OHIOTODAY SPRING/SUMMER 2010
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Ohio University Looking Back ...
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VOLUME 11, NUMBER 2, SPRING/SUMMER 2010
Against the Odds: The Loyal Bobcats of ’46 World War II may have interrupted their college careers, but it didn’t deter these dutiful student-athletes from completing their studies and pursuing their dreams — on and off the field.
14 Your Ohio, Then and Now What are your memories of Ohio University? In this issue of Ohio Today, we reflect on some of the people and places that are uniquely ours as alumni. Reminisce about your favorite traditions (“A Royal Court,” page 18), hangouts (“Good Times,” page 22), professors (“Outstanding Professors,” starting on page 16) and more!
D E PA R T M E N T S 3 6 32 37 43 44
Letters Across the College Green Bobcat Tracks Calendar In Memoriam Last Word
Find us on the Web Ohio University: ohio.edu Ohio Today Online: ohiotodayonline.com
The cover includes the following alumni: 1.
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Cover: How much has changed! Students from the past 70 years represent the different eras of Ohio history. To find your friends in the Athena or Spectrum Green online, visit http://media.library.ohiou.edu/.
1. Mary Hoops Drobnik, BS ’59, J-Prom queen whose story appears on p. 19 2. Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis, BSED ’70 3. Anita Corl Huntsman, BSED ’73, member of the 1984 Olympic bronze medal-winning field hockey team
7. Sander Schwartz, AB ’75, past president of Warner Bros. Animation; executive vice president with FremantleMedia 8. Hua Chua, BSEE ’59, co-inventor, programmable logic array and Vialink, a fieldprogrammable interconnect technology 9. William Newman, BFA ’72, presiding judge, chief judge, of the Arlington Circuit Court
4. Wilfred Konneker, BS ’43, MS ’47, HON ’80, founder of Nuclear Consultants Corp. in St. Louis, Mo., and the Innovation Center in Southeast Ohio; the university’s Konneker Alumni Center is named in his honor
10. Dolph, WOOF ’59, mascot for Sigma Alpha Epsilon
5. Valerie Russack Hoff, BSC ’84, CNN “Headline News” anchor; reporter for 11 Alive in Atlanta
12. Bruce McElfresh, BFA ’66, MFA ’78, past illustrations editor, National Geographic
6. Joan Herrold Wood, BSJ ’52, feature writer for the Pittsburgh Press; founder of Wood Public Relations
11. Ken Ehrlich, BSJ ’64, executive producer for multiple TV specials, including the most recent Grammy Awards
13. Mike Schuler, BSED ’62, former head coach, Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trailblazers; 1986 NBA Coach of the Year
T H E
P R E S I D E N T ’ S
P E R S P E C T I V E
A founding vision
By Roderick J. McDavis
EDITOR
Mariel Jungkunz, MS ’07 DESIGNER
Sarah McDowell, BFA ’02 PHOTOGRAPHER
Kevin Riddell, MA ’09
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ecently, I was reminded of two unexpected guests who walked into Cutler Hall two years ago. These visitors were two sisters on a trip crisscrossing the eastern part of the country. When one of the women told her son they were driving through Ohio, he encouraged them to stop and visit Athens, specifically Ohio University, which had some connection to one of their ancestors — Manasseh Cutler. Little did they know that they were the descendants of a man who understood that education, particularly a higher education, was the foundation upon which to build a new nation. He transformed the Northwest Territory and played a significant role in establishing Ohio University — the first university in the new territory. Astounded as they walked the corridors of Cutler Hall, they learned that their ancestor — whom historian and author David McCullough described as a university unto himself — was a famous figure, practically a celebrity, in our neck of the Appalachian woods. I often wonder what our founders would think of the progress that we have made today. What would Manasseh Cutler or Rufus Putnam’s reaction be strolling the pathways of our campuses, observing our outstanding students, faculty and staff hard at work creating, developing and innovating? I believe their reaction would be that Ohio University has contributed mightily to the advancement and transformation of our nation. Through the decades, we have continued to ensure Ohio University’s relevancy and secure its place as an institution focused on offering the best student-centered learning experience in America. We have done so through wars, economic booms and busts, through a technology revolution and a globalizing world. What seemed impossible now is a reality An advocate for higher education, Ohio University founding father because of Ohio University’s faculty, who Manasseh Cutler would be astonished ignite curiosity in our students and challenge to see the university’s growth today. colleagues to ask the next question; our students, who are fearless in their pursuit of their passions and unwavering in their quest; our alumni, who generously give of their time, talents and treasure; and our staff, who ensure that we have the tools and the resources to make it all happen. Looking back on my four-decade connection to Ohio University — first, as a student, and now, as president — I’m amazed by our university community’s ability to preserve our university’s heritage while pursuing excellence and transforming to meet the changing needs of our region, state and world. In this issue of Ohio Today, we celebrate the university’s recent history, recognizing some of the defining people, places and moments that have inspired our collective accomplishments as a community of scholars. Our students, alumni, faculty and staff continue a journey begun by courageous, devoted, persevering individuals who envisioned this amazing university and believed that it could lift our nation to new heights. Together, we continue their legacy. We are shaping the new frontier, the new future of Ohio University — and in a greater sense — the future of our nation and our world.
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CONTRIBUTORS
Heather Farr, BSJ ’12 Lindsay Ferguson, BSJ ’10 Megan Greve, BSJ ’10 Maryann Gunderson, BSCHE ’85, MFA ’03 Beth Lipton, BSJ ’11 Samantha Pirc, BSJ ’10 Mary Reed, BSJ ’90, MA ’93 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 AN D 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 Dennis Minichello, AB ’74, MA ’74, alumni chair Thomas E. Davis, BGS ’73, secretary Michael Angelini, acting treasurer Ohio Today will publish two times this year, in December and May. 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 One grad’s story
Cutler chimes, consistent and true
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oday, a small epiphany occurred here — in my kitchen — in Vermont. After returning from collecting the mail from our local post office, I opened the envelope from the Ohio University development office to learn that I was being welcomed into the Cutler Chimes Society for my “dependable, dedicated, consistent and faithful” contributions to Ohio University. I felt a particular impact from this letter because it has been 60 years since my graduation. Even more so, the letter is a vivid reminder of the isolated hours I myself spent as a student at the tiny chimes keyboard in the attic at Cutler Hall. I do not remember how I got the privilege of playing the chimes before convocations and on other special occasions. Who asked me to play? Was it part of my duties as a studio accompanist in the music department? Was I paid for this “work”? How long did my tenure last? Who preceded me as carillonneur? I do remember my trepidation the first time I climbed the ladder into the attic to find the little keyboard tucked under the beams, amidst the dust and spiders I feared might live there. But once I began to play, and the sound of the chimes drifted over the campus and the people on the walkways below, a great feeling of engagement came to me, and it was quite glorious. I was never a leader at Ohio University. I got decent enough grades, but in later years realized that I didn’t avail myself of the opportunities that were there for the taking. For example, I wanted to take flying lessons when they were first offered, but I knew the lab fee would be prohibitive, and it never occurred to me to ask about financial aid. In the music department, I was happiest as an accompanist, not a soloist. Subsequent to my days at Ohio University, time has offered me a wonderful and completely unexpected life. Undergirding it all has been the calm grounding I seemed to absorb from OU and its environs. I lived in Germany after World War II, worked briefly at The Ohio State University and spent a rewarding career in Cambridge, Mass., first as a research assistant at the Harvard College Observatory and subsequently as a program manager in the radio astronomy division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. My dedication to the university has been quite modest over the years, albeit fairly steady. There will be no great bequest at the end. But I now realize that, sitting alone in the attic of Cutler, I did make a contribution at one time, and I don’t think anybody even knew it was me, up there, making all that lovely noise! Thanks for the memories. I hope you enjoy knowing the impact a letter from the university can have. Jean Hales Andersen, BFA ’49 Bradford, Vt. (Editor’s Note: To learn about the university’s Cutler Chimes Society, see page 35.) ABOVE: The Cutler chimes (now operated by tape) replaced a bell that had been rung by hand for more than 130 years to sound the hours and call students to class.
Our issue of Ohio Today arrived recently, and I was surprised to see it addressed to my wife, Jean McMillan, instead of myself, as previously. While I am 87 and received my degree in 1944 while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, I am well. Jean and I celebrated our 65th wedding anniversary on Oct. 29. We met on campus in the spring of 1943, shortly before I was called to active duty in July of that year. We were married 15 months later in California. I was stationed on Coronado Island, practicing running landing boats onto the beaches. I served as an ensign on the USS Rockwall, APA 230, in the South Pacific from March to December of 1945. We landed U.S. soldiers and Marines on Iwo Jima and Okinawa under fire from the Japanese. Three days after the signing of the treaty between Japan and the United States, our ship landed in Aomori on the northern tip of Honshu, Japan. I returned to the United States that December. Our eldest son, David, graduated from OU in 1967. He is founder and owner of Worldwide Movie Animals in California, actively involved in the training and performances of his animals in television, movies and commercials, including the Target dog. Just another tale of the diversity of your graduates. Joseph G. McMillan, BS ’44 Worthington, Ohio
Tony Xenos rocks! Thanks for putting my old friend Tony Xenos on the cover of the Fall/Winter 2009 issue. I was a student teacher at Vinton County High School, teaching in a room alongside him. (Of course, most people know him as singer of the Cactus Pears.) Seeing him on the cover brings back old memories and reminds me that we are still young at heart but in bodies fighting gravity. I’m glad to see he is still keeping Athens as active and vibrant as I remember it. As I learned while living in Athens, Taiwan and now Memphis, Tenn., it doesn’t matter what environment you live in, it is what you make of that environment. Jeff LaRico, BFA ’98 Collierville, Tenn.
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Hey, I know that guitar! Athens does indeed rock and has rocked for 40 years. Thanks a million for publishing the photograph on the back cover of the Fall/Winter 2009 issue! (The photo is reprinted below.) At first glance, I thought the guitarist on the right was Tom Kubik. He opened for Steve Gillette and Raun MacKinnon, traveling folk performers of the time. But I wasn’t sure it was Kubik until I studied the guitar and saw that he was playing his trademark Guild F-412 12-string. It has to be him. But he played around Athens as a solo act, so who was the other musician? Then I remembered Kubik was part of a duo, Kubik and Keen, for a while. Playing the six-string is Larry Keen. Now I’m looking around the photo wondering if I might have been there that night, and sure enough, on the right, seated across from the tall speaker, is my first girlfriend. Beside her and partially obscured by the blond in the front row is me, Chip Stringer, in dark-framed glasses. I’ve racked my brain for the time period and concluded it was probably spring of 1970. I was an RA in Washington Hall in fall of 1969, where I met Tom Kubik, who lived there. Whatever I know about fingerpicking and the 12-string today, I learned first from Tom that year. The spring of 1970, everything changed. There was Kent State, and the university
closed early. The residence hall staff remained behind to clean up the dorms after the students had hastily departed. I remember National Guardsmen everywhere, enforcing curfew and driving around the East Green in jeeps, luckily without weapons showing. Art Stringer, AB ’71 Huntington, W.Va. Editor’s Note: We contacted Tom Kubik after receiving Art’s note. Here is his response.
Last call at the Cavern I can confirm that the picture is of Larry Keen and myself taken at the Baker Center Cavern circa 1970. While we had opened for many acts that came through OU on the college coffeehouse circuit (Steve Gillette, Raun MacKinnon — both of whom I am still in contact with — and many others), since Larry was graduating, they asked us to do a concert of our own. That picture is of the last time we played together at OU. It was a lot of fun, and I do remember people kept sending us beer. We never drank on stage, but as it was our farewell (and the beer was free), we made an exception that night. Larry and I performed together until 1972, when he left for California and I started a career in the theme park industry. Larry is now living in Golden, Colo., raising his two sons and doing very little singing or writing. I moved to Florida
Tom Kubik (right), half of the duo Kubik and Keen, remembers the concerts at the Cavern well: “Larry (Keen) is singing a solo. I know because I am sitting back playing guitar. He would have been singing either ‘Everybody’s Talking’ (from ‘Midnight Cowboy’) or ‘For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her’ by Paul Simon.
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in 1994 and had an 18-year career as a financial planner after 20 years in the theme park business (the last 11 years with Anheuser-Busch). I still perform in the Tampa Bay area and have recorded a few CDs. I have my own studio, and my record label is Upsidedown Puppy Records, a division of Upsidedown Puppy Music. For guitar nuts, my F-412 Guild 12-string was rare. It had to be special-ordered, and they only made four in 1969. I got the first one, which is made out of curly maple. Also, I have a Guild F-512, which is pictured on my MySpace page (myspace. com/tomkubik22). Guild quit making both models about 15 years ago and is just now coming back with the F-512, but not the F-412. I still have both guitars, plus three others and two banjos. Thanks for contacting me. I just saw Steve Gillette in January, and he has very fond memories of those circuit days at OU. So does Raun MacKinnon. Tom Kubik (attended 1967-71) Anna Maria Island, Fla.
