IUP Magazine, Fall 2024 by Indiana University of Pennsylvania

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

The decorative symbols of learning from the front entrance of the former Leonard Hall, razed in early 2018, have a new home on Kopchick Hall’s southern façade, across the walkway from McElhaney.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Playing the Long Game

In today’s technology-driven world, we often seek immediate gratification. Waiting has become almost an archaic notion for which society doesn’t seem to have time. But no matter the era, success doesn’t always come right away. It’s a byproduct of work and dedication; sometimes, success doesn’t come until long after the job is done.

That’s the common thread woven throughout this issue of

Recently, we completed the Long-Range Facilities Master Plan, which we will use to improve our physical campus to be better suited for student and faculty success. It means a lot of relocation, some demolition, and a little construction. It will take several years to complete, but the result will benefit IUP, its students, and the community as we build toward a brighter future.

Paired with that is the Academic Restructuring plan we made operational this school year. In a multiyear process, we looked at all our academic offerings and reshaped them to enhance their efficiency and align them with student and employer needs. This process will ensure sustainable growth amid difficult times in higher education.

Under the guidance of third-year coach Steve Kline, our baseball team put together a season for the ages. The Crimson Hawks lost their first three games, scoring 14 runs to their opponents’ 47, then winning 41 of the ensuing 56 games, claiming the regional title and earning a berth in the NCAA Division II World Series for the first time in school history.

Also, you’ll read about the future of the Cook Honors College, which recently celebrated the graduation of its 25th class. We’re proud of the success the college and its students have had, but we must play the long game by changing and evolving to ensure it has a bright future.

These are just a few examples of how, at IUP, our eyes are on the horizon. We work to change the lives of our students so they can impact their communities, their regions, and our world. But we know the intrinsic value of our work doesn’t reveal itself until we are many miles down the road.

That’s not always a bad thing, as you will read.

Michael Driscoll President

IUP MAGAZINE ONLINE

Celebrating the Graphic Design Program

Students in the Graphic Design and Illustration program and alumni who work in the field came together at the first-ever Slenkfest, named for the IUP’s first graphic design professor, Robert Slenker. See highlights in a video at IUP.edu/slenkfest

PRESIDENT OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Michael Driscoll

EDITOR: Elaine Jacobs Smith ’93

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Karen Philippi Gresh ’67, Bob Fulton ’75

NAMEDROPPERS EDITOR: Matthew Burglund ’98

ALL ABOUT ALUMNI EDITOR: Jason Levan ’97

DESIGN: Meghan McMeans Strittmatter ’13

PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Henry

IUP Magazine is published by Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

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IUP Magazine welcomes contributions to help defray the cost of publishing. The Official IUP Magazine Form may be used for this purpose.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to excellence through diversity.

Eye on the Future

Updating the Academic Structure and Facilities Master Plan

IUP’s ongoing work to meet the changing needs of students and to ensure a sustainable future has involved intense planning over the last two years.

Working with international planning and design firm SmithGroup, the university completed a revision to its Long-Range Facilities Master Plan, which will guide the campus’s physical development over the next 20 years. One of its main inf luences was yet another major planning project—a review and restructuring of IUP’s academic programs, departments, and colleges. The new academic structure took effect in July.

Both planning processes incorporated open sessions and other means of collecting input from students and faculty and staff members. The facilities master plan also considered feedback from the Greater Indiana community.

Provost Lara Luetkehans, who led the academic review and restructuring, said the goals were twofold: to bring departments and programs together in a more interdisciplinary, student-centered way and to focus on a narrower set of relevant and in-demand programs.

“Simply put,” she said, “the university’s structure must evolve with the needs and demands of our students and demands of the workforce.”

The analyses helped identify programs that could be consolidated, modified, or

The suggested location for the proposed college of osteopathic medicine (Johnson Hall) and for other health-related programs (Stright and Uhler halls) are to the right of Oakland Avenue. Weyandt Hall, with demolition under way, and Wilson, Kopchick, and McElhaney halls are to the left of the Oak Grove.

BRIAN HENRY

eliminated, as well as programs with potential for growth. One outcome was the creation of the College of Health Sciences, which includes the departments of Allied and Public Health, Nursing, and Psychology. The new college will also have close ties to the proposed college of osteopathic medicine, expected to welcome its first students in 2027.

The other academic colleges, some of which have been reconfigured, are the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs; College of Education and Human Services; Eberly College of Business; and Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The University College, which complements them by providing resources and services to promote student success, also now houses the Student Affairs in Higher Education master’s program.

Department configurations can be found at IUP.edu/restructuring.

While the new structure groups areas that could potentially share resources, talent, and expertise, the facilities master plan aims to bring those related areas together physically to facilitate cross-departmental opportunities that will enhance academics.

For example, the plan proposes centralizing health-related programs in campus facilities north of Oakland Avenue—specifically, renovating and enlarging Johnson Hall to serve as the primary building for the proposed medical college and refurbishing Uhler and Stright halls to house the College of Health Sciences. A feasibility study for that project is planned. Overall, the plan suggests renovations to 20 facilities to accommodate strategic academic moves.

Additional goals and themes of the plan are as follows:

• Improving the student experience by centralizing admissions and other student services in Clark Hall and creating a welcome plaza nearby for visitors coming to campus from the Grant Street parking garage.

• Providing safer pedestrian routes and more green space. Throughout the planning process, students said they wanted more open space. The plan proposes extending the Oak Grove to the north and east in the locations of Weyandt, Elkin, and Pratt halls. It also suggests using the steep terrain of the former Foster Dining Hall site to create an amphitheater and adding lawn space at the sites of Davis and Ackerman halls.

• Improving facilities for housing, dining, student organizations, recreation, and athletics.

• Creating welcoming campus edges and exploring partnerships and engagement opportunities.

• Reducing the campus’s footprint for a more efficient use of space. The analyses showed that enrollment declines over the last decade have left many campus buildings underutilized.

While the razing of Weyandt, Pratt, and Eicher halls, University Towers, Reschini House, and the R&P Building is nearing completion, the plan identifies four more buildings (Ackerman, Davis, Elkin, and Whitmyre) to consider for demolition to rightsize the campus. However, steering committee cochairs Debra Fitzsimons, vice president for Administration and Finance, and Provost Lara Luetkehans emphasize that analysis and discussion will continue, and no decisions have been made.

“Identifying possibilities—including associated costs and impact—and bringing this information forward are an important part of the planning process,” Fitzsimons said.

The report is available at IUP.edu/facilitiesmasterplan m

View of the Oak Grove from a point near the Stapleton Library main entrance

BRIAN HENRY

LETTERS

The Kindness of Physicists

Was very sad to see the announcement of the passing of Prof. Norm Gaggini of the Physics Department. Never took a class with Norm, but he and Prof. John Fox (my advisor) went out of their way to help me and my roommates recover from an apartment fire one week before finals and two weeks before graduation in 1975*. That kindness will never be forgotten.

Lee Cole ’75 Evergreen, CO

*1975 was IUP’s centennial year. Everything was the IUP Centennial This and the IUP Centennial That. Some jokingly referred to the May 5th fire in the Pealer Building on Philadelphia Street as the IUP Centennial Fire. About three dozen students lived in the building. Forever grateful to the Red Cross for housing, the university for meal tickets, and the faculty for generally being understanding when all books, notebooks, lab notebooks, etc. were destroyed.

Editor’s Note: The writer, who has a PhD in physics from Dartmouth, said that at least five of six 1975 IUP physics graduates went on to earn doctorates.

1969 Freshman’s Perspective

The freshman class gathered in Fisher Auditorium for our first and only formal orientation. After all these years, I remember only one thing from that day. I assume it was intended to be a motivational message from one speaker. “Look to the person seated to your right. Now look to the person seated to your left. One of you will not be here next year.” Even high school did not prepare me for the emotional and academic challenges that

I would encounter in the next four years.

So it was encouraging to read that a new student success infrastructure had been implemented “to keep them on track academically, emotionally, socially” in the article “Withstanding the Winds of Change” in the Spring 2024 edition of IUP Magazine.

Don’t underestimate the positive impact this will have on IUP’s reputation and on the success of its students. It is a significant step toward attracting new students and retaining students that would have dropped out after their first year or later.

Kudos to the University Planning Committee for recognizing the components that can be critical in helping many students successfully navigate to graduation and on to a career. As you roll out this program, also consider providing students with the guidance necessary to make the transition from college to the professional world. From personal experience, this can be as emotionally and socially challenging as one’s freshman year.

Ken

Kubala ’73 Pittsburgh, PA

Editor’s Note: IUP’s Career and Professional Development Center offers career coaching, résumé and cover letter reviews, mock interviews, and other resources and services to help students with job preparation. In spring 2024, the center met with 661 students individually and brought 144 employers to campus for career fairs, panel discussions, and more.

Down to Business

First, my high school civics teacher told us, if you go to college, it will be the most fun

you have in your life. He was right about that. As the real world brings serious challenges and opportunities, fun is sometimes at a premium. While I wasn’t the student at IUP that I was in high school, I did learn to think while enrolled in a pretty broad field of study. That led me to employment with a company that told me it needed people who can think. In 36 years with them, I rose to general manager of a $100-million business and then to global director of sales, responsible for more than $220 million in annual orders at its peak, mostly because of work ethic and thinking ahead.

While reading this article [“Withstanding the Winds of Change,” Spring 2024], it made me think of the enrollment and cost challenges IUP faces. It appears it is being addressed on a number of fronts, and the cost containment and freezes are great actions. What I wonder is whether period costs/overheads [costs not related to the production of the product] are being addressed. Across America in higher education, these costs have ballooned. The ratio of

instructors to administration has gone from 80:20 to 50:50 at many institutions. I did an organizational-chart analysis of Oklahoma University and found it to be pretty accurate. At IUP, are the 18 people hired to retain students seeing success? Are there metrics in place? That effort likely represents a burden of $100,000 per employee—$1.8 million annually. In business, I would ask how many students were retained to see if there were any return on investment.

Mike Gerzina ’77 Culpeper, VA

Editor’s Note: During the 2023-24 academic year, the first within the new student success infrastructure, IUP’s fall-tospring retention rate for firstyear undergraduates was 90.1 percent,the highest rate since 2010. From fall 2023 to fall 2024, the retention rate for the same population was 75.3 percent, an increase of four percentage points over 2022 to 2023 and the highest rate in almost a decade. A more in-depth analysis of the infrastructure’s impact will be shared in the future.

GOOD NEWS: In September, roughly 40 alumni attended a celebration of The Penn’s 100th anniversary. A mural at the entryway of the student newspaper’s new office in the HUB features more than 200 front pages. From left: Ethan Heckler ’24, Jason Levan ’97, Jeannette Frank, and Erick Lauber.

LAKYN

Honors College Evolution

Students, Alumni, Officials Discuss Learning Community’s Future

By Sara Stewart

In 1996, the Cook Honors College was established at IUP with a bold objective: to carve out a space on campus in which several hundred students at a time could immerse themselves in a rigorous, communal learning experience. Small classes would prioritize intellectual inquiry and debate, set within a livinglearning culture that would create a connected, supportive student community.

It was also, crucially, an invitation to distinguished students who were the first in their families to go to college. “The honors college was set up with first-generation students in mind. That was important to founder Robert Cook [’64],” said Director

Chauna Craig. “It was to give students who had not had the opportunity to get into a world where ideas were front and center to grow into that and to become leaders. They’re sitting at a table with 19 other students of very different majors and backgrounds, all of whom are interested in ideas and passionate discussion.”

More than a quarter-century later, CHC’s mission is thriving. Moving forward, it also stands to gain from a university-wide focus on student centeredness, aimed at adapting resources to help all students be engaged and successful. Long-range plans for the honors college will be shaped in part by input from current students and from alumni who remember their years there as profoundly formative.

“It was a great experience for me, intellectually and personally,” said Erika Jackson, a May graduate now enrolled in IUP’s School Psychology PhD program. The honors college “created a space where you knew you would be challenged, not so you could quickly defend yourself, but to learn more and to be open to learning other ideas.

I had to challenge my own beliefs, and I think these inner questions are common with students in CHC.”

