Mercyhurst Magazine - Feb. 2011

Going

Green!

March 2011

A publication for alumni and friends of Mercyhurst College

New academic building p. 2

100% wind-powered p. 4

The green jackpot p. 6

Best season ever p. 22

Green and Mercyhurst have been synonymous for nearly 40 years thanks to the efforts of hundreds including Sisters of Mercy, faculty, staff and students.

As a critical concern for the Sisters of Mercy, the focus of caring for the earth was not lost on future generations. From its inception in 1926 to today, the college has continued to make sustainability and environmental responsibility a central part of our mission and vision.

Today our mission itself commits us to be “globally responsible.”

As a Catholic and Mercy school, we believe in the goodness of creation and see our lives and our work as opportunities to continue the act of creation.

“While there’s lots happening right here on campus, the impact of our environmental thinking goes far beyond our campuses.”

Though we’ve continued to make great strides over the years – transitioning to 100% wind power, earning a ranking as one of the top recycling colleges in the nation, creating sustainability studies academic programs and even hiring a full-time sustainability coordinator – more can be done.

That’s why, in 2007, I signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment and pledged we’ll do even more to promote a sustainable future.

And that promise doesn’t end at the gates.

While there’s lots happening right here on campus, the impact of our environmental thinking goes far beyond our campuses as our graduates internalize these values and put them to use in their professional and personal lives. In this edition, you’ll read about just a few of the tremendous stories of our Mercyhurst family protecting the environment and advocating for sustainability.

I am proud to be part of the crusade started by many of our alumni and the Sisters of Mercy to set Mercyhurst apart as a college that cares — not only about our students but also about ensuring the world and its resources continue to exist for future generations.

I hope you will continue to help us by doing your part in sustaining our future.

God Bless,

A publication for alumni and friends of Mercyhurst College

Going

Green!

New academic building p. 2

100% Wind-powered p. 4

The green jackpot p. 6

Best season ever p. 22

Cover Photo: Jennifer Cassano

Editor

Susan Corbran ’73 scorbran@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-2090 We’d love to hear from you.

Send your story ideas, suggestions and comments to scorbran@mercyhurst.edu or mail to Editor, Mercyhurst Magazine, 501 E. 38th St., Erie, PA 16546

Contributing Writers Meghan Corbin ’06, Susan Corbran ’73, Deborah Morton

Art Director/Design

Steve Perkins sperkins@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-3340

Class Notes Editor

Debra Tarasovitch dtarasovitch@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-2392

Director, Alumni Relations Joe Howard ’03 jhoward@mercyhurst.edu (800) 845-8568 (814) 824-2421

The Office of Marketing and Public Relations publishes Mercyhurst Magazine.

President, Mercyhurst College

P.S.: Read more about Mercyhurst’s commitment to sustainability at

sustainability.mercyhurst.edu.

Three days filled with entertainment, food, drink and reconnecting with your classmates. Campus belongs to you during this special weekend – come back and relive your time at the Hurst.

March 2011

Thinking ‘green’

• Welcome Home Reception • Alumni College • All-Class Bash

Send changes of address to: Mercyhurst Magazine Mercyhurst College 501 E. 38th St. Erie, PA 16546

• Excursions to local attractions • Class photos • Much, much more

Register at reunion.mercyhurst.edu

CONTENTS Mercyhurst Magazine | March 2011

VIEW OF FRONT ENTRANCE

2

New academic building to be ‘greenest’ yet

15

Drawn to Haiti

4

100% wind-powered

16

’68 alum challenges Mt. Kilimanjaro

6

Tim Boucher and the green jackpot

16

One million, three hundred ten thousand steps

8

‘EcoSteps’ toward sustainability

18

Where are they now?

9

Green by example

19

Class Notes

10

Mercyhurst’s ‘green giants’

22

Best season ever

11

Students fund green roof

23

Agosta skates into NCAA hockey record books

12

The Living Green Files

23

Headed to the majors

14

Seeing the light

24

Homecoming 2010 Scrapbook

15

Three generations of Lakers

25 Got Grammys?

Renderings courtesy of Buehler & Associates, Erie, Pa.

New academic building to be ‘greenest’ yet Groundbreaking set this summer for state-of-the-art Academic Engagement Center 2

VIEW OF FRONT ENTRANCE

Education should be hands-on. Collaborative.

High-tech. And transparent.

That’s the vision behind the new Academic Engagement Center that will soon rise on the Mercyhurst campus. Groundbreaking is planned for June and completion is expected by fall 2012.

Masses of glass and windows will show students from some of the college’s signature programs – Intelligence Studies and Hospitality Management – as they work together in specially designed classroom spaces and laboratories equipped with the latest equipment to prepare them for the world they’ll enter after graduation.

The building will also be home to a pair of new initiatives that connect Mercyhurst with the wider community – the Evelyn Lincoln Institute for Ethics and Society and the Mercyhurst Center for Applied Politics (MCAP).

The four-story, 31,000-square-foot building will be set into the rolling hill north of Hammermill Library. A skywalk over East Main Drive will connect the two facilities.

The building had been discussed for years, but became reality after Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell in December infused $3.5 million in state funds into the project. Contributions to the Engage. Enrich. Envision. capital campaign and building reserves will cover the remainder of the estimated $9 million cost.

Architect Shelley Buehler of Erie’s Buehler and Associates designed the building. While details are still being tweaked, the general

layout can be seen in the views on these pages.

From the main entrance on the south side, visitors will enter a two-story open atrium that spans the building. During the day, it will be a student gathering area with a coffee kiosk, but the space can also be repurposed to host college functions. The banquet area can seat 160 guests, and the Hospitality Management Department’s facilities will be located a floor below.

Because of the natural slope where the building sits, even that lower level will boast a full wall of windows facing north. It will house state-of-the-art training kitchens that allow the head chef to demonstrate to an entire class.

The facility in which students will prepare and serve meals to the public will carry the name of the Marriott Corporation, an early donor.

Buehler took every opportunity to incorporate eco-friendly elements into her design and Green Team Chair Dr. Chris Magoc says the Academic Engagement Center will be the most environmentally sustainable building yet constructed on campus.

For example, most building components will be fabricated locally to cut trucking, and construction waste materials (from excess metal studs to drywall scraps) will be recycled.

The college’s solar panel array may be relocated to the building’s roof, and additional panels may be added. Part of the roof may also be a “green” or living roof, like the one installed last summer over Zurn Hall.

The many windows will allow faculty and students to maximize use of natural light, while highly energy-efficient lights will be equipped with occupancy controls to turn out lights in rooms that aren’t being used. Exterior lights will be shielded to cut light pollution.

Since the nearby library relies on the area’s geothermal wellfield, a high-performance heat recovery system is planned for this building.

Four senior interior design students who are also sustainability studies minors have worked with Buehler researching and planning potential green features of the building.

Toni Novello is exploring landscaping issues, including retention of green space and the possible planting of rain gardens to allow temporary shallow ponding of rainwater run-off.

Three other students – Katherine (Kerry) Tabar, Caroline Whitman and Brittany Wirges – are working on incorporating environmentally responsible materials and finishes into the building’s interior.

“Much like the education that will take place within its walls, the very possibility of this building has been collaborative from its conception,” said President Dr. Thomas J. Gamble. “Trustees, students, faculty, administrators, donors and elected officials have all made essential contributions to its realization.”

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100%

wind-powered Renewable energy helps ’Hurst reduce its carbon footprint

Walk across a soft, sandy beach or a snowcovered path and your footprints will disappear quickly, leaving little evidence you ever passed that way.

Unfortunately, the “carbon footprint” we’re collectively leaving on the earth lingers much longer. Nearly everything we do – from heating our homes to driving our cars – pours carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Scientists say these gases are responsible for today’s climate crisis and threaten to permanently damage the world our children will inherit.

Determined to reduce its negative impact on the planet, Mercyhurst has pledged to become “carbon neutral” in just 20 years, reducing the college’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030. That’s why Earth Week events at the Hurst this spring will encourage everyone to “Lose Your Footprint.”

The goal is ambitious – but doable.

We’ll start by reducing campus emissions as much as possible. We’re attacking on all fronts, from cutting the amount of trash we send to landfills to installing more energy-efficient light bulbs across campus. The effort has been under way for more than a decade but is picking up steam today with a variety of creative new initiatives.

Then, since we can’t eliminate greenhouse gas emissions altogether, we’ll offset those that remain. By purchasing Renewable Energy Credits, we’ll support energy projects that produce no emissions.

In July 2010, Mercyhurst became the first college in the region to supply 100% of its electricity needs through wind power. There’s no wind turbine on campus (yet!), but the Renewable Energy Credits we purchase through Community Energy Inc. support wind farms that supply energy to the power grid without adding greenhouse gases to the environment.

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Mercyhurst’s use of wind power began modestly in 2003 at 10% of our total electrical needs. With support from the student Green Energy Fund, the percentage jumped to 30% in 2007. In 2006, a small array of solar panels was also installed on campus – enough to

generate a moderate amount of electricity and demonstrate the viability of solar power.

When college President Dr. Thomas J. Gamble signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007, the college agreed to assess the greenhouse gases it was creating, and to start planning immediately to reduce that carbon footprint.

Though the college population continues to increase and new buildings add to our square footage, total net emissions have already begun to decline, thanks to an institution-wide commitment to sustainability.

The first goal in our sights: to reduce the amount of electricity we purchase by 15% by 2015, and to reduce our total net emissions by 20% by the same date.

As a student, Brittany Prischak ’09 worked on the college’s first Greenhouse Gas Emissions inventory as her senior project. When she returned to Mercyhurst last year as the college’s full-time sustainability officer, her first priority was to update that study – to create a baseline so we can measure our progress.

