miamian The Magazine of Miami University
Fall 2014
A Miracle with Every Breath 5 people can breathe again thanks to surgeon Jeffrey Schwartz ’85 and his transplant teams
IN THIS ISSUE:
In Uber Drive The Wedding Planner Medical Training in 3-D
THE FIGURE AS MUSE Tom Corbin ’76, based in Kansas City, became fascinated by art at an early age, inspired by his art-teacher mother. At Miami, he studied drawing while majoring in marketing. He started out as an advertising executive until a chance meeting with a bronze sculptor led to classes and thoughts of an art career, which he began in 1986. “The common thread running through my evolving style is my love of the figure as muse.” His “Girl with Dove” is a 12' 6" bronze atop the U.N. Peace Plaza’s fountain in Independence, Mo.
Staff Editor Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96
Vol. 33, No. 1
miamian
Senior Designers Donna Barnet Belinda Rutherford
The Magazine of Miami University
Photographers Jeff Sabo Scott Kissell Web Developer Suzanne Clark
STORIES
18 In Uber Drive
Copy Editor Beth Weaver
Uber is completely changing the way people move around their cities, and Miamians are helping to drive the 5-year-old tech company.
Issue Design Consultant Lilly Pereira University Advancement 513-529-4029 Vice President for University Advancement Tom Herbert herbertw@MiamiOH.edu
22 Going to the Chapel Find a ride with the tap of an app. (see page 18).
During one exceptional 24 hours, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz ’85 and his teams transplant lungs into five different patients.
IN EACH ISSUE
Office of Development 513-529-1230 Senior Associate Vice President for University Advancement Brad Bundy Hon ’13 brad.bundy@MiamiOH.edu
2 From the Hub
The power of scholarships.
3 Back & Forth
To and from the editor.
MiamiOH.edu/alumni
ON THE COVER When Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz ’85 and his Loyola colleagues transplanted lifesaving donor lungs into five recipients in 24 hours, news of the unusually high number went viral. Cover illustration by Kyle T. Webster.
A dog of a ring bearer, reception decorations too heavy to lift — Miami’s wedding planners vow to take it all in stride.
24 A Miracle with Every Breath
Alumni Relations 513-529-5957 Assistant Vice President for Alumni Relations Ray Mock ’82 MS ’83 mockrf@MiamiOH.edu
Send address changes to: Alumni Records Office Advancement Services Miami University 926 Chestnut Lane Oxford, Ohio 45056 alumnirecords@MiamiOH.edu 513-529-5127 Fax: 513-529-1466
Fall 2014
Homecoming at Miami is 100 years old this fall (see page 48).
6 Along Slant Walk
Campus news highlights.
10 Such A Life 30%
Trees of Miami in the fall.
12 Inquiry + Innovation
Opus Web paper features FSC® certifications and is Lacey Act compliant; 100% of the electricity used to manufacture Opus Web is generated with Green-e® certified renewable energy.
16 My Story
The editor who hated adjectives. Passionately.
30 Love & Honor
Miami launches new $100 million scholarship campaign for prospective students.
32 Class Notes
Notes, news, and weddings.
3-D printing may become part of medical training.
46 Farewells
14 Media Matters
Dusting off a historical gem from the archives.
New works by alumni.
48 Days of Old
Miamian is published four times a year by the University Advancement Division of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056. Copyright © 2014, Miami University. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Miamian is produced by University Communications and Marketing, 108 Glos Center, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, 513-529-7592; Fax: 513-529-1950; Miamian@MiamiOH.edu.
from the hub
Such Promise By President David Hodge
Miami students always impress me with how hard
they work. One such student is Janell Roeper. Janell is a junior from Grafton, Ohio, who came to Miami for our excellent music education program. When we first met, she told me she wanted to teach at an inner-city middle school. Through an unpaid internship this summer with the Dayton Philharmonic, she introduced grade school children to the violin. Now she is more certain than ever of her goal. This young woman is paying her own way through college. A trumpet player in the marching band and an RA in Morris Hall, she made the dean’s list last semester while taking 24 credit hours of classes and working three jobs. We want all Despite her hard work, without scholMiamians to share arships, Janell wouldn’t be able to stay at Miami. One of her five scholarships this in our students’ fall was established by Mike and Anne accomplishments. Armstrong earlier this year. Mike, Class of 1961, knows what it’s like to struggle to pay for college. He came to Miami with a football scholarship and was active in student government. His sophomore year, he was injured and lost his scholarship, while his dad’s company went bankrupt. He had to drop out of school and work on the docks in Detroit to save enough to return to Miami. Back a year later, he worked nearly 30 hours a week while taking classes, leaving him no time for student government. With this new scholarship, he wants to be sure that students in situations similar to his have the opportunity to return and participate fully in all that Miami has to offer. Like Mike, I understand how important scholarships are. The first in my family to go to college, I couldn’t
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possibly have attended without such support. Valerie was also a first-generation college student who received significant scholarship help. That’s why we now support first-generation Miami students. We treasure their letters to us — it is incredibly rewarding to see all that they are accomplishing. That is also why Miami is announcing a new campaign this fall — “The Miami Promise Scholarship Campaign” — which will increase affordability and accessibility for bright students and their families. What’s most exciting about this $100 million campaign is that donors won’t have to wait to get to know the students they are helping. Miami will provide a match that allows scholarships to be awarded immediately. We want all Miamians to have the opportunity to see the You are invited to write to impact of their scholarships, President David Hodge at right from the start, and share in president@MiamiOH.edu. Follow him on twitter @PresHodge. our students’ accomplishments. We also want a Miami education to remain within reach of talented and ambitious students, like Janell, who understand that attending college requires hard work and commitment. They appreciate that Miami, in turn, is committed to them. For the fifth year in a row, Miami has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 public college in the nation on the Best Undergraduate Teaching List — for our commitment to their education. This ranking reflects our unwavering dedication to our students. With such support from all of us, our students’ Miami dreams become real.
back & forth miamian The
ty Magazine of Miami Universi
Library of Regional History. The cover photo for the Summer 2014 issue and the photo on page 27 were taken by Herbert Randall.
Summer 2014
REFLECTIONS ON om Summer, 50th anniversary of Freed As Miami recognizes the of the 1960s. ts on the changing times joh n swa nn ’65 reflec 6/2/14 11:02 AM
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Views on “Freedom” This is in response to “Freedom: One Perspective,” Summer 2014 Miamian. In 1961 I moved into East Quad and lived in McBride Hall. I grew up in New Jersey and Ohio and never went to school with other than a white face. I knew John Swann ’65 MEd ’67 to talk to, although I’m sure he doesn’t remember me. But what I learned from talking to him helped shape my whole perception of a race that I never knew before. I learned to never judge another by what I had heard or what I read, especially an entire race. Thanks to John I was changed at age 18 and would like to think I became a better man because of it. He made a difference in my life. Thanks, John, for a life lesson learned. —David Anderson ’66 Mason, Ohio Editor’s note: The photo on page 28 in the Summer 2014 Miamian accompanying “Freedom: One Perspective” was taken by George R. Hoxie and is used courtesy of Smith
I am grateful to you for “Freedom: One Perspective.” My husband and I, both Caucasian, were raised in different regions — he in the segregated South during Jim Crow, and I in the Northeast in the 1960s. We have had many discussions about our experiences with racial prejudice and discrimination. I recall a sharply segregated culture with little opportunity to know and understand African-Americans as being human beings like me. I was often bewildered over snide comments my father would make about people I knew he had never met. My husband, on the other hand, remembers deeply painful experiences of personally observing his father humiliate and frighten black people to an extent he never saw with white people. John Swann has furthered my understanding of how damaging and wasteful of human potential all racism is, whether or not it is overt. Thank you for publishing such a fine alumni magazine. I look forward to it, knowing it will be chock full of interesting and high-quality articles for my reading pleasure. —Coleen Hanna PhD ’88 Hamburg, N.Y. Reading about Mr. Swann coming to Miami in 1962 reminded me of my own enrollment that same year. I transferred to Miami from the University of Cincinnati, as my co-op program had ended. I had played in the UC Marching Band, and we visited Oxford at least once. I decided that since I had to move
on, Miami would make an almost 180-degree change, and I might like it. Going to college in 1960s Oxford was like dropping off the map compared to UC. Cincinnati had cosmopolitan, gas-lit neighborhoods surrounding the school and no dorms. We lived in fading mansions. Cincinnati had dance halls with big-name bands and sold set-ups. Anyone could buy booze or anything else, by crossing the river to Newport, Ky. I arrived at Miami in the early summer of ’62 to find a room (the dorms were full). I was given a list of homes that rented to students. They were all in the north end of town, which was the black neighborhood. I finally found a rundown house on the last street in town. Its next-door neighbor was the city dump, where garbage was burned. The home’s owner, a white lady, lived in the basement, and her boyfriend was a black mailman. Oxford still had a Cigar Store on its public square and a pool hall where you played a nickel a rack. Buford would rack them for you, collect your nickel, and buy you a Coke if you wanted. I stayed overnight and before going home decided to go Uptown to the Miami-Western Theatre. I don’t remember if the movie was The Hustler, but, as it ended and the lights came up, I walked up the aisle and noticed the back rows had a sign: “Colored Only.” —Art Breitenbach ’65 Bay Village, Ohio
Send letters to: Donna Boen Miamian editor 108 Glos Center Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056-2480 Miamian@MiamiOH.edu; or fax to 513-529-1950. Include your name, class year, home address, and phone number. Letters are edited for space and clarity.
I enjoyed John Swann’s sometimes poignant remembrances of his days as a black student at Miami in the 1960s.
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What we meant to say… In the Summer 2014 Miamian article about author Margaret Peterson Haddix ’86, her advice about writing for a middle-school audience should have read, “You have to think like a 12-year-old” rather than “like an 8-year-old.”
That topic should not be closed without a tribute to Frederick L. Meacham ’57. When we entered Miami in 1954, the application forms had a box asking for “race” — so that the freshman housing office could match up black students with each other. Fred had fought in the 1st Marine Division in Korea. He was first to speak out fearlessly against racial discrimination, and that application form spurred him to found the Campus Interracial Club. So far as I knew, its only members were Fred and me (it never had a meeting). But carrying that flag, Fred descended upon the housing office and finally shamed it into removing “race” from the forms. Fred and I and Bob Zinser ’58 roomed together in Swing Hall in 1956. I believe it was the only mixed race dorm on campus. Fred went on to be a beloved teacher, first in Cincinnati and then for years in the Defense Department schools abroad. He retired to the house where he was born in Canton and continued to write letters on public issues, many on racial equality, for the Canton Repository. He died a credit to America and the human race on Feb. 14, 2011, at 79. Semper Fidelis. —John McClaughry ’58 LLD ’92 Kirby, Vt. Memories of John Dolibois My earliest recognition of John Dolibois ’42 was in 1967 when my mother, Catherine Prudent Wolf ’18, gave to the university in memory of my father, Albert Wolf, the American flag presented on his death in 1966 for his service in the Marine Corps during the SpanishAmerican War. She felt that it
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would be a nice place for it since he had two children who graduated from Miami, Melvin Lee Wolf ’29 and Alice Jane Wolf Kiel ’48, and she was also a graduate and had been on the staff. John was delighted to receive it. He said it would be known as “The Albert Wolf Memorial Flag” and would be flown over Murstein Alumni House on special occasions. I visited with John many times when I would return every five years for my reunions (through 2003) with my daughter, Catherine Ann Kiel ’83. I enjoyed your “A Note From The Editor.” He certainly deserved recognition. —Alice Wolf Kiel ’48 Coral Gables, Fla. Hear, hear, Geena Davis “If You See It, You Can Be It” (an article about actor Geena Davis and gender equality in the Summer 2014 Miamian) inspired me to write. In my many blessed years (86) on earth, I have yet to see one male human being who was not birthed by a female! So why is it that so many males continue to disrespect their mothers and other females? Give respect and thanks to the person without the sex of the person being a factor. Acknowledge that women can and will do great things given the opportunity. Since World War II when women went in droves to the workforce to provide food, clothing, transportation, and all that was needed to support the males in uniform, women have been a much needed addition to life as we know it. And, lest we forget, the thousands of women who actually served in uniform in
World War II are still unrecognized for their great contributions. Would that we could (would) recognize that we are all in this earthly trip together and that the contributions of all are necessary to have a successful journey. If a person has the skills, training, ability, they must be recognized and encouraged to share for the benefit of all. —Fred Dafler MEd ’55 Dublin, Ohio Before the Armstrong Your recent article about the new Armstrong Student Center — it makes me want to return to school — brought back several warm memories. In May 1947 the Student Center Committee announced that the name of the soon-to-beopened center would be “Redskin Reservation.” Soon, however, that was shortened to “The Res.” The building, which stood near today’s Roudebush Hall, had been obtained as a surplus military recreation facility following WWII. It was a sparse facility with table, chairs, a few booths, and a snack bar. The school experienced an enrollment explosion in 1946–1947, almost doubling from about 3,000 students to 5,000. This necessitated a corresponding rapid increase in physical facilities. Acres of surplus portable officer quarters were erected on the west side of Oak Street (approximately where Williams Hall now stands) to house a new Miami phenomenon, married students with families. Another plot of acres of surplus barracks was erected on the opposite side of Oak Street. These were intended to house incoming male freshmen. Unfortunately, there was
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a delay in their construction, and some 400 men had to be housed in Withrow Court gymnasium from September until Thanksgiving. Imagine 399 roommates! (Life magazine featured a layout on this unusual dormitory arrangement.) Movement for a student center had begun in the early ’40s within the student body, and initial efforts were funded by student monies. In early spring of 1947, the StudentFaculty Council set aside a contribution of $1,000 for the incipient student center. Sometime between 1947 and 1949 the student body — in a generous and farsighted move — voted to enact a fee collected each semester to fund a permanent student union. Although the Ohio legislature had provided funds for academic and residence buildings, no such funds had been made available for facilities such as student unions. However, in late spring 1949 Rep. Paul Hinkle ’31 from Mercer County, along with Rep. Reid, introduced a bill authorizing funds to be lent to the several state universities for the construction of student unions. Ellen Dennison ’49 and I represented Miami in testifying in support of the bill before the House Committee. Unfortunately, the bill was defeated. It took another seven years before Hinkle’s pioneering work bore fruit with the opening of the University Center, later renamed the Shriver Center. Once again, as in the ’40s and ’50s, the initiative and giving of the Miami community — this time led by the Armstrongs — has resulted in a place for countless students to savor the “Miami experience.” —John Spangler ’50 MA ’51 Denver, Colo.
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Oh, Brother Ever since I gave my left kidney to my brother Dennis, I’m a softie for
stories about organ transplants. That’s why I was intrigued when I heard about Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz ’85. He’s the surgical director of lung transplantation at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. The subject of this Miamian’s cover story, he and his team made headlines in May when they transplanted five donor lungs in 24 hours. It’s rare for more than five lung transplants to take place in one day throughout the entire country. A modest man, Dr. Schwartz dismisses any accolades. To him, the heroes are the donors. Looking at the numbers, I can see why. With 123,641 people in the U.S. currently needing a lifesaving transplant, donors are vital. Of the 14,326 transplants performed in the U.S. between January and June of this year, 11,518 were from deceased donors and 2,808 from living donors. That’s me. A living donor, although we were a surprisingly poor match for siblings. Made me wonder if my sister had been telling the truth after all, and I was left on the doorstep in a shoe box. Even 26 years later, I remember vivid details during those days in the hospital. Such as … Asking the surgeon, as I was about to go under, what he would do if he dropped the kidney on the way to my brother’s operating room. Guess what — the five-second rule applies everywhere! Yeah, he was kidding. Waking up in recovery and being told the kidney was functioning already. From then on, it was “the” kidney, not mine, not Den’s. Rolling plastic wrap around my middle with its fresh 23-inch scar so I could take a shower. Ah, hot water, soap, clean hair. Life’s best pleasures are so simple. Shuffling all the way to the cafeteria and back for two Cokes. Outside his room I dropped one of the cans and watched it roll. Uh-oh. Removing the lid from my first meal in four days and finding spicy Chili Con Carne. Who in his right mind ordered that? I was tempted to accuse my brother. That’s what brothers do, you know. I checked out of the hospital on Father’s Day, a couple of days before Den. As much as I looked forward to sleeping in my own bed, I didn’t want to leave. I thought if I stayed, I could protect him from anything that would harm him ever again. That was silly. I know. Sillier still is that I sometimes think the main reason I came into this world was to save my big brother. My only regret? I slept through it. —Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96
“Mom, he’s touching me!” My brother Dennis and me in our … ahem … slightly younger days.
