Miamian - Spring/Summer 2021

miamian The Magazine of Miami University

AGAINST ALL ODDS

E VA N S SC H O LA R MA L AC H I Z E I T N E R ’ 1 6 I S D E T E R M I N E D TO FO C U S O N T H E P O SI T I VE

IN T H IS I SSU E:

Bake It ’Til You Make It 75 Years of Support and Defense Embry’s Inside Game

Spring/Summer 2021

‘ LI V E 4 I T’ Part of a series on children titled “Living 4 Something Worth Dying 4,” these loving sisters were painted in acrylic by Brent Billingsley ’13 on an 18x24" canvas. Brent works in the adolescent mental health unit at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, using art and other creative means to reach troubled youth. He also recently formed his own nonprofit company, ARTE (Art-Empowerment), to focus on connecting communities through the fine and performing arts.

Staff Editor Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 Miamian@MiamiOH.edu 513-529-5957

Vol. 39, No. 2

miamian

Photographers Jeff Sabo Scott Kissell

The Magazine of Miami University

Copy Editor Lucy Baker

STORIES

Design Consultant Lilly Pereira www.aldeia.design University Advancement 513-529-4029 Senior Vice President for University Advancement Tom Herbert herbertw@MiamiOH.edu Alumni Relations 513-529-5957 Executive Director of the Alumni Association Kim Tavares MBA ’12 kim.tavares@MiamiOH.edu

18 Q [Nailed It]

From baking to beauty, Quiyanni Smith ’20, a “serial entrepreneur,” shares her recipe for success.

22 Against All Odds Well-polished entrepreneur (see page 18)

26 75 Years of Service

32 2D Fans in the Stands

Every player and coach enjoys seeing fans cheering them on, but when COVID-19 prevented that, photos of beloved coaches and past players helped fill the seats.

IN EACH ISSUE

MiamiOH.edu/alumni

12 F rom the Hub Strength in Your Character

13 B ack & Forth

To and From the Editor

Honoring Wayne Embry’s legacy (see page 10)

ON THE COVER

Mandy Paris, the main photographer behind Hey Babe Photo in Iowa City, Iowa, took the portrait of Malachi for us. In the middle of crises (like a pandemic), photography gives her peace and connection and helps her focus. She loves community, vulnerability, and capturing intimacy in all its many forms.

Even if he could, Malachi Zeitner ’16 wouldn’t rewrite his childhood. He feels blessed.

Since its arrival on campus at the end of WWII, Miami’s NROTC program has graduated nearly 3,000 to support and defend the U.S., some with their lives.

Office of Development 513-529-1230 Senior Associate Vice President for University Advancement Brad Bundy Hon ’13 brad.bundy@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/Summer 2021

16 A long Slant Walk Campus News Highlights

10 Such a Life

Big Hands, Bigger Heart

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.

12 I nquiry + Innovation Research Shortens Time to Treatment

14 M edia Matters

New Works by Alumni

16 M y Story

The Prof Who Never Gave Up on Me

34 Love & Honor

The ‘Figure-It-Out Guy’

36 Class Notes

Notes, News, Weddings

46 F arewells 48 D ays of Old

Tuffy’s Toasted Roll

Miamian is published two times a year by the University Advancement Division of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056. Copyright © 2021, Miami University. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Contact Miamian at Glos Center, 820 S. Patterson Ave., Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056; 513-529-5957 or toll free 866-MU-ALUMS (866-682-5867); Miamian@MiamiOH.edu.

from the hub

Strength in Your Character

By President Greg Crawford In the spring of his junior year at Miami, Wayne

Embry ’58 got a call from his father. He needed to come home to Springfield, Ohio. As the oldest grandson, he was close to his grandfather, and his grandfather was dying.

Wayne writes in his autobiography, The Inside Game, about how startled he was to see his grandfather so thin and in such pain. He recalled the many conversations they’d shared while going fishing and doing chores together on the family farm.

“My grandpa had warned me there would always be some people who did not like me because of the color of my skin. He would also tell us not to let anyone else’s words or actions keep us from success.

‘Don’t let other people’s problems be yours,’ he would say. ‘Your strength will be in your character. If you work hard and respect people, you will effect change in the way people treat you.’ ” Wayne Embry ’58 has Anyone who knows Wayne knows he heard those words as a challenge, and, as continued to break with every challenge ever put before him, down barriers during Wayne persevered until he succeeded. His example and legacy have opened doors for his more than 60 years generations of Black students and studentin the NBA. athletes, at Miami and across the country.

Wayne was the only Black student in his high school. He told his parents about the taunting and declared after the first week he wasn’t going back. They would have none of that. By his junior year, he was voted most popular.

During his college career, when he played center for the men’s basketball team, he again broke down racial barriers as one of Miami’s first Black student-athletes.

He has continued to break down barriers during his more than 60 years in the NBA, first as a five-time All-Star center with the Cincinnati Royals and then as a world champion player with the Boston Celtics.

You are invited to write to President Greg Crawford When he was named general manager of the at president@MiamiOH.edu.

Milwaukee Bucks, he became the first Black GM in Follow him on Twitter @MiamiOHPres. pro sports. He has said that whenever he doubted

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himself, he’d reflect on the pictures of legendary Miami coaches lining the walls at Withrow — Paul Brown, Ara Parseghian, Weeb Ewbank, and so on.

Now Wayne Embry is the legendary Miamian inspiring others. In recognition of his contributions, we have installed a statue in front of Millett Hall of him performing his signature hook shot — our first statue honoring a Black alumnus.

Off the court, Wayne says, the best thing that happened to him at Miami was meeting his wife, Terri Jackson. He believes Terri was the true activist in their family, never more so than during Dr. King’s march from Selma to Montgomery.

Wayne and Oscar Robertson, his Royals teammate and roommate when playing on the road, were in their hotel room in Philadelphia on March 20, 1964, when the phone rang. Terri was on the other end, telling him that she and her good friend Yvonne, Oscar’s wife, were joining the march to protest that Blacks were being denied the right to vote across the South.

“They had to lie flat under blankets in the back of a truck in order to get to the airport safely,” Wayne Wayne was so proud of Terri recounts. “Both said the when she graduated from experience changed their Miami in 1960. He enjoyed her ceremony as much as his own. lives because they had (COURTESY O F EMBRY FA MILY ) never been exposed to that kind of violence or hatred.”

During the statue’s unveiling, Miami honored Terri and Wayne with its Freedom Summer of ’64 Award for their life’s work as civil rights champions. Sadly, Terri passed away in August. She is greatly missed.

We at Miami are extremely grateful to Wayne and Terri and their pioneering achievements that have inspired such diversity and inclusiveness.

back & forth with Alzheimer’s disease. When Carole’s senior living community locked its doors against COVID19 in March 2020, Gary stayed with her, knowing he would not be allowed to leave. As Carole took her last breath March 3, 2021, the two were holding hands in a mold to create a final memento of their love.

Love without condition What a caring article about Carole (Fiedler) and Gary Goshorn and the course of their lives, especially now as they deal with COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s (“Somewhere My Love,” Fall/Winter 2020 Miamian). Carole and I served as AWS (Associated Women Students) officers during our junior year at Miami. She was as beautiful, kind, and thoughtful then as she is now.

I, too, took social dance as an easy way to gain the required course hours in physical education, and the women always outnumbered the men in the class.

Alas, dementia in any guise is heartbreaking, but it gives those in its grasp unparalleled chances to love without condition. Thank you for sharing Carole and Gary’s story.

—Constance Swank ’73 Tacoma, Washington Editor’s note: Carole ’73 and Gary Goshorn ’73 met as freshmen at a Miami home basketball game.

They fell in love during college, and their devotion grew even stronger throughout Carole’s 15-year journey

Dr. Nault, our Oxford father Dr. Nault was a mentor and friend to thousands in the Miami community. Director, adviser, vice president, and dean — he wore many hats throughout his decades on campus — but for many, he’d best be described as our Oxford father.

Dr. Nault helped us through the formative passage of our college years from adolescence into adulthood, illuminating the way with a light of paternal love.

Dr. Nault served as everyone’s champion, making us each feel that we matter — that “I must matter because I matter to him.”

He offered counsel and comfort when we faced the consequences of our youthful indiscretions, and he enthusiastically celebrated our every success. On any occasion, the constant was his abiding confidence in our ability.

I asked classmate Bobby Dunlap to help me capture in words what our hero meant to us. He told me, “Dr. Nault had the extraordinary ability to make you feel like the best version of yourself, even when you didn’t feel that way about yourself.” That was it.

By the light of his genuine love and compassion, he led us to see ourselves as he chose to see us, and in doing so, he challenged us to become the person he convinced us we could be.

It has been evident in the months since Dr. Nault’s passing, by the stories of his kindness and tributes to his impact, that Dr. Nault’s impression remains strong on the hearts of those fortunate to have known him. His influence compels us to emulate the love he showed us and share it with those we encounter going forward. So long as we do, he will live on in us, in love and honor, forever.

—Bill Pendergast ’07 Chicago, Illinois Editor’s note: As director of the honors program, dean of students, and finally vice president for student affairs, Richard Nault mentored thousands during his 25 years at Miami. He died Oct. 21, 2020, at his home in Oxford.

Plenty to talk about after all Last May, a baker’s dozen of former Morris Hall RAs got together over Zoom to catch up. After 40 years.

For most of us, it was the first contact we had with one another since working as residence hall staff in 1977-1978. People tend to drift apart after graduation, and we just went on with our lives.

Neil Gandal ’80, one of the staffers who now lives in Israel, reached out to me via Facebook and mentioned that it was going to be 40 years since we graduated. Since he and I were the ones who had put together an introductory guide to life at Morris as we started our RA experience, he thought it would be great for us to track down as many of our colleagues as possible and organize a Zoom reunion.

And that’s exactly what we did.

To facilitate the conversation and avoid the obvious, “So, what

Send letters to: Donna Boen Miamian editor Glos Center, 820 S. Patterson Ave., Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 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.

Opinions expressed are those of the letter writers and not Miami University or Miamian magazine.

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back & forth

“ I like being called a ‘senior citizen,’ and in no way consider or believe the use of that term was a ploy to convince older workers to step aside.”

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have you been up to for the past 40 years?”, we asked everyone to provide a blurb about their lives and experiences since our time together in college.

Photos were sent via email, and that information was assembled into an online book and sent to all the participants prior to the call. When the Zoom call began, I wondered if we’d really have much to talk about.

But it was a fun and lively conversation, with a lot of anecdotes and memories. Things went so well that another entertaining call happened in November, with a promise to continue the online get-togethers every six months.

Morris staffers participating included Corky Allen, Gregg Bachmann, Steve Balmat, Rick Copp, Keith Dunbar, Rick Fishman, Neil Gandal, me (Tim Halpin), Richie Holland, Rich Levy, John Magrini, Mark Mossing, and Kurt Schusterman.

—Tim Halpin ’80 St. Louis, Missouri Continue topics of substance The last issue of the magazine was, by far, the best (Fall/Winter 2020 Miamian). I have been an alumna for 53 years and have read each issue with a warm feeling and sense of nostalgia. This issue took me forward — addressing the need for social justice in all institutions, including Miami University.

Thank you for reporting the work that is being done and plans for the future. The current media spotlight may fade. These subjects need ongoing coverage to truly show our lasting commitment.

Please continue to cover topics of substance. Our collective alumni

intellect is not only stimulated, but also encouraged as we learn of actions taken by MU in the name of social justice.

—Carri Salzer Kaufman ’68 Mount Prospect, Illinois Thank you very much for the most recent Miamian. This issue was more interesting to me than past issues because it seemed more reality based and included more stories of people of color.

I was particularly glad to read about the contributions of Carol Anderson ’81 (“Speaking Up”) to the problem of racism our country is currently finally examining.

This Miamian helped me change my perception of Miami for the better and gave me hope that the university is wrestling with the far-reaching inequities of the nation and Miami’s role in perpetuating those.

I hope there will be more communication like this and related issues in the future.

—Barbara Thomas Patterson ’80 Minneapolis, Minnesota Like being a ‘senior citizen’ I read the article “Ageism Resurgence” by Kate de Medeiros (Fall/Winter Miamian) with some degrees of understanding, amusement, and disagreement.

I only mildly disagree with Ms. de Medeiros, having reached that stage of life of being old and considered in some instances “elderly.”

To put things in context, I was born and raised in Southern Ohio and graduated from Miami University in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and from the University of Cincinnati in 1953 with a Juris Doctor degree. I spent

some time in the United States Air Force during the Korean conflict and the balance of my professional life as a lawyer representing various industrial organizations.

During all that time, I had occasion to travel through a considerable portion of the world and deal with people of many countries, education, and ethnicity. I just turned 91 a few days ago and don’t ever recall being called aged, old, or a senior citizen. I do, however, recall being told on several occasions that I didn’t sound my age.

I like being called a “senior citizen,” and in no way consider or believe the use of that term was a ploy to convince older workers to step aside to make room for younger ones; rather, I found that the term was used in recognition of valued experience and ability acquired over time.

I recognize that the human body experiences change over time and, in some cases, does become frail, weak, or less able to conduct ourselves in physical and mental way as we once did, but I don’t think it is necessary to use any age range that has verifiable connections to risk versus vague and potentially demeaning labels as suggested by Ms. de Medeiros.

Thanks to Ms. de Medeiros for looking out for us “old geezers.”

—William C. Stewart Jr. ’51 La Mesa, California 78 going on 19 Being an alumnus “of a certain age,” I took special interest in Professor Kate de Medeiros’ informative article “Ageism Resurgence.”

It reminded me of a little fun I had with a nurse practitioner at the Wade Park Veterans

back & forth

Administration Hospital in Cleveland in January. I had received a robocall the day before from the hospital that mentioned I am in an “at-risk” group, and left a number for me to call for an appointment for my first COVID-19 vaccination, if I wanted one.

Meeting with the nurse the next day, I said to her, “I got a robocall yesterday that said I was in an ‘at-risk group’ but the call didn’t say which group I’m in.”

She said, “How old are you?”

I said, “Well, my right rotator cuff is 78, but the rest of me is 19.”

She laughed and, with needle poised, said, “This is for the rotator cuff.”

—Lou Pumphrey ’64 Shaker Heights, Ohio Ageism article strained In her article, Ms. de Medeiros made a reference to people being eligible for Social Security at age 65. Currently, people like me (age 65) are eligible for Social Security at age 66 and 3 months if they are still working, or can elect to receive a discounted amount of Social Security at age 62 if they are no longer working. Individuals are eligible for Medicare at 65, but age 65 is no longer a point of eligibility for Social Security.

In general, I found Kate de Medeiros’ article on ageism to be strained. My personal experience differs from her perspective. I don’t find any difficulty in society with being an older person, and I have not observed any prejudice toward my parents, who are still alive. I enjoy Miamian very much. Keep up the good work.

—John Hills Sylvania, Ohio

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

A Chuckle or Two You know how you have a favorite story you could hear over and over

again? Dick Nault told me one that I’ve repeated for years, never half as good as he did, of course.

Dick profoundly touched many lives during his 25 years at Miami, first as director of the honors program and then as dean of students.

When he became vice president for student affairs, we chatted in his Warfield office, and I asked him to share a fond memory.

“I would read honors students’ names at commencement. They would come up and hand me a card with their name on it. One year, a group of honors students … extraordinarily powerful, effective students, wonderful students … they all took their cards the night before and retyped them. The first one handed me a card that said Richard L. Nault. Then the second one handed me Richard L. Nault Jr. “Well, the first two — one student is now a rabbi and one student very successful in Chicago — they were hell-raisers, so I knew that they would do something. I actually took their cards, laid them down, and said their names with great aplomb. The third student, who was going on to divinity school, he handed me the card that said Richard L. Nault III, and I said, ‘This is going to be a long morning.’

“I knew the first name and the last name. I had to make up the middle names. I just knew that there was some mother going, ‘Aloysius?’

“It was hysterical. They had worked it out so it was Richard L. Nault XIV, Richard L. Nault XV, and I’m getting increasingly panicked, you know, hoping I’ll remember their names.”

We won’t forget your name, Dick, and all you did for us.