Overall, she found, about 60% of Mercyhurst’s greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the use of electricity. Though Renewable Energy Credits should reduce net emissions to zero, the Climate Action Plan still calls for us to find ways to trim actual electricity usage.

A planned Light and Energy Audit will identify opportunities to cut the power drain, like encouraging the campus community to turn off unneeded lights and unused electronics and installing energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances.

much smaller amounts are caused by solid waste disposal and the use of refrigerant chemicals and fertilizers.

With student apartments accounting for much of the heating bill, the push is on to reduce loss by adding insulation and replacing single-pane windows with double-panes. As boilers are replaced, newer models boast 98% fuel efficiency, up from as little as 75% with older models.

An educational campaign is also planned to encourage students to take personal responsibility for saving resources, by turning back their thermostats or taking shorter showers.

Reinsulation of the Mercyhurst Athletic Center is expected to cut gas use for heating and cooling the facility by as much as 30%.

Mercyhurst is also piloting the use of PACE systems to improve efficiency of rooftop HVAC units. If they perform as expected, a dozen or more PACE units may be installed throughout the campus.

Many of these improvements aren’t obvious to visitors, but it’s hard to miss the green thinking that now permeates the campus.

With the new Climate Action Plan as a blueprint, Mercyhurst will continue to incorporate sustainability and conservation efforts into campus life so much that students and visitors become accustomed to seeing and practicing them here and naturally include them in their own lives once they leave the Hill.

Another 30% or so of emissions are due to natural gas consumption, primarily for heating; 10% can be blamed on transportation; and

GreenSpace Mercyhurst students voted in 2007 to charge themselves a $5 per term Green Energy Fee to help the college strengthen its already impressive commitment to green energy. Dustin Hankinson, the first Mercyhurst graduate to complete a minor in Sustainability Studies, organized a drive that collected more than 1,000 student signatures

requesting the fee, and the student body approved the concept 3-to-1 in a referendum. The fee has already generated more than $70,000 to fund projects like wind energy purchases, a solarpowered blue light emergency call system, and a green roof over part of Zurn Hall. Student Green Team members are working now on a proposal to make the Mercyhurst campus more bicycle-friendly and to implement a bike rental system.

Dana Hyland ’05 Dana Hyland, a stalwart of the Mercyhurst Green Team during her college years, now has a ringside seat to environmental battles fought on the national stage.

For the past three years, Dana has worked for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, where she’s special assistant to the director of the Climate Change Division. Her agency has a hand in anything that might influence climate change, such as analyzing climate bills pending before Congress and determining their impact.

One high-profile issue recently was the EPA’s determination in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.

This “endangerment finding” requires that the EPA proceed with regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act and sparked numerous appeals. Dana’s convinced the science behind the finding is strong and valid, but she has enjoyed the chance to see and absorb the entire debate.

Dana majored in political science at Mercyhurst and fell in love with environmental politics as a freshman.

Her biggest commitment was the “Trash to Treasure” collection that had been the brainchild of Stephanie Davison ‘04. By her senior year, Dana was running the project, coordinating a system to gather usable items students might otherwise discard at the end of the year. The net result: many truckloads of food, furniture and small appliances donated to Erie’s needy.

After graduating in 2005, Dana headed to Indiana University to pursue a Master of Public Affairs degree, again concentrating in environmental policy. Deciding she could make a real difference by working in the federal government, she applied for – and won – a Presidential Management Fellowship. It offered her entry to a variety of agencies, though there was little question she wanted to join the EPA. 5

Tim Boucher and the green jackpot

Ask Tim Boucher what he’d do if he won the lottery, and he wouldn’t hesitate: “Buy some land in the country and go into the organic gardening and landscaping business.”

So, when Mercyhurst offered him the opportunity to farm a four-acre swath of its 400+ acres in Girard, he figured he’d hit the jackpot.

Boucher grew up on a lot of land. Riding horses, forging trails in the woods and tending to the family’s vegetable garden filled his days.

He also worked in a greenhouse and later as a groundskeeper and recycling coordinator at Mercyhurst before moving to his current job last May. “I’m happiest outdoors,” he confesses.

As manager of Mercyhurst’s eco-friendly garden on the college’s West County property, Boucher’s passion has spawned a goldmine of sustainable farming ideas. He grew 8,000 pounds of food on a single acre from May through October, using strategies like succession planting – growing cabbage among rows of sweet potatoes before the potatoes were ready for harvest. He also had success with companion planting – growing carrots and tomatoes together to ward off insects and diseases.

He managed to nourish plants without the use of harsh chemicals and pesticides and even fine-tuned an au naturel way to water the garden, taking advantage of the property’s slight incline. Whenever it rains, water flows down through irrigation ditches in between rows of plants.

“Conventional agriculture is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” said Mercyhurst biology professor Dr. Michael Campbell, the driving force behind the college farm. For that reason, a number of colleges and universities have introduced programs in organic farming to teach students about sustainability and to make it real.

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The Girard property does that and more. It is at the heart of the college’s reputation as an emerging model of sustainability among institutions of higher education. It is also a living laboratory where students across multiple disciplines come to learn. There are the obvious beneficiaries – hospitality and culinary students – but students from several other areas have found their work entwined in the project.

Biology students of Dr. Marlene Cross experiment with soil restoration ecology; entomology students working with Dr. Mike Elnitsky study the insect populations; Allen Quinn’s archaeology students examine artifacts and Tom Hubert’s art students use the landscape as a canvas. Even athletics has a stake in the site – the college’s cross-country runners have used the trails to train.

At the heart of harvest season, the farm bustles with activity. Several students have part-time jobs there; others volunteer alongside faculty, friends and family. Much of the food is sold to Parkhurst Dining Services, Mercyhurst’s foodservice provider, and ends up on students’ plates. Some is sold at Mercyhurst’s campus market, while still more is sold at a community farmers’ market manned by Mercyhurst and its neighbors from the Southeast Hills Neighborhood Watch Group. Much of the extra effort to market the produce has been managed by Mercyhurst’s new sustainability officer, Brittany Prischak. A local restaurant, Avanti’s, purchases produce from the garden as have the Sisters of Mercy on occasion. The remainder is donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania.

Come winter, Boucher does not hibernate.

He experiments with plantings in a cold-frame enclosure, growing spinach, radishes, lettuce, carrots, turnips and herbs, carefully tracking which fare well and which don’t, while setting goals for the next season.

When the weather breaks in spring, he will work with interior design instructor Stuart Henderson and students to build a straw bale structure for storing produce. Straw is a renewable resource that acts as excellent insulation. Boucher is working with post-bac

sustainability studies student Robert Crowe to design a produce refrigeration system for the farm that will operate without electricity. And, he’s also hoping to develop more acreage in the coming year, experiment with different varieties of plants to extend the growing season and increase the number of students participating, none of which he thinks will be a hard sell.

Students who get involved in the garden, be they artists or scientists, tend to come back for more. One such group even started a garden club last year to discover new and innovative ways of using the property.

Boucher may have a green thumb, that’s for certain, but he’s also helping to nourish a sustainability mindset at Mercyhurst that appears to thrive in all seasons.

GreenSpace When the Mercyhurst Green Team originated in 2000, less than 10% of campus waste was being recycled. The team quickly focused on making recycling bins more generally available and educating the campus community on the benefits of recycling, and by 2004 the recycling proportion was approaching 30%. In 2009, Mercyhurst entered the national RecycleMania competition for the first time. With a cumulative recycling rate just a hair under 52%, Mercyhurst took 12th place in the national standings, the best finish among Pennsylvania colleges. We’ll be trying to improve on those great results during the 2011 contest, now under way.

Mercyhurst has installed geothermal heating and cooling systems in three campus buildings, starting in 1995 with the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. The earth’s temperature just below the surface remains relatively constant independent of the air temperature above the surface. A geothermal system pipes water from the building into the ground where a heat exchange occurs. The system is powered by electricity, so it’s not completely sustainable, but it’s far more efficient, generating about 50% fewer carbon emissions than fossil fuels. When the Hammermill Library was expanded, the square footage grew by 30% but a geothermal system cut the energy bill by 25%. The Audrey Hirt Academic Center boasts our third geothermal system.

Mercyhurst started recycling old computer equipment in 2002, diverting an estimated two and a half tons of electronic gear from the landfill that year. Overall, the program has recycled more than 600 computers, 700 monitors, 300 printers, 600 keyboards and 200 boxes of miscellaneous cards, cables and connectors. Thanks to the college’s computer leasing program, annual totals are dropping now. Today, about 40% of the materials recycled are personal property of students and employees. Coordinator Jim Lassman reports that many old but usable systems have been donated to local parochial schools, and the IT Department salvages parts from the recycled computers to keep older systems operating.

Thousands of phone directories and other publications are recycled at Mercyhurst every year. Erie Energy Products Inc. churns the discarded books into home insulating materials that save even more energy. Erie Energy in turn makes a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank, making it a win-win-win proposition.

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‘EcoSteps’ toward sustainability Much of the produce grown at Mercyhurst’s garden in Girard finds its way onto dining tables at the Erie and North East campuses.

Through its FarmSource® program, Parkhurst Dining Services partners with local growers and family-owned farms and pledges to purchase as much food as possible within 125 miles of the college. Reducing the distance food travels from harvest to table helps decrease air pollution, water pollution, traffic congestion and oil consumption. And, besides, the food just tastes better!

This kind of environmental thinking helped Parkhurst win the contract to manage Mercyhurst’s dining and catering operations in 2009.

• Meat is purchased from regional farms when available, and use of Seafood Watch guidelines increases the amount of sustainable fish and seafood purchased.