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The President’s Residence Lewis Place in 1913 with High Street in the foreground. Its first owner, Jane North Lewis, was an abolition sympathizer who is thought to have operated a stop on the Underground Railroad.
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Lewis Place, home of Miami presidents since 1903,
celebrates its 175th anniversary this year. Romeo Lewis of Connecticut and Florida built the High Street house in 1839 for his bride, Jane. Within its walls, he brought together New England order and Southern charm. As they had no children, after their deaths the house went to her family, who started leasing it to the university in 1903. The first presidential resident was Guy Potter Benton, with his wife and daughter. In 1929, Miami bought the house for $25,000. Originally the home had four bedrooms upstairs, one bedroom on the main floor (the current dining room), and a kitchen and dining room in the
basement, which kept smells and smoke out of the main areas. It was heated with 16 fireplaces, eight of which still work, although they use gas now. These days, there are two bedrooms and a family room on the second floor. The third floor consists of an attic and a stair leading to the widow’s walk. The room that is currently, and traditionally has been, the president’s study began as Jane’s bedroom. Its unusual feature was that it originally had windows on all four sides with the north window looking out over a spacious lawn where Romeo pastured his cow and horses. In a typical year, more than 3,000 people visit the house and between 80 and 90 events are held.
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New Life for Languages Myaamia Center major player in growing movement by indigenous people to regain their languages Miami University tribe students conduct research in the Breath of Life program at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman, Okla. Photo by Mary Linn, Sam Noble Museum
The Myaamia Center at Miami University
has received a $167,650 grant from the National Science Foundation for “Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages.” The funding is part of the Documenting Endangered Languages program, a joint effort between the NSF and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which recently announced 27 awards totaling more than $4 million to
document languages that are losing speakers. Breath of Life, as the program is known, provides archival access for native language activists and scholars. Next June, some 40 native community members from across the U.S. will gather to analyze documentation on their languages and cultures in Washington, D.C. Representing a variety of different language groups, participants will be paired with linguists serving as mentors and collectively learn about sounds, word structure, and other grammatical features of their individual languages. The Myaamia Center, which is working with the Smithsonian Institution’s Recovering Voices Program, was asked to provide organizational support for the D.C.-based program. “Easy access to archives is one of the most important issues for native communities engaged in revitalizing their languages from documentation,” said Daryl Baldwin, director of the Myaamia Center and the grant’s principal investigator.
“ If a single phrase could address all our current problems, it would be ‘only connect.’ Not just on Twitter and Facebook, but face-to-face.” —Bruce Watson, author of Freedom Summer and speaker for Miami’s 2014 Convocation
I’M GLAD YOU ASKED With so many students enjoying internships this summer, we asked:
What did you like best?
It didn’t feel like “work” to me because I enjoyed what I was doing and found myself putting forth a greater effort. Damien Watson ’15, Lancaster, Ohio, architecture major; interned at Audi AG headquarters in Germany
I felt like a part of a team instead of an employee. La Ques Harrison ’15, Euclid, Ohio, sociology, professional writing major; interned at Case Western Reserve School of Law
It was awesome to educate the zoo’s guests on different animals. Taylor Pittard ’16, El Paso, Texas, zoology major; interned at Cincinnati Zoo’s Wild Encounters
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NOTEWORTHY
Oxford came in third on Livability’s 10 Best College Towns 2014 list, topped only by Ames, Iowa, (Iowa State University) and Logan, Utah, (Utah State University). The website’s editors said Miami students and Oxford residents “enjoy a low crime rate, a thriving arts and cultural scene, affordable housing, and great schools. Oxford has evolved around the campus of Miami and grown with the school. Many historic homes, school buildings, and stores, including those in Mile Square, create an almost whimsical link to the past.” Miami ranks 18th among all U.S. colleges and 1st in Ohio for its dining programs, according to thedailymeal.com’s third annual list of the Best Colleges for Food in America. With more than 30 places where students can grab a bite to eat, Miami offers a variety of options across campus that help set it apart from others. The Daily Meal looked at 2,000 four-year colleges’ dining programs. Miami won the 2013-2014 MidAmerican Conference Institutional Academic Achievement Award for posting an overall athletic grade point average of 3.20 based on 496 studentathletes in 19 sports. This prestigious honor is presented each year to the MAC institution that achieves the highest overall institutional GPA for student-athletes competing in institutionally sponsored sports for the academic year.
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#1
RISING RANKS
#10
public university for commitment to undergraduate teaching, #2 overall. U.S. News & World Report
2015 Top Colleges-Entrepreneurship Undergraduate Programs. Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine
What’s New? At the start of this semester, Stonebridge, Beechwoods, and Hillcrest residence halls opened on the north end of Western Campus. A new geothermal energy plant heats and cools them as well as the new Western Dining Commons. The new Spring Street Bikeway provides marked bike lanes. Renovations to McFarland and Anderson halls include updated rooms and additional study spaces while East Quad is fenced off to update Collins, Dennison, Dorsey, McBride, and Symmes. Dennison’s Erickson Dining
Hall will become additional living space. In its place, a new dining hall is being constructed as an addition to Symmes. Kreger Hall reopened this semester and features new instructional and research labs and classrooms for physics. Culler Hall is the temporary home for geology and geography while Shideler Hall is updated. In another change this summer, the Shriver Center multi-purpose room was named the John E. Dolibois Room, in honor of one of Miami’s most distinguished alumni.
Stonebridge, one of three new residence halls on Western Campus.
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Let Freedom ring: Sculpting one of three chimes for the Freedom Summer Memorial next to Kumler Chapel on Western Campus, Jesse Thayer ’14 and Nathan Foley MFA ’14 (l–r) coax the metal to bend. The 10-foot-high structures are fitted to the three dogwoods dedicated during Freedom Summer’s 50th anniversary conference at Miami Oct. 11–14. The trees commemorate James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, slain in Mississippi after leaving Oxford in June 1964, and others who have devoted their lives to civil rights and social justice.
Reviewing Regional Campuses A task force appointed by Miami
President David Hodge is exploring the challenges and opportunities of differentiation at Miami’s regional campuses. The Hamilton and Middletown campuses were created in the 1960s to meet state and regional educational goals. Today those goals include offering fouryear degrees in an open access, nonresidential, affordable setting to a wide range of non-traditional students. Regional Campuses Dean Mike Pratt ’73 told Miami trustees at the
September board meeting that an ad hoc committee of regional faculty and staff studied the IU/IU-East model of regional differentiation including separately accredited campuses. The model could provide autonomy needed for increasing four-year degree offerings and maintain the Miami University identity, he reported. The model was less suited to address historic faculty and academic ties, he said. The task force will offer recommendations by the end of this semester.
CAN WE TALK? Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison, opened Miami’s 2014-2015 Lecture Series Sept. 29. Kerman’s memoir is in its second season on Netflix. The Washington Post calls it “the best TV show about prison ever made.” Also coming to Oxford for the Lecture Series are Christine Brennan and Wade Davis: “You Can Play: LGBTQ Athletes and Sports,” Nov. 10; Drew Pinsky: “Addiction Can Happen to You,” Feb. 16; and Tim Gunn: “Fashioning Life’s Lessons: Make it Work,” March 9.
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such a life
THE TREES OF MIAMI Trees of Miami, beautiful trees! … Truth — remembrance — youth: of these You brood in your ancient reveries; In the flow of universal tides This is the knowledge that keeps you vernal: — Only beauty abides; Youth is eternal. This excerpt comes from a poem by Percy MacKaye, poet-in-residence at Miami 1920-1924. The first three lines are carved into a granite tablet in the east wall of Upham Hall’s north wing. This is near the place where MacKaye’s woodland studio, known as the “Poet’s Shack,” once stood.
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inquiry + innovation
Promising New Dimension in Medicine 3-D printing may become key component of medical training By Heather Beattey Johnston
Painful pressure ulcers often afflict the elderly and people with limited mobility. Better known as bedsores, these ulcers sometimes lead to life-threatening complications and can be costly to treat. “They’re something that all long-term care facilities want to prevent in any way that they can,” says Jessica Sparks, an associate professor in the department of chemical, paper, and biomedical engineering at Miami University. Sparks is collaborating with Miami nursing faculty Deborah Beyer and Brenda Barnes ’82 on a proposal to develop pressure ulcer models that are realistic in color and shape. Their proposal involves additive manufacturing (AM) technology. AM — often referred to as 3-D printing — uses three-dimensional design data to deposit successive layers of metal, plastic, or other material until a three-dimensional solid item is complete. “We’re going to use the models to train the frontline staff, who would be the most likely to see a very early-stage pressure ulcer developing on a patient,” Sparks says. Those staff members could then call in a wound care specialist to administer treatment before the condition progresses.
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“Using 3-D printing in the field of medical simulation for training has lots of potential,” Sparks says. “Those two things should go together.” Mimicking biological tissue Sparks, Beyer, and Barnes plan to request funding for their project from the Ohio Board of Regents’ Workforce Development and Equipment Facility program within the next two years. They are encouraged that recent conversations with a large regional hospital and wound care specialists at the Veterans Affairs health system have generated enthusiasm for this work. “Their response makes it clear there’s good potential demand for what we’re trying to create,” Sparks says. “I’m confident we’ll have a good test platform for this technology.” As valuable as models like this are for training, Sparks thinks they’re just beginning to tap into AM technology. With pressure ulcers, she explains, patient-specific anatomy is less important.
inquiry + innovation
Left: Master’s student Martha Fitzgerald ’13 (left) and Jessica Sparks, associate professor in chemical, paper, and biomedical engineering at Miami, conduct research to create lifelike tissues with a 3-D printer. Right: A hydrogel produced by the 3-D printer.
The same is not true for other clinical applications, such as a tumor with a specific geometry. In those situations, surgeons need to be able to practice with 3-D models that resemble the real tumor as much as possible, Sparks says. Commercially available AM equipment can use anatomical data from a CT scan or an MRI to print the type of patient-specific training models Sparks envisions for surgeons. But, these models lack tissue-like mechanical properties. “Some 3-D printers can print in flexible materials,” Sparks says, “but those materials don’t do a great job of mimicking biological tissue.” Sparks wants to change that. Aided by a research incentive grant from Miami’s Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship, she and her biomedical engineering colleagues Jason Berberich and Justin Saul are developing new 3-D printing platforms. They use materials that look and feel more like human skin, muscle, blood vessels, and other soft tissue.
Mentoring student researchers The research incentive grant also supports the work of research assistant and master’s student Martha Fitzgerald ’13, who plans to write her thesis on the techniques she has helped develop. Together with Sparks and Berberich, Fitzgerald has written an oral presentation that she will deliver at the Biomedical Engineering Society national conference in October, an “excellent opportunity for Martha,” Sparks says. Other students have benefited from work in Sparks’ lab as well. Last year, Sparks, Berberich, and Saul supervised two teams of senior biomedical and chemical engineering majors whose yearlong, self-directed capstone projects focused on the new 3-D printing platforms in development. One of the two teams won a prestigious Undergraduate Research Award, which provides financial support for the university’s most promising faculty-mentored research by students. Sparks and Berberich plan to mentor two more teams this year. “By involving students in research — where there is no recipe or cookbook that tells you, ‘If you follow all these steps, you will get the exact answer you’re expecting’ — I help student engineers develop not only technical skills, but also the problem-solving skills they’ll need to meet the growing demand for AM in the economy,” Sparks says. Her commitment to mentoring may mean that her contributions to the field of AM will extend well beyond her own discoveries and innovations to influence those of future generations of engineers.
“ … there’s good potential demand for what we’re trying to create.” —Jessica Sparks
Heather Beattey Johnston is associate director and information coordinator in the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship at Miami.
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photo: Camron Windy
media matters
A Way With Words Music is the Fastest Way to Feel Something Powerful By Trevor Jordan, a senior majoring in strategic communication and social psychology Now on tour, singer-songwriter Griffin House ’02 tries to stay out on the road only one week at a time so that he can focus on being a dad and husband. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Jane, and daughters Emma and Clara.
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When Griffin House ’02 debuted in his first musical in
high school, he discovered he had a talent for singing. Previously focused on golf, he bought a guitar and began teaching himself to play. “It was hard to get over the initial hump of forming the chords and playing them without having to pause in between each one,” he said. “After that, I just kind of cruised. I never became proficient in an Eddie Van Halen sort of way, but I developed my own kind of style that felt unique to me.” House began recording soon after college and released his first independent album, Upland, in 2003. Within the next year, he was contacted by Nettwerk, a Vancouver-based record label, with whom he worked to produce his second album, Lost & Found, in 2004. Since graduation, the creative writing major has recorded and produced over eight albums, toured
with such artists as John Mellencamp and The Cranberries, and even co-written songs with Grammy Award-winning musician Dan Wilson. Although a dream come true, his career isn’t without challenges. At those times, he recalls advice given to him early on — “your luck will equal the work you put in.” His lyrics and melodies in such songs as “The Guy That Says Goodbye To You Is Out of His Mind” and “Better Than Love” have garnered commercial and critical acclaim. As he continues to write, the Springfield, Ohio, native returns to the reason he fell in love with music. “Music to me is therapeutic — it had a healing nature to me way before I realized it. It’s the fastest way to get me to feel something powerful.”
media matters
What the Owl Saw Arthur Rogers ’58 CreateSpace Nothing strange about a corpse in a cemetery, unless it’s found above ground and naked except for a clear plastic raincoat. Private eye Rex Nickels is intrigued, but he only plans to follow the story through the newspapers — until the deceased’s mother calls and asks him to find the killer. Clues lead Nickels to the world of thoroughbred breeding and faceto-face with an old flame. This is the first in a series of Rex Nickels mysteries for Art, an architect, and his co-author, retired city planner Ed Phillips. The Art of Falling Kathryn Graham Craft ’78 MA ’80 Sourcebooks Landmark All Penny has ever wanted to do is dance — and when that chance is taken from her, it pushes her to the brink of despair. When she wakes up after a traumatic fall of 14 stories, Penny must confront the memories that have haunted her for years, using her love of movement to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. The Philadelphia dance world in which the story is set serves as a harsh microcosm of society, with its celebrity-driven expectations of women’s bodies. Author Kathryn knows this world as a former modern dancer, choreographer, and 19-year dance critic.
Madame Tussaud’s Apprentice Kathleen Benner Duble ’80 Merit Press This novel for young adults, set in the French Revolution, tells the tale of Celie. Orphaned, poor, and a brilliant artist, she has one talent that can save her from the guillotine after she’s caught with her gang of thieves: the ability to draw perfect likenesses of vain royal faces. She must decide between her friends, who are ready to fight for their rights, and a comfortable life among the wealthy. The Innkeeper’s Dog Deborah Bence Boerema ’83 Tate Publishing After he discovers he is the only animal in the stable to miss seeing Baby Jesus, Thaniel the Spaniel feels sad, jealous, angry, and unimportant. A family Christmas story with a year-round message, The Innkeeper’s Dog tells how Thaniel’s friends and the innkeeper’s son help him feel special and realize all the gifts he has to offer. 100 Yards of Success: Leadership Lessons from College Football James Earle ’88 Tate Publishing This book articulates the myriad of common attributes needed for leaders in sports and business. The college football field is rife with easy-to-understand, accessible analogies to assist emerging
business leaders, says Jim, whose experience as a leader includes 11 years with the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department. Through 100 Yards of Success, improve your effectiveness as a leader and energize your organization, making it more efficient, more productive, and more fun. Drumset Lessons Kirk Hopkins ’92 With a minor in percussion performance from Miami, Kirk has given lessons for many years. Never finding a lesson book he was happy with, he wrote and published his own. This book can be used by a wide range of ages and skill levels. Teachers can use it for lessons too. Surviving Work: Toxic Organizational Communication Matthew Vorell ’01 MA ’03 Kendall Hunt Publishing In this textbook, co-authored with two others, Matt focuses on dysfunctional practices in the workplace. This student-friendly publication provides readers with a guidebook rooted in theory that also offers tips on what to do and say when you encounter sources of workplace dysfunctionality.
NOTED DISCOGRAPHY Griffin House ’02 No More Crazy Love Songs (2002) Upland (2003) Lost & Found (2004) House of David, Volume One EP (2005) House of David, Volume Two EP (2005) Homecoming (2006) Flying Upside Down (2007) 42 and a half minutes with Griffin House (2009) The Learner (2010) Balls (2013) griffinhousemusic.com
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my story
©Otto Steininger/ILLUSTRATION SOURCE
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column by Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune is her tribute to C. David Burgin ’62, who during his undergraduate time at Miami was a newscaster-announcer for WMUB, sports writer for M-Book and The Miami Student, and sports editor of the Student his senior year.