Caio Gomes, a May graduate who began his first year at Yale Law School this fall, said his CHC education prepared him well for this new venture. “At law school, they implement the Socratic method, focused on the students themselves asking questions,” he said. “Being in the honors college made me open my mind. When you’re listening in class, you want to understand other people’s perspective, versus listening just because someone wants you to come up with an answer.”

Honors college senior Dan Kukula, who is double majoring in regional planning and political science, values the close connections he has forged both with fellow CHC students and with faculty members.

“I still know, and am friends with, a lot of professors from all over the university. You get to have [thesis paper] conferences with them. You really get to learn what they think and to share your ideas as well.”

Kukula said the living-learning community was instrumental in building close ties within his cohort. “Living with everyone from the honors college was really important, especially in my first year. Some of my closest friends from IUP came from hanging out in [the residence hall] together. We really had a whole community in that hallway.”

“Living with everyone from the honors college was really important, especially in my first year.”

“The living-learning community is one of the strongest elements of the honors college,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lara Luetkehans. “It provides a strong sense of community and an immersive experience for students

in developing relationships. I often hear phrases like ‘finding like people.’”

In Kukula’s first year, the community lived in Stephenson Hall so students could spread out during the pandemic. But most CHC students, like 2013 graduate Luke Piper, now a psychiatrist with UPMC, got their start in Whitmyre Hall.

“The building itself integrates student living spaces with common areas and academic spaces,” said Piper, who lived in Whitmyre through his junior year. “It aims to ref lect the great philosophical schools of ancient Greece by encouraging students to congregate within their learning environment,” not just to socialize, but to advance discussions from their core coursework.

After the 2023-24 academic year, Whitmyre was decommissioned as a residence for honors college students. But maintaining the close-knit community is as strong a priority as ever.

Caio Gomes

Dan Kukula

Erika Jackson

In Whitmyre Hall’s Great Room

“Just like we did during COVID, our [firstyear] students are still required to live together in a living-learning community, but they’re on a couple of f loors of Wallwork Hall, which is the closest hall to Whitmyre,” Craig said.

Constructed in 1952, Whitmyre underwent a cosmetic renovation in 2018 and ’19, but it would need more significant updates to continue in the long run. The university’s 2023-24 Long-Range Facilities Master Plan, in its six- to nine-year outlook, includes recommendations to renovate a student housing space to meet the honors college’s “unique requirements” and, subsequently, to demolish Whitmyre Hall.

“Our students are changing,” Luetkehans said. “Their interests and their needs are changing.” Incoming students, she said, desire more privacy in their accommodations, which is at odds with Whitmyre’s traditional shared-room layout.

A March-April 2024 survey, “Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results Assessment,” featured responses from 125 students and 26 faculty and staff members. They were “overwhelmingly positive,” Luetkehans said, “but students would respond with, ‘I loved everything about it but the living piece.’ And, for some of our students who are transgender or nonbinary, it’s particularly challenging, because there just aren’t enough singles.”

At the same time, “one of the strongest things [ref lected in the feedback] was that tight living-learning community,” Craig said. “The Whitmyre attachment is very strong with alumni, probably more so than with current students. Only a few [current students] have actually lived in this building, but they do love having quick and easy access to the director, the associate director, and the faculty. That’s something students would really like to see retained in some sense.”

Alumni and students also expressed their appreciation for the honors college’s administrative assistant, Lisa Halmes—“She was our mom!” Gomes said—and associate director, Kevin Berezansky. As a part of IUP’s new student success infrastructure, both Halmes’s and Berezansky’s roles have changed.

“Lisa kind of took on the mother hen role within CHC,” Luetkehans said. “When people were living in Whitmyre, they would go to her for their needs. Now that they’re not living there, the f low of information seeking has changed, so Lisa is deployed in a broader fashion.”

Berezansky’s role has similarly changed. “He still provides some support in the honors college,” Luetkehans said, “but he’s now part of Academic Success.”

As plans advance, Kukula hopes the university will take into account the impact Whitmyre’s design and layout have on the student experience. “I think it’s crucial to mirror that space, wherever [the new building] is,” he said. “Whitmyre is specifically designed to have rooms that are collaboration intensive, a lot of study spaces, a lot of areas for events and activities. It doesn’t feel like just another academic building; it has its own specific vibe. Regardless of where [the community] moves, the most important thing is recreating those spaces and opportunities.”

He also mentioned his love of the themed art in Whitmyre, a sentiment Jackson echoed. “Its cultural artifacts and art are vital to alumni,” she said, “and should be preserved in some way.”

Whatever form the honors college takes, Piper hopes “it captures the essence that made the program so transformative for me and many, many alumni.” For him, that means maintaining the curriculum and aesthetics and integrating the living and learning spaces, he said.

For now, the provost said, students attend honors college classes and community events in Whitmyre. Their residence, Wallwork Hall, is a few hundred feet away, opposite the HUB and former Keith parking lots.

“We’re in this hybrid place,” Luetkehans said. “We still have the Great Room. We have the seminar-style classrooms that support honors curriculum. We have community study spaces. We have created a space [within Wallwork] that will cluster the honors students but in the suite style.”

One thing that will remain the same is the small class sizes and the number of students—approximately 100 per class year. CHC notes on its website that the average honors college has around 1,400 students, according to U.S. News & World Report, while it has 400.

Gomes said the intimate classes were a significant contributor to his ability to articulate his opinions. “For every single core class I had, there was always someone I knew, and I already felt comfortable in the environment,” he said. “It got me accustomed to speaking more frequently, to giving my thoughts. I imagine it would have been a lot more intimidating for those of us who wanted to come out of our shell if that class was 500 people.”

Gomes embodies CHC’s goals, Craig said. “He took advantage of everything the honors college offered. He wanted to be able to move on to big things, and he did. That’s one of the things I believe in most about this place: it is what you make of it.”

She said the honors college will continue to make good on that mission. “We have very dedicated resources, including our staff, who are there for people who want to take advantage of everything and do all kinds of cool stuff and get some financial assistance in doing it.”

Another area of focus is increasing diversity, a goal Jackson strongly supports. “As a Black woman in a predominantly White space, it seems racially more isolated than the campus as a whole,” she said. “However, I have seen more conversations about race and ethnic diversity within the program. I truly encourage this effort.”

According to Luetkehans, the honors college has “done some really nice outreach and built some pathways from particular geographic regions, particularly [Philadelphia suburb] Kennett Square, and has been able to recruit quite a few students from the eastern side of the state who come from Latinx backgrounds. We would love to create more of those kinds of partnerships and areas of recruitment.”

Ultimately, she said, the university is committed to preserving the honors college’s core mission while rolling out changes to benefit its future scholars.

“Our alumni of 5, 10, 20 years ago have really warm feelings about their own experience, and students have different needs today,” Luetkehans said. “We need to bring the best of those experiences forward, while respecting the needs of today’s students, to create the Cook Honors College of tomorrow.”

Send questions about the future of the Cook Honors College by email to iup-magazine@iup.edu. University officials will respond. m

BRIAN HENRY

ACHIEVEMENTS

Distinguished Professor

Lorraine Guth, professor of counseling, was named IUP’s Distinguished University Professor for 2024-25. A member of the faculty since 1998, she is known for her work to advance the counseling profession internationally. This has included providing direct service and conducting research in Bhutan, Malawi, and Turkey and connecting with counseling professionals in Hong Kong, Ireland, and Italy.

During her year as Distinguished University Professor, she is focused on group work, wellness, and multicultural and diversity issues in counseling. She recently keynoted a mental health conference and studied the quality of life of mental health workers in Botswana. She also plans to write about and give a conference presentation on integrating sex positivity into counselor education and to pursue certification through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists.

Senate Awards

Last spring, the University Senate presented the following faculty awards. Department names ref lect the academic structure at the time the awards were presented.

Julie Ankrum, a professor in the Department of Professional Studies in Education who joined the faculty in 2016, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Research.

Mimi Benjamin, a professor in the Department of Student Affairs in Higher Education who joined the faculty in 2013, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Service.

Gloria Park, a professor in the English Department who joined the faculty in 2008, received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching.

Honorary Doctorates

At its May commencement ceremonies, IUP awarded honorary doctorates to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and local businesswoman Ellen Sylves Ruddock ’66, both of whom served as keynote speakers. Shapiro is a former state representative and Montgomery County commissioner who was elected to two terms as Pennsylvania attorney general before taking office as governor in 2023. Ruddock is a longtime entrepreneur whose business ventures included a consultancy that provided productivity, leadership, and motivational management training to companies throughout western Pennsylvania. She directed IUP’s Center for Family Business for nearly a decade and received numerous awards for her service to IUP and the Indiana community.

Fulbright Award

Ben Ford, professor of anthropology and IUP’s 202324 Distinguished University Professor, was selected for a Fulbright US Scholar Program award. In the spring, he will head to Portugal to study human interactions with coastal landscapes. He has served on the IUP faculty since 2009.

Volunteer Awards

In April, IUP honored four people with the Award of Excellence in Volunteer Leadership:

Omega Gamble ’08, secretary of the Black Experience Alumni Committee, received the Affinity Services award.

Milady Lagunas, a May graduate of IUP’s Cook Honors College who held leadership roles with the IUP Ambassadors and the Latino Student Organization, received the Aspiring Alumni award.

Ruth Riesenman ’64, a retired IUP administrator active in university events, alumni engagement, and student support, received the Advancement Support award.

Tracy Settle ’80, a former IUP Alumni Association board president who recently brought back the Regional Alumni Ambassador Program, received the Regional Impact award.

Andrew Longacre ’13, M’19 served as keynote speaker for this recognition event.

System Leadership

IUP’s representation on the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors is as follows:

Abigail Hancox, a student in IUP’s Student Affairs in Higher Education and Public Affairs master’s degree programs, will serve until she completes her graduate study. She is a May graduate of the Cook Honors College and a former Student Government Association president.

Sam Smith, board of governors vice chair, IUP Council of Trustees chair, and a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, will serve through 2029.

Rich Caruso ’83, a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and a member and former president of the Foundation for IUP board, will serve through 2026.

Alumni Board

In October, the IUP Alumni Association Board of Directors welcomed three new members: Valerie Sutton ’88, M’96, a career coach and consultant; Stephen Mihalacki ’01, an Army ROTC and Cook Honors College graduate who serves as vice president of network analytics at Magellan Health; and Morgan Huey ’16, a chiropractor and Cook Honors College graduate.

Josh Shapiro and Ellen Ruddock at May commencement ceremonies

BRIAN HENRY

Milestone Generosity

All-In for Rural Health

Last summer, longtime IUP supporters Tim Cejka and Debra Phillips

Cejka, both of the Class of ’73, contributed $2 million toward IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine.

Since 2022, the university has been exploring opening a medical college to address the shortage of primary-care physicians in Pennsylvania’s rural areas.

“We hope that our passion for this project will be contagious,” said Tim, a member of the IUP Council of Trustees and a 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.

“IUP’s charge as a public university is to educate talented people who can fill the jobs that our commonwealth and our nation need—and we need doctors,” he said.

As of October, more than $30 million had been secured for the proposed medical college.

The university community is grateful to the following donors, who made gifts totaling $25,000 or more to the Foundation for IUP between January 1 and June 30, 2024.

