Foundations Spring 2018

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Foundations

ROBERT

MORRIS UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE > WINTER

GRIDIRON GRADUATE CHARLIE BATCH JUST GOT HIS MASTER’S FROM RMU | P. 10

2018

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DEAR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS,

You probably expect a university president to say this, but your alma mater is always worth a visit. Campus is growing and changing all the time, and you’re bound to be surprised by what’s new since you last stopped by.

For instance, the tour buses at Homecoming had an extra stop on their loop this fall: a new Student Recreation and Fitness Center, overlooking campus from the hill at the North Athletic Complex. And work crews now are fully underway replacing the venerable Sewall Center with the UPMC Events Center. When it opens next year, the new center will be the home for Colonials basketball and volleyball and an important venue for conventions, concerts, and other public functions.

In the meantime, this major construction project is giving RMU an opportunity to stretch its footprint off campus. So even if you don’t come to Moon Township, you might find yourself bumping into Robert Morris anyway. For one thing, the men’s basketball team has been playing most of its home games at PPG Paints Arena this season. The university also has opened a conference center in that venue, part of a new agreement making RMU Official Higher Education Partner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Our graduating Class of ‘18 will be coming Downtown in the spring for commencement. The ceremony will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on May 6, and CNN lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer will give the address.

Another exciting RMU development in the city is the new additive manufacturing laboratory opening later this year in the Energy Innovation Center Pittsburgh, a high-tech workforce training center in the Hill District. That’s driven by the rising demand for more qualified workers in additive manufacturing — also known as 3D printing — a booming industry in our region.

On page 12 you can read about the fascinating high-tech work your fellow alumni are doing at General Electric’s $39 million additive manufacturing research center, which opened nearby in Findlay Township just two years ago. That facility’s director, Jennifer Cipolla, works closely with our School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science as a member of its board of visitors, helping to ensure that RMU’s program continues to produce graduates who are well prepared for the demanding, highly skilled jobs in this growing field.

Robert Morris University begins 2018 with the launch of a new strategic plan: RMU 100 — so named because it will carry RMU to the institution’s century mark in 2021. One of the plan’s key initiatives is to expand our corporate partnerships. The Penguins agreement is a good example. So is our relationship with GE. Simply put, it’s part of this university’s DNA to supply this region with skilled professionals — whether that’s engineers or accountants, nurse practitioners or teachers. That’s what we mean when we say RMU graduates are ready for great careers and great lives.

Go Colonials!

DR. CHRISTOPHER B. HOWARD PRESIDENT

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WINTER} 18

Foundations

DEPARTMENTS 02 CAMPUS REPORT 06 SPORTS ROUNDUP 24 UP CLOSE & PERSONAL 26 CLASS NOTES

Adding Value p. 12 CREDITS

RMU engineers play important roles at General Electric’s new additive manufacturing hub.

EDITOR Mark Houser CONTRIBUTORS Joe Bendel, Kimberly Burger Capozzi, Kelley Freund, Mike Prisuta, Melissa Silmore, Mike Wereschagin ART DIRECTOR Amy Joy ‘18 PHOTOGRAPHY/ILLUSTRATIONS Front Cover: John Schisler Back Cover: Justin Berl Other Photos/Illustrations: Joe Appel, Jason Cohn, CSI:Photo, Dena Galie, iStock, KB Media Group, Brandon Kreiser ‘17, Mitch Kramer ‘08, Rodney Sanford PRINTING Heeter Direct FOUNDATIONS ONLINE RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS Jordan Piltz ‘09 Foundations (ISSN 1934-5690) is published twice a year by the Office of Public Relations and Marketing in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Advancement and mailed free of charge to alumni, donors, trustees, faculty, staff, and friends of Robert Morris University. The opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the official policies of Robert Morris University.

Contributions to Class Notes and address changes may be sent to: Office of Alumni Relations Robert Morris University 6001 University Boulevard Moon Township, PA 15108-1189 Phone: (412) 397-6464 Fax: (412) 397-5871 Email: rmualum@rmu.edu It is the policy of Robert Morris University to provide equal opportunity in all educational programs and activities, admission of students, and conditions of employment for all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, sex, religion, age, disability, national origin, and/or sexual preference.

On the Brink at the Rink . . . . . 16 Signed to a three-year contract extension in the summer, men’s founding hockey coach Derek Schooley says the team is closing in on its next goal: a spot in the NCAA’s Frozen Four.

Leader in the Boardroom . . . . 18 Recognized by the National Association of Corporate Directors as one of the 100 most influential directors, Brenda Lauderback ‘72 looks out for shareholders and underrepresented communities too.

Colonial Couple Comes Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 They met at Washington Hall, where they both worked as R.A.’s.

That’s also where Jim Zambito ‘75, recipient of the 2017 RMU Alumni Heritage Award, asked Cathy Murphy Zambito ‘75 to marry him.

A Canvas Remedy. . . . . . . . . . 22 Alessandra Crivelli ‘17 says painting helped her to heal from several strokes she suffered while earning her degree. As her senior thesis project, she brought the healing to others in her UPMC stroke and aneurysm support group.

10 Questions . . . . . . . . 36

As cinematographer of “Tough Guys,” a Showtime documentary about the beginning of mixed martial arts, Brad Grimm ‘08 came home from New York to tell a Pittsburgh story.

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CAMPUS REPORT > Great Jobs, Great Lives As its 100th anniversary approaches, the university has a new strategic plan, RMU 100, to bolster the educational and student development programs that are its mission. Highlights include: • Make RMU a preferred strategic partner for corporations and other employers by providing leadership development and continuous learning for the professional workforce • Use predictive analytics to improve student retention and graduation rates • Grow the university’s endowment and increase alumni giving to provide more financial resources to students • Maintain its status as a nationally ranked, doctoral-granting university • Raise the university’s visibility and reputation through athletics, new and enhanced facilities, and promotion of the Gallup outcomes • Improve RMU’s inclusiveness In addition to the university’s work with Gallup, RMU 100 reflects several other initiatives already underway.

These include the Student Success Collaborative, a partnership with the Education Advisory Board that aims to increase retention and graduation rates through predictive analytics and highly customized academic interventions.

> LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY’S STRATEGIC PLAN AT RMU.EDU/RMU100

> RMU 100

A second Gallup survey of alumni has underlined the benefits of an RMU education in the workplace and in personal well-being. Based on the Gallup online survey of 802 alumni who graduated between 2002 and 2016: • 67 percent of RMU graduates had a college internship that let them apply what they learned, vs. 54 percent of graduates nationally.

• 77 percent of RMU graduates work in a professional or managerial position, vs. 67 percent of graduates nationally.

• 84 percent of RMU graduates are employed in a field related to their major, vs. 74 percent of graduates nationally.

RMU graduates are also more likely to say college prepared them for life after graduation, to have had a job offer waiting when they graduated, to earn more in personal and household income, to report being more engaged in their careers, and to thrive in their personal well-being. A 2014 Gallup survey found RMU alumni are more likely to be working full time and are more engaged in their jobs and in their communities, compared to graduates nationally.

> City Lab The School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science is opening a 3D printing and additive manufacturing laboratory for research and teaching at the Energy Innovation Center Pittsburgh, a high-tech workforce training center in the Hill District. The lab will be equipped for hands-on research and teaching in advanced additive manufacturing and will open this summer.

Two certificate programs — manufacturing engineering and advanced additive manufacturing — will allow engineering and technology personnel working in the industry to obtain academic and professional credentials.

The new laboratory is funded in part through a grant from the R.K. Mellon Foundation.

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> Rankings Up

RMU is Official Higher Education Partner of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a new multiyear agreement. The university will provide leadership development programs for the Penguins staff similar to programs with corporate partners including Koppers and the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Some of the programming will take place at the new RMU Conference Center at PPG Paints Arena. The meeting space on the PNC Legends level can be configured into up to four conference rooms. It will be used by the university for additional corporate leadership programs and alumni events Downtown. The Penguins have agreed to offer RMU students educational and professional opportunities, including dedicated internship positions, over the course of the agreement.

