miami an The Magazine of Miami University
Spring 2018
An unforgiving river. A 2,190-mile trail. And the transformation of three Miamians who tested their limits.
J O U R N E
IN THIS ISSUE:
Being Myaamian Who’s Behind The Post? Misheard Adventures
Y S
GOOD BOY, DUFF A freelance brand designer and illustrator in Cincinnati, Dick Close ’74 enjoys the spontaneity of watercolor painting, a pursuit he began in 2007. Much of his work elevates the status of everyday objects through heroic composition, dramatic shadows, and rich color. “Duff” was part of both the annual Watercolor USA exhibit at the Springfield (Mo.) Art Museum and the 2017 International Watermedia Exhibition in Houston.
Staff Editor Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 Miamian@MiamiOH.edu
Vol. 36, No. 2
miamian
Senior Designer Belinda Rutherford
The Magazine of Miami University
Photographers Jeff Sabo Scott Kissell
STORIES
Web Developer Suzanne Clark
18 Picking Up the Threads
Katin Angelo ’18 didn’t truly understand what it meant to be a member of the Miami Tribe until she became friends with other Myaamia students.
Copy Editor Lucy Baker Design Consultant Lilly Pereira www.aldeia.design University Advancement 513-529-4029 Senior Vice President for University Advancement Tom Herbert herbertw@MiamiOH.edu
22 The Post’s Katharine Graham: Behind the Headlines Revitalized language leads to a renewed culture (see page 18).
Three Miamians discover who they really are when they test themselves against nature.
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 F rom the Hub
Celebrating Common Heritage
3 B ack & Forth
To and From the Editor
MiamiOH.edu/alumni
ON THE COVER Tess Cassidy ’16 hiking the Appalachian Trail. Page 24. Cover photo provided by Tess.
For 14 years, Evelyn Small ’70 worked with Washington Post chairman Katharine Graham on her Pulitzer Prizewinning memoir, producing memories of her own.
24 Journeys
Alumni Relations 513-529-5957 Executive Director of the Alumni Association Kim Tavares MBA ’12 kim.tavares@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
Spring 2018
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.
New Works by Alumni
16 M y Story
Finding Humor in Hearing Loss
6 A long Slant Walk
32 Love & Honor
10 Such a Life
34 Class Notes
12 I nquiry + Innovation
46 F arewells
Campus News Highlights
Alum’s first novel may play at a theater near you (page 15).
14 M edia Matters
‘We’ll Always Have Paris’
Cars That Heal Themselves
‘Finish Living First’
Notes, News, and Weddings
48 D ays of Old
Lacrosse With a Tribal Twist
Miamian is published three times a year by the University Advancement Division of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056. Copyright © 2018, 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, 22 Campus Avenue Building, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, 513-529-7592; Fax: 513-529-1950; Miamian@MiamiOH.edu.
from the hub
Celebrating Common Heritage By President Greg Crawford
Kiiloona Myaamiaki.
This means “We are Miami” — in the original Myaamia language. The new Myaamia Heritage Our Myaamia Center, under the leadership of Logo symbolizes the unique relationship between the Miami Daryl Baldwin, is working with the Miami Tribe of Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami Oklahoma to revitalize the language and culture of University. Its design references ribbonwork, a traditional the tribe. Inevitably, this will enhance the language Miami Tribe art form. Learn and culture of Miami University as well. how it embodies an entire relationship at MiamiOH.edu/ Our amazing relationship, spanning 45+ years Miami-Tribe-Relations. and rooted in common geographic, historic, and cultural interests, is a source of pride to every Miamian and a differentiating factor for the university we all love. We are always looking for new opportunities for partnership and collaboration, "tending the fire" of our legacy and our shared future. We are telling more shared stories, highlighting the research and education efforts we jointly support, and using images that blend symbols of the tribe and campus. The new Myaamia Heritage Logo, a collaborative creation, is further evidence that our relationship is living and evolving. This partnership rests on a foundation of people dedicated to celebrating our common Reviving a onceheritage, modeling the benefits of diversity for all. The Myaamia phrase for “we are lost voice is diverse” — kakapaaci iišinaakosiyankwi — is revitalizing the an action verb that makes me think about diversity in more energetic ways. Miami Tribe’s Diversity and inclusive excellence are culture as well. leading priorities for me, and I have valued the Myaamia relationship deeply since I arrived at Miami in 2016. Chief Douglas Lankford was on the platform when I was inaugurated and again at our spring 2017 commencement, where Professor Baldwin spoke to graduates, six women from the tribe received their diplomas, and trustees wore new stoles that bear symbols of the tribe and university. Renate and I visited the tribe in Oklahoma to participate in the Winter Stomp and Storytelling.
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It was awe-inspiring to consider that the amazing stories we heard in the Myaamia language — compelling characters, clever metaphors, imaginative twists, energetic delivery — became possible only in the past few years because of our center's work with the tribe. More than 30 Myaamia students are on our campus today, meaning that our learning from each other — neepwaantiinki — happens in real, personal human relationships, not just lectures and books. One of those students is junior Gloria Alaankahanihsaata (“Shooting Star”) Tippman, an integrated language arts education major from Fort Wayne, Ind. “Some of my first words were Myaamia,” she says. In addition to the students from the tribe who come to Miami University, New trustee stole with the students travel from here to symbols of the Miami Tribe the tribal lands to conduct and Miami University. research. The Myaamia Center research includes work with old missionary texts, helping the tribe revive an ancient tongue whose last native speakers passed away over 50 years ago. Now several hundred members of the tribe are using the language. That is true scholarship, the heart of what unites us at Miami. Together, we are creating knowledge with real-world implications for a sovereign people. “The real voyage of discovery,” as Marcel Proust wrote, “consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” At Miami, it includes ears to hear a new language and a once-lost voice that has been revived. Kiiloona Myaamiaki.
back & forth
Good job, Steve I enjoyed the feature on Steve Fitzhugh’s Good Name Summit (Fall/Winter 2017 Miamian). Like Steve, I attended Walsh Jesuit High School, and he definitely embodies the school motto of “Men and Women for Others.” I commend him for using his resources and connections to effect positive change in his community, and I hope he might one day expand his program to Cleveland, which is still technically an NFL city. —Mark Croce ’91 Euclid, Ohio Luxembourg inspiration Sitting in my apartment in Minsk, I just read “The Luxembourg Esprit de Corps” feature in the Fall/Winter 2017 Miamian, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the decision to locate Miami’s European Study Center in Luxembourg. When I studied there during the summer of 1989, I thought the location was perfect. It was so easy to explore a different part of Europe — including the UK, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe — each weekend
and make it back on an overnight train for class Monday morning. What I took away from the accounts in Miamian—and the ones online — was how inspired we were to travel and explore. I’m lucky that I’m still inspired by traveling and exploration and try to conjure my 19-year-old, wide-eyed self whether I find myself in China, Turkey, Indonesia, Cuba, or Belarus. The spirit of my summer in Lux has animated the last 10–15 years of my academic career, and I’m sure will exert influence on where I go next. As Will Rogers said, “The world is a pretty big place, and I intend to see as much of it as possible.” I’d like to offer a big, heartfelt thanks to all those involved with the founding and operation of MUDEC, which was a door opening onto the entire world for me, and look forward to thanking them in person in October at the 50th anniversary celebration. —Bob Eckhart ’91 Visiting assistant professor, Minsk State Linguistic University It was with great joy and nostalgia that I read the recent feature story about MUDEC of Luxembourg. I smiled reading through the anecdotes from the ’70s and ’80s, but I wanted to hear more recent Luxembourg memories as well. I often find myself reflecting on today’s bumpy and troublesome global events. In doing so, I am reminded of one of the main reasons
I so strongly value open-mindedness and a global view of our society: my time in Luxembourg. Whether it was experiencing the simplicity of life in the Greek Isles, hearing the firsthand account of a concentration camp survivor, or bonding together while living abroad during the 9/11 attacks, those many once-in-a-lifetime moments brought more to my global perspective than reading any book or newspaper could ever do. Studying abroad truly provided me with some of the happiest and most exhilarating months of my life, and I can confidently speak the same on behalf of my many Lux friends that I still keep in touch with today. Many, many alumni from the fall 2001 class are lifelong friends — traveling together to new places, organizing reunions, attending each other’s weddings, and meeting each other’s children. I can only hope that my three children will someday have the same travel opportunities and lifelong friendships that MUDEC provided to me and so many others. —Sarah Carufel Hauer ’03 Minneapolis, Minn. Dr. Griffith’s European tours A flood of memories were brought back by the letter about Dr. Griffith’s class convincing the writer to attend Miami. I also attended his human physiology class and learned about his eightweek summer European tours.
Send letters to: Donna Boen Miamian editor 22 Campus Avenue Building 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.
See additional letters online at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
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“ In fact, if there is a group with the greatest stake in world peace, it is those who pay the highest price to preserve it.”
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That type of trip was a goal, and I joined about 20 other students on a whirlwind trip from Glasgow to Lisbon, Athens, Stockholm, and points in between during the summer of 1968. He had everything well-coordinated and was the best host, helping us out of jams and allowing us freedom to explore on our own. Since this was just before the Luxembourg campus opened, we were fortunate to have this experience with other Miami friends. It was certainly a highlight of my Miami years and instilled me with a love of travel. Thanks to Dr. Griffith for some of my best memories. —Nancy Smith Sutch ’69 Ballwin, Mo. Ox College fans Thank you so much for the story by Pat Holweger Glynn ’60 (“Old Miami, New Miami” in the Fall/ Winter 2017 Miamian). Although I graduated from Miami a little more than 10 years after Pat, her reflections made it sound like a different school than the one I attended. Evening vespers in pj’s at 9 p.m. with biblical readings and songs, sitting rooms for receiving visitors, meals at a linen-covered table where the “Doxology” was sung, taking calls downstairs in the phone booth. Her story made me nostalgic for the simple things and the finer graces that most students today could not imagine and many haven’t learned. I only wonder how much better our communities could be if we lived at a slower pace and initiated some of these “outdated” practices again. —Holly Howell Barclay ’71 Longmont, Colo.
Oxford College Hall was my home for my first two years at Miami. I smiled throughout Pat Holweger Glynn’s “My Story” about her experiences there several years earlier. I recalled being in great shape after walking long blocks to and from campus twice a day. I had to work three meals daily in Ox’s gorgeous dining hall, so lovely even Dean of Women Warfel chose to dine there each evening. I made 50 cents an hour, but doubled that when, in the 1964– 1965 school year, I was promoted to head waitress. (I was told that was the highest-paid student job on campus!) Hearing about JFK’s death from a loud transistor on Slant Walk sent me back to Ox to spend three days sharing grief with my dormmates. What a memory when someone asks, “Where were you …?” I could easily walk to Mama Corso’s small market and to the art movie theater where, as a student in Herr Sanger’s class, I could feel smug about translating before reading subtitles of Das Boot. My future husband and best buddy Marine showed up in their dress blues and were admired by all who came through the lobby. Claudia Brest, an adviser who lived on the second floor, helped all with questions, as did Ms. Rogers. My long work hours kept me from doing lots of what others did around Oxford, but I loved and appreciated every day. Old Miami was very good to me and my friends there, indeed. —Esther Sarris Rupp ’67 Seffner, Fla.
Seriously offended In response to the letter by Louis Pumphrey ’64 in the Fall/Winter 2017 Miamian, I appreciate Mr. Pumphrey’s service to our country during the Vietnam War, and I, too, appreciate that Miamian would publish stories on both the Peace Corps and the two Miami grads who served in the Vietnam War, no matter which article was featured on the cover. In fact, I champion anyone who dedicates time to the service of others, no matter the endeavor. However, I take serious offense at Mr. Pumphrey’s use of the phrase “War Corps” at the end of his letter, and the editor’s decision to publish it. As a retired Marine officer who also had an uncle (killed in action) and father-in-law (two Purple Hearts) serve in the Vietnam War, a Miami classmate who was killed while serving as a Marine officer, three older brothers who served as Marines, and a son currently serving as a Marine officer, I am offended by the phrase “War Corps” and its obvious connotation. Men and women who serve honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States do more to ensure peace, for both the people of our country and people around the world, than any other group. In fact, if there is a group with the greatest stake in world peace, it is those who pay the highest price to preserve it. Mr. Pumphrey’s choice of words is unfortunate at best, or intentionally offensive at worst. The choice of the editor to publish that phrase is ignorant at best, or disrespectful at worst. Semper Fidelis. —Bill Brannen ’86 (USMC, Ret.) Fredericksburg, Va.
back & forth
Among the first Great Peace Corps story (“The Humane Connection,” Summer 2017 Miamian)! Lois Loesch and I were among the first Miamians to volunteer. We signed up as soon as it was announced, married, and served in Liberia as teachers 200 miles into the rain forest. —Steve Hirst ’62 Flagstaff, Ariz. Thanks for the memories Tears come to my eyes as I read about Miami’s past in several articles including one on Ara (“Love and Honor Always, Coach,” Fall/ Winter 2017 Miamian). Thanks for bringing these memories to life and bringing joy to an old grad. —Bruce Derylo ’56 Naperville, Ill. Thank you for the excellent coverage of Ara Parseghian ’49. President Crawford’s column was very nice. I was the athletic trainer for Ara during his eight years at Northwestern. Ara gave me my first head trainer’s job! —Tom Healion ’52 MEd ’54 Brunswick, Maine
Facebook comment Response to President Crawford’s memories of Ara Parseghian: Well said, Mr. President. Coach was and is the rock on which Miami is built. Long may his memory and achievements live in the minds and hearts of all of us who love Miami and were/are privileged to recall the University so fondly.— Roger Shelley ’64, New Rochelle, N.Y.
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Smelling B, You Say? Recalculating When my sister-in-law opted for a take-home testing kit instead of a full-blown colonoscopy, she persuaded her husband, my oldest brother, to drop off her sample at the clinic on his way to work. He was happy to do it. Wouldn’t even need to recalculate his route. Gingerly carrying the byproduct in its triple-sealed bag, he walked into the clinic thinking he’d hand it to the person at the front desk and be off. But no one was there. While waiting, he responded to several emails, then went back to the desk, and called out again. Still no one. Now pressed for time, he left the properly marked bag on a visible shelf where someone official was bound to find it, and headed out. Talking into his smartwatch, Dan assured Jen he’d completed his assignment. “Left your poop on the elf” was the text she received. I guess we’re too far into this technology, and we’d feel lost without Apple’s Siri, Goggle’s Alexa, and Amazon’s Echo, but we appear to be entrusting our most valuable assets to virtual assistants who can’t pass a second-grade spelling bee. I’d allow Siri to claim, “Typo,” and let this drop. But she won’t stop. She continues to embarrass us with her malaprops. I fear we’re letting our smartphones totally uncross our t’s under the guise of spell checker. When my other brother, Den, wanted to stay home from a weekly book study, feeling too sentimental and a tad teary on the eve of their 25th anniversary, my sister-in-law Elsa texted the group. Her friend wrote back, “Elsa, you better reread what you sent us.” “After 25 years, we’re staying home because Den is really ready.” When teary becomes ready, you have to wonder. Has anyone thought to give Siri a reading comprehension test? My Fitbit Blaze is willing to serve as timekeeper. And the evolution continues. My nephew received a Google Assistant for Christmas. We spent the better part of the evening yelling at it. “Hey, Google, tell us a joke.” “Hey, Google, play a game with us.” My mom is spooked that Google is always listening. I scoffed, but now I’m not so sure. I just read that GE is designing ceiling lights with microphones and speakers. A Ceiling Siri, some are calling it. If that happens, I’ll really need to speak up because at 5-foot-3 I won’t exactly be eye to eye with her when I tell her to dim the chandelier. “Siri! Stop it! I told you to turn off the light! Turn off, not cough.” If worse comes to worse, I suppose I can unplug her and put her on the elf. —Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96
Nearly 700 writers entered the 2018 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. My essay, which you see here, earned an honorable mention. In fact, three Miamians received honorable mentions, the other two being Rosalie Hoops Bernard ’81 MEd ’82 of Miamisburg, Ohio, and Dale Ehrlich, who teaches in Miami’s English department.
