Fall 2017
for ALUMNI and FRIENDS of OHIO UNIVERSITY
Leadership through service The OHIO Division of Finance and Administration website’s “about” page reveals a variation of the word “service” five times. That’s intentional. Since my start at Ohio University in 2013, I’ve served alongside OHIO’s leaders, deans, and faculty to help manage and support the University’s financial health and growth. Every day, I’m mindful that service to the OHIO community comes first.
As the first woman to hold this key leadership position, I draw encouragement from the stories of OHIO women you’ll read inside this issue and at ohiotoday.org. You’ll read how alumnae across the country are in service to others, including to other female Bobcats. OHIO has influenced them all and lives within them. OHIO lives within me now, too.
Let’s be honest: It’s a challenging time to serve in a university’s finance division. Difficult choices are made daily. Yet, if my unit can earn the respect and trust of our students, their families, and the OHIO community, then we’re keeping our word. We’re serving others.
DEBORAH SHAFFER Vice President for Finance and Administration
ON THE COVER: Avid cyclist and 2016 Distinguished Professor Judith Yaross Lee stands resolute as the fourth OHIO woman to hold the top faculty honor. Photo by
Ellee Achten, BSJ ’14, MA ’17
LEFT: Deb Shaffer serves as OHIO’s first female vice president for finance and administration. Photo by
Ben Siegel , BSVC ’02
features 06 GREEN SCENES
02 Aiming high 04 Stitching a new narrative Distinguished humor 2016 Distinguished Professor Judith Yaross Lee and Interim Provost David Descutner explore the essence of humor.
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Entering the Fourth Estate
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Shared voices, coast to coast Alumnae from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., connect over their common Bobcat roots.
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Inward & onward Women’s advocate Rachel Simmons gives students a crash course on squashing self-doubt.
Change is life’s one constant, and the transitions of fall remind us of its virtue. In the stories that follow, female Bobcats share their lives’ inevitable transitions— experiences that shape who they are, deepen their connections to one another, and collectively define what it means to be ohiowomen. —Editor Peter Shooner
SUMMER 2017 C R E A T I V I T Y
Aim High…Fly, Fight, Win. Taking this Air Force motto to heart, Lt. Col. Layla Sweet has broken the glass ceiling in Ohio University’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), becoming its first female commander. The twenty-four-year Air Force veteran has led the Air Force ROTC program since July 2016 and received the “Breaking Barriers Award” from OHIO’s Women’s Center this March. Photos by M adeleine Hordinski, BSVC ’20
Green scenes Culture
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Stitching a new narrative Sarah Minor, an OHIO creative nonfiction writing doctoral student and feminist scholar, contributed an original quilt square to the national Unstitched States project, a digital patchwork created by artists from across the country. Image courtesy of Sarah Minor, PHD ’19
Adding her own “record of and reaction to our U.S. in 2017,” as the project’s organizers describe the quilt, Minor created what’s called an erasure, in which part of an existing text is crossed out and a new poem is formed by what remains. In her square, Minor stitched over nearly all of Nobel laureate Wislawa
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Szymborska’s “Portrait of a Woman” before adding several new lines and an image of her own. “I think in retrospect…I was trying to make a new portrait of a woman, one that does justice to the way women are changing today or the way
Bobcats welcomed into the Fourth Estate that we’re allowed to portray women in other forms today,” Minor says. “So, the image is a woman, who is just wearing a pair of tights, crawling into the refrigerator, maybe eating or maybe escaping.”
Three journalism seniors—Marisa Fernandez, Megan Henry, and Cat Hofacker—attended the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner thanks to a $5,000 scholarship from the Correspondents’ Association and OHIO’s Scripps College of Communication. Their reflections on the priceless experience follow. Marisa Fernandez, BSJ ’18
The quilt square draws parallels to Minor’s recent dissertation research trip to Iceland, where she explored the connection between the country’s literature and its landscape—a connection that Minor says she discovered is rooted in Iceland’s ancient textile traditions.
Up until the event, I had been reading the headlines carefully: President Trump’s declined invitation, the media’s teetering credibility. With all its glamour in previous years, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner had been looking up to be a sobering event. Yet the journalists’ energy in the room was anything but eerie. My future colleagues were united, preaching that our word was more coveted than our rhetoric. I was honored to be a part of it.