The Editor Who Hated Adjectives By Mary Schmich
MY STORY is a place for you to share reminiscences and observations about everyday happenings. Submit your essay for consideration to: Donna Boen, Miamian editor, “My Story,” 108 Glos Center, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or Miamian@MiamiOH. edu. Please limit yourself to 900 words and include your name, class year, address, and home phone number.
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I was a rookie reporter for a small newspaper in Palo Alto, Calif., when Dave Burgin sent me to interview the hot young quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, a guy named Joe Montana. I spent an afternoon at Joe’s house, then returned to the Peninsula Times Tribune newsroom heady with the story I was about to write. Burgin, the paper’s editor, hurried over to my desk. “Did you get great details?” he said. I prepared to impress the boss with a few of my great details when he barked, “What size shoe does he wear?”
I quivered. I was supposed to ask Joe Montana his shoe size? “Find out!” Burgin said and stalked off. OK, maybe he didn’t bark and maybe he didn’t stalk. But that’s how it felt to me, and it fits the legend of C. David Burgin. Burgin worked as editor-in-chief of seven daily newspapers — in Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Oakland, Orlando, Palo Alto, and Paterson, N.J. — and since his death last
my story
week, at 75, many of the people who worked for him have thought about how much he taught us. “I have met and talked with most of the great editors and producers of the last almost 40 years in journalism,” says Tom Rosenstiel, who worked for Burgin in Palo Alto, graduated to the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek and is now executive director of the American Press Institute. “But I learned more about pure writing and editing in two years from Burgin, and in turn taught more of what he taught me on those two subjects, than from any other single editor I have known.” Burgin was not an easy boss. Everyone who worked for him would agree. While he was often called genius and legendary, he was just as often described as mercurial, colorful, difficult, hot-headed, and thin-skinned. He would have dismissed most of those words as imprecise. He disliked adjectives. Other things he disliked: adverbs, stories that began with quotations, and sentences that began with “But.” He hated cliches almost as much as he loathed snakes. Former New York Times sports columnist Ira Berkow, who says he’d never had an ambition to be a newspaper guy until Burgin recruited him to write for the Miami University campus newspaper in 1960, still has a letter Burgin sent him a few years later: “We are in a war against cliches,” Burgin wrote, “so much so that one hesitates to use the word ‘cliche’ because it is such a cliche.” By cliche, Burgin didn’t mean just language. He was in a war against cliche thought. He loved to proclaim, “A great idea is in itself news.” No one could accuse him of cliche on Sept. 11, 2001. He was on his second stint as editor of the San Francisco Examiner (“twice hired, twice fired,” he often said) on the morning terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center. He ordered a one-word headline — BASTARDS! — that became in itself news. All editors extol big ideas and good writing but few preach it detail by detail and person-to-person the way Burgin did. At the Times Tribune, bad writing was posted on a newsroom bulletin board, circled in red ink.
Reporters were instructed to keep copies of The Elements of Style, commonly known as Strunk & White, on their desks. You never knew when Burgin might pass by, pick up your copy, and administer a pop quiz on, say, the difference between “further” and “farther.” Rosenstiel recalls being summoned into Burgin’s office a few days after misusing the subjunctive mood in a story. “He slammed the door behind me and said I was disappointing him. I was coasting on a little bit of talent. ‘Do you even know what a gerund is?’ He proceeded to grill me on a couple of rules from Strunk & White. Then he said, ‘I want you to memorize those rules. Read that book every night until you do. You will never really be able to write until you can diagram a sentence, any sentence.’ ” At the Orlando Sentinel, where I also worked for him, Burgin famously sent a memo to editors that began: “Please be alert: Any moment now I intend to go into the newsroom and set fire to myself.” He went on. Stories were too long. “Tell reporters that routine court, police, and fire stories are not to be turned into War and Peace.” Quotes were over-used. “We quote officialdom hither and yon, to wit: ‘The sun will rise in the east,’ the mayor said today.” He concluded: “Tight. Tighter. Tightest.” Newspapering was war to Burgin, a good war, and war is not for the meek. “He harkened from an era when newspapers tolerated big personalities,” says Rosemary Goudreau, a former Orlando Sentinel reporter who is now editorial page editor at the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Though he was difficult, he made a difference in a lot of people’s lives.” Burgin gave me what he gave a lot of people, a formative education. He gave me a belief in my voice. He was proof that imperfect bosses can be great teachers. For the record, Montana wore a size 11 shoe.
“ We are in a war against cliches, so much so that one hesitates to use the word ‘cliche’ because it is such a cliche.” —C. David Burgin ’62
From Chicago Tribune, June 21 © 2014 Chicago Tribune. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.
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IN
UBER DRIVE Many Miamians are helping to run one of the world’s fastest growing tech companies Walking back to your car from dinner at your favorite restaurant, you happen upon a friend you haven’t seen in ages. You two chat for a while. Then she pulls out her smartphone, taps on an app, and says, “Hey, it’s been good talking to you. Wish I could stay longer, but I need to catch a ride to the airport.” At that moment, a clean, quiet Prius pulls up. You don’t notice any markings on the car. Is this another friend, a colleague, a cab? No. It’s Uber, an on-demand car service that allowed her, with one tap on her phone’s Uber app, to connect with the nearest available driver. Uber doesn’t actually own any cars or employ drivers. It simply uses its technology platform to match people looking for rides with available drivers working as independent contractors.
BY E R I C B UTT E R M A N
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GETTING IT IN GEAR Founded in 2009, Uber is a San Francisco-based technology company that in five short years has created a lot of buzz and more than a little controversy. That’s because it’s completely changing the way people move around their cities, according to third-generation Miamian James Ondrey ’04. He is general manager of Ohio and Kentucky for Uber, which includes Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Louisville, and Lexington. These are among more than 180 cities worldwide with the on-demand service, which in June 2014 was valued at $18 billion. So how exactly does it work? It’s all about the app. First you download the Uber app and set up your account. After that, when you’re in a city with the service, you can request a ride with two quick taps, according to Uber.com. With the first tap, you allow Uber to find your location through your phone’s GPS and to connect you with the nearest available driver. Then you choose your desired car type using the slider at the bottom of the app’s screen. Your choices range from uberX, billed as the low-cost version with everyday cars, to a more upscale UberBlack option. On the next screen, tap “Request,” and Uber will find you a driver. You can track the car’s progress to your location on your phone. The driver’s name, photo, car description, and license plate number also appear. No need to worry about exchanging cash or credit cards. Once at your destination, your fare is automatically charged to your credit card on file. No need to tip either. A car typically comes within 5 minutes or less of your request, Ondrey says. At the end of each trip, Uber asks riders and drivers to anonymously rate each other. This constant feedback loop keeps the quality of the system high,
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At last count, 15 Miamians work at Uber. Only UCLA, Stanford, and Georgetown have more graduates with the tech company.
Ondrey says, adding that Uber often ends its partnership with a driver who drops below a certain rating. THE MIAMI CONNECTION At last count, 15 Miamians work at Uber. Only UCLA, Stanford, and Georgetown have more graduates with the tech company. The list includes Ryan McKillen ’05, hired as Uber’s second full-time engineer; Allen Penn ’06, head of Asia Operations; Christopher Ballard ’07, general manager of San Diego; and Meggie Rohde Brennan ’08, community manager in Denver. Among the youngest is Marshall Osborne ’13, who interned for Uber out of Miami’s Digital Innovation Center in San Francisco. He now works in its business development area. One Uber Miamian was the company’s first CEO. Ryan Graves ’06 helmed the company when it received its second round of financing of $11 million in 2011. Uber founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp persuaded him to join them, he says, partly based on their previous
successes with startups Red Swoosh and StumbleUpon. Now Uber’s head of global operations, Graves knew soon after graduation that he had an entrepreneurial spirit, having tried the Fortune 500 route and not finding it to his liking. One startup he founded had failed, but his passion for being in on the ground floor hadn’t. In fact, when he met the Uber co-founders in 2010, he was an intern at social networking startup Foursquare. “Uber was willing to challenge what was established,” Graves says. “Just because cities have had cabs for so long doesn’t mean consumers don’t deserve a choice.” CHOICE AND CONTROVERSY Bobby Srivastava ’05, for one, likes having a choice. Admittedly friends with a few members of the company, he’s also familiar with the service in several cities. “Growing up in San Diego I probably could count the number of taxis I’d taken on two hands. It just took too long,” says Srivastava, a finance manager in Columbus. “Now I’m a regular Uber user. If my wife and I go out for the evening, we have a ride home right away, and it’s a nice car. I used it for a wedding recently, even bringing my baby along.” Still, offering consumers a choice has led to controversy — licensing offense charges in Toronto, taxi driver protests in New York, and attacks against Uber cars in Paris. “Uber is disrupting the status quo in a market that hasn’t innovated in 50 years, and naturally the incumbents aren’t happy about someone breaking up their government-protected monopoly,” Ondrey says. Uber also must deal with Lyft, its closest competitor. Each company has accused the other of underhanded tactics, such as making calls to the competition’s drivers and then canceling at the last second. Both also have faced insurance regulation questions.
In April, the Ohio Department of Insurance warned passengers that they might not be covered by a ride-share driver’s personal insurance if injured in an accident. It advised drivers to check with their own insurance companies about possible gaps in coverage. “Ensuring the safety of our partner-drivers and riders is the No. 1 priority at Uber — and one of the reasons so many people are using us,” Ondrey says. “We have industry-leading commercial insurance coverage that is typically many times the required coverage of taxi and limousines in a particular city.” Uber is no stranger to the phrase “cease and desist.” Right from the beginning, the state of California and the city of San Francisco objected to the startup’s use of “cab,” so the new company changed its name from UberCab to Uber. “We always have conversations with regulatory bodies, but what’s worked well is for us to never lose our focus on consumers and drivers,” Graves says. “It’s a marketplace partnership for them where drivers can make more money and consumers can have a tool that makes life better.” Graves estimates that Uber’s adding 20,000 jobs every month for drivers. Ondrey says that each driver on the Uber platform goes through a stringent screening process. This includes a motor vehicle record check, as well as a county, multi-state, and federal criminal background checks, he says. “Once active, these drivers are able to set their own schedules, fill their downtime, and expand their economic opportunities,” Ondrey says. “Some of our biggest evangelists are former cab drivers,” Graves adds. These days, Uber isn’t limiting its business to pedestrians tired of flagging down cabs. The company’s entered the courier business with UberRUSH. “That’s been tested in New York City where we took bike messengers and couriers and plugged them into the Uber
platform,” Ondrey says. “Push a button and get important documents, keys, or other personal items across town and at a price point that makes sense.” They’ve even used the Uber app for promotions — delivering everything from ice cream to kittens in a matter of minutes. “Uber is building a robust technology platform and logistics framework that can move not only people, but also things, at the touch of a button,” Ondrey says. A QUICK STUDY What Uber is accomplishing is very much in line with what Miami emphasizes, says Brett Smith ’91, director of Miami University’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and founding director of the university’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship. “Student demand and interest in entrepreneurship and startups are only growing,” he says. In August, Forbes named Miami 31st on its list of the 50 most entrepreneurial research universities in the U.S. The business magazine based its rankings on the schools’ entrepreneurial ratios — the number of alumni and students who have identified themselves as founders and business owners on LinkedIn against the school’s total student body. Joining startups within a few years of graduation is gaining further traction, Smith says. They are seeing that they don’t have to be an owner, that excitement can come from being an early contributor to an idea that needs momentum, he explains. Ryan Graves’ return to campus last year to speak to classes helped spark more excitement. Still, prospective employees should beware, Smith cautions. “It’s not just as easy as an app,” he says. “They make it seem simple, but for every app users get, there are so many that never go anywhere.”
NEXT BIG APP?
Uber is eager to test that theory, rolling out two new products in late August — the Corner Store and Uber API. An experiment in Washington, D.C., the Corner Store allows customers to use the existing Uber app to order everything from Altoids to Zest for delivery from the local drugstore, depending on driver availability. Uber’s API allows developers to start putting real-time Uber data, request-aride buttons into their own apps. Eleven companies, including United Airlines, Starbucks, and Hyatt, partnered with API for the launch. “We believe that any app with a map is a potential Uber API partner,” Uber blogged on API launch day. By all accounts, Uber wants to rev its engines and leave what co-founder Kalanick calls “the Big Taxi cartel” and accompanying controversies in its rearview mirror. In hopes of making that happen, Kalanick has announced that David Plouffe will become the new senior vice president of policy and strategy. He’s perhaps best known for running Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. In accepting the position, Plouffe stated on the company’s blog, “Uber has the chance to be a once in a decade if not a once in a generation company. Of course, that poses a threat to some, and I’ve watched as the taxi industry cartel has tried to stand in the way of technology and big change. Ultimately, that approach is unwinnable.” Where Uber goes next is anyone’s guess. Though maybe not for long, as Uber may soon have an app for that. Eric Butterman is a freelancer in McKinney, Texas, who has written for more than 50 magazines, including Men’s Journal and Glamour.
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Chapel Goin’ to the
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO KUMLER
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By Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96
A
fter helping some 700 couples exchange their vows, not much surprises Miami’s wedding planner anymore. Still, there was that one time a bride and groom pedaled a tandem bike to their reception Uptown. Not an easy task in tux and gown. And then, come to think of it, there was the couple that wanted their dog to serve as ring bearer. That was certainly cause for pause for Jane Gaitskill, Miami’s conference and event planner the past 14 years. They assured her their pup would handle his assignment with aplomb. After all, they’d been training him for his walk down the aisle. “I was trying to think of a nice way to say, ‘That’s fine, but we will assume that the dog has done his duty elsewhere,’ ” Gaitskill says. A patient person, Gaitskill has always tried to be a calming influence in the face of prenuptial panic. One groom called her in a tizzy when he showed up for the rehearsal and found the main doors to Kumler Chapel locked. “We can’t get in! We can’t get in!” he told her. She asked whether he’d checked the side door, which is the door she tells everyone will be open. She waited on the phone while he walked around the outside of the building and tried it. “Oh. Never mind.” Not every crisis is so easily solved. Cakes present their own special challenge. When it’s hot and humid, icing melts and tiers tilt. One instance tested even Jane’s unflappability. A bride’s neighbor was whipping together the layered confection. Either she couldn’t assemble it or it kept melting. Gaitskill wasn’t sure which. What she did know was that they were running out of time. At last, neighbor and cake arrived. “We brought these individual pieces into the wait station where we’re trying to put them together as she’s trying to add the icing. We finally did get it out.” That is what Gaitskill calls one of FOR MORE ABOUT WEDDINGS at those back-of-the-house incidents Miami, go to MiamiOH.edu/weddings, the couples never know about. Yes, call The Marcum Hotel & Conference Center at 513-529-6911, or email a wedding planner must think fast. Kathy Crowley, Marcum’s senior Strong muscles help, too. manager for sales and marketing, at Crowlekm@MiamiOH.edu. For one winter wedding, a bride arrived at Miami’s Marcum Conference Center in a U-Haul truck with all her decorations in the back — trees in cement pots. “Lots a luck picking those up. I couldn’t lift even one,” Gaitskill says. Fortunately, a young, big guy in physical facilities volunteered to bring them in. Good thing he was around, too, because neither Jane nor the bride could back the truck up to the loading dock. Ever mindful that weddings in the U.S. are an $89 billion industry with an average cost of $28,000, Gaitskill has never taken her role lightly. She also feels it’s her duty to remind
couples caught up in all the details that the most important moment will be those vows they make to each other. That moment can be lost with all the pressure some brides feel to produce the perfect event. Gaitskill wonders if our culture is to blame. She points to Martha Stewart Living, the Internet, Pinterest, and celebrities for perpetuating what she refers to as “The Vision.” “I’ve had brides who said they’ve planned their wedding in Kumler since they were little girls,” she says. “Then I have to tell them they didn’t get their date, and they cry. And that really upsets me.” One of the perks of becoming a Miami Merger is the chance to book Kumler or Sesquicentennial Chapel a month ahead of the general public. Kumler, the epitome of romance, is especially popular with its stained-glass window, dark wood, and high arches. Some would book their wedding two years in advance if allowed. Others have put theirs together in less than a month, usually because a soon-to-be spouse is in the military. “I have one bride … poor thing. She’s rescheduled four or five times because they’re trying to figure out when he can get leave.” Miami also books commitment ceremonies and vow renewals. For Miami Mergers, holding their ceremony where they met is dear to them. Mergers usually become mini-reunions with all their Miami friends returning to campus. No surprise, then, that the receptions are often decorated in red and white and feature Block M cakes and all kinds of Miami memorabilia. Then there are the after-wedding photos around campus. More than one reception dinner has been seriously delayed as bride, groom, and party pose in the Formal Gardens, outside Kumler, and under the Upham Arch. The arch is almost always in the picture, Gaitskill says. “Last year we had construction around the arch, and I had any number of brides call me and ask if they could be allowed in,” she says. “They would tiptoe around all the construction so they could get their picture at the arch.” Jane retired in July, only days after her planning event partner, Lynn Eisele, also retired from Marcum and Miami. Jane says she will miss being in the heart of all that passion and angst. One of the sweetest moments in her memory happened the day before a ceremony, out of sight of family and friends. The groom arranged for roses, champagne, and hors d’oeuvres on a little table in a suite in Marcum. This prerehearsal dinner was only for him and his bride. No one else was allowed in. “It was just a nice, little quiet time before the hullabaloo before the wedding. The groom said he did it because it was important to both of them to realize and reflect on what was going to happen that weekend.” Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 is editor of Miamian. Fall 2014
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A Miracle with Every Breath BY BETSA MARSH
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Because of surgeon JEFFREY SCHWARTZ ’85, a young woman once again enjoys life to the fullest
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J
ULIE D’AGOSTINO takes a deep breath to compose her thoughts. “We don’t take the word ‘miracle’ lightly, but we are not afraid to use it in this case.” The very fact that D’Agostino can take a deep breath is the heart of the miracle. On an organ wait list for nearly three of her 21 years, D’Agostino is thriving after her second lung transplant, performed by Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a 1985 Miami University graduate. Even more remarkable is that she is part of a mighty quintet, five patients who received new lungs at Chicago’s Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) in little more than 24 hours last May. Three donors and their families gave selflessly so that five people, from age 21 to 68, could have a chance to breathe freely again. Schwartz, who majored in zoology at Miami, transplanted three of the donor lungs during the surgical marathon. A thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon at LUMC, Schwartz, FACS, is also its surgical director of lung transplantation.