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Honoring Activism U.S. Rep. and civil rights icon John Lewis of
U.S. Rep. John Lewis received Miami’s Freedom Summer of ’64 Award, created by university architect emeritus Robert Keller ’73, in the U.S. House of Representatives March 19. See highlights at https:// tinyurl.com/MiamiURepLewis-Award-1min.
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Georgia has received the inaugural Freedom Summer of ’64 Award from Miami University. In 1964, Lewis, then chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), encouraged college students across the U.S. to help register blacks in Mississippi to vote. Nearly 800 of those students trained for that work in Oxford, Ohio, on the campus of Western College for Women (now part of Miami.) Lewis began his civil rights activism with the 1961 Freedom Rides, challenging segregated interstate bus terminals across the South. He was beaten by angry mobs and arrested by police. On March 7, 1965, he was a co-leader of more than 600 peaceful protesters who marched
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., intending to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Lewis has been active in numerous other civil rights efforts and activities over the years. He was elected to Atlanta City Council in 1981 and to Congress in 1986. “This award honors the legacy of the civil rights movement, but is also a new call for students, faculty, staff, and citizens to reconnect with civic service and civil rights at a time when participation, and standing up for one’s belief in their fellow humans, is more important than ever,” Miami President Greg Crawford said.
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Time to be Boldly Creative is Now
I’M GLAD YOU ASKED After students, faculty, and staff returned from the Miami Tribe’s Winter Gathering in Miami, Okla., we asked:
Investing in innovation that solves the world’s most intractable problems
How were you affected?
Wendy Lea, CEO of Cintrifuse, joins President Greg Crawford in introducing the $50 million “Boldly Creative” initiative in Cincinnati.
proposals that will generate new achievement, research, student enrollment, and that will become self-sustaining.” Crawford, an Ohio-trained physicist who holds 21 patents, as well as patent applications, and who has co-founded two companies, said, “Universities must lead. We bring talent, technical expertise, an entrepreneurial mindset, and solutions to the table. “As we move into a Boldly Creative future, we will breed innovation and creativity that solves the most intractable problems facing Ohio, our nation, and the world.”
“ The more you read … from places you never have been to, from people you never thought you would read, the more encouragement you will find, not only to be a writer, but to be a human being.” —Lemony Snicket, aka novelist Daniel Handler, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, discussing “Lemony Snicket’s Bewildering Circumstances” for Miami’s Lecture Series in February
As I snipped, glued, and recreated a paper version of Myaamia ribbonwork, I was overwhelmed by the thought of the center’s exacting mission to revive the Myaamia language and culture. Andrew Offenburger, assistant professor of history
Karen Baldwin
Andrew Sander ’02
Miami will invest $50 million in the next three to five years to build new programs that will give its graduates the skills they need to excel, President Greg Crawford told state leaders in March. Unveiling “Boldly Creative” at an event in the Ohio Statehouse, he said the new initiative is more than a program, it is a “spirit to think big.” Three pilot projects planned for this year will help train Ohio health care workers in advanced data and analytics, expand the university’s nursing programs to produce at least 40 new graduates annually to fill a critical need, and create professional degrees to help workers advance their careers. In future years, the faculty will generate the ideas for investment, all aimed at sustaining Miami’s premier undergraduate experience and creating new partnerships with industry and government, he said. Miami assembled the initiative’s funds internally through budget savings, he explained, and all of the money will be invested back into academics. Remarking on the announcement, Provost Phyllis Callahan said, “We are thinking big. We’re encouraging
An evening of stomp dancing begins.
I was most surprised to enjoy the stomp dance. It was such a beautiful physical demonstration of community. Alyse Eversole Capaccio ’12, designer in university communications and marketing
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NOTEWORTHY
Miami is among the nation’s best colleges for academics, career preparation, and affordability/ financial aid, according to The Princeton Review’s 2018 edition of “Colleges That Pay You Back: The 200 Schools That Give You the Best Bang for Your Tuition Buck.” The Princeton Review conducted a comprehensive analysis of 658 colleges, looking at academics, cost, financial aid, graduation rates, student debt, and more.
A unique winter-spring term program provided 20 Miami students with a oncein-a-lifetime learning experience during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea as they assisted athletes at the luge competition. Sooun Lee, professor of information systems and analytics, who helped create and launch the study abroad program that included this opportunity, said he received many compliments about the quality of the students’ work and their high spirit of volunteerism. Wright Brothers Institute of Dayton and Miami have started collaborating to identify technologies from an Air Force Research Lab’s more than 1,000 patents that have potential commercial use for public good. The new agreement creates the Miami University–AFRL Research Technology Commercialization Accelerator.
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RISING RANKS
3rd 5 among all public universities, 16th overall, in The Princeton Review’s 2018 Top Schools for Game Design
Miami graduate programs in Top 100 of U.S. News and World Report’s 2019 Best Graduate Schools rankings
No Place for Bigotry President Greg Crawford, other university leaders, and student groups have renewed a commitment to make Miami more welcoming in the wake of offensive social media posts, said Claire Wagner, director of university news and communications. A student used a racial slur in a social media platform in November; in March there were two additional offensive comments posted to social media. This spring, concerned students have been talking to administrators, as well as protesting, to publicly say that they are experiencing racism here and to call on Miami to more actively reject it. “Miami stands with them,” Wagner said. “While even hateful speech is protected by the First Amendment, President Crawford has asked the community to clearly stand against hate and bigotry.” Late last fall, Rodney Coates, professor of global and intercultural studies, was asked to lead a working group on diversity and inclusion, which anticipates sharing a report in May. This spring, Crawford and other Miami leaders have met with dozens of students to hear their concerns,
Professor Rodney Coates is leading a working group on diversity and inclusion.
including those who have formed a group called BAM (Black Action Movement) 2.0. In early April, students presented a list of demands, some of which had already been addressed, and some of which the university will discuss with students in future meetings, Wagner said. In an attempt to gauge the climate for all students and employees, Miami offered the One Miami Campus Climate Survey last fall. An outside agency helped coordinate it, and results are to be shared in early May. “All agree, ‘Love and Honor’ is most meaningful when it reflects actions, as well as words,” Wagner said.
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Colorful Festival: Miami’s Indian Student Association hosts Holi, inviting all students to participate in the annual Hindu cultural and religious festival. Also known as the “Festival of Colors,” it is the biggest Hindu festival after Diwali and is typically a two-day festival celebrated in March with bonfires, colored powder, and colored water. It celebrates the beginning of spring, as well as the triumph of good over evil, and is among numerous cultural events observed by students.
Author’s Worldwide Exclusive A worldwide exclusive stirs up the Summer Reading Program this year. With author and visiting scholar Wil Haygood ’76 planning to address students at convocation in August, he has arranged for them to receive a special early delivery of his next book, TIGERLAND: The Miracle on East Broad Street. Others must wait until its October release by Penguin Random House. TIGERLAND is a saga of race, politics, and high school sports set during the racially tumultuous time of 1968–1969,
only months after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, when the Tigers of Columbus’ East High School won both the state basketball and baseball championships. A former writer for The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, Haygood penned the story “A Butler Well Served by this Election” for The Post. The article became the basis for the award-winning 2013 film The Butler and for Haygood’s New York Times’ best-selling book of the same title.
SPRING COMMENCEMENT Philadelphia Eagles guard Brandon Brooks ’11 will be the spring commencement speaker May 19. An integral member of the team that won the 2018 Super Bowl, he distinguishes himself through his community involvement, continued pursuit of advanced higher education, and public support for mental health awareness. The 6-foot-5-inch Milwaukee native played for Miami 2008–2011 and earned second-team AllMAC honors three of those years.
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such a life
‘WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS’ With a final twirl at the Musée d’Orsay, an art museum on the left bank of the Seine, Elizabeth Nourse ’18 and her Moroccan boyfriend say goodbye. A French major from Cincinnati, Elizabeth fell in love during her study abroad last summer in Dijon, France. She left intending to find a job in Paris after she graduates this May. “However, sometimes love isn’t enough,” she says, “and distance takes a toll when you promise each other it won’t.” Now that her plans have changed, Elizabeth has switched her career search back to the United States.
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inquiry + innovation
It’s Just a Scratch What if a car could easily repair its chipped paint
By Heather Beattey Johnston
Almost everyone has experienced the disappointment that comes with the first scratch on a new car, a freshly painted wall, or a just-out-of-the-box cellphone. But what if the car or wall or phone could repair itself?
If Dominik Konkolewicz has anything to do with it, that fantasy may become reality. An assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Miami, he has received a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development program, which means $600,000 over five years for his research on polymers. “If you look around a room, and you remove the air, metals, ceramics, and the small amount of water,” he says, “just about everything else is a polymer.” Polymers can be natural or synthetic. Natural polymers include cellulose, which is the main component of wood and paper, and proteins or DNA, which are essential for life processes. Among the dozens of commodity synthetic polymers are polyethylene milk jugs and plastic wrap, polystyrene packing materials, and epoxy glues. Polymers are also included as components of paints and other coatings used to finish surfaces like those of cars, walls, and cellphones. From a chemistry perspective, polymers consist of smaller molecules, or repeating units, linked together to form a larger molecule. This larger molecule is like a necklace, with dozens to tens of thousands of smaller molecules making up the individual links. In many
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materials, such as cured epoxy glue and soft contact lenses, long polymer chains are linked to form a mesh or network-like structure at the molecular level. “The links that bind these chains together are a little like staples,” Konkolewicz says. “They’re permanent. When a material becomes damaged or fractured, the material becomes useless because there’s no way to recover the original properties.” Chemical ‘paper clips’ Konkolewicz’s work focuses on creating links between the chains that he says are more like paper clips than staples, ones that can be reused many times. If one link is damaged, it can be exchanged for another, allowing the material — whether it’s wall paint or a truck tire — to heal itself when scratched or punctured.
inquiry + innovation
Dominik Konkolewicz has been awarded an NSF CAREER grant to help fund his polymer research, which may one day lead to scratched paint and punctured tires repairing themselves.
The trade-off in this kind of chemistry, which was pioneered in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is between dynamism and stability, Konkolewicz says. The types of “paper clips” used to hook units together either allow a material to recover its original properties quickly or allow it to maintain its original shape over time, but typically not both. To understand this trade-off, think about truck tires. If they were made out of a material that could heal quickly when punctured by a nail, drivers could avoid the time, expense, and hassle of being stuck with a flat. However, if that same highly dynamic material were also highly unstable, the tires would lose their shape as they were squeezed between the truck and the road. That’s the dilemma Konkolewicz says currently exists in this type of materials science.
Quick healing and permanent shape The innovation Konkolewicz is pursing involves introducing two different types of links in the same material. One type would allow the material to heal itself quickly, while the other — which would be activated by applying heat, pH, or light — would “lock in” the permanent shape. In the case of truck tires, that means they could both recover from a nail puncture and remain perfectly round. Another consideration that he says is important in materials science is the ability to withstand seemingly minor damage. Once a brittle material acquires a small chip or other defect, he points out, any little bump could cause it to shatter. The types of dynamic bonds he is using can increase material toughness, he says, extending the useful lifetime of products made from those materials. Konkolewicz’s work has clear implications for sustainability. “If you don’t need to throw something out over time, if something has a longer lifetime, that’s a huge benefit,” he says. “It’s a much smaller drain on resources.” The assistant professor supervises eight graduate students and has 11 undergraduates on his team who work with him on his CAREER project, as well as other projects. The NSF CAREER grant is one of the organization’s most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who “exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.” To support his NSF CAREER project’s integrated education objective, Konkolewicz is conducting community-based STEM outreach for K-12 students in collaboration with Dayton Public Schools and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. He is also continuing to develop innovative activities to use in the undergraduate classroom. In addition, the CAREER grant will provide funds for a student from an underrepresented group to work in Konkolewicz’s lab each summer.
“ If you don’t need to throw something out over time, if something has a longer lifetime, that’s a huge benefit. It’s a much smaller drain on resources.”
Heather Beattey Johnston is associate director of research communications in Miami’s Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship.
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media matters
New Tricks for Ambitious ‘Dogs’ Follow your canine’s clues to become a pack leader at work quick read sprinkled A with humor, The Fido Factor demonstrates how dogs can motivate humans to become more effective leaders at work. Authors Dan ’81 and Krissi Hehmann Barr ’81 MBA ’83 live in Cincinnati with Kaiser and Clover.
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If you want to succeed in business, act like a dog. That’s
the premise of The Fido Factor: How to Get a Leg Up at Work, written by Miami Merger Dan ’81 and Krissi Hehmann Barr ’81 MBA ’83. No, the Barrs aren’t advocating that you growl at your boss and bite your colleagues. Longtime owners of furry tail-waggers, they have studied canine behaviors for many years — including thousands of hours of ear scratching and tennis ball throwing — and discovered key lessons that managers can adopt from their four-legged friends. So what can people learn from their pooches? “They have proven leadership genius,” Dan says. “They instinctively know what personal qualities they need to develop to be their best. And they’re naturals at exhibiting the traits needed to be leader of the pack.” The Barrs say those traits can be boiled down to four: faithful, inspirational, determined, and observant.
Take the first letter of each of these themes, and you end up with Fido. Another reason Dan and Krissi chose such an unusual theme for their second book together is because so many people relate to dogs, allowing them to offer a “fresh take on leadership.” “You don’t get to decide whether you’re a leader or not. That’s the job of the pack,” the Barrs write in the book’s conclusion, “The Tail End.” The pack members — or in the case of humans — your colleagues listen to how you speak, watch how you behave, and measure your results, they reason. “The good news is you control your attitudes and actions, and they ultimately determine your leadership brand,” the Barrs say. “When you continue to do everything within your power to improve yourself, you — like every dog — will have your day.”
media matters
Conrad Leslie’s 12 Laws For Selecting a Stock Conrad Leslie ’47 Independently published These 12 simple rules can guide your investment decisions for the stock market and beyond. The result of 60 years of securities and commodity futures investing, these basic principles have survived the test of time and varying markets and economic conditions.
The Dallas Nightclub Murders Rick Suttle ’81 R.B. Publishing It’s the mid’80s and several women last seen at Dallas nightclub Renegades have been murdered. The club’s weekend bouncer, Nick Saunders wonders if the killer is a patron or an employee. It becomes personal when Nick’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the killer.
Maggie Bonnie Johnston ’61 CreateSpace A blend of fact and fiction, this historical novel traces the Riffle family, among the earliest settlers near Dayton, Ohio, during turbulent times on the American frontier. A scout, David Riffle participated in both the Indian Wars and the American Revolution.
Carolyn’s Song Elizabeth Swanson Huss ’93 Amazon Digital Services Combination locks, confusing schedules, Algebra, and a handsome senior with gray-green eyes. And that’s just the first week of classes for freshman Lynn James, who is trying her best to navigate through the confusing halls of Trelawney High School.
Cattle, Crops, & Spurs David Gobeille ’68 Deep River Books For David Gobeille — Oregon rancher, successful businessman, and certified executive and business coach — the cowboy ideal of hard work, honor, and adventure provides a source of inspiration and a model for honest, godly leadership.
Mixing Memory & Desire Brian Kennedy PhD ’93 Folklore Publishing Brian Kennedy looks at a variety of fiction recently written about World War I and contends the cultural process of grieving concerns the fear of forgetting and the need to build a narrative arc to contain events that shaped the past century, as well as the present.