Another beloved member of the Miami family who died April 21, 2021, at age 96, Ron Kern MA ’49 regaled me with his theatre students’ antics for a 2009 article. Ron taught and directed plays from 1952-1968, first in Old Harrison and then in Fisher Hall.

“When we did Harvey (that’s the one about the invisible 6-foot rabbit), the publicity gal decided they were going to take stencils and white paint, and they were going to make rabbit feet going up to Mac ’n’ Joe’s. They also put a little on the bells of Beta, on the tower.”

When his department chair, Harry Williams, called him at home early the next morning and told him to come in, Ron simply responded, “Uh-oh.”

Ron and his six students got buckets, mops, and brushes, and started scrubbing. “The rabbit feet were all the way down Slant Walk, all the way to Upham’s Arch. The kids were always enterprising.”

They still are. And that’s a good thing. —Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96

Dick Nault (above) and Ron Kern (below) told wonderful stories. They could make a statue giggle.

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College@Elm a New Model The heart of College@ Elm, Miami’s former food service building on Elm Street will be a catalyst for economic growth, transforming part of Oxford’s uptown into a hightech innovation and creativity corridor, says Miami President Greg Crawford. The project received a $1 million jump-start from Ohio’s 2021-2022 state capital budget.

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Miami University and the city of Oxford are work-

ing together to revitalize a three-block business area uptown that includes a university-owned building constructed in 1933 as Miami’s food service operation. It has sat empty for 19 years.

The university and city are setting their sights on renovating the 39,000-square-foot building at the corner of College and Elm, across the street on the west side of the Oxford Community Arts Center, formerly known as Oxford College.

Under the plan, the building will be transformed into the College@Elm Innovation & Workforce Development Center and will serve as an incubator for startups, workforce development, innovation, and manufacturing.

It will have two anchor tenants — Miami, operating an entrepreneurship training and

incubator center, and the Fischer Group, a Butler County manufacturer operating a business expansion that the company is calling an “innovation extension.”

Many rural communities across Ohio and the Midwest are facing the same challenges as Oxford — empty storefronts and the struggle to attract new businesses, and with them, year-round residents, Miami President Greg Crawford said.

“The vision is that the College@Elm will become a model of revitalization for thousands of similar small, rural communities across the country that find it difficult to compete in this globalized, fast-paced world,” he said.

“This joint effort demonstrates how to think big, act bold, and leverage local, state, and federal resources.”

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Commencement In Person Again

I’M GLAD YOU ASKED

1974 Western College graduate Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins featured speaker

We asked members of the Class of 2020 and 2021 who graduated in May:

What will you recall about college during COVID-19?

Spring 2021 commencement returned to

in-person ceremonies in Yager Stadium.

As a precaution due to the pandemic, the traditional single ceremony was broken into nine smaller, divisional ceremonies throughout the May 14-16 weekend for the Class of 2021.

Hundreds from the Class of 2020 also returned to campus for their own in-person ceremony May 13 to experience what they missed last year when concerns about COVID-19 resulted in theirs becoming a virtual event.

Each divisional ceremony incorporated remarks from the main speaker, Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, and Miami President Greg Crawford.

Jefferson-Jenkins is a 1974 Western College for Women graduate and an adjunct assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the 15th national president of the League of Women Voters, serving two terms and chairing its education fund. She was the first woman of color to be elected president of the organization.

Under her leadership, the league helped pass the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which closed the most significant loopholes in campaign finance regulation at the time. She also led a

I now truly understand the value of community and connecting with people because of how disconnected I was.

— Jannie Kamara ’21, Miami’s 2020-2021 student body president, a Black world studies and diversity in leadership major, from Columbus, Ohio

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins receiving Miami’s Freedom Summer of ’64 Award, which honors the 800 trained at Western College, now part of Miami, to register Black voters in the South.

charge to focus on local elections while increasing the number of voters who participated in all elections.

“While we don’t know what the future holds, we know that this class is made for this moment — their passion, their perseverance, their adaptability,” she said. “We know they will make the world better, and their Miami education and experience has prepared them for that.”

“ We’ve got to have a system, in Wall Street, in the media, in politics, and in science, where the badge goes to the truth-teller.”

When you’re surrounded by good people, the hard and scary times feel a little less daunting.

— Alice Marshall ’21, professional writing major, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Feeling devastated when I found out my commencement was canceled. I have worked so hard for that walk across the stage. Good news is I finally walked May 13, 2021!

— Kelly Herrmann Donathan ’20, computer information technology major, Cedar Grove, Ind.

— Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, speaking on “How We Got Here: The State of the American Presidency” Feb. 15 as part of Miami’s 2020-2021 Lecture Series

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NOTEWORTHY

Elizabeth ‘Like’ Lokon MAT ’93 PhD ’97 MGS ’08 of Miami’s Scripps Gerontology Center, will take her Opening Minds through Art program to Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia for the academic year 2021-2022 through the Fulbright Scholars program. Her project is titled “Using Art to Teach Intergenerational Service Learning for People Living with Dementia.”

Daryl Baldwin, Myaamia Center executive director and a leader in Native American language and cultural revitalization, has been nominated by President Joe Biden to the National Council on the Humanities, which advises the National Endowment for the Humanities chairman.

A citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Baldwin is an adjunct assistant professor in educational leadership and also serves as co-director of the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, based in the Myaamia Center on Miami University’s Oxford campus.

The Ohio Department of Higher Education has awarded Miami nearly $600,000 to help improve Ohio’s workforce development capacity by supporting in-state students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

With the new Choose Ohio First grant, Miami’s College of Engineering and Computing will recruit and support more than a dozen Ohio students per year studying robotics, manufacturing, or automation. .

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RISING RANKS

10th 37th

In Undergraduate Engineering Program among National Public Universities, U.S. New & World Report

among top 40 of nation’s “Best Value Public Colleges,” as ranked

by Princeton Review, April 20, 2021

Stellar Professors Tammy Kernodle, professor of musicology, and David Berg, professor of

both biology and biological sciences, each have been awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor by Miami’s board of trustees.

“She has a stellar reputation in the field of musicology,” a nominator wrote of Kernodle, also affiliate faculty of American studies, Black world studies, and women, gender, and sexuality studies. “But more than that, she is widely admired as a person of great integrity and

caring who seeks to make higher education a more welcoming place for all.”

Berg researches the evolution and conservation of biodiversity, focusing on endangered freshwater mussels.

“What I find particularly extraordinary when reviewing Dr. Berg’s career,” an external nominator said, “is his ability to manage a first-class research program, mentor graduate and undergraduate students, and serve the university and the wider community,” given his heavy teaching load at the Regionals.

What we always suspected was confirmed in April. Miami is indeed somewhere over the rainbow.

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Works of Art: From letterpress printing and pastel on paper to photography, oils on canvas, and digitally printed fabric, 64 pieces of art created

by Miami faculty and alumni from the past 50 years will be on exhibit at the Miami University Art Museum fall semester from Aug. 24-Dec. 11, 2021. It includes the above photo, “After School, Christin 2,” taken by Jon Yamashiro, associate professor of photography. The exhibition is a collaboration between Miami’s art museum and art department and occurs every four years. The alumni were elected by current and emeriti faculty and invited to participate. This juried show features art by 14 current faculty, three emeriti faculty, and 38 alumni.

Miami Online’s 2 New Programs The university is rolling out two new

online master’s programs to meet the growing demand of working professionals and recent graduates for rigorous but flexible graduate degree and certificate programs.

The master’s in entrepreneurship and emerging technology and master’s of science in management bolster the offerings of Miami Online (miamioh.edu/ online), a new website housing online undergraduate, graduate, and professional educational opportunities.

Both degrees can be completed in as few as 10 months.

“Through strong and innovative academic curricula and with our worldclass faculty, Miami Online provides access to the same high-quality academic experience traditional students have come to expect from Miami University — even when they may not be able to be physically present on campus,” Provost Jason Osborne said. “We have developed exceptional programs that equip our students to make an impact in the world.”

RETURN TO IN-PERSON CLASSES Miami will return to primarily in-person classes and operations by this fall. For Oxford undergraduates, that means most of their instruction will be face to face. While there might be some remote components of classes, the university does not plan to offer a fully remote option.

Regional campus students will have access to a full complement of in-person classes and activities and will continue to have access to Miami’s nationally ranked online bachelor’s degree programs.

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Sculptor Tom Tsuchiya crafts the Wayne Embry ’58 statue now gracing the main entrance to Millett Hall.

PH OTO BY CH UCK D UNN

such a life

BIG HANDS, BIGGER HEART While still in high school, Wayne Embry ’58 earned the nickname Goose because even then, his hands were so large he could palm a basketball, just like his favorite Harlem Globetrotter Goose Tatum. The hook shot became his trademark, whether playing varsity at Miami or pro with the Cincinnati Royals (five-time All-Star), the Boston Celtics (NBA champion), or the Milwaukee Bucks.

When he became the Bucks’ first Black general manager, he also became the first Black GM in pro sports. When he became the Cleveland Cavaliers team president and chief operating officer, that was another first for Blacks in those roles. He is currently senior basketball adviser to the president of the Toronto Raptors. To recognize Embry’s contributions, his family, friends, and fans gathered outside the main entrance to Millett Hall, home of Miami basketball, on May 18 to unveil a statue capturing his likeness and signature hook shot. At the same ceremony, Wayne and his late wife, Terri ’60, known for her bold activism, were recognized with the university’s Freedom Summer of ’64 Award for advancing civil rights and social justice.

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inquiry + innovation

Research Shortens Time to Treatment

By Carole Johnson

Researchers at Miami University have been awarded two grants totaling $2.5 million from PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. to expedite progress toward clinical trials of a portfolio of neuropsychiatric drugs focused on mental health issues.

Research conducted

by Assistant Professor J. Andrew Jones and students in his lab has piqued the interest of researchers at PsyBio, which is in the business of pioneering the next generation of psychoactive compounds for mental health treatment.

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Last year, PsyBio and Miami joined forces to develop and test a new class of molecules to treat mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance dependency.

In May 2020, the company awarded an initial $1 million grant to J. Andrew Jones in Miami’s department of chemical, paper, and biomedical engineering, and Matthew McMurray in Miami’s department of psychology.

The original grant served as startup funding to further expand on technology developed by Jones and a team of students in 2019 that enables the biosynthesis of psilocybin and other psychoactive molecules that occur naturally in certain plants and fungi.

Through metabolic engineering, Jones and his student assistants discovered a rapid way to produce psilocybin, a psychedelic drug found in mushrooms that shows great promise for treating depression and addiction. Currently, mass producing psilocybin requires extensive real estate and time. Alternative synthetic chemical production methods are expensive.

Determined to find a solution that maintains biological integrity and reduces production costs, Jones and his team developed a series of experiments to identify optimal psilocybin production conditions. Their work involved taking DNA from the mushroom and putting it in E. coli.

Their result was a significant step toward demonstrating the feasibility of producing the drug economically from a biological source.

As Jones explains it, “It’s similar to the way you make beer, through a fermentation process. We are effectively taking the technology that allows for scale and speed of production and applying it to our psilocybin-producing E. coli.”

Rewiring the brain

Their work piqued the interest of researchers at PsyBio, which is in the business of pioneering the next generation of psychoactive compounds for mental health treatment.

The compounds, called tryptamines, are being studied to reverse the course of disease by rewiring the brain through contemplation and a change of perception. Many tryptamines are also known for their hallucinogenic properties and have been receiving international recognition for their therapeutic potential. These compounds act on and increase the synaptic and neurotransmitter activity in the brain that is responsible for stimulating the reward system.

Through novel application of pathway optimization techniques and metabolic engineering principles, Jones and his team discovered a way to sustainably produce

inquiry + innovation

“This ground-breaking research and the collaboration with PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. illustrates Miami’s entrepreneurial makeup and showcases the ingenuity of our faculty and the brilliance of our students,” said Miami President Greg Crawford.

Jones, assistant professor and chairman of PsyBio’s Scientific Advisory Board, added, “We are extraordinarily fortunate to have the resources and relationships at Miami University to attract institutional investment capital that is interested in advancing a paradigm shift in the treatment of mental health.”

Preparing for human trials

these promising drug candidates by genetically engineered E. coli bacteria.

“The initial collaboration between PsyBio and Miami University has resulted in the discovery and scaled production of two medically relevant tryptamine molecules that are naturally present in psychoactive magic mushrooms, psilocybin, and norbaeocystin,” said CEO Evan Levine, chairman of PsyBio, based in Coconut Creek, Fla. He added that “the compounds have been efficiently synthesized and further studied in our laboratories and have now moved out of our labs into venerated commercial development facilities.”

In April of this year, the biotechnology company announced it was updating its research agreement. Under this expanded agreement, the Jones laboratory, which will continue to include research efforts from McMurray’s laboratory, plans to develop elite microbes capable of efficient production of a range of medically relevant alkaloids, or organic compounds. The amended agreement includes the additional $1.5 million to Miami until October 2023.

Jones and McMurray, whose research focuses on pharmacology and neuroscience, will advance candidate molecules from initial drug discovery to animal efficacy studies, faster, cheaper, and greener with this financial support from PsyBio. Such studies are necessary before any new drugs can be advanced to clinical trials.

“Our work with the McMurray Lab and PsyBio enables my lab’s discoveries to rapidly advance from discovery to in vivo validation and industrial application, ultimately shortening the time between discovery and treatment of patients,” Jones said.

McMurray brings his expertise in cognitive neuroscience and pharmacology to the project.

“I also bring my extensive experience in animal models of mental health disorders, to incorporate broadscale animal studies in combination with Dr. Jones’ biosynthetic production platform,” said McMurray, assistant professor and also a member of PsyBio’s Scientific Advisory Board.

McMurray’s lab plans to conduct animal behavioral studies to verify the antidepressant, anxiolytic, antiaddictive effects of the alkaloids produced in the Jones lab, using both adult and adolescent animal models of disease.

These studies, performed at Miami, will screen leading drug candidates in preparation for human trials.

Preliminary studies have already detected evidence of an unexpected synergy between psilocybin and norbaeocystin, and the company has advanced both drug candidates to commercial process development.

Compounds called tryptamines are being studied to reverse the course of disease by rewiring the brain through contemplation and a change of perception.

Carole Johnson is the associate director for Miami’s university news and communications.

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media matters

Bonds of Loyalty and Love Powerful family stories lead to a desire to trace the past “The underlying narrative of Bonds of Destiny is timeless and reflects a universal truth integral to human consciousness — the need to bond and the desire to connect with people,” says author Rajesh Varma MBA ’86 (pictured kneeling above).

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Like children everywhere, Rajesh Varma MBA ’86 loved

listening to bedtime stories when he was young, especially since his father, Bhushan, skipped the fairy tales and instead regaled his son with an ongoing narrative.

These were his father’s true adventures as an officer in the British Army of colonial India during World War II. Always nearby was his loyal orderly, Shingara Singh, who in defending Bhushan’s honor, was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit.

Rajesh came to the U.S. in 1984 to attend Miami.

He went on to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers, PepsiCo, Disney, and Nestlé.

Well into his adulthood, long after he’d left his childhood home of Batala in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab, he felt haunted by his father’s stories. He began to write them down in a spiral notebook.

“By the time I started putting together Bonds of

Destiny in the early 1990s, it was too late for me to go back to my father and ask for more details, to beg him to share with me just one more story.”

In his search for answers as to what happened to the orderly and his family, Rajesh had enough details to follow a trail to the orderly’s family in the village of Ghasitpura. As everyone grew closer, Singh’s family completed the story that Rajesh’s father had started decades before.

Years after his first visit, Rajesh returned to India with his own son and daughter, Abhinav and Meera, to get to know Singh’s family and hear their stories.

“The bond of destiny has been ceremoniously passed over to the next generation, just as my father had passed it on to me,” he said.

Rajesh lives in Burbank, California, with his wife, Arti, an elementary school teacher.

media matters

Lessons from the 100-Yard Classroom Joe Galat ’62 Independently published Former player and current coach, Joe Galat takes the skills taught on the football field and transforms them into values. In a world of social media and social anxiety, self-discipline, character, and teamwork are vital to succeed.