Stephen Abel ’73, gifts to support the IUP Veterans Assistance Fund; IUP Student Food Pantry; Fund for IUP; Alumni Office; College of Education and Communications Dean’s Innovative Fund; Dean’s Innovation Funds for

the College of Arts and Humanities, Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Northpointe; History Department and Geography and Regional Planning Department Enhancement Funds; Army ROTC Fund; and IUP baseball

Sharon Albert, gifts to the Dr. P. Michael Kosicek Memorial Student Experience Fund to enhance student experiences in the Eberly College of Business

Jay Althouse ’73, M’75, a gift to support the Music Department Enhancement Fund

Anonymous gifts to support the Crimson Scholars Circle and Diversity and Inclusion

An anonymous planned gift to support the Fund for IUP, benefiting the university’s greatest needs

An anonymous gift to establish the Global Conservation Initiatives Enhancement Fund

Robert Basehore ’71 and Kathie Kuvinka Basehore ’71, gifts to support the Fund for IUP, the Robert W. Basehore Jr. and Kathie Kuvinka Basehore Athletic Scholarship, and the creation of a college of osteopathic medicine

Beaumont Foundation of America, C. Edward Keller ’74, and Judy Keller, a gift to support the C. Edward Keller Scholarship for students pursuing a degree in criminology

Chevron Corporation, gifts to support the Safety Sciences Enhancement Fund

Linda Deitman, a gift to support the Linda Drummond Deitman Scholarship for Culinary Arts for students in the Academy of Culinary Arts in good academic standing, with preference given to students from Armstrong, Indiana, or Jefferson counties

Glenn Fitzgerald ’69, a gift to the Kathleen Rankin Fitzgerald Scholarship for Elementary Education for students pursuing an elementary education degree and to the Glenn Fitzgerald Scholarship for Natural Science for students pursuing a natural science degree

IUP Alumni Association, a gift to support the creation of a college of osteopathic medicine

CJ Jaynes ’79, M’82, a gift to establish the Rear Admiral CJ Jaynes Scholarship for Veterans in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

James Leda ’95 and Leslie Vanderhoof Leda ’98, a gift to establish the James and Leslie Leda Career Readiness and Job Placement Endowment

The Estate of Charlotte Lohman, a gift to establish the Francis J. and Charlotte H. Lohman Memorial Scholarship for full-time students with financial need

The Estate of Betty Parsons Pytlik ’60, a gift to establish the Sara Elizabeth Leader Parsons Scholarship for students pursuing an undergraduate teacher education degree or certificate, with preference given to graduates of Mount Union Senior High School

The Robert and Nellie Reynolds Fund, a gift through the Pittsburgh Foundation to the Student General Scholarship Fund. Both Robert Reynolds and Nellie Byers Reynolds were members of the Class of 1948.

Ruth Riesenman ’64, a planned gift to support the Dr. Ruth A. Riesenman Scholarship for students in the Robert E. Cook Honors College

Thomas Schott ’72 and Virginia Schott, a gift to establish the Thomas and Virginia Schott Social Studies

Scholarship for full-time students pursuing a social studies education degree. Preference is given first to students from Elk County and second to students from Clearfield County.

United Commercial Travelers Council 598, a gift to establish the United Commercial Travelers Council 598—Donald B. Townsend Memorial Scholarship for full-time juniors and seniors pursuing a major, minor, or certificate in special education or early childhood/special education. Preference is given to students who live in and who graduated from a high school in Indiana County and to those actively student teaching.

Cynthia Vallina ’82, a planned gift supporting IUP women’s rugby, the Foreign Language Study Abroad Scholarship, the Political Science Department Memorial and Enhancement Fund, and the Enhancing IUP Endowment

Interested in making a gift to IUP? Contact University Advancement at 724-357-5661 or iup-giving@iup.edu

Donor Report: Passion and Pride, Passed Along

Learn about the impact of philanthropy at IUP. Find stories about donors and the students who have benefited from their support. IUP.edu/donorreports

Connecting by Design

Recognizing the Foundation Bob Slenker Laid

In April, IUP’s Graphic Design and Illustration program held a three-day event celebrating the alumni-student connections that have made the program successful.

Called Slenkfest, the celebration will continue annually. It honors the late Robert Slenker, an IUP professor emeritus of art whose name often comes up in discussions about why the program and its graduates have thrived.

Susan Burig and student Luke Leccia during a portfolio review

Bob Slenker on a visit with his former students in California in the late ’90s. From left: Don Donoughe ’80, John Ritter ’88, Slenker, and Ron Donoughe ’80.

COURTESY OF JOHN RITTER

Nearly a decade ago, Graphic Design became an official track of the Art Studio program, and in 2022, it became its own degree program (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Studio/Graphic Design and Illustration). Last year’s review of IUP’s academic structure determined the program has the potential to grow even more.

“One of the things that makes our program unique is our alumni, who hold top positions in the graphic design field and who are actively involved in helping our students and graduates find meaningful career opportunities,” professor and program coordinator Tony DiMauro said.

A 2006 IUP graduate who joined the faculty in 2012 after doing agency work in New York, DiMauro is among those active, successful alumni. Another is John Ritter ’88, a nationally known illustrator and designer who, with DiMauro, generated the idea for Slenkfest.

Ritter credits Slenker, IUP’s first graphic design professor, with shaping the program and with creating an “atmosphere of connection” with students, alumni, and the university. “It just felt right,” he said, “to recognize the foundation that he laid for the program and for alumni success—including my own success.”

Slenker graduated from Indiana State Teachers College in 1952 and taught in the Art Department for 36 years before retiring in 1998. He died in 2001, almost three years to the day after his wife and fellow art faculty member, Jean Johnson Slenker ’53.

Slenkfest activities included the opening of Ritter’s Energy and Color: Thirty Years of Illustration exhibition at the University Museum in Sutton Hall. In a radio interview, Ritter described the retrospective as a “narrative about how dots can be connected—how you can leave IUP with an undergraduate education, take advantage of connections and opportunities, and find yourself doing really interesting things.”

Ritter picked through his more than 4,000 commissioned illustrations to prepare for the exhibition, which included images from the New Yorker, Time, Harper’s, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, and more. Coming to IUP as a student from Export, he left for California—his longtime plan—soon after graduation. A 2021 recipient of IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award, he’s now back in western Pennsylvania and leads the design team at IUP.

Slenkfest also featured a presentation by Ritter’s IUP classmate, Susan Burig, an award-winning graphic designer for

the entertainment industry with scores of feature films—including many for the Marvel Cinematic Universe—to her credit. She described her work as designing the “details that make the specific world, period, and genre feel real,” and through film clips, she showed examples ranging from fictitious company logos to pages of an old book to the neon signs and silhouettes that signified the nightlife on planet Contraxia in Guardians of the Galaxy II.

An Allison Park/Shaler native now living in California and Atlanta, Burig was also on campus to receive the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition to Slenker and Ritter, she counts professor emeritus James Nestor and classmate Scott Blasey, lead singer of the Clarks, among the people from IUP who inspired her.

During her talk, she encouraged students to be bold and not to shy away from any opportunities to learn. “I did it,” she said, “and I was you sitting in those seats. Love what you do and take the next step.”

Other Slenkfest activities included a meet and greet in Sprowls Hall for alumni and students and a chance for upper-level students to have professional graphic designers review their portfolios. In addition to Burig and Ritter, alumni reviewers included Sean McCauley ’01, Morgan Cunningham ’16, and Alex Salyers ’16.

See highlights of the event in a video at IUP.edu/slenkfest m

John Ritter at work in his Sprowls Hall studio

A Season to Remember

Team members called attention to being the fifth seed after they won the Atlantic Super Regional.

Baseball’s Turnaround Sparks Championship Run

By Bob Fulton

The greatest season in IUP baseball history followed on the heels of the absolute worst.

In a jaw-dropping about-face that saw a once-downtrodden program rise to national prominence, coach Steve Kline led the Crimson Hawks to a school-record 41 victories and a berth in the NCAA Division II College World Series, where his team finished third after beating both the defending national champion and the top seed.

Only three years before, IUP had won two games. That is not a misprint.

“It’s hard to believe how quickly the program turned around,” said pitcher Mark Edeburn, a fifth-year senior who suffered through that dreadful 2021 season. “You never hear of that in college baseball. It’s hard to pick up the pieces and turn things around so quickly. When the new coaching staff came in, it was just culture shock, and it was exactly what we needed after that 2-35 year.”

So what induced Kline—a baseball lifer who spent 11 seasons in the major leagues as a relief pitcher and who collected three World Series rings as a coach in the San Francisco Giants organization—to accept the offer of a seemingly dead-end job from Athletics Director Todd Garzarelli M’22, a childhood friend who shares central Pennsylvania roots?

“I just took a leap of faith,” Kline told Wayne Cavadi of NCAA.com during the Crimson Hawks’ prolonged stay in Cary,

Coach Steve Kline

The Crimson Hawks fell just short of the College World Series’ championship round.

North Carolina, for the World Series. “He told me what I was walking into, and I like challenges like that.”

Progress came with the suddenness of a lightning strike. IUP posted a 27-22 record in Kline’s first season, an incredible 25-win improvement from a 2021 campaign that, to be fair, was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and social-distancing protocols. The Crimson Hawks finished 25-29 in Kline’s second season and posted two victories in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament—IUP’s first postseason wins since 2011.

This year, the Hawks soared to unprecedented heights, falling just short of the World Series’ championship round. Their eight NCAA tournament wins— six more than all previous IUP teams combined had recorded—validated Kline’s decision to bring in the type of players he prefers. Not necessarily the most talented or the f lashiest. Just the kind who care more about winning than about personal ambitions.

“Coach Kline is a little bit different in recruiting style. He wants multisport athletes on purpose, knowing that they know how to compete in different situations,” said junior third baseman Peyton Johnson. “Guys that honestly hate losing more than they love winning.”

Kline also ratcheted up the intensity during practices. He emphasized winning even during workouts, establishing habits that carried over to game days.

“When he came in, everything changed,” said second baseman and 2021 team member Harrison Pontoli, who as a fifthyear senior last spring led the Crimson Hawks in home runs (7), runs (58), hits (68), and slugging percentage (.460). “Everything was about winning. If you didn’t win, then pay out. That’s what we have on the backs of our [practice] jerseys—‘It pays to be a winner.’ If your team loses in a scrimmage, you have to pay out. You have to run sprints or something else to pay out.”

“Everything,” Edeburn added, “is centered around us never being OK with losing.”

So the Crimson Hawks entered 2024 prepared to win . . . and promptly dropped their first three games while surrendering 47 runs against Pembroke (N.C.). And yet Kline saw a glimmer of hope during IUP’s brief southern sojourn.

“The scores [15-6, 22-3, 10-5] were not an indication of how we played,” he said. “We were actually winning those games up until the fifth or sixth inning. We put our younger kids in, the first time they’d ever

pitched in college. You don’t want to leave your starters out there for too long that early in the season. Our young players just had to understand what college baseball is all about. And they grew up.”

The Crimson Hawks quickly regrouped, winning 13 of their next 14 games after returning north. A pivotal point in the season came in mid-April when IUP took three of four from a Seton Hill team that would win the PSAC West title. The Crimson Hawks realized then that they were a force to be reckoned with.

“The year before, they had swept us in four games,” said Kline, who was named the Atlantic Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association. “Beating them three out of four provided a big boost. I think our guys started to believe they could beat anybody.”

“I think our guys started to believe they could beat anybody.”

IUP kept winning and earned an atlarge berth in the Atlantic Regional, the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance in 34 years. The Crimson Hawks went 3-0 in their half of the regional bracket against West Chester, the PSAC champion, and Charleston (W.Va.), winning a 2-1 clincher against Charleston in dramatic fashion when sophomore left fielder Ricardo Aponte belted a 10th-inning homer.

“We had numerous chances to win that game,” Kline said. “We were in, I think, the ninth inning and loaded the bases, nobody out, and we didn’t score. We had the bases loaded a couple times and didn’t get them in. But we didn’t panic or lose our composure. Usually if something like that happens, players will hang their heads. Our guys didn’t. It was like they believed we were going to win, no matter what.”

The Crimson Hawks then eliminated Seton Hill in the best-of-three Atlantic Super Regional, despite losing the opener. They won the second game 9-8 when junior catcher Davin Landers slugged a three-run homer in the eighth inning. They then secured the school’s first-ever College World Series berth with a come-from-behind 7-4 victory in the deciding game. Sophomore designated hitter Elijah Dunn delivered the go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning, and freshman reliever Bryce Devan—one

of the young pitchers rocked at Pembroke three months earlier—retired the final 10 batters to punch IUP’s ticket to Cary.