Lu Beth Barovian Troy ’02 MA ’04 Kingsbury Publishing Moving back in with her family after her boyfriend cheats on her lets Lu Sokolowski run away, but it also means suffering their attempts to reassemble her failed life. Success and friendships restore Lu to the family and faith she’d left behind. From Slave Ship to Supermax Patrick Alexander ’06 Temple University Press This first interdisciplinary study of mass incarceration to intersect literary studies, critical prison studies, and human rights argues that the disciplinary logic and violence of slavery haunt depictions of the contemporary U.S. prison in 20th century black fiction. Love and Other Alien Experiences Kerry Winfrey ’08 Feiwel & Friends Mallory hasn’t walked outside the house in 67 days — since her dad left. She attends class via webcam, watches The X-Files, and chats with BeamMeUp on New Mexico’s alien message board. When she’s nominated for homecoming queen, life takes a surprising turn.
AT THE MOVIES Overwatch Matthew Betley ’94 Simon & Schuster’s Emily Bester Books
Thunder Road has acquired film rights to Matt Betley’s first novel, Overwatch, which was nominated for a Barry Award. He has since written Oath of Honor, and his third thriller in the Logan West series, Field of Valor, comes out this spring.
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my story
Runchy Brun? Huh? 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,” 22 Campus Avenue Building, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or Miamian@MiamiOH.edu. Please limit your essay to 900 words and include your name, class year, address, and phone number.
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By Jo McCulloch Bailey ’65
When I was a freshman in Miami’s Porter Hall, my roommate, Nancy Walters, and I were laughing one night over outdoor games we played with neighbor kids while growing up. She mentioned Red Rover, and I told her about Runchy Brun and asked if she’d ever played it. “What’s that?” she replied. I described it. She giggled and said, “Jo, that’s Run Sheep Run.” That should have been my first clue to my hearing loss, but no. I simply made up or assimilated what I heard, no matter the sense it made. How did I ever make Mortar Board?!
my story
Later while earning my master’s in speech and hearing disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we students were assigned to administer 50 audiometric exams to each other. (“Raise your finger when you hear the beep.”) I soon realized that no one wanted to test me, as it took so long for me to hear the beep. When my parents came to visit, I made them let me test them. I diagnosed my dad’s otosclerosis and a profound hearing loss. No wonder Mom would send him back to the grocery store to get her requested items versus the ones he had written down. Then I realized, “OK, Nancy Drew, otosclerosis is inherited. Those tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) become ‘squishy’ and cannot conduct sound waves appropriately.” So, Dad and I both got hearing aids. I suspect he often kept his turned off at home. My audiologist warned me when he placed them in my ears that I would get in my car and think it was falling apart. I heard sounds I never had before. I was now part of the world. No longer did I have to smile and nod, uncertain what folks were saying, yet wanting to be included. I’ve worn binaural aids for years, taught myself to informally lipread, asked for clarification, and sometimes just gone with what I misheard. One rule most of us hearing-impaired folks have is don’t talk from another room when you’re telling us something. My husband, Mike, who has one deaf ear from Hong Kong Fever as a child, and I are fairly loyal to that rule. One day, however, when we lived in a ranch house, he was making the bed at one end of the house as I prepared our lunches for work clear at the other end in the kitchen. He called out to me,”Did you hear about the bombing of Beirut?” I responded, “Why would they bomb him?” He came into the kitchen and said, “What?!” “Babe Ruth,” I said. “He’s already dead.” And so, my life goes. We are blessed with 14 grandchildren and one adopted granddaughter who lives near us. She was 6 when we planted a garden together. While in the woods gathering nuts, she told me, “Gramma Jo, I have something serious to ask. Do you have witches in your woods?”
I told her a great story, longer than necessary, I’m sure, about the kind witches who guarded the animals on our acreage. She simply stared at me in confusion. “I asked you if you had wood ticks in your woods.” There are times when the listener with a hearing loss will make up his or her own version of what you have said. They are not trying to be funny, rather processing what may have made sense to them. If you know they have a loss, turn your face toward them when you speak. I have trained myself to focus on the triangle that forms the speaker’s nose and mouth. This is awkward, as I naturally want to look into their eyes when speaking to them. However, it brings greater clarity to me. Hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic health condition facing adults over age 65. Forty-eight million Americans of all ages have a hearing loss. If you think about it, you usually lose your hearing slowly, so your brain will start to turn things up, little by little. Eventually, your brain won’t be able to “turn it up” anymore. That’s why it starts playing fill-in-the-blank. A friend told me this one: A grandma was grocery shopping with her 6-year-old granddaughter. They took all the bags to the car, and she strapped the little one in securely in the back. Her granddaughter called from the back, “Gramma, what is sex?” Gramma was a bit taken aback but decided to keep it simple and answer her, despite blushing bright red. After she was done with her explanation, the little girl said, “Gramma, you always say ‘wait a sec,’ and I don’t know what ‘sec’ means.” I’ve published these stories and several others, along with advice and tips, in my book, O Kinky Turtle — a phrase I joyfully bellowed out in youth choir, not realizing until years later that everyone else was singing O King Eternal. Many tell me their partner is the one who needs my book. (“The TV is turned up way too loud!”) There are veterans who fought in the midst of noise, not unlike some concerts. Sometimes a person has worked in a factory with noisy machines and no earplugs. I know many of you have your own frustrations over a hearing loss or that of your partner. Hang in there. Help is available. It also doesn’t hurt to hone your sense of humor.
“ Blindness separates people from things. Deafness separates people from people.” — HELEN KELLER
Jo McCulloch Bailey ’65 of Bayfield, Wis., now retired, was a college counselor who aided students with disabilities for 30 years. If you would like to discuss hearing concerns or share a story with her for possible inclusion in her next book, she encourages you to contact her directly at cty41523@gmail.com.
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KATIN ANGELO ’18 flourishes in Myaamia community
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Picking Up the Threads She wanted to leave. Close to her parents and her younger siblings, 14-year-old triplets, she found Oxford too far from home. Plus, the transition to college had been rough. Katin Angelo doubts she would have stayed at school after her freshman year if it hadn’t been for the other Miami Tribe students. They and staff at the Myaamia Center gave her the sense of family she needed.
BY DONNA BOEN ’83 MTSC ’96
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F
amily and community — key words to the Miami Tribe as they revitalize their language, their culture, their way of life. Much of this was lost to them when their language went dormant in the early 20th century, a result of their relocation and the loss of their land. But work conducted by the Myaamia Center — one outcome of a 45-year partnership between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University — is bringing back the tribe’s language to a younger generation and with it, a growing appreciation of who they are. The federally recognized Miami Tribe is headquartered in the Oklahoma City of Miami (pronounced my-am-uh). Known as the Gateway to Oklahoma, the city of nearly 13,500 is just west of the Missouri state line. In January, Miami University students, faculty, and staff took a 637-mile bus ride to the tribe’s headquarters. For some, this would be their first visit to the tribe’s Winter Gathering and Stomp Dance. Others, including Angelo, have made the university-sponsored trip many times. Now a senior, the life science and chemistry education major will never forget walking into the council house for the first time and watching the Gourd Dance. She knew what to expect, having learned the details in the Myaamia Center’s Heritage classes, but that didn’t prepare her for the goose bumps. “I could feel the pounding of the drums,” she says. “I learned about this multiple times, but getting to live that experience is completely different. That’s when I knew I had to go back.”
Angelo grew up knowing almost nothing about her Myaamia heritage. She had a membership card that confirmed her lineage, thanks to her Grandma Barbara. She also recalls hearing that her grandmother, like many Native American children of her time, was forced to attend an assimilation boarding school where children’s clothing, names, and language were stripped from them.
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For more information about the Myaamia Center at Miami University and to watch highlights from the 2018 Winter Gathering, go to MiamiOh.edu/ Myaamia-Center.
They returned home with European clothing and haircuts, unable to speak to their parents in their own language. “We talk about how our community is a web, and there are different aspects to our weblike culture: dancing, food, kinship,” Angelo says. “All those things are important to make the Myaamia community strong, so if you let go of those threads, the web breaks.” The Miami Tribe is picking up those threads.
aalhsoohkiiyankwi (we tell stories)
On Friday evening of Winter Gathering, tribe members and guests sit in a semicircle in anticipation. George Ironstrack’s Storytelling 101 session earlier in the day has somewhat prepared the audience members who are new to this experience.
Their historical narratives and “winter” stories — told only from the time the frogs fall silent until the frogs wake up again in the spring, followed by a thunderstorm — in no way resemble European fairytales. They are deeply philosophical and have extremely loose beginnings and endings and no titles. Most important for this generation of revitalization are the 10 storytellers who chose to have their stories recorded, both in English and in myaamiaataweenki, their heritage language. “For Myaamia people, we very much feel as though the stories are a reflection of us,” explains Ironstrack MA ’06, assistant director and program director of the education and outreach office at the Myaamia Center. He has participated in Myaamia language renewal projects as a student and a teacher since the mid-1990s.
ur community is a web, and there O are different aspects to our weblike culture: dancing, food, kinship. All those things are important to make the Myaamia community strong, so if you let go of those threads, the web breaks.” —KATIN ANGELO
“So in many ways, we are the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves. It’s how we reflect on who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.” It’s also how people, both inside and outside of the tribe, deepen their understanding of each other, he says, adding that the same is true with their dancing.
neehineeyankwi (we dance together)
On the Saturday evening of the Winter Gathering is the Stomp Dance. In the summer, everyone would be outside, spiraling counterclockwise around a crackling fire, but although the weather is pleasant for January, it is too cold for dancing into the early morning hours. Scheduled to start at 7, everyone knows it will be at least 8 before it begins. Members of other tribes are here, and everyone wants time to catch up on the latest news. Like people who favor a specific pew in church, families go to their favorite areas to sit in chairs encircling the room. Eventually a man, one of the trained leaders, is chosen to go to the center, near the imitation fire. People from his community follow, lining up man-woman-manwoman. In the past, the women, called shakers, would have worn turtle shells on their legs to make noise and keep the beat. Nowadays it’s easier to strap on small tin cans. They’re louder, too.
After the core group begins to sing and move, others join in, maintaining the manwoman order. “This is a social dance, and this is for your community,” Shawnee Tribe Second Chief Ben Barnes says. Like Ironstrack with storytelling, he’s giving a Stomp Dance 101 lecture. “And when community comes together, sings and dances together, it builds those bonds in the community, and you feel stronger and more connected to each other.” This is a social dance open to all, as long as they follow the etiquette. Children are encouraged to participate although parents are cautioned to keep them on the outside of the circle in case it starts to move too fast for the little ones.
paahpiyankwi (we play together)
People crowd around two colorful blankets on the council house floor. After teams choose sides, a person from each team walks onto the blanket. Kneeling, one hides three white marbles and one black marble under four decorated pads the size of potholders. To win, the opponent must call the bluff and find the black marble, flipping each pad over with a long stick as the crowd laughs and applauds. This is the Moccasin Game (mahkisina meehkintiinki). Reclaiming their language has allowed them to bond together over the traditional games, such as this one and lacrosse.
The moccasin pads are decorated in ribbonwork, an intricate art form once made with silk ribbons and now with taffeta. The ribbonwork pattern connects the game to the highly decorated moccasins of the past. In 2014, the Myaamia Center received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. With the money, Karen Baldwin, a tribe employee and a tribal spouse, collaborated with two others to publish a ribbonwork instructional book and held workshops. Participants were so responsive that Baldwin continues to teach the art. She has also created ribbonwork in the traditional colors of red, white, and black for Miami University’s presidential medallion and a sash for the chief in a matching pattern. In addition, every graduating Myaamia student is gifted a sash to wear at commencement.
meenapiyankwi (we are a community)
Angelo will be wearing one of those sashes this spring. After graduation, she wants to be a high school science teacher, like her mom. She’ll go into this career with quite a bit of experience for someone her age, having taught at the Miami Tribe’s youth camps in Fort Wayne and Miami, Okla. Some of the youngsters she has taught know more about their culture than she did when she came to college. What a difference four years makes. Now she’s teaching her family the Myaamia language. She is also working with her dad to come up with her Myaamia name. They are mulling over characteristics, traits, and nicknames. Ironstrack and Daryl Baldwin, director of the Myaamia Center, are helping her guide her dad through the process. “My father gets to pick because he’s the tribal side,” she says. She will be the first in her family in at least three generations to have a Myaamia name. “I’m hoping to have it so it can be announced before I graduate. That would be nice. And I plan to get my siblings their names, too. I don’t see why we couldn’t do all of us at the same time.” They have picked up the threads. Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 is editor of Miamian.
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The Post: KATHARINE GRAHAM EVELYN SMALL ’70 SHARES HER OWN “PERSONAL HISTORY” OF WORKING WITH KATHARINE GRAHAM ON HER PULITZER PRIZE–WINNING MEMOIR
Katharine Meyer Graham, president of The Washington Post, poses in her office in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3, 1964. Opposite: Evelyn Small ’70 worked closely with Katharine Graham for many years.
Nearly 17 years after her death, former Washington Post President and Publisher Katharine Graham is making headlines once again due to the Oscar-nominated movie The Post. The story of how the newspaper handled the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 — told in the movie through the talents of Meryl Streep as Mrs. Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee — is a familiar one to readers of Graham’s memoir, Personal History.
BY DONNA BOEN ’83 MTSC ’96
miamian magazine
Associated Press
BEHIND THE HEADLINES A decade after The Post had grown into a national paper through its coverage of the Vietnam War’s Pentagon Papers and the Nixon administration Watergate scandal, Evelyn Small ’70 went to work at The Washington Post Co. as a researcher and writer. Katharine Graham was no longer publisher of The Post, having turned that position over to her son Donald in 1979, but she was still chairman of the company. Small had been working at The Post for only a few months when Mrs. Graham called her into her office and shared with her that friends and colleagues wanted her to
write a memoir. Not being a writer and never having kept a diary or journal, she didn’t know where to begin. There were some old papers in boxes at her house, and she asked Small to have a look. Small rushed to the Georgetown house, she said, and tore up the stairs to the third floor. “Behind the first door I opened were boxes stacked to the ceiling. I got the highest one down, pulled apart the cardboard lid, and picked up the letter on top, addressed to her mother and postmarked May 10, 1923. It began, ‘We took a trip to the White House and I sat in the president’s chair.’ ”
“ We have to report what the government says, and then we have to report what it does, as opposed to what it says it does. … This is, in my view, our difficult and increasingly complex job.” — KATHARINE GRAHAM
After going through several more boxes, she raced back to Graham’s office and told her that she had a responsibility to write her history. “She dove into the project from the beginning and did her homework as always, ending up doing more than 250 interviews with friends, colleagues, reporters, business people, and others who had known her and her family,” said Small, who sat in on all but one, serving as a backup and prompter to make sure certain questions were asked and that shared recollections of various situations were caught on tape.
For 14 years, Small worked on the book with Mrs. Graham — she was always “Mrs. Graham” to Ev, despite her invitation that Ev call her Kay — while continuing as senior researcher for The Washington Post Co. and becoming a de facto historian for both the company and the newspaper. A political science and English major at Miami who grew up in Greenville, Ohio, Small headed to graduate school in the fall of 1970 and earned a PhD in political science, with a concentration in international relations and foreign policy.