The Close Encounters of Freddie Fly and Sydney Spider Bob Hart ’63 Outskirts Press For ages 2-6, the story, told through a fly and a spider, describes one individual serious about his purpose and the other who uses his talents frivolously.

Shifting Gears: 50 Baby Boomers Share Their Meaningful Journeys in Retirement Richard Haiduck ’69 Bublish From interviews, retirees’ stories reveal the rich abundance of retirement ventures, from the exotic to the mundane.

Discover their joys, challenges, and inspirations that are part of their journey in this next stage of life.

Sometimes they shift smoothly, sometimes they grind the gears.

Art Start: Fundamentals of the Studio Dennis Lick ’69 Kendall Hunt For students in the visual arts, this book offers useful guidelines for effective art making.

Foundation topics of composition, color, pictorial illusion, formalism, and sculptural space introduce a broad range of conceptual and technical skills needed in the studio.

The Meat and Potatoes of Life Lisa Smith Molinari ’88 Elva Resa Publishing Lisa Smith Molinari went on to law school before marrying a Navy man and moving 11 times with their three children. She has published a humorous memoir about finding meaning in the minutia of modern family life.

Honor House Mark Massé ’74 Independently published Journalist Nick Delamore tries to revive his career by pursuing crimes at a local college. But his ultimate redemption will hinge on derailing the Ohio gubernatorial campaign of former frat brother Bruce Van Pelt.

Hidden History of Dayton, Ohio Tony Kroeger ’03 The History Press One of Dayton’s founders was involved in a conspiracy ring led by disgraced former vice president Aaron Burr.

Innocuous warehouses in a residential neighborhood served as labs for the atomic bomb’s triggering mechanism.

Tony Kroeger unveils the history that give the Wright brothers’ hometown its character.

She Flies Becky Pritchett Condon ’78 Outskirts Press What is it like to be a woman in a man’s world?

Discrimination?

Sure. Harassment?

Certainly.

Adventures?

You bet. Exciting job? Absolutely. Meet and befriend people with fascinating stories?

Yes, indeed. Take the good with the bad? It’s the only way to fly.

In Jesus Name I Played Jeffrey Lisath ’09 Independently Published In this true story, a 7th-grader searching for answers commits his life to God and demonstrates an unrelenting faith that helps him, when odds are against him, to achieve his dream of winning a state championship and playing basketball at Miami in the 1980s.

Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World Wil Haygood ’76 Knopf

Author of The Butler and Showdown, Wil examines 100 years of Black movies using the struggles and triumphs of the artists, and the films theselves, as a prism to explore Black culture and the civil rights movement.

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my story

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,” Glos Center, 820 S. Patterson Ave., 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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The Prof Who Never Gave Up on Me

By Eric Sandstrom ’73 MA ’80

Two of the best things that ever happened to me happened at Miami University. This was a half century ago when Three Dog Night was groovy, Vietnam was a nightmare, 3.2 beer wasn’t half bad, Dennison Hall was a zoo (but my zoo), and the key to happiness would be a girlfriend willing to put up with me. Had I, a directionless student, never bumped into two people on Miami’s campus, my life would not have turned out to be this wonderful adventure. If that sounds corny, so be it.

my story

One of those special people was another Miami student named Monica Cochick. In fall 1972, we met as seniors through mutual friends. One thing led to another, as they say. She became my wife and an extraordinary mother of our two kids. That description fails to do her justice.

She’s my soulmate. Period.

During 45 years of marriage, Monica has put up with me in bad times and good. A syrupy novel from the ’70s bestseller list comes to mind. Love Story, later a syrupy movie, features a character who famously says, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Nonsense.

Monica and I never were afraid to apologize to each other. On the contrary, “I’m sorry” has helped to keep us together.

The other special person who changed my life was a middle-aged English professor. He sported tweed jackets, bow ties, and a raspy voice. His mantra — You’ll never get rich but writing can free your soul — became my mantra.

Milton White was his name. We met in his Upham Hall classroom during spring semester 1970. He sat in front of his desk, not behind it, presumably to be closer to his creative writing students, smiling at us while adjusting his bow tie.

“If you think you’re the next John Steinbeck, you’re wasting your time in my class,” he said on that first day, a warning to be repeated ad nauseum in semesters to come.

It soon became clear the guy had street cred. He’d published a few “small” novels, graduated from Columbia, hung out with writers in New York City, summered in Venice, and famously indulged in a glass or three of Johnny Walker Red at campus writers’ conferences.

His cautionary advice stuck with me. Anybody with aspirations of writing the Great American Novel would be better off scaling Mount Everest, selling life insurance, anything.

His reverse psychology worked. My off-ramp to better days would be paved with stories yet to be written.

So I became the lone reporter for a weekly newspaper in Nebraska. It proved to be the humbling experience upon which a young writer could build a career. My first story reported in mind-numbing detail the the annual sugar beet harvest in Nebraska, and it made the front page. It was followed by news of barn fires, city hall shenanigans, winter storms, and cattle futures.

Eventually, I moved on to bigger newspapers. A few stories won awards, though no Pulitzers. By the time I became a college professor, Milton White had died but not in my thoughts. I tried to emulate him in my classes, even sat in front of my desk to be closer to my students.

He had stuck by me when things looked bleakest.

Here’s an excerpt from one of his letters, written when I, years after graduation, was just a lowly gas station attendant and construction site laborer: “Sorry life is catching up with you. I never promised you a rose garden. … Find someone to love who loves you. Play it all by ear. But be happy.”

His own novels operated on quiet plots and sad moments. Reading his words now brings a lump to my throat.

For those of us students fortunate enough to sit in his classroom during the 1960s and ’70s (he died in 1996), Milton White demanded authentic characters in our weekly stories and brutal honesty in our critiques of those stories.

He would ask, “Does it ping for you?” Ping meant knock your socks off. If your story pinged, you felt rich.

If it didn’t, there was always next week’s story that just might ping.

He had an annoying habit of chuckling whenever somebody said something foolish. It was his diplomatic way of saying, “You must be kidding.”

Stopping by his office one afternoon, I found him punching typewriter keys like Elton John on a Steinway. “What can I do for you, Sandstrom?” I’d come to argue that Erich Segal’s Love Story wasn’t as bad as he, Milton White, had said in our class. That famous chuckle erupted.

“Don’t you know schlock when you see it, Sandstrom?”

Another time, during my sophomore year, I mentioned my interest in transferring to a bigger school “to expand my horizons.” He listened and said, “Bloom where you’re planted, Sandstrom.”

So I stayed put. By the way, he called everybody by the last name, including young women, a gruffness belying his true nature. He was a softy at heart, and we all loved him. I certainly did without ever letting him know how much. I deeply regret that.

Long after they’re gone, truly great people never leave us. I gaze at my old bookshelf tonight where Milton White’s three novels gather dust. My heart nearly breaks.

P I NG

Milton White would say, “Does it ping for you?” Ping meant knock your socks off.

If your story pinged, you felt rich.

Eric Sandstrom ’73 MA ’80 is a freelance writer in Fraser, Colorad0. In the photo, Monica ’73 and he are at Colorado National Monument, where Eric worked summers as a park ranger.

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Q *

From baking to beauty, rising entrepreneur Quiyanni Smith ’20 shares her recipe for success

STO RY BY

DONNA BOEN ’ 83 MTSC ’ 96 PHOTOS BY

J EFF SABO

[Nailed It]

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hile other youngsters wanted to play with Barbies and four-wheelers, Quiyanni Smith ’20 wanted to sell candy and cookies. ¶ She remembers walking to the corner store with her friends at age 9 or 10 and buying sunflower seeds. They’d intended to eat them until Quiyanni had an idea. ¶ “We could plant them in the ground and grow more sunflowers with more seeds,” she told them. ¶ That was the start of her career as an entrepreneur. And like many bold entrepreneurs, she watched her initial idea wilt. Well, not wilt, exactly. Just take too long to grow, so she quickly moved on to her next business plan, a much more successful venture.

She and her friends returned to the corner store and bought 25-cent bags of candy and chips. But while her friends ate their chips, she sold hers for a slight profit to the kids outside playing basketball.

She was puzzled why they’d paid her inflated price when the store in her East Cleveland neighborhood was right down the street, but they did, and she gladly accepted.

LET THEM EAT CAKE Not one to let grass, or sunflowers, for that matter, grow under her feet, Quiyanni, at age 14, joined a cousin and two friends in founding Cakies. Their plan was to bake and sell cakes and cookies to their school buddies.

After some management shakeup, the two friends left. Quiyanni — everybody calls her Yanni — and her cousin remained and worked well together. Except for that time when they were baking in her aunt’s kitchen and the oven blew up. Unfortunately for them, they ended up having to buy her cousin’s mom a new stove, which really ate into their meager profits.

Eager to succeed, she and her cousin didn’t pay themselves that first year. They put every cent back into the business. When her cousin decided to focus on vegan creations, Yanni reworked her business plan and became the founder, CEO, and sole operator of Cakies Custom Creationz, a home bakery featuring fresh desserts that she made from scratch.

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“My community didn’t have a quality bakery with reasonable prices that also could deliver and cater for large events,” Yanni said, so she decided to fill the need … and the cupcakes.

By her junior year in high school, she was receiving orders for 800 cookies of various flavors and 500 cupcakes for each of the two middle school’s graduation ceremonies.

“I did it all in my mom’s kitchen. I used to drive her crazy. She’d leave the house, saying, ‘I will see you tomorrow or the next day when you’re done.’ ” Fortunately, Yanni lived in a fairly big, two-family house, and her grandma occupied the downstairs. Once she loaded the table upstairs with chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, she’d head downstairs and cover her grandma’s counters with the red velvet and strawberry.

WHAT SPARE TIME? As if going to high school and baking late into the night didn’t gobble up enough of her time, Yanni also captained the varsity basketball team and earned money as a lifeguard and an employee at Panera. Plus, she helped start a smoothie shack at school.

No wonder she calls herself a “courageous serial entrepreneur.”

The weekend usually began with her playing basketball Friday evening. Once the game was over, she would return home and

bake all night until 5 in the morning, then sell her products at a local farmers market from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday wasn’t a day for sleeping in either, as she had to be at Panera by 6:30 a.m.

However, like the true entrepreneur she is, Yanni felt the need in 2016 to add to her to-do list and start Cakies Cares, a mentoring program for inner-city youth.

“The idea came one snowy morning when I saw a young boy walking alone to school with his supplies in a ripped grocery bag.”

She began to wonder what she could do to help kids like him. Through Cakies Cares, she used baking to connect with kids and teach them how to start their own businesses.

The free program, which she led while at Miami, ran Monday through Thursday, from the end of school in May to the beginning of school in August.

LIFE NOT ALL SWEET TREATS With everything else going on, Yanni still earned a 3.9 GPA in high school and a full scholarship to Miami.

This should have been the best of times for her, but her mom was in a bad motorcycle accident, breaking her pelvis in two places and her hand, and gravely injuring her face.

She was in the hospital for three months and in a rehab facility for another four. Yanni spent a great deal of time and worry helping to care for her.

On top of that, Yanni would be the first in her family to go to college. She was feeling the pressure and had lots of questions but few people to go to for advice.

When she entered college, she determined that she needed to succeed no matter what.

In talking about the challenges, Yanni would say only that she faced “some racial things,” preferring not to go into detail. Family issues also continued to distract her, but she persevered and graduated last year with a major in education studies.

“I needed to do this because I need to be sure my family is always going to be taken care of,” she said.

Her mother eventually recovered and even went to college herself, as did her dad. She remembers them all studying at the same time for their midterms and finals. She also

made good friends at Miami, joined a sorority, and worked as an RA in Ogden Hall.

Still, attending college cost her more than a few childhood friendships.

“Even when I would come back to visit, it was like some of my friends stuck at home had started to think that I thought I was better than them because I was in college now.

I lost a lot of friends, a lot of family because they thought I was ‘bougie’ now. That’s hard when you’re trying to better yourself.”

Quiyanni Smith ’20 at her childhood home in Cleveland.

“ It’s become my second nature to own a business. If I’m not working on my next big business idea, something is wrong with me.”

INTO THE FUTURE As with many college students who graduated during the pandemic, Yanni returned to her safe place, her parents’ home, to consider her options and her future.

She still runs Cakies part time, and she intends to reinvigorate her nonprofit. She also has been scouting storefronts in the Cleveland Heights area to hold her businesses and Cakies Cares. She would love to find enough space so that her mentees could join her with their own startups.

Business law studies may also happen at some point. However, her first baby is due in late August, so the idea of attending law school is on pause at the moment.

That doesn’t mean she’s not busy. Her current full-time business — because she’d be lost without one — involves hair and nails.

She runs her own esthetician salon in her parents’ house. Although that may sound like an odd next endeavor for her, it really isn’t. Yanni said many at Miami knew her as “the girl who does nails at Armstrong.”

That’s because the barber shop in Armstrong Student Center partnered with her college business, Q Nailed It. Most of her young life, others have been telling her that she is taking on too much.

They’ve repeatedly advised her to focus on one project at at time.

Her response? “I was never that person who would do one thing and just stick with it.

I was going to try everything out, and then I would figure out what I like to do. It’s become my second nature to own a business. If I’m not working on my next big business idea, something is wrong with me.”

Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 is editor of Miamian

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AGAINST ALL ODDS Evans Scholar Malachi Zeitner ’16 is determined to focus on the positive

S TORY BY

D O NNA BOE N ’83 MTS C ’96 P ORTRAIT BY

MA NDY PA RI S

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Weary after a hectic week of 12-hour days, Malachi Zeitner ’16 is glad to be heading home for a Friday evening with his wife. They’re going to grill a steak, fix a salad, and enjoy a rare leisurely dinner together.

He doesn’t even make it out of the hospital before he’s called to emergency. This is his life at the moment. He’s in a yearlong general practice dental residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals, having graduated from Iowa’s dental school last year.

Yes, he is tired, but he’s not complaining. To coin a phrase, minus the irony and sarcasm, he is living the dream, which is truly amazing once you know his story.

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Malachi has talked about becoming a dentist since he was 13. He heard somewhere that dentists donate more free services than any other health-care provider, and he wants to be part of that.

He remembers how old he was because it was around the time his dad, Brandon Zeitner, died. He misses his dad. They became quite good friends in the three years they lived together.

But that’s skipping ahead.

Born in Southern California, he only recalls bits and pieces from the time he lived with his mom — moving around almost constantly from one friend’s house to another. They were homeless, but that didn’t mean much to him. After all, he’d never known what it was like to have a bedroom, or a home, for that matter.

“I’d hear we’re going to someone else’s house, and I’d say, ‘Oh, good. They have the best couch.’ You don’t know any different.”

When his mom got into problems with drugs, they moved yet again to be near family. Shortly after, she violated probation and was arrested for child abuse. It may have been child endangerment. Malachi doesn’t know the specifics.

“I was pretty young, but I believe she had been drinking, and me and my sister were in the car. We were in the trunk, and she got pulled over,” he says.

She went to prison, and he went to live with his dad in Chicago.

LIFE WITH DAD

“We were very close. He was single at the time so it was just me and him. One reason we were so close, not in a negative way, is he treated me less like a son and more like a roommate.”

The two became buddies. Malachi would come home from school, and they’d watch a scary movie together with the son

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comforting his dad, all 6'4" and 230 pounds of him, through the nail-biting scenes.

They also played lots of golf together, not surprising considering his dad was a professional golfer. Brandon took pride in being the cool dad and not embarrassing his son.

What Malachi didn’t know was that his dad was drinking himself to death.

After his dad died, his mom showed up.

“She tried to get custody of me, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, my mom wants to be back in my life.’ ” He came to discover that what she really wanted were the Social Security checks Malachi was receiving. When the court ordered him to live with his paternal grandparents, she kicked him out of the house. They haven’t talked or seen each other since.

“So that tells you a little bit about who she is,” Malachi says.

And who was he at that point? Perhaps a better question is, how was he?

He’s not really sure how he coped, but he did.

“Everybody was always surprised that I was just fine.”

ON TO MIAMI

Actually, he was more than “just fine.” After he went to live with his grandparents in Sioux City, Iowa, he says, he felt blessed with what he calls an incredible childhood.

