Reflections Magazine - Fall 2014

THE MAGAZINE OF SVSU

REFLECTIONS Traditional Chinese lion dancers perform at the grand opening of Ming Chuan University – Michigan

FROM THE EDITOR After the spring issue of Reflections was mailed, we received a phone call from Lynn Kauer, 1976, B.S. Though pleased to receive the magazine and appreciative of the notice of Eldon Graham’s passing, Lynn stated his disappointment that we had previously overlooked acknowledging Tom Gillespie’s passing. For that oversight, we apologize. Gillespie was hired as a physics instructor in 1964, the first year classes were offered at SVSU. In 1969, he was named an assistant dean (1969), and was a mechanical engineering faculty member from 1973 through 1995. He died March 19, 2013.

On a happier note, we also heard from Kay Mitchell, 1979, B.A. With permission, we reprint Kay’s note: In August 1979, I finished my college classes at SVSC. It was a Thursday and the following Monday I began my teaching career with the Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools. I retired in June of 2013 after teaching for almost 34 years.

I want to thank the college for helping this young mother of two children fulfill her goal of becoming a teacher. I graduated from Whittemore-Prescott in 1966 and joined the Navy WAVES out of high school. I was able to go to college on the G.I. Bill. When I did my student teaching, it was a pilot program with the Bangor Schools in Bay City. Dr. Ken Wahl was in charge of the program. It was great for me, and I met a lot of great people.

Thanks again. GO CARDS!

And on a note of mixed sadness and happiness is my recent retirement. After 10 years with SVSU, I retired Aug. 15. (However, I did get to stay on in the role of editor to see this fall issue through print and mailing.)

Though working only a decade in higher education, I must say this “business” and my job have been the highlight of my career. And the exclamation point to that decade has been the role of editor of Reflections magazine. I have been a part of an imaginative, resourceful and hardworking team who come together several months a year to create this magazine. We have worked hard to develop content we think our alumni and friends will find informative; to write interesting profiles of our faculty, alumni and staff; to take engaging and entertaining photography; to design features and sections that are visually appealing; and then to edit and edit and edit and edit once more to prepare what we hope is an alumni magazine that makes every Cardinal proud.

It’s been a great job, but it’s also — and more so — been a privilege and an honor.

Jan Poppe, 2001, M.A.

HERE’S A HEADS UP ON WHAT’S NEW

Readers will notice a new magazine section we are introducing in this issue of Reflections. “College News” gives our deans a brief opportunity to weigh in with updates, announcements, awards and other goings-on. We hope over time to expand this section, dedicating even more space to the colleges. Research indicates that alumni like to read not only about their university but about their college. Let us know what you think. You can email alumni@svsu.edu.

For those at-a-glance readers of Reflections, be on the lookout for the “I am a Proud Alum” wordmark that will accompany alum profiles. It’s a quick, visual way for readers to know which stories feature an alumnus.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 | WOW ... YOU SHOULD SEE HOW MUCH SVSU HAS CHANGED

Alumni Association President Terry Lutz challenges alumni to get involved and visit campus.

6 | FIELDHOUSE, FESTIVAL AND FELLOWS

Our news briefs catch you up on the latest happenings and announcements.

14 | DEANS’ CORNER A new section that delivers updates on our five colleges.

STORY: THE VISION OF SVSU’S 18 | FEATURE FOURTH PRESIDENT

50 | CATCHING UP WITH ALUMNI — DAWN COOK

A biology major becomes a best-selling author.

52 | ALUMNI PROFILE — JESSE VOLLMAR & BRAD KOCH

Home-grown success.

54 | ALUMNI PROFILE — ROLLIN JOHNSON Halfway around the world and back.

56 | ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OUTINGS

Alumni socialize and network on the first tee and more.

Ming Chuan University – Michigan opens branch campus

58 | ALUMNI RED PRIDE Class notes, weddings, babies and obits.

64 | TALENT. OPPORTUNITY. PROMISE.

30 | FEATURE STORY: LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM AT 90 MILES PER HOUR

70 | A MOVING MESSAGE OF GIVING BACK.

Sitting down with Donald J. Bachand.

24 | FEATURE STORY: STARTING WITH A VISION, DESTINED TO BENEFIT MANY at SVSU.

Since 1998, students in SVSU’s Cardinal Formula Racing have demonstrated a drive for high performance.

DIX 35 | MONIKA

Bringing East to West.

36 | JAMIE PEWINSKI

Taking a shot at a turnaround.

38 | DAVE ABBS One job is never enough.

40 | ANTHONY BOWRIN Just the right fit.

42 | TAMERA ARIZOLA BARRIENTOS Helping teachers teach math and science.

44 | TAI CHI LEE

THE CAMPAIGN FOR SVSU.

New gifts bring campaign closer to goal.

2013 grad Cameron Thorp pays it forward.

COVER MING CHUAN UNIVERSITY AT SVSU:

Chinese lion dancers mimick the movements of a mythical beast, bringing good luck and happiness to the union of Ming Chuan University – Michigan and SVSU. THE MAGAZINE OF SVSU

REFLECTIONS The Chinese lion dancers performed at the grand opening of Ming Chuan University – Michigan.

All about the learning.

46 | SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT SUCCESS Students who are succeeding — locally, nationally and globally.

48 | FOCUS ON FACULTY — ANDREA FREDERICK

A staff nurse who relishes the opportunity to return to the classroom.

svsu.edu

facebook.com/svsu.edu

SVSU is proud to be one of Michigan’s outstanding public universities.

youtube.com/saginawvalleystate

twitter.com/@svsu

WELCOME LETTER REFLECTIONS SENIOR CONSULTANT Andy Bethune, 1987, B.B.A. EDITOR Jan Poppe, 2001, M.A. MANAGING EDITOR Tim Inman, 1989, B.A.; 1996, M.Ed. WRITERS J.J. Boehm, 2006, M.A. Ann Branch Justin Engel, 2005, B.A. Tim Inman Jan Poppe Carlos Ramet Jason Wolverton, 2007, B.A. GRAPHIC DESIGN Jill Allardyce, 2006, M.A. PHOTOGRAPHERS Tim Inman Michael Randolph VIDEOGRAPHER Dan Goodell CONTRIBUTORS Jason Swackhamer, 1997, B.A.; 2004, M.A. EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION CONSULTANT Paul Chaffee EDITORIAL BOARD Jill Allardyce J.J. Boehm Ann Branch Justin Engel Tim Inman Jan Poppe Carlos Ramet Kevin Schultz, 1992, B.A. Kristen Wenzel, 1993, B.A. REFLECTIONS magazine is published twice a year. For comments, suggestions and inquiries contact: Alumni Relations at Saginaw Valley State University • 7400 Bay Road University Center MI 48710 alumni@svsu.edu • (989) 964-4196 CONTACT THE UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS admissions@svsu.edu (989) 964-4200 ALUMNI RELATIONS alumni@svsu.edu (989) 964-4196 SVSU FOUNDATION foundation@svsu.edu (989) 964-4052 CAREER SERVICES careers@svsu.edu (989) 964-4954 CENTER FOR BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT lhaas@svsu.edu (989) 964-7015 CONFERENCE CENTER AT SVSU (Box Office) BoxOffice@svsu.edu (989) 964-4261 DIVERSITY PROGRAMS mtthorns@svsu.edu (989) 964-4068 GRADUATE PROGRAMS gradadm@svsu.edu (989) 964-6096 MARSHALL M. FREDERICKS SCULPTURE MUSEUM mfsm@svsu.edu (989) 964-7125 OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE jap@svsu.edu (989) 964-4310

Dear Friends: To our newest alumni receiving your first Reflections, congratulations on your recent graduation. Welcome to the SVSU Alumni Association and to the continuation of your relationship with SVSU. I am honored to have been selected by the SVSU Alumni Association’s Board of Directors for a second one-year term as president, concluding in May 2015. My first one-year term certainly went very quickly, especially with the 50th anniversary celebration, the selection of Don Bachand as our new president and my graduation in May with a master’s degree in health leadership.

This opportunity to address my fellow alums is humbling, but I am glad for the opportunity.

When I arrived at SVSU in September 1981 to start my undergraduate studies in business administration, I never expected to see this institution become such a great place, offering an expanded curriculum along with state-of-the-art facilities for academics, athletics and student life. The educational experience has definitely changed from my commuter college days to the cultural and international university of today.

One of the goals that Dr. Bachand identified in his investiture speech is his interest in more alumni engagement. It is very important for us to hear from our fellow alums as they experience those great events in their lives, such as starting a career, getting married, changing jobs, earning other degrees, starting a family, etc. That’s our starting point; please keep in touch through your SVSU email, or let us know another preference. We can’t wait to list your latest milestone events in the Class Notes section of this magazine!

The Alumni Association encourages you to come back to campus often. It changed so much for me between 1986 and 2009 that I hardly recognized it when I did come back, and so I have made the commitment to continue attending events now into the future. You can stay connected through attendance at or participation in activities like career networking, homecoming events, on-campus volunteer projects, cultural programs and alumni award and recognition events.

In May, I crossed the commencement stage to receive my master’s degree; it gave me the opportunity to re-invite myself into the Alumni Association. Commencement speaker Patrick McInnnis, 1988, B.A., talked about seven principles of success. These principles really apply to what we, SVSU alumni, need to do to be personally and professionally successful.

Pat reminded the graduating audience that we should always be conscious of raising our level of awareness, choosing optimism, saying “yes” before “no,” creating our own fans and supporters, paying attention to execution of ideas and remembering that “we” are the “they.” Finally, he reminded us that money follows; it doesn’t lead.

To fellow alumni and friends of SVSU, I wish you all the best and I hope to meet many of you at future events. Remember, we are the face of SVSU and are its best recruiters. I challenge you to encourage friends and relatives to visit the campus as they consider their choice for a university. I have a niece and a nephew who are attending here because they set foot on this beautiful campus to watch their siblings at an SVSU youth soccer camp.

This is your alumni association. Please let us know how we can best serve you — and SVSU. Thanks for your time,

Terry J. Lutz, 1985, B.B.A.; 2014, M.S. Ed. Note: Since dues are not required to join the Alumni Association, all graduates are automatically members.

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REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 5

NEWSBRIEFS

BRAUN FELLOWS RESEARCH LONG-TERM HEALTH CARE FACILITIES AND NEW INSECT SPECIES A nursing educator and a scholar specializing in insects were awarded SVSU’s latest Braun Fellowship to pursue their research.

Elizabeth Roe, professor of nursing, and Stephen Taber, associate professor of biology, each received research support grants totaling up to $37,500 for the next three years to further their scholarly and professional activities.

Each is an award-winning faculty member. Roe received SVSU’s Landee Award for Teaching Excellence in 2012 and the Ruben Daniels Community Service Award in 2006. Taber received SVSU’s Warrick Award for Excellence in Research in April.

Roe’s research includes a collaborative project with clinical staff at longterm care facilities. The work is designed to improve patient care. She hopes to increase the knowledge and implementation of evidence-based practice in the long-term care setting.

Research suggests awareness and use of research evidence in practice remains low.

Elizabeth Roe

Stephen Taber

Roe, who joined the faculty in 1988, plans to publish her findings in academic journals and international conference presentations.

Taber’s project involves teaming with SVSU students to search for insect species unknown to science. He has discovered 20 new species since joining SVSU in 2004. Taber maintains one laboratory at SVSU focused on insect studies. He has a second lab in the Manistee National Forest. Taber and his

students will search for insects in the forest from spring to fall. His findings are expected to be published in journal articles that document new discoveries.

Taber has authored two books, The World of Harvester Ants and Fire Ants, both published by Texas A&M University Press, and co-authored three other books on plant and animal life in his native Texas.

TEACHER, DESIGNER, PROGRAM CHAIR AND LIFETIME FRIEND HONORED Plaques mark the Eldon Graham Executive Board Room, named for Eldon Graham, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, who passed away Feb. 12. The conference room on the second floor of Pioneer Hall was dedicated April 30 to honor Graham, whose service at SVSU spanned more than four decades.

“Before SVSU existed, Eldon was among those calling for its creation,” said President Donald Bachand.

Graham served on a science advisory committee for SVSU in 1964 and left a successful career at The Dow 6 SVSU.EDU

Chemical Company to join the SVSU faculty in 1970. He also oversaw the construction of Pioneer Hall and made personal connections with countless students. For a number of years, Graham served as assistant dean for the College of Science, Engineering & Technology. He was granted professor emeritus status in 2006 but continued teaching and advising students and serving as the director of the Engineering Technology Management Program.

NEWSBRIEFS

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES SUPPORT FOCUS ON STUDENT SUCCESS With a focus on student success and retention as well as on endeavors to boost academic perception and institutional awareness, the Office of the Provost announced several organizational changes in early summer. The university’s leadership team, according to Deb Huntley, provost and vice president for academic affairs, “will continue to support SVSU’s core mission and enhance our efforts to better serve all students.”

The enrollment management and student affairs divisions moved to the office of the provost. Jim Dwyer, 1976, B.A.; 1985, M.A.T., continues to lead enrollment management as associate provost, and Merry Jo Brandimore still heads student affairs, as dean of students and associate provost. Former Gerstacker Endowed Chair in Education David Callejo Perez has become associate provost, and Kerry Rastigue was named assistant vice president for community engagement and integrated learning.

Earlier announcements included Nick Wagner, 2004, B.A.; 2007, M.A., as director of institutional research and Marc Peretz as associate provost for international and advanced studies.

“We are fortunate to have such a high level of talent and experience at SVSU to effectively lead the university into its second half century,” added Huntley.

“The dedication and expertise of the administrative team is exceptional.”

James Muladore, 1972, B.B.A.; 1982, M.B.A., retains the position of executive vice president for administration & business affairs.

Similarly, Carlos Ramet, executive assistant to the president/executive director of public affairs, Mamie Thorns, special assistant to the president for diversity programs, Harry Leaver, executive director for the Center for Business & Economic Development, and Andy Bethune, 1987, B.B.A., executive director of the SVSU Foundation, remain part of the executive leadership team.

Deb Huntley

Jim Dwyer

Merry Jo Brandimore

David Callejo Perez

Kerry Rastigue

Nick Wagner

Mark Peretz

James Muladore

Carlos Ramet

Mamie Thorns

Harry Leaver

Andy Bethune

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 7

NEWSBRIEFS

“MAKING THE GLOBAL LOCAL” CONCLUDES 2014 FALL FOCUS SERIES

Charles Montgomery

Amanda Ripley

John Baesler

The lie detector test’s effect on U.S. national security policy, methods for improving the education system and ways to revitalize struggling neighborhoods are among the topics in the final stretch of the 2014 Fall Focus speaker series.

The series’ final three speakers will be urban experimentalist Charles Montgomery, investigative journalist Amanda Ripley and SVSU associate professor of history John Baesler. The forums are free of charge and open to the public.

Montgomery — who visits Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Malcolm Field Theatre for Performing Arts — is an award-winning author whose writings on urban planning, psychology, culture and history have appeared in magazines and journals on three continents.

At his Fall Focus event, Montgomery will ask the question, “How can we

be happier in cities?” He will look for answers at the intersection of urban design and the new science of happiness.

Ripley’s appearance is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. in the Malcolm Field Theatre for Performing Arts.

Her investigative journalist credentials include bylines in Time and The Atlantic. She also is the author of The Smartest Kids In The World — And How They Got That Way. Her first book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes — And Why, was published in 15 countries and turned into a PBS documentary.

In her books and magazine writing, Ripley explores the gap between public policy and human behavior.

Baesler’s event is planned for Thursday, Nov. 13, at 4 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall.

His presentation will explore the

creation of U.S. national security policy after World War II through the lens of the lie detector. To explain why an invasive technology with questionable scientific credentials became part of U.S. national security practice, he will argue that the lie detector test served an important symbolic function since it represented both the necessary toughness to stand up to communism and the inherent rationality and fairness of American science.

The trio cap off the seven-speaker series that included community development specialist Susan Mosey, The Big Thirst author Charles Fishman, U.S.-Latin American relations expert Shannon O’Neil and historian and biographer Graham Farmelo. The series theme is “Making The Global Local.”

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NEWSBRIEFS

MUSEUM ATTENDANCE GROWS SIGNIFICANTLY

As curator of education for the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, Andrea Ondish (right) leads student groups on tours in the museum.

With a strategic planning charge to increase museum visits through better marketing and heightened awareness, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum recently reported an increase in visitation of 77 percent since 2007. From July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014, the museum welcomed 17,760 visitors — 3,732 more than the previous year.