Among the other Eco-Steps that Parkhurst has taken:

• A food pulper in the kitchen reduces trash going to the landfill by 50%, and plans are in the works to begin composting.

SM

• All eggs used are laid by cage-free chickens that are allowed to engage in natural behaviors like nesting.

• The cafeteria went trayless, generating a 10-15% savings in water and electricity use.

• Dairy products come from farms that don’t use hormones to increase their cows’ milk production.

• Discounts are offered for coffee drinkers who bring their own mugs, supporting recycling and cutting down on waste.

• Trans fat-free oils are used, and all spent oil is converted to biodiesel fuel by Lake Erie Biofuels.

• Napkins are made from recycled paper.

Kim Novak, manager 8

• Fair Trade-certified coffee is used.

• Recyclable plastic to-go containers have replaced the much cheaper foam.

In addition, Parkhurst is waging what manager Kim Novak calls a “stealth health” campaign to improve the dining habits of students.

Students become accustomed to selecting healthier foods without even knowing it, she said. Very little processed food is used, excluding some student favorites that are demanded on all campuses. MSG is banned, and salt is limited. Parkhurst chefs and bakers make nearly all food items from scratch, controlling the quality of the ingredients and limiting the additives, making food fresh and naturally flavorful.

Green by example

Christina DiFonzo ’87 Chris DiFonzo’s first glimpse of a beetle through a microscope was an eye-opener for the young biology major. “I was hooked on insects!” the 1987 grad laughs now, after earning her doctorate in agricultural entomology at the University of Minnesota and snagging her dream job as a field crops entomologist at Michigan State University.

She researches insects that affect crops and provides the results to farmers to help them better manage insect problems. Since Michigan is the third most diverse agricultural state after California and Florida, she encounters a wide variety of pests.

“My job is to give growers viable nonchemical alternatives for insect management,” she explains. “And, if pesticides are still needed, I help the farmers understand the consequences and make better choices both for the environment and the economy.”

She loves the work, noting “any day standing in a soybean field counting bugs is better than a day sitting in my office reading e-mails.” Among her favorite fieldwork experiences were the summers during her doctoral studies when she lived and worked in Grand Forks, N.D., researching in farmers’ fields, and the postdoctoral fellowship year spent at an agricultural facility in Israel.

Information on agriculture did not exist in the Mercyhurst curriculum when she was here, so she’s excited today’s students have an active farm where they can learn about food production.

Chris is especially grateful to Dr. Mike Campbell, who sparked her interest in ecology, and to Dr. Marilynn Jewell, who encouraged her to add an English minor. “Even as a scientist I write every single day, and I am grateful for a liberal arts education that allowed me to combine biology and English,” Chris reflects.

Perhaps that combination proved useful last year when she taught a course at MSU on “Insects in the Cinema.”

Casey (C.J.) Kilroy ’03

Jaime Myers ’05

Casey Kilroy likes to describes herself as Mercyhurst’s “first, last and only” musical theater graduate.

She was on her way to a degree in political science when the short-lived musical theater program opened, and she decided to double-major. She earned the Carpe Diem Award in 2003 and then returned for an additional year to finish the theater courses.

Even in industries often considered wasteful, creative companies can still be “green.”

That’s what Stetson Convention Services – a trade show company – has done, reports Jaime Myers ’05.

She’s split her time since then between working in the political arena (managing campaigns for a variety of Pennsylvania candidates) and performing. Right now her musical theater skills are paying the bills as she performs her own show aboard the cruise ship Seabourn Legend in the Caribbean.

In addition, she released her first CD in November, a compilation of musical theater and movie musical hits from the Great American Songbook that’s titled “Five Foot Two.” The “green” sensibilities she cultivated at Mercyhurst impacted the project at every turn.

She searched out a CD replication company (Oasis) that pledges to serve its artistic clients while also limiting the stress it places on the planet. She chose their “digipaks” to hold the disc, using soy-based inks on recycled paperboard.

Even the plastic tray where the CD sits is made of recycled plastic.

Two friends from the Hurst contributed to the project as well: Christa Wilson Penner ’04 laid out the project, using old photographs from Casey’s family album, and Rachel Mason Lusky ’04 photographed Casey on the stage of the D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. The trio previously collaborated on Casey’s website and on her wedding, also a green production, at Fallingwater.

When she’s not at sea, Casey lives in Erie with her husband, Andrew, and still studies voice with ‘Hurst professor Brent Weber.

“Five Foot Two” is widely available now (check out her website at caseykilroy.com), but those who purchase it at the Mercyhurst Bookstore will be pleased to know a portion of its cost will benefit the college’s Emergency Book Fund.

Jaime (above left) earned her Mercyhurst degree in communication and now works for Stetson in Pittsburgh as an event planner. Co-worker Amy Hopta Trax ’06 (right) graduated in marketing and advertising.

When the firm is contracted to provide equipment and labor for trade shows, it works hard to trim unnecessary waste.

Companies often throw away materials left at the end of a show (from advertising handouts to giveaway items) because it’s cheaper than shipping them back. Signs and other items created for specific events may be trashed after a single use.

Stetson approaches shows with a different mindset. They begin by using “green” materials as much as possible and recycle whatever they can.

“Stetson has a donation program called iLoveSchools where we team up with a local school district and donate the leftovers from the event – pens, notebooks, building materials, sheet music, et cetera,” Jaime explains.

When they stage an event outside Pittsburgh, she adds, they hire local contractors to avoid cross-country shipping. She can tick off a list of other green initiatives at her company: they recycle all carpet scraps, use old signage as packing material, use biodegradable trash can liners and table coverings, ship with SmartWay trucking companies, power their office on wind, use recycled paper, recycle their ink cartridges, and stress online services and ordering to limit paper waste.

Environmental consciousness is a big selling point with clients, especially those in the environmental industry, many of which have signed on with Stetson.

When she’s not at work, Jaime enjoys teaching at a dance studio and choreographing her local high school’s musical productions.

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Mercyhurst’s hot-buttons. She helped develop an environmental studies major, a precursor of today’s sustainability courses.

From her early days on campus, Sister Maura’s special concern was the landscaping.

Undeterred by a lack of money, she often operated a tractor or dragged hoses to water young shrubs she herself had planted.

Later, she surrounded her home in the old farmhouse south of Zurn Hall with gardens to beautify the area – and to gain the sisters a measure of privacy on the bustling campus.

Sister Maura Smith was here when the environmental movement at Mercyhurst took its first baby steps. Forty years later, she’s the “gadfly” who raises issues of sustainability whenever decisions are being made.

She’s so closely identified with environmental issues on the hill that the annual Earth Day Lecture Series at Mercyhurst bears her name; she was presented the college’s Sustainability Award in 2009.

It was the first Earth Day, in 1970, that pulled Sister Maura toward environmental activism.

College President Sr. Carolyn Herrmann assigned the brand-new biology professor to “do something” as part of the national teachin to protest what was happening to our environment.

Sister Maura began researching the pollution fouling the nation’s air and water and offering popular courses about these environmental

Dr. Chris Magoc vividly recalls the moment that would eventually turn him into an environmental watchdog at Mercyhurst.

A co-worker at a southwestern Pennsylvania golf course was mixing pesticides to treat the manicured greens of the course. The proportions were way off, so they were told to dump the stuff into a stream that ran into a lake next to one of the holes. When they returned the next day, they discovered a horrible stench in the nearby creek – and hundreds of fish that had gone belly-up after encountering those powerful chemicals.

“If I wasn’t an environmentalist before that, that did it,” he muses now.

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A ’Hurst faculty member since 1998, Magoc is a professor, chair of the History Department and coordinator of the Sustainability Studies program. He’s also an impassioned advocate determined to leave our campus and his

“I really enjoyed watching things grow,” she says. “Gradually we got the campus into shape.”

After leaving the faculty, Sister Maura led both Mercyhurst Preparatory School and the Erie Community of the Sisters of Mercy. Appointed to the college’s Board of Trustees in 1980, she still serves today and sits on four standing committees, but most enjoys her work with Building and Grounds, and the chance to impact the campus environment. corner of the world more environmentally sustainable than he found them.

Soon after arriving in Erie, he was dismayed to notice only scattered recycling bins around campus and starting working with interested students to promote recycling. In 2000, he partnered with Sister Maura Smith and student Dave Adams to organize the Green Team.

From those small beginnings, they’ve nurtured a green consciousness that has grown in viral dimensions from one end of campus to another over the past decade.

Sister Maura calls Magoc “the patron saint of sustainability.” He says she’s the true visionary behind the movement. While the two galvanized support for green causes, they credit many individuals and groups for this progress, from physical plant leaders Bill Kerbusch and Ken Stepherson to administrators like Tom Billingsley and President Tom Gamble to the creative faculty

‘green giants’ Around 2000, she teamed up with Dr. Chris Magoc, a new faculty member with a passion for environmental issues.

These kindred spirits brought together an assortment of students, faculty, administrators and board members who became the nucleus of the Mercyhurst Green Team.

By then, progress had been made toward curbing pollution, but larger questions were being raised about how our activities today would impact generations to come – and the kind of world we’d be leaving to our children. Their Green Team set out to address those issues.

Mercyhurst prides itself on the beauty of its campus, and Sister Maura shares that pride. But for her it’s about more than beauty. It’s about responsible stewardship of the resources of the world, a critical concern of the Sisters of Mercy.

It’s only fitting that plans are in the works to create a Sister Maura Smith Garden somewhere on campus.

who incorporate environmental themes into their courses to the students who gave birth to the Student Green Team.

Magoc would love to see the Green Team fully mature into a Mercyhurst Center for Sustainability that would work closely with regional partners in business and government to advance best practices in sustainability for the greater Erie region.