His grandparents didn’t have an abundance, but they provided for him and loved him “no matter what.”

His aunt and uncle also offered support, inviting him stay with them in Columbus during the summers. By the time he reached high school, his Aunt Beth came up with a plan to pay for college. His Uncle Brad, head professional at Brookside Golf & Country Club, helped facilitate it.

If Malachi would caddie at Brookside for two summers, he could apply for a

Chick Evans Scholarship. The other reason Malachi caddied was so he could save every dime in case he had to pay for college himself. Fortunately, he didn’t.

In an anecdote Malachi shared with Golfweek, he said that after interviewing with the scholarship committee, which was in tears by the end of his story, he was stopped on the way out by a member who told him, “Son, I’ve been coming to these interviews for 25 years, and that’s the best interview I’ve ever seen.”

In addition to the Evans Scholarship, he also received financial support from Miamians he didn’t even know, something he finds incredulous.

“I met a lot of people who were willing to stick their necks out for me because they’d heard about what I went through and wanted to lend a helping hand.”

With his funding in place, Malachi enrolled at Miami to major in zoology.

From the time he and his grandparents arrived in Oxford and moved him into the first Evans Scholar house on Church Street, he fit right in. He made great friends, and no one looked at him differently because of his background.

“The biggest lesson I learned at Miami was it doesn’t matter where you start,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if you had all the advantages in the world. It doesn’t matter who your dad is or what they did. If there’s something that you really want to do, you can do it.”

NO REGRETS

Malachi’s isn’t a happily-ever-after story because, for one thing, it’s not finished yet.

He’s in the early chapters. Plus, life is messy and unexpected, full of challenges, both difficult and wonderful.

COVID-19, as it did to so many, quashed the big wedding plans he and his wife, Olivia, were anticipating last May. As it turned out, they thoroughly enjoyed their

PHOTO S CO URTE SY O F MA L AC HI ZE ITNE R

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

“ I DON’T LOOK BACK AND REGRET ANYTHING OR WISH ANYTHING WAS DIFFERENT. OF COURSE, I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE MY DAD, BUT, YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE WAY IT IS. THERE WERE SO MANY KIDS WHO HAD IT SO MUCH WORSE THAN ME. I HAD EVERYTHING THAT I NEEDED.” intimate family gathering. (They met in dental school while cleaning each other’s teeth for a class assignment.)

His oral surgery internship next year will be in Sioux City, a five-hour drive away from Olivia, who will remain in Iowa City to finish her pediatric residency. That will be hard on the young couple. He is hoping to match into an oral surgery residency this January.

“I know well that there are plenty of things in life that can disappoint you,” he says. “You just can’t let it discourage you.”

Instead, he draws on his experiences to make him more empathetic. With his background, he feels like he has the ability to relate to almost anyone.

He gives a poignant example.

“I saw two patients today. One had cancer in their throat, another one had cancer in

SC H O LA R SH I P G I VING As state funding continues to recede, and tuition and other college expenses rise, it is imperative that Miami increase its ability to offer significant and enduring scholarship support. Scholarships are crucial not only for attracting bright, talented, and motivated students, but also for empowering them all the way to graduation day. It is Miami’s top priority because, simply put, it transforms lives. To learn more about scholarship giving opportunities, please visit GivetoMiamiOH.org/Scholarships.

Pictured far left to right: Malachi as a toddler; with his wife, Olivia; and taking a quick break at work at University of Iowa Hospitals.

their tongue. They’d had surgery, and then I had to tell them, ‘Oh, you have to have all your teeth extracted.’

“With where I’ve been, I sort of know what it’s like to struggle. All these patients, I can relate to. Not necessarily in terms of cancer, but in terms of having things not go your way and losing people and grief.”

Perhaps surprisingly, he wouldn’t rewrite his childhood.

“I don’t look back and regret anything or wish anything was different,” Malachi says.

“Of course, I would love to have my dad, but, you know, this is the way it is. There were so many kids who had it so much worse than me. I had everything that I needed.”

Donna Boen ’83 MTSC ’96 is editor of Miamian

Spring/Summer 2021

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75

YEARS OF SERVICE NROTC observes its diamond anniversary on Miami’s Oxford campus

STO RY BY

JA M E S M AY N A RD ’52 O P E N IN G IM AGE CO U RTE SY O F

M I A M I U N I VE RS I TY N ROTC

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OXFORD BECOMES A NAVY TOWN

Since the founding of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps on Miami’s campus in November 1945, more than 2,700 officers from Miami have been commissioned in the Navy and Marine Corps. Several achieved flag rank; many have become leaders in business and industry; others have been successful in education and politics.

Some commissioned alumni have had the high honor of command at sea during peace and war. And some have given their lives in service.

Editor’s note: Capt. James Maynard ’52 received his commission as ensign USN through Miami’s NROTC program and served on a heavy cruiser during the Korean War and later at the Naval Academy as instructor of navigation. He is a co-founder of the Miami NROTC alumni organization and has served on its reunion committees, including the 75th anniversary, which, because of COVID-19, was postponed last fall and will be celebrated this Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 11-14, 2021. Jim, honored with the 2005 Admiral S.W. Souers Award for being a distinguished alumnus of the NROTC, has authored a historical novel of World War II set at Miami University as well as several editions of the History of Miami’s NROTC. The following highlights come from his extensive research.

Dec. 7, 1941 Miami University’s long association with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps begins on a cold winter day in Oxford on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, when radio broadcasts break the news that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack as the bugle sounded quarters at 0800 and the band played the United States’ national anthem.

During the war, thousands of enlisted and officers are trained at Miami in radio and officer V-5 and V-12 programs. While the male civilian student population dwindles due to the draft, female Miami students take first-aid training, make Red Cross bandages, encourage war bond sales, and work with the newly established USO on campus. The Miami Student newspaper, staffed by female students for the first time, is mailed to all the Miami boys in the service, an enormous task.

And Oxford becomes a Navy town … Navy lingo, scuttlebutt, and other nautical terms become a familiar part of Oxford’s language; shore patrol police the streets on liberty nights; Navy buses shuttle sailors to swimming lessons at the Oxford pool; Navy shows are produced at Benton Hall. During the Fourth of July celebration, 2,000 Navy sailors parade down High Street. One weekend, hundreds of Navy sailors from Great Lakes Training Center, led by Lt. W.C. “Weeb” Ewbank ’28, former coach of McGuffey High School, descend on the town. After the war, he becomes the only professional head coach to win championships in the NFL and the AFL and a Super Bowl.

During World War II, Miami trains 10,000 Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard men and women. Hundreds of Miamians are wounded, and 180 lose their lives, the first being Navy Ensign William Lawrence, an architecture student and scout observation pilot assigned to the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

Aug. 14, 1945 The day the Japanese emperor surrenders his nation, Miami receives a letter from the Navy stating that the university will have a unit of the NROTC. Students selected through rigorous tests, interviews, and physical examinations will receive four-year scholarships, including books, tuition, and a monthly stipend, in return for two years of active duty as regular officers in the Navy.

The plan is named after Adm. James Holloway of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, who recognizes that the Naval Academy can no longer supply all the Navy officers required. He persuades Congress to pass legislation to expand the NROTC program, first established in 1926 at six colleges, to 52 colleges and universities.

The mission today remains the same: “To develop future officers mentally, morally, and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty and loyalty, and with the core values of honor, courage, and commitment in order to commission college graduates as naval officers.”

Nov. 1, 1945 Miami is assigned an initial staff of 40 WWII veteran officers and enlisted men to serve as instructors for naval science subjects. Led

by Capt. Granville Moore, professor of naval science and tactics, they begin training 350 officer candidates from the former V-5 and V-12 programs including 175 newly assigned NROTC selectees. Navy offices are in the new men’s dormitory, Symmes Hall.

December 1949 The new armory on Spring Street opens and is named in honor of Adm. Stephen Rowan, Miami Class of 1826, longest-serving admiral in the U.S. Navy, serving on active duty 63 years. He commanded the USS New Ironsides during the Civil War and led the

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Marines ashore near San Diego, planting the first American flag in California after the Mexican war. Besides offices and classrooms, Rowan Hall houses a complete navigation bridge and Navy 5-inch gun and director.

June 24, 1950 North Korean communists invade South Korea. A few months after graduation, some of Miami’s newly commissioned officers find themselves deployed to Asia. The new Marines are baptized by fire as infantry platoon commanders, gunfire spotters, and new Navy ensigns serving on destroyers.

1962 The cold war with Russia and its allies begins in earnest with the end of World War II, and Miamians are in the thick of it when the world comes close to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

1964-1975 A controversial attack on a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin by the North Vietnamese leads to the Vietnam War. During that era, 11 Miami NROTC graduate officers are killed, beginning with Cmdr.

George Ferris ’52, aircraft commanding officer, who had just returned from a combat airstrike over North Vietnam and died in a fire aboard his aircraft carrier, the USS Oriskany, in October 1966. Five officers from the Class of 1964 die during the Vietnam War. 2nd Lt. Samuel Hannah ’67, USMC, is posthumously awarded the Silver Star for action against a large enemy force in Quang Nam Province. Marine 2nd Lt. Terry Graves ’67 posthumously receives the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, for his heroism in a firefight with North Vietnamese troops.

Inset: Harlan Chapman, commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps through Miami’s Navy ROTC program in 1956, was a POW from 1965-1973. ( P H OTO CO U RT E SY O F H I S W I FE , FRA N )

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1965-1973

HARLAN CHAPMAN ’56

POW for 2,657 days For seven years and three months, Capt.

Harlan Chapman ’56 was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. The pilot of an F8E, he was shot down Nov. 5, 1965, during a bombing run on a bridge 40 miles southeast of Hanoi.

At a press conference in April 1973, two months after his Feb. 12 release, he recounted the pain of spending 13 days with his hands cuffed behind his back and withstanding his first six months in solitary confinement. He talked with only three other prisoners the first five years, all cellmates.

Released during Operation Homecoming, Chapman resumed his Marine Corps career by taking command of Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron 314 at El Toro, California, in 1974. He served in that capacity until his retirement as a lieutenant colonel in July 1976.

For the following 26 years, Chapman and his wife, Fran, operated a real estate appraisal firm. Now fully retired in Green Valley, Arizona, with Fran, Chapman no longer talks about those dark days. After he was released, he asked not to be introduced as a POW as, understably, that was not a time he wanted to relive.

He made the rare exception at a ceremony in Columbus, Ohio, in September 2009 as the guest speaker at a prisoner of war/ missing in action commemoration ceremony.

“We were never treated as POWs,” he told the audience. “We were treated as criminals and air pirates.”

He expanded on his treatment in the 1977 book We Came Home, saying, “It would be difficult, if not impossible, to relate the treatment of over seven years of captivity in the space allotted. However, I can sum up my opinion of the treatment by saying it was basically cruel. While in captivity, I was tortured many times, using ropes, cuffs, isolation, and beatings.”

Born in the small town of Elyria, Ohio, on Sept. 27, 1934, he enjoyed sports, particularly football, during high school.

In We Came Home, he said that when he attended Miami through the university’s NROTC program, his “enjoyment of football decreased and enjoyment of girls increased.” In June 1956, Chapman graduated with a BS in business and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

“Har loves his history at Miami, and the opportunities the NROTC program provided,” Fran said.

He received several commendations for his service, including the Prisoner of War medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Silver Star.

When he was awarded the Legion of Merit, he was recognized for refusing to cooperate with his captors and actively participating in establishing and maintaining a prisoner organization and communications system.

The citation stated: “Although subjected to extreme cruelties for days at a time, he exerted himself in a positive leadership role and displayed examples of resistance for his fellow prisoners to emulate. By his strict adherence to the Code of Conduct and mindful of hostile acts against those

“ PEOPLE ALWAYS ASKED ME HOW I SURVIVED. I ALWAYS SAY, ‘I DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE. I HAD TO LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME.’ ”

HAR L AN CHAPM AN ’ 5 6

who exerted leadership amongst the prisoners, Lt. Col. Chapman’s courage and professionalism reflected great credit upon himself, the Marine Corps, and the United States Naval Service.”

In his 2009 talk, he said, “People always asked me how I survived. I always say, ‘I didn’t have a choice. I had to live one day at a time.’ ”

April 15, 1970 As the war drags on, anti-war protests break out across the nation’s college campuses.

On April 15, a peaceful protest of 300-500 Miami students begins in front of the administration building, Roudebush Hall. In the late afternoon, they descend on Rowan Hall and occupy it. Senior administrators warn of suspension if they don’t vacate the NROTC armory. Some 175 are arrested. Later, the administration closes the armory and moves the NROTC Unit and the Air Force ROTC to Millett Hall.

1975 The NROTC program opens to females nationwide. Since then, female Miami graduates have served in the Marines and Navy surface and aviation communities.

1978 Mrs. Sidney W. Souers gives a generous endowment to annually recognize an outstanding Miami Navy alumnus or alumna who distinguish themselves in their chosen fields of endeavor, military or civilian. It is named in honor of her late husband, 1914 Miami graduate Rear Adm. Sidney W. Souers, an insurance executive who served as deputy chief of Naval Intelligence during WWII. He is chosen by President Truman to be the first director of the CIA.

Right: Becky Pritchett Condon was the 36th woman in the world to receive the Navy Wings, which her father pinned on her. ( PHOTO CO U RT E SY O F B EC KY )

“ I DID GET MY WINGS. I DID ACHIEVE MANY APPLAUDABLE AVIATION GOALS AND QUALIFICATIONS, BUT, ALAS, THE NAVY WASN’T QUITE READY FOR ME YET IN MY CAREER DUE TO THE WOMEN-IN-COMBAT RESTRICTIONS. ”

BEC KY P R I TCHETT CO N DO N ’ 78

1974-1978:

BECKY PRITCHETT CONDON ’78

Among first female Navy pilots to soar Becky Pritchett Condon ’78 was one of the first female Navy pilots and later on, in civilian life, commanded a 300-passenger Boeing 757 for Delta Air Lines. This is her first-person account: “I expressed to my dad that when I grew up, I wanted to be a Marine, like he was.

He said, ‘Oh no. That’s no place for a girl.

You can’t be in combat.’ (Very true back then.) He said, ‘What you want is the Navy.’

“Investigating at my high school guidance office, I was told, ‘ROTC is for the boys.’

“I pressed ahead with my intention to attend Miami University, the only school to which I applied. During freshman orientation, I passed recruiting tables for various groups. There to my astonishment and interest were life-sized cutouts of midshipmen in their sharp dress blues: one a young man and one a young lady. I never looked back.

“The Navy ROTC Unit became my home away from the dorm. Early on, the first woman in the world earned her Navy Wings of Gold. Bedazzled, I meant to achieve that goal for myself. The command at the NROTC Unit were supportive of all of us, including me, who aspired to such lofty, hard-to-reach objectives.

“Two in my class got selected for the prestigious Nuclear Power School. For female aviator applicants, they selected

15 women per year for flight school out of 10,000 applicants. The unit encouraged me every step of the way. When I got selected, the entire unit celebrated.

“I majored in aero/math, lived in the dorms all four years, was very active with the (award-winning) Sentries Exhibition Drill Team, competed on the pistol and rifle teams, and was a consistent member of the aviation club, sitting as president my senior year.

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“I was selected by a special board for flight school (15 women picked nationwide per year from a stack of 10,000 applicants — I owe my success to the amazing support of the leadership of the unit) in August 1978, and started flight school in December 1978.

“I did get my Wings. I did achieve many applaudable aviation goals and qualifications, but, alas, the Navy wasn’t quite ready for me yet in my career due to the womenin-combat restrictions.

“I left active duty and continued an aviation career, getting hired by Delta Air Lines, where I worked for 34 years, winding up my career as an international wide-body captain.

“I owe the success in my long career as a pilot to Miami University and the Miami NROTC unit for giving me the grounded roots from which I could spread my wings and soar. It was a very special place and lives every day in my heart with gratitude.”