She went off to teach, first at the University of South Dakota, and then, because of her desire to see real-world politics, at Catholic University in Washington. She moved on to the White House as director of Congressional Communications for President Jimmy Carter. In her early years at The Washington Post Co., Small and her husband, who still live in Arlington, Va., raised two children. For Evelyn, that meant serving as a Brownie Scout troop leader, participating in her son’s and daughter’s schools, and cheering in the stands at almost every game in any sport they played, all while also earning a master’s in library science, focusing on archival studies and special collections. The last five of her 25 years at The Washington Post Co. were spent as a contributing editor in the newspaper’s Book World section. No wonder the trait Small liked best about Graham was her love of learning. “She would say, ‘Oh, Ev, you’ve got to come to this event. It’s going to be good sightseeing.’ ” When Mrs. Graham talked about the value of things, Small added, “It was never in dollar-sign terms.” Reflecting on the interviews for Personal History, Small found it impossible to pick a favorite, although she recalled three memorable sessions with Bradlee, whom Graham hired, and three with investment guru Warren Buffett, “with us hanging on his every word.” “Buffett confessed to Mrs. Graham that at one dinner at
her house in the country, he was ‘attacking the shellfish from the wrong side. … And you very gently pointed [that] out to me.’ ” People’s first impressions of Graham, known even in high school for her “manly stride and hearty laugh,” were much like Buffett’s, that of a likable, genuine person without arrogance or imperiousness, Small reflected. When people met her, Small said, “they saw her as someone who listened, who took you in.” Small consulted on the movie The Post and worked behind the scenes to help ensure accuracy. The first time she met Streep, the actor told her that she was reading Graham’s memoir and noted that she was always crediting somebody else for her own successes. At that moment, Small knew that Streep truly understood the publisher. That’s also when she knew the movie would “go in the right direction.” These days, Small — who calls herself a kind of “book whisperer” — continues to help others shape their writing. As for Katharine Graham, Small wants movie-goers and readers of Personal History to know that Graham never took her eyes off the First Amendment and its importance to American democracy. Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 is editor of Miamian. Katharine Graham was “gobsmacked” that so many people read her book, and that it was on the best-seller list, Evelyn Small ’70 said, adding, “The Pulitzer Prize absolutely overwhelmed her.”
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BY MARGO KISSELL
An unforgiving river. A 2,190-mile trail. And the transformation of three Miamians who tested their limits.
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ad at the rain, Tess Cassidy hiked fast. Painfully aware of the tooheavy backpack digging into her shoulders, she realized she hadn’t been happy in days. She’d already conquered more than 1,600 miles of the Appalachian Trail. But she faced another 590. If she stopped here, no one would blame her. Except herself. Jackson Gray’s hands — sunburned from paddling on the Ohio River — tingled. Then they began to burn as if someone had poured boiling water over them. Stroke by stroke, he extended his paddle deeper into the water so that his hands went under as well. Submerging them for brief moments temporarily eased the pain. Gray was traversing all 981 miles of the Ohio River with Quinton Couch and Tyler Brezina in a canoe and kayak. The three friends were on a mission to raise awareness and funds for suicide prevention. With donations flowing in and people following their Facebook page, they were determined not to quit. The Appalachian Trail and the Ohio River — two difficult, yet self-imposed journeys, each punctuated with tearful setbacks and fist-pumping triumphs, dangerous mistakes, and clever solutions. These are their stories and their revelations — about the discoveries they made, both in themselves and in people they met along the way.
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THE TRAIL BECKONS Tess Cassidy graduated early from Miami University in December 2016 so she could hike the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail (AT) before starting her career. Perhaps not an obvious pursuit for a woman who had backpacked overnight only twice before. The idea gained a toehold during the summer after her sophomore year while she volunteered for the Appalachian Service Project in Tennessee. On her days off from helping to improve substandard housing, she explored local trails. Back at school, Cassidy drove herself hard. Majoring in supply chain and operations management, she made the dean’s list or president’s list every semester in her three-and-a-half years. That time was, in her words, “go-go-go.” By graduation, she longed for the physical and mental challenge of a thruhike — a 160-day journey from Georgia to Maine. She needed to complete it before October, when she was due in White Plains, N.Y., for her new job. “I’m not looking to escape this lifestyle, but rather force myself to slow down,” the Dublin, Ohio, native wrote in her blog, Lost & Found on the AT. “On the trail I have one goal each day: hike.” 1
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RACING THE RIVER James Halley was Jackson Gray’s best friend growing up in Canton, Ohio. They might have become lifelong friends, except Halley committed suicide as a college freshman in 2014. For a long time after Halley’s death, Gray had a recurring dream of the two sitting at their school lunch table: “If you feel like doing something, tell me right now,” Gray says to Halley. Responding that he doesn’t know what Gray is talking about, Halley stands up and walks away. Gray felt like he needed to honor his best friend. At the same time, the Miami senior majoring in civic and regional development wanted to launch a fundraiser that would call attention to suicide prevention. Taking on the Ohio River became his focus. Tyler Brezina signed on for the journey. Now a student at Bowling Green State University, he was on the same high school swim team as Halley and Gray. Filling the third spot, Couch graduated from Miami in May 2017 with a major in diplomacy and global politics. He’d heard Gray talk about his plans as they steamed sandwiches behind the counter at Oxford’s Bagel & Deli. Couch, who has experience helping people struggling with mental health, respected Gray for his vision. “It seemed like a really noble mission,” he said, “and a huge undertaking for someone our age.”
JOINING A ‘TRAMILY’ When Cassidy showed up on March 19, 2017, at Springer Mountain, Ga., she was greeted by Blue Ridge Mountains that had yet to shake off their brown winter hue. Although only one in five who begins an Appalachian Trail thru-hike completes it, she found the southern gate to the AT clogged with optimists. Her heavy backpack grew heavier after she added the first few days of meals she’d cooked and dehydrated. She planned to buy additional food while passing through towns, and her mom was going to send more dehydrated meals to pre-arranged mail drops. Two friends from Miami on spring break joined her on the 9-mile hike to the first campsite, where they spent the night with 60 others. She was clueless about where to pitch her tent. “That night, I was very scared of the dark even though a bear was not going to come near us because there were so many people.”
There is no one to tell me ‘no’ out here. There are only the trees to show me how tall I can become if I stand the test of time — the tribulations of the seasons, strong winds, and frigid downpours. — TE SS CASSIDY ’ 1 6
Cassidy’s friends and family could track her progress through her blog. There she proclaimed: “Join me in my journey of getting LOST in the power and beauty of the trail, & FOUND in who the trail molds me to be.” As the miles accumulated and the number of hikers dwindled, she started to connect with others — Munch, Waffles, Minnie Mouse, Bunyan, High Noon. Hikers give each other nicknames for something notable. Her best trail friend earned “Velveeta” because of his cheesy jokes and brightly colored shirts. “You camp near the same people at night,” she said, “and you end up forming what we call a trail family or a ‘tramily.’ ” Cassidy became Rabbit when they arrived at a town after their first week in the woods. “Everyone was excited about the Mexican food and the grill. I went to the grocery store and bought this huge bag of broccoli and carrots — no ranch dip, nothing — and just ate raw broccoli and carrots,” she said, laughing at the memory. In the beginning, she was scared or nervous much of the time — more scared of people than animals and more nervous in town than in the woods. She felt safest at camp, even though she often was the only female. Backpacking is traditionally a male sport. The longer she was on the trail, the more empowered she felt. Struck by the beauty of nature around her, she recorded a poem on her phone as she hiked: 3
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“It does not confine me, yet it shows me my limits. It humbles me, then it picks me back up. … There is no one to tell me ‘no’ out here. There are only the trees to show me how tall I can become if I stand the test of time — the tribulations of the seasons, strong winds, and frigid downpours.” INTO THE WATER At 3:30 a.m. on May 20, 2017, Gray, Brezina, and Couch started a two-hour drive to Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and Monongahela come together to form the Ohio. Halley’s mother, Mary, pulled up as they were putting the kayak and canoe into the water. In tears, she hugged each young man and wished them well. She then sprinkled some of her son’s ashes on the river so that he might join their journey.
1 Tess Cassidy ’16 starts her trek in Georgia on March 19, 2017. 2 The men camp at a boat club near Cincinnati, where a member had lost a loved one to suicide. 3 Cassidy documents her journey in photos. 4 Quinton Couch, Jackson Gray, and Tyler Brezina (l-r) say they’ll never forget the people they met along the river.
Their first goal was to raise $7,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention by completing the 981 miles in 40 days. Their other goal was to start an important conversation about suicide, the second-leading cause of death among college students. NO PAIN, NO MAINE Cassidy was consuming 3,000 to 5,000 calories a day, munching until she was
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full as she trudged north through 14 states, averaging 15 miles a day. “I can’t eat peanut butter for the rest of my life,” she said. She discovered that her decision to hike 830 miles, from Virginia to Connecticut, without a day off was a bad idea. When a bite of her favorite chocolate caramel protein bar tasted weird, that should have been a red flag. Instead she packed it away and kept hiking. Although exhausted, she needed to make camp before nightfall. When she finally arrived, she wanted to be alone. “I took my mopey self down the steep, awful 0.5 (mile) descent to the water source,” she wrote in her blog. At the spring, she lay down and cried. The light rain added to her mood. Suddenly feeling sick, she jumped up and sprinted as far away from the water as possible. After throwing up, she returned, filtered the water she needed and began a sluggish ascent back to camp. Sick through the night, she was drained. To keep going, she played a game with music. Taking 10 hours to hike 11 miles, she could only rest after each song ended. But that wasn’t her worst day. That day brought two hours of rain and thunder. Rain is the bane of most thru-hikers, explaining their mantra: No rain, no pain, no Maine. She hiked fast because she was mad at the rain and the mud and a guy she didn’t 5
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like, who was trying to keep up with her. She could hear his trekking poles hitting the rocks and roots behind her. “What if I quit?” she asked herself. She left the trail and spent the day in town, seriously considering a hotel room for the night. But pizza and ice cream strengthened her resolve. Determined once again, she headed back to the trail. UNANTICIPATED COMPLICATIONS The guys mapped out places to eat, nap, and camp for the night. In West Virginia, they worked up the courage to knock on doors and ask if they might sleep in people’s backyards. Some flatly refused. Others were skeptical, taking a peek at their Facebook page before agreeing. Two weeks into the journey, on their first day in Kentucky, a fun swim in the river to cool off turned serious when a piece of glass nearly severed Gray’s right big toe. A woman who had agreed to let them pitch their tent in her yard drove him to the ER for six stitches and strong antibiotics to stave off infection.
5 Cassidy hikes north through 14 states, averaging 15 miles a day. 6 Gray and Brezina work as a team in the canoe while Couch paddles the kayak. 7 Rabbit and Velveeta atop a Virginia mountain. 8 Gray, who kept a journal, hopes to write a book about the river journey.
Each morning, Brezina, an Eagle Scout, sealed Gray’s leg in a black plastic trash bag with duct tape to keep it clean and dry. Complications still surfaced. Overwhelmed by the setbacks, Gray broke down in tears inside his tent. But he wasn’t about to quit. “We were in it together,” he said. “We knew we were going to make it through, come hell or high water.” In addition to submerging his hands in the water while paddling, he wore a pair of tight gardening gloves he’d found along the river. They looked ridiculous, but the tightness provided pressure that eased the burning. The day before they reached Cincinnati, the halfway point, a doctor told Gray to stop taking the pills prescribed to prevent infection. One side effect was sensitivity to light, and he was spending up to 12 hours a day in the sun. Within two days, the pain subsided.
A NEW SEASON The landscape transformed along with Cassidy. Once gloomy, it now teemed with life. Croaking frogs serenaded her to sleep. Singing birds woke her the next morning. “The panoramic vistas show me how small I am in the world,” she wrote in her poem. “Yet, those same mountains I climb prove to me I can conquer anything. They show me even the largest hurdles to overcome can be tackled one small step at a time. The mountains empower me to take on the world, no matter how minute I may seem.” Cassidy traveled more than half the trail with Velveeta, the upbeat young Pennsylvanian who enjoyed the rain. “He knows me better than most people will ever know me,” she said, “because he’s seen me at my worst and my best.”
ou play back Y scenarios of the last time you interacted with the person, and you look in the rearview mirror looking for signs. You’re just constantly battling that desire to go back in time and prevent it.
7 — STE VE SIP L E ’ 9 0
A TRAGIC BOND The young men’s schedule developed a rhythm. As they moved west, they rose at 4:45 a.m. They’d have sleeping bags rolled up, journals, books, and other items packed in dry bags, and breakfast finished so they could be underway by 6. “It was orchestrated like a ballet,” Couch said, noting that Brezina’s Scout experience was invaluable. “All the little things you don’t think about, like tying the rope up at night so you don’t trip over it. Getting a plan set for the morning. All the intricate details that saved our ass a bunch of times.” Steve Siple ’90 of Birmingham, Ala., spotted their story on Twitter.
“As chair of the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) national board, I am so very moved to see this story from my alma mater. Well done, gentlemen!” he tweeted. Siple lost his father to suicide in 2001. Struggling to find a “new normal,” he wanted something positive to come out of his pain. Living in Cincinnati at the time, he participated in one of the first Out of the Darkness Community Walks sponsored by the AFSP. “I got involved at the local level there, and it’s just been a growing journey for me ever since,” Siple said. Like many other survivors, he found his complicated grief process focusing on “why.” “You play back scenarios of the last time you interacted with the person, and you look in the rearview mirror looking
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for signs. You’re just constantly battling that desire to go back in time and prevent it. I think that leads to wanting to help others avoid that situation.” Tragically, his is an all-too-common experience. All along the river, Gray, Brezina, and Couch connected with people over the topic of suicide. No one seemed untouched. While they set up camp in one family’s backyard, the woman asked if they needed anything. Walking back to the house, she paused, turned around, and told them her brother had committed suicide. “And that,” Couch said, “was the story every night.” ‘WHAT IF’ MOMENTS After she reached Pennsylvania, her halfway point, Cassidy knew her body could hike 20 miles a day. But could her mind? Mental exhaustion caused far more issues than tired feet. “To be able to get up every day, take down your tent, get breakfast, and then choose to hike 20 miles,” Cassidy said, “you have to want that.” She did want it — bad. Psychologists say most of us feel a compulsion, perhaps even an obligation, to take on challenges greater than ourselves once our basic and psychological needs are met. Amy Summerville, associate professor of psychology at Miami, explained that
MENTAL HEALTH ALLY PROGRAM The volunteer program, coordinated through Miami's Student Counseling Service, offers education for faculty, staff, and students on how to engage students experiencing emotional or mental health concerns and refer them to mental health and other support services.
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Where are they now? TESS CASSIDY is in the leadership development program at DanoneWave, formerly Dannon Co. She is a deployment planner in the company’s White Plains, N.Y., headquarters. JACKSON G RAY, who takes classes on Miami’s Hamilton campus, graduates in May. He plans to move to Austin, Texas, in June to work as a national account representative for Arrive Logistics, a supply chain services provider. QU INTON COU CH recently completed a fellowship through Chicago Votes, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, in which he led a servicelearning project at a Chicago high school. TYLER BREZINA is a sophomore majoring in aviation at Bowling Green State University.
9 Cassidy walks on a swinging bridge in Miami’s natural areas. 10 Gray and Couch, at Hueston Woods State Park, reminisce about their journey. 11 The longer Cassidy was on the trail, the more empowered she felt.
So we run grueling marathons, stress over starting our own businesses, and spend years writing and rewriting book manuscripts — all to see if we can. — AMY S UM M ERVIL L E , AS S OCIATE PROF ES S O R O F P SYCHO LO GY
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we do this because we want to fulfill some sense of who we are and our purpose in life. So we run grueling marathons, stress over starting our own businesses, and spend years writing and rewriting book manuscripts — all to see if we can. Some even suggest it’s far better to fail than to regret never trying. As director of Miami’s Regret Lab, Summerville studies the intricacies of this most common of our negative emotions, one we all deal with. She is analyzing when and why people focus on “what might have been,” and its effect on us. “These thoughts have important influences on behavior,” she said, “and also drive the experience of regret, the negative emotion stemming from the realization that one’s actions could have resulted in better outcomes than actually occurred.”