Returning to North Carolina, where they’d launched the 2024 season with three consecutive defeats, the Crimson Hawks stumbled again, losing their World Series opener to Point Loma (Calif.), 2-1. With their backs to the wall in the doubleelimination tournament, Kline’s resilient crew rebounded with a 4-3 win over topseeded Central Missouri, plating two runs in the eighth on an RBI single by senior designated hitter Andrew Sicinski and a sacrifice f ly by junior first baseman Brady Yard. Devan sealed the victory by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Two days later, junior Jake Black threw eight innings of two-hit ball, and Devan recorded another save as IUP won a rematch against Point Loma, 1-0, the lone run coming on Dunn’s RBI single in the first. The Crimson Hawks then extended their storybook season by defeating defending champion Angelo State (Texas), 10-8. Dunn homered and doubled, fifth-year senior right fielder Blaise Zeiders also went deep, and Edeburn picked up his team-leading eighth win of the season

Only three schools remained alive at that point. But, faced with an opportunity to reach the championship round, the Crimson Hawks fell f lat, losing 7-3 to Angelo State. Three errors, eight bases on balls, and five hit batsmen contributed to IUP’s downfall. The Rams, who eventually finished second to Tampa, scored four runs in the second inning despite being limited to only one hit.

“We played our worst game in a month,” Kline said. “Too many errors and too many walks. We put ourselves in a tough spot. We were one game away from the championship [round]. It was right in front of us. We know we could’ve played better. But we played hard throughout the tournament. I thought we did a really good job of representing IUP.”

The players and coaches who brought the Crimson Hawks tantalizingly close to a national championship were responsible for altering the trajectory of IUP baseball, lifting the program out of an abyss to heights that would have seemed unimaginable in 2021. In the veritable blink of an eye, they took the Hawks from total irrelevance to national prominence.

“This historic season, I’ll remember it forever,” Pontoli said. “And I’m glad we could—especially Mark and I, who were here for that 2-35 season—help turn this program in the right direction. It’s just amazing to see how far we’ve come.” m

The Juggler

By Bob Fulton

K

erry Green was inducted into the Pittsburgh Marathon Hall of Fame in May, an acknowledgment of his lifetime achievements as a distance runner.

But long before that, Green had gained acclaim far beyond western Pennsylvania, not so much for his running, but for what he did while running. He juggled.

Crowds along the Boston Marathon route would invariably erupt at the sight of Green juggling tennis balls as he traversed the 26.2-mile route.

“It was 1993, and I was approaching 40,” said Green, a 1978 IUP grad who worked as a cardiac rehab specialist in Mansfield, Ohio, before retiring. “One of the joys in running is you do PRs—you’re setting a personal record. And, suddenly, I realize I’m not hitting PRs anymore. So what can I do to keep this fun and enjoyable?”

Green thought back to his youth and how he’d taken up juggling as a hobby, keeping different types of balls, raw eggs, and even bowling pins in constant motion. So on April 19, 1993, Green stood at the Boston Marathon starting line in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, three tennis balls jammed into a fanny pack. When he reached the town of Natick, 10 miles in, he pulled out the balls and began juggling.

“It started out as kind of a joke,” said Green, who now runs only recreationally. “But

when you heard the people—it was almost like you had a volume control. They’d seen maybe 200 runners go by. Suddenly, here comes this guy smiling and juggling balls. They went nuts.”

He juggled for only five or six miles, off and on, but that was enough to attract the kind of attention usually reserved for runners at the head of the pack.

“Every year that I crossed the finish line at Boston, the Associated Press would beam out a photo,” Green said. “For years, they’d show the guy with the laurel wreath. But at some point, the newspapers got tired of that, and they started to show the juggler. It just turned into a circus of fun, really.”

That’s not to suggest Green wasn’t a serious competitor. He twice finished Boston in a personal-best 2:26, and he clocked a sub-3:00 time in five consecutive decades, gaining admittance to the exclusive 5DS3 (five decades sub-three) club.

“I crossed the finish line in 2010 in two hours, 58 minutes,” Green said. “At that point, there was only one other guy who had run under three hours at Boston in five different decades. Now, there are like five of us who have done that.”

Kerry Green during a Boston Marathon in the early ’90s and, far left, during his Pittsburgh Marathon Hall of Fame induction last May

Green had hoped to inaugurate a 6DS3 club once the calendar f lipped to 2020, but it was not to be.

“Father Time kind of taps you on the shoulder, and you start to slow down,” he said.

Green figures he’s finished about 60 marathons, the first while he was still competing in cross country and track at IUP. He’s just one of dozens of elite distance runners that coaches Lou Sutton and Ed Fry turned out over the years.

The Pittsburgh Marathon Hall of Fame has honored many of them, beginning with charter inductees Don Slusser ’73 and Tammy Donnelly Slusser ’87 in 2009. Don Freedline ’78, Mary Alico Russell ’86, Eric Wilkins ’81, John Harwick ’54, M’60, D’90, Mindy Sawtelle Zottola ’05, Christina Skarvelis Simpson ’86, Eric Shafer ’91, and Sara Raschiatore Zambotti ’03, M’04 have since joined the Slussers.

But Kerry Green has them all beat, at least for sheer entertainment value. While the others just ran toward a finish line, he juggled his way there. m

COURTESY OF KERRY GREEN

NAME DROPPERS

By Matt Burglund

It was quite a year for the IUP Crimson Hawks.

Ten teams qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs. Three hosted regional championships, and two won regional crowns.

Fifty-six student-athletes earned all-conference honors, and 243 earned Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete awards.

Two coaches—Andrew McGlashen (women’s tennis) and Dan Braun (men’s golf)— were named PSAC Coach of the Year, while another, Steve Kline (baseball), took top honors in the region.

The baseball team won the region and advanced to the College World Series for the first time in school history. The women’s tennis team won its fourth consecutive regional crown, and the men’s golf team made its 27th consecutive appearance in the regional tournament. The women’s volleyball team also had a season for the ages, coming within one match of the regional championship.

The year of achievement culminated with a 39th-place finish overall—and third among PSAC schools—in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Learfield Cup, a national competition in which all 238 Division II schools are rated on their athletic success.

Champs Again

The men’s rugby club team won the crown at the National Collegiate Rugby national championships (15-player division) by beating the University of Memphis in Houston, Texas, in December. The win marks the third national championship in two years for the Crimson Hawks, who claimed the past two national titles in the sevenplayer division. IUP was the runner-up in 2022 in the 15-player division.

Breaking Through

Two former IUP football players arrived in the NFL after traveling a long, occasionally bumpy road.

Dondrea Tillman, who starred for the Crimson Hawks from 2016 to 2019, was elevated from the practice squad to the Denver Broncos’ active roster in September. In his first NFL game, a 26-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 22, Tillman had a stellar performance as he recorded two quarterback sacks.

A six-foot-four outside linebacker, Tillman had 174 tackles in his IUP career, including 30 sacks. He was a two-time All-PSAC selection and, after playing two seasons in the f ledgling Spring League, was selected by the Birmingham Stallions in the 2022 United States Football League supplemental draft.

After two standout seasons with the Stallions, Tillman signed with the Broncos and completed his journey to the NFL.

The week before Tillman’s debut, Irvin Charles made a play that announced his arrival in the NFL as a key special teamer for the New York Jets.

The IUP Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024 was inducted in September. Front row, from left: Crystal Heder Kosecki, Christine Wheeler Schrott, Jackie Hynson McKelvy, Barbara Bentrim Kubala, Larry Kubala, Alexa Lodovici, and Tim Buffone. Back row: IUP Athletics Director Todd Garzarelli, Mario Hardison, Mike Higgins, Ashton Smith, Jim Wooding, Nick Sudzina, Rich Hornfeck, James Mill Jr. (representing his father, the late James G. Mill), and IUP President Michael Driscoll.

Charles, who caught 39 passes for 792 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021—his only season at IUP after transferring from Penn State—blocked a punt in the third quarter of New York’s game against the Tennessee Titans.

With the Jets holding a 14-10 lead, Charles broke through the Titans’ line and blocked the punt, setting up his team for a short drive that ended with a field goal. New York went on to win, 24-17.

Charles signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2022. After seeing little playing time for two seasons, he seems to have broken through as a critical member of the Jets’ special teams unit.

Hall of Fame

At the annual IUP Athletics Hall of Fame induction in September, 10 former studentathletes and one team were honored for their careers.

The Class of 2024 comprises Tim Buffone ’02 (football), Mario Hardison ’97 (football/

track and field), Crystal Heder Kosecki ’08, M’12 (women’s soccer), Michael Higgins ’79 (cross country/track and field), Jackie Hynson McKelvy ’12, M’14 (women’s swimming), Alexa Lodovici ’13 (lacrosse), Christine Wheeler Schrott ’90 (cross country/track and field), Ashton Smith (men’s basketball), Nick Sudzina ’69 (baseball), Jim Wooding ’77 (track and field), and the 1964 football team.

Rich Hornfeck and Jim Mill were honored in the Coach/ Administrator category.

The Honorary Bell Ringer Award was given to Larry Kubala ’68 and Barbara Bentrim Kubala ’68, M’73

Career Moves

Steve Roach ’01, IUP’s director of athletics from 2015 to 2018, was hired in September as deputy director of athletics at Elon University. Roach had been executive director of athletics at Texas A&MKingsville since leaving IUP. Dominic Lombardi ’12 was reunited in March with Scooter Renkin ’13, his former IUP men’s basketball teammate, when he was hired as an assistant coach at James Madison University. Lombardi had been an assistant at Morehead State, and when the head coach there was hired at JMU, he brought Lombardi along. Renkin is associate athletic director for development at JMU.

In the football world, several coaches with ties to IUP are in new positions during the 2024 season: Luke Barker, an assistant coach at IUP from 2014 to 2020, is head coach at Fairmont State; Luke Getsy,

an assistant from 2011 to 2013, is offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders; James Heiss ’14, who played at IUP in 2011 and 2012, is director of football strength and conditioning at Georgia Southern University; Jalen Hairston, an assistant at IUP in 2021, is defensive passing game coordinator at Maine; Jim Hostler ’90, a former IUP player (1986-89) and assistant (1990-92, 1994-99), is a defensive analyst at the University of Southern California; Zack Johnson, an assistant at IUP in 2022 and 2023, is defensive coordinator at Fairmont State; Anthony Leonard, an IUP assistant from 2016 to 2021, is defensive line coach at PennWest-California; Ben McAdoo ’00, a former student assistant at IUP, is senior offensive assistant for the NFL’s New England Patriots; D. K. McDonald, an assistant at IUP from 2006 to 2010, is defensive coordinator at the University of Kansas; Mitch Snyder ’18, an assistant at IUP from 2017 to 2023, is defensive coordinator at Wisconsin-Stevens Point; and Tim Zetts, an assistant at IUP in 2011, is an offensive assistant with the Las Vegas Raiders.

In Memoriam

Retired IUP administrator Ed Receski M’66, an assistant football coach under head coaches Chuck Mills, Chuck Klausing, and Bill Neal from 1961 to 1972, died June 16, 2024.

IN BRIEF

Sesquicentennial Celebration

The university will kick off its 150th anniversary celebration during IUP Giving Week, May 12–17, 2025. The first day of classes at Indiana State Normal School was May 17, 1875. Watch for more information about celebratory events in the Spring 2025 edition of IUP Magazine

New Vice President

In July, Jennifer DeAngelo took on the role of vice president for University Advancement, coming to IUP from York College of Pennsylvania. As assistant vice president for college development, she launched York’s first comprehensive campaign, which raised $92 million. She previously worked at Lock Haven University and at Penn State in athletic development. She is a graduate of Penn State and holds the Certified Fund Raising Executive credential from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Jennifer Luzier Dunsmore ’98, who served as interim vice president during the search, has returned to her role as assistant vice president for Alumni and Friends. The University Advancement Division includes the offices of Alumni and Friends, Development and Fundraising, Strategic Partnerships, Engagement and University Events, and Advancement Services.

Marching Band Leadership

For all the latest sports news that Namedroppers can’t bring you because of deadline constraints, visit www.IUPathletics.com.

Cassidy Nalepa ’03 began serving as interim director of the IUP Marching Band and interim associate director of bands following Zach Cheever’s departure in July to take another position. Nalepa came to IUP from Ball State

University, where she served as a bands graduate assistant while pursuing her doctorate. She also holds master’s degrees from Drexel and West Chester universities.

Medical College Plans Advance

Progress toward opening a college of osteopathic medicine at IUP has continued with the addition of two associate deans to the team led by founding dean Miko Rose.