Feb. 17, 1988 Marine Col. William “Rich” Higgins ’67, assigned to a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, is kidnapped by terrorists. A year and a half later, the terrorist group releases a video confirming his death. He is declared dead on July 6, 1990. His numerous honors include the Presidential Citizens Medal and the naming of a guided missile destroyer in his memory.

Nov. 10, 1990 ROTC students Todd Blackmar ’92 and Todd Polderman ’90 come up with the idea of recognizing Col. Higgins on Miami’s campus. Their efforts result in the dedication of a granite memorial in front of Millett Hall on the 215th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps’ founding. The memorial’s engraving honors Col. Higgins “and all Miamians who have given their lives in service to our country.”

Jan. 17, 1991 Adm. Stanley Arthur ’57, a Navy combat fighter pilot in Vietnam, becomes commander of the Seventh Fleet and leads a

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multinational naval force during Operation Desert Storm, commanding the largest fleet since WWII. July 20, 2001 Vice Adm. Keith Lippert ’68, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy, becomes the 14th director of the Defense Logistics Agency. Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, he is responsible for logistics, acquisition, and technical services for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and other federal agencies. His immense responsibilities include directing the entire logistics effort for the Gulf War.

Sept. 11, 2001

LOREN HECKELMAN ’79

in the Pentagon on Sept. 11 On the beautiful, sunny morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Capt. Loren Heckelman ’79 of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps, was busy in the Pentagon when one of four airliners hijacked by terrorists crashed into the building in the corridor across from his office. After evacuating personnel from his office and the surrounding spaces, he re-entered the building, joined in the firefighting effort, and assisted in the evacuation of the wounded.

For his heroic efforts, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. One of his Navy classmates, Capt. Steve Maynard ’79, was on duty that morning as deputy to the commander-in-chief of the Atlantic fleet in Norfolk, Virginia, and was awarded the Legion of Merit for deploying units of the Atlantic Fleet during the attack.

This is Loren Heckelman’s experience on Sept. 11: “The plane hit near our office, E ring between 4th and 5th corridor. Our office is 4D447. I felt the concussion and immediately smelled smoke and jet fuel.

“We evacuated the office, and I was last man out, having to crawl to the center (A) ring to exit. As I entered center court, they brought out a man who was burned and asked for help to get others out.

“Went back in and ended up in an alleyway between D and C rings, 4th and 5th

corridors. There had been an explosion, and a big piece of the wall had been blown out. The building was on fire on the ground floor and on each of the other floors up to the roof. The windows were all black from the smoke and flames inside, and several of them were bulging out from the frames.

“The man who led us back to that area said there were 20-25 people inside that area. It was on fire and too hot to go inside, so we ran for fire extinguishers. A couple of people tried to go inside, but the fire kept working its way around to their side, and they were in danger of being trapped inside so they came back out.

“I made about 10 trips from various adjacent corridors to bring extinguishers to this area. I encountered emergency equipment closets in several areas that I could not open to retrieve extinguishers. It appeared that the last time the doors were painted, they had been left shut, and the paint had sealed them shut.

“I tried to work the doors open and succeeded with some but not with others.

We could not find any fire hoses or risers anywhere to provide a continuous water supply for firefighting.

Capt. Loren Heckelman ’79 retired from the Navy Jan. 1, 2008, after 29 years of service. In his 11th year as a civilian in the Department of the Navy, he is deputy comptroller for the Navy Reserve Force in Norfolk, Virginia.

(PHOTO CO URTE SY OF LOR E N )

“During one of the trips into the alleyway, a deputy sheriff notified us that they had a report of another plane inbound on the Pentagon and told us all we should exit the building immediately.

“We decided to keep working to try to help the people who were reportedly trapped inside. There was a Pentagon maintenance man with us who told us which overhangs were reinforced and where we could go if we needed deep, reinforced shelter.

“I later learned that this area where we were working was the inner-most part of the damaged area resulting from the airplane fuselage penetrating that part of the building.

“In between the alleyway were piles of burning debris as well as flooding. We also noticed body parts in some of the piles of debris, probably from the explosion that occurred inside that ring of the building.”

Sept. 1, 2013 Lee Anne Green Vitatoe ’93 MS ’94 is promoted to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy.

Her father, John Green of Oxford, Ohio, a retired Navy captain, administers the oath of office to his daughter. Vitatoe, who graduated No. 1 in her NROTC class at Miami, is assigned at that time as the deputy force surgeon and lead medical planner at Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. She is among the highest ranking female graduates of Miami’s NROTC program.

Nov. 11, 2018 (Veterans Day) Miami dedicates its Alumni Veterans Tribute, a new memorial on the Oxford campus that recognizes Miamians, past and present, serving in the U.S. armed forces. It is a place for reflection, reverence, and peace.

Starting with an idea by Dave Miller ’60 MBA ’69 and David Lawrence ’64,

the project is guided by a committee of alumni veterans and funded through private support of alumni and friends. Robert Keller ’73, university architect emeritus, designs the memorial. Miami has nearly 8,000 alumni who have served and 279 killed in action or missing in action.

Oct. 15, 2020 Miami’s NROTC program, led by commanding officer Capt. Todd Bahlau, receives the prestigious Department of Defense ROTC and Educational Institution Partnership Excellence Award. In a letter to Miami President Greg Crawford, then Defense Secretary Mark Esper writes that noteworthy training and civic duty gained the unit, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the military community as a whole “great public notoriety and make it truly deserving of this recognition.”

Over the years, in peace and in war, Miami Naval ROTC graduates have fulfilled the solemn Oath of Office that they take upon commissioning, serving the nation faithfully and with distinction.

IN MEMORY OF 9/ 11

This September marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11. In addition to Capt. Heckelman’s recollection of that fateful morning, we remember and honor the four Miamians who died that day.

Myra Joy Aronson ’71, a public relations manager for Compuware Corp., died when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. The longtime Boston resident was on her way to Palm Springs, California, for a business conference. She was 50.

Kelly Ann Booms ’99 started working for PricewaterhouseCoopers soon after graduating from Miami with a double major in accounting and finance. She had passed the CPA exams just months before Sept. 11, when she boarded American Airlines Flight 11 for California, where she had been sent on temporary assignment. She was 24.

Alicia Nicole Titus ’95 had been a flight attendant for only nine months when she boarded the Boston-to-Los Angeles plane. Graduating with a major in international marketing, she wanted to teach college someday. She was on the United Airlines Flight 175, the Boeing 767 jet that was the second plane to strike the World Trade Center. She was 28.

Todd Christopher Weaver ’93, spent the year after he graduated teaching conversational English to other recent college graduates in a small village in Japan. He had landed his dream job as vice president and product manager for Fiduciary Trust Co. International, which had offices on the 94th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. He was 30.

This Veterans Day weekend, Nov. 11-14, 2021, will be the 75th + ONE Anniversary celebration of Miami’s NROTC unit.

The four-day weekend will include mixers, opportunities to reconnect with classmates and shipmates, and informational briefings that provide insight into naval services for current Miami students.

During the Saturday evening reunion banquet, Russ Starkey ’64 and Mike O’Neil ’78 will be honored with the Souers Award. Submariner Starkey had a distinguished career in the nuclear power industry, becoming chief executive of several nuclear power companies. O’Neil, a former Marine, was president of the group’s alumni organization and its development committee chair when he died unexpectedly last November at his home in Carlsbad, California. His widow, Brenda, will attend to accept his award.

In recognition of the 75th anniversary, Maynard is working on a new edition of the History of the NROTC at Miami. His son, David ’81, a fine arts graduate, is creating the cover.

If you would like to attend the reunion weekend in November and/or purchase the book, contact Patty Pearson, pattyndon@bellsouth.net, or Chris Ryder, chris.ryder@comcast.net.

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2D Fans in the stands

Cutouts of beloved coaches and players help fill seats during COVID competitions B Y

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M A R G O

K I S S E L L

ans sat in the stands as Miami University basketball players hustled down the court in Millett Hall and hockey players glided across the rink in Goggin Ice Center during the 2020-2021 varsity season.

But look closer — much closer — and you’ll see that these fans seem different in the era of COVID-19.

That’s because Miami athletics placed 2D versions of alumni and other key supporters in the seats for basketball and hockey, as well as volleyball matches. Fans also were invited to provide pictures of themselves and others.

There’s Wally Szczerbiak ’99 sitting near the late legendary coach Charlie Coles ’65. Szczerbiak — who made a name for himself during 10 seasons in the NBA — played for Coles, helping Miami reach the Sweet 16 during the 1999 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Coles, who retired in 2012 after 16 seasons at Miami, died in 2013 at age 71.

“Charlie would choose no other place to be than in Millett Hall watching the RedHawks,” said Craig Bennett MS ’00, senior director of Miami’s Student Success Center, who appreciated that athletics placed his father-in-law in the crowd.

A SA F E P LAY The Mid-American Conference’s policy limited attendance and required guests of student-athletes and coaches to wear masks and be socially distanced from others, said Lindsay Sparks, assistant athletic director and chief athletic marketing and communications officer.

To play it extra safe, they came up with the idea for the fan cutouts.

Sparks pointed out that they were intentional in placing Coles and Szczerbiak behind the Miami bench for a game broadcast on ESPNU. In the same area, they also placed Miami standouts Wayne Embry ’58, Randy Ayers ’78 MEd ’81, Ron Harper ’86, and Damon Frierson ’99, now assistant to Miami men’s basketball Head Coach Jack Owens.

The players, who appreciated the support, also could spot cutouts of Miami President Greg Crawford along with Miami Ambassador Renate Crawford and their two

golden retrievers, Ivy and Newton.

In all, there were 10 dogs cheering them on.

Even Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders made an appearance in his bundled-up-with-mittens pose that went viral. That was Sparks’ contribution.

Volleyball Coach Carolyn Condit got a kick out of seeing a cutout of her yelling for her team, which played in the MAC tournament this season. “The photo of me has to be 15 years old, and I don’t remember ever wearing that color jacket to a volleyball match.”

Her favorite photos are of Miami employees who have been “genuine fans of not just the sport, but of the student-athletes who compete hard and give a full commitment to representing Miami while still shining in the classroom.”

She said the cutouts brought humor into a tough situation for the student-athletes, who missed hearing the loud cheers and feeling the encouraging energy.

STAUNC H S UPPO RT SYST E M Peyton Scott, a sophomore guard for the women’s basketball team, enjoyed seeing photos of her family, including her dog Rosie.

“With the impact COVID had on our season and not being able to have our loved ones at as many games as we would have liked, I am grateful to Miami for still finding a way to get them there,” she said.

About 100 were purchased, said D’Angelo Solomon, associate athletic director for revenue generation. This was not a fundraiser; the $30 fee was absorbed in the cost of creating the corrugated plastic likenesses.

“The fan cutout is a fun way to stay engaged and continue to show support for the RedHawks,” Solomon said. “During a time in which capacity in venues has been minimized, fan cutout ‘attendance’ has had a positive impact on the programs, studentathletes, and coaches.”

Miami staff transported the “fans” back and forth between Millett and Goggin. Because Swoop’s Kids Club members each received one, there were quite a few kids in the crowd.

R E T URN TO NO RMALCY Miami plans to hold in-person classes and operations in the fall.

Student-athletes and coaches are eager to see more real fans.

Scott said she looks forward to “getting back to a sense of normalcy.” While she enjoyed the cutouts, she really missed seeing — and hearing — the fans.

“It was different playing basketball at the level we do in a quiet arena,” she said. “The sport is filled with passion, emotions, and excitement from all aspects, and to not be able to share that with our fans was heartbreaking.

“Our fans and the support they show us mean a lot,” Scott added.

“To be able to share those games and moments with them is something we are all looking forward to doing again.”

Margo Kissell is a news/feature writing in university news and communications at Miami.

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love & honor

BY JOS H C H AP I N ’ 02

THE ‘FIGURE-IT-OUT GUY’ Always the innovator, Marshall Osborne ’13 helps others find their own ways

Miami is a magical place that appeals to Marshall Osborne’s mindset.

As a student in Miami’s San Francisco Digital Innovation program (SFDI), Marshall Osborne ’13 quickly had an epiphany: Uber was the place he wanted to be.

So, Osborne lived up to the program’s billing — he innovated. Calling fellow Miamian Ryan Graves ’06, Uber’s first employee and former CEO, Osborne made his pitch for an internship at the ride-hailing giant.

The response? We just don’t have a need for interns right now.

Dejected but not deterred, Osborne began to formulate another plan to find a way in when fortune smiled in the form of another connection at Uber — and a meeting with Ed Hubbard, the company’s vice president of business development.

“We had dinner a couple of days later at some Italian restaurant on North Beach, and we just sort of jelled,” Osborne said. “We hit it off, and he hired me.

I was sort of his ‘figure-it-out guy’ for a long time.”

Osborne is still figuring things out, this time as head of business development and experiential marketing at goPuff, an app-based delivery platform operating in more than 500 U.S. cities.

He’s helping other Miamians figure things out, too. Osborne has established the Uber Alumni Digital Fellows Fund to support Miami students who demonstrate financial need and show a strong

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entrepreneurial spirit. Osborne’s hope is that a more diverse set of students may participate in programs such as the one in San Francisco.

Miami’s SFDI program was so influential on Osborne that he never left San Francisco, not even to return to Oxford to resume on-campus studies.

Faced with coming back to Miami or seizing an opportunity to continue working for Uber, he innovated — again.

“I didn’t feel like I needed to be in Oxford for four years to get the most out of Miami,” he said.

Others agreed. With the help of faculty and staff, he was able to finish his final year entirely online.

“He got this offer from Uber, and we were like, ‘Yeah, you have to take that,’ ” said Glenn Platt, Miami’s C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Network Technology and Management. “We were able to thread a needle in our curriculum and show we are committed to student success, period. We weren’t going to let something like coming back to Oxford get in the way.

“It was two sides of the coin. We bent over backwards to do what we could to help him finish his degree, and, at the same time, he’s bending over backwards with that workload. He was one who knew what he wanted to do and wanted to be. It took both sides to get him where he ended up going.”

It wasn’t always easy.

Osborne often worked well into his evenings, including a particular night where he passed the 2 a.m. hour while still at the Uber office. Returning from a late dinner, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick found him toiling away on schoolwork.

love & honor

Kalanick was supportive of Osborne’s Miami responsibilities, as was the rest of the Uber team.

After he graduated, his co-workers threw him his own special graduation ceremony.

“It took a lot of convincing from myself and from Glenn Platt to get my parents on board,” Osborne said. “I had this feeling this was something I needed to do.”

He has much the same feeling about helping current students. Growing up in Indiana, he had his eyes opened by his college experience, first at Miami and then during his time in San Francisco. He didn’t want those experiences to be inaccessible to others.

“I had this great thing with Uber work out, but I know I didn’t get there by myself,” he said. “Not everyone can afford to do that. Some of the people who could benefit the most or would be best served don’t always have the means to participate. If I could do a small thing to make that easier, then I could also try to be a leader to young alumni who have been in a similar position, because I’m not alone in that.”

Miami is still a special place for Osborne. He estimates it was the 70th school he visited. It was also the last. He fell in love with the business program, the setting, and the school’s Greek life.

FACED WITH COMING BACK TO MIAMI OR SEIZING AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONTINUE WORKING FOR UBER, HE INNOVATED � AGAIN. “It just sort of hit all the right notes,” he said.

Miami became a magical place that appealed to his entrepreneurial mindset — he had already launched a mobile loyalty product and his own ride service while in high school. He got the most out of his time in Oxford, condensed as it was.

“It was like from day one he knew where he wanted to go,” Platt said. “It was about building a path to get there.”

Josh Chapin ’02 is the associate director of content in Miami’s university advancement division.

Marshall Osborne ’13 was named Miami’s Young Philanthropist of the Year during the 2020 Advancement Awards. For more on all of the 2020 honorees, visit http://www.MiamiAlum.org/AdvancementAwards.

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class notes

ANTHROP OLOGY 351 FIELD C LASS

1971

DIGGIN’ C LASS In 1971, members of the Anthropology 351 Field Class spent their summer on what they now affectionately call the “Paulin Site Dig,” as it took place on the Paulin farm. Stuart Pearl ’73, who had just started shooting for The Miami Student earlier in the year, served as the documentary photographer, creating a formal photographic record of the excavation. Stu, now retired from a 40-year career with AT&T, has his own company, Stuart Pearl Photography, in Lyndhurst, Ohio.