Top: Julie D’Agostino. Bottom: Jeffrey Schwartz ’85
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AN EXCEPTIONAL 24 HOURS The Loyola team had just completed two lung transplants when Schwartz headed into the OR the morning of May 9, 2014. During the 10-hour surgery, Schwartz and his team gave Karen Emerich, a 56-year-old special education teacher from Indiana, two new donor lungs. Schwartz took an evening break at home with his family, then returned for the midnight surgery that would replace D’Agostino’s damaged left lung. This transplant — “a bit more challenging because it was a redo” — took him into the early morning. In a nearby OR, his colleague, Michael Eng, MD, implanted the same donor’s right lung into 68-year-old Robert Senander. By daybreak, the team had performed five lung transplants in just more than 24 hours. The average, according to Daniel Dilling, MD, medical director of Loyola’s lung transplantation, is five in a day across the United States, eight in the world. “I don’t think we realized until it was over what was accomplished by the team,” Schwartz said. “We have that number of surgeons and staff available and capable to handle this volume.” First, surgeons traveled to procure the lungs, which were then handed off to the waiting implanting surgeons and their colleagues. At least 30 medical professionals worked in the five ORs, and 30 more cared for the patients post-op. “The calls about the donor lungs came staggered in such a way that the surgeons and teams were able to step up in a pretty relaxed fashion,” Schwartz said. “No one was feeling particularly stressed about the timing.”
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No one can put a price on this. People don’t realize how much impact [a transplant] has on someone’s life.” —JULIE D’AGOSTINO
HOME IN A WEEK Yet every transplant opportunity pulses with urgency. “We are strong advocates for our patients,” Schwartz said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, whether we will have to wait weeks or months before we get another good match.” Within a day or two, the five patients were out of intensive care and ready for their close-ups. The center invited media to a news conference starring the five, their surgeons, and the full medical team. “We didn’t know what to expect, if anyone would show up,” Schwartz recalled. “We were pleasantly surprised.” Soon the news went viral, with a video of the five recipients walking triumphantly down the hospital corridor. Each patient went home slightly a week after transplant, “which is remarkable,” Schwartz said. “The average length of stay after transplant is two weeks. “We are on a pace to do 40 lung transplants this year, which would put Loyola at about 800 total transplants. We are among the three or four busiest lung transplant programs,” Schwartz said.
“But we look more at the outcomes, and those are among the best in the country.” SPECIALIZING IN HOPE Schwartz, who earned his medical degree at Emory University, began hearing from friends and colleagues he hadn’t spoken to in years after all the media coverage. But for him, the true benefit of the publicity blitz was the sound of the phone ringing in the lung transplant department. “The real value is educating the public. They call their doctor and say, ‘I saw a 60-something man on TV who received a lung. Would that work for me?’ We’ve had a number of patients referred for evaluation. We don’t know if they will be candidates for transplant, but it gives a lot of people some hope who might not otherwise have it.” Hope — and the ability to sustain it — is something that Julie D’Agostino specializes in. Born with cystic fibrosis, she battled the illness every day with the help of her family. At 17, she along with her doctors decided to add her name to the lung transplant list. “It was almost to
be safe rather than sorry, because there were no more meds to give me. “I was enjoying life, taking vacations, and I had the lead in my senior play,” she recalled with a lilt in her voice. She was determined that Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst, Ill., would never see anyone rock the role of Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray like she would. So determined, in fact, that she told her doctors to put her spot on the transplant list on hold: There were simply no understudies. Equally determined, her doctors expressed how upset they were at her decision. “ ‘Surely there’s someone who can replace you?’ ” they pleaded. “We only had 75 people in my graduating class.” Julie played Tracy. Fueled by personal grit and family support, D’Agostino enrolled in Elmhurst College. “I wasn’t even on oxygen then. I think I was in denial that I needed a transplant. I didn’t want it because of what happens afterwards. I was scared for the call.”
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The real heroes are the people signing the back of their driver’s licenses to donate organs, and the families who make those hard decisions at the time of someone’s death.” A 1 PERCENT CHANCE Only when she “crashed” in October 2011 and entered the hospital, near death, did she realize she wanted the surgery. Her double-lung transplant went well, allowing her to star in her own documentary, Miracle on South Street: The Julie D Story. The film aired on public television and is now available on Hulu. Yet a year later, D’Agostino had to return to oxygen and the transplant list. “Julie has been through the wringer,” Schwartz said. “Lung transplants are not quite as predictable as heart, liver, and kidney transplants. Lungs are a lot more fragile. They’re the only organ in direct contact with the environment, so that adds a level of complexity.” “I was confined to home for a very long time,” D’Agostino said, “and I didn’t really think [the transplant] would come. I was out of school, not eating — and I love to cook and eat. I couldn’t do the things I wanted. If the phone rang, I wanted it to be Loyola — I welcomed the call this time. “I had a lot of antibodies that made it difficult to find a donor.” Specialists told her that even with
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—JEFFREY SCHWARTZ ’85
immune-suppressing drugs, her system would reject about 99 percent of any possible donor lungs. Scar tissue from the first transplant would also make the second “a formidable challenge,” according to Dr. Schwartz. “With someone like Julie, who is so young and potentially has so many years ahead,” Schwartz said, “you’ll do whatever you can to help her.” BREATHING EASIER On May 9, D’Agostino and her father were at their vacation home in Wisconsin when her phone rang. “It was Loyola on the caller ID, and I was completely shocked. My oxygen requirements went up, and I was pretty nervous. You don’t know if the lungs are right for you until right before — they wait till the last second.” Buoyed by hope and faith, D’Agostino told her father, called her mother at home, and then headed to the medical center. “I imagined it would be double lungs. I got there, and they said it would be a single-lung
transplant, the left. It’s not as complicated as a double transplant. “Dr. Schwartz is such a humble man, and he made everything seem calm. ‘She’ll do fine,’ he said, and seemed very confident about one lung, not two. He’s so smart and amazing.” Soon after her surgery, D’Agostino was feeling so much different, and better, than after the first transplant. This time, she could tell the difference with her breathing right away. “I’m very blessed, and lucky.” A PRICELESS GIFT In recovery, D’Agostino learned that her transplant was the second of the day for Schwartz. “How can you even comprehend this?” she marveled. “Dr. Schwartz gives up so much of his life and family time.” Not long after her surgery, another doctor came into her room and told her about the five transplants in 24 hours. With her oxygen tubes flowing, she shouted, “No way! “I thank my donor, my family, and Dr. Schwartz, who made this possible. It was
The 5 Lung Recipients
such a selfless, selfless gift, and the family is probably still in the grieving process. I plan to write a letter to them, and maybe even meet face to face. “No one can put a price on this. People don’t realize how much impact [a transplant] has on someone’s life.” For Schwartz, “the real heroes are the people signing the back of their driver’s licenses to donate organs, and the families who make those hard decisions at the time of someone’s death. You can’t save a life without a donor.”
The five patients who received lung transplants in just over 24 hours: from left, Robert Senander, Karen Emerich, Julie D’Agostino, Linda Kern, and Roderick Beck.
Julie D’Agostino, the youngest lung recipient in the May 8-9 procedures at Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), was the only patient with cystic fibrosis and the only patient to receive a second transplant. She’s had two transplants within three years. D’Agostino calls Robert Senander her “brother” since each received a lung from the same donor. According to LUMC, Senander struggled with pulmonary fibrosis since 2009 and used supplemental oxygen for five years. The 68-year-old from Winfield, Ill., plans to return to his work as a Social Security administrative law judge. On May 9, before Jeffrey Schwartz, MD, FACS, transplanted D’Agostino’s new left lung, he operated on 56-year-old Karen Emerich in a double-lung procedure. She used supplemental oxygen for two years to counter pulmonary fibrosis, which scars the lungs and causes shortness of breath. The seventh-grade special education teacher lives in New Carlisle, Ind. Schwartz’s colleague, Michael Eng, MD, transplanted a new right lung for Linda Kern, a 65-year-old grandmother from Princeton, Ill. Kern was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in January 2011 and used supplemental oxygen around the clock for three years. Marcelo DaSilva, MD, FACS, FCCP, performed the left-lung transplant for Roderick Beck, an executive from Springfield, Ill. The 68-year-old suffered from pulmonary fibrosis. To date, each patient is recovering well.
Betsa Marsh wrote about Walter Farmer ’35, one of the Monuments Men, in the Spring 2014 Miamian.
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love & honor
Bridging the Financial Gap Miami launches new $100 million scholarship campaign By Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96
Music is Janell Roeper’s passion, one that she wants to share one day soon as a teacher to inner-city, middle school children.
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Janell Roeper is paying her own way through college,
right down to the soap for her socks. The junior music education major from Grafton, Ohio, is bouncy and positive, but she doesn’t downplay how difficult it is to stay in school. She works as much as she can every semester. Last spring that meant serving as an RA in Morris Hall while also reporting to the Office of Student Financial Assistance and the Amos Music Library. At the same time, she took 24 credit hours and played trumpet in the marching band. That added up to 10 hours of rehearsal a week and seven 12-hour Saturdays with her bandmates during football season. She thought she’d have to quit marching band to accept a job off campus this semester. But band director Stephen Lytle helped her find a music department scholarship.
“I never expected someone to go out of their way for me like that,” Roeper says. “It’s amazing to me to hear these people who I look up to say, ‘I have faith in you. How can we get you to stay at Miami?’ ” Power of scholarships Scholarships impact what students can do in so many ways, says Miami President David Hodge. He knows their power, as they allowed him to be the first in his family to attend college. “It’s about getting in the front door. It’s about expanding the opportunity,” Hodge says. Because scholarships are so important, the university is launching The Miami Promise Scholarship Campaign this fall. The $100 million, five-year campaign seeks to involve alumni and friends in bridging the financial gaps faced by an increasing percentage of
love & honor
college-bound students and their families, says Tom Herbert, vice president for university advancement. Impact of increased support For those students with financial need in Miami’s fall 2014 entering freshman class, the average unmet need for one year is nearly $14,000. When Miami’s Office of Student Financial Assistance adds up all the unmet financial need, it equals almost $19.4 million. Miami has increased scholarship support by nearly 78 percent in the past five years, awarding approximately $56 million in scholarships last year. “We have achieved considerable momentum by involving our alumni and friends in the support of current and future Miami students and have already received more than $11.6 million in scholarship support since the start of 2014,” Herbert says. Brent Shock ’91, director of Student Financial Assistance, understands the impact of that increased support. “I have never forgotten what it’s like for students who are uncertain if they are going to be able to return semester to semester due to finances. I really was worried and stressed every semester about how I was going to pay for tuition and fees.” About two-thirds of the fall 2013 entering class received a grant or scholarship from the university, Shock says. Need remains Unfortunately, despite the increase in scholarship dollars, need remains. Declining support from the state is a major factor. Ohio is among the bottom 10 states for support of higher education. That shifts the burden of cost to students’ families and to universities, says David Creamer, vice president for finance and business services. In the early 1980s, Ohio paid 37 percent of the university’s total budget. State support is now at 9.2 percent for the Oxford campus. Miami shows as an expensive school in federal charts, but it is also efficient. In fact, it is ranked as the second most efficient national university by U.S. News & World Report. “Given the high-quality experience, terrific outcomes, and a stunning campus, most people assume that we are a well-funded university and are surprised
to learn that our funding per student is actually less than the average of our peer groups, nearly $2,000 less,” Hodge says. “However, we do more with our resources because of our focus, commitment, and innovation.” Affordable excellence To continue to achieve what Hodge calls “affordable excellence,” he says the university and its alumni need to press forward on several fronts. First, Miami needs to continue to limit tuition increases, preferably to no more than 2 percent per year, he says. This will make Miami more affordable for entering students while reassuring families of current students, he adds. Second, the university needs to increase the size of its endowment and gift giving, he says, pointing to #MoveInMiami as an example of what alumni, faculty, and staff can accomplish together. A social media fundraising campaign held on this year’s freshman move-in day, #MoveInMiami saw 3,200 donors contribute more than $500,000 in less than 24 hours. While Miami seeks support for all types of scholarships, with this new campaign, it is prioritizing need, merit, and diversity. It has placed particular emphasis on recruitment scholarships, which are offered to prospective students, remain with students throughout their college careers, and allow for direct connections between donors and students. The results Shock considers himself privileged to see firsthand how scholarships make a difference. “Students come in the Financial Assistance Office heavy-hearted, sometimes in tears, and they leave with huge grins on their faces. They know that they’re set for another year at Miami.” The recipients are extremely appreciative, if Janell Roeper is any indication. “I’m getting a better education and making better friends here than I honestly believe I would anywhere else,” she says. “The rough times are hard, but the good times overcome everything, whether it’s sitting in the courtyard, throwing around a football with your friends, or staying up until 3 in the morning trying to finish your music theory project.”
To demonstrate its own commitment to The Miami Promise Scholarship Campaign, the university has introduced three matching gift programs that encourage donors to create new endowed and four-year expendable recruitment scholarships. To learn more about the scholarship campaign, visit ForLoveandHonor.org/ Scholarships or contact Miami’s office of development at 513-529-1230 or MUDevelopment@ MiamiOH.edu.
Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 is editor of Miamian.
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photo from Miami University Libraries, Frank Snyder Collection
class notes
The Miami junior women’s basketball team of 1905.
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Madge Spieler Niemer
celebrated her 102nd birthday at St. Leonard’s in Centerville, Ohio. She was born in Celina, Ohio, the day after the Titanic sank. Her devotion to fitness and good nutrition has served her well as she is still limber and fit.
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Don and Nancy Sanders
Irvine of Siesta Key, Fla., who met their senior year at Miami, celebrated their 60th anniversary July 19, 2014. For the occasion, they went to Hawaii and also took an 11-day road trip from San Diego to Atlanta with their son, Dan ’93, daughter-inlaw, and four grandchildren. They have five children, 13 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
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Reunion ¶ Arlo Landolt, Ball Family Professor Emeritus of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, was recognized for his 55 years of observing at Kitt Peak National Observatory, almost all devoted to the astronomical community. He is known for his photometric standard star lists, “Landolt standards.” In 1964, he was the first to discover white dwarf stars can pulsate, varying in brightness within a few minutes. This allowed astronomers to prove the interior structure of these stars and study the end stage of their life.