> Training the Tutors With the support of a $2 million, 20-year founding pledge from Bob and Joan Peirce, RMU is opening a center within its School of Education and Social Sciences to prepare teachers to work with children with dyslexia, both in the classroom and as tutors. The Bob and Joan Peirce Center for Structured Reading Teacher Training will train tutors in structured reading approaches for students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

> Campus Beauty Contest The Professional Grounds Management Society recognized Robert Morris University in its 2017 Green Star Awards for outstanding landscape design and maintenance. The Honor Award noted the university’s boxwoods, begonias, knock out roses, and perennials complementing rows of maple, oak, ash, black gum, birch, and pear trees. Twenty-three universities in the United States and Canada received Green Star Awards. Winners were chosen by a panel of certified grounds managers and were honored at the society’s awards dinner in Louisville in October.

> SEE LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE OF THE PEIRCE READING CENTER AT RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS.

> Partners with the Pens

RMU now ranks 176th in the U.S. News & World Report 2017 Best Colleges listings of the nation’s 300 largest doctoral-granting universities, up 12 spots from its debut the year before. The jump in the rankings was the biggest among Pennsylvania universities on the list, including Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, Pitt, Villanova, Penn, and Duquesne. Online bachelor’s degree programs are rated in the top 10 percent nationally, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2018 Best Online rankings.

They are ranked 23rd of 346 college and university online programs, highest of all universities in the Pittsburgh area.

> Top Marks AnneMarie LeBlanc, dean of the School of Communications and Information Systems, has been chosen for Leadership Pittsburgh. The 10-month program grooms established senior-level leaders to build a network that can effect change in the region.

The School of Nursing and Health Sciences reported a 96 percent pass rate for first-time test takers of the NCLEX-RN licensing exams for the 2016-17 period. That was among the highest rates in Pennsylvania, where the state average was 91 percent.

Kevin Colbert ‘79 received the Dr. Freddie Fu Sports Leadership Award at the 82nd annual Dapper Dan Dinner and Sports Auction on Feb. 21 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. At the same dinner, Colonials women’s ice hockey star Brittany Howard ‘18 was named Pittsburgh Sportswoman of the Year for 2017.

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GOLDEN MOMENT In the winter of 1967, in a converted barn on campus, Robert Morris students put on their first play, Thornton Wilder’s The Long Christmas Dinner. In December, Colonial Theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary with a restaging of the play with three other Christmas-themed one-acts.

Director John Locke ‘03 M’06, a veteran of dozens of RMU performances, codirected the show with his wife, Emily Kosloff Locke ‘04. “I got to work with incredibly talented actors, to tell a timeless story, and to close the loop on five decades of performance on our campus,” he says. “It was a truly rewarding weekend.” The couple met as students in a Colonial Theatre production of Our Town, Wilder’s best-known play.

Many former RMU actors were in the audience for the December anniversary shows. Over two nights they contributed $800 to benefit a scholarship named after the late Tom Gaydos, the founder of the Colonial Theatre. The scholarship has been awarded to one student a year since 1997.

The university offers a B.A. in communication with a theater concentration. Ken Gargaro, professor of communication and founder of Pittsburgh Musical Theater in the city’s West End, created and continues to head the academic theater program, assisted by associate professor Barbara Burgess-Lefebvre. Two RMU shows have been selected for full staging at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival: Rent in 2011 and Love’s Labour’s Lost in 2015.

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DON’T MISS COLONIAL THEATRE’S NEXT MUSICAL

SEUSSICAL MARCH 21-25 7:30 P.M. AND 2 P.M. SUNDAY MATINEE CALL 412-397-5454 FOR TICKETS

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THE

BIGG AME

It’s conference tournament time again, with March Madness just around the corner too. Come cheer for your Colonials to make another big splash in the postseason!

WOMEN’S NEC TOURNAMENT MARCH 7-11 MEN’S NEC TOURNAMENT FEB. 28-MARCH 6

WOMEN’S HOCKEY PLAYOFF PREVIEW Redshirt senior forward Brittany Howard tries to add a second straight championship to her resume after scoring in last year’s title victory versus Syracuse. The 2017 Dapper Dan Charities Pittsburgh Sportswoman of the Year, Howard led College Hockey America with 50 points last season on the way to CHA Player of the Year honors as the Colonials ended the season ranked No. 8 in the country.

MEN’S AHC TOURNAMENT MARCH 2-17 WOMEN’S CHA TOURNAMENT MARCH 1-3

DOUBLE HEADER VS. SAINT FRANCIS U FRI., MARCH 30, NOON

MEN’S HOCKEY PLAYOFF PREVIEW Sophomore netminder Francis Marotte builds on last year’s performance, when he yielded just four goals in two games on the way to a runner-up finish in the Atlantic Hockey Conference Tournament.

> CHECK RMUCOLONI A WOMEN VS. WAGNER FRI., APRIL 6, 3 P.M. MEN VS. ST. JOSEPH’S SAT., APRIL 28, 1 P.M.

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WOMEN’S LACROSSE With new head coach Katrina Silva taking over after six seasons as assistant, she will depend on gritty senior midfielder and NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Dana Davis, who ranked among the league’s best last season in ground balls (3.62) and caused turnovers (2.00) per game.

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STARS TO WATCH

MEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYOFF PREVIEW The Colonials want to improve on last year’s NEC Tournament, when they lost to Mount St. Mary’s in the semifinal. Junior Matty McConnell averaged 19.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals in the Colonials’ two postseason games as a sophomore.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYOFF PREVIEW By winning their secondstraight NEC Tournament title last year in the final game ever played in Charles Sewall Center, the Colonials gave the Chuck an epic farewell. Can senior Megan Smith lead her teammates to a three-peat?

BEST SEATS IN THE HOUSE 1921 Club members get premium seats and other exclusive offers. Find out more at rmu.edu/1921club.

#1 RYAN SMITH MEN’S LACROSSE Smith became the first Colonials player to be named NEC Rookie of the Year after ranking third on the team in goals (20) and fourth in points (28).

#3 BRITTANY HOWARD WOMEN’S HOCKEY The program’s all-time leading scorer and the 2016-17 CHA Player of the Year, Howard carried the Colonials to the CHA Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

#8 OLIVIA LORUSSO SOFTBALL The team’s lone senior, third baseman Lorusso led the Colonials in home runs (10), RBI (36), walks (27), and slugging percentage (.612) last season.

NI ALS.COM FOR THE LATEST ON GAME TIMES, VENUES, AND SCORES.

HIGH-POWERED “O”

13.3

THE BIG GAME APRIL 6 VS. WAGNER

The Colonials were electrifying on offense in 2017, leading the league in goals per game.

TEAM

G/GM

1. RMU 2. BRYANT 2. ST. FRANCIS

13.3 12.9 12.7

The Seahawks upset the Colonials in the first round of last year’s NEC Tournament, on the way to their fourth-straight title game.

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PERSISTENCE PAYS The moment Megan Smith flicked her right wrist, the Bryant Bulldogs’ fate was sealed. Her arcing 3-point shot with 89 seconds to play effectively clinched the 2017 Northeast Conference Tournament championship for the Colonials. “It stopped their momentum,” says Smith, easily an all-tournament team selection. “It deflated them.”

It also reinforced why her lengthy post-practice shooting sessions, legendary around the program, make the difference between misses and makes, wins and losses. Todd Smith instilled this work ethic in his daughter years ago, and she’s pushed it to another level as a four-year starter at forward.

“My office overlooks our basketball floor, and I’ll see her by herself, shooting for an hour,” says second-year coach Charlie Buscaglia, the 2016-17 Brenda Reilly NEC Coach of the Year. “She’ll take a million shots if that’s what it takes for her to get better. That’s who she is.”

