc, Walsh-Messinger says: “That’s why people don’t work and aren’t able to find a way to construct meaning in their lives. These are also the symptoms that we don’t have good treatment for.” Every single drug for schizophrenia attacks the positive symptoms alone. The Sniffin’ Sticks allow Walsh-Messinger to examine emotional reactions in people who don’t grin when they’re happy or frown when they’re sad. All they need to do is rate a smell on how pleasant it is, and then rate it again for unpleasantness — which is not as simple as it sounds, as we’ll explain later. The answers are emotional readouts that gradually reveal how the emotional experiences of people with schizophrenia differ from those without it. FULL IMMERSION COURSE CHANGE
Unlike her spartan lab space, WalshMessinger’s office has more stuff than storage space. Stacks of paper line the gray walls. A pile of research papers slouches and slides on the deep window sill. Black messenger bags containing psychological tests from her graduate assessment class lay on the floor. A pile of canvas bags full of books waiting to be unpacked is a reminder of her move into a new home last fall. She’s clearly deep in her work, fascinated and fully engaged, with several projects going at once: a study mapping individual response to social situations that includes a smell component; research using smell to look for markers of aggression in schizo-
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phrenia; and even a project with a group of UD engineering and physical therapy faculty to determine how posture of those who use walkers influences falls — a study that doesn’t involve the sense of smell. As a Boston College undergraduate, Walsh-Messinger says, she shed majors like last week’s pop songs, nearly a new major every semester. By the fall of her senior year, the only thing she was sure of was her interest in people. “But I didn’t know what avenue I wanted to go down,” she says. “I was studying for the [Law School Admission Test] at the time, thinking I might want to go into law, and for the [Graduate Record Examinations], thinking I might want to go into psychology.” Then she took a class called interpersonal relationships, which was heavy on psychoanalytic theory and ideas about how our earliest relationships with family, caregivers and teachers create lifelong patterns. “A couple of weeks in, I put down the LSAT book. I never picked it up again.” But she didn’t see research in her future. “I thought I was going to go into clinical work,” she says. “I was going to have a practice and treat people who are angry at their husbands or wives and mildly depressed.” It wasn’t until 2004, when she took a job at Westborough State Hospital in Massachusetts while pursuing her master’s in counseling at Boston College, that her priorities changed. The adolescents at Westborough were diagnosed with a variety of disorders, including schizophrenia. She did a little of everything there, from helping patients prepare for dinner to sitting in on groups with a clinician. She even took part in activities at times. “There was some dance party, a video game that had just come out, and I would do that. I would play with them, and they just laughed at this old person,” says WalshMessinger, who at 36 today could nearly pass for a well-dressed undergrad in her gray dress and black framed eyeglasses. She also was able to read patients’ detailed case histories. “I began realizing how complicated these kids’ lives were. Some of them, by age 10, had far more complications than I will ever have in my life,” she says, such as having endured mental or physical abuse. Walsh-Messinger underwent a full immersion in serious mental illness, a real look
KRISTIN DAVIS ’18
In schizophrenia, something in the emotional chain is broken. By prying into the matter, Walsh-Messinger hopes to eventually develop treatments for schizophrenia and even strategies to prevent the devastating mental illness. at the human side and the clinical details, and it jolted her curiosity and her compassion. “I wanted to understand and come up with some kind of treatment so that these kids didn’t need to be in a hospital — which was very naïve,” she says. But it was also motivation. THE SCENT SENSE OF A WOMAN
While earning her doctoral degree at Long Island University – Brooklyn and working with Malaspina, Walsh-Messinger began to see the value of olfaction in the study of schizophrenia. Neurodegenerative diseases like schizophrenia are known to affect the sense of smell. A 2016 University of Florida study found that people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease couldn’t identify the smell of peanut butter. In a separate study, Mayo Clinic researchers tested the sense of smell of 1,400 healthy older adults, average age 79 years. Over the three-and-ahalf years of the study, researchers found that sense of smell declined as memory problems increased. People with multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease all experience a loss in olfactory acuity.
Other research has shown that odor can have a profound impact in our everyday lives — often in ways we’re not even aware of. Neurobiologists at Stony Brook University illustrated the power of smell when they took sweat samples from firsttime skydivers. Then they let people undergoing fMRI brain scans have a whiff of the fear sweat and watched while their amygdalas — the brain’s fear center — lit up. Sweat samples from skydivers running a treadmill produced no similar response. Other test participants presented with fear sweat were shown pictures with a range of facial expressions from neutral to angry. Normally, people focus on the angry face because of the threat anger represents. But under the influence of eau de terror, the participants became acutely vigilant, giving each face equal attention. Critical to Walsh-Messinger’s research has been her decision to take an obvious fact into account: males and females are different. Medical and psychological research has a long history of ignoring this distinction, carrying on research on male participants and then generalizing the results to include females.
“Julie is ahead of her time in understanding the importance of sex differences in the symptoms of schizophrenia,” Malaspina says. When Walsh-Messinger began her work, it was no secret that men and women with schizophrenia had different experiences. The average age of schizophrenia onset is younger in males — 18 to 25, compared to 25 to 35 in females. There’s also a second peak in schizophrenia diagnosis for women around the time of menopause, suggesting that estrogen might have a protective effect. Further, men tend to have a worse course of disease, with more social and emotional deficits. Walsh-Messinger added to the insights on sex differences in schizophrenia with her recent paper in the journal Clinical Schizophrenia & Related Psychosis. That paper showed women with schizophrenia are more likely to exhibit what she calls “internalizing” symptoms, such as rumination and depression, while men are more likely to “externalize” with symptoms such as hostility and poor impulse control. The difference between men and women even extends to the sense of smell. In a
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healthy population, women generally have a better sense of smell. “I don’t see how you could study anything related to olfaction and not at least look at sex,” Walsh-Messinger says.
ant odors more pleasant. Walsh-Messinger and her co-authors had anticipated people with more severe negative symptoms would show impairment, since problems with emotional processing are an important contributor to HOW SWEET AND SOUR IT IS negative symptoms. Another important innovation in her The results further showed people with research has to do with her use of two scales more prominent positive symptoms — deto assess emotional response to scent. On lusions, hallucinations, disordered behavone, research participants rate a smell for ior — rated neutral odors as less pleasant its pleasantness. On the other, participants and more unpleasant, which the researchrate the same odor for its unpleasantness. ers said fit the way positive symptoms That may seem redundant, but it actuwork: They make people assign significance ally gets at our emotional biology better to meaningless stimuli, increasing their than the traditional single scale, which has overall level of vigilance. “strongly dislike” on one end and “strongly These results, being published in a like” on the other. In between are all the forthcoming issue of the journal Psychiasubtle variations between try Research, are just a love and hate. But what if peek into the emotional that’s not actually how we world inside schizophrereally judge things? What if nia. From here WalshPowerful odors life is more like a SweeTart Messinger and her colWhy does odor have such a grip on our emotions? It’s built into the than the pure sugar rush of laborators intend to look circuitry. a Pixy Stix? Walsh-Messat olfaction as a potential When a fragrance — which is really just a chemical compound — inger suspected the Sweepredictor for aggression, reaches a bit of tissue high in your nasal cavity called the olfactory epitheTart was the better model. and olfaction and the abillium, it interacts with the 400 olfactory sensory neurons jammed into the “It wasn’t so much a ity to navigate social cues. square inch of nasal real estate. clinical observation as it “I think it’s amazing When receptor cell and smell meet, the neuron sends a signal to the was just listening to friends how much she’s accombase of the brain. From there, it’s a direct flight to the fear center, called talk,” Walsh-Messinger plished,” Malaspina says, the amygdala, and the pleasure locale, the ventral striatum. It also signals says. Even the sweetest noting that Walsh-Messthe hippocampus, the learning center, which is why aromas can evoke moments often had a bit inger has been an assistant strong memories. It even has connections with the prefrontal cerebral of sour to them, and vice professor at UD for only cortex, the so-called executive seat where decisions are made. versa. In fact, the brain is three years. “I think her The result is a quick, strong response to odors that takes place with designed that way: We prowork will continue to be little thought, or even awareness, on our parts. cess pleasure on one cirpioneering.” “The emotional state that’s induced by smell is stronger and less filcuit and displeasure on a It’s work that’s helping tered than the emotional state induced by a picture or some noise,” says completely distinct circuit. to open a window to a very Julie Walsh-Messinger, assistant professor of psychology at the University To ignore that subtly is to confounding disease, but of Dayton. miss what people are sayWalsh-Messinger remains If olfaction is a direct flight, the other senses all stop in Atlanta — or in this case, the thalamus — before final destination is determined. The ing about their experience. focused on her larger goal. thalamus processes the inputs, explains Dolores Malaspina, a professor of Her research has un“What my results don’t psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. covered subtle distinctions tell us is what’s causing The processing is a necessary bit of interference. You wouldn’t want to between how people with this,” she says. “That’s the be freshly reminded of the touch of your sleeve on your upper arm every schizophrenia respond next big missing piece we time you shifted position. Nor would it be helpful to constantly attend to emotionally to a variety of need to figure out. That’s the ticking clock, the furnace turning on, or the traffic on the interstate a odors. Participants comwhat I intend to spend, few blocks away. The thalamus is picking and choosing which sensations pleted two basic tasks. One hopefully not the whole to let through. was to identify a series of decade, but probably the But the ancient sense of olfaction, which helped single-cell creatures scents, the other was to rate whole decade, teasing avoid becoming another creature’s lunch, is more efficient in emergencies each scent for its pleasantapart. We can’t really figand is applicable to today’s dangers, like when you leave the stove turned ness and unpleasantness. ure out the treatment until on. The study in 26 people we understand the cause.” with schizophrenia and 27 UD 44
without showed that men with schizophrenia, in particular, had impaired olfaction, judging pleasant odors as more unpleasant than men without the disease. Women with schizophrenia rated pleasant odors the same way women without the disease rated them. Overall, test participants with schizophrenia were less able to identify odors accurately, especially when the odor was neutral or pleasant, a possible hallmark of neurodegenerative damage. The more severe a person’s negative symptoms were — that is, the worse their social isolation and lack of motivation — the more topsy-turvy the emotional response to odors. People with more severe negative symptoms found pleasant odors more unpleasant. They also found unpleas-
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Russell Toney ’91 writes
THIS ISSUE
“My advice is to say yes as often as you can. It will lead you to places you never thought you’d go.”
1,000
THE
ALUMNI
columns written by one grad
13 9 8 8 7
names beginning with “J”
births
vacations
KRISTIN DAVIS ’18
From doctor to priest. Page 55
6 4
UD Mag mentions
Golden Flyers authors with new books
2
See Page 52.
s
thi
70-year-old birthday celebrations
1
grad received a heart transplant
CLASS NOTES begin on Page 51.
als?
How will
A sweatshirt for the ages. See Page 54.
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us recreate t n m NCAA ba he ske alu967 t 1
n ll fi
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Ushering in a family tradition. See Page 54.
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Why is this couple forever grateful? #ThanksBob Page 58
ba
What are this father and son running away from? See Page 57.
notes from 1970; thanks, Tom “Tuna” Neihengen
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Page 59
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This alumnus still likes playing in the rocks. Find out why.
retirements
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BACK PORCH Student supervisor wins award
GOLDEN INVENTION Obi, the assistive-eating invention of Jonathan Dekar ’11, was selected as the gold winner in the rehabilitation and assistivetechnology products category of the 20th annual Medical Design Excellence Awards in June.