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Players from Miami’s MAC champs teams of 1957, ’58, and ’59 held a reunion at Bob Miller’s cabin on Indian Lake in Sabael, N.Y. The 195758 Miami basketball team was the last MAC team to go undefeated in league play. The teams of ’57, ’58, and ’59 are the last teams to win three consecutive MAC championships. At the reunion were Jim Hamilton, John Powell, Bob Miller, Jim Thomas, Ken Babbs, Bill Brown, and Ed Wingard. (See
photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.)
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A group that gets together three to four times a year met in Glenview, Ill., July 14 for lunch: Bob Kurz ’58, Jeanne Smith Walter ’58, Alan Sex ’58, Phyllis Sex, Harriet Gels Ottaviani ’57, Harry Walter ’58, Nancy Nesbit McMichael ’58, and Val Ottaviani ’58. (Editor’s note: Marian Hummel Kurz ’58 was likely taking the photo. See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.)
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Carita Dale Phillips Baker
of Hamilton has a grandson, Chase Engel, attending Miami this fall. He is carrying on the family tradition, becoming a fifth generation of Miamians, which started with his great-great-grandfather, Harry Rodabaugh 1906; and continued with his great-grandfather, Carl Phillips 1929; his grandmother, Carita; and his mother, Kelly Ann Baker Engel ’88 MEd ’01.
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Richard Gleick successfully underwent double-bypass surgery in September and is recovering at home in Maitland, Fla. ¶ These Kappa Kappa Gammas held a reunion in Naples, Fla., this spring, 55 years after, almost to the day, of their initiation March 7, 1959: Carol Cottingham Isgrig ’62, Elaine Kettelhut Wagner ’62, Jeri Woehler Von Stein ’62, Ginny McPherson Knoll ’62, Linda Harrison Dutton ’62, Jan Mockabee Fryman Davis ’62, and Bonnie DuMars Lau ’62. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.)
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Norm Schutt of Champaign,
Ill., spent 12 days in Peru hiking the Inca trails in the Andes. He spent a day exploring the Machu Picchu ruins and several in the Cusco region.
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Reunion ¶ Charlie Coles’ #10 will be retired during the 2014-15 basketball season. His jersey will join Ron Harper’s #34, Wayne Embry’s #23, Dick Walls’ #44, Darrell Hedric’s #86, and Wally Szczerbiak’s #32. Charlie was a standout guard for Miami. He went on to a coaching career that spanned nearly five decades, guiding the RedHawks for 16 seasons as head coach and becoming Miami men’s basketball’s all-time wins leader.
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Doris Hawkey was inducted
into the Clark Community College Athletic Hall of Fame for her volleyball coaching in March. Dori began her Clark association in 1972 when hired to teach an evening volleyball class, and 42 years later she still teaches that class. Dori was hired in 1979 to coach the Chicklets. In her nine years, she took her teams to the NWAACC tournament eight times and was NWAACC Coach of the Year twice. Her 1987 volleyball team gave Clark its first undefeated league season in a major sport. She’s retiring this fall at age 70. ¶ Cleveland law firm BakerHostetler held its 25th Annual Legislative Seminar in Washington, D.C., May 7, hosted by the Hon. Michael Oxley, partner and board member. The seminar brought together more than 300 clients and friends. A bipartisan group of 18 U.S. Senate and House leaders spoke on such topics as the direction of federal tax and budget healthcare. Miamians at the event included Rick Siehl ’74 (BakerHostetler); Paul Schmidt ’89 (BakerHostetler); Laura Thomas ’05 (BakerHostetler); Rep. Paul Ryan ’92, one of the speakers; Linda Moss ’88 MBA ’89 (BakerHostetler); Ivan Smith ’91 (Scotts Miracle-Gro); the Hon. Michael Oxley ’66 (BakerHostetler); and Jeff Dafler ’91 (Timken). (See photo in online Miamian
SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE Please send news of your life to: Donna Boen, Miamian, 108 Glos Center, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or Miamian@MiamiOH.edu. Include your name, class year, address, and phone number. For more class news, go online to MiamiAlum.org/ Miamian.
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class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.) ¶ Al Schweizer, site manager at the Children’s Museum of Virginia, is president of the Virginia Association of Museums. A former USAF command pilot, he has been in the museum field for 16 years in Portsmouth, Va. He lives in Newport News, and he and his wife, Kim, enjoy traveling, singing, cooking, and “museum creeping.” A sailboat fills in the rest of Al’s spare time.
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Willis “Bing” Davis MEd ’67
of Dayton was one of several nationally acclaimed African-American visual artists invited to participate in the Mississippi Museum of Art Program commemorating Freedom Summer. Bing’s works, “Portable Shrine in Homage to the Middle Passage” and “Anti-Police Brutality Dance Mask #21,” provided context for a panel discussion about African-American visual artists’ responses to the Civil Rights
Movement. ¶ Diane Perlmutter of Landrum, S.C., is a national trustee on Miami’s board of trustees as of June. Her career highlights include vice president of advertising and marketing and area vice president for Latin America at Avon Products; chairman of the U.S. marketing practice, COO, of Burson-Marsteller’s New York office; vice chairman and CEO for Burson’s sister company Cohn & Wolfe; and CEO of Gilda’s Club Worldwide (now Cancer Support Community). She retired in 2004. She has served as president of Miami’s Alumni Association, on the schools of Business and of Applied Sciences advisory boards, and on the Bicentennial and For Love and Honor steering committees. ¶ Bill Ratz of Columbus has retired from a 40-year career in IT and network engineering and started a new career as president and chief engineer of the Zanesville & Western Scenic Railroad. The ZWSR
offers weekend train rides through the countryside during summer and fall in Mount Perry, Ohio. His wife, Pat Obenchain Ratz, provides public relations for the scenic railroad and also occasionally serves as ticket agent and conductor.
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Terry Gans ’68 MA ’70
has been re-elected town commissioner in Longboat Key, Fla. He was appointed in July 2012 to fill a resignation, then re-elected in 2013 and then again in 2014. ¶ Ted Goble and John Russell, co-captains of the men’s MAC Champion swimming and diving team 1967-’68, recently hiked to the top of Black Mountain in Cave Creek, Ariz. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/ Miamian.) ¶ Jeffrey Keiner, shareholder in GrayRobinson’s Orlando office, is chairperson of the newly formed Ninth Judicial Circuit of
Welcome to the loWcountry, Where the air is Warm and the tea is sWeet.
winter college 2015
Charleston Place • Charleston, SC Feb. 27—March 1, 2015
R e g i s t e R t o d ay ! M i a M i a l u M . o r g / w i n t e r c o l l e g e o r 5 1 3 - 5 2 9 - 5 9 5 7
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Florida’s Professionalism Panel. A commercial trial lawyer, arbitrator, and certified mediator, he has practiced in Orlando since 1974. ¶ Before they were Miamians, these folks were Fairmont West Dragons. They recently celebrated their Kettering Fairmont High School 50th reunion: Kemp Prugh ’68, Mary Beth McNeal Smith ’68, Geoff Smith ’68, Dick Baker ’68, Jackie Meyer Baker ’69, Rick Strader ’68, Tom Elliott ’68, Carol Goebel ’68, Dan Pierce ’68, Betty Weiss Clingerman ’68, Pete Melville ’68, Mary Beth Russell Melville ’68, Karen Clute ’68, and Cheryl Turner ’68. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.)
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Reunion ¶ A trio of Miami Mergers celebrated their wedding anniversaries at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in August: Richard ’70 and Emily Delp Smucker ’70 (45 years), Tom ’62 and Virginia McPherson Knoll ’62 (52 years), and Peter ’67 MBA ’69 and Holly Snow Sullivan ’70 (45 years). (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.)
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Tom Foster and his spunky
team of railroaders brought a 134-mile Oregon line back to life. Their Coos Bay Rail Link was named 2014 Short Line of the Year by Railway Age. The magazine singled out CBR because of its entrepreneurial spirit, which has helped rail shippers in Coos, Lane, and Douglas counties become more efficient and competitive. Tom recently retired as CBR’s general manager and is now vice president of marketing for CBR’s parent company, ARG Transportation Services in Eugene.
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Charles Gano, a Plunkett
Cooney trial attorney in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is on the board
of directors for the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the lead organization for water resources protection in Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, and Emmet counties.
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Dennis Smith ’73 MEd ’75
completed a solo 4,600-mile, 10-state motorcycle trip. The baseball alum and Athletic Hall Of Famer toured Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches national parks. His adventure included stops in Salt Lake City and Denver before returning home to Bowling Green, Ohio.
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Tim Hutzel, an adjunct
assistant professor in Miami’s Farmer School of Business and an industry veteran, has written Bringing Jobs Back to the USA with Dave Lippert, president of Hamilton Caster. They spent the past three years authoring the book, which exposes the dangers and hidden costs of offshoring. ¶ Mike Rohrkemper of Cincinnati, CEO of Gold Star Chili, was honored by the Dan Beard Council/ Boy Scouts of America with the Silver Beaver Award, the highest recognition a Boy Scout council can bestow on an adult volunteer leader.
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Wil Haygood was named a
2014 Legends and Legacies honoree at the historic Pythian Theater Oct. 2 by Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman and the King Arts Complex. Legends and Legacies pays tribute to individuals who have shown their commitment to human rights, cultural democracy, artistic excellence, and service. Mount Vernon Avenue is now Wil Haygood Way until next year’s ceremony. The Columbus native, author of several books, traveled the world as a foreign correspondent for the Boston Globe and now works for the
Washington Post, where he wrote the 2008 article that told the story of White House butler Eugene Allen, who served eight presidents. The story became the subject of the 2013 motion picture Lee Daniels’ The Butler. He joins Miami’s faculty next semester as the Karl and Helen Wiepking Visiting Distinguished Professor and will return to teach the following two spring semesters. ¶ East Quad roommates gathered at the homes of Alice Miller Robbins ’76 and Sherry Wager ’76 in Boulder in June for their first reunion in 38 years: Patti Androski Saylor ’76, Susan Icove ’76, Terri Smith Meidlinger ’76, Martha Pfleeger ’77, Barbara Beth “BJ” Jones Barclay ’76, and Ruth Kanfer ’76. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum. org/Miamian.) ¶ Darrell West is the author of Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust (Brookings Institution Press, September 2014). According to Forbes, the top 1 percent of America’s 492 billionaires own about one-third of the assets in America and 40 percent of assets around the world. In Billionaires, Darrell, vice president of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, analyzes the “wealthification” of politics and society.
Carol Taano Phillips ’74 proudly sported her Miami RedHawks bike shirt on College Jersey Day during the 42nd Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Carol biked 455 miles in seven days. She writes, “There were days when there were over 20,000 riders. Crazy. There was even a guy who did the entire ride on a unicycle!”
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class notes
Leslie Barcus ’84 and Louise Snow ’84 (seen here with Cletus and Tiger) traveled from their homes in Washington, D.C., and Newton, Mass., to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. They spent three fulfilling days walking dogs and cats (yes, cats!), cleaning the shelter, and socializing the animals. They had a great time catching up during the drive from Las Vegas through Zion National Park to Kanab.
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Marian Grant, DNP, assistant
professor in the department of family and community health at the University of Maryland, School of Nursing, has been selected for the 20142015 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows program, which provides exceptional midcareer health professionals the opportunity to participate in the health policy process at the federal level. Fellows leave their academic settings and professional practices to spend a year in the nation’s capital. A three-month orientation program is followed by a nine-month assignment in which fellows work in a congressional office or the executive branch. Work assignments are supplemented throughout the year with health policy leadership development activities and media training. Fellows then return to the field, where they put new skills into practice.
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Andy Kopp of Franklin, Ohio,
is a retired businessman and a stock market speculator active in his community. He founded the “We’re Fed Up Group” in answer to too much regulation on the business community and too much intervention in personal lives. His most recent work deals with
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putting gun control legislation in check and voicing opposition to smoking bans. He has received the Good Neighbor Award from Franklin City Council and been recognized for his five years of piano playing at the annual veterans holiday dinner at Dayton’s veterans hospital. Congressman Mike Turner’s (R-OH) office recognized him for his “Contributions to Society.” ¶ Jim Robenalt, an Ohio lawyer, was mentioned in the New York Times Sunday Magazine article “The Letters That Warren G. Harding’s Family Didn’t Want You to See,” in July. Throughout the article, about letters Harding wrote to his longtime mistress, the Times ran excerpts from transcriptions Jim made when he came across the letters at the Western Reserve Historical Society. According to the Times, the details of the Harding-Phillips affair remained largely hidden from public view until 2009 when Jim published The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage During the Great War.
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Bob Coletti of Cincinnati is a
national trustee on Miami’s board of trustees as of June. Bob is a partner with Keating Muething & Klekamp. He practices in the corporate, securities, financing, and private equity areas and is a member of the firm’s board of directors. He is a former member of Miami’s PreLaw Mentor Program, has served on the For Love and Honor campaign Cincinnati regional committee, and is past president of the foundation board. ¶ Judge Taryn Stambaugh Heath is president of the 780-member Stark County Bar Association, becoming its 97th president in June. Taryn has served as a common pleas judge in Stark County since 2007. She has one adult son, and she and her husband live in Canton, Ohio. ¶ Cheryl Ann
Lawrence McDaniel from Direct
Success Inc. is one of SmartCEO’s 2014 Brava! Winners. The award honors top female executives in the New York area based on the work they have done with their company and community. ¶ Bob Morrison, managing partner of Morrison Valuation & Forensic Services in Orlando, traveled to Melbourne, Australia, in May to teach business valuation classes at the invitation of the Australia Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers. ¶ Randall Stearnes, caretaker of the 98-acre Morse Wildlife Preserve in Graham, Wash., is president of the Foundation for Water and Energy Education. He is speaking at HydroVision Brazil Oct. 21-23 and the 18th International Seminar on Hydropower Nov. 26–28 in Vienna, Austria.
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Reunion ¶ Anne BundeBirouste is founder and CEO of Football United and a senior lecturer, convener, in the health promotion program, School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. According to its website, “Football United uses football to bring people together for the common goal of creating harmonious and cohesive societies. We aim to build capacity of communities and improve the skills of people in diverse areas that include high proportions of refugees, migrant, and Indigenous Australian children, youth, and families.”
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Ross Hunt of Murrieta, Calif.,
completed advanced training with Elite IRA Advisor Group in April in Orlando. He is managing partner and co-founder with his wife, Mary, of RMH Advisors, a fee-only, registered investment advisory firm. ¶ Michelle McClung was featured in the northern
class notes
Ohio News-Herald. A longtime ceramics instructor in the Harvard Ceramics Program’s community studio, she moved from Boston back to Lake County in 2013. She and fellow artist Ray Ryan have partnered with Compass Point Management to start a community studio, ChelleRay Artisans, inside one of Bill Stanton Community Park’s abandoned buildings. Now a full-time artist, Michelle was a release engineer for a software development company for 15 years while producing clay-based art, going through 2 tons of clay a year. ¶ Richard Moran PhD ’81 became the 10th president of Menlo College in Atherton, Calif., in September. As the CEO of Accretive Solutions, Richard has been a Silicon Valley leader in business and education, authored seven books, and hosted the radio show In the Workplace. ¶ Married: Douglas Rolfe and Danielle Williams, in Naples, Fla., May 25, 2014. They live in Boca Raton, Fla., where Douglas maintains a private dental practice and is an assistant professor at the Nova Southeastern College of Dental Medicine. Danielle is a pharmaceutical representative for Glaxo. They have three children.
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Stephen Dovala ’82 MArch
’84 of Villa Hills, Ky., returned to Miami Sept. 8 as a guest of department of architecture + interior design to talk about how his education as an architect has taken him to more than 200 cities and 17 countries. His career has covered almost every aspect of commercial real estate. His current engagements explore how the tracking and reporting of real estate information is impacted by changes in technology. In 2013, he learned his firm was looking for a manager in Dubai to coordinate the facilities management transition for the world’s largest real estate outsourcing contract in history.
Ten days later he was in Dubai on a sixmonth assignment. He says, “Along the way I learned much about America’s place in the global economy, myself, and one of the most exciting economies in the world. While living in Dubai, I walked 1½ hours in 125 degree heat to renew my visa, skydived over the Palm Jumeirah, learned that I looked like I was from the Balkans but dressed like an American, and learned the true meaning of ‘Insha’Allah.’ ” ¶ Randy Stephens is university architect at Montana State University in Bozeman.