Minor shared her ideas on form and writing with students at OHIO’s Women’s Center via Skype this September, after accepting an assistant professor position at the Cleveland Institute of Art this fall.
Attending the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was an incredibly humbling experience where I re-discovered my passion and love for journalism. I had the privilege of learning how to be a better reporter from journalists from Time, The Associated Press, and The New York Times. The icing on the cake was receiving a standing ovation with the other scholars at the dinner and shaking hands with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
To see how quilting can uplift, empower, and heal a community, visit ohiotoday.org for a photo series on The Monument Quilt, a collection of stories from survivors of rape and abuse told through more than one thousand quilt squares displayed in Peden Stadium in October. —Editor Peter Shooner, associate director of content, Advancement Communication and Marketing
Megan Henry, BSJ ’18
Cat Hofacker, BSJ ’18 My trip to Washington, D.C., coincided with my twenty-first birthday. Along with attending the Correspondents’ Dinner, I visited the White House Press Briefing Room, was featured on MSNBC, and shook the hands of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. And yet, the best present was just standing beside the fearless journalists who dedicate themselves to maintaining a free and independent press, and knowing with utter conviction that I can’t wait to join their ranks. —Editor Peter Shooner, associate director of content, Advancement Communication and Marketing
Green scenes Culture
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Distinguished humor
SUBHEAD GOES HERE AND IS SECONDARY.
2016 Distinguished Professor Judith Yaross Lee and Interim Provost David Descutner discuss Lee’s scholarly work on American literary humor. Photo by Ellee Achten, BSJ ’14, MA ’17
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The Distinguished Professor Award, OHIO’s highest recognition for faculty, has been bestowed since 1959. Of the fifty-six who have received it, four are women. Judith Yaross Lee, an interdisciplinary Americanist, became the fourth in 2016. Lee and colleague, friend, and Interim Provost David Descutner recently sat down to discuss her scholarly work. An excerpt of their conversation follows.
Funny not funny David: Your doctoral dissertation on American literary humor [focuses on] how writers invite readers to laugh at what our culture defines as not funny. What did you mean by that? Judith: Comic treatment of tragic material used to be called black humor. Now we call it gallows humor. My dissertation was an effort to understand text created with a certain set of rhetorical goals in mind. [It] is an interesting way to look at humor because, compared to oral delivery, literary humor is tightly controlled. David: Is using rhetoric and the concepts of rhetoric as you just described standard in your own scholarly community? Judith: There’s more of a focus on the rhetoric and less on the audience per se. Even in my dissertation, I was not interested only or mainly in literature with a capital “L.” I was always interested in text with a little “t.” There was no topic so serious in my graduate studies that I couldn’t find a low, vulgar angle on it.
The Mark Twain brand David: Your most recent contribution is a chapter in Henry Wonham and Lawrence Howe’s 2017 book, Mark Twain and Money: Language, Capital and Culture. What drove you to contribute to this topic? Judith: I began by thinking about the Mark Twain Prize, [which has] almost nothing to do with Mark Twain. I was interested in the way that Mark Twain had become a brand for talking about American humor, and that became the germ of my 2012 book, Twain’s Brand: Humor in Contemporary American Culture. What [are the] hallmarks of the brand, and how are they manifested today? I thought, what about the connection between Mark Twain and standup comedy? I realized that he was wholeheartedly committed to an idea of the self as a performance. I was also thinking about vernacular narration: it’s such a hallmark of Mark Twain’s dialect writing and a very important part of nineteenth century literary humor. [I wanted to convey] the importance of brands in a post-industrial society, and a post-industrial economy in particular, because what brands are selling is rhetoric. Humor is really such an essential rhetorical form. To read about Lee’s current research and how she brings humor into the classroom, visit ohiotoday.org. Lee is the Charles E. Zumkehr Professor of Speech Communication in the Scripps College of Communication. —Kelee Garrison Riesbeck, BSJ, CERT ’91, director of content, Advancement Communication and Marketing
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Turning the tide in tech Coast to coast, alumnae are connecting over their shared identities, experiences, and challenges. Excerpts from our conversation with six San Francisco-based alumnae follow.