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BEST OF HUMANITY Despite battling 14 mph headwinds and pop-up storms, the guys were progressing on schedule to Cairo, Ill., where the Ohio joins the Mississippi. Their last night out, they set up camp and sat around a fire. Only 20 more miles. It had taken them 41 days. “That moment,” Gray said, ”we were the only ones who could truly grasp how momentous this trip was.” They almost missed their finish line. Out on the water, it wasn’t obvious where the two rivers met. “Remember how rough the river was that day?” Couch asked Gray. “I was thinking, this river is not going to give us one day. Not one.” Their families were gathered at a state park to greet and congratulate them. Among them was a family they’d met from Paducah, Ky., who had lost a daughter to suicide.
“It was an amazing journey,” said Halley’s mom, Mary, proud of all they accomplished. “They got a lot of people talking, and I know they raised quite a bit of money.” In the end, they collected $10,000, surpassing their goal by $3,000. But the money was only part of their outcome. Their adventure was filled with awe-inspiring moments under the stars and poignant conversations with people touched by suicide. “The collective humanity along the Ohio River really did it for me,” Couch said. REACHING THE SUMMIT For Cassidy, approaching the end of the trail on Aug. 25 posed its own special challenges. She met back up with Munch and Velveeta for the final 3-mile climb to the top of Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park.
“At first you’re in the trees and it is kind of hard, then some larger boulders start appearing that you have to climb over. Then, when you have to skirt above the tree line, you have a view for miles of all these lakes in Maine but,” she said, laughing, “you have to rock climb that section.” Didn’t matter. Nothing could stop her now. When they reached the sign marking the end, all three kissed it at the same time. “It was one of the best days of my life,” she wrote in her blog. “The day was full of triumph, emotion, and sad goodbyes to lifelong friends.” She called the journey raw, rewarding, and full of joy. She thought she could put into words what reaching the summit meant but realized the summit wasn’t a moment. It was a five-month test of her resolve. Weeks later, she choked up talking about the people, the memories, and the end. The trail will always be a large part of who she is and who she becomes. The experience gave her a newfound sense of calm, something Cassidy noticed near the finish in Maine. It was nighttime, a thunderstorm was approaching, and she was by herself in the back country, miles away from a road. “I was very at peace and very comfortable. I wasn’t nervous at all about being alone in the woods.” Margo Kissell is a news and feature writer in Miami’s university news and communications office. 11
SUICIDE PREVENTION If you suspect someone may be at risk, call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800– 273–TALK (8255). For tips and warning signs, go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s website at afsp.org.
To watch a first-person account of their challenges, go to MiamiOH.edu/news/journeys.
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love & honor
‘Finish Living First’ Truesdell family sets up golf scholarship in Jamie’s memory By Josh Chapin ’02 Top: Bailey Truesdell’s May 2016 graduation from Miami was a bittersweet day with his parents, Stephanie and Jamie ’82. Opposite right: Bailey and his dad, Jamie, sharing their love of golf.
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His sport at Miami was football, but Jamie Truesdell ’82 grew up playing golf as well, a
passion he passed down to his son, Bailey ’16. Bailey will always treasure the time he spent with his dad on the links in his hometown of Flint, Mich., especially when he turned 12 and started winning. “He was like, ‘I don’t want to play anymore,’ ” Bailey said, laughing. But Jamie really didn’t mean it, and father and son continued teeing up together. A love of golf wasn’t the only passion Jamie shared with Bailey.
love & honor
Because of his dad, Bailey heard lots of stories about Miami University. Lots. And often. He heard Jamie talk about when he played offensive lineman for Miami football. He heard about how hot practices would get in August in Oxford. He heard about lifelong friendships his dad formed with his teammates. Bailey discovered Miami through those stories and through the red and white memorabilia Jamie displayed in their home. Jamie didn’t push his son to choose Miami, but once the younger Truesdell visited the Oxford campus, his became an easy decision. Jamie led by example in other ways as well, and his son watched closely. Bailey saw selflessness in his dad’s service to his community, hard work and the success in business that resulted, and true determination as Jamie battled colon cancer for seven difficult years. “He was so driven on not letting the disease run his life,” said Bailey, a four-year member of Miami’s varsity golf team. “That was something he always told me, ‘I know I’m dying, but I want to finish living first.’ ” Jamie passed away in December 2016 at the age of 56, but his practice of perseverance and support continues with the Truesdell Family Miami Men’s Golf Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship was on a list of 25 items that Jamie wanted to accomplish, a list he shared with his wife, Stephanie. “This was the one last thing he wanted to do,” Stephanie said. After earning a degree in business management, Jamie became the third generation to work for family-owned J. Austin Oil of Flint, serving as president until the business was sold in 1991. Although hours from Oxford, he also continued to keep a close eye on Miami athletics as he and Stephanie enjoyed life in Grand Blanc, Mich., with sons Bailey and Carson. A huge sports fan, Bailey was happy to spend time with his father cheering on Miami football. Traveling to Bowling Green in 2003, the Truesdells watched Ben Roethlisberger ’12 lead the Red and White to a MAC championship. “We would see Dad’s college buddies now and again,” Bailey said. “They would have a million stories. You could tell how many great experiences they had together.”
Like his father, Bailey built strong relationships with his teammates during his own days in Oxford. One former teammate, Brian Ohr, currently a redshirt junior from Northbrook, Ill., was the first to receive the Truesdell scholarship. When Bailey, now living in Charlotte, N.C., and working for Bank of America, returned to Oxford last year, he and Brian spent the evening swapping stories about Bailey’s dad. “Bailey was a huge positive impact on my first few years at Miami,” Ohr said, “and on the golf team. “He treated me like a younger brother, guiding me through the ins and outs of college, and never hesitated when I was in need of help. I only had a few encounters with his dad, but I could see where Bailey got his generosity and character.” And his love for Miami. “The lessons Jamie learned from Miami and football carried through his life,” Stephanie said. “Giving back, doing service, working on boards, doing what is right — that is how Jamie made a difference.” His nonprofit work included 10 years on the Whaley Children’s Center board and serving with the Foundation for Mott Community College and Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan. No matter how busy, Jamie kept in touch with his Miami teammates over the years, especially close friends and 1982 classmates Trey Busch and Bob Simpson. And, despite the cancer, Jamie continued to attend Miami football games. During Bailey’s student days, father and son chatted on the phone often about all of Miami’s athletic programs. When it came to Bailey’s golf tournaments, nothing could stop Jamie from showing up and walking the 18 holes. “If he was sick, and he was sick most of the time, he would not let on,” Stephanie said. “He was so determined to always put that best foot forward without complaining. I think that’s another tribute to his love for Miami, just to show that, ‘I can do this.’ ”
To learn more about how to support Miami, visit GivetoMiamiOH.org/GivetoMU.
Josh Chapin ’02 is assistant director of editorial services in Miami’s university advancement division.
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class notes
No blue jeans or baseball caps in sight in this 1950 French class. Recognize any of the students or the professor perhaps? Their leisure activities included football with Coach Woody Hayes in Miami Field (now Pearson Hall), a performance by the young violin virtuoso Issac Stern, a lecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, and a Pajama Parade. Yes, in pajamas.
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Robert Peirce is retired and
lives in Tallahassee, Fla., at Westminster Oaks retirement community. His wife of 67 years, Miriam, died in November. Bob has two daughters, Kate and Carolyn, and a grandson, Rob. After Miami, Bob earned a master’s in physics at the University of Illinois and an MBA at Harvard.
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Reunion ¶ D.V. Verich Combs teaches art history and studio art at The Piarist School in Martin, Ky. She opened her third showing of paintings Oct. 29, 2017. For details about her gallery, go to ArtGalleryinLangley.com.
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Reunion ¶ Roy “Bud” Anderson of Mansfield, Ohio, is an active member of the Richland County Korean War Veterans Association, serving as chairman of the scholarship committee. Each spring the group interviews graduating seniors from 13 local high schools. Roy writes, “The highlight of my post-military experience was to be on a recent Columbus, Ohio, Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. I was very impressed with the ceremonies and the care given to the 78 veterans who made the trip.”
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Rodney Rhoades ’61 MS ’63,
professor emeritus of the Indiana University School of Medicine, has a new book, Aging Well: Staying Younger, Smarter, and Fit (lbj Book Pub, 2017). From the book flap: “Recent studies reveal that individual lifestyle, environment, attitude, and the friends we interact with play a far greater role than genetics in determining how well we age and who thrives in later life. This new research also confirms the power behind the mind-body-spirit connection.” For details, go to: http:// drrodrhoades.com. Until his retirement, Rod was department chair of
cellular and integrative physiology. He has more than 35 years of research experience and medical education.
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Jean Bryan Cramer sent in a note about these eight Miamians representing three generations enjoying Thanksgiving together: Barb Bryan Jeppe ’94, Abby Fox ’21, Jean Bryan Cramer, Jennifer Bryan Fox ’90, Don Bryan ’63, Bill Cramer ’64, Janet Bryan Osmun ’73, and Belinda Bell Bryan ’66.
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David Caputo retired in
January 2018 after 49 years in higher education. He served as dean of liberal arts at Purdue University and president of Hunter College (City University of New York) and of Pace University (New York City). He received two Fulbright fellowships, a Lilly Fellowship, and was a visiting professor at Harvard and Princeton. In recent years, he has concentrated his work on Italian and U.S. electoral politics. He lives in Fort Collins, Colo., with his wife, Alice Glotfelty Caputo.
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David Contosta ’67 MA
’70 PhD ’73 has a new book out, America’s Needless Wars: Cautionary Tales of U.S. Involvement in The Philippines, Vietnam, and Iraq (Prometheus Books, 2017). “This eye-opening book takes a unique approach to the history of U.S. foreign policy by examining three unrelated conflicts, all of which ended tragically and resulted in the deaths of millions on both sides. By analyzing what went wrong in each case, the author uncovers a pattern of errors that should serve as a precaution for future decision makers contemplating a conflict abroad.” David is a professor of history at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pa. ¶ Curtiss Isler, an attorney with Tucker
Ellis in Los Angeles, has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for 2018. Curtiss handles cases in transportation, class action, and litigation. ¶ David Molyneaux, retired editor and chief travel writer for The Plain Dealer, was inducted into the Press Club of Cleveland’s Journalism Hall of Fame Nov. 2, 2017.
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Reunion ¶ Earl Dowling is vice president of institutional advancement, as well as vice president of student affairs at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. It is the second largest provider of postsecondary education and the state’s largest community college. Earl has oversight responsibility for all areas within student services, advancement, athletics, and marketing. ¶ Bill ’68 MEd ’73 and Nancy Stranahan Hanger ’68 of Waterford, Maine, celebrated their graduation from Miami 50 years ago with their daughters, Lisa Hanger Fraley ’92 and Jill Hanger Patton ’94 MS ’95, one of their sons-in-law, Bart Anthony Patton ’94, and their oldest granddaughter, Jessica Lee Patton ’21, in Sanibel Island, Fla.
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Attending the annual golf outing at the home of Bruce Downey in Weems, Va., were Bonnie Short, Mike Leadbetter, Casey Long, Russ Savage ’71, Diana Haynes, Thomas McKnight ’70, Robert Walter ’69,
SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE Please send news to: Donna Boen, Miamian, 22 Campus Avenue Building, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or Miamian@MiamiOH.edu. Include your name, class year, address, and your phone number. For more class news, go online to MiamiAlum.org/ Classnotes. For online Miamian, go to MiamiAlum.org/ Miamian.
Thomas Duck ’68, James Boswell ’69, Gil Short ’68, and Richard Klein.
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Dan Ferrell has retired from United Way of the Cape Fear Area in Wilmington, N.C. Dan previously retired from his post as communications director for the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Seattle Region (2006). He founded Miami’s Seattle Alumni Chapter in 1977.
See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
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class notes
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Rob Burger ’89, Bob McClain ’83, Dave Evans ’75, and Rob Cohen ’73 met up at the Seagull Century Bike Race last October by happenstance.
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Bill Failor is career adviser for
the College of Business at the University of South Florida SarasotaManatee and has taken on the added responsibility for internship development for all colleges and departments throughout the university. ¶ Andy Olson’s article about six treaties signed with eight tribal groups at St. Marys, Ohio, in 1818 was printed in the January 2018 Indiana Historical Society’s Connections magazine. This four-article series will be published over 18 months to mark the 200th year since these treaties were concluded.
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Reunion ¶ Pam Conine, a retired educator, was elected mayor of Yellow Springs, Ohio, in November. ¶ Margaret Taddeo Liechty ’73 MEd ’92 had three children’s books published last October: Just Say So: A Book About Idioms, The King’s Cookies, and Martha and the Mutt. Margaret publishes under the name Tad Liechty. She has spent most of her adult life in Oxford, teaching for 35 years. She never considered trying to publish her stories until she retired. Besides writing, she roams the woods near her house with her grandsons, gardens, cooks for her family, and, of course, reads.
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Mitch Engel ran one of the nation’s largest ad agencies and segued into a senior executive position with a Fortune 500 company. After flunking retirement several times, he took up residence behind his keyboard. Last September, Outskirts Press release his Crimes of Arrogance. “Webster Tremont never has lived up to family expectations — and never has wanted to. Webb shuns his trust funds to become a cop, but when a series of events ends his career, he becomes a successful writer, chronicling true crime cases. Fame takes an unexpected turn after his popular Serve & Protect books are adapted into a TV series.”
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Peter Newman’s article on
“How Every Employer Can Stop Sexual Harassment in Their Workplaces” was published in the April issue of Compliance & Ethics Professional magazine. He is an attorney in Dayton. ¶ Dave Rosenberg has a new book out, Make It Fun to Make It Last (Vervante, November 2017). Subtitled “How I Built My Little Ad Agency into the Business of My Dreams,” his book, a collection of stories, successes, failures, and mostly lessons learned, offers simple tips and secrets to help others reach their small business dreams. Dave is president and founder of Rosenberg Advertising in Cleveland. ¶ David Sauter ’77 MS ’82 has retired as Miami’s university registrar (2006–2018), closing his full-time professional chapter after 38 years of higher education experience, including 22 at Miami. He and wife Janet James Sauter MA ’81, a retired Miami communication faculty member, are parents to Michael, Paul ’11 MS ’18, and Jon ’13. He is planning to continue to consult with the Ohio Department of Higher Education. ¶ John Weigand, associate dean in Miami’s College of Creative
Arts and professor of architecture, has been appointed 2018 president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Ohio, becoming the first full-time architectural educator to serve as president in the organization’s 83-year history.
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Reunion ¶ Kay Phillips Geiger was honored with the 2017 Metropolitan Award, presented by the Metropolitan Club to a citizen of Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky who has exhibited exponential effort toward improving the lives of citizens and who has made significant contributions toward the unification of the community. Kay is president of PNC Bank, Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. ¶ Margaret “Peggy” Dewey Opatken lives in Willard, Ohio, and is enjoying her retirement after 32 years of teaching English. She substitute teaches and plays the flute at church and in her community band. She traveled to Paris last June with her husband and has three adult children.
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Nancy Sittig Berg is executive
assistant to the president at Denison University. The liberal arts college is in Granville, Ohio, 30 minutes east of Columbus. ¶ Taryn Stambaugh Heath, Stark County Common Pleas Court judge, was elected to the board of trustees of the Ohio Common Pleas Judges Association. Its mission is “to improve the law, the legal system, and the effective administration of justice.”
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William Buckley PhD ’80,
professor emeritus from Indiana University, is founder/editor of Plath Profiles, an online journal devoted to Sylvia Plath. He has published books on D.H. Lawrence, L.F. Celine, Plath, and literary criticism, as well as poetry. He sells his artwork and surfs in his home state of California.
class notes
class notes
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, BUT A
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Encourage high school students to experience “college as college should be� by scheduling a visit to Miami this summer. During a campus visit, students will learn about the admission process and scholarship opportunities, chat with current Miamians on a studentguided tour, and visualize themselves joining the Miami family.
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Continue the proud tradition you know and love.