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Dan Lyon is the new develop-
ment officer for Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio. ¶ Ray Pater is an attorney and executive director of the Butler County (Ohio) Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA), which has been the overall Best Performing Metro CSEA in the state since 2003. Ray is running for Hamilton County (Ohio) domestic relations court judge Nov. 4. He has 23 years of domestic relations court experience and was president of the Ohio CSEA Directors’ Association in 2011. ¶ Jonathan Stern is the new vice president of development at Columbia College Chicago. He joins the college from Wabash College, where he was the dean for college advancement. He got his start in fundraising with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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Douglas Fell is treasurer and
chief financial officer for the Lancaster Colony Corp. in Columbus, which he joined in 1993. He has held various leadership positions within the company’s food group involving finance, information technology, and operations. Doug and wife Kathryn “Katie” Smith Fell ’85 also own a group fitness studio in Lewis Center, Ohio, where they live. Katie manages the
studio. ¶ Laura Hammel is a fellow in the Public Relations Society of America’s College of Fellows, composed of senior PRSA members who have advanced the profession and distinguished themselves through their leadership in the industry. Laura is chairman of the undergraduate business department at Ursuline College, where she also serves as associate professor and program director of the public relations and marketing communications degree program. ¶ Mark Hermiller of Glen Ellyn, Ill., and Lee Miner of Scarsdale, N.Y., took their sons, Jack and Charlie, to Washington to learn about government, sit in on the Supreme Court, and meet politicians. Mark and Lee met with fellow alum and past vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan ’92 and posed for a photo with the congressman. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/ Miamian.) ¶ Bob Schmidt PhD ’84, university archivist for 20 of his 29 years at Miami, has retired. Bob stored and retrieved thousands of articles, photos, and unusual pieces of information for the studious and the curious. He received many unusual requests, the oddest being a sample of Abraham Lincoln’s hair. He found some.
For more than 30 years, John Luecke ’44 proudly displayed his Miami pride on his car. John won the Ohio vanity license plate by bidding $501 in an athletics department auction. It was a good fit as he was the ultimate red and white booster. After returning from World War II, he finished his degree, married his freshman sweetheart, Mary Ann Van Guelpen ’44, and purchased season football tickets. Past president of the Cincinnati Miami Men’s Club and a member of the Red and White Club, John died in May. His son, David ’71, says his family considered keeping the plate but decided their dad would appreciate seeing it returned to the university, giving another Miami booster a chance at a license to brag.
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“ It’s important to understand the messages that our youth are receiving regarding gender roles in contemporary society.” —Cory Armstrong ’91, author of Media Disparity: A Gender Battleground
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Reunion ¶ Chris Babiak is senior vice president of national marketing services at The Segal Group. He leads the company’s presence at many large national conferences, seminars, and online webinars, and manages advertising and collateral materials programs and marketing data and analytics services. The Segal Group, headquartered in New York, is a leading benefits and HR consulting firm. ¶ Chris Griffith, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with The Southeast Permanente Medical Group in Atlanta, has received The TSPMG Above and Beyond Community Service Award. The night before completing his residency program and starting his private practice, Chris lost his closest friend, NFL player Joe Drake, to an obesityrelated heart attack. He began a “quest in memory of my friend to fight against childhood obesity,” he says. As part of that quest, Chris has partnered with his wife, Jeana Jackson Griffith MA ’91 PhD ’98, to write an inspirational children’s book, The Tale of Two Athletes: The Story of Jumper and the Thumper — A True Story on Understanding and Combating Childhood Obesity (AuthorHouse). In addition to his work as a clinician and author, Chris is an assistant professor in the Morehouse Medical School psychiatry department and further educates through hundreds of presentations, including a panel discussion that was part of a nationally televised HBO documentary. He is a member of the National Medical Association Obesity Task Force and the Kaiser Permanente Bariatric Team. Jeana is a licensed clinical psychologist, an adjunct faculty member for Emory University School of Medicine, and a psychotherapist for Georgia State University Counseling & Testing Center. She specializes in coping with chronic illness, depression, anxiety, and
issues related to minority populations. ¶ Susan Resko, banker turned social entrepreneur, is the new executive director of the Chicago region of LIFT, a national nonprofit organization working to lift people out of poverty. Susan served as a vice president/senior relationship manager at Harris Trust and Savings Bank before transitioning into a career in nonprofit with The Balanced Mind Foundation, a national parent network for children with severe mental health challenges.
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Dorie Paine MS ’88 joined
new president and CEO at Rumpke Waste & Recycling in Cincinnati. During his 12-year tenure as chief operating officer, he ensured new developments in recycling and sustainability. From 2002-2013, under Bill’s direction, Rumpke’s revenues grew by 78 percent. Bill has spent the past 36 years working for the family-owned and operated company, which provides waste disposal and recycling solutions in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia. It recycles more than 700 million pounds annually.
Missouri University of Science and Technology as director of residential life July 14. For the past 16 years, she held a variety of positions at the University of South Florida, becoming senior director of student success and mentoring in 2011. ¶ Missy Ganaway Pask, owner of MGP Interiors and Design, is Chi Omega’s national ritual officer. Chi Omega is the largest women’s fraternal organization in the world. She was initiated into the Sigma Alpha Chapter at Miami in 1985. Since then, she has volunteered on the chapter and national levels, chairing the 2014 national convention and serving on the centennial planning committee for her chapter. Missy and husband John live in The Woodlands, Texas, with daughters MacKenzie, 18, and Morgan, 15. ¶ James Peacock ’88 MGS ’90 is a full professor in sociology at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. He teaches sociology and gerontology and focuses on service learning and other forms of community engagement. He recently was president of the Southern Gerontological Society.
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William Rumpke Jr. is the
Jerry Pattengale MA ’87 PhD ’93 is Indiana Wesleyan
University’s first University Professor. The title is conferred by the president, voted by faculty, and is reserved to “honor exceptional individuals whose scholarship and service transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and are celebrated in the global academy.” Jerry is executive director of the Green Scholars Initiative, a collaboration of scholars studying the documents and artifacts of the Green Collection, the world’s largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts. He also oversees an international curriculum project. He and wife Cindy have four adult sons and live in Marion, Ind.
Dana White Bolar MS ’89
is regional admissions counselor at Wichita State University. ¶ Cary Chaitoff is director of marketing at Skoda Minotti, a national CPA, financial, and business advisory firm headquartered in Cleveland. He leads and oversees marketing, business development, and communication strategies for the firm’s Cleveland, Akron, and Tampa locations.
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Reunion ¶ Jason Ploetz is the new human resources generalist for Envision Corp. in Cincinnati. Envision’s mission is to provide a full and vibrant future for people with disabilities. Jason, Jennifer
class notes
Kenney Ploetz, and their three children
live in Cincinnati.
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Cory Armstrong, associate
professor in the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, has edited a new book, Media Disparity: A Gender Battleground (Lexington Books), which details the inequity of gender representations in informational and entertainment media. “The portrayal of women in media has been a key aspect in my research program throughout my career, and this book illustrates how little those representations have changed in the past 35 years,” says Cory, who enlisted top experts and researchers in mass communication to address employment, sourcing, coverage, and representation in global media. ¶ Sue Aaronson Rosenthal, former vice president of finance for the Miami Herald Media Co., is Barry University’s new vice president for business and finance. Sue provides strategic financial leadership and directs all aspects of the university’s finance, accounting, and facilities departments. She also is part of the university’s executive team tasked with setting institutional goals and formulating institutional policy. Barry University is a private, Catholic institution in Miami, Fla., with nearly 9,000 students. Sue and her husband, Steve, have two children. ¶ Charlene Kamin Schneider PhD ’91 is a psychologist in private practice in Maineville, Ohio. She is running for the Ohio House of Representatives in District 62 (www. schneider4ohhouserep.com). ¶ Born: to Amy Greenbaum Shaiman and Jason, Theodore, in July 2013. ¶ A small group of Miami alums got together in Denver this summer to cheer on Doug Thompson, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year and is nearly a year from his last blood transfusion and
feeling somewhat better. Tom Gonnella ’92 writes, “Since he has more energy, we thought it would be nice to get many of the Alpha Delta Phi brothers together to offer our encouragement on his road to recovery. Many of the people flew in from around the country, and it was a great weekend of reuniting friendships and sharing stories of times past in Oxford.” The friends: Doug Parsonage ’92, Jim Champion ’91, Mike Vanderwoude ’91, Devin Listerman ’91, Chuck Taft ’91, Mike Grier ’92, Tom Gonnella ’92, Cliff Stanton ’92, Phil Garrett ’91, Matt Nadaud ’91, John Kniskern ’91, Ted Sullivan ’91, Mike Orazen ’91, Todd Moerman ’91, Dave Lord ’92, and Doug Thompson ’91. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.)
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Cathy Brigham of Austin,
Texas, is senior director of Higher Education Engagement for the Advanced Placement program at the College Board. She keeps academic leadership and faculty from postsecondary institutions around the country informed about key changes in the AP program as well as other resources available from the College Board. ¶ Doug Cooper’s book, Outside In (Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2013), won the International Book Awards’ 2014 award for Best Literary Fiction at the American Book Fest. This year’s contest yielded more than 1,200 entries from around the world. Doug’s debut novel explores the modern search for responsibility and identity through the eyes of Brad Shepherd in a story that is called “equally funny, earnest, romantic, and lamenting.” Doug has traveled to more than 20 countries on five continents, exploring the contradictions between what we believe and how we act. He lives in Las Vegas and is working on his new book, The Investment Club.
¶ Gary Gwynn II purchased a new business, Gwynn Advertising in Wheeling, W.Va. He is the owner and principal. He’s also been promoted to the rank of major (O4) for the Special Operations Detachment-Europe at Camp Dawson. ¶ Amy Ikerd of Coldwater, Ohio, an assistant prosecutor in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, is among 22 women participating in the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute. It is a statewide program that trains women in business and civic leadership to assume more prominent roles in their communities, their government, and in the Republican party. ¶ Kam Ming Lim PhD ’92 was re-elected as vice president of the Educational Research Association of Singapore for a second two-year term. Kam is an associate dean and associate professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. ¶ Mary MacDonald of Columbus is the first executive director for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association, a nonprofit organization founded in 2008 to unify the Ohio brewing community, market Ohio manufactured beers throughout the state and beyond, and monitor and promote a strong beer industry in Ohio.
Andy Frye ’94, who lives in Chicago, is a social media consultant and writes as a contributor for ESPN.com on a variety of sports. His wife, Bianka Hardin, is a psychologist with her own practice, Centered Therapy. When not writing or covering sports, Andy plays roller derby with the Chicago Bruise Brothers. One bonus? He burns about 1,200 calories every skating practice.
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class notes
93
Shefali Razdan Duggal has
been appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Shefali is also on the national board of directors of Emily’s List, which, since its founding, has helped elect 102 pro-choice Democratic women to the House, 19 to the Senate, 10 to governors’ seats, and hundreds to state and local office. It has become one of the largest financial resources for minority women seeking federal office. Shefali is the first Asian to be on either board. ¶ Married: Steven Reineke and Eric Gabbard, Aug. 4, 2014, in New York City. Steven is music director and conductor of the New York Pops and principal pops conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Eric is a personal stylist.
The Path to Miami As a student, you followed that path, and the experience of your years at Miami was unforgettable. Help us tell the Miami story by encouraging any high school seniors you know to apply. Learn more about applying to Miami: MiamiOH.edu/apply Schedule a visit: MiamiOH.edu/visit
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Megan Duffus Garnett is a
video producer and project manager at Cortina Productions, outside Washington, D.C., which specializes in museum media. One of her colleagues is Frank Winston ’13. They first worked together in 2012 on a project for the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum while he was a summer intern. After graduation, Frank was hired and specializes in developing mobile apps and interactive media. ¶ Kari Albert Osborne of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City received the Avis Bohlen Award for Exemplary Performance from the American Foreign Service Association, given to a Foreign Service family member whose relations at post have done the most to advance American interests. Kari’s efforts include the U.S. Ambassador’s Cup soccer competition for children of local orphanages; Angel Trees,
which provides disadvantaged families with clothing and toys for Christmas; and a fundraising campaign to bring orphans of Fundación Eugenia to the ambassador’s house for a holiday party. ¶ Geoffrey Owen, CFP, CDFA, MBA, a financial adviser at Raymond James in Charlotte, N.C., has been authorized by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to use the certified financial planner and CFP certification marks in accordance with CFP Board requirements. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, Missy Knorr Owen ’96, and their two children. ¶ Bayberry Lanning Shah had a one-woman show of her paintings at the Memphis Botanic Garden from May 2-May 31, 2014. “Flowers. Secrets Within” featured 40 works in oil and acrylic, including six large-scale paintings showing the many different moods of the same flower.
class notes
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Reunion ¶ Jeffrey Kirk II is a partner in the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister’s Indianapolis office. He is a member of the business and finance practice group and also works with clients on state and local economic development and federal incentives programs and public-private partnerships. ¶ Born: to Tom Sherrill and Heather, Lily Mary, May 12, 2014, joining Christian, 2, in Columbus.
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Jill Wentland Hartmann
is second vice president, marketing communications and training at Ohio National Financial Services in Cincinnati. Her responsibilities include field development operations and training for sales associates in the traditional distribution channel. She also is responsible for sales promotion programs and campaigns. ¶ Janet Meub, of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, presented “Trying a Case in State Court from Start to Finish” at a CLE seminar sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute June 30, 2014, in Pittsburgh. She has extensive trial experience defending medical, psychiatric, legal, and chiropractic malpractice claims in Ohio and Pennsylvania in state and federal courts. ¶ Born: to Bill Morris and Holly, Linnette Merryelle, April 30, 2014. Bill is a senior meteorologist for ACES, an energy risk management company. They live in Fishers, Ind.
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Jim Creeden is a partner at
BKD, a national CPA and advisory firm based in Cincinnati. He leads the Cincinnati office’s notfor-profit and government group by providing assurance services. ¶ Charles Huddleston, director-writer-producer, was featured in John Kiesewetter’s Cincinnati Enquirer column. Based in Los Angeles, Charles is
in postproduction with Blue, a feature movie he shot last year in Appalachia about a man with a rare blood disease that colors his skin blue. Kelly McGillis and Michele Martin star in the film with Drew Connick. Charles has several other projects going on, too, including filming a modern retelling of A Doll’s House in Cincinnati, starring Oscarwinner Ben Kingsley. ¶ Tom Lakin ’97, Leif Mitchell ’96, and Tami Duckworth ’96 spent their 40th birthdays together in Bermuda, Boston, and New York City respectively. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/ Miamian.) ¶ Chris Woolard MA ’97 PhD ’01, director of accountability of the Ohio Department of Education, received the Data Quality Campaign’s 2014 State Data Leader Award for ensuring that Ohio educators have access to timely and relevant student data, such as attendance history, course-taking patterns, grades, and test scores, to tailor instruction to individual students’ strengths and weaknesses.
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Dan Boyle, a former defen-
seman for Miami hockey, agreed to a two-year contract with the New York Rangers on the first day of National Hockey League free agency July 1. Dan is a 16-year NHL veteran with the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and San Jose Sharks. He became Miami’s first Stanley Cup Champion in 2004 when he hoisted the trophy with the Lightning. ¶ Lisa Hodge Dahlem and her husband, Charlie, of Louisville, were honorary chairs of The Julep Ball this year, the biggest ball for the Kentucky Derby. At the KFC Yum! Center, the official event of the 140th Kentucky Derby, held on Derby Eve, raised money for the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville. ¶ Born: to Tracy Murdolo Darby and Gerard, Sadie
Lynn, Oct. 26, 2013, joining Alexander, 2, in Duluth, Minn. ¶ Born: to Michael and Lisa Hartkemeyer McNamara ’00, Wallace Xander, Aug. 29, 2014, joining Augustus Joseph, who turns 2 Dec. 31. Michael is chief deputy of the Butler County Treasurer’s office, and Lisa is manager of local operations in the Dayton office of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. They live in Fairfield Township, Ohio.
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Carla Barger, who has an
MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is a full-time writer and freelance editor. Her poetry has appeared in several literary journals as well as two photography books, Objet d’Art and Metal. She has also written for gallery catalogs and other art-related publications. She lives in Chicago with her wife and dog. ¶ Aaron Bernard of North Haven, Conn., is clinical skills director at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. He oversees Quinnipiac’s new Standardized Patient Assessment Center in the Center for Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences on the North Haven Campus. He earned an MD at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He also holds a master’s in medical education leadership from the University of New England. ¶ Born: to Dan and Kathleen Quinn Devine ’00, Foley Anne, March 24, 2014, joining brothers Quinn, Ronan, and Seamus, and sister Delaney. They live in Clarendon Hills, Ill. ¶ Matthew Schnabel has been named a National Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educator, one of five educators from across the country so honored for incorporating environmental education to improve student learning and foster environmental stewardship. He teaches science at White Knolls High School in Lexington, S.C., has created
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class notes
employment, media, and business/corporate issues; founded and directed the pre-law program at Miami; served on the boards of Cincinnati-area agencies, including the YWCA and Urban League; and is a two-term Cincinnati City Councilmember.