What’s in a name? I enjoyed the Fall/Winter 2009 edition of Ohio Today with its profiles of alumni who have stayed in Athens. Great stories. But the letter to the editor from Jerry Grim, BFA ’64, (“Looking East and West”) muddles some OU history. In the letter, Jerry suggests that President McDavis’ reference to Ohio University as the “Berkeley of the Backwoods” makes the president’s perspective “not very long, historically speaking.” He suggests that “Harvard on the Hocking” was the original appellation for the university, dating back to settlers who arrived from the East after the founding to find “12 log cabins and one brick building (known today as Cutler Hall).” It is true the university was founded in a wilderness. There were only a few cabins on the town plat in the early 1800s; the first brick building, the Academy Building, was only completed in 1808; Cutler Hall wasn’t finished until 1818. And we are still a very rural community. But while the appellation “Berkeley of the Backwoods” does reference OU’s location, the allusion is to the violent student protests that occurred on the Athens campus in the late ’60s and very early ’70s — protests against the Vietnam War, against ROTC, against racial discrimination, against women’s “hours,” against administrative policies
and against authority in general — all of which mimicked protests at Berkeley and other universities around the country. This media-invented name was never used before OU’s hyper-hippy days — say 1968-72. As for the reference to OU as “Harvard on the Hocking,” that too was a ’60s/’70s comparison to another university. The name didn’t originate with settlers from the East, but with the arrival of former President Vernon Alden, who was, like his predecessor John Baker, from Harvard’s business school. Alden was young, energetic, and ambitious for himself and for OU. His intention was to combine the best of public education (easy accessibility and low tuition on a beautiful, friendly campus) with the best of private education (small classes, approachable professors, a unique honors college and many opportunities for eager students). He and his wife, Marian, were good at attracting national attention for Ohio University. Stories about their work at the school appeared in such publications as Time and Life magazine. From there came the second media-invented name of “Harvard on the Hocking.” Sounded good to lots of people, but others deplored the idea that OU depended in any way on Harvard. Distinguished Professor Jack Matthews, for example, wrote a piece for an earlier version of Ohio Today in which he explained that OU has its own history, traditions, place, accomplishments and beauty. That it is and should be only Ohio on the Hocking. I hope this information will be useful to Jerry Grim and other alumni interested in OU and its history. Betty Hollow author, “Ohio University: The Spirit of a Singular Place, 1804-2004” Athens, Ohio
WRITE TO US
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.
CONTRIBU TORS Maryann Gunderson, BSCHE ’85 and MFA ’03, (“Against the Odds”) is a freelance historical writer and the daughter of Edward Sudnick, BSED ’50 and MED ’55. She recently relocated to Athens with her husband, Steve Gunderson, BSCS ’82, nearly three decades after their first meeting outside Alden Library. “Every event we attend now at Ohio University feels like history in the making,” she says. She is writing a novel about living in Athens, is director of an education abroad Paris program and is raising a daughter whom she estimates will be the fourth generation of her family to attend Ohio University. Heather Farr (“Malaysian Scholar Connects Nations”) is a sophomore majoring in journalism with a concentration in public relations and is working toward a certificate from the Global Leadership Center. Heather is the vice president of public relations for the campus chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and an account executive for ImPRessions, the university’s student-run public relations firm. This year, she interned at the Ohio University division of advancement. This summer, Heather will intern with Relix magazine in New York City. Senior Lindsay Ferguson (“Good Times”) is a magazine journalism major also earning a minor in African-American studies and a specialization in Spanish. On campus, she is the publications executive and editor for the Black Student Communication Caucus’ biweekly newsletter, Young Black & Independent, and also writes for the Scripps College of Communication website. She enjoys writing, traveling, art and cooking. She is from Columbus. Megan Greve (“From Ohio to H2O”) is a senior magazine journalism major with a history minor and an African studies certificate. Last year, she studied abroad in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. She hopes to return to Africa upon graduation and work in a media-related field or as part of a nongovernmental organization. Beth Lipton (editorial assistant) is a junior online journalism major in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. As a sports enthusiast, her ultimate career goal is to write about ice hockey. In her spare time, she enjoys playing sports, rock concerts and trips to the dog park with her Siberian husky, Jersey. She is from Cincinnati.
If you have a memory or story to share from your time at Ohio, please write to us this summer. This special issue of the magazine revisits recent Ohio University history, and we have selected many historical photos for publication. If you know the story behind an image — or spot yourself pictured in one — let us know!
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
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Path to promise: Students blog Ohio
What makes Ohio University the perfect fit? This year, incoming freshmen had a special invitation to learn about the decision to choose Ohio from their peers, thanks to the unique blog at www.ohio.edu/blogs/decision. “Sometimes, when you walk up the street, you almost forget that there is a world out there populated by people outside of the 18-25 age range. I feel like there is a youthful luster emanating from ever y inch of the campus and uptown Athens.” — Lo Martinez, freshman
“I strike up conversations with random people in line at the bank or the supermarket and learn a little bit about their lives. It is very comforting and welcoming to know that everyone is so friendly and willing to get to know you. It is definitely a plus of such a local, small town.”
“If you have ever taken a tour of our campus, you know that you can’t get anywhere without going uphill. ... Some people don’t like this, but I love it! I recently took a nutrition class where I had to track my diet and exercise. I got 200 percent of my recommended daily exercise just from walking around campus!” — Darryl Baker, senior
“I am proud to say I am a drama geek! … Here I am able to fulfill my need to see these shows on a regular basis. I’ve been privileged enough to see both ‘Annie’ and ‘Hairspray’ on campus. These are two of my favorite musicals ever, so it was a real treat to be able to see them live.”
— Bright Amadi, junior
— Drew Schaar, senior
Center of Excellence announced
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hio University has been named a University System of Ohio Center of Excellence for Health and Wellness. It is the university’s second USO Center of Excellence; it received a designation as a Center of Excellence for Energy and the Environment in October. In order to receive designation as a USO Center of Excellence, the university had to present a compelling case as to why its unique institutional strengths allow it to be a magnet for talent and a leader in innovation and entrepreneurial activity. To support development of the center, Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit has announced new initiatives and academic restructuring decisions, including the establishment of an Academic Health Center and the refocusing of the College of Health and Human Services. The college will become the College of Health Sciences and Professions. Pam Benoit “The excellence that already exists in our health and wellness programs is noteworthy,” says Benoit. “Refocusing HHS and giving it a signature role in the Academic Health Center will provide the faculty and staff who specialize in health issues increased opportunities to achieve national prominence while improving their abilities to serve students and local communities.” Three other colleges, including the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education and Human Services, are involved in this phase of the restructuring.
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Academic changes effective fall 2010 • Interior architecture will join the School of Art. • Sports administration and the Center for Sports Administration will join the College of Business. • The newly named Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education and Human Services will house the following programs (previously based in Health and Human Services): physical education, coaching education and recreation studies; retail merchandising; family and consumer sciences education; restaurant, hotel and tourism; and early childhood education. The Center for Child Development will join them. • An internal structure for the College of Health Sciences and Professions will be established.
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A 21st century collaboration
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n Saturday, May 8, more than 300 donors and Ohio University community members celebrated the grand opening of the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations and Charles R. and Marilyn Y. Stuckey Academic & Research Center. The facility represents a historic partnership with the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology. The $34.5 million ARC building is one of only four university buildings financed primarily through private donations. The Osteopathic Heritage Foundations contributed $10 million toward construction, and Russ College alumnus Charles Stuckey, BSME ’66, and his wife, Marilyn, donated $5 million.
1 and 5: The ARC’s architecture includes a skylight above the “living room,” where students, faculty and staff can gather informally. 2: OU-COM student Paul Eichenseer congratulates Daryl Sybert, DO ’86, after cutting the ribbon on the Sybert Family Medical Research Laboratory. They are joined by Jack Brose, dean of OU-COM. 3: Russ College students conduct demonstrations. 4: OU-COM Society of Alumni and Friends board president Jeffery Stanley, DO ’82, opens the OU-COM Society of Alumni and Friends Café. 6: President Roderick McDavis cuts the ribbon at the Wall of Honor for donors with the Stuckeys and Osteopathic Heritage Foundations President and CEO Richard Vincent and his wife, Karen, DO ’99.
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Praise for young poet
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lison Stine, a doctoral candidate in the department of English, published her first book of poetry, “Ohio Violence,” which won the Vassar Miller Prize, in 2009. Her stories, essays and poems have appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, Tin House, The Kenyon Review and others. She is working on a young adult novel.
Can you explain the title of your poetry book, “Ohio Violence”?
The title came about when I moved to New York City. My husband was raised a New Yorker, and when I moved in with him, even though I had lived in big cities before, I was surprised and saddened by the homeless on the streets, and how few people seemed to be helping. Daily, I would see people ignore the homeless, pretend not to see them, step over them. That’s a kind of violence: looking away, not caring or pretending not to care. But when my husband visited my family in Ohio, he was horrified by the violence on the side of the road: road kill, dead deer, which to me is familiar. We get used to violence.
We accept forms of violence every day in our lives, and maybe we shouldn’t. What kind of violence is in the book?
At first, I thought the book would be organized by love. There are many poems in the book about love. But love is a kind of violence, or can be, with the things men and women do to each other. Growing up is a violent process, and there are poems about that. … But there’s also hope.
urban. It’s all of those things, and others. There are factories and farms and warehouses and tattoo parlors and old hotels and most of all, diverse people. What Ohio authors have influenced you?
James Wright. He made me want to be a poet, and every time I return to his work, he makes me want to be better. I first read him at 18, and when I came to his poem “Stages on a Journey Westward,” where he mentions by name the town in which I grew up, You’ve lived in many places, including Mansfield, I thought, that’s it. He gets San Francisco, New York City and rural it. He understands where I come from; Georgia. Why focus on Ohio? he understands me. He made me realize I grew up in Ohio. We moved here when that you can love a place and leave it I was 8. It was where I learned to be and long for it at the same time. a writer. It was where I learned to pay attention — and there was a lot in Ohio You teach at the college and high school to notice. Ohio is magic. It’s lovely and level. Has that impacted your writing? dark and strange and changeable. People Everything you do, every job, every have a saying about the weather: If you experience, gives you a new language don’t like it, wait five minutes. But the from which to draw. ... My students whole state is like that. It’s not strictly inspire me. They get me excited about Midwest; it’s not Northeast; it’s not Rust writing. They help me believe in it still. Belt, or Bible Belt, or Appalachia, or I write for them.
Revolution in news?
Panelists debate new media
Kevin Riddell
At a time when cell phones are used for e-mailing and blogs offer nearly anyone with an opinion a personal platform, journalists have to keep up with the rapidly developing media tools that have transformed the speed and mode of news sharing. The increasingly mobile aspect of the media industry was a topic of discussion at the second annual Schuneman Symposium, “Convergence, Confluence or Confusion? The Impact of New Media,” held April 8 at Baker University Center. Sponsored by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, the daylong event attracted media professionals from across the country, including keynote speaker Ana Marie Cox, the founder of the political blog Wonkette.com, and Phil Elliott, BSJ ’03, the youngest Associated Press White House correspondent in history. The symposium is made possible by a gift of $495,000 from R. Smith “Smitty” Schuneman, BFA ’59 and MFA ’60, and his wife, Patricia, BSED ’59, which will fund the event for 13 more years. O H I O
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Some 72 years later, the gift of a lifetime
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iolet L. Patton, BSED ’38, has donated $13.3 million to Ohio University for the establishment of a new community arts education center and $28 million to the College of Education in honor of her parents, David and Gladys Patton, both educators. In recognition of this generous donation, the college has been renamed the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education and Human Services. The change is effective July 1. “This multimillion dollar gift is the single largest gift ever received by our College of Education,” President Roderick McDavis says. “In fact, it is the largest gift to any college of education in Ohio, and one of the
Ohio University is making headlines with plans for its next major capital campaign. While the exact goal has not been set, it is expected to be more than $400 million. Learn more on page 34. ... For the first time in 30 years, the Forensics Speech and Debate Team placed in the top five at the National Forensics Association National Tournament, with senior Dan Glaser winning honors as the top speaker in the nation. ... In a study published as an advance online publication in the journal Nature Nanotechnology in April, physicists at Ohio University and the University of Hamburg in Germany present the first images of an atomic spin in action. ... Ohio University is the top public university in the state for licensing revenue generated from its research discoveries, according to a new study by the Association of University Technology Managers.
Life’s a skate
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ne way to beat the homework blues? Turn a ballroom into a skating rink. Senior Lauren Bee twirled the night away at a Baker University Center skate night Jan. 26. “I started slow, then eventually worked up the courage to try to skate backwards (I failed) and do some spins and turns. Suddenly, I was 10 again!” Bee wrote in an article posted on the Ohio University website. “When I was in elementary school, all the cool kids had their birthday parties at Ohio Skate, a roller-skating rink in my hometown, complete with disco ball and cheesy ’90s pop music. Although I was wary of reliving those childhood days, roller-skating in the Baker University Center Ballroom was a little too tempting to pass up.”