Smith could have been a hockey player; many of her friends in Barrie, Ontario, chose that path. But it didn’t invigorate her like basketball, a sport her father played in college. Dad coached Megan from youth ball through high school. “It was hard being a coach’s kid, because you always have this expectation and higher standard put on you,” says Smith, one of three Canadians on the RMU roster. “But at the same time, it always forced me to have high standards for myself.”

The charge-taking, floor-diving, shot-making leader looks to guide the Colonials to a third NEC Tournament title — and the accompanying NCAA Tournament berth — of her career. If she earns another All-NEC selection along the way, like last season’s third-team pick, she’ll take it. But individual honors mean little to the player who holds the RMU single-season record in free throw percentage and has posted two of the top five 3-point shooting seasons in school annals.

Smith is aggressively seeking an NCAA Tournament victory, something that’s eluded the Colonials to this point. Losses to eventual national champion Connecticut and to Elite Eight participant Notre Dame ended her freshman and junior seasons. “I know you have to be realistic and you have to understand that we’re playing the best teams in the country,” says Smith. “But even though we might go in as the No. 16 seed, we’re still going to give it our all. It’s a great feeling to represent our school and say, hey, we’re Robert Morris. You won’t see any of us back down, no matter who the opponent is. We have a lot of pride when we’re out on the court.”

And in the classroom. You can’t spell Colonials without an “A,” and this group gets them in bunches, so much so that their average team GPA of 3.726 ranked second out of 349 Division I programs last year, trailing only the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s 3.819. Smith, the daughter of two educators, carries a GPA of 3.73 as a sport management major. Her goal is to work for a major college program or professional sports franchise in marketing and/or sales.

WRITTEN BY JOE BENDEL PHOTOGRAPHY BY RODNEY SANFORD 8

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GRIDIRON GRADUATE It’s 2:30 a.m. in Detroit, a few hours after the Steelers have handed Lions fans a heartbreaker, stopping their offense five times inside the red zone and leaving Ford Field with a 20-15 victory. Charlie Batch, who led both teams’ offenses during his 15-year career as an NFL quarterback, has spent the last several hours explaining to a radio audience what Pittsburgh got right and Detroit got wrong.

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Finally, that’s finished. The lights go out and the microphones grow quiet. But Batch’s night isn’t over. He still has homework.

Eight months earlier, in March, Batch began RMU’s 10-month online course to earn a master’s degree in organizational leadership. Now, a few days after the Detroit game, he has started his two final classes. “I’m too close to the finish line to press the pause button right now,” he says.

His path back into the classroom 20 years after earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Eastern Michigan University isn’t what you’d call traditional. It’s not like the man’s resume needed to be polished.

During Batch’s NFL years, he won two Super Bowl championships and served as vice president of the executive committee of the National Football League Players Association, the organization that represents players in collective bargaining agreements.

He was a player advisor for a Harvard University study of football players’ health, a regular guest on more than 20 radio and television shows, the host of two shows that bore his name, and a professional speaker booked by some of the country’s largest corporations and universities.

Away from football, he founded the Best of the Batch Foundation in 1999, when he was in his mid-20s. The foundation spends several hundred thousand dollars a year on community development, after-school programs, reading and computer literacy programs, and scholarships in and around his hometown of Homestead.

“Completing my master’s degree was something I always wanted to do,” Batch says. He often gives talks about leadership, and a graduate degree in the field would bolster his credentials and look good on the PowerPoint, he says.

His wife, Natasha Wilson-Batch, who is the executive director of the Best of the Batch Foundation and also a motivational speaker, has two master’s degrees and encouraged him to get one for himself.

Batch checked into programs around the region, looking for something he could mold around the long list of commitments he’d already made, and decided RMU’s program fit his needs.

But it took a personal challenge from President Chris Howard to finally make him commit.

“COMPLETING MY MASTER’S DEGREE WAS SOMETHING I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO,” BATCH SAYS. (HIS WIFE, NATASHA WILSON–BATCH, HAS TWO.)

The two men were discussing the courseload and Batch’s goals. Then Howard said the time for talk was over.

“It’s time,” Howard told him, Batch recalls. “What are you going to do?

Because I don’t want to see you in another couple of months and hear you tell me that you didn’t start it.”

“I took that personally,” Batch says.

“You’re really challenging me?

That’s the move?”

Classes began in March. Batch frontloaded his coursework to get as much out of the way as possible before football season, when he would have to go back on the road with the Steelers for television and radio shows. The classes’ structure offered him a way to incorporate what he’d learned during the last 20 years into RMU’s lessons, he said. “When I write or lead a discussion, I’m basing it off of experience.” He set aside four- and five-hour blocks some days to get through the required reading.

And then football season returned.

Now living in Franklin Park, Batch co-founded Impellia, a sports medicine startup that helps bring universitydeveloped technologies to market, about three years ago. The National Speakers Association added him to its stable of professional speakers. And he’s senior captain for The Trust, an organization created by the players association to help retiring football players make the transition into their postNFL lives.

That meant more nights like the one in Detroit. After wrapping up his radio show, Batch had to finish an assignment due the next day. His schedule wouldn’t get any easier from there — four of the next five games were also nighttime kickoffs.

Along the way, he has amassed enough community service and entrepreneurship awards — not to mention honorary degrees — to fill a trophy room. Or, rather, to almost fill a trophy room. There is one space reserved for something else.

But the leaves were turning. The degree he’d been chasing was in sight. December 16 would be his last day of classes, he told an interviewer while on another road trip. “Not that I’m counting or anything.”

WRITTEN BY MIKE WERESCHAGIN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN SCHISLER

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A

In the heart of western Pennsylvania, a Rust Belt region steeped in the history of steel mills and coal mines, sits a gleaming new 125,000-square-foot facility dedicated to changing the future of manufacturing. And helping to achieve this goal are high-tech engineers from Robert Morris University.

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ADDING VALUE Additive manufacturing is the process of building or repairing a part layer by layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing, which is taking a block of material and machining it down.

While many recognize the term “3D printing,” additive manufacturing encompasses much more than the novelty plastic trinkets with which we’re all familiar. The GE center’s machines employ lasers, electron beams, UV light, and chemistry to build and repair using metal powders, sand, and plastics.

Applications range from all-in-one production of parts with impossibly complex internal geometries to improved prototyping to the effective cladding of worn-out parts.

The rapidly growing facility showcases six different additive modalities among the 25 machines standing sentinel on the stark-white shop floor, all ringed by floor tape delineating the trail reserved for visitors — roughly 2,000 last year — who regularly troop through.

Michael Shaffer ‘13 began his career at a GE biomedical facility soon after his graduation. Within a few years, his father sent over a newspaper clipping heralding the new additive manufacturing facility’s opening. It was an opportunity he couldn’t resist. “I just knew this was the wave of the next generation of manufacturing,” says Shaffer, who majored in both mechanical and biomedical engineering.

Entering the General Electric Additive Customer Experience Center, a sleek, modern structure in Findlay Township, one passes under the glow of honeycomb orbs suspended from the ceiling — massive 3D-printed light fixtures illuminated by color-changing LEDs. It’s a particularly apt introduction to the center, whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing both within the corporation and among GE’s many customers.

When he arrived at the center in mid-2016, its fledgling team was operating from a trailer on the construction site near Pittsburgh International Airport. He became an engineer responsible for the facility’s sand binder jetting machine.

Unlike the traditional method of creating a casting mold by building a pattern and packing it with sand, this machine simply layers the sand with a chemical binder, effectively condensing 12 to 20 weeks of prototype development to as little as three. The CEC maintains the only such machine in the entire corporation, making Shaffer the resident expert on the topic.

“It’s brand new, a very specific side of additive,” he says.

“There’s not a lot of research out there yet, not a standard way

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MICHAEL SHAFFER ‘13

JESSICA GONZALEZ ‘17

of doing things. You’re very much learning as you go. It’s been challenging but very exciting at the same time, one of those things where you just have to dig in and be willing to learn.”