01
Mike Ostroski ’98 is actor, co-writer, and co-producer of a new one-man play that attempts to save the world. Groundwork was presented Sept. 19 and Sept. 25 as part of the 5th Annual United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City. In the play, the idea “grow a garden” hits Paul like a meteor hitting the planet — and he’s off! He reads the books, sows the seeds, and, before his first tomatoes ripen, departs on a crusade to save the planet. Saving himself proves a much harder battle.
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new AP environmental science and environmental/nature studies courses, and frequently introduces his students to learning experiences through field studies at Congaree National Park and the University of South Carolina. ¶ Born: to Mike and Jennifer Stuller Zugelder ’00, Juliana Marie, Sept. 4, 2013, joining Ava, 2, in Cincinnati.
00
Reunion ¶ Deidre McPherson was profiled on ClevelandMagazine.com as one of the city’s Most Interesting People 2014. Deidre, in 2012, founded the Cleveland chapter of Sistah Sinema, a monthly film event centered on queer women of color. The chapter meets at such venues as Arts Collinwood and Spaces Gallery. She has put together panels of community leaders and set up a dating game. Deidre is a marketing manager at the Council of Smaller Enterprises. ¶ Yvette Simpson, Of Counsel, Ulmer & Berne and president pro tem of Cincinnati City Council, is one of eight exceptional women named as 2014 Career Women of Achievement by the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati for outstanding contributions to the Tristate. In her 12-year law career, she has provided legal advice on issues of
AJ Auld is in the 2014 class
of Columbus Business First’s Forty Under 40. AJ is president of Titanium Allies, head coach of boys’ lacrosse at Dublin Jerome High School, and a member of the sportsmanship and safety committee for U.S. Lacrosse. He started coaching lacrosse in 1998 and formed Titanium Lacrosse in 2009, now one of the largest and fastest-growing lacrosse companies in the country. ¶ Craig Brandenburg is one of eight recipients of Teach for America’s national Excellence in Teaching Award. He teaches algebra, video production, and drumline to 9-12th graders at YES Prep in Houston. Last year, 97 percent of his students passed the state test. To keep his students invested, Craig founded a student video production company, yBlazers, that is now a student-run business. Through the company, students have gained internships, paying job opportunities, and important connections with people around the country. ¶ Born: to Tagan Rupp Buettner and Steven, Emmet David and Luke Grover, Jan. 31, 2014, joining Amelia, 3, in Galena, Ohio. ¶ Born: to Tara Bonaventura DeFreytas and Jonathan, Emma Grace, April 14, 2014 in Chicago. They live in Roscoe Village, a neighborhood in the city. ¶ Christie Lauer Reckman is vice president, client services at Burke Inc., an independent marketing research and decision support company in Cincinnati. ¶ Sarah Thornbery of Middletown, Ohio, has received the Walter Brahm & John
Rebenack Ohio Library Foundation Annual Scholarship from Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Science. She is pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science with a specialization in academic librarianship. Sarah has worked as a teacher-librarian at Springboro Jr. High School. ¶ Kelsey Timmerman of Muncie, Ind., is giving talks about his world travels and his newest book, Where Am I Eating?, An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy. His first book was Where Am I Wearing?, a Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes. Kelsey is helping people share their stories through The Facing Project, which he co-founded with writer J.R. Jamison. This is an effort to connect people through stories to strengthen communities and raise awareness by enlisting writers who tell the stories of real people facing triumph and tragedy. ¶ Married: Tony Vero and Melanie Montgomery, July 12, 2014, in Mansfield, Ohio. Tony is an attorney in labor relations with ArcelorMittal and Melanie is the human resources manager for Carton Service-Pharma Packaging Solutions. They live in Lexington, Ohio. ¶ C. Bryan Wilson was elected to the partnership of Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., where he litigates complex civil and criminal cases. He lives in McLean, Va., with his wife, Dana Vancea, and their daughters, Mara and Lily.
02
Born: to Janelle Evans Jancaric and Justin, Juliana Piper, April 8, 2014. ¶ Born: to Evan Margelefsky and Stephanie, Brayden Grant, Dec. 16, 2013, joining sister Maya, 3. Evan is a consultant with Vizion Solutions and Stephanie is a media specialist for Solon Schools. They live in Twinsburg, Ohio.
class notes
03
James Heinen of St. Louis,
an attorney in Armstrong Teasdale’s intellectual property services practice group, was selected as a mentor for the American Intellectual Property Law Association. This program pairs seasoned IP professionals with newer AIPLA members to advance the mentees’ careers and prepare them for leadership positions within the organization. ¶ Katie Lee is part of the weekly Saturday morning show The Kitchen with four other Food Network stars. ¶ Stevan Porter and Michelle Rakiec, with consulting editor Albert Kimball, have written IP Strategy, Valuation, and Damages (LexisNexis) to provide accessible and actionable information about intellectual property in a business context. It is designed to be a useful reference for business managers and attorneys whose responsibilities include IP-related matters. ¶ Aaron Rossini is excited about the evolution of Fault Line Theatre, the Off-OffBroadway company he co-founded that presented the world premiere of Beau Willimon’s dramedy Breathing Time last spring at New York’s Teatro Iati. ¶ Born: to Corrine Carthell Witherspoon and Aaron, Kimberly Elise, Nov. 8, 2013.
04
Rebecca Davis of Dublin,
Ohio, is director of practice growth at Rea & Associates, a regional accounting and business consulting firm. She is responsible for leading the firm’s marketing and business development efforts and guiding strategy for each of the firm’s 11 offices as well as 12 special service and niche markets.
05
Reunion ¶ Matthew Bruce is an attorney in Faruki Ireland & Cox’s Dayton office. He has experience in several areas including real estate and property law, labor and employment law, debtor and creditor’s
rights, contract law, and business transactions. ¶ Born: to Aidan and Emily Moore Carrigg, Zoe Katherine, July 5, 2014, joining Molly in Lewisville, Texas. ¶ Born: to Wesley and Shannon Gunther Groves, Grayson, April 23, 2014, joining Makenzie, 2, in Liberty Township, Ohio. ¶ Michael Hadgis is vice president, national sales and business partnerships, for digital media publisher Vox Media, which owns and operates a portfolio of digital publications. He was elected president of Chicago Interactive Marketing Association in 2014. ¶ Married: Krystle Marko and Jason Burris ’02, May 18, 2013, in Dayton. Krystle is an attorney and Jason is a CPA. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum. org/Miamian.) ¶ Born: to Ryan and Erin Cline McKenna, Audrey Grace, Feb. 12, 2013, joining Charlotte, 1, in Pittsburgh. Ryan is a managing director for Northwestern Mutual and Erin is a stay-at-home mom. ¶ Born: to Brandon and Katy Siefring Nutting, Elin Cecilia, May 2, 2014, joining Reid, 3. They live in Columbus where Brandon is an asset manager for Stanbery Development and Katy is an operations manager for Cardinal Health. ¶ Born: to Kristin Dunn Woosley and William, Billy, July 29, 2013. They live in Hubert, N.C.
06
Born: to Kenneth and Kristin Riekels Bishop ’05 MAT ’11, Cornelia Jo “Nellie,” Nov. 12, 2013. Kenneth works at Facebook and Kristin is a stay-at-home mom to Nellie and Miles, 2. They live in Singapore. ¶ Married: William Breedlove and Laura Valentine, June 14, 2014, in Nashville. They live in Mountain Brook, Ala. ¶ Born: to Steve and Rachel Bachouros Flaherty ’07, Conner Matthew, Nov. 12, 2013, in Columbus, joining Caylee Rose, born Jan. 14, 2012. Steve is a township trustee in Berlin Township
and a regional sales manager with United Systems. Rachel is a stay-athome mom. They also run their own kettle corn and steamed bagel business, Yumii. ¶ Married: Katie Hohenberger and Brian Rule, May 11, 2013, in Cincinnati. Katie is a global recruiting specialist for Bain & Co. in Chicago, where they live. Brian is in national sales at CH Robinson Worldwide. ¶ Shirley McLoughlin PhD ’06, associate professor of education at Keene State College, presented a paper at a conference in Vienna and had dinner at a reception sponsored by the city of Vienna for the Diversity Conference participants. Her paper was about part of her experience as a Fulbright Scholar in the Republic of Georgia last year. This is her fourth Diversity Conference at which she has presented papers, allowing her to travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland; Cape Town, South Africa; and Riga, Latvia. ¶ Laura Mustio has written a new book, With All Eyes Open (Animal Media Group, 2014), which takes readers on a 319-day, artistic journey through India, Italy, Ireland, and Iceland. Through the stroke of her paintbrush and journal, Laura shares as she travels and creates throughout four countries. She co-founded elle &
Kristen Benner Montgomery ’04 sent in this photo, taken during a reunion of 11 Miamians, who returned to Oxford in late spring, the first time since graduation that they have been in the same place. The group brought all 19 of their kids — ages 6 and under, with four on the way — gave them plates with numbers representing their birth order, and tried to get a group picture. Kristen says, “It’s not perfect, but we will treasure it forever.”
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class notes
Jon Kovach ’11 is in the U.S. premiere of NOTHING by Nic Balthazar as part of the 2014 United Solo Theatre Festival Nov. 19 at Theatre Row Studios in New York City. This production features Ben, a young wordsmith/technology enthusiast with autism. Through poetry, music, and video, Ben shares his story of meeting “Barbie” in a divine online connection, standing up to his high school bullies, and finding ways to fit into a “normal” world.
arre photography in Pittsburgh, where she lives. ¶ Married: Nichole Scaglione ’06 MS ’08 and Dan Palchick, Aug. 10, 2013, in Miami’s Formal Gardens. They live in State College, Pa., where Nichole is completing a PhD in biobehavioral health. Dan is an attorney for MidPenn Legal Services.
07
Born: to Tyler and Rebecca Berk Francko ’07 MEd ’12, Ryan Jackson, June 5, 2014, in Dayton. Tyler is a fourth-grade teacher in Carlisle Local Schools. Rebecca is a first-grade teacher in West Carrollton City Schools. ¶ Ariana Herbert graduated from Ohio State University School of Medicine and was accepted into the family medicine program at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton.
08
Bill Angsten of Elgin, Ill.,
co-founded Compass Automation in 2009. It was featured in Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing private companies list — #55 overall and #1 in manufacturing. Compass designs and builds custom automation systems for manufacturers. ¶ Married: Nicole Booher and Joseph Russell, USMC, Nov. 10, 2013, in Leesburg, Va. ¶ Maria
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miamian magazine
Mosteller Childs MAT ’08 was featured
Kristin Schubert Breading, Betsy
on Channel 12 in Cincinnati. Maria, who teaches second grade at Terrace Park Elementary, wrote Firefighters Don’t while at Miami. After she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma, her firefighter husband, Scott, asked a fellow firefighter to illustrate the book. When Tate Publishing picked it up, Scott surprised her with the news. Maria told reporter Angenette Levy, “Huge dream come true. I’ve wanted to do it forever and always kind of had it on the bucket list of things that I thought I can do later on.” ¶ Danielle Merkle Hallion is associate director, communications and media in the Cincinnati office for dunnhumbyUSA, a leading customer science company. She is responsible for engaging consumer packaged goods clients in strategic planning and execution of targeted media. She lives in Oakley. ¶ Married: Emilie Orians and Jerry Rouse Jr. ’07, Dec. 28, 2013, in Cincinnati, where they live and work for MarketVision Research and EY respectively.
Markley Ferguson, Jackie Noland, and
09
Married: Natasha Burk and John Helmsdoerfer, Aug. 2, 2014. They live in Plainsboro, N.J. ¶ Amanda Chaney of West Chester, Ohio, earned a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Georgia CampusPhiladelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine May 28, 2014. She is continuing her medical training in family medicine at Bethesda North Hospital in Cincinnati. ¶ Alec Martinez, a threeyear hockey standout for the Miami RedHawks, scored in double overtime to hand the Los Angeles Kings a Stanley Cup clinching 3-2 win over the New York Rangers in game five of the Stanley Cup Finals in June. That tally gave Alec and the Kings a second championship in three seasons. ¶ Ready for a five-year reunion, Tess Schuster, Bethany Skaff,
Caroline Phillips traveled to Colorado
Springs, Colo., to visit Alex and Emily Kemp Tipton ’09 and their daughter, Lucy. (See photo in online Miamian class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.) ¶ Sara Wenger of North Lima, Ohio, is community development program manager at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, the metropolitan regional organization for northeast Ohio based in Youngstown. She administers grants to the U.S. Economic Development Administration and maintains the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for three counties. In May she graduated with a master’s in city and regional planning at Rutgers University.
10
Reunion ¶ Andrea Bosco is executive editor of WHIRL Publishing. She is responsible for managing the production of four publications: WHIRL Magazine, Pittsburgh’s premier lifestyle magazine; Edible Allegheny; WHIRL Wedding Guide; and WHIRL@Home. Andrea also provides extensive event coverage, produces photo shoots, and puts together bimonthly radio segments. Her interviews have included Hines Ward, Bernadette Peters, and culinary masterminds Thomas Keller and Alton Brown. ¶ Lindsay Cary, DO, graduated from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine June 1. She accepted a threeyear pediatric residency at Dayton Children’s Hospital. ¶ Married: Sara Garofalo and Kyle Linder ’09, May 3, 2014, in Chicago. They live in Arlington, Va. ¶ Sarah King, a training specialist at DSWDesigner Shoe Warehouse national headquarters in Columbus, was named a 30 under 30 recipient by Elliott Masie’s Business Learning Conference. The goal of the program is
class notes
to provide support, visibility, voice, and development for the next generation of Learning Leaders. ¶ Paula Koch, a Fulbright Scholar in Jordan in 2010, earned an MA in security policy studies from George Washington University in 2013. A former Syria fellow at American Islamic Congress, she is the program implementation coordinator at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Washington, D.C. ¶ Patrick McLoughlin and Chad Johnson have founded Build Abroad (buildabroad.org), a humanitarian organization that offers short-term construction volunteer trips to developing countries where people can help build homes, schools, and orphanages. Patrick says, “We realized that very few people were willing to devote years of their life to organizations like the Peace Corps. However, plenty of people would love to give back.” ¶ Kyle McNeill of Covington, Ky., is senior associate, custom insights, in the Cincinnati office of dunnhumbyUSA.
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Hockey forward Carter Camper and defenseman Chris Wideman inked two-way deals with the Ottawa Senators on the second day of NHL free agency July 2. ¶ Todd McClimans of West Chester, Ohio, is client lead, brand consulting, in the Cincinnati office of dunnhumbyUSA, a leading customer science company. He is responsible for delivering advanced shopper-centric solutions in the areas of new product development, media, and customer knowledge to consumer packaged goods clients. ¶ Former RedHawk forward Andy Miele was signed by the Detroit Red Wings on the second day of NHL free agency July 2. ¶ Married: Kendra O’Brien and Zack Brownfield, May 31, 2014, in Dayton. Kendra is a CPA with Battelle Rippe Kingston in Dayton and Zack is a CPA
for Ernst & Young in Cincinnati. They live in Liberty Township, Ohio.
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Ian Ferrell of Hyde Park, Ohio,
is a senior associate, client leadership, in the Cincinnati office of dunnhumbyUSA, a leading customer science company. ¶ Dustin Sams and Rachel Vargo are 2014 Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellows. This fellowship recruits top-quality teacher candidates, all with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine, to teach math and science in high-need Ohio schools. Each fellow receives a $30,000 stipend while completing a master’s program that includes experience in classrooms. They then commit to teach for three years in Ohio’s high-need schools with ongoing mentoring and support. Dustin is attending the University of Dayton. Rachel is attending the University of Cincinnati. ¶ Mike Scott is CEO of Rhythm X, a nonprofit music education and performance ensemble in Dayton. It fields two competitive ensembles in the Winter Guard International Percussion and Wind divisions, hosts clinics around the Midwest, and provides a music performance service with customized performances for private and corporate events. Mike was a performer in the percussion ensemble in 2011 and 2012 and joined the company as its operations director in 2013. During the summer, Mike is tour administrator of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps of Canton, Ohio, managing its 15,000 U.S. performance tour.
