Bobcats, everywhere
Rudy Maxa, BSJ ’71, is host and executive producer of “Rudy Maxa’s World,” the public television travel series featuring destinations as diverse as India and Argentina. He is well known as public radio’s “The Savvy Traveler” and an award-winning contributing editor with National Geographic Traveler. He recently visited Chiang Rai, Thailand.
The happiest students • Modern dance innovator Alwin Nikolais • Got Swabbed?
Ohio University graduates, like you, embody the promise of this singular place! You’re one of 200,000 alumni who have experienced the welcoming academic community, the studentcentered learning, and the nurturing environment that are hallmarks of our university: a university that encourages self-discovery and personal growth on the path to a college degree. Your connection to this distinctive group, with a shared OHIO experience, continues to make a difference for our university. You carry forward your legacy and shape your alma mater’s future when you
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The promise
OHIOTODAY WHEREVER YOU THERE WE ARE
GO,
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1, FALL/WINTER 2010
12 Far and Away Ohio networks link alumni all over the world, whether they’re teaching in Indonesia, trekking through Thailand or on a medical mission in Haiti.
22 By Leaps and Bounds As the dance world celebrates the centennial of Alwin Nikolais’ birth, Ohio University reflects on its connections to this master of innovation.
28 Got Swabbed? A few cells can save a life — and the Ohio students who have made this message their mission have organized a record-breaking campus campaign. Now, they want you involved.
D E P A R T M E N T S
3 Letters 31 Bobcat Tracks 42 In Memoriam 44 Last Word
Find us on the Web Ohio University: ohio.edu Ohio Today Online: ohiotodayonline.com
Dinda Jouhana
RIGHT: Angie Kilbane, BA ’07, teaches in Indonesia and volunteers with Nurani Dunia, an Indonesian foundation with multiple Ohio connections. COVER PHOTO: RMW Productions, Ltd
T H E
P R E S I D E N T ’ S
P E R S P E C T I V E
Excellence, defined By Roderick J. McDavis
OHIOTODAY EDITOR
Mariel Jungkunz, MS ’07 DESIGNER
Sarah McDowell, BFA ’02 PHOTOGRAPHER
Kevin Riddell, MA ’09 CONTRIBUTORS
A
Christina Baird
bout a year and a half ago, we began working to develop our vision for Ohio University. Articulating succinctly who we are and who we want to become was not as easy as we thought. Discussions were held with our senates’ leadership, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, deans, students, and governing and advisory boards. How could we sum up in one statement that which we do every day, and have done for 206 years? However, through our discussion, it became clear that the residential-learning experience at Ohio University is more than just life in a residence hall, more than a faculty member who delivers a lecture, and more than a staff member who responds to e-mails. It became clear that Ohio University is defined not just by what our students learn, but how they learn. This collaboration led to our vision statement, “Ohio University will be the best transformative learning community where students realize their promise, faculty advance knowledge, staff achieve excellence and alumni become global leaders.” Our vision honors who we are and who we have been for 206 years. We are an institution that from the depths of its very soul and its earliest beginnings has been a transformative place of learning. Our university is successful because we are a community of committed people who are focused on our students. Our faculty and staff share their expertise, they want to guide students on their journey, and they want to transform students’ lives. The E.W. Scripps College of Communication has been named a As alumni of Ohio Center of Excellence for the state of Ohio. Here, student trustee University, we know Danielle Parker, a Scripps student, addresses the audience at the announcement ceremony. firsthand the role that this great university has played in lifting us up, in shaping us to be the professionals we are today. But a vision must be about what we will become. Our vision states that we “will be the best.” Being the best at what we do is a noble goal for our university. In order to survive and thrive in the 21st century, we must elevate our university to the next level. Our survival is hinged on ensuring the relevancy of what we offer, being responsive to the changing needs of society and our students, and being competitive with other higher education institutions. Our beloved university must be at the forefront of change — a leader for transformation. After all, it is who we are. Make no mistake, our journey will not be easy, but we will face tomorrow’s challenges together. And we will be the best student-centered learning experience in America because of you, our alumni and friends. You are living proof of the promise of an Ohio University education!
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Mary Abowd, PHD ’11 Makenzie Bowker, BSJ ’11 Lindsey Burrows, BSJ ’09 Gina Edwards, BSJ ’11 Molly Essell, BSJ ’11 Julie Feinerman, BSJ ’11 Megan Greve, BSJ ’10 Beth Lipton, BSJ ’11 Kevin Wilson, PHD ’12 PRINTER
The Watkins Printing Co.
Ohio University PRESIDENT
Roderick J. McDavis, BSED ’70 VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE OHIO UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Howard R. Lipman EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
Renea Morris ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI RELATIONS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Graham Stewart DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION FOR THE OHIO UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Jan Miller-Fox, BFA ’77 DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Jennifer Shutt Bowie, BSJ ’94, MS ’99 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
M. Marnette Perry, chair C. Robert Kidder, vice chair Sandra J. Anderson, BS ’73 David Brightbill, BSED ’70 Yvette McGee Brown, BSJ ’82 Norman E. Dewire, BSED ’58 Gene T. Harris, PHD ’99 David Wolfort, AB ’74 Danielle Parker, student trustee Kyle Triplett, student trustee Frank P. Krasovec, BBA ’65, MBA ’66, national trustee Charles R. Stuckey Jr., BSME ’66, national trustee Arlene Greenfield, BSHE ’71, alumni chair Thomas E. Davis, BGS ’73, secretary Michael Angelini, acting treasurer Ohio Today is published twice a year, in fall and spring. Ohio Today Online is published four times a year at www. ohiotodayonline.com. The magazine is produced by University Advancement with funding provided by The Ohio University Foundation. Views expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or university policies. Copyright 2010 by Ohio University Ohio University is an affirmative action institution.
To contact us Editorial offices are located at Scott Quad 173, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701-2979. Send story ideas, items for Bobcat Tracks or comments about the magazine to that address, e-mail them to ohiotoday@ohio.edu or call the editor, Mariel Jungkunz, 740-593-1891. Address changes may be made by visiting www.ohioalumni.org. Address changes and information for In Memoriam also may be sent to Advancement Services, HDL Center 168, Athens, OH 45701-0869 or e-mailed to ohiotoday@ohio.edu. To reach the Ohio University switchboard, call 740-593-1000.
F ROM T HE I N B OX Thanks for the memories I just finished reading my Ohio Today Spring/Summer issue and really enjoyed it. I graduated in 1973, and it was fun to see the pictures from that era. Keep up the good work. Bruce McIlrath, BBA ’73 Pittsburgh, Pa. As a 1957 BSJ grad and longtime writer/ magazine editor and visiting professor of journalism (back in 1983), I loved the idea for a backward look at all the graduating classes and the personnel. I found the issue to be a terrific one — probably the best I’ve seen the university produce in many years. Congratulations to all who were involved. Frank Bowers, BSJ ’57 Wantagh, N.Y. This one’s a keeper! The magazine evoked a lot of warm memories of finalsweek floods, hikes up and down those treacherous steps from the East Green to the main campus, and all those wonderful mom-and-pop shops and diners we used to haunt way back in the day. Really smart issue and nicely executed! Thanks. Larry Froelich, BSJ ’64 Lexington, Ky.
Always room for Jell-O I really loved the recent “Looking Back” issue, and was excited to see a photo (on page 30) of the event that I planned with fellow members of the James Hall council for West Green Weekend 1988. What you see in the photo isn’t mud, but two flavors of Jell-O — cherry and lime, all mixed together. Getting the wrestling ring built was quite a feat. We were able to get the university to donate surplus mattresses to use as a base, and we used old mattress pads to bolster the sides, which we made out of lumber. The Jell-O was made in 5-gallon buckets by the staff in Boyd cafeteria, and we moved more than 300 gallons using a housekeeping van! It was really a hoot. I have some great photos in my scrapbook of me scooping the Jell-O back out of the ring. What a mess! That was the first major event that I had ever planned, while a freshman in James Hall. That got me involved in lots of other activities — by 1989 I helped plan the entire West Green Weekend, and from 1989 to 1991, I served as an RA in James. Twenty years later I still work in
student affairs, now in Wisconsin. Did it all start with Jell-O wrestling? Just maybe ... John Quincy Chapman, BSJ ’91, MED ’93 Eau Claire, Wis.
Life in the dorms Just read your latest issue, and I loved it! I especially like the photos from days gone by, and the comparisons and contrasts you made with the way things on campus are today. I have just one correction, though. On page 28, you note that 1980 was the “first year freshmen and upperclassmen shared a dorm.” This is far from true. I lived in Bryan Hall all four years of my undergrad career. Bryan was distinctly an all-classes dorm, as were Jefferson and Johnson halls when I lived in them during summer semesters — as I recall, I think most dorms mixed the classes. When I was assistant resident director in Boyd Hall during my grad school years on campus (1968–70), Ryors Hall was an “experimental” dorm: freshmen (girls) only. As I recall, that idea was later disposed of because we all saw that having upperclassmen around to mentor was a valuable asset. What’s amazing to me is that now Bryan and Boyd are both coed. Good thing I attended OU when I did. I would never have gotten any studying done if that had been the case in the ’60s. Barbara Glenk Good, AB ’68, MS ’76 Pittsburgh, Pa. Upperclassmen and freshmen did mix in the dorms in the 1960s. But in the late 1970s, the dorms were divided by class, and in 1980, the idea to mix the classes in dorms and rooms was trumpeted as a “successful experiment” by the 1980 Post and Spectrum Green yearbook. What goes around, comes around!
Beat of a drum major I am a 1961 graduate of Ohio University. My father, Paul Murphy, was a professor of classical languages at that time. He introduced me to OU football, and I attended every home game in then Ohio Stadium from late 1949 through 1960, inclusive. I used to walk along with the OU marching band uphill to downtown Athens following the games. If OU had won, the band members, including the conductors, wore their hats turned backward.
Kudos to the digital, too I love the way Ohio Today Online is so simple to use and how easy it is to flip through the pages. This is the kind of innovation I’m proud to see coming from my college. Not only is it fast, efficient and entertaining, it is functional, practical and sustainable (meaning “green”). You guys are doing an excellent job. Zane Sebasovich, BBA ’06, BSC ’06 Harrisburg, Pa. Thank you so much for this incredible issue of Ohio Today Online. With the accompanying script and even music at times, it provided me a wonder ful hour, reminiscing about my time at Ohio University. This multimedia magazine exemplifies the quality that OU produces — in so many different ways. Dee Zackel Wirkiowski, AB ’62 Lakewood, Ohio What a great little online magazine. The Court Street piece (“On Court Street”) was great. In the mid-70s there was a bar down the alley between the Varsity Theatre and the Woolworth building called The Longbranch Saloon. Your photos reminded me of it. You couldn’t see it from Court Street and had to walk down the alley. I remember it had a second floor and an outside porch. Never really caught on, but I had a good time when I was there. Love the histor y stuff. Keep up the good work. Sean Gallagher, BGS ’78 Cleveland, Ohio Ohio Today Online is e-mailed to all alumni and available at www. ohiotodayonline.com. Not on our mailing list? Update your e-mail address at www.ohioalumni.org/update.
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depicted was not Homecoming, and we were misled by the text. Unfortunately, no other information is provided about the photo. After verifying several records, we confirmed that Phillip Eugene Saunders was not named assistant drum major until 1956; based on the uniform, we believe the student is drum major Ron Owens.