The tech industry is male-dominated at best, and a chauvinist hub at worst. At least that’s what current headlines churning about Silicon Valley companies would suggest. “There’s a bad stigma right now in tech,” says Andi Teggart, BSJ ’11, Facebook. “My friends and I feel very lucky to work at companies that embrace diversity.” That’s not to say that Andi, Melanie, Sarah, Courtney, Ali, and Aimee—six recent OHIO alumnae working at companies like Lyft, Facebook, and Imgur—haven’t witnessed first-hand the challenges working women face. And yet, these women aren’t merely surviving in spite of the gender gap. They’re thriving. How? They consistently support one another—exchanging advice, encouragement, and reality checks—and here, they share five tips that have led them to success.
Find a mentor.
“In every job, pick the person who you want to emulate…a woman, a man, an office dog,” says Melanie Goggins, BA ’12, Lyft. “Get close to that person, learn how they got to where they are, and express how you want to get there too.” The group agreed that each one of them got where she is today because a woman above them pulled them along, mentoring them along the way.
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San Francisco—including the city’s infamous “Karl the Fog”—serves as the backdrop for these alumnae’s early career transitions, which have brought shared challenges and unique opportunities.
Photo by Erin Brethauer
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(L-R) Melanie Goggins, Aimee Rancer, Ali Mazzotta, Andi Teggart, Courtney Baldasare, and Sarah Schaaf (not pictured) lean on one another for support, advice, and wisdom as they navigate Silicon Valley. Photo by Erin Brethauer
“It’s really important for those of us in successful positions, especially as women in tech, to be voices for other women who are trying to come in,” says Sarah Schaaf, BSC ’08, Imgur.
Stay true to Bobcat values.
OHIO instilled in these six alumnae more than just a commitment to inclusion. “You have to work hard to play hard, which Bobcats do very well,” Ali says. “Everyone who I’ve met from OHIO is really fun, loving, and just a ball of energy, but they’re also really dedicated to whatever they’re passionate about.”
Seek personal growth.
“You have to be hungry to learn and want to be better,” says Ali Mazzotta, BSJ ’12, Marketo. “As young professionals, we need to be open to feedback and eager to pick up new skills.” If the line between constructive criticism and discrimination becomes blurred, Sarah says your support network can help separate truth from bias. “All feedback is valuable, but it can be hard to discern what to take and what not to take on. It’s important to have a group of females in your same industry to bounce those things off of,” she says.
Call out gender bias.
“When I worked in government relations, it was pretty tough to be a woman working exclusively with men from other generations. I was very aware that they had different expectations of my behavior and capabilities,” Melanie says. Hence the crew’s collective commitment to be a force of change, one uncomfortable-but-necessary conversation at a time. “The best thing that we can do for future grads and women in our industry is to continue holding people accountable for the things that they do that may be unfair,” says Courtney Baldasare, BSJ ’11, RSquared Communications.
Take risks.
“Going into my freshman year at OHIO, I was really eager and excited but also scared,” says Aimee Rancer, BSJ ’11, Pinterest. “Moving to San Francisco was the same way. You’re testing your limits while figuring out who you are or who you want to be.” One by one, these OHIO women took a chance on an unfamiliar city. Together, they’ve discovered the gratification that comes from bounding into the unknown. “A fellow blogger took me under her wing when I first got to San Francisco and I didn’t know anyone,” Andi says. “I showed up terrified with all my suitcases, and she told me, ‘Bravery and courage are always rewarded.’ I now have a wonderful life here. It’s true—when you do something for yourself and take a leap, really good things happen.” For more of these alumnae’s conversation, visit ohiotoday.org. —Hailee Tavoian, associate director of strategy, Advancement Communication and Marketing
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No strangers among Bobcats Coast to coast, alumnae are connecting over their shared identities, experiences, and challenges. Excerpts from our conversation with five Washington, D.C.-based alumnae follow. The walk to 1307 New York Ave. N.W. in Washington, D.C., should’ve been quick. But, that white building with green windows sits at the confluence of New York, H, and 13th streets. Which street it’s on? A mystery, even to Uber. The five intrepid OHIO alumnae joining me found it—more easily than I—and settled in to the conference room at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s headquarters. Strangers whose OHIO days ranged from 1966 through 2008, we shared common ground: womanhood, OHIO, and D.C. We were girlfriends, chatting over coffee and pastries.
Lily Asrat, left, an advisor at USAID, and Suzanne Simon, a restaurateur, find common ground at the ohiowomen roundtable in Washington, D.C. Photo by Chad Bartlett, MA ’10
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“We’re all Bobcats. We’re women. We’ve faced a number of the same challenges. We recognize our similarities as women in this culture. That’s a cementing piece I believe we will carry with us to our graves.”