Ryan Smith started in July as founding associate dean of clinical affairs for the proposed medical college. He is a doctor of osteopathic medicine and a board-certified psychiatrist who came to IUP from the Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine. Luke Mortensen started in August as founding associate dean of preclinical affairs for the proposed medical college. He came to IUP from Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has a PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from Michigan State University.

In June, IUP signed its first clinical training affiliation agreement—with Punxsutawney Area Hospital— for students in the proposed college. The second agreement, with Indiana Regional Medical Center, was signed in September.

Since late 2022, IUP has been exploring establishing a medical college to help meet the need for primarycare physicians in rural Pennsylvania. The university plans to begin preparing facilities for the college in 2025, to begin hiring faculty and staff in 2026, and to welcome the first class of students in 2027. However, the timeline depends on completing requirements of the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

Women’s volleyball advanced to the Atlantic Region championship match in December 2023.

JOSH YATES/IUP ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards were honored in April at a gala sponsored by the IUP Alumni Association. The following information is from the time of the award presentation. Video profiles appear at www.alumni.iup.edu.

In a 30-year career in the entertainment industry, graphic designer and producer Susan Burig ’88 has nearly 60 feature films to her credit, including such blockbusters as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she won an Art Directors Guild Award in 2019 for Excellence in Production Design for Endgame after being nominated twice before for earlier work. Born in California, she grew up in Allison Park and currently splits her time between California and Atlanta. An avid horsewoman, she is producing a docuseries involving equestrian show jumping.

A second-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 1979, Jim Haslett ’91 is the only person in NFL history to win both Rookie of the Year (1979) and Coach of the Year (2000) honors. After playing for the Bills, he coached for numerous NFL teams, including as head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2005. In 1984, he was chosen for the Bills’ Silver Anniversary Team, and in 1996, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. First arriving at IUP from Avalon in the mid-’70s, he returned years later to receive his degree.

Elected to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in 2015, Daniel Clifford ’81 is the administrative judge of the Family Division. Before his election, he was managing partner in the Norristown office of the Philadelphia-based law firms of Wolf Block and Weber Gallagher. A judicial fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, he has been recognized in the areas of international child abduction, improvements to family court, and diversity. The recipient of a JD degree from the University of Baltimore, he was appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as chair of its Family Court Rules Committee. He also lectures at judge school for those newly elected.

A professor of nutrition and Gillespie Distinguished Scholar at the University of Mississippi, David Holben ’85 has built an acclaimed four-decade career in the field of food and nutrition at major medical centers and universities in the Midwest and South. The recipient of a doctorate and master’s degree from Ohio State, as well as a master’s from Wayne State, he was a twotime Fulbright Scholar in Canada. He has received numerous awards that recognize his research, scholarship, teaching, and service, most notably in the area of food insecurity. He attributes his lifelong philosophy and role as a servant leader to character developed while growing up in Kittanning.

Bergitta Edison Cotroneo ’80 assumed the post of chief operating officer of the American College of Physicians in March 2024. The 161,000-member organization is the largest medical specialty group in the US, with an international membership spanning more than 170 countries. She previously served as deputy chief executive officer and executive vice president of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, with which she was associated for a decade and a half. She serves on several nonprofit boards and is active in her community of Alexandria, Virginia. She is also an enthusiastic IUP volunteer and philanthropic supporter.

In a career that has included fostering a love of music in rural school students to producing and directing on Broadway to bringing productions to life at a university performing arts center, Carolyn Violi ’76 has never been far from the spotlight. Her devotion to music and to education started in the ’70s as a music teacher in several Indiana County schools. Then, it was on to nationwide Disney tours and to Broadway, where she garnered awards and a Tony nomination. Today, she is resident music director, collaborative pianist, and vocal coach at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

ALL ABOUT ALUMNI

1950s

Mary Gill St. Clair ’56 and Richard “Sam” St. Clair ’56 celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary at their Port Matilda home. They met as sophomores while planning an Indiana State Teachers College spring formal. Both were active in the Greek community— Mary with Sigma Kappa and Sam with Phi Alpha Zeta and Tau Kappa Epsilon. Now retired educators, they are the proud parents and grandparents of “more recent” alumni and said they are grateful to IUP for serving their family’s educational needs.

After Larry Pearce ’70, M’00 learned of the death of Richard Wetzel ’57, his precollege piano and composition teacher, he wrote that Richard’s accomplishments exemplify what’s possible with a college degree. A professor emeritus of music history and literature at Ohio University in Athens, he contributed to that field

2001

Retired music teacher Dolores Walker Hickerson ’51 died February 20, 2024. Dolores and her former roommate, Doris Roberts Taylor ’51, were recognized in

through his many books and essays. He also composed everything from choral works, hymns, and piano and chamber music to film scores and an American folk musical. Richard died December 10, 2023.

After learning of the death of Patricia Seymour Alexander ’59, H. Clark Marshall ’57 shared that his late wife, Esther Wood Marshall ’59, and Pat were friends for years. Both women died in 2023. They roomed together for a year on the fourth f loor of John Sutton Hall and for two years in Clark Hall. “Esther and Pat were quite a pair as roommates and made many students happy with their antics,” Clark wrote.

1960s

A former Penn editor, Phi Mu sorority member, and ROTC queen, Marti Wilson Armstrong ’65 died April 15, 2024, her husband, Gibson Armstrong, reported.

Last spring, Jack Frank ’58 was twice honored for his contributions to IUP. In May, he received the President’s Medal of Distinction, the university’s highest nondegree award, for his service to students, his country, and the community. The following month, the IUP Veterans Club held a reunion at College Lodge to honor his many years of supporting student veterans.

coordinator. An IUP professor emeritus, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006 and, along with and his wife, Jeannette, the IUP Athletics Hall of Fame’s Bell Ringer award last year.

IUP Magazine in 2001 as the first African American students to live on campus. They spent two years in John Sutton Hall and two in Clark. In the magazine, published after they received Pioneer medals at their 50-year reunion, they described challenges in Indiana, including being denied service at a restaurant and staging what Dolores called the first sit-ins. “I really did feel like a pioneer,” she said. Dolores taught for 38 years in Philadelphia, Altoona, and New Brighton before retiring in 1992. Doris, who taught in the Washington, DC, area, died in 2003.

Jack, whose own education was interrupted by four years of Navy service, began work at IUP in 1966 as assistant dean of men and veterans’ counselor. He retired 25 years later as Career Services counselor and Veterans Affairs

Norman Storm ’65, M’70, who retired as director of the Punxsutawney Campus in 1997 after 24 years of IUP service, died June 18, 2024. He was also a former assistant manager of the Co-op Store.

The Beaver County Educational Trust Educators Hall of Fame recently welcomed Marta Donatell Karwoski ’66, who taught journalism and English in the Rochester Area School District for 31 years after stints

Pictured with Jack is Jack Carbone ’70, M’77, D’82, a retired vocational rehabilitation specialist with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. A group photo from the reunion is at IUP.edu/alumninotes. Included are Bob Chess ’80, Bert Manzlak ’80, Irv Ray ’82, Angie Tulenko Gault ’83, Bob Gault ’83, Rich Golden ’83, Ed Holben ’83, Dwight Gaul ’84, M’85, Andy Thomas ’84, Fred Samarelli ’84, and Bob O’Hara.

in the Greensburg-Salem and Mt. Lebanon districts and in Monongalia County Schools in West Virginia. After retiring in 2001, she worked as an educational consultant and served 10 years on the Community College of Beaver County board of trustees and 14 years on its foundation board. Marta is vice president and former president of the Baden Academy Charter School Board of Directors. She and her husband, Jim, live in Beaver.

ANGIE TULENKO GAULT ’83

Doris Taylor, left, and Dolores Hickerson in

Jack Frank with Jack Carbone, left, and with IUP President Michael Driscoll

BRIAN HENRY

Former IUP administrator and coach Ed Receski M’66 died June 16, 2024. He was an assistant football coach in the 1960s and ’70s and retired as vice president for Administration and Finance in 2005 after 40 years of service.

Bob Cronauer Jr., who attended IUP with the Class of ’67 and was the son of professor emeritus of art Bob Cronauer ’37, died June 6, 2024.

1970s

Susan Jabbour McMichael ’74 adopted a third daughter, Monica, 17, on September 11, 2023.

A professor, librarian, and museum director at Waynesburg University, Rea Redd M’76 lectured at Bowlby Library in April about Greene and Washington counties’

roles in helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. A reenactor and Washington County native, Rea has written extensively about the Civil War. His latest piece explored how Gettysburg churches turned into makeshift hospitals during the historic battle.

Beverly Young ’76, who retired from IUP in 1989 after 10 years of service, died May 20, 2024. The business and publicity manager for Theater-by-the-Grove, she was married to David Young, a professor of English and later Communications Media, who died in 2017.

In October, Jeff Imbrescia ’77, CEO and president of the Douglas Education Center, was one of six Monessen City School District graduates inducted into the district’s second Wall of Fame class. His fellow

Jim and Dorothy Klyap during a women’s basketball game last March

Athletics were an important part of Jim Klyap’s 42-year career in the Purchase Line School District, so getting involved in sports after retirement was only natural. For more than a decade, the ’66 graduate has worked for IUP Athletics as a handler for basketball and football officials and for visiting basketball teams. He escorts them to their locker rooms, familiarizes them with the facilities, and answers their questions. At Purchase Line, Jim retired as a teacher in 2004 and as athletic director in 2009. He also spent years

as an assistant football coach and head basketball coach, leading the basketball team to its only Appalachian Conference Championship and its best regular season record, both in 1974. Now a substitute teacher in the Penns Manor district, he lives in nearby Green Township with his wife, Dorothy, a seamstress. She made his shoes in his early teaching days and once outfitted his entire basketball squad with neckties. “It was a team effort,” he said.

Brian Roth with a KB-50J originally built as a bomber in 1950

Semiretired as a registered professional geologist, Brian Roth ’73 now volunteers at the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover, Delaware, helping restore and maintain historic Air Force aircraft. Since he began in 2016, he has logged more than 5,000 hours. Because none of

Monessen graduate Sarah Graby ’03 initiated the awards program.

The New Kensington-Arnold School District has selected Nancy Menk ’77, M’78 as one of nine distinguished alumni for 2024. A 1973 graduate of Valley High School, she is a professor of music, director of choral activities, and chair of the Music Department at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where she holds the Mary Lou and Judd Leighton Chair in Music. She also conducts the Belles Voix and Collegiate Choir and is the founder and conductor of the South Bend Chamber Singers.

Business Alliance, Inc., has named Don Schin ’77 its chief growth officer. He is responsible for the training and support of all registered franchise brokers, for driving growth, and for enhancing the company’s franchise broker network.

After 43 years as a government analyst in cost, budget, and manpower, Rex Stone ’77 retired as operations research

the aircraft are in f lying condition, no special certification is needed. Several are the only remaining examples of that craft. The oldest dates to 1942, and a C-47 on display delivered paratroopers for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Brian and his wife, Nancy Williams Roth ’74, live in Dover.

analyst in the US Department of the Army.

A former chief financial officer, Jack Alexander ’78 published his third book, Financial Management: Partner in Driving Performance and Value, released by Wiley in January. He lives in North Carolina and advises companies on financial leadership and value creation.

Melissa Wallace Boerio ’78 retired in June 2023 from the Greater Latrobe School District.

St. Luke’s University Hospital and Health Network named Evan Reese ’78 the winner of its 2024 Excellence in Trauma Care award. Recently retired from teaching in the Pleasant Valley School District, Evan is a prehospital registered nurse and the emergency medical services supervisor for Dewey EMS in Hellertown. He and his wife, Linda Duh Reese ’80, celebrated their 44th anniversary in August. They live in Bethlehem.

COURTESY OF BRIAN ROTH

Last year, the Derry Area School District’s volleyball program honored Larry Kenney ’78, M’80, left, and James Boerio ’78 at a banquet for all former players. Larry and Jim

1980s

The Netf lix historical romance Bridgerton is known for its elaborate sets, and Linda Chmiel Musthaler ’80 and Marji McCall Stanley ’80, M’81 got to weigh in on the design. In West Hollywood, they ran into one of Marji’s former colleagues, who was working on the show’s set design. He invited them to his studio to give opinions, and he included their suggestions. “That was the extent of our involvement,” Linda said. “It was just a fun little thing, and we wanted to share it.”