Although his energies may begin to shift next year toward a greater focus on the History Department, he is certain to remain part of the sustainability effort at Mercyhurst. “For all the joy I take from teaching and my own scholarship, my work on the Green Team may ultimately represent my most rewarding contribution to the college. Because whatever difference I make doing this work reverberates also to my children and the kind of world we are leaving them.”

Students fund living roof Students drive many of the sustainability initiatives at Mercyhurst, like the green roof installed at Mercyhurst during summer 2010.

Covering about 900 square feet over the Zurn Hall ceramics lab, it’s a landmark achievement in many ways.

The Class of 2010 made the green roof its gift to the college. It was proposed by Zach Pekor, a Green Team leader and environmental sciences major. Though he graduated before it became reality, the student Green Energy Fund and the graduating class of 2010 joined forces to fund the $40,000 cost of converting the conventional $80,000 roof to a “green” roof.

Although green (or “living”) roofs are somewhat more expensive than traditional construction, they have many environmental, economic and educational benefits. Mercyhurst’s modular roof is made of 2’ x 2’ and 2’ x 3’ plastic trays filled with specially chosen plants and installed over a roof reinforced to support the additional weight. As the plants grow, they’ll obscure the trays so the roof truly looks green.

The plants help reduce temperature extremes inside the building as the soil and vegetation absorb heat during the day, modestly cooling the building, and retain heat after sunset, keeping the building a little warmer at night. Some moderate energy cost savings are expected.

In addition, the roof captures and holds precipitation in the plant foliage, absorbs water in the roots, and slows runoff.

The layers of soil and vegetation should also prolong the life of the roof by 30 to 40%. By delaying the next roof replacement, the green roof postpones the use of resources and energy and cuts the amount of building materials sent to landfills.

For science students, the roof becomes a laboratory in which to explore plant life, soils and the hydrological cycle.

GreenSpace Mercyhurst now offers a Sustainability Studies contract major, a Sustainability Studies concentration within the Chemistry and Biology departments, and an Introduction to Sustainability Studies course open to all students. In addition, a Sustainability Studies minor can complement almost any major.

Students in Interior Design and Hospitality Management have shown special interest. The college also regularly hosts nationally known speakers as part of its Earth Day observance, such as renowned author Bill McKibben, biologist Sandra Steingraber (described by some as today’s Rachel Carson) and Earth Day founder Denis Hayes.

Mercyhurst has been recognized as a leader in sustainability among Pennsylvania organizations. Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) chose Mercyhurst to receive a “Green Power: Turn it On!” award for its “continued dedication to clean energy, including a three-year commitment to purchase 100% of your electricity needs from wind power.” In 2009, the Young Erie Professionals (yep!) bestowed its inaugural Green Business Award on Mercyhurst.

More than 1,000 Mercyhurst graduates since 2002 have joined the nationwide Graduation Pledge Alliance. In signing the Graduation Green Pledge, they’ve promised to consider the ethical, social and environmental implications of decisions they make. The pledge is a natural fit with Mercyhurst’s mission and core values. It reads “I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.”

Mercyhurst’s IKON DocuCenter prints on 20-pound white and color bond paper with 30% post-consumer recycled content.

Paper with 100% recycled content is available for special projects and publications..

Sustainability Coordinator Brittany Prischak ’09 atop the Zurn Hall green roof.

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Gerrit Shuffstall ’00

once thought he wanted to be the next Tom Brokaw. Today, though, he’s using his communication/marketing skills in an entirely different field.

He shifted gears in 2006 and enrolled in the graduate landscape architecture program at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., drawn by the school’s strong focus on urban design and environmental and cultural sustainability.

Gerrit graduated in spring 2010 following defense of his thesis presentation, “Goods and Services to People and Ideas,” which explored cultural sustainability in post-industrial urban landscapes. The project designed a green space in the heart of a former urban/industrial brownfield site in north Baltimore as a public, neighborhood gathering spot and artist enclave in the greater “Station North” neighborhood.

Though no developer has yet agreed to fund the project, the schematic and detailed drawings he produced helped him land his current job with the Outdoor Design Group, a small residential and commercial design firm in the metro Baltimore area.

Gerrit’s also putting his green consciousness to work and benefiting the greater Patterson Park neighborhood where he and his wife, Margaret, live. The Greening Committee of the Patterson Park Neighborhood Association is developing a green masterplan for the 60 square blocks in the neighborhood that encompasses everything from increased recycling rates to urban tree care. The neighborhood was recently awarded several grants funding their Urban Green Infrastructure Assessment study, an innovative smartphone/GIS infrastructure and tree inventory project mapping the street trees and urban stormwater amenities within the neighborhood.

His pet project, though, is tree planting, specifically a campaign to plant more than 100 new trees in the coming year in a neighborhood that’s long on pavement and short on greenery. With 90% of urban Baltimore covered with impervious surfaces, the committee is working to add green space, increase the tree canopy, reduce storm water runoff problems and eventually even cool the city.

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Zach Pekor ’09 JoEllen Taylor ’06

was an active member of the Green Team.

“But in the club, you’re preaching to the choir.

They already believe in environmentalism. You need to be talking to lots of others, too,” she explains.

She’s proud of creating an environmental political roundtable that brought local and state political leaders and others to campus for a shared dialogue with students and faculty. She also hosted a weekly show on Hurst TV with campus and community activists to spread the Green Team’s message to a broader audience.

After graduating with a degree in history and a concentration in education, she earned a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh in instruction and learning in social studies and she’s now pursuing a doctorate there in administrative and policy studies, specializing in international education policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Her coursework is behind her, and she expects to spend the next two years completing her dissertation, which examines teacher retention and youth unemployment issues in Turkey. Her interest in the country was born when she studied the Turkish language and culture and geopolitics at Mercyhurst. She hopes to one day work in the development field with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or international think tanks.

JoEllen is still committed to a green life. This summer she’ll marry Brian Byrnes, another 2006 ‘Hurst grad, and settle in Leonardtown, Md., where she hopes she can have an impact on environmental causes and enjoy the blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Zach spent much of his time on the Green Team advocating for a novel addition to the Mercyhurst campus: a green roof over the ceramics lab in Zurn Hall.

His research had convinced him the roof was the perfect tangible expression of the school’s concern for the environment, and might save the college some money as well.

It took longer than he’d hoped to bring the project to fruition. It was still on the drawing board when he graduated in 2009 with a contract major in environmental intelligence studies. However, the following year, the Class of 2010 helped fund his project as their senior gift to the college. It was installed during the summer of 2010. (see page 11) By then, Zach had completed a year of service with Americorps, assisting with Katrina relief and other construction projects along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Louisiana.

He also student-taught second- and third-graders in New Orleans.

He’s now in the middle of a master’s program in biology at Chicago’s DePaul University. After graduating in 2012, he’d like to work for a nonprofit in science education and/ or sustainability.

“Our country is acting in a nonsustainabile manner,” he says.

“To correct that you need to start at the local level, not top-down. You don’t need to be Thoreau and live in the woods – you just need to start taking small incremental steps.”

Margaux Valenti ’09 says that, thanks to her parents, she’s been involved in sustainability issues all her life, but Mercyhurst definitely honed her interest.

She chose Mercyhurst because of the environmental studies concentration offered by the Political Science Department.

“Between the broad range of environmental coursework encompassing all the schools and the incredible studentdriven environmental forces, my interest in environmental issues and policy grew drastically,” she says.

At Mercyhurst, she saw students and faculty working toward being better stewards for the environment. As president of the Green Team during her senior year, she tried to involve as many people as possible. For example, with a campus-wide energy audit under way, the Green Team pitted buildings against each other in a competition to see who was the biggest campus “energy hog.” She helped out on the drive to create a “green roof” for part of Zurn Hall and to place well in the national RecycleMania contest.

Margaux spent a year after graduation volunteering with the Sierra Club chapter in her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., before entering Vermont Law School, the #1 school in the nation for environmental law. Eventually, she hopes to work for a nonprofit or perhaps in lobbying.

She’s still living that green lifestyle.

“Actually, there’s no way to escape a green lifestyle at VLS,” she says.

“The local politicians are also local farmers. There are more bike racks than parking spots.

We have composting toilets, et cetera, et cetera.” She adds, “We’re a family pushing each other to be better because the ultimate goal is protection of our land and vital natural resources.”

Sarah M

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GreenSpace Since 2007, thanks to a grant from the “Solar Scholars” program, Mercyhurst has had a 3-kilowatt solar panel array on front campus.

Installed and operated by Dr. Ron Brown and his students, the panels generate a modest amount of electricity while at the same time reducing the carbon dioxide emissions that would result from producing that power with a coal-fired system. They save the college about $1,200 annually in power costs. Perhaps more importantly, the panels offer students the opportunity to study and monitor this green energy source.

When Mercyhurst needs to communicate these days, the college looks first to paperless options.

In years past, the college printed a weekly “Monday Morning” newsletter for faculty and staff, When it was reborn as an e-newsletter two years ago, the change saved about $18,000 annually in printing and postage costs and kept a half ton of paper annually out of the landfill. Since fall of 2009, the e-bulletin has been circulated daily, improving communication with no additional cost. News bulletins for students, parents and alumni are also sent via e-mail now. Fewer and fewer copies of the college course catalogue are printed each year; instead the whole document is available online for students (and prospective students) to review.

In 2010, an interactive DVD replaced Mercyhurst’s printed senior annual, saving more than 100,000 sheets of paper. In addition to the traditional student portraits and directory, advisor Steve Perkins and the student design team were able to incorporate video messages from faculty, staff and graduates, athletics multimedia, and recaps of the year at Mercyhurst and around the world. With a shorter production schedule, they could also include spring term sports and events and graduation festivities. All this was accomplished for about a tenth the cost of the printed version, and used eco-friendly packaging including recycled paper, vegetable-based inks, and no plastic at all.