RecPlex a great place to This spring, Mark Hoying work. ’04, associate director of “I was newly hired member services and student at the rec, not in work learning, won three awards for uniform, and not even Student Employment Superhired into his departvisor of the Year — from UD, the state of Ohio and the Midment. He saw me and addressed me by my west Association of Student name,” she said. Employment Administrators. Jason Eckert, direcThe award recognizes excellence in mentoring, profestor of Career Services, lauds the efforts of sionalism and leadership. Hoying said he enjoys UD student supervisors. working with college students “I’ve seen so many stuand is grateful for what he calls Hoying, center, with student workers at dent supervisors at UD RecPlex their “infectious energy.” who greatly exceed the “The opportunity to work with employees eager traditional boundaries of supervision,” he said, acto pursue new challenges is one I cherish,” he said. knowledging Hoying as one of the best. And in talking to his employees, it is clear his There are 50 student employees who manage efforts are appreciated and acknowledged. Meagan the operations and membership of the RecPlex, Lovin ’20, a lifeguard at RecPlex, said the individu- selling close to $1 million in services. —Matt Trybus ’19 alized attention Hoying gives his employees makes
BROTHERS OF HOPE AND JOY On July 1, Brother Bernard Ploeger, S.M. ’71, Father Charles “Kip” Stander, S.M. ’73, and Brother Joseph Markel, S.M. ’77, became the newest members of the Marianist Provincial Council of the United States and will serve from 2018-23. Father Oscar Vasquez, S.M., provincial, was named to the UD board of trustees. RADIO WAVES Brother Andrew Kosmowski, S.M. ’07, in August talked with EWTN Catholic Radio about the Marian Library celebrating its 75th anniversary. The library is internationally known as it holds the world’s largest collection of books and artifacts on Virgin Mary. Discover more: alumnicommunity.udayton.edu
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LILIA SCIARRETTI ’19
ALUMNI IN ACTION
Alumni serve on UD’s board Among the 10 leaders the University of Dayton has named to serve on the 2018-19 board of trustees are six University alumni. The new trustees will serve three-year terms. JOHN BERAN has more than 37 years of experience in information systems management, marketing and electronic banking. He is managing director of the Beran Group and senior adviser of banking solutions for The Clearing House, headquartered in New York City. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from UD in 1974, and a master’s degree in management science from UD in 1979. RAY BLAKENEY is a director of talent acquisition with Microsoft who worked with College Access Now, a Seattle-based nonprofit that helps low-income students prepare for and earn admission to college. Blakeney
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earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University in 1993. He recently assumed the role of president of the UD Alumni Association. GEORGE HANLEY, principal with R2 companies, a Chicago-based commercial real estate firm, and president of the Hanley Foundation, returns to the board after serving from 2008-17. In 2014, a gift from Hanley and his wife, Amanda, established the Hanley Sustainability Institute. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University in 1977. DEBRA PLOUSHA MOORE, principal of Plousha Moore Group in San Francisco, California. She formerly served as system chief of staff and executive vice president at Carolinas HealthCare System (now Atrium Health) in Charlotte, North Carolina. She earned a master’s degree in edu-
cation from UD in 1989 and spent 10 years as associate dean of students and adjunct faculty in the Department of Counseling and Human Services. DENISE EDER PALMER built a 34-year career as a newspaper and television executive, serving as president and publisher of The Tampa Tribune and vice president of news for the Tampa market of Media General Inc. until November 2011. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University in 1977. JOE WEIDENBACH leads U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management in Illinois. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, he was a senior executive and managing director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Chicago and an attorney with Finkel Whitefield & Selik in Michigan. He earned from UD a bachelor’s degree in 1989 and a juris doctor degree in 1992.
A call that could save a life
Everyone knows that in an emergency situation, seconds can make a difference between life and death. We’re also taught to dial 911. But for a young Texas girl who tried to reach help as her mother was being mortally assaulted by her father, she couldn’t get the call through because their hotel, like many entities, required dialing ‘9’ (or some other digit) to get an outside line. The idea of a law requiring direct access to 911 caught the attention of Dan Wilson ’84, a solutions engineer and certified emergency number professional at communication company RingCentral. After learning the details of Kari Hunt’s murder, Wilson contacted a Suffolk County (New York) legislator to advocate for changing local laws to require direct 911 access. Being familiar with multiline phone systems through his job, Wilson knew Dan Wilson, far right, at the signing that allowing a direct dial of Kari’s law. feature would, in most systems, be an easy reprogramming function. Wilson’s efforts resulted in Suffolk County being the first in the nation to pass legislation mandating direct access. Simultaneously, work to enact a similar law covering the entire country was working its way through Congress, and on Feb. 16, 2018, Kari’s Law was signed by President Donald Trump — 50 years to the day that the first ever 911 call was made. “Sometimes a small step, especially if it is a first step, can lead to big change,” Wilson said. —Jeaneen Parsons
The five women who lived at 115 Evanston Ave. in 1996 wholeheartedly agree: If it wasn’t for the blue-painted, two-story home, with the Pepto Bismol-pink tiny bathroom, they may never have remained friends throughout the years. “I really believe that this house, and living with everyone, taught me how to be an adult,” Julie Caruso Haines ’98 said as she stood on the small porch with her four roommates during Reunion Weekend 2018. The five women who spent all their time together agreed homework kept them busy; it wasn’t just the homework that was difficult. “The upstairs floor was so slanted, if you didn’t hook your feet under the computer desk in one of the bedrooms, the chair you were sitting in would roll right out and down the hallway,” Kristin Forrester Kuhmann ’98 recalled. But, on Thursdays, they never missed an episode of Seinfeld, Friends or ER, which they recorded on one VHS tape. “We used that one tape over and over the whole time we lived there,” Haines said,
laughing. “We all had one week to watch it, otherwise it was getting taped over. One of us may still have that tape somewhere.” On special occasions, they made sure to make memories. During Christmas, around their decorated and lit-up tree, the friends would dress up, pop a bottle of champagne and listen to their music major roommate Colleen Johnson Effer ’98 sing Christmas carols through the night. Looking at the rows of porches overflowing during Reunion Weekend with other Flyers, undoubtedly reminiscing and reliving their time on campus, the friends gabbed about the funny things that happened inside the walls of their old house on Evanston. Now married with children, the ladies stood in amazement at how close their families all were and the bond they continue to share, which solidified on a little street in Dayton. Mandee Bishop Jones ’98 affirmed, “I’m not sure we would all be standing here together as friends without this house.” —Gita Balakrishnan
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A University of Dayton professor who taught mathematics for nearly four decades is being remembered with a new scholarship in his name that will continue his legacy at the University for many years to come. Bernard “Ben” Rice, professor emeritus of mathematics, died Dec. 6, 2017, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He became an instructor at the University in 1960 and retired in 1998, having been named Professor of the Year in both 1972 and 1978. The Ben Rice Scholarship was established by his four surviving sons and his friend and former colleague, Jerry Strange, professor emeritus of mathematics. The scholarRice ship will provide support for undergraduate students who demonstrate financial need, with a preference for mathematics majors. “Ben loved mathematics, and he loved UD, so it is fitting that a scholarship in his name benefits mathematics majors,” said Wiebke Diestelkamp, professor and Department of Mathematics chair. Rice was author and co-author on more than 10 mathematics textbooks over several decades. After his retirement, Rice moderated 15 film seminars at the University of Dayton Osher Lifelong Learning Institute from 2003 to 2013. His commitment to the institute earned him “distinguished moderator” status. —Dave Larsen
MY OLD HOUSE 115 EVANSTON
Ben Rice Memorial Scholarship
Suggest we take a tour of your old house. Email us at magazine@udayton.edu.
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Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering Master of Science, Aerospace Engineering
It might possibly be Lourdes Quintana Maurice’s challenging beginnings that put her on the path to excel in academics and her career. Fleeing Cuba and the Castro regime at 8 years old with her mother, sister and grandparents, the family eventually ended up in Dayton when she was 11. They had literally nothing, as the Castro regime had nationalized everything her family owned. Her mother insisted on a strong education for her daughters. A Catholic, Marianist education from grade school all the way to the University of Dayton included studies in chemical and aerospace engineering. Maurice earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of London, Imperial College. All along the way, her interest and passion for engineering kept her motivated. “Engineering makes the impossible, possible,” she said. “Everything we have, it takes an engineer to make. It’s been fun.” During her career, Maurice rose through the ranks of the Air Force research enterprise and became a leader at the Federal Aviation Administration. In her role, she was an influential international leader in setting aviation noise, emissions and energy policy for the United States and the world. She went on to become executive director for environment and energy at the FAA. In 2003, she was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Maurice served as a lead author for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and was presented in 2007 with a full-size duplicate award to acknowledge her contribution. Since retiring in 2017, she has stayed active in her field by continuing to serve on the startup company Boom Supersonic’s advisory board and is currently an associate editor for the AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power.
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SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
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Lourdes Quintana Maurice ’83, ’86
Alumni Awards 2018
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
More than 50 years ago, the University named its first Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. Today, the University of Dayton Alumni Association celebrates seven alumni who reflect excellence, leadership and service.
Jan LeporeJentleson ’71
Bachelor of Science, Psychology
Our children have no dreams. That was what Jan LeporeJentleson heard from people living in the Twin Towers Neighborhood in Dayton. “When I went and talked with the kids, they had no pride in themselves. And it was heartbreaking because they described themselves in very negative terms,” Lepore-Jentleson said in describing the children living in the impoverished neighborhood. She decided that she wanted to help improve the conditions and in 1998 established the East End Community Services, a nonprofit that strives to break generational poverty in Dayton’s Twin Towers Neighborhood. As founder and executive director, Lepore-Jentleson has developed programs and partnerships to improve the lives of more than 5,200 individuals living in the neighborhood. The organization has provided after-school and summer educational programs for elementary school children; youth development programs; job training and placements; parenting classes; food security efforts; and family support services. “I’ve learned that poverty is one of the most complex issues facing our planet,” she said. “People in poverty, they love their kids. They want the best for their families. They are good folks who deserve a helping hand to get back on track.” In addition, the organization is actively involved with Ruskin Pre-K School — the neighborhood school — which is now the second-highest performing elementary school in the district. “We are helping our neighbors create dreams and changing the mindset of a generation,” she said. “It is possible to create change.”
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science Master of Public Administration
Associate Degree, Executive Secretarial Studies
Steven Budd knew when he graduated college that he wanted to do more than work at a for-profit business. He thought about what he was passionate about and realized it was Dayton — the city he had grown to love since he came to the University of Dayton in 1972. Budd took his passion and used an internship while working on his master’s degree at UD into a lifelong career at CityWide Development Corp. — a nonprofit economic and community development organization. In 1989 he became the president of CityWide. During his tenure he worked on two projects that he said were his favorites. First, the Genesis Project helped to revitalize the neighborhood and business district between UD and Miami Valley Hospital. The second project was Tech Town. This project took an abandoned auto manufacturing site and created three buildings that are now the home to 50 businesses and 500 employees. Though Budd retired this past January, he said he loved every minute of work. “What I tell young people is to go out and find out what you are passionate about. Find a job that incorporates that passion,” Budd advised. “For me, it all started with UD and Dayton, which I now call my home.” Budd found another love at Dayton during his undergrad and graduate days. He and his wife, Beth, have been married for 40 years and have three grown children.
As a teenager, Ruth Wyen Beckman survived a devastating accident when the car in which she was a passenger got hit by a train. She survived, though her friend did not. “It was a life-changing moment,” she said. “I knew I had so much to be thankful for and I was looking forward to finding ways to be grateful and give back in some way.” And given back she has. For 34 years, Beckman served as director of the Joint Organization for Inner-City Needs, a nonprofit organization funded by the diocese of Columbus (Ohio), the city of Columbus and from donations. The organization provides assistance for the homeless or poor. Assistance includes food, clothing, rent, utility payments, medicine and travel funds, plus help providing a proper funeral and burial to the homeless. It was eye-opening, Beckman said, to discover that many of the poor and homeless do not have birth certificates or family to look after their affairs. Beckman said all humans deserve respect for their basic needs. “We can’t judge people or anyone. Look into someone’s eyes, listen to their heart and don’t judge. It’s about love, respect and the care you give someone,” Beckman said. During her time as director, the organization grew from serving three clients a day to routinely serving more than 100 clients a day. “You must find the good in everyone,” she said. “What you get out of it is so much more than what you actually give.”