Known as the “Play Lady,” Pat Abramski Rumbaugh ’80 is featured in Amy Bantham’s book Move to Live More. She was also interviewed about the power of play for the Constance Howard Show on YouTube. Pat is executive director of Let’s Play America, which encourages daily recreation through local events. Communities can apply for funding at www.changex.org.

Darlene Bigler ’81 has retired after serving as a CEO in the Community Action Network since 1985. She began her career at the Indiana County Community Action Program and ended it at Blueprints, formerly Community Action Southwest. She lives in

were on the high school’s inaugural team and started IUP’s first men’s volleyball club. Jim died December 2, 2023, after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Pittsburgh with her husband, Gary Lefebvre ’81.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dan Clifford ’81 has been elected an officer of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges. Through normal succession, he will serve as president in 2029. There are 472 trial and appellate judges in the state. In April, Dan was one of six to receive IUP’s Distinguished Alumni Award. See more on page 23.

In May, Philip Steinbacher ’81 was appointed as Kauai’s commissioner to the Hawaii governor’s new LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. The

commission works to identify the needs of this community and to advocate for its equity.

John Henderson ’82 was named senior director of risk and asset management for Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania and North Central West Virginia. He and his wife of 40 years, Michelle Mazza Henderson ’83, live in Bridgeville, where they enjoy microbrewery visits and John’s guitar playing.

Soon after his retirement from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Tom Haines ’83 was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation, which recognizes significant contributors to the industry. Other inductees include astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, and actors Harrison Ford and John Travolta. Tom worked for the AOPA for 34 years, retiring as editor in chief and senior vice president of media.

To the disappointment of his many supporters, Marc Fogel ’84 was left out of August’s historic prisoner exchange between the US and Russia. The Butler native and international teacher is serving a 14-year sentence in Russia for possessing a small amount of medical marijuana. Family, friends, and legislators continue to call on the Biden Administration to secure his

Korn at

On his 60th birthday in August 2023, Jim Korn ’85 summitted Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest point at 5,269 feet and the northern terminus of the

release. US Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer said the White House tried to include Marc in the prisoner swap and would continue efforts to bring him home. Find ways to support him through the Facebook group Freedom for Marc Fogel.

Voters re-elected Scott Schricker ’84 to a fourth sixyear term as magisterial district judge in Allegheny County. He lives in Duquesne.

After more than 30 years on staff at IUP, longtime Economics Department secretary Debbie Mahan Bacco ’85, M’94 retired in June from the dean’s office of the College of Arts and Humanities. Celebrating her at a May gathering at Benjamin’s Restaurant in Indiana were Economics faculty members Jim and Stephanie Jozefowicz, Todd Potts, Yaya Sissoko, Brandon Vick, and David Yerger and retirees John Cross, Nick Karatjas, and Will Radell.

In June, Michael Polosky ’85 was elevated to the rank of Very Reverend Mitred Archpriest in the St. Josephat Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Parma, Ohio. The ceremony was at SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ambridge, where he was pastor.

An environmental activist who led a decades-long campaign to rid her hometown of nuclear waste, Patty Ameno ’86 died May 10 at 72. Her efforts led to more than $100 million in compensation for Apolloarea residents affected by radioactive contamination produced by Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation. Patty was featured in the story “Cleanup Crusade” in the Spring 2015 edition of IUP Magazine

Appalachian Trail. It took 28 years and 63 attempts, but Jim has now climbed to the highest points in all 50 states.

In April, Janet Kirchner Balestino, Amy Reimold Milliken, and Joanne Rini Sullivan, all of the Class of ’86, had a mini reunion in Anaheim. Janet traveled from Chesapeake, Virginia, and Joanne from the Pittsburgh area for a DECA career development conference. Amy

OF JIM KORN

Jim

the summit of Montana’s Granite Peak (12,807 feet) in August 2022

The National Association of Broadcasters named Pittsburgh radio station WBZZ a Crystal Radio Award winner, making it the city’s first station to receive this communityservice honor. Melanie Monaghan Bradburn ’96, known on air as Melanie Taylor, is cohost of WBZZ’s Bubba Show. Her crew also was named 2024

is an obstetrician-gynecologist in southern California. Find a photo at IUP.edu/alumninotes

The Pittsburgh chapter of the Public Relations Society of America named Jeff Krakoff ’86 its Entrepreneur of the Year. Jeff is president of Krakoff Communications, which he founded in 1993, and a member of the chapter’s Renaissance Hall of Fame.

On the Fourth of July, longtime friends from IUP got together at a farm in Chester County. Find a photo at IUP.edu/alumninotes of Bill Diskin ’87, M’90 and Nicole Dimond Diskin ’89, Mike Epps ’87, Mike O’Reilly ’87, Dave Osman ’87, John Runco ’87 and Kelly Mitchell Runco ’89, Matt Wilson ’87, Pam Lundberg ’88, John Ritter ’88, Roseanne Scotta ’88, Jill Swavely ’88, Fiona Young ’89, and Ted Boinske.

Participating in August’s CoyoteFest, an annual openair music festival in Glen Campbell, were Kevin Jones ’87, who handled publicity, and performers Tim Gaber ’88 and Vince Lombardi ’91, on bass and cello, respectively, in the

Outstanding Local Radio Personality/Team by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters. In October, Melanie was one of six Monessen City School District graduates inducted into the district’s second Wall of Fame class. Her fellow Monessen graduate Sarah Graby ’03 initiated the awards program.

Association championships and went undefeated in its competition class for 22 of the past 24 years.

1990s

Food-service distribution company Performance Food Group appointed Danielle Brown ’93 to its board as an independent director. She is senior vice president and chief information officer of Whirlpool’s Global Information Technology function.

In February, Laurie Frisina Kuzneski ’93 was named president of Kuzneski Insurance Group in Indiana. The business was founded by her fatherin-law in 1966, and she and husband Andy Kuzneski III bought it in 2013. Laurie also serves as vice chair of the IUP Council of Trustees.

With a lift of 520 pounds, Robert Gregory ’94, M’96, D’08 won the XPC Powerlifting World Championship in March in the 165-pound men’s masters (ages 50-54) multi-ply deadlift-only category. Also a long-distance cyclist, he was ranked 11th in the world for 2023 in the World Ultra Cycling Association’s Year Rounder challenge, compiling 3,751 miles over 39 rides. A psychologist, Bob lives in Sarver.

band the Clunkers and Friends. Bill Villa ’89 reported that the concert’s grounds are owned by 30 alumni from the late ’80s and early ’90s. Most are Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity members, and some are Sigma Chi.

A Theta Chi fraternity member who attended IUP with the Class of ’88, Kevin Hardin died December 19, 2023. His fellow Penn Hills High School graduate Steve Boyle ’88, M’92 shared this news.

Sport Group, which provides synthetic surfaces for sports fields worldwide, appointed Robert Carey ’89 as CEO of Sport Group Americas. Robb, who lives in the Pittsburgh area, previously was chief financial officer.

Acrisure, LLC, has appointed David Hoover ’89, a managing partner, to lead the Michigan-based brokerage’s Southeast region.

Cochranton Junior-Senior High School Marching Band Director Carl Miller ’89 has called it quits after 34 years. Under his leadership, the band amassed 30 Lakeshore Marching Band

In June, María Cicuéndez ’94 attended the Madrid Book Fair to present La Heredera de la Amatista (The Heiress of the Amethyst), the third book in her trilogy. She is now adapting the books into a script for a miniseries. Find a photo at IUP. edu/alumninotes

For Conemaugh Township High School’s spring production of Mary Poppins, director Mari Grace Lingenfelter ’94, M’96 and pit orchestra director Catherine Kasun ’18 got help in the pit from Michael Bodolosky ’72, M’78, Kevin Eisensmith ’78, Christopher McAllister ’08, Jerrod Cannistraci ’05, M’08, Keith Kuckenbrod ’08, M’09, Mitchell Custer ’08, Josh Brumbaugh ’05, and Daniel Hutton ’20. Find a photo at IUP.edu/alumninotes.

After 30 years at UPMC, New Castle native Dave Patton ’94 was named president of the health system’s Jameson Hospital in New Castle and Horizon Hospital in Mercer County.

In July, IUP Academy of Culinary Arts Chef Instructor Erin Reed CA’08, ’18, M’20, M’22 was named the American Culinary Federation’s 2024 Pastry Chef of the Year, the federation’s highest honor. She won this timed competition with her White Peach Rare Cheesecake

and Illanka Chocolate Souff le Tart. A Miff linburg native, Erin qualified for the national competition by winning the title Northeast Region Pastry Chef of the Year last spring. She joined the culinary faculty in 2018. Read more at IUP.edu/ ErinReed.

In March, Donovan Daniel ’09, M’14 was one of seven speakers at a TEDx event organized by Point Park University. His talk, “Shear Connections: Making Moments Matter,” was about the need for social connections found at places like his barbershop. Donovan joined the IUP Admissions staff in 2016 and is now director of Student Leadership. Watch his talk at IUP. edu/tedxdaniel

Georgia State University has appointed Jan Ivery ’95 associate dean for academic affairs in its Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. She will oversee the school’s academic programs and lead a task force on strategic program growth.

In July, Bradford-based LabelPack Automation, Inc., appointed Sharon Cole Zampogna ’95 its chief operating officer and integrator.

A court reporter for TribLive, Paula Reed Ward ’96 was the featured speaker at the Donna Allen Luncheon, part of the American Journalism Historians Association’s recent convention in Pittsburgh. Each year, the association invites a female journalist from the convention’s host city to speak at this luncheon, which honors women in journalism. Paula

was a member of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Squirrel Hill.

The Department of Student Affairs in Higher Education presented its 2024 Ronald Lunardini Distinguished Alumni Award to Amy Cotner M’97, D’13, associate vice president for student life and dean of students at Keuka College in New York. Professor emeritus Ron Lunardini ’69 spent 18 years on the SAHE faculty.

A research article coauthored by Barbara Osgood Kutchko ’97 and other scientists at the National Energy Technology Lab in Pittsburgh garnered national attention last spring. According to “Estimates of Lithium Mass Yields from Produced Water Sourced from the Devonian-Aged Marcellus Shale,” a vast source of lithium is hiding in wastewater from Pennsylvania’s gas fracking industry—enough to supply up to 40 percent of US demand for the element. In April, Barb was at IUP as a panelist during the STEM Women’s Summit.

In July, the City of Phoenix selected Erin Nelson MacFarlane ’97 as its Library Services director. She has worked in education and libraries for 26 years, including 14 with the Maricopa County Library District.

The Indiana Council for Exceptional Children named David Bird M’98 its 2024 State Administrator of the Year. He is principal of the Engineering, Technology, and Innovation School of Study at Elkhart (Ind.) High School. David is married to Julie Zearley Bird ’93 and is a son of David Bird ’59.

DeKalb County School District in Georgia recently appointed Derrick Hardy ’98 its area assistant superintendent. Since receiving his IUP elementary education degree, he has climbed the ranks as teacher, specialist, principal, director,

and executive. He is married to Christine Bynum Hardy ’99.

Joann Glassford AA’99, who retired from IUP’s School of Graduate Studies and Research in 2018 after 18 years of service, died August 16, 2024.

In June, Christopher Taylor ’99 started as executive director of the Museum of Boulder in Colorado, where he is responsible for all museum operations.

2000s

When Primanti Bros. came to Indiana last spring, the restaurant featured an allalumni opening management team. Find a photo of Jesse Bush ’03, Shawn Zemlock ’10, Danielle Hart Feranti ’13, and Courtney Harbaugh ’17, M’22, with Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism, and Event Management professor Stephen Shiring ’81, M’85 at IUP.edu/alumninotes.

The Association of School Psychologists of Pennsylvania named Angela McMasters M’03, D’11 its 2023 School Psychologist of the Year. She works at Indiana Area Junior High School.

The New Kensington-Arnold School District has selected Brian Heidenreich ’05 as one of nine distinguished alumni for 2024. A 2001 graduate of Valley High School, he is principal of H. D. Berkey Elementary School in Arnold and co-owner of Las Hachas, an axe-throwing venue in New Kensington.