By any other name
Your Spring/Summer 2010 issue brings back vivid memories of mine, but I would like to take issue with the caption in the lower right-hand corner of page 16; i.e., “The ... marching band led the 1955 homecoming parade ... through Athens that morning.” The photograph clearly shows the band wearing their hats turned backward. This, I believe, was done only following an OU win and, unfortunately, OU lost the 1955 Homecoming game to Kent State. The other thing that leads me to believe that this photograph was not taken in 1955 is the male drum major at the right of the photograph. To my eye he, in uniform, somewhat resembles Phillip Eugene Saunders, the first African-American drum major at OU, as he appears in “Diamond Ohio: A History of the Ohio University Bands,” by George A. Brozak, on page 66. I enjoy every issue of Ohio Today, and particularly enjoyed this one because of so many pictures and references to Athens and Ohio University during the time (1947–1961) when I was living there and was intimately acquainted with events on campus. I would appreciate any comments that you may have. Gordon K. Murphy, AB ’61 Dayton, Ohio The photo appeared in the 1955-56 yearbook accompanying an article about Homecoming. However, the event 4
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In the Spring/Summer issue of Ohio Today, Betty Hollow states in a letter that Jerry Grim “muddles some OU history” regarding the name “Harvard on the Hocking.” I think it is Betty who “muddles” history. I don’t think either President John C. Baker or President Vern Alden should be credited with the term. I enrolled at OU in February of 1948 and graduated in 1951. Through those years, I often heard the term “Little Harvard on the Hocking,” and it was invariably attributed to the fact that President Baker had come from Harvard and had recruited several of his colleagues and Harvard graduates to follow him to this little university in Ohio. For sure, the term existed far before Alden ever left Harvard — maybe before he even enrolled there — and Baker didn’t originate it. We’ll never know who coined the phrase — maybe a student, perhaps a writer or editor on the OU Green and White. Somewhere the “Little” must have been dropped from the term, but no matter. The operative word was “Harvard,” and it gave me great pride to know my OU was juxtaposed alongside one of the great universities of the world. It only strengthened my pride and loyalty to OU — cut me, and I bleed Ohio green. Robert Young, AB ’51 Arlington Heights, Ill. Thanks for the clarification. It was not our intention (nor Betty Hollow’s) to give either president sole credit for the phrase, but to explain the connection between Ohio University and Harvard. We are sorry for any misunderstanding. I graduated from OU in 1971, and in all of the circles I traveled all I ever heard Ohio University called was “Harvard on the Hocking.” Not until I read (Betty Hollow’s) reply to Jerry Grim had I ever heard the term “Berkeley of the Backwoods.” Interesting concept, though, and it probably traveled through the radicals’ circles. The shutdown of the university
in 1970 angered me then and, today, I remain bitter. Some may think of those days as glory days, but my interpretation is quite different. Greg Fraunfelter, BSED ’71, MSPE ’88 Logan, Ohio
Orange you glad? I thoroughly enjoyed your Spring/Summer 2010 issue. It was truly outstanding. But I am writing to correct the depiction of the “Orange Riot of 1958” styled as a food riot in the national media. As I recall, the report on a national morning news program was along the lines of the following: “Last night 20,000 students at Ohio State University engaged in a food fight”— wrong on all counts. First, it was OU, not OSU; there were likely not even 20,000 people in all of Athens County at the time; and it was certainly not a food fight. In 1958, the head of food services had purchased beautiful, softball-sized oranges from Texas that were practically tasteless. Nonetheless, several men on the East Green took the oranges back to the dorms for a snack later. Two guys started tossing one of the oranges back and forth. Whereupon a campus cop appeared yelling, “No ball playing on the Green,” which was indeed a rule at the time. As several other guys started playing catch with their oranges, the officer called in reinforcements. Guys came pouring out of the dorms to see the commotion, and at some point somebody yelled, “Panty raid on Jefferson Hall” — the only women’s dorm on the Green at the time. At this time, the crowd had been joined by as many women as men, and traveled to Scott Quad (another women’s dorm). The Athens Police and Ohio Patrol were on the scene, adding to the
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Ohio Today welcomes letters from readers. We reserve the right to edit for grammar, space, clarity and civility. Please include your Ohio University affiliation, address and a phone number. To share your letters: • Send an e-mail to ohiotoday@ohio.edu • Address mail to: Ohio Today, Scott Quad 173, Ohio University Athens, OH 45701-2979 • Fax letters to 740-593-0662
mayhem. It was nearing 10 p.m., time for the women to be in their residences. Most of the crowd dispersed, although I understand some diehards entertained the assembled law enforcement for a couple of more hours. All in all, the “Orange Riot” was largely considered by students as a spring lark precipitated by overzealous law enforcement. With 52-year hindsight, it is clear they dealt with a large crowd that could have gotten out of control and perhaps did before it was finally over. For me it is a pleasant memory and an early lesson that something along the lines of what you read in the media may well have happened, but likely not exactly as reported. (With apologies to the School of Journalism.) Again, congratulations on a thoroughly enjoyable issue. Del Dowling, BSCOM ’58 Huntington Bay, N.Y.
Memorable moments My wife, Ginnie, and I received the Spring/ Summer 2010 edition of Ohio Today, and we have read it from cover to cover. I enrolled as a freshman at Ohio U. on the G.I. Bill following World War II in the fall of 1946, when the enrollment was about 5,000 students. During 1947–48, I lived in the temporary apartment building (B-3) on the East Green area affectionately called “Hog Island.” During 1950–51, while I was working on a master’s degree in psychology, I served as a counselor for freshmen men living in Scott Quad. It was not until 1959 that Ginnie and I returned to Ohio University. President John C. Baker appointed me dean of men, replacing Maurel Hunkins who became director of special occasions. By then, Ginnie and I had married, had three children, and I had completed my doctorate in counseling psychology at the University of Kansas. In 1962, Vernon R. Alden was named president, and his first administrative appointment was that of naming me dean of students, overseeing all of the men’s and women’s student affairs programs and services. I was amused by the insert on page 21 of Ohio Today, which dealt with the masked marauders’ brazen panty raid. The Ohio University Post reported one of my “better” quotes when I stated, as dean of students, that “this cannot be
CONTRIBU TORS Mary Abowd (“By Leaps and Bounds”) is a doctoral student in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Prior to moving to Athens, she spent more than a decade as a reporter and writer in Chicago. As an associate editor at Chicago Magazine, she often covered the arts, interviewing Philip Glass, Daniel Barenboim and other artists. She is a recipient of the George Washington Williams Journalism Fellowship and the Jack G. Shaheen Mass Communications Scholarship. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Reporter, the Chicago Sun-Times, ColorLines, In These Times, Middle East International, the National Catholic Reporter and The Progressive, among others. Senior Makenzie Bowker (editorial assistant) is a magazine journalism major also earning a certificate in women’s and gender studies. On campus, she is the former president of Alpha Omicron Pi, a member of Order of Omega and Mortar Board, and a tour guide. Makenzie has interned at The Atlanta JournalConstitution, Atlanta Life Magazine, Atlanta Magazine and CNN. After graduation, she hopes to pursue writing professionally. David Pohl (illustration, “Got Swabbed?”) is a Pittsburgh-based freelance illustrator, multimedia artist and arts educator. Some of his recent clients include: Business Week, Courrier Japon, Fortune, The Globe and Mail, Harvard Law Bulletin, Kikkoman Corporation, National Geographic, The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Time for Kids, The Washington Post and Yoga Journal. David lives in a country house and enjoys making coffee first and then, just about anything else: pictures for magazines, songs on the piano, spirograph drawings, raspberry and feta cheese tortillas. He collects vinyl records. Julie Feinerman (editorial assistant) is a senior magazine journalism major with a specialization in English. She interned at Montgomery News in Belle Mead, N.J., and Compass Healthcare Marketers, developing an interest in health care and online media. On campus, she has contributed to Speakeasy Magazine and looks forward to writing for the new student publication Athens Bread. After graduation, Julie plans to pursue more freelance and travel writing.
considered a normal college prank.” The picture on page 21 brought back many uneasy memories of the annual spring floods, which occurred on the East and West greens. Thank goodness, President Alden was successful in his efforts to relocate the Hocking River after I left OU in 1965. At that time, I became the vice president for student affairs at the University of Miami, a position I held for the next 32 years until my retirement in 1997. The pictures of the campus and the Athens community, and the information about many other student activities and events (J-Prom, campus water fights, varsity athletics), donations from alumni,
former professors like Edgar Whan, student protests and the like, were very much appreciated. Congratulations on an absolutely superb publication. William Butler, BSED ’50, MA ’51 Virginia Ault Butler, AB ’51 Palmetto Bay, Fla. Corrections: In the Spring/Summer issue, the photo of Court Street on page 10 should have been credited to Fred C. Tom of Lamborn’s Studio and Custom Framing in Athens. A photo of Chris Stefan was identified as Ralph Sayre in the article “Against the Odds: The Loyal Bobcats of 1946.” We regret the omission and error.
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A CROSS T HE C OLLEGE G REEN L O O K
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Emily Martin
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Are Bobcats the happiest? According to www.myplan.com, Ohio University students ranked first in “overall satisfaction and happiness” with their choice of school. Unlike other college rankings, the MyPlan survey is updated daily with the input of nearly 12,000 alumni from schools across the country. While the rankings fluctuate on a daily basis — and are far from scientific — Ohio has been holding steady at the No. 1 spot. The fact that students continue to fall in love with Ohio University isn’t a surprise to alumni and current students alike. Enrollment is growing (it rose by 6 percent this year); we know students appreciate the picturesque campus and strong academic programs. But what else contributes to a Bobcat’s overall well-being? Perhaps the free massages offered during finals week at Baker Center have something to do with it. Or the famous comedians who visit every year (including Mo Rocca in November). Or is it the joy of fall quarter, jam-packed with activities, including Homecoming, and so beautiful to behold, that keeps us smiling all year? Whatever the reason, there’s no denying the fact that happy Bobcats are everywhere you look — in Ohio, and around the world. ABOVE: Students await the Homecoming parade on Court Street.
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What makes you happy?
“Ohio University has had an integral role in shaping the woman I am today. Somewhere among all the student organizations, academia and discovering those friends who are the most important people in my life, this campus has become my second home. What makes me happiest as a Bobcat is being surrounded by a community of students and faculty who truly believe in me and want me to succeed, and I wouldn’t trade my college experience for the world!” — Senior Maddie Stevens, university tour guide
Alumni committed to the success of Ohio University’s The Promise Lives Campaign are volunteering for key leadership positions to help raise $450 million in support of the university’s mission. Here, two of them share their excitement about the campaign. Watch for more interviews in future issues of Ohio Today. Emmett Boyle, MS ’70 Chair, Russ College Campaign Steering Committee Why I volunteer: I have been a member of the Russ College Board of Visitors for many years, and I have witnessed the evolution of this college into what I consider “greatness.” With the support of the Russ gift ($95 million bequeathed in 2008), what had been a dream will be a reality. I am eager to generate even more growth and success, and I clearly understand that the envisioned capital campaign for the university can help us become even more successful in obtaining this goal. Favorite Ohio memory: I completed my graduate degree in industrial and systems engineering in the 1970s. My most fond memories are of some of my professors and the education I received. In my professional life, I am first and foremost an engineer, and I owe a great deal of that success and passion for engineering to the exposure to the field that I received at Ohio University. What makes higher education important: The United States is facing tremendous competitive challenges, and if we hope to continue to be a significant contributor to the advancement of our fellow man, we must excel in our ability to educate.
Jeffery Chaddock, BSC ’88 Scholarships Campaign Steering Committee
Why I volunteer: Having volunteered in the last two capital campaigns, it has been an extraordinary experience to advance the mission of the university through exceeding its campaign objectives. Through leadership and philanthropy,
Campaign Steering Committee: Chuck Stuckey, BSME ’66, Chairman David A. Wolfort, AB ’74, Vice-Chairman Laura Brege, AB ’78 C. Daniel DeLawder, BSED ’71 Chuck Emrick, BSCOM ’51, MSJ ’52 Frank Krasovec, BBA ’65, MBA ’66 Sheila McHale, AB ’68 Alan Riedel, AB ’52 Steve Schoonover, MFA ’67
Jenn Reed
Volunteers onboard, ready for campaign
What made you happy as an Ohio student?
“My happiest memory is — no question — Homecoming and the preparation for the floats the prior 24 hours. It brought the best of creativity, camaraderie and enthusiasm together.” — Jeffery Chaddock, BSC ’88, scholarships campaign steering committee
I have been able to pay tribute to the university for what it has provided in my life. What I hope for the campaign: A broad understanding of the Urban Scholars initiative, and a higher level of participation that in the past has been seldom championed. What alumni should know: Alumni have the experience and the financial wherewithal to really establish a foundation for the Urban Scholars program. Individuals who have had a leadership role often find the Urban Scholars program a rewarding endeavor. What I’ve learned in my travels: OU is a special place. On an international front, the institution that a person graduated from is often omitted five years after graduation. It appears that in the case of OU, not only is it highlighted with greater emphasis, but that pride and enthusiasm does not wane 30 to 40 years after graduation. I guess it has made me appreciate the connectivity we have, unlike larger institutions.