Howard Stevens ’63, ’67 Bachelor of Arts, Psychology Master of Arts, Psychology
Sally Sullivan Stevens ’65 Bachelor of Science, Chemistry
Howard Stevens and Sally Sullivan Stevens have worked side-byside for more than three decades as a couple to help promote the field of sales in both higher education and corporate America. They founded the Chally Group Worldwide, a sales performance consulting corporation, in 1973, and the Sales Education Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the benefits of sales education programs at the university level, in 2007. Howard said that 20 years ago majoring in sales was not appreciated and that graduates could not find jobs. “Now, sales is the golden child. Everyone wants to at least have a minor in sales,” he said. For more than decade, the Stevenes have been supporting the sales curriculum as advisers, resources and mentors to students. They also established a scholarship to help fund annually six UD students with interests in sales. In addition, the couple’s research services with Chally Group Worldwide have supported over 2,500 customers in 49 countries, including multibillion dollar companies such as IBM, General Motors, Verizon and Xerox. Though they sold CGW in 2015 and are now enjoying retirement, the Stevenses continue to stay involved with the University by providing mentorship to students involved with the Center.
JOE BELLE MEMORIAL YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD
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Ruth Wyen Beckman ’57
SPECIAL SERVICE AWARD
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Steven Budd ’76, ’78
CHRISTIAN SERVICE AWARD
Nicole Miller Olszewski ’08
Bachelor of Arts, Journalism/Spanish
Nicole Miller Olszewski majored in journalism and Spanish but wasn’t quite sure what she wanted out of a career. Through an experiential learning opportunity her senior year, she visited Fairview Elementary School in Dayton and helped teach English to students. That experience dramatically brought into focus what she felt was her life’s mission. “I just loved the mentoring and the teacher and student relationship,” she said. “It excites me to teach, train, motivate and coach individuals to meet their end goal.” She decided to get her master’s degree and later joined Teach for America Nashville in 2009, teaching in a low-performing high school. In 2011, she joined Knowledge is Power Program Nashville as an eighth grade teacher. It was there that she became respected as a school leader and obtained a Fisher Fellowship — a highly selective leadership program that prepares educators to found, lead and grow their own KIPP schools. She opened a charter middle school in 2013 — KIPP Nashville College Prep — which serves the lowest income area of her community. She’s been serving as the school’s principal ever since. And though she never thought teaching would be her career, she can’t see any other role she’s better suited for. “I’m always trying to find out how I can play a role in changing the life trajectory for my students, and even their families,” she said. “I stay because of our students and community.”
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ALUMNI COMMUNITY Boston
We asked: “What initially brought you to Boston and what keeps you staying?”
Boston is one of the oldest and most well-known cities in this nation. Internationally known as a center for education, the city attracts professionals in research, medicine and technology. The city is also a major hub for sports and entertainment, from baseball fans heading to Fenway Park to the thousands who attend the Boston Marathon each year. Maybe that’s why 882 UD alumni decided to make Boston home after leaving campus. The Boston Alumni Community stays busy holding game watches, organizing professional development events, volunteering and hosting new-student welcome parties for future Flyers.
Work brought me to Boston in August 2005. The job opportunities, culture, professional sports and food all within an hour from the ocean, mountains and lakes keeps me here. I know it’s a great place to raise a family that will provide opportunities for years to come and is a great place for any alum to make home. I knew no one when I moved here and worked for a small startup, so one of the very first things I did was get involved with the Dayton Alumni Community. My first Boston connections were all Dayton graduates, which then expanded into other circles. It’s been fun and a blessing to have a long-standing “crew” that I’ve watched get married, have babies and yet continue to celebrate all things that make us alums at events! —MICHELLE RIVIELLO NORRIS ’02
My dad’s career moved us to Boston in 1984 when I was a sophomore in high school. So when I went to UD in 1987, I was one of only a handful of students from Boston. It’s so terrific to see how that number has grown. I think what makes the Boston Alumni Community special is the range of events that cater to all. From Red Sox games to cultural events to career speakers, there’s always something on the calendar that pulls us together. I met a couple at the Red Sox game last year who transferred to Boston and they were so happy to have an instant connection. For me, I host the UD new-student and alumni picnic. This year I learned that a couple who ran in the same circles as me at UD is one town over. We’re having our own minireunion when we’re back from summer vacation. And we know some of the same local people. Being fellow Flyers, it doesn’t surprise me. —JENNIFER CHIRICOTTI DENNIS ’01
NowREADSEEHEARThis ALL THAT I’VE LEFT Matthew Scharpf ’92
Matthew Scharpf spent just over six months writing and producing his album All That I’ve Left, which was released in June. The EP of five songs falls into the new folk genre and is special to Scharpf as he hasn’t recorded a project like this in more than a decade. “On the whole, it’s really a sundry album with tunes plucked from the last 20 years of my writing,” he said. “Individual songs deal with themes like the uncertainty and cruelty of loneliness, the hope, joy and doubt within relationships, as well as the unforgiving nature of time. An array of subjects from different moments in my life inspired and comprise the record.”
EYE OF THE DEVIL: AN INSIDER’S FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE CALIFORNIA GANG WARS Brian Parry ’71
As one of the first graduates of the University’s police administration program (now known as crimi-
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nal justice), Parry has spent his career working for the California Department of Corrections and became a consultant for the FBI. His book Eye of the Devil: An Insider’s Firsthand Account of the California Gang Wars chronicles his 40-plus years working to fight gang violence in California and across the country. The story follows the gangs from their humble beginnings to the sophisticated criminal organizations they have become. Parry says, “Working gangs for that long was like ‘looking into the eyes of the devil.’” The book was published in February.
MICHAEL’S MUSINGS Michael Powers
After retiring in 1999 after working at IBM for 38 years in marketing and sales, Powers has spent time focusing on one of his hobbies, poetry. The result, Michael’s Musings, is a collection of poems and prose. The poems fall into a variety of themes — family, memories, nature, holidays and religion. He says, “One of the pieces is called ‘College Capers,’ which describes my crazy adventures with friends during my years attending UD. For fellow Chaminade alumni, there is ‘Chaminade Memories.’” —Gita Balakrishnan
CLASS NOTES SEND INFORMATION FOR CLASS NOTES TO: Class Notes University of Dayton 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-1303. Or you may send it to: classnotes@udayton.edu. Be sure to include your name, year of graduation and major. For the records office, please include cell phone number. Please also include email address, indicating whether you wish it to appear in Class Notes. Include maiden name and spouse’s name (if applicable). If you’re sending information about your children, please include birth dates rather than ages. The magazine does not publish announcements of engagements or pregnancies. Photos of alumni are welcomed and published as space permits. Notes may take up to two issues to publish. All notes are edited for style, content and length. RECORDS UPDATES ONLY Send information for records to: Advancement Records University of Dayton 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-7051. Please remember to send address, email address and cell phone number. Or you may send the information to: records@udayton.edu or call 888-253-2383. Be sure to indicate it is not for Class Notes.
Golden Flyers TOM DONAHUE ’61 (EDS) and his wife, Mary Ann, live in Fort Myers, Florida. To celebrate 52 years of marriage, they took a twomonth road trip to Michigan and Minnesota as well as Reno, Nevada; Sacramento and Carlsbad, California; and New Orleans. They also visited Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. Tom made a trip to Dayton in July for the Common Bond meeting at UD. BARBARA COX ’63 (EDE) lives in Roosevelt, Arizona. She writes, “While I was a student, I married and had a family and didn’t receive my diploma until December 1992. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the University of Dayton and the beautiful campus. Our student union hall in 1959 was a post-World War II annex building. I was working at the UD Research Institute when the Strategic Air Command fighters interrupted class with a sonic boom. I was student teaching in Dayton the day John Glenn made his first flight out of the atmosphere. When the United States became involved in the space race, I recalled that some of the information I had typed while at UDRI mentioned certain aspects of the space flights. I do enjoy reading the University of Dayton Magazine. In the spring 2018 issue, I was able to pick out several folks from the article ‘In Distinguished Company.’” JEFFREY MEYER ’66 (ENG) and his wife, Lauree, live in Davidson, North Carolina. He writes, “Since retiring, I’ve been writing fiction, publishing my first novel, A Call to China, in August 2017.” In April, the Independent Book Publishers Association named the book a silver winner in the historical fiction category in its 30th annual Benjamin Franklin Awards. A Call to China is a coming-of-age story about two sisters, continents apart, who find each other and themselves through spirituality and familial love. Jeffrey earned a doctoral degree in religious studies from the University of Chicago and taught at the University
SISTER ANNE SCHULZ, C.PP.S. ’68 ’76
Growing home
“There’s nothing more fulfilling than growing something yourself,” said Sister Anne Schulz, C.PP.S. She was speaking of gardening, but you can find another example closer to her heart. Schulz helped start the Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School in Liberty Township, Ohio, in 1998. She served as the first principal — and teacher — for just 20 students. Today, MTCES has grown to more than 530 students. Schulz is still the principal, but she is no longer a teacher. CEO is now her second title. After tending to this community and calling it home for two decades, she is preparing to retire. Her friends are advising her to take a year to figure out what she wants to do next. She says this sounds like sound advice, and then she immediately muses: “I do have a dream. I would like to work with inner-city kids and build a respite for them with some land where they could work and learn,” she said. “I just love kids. I love to see them learn and grow.” To Schulz, learning and growing are lifelong adventures. “You’re never too old to learn, and you’re never too old to try something different.” Some of her confidence to learn new things came from UD and some still comes from the encouragement of members of her vowed religious order: Sisters of the Precious Blood. “People don’t realize how blessed we are to have the support of a community,” she said. It’s a community she’s been a part of before she even stepped onto campus and joined the UD community. “I have such a fond feeling for UD. They helped me in so many ways. I always felt prepared for what was next,” she said. “They made me confident, and I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done without that confidence.” —Michael Dunekacke
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of North Carolina at Charlotte from 1973 to 2008. He adds, “My love for and appreciation of literary fiction were enhanced by my experiences while earning my master’s degree at UD.” JOHN “JACK” SCHERER ’67 (COM) and JUDITH LOEWER SCHERER ’67 (HEG) live in Duluth, Georgia. Jack is president of Sales Talent. He writes, “My book, Selling to the Heart: How Most Sales Are Really Won, was published recently. Readers learn that many sales are made emotionally and then justified rationally. The book explores the idea that professional salespeople are walking brands who need to sell themselves before they can sell the company they represent.” Jack adds that the University of Dayton Magazine is “an absolute joy to read and an extremely professional publication.” JIM SCHWOEBEL ’67 (PSY) and ROSEMARY THUNDER SCHWOEBEL ’67 (FRN) live in Austin, Texas. Rosemary writes that her book, A Vietnam Memoir: Adventures of an American Red Cross Donut Dolly, 1968-1969, was recently published. “This is an upbeat account of my life as a Red Cross staffer who designed and produced recreation programs that were used to raise morale during the Vietnam War. The book is woven with both letters home and current voice.” The book is available on Amazon. DANIEL HOBBS ’68 (POL) and his wife, Irma, live in Tracy, California. He writes that his new book, Betrayal of Father Garza, is now available on Amazon. The book is a political-religious thriller about a disillusioned Roman Catholic priest who uncovered sinister secrets during his Vatican days decades ago. Daniel writes, “Father Gabriel Garza now ministers daily in his tough Washington, D.C., inner-city parish, wrestling demons of doubt.” Daniel writes under the name “Ben Leiter.”