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Although strangers, alumnae (L-R) Natalie Stevens, Suzanne Simon, Brenda Dancil-Jones, Lily Asrat, and Kristin Strobel connect over their days at OHIO and how their college experiences have shaped their life journeys. Photo by Chad Bartlett, MA ’10
We talked about how OHIO changes you.
Brenda Dancil-Jones, AB ’70 Owner, Dancil-Jones and Associates, Inc. I attended the University during some pretty turbulent times. The AFSCME workers went on strike…the students felt the need to support them. It was a great experience to be involved in something bigger than myself. That started me on the journey of being more aware. Natalie Stevens, AB ’06 Director of Educational Programs, CASE I was a senior in high school on September 11, (2001). That sparked my interest in international studies. Getting to OU and being around other people who had energy and who were incredibly smart caused me to want to get outside of my bubble.
We explored life’s transitions.
Lily: We moved from Ethiopia to Kenya when I was five or six. That’s a precursor to all of my transitions. I learned that you had an opportunity to change, and grow, and re-invent yourself. Kristin: There wasn’t really a reason for me to leave my last job. Why take a new job when I’m secure and love everything that I’m doing? That’s hard, realizing when is the right time for a transition. Natalie: My transitions have been subtle…through subordinate roles. Then, I thought…“Hold on. I don’t want to just be the worker bee.” Taking more initiative was a transition…finding the need to advocate and step up for a team.
Lily Asrat, MA ’01 Senior Evaluation Advisor, United States Agency for International Development My program was a microcosm of people coming together from all over the world…people with youth and with energy. It was that kind of environment for me: of growth, and learning, and the ability to connect with people.
Suzanne: When I was 27, I had my first daughter. I remember being really tired and trying to maintain my career, but also to be that great mom. I think it’s tough for women. There are lots of transitions for women that men don’t necessarily always feel.
Kristin Strobel, BA ’07, MA ’08 Director of State Affairs, BGR Group (OHIO) reinforced the sense of humility that I was raised with. Midwest, Ohio values. I continue to try to live by those values out here in D.C., where it’s sometimes challenging to remain centered, and humble, and kind.
Brenda: We formed life-long relationships when we were on campus. Those people have been our support system. It’s that connection. We’re all Bobcats. We’re women. We’ve faced a number of the same challenges. We recognize our similarities as women in this culture. That’s a cementing piece I believe we will carry with us to our graves.
Suzanne Simon, BS ’93 Owner, Chaia Farm to Taco There is an open-mindedness fostered at Ohio University. (Women’s Studies) was my first exposure to feminism. I had a single, working mom. I didn’t think that was any big deal. Then, I started taking these classes and learning about women’s issues. That exposure had an impact.
Threads of sisterhood wove through the conversation.
We left more bonded than when we arrived. Our collective Green & White running deeper. For more of our honest conversation, visit ohiotoday.org. —Jennifer Shutt Bowie, BSJ ’94, MS ’99, executive director, Advancement Communication and Marketing
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Inward & onward For two days in March, Rachel Simmons—bestselling author and all-around advocate for raising courageous, authentic women—connected with a group of Ohio University students, sharing tools to overcome their fears, doubts, and daily pressures.