Schedule a visit: MiamiOH.edu/visit Learn more: MiamiOH.edu/admission 40
See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian. miamian magazine
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class notes
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Bill Griffith MA ’77, outreach and partnership liaison at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, received the 2018 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Outstanding Achievement Award March 16, 2018.
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Dan Barr sent in a photo
of his Sigma Nu fraternity brothers, all Class of ’81, attending Scott Farmer’s daughter’s wedding in Banff, Canada, last summer: Steve Dilbone, Jack Roehr, Scott Farmer, Matt Lorenz, Dan Barr, and Steve Olberding. The wives, also in the photo, are Jenny Flatt Dilbone, Mary Jamison Farmer, Julia Lorenz, Krissi Hehmann Barr, and Sue Olberding. ¶ Patricia Shlonsky, the partner-in-charge of the Cleveland office of Ulmer & Berne, has been appointed president of the Cuyahoga County Public Library board of trustees. Patty, a voracious reader and a champion of public libraries, is in the midst of a seven-year term on the board. Her passion for the transformative power of reading aligns ideally with her leadership position at the library, one of the most respected library systems in the country. ¶ Don and Martha Hoffer Teater ’80 have co-authored the book Treating Chronic Pain: Pill-Free Approaches to Move People from Hurt to Hope. Don, a physician, and Martha, a therapist, wrote this book to provide tools for treating those with chronic pain. They live in Waynesville, N.C., and have two sons, Luke and Kevin.
Reunion ¶ A group of 1983 graduates (and a few spouses) gathered in Nashville, Tenn., last October for a reunion: Peter Calafiura (his wife, Motrya), Heather Cotton Cole, Mary Jean Gutekanst Johnson, David Cole, Carrie Brown (spouse), David Mills, Drew Arendas, David Brown, Lynn Dineen Bednar, Jeffrey Lankenau, and Craig Thieman. ¶ Dave Eshbaugh is director of philanthropy at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, a zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery, located just west of Tucson. ¶ Mary Kelley Patrick has been promoted to CEO of Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications. Mary also continues as managing partner of the Chicago firm. She will continue working with a strong and diverse bench of both seasoned veterans and young leaders, who have helped establish J.T. as local, national, and international experts in public affairs, crisis management, events and advance, digital campaigns, video production, and communications trainings. ¶ Melur Ramasubramanian MS ’83 will become the University of Virginia’s vice president for research Aug. 8. He is currently program director for the Engineering Research Centers program at the National Science Foundation and D.W. Reynolds Distinguished Professor and department chair of mechanical engineering at Clemson University, with a joint faculty appointment as professor of bioengineering. His charge is to shape and direct UVA’s collaborative research and scholarship portfolio with the goal of pinpointing optimal investment opportunities within and among UVA’s 11 schools to advance the university’s research infrastructure and support services. The university receives approximately $338 million in sponsored research and is planning
to increase research volume by $200 million over the next 10 years.
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Gary Loxley retired Jan. 1, 2018, as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He proudly served 36 years in the Ohio Army National Guard, Regular Army, and Army Reserve, where he held various command and leadership assignments, including three tours of active duty in support of the Global War on Terrorism. He is a graduate of Ohio Northern University College of Law and the U.S. Army War College. He currently serves as a judge in the Warren County Court, Lebanon, Ohio. He lives in Springboro with wife Jennie and daughter Lauren ’13.
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Mark Dean has written a children’s book, Charlie the Catfish: The Adventures of Coal & Andy (Monday Creek Publishing, Dec. 1, 2017), for ages 3–10. It follows Coal Coalson and Andy Anderson, two cousins setting out on a riverside adventure. The ornery 10- and 8-year-olds have swallowed their PawPaw’s fishing “tail,” hook, line, and sinker, about Charlie, a legendary gigantic catfish. This yellow finned catfish is “as big as a house, and as long as a tree” and, as the story goes, has “eaten bicycles, a helmet, and many a shoe.” The mischievous boys spend a hot summer’s day creating a tale of their own. Mark and his family live in southeast Ohio on a small horse farm nestled into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. ¶ Carl Gramlick is the director, current operations division, Office of Operations Coordination, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He provides decision support and enables the secretary’s execution of responsibilities across the homeland security enterprise by promoting situational awareness and information
class notes
sharing, integrating, and synchronizing strategic operations. He is retired from the USAF where he was the 11th Wing commander, Bolling AFB, Washington, ¶ Gayelin (Mary) Littell is D.C. executive producer for Milwaukee World Festival, the organization that produces Summerfest, The World’s Largest Music Festival. The 11-day festival at Henry Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee’s lakefront features more than 750 bands and hosts an average of 820,000 people annually. Artists that have played at Summerfest include Rolling Stones, Bruno Mars, and Pink. She oversees the production of the festival, as well as other events produced by MWF. ¶ Married: Susan Swallen and Darrin Ulery ’87, June 10, 2017, in Milton, Ky. Susan is a teacher at Mason Early Childhood Center. Darrin is the VP of sales at Grexen in Cincinnati. They live in Mason, Ohio.
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Jason Allen, a former state senator, has been appointed state director for USDA Rural Development in Michigan. A resident of Traverse City, he has served in the Michigan Army National Guard and was elected to two terms each in both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Senate. He also has served as a senior policy adviser for the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.
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Reunion ¶ Deb Vangellow MS ’88, at Riverbend Country
Club in Houston, has been recognized on Women’s Golf Journal’s inaugural list of the 50 Best LPGA Teachers from more than 1,700 LPGA certified professionals worldwide.
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Brian Rock’s chapter book
trilogy, The Tyler Files (First Light Publishing; 1 edition,
Sept. 1, 2017), is being well-received. In The Tyler Files #1: Smarty Pants, Tyler is an average 5th-grader, except for one thing. His pants won’t stop talking. In The Tyler Files #2: Hollow Weenie!, Tyler is still an average 5th-grader, except his school science project is trying to eat him. In the third book, The Tyler Files #3: My Nose Is Running!, Tyler discovers his running nose is really running. Brian lives in Chesterfield, Va., with his wife, daughter, Aussie-doodle, and, of course, his many imaginary friends. Brian’s pants have never actually talked to him and any sounds coming from his pants are certainly not his fault.
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Heather Wood Crist is senior vice president – market manager of the Chicago North Shore Market of Wells Fargo Advisors. She is responsible for the
Register today at MiamiAlum.org/ AW2018Registration
J U N E 7-1 0 , 2 0 1 8 • OX F O R D, O H
ALUMNI WEEKEND TH ROW BACK TO DAYS OF OLD
See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
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class notes
law as a partner in the Denver office of Faegre Baker Daniels.
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Todd Stoll ’85 will lead the 2018 All-National Jazz Ensemble at the National Association for Music Education’s premier AllNational Honor Ensembles in Orlando Nov. 25–28. Todd is vice president of education at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, bringing jazz education programs to thousands of people of all ages and socioeconomic levels.
Antioch, Deerfield, Highland Park, and Lake Forest branches and two downtown Chicago branches, one of which is among the largest within Wells Fargo Advisors. She earned an MBA in management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School and is a graduate of the Securities Industry Institute at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and chair emeritus of the Securities Industry Institute SIFMA board of trustees. ¶ Michelle Degraer LaVoy was elected to her third term as clerk-treasurer for the city of Monroe, Mich. She is honored to continue service to her community through elected office.
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Amy Hurley Cooper is
assistant director of proposal development in Miami’s Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship. Before recently joining OARS, she worked on Miami’s regional campuses for 25 years. ¶ Jeff Sherman was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army. He serves as brigade judge advocate of the 115th Field Artillery Brigade of the Wyoming Army National Guard. In his civilian role, Jeff practices corporate and securities
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R. Andrew Augsburger was
elected judge of the Auglaize County (Ohio) Municipal Court. His six-year term began Jan. 1. Andrew lives in Wapakoneta, Ohio, with his wife, Candice Davidson Augsburger ’94, and their three children. ¶ Kyle Gearhart was selected to attend Raymond James Global Top 50 conference in Ontario, Canada. The two-day exclusive conference brings together the top 50 financial advisers firmwide to discuss such topics as the current political landscape, meaningful trends, and business strategies. Kyle, his wife, Melissa, and their three children live in Terrace Park, Ohio. ¶ Joe Weisenburger is senior vice president, business development of Welltower, headquartered in Toledo. With the company since 1998, in his new position, he continues to lead domestic deal origination and relationship management efforts for Welltower’s seniors housing portfolio. He earned an MBA in finance from Ohio State University.
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Reunion ¶ Jeffry Elliott, senior managing director, Huntington Equipment Finance, was named chairman of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring thoughtful innovation in its industry.
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Noelle Romaine Danylchuk,
a certified genetic counselor at UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, chairs the department of genetic counseling in the College of Health Professions at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has also been named director of the genetics counseling program. She will continue to see pediatric genetics patients
at the Arkansas Children’s clinic in Lowell. She earned an MS in genetic counseling at the University of Texas Health Science Center’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston. ¶ Jennifer Reece Hall is co-founder and director of development of Graham’s Foundation, a 501(c) (3) that is committed to a world where no preemie parent goes through the journey alone. Jennifer delivered her twins at 25 weeks. After losing her son 45 days later, she wanted to empower parents of premature babies through support, advocacy, and research and improve outcomes for their preemies and themselves. Graham’s Foundation offers complimentary care packages, mentors, and MyPreemie, an app for families with preemies. ¶ Jackie Huber MEd ’94 is the director of IT curriculum for the Batesville Community School Corp. Her department guides the 2020 Vision, leveraging technology to enhance the teaching and learning experiences of all. Other projects of the team include facilitating professional learning opportunities, including a Summer eLearning Conference, and integrating various aspects of the Digital Learning Grant. Jackie lives in Batesville, Ind., with her husband and three children. ¶ Julienne Rutherford, a biological anthropologist who is an associate professor of women, children, and health sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was interview by NPR Weekend Edition’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro on changes in birthing in the United States (www. npr.org/2017/08/06/541877818/whatchanges-in-birthing-mean-for-evolution). Unlike in the past when many babies were born in the middle of the night, most are now delivered Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Julienne is
class notes
studying the effect these changes in U.S. birthing culture could have on human evolution. ¶ Damon Williams ’94 MS ’96 returned to campus during Diversity Week to present “The Inclusion Excellence Tour” March 7. He engaging the audience in a TED Talk-like conversation about the most cutting-edge ideas regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership today. Damon is one of the nation’s recognized experts in strategic diversity leadership, youth development, corporate responsibility, educational achievement, social impact, and organizational change. He has worked with more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Fortune 100 companies, foundations, and government agencies as keynote speaker, strategist, educator, and social impact leader. He earned a PhD from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE), where he specialized in organizational behavior and management.
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Dawn Ford MS ’95 was named assistant provost of teaching and learning at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in September 2017. ¶ Brad Grant, who over the past 10 years revived the Cleveland Indians’ amateur draft, has been promoted to vice president of the Indians’ baseball operations. In his new role, Grant concentrates on strategy and administration.
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Scott Bilsky was elected to council in Orange Village, Ohio, in the November 2017 election. He started serving his four-year term in January. ¶ Kristen Brown Luff has built a successful culinary career in the organization of acclaimed restaurateur Cameron Mitchell. Starting soon after graduation in customer service, she
progressed through several position assignments, becoming part of the leadership team. Most recently, she has been promoted to general manager and partner with the responsibility of preparing, staffing, and training for the grand opening of the second The Avenue Steak Tavern in Dublin, Ohio. Previously, as general manager, she opened the first The Avenue Steak Tavern in Grandview Heights, Ohio. Kristen balances a challenging blend of ensuring quality customer dining experience work with dedicated family life with her husband and two children. Her parents, Geoffrey Brown ’72 and Susan O’Donoghue Beatty ’73 hope that third generation Miamians are in the future! ¶ Brian Niccol is the new CEO and director at Chipotle, coming from Taco Bell, where he began as marketing and innovation chief in 2011 and later became CEO. He started at Chipotle March 5, 2018. ¶ John Walton, radio play-by-play announcer for the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals the past seven seasons, called the play-by-play for women’s hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, for NBC. This was his first Olympic assignment. He has announced play-by-play of college hockey and Stanley Cup playoff games for NBC.
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Lt. Col. Timothy Hyer, U.S. Air Force, was promoted to the rank of colonel in December 2017. Tim is presently stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., where he is a division chief overseeing Air Force Training programs. He has been stationed in Texas, California, North Carolina, and Colorado, where he has been a combat pilot flying C-130s, RQ-4 Global Hawks, and Special Operation aircraft in numerous countries around the world.
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Juliette Boyce sent in a
note about the Serendipty House reunion last winter. She writes, “We came from seven states (Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona) and met for a week of fun in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Most of the non-Miamians are spouses, but we did allow one couple — friends of the DeLucas — to accompany us. Catherine O’Connor Hurley and I have been joking for years about how our annual house reunions need to be in Miamian.” At the reunion were David Burbage, Mike Kusecek, Ryan Stallmeyer, Chad DeLuca ’97, friend of Chad, Juliette Boyce ’99, Casey Rentch, Liz Claiborne Burbage ’99, Lindsay Myers Hinshaw ’99, Heather Boland Stallmeyer ’99, Jaime Allen Rentch ’99, Lisa Heilman, Erin Dixon ’99, Isis Filipek ’99, Kass Johnson Benchoff ’99, Aaron Benchoff, Kim Kasperbauer Deluca ’99, and Kevin Hinshaw. ¶ Chad McQuade of Elmhurst, Ill., was honored by Northwestern Mutual in the company’s 2017 Forum Group, which recognizes financial advisers who have eclipsed specific milestones in 2017. Chad is the managing director of Northwestern Mutual Chicago’s Oak Brook District Office. This is
See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
Stacey Panteck ’05 MAT ’13 studied ongoing research projects, such as radio tracking, cheetah conservation, and ecosystem management last summer in Namibia through Miami’s Project Dragonfly. An education specialist at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, she took the graduate course in pursuit of her master’s from Miami’s Earth Expeditions.
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class notes
01
Christie Lauer Reckman
was promoted to senior vice president, client services at Burke Inc. Cincinnati. She has a consistent track record of developing client relationships into true partnerships. Clients have come to recognize and appreciate her thoughtfulness in helping them grow their business and brands and setting them up for success. Christie joined Burke in 2004 as a research associate. She earned an MBA from the University of Cincinnati.
Jessica Sweet ’07 was voted one of the Top Doctors of 2018 in Portland Monthly Magazine. She is an owner of The Ren Clinic in Portland, Ore., where she is a naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist specializing in women’s health.
the seventh time he has received the Forum honor. ¶ Melanie Dickerson Oliva was invited by Collier Freedom to paint a banner about women and LGBTQ issues. Along with the work of seven other South Florida artists, her “We Rise” banner decorated the stage for the Women Together for Freedom March & Rally in Naples. Her banner weaves together the hands of more than 30 individuals who advocate for intersectional feminism and work together to create true equality and lift others up, especially those most marginalized in our communities.
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David Wolf is behind the launch of ON Collaborative, a new national sales and development marketing firm with offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. He is taking what he has done well — creating a real estate brokerage and marketing firm from the bottom up and securing a foothold in the market — to markets outside Chicago with his virtual dream team of seasoned real estate pros. David and his team together bring more than a century of real estate experience to ON Collaborative, having executed over $4.2 billion in sales nationally throughout their careers.
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02
Jeff Immel was named one
of PRWeek’s 40 Under 40, which honors a new generation of leaders stepping forward to answer the PR industry’s toughest questions and redefine the marcomms sector. When Jeff joined Weber Shandwick Chicago, he recast his traditional advertising experience to build a creative department from the ground up. His rich visual thinking helped turn what was once a PR-only agency into a marketing communications creative powerhouse that has grown its creative team by more than 30 percent in five years. He also sits on the auxiliary board for Off the Street Club, Chicago’s oldest boys and girls club serving more than 3,000 children in West Garfield Park, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country.