1969 ROBERT “BOB” TOIA JR. (BIO) and KATHLEEN “KATHY” TODARELLO TOIA ’70 (EDE) live in Centerville, Ohio. To celebrate their 70th birthdays, they had photos taken at their favorite place on campus, Serenity Pines. Kathy writes, “This lovely, peaceful spot wasn’t part of campus when we were students, but it has been a wonderful addition. Our photographer loved the spot and took hundreds of photos of the two of us as well as with our three youngest godsons, ages 16, 8 and 4. UD’s
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students, staff, campus, spirit and the Marianist charism remains an integral element in our lives. As we do every year, we attended some 2018 Reunion Weekend events. We especially enjoy the wedding vow renewal ceremony and the alumni
Mass that follows.” WILL TUREY (MGT) lives in Bethel, Connecticut, and works as a glass muralist. Some recent project ideas include a stained-glass mural for UD that replicates the black-and-white photo of Dan Obrovac out-jumping
DEIRDRE KANE ’76
Title IX pioneer
Two weeks after Deirdre Kane graduated from high school, Title IX became law, without which, she said, “my career path would not have been possible.” As a senior majoring in biology, Kane became the first woman to receive an athletic scholarship at UD. The $500 award garnered press attention not only in Dayton and her hometown of Philadelphia, but also at the Basketball Club of South Jersey, who named her the first female College Player of the Year. “That $500 and Title IX affected my entire life, and I am forever grateful,” Kane said. “The amount of females participating in athletics has exploded since Title IX passed. Girls can now benefit the same way boys do from athletics — fitness, team work, networking, confidence, enjoying success, coping with failure and most importantly establishing strong, lifelong relationships.” Kane’s coaching career spanned 38 years covering high school as well as all three NCAA divisions of college basketball, the last 27 seasons at West Chester University where she’s WCU’s alltime winningest women’s basketball coach. She won five PSAC East Division titles, made three NCAA Division II tournament appearances and was named coach of the year eight times by five different associations. Kane has also been inducted into four halls of fame in addition to receiving numerous other awards. While leaving an indelible mark on women’s basketball, Kane is also proud of her work to secure union contracts for collegiate coaches. “I consider getting coaches accepted as a bargaining unit in our faculty union one of the biggest achievements of my career,” she said. These days Kane and her husband, Tim ’76, enjoy being grandparents and traveling. “Tim was tremendously supportive when I was an athlete at UD and throughout my career,” she said. “Retirement has enabled us to reconnect with many old friends. Staying in touch and volunteer work consumes a lot of my time. True to form, it’s all about the relationships.” —Jeaneen Parsons
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Lew Alcindor (Kareem AbdulJabbar) for the opening tip of the 1967 NCAA college basketball tournament finals. Will writes, “It’s Dayton’s only appearance in the NCAA finals. During my 35th class reunion in 2004, I visited UD Arena, where I got the mural idea from a black-and-white photo on display there. Also from that game, I’m thinking of creating an action mural of Donnie May rebounding since he was an amazing force under the basket. May averaged 16.7 boards a game that season. Since the University is now renovating the Arena, this seems like an appropriate time to acknowledge that the 1967 finals were the foundation for building the Arena. In the words of then-UD athletic director Tom Frericks, ‘Boys, you just built us an arena.’” Will can be contacted through his website, www.willturey. com.
1970 RICHARD HANNIGAN (MGT) and his wife, Peggy, live in Mundelein, Illinois. Richard received a law degree from John Marshall School of Law in 1973. His practice concentrates on workrelated injuries, and he has been the workers’ compensation editor for the Illinois State Bar Association for the past 17 years.
JOHN “JACK” HURRAY (MKT) and ANN FISHER HURRAY (EDP) live in Ellenton, Florida. Jack writes that last October, 21 Epsilon Sigma Phi fraternity brothers from the classes of 1967 through 1971 and their spouses reunited in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. He adds, “The three-day weekend included a golf outing, a cornhole tournament, a pizza party and a banquet with our more talented brothers providing entertainment. Future reunions are planned in St. Pete Beach in October 2019 and during UD Reunion Weekend in 2020.” TOM “TUNA” NEIHENGEN (EDS) and his wife, Elaine, live in Bartlett, Illinois.Tom has taught several subjects and grade levels, from elementary to high school, in public and Catholic schools. He was a high school media specialist, president of the Catholic Library Association’s Northern Illinois chapter, president
IN MEMORIAM ALUMNI 1942 Edgar J. “Inky” Reagan — May 12, 2018 1945 Margaret K. Voigt Bertsch — April 17, 2018 1947 Father Paul J. Landolfi, S.M. — Nov. 16, 2017 Paul E. Reichert — March 27, 2018 1949 Carl E. Forbriger — April 3, 2018 1950 George W. Hime Jr. — May 1, 2018 Charlotte M. Bradford McKnight — June 8, 2018 Clement F. “Bud” Spraley Jr. — May 9, 2018 Nadine C. Cleveland Wright — March 25, 2018 1951 Father Francis T. Nakagawa, S.M. — Feb. 24, 2018 1952 Donald R. Crossley — April 19, 2018 Robert J. “Bob” Misiewicz — May 26, 2018 Robert L. “Bob” Wise — April 28, 2018 1953 Frederick J. Bolle — April 2, 2018 Thomas K. Borton — May 23, 2018 Laurence D. Brown — July 6, 2017 Robert L. Peterson — March 3, 2018 James A. “Jim” Weger — March 23, 2018 1954 Robert R. Eisenlohr — May 9, 2018 1955 William G. “Bill” Potter — April 3, 2018 1956 Sara L. Pfarrer DeGregory — April 8, 2018 Donald A. “Don” Oldiges — March 31, 2018 1957 Robert J. “Bob” Bennett — March 26, 2018 Ronald B. “Ron” Felsburg — April 3, 2018 Elizabeth L. Julius Finney — April 7, 2018 Elizabeth DeCurtins Hoying — May 9, 2018 Martin P. “Marty” Laraia — Sept. 4, 2016 John P. Soller — Jan. 23, 2018 1958 Nancy A. Lauderman O’Shaughnessy — July 17, 2017 1959 Brother Donald C. Schaaf, S.M. — Jan. 3, 2018
1961 James C. Broeker — July 25, 2017 Paul H. Schreibman — May 24, 2018 1962 Ralph J. Bednar — June 7, 2018 1963 Alan R. Mohr — Feb. 12, 2018 1964 James J. “Jim” Cain — April 5, 2018 John A. “Jake” Parnell — May 28, 2018 John G. “Jack” Powers — May 12, 2018 William D. “Bill” Rall — May 18, 2018 Thomas E. “Tom” Scheper — June 30, 2017 George D. Schrader — Aug. 18, 2017 1965 Henry N. “Nick” Kuntz Jr. — May 7, 2018 Richard A. “Dick” Roberts — April 27, 2018 Enrique “Kiqe” Romaguera — May 10, 2018 Edwin S. “Ed” Ross VI — May 12, 2016 John R. “Jack” Wysong — May 13, 2018 1966 Thomas N. “Tom” Tight — May 11, 2018 Terrence E. “Terry” Whalen — March 31, 2018 Brother George R. Zehnle, S.M. — April 22, 2018 1967 Jack H. Bader — March 29, 2018 Chester E. McKinney — June 9, 2018 Doris A. McCrea Schember — May 30, 2018 1968 John W. “Jack” Brankamp — May 18, 2018 Patricia A. Adam Christy — March 20, 2018 Linda K. Lauck Elson — April 4, 2018 Virginia D. “Ginger” Lee Evers — March 25, 2018 Frederick C. “Fred” Garges — April 14, 2018 John M. Hydeck — April 5, 2018 Donald J. “Don” Mench — May 5, 2018 1969 Dorothy A. Sczesny Arnold — Oct. 24, 2016 Charles J. “Jeff” Raymond — May 23, 2018 J. Daniel “Dan” Schmidt — March 2018 Thomas R. “Tom” Wagner — June 8, 2018 1970 Joseph H. “Joe” Freitag Sr. — April 1, 2018 Michael S. Warner — April 13, 2018 1971 Patricia E. Rismiller Kowalewski — Aug. 19, 2015
Douglas W. Kramer — March 4, 2018 Stephanie M. Roarty — May 10, 2018 1972 Steven B. “Steve” Satrom — May 19, 2018 Sister M. Renita Tadych, O.S.F. — May 11, 2018 The Rev. Raymond C. “Ray” Unterburger — May 28, 2018 1973 Kenneth P. “Ken” Forlenza — March 2, 2018 Stephen A. Michaels — March 10, 2018 James A. “Jim” Shaffer — May 13, 2018 Gerard C. “Jerry” States — April 1, 2018 James J. “Sully” Sullivan — March 16, 2018 Sister Gertrude “Trudy” Tanner, O.P. — May 19, 2018 1974 Fred H. Bacu — May 5, 2018 James I. Hilderbrand — March 27, 2018 Deborah A. Swensen Porter — March 20, 2017 Kevin R. Reilly — April 2, 2018 1975 Teresa M. “Terri” Doyle Stec — May 27, 2018 Julie A. Welsh — March 25, 2018 1976 Brother Thomas A. Payne, S.M. — Nov. 3, 2017 Karen A. Pozzi Baldwin — June 10, 2018 1977 Aileen M. Naiman Adams — April 19, 2018 Douglas L. “Doug” Knight — April 13, 2018 Beverly B. Duesing Whitlatch — June 10, 2018 1978 Steven R. Buckley — April 2, 2018 Thomas L. “Tom” Catlett — April 27, 2018 Edith Oyer Jerd — April 4, 2018 1979 Lawrence M. Callon — Dec. 29, 2013 James E. “Jim” Cullers — Nov. 27, 2017 1980 George R. Creegan — Jan. 12, 2018 Scott A. “Tony” Day Sr. — April 22, 2018 Robert D. Stewart Jr. — July 18, 2017 1982 Jon B. Fenton — March 23, 2018 1983 Elizabeth A. Bradner Kunkel — May 18, 2018 1985 Kevin J. McAvoy — March 27, 2018 John A. Upshaw Jr. — May 14, 2018 1987 John R. Sass — March 22, 2018
John R. “Jack” Schulte — March 26, 2018 Mark L. Stout — June 2, 2018 1990 Dixie L. Lannerd Kinsler — June 7, 2018 1991 Sue A. Martin Rogers — Feb. 21, 2018 1994 Jon A. Tinapple — May 22, 2018 1996 Roger L. Marchal — April 11, 2018 Matthew H. Pierson — May 11, 2018 1997 Lucille Duff Marr — May 19, 2018 Daniel J. “Dan” Porter — May 8, 2018 Cheryl L. Skolosh-Lovell — March 30, 2018 1998 Victoria S. “Vicki” Gioscio Schwab — April 5, 2018 1999 Marguerite E. Arbogast Boes — April 25, 2018 Nancy L. Puterbaugh Myers — March 25, 2018 2000 Catherine E. Fulton Bensman — May 10, 2018 Frederick J. “Jim” Donaghy — Dec. 17, 2017 2001 Adam C. Braschwitz — May 8, 2018 2002 Darin S. Binkley — April 2, 2018 2003 Patricia C. “Patty” Davis — April 9, 2018 FRIENDS William E. “Bill” Click — April 29, 2018; retired UD Research Institute staff. John W. “Bill” Friel — June 11, 2018; professor emeritus of UD mathematics. Mary Yorke Gibson — Jan. 13, 2018; survived by daughter Pam “Sunny” Gibson ’72. Robert B. Gorton — May 31, 2018; UD mathematics professor emeritus. Barry J. Leiter — April 10, 2018; former director of UD Printing and Design. Mary T. Leonard — May 6, 2018; professor emerita in UD’s department of physical and health education. Brother James M. Moran, S.M. — Sept. 8, 2017; former University staff Alden E. Ray — April 16, 2018; professor emeritus of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Katherine S. Eisert Reinhard — July 6, 2009; survived by husband Jerome “Jerry” Reinhard ’79. Edna L. Shieldcastle — May 16, 2018; retired University staff. Mary M. Toohey — April 10, 2018; retired University staff.
Prayer intentions are collected online through the Marianist Mission at bit.ly/Marianist_Mission.