Kevin Riddell
In the news
largest single gifts to any college of education in the nation.” The community and arts education center — to be named the Violet L. Patton Center for Arts Education — will build on Ohio University’s reputation as an educational, cultural and financial boon to the southeastern Ohio region. A community and university partnership, it will support regional art education, including theater, music and drama. “What an incredible gift Miss Patton has given to Ohio University and to the future of arts education here,” McDavis says. “Her gift will touch students, faculty and, in fact, each of us who benefits from the learning and creativity that arts education fosters.”
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Against the odds By Maryann Gunderson
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hen Ohio University football Coach Carroll Widdoes arrived in Athens in the fall of 1949, he mistook the starting defensive back and place-kicker, Edward Sudnick, for the team manager. It was a justifiable observation: Sudnick’s graying hair and mature face were hardly those of a college freshman. Sudnick was, in fact, one of a handful of Bobcats who had played for Ohio before World War II, and he had departed Athens after his freshman year to serve on a naval destroyer. By the time he had returned to college and met his new coach less than a decade later, he had experienced a lifetime’s worth of war, and it showed. One third of the ’49 Ohio roster — 17 players in all — had veteran status: Their college experience was interrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II. Their story is one of persistence and duty, on and off the field, at a time when uncertainty
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transformed their lives, and even more so, their alma mater.
Uncertain footing The early 1940s were a heralded time for Ohio football. A member of the Buckeye Conference, the Bobcats earned three consecutive championships under Coach Don Peden, for whom the currentday football stadium is named. The post-Depression era, however, provided little funding for scholarships and travel expenses. Ohio’s starting lineup — known to the media as the “Bobcat Eleven” — included John Kerns (right tackle) of Geneva, Ohio; Chris Stefan (back) of Dayton; and Sudnick (half back) of Cleveland. To complete the lineup with as few men as possible, they were expected to play both offense and defense. A standout player for Cleveland South high school, Sudnick visited Athens in 1941 for a tryout as a place kicker. He kicked two 30-yarders and “got the job,” he says. Sudnick, who would later go on to work for Ohio University for more than 41 years, was acutely aware of his change in surroundings; at the time, Athens seemed
positively provincial. “U.S. Route 33 wound its way into town, right to the end of Court Street, which was two-way back then and filled with food and sundries all the way to the campus gate,” he says. But the U.S. entry into World War II in December 1941 altered many commitments, including those of the Bobcats. Men began enlisting immediately at ROTC tables staffed at fraternity houses around campus. A three-semester calendar was enacted to facilitate graduation. Patriotic parties took the place of formals, and women knitted and counted rations to support war efforts. Calling the time frame a “compendium of confusion,” Athena yearbook writers commented, “Born in the throes of one war, we wondered if we were to die in another.” The number of men enrolled at the university dropped by 85 percent. There was no football played during the 1943 or 1944 seasons. BELOW: Court Street, 1940s. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, enrollment at Ohio University jumped from 1,300 to 5,000 in 1946, and an era of expansion began for both city and campus.
The loyal Bobcats of ’46 In 1941, World War II interrupted the college careers of many Bobcats, scattering undergraduates — some of whom enlisted right away — throughout the globe. It would take years for many of these students to make their way back to alma mater to continue their studies and unravel their dreams; their return would impact an entire campus, propelling Ohio University into a new period of growth. This story follows the lives of seven student-athletes, including five returning veterans, all affected by the war in a significant way.
Louis Andrews (guard), BSED ’46 Andrews landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day with the Army’s 2nd Battallion and received a Purple Heart for his service. He attended Ohio University on a football scholarship, and after graduation, worked as a master plumber in Cincinnati for more than 50 years. He taught industrial arts and coached football at Madeira (Ohio) High School. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Alice.
Milt Taylor (guard, tackle), BSCO ’50 Stationed on a landing ship in the South Pacific, Taylor repaired damaged ships during World War II. After graduation in 1950, he owned and operated seven auto dealerships in Lancaster, Ohio, and in Athens, and continues to be involved in those businesses. He recalls Carroll Widdoes, who coached the football team his senior year, with fondness: “Widdoes had a lot of empathy for us as veterans and players.”
John Marco (end), BSCO ’50 A former advertising manager for Gray Drug in Cleveland, Marco continues to work at age 85 as a medical courier in Dayton, where he lives with his wife, Lillian. During the war, he was stationed at Smyrna Air Force Base in Nashville.
Robert Hamm (end), BSED ’50 After serving at a naval operating base in San Pedro, Calif., Hamm returned to Ohio University. He broke his leg during a football game — “and that’s how I met my wife,” he says. She saw him shuffling across the green and offered to help. “We started meeting in the study area in the basement of Chubb Library and got married my senior year.” Today, Hamm owns Hamm Properties and Insurance, which has been in operation for more than 50 years. He and his wife, Martha Roedel Hamm, BSHE ’47, live in Venice, Fla.
Ralph Sayre (tailback), BSED ’48 One of the first university athletes to letter in three sports (football, baseball and basketball), Sayre was 17 when the war ended and enrolled as a freshman with many of the returning veterans. “It was surprising how many (veterans) came back to play!” Today, at 84, he is an avid golfer. A former superintendent of the Racine (Ohio) School District and assistant superintendent of Mason (W. Va.) County Schools, Sayre also owned Sayre Insurance in New Haven, W. Va., with his wife, Loretta Jean.
Robert Ralls (back), BSED ’48 “In 1942, there was a cloud over the campus and country,” says Ralls. “But it was still football as usual. We used to come down (to campus) from Cleveland in a 1935 Ford — Ed Sudnick, Fred Shleicher and me.” After graduation, Ralls taught industrial arts for Willoughby and Lakewood, Ohio, high schools for 30 years. He became director of vocational education for five west Cleveland school districts. He lives in Strongsville, Ohio, with his wife, Pauline.
Edward Sudnick (back, defensive secondary, place-kicker), BSED ’50 and MED ’55 “That decade was a great time for us. We served our country, then came to Ohio University and never looked back,” says Sudnick, who worked at Ohio University for 41 years, first as assistant head of residence of more than 500 male students at Scott Quad. He then helped create the office of financial aid and coordinated several departments for regional higher education. He resides in Athens with his wife, Elaine Ross Sudnick, AA ’53.
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“I was shot in Normandy, recovered in England, got a Purple Heart and came back to play.” — Louis Andrews, BSED ’46
Peacetime possibilities By 1946 Ohio University was flooded with veterans of World War II, many beginning or returning to their studies thanks to the G.I. Bill. Signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, the bill provided a college or vocational education to returning veterans; more than 7 million veterans took advantage of the benefits before they ended in 1956. As enrollment nearly doubled from pre-war levels, Ohio adjusted by hiring a new president, John Calhoun Baker, and a veteran’s coordinator, as well as reopening campuses at Chillicothe, Portsmouth (later moved to Ironton) and Zanesville. So small was the Athens campus that students had a choice of only five dormitories in which to reside, and most of that housing was dedicated to women. Many veterans lived on the new 12
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lower campus (now East Green) in 23 barracks known as “Hog Island.” Quickly constructed due to the lack of other appropriate housing, the “Island” was so named for its muddy paths. “The place had boardwalks to keep you out of the mud, but it was just like being back in the Army — a real mess,” says John Marco, a WWII pilot from Warren, Ohio. “I lived down there in 1946 with a guy who sold Kirby sweepers to make ends meet.” Even with their fee waivers and $50-per-week stipends, the men worked in dining halls, performed custodial duty, and completed various odd jobs to cover room and board. Marco washed dishes at Lindley Hall, then a women’s dorm. He later boarded at a rooming house that still stands on the southeast corner of Congress and Washington streets.
His roommate, Robert Hamm, a Navy veteran, describes life in Athens as hectic. “There were a lot of people, of all ages, and a lot of competition,” he says. “We still thought of war time, although we were concentrating on college.” Welcoming the veterans was an effort that united university and town alike. As housing filled, students were placed in rooms in local homes, gyms, the Armory and even nearby towns. Without dorms of their own, the veterans became regulars at restaurants and coffee shops, where owners quickly became good friends. Marco worked at Blackmore’s Restaurant in exchange for meals and received a scholarship sponsored by the restaurant during his senior year. “They paid for all my expenses,” he says. “They just seemed to care.” Ruth Richey, wife of freshman coach Frank Richey, recalls that some veteran players were married, with families as well, and the coaches’ wives appreciated the unexpected, additional female infusion. “One player’s wife was even a nurse, who helped us when we had a sick child,” she says. “It was nice to have the veterans and their families at OU. It was
BOTTOM LEFT: Campus was transformed by the presence of World War II veterans, some of whom were married and had young children. TOP LEFT: The 1946 football squad included many of the returning veterans; Ed Sudnick, BSED ’50 and MED ’55, and his teammates came back from as far as the South Pacific to complete their Ohio University degrees. CENTER: Sudnick carries the ball during a Dad’s Day game against Xavier University at Peden Stadium in 1947. Ohio won 12-7. RIGHT: Athletic events and campus activities continued for a time after the United States announced it was entering World War II in 1941. This picture from 1942 depicts one of the last games played during the war. The post-war headline, from a 1946 football program, celebrates the return of Homecoming.
such a close group of people living and working together.” Sudnick, who had spent nearly three years in the South Pacific, was just as eager as his teammates to return. The youngest of 11 children and the first to attend college, he longed to reimmerse himself in his previous life of studies, Saturday games and gridiron victories after so many uncertain months on a naval destroyer. He wrote to Coach Peden shortly after the surrender of Japanese forces to ask what he might do to condition himself for play. “The coach wrote back, ‘Of course, I remember you, and you are sorely missed. Just get back safely with (Dick) Ludwinski, and I’ll get you in shape!’”
Peden himself had enlisted at age 43, serving in Italy in 1943 and 1944 as director of recreational activities for the enlisted men. “I knew he would write back,” Sudnick says. “But to receive such a letter from Peden and Ohio University was still very exciting for me on ship and such a relief.”
who came back from a landing ship tanker in the South Pacific to play. “My teammates were truly great.” With a new conference and the reinforced roster of young and old players, the Bobcats took to the field in September of 1946 and won six straight games, outscoring their opponents 185-41. The football season was highlighted by victories over rivals Western Michigan Commitments fulfilled Sudnick recalls just how out of shape and Xavier, as the veteran leaders of the team came to grips with their wartime he was when he returned to Peden’s experiences and regained their lives in preseason conditioning program that fall: “I was so sore that I fell out of bed the classroom and on the field. As the unsettled decade wound down, each morning; I could hardly stand.” Ohio conquered nationally ranked West He was injured and played only on Virginia, Kent State and tied a tough defense while still kicking left-footed, tackling some of the newly formed Mid- Western Reserve team in front of 12,000 Cleveland fans in 1949. Under the American Conference’s best running backs, including Miami University’s Ara leadership of first-year Coach Widdoes, Sudnick scored a touchdown that day — Parseghian, a fellow Navy veteran who his first ever. The entire team reveled later coached football for Notre Dame. in that game after years of personal and Louis Andrews, who had returned in national sacrifice. 1945 for his senior year at Ohio, earned In the 1950 Athena yearbook, Widdoes All-MAC honors that year. “I was shot described his first Ohio University in Normandy, recovered in England, got football team of young and old as a Purple Heart and came back to play “a group of boys with the spirit and football,” he says. determination of fighting to the last Ralph Sayre was 17 and waiting for Ohio to revive its football program when whistle, no matter what the odds.” Older, but so much wiser, were the men of Ohio the war ended. By his senior year, he football whose collegiate dreams could had lettered in three sports. Robert not be usurped by tour of duty. Ralls, who played quarterback in 1945 on a team of mostly freshmen, returned For more photos from the 1940s, visit to his original position as fullback. www.ohiotodayonline.com. Send your “I enjoyed being around the older 1940s memories to ohiotoday@ohio.edu. guys,” says Milt Taylor, of Columbus, S P R I N G / S U M M E R
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It all starts on the College Green. Following the act of 1804 that chartered Ohio University, the first building on campus was completed for $500. It was known as the academy building, and it was a simple, two-story brick structure. Its first preceptor and instructor was Jacob Lindley, a Presbyterian minister, who was paid that same amount a year. Looking at a campus map today, it is hard to imagine that such a humble beginning could inspire the complexity encompassed by the modern Ohio University experience. The brick buildings have grown in number; the professors are as varied as they are 14
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memorable — yet something of that pioneering spirit remains. Recent history has shaped the university, and transformed its people and places, in surprising ways. In this issue of Ohio Today, we take a brief tour through the past 60 years and consider the memories that remain. All images courtesy of The Robert E. & Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections. Sources cited: Archives and Special Collections, “Ohio University: The Spirit of a Singular Place, 1804-2004,” The Post, the Athena and Spectrum Green yearbooks, The Ohio Alumnus, Athens News, Billboard.com and the Ohio University Office of Institutional Research. With thanks to university archivist Bill Kimok and Betty Hollow for their help.