If you were part of that archaeological experience 50 years ago or you recognize someone in the photo who was, share your memories with us at Miamian@MiamiOh.edu.

class notes

THIS ALUMNI LIFE

Many Views of Miami How old are you? 3

What is your mommy’s name? Kim Where does she work? Place with the turkey sandwich and yellow door.

Huh? Twice a year when my kids were in preschool, the teachers asked them to answer a set of questions. They asked the same questions so you could see how the answers evolved over the years. These papers are some of my most treasured pieces of their childhood, snapshots of their view of the world at a particular age and how it changed over time.

This one stumped me. Why does my daughter think I work at Subway? Not that there is anything wrong with Subway. I love Subway.

I love food. That’s a whole other column.

After some conversation with her, I realized she was recalling a time I picked her up and brought her to Murstein Alumni Center (with a cream door that is definitely yellow if you’re 3) to a reception where we served cold turkey sliders. She was right — I did work at the place with the yellow door and turkey sandwich!

— it was just that her perspective was different from mine.

I see this in my work. With more than 227,000 alumni, I hear many views of Miami University. From alumni at their 50th reunion to students in our Miami University Student Foundation (MUSF) group and everyone in between, I get to experience Miami in a new way each time I talk to someone.

I hear about what it was and, of course, how it should be.

It’s because of these experiences and perspectives that alumni are motivated to volunteer for an alumni board, chapter, or group. The Miami Experience for today’s students and alumni would not be possible without the support of alumni volunteers, who can serve in their hometown or Oxford. There are countless ways to be involved.

We are looking for a few good Miamians to join our Miami University Alumni Association Board of Directors. This group of 21, ranging in class year from 1956 to 2018 and from Arizona to Tennessee, advises the alumni team in Oxford on the programming we provide to our alumni and students. They bring their real-world expertise — finance, marketing, education, entrepreneurship, and more — to the table with one goal: to serve and ensure all have the best Miami Experience. And the best Miami Experience is only possible when we bring different perspectives to the table, or the yellow door.

To nominate yourself or another alum for the board, visit MiamiAlum.org/alumniboard to submit before June 30.

— Love & Honor, Kim Tavares MBA ’12, executive director of the Miami University Alumni Association

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Evelyn Breytspraak, born

Aug. 26, 1917, in Middletown, Ohio, still lives on the family farm. She likes reading, traveling, gardening, both vegetables and flowers, and she has cats to keep her company. She says if there’s anybody out there as old as she and still kicking, send in a message for class notes.

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Thomas Harvey Jr. sent in a

lovely autobiography. Born in Kenosha, Wis., March 7, 1936, he moved with his family in 1940 to Indianapolis, where he lives today. He attended Miami on an NROTC scholarship, majoring in business. He retired from the Navy in 1983 as a captain, his final assignment OPO4-Logistics at the Pentagon. He then entered a civilian career in business, retiring in 2007.

He and wife, Ann, were blessed with a daughter, a son, and five grandchildren.

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Gary and Judith Hagerty

Norman celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They are 40-year residents of beautiful south Orange County, Calif. After many domestic and international corporate moves, they established their own plastics and chemical brokerage business, which they managed for 25 years before retiring in 2009. After significant travels they are enjoying life and leisure with family and friends.

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SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE Please send news to: Donna Boen, Miamian, Glos Center, 820 S. Patterson Ave., 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.

Tom Harper of Rocky River,

Ohio, has published Ancient Native American Stone Faces and Other Local Artifacts of Rocky River, Ohio.

The spiral-bound publication features numerous color photos of shore stones with unusual and whimsical faces.

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Ted Downing was featured

in Sarasota magazine. The retired banking executive, a former

See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.

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David MA ’66 and Mary MAT ’65 Reith, a Miami Merger going on 58 years on Valentine’s Day, 2021. Yes, they were a merger before they came to Miami.

NCAA track and field star, recalled his time at the 1968 Olympic trials and the Black Power salutes. The Evanston, Ill., native, “who radiates positivity,” moved to Sarasota, Fla., in 2001 with Julie, his college sweetheart and wife of 50 years. Julie graduated from Western College for Women in 1969. Although technically retired, Ted works with students at Booker High School, Suncoast Technical College, and Take Stock in Children to help motivate them for achievement and success.

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Mike “Doc” Emrick MA ’69

has retired from hockey. “I hope I can handle retirement OK, especially since I’ve never done it before,” Doc told the New York Post. He has been the preeminent voice for NHL games on NBC and NBC Sports since 2011.

Prior to that, he was the play-by-play announcer for the New Jersey Devils for 21 seasons.

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James Alexander has joined

JAMS in Detroit after serving nearly 20 years as a judge in the Oakland County (Mich.) Circuit Court, including nine in family court.

Retired Jan. 1, 2021, he is one of only five Oakland County jurists to have

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served in each of the court’s branches. ¶ Terry Gilbert has published a memoir, Trying Times: A Lawyer’s 50-Year Struggle Fighting For Rights in a World of Wrongs. “For nearly 50 years, I’ve been proud to fight for civil rights, prison reform, police accountability, free speech, and the American values enshrined in the Bill of Rights.” His memoir is a retrospective of law and activism that juxtaposes the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s with today’s trying times. “I devote a chapter to my days at Miami, particularly during the tumultuous spring of 1970. My experience at Miami motivated me to become a lawyer and work for those fighting for the American dream.”

72

Bob Aumann and his musical

group, the Robert Aumann Band, has released their fourth CD, Find the Spirit. “If any of my classmates are interested in hearing it, they can go to www.robertaumannband.com. Because of the virus, we are not playing anywhere so we made all our songs free to download.” ¶ Pamela McEwen Genson and Rick ’72 MEd ’76, a Miami Merger for 48 years, were public school teachers in southwest Ohio. Pamela passed away Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, 2020. Rick, living in southwest Ohio, is retired. ¶ Sally Ireland Robertson MA ’72, a judge in Minnesota, sent in a gift to Miami’s L. Gail and Robert Ireland Scholarship, “In Memory of Robert E. Ireland ’38 from Hamilton, Ohio, and Luella Gail Pratt Ireland ’40 from Middletown, Ohio.”

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The Akron Symphony Orchestra debuted its podcast, “Unorchestrated,” with a 14-part series featuring Akron-born poet Rita Dove.

The discussion focused on her book of poems, Sonata Mulattica, which details the relationship between the Black violinist George Bridgetower and Ludwig

van Beethoven. ¶ Kathy Murphy was inducted into the 2020 LPGA Professionals Hall of Fame. An LPGA Master Professional, she was formerly resident golf professional at Palm-Aire Country Club in Sarasota and head professional at The Plantation Golf & CC in Venice, Fla.

75

Douglas Lehman retired as

director of Thomas Library at Wittenberg University the end of August 2020. This was the culmination of a 42-year career as a librarian, working in Texas, Ohio, Florida, and Vermont. In addition to his time at Wittenberg, he worked at the Ohio Historical Society, Miami-Dade Community College, and the University of Vermont.

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Reunion ¶ James Slack MA ’76 PhD ’81 has published Sleep the Sleep of the Innocent: Three Death Row Men and Moral Lessons of Matthew 25 Parables (Emeth Press). His latest book is about three death row men and their experiences in living life and trying to avoid hell. The moral lessons are: If you want to avoid hell do good deeds (Parable of the 10 Virgins), act righteously (Parable of the Talents), and seek justice through works of compassion (Parable of the Sheep and the Goats).

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Washington State University professor and veterinarian Steve Hines is the 2020 American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges’ Distinguished Veterinary Teacher. The award is one of the most prestigious teaching awards in veterinary medicine and is presented by Zoetis, the largest global animal health company. It highlights those who have dedicated their lives and careers to improving veterinary

class notes

medical education. The only national recipient to receive the student-nominated award twice, he was presented the award during the AAVMC’s 2021 Annual Conference and Iverson Bell Symposium, held virtually, March 3-5, 2021. He is retiring from WSU this summer after 32 years.

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George Bartley was the 2020

recipient of the Laureate Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the organization’s highest honor. He is the chief executive officer emeritus of Mayo Clinic in Florida and currently serves as the CEO of the American Board of Ophthalmology. He and his wife, Deborah Lynn Moore Bartley ’74 MFA ’78, live in Rochester and Minneapolis.

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Robert Morrison, ASA, BV/

IA, partner and firm leader of business advisory services for the accounting firm Rosenfield and Co. in Orlando, has been elected to The Appraisal Foundation’s board of trustees. Bob is serving an initial three-year term, which began Jan. 1, 2021.

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Reunion ¶ Gary Jack was recognized by West Virginia Executive Magazine and West Virginia College of Law as an inductee into the Lawyers & Leaders Class of 2020. He is senior corporate counsel for FirstEnergy, an electric utility spanning six states, and practices regulatory, real estate, litigation, and general corporate law.

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Sarah Mulligan Norris of

Lexington, S.C., retired Feb. 26, 2021, from the IRS after 32 years.

She is looking forward to traveling and catching up on her reading. ¶ Cheryl Lankard Turnbull was recently named senior director of the newly created Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship

at Ohio State University. ¶ Chuck Vogt won the Alignable’s 2021 Local Business Person of the Year award for Tucker, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta.

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Cheryl Jacobs “CJ” Crim has

been producing and directing television shows and films for schools and nonprofits for over 30 years. She recently completed her first feature film, Resisterhood, which is a documentary about the power of women, hope, and resistance during the first two years of the Trump administration. The mission of the film was to fire up people to get involved in the political process and vote. The film has been accepted into 16 film festivals and has won some nice awards. It had a COVID-theatrical release in 18 theaters (virtually) and three in person and is available on Amazon Prime Video.

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Kristine Stoppenhagen

Williams has a new poetry chapbook, Like An Empty House, published by Finishing Line Press.

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On Jan. 1, 2021, Mark Schaefer became president of the The David J. Joseph Co., a world leader in scrap metal brokerage, ferrous and nonferrous metal recycling, and transportation services. Mark joined DJJ in 1985. It is a Cincinnati-based subsidiary of Nucor Corp., manufacturer of steel products.

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Reunion ¶ Duane Hodgin PhD ’86 interviewed 225 WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans. For some, it was the first time these ordinary men and women who were often called to do extraordinary things in the most difficult of conditions had talked about their experiences with anyone, including family members. The project, inspired by

Duane’s interview with his 95-year-old father, who served in the Pacific during WWII, resulted in the publication of three books: WWII: They Served During America’s Darkest and Finest Hours; The Korean and Vietnam Wars: Forgotten Warriors Against the Odds; and Iraq and Afghanistan: Boots on the Sand — The War on Terror. ¶ Jim Kelly sent in a note and photo about the following college buddies getting together for a friendly game of paddle ball at LaGrange Country Club: Jac Currie, Mike Keach, Jim Kelly, Matt Mossing, Dean Panos, Dan Pansing, Jim Schaeffer, and Rich Schumacher. ¶ David Lopina retired in early 2020 as a colonel in the Hawaii Army National Guard. He served over 30 years as a judge advocate, including deploying for a year to Iraq and advising on domestic responses to hurricanes and lava flows. In recognition of his distinguished career, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He is currently an attorney-adviser with U.S. Army Europe and Africa in Wiesbaden, Germany

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Jon Miller ’78 and Robby Miller ’12 with Tiger Woods at the 2020 PNC Championship in Orlando, the 23rd year of this NBC Sportsowned and created event.

Jeff Brinkley MEn ’87 is an

associate in the Mannik & Smith Group, a regional engineering, surveying and environmental services firm. Jeff, who has 33 years

See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.

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class notes

The families of Karl and Julie Butz Ieuter ’95 and Aaron and Michelle White Simmons ’94 traveled to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. They have been friends since all four graduated from Miami and still get together every summer. The Ieuters live in Sanford, Mich., and the Simmons live in the Czech Republic.

of environmental experience, joined MSG in 2016. He is a project manager in the firm’s Houghton, Mich., office, responsible for managing complex projects relating to the evaluation and management of a wide range of sites of environmental concern. ¶ Rich Jacobs spent the past 15 years working for the Illinois State Senate as chief of staff for State Senators Michael Noland (2006–2016) and Cristina Castro (2016–2021) respectively. As of January 2021, Rich is the newest chief of staff for the city of Aurora’s Office of Aldermen.

Aurora, Ill., is second largest city in Illinois. ¶ Intellectual property attorney Mark Nieds of the firm Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt in Fort Myers, Fla., is co-chair of Lee County Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Law Section, launched in November 2020.

He is also chair of Henderson Franklin’s intellectual property practice group.

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The Merck board of directors has unanimously elected Robert Davis, Merck’s current executive vice president, global services, and chief financial officer, as chief executive officer, as well as a member of the board, effective July 1, 2021. He became president of Merck April 1,

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2021, at which time the company’s operating divisions — human health, animal health, manufacturing, and Merck Research Laboratories — began reporting to him. ¶ John Kuhlman has co-founded Adventure Dog Coffee Co., empowering adventure through craft coffee and canines. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Austin, Texas, the company sells organic artisan coffee roasted fresh to order. Proceeds go to the Rescue 22 Foundation, which saves shelter dogs and trains them to be life-saving service dogs for America’s wounded veterans. ¶ Eric Stuckey is completing his 12th year as city administrator for the city of Franklin, Tenn. In August 2020, Franklin received the prestigious designation of All America City by the National Civic League. In September 2020, Money Magazine named Franklin one of the top 10 places to live in the U.S. Eric is also president of the Tennessee City Management Association, where he had the honor of welcoming over 5,000 local government managers from across the world to Nashville for the International City/County Management Association annual conference in late 2019.

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Kevin Murphy MS ’90 is

executive vice president and chief executive officer of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance in Indianapolis as of January 2021. He has been a key member of the company’s leadership team since 2000. Kevin is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and chair of the board of directors for the Insurance Institute of Indiana. ¶ Michele Petruccelli has been promoted to vice president of Aspirant, a global management consulting and technology firm based in Pittsburgh. She will continue as director of its marketing and innovation practice.

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Reunion ¶ Chad Pergram ’91 MS ’93, Fox News congressional correspondent, has earned the Radio Television Correspondents’ Association 36th annual Joan S. Barone award for excellence in journalism. A repeat Barone award winner, previously earning the honor in 2006, he joined Fox News in 2007 and had been senior Capitol Hill producer before being promoted to congressional correspondent in 2020. He focused his award-winning coverage on the impeachment of President Trump, the Mueller investigation, and contempt of Congress citations, explaining confusing congressional procedures, using a kitchen blender and ping-pong balls.

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Chip Curry ’92 MS ’94 was

elected to the Maine State Senate in November 2020. His career as an educator, academic adviser, and youth development advocate has been driven by a calling to help people of all ages reach their highest potential.

He lives in Belfast, Maine, with his wife of 25 years, Christi, their teenage daughter, and Christi’s mom. Christi is a teacher. ¶ David Landever of Shaker Heights, Ohio, is a partner in the mass tort and product liability practice at Tucker Ellis. He focuses on complex civil litigation with particular emphasis on product liability matters involving medicine, science, industrial hygiene, and engineering.

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Kellie Charles has been

appointed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to serve as a district court judge in Ramsey County, St. Paul, Minn.

Prior to her appointment, she spent her entire legal career in the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office in Minneapolis where she managed the appeals and special litigation team, the treatment court team, and the felony

class notes

E XPERIENC E ALUMNI WEEKEND ...

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Join us virtually on June 10-12 for Alumni Weekend 2021.

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See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.

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class notes

book in his award-winning national park series chronicling The Adventures of Bubba Jones. In his latest outing, Tommy and his sister Jenny (trail names Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug) uncover amazing facts about the Grand Canyon while solving a park mystery.

They are part of a legendary time travel family with a mission to preserve and protect our national parks. The book begins with a raft excursion along the Colorado River. They use their magical powers to learn cool facts about each park they explore as they solve mysteries. Jeff’s book is for ages 8–12.