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of the Public Library Students Association and a Title I coordinator at two schools. He and Elaine married in 1977 and have two children and three grandchildren. Tom has been an AARP driver safety instructor, parish lector and head usher, and a board member of a local arts organization. He’s traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Williamsburg, Virginia, and taken cruises on the Rhine and Danube rivers and in Alaska. He adds, “I hope members of the Class of 1970 contribute more items. Many of us have accomplished much.” BOB SERPENTE (MEE) and his wife, Nora, live in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and spend their summers in Margate City, New Jersey. Bob writes, "In July, I visited campus during a cross country drive with my son. The campus was very impressive to visit. My son enjoyed his tour and the steak from the Pine Club while I replenished my UD gear from the bookstore. I am still practicing engineering as the president for a small engineering group specializing in designs for new construction, repairs and replacement of water, sewer storm water infrastructure, and water and wastewater treatment facilities. I enjoy following Flyers basketball and get to see the team play at the Philly A-10 team home games. Go Flyers!"
DANIEL SHILLITO (MGT) and his wife, Maryanne, live in San Diego. He writes, “I retired as a colonel with the U.S. Marine Corps and then as regional solicitor with the U.S. Department of the Interior. For the past five years, I’ve attended the A-10 tournament with UD roommates, including Dennis Minkler and Robert Ciullo. At every Flyer gathering, I wear a UD sweatshirt I purchased more than 25 years ago that brings life to the Flyer Faithful.” KATHLEEN “KATHY” TODARELLO TOIA (EDE) and ROBERT “BOB” TOIA JR. ’69 (BIO) live in Centerville, Ohio. To celebrate their 70th birthdays, they had photos
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PHIL CIUFO ’83
Connections Phil Ciufo had no doubt his experience at UD would be incredible. His sister and brother-in-law (classes of 1971 and 1966) already proved that. He didn’t know, however, that being a Flyer would lead to so many wonderfully serendipitous moments, long after graduating. There was the time Ciufo was working at the Ryder Cup tournament when he ran into a UD buddy. Or when he bumped into his UD roommate while riding on a golf cart at Olympia Fields. How about the fact that he sat next to actor Martin Sheen during a 1979 KU screening of the film Apocalypse Now. Or perhaps when he went back to a basketball game with his daughter, Chelsea ’14, and met up with arena ticket manager Gary McCans ’68. “I worked for Gary as an usher for four years,” said Ciufo, a father of four. “My daughter ended up working for Gary, too. “There’s always a UD connection wherever I go,” said Ciufo, who spent 19 years working in production for NBC Sports after stints with ABC and ESPN. The Rochester, New York, native caught the sports bug in 1980 while working a dream gig as a spotter at a PGA tournament on the 16th tee of Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester. After that, Ciufo started strategically scheduling classes so he could work various production jobs at nearby college football games and Monday Night Football games. Ciufo majored in communication management, and on the advice of his professors he took advantage of every opportunity he could, both inside and outside the classroom. That included interviewing celebrities (among them Jane Fonda and Stephen King), and working for the Flyer News, the campus radio station and countless sporting events. It should come as no surprise to learn that Ciufo recently parked next to a car with a UD FLYER license plate. Turns out, that UD grad grew up in the same town as Ciufo. Also not surprising is that Ciufo’s license plate reads DYTNFLYR. “Everything comes back to my time at UD.” —Molly Blake ’96
RICHARD “DICK” WALTERMEYER JR. (ELE) and his wife, Nancy, live in Decatur, Illinois. He writes, “Tom ‘Tuna’ Neihengen’s lament, ‘Class of 1970, where are you?’ in the spring 2018 issue of the University of Dayton Magazine motivated me to send a long-overdue update. I closed my business, N&D Designs, on Dec. 31, 2017, after a 10-year run. For the past year and a half, Nancy and I have been trying to get a house designed and built in the foothills of the Appalachians in southern Ohio. We own almost seven acres, with a high point at the back of the property that should be an ideal building site. I hadn’t intended to be the general contractor, but that seems to be the only way to keep moving forward. Getting all the parties involved moving in the same direction has been like herding cats.”
1971 JOSEPH BLUM (EDS) and his wife, Sandy, live in New Washington, Ohio. He writes, “In September, I’ll celebrate writing my 1,000th local history column for The Herald in New Washington, Ohio. Former Kent State professor Kenneth Cummins started the column in 1960, and I took it over in September 1998 at Kenneth’s request. I’ve been able to save a lot of history for the community in my columns. I’ve written about one of Ohio’s last living former slaves; the fate of a local resident who was a prisoner of war during World War II; Austrian poet Nickolaus Lenau, who lived in New Washington from 1832 to 1833; and local Underground Railroad conections.”
1973 GALEN GASSON (BT) lives in Versailles, Ohio. He writes, “I recently attended a wind energy expo in Portland, Indiana.” ANN-MARIE MAZZUCCO (MTH) lives in Yonkers, New York. She writes, “In April, I made a trip to Nice and Monte Carlo on the French Riviera.”
1975 taken at their favorite place on campus, Serenity Pines. Kathy writes, “This lovely, peaceful spot wasn’t part of campus when we were students, but it has been a wonderful addition. Our photographer loved the spot and took hundreds of photos of the two of us as well as with our three
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youngest godsons, ages 16, 8 and 4. UD’s students, staff, campus, spirit and the Marianist charism remain an integral element in our lives. As we do every year, we attended some 2018 Reunion Weekend events. We especially enjoy the wedding vow renewal ceremony and the alumni Mass that follows.”
JIM CUTTER (MTH) lives in Denver. He writes, “I’m enjoying retirement and relaxing with the University of Dayton Magazine in the beautiful islands of the Caribbean.”
1976 KENNETH CHRISTOPHER (CRJ) and JEANNE PELOQUIN CHRISTOPHER (FRN) live in San Diego. They write, “We thought it would be fun to share this photo of us visiting the House of the Virgin Mary, which is both a Catholic and Muslim shrine not too far from the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey. What better place to show our affinity for UD as alumni who first met at new-student orientation in 1972?” JOSEPH “JOE” CLARK (MGT) and his wife, Maureen, live in Gainesville, Virginia. They write, “Mo and Joe are retired and living just outside Washington, D.C. Two of our kids, Casey and Suzie, live in the area, and six grandkids keep us busy and happy. We still travel extensively, so we might find you somewhere around the states or globe.” JOHN FITZGERALD (CRJ) and his wife, Rona, live in Roseland, New Jersey. He writes, “We married in 1983 and have two sons: John III, 32, and Daniel, 30. I retired after a career in retail loss prevention with Bamberger’s, Macy’s, Abraham &
Straus, W. & J. Sloane, Federated Logistics and Home Depot. I’d like to hear from my Pershing Rifle brothers from the 1970s. I remember the review Invitational Drill Meets Pershing Rifles held each year (UDIDM), Kiefaber Street and Jesse Street, and weekends at Johnsons farm.” John invites former classmates to contact him at jjfjr@ gmail.com.
MIKE SCHELD (PSY) and his wife, Amy, live in Tampa, Florida. He writes, “I’ve been married to Amy since 1983, and my career with AT&T spans the same 35 years. We had an impromptu UD reunion while reviewing the University of Dayton Magazine article ‘In Distinguished Company’ at Siesta Key Beach, Florida, on March 31.” Pictured are Rich Carcich ’76, Mike and Bernard Ventura ’76, as well as Maggie Schulze Stefanek ’77, Chris Stefanek ’76 and their son, John Stefanek ’07.
1977 DENNY FRYMAN (MBA) and his wife,
Dorann, live in Orlando, Florida. He writes, “I took a European vacation and had the opportunity to visit the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral in France, as well as Buckingham Palace and Stonehenge in England.”
MARK GRIESBAUM (MGT) and his wife, Paula, live in Oak Brook, Illinois. He’s a relationship manager at the Society for Information Management’s Regional Leadership Forum in Chicago.
Theological Seminary in Dayton. The United Methodist Church has certified my candidacy for ordination. My short-term goals include serving as the chaplain for the Boy Scouts of America’s Daniel Webster Council in New Hampshire and joining the Appalachian Trail Chaplaincy of the United Methodist Church. The New York Times wrote about my career transition in an Oct. 7, 2017, article, ‘As Overdose Deaths Pile Up, a Medical Examiner Quits the Morgue.’ I told the paper, ‘After seeing thousands of sudden, unexpected or violent deaths, I have found it impossible not to ponder the spiritual dimension of these events for both the deceased and especially those left behind.’”
1978
1979
THOMAS ANDREW (MED) and his wife, Rebecca, live in Contoocook, New Hampshire. He writes, “I recently retired after 20 years as chief medical examiner for the state of New Hampshire and a 35-year career in medicine. While still a part-time forensic consultant, I’m pursuing a new career. I’ve matriculated in the Master of Divinity program at the United
PATRICK “PAT” PERRY (ECO) and his wife, Patricia, live in Mentor, Ohio. He writes, “After nearly 20 years heading consulting firm ERC, I’ve transitioned leadership to Kelly Keefe ’97. She’s the first female president in ERC’s 97 years.” Patrick remains with ERC as chairman. His book, Re-Shape Re-Define Re-Imagine, is in its third printing, and his second book, Business Lessons Learned Along the Way, was published in mid-August.
GUSTAVO GALDO (CHA) and his wife, Rebecca, live in Marietta, Georgia. He writes, “In July, our company BJG Trading celebrated 13 years in business. It’s amazing how time flies.”
ANATOMY OF A CLASS NOTE ’79 KEN BILDERBACK ’79 (COM) lives in Gaston, Oregon. He writes, “A couple of years ago I found this pin in mementoes that my late mother kept. I was confused, because I never belonged to a fraternity while I attended UD. I was even more confused when I researched the name on the pin and found out that Alpha Sigma Tau is a sorority. I contacted the national office of Alpha Sigma Tau sorority’s historian and learned that this particular Alpha Sigma Tau pin is instead from the University of Dayton’s honor society. I completely forgot I was part of the graduating class of the honor society. I have not forgotten lessons learned from professor emeritus Patrick Palermo and professor emeritus Larry Lain, who launched me into a career guided by social justice.”
ATTENDED UD Ken transferred to the University in 1976 after his sophomore year at Georgia State University in Atlanta. ALPHA SIGMA TAU This UD honor society just happens to share a name with a national women’s sorority, though they are not affiliated. Flyers graduating with a 3.5 or higher grade point average have been receiving this recognition since at least 1943, according to archives. LESSONS LEARNED “Two alliterative UD professors, Larry Lain and Patrick Palermo, set me on a path
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toward concern for rural America,” Ken said. Upon his teachers’ advice and guidance, Ken began exploring issues facing both
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rural and urban communities, such as poverty. CAREER Ken has spent close to 30 years as a newspaper reporter and editor. He and his wife have written four books — all of which won national awards — about the rural West. SOCIAL JUSTICE As a student he reported on rural parishes in southwest Ohio. Of that experience he says, “I learned that poverty and injustice afflict urban and rural residents without regard to race, religion or geography.” —Gita Balakrishnan
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1981 PAUL DWYER (CRJ) and his wife, Donna, live in Nesconset, New York. He writes, “I’ve retired after 36 years in law enforcement, the last 30-plus as a Nassau County police officer. I had an excellent career and was blessed to work with some extraordinary and courageous people. I’m looking forward to the next phase of my life with my wonderful wife and our three children, who’ve grown into amazing and talented young adults. I wish my alumni friends peace and happiness and ask that you all pray for my brothers and sisters in our nation’s law enforcement community. They face dangers that, sadly, appear to grow more menacing each day. God bless you all.” LARRY SAUER (COM) and MOLLY COCHRAN ’82 (ENG) live in Stoughton, Massachusetts. They write, “We celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary in May. In April, Larry began a new job as chief operating officer for the League School of Greater Boston, serving students with autism spectrum disorder. Our twins, Colin and Amelia, finished their first year of college: Colin at the College of William & Mary, and Amelia at the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.”