14

Seeing the light When ABC filmed its two-hour “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” at Clara Ward’s Erie residence in 2009, it needed lots of bright light to achieve the optimum broadcast quality effect. So, 65- and 85-watt halogen floodlights were installed on the interior and exterior of the property – 179 bulbs in all, 165 inside, 14 outside.

Flash-forward a year and some dozen electric bills later and the glow was gone. The highintensity light bulbs were proving costly for Ward, who not only lives in the home but also operates the Ward Youth Development and Family Center there.

Hearing of her struggle, Mercyhurst offered to purchase and install 165 CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs to replace Ward’s existing interior lights. Since Mercyhurst had already installed the fluorescent bulbs throughout campus as an energy-saving measure, Sustainability Officer Brittany Prischak said she was confident the CFLs would produce the same amount of light but use less power and last longer.

Mercyhurst was prepared to pay the $300 price for the bulbs, but a donation of $100 from adult student Grace Dollinger reduced the college contribution to $200. Dollinger, a claims research specialist at Erie Insurance who’s working toward her bachelor’s degree in business management, said she wanted to help after hearing of Ward’s plight from teacher Travis Lindahl. Lindahl, who is also admissions director at Mercyhurst North East, serves on the board of directors for Ward’s development center.

A group of Mercyhurst students switched out the 165 lights on Jan. 20, with assistance from Maleno Development, lead contractor on the original Home Makeover. Prischak said she hopes the 13-watt CFLs, which are the equivalent of 60-watt standard bulbs, will reduce Ward’s electric bills by 25%.

With electric prices increasing, that may be optimistic. “But we figured this measure had to help; it was better than doing nothing,” Prischak said.

Mercyhurst was one of the many local companies and institutions that helped with ABC’s “Extreme Makeover.” President Dr. Thomas Gamble presented Ward with $100,000 in scholarships to help kids from her center attend college. Mercyhurst also sponsored the project website and supplied student volunteers to staff the media tent.

Drawn to Haiti

Jeffrey Best ’77, freshman Deirdre Best, Rosemary Durkin ’77, Helen Durkin ’38

3 generations of Lakers: The Durkin-Best clan Conversation usually turns to Mercyhurst when Deirdre Best’s family gets together.

That’s because Deirdre, a freshman studying math and education, is the third generation of the clan to attend the college.

Both her parents are 1977 alumni, and great-aunts Catherine and Helen Durkin were early ’Hurst graduates, earning their degrees in 1936 and 1938. The family also has a strong tradition of service to Mercyhurst.

Helen Durkin went on to earn a master’s degree from Western Reserve University and taught French in Indiana and Ohio until she retired in 1980.

Her sister, Catherine, went to the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and practiced law in Cleveland until 1980, when she too retired. Catherine was one of the original lay members of the Mercyhurst Board of Trustees, serving from 1963 to 1987. She passed away in July 2009.

Helen and Catherine’s niece, Rosemary Durkin, met her husband, Jeffrey Best, when both were students at Mercyhurst.

Rosemary, a history major, followed her aunts to Case Western, earned a law degree and has practiced law ever

since, most recently with Stark & Stark in Princeton, N.J. She was a President’s Associate at Mercyhurst until 1997, when she was appointed to the Board of Trustees.

Jeffrey double-majored in police science and marketing management and now works for his family business, Richard Best Associates, which sells, services and installs parking and access control equipment. He is a President’s Associate.

While the Durkin-Best family’s ties to Mercyhurst are special, we know there are many other Mercyhurst families out there and we’d like to hear about them.

If multiple generations of your family have studied on The Hill – if you met and married your spouse here – if your kids have been wearing Laker apparel since they were newborns … please tell us your story and send us your photos. We’ll try to share some of them in upcoming magazines and on our alumni website.

EDITOR’S NOTE As this magazine was going to press, we learned that Helen Durkin had passed away on Feb. 22, 2011.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the whole Durkin family.

Scott Gillenwater ’07 ’09 spent last New Year’s Eve in Haiti and was struck by the contrast. While New Yorkers poured into the streets to party and celebrate the start of 2011, Haitians instead gathered quietly to pray for better things to come in the new year.

A year after a massive earthquake struck the already impoverished nation, medical treatment there is still substandard. Scott, who completed the physical therapy assistant program at Mercyhurst North East and a bachelor’s degree at the Erie campus, hopes to enter a doctoral program in physical therapy. In the meantime, he feels drawn to help the Haitian people.

The holiday break trip was his fourth weeklong visit to Haiti since last May, all under the auspices of the University of Miami’s Project Medishare. On the first visit, he was one of 120 volunteers running a tent hospital in the corner of an airport. Stretchers placed on wooden crates had to substitute for operating tables and Tylenol tablets for morphine. By July, a small building was in place, but the need remains immense.

It’s been a great learning experience, Scott says.

He’s done everything from cleaning to assisting in the O.R. “But they’ve offered me more than I can ever give them,” he insists.

He remembers helping a 15-year-old girl to stand and walk on her new prosthetic leg. “In 10 minutes, she was walking up and down stairs and kicking a soccer ball,” he marvels. “She had such will to survive and such determination.”

He’s bonded with many patients over soccer, which he played as a student at MNE, and never misses a chance to watch the new amputee soccer team.

Eventually, they hope to train a Haitian staff to run the hospital, but the need is still great.

So spring break may find him again en route to Haiti, his suitcase crammed with food and clothing he’ll give away to the needy.

15

’68 alum challenges Mt. Kilimanjaro Talk about serendipity. Linda Salem Burtis (“Moof ” to friends in the ’Hurst class of 1968) tuned in a Wimbledon tennis match last July and was pulled into an adventure that still amazes her.

During that broadcast, she learned that tennis great Martina Navratilova was organizing a December expedition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro – and jumped at the chance to be part of it. The challenge was a perfect fit with many of her life’s passions.

A former nationally ranked tennis pro, Linda considered Navratilova one of her heroines.

How could she miss the chance to hit tennis balls with her atop Africa’s highest peak?

Linda had been teaching tennis to Burmese refugee children near her Albany, N.Y., home, and the Kili climb would benefit the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which uses sports to change the lives of at-risk kids worldwide.

She and her husband of almost 40 years, Dave, were experienced hikers and climbers. Though the two sixty-somethings would need major conditioning to prepare for the trek, they had already climbed mountains throughout America and spent weeks at a time hiking trails like the one from Mt. Blanc to the Matterhorn.

And Linda was a lifelong environmentalist. She had spearheaded community campaigns to ensure clean water for her hometown and to prevent the building of a formaldehyde plant there. She drew attention to solar power by creating a statewide campaign titled “New York Shines.” Originally a social worker, she works today for Community Energy Inc. (by coincidence, the same firm that provides renewable energy credits to Mercyhurst).

And, as she says, she wanted to see the snows of Kilimanjaro before global warming melted all the glaciers.

The Burtises’ climbing party of about 30 included not only Navratilova, but also world champion badminton player Gail Emms and paralympic cycling champ Michael Teuber.

A team of some 70 guides and porters supported them. Since they were among the older climbers in the group, Linda and Dave were affectionately known as “Bibi” and “Babu,” Swahili for grandmother and grandmother.

The climbers faced torrential rains and blizzard conditions the entire time on the mountain. Navratilova had to be rescued from the mountain on Day 4 after she developed life-threatening high-altitude sickness. After another climber and four porters descended with altitude sickness and with concerns about hypothermia, Linda and Dave decided to stop at the summit camp, about 4,000 feet short of their ultimate goal. While many in their

One million, That’s what Beverly Heintz DiCarlo ’67 figures it will take to accomplish her ambitious goal: to run a half-marathon in every state in the union.

A mother of three and grandmother of five who taught at the Hurst for 20 years, Bev is a dynamo who hasn’t slowed down at all since retiring.

spired idan, who in A , n so d n ra d her g states. n, David, an so r e h h ach of the 50 it e w o in rl n a o iC th D ra tz alf-ma Beverly Hein complete a h her quest to

16

Mercyhurst President Sister Carolyn Herrmann advised students to do something new every 10 years. Bev took her mentor’s wisdom to heart and has reinvented herself with each decade – spending 10 years at Mercyhurst teaching business subjects, then 10 years as a top executive with Erie’s First National Bank, then 10 more years teaching management at Penn State Behrend and Mercyhurst.

She spent her final 10 working years with Mary Kay Cosmetics, reaching the top echelon of the sales corps and earning the use of four free cars – including the famous pink Cadillac.

group did continue to the peak, even Olympic athletes finished crawling on all fours.

Regardless of the unforeseen outcome, Linda describes the experience as “life-changing on so many levels.”

“It’s OK we didn’t walk on the very tippy-top,” she says. “There’s a lesson here that you don’t have to totally get to your goal to feel very satisfied by what you have accomplished.”

To learn more about preparations for the trip, the obstacles they faced on the mountain and Linda’s reflections after the trip, visit her blog at burtisandkilimanjaro.blogspot.com. The Burtises continue to welcome contributions toward their pledge to the Laureus Foundation; tax-deductible gifts to support Laureus programs in New York can also be made by clicking on the donation page on their blog.

Linda and Da vid Burtis fla Martina Nav nk tennis gre ratilova duri at ng their Kilim anjaro climb .

three hundred ten thousand steps After retiring, though, Bev launched what may be her most exciting decade yet. While recovering from a serious fall, she vowed to get into better physical shape and took up a challenge from son David and daughter Mikaele to try a triathlon. (Daughter Erin is too busy finishing a graduate degree at Mercyhurst to join the family on the race course right now.) Bev finished her first triathlon just a year later, and soon ventured into half-marathons as well.