Within a year of Shaffer’s arrival at her center, Cipolla received word that 10 new machines would be added to their existing 15.

More help was needed, and quickly. Jessica Gonzalez ‘17 and Jake Schoonhoven ‘17 were brought on board soon after their graduation, bringing the employee total to 51.

Shaffer credits much to his time at RMU, especially to engineering department head Arif Sirinterlikci, who lined him up with an internship at GE that eventually led to a job.

“They develop personal relationships with you and really try to help their students gain real industry experience.”

Shaffer recently accepted an offer from another 3D printing company, and this month he begins his new job as a technical sales specialist with Trumpf Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of a German manufacturer of 3D printing machines for industry.

Additive manufacturing is the wave of the future, says Jennifer Cipolla, the GE facility director. Her facility’s presence here is an indication of the growing strength of additive manufacturing in the region, furthered by industry, academia, and government.

Cipolla works directly with RMU as a member of the board of visitors for the university’s School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, advising the school on industry trends to guide program development. When America Makes, the federally sponsored accelerator for 3D printing and additive manufacturing, was launched in nearby Youngstown in 2012, RMU was one of the original founding university partners.

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Gonzalez, with RMU dual degrees in mechanical and manufacturing engineering, jumped right in with the electric beam melting machine team in July. The type of student who took advantage of extracurricular engineering clubs to learn more about 3D printing, she’s already prepping and running builds and performing maintenance.

“This industry is so brand new there aren’t many experts,” she says. “Everyone’s still working as a team to figure things out, which is what we did a lot of at RMU, especially in our engineering classes. Everyone can have different ideas, and you can come up with a better way of doing something.”

Schoonhoven, the newest hire, is a born tinkerer with a toolcrammed garage. (“A tinkerer — just the mindset we’re seeking,” stresses Cipolla.) After running a construction company for 15 years, he came to RMU to complete his manufacturing engineering degree. While there, he dug into filament research with Sirinterlikci, and set his sights on the new GE facility. He was hired onto the direct metal laser machine team, using lasers to weld layers of metal powder.

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JAKE SCHOONHOVEN ‘17 Typical of the start-up environment, even as a brand-new hire Schoonhoven’s had the opportunity to get involved with everything from operation to research to shop layout.

“I got to solve problems my first day,” he says. “I’m given the opportunity to create the product that they’re looking for.”

Schoonhoven points out the practical training he received from his classes and research. “I was impressed that RMU prepares you for the job market in this area,” he says. “RMU taught me how to learn because that’s what this job is. Honestly, I’m learning how to be an additive manufacturing engineer, because nobody really knows what that looks like right now. I’m lucky.”

Junior Jessie Kaczmarek works at the center on a part-time internship while she earns dual manufacturing engineering undergraduate and engineering management master’s degrees and continues Schoonhoven’s research with Sirinterlikci. “It’s been an amazing experience, the most interesting job I’ve ever had,” she says. “I didn’t know anything about 3D printing until I got to RMU.” She particularly highlights Sirinterlikci’s class. “Instead of following a guideline, he has us figure it out ourselves, to use our brains to be innovative.” The engineering skills she’s learned in class apply to projects at her internship, Kaczmarek says.

JESSIE KACZMAREK Cipolla says she is eager to snag Kaczmarek for her GE team as well. “Everyone we get from RMU jumps in, very hands-on right away and ready to go,” she says. “Students from other universities often don’t have that practical knowledge. With RMU students, we see a lot of initiative. As an employer, that takes much less development. It’s a fantastic skill.”

Maria Kalevitch, dean of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, says the strong collaborative relationship benefits both the company and the university.

“I am really thrilled that GE so values the experience and preparation of our students and they continue to obtain such exciting positions,” she says.

“We have had faculty working on 3D printing since the mid-1980s,” she says. “Some of our 3D printers have been built by the students themselves.”

“I believe in the school and the people running it,” Cipolla says. “They are so passionate, not just about furthering the school, but also supporting their students, which is something that I haven’t seen in other places. Our partnership and the students that we’ve had have all been tremendous assets to our team.”

WRITTEN BY MELISSA SILMORE PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOE APPEL

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ON THE BRINK

Derek Schooley reported for work at Robert Morris on Sept. 1, 2003, but it wasn’t until about a decade later that he began to sense the hockey program he’d started from scratch had truly arrived.

Back in March of 2013, the Colonials had just lost an Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinal series at Connecticut. But at 20-14-4 overall and with victories over No. 18 Quinnipiac, No. 5 Miami, and No. 15 Niagara on their resume, an at-large bid to the 16-team NCAA Tournament — the promised land of college hockey — was still a possibility. The right teams would have to lose in other conference tournaments around the country, but it remained mathematically possible, if not likely, based on the rankings.

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NK AT THE RINK

nation (109-63-22, .619). That included winning the AHA Tournament and an automatic NCAA bid in 2013-14, winning back-to-back conference regular-season championships, and making trips to Rochester, N.Y., for Atlantic Hockey’s Final Four in each of the last four seasons. It’s changed expectations.

“Once you get addicted to winning and being perceived as a premier program in your conference, you want to keep it going,” Schooley says.

Schooley was 32 when he joined the RMU family, a former assistant at Air Force and Cornell and a former player at Western Michigan who was eager to be a head coach. Now 47 and having signed a three-year contract extension that ties him to RMU through the 2022-23 season, Schooley sounds like a proud parent discussing the growth of a program that played its first game on Oct. 22, 2004 (a 3-1 victory over Canisius).

RMU had 24 freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior on the roster at the conclusion of its inaugural season. “The idea was to get ‘em better, get ‘em better, get ‘em better, and then make a run when they were seniors,” Schooley remembers. Now the Colonials are contemplating not just the NCAA Tournament, but the two subsequent steps required to reach the Frozen Four. RIT made it to the Frozen Four out of Atlantic Hockey in 2010, as Bemidji State did in 2009 from RMU’s previous league, College Hockey America. It can be done, especially once you get the ball rolling.

“You acquire the players, you get better, more better kids want to come,” New Jersey Devils scout Lew Mongelluzzo offered during a recent visit to the Island Sports Center. “They’re on the map now. People know who they are.”

RMU is more visible than ever nationally after hosting the Frozen Four at Consol Energy Center in 2013. The Colonials will do so again at PPG Paints Arena in 2021. Nate Ewell, the deputy executive director of College Hockey Inc., had this to say about Schooley and Robert Morris: “What he’s built there is a team that everybody knows is going to be in the mix in the conference and have a chance to be in the NCAA Tournament every year. From a national perspective, what you see is he’s consistently developing players. They’re not bringing in the biggest-name recruits, but by the time they’re seniors they’re guys like Brady Ferguson or Cody Wydo.”

With no guarantee they’d get to play another game, the Colonials practiced the following week anyway, just in case — a development as unprecedented as it was revealing at RMU. A roster that included 15 freshmen and sophomores was on the brink at the rink, and the Colonials knew it. “That’s really when it hit me,” Schooley says.

RMU would ultimately have to wait until the following season to experience the NCAA Tournament in all its glory.

But that 2012-13 season was nonetheless a launching pad. It jumpstarted a five-year run entering this season during which the Colonials compiled the 10th-best winning percentage in the

Wydo, a sophomore during the program’s “arrival” season in 2012-13, left RMU with a program-record 85 goals in four seasons. Wydo currently leads the Wheeling Nailers in scoring and has been called up several times this season to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins roster. Ferguson opened this season as the NCAA’s career active scoring leader with 48 goals, 70 assists, and 118 points in his first three seasons.

That’s what Colonials hockey has become. Schooley maintains it’s sustainable. “We’re recruiting the right kids,” he says.

“Our advantages are a beautiful campus, great people at Robert Morris, a great city of Pittsburgh, and a program that has won a lot of hockey games.”

WRITTEN BY MIKE PRISUTA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN SCHISLER R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y F O U N D AT I O N S • 1 7

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LEADER IN THE BOARDROOM It’s been very busy lately for Brenda Lauderback ‘72, but she’s used to it.