Ryan Gailey ’02, a major in the Army National Guard, has been serving as the Illinois National Guard’s lead with the Illinois Department of Public Health as they maneuver 1,500 (and counting) soldiers and airmen around the state across 90 military vaccine teams the past few months.

“It’s been a great mission, and we’re well on our way to 8 million doses administered across the state between our efforts and that of local health departments and other stakeholders.”

probation revocation team. She also represented indigent clients in adult, juvenile, and child protection cases at the trial and appellate levels. She is an adjunct professor of law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul.

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moted to chief of the criminal division of the Montgomery County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s Office. He joined the office in 1997. ¶ Brian Fannin wrote a book published in January 2021 titled R for Actuaries and Data Scientists, with Insurance Applications. He has been an actuary since the mid-1990s, having begun his career coding Fortran routines to calculate defined benefit pensions. He switched over to general insurance shortly after and has focused most of his career on commercial liability coverages. He lives in Durham, N.C., with his wife and two children. ¶ Michael Ufferman became author of Florida Criminal Practice and Procedure in 2019. Updated annually, the book is a comprehensive guide to pretrial criminal procedure, investigation of criminal offenses, and stages of trial.

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Daniel Brandt has been pro-

Reunion ¶ Jeff Alt ’96 MS ’96 has published his fourth

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Jennifer Zimmerman has

been promoted to vice president of evaluation and impact at bi3, Bethesda Inc.’s grant-making initiative to transform health in Greater Cincinnati. Since joining bi3, Jennifer has been responsible for developing, managing, and evaluating its portfolio of multi-year grants and initiatives.

In her new role, she is focusing on strategy, impact, and analysis, as well as assessment of bi3’s funding areas.

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Beth Katz Coonan of Des

Moines, Iowa, joins Davis Brown Law Firm as a shareholder attorney in the labor and employment and immigration departments.

Beth is an experienced labor and employment and immigration lawyer, assisting businesses across a variety of industries including technology, manufacturing, and agriculture. ¶ Sean Felter is vice president of business development and capital markets for Arbor Lodging, a Chicago-based hotel investment and management company.

In his new position, he is focusing on third-party management engagements and building investor, capital, and strategic relationships. He lives in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

¶ In January 2021, Damian Klute, a principal in EY’s consulting practice, was promoted to office managing partner of EY’s Richmond, Va., office. He has been at EY for more than 20 years, serving global clients across sectors and advising on technology risk and business consulting. He is executive board member and treasurer for the Heart of Virginia Council of Boy Scouts of America and lives with his wife, Lauren Pramschufer Klute, in Midlothian, Va., with their sons, Will, 14, and Evan, 10, and their two goldendoodles. ¶ Marni Shindelman is one-half of the artist duo Larson Shindelman, which held an exhibition, “Larson Shindelman: Geolocation,” Jan. 15– March 5, 2021, at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. Using publicly accessible geographic data from tweets, Larson Shindelman track down specific locations where Twitter users were when they posted on social media. Once there, the artists make a photograph from the location, connecting the tweet — stored on a remote server and readable around the globe — and the physical world. This body of work explores the connection between text and images, digital and analog, and private versus public.

00

Tania Gray Harvey has opened her own family law firm, the Law Office of Tania K. Harvey.

She focuses primarily on family law, mediation, and collaborative law. She also is frequently appointed by judges as a child representative and guardian ad litem. Her practice is in the Chicagoland area. ¶ Brian Stenger is living in Phoenix and recently sold his novel tank top T-shirt company, “Suns Out, Guns Out.” “I enjoy the meditative spiritual enchantment of the Southwest, and I am a proud married

class notes

father of 2. I am looking to parlay my exit from ‘Suns Out, Guns out’ into a chakra crystal jewelry company.” ¶ On Nov. 7, 2020, Casey Tucker was one of two recipients of a part-time faculty teaching award from Otterbein University, in Westerville, Ohio, where he is an adjunct faculty member teaching courses in biology and general education. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Columbus State Community College where he teaches introductory biology classes.

01

Reunion ¶ Married: Elizabeth Williams and Steve Bierer, July 1, 2020, after having to cancel their scheduled April nuptials because of the COVID-19 quarantine. “Looking forward to a future celebration with my fellow 1998 Dennison Hall freshman year dormmates and Corner Pocket Roommates.”

02

Dawn Anderson-Butcher ’02 MS ’04, a professor in

Ohio State University’s College of Social Work, is also executive director of teaching/research for Ohio State’s LiFEsports Initiative and executive director of the Community and Youth Collaborative Institute. She was honored twice last year for her work, receiving Ohio State’s 2020 Engaged Scholar Award and the 2020 School Social Work Association of America’s Gary Shaffer Award, given to a faculty member who has made significant contributions to the field of school social work. ¶ Ryan Gailey was promoted to the rank of major as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard. (See Ryan’s photo on pag 42.) An attorney practicing in Madison, Wis., he is a member of the Wisconsin, Illinois, and American Bar associations and serves on the Illinois Standing Committee on Military Affairs.

He is also vice president of the PTO at

Shorewood Hills Elementary, where his children, Anne, 9, and Bobby, 7, attend.¶ Josh Greenberg is owner and manager

of Gates Au Sable Lodge, a famous fly-fishing destination in Michigan, and writes a popular, online fishing report.

A contributor to several magazines, including Fly, Rod & Reel and Fly Fisherman, he has published his third book, Trout Water (Melville House Books), which was favorably reviewed

by The Wall Street Journal. “At the beginning of trout fishing season, Josh Greenberg … is struggling to cope with the slow death of a close friend. When he gets the call that his friend has finally passed, Greenberg is standing in the Au Sable River at dusk. The solace he takes from fishing — from reading the movement of the river water, studying the play of the light, and relying on his knowledge of insect and fish life — prompts him to reflect on the impact of the natural world on his life in his fisherman’s journal.”

03

Breanne McMullen Boyle

is president of the Western Association of College Admission Counseling, one of the largest affiliates of the national organization of college admissions professionals. Breanne has worked as an independent college counselor for 10 years and recently launched her own business, BB College Counseling. ¶ Jim Heinen Jr. is practice group leader for the intellectual property practice group at law firm Armstrong Teasdale, where he is a partner. He is in charge of the IP group, which is the second largest in the firm and comprises over 100 attorneys and staff from 12 offices throughout the country. He and his wife, Beth Kikta Heinen, and their children live in St. Louis. ¶ Billie J. Wyatt Sirn ’03 and MEd ’16 was promoted to the university partnership transfer coordinator at

Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio. She serves as an advocate, offering workshops and advising LCCC students and community members on options to transfer successfully to a four-year university partnership institution or an out-of-state institution.

05

Corrine Witherspoon ’03 is the new director of the William A. McClain Center for Diversity in the Office of Student Development at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

Alexandria Quinones

Buchanan used her time during the COVID-19 lockdown to become a full-spectrum birth doula and joined the global brand Evidence Based Birth to continue to educate and empower parents and health professionals in the field of birth work. She also co-facilitates a community-based quarterly online resource fair for parents called The Parent Trip. Ali has two sons and a husband, and they live in Portland, Ore., where she is a commissioner on the city of Tigard’s Planning Commission and the social media manager for the Portland Doula Association. ¶ Nathan Chomilo, medical director for Medicaid and MinnesotaCare | DHS, was named one of the Top 100 most influential health care leaders by Minnesota Physician.

In a feature article in the magazine, he said, “As we fundamentally restructure our health-care system and society,

See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.

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class notes

Mary Frame PhD ’17 , shown here in her “Dubrovnik City Selfie,” is a senior research psychologist at Parallax Advanced Research working on multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance research. She focuses on how humans relate to and use technology and how they make professional decisions when interacting with technologies. See the Class of 2017 for more about her and her work.

it is important to recognize that we can’t simply go back to normal. Normal wasn’t working for many communities, so this moment requires a ‘new normal’ committed to addressing racial inequities that have persisted for much too long.”

06

Reunion ¶ Lauren Ferrante has joined Duane Morris as a partner in the corporate practice group in the firm’s Chicago office. She offers experience representing clients in state and local tax (SALT) controversies and planning matters. She is a frequent writer and speaker on SALT issues and former chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s state and local tax committee.

07

Branson Dunlop was elected

to Graydon’s partnership, effective Jan. 1, 2021. He is a member of the firm’s creditors’ rights group and works out of its Downtown Cincinnati location. His practice focuses primarily on representing financial institutions and businesses in creditors’ rights, foreclosures, bankruptcy, banking law, receiverships, landlord/tenant, and general commercial litigation. ¶ Tamika Nunley, an assistant professor

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of history and comparative American studies at Oberlin College, has a new book, At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. (University of North Carolina Press). In it, she traces how Black women navigated social and legal proscriptions to develop their own ideas about liberty as they escaped from slavery, initiated freedom suits, created entrepreneurial economies, pursued education, and participated in political work. In telling these stories, she places Black women at the vanguard of the history of Washington, D.C., and the momentous transformations of 19th-century America. ¶ Matt Rosen has been promoted to director at Barnes Dennig, the rapidly-growing regional accounting firm with offices in Cincinnati, Dayton, Northern Kentucky, and Indianapolis. Matt previously served as senior manager for the firm’s audit and assurance practice and is also one of the leaders of the firm’s COVID-19 advisory team.

08

J. Margaret Weaver, a women’s workwear concept founded by KaLeena Weaver Thomas, launched Jan. 16, 2021. After more than a decade of struggling to find a simple, capsule wardrobe that was appropriate for her consulting and leadership roles, KaLeena decided to stop shopping and start the solution. The concept came to her after spending years scouring retail stores and websites to try and find classic, work-appropriate dresses, shirts, suits, and jewelry that minimized the attention on her appearance and maximized attention on her performance.

She is also passionate about supporting women-owned enterprises and giving back to her community and has partnered with Rightfully Sewn, a Kansas City-based organization that creates

jobs and opportunities through the business of fashion with a seamstress training program, public sewing and fashion design classes, and small-batch production services.

11

Reunion ¶ Born: to Erik and Megan Donahue Hermann, Edward Ernfrid, Sept. 9, 2020.

12

Zachary Adams has been

promoted to counsel at Tucker Ellis in Cleveland. He works with Fortune 500 companies, employee- and family-owned businesses, privately held companies, and multinational corporations in cases involving commercial disputes, business torts, and products liability, defending such products as medical devices and microchips. ¶ Alexander Gase is a new attorney at Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl, joining the firm as an associate in the estates and trusts and corporate practice groups. Based in the Pittsburgh office, he primarily focuses on the drafting of wills, trusts, and gift tax returns, as well as assisting in general corporate and tax matters. ¶ Lauren Hetzel, vice president of business development at TACKL Health, is one of the company’s founders. They started TACKL Health in the middle of COVID-19 as a workplace health solution to keep businesses open and operating after their previous hospitality business was all but shuttered in March 2020.

They have grown into nine states, administer nearly 10,000 COVID-19 tests a week, and have become the second largest airport-based COVID19 testing company in the country.

“Equally important to me is the human aspect of what we have been doing. I consistently receive heartwarming stories from travelers who have come to our sites — the bi-national couple that is reuniting after a year apart; the

class notes

orphan needing a test to get home to Africa after coming to the U.S. for a life-saving surgery; the couple needing a test before they travel to Asia to adopt twin boys.” ¶ Married: Haley Lewis (JD ’16 Ohio State) and Bryan Ross (MD ’16 University of Toledo). Bryan is completing his fellowship in toxicology at Indiana University, Indianapolis and has accepted a position with University Hospital Cleveland. Haley practices law with her father’s law firm. Her father is Jeffrey Lewis ’78.

research. She focuses on how humans

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human, and business solutions for govern-

featured in The Columbus Dispatch for her artwork, ink paintings and prints, which were on exhibit in the Highline Coffee Art Space’s North Window Gallery in Worthington, Ohio.

When the shop closed to indoor service during COVID-19, but was still open for carryout, the owner decided to install exhibits inside a large side window where they would draw the most attention from passers-by or those waiting in line to order and pay. That included art

by Paige, who works a few doors down at Grid Furnishings. She also runs the online home-decor shop Welby Martin.

16

Reunion ¶ Reis Thebault, interned at The Columbus Dispatch after his junior year and at The Boston Globe after he graduated.

Now at The Washington Post covering national and breaking news, he was the lead reporter on the Raphael Warnock victory story in the Jan. 6, 2021, Washington Post.

17

Married: Casey Eberly and Drew Harmon ’16, Sept. 25,

2020. They live in Sunbury Ohio. ¶ Mary Frame PhD ’17 is a senior research psychologist at Parallax Advanced Research.

She works on multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance

understand it, and how they make professional decisions when interacting with technologies. This plays a significant role in the overall research and development work Mary has trademarked the Science of Intelligent Teaming. Parallax defines this as basic and applied research of highly diverse artificial intelligence, machine and human teams, and how they interact

MI CHA EL S. N O L A N .

Paige Cataldo Fleming was

relate to and use technology, how they

and perform with one another. Parallax uses this research to provide technology, ment, industry, and academic clients. (See Mary’s photo on Page 44.)

18

Thomas Hall (R-Madison

Twp.) is serving his first term as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He represents the 53rd House district, which consists of northern and western Butler County.

Tom began his career in public service when he was elected as a Madison Township trustee in 2015. He was re-elected in 2017. At 25, he is currently the youngest legislator in the General Assembly. ¶ Gregory Silva has been appointed to First Financial Bank’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. He is working directly with the bank’s CEO, board of directors, chief of human resources, and remaining council members to broaden awareness for diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in communities the bank serves, offer diverse philanthropy to community agencies, and enhance the bank’s product offerings to meet the banking and lending needs of its diverse clientele.

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Susan Dorsey MA ’19 has been selected for the 2021 Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship with Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society. “As one of only 50 educators selected from across the U.S.

and Canada, I am honored to be chosen.

My passion and love for teaching has brought me to this moment, and I am incredibly grateful for this once-in-alifetime opportunity.” The fellowship selects exemplary educators to embark on a life-changing voyage to one of the many remote and extraordinary environments the Lindblad fleet explores around the world. Given the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions, her field-based experience is on hold. ¶ Mark Pontious PhD ’19, director of parent and family programs at Miami University, is the co-author of College Ready 2021.

Chapters address top-of-mind concerns, including packing, money, staying connected, promoting responsible independence, and supporting academic success. Checklists accompany each chapter so you don’t forget anything and don’t do things you shouldn’t. And the book is full of ideas on how to start those tough, but very much needed, conversations. “The first year of college is full of excitement and uncertainty.

And this fall brings additional challenges and stress. College Ready 2021 provides practical guidance on what should be done during the summer, during drop-off, and the first semester.”

See photo in online class notes, MiamiAlum.org/Classnotes. Online Miamian at MiamiAlum.org/Miamian.

Once conditions allow, Susan Dorsey MA ’19, a 2021 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, will embark on a Lindblad Expeditions’ voyage, perhaps similar to the one above, to experience natural wonders alongside marine biologists, geologists, historians, scientists, undersea specialists, and National Geographic photographers. She will return home with compelling ideas to enhance her curriculum.

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farewells 1940s Jeanne DuChateau Niswonger ’42, Lakeland, Fla., Aug. 20, 2020.

Mary Van Guelpen Luecke ’44, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 13, 2020.

Dene Stern Mayer WA ’47, Medford, N.J., Jan. 31, 2021.

Hugh L. Nichols II ’47, Cedar Crest, N.M., Jan. 6, 2021.

Patricia Snare Lodge ’48, Charlton, Mass., May 10, 2020.

Maynard R. Amstutz ’49, Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 12, 2021.

Eugene R. Epperson ’49 MA ’51, San Deigo, Calif., Jan. 1, 2021.

Mary “Tommie” Davidson Johnson ’49, Bozeman, Mont., Jan. 6, 2021.

Charles Lodge ’49, Okatie, S.C., March 22, 2021.

Marshall Mowrey ’49, Hilliard, Ohio, March 31, 2021.

Anne Freshley Ruffner ’49, Tampa, Fla., Dec. 8, 2020.

Caroline Snyder Stevenson ’49, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 14, 2020.