“We believe this year’s increase in visitors is attributable, in part, to enhanced marketing throughout the region and the state, greater quality and diversity of temporary exhibitions

and increased K-12 educational programs,” noted Marilyn Wheaton, executive director of the museum.

“Attendance is not just about numbers, but about all of the programs and events that a museum offers,” she added. “It’s also about the opportunity to bring the arts to a wider and sometimes new audience.

We have worked hard — with great community support — to reach schools whose students have never been to the museum; communities outside the Great Lakes Bay Region; targeted groups of people who have an interest

in Marshall Fredericks in particular or sculpture in general; and the SVSU community of faculty, staff and students.”

With a recent $7,500 grant from the Alden and Vada Dow Family Foundations, the museum is bringing in Simone Joyaux, one of the nonprofit sector’s most thoughtful, inspirational and provocative thought-leaders in the country, to facilitate a strategic planning process with the board and staff. A new five-year strategic plan will create new goals and action steps for the museum to attain.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 9

NEWSBRIEFS

RAMET PENS SECOND BOOK ON BEST-SELLING AUTHOR Carlos Ramet, executive assistant to the president/executive director of public affairs, is set to publish his second book on international bestselling author Ken Follett.

Ken Follett and the Triumph of Suspense is due for publication this fall and investigates Follett’s development as an author and the negotiation serious versus popular literary value.

Ramet’s first book about Follett, Ken Follett: The Transformation of a Writer, was published in 1999 and was

the culmination of a series of scholarly articles Ramet wrote about the author. The relationship Ramet developed with Follett during that time led to Follett donating more than 44,000 documents from his archives to the Melvin J. Zahnow Library, including his personal notes and early manuscripts.

Follett has visited SVSU on two occasions: in December 2004 to deliver a public lecture when the archives were

dedicated and again in December 2007 when he received an honorary doctor of letters degree and delivered the commencement address. Follett has also made a significant financial contribution to the university to support the maintenance of his archival collection.

REGIONAL FESTIVAL CELEBRATES SAGINAW NATIVE SON; 2014 PRIZE AWARDED TO TIM SEIBLES board member of the Muse Writers Workshop. He is the author of six previous books of poetry.

The festival kicks off on the evening of Friday, Nov. 7, with a visit from Steps Montessori students to the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum for a recital of a Roethke poem. A poetry slam follows. Midland’s Creative 360 hosts a “Ted [Roethke] Talk and Tasting” on the evening of Saturday, Tim Seibles Nov. 8. A special presentation on The Theodore Roethke Poetry Roethke will be offered by Roethke & Arts Festival takes place on the book collector Mike Kolleth. Steve campus of SVSU and throughout Erikson, SVSU professor of theatre, the region Nov. 7-12. The focal point will perform a one-man play about of the festival is the SVSU Board of Roethke, First Class, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Fellows Triennial Theodore Roethke Nov. 9, and again on Monday evening, Poetry Prize, this year awarded to Tim Nov. 10. The River Junction Poets will Seibles for his work, Fast Animal. Born read “Letters from Home” at Roethke’s in Philadelphia in 1955, Seibles is a childhood home in Saginaw on Sunday, member of the English Department Nov. 9. and M.F.A. in writing faculty of Old Monday, Nov. 10, activities include Dominion University and is a teaching the first of three Osher Lifelong

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Learning Institute programs on Roethke. An afternoon reading featuring Seibles will take place at the Dow Gardens’ Greenhouse in Midland.

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Seibles will visit writing classes at SVSU prior to the 7 p.m. prize ceremony. Wednesday, Nov. 12, concludes the festival with a morning workshop for SVSU writing students, conducted by the 2011 poetry prize winner, David Baker. At 7:30 p.m., a jazz concert featuring the 19-piece Michigan Jazz Trail orchestra will pay homage to Roethke’s love of jazz with a performance at Bay City’s State Theater.

The festival is made possible in part by a generous grant received from the Michigan Humanities Council.

A committee of 30 community supporters and SVSU faculty and staff have met since March to plan the festival. More information is available at svsu.edu/roethke.

NEWSBRIEFS

TRACK AND FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS HIGHLIGHT FIFTH HALL OF FAME CLASS The SVSU athletic department inducted the fifth class of the Cardinal Athletic Hall of Fame.

The inductees included former 1980s track standouts Ricky Brown and Cindy Reinhart, former Cardinal and NFL linebacker John DiGiorgio, and the 2003 football team.

Brown was a 13-time All American on the track & field team when SVSU took back-to-back NAIA Indoor national championships in 1982 and 1983. He was a member of seven national champion relay teams and his 1,600 meter and 3,200 meter relay teams, still hold school records for both indoor and outdoor.

Fellow track standout Reinhart was also a 13-time All-American and claimed the national championship in the marathon race in 1984, setting a national record that still stands. She twice finished national runner-up in the 10,000 meter run and currently holds school indoor records for the three-mile run and 3,200-meter relay, and the outdoor records for the 10,000-meter run and marathon.

DiGiorgio was named an American Football Coaches Association AllAmerican for his play during the 2005 season in which he also was named GLIAC “Player of the Year.” He finished his collegiate career as SVSU’s all-time

Ricky Brown

Cindy Reinhart

John DiGiorgio

2003 Cardinal football team

leader in tackles and went on to play four seasons in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills.

Joining DiGiorgio are his teammates from the 2003 team, which finished 12-1 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs. The

2003 team remains the only squad in school history to finish the regular season undefeated and featured four players that would go on to compete in the NFL, including DiGiorgio, Todd Herremans, Glenn Martinez and Ruvell Martin.

BOWLING LEGEND REMEMBERED For 22 years, Dan Dorian led the SVSU bowling team, including national championship teams in 1991, 1997, 2006 and 2007. During that time, SVSU qualified for the U.S. Bowling Congress Intercollegiate National Championships 18 times.

He died on July 29 at his Essexville home.

In his two-plus decades at SVSU, Dan coached 23 All-Americans, and seven

bowlers went on to compete on the PBA Tour.

Athletic Director Mike Watson noted Dan’s strong sense of pride and desire to make his program and SVSU athletics successful. “In college athletics,” said Watson, “if you win a respectable number of conference championships, you can consider yourself successful.

But to win four national titles is incredible.”

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 11

NEWSBRIEFS

ACCOLADES GIVEN TO NFL DRAFTEE AND TWO-TIME CROSS-COUNTRY ALL-AMERICAN An NFL player and a two-time All-American cross-country athlete earned the 2013-14 Ryder Athlete of the Year awards, considered the school’s most prestigious accolades given to its student athletes.

Former Cardinal wide receiver Jeff Janis and SVSU cross-country senior Emily Short were both graduates of Tawas Area High School.

For the 2014 season, Janis suited up for the Green Bay Packers, the NFL team that drafted him in May. He was selected in the seventh round after a record-breaking 2013 season with SVSU. While not making much

Jeff Janis, 2014, B.S.

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of an impact his freshman season, Janis exploded during his sophomore season, gaining 968 yards receiving on just 48 catches, a 20.2 yard average per catch. He also racked up 14 receiving touchdowns in the process.

Janis finished out his last two seasons with a combined total of 189 catches for 3,207 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Janis also holds the GLIAC and SVSU single game records with 331 receiving yards and 18 receptions. He is SVSU’s all-time leader in receiving yards with 4,274, receptions with 241, touchdowns with 45 and receptionsper-game with 5.6.

Emily Short

Short’s legacy at SVSU isn’t written yet, as she has another year of eligibility to play.

Short’s junior year included earning her second-consecutive All-American status during the NCAA Division II Women’s Cross Country National Championships in Spokane, Wash. Her 15th-place finish helped the Cardinals post its best-ever finish at the competition.

The team finished in 11th place. She also competed during the indoor track and field season, where she represented SVSU in the national indoor championships.

NEWSBRIEFS

ATHLETIC FIELDHOUSE NEARS COMPLETION Aaron Mowen, director of campus recreation programs, positions a plaque marking the location of a time capsule in the new Ryder Center fieldhouse. The time capsule, which was installed April 29, includes various items that SVSU will review when the capsule is opened in 2063 as part of the university’s 100th anniversary. The new fieldhouse includes a 300-meter indoor track and synthetic infield. A second phase of the project involves renovation of the O’Neill Arena and is expected to be completed in October 2014.

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COLLEGE UPDATE Research indicates that though alumni care about their university, they also have affinity for the college and program of study they chose. With that in mind, Reflections is beginning a “College Update” — brief news from the deans of our five colleges.

Let us know what you think.

Barron Hirsch

Drew Hinderer

COLLEGE OF ARTS & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES •

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In an “Application Interface Design” art course, students designed a computer interface for Stevens Worldwide Van Lines as a class project.

In fall 2014, the college rolled out the Botz Liberal Arts Fellowship program, which provides selected students an opportunity for hands-on coaching prior to completing an internship with a local business. Jan Botz, 1974, B.A., strongly believes in the importance of an education in the liberal arts and, as evidenced by her own career and accomplishments, understands its value in preparing students for advancement in business, industry and other personal and professional endeavors.

Three juniors and one senior attended the Moot Court national competition in Phoenix, Ariz. There were 80 teams from around the U.S., including teams from 39 colleges and universities. The team of Samantha Jackson and Rachel Stocki came in 49th, just missing the cut for the second day of competition. The team of Andrew Bonnell and Kayla Bargeron finished in the top 60. Later in the summer, it was announced that of 77 competing colleges

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and universities, SVSU is now ranked 21, higher than such notables as Baylor, Texas Christian and California State University at Fresno.

Opportunities for experiential learning reach many students from varied disciplines: SVSU’s forensics team, 15 students per year; Moot Court, 20 – 25 students; Model U.N., 35 students; the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, 10 students; and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, 40 – 45 students.

A collaborative, interdisciplinary program that included students in business, art and theatre (B.A.T.) culminated in a mural project showcased in the Dow Event Center parking area and a presentation of the B.A.T. theme, “Saginaw Revitalization Through the Eyes of Our Children (It’s the Beginning).” A video of the 2012 B.A.T. project is viewable at vimeo.com/52670515.

Recent faculty retirements include Barron Hirsch, professor of art, 1970 – June 2014; and Drew Hinderer, professor of philosophy, 1981 – June 2014.

The College of Business & Management inducted 20 students into Beta Gamma Sigma, including (front, from left) Alyssa Hurtado, Anthony Peel, Gurbir Doad, Kirsten Wilson, Debbie Hopkins, Melissa Brogan; and (back, from left) Hamza Mohammed Sinan, Abdulwahab Albusaleh, Scott Stanford, Eric LeVasseurr, Cody Kirby, Laurel Mattson and Luke Dankert. Inductees who could not attend the ceremony include John Bungart, Anna Fenske, Chris Hasenbank, Terri Knieper, Shannon Sebald, Ashlan Story and Katie Wright.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT •

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In late winter, the college announced reaffirmation for AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation. Fewer than 5 percent of business schools worldwide are so recognized, keeping the college in elite company.

At the end of the 2013-14 academic year, 19 students were inducted to Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society serving AACSB-accredited programs. To be inducted, B.B.A. students must be in the top 10 percent and M.B.A. students in the top 20 percent of their class.

The college hosted the first-ever “Academia Awards: Best in Business” in March honoring businesses, students, alumni and faculty for their contributions to the college for high achievement. Award recipients included: Nexteer Automotive, Outstanding Business Award; Stevens Worldwide Van Lines, Outstanding Family Business Award; Herbert Spence III, Outstanding Business Leader Award; Pamela Forbus, Outstanding Alumna Award;

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Stephanie Smith, Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award; Brian Funk, Outstanding Graduate Student Award; Mark McCartney, Excellence in Teaching: Faculty Award; John Abbott, Excellence in Teaching: Adjunct Faculty Award; and Kaustav Misra, Excellence in Research Award.

Next year’s program is scheduled for March 13, 2015.

In partnership with the Shri Ram College of Commerce of Delhi University, India, the college co-hosted the Global Business Sustainability Conference, an international conference that provided a forum for participants to exchange ideas on effective and sustainable business practices. Keynote speakers included Linda Kennan, corporate vice president of stewardship, Dow Corning Corporation; Debashis Kanungo, talent transformation and management director – human resources, Tata Consultancy Services; and Robert (Bo) Miller, global director of corporate citizenship, The Dow Chemical Company. The conference took place Sept. 23-26.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 15

DEANS’ CORNER

Joel Strasz, director of the Bay County Health Department, left, and Judith Ruland, dean of SVSU’s College of Health & Human Services, chat in an immunization room May 20 at Bay County Health Department in Bay City. The Bay County Personnel/ Human Services Committee has approved the first step towards making the department an academic affiliate of SVSU. The change will bring SVSU research, faculty and students to the department and transform the way it offers care. (Photo by Yfat Yossifor; The Bay City Times)

Attendees at the 18th annual Science and Math Extravaganza for kids.

Meaghan (VanWert) Polega, 2013, B.S. was involved with the Kakawlin River Project.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION • The college began an Early Childhood “fast-track” graduate program in May 2014.

• Twenty-four pre-service teachers from Shanghai Normal University were hosted on campus for a three-week training session on U.S. pedagogy.

• Anita Collins was welcomed as a new faculty member.

• A successful, three-part professional development series was offered for P–12 teachers in June and July 2014. Registration was closed at 20 teachers.

• The two-week Science and Math Extravaganza for Kids took place July 17-31. Eighty area second- through eighth-grade students attended the camp, now in its 18th year.

• A one-year professional development program for 45 K–8 regional grade school teachers was funded through the

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U.S. Department of Education. The goal is to increase math content knowledge and effective teaching methodology.

• Clinical, placement and certification personnel recently moved into remodeled offices on the second floor of the Regional Education Center.

• In fall 2014, SVSU and Ming Chuan University offered the first joint courses in “Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.” Kerry Segal, professor of English, is the coordinator of the program.

• The elementary education program recently received national recognition by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation/Association for Childhood Education International; SVSU was the only elementary program in the state of Michigan to be so recognized.

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Marilyn Skrocki, associate professor of health sciences, received the Great Lakes Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives 2014 Regent Distinguished Faculty Award during the Michigan Health and Hospital Association conference in June 2014. Skrocki was cited in part for her success in advancing SVSU’s master of science in health administration and leadership program.

In summer 2014, two SVSU athletic training students were selected for a Detroit Tigers internship program that only chose four students from around the country.

The nursing licensing exam (NCLEX) pass rate for SVSU nursing students in 2013 was 93.6 percent. This compares to the state average of 87.6 percent and the national average of 83 percent.

Kathleen Schachman will join the college as the Harvey Randall Wickes Endowed Chair in Nursing. Schachman comes most recently from Montana State University and Aspen University.

James Collins, who recently retired from The Dow Chemical Company as its director of epidemiology, has joined the college as executive-in-residence in the health science department.

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The college received more than $1 million in funding from a Health Rresources and Services Administration grant to partner with the Bay County Health Department to provide interprofessional primary healthcare services.

Students from nursing, occupational therapy, social work and pharmacy will be involved in this project.

Faculty members Lucy Mercier, Jean Prast, Dorothy Lee and Meghan Baruth, along with Dean Judy Ruland, attended the Interprofessional Education Collaborative conference in Washington, D.C., to be trained in the interprofessional competencies that are being used in the college’s curricula.

Nursing faculty Elizabeth Roe, Sally Decker and Marcia Shannon travelled to Hong Kong for the Sigma Theta Tau International’s 25th Annual Research Congress and presented a total of five papers, one collaboratively with scholars from Jinan University in Guangzhou China.

The college welcomed 12 new faculty members fall semester 2014.

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY •

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Mohammed El-Kasabi, professor of electrical & computer engineering, retired in June 2014 after 29 years at SVSU. The college launched The Dow Science & Sustainability Education Center, thanks to a grant from The Dow Chemical Foundation. The funding allows for internships for high school teachers, students, undergraduates and SVSU faculty/staff research directors. SVSU is represented by chemistry, biology, mechanical engineering and geography. Teachers are from 14 Great Lakes Bay Region high schools.

The second and final year of a study funded by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality of low dissolved oxygen on the Kawkawlin River was coordinated through the Saginaw Bay Environmental Science Institute at SVSU and included four SVSU student research assistants.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, five SVSU faculty and staff, along with several students began designing research-based laboratory experiments for chemistry and biology teaching labs that are focused on projects in the Saginaw Bay Watershed.

Tami Sivy, SVSU associate professor of chemistry, is in partnership with the Arenac County Health Department to determine bacteria sources at local beaches.