Her project – dubbed “Race with Grammy” – began with another challenge from her children. Bev calculated that, if she started right away, she could complete 50 races in 50 states before she turns 70 in 2014. And she decided the effort should benefit a cause close to her heart – Erie’s Barber National Institute.

Mikaele’s son, Aidan, received outstanding support there after he was diagnosed with

autism at 18 months; now 10, he attends regular third-grade classes with no in-class support.

Bev began her quest in January 2010 with a race at Disney World in Florida. She went to New Orleans for a Mardi Gras race in February this year, and March will take her to Dallas, Texas, her 15th state. There’s no particular pattern to the cross-country travels. She just chooses races that appeal to her, like April’s Wahine in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bev says she couldn’t resist a race for women that sprinkles make-up breaks among the water stops and provides feather boas and tiaras to runners as they near the finish line.

Bev and her husband of 45 years, former state Rep. David DiCarlo, created a t-shirt for supporters who donate $50. The front is emblazoned with her slogan (“50 by 70”) and an Autism Awareness ribbon. She’s raised more

than $9,000 already and is pursuing corporate sponsors in hopes of even larger gifts. The DiCarlos cover their own race expenses, and all gifts fund programs for kids through the Barber Institute.

To follow Bev’s progress – or to make a donation – visit her website: racewithgrammy.com.

Bev would also love to hear from classmates, former students or other Mercyhurst folks who might be attending any of her half-marathons; e-mail her at bdicarlo@me.com.

17

Where are they now?

Mercyhurst Magazine invited some longtime faculty members to fill us in on what they’ve been doing since leaving the Hurst. could offer this form of Christian meditation, and she received still more training that allows her to serve as an individual spiritual and retreat director.

She entered the Sisters of Mercy after graduation in 1953, taking the name Sister de Montfort, for an 18th century saint with a particular devotion to Mary. She returned to her alma mater in 1957 to teach business classes and remained on the faculty until 1970, chairing the Business Department from 1965 to 1970. She also served as dean of students from 1967 to 1970 during the transition to coeducation.

Mike and Joy McQuillen

college in 1995, the same year her son, Daniel, graduated. (Son David ’94 and daughter Carolyn ‘97 are also alums.)

When Mike McQuillen retired after 35 years at Mercyhurst – including a year as the college’s 10th president – he headed west to Fort Collins, Colo. He and his wife, Joy, were drawn by the beauty of the region, a paradise for outdoor sports enthusiasts. The McQuillens spend much of their free time hiking and biking through areas like the Moab Desert and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The McQuillens enjoy traveling, especially to visit the children and their three grandchildren. Carolyn’s in Evergreen, Colo., and Daniel in Santa Cruz, Calif. David is now based in Singapore after several years in Zurich, Switzerland. They have also traveled to Tasmania and may one day visit Tibet to experience the homelands of their daughters-in-law.

Mike hasn’t left the academic life altogether.

He still teaches U.S. and world history survey courses at Colorado State University on a half-time basis. Joy operates both a pet-sitting business and a Reiki practice, and works with the dying as a Hospice volunteer. They share their home with Sadie, a rescued Golden Retriever, and Hissy, an ornery 16-year-old cat.

Mike arrived at Mercyhurst in 1971 and became one of the school’s most beloved history professors. He also served as academic dean, associate academic dean and dean of libraries before being named president. Joy began working on the Hill in 1981 and held a variety of positions, her last as an academic counselor. She also earned a degree from the 18

She returned to her baptismal name Sister Rita in 1969, the same year the sisters began wearing contemporary clothing. Then, in 1971, after completing a degree in religious studies from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, she launched the first official Campus Ministry program at Mercyhurst, coordinating liturgies, retreats and service opportunities.

She’s particularly proud of leading a pair of Intersession trips to the Koinonia Farm in Georgia, home of the Cotton Patch Gospel and birthplace of Habitat for Humanity.

Sister Rita Panciera Sister Rita Panciera, who founded the first Campus Ministry program at Mercyhurst, now runs an Erie community ministry known as the House of Prayer. Sister Rita helped create the center in 1971 to offer a contemplative experience for sisters who, like her, worked actively in the community. It was supposed to last just six weeks, but it’s still going strong as it prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Everyone is welcome at the House of Prayer on Erie’s lower west side. Sister Rita facilitates prayer groups, Scripture study, retreats and more. She trained in centering prayer so she Sister Rita (R) pictured with Sister Patricia Whalen, RSM

MERCYHURST COLLEGE CLASS NOTES The SIXTIES Judy Emling ‘66 has started a photography website. She recently traveled to Europe and enjoyed a river cruise on the Danube River. She has become a Eucharistic Minister and joined the hospitality committee at St. Patrick Church in Erie. Judy also volunteers at the Erie City Mission and completed the Presque Isle Half Marathon.

Members of the Class of 1968 held a “mini-reunion” in Salem, Mass. (home of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692) during October 2010. Pictured, from left: Paula Blood Pitts (of Vermont), Judy Fitzgerald Gage (Delaware), Sharon Labosky Kirk (Pennsylvania), and Maureen Good Dalton (Massachusetts).

directs the Secondary School Athletic Training Practice-Based Research Network. She is an accomplished educator and researcher in the area of sport-related concussion.

Kathleen Barone ‘92 joined Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the largest independent hotel management company in the U.S., as vice president, global sales and strategic accounts.

Emilio Colaiacovo ‘98 was elected to a three-year term as a director of the Erie County Bar Association on June 11, 2010.

The MILLENNIUM

The NINETIES Tony Prusak ‘90 was named vice president for communication and technology of the International Medical Meeting Professionals Association (IMMPA) at its annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo. Tony was also named to the board of directors of the organization committed to providing education, certification and resources to a full spectrum of health care meeting professionals.

Amitavo “Papoo” Roy ‘00 is teaching strings at the American International School in the Himalayas. Papoo is pictured with his wife, Swati, and son, Abhiroop Theodore, in August 2010 at the 63rd Indian Independence Day.

Dr. Tamara Valovich McLeod ‘96 was named the inaugural John P. Wood, D.O., endowed chair for sports medicine within the athletic training program at A.A. Still University in Mesa, Ariz. Dr. McLeod is an associate professor of athletic training and

Heather Benny ‘06 was promoted in July 2010 to director of court advocacy at the Crime Victim Center of Erie County.

Erik Olson ‘06 graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine with the degree of doctor of osteopathic medicine on May 29, 2010.

Samantha Testa ‘08 is a first grade teacher with the Fairfax County Public Schools in Alexandria, Va. Samantha will be volunteering for a month this summer at an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with the nonprofit organization Projects Abroad.

Dani Kutrufis ‘99 married Brian Rudplph on Oct. 18, 2008, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Karin Bender Spencer ‘99 was a bridesmaid. Brian and Dani reside in Pittsburgh.

Elizabeth M. Roberto Petrus ‘01 was named director of education at the Pacific Autism Center for Education.

Jason Collins ‘02 has been promoted to unit chief rank with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and designated the senior FBI representative to the National Counterterrorism Center’s Directorate of Intelligence. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Eve, and daughter, Victoria.

Lana Ritterman-McAndrew ‘02 has been named care coordinator for the Monroe County Building Bridges Pilot Program. The program aims to reduce the length of stay for children and youth in the residential

a June 17, 2011, wedding at the K Club in Ireland.

Cynthia Barthole ‘04 graduated from Drexel University with a Master of Science in art administration and is now director of annual giving at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, N.J.

WEDDINGS

Scott Platz ‘01 has been promoted to director of finance at both Bedford and Richmond Medical Centers.

Michael Grine ‘91 presented “Eye Acrylic” (pictured here) as part of the Collective Exhibition at the Agora Gallery during February 2011 in New York City.

setting, successfully reunite children and youth with their families in their own communities, and transform residential service delivery.

Billy Byrnes ‘02 married Kristin Simms on Nov. 7, 2009, at the University of Santa Clara Mission Church. The wedding party included Justin McCabe ‘02 and Scott Quivey ‘02. Billy is a campus minister at Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school in San Jose, Calif.

Kristin is a religion teacher and campus minister at the cross-town rival Archbishop Mitty High School.

The couple honeymooned in Belize on an eco-conscious trip, which included a solar-powered jungle lodge and three days of volunteering with Sustainable Harvest International.

Will Cosgrave ‘02 became engaged to Mel Wainner in May 2010. They plan

Seth Pokoj ‘02 and Jamie Roland were married in Mars, Pa., on Sept. 19, 2010.

Kristen Brown ‘03 married Ryan Cassidy ‘07 on Sept. 5, 2010, in Erie, Pa. Stephany Balaban Albert ‘03 was a bridesmaid. Kristen is the daughter of professor Dr. Ludlow (Bud) Brown.

Erin Hardman ‘03 and Anthony Simic were married in Fairview Park, Ohio, on Oct. 2, 2010. Bridesmaids included Julie Vernick ‘04, Heather Miller ‘03 and Jen Edwards ‘03.

Richard Johns ‘03 married Eileen Lynch on Oct. 9, 2010, at Our Lady of Angels Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. They spent their honeymoon in Hawaii.

Richard is a unit head at the New York City Office of Management and Budget, and Eileen is an assistant commissioner with the Department of Homeless Services. Damien Ettere ‘03 and Joshua Pfarr ‘03 were groomsmen. Richard and Eileen reside in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kristin Elizabeth Purdy ‘03 married Joshua Thomas Graves on Sept. 11, 2010. The couple held a private ceremony with immediate family in the Lamberton Conservatory in Rochester, N.Y., and celebrated with a dinner at Pier 45 at the Port of Rochester. They are looking forward to celebrating with friends and family at a reception in summer 2011.