Being the board chair of Denny’s Corp. has her flying to the restaurant chain’s South Carolina headquarters regularly. Her work on two other corporate boards adds to her tally of frequent flier miles.

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Her travels this fall included a trip to her hometown.

The Penn Hills native was back in Pittsburgh in November to deliver the keynote address for 2020 Women on Boards, a national awareness campaign to promote more women in corporate governance. While in town, Lauderback was excited to visit and spend time at her alma mater — the first time on the Moon Township campus for an alumna who earned her degree at the Downtown campus.

Lauderback earned a place this year on the “Directorship 100” list put out annually by the National Association of Corporate Directors. She is a recognized leader among African American women in corporate governance and has served on a range of boards over the past 20 years. In addition to being named chair at Denny’s in 2016, she also is a director at footwear manufacturer Wolverine World Wide and at air mattress maker Select Comfort.

“I do find the work rewarding,” Lauderback says. “You get a broad perspective, and you are able to make a difference for shareholders and stakeholders. For me, it is very important to be the voice for others in the boardroom. People, the investors, need someone at the table who can be their eyes, ears, and voice with insights into the organization. That is what good directors do. I take the fiduciary responsibility for the shareholder and shareholder’s return very seriously,” she says. “And I like working at a strategic level.”

After earning her business administration degree, Lauderback joined the junior executive training program at Gimbels and was rapidly promoted to buyer. But she found herself stuck in the children’s clothing department, not on the track to senior positions. So Lauderback went looking elsewhere, accepting a job at Dayton-Hudson in Minneapolis. “I knew I had the ability if I was given the opportunity,” she says.

“Senior management assured me the only limitations would be my ability, so it was in my hands. I loved that challenge, and we see how it worked out.”

“I DO FIND THE WORK REWARDING. YOU GET A BROAD PERSPECTIVE, AND YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR SHAREHOLDERS AND STAKEHOLDERS. FOR ME, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BE THE VOICE FOR OTHERS IN THE BOARDROOM.”

Before her career in governance, Lauderback reached the upper rungs of corporate America as president of the wholesale and retail group of fashion footwear company Nine West Group.

She was previously president of wholesale and manufacturing of U.S. Shoe and a vice president of Dayton-Hudson, now known as Target.

She retired from Nine West in 1999 and splits her time between homes in Dallas and Kiawah Island, S.C., with her husband of 37 years, Boyd Wright, a dentist. They have two adult children, Phallon and Adam.

Lauderback aimed high from the time she was a student at Penn Hills High School. She initially turned down a job offer at Gimbels department store in Pittsburgh to go to college, starting out at the University of Tennessee. An illness cut her freshman year short, and after a break and a year at community college, she entered RMU as a junior.

A community bank in Columbus, Ohio, was the first to invite Lauderback to its boardroom in 1996. Although she initially questioned how her retail expertise would serve the bank, she came to realize its focus on customers and brand building was precisely within her areas of expertise. Other positions at corporate and nonprofit organizations followed, providing opportunities to contribute beyond her core competencies.

Lauderback joined the Denny’s board in 2006, at a time when the company was struggling to overcome a reputation for racial discrimination after two major lawsuits in the 1990s. Lauderback, as a black woman and branding expert, says she was eager to help burnish Denny’s image because it had made significant changes to its corporate and community cultures to embrace diversity. It has in the years since been recognized for its diverse workforce. In her years on the board, Lauderback also helped oversee the 60-year-old chain converting to a predominantly franchise operation and updating its eateries.

As a senior manager, Lauderback saw fewer African Americans and women among her peers as she rose higher through the ranks. That was also true when she walked into boardrooms, where white men overwhelmingly dominate positions across the corporate governance community. But she has worked to change that, arguing for companies to consider the makeup of their own customers in building their boards.

“I believe there is a lot of talent for boards,” Lauderback says.

“Companies need to look beyond CEOs to fill board seats, because sadly there are too few women and minorities at that level today. Boards have to ask the question, ‘How open are you to change?’”

WRITTEN BY KIMBERLY BURGER CAPOZZI | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KB MEDIA GROUP

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COLONIAL COUPLE

When it came time for Jim Zambito ‘75 to pop the question to his classmate and fellow R.A. Cathy Murphy Zambito ‘75, he did it in Washington Hall. For a surprise, he hid the engagement ring in a takeout box from Segneri’s in Coraopolis, their favorite pizza place and date night hangout.

“It was a family-owned restaurant and bar I really related to and loved,” he says. “It was our favorite place to go.”

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E COMES HOME Cathy planned their wedding. They got married in October, then moved to Fort Hood, Texas, where Jim was a finance officer in the Army for four years.

After his discharge, he took an accounting job in nearby Austin with Johnson & Johnson. They moved back to the East Coast six years later, when Jim was promoted to marketing finance at the corporate headquarters in New Brunswick, N.J., an experience that led to a career in the marketing and communications arena for the next 30 years.

Now Jim is a senior director in the company’s global corporate affairs group, working closely with brand and communications leaders managing Johnson & Johnson’s major advertising and public relations agencies worldwide.

Jim is the 2017 recipient of the RMU Alumni Heritage Award, the university’s most prestigious recognition, for his distinguished service and accomplishment. He was honored at a reception during Homecoming weekend when the Zambitos, who reside in Flemington, N.J., returned to RMU just a few weeks shy of their 42nd anniversary.

“I was a late bloomer, so whatever college accepted me, they were taking a chance,” Jim recalls. “Robert Morris said yes, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.”

“It’s important to us,” says Cathy of her alma mater. “Robert Morris is where our family started — it’s where we met. It’s where we made our future plans together. We’ve brought both of our children back here. We feel it is important to donate back to the very school, the organization, that gave you your start.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think anything of it when he walked in with two pizza boxes, including the small one on top,” she says. “I remember thinking, oh, he brought back some cannolis. I opened it and there was another smaller box, and I knew!”

Jim is retiring this year, and he and Cathy are planning to build a home in Lewes, Delaware, where they look forward to enjoying the beach with their children and grandchildren.

There will also be plenty of room for their four Labrador retrievers, two of which Cathy trains to compete in retriever field trials.

Jim, an accounting major, was the first in his family to go to college, and he was awarded an ROTC scholarship. After graduation, he went to Oklahoma for basic training while

WRITTEN BY MARK HOUSER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRANDON KREISER ‘17 ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY JIM & CATHY ZAMBITO

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A CAN

In 2015, Alessandra Crivelli ‘17 was at home in her room practicing a speech for her public speaking class at Robert Morris University when her hand went numb. Her toes had been going numb a few months before, but she had thought it had something to do with her shoes. It didn’t.

An angiogram revealed that an arteriovenous malformation in her brain from four years ago was recurring — her hand and toes were going numb because that AVM was leaking blood.

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ANVAS REMEDY

When it came time to pick a college, Crivelli was drawn to RMU’s media arts program. But her stroke had compromised the right side of her body, which she was relearning how to use, compensating by using her left hand. The thought of entering an art field like graphic design under those circumstances made her nervous, but professor Timothy Hadfield sold her on RMU during a tour of Wheatley Center.

She says her professors continued to build up her confidence so that she felt prepared for a future in art and a normal career even with her medical condition.

When Crivelli had her third stroke in 2015, she was so worried about letting her professors down that she told her neurosurgeon. “And he’s like, ‘I’m a brain surgeon, I’m not worried about your finals!’” she says. Crivelli was able to take her finals in the new year. She had surgery the following summer break, spent six weeks recovering, and debated taking the fall semester off before deciding to push herself.

She graduated last spring.

A UPMC patient support group has been helping her move past the challenges. Stroke and aneurysm/AVM sufferers frequently have issues with memory, speech, personality changes, and depression. Painting gives Crivelli a way to shut off her mind and escape her medical situation, and she claims it helped her heal. So as a project for her senior thesis, Crivelli gave her fellow support group participants a night of painting therapy. Everyone painted the same object — a tulip — to show that they are each up against the same fight. But the tulips held another significance. “Life does come back,” she says. “So I wanted to represent that with a flower.”