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The college welcomed new faculty for fall 2014: George Corser and Chad Dewey, both in computer science and information systems. The mechanical engineering department welcomed Annamalai (Andy) Pandian, assistant professor, who will direct the Engineering Technology Management program.

The college in May graduated its first Master of Science in Energy & Materials student, Brandon Kern.

Five SVSU students who enrolled in Chem 313: Quantitative Analysis recently took part in a lab experience at the CMU Biological Station on Beaver Island, Mich.

The national meeting of the American Foundry Society’s Steel Division was co-hosted July 15, 2014, by Bay Cast, in Bay City, and SVSU. Bob Tuttle, associate professor of mechanical engineering is chair of the steel division.

Research by 45 biology students was presented at the 19th Annual Department of Biology Poster Session April 17, 2014. The keynote speaker was biology alumnus Paul Albosta, 2008, B.S., who is a Ph.D. student at Finley Laboratory, Wayne State University School of Medicine Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics.

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THE VISION OF SVSU’S FOURTH PRESIDENT 18 SVSU.EDU

Sitting down with President Donald J. Bachand Thirty-six years into a career at SVSU, Don Bachand will tell you he has a lot of work left to do.

The one-time Detroit cop has played a number of roles at the university since 1978 — professor, dean, provost, vice president and, in between, several “interim” titles.

He’s accumulated responsibilities and helped set goals for the university. And since his appointment as the institution’s fourth president in February 2014, those responsibilities have grown grander, the expectations, risen higher.

“There’s a lot at stake here,” he says.

He admits to restless moments when considering the weight of it all, yet Bachand exudes confidence and clarity when sharing his vision. He knows

delivering on that vision depends on staff, faculty and external supporters — and he has absolute faith in his ability to build talented, forward-thinking teams to see vision become reality.

In this way, he views the momentum of his presidency as more of a united front than an individual march.

But where is that momentum moving SVSU? Years hence, how might his successor describe the Bachand administration?

We sat down with President Bachand in a questionand-answer session, an interview that touched on enrollment challenges, academic developments, online learning, SVSU’s future as a community leader and his hopes for more engagement with alumni.

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the same kinds of interests but different responsibilities — around the same table on a regular basis for them to better understand our challenges and help each other accomplish our goals.

Further, we want to communicate the correct image of SVSU. We know who we are. We’re a first-class undergraduate teaching university with select graduate programs. We have to be able to articulate why students should come here to study specific disciplines.

Our “product” is very solid. The accrediting bodies agree. You don’t earn 10 accreditations because your programs aren’t designed properly or your curriculum isn’t aligned, or you aren’t academically qualified to teach these programs. We continue to look at hiring the best faculty members we can find in our national searches. We have a very high rate of success in finding talent from all around the world. These are all important parts of our story.

Additionally, we want to make sure that through our academic and extracurricular opportunities for students we don’t lose sight of leadership development.

The ability to work with and lead teams and groups — especially in a multicultural work environment — will be a critical skill for our graduates to be successful.

What is “the right size” for SVSU?

Q&A Let’s start with a somewhat sobering question.

For years, enrollment was rising, but lately those figures have declined. What can SVSU do to keep its numbers steady?

We have several ways to address a stabilized enrollment. In the past few years, we have been placing more attention on student retention and graduation rates. We know that we all have an obligation to create an environment in which students can be successful.

An important step in that process is taking individuals [staff, faculty] out of silos and putting them on the same team. We are going to open lines of communication and remove these concepts that “This is your job” and “This is my job” and “I bring them in [through Admissions] and you get them out [through course work].” It’s a lot more complex than that. I’m putting teams of people — with

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The size of the institution we’ve been talking about for 10 years is around 10,000 students. So our goal is to maintain that optimal size. We have the infrastructure in place for that size of enrollment in terms of our programs, buildings and classrooms.

Tell us about the future of online learning at SVSU. It’s part of our stabilization strategy. The key is finding the right programs and mix of online, in-class or hybrid delivery modes. We’re paying particular attention to what we can do in terms of scheduling hybrid and online that will facilitate the graduation of our students.

We’ve made a commitment to online learning, understanding that we aren’t just jumping into it without properly preparing and supporting faculty.

We’ve been training faculty who weren’t raised in an online environment on how to teach effectively in such an environment.

We cannot just throw online courses out there to see if people are interested. Instead, we need to develop a series of online courses that meet the specific needs of students. We’ve learned that online course offerings in the spring and summer are very desirable

for our students, especially those who typically live on campus during fall and winter and go home and work for the summer; these students want to continue to make academic progress at SVSU, rather than enrolling somewhere else and transferring the credits back here.

With that said, I should point out that we’re not moving into a massive online degree-offering situation.

We view online-hybrid as a supplement to what we have traditionally offered, and a means to facilitate student needs in their quest to graduate in a reasonable amount of time. We will always be a destination campus, and we understand the importance of motivating undergraduates through faculty role models and individual mentoring. That takes place in person.

What is your vision for SVSU’s relationship with other higher education institutions?

We want to make sure we are more communicative with our sister public universities; that’s one way we can aid our awareness efforts. Part of our job is to tell our peers our story, and to seek ways that we can collaborate and partner.

Transfer students are also extremely important to our enrollment. We’re going to strengthen and improve our relationships with community colleges, especially our longstanding relationship with Delta College. We want to continue to be the university of choice for students who complete their work at Delta. We’ve also working on the retention of transfer students. In focus groups we’ve conducted, transfer students have told us that the transition to university is often more difficult than they had expected. We’re working to connect with these students and instill a sense of community and belonging, as well as helping them navigate the academic side of university life.

SVSU has engaged in several initiatives recently relating to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Will that trend continue during your presidency?

All of the research indicates that the U.S. is lagging in STEM education and performance while demand for STEM professions is increasing nationwide and in our region. We are this region’s university, and our commitment will continue well past my presidency.

Over the past year, we’ve received gifts from the Dow Corning Foundation and The Dow Chemical Company, and the single largest gift in our history — $5 million from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation —

all to support STEM education. We’re partnering at the middle school and high school level to expand the pipeline. We’re putting additional resources into our STEM programs so that our students can have real world opportunities. We are committed to being a university that’s the first choice for students looking for a firstclass, research- and internship-based undergraduate degree.

One of the big advantages our students have is the fact that our faculty members and endowed chairs are working with them, helping them develop their undergraduate research projects, and advising them on papers they will present at conferences in hopes of growing a very impressive portfolio for their graduate school admissions.

Please describe SVSU’s relationship with Lansing today.

We have a healthy relationship with Lansing and tremendous support from those legislators who represent us. Regarding the state’s focus on measurements and outcomes, we’re in favor of the metrics and the rubrics the state is using to measure the efficiencies and effectiveness of universities. Yet it’s important to understand that the 15 public universities are different from each other. You can’t necessarily use the same metrics and rubrics for everyone. We serve different populations, different kinds of students. We have a broader range of students here than a lot of universities have. Each of the 15 public universities has a different academic profile and that should be factored into the data.

We’ll continue to communicate the differences to ensure that whatever formula the governor and Legislature develop for resource allocation is fair to everyone. We’ve begun that process. It’s a timeconsuming endeavor, but it’s an effort that’s very worthwhile. We know we can compete. This is a very efficiently managed university. We would like to be recognized for our efficiencies.

Are there plans for a new SVSU strategic planing document? The existing plan has no end date.

I think the intent of the last one — that former President [Eric] Gilbertson headed up — didn’t have an end date for a reason. The intention was to allow the incoming president to evaluate the existing document and develop a new document based on his or her vision.

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I have talked to the Board of Control about my interest in developing a new strategic plan around some of the very issues we’re talking about — recruitment and retention, in particular. We’ll probably begin that process later this fall with hopes of developing a new strategic plan by early next year.

What is SVSU’s role in the community, moving forward?

A regional public university’s role is quite significant.

Clearly, as a strong university noted for its preparation of graduates for the workplace, our ongoing role is to respond to the needs of the region. For example, we provide health and human services professionals to the community. Many of our graduates provide nursing care and occupational therapy care; many are social workers. We provide engineers for Nexteer and Dow. We’ve been told that our education graduates are the most prepared new teachers entering the classroom. Our accountants are in high demand, as are our criminal justice students. Many of our liberal arts-based graduates are hired for their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Our role in the community also includes our delivery of thousands of student intern hours to assist major companies, governmental agencies, police departments, nonprofit agencies and the like. Additionally, we are engaged in a variety of community-based research projects ranging from important water quality work on the Saginaw Bay to working with regional community foundations to assess community needs.

In the work we did in the application for Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, we documented numerous examples of community outreach, volunteer hours the campus community engages in and the number of community, planning and chamber boards our staff and faculty serve.

On the non-academic side of things, it’s also important that we remain a cultural resource for the region — the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, plays, concerts, world-renowned speakers, great Division II athletics — they enrich all of our lives.

In short, we are very committed to serving this region.

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What keeps you up at night?

Everything does. This is one of those jobs where there’s a lot at stake. You’re representing the people who work here. You’re thinking about the 10,000 students who make the sacrifices to come to a place like this. You want the university to be healthy and successful and to benefit all the faculty you’ve recruited in good faith from all over the world. Yes, I think about all of these things on a daily basis, on an hourly basis.

There are a lot of moving parts to a university. A police department, tremendous facilities, a staff. You create a culture where people who work at SVSU — who are part of this — have a sense of belonging.

This isn’t a come-and-go place. People come here to do things and make commitments. We have to do everything we can to ensure our continued success for all the students who come here and all the employees who come here, so everyone’s expectations are met.

We have an obligation certainly to all of our generous donors to ensure the investment they place in us has long-lasting value. So in answer to your question, yes, there are plenty of reasons for me to wake up at night.

Was there a moment when it sank in … ‘I’m the president of SVSU?’ I was a dean and a provost, so I’m used to having a great deal of responsibility. But as president, you have responsibility for everything. That awareness is when the sense of role and responsibility really settles in.

It’s not a burden. The expectations people have are significant — they should be — and trying to meet those expectations while making the important decisions of the day for the benefit of all is an ongoing challenge. You never take it lightly.

Any message for the SVSU alums and friends reading this?

I’m deeply appreciative of what so many of our donors have done, and continue to do. The volunteer work of the Board of Control, and their counsel, advice and the commitment they continue to give the university is critical to our success. All of our boards — the Foundation Board, the Alumni Board, the Board of Fellows, the college advisory boards, the Diversity Council — they all make us better.

I’d really like to see more alumni engagement. Since I was named president, I’ve heard from hundreds of former students of SVSU, many of them former students of mine. They’ve shared the wonderful things they’ve done with their lives, personally and professionally.

These are great stories that need to be shared. Our alumni can be particularly instrumental in helping in the recruitment process. If we can marshal the services of the countless alumni who had good experiences at SVSU and benefited from this place, they can tell that story to a potential student — a niece or a nephew or a neighbor. If that happened, our recruitment challenges would be answered. Our best recruiters are those who attended here, who had a good experience, who benefited from being educated and mentored at this place.

I’d like to see a much stronger affiliation with our various alumni constituencies — the nurses, the criminal justice professionals, social workers, the engineers, to name a few. They are SVSU, these 41,000 alumni. We want them to come back to campus and be a part of the things we do. We’d like them to be engaged as mentors and counsel our students.

So many of our graduates are in the community in leadership and management roles; they can provide tremendous guidance and counseling.

Imagine it’s the future and you’re the university’s fifth president, whoever he or she may be. Describe the legacies of presidents Sam Marble, Jack Ryder, Eric Gilbertson … and then the legacy of Don Bachand.

I like to think that those three gentlemen put the foundation in place and created a great university with quality academic programs and a physically beautiful place; a well-kept, very pleasing campus.

What Don Bachand is going to try to do is make sure more people in the Midwest and the state of Michigan recognize how good we are, and to continue the path of program improvement, most notably by offering programs to students with relevancy to this region and beyond.

I have every intention of telling the story about our students, about our faculty and staff and the environment that’s been created here over the past 51 years. It’s a good story. It’s an honest story. It’s important for people to know more about it.

Do you have any last thoughts?

At the end of the day, students are what we’re all about. It’s not about us — it’s about them. That will continue to be the focus as long as I’m here.

The interview with President Bachand also included questions and conversation about the internationalization of the campus, the Talent. Opportunity. Promise. campaign and how SVSU’s colleges are responding to the needs of the region. Go to svsu.edu/bachandvision/.

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STARTING WITH A VISION,

DESTINED TO BENEFIT MANY

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President Chuan Lee and President Don Bachand at the unveiling ceremony on June 23, 2014.

In the lobby of SVSU’s Regional Education Center, Chinese lion dancers mimicked the movements of a mythical beast, bringing good luck and happiness and cementing the union of Ming Chuan University and its Michigan partner for the grand opening of an MCU branch campus. How did this come about and what activities are planned for the newly renovated facility?

As is true of most successful initiatives, they often start with a vision and personal connections. Former SVSU Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert S.P. Yien, who retired in 2006, was back in his native Taiwan and met the new president of Ming Chuan University, Chuan Lee. MCU and SVSU have had a sistercollege relationship for more than a decade, but this particular initiative Ming Chuan University to establish a new branch President Chuan Lee campus in the United States was the result of the close working relationship between Yien and Lee. “I met Dr. Yien eight years ago,” President Lee explained. “He had nearly 30 years’ experience as an

executive at SVSU, so I knew we could develop plans for international programs. He understands both parts of the world. Dr. Yien has been the bridge.”

Their collaboration led to a significant achievement for the Taiwanese university in 2010 when it became the first Asian university to be accredited in the United States, by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. At that point, Ming Chuan, which has extensive experience with branch campuses both in Taiwan and in other locations in the United States, was ready to explore additional opportunities.

During some preliminary visits to the United States to consider a location for a new Ming Chuan branch campus, President Lee saw the advantage of working with SVSU, terming it a mature institution that could prove a dependable partner in advancing his own university’s goal for increased student exchanges, faculty training and other joint ventures.

In addition, the two universities had a history of mutually beneficial cross-cultural activities. Among these are bilateral short-term programs for language and cultural study, semester-long or year-long student residencies at Ming Chuan, close personal ties between the presidents, and exchange visits by SVSU Roberts Fellows students and their counterparts in Taiwan.

The agreement to modify and renovate the west

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SVSU students and faculty at a June 2013 commencement ceremony at Ming Chuan University.

wing of the Regional Education Center for MCU programs was reached in 2013, with MCU renting temporary space until the wing would be available for occupancy and the Lion Dance celebration could begin, which occurred June 23, 2014.

Initially, two joint graduate degree programs will be offered at Ming Chuan-Michigan’s new facility. Courses will be taught by Ming Chuan and SVSU faculty, with students pursuing an International Master of Business Administration degree or a master’s degree in teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.

The TCFL degree program is the only one of its kind in Michigan and the upper Midwest and will be the inaugural master’s degree program in the MCUMichigan facility.

“China is becoming ever more important to the Great Lakes Bay Region, Michigan and the United States,” said SVSU President Donald Bachand. “This is why we think our new SVSU-Ming Chuan joint master’s degree program in teaching Chinese as a foreign language will be mutually beneficial for students from both institutions. We must prepare our students to better

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understand the ancient and, at the same time, changing Chinese culture.”

The TCFL program is 36 hours, with 19 of those hours offered by SVSU faculty and the remainder by Ming Chuan faculty, and is for students who are fluent in both English and Mandarin.

The United States Government has termed Chinese a strategic language, and graduates of the program will have employment opportunities teaching Mandarin to Westerners — whether in industry, government, community colleges or universities. As noted by Mary Harmon, dean of the College of Education, “[p]roficiency in a foreign language such as Mandarin is important to business people or to people with academic aspirations.” In describing its critical need, Harmon pointed out that “[t]he opportunity for this type of program exists because of the increasing importance of China in trade, world affairs — even environmental protection initiatives, which will require the participation of China to be successful.”

The majority of the TCFL students will come from Taiwan, mainland China and other Asian countries with

Arra Ross

Mary Harmon

large Chinese communities. Harmon noted as well that there is value in the program for domestic students who, through contact with these international students, can “learn about one of the oldest civilizations and certainly the most populous country in the world.

Giving our students access to international students in the TCFL program might spark an interest in learning Chinese or spending time in Asia.”

Harmon sees mutual benefits on the institutional level as well. “We’re very interested in increasing our international presence on campus and our own presence worldwide,” she said. “By offering a joint program on the SVSU campus, we will have an opportunity to be better known in Taiwan and, through recruitment efforts, in mainland China.”

West meets East — And loves It For five weeks in spring 2013, English Department faculty members Elizabeth Rich and Arra Ross led a group of 16 SVSU students in the “Mandarin Studies & Cultural Center Exchange Program.” Although individual student exchanges and semester-long study experiences have been a component of the Ming ChuanSVSU sister-college relationship since 2003, the fiveweek program guided by colleagues Rich and Ross was the first short-term exchange as part of the new center.

(Reciprocal visits by summer students from Taiwan have been part of the SVSU campus scene since 2012.)

“What I really got out of the experience,” Rich said, “was learning how cultural exchanges enrich student lives. We had an extremely diverse group in terms of race and ethnicity.” Not only would the students learn from each other, but they would learn by being far from home. As Rich pointed out, “[m]any of the students had never left this country. One freshman had never been on an airplane — and the first flight in her life was a 14hour flight to Taiwan.”

Elizabeth Rich

Robert Yien

The SVSU students who participated in the 2013 program came from a range of majors — from computer science to biology and political science to business. Although most of the students were juniors, freshmen who had completed the first two semesters of course work were also eligible, and two freshmen — both honors students — were part of the group.

The program at Ming Chuan included intensive Mandarin language instruction mixed with a variety of enlightening cultural activities. “Typically, our students were in the classroom from 9 a.m. to noon five days a week,” Rich explained. “Sometimes, a day-long trip was substituted. Students as a group visited the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and the National Palace Museum — which has one of the world’s largest collections of Chinese art. Afternoons were either taken up with cultural activities or small group outings led by Ming Chuan student guides.”

The students, who earned four SVSU credits in Modern Foreign Language for their morning course work, were dazzled by performances of classical Chinese opera and acrobatics on one afternoon, and attended demonstrations of calligraphy, kung fu and Chinese knot tying on other afternoons. “Students get a steeped experience in another culture through programs such as this one,” Rich pointed out. “SVSU’s mission is, in part, to enhance diversity and cultural understanding for the people of our region. Programs such as this one support that mission.”

Although Rich and Ross did not teach SVSU students while in Taiwan, they led orientation sessions prior to departure. While in Taiwan, “[w]e talked to the students about their experiences, their favorite parts,” Rich mentioned. “They said it was getting to know the people, understanding the common human bond across diverse cultures. A big part of the program was setting up Ming Chuan students as guides for groups of three

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to four SVSU students. The MCU students had great English language skills and would take our students to their favorite places — the kinds of sites you wouldn’t get to on the tourist path.”

Rich also had high praise for the staff at Ming Chuan University, who also facilitated acculturation.

“The staff at Ming Chuan are very experienced with students from abroad, due to the significant numbers of international students enrolled there.” (In 2013-14, nearly 700 international students from more than 70 countries studied at Ming Chuan.)

Rich observed that the five-week program exceeded its goal of making students comfortable in another language and culture. “Our students weren’t outsiders for very long,” she said. “Before too long, they had gotten into the rhythm of the place, were seeing familiar faces and had made real friendships.

“In fact,” Rich concluded, “at the end of the five weeks in Taiwan many of the SVSU students said they wanted to stay longer.”

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The education adventure of a lifetime One SVSU student who developed a similar affection for Taiwan did end up staying longer. Akeem-Kareen Allen, a graduating senior from Cassopolis, Mich., studied in Taiwan at another sister college, Shih Hsin, for 11 months in 2013. After meeting some of SVSU’s Taiwanese alumni in Taipei, who encouraged him to apply to the TCFL master’s program at the Ming ChuanMichigan campus, Allen is now in the inaugural class.

“I’m excited and scared,” he said a few weeks before starting his master’s level studies. “Who wouldn’t be scared? As far as I know, I’m the only American in the program. My classmates will all be from Taiwan and China.” But the dual-enrolled senior, who is completing his bachelor’s degree in international studies with an emphasis in Asian studies, said he is attracted to the challenge. “I fell in love with the Chinese language because it’s so difficult,” he said. “It’s one of the most difficult languages for an American because of the writing system [characters] and the tones [inflections].

If you’re off just a little bit, you can change the whole meaning.” Allen had taken two semesters of Mandarin

at SVSU prior to traveling to Taiwan, but when he first arrived in Taipei, he recalled, “I was taking a taxi from the airport. I said: ‘I came to Taiwan to study’ but it came across as ‘I came to Taiwan to shed blood.’ The cabdriver told me, ‘man, your Chinese tones are bad.’”

Undaunted, Allen knew he could improve his Chinese if he “was willing to study constantly” and take additional risks. “I like to take risks because that’s what life’s all about,” he said. “When I went to Taiwan, it was my first time out of the U.S. I spent a year in a country with a completely different language. In my second semester there, I roomed off-campus with two Taiwanese — one was 35 and the other was 18. It was a great way to learn Mandarin because of the range of experiences and vocabulary.”

Allen, who hopes to complete doctoral studies one day, credits his home institution with starting him on an exciting pathway. “SVSU has given me this opportunity,” he said. “I’m looking forward to teaching the language I love to other Americans and sharing my passion. Without SVSU, I wouldn’t have been able to follow through on my potential.”

From vision and dream to reality

Akeem-Kareen Allen, a graduating senior from Cassopolis, Mich., studied in Taiwan at another sister college, Shih Hsin, for 11 months in 2013.

These are a selection of photos from his experience in Taiwan.

The success of the Ming Chuan – SVSU initiatives will be due in large part to the vision and commitment of their presidents.

Former SVSU president Eric Gilbertson made the commitment to modify and renovate the west wing of the Regional Education Center as the MCU-Michigan campus, writing in 2013 that “we are excited about the prospects for furthering our relationships by moving forward with substantive academic programs.”

President Lee, writing that same year, noted that “Ming Chuan University has long been known as a steadily developing institution, willing to take risks to pioneer what has not been done before.”

And SVSU President Donald Bachand, in visiting Taiwan in the first month of his presidency, stated that “SVSU is committed not only to maintaining this special collaboration but also to advancing our joint agenda — to growing it in ways that are special, permanent and destined to make our universities become even more adept at combining our strengths for the benefit of our students.”

For students like Akeem Allen and the students traveling with Elizabeth Rich, those benefits have been real.

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LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM —

AT 90 MILES AN HOUR 30 SVSU.EDU

One gray Wednesday evening in June, when members of the 2002 SVSU Cardinal Formula Racing Team reunited for this feature’s photo shoot, it was just like old times.

Most of the group had stayed in touch during the 12 years since that breakthrough performance season, but it was rare to see six of the 16 members assemble all at once in their old stomping grounds of Pioneer Hall.

A decade plus earlier, the same group spent day and night in this building, perfecting an Indy-style racing machine ranked that year among the best built by students from colleges across the world, including the elite technological institutions in America and the most celebrated automotive engineering talent developers overseas.

Their successors at SVSU continue to chase the standard this group set in 2002, when the group placed sixth in a global competition.

That’s their legacy, built from scratch in the scrap yards of hard work, determination and a camaraderie one team member labeled “legendary.”

“After spending as much as 36 [non-stop] hours working together, you tend to form solid bonds,” that teammate, Matthew Dissette, 2002, B.S., mechanical engineering, said. “Everyone on that team was determined to do well, and we all sacrificed our personal lives to do so. Guys lost girlfriends.”

It’s the story of what they won, though, that gets told with such pride to this day.

The starting line These days, SVSU Cardinal Formula Racing is an established brand on campus, an integral part of the mechanical engineering program since 1998.

Annually, there is anticipation and speculation about how well “this year’s group” will perform at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Collegiate Design Series (FSAE) competition in May, when 150 institutions attempt to out-build and out-perform each other’s cars.

Participating institutions include prestigious universities such as Cornell, Georgia Tech and Texas Tech, as well as schools in Germany, Brazil, South Korea and Austria. Some of those international programs feature students who set aside school for a year exclusively to build a vehicle.

In a nutshell, it’s tough competition.

SVSU competes with the best of them. The 2014 squad ranked No. 1 in the contest’s acceleration category and, despite experiencing electrical issues during another leg of the multi-pronged challenge, finished 36th overall.

It was the fifth-best finish ever for SVSU, the only institution with no graduate engineering students that

placed in the competition’s top 10. And they’ve done that twice.

The school’s status has grown so high that the team’s faculty advisor, Brooks Byam, in 2013 was the recipient of the FSAE Carroll Smith Mentor’s Cup (given yearly to one outstanding faculty advisor).

In another nutshell, SVSU is tough competition.

But that wasn’t the perception of Cardinal Formula Racing in 2002. “The first few years, we were scratching and clawing to get the thing together,” Byam said.

“There was a real learning curve in the beginning.”

The race team was there in the beginning for Byam at SVSU — quite literally. On the day he interviewed for his faculty position at the university in May 1998, the inaugural Cardinal Formula Racing squad was loading its vehicle to travel for the FSAE contest. When Byam passed by the scene during his tour, he wasn’t certain he would be offered a position at the university, let alone that this fledgling race car design program would eventually catapult his career.

Hired as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Byam led the initiative within a year of joining SVSU. Among his first students were three — team leaders George Coppens, 2002, B.S., mechanical engineering, and Jeremy McClain, 2002, B.S., mechanical engineering, along with Dan Deussen, 2005, B.S., computer information systems — who also later served on the 2002 squad.

“We really grew up together,” Byam said of himself and the trio. “I relied on the students quite a bit because everything I was teaching was brand new [to me].”

By the time 2002 rolled around, those remaining from Byam’s original group were seniors whose three years of growing pains had matured into honed race car engineering experience. Meanwhile, the group’s newer members featured talent that rallied behind the leadership to contribute crucially to the crew.

The lore of “84” Preparing for the FSAE is an effort that begins almost immediately after the previous competition ends in May. Those students expected to return to the team typically gather in June to discuss goals for the next design.

Dissette remembers the edict established during the meeting that set the stage for the 2002 FSAE. “The 2001 team had a good car, but everyone knew it could’ve been much better,” the Washington Township resident said. “So that is what we set out to do.”

When SVSU resumed classes in August 2001, work commenced immediately on what became known as “The 84 Car,” the name given to the vehicle by FSAE

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 31

Cardinal Formula Racing team members (from left) include Mike Woodley, Dave Gaus, Andy Bauman, Jeremy McClain, George Coppens, Brooks Byam and Matt Dissette.

because SVSU was the 84th team to register for the competition that year.

The 2002 team was distinctive on a number of levels that made them ready. Ready for tough competition.

First, its students were willing to work long hours. This “legend” resulted in several tales that have taken on almost mythical tones in the years since.

“They say that, one time, George [Coppens] never left Pioneer Hall for 72 straight hours,” Byam said of the team leader once known for storing all his groceries in the building’s lounge.

McClain has other stories.

“One particular all-nighter in the shop, I recall waking up in my welding gear at the welding table after having fallen asleep welding components for the car,” he said.

The Oxford resident also recalled once driving to Deussen’s house “to drag him out of bed and back to the shop to finish engine calibration. He had spent something like 36 hours straight at the shop before going home for some rest,” McClain said.

“Understandably, he slept through his alarm, but we needed him.

“Unlike many of the larger universities, we had a

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very small team with limited resources available to us,” McClain said. “This meant a small core group of us really had to count on one another for a lot.”

The “brotherhood” — as he labeled it — formed back then still exists to this day. Many of them stay in touch.

They have attended one another’s weddings. A few still work together.

Immediately after six of the 16 gathered in June 2014 for the reunion photo, they spent the rest of the evening catching up over dinner and drinks.

“We used to talk about race cars and classes,” Coppens said. “Now we talk about race cars and jobs.”

Perhaps “brotherhood” isn’t the most accurate term for the 2002 team, though. Another quality that distinguished the group was its co-ed composition.

One the 16 teammates was Lisa Mahoney, 2003, B.S., mechanical engineering.

“It’s very male dominated,” Byam said of the program.

“Lisa is one of the few female engineers we’ve had on the team.”

Leadership also played a key role in the group’s success. Byam described both McClain and Coppens as “all business.”

Lisa Mahoney, 2003, B.S., mechanical engineering

The attitude and effort was about to pay off in May 2002 when the team arrived at the Pontiac Silverdome for the weekend-long FSAE competition.

Pushing the limits The stars seemed aligned for a good showing that year, said team member Andy Bauman, B.S., 2004, mechanical engineering.

“Many good things lined up that weekend. The team: we were a very cohesive group of people. The weather: good for racing and morale. The presenters: for the technical events, our team members knew their material and systems. The car: it was tuned and ready to race.

And the drivers: they were spot on.”

Dissette was behind the wheel for parts of the competition.

“I remember my first run on the skid pad,” he said. “I finished it and the guys were telling me that I needed to push it harder on the second run because they couldn’t hear enough tire squealing. I pushed it as hard as I could.”

The team felt confident when the time came to announce the overall rankings.

“First, they announced the teams that didn’t finish in the top 10, and we all looked at each other,” Byam said.

“With every team they called out, we were more and more excited.”

When SVSU Cardinal Formula Racing placed No. 6, McClain recalled the group was “completely ecstatic.”

Coppens described the moment as “surreal.”

After the dust settled “The 84 Car” is no more.

A number of its designers presented the vehicle as their engineering program’s senior design project not long after the competition and, while testing its frame, the car snapped in half.

“In some ways, it was almost perfectly designed,” Byam said. “You build the perfect vehicle so it just crosses the finish line. That’s what it did.”

The car’s legacy, though, hasn’t come to a stop. Its momentum transferred to the students who designed it, to the professor who advised them and to the university engineering program they all represented.

Several members of the 2002 team say their participation that year solidified career trajectories.

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Phil Degner

Allen Hart

Some of those teammates work today as successful professionals in the engineering field. Both McClain and Dissette work for Auburn Hills-based tier I automotive supplier Continental; Bauman at Saginaw-based advanced manufacturing company SWS-Trimac Inc; and Coppens at Saginaw-based automotive manufacturer Means Industries.

“The FSAE experience did help shape my life; there is no doubt,” Dissette said. “Before I joined, I was partying a lot, I was not applying myself and I was not focused enough on my engineering studies. After I joined, there was a sense of competition within me that drove me to get better grades than my teammates.”

As for the team’s mentor, when the team placed sixth, Byam said it was “the highlight of my career. It established me nationally and boosted the reputation of our program, which were two of my goals.”

The performance at the 2002 FSAE also heralded the Cardinal Formula Racing program’s arrival. It was a message heard by prospective engineers such as Phil Degner, a Baltimore Md., resident who enrolled at SVSU in 2003 after seeing the team’s results from the prior year. He graduated in 2005 with a B.S. in engineering technology management. These days, he’s an engineer

for a NASCAR team in North Carolina, along with 200205 Cardinal Formula Racing crew member Allen Hart, 2005, B.S., mechanical engineering.

Both Degner and Hart also were part of the SVSU race team that earned the second-best FSAE finish ever — eigth place — in 2005.

“Once we did that, it was a blessing and a curse,” Byam said. “I thought we should be in the top 10 every year.”

His teams haven’t broken through the top 10 since.

They came closest in 2008 with a 14th-place finish.

“The competition is so stiff,” Byam said. “You can do 99.9 percent of everything right and one thing can go wrong.”

Byam, for instance, considers the 2007 Cardinal Formula Racing team’s car the program’s fastest vehicle — even faster than “84.” But the machine didn’t complete its endurance test and the team placed 37th overall.

While SVSU’s program regularly bests many of those crews competing at the FSAE, Byam gives a definitive answer when asked to rank the best of his own teams.

“2002 — that was the best team/car combination, and that’s what you need,” Byam said. “The team was special.”

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SVSU PROFILE

Monika Dix I am bringing East to West

M

onika Dix hadn’t planned to study Japanese language, much less teach it.

As an undergraduate student at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, the native of Germany was an Asian art history major, developing a deep appreciation for Japanese art. When she continued in graduate school at UBC, she had to learn — really learn — Japanese to better understand the art she was studying. In time, she earned a Ph.D. in Japanese literature through UBC’s Department of Asian Studies.

After spending three years in Tokyo, Dix joined SVSU’s Department of Modern Foreign Languages in 2010. At the time, the university didn’t have a Japanese program, so she was able to shape it from the beginning. Now there are eight courses that contribute to a minor in Japanese, including first-, second- and third-year Japanese.

“Some students are interested in Japanese because they are interested in Japanese pop culture, including manga [Japanese comic books] and anime,” Dix explained. “I use elements of culture in my classes. We see films, read and create manga and sample Japanese food. Language is more than language study, so I try to bring in the cultural aspects.”

Japanese culture has a growing following in the United States. SVSU students can share their love of all things Japanese through the Japanese Culture Club. Dix advises the group, which discusses a variety of topics, including Japanese history and mythology as well as media and art.

“The students pick their topics for meetings each week, invite faculty to talk and help at the annual Japanese Festival [at the Japanese Tea House and Cultural Center in Saginaw].

It helps nurture their interest and understanding.”

Bringing East to West, Monika Dix helps broaden the horizons of SVSU students.

In addition to teaching and advising, Dix is active in professional organizations and research. She is a member of the American Assocation of Teachers of Japanese and immediate past president of the Japanese Teachers Association of Michigan. She also travels to Japan regularly as a visiting researcher at Kogugakuin University in Tokyo.

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SVSU PROFILE

Jamie Pewinski Taking a Shot at a Turnaround

I

t’s early July and Jamie Pewinski, 1999, B.A., is sitting in a sweltering gymnasium watching basketball. She fans herself with a crumpled schedule and stretches her back, knotted from too many days in rental cars and too many nights on hard hotel beds.

It’s her fourth summer recruiting in gyms like these as the head coach of the SVSU women’s basketball team, but a stranger to them she is not. These were the gyms she played AAU ball in before she became a standout prep player at Rochester Adams High School in Rochester, Mich. That was before she played at Oakland University and before she transferred to SVSU after her junior season.

And these are the gyms where you’ll find many of her conference coaching rivals, the same coaches who recognized her role in leading the Cardinals to 14 wins last season — the most in 10 years. They respected the team’s accomplishments so much, in fact, they named her the 2013-2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year.

Pewinski says she is humbled by the recognition, but the reason she’s in that gym watching thousands of players is to find that aspiring nurse, teacher, or engineer who wants to play ball while earning a degree at SVSU — and help her beat those other coaches and win a conference championship or two along the way.

Pewinski admits the coaching challenges haven’t been easy, and she will never give up on her passion.

She was a softball player who fell hopelessly in love with basketball in middle school and got cut from team after team until she got better. When her playing days were behind her, she became an assistant coach at GLIAC rival Lake Superior State and after the 2003-2004 season, the job at SVSU opened up. She interviewed for

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the position, drawn to the idea of returning to her alma mater to take a shot at turning around a program that had gone 4488 since she graduated.

She didn’t get the job and eventually became head coach back at Lake Superior State, where she led the Lakers for five seasons before the SVSU job opened up again. April 18, 2011, Jamie Pewinski was named head women’s basketball coach of the Cardinals. “You don’t usually take other jobs within the conference,” Pewinski said, “But to have a chance to come back to SVSU was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.”

The Cardinals struggled in her first season, finishing 6-20. It was during that season Pewinski and her staff built a new foundation. She focused on giving her players more direction off the court and emphasized work inside the classroom and the community. Early on, she says, success was measured in more ways than just wins and losses.

“In the beginning, success was about things like how the players were doing in their classes, how they were connecting with the community and whether people were speaking positively about the program.”

This past season, her team had the highest GPA of all sports programs at SVSU, and the team has also improved its record in each of her three seasons. Now, Pewinski and her staff turn their attention to the next and, perhaps, hardest step: competing for and winning a conference title.

“We don’t doubt that we’re going to succeed,” Pewinski said.

“Our mindset is that it’s going to happen, and we just go out every day and work hard to get us there as fast as we can.”

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SVSU PROFILE

Dave Abbs One job is never enough

D

ave Abbs, 1983, B.B.A., has what he calls his perfect career: certified financial planner. It just took him a while to find it.

Abbs began his SVSU studies as a biology major.

“I liked the classes and did well in them,” he recalled, “but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a career, so I changed my major from biology to business, which is kind of a 180-degree turn.”

Despite being a capable student, life demands dictated that Abbs’ college journey was longer than most, a rather typical reality for many students at SVSU 30-plus years ago.

“I was on the 10-year plan,” he quipped, though it is not much of an exaggeration. At one point, Abbs was working five parttime jobs while going to school full time. “I thought, ‘Maybe I should work full time and go to school part time.’”

The decision served Abbs well, and he has been serving SVSU and the community ever since.

In his professional life, as owner of Abbs Retirement Planning Advisors, he advises clients — individuals, small businesses and non-profit organizations — to take the same practical, long-term view he followed as an undergraduate.

The flexibility of his work allows Abbs to share his time and talents with a number of local organizations.

Having just completed his term as chair of Saginaw Community Foundation, which oversees funds dedicated to a variety of community causes, Abbs continues to serve as president of the One Hundred Club of Saginaw County, which supports the families of police officers, fire fighters and other first responders killed in the line of duty. He is a past president of the Bay City Noon Optimists, the Saginaw Art Museum, the Saginaw Valley Rotary Club and the Saginaw Club. Abbs continues to serve on the Kochville Township Downtown Development Authority and the SVSU Foundation Board of Directors.

“It gives me a sense of fulfillment from a social responsibility standpoint,” Abbs explained.

Abbs also is proud to hold the distinction of being the first SVSU alumnus to serve as chair of the Board of Control, a role he held for two years. That made him among the first to know of then-president Eric Gilbertson’s plans to retire. When Abbs’ board service ended July 2013, he was named chair of the committee appointed to search for Gilbertson’s successor.

He drew upon his SVSU and community connections. “I think I was well-prepared to lead the presidential search committee 38 SVSU.EDU

because of that prior engagement,” he said. For several months, Abbs had essentially another full-time job. Although the duty was temporary, he knew the effects would be lasting.

“The presidential search and selection process could not have been more thorough,” he said. “There’s a lot that went into the search: thousands of e-mails, reviewing volumes of material. We should all be proud of the committee’s work.”

Abbs found it interesting to view his alma mater through the eyes of more than 40 applicants.

“SVSU must be an attractive place to work,” he said. “Folks from all over the country wanted to come here. One of the commonalities was candidates liked SVSU because of the size of the university and because of the location.”

In the end, the Board of Control selected the internal candidate (please see interview with President Bachand on page 18).

“I was happy with that decision,” Abbs said.

Abbs’ attention now has turned to strategic planning for the SVSU Foundation to increase private giving. “We need all the [financial] help we can get,” he said.

For Dave Abbs, one job is never enough.

Members of the SVSU Presidential Search Advisory Committee • • •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

• • • •

Dave Abbs – 1983, B.B.A.; chair, Presidential Search Advisory Committee Scott Carmona – 1981, B.S.; member, SVSU Board of Control Mitzi Dimitroff – community representative; owner, RDS Management; past chair, Bay Area Chamber of Commerce David Gamez – member, Board of Control; member, SVSU Foundation Board of Directors Deborah Huntley – dean, College of Science, Engineering and Technology (now provost/vice president for Academic Affairs) James Jaime – 1984, B.A.; community representative; owner, Michigan Pipe and Valve Dr. K.P. Karunakaran – past member, Board of Control; chair, SVSU Foundation Board of Directors Dylan Kosaski – biochemistry major from Stanwood; former president, SVSU Student Association (2013-2014) Bob Lane – professor of political science; immediate past president, SVSU Faculty Association Joseph Ofori-Dankwa – Harvey Randall Wickes Endowed Chair in International Studies David Ramaker – community representative; president and CEO, Chemical Bank Elizabeth Rich – professor of English; chair, SVSU Honors Program Linda Sims – past member, SVSU Board of Control; member, SVSU Foundation Board of Directors Jenée Velasquez – member, SVSU Board of Control Mike Watson – director of athletics Leola Wilson – past member, SVSU Board of Control Jerome Yantz – member, SVSU Board of Control; member, SVSU Foundation Board of Directors

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SVSU PROFILE

Anthony Bowrin Just the right fit

T

here are many reasons why someone who has never been to SVSU would find it appealing.

For Anthony Bowrin, associate dean of the College of Business & Management, it all started with a coat.

Some 2,700 miles from his native Trinidad and Tobago, Bowrin came to campus for an interview in early March 2009 and stepped off the plane without a winter jacket. Meeting him at the airport was his future colleague, Professor of Accounting Mark McCartney, who immediately took off his own jacket and offered it to Bowrin — and, luckily, it was the right fit.

That type of hospitality, Bowrin says, is exactly the type of interaction he was looking for when he decided to relocate from the University of the West Indies in search of an institution that also was “just the right fit.”

Bowrin was hired as an associate professor of accounting and wasted no time introducing his students to a teaching philosophy he admits is predicated on tough love.

“My belief is that every student who is willing to work hard can succeed,” he said. “I ask them what are their strengths and weaknesses, and their likes and dislikes. If they answer honestly, they can craft a plan that will almost guarantee their success.“ Last year, Bowrin took that same philosophy to a new administrative position when he was named associate dean.

“Honestly, an administrative role wasn’t a goal when I came to SVSU,” he said. “But I can still help students as associate dean — I can still mentor them, and I can still help them navigate a plan that will help them be successful.”

Bowrin has also taken his desire to help others to a new field of sorts — the soccer field. For the last three years he has served as a youth soccer coach for recreational soccer teams at the Midland Soccer Club, where he says working with the children is “the highlight of my week.”

Still, he says, there is no greater joy than watching one of his own students find success after graduation.

“I especially enjoy getting a phone call from a student or employer commenting on the quality of what we do in the college or the quality of a student,” Bowrin said. “Thankfully I’ve received quite a few of those calls.”

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REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 41

SVSU PROFILE

Tamara Arizola Barrientos Helping teachers teach math and science

T

amara (Tammy) Arizola Barrientos, 1995, B.A.; 2002, M.A.T., is a success story on many levels. A self-described “nerd” at Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, she spent a year at Central Michigan University and another year at Delta College before transferring to SVSU. Even as a commuter student, the elementary education major felt connected and supported, due in great part to the assistance she received from the Office of Multicultural Services. “We would go there just to hang out,” Barrientos said. “One time, I wanted to drop a course because I didn’t think I would get an ‘A’ for the semester, but my mentors encouraged me to stick it out. And I’m glad I did because I ended up doing better than I thought I would.”

As a Cardinal, Barrientos used her connections with other students she met in Multicultural Services to get involved in campus organizations.

She founded a campus chapter of a sorority, Sigma Lambda Gamma, for Latina students. “When I attended the national conference, I was so excited to be among so many high-achieving women,” Barrientos said. “At that moment, I felt proud I had made the most of my opportunities to be successful in life.”

A graduate of the Master of Arts in Teaching program at SVSU, Barrientos at first hesitated pursuing an advanced degree. She was already working as a middle school teacher and had good experiences with parents and students at Ricker

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Middle School. In addition, she pointed out, “a lot of the time [school] teachers are reluctant [to earn a graduate degree] because they don’t see the value it will hold in their classroom, how it will directly affect them on a day-to-day basis.” But Barrientos said that in earning her MAT, she learned that her work with research made her a better teacher.

She now advocates for all teachers to learn more theory through graduate studies, adding that it will markedly increase their success with students.

Barrientos joined SVSU’s professional staff in 1997, working first as a coordinator of the Regional Mathematics and Science Center and, since 2010, as its director. The Center, which is housed in the College of Education, is part of a network of 33 such regional centers; Barrientos designs curricula for local schools and helps educators improve their teaching.

Barrientos takes as her philosophy the importance of doing everything to help students who are challenged by math and science and supporting math and science teachers who wish to improve. “It’s all about seeing the students be successful,” Barrientos said. “Even now, as director of this center, if I can help one teacher, I know that ultimately I’m helping a lot of students learn that it is possible to enjoy math and science.”

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SVSU PROFILE

Tai Chi Lee All about the learning

T

ai Chi Lee can look back with pride on a fulfilling career at SVSU. Since his arrival in 1988, the professor of computer science has published more than 51 scholarly papers and three books on subjects such as computer security, NASA mission software and computer operating systems. For his efforts to advance understanding in his discipline, Lee was recently awarded the Earl Warrick Award for Excellence in Research, SVSU’s highest recognition for faculty scholarship. “All these years, it’s been my number one goal to promote undergraduate research,” he said.

Lee, who announced his retirement in spring 2014, stayed on through the summer months to complete work on a high-performance computing platform made possible through a three-year, $123,000 National Science Foundation grant. In regard to the proper role of research at a teaching institution, Lee noted that “teaching comes first, but research is important.

Without research, we just teach the old stuff.”

Lee has worked closely on collaborative research projects with many students, most of whom have gone on to graduate school. “I’m very proud to have to have made a difference in students’ lives,” he said. He has helped students acquire external grants, present papers at conferences and apply for prestigious graduate programs. Among those students he recalls were James Kruchkow, 1995, B.S., who completed a Ph.D. at the University of Idaho; Eric Henne, 1999, B.S., who finished his master’s degree at Wayne State University; and Frederick Miller 1994, B.S., who earned his Master of Science in Technological Processes at SVSU in 2003 and is now a vice president at Yeo & Yeo Consulting. “When I think about these students, I’m really very proud that they are so successful. They

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stand out for me because they had motivation, were hardworking and had a keen interest in research.”

He also mentioned former students Amanda Pavlicek, 2012, B.S., now with Chase Bank, and Heather Mindykowski, 2009, B.S., a Web application developer at Dow Corning. While he has not noticed a dramatic increase in the number of female students majoring in computer science, he thinks “the women who do major in computer science tend to be at the top of the class.”

A lover of learning, Lee completed a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from National Taiwan Normal University

before earning a master’s degree in mathematics from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Utah. “I wanted to study in this country because the U.S. has the most advanced mathematics research,” he explained. “You have greater freedom [in the United States] to develop your own research ideas, and students are also freer to express their ideas.”

In order to enhance his skills and pursue more knowledge, Lee earned a second master’s degree — in electrical engineering and computer science — from the University of Illinois at Chicago, subsequent to completing his Ph.D. “I

have to credit my parents for instilling in me a desire to learn,” he said. “My dad would say, ‘If you don’t have an education you can’t go any further.’ But it was really my mother who encouraged me to work hard, study, learn.”

Lee looks forward to a well-earned retirement where he can spend more time with a son, who lives in Minnesota, but also travel abroad with his wife Jessica. “I also want to catch up with my reading in literature and history. I love those subjects but have mostly studied other things. I’ll probably keep reading technology too,” he laughed, “just to stay current.”

It’s always about the learning.

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SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT SUCCESS

Year-long Project Supports Student Learning and the Community After mapping the location of violent crime in Saginaw from 2005 to 2013 and statistically analyzing the data, a team of SVSU professors and students reported their findings to the Saginaw Police Department and Saginaw Crime Prevention Council this past summer.

Emily Gennrich, a creative writing major and technical geography minor, and Kevin Erb, a history major and technical geography minor, presented the project idea in 2013 to James Bowers, assistant professor of criminal justice, and Andrew Miller, assistant professor of geography. Both students thought such a project would aid their eventual application to graduate school.

Left to Right: James Bowers, Andrew Miller and Emily Gennrich.

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The faculty/student team concluded that the project was successful on multiple fronts. Gennrich noted that having the project occur in the community in which she grew up was particularly rewarding. Miller added that the interdisciplinary nature of the project, the fact that the students gained “real world� experience, and the demonstration to the community that crime mapping really works, made the efforts both educational and practical.

Both Gennrich and Erb are anticipating careers in planning and local government.

International Spotlight on Recent Graduate

Kaitlyn Zumbach on Artisan Design Team

Jessica Asaro, 2014, B.S.N., ended her SVSU undergraduate experience on a high note, winning the “Best Student Paper” at the Global Science and Technology Forum’s second annual Worldwide Nursing Conference in June.

The August graduate’s honors thesis, “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Usage Across Nations,” compared the medicine of the U.S. to medical practicism in Indonesia and Nepal, two nations she visited during faculty-led study abroad trips in 2011 and 2013, respectively. Both trips were led by Marcia Shannon, assistant professor of nursing and Jessica’s thesis advisor.

Jessica claims that “one of the best decisions I made” at the university was joining SVSU’s Honors Program, which led ultimately to her award-winning thesis. “The [honors] classes are challenging; they prepared me for the nursing program, which is writing intensive,” she said. A 2010 Marine City High School graduate, Asaro has been invited to publish her paper in the Global Science and Technology Forum’s Journal of Nursing and Healthcare, which features peer-reviewed scholarly articles selected from the conference.

Asaro’s goal is to receive a nurse residency position at Duke University and then pursue graduate school.

Kaitlyn Zumbach, a senior from Millington who is majoring in graphic design, recently was recognized for her creativity and love of rubber-stamping and paper crafting at Stampin’ Up!’s annual awards night in Salt Lake City. She was one of 16 (only five from the U.S.) selected for Stampin’ Up!’s 2014 international Artisan Design Team.

The Artisan Design Team is a group of creative and talented Stampin’ Up! demonstrator bloggers who are selected to create, post and blog about their projects.

Selections are based on quality photography, blog design, writing and storytelling ability, project diversity, original project design, diverse style, quality workmanship and innovative ways to use Stampin’ Up! products. As a member of the first international team, Kaitlyn will receive Stampin’ Up! products each month to showcase her talents on her blog — createwithkaitlyn.blogspot. com — and Stampin’ Up!’s website (stampinup.com/ home) and social media platforms.

Jessica Asaro on a study abroad trip.

Kaitlyn Zumbach honored at the Stampin’ Up! convention in Salt Lake City.

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FOCUS ON FACULTY

Andrea Frederick Though Assistant Professor of Nursing Andrea Frederick has been a full-time employee of SVSU for only a few years, her connection to the university started almost 20 years ago when in 1996 she obtained her Master of Science in Nursing. Subsequent to that experience, she served on the College of Health & Human Services’ Nursing Advisory Board, helped organize clinical experiences at Midland’s MidMichigan Medical Center (where she worked for 34 years) and served as an adjunct faculty member at SVSU. Andrea retired from MidMichigan Medical on June 30, 2010, and joined SVSU on July 1, 2010. She became acting assistant dean for the college on July 1, 2012, and served in that role until June 30, 2014. Having completed her doctorate in health administration, Andrea is excited about returning to the classroom for the 2014 – 2015 academic year.

You spent almost four decades in nursing before joining SVSU. What is your background?

I started my career with MidMichigan Medical Center as a staff nurse and then progressed into various leadership roles culminating as the director of inpatient care, quality and infection control.

Tell us about your doctorate.

I’ve successfully defended my dissertation [sighs, smiles]. I am very interested in the impact that healthcare executives involved in the operating room environment have on staff perception of teamwork and safety. The operating room is a high risk, problem-prone environment because of its complex setting. Historically, executives don’t often venture in the O.R. but the value is that when they do, they can empower staff to speak up and share ideas. It also helps the executive make resource allocation decisions when they better understand the setting. The research indicates that it’s definitely worth the time for executives to be engaged in the O.R.

You seem to have reinvented yourself and your career at SVSU. Yes, but not only reinvented. I’ve rediscovered my passion for teaching. There is true joy for me in teaching.

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Teaching has been for me an opportunity to emphasize the quality and safety agenda that is so important to me.

It’s a privilege to be with our nursing students and to have an impact on how they will practice. My job is to help them to make meaning of what they see and find out in what nursing area they belong. There are so many options to explore, and I can help students talk through things, tease out options and look at the possibilities.

You have just left your role as acting assistant dean to return to the classroom.

A tough or easy decision?

Honestly, both. When Dean [Judy] Ruland started here in 2011, I was tasked with introducing her to healthcare partners in the region. I was immediately attracted to her enthusiasm and

creativity and when she asked me to become acting assistant dean, I was all onboard. As acting assistant dean, I still had opportunities to interact with students, but on a different level; it was more in an advising and problem-solving role. The downside of the administrative role is that is does limit your time in the classroom and that’s where I feel I can make my greatest impact. Judy has been very supportive of my return to the classroom.

OK, the recruitment question: Why should prospective students choose to study nursing at SVSU over other universities?

It’s the whole package. For starters, the facilities are excellent, especially the lab and simulations. Every week and at every level, simulation occurs. This allows our students to develop competencies and confidence in taking care of patients before

they are in an actual clinical setting. Much of the learning is also interdisciplinary, which is so critical to a highly functional healthcare setting. Our nursing, kinesiology and social work students work together. And our faculty are amazing. They’re very well versed in both theory and practice and care deeply about our students.

You mention the importance of interdisciplinary learning. Can you expound on that?

To see Professor Frederick’s response, view a brief video at:

youtu.be/dMMe3p3p9Yo

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 49

CATCHING UP WITH ALUMNI

DawnCook, aka Kim Harrison If sending a live mouse flying across an SVSU biology lab (where it landed between the professor and her future husband) doesn’t faze Dawn Cook, the witches, vampires, werewolves and other supernatural characters that inhabit her books aren’t likely to disturb her either.

Cook, 1989, B.S., might be better known as Kim Harrison, New York Times best-selling author of the popular Hollows series, which follows the adventures of detective witch Rachel Morgan.

So how does a biology major became a writer of urban fantasy?

“Biology was my interest,” she said. “I am a spaceshiploving, Mars Rover-watching kind of a girl who knows not only how to bait her own hook, but is also interested in the DNA of the worms she’s using. How I got here writing books about magic and science blending into one is beyond me, but it works.”

And it works very well. Dawn’s books have made the NY Times bestselling fiction list 11 times, twice in the coveted number one spot.

Dawn hadn’t always dreamed of being a writer. Nor did she, as Wikipiedia claims, discover “her talent for writing when she was 15.”

Instead, Dawn said, “I didn’t pick up a pen until I was in my late 20s, out of college, and busy with a young family.

I’d been an avid reader all my life, but it wasn’t until then that I had the time — due to a downsizing — and the inclination.”

Perseverance Pays Off

Even with new-found time and inclination, Dawn didn’t achieve success overnight. It took her several years to get published, and a few more years to be able to make fiction writing a full-time job, one that requires perseverance.

“I had been working intensively with a writer critique group for about five years before I had sufficiently developed my unique writing voice and acquired the grammar and pacing that would attract agent attention,” Dawn explained. “It was at a big writing convention in Atlanta that I met my agent with the help of my mentor, Faith Hunter.

“I can’t stress enough that the five to 10 years it might take to find publication cannot be considered 10 years of writing flops,” Dawn said. “I like to compare finding publication with working 10 years at a job with no pay in 50 SVSU.EDU

the hopes that you get hired someday. If you don’t love it, don’t even try it.”

Dawn said she held the “usual handful of weird jobs” before her writing success.

“I spent a couple of summers at Tobico Marsh running live animal trap lines for one of the professors at SVSU. From there, I worked at Dow Chemical, where I learned how to type fast. I had a very successful licensed family day care for a few years. There was a plant cart at the mall, and finally a vet assistant job.”

So, did SVSU prepare Dawn for life after college?

“I use my B.S. degree in biology every day because of what I write, but the writing skills were painstakingly learned by trial and error,” Dawn said.

“I chose SVSU because of the centralized campus, dorms and the new science wing that was going in at the time,” she said. “When I started, it was much smaller than it is today, and I appreciated the chance to get to know my instructors one-on-one. Working in the science labs got me even closer, and I have a lot of good memories of Dr. [Gail] Kantak, Dr. [Charles] Pelzer with his fruit flies and DNA, and Dr. [Walt] Rathkamp, who had the best labs and never razzed me about falling asleep in endocrinology or accidently sending a mouse flying across the lab.

“Oh, and I met my husband [Tim Cook] at SVSU,” Dawn laughed. “That’s a big plus.”

But about that mouse-launching incident . . .

“The mouse story still makes me laugh,” Dawn said. “It was endocrinology lab with Dr. Rathkamp, and we were taking the ovaries out of mice. We had to anesthetize them first, and in the quiet of the lab, one of them latched onto my finger. I jerked away, and the mouse held on until the optimum arc and then let go: mouse launched. It sailed halfway across the lab, right between Dr. Rathkamp and Tim [Cook]. Ever calm, I silently crossed the lab, picked up the mouse, and went back to my station. Neither Dr. Rathkamp nor my [future] husband said a word, and the rest of the class never knew.”

But even if Dawn Cook managed to go unnoticed for launching a mouse, her enthusiasm, perseverance and ability to tell a good story have launched Kim Harrison into the spotlight, where she blends magic and science into literary success.

Dawn, at her home in Chelsea, Mich.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 51

ALUMNI PROFILE

Jesse Vollmar & Brad Koch Home-grown success

B

rad Koch, 2011, B.S., and Jesse Vollmar, 2011, B.S., weren’t typical college students. As incoming freshmen at SVSU, the two were already running a successful IT consulting business. Since their 2011 graduation, both with a Bachelor of Science in computer science, they’ve also “graduated” from their initial business and have started a new company, FarmLogs, which has attracted a lot of investor interest as well as $5 million in venture capital.

“Proximity was a key factor [in choosing SVSU],” Jesse said.

The financial assistance each received was also helpful. As co-valedictorians of their graduating class at Union-Sebewaing High School in Michigan’s Thumb, both received the President’s Scholarship at SVSU, which covered their tuition and select fees for four years.

“Brad and I started our company in high school,” Jesse said, “and it was taking off. I knew I wanted to continue operating it while obtaining a degree, so moving [too far] away [from home] wasn’t an option. SVSU was in the right place.”

Brad agreed, adding that the scholarship gave them the financial security to channel more effort into their business.

“We were able to learn while working,” he said. “And we could apply things we were learning to actual clients.”

Seed of an Idea

Having grown up in farming communities, Brad and Jesse were familiar with the challenges farmers face, including a lack of technological sophistication in agriculture generally.

While their IT consulting business was successful, both Jesse and Brad recognized they could do more.

“With our consulting business, we were building software for an agricultural client,” Brad said. “We realized there was a huge need in the agricultural sector and nobody was building software for farmers.”

52 SVSU.EDU

“The light bulb moment came at my family’s farm,” Jesse added. “I was in the office, and another farmer asked me if we were ready with our software. We weren’t even creating software yet, but that was the moment we decided we could make it successful.”

“It” would be FarmLogs, a web application for farm management.

Jesse said he and Brad “daydreamed” about the project for about six months before they began working on the app. The product and the process were made better after participating in Y Combinator, a program that provides seed money, advice, networking and guidance to business startups, especially those in the technology sector.

“We went full-scale into FarmLogs on Jan. 3, 2012, the first day of Y Combinator,” Jesse said. From there, the product and the business grew nicely, and today the app is being used by farmers.

From their company headquarters in Ann Arbor, Brad and Jesse see a future ripe with possibility.

“Ag needs data technology,” Brad said. “Existing players weren’t providing it. We’re here to make sure that changes; we’re bringing people the software they need.”

“There are decades of innovation to be built,” added Jesse.

“We’ll be working on FarmLogs for a very long time.”

We are PR O

UD ALUM S

Advice from the Field

Jesse and Brad have enjoyed great success in their chosen field, but they have advice that applies to everyone. Jesse: “Find a passion for building and creating things. If you don’t enjoy doing it in your own free time, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.” Brad: “You need to take the opportunity to challenge yourself. Y Combinator challenged me to become better.”

This photo was taken at FarmLogs’ new location in Ann Arbor.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 53

ALUMNI PROFILE

Rollin Johnson Halfway around the world and back

A

s a student at Buena Vista High School, Rollin Johnson, 2009, M.B.A., set his sights on the world outside mid-Michigan. His travels and experiences after graduation took him halfway around the world, then back to his hometown, and most recently on to Baltimore Md., where he serves as director of the Center for Social Concern at Johns Hopkins University.

After graduating from college, Rollin joined the U.S. Peace Corps in 2003, serving first in Nepal, then in Burkina Faso through 2005. Those eye-opening and mind-broadening experiences helped Rollin realize that he wanted to continue working for a greater good and that furthering his education would help him do so more effectively.

“The Peace Corps helped me think about how to use my business acumen in a way I hadn’t considered, how to use it around public service.”

When he returned to the United States from Africa, Rollin joined the staff of a small college in Iowa, where he promoted volunteerism and the Peace Corps.

“My experiences internationally with the Peace Corps created a really strong sense of connection with people and with organizations. That helped shape who I am.”

Rollin is a man committed to bringing public service to the forefront, and effecting meaningful change in a city [Baltimore] facing many social challenges. SVSU’s M.B.A. program, he said, helped prepare him for this work.

Going global . . . close to home

Rollin said when he decided to pursue his Master of Business Administration, SVSU was on his list of possible universities.

“Being from the area, I knew about SVSU,” Rollin said.

“When I looked into the M.B.A. program, I was attracted to the curriculum; the global emphasis of the program was very interesting to me.

“I also liked the size of the program,” Rollin added. “I 54 SVSU.EDU

Johnson was one of nine Peace Corps volunteers to receive the 2012 Franklin H. Williams award, given to ethnically diverse returned volunteers.

For more information, go to peacecorps.gov/ media/forpress/press/2121.

knew I’d have access to my professors.”

For Rollin, SVSU offered global reach in a close-knit community.

“SVSU has a really friendly atmosphere,” Rollin said. “And the M.B.A.’s international emphasis was really exciting. Connections with people from around the globe opened up this cool space for me to learn from my colleagues. I liked being able to sit with someone from halfway across the world and work together to build rapport and friendships. I’m still in touch with some of those people.”

While working on his M.B.A., Rollin served as a graduate research assistant for the Entrepreneurship Institute at SVSU.

“I worked with Harry Leaver [executive director] and the team at the Center for Business and Economic Development, and with Ken Kousky [at the time, SVSU’s Entrepreneur-inResidence],” Rollin said. “That helped me sharpen some of the ‘soft’ skills, learning how to work with people around mutual gain and goal. And the opportunity to address some real-world problems provided great experience.”

That experience, and other strategies and skills Rollin learned and honed at SVSU, has helped him meet the challenges of his job.

“My work at the Center for Social Concern [Johns Hopkins

University] provides new challenges,” Rollin said. “We have change agents out in the city and the community, working to pull together the optimal courses of action for a lot of different interests. Identifying the right route to prime results is challenging. SVSU prepared me by sharpening my technical skills and developing my ability to think critically.

“At SVSU, I learned the importance of plugging in and connecting,” Rollin said. “If I have any advice, it’s ‘get involved.’”

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 55

SAGINAW VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION GOLF OUTING Now in its 17th year, the Alumni Association Golf Outing has raised more than $73,000 to benefit students at SVSU. The SVSU Alumni Association established the golf outing in 1996 as a way to raise money for the university. In the early years, the outing was named for Athletic Director Bob Becker, and proceeds from the Bob Becker Open funded the Bob Becker Scholarship for Female Athletes. Renamed the SVSU Alumni Golf Outing in 2010, the event has supported the Alumni Endowed Scholarship since that time. Today, SVSU Athletics gain benefits from the event, with a portion of the proceeds supporting the men’s and women’s basketball programs.

In 2013, the Alumni Endowed Scholarship supported 18 students with $1,000 awards.

Many of these students would not be able financially to attend SVSU without the support of this scholarship.

Sami Boudiab, “Murky” Waters, Richard Blazejewski, Scott Carmona, 1981, B.S.

Randy Podleski, Eric Ciszewski, Dave Kowalski, 1979, B.B.A.

Bridget Hollingsworth (putting), Derek Fisackerly, Kevin Cox, Carl Alexander

CARDINAL ALUMNI RECRUITING DISTINGUISHED STUDENTS

Cardinal Alumni Recruiting Dedicated Students

The SVSU Alumni Association, in partnership with SVSU Admissions, offers this new program designed to involve Cardinal alumni in recruiting SVSU students. If you’re interested in becoming an alumni-admissions ambassador, please contact the SVSU Alumni Association at (989) 964-4196 or visit svsu.edu/cardsprogram to learn more.

56 SVSU.EDU

ALUMNI AT LOONS

Terry Lutz, 1985, B.B.A.; 2014, M.S., Cindy Miller, Rich Morrissey, 1989, B.A.

Brad Crainer, 2009. M.S.O.T.

Claudia Arellano, 2006, B.A., 2009, M.S., Kelsey Robinette, 2014, B.B.A., Kaylee Rogers, 2014, B.A.

AFRICANAMERICAN ALUMNI CHAPTER From left, Melandie Hines, 2001, B.A.; Andrea McGhee, 2008, B.B.A.; Mackenzie Slaughter, 2011, B.A.; Frances Turner, 2010, B.S.W.; Samuel Tilmon, 2010, B.B.A., 2012, M.B.A.; LaDonna Young, 2009, B.A., 2012, M.A.; Jasmine Hawthorne, 2013, B.A.; and David Alexander, 2014, B.B.A.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 57

Alumni RED PRIDE What makes university experiences memorable for most alumni are the moments — and places — that create the memories.

Years and sometimes decades later, we can recall the favorite spot where we studied, the quiet corner where we talked and solved the world’s problems, or the wide open space where we flung Frisbees and footballs and spent time soaking up the sun.

A new special place — offering a new Cardinal tradition — is now a part of the SVSU campus. An “I LOVE SVSU” sculpture was installed on the north lawn adjacent to the Ryder Center in time for the May 2014 commencement ceremony. Without a great deal of advance publicity, students stood near the 12-foot sculpture for graduation photos of just themselves and with friends and family.

Tom Canale, associate professor of art, created the sculpture after watching a biography of designer Milton Glaser. Tom used Glaser’s “I LOVE NY” tourism symbol as inspiration to create the “I LOVE SVSU” sculpture.

Brent Bradley, 2014, B.A. (top photo) Art Professor Tom Canale (bottom, center) with SVSU May graduates.

GUIDE TO DEGREES Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) Bachelor of Professional Accountancy (B.P.A.) Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (B.S.E.E.) Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E.) Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) Education Specialist (Ed.S.) Master of Arts (M.A.) Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) Master of Education (M.Ed.) Master of Science (M.S.) Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (M.S.O.T.)

58 SVSU.EDU

Email your alumni news to: alumni@svsu edu.

Mail to: SVSU, Alumni Relations, 7400 Bay Road, University Center MI 48710

1960S

Roselyn Argyle, 1966, B.A., CEO of A & D Home Health Care, received the YWCA Great Lakes Bay Region Lifetime Achievement Award in March.

1970S

David Kowalski, 1979, B.B.A., president of Euclid Automotive Supply Inc., is retiring as coach of the bowling team at Bangor John Glenn Bay City after 14 years.

David Points, 1976, B.A., president of Amanda Health LLC, was selected to speak at the Seventh Annual Black Male Summit, “Exploring the critical issues impacting black males in higher education” at the University of Akron on April 7-10.

Wilma Spyker, 1972, B.A., retired art teacher from Bullock Creek Middle School, was featured in the Midland Daily News article, “Leading artistic lives,” on May 21, discussing her artistic success and that of her family.

1980S

Karl Briggs, 1981, B.A., former SVSU head wrestling coach, was a candidate for the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame 2014 class. He coached three all-Americans during his tenure.

Roselyn Argyle, 1966, B.A.

Gary Brown, 1982, M.B.A., CEO of Catholic Cemeteries and Mortuaries for almost 25 years, was honored by friends and family who gathered on June 20 for a farewell Mass and dinner.

Margaret Dowling, 1980, B.S.N., was hired at Northern Nevada Medical Center, Sparks, Nev., to serve as manager for the hospital’s surgical and rehab units.

Gail Goestenkors, 1989, B.A., resigned from her position as assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks. She will be inducted into the women’s basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

Jeffrey Hartt, 1983, B.A., head baseball coach at Bangor John Glenn High School, was selected for the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame 2014 class. The induction ceremony took place Oct. 5.

Edward LaBair, 1987, B.A., track and cross county All American and national champion, won the 36th annual St. Mary’s Bee Healthy for Life Run with a time of 18:13 on June 23.

David Molloy, 1989, B.A., Novi police chief, was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to sit on the State of Michigan’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission in Novi.

Victor G. Phillpotts, 1982, B.S., was named the vice president of business development for Star Brite, a Fort Lauderdale-based manufacturing company for the marine, automotive, outdoor power equipment, power sports, homecare, health and RV industries. Prior to joining Star Brite, Phillpotts served as national sales manager for P.F. Harris Manufacturing.

Timothy Rutkowski, 1989, B.A., prosecuting attorney in Huron County since 2009, recently ran for Circuit Court judge for Huron County.

1990S

Jimmie Baber, 1996, B.A., was selected as a candidate for the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame 2014 class. He won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference shot put title in 1993 while attending SVSU. Jeffrey Beckwith, 1999, B.A., teacher at Midland’s Jefferson Middle School, received the 2014 Gerstacker Teacher Proficiency Award during the 59th annual awards program last spring.

Michelle Bell, 1991, B.S.W., was hired as a clinical associate professor for the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California.

Merisa Campbell, 1996, B.S., operator of a commercial hay and over-the-road trucking operation, was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to a four-year term on the Michigan Wildlife Council, created in 2013 to educate the public about the beneficial aspects of hunting and fishing on wildlife conservations.

Jennifer Coppens, 1992, B.S.; 1998, M.A.T., was hired to serve as principal at Swan Valley Middle School, beginning July 1. Prior, Coppens worked for Saginaw Township Community Schools.

Maria Gistinger, 1989, B.B.A .; 1997, M.Ed., was hired as a full-time professor of graduate and undergraduate courses in the accounting department at Walsh College, Mich.

David Points, 1976, B.A.

Gail Goestenkors, 1989, B.A.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 59

Greg Grocholski, 1990, M.B.A., The Dow Chemical Company’s business finance director for ventures, licensing and new business development, retired in August following an impressive career spanning 30 years within the company’s information systems and finance functions.

In 2013, Greg was recognized with SVSU’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Tammy Hannah, 2000, B.S.

Christopher Frick, 2001, M.B.A.

Michelle Imbrunone, 1999, M.Ed.; 2005, Ed.S., is the superintendent of the Goodrich School District, accepting the position after serving two years as principal at Avondale High School.

Susan Jarlock, 1995, B.B.A., senior technical coordinator in the Commercial Lines Insurance Operations department of Frankenmuth Insurance, earned her Associate in Commercial Underwriting designation.

Maryanne OxenriderLipovsky, 2001, B.A.; 2007, M.A.T.

Courtney Kotewa, 2008, B.S.N.

Richard McDowell, 1990, B.A., Revolution Racing Duathlon racer, competed in the USA Triathlon Nationals on July 19, taking sixth place in his division and earning a spot on Team USA. Arthur McGuff, 1991, B.A., founder of Got Hope! Counseling and Mercy Street Place was featured in the Grand Traverse Insider on July 14 discussing the counseling services offered and his decision to become an addiction counselor.

Aaron Cianek, 2010, B.A.

Lance Belill, 2010, B.A.

Joshua Jorkasky, 2013, B.B.A. Nicole Franzel, 2014, B.S.N.

Rebecca Lamey, 2013, B.A.

60 SVSU.EDU

2000S

Christopher Frick, 2001, M.B.A., was named the first CFO of Plymouth Ventures, an Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm.

Elizabeth Garcia, 2003, B.A., All-American indoor and outdoor shot put thrower and Saginaw County record holder, will be inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday, Nov. 2.

Anna Gardner, 2008, B.S., graduated in May from the University of Florida with a Ph.D. in health and human performance.

Tammy Hannah, 2000, B.S., has been named sole executive director of the Origami Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center in Mason, Mich.

Mark Hauman, 2005, B.P.A., joined Hauman Accounting, Freeland, Mich., as a partner.

The company was established in 2008 by his wife Stephanie Hauman, 2006, B.P.A. Chad Helmer, 2007, B.A., became the operations/stage manager for the Baroque on Beaver Island Music Festival, one of the largest music festivals in the Midwest.

Michael Olgaard, 1991, M.B.A., joined Community State Bank as vice president, commercial loan officer.

Thomas Henthorn, 2004, B.A., professor of history at UM-Flint, was selected as the Michigan Humanities Council state scholar for his exhibit “The Way We Worked,” a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit focusing on American work culture.

Mary Showalter, 1990, B.S.N.; 1996, M.S.N., nurse educator at McLaren Bay Region, received the SVSU 2014 Nursing Education Award presented at the fourth annual Nursing Excellence Awards event.

Hall Hewett, 2009, B.S.N., nurse educator at Covenant HealthCare, received the 2014 SVSU Nursing Education Award presented during the fourth annual Nursing Excellence Awards event.

Cathy Stinson, 1997, B.S.W., social worker for the Huron Intermediate School District, was named 2014 Liberty Bell Award recipient by the Huron County Bar Association, acknowledging outstanding community service in the county.

Courtney Kotewa, 2008, B.S.N., a traveling nurse, won the 2013 “Share the Experience” photo contest winning a $15,000 cash prize and appearances on the 2015 National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Passes.

Lisa (Hillman) Taylor, 1998, B.A., an assistant principal at Clio High School, has taken on athletic director duties for the school.

Molly McFadden, 2013, B.B.A.

Jaclynn Krawczak, 2005, B.A., executive director of the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, was appointed to the Alpena Community College Foundation Board of Trustees.

Mark Hauman, 2005, B.P.A.

Stephanie Hauman, 2006, B.P.A.

Michael Villano, 2001, B.A., head baseball coach at Western Illinois University and Keith Villano, 2001, B.A.; 2008, M.Ed., teacher and varsity baseball coach at New Lothrop High School, hosted a baseball clinic in November 2013 in Bay City to raise money for their sister, Karrie Marciniak, 2002, B.A., who has breast cancer. (The Villano brothers pictured are Tony, Mike and Keith.)

Keith Villano, 2001, B.A.; 2008 M.Ed.

Steve LaPorte, 2003, B.S.N., staff nurse at MidMichigan Medical Center, received the 2014 SVSU Acute Nursing Award presented at the fourth annual Nursing Excellence Awards event.

Kelly Miller, 2001, B.A., was recognized for her action in helping her Rancho High School, Las Vegas, students escape a fire that broke out in the school’s theater department.

Maryanne Oxenrider-Lipovsky, 2001, B.A.; 2007, M.A.T., 5th grade teacher for Midland Public Schools, was honored with the Gerstacker Teacher Proficiency Award during the 59th awards program last spring.

Eric Pacheco, 2004, B.A., was recently named principal of the Dillard Special Achievement Center, Allen, Texas, ISD. Corinne Provoast, 2004, B.B.A., passed the Michigan Health, Life and Accident license exam, making her a licensed agent for Michigan Insurance Associates.

Chris Sain Jr., 2001, B.S.W., published his first book in March, Dumb Athlete: How My Biggest Fear Became My Biggest Motivator. It is available on Amazon.com.

Chantel Saincome, 2003, B.A., an adjuster II with the Claims/Property and Casualty Department at Frankenmuth Insurance, received her Automobile Claim Law Specialist designation from the American Educational Institute.

Katharine Stearns, 2002, M.A.T., English language arts and social studies teacher, was awarded the 2014 Midland High School Saginaw Valley League Teacher of the Year.

Mark Sprang, 2006, B.A., received his Master of Science in information from the University of Michigan, graduating in May. Joshua Sullivan, 2005, B.P.A., was promoted to senior manager of the CPA and accounting firm Rehmann. He is in the Traverse City office.

Keith Villano, 2001, B.A.; 2008, M.Ed., teacher and varsity baseball coach at New Lothrop High School, led his team to the Division IV championship title in June.

Mike Villano, 2001, B.A. has become the head baseball coach at Western Illinois University.

Kim Vincke, 2007, B.A., was named principal of Chesaning High School. Previously, she served as head of Chesaning Union Schools Alternative Education Program.

2010S Eric Becker, 2013, B.A., received the American Association of Teacher of French 2014 AATF Outstanding Seniors in French Award, presented annually to a college senior demonstrating excellence in the study of French. He is continuing his education at the University of Illinois working toward a Ph.D. in French linguistics.

Lance Belill, 2010, B.A., teacher at Flint Carman-Ainsworth High School, recently was named the varsity girl’s basketball coach.

Jared J. Bruner, 2013, B.S., is the newest addition to the Yeo & Yeo consulting team in Saginaw, where he will be creating new programs to assist the company’s clients with their information systems.

Caitlin Chojnacki, 2011, B.S., recently became the assistant director of fitness at the University of Maine. Previously, she served as health and wellness director at the Dow Bay Area Family Y.

Heath Harris, 2013, B.A., was hired by the Mayville School District as the physical education teacher for seventh- through twelth-grade students and as a history teacher.

Katelyn Heins, 2013, B.A., graphic designer at Comfort Research in Grand Rapids, also joined the Lightstock team as a stock photographer.

Ali Iseler, 2014, B.B.A., accepted a full-time position as credit/marketing assistant at Northstar Bank in Bad Axe. Joshua Jorkasky, 2013, B.B.A., joined Astrike Financial PLLC in Midland as a staff accountant. He is working toward his CPA license.

Rehana Khan-Brown, 2013, B.A., helped Major Chords for Minors, a nonprofit organization offering free instruments and lessons for Saginaw children, plan its first Battle of the Bands fundraiser this past summer.

Rebecca Kinder, 2013, B.S., was hired at Homewood Village-Brookdale Senior Living in Flint, Mich., as the Clare Bridge program assistant.

Rebecca Lamey, 2013, B.A., was sworn in as police officer for the Bridgeport Township Police Department on March 4. (Lamey is pictured on page 60, shaking hands with Township Clerk Darlene Miller.)

Martha Liddle-Lameti, 2010, M.A.T., Owosso High School art teacher, received the Michigan Occupational Special Populations Association’s Outstanding Professional Award last winter.

Aaron Cianek, 2010, B.A., joined the Yeo & Yeo CPAs as a marketing communications specialist.

Molly McFadden, 2013, B.B.A., was welcomed to the Garber Buick staff in Saginaw Township as a new car sales consultant.

Nicole Franzel, 2014, B.S.N., was selected to participate in the 16th cycle of the CBS reality TV show “Big Brother,” which is a summerlong competition for $500,000.

Emily Provenzano, 2012, M.B.A., recently joined Tri-Star Trust Bank as its new relationship assistant. She is at the Saginaw location.

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 61

Drive with

PRIDE.

Driving your SVSU Red Pride is only part of what buying an SVSU license plate does. It also supports your alma mater’s Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund.

$25 of the $35 charge comes back to the university to support scholarships ($10 on annual plate renewals). Go to: michigan.gov/documents/orderform_svsu_16226_7.pdf

Blake Rhynard, 2011, B.S., and his family were selected to be grand marshals for the Maple Syrup Festival Parade in Shepherd this past spring. The family was recognized for its years of hard work and volunteer hours. (The family is pictured below; front row, from left: Ron, Kennajean and Tucker; back row: Kaylie, Ian, Blake, Caleb, Jamie, Avery and Travis)

A 5-Minute Effort.

A $600 Payoff.

Leslie Rindfliesch, 2010, M.Ed., was hired as Zeeland Public Schools’ director of Zeeland Quest, the district’s year-round K-8 school.

Jesse Vollmar, 2011, B.S., and Brad Koch, 2011, B.S., have secured another $4 million in venture capital for FarmLogs. They are also featured in an alumni profile on page 52-53.

Randall Zajac, 2010, M.B.A., has been working with the Composites Group for two years and was recently appointed to the position of market manager for oil and gas at TCG business unit Quantum Composites in Bay City.

The SVSU Alumni Association is collecting data to help us connect and improve programs and services for alumni and students. Alumni who complete the brief online survey by October 31, 2014, and provide the contact information in the final survey question, will be entered to win a Microsoft Surface 2 64GB tablet — with keyboard, case, charger and preloaded with Office 2013 (valued at $600).

Director of Alumni Relations Kevin Schultz displays the Surface 2 tablet he is unable to win.

svsu.edu/alumnisurvey

Blake Rhynard, 2001, B.S. and his family.

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Sorry, alumni employees of SVSU are not eligible to win. Survey responses are confidential and no information will be shared outside of SVSU. For more information or to receive a print version of the survey, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations, (989) 964-4196; alumni@svsu.edu.

MICROSOFT SURFACE 2

64GB TABLET

NEW BABY CARDINALS Bryan Crainer, 2006, B.A.; 2001, M.Ed., and wife Kelly Crainer 2009, B.A.; 2014, M.A.T., announced the birth of their second son, Jonah James Crainer, born on July 9, 2014.

Jason Swackhamer, 1997, B.A.; 2004, M.A., and wife Amy Swackhamer 2003, B.A., announced the birth of their third child, Jacob Denton Swackhamer, born on July 22, 2014.

Jacob Denton Swackhammer

Jonah James Crainer

CARDINAL WEDDINGS Natasha Berry, 2007, B.A., is engaged to marry Barry Krueger in March 2015 at St. Pete Beach, Fla. Jason Blades, 2012, B.P.A., married Stephanie Bergman on Oct. 11.

Robert J. Engels, 2008, B.A., married Anne Hasenberg, 2010, B.A., on June 22, 2013, in Ludington, Mich.

Natasha Berry

Jason Blades

Amanda Gisel, 2011, B.A., married Justin Bomers on June 7 in Petoskey, Mich.

Elizabeth Groendal, 2013, B.S., is engaged to marry Brian Church, 2013 B.S., on Aug. 15, 2015.

Melissa Miller, 2010, B.A., married Drew Eurich on Oct. 11 in Sebewaing, Mich.

Andrew Northrop, 2013, B.S.W., married Adam Gardner on Aug. 8.

David Palazzolo, 2010, B.S., married Jenna Beaulieu on Oct. 4.

Amanda Gisel

Elizabeth Groendal and Brian Church

Erica Pomranky, 2014, B.A., married Cody Lanphierd on June 14 in Midland, Mich.

Toni Powers, 2008, B.A., married Shane Vincent on Aug. 9, in Bad Axe, Mich.

Katrina Robinson, 2013, B.A., married Justin Tokarski on July 12 in Saginaw, Mich.

Sarah Seaman, 2009, B.B.A., married Christopher Sanders on Aug. 16.

Brittany Wellman, 2008, B.B.A., married Christopher Tibaudo, 2013, B.B.A., on Sept. 6.

Melissa Miller

Andrew Northrop

David Palazzolo

Erica Pomranky

Toni Powers

Katrina Robinson

Sarah Seaman

OBITUARIES... OUR CONDOLENCES Linda Alexander 1984, B.B.A., June 27, 2014 Lucia Cadena 1989, B.A.; 1993, M.Ed., June 14, 2014 Enid Davis 1978, B.A., May 20, 2014 Karla Gray 1995, B.A., June 11, 2014 Linda Griffin 2000, B.S.W., May 25, 2014 Phillip Gunden 2005, B.A.; 2010, TC, April 18, 2014 Robert Harmer 1996, B.S.M.E., May 12, 2014

Thomas Kretschmer 1979, M.A.T., February 4, 2014 Regina LaPorte 1972, B.A.; 1976, M.A.T., March 22, 2014 James Letcher 1985, M.A.T., March 6, 2014 Hovae Loranger 1988, B.B.A., April 13, 2014 Alvin Louks 1990, B.S., June 16, 2014 Daniel Nowak 1973, B.A., April 14, 2014 Massimina Peluso 1983, M.A.T., May 26, 2014

Gary Popovits 1997, M.A.T., July 14, 2014 Tammy Ramon 2010, M.S.N., July 8, 2014 Gary Roseberry 1973, B.B.A; 1986, B.S., May 11, 2014 Jenifer Sisco 2000, M.Ed., May 2, 2014 Phyllis Zemanek 1994, B.B.A., June 30, 2014

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NEW GIFTS BRING CAMPAIGN CLOSER TO GOAL Talent. Opportunity. Promise. The Campaign for SVSU

Dear Friends: When the Talent. Opportunity. Promise. campaign was launched, we set our sights on raising $25 million to attract and retain talented faculty and students to SVSU Campaign co-chairs:

and to make sure students had the financial support necessary to complete their degrees in a timely manner.

We are pleased to report that more than $24 million has been committed to the campaign. This is exciting for SVSU and for the people of our region, as it will enable the university to provide funding for scholarships and programs that will make an impact far beyond our students and our campus community.

D. Brian Law

We are grateful for the generous support of so many in our community, individuals as well as foundations, corporations and organizations. This support demonstrates a widely held belief in the value of higher education and a confidence in SVSU’s ability to deliver a quality degree and prepare the region’s citizenry for career and community engagement.

With continued private support, SVSU will be able to deliver an even richer

John Decker

educational experience to students, professionals and community members, resulting in a stronger, more vibrant Great Lakes Bay Region.

Campaign Co-Chairs, D. Brian Law

Herbert Spence, III

Jenée Velasquez

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John Decker

Herbert Spence III

Jenée Velasquez

“With the proper academic preparation, students from the Great Lakes Bay Region and across Michigan can enjoy rewarding careers and supply the talent to meet the workforce needs of our leading employers, benefitting all of us.”

— Macauley Whiting Jr., president of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation

STEM INVESTMENT PLANTS SEEDS FOR FUTURE SUCCESS

Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation and other organizations partner with SVSU to increase STEM literacy When the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation made a gift of $5 million to Talent. Opportunity.

Promise. The Campaign for SVSU to establish the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow STEM Scholar Network at SVSU, it brought the campaign total to $24 million, with about $10 million of those dollars earmarked for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) initiatives.

In making this gift — the largest private gift to SVSU in the institution’s history — the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation joined several other donors in making STEM education a priority. That educational commitment not only includes students at SVSU, but also SVSU faculty, students and teachers at K-12 schools throughout the region, parents of those students and the wider community.

“We profoundly appreciate this expression of confidence in our ability

to contribute to meeting the need for more highly qualified graduates in the STEM disciplines in our region and our state,” said SVSU President Donald J. Bachand. “We have a strong history of career preparation in these fields, and we have fine faculty and staff who are up to the task. This builds upon our many successful STEM programs already in place, and we’re eager to get started.”

A growing trend Nationally, the topic of STEM education is in the forefront, and initiatives supported by gifts to the Talent. Opportunity. Promise. campaign reflect the trend.

“When we began the quiet phase of the campaign in 2011, we were not focused specifically on STEM,” said Andrew J. Bethune, executive director of the SVSU Foundation. “The priorities of the campaign were — and remain — attracting and retaining

talented students and faculty and ensuring adequate scholarship support for students. Many donors to the campaign have worked with us to create scholarships and programs that will help SVSU best prepare our students to complete their degrees and fill jobs in the region and beyond.

“As the campaign has progressed, we’ve seen an overwhelming focus on STEM. It is clear to us that the region, especially our community of donors, understands the role of STEM education in growing our economy, and they are committed to advancing STEM at all levels. Our donors influence the growth and academic direction of this university, and they help ensure that we can meet the needs of our region and our state.”

When the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow STEM Scholar Network begins in summer 2015, it will provide summer camp experiences for students at the middle school

“I hope kids see the application — how math connects to other subjects. I hope they get excited.”

— Ashley Meyer, math teacher, Bullock Creek Middle School (see box, page 68)

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“My project idea was all about clarifying ideas/ concepts. Now, I want to look at changing attitudes, careers; the concepts will lead to a career.”

— Brian Reinhardt, Midland High (see box, page 68)

and high school levels, as well as undergraduate research opportunities at SVSU to motivate SVSU students to complete college degrees in the STEM disciplines.

These efforts will complement work being done through the Dow Corning Foundation Fellows – SVSU – Community STEM Partnership and the Dow Chemical Company Science & Sustainability Education Center, both of which were established through previous gifts to the Talent.

Opportunity. Promise. campaign, and the Consumers Energy Engineering Talent Development Program at SVSU, which was announced earlier in this year.

The Dow Corning Foundation partnership, which aims to influence attitudes, perceptions and knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, began early this year with the recruitment of middle and high school teachers to participate in a research institute, which included planning a classroom project.

(See sidebar, page 68.)

The Dow Chemical Company Science & Sustainability Education Center was developed to encourage

i am

and facilitate participation in hands-on scientific research in the Saginaw Bay Watershed to generate enthusiasm for science through educational outreach to students, teachers and the community. (See Reflections spring 2014, pp 65–66.) This initiative includes a STEM bus that will begin traveling to the region’s K-12 schools in 2015 as well as university research in the Saginaw Bay watershed.

The Consumers Energy Engineering Talent Development Program at SVSU initiative is intended to develop a pipeline of electrical engineers.

It will involve recruiting students out of high school to major in electrical engineering, promoting alternative energy design projects

by SVSU students and connecting those students over two years with internship opportunities at Consumers Energy.

Through these and several other STEM-based scholarships and programs, SVSU is helping improve

Valerie Adams

And I am grateful for amazing opportunities

Val Adams poses with President Bachand at the April 2014 annual donor luncheon.

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SVSU offers countless opportunities to help Cardinals achieve success in college and after graduation. Many such opportunities are made possible through support from the SVSU Annual Fund. And since gifts to the Annual Fund are combined to support students, even modest gifts make an impact.

Take Val Adams. The Rochester, Mich., native has big plans, thanks to financial support she’s received.

The exercise science senior plans on graduate school for physical therapy and has her eyes on Duke University.

And why not? Her undergraduate dreams have been realized, so why not dream big?

“I am a person of action, and thanks to the financial support I’ve received, I am making the most of opportunities in hopes of inspiring others. SVSU has

molded me into the person I am today, a person I am proud to be.”

In addition to being a great student, Val is a resident assistant, a member of the National Residence Hall Honorary, the Student Exercise Science Association, Forever Red and the Pre-Physical Therapy Club.

She’s received a Student Research & Creativity Institute grant and a Faculty Association Scholarship.

There are lots of Val Adamses out there. You can help them build a strong future. Please support the Annual Fund.

Foundation.svsu.edu svsu.edu/annualfund

Energizing SVSU’s Future The Consumers Energy Foundation has awarded SVSU $50,000 in grants that will support the acclaimed Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum and a program that trains future electrical engineers.

Half of the grant money supports the museum’s garden entrance. That gift was recognized by granting Consumers Energy naming rights of a botanical bed in the garden.

Recent investments have allowed the museum to create a

traveling exhibition of the sculptor’s worldrenowned work as well as build a new entrance and sculpture garden.

The other half of the donation will fund the Consumers Energy Engineering Talent Development Program at SVSU. The initiative is intended to develop a pipeline of electrical engineers to meet the region’s energy industry needs.

Andrew Bethune, Marilyn Wheaton, Carolyn Bloodworth, Linda Sims and Don Bachand

“The partnerships, connections with other teachers [attracted me]. I am one of eight STEM teachers in my school, but the only physics teacher. I thought this would help with partnering with the education community, project learning, and having partners come into my class.”

— Lisa Welch, physics and chemistry teacher, Bay City Western High School (see box, page 68)

STEM literacy and preparing a highly qualified talent base in the area.

Regarding the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation STEM Scholar program, Macauley Whiting Jr., president of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, said, “We are pleased to have SVSU as a partner in this most vital effort. There is a pressing need to expand the STEM pipeline, and SVSU’s proposal addresses this by reaching students at three critical junctures. With the proper academic preparation, students from the Great Lakes Bay Region and across Michigan can enjoy rewarding careers and supply the talent to meet the workforce needs of our leading employers, benefitting all of us.”

Donors guide development As a regional university, SVSU has always paid particular attention to the economic and employment needs of the region. Private support has made SVSU a stronger university and a greater asset to the community.

“Philanthropy is about human

needs and human potential,” Bethune said. “Our donors have always had a keen sense of understanding the important needs at SVSU while creating opportunities to help us build a better future.”

Scholarships and programs established during previous campaigns have guided the growth and development of SVSU. During the Campaign for Distinction in the late 1990s, half a dozen endowed chair positions were established. During the current campaign, the Harvey Randall Wickes Endowed Chair in Nursing was established. These endowed chair positions are filled by top scholars who engage SVSU students and faculty in cutting-edge research, teach classes and interact with the regional community to share their expertise.

Students at SVSU benefit from the many annual and endowed scholarships established by committed donors.

In 1997, during the Campaign for Distinction, the Leopold J. Kantzler Foundation established a scholarship to support Bay County students who

REFLECTIONS MAGAZINE 67

held promising futures as leaders in business, civic and political affairs.

During the Promise for Tomorrow campaign, the Kantzler Foundation committed an additional $100,000 to make the program a more comprehensive leadership development experience. Now, Kantzler Fellows meet periodically with Kantzler Foundation trustees and participate in service projects in Bay County.

Many programs established through campaigns benefit the greater community. During the Campaign for Distinction in the late 1990s, the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Visiting Scholars & Artists program was established with the purpose of expanding and enriching SVSU’s curricular offerings and the cultural offerings to the surrounding community. Through this program,

SVSU annually hosts renowned public policy analysts and historians, acclaimed authors and poets, and celebrated fine artists.

Another program with widereaching impact is the Gerstacker Fellowship program, established in 2005 through SVSU’s Promise for Tomorrow campaign. With a $1.5 million gift and a vision for developing leaders in public education, the Gerstacker Foundation guided the development of the Fellowship program. Since 2006, more than 90 school teachers and administrators from throughout Michigan have completed the Gerstacker Fellowship Program I, taking new insight and ideas to their schools to better serve students. The program has been so successful that the Gerstacker Foundation contributed

Mallory Rivard is an SVSU Kantzler Fellow scholarship recipient in 2014.

DOW CORNING FOUNDATION FELLOWS – SVSU – COMMUNITY STEM PARTNERSHIP OFF TO A GREAT START The first Dow Corning Foundation Fellows have returned to the classroom with STEM projects planned for the 2014 – 2015 academic year. After completing the first two sessions of the Dow Corning Fellows – SVSU – Community STEM Partnership, participants were eager to put their projects in motion.

Twenty Dow Corning Foundation Fellows — middle and high school teachers from Arenac, Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties — took part in a two-week research institute over the summer. Cultivating a network of STEM experiential teachers is one of four major activities of the partnership.

“I am very excited about the potential of the project to impact science education in

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our local schools,” said Stephanie Brouet, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry at SVSU and Dow Corning Foundation Fellows coordinator.

“The Dow Corning Foundation asked us to develop a project that addresses attitudes about science. We want students to know that science is hard — and that’s OK. We are giving the teachers resources to conduct a science project with their students during the year. We want our teachers to choose projects that are on the cutting edge of science, apply the science to everyday real-life problems and give the children the chance to see what a scientist really does. At least then they can make a more informed decision about whether or not to pursue [science].”

The 2014-15 Dow Corning Foundation Fellows at the Summer Institute preparing for 2014-15 school year and their STEM projects.

an additional $1 million to the Talent. Opportunity. Promise. campaign to create the Gerstacker Fellowship Program II. Open to all graduates of the Gerstacker Fellowship I, the new program enables Fellows to continue their quest to improve the quality of education in their schools.

The Braun Fellowship Program was created with a $1.5 million grant to the Promise for Tomorrow campaign from the Harvey Randall Wickes Foundation.

This program supports faculty research and scholarly activity and has become one of SVSU’s most sought-after awards.

These are examples of the impact of private support over time. Many more outstanding programs play an equally important role in defining the university and its distinctive qualities.

Greater than the sum of its parts Gifts to SVSU generate a “multiplier effect”; that is, the impact of the gifts reaches far beyond their immediate beneficiaries.

Consider the thousands of SVSU graduates who received private scholarship support and now work in health care, education, business and industry. They use their skills to make the lives of their patients, students, clients and co-workers better. In the Great Lakes Bay Region, where many SVSU graduates choose to live and work, the impact of SVSU grads — and by extension, the impact of private support to SVSU — can be felt in every segment of the community.

So far, commitments to Talent. Opportunity. Promise. have

resulted in 47 new scholarships, as well as 20 programs and other initiatives.

Additionally, many existing scholarship funds have been supplemented by gifts to the campaign. This will result in more than 200 new private awards. Of course, the multiplier effect boosts the scope of benefits far beyond those individuals who receive scholarships or participate in programs.

“SVSU is a stronger university because of the generosity and guidance of our donors,” Bethune said. “It started in the early 1960s, when donors provided the money to purchase the land for our campus, and it continues today as SVSU plays a leading role helping to shape our region’s future.”

PRESERVING THE LEGACY OF MARSHALL M. FREDERICKS Sculpture museum raises capital and builds endowment

As part of the Talent. Opportunity. Promise. campaign, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum is conducting a campaign to preserve the legacy of Marshall M. Fredericks by supporting capital projects and increasing the museum’s endowment.

The Jo Anne and Donald Petersen Sculpture Garden was established with a lead gift from the retired Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO and his wife, who were longtime friends of Marshall Fredericks and his family.

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THE LAST WORD

Cameron Thorp When the SVSU Alumni Association staffers received an unsolicited letter from Cameron this past spring, they were moved by his message of wanting to give back to his alma mater. The idea of alumni giving back isn’t unusual at all, but it is a bit rare when that alumnus is fresh out of school. The bond and sense of connection between a graduate and his alma mater is something that normally develops over years, not months. That is why, with his permission, we are reprinting Cameron’s letter as this issue’s “Last Word.”

Dear SVSU Alumni Association: My name is Cameron Thorp. I am a 2013 graduate. I have been waiting for this time so that I can start giving back.

I miss my time spent at SVSU earning my degree in theatre and gender studies, my time serving as “Coop” the mascot, and working at the Regional Mathematics and Science Center.

After I graduated, I spent three months on tour with the “Windy City Players” production of Cinderella.

Now I want to start giving back. My donation is for those who need a chance … the kind of student who holds strength and pride for SVSU … that loud voice spoken by a quiet student … for those who are happy to graduate, but sad when they leave.

Thank you for giving me a chance.

Thank you for my degree, and my future.

Cameron M. Thorp “Coop” SVSU Alumnus, 2013

Go Cards!

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After we received Cameron’s letter, he sent an email update later in the summer to Merry Jo Brandimore, associate provost and dean of student life. In it, Cameron noted that after his stint with the Windy City Players he started a job in human resources at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, but kept searching for an opportunity with a theater company.

He was offered an internship with the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Ala., and commented in his email, “Yup, this Cardinal will be spreading his wings and trading the warmth for the Alaskan experience.”

We wish Cameron the best of luck and a Forever Red connection to his alma mater.

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