Building boom
The university saw its student population grow from some 5,000 undergraduate students in the early 1950s to 18,482 in 1969. Campus had to keep pace with this growth, and many of the buildings alumni and students associate with Ohio’s iconic look are a product of that era. A comparison of campus maps from 1947-48 (left) and 1970-71 (below right) shows just how much changed. Here is a sampling of the structures built during this era:
Kantner Hall (1951), the former home of the Ohio Patio Theater and School of Interpersonal Communications, now houses the School of Theater. Ohio University Baker Center (1953) was dedicated in honor of Ohio University President John Calhoun Baker in 1954. It closed in 2006, when the new Baker University Center opened. It is the future home of the Scripps College of Communication. Eleven dorms on East Green (1952-1959) continue to house students, although all are now coed residences. The university received a grant from the state to construct temporary housing to accommodate the incoming veterans in what was first known as the Lower Campus. The first of the permanent dorms (Johnson) was built in 1952. Others followed:
• Perkins (1953) • Bush (1954) • Tiffin (1954) • Gamertsfelder (1956) • Jefferson (1958)
• Biddle (1954) • Read (1954) • Washington (1955) • Shively (1957) • Lincoln (1959)
Copeland Hall (1956) houses the College of Business; its opening coincided with the first year the college offered a
master of business administration degree. It was renovated in the early 1990s. Bird Arena (1957), one of the first university rinks in Ohio, is home to the Bobcats ice hockey team, which won its first game in 1958 and its first championships in 1959-60 (intercollegiate) and 1995 (club). Galbreath Chapel (1957), a gift from alumnus John Galbreath, AB ’20 and HON ’61, in memory of his first wife (Helen Mauck Galbreath, AB ’19), marks the spot where the couple first kissed, according to campus legend. The College of Education building (1959), renamed in 1963 for a dean of education and the university’s first provost, Thomas Cooke McCracken, still houses the college. Porter Hall (1959) housed botany, geography, geology and psychology, and accommodates many of the same departments today after renovations in 1993. Grover Center (1960), once a basketball arena and home to the physical education program, houses the College of Health and Human Services, which will undergo a restructuring and name change this fall (see page 8 for more). West Green building no. 1 (1962) opened as a dormitory and is now Grosvenor Hall, the home of the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Much changed at Ohio University between 1948 (page 14) and 1971 (below). TOP LEFT: Construction on East Green (1956) BOTTOM LEFT: Construction on Galbreath Chapel (1958)
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Outstanding professor Edgar Whan (taught 1955-1991)
“Nobody ever wrote a novel to be read ‘for Wednesday.’” So says Edgar Whan, professor emeritus of English, University Professor in Perpetuity (because he won the award so many times) and 89-yearold anti-authoritarian. “We steered more people away from literature than to it. You need to pick up a book with the expectation of intelligence and pleasure. When you analyze a character you should do it the same way you pick a husband or a wife.” Whan was known for — and likely popular for — his disdain for grades. In classes including freshman English and The Bible as Literature, his rules were pretty loose. Mainly, you had to show up for class. “My gamble was you couldn’t talk about these books without reading them. You didn’t have to (read them), but you had to be there. It was wonderful.” Alumni have referred to Whan as gentle, funny, acerbic, a wonderful man and Ohio University’s best teacher ever. Ask him what his philosophy on teaching is and he’ll reply, “I can’t say because if I thought about it I’d be so pompous I couldn’t stand it.”
1950-59
“And to these freshmen Ohio U. must be a strange dream of dances, botany field trips, wonderful homecoming celebrations, and bulging notebooks. But it is something more … it is four joyous years.” Athena 1950 16
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Professors selected for the “Outstanding Professor” profiles by Mary Reed, BSJ ’90, were named as some of the university’s best by alumni responding to the 2008 Ohio University Alumni Attitude Survey. Missed the online survey? Update your information at www.ohioalumni.org.
LEFT: The 115-piece marching band led the 1955 homecoming parade. Thirty floats paraded through Athens that morning.
Snowed-in students keep busy socially (The Post, 12/01/50) “Record dances, an open house, and a square dance have been held this week. Other open houses are scheduled for tonight at Lindley Hall and for Saturday night at Bryan Hall.”
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Enrollment: 5,068* Tuition (in-state): $45 Room: $54* President: John Calhoun Baker (1945-61) University firsts: • Doctoral degrees first offered (’56) • University expanded overseas with a program to teach Nigerian students (’57) • First Distinguished Professor award recognized top researcher (’59) Popular major: Education
Campus votes: Republican Famous guest: Count Basie Orchestra Major protest: The Orange Riot of 1958, when an orange fight on East Green grew into a crowd of pranksters that had to be dispersed by police. Fun fact: Cathy Brown, BSED ’51, appeared on the cover of Mademoiselle magazine in May of 1952. As a student, she modeled in Foster’s University shop fashion shows. (The Post, May 2, 1952)
1: A snowstorm closed the university as students returned from Thanksgiving break (1950). Some students did not hear the news and traveled back; they filled the week with dances and snow fun. 2: Students wait to register at the Rec Hall, a temporary building on College Green (1952). 3: A photo from the Athena captures freshmen making “their contribution” to campus (1955). 4: The annual Pi Phi-Alpha Xi Powder Bowl raised $700 for charity in 1951. 5: Kappa Alpha Alpha sorority was established on campus in the early 1950s (1957). *Figures for 1949-50; cost per semester
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A royal court By Samantha Pirc, BSJ ’10
For students in the 1950s, J-Prom was not just another formal dance; it was the event of the year. Classes were canceled, curfew was lifted and weeks of preparation culminated with the election of a J-Prom king and queen. Every dorm, sorority and fraternity campaigned for a candidate, and even today, Ohio University alumni say it was a tradition fit for royalty.
‘Farmer Franny’ reminisces
Heights, N.Y. She still keeps the photos and newspaper clippings that document her reign as J-Prom queen, an When Frances Growhosky Bryan, BSCO ’55 and MA ’58, talks experience that Bryan describes as one of the many that made about the 1955 J-Prom that crowned her her time at the university so wonderful. “I know I certainly queen, the event is as fresh in her mind left the school a much better person. It did a lot for me.” as if it happened yesterday. “Farmer Franny” — the nickname she donned to go along with her “down ‘Alpine Al’ still a king Even today, Alan Galletly, BSJ ’60, has the credentials of on the farm” campaign theme — can a J-Prom king. If the drive and charisma of this retired still describe the blue dress she wore entrepreneur (and cross-country cyclist) don’t convince you, and the horse-drawn buggy she rode there’s always a special talent he can in the parade. She can tell deploy to win your vote: the same act he you who else walked with originally performed to score his victory in the float (her dorm mates, 1959, a mash-up of different musical styles leading several lambs) and depicting the origins of “Happy Birthday.” what they wore (blue-and1955 queen “If I have to be anywhere to perform white checkered skirts). something, I can always trot it out,” And she still remembers what a beautiful night it Galletly says, adding that he has expanded was when she stood on the balcony outside of Baker and refreshed the tune over the years. University Center to hear the winners announced. “People still get a laugh from it.” But if you ask Bryan what stands out most, she Between his role as music director for will readily tell you it was the sense of community the Wilton (Conn.) Presbyterian Church, the experience created for those on campus. volunteering with the Wilton Children “It was a wonderful thing,” she says. “Anyone 1959 king Theater and doing occasional public who wanted to be involved could be. It was the relations consulting work, Galletly is as biggest thing of the year — bigger than Homecoming.” active now as he was before he retired from his role as vice The dance itself was almost an afterthought compared to president of public affairs at GTE (now Verizon). He lives in the weeks of preparation that went into float building, skit planning and campaigning for the king and queen candidates. Richfield, Conn. An entrepreneur twice over, Galletly ran his own public After graduation, Bryan traded in her crown for a job in relations firm for six years and a bike tour company for three. economics and graduate study (at the urging of Margaret As if all this isn’t enough, he’s also completed quite a few Deppen, then dean of women). cross-country bicycling trips since retirement — the latest With her husband David Bryan, BSCO ’57, she moved to being an 800-mile journey on the Lewis and Clark Trail from Okinawa, Japan, where he was stationed in the Air Force, Oregon through Montana, with his wife of almost 50 years, and she worked for the American Civil Service, recruiting Janice Myers Galletly, BSED ’60. American nurses and teachers to the base. After returning After all these endeavors, Galletly is still proud of being to the United States, Bryan again worked in recruitment at elected king and looks back fondly at the celebration that Anaconda Copper Mining Co., until she and her husband was J-Prom. decided to start a family. “It was a hell of a tradition,” he says. “It was an honor to be Today, she is a certified social worker and works part time selected by the fraternity to be their representative.” at the Country House Retirement Community in Yorktown 18
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Other 1950s royalty Even though she was well known on campus, Mary Hoops Drobnik, BS ’59, or “Sunshine,” was extremely surprised when she won J-Prom Queen in 1958. “I really didn’t believe it,” she says. “I thought it was a mistake!” After graduation Drobnik went on to work at various hospitals in the field of pathology and microbiology until her retirement nine years ago. She earned a specialty degree as a microbiologist specialist in 1960 from Ohio State University. She is the proud mother of three grown boys and lives in Schaumburg, Ill. Alexander Short, BSCO ’56, rode in the 1955 J-Prom parade down Court Street on a whale float that matched the Phi Delta Theta’s beach theme. “We had a ball,” says “Bermuda Short,” in reference to the work involved in campaigning for J-Prom. He still meets once a year with eight couples that include fellow Bobcats and fraternity brothers. After graduation Short worked in sales at American Paper and Plastic Inc. for 40 years and has seen his daughter and two grandsons enjoy their college years at Ohio. He lives in Cincinnati. When Bertle Welsh, BSCO ’58, was out campaigning for J-Prom king in 1957, his nickname was “Baghdad Bert” and, in line with J-Prom tradition, he gave a smooch to a certain Pi Beta Phi queen candidate. “And she was a kisser!” Welsh says with a laugh, as he reminisces about what was in those days “the last big fling before graduation.” After spending two years in the Army as a radio teletype operator, Welsh worked at a kitchen appliances sales company and in the insurance industry. Now retired, he lives in Mansfield, Ohio. Being elected J-Prom king in 1958 is something Ronald Fenik, BSED ’59, will never forget, and not just because of how much fun it was — he still has the 3-by-5-foot photo of himself that hung over the Phi Delta Theta house during the campaigning that went on for “Sergeant Ron of the Yukon” that year. Fenik joined the Army after graduation and, upon returning, started an illustrious teaching and coaching career in Jackson, Ohio. He was inducted this past fall into the Ohio University Athletics Hall of Fame for his football accomplishments while at Ohio.
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In the springtime J-Prom wasn’t the only festivity that closed out the academic year. Greek Week was an incredibly popular tradition at Ohio that still continues today. The event brings together fraternities and sororities to compete in a variety of games — from pie-eating contests to penny wars — to raise money for charity. This year’s Greek Week raised money for March of Dimes. 1: An enthusiastic audience cheers for J-Prom skits (1959). 2: In 1952, 18 fraternities competed in Greek Week, which began with the lighting of a torch and concluded with a dance. 3: J-Prom king and queen candidates paraded through Athens each year.
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Outstanding professor Æthelred Eldridge (taught 1958-present)
1960-69
“It is people, not books and buildings, who make a university … people in cycles of four years, so that the university is as changeable as the human personality is varied.” Athena 1960
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Æthelred Eldridge stands in his office in Seigfred Hall. It’s painted floor to ceiling with his signature murals, consisting of white text and images on a black background. There’s no computer or phone, and students stop by outside the door to hand in their final assignment, white paper plates with drawings on them. These assignments (“They’re plates. Or flying saucers,” Eldridge says) just might make an appearance, en masse, in the grass between Seigfred and the music building. The associate art professor is, as usual, animated as he spews out one aphorism after another, with energy belying his 80 years. “Tempus fugit, anyway, I’m a fugitive. Follow?” This is the type of performance thousands of students have witnessed over the years in his classes. Those who have never taken a class with him may remember Eldridge’s blackand-white mural under the archway of Seigfred. And they may have noticed the man himself, walking around campus with his signature Carhartt pants, black arrows painted on them. “My costumery? The message is confinement, imprisonment, consignment.” Eldridge, who has earned an entry in the “Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes,” allows that what he does could be called performance art. “But they’re also happenings. Performance art can be staged. … It’s repeated, reiterated. It becomes more and more sophisticated and less absurd.” LEFT: The 1964 Athena captured the fun of an impromptu water fight (with buckets of water as ammunition) between guys and girls.
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‘Masked Marauders’ pull off brazen panty raid
(The Post, 12/11/62) “The intruders began digging through the dresser drawers. ... After scooping out their booty, they sped out of the dorm. Dean Butler said this cannot be considered a normal college prank.”