Mary Kathryn Wright ’49 MA ’52, Harrison, Ark., Oct. 24, 2020.

1950s Sanford Jacobs ’50, Hudson, Ohio, Dec. 20, 2020.

Robert G. Kappes ’50, Athens, Ohio, Nov. 26, 2020.

Donald R. Allen ’51, Evanston, Ill., Feb. 6, 2021.

E. Bennett Bartels ’51 MBA ’71, Hamilton, Ohio, Nov. 23, 2020.

William K. Frary Jr. ’51, Lebanon, Ohio, Dec. 12, 2020.

Walter H. Roehll Jr. ’51, Hilton Head Island, S.C., Dec. 23, 2020.

James T. Demetrion ’52, Arlington, Va., Nov. 30, 2020.

Sally McCann Garst ’52, Springs, Texas, Jan. 17, 2021.

Frank J. Herbert ’52 MS ’58, Houston, Texas, Jan. 22, 2021.

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John K. McDonald ’52, Gainesville, Fla., Jan. 3, 2021.

Nancy Price Hammel ’57, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Jan. 1, 2021.

John L. Watson ’63, Grosse Point Farms, Mich., Nov. 18, 2020.

Richard J. Stephenson ’52, Hamilton, Ohio, Dec. 15, 2020.

Lois Schroth Neal ’57, Dallas, Texas, April 10, 2020.

Carol Kleffman Hong ’64, Independence, Ohio, Nov. 17, 2020.

Joan Mathis Stock ’52, The Plains, Ohio, Dec. 2, 2020.

William J. Spahr ’57, Mobile, Ala., Oct. 28, 2020.

Noel E. Verbeek ’64, Pickerington, Ohio, June 30, 2020.

Donna Hunter Turner ’52, Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 13, 2021.

Patricia Wenzel Wolf ’57, Bonita Springs, Fla., Dec. 12, 2020.

June Rickard Freels ’65, Oxford, Ohio, Dec. 11, 2020.

Jean Niemeyer Vesper ’52 MEd ’59, Sun City, Ariz., Sept. 20, 2020.

Wilbur E. Kriete ’58, South Lyon, Mich., Jan. 5, 2021.

John H. Utsinger Jr. ’65 MEd ’69, Eaton, Ohio, Jan. 8, 2021.

Rita Adams Burgess ’53, Richland, Mo., Nov. 15, 2020.

Donald A. Peterson ’58, Albuquerque, N.M., Dec. 31, 2020.

Nancy Hossellman Galvin ’66, Lima, Ohio, Dec. 6, 2020.

Duna Verich Combs ’53, Harold, Ky., Dec. 20, 2020.

Robert L. Roll ’58, Batavia, Ohio, Feb. 8, 2021.

Arnold L. Shafer ’53, Chicago, Ill., July 25, 2020.

Patricia Sodja Snow ’58, San Marcos, Calif., July 26, 2020.

Marsha Lynn Pardo Moore ’66, Rochester Hills, Mich., Aug. 22, 2020.

John E. Sheard ’53 MEd ’55, Troy, Mich., Jan. 11, 2021.

James E. Stratton ’58 MArch ’61, Plain City, Ohio, Sept. 13, 2020.

Donald A. Bierley ’54, Miamisburg, Ohio, Jan. 18, 2021.

Mary Setzler Godwin ’59, Waynesboro, Va., Nov. 3, 2020.

Elmer T. Brooks ’54, Potomac Falls, Va., Nov. 15, 2020.

Thomas C. Sullivan Sr. ’59, Bay Village, Ohio, Nov. 30, 2020.

Claudette Herbert ’54, Houston, Texas, Nov. 25, 2020.

1960s Mary Moomaw Bodmer ’60, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 23, 2021.

Charles F. Blake ’55, Camarillo, Calif., Oct. 3, 2020.

Howard L. Hocker ’55, Mansfield, Ohio, Jan. 2, 2021.

Richard D. Klitch ’55, Austin, Texas, Jan. 31, 2021.

Charles C. Robinson ’55, Fairport, N.Y., Dec. 21, 2020.

David R. Bither ’56, Littleton, Colo., Nov. 27, 2020.

Charles S. “Stuart” Bowyer ’56, Orinda, Calif., Sept. 23, 2020.

Mark E. Lavine ’56, Melbourne Beach, Fla., Dec. 30, 2020.

David E. Stahl ’56, Gulf Breeze, Fla., Sept. 3, 2020.

Robert F. Tenhover ’56 Hon. ’85, Durham, N.C., June 21, 2020.

Barbara Sutherland Wightman ’56, Lone Tree, Colo., Oct. 15, 2020.

Robert A. Fetters ’57, Chillicothe, Ohio, Feb. 1, 2021.

Patrick A. Roy ’60 MA ’62, Oakhurst, N.J., Jan. 7, 2021.

George D. Cannon Jr. ’61, Ocean Grove, N.J., Jan. 7, 2021.

Ronald J. Roessler ’61, Baltimore, Md., Jan. 26, 2021.

Eunice Arnett Vanderbrink ’61, Chardon, Ohio, Jan. 20, 2021.

Linda Barger Weisflog ’61, Springdale, Ark., Dec. 8, 2020.

Drew A. Dutton ’62, Berwyn, Pa., March 23, 2021.

J. Stephen Applegate ’63, Houston, Texas, Dec. 12, 2020.

James A. Bixby ’63, Woodbury, Minn., Feb. 4, 2021.

Douglas E. Cameron ’63, Copley, Ohio, Dec. 15, 2020.

William W. Schrepferman ’63, Montgomery, Ohio, Dec. 8, 2020.

James E. Spainhour ’63, Hendersonville, N.C., Nov. 4, 2020.

Patricia Dennis Palm ’66, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., March 5, 2021.

Gerald R. Helser ’67, Plainfield, Ind., Jan. 19, 2021.

Frederick W. Butanowicz ’68, Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 25, 2021.

Theodore M. Patterson MA ’68, Baltimore, Md., Feb. 18, 2021.

James E. Gross ’69, Chico, Calif., Jan. 12, 2021.

David M. Hutchins ’69, Monument, Colo., Nov. 29, 2020.

Daniel F. Kahsar ’69, North Chesterfield, Va., Feb. 14, 2021.

Robert M. Spira ’69, Beachwood, Ohio, April 9, 2020.

1970s Timothy D. McClenny ’71, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., Jan. 29, 2021.

Thomas A. Schumm ’71, Dublin, Ohio, Nov. 22, 2020.

Pamela McEwen Genson ’72, Farmersville, Ohio, Nov. 26, 2020.

William M. Shackleford ’72, Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 17, 2020.

Carole Fiedler Goshorn ’73, Columbus, Ind., March 3, 2021.

Rebecca Sharp May ’73, Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 9, 2020.

Michael R. Struble ’73, Defiance, Ohio, Feb. 10, 2021.

farewells

Frank L. Trippett ’73, Herndon, Va., April 29, 2021.

Ryan W. Williams ’89, Shelby, Ohio, Nov. 20, 2020.

Gary L. Brender ’74, Altamonte Springs, Fla., March 30, 2020.

1990s Samuel L. Kossoff ’91, Cyrstal Lake, Ill., Nov. 26, 2020.

William D. Ross MEn ’74, Waynesville, Ohio, Dec. 6, 2020.

Jerry L. Argabrite ’75, Oak Harbor, Ohio, Feb. 9, 2020.

Linda Johnson Ferris ’75, New Lebanon, Ohio, Nov. 8, 2020.

Gary A. Novak ’75 MEd ’76, Roseville, Calif., Feb. 12, 2021.

Stephen A. Sewell ’75, Greenville, Ohio, Jan. 4, 2021.

Rebecca Bell Bledsoe ’76, Wapakoneta, Ohio, April 1, 2021.

John S. Coppel ’76, Columbus, Ohio, March 22, 2021.

Laura Rosen Fox ’76, Tiffin, Ohio, Dec. 31, 2020.

Edith M. Prentiss ’76, New York, N.Y., March 16, 2021.

Shahrooz Dadvand ’77, Oxford, Ohio, March 5, 2021.

Michael E. O’Neil ’78, Carlsbad, Calif., Nov. 17, 2020.

1980s Timothy W. Harr ’80, Olmsted Township, Ohio, May 17, 2020.

Linda Armstrong Rittenhouse ’80, Hillsborough, Calif., Nov. 10, 2020.

Robert B. Kyle III ’91, Port Clinton, Ohio, Dec. 2, 2020.

Joseph M. Smith ’91, Springfield, Ohio, Jan. 9, 2021.

Wendy Williams Brown ’92, Fort Thomas, Ky., Feb. 18, 2021.

Youlonda Curtis Myers ’92, Middletown, Ohio, Dec. 9, 2020.

Amy E. Brook MA ’93 PhD ’98, Tucson, Ariz., Dec. 17, 2020.

Robert D. Hamm ’95, Springboro, Ohio, Jan. 24, 2021.

Jordan T. Pulaski ’95, Olney, Md., Dec. 8, 2020.

Melissa Verdin Hampton ’97, Hamilton, Ohio, Jan. 16, 2021.

Shawna Djenge Frank ’98, Ponte Vedra, Fla., Nov. 21, 2020.

Ryan M. Flynn ’99, Front Royal, Va., Jan. 15, 2021.

2000s Todd R. Martin ’00 MA ’03, Seattle, Wash., Jan. 31, 2021.

James W. Bruning Jr. ’07, Sarasota, Fla., Nov. 24, 2020.

Kelly Gould Stettner ’08, St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 21, 2020.

Nancy Williams Connell ’81, Hamilton, Ohio, Nov. 26, 2020.

Ryan M. Clark ’10, Dalton, Ga., Jan. 31, 2021.

Michael T. Fries ’81, Phoenix, Ariz., Feb. 6, 2021.

Jaclyn Goldberg Effron ’10, Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 13, 2021.

Elizabeth Stauffer Aumann ’82, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 24, 2021.

Grant M. Johnson ’11, Bellbrook, Ohio, Jan. 20, 2021.

Brian K. Dennis ’84, Liberty Township, Ohio, Jan. 26, 2021.

Anthony J. Polizzi ’11, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Dec. 29, 2020.

David H. McLain ’86, Warren, Ohio, Dec. 3, 2020.

Brendan J. Mullaney ’88, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 5, 2021.

Amy K. Lynch ’89, Savannah, Ga., March 28, 2020.

Kristopher B. Sheikh ’12, Omaha, Neb., Dec. 16, 2020.

Alexander S. Burgess ’17, Milford, Ohio, Jan. 6, 2021.

Olivia M. White ’19, Countryside, Ill., July 18, 2020.

FACULTY, STAFF, AND FRIENDS Samuel Bennett ’53, San Francisco, Calif., Feb. 12, 2021.

Professor emeritus, music and music education, 1970–1984.

Harry F. Brooks, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 19, 2021. Administrator emeritus, School of Business Administration, 1975–1988.

Founding chair, Miami’s commerce department; director of executive education program.

Jourdan K. Carson, Hamilton, Ohio, Jan. 20, 2021. Employed at Miami since 2015.

David L. “Lee” Davis, Middletown, Ohio, Jan. 21, 2021.

Coached basketball 14 years at Miami Middletown.

Jesse D. Dickson, Oxford, Ohio, Jan. 14,2021. Associate professor emeritus, French for 35 years.

Richard J. Hofmann, Oxford, Ohio, Nov. 7, 2020. Professor emeritus, educational leadership, 1969–2006.

Michael Howett, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 26, 2021. Former doctor, Student Health Center.

Marian Carroll Jackson ’48, Chesterfield, Mo., Nov. 19, 2020.

Assistant teacher of nutrition; director of Hanna House Nursery School, 1966–1980.

Ronald C. Kern MA ’49, New Albany, Ind., April 21, 2021.

Professor of theatre, 1952–1968.

Alice C. Kettler, Oxford, Ohio, Nov. 10, 2020. Started at Miami as telephone operator, later joined audio-visual, retired from art museum, 1978-1999.

Mark A. Krabbe, Hamilton, Ohio, Jan. 18, 2021. Professor emeritus of teacher education, 1972–2001.

Katherine E. Magurn, Port Washington, Wis., Dec. 14, 2020. Assistant professor of mathematics nearly 20 years, retiring in 2015.

Betty Michael, Celebration, Fla., April 12, 2021. Worked at Student Health Services, 1972–1983.

Richard L. Nelson, Hamilton, Ohio, Dec. 14, 2020. Professor emeritus and chair, physical education, health, and sports studies, 1956–1993.

Phyllis Poccia, Oxford, Ohio, Jan. 29, 2021. Organist for Miami’s 150th anniversary celebration at dedication of Sesquicentennial Chapel; instructor at Miami and Western College for Women.

Barbara S. Pontius, Emporia, Kan., Dec. 9, 2020. Former business school administrative assistant.

Rebecca J. Rudolph, Oxford, Ohio, Feb. 17, 2021. Former secretary for graduate school dean; returned later to be an administrative assistant.

Steven E. Schraub, Middletown, Ohio, April 4, 2020. A carpenter specialist at Miami past 12 years.

Marilyn H. Sherman ’98, Oxford, Ohio, Dec. 31, 2020.

Retired from accounting in Bursars Office and Shriver Center.

Brenda C. Smith, Hamilton, Ohio, Jan. 8, 2021. Math instructor, Miami’s Hamilton campus.

Alfrieda K. Stafford, Somerville, Ohio, Jan. 10, 2021. Staff nurse, Student Health Center, 1965– 1991, retiring as director.

Don B. Sullenger, Centerville, Ohio, Dec. 28, 2020. Adjunct professor of chemistry.

Randy L. Tussey, Oxford, Ohio, Dec. 24, 2020.

Jack Vivian, Camden, Ohio, Feb. 17, 2021.

Douglas M. Wilson ’64 MA ’69, Francesville, Ind., March 5, 2021. Miami’s alumni secretary and director of alumni affairs; returned to be vice president for university relations, 1982–1988.

Dale Wood, Oxford, Ohio, Nov. 21, 2020. At Miami many years.

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 Megan Smith, Advancement Services Building, Miami University, 926 Chestnut Lane, Oxford, Ohio 45056.

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days of old

Tuffy’s Toasted Roll. Sweet!

In case you’re not familiar with Tuffy’s Toasted Roll, you

begin with a quality bun, like a cinnamon twist, slather it with butter, grill it, sprinkle confectioners sugar all over it, and enjoy — until your cardiologist calls.

Credit Tuffy Potter with starting this tasty Miami tradition. A native of Green Springs, Ohio, he came to Oxford to attend college.

Lack of funds forced him to leave school and take a drugstore job uptown. In 1929, he opened his own place on the ground floor of Tallawanda Apartments on the northwest corner of Tallawanda and High.

According to Tuffy’s son, Coe, Class of 1962, a restaurant uptown already offered a sweet roll. Tuffy thought he could improve on it. He sure did.

“It sold from the time we opened in the morning until the time we closed at night,” Coe recalls. Some liked to add ice cream to it, others peanut butter.

Until 1948, Tuffy’s was the only place on campus, other than the Sangy Man’s truck, where students could buy food. Plus, the campus dining facilities offered more formal, white-tablecloth events.

“There wasn’t a student at Miami who didn’t go through Tuffy’s,” said Coe, who bought the sandwich shop when poor health forced his dad to retire.

With Miami planning to tear down the building and needing to replace failing equipment, Coe closed it in the mid-’70s. At auction, the used equipment didn’t bring a thing, but the 21 booths sold for lots of money. That’s because the tables were covered in students’ initials dating back to the shop’s start.

“People, particularly boys and girls who got married and carved their initials in there together, they’d come back years later and go back to that same booth and find them,” Coe said.

Then they’d settle in for another toasted roll at Tuffy’s.

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Tuffy Potter and his son, Coe ’62, pose for a final photo before the sandwich shop in Tallawanda closes.

With Tuffy’s blessing, Miami has sold his toasted roll ever since. These days, you can purchase one in Armstrong Student Center’s Pulley Diner.

t a en re ud ng a f t g S ini t o . on d igh ear str ain e he st y m m a Ar er’s g th -19 l nt urin ID e C d OV C

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YE AR S O F SERV IC E See page 26