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Reunion ¶ Married: Kelly Mills and Matt Elliott, Dec. 2, 2017, on the beach in Siesta Key, Fla. Kelly manages the North American advancement office for Imperial College London, and Matt is an attorney with Kegler Brown Hill + Ritter. They live in Columbus.
04
Jay Goldbaum has been pro-
moted to general counsel at Horizon Global Corp., one of the world’s
leading manufacturers of branded towing and trailering equipment. He is responsible for leading the company’s global corporate development function and will continue to lead its legal and compliance functions. Jay earned a JD from Michigan State University College of Law. Horizon Global has approximately 4,700 employees in 67 facilities across 21 countries. ¶ Katie Bellamy Yarder, a commercial interior designer, received a 2017 20 Under 40 Leadership Recognition Award. As director of marketing for My Resource Library, the premier digital library for commercial interior designers, Katie led MRL through its first major rebranding initiative. She also owns NeverBlink, a commercial design and photography company. Katie is an advocate of women in leadership and has started a free women’s community exercise program, Fitness empowered (Fe)-Iron-Strong-Females. She is coordinating a 48-hour series of health/ wellness events that will engage over 1,500 students and adults in the region. The 20 Under 40 program focuses on individuals in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their career and/or in the community. She lives with her family in Perrysburg, Ohio.
05
Born: to Brian and Caitlin O’Neal Barre, Miles Gavin,
Feb. 6, 2018, joining big sister, Olivia, 3. Brian is an insurance underwriter, and Caitlin is a CPA and senior vice president in risk management at Regions Bank. They live in Vestavia Hills, Ala. ¶ Born: to Camille Barrett Sendlak and Colin, Reed Bradley, Jan. 5, 2018, in Chicago. He joins Leo, who is 2.
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Married: Aaron Bill and Teresa Buckley, Sept. 30,
class notes
2017, Capitol Hill Club, Washington, ¶ Born: to Vanessa Schutz D.C. McDonald and Neal, Elly Elizabeth, Oct. 17, 2017, in Washington, D.C. They live right outside D.C. in Alexandria, Va.
07
Born: to Jeff and Carla Ralich Bregitzer ’08, Maisy Jude,
in September 2017. The happy family lives in Chicago. ¶ Married: Phillip Habib and Genevieve Kepler, July 22, 2017, in Kettering, Ohio, where they live. Family members in attendance included Phillip’s Miami-Merger parents, Jack ’81 and Christine ’81 MAcc ’82, who celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary the day before. Phillip is a senior loan officer with U.S. Bank. ¶ Married: Madeleine LeFreileux-Weber and Braedon Kellner, Sept. 29, 2017, in Indianapolis. Maddie and Braedon met in 2011 and live in Indiana. Maddie is a certified-PMP for HighPoint Global, and Braedon is the executive chef at Tinker Street Restaurant in downtown Indianapolis. For their honeymoon they toured France, England, and the Netherlands. Maddie is the daughter of Martha Weber ’72 MS ’07, coordinator of undergraduate research at Miami. ¶ Jessica Sweet was voted one of the Top Doctors of 2018 in Portland Monthly Magazine. She is an owner of The Ren Clinic in Portland, Ore., where she is a naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist specializing in women’s health. Her husband, Nick Browning ’06, is celebrating two years as a partner of Lindquist, an accounting firm.
08
Reunion ¶ Matthew Harr lives in Beckenham,
England, with his wife, Rosaleen Britta O’Connell. They married in February 2016. Matt works as lighting director and technician and has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe providing lighting services to
musicians. He and Rose welcomed their first child, Bonnie Rose, Aug. 11, 2017.
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Isaac Reynolds, after nearly nine years in the Sultanate of Oman, is returning to Ohio as an MBA candidate at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University. Isaac moved to Oman immediately after graduating with a BA in diplomacy and foreign affairs. At Fisher, Isaac will concentrate in strategy and international business. ¶ Dustin Woods was the head strength and conditioning coach for China’s team of short track speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
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Married: Jamie Crawford and Seth Philip ’10 MAcc ’11, Oct. 14, 2017, in San Francisco, where they both live and work. The ceremony was officiated by Seth’s sisterin-law, Sarah Wachler Philip ’03, a fellow Miami Merger with Ben Philip ’03 PhD ’10. ¶ Andrew Kilgore is manager of produced water at Layne Christensen in its Midland, Texas, office. Layne Christensen is the largest water well drilling company in the United States and a leading provider of water infrastructure solutions. It recently announced the completion of its high-capacity water pipeline and infrastructure system serving energy producers in the prolific Delaware Basin in West Texas. ¶ Married: Jessica Miroglotta and Ryan Stuver, Sept. 23, 2017, in Cleveland. Jessica is an elementary art teacher at Lakewood Catholic Academy while Ryan, a graduate of Hiram College, is a sales manager with CRP Automotive. They live in South Euclid, Ohio, with their dog, Luna. ¶ James Skakun, CPA, has been promoted to manager, taxation services at Bober Markey Fedorovich. He focuses on the growth and continued success of the
firm’s clients by delivering tax compliance and planning and best practices to closely held and family-owned businesses with a high growth mentality. Working extensively with multi-state companies, S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies, he is knowledgeable on intricate tax regulations and various compliance related matters. He works with business owners in redemption, sale, and liquidation planning, as well as supporting negotiations with private equity-backed firms by providing insight into potential tax exposure for target companies. James was named a 2016 recipient of the 30 for the Future award by the Greater Akron Chamber for his dynamic leadership and community service. He lends his time and efforts as a board member of Rebuilding Together Northeast Ohio and through membership and volunteerism with the Young Professional Network of Akron and the Akron/ Canton Foodbank Young Professionals. He is a graduate of Torchbearers Akron Class of 2016 and serves as a member of the board.
11
Born: to Nate Greene and Erika Uzmann MFA ’12, George William, Dec. 26, 2017. Nate and Erika own Smith&Greene, a custom jewelry business. Nate is also a CAD designer for Tiffany & Co. They live in Gales Ferry, Conn. ¶ Born: to Margaret (Meg) and John (Jack) Hudson III, their first child, John Howard IV, Sept. 23, 2017. They live in Nashville, Tenn. ¶ Peter Lindman ’11 MAcc ’12, CPA, joins the Detroit market of the Siegfried Group as a senior associate after spending the last several years at Deloitte. ¶ Timothy Lu, a data strategist at Thinking Machines, was the Saturday night keynote speaker during Miami’s Winter College in Naples, Fla., March 2–4. Tim partners with governments, NGOs, and
See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
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class notes
Stephanie Spetrino ’14 celebrated with Dayton native Allison Janney the morning after Allison won her first Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Tonya Harding’s mother in I, Tonya. Stephanie is the showrunner’s assistant on CBS’ Mom, in which Allison stars, at Warner Brothers Studios. Stephanie has worked at WB on various TV shows (Pretty Little Liars, Lethal Weapon, Mom) since graduation. She was part of the first group of students to spend J-Term in Los Angeles with Miami’s Inside Hollywood program.
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enterprises to unlock business value from their data assets. After spending over half a decade working in strategy and operations for an international nonprofit, Tim has developed his niche in helping organizations understand how digital technology can help them succeed while achieving social impact. At Thinking Machines, a Philippinesbased data science consultancy, he advises clients on data strategy, smart transportation initiatives, and AI policy. Prior to Thinking Machines, Tim was the director of strategic partnerships for Operation Smile Philippines, where he focused on the rollout of the country’s first digital cleft lip and palate registry. Tim recently completed his certificate in social sector leadership from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business – Philanthropy University. He enjoys board games, escape rooms, and above all, his new role as father to Ari Paul. ¶ Married: Christine Montelione and Patrick Lindeman, June 3, 2017. Christine’s grandmother Marybelle Stuckey Rudd ’52 was joyfully in attendance. ¶ James Murphy was named to the 2017 Forbes/SHOOK America’s Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors. James, who joined Merrill Lynch in 2011, focuses on investment
management and financial planning. He is president of the Young Professionals Board of Project CURE and a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He lives in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. ¶ Married: Amy Reder and Breen Parry, Oct. 7, 2017, in Charlotte, N.C., where they live. Amy teaches second grade for Union County Public Schools in Matthews, N.C. Breen, who graduated from the University of Akron with a JD and an MBA, is a tax accountant for XOOM Energy in Huntersville, N.C. ¶ Married: Melissa Stout and Scott Madsen, June 3, 2017, St. Mary’s Church in Oxford. They live in Denver with their dog, Lacey. Melissa is an HR business partner, and Scott is a health-care consultant.
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McCrea O’Haire recently started a nonprofit called Team Nelson, which helps send Tanzanian orphans to school. She says that $60,000 has been raised (enough for 60 years of school), and the organization is just getting started. ¶ Married: Stephanie Rowe and Joseph Luizzi, Sept. 23, 2017, in Morristown, N.J. They live in Brooklyn, where Stephanie is a math teacher at John Dewey High School. Joseph is a lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell in Manhattan.
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Reunion ¶ Pamela Fisher, MA ’13 is a visiting assistant
professor of journalism at Azusa Pacific University. She was previously storytelling coach for the USA Today Network, Southwest Florida and Arts, and culture editor at The Cincinnati Enquirer. ¶ Capt. Geoffrey Neuman, upon graduation, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and was selected for training to become an aviator and began flight school in October 2014 in Pensacola, Fla. After primary flight training, he
was selected for advanced jet training in Kingsville, Texas. He completed flight school and jet training in October 2017 and earned his wings of gold. He is stationed in San Diego to train to fly the F/A-18 Hornet.
14
Randy Evans ’14 MA ’17 par-
ticipated in Earth Expedition last summer through Miami’s Project Dragonfly. He went to Hawaii to study what it takes to save species in the wild and also worked with local partners who are developing and testing site-specific methods of community engagement to sustain ecological and social health. Randy, a GIS analyst and conservation stewardship specialist at Three Valley Conservation Trust in Oxford, took the graduate course in pursuit of a master’s from Miami’s Global Field Program. ¶ Married: Emma Foltz and J. Lucas Moore ’15, July 22, 2017, in Oxford. ¶ Kelcie Mehwald, CSA consultant, is helping to drive merchandising excellence at Kroger. Kelcie joins 84.51° from L Brands where she served as supply chain senior analyst. She lives in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park. ¶ Bradley Ouambo has joined the law firm of Gallagher Sharp in Cleveland as an associate. Brad is a member of the firm’s general litigation and transportation practice groups. He earned a law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 2017, where he served as executive notes editor for Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine and on the Ault Mock Trial Team. Gallagher Sharp is a trial and business practice firm focused on the defense of civil claims and lawsuits for corporations, insurance companies, and their policyholders. ¶ Evan Swhear has been promoted to lead analyst at 84.51°, a powerhouse in pioneering, customer engagement. He is responsible for leading analysis
class notes
projects for Kroger space optimization initiatives. He previously served as a senior analyst on the space optimization team. He lives in Cincinnati’s East Price Hill.
15
Lauren Bencivengo won first place in a competition with hundreds of entries sponsored by Cloth & Company and Bed Bath & Beyond as part of the annual Dwell on Design convention. Her designs have been featured in Bed Bath & Beyond’s online catalog in the Emerging Designer Collection. Lauren, a junior designer at Delawie Architects in San Diego, based her textile designs on inspiration found in architecture, fashion, and everyday objects. Her winning collection includes four patterns in accent chairs, ottomans, storage benches, throw pillows, headboards, and window panels. ¶ Kenny Levick MArch ’15 and Dominic Forlini, partners in Blue Shift Industries, won first place at Autodesk University Las Vegas 2017 in the Infrastructure I category with their submission of Mars-Genesis & Mawrth-Integra: Interplanetary Design. This is the first phase of HP Mars Home Planet, a global project pairing co-creation on the Launch Forth platform with virtual reality to simulate a utopian civilization of 1 million people on Mars. Kenny, a visiting professor of architecture and interior design at Miami, credits his graduate thesis on colonizing the asteroid belt for providing the inspiration and knowledge. “Mars has been in conversation for a while now, especially with Elon Musk and all the other various companies developing technology in preparation of a Mars journey,” he said. “It’s very much like a second space race, and it is interesting and exciting to try and play a small part in that.” ¶ Rithvik Venna and Michael Markesbery of
Oros, a Cincinnati startup, were named to this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list. They, along with 598 others, are considered among the brightest minds of 2017. In 2015, the two — who were still in college at Miami at the time — successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their business venture. They raised about $600,000 to get Oros off the ground. For about three years, the Oros team has been tinkering with and improving its garments, making them warmer, thinner, more comfortable and sleek, with an aerogel insulation foam they call SolarCore, which is inspired by NASA technology. Oros has a new line of high-tech jackets and cold-weather apparel and has added fleeces and vests. ¶ Married: Shuting Zhao MArch ’15 and Elias Lewis MArch ’15, April 6, 2018, in Miami’s Kumler Chapel. They practice architecture and live in Cincinnati.
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Christopher Maggio MA ’16
teaches freshman composition at Community College of Beaver County and writes for Entertainment Central Pittsburgh, Innovators Point, and Trib Total Media. ¶ Married: Mallory Ruecking and Nathan Miller ’08 MBA ’16, June 17, 2017, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Oxford. Many Miami alumni (41) attended and celebrated with a reception in the Armstrong Student Center.
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Hayden Dygert is a data science consultant for IBM in its Columbus office. ¶ McKenna Kaser of Highland Heights, Ky., is associate client lead, university leadership program, customer strategy, and activation consultant at 84.51°, a powerhouse in pioneering customer engagement. McKenna is responsible for helping Kroger and CPGs serve their customers. ¶ Mariel Padilla, a graduate student at Columbia Journalism School,
was featured in Columbia Journalism Review for her contribution to The Cincinnati Enquirer’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. She interned at the Enquirer last summer when the 60-person newsroom chronicled a week in Cincinnati’s heroin crisis. Her assignment was to visit the county jail each morning during the week to sort through hundreds of paper arrest slips and flag opioid mentions. She then created a database for the reporters. Published in September, “Seven Days of Herion” was recognized by the Pulitzer board “for a riveting and insightful narrative and video documenting seven days of greater Cincinnati’s heroin epidemic, revealing how the deadly addiction has ravaged families and communities.” Mariel told CJR, “I technically am a Pulitzer winner, but I am just so humbled by the fact that they put the interns on the byline.” ¶ Grace Vaillancourt, CSA, is associate client lead, university leadership program, customer strategy, and activation consultant for 84.51°, a powerhouse in customer engagement. She works with Kroger and consumer packaged goods companies to solve their questions on 84.51°’s suite of tools. She lives in Cincinnati’s Oakley neighborhood.
See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
Maren Kuspan ’18, an architecture major graduating this May, won second place in the Over-the-Rhine Foundation Infill Design Competition. Maren’s design, shown above, was the only student’s work out of a pool of local and national architectural firms competing to design a building on Vine Street in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine community.
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farewells Marilyn Pollock Groezinger ’48, Sebring, Fla., July 8, 2017.
William L. Bombeck MEd ’54, Carefree, Ariz., Jan. 12, 2018.
Shirley Engster Webster ’57, Warren, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2018.
Alice Wolf Kiel ’48, Coral Gables, Fla., Feb. 5, 2018.
Janet Lee Evans ’54, Waynesville, Ohio, Aug. 26, 2017.
Lund A. Jensen ’58, Venice, Fla., Oct. 31, 2017.
Leona Elef Dunwoodie ’36, Oakwood, Ohio, Dec. 17, 2017.
Patty Colyer Schanke ’48 MEd ’66, Middletown, Ohio, Jan. 19, 2018.
Larry L. Kurber ’54, Stockbridge, Mass., Nov. 12, 2017.
Lewis O. Thompson Jr. ’58, Newburyport, Mass., Sept. 15, 2017.