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Enrollment: 7,779* Tuition (in-state): $115 Room: $117* President: Vernon Roger Alden (1962-69) University firsts: • Bobcat mascot costume debuted (’60) • Kennedy Lecture Series endowed by alumni Edwin and Ruth Kennedy (’60) • First black faculty member (English professor E. Curmie Price) hired (’63) • Honors College created (’64)
Calendar: University switched to quarters in 1967. Major protest: Everything — political causes, overcrowded dorm rooms, women’s curfews, civil rights. Best fest: St. Patrick’s Day; it was so popular, dorm guests were banned from the celebration in 1962. Famous guest: Robert Frost
1: Students in a motorboat travel on the edge of East Green during one of the spring floods (1964). Campus flooded almost annually until the rerouting of the Hocking River in 1971. 2: On Halloween, the cafeteria was full of characters (1959). 3: Bowling at Baker Center was all the rage (1961). 4: Freshmen wait in line to register at the library (1960-61). 5: Police emerge from Cutler Hall during a protest (1969-70), as students look on. *Figures for 1959-60; cost per semester
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Good times By Lindsay Ferguson, BSJ ’10
Ohio University is well known for its excellence in academia and has the monikers to prove it — Harvard on the Hocking, Stanford in the Sticks, just to name a few. However, while we alumni proudly tout the merit of our alma mater (and wear green and white to prove our point), we wouldn’t be true Bobcats if we failed to mention a few places outside of the classroom that we hold near and dear to our hearts. We asked alumni online at LinkedIn to help compile this list of favorites.
1950s
The 1950s brought the best of times to Ohio student life, all thanks to the new recreational building, the Ohio University Student Center, which opened in 1953 with a patio, pool table and amenities galore. Catching a great flick was all the rage, and regardless of whether or not we thought they were “greasy spoons,” The Stadium Restaurant, Frank’s Place and The Athens Diner were sure to fill us up with the usual favorites: burgers, sodas, ice cream — amazing how not much has changed! The Tavern and The Wonder Bar were hot spots, but campus was alive 22
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with dances, socials and open houses all weekend long. Those were the days!
1960s
On to the ’60s, a decade we could never forget. It was full of peace, love — and a whole lot of good times. “Club 33 was the only place open on a Sunday night back then,” says Doug Brady, BBA ’72. No worries, though. The Inferno, Jimanott’s and The Union kept us occupied for the rest of the weekend with friendly atmospheres and reasonable prices. The Frontier Room in Baker University Center stayed open late, much to the delight of night owls
and procrastinators, and the Cavern provided singing and comic acts (perfect for a first date). On those afternoons when we just couldn’t bear to study, we gathered at an eatery, where owners even let us doodle on the walls — are Jim’s Pizza and Coney Island ringing a bell?
1970s
“Am I the only survivor of Swanky’s during the late ’70s?” Greg Smith, BSJ ’80 and MA ’09, asked alumni online via LinkedIn. “I guess the place did take its toll.” That, it did. The Gong Show and free concerts were pretty fun, and many a Bobcat survived to recount the
tale of a wild night or two (or three) spent at the popular glitter bar during the disco decade. Some of us were there on Wednesdays during Soul Night. (That is, when we weren’t busy putting in “face time” at The Lantern or at Quad Night at The Junction.) Then there was the free midafternoon meal at Igor’s and the Electra-Bar computer at College Inn that measured the perfect drink — it was the idea that counted! But that’s not all. The Convocation Center opened in 1968 and attracted Bobcats to sports events and concerts, too. How’s that for school spirit?
1980s
Aaah, the ’80s. The decade of acid-wash jeans and hairspray! The popularity of uptown hangouts from the 1970s spilled over (literally) into this decade, as countless alumni recalled the nightlife to be full of great drinks (Gee Willikers and The Greenery, anyone?) and, perhaps more importantly, great food. Yep, business at the beloved buggies was booming at this point, providing plenty of options for the ever-hungry Bobcat. “The line was worth standing in to get a toasted bagel on an open fire, with cream
cheese and jelly,” says Jamie Hart, BSC ’84, who favored the Bagel Buggy. “That was life before bagel shops!” Providing competition were the Burrito Buggy (still standing!) and Souvlaki’s. If you had a sweet tooth, Carol Lee’s offered sugary treats, and in the morning, Casa Que Pasa (aka Casa Nueva) and Woolworth’s served a hearty breakfast.
library,” J.D. Hupp, BSSE ’ 99, says. “No one bothers you … so I was able to get five hours worth of work done in, maybe, 45 minutes.” Another great study spot? The always cozy Perk’s Coffee.
2000s
Some hangout spots have endured (The C.I. and The Cat’s Eye, to name a couple), while other establishments are 1990s practically the “freshmen” of the block, By the time Ohio entered the final in terms of longevity (Broney’s and Jackie decade of the century, the campus scene O’s). While the scenery continues to had moved uptown. The infamous Court change, there’s one thing for certain: Ohio Street Shuffle — also affectionately students remain fun-loving and leave the called the Court Street Crawl — filled university with a deeper appreciation for the bars with students ready to unwind. campus life. For one, we know the value Never mind that in 1987 the state raised of a good coffee shop to keep us going the drinking age from 19 to 21. Ohio during finals week! “One of my favorite students, bright and clever as we are, hangouts was Donkey Coffee,” Amy found our way into favorite spots like Giannell, BSC ’09, says. “I can still taste the Nickelodeon (quarter-beer night, those vanilla chai lattes!” And, there is anyone?) and Zachary’s (three words: best one significant thing that stays the same, mixed drinks). Dancing the night away at no matter the decade: enjoying the actual O’Hooley’s and Another Fool’s Café was a campus itself. At what other university do pastime, and while we were busy earning you see so many students lounging in the the university a bit of a party reputation, sun, relaxing on the grass and taking in we always found time to study. “I loved the beauty of their surroundings on any studying on the seventh floor of the given day? Only at Ohio! S P R I N G / S U M M E R
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1970-79
“Mutual respect and understanding will increase only to the degree we let them. They cannot be forced on us from the right or the left. Vietnam and the Kent State shootings have demanded a re-evaluation of our values and priorities.” Athena 1970
ABOVE: The 1971-72 school year ended as it began: with a protest. Students decried President Richard Nixon’s announcement of increased bombing in North Vietnam. More than 1,000 gathered at the intersection of Court and Union streets, College Green and Lindley Hall; 77 were peacefully arrested around 4 a.m.
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Outstanding professor Nicholas Dinos (taught 1967-2004)
Not too many teachers can say they have an endowed professorship in their name that was initiated and funded by former students. Nick Dinos can. But more importantly, he wouldn’t — the professor emeritus of chemical engineering is too humble to brag about the many teaching awards he’s won. “I honestly considered it a privilege to talk to these very young people,” Dinos says. “My academic duties didn’t seem like duties to me.” Dinos came to Ohio University with a Ph.D., five years of experience at DuPont and wide-ranging interests, from philosophy to religion to astrophysics. “In the course of a Dinos lecture, you could go from Shakespeare on one end to heat transfer on the other, and it wasn’t as if he was the wandering academic. He chose his examples for reasons,”
says Jim Edwards, BSCHE ’70, a partner at Burgess & Niple, a Columbus engineering and architecture firm. “He’s a really well-read person, he has a great diversity of interests. As a result, he was able to connect with just about everybody,” adds Debbie Burke, BSCHE ’85, now chair of the Russ College Board of Visitors. “He made you feel important when he was talking to you, but you knew he cared about every student he had, and I think that’s a gift.”
Streaking competition: just come as you are (The Post, 4/26/74) “The three competition categories are: ‘most unusual streak,’ ‘greatest number of overall participants,’ and ‘streak having the most favorable publicity,’ which entails streaking for charity.”
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Enrollment: 18,482* Tuition (in-state): $210 Room: $345* President: Claude R. Sowle (1969-74); Harry B. Crewson (1974-75); Charles J. Ping (1975-94) University firsts: • Flood protection plan rerouted the Hocking River (’71) • First Halloween celebration on Court Street (’74) • Athens International Film and Video Festival founded (’74) • First class of medical students enrolled at OU-COM (’76) • Student housing goes coed (’78) Defining moment: Campus closed in May of 1970 following protests and the shooting at Kent State University. Students were sent home prior to the end of the quarter; commencement was cancelled. Top billing: Big-name stars (Bruce Springsteen, Santana, The Eagles) played the Convo and Mem Aud. 1: Fruit and vegetable vendors sell their wares on the East Union Street sidewalk (1974-75). 2: Streaking was fashionable, as the 1974 Athena proves by including not one, but two photos of streakers. 3: The National Guard stands in front of Baker University Center. Guardsmen were called in to oversee the closing of the university following protests in the spring of 1970. 4: Students register for classes at Grover Center. 5: Sit-ins continued throughout the decade as a way for students to make their frustrations known to the administration (1972). 6: A student broadcasts from campus (1975-76). Launched in 1971, ACRN has been ranked one of the top five college stations in the United States. *Figures for 1969-70; cost per quarter
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Freshmen, frosh or first-years? By Megan Greve, BSJ ’10
What do you call an incoming student? And does it vary by era? Within even the relatively short period of 60 years, much has changed in the life of the typical freshman. But no matter the year, all freshmen navigate similar uncertainties of campus life — from meeting new friends and adjusting to dorms, to discovering new interests and declaring that first major.
1950
1980
2010
The freshmen of the 1950s were required to take posture tests during Freshman Week orientation and signed up for classes such as English composition, speech, military science (for the boys) and modern dance (for the girls). Upperclassmen had fun planning games, silly tasks and songs for Freshman Day, when the incoming students were playfully pranked. The most popular majors overall were education, commerce and fine arts. Weekends consisted of formal dances and Coke dates, with ladies having a curfew while the men did not. Students wore collared shirts, cardigans and patent leather or black-and-white saddle shoes, with ladies wearing skirts that ranged in length from midcalf to the ankles. Students enjoyed their music by record and would listen to such tunes as “Rag Mop” by the Ames Brothers, “Mona Lisa” by Nat King Cole and “Music! Music! Music!” by Teresa Brewer.
Thirty years later, in 1980, things were a little different. Orientation was moved to a day and a half over the summer, and for the first time, some freshmen could live with upperclassmen in the dorms. In 1980, freshmen had a new Tier I, or English composition, requirement. Tier II classes that covered a spectrum of subjects became mandatory for the class entering in 1981. Most freshmen entering in 1980 would graduate with degrees in business administration, education and communications. Those who were 18 years old could enjoy the bar scene and the bands on the weekend. Stylish students wore denim jeans, jackets and Izod shirts, as well as the occasional boots or plaid. Students listened to music on an 8-track or the increasingly popular cassette, enjoying such songs as “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon, “The Tide is High” by Blondie and “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar.
Another 30 years elapse, and we come to the freshmen of today. Orientation is still held in the summer, and learning communities — which group students according to a common interest — are one way to choose a first dormitory. Freshmen are required to fulfill Tier I, II and III requirements before they graduate, with subjects such as English composition, psychology, sociology and some kind of math studied by almost all. Today’s freshmen favor journalism and biological sciences as majors, although most are entering as undecided students and enrolling in the learning communities. Weekends include going to the movies, parties and just hanging out with new friends, with casual T-shirts, jeans and hoodies being worn everywhere. Students listen to MP3s of their favorite songs, such as “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga, “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas and “Tik Tok” by Kei$ha.
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1980-89 “The fact is, there are as many as 10 different images of Ohio University, perhaps more. Each image alone, though, is a lie. But when brought together, the 10 images of Ohio University form an illusion of the whole … of the real school.” 1980 Spectrum Green yearbook OPPOSITE PAGE LEFT: Parents say goodbye to freshmen after visiting for the weekend (1963). OPPOSITE PAGE RIGHT: Freshmen arrive at the university during move-in week (2007). Each year, the campus community pitches in to help, and President Roderick McDavis greets students and lends a hand. ABOVE: Students shopped for textbooks at the College Book Store and Logan’s, and long lines were the norm (1981).
Outstanding professor Fritz Hagerman (taught 1967-2006)
By his own accounting, Fritz Hagerman has had more than 12,000 students over the years, and he learned each student’s name. “When you learn their names, that means something. It means I must want to know something about them. I got to know them as more than names on a grade sheet.” The son of grade school-educated parents, Hagerman got his bachelor’s degree at a teacher’s college in Wisconsin and taught junior high before earning his Ph.D. “I was very lucky to have good teachers all the way through my career,” the professor emeritus of biomedical sciences says. One of the best lessons he learned was at teacher’s college, where his instructors offered review sessions. “I found out that the students who went to the review sessions weren’t the students who needed the review. They were the best students.” Whatever the class, human anatomy to
exercise physiology, Hagerman offered review sessions, and exam questions closely reflected what was covered in class and review. Students appreciated that, based on their course evaluations. “Toughest course I’ve ever taken, but he’s fair. No surprises.” The other common theme on evals reflected the energy of Hagerman, now 74, former champion marathoner, and someone who retired years ago but still directs an exercise physiology lab: “Spoke too fast, too loud,” he reports. “I really tried to make a strong, strong attempt at slowing down.”