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MERCYHURST COLLEGE CLASS NOTES Kristen Berkoski ‘06 became engaged to Michael Stubelek on Nov. 5, 2010, in Freeport, Maine, at Wolf Neck Park. They’re planning a wedding for fall 2012.

Preston Briggs ‘06 and Amanda Jo Davis ‘04 were married Sept. 4, 2010, in Natrona Heights, Pa. Members of the bridal party included Katie Krupa ‘04, Kelly Porter ‘04, Mackenzie Dexter ‘03 and Katie Resinger Kutterna ‘03. The photographer was also a Mercyhurst alum, Danielle Prokop ‘04, and the officiant was Barbara Ravenstahl ‘62. The couple is residing in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Matt Echan ‘06 married Sarah Clark on Oct. 16, 2010, in Willoughby, Ohio. The wedding party included Devin Kowalski ’05, Bridget Clark ’02 (sister of the bride and maid of honor), Tim Echan ’07 (brother of the groom and best man), Leslie Fletcher ’03 (sister of the groom), and Dan Coffee ’05.

Blakely Holman ‘06 married Elizabeth Kenniston ‘06 on Sept. 25, 2010, at Grandview Lodge in Nisswa, Minn. Bridesmaids included Deborah Dalsin ‘06, Katie Marsjanik ‘06 and Carrie Karsznia ‘06, and Zac Brien ‘06 was a groomsman.

Mikael Keremes ‘06 and Natalie Kordziel ‘06 were married in Cazenovia, N.Y., on May 22, 2010.

They reside in South Amboy, N.J., and work in New York City.

Jacob Ross ‘06 was a groomsman.

Erin Lenz ‘06 married Scott Grammer on Sept. 5, 2010, in Cambridge Springs, Pa. Val McNeill ‘06 was a member of the wedding party. Erin and Scott live in Indianapolis, Ind. 20

David Sterns ‘06 ‘08 became engaged to Wendy Beveridge on Dec. 23, 2009. They plan to wed May 21, 2011, at Shenandoah National Park near Luray, Va. Jeremy Hewitt ‘07 became engaged to Kristin Leonard ‘08 in October 2010.

Melanie Asay ‘08 married Jakub Jaroszewicz on July 24, 2010, in Meadville, Pa. Among the attendants were Nicole Rondini ‘08, Felecia Adamus ‘07 and Amanda Daugherty ‘10. They reside in Phoenix, Ariz., where they both work for the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes.

Amanda Placek ‘08 married Aaron Wood on May 1, 2010. Members of the bridal party included Sally McKenny ‘08 and Elizabeth Ellis ‘08. The wedding took place at Grace Church in McKean, Pa. Stephanie Prohaska ‘08 and Kyle Craig ‘08 exchanged vows at Christ the King Chapel on the Mercyhurst campus on July 10, 2010.

Thomas Palmer ‘00 and Heather Weber Palmer ‘01 had a daughter, Samantha Kate, on Sept. 25, 2010. She joins sisters Julia and Lauren.

Dave McCoy ‘01 and Laura Chrulski McCoy ‘01 had a son, James Everett, on July 8, 2010.

Amy Weaver-Kaulis ‘00, assistant professor of fashion merchandising at Mercyhurst, and husband Kyle had their second son, Reid Weaver Kaulis, on Dec. 30, 2010.

Jennifer McLaughlin Rzepecki ‘00 and husband Dan had a daughter, Laila, on June 22, 2010. She was born in Annapolis, Md., and joins sister Ella.

Jesse Wakeman ‘00 and Allison Oberle Wakeman ‘01 had a daughter, Abigail Elizabeth, on March 26, 2010. Abby joins sister Olivia. The Wakemans reside in Newark, Del.

Laurie Sienkiewicz Cornelius ‘02 and husband Matt had a son, Grant Matthew, on May 11, 2010, in Raleigh, N.C. Grant joins brother Cole.

James Alexander IV ‘04 and Heather Ackerman Alexander ‘04 had a third daughter, Taylor Louise, on Oct. 27, 2010. Taylor joins big sisters Noel and Morgan.

Stephanie Adams ‘06, director of the respiratory therapy program at Mercyhurst North East, and husband Tim had a son, Michael Timothy, on July 22, 2010. Michael joins siblings Cora, Lucas and Sammy.

Ron Dorchak ‘06 and wife Kelly had a son, Ronald Evans, on Sept. 30, 2010.

SPOTLIGHT: CLASS OF ’65

BIRTHS Erik Hoolahan ‘97 and wife Alicia had a daughter, Alexandra Marion, on Oct. 15, 2010, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Brother Kaden and sister Kendall are thrilled.

Jamie Papinchak ‘97 and Rebecca Zawacki Papinchak ‘98 had a daughter, Penelope Jean, on July 21, 2010. She joins big sisters Lillian and Violet.

Peter Zohos ‘97 and wife Karen had a daughter, Toula Marie, on Aug. 4, 2010.

Emilio Colaiacovo ‘98 and wife Kimberly had a son, Brayden Michal, on May 15, 2010.

Beth Pettit Karpinski ‘01 and Mark Karpinski ‘99 had a son, Evan John, April 15, 2010, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Members of the Class of 1965 gathered for a mini-reunion last summer.

Pictured on the beach in Cape Porpoise, Maine, are (top row, from left) Mary Kay Naegle, Marcine Chmielewski, Ann Ledoux Erwin, Kathie Mahaney Baumeister, Maryce Jaeger Cunningham, Marcia Neumont Melhop, Peg Hock Heetmann, Maureen Aleci Gray. Second row: Bonnie Morris Gerace, Fran Herman Lord, Mary Ann Sabolsky Sieczka, Sue Smith Beidler, Ginny Gorsak DeGironimo, Barb Kramer Brozich. Foreground: Marty Fiedler Spring, Janis Bodnar Hall, Barb Brairton.

MERCYHURST COLLEGE CLASS NOTES DEATHS

Husband of:

Alumni

Kathleen Kurucz Simonyi ‘58 (Victor Simonyi)

Mary Annice McCray ‘40

Charlotte Kundrath ‘60 (Donald E. Kundrath)

Sister Mary Clare McWilliams, RSM ‘45 Kathleen Leehan Baskin ‘48

Father of:

Alice Murphy Cirillo ‘49

Jane Craig ‘78 (Harry Craig)

Cecilia M. Wert Proctor ‘52 Helen Clancy Bavisotto ‘58

Valerie Kaminski Laufenberg ‘82 (Leo R. Kaminski)

Katherine King Tolhurst ‘58

Jeanette Britt ‘94 (William Britt)

Anne Johnson Weppner ‘58

Christina Bengtson Sahloff ‘95 (Peter N. Bengtson)

Sister Aurelia Helmheckel, RSM ‘60 Mary Frances Weigand Simpson ‘62 Carolyn Kaczmarek Zack ‘62 Alice Dillon ‘64 Dr. Martha Jane Matjasko ‘64 Maureen Kelly Romanoff ‘68 Sharon E. Cullaton ‘76 Margo Constantino ‘78 Stephen J. Chludzinski ‘79 Linda M. Fotek ‘03

Nordia Brusola ‘10 (Oscar Brusola) Mother of: Maryann Cuneo Komazec ‘64, Antoinette Cuneo Pavlik ‘66 and Vincent Cuneo ‘76 (Agnes Cuneo) Teri Zupsic Reese ‘69 (Antoinette Zupsic)

Amy Byrne Kovacs ‘93 (Margaret “Peggy” Byrne)

Friends of the college:

Jan Hill ‘96 (Dorothy Kesselring)

Frank Jarecki

Marjorie Mead Carlson Eve Murphy

Father-in-law of:

Joseph P. Restifo

Christina Bengtson Sahloff ‘95 (Roger W. Sahloff)

Carl Schlemmer Grace M. Weschler

Son of: Karen Schultz Benzel ‘75 (Mark Benzel Jr.)

CORRECTION

Brother of: Patricia Liebel ‘53 (C. Robert Liebel) Grandmother of: Amy Pavlik Monteparte ‘89 and Beth Pavlik Germano ‘91 (Agnes Cuneo)

Brian Ward ‘84 (Margaret L. Ward) Shirley Williams ‘86 ‘89 (Julia B. Pohlit Kramer)

Our last issue should have expressed condolences to Elizabeth A. Delany Dymski ‘58 on the passing of her brother-in-law, Rev. Daniel Dymski. We incorrectly identified Elizabeth as Anne Dymski ‘54.

We regret the error.

This issue includes alumni news received through Jan. 20, 2011.

Matt Lieberman ‘10

Remembering Jenni-Lyn The words that broke our hearts: “It is with our deepest regrets and sympathies that we report junior dance major Jenni-Lyn Watson was found dead in a marshy area about 300 yards from Wetzel Road in the Town of Clay, near the North Area YMCA on Saturday, Nov. 27.”

Jenni-Lyn, 20, went missing from her home near Syracuse, N.Y., on Nov. 19 during Thanksgiving break. Three months later her ex-boyfriend pled guilty to seconddegree murder.

The college community mourned her loss through a prayer service, a memorial space and a special Mass on campus. More than 100 administrators, employees and students attended her funeral in Syracuse.

“Our Mercyhurst family poured their hearts and souls into finding Jenni-Lyn in a genuine outpouring of humanity,” President Dr. Tom Gamble said in a letter to employees, alumni and friends of the college. “Her death is devastating to our entire college community.

We continue to pray for her family and extend our deepest sympathies.”

It’s the hope and joy Jenni-Lyn brought to life that will be remembered.