Darlene Rearick ’06, who retired from the Major Gifts office in 2010 after 31 years of IUP service, died June 21, 2024.

As cochair of the 2023 United Way of Indiana County campaign, James Rickard ’06 helped raise more than $751,000 for community causes. An event with former Pittsburgh Steeler Ryan Shazier brought in

At the Patricia Hilliard Robertson scholarship presentation, from left: 2024 recipient Cleo McMahan, Ilse Hilliard ’80, M’84, and 2017 recipient Jakyra Simpson

In March, Jakyra Simpson ’18, known as “Ky the Chemist,” was a TEDx speaker at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The founder of education consulting business STEAM Sneakerheadz, she leads workshops that

immerse audiences in the science behind sneakers. During IUP’s Research Appreciation Week in April, Ky gave a sneaker art presentation and joined Barbara Osgood Kutchko ’97 and Laura Wentworth ’18 on a panel at the STEM Women’s Summit. A York native, Ky is a 2017 recipient of the Patricia Hilliard Robertson ’85 Memorial Scholarship and was on hand for this year’s scholarship presentation.

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a fifth of the campaign total. See more at IUP.edu/alumninotes

Christopher Buchanan, who attended IUP with the Class of ’07, died June 6, 2024.

Now living in Colorado, Jamie Urishko Cavallaro ’07 has kept her hometown close at heart. She recently released her third children’s book, Y Is for Yinz, giving Pittsburgh youth a fun way to learn their ABCs. “N is for nebby” and “J is

for jagger bush” are included. Jamie illustrates and publishes her own books. Her previous releases are Why Not on Tuesday, a collection of poems and illustrations, and short story Bob the Frog

Last summer, Rachel Debuque ’07 was named director of the School of Art at the University of Arkansas. Previously, she was associate professor and associate director of the art school at George Mason University in Virginia.

2010s

Christina Redmond ’14 to Andrew Katsifis ’15, May 28, 2023.

ARRIVALS

2000s

To Phil Keeling ’05 and Emily Keeling, a son, Graham Steinbeck, December 12, 2023.

2010s

To Eric Carroll ’13 and Kristi Quinn Carroll ’15, a daughter, Isabella Rose, February 18, 2024.

Associate professor and associate chair for research at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School, Phillip Schnarrs ’07, M’09 returned to IUP in April to present “The Importance of Sociologists in Medicine.” He was a 2023 selection for the Young Alumni Achievement Award.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education named Kevin Tomlinson ’07 one of 12 finalists for its 2025 Teacher

of the Year award. He teaches fourth grade in Collegeville’s Perkiomen Valley School District.

The City of Burlington, Ontario, selected a design proposal by Toronto-area artist Xiaojing Yan M’07 for its Skyway Community Centre Public Art Project. Chosen from more than 500 entries, Ephemeral Reverie was to be installed in the fall.

In April, IUP’s Center for Teaching Excellence presented its 2023-24 Teaching Excellence for Temporary Faculty award to Stephanie Keppich M’09 of the Communications Media Department. The award is sponsored by APSCUF, the faculty union.

2010s

In June, the Keystone Quartet, made up of George Alberti ’11, Mike Waddell ’12, Zack Grass ’14, and Logan Carnes ’19, released Keystone Kitchen, an album of new works for tuba-euphonium quartet.

Recorded in Gorell Hall, this is the group’s second album in its five-year history.

New Media & Society, an international journal that examines social dynamics of media and information change, named Bradley Wiggins D’11 to its editorial board. He is an associate professor and head of Media Communications at Webster Vienna Private University in Austria.

The Indiana Arts Council has named Nicole Battestilli ’12 its executive director. She is also marketing director for Pittsburgh City Theater. A graduate of the Cook Honors College, she interned with the Footlight Players youth theater camp during her time at IUP.

Young Alumni Achievement Award recipient Lindsay Matolyak ’12 returned to campus in April to host a panel discussion about IUP’s inf luence on graduates working in STEM fields. Panelists were Distinguished Alumna CJ Jaynes ’79, M’82, Raytheon advisor and retired Navy rear admiral; Mark Rayha ’93, senior business analyst with TruStage; and Cook Honors College graduates Kelly Seibert ’09, an optometrist, and Shenin Sanoba ’12, a genetic counselor at the Pancreatic Cancer Center at NYU-Langone.

Matthew Meholic ’13, who worked in Custodial Services at IUP in 2012, died April 18, 2024.

Amber Stephenson D’13 was promoted to full professor with tenure in the David Reh School of Business at Clarkson University.

In April, Leah Umile Pardee ’14 published When the Heart Whispers, a collection of poetry and musings on God, motherhood, and finding the “holiness in life’s little moments.” It is available on Amazon. Leah’s Bare Naked Soul podcast has an audience in more than 50 countries.

In July, Chartiers Valley School District hired Michael Sable

D’16 as high school principal. Previously, he was Belle Vernon Area High School’s principal for five years. He lives in Jefferson Hills.

Wild Heart Books signed Sherry Shindelar D’17 to write three historical romance novels set in 1860s Texas. The first, Texas Forsaken, was published in May.

In March, Nathan Zisk ’19 was a guest speaker for Yaya Sissoko’s Economics 338 Poverty in Africa class. He discussed his 2018 trip to Senegal as an exchange student at the University of Dakar.

2020s

In May, the University of Scranton’s Class of 2024 selected Cristen Walker D’20, assistant professor of nursing, as Teacher of the Year. A former critical care and trauma nurse and a certified family nurse practitioner, Cristen directs the school’s undergraduate nursing program.

In June, College Sports Communicators named Malloreigh Yingling ’21, M’23 its National Photographer of the Year. She works at the University of Richmond as

In 2022, Madison Kerr ’20 received her master of science in nursing from the University of Miami after completing the AdultGerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. She is an acute care nurse practitioner specializing in heart transplants at

assistant director of Athletics Public Relations and provides videography and photography for many sports.

Marina Lorenzi ’22 graduated with distinguished honors from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (Calif.) with a master’s in teaching English to speakers of other languages. A graduate of the Cook Honors College, she lives in Latrobe.

Mallory Galinac ’23, M’24 and Austin Pastal ’24 recently became the first IUP graduates to join the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General through its intern-tohire program.

DEATHS

The following alumni deaths were reported between January 1 and June 30, 2024.

1940: Alice Glasser Kinter

1942: Christine Belchick Anderson

1943: Betty Conn

1944: Lenore Weatherly Annas, Miriam Coon Dougherty, Wilha Byers Evans

1945: Sara Jane McDivitt Bouch, Martha Foreman Livingston

1946: Veida McHenry Dahlin, Genevieve Bush Peters

1948: Nancy Wiegel

1949: Adeline Latine Ostrowski, Evelyn Baumgardner Varner

1950: Nancy Nicely Katlic, Rosalyn Stydahar Metro, Dorothy Gemmell Thomas, Cecelia Bruce Zeisler

1951: Howard Fargo, Walter Glace, Dolores Adams Hickerson, Betty Harper Paulick, Guido Perfetti, Sara Lou Glunt Swisher

1952: John Dean, Audrey Vogan Johnson, Elizabeth Stevens Knee, Francis Show

1953: Charlotte Waite Criste, Karl Friedline, Grace Simpson Milos, Lucas Pavlovich

the University of Miami Transplant Institute. At IUP, Madison was a Cook Honors College student and basketball player. She’s the granddaughter of Ron Thomas, who retired from IUP in 1999 after nearly 30 years as a faculty member and administrator.

1954: Dorothy Karns Carlson, Phyllis McCabe Finn, Mary Zeoli Hozempa, Dale Johnson, Michael Marcenelle, Richard Vitale

1955: James Botti, Janet McNitt Churm, Madalyn Davis Caldwell, Paul Horrell, Roxanna Love Hurst

1956: Mary Jane O’Leslie Kelly, Earl Mostoller, Joan Gatto O’Brien, Constance Feduska Roman

1957: Eleanor Babich Bicanich, Julius Misurda, Donna Nagey Robertson, Alda Franklin Watson, Richard Wetzel, Patricia Larson Zenone

1958: Patricia Callen Austin, Robert Covert, Joanne Hill Cox, Barbara Jacob Elgin, Joyce Keefer Moore, Harold Richey, Kenneth Stillwagon, James Stivison

1959: Ruth Dumm Ernick, Elaine Anderson Firth, Eleanor

Long Garris, Janet Hinson

Jones, Thomas Mruk, Earl Neal, Beverly Mathis Petersen, James Rovan

1960: Peter Carnovale, John Green, Peter Lanza, Kenneth Mechling, Frank Mento, Mary Keefer Novelli, Mathew Pavlovich, Betty Parsons Pytlik, Marilyn Mogle Vetro, Helen Pompe Yaworski

1961: Carl Dickson, Sandra Pf lugfelder Fritz, Carolyn Kirschman Grove, Charlotte Patterson Harlan, Sally Frye Kevech, Lawrence Nalepa, Jack Rininger, George Songer

1962: Letty Hannah Calvetti, Susannah Jones Calvo, Victor Costanza, Sylvia Kattouf Hanna, James Johnston, Donald Kruk, Carol Aley McFeely, Frank Mondi, Richard Nair, Edwin Neff, John Rehovich, Donald Wonderling

1963: Stella Grosso Chero, Jane Kipling Fellinger, Richard Ingram, Sally Trimmer Little, Marian Suckell Ross, Jeanne Hoy Snavely, David Watkins

1964: Thomas Bartholomew, Thomas Defilippi, Gilbert Forsman, Joyce Graham (formerly Battaglini), William Hinton, Elizabeth Lloyd Meyers, William Och, Kathy Olsen, Andrea Chatlas Shirk, Richard Toth, Judie Catherwood Vayda

1965: Martha Wilson Armstrong, Rebecca Gaiser, Carole Calabria Ling, Erma Sremanak Kean, Darlene Hess Sharbaugh, Norman Storm*, Henry Streilein, Paul Wolfe

1966: Jack Bennett, Lorraine Mailki Biel, Susan Josephson Hawxhurst, Howard Held, Michael Laylock, Carol Meredith, Faith D’Piazza Popovich, Edward Receski (M)*, John Urban (M), Connie Speicher Vacca, David Wilson

1967: Carole Rouzer Berwager, John Bixler, Robert Butchkoski, John Carlin, Joann Thompson Castello, James Crowell, Regis Felix, Ronald Lux, James Post, Timothy Quinlan, Sandra Reefer, Marinne Gustafson Renton, Christine Fry Warmuth, Linda McGarry Watkoski

1968: James Barrett, Robert Bender (M), Richard Buckley (M), Dorothy Fair Dederick, Ellen Brown Diehl, Donald Gable, Eugene Hough (M),

Theresa Huber, Robert Korinchak, John Pencola (M), Bonnie Emanuel Poff, Richard Romeo, James Studebaker, Sally Rishell Thomas, Bonita Bisogni Zdrale

1969: John Anderson (M), Linda Lancaster, Paulette Rines Litton, Joy Mallory, Linda Whitesell Meneely, Joyce Shumaker Morocco, Ralph Morris, Jacqueline McCorkle Morrone, George Stair, John Stock, Charles Watson

1970: Robert Ashbaugh, Elaine Balest Carbone*, James Colaianne, Richard Gore, Larry Grimm (M), Mary Lou Szajna Herbst, John Hull, Robert Hultman, Thomas Kasper, Barbara Wimmer Madden (M), Thomas Mann, Robert Milliron, Timothy Mulvihill, Patricia Bon Vargo, George Verlihay

1971: Phyllis Risser Baum, David Bodek, Phillip Cavalier, Joanne DeMark, Rosemary Flajnik (M), Samuel Glaviano, James Leon, Fred Luckey, Philip Myers, James Newell, Moira Mewha Stone, Christine Villella Winwood

1972: Thomas Dembosky, Ronald Hegner, Robert Link, Ernest Macioce, Thomas Mellish, Betsy Woolridge

Peters, Janet Metzger Summy, Edward Sweeney, Barbara Rose

Thornton

1973: Roxie Bence Berzansky, Donna Eagon Dexter, Diane

Smith Fleet, Larry Kline, Rudolph Koser (M), Raymond Maddigan, Sylvia Mileff, Richard Navalance, Geraldine Pepe, Vicki Ruddock (M)*, Donald Sadler, James Scalleat, Gary Winkler