Group member Eileen Andreola, who joined the support group after experiencing a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2016, says painting helped her relax. “The movement of brush onto canvas is very soothing and allows my brain to calm,” Andreola says. “Now I know a coping mechanism for my anxiety about my medical problems.”

The paintings were displayed at UPMC before being showcased at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. “I think it just made them feel normal,” says Juliana Zalenchak, a registered nurse and coordinator in the hospital’s department of neurological surgery who works with the support group.

“I think they were all surprised how well the paintings turned out and the response to this. Alessandra inspires hope in all of them.”

Crivelli first discovered her AVM as a high schooler after experiencing an intense headache she first wrote off as a migraine. She wound up in an 11-hour surgery for an emergency craniotomy and was put on life support. The brain bleed caused Crivelli to have a stroke, which affected her motor skills and required her to undergo physical therapy to learn how to walk, talk, and write again. “My family had to do everything for me — even feed me,” Crivelli says. “The experience was rough, but I was around so much love and hope. I went through many emotions, but I never let myself be depressed about it.”

Crivelli is now studying for a master’s in art therapy and counseling at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. “I want to help someone in the same situation, and that’s why I’m studying art therapy and counseling,” she says. “Because if it wasn’t for the support from friends and family, my art and a good school, I would not be where I am today.”

WRITTEN BY KELLEY FREUND PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY ALESSANDRA CRIVELLI

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Up Close Faculty Profile

Suzan Kardong-Edgren’s revolution is spreading. The nursing professor took over as head of RMU’s Regional Research and Innovation in Simulation Education (RISE) Center in 2014 after helping lay the foundation for simulation-based training at other universities and in academic journals. The approach uses high-tech mannequins and actors to recreate real-world scenarios.

The first time Kardong-Edgren used a mannequin years ago, it was a wake-up call, she said. Students who appeared to understand her lectures floundered when asked to apply her lessons. She reorganized her courses by wrapping lessons around simulations, an approach that has become so widespread that its practitioners now are called “simulationists.”

Much of the most important learning takes place not before the simulation but during the debriefing afterward, when professors walk through what worked and what didn’t. This approach helps students understand that the ability to do a job is more important than getting an A on a test. “They care about whether they get this right,” Kardong-Edgren says.

Last year Kardong-Edgren was named to the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Academy’s inaugural cohort of fellows. The national recognition is in honor of her contributions both to the organization and the broader field of simulation.

The school’s simulationist team stepped outside the non-medical scenario recently, working with a group of mid-level executives from Koppers for leadership development training. In one scenario, an actor pretended to have made a $3 million accounting error; in another, the employee criticized how executives were handling their jobs. The Koppers group, initially skeptical, raved about the course when it was over, proving to Kardong-Edgren that the simulationist approach can reach beyond nursing. “We nailed it,” she says. “Now we’re being asked to do more.”

: y B n e tt i Wr

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Mike Wereschagin

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& Personal Kezmarsky learned the game from his uncle Robert, his coach at Uniontown High School and a former WPIAL star. After being voted All-Section in the WPIAL his senior year and playing Division III basketball for a year and a half at the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg, Kezmarsky was working at a basketball clinic when he met an RMU coach who helped convince him to transfer to Robert Morris and try life as a manager rather than a player. The change was “humbling,” Kezmarsky says, but the team soon became family.

Student Profile

When Duke basketball star Christian Laettner nailed the game-winning jumper against Kentucky in 1992, he gave the Blue Devils the last slot in the Final Four — and Christian Kezmarsky his first name. The senior sport management major, son of two rabid NCAA basketball fans, wouldn’t be born for a couple more years, but his road to the basketball court was already well-paved.

Meanwhile in the classroom, his business professors began engaging his brain and energizing him for a planned career in marketing. Kezmarsky says he’s especially inspired by sport management professors Artemisia Apostolopoulou, John Clark, and Scott Branvold. “In the last few years, I have learned so much more about sports and business then I could have ever imagined,” he says.

RMU.edu/foundation

When some family issues forced Kezmarsky to take a break from school, coach Andy Toole told him not to worry — his head manager position would be his again when he came back.

“I hope everyone who’s a fan of Robert Morris values what we have in coach Toole,” Kezmarsky says.

“Not only is he one of the greatest basketball minds I’ve ever been around, he’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever been around.”

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CLASS NOTES Bob served as assistant pastor.

Understanding Racial Inequality

After a business career, Bob

in Rural Pennsylvania,”

entered full-time vocational

was listed as one of the top

ministry 10 years ago.

50 dissertations in cultural

DEBRA KEEFER ‘73 was

>

>

anthropology in 2016. She lives

DANIEL K. BUCAN ‘89

DENISE J. BUTLER ‘95 M’03 was

with her husband and 10-year-

named chief operating officer of

old twins in State College and

Neville Chemical. She has been

works for Penn State as an

the CFO of the company since

academic advisor, championing

2008 and was named CFO of the

issues of social justice and equity on campus and in her community.

honored by the Pennsylvania

M’89 was named regional

Year in 2013 by the Pittsburgh

Association of Chamber

manager for Metro

Business Times. She currently

Professionals with its

Consulting Associates, based

lives in Aliquippa.

distinguished service award

in Pittsburgh, to lead its

recognizing her 20 years of

expansion into the Northeast

SHANNON TELENKO ‘98

chair of the Governor’s Advisory

region. Daniel lives in

completed her Ph.D. in cultural

Commission on Asian Pacific

Aliquippa.

anthropology at American

American Affairs by Gov.

of the Mon Valley Regional

University. Her dissertation,

Tom Wolf.

Chamber of Commerce, and

“Displaced and Disinvested:

leadership in the industry.

Debra is executive director

BIBHUTI ARYAL ‘99 was appointed

she and seven others were presented with the award at the 2017 PACP Professionals Leadership Conference.

Debra lives in Belle Vernon.

PLEASE JOIN US JOEL C. MEADOWS ‘70 was

>

1970s named “Business Role Model”

has been named president

by the Blair County Chamber of

and CEO at O’Neal

Commerce. Joel resides in

Manufacturing Services in

Hollidaysburg, Pa.

Ambridge, a fabricated metals

KENT BROWN M’98

supplier. Kent currently MICHAEL FIRESTINE ‘72, of

resides in Beaver Falls.

Womelsdorf, Pa., was presented

Bankers Association Center for

APRIL 20 AT NOON HOTEL MONACO, PITTSBURGH WITH GUEST SPEAKER JACQUELINE TRAVISANO ‘90 CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER & EXECUTIVE VP, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

with the annual Brunning Award by the American

WOMEN OF RMU

1990s BOB ELLSON ‘84 M’91 is the

Cost: $25 for RMU alumnae

Agricultural and Rural Banking.

pastor of Mount Pleasant

Michael was recognized for his

United Methodist Church in

leadership and outstanding

Westmoreland County. Bob and

dedication to providing credit

his wife, Jill, were members of

and financial guidance to

RESERVE YOUR SPOT TODAY

First United Methodist Church in

farmers, ranchers, and rural

RMU.EDU/WOMENOFRMU

Murrysville for 32 years, and

businesses.

2 64 • R M U . E D U / F O U N D AT I O N S

$5 of each registration fee will count as a gift to the Women of RMU Endowed Scholarship Fund

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“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

– Nelson Mandela

UPMC Health Plan is proud to be the official health plan of Robert Morris University.

www.upmchealthplan.com

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CLASS NOTES WHAT YOU MISSED Here’s a look at a few of the alumni events we’ve featured since the last Foundations.

SHANE SCHWIRIAN ‘99 has been

VALERIE MORTON ‘02 was

promoted to general manager of

promoted to borough manager of

WCHS-TV, the ABC affiliate in

Irwin. She had been the assistant

Charleston, W.V. Shane is also

manager since 2016.

responsible for oversight of WVAH-TV, the local FOX station.