“Love deeply … forgive quickly … laugh when you can … apologize when you should … and let go of what you can’t change.”

To ensure Jenni-Lyn’s passion for life and for dance lives on, Mercyhurst College has established the Jenni-Lyn Watson Memorial Dance Scholarship in her honor.

Contributions may be made online at giving.mercyhurst.edu/jennilyn.

Jenni-Lyn’s words from her MySpace page continue to inspire many, including fellow dancers and Dance Department faculty who chose to honor her through the art she loved most.

Her classmates “danced for Jenni” in early February during a performance they named “Raw Edges: For Jenni-Lyn Watson.”

Tauna Hunter, artistic director for the annual showcase of student choreography, explained, “Her philosophy threaded the concert together and helped all of us with the healing process, as we move from mourning our loss to celebrating her life with us.”

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When the Mercyhurst Lakers upset thirdranked California (Pa.) on Oct. 23, it was touted as the biggest win in program history.

Besides snapping the Vulcans’ 24-game win streak against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division teams, it vaulted the Lakers into the national rankings for the first time ever.

But that distinction was soon eclipsed as the Lakers rolled on to their best season in the program’s 30-year history, finishing 10-3.

The Lakers beat Clarion on Nov. 6 to claim a share of the PSAC West championship. Two weeks later they topped Eastern Division champ Bloomsburg 56-37 to capture Mercyhurst’s first PSAC football title, earning their first appearance ever in NCAA postseason play. The Lakers won the rematch with Bloomsburg, 28-14.

Coach Marty Schaetzle’s team reached the national quarterfinals before losing to West Virginia’s Shepherd University, 49-14.

Best

Along the way, the Lakers rewrote ’Hurst record books, setting new marks for victories in a season (10), home victories in a season (8), and longest winning streak (7). They scored the most points ever (354), achieved the highest passing completion percentage (58.3), and tied team records for passing touchdowns (29), touchdowns in a single game (5), and opponent shutouts (2). Coach Schaetzle became Mercyhurst’s all-time victories leader with a 42-56 record in his nine seasons. The team reached #11 in the final national rankings of the regular season.

Mercyhurst was the unanimous favorite in the final Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II Lambert Meadowlands Poll presented by FieldTurf. The Lakers were also named the ECAC Division II Conference Team of the Year for their efforts in 2010.

Several team members set new individual records. Running back Gerald Anderson rushed a record 289 times for a record 1,313 yards. (Trevor Kennedy and Terrence Coon also had 1,000-yard receiving seasons.)

SEASON Ever 22

Kennedy set five new records, including receptions (73), touchdown receptions (11), punt returns (29), punt return yards (501), and yards per punt return (17.3). He also tied the mark for longest punt return with a 79-yard scamper against Lock Haven. Quarterback Travis Rearick completed two touchdown passes of at least 80 yards, one each to Kennedy and Coon.

In the months following the dream season, honors kept rolling in. Along with Anderson, Kennedy, Coon and Rearick, Bryan Boyce, Ian Wild, Fred Hale, Julius McCormick, Tim Herbener and Kevin Poropat were tapped for a variety of all-star teams and other awards.

Not to be outdone, Coach Schaetzle was a top-5 finalist for the Liberty Mutual Division II Coach of the Year Award, which celebrates coaches for their sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence and for giving back to their teams, schools and communities, on and off field. Schaetzle engineered the “Make a Point to Take Away Cancer” campaign this year, donating $1 for every point the Lakers scored in the 2010 regular season and $5 for every interception and fumble recovery.

With other gifts, the drive raised more than $2,600 for the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation.

Agosta skates into NCAA hockey record books

Headed to the majors?

Senior forward Meghan Agosta celebrated her 24th birthday in grand style on Feb. 12. The goal she scored in the Lakers’ 4-2 victory over Syracuse tied the all-time NCAA record for goals by a women’s hockey player with 150.

After taking last year off from college to play in her second Olympics (bringing home another gold medal, a scoring record and the Most Valuable Player award), Agosta rejoined the Lakers last fall.

A former Mercyhurst baseball standout appears poised to claim a roster spot with the Kansas City Royals this spring. Versatile outfielder David Lough was named to the team’s 40-man roster last November.

Just a week earlier, she’d broken the all-time NCAA scoring record, scoring a hat trick and recording an assist in a 6-2 win over Wayne State. Agosta’s four points moved her career total to 286, surpassing the 285 scored by former Harvard forward and U.S. Olympian Julie Chu.

She led the nation in scoring throughout much of the season, but the entire team has been outstanding, including seniors Vicki Bendus and Jesse Scanzano (who each scored more than 40 points), freshman Christine Bestland (the third-leading rookie scorer in the country) and goalie Hillary Pattenden (who took over the Laker record for wins when she recorded her 75th). It was also a special year for Coach Michael Sisti, who notched his 300th career win Jan. 15 when the Lakers beat Brown 12-0.

Agosta also owns the NCAA records for shorthanded goals and game-winning goals in a career, but she doesn’t like to focus on her individual performances.

“It’s a great honor to break such a storied record,” she said. “But none of this would have been possible without my teammates. I play hard every game to help my team succeed and bring an NCAA Championship to Mercyhurst.”

Ranked among the Top 5 teams in the nation through most of the season, the Lakers are challenging again for a shot at the national title that has eluded them during two previous appearances in the Frozen Four (the women’s hockey equivalent of basketball’s Final Four).

Reaching the Frozen Four this year would be especially sweet since the championship will be played in Erie at Tullio Arena. The NCAA decision to bring the tournament to Erie is testimony to the respect the Mercyhurst hockey program has earned over 12 years.

Sisti and his team have set their sights on playing in the national spotlight again, this time sharing it with their adopted hometown.

To follow the team’s progress, visit hurstathletics.com. For information about the Frozen Four (including tickets), visit frozenfourerie.com.

Lough, 24, has been a highly regarded prospect for the Royals organization since being drafted in the 11th round in 2007.

He has since been assigned to the Class A Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals and the Triple-A Omaha Royals.

The left-handed Lough hit .280 in 2010 for Omaha, with 37 extra-base hits, 58 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 120 games.

After the 2009 season, he was named the 2009 George Brett Hitter of the Year for the entire Royals organization after he posted a .325 batting average in Class A and Double-A, collectively.

Lough played both baseball and football for the Lakers. On the baseball side, he ranks among the top 10 in several singleseason and career record categories at Mercyhurst. He finished his college career with a .383 batting average (202-for-527) while playing in 152 games, including 150 starts. He posted 16 homers, 41 doubles and 10 triples to go along with 126 RBI and 60 stolen bases. An All-America selection in 2007, Lough was a two-time first-team all-conference honoree and a two-time All-North Central selection.

Agosta arrived on campus in 2006, fresh off a gold medal performance at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. She had scored a hat trick for Team Canada against Russia on her 19th birthday. The Lakers earned their first national #1 ranking in 2006-07, but fell in the national quarterfinals.

They continued to perform well, but lost again in the quarterfinals a year later. Then, in 2009, they played in the national title game, losing to perennial power Wisconsin. In 2010, the Lakers again made it to the Frozen Four but lost to Cornell in the semifinals.

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Homecoming2010

k o o b p Scra

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Ryan Palm ’07 helped welcome alumni to Homecoming 2010 festivities soon after joining the alumni team last summer as assistant director of alumni relations and annual giving. A 2007 ‘Hurst intelligence studies grad, he moved back to Erie after working as an intelligence analyst with the National Security Agency (NSA) in the Washington, D.C., area. He’s married to another alum, Sarah Williams Palm ’06, who now teaches culinary arts at McDowell High School. If you’re interested in helping to host a regional alumni event in your area, contact Ryan at rpalm@mercyhurst.edu or (814) 824-3320.

“Now celebrating its 15th season, the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center is at the heart of the area’s cultural scene.”

- Lake Erie LifeStyle Magazine

Got Grammys ? ®

The Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center kicked off its 15th anniversary year with ninetime Grammy® winner Wynton Marsalis … and the momentum continues right through to the end of the star-studded season, with a hotblooded gala fundraiser featuring the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, who grabbed a Grammy® this year for Best Tropical Latin Album.

March came in like a lion when three-time Grammy® winner Lucinda Williams blew through town. Lucinda’s awards - for Best Country Song (1993), Best Contemporary Folk Album (1998) and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (2001) - reflect the amazing range of her talent.

Buddy Guy, whose recording career spans 46 years, is the next Grammy® winner to light up the stage, playing on April 3. Guy has been awarded five Grammys® for his work as a solo blues artist, and in rock collaboration with B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt and Dr. John.

For the final concert of the 15th anniversary season, the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center is pulling out all the stops, on May 13, with the New York-based Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Along with their recent win, the SHO also garnered three consecutive Grammy® nominations and a win in 2005 for Best Salsa/ Merengue Album.

Led by the incomparable pianist Oscar Hernandez, the SHO is the musical centerpiece for the PAC’s annual gala fundraiser. It’s what you would call a “¡fiesta!” And, it’s the hottest way to show your support for the performing arts.

Buddy Guy Sunday, April 3, at 7 p.m.

Please call (814) 824-3000 or visit pac.mercyhurst.edu for event and ticket information.

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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

501 East 38th Street, Erie, PA 16546

Erie, PA Permit No. 10

NCAA WOMEN’S HOCKEY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Special Ticket Deals and Packages for ’Hurst Alumni Alumni Relations has designated a special ’Hurst alumni section at the arena and has made available a limited number of discounted tickets for Mercyhurst alumni and friends.

Buy your tickets today at:

alumni.mercyhurst.edu/frozenfour

March 18-20 Tullio Arena • Erie, Pa. frozenfourerie.com • Tickets: (814) 452-4857