1974: Cathy Engle Brinjak (M), Kurt Dadey, Edward Friel, Keith Hari, Gary Knisely, Michael Matolyak, Gerard Schratz, Alfred Wilson

1975: Janet Adams, Randall Detra, Karen Duddy, Eric Frantz, Diane Lentz Innerst, Wayne

Martin (D), Linda Nagel, Gary Nicholson (M), Deborah Pillar Redmond, David Watkins, Gregory Wojton

1976: William Brady, Mercita Farrell Clelan, Edward Stadelman, Beverly Young*

1977: Dominick Aimino (M), Ralph Bunnell, Mary Lynn Cosfol, Kevin Heisey, Dolores Fenix Sapienza (M), Robert Sorg

1978: Scott Beveridge, James

Boerio, Nancy Bridges, Mitchell Fahrer (M), Robert Ferris, Curt Kugler, Lawrence McGinnis, Victoria Myers, Marie Kirkland

Smith, Michael Soloski, Carole Yon

1979: Russell Carson, Nancy Dombroski Coates, Ronald Julian (M), Dennis Kubrick, Julie Burgo Maser

1980: Goldie Beals, Patrick Sheridan

1981: Amy Devin Bischoff, Cynthia Cook, Daniel Milton, Christopher Sleighter

1982: Tracy Johnston

Bozzonetti, Jane Ludwig Lopez (M), Perry McCluskey, Margaret Balint Shelhamer, Elizabeth Shollenberger (M), Bill Teetsel

1983: Gregory Cameron, Mark Hardick, Linda Parshall Makely (M), Karen Myers, Kim Johnston

Nelson, Max Steiger

1984: Jennie Bullard (M)*, Eileen Harrison (M), David Stonbraker

1985: June Morgan Edgar, Anthony Patton, Brett Schoenecker

1986: Patricia Ameno, Edward Burtick, Valerie Drauch, Douglas Hicks, Mary Becker Riner, Derrick Thomas

1987: Michael Hurka, Robert Johann

1988: James Gillespie (M), Andrew Grobengieser, Deborah Puskar Kadar, Joseph Mellett, Carole Churchill Panaia, Lynne Nancarrow Rossi, Timothy Swartz, Janet Bayne Surtasky

1989: Scott Best, Jon Brinton, Francesca D’Ambrosio Gillespie, Susan Keefer, John Posa, Gregory Toy, Ila Weaver*

1990: Terry Croup, George Munkachy (D), Eric Randall (M), Michael Stofa

1991: Cynthia Picard Mosholder, Joel Sheaffer

1992: Patricia Askeywall Delacour, Paulford Dillie

1993: Brian Lawton, Rhonda Cann Sprenger, Brian Wagner

1994: Robert Starr

1996: Shirley Bush, Curtis Garland (M), Samuel Rice (CA)

1997: Edward Kubiak (M), Bradley McGarry, Lula Stevenson

1998: Harold Ackerman (D), Kathryn Conrad (M), Donald Peterson (CA), Steven Tighe, Eric Wolf

1999: Jeanne Ezell (D), Judith Freedman (M), Patricia Rupert (M)

2000: Andria Hetzel Reynolds, Michael Shook

2001: Justin Hager, Evan Martz

2002: Stephen Batten, Charles Gerhards, Amanda Ley Jarosh

2003: Derek Derricott, Lisa Lupyan (M), Daniel Niemi

2004: Princess Muniz

2005: Patrick Connelly (D)

2006: Christopher Fetzeck (D), Darlene Rearick*, Matthew Templeton

2007: Donald Mann

2010: Adam Hilkert (M)

2013: Vannay Kirkland (M), Matthew Meholic*, Lauryn Osborne

2017: John Hart

2020: Jordan Marshall

*current or former faculty member, staff member, or administrator

Note: In cases in which an IUP degree beyond the bachelor’s degree was earned, only the bachelor’s degree is indicated. Faculty deaths are reported in the Mentors section.

Other Deaths

Ronald Bartlebaugh, former Personnel director, died July 4, 2024. He left IUP in 1987 after 15 years of service.

Gary Duncan, who retired from Postal Services in 2014 after 30 years of service, died July 3, 2024.

Barry Kestenbaum, who retired from the Locksmith Shop in 2010 after 29 years of service, died July 24, 2024.

Gertrude Mlinarich, who retired from Housekeeping in 1998 after 16 years of service, died May 21, 2024.

Bill Montgomery, who retired from the Carpenter Shop in 2008 after 20 years of service, died March 25, 2024.

Catherine Nichols, who retired in 1984 after 15 years of service, died June 13, 2020.

Gerald Stacy, former associate dean for Research, died July 26, 2024. He left IUP in 1990 after seven years of service.

Barbara Uber, who retired from Custodial Services in 2003 after 18 years of service, died April 28, 2024.

Ellen Yarnell, a student in the Speech-Language Pathology program and a member of the Cook Honors College, died May 29, 2024.

MENTORS

Brick-and-Mortar Honor

A longtime administrator in higher education, Ruth Riesenman ’64 had a groundbreaking career even before joining the IUP staff in 1980. When Washington & Jefferson College named her its associate dean of Student Personnel in 1970, Riesenman became the school’s first female administrator. During its homecoming festivities this past September, W&J recognized Riesenman by naming a residence hall in her honor. Located on President’s Row, the building was previously named after ninth US president William Henry Harrison.

Riesenman’s service to IUP lasted 25 years. She started as assistant director of Career Services and led the office a few years before joining the Office of the President in 1993. For a decade, she served as assistant and then executive assistant to President Lawrence Pettit. When Riesenman retired in 2005, Diane Reinhard was leading the university as interim president.

In addition to her bachelor’s degree from Indiana State College, Riesenman earned a master’s degree from Kent State and a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Her IUP accolades include receiving the President’s Medal of Distinction in 2007 and the Award of Excellence in Volunteer Leadership last spring.

Exploring the ‘Near Woods’ Geography professor Kevin Patrick has always appreciated the “near woods”— those patches of nature easily accessible from the communities where he has lived. Located on the fringe of Indiana Borough,

White’s Woods Nature Center and the adjacent IUP Co-op Park have served that role for Patrick during his nearly 30 years on the IUP faculty. Last year, he released a book, Near Woods: A Year in an Allegheny Forest, published by Rowman & Littlefield’s Stackpole division, through which he tells the story, over the course of each season, of the relationship between the community and these woods. The book includes mysteries he has observed, such as the presence of a large concrete foundation on the property, and explanations he found through a search of old newspapers. The Association of American Geographers chose Near Woods for its 2023 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize, which recognizes books that provide professional geography insights while appealing to a lay audience. While these parks have served as near woods for generations of students, many IUP community members in recent years have contributed time and expertise to the conservation and preservation of White’s Woods by assisting with a stewardship plan and removing invasive plant species, among other efforts.

Top-Cited Scientists

Four current and former faculty members are in the top 2 percent of cited scientists in their fields, according to the latest ranking by Stanford University and data analytics company Elsevier. Edward Gondolf, Abbas Ali, and David Hanauer are on the list for career-long impact, and Krys Kaniasty—along with Hanauer and Ali— made the list for single-year performance.

Professor Emeritus Gondolf retired from the Sociology Department in 2011 after 26 years of service, and Kaniasty retired from the Psychology faculty in August after 34 years. Ali has served on the Management faculty for 35 years and Hanauer on the English faculty for 22. Both Ali and Kaniasty hold the lifetime title of IUP Distinguished University Professor, having received the recognition in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Faculty Deaths

Recently reported deaths of former IUP faculty members:

John Broughton, a professor emeritus who retired from the Mathematics Department in 2002 after 31 years of service, died December 7, 2023.

Elaine Balest Carbone ’70, M’74, who taught mathematics in the 1980s and early 1990s, died July 11, 2023.

Claire Dandeneau, a professor who retired from the Counseling Department in 2021 after 26 years of service, died September 14, 2024.

Arlo Davis, a professor emeritus who retired from the Mathematics Department in 2001 after 31 years of service, died February 9, 2024.

John Freund, a professor emeritus who retired from the English Department in 1990 after 19 years of service, died March 22, 2024.

Ernest Fricke, a professor emeritus who retired from the History Department in 1997 after 30 years of service, died February 27, 2021.

Robert Gendron, a professor who retired from the Biology Department in 2012 after 26 years of service, died July 22, 2024.

Edward Hauck ’58, a member of the Communications Media faculty for 16 years, from 1965 to 1981, died September 12, 2024.

Dale Landon, a professor emeritus who retired from the History Department in 2000 after 33 years of service, died June 14, 2024.

Donald McClure, who retired from the English Department faculty in 2001 after 34 years of service, died August 23, 2024.

Gary Patton, a professor emeritus who retired from the Psychology Department in 1997 after 28 years of service, died August 20, 2024.

Vicki Ruddock ’73, M’76, who taught in the Journalism Department between 1992 and 2002, died June 25, 2024.

Ila Weaver ’89, an interior designer who taught at IUP in 1994 and 1995, died April 20, 2024.

Melvin Woodard, a professor emeritus who retired from the Mathematics Department in 1995 after 29 years of service, died October 5, 2024.

Ruth Riesenman at IUP’s Volunteer Recognition Breakfast in April

Visit of Discovery

In an office and laboratories on the upper f loors of Kopchick Hall, Skip Kingston ’73, M’75 occupies a unique place in the life of IUP.

Kingston is a visiting scientist, or scientist in residence, continuing his work on various projects relating to analytical chemistry. It is a field he knows well, having taught the subject for 32 years at Duquesne University. He received a PhD from American University in 1978.

Now, since his retirement from Duquesne last year, Kingston has been at IUP, concentrating his study on Thor’s Hammer, a patented process that allows very accurate measurements of organic and elemental toxins, as well as health biomarkers, in very small quantities. Some blood samples he tests are so small, they can be placed on a card. Yet, they provide an assessment equivalent to that of a traditional blood draw, which Kingston proved at IUP in a study for the United Kingdom’s Eden Project. Among other benefits, the blood card will make it much easier for analyses to be made in rural health settings.

The rural health aspect is timely, given the emphasis IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine has placed on filling a gap in rural healthcare. In addition to that college’s dean, Miko Rose, Kingston works closely with Steven Hovan, dean of the Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Tracy Eisenhower ’00, M’02, D’18, executive director of the IUP Research Institute.

“The implications of Thor’s Hammer are profound,” Hovan said. “It offers a practical solution for frequent monitoring of health biomarkers, especially in populations with limited access to healthcare facilities.”

Thor’s Hammer represents one of some 50 patents on Kingston’s work. He has donated at least $2 million in equipment to IUP and has plans to provide more. He’s also working with faculty members to implement two undergraduate lab projects that use the equipment and that were his students’ favorites at Duquesne—analyzing their own blood and measuring Einstein’s E=mc2

“They forget how hard I’m making them work, because they’re having too much fun,” Kingston said. “They will know how to

Skip Kingston with the robotically controlled gas chromatography mass spectrometer he donated

use an instrument that is the heart and soul of research laboratories, and that’s where the jobs are.”

At Duquesne, Kingston was founder and codirector of the Center of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry, founder and director of the Center for Microwave and Analytical Chemistry, and founder of the Environmental Science and Management Program.

He arrived at IUP the first time as an undergraduate from Harrisburg after Vietnam-era military service. He met his wife, Mary Lynn Mandigo Kingston ’76, in Weyandt Hall.

Kingston received an IUP Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019 and IUP’s

Sponsored Program Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research this year. He credits IUP professor emerita Augusta Syty with fostering his love of analytical chemistry. Now, as he works in Kopchick Hall, Kingston may well be engendering the same kind of love in a new generation of scientists.

“I have been to five universities, either to get degrees or to teach,” he said. “Of all of them, IUP is still my favorite. I love it, and I want to see other individuals have a great experience.”

To make a gift in support of IUP students, please call University Advancement at 724-357-5661 or email iup-giving@iup.edu.

WILD RIDE: To the delight of students, some of whom shared it on social media, IUP mascot Norm took a spin around the Oak Grove on his bike in September.