MICHAEL PLEVA ‘04 and his wife,

Both are owned by Sinclair

Nina Durant Pleva, celebrated

Broadcast Group.

their 20th wedding anniversary on August 16. The couple has four children: Emilyn, Xavier, Elijah,

2000s

and Sophia. They reside in

DONNA HOLAS ‘02 M’07 is a

Waynesburg.

contributing author for the

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

anthology Extraordinary Lives:

THOMAS SKENA M’06 was

Stories of Triumph and Inspiration.

promoted to senior account

Her chapter is about regaining

executive at Grit Marketing

control in life and rediscovering

Group in York. Thomas was

happiness. Donna lives in

previously a senior marketing

Tampa, Fla.

manager with Scientific Games.

FALL WINE TASTING

GOLF WITH COACH CLARK! WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM BREAKFAST These are just some of the highlights of what has been a very busy Alumni Events calendar.

We see more and more of you each time, but plenty of alumni still haven’t experienced all the fellowship and fun.

Watch for news and announcements of upcoming alumni events in your monthly eFoundations email bulletin.

2 8 • R M U . E D U / F O U N D AT I O N S

MAY 14 SEVEN OAKS GOLF CLUB FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT BILL LUTHER AT LUTHERW@RMU.EDU OR 412-397-4952 .

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CLASS NOTES

JODIE ESPER ‘03 M’05 has

joined South Hills-based

>

>

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS STAFF SGT. KEITH

SURMICK M’17 and SGT.

nonprofit Mainstay Life

ETHAN RILEY ‘14 M’14,

Services as its chief financial

members of the U.S. Army

officer. She currently resides

Reserve cyber force, got

in Belle Vernon.

a warm welcome home in November on their return from Kuwait. The soldiers received flags from their

Brenda Henwood ‘90 (back row, center) came to campus in November for the Celebration of Women luncheon.

Brenda is the founder and owner of FTBA, an electrical contracting and consulting company.

commander in a ceremony at the Reserve Center in Moon Township and were greeted by U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus.

Surmick and Riley serve

>

with the Army Reserve DANA DAVIN ‘11 of

North Central Cyber

Green Tree was one of

Protection Center, based

seven preschool teachers

in Moon Township. While

nationwide to receive the

deployed at Camp Arifjan

KinderCare Education

in Kuwait, they were part

Legacy Award. Dana has

of a network security team

been teaching for three

defending the Defense

years at the KinderCare

Department’s computer

in Mt. Lebanon.

networks throughout the

Brad Downs ‘99 (right) met President Chris Howard and prospective students and their families from the Baltimore area in December as part of an admissions “On the Road” event.

Brad is vice president of marketing with the Baltimore Ravens.

Middle East.

The award honors instructors for teaching creatively,

Surmick’s civilian job is

inspiring curiosity, and

at Bettis Atomic Power

setting the standard for

Laboratory in West Mifflin.

excellence in education. It

Riley works for the Defense

comes with a cash prize and

Department in the

all-expenses-paid trip to be

Washington, D.C., area.

recognized at KinderCare’s National Support Center in Portland, Ore.

Several young alumni came back to campus for a Career Exploration Launch at the School of Education and Social Sciences in October. Special thanks to Trisha Bubenheim ‘13, Bob Byers ‘14, Ashten Farah ‘12, Samantha Kovalyak ‘16, John Mathe ‘13, Zack Mesher ‘07, and Megan Willey ‘16 for their generous contribution of time and talent.

Find out how you can share your experience to help today’s students. Send an email to RMUALUM@RMU.EDU.

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ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY

BEING YOUR NEIGHBOR MAKES US SMILE!

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POWERING

INNOVATION Throughout our region, Peoples is embracing new technologies and providing innovative energy solutions. Visit Peoples-Gas.com/Power to learn more about the ways that Peoples can help your company ensure future energy stability and improve your bottom line.

Combined Heat & Power (CHP)

Fuel Cells

Waste heat from on-site electric production is captured and used.

Natural gas and oxygen are converted to electricity and heat – without combustion.

Natural Gas Vehicles

Microturbines

Natural Gas Boating

Clean-burning natural gas fuels consumer, fleet, and heavy-duty vehicles.

Cost-effective, on-site electric production can take businesses “off the grid.”

A dual-fuel approach reduces toxic fumes and keeps our rivers clean.

Peoples-Gas.com/Power

197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:05 PM Page 35

CLASS NOTES JACOB OBERMEYER ‘09 was

NATASHA DIRDA M’11 of McKees

named assistant coach of the

Rocks was appointed as the

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, a

new principal of Markham

USHL hockey team in Iowa. Jacob

Elementary School. She has

played professionally for six

been a unit principal at the high

seasons in the CHL and the ECHL

school since 2015.

before joining the Wenatchee Wolves staff as a coach in 2015.

LARA HUBER ‘12 was promoted

company in Mt. Lebanon that

is the superintendent of

and JAMIE TRUAX ‘17 were

MARQUIS JOHNSON ‘10 and

makes a portal platform for

South Fayette Township

married on August 5. Jamie is

Rachel Schrecengost were

corporate board members.

School District. Previously,

a substitute teacher in the

2010s married at Saint Elizabeth Ann

KENNETH LOCKETTE D’13

>

at BoardBookIt, a software

>

to director of sales and marketing MERCEDES VAHALIK ‘16

superintendent in

Mercedes is an inventory

27. Marquis is a senior

accepted a position at Apple in

Avonworth School District.

and safety manager for a

communication specialist for

Cupertino, Calif., as the global

Lockette lives in Mars.

trucking company there.

Bayer in Moon Township. The

supply manager for mechanical

couple resides in Gibsonia.

enclosure for the iPhone.

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY AT RMU Think about how Robert Morris changed your life. Then consider how your legacy gift to Robert Morris can change the lives of future students.

Contact Development Director Josh Diller at (412) 397-6413 or diller@rmu.edu to learn how you can leave a legacy through your will or with a planned gift of retirement savings, life insurance, cash, stocks, or other assets.

RMU.EDU/PLANNEDGIVING

3 2 • R M U . E D U / F O U N D AT I O N S

BRANDON LOCKE ‘14 and

>

Steubenville area, and

CARLY RESCHICK ‘12 M’12

>

Lockette was the assistant

Seton Parish in Carnegie on May

SAMANTHA STEDFORD

GABRIELLA GASPARICH ‘14

M’17 is the manager of

were married September 2.

business diversity and

Brandon was a nursing

outreach for Pittsburgh

major and Gabriella was a

International Airport,

communication/PR major

stimulating opportunities for

and psychology minor.

minority- and women-owned

The two both worked as

businesses in airport

Colonial Ambassadors in the

contracts. Stedford is

admissions office. Brandon

involved in the RMU

is a traveling nurse, and the

Women’s Leadership and

two currently live in Denver

Mentorship Program and

while Gabriella works

was selected as the 2016-2017

remotely as the assistant

Outstanding Master of

director of admissions at

Business Administration.

Forum-Nexus Study Abroad.

197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:05 PM Page 36

CLASS NOTES CHASE GOLIGHTLY ‘16 signed with

Jason is an ER nurse in Indiana,

MARCELIS BRANCH ‘17 was

the Reading Royals of the ECHL,

Pa., and is earning his D.N.P.

named to the Atlanta Falcons

an affiliate of the Philadelphia

degree at RMU.

practice squad as a defensive

>

Flyers. A four-time selection to the

ARDEN FISHER ‘17 has

accepted an offer to play for

back. Branch saw action in all

All-Atlantic Hockey Association

JASON PUGH D’16 has joined RB

four of Atlanta’s preseason

All-Academic Team, he was

Retail and Service Solutions, a

contests, finishing fourth

selected as the school’s defensive

Monroeville software company,

on the team with 14 tackles,

player of the year in his junior

as a training and software

nine of them solo.

season and was twice named to

specialist. Jason lives in

the All-Atlantic Hockey

Monroeville.