Allan S. Oram ’36, Pittsburgh, Pa., Dec. 11, 2017.
William T. Stevenson ’48, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 23, 2018.
Paul W. Light ’54, Grand Junction, Colo., Aug. 8, 2017.
Earl E. Erion ’59 MEd ’61, Miamisburg, Ohio, Oct. 29, 2017.
Chauncey M. Beagle ’39, Boulder, Colo., Oct. 7, 2017.
Barbara Easton Weyrich ’48, Scottsdale, Ariz., Nov. 2, 2017.
Frederick L. Phlegar MA ’54, Radford, Va., Jan. 21, 2017.
William D. Manchester ’59, Philadelphia, Pa., March 31, 2017.
Sally Andrus Tunnicliffe ’54, Brentwood, Tenn., Nov. 3, 2017.
Sandra Rains-Pippitt Mueller ’59, Robinson, Ill., March 3, 2018.
1930s Hattie Garner Immel ’32, Germantown, Ohio, Jan. 19, 2018. Sarah Andrews Spitler ’34, Eaton, Ohio, Dec. 27, 2017.
1940s Anita Smith Lehman ’40, Tarpon Springs, Fla., Dec. 28, 2017. Robert A. Haines Sr. ’41, Naples, Fla., Nov. 22, 2017. Elizabeth “Betty” Whitesell Reinhart ’41 MEd ’72, Oxford, Ohio, Feb. 28, 2018. Lucille Stuckey Spetnagel ’42, Lebanon, Tenn., Dec. 28, 2017. Ruthanna Rudolph Wilkinson ’43, West Greenwich, R.I., Nov. 19, 2017. Ada M. Van Ness ’44, Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 26, 2017. Florence Vanausdal Cross ’45, Lewisburg, Ohio, Dec. 10, 2017. John W. “Bill” Delanty ’45, Chapel Hill, N.C., Jan. 11, 2018. Ruth C. Wurtz Walker ’45, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 3, 2018. Charles R. “Ted” Weeks ’45, Lake Forest, Ill., Oct. 13, 2017. Janice Arnholt Wolf ’45, San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 7, 2017. Louise Stager Boli ’46, Greenville, Ohio, Dec. 3, 2017. Ann Leslie Robinson ’46 MEd ’68, Sarasota, Fla., Dec. 15, 2017. Betty Whitney Bryant ’47, Shepherdstown, W.Va., Dec. 31, 2017. Stanley L. Rowland ’47, Ross, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2017. Stephen C. Ruppert ’47, Cleveland, Ohio, Dec. 5, 2017.
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Louann Winters Hess ’49, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 21, 2017. Jack D. Stutz ’49, Pompton Plains, N.J., Oct. 14, 2017. 1950s Phyllis Bradford Loss ’50, Toledo, Ohio, Nov. 18, 2017. Bruce J. Relyea ’50, Fort Worth, Texas, Jan. 9, 2018.
Robert L. Wadleigh ’54, Hamilton, Ohio, Oct. 8, 2017. Ronald P. Willett ’54 MBA ’56, New Bremen, Ohio, Jan. 15, 2018. John D. Zachary ’54, Anaheim, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. Claire Etienne Dierckes ’55, Villa Hills, Ky., Sept. 29, 2017.
Jerry L. Sodders ’50, Altavista, Va., Sept. 18, 2017.
Jerry L. Neff MA ’55 PhD ’73, Beavercreek Township, Ohio, Oct. 15, 2017.
Harold L. Unger ’50, Hilliard, Ohio, Oct. 31, 2017.
Dolores “Dee” Bair Snyder ’55, Youngstown, Ohio, Nov. 27, 2017.
Carl K. “Benny” Benhase ’51, Loveland, Ohio, Feb. 9, 2018.
John R. Baab MEd ’56, Lake Forest, Calif., Dec. 21, 2017.
Thomas H. Dinwiddie ’51, Dayton, Ohio, Jan. 10, 2018.
Carlton W. “Stan” Mackey ’56 MEd ’58, Ennice, N.C., Jan. 19, 2018.
Robert G. Kundmueller ’51, Westlake, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2018. William S. Toth ’51 MEd ’53, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 5, 2017. Carmen L. Cozza ’52 MA ’54, Orange, Conn., Jan. 4, 2018. John R. Ebaugh ’52, Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 22, 2017. Willard P. Fike Jr. ’52, Medford, Ore., Nov. 8, 2017. Jane Longnaker Grigg ’52, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 24, 2017. Ralph H. “Bud” Vance ’52, Richmond, Ind., Nov. 15, 2017. Dominic L. Mancuso ’53, Panama City, Fla., Oct. 23, 2017. Donald F. Prest ’53, Philo, Ohio, Sept. 10, 2017.
Thomas M. “Mike” Randall ’56, Greenville, Ohio, Nov. 20, 2017. Carl F. “Fritz” Baehr ’57, Boulder, Colo., Nov. 27, 2017. Wayne M. Dornbirer II ’57, Baltimore, Md., Sept. 19, 2017. Ned W. Fletcher ’57, Mount Vernon, Ohio, Oct. 2, 2017. Mary Maxson Frame ’57 MEd ’73, Fairborn, Ohio, Jan. 4, 2018. Ann Lopina Geuther ’57, Tampa, Fla., Nov. 11, 2017. Marilyn Rondina Hill ’57, Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 7, 2018. Ralph H. “Moe” Kohring ’57, Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2017. Peggy Jaggers McHenry ’57, Chillicothe, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2017.
1960s Shearl L. Edler MAT ’60, Saint Marys, Ohio, Nov. 20, 2017. John R. “Kip” Fisher III ’60, Cleveland, Ohio, Dec. 27, 2016. Donald E. Hale ’60, Mansfield, Ohio, Dec. 3, 2017. Howard R. “Bob” Tindall ’60, Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2017. Ronald G. Eikenberry MEd ’61, Greenville, Ohio, Jan. 12, 2018. Lillian Ward Parker ’61, Grayling, Mich., Sept. 29, 2017. Alfred E. Pocock ’61, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2017. William E. Heidish ’62, Orlando, Fla., Sept. 30, 2017. Philip S. Letsinger ’62, Raleigh, N.C., Oct. 24, 2017. Roy C. Ostberg ’62, Bloomington, Ill., March 8, 2018. Lynn Urwitz Drew ’63, Chicago, Ill., Nov. 21, 2017. Kathleen Frick Jellison ’63, Oxford, Ohio, March 17, 2018. Barry L. Jones ’63, Greensboro, N.C., Dec. 19, 2017. Kent L. Scott ’64, Madison, Ohio, Nov. 3, 2017. James R. Wickerham ’64 MEd ’66, Phoenix, Ariz., Jan. 19, 2018. Virginia Bond Parman ’65, Wilmington, N.C., Dec. 27, 2017.
farewells
Scott O. Tyler ’65, Hamilton, Ontario, Jan. 8, 2018.
Ray E. Bower ’76 MA ’87 PhD ’92, Laurel, Ind., Jan. 1, 2018.
Lynn Hertrick Leavitt ’87, Charlottesville, Va., Dec. 14, 2017.
Raymond E. Glos Professor of Business, 1973–1998.
Charles F. Freiburger ’66, Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 11, 2017.
Donovan D. “Doug” Jenkins ’76 MEd ’82, Perry, Ohio, Jan. 2, 2018.
John B. “Bart” Odgers Jr. ’88, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 16, 2017.
Gene A. Smith ’66, Mason, Ohio, Dec. 4. 2017.
Pauline Benge Johnson ’76, West Chester, Ohio, Jan. 1, 2018.
Richard H. Fisher, Oxford, Ohio, Jan. 23, 2018. Professor emeritus of systems analysis, 1965–1995.
Glendon W. Markle MM ’67, Middletown, Ohio, Oct. 29, 2017.
Edna Erbaugh Bowers ’77, Eaton, Ohio, Oct. 21, 2017.
1990s Darrith Bishop ’90, Hamilton, Ohio, Nov. 27, 2017.
Gary J. Oldiges ’67, Minster, Ohio, Aug. 29, 2017.
Dan E. Derringer III ’77 MBA ’78, Alexandria, Ohio, Sept. 30, 2017.
Billie J. Hudson ’90, Middletown, Ohio, Sept. 7, 2017.
Michael T. Boyers ’68, LaQuinta, Calif., Jan. 11, 2018.
Tomas C. Kralik ’77, Petersburg, Ohio, Dec. 6, 2017.
David J. Tucker IV ’93, Aurora, Ohio, May 27, 2017.
Marian Hunt Handler ’68, Glenview, Ill., Oct. 22, 2017.
Harold W. “Hal” Augur ’78, Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 28, 2017.
Brent T. Moore ’94, Dayton, Ohio, March 6, 2018.
Daniel R. Herche ’68, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 30, 2017.
Phyllis “P.J.” Hale Berry ’78, Tipp City, Ohio, Jan. 22, 2018.
Deborah King Schneider ’99, Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 23, 2017.
Tim S. Johnson ’68, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 9, 2018.
Gary W. Dehart ’78, Grand Blanc, Mich., Jan. 19, 2018.
Nancy A. Pfirrman ’68 MA ’70, Hamilton, Ohio, Jan. 8, 2018.
Christine “Chris” Buckley Humphreys ’78, West Chester, Ohio, Feb. 6, 2017.
Wayne E. Gresham ’69, Houston, Texas, Oct. 28, 2017. Richard C. Johnson ’69, Hickory Creek, Texas, Nov. 29, 2017. 1970s Linda Chew Gregg ’71, Huron, Ohio, Oct. 6, 2017. Beverly Julian Jackson ’71, Hamilton, Ohio, Dec. 27, 2017. Suzanne K. Randall ’71, Clayton, Ohio, Dec. 2, 2017. Susan McKee Schneider ’72, Gahanna, Ohio, Oct. 20, 2017. Linda Warnock Donahue ’73, Berea, Ohio, March 4, 2017. Robert P. George ’73 MEd ’80, Oxford, Ohio, Dec. 18, 2017. Jeffrey L. Heiser ’74, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 10, 2017. Thomas L. Agne ’75, Delaware, Ohio, Dec. 22, 2017. Samuel F. Pellman ’75, Clinton, N.Y., Nov. 10, 2017. Gerald A. Rouse ’75, Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 11, 2017.
Beth J. Johnson ’78, Ann Arbor, Mich., Dec. 13, 2017. William D. Lake ’78, Chocowinity, N.C., June 26, 2017. Barbara A. McQueen ’78, Ypsilanti, Mich., March, 30, 2017. Diana Pfarr Sanzone ’78, Auburn, Maine, Dec. 1, 2017. Michael A. Rosenberger ’79, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 24, 2017. 1980s Loran J. Cavano ’81, St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 1, 2017. Katherine M. Clifton ’82, Piqua, Ohio, Nov. 11, 2017. Nancy Stephan Hutchinson ’82, Liberty Township, Ohio, Oct. 6, 2017. John T. Burke ’84, Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2018. Thomas L. Heitker ’85 MBA ’87, Villa Hills, Ky., Oct. 7, 2017. Matthew P. Kammerer ’87, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 18, 2017.
2000s Ezra J. Janssen ’01, Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 14, 2017. James M. Orr ’03, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 24, 2017. John A. “Jack” Spalding ’14, Chesterfield, Mo., Sept. 15, 2017. FACULTY, STAFF, AND FRIENDS Cindorella “Cindy” Miller Abell MS ’79, Hillsboro, Ohio, Jan. 16, 2018. Retired, instructor in educational media at Miami Hamilton, 1981–2008. Charles A. Auer, Oxford, Ohio, Jan. 7, 2018. Budget director emeritus, 1969–1988. Roberta W. Crain, Oxford, Ohio, Feb. 26, 2018. Retired from Miami staff in 2008. Karen Dawisha, Oxford, Ohio, April 11, 2018. Professor emerita, Walter E. Havighurst Professor of Political Science and founding director of Miami’s Havighurst Center for Russian and PostSoviet Studies, 2000–2016. John Douglas, Highland Heights, Ohio, Jan. 18, 2018. Professor emeritus of management,
Cheryl L. Heckler ’81, Celina, Ohio, Feb. 18, 2018. Associate professor, media, journalism, and film since 2000. John E. Hingsbergen, Richmond, Ky., Nov. 28, 2017. Program director and host at Miami’s WMUB–FM 2000–2009. Everett L. Jung Hon. ’77, Hamilton, Ohio, Nov. 4, 2017. Former physician for Miami athletic teams, adjunct professor of physical education and health. David D. Mann, Louisville, Ky., Dec. 24, 2017. Professor emeritus of English, 1968–2000. Hayden B. May, Oxford, Ohio, March 17, 2018. Dean emeritus of fine arts, professor of architecture, 1976–2004. John W. Mould ’51, Oxford, Ohio, Oct. 24, 2017. Clinical psychologist at Miami, 1966–1988. Gerald H. Sanders, Oxford, Ohio, Feb. 6, 2018. Professor emeritus of communications, chair of communications, 1981–1992. Odette Hofer Scott WC ’56, Oxford, Ohio, Oct. 13, 2017. Professor emerita of Spanish and Portuguese, 1961–1998. Kenneth D. Shinn, Monroe, Ohio, Jan. 13, 2018. Retired, adjunct professor in mechanical and manufacturing engineering, 1986–2006. Geraldine W. Thacker, Oxford, Ohio, Nov. 9, 2017. Retired from Miami’s King Library. John M. Trump MEd ’56, Oxford, Ohio, Feb. 12, 2018. Professor emeritus of educational leadership, 1965–1994. David M. Walrod Sr., Oxford, Ohio, Dec. 9, 2017. Chief engineer emeritus, WMUB, 1990–2002.
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 Kevin Wilson, Advancement Services Building, Miami University, 926 Chestnut Lane, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or call Kevin at 513-529-3397. More classmates are remembered online at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.
Spring 2018
47
days of old
More than a Game
Fierce competition. The Miami Tribe’s cultural revitalization efforts include traditional games such as peekitahaminki (lacrosse), a Myaamia game that dates back to at least 1667. Today, many Myaamia students enjoy playing it.
48
miamian magazine
Throughout the Miami Tribe’s history, lacrosse — known as peekitahaminki in the Myaamia language — has played an important role within its community, allowing young men and women to engage in strenuous physical competition and vent frustrations in a healthy manner. Peekitahaminki is a ball game played by Myaamia people for sporting and social reasons. Historically, each player carried a wooden stick with a small bent hoop on the end. The hoop had a small pocket constructed of a leather thong or cordage string in which a ball, made from a knot of wood, was carried, thrown, and caught. “The ball is generally referred to as a ‘whistler ball’ — the holes are drilled into it so it whistles as it flies through the air, giving players a chance to duck before getting beaned,” says Meghan Dorey, manager of the Myaamia Heritage Museum & Archive in Miami, Okla. “It’s pretty obvious why we don’t play with these anymore.” Working as a team, players sought to carry or throw the ball to their opponents’ goal post and scored by striking the post with the ball. In the past, the only rule was that players could not touch the ball with their hands. They sincerely hoped their head never touched it. Today, the Myaamia community observes a few additional rules for safety reasons, and players often use contemporary lacrosse sticks manufactured out of metal and plastic. The ball is plastic as well. Peekitahaminki is extremely popular at Myaamia language and cultural programs and at tribal gatherings in the summer. Its communal popularity led many elders to make a dying request that a lacrosse game be held in their memory a year after their death. George Ironstrack MA ’06, assistant director and program director of the education and outreach office at Miami University’s Myaamia Center, says, “Clearly, some individuals thought of the activity as something more than mere sporting entertainment.”
Photo of traditional peekitahaminki (lacrosse) stick and whistler ball courtesy of the Myaamia Heritage Museum & Archive in Miami, Okla.
Springtime in Oxford, when trees and tulips bloom and students shed their winter gear.
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THE FIDO FACTOR See page 14