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Jamie Hackbarth of Columbus
is now in the Peace Corps. She left for Peru Sept. 10 to begin training as a health extension volunteer. After acquiring the language and cultural skills that will help her make a lasting difference, she will be sworn into
service and assigned to a community for two years. ¶ Cameron Holland, who performed with the Acapella Group Soul2Soul at Miami, was selected to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2014 NFL Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, Aug. 3. ¶ Ryan Powers, a right-handed pitcher for three seasons for Miami, was selected in the 22nd round (652 overall) of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies in June. ¶ Kelsey Skvoretz ’14 MA ’14 won best paper and presentation in Bowling Green University’s undergraduate economics paper competition in April for her Honors thesis, “Weighing on the Effectiveness of State Laws on Childhood Obesity: Fat Chance!” The competition included 24 entries by students from Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Kelsey’s analyzed the correlation of certain state laws that restrict the availability of competitive foods, limit vending sales, and specify minimum standards for physical education with high school body mass index scores. Kelsey is now an analyst for dunnhumbyUSA, a data analysis firm in Cincinnati. ¶ Evan Swhear of Mount Adams, Ohio, is an associate, custom insights, in the Cincinnati office of dunnhumbyUSA. He is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional business fraternity. ¶ Seth Varner of Batavia, Ohio, Miami’s starting pitcher in 2014, was selected in the 10th round (305th overall) of Major League Baseball’s First Year Player Draft by the Cincinnati Reds in June. The lefty played for the Billings Mustangs, the Pioneer League Rookie affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and league champions this year. ¶ Nicole Wulk of Strongsville, Ohio, is attending the University of Toledo College of Graduate Studies to pursue an MA in speech language pathology.
The idea behind Build Abroad is to connect travelers and tourists with those in need. —Patrick McLoughlin ’10
Fall 2014
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farewells 1930s Mabel Townsend Beerman ’36, Lansdale, Pa., May 6, 2014. Opal Stager Lease ’38 MEd ’62, Greenville, Ohio, May 7, 2014. 1940s Thomas B. Leech ’40, Coshocton, Ohio, June 20, 2014. Denny L. Schwartz ’40, St. Petersburg, Fla., May 26, 2014. Alice Harries Fletcher ’42, Juno Beach, Fla., June 11, 2014. June Chilcote Whittington ’42, Toledo, Ohio, May 3, 2014. Jean Edwards Naughtrip ’43, Columbus, Ohio, April 28, 2014. David C. Prugh ’43, Oyster Bay, N.Y., April 16, 2014. John D. Luecke Jr. ’44, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 9, 2014. Mortimer Spiller ’44, Ballwin, Mo., March 19, 2014. Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Fry Cleaver ’45, Hamilton, Ohio, March 12, 2014. Evelyn Michael Edwards ’45, Cincinnati, Ohio, July 13, 2014. David M. Bates ’47, Pittsburgh, Pa., May 6, 2014. Marion Hunt Massmann ’47, Mason, Ohio, July 21, 2014. James H. Misheff ’47, New Richmond, Ohio, June 20, 2014. Janet Martin Finch Young ’47, Muncie, Ind., March 13, 2014. Janet Carpenter Elliker ’48, Dover, Ohio, March 11, 2014. Richard A. Herrmann ’48, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 1, 2014. Dorothy Arlin Hershey ’48, Norwalk, Ohio, Oct. 13, 2013. Robert S. Keller ’48 MEd ’51, Fort Myers, Fla., May 20, 2014. Donald C. Melcher ’48, Roswell, Ga., March 1, 2014. Martha Orth Bateman ’49, Zanesville, Ohio, April 28, 2014.
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Fred T. Garretson ’49 MEd ’62, Hamilton, Ohio, March 12, 2014.
Lorne R. Hinkle ’54, Colorado Springs, Colo., Nov. 8, 2013.
William D. Mulliken ’61, Chicago, Ill., July 20, 2014.
Edward F. Lannigan ’49, Asheville, N.C., March 17, 2014.
James E. Panton ’54, North Greenbush, N.Y., July 3, 2014.
James R. Rimedio ’61, Lake Mary, Fla., Feb. 25, 2014.
Delbert H. Lutz ’49 MS ’53, Dallas, Texas, May 11, 2014.
Douglas F. Thompson ’54, Columbus, Ohio, March 28, 2014.
Jack C. Tibbels ’61, Marblehead, Ohio, April 23, 2014.
G. Stewart Proctor ’49, Terrace Park, Ohio, May 21, 2014.
Norman P. Brand ’55, Centennial, Colo., July 11, 2014.
Rosalyn Reed Velazco ’61, Oxford, Ohio, July 13, 2014.
Jeanne Belcher Theobald ’49, Hamilton, Ohio, May 4, 2014.
James E. Haber ’55, Arbor Vitae, Wis., April 17, 2014.
C. David Burgin ’62, Houston, Texas, June 16, 2014.
John D. Weaver ’49, Versailles, Ohio, June 22, 2014.
Harold E. Ott ’55, West Lafayette, Ohio, April 6, 2014.
Jane Hampe Smith ’63, Warsaw, Ind., Aug. 4, 2014.
Dennis J. Studrawa ’55, Fostoria, Ohio, May 20, 2014.
Christine Carson Childree ’64 MEd ’64 MS ’66, Key Largo, Fla., June 12, 2014.
1950s Albert H. Jordan ’50, Naples, Fla., May 5, 2014.
S. Nancy Pollitt Byam MA ’56, Defiance, Ohio, April 3, 2014.
Robert A. Hurst ’65, Columbus, Ohio, May 27, 2014.
Rupert H. Loyd ’50, San Pedro, Calif., March 30, 2014.
Ian D. “Scott” Campbell ’56, Phoenix, Ariz., May 5, 2014.
Francis G. “Buck” Rodgers ’50 Hon ’81, Darien, Conn., July 1, 2014.
Barbara Thomson Lundberg ’56, Suwanee, Ga., July 2, 2014.
Dorothy Petry Sherron ’50 MEd ’55, Middletown, Ohio, May 9, 2014.
Gordon N. Braam ’57, Fairfield, Ohio, June 16, 2014.
Richard A. Karoly ’66, Laguna Hills, Calif., April 30, 2014.
Nancy Anderson Holabird ’57, Cape Coral, Fla., March 28, 2014.
Thomas C. Lawler ’66, St. Charles, Ill., April 10, 2014.
Sanford Weisman ’57, Aurora, Ohio, June 22, 2014.
Michael L. Motto ’66 MA ’68, Cape Coral, Fla., March 14, 2014.
John E. Humphries ’58, Carpinteria, Calif., June 26, 2014.
Carol Woodhams Bieging ’67, Greenwood Village, Colo., May 1, 2014.
Charlotte Anderson Younkman ’50, Dayton, Ohio, March 12, 2014. Edmund A. DiCenzo ’51, Severn, Md., March 26, 2014. P. Gordon Earhart ’51, Oxford, Ohio, May 31, 2014. Richard E. Moellering ’51, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., Dec. 18, 2013. Charles B. Rhinehart ’51, Bristol, Va., May 5, 2014. Joan Lucas Doyle ’52, Bradenton, Fla., May 8, 2014. Mary Jane Hesson ’52, Monroe Township, N.J., July 2, 2014. Albert D. Loeb ’52, Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 17, 2014. Paul S. Wingard ’52 MA ’54, Brighton, Tenn., June 11, 2014. Jack R. Armstrong ’53, Vermilion, Ohio, April 6, 2014. J. Richard Hurt ’53, Wildwood, Fla., May 20, 2013.
Roger S. Joslin ’58, Bloomington, Ill., June 15, 2014. LaMar Marshall Schumacker ’59, The Villages, Fla., March 20, 2014. 1960s Sue Horsburgh Backer ’60, Huntsville, Ala., June 15, 2014.
Vrina Grimes Stebbins ’65, Fort Wayne, Ind., June 30, 2014. Edward L. Hayes ’66, Huntsville, Ohio, Jan. 8, 2014.
Theodore C. Hill III MA ’67, Wooster, Ohio, May 21, 2014. Susanne Staron Braun ’68, Avon, Ohio, May 2, 2014. Claire Jackson Fitton MA ’68, Hamilton, Ohio, April 22, 2014. James R. Jacoby Sr. ’68, Fairfield, Ohio, May 27, 2014.
Robert H. Biehn ’60, Upper Arlington, Ohio, April 26, 2014.
Kenneth R. Root ’68, Liberty Township, Ohio, July 29, 2014.
Carlos R. Lantis ’60, Newburgh, N.Y., April 20, 2014.
Jerome R. Cain ’69, Bradford, Ohio, July 13, 2014.
Sally Pagen Baber ’61, Salem, Ore., April 1, 2014.
Cheryl Mumau Cantor ’69, La Mesa, Calif., July 2, 2014.
David J. Fulton ’61, Gurnee, Ill., July 5, 2014.
Elizabeth Payer O’Maley ’69 MS ’71, Fort Wayne, Ind., May 20, 2014.
Ronald E. Gearhart ’61, Vandalia, Ohio, June 27, 2014.
farewells
1970s David A. Condit ’70 MS ’72, Avon, Conn., June 4, 2014. Richard J. Jacobs ’70, Roswell, Ga., Aug. 25, 2014. Verna Bauscher Feith ’71 MEd ’78, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21, 2014. June Ness Garritano ’71, Eaton, Ohio, June 29, 2014. Patsy Wright Pheanis ’71 MEd ’76, Oxford, Ohio, July 4, 2014. C. Michael Phillippe MS ’72, Allentown, Pa., April 5, 2014. Virginia Dalton Riddick ’72 MAT ’74, Saratoga, Wyo., April 24, 2014. Richard A. Litwinko ’73, Centerville, Ohio, June 20, 2014. Robert S. McLain ’73, Canton, Ohio, June 20, 2014. Robert A. Riemenschneider ’73, San Jose, Calif., July 9, 2014. Becky Shirk Tambeaux ’73, Kernersville, N.C., July 10, 2014. Challis “Luann” Gibbs ’74, Chicago, Ill., Feb. 24, 2014. Kathryn Bryan Swim ’74, Naperville, Ill., June 20, 2014. F. Wallace Douthwaite ’75, Summerville, S.C., May 26, 2014. Thomas D. Honecker ’75, East Longmeadow, Mass., April 3, 2014. Harry J. Rimmel Jr. ’75, Maple Heights, Ohio, June 30, 2014. Patrick A. Wagner MEd ’75, Arlington, Ohio, June 11, 2014. Karen Wright Hayes ’76 MA ’91, Fairborn, Ohio, July 9, 2014. Alan P. Peterson ’76, Griffin, Ga., Oct. 13, 2011. Collette S. Weaver ’76, New Bremen, Ohio, April 11, 2014. Adele M. Fawns ’77 ’78, Hamilton, Ohio, Dec. 6, 2013. Olga Watkins Gmoser ’77, Hamilton, Ohio, May 10, 2014.
John P. Barnes ’78, Dayton, Ohio, May 15, 2014. Robert J. Bresnen ’79, Hamilton, Ohio, July 28, 2014. Richard D. Scherrer ’79, Montgomery, Ala., June 16, 2014. 1980s Marc A. Herklotz ’83, Black Forest, Colo., June 11, 2013. Julia Zeigler Schaefer ’83, Dayton, Ohio, April 16, 2014. Craig P. Riddle ’84, Shrewsbury, N.J., April 18, 2014. John D. “Dave” Thornton ’87, Noblesville, Ind., May 15, 2014. Phoebe Robertson Roberts ’88, Beverly, Mass., Dec. 8, 2013. 1990s Mark C. Blakley ’90, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 27, 2014. Eric B. Longsworth ’90, Harleysville, Pa., Aug. 10, 2014. Merilee Black Turner ’90, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 7, 2014. Christopher T. “Todd” Lester ’92, Wilmington, Ohio, May 22, 2014. Jane Majure Hollingsworth MA ’94, Oxford, Ohio, June 13, 2014. Jeffrey W. Porter MFA ’96, Ashland, Ore., June 25, 2014.
FACULTY AND STAFF
O B I T UA RY
James A. Black, Louisville, Colo., Dec. 28, 2013. Miami professor emeritus of management, 1968–1984.
PAU L G . RISSER
Edward M. Bolger, Oxford, Ohio, July 23, 2014. Miami professor emeritus of mathematics and statistics, 1967–2002. Michael J. Fulton ’70, Oxford, Ohio, April 21, 2014. Retired from Miami, 1970–2005. Larry E. Greeson, Venice, Fla., July 13, 2014. Miami professor emeritus of educational psychology; retired Dec. 31, 2013, after 35 years. William Robert “Bob” Gump, Oxford, Ohio, Aug. 9, 2014. Miami professor emeritus of political science, 1962–2000. Wilma S. Hartley, Oxford, Ohio, May 8, 2014. Retired from Miami after 35 years. Linnea Dietrich Hedrick, Oxford, Ohio, May 8, 2014. Miami professor emerita of art, 1989–2007. Gerlene B. Hobbs, Camden, Ohio, June 2, 2014. Retired, Shriver Center food court supervisor. Mary Ellen Landon ’44, Oxford, Ohio, May 8, 2014. Miami professor emerita of health, physical education, and recreation, 1956–1983, coach of women’s field hockey and women’s basketball.
Andrew E. Stern ’96, Calabasas, Calif., June 22, 2014.
Marcia H. Merritt, Asheville, N.C., May 30, 2014. Retired, Miami personnel office, 1966-1992.
2000s Janice Orr Francis ’01, Franklin, Ohio, April 11, 2014.
Debra Swearingen Morner ’74, Oxford, Ohio, Aug. 11, 2014. Assistant to Miami’s English department chair.
Christopher W. Easterling ’03, San Diego, Calif., June 6, 2014. Edward M. Miller III ’10, Bay Village, Ohio, July 26, 2014. Aaron M. Lakes ’16, Germantown, Ohio, Sept. 15, 2014.
Martha Nye Shriver Hon. ’78, Oxford, Ohio, June 22, 2014. Widow of Miami President Emeritus Phillip Shriver; Miami’s first lady, 1965–1981.
Miami University President Emeritus Paul G. Risser, 74, died July 10, 2014, in Norman, Okla. While at Miami, 1993–1995, he spearheaded an extensive initiative to provide a hightech learning environment for students, implementing campuswide data and video networks linking students and faculty. He left Miami to become president of Oregon State University and then served as chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education. Before coming to Miami he had been chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey and then vice president for research and provost at the University of New Mexico. He served as National Science Foundation program director of ecosystem studies and as president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, and the Association of Southwestern Naturalists. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, with research on grassland and forest ecosystems, environmental planning and management, landscape ecology, and global change. At the time of his death he was a member of the board of trustees at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, vice chair of the board of trustees of Grinnell College, and chair of Oklahoma’s P–20 Council.
In Memory of… If you would like to make a contribution in memory of a classmate, friend, or relative, send your gift to Miami University in care of Wendy Mason, Advancement Services Building, Miami University, 926 Chestnut Lane, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or call Wendy at 513-529-3552. More classmates are remembered online at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian. Fall 2014
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days of old
Yell Yourself Hoarse This letter sweater (above) in Miami University Archives may not have been at the first Homecoming 100 years ago, but it’s participated in many a cheer. Alums at the 1957 parade enjoyed this fizzy float (below).
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“The spirit at the game was particularly fine” when 500 alumni returned to Oxford by train and “machine” Nov. 14, 1914, for Miami’s first “Home Coming” 100 years ago this fall. “The rooting was even and voluminous,” reported The Miami Student, as Miami played Denison on the Athletic Field, now the site of Pearson Hall. The Student promoted this as a match for the Ohio state football championship. Miami’s 13th president, Raymond Mollyneaux Hughes, Class of 1893, appears to have brought the event to campus, according to Miami University, 1809–2009: Bicentennial
Perspectives. He delegated the details to Alumni Association Secretary Alfred Upham, Class of 1897, who also chaired the English department. Rallying the undergraduates, The Student stated, “We must make the old grads feel that they are welcome and that we appreciate their presence if we hope to have them back next year. Every fellow must be on the men’s bleachers with a desire and a willingness to yell himself hoarse.” The Alumni Association invites alumni and students to yell themselves hoarse once again during this year’s Homecoming, Oct. 31–Nov. 2, 2014. The weekend, billed as “Ox Vegas,” includes a Friday evening parade from Millett to Uptown and a Saturday football game against Western Michigan. For details, go to MiamiOH. edu/homecoming or contact Alumni@MiamiOH.edu.
days of old
Oh, to be a member of the Class of 2018 and starting college with all of its grand adventures ahead.
Fall 2013
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Chapel Goin’ to the
See page 22 for the story.