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Computer disks, eh? (The Post, 5/28/87)
“Computers are everywhere these days, invading even philosophy departments. Nothing is sacred anymore. ... If they work for others, fine; but as for me and my house, we shall serve the manual typewriter.” (from a student opinion piece)
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Enrollment: 13,730* Tuition (in-state): $352 Room: $623* President: Charles J. Ping (1975-94) University firsts: • Professors Thomas Wagner and Joseph Jollick made history with the first successful genetic transfer from one mammal to another (’81) • Innovation Center, a small business incubator, launched to help region (’83)
Crazy Cats: The largest student organization in 1982 (with 220 members) was a new cheering section supporting the football and basketball teams. Campus makeover: Peden Stadium got a facelift in 1986 to accommodate another 5,000 fans. Ch-ch-ch-changes: The drinking age was raised to 19 in 1982, then 21 in 1987. Unwanted guests: Locusts (1983).
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1: Freshmen decorate their dorms in Crook Hall in 1980, the first year freshmen and upperclassmen shared a dorm. 2: Sibs Weekend meant ice cream socials and ice-skating (1983). 3: Students pack the Baker Center TV room to watch “General Hospital” (1982). 4: The university implemented the ALICE online catalog in 1983. 5: The Homecoming parade is a yearly tradition (1982). 6: The annual Springfest Beach Party involved 200 tons of sand (at Bird Arena!), a Battle of the Bands and a pizza-eating contest (1986). *Figures for 1979-80; cost per quarter
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Outstanding professor Frank Henderson (taught 1973-2003)
When you met Associate Professor of Political Science Frank Henderson for the first time, it was his voice that made an impression. He sounded like a loud frog with something stuck in its throat, but after you finished taking a class with him — or a second, or a third — you had gotten beyond that and into the ideas of the great political philosophers. Were Locke, Mill and Hobbes intellectual heroes or despicable devils? When Henderson won University Professor — an award bestowed on him in perpetuity after he won five times — he developed a course by that name: Intellectual Heroes and Despicable Devils. “He was a professor who never accepted a lowering of expectations for the intellectual potential of the students,” says John Gilliom, chair of the department of political science, listing one attribute that may explain Henderson’s popularity. “That, combined with his style, which was sort of a humorous but unrelenting confrontation with the students — sort of his own version of the Socratic method.” One former student is Franklin County judge and Ohio lieutenant governor candidate Yvette McGee Brown, BSJ ’82. “He encouraged us to think past who we were then (toward) what kind of impact we were going to make in the world,” she says, citing Henderson as the person who sparked her passion for politics. “He said it’s not just enough to hold (elected) office. You have to want to do something, to impact change.” Henderson passed away Dec. 24, 2003.
1990-99
“Student life ... It’s more than Halloween on Court Street. It’s more than Homecoming football games. It’s more than partying uptown. It’s also more than the Athens countryside or all of this combined.”
Athena 1990
RIGHT: The Ping Student Center, a recreational center with a climbing wall, seven gyms, courts and other facilities, opened in 1996. It took the place of the Grover Fitness Center.
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Tattoos not taboo, OU students say
Dear Mom, I have e-mail!
(The Post, 08/96) “The social stigmas surrounding this ancient art are disappearing. ‘One day, the corporate leaders of America will be by the poolside comparing their tattoos,’ said Crow (part owner of Crow Tattoos on West Union).”
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Want to shock a freshman? Casually mention the fact that once upon a time students survived college life … without cable in their dorm rooms! While the 1950s had dorm curfews (and other facts of life today’s students will never comprehend), the 1990s saw a technological revolution that transformed everyday life on campus. Take a trip down memory lane, and try to imagine life (not just college life) without these advances. How ever did we get by? • 1994: The first version of the Ohio University website — a labor of love for a graduate student working on his own initiative — debuted as a text-only, gray page with paw prints serving as bullets. The first official front door replaced it 1996.
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• Fall 1994: OAK e-mail accounts were assigned to all students. (The “Net,” students discovered, was a great “penpal pool” and made keeping in touch with family, boyfriends and girlfriends possible, reports the 1995 Athena.) • Fall 1995: Students received their first computerized ID cards.
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• Winter 1995: University dorms were wired for cable TV. (Students promptly celebrated by turning their love for “Melrose Place” and “The Simpsons” into full-fledged obsessions.)
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• Summer 1998: Six Web-based independent study courses were offered for the first time. • Fall 1999: Ohio University became one of the few state institutions in the nation to place computers in the residence hall rooms of first-year students. Students reported using it two to three hours a day and picking up new skills “like downloading and using e-mail,” according to a 2000 university press release.
Enrollment: 17,290* Tuition (in-state): $852 Room: $1,116* President: Charles J. Ping (1975-94); Robert Glidden (1994-2004) University firsts: • New spring fests (Palmerfest, ’91) • First-Year Incentive program launched to improve freshman-year experience (’94) • Six students selected as initial class of Cutler Scholars (’96)
Now, that’s fun: New pastimes included sailing (club sport), tabletop football (intramurals) and roller-blading. Double take: Matt Lauer, BSC ’97, and then-first lady Hillary Clinton spoke at the 1997 commencement. Battle for the ages: OSU and OU duked it out over use of the name “Ohio.” Ohio University won the trademark war (1999). Campus votes: Democratic
1: Computer labs had become “one of the hottest spots on campus,” according to the 1993 Athena. 2: The summertime “Concert Under the Elms” series, which began in the 1940s, continues today. 3: A student works at the university’s Tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator (1992). 4: Students try to catch a glimpse of Hillary Clinton as she campaigns at Baker Center (1992). 5: A phone course registration system finally put an end to the long lines endured at the Convo (1993). 6: April showers bring ... mud wrestlers out each spring. *Figures for 1989-90; costs per quarter
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2000-09
Nothing says end of a century quite like a list, so it seems only fitting to celebrate the 2000s with a compilation of Ohio hellos and goodbyes, each monumental in its own way. HELLO: Walmart While not necessarily a university milestone, all campus had a response (from cheers of joy to jeers of protest) when the supercenter opened a store in Athens in 2002. East State Street traffic would never be the same. Other chain stores and restaurants (Lowe’s, Applebee’s, Bennigan’s) also made their appearance on State Street — upgrading Athens’ status from “sleepy” to “just dozing off.”
GOODBYE: Late Night Pizza
Outstanding professor Joan Scanlon McMath (taught 1988-present)
Professor of teacher education Joan Scanlon McMath runs not just a class, but a learning community. “A low-risk one, where students aren’t afraid to make a mistake. It’s trial and success,” says the four-time University Professor award winner. McMath teaches childhood literature to future schoolteachers. She knows some people don’t like to read because there may have been punitive measures associated with reading when they learned. “It shouldn’t be. You don’t love somebody because they’re punitive, you love somebody because they have appeal or there’s something there … so you make reading something that’s worth doing.” Some tools McMath uses to create a learning community in the classroom include requiring all students to learn each other’s names, giving them some choices in directing their own education, and being flexible and open to her students’ needs, which includes allowing pets and children in class from time to time. “My wish for every student, whether they’re at the public school level or the college level, is for them to be able to have a teacher like Dr. McMath,” says graduate student Monica Frechette, citing her mentor’s passion and organization. “I think we’re going to be better teachers because of her.”
In 2001, the unthinkable happened: Newcomer Avalanche Pizza won first place in Athens News’ “Best of Athens” poll for best pizza, toppling the mighty empire that was Late Night Pizza (which announced it was closing shortly before the poll). And with nine wins in a row, there’s “no topping” Avalanche!
HELLO: Chipotle It’s a dubious honor at best, but the Athens opening of Chipotle Mexican Grill in 2008 set new records. Chipotle gave away 7,085 burritos on its unofficial opening day, topping the previous record — held by the University of California, Los Angeles — by more than 2,000.
HELLO: Office of Nationally Competitive Awards Alumni know that while Ohio University is a major university in terms of size, at heart, it is a close-knit college. There’s no better proof of this than the fact that — thanks to one-on-one mentoring with professors — our students are dominating national competitions. Through the coordinating office’s efforts, in 2004, not one, but two seniors won a Marshall Scholarship, a prestigious award given to only 40 national applicants each year. Ohio University regularly ranks in the top 25 institutions receiving the most Fulbright awards, and overall, the number of award winners recently climbed from five to 45 in seven years.
GOODBYE: Old Bobcat Once dubbed “Ole’ Tired Eyes” for his sleepy look, the bobcat of the late ’90s was retired, and in his place, students welcomed a new “attack cat” with a trim shape and wide eyes. (The better to see our victories, my dears!) And he has a new name, too: Rufus, to honor founding father Rufus Putnam and the animal’s scientific name, Lynx rufus.
HELLO: Baker University Center It’s a university tour bragging point: The new Baker Center has the only escalators in the county. But it also has three eateries (including a food court), 19 conference rooms, one post office, two art galleries and a billiards lounge. When it opened in 2007, we said goodbye to the old Baker, which will house the Scripps College of Communication in the future. Watch for your issue of Ohio Today Online — delivered to your e-mail inbox four times a year — for more images and memories from our look back at Ohio University through the decades. Not on our e-mail list? Visit www.ohioalumni.org to update your contact information.
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B OBCAT T RACKS A N D
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A D V A N C E M E N T
left:
Kevin Riddell, Right: Archives
and special collections
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Ohio connections: From wired to wireless Once upon a time, the only direct link Ohio University students had to the outside world were the wooden phone booths in dorm lobbies. Now it is hardly a stretch to connect virtually and wirelessly with the entire planet. With new technology, students and alumni are able to connect to Ohio and each other at the touch of a screen via iPhones, BlackBerries and other “smart� devices. Ohio is at the forefront of the tech race as well, using text messaging to alert students, Twitter to advertise on-campus events and YouTube to showcase proud Bobcat achievements. ABOVE: Sarah Kelly (left), a senior from Hudson, Ohio, and Student Alumni Board president, keeps in touch with family at home via wireless technology that a student from 1962 (pictured in Shively Hall) could only have imagined.
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INSIDE Alumni volunteers prepare to lead campaign steering committee. page 34 The coolest cat is now a bobblehead! page 35 A gift a year? It all adds up for this dedicated alumna. page 35 Find an alumni gathering near you. page 37
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ver the past couple could experience all of the festivities of years, the social firsthand. “This year we hope to be media revolution has faster with content uploading and transformed the way the sharing, all while capturing more of the Ohio University Alumni events!” Harris says. Association connects with thousands Alumni have responded in kind to of alumni via Facebook, Twitter, the OUAA’s efforts, becoming active LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. participants in the conversations that Conversations and connections have take place through these networks. And gone viral and global in an effort to reach just as alumni are using social media to Bobcats at the click of a mouse, the stay connected to Ohio, they are also touch of a screen and the using it to enhance their bing of a text. own business endeavors. Get connected to Even Homecoming has “Over the course of OUAA social media my career, I’ve been a new online presence, allowing alumni to enjoy at ohioalumni.org/ able to understand how the sights and sounds from everybody uses social social-media. the comfort of home. media,” says Jason “Nothing can compare Weaver, BSC ’97, who to watching the Marching 110 and alumni is the CEO of Shoutlet, a development bands perform during the parades and company that licenses social media half-time shows,” says OUAA assistant marketing tools. director of marketing and communication Weaver recognizes that there is a Jim Harris, BBA ’04. “But I have to think medium of digital social communication a video uploaded to YouTube or Facebook for everyone, and companies cannot 20 minutes after it’s over is pretty cool.” afford to ignore online audiences. The 2009 Homecoming was the first “Everybody uses it; it’s just knowing to be promoted live via social media how they use it.” and the OUAA website throughout When asked about their usage of the weekend. Through videos, photos social media in their careers on the and updates on Facebook and Twitter, OUAA Facebook fan page, a number of alumni who were elsewhere in the world alumni responded within minutes. Mike
Boehmer, BSJ ’80, said he oversees a strategic social media effort within the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services in Cincinnati. His wife, Tami Greenfield Boehmer, BSJ ’87, uses social media to promote her upcoming book about cancer survivors, and first connected with LiveStrong CEO Doug Ulman, who wrote the book’s foreword, through Twitter. Pamela DeSalvo Landis, BSJ ’85, works for the Henry Ford Health System, based in Detroit, which was the first hospital in the world at which surgeons tweeted during surgery. Tweets and YouTube videos from select surgeries are provided to online audiences for educational purposes. The OUAA has recognized the importance of social media and is working diligently to make news about Ohio and information for alumni more accessible all over the world. This effort is one more way to help alumni and their families remain connected — now instantly! — to Ohio. For more information on social media at Ohio, read the feature story in the recent issue of The [college] Gate found online at www.ohioalumni.org. Now that you know how we use social media, how do you? Tell us at alumni@ohio.org!
Apps and tweets Ohio University is utilizing social media to get the word out to past, present and future Bobcats: • Ohio’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism recently launched an iPhone application called “JSchool,” the first of its kind for any journalism school.
Ellen Gray
• The College of Education uses Twitter to communicate regularly with students and alumni and now boasts more than 700 followers. • Programs that promote their events or services via YouTube include the university’s Second Life campus, the Marching 110 and the forensic chemistry lab.