1982 JOY GOLDSCHMIDT ANTONOPLOS (MKT) and her husband, Michael, live in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She writes, “I’m the associate director of institutional advancement for AIM Academy and AIM Institute for Learning and Research. It’s an independent school in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, for students with language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.” MOLLY COCHRAN (ENG) and LARRY SAUER ’81 (COM) live in Stoughton, Massachusetts. They write, “We celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary in May. In April, Larry began a new job as chief operating officer for the League School of Greater Boston, serving students with autism spectrum disorder. Our twins, Colin and Amelia, finished their first year of college: Colin at the College of William & Mary, and Amelia at the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.” MARK DANGELO (CPS) and
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Can UDentify us? Three friends from more than three decades ago mug for a photographer in this shot taken in the student neighborhood. But who are they? If you can identify these faces from the 1985 yearbook, email magazine@udayton.edu. And see more archival images from digital Daytonians at ecommons.udayton.edu.
From our last issue
Several readers were surprised to open our summer issue and find themselves smiling out from this 1998 photo from homecoming. Suzanne Capretta Trihas ’00 is one of those. “Fun to see myself in the ‘Can UDentify Us’ feature — even if I did have a bad haircut back then,” she wrote. Mollie Williams Werner ’99 also wrote to identify the five women as Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity members, from left: Trihas, Sandy McClellan Miller ’00, Autumn Collins Favero ’99, Werner and Taya Tassler Muncy ’99. “What a fun surprise to see this picture,” she wrote. “A UD roommate saw it first and texted Autumn and me. We had a good laugh at our hair and faces. Thanks!”
VIRGINIA MORAN DANGELO (MKT) live in Grafton, Ohio. Mark writes, “My third book, Beyond the Technology Traps, is now available on Amazon. The book explores the challenges facing financial services and banking organizations now and in the future.” RICHARD “RICH” KENNEDY II (DAP) and his wife, Robin, live in Raleigh, North Carolina. He writes, “We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with our daughter Carlyle, 15, and son Richard III, 9. I recently accepted a position with Salesforce, visiting community colleges in the Midwest.”
MIKE “SPEED” METZ (MKT) and DENYSE DENBIGH METZ (ACC) live in Clayton, California. Mike writes,
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“Mike ‘Slim’ Sullivan ’81 of Fredonia, New York; Kevin ‘Rabbi’ Weber ’82 of Long Island, New York; Russ ‘Thumper’ Stormer ’82 of northern Virginia; Kevin ‘Beach’ Beachman ’82 of Houston; Mike ‘Bird’ Stanton ’82 of Cleveland; Rick ‘Moony’ Monnier ’82 of Tipp City, Ohio; and Steve Metz of Detroit attended our 11th annual trip to UD this year — the largest group ever. We gathered for the men’s basketball game against Fordham University. The Flyers didn’t disappoint, with a 80-70 victory. It was great catching up on our busy lives and reliving our UD memories at the local haunts going strong these past 35-plus years, such as Flanagan’s, Milano’s and Tim’s. Our self-guided walk around campus and visiting our old accommodations that are still standing was awesome. We’re already looking forward to our 12th annual trip this coming season. Go Flyers!”
1983 CHARLES BALDWIN (LAW)
and his wife, Lisa, live in Carmel, Indiana. He’s been named to the BTI Client Service All-Stars 2018 list, which recognizes attorneys for exceptional client service. Charles is managing director at Ogletree Deakins and has held numerous leadership roles since joining the firm in 2000, including serving on the board of directors and as managing shareholder of the firm’s Indianapolis office. Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers magazine have recognized Charles as one of the top labor and employment lawyers in Indiana. Charles serves as chairman of the board of directors for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and was previously selected as an Indiana Chamber volunteer of the year for his work in the Indianapolis community.
1985
CHRIS MORRISON (MKT) and MARY MANZO MORRISON (MKT) live in West Chester, Ohio. They write, “Our youngest son, Kevin, graduated from UD in May. He joins our very committed UD family, which includes brother Matt Morrison ’12 and his wife, Kaleigh Dianetti Morrison ’14; sister Andrea Morrison Rueve ’14 and her husband, Christopher Rueve ’12; Christopher’s sister Lauren Rueve ’09; and cousin Lindsay Koeller ’20, as well as her brother Sean Koeller, who started this fall.”
1987 ANGIE FRENCH DUNN (EDE) and her husband, Ed, live in Beavercreek, Ohio. She writes, “In May, Barbara Kingsley Miller ’87 and I were recognized as 30year employees of Mad River Local Schools in Riverside, Ohio. We met the first day of our freshman year on Marycrest 5 South and were roommates and housemates until graduation. We were both hired as elementary teachers by Mad River Local Schools the summer after graduation. In just a few more years, we’ll be celebrating retirement.”
1988 TAMMY BROSKY EWIN (PUB) and her husband, Paul, live in Pittsburgh. She writes, “I recently spent a fantastic eight days in Ireland and managed to squeeze in some reading of the University of Dayton Magazine while visiting Bunratty Castle in County Clare.”
1990 CHRIS CARNEY (CMT) and his wife, Susan, live in Chesterland, Ohio. He writes, “My son, Devin ’18, and I celebrated his entry into the real world — by running away from it — on a Canadian fishing trip.”
1993 BRIGID LYONS MALONEY (CMT) and her husband, Robert, live in East Aurora, New York. She writes, “I’ve joined the firm Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman. I provide counsel to health care clients on structural, regulatory and reimbursement issues related to mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, complex contractual arrangements, and other affiliations and collaborative efforts. Clients include hospital systems, single and multispecialty medical practices, behavioral health providers, pharmacies, urgent care centers, physicians and dentists. I earned my law degree from the University at Buffalo School of Law.”
1995 TODD TUCKER (LAW) lives in Westlake, Ohio. He writes, “I’m a partner in Calfee, Halter & Griswold’s intellectual property group. Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers selected me for inclusion as a leader in my field in its 2018 edition.”
1997 AMY HARDY CATANZARO (MUP) and her husband, Bobby, announce the birth of Elizabeth “Eliza” Mary (9-29-17), who joins
siblings Drew and Grace at home in Cincinnati. Amy writes, “I recently completed my 21st year of sales and marketing for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where I’m the director of sales.”
in Loveland, Ohio. She writes, “Michael and I have been married for 20 years and have two sons, Phillip and Garrett. I’m an innovative instructional coach with Loveland City Schools.”
SUSAN MOORE CRAIG (EEH) and her husband, Michael, live
KELLY KANE KEEFE (COM) and her husband, Matt, live in Highland
RUSSELL TONEY ’91
Adventure of a lifetime
Life taught Russell Toney to expect the unexpected. “If there is one theme in my life since UD, it’s that it’s been a total adventure,” he said. “It’s been nothing like I expected.” Toney thought he’d spend his career as a chemical engineer. “But life took over, and the adventure began,” he said. Less than two years into his job at Procter & Gamble, he was asked to go to Malaysia to work on the construction of a new plant. Toney was initially hesitant to travel halfway around the world but later reconsidered. “I’m glad I did because it was one of the greatest career adventures I’ve ever had,” he said. When he returned two years later, he took on a new role in global purchasing, which meant extensive world travel. Graduate school was his next adventure as he earned an MBA from the University of Virginia. Toney then shifted gears, working as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. “It was a very rich experience because I was working on something different every three or four months,” he said. But Toney missed the hands-on nature of working for a manufacturing company, so when he was recruited by General Electric Co., he eagerly accepted the challenge. During 13 years, he worked in several GE businesses in many different capacities. “I was in new, interesting and diverse roles that I never would have seen myself doing,” he said. Now, as a senior vice president at Dover Corp., a diversified global manufacturing company with $8 billion in revenue, Toney wears many hats — leading the global sourcing organization, the engineering center and multiple business units. He lives in Chicago with his wife and five children. “At no point after leaving UD could I have predicted what I’d be doing now,” he said. “My advice is to say ‘yes’ as often as you can, it will lead you to places you never thought you’d go.” —Debbie Juniewicz ’90
Heights, Ohio. Kelly was named president of consulting firm ERC, taking over for Patrick “Pat” Perry ’79. She’s the first female president in ERC’s 97 years and has been with the firm for 13 years. Previously, she worked with Deloitte Consulting.
1999 TREVOR MAGGIED (CMM) and his wife, Erin, announce the birth of Raleigh Ann (322-18), who joins them at home in Hilliard, Ohio. Trevor writes, “Raleigh is doing great. I earned my school counselor license through UD in 2009 and just completed a second master’s degree in school leadership through Miami University.”
2000 MICHELE MONNIER KAISER (MCT) is a manager of supplier quality for the John Deere Construction and Forestry Division and has received SAE International’s Rodica Baranescu Award for Technical and Leadership Excellence. The award celebrates the successes of women in the engineering profession and recognizes their leadership and technical contributions in various engineering sectors including commercial vehicles, automotive and aerospace. Michele earned her master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Wisconsin, is co-author of three technical papers and holds one international patent. Michele and her husband, Jim, live in Asbury, Iowa.
2001 AMY KRAFT BEAUCHAMP (MGT) and her husband, Ryan, live in Beavercreek, Ohio. She writes, “We traveled to Hawaii for a one-week vacation with our daughters, Alexa, 8, and Macy, 5. We didn’t get to see Mount Kilauea erupting, but we did travel to the Big Island while the volcano was active. While on Oahu, we visited the Dole Plantation, as well as Matsumoto Shave Ice.”
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THOMAS SMITH (ENG) and his wife, Megan, announce the birth of Stella Elisa (1-19-18), who joins the family dog, Roosevelt, at home in Los Angeles. STEPHEN SNYDER (CME) lives in Englewood, Ohio. He writes, “I work at Faraday Technology. Along with my colleagues, I’m listed as a co-inventor on the recently issued U.S. patent entitled ‘Apparatus and method for recovery of material generated during electrochemical material removal in acidic electrolytes.’”
2002 PATRICK “PAT” MCENTEE (PAM) and AMY SMITH MCENTEE ’03 (EYA) have lived in Dayton since their marriage in 2010. Pat writes, “After three years on the transplant waiting list, I received a heart transplant Aug. 13, 2017, at the Cleveland Clinic. I haven’t felt as good in nearly a decade. My heart conditions were genetic and first discovered more than 20 years ago. My heart failure was diagnosed in 2011 and escalated to end stage in 2014. A heart pump was implanted to give me enough time to wait for a donor heart. We began a fundraising campaign to pay for costs not covered by insurance and the costs of frequent travel to Cleveland during the past four years. Since the transplant, I am able to do things I thought I’d never do again, such as walk a mile without stopping several times to catch my breath.” Pat wrote a letter to his donor family and received a response shortly before Christmas. His donor’s name is Bob, so now Pat uses the hashtag #ThanksBob every time he does something that wouldn’t be possible without Bob’s gift. Pat writes, “We’re so grateful for Bob’s selfless gift and all those who register as organ donors and their families. We pray for them daily.” Pat invites former classmates to contact him at pat.mcentee@gmail.com.
2003 EMILY JONES GARDINER (VCD) and her husband, Matt, announce the birth of Henry Edmund (4-618), who joins sisters Courtney and Catherine at home in St. Louis.