JACOB GNIESKI ‘17 has been

Association Third Team.

added as a fellow to support REBECA NAVARRO ‘17 signed a

Havas PR communications efforts

Switzerland. Geneve Volley

JASON MEYERS ‘16 and Gabrielle

professional contract with the

in the Pittsburgh office. In his new

competes in the top tier of

Miller, both of Homer City, were

Leicester Riders of the Women’s

role, Gnieski will support public

Swiss professional volleyball.

married on May 20 at the Village

British Basketball League.

relations and media relations

Geneve Volley in Geneva,

efforts for several health

at Indian Springs in Flovilla, Ga.

care clients.

Class Notes would love to hear from you.

Email us at rmualum@rmu.edu.

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197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:05 PM Page 37

197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:05 PM Page 38

CLASS NOTES In Memoriam DOROTHY BREITINGER REED ‘47 of Port Vue passed away on June 6 at the age of 88. Dorothy is survived by two sons, CRAIG REED ‘88 and Gary Reed. Both sons live in Port Vue.

was the husband of JENNIFER

BRIANNA BELL ‘12 of Irwin

‘76 of South Fayette passed

JENDRASIK FEDELE ‘86, and he is

passed away on July 10 at the

away on January 31, 2017,

survived by his two children,

age of 27. She was women’s

at the age of 61.

Stephen and Faith. Christopher

soccer MVP in 2011 and worked

ran the family business, Fedele

as a direct sales representative

MICHAEL SHANE ‘77 of New

Insurance, alongside his

for Comcast.

Brighton passed away on June 19

brother Jeff.

at the age of 71. After serving in

JOSEPH PLUES ‘60 of North Huntingdon passed away August 12 at the age of 82.

Joseph worked for Parker Hunter Financial Services before becoming Irwin borough’s first full-time manager in 1973.

He held that post until retiring in 1997.

RUTH ANN YURCHAK FRATTINI

the U.S. Air Force, Michael

FRANCINE GUERRIERI

returned home and earned his

MILLIGAN ‘92 M’92 of Robinson

degree in business administration.

Township passed away on

He owned and operated Shane

November 6 at the age of 47.

Plumbing and Heating, as well as Shane Electronics.

ROBERT TONKS ‘09 of Georgetown, Beaver County,

CHRISTOPHER J. FEDELE ‘86 of

passed away June 18 at the age

Murrysville, passed away on

of 62. Robert worked as a

October 27 at the age of 52. He

registered nurse at Shadyside Nursing and Rehab.

SAVE THE DATE

HOMECOMING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 CHECK OUT HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST YEAR’S CELEBRATION

RMU.EDU/HOMECOMING R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y F O U N D AT I O N S • 3 5

197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:05 PM Page 39

10Questionswith Brad Grimm ‘08

Growing up in Penn Hills, young movie buff Brad Grimm dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. In his junior year as a media arts major at RMU, he co-directed and edited a music video that won a College Emmy and landed him in a summer internship in L.A. Now he has his own Manhattan production company, Firefly Films, and was the cinematographer of the 2017 Showtime documentary “Tough Guys.”

1

What movies did you love most as a kid? The first “King Kong,” the ‘30s version. I watched it on AMC and thought it was real. As a kid I wondered, where’d they get this monkey at?

4

I heard the producer of “Tough Guys” remembered you from a Levi’s commercial you worked on in Braddock. Is that true? Yes, I was remembered as the production assistant who could throw a good wrap party after the shoot.

7

2

5

Any disappointments?

The biggest disappointment about living here is I cannot find a decent pierogi to save my life in this town.

10

What was it like having a summer internship with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences? It was a dream come true. You could literally see the Hollywood sign from our offices. I learned from it that I didn’t want to stay in postproduction. I would get bored inside an office all day.

What is your next project? I shot a 43-minute pilot that’s a mix of supernatural and crime — “True Detective” meets “Twin Peaks.”

I’m shopping it around now and entering it in the Tribeca competition.

8

What do you miss most about Pittsburgh? Being able to walk down the street and run into somebody you know. That hardly ever happens here.

Will you be back for your 10-year class reunion this fall? I would love to. I had so many great relationships at Robert Morris, people I still talk to on a weekly basis. That part of your life fades away, but the connections you make don’t have to.

You’ve got to celebrate that every once in a while.

36

Interviewed by Mark Houser

3

Your latest project, “Tough Guys,” looks at the Pittsburghers who created mixed martial arts fighting.

What was the biggest surprise for you? They took the money they made out of their event and they reinvested it, and now they’re very successful business guys. We assumed they would be living in squalor, but it was the complete opposite.

6

You’re on the Upper West Side. What’s it like living and working in New York? I’ve been here five years and it’s like living on a razor blade. It’s impossible to get too comfortable because it’s so expensive. But teetering on the brink is what forces you to stay hungry and keep working to perfect your craft.

9

Your classmates probably remember your big hair. Were you sorry to have it cut? It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

But to be honest, I’m pretty hairy still. It’s shorter though.

197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:05 PM Page 40

Upcoming Events >

MARCH

27 Women’s History Month Images: Life of Holocaust Survivor Eva Schloss Massey Theater, 7:30 p.m.

10 Pirates Spring Training Alumni Social Pier 22, Bradenton, Fla., 11 a.m.

Game at LECOM Park, 1 p.m. >

20 Global Karneval

Yorktown Hall, 4:30-7:30 p.m.

21-25 Colonial Theatre presents “Seussical” Massey Theater, 7:30 p.m.

(Sunday at 2 p.m.)

21 Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich Pittsburgh Speakers Series Heinz Hall, 8 p.m.

>

6 Commencement with

Wolf Blitzer of CNN David L. Lawrence Convention Center, 4 p.m.

APRIL

14 Golf with Coach Clark

11 Astronaut Mark Kelly and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords Pittsburgh Speakers Series Heinz Hall, 8 p.m.

20 Women of RMU Jacqueline Travisano Hotel Monaco, noon

MAY

Seven Oaks Golf Club 9:30 a.m. shotgun start

FOUNDATIONS ONLINE BONUS CONTENT AND VIDEOS INCLUDING: CATHY AND JIM ZAMBITO'S "MEET CUTE" LOVE STORY

8 RMU Alumni Tour Bavaria and Austria Through May 17

>

TV NEWS COVERAGE OF RMU TUTORS HELPING CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA

JUNE

20 RMU Night

Pirates vs. Brewers PNC Park, 7 p.m.

AND MORE! RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS

>> STAY INFORMED ABOUT ALUMNI EVENTS. READ YOUR MONTHLY eFOUNDATIONS NEWSLETTER.

2018 Alumni Tour

BAVARIA&AUSTRIA MAY 8 - 17 Explore the towering peaks and verdant mountain meadows of Bavaria and Austria, and experience the charms of Salzburg and Munich, with President Chris Howard and Barbara Howard.

To find out more, contact Jay Carson at (412) 397-6404 or carsonj@rmu.edu.

RMU.EDU/ALUMNITOUR

197413807_Foundations W18.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/18 2:03 PM Page 1

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

Pittsburgh, PA Permit No. 280 Robert Morris University 6001 University Boulevard Moon Township, PA 15108-1189 RMU.EDU

NEW FOOTBALL COACH Bernard “Tiger” Clark was named the new head football coach of the Colonials in December.

He is the former associate head coach and defensive coordinator at the University of Albany.

Clark was the MVP of the 1987 Orange Bowl as a linebacker for the University of Miami and won two NCAA national championships with that team. He played three years in the NFL and two in the Arena Football League before his college coaching career.

“I’m very excited, and just a little bit nervous, about this opportunity to be a head coach for the first time,” said Clark.

“But mostly I’m excited. I look forward to working with the young men at Robert Morris and helping them grow in more ways than just as football players.”