Jeff Stanley, DO ’82 Barbara Strom Thompson, AB ’82 Robert Walter, BSME ’67 Unit Committee Chairs: Jeffery Chaddock, BSC ’88, Scholarships Tom Anderson, DO ’83, College of Osteopathic Medicine Bill Dillingham, BBA ’71, Intercollegiate Athletics David Scholl, PHD ’81, Cutler Scholars
— Molly Essell
Emmett Boyle, MS ’70, Russ College of Engineering and Technology David Wilhelm, AB ’77, College of Arts and Sciences Charlotte Westerhaus, BSJ ’76, MED ’86, Patton College of Education and Human Services Harry White, AB ’69, Regional Campuses Perry Sook, BSC ’80, Scripps College of Communication As of 11/05/10
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Please join us in congratulating the latest alumni award recipients. Awards were presented at the Alumni Awards Gala, Homecoming weekend, on Friday, Oct. 15. David L. Hostetler, MFA ’49 Artist; Alumnus of the Year Laura M. Justice, AB ’92, BSED ’94, MED ’96, PHD ’00 Professor, Ohio State University; Medal of Merit Jenny Holzer, BFA ’72 Owner and artist, Jenny Holzer Studio; Medal of Merit Jeffrey Alan Finkle, BSC ’76 President and CEO, the International Economic Development Council; Medal of Merit Terrance A. Lee, AB ’72 Owner and accountant, Lee & Associates Certified Public Accountants; Distinguished Service Award Matthew J. Raider, BSC ’03 Vice president of product development, SinglePipe Inc.; Charles J. and Claire O. Ping Recent Graduate Award Mark Snider President and CEO, Snider Fuller Porter and Associates; Honorary Alumnus of the Year
Time to cheer: Festivities, games and more!
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icking off with the Ohio–Ohio State matchup Sept. 18, fall quarter started with a bang. Alumni were out in full force in Columbus, cheering for the Bobcats at the Pre-Game Jam at the Lodge Bar. In October, Ohio celebrated the return of alumni and friends in true Bobcat fashion, and we have the pictures to prove it! Green-and-white decorations covered Athens as alumni poured into town for Homecoming 2010, “Let the Games Begin.” Highlights from many events — including the parade, the football game, the Alumni Awards Gala, and the crowning of the first Homecoming king and queen in decades — can be viewed online. Check out videos and pictures at www.ohioalumni.org. What’s next? A new tradition, Spring Reunion Weekend, will be held April 1-3 on campus. See the calendar, on page 35, for more. TOP: Homecoming 2010: Marching 110 drummers Chad Vasquez and Eric Muhlberger perform in the parade; the football team fights for the win against the Akron Zips: final score 38–10. BOTTOM: (left) Friends favoring opposing teams still have much to smile about at the Bobcat Bash hosted by the Alumni Association prior to the Ohio–Ohio State game Sept. 18; (right) Ross Righter, BSC ’06, and Gretchen Rivera, AB ’01, provided percussion and Bobcat spirit!
We’d also like to congratulate the most recent inductees of The Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame: Julie A. Cole, BSED ’75, managing partner and director of instruction, Dana Rader Golf School, ranked among LPGA Top 50 teachers; Glenn C. Randall Lifetime Achievement Award Joseph B. Carbone, BSED ’70, head coach, Ohio University baseball team Michael D. Arbinger, BSPE ’02, physical education teacher and baseball coach, Toledo Public Schools Jake D. Percival, BSSP ’05, assistant wrestling coach, Heidelberg College
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ocated on East Green, Shively Hall has been home to many Bobcats since it was built in 1956. Although it still serves as a residence hall and dining hall today, it certainly looks different than it did 50 years ago. A new and improved Shively made its grand debut in the fall of 2009, with a redesigned dining hall opening in 2010. The skylights, sleek booth seating and Jackson Pollock prints decorating the walls caused quite a buzz on campus. Students continue to line up at this new hot spot during lunch and dinner hours — and even the Grab-n-Go line snakes around the building. “We renovated Shively from a traditional style dining hall to a more modern, food court-style dining hall,” says Rich Neumann, director of residential dining. “We gave the space a retail restaurant feel, but it is still an allyou-care-to-eat.” Future plans include renovating the other three dining halls to have a similar atmosphere to Shively’s, Neumann says. “The new Shively is great,” says Ray Wolfe, a junior choral music education major. “It definitely makes eating in the dining hall much more enjoyable.” — Makenzie Bowker
Kevin RIddell
Shively dining options
Dining services: By the numbers 8,003 STUDENTS had a meal plan. On average, 1,600 STUDENTS eat lunch at Shively dining hall and 425 purchase Grab-n-Go meals at lunch every day. Approximately 1,050 STUDENTS were employed by Dining Services. 1,836,562 MEALS were served in four dining halls. This averages out to approximately 7,900 MEALS PER DAY.
Combined, the university’s dining halls served: 89,212 lbs, chicken tenders 71,876 lbs, chicken breast 34,970 lbs, pasta 24,550 lbs, chicken nuggets 19,750 lbs, hamburgers 100,280 lbs, bananas 26,866 lbs, romaine lettuce 29,820 apples Figures for 2009-10, except for Shively
ABOVE: Shively Dining Hall was closed for a year and reopened in fall of 2010 as Shively Court, featuring seven dining stations and a Grab-n-Go menu.
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Baker’s Corner Ice Cream Shoppe: Ice cream flavors (rotated on a regular basis) and toppings. The “Shookie” (Shively’s special triple chocolate cookie) is available only at Baker’s Corner. Fuego: Popular Mexican favorites. Brick Hill Grille: Build your own burger, hot dog, veggie burger or chicken sandwich. Touch of Home: Mom’s favorite home-style dishes, including macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, grilled sandwiches, carved meats, casseroles and more. Pomodoro Italian Experience: Fresh baked pizza, pasta dishes, breadsticks and more. East Deli: Made-to-order sandwiches on sub rolls baked daily on campus. Soup and Vegetarian Station: Vegetarian entrées, vegetarian soup and bread bowls.
What we love about fall quarter... The smell of fresh books, pumpkin cider and the crisp autumn air all mark the beginning of fall quarter at Ohio University. The freshmen are the envy of upperclassmen and alumni alike as they begin their love affair with Athens and southeastern Ohio — drinking in all the wonderment of the rolling hills, rustic brick streets and changing leaves. With the help of three seniors interning at Ohio Today, we’ve compiled a list of what today’s students love about fall quarter. 1. Donkey Coffeehouse chider is a sure-tell sign that fall has finally arrived. The delectable combination of chai and apple cider is the epitome of fall aromas.
of the Marching 110. Hockey games are also popular, and the Bird Arena is often packed full of students in the Gang Green, cheering the Bobcats to another victory.
2. Just a short drive to the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show is bound to get you in the fall spirit! Make sure you try the pumpkin fudge, chili and waffles. Yum!
7. Every fall, the pawpaw, North America’s largest native fruit and the official native fruit of Ohio, is celebrated at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival at Lake Snowden. Great food, music and amusing competitions (the pawpaw eating contest) never fail to entertain.
3. A morning jog along the Hocking River. 4. Students can be found counting down the days until Homecoming during fall quarter. Ohio University’s Homecoming is a weekend of fun: a Court Street parade, a packed football game, nostalgic alumni roaming campus and an overwhelming amount of Bobcat pride! 5. A new class of Bobcats invades campus every fall. Starting at the Campus Involvement Fair, freshmen are presented with all the opportunities that Ohio University has to offer them. It is just the beginning of a long and wonderful relationship. 6. Fall sports are a favorite. Students spend their Saturdays cheering on the football team and dancing along to the music
8. A staple experience of Bobcat life, Halloween weekend gets students’ blood rising in anticipation for that walk out onto a cramped Court Street. Thousands of visitors and students parade through town in their creative costumes — from cardboard Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man and fully painted Smurf characters to the everpresent politicians. Anything goes in Athens! 9. Catching up with friends and their crazy summer experiences makes the first days of fall like no other quarter! 10. Savor autumn’s freshest flavors at the Athens Farmers Market with juicy apples, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and plump pumpkins to satisfy those pre-Thanksgiving cravings.
7. Jumping 11. in the piles of leaves on College Every window overlooks an arrayGreen of reds, oranges and yellows, and the view of a colorful campus from the bend on U.S. 33 is simply unforgettable.
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Close to her heart:
Artist inspired by region, campus To commemorate the donation of Betsy Ross Koller’s painting, Ohio University celebrated Appalachian Heritage Day on Sept. 30. A lecture, student films and panel discussion explored the unique resources and challenges of Appalachian Ohio.
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etsy Ross Koller’s paintings are inspired by her memories. “They come from my heart,” Koller says. She grew up as the eldest of four sisters in Morgan County, one of the poorest counties in Appalachian Ohio, but her father’s successful veterinary practice set her apart. She remembers her father telling her, “You’re a privileged child, Betsy Ross, so when you grow up, you will have to give back.” Since Koller recalls warm memories of Athens, and several members of her family attended the university, it was natural for her to choose Ohio University as a subject. Koller, an internationally renowned artist, recently donated the painting “Homecoming at Ohio University” to The Ohio University Foundation. At Ohio University, Betsy pursued studies in English and voice, which were interrupted when she left for Europe with her husband, Paul Koller, BSME ’62. While abroad, they spent the majority of their 28 years in Switzerland, where Betsy studied Swiss naive art, a style that became the basis for her professional painting career. The painting, which will reside in Cutler Hall, motivated a local couple to make a generous contribution to the Appalachian Scholars Program. “This region has given us so much, and we want to give back,” said one of the donors. Since Betsy donated the copyrights to the Foundation, proceeds from the sale of prints, postcards and other items will also support the Appalachian Scholars Program. Because it benefits children from Appalachia, as she was herself once, this program is particularly What made you happy close to Koller’s heart. She hopes her current work will “help young people as an Ohio student? back home.” “Even prior to my entrance at At a dinner celebrating the donation Ohio University in 1961, I had of the painting and the honorary been studying voice with Ann charitable gift, Koller hinted at future Meritt at the music department. paintings. “Homecoming” depicts the I continued my studies with campus in autumn, but Koller said, her, minoring in voice. In my “Remember, the campus goes through sophomore year, I auditioned four seasons.” To make a gift in support of the for a lead singing role in the Appalachian Scholars Program in annual school musical. ... My honor of the next painting, please performance was reviewed in contact Samuel Venable at (740) 593glowing terms. I was ecstatic!” 2206 or venable@ohio.edu. For details on purchasing the print, see page 41. — Betsy Ross Koller — Kevin Wilson
Beginning with this issue of Ohio Today and continuing in future issues, we will feature a brief review of an Ohio University Press book, written by a staff or faculty member. “The Last of His Mind” was published in 2009 by Swallow Press, the Ohio University Press trade imprint. It received much critical acclaim and was named one of the top 10 memoirs of the year in The Washington Post. BOOK REVIEW: “The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s” by John Thorndike; Swallow Press, Ohio University When author John Thorndike’s 91-yearold father began showing symptoms of Alzheimer’s, he moved to his father’s home on Cape Cod to assume the role as caregiver. Joe Thorndike, once the managing editor of Life magazine and founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines, was a fiercely independent man who steadfastly clung to his independence and to his home even as they became less and less manageable for him. During what turned out to be a yearlong stay, the author struggled with his new responsibilities as he watched his father’s once powerful mind and body deteriorate before his eyes. “How miserable it must be to live without memories,” writes Thorndike, “without the complex bath of joy and regret and reminiscence, oblivious to all intimate ties once shared with others.” “The Last of His Mind” is a chronicle of the frustrations, doubts, kindness, humiliations and physical exhaustion from those months. Although chillingly honest, his account is neither morbid nor sentimental. “I had an incredibly happy year,” he wrote. It was a time of reflection, and it was a time for discovery as Thorndike unfolded his father’s past and uncovered all those details unimaginable to him as a child. As he read through his father’s business correspondences and letters, watched home movies, and talked to visitors, a very complex life began to reveal itself. Here is a firsthand look at the cruelty of Alzheimer’s, but also of the humanity and dignity we are capable of giving to one another. Reviewed by Scott Seaman, dean of Ohio University Libraries
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Chris Hondros, MS ’06
Rudy Maxa, BSJ ’71
“It’s so much easier now to keep relationships and connections, simply because of the Internet. Your phone rings anywhere. You get your e-mail anywhere. I talk to my granddaughter in Europe on Skype all the time. I’m from the generation that if you were in Europe, and you wanted to call the United States, you’d have to go to the post office and book a reservation. Four or five hours later, you’d come back and sit in a booth and hope that someone would answer. Today, it really is a small world.”
“As a war photographer, I feel like I’m a witness to important events in history. I get to do my small part in helping understand and explore the extraordinarily important issues that are happening right now. I’m very grateful.”
Robin Renee Sanders, MA ’79, MS ’79
“Global issues that are important to me are food security, education, environment/energy, economics, democracy and self-help. And I call that the ‘FEEEDS’ term (that I’ve trademarked). I believe those are global human values that every country and every individual not only wants for themselves but also wants for their families and for their nation. That’s why I consider myself a global citizen — because those issues are important to me, not only here in the U.S. or Africa but everywhere in the world.”
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Did you know there are seven Bobcats in Bolivia? And 15 in Egypt? Ohio University has more than 6,400 alumni living outside of the United States, in countries as diverse as Germany, Kazakhstan and Uganda. While they may be far from Ohio, many of these globetrotting alumni have discovered ways to stay connected to each other and alma mater. We caught up with eight grads — including photojournalist Chris Hondros, MS ’06, and former ambassador to Nigeria Robin Renee Sanders, MA ’79 and MS ’79 — who live abroad or have traveled extensively and asked them what inspired their desire to see the world.
Rudy Maxa’s world: Spreading the good word
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Shaik Sulaiman Ismail, AA ’69, BSED ’70
“Since my current work now deals mainly with local interests and opportunities, I don’t think globalization has had a direct impact. However, due to my affinity with international companies, I am sensing the urgent phase of change happening in the world of work, especially in the realm of work culture and in the growing demands of accountability, transparency and strict work ethics developing.”
Angie Kilbane, BA ’07
“To be part of a global community means having a connection with different areas of the world. Like it or not, I think these days everyone is part of a global community in one way or another.”
udy Maxa wants to tell you something. He’s bursting at the seams to get it out and into your ear. What is it, you ask? Well, it depends on the day. Depends on who’s asking. Depends on how much you want to know, because writer, radio personality and television host Rudy Maxa has pretty much seen it all. Rudy Maxa, BSJ ’71, is a born journalist. At the tender age of 9 he scooped the biggest story to hit his neighborhood: “There was a fender bender on my street, and I had to be the first to tell everyone,” he says. “I always wanted to be the first to tell someone something.” So, a young Rudy hand-printed pint-sized newspapers and put them in people’s doors. In his adult life, Maxa would think back on this event as the first sign of his future career.
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Pursuing his passion for journalism, he enrolled at Ohio University and found his niche in Athens (“a charming enclave”), writing for and later becoming the editor of The Post. He thrived on reporting the exciting and controversial news of the Vietnam-era campus, where civil rights and women’s rights were also hot topics. As a young reporter for The Washington Post, Maxa made a name for himself, investigating Washington scandals and having a finely tuned ear for gossip. He amassed an impressive array of sources, and people would just tell him things. Things that people talked about in hushed voices at cocktail parties in Washington. It was the kind of stuff that Washington thrives upon, Maxa explains. “I became the go-to guy for pissed-off girlfriends and bitter private eyes,” he recalls. It wasn’t long before he was given his own column. “Rudy Maxa’s Front Page People,” his weekly personalities column, graced the first two pages of The Washington Post’s weekend magazine for years. After a 15-year stint at the Post, Maxa branched out to Washingtonian magazine, where he was a senior writer and columnist. Despite working for a local publication, Maxa always seemed to find a way to travel overseas for work, convincing editors to send him anywhere from Paris to Micronesia. “My editor once said, ‘You know, for working for a city magazine, you find more excuses to do stories outside of the country than anyone that’s ever been at the magazine or ever will be.’” An army brat, Maxa credits his transient childhood for his wanderlust. There was never a time he wasn’t traveling. Born in Cleveland, Maxa’s first out-of-country experience was at age 3 months when his family moved to Germany. Today, Rudy Maxa — the original “savvy traveler,” according to his moniker on NPR — has made a career out of seeing the world. He hosts the country’s most widely syndicated travel radio show, “Rudy Maxa’s World,” which is aired coast to coast. And his PBS television series of the same name has aired 85 (and counting) episodes on the great destinations on Earth. “I’m very comfortable being in other places,” says Maxa, even ones that seldom see tourists or are considered off the beaten path. His favorites include Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Earlier this year he filmed an episode in Uzbekistan. There isn’t any place that he wouldn’t visit or divulge, he claims. Get him on the topic of travel, and he’ll shout its praises from the mountaintop: “I have to be the guy to tell people. There are so many wonderful places in the world that you really have to do that.” Just don’t ask him how many countries he’s been to; the list is too long to count. Maxa, who lives in St. Paul, Minn., estimates that he spends at least a third of the year traveling. But you can guess by now that this globetrotter is immune to homesickness. “Wherever I am is home,” says Maxa.
Bobcat family extends to Malaysia
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hio University has some 2,400 alumni living in Malaysia — the university’s greatest concentration outside of the United States. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, claims 296, and Mexico has only 42. So what makes Malaysia, a young nation roughly the land size of New Mexico, unique in Ohio history? In the 1960s, the university created a series of programs that allowed many Malaysian students to earn an Ohio University degree in Athens or at home via a partnership with Malaysia’s Mara Institute of Technology and other local sites. Datuk Shaik Sulaiman Ismail, AA ’69 and BSED ’70 — who spent two years in Athens as part of the first class of six Malaysian students — believes the program set a trailblazing example for the type of cross-cultural collaboration students need to be competitive today. Although retired from Shell Malaysia, he continues to work as a director and adviser for private companies. BELOW: Datuk Shaik Sulaiman Ismail, AA ’69 and BSED ’70, is president of the Ohio University Alumni Chapter in Malaysia.
— Lindsey Burrows LEFT: The Emmy-winning “Rudy Maxa’s World” began its seventh season on public television in October. Here, Maxa visits Thailand.
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SHAIK SULAIMAN ISMAIL: We are now a globalized world. When I was at Ohio in the late ’60s, terms like “globalization” and “borderless world” were virtually not spoken about, and as such, no one, at least on campus at that time, could relate to the concept. There was a natural tendency to regard countries other than your own as “foreign.” Even the word “international” was seldom given its full meaning and impact. Students should no longer be confined to their own country as far as work is concerned; the whole world is their place of work now. Because of these cross-border and borderless societies and economies we are facing, students in the United States should be and are interested in the issues that are happening in other areas of the world. Through my education and stay in the United States, I was able to perceive and gradually appreciate that while there’s much difference in thinking, values, cultural habits and traditions, the ways of working and attitudes toward life in people of different nationalities are basically the same. I was president of the International Club at Ohio, which was the fraternity for international students. I had the job for six months. Because of the academic load, it was a bit too heavy so I had to give it up, but the interactions continued. Every month we had dinner at our house, and we invited American friends. There were four of us in the apartment, and we shared and cooked Malaysian food. It was very cheap living in those days. You were able to buy groceries for $20 to $30, and you could get a whole week’s supply!
Malaysia achieved independence in 1957. We were a young nation, so we needed help (in the ’60s) to develop the country’s education and other areas. People from Ohio went to Malaysia and met with the administrators of the college (Mara Institute of Technology) where I was working. At that time, this college specialized in business and professional courses only — nothing to do with arts or sciences. But at the time, it was very dynamic; they were making some changes, trying to improve the status of the college and increase enrollment. It was on a fast-track expansion program. So when this proposal came for an exchange with Ohio University, it was picked up. I was in the first batch of students. The best part of my two years at the university was my exposure to the American system of education. This was, to me, a very exciting proposition. Because it was after being here that I learned the philosophy that education should be a joy, learning should be a joy. I think this was evident throughout the American higher education system. You are reading, talking to people, talking to faculty, so on and so forth. Everything was easygoing. There’s no stress or strain in pursuing knowledge. Back home, we inherited the British system of education, which is very much exam-oriented. Malaysia has achieved tremendous economic progress and social development since independence. This has been thanks to political stability, good economic reforms, bountiful natural resources and a supportive population with peaceful co-existence amongst the various peoples. — Interview by Mariel Jungkunz
‘Rainbow’ connection: Calling Indonesia home
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nspired by a trip to Bali during her sophomore year, Angie Kilbane, BA ’07, developed a newfound passion for Indonesian culture that has propelled her into an exciting and successful career. Currently teaching English in Jakarta, Indonesia, Kilbane also volunteers for humanitarian assistance foundation Nurani Dunia and freelances as a translator. She finds herself a part of multiple communities, all of which create for her a global alliance. Kilbane credits Ohio for the varied opportunities that have come her way. Angie Kilbane, BA ’07, teaches at Lazuardi Global Islamic School.
For example, one connection made through an alumnus eventually resulted in the unique opportunity to translate the Indonesian best-selling novel “The Rainbow Troops.” “(Ohio University) is where I received my initial language training and applied for my Fulbright grant,” says Kilbane. “And I have my current teaching job because a fellow alumnus suggested I apply for it.” Kilbane received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Grant in 2007 along with a scholarship allowing her to study literature at the University of Indonesia. Ohio also connected her with Nurani Dunia, a foundation established by Professor of Classics and World Religions Elizabeth Collins and Indonesian sociologist Imam Prasodjo. The foundation improves poverty-stricken communities all around Indonesia, builds schools for children and provides resources to ensure a better, healthier life for citizens. Kilbane, who began teaching after-school English classes for the foundation in 2008, loves the work. “The kids are so enthusiastic, and it’s really great to see them come to study subjects outside of school.” She shoves off any notion of homesickness, asserting how easy it is to keep in touch with friends and family with today’s technology. And she never feels alone thanks to other Ohio alumni in Indonesia. “We call ourselves the OU Mafia,” jokes Kilbane. Some 16 Ohio students and faculty have been involved with Nurani Dunia to date, and 174 alumni live in Indonesia. Kilbane’s adventurous spirit keeps her busy with travel, and her time off is spent exploring areas outside of Jakarta with friends and co-workers who are happy to share their hometowns and provide a place to stay. After three years in Indonesia, Kilbane says she has a lot left to explore. But she sometimes thinks back fondly on her Ohio home. “Jakarta is a huge, overcrowded city. I do catch myself missing the OU bike path and the ability to walk everywhere.” — Julie Feinerman
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At work in a war zone
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hris Hondros, MS ’06, sees the world through a different lens: He’s a world-renowned war photographer. His work has been featured numerous times in The New York Times and Newsweek, on CNN and many more. He’s been on the frontlines of many of the world’s major conflicts since the late 1990s — including wars in Kosovo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kashmir, the West Bank, Iraq and Liberia. Although war is dangerous and emotionally taxing, Hondros thinks of the battlefield as a place of work, with opportunities as well as dangers. “When I’m in the field, I’m always thinking of all the fascinating things I get to see and all the fascinating people I get to meet,” he says. A first-generation American, Hondros is no stranger to war. His parents were immigrants from Greece and Germany and survivors of World War II. Hondros attended North Carolina State University, which didn’t offer photojournalism as a major, so he studied English literature instead and worked as a photographer for the student newspaper and yearbook. He got his start at college internships at the Troy (Ohio) Daily News and The Cincinnati Post.
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Critical care: An Ohio relief effort
D Now, as a graduate of the School of Visual Communication, his ties to Ohio are as strong as ever. “I meet talented alumni all the time — overseas, in New York, just in passing — and we communicate and help each other out,” he says. His ability to capture the essence of war has earned him the Robert Capa Gold Medal, the highest award for war photography, and a 2004 Pulitzer Prize nomination in spot news photography for his work in Liberia. He has been recognized by World Press Photo, the International Pictures of the Year Competition and the National Magazine Awards. He is often the first to arrive in global hotspots and is granted behind-the-scenes access to restricted areas — such as Saddam Hussein’s compound a day after his capture. “Some of the horrid things I saw,” he wrote for Virginia Quarterly Review after traveling to Haiti shortly after the Jan. 12 earthquake, “... I don’t think I’ll ever tell anyone.” One picture that continues to speak to him is an image of a girl covered in blood after troops shot at a civilian car in Tal Afar, Iraq. The car refused to stop, and the young girl’s parents were killed. “That photo is a very real picture,” Hondros says. “And that’s what I try to do in photography. I try to shine light in very, very dark places.” Hondros is currently a senior staff photographer for Getty Images and lives in New York. — Makenzie Bowker
LEFT: Chris Hondros, MS ’06, has traveled to Iraq 12 times since the U.S. invasion in 2003 and Afghanistan seven times. “That’s the nature of photography. War journalism is sometimes being in dangerous situations and having some close calls,” the Pulitzer Prize nominee says. In this image from 2002, a Blackhawk helicopter lands at a forward American base in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
TOP: In 2003, Hondros photographed Joseph Duo, 28, a commander of a band of child soldiers, during the 14-year Liberian civil war. The photo was distributed around the world, and during a postwar trip to Liberia chronicled by Smithsonian magazine, Hondros sought out Duo. “I am happy I have a peaceful life,” Duo told Hondros, who paid the $86 fee required for the former rebel to enroll in a year of school.
espite years of serving as a surgeon and international volunteer relief physician, David Drozek, DO ’83, an Ohio University assistant professor of surgery, had never encountered the level of need he saw in Haiti this year. “One lady, who had been buried for three days, had some of the deepest wounds I have ever seen. She had lost control of one foot,” he wrote in reports to the College of Osteopathic Medicine, adding that, “the work (in Haiti) is becoming more specialized.” Fifteen physicians and other volunteers affiliated with OU-COM traveled to Haiti with Drozek to provide medical care following the Jan. 12 earthquake. Mark Foglietti, DO ’82, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the Cosmetic Surgery Institute in Beachwood, Ohio, and clinical professor of plastic surgery, joined the group for his first medical mission. DR. FOGLIETTI: This was the greatest disaster in the Western Hemisphere. There was a general call to medical specialists who could aid the quake victims — a request for medical personnel, but especially plastic surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and anesthesiologists. The plea could not have been more directed at me at the time. I called Dr. Drozek. He had organized multiple mission trips around the world. If I was going to contribute, I wanted to contribute, not only on my behalf, but on behalf of my medical school, if possible. Fortunately, a medical/surgical disaster response team was being organized, and I was able to get in on the ground level. This was certainly my first trip, but it will be far from my last. We are planning more surgical missions and have formed a surgical mission task force at OU-COM to complement the general medical mission team. Once you begin to reach out, it becomes easier and easier, and more and more necessary as a physician. (In Haiti), seven countries and 15 states came together as if it were a local effort. It’s overwhelmingly gratifying. I am grateful that OU gave me the chance to do what I forever dreamed of. I mentor many of the OU-COM students during their time in Cleveland, and I have also had the opportunity to speak at the medical school. I certainly feel a bond with other OU grads and students; with our daughter, Alanna, being a third year medical student (at OU-COM), the bond becomes even stronger. This mission trip will be like no other. It was similar to being dropped into a war zone with overwhelming destruction and death. God and OU-COM gave me the opportunity to be where I am today, and the skills to help in this disaster. It’s about giving back, and being grateful. FALL/WINTER 2010
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DR. DROZEK: Ever since I was in high school I wanted to do missionary medicine. I grew up with a church that was very supportive of missionaries around the world. After the earthquake, several of us at Ohio wanted to do something. We knew there were certain things we needed so we wouldn’t be part of the problem. It took a while to get the infrastructure ready. We had heard that the people who went couldn’t do anything. They got there and found there was nowhere to operate. We didn’t want that to happen, so we waited and about the fourth week after the quake, things began to open up.
Mark Foglietti (pictured in front of Grosvenor Hall on campus) traveled to Haiti in February to provide reconstructive surgical care.
Haiti has left me sad. I don’t want to say hopeless, but in Honduras, I could look around, see problems and see the solutions. In Haiti, it just seemed to be of such a magnitude that we only just scratched the surface. I don’t see a human solution to the problem there, but I can conceive of a spiritual or supernatural solution and that does give me hope for the future.
I really felt that we were taking care of people who would have suffered and died if we hadn’t been there. Here in the States, if it’s not me, it’s the next doctor down the road. The competition here among physicians is so great, and in Haiti, they didn’t have enough to go around, so I feel that our efforts really contributed to the lives of the few people that we took care of. My wife and I love the rural setting (in Ohio). Best of all for me is interaction with the next generation of health care providers, our students, where I feel I can multiply my efforts by encouraging them to think about global health care needs, as well as the needs of our neighbors right here in Southeast Ohio. If you’re interested in humanitarian work, go on a trip, keep your eyes open and see what it’s like. Don’t try to compare everything to the States. Appreciate all of the differences. Interviews by Makenzie Bowker and Julie Feinerman
Just travel: Nike exec sees the world
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ince joining the Nike team in 1988, Elliott Hill, MSA ’88, has had the opportunity to travel all over the world — but he largely credits a school nestled in Southeast Ohio for his success. Hill, who previously served as vice president of Nike EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia), first connected with Nike via alumnus and Nike executive Tim Joyce, BBA ’78 and MSA ’06, while researching a paper for a class at Ohio University. That connection helped him secure a position as a Nike sales assistant; today, Hill is vice president and general manager of North America.
As former vice president of Nike EMEA, you’ve done a lot of traveling. What are your favorite places to visit and why? From the business perspective, Shanghai, China, because you can see and feel the growth as you walk around the streets. There’s an energy in that city that is like no other place in the world. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) is very similar to Shanghai. You can feel the growth, development and energy. You walk away excited about the opportunities that exist in that city. On a personal note, Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. It’s a beautiful city to visit.
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You’re in a fast-paced industry. What keeps you motivated? I’m really competitive. I keep score and love to win, so that’s No. 1. The fear of failure is No. 2. Even after 22 years at Nike, I’m still driven by my fear of letting down the team. Who inspires you? I was raised by a single mom since I was 3 and a half. She was a high school teacher, and I think about her all the time, in terms of her work ethic, her commitment to her job and family, and to helping us be successful. Growing up that way has inspired me to be the leader I am today. What makes you proud as an alumnus? What makes me the most proud, especially in the sports industry, is the reputation Ohio University has as being the leading (sports administration) program within the country. Being a part of that gives me a sense of pride. On a personal level, I love the friends I made there. I still have a core group of four guys from Ohio University that I’m really good friends with and bounce ideas off of. I didn’t just get a degree — I made lifelong relationships. What’s on your bucket list? Sail through the Mediterranean; go helicopter skiing; and (I attempted this once, but failed due to weather) climb Mt. Rainier or Mt. Hood. Interview by Makenzie Bowker
Robin Renee Sanders of
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Daughter of Africa, global citizen
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he outgoing ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders, MA ’79 and MS ’79, wrapped up nearly three years of service there in August. She may be stateside nowadays, but Sanders’ mind is still on the African nation she came to call home.
The seed of Sanders’ appreciation for travel was planted in her at an early age. Her father’s military career moved the family around quite a bit, and even as a child Sanders already considered herself citizen of the world. “It’s important for everybody to think of themself as a global citizen. The world is very interconnected. None of us are isolated, and we certainly can’t see ourselves as isolated,” says Sanders. When she first came to Ohio University, it was with the intention of becoming a foreign correspondent. She enrolled in the communication school to study journalism and became a resident assistant in Crook Hall — known today as Stocker Center. It was there, in the international dormitory, that Sanders became friends with the many African students who lived there. “It was that experience, talking about their countries and their cultures, that inspired me to get an additional master’s degree in international affairs, with a focus on African studies,” says Sanders. She began looking into international career paths and ultimately decided to pursue the Foreign Service at the gentle prodding of the dean of the international relations department. “He had been a Foreign Service officer, and he encouraged me to take the Foreign Service exam. And I did. It is really because of him that I actually joined, so I give him a lot of credit for that,” she says. Sanders went on to have a vibrant career with the Foreign Service, nearly all of it overseas. And other than two ABOVE: In April, Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders visited the city of Jos and engaged a cross-section of students and other Nigerians in dialogue for peace.
postings — one in the Dominican Republic and the other in Portugal — Sanders’ work has been focused on African issues, with postings in countries such as Senegal, Namibia, Sudan and a few others. On the heels of her second ambassadorship — her first was to the Republic of the Congo — Sanders’ life is still filled with a continuing support of Nigeria. She and her team worked diligently to prepare for the 2011 Nigerian national election and her departure from the country nearly coincided with its celebration of 50 years of independence. No matter where her career takes her, she will take a piece of Nigeria with her. Perhaps one of her many honorable titles sums it up best: Ada Mazi, or First Daughter of the Soil. — Lindsey Burrows
OUr Day is April 14! Are you one of the 29 alumni living in England? Or the 14 in Peru? Get connected on OUr Day! This spring, OUr Day will be celebrated in honor of alumni ever ywhere, giving you the opportunity to share your Bobcat spirit — no matter where you are. Scheduled for April 14, this will be a day to celebrate your success and reflect on those memorable years spent at Ohio University. On this day, the Ohio University Alumni Association asks all alumni to post Facebook profile pictures of themselves dressed in Ohio colors, display Ohio logos on their cars and share success stories about their university connections. Save the date, and watch for more information coming soon!
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By leaps & bounds
about modern dance innovator Alwin Nikolais, the choreographer who took his company
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O H I O
T O D A Y
Ohio’s distinguished professor of dance reminisces
beyond anything the stage had ever seen.
“Noumenon” (circa 1950s)/David Berlin
Images courtesy of the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections
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G
Gene Dauber
Burton E. Moore Jr.
ladys Bailin can still remember the moment Those were heady days for Bailin, a raven-haired beauty she realized that modern dance had embarked then in her 20s who was an original member of Nikolais’ on a radical new path — and that she was a company, touring nationally and internationally with the group trailblazer. Clad in unitards and turban-like for more than a decade. Lately she’s been reminiscing about headdresses, she and six other dancers swung such moments quite a lot. November marked the centennial their legs, turned in circles and rolled to the ground, all of Nikolais’ birth (he would have turned 100 on Nov. 25) with the time with one foot attached to a large, aluminum disk ongoing commemorative events that have led her back to New resembling a garbage can lid. York’s Henry Street Playhouse, where the It was risky stuff for 1956, and audience visionary choreographer ran a dance school “It was terribly exciting reaction to the group’s first-time appearance because we knew that what we and experimental theater — the very place at the prestigious American Dance Festival “Kaleidoscope” came into being — and was vociferously split. “There were cheers, were doing was different,” says where Bailin first met him in 1948. and there were boos,” recalls Bailin, director The centennial also spotlights Gladys Bailin, distinguished emerita and distinguished professor of dance Bailin’s life and career as a dancer, professor of dance. “We knew choreographer and teacher who came at Ohio University. “There was absolutely we were on the edge.” no middle ground.” to Ohio University in 1972 to join the The piece, entitled “Kaleidoscope,” School of Dance, bringing with her flew in the face of the dance establishment with its rejection elements of Nikolais’ legacy that have helped to build it into of dance as emotive storytelling. It embraced instead an a nationally recognized program. “We have a guest artist who abstract exploration of motion and space through the use of refers to her as ‘dance royalty,’” School of Dance Director props like the discs, as well as straps, poles and fabric. “It was Madeleine Scott says of Bailin. “And he’s absolutely right.” terribly exciting because we knew that what we were doing That high regard has much to do with Bailin’s gifts as a was different,” says Bailin, who performed with the upstart teacher of choreography, helping young dancers tap into Playhouse Dance Company, based in New York City. “We “what it is to be creative,” says Scott. Students are pushed to knew we were on the edge of this avant-garde.” shed the notion of dance as solely about acquiring technique The man behind the mayhem that August evening was or imitating the work of others. “They begin to understand Bailin’s mentor, the late choreographer Alwin Nikolais, now that it’s not about recycling what they learned somewhere regarded as a major figure in 20th-century dance. His début else,” Scott adds. She participated in one of Bailin’s dance of “Kaleidoscope” before the stalwarts of American dance was workshops during the 1970s and vividly recalls her organic pivotal, paving the way for his steep ascent to international method. “It was not, ‘I’ve got this movement, and I’m going acclaim. Dance critics were evidently in the cheering section. to feed it to you,’” she says. Instead, Bailin engaged students “Nikolais is charting a new choreographic map,” one declared. in a process of discovery, like one class based solely on sevenAnother, from The New York Times, pronounced it “far and count phrases. “I remember being stunned,” Scott says. “We away the best of the season.” created this long sequence all in sevens. It was just fabulous.”
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LEFT: Gladys Bailin (left) and Murray Louis participate in a dance class at the Henry Street Playhouse as their teacher, choreographer Alwin Nikolais (lower left), watches (1949). ABOVE: Nikolais manipulates shadow and light as he performs “8 Column Line” (1939). RIGHT: The Playhouse Dance Company performs “Discs” from Nikolais’ avant-garde “Kaleidoscope” (1956).
David Berlin
Thanks largely to Bailin’s influence, Ohio’s curriculum is distinctive among university dance programs in its heavy emphasis on student choreography. Undergraduates pursuing a bachelor of fine arts degree in dance take nearly four years of composition classes, producing two choreographic works their senior year. “I think we’ve made a little niche,” says Bailin, who served as director of the School of Dance from 1983 to 1995. “If you want choreography, you come to OU.” That approach was the life-blood of Bailin’s training with Nikolais, whom she met as a teen at the Henry Street Settlement, a social service and arts organization based in her neighborhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Nikolais, then 38, had recently acquired a dance school and theater there and was only just embarking on his life’s work. Bailin was captivated. “The classes he gave were so uplifting,” she says. “His teaching was to make you an artist.” While attending college by day, Bailin became part of a dedicated group who studied with Nikolais five nights a week, four hours a night, following a demanding curriculum that included dance technique, pedagogy, improvisation and
composition. “I didn’t have a lot of time to horse around,” she says with a laugh. “It was a course of study, not something you play at.” Those early students became Nikolais’ first company — “we were sort of a little family,” Bailin says. “We realized that we were with somebody who was going to do something extraordinary.” Indeed, Nikolais’ talents went far beyond dance. He was a pianist and composer who created experimental musical scores and a lighting designer who hand-painted intricate slides, projecting them onto his dancers to glorious effect. Yet because he was not himself a performer, Bailin says there was never competition with his dancers or any expectation that his students’ work should look like his: “He had given himself over totally to teaching, choreographing and developing a place where people could do this.” It was not long before Bailin found herself an active participant in the making of the very dances that would come to signify Nikolais’ core philosophy, one he described as exploring “motion not emotion.” In his unpublished manuscripts, Nikolais wrote of how one afternoon he
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Kevin RIddell
Sameen Tarighati
instructed his students to climb inside some large pieces of jersey wool and manipulate the fabric with their bodies. “I went into ecstasy,” he wrote. “Here was modern, free-form sculpture come to life.” One week later, the seven-minute piece “Noumenon Mobiles” was completed. It became part of Nikolais’ first major theater piece, “Masks, Props and Mobiles” (1953) and signaled his creative turning point. This year students from the School of Dance restaged “Noumenon,” summoning Nikolais’ spirit to TempletonBlackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium in recognition of his centennial. The piece features three dancers seated on benches and encased in stretchy cloth sacks. Electrified by colored lights, they rock, sway and morph into different shapes, disappearing beneath the fabric’s twists and folds. “It’s sort of the epitome of Nikolais’ approach to modern dance,” says Tresa Randall, assistant professor of dance and the rehearsal director for “Noumenon.” “It’s an incredibly complex piece. Every time you watch it, you see something different.” Understanding and mastering that complexity began more than a year ago when Alberto del Saz, co-director of The Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, came to campus to stage the piece. Bailin was there as well, giving pointers and sharing memories. “Often performance knowledge is passed down person to person,” Randall says. “We have that with Gladys — a lineage that goes from teacher to student through the generations.” “Noumenon” poses steep challenges. With their heads covered, the dancers cannot see anything, and the dance is accompanied by an eerie, electronic soundscape devoid of a
steady beat. “It’s scary,” Bailin says. And she can tell a few war stories, like the time the company performed the piece at Italy’s Spoleto Festival on an old opera house stage — that was raked. “We said to one another, ‘We have got to make the stools flat!’” she recalls. Students delight in such reminiscences. “I love hearing from her,” says Megan Nicklos who performed in “Noumenon” as part of the School of Dance winter concert in March. “She has such a wisdom about her.” Nicklos and others say the experience of performing completely covered stretched their notion of what dance can be. “Nikolais was interested in taking the ego out of it,” says Whitney Joseph, another performer. “You sacrifice being the center of attention for the work as a whole.” Bailin agrees. “What you’re doing becomes more important than you,” she says, “although you become terribly important to make that happen.” And so the conversation continues. Bailin remains ever interested. At 80, she is still a mainstay in Putnam Hall, teaching one class per year and regularly attending Friday choreography workshops. She moves with fluidity as she describes a long-ago piece from her days with Nikolais. Some of those early dances were never recorded and now are lost. But not completely. “You sort of retain what they felt like,” Bailin says. “You remember the kinetics.” LEFT: Gladys Bailin, director of the School of Dance from 1983 to 1995, became the first woman to receive the university’s Distinguished Professor Award (1983). RIGHT: Ohio University dance students perform “Noumenon” in honor of the Alwin Nikolais centennial (2010).
David Berlin by
All
A
lwin Nikolais must have known he was destined for greatness — or he was a compulsive pack rat. One of the brightest lights in 20th-century American dance, the choreographer, who died in 1993, fastidiously documented his life and career, noting every performance his dancers gave and filing away programs, posters, press coverage, photographs, film and video footage, musical recordings and awards. Boxes and boxes and boxes of them. Add to that documents from Murray Louis, his creative and life partner of over 40 years, and you have more than 400 cubic feet of material — that’s more than 400 boxes and counting — that make up the Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis Dance Collection, housed in Alden Library. As dance collections go, “it’s a hefty one,” says Judith Connick, who has curated the collection since 1999 after it was donated by Louis. “(Nikolais) was saving things from the very beginning of his career in the ’20s and ’30s.” The combined material represents nearly a century in the life and careers of two modern dance greats and their companies. With this month marking the centennial of Nikolais’ birth, Alden’s fifth floor has become a veritable pilgrimage site for all things “Nik,” as friends called him, who is known for his signature style called “total theater” — a mix of his own choreography, music, costuming, and lighting and set design. Connick has created an exhibit documenting his “life through time” that draws from archival materials to take visitors on a tour of career highlights that have delighted, even surprised, visitors. “One woman came in, pointed to a photograph, and said, ‘There’s my mom!’” Connick recalls. Even prior to the centennial, though, the collection has been a draw for dance scholars nationally and internationally and a boon to students in the School of Dance. “It’s highly significant that we have such a large collection here — outside of New York,” says Tresa Randall, assistant professor of dance, who notes that the majority of dance archives for artists on a par with Nikolais are housed in the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. Additionally, Randall says the Nikolais/Louis collection, with its abundance of primary source material, provides a stunningly complete picture. She’s become expert at bringing that material alive. Each year in her dance history classes, Randall “sets young dance students loose” in the archives, allowing them some unfettered exploration. One assignment has students choose a year in the history of Nikolais or Louis and write an imaginative, fictional account of what it might have been like to be a dancer in one of their companies. “It’s something they can relate to, being young dance students and aspiring professionals,” she says. Randall requires that they ground these accounts with factual evidence gleaned from archival documents, however, such as programs, news clippings, photographs, video, and even the first-person account of events written by Nikolais in his unpublished manuscripts. “They learn what it means to do original research in dance history,” she says. “How do you put things in historical context, how do you access and compare different kinds of evidence?” Some of that evidence gets them every time. “They love seeing photographs of Gladys (Bailin) when she was their age,” Randall says. Encountering the distinguished professor of dance who originated several roles for Nikolais (see accompanying story) creates a “personal connection” and a rare opportunity to appreciate dance history in its different forms. “Here at OU, we’ve got the best of both worlds,” Randall says. “We have an archival record, but we also have the living repertoire through Gladys.”
Your Ohio connection
In partnership with the New York Public Library, Alden Library presents “A Centenary Celebration of Alwin Nikolais and his Dance Theatre (1910–2010)” in New York City at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts through Jan. 15. This exhibit of photos, films, posters and more honors the 100th anniversary of the birth of American modern dance pioneer Alwin Nikolais. For more information, visit www.nypl.org/events.
TOP: Gladys Bailin performs “Pole” from “Kaleidoscope,” choreographed by Alwin Nikolais (1956). MIDDLE: Nikolais and his Henry Street Playhouse company were like a “little family,” says Bailin; the school also offered lessons for children (circa 1950). BOTTOM: Nikolais’ collaborator, Murray Louis, fits a costume on a child (1949).
A website dedicated to the Nikolais/Louis dance collection includes a finding aid, sample images and more than five hours of streaming video. It can be found at www.library.ohiou.edu/archives/dance/.
FALL/WINTER
2010
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Got Swabbed?
BY MEGAN GREVE 28
O H I O
T O D A Y
David Pohl
Your cells can save lives. Just ask the students who coordinated Ohio University’s recordbreaking bone marrow drive. Ask the 3,400 swabbed to date. Or ask the 7-year-old child whose life may have been saved.
W
hen a close friend was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia, Ohio University senior Erica Cohen was devastated. “He was a 21-year-old kid a lot like me,” says Cohen. “He was athletic, he was always involved. Then all of a sudden, he has a very aggressive form of leukemia, and the only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant.” Bone marrow transplant. Though unfamiliar at first, those words would quickly become part of Cohen’s vocabulary, impacting friends and thousands of fellow students in the process. In the spring of 2009, only six weeks after her friend Tony’s diagnosis, Cohen organized the most successful college bone marrow drive to date, which added 2,300 people to the national bone marrow registry in one day. “My whole goal was to find a match for Tony and other patients,” says Cohen. “Finding a match is like finding a needle in a haystack. “But if you add more needles, you have a better chance.”
First time’s a charm
is registered with DKMS Americas or a similar organization that hosts bone marrow drives. (DKMS partnered with the university in 2009 and 2010 and funded two drives.) Finally, the individual is swabbed with a long cotton swab (like a Q-tip), which is rubbed inside of each cheek for 20 seconds. The information and swab sample are sent to DKMS, where registrants are added to the national Be The Match Registry for possible matching with a patient. An individual is registered until his or her 61st birthday, after which he or she is no longer eligible to donate. Cohen’s hard work that day was evident: By the end of its first drive, Ohio University had not only registered 1,000 people above its target goal, it had also set a new record. “(This drive) really set the bar for other college drives,” says Kelly Taylor, DKMS donor recruitment coordinator. “We love to use the OU story on other college campuses to inspire students.”
Every community counts After graduation, Cohen took a position at DKMS, one of the largest bone marrow registration organizations in the United States, as a donor recruitment coordinator and traveled the country sharing her successful model. In her absence, Hillel took over the reins for a second drive. “One of the reasons Hillel is so involved is because we are hoping to get minority students involved in the swabbing efforts and into the bone marrow registry,” Leshaw says. Because the tissue types donated and needed are inherited, patients are much more likely to find matches within their own racial and ethnic backgrounds. However, the numbers for minorities are low: Only 7 percent of registered donors are African American, for example.
Rick Fatica
Cohen — who graduated in 2009 and is now a law student at Drexel University — tapped into a variety of organizations within her network at Ohio University for help, including Student Senate, Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. “Erica really deserves the credit for bringing such a project to campus,” says Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, executive director of Hillel. “She connected her social circles, her academic circles, her Jewish circles, to ensure that the bone marrow drive reached very deeply across campus.” On Feb. 25, 2009, the first Got Swabbed? bone marrow drive was held at Ohio University; some 100 volunteers helped run the event. Students stood outside of Baker University Center, promoting the event to passersby. Volunteers at the Baker Ballroom were equipped to register, swab and verify information for those signing up. More volunteers answered questions about the process and what would happen if a student’s cells were found to match a needy patient’s. Every step was explained carefully to students. “We want to make sure we get committed donors because we don’t want people to back out at the last minute, which is really problematic,” Cohen says. According to some estimates, a patient has a 4 in 10 chance of finding a match for a transplant. For a potential donor, the process of swabbing is fairly simple: Donors are prescreened to meet a variety of weight, Erica Cohen, BSJ ’09, coordinated the university’s record-breaking drive after finding out a friend age and health requirements. After needed a bone marrow transplant. providing this information, each donor F A L L / W I N T E R
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In order to reach out to a variety of people, the 2010 Got Swabbed? campaign took a different approach by expanding its swabbing efforts from one day to a whole quarter. Samantha Schiff, a junior interior architecture major, and Matthew Newman, a sophomore political science major, coordinated an effort by Hillel and others to reach students within their own social circles. They swabbed at Moms Weekend, Student Senate, club meetings and community events; they swabbed everywhere students might be. “It’s more about getting out there, getting the word out about how important this is and trying to reach people,” Schiff says. Despite the mini-swabbing events, the one-day event on May 25 was still the most important for the campaign. Although anyone can contact DKMS directly and have a swabbing kit sent to his or her home, Schiff stresses the need for drives. “You walk into a room filled with hundreds of people swabbing, and you get in that mood to help,” she explains. “You want to get out there, you want to talk to everyone, you want to see what’s going on, to understand leukemia. It’s important to get that feeling.” In addition to leukemia, bone marrow transplants are also used to combat other diseases including sickle cell anemia, lymphoma, some types of anemia and other types of cancer.
Ohio saves lives There is no doubt the drives have inspired the university; another 1,000 students registered this spring. There are already plans for the 2011 bone marrow campaign, including a drive in first-year residence halls during winter quarter. And three Ohio University students have donated bone marrow since the 2009 drive, including Jacob Wright-Piekarski, BS ’10. Wright-Piekarski was walking through Baker Center during the first Got Swabbed? drive and had a few minutes between classes, so he signed up. “Once I walked out the door, it wasn’t even on my mind,” Wright-Piekarski says. Several months later, he received a call telling him that he was a match for a 7-year-old with leukemia.
In February, Wright-Piekarski underwent surgery — which is used in about 20 percent of bone marrow donation cases — as bone marrow was removed from the back of his hip. Typically, donors undergo what is known as peripheral blood stem cell donation. In this process, the donor is given several synthetic protein injections that increase the number of young white blood cells in the bloodstream. Then, in a procedure similar to blood donation, blood is removed from one arm, passed through a machine that extracts the white blood cells, and replaced into the other arm. In either case, the donor’s cell count returns to normal in four to six weeks, and Wright-Piekarski says the lingering back pain after the surgical procedure wasn’t an inconvenience — just a pain similar to that of a person who has slipped and fallen on ice. “By the end of the day, I was walking,” says Wright-Piekarski. “Within five days, I was feeling very normal. Obviously, I could still feel something, but the pain was not that bad, and I would do it again. “It was well worth it.” Senior Seth Fuller, who donated his bone marrow in September, says he was “near tears” when he found out he was a match for a 5-year-old boy. “You don’t get many opportunities to actually, truly help somebody out,” the sports management major says. “You may talk to a friend when they’re having a bad day, but to potentially save somebody’s life? That’s incredible.” Leshaw remains hopeful for the future of the Got Swabbed? campaign and what it could mean to Ohio University and beyond. “I hope this campus is always swabbing in some capacity,” she says. “It would be great if it could be an effort that happened not just once but rather was an ongoing effort throughout a school year, so that there’s always awareness being built. And as students are identified as matches, we could celebrate that here on our campus. “It could become a source of pride for our campus community that together we’ve done this and we’ve saved lives.”
Diego James Robles
Your Ohio connection
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Alumni in Cleveland invited to bone marrow drive: Every year 10,000 men, women and children await a bone marrow donation to survive. To help their cause, Hillel at Ohio University, Cleveland Jewish Federation and the Ohio University Jewish Life on Campus Alumni Association, among other sponsors, will hold a Got Swabbed? bone marrow drive for all alumni and friends Dec. 5 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Cleveland. For details, contact Rabbi Danielle Leshaw at 740-592-1173 or leshaw@ohio.edu.
Find a bone marrow drive: DKMS Americas and Gift of Life maintain online lists of bone marrow drives. Visit www. dkmsamericas.org or www.giftoflife.org to find the drive closest to you. Register with a kit: Can’t find a drive nearby? Anyone can request a swabbing kit be sent to his or her home. For instructions and qualification requirements, visit www.dkmsamericas. org or www.giftoflife.org. Both sites offer information on getting involved and how to donate to the cause as well.
I N M EMORIAM
R E M E M B E R I N G
1930s
F E L L O W
A L U M N I
Mary Ricker Cherry, AB ’42 C. Wesley McGowan, BSCOM ’42 Faye Chandler Norris, KP ’42 Betty White Wollpert, BS ’42 Ben Aikin, BSCOM ’43 Mabel Townsend Boetticher, Marilyn Magness Cover, BSED ’30 Garnet Hiser McAllister, ELED ’30 BSHEC ’43 Betty McConnaughey Fryman, Pauline Steahly Porter, ELED ’30 BFA ’43 Nedra Mumma Cook, KP ’31 Wayne Kelley, BSIE ’43 Martha Ransdell Madden, Emma Jean Mossbarger Mark, BSED ’31 Alice Kineer Barnhard, COED ’32, BSED ’43 Ernest Mobley, BSCOM ’43 BSED ’36 Mary Kircher Moorman, BSED ’32 William Pliskin, MS ’43 Elinor Gruber Robb, BSS ’43 Mildred Seaman Dean, COED ’34 Stanley Ruf Sr., BSCOM ’43 Frederick Mills, BSED ’34 John Stretch, BSEE ’43 Mary Trout Reiter, COED ’34 Isabelle Smith Sparks, ELED ’34, Norma Boiles Cohen, AB ’44 Norma Hiltbrand Hamill, AB ’44 BSED ’40 Elizabeth Allmon Hull, BSED ’44 Alfreda West Goff, ELED ’35 Elizabeth Persing Nuber, Margaret Detwiler Henderson, BSHEC ’44 COED ’35 Irene Rabinovitz Rosenberg, David Pyers, ABC ’36 BSED ’44 Olive Griffin Rinehart, BSED ’36 Waldron Schruers, BSCOM ’44 Ruth Schilling Savage, BSED ’36 Edward Sinclair, BS ’44 Mildred Lipkowitz Schackne, Gaynell Poston Adkins, BSHEC ’45 BSED ’36 M. L. Bergeron, MA ’45 Ruth Clarke Wise, KP ’36 Robert Rudolph II, BS ’45 Mary Kull Hostler, BSED ’37 Wilbur Tschudi, BSCHE ’45 Irene Slutz McKee, BSED ’37 Cathryn White Wilson, BSHEC ’45 Ruth Dixon Howell, BSED ’38 John Cornell, BSCOM ’46 Elizabeth Nethers, ELED ’38, Charlotte King Dotzlaf, BSED ’46 BSED ’51 Minnie Waters MacKenzie, Joyce Keckley Roberts, AB ’38 Elizabeth Wagner Stentz, BSED ’38 BSED ’46 Ramona Odell Miller, BSED ’46 Merrill Tewksbury, ELED ’38 Ann Dilley White, AB ’46 Sara Mansfield Hill, KP ’39 Albert Auer, BSCOM ’47 Janet Allen Horning, BSED ’39 Louise Scherzer Moore, BSED ’39 Theodore Bujalski, BFA ’47 Beverly Suter Burns, BSED ’47 Donald Smeltzer, BSCOM ’39 Robert Davies, BSCOM ’47 Ernest Turk, BS ’39 Helen Shaw Kaylor, BSED ’47 William Knapp, BSED ’47 Herman Leonard, BFA ’47 Thomas Ryan, BSJ ’47 Phyllis Cass Tate, AB ’47 Hannah Thrash, BSED ’47 M. K. Hull Buczek, BSJ ’40 Doris Allen Dragovich, BSHEC ’40 John Brownlee Jr., BSCOM ’48 John Davis, BSCE ’48 James Johnson, BS ’40 Stanley Jenkinson, ELST ’48, Donald Perry, BSED ’40, MS ’49 BSIE ’51 Richard Saba, BSEE ’40 John Monahan Jr., AB ’48 Lena Kronk Smith, BSED ’40 Helen Renneckar Steen, BSED ’40 Donald Nau, BSCOM ’48 Betty Stiles Poston, BSED ’48 Florence Meschan Wish, AB ’40 Paul Schanbs, BSCOM ’48 Fred Greiner Sr., BSED ’41 D. Stamford Howdyshell, BSED ’41 Pauline Kruse Silberman, BSED ’48 Geraldine Hoffman Love, AB ’41 William Stiffler, BSED ’48 Gail Norris, BSED ’41 William Bickel, BS ’49 Elizabeth Breisford Redecker, Anthony Buhaj, BSED ’49 BSED ’41 James Caras, BSCOM ’49 Thomas Anderson, BS ’42
1940s
42
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T O D A Y
Carolyn Dunlap Coulter, BSJ ’49 James Everett, BSCOM ’49 Jack Farbeann, BSCOM ’49 Patricia Kester Filsinger, BSED ’49 Richard Hubbell, AB ’49 Roger Kaiser, BSCOM ’49 Margaret Chung Koo, AB ’49 Stanley Kulewicz, BSCOM ’49 John Manning, BSCOM ’49 Mary Wodarczek Steinhoff, BSED ’49 Martha Matson Strempel, BSS ’49 Jean Zasio, BSED ’49
1950s
Jean Issenmann Bartels, BSHEC ’50 George Hogg, BFA ’50 Donald Holloway, BSCOM ’50 John Hostutler, BSJ ’50 F. D. Kaiser, BSJ ’50 Patricia Hershey Kaiser, AB ’50 Sheldon Kaye, BSC ’50 George Kurtz, BSCOM ’50 Edmund Law, BSED ’50 Nonnie Marek Magbee, BSED ’50 James Massard, BSCE ’50 Ralph Morris, AB ’50, MS ’53 Richard Noll, BSIE ’50 Harold Snitch, BSME ’50 William Steinhardt, AB ’50 Gregor Watson, BSCOM ’50 Frank Wetherholt, BSAG ’50 John Zumkehr, BSEE ’50 Clarence Bode, BSEE ’51 Dean Broge, BS ’51 Arthur Charkoff, BSEE ’51 Alfred Corrado, BSCOM ’51 J. Richard Hamilton, BSCOM ’51 Byron Kohn, BFA ’51 Donald Lowe, BSED ’51 George McCaughrean, BSED ’51 Boris Pukay, BS ’51 Madelyn Colvig Ransdell, AB ’51 Thomas Reinhold, BSCOM ’51 David Wentz, BSCOM ’51 Douglas Wetherholt BSJ ’51, MS ’54 David Brezinski, BSCOM ’52 Dana Caldwell, BA ’52 Albert Gubitz Jr., AB ’52 Richard Lysakowski, BSCOM ’52 Cash Russell, BSIE ’52 Michael Thomas, BSCOM ’52 Donald Winters, AB ’52 Marilyn Foxen Crowell, AB ’53 John Duvall, AB ’53 Lois Sklenar Gilkey, BSED ’53
Helen Friend Langlais, MA ’53 Carl Petroski, BA ’53 William Sollars Jr., AA ’53 Janice Bailey Ward, BSED ’53 Roger Weidenkopf, BSCOM ’53 Nancy Householder Fryer, BSED ’54 Alice Leist Handley-Isaksen, BFA ’54 William Kelsey, BSCOM ’54 Mary Barthelemy Nepveux, BFA ’54 Ruth Berger Perry, BSHEC ’54 Richard Shoemaker, MED ’54 John Trimble, BSCOM ’54 William Fischbach, BFA ’55 William Gordon, BSAG ’55 Gerald Hoff, BSCOM ’55 Thomas Lee, BSME ’55 Rita Williams McCabe, BSED ’55 Marilyn Ristau Teague, BSJ ’55 David Wenner, BFA ’55, MFA ’59 Charles Huck, BSEE ’56 Bruce Humphrey, BFA ’56, MS ’68 Robert Link, BSCOM ’56 Jene Skinner Roach, BSED ’56 Robert Arold, BSCOM ’57 Arthur Kittay, BSIT ’57 William Minister, BSJ ’57 Willard O’Dell, BSED ’57 Gary Conlan, BSCOM ’58 Ralph Gustin, BS ’58 John Kelley Jr., BSCOM ’58 Jan Adams Kistler, BS ’58 Judith Holmes McAtee, BSED ’58 Robert Palmer, BFA ’58, MFA ’60 Michael Raicevich, BSED ’58, MED ’59 Robert Roberts, BSME ’58 Norman Skinner, BSCOM ’58 Donald Zimmer, BSED ’58 David Armstrong, BSCE ’59 Mary Digel Buchan, AB ’59 Joan Swetz Davis, AB ’59 Mary Krueger Foster, BSED ’59 Charles Goodwill, BS ’59 Lamar Jacobs, BS ’59 John Kolb, BSME ’59 Patricia Lieser Randall, BSCOM ’59 James Scott, BSME ’59 Mauna Ferguson Wadlington, BSED ’59 Richard Williams, BSME ’59
1960s Robert Cloud, BSED ’60 Vernon Curie, BSME ’60
Leonard Greer, BA ’60 Ronald Holden, BSED ’60 Edward Minister, BA ’60 William Osborne, BSCOM ’60 Lowell Weitz, MFA ’60 Calvin Eckert Jr., MED ’61 William Hollman, AB ’61 Donald McCarthy, MED ’61, PHD ’68 Jane Ruggles Meyers, BSED ’61, MED ’62 Thomas Olinger, BFA ’61 John Balough, BSJ ’62 Eleanor Cooper Brandt, BSED ’62 George Cotter, BSED ’62 Cherrye Smith Lucas, MED ’62 Richard Modic, BSED ’62 Janice Fisher Ramsdell, BSED ’62 Iva White Snyder, BSED ’62, MED ’68 Mary Bacon, BSED ’63, MED ’70 Ernest Bechstein, BSCHE ’63, MS ’65 Nancy Loken Day, BSED ’63 Philip Dolan, MFA ’63 Donald Ferguson, BSEE ’63 John Jones, BBA ’63 Melvin Hardin, BFA ’63 Norman Russell, BSED ’63 Ann Forster Baughman, BSED ’64 James Barth, BS ’64 Robert Crace, BSED ’64, MA ’65 David Hoffman, BSED ’64 Gwynne Mueller Holohan, BA ’64 Virginia Scullion, MED ’64 Norma Scott Foster, BSED ’65 Paul Hilty, BSED ’65 Allan Matko, BSED ’65 Marilou Cogan Nelson, BFA ’65 Susan Bowdle Timmermeister, BSED ’65 Lois Ford Boggs, BSED ’66 Linda Baum Kennedy, BSED ’66 Wanda Reed Kinker, BSED ’66 Marilyn Moffat Meeks, BSED ’66 Steven Montfort, BSCE ’66 Richard Swackhamer, AB ’66 William Teitelbaum, AB ’66 Sue Hudson Williams, BS ’66 Robert Barnhart, BGS ’67 John Kachline Jr., BSME ’67 Ruth Knittel, MED ’67 Richard Marshall, BSCHE ’67 Mary Bihl McClelland, BSJ ’67 Charles Miller, BS ’67 Gary Tague, BBA ’67 Judith Duncan Young, BSED ’67 Duane Lindsey, BSED ’68 Ralph Long, MED ’68, BSIT ’81 James Paler, BBA ’68
R. Barry Tillotson Jr., BBA ’68, MBA ’69 Paul Whitesides, MED ’68 Lauralee Nicholson Bass, AA ’69 Rosalie Dunn, BSED ’69 Jeanne Ahlberg Korda, AB ’69 Larry Penrod, BSED ’69 James Waldman, BSED ’69
1970s
Samuel Barile, AB ’70 Charles Bartok, AB ’70 Howard Buckley, MED ’70 Chris Bucurel, BSED ’70 Beverly Parsons Buxton, BSED ’70 Prince Davis, MED ’70 Ruth Gross Fetters, BSED ’70 Mary McGirr Frame, BSED ’70 Robert Hamilton, MED ’70 John Hogsett, BBA ’70 James Kellar, BSED ’70 Kenneth Koehler, BSCHE ’70 David Lyons, BSISE ’70 Harry McConnell, AB ’70 Stephen Noren, MBA ’70 Paul Ostasiewski, BBA ’70, MBA ’72, MBA ’77 Thomas Stetak, BSED ’70 James Tyree Jr., BSED ’70 Russell Walton, BSED ’70, MFA ’72 John Wiater, BSJ ’70 Ronald Andrews, BA ’71 Richard Brautigam, BFA ’71 Tamara Frye Crewey, BSED ’71 Andrea Danford, BFA ’71 Nancy Mantle Doolittle, BFA ’71 Ann Huhta Holland, BSED ’71 Mark Honnert, AB ’71 Kay Sanders, BSJ ’71 Carolyn Neal Schodorf, BSHEC ’71 Betty Boylan, BSHS ’72 Judith Carr Jackson, BGS ’72 William Malcom, BMUS ’72 Laurie Miller Ragan, BSED ’72 Craig Schulze, BSC ’72 Emanuel Sergakis, MS ’72 Jean Mahaffey Snyder, BSED ’72 Ronald Young, BBA ’72 Mary Matheny Arnett, BSED ’73 Glen Cokonougher, AB ’73 James Dale, BGS ’73, MA ’90 Nancy Depken Hatch, BSHE ’73 Laurance Pierce, BGS ’73 Jesse Vail, BSED ’73 Richard Wissler, AB ’73 Marcella Brown, BSED ’74
Lawrence Damiano, BSC ’74 David Eldridge, PHD ’74 Gaynell Leedy Gose, BSED ’74 Janet Anders Raver, AA ’74, BSED ’76 Rebecca Stricklin, BS ’74, MS ’76 Madeline Schmucker Thoss, MED ’74 Karol Glover Underwood, MSED ’74 William Fierstos, BBA ’75 John Gretzinger, BGS ’75 Margaret Smoyer McDargh, MED ’75 Martin Rozenman, BSJ ’75 Laura Pellegrinon Saunders, BSED ’75 Roger Shue, BBA ’75 Herbert Wilson, AA ’75 David Kuhaneck, BS ’76 Alan Lapp, BBA ’77 Stefan Boston, BGS ’78 Paul Immel, BSED ’78 Kenneth Grieser, BSJ ’79 Helen Grueser, BSC ’79, MA ’82 Kevin Wildman, BGS ’79
1980s
William Tietjen, PHD ’80 Robert Hawkins, MED ’81 Neil O’Donnell, BBA ’81 Judith McCullough Shaffer, AAS ’81 Louella Addis Albaugh, AAS ’82, BSN ’93 Cynthia Graves Clarke, AA ’82 Sarah Davies Gibbons, BSN ’82 Christopher McDade, BSRS ’82 James Chlovechok, BS ’83 Roger Brown, BSJ ’85 Constance Hensley Ferrell, AAS ’85 Tracy Hoffman, BSED ’85 David Straight, BBA ’85, MBA ’86 James Albert, BSJ ’87 John Ruskowski, AAS ’87, BSC ’95 Ernest Bevins, BBA ’88 Geoffrey Darling, BBA ’88 Barbara Barone Bates, BSED ’89 Christopher Gilks, BSJ ’89 Raymond Holan, BSEE ’89
1990s
Julia Blum Young, BS ’90 Terri Carter, AAB ’91, BSC ’04 Arla Davis, AB ’93 Shirley Zickafoose Garrett, AAS ’94 Samuel Salupo, MAPA ’94
Catherine Buzzanco DeMatteis, BGS ’95 Dodd Gatsos, BS ’95
2000s
Nicholas Brunetti, BBA ’00 Melissa McLaughlin, BSC ’00 Matt Blosser, BBA ’02 Marsha Morrison, MFA ’02 Christopher Wasson, AS ’08 Nick Greiwe, BSRS ’09 Ryan Mirkin, BSH ’10
Faculty/Staff
Margaret Deppen, Athens, Ohio, former dean of women, director of student organizations, April 21, 2010 David Jacoby, BSED ’60, MED ’66, PHD ’75, Athens, Ohio, professor of physical education and sports science, July 23, 2010 Esiaba Irobi, Berlin, Germany, associate professor of international theater, May 3, 2010 Helmut Zwahlen, MS ’68, Athens, Ohio, professor emeritus of industrial and systems engineering, research professor with the Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment, Feb. 28, 2010
Friends
Donald Spencer, Cincinnati, Ohio, first African-American chairman of the Ohio University Board of Trustees, May 4, 2010 Correction: Norman Stoner, BSCE ’69, was incorrectly identified as deceased in the Spring/Summer issue. He is a division administrator with the U.S. Depar tment of Transpor tation. He and his wife, Karen, live in Springfield, Ill. We regret the error.
F A L L / W I N T E R
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L AST W ORD Putting it Together
For Ohio winters, I paved the floor with that jigsaw puzzle — a cobbled street winding past whitewashed houses with flowerpots and tile roofs to an alcazar, my childhood cipher of Europe, no location named. Once it was assembled, I’d whirl barefoot on a thousand bright pebbles of elsewhere till I’d fall, drunk with almost being there. Thirty years flit by like seagulls in sun, shearing the dazzle. On a travelogue, ladies in mantillas climb that cobbled lane in Portugal. And I am back upon cold linoleum with cramping legs, turning the final piece as if it can unlock the blocked trapdoor through time and space and guide me home to every foreign place.
Story with a twist
Prestigious prize connects poet, professor
W
hen the Ohio University Press selected the 2009 Hollis Summers Poetry Prize winner, a surprise was in store. Out of hundreds of entries, the blind review process had produced not only an alumnus of the university, but also a poet who was personally acquainted with the prize’s namesake — a happy coincidence, to say the least. Winner Will Wells, MA ’77, is a professor and dean of arts and sciences at Rhodes State College in Lima, Ohio. While he never took a class from Hollis Summers, a distinguished Kentucky writer who taught at Ohio University for years, Wells does have fond memories of the conversations they shared at the creative writing house across from Ellis Hall. Summers, whom Wells describes as a generous presence for his thoughtful and encouraging mentorship of student poets, passed away in 1987. 44
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“He was always so gracious with poems,” Wells recalls. “He wouldn’t treat them as if they were perfect; he wouldn’t give you false flattery when they weren’t very good; but he would find possibilities in the poems. And I think that’s what the best writing teachers always do.” Wells’ collection, “Unsettled Accounts,” which had been short-listed for other prizes, won the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize and was published by Ohio University Press this year. Its poems address history and the making of memory and identity, taking a meandering path from Wells’ hometown of Akron, Ohio, to the many places he has visited as a scholar and translator of Italian poetry. No matter where he goes, Wells says he takes with him a cryptic piece of advice from Summers, which he included in the acknowledgments of the
— Will Wells, “Unsettled Accounts”
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book: “A good poet can rhyme Tuesday and fishing.” “He was a little bit like a Zen master in that sense,” he says, adding that Summers never explained the comment, and he enjoys sharing it with his own students. “Everybody had to derive their own answer.” — Mariel Jungkunz
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P A I D Advancement Services HDL Center 164 1 Ohio University Athens, Ohio 45701-0869
COLUMBUS, OHIO PERMIT NO. 4416
THE BOBCAT NETWORK: “A friend of a friend” is a meaningful concept at Ohio University. Students Seth Fuller and Erica Cohen were only acquaintances after having taken several classes together, but in February 2009 the bond became more meaningful. Erica had organized Ohio University’s first Got Swabbed? bone marrow drive when Seth decided to help out by getting swabbed. About a year later Seth received an unexpected phone call: His bone marrow was a match for a 5-year-old boy with leukemia. In disbelief, he immediately contacted DKMS America to begin the process. “I was never nervous, never scared, because I could only imagine what the kid was going through,” says Fuller, a sports management major. In September, he donated his bone marrow in hopes of saving the child’s life. Fuller, now an alumnus, is in the early stages of planning his own bone marrow drive. Read more about this story on page 28.