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TIM NEVIUS ’03, ’06
Leveling the playing field From the playing field to the courtroom, sports have come full circle for Tim Nevius. The two-time UD graduate — communication and law — played baseball for the Flyers for three seasons, transferring in as a sophomore. He recently founded Nevius Legal, a New York-based firm dedicated to advocating for current and prospective college athletes and their families. The firm advises clients regarding eligibility, scholarships, transfer denials, waiver requests, NCAA investigations and reinstatement cases. “I want to help individual athletes who have been negatively affected by NCAA rules and school policies and reform the way the NCAA works,” he said. “I want to fight against the exploitation and abuse of college athletes.” The road from college athlete to attorney advocate was a circuitous one. Nevius did corporate finance work at a prominent Chicago firm after graduation. The founder of the UD School of Law’s Sports and Entertainment Law Society was then contacted by NCAA personnel he met while he was in school about a position as an investigator for the NCAA enforcement staff. “It was a huge pay cut, and I’m pretty sure my dad thought I was crazy,” he said. “But I didn’t care about the money. I cared about what I was doing.” Nevius spent five years with the NCAA, working on a variety of high-profile cases before going back to school, earning a Master of Laws degree from Columbia University. With his extensive knowledge of collegiate athletics, Nevius made a proposal to the firm of Winston & Strawn — one of the premier sports law practices in the world — to add a college practice. He was hired almost immediately. It wasn’t long before the firm sued the NCAA on behalf of college players in a class-action federal lawsuit. Earlier this year, Nevius set out on his own, establishing a firm to help college athletes deal with individual eligibility cases and disputes while continuing to work on reform efforts. “I’m fighting for athletes to give them greater benefits, greater protection and a bigger piece of the pie.” —Debbie Juniewicz ’90
AMY SMITH MCENTEE (EYA) and PATRICK “PAT” MCENTEE ’02 (PAM) have lived in the Dayton
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area since their marriage in 2010. After three years on the transplant waiting list, Pat received a heart
transplant on Aug. 13, 2017, at the Cleveland Clinic. Amy writes, “Pat hasn’t felt as good as he does now in nearly a decade.” Amy recently accepted a new job at RCL Benziger.
2005
CHRISTY RICKER BROWN (OPS) and her husband, Luke, announce the birth of Evan John (2-2-18), who joins them at home in Denver. Christy writes, “Luke and I were married June 10, 2016, in Beaver Creek, Colorado. UD alumni who attended included bridesmaids Ellen Ricker ’12, Stephanie Ricker ’09 and Sarah Mann Buchheit ’05. I work for PricewaterhouseCoopers.” CHARLES KEATING (CPE) and MICHELLE STACHLER KEATING ’06 (CME) announce the birth of Felix Edward (10-7-17), who joins brother Henry Dale (5-10-14) at home in Dayton. They write, “The boys enjoy cheering on the UD Flyers men’s basketball team.” Charles is a senior image processing engineer at the University of Dayton Research Institute.
2006 MICHELLE STACHLER KEATING (CME) and CHARLES KEATING ’05 (CPE) announce the birth of Felix Edward (107-17), who joins brother Henry Dale (5-10-14) at home in Dayton. They write, “The boys enjoy cheering on the UD Flyers men’s basketball team.” Michelle is a senior analyst at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. ERIN M. SIEVERS (ESM) lives in Chicago. Erin graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law in 2006 and is an associate attorney representing injured workers at Hannigan & Botha, along with Richard Hannigan ’70.
2007 BRIDGET MCILWEE (CHA) married DAN WEITZEL ’11 (CJS) Nov. 11, 2017, in downtown Chicago. She writes, “We met in Texas while Dan was stationed there with the military and I was completing medical residency. Many UD
I’m beginning my third year there and seventh year teaching.”
2011 graduates attended our wedding, including our old roommates and friends from the Student Government Association and ROTC. Half of the bridal party and their significant others are alumni as well. We’re so grateful to UD for giving us so many of our lifelong best friends — and our spouses as well.” The couple lives in Irving, Texas.
2009 BENJAMIN GAMMON (ACC) and EMILY LAPPE GAMMON (PUB) announce the birth of Soléne Maxwell (1-21-18), who joins them at home in Austin, Texas. They write, “Soléne weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce.” JESSICA IMMONEN (BIO) married Cole Heseltine April 14, 2018, in Los Cabos, Mexico. She writes, “UD alumni and friends in attendance included Brigette Stone, Jessica Porco Kushner, Maureen Fitzgerald Armes, Emily Mortinson Patek, Dericko Brooms, Katie Patek, David Kushner, Daniel Patek and Sam Cultrona.” The couple lives in South Jordan, Utah.
2010 MICHAEL MARTINEK (ACC) and KRISTINE AREND MARTINEK (MKT) announce the birth of William “Will” Michael (1-31-18), who joins them at home in Wantagh, New York. They write, “Our future Flyer weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces.” COLLEEN FITZSIMONS POYAR (REL) and her husband, Mark, announce the birth of Evan Joseph (3-26-18), who joins them at home in Costa Mesa, California. Colleen writes, “Evan weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces. I’m using my religious studies degree to teach at Servite High School, an all-boys’ Catholic high school in Anaheim, California.
DAN WEITZEL (CJS) married BRIDGET MCILWEE ’07 (CHA) Nov. 11, 2017, in downtown Chicago. He writes, “We met in Texas while I was stationed there with the military and Bridget was completing
her medical residency. Many UD graduates attended our wedding, including our old roommates and friends from the Student Government Association and ROTC. Half of the bridal party and their significant others are alumni as well. We’re so grateful to UD for giving us so many of our lifelong best friends — and our spouses as well.” The couple lives in Irving, Texas.
ELIZABETH SINGLER ’08
Culture of service It was during a freshman Psychology 101 lecture that “something stuck,” said Elizabeth Singler. She quickly changed her major to psychology, joined Gamma Epsilon Lambda, the co-ed service fraternity, and started down a path that’s led to a meaningful career with Jewish Child and Family Services in Chicago. As a foster care clinician, Singler practices traumainformed therapy with foster care kids ages 2 through 20, some who have severe medical needs. Singler helps them develop coping skills and better understand why they can’t be with their biological parents. “I help them rebuild relationships and work on their longterm emotional needs,” said Singler. It’s a skill she learned in UD’s “small, intimate classes,” she said, while volunteering with Dayton-area elementary school kids and during a senior year service trip to Ecuador. “Part of the culture at UD is to help people,” said Singler. “Service is cool.” After graduating, Singler spent three years with the Peace Corps in the Philippines where she established after-school programs to teach orphans and street kids valuable life skills like HIV/AIDS awareness and drug abuse prevention. It wasn’t all work and no play at UD, though. Singler spent many fall weekends competing with the UD water ski team. A strong slalom (one-ski) skier, she also competed in the jumps and trick events although wakeboard stunts were not her strong suit. “I typically face-planted,” admitted Singler. The team practiced at Dayton’s Sunsite Lake and camped during weekend competitions in a giant white tent nicknamed the Taj Mahal. Tight quarters, certainly, but it didn’t matter. Just like so many aspects of life at UD, “it always felt like home.” —Molly Blake ’96
2012 DANIEL GRIEST (ENG) and KATHERINE REPIC GRIEST (POL)(HST) announce the birth of Olivia Renee (1-1618), who joins them at home in Beavercreek, Ohio. JAMES KEZELE (LAW) lives in Cincinnati. He recently joined the firm Keating Muething & Klekamp as an associate with its real estate and environmental groups. James counsels clients on the Clean Air Act and state air pollution laws, as well as on the processes to apply for, negotiate the terms of and comply with various environmental permits. KELLY WEISENBORN (EMS) married Billy Wersel June 3, 2017, at St. Cecilia Church in Cincinnati, where the couple lives. Kelly writes, “Our reception was at Alms Park. Members of the bridal party included Class of 2012 alumni Amy Bassi, Ashley Alt, Calli Roberts and Meggie Holland.”
2013 BRIAN DOYLE (CMM) married RACHEL NICKOLAS (LDR)(MKT) May 12, 2018, at UD’s Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. They write, “Not only did we meet at UD, but Brian proposed in front of the chapel, and then we got married there. UD has a special place in our hearts.” The couple lives in Southgate, Kentucky.
ANDREA MASSARO (CMM) married TREVOR O’CONNOR (ENT) Oct. 14, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio, where the couple lives. They write, “Although we didn’t meet at UD, it was the Dayton connection that brought us together in 2014. On our wedding day, we were surrounded by UD alumni. Eleven alumni were in our wedding party, including Class of 2013 alumni Alexa Barbati, Samantha Barker, Casey Colón, Clare Georges, Jennifer Martin, David DeRoia, Matthew Householder, John Jost, Patrick Roy and Charlie Weikert, as well as Nick Massaro ’12.”
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RACHEL NICKOLAS (LDR)(MKT) married BRIAN DOYLE (CMM) May 12, 2018, at UD’s Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. They write, “Not only did we meet at UD, but Brian proposed in front of the chapel, and then we got married there. UD has a special place in our hearts.” The couple lives in Southgate, Kentucky. TREVOR O’CONNOR (ENT) married ANDREA MASSARO (CMM) Oct. 14, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio, where the couple lives. They write, “Although we didn’t meet at UD, it was the Dayton connection that brought us together in 2014. On our wedding day, we were surrounded by UD alumni. Eleven alumni were in our wedding party, including Class of 2013 alumni Alexa Barbati, Samantha Barker, Casey Colón, Clare Georges, Jennifer Martin, David DeRoia, Matthew Householder, John Jost, Patrick Roy and Charlie Weikert, as well as Nick Massaro ’12.” JENNIFER KINCAID SCHLUB (EHA) and her husband, Riley, live in Columbia, South Carolina, with their dogs, Olive and Saluda, and cat, Walker. Jennifer works for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and chairs the South Carolina Public Policy Board. At the request of another board member, Jennifer wrote a position statement supporting the addition of dietetic services to a major health insurer’s covered services. She writes, “Now, I’m working with other insurance providers to expand the coverage for services to more people.”
2014 SARA HARDMAN (CEE) married Kyle Harville Nov. 25, 2017, in Akron, Ohio. She writes, “Four members of the wedding party were UD alumni, and several other Flyers attended.” The couple lives in Strongsville, Ohio. KYLE LABUFF (LAW) lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He writes, “The Connecticut Bar Association chose me to receive The Honorable Anthony V. DeMayo Pro Bono Award for 2018. I was nominated for my demonstrated dedication to providing legal
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Matthew Oxman always wanted to become a teacher, but he also always liked every aspect of being outdoors — down to the rocks. “Ever since I was a kid, I liked rocks,” he said. “My mom would yell at me because she would find them in my pocket when she was doing laundry.” And although Oxman came to UD as an education major, it wasn’t until he reconnected with his love for rocks during a class his sophomore year that he considered geology as a career. When it became clear that he could not earn two degrees in four years, Oxman decided to stick with geology, or as he describes, “one of the only majors that still allowed you to go on field trips.” Post-UD, Oxman earned a master’s degree in geology from Pennsylvania State University and soon found himself guiding rock climbing, zip lining and white water rafting adventures in West Virginia. “I got paid to play outside, and it was great, but I knew I couldn’t do that forever,” he says. “I realized I wanted to go back to school and become a teacher, and I always, always wanted to move to New York.” So, Oxman Googled, ‘How to become a teacher in New York.’ The results revealed the 15-month Master of Arts in Teaching urban residency program at the American Museum of Natural History, specifically for geology graduates. He had found the perfect match. Oxman applied to the selective 16-student cohort in February and by March was yelling, “I’m moving to New York!” in an Indianapolis bar with friends traveling for a UD men’s basketball tournament game. Oxman graduated in August 2018 and is beginning a fouryear placement, teaching at a high-need high school in Manhattan where more than 50 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunch. “None of my friends or family thought I would make it to New York because I always said I was going to but always came back to Ohio,” he says. “Now, I can see myself staying at this school for more than just the required four years.” —Danielle Damon ’18
services to those in need.”
2017 RUSSELL CODY DILLMORE (MCT) lives in Marina Del Rey, California.
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He writes, “I chose to attend UD because my grandfather was a student at UD in the ’60s and ’70s. I was surrounded by people I was comfortable with at a Catholic university.”
udayton.edu/advancement/alumni
New York, New York!
Reunion 2019 Weekend
MATTHEW OXMAN ’13
It’s never to early to begin thinking about Reunion Weekend 2019. Mark your calendar and save the date for June 7-9.