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Women’s advocate Rachel Simmons (opposite) encourages OHIO’s high-achieving female students (right) to challenge their sources of self-doubt, unrealistic expectations, and irrational fear during her two-day workshop in March. Photos by Madeleine Hordinski, BSVC ’20
Appearing as a networking sleaze. Being shunned for telling the truth. Hearing “no” when applying for a job. The students, mainly young women, who are part of the University’s high-achieving Margaret Boyd Scholars, Cutler Scholars, and Ohio Fellows programs, expressed these fears and more during Simmons’ two-day workshop. With focused talks like “Why Networking Doesn’t Make You Sleazy” and “The Curse of the Good Girl,” Simmons spotlighted the societal demands that pressure young women to be perfect and, in the end, restrict them from being their authentic selves. Topics included the crippling “imposter phenomenon,” wherein successful people are filled with self-doubt, believing others will eventually find out they’re unqualified or incapable. Surprisingly, the students shared the same worries. Cutler Scholar Carlie Tianello, 19, who began the college application process her freshman year of high school, said the experience was overly stressful. Tianello and others related to the challenge of making their lives look “effortlessly perfect.” “It’s very hard to be perceived as ‘Oh, you’re someone who is smart, and you’re always going to be good at whatever you do.’ That’s not the case,” Tianello said. Simmons explained this struggle starts with an unreachable expectation: to have an all-around amazing life—including amazing friends, an
amazing social life, an amazing body, and amazing grades—all with little effort. “Guaranteed, everyone is struggling,” Simmons reassured the students. Asked to describe their personal “danger zones,” or ultimate fears, students confessed their hesitation to apply for jobs or internships, and that they worry about appearing phony if they try to network with professionals. In pairs, the students mentored each other on ways to apply Simmons’ advice and push themselves into these danger zones. Suggested solutions included conducting mock interviews through OHIO’s Career & Leadership Development Center, which provides the service to students and alumni, and to seek out a trusted professor to ask for advice on job searching. “Change is a muscle. If you want to make change in your life, you have to flex it over, and over, and over again,” Simmons encouraged the group. Funds from the Women in Philanthropy Jeanette Grasselli Brown Leadership Initiative Endowment supported the workshop. Grasselli Brown, BS ’50, HON ’78—who blazed trails in the petroleum industry as one of its first woman leaders— shared her own career tips with ohiowomen. Find them on ohiotoday.org. —Natalie Trusso Cafarello, MSJ ’08, assistant director of content, Advancement Communication and Marketing
OHIO impact Culture
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Superpowers, real and imaginary, abound at the Fourth Annual Superhero Fest, a benefit for Athens’ guardian ad litem program, held this May during OHIO’s On The Green Weekend. Photo by madeleine
hordinski ,
BSVC ’20
calendar For upcoming OHIO Alumni events, go online to ohiotoday.org/calendar
March 23, 2018
May 16-19, 2018
June 16, 2018
Celebrate Women Join fellow OHIO women for a day of “Recognizing Our Superpowers” through fellowship and learning on the OHIO Lancaster Campus.
On the Green Weekend Now in its fifth year, this annual tradition celebrates academics and the arts at Ohio University during the best time of year to visit Athens.
Women’s Leadership Symposium In partnership with Ohio State University, this conference will discuss gendered health, business, and networking issues.
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ohiotoday informs, celebrates, and engages alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of Ohio University. ohiowomen is its annual publication for female Bobcats.
Interim Assistant Vice President for Alumni Relations, Interim Executive Director of the Alumni Association David Bambrey
Editor, Associate Director of Content, Advancement Communication and Marketing Peter Shooner
Executive Director of Advancement Communication and Marketing Jennifer Shutt Bowie, BSJ ’94, MS ’99
TOGETHER WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Art Director Sarah McDowell, BFA ’02
Senior Director of Creative Services and Digital Communication, Advancement Communication and Marketing Sarah Filipiak, BSJ ’01
Make a gift today!
Designer Rachel Rogala, BSVC ’18 Contributors Ellee Achten, BSJ ’14, MA ’17 Chad Bartlett, MA ’10 Jennifer Shutt Bowie, BSJ ’94, MS ’99 Erin Brethauer Melissa Doss Silney, BSVC ’07 Marisa Fernandez, BSJ ’18 Megan Henry, BSJ ’18 Catherine Hofacker, BSJ ’18 Madeleine Hordinski, BSVC ’20 Sarah Minor, PHD ’19 Kelee Garrison Riesbeck, BSJ, CERT ’91 Deborah Shaffer Ben Siegel, BSVC ’02 Kailee Slusser, BFA ’16 Hailee Tavoian Natalie Trusso Cafarello, MSJ ’08 Proofreader Emily Caldwell, BSJ ’88, MS ’99 Printer The Watkins Printing Co. Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis Chief Marketing Officer Renea Morris, MED ’12
Director of Content, Advancement Communication and Marketing; Editor, ohiotoday, ohiotoday.org Kelee Garrison Riesbeck, BSJ, CERT ’91
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From coast to coast, OHIO women are connecting over their shared identities, experiences, and challenges. The conversations that start in this issue of ohiowomen continue online, where they join the voices of Midwest alumnae Sam Grier, left, and Ashley Ferguson. Read their story and others at ohiotoday.org. Photo by Melissa Doss Silney, BSVC ’07