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Alumni volunteers to lead next capital campaign
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huck Stuckey knows a thing or two about being an Ohio University volunteer. Active on numerous university boards for the last decade, he’s tackling a new role as chairman of the university’s next capital campaign. “I’m excited about chairing the campaign because it is critical to the university and to the future of our endowment,” says Stuckey, BSME ’66. “The funds and capital we will raise are a part of it. But, there’s much more: coming back to campus, talking to students, getting reconnected. “It draws you in,” he added. “I was surprised by how deeply it draws you in to being a part of this university.” A native of Lancaster, Ohio, Stuckey lives in Boston. He is the former chairman, president and CEO of RSA Security Inc. and was a director on the
Ohio, as a child and currently lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. “Chuck and I are both successful products of Ohio University,” says Wolfort, who is president, chief operating officer and director of Olympic Steel Inc. and an Ohio University trustee. “This is a great opportunity to close the loop from a student awaiting acceptance to the university to an alumnus who can give Chuck Stuckey, BSME ’66, will spearhead a back to OU in multiple ways.” campaign effort reaching out to all alumni. The campaign steering committee board until the company’s sale to EMC2 convened in Athens in March, and — while specific details are still being Corp. in 2006. A stalwart Ohio University volunteer, he determined — the campaign will currently serves on the Board of Trustees, encourage broad-based participation. “We have an objective to put a firmer the Ohio University Foundation Board, and the Russ College of Engineering and financial pillar under Ohio University,” says Wolfort. “We really want our fellow alumni Technology Board of Visitors. David A. Wolfort, AB ’74, will serve as to embrace this as not just the success of one individual campaign, but the success campaign vice chairman. Born in New of our university into the next century.” York City, he relocated to Youngstown,
Back to the bricks (and books) for fun summer weekend
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Kevin Riddell
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he Ohio University Alumni Association is working to make the 2010 Alumni College better than ever! And that’s not the only event worth celebrating this summer: The extended weekend of July 15-18 will be a bustling one for returning alumni, with Alumni College, the Class of 1960 Golden Reunion and Ohio Brew Week Weekend Getaway events all taking place in Athens during those days. This year, the back-to-campus Alumni College weekend that engages alumni with classes, activities and a capstone graduation ceremony will begin on Thursday afternoon and run until Sunday afternoon. The lineup is set to include topical seminars from Ohio Professors Harvey Ballard Jr. (environmental and plant biology), David Kirch (business), Scott Moody (biological sciences) and Eric Stinaff (physics and astronomy). In addition to classes, participants will enjoy a variety of recreational events, including group meals, meetings with campus administrators, community gatherings, sporting events and more. The Class of 1960 Golden Reunion will include group meals, class photos, a special display at the university archives, an open house and champagne toast at Konneker Alumni Center, and a renewal of vows ceremony that will take place at 18:04.
Noted poet and professor Mark Halliday conducts an Alumni College lecture, “Unreliable Speakers in Poetry,” at the 2009 event.
Alumni College and the Class of 1960 reunion attendees will be invited to participate in several Fifth Annual Ohio Brew Week events, including brew classes and beer tasting. An entire Brew Week Weekend Getaway package is also available at the OUAA’s website. Information about all three events is available online at www. ohioalumni.org. Please RSVP by July 1.
Bring home a Bobcat
Ohio University Alumni Association
New bobbleheads provide fun for alumni
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Ellen Gray
ct. 22, 1960: Ohio University’s Green and White football team took the field to face Miami in what could potentially be its 15th straight loss to the team from Oxford. This game, however, was different: Leading the team onto the field was a 6-foot-tall, slightly overweight creature decked out in a green, hand-knitted Ohio sweater and a baseball cap. The brand-new Bobcat mascot, in his first-ever appearance, proved to bring good luck. The team defeated Miami, finished the season unbeaten and went on to become the NCAA National Champions. Since 1960, the Bobcat mascot has been a symbol of good luck and Ohio pride. Now — nearly 85 years after Ohio University officially became the Bobcats — alumni can display their pride with their very own Bobcat, in the form of an Ohio bobblehead. The 7-and-a-half inch, hand-painted Bobcat was created by Sam Venable, BSJ ’06, assistant director of annual giving. Proceeds from bobblehead sales will support the Ohio University Foundation Scholarship Fund. Alumni and friends have contributed more than $436,000 to the fund since its inception in 1998. “We wanted to come up with a creative way for people to help out students and also have something fun and memorable,” Venable says. “The hope is that it will make people look back on their time at OU and smile.” To buy your own bobblehead, visit the Ohio University Alumni Association’s Bobcat Store online at bobcatstore.ohioalumni.org/.
3 THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR OHIO UNIVERSITY!
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Connect with a student who needs mentoring or help with career opportunities.
ohioalumni.org/
Find great OHIO merchandise.
ohioalumni.org/store
Update your e-mail addresses!
ohioalumni.org/updateyour-information
2010 – 11 ALUMNI TOURS
— Heather Farr
Thank you Thank you Thank you Fact: 690 alumni have given for 20+ consecutive years. At the top of the list is Shirley Baxter Berndsen. A 1951 history graduate, she made her first gift of $10 in 1952 and has given every year since 1957. That’s 53 years of annual gifts. “It doesn’t have to be a lot,” says Berndsen. “It adds up.” Shirley Baxter Berndsen
Every year, thousands of alumni and friends like Berndsen give to Ohio University. These generous annual donors are recognized through special gift societies:
Cutler-Putnam Society: giving $100 to $2,499 in one fiscal year (July – June) Cutler Chimes Society: giving every year for three years or more By April 2010, nearly 17,000 individuals had joined these societies. Thank you, and we look forward to recognizing you this year.
The Ohio University Alumni Association offers unique educational tours that bring alumni together for fellowship, fun and adventure. Travel with fellow Bobcats to exotic destinations; learn about culture, art and history from top experts; and experience unique itineraries. Best of all, your participation will support your alma mater! To learn more, visit the Alumni Association website at www.ohioalumni.org.
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Ohio alumni: We count on you
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olunteering and giving back to the Ohio University community is an integral part of being a Bobcat for many alumni. With 1,701 volunteers involved in 55 alumni chapters and 27 alumni societies (as well as more than 11,000 advocates), Ohio has a growing support system that works to ensure the success of its future alumni. Take the Bobcat Mentor Network, for example. This group puts students on the verge of graduation in contact with alumni who are willing to share tips about careers, internships, resumes and more. A number of other organizations — including the Global Ambassador Network — work to both engage alumni with the university and foster the needs of students at the same time. The Alumni Association encompasses all of these volunteer networks and hosts the annual Alumni Leaders Conference to share ideas with and rejuvenate the leaders of the chapters and societies who give of their valuable time. It’s all about giving back, says Arlene Greenfield, executive vice chair and chair of nominations for the Ohio University Alumni Association. “So often people hear the word ‘philanthropy’ and think of millions of dollars,” Greenfield says. “But it’s time, treasure or talent. “It’s wonderful when alumni come back, and there’s no limit for someone who wants to get involved.” — Lindsay Ferguson
Volunteer leaders get answers at this year’s Alumni Leaders Conference in Athens.
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Malaysian scholar connects nations Razak chair shares expertise, experience
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hirty years ago, Professor Dato’ Mohammad Salleh Din came to the United States to pursue his bachelor’s degree at Miami University. Now, being back in the United States as Ohio University’s newest Tun Abdul Razak chair — named after the second prime minister of Malaysia — is “a great honor,” he says. “The Razak chair is considered a very distinguished chair, by his name and by many other characteristics, in Malaysia,” Salleh says. “In my country, if you are a distinguished professor, you are no ordinary professor.” Tun Abdul Razak chair Professor Dato’ Without a doubt, Salleh is “no Mohammad Salleh Din is Malaysia’s ordinary professor.” The director of the intellectual ambassador to the United States. Entrepreneurship Development Institute at Universiti Utara Malaysia, Salleh specializes in business and advanced management. Using his experience in Malaysia and his knowledge of the field of business, Salleh goes above and beyond by engaging in conversations and reaching out to colleges, students and communities all over the United States. “In my two years here, I have been engaged with everything from academic communities and the U.S.-Asian business council, to local communities and Malaysian students,” Salleh says. “The Razak chair comes to Ohio University not only to give lectures, supervise theses and do his own research, but also to perform regional and national outreach activities.” One such initiative involved traveling with nearly 20 faculty members from Ohio University and experts on Southeast Asia from around the world to Malaysia. The trip gave faculty the opportunity to learn more about Southeast Asia and discuss the future direction of the university’s Southeast Asian studies program, which has been designated a National Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Education and attracts scholars from around the world. “It really opened staff members’ eyes to learn about the development of this country,” Salleh says. The first position of its kind established by any American university with support from a foreign government, the Tun Razak chair is the intellectual ambassador of Malaysia to the United States. The collaboration represents the efforts of Ohio University and the government of Malaysia, on behalf of more than 20 universities in Malaysia and more than 100 universities in Southeast Asia, Salleh says. Every two years, the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia, with aid from the Razak Council and Ohio University, selects a Malaysian scholar to serve in this esteemed endowed faculty position. The Tun Razak chair was originally funded by the Malaysian government, Ohio University and 38 corporations in 1979. In 2008, the Malaysian government donated an additional $1 million to support the chair, bringing total charitable gifts to the chair to $1.8 million. “To Malaysia, (the Razak chair) is so important because this is the first time something like this has been established and has been established abroad, and out of thousands of universities, Ohio University was the choice,” Salleh says. — Heather Farr
Ohio University Alumni Association Chapter Network Events 4NORTHEAST OHIO
4NORTHWEST OHIO
4REUNIONS
June 16 • Greater Cleveland Cleveland Indians vs. New York Mets Progressive Field, 7:05 p.m. $20 includes ticket, scholarship donation and pregame event at Flannery’s, 5 p.m. For more information, contact Amy Hollis at president@clevelandbobcats.com or 440-220-2837.
July 8 • Greater Toledo July Social Hour Tango’s Mexican Cantina, 5:30–8 p.m. For more information, contact Laurie Mitchell at toledobobcats@gmail.com or Kevin Clingaman at 419-367-0018.
July 15-18 • Alumni College Athens. Relive your student experience and attend enriching workshops presented by Ohio’s talented faculty on a variety of topics. For more information, contact Cristie Gryszka at gryszka@ohio.edu or 740-597-1280.
June 26 • Greater Cleveland Bobcat Big Stick Challenge Hilliard Lakes Golf Club, Westlake, noon. Features the MarshMulligan. Proceeds benefit Ohio scholarships. For more information, contact Jason Nedley at 440-7255118 or jrnedley@email.com. June 26 • Akron Association of OU Women June Picnic and Installation of Officers Advent Lutheran Church Pavilion, 12:30 –2:30 p.m. No cost associated. RSVP by June 21 to Maureen Ziegler at 330-666-1387 or at reenie52@hotmail.com. July 9 • Akron Association of Women Hiking Naturealm Metro Park, Akron, 10–11:30 a.m. Hiking on second Friday of each month with new location: 8/13, 9/10. For more information, contact Carolyn Narotsky at 330-867-3544.
OHIO vs. OSU
Weekend
Friday, Sept. 17
Central Ohio Chapter “Pregame Jam & Pep Rally” • 5–11 p.m. at the Lodge Bar
Bobcat [Bash]! Saturday, Sept. 18
3 hours prior to game time • Location TBA
OHIO at OSU Ohio Stadium Game time TBA
Questions regarding tickets should be directed to the OHIO Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 575-CATS (2287).
Aug. 15 • Greater Toledo New Student Event Key Bank, Sylvania, 2–4 p.m. Welcome new Ohio University students. For more information, contact Laurie Mitchell at toledobobcats@gmail.com or Kevin Clingaman at 419-367-0018. Sept. 9 • Greater Toledo September Social Hour Sports Venue, Sylvania, 5:30–8 p.m. Welcome new Ohio University students. For more information, contact Laurie Mitchell at toledobobcats@gmail.com or Kevin Clingaman at 419-367-0018.
4SOUTHEAST OHIO July 10 • Copperheads Baseball Ohio University Alumni Night Bob Wren Stadium, Athens, 4–9 p.m. $15 per person includes tailgating activities, food and game ticket. For more information, contact Dawn Werry at werryd@ohio.edu. July 15-18 • Brew Week Alumni Getaway Athens $340 per person (Thurs.-Sun.) or $220 per person (Fri.-Sun.). RSVP by July 1 at www.ohioalumni.org. For more information, contact Morgan Staley at ms326903@ohio.edu. August 14 • College of Osteopathic Medicine Convocation Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, Athens. For more information, contact Jill Harman at harman@ oucom.ohiou.edu.
4MIDWEST U.S. June 17 • Indiana T-cubed Thirsty Third Thursdays Bloomington Brewing Company, Bloomington, 5:30–7 p.m. New location each month: 7/15, 8/19, 9/16, 10/21, 11/18, 12/16. For more information, contact Patrick McAleer at bobcatsindiana@yahoo. com or 812-327-6135. June 26 • Indiana Indiana Chapter Field Day 2010 Lilly House and Victory Field, Indianapolis, 2:30– 10 p.m. Tour museum then enjoy dinner picnic and baseball game. To
July 16-18 • Class of 1960 Golden Reunion Athens. Held in conjunction with Alumni College featuring walking tours, dinners and receptions. For more information, contact Cristie Gryszka at gryszka@ohio.edu or 740-597-1280. Oct. 15-17 • Homecoming 2010 Athens. Save the date! For more information, contact Cristie Gryszka at gryszka@ohio.edu or 740-597-1280. Visit www.ohioalumni.org for a full calendar of events. register by June 12, contact Patrick McAleer at bobcatsindiana@yahoo. com or 812-327-6135. July 17 • ACRN Alumni Society Chicago Brunch Location TBD, Chicago, 10 a.m. No cost associated; pay as you go. RSVP by July 1 to info@acrnalumni.com. For more information, contact Ashley Sheehan at 440-897-2633 or ashleymsheehan@gmail.com. July 22 • Ohio University Alumni Reception with President Roderick J. McDavis, BSED ’70 Four Seasons, Chicago, 6–8 p.m. No cost. Registration is requested at www.ohioalumni.org. For more information, contact Chris Matter at matter@ohio.edu or 740-597-2575.
4NORTHEAST U.S. June 17 • Metro NY Bobcats June Happy Hour Frying Pan, NYC, 6:30–8:30 p.m. No cost associated; pay as you go. For more information, contact Alissa Galford at 614-9465785 or alissa.galford@gmail.com. June 19 • Philadelphia Philadelphia Brewing Co. Tour Philadelphia Brewing Co., 12–2 p.m. Tour and tasting. No cost to attend but can bring your own food. RSVP by June 16 to Kara McDonald at 484-948-5229 or kara.a.mcdonald@gmail.com June 25-27 • Massachusetts Serving New England 53rd Anniversary of the Ohio University Players at the Monomoy Theatre Ellie Baker Pavilion at the Monomoy Theatre, Chatham, Mass. $70 per person. Includes show ticket, dinner and reception. Register at www.ohioalumni.org. For more information, contact Jean Axline at 508-393-6347.
4NORTHWEST U.S. July 8 • Idaho Ohio Night with the Boise Hawks Hawks Memorial Stadium, Boise, 6:15 p.m. $11 per person. Meet at the VIP Hawks Nest before the game for happy hour. RSVP by July 1 to Julie Fanselow at juliewrites@yahoo.com. July 17 • Oregon Chapter Oregon Chapter Second Annual Alumni Picnic Sellwood Park, Shelter D, Portland, 3–6 p.m. Potluck. Wear Ohio gear for alumni group picture. For more information and to RSVP by July 5, contact Jason Kent at Jason.Kent@ tetratech.com or at 208-761-9333.
4SOUTHWEST U.S. July 10 • Greater Los Angeles OU Alumni Night Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, 8:30 p.m. $18 per person. Bring your own picnic and join us before the show at 6:30 p.m. at picnic area 11, across the street from Camrose Park. For more information, contact Gretchen Douglass at tigerlilyz@hotmail.com or 323-229-8278.
4SOUTHEAST U.S. June 26 • Nation’s Capital Ohio Golf Scramble South Riding Golf Club, South Riding, Va., 1–7 p.m. $110 per player; $40 per non-player. RSVP by June 20 to Robert Walter at 240-354-3600 or oubobcat33@ hotmail.com. July 10 • Nation’s Capital Ohio Cornhole Tournament West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C., 12–4 p.m. Hosted jointly by Ohio, Ohio State and Xavier chapters. $20 per team. For more information or to RSVP by July 5, contact Robert Walter at 240-354-3600 or oubobcat33@hotmail.com.
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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
1950s
Calvin Chany, BSED ’50 Charles Courtney, BSED ’50 William Farnbauch, BSCOM ’50 Robert Jones, BSED ’50 Katherine Schloss Kaczmarek, BFA ’50 James Topper, BSEE ’50 Robert Valentino, BSIE ’50 Mary Sterling Zumkehr, BFA ’50 Ralph Bruneau Jr., MFA ’51 William Hines, BSAE ’51 Philip Kornreich, AA ’51, BSAGR ’53 Mary Conkey Nardo, AB ’51 Andrew Oreschak, BSCOM ’51 Dale Royer, BSME ’51 Thomas Schwesinger, BSCOM ’51 Thomas Shields, BSCOM ’51 Isidore Codispoti, AB ’52 Avonelle Shuard Bielski, BSED ’40 Edward Ferris, BSED ’52 Idamae Manzler Burke, BSED ’40 Murray Haber, BSCOM ’52 John Daugherty, BSED ’40 Nicholas Moroz, BSCOM ’52 Betty Stone Westfall, AB ’40 Lorne Carter, BSED ’53 Ross Johnson, AB ’41 Gladys Devault Case, BSHEC ’53 Charles Schild, BSCOM ’41 John McGonagle, BSAGR ’53 Joseph Sturrett, BSCE ’41 John Neff, BFA ’53 Willeen Rupe Edwards, BSED ’42 Doris Newmark Abbott, BSHEC ’54 Gene Attwood Murch, BSED ’42 Betty Wyatt Porter, BSED ’54 Lena Adams Schmidt, BSED ’42, Wim van Muyden, AB ’54 Erika Uhl Hammett, BA ’55, MA ’56 MED ’48 Richard Jackson, BA ’55 Virginia Fairman Atterholt, KP ’43 Richard Zelina, BSME ’55 Donald Speaks, BSCOM ’43, Theodore Jackson, BSCOM ’56 MS ’48 William Stump, MA ’56 Harriet White, MA ’43 John Warren, BSCOM ’56 Daniel Young, BSED ’43 Carl Stalzer, BSCOM ’57 Frances Howard Exline, AB ’44 Charles Archbold, BSED ’58 Virginia Lesh Ramsey, KP ’44 Robert Beck, BSCOM ’58 Mary Weiler Sanders, AB ’45 Dougless Strickland Bitler, AB ’46, Robert Bennett, MED ’58, PHD ’68 Jack Gill, BSED ’58 MA ’48 Jack McFarland, MED ’58 Betty Brayer Gill, BSED ’46 Charles Tewksbary, BFA ’58 Mary Brown Hines, AB ’46 Betty Holdren Albrecht, BSED ’59 JoAnne Hammerstrand Kunath, Theodore Conover, BSJ ’59 BSED ’46 Elaine Demitri Rockey, BSED ’59 John Smith Jr., BSCOM ’46 Margaret Massard Watson, BS ’46 Ernest Weiler, AB ’59 Ruth Wright Williams, BS ’46 Donald Wynn, BSJ ’46 Donald Day, BS ’47 Noreen Kirkner Dornbrock, AB ’47 Marius Garofalo, BSED ’47 Paul Bicking, BFA ’60 John Reed, AB ’47 Kenneth Dollison, AB ’60 Mary Drobnic Stahl, BSHEC ’47 John Redovian Jr., BSED ’60, Frank Alexander, BSEE ’48 MED ’68 Charles Huber, BSEE ’48 Shirley Holdren Smith, BSED ’60, John Long, BSCE ’48 MED ’73 Wilmer Goff, BFA ’49 Theodore Walwik, MA ’61, PHD ’67 Jack Hillyer, BSED ’49, MED ’55, Warren Wrenner, BSEE ’61 PHD ’76 Esther Lewis Martin, BSED ’62 William Hodor, BSCOM ’49 Edmund Noonan Jr., BSJ ’63 Jean Shurmer Jones, BS ’49 David Blizzard, BSME ’64 Lester Miller, BFA ’49 Jenna Ransdell Carnes, BSHEC ’64, Charles Pepper Jr., BSCOM ’49 MED ’67 Helen McLaughlin Gray, AB ’32 Nelson Crites, BSED ’33, MED ’40 Edith Jeffers Griffith, ELED ’33 Laura Sweeney McCarty, ELED ’33 DeVere Sheesley Sr., ABC ’33 Edward Stas, ABC ’33 Goldie Newhart Burness, COED ’35 Margaret Flory, AB ’36, MA ’38 Byron Walker, AB ’36, MA ’38 Helen Stacy Evans, BSED ’38 Grayce Buehler Hulburt, BSED ’39 Betty Verity Taylor, KP ’39, BSED ’73
1940s
1960s
Robert Hanish, BS ’64 Robert Rose, BBA ’64 Roger Furbee, MS ’65 Ralph Komerofsky, BS ’65 John Murray, MFA ’65 Franklin Rich, BSED ’65, MED ’72 Stephen Stemkowski, AB ’66 Margaret Paub Baird, BSED ’67, MED ’76 Richard Baxter, BBA ’67 Mark Ciganovic, MED ’67 Robert Jirsa, MA ’67 Jerry Simmons, BBA ’67 William Barber, BSED ’68 James Fey, BSED ’68 Carole Johnston Fraunfelter, BSED ’68 Larry Nemeth, BSCE ’68 Robert Radcliffe, BBA ’68 James Baker, BSED ’69 Mary Simcic Domann, BSED ’69 Knute Seebohm, AB ’69 Norman Stoner, BSCE ’69 James Sturgill, BSCE ’69 James Terry Jr., BSCE ’69
1970s
Thomas Blust, AA ’70, BBA ’73 Peter DeSantis, BS ’70 Sandra Trent Gum, MS ’70 Janice Kuzio, BSED ’70, MED ’87 Marvin Goldberg, AB ’71 Margaret Severns Laughrey, BSED ’71 Patricia Muliett, MED ’71, PHD ’74 James Price, MBA ’71 Phyllis Prinzo, BSED ’71 Marlene Esswein Barber, AB ’72 Joanna Larrick Boatman, BSED ’72, MA ’75 Louise Bourgault, MA ’72, PHD ’80 Frances Justice, BSED ’72, MED ’83 Don Laveris, BSJ ’72 David Otworth, AA ’72, BBA ’75 Allen Strait, MED ’72 David Thompson, BSED ’72 Carole Hecker Hubbard, BFA ’73 Terence Kirkpatrick, BSEE ’73 Marian Hodder Strange, BSJ ’73 Frederick Tatum, BBA ’73 Lawrence Zajac, BBA ’73 Michael Dejohn, BSCE ’74 Susan Weiderman Weisenberger, BSED ’74 Jeffre Landon, BBA ’75 Marlene Snider Boccabella, BGS ’76 Ray Eldridge, MED ’76 Marguerite Leguillon Ridenour, BGS ’76 Patricia Williams, BSED ’76 Scott Hughes, BSED ’78, MA ’85
1980s
William Briggs, AAS ’80, AA ’81 James Davis III, AAS ’80, BBA ’86 Michael Paska, MS ’81 Robert Frame Jr., AA ’82 Raymond Polchow, MED ’82 Paul Prine, BBA ’82 Charles Blair, BS ’83 Andrea Delmage Williams, BS ’83 Ivonne Fuenmayor Branting, BSISE ’87, MAIA ’97 Peggy Mclaren Miller, PHD ’87 Pamela Glason Thornton, BSJ ’87 Kari Kepp, BBA ’88 Jeffrey Poches, BGS ’89 Thomas Tackett, BGS ’89
1990s
Bryan Blakely, BSC ’90 Vicki Wiley Castle, BSED ’90 Brian Yoder, BSISE ’90 Michael Merickel, DO ’92 Joan Moser, PHD ’92 Michele Hill, AAB ’93 Sarah Wilson, AB ’94 John Grimm, BSS ’95 Bridget Fitzgerald, MA ’96 John Francisco, BSRS ’96, MSPE ’97 Carri Jenkins McKnight, AAB ’96
2000s David Ascoli, BSS ’01 Gary Koons, MED ’04 Tara Estep, MED ’09
Faculty/Staff
Collins Annin, MA ’05, PHD ’09, Athens, Ohio, James Hall residential coordinator, Feb. 22, 2010 Patricia Brooks, Athens, Ohio, associate professor emerita of dance, Dec. 13, 2009 Karen Brown, New Concord, Ohio, associate professor of Spanish, Zanesville campus, Jan. 3, 2010 Archie Greer, BFA ’49, MFA ’53, Athens, Ohio, professor emeritus of telecommunications, Dec. 20, 2009 Robert Owens, Athens, Ohio, Scripps Survey Research Center operations manager, Nov. 19, 2009
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L AST W ORD
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hio University’s irreverent humor magazine, The Green Goat, was published for the first time in 1913 and sold for 15 cents. Founding editors Virgil Falloon, AB ’13, and Carl Foss hoped the magazine would be the most representative publication on campus by publishing the work of writers from each university fraternity and sorority. Though it wasn’t published regularly right away, the magazine averaged seven issues a year during the height of its popularity and folded in 1961. (images and text courtesy of The Robert E. & Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections )
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NONPROFIT ORG U . S . P O S TA G E
P A I D Advancement Services HDL Center 168 1 Ohio University Athens, Ohio 45701-0869
COLUMBUS, OHIO PERMIT NO. 4416
The painting titled “Homecoming at Ohio University� by renowned artist Betsy Ross Koller depicts a Homecoming parade with the band marching next to College Green. Set in the heart of the campus, the image evokes the nostalgic remembrances of fun, music and parades shared by many alumni. Limited edition prints of the painting may be reserved now on the Bobcat Store online; proceeds will benefit need-based scholarships. For details, see page 42.