PERCEPTIONS CMM 331
‘Sunrise Mission Nombre de Dios’
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By Lilia Sciarretti ’19
pril 23. I almost slipped today while walking into feature writing. Thank God this is our last “real” Monday of the semester. But, let’s be honest. I checked out of school around January. And my grades are showing it. Except for feature writing. Students make CMM 331 out to be one of the worst classes on campus. But, I can honestly say I have enjoyed every minute. Professor Ken Palen has helped me discover my love for writing all over again. Ever since I was little, I have loved to write. I even wrote a book in fourth grade called La La Land. I made my crush be the illustrator. We were a power couple. I’m pretty sure I had more game back in the day. Now, I can’t even get a boy to text me back. LOL. Anyway, I’ve always loved writing up until my freshman year of college, when I decided I had no reason to write anymore. Then sophomore year followed (thank God, because, of course, I gained the “Freshman 30” and living in VWK meant walking up Stuart Hill, which counted as my workout for the day) and my adviser said I needed to enroll in a writing class. Palen was an option for media writing, so I naturally went straight to RateMyProfessors .com in order to make my final decision. 4.6/5.
Stacey Sather ’80 sgsdesignandart.com
I was sold. Little did I know signing up for his class would help me find my love for writing again. Here I am today, taking Palen for the second time. Receiving comments on my papers such as “You can write” validates my love for writing.
Palen makes me believe in myself. As the semester comes to an end, I look back and can’t help but smile. This year was a year of growth, mentally and physically (I gained 5 pounds this weekend). I can’t wait to see what my senior year has in store.
If it’s Tuesday, this must be Prague
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By Kevin Meagher ’73
’ve pitched networks and studios countless concepts for TV shows and films. So I pitched my alma mater a concept. Jon Hess, chair of the Department of Communication at the time, was intrigued and supportive, as were Joe Valenzano (who succeeded Hess as chair) and the department’s Roy Flynn. Why suggest that students who have not studied it attempt narrative filmmaking? My reasoning was to test for natural ability to tell a story in a different way. I tell my students at Loyola Marymount Film School in Los Angeles that story is king in every form of media.
Theory is foundation. But so much of learning is in the doing. UD’s study-abroad programs, headed for Prague and Rome in 2017, seemed a perfect home for the project. We’d have two weeks to shoot, split between the two cities. Roy Flynn would work with us. Let’s go! Then the doubt set in. What was I thinking? Five students — Johnny Antonini, Michael Laws, Molly Moesner, Kari Rohweder and Abdaelalah Alhakami — signed on; in them I met my match in blind-faith enthusiasm. We had six months to prepare. I would serve as mentor, editor and executive producer. On campus, we talked about the tenets
of filmmaking, including respect for story structure. Each student would write and direct a short (three- to 10-minute) film, all using the same premise: “A study-abroad student loses their passport. When the passport turns up in another city and they retrieve it, they find more than they bargained for.” We set some rules. Stories had to be staged at landmarks in each city. They’d need to crew and act in each other’s films and also convince fellow study-abroad students like Morgan Boes, Karina Cabrera, Ian Gouverneur, Elizabeth Thurgaland and Alexandria Mangano to also act for them. I’d work the next few months by email
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and FaceTime. Each student created a narrative synopsis. Who were the characters? What was their story? We had fun sorting through their ideas. They then presented their accepted story lines in a bullet-point format. Those lists next became print magazine stories. I was thrilled with the results; they all proved they could write. Antonini told a humorous story, “A Switch of Fate,” of a weekend romance-turned-love story. Laws wrote about the lengths someone might go to pursue a relationship in “The Passport.” Moesner offered “That Wasn’t Supposta’ Happen,” a funny lost-in-translation tale; Rohweder took a serious tone with a tale of manipulation and discovery in “Sound of a Familiar Voice,” while Alhakami decided to make a behindthe-scenes documentary of the entire process titled “The Storytellers.” We could have closed shop there, and I would have been satisfied. Time now, however, to write the shoot scripts. I penned one as an example. The students were encouraged to have a solid beginning, middle and end. Maybe a few props, but
no car chases or visual stunts. The students wrote and created shot lists and schedules. June. On location, Prague. Very hot. We began shooting. Moments where I thought, “So this is where we crash and burn.” The first shoot, a scene in Rohweder’s film, between main characters, played by Boes and Mangano. I held my breath. Then these two young women, not trained actors, attacked the task. They were serious about it. They took direction. They were credible. I was ecstatic. All of the acting that followed was equally good. I thought, “Hey, this might just work.” Then Rome. Hotter than Prague. We pushed on. Post-production began in early fall. Each student edited his or her own film. First came a rough cut. After notes, long conversations, tugging, pulling, give and take, each delivered a fine cut, well-done but not quite finished. They tinkered right up to showtime. I returned to campus for a few days in early December. We made some final changes. Roy Flynn came up with a red carpet, while
Joe Valenzano organized an impressive food spread for a post-screening reception. The theater filled with friends, fellow students, supporters, parents, administrators and professors. Even Eric Spina, University president, was in attendance when the lights went down. The students were all dressed for the occasion, including Antonini in a tux and Alhakami in Saudi robe and red headdress. All the students seemed as proud of their work as I was of them. The films were very wellreceived — the credits often garnering a laugh, including one that read, “I don’t have any rights to any of the music used.” Later one student told me she was now considering pursuing a career in movies. Another sent me a full-length feature script to read. It was pretty darn good. What was I worried about?
was more of a challenge. The lure of wealth, fame and power controls much of their imagination. To place at the center of their lives fidelity, truth and love wasn’t easy. For some of them, it was not even desirable. Ziegler argues that commandments keep us in this world physically and democratize the practice of religion. He takes the body seriously. Keeping commandments is never just a mental exercise. Commandments govern how we act and relate to other people. Instead of relying only on our feelings, we are required to come together with others to pray, to honor our parents, to speak the truth, and to respect the property of others. Acting in these ways, whether we feel like it or not, actually affects how we think and feel. Religion is more than pious feelings; it is not just a personal spirituality. Put perhaps a little too starkly, Rabbi David Wolpe drives the same point home: “Spirituality is an emotion. Religion is an obligation. Spirituality soothes. Religion mobilizes. Spirituality is satisfied with itself. Religion is dissatisfied with the world. Religion creates aid organizations … the two largest U.S.-based international and
development organizations are World Vision (evangelicals) and Catholic Relief Services.” Authentic religious practices, especially those that are to be done in community, also democratize religion. Both the uneducated and Ph.D.s are required to observe the same practices. When the rich and the poor perform the same practices, elitism dies. Nietzsche’s Superman disappears. No one is above the law. Everyone is to repent, especially those to whom much is given. Of course, religious practices alone are not enough. Religion needs spirituality; religious people who are not spiritual drain away religion’s power. Commandments keep us physically in this world and connected to others who may be very different than we are. They level the playing field. Besides, observing them, I still believe, increases our freedom.
Kevin Meagher ’73 — executive producer, director, writer and CEO of Popular Arts Entertainment — is a seven-time Emmy Award winner. The student videos are at bit.ly/UDMmovies.
Why commandments?
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By Father James L. Heft, S.M. ’66
or years at the University of Dayton, I taught an ethics course, an essential part of which was the study of the Ten Commandments. Reading an essay by Reuven Ziegler (“Why does religion need commandments?” First Things, April 9, 2018) reminded me of those classes. He brought up some pointed questions: “What is the point of the myriad commandments governing every aspect of a Jew’s life? “Why does Judaism require action at all? “Why do religious feeling and contemplation not suffice?” Indeed, what is the point of commandments, rules and rituals, not just for Jews, but for people of all the great religions? And isn’t organized religion part of the problem? I tried to help college students understand why observing the commandments leads to greater freedom than violating them. It is not hard to explain why murder, lying, stealing and adultery can gravely harm, even destroy lives. Persuading students to avoid false gods 62
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A version of this essay appeared in May 2018 as the monthly column “Touchpoint” (ifacs.com), by Father James L. Heft, S.M. ’66, president, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, University of Southern California.
As she sat in the blue seats of UD Arena, Heavenlee breezily answered a question posed by her friend Caroline, who bounced in the seat beside her: “Yeah, I’m going to the University of Dayton. I might even play basketball here.” Such an answer was unexpected coming from Heavenlee, who at the time was 8 years old and had been living with my husband and me for only five months. She was our foster daughter, a silly girl who loved sweets and struggled to read pop-up books only a few months previous. And while she loved to run and jump, black and blue splotches running up her shins and down her forearms professed a lack of coordination that sabotaged a simple walk across the Arena parking lot. Children come into foster care for many reasons, and they often bring with them challenges. They also bring with them dreams that can expand to fill the world in which they live. Heavenlee’s world now includes UD. She’s prayed in the chapel, cheered at the Arena and played Frisbee on Central Mall. She points out Flyer T-shirts and license plates as we travel. She is friends with college students and my colleagues, many of whom celebrated with us in August when the judge declared Heavenlee, Kevin and me a forever family. Our daughter, now 10, has a tiny wooden gavel wrapped in a golden bow given to her by the presiding judge as a memento of her
adoption. The judge let Heavenlee whack it on the bench to punctuate the joyous event. There is power in belonging and in naming yourself as part of something bigger. The vocabulary she uses to describe herself now includes “daughter” and “Flyer,” as well as fifth-grader, soccer player, painter and future paleontologist. I also add writer, though she squirms and protests when forced to sit and scribe. But I was awed when last spring she invited me to her Girl Scout meeting, where she stood and read the biography she wrote for a badge project. It was titled “My Secaent Family” (hint: that’s us). The editor in me has to say she nailed the walk-off: “And this is the most happe time of my life becace my secaent foster family is going to be my first adoptev family.” I was not the only one with tears in my eyes. Whether it’s her Girl Scout troop or soccer team, neighbors or colleagues, family or friends, these wonderful people have created a web of bonds around us that has given us strength to travel a road that’s been far from easy but full of joy. UD is part of that. More than two years ago, Kevin and I faced a question we didn’t know we’d be asked: “How about this kid?” Our dreams for her have expanded to fill our lives. We can’t wait to see what the new season holds. BRIANA SNYDER ’09/Knack Creative
PARTING WORDS
Where we belong
—Michelle Tedford ’94 Editor, University of Dayton Magazine magazine@udayton.edu
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CONNECTIONS
Hooray for Hollywood In the land of fame and flood lights, Flyers make magic for the big and small screens. They took a break from their Hollywood duties earlier this year to host a dozen University of Dayton media production students. Part of the third-annual Flyers in Hollywood program, the visit was
Studio executive
an opportunity for students to network with some of the nearly 800 University alumni in Los Angeles who offered tips on making your mark in the movies, television and more. Take a look at how a few of our Flyer stars shared their talents with our bright students.
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Organized Jeopardy! set tour at Sony Pictures Studios
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“Hearing what they had to say about how they got into the industry and just seeing how (the show) is made was awesome.” —Molly Moesner ’18 (CMM)
“Hopefully, there will be more Flyers in Hollywood in the next few years.” —Judge
Hosted alumni-student networking event with wife, costume designer Chris Field
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Game show executive producer
Writer-producer
“You can outwork the rest of the game to move up quickly.” —Quinn
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Freelance writer-producer
Hired Matt Hilliard ’18 (CMM) as short-term production assistant on Game Show Network program America Says
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“This opportunity would not have been possible without the trip and meeting John in person.” —Hilliard
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Led tour of Paramount Pictures studios and taping of Nickelodeon’s Knight Squad
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Television and film director
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faith M OV E S
AND OUR
research M OV E S
From making fuel “greener” to developing a smart walker that reduces falls in older adults, we don’t just imagine a world of possibilities. We create it. Whether we’re inventing a computer chip that can think for itself or powering the Mars 2020 rover, we work in the space between inspiration and impact — and bring great ideas to life. go.udayton.edu/udmomentum
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TIME LAPSE
Photo courtesy of UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
University of Dayton University Marketing and Communications 300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469-1303
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Home sweet dorm room. While family photos and favorite posters are still staples that students bring to campus, much has changed from the 1930s, as seen in this photograph of a student room in Alumni Hall. See photos from the fall 2018 move-in at University of Dayton on Facebook.
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Photo courtesy of UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES