2008 Fall Edition

Toledo The University of

ALUMNI MAGAZINE

Hidden Treasures

Fall 2008

fore words FALL 2008 | Volume 56, Number 1

Contents

O

ver the past year’s issues of Toledo Alumni Magazine, we read of the accomplishments of recent UT graduates, we were touched by the stories of UT alumni who have improved the human condition, and we met alumni who reach out to better our community. This issue offers UT’s “hidden treasures,” the talents of faculty and staff outside their professional expertise.

Bridging our great University and our wonderful alumni is your Alumni Association. Along with its affiliates and chapters, your Alumni Association has been dedicated to offering social events for alumni and to community programming that benefits alumni and non-alumni alike. This past fiscal year, the Alumni Association hosted 221 events, an all-time high.

As has been the case since the 2006 merger, much of the association’s growth is coming from a strong emphasis on reaching graduates, residents and students of the College of Medicine. As an alumnus of both UT and the Medical College of Ohio (now the UT College of Medicine), I am proud of how our UT Alumni Association and College of Medicine Affiliate have shown their support by providing white coats for all students of the college and presenting each graduating MD with a personalized stethoscope at commencement.

The strength of the Alumni Association is in its members.

This year, a high priority has been placed on retaining and attracting new members. If you are an active Alumni Association member, your continued support is greatly appreciated. If you have been a member in the past or never a member, I urge you to take advantage of one or more of this year’s events — more than 200 — supported by the Alumni Association.

Whether you are a UT undergraduate alumnus or alumna or added a UT graduate degree to one from another university — including all my fellow MCO graduates — please join the fun that many of your colleagues have already experienced.

Our Alumni Association is dedicated to you. Re-experience your past and support our future by considering a membership.

I look forward to the coming year and am grateful for the opportunity to serve our association.

Above all, have a wonderful and healthy year.

THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

PRESIDENT

Vicki Kroll ’88

Jon R. Dvorak MD ’80, ’83, ’86

Cynthia Nowak ’78, ’80

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Cover story

14 golden nuggets

Constance D. Zouhary ’81

SECRETARY

DESIGNER

12 out on a limb

TREASURER

PHOTOGRAPHERS

34 Sense of mission

Walter “Chip” Carstensen ’72, ’74

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

David D. Dobrzykowski ’95, ’99 Terri Lee ’92

PAST PRESIDENT

James W. White Jr. ’76, ’79

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dan Saevig ’84, ’89

ONE-YEAR TRUSTEES

Stephen Bazeley MD ’74 Craig G. Burkhart MD ’75, ’83 Eddie Cole ’47, ’51 Dana Fitzsimmons** ’76 Randall King MD ’81 Robin Oberle* ’97 Jay Pearson ’91 Janet Schroeder ’89 Paul L. Toth Jr. ’88, ’01

TWO-YEAR TRUSTEES

Thomas M. Brown PhD ’69 Pete Casey ’67, ’73 Jeff Joyce ’85 Rick Longenecker ’86, ’88 Jonathan Mondelli ’06 Mark Urrutia ’88 Don Warner ’76 Gene Zmuda ’81, ’84

THREE-YEAR TRUSTEES

Marie Latham Bush PhD ’83, ’00 Elizabeth Davis ’97, ’06 Sharon Speyer ’85

2

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kim Harvey ’89 Paul Helgren Matt Lockwood Jon Strunk ’04 Jim Winkler ’86

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Liz Allen

Jack Meade Daniel Miller ’99

Toledo Alumni is published three times a year in Fall, Winter and Spring by The University of Toledo Alumni Association and the Office of University Communications.

VICE PRESIDENT, EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Features 10 life from death

36 chanteuse a la Vegas

Others 2 Traditional & un

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT/ PUBLISHER

8 Research

OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS STAFF

33 Class notes

Ansley Abrams ’92 Elizabeth Schurrer Amanda Schwartz Marcus Sneed ’07 Brian Weinblatt ’02, ’04 Diane Wisniewski

SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS INFORMATION TO:

Toledo Alumni, Office of Alumni Relations, Driscoll Alumni Center, Mail Stop 301 The University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606-3395 Telephone 419.530.ALUM (2586) or 800.235.6766 Fax 419.530.4994

14

38 Crap shoot

Lawrence J. Burns

Dan Saevig ’84, ’89

8

42 Book reviews

On the cover

Treasure for the asking Illustration by Nick Bensch

34

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE

Jon Dvorak MD President, UT Alumni Association

David Green (appointed by Student Alumni Association) *Appointed by the affiliate committee ** Chapter representative

The University of Toledo is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in education, employment, memberships and contracts, and no differentiation will be made based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or the presence of a disability. The University will take affirmative action as required by federal or state law.

RECYCLED PAPER

fore words FALL 2008 | Volume 56, Number 1

Contents

O

ver the past year’s issues of Toledo Alumni Magazine, we read of the accomplishments of recent UT graduates, we were touched by the stories of UT alumni who have improved the human condition, and we met alumni who reach out to better our community. This issue offers UT’s “hidden treasures,” the talents of faculty and staff outside their professional expertise.

Bridging our great University and our wonderful alumni is your Alumni Association. Along with its affiliates and chapters, your Alumni Association has been dedicated to offering social events for alumni and to community programming that benefits alumni and non-alumni alike. This past fiscal year, the Alumni Association hosted 221 events, an all-time high.

As has been the case since the 2006 merger, much of the association’s growth is coming from a strong emphasis on reaching graduates, residents and students of the College of Medicine. As an alumnus of both UT and the Medical College of Ohio (now the UT College of Medicine), I am proud of how our UT Alumni Association and College of Medicine Affiliate have shown their support by providing white coats for all students of the college and presenting each graduating MD with a personalized stethoscope at commencement.

The strength of the Alumni Association is in its members.

This year, a high priority has been placed on retaining and attracting new members. If you are an active Alumni Association member, your continued support is greatly appreciated. If you have been a member in the past or never a member, I urge you to take advantage of one or more of this year’s events — more than 200 — supported by the Alumni Association.

Whether you are a UT undergraduate alumnus or alumna or added a UT graduate degree to one from another university — including all my fellow MCO graduates — please join the fun that many of your colleagues have already experienced.

Our Alumni Association is dedicated to you. Re-experience your past and support our future by considering a membership.

I look forward to the coming year and am grateful for the opportunity to serve our association.

Above all, have a wonderful and healthy year.

THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

PRESIDENT

Vicki Kroll ’88

Jon R. Dvorak MD ’80, ’83, ’86

Cynthia Nowak ’78, ’80

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Cover story

14 golden nuggets

Constance D. Zouhary ’81

SECRETARY

DESIGNER

12 out on a limb

TREASURER

PHOTOGRAPHERS

34 Sense of mission

Walter “Chip” Carstensen ’72, ’74

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

David D. Dobrzykowski ’95, ’99 Terri Lee ’92

PAST PRESIDENT

James W. White Jr. ’76, ’79

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dan Saevig ’84, ’89

ONE-YEAR TRUSTEES

Stephen Bazeley MD ’74 Craig G. Burkhart MD ’75, ’83 Eddie Cole ’47, ’51 Dana Fitzsimmons** ’76 Randall King MD ’81 Robin Oberle* ’97 Jay Pearson ’91 Janet Schroeder ’89 Paul L. Toth Jr. ’88, ’01

TWO-YEAR TRUSTEES

Thomas M. Brown PhD ’69 Pete Casey ’67, ’73 Jeff Joyce ’85 Rick Longenecker ’86, ’88 Jonathan Mondelli ’06 Mark Urrutia ’88 Don Warner ’76 Gene Zmuda ’81, ’84

THREE-YEAR TRUSTEES

Marie Latham Bush PhD ’83, ’00 Elizabeth Davis ’97, ’06 Sharon Speyer ’85

2

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kim Harvey ’89 Paul Helgren Matt Lockwood Jon Strunk ’04 Jim Winkler ’86

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Liz Allen

Jack Meade Daniel Miller ’99

Toledo Alumni is published three times a year in Fall, Winter and Spring by The University of Toledo Alumni Association and the Office of University Communications.

VICE PRESIDENT, EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Features 10 life from death

36 chanteuse a la Vegas

Others 2 Traditional & un

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT/ PUBLISHER

8 Research

OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS STAFF

33 Class notes

Ansley Abrams ’92 Elizabeth Schurrer Amanda Schwartz Marcus Sneed ’07 Brian Weinblatt ’02, ’04 Diane Wisniewski

SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS INFORMATION TO:

Toledo Alumni, Office of Alumni Relations, Driscoll Alumni Center, Mail Stop 301 The University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606-3395 Telephone 419.530.ALUM (2586) or 800.235.6766 Fax 419.530.4994

14

38 Crap shoot

Lawrence J. Burns

Dan Saevig ’84, ’89

8

42 Book reviews

On the cover

Treasure for the asking Illustration by Nick Bensch

34

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE

Jon Dvorak MD President, UT Alumni Association

David Green (appointed by Student Alumni Association) *Appointed by the affiliate committee ** Chapter representative

The University of Toledo is committed to a policy of equal opportunity in education, employment, memberships and contracts, and no differentiation will be made based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or the presence of a disability. The University will take affirmative action as required by federal or state law.

RECYCLED PAPER

Toledo: traditional & un

MacKinnon Hall joins list of upgrades

F

Vertigo. MacKinnon’s striking architectural details, such as this stairwell, will be carefully preserved during the upgrade. “Deep cleaning, new paint and floor coverings will have it looking polished,” says Richard Sheets.

reshly painted rooms, new carpeting, new air conditioning and wireless high-speed Internet access in student lounges are among the upgrades students found in MacKinnon Hall when fall semester began.

The venerable facility’s $3.25 million facelift includes upgrades in plumbing, heating, fire detection, accessibility and common areas for meetings and study, according to Richard Sheets, UT facilities and construction project manager, who points to the planners’ balance of historic preservation and modern renovation standards.

“In the old portion of MacKinnon, the rooms are very unique; they all have their own architectural individuality,” Sheets says. “There are a few singles, a couple of three-person rooms and the rest are doubles. In the new portion of the building, all the rooms are doubles.”

Increasing enrollment makes the upgrades doubly welcome. The 41,200-square-foot facility, built in 1938 and expanded in 1962, can now house 140 students. With the opening of MacKinnon, the University operates nine residence halls. UT has about 4,000 students living in residence halls.

— Jim Winkler

UT hosts disaster-preparedness courses for students, community

T

he tragedies at Virginia Tech and

School of Medicine at Wright State University

Northern Illinois University, the floods

and the University of Texas Southwestern

in Findlay, the wildfires in the west,

Medical Center at Dallas — was created to

and the yearly tornado season all underscore the need for emergency preparedness to meet the challenges

roles and responsibilities in a community, state or regional

This past spring, UT hosted

disaster response. The course and

basic disaster life support

text have been widely

training for more than 600

recognized as the standard

students and

basic course in mass-

community health

casualty incident

professionals. The

response and in

eight-hour course

disaster preparation

curriculum included natural and manmade

in the United States.

disasters, traumatic and explosive events,

In addition to UT medical, nursing,

nuclear and radiological weapon attacks,

pharmacy, occupational therapy and

biological and chemical events, the public

physician assistant students, community

health system, and the psychosocial aspects

members representing multiple disciplines,

of disasters.

including firefighters, public health personnel

The free, grant-funded program —

and health-care providers, received the

taught by the Homeland Emergency Learning

training.

— Matt Lockwood

Don’t just talk the talk

R

ocket Wireless is something worth talking about: Verizon, Sprint, Alltel and now, AT&T!

Most have family plans to fit all needs; deals of under $30 a month; payroll deduction for UT employees; smart phones and easy-use models; and no sales tax, no monthly service fees after sign-up, no termination fees for switching over your old plan when you keep your carrier. UT alumni, students and employees can start saving by

Baby fuzz. Keith Lott from the Ohio

checking out telecom.utoledo.edu, then

Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) keeps the talons tucked on one of UT’s newest peregrine falcons. The two male chicks that hatched earlier this year in the nest atop University Hall Tower received their leg bands and their names — Rocket and Gozer (yes, from Ghostbusters) — in late May. Staff from ODNR also drew blood samples from each chick and entered the birds in the national database at the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center.

This is the second successful brood raised by parent peregrines Belle and Allen.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

other health professionals about their

of a disaster.

and Preparedness Center of the Boonshoft

2

teach physicians, primary responders and

calling Rocket Wireless (owned and operated by UT’s Rocket Telecom): 419.530.7998.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

3

Toledo: traditional & un

MacKinnon Hall joins list of upgrades

F

Vertigo. MacKinnon’s striking architectural details, such as this stairwell, will be carefully preserved during the upgrade. “Deep cleaning, new paint and floor coverings will have it looking polished,” says Richard Sheets.

reshly painted rooms, new carpeting, new air conditioning and wireless high-speed Internet access in student lounges are among the upgrades students found in MacKinnon Hall when fall semester began.

The venerable facility’s $3.25 million facelift includes upgrades in plumbing, heating, fire detection, accessibility and common areas for meetings and study, according to Richard Sheets, UT facilities and construction project manager, who points to the planners’ balance of historic preservation and modern renovation standards.

“In the old portion of MacKinnon, the rooms are very unique; they all have their own architectural individuality,” Sheets says. “There are a few singles, a couple of three-person rooms and the rest are doubles. In the new portion of the building, all the rooms are doubles.”

Increasing enrollment makes the upgrades doubly welcome. The 41,200-square-foot facility, built in 1938 and expanded in 1962, can now house 140 students. With the opening of MacKinnon, the University operates nine residence halls. UT has about 4,000 students living in residence halls.

— Jim Winkler

UT hosts disaster-preparedness courses for students, community

T

he tragedies at Virginia Tech and

School of Medicine at Wright State University

Northern Illinois University, the floods

and the University of Texas Southwestern

in Findlay, the wildfires in the west,

Medical Center at Dallas — was created to

and the yearly tornado season all underscore the need for emergency preparedness to meet the challenges

roles and responsibilities in a community, state or regional

This past spring, UT hosted

disaster response. The course and

basic disaster life support

text have been widely

training for more than 600

recognized as the standard

students and

basic course in mass-

community health

casualty incident

professionals. The

response and in

eight-hour course

disaster preparation

curriculum included natural and manmade

in the United States.

disasters, traumatic and explosive events,

In addition to UT medical, nursing,

nuclear and radiological weapon attacks,

pharmacy, occupational therapy and

biological and chemical events, the public

physician assistant students, community

health system, and the psychosocial aspects

members representing multiple disciplines,

of disasters.

including firefighters, public health personnel

The free, grant-funded program —

and health-care providers, received the

taught by the Homeland Emergency Learning

training.

— Matt Lockwood

Don’t just talk the talk

R

ocket Wireless is something worth talking about: Verizon, Sprint, Alltel and now, AT&T!

Most have family plans to fit all needs; deals of under $30 a month; payroll deduction for UT employees; smart phones and easy-use models; and no sales tax, no monthly service fees after sign-up, no termination fees for switching over your old plan when you keep your carrier. UT alumni, students and employees can start saving by

Baby fuzz. Keith Lott from the Ohio

checking out telecom.utoledo.edu, then

Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) keeps the talons tucked on one of UT’s newest peregrine falcons. The two male chicks that hatched earlier this year in the nest atop University Hall Tower received their leg bands and their names — Rocket and Gozer (yes, from Ghostbusters) — in late May. Staff from ODNR also drew blood samples from each chick and entered the birds in the national database at the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center.

This is the second successful brood raised by parent peregrines Belle and Allen.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

other health professionals about their

of a disaster.

and Preparedness Center of the Boonshoft

2

teach physicians, primary responders and

calling Rocket Wireless (owned and operated by UT’s Rocket Telecom): 419.530.7998.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

3

Toledo: traditional & un

Fresh faces lead UT women’s, men’s basketball

‘Induct Chuck’ gaining momentum

W

hether you were one of the Rockets fans who saw Chuck Ealey (Bus ’72) set his threeseason, still-unbeaten 35-0 record, or whether you’re interested in due recognition for football’s best, you need to join the effort to “Induct Chuck.” Into the College Football Hall of Fame, that is.

As the campaign’s Web site — www. inductchuck.com/ — explains, despite multiple nominations to the College Football Hall of Fame, Ealey was excluded from the

National Football Foundation’s screening process due to what many see as a technicality.

The “Induct Chuck” project aims to put things right. “Since our launch in October 2007, we've had nearly 3,000 people across nine countries sign the petition,” says organizer Rick Longenecker (Bus ’86, MBA ’88). “It’s amazing how many lives Chuck Ealey has touched.

“The next phase of our campaign is

aimed at getting endorsements from highprofile college football coaches and athletics directors, conference commissioners, media representatives and inductees in the College Football Hall of Fame. We need the support of all 125,000 UT alumni to make this happen.”

“Chuck is a great asset to Toledo and has brought national recognition and accolades to our alma mater, to the city, our football program and to the MAC, and for that reason we won’t give up until we are successful,” adds Matt Armstead (A/S ’95), project partner. “Our plan is to work this effort until Chuck is inducted.”

UT successfully completes NCAA athletics recertification process

T

he University of Toledo has been formally certified without conditions following the successful review of an extensive, university-wide self-study, according to the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification.

The purpose of athletics certification is to ensure integrity in educational institutions’ athletics program and to assist institutions in improving their athletics departments. NCAA legislation mandating athletics certification was adopted in 1993. The certification process, which involves a self-study led by an institution’s president or chancellor, includes a review of these primary components: governance and

4

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

commitment to rules compliance; academic integrity; equity; and studentathlete well-being.

“I am extremely pleased that our athletics program has been certified,” says UT Athletic Director Mike O’Brien. “The result of our successful self-study verified that UT athletics meets or exceeds all applicable NCAA standards for Division I athletics. While the certification review process was certainly intensive and comprehensive, it provided a wonderful opportunity to review our principal operating procedures and ensure the integrity of our mission within the broader framework of the University.”

— Paul Helgren, athletics media relations

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

UT

has two new head basketball coaches: former Evansville head coach Tricia Cullop for women's roundball, and former Notre Dame assistant Gene Cross for men’s.

Cullop built Evansville into one of the best programs in the Missouri Valley Conference in her eight years as head coach, guiding her teams to a 73-48 record over the past four seasons. For her achievements, Cullop was named the Missouri Valley Coach of the Year last season.

“Tricia is a proven winner at the Division I level,” says UT Athletic Director Mike O'Brien. “She has built the University of Evansville into a consistent title contender. Her teams have excelled on the court, in the classroom and in the community.”

“I'm ecstatic about the opportunity to be the head coach at The University of Toledo,” Cullop says. “Toledo has everything — a beautiful campus, a very supportive administration, and all the amenities that make it a great place for student-athletes to grow and prosper.

“One of the most attractive things about the UT women’s basketball program is its extremely loyal fan base. As we improve the program, I expect more fans will come out and support us and make the new Savage Hall a fantastic home-court advantage.”

Cross was an assistant coach/ recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame under Head Coach Mike Brey for the past two years. In both seasons, the Fighting Irish qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

“Gene has all the characteristics we are looking for in a head coach,” O’Brien says. “He is a bright, hard-working young man with a great love for the game of basketball. He has been associated with programs that have been consistently outstanding on the basketball court, and also have a strong emphasis on academics and personal integrity. I think Gene is a perfect fit.”

Brey, head coach at Notre Dame, says, “I’m really excited for Toledo and for Gene Cross. He’s been ready to be a head coach the last couple of years, but was waiting for the right situation and certainly Toledo is that. Gene is the kind of guy you would want your son or daughter to play for.”

“I’m excited about joining the tradition of Toledo basketball. I look forward to building on that tradition and taking the program to the next step,” says Cross, who was named one of the top 25 recruiters in college basketball by Rivals. com.

— Paul Helgren

Cullop

Cross

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

5

Toledo: traditional & un

Fresh faces lead UT women’s, men’s basketball

‘Induct Chuck’ gaining momentum

W

hether you were one of the Rockets fans who saw Chuck Ealey (Bus ’72) set his threeseason, still-unbeaten 35-0 record, or whether you’re interested in due recognition for football’s best, you need to join the effort to “Induct Chuck.” Into the College Football Hall of Fame, that is.

As the campaign’s Web site — www. inductchuck.com/ — explains, despite multiple nominations to the College Football Hall of Fame, Ealey was excluded from the

National Football Foundation’s screening process due to what many see as a technicality.

The “Induct Chuck” project aims to put things right. “Since our launch in October 2007, we've had nearly 3,000 people across nine countries sign the petition,” says organizer Rick Longenecker (Bus ’86, MBA ’88). “It’s amazing how many lives Chuck Ealey has touched.

“The next phase of our campaign is

aimed at getting endorsements from highprofile college football coaches and athletics directors, conference commissioners, media representatives and inductees in the College Football Hall of Fame. We need the support of all 125,000 UT alumni to make this happen.”

“Chuck is a great asset to Toledo and has brought national recognition and accolades to our alma mater, to the city, our football program and to the MAC, and for that reason we won’t give up until we are successful,” adds Matt Armstead (A/S ’95), project partner. “Our plan is to work this effort until Chuck is inducted.”

UT successfully completes NCAA athletics recertification process

T

he University of Toledo has been formally certified without conditions following the successful review of an extensive, university-wide self-study, according to the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification.

The purpose of athletics certification is to ensure integrity in educational institutions’ athletics program and to assist institutions in improving their athletics departments. NCAA legislation mandating athletics certification was adopted in 1993. The certification process, which involves a self-study led by an institution’s president or chancellor, includes a review of these primary components: governance and

4

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

commitment to rules compliance; academic integrity; equity; and studentathlete well-being.

“I am extremely pleased that our athletics program has been certified,” says UT Athletic Director Mike O’Brien. “The result of our successful self-study verified that UT athletics meets or exceeds all applicable NCAA standards for Division I athletics. While the certification review process was certainly intensive and comprehensive, it provided a wonderful opportunity to review our principal operating procedures and ensure the integrity of our mission within the broader framework of the University.”

— Paul Helgren, athletics media relations

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

UT

has two new head basketball coaches: former Evansville head coach Tricia Cullop for women's roundball, and former Notre Dame assistant Gene Cross for men’s.

Cullop built Evansville into one of the best programs in the Missouri Valley Conference in her eight years as head coach, guiding her teams to a 73-48 record over the past four seasons. For her achievements, Cullop was named the Missouri Valley Coach of the Year last season.

“Tricia is a proven winner at the Division I level,” says UT Athletic Director Mike O'Brien. “She has built the University of Evansville into a consistent title contender. Her teams have excelled on the court, in the classroom and in the community.”

“I'm ecstatic about the opportunity to be the head coach at The University of Toledo,” Cullop says. “Toledo has everything — a beautiful campus, a very supportive administration, and all the amenities that make it a great place for student-athletes to grow and prosper.

“One of the most attractive things about the UT women’s basketball program is its extremely loyal fan base. As we improve the program, I expect more fans will come out and support us and make the new Savage Hall a fantastic home-court advantage.”

Cross was an assistant coach/ recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame under Head Coach Mike Brey for the past two years. In both seasons, the Fighting Irish qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

“Gene has all the characteristics we are looking for in a head coach,” O’Brien says. “He is a bright, hard-working young man with a great love for the game of basketball. He has been associated with programs that have been consistently outstanding on the basketball court, and also have a strong emphasis on academics and personal integrity. I think Gene is a perfect fit.”

Brey, head coach at Notre Dame, says, “I’m really excited for Toledo and for Gene Cross. He’s been ready to be a head coach the last couple of years, but was waiting for the right situation and certainly Toledo is that. Gene is the kind of guy you would want your son or daughter to play for.”

“I’m excited about joining the tradition of Toledo basketball. I look forward to building on that tradition and taking the program to the next step,” says Cross, who was named one of the top 25 recruiters in college basketball by Rivals. com.

— Paul Helgren

Cullop

Cross

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

5

Toledo: traditional & un

Pumping new lifeblood into former UT building

Y

Alumni chapters for year-round events

G

ou might say that UT was promoting

ood times with fellow UT alumni might be as close as your local chapter. Check the list at right for cities with active chapters and contact their leaders if you’d like to get involved.

You can always find the latest chapter news online at www.toledoalumni.org (click Alumni Events) or by calling the Alumni Office at 419.530.2586 or 800.235.6766.

the lifeblood of northwest Ohio with the sale of the former Medical

University of Ohio Foundation building to the American Red Cross. The structure and its six-acre site, located on the Health Science Campus, will become a Red Cross regional blood distribution center, replacing the Red

Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) have been working

James Diserio

stknrocket@aol.com

San Diego

Judy & Bruce Bailey

Los Angeles Carolyn Mabie San Diego Don King

Central Florida Robert B. Beers South Florida/Goldcoast Bill McClure

Southwest Florida David L. Jones Suncoast/Tampa Bay Rob Reifert

Carolinas

Joe Costello

Fort Wayne, Ind.

Jason Kuchmay

Indianapolis Doug Rammel New England (Boston) Cliff Porter

together on the project for at least two years,

Detroit Rich & Stephanie Schneider

according to Donald Baker, chief executive

Detroit Dr. Thomas Wakefield

Lifeblood central. Architectural rendering of new distribution center.

Las Vegas Donovan Nichols

New York City Rick Longenecker Cleveland Ken Haynik

“Dr. Jacobs, Congresswoman Kaptur and

Columbus Laura Abu-Absi

their teams did a marvelous job of giving us

Columbus

various options for the new facility. They

distribution of blood products to 23 hospitals

partnership that is keeping a vital service in

wanted to offer us something that would

in 11 counties, in addition to serving as a

the Toledo area,” says UT president Lloyd

enable us to continue our life-saving mission,”

regional training facility. An opening date of

Jacobs. “I’m proud that UT was able to help

Baker says.

early 2009 is planned.

facilitate a project that fits in so closely with

The new and renovated headquarters

our own mission of improving the human

will be a hub for the collection and

Golden Gate (San Francisco)

Chicago Michael Cunningham

The Red Cross, UT and Congresswoman

e-mail

Atlanta Raymond Cobb

headquarters near downtown Toledo.

Western Lake Erie Region.

chapter leaders

Atlanta Sandy Gerten

Cross’ Western Lake Erie Region Blood Services

officer, American Red Cross Blood Services’

Chapter name

Phoenix Lorraine M. Hansen

“The new Red Cross blood services

headquarters is a great example of a

Joanna Ellwood

Columbus Kimberley Cromwel Miami Valley (Dayton, Ohio) David Paprocki Queen City (Cincinnati) Bob Buchman

Queen City (Cincinnati) Dave Mathews

Sandusky Bay, Ohio Thomas M. Brown Philadelphia Ron Greller Philadelphia

Jenanne Asad

Dallas Kytari Chapman

condition.”

Houston Thomas L. Gee Houston Adam Scharf

Washington, D.C. Thomas M. Wochok

Hard-driving Rocket. Head Women’s Golf Coach Nicole Hollingsworth models the attention-getting UT Rocket head cover, a first for our beloved mascot. Sales of the $30 cover, which fits most drivers, directly support UT, with 100 percent of the proceeds going back to the women’s golf program. “Our number-one goal for this fundraiser is to travel to Hawaii for a major 2009 tournament,” says Hollingsworth. To purchase, e-mail her at nicole.hollingsworth@utoledo.edu or call 419.530.7761.

Toledoans can find the covers for sale at Highland Meadows Golf Club, Inverness Club, Maumee Sports Mall, Sylvania Country Club, Stone Oak Country Club, Toledo Country Club and South Toledo Golf Club (419.385.4678); the last will ship anywhere, with an additional $10 for shipping and handling.

6

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

lorraine.hansen@us.henkel.com

oheyjude@san.rr.com

dhkeng1@sbcglobal.net mbeer65745@aol.com

bill@shoppingcentersolutionsllc.com djones3628@comcast.net rgr333@yahoo.com

sandygerten@charter.net ray@insidegwinnett.com jcostello@pikapp.org

mcunningham@standardparking.com jxk@beckmanlawson.com

doug.rammel@reebok.com cporter@rivulet.com

rich_schneider@ameritech.net thomasww@med.umich.edu

donovantnichols@gmail.com

rlongenecker@armaturegroup.com kenhaynik@yahoo.com

laura.abuabsi@ohr.state.oh.us ellwoodj@ohiodominican.edu

kimberly.cromwell@nationwidechildrens.org david.paprocki@billback.com

bob.buchman@tema.toyota.com dave.mathews@balluff.com pcmayor@portclinton.org morrisiron@hotmail.com

dolphinupenn@yahoo.com

superluckycatinlove@yahoo.com tom.gee@weatherford.com ascharf@eng.utoledo.edu

thomas.wochok@hacdlaw.com

Summer homers. A White Sox game is just one activity among many enjoyed by the UT Chicago Chapter. Left to right are Steve (Eng ’02) and Kelly (A/S ’01) Gallat, Chris Plunkett (Bus ’03) and Andy Nordstrom (A/S ’01). www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

7

Toledo: traditional & un

Pumping new lifeblood into former UT building

Y

Alumni chapters for year-round events

G

ou might say that UT was promoting

ood times with fellow UT alumni might be as close as your local chapter. Check the list at right for cities with active chapters and contact their leaders if you’d like to get involved.

You can always find the latest chapter news online at www.toledoalumni.org (click Alumni Events) or by calling the Alumni Office at 419.530.2586 or 800.235.6766.

the lifeblood of northwest Ohio with the sale of the former Medical

University of Ohio Foundation building to the American Red Cross. The structure and its six-acre site, located on the Health Science Campus, will become a Red Cross regional blood distribution center, replacing the Red

Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) have been working

James Diserio

stknrocket@aol.com

San Diego

Judy & Bruce Bailey

Los Angeles Carolyn Mabie San Diego Don King

Central Florida Robert B. Beers South Florida/Goldcoast Bill McClure

Southwest Florida David L. Jones Suncoast/Tampa Bay Rob Reifert

Carolinas

Joe Costello

Fort Wayne, Ind.

Jason Kuchmay

Indianapolis Doug Rammel New England (Boston) Cliff Porter

together on the project for at least two years,

Detroit Rich & Stephanie Schneider

according to Donald Baker, chief executive

Detroit Dr. Thomas Wakefield

Lifeblood central. Architectural rendering of new distribution center.

Las Vegas Donovan Nichols

New York City Rick Longenecker Cleveland Ken Haynik

“Dr. Jacobs, Congresswoman Kaptur and

Columbus Laura Abu-Absi

their teams did a marvelous job of giving us

Columbus

various options for the new facility. They

distribution of blood products to 23 hospitals

partnership that is keeping a vital service in

wanted to offer us something that would

in 11 counties, in addition to serving as a

the Toledo area,” says UT president Lloyd

enable us to continue our life-saving mission,”

regional training facility. An opening date of

Jacobs. “I’m proud that UT was able to help

Baker says.

early 2009 is planned.

facilitate a project that fits in so closely with

The new and renovated headquarters

our own mission of improving the human

will be a hub for the collection and

Golden Gate (San Francisco)

Chicago Michael Cunningham

The Red Cross, UT and Congresswoman

e-mail

Atlanta Raymond Cobb

headquarters near downtown Toledo.

Western Lake Erie Region.

chapter leaders

Atlanta Sandy Gerten

Cross’ Western Lake Erie Region Blood Services

officer, American Red Cross Blood Services’

Chapter name

Phoenix Lorraine M. Hansen

“The new Red Cross blood services

headquarters is a great example of a

Joanna Ellwood

Columbus Kimberley Cromwel Miami Valley (Dayton, Ohio) David Paprocki Queen City (Cincinnati) Bob Buchman

Queen City (Cincinnati) Dave Mathews

Sandusky Bay, Ohio Thomas M. Brown Philadelphia Ron Greller Philadelphia

Jenanne Asad

Dallas Kytari Chapman

condition.”

Houston Thomas L. Gee Houston Adam Scharf

Washington, D.C. Thomas M. Wochok

Hard-driving Rocket. Head Women’s Golf Coach Nicole Hollingsworth models the attention-getting UT Rocket head cover, a first for our beloved mascot. Sales of the $30 cover, which fits most drivers, directly support UT, with 100 percent of the proceeds going back to the women’s golf program. “Our number-one goal for this fundraiser is to travel to Hawaii for a major 2009 tournament,” says Hollingsworth. To purchase, e-mail her at nicole.hollingsworth@utoledo.edu or call 419.530.7761.

Toledoans can find the covers for sale at Highland Meadows Golf Club, Inverness Club, Maumee Sports Mall, Sylvania Country Club, Stone Oak Country Club, Toledo Country Club and South Toledo Golf Club (419.385.4678); the last will ship anywhere, with an additional $10 for shipping and handling.

6

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

lorraine.hansen@us.henkel.com

oheyjude@san.rr.com

dhkeng1@sbcglobal.net mbeer65745@aol.com

bill@shoppingcentersolutionsllc.com djones3628@comcast.net rgr333@yahoo.com

sandygerten@charter.net ray@insidegwinnett.com jcostello@pikapp.org

mcunningham@standardparking.com jxk@beckmanlawson.com

doug.rammel@reebok.com cporter@rivulet.com

rich_schneider@ameritech.net thomasww@med.umich.edu

donovantnichols@gmail.com

rlongenecker@armaturegroup.com kenhaynik@yahoo.com

laura.abuabsi@ohr.state.oh.us ellwoodj@ohiodominican.edu

kimberly.cromwell@nationwidechildrens.org david.paprocki@billback.com

bob.buchman@tema.toyota.com dave.mathews@balluff.com pcmayor@portclinton.org morrisiron@hotmail.com

dolphinupenn@yahoo.com

superluckycatinlove@yahoo.com tom.gee@weatherford.com ascharf@eng.utoledo.edu

thomas.wochok@hacdlaw.com

Summer homers. A White Sox game is just one activity among many enjoyed by the UT Chicago Chapter. Left to right are Steve (Eng ’02) and Kelly (A/S ’01) Gallat, Chris Plunkett (Bus ’03) and Andy Nordstrom (A/S ’01). www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

7

UT research on the edge

Here’s looking at you, kid Do beautiful people have beautiful marriages? That’s what researchers (including Lisa Neff PhD

Best ACL injury defense? Prediction!

of UT’s Department of Psychology) hoped to answer when they worked with a sampling

More high school and college women athletes suffer

of married couples to

knee injuries involving the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than their male counterparts. How the process

discover whether physical

occurs and who is most at risk remain unclear.

attractiveness could be

Carmen Quatman, a fourth-year UT MD/PhD

associated with successful

student, is working on the development of a

marriages. The study

mathematical model to crack the

suggested that on the whole,

biomechanics of ACL injuries, that painful

husbands’ and wives’ expressed

bane of basketball and soccer athletes.

marital satisfaction seemed to be

Working with Dr. Vijay Goel, adjunct

unaffected by their partners’

professor of orthopedic surgery, and researchers at Cincinnati Children’s

level of attractiveness on an

Hospital Sports Medicine Biodynamics

absolute scale. However,

Center, Quatman is funded by a grant

it was notable that when

from the American College of Sports

discussing important

Medicine Foundation. The goal is a three-

marital issues with their

dimensional model of an ACL injury that may better calculate stress and force on the ligament, thus giving scientists the ability to

partners, spouses tended to display more positive communication behaviors when

Counterattack on wounds of war Battlefield wounds attack with a one-two punch. First is the wounds’ potential for infection, hemorrhage and shock, and the frequent presence of burns or fractures.

Second is the frequent association of combat-related wounds with complications: bones that don’t knit together, limbs that become shortened or deformed.

Offering a double-fisted response, Abdul-Majeed Azad PhD, an associate professor in UT’s Chemical Engineering Department, is working to develop a new treatment for potentially infected combat-related wounds, and a biocompatible material capable of enhancing bone regeneration. Titanium dioxide, with its well-known photoactive antimicrobial attributes, seems to fit the bill. Its fibers might be electrospun

predict who is at risk and guiding physicians in

wives were more attractive than their husbands. When

into breathable mats or grown onto titanium (pure or

protecting vulnerable athletes.

the husbands were more attractive, both spouses’

alloyed) implants; both modes, Azad believes, can

communication behaviors were more negative. Social causes? Evolutionary? Whatever the reasons, it looks

deliver healing where it’s needed — preventing infection and stabilizing bone implants.

like mirrors remain a household necessity.

8

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008 9

UT research on the edge

Here’s looking at you, kid Do beautiful people have beautiful marriages? That’s what researchers (including Lisa Neff PhD

Best ACL injury defense? Prediction!

of UT’s Department of Psychology) hoped to answer when they worked with a sampling

More high school and college women athletes suffer

of married couples to

knee injuries involving the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than their male counterparts. How the process

discover whether physical

occurs and who is most at risk remain unclear.

attractiveness could be

Carmen Quatman, a fourth-year UT MD/PhD

associated with successful

student, is working on the development of a

marriages. The study

mathematical model to crack the

suggested that on the whole,

biomechanics of ACL injuries, that painful

husbands’ and wives’ expressed

bane of basketball and soccer athletes.

marital satisfaction seemed to be

Working with Dr. Vijay Goel, adjunct

unaffected by their partners’

professor of orthopedic surgery, and researchers at Cincinnati Children’s

level of attractiveness on an

Hospital Sports Medicine Biodynamics

absolute scale. However,

Center, Quatman is funded by a grant

it was notable that when

from the American College of Sports

discussing important

Medicine Foundation. The goal is a three-

marital issues with their

dimensional model of an ACL injury that may better calculate stress and force on the ligament, thus giving scientists the ability to

partners, spouses tended to display more positive communication behaviors when

Counterattack on wounds of war Battlefield wounds attack with a one-two punch. First is the wounds’ potential for infection, hemorrhage and shock, and the frequent presence of burns or fractures.

Second is the frequent association of combat-related wounds with complications: bones that don’t knit together, limbs that become shortened or deformed.

Offering a double-fisted response, Abdul-Majeed Azad PhD, an associate professor in UT’s Chemical Engineering Department, is working to develop a new treatment for potentially infected combat-related wounds, and a biocompatible material capable of enhancing bone regeneration. Titanium dioxide, with its well-known photoactive antimicrobial attributes, seems to fit the bill. Its fibers might be electrospun

predict who is at risk and guiding physicians in

wives were more attractive than their husbands. When

into breathable mats or grown onto titanium (pure or

protecting vulnerable athletes.

the husbands were more attractive, both spouses’

alloyed) implants; both modes, Azad believes, can

communication behaviors were more negative. Social causes? Evolutionary? Whatever the reasons, it looks

deliver healing where it’s needed — preventing infection and stabilizing bone implants.

like mirrors remain a household necessity.

8

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008 9

Facilitating the gift of life Dacia Neal (HS ’06) is used to 26-hour work days.

It’s part of the territory that goes with organ donation. As a certified procurement transplant coordinator with Life Connection of Ohio, Neal knows that each all-nighter she pulls has the potential to remake tragedy into a shot at life.

Perhaps more demanding than the workload — being on call, handling cases that can go into the wee hours — is the gut issue. She’s more than a bystander; the death she sees often becomes personal. “My job can get emotional, and when I’m working with families of donors, I’ll feel like it’s my child or my parent who’s lying there,” she says.

Although each story she can tell differs in the details, they all begin in much the same way. “A hospital makes a triage call to our referral line, telling us that there’s a patient meeting criteria for potential donation set by the federal government.

“One of our coordinators will go out and review the patient’s medical records to see if there’s medical suitability for being a donor. If there is, we will continue to follow the patient from a distance, just check on him or her once a day. If a brain death declaration is going to be made or if the family decides to withdraw life support, then we will go back to the hospital and approach the family about organ donation.”

Neal will make such an approach whether or not there’s a signed donation form filed at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), she says. “If the patient did sign the BMV form, we ask the family to help us honor the wishes of their loved one. We can show them the printout of the BMV slip, which the hospital does not have access to.”

Initiating that first conversation with the family is the hardest part of her job, Neal admits. “In some instances, their loved one has been in the hospital for a week, so the family is

10

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

aware of the prognosis. Others have come in with an unexpected event like an accident or cardiac arrest. Once you get conversation started, though, things just seem to go along.”

Many family objections are familiar to her: Will it be costly?

(No, there’s no cost to the family for the donation process.) Will the body be disfigured in any way? (No, and an open-casket ceremony is still possible.) What organs can be donated? (Solid organs include heart, kidney, liver, lungs and pancreas; tissue donations include bone, cartilage, skin, cornea and heart valves.)

“A big objection is ‘We don’t want him to feel any pain,’” Neal says. “I explain to them what brain death means, how the required tests determine that sensitivity to pain has been lost.”

The biggest myth regarding organ donation, she says, “is when someone says, ‘Doctors won’t do as much to save my life if they know I’m an organ donor.’” In truth, no one is considered as a donor until declared legally dead. Dispelling such misconceptions is part of Neal’s work.

So is assisting with understanding a physician’s prognosis, which can be new territory for a family, Neal says. “That’s the first question we have for them. If the family doesn’t understand what brain death means, they’re much less likely to go ahead with donation because they don’t understand that their loved one is legally dead.”

Neal has still another job mode as liaison between transplant centers and recipients of other organ procurement organizations nationwide. That also means acting as the conduit between surgeons as medical information is exchanged. In sum, a demanding job, but for Neal, “It’s the best one in the world!

“You know, a full recovery of organs can save up to eight lives. Many families say, ‘Thank you for allowing my child or my husband to save lives; thank you for asking.’ Or we hear, ‘The donation process helped my grief.’

“This work is so great.”

Before entering the field, Neal admits, “I didn’t even know

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Neal with memory quilt made by staff, using commemorative squares contributed by family and friends of organ donors

it existed.” After finishing a bachelor’s degree in management and organizational development, she happened upon the Human Donation Science Program at the former MUO. Things clicked; she received a full scholarship through the Foundation for the Science of Human Donation.

She praises the program, the only one in the nation, for its approach: “It gives you the real-world of what you’ll be doing: the kind of hours you’ll be working, the kind of calls you’ll be making, the kind of lifestyle changes you’ll be living.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

“You use every class you take. I was well-prepared for my certification exam, which you take after being in the field a year.”

Now certified and in her third year at Life Connection of Ohio, she sees a rising tide: “With more than 99,000 people in the United States on the transplant list, there’s a need for coordinators. Our hope is that every family is given the option to donate.”

Information on organ donation is available at www.donatelife. net; in Ohio, check www.donatelifeohio.org.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

11

Facilitating the gift of life Dacia Neal (HS ’06) is used to 26-hour work days.

It’s part of the territory that goes with organ donation. As a certified procurement transplant coordinator with Life Connection of Ohio, Neal knows that each all-nighter she pulls has the potential to remake tragedy into a shot at life.

Perhaps more demanding than the workload — being on call, handling cases that can go into the wee hours — is the gut issue. She’s more than a bystander; the death she sees often becomes personal. “My job can get emotional, and when I’m working with families of donors, I’ll feel like it’s my child or my parent who’s lying there,” she says.

Although each story she can tell differs in the details, they all begin in much the same way. “A hospital makes a triage call to our referral line, telling us that there’s a patient meeting criteria for potential donation set by the federal government.

“One of our coordinators will go out and review the patient’s medical records to see if there’s medical suitability for being a donor. If there is, we will continue to follow the patient from a distance, just check on him or her once a day. If a brain death declaration is going to be made or if the family decides to withdraw life support, then we will go back to the hospital and approach the family about organ donation.”

Neal will make such an approach whether or not there’s a signed donation form filed at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), she says. “If the patient did sign the BMV form, we ask the family to help us honor the wishes of their loved one. We can show them the printout of the BMV slip, which the hospital does not have access to.”

Initiating that first conversation with the family is the hardest part of her job, Neal admits. “In some instances, their loved one has been in the hospital for a week, so the family is

10

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

aware of the prognosis. Others have come in with an unexpected event like an accident or cardiac arrest. Once you get conversation started, though, things just seem to go along.”

Many family objections are familiar to her: Will it be costly?

(No, there’s no cost to the family for the donation process.) Will the body be disfigured in any way? (No, and an open-casket ceremony is still possible.) What organs can be donated? (Solid organs include heart, kidney, liver, lungs and pancreas; tissue donations include bone, cartilage, skin, cornea and heart valves.)

“A big objection is ‘We don’t want him to feel any pain,’” Neal says. “I explain to them what brain death means, how the required tests determine that sensitivity to pain has been lost.”

The biggest myth regarding organ donation, she says, “is when someone says, ‘Doctors won’t do as much to save my life if they know I’m an organ donor.’” In truth, no one is considered as a donor until declared legally dead. Dispelling such misconceptions is part of Neal’s work.

So is assisting with understanding a physician’s prognosis, which can be new territory for a family, Neal says. “That’s the first question we have for them. If the family doesn’t understand what brain death means, they’re much less likely to go ahead with donation because they don’t understand that their loved one is legally dead.”

Neal has still another job mode as liaison between transplant centers and recipients of other organ procurement organizations nationwide. That also means acting as the conduit between surgeons as medical information is exchanged. In sum, a demanding job, but for Neal, “It’s the best one in the world!

“You know, a full recovery of organs can save up to eight lives. Many families say, ‘Thank you for allowing my child or my husband to save lives; thank you for asking.’ Or we hear, ‘The donation process helped my grief.’

“This work is so great.”

Before entering the field, Neal admits, “I didn’t even know

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Neal with memory quilt made by staff, using commemorative squares contributed by family and friends of organ donors

it existed.” After finishing a bachelor’s degree in management and organizational development, she happened upon the Human Donation Science Program at the former MUO. Things clicked; she received a full scholarship through the Foundation for the Science of Human Donation.

She praises the program, the only one in the nation, for its approach: “It gives you the real-world of what you’ll be doing: the kind of hours you’ll be working, the kind of calls you’ll be making, the kind of lifestyle changes you’ll be living.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

“You use every class you take. I was well-prepared for my certification exam, which you take after being in the field a year.”

Now certified and in her third year at Life Connection of Ohio, she sees a rising tide: “With more than 99,000 people in the United States on the transplant list, there’s a need for coordinators. Our hope is that every family is given the option to donate.”

Information on organ donation is available at www.donatelife. net; in Ohio, check www.donatelifeohio.org.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

11

Rebuilding bodies, rebuilding lives

by Kim Harvey

John Hays (Eng ’92) had been designing prosthetic components for a few years when he discovered something significant: He received more satisfaction from interacting with people who benefited from his creations than from designing the components themselves.

“I was working for a manufacturer of prosthetic components as a design engineer,” Hays recalls. “The company started a program that allowed us to ‘field test’ our devices with actual patients. The first time I worked with a patient, I knew it was something I wanted to do more.”

After nearly 10 years with the company, Hays branched out to form his own business, Ace Prosthetics Inc., in Columbus.

He is the owner, operator and sole employee, and his cell phone often rings at odd hours. Patient Alvin Littleton, who grasps parallel bars while testing his prosthetic leg in Ace’s rehabilitation area, illustrates the fact by recollecting a recent mishap.

“John was here when we called on New Year’s Eve because I broke my [prosthetic] foot,” said Littleton, of Chillicothe, Ohio.

“Even though he was supposed to go out of town, he came in to fit another foot so I could get around.”

12

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Littleton is one of about 50 patients Hays has assisted since Ace Prosthetics opened in 2006. Littleton’s left leg was crushed during an industrial accident. When it was amputated a few days later, Hays was in the operating room. Hays fit Littleton with a rigid dressing, or Immediate Post-Operative Prosthesis (IPOP). The IPOP protected the newly amputated area and, in Littleton’s case, protected a bridge structure surgically created between the two bones of his lower leg.

“When Alvin woke up from surgery, he saw that he still had two feet,” Hays says.

Since the accident, numerous prosthetic devices have been tested to perfect one that will allow Littleton to resume his lifestyle, Hays says. “Eventually, Alvin will be able to bear full weight on his prosthetic leg. He’ll be able to walk, run, work and do whatever he wants. He’s even asked me if there’s a leg he can wear to climb trees.”

Most of Hays’ patients have incurred traumatic injuries from automobile or industrial accidents, although he treats people whose limbs have been amputated due to disease as well. He has fit an amputee with wounds caused by combat in Iraq. Although their injuries require individualized treatment, Hays has a motto that applies to all, as listed on his Web site, www.aceprosthetics. com: “The patient will always take first priority.”

“My big thing is customer service,” he says. “If you call me in the morning, I want to know how early you can get here so we can get to work.”

Since he fabricates the prosthetics in an on-site shop, he often can have a device ready overnight, which benefits patients who seek his services from as far as western Michigan and eastern Pennsylvania.

Hays has the brain of an engineer, but his heart and positive demeanor are what he feels set him apart from others in the field.

“When people have lost a limb, they sometimes need help dealing with the emotional effects,” he notes. “Alvin had a little trouble in the beginning because he wondered what might have happened if he’d made the decision to keep his leg. www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Hays on duty; note reflection at right

“I encourage newer patients to come in when there’s a more established patient here who’s doing well. Sometimes I’ll schedule appointments that overlap, so they can talk to each other and the newer patient can ask questions.”

When completing his bachelor’s degree at UT in the early 1990s, Hays realized he would use his education in a manner different from his peers.

“Back then, the auto industry in Detroit was looking for engineers to produce anti-lock brakes,” he remembers. “A lot of my classmates were going there for engineering jobs. I knew I didn’t want to make brakes.”

He earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Akron and began his career creating artificial devices that mimicked human limbs. He is now a licensed and www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

certified prosthetist.

Hays’ reputation has created a unique professional relationship with Columbus-area surgeons. Some prefer that Hays be present during amputations to offer his perceptions.

“Sometimes, in surgery, the doctor will turn to me and say, ‘I’m thinking of leaving this. What do you think?’” Hays said.

When asked to recall a person who most affirms his decision to form his own company, he doesn’t hesitate: “I have a patient who was in a motorcycle accident with her husband. She is an amputee above the knee. When she came into the office for delivery of her first prosthesis, her grandson was pushing her in a wheelchair. After the fitting with her new leg was complete, she put her grandson in the wheelchair and pushed him out of here.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

13

Rebuilding bodies, rebuilding lives

by Kim Harvey

John Hays (Eng ’92) had been designing prosthetic components for a few years when he discovered something significant: He received more satisfaction from interacting with people who benefited from his creations than from designing the components themselves.

“I was working for a manufacturer of prosthetic components as a design engineer,” Hays recalls. “The company started a program that allowed us to ‘field test’ our devices with actual patients. The first time I worked with a patient, I knew it was something I wanted to do more.”

After nearly 10 years with the company, Hays branched out to form his own business, Ace Prosthetics Inc., in Columbus.

He is the owner, operator and sole employee, and his cell phone often rings at odd hours. Patient Alvin Littleton, who grasps parallel bars while testing his prosthetic leg in Ace’s rehabilitation area, illustrates the fact by recollecting a recent mishap.

“John was here when we called on New Year’s Eve because I broke my [prosthetic] foot,” said Littleton, of Chillicothe, Ohio.

“Even though he was supposed to go out of town, he came in to fit another foot so I could get around.”

12

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Littleton is one of about 50 patients Hays has assisted since Ace Prosthetics opened in 2006. Littleton’s left leg was crushed during an industrial accident. When it was amputated a few days later, Hays was in the operating room. Hays fit Littleton with a rigid dressing, or Immediate Post-Operative Prosthesis (IPOP). The IPOP protected the newly amputated area and, in Littleton’s case, protected a bridge structure surgically created between the two bones of his lower leg.

“When Alvin woke up from surgery, he saw that he still had two feet,” Hays says.

Since the accident, numerous prosthetic devices have been tested to perfect one that will allow Littleton to resume his lifestyle, Hays says. “Eventually, Alvin will be able to bear full weight on his prosthetic leg. He’ll be able to walk, run, work and do whatever he wants. He’s even asked me if there’s a leg he can wear to climb trees.”

Most of Hays’ patients have incurred traumatic injuries from automobile or industrial accidents, although he treats people whose limbs have been amputated due to disease as well. He has fit an amputee with wounds caused by combat in Iraq. Although their injuries require individualized treatment, Hays has a motto that applies to all, as listed on his Web site, www.aceprosthetics. com: “The patient will always take first priority.”

“My big thing is customer service,” he says. “If you call me in the morning, I want to know how early you can get here so we can get to work.”

Since he fabricates the prosthetics in an on-site shop, he often can have a device ready overnight, which benefits patients who seek his services from as far as western Michigan and eastern Pennsylvania.

Hays has the brain of an engineer, but his heart and positive demeanor are what he feels set him apart from others in the field.

“When people have lost a limb, they sometimes need help dealing with the emotional effects,” he notes. “Alvin had a little trouble in the beginning because he wondered what might have happened if he’d made the decision to keep his leg. www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Hays on duty; note reflection at right

“I encourage newer patients to come in when there’s a more established patient here who’s doing well. Sometimes I’ll schedule appointments that overlap, so they can talk to each other and the newer patient can ask questions.”

When completing his bachelor’s degree at UT in the early 1990s, Hays realized he would use his education in a manner different from his peers.

“Back then, the auto industry in Detroit was looking for engineers to produce anti-lock brakes,” he remembers. “A lot of my classmates were going there for engineering jobs. I knew I didn’t want to make brakes.”

He earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Akron and began his career creating artificial devices that mimicked human limbs. He is now a licensed and www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

certified prosthetist.

Hays’ reputation has created a unique professional relationship with Columbus-area surgeons. Some prefer that Hays be present during amputations to offer his perceptions.

“Sometimes, in surgery, the doctor will turn to me and say, ‘I’m thinking of leaving this. What do you think?’” Hays said.

When asked to recall a person who most affirms his decision to form his own company, he doesn’t hesitate: “I have a patient who was in a motorcycle accident with her husband. She is an amputee above the knee. When she came into the office for delivery of her first prosthesis, her grandson was pushing her in a wheelchair. After the fitting with her new leg was complete, she put her grandson in the wheelchair and pushed him out of here.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

13

UT’s intellectual capital percolates through the community, but there’s another trove that opens up when faculty and staff pursue their off-hours bliss.

Catch a gem-like flash of

Dave Mariasy

their expertise as we uncover

The unexpected treasures of UT

Dave Mariasy’s company, Team Audio (www.audiorestoration.com), was in the middle of Toledo’s biggest news story at the time of this interview — albeit behind the scenes. During the trial of three local men for alleged terrorism activities, Mariasy’s specialty of audio forensics made him a hot commodity.

The government’s case against the men included “about three hundred hours of audio tapes, together with video and a whole lot of other stuff that needed to be processed,” Mariasy says. “We’re the librarians, really, appointed by the federal court to collect, catalogue and codify everything the prosecution put up, then clone sets for the dozen law firms involved.”

Mariasy’s expertise — audio forensics — doesn’t necessarily mean CSI-type wizardry, although his company was a consultant to the popular show in its early days. “In some forensics cases, we’ll work to enhance recorded audio so it can be understood, then transcribe the conversations,” he explains. “We’re working right now on a traffic case where the car occupants are talking very fast over each other in a West Virginia accent, so you have

By Cynthia Nowak and Vicki L. Kroll

14

Photos by Daniel Miller

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

music technology lecturer in Department of Music

Audio forensics

ninety minutes of audio that’s very difficult to decipher. It’ll take us the better part of a week.”

In other cases, the company works within the criminal justice system — for prosecutors and defenders — and with civil cases. “We can put material online so that people with clearance can access it,” he says.

He went national on The Today Show and Dateline NBC as an expert in the JonBenét Ramsey case, long after it had gone cold.

“NBC got hold of the original 911 recording made by the girl’s mother,” Mariasy says. “It had been locked up until then. They said, ‘Do what you normally do.’

“It was not fun to listen to, but we enhanced it, listened to it forward, backward and inside-out.”

What the network was seeking, it turned out, was confirmation that there was no sound after Mrs. Ramsey ended the call; one of the case’s original detectives had alleged the presence of background voices. A New York audio studio and the FBI concurred with Mariasy.

Mariasy’s most famous client was probably Mother Teresa — or rather, her longtime collaborator, Fr. Angelo Devananda Scolozzi. “Over the years, he made many microcassette recordings during their travels,” Dave says. “Through my good friend, client and tenant, Jim Vandenberg of Ohio Media, I got the gig to put them all on CD for just the cost of the materials.

“I figured I’d get my reward in the next world.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

15

UT’s intellectual capital percolates through the community, but there’s another trove that opens up when faculty and staff pursue their off-hours bliss.

Catch a gem-like flash of

Dave Mariasy

their expertise as we uncover

The unexpected treasures of UT

Dave Mariasy’s company, Team Audio (www.audiorestoration.com), was in the middle of Toledo’s biggest news story at the time of this interview — albeit behind the scenes. During the trial of three local men for alleged terrorism activities, Mariasy’s specialty of audio forensics made him a hot commodity.

The government’s case against the men included “about three hundred hours of audio tapes, together with video and a whole lot of other stuff that needed to be processed,” Mariasy says. “We’re the librarians, really, appointed by the federal court to collect, catalogue and codify everything the prosecution put up, then clone sets for the dozen law firms involved.”

Mariasy’s expertise — audio forensics — doesn’t necessarily mean CSI-type wizardry, although his company was a consultant to the popular show in its early days. “In some forensics cases, we’ll work to enhance recorded audio so it can be understood, then transcribe the conversations,” he explains. “We’re working right now on a traffic case where the car occupants are talking very fast over each other in a West Virginia accent, so you have

By Cynthia Nowak and Vicki L. Kroll

14

Photos by Daniel Miller

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

music technology lecturer in Department of Music

Audio forensics

ninety minutes of audio that’s very difficult to decipher. It’ll take us the better part of a week.”

In other cases, the company works within the criminal justice system — for prosecutors and defenders — and with civil cases. “We can put material online so that people with clearance can access it,” he says.

He went national on The Today Show and Dateline NBC as an expert in the JonBenét Ramsey case, long after it had gone cold.

“NBC got hold of the original 911 recording made by the girl’s mother,” Mariasy says. “It had been locked up until then. They said, ‘Do what you normally do.’

“It was not fun to listen to, but we enhanced it, listened to it forward, backward and inside-out.”

What the network was seeking, it turned out, was confirmation that there was no sound after Mrs. Ramsey ended the call; one of the case’s original detectives had alleged the presence of background voices. A New York audio studio and the FBI concurred with Mariasy.

Mariasy’s most famous client was probably Mother Teresa — or rather, her longtime collaborator, Fr. Angelo Devananda Scolozzi. “Over the years, he made many microcassette recordings during their travels,” Dave says. “Through my good friend, client and tenant, Jim Vandenberg of Ohio Media, I got the gig to put them all on CD for just the cost of the materials.

“I figured I’d get my reward in the next world.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

15

Jennifer Diaz Warner Giovannucci Portrait painting lab technician, Neurosciences Department

Whether dissecting the parotid gland of a mouse or working on new colors for underpainting, Jennifer Diaz Warner Giovannucci loves experimenting.

“Working in the lab has really helped me with my art, which I didn’t anticipate,” she says. “I’ve been putting the scientific method toward painting. It’s a different way of thinking for me.”

Paintings in progress, photographs and test canvases abound in her Waterville, Ohio, studio, where sunlight streams in the south window.

Giovannucci lights up when asked what drew her to portraits.

“I find people’s faces fascinating,” she says. “When I go to museums, I always go look at the portraits. I grew up in New York City, looking at master paintings and being just blown away by what artists could do in terms of bringing out skin tones. The mastery they had with, in particular, this glowing skin where you can’t really see where color and shadow begin and end.”

The Providence, R.I., native began formal artistic training at the High School of Music and Art and the Cooper Union Fine

16

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Arts Program in the Big Apple. Giovannucci also studied life drawing at the Art Student’s League of New York and L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

“I do a very light sketch just in paint and then I’ll put on a layer of black and pull up the highlights off of that and then go back and forth as I build up the different layers of color,” she says. “I use a brush, but I don’t hesitate using a rag to apply the paint or mostly to pull it off.

“Other than the canvas, there’s very little white paint. The light color is the canvas showing through. That effect you see is almost like a mirror where you put the reflection behind the glass; it just gives you more light — the light hits the back of the canvas and then passes through the different colors you put on it and it gives it a very exciting sort of glow.”

Working in layers takes time. “You have to be very patient.

That’s why I like to have several paintings going at once,” she says.

Her renaissance with portraiture began around the UT-MUO merger. “I’ve got the best of both worlds. I work in the Neurosciences and Anatomy Department. I also have access to the UT Art Department, which is acknowledged to have one of the best anatomical drawing courses in the country developed

by Diana Attie [professor of art], a fabulous teacher.”

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

STreeT SmarTs. Kramer, at right, with 1968 VW dune buggy, owned by Ioan D. Marinescu PhD (left), engineering professor and director of the Precision Micro-Machining Center, who with the help of his students turned the Bug into a street-legal specialty vehicle.

Steven KrameR PhD

professor emeritus, Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Repair and maintenance of VW engines

The VW engine: the literal force behind the car only a counterculture could love. Those rear-mounted, air-cooled engines of the classic Volkswagen Beetle are still very much alive, thanks to enthusiasts like Steven Kramer. Though he no longer teaches UT continuing education courses on engine repair and maintenance, he still keeps a wrench in.

“Doing the old engines is a lot of fun,” he says. “There’s a sense of camaraderie among people who still own them.”

VW engines made attractive teaching tools, he adds. “They were easy to remove from the car to do the work — even bring them into your living room, something I did at one time or other.”

He adds, “My wife did not care for that at all.”

When Kramer taught the courses at UT, “We began with VWs, then went into general automotives, though the VW www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

engines permitted us to go into far more detail. We met one night a week at the old engineering building [now Health Science and Human Service]. Students brought in their cars to learn basic maintenance, oil change, tune-ups, brake repairs. We’d get under the car and provide rags, bucket of oil, all the necessary safety precautions.

“Then we’d tell the students, ‘Here’s a wrench, here’s the bolt, go to it.’”

The popular class combined learning with fun, he says.

“And afterwards we’d clean up and go out for a pizza or a beer.”

New automotive environmental standards, he says, ended the era when a few metric tools would ably equip a mechanic: “With today’s cars, I can change the oil and some of the bulbs, check the fluids, but that’s about it. And I can still fix engines on lawn mowers and snow blowers.”

He probably won’t have more time for such tinkering now that he’s retired from UT; Kramer is already revving up to tutor inner-city children. “Volunteering will be my next career,” he says.

But the metaphoric motor oil may always be under his nails, he figures: “I was at UT for 35 years, but before that, I was a VW mechanic — that’s how I put myself through college.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

17

Jennifer Diaz Warner Giovannucci Portrait painting lab technician, Neurosciences Department

Whether dissecting the parotid gland of a mouse or working on new colors for underpainting, Jennifer Diaz Warner Giovannucci loves experimenting.

“Working in the lab has really helped me with my art, which I didn’t anticipate,” she says. “I’ve been putting the scientific method toward painting. It’s a different way of thinking for me.”

Paintings in progress, photographs and test canvases abound in her Waterville, Ohio, studio, where sunlight streams in the south window.

Giovannucci lights up when asked what drew her to portraits.

“I find people’s faces fascinating,” she says. “When I go to museums, I always go look at the portraits. I grew up in New York City, looking at master paintings and being just blown away by what artists could do in terms of bringing out skin tones. The mastery they had with, in particular, this glowing skin where you can’t really see where color and shadow begin and end.”

The Providence, R.I., native began formal artistic training at the High School of Music and Art and the Cooper Union Fine

16

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Arts Program in the Big Apple. Giovannucci also studied life drawing at the Art Student’s League of New York and L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

“I do a very light sketch just in paint and then I’ll put on a layer of black and pull up the highlights off of that and then go back and forth as I build up the different layers of color,” she says. “I use a brush, but I don’t hesitate using a rag to apply the paint or mostly to pull it off.

“Other than the canvas, there’s very little white paint. The light color is the canvas showing through. That effect you see is almost like a mirror where you put the reflection behind the glass; it just gives you more light — the light hits the back of the canvas and then passes through the different colors you put on it and it gives it a very exciting sort of glow.”

Working in layers takes time. “You have to be very patient.

That’s why I like to have several paintings going at once,” she says.

Her renaissance with portraiture began around the UT-MUO merger. “I’ve got the best of both worlds. I work in the Neurosciences and Anatomy Department. I also have access to the UT Art Department, which is acknowledged to have one of the best anatomical drawing courses in the country developed

by Diana Attie [professor of art], a fabulous teacher.”

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

STreeT SmarTs. Kramer, at right, with 1968 VW dune buggy, owned by Ioan D. Marinescu PhD (left), engineering professor and director of the Precision Micro-Machining Center, who with the help of his students turned the Bug into a street-legal specialty vehicle.

Steven KrameR PhD

professor emeritus, Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Repair and maintenance of VW engines

The VW engine: the literal force behind the car only a counterculture could love. Those rear-mounted, air-cooled engines of the classic Volkswagen Beetle are still very much alive, thanks to enthusiasts like Steven Kramer. Though he no longer teaches UT continuing education courses on engine repair and maintenance, he still keeps a wrench in.

“Doing the old engines is a lot of fun,” he says. “There’s a sense of camaraderie among people who still own them.”

VW engines made attractive teaching tools, he adds. “They were easy to remove from the car to do the work — even bring them into your living room, something I did at one time or other.”

He adds, “My wife did not care for that at all.”

When Kramer taught the courses at UT, “We began with VWs, then went into general automotives, though the VW www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

engines permitted us to go into far more detail. We met one night a week at the old engineering building [now Health Science and Human Service]. Students brought in their cars to learn basic maintenance, oil change, tune-ups, brake repairs. We’d get under the car and provide rags, bucket of oil, all the necessary safety precautions.

“Then we’d tell the students, ‘Here’s a wrench, here’s the bolt, go to it.’”

The popular class combined learning with fun, he says.

“And afterwards we’d clean up and go out for a pizza or a beer.”

New automotive environmental standards, he says, ended the era when a few metric tools would ably equip a mechanic: “With today’s cars, I can change the oil and some of the bulbs, check the fluids, but that’s about it. And I can still fix engines on lawn mowers and snow blowers.”

He probably won’t have more time for such tinkering now that he’s retired from UT; Kramer is already revving up to tutor inner-city children. “Volunteering will be my next career,” he says.

But the metaphoric motor oil may always be under his nails, he figures: “I was at UT for 35 years, but before that, I was a VW mechanic — that’s how I put myself through college.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

17

Curling STePHen CHrisTman PhD

professor, Department of Psychology

“It was the Zeigarnik effect.”

So thinks Stephen Christman about what originally made him a curling fan — and what keeps him on the ice.

The psychological Zeigarnik effect — remembering unresolved questions better than those with tidy conclusions — explains why everybody loves a cliffhanger. It’s also how the mysteries of curling intrigued Christman during the 2004 Winter Olympics.

18

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

“I was at a professional conference in Toronto and televised curling was running pretty much 24/7, so I saw hours of it,” he says. Canadian TV wasn’t much help as Christman contrasted the slow progress of the stone on the ice with the frenzied sweeping in its path. “I was trying to figure out what the sweeping was accomplishing; the sports commentators assumed that viewers would know. I also couldn’t understand why it was considered a good shot if the stone stopped ten feet from the bulls-eye target. I left Toronto still not knowing.”

His interest went dormant until the next Winter Olympics — and American network coverage.

“The commentators now explained everything; instantly, it reignited my passion. I found about the local curling club in Bowling Green. At their open house, I signed up for a six-week instructional league.”

The rest — joining a regular league, mastering the fiberglass broom, racking up the hundred throws it takes to learn to control the trajectory of a 42-pound granite stone on pebbly ice — is ongoing history.

“Curling is chess on ice,” he says. “There’s a strategy involved, with stones acting as guards for future throws. That’s why a first throw short of the target is a good one.”

As for sweeping, he explains, “It speeds up the stone by warming the ice in front of it.”

Now a veteran curler in a weekly league, Christman has his name engraved on a tournament trophy, but says, “Competition is less important than camaraderie. It’s an unwritten rule in curling that you don’t cheer or gloat when the other team makes a bad shot.”

His celebration of the sport takes a musical spin as well; the longtime guitarist and songwriter composed a CD’s-worth of tunes that include “Good Curling!” and “Psycho Curler,” an adaptation of the Talking Heads’ song “Psycho Killer.” (Sample them online at the Bowling Green Curling Club site: www.aroundbg.com/sites/curling/.)

As drawmaster for his league, Christman lets his enthusiasm recruit new members. “I’ve packed a decade’s worth of passion into two-and-a-half years. When you get into curling, though, it just bites you — it grabs you.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

SHirLeY JosePH

assistant to the provost, College of Medicine

Yoga

People often ask Shirley Joseph if she was ever a ballerina. “Because of my posture,” she explains. She certainly stands straight and confident, but it’s the yoga mat, not the barre, that deserves the credit.

That and Joseph’s own determination. She’s practiced yoga for 35 years, first encountering it via the PBS show Lilias! Yoga and You with Lilias Folan.

“Afterwards, I found my own yoga teacher right in my neighborhood: Ethel Mercer, who became a lifelong friend and mentor,” Shirley says.

Mercer, who had studied with yoga masters, gave Joseph an extensive foundation in classic hatha yoga. In time, she made a startling request.

“I never thought about being an instructor until Ethel was about ninety, still teaching in her home,” Joseph says. “She said to me, ‘You know, I have waited to pass this on to someone. I’d like it to be you.’

“That was a big mat to fill!”

To meet the challenge, Shirley began studying with national and international teachers, earning her designation as a registered yoga teacher from the National Yoga Alliance. “I learned philosophy as well as physiology and anatomy,” she notes, adding, “I teach yoga not as a mere aerobic workout, but as a way of life — an innercise rather than an exercise.”

The seasoned instructor utilizes what she calls yoga’s “toolbox of breathing techniques, postures, relaxation and meditation to help [people] through life’s peaks and valleys. It’s a very powerful and empowering resource.”

She’s spoken on yoga to several national www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

medical groups and teaches yoga-based stress management to UT medical, nursing and pharmacy students. She counsels, “Staying in the moment is an important teaching of yoga — especially in times of stress, when you need to breathe!”

Receiving her wholehearted support is the UT program for fourth-year medical students. “They can take an elective in complementary medicine in their final year,” says Joseph, who handles the yoga option. “It’s both didactic and experiential, so the students can sample the benefits.”

Still an eager student herself, she lists her major influences as Swami Dharmakirti, an Indian doctor of psychiatry, and Yogi Amrit Desai, the founder of Kripalu, the country’s largest yoga and wellness center. “My entire family and I were able to meet him in Toledo,” Shirley says. “What an incredible, peaceful man he is.”

She was also able to finally meet Lilias Folan, who became a friend — and whose autograph adorns Joseph’s mat.

“I always quote Ethel Mercer, though,” Shirley says. “She used to say, ‘Come try yoga — and stay for life.’”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

19

Curling STePHen CHrisTman PhD

professor, Department of Psychology

“It was the Zeigarnik effect.”

So thinks Stephen Christman about what originally made him a curling fan — and what keeps him on the ice.

The psychological Zeigarnik effect — remembering unresolved questions better than those with tidy conclusions — explains why everybody loves a cliffhanger. It’s also how the mysteries of curling intrigued Christman during the 2004 Winter Olympics.

18

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

“I was at a professional conference in Toronto and televised curling was running pretty much 24/7, so I saw hours of it,” he says. Canadian TV wasn’t much help as Christman contrasted the slow progress of the stone on the ice with the frenzied sweeping in its path. “I was trying to figure out what the sweeping was accomplishing; the sports commentators assumed that viewers would know. I also couldn’t understand why it was considered a good shot if the stone stopped ten feet from the bulls-eye target. I left Toronto still not knowing.”

His interest went dormant until the next Winter Olympics — and American network coverage.

“The commentators now explained everything; instantly, it reignited my passion. I found about the local curling club in Bowling Green. At their open house, I signed up for a six-week instructional league.”

The rest — joining a regular league, mastering the fiberglass broom, racking up the hundred throws it takes to learn to control the trajectory of a 42-pound granite stone on pebbly ice — is ongoing history.

“Curling is chess on ice,” he says. “There’s a strategy involved, with stones acting as guards for future throws. That’s why a first throw short of the target is a good one.”

As for sweeping, he explains, “It speeds up the stone by warming the ice in front of it.”

Now a veteran curler in a weekly league, Christman has his name engraved on a tournament trophy, but says, “Competition is less important than camaraderie. It’s an unwritten rule in curling that you don’t cheer or gloat when the other team makes a bad shot.”

His celebration of the sport takes a musical spin as well; the longtime guitarist and songwriter composed a CD’s-worth of tunes that include “Good Curling!” and “Psycho Curler,” an adaptation of the Talking Heads’ song “Psycho Killer.” (Sample them online at the Bowling Green Curling Club site: www.aroundbg.com/sites/curling/.)

As drawmaster for his league, Christman lets his enthusiasm recruit new members. “I’ve packed a decade’s worth of passion into two-and-a-half years. When you get into curling, though, it just bites you — it grabs you.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

SHirLeY JosePH

assistant to the provost, College of Medicine

Yoga

People often ask Shirley Joseph if she was ever a ballerina. “Because of my posture,” she explains. She certainly stands straight and confident, but it’s the yoga mat, not the barre, that deserves the credit.

That and Joseph’s own determination. She’s practiced yoga for 35 years, first encountering it via the PBS show Lilias! Yoga and You with Lilias Folan.

“Afterwards, I found my own yoga teacher right in my neighborhood: Ethel Mercer, who became a lifelong friend and mentor,” Shirley says.

Mercer, who had studied with yoga masters, gave Joseph an extensive foundation in classic hatha yoga. In time, she made a startling request.

“I never thought about being an instructor until Ethel was about ninety, still teaching in her home,” Joseph says. “She said to me, ‘You know, I have waited to pass this on to someone. I’d like it to be you.’

“That was a big mat to fill!”

To meet the challenge, Shirley began studying with national and international teachers, earning her designation as a registered yoga teacher from the National Yoga Alliance. “I learned philosophy as well as physiology and anatomy,” she notes, adding, “I teach yoga not as a mere aerobic workout, but as a way of life — an innercise rather than an exercise.”

The seasoned instructor utilizes what she calls yoga’s “toolbox of breathing techniques, postures, relaxation and meditation to help [people] through life’s peaks and valleys. It’s a very powerful and empowering resource.”

She’s spoken on yoga to several national www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

medical groups and teaches yoga-based stress management to UT medical, nursing and pharmacy students. She counsels, “Staying in the moment is an important teaching of yoga — especially in times of stress, when you need to breathe!”

Receiving her wholehearted support is the UT program for fourth-year medical students. “They can take an elective in complementary medicine in their final year,” says Joseph, who handles the yoga option. “It’s both didactic and experiential, so the students can sample the benefits.”

Still an eager student herself, she lists her major influences as Swami Dharmakirti, an Indian doctor of psychiatry, and Yogi Amrit Desai, the founder of Kripalu, the country’s largest yoga and wellness center. “My entire family and I were able to meet him in Toledo,” Shirley says. “What an incredible, peaceful man he is.”

She was also able to finally meet Lilias Folan, who became a friend — and whose autograph adorns Joseph’s mat.

“I always quote Ethel Mercer, though,” Shirley says. “She used to say, ‘Come try yoga — and stay for life.’”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

19

DueLinG ProFiLes. Richman and Molly, a red-tailed hawk resident of Nature’s Nursery, a wildlife rehabilitation center

William Richman

Distinguished University Professor of Law

It’s amazing, Bill Richman notes, how much life passes right over our heads.

Literally.

He knows; he’s been looking skyward for more than 10 years to watch the migrations of flying raptors: kestrels, eagles, red-tailed hawks, peregrines and their kin. Able to pepper the conversation with terms like Falconidae and Accipitridae without a stutter, he can spot the differences between Cooper’s and sharpshinned hawks and mix ornithology with technology when making analogies.

“Take the A10 Thunderbolt aircraft, the tankbuster,” he says.

“That uses the strategy of the red-tailed hawk, who attacks prey on the ground. The F22 is like the peregrine: It uses high speed to take out enemy airplanes.”

With far less noise than their military counterparts, more than a dozen species of raptors migrate over the area. “This is one of the best concentrations worldwide because raptors like thermals [columns of rising air],” he explains. “Thermals don’t occur over water, so raptors won’t migrate over Lake Erie or Lake St. Clair. They follow a funnel of land ending at the southern tip of Grosse Ile, Michigan.”

In early September, you’ll find Richman at Lake Erie

20

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Avian raptor migrations

JoHn WoYciTzKY

senior tech specialist, University Medical Center cath lab

Ukrainian Easter eggs (pysanky)

Metropark, directly opposite Grosse Ile, watching birds headed south. “Though some travel to Central and South America, many don’t migrate far at all,” he notes. “Bald eagles, for instance, may go only as far as ice-free water so they can hunt for fish.”

Obviously Richman has made a study. “I read some books,” he modestly admits. And he owns the accessories: Leica binoculars and the requisite guidebook, Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Migrant Raptors. He rides his bike to work along a local bike trail where close bird encounters are common.

“But I’m not a birder, really,” he says. “I can’t tell one songbird from another. To me they’re all hawk food.” Quickwitted defender that he is, he hastens to add, “Raptors won’t kill when they’re not hungry.”

Richman, who studied political philosophy before going into law, is interested in human migrations as well, writing “Genetic Residues of Ancient Migrations: An End to Biological Essentialism and the Reification of Race” for the University of Pittsburgh Law Review in 2006. He says, “The article concludes that there’s only one human race. We’re too young a species to have developed any subspecies. What looks to us like massive genetic variations are insignificant.”

Until we develop talons and beaks, anyway. www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Whether the chicken or the egg came first is immaterial to John Woycitzky. What’s important is that the birds began laying the basis for a venerable art that permits him to both relax and celebrate his ethnic heritage.

“Pysanky came from the Ukraine, where my family originated,” he says. “My aunts took it upon themselves to teach me and my cousins how to do this from a very early age; I was about eight or nine.”

He begins by hollowing out a raw egg. “I use the one-hole method and a medical syringe to remove the inside; others use two holes and blow out the contents,” he explains.

While the egg cleaned is drying, Woycitzky decides on the pattern he’ll apply. The choices are many: “Prior to their association with the Christian Easter, the eggs were pagan talismans for fertility or luck. Baltic people would decorate them and display them around their homes. Spiral designs were for defense, chickens for fertility, nets for successful fishing, sun or stars for good weather.

“Christians adopted the practice and added more religious www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

symbolism to the eggs.”

One of his sports-fan cousins, he adds, decorated an egg to resemble a football. “But my aunt chastised him: ‘You cannot do that.‘”

Quantity was equally important, he says: “The eggs are considered links in a chain, holding evil at bay. Sharing them strengthens the chain.”

When John has his hollow eggs ready, he begins the timehonored wax-resist process of decoration, starting with the lightest color in the design’s palette. Using a stylus (kistka), he applies beeswax on everything he wants to remain that color.

Each dye bath in a progressively darker color follows the same procedure. “At the end, you have a very dark egg, covered in wax. You apply heat to burn off the wax and the colors are revealed.”

After the finished eggs are varnished with urethane, they’re quite sturdy. “Some we have in the family date from the 1970s; my aunts have some far older than that,” he says.

“I plan to be doing them until I can’t see the egg anymore,” adds the UT technician and part-time Rossford firefighter/ paramedic. “My aunts have arthritis in their hands, but they can still hold the kistka to create the eggs.

“I do a dozen or two every Easter with my sons. We make time as a family because we want the tradition to continue.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

21

DueLinG ProFiLes. Richman and Molly, a red-tailed hawk resident of Nature’s Nursery, a wildlife rehabilitation center

William Richman

Distinguished University Professor of Law

It’s amazing, Bill Richman notes, how much life passes right over our heads.

Literally.

He knows; he’s been looking skyward for more than 10 years to watch the migrations of flying raptors: kestrels, eagles, red-tailed hawks, peregrines and their kin. Able to pepper the conversation with terms like Falconidae and Accipitridae without a stutter, he can spot the differences between Cooper’s and sharpshinned hawks and mix ornithology with technology when making analogies.

“Take the A10 Thunderbolt aircraft, the tankbuster,” he says.

“That uses the strategy of the red-tailed hawk, who attacks prey on the ground. The F22 is like the peregrine: It uses high speed to take out enemy airplanes.”

With far less noise than their military counterparts, more than a dozen species of raptors migrate over the area. “This is one of the best concentrations worldwide because raptors like thermals [columns of rising air],” he explains. “Thermals don’t occur over water, so raptors won’t migrate over Lake Erie or Lake St. Clair. They follow a funnel of land ending at the southern tip of Grosse Ile, Michigan.”

In early September, you’ll find Richman at Lake Erie

20

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Avian raptor migrations

JoHn WoYciTzKY

senior tech specialist, University Medical Center cath lab

Ukrainian Easter eggs (pysanky)

Metropark, directly opposite Grosse Ile, watching birds headed south. “Though some travel to Central and South America, many don’t migrate far at all,” he notes. “Bald eagles, for instance, may go only as far as ice-free water so they can hunt for fish.”

Obviously Richman has made a study. “I read some books,” he modestly admits. And he owns the accessories: Leica binoculars and the requisite guidebook, Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Migrant Raptors. He rides his bike to work along a local bike trail where close bird encounters are common.

“But I’m not a birder, really,” he says. “I can’t tell one songbird from another. To me they’re all hawk food.” Quickwitted defender that he is, he hastens to add, “Raptors won’t kill when they’re not hungry.”

Richman, who studied political philosophy before going into law, is interested in human migrations as well, writing “Genetic Residues of Ancient Migrations: An End to Biological Essentialism and the Reification of Race” for the University of Pittsburgh Law Review in 2006. He says, “The article concludes that there’s only one human race. We’re too young a species to have developed any subspecies. What looks to us like massive genetic variations are insignificant.”

Until we develop talons and beaks, anyway. www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Whether the chicken or the egg came first is immaterial to John Woycitzky. What’s important is that the birds began laying the basis for a venerable art that permits him to both relax and celebrate his ethnic heritage.

“Pysanky came from the Ukraine, where my family originated,” he says. “My aunts took it upon themselves to teach me and my cousins how to do this from a very early age; I was about eight or nine.”

He begins by hollowing out a raw egg. “I use the one-hole method and a medical syringe to remove the inside; others use two holes and blow out the contents,” he explains.

While the egg cleaned is drying, Woycitzky decides on the pattern he’ll apply. The choices are many: “Prior to their association with the Christian Easter, the eggs were pagan talismans for fertility or luck. Baltic people would decorate them and display them around their homes. Spiral designs were for defense, chickens for fertility, nets for successful fishing, sun or stars for good weather.

“Christians adopted the practice and added more religious www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

symbolism to the eggs.”

One of his sports-fan cousins, he adds, decorated an egg to resemble a football. “But my aunt chastised him: ‘You cannot do that.‘”

Quantity was equally important, he says: “The eggs are considered links in a chain, holding evil at bay. Sharing them strengthens the chain.”

When John has his hollow eggs ready, he begins the timehonored wax-resist process of decoration, starting with the lightest color in the design’s palette. Using a stylus (kistka), he applies beeswax on everything he wants to remain that color.

Each dye bath in a progressively darker color follows the same procedure. “At the end, you have a very dark egg, covered in wax. You apply heat to burn off the wax and the colors are revealed.”

After the finished eggs are varnished with urethane, they’re quite sturdy. “Some we have in the family date from the 1970s; my aunts have some far older than that,” he says.

“I plan to be doing them until I can’t see the egg anymore,” adds the UT technician and part-time Rossford firefighter/ paramedic. “My aunts have arthritis in their hands, but they can still hold the kistka to create the eggs.

“I do a dozen or two every Easter with my sons. We make time as a family because we want the tradition to continue.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

21

RoLinDa LeMaY

science education coordinator, Department of Curriculum and Instruction

She regularly puts bruises on students’ faces — and they love it.

Longtime science educator LeMay enjoys freeing what she calls her alter ego: an artist who’s been “making faces” since she was a child.

“My father was known as a colorful character, kind of like the father in Big Fish. As a younger man he’d performed as a clown, a rodeo clown, even a stock-car racer! He was a visual artist and he did theatrical makeup,” she says.

“So when I was small, we had fantastic Halloween faces. In high school and college stage productions, I enjoyed being in the chorus, but I enjoyed backstage and makeup more.”

In the subsequent years of marriage, motherhood and a move to Toledo, she didn’t lose her taste for greasepaint. “In Toledo, I connected with the Catholic schools and their theatrical productions,” she says. In her longtime relationships with St. John’s Jesuit High School and the Toledo School for the Arts, she uses both her science education background and her alter-ego creativity in eye-popping ways.

“In a workshop, I usually start with corrective makeup, designed to accent basic facial structure and bring out the best,”

22

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Theatrical makeup

she says. “Then we move to aging and character makeup — how aging alters facial anatomy and physiology. How does gravity affect the face? How do we accentuate people’s natural features as they age? Or might we use their natural features to emphasize their more diabolical nature? All this helps develop types of character.”

Next come prostheses, including false noses and chins that make features more pronounced. Cuts, bruises and similar special effects, she notes, are popular treats for the students. “So is fantasy and surreal makeup, to match spectacle theatre. My first such fantasy work was Two Gentlemen of Verona at St. John’s, where the director wanted a Cirque du Soleil look.”

A cosmetology license deepened her expertise: “I thought it would be interesting to go back to school and let my alter ego have the credentials to go with the task!”

A colleague called her dual-brained, she says: “Part of me is wired for science, but I have that side that likes the creative aspects of faces and the visual arts; I have a studio in my basement.

“I’m more aware of faces and how they can be the starting point for character development — I’ll see a stranger on the street and think, ‘I like that beard!’” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

CHarLes BeaTTY MeDina PhD

assistant professor, Department of History

Carpentry

The chair in Charles Medina’s office wobbles. Tweaking him about it is irresistible, given his carpentry expertise.

“Well, you know the old saying about the cobbler’s children being poorly shod,” he laughingly replies.

Besides, he hasn’t done many chair repairs “since I was growing up in the Bronx,” he says. “As a child, I was the one who assembled or repaired every piece of furniture. It was just something I did naturally.”

After what he calls “two years of flailing around in college,” a friend invited him onto a construction project: renovating a three-story townhouse in Greenwich Village.

“It made me realize that carpentry in New York was lucrative and fun,” he says.

“I was scrappy. I started borrowing tools from my friends and passing myself off as a real carpenter. Typically, I’d get hired by my wiles, then I’d try to take the foreman to lunch and convince him to teach me a few things.”

It worked. By the age of 22 he was a foreman with an impressive job roster of Manhattan apartments serving high-end clients that included Richard Gere and Keith Richards: “people www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

who decided to buy five-thousand-square-foot artists’ lofts in Soho and turn them into luxury apartments.”

It was in construction that he met African-American poet Ted Wilson, who became a life mentor, Beatty Medina says. “He brought me into a world of writers: Larry Neal, Max Roach, Amiri Baraka. I was hanging out in circles of black activists. It helped launch me back into school and academia, where I could use my own intellectual abilities in some way.”

Travels in Central and South America also opened his eyes to cultural riches and to career possibilities as a scholar. “My working-class roots had made that an unimaginable leap,” says Beatty Medina, who was raised in Puerto Rico and New York.

He entered New York’s Hunter College, using carpentry to bring in money. “During weekends, I was building loft beds for about two hundred dollars a pop, giving those shoebox New York apartment dwellers the illusion of split-level living.”

When his adviser at Hunter put in his name for an undergraduate fellowship funded by Mellon Foundation, he says, “it was life-changing.”

Today, he traces his academic concentration on African slavery in Latin America back to his carpentry days. “Also, those roots help me communicate with students who juggle school and jobs. I don’t agree with them, but we talk the same language.

“And maybe I get them to dream a little bigger.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

23

RoLinDa LeMaY

science education coordinator, Department of Curriculum and Instruction

She regularly puts bruises on students’ faces — and they love it.

Longtime science educator LeMay enjoys freeing what she calls her alter ego: an artist who’s been “making faces” since she was a child.

“My father was known as a colorful character, kind of like the father in Big Fish. As a younger man he’d performed as a clown, a rodeo clown, even a stock-car racer! He was a visual artist and he did theatrical makeup,” she says.

“So when I was small, we had fantastic Halloween faces. In high school and college stage productions, I enjoyed being in the chorus, but I enjoyed backstage and makeup more.”

In the subsequent years of marriage, motherhood and a move to Toledo, she didn’t lose her taste for greasepaint. “In Toledo, I connected with the Catholic schools and their theatrical productions,” she says. In her longtime relationships with St. John’s Jesuit High School and the Toledo School for the Arts, she uses both her science education background and her alter-ego creativity in eye-popping ways.

“In a workshop, I usually start with corrective makeup, designed to accent basic facial structure and bring out the best,”

22

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Theatrical makeup

she says. “Then we move to aging and character makeup — how aging alters facial anatomy and physiology. How does gravity affect the face? How do we accentuate people’s natural features as they age? Or might we use their natural features to emphasize their more diabolical nature? All this helps develop types of character.”

Next come prostheses, including false noses and chins that make features more pronounced. Cuts, bruises and similar special effects, she notes, are popular treats for the students. “So is fantasy and surreal makeup, to match spectacle theatre. My first such fantasy work was Two Gentlemen of Verona at St. John’s, where the director wanted a Cirque du Soleil look.”

A cosmetology license deepened her expertise: “I thought it would be interesting to go back to school and let my alter ego have the credentials to go with the task!”

A colleague called her dual-brained, she says: “Part of me is wired for science, but I have that side that likes the creative aspects of faces and the visual arts; I have a studio in my basement.

“I’m more aware of faces and how they can be the starting point for character development — I’ll see a stranger on the street and think, ‘I like that beard!’” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

CHarLes BeaTTY MeDina PhD

assistant professor, Department of History

Carpentry

The chair in Charles Medina’s office wobbles. Tweaking him about it is irresistible, given his carpentry expertise.

“Well, you know the old saying about the cobbler’s children being poorly shod,” he laughingly replies.

Besides, he hasn’t done many chair repairs “since I was growing up in the Bronx,” he says. “As a child, I was the one who assembled or repaired every piece of furniture. It was just something I did naturally.”

After what he calls “two years of flailing around in college,” a friend invited him onto a construction project: renovating a three-story townhouse in Greenwich Village.

“It made me realize that carpentry in New York was lucrative and fun,” he says.

“I was scrappy. I started borrowing tools from my friends and passing myself off as a real carpenter. Typically, I’d get hired by my wiles, then I’d try to take the foreman to lunch and convince him to teach me a few things.”

It worked. By the age of 22 he was a foreman with an impressive job roster of Manhattan apartments serving high-end clients that included Richard Gere and Keith Richards: “people www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

who decided to buy five-thousand-square-foot artists’ lofts in Soho and turn them into luxury apartments.”

It was in construction that he met African-American poet Ted Wilson, who became a life mentor, Beatty Medina says. “He brought me into a world of writers: Larry Neal, Max Roach, Amiri Baraka. I was hanging out in circles of black activists. It helped launch me back into school and academia, where I could use my own intellectual abilities in some way.”

Travels in Central and South America also opened his eyes to cultural riches and to career possibilities as a scholar. “My working-class roots had made that an unimaginable leap,” says Beatty Medina, who was raised in Puerto Rico and New York.

He entered New York’s Hunter College, using carpentry to bring in money. “During weekends, I was building loft beds for about two hundred dollars a pop, giving those shoebox New York apartment dwellers the illusion of split-level living.”

When his adviser at Hunter put in his name for an undergraduate fellowship funded by Mellon Foundation, he says, “it was life-changing.”

Today, he traces his academic concentration on African slavery in Latin America back to his carpentry days. “Also, those roots help me communicate with students who juggle school and jobs. I don’t agree with them, but we talk the same language.

“And maybe I get them to dream a little bigger.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

23

Brian Patrick

(Viking name “Bear the Digresser”) associate professor, Department of Communication

advanced technologist, Center for Creative Instruction

Scott Haas

Wind-surfing

At the first sign of choppy waves displaying white crests, most captains steer their boats to port. But Scott Haas doesn’t launch his craft until he sees whitecaps.

He’s a windsurfer.

“Decades ago, I had a power boat,” he says. “After spending time and money on maintenance and gas and repairing the engine each spring, I decided that was enough of that.

“I saw a windsurfer, sold the boat, bought the outfit and spent a summer learning,” he concludes, admitting to falling in the water “about a thousand

24

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

times before I decided to take lessons.” He’s now a teacher himself in the sport he says remains popular with baby boomers: “Windsurfers are mainly people who can afford the equipment and have a place to store it. Even though the entire rig, sail and boom weigh only about forty pounds, you can’t store it on top of your car all the time.”

Despite the aura of speed and spray, it’s not a terribly physical sport, he says, “although you can make it that way.” Windsurfers stand on their saildriven platform and hold onto a boom, maintaining that position as they skim the waves.

Learning from a teacher like Haas permits novices to master the necessary turns on a land-locked simulator before touching their kits to water.

“The first rule is to keep wind at your back,” Haas says. “If you don’t, the sail can come around and hit you into the water.”

That doesn’t happen much to him these days.

He’s long since graduated into competitive windsurfing, where speed and maneuverability count as surfers navigate a course marked by buoys.

“In competitions, you need the skill to fight your way into a good position at the start line. In a regatta that might number a hundred, it gets crowded,” says Scott, who usually finishes in the top five. Long-distance races hold no thrill for him: “It’s no fun after the first ten minutes, holding the same position for the two hours it takes to travel seven miles.”

He prefers to sail out for a short trip, return, kick back and repeat as necessary. “I can do that all afternoon,” says the owner of Amoka Wind Sports who also runs a windsurfing blog at www.amoka. com/blog and has an instructional video posted at video.google.com/videoplay?docid=763278081914955478.

Retired from UT since May, Haas is enjoying having more time for that slice of sunny beach, a brisk wind — paradise enow. www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Vikings as Ur-rappers

A few years ago, Dr. Brian Anse Patrick was settled in with his winter’s read, The Complete Sagas of Icelanders. In the other room, his wife was watching Eminem in 8 Mile.

“I was in the midst of reading horrifying old tales — I think I was reading Egil’s Saga — and I could hear the soundtrack, so I went to see what she was watching,” the associate professor of communication says. “I realized the rappers are doing the same thing the Vikings are: They have improvised poetry, they’re measuring prestige, doing this sort of social cartography, coming up with a map for a better life in harsh environments.

I thought this was funny and then I realized I had to write it up.”

His paper, “Vikings and Rappers: The Icelandic Sagas Hip-Hop Across 8 Mile,” was published in the April issue of The Journal of Popular Culture.

“It’s really about word magic,” Patrick said.

“In 8 Mile, Rabbit [Eminem] is able to succeed through the creative power of language, in his case, a personal redemption made possible through the poetic language of rap. Through masterful use of language, he describes, sums up and controls a project of social cartography in which he is the cartographer. Rabbit gains social recognition and power.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Some thousand years ago, Vikings wielded words to conquer foes and avenge one’s honor.

“Egils goes somewhere and he’s tricked into drinking curds and whey instead of beer,” Patrick recalls of one saga. “You don’t treat a Viking like Little Miss Muffet. He’s insulted. As he’s leaving, someone tries to further insult him at the door and he simply kills him. Egils transforms this barroom brawl, this murder, into this meaningful event with an improvised poem and he suddenly becomes a hero of this tale that he writes himself.

“The rapper stuff is the same thing: Look at what I did, I got away from this, I live like a man, don’t disrespect me.”

Patrick thinks Eminem is a good example of a commercial rapper.

“He takes the pulse of things, and he understands rap pretty well. He sort of cleans it up a little bit — he’s a good salesperson. Real rappers are probably a little more Viking-like than he is.”

The confessed rap dilettante plans to assess more music artists to see if the theory holds up. He also will wrangle words for books on the American concealed carry weapon movement, The Ten Commandments of Propaganda, and Propagunda, which will analyze pro and con gun control information.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

25

Brian Patrick

(Viking name “Bear the Digresser”) associate professor, Department of Communication

advanced technologist, Center for Creative Instruction

Scott Haas

Wind-surfing

At the first sign of choppy waves displaying white crests, most captains steer their boats to port. But Scott Haas doesn’t launch his craft until he sees whitecaps.

He’s a windsurfer.

“Decades ago, I had a power boat,” he says. “After spending time and money on maintenance and gas and repairing the engine each spring, I decided that was enough of that.

“I saw a windsurfer, sold the boat, bought the outfit and spent a summer learning,” he concludes, admitting to falling in the water “about a thousand

24

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

times before I decided to take lessons.” He’s now a teacher himself in the sport he says remains popular with baby boomers: “Windsurfers are mainly people who can afford the equipment and have a place to store it. Even though the entire rig, sail and boom weigh only about forty pounds, you can’t store it on top of your car all the time.”

Despite the aura of speed and spray, it’s not a terribly physical sport, he says, “although you can make it that way.” Windsurfers stand on their saildriven platform and hold onto a boom, maintaining that position as they skim the waves.

Learning from a teacher like Haas permits novices to master the necessary turns on a land-locked simulator before touching their kits to water.

“The first rule is to keep wind at your back,” Haas says. “If you don’t, the sail can come around and hit you into the water.”

That doesn’t happen much to him these days.

He’s long since graduated into competitive windsurfing, where speed and maneuverability count as surfers navigate a course marked by buoys.

“In competitions, you need the skill to fight your way into a good position at the start line. In a regatta that might number a hundred, it gets crowded,” says Scott, who usually finishes in the top five. Long-distance races hold no thrill for him: “It’s no fun after the first ten minutes, holding the same position for the two hours it takes to travel seven miles.”

He prefers to sail out for a short trip, return, kick back and repeat as necessary. “I can do that all afternoon,” says the owner of Amoka Wind Sports who also runs a windsurfing blog at www.amoka. com/blog and has an instructional video posted at video.google.com/videoplay?docid=763278081914955478.

Retired from UT since May, Haas is enjoying having more time for that slice of sunny beach, a brisk wind — paradise enow. www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Vikings as Ur-rappers

A few years ago, Dr. Brian Anse Patrick was settled in with his winter’s read, The Complete Sagas of Icelanders. In the other room, his wife was watching Eminem in 8 Mile.

“I was in the midst of reading horrifying old tales — I think I was reading Egil’s Saga — and I could hear the soundtrack, so I went to see what she was watching,” the associate professor of communication says. “I realized the rappers are doing the same thing the Vikings are: They have improvised poetry, they’re measuring prestige, doing this sort of social cartography, coming up with a map for a better life in harsh environments.

I thought this was funny and then I realized I had to write it up.”

His paper, “Vikings and Rappers: The Icelandic Sagas Hip-Hop Across 8 Mile,” was published in the April issue of The Journal of Popular Culture.

“It’s really about word magic,” Patrick said.

“In 8 Mile, Rabbit [Eminem] is able to succeed through the creative power of language, in his case, a personal redemption made possible through the poetic language of rap. Through masterful use of language, he describes, sums up and controls a project of social cartography in which he is the cartographer. Rabbit gains social recognition and power.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Some thousand years ago, Vikings wielded words to conquer foes and avenge one’s honor.

“Egils goes somewhere and he’s tricked into drinking curds and whey instead of beer,” Patrick recalls of one saga. “You don’t treat a Viking like Little Miss Muffet. He’s insulted. As he’s leaving, someone tries to further insult him at the door and he simply kills him. Egils transforms this barroom brawl, this murder, into this meaningful event with an improvised poem and he suddenly becomes a hero of this tale that he writes himself.

“The rapper stuff is the same thing: Look at what I did, I got away from this, I live like a man, don’t disrespect me.”

Patrick thinks Eminem is a good example of a commercial rapper.

“He takes the pulse of things, and he understands rap pretty well. He sort of cleans it up a little bit — he’s a good salesperson. Real rappers are probably a little more Viking-like than he is.”

The confessed rap dilettante plans to assess more music artists to see if the theory holds up. He also will wrangle words for books on the American concealed carry weapon movement, The Ten Commandments of Propaganda, and Propagunda, which will analyze pro and con gun control information.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

25

Teresa Hagedorn

PC/LAN TECH, IT Help Desk

Poultry and other feathered creatures

Teresa Hagedorn didn’t see Hitchcock’s The Birds until long past adulthood. She didn’t need to — she’d almost lived it. In a henhouse, no less.

It happened when she was a Louisiana State University graduate student working on her poultry science degree in avian physiology/management. Attempting to retrieve a holed-up research hen, she accidentally immobilized her arm between two wooden slats. An aggressive rooster, she says, took advantage of the situation. “He’d been de-spurred, but there was enough of a spur left when he kicked at me — and he was pecking at me as well, and one way or other, he caught me right in the eye. It caused an infection that wouldn’t heal for a long time.

“Those male birds can be vicious, and once they get a taste of blood, it’s bad. So I had a real fear of tripping or falling over something in the enclosure and getting knocked out — they really might have pecked my eyes out.”

She had to stay alert with the ostriches, too (“their kicks can break legs,” she notes), although their chicks — at birth, the size of coconuts on legs — were heart-melters. “It was hard not to become attached. I was the first thing they’d imprint on, so they followed me everywhere.”

26

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

And she learned to pity the domestic turkey. “They have it so bad. They’re raised through artificial insemination — because they’re bred for larger, meatier breasts, they can’t get close enough to mate even if they knew how.”

So chicken-crossing-road jokes aside, she really does know a lot about commercial poultry. Including the taste of the more exotic varieties: “Everything really does taste like chicken, except ostrich — that tastes like beef!

“Emus, on the other hand, produce oily, bad-tasting meat, but emu oil has amazing healing properties, especially for treating arthritis.”

She’s a whiz on bird pets as well, having owned them since childhood, “starting with two parakeets and a bee bee parrot.”

Cockatiels are her favorites: “They’re not too big or small, they talk, they can be trained to a certain extent and they’re very loving when hand-raised.”

And she’s no slouch when it comes to wild birds, either, saying, “I’ve always found them so different from other animals.

They’re warm-blooded but have reptilian feet. And they’ve developed so many adaptations, like air sacs and hollow bones for flying, or become flightless like penguins.”

So don’t duck the birds, she says: “There are some miracles in this world; birds are one.”

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Cora Lind PhD Cora Lind has a stock reminder to bring frisky young tae-kwon-do students back into line: “I always tell the kids that they can’t kick butt in taekwon-do; they can only kick head. Kicking in that other place is below the belt line, so it’s an illegal move.”

In other words, don’t mess with the matter-of-fact thirddegree black belt who studied jiu-jitsu in Germany, then began tae-kwon-do as a graduate student at Georgia Tech. “I like to spar and compete,” she admits. “But what I like most about taekwon-do is how it forces you to focus.

“When I go running, it’s a physical workout, yes, but my thoughts go all over the place. Martial arts require physical and mental focus.”

She shares that focus with the kids who take her class at the Toledo Martial Arts Center, where she studies under Master R. Keith Van Sickle. “I love it,” she says of teaching. “Some of the kids who come in have no coordination. It’s cool to see how some of them start learning control over their bodies. Once you get serious about it, you gain the focus and mental determination that can help you in everything: school, work, life.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

assistant professor, Department of Chemistry

Martial arts: taekwon-do

Taekwon-do (translating as “the way of smashing with foot and fist”) is a young martial art, she explains, dating from 1955 Korea. Its repertoire of punches, blocks and open-handed strikes was developed from earlier Korean methods of unarmed combat, then combined with Japanese and Chinese forms.

“The central tenets are courtesy, integrity, perseverance, selfcontrol and indomitable spirit,” says Lind, whose own spirit has led her to national and international competitions, where she won a number of medals. “I prefer a challenge, so I don’t mind competing in the heavyweight division,” she says.

As outsider to the International Chan Hong Federation, which was hosting a tournament marking the discipline’s 50th anniversary, in fact, she took the heavyweight gold. “My opponent told me she hadn’t lost a fight in two years; that was a treasurable moment,” Lind says.

Although she likes the confidence that comes with being able to defend herself — “No one can say they weren’t warned,” she says of potential troublemakers, pointing at office photos of her board-breaking exploits — the scientist in her appreciates taekwon-do’s efficiency and therapeutic benefits.

“Back in the 1950s, they didn’t know what we know today about kinesiology,” she says. “If you look at the techniques that are executed when you practice the forms, they tie in with today’s scientific concepts. It’s quite amazing.

“And in my experience, anything that happened on a given day can be cured by a good workout.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

27

Teresa Hagedorn

PC/LAN TECH, IT Help Desk

Poultry and other feathered creatures

Teresa Hagedorn didn’t see Hitchcock’s The Birds until long past adulthood. She didn’t need to — she’d almost lived it. In a henhouse, no less.

It happened when she was a Louisiana State University graduate student working on her poultry science degree in avian physiology/management. Attempting to retrieve a holed-up research hen, she accidentally immobilized her arm between two wooden slats. An aggressive rooster, she says, took advantage of the situation. “He’d been de-spurred, but there was enough of a spur left when he kicked at me — and he was pecking at me as well, and one way or other, he caught me right in the eye. It caused an infection that wouldn’t heal for a long time.

“Those male birds can be vicious, and once they get a taste of blood, it’s bad. So I had a real fear of tripping or falling over something in the enclosure and getting knocked out — they really might have pecked my eyes out.”

She had to stay alert with the ostriches, too (“their kicks can break legs,” she notes), although their chicks — at birth, the size of coconuts on legs — were heart-melters. “It was hard not to become attached. I was the first thing they’d imprint on, so they followed me everywhere.”

26

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

And she learned to pity the domestic turkey. “They have it so bad. They’re raised through artificial insemination — because they’re bred for larger, meatier breasts, they can’t get close enough to mate even if they knew how.”

So chicken-crossing-road jokes aside, she really does know a lot about commercial poultry. Including the taste of the more exotic varieties: “Everything really does taste like chicken, except ostrich — that tastes like beef!

“Emus, on the other hand, produce oily, bad-tasting meat, but emu oil has amazing healing properties, especially for treating arthritis.”

She’s a whiz on bird pets as well, having owned them since childhood, “starting with two parakeets and a bee bee parrot.”

Cockatiels are her favorites: “They’re not too big or small, they talk, they can be trained to a certain extent and they’re very loving when hand-raised.”

And she’s no slouch when it comes to wild birds, either, saying, “I’ve always found them so different from other animals.

They’re warm-blooded but have reptilian feet. And they’ve developed so many adaptations, like air sacs and hollow bones for flying, or become flightless like penguins.”

So don’t duck the birds, she says: “There are some miracles in this world; birds are one.”

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Cora Lind PhD Cora Lind has a stock reminder to bring frisky young tae-kwon-do students back into line: “I always tell the kids that they can’t kick butt in taekwon-do; they can only kick head. Kicking in that other place is below the belt line, so it’s an illegal move.”

In other words, don’t mess with the matter-of-fact thirddegree black belt who studied jiu-jitsu in Germany, then began tae-kwon-do as a graduate student at Georgia Tech. “I like to spar and compete,” she admits. “But what I like most about taekwon-do is how it forces you to focus.

“When I go running, it’s a physical workout, yes, but my thoughts go all over the place. Martial arts require physical and mental focus.”

She shares that focus with the kids who take her class at the Toledo Martial Arts Center, where she studies under Master R. Keith Van Sickle. “I love it,” she says of teaching. “Some of the kids who come in have no coordination. It’s cool to see how some of them start learning control over their bodies. Once you get serious about it, you gain the focus and mental determination that can help you in everything: school, work, life.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

assistant professor, Department of Chemistry

Martial arts: taekwon-do

Taekwon-do (translating as “the way of smashing with foot and fist”) is a young martial art, she explains, dating from 1955 Korea. Its repertoire of punches, blocks and open-handed strikes was developed from earlier Korean methods of unarmed combat, then combined with Japanese and Chinese forms.

“The central tenets are courtesy, integrity, perseverance, selfcontrol and indomitable spirit,” says Lind, whose own spirit has led her to national and international competitions, where she won a number of medals. “I prefer a challenge, so I don’t mind competing in the heavyweight division,” she says.

As outsider to the International Chan Hong Federation, which was hosting a tournament marking the discipline’s 50th anniversary, in fact, she took the heavyweight gold. “My opponent told me she hadn’t lost a fight in two years; that was a treasurable moment,” Lind says.

Although she likes the confidence that comes with being able to defend herself — “No one can say they weren’t warned,” she says of potential troublemakers, pointing at office photos of her board-breaking exploits — the scientist in her appreciates taekwon-do’s efficiency and therapeutic benefits.

“Back in the 1950s, they didn’t know what we know today about kinesiology,” she says. “If you look at the techniques that are executed when you practice the forms, they tie in with today’s scientific concepts. It’s quite amazing.

“And in my experience, anything that happened on a given day can be cured by a good workout.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

27

Walt Lange

superannuate faculty, Department of Mathematics

Walt Lange knows his Robert Frost: The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep …

His promise was to future generations; his woods are indeed a dark and deep enclave in eastern Fulton County, where a weathered wooden sign reading “Lange Tree Farm” is almost obscured by what it advertises.

“We bought the property about 40 years ago,” says Lange, who’s in his sunroom enjoying the late-spring warmth with his wife, Donna. “The area behind the house was thirteen acres of old woods and a seventeen-acre field for crops. It’s sandy soil and when the farmer plowed, it would drift out to the road like snow, so we planted a couple of windbreaks in 1972.

“That was the start.”

Over the next two decades, the Langes got serious about trees. That first windbreak was joined by another. When the farmer retired and his field became available, Walt didn’t hesitate: “I thought, ‘I’ll just plant some more trees.’” The high point may have been 1993, when they planted close to seven or eight thousand trees.

In fact, they became certified tree farmers. “In a nutshell, that means you own wooded property and you manage it, not just let the woods do their own thing,” Walt explains. They have a yearly management plan with the American Tree Farm System

28

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

José Treviño

coordinator, recruitment and retention, College of Pharmacy

Certified tree farmer

and get inspected every five years.

It’s not a project that can be shelved for odd moments.

Young trees have to be pruned and thinned, invasives such as wild grape and autumn olive removed. Their trees include varieties of oak, walnut, cherry, spruce, pine — and bald cyprus for wet areas. “We stood in water to plant them, but because the trees suck it all up during the growing season, there’s not standing water there now,” Walt says.

“And bald cyprus attract grosbeaks,” interjects Donna, who keeps tabs on the property’s burgeoning wildlife.

Both have service with the Ohio and the National Tree Farm program, and Walt, who’s vice president of the Ohio Forestry Association, was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland to the state’s Forestry Advisory Council.

Known experts, the Langes take phone calls on tree questions and have hosted Boy Scouts, 4-H groups and a wellattended woodland and wildlife workshop.

Along the way, they became conservationists. Donna says, “When we first bought the land, we planned to sell plots as we needed money, but the longer we had the land, the less we thought of selling lots.” Instead, their long-term plan is to eventually harvest the trees as high-quality timber.

“It’ll take about 75 years, so I won’t be around to see that,” says Walt, adding, “but that’s fine. We’re in this for the long haul.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

It’s hard to miss the large entity — bear? human? — standing in José Treviño’s office. Created in black walnut, it’s a striking example of the artist’s ability to wield a chainsaw.

“I like to use driftwood from Lake Erie,” he says. “I can’t always tell what kind of wood it is because the bark is usually missing. Some pieces are more like entire trees than anything else.”

The size doesn’t daunt him; his art tends to be larger than life, almost monumental, many pieces based on traditional Mexican/Aztec/Olmec mythic characters and motifs. By the time he’s used a chain and pickup truck to harvest a likely piece of wood and transport it to his garage studio, Treviño is already envisioning the final result.

“I brought in a forked tree once,” he says. “It made me think of the legend of Mexico City’s founding. When the Aztecs saw an eagle with a serpent in its mouth, it was a sign to build the city.

My carving shows the moment before the eagle takes up the snake.” The forking limbs became the bird’s outstretched wings.

Mexico’s influence comes at a remove. “My parents came www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Chainsaw wood-carving

from Laredo [Texas]; my father took a factory job here. I grew up working as migrant, picking fruits and vegetables. It wasn’t much fun, but we all pitched in as a family.

“My parents always emphasized finishing our educations, which is why I’m here today. They sacrificed to put me and my sisters and brother through school.” His personal history, he says, partly influenced his plans to create on his Toledo property the feel of traditional Mexican architecture, “with a central courtyard filled with sculpture.”

He’s displayed his work at the Sophia Quintero Arts and Cultural Center in Toledo’s old south end, but for the most part he creates for his own satisfaction. After using the chainsaw to make the rough cuts, he employs a dremel saw for the detailing.

Chainsaws, he says, allow for a surprising amount of detail: the fur on face of the bear in his office, for example, invites the hand to touch it.

“I have to be careful while working, obviously. The biggest thing is to stay focused on what you’re doing,” he says.

He appeared on TV while crafting a Brutus Buckeye for a big OSU fan, so an obvious question arises: When is he going to create a Rocket?

“I have it planned in my head,” he says. “I’m still looking for a piece of wood large enough.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

29

Walt Lange

superannuate faculty, Department of Mathematics

Walt Lange knows his Robert Frost: The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep …

His promise was to future generations; his woods are indeed a dark and deep enclave in eastern Fulton County, where a weathered wooden sign reading “Lange Tree Farm” is almost obscured by what it advertises.

“We bought the property about 40 years ago,” says Lange, who’s in his sunroom enjoying the late-spring warmth with his wife, Donna. “The area behind the house was thirteen acres of old woods and a seventeen-acre field for crops. It’s sandy soil and when the farmer plowed, it would drift out to the road like snow, so we planted a couple of windbreaks in 1972.

“That was the start.”

Over the next two decades, the Langes got serious about trees. That first windbreak was joined by another. When the farmer retired and his field became available, Walt didn’t hesitate: “I thought, ‘I’ll just plant some more trees.’” The high point may have been 1993, when they planted close to seven or eight thousand trees.

In fact, they became certified tree farmers. “In a nutshell, that means you own wooded property and you manage it, not just let the woods do their own thing,” Walt explains. They have a yearly management plan with the American Tree Farm System

28

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

José Treviño

coordinator, recruitment and retention, College of Pharmacy

Certified tree farmer

and get inspected every five years.

It’s not a project that can be shelved for odd moments.

Young trees have to be pruned and thinned, invasives such as wild grape and autumn olive removed. Their trees include varieties of oak, walnut, cherry, spruce, pine — and bald cyprus for wet areas. “We stood in water to plant them, but because the trees suck it all up during the growing season, there’s not standing water there now,” Walt says.

“And bald cyprus attract grosbeaks,” interjects Donna, who keeps tabs on the property’s burgeoning wildlife.

Both have service with the Ohio and the National Tree Farm program, and Walt, who’s vice president of the Ohio Forestry Association, was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland to the state’s Forestry Advisory Council.

Known experts, the Langes take phone calls on tree questions and have hosted Boy Scouts, 4-H groups and a wellattended woodland and wildlife workshop.

Along the way, they became conservationists. Donna says, “When we first bought the land, we planned to sell plots as we needed money, but the longer we had the land, the less we thought of selling lots.” Instead, their long-term plan is to eventually harvest the trees as high-quality timber.

“It’ll take about 75 years, so I won’t be around to see that,” says Walt, adding, “but that’s fine. We’re in this for the long haul.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

It’s hard to miss the large entity — bear? human? — standing in José Treviño’s office. Created in black walnut, it’s a striking example of the artist’s ability to wield a chainsaw.

“I like to use driftwood from Lake Erie,” he says. “I can’t always tell what kind of wood it is because the bark is usually missing. Some pieces are more like entire trees than anything else.”

The size doesn’t daunt him; his art tends to be larger than life, almost monumental, many pieces based on traditional Mexican/Aztec/Olmec mythic characters and motifs. By the time he’s used a chain and pickup truck to harvest a likely piece of wood and transport it to his garage studio, Treviño is already envisioning the final result.

“I brought in a forked tree once,” he says. “It made me think of the legend of Mexico City’s founding. When the Aztecs saw an eagle with a serpent in its mouth, it was a sign to build the city.

My carving shows the moment before the eagle takes up the snake.” The forking limbs became the bird’s outstretched wings.

Mexico’s influence comes at a remove. “My parents came www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Chainsaw wood-carving

from Laredo [Texas]; my father took a factory job here. I grew up working as migrant, picking fruits and vegetables. It wasn’t much fun, but we all pitched in as a family.

“My parents always emphasized finishing our educations, which is why I’m here today. They sacrificed to put me and my sisters and brother through school.” His personal history, he says, partly influenced his plans to create on his Toledo property the feel of traditional Mexican architecture, “with a central courtyard filled with sculpture.”

He’s displayed his work at the Sophia Quintero Arts and Cultural Center in Toledo’s old south end, but for the most part he creates for his own satisfaction. After using the chainsaw to make the rough cuts, he employs a dremel saw for the detailing.

Chainsaws, he says, allow for a surprising amount of detail: the fur on face of the bear in his office, for example, invites the hand to touch it.

“I have to be careful while working, obviously. The biggest thing is to stay focused on what you’re doing,” he says.

He appeared on TV while crafting a Brutus Buckeye for a big OSU fan, so an obvious question arises: When is he going to create a Rocket?

“I have it planned in my head,” he says. “I’m still looking for a piece of wood large enough.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

29

Ranendra Dutta doctoral student in viral evolution, College of Medicine

Graph drawing

Who would think that a grainy newspaper photo could become portrait art? In the careful hands of Ranendra Dutta, it does — square by square.

A drawing technique he learned as a child was the springboard when he again took up the pencil as an adult, adding his own refinements to what was previously a mechanical exercise. “Basically, I taught myself,” he says.

Dutta begins with a newspaper photo. “I cannot draw something that doesn’t touch me in an emotional or aesthetic sense,” he notes, admitting that

30

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

portraits of female actresses and singers predominate his collection. “Though I’ve also drawn Nelson Mandela and [film director] Satyajit Ray,” he adds.

Using a ruler and pencil, he draws a grid over the photo. “I’m breaking down the photo into smaller units, each with details — lines and shading — that can be duplicated in the portrait,” he explains. The final result can be sized mathematically.

He reproduces each square with the simplest equipment; his pencils for outlining and shading are cracked, worn to stubs. “I’ve been unable to find the same type of pencil lead here with the same clay content, so I must send back to India,” he says.

One further step. Dutta rolls tiny pieces of ordinary paper into cone-shaped spills, fills them with ground pencil lead and applies the dust to what he’s shaded. “These are the real soldiers of the process,” he says. “I was not taught this, but without this technique, it’s almost impossible to get the smoothness you want.” It’s the contrast in the shading that gives each portrait its threedimensional quality.

To the dust he applies a smooth pebble to rub away all visible pencil strokes. “I call it superhomogenizing. The harder you press, or the more dust you apply, the more intense the shading.”

Although Dutta claims that “anyone can learn this,” there’s more than mechanics at work. When he first drew Mahatma Gandhi, he says, “Funnily, I found that he looked about 20 years younger. In spite of this distortion, I felt a newness, a boost of happiness.”

A haunting portrait he calls “Aborted Aspirations” shows an Indian woman who was beaten by her husband. It was heart-wrenching sketch, but Dutta was making a statement: “Because Indian society is such a male-dominated culture, many women cannot reach their full potential. This woman cannot do anything, cannot escape, and it shows in her eyes.”

While he began drawing as a relaxation, he says, “I can see that my best efforts come when I’m under stress.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Sanford Kimmel MD

professor and vice chief of staff, Department of Family Medicine

Die-cast model cars

You won’t find a 1933 PierceArrow or a 1964 Corvette in Sanford Kimmel’s garage. If you make your way up his secondfloor study, though, you’ll find them, along with a Plymouth Barracuda sporting a hemi engine, and the DeLorean from Back to the Future. They’re on shelves lining his walls or in an antique wooden cabinet, in perfect 1:18 scale.

“I was always fascinated with cars,” says the longtime collector and auto buff. “I don’t own any expensive cars, so this is a way to indulge. Rather than buy a half-million-dollar Mercedes-Benz, I have this model by Maisto for under thirty dollars.”

And with model cars, it should be noted, you can open and close the terrific “suicide doors” of the Pierce-Arrow for hours without bothering the neighbors. “They’re doors hinged on the trailing edge of the car, closer to the rear,” Kimmel explains. “They’re also called coach doors.”

His library of automotive reference books allows him to wax historically on the Pierce-Arrow: “The 1933 Silver Arrow was so far ahead of its time as far as styling and aerodynamics that people weren’t ready for it. And it was a very expensive car during the Great Depression.” Only five such luxury fastbacks were produced and originally cost www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

$10,000 each — the surviving model last offered on the open market came with a $1.45 million sticker.

Kimmel’s miniaturized version, of course, cost him considerably less.

Learning the cars’ history has been a perk of his hobby, Kimmel says, holding up a model of a 1935 red-and-white Duesenberg owned by Clark Gable: “The Duesies were all custom-built; the Duesenberg brothers were mechanics who designed the frame, the chassis and the V12 engine, but they sent off the rest to a coach company. Their engineering was famed all over the world, and their supercharged engines were capable of well over a hundred miles an hour, back when that was really fast.”

Though his collection numbers well over two hundred, he’s still on the hunt for rarities that have eluded him so far: the Batmobile from the 1966 TV series, for example. “That car was designed by the famous Hollywood car customizer George Barris, who also did the Munster Koach and General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard,” Kimmel says.

Obviously this doctor knows his cars — and his popular culture. He admits that some friends might consider his collection “a juvenile hobby, but autos are intertwined with American culture — and after all, an eighth of our economy is based on the automobile.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

31

Ranendra Dutta doctoral student in viral evolution, College of Medicine

Graph drawing

Who would think that a grainy newspaper photo could become portrait art? In the careful hands of Ranendra Dutta, it does — square by square.

A drawing technique he learned as a child was the springboard when he again took up the pencil as an adult, adding his own refinements to what was previously a mechanical exercise. “Basically, I taught myself,” he says.

Dutta begins with a newspaper photo. “I cannot draw something that doesn’t touch me in an emotional or aesthetic sense,” he notes, admitting that

30

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

portraits of female actresses and singers predominate his collection. “Though I’ve also drawn Nelson Mandela and [film director] Satyajit Ray,” he adds.

Using a ruler and pencil, he draws a grid over the photo. “I’m breaking down the photo into smaller units, each with details — lines and shading — that can be duplicated in the portrait,” he explains. The final result can be sized mathematically.

He reproduces each square with the simplest equipment; his pencils for outlining and shading are cracked, worn to stubs. “I’ve been unable to find the same type of pencil lead here with the same clay content, so I must send back to India,” he says.

One further step. Dutta rolls tiny pieces of ordinary paper into cone-shaped spills, fills them with ground pencil lead and applies the dust to what he’s shaded. “These are the real soldiers of the process,” he says. “I was not taught this, but without this technique, it’s almost impossible to get the smoothness you want.” It’s the contrast in the shading that gives each portrait its threedimensional quality.

To the dust he applies a smooth pebble to rub away all visible pencil strokes. “I call it superhomogenizing. The harder you press, or the more dust you apply, the more intense the shading.”

Although Dutta claims that “anyone can learn this,” there’s more than mechanics at work. When he first drew Mahatma Gandhi, he says, “Funnily, I found that he looked about 20 years younger. In spite of this distortion, I felt a newness, a boost of happiness.”

A haunting portrait he calls “Aborted Aspirations” shows an Indian woman who was beaten by her husband. It was heart-wrenching sketch, but Dutta was making a statement: “Because Indian society is such a male-dominated culture, many women cannot reach their full potential. This woman cannot do anything, cannot escape, and it shows in her eyes.”

While he began drawing as a relaxation, he says, “I can see that my best efforts come when I’m under stress.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Sanford Kimmel MD

professor and vice chief of staff, Department of Family Medicine

Die-cast model cars

You won’t find a 1933 PierceArrow or a 1964 Corvette in Sanford Kimmel’s garage. If you make your way up his secondfloor study, though, you’ll find them, along with a Plymouth Barracuda sporting a hemi engine, and the DeLorean from Back to the Future. They’re on shelves lining his walls or in an antique wooden cabinet, in perfect 1:18 scale.

“I was always fascinated with cars,” says the longtime collector and auto buff. “I don’t own any expensive cars, so this is a way to indulge. Rather than buy a half-million-dollar Mercedes-Benz, I have this model by Maisto for under thirty dollars.”

And with model cars, it should be noted, you can open and close the terrific “suicide doors” of the Pierce-Arrow for hours without bothering the neighbors. “They’re doors hinged on the trailing edge of the car, closer to the rear,” Kimmel explains. “They’re also called coach doors.”

His library of automotive reference books allows him to wax historically on the Pierce-Arrow: “The 1933 Silver Arrow was so far ahead of its time as far as styling and aerodynamics that people weren’t ready for it. And it was a very expensive car during the Great Depression.” Only five such luxury fastbacks were produced and originally cost www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

$10,000 each — the surviving model last offered on the open market came with a $1.45 million sticker.

Kimmel’s miniaturized version, of course, cost him considerably less.

Learning the cars’ history has been a perk of his hobby, Kimmel says, holding up a model of a 1935 red-and-white Duesenberg owned by Clark Gable: “The Duesies were all custom-built; the Duesenberg brothers were mechanics who designed the frame, the chassis and the V12 engine, but they sent off the rest to a coach company. Their engineering was famed all over the world, and their supercharged engines were capable of well over a hundred miles an hour, back when that was really fast.”

Though his collection numbers well over two hundred, he’s still on the hunt for rarities that have eluded him so far: the Batmobile from the 1966 TV series, for example. “That car was designed by the famous Hollywood car customizer George Barris, who also did the Munster Koach and General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard,” Kimmel says.

Obviously this doctor knows his cars — and his popular culture. He admits that some friends might consider his collection “a juvenile hobby, but autos are intertwined with American culture — and after all, an eighth of our economy is based on the automobile.”

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

31

class notes

Sherry Blosser

’30s

Joe Linver (A/S ’39) and his wife, Betty, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in April.

Parents of four children, nine grandchildren and 10 greatgrandchildren, they live in Albuquerque, N.M., where they’re active in real estate development and other civic activities.

senior systems analyst, IT Personnel

Monarch butterflies

Albert Kahn family of architecture/engineering firms, was appointed chair of the Toledo section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

’50s

You might say that Sherry Blosser caught the bug early: “I had an insect collection when I was a kid — the pretty ones as well as the creepy ones.” Years later, her own daughters put wings on Blosser’s old passion when they brought home a Monarch butterfly-raising kit.

It quickly became a family affair, Blosser says. “It took us a few years, but we perfected the process. Then we began looking for Monarch eggs in the wild.” That meant field trips to local milkweed patches.

The pinhead-sized eggs, she says, are more likely to be found on shorter, more tender milkweeds, “so my youngest daughter found more of them, being closer to ground.”

Once they obtained the eggs and their milkweed-leaf hosts, the fun began. “You wait three or four days for the caterpillar to emerge; it looks like a piece of thread, but it turns around and eats its egg case. It eats and eats and eats. Then it rests, sheds its skin, turns around and eats the skin.”

Blosser and her daughters had ring-side seats as each caterpillar eventually transformed itself into a bright green chrysalis. “The day before the butterfly emerges, the chrysalis turns black,” Blosser explains. “When the Monarchs emerge, their wings have to fill with liquids to expand.”

Before each freshly minted butterfly dried its wings and flew away, Blosser and her

32

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

George W. Green (Bus ’50, MBA ’51), Dearborn, Mich., gave a presentation on collecting mineral specimens at Toledo’s Wildwood Preserve in April.

’60s

Blosser with Monarch who’s part of Butterflies! at the Toledo Zoo, a permanent walk-through exhibit

daughters had recorded its name and vitals in a notebook.

The notebooks multiplied as the family raised hundreds of butterflies over the years. Monarch midwifery requires some regular chores: a daily cleaning for the “butterfly buckets” and plenty of food for the voracious caterpillars. Because most of the old plant sites have been lost to development, Blosser maintains her own milkweed now. “That’s probably one reason for the decline of Monarchs,” she says.

“Fewer places for them to feed.”

She’s never minded making the effort for Monarchs. “They’re beautiful and it would be a shame to lose them. My mom used to kid me that we’d have to take the last ones down to Florida on a plane so they wouldn’t have quite so far to make it to Mexico.”

She recruits Monarch “foster parents” from among her UT colleagues and hopes to create an official Monarch way station at UT. (She advises people to check the national site at www.MonarchWatch.org/ws.)

“I’d like all my daughters to share this with their kids,” Blosser says. “My oldest daughter initially wanted Monarchs at her wedding, so there’s hope.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Lance A. Talmage MD (Eng ’60) was elected to a three-year term on the National Board of Directors of the Federation of State Medical Boards, a nationwide organization.

He also serves as secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board, reviewing medical complaints and signing physicians’ licenses.

Harvey Kail (A/S ’68, MA ’70), professor of English at the University of Maine, received the 2008 award for outstanding teaching and advising from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The 30-year faculty member is founding director of the university’s writing center.

Jim Hauser (Ed ’68) was named to the Perkins High School Hall of Fame. His long coaching career at the Sandusky, Ohio, school included positions as head coach for football, girls’ basketball and boys’ track.

Narpat S. Panwar MD (MEng ’68), South Williamson, Ky., heads a private OB/GYN practice in the Bluegrass State.

’70s

Athanasios Papademos (Eng ’70), technical director of electrical engineering with Kahn, part of the www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

quartered in Enid, Okla.

Roger Hafford (Law ’76), acting prosecutor for Fremont, Ohio, was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland to a seat in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.

Donald L. Warner (Eng ’76), vice president and director of quality and training with Toledo architectural firm SSOE Inc., was named 2008 Engineer of the Year by the Technical Society of Toledo and the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers’ Toledo chapter.

Papademos ’70 Shirley J. (Bauman) Ward (Ed ’70, MEd ’72), Milan, Ohio, followed her 35-year career as a high school teacher and guidance counselor with a new direction as an independent tour director, recently graduating from International Tour Management Institute in California.

Bill Rice (MEng ’71), Elyria, Ohio, now retired from a 33-year career with NASA, was honored with an Elyria Catholic High School Distinguished Alumnus Hall of Fame award.

Katherine A. Zachel (Ed ’71, MEd ’74, Ed Spec ’77), Bowling Green, since her 2007 retirement from public school service has been working as an adjunct professor for UT and BGSU, in addition to teaching ESL part time.

Rev. David E. Brown (A/S ’72) is serving as interim pastor of Central Congregational Church in Madison, Ohio. He was formerly at Hampton Park Christian Church in Toledo.

Brian Engel (Bus ’73) was hired as vice president of public affairs for Continental Resources Inc., an oil and natural gas exploration and production company head-

Warner ’76 Debbie Gavalas (A/S ’77) was

named director of advancement for Academy of Holy Names High School in Tampa, Fla. Clinton O. Longenecker PhD (Bus ’77, MBA ’78), Stranahan Professor of Leadership and Organizational Excellence in UT’s College of Business Administration, was honored in March with a Jefferson Award for public service to northwest Ohio.

Bill Verbosky Jr. (A/S ’77) was appointed retail lender for GenoaBank. He also serves as mayor of Rossford, Ohio.

Bill McCall (Univ Coll ’78, Pharm ’81) was named manager of The Pharmacy Counter in south Toledo, his responsibilities including the acquired operations of the former Glenbyrne Pharmacy following its sale.

Kim Ohlweiler (Ed ’78) retired from Winton Woods High School, where she had been head band director for 23 years. She’s credited with building the Cincinnati school’s band program — boasting one of the largest marching bands

Robin Chlebowski (Ed ’97) made a face — a big green one that charmed Toledo officials. Her winsome amphibian logo leaped over the competition in a contest to represent the city’s annual Frogtown Fair, established in August. “The theme of the fair is ‘promoting green living,’ not just in Toledo, but everywhere,” says Robin, a graphic designer for Tolco Corp. “I’m so proud to have won!” The logo will appear widely to promote the fair, providing a new source of professional satisfaction to Chlebowski, whose work at Tolco already includes creating logos, albeit of a different sort. “Having your work appear on a billboard is certainly more exciting than having it on a urinal screen,” she admits.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

33

class notes

Sherry Blosser

’30s

Joe Linver (A/S ’39) and his wife, Betty, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in April.

Parents of four children, nine grandchildren and 10 greatgrandchildren, they live in Albuquerque, N.M., where they’re active in real estate development and other civic activities.

senior systems analyst, IT Personnel

Monarch butterflies

Albert Kahn family of architecture/engineering firms, was appointed chair of the Toledo section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

’50s

You might say that Sherry Blosser caught the bug early: “I had an insect collection when I was a kid — the pretty ones as well as the creepy ones.” Years later, her own daughters put wings on Blosser’s old passion when they brought home a Monarch butterfly-raising kit.

It quickly became a family affair, Blosser says. “It took us a few years, but we perfected the process. Then we began looking for Monarch eggs in the wild.” That meant field trips to local milkweed patches.

The pinhead-sized eggs, she says, are more likely to be found on shorter, more tender milkweeds, “so my youngest daughter found more of them, being closer to ground.”

Once they obtained the eggs and their milkweed-leaf hosts, the fun began. “You wait three or four days for the caterpillar to emerge; it looks like a piece of thread, but it turns around and eats its egg case. It eats and eats and eats. Then it rests, sheds its skin, turns around and eats the skin.”

Blosser and her daughters had ring-side seats as each caterpillar eventually transformed itself into a bright green chrysalis. “The day before the butterfly emerges, the chrysalis turns black,” Blosser explains. “When the Monarchs emerge, their wings have to fill with liquids to expand.”

Before each freshly minted butterfly dried its wings and flew away, Blosser and her

32

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

George W. Green (Bus ’50, MBA ’51), Dearborn, Mich., gave a presentation on collecting mineral specimens at Toledo’s Wildwood Preserve in April.

’60s

Blosser with Monarch who’s part of Butterflies! at the Toledo Zoo, a permanent walk-through exhibit

daughters had recorded its name and vitals in a notebook.

The notebooks multiplied as the family raised hundreds of butterflies over the years. Monarch midwifery requires some regular chores: a daily cleaning for the “butterfly buckets” and plenty of food for the voracious caterpillars. Because most of the old plant sites have been lost to development, Blosser maintains her own milkweed now. “That’s probably one reason for the decline of Monarchs,” she says.

“Fewer places for them to feed.”

She’s never minded making the effort for Monarchs. “They’re beautiful and it would be a shame to lose them. My mom used to kid me that we’d have to take the last ones down to Florida on a plane so they wouldn’t have quite so far to make it to Mexico.”

She recruits Monarch “foster parents” from among her UT colleagues and hopes to create an official Monarch way station at UT. (She advises people to check the national site at www.MonarchWatch.org/ws.)

“I’d like all my daughters to share this with their kids,” Blosser says. “My oldest daughter initially wanted Monarchs at her wedding, so there’s hope.” www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Lance A. Talmage MD (Eng ’60) was elected to a three-year term on the National Board of Directors of the Federation of State Medical Boards, a nationwide organization.

He also serves as secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board, reviewing medical complaints and signing physicians’ licenses.

Harvey Kail (A/S ’68, MA ’70), professor of English at the University of Maine, received the 2008 award for outstanding teaching and advising from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The 30-year faculty member is founding director of the university’s writing center.

Jim Hauser (Ed ’68) was named to the Perkins High School Hall of Fame. His long coaching career at the Sandusky, Ohio, school included positions as head coach for football, girls’ basketball and boys’ track.

Narpat S. Panwar MD (MEng ’68), South Williamson, Ky., heads a private OB/GYN practice in the Bluegrass State.

’70s

Athanasios Papademos (Eng ’70), technical director of electrical engineering with Kahn, part of the www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

quartered in Enid, Okla.

Roger Hafford (Law ’76), acting prosecutor for Fremont, Ohio, was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland to a seat in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court.

Donald L. Warner (Eng ’76), vice president and director of quality and training with Toledo architectural firm SSOE Inc., was named 2008 Engineer of the Year by the Technical Society of Toledo and the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers’ Toledo chapter.

Papademos ’70 Shirley J. (Bauman) Ward (Ed ’70, MEd ’72), Milan, Ohio, followed her 35-year career as a high school teacher and guidance counselor with a new direction as an independent tour director, recently graduating from International Tour Management Institute in California.

Bill Rice (MEng ’71), Elyria, Ohio, now retired from a 33-year career with NASA, was honored with an Elyria Catholic High School Distinguished Alumnus Hall of Fame award.

Katherine A. Zachel (Ed ’71, MEd ’74, Ed Spec ’77), Bowling Green, since her 2007 retirement from public school service has been working as an adjunct professor for UT and BGSU, in addition to teaching ESL part time.

Rev. David E. Brown (A/S ’72) is serving as interim pastor of Central Congregational Church in Madison, Ohio. He was formerly at Hampton Park Christian Church in Toledo.

Brian Engel (Bus ’73) was hired as vice president of public affairs for Continental Resources Inc., an oil and natural gas exploration and production company head-

Warner ’76 Debbie Gavalas (A/S ’77) was

named director of advancement for Academy of Holy Names High School in Tampa, Fla. Clinton O. Longenecker PhD (Bus ’77, MBA ’78), Stranahan Professor of Leadership and Organizational Excellence in UT’s College of Business Administration, was honored in March with a Jefferson Award for public service to northwest Ohio.

Bill Verbosky Jr. (A/S ’77) was appointed retail lender for GenoaBank. He also serves as mayor of Rossford, Ohio.

Bill McCall (Univ Coll ’78, Pharm ’81) was named manager of The Pharmacy Counter in south Toledo, his responsibilities including the acquired operations of the former Glenbyrne Pharmacy following its sale.

Kim Ohlweiler (Ed ’78) retired from Winton Woods High School, where she had been head band director for 23 years. She’s credited with building the Cincinnati school’s band program — boasting one of the largest marching bands

Robin Chlebowski (Ed ’97) made a face — a big green one that charmed Toledo officials. Her winsome amphibian logo leaped over the competition in a contest to represent the city’s annual Frogtown Fair, established in August. “The theme of the fair is ‘promoting green living,’ not just in Toledo, but everywhere,” says Robin, a graphic designer for Tolco Corp. “I’m so proud to have won!” The logo will appear widely to promote the fair, providing a new source of professional satisfaction to Chlebowski, whose work at Tolco already includes creating logos, albeit of a different sort. “Having your work appear on a billboard is certainly more exciting than having it on a urinal screen,” she admits.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

33

class notes

Global travels on mind of alum during Yale fellowship

D

octors Without Borders.

Pediatrics AIDS Corps.

Swaziland, Liberia, India, China, Bolivia. No mere pins on a map or names on letterhead, they’re people and places that Sachin Desai MD (MED ’01) claims as some of his most-rubbed touchstones.

Numerous medical missions to developing nations left their mark on the Rochester, N.Y., native. “You come to realize how short a week is, then how short three months are,” he says. “Even one- and two-year trips aren’t long enough for what needs to be done.

“Working where disease can affect so many people made me want to dig more deeply into causes and relationships,” he adds. His medical missions, in fact, led to the work he’s doing now at his pediatrics and infectious disease fellowship at Yale University. “I’m learning more about how clinical research plays into decision-making and how it affects policies — as well as more about how to better treat patients,” he says.

“In choosing my clinical research project, I wanted to focus more on vaccines — that’s a major topic in international medicine as we treat tuberculosis, HIV and diarrheal illnesses such as rotaviruses.”

Laughing a bit at his “suit, tie and shoes” mode at Yale, he says

34

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

he appreciates what he’s learning but always keeps one ear attuned to the developing world.

“In developing countries, a pediatrician really becomes part of a community,” he says. “What impresses me is how much the simple things — food, clean water, vaccinations — matter there.” He notes that they’re not always simple to implement — “especially in countries dealing with the triple threat: epidemics, food insecurity and political instability.”

When he worked in a therapeutic feeding center in Africa, for instance, it was hard to empower his patients to help themselves until the causes of their malnutrition could be alleviated. “And with HIV and TB, we can provide the medicine, but if people don’t have safe food and water, how can the kids get better?”

Does he ever get frustrated with the problems he’s seen?

“I get tired,” he admits. “But I get excited, too. There’s a great need whether you’re in New Haven, Toledo or Africa. About 65 percent of medical students go abroad, if only for an elective. The experience affects you clinically, in a positive way. It opens your eyes to see how 70 percent of the world lives.”

Clinicians can affect national policy for that 70 percent, Desai feels: “We can interpret clinical studies and work with decisionmakers to help shape health policies in the developing world.

“An investment in the future of global health is never money badly spent.”

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

in the state — into the premiere organization that represented Ohio at the 2000 national Fourth of July parade in Washington, D.C. Kathryn (Kirschner) Hott (Ed ’79, MEd ’84) was hired as superintendent of northwest Ohio’s Springfield Schools, where she had previously served as assistant superintendent, as elementary curriculum director and as middle school principal.

’80s

David Barchick (Bus ’80) was promoted to vice president – human resources North America at Pilkington. He’s worked at the global glass company’s North American headquarters in Toledo since 1989.

Robert Head PhD (MBA ’80), president of Urbana University, received the 2008 Simon Award from the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce in recognition of his work in strengthening the Ohio university and fostering community relationships.

Ramona M. Roberts (Law ’80), Flint (Michigan) District Judge since 1992, retired in June. She plans to continue her connection with the Boys and Girls Club of Flint, which named its learning center after her.

Beverly A. Sheridan (Pharm ’80, Law ’86) was promoted to director of pharmacy operations for Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a 417-bed facility managed by the University of Washington.

Mark Blumenschein MD (A/S ’81), who coaches at Beavercreek (Ohio) High School, was honored as Assistant Coach of the Year by the Miami Valley Baseball Coaches Association. His daughter, Kelly, received a college scholarship at the ceremony.

Grace A. Szubski (Law ’81), a plaintiff Workers Compensation and Social Security attorney with www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Garson & Associates Co. LPA in Cleveland, was named an Ohio Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine.

David Bisbee (Bus ’82), Dover, Ohio, founded Experiential Partners, a consulting company offering insurance and risk management solutions for individual and commercial clients.

Gretchen Carroll (MBA ’83, Law ’05), professor of marketing

and management at Owens Community College, received a Presidential Citation Award from the Perrysburg college, honoring her service to higher education.

Barbara Dennis (UTCTC ’83) was honored as Maumee’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year at the city’s annual Hometown Heroes banquet in March. She was recognized for her long record of volunteerism and public service, including her service today as president of the Maumee Valley Historical Society.

William James Jr. MD (Res ’85) is one of three physicians who

launched Findlay Pain Services, part of the Comprehensive Centers for Pain Management. Boardcertified in anesthesiology and pain management, he serves as medical director.

Robert Pesek PhD (PhD ’85)

was named director of international programs within Ashland University’s newly created Office of International Programs. He will continue serving for a year as director of the Ohio university’s ACCESS program for international students.

Brian Kerns (Law ’86) was named a trustee of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys. The practicing lawyer who serves on the Ohio State Bar Association’s Council of Delegates lives in Medina with his wife, Therese (A/S ’85), and their three children.

The medical challenges are big in Papua New Guinea, where Susan M. (Cummings) Myers MD (MED ’93) is serving with a medical mission at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital. Although she trained in pediatrics, she also cares for patients in the ER and the outpatient department, where she treated this man suffering from chronic liver disease.

“The problem is that he lives way out in the bush and when his meds run out, it isn’t easy

Robert C. Klaiber Jr. (Eng ’86, MEng ’88), Cuyahoga County

to get here, so he ends up waiting until his belly is very distended with fluid again,” she says. Her family — husband Jeffrey and children, Jessica and Ethan — share her commitment.

their Toledo corporate offices.

engineer, was appointed to the Cleveland Engineering Society Board of Directors.

Timothy M. O’Brien (Bus ’88)

was appointed director of finance and operations for CT Consultants Inc., an engineering/architectural firm with six Ohio offices.

Pollauf ’88 Jackie (McGhee) Shultz (Ed ’88), principal of Dundee (Mich.)

O’Brien ’88 Vicki Pollauf (UTCTC ’88)

was promoted to assistant vice president, regional learning manager at Fifth Third Bank in

High School, was named to the Swanton (Ohio) High School Athletic Hall of Fame. A Swanton letter-winner in volleyball and track, she also played basketball at Swanton and at UT. Chris Beach (Bus ’89) was promoted to senior vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer with Bostwick-Braun, a wholesale hardware/industrial

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

35

class notes

Global travels on mind of alum during Yale fellowship

D

octors Without Borders.

Pediatrics AIDS Corps.

Swaziland, Liberia, India, China, Bolivia. No mere pins on a map or names on letterhead, they’re people and places that Sachin Desai MD (MED ’01) claims as some of his most-rubbed touchstones.

Numerous medical missions to developing nations left their mark on the Rochester, N.Y., native. “You come to realize how short a week is, then how short three months are,” he says. “Even one- and two-year trips aren’t long enough for what needs to be done.

“Working where disease can affect so many people made me want to dig more deeply into causes and relationships,” he adds. His medical missions, in fact, led to the work he’s doing now at his pediatrics and infectious disease fellowship at Yale University. “I’m learning more about how clinical research plays into decision-making and how it affects policies — as well as more about how to better treat patients,” he says.

“In choosing my clinical research project, I wanted to focus more on vaccines — that’s a major topic in international medicine as we treat tuberculosis, HIV and diarrheal illnesses such as rotaviruses.”

Laughing a bit at his “suit, tie and shoes” mode at Yale, he says

34

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

he appreciates what he’s learning but always keeps one ear attuned to the developing world.

“In developing countries, a pediatrician really becomes part of a community,” he says. “What impresses me is how much the simple things — food, clean water, vaccinations — matter there.” He notes that they’re not always simple to implement — “especially in countries dealing with the triple threat: epidemics, food insecurity and political instability.”

When he worked in a therapeutic feeding center in Africa, for instance, it was hard to empower his patients to help themselves until the causes of their malnutrition could be alleviated. “And with HIV and TB, we can provide the medicine, but if people don’t have safe food and water, how can the kids get better?”

Does he ever get frustrated with the problems he’s seen?

“I get tired,” he admits. “But I get excited, too. There’s a great need whether you’re in New Haven, Toledo or Africa. About 65 percent of medical students go abroad, if only for an elective. The experience affects you clinically, in a positive way. It opens your eyes to see how 70 percent of the world lives.”

Clinicians can affect national policy for that 70 percent, Desai feels: “We can interpret clinical studies and work with decisionmakers to help shape health policies in the developing world.

“An investment in the future of global health is never money badly spent.”

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

in the state — into the premiere organization that represented Ohio at the 2000 national Fourth of July parade in Washington, D.C. Kathryn (Kirschner) Hott (Ed ’79, MEd ’84) was hired as superintendent of northwest Ohio’s Springfield Schools, where she had previously served as assistant superintendent, as elementary curriculum director and as middle school principal.

’80s

David Barchick (Bus ’80) was promoted to vice president – human resources North America at Pilkington. He’s worked at the global glass company’s North American headquarters in Toledo since 1989.

Robert Head PhD (MBA ’80), president of Urbana University, received the 2008 Simon Award from the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce in recognition of his work in strengthening the Ohio university and fostering community relationships.

Ramona M. Roberts (Law ’80), Flint (Michigan) District Judge since 1992, retired in June. She plans to continue her connection with the Boys and Girls Club of Flint, which named its learning center after her.

Beverly A. Sheridan (Pharm ’80, Law ’86) was promoted to director of pharmacy operations for Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a 417-bed facility managed by the University of Washington.

Mark Blumenschein MD (A/S ’81), who coaches at Beavercreek (Ohio) High School, was honored as Assistant Coach of the Year by the Miami Valley Baseball Coaches Association. His daughter, Kelly, received a college scholarship at the ceremony.

Grace A. Szubski (Law ’81), a plaintiff Workers Compensation and Social Security attorney with www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Garson & Associates Co. LPA in Cleveland, was named an Ohio Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine.

David Bisbee (Bus ’82), Dover, Ohio, founded Experiential Partners, a consulting company offering insurance and risk management solutions for individual and commercial clients.

Gretchen Carroll (MBA ’83, Law ’05), professor of marketing

and management at Owens Community College, received a Presidential Citation Award from the Perrysburg college, honoring her service to higher education.

Barbara Dennis (UTCTC ’83) was honored as Maumee’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year at the city’s annual Hometown Heroes banquet in March. She was recognized for her long record of volunteerism and public service, including her service today as president of the Maumee Valley Historical Society.

William James Jr. MD (Res ’85) is one of three physicians who

launched Findlay Pain Services, part of the Comprehensive Centers for Pain Management. Boardcertified in anesthesiology and pain management, he serves as medical director.

Robert Pesek PhD (PhD ’85)

was named director of international programs within Ashland University’s newly created Office of International Programs. He will continue serving for a year as director of the Ohio university’s ACCESS program for international students.

Brian Kerns (Law ’86) was named a trustee of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys. The practicing lawyer who serves on the Ohio State Bar Association’s Council of Delegates lives in Medina with his wife, Therese (A/S ’85), and their three children.

The medical challenges are big in Papua New Guinea, where Susan M. (Cummings) Myers MD (MED ’93) is serving with a medical mission at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital. Although she trained in pediatrics, she also cares for patients in the ER and the outpatient department, where she treated this man suffering from chronic liver disease.

“The problem is that he lives way out in the bush and when his meds run out, it isn’t easy

Robert C. Klaiber Jr. (Eng ’86, MEng ’88), Cuyahoga County

to get here, so he ends up waiting until his belly is very distended with fluid again,” she says. Her family — husband Jeffrey and children, Jessica and Ethan — share her commitment.

their Toledo corporate offices.

engineer, was appointed to the Cleveland Engineering Society Board of Directors.

Timothy M. O’Brien (Bus ’88)

was appointed director of finance and operations for CT Consultants Inc., an engineering/architectural firm with six Ohio offices.

Pollauf ’88 Jackie (McGhee) Shultz (Ed ’88), principal of Dundee (Mich.)

O’Brien ’88 Vicki Pollauf (UTCTC ’88)

was promoted to assistant vice president, regional learning manager at Fifth Third Bank in

High School, was named to the Swanton (Ohio) High School Athletic Hall of Fame. A Swanton letter-winner in volleyball and track, she also played basketball at Swanton and at UT. Chris Beach (Bus ’89) was promoted to senior vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer with Bostwick-Braun, a wholesale hardware/industrial

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

35

class notes

Big voice, big future for talented alumna

F

or Melanie “Babydoll” Wallace (Univ Coll ’97), it’s a traveling road to a career of singing, starting in Tokyo and going through Las Vegas.

The singer, vocal coach, teacher and motivational speaker is adding businesswoman to her list of roles. With several completed R&B albums under her belt and a Gospel record planned, Wallace leaves this spring on a world tour.

“I was supposed to be singing in Bejing right now, but with the recent earthquake and the Olympics coming up, that’s on hold,” she says.

Growing up as part of Shiloh Baptist Church in Toledo, Wallace comes from a very musical family.

“I was directing choirs when I was nine. No one realized I had such a strong voice until my mother couldn’t find anyone to sing a particular piece and I volunteered.”

Her newfound love for singing earned her a nickname as friends and relatives started taking her to sing in clubs and places where her youth and “baby” face stood out.

“‘You look like a babydoll,’ people would tell me. It stuck.”

In 2003, after a friend asked Wallace to take over for her singing at an upscale restaurant in the Japanese capital, the connections started building and Wallace’s voice started getting

36

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

supplier headquartered in Toledo.

Nick Iarocci (Law ’89), who established his own law practice in Conneaut, Ohio, was named a 2007 Chamber Champion by the Conneaut Area Chamber of Commerce. He previously was assistant prosecutor for Ashtabula County and is past president of the area board of education.

Mark Mahoney (Law ’89), Cuyahoga County prosecutor and North Olmsted councilman-atlarge, received the county’s Carmen Marino Award, honoring tenacity, integrity and professionalism in the pursuit of justice.

’90s

Deb Ortiz-Flores (A/S ’90, MPA ’97) is director of the Lucas

County Department of Job and Family Services. Previously, she was coordinator of new student programs at UT. She and her husband, Tony, have two daughters, Sierra and Sofia.

noticed. “They love big voices in Japan. I remember being on the airplane to Japan and trying to learn hundreds of songs.”

Wallace says her UT education gave her the ability to reach for her dream with the confidence that she could always bounce back from any setbacks. “I’m here because of my experience at UT. If it wasn’t for that degree, I wouldn’t be able to make it right now,” she says, pointing to the substitute teaching she is able to fall back on when the music business slows.

“Music is iffy. I may get twenty to thirty calls a week and then no calls for months.” Wallace credits her mother for supporting her desire to go into singing — but also for insisting that she have a back-up plan for the lean times.

“I’m building a business,” Wallace says. “And slowly but surely, it’s working.”

Learn more about Wallace and follow her career at singbabydoll. com.

— Jon Strunk, Office of University Communications

Ortiz-Flores ’90, ’97 Robert E. Hodgson (MBA ’91) was promoted to director of Navy Yard Operations for Mothers Work, Philadelphia, the world’s largest designer and retailer of maternity apparel.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

R. Hodgson ’91 Loretta H. Hodgson (Bus ’91), Sicklerville, N.J., was promoted to director of finance at Pepsi Bottling Group in Philadelphia.

Terry Penner (Law ’91) was certified as fiscal officer of the Central Local School District in Sherwood, Ohio.

Jeffrey Peters (A/S ’91, MEd ’98) joined Monroe Community

College in the newly created position of coordinator of teaching and learning, which includes responsibility for the faculty’s technology support.

Peters ’91, ’98 Gregory Halley MD (MBA ’93), Wooster, Ohio, is health

commissioner of Wayne County.

Todd Marsh (Bus ’93), Genoa, Ohio, was named vice president, chief financial officer with GenoaBank.

William Spiess (MEd ’93) was named superintendent of Four County Career Center in Archbold, Ohio, where he was previously director of career and technical education.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

David LaRoe (Univ Coll ’74) is celebrating an appetizing anniversary this year: For 30 years, he’s owned and operated LaRoe’s Restaurant in historic Grand Rapids, Ohio, recently adding an outdoor patio for diners to enjoy views of the Maumee River. Running the restored Victorian-era tavern (which in December features dinner theatre) is a long way from his first restaurant job at Parmelee’s Par 4 when he was in high school; a few years later, UT food service professor Franco Pajella impressed Dave with the interest he took in his students’ planned careers. Whether or not you make it to the former canal town, Dave has a message for diners: “Patronize the independent restaurants over the chains.” Click LaRoe’s at grandrapidsohio.com.

George F. Wells (Eng ’95) is founder and president of Legacy of America, an investment planning firm headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Denise A. Mueller (A/S ’94, Law ’99), an associate with the

Toledo-based law firm of Eastman & Smith Ltd., was named 20082009 president of the Toledo Women’s Bar Association. Denise also serves as vice president of the Parkinson’s Foundation of Northwest Ohio. She and her husband, Pete, have two daughters.

Brandon Stokes (A/S ’94) was named men’s tennis coach at Florida Atlantic University. A twotime letter winner while at UT, he previously coached at the University of Central Florida, Wofford University and the University of North Alabama.

Timothy A. Westrick (A/S ’94, Law ’97), a prosecutor in the

Cleveland area, published a novel, The Circus Ax, which centers on a real-life 1922 murder case in Jackson, Mich.

Eric D. Baker (Bus ’95) joined Fifth Third Bank as vice president and area sales manager for Fifth Third Securities Inc., working at the bank’s Toledo headquarters.

Mark Bartone (UTCTC ’96, Eng ’97) was promoted to

Baker ’95

shareholder with BSA LifeStructures, Indianapolis. The mechanical engineer has been with the design firm for 10 years.

Jennifer (Sidebottom) Fonseca (MEd ’95), West Palm

Beach, Fla., was appointed program director of the Gary Player Foundation, a global project established by the South African golfer and his family to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged children.

Matthew G. Morris MD (MED ’95) was hired as medical

director for Glendora Health Care Center in Wooster, Ohio. He and his wife, Tiffany, have four children.

Lori L. Seward (A/S ’95) was named president of Unified Health Solutions, a Dayton-based health administration and coordination company.

Bartone ’96, ’97 Thomas R. Biehl Jr. (Law ’96)

was named a partner with the Sandusky law firm of Baker & Daniels LLP. Stacey Borowicz (HS ’96), Powell, Ohio, joined the law firm of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs as an associate.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

37

class notes

Big voice, big future for talented alumna

F

or Melanie “Babydoll” Wallace (Univ Coll ’97), it’s a traveling road to a career of singing, starting in Tokyo and going through Las Vegas.

The singer, vocal coach, teacher and motivational speaker is adding businesswoman to her list of roles. With several completed R&B albums under her belt and a Gospel record planned, Wallace leaves this spring on a world tour.

“I was supposed to be singing in Bejing right now, but with the recent earthquake and the Olympics coming up, that’s on hold,” she says.

Growing up as part of Shiloh Baptist Church in Toledo, Wallace comes from a very musical family.

“I was directing choirs when I was nine. No one realized I had such a strong voice until my mother couldn’t find anyone to sing a particular piece and I volunteered.”

Her newfound love for singing earned her a nickname as friends and relatives started taking her to sing in clubs and places where her youth and “baby” face stood out.

“‘You look like a babydoll,’ people would tell me. It stuck.”

In 2003, after a friend asked Wallace to take over for her singing at an upscale restaurant in the Japanese capital, the connections started building and Wallace’s voice started getting

36

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

supplier headquartered in Toledo.

Nick Iarocci (Law ’89), who established his own law practice in Conneaut, Ohio, was named a 2007 Chamber Champion by the Conneaut Area Chamber of Commerce. He previously was assistant prosecutor for Ashtabula County and is past president of the area board of education.

Mark Mahoney (Law ’89), Cuyahoga County prosecutor and North Olmsted councilman-atlarge, received the county’s Carmen Marino Award, honoring tenacity, integrity and professionalism in the pursuit of justice.

’90s

Deb Ortiz-Flores (A/S ’90, MPA ’97) is director of the Lucas

County Department of Job and Family Services. Previously, she was coordinator of new student programs at UT. She and her husband, Tony, have two daughters, Sierra and Sofia.

noticed. “They love big voices in Japan. I remember being on the airplane to Japan and trying to learn hundreds of songs.”

Wallace says her UT education gave her the ability to reach for her dream with the confidence that she could always bounce back from any setbacks. “I’m here because of my experience at UT. If it wasn’t for that degree, I wouldn’t be able to make it right now,” she says, pointing to the substitute teaching she is able to fall back on when the music business slows.

“Music is iffy. I may get twenty to thirty calls a week and then no calls for months.” Wallace credits her mother for supporting her desire to go into singing — but also for insisting that she have a back-up plan for the lean times.

“I’m building a business,” Wallace says. “And slowly but surely, it’s working.”

Learn more about Wallace and follow her career at singbabydoll. com.

— Jon Strunk, Office of University Communications

Ortiz-Flores ’90, ’97 Robert E. Hodgson (MBA ’91) was promoted to director of Navy Yard Operations for Mothers Work, Philadelphia, the world’s largest designer and retailer of maternity apparel.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

R. Hodgson ’91 Loretta H. Hodgson (Bus ’91), Sicklerville, N.J., was promoted to director of finance at Pepsi Bottling Group in Philadelphia.

Terry Penner (Law ’91) was certified as fiscal officer of the Central Local School District in Sherwood, Ohio.

Jeffrey Peters (A/S ’91, MEd ’98) joined Monroe Community

College in the newly created position of coordinator of teaching and learning, which includes responsibility for the faculty’s technology support.

Peters ’91, ’98 Gregory Halley MD (MBA ’93), Wooster, Ohio, is health

commissioner of Wayne County.

Todd Marsh (Bus ’93), Genoa, Ohio, was named vice president, chief financial officer with GenoaBank.

William Spiess (MEd ’93) was named superintendent of Four County Career Center in Archbold, Ohio, where he was previously director of career and technical education.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

David LaRoe (Univ Coll ’74) is celebrating an appetizing anniversary this year: For 30 years, he’s owned and operated LaRoe’s Restaurant in historic Grand Rapids, Ohio, recently adding an outdoor patio for diners to enjoy views of the Maumee River. Running the restored Victorian-era tavern (which in December features dinner theatre) is a long way from his first restaurant job at Parmelee’s Par 4 when he was in high school; a few years later, UT food service professor Franco Pajella impressed Dave with the interest he took in his students’ planned careers. Whether or not you make it to the former canal town, Dave has a message for diners: “Patronize the independent restaurants over the chains.” Click LaRoe’s at grandrapidsohio.com.

George F. Wells (Eng ’95) is founder and president of Legacy of America, an investment planning firm headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Denise A. Mueller (A/S ’94, Law ’99), an associate with the

Toledo-based law firm of Eastman & Smith Ltd., was named 20082009 president of the Toledo Women’s Bar Association. Denise also serves as vice president of the Parkinson’s Foundation of Northwest Ohio. She and her husband, Pete, have two daughters.

Brandon Stokes (A/S ’94) was named men’s tennis coach at Florida Atlantic University. A twotime letter winner while at UT, he previously coached at the University of Central Florida, Wofford University and the University of North Alabama.

Timothy A. Westrick (A/S ’94, Law ’97), a prosecutor in the

Cleveland area, published a novel, The Circus Ax, which centers on a real-life 1922 murder case in Jackson, Mich.

Eric D. Baker (Bus ’95) joined Fifth Third Bank as vice president and area sales manager for Fifth Third Securities Inc., working at the bank’s Toledo headquarters.

Mark Bartone (UTCTC ’96, Eng ’97) was promoted to

Baker ’95

shareholder with BSA LifeStructures, Indianapolis. The mechanical engineer has been with the design firm for 10 years.

Jennifer (Sidebottom) Fonseca (MEd ’95), West Palm

Beach, Fla., was appointed program director of the Gary Player Foundation, a global project established by the South African golfer and his family to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged children.

Matthew G. Morris MD (MED ’95) was hired as medical

director for Glendora Health Care Center in Wooster, Ohio. He and his wife, Tiffany, have four children.

Lori L. Seward (A/S ’95) was named president of Unified Health Solutions, a Dayton-based health administration and coordination company.

Bartone ’96, ’97 Thomas R. Biehl Jr. (Law ’96)

was named a partner with the Sandusky law firm of Baker & Daniels LLP. Stacey Borowicz (HS ’96), Powell, Ohio, joined the law firm of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs as an associate.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

37

Rolling for hits: alum documents Hollywood gamble [Cue the familiar stentorian tones.] “In a world — where bad movies — threaten to extinguish humanity’s love of great stories — one man battles to change the course of entertainment history.”

he one man is Ken Close (Bus ’72) and his chosen battlefield is Crap Shoot: the Documentary, his satiric look at why Hollywood churns out so many stinkers. “Think of it,” he says. “Hollywood releases about three hundred movies a year, and fewer than half are even mildly entertaining; only a handful are really good.” Declining ticket sales seem to support his view.

Film-buff Close did more than fume; he went looking for the perps. With a small film crew, the scrappy Toledo financial adviser and former Army lieutenant colonel made the trek to Tinsel Town, loaded for bear. Although he’d hoped to corner studio decision-makers, an army of hierarchical gatekeepers lay between him and his quarry.

Instead, he says, “We were able to interview the blue-collar movie workers — the actor with ten or twenty minor-role acting credits, the photography director on many big-budget films who never got a shot at directing his own movie.

“They didn’t have any gatekeepers, but they knew at least as much as the big people

T

38

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

do, maybe more.”

What they told him supported his own theory: “The studio heads in Hollywood don’t know what stories people want to see, so they concentrate instead on who audiences will pay to see.”

Testing scripts is the answer, Close believes, backing

his theory with psychology research courtesy of Oliver Schultheiss PhD of the University of Michigan. “Making movies is not really a crap shoot; the science of bio-psychology guides all hit movies, as it does great literature,” Ken says.

Crap Shoot mixes its science with entertainment. “We spoofed

as many movies as we could along the way. Injecting a little humor increases an audience’s level of beta-endorphin while making learning more fun,” says Close, who kids his own lifetime Mensa membership with a feature called Cerebral-Vision.

Shrugging off comparisons between himself and another burly documentary-maker (“I’m the anti-Moore, Moore with less”), he’s working on wider distribution for his work, a Netflix offering since the spring. Its wins in the Accolade and Telly competitions and positive buzz at the San Antonio Film Festival will help.

If scientific script analysis made bad movies were as rare as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Oscars, Close would feel great about Crap Shoot’s impact. “My goal is to produce critically acclaimed, blockbuster hit movies without using A-list actors or millions of dollars in special effects,” he says.

“I want to affirm what Shakespeare taught us over four hundred years ago — that audiences want to see compelling stories. That’s what’s missing from today's movies.

People have a nearly insatiable need to be entertained, and Hollywood has not done a good job of satisfying that need.”

The official site is www. crapshootdocumentary.com/.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Dustin T. Erdmann (Ed ’96), now an Army Specialist, graduated from basic combat training at Fort Knox, Ky.

Matthew Forney (A/S ’96) was hired to the government and legislative affairs practice area at the Dublin, Ohio, law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter.

Bob Miller (A/S ’96) was named business manager for student affairs in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he had previously worked in the Department of Student Recreation.

Erikson Karmol (Law ’97) was appointed deputy regional attorney in the Region 7 office (Detroit) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which administers and enforces the National Labor Relations Act. He joined the NLRB in 1997.

Melanie M. (Simo) Miller (A/S ’97), Casper, Wy., is

executive assistant to the CIO at the Wyoming Medical Center as well as teaching computer classes and working as a professional organizer. She reports that she and her husband, Jeff, enjoy life in the mountains.

Matt J. Steiner (Eng ’97), a mechanical engineer with the Indianapolis design firm BSA LifeStructures, was promoted to shareholder.

Central Catholic High School, Toledo, was named Athletic Director of the Year by the Northwest Ohio District Officials Committee.

Ginger Packert (MA ’99), an instructor at EHOVE Career Center in Milan, Ohio, was named High School Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Council for Social Studies. She also teaches American history at BGSU-Firelands.

Brian Trease PhD (Eng ’99)

received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, Amanda, moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he works for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

’00s

Marcus D. Christmas (A/S ’00)

is living in Philadelphia, where he recently earned his master’s degree in social services from Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. He serves as director of the Salvation Army’s Lessig Booth Family Residence.

Adam D. Fineske (Ed ’00, MEd ’05) was hired as the new

principal of Hill View Elementary School in Sylvania. He and his wife, Kate (Univ Coll ’98), have two children, Elizabeth and Andrew.

Christopher Helm (Ed ’64, MEd ’67) is used to taking life on the fly. A fly fisherman for more than 35 years, he’s taught fly tying for nearly that long, including a stint in the former adult education program at UT (where he worked 23 years as a personnel manager). Along the way, he’s picked up the Buz Buszak Memorial Award — the most prestigious in the world of fly tying — and when he’s not producing videos on fish-specific flies, he’s writing articles for a shoal of fly fishing magazines. An intensive study of deer hair as the basis for certain flies led to a small business in processing whitetail deer hides. Bass and bluegills are his usual finned prey when he’s in the waters around Hospital in Kenton, Ohio, providing orthopedic services and surgical procedures.

Chris Waynar (HS ’00), Powell, Ohio, was appointed site manager of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Close to Home Centers in Dublin and Hilliard.

Photo by Don Strayer

class notes

Helm and deer-hair mouse

Toledo, but he’s gone north to Canada and south to Central America for brook trout, false albacore and — his favorite — bonefish. Just don’t ask him to tie one on.

Aaron C. Thrush (Eng ’01), a

project engineer with the Mannik and Smith Group Inc., was named Young Engineer of the Year by the Technical Society of Toledo and the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers.

Dawn Wetmore (Ed ’00, MEd ’05) joined Monroe Community

College in December as dean of its Health Sciences Division.

Thrush ’01

Steiner ’97 Bill Axe (Ed Spec ’99), athletic

director and assistant principal for www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Jeremy J. Zeisloft (MBA ’01)

Fineske ’00, ’05 Steven P. Haman MD (MED ’00, Res ’06) joined the specialty

center of Hardin Memorial

Wetmore ’00, ’05

was promoted to assistant vice president in the Business Banking Group of Fifth Third Bank, which he joined in 2003.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

39

Rolling for hits: alum documents Hollywood gamble [Cue the familiar stentorian tones.] “In a world — where bad movies — threaten to extinguish humanity’s love of great stories — one man battles to change the course of entertainment history.”

he one man is Ken Close (Bus ’72) and his chosen battlefield is Crap Shoot: the Documentary, his satiric look at why Hollywood churns out so many stinkers. “Think of it,” he says. “Hollywood releases about three hundred movies a year, and fewer than half are even mildly entertaining; only a handful are really good.” Declining ticket sales seem to support his view.

Film-buff Close did more than fume; he went looking for the perps. With a small film crew, the scrappy Toledo financial adviser and former Army lieutenant colonel made the trek to Tinsel Town, loaded for bear. Although he’d hoped to corner studio decision-makers, an army of hierarchical gatekeepers lay between him and his quarry.

Instead, he says, “We were able to interview the blue-collar movie workers — the actor with ten or twenty minor-role acting credits, the photography director on many big-budget films who never got a shot at directing his own movie.

“They didn’t have any gatekeepers, but they knew at least as much as the big people

T

38

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

do, maybe more.”

What they told him supported his own theory: “The studio heads in Hollywood don’t know what stories people want to see, so they concentrate instead on who audiences will pay to see.”

Testing scripts is the answer, Close believes, backing

his theory with psychology research courtesy of Oliver Schultheiss PhD of the University of Michigan. “Making movies is not really a crap shoot; the science of bio-psychology guides all hit movies, as it does great literature,” Ken says.

Crap Shoot mixes its science with entertainment. “We spoofed

as many movies as we could along the way. Injecting a little humor increases an audience’s level of beta-endorphin while making learning more fun,” says Close, who kids his own lifetime Mensa membership with a feature called Cerebral-Vision.

Shrugging off comparisons between himself and another burly documentary-maker (“I’m the anti-Moore, Moore with less”), he’s working on wider distribution for his work, a Netflix offering since the spring. Its wins in the Accolade and Telly competitions and positive buzz at the San Antonio Film Festival will help.

If scientific script analysis made bad movies were as rare as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Oscars, Close would feel great about Crap Shoot’s impact. “My goal is to produce critically acclaimed, blockbuster hit movies without using A-list actors or millions of dollars in special effects,” he says.

“I want to affirm what Shakespeare taught us over four hundred years ago — that audiences want to see compelling stories. That’s what’s missing from today's movies.

People have a nearly insatiable need to be entertained, and Hollywood has not done a good job of satisfying that need.”

The official site is www. crapshootdocumentary.com/.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Dustin T. Erdmann (Ed ’96), now an Army Specialist, graduated from basic combat training at Fort Knox, Ky.

Matthew Forney (A/S ’96) was hired to the government and legislative affairs practice area at the Dublin, Ohio, law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter.

Bob Miller (A/S ’96) was named business manager for student affairs in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he had previously worked in the Department of Student Recreation.

Erikson Karmol (Law ’97) was appointed deputy regional attorney in the Region 7 office (Detroit) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which administers and enforces the National Labor Relations Act. He joined the NLRB in 1997.

Melanie M. (Simo) Miller (A/S ’97), Casper, Wy., is

executive assistant to the CIO at the Wyoming Medical Center as well as teaching computer classes and working as a professional organizer. She reports that she and her husband, Jeff, enjoy life in the mountains.

Matt J. Steiner (Eng ’97), a mechanical engineer with the Indianapolis design firm BSA LifeStructures, was promoted to shareholder.

Central Catholic High School, Toledo, was named Athletic Director of the Year by the Northwest Ohio District Officials Committee.

Ginger Packert (MA ’99), an instructor at EHOVE Career Center in Milan, Ohio, was named High School Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Council for Social Studies. She also teaches American history at BGSU-Firelands.

Brian Trease PhD (Eng ’99)

received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, Amanda, moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he works for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

’00s

Marcus D. Christmas (A/S ’00)

is living in Philadelphia, where he recently earned his master’s degree in social services from Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. He serves as director of the Salvation Army’s Lessig Booth Family Residence.

Adam D. Fineske (Ed ’00, MEd ’05) was hired as the new

principal of Hill View Elementary School in Sylvania. He and his wife, Kate (Univ Coll ’98), have two children, Elizabeth and Andrew.

Christopher Helm (Ed ’64, MEd ’67) is used to taking life on the fly. A fly fisherman for more than 35 years, he’s taught fly tying for nearly that long, including a stint in the former adult education program at UT (where he worked 23 years as a personnel manager). Along the way, he’s picked up the Buz Buszak Memorial Award — the most prestigious in the world of fly tying — and when he’s not producing videos on fish-specific flies, he’s writing articles for a shoal of fly fishing magazines. An intensive study of deer hair as the basis for certain flies led to a small business in processing whitetail deer hides. Bass and bluegills are his usual finned prey when he’s in the waters around Hospital in Kenton, Ohio, providing orthopedic services and surgical procedures.

Chris Waynar (HS ’00), Powell, Ohio, was appointed site manager of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Close to Home Centers in Dublin and Hilliard.

Photo by Don Strayer

class notes

Helm and deer-hair mouse

Toledo, but he’s gone north to Canada and south to Central America for brook trout, false albacore and — his favorite — bonefish. Just don’t ask him to tie one on.

Aaron C. Thrush (Eng ’01), a

project engineer with the Mannik and Smith Group Inc., was named Young Engineer of the Year by the Technical Society of Toledo and the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers.

Dawn Wetmore (Ed ’00, MEd ’05) joined Monroe Community

College in December as dean of its Health Sciences Division.

Thrush ’01

Steiner ’97 Bill Axe (Ed Spec ’99), athletic

director and assistant principal for www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Jeremy J. Zeisloft (MBA ’01)

Fineske ’00, ’05 Steven P. Haman MD (MED ’00, Res ’06) joined the specialty

center of Hardin Memorial

Wetmore ’00, ’05

was promoted to assistant vice president in the Business Banking Group of Fifth Third Bank, which he joined in 2003.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

39

class notes

class notes

he plans to practice emergency medicine in northeast Ohio after completing his residency at Akron General Medical Center.

Patrick A. Sadowski (A/S ’02) joined the Findlay law offices of Eastman and Smith Ltd.

Christine Smallman (Univ Coll ’02, MLS ’05), formerly

Zeisloft ’01 Miguelle Edmondson (Bus ’02), who works for Ernst &

Young at their Cleveland office, was named to the 2008 “Twenty in Their 20s” list compiled yearly by Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine to honor rising stars of the region.

Jay MacNeal DO (HS ’02)

received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree in June from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Named a Distinguished Scholar in geriatrics,

director of college relations at UT’s College of Engineering, joined UT’s Marketing Office as senior manager of marketing services.

named executive director of Lutheran Memorial Home in Sandusky.

Ahmed M. Hassouna (Law ’04) joined the law firm of

Tanoury, Corbet, Shaw, Nauts & Essad, Detroit, as an associate, concentrating on medical malpractice defense and business litigation.

Bryan Coehrs PharmD (Pharm ’03, PharmD ’05) was

Ryan Dynes (Law ’05) joined his father, Craig, as a partner in his Arcanum, Ohio, law firm.

Gregory A. Hoover (HHS ’05)

was awarded his juris doctor from the University of Akron School of Law in June.

basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.

Hassouna ’04 Zachary Clark (Law ’05), an

attorney with Niehaus & Associates, Sylvania, joined the Way Library Board of Trustees.

Year of UT Graduation:

Middle

Marriages & Unions

State Phone: (

Degree:

Zip Code

) College:

Alums can now update, search and network in a flash. Check out the Alumni Online Directory at www.toledoalumni.org.

40

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Julia A. McLaughlin (A/S ’03) & William Ruetz III. Toledo.

Stephanie R. Berlekamp (HHS ’06, MHHS ’08) & Evan E. Baker (Eng ’06). Fremont, Ohio.

Emily A. Zdanowicz (Bus ’06) & Scott M. Runkel (Bus ’06). Emily is a business analyst for Owens-Corning; Scott is a market development rep at Cintas Corp. Sylvania.

Andrew Jorgensen (A/S ’01) and his wife, Heather, Chincoteague Island, Va., welcomed their daughter, EmmaBelle, in February.

Kristin K. (Rini) Minor (HHS ’01) and her husband, Robert (Bus ’01), Brook Park, Ohio, welcomed twin boys, Andrew Anthony and Jonathon Edward, in January.

Births

Former

City

John E. Fillion (Eng ’78) received the 2008 Market Development Industry Leadership Award from the American Iron and Steel Institute in May. Retired from Chrysler LLC where he was most recently senior manager of materials engineering, Fillion was honored for his contributions in advancing the use of steel in the automotive industry, opening the way for research that, in the words of one presenter at the award ceremony, “revolutionized automotive design.”

Lagger ’05

Please complete the information below and attach a brief description of your news.

Mail to: The University of Toledo Alumni Association, Driscoll Alumni Center, Toledo, OH 43606-3395.

E-mail address:

Amanda Tomsik (Univ Coll ’08) joined ECRM (Efficient

Seaman Matthew S. Bailey (Ed ’07) completed U.S. Navy

Your UT Alumni Association is interested in what you’ve been up to since graduation. Information about births, marriages, new jobs and recent promotions, and educational or professional accomplishments is published in Toledo Alumni.

(Professional news reported directly to your college is automatically forwarded to Toledo Alumni.)

Address:

hired as marketing administrator with Spangler Candy Co. in Bryan, Ohio.

Heintschel ’06

Terra A. Konieczny RN (NRSG ’03), Toledo, accepted the

First

Stacy Shoup (Bus ’07) was

Collaborative Retail Marketing), a program planning and conference facilitation company in Solon, Ohio, as an account manager.

was promoted to assistant vice president in Fifth Third Bank’s Business Banking Group, working at its downtown office in Monroe, Mich.

What in the world are you doing?

NAME: Last

joined Fifth Third Bank as a vice president and team leader in its Business Banking Group, working out of downtown Toledo.

Michael L. Lagger (MBA ’05)

appointed director of clinical pharmacy with The Pharmacy Counter, Toledo.

position of director of post-acute clinical systems with medical/ rehabilitation care provider HCR Manor Care.

Steve Dumke (MBA ’04) was

Eric W. Heintschel (MBA ’06)

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Jodi (Snovely) Bland (Ed ’96, MEd ’97) and her husband, Michael (UTCTC ’97, Ed ’97) announce the birth of twins, Josie Grace and Everett Glenn, in April. They work for Cincinnati Public Schools, Jodi as an intervention specialist and Michael as a science teacher.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Andrew & Jonathon Minor Christine N. (Kawsky) Wickenheiser (Eng ’01) and her husband, Kevin (Eng ’00, MEng ’04, MBA ’06), Lambertville, Mich., announce the birth of their second child, Erin Nicole, in November.

Jason Komitau MD (MED ’02) and his wife, Jamie, announce the birth of their triplet sons, Jacob Matthew, Benjamin Drew and Zachary Nathan, in March. The family lives in the Cleveland area, where Jason is a family practice physician with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Karen Boose (HS ’05) and her husband, Matthew, Cleveland, announce the birth of their son, Elijah Matthew, in January.

Kristie (Elvers) Gage (MEd ’05) and her husband, John (Eng ’05), announce the arrival of their Christmas Eve twins, Nicholas Riley and Ava Anne.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

41

class notes

class notes

he plans to practice emergency medicine in northeast Ohio after completing his residency at Akron General Medical Center.

Patrick A. Sadowski (A/S ’02) joined the Findlay law offices of Eastman and Smith Ltd.

Christine Smallman (Univ Coll ’02, MLS ’05), formerly

Zeisloft ’01 Miguelle Edmondson (Bus ’02), who works for Ernst &

Young at their Cleveland office, was named to the 2008 “Twenty in Their 20s” list compiled yearly by Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine to honor rising stars of the region.

Jay MacNeal DO (HS ’02)

received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree in June from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Named a Distinguished Scholar in geriatrics,

director of college relations at UT’s College of Engineering, joined UT’s Marketing Office as senior manager of marketing services.

named executive director of Lutheran Memorial Home in Sandusky.

Ahmed M. Hassouna (Law ’04) joined the law firm of

Tanoury, Corbet, Shaw, Nauts & Essad, Detroit, as an associate, concentrating on medical malpractice defense and business litigation.

Bryan Coehrs PharmD (Pharm ’03, PharmD ’05) was

Ryan Dynes (Law ’05) joined his father, Craig, as a partner in his Arcanum, Ohio, law firm.

Gregory A. Hoover (HHS ’05)

was awarded his juris doctor from the University of Akron School of Law in June.

basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.

Hassouna ’04 Zachary Clark (Law ’05), an

attorney with Niehaus & Associates, Sylvania, joined the Way Library Board of Trustees.

Year of UT Graduation:

Middle

Marriages & Unions

State Phone: (

Degree:

Zip Code

) College:

Alums can now update, search and network in a flash. Check out the Alumni Online Directory at www.toledoalumni.org.

40

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

Julia A. McLaughlin (A/S ’03) & William Ruetz III. Toledo.

Stephanie R. Berlekamp (HHS ’06, MHHS ’08) & Evan E. Baker (Eng ’06). Fremont, Ohio.

Emily A. Zdanowicz (Bus ’06) & Scott M. Runkel (Bus ’06). Emily is a business analyst for Owens-Corning; Scott is a market development rep at Cintas Corp. Sylvania.

Andrew Jorgensen (A/S ’01) and his wife, Heather, Chincoteague Island, Va., welcomed their daughter, EmmaBelle, in February.

Kristin K. (Rini) Minor (HHS ’01) and her husband, Robert (Bus ’01), Brook Park, Ohio, welcomed twin boys, Andrew Anthony and Jonathon Edward, in January.

Births

Former

City

John E. Fillion (Eng ’78) received the 2008 Market Development Industry Leadership Award from the American Iron and Steel Institute in May. Retired from Chrysler LLC where he was most recently senior manager of materials engineering, Fillion was honored for his contributions in advancing the use of steel in the automotive industry, opening the way for research that, in the words of one presenter at the award ceremony, “revolutionized automotive design.”

Lagger ’05

Please complete the information below and attach a brief description of your news.

Mail to: The University of Toledo Alumni Association, Driscoll Alumni Center, Toledo, OH 43606-3395.

E-mail address:

Amanda Tomsik (Univ Coll ’08) joined ECRM (Efficient

Seaman Matthew S. Bailey (Ed ’07) completed U.S. Navy

Your UT Alumni Association is interested in what you’ve been up to since graduation. Information about births, marriages, new jobs and recent promotions, and educational or professional accomplishments is published in Toledo Alumni.

(Professional news reported directly to your college is automatically forwarded to Toledo Alumni.)

Address:

hired as marketing administrator with Spangler Candy Co. in Bryan, Ohio.

Heintschel ’06

Terra A. Konieczny RN (NRSG ’03), Toledo, accepted the

First

Stacy Shoup (Bus ’07) was

Collaborative Retail Marketing), a program planning and conference facilitation company in Solon, Ohio, as an account manager.

was promoted to assistant vice president in Fifth Third Bank’s Business Banking Group, working at its downtown office in Monroe, Mich.

What in the world are you doing?

NAME: Last

joined Fifth Third Bank as a vice president and team leader in its Business Banking Group, working out of downtown Toledo.

Michael L. Lagger (MBA ’05)

appointed director of clinical pharmacy with The Pharmacy Counter, Toledo.

position of director of post-acute clinical systems with medical/ rehabilitation care provider HCR Manor Care.

Steve Dumke (MBA ’04) was

Eric W. Heintschel (MBA ’06)

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Jodi (Snovely) Bland (Ed ’96, MEd ’97) and her husband, Michael (UTCTC ’97, Ed ’97) announce the birth of twins, Josie Grace and Everett Glenn, in April. They work for Cincinnati Public Schools, Jodi as an intervention specialist and Michael as a science teacher.

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Andrew & Jonathon Minor Christine N. (Kawsky) Wickenheiser (Eng ’01) and her husband, Kevin (Eng ’00, MEng ’04, MBA ’06), Lambertville, Mich., announce the birth of their second child, Erin Nicole, in November.

Jason Komitau MD (MED ’02) and his wife, Jamie, announce the birth of their triplet sons, Jacob Matthew, Benjamin Drew and Zachary Nathan, in March. The family lives in the Cleveland area, where Jason is a family practice physician with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Karen Boose (HS ’05) and her husband, Matthew, Cleveland, announce the birth of their son, Elijah Matthew, in January.

Kristie (Elvers) Gage (MEd ’05) and her husband, John (Eng ’05), announce the arrival of their Christmas Eve twins, Nicholas Riley and Ava Anne.

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

41

biblio-files

in memoriam

’20s

Thomas E. Reeves, Rossford, att.

1929-1932, April 8 at 96.

’30s

10,000 Feet & Climbing: The Aviation Adventures of Richard E. Schreder Express Press Karen Schreder Barbera

Most kids dream of flying; Richard Schreder (Eng ’38, Eng ’67) created a winged reality. As a 16-year-old, he emptied his pockets of $8.20 and bought a fullsized glider, just ahead of the sheriff’s sale. Within days he was aloft, towed by friends with a motorcycle and rope. (The Wright Brothers Greenhouse adjacent to then-Toledo University provided his landing field.)

As a college student, he designed and built his own plane — in the University’s boiler room, courtesy of Dean Delos Palmer. A WWII veteran and decorated U.S. Navy pilot, Schreder received the Distinguished Flying Cross for downing the first German submarine sunk by a naval aircraft. In peacetime he won renown as a designer of gliders, flying

42

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

them to win several national championships, and today the Schreder Collection on aviation is part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Dick Schreder died in 2002, but his remarkable life is chronicled in a biography written by his daughter. Illustrated with photos and news clippings, it’s a soaring narrative of a seat-of-the-pants inventor and pilot whose adventures and accomplishments got him dubbed “Toledo Tornado.”

— C.N.

I’m Katie’s Mom. Pointers for Professionals and Parents of the Disabled (Vantage Press) Barbara Holdcroft (Ed ’68, PhD ’03)

“Hi! My name is Katie. I am a special child with a disability… I cannot talk or write. But there are lots of things that I CAN do. I can swim, ride a bike, go skiing …” This paragraph appears frequently in I’m Katie’s Mom and sets a unique tone for a book that can be described as part self-help, part inspirational. Holdcroft, a UT faculty member, set out to share lessons her family had learned. Incorporating Katie’s “voice” came later in the process. “The book began as a ‘I wish someone had told me this 25 years ago’ project,” Holdcroft explains. “I’ve already thought about four or five things I forgot, so there could be a second book!” Holdcroft’s advice is specific and straightforward. The Holdcroft

family’s journey — from the physician who advised them to institutionalize Katie to celebrating her eventual successes as a student, athlete and employee — is inspiring, yet overflowing with practical information. The audience is specific, but any reader will gain insight about living with, and cherishing, a disabled child.

— Kim Harvey, Office of University Communications

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Deborah E. (Grammer) Boyd, Toledo, att. 1931-1933, April 25 at 94. **Roland A. Lamley (Eng ’33), Scottsdale, Ariz., May 13 at 97. Sigma Beta Phi member.

Established an engineering scholarship. **Jane Ake (Ed ’35), Toledo, April 22 at 94. Delta Kappa Gamma, Samma Gamma member.

Robert ”Bobby” Nash, Akron, att.

1938-1942, April 20 at 89. Lettered in football 1939-1941, in basketball 1939-1942, in baseball 1940-1942.

Also on track team. Member of first Varsity T Hall of Fame class in 1977. **Val Skalski PhD, Cape Coral, Fla., att. 1938-1941, Feb. 21 at 87. *Helen L. (Holley) Wallace, Toledo, att. 1938-1940, June 1 at 88.

Dorothea A. Baird (A/S ’39), Toledo, May 23 at 90. *Fredric J. Baur PhD (A/S ’39), Cincinnati, May 4 at 89. *Joan L. (Laub) Thieman, Toledo, att. 1939-1942, May 29 at 86. Alpha Omicron Pi member.

Walter T. Wilson, Perrysburg, att.

1939-1941, May 5 at 86.

Carlton Zucker (A/S ’39), Chicago, March 17 at 89.

’40s

**Edwin F. Damschroeder, Perrysburg, att. 1940-1942, May 13 at 85. A past president of the UT Alumni Association, he received the Blue T Award in 1978 and was named 12th Man in 1983.

Frederick E. Tashenberg, Toledo, att. 1940s-1950s, May 12 at 82.

Edward J. Hartman (Eng ’41), Pearland, Texas, Oct. 16 at 89.

Frances N. (Moulopoulos) Aliapoulos (Ed ’42), Toledo, March 23 at 90.

Betty V. (Degner) Everett (A/S ’42), Tucson, Ariz., Oct. 31 at 87. Psi Chi Phi, Delta Delta Delta member.

Mary (Kohn) Wiechel, Newark, Ohio, att. 1942-1944, May 31 at 84.

Robert Messer (Bus ’43), Curran, Mich., Feb. 12 at 86. Presidents Club, established a business scholarship.

Edward Kirk, Oregon, att. 19451950, March 27 at 82.

Daniel J. Astry, Hillsdale, Mich., www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

att. 1940s-1950s, May 6 at 78. **Frank L. Baird (A/S ’47, Law ’50), West Palm Beach, Fla., July 24, 2007 at 84.

Ralph W. Herold Jr. (Bus ’48), Toledo, April 11 at 83.

Frank C. Clemons (Ed ’49), Toledo, April 21 at 88. Lettered in football, basketball and track, leading the Rockets' basketball team to an appearance in the 1942 National Invitational Tournament.

Named to the Varsity T Hall of Fame in 1981, he became in 1993 the first African-American president of the UT Alumni Association, receiving the Minority Affiliate’s Outstanding Alumnus Award that year. The 1995 recipient of the Blue T Award, he served as a board member for the former MCO and the UT Foundation.

Richard J. Martin (Eng ’49), West Bloomfield, Mich., Feb. 25 at 84.

Nancy J. (Sherman) Nichols (Pharm ’49), Maumee, April 5 at 81.

’50s

Donald R. Beckman, Oregon, att.

1950-1952, April 11 at 75.

David C. “Stub” Christensen (Bus ’50, Law ’54), Toledo, May 22 at 81.

Albert Joseph (A/S ’50), Northbrook, Ill., March 22 at 87.

He created a bequest to Carlson Library to honor his brother, Carl.

Robert M. Mason (Ed ’50, MS ’51), Peterborough, N.H., April 5 at 79.

Jack E. Morgan (Eng ’50), Lenoir, N.C., March 20 at 81.

Yvonne J. “Bonnie” (Cousino) Morgan (Ed ’50, MEd ’54), Oregon, March 18 at 81. Alpha Omicron Pi member.

Richard A. Relyea (Eng ’50), Bloomfield Hills, Mich., March 17 at 81.

Donald T. Soncrant (Eng ’50), Toledo, May 15 at 80. Tau Kappa Epsilon president as student; track team member. **Louis M. Thomson Jr. (A/S ’50), Toledo, April 11 at 81. Alumni Association president 1961-1962, Blue T Award recipient in 1963. **Donna M. (Biehler) Tuite (Ed ’50, MEd ’65, Ed Spec ’78), Ottawa Hills, March 11 at 79.

Donald D. Black (Ed ’51), Maumee, April 26 at 80. Lettered in football 1947-1949.

Patricia (Dressol) Buckley (A/S

’51), Sun City West, Ariz., Jan. 2 at 78.

Sally (Watson) Crocker (Ed ’52), Waterville, Sept. 27 at 77.

Julia E. (Straub) Donahue (Ed ’53), Toledo, April 1 at 76.

Clarence B. Eggert (MEd ’53), Toledo, May 19 at 78.

Margaret (Thyen) Ward (Bus ’53), Milwaukee, March 14 at 76.

Daniel W. Camp Jr., Toledo, att.

1954-1958, May 29 at 75.

Mary Ann (Rerucha) Mowery (A/S ’54), Carlsbad, Calif., May 31 at 76. Chi Omega, Sigma Alpha Omega member. **James A. Templin (Bus ’54, MEd ’73), Temperance, Mich., April 13 at 78.

Paul R. Blum (Bus ’55), Elmore, Ohio, March 11 at 86. **Barbara A. (Gorman) Gordon (Ed ’55), Maumee, June 6 at 76.

Ronald D. Stahl (Pharm ’55), Bellingham, Wash., March 10 at 76.

Ruth Bayha (Ed ’56), San Jose, Calif., Dec. 20.

James A. Baird (Law ’57), Bowling Green, March 8 at 82. Phi Delta Theta member. *Norman J. Cowell (Bus ’58), Toledo, April 13 at 80.

Melvin H. Hartsel (Ed ’58), Arcadia, Fla., May 4 at 76.

Robert A. Martin PhD (Ed ’58), Ann Arbor, Mich., May 7 at 77. **James D. Todak (Bus ’58), Toledo, May 30 at 76. Phi Kappa Chi (Pi Kappa Alpha) member.

Past president of UT College of Business Alumni Association.

Donald E. Winegardner (MEd ’59), Bluffton, Ohio, May 7 at 93. **William B. Winters (Bus ’59), Estero, Fla., April 7 at 70. Theta Chi member.

’60s

Richard C. Mattingly (MEd ’60), Toledo, March 4 at 84.

Richard P. Cummings EdD (MEd ’61, EdD ’73), Bowling Green, March 14 at 77.

Robert B. Phillips (Bus ’63), Toledo, May 31 at 72.

Carol A. Beale (Bus ’64, Law ’72), Toledo, March 26 at 65.

Patrick C. Mattimoe (Law ’64), Pinedale, Wyo., May 19.

Gail H. Grove PhD (Eng ’65), Bath, Mich., March 14 at 66.

Sister Mary H. Corey (MEd ’66), Toledo, May 12. *Edward D. Juhasz (Bus ’66), DeLand, Fla., March 23 at 65.

*David V. Brown (Bus ’67), Toledo, April 21 at 64.

Michael Slane (Ed ’67, MEd ’73), Toledo, May 17 at 64. **Jean C. Tippin (Ed ’67, MEd ’75), Toledo, May 7 at 81.

Rev. William J. Martin (MEd ’68, Ed Spec ’70), Sherwood, Ohio, May 17 at 83.

John K. “Joe” Bailey PhD (MA ’69, PhD ’72), Perrysburg, March 26 at 65.

’70s

Jacob J. Weissmann (Wilford E. Jackson Jr.), Santa Monica, Calif., att. 1970-1975, April 18 at 56. Alpha Phi Alpha member. *Michael F. Yavorsky (Eng ’70), Toledo, March 7 at 60.

Leonard J. Ball (UTCTC ’73), Troy, Mich., May 23 at 62.

Elmer J. Balogh (Eng ’73), Toledo, March 19 at 78. **Kerry J. (Thomsen) Dewey (Ed ’73, MA ’76), Missoula, Mont., March 10 at 56.

Brad C. Keitzman (Ed ’73), Gallatin, Tenn., Nov. 22 at 57.

Norbert R. Declercq (Univ Coll ’74, MPA ’77), Toledo, April 6 at 81.

Instructor at UTCTC. *Robert M. Hoover PhD (Univ Coll ’74, PhD ’91), Toledo, April 2 at 55.

Valencia Britten (UTCTC ’75), Toledo, May 19 at 54. *Georgia J. (Kovac) Meyers (MBA ’76), Maumee, May 30 at 57.

Daniel A. Mierzwiak (Pharm ’76), Toledo, March 11 at 55.

Harald F. Craig III (Law ’77), Worthington, Ohio, March at 55.

Craig O. Snyder (Bus ’77), Luckey, Ohio, May 31 at 52.

’80s

David N. Blaksley, Northwood, att. 1980-1986, April 28 at 52.

William R. Randall (MEd ’80, Ed Spec ’86), Elyria, Ohio, May 10 at 62.

Judith A. Thompson (UTCTC ’81, Univ Coll ’84), Denver, April 20 at 51.

Deborah (Henry) McCreary (UTCTC ’82), Maumee, March 2 at 60. *Earl P. Rehberg (Univ Coll ’82), Waterville, April 28 at 77.

Augustine Hooker (UTCTC ’83), Toledo, May 16 at 59.

Joseph D. Dawson (UTCTC ’84), Toledo, April 17 at 46.

Col. Jacqueline R. Little (Law Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008 43

biblio-files

in memoriam

’20s

Thomas E. Reeves, Rossford, att.

1929-1932, April 8 at 96.

’30s

10,000 Feet & Climbing: The Aviation Adventures of Richard E. Schreder Express Press Karen Schreder Barbera

Most kids dream of flying; Richard Schreder (Eng ’38, Eng ’67) created a winged reality. As a 16-year-old, he emptied his pockets of $8.20 and bought a fullsized glider, just ahead of the sheriff’s sale. Within days he was aloft, towed by friends with a motorcycle and rope. (The Wright Brothers Greenhouse adjacent to then-Toledo University provided his landing field.)

As a college student, he designed and built his own plane — in the University’s boiler room, courtesy of Dean Delos Palmer. A WWII veteran and decorated U.S. Navy pilot, Schreder received the Distinguished Flying Cross for downing the first German submarine sunk by a naval aircraft. In peacetime he won renown as a designer of gliders, flying

42

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

them to win several national championships, and today the Schreder Collection on aviation is part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Dick Schreder died in 2002, but his remarkable life is chronicled in a biography written by his daughter. Illustrated with photos and news clippings, it’s a soaring narrative of a seat-of-the-pants inventor and pilot whose adventures and accomplishments got him dubbed “Toledo Tornado.”

— C.N.

I’m Katie’s Mom. Pointers for Professionals and Parents of the Disabled (Vantage Press) Barbara Holdcroft (Ed ’68, PhD ’03)

“Hi! My name is Katie. I am a special child with a disability… I cannot talk or write. But there are lots of things that I CAN do. I can swim, ride a bike, go skiing …” This paragraph appears frequently in I’m Katie’s Mom and sets a unique tone for a book that can be described as part self-help, part inspirational. Holdcroft, a UT faculty member, set out to share lessons her family had learned. Incorporating Katie’s “voice” came later in the process. “The book began as a ‘I wish someone had told me this 25 years ago’ project,” Holdcroft explains. “I’ve already thought about four or five things I forgot, so there could be a second book!” Holdcroft’s advice is specific and straightforward. The Holdcroft

family’s journey — from the physician who advised them to institutionalize Katie to celebrating her eventual successes as a student, athlete and employee — is inspiring, yet overflowing with practical information. The audience is specific, but any reader will gain insight about living with, and cherishing, a disabled child.

— Kim Harvey, Office of University Communications

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Deborah E. (Grammer) Boyd, Toledo, att. 1931-1933, April 25 at 94. **Roland A. Lamley (Eng ’33), Scottsdale, Ariz., May 13 at 97. Sigma Beta Phi member.

Established an engineering scholarship. **Jane Ake (Ed ’35), Toledo, April 22 at 94. Delta Kappa Gamma, Samma Gamma member.

Robert ”Bobby” Nash, Akron, att.

1938-1942, April 20 at 89. Lettered in football 1939-1941, in basketball 1939-1942, in baseball 1940-1942.

Also on track team. Member of first Varsity T Hall of Fame class in 1977. **Val Skalski PhD, Cape Coral, Fla., att. 1938-1941, Feb. 21 at 87. *Helen L. (Holley) Wallace, Toledo, att. 1938-1940, June 1 at 88.

Dorothea A. Baird (A/S ’39), Toledo, May 23 at 90. *Fredric J. Baur PhD (A/S ’39), Cincinnati, May 4 at 89. *Joan L. (Laub) Thieman, Toledo, att. 1939-1942, May 29 at 86. Alpha Omicron Pi member.

Walter T. Wilson, Perrysburg, att.

1939-1941, May 5 at 86.

Carlton Zucker (A/S ’39), Chicago, March 17 at 89.

’40s

**Edwin F. Damschroeder, Perrysburg, att. 1940-1942, May 13 at 85. A past president of the UT Alumni Association, he received the Blue T Award in 1978 and was named 12th Man in 1983.

Frederick E. Tashenberg, Toledo, att. 1940s-1950s, May 12 at 82.

Edward J. Hartman (Eng ’41), Pearland, Texas, Oct. 16 at 89.

Frances N. (Moulopoulos) Aliapoulos (Ed ’42), Toledo, March 23 at 90.

Betty V. (Degner) Everett (A/S ’42), Tucson, Ariz., Oct. 31 at 87. Psi Chi Phi, Delta Delta Delta member.

Mary (Kohn) Wiechel, Newark, Ohio, att. 1942-1944, May 31 at 84.

Robert Messer (Bus ’43), Curran, Mich., Feb. 12 at 86. Presidents Club, established a business scholarship.

Edward Kirk, Oregon, att. 19451950, March 27 at 82.

Daniel J. Astry, Hillsdale, Mich., www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

att. 1940s-1950s, May 6 at 78. **Frank L. Baird (A/S ’47, Law ’50), West Palm Beach, Fla., July 24, 2007 at 84.

Ralph W. Herold Jr. (Bus ’48), Toledo, April 11 at 83.

Frank C. Clemons (Ed ’49), Toledo, April 21 at 88. Lettered in football, basketball and track, leading the Rockets' basketball team to an appearance in the 1942 National Invitational Tournament.

Named to the Varsity T Hall of Fame in 1981, he became in 1993 the first African-American president of the UT Alumni Association, receiving the Minority Affiliate’s Outstanding Alumnus Award that year. The 1995 recipient of the Blue T Award, he served as a board member for the former MCO and the UT Foundation.

Richard J. Martin (Eng ’49), West Bloomfield, Mich., Feb. 25 at 84.

Nancy J. (Sherman) Nichols (Pharm ’49), Maumee, April 5 at 81.

’50s

Donald R. Beckman, Oregon, att.

1950-1952, April 11 at 75.

David C. “Stub” Christensen (Bus ’50, Law ’54), Toledo, May 22 at 81.

Albert Joseph (A/S ’50), Northbrook, Ill., March 22 at 87.

He created a bequest to Carlson Library to honor his brother, Carl.

Robert M. Mason (Ed ’50, MS ’51), Peterborough, N.H., April 5 at 79.

Jack E. Morgan (Eng ’50), Lenoir, N.C., March 20 at 81.

Yvonne J. “Bonnie” (Cousino) Morgan (Ed ’50, MEd ’54), Oregon, March 18 at 81. Alpha Omicron Pi member.

Richard A. Relyea (Eng ’50), Bloomfield Hills, Mich., March 17 at 81.

Donald T. Soncrant (Eng ’50), Toledo, May 15 at 80. Tau Kappa Epsilon president as student; track team member. **Louis M. Thomson Jr. (A/S ’50), Toledo, April 11 at 81. Alumni Association president 1961-1962, Blue T Award recipient in 1963. **Donna M. (Biehler) Tuite (Ed ’50, MEd ’65, Ed Spec ’78), Ottawa Hills, March 11 at 79.

Donald D. Black (Ed ’51), Maumee, April 26 at 80. Lettered in football 1947-1949.

Patricia (Dressol) Buckley (A/S

’51), Sun City West, Ariz., Jan. 2 at 78.

Sally (Watson) Crocker (Ed ’52), Waterville, Sept. 27 at 77.

Julia E. (Straub) Donahue (Ed ’53), Toledo, April 1 at 76.

Clarence B. Eggert (MEd ’53), Toledo, May 19 at 78.

Margaret (Thyen) Ward (Bus ’53), Milwaukee, March 14 at 76.

Daniel W. Camp Jr., Toledo, att.

1954-1958, May 29 at 75.

Mary Ann (Rerucha) Mowery (A/S ’54), Carlsbad, Calif., May 31 at 76. Chi Omega, Sigma Alpha Omega member. **James A. Templin (Bus ’54, MEd ’73), Temperance, Mich., April 13 at 78.

Paul R. Blum (Bus ’55), Elmore, Ohio, March 11 at 86. **Barbara A. (Gorman) Gordon (Ed ’55), Maumee, June 6 at 76.

Ronald D. Stahl (Pharm ’55), Bellingham, Wash., March 10 at 76.

Ruth Bayha (Ed ’56), San Jose, Calif., Dec. 20.

James A. Baird (Law ’57), Bowling Green, March 8 at 82. Phi Delta Theta member. *Norman J. Cowell (Bus ’58), Toledo, April 13 at 80.

Melvin H. Hartsel (Ed ’58), Arcadia, Fla., May 4 at 76.

Robert A. Martin PhD (Ed ’58), Ann Arbor, Mich., May 7 at 77. **James D. Todak (Bus ’58), Toledo, May 30 at 76. Phi Kappa Chi (Pi Kappa Alpha) member.

Past president of UT College of Business Alumni Association.

Donald E. Winegardner (MEd ’59), Bluffton, Ohio, May 7 at 93. **William B. Winters (Bus ’59), Estero, Fla., April 7 at 70. Theta Chi member.

’60s

Richard C. Mattingly (MEd ’60), Toledo, March 4 at 84.

Richard P. Cummings EdD (MEd ’61, EdD ’73), Bowling Green, March 14 at 77.

Robert B. Phillips (Bus ’63), Toledo, May 31 at 72.

Carol A. Beale (Bus ’64, Law ’72), Toledo, March 26 at 65.

Patrick C. Mattimoe (Law ’64), Pinedale, Wyo., May 19.

Gail H. Grove PhD (Eng ’65), Bath, Mich., March 14 at 66.

Sister Mary H. Corey (MEd ’66), Toledo, May 12. *Edward D. Juhasz (Bus ’66), DeLand, Fla., March 23 at 65.

*David V. Brown (Bus ’67), Toledo, April 21 at 64.

Michael Slane (Ed ’67, MEd ’73), Toledo, May 17 at 64. **Jean C. Tippin (Ed ’67, MEd ’75), Toledo, May 7 at 81.

Rev. William J. Martin (MEd ’68, Ed Spec ’70), Sherwood, Ohio, May 17 at 83.

John K. “Joe” Bailey PhD (MA ’69, PhD ’72), Perrysburg, March 26 at 65.

’70s

Jacob J. Weissmann (Wilford E. Jackson Jr.), Santa Monica, Calif., att. 1970-1975, April 18 at 56. Alpha Phi Alpha member. *Michael F. Yavorsky (Eng ’70), Toledo, March 7 at 60.

Leonard J. Ball (UTCTC ’73), Troy, Mich., May 23 at 62.

Elmer J. Balogh (Eng ’73), Toledo, March 19 at 78. **Kerry J. (Thomsen) Dewey (Ed ’73, MA ’76), Missoula, Mont., March 10 at 56.

Brad C. Keitzman (Ed ’73), Gallatin, Tenn., Nov. 22 at 57.

Norbert R. Declercq (Univ Coll ’74, MPA ’77), Toledo, April 6 at 81.

Instructor at UTCTC. *Robert M. Hoover PhD (Univ Coll ’74, PhD ’91), Toledo, April 2 at 55.

Valencia Britten (UTCTC ’75), Toledo, May 19 at 54. *Georgia J. (Kovac) Meyers (MBA ’76), Maumee, May 30 at 57.

Daniel A. Mierzwiak (Pharm ’76), Toledo, March 11 at 55.

Harald F. Craig III (Law ’77), Worthington, Ohio, March at 55.

Craig O. Snyder (Bus ’77), Luckey, Ohio, May 31 at 52.

’80s

David N. Blaksley, Northwood, att. 1980-1986, April 28 at 52.

William R. Randall (MEd ’80, Ed Spec ’86), Elyria, Ohio, May 10 at 62.

Judith A. Thompson (UTCTC ’81, Univ Coll ’84), Denver, April 20 at 51.

Deborah (Henry) McCreary (UTCTC ’82), Maumee, March 2 at 60. *Earl P. Rehberg (Univ Coll ’82), Waterville, April 28 at 77.

Augustine Hooker (UTCTC ’83), Toledo, May 16 at 59.

Joseph D. Dawson (UTCTC ’84), Toledo, April 17 at 46.

Col. Jacqueline R. Little (Law Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008 43

in memoriam

’84), Springfield, Va., May 4 at 48.

Law Review editor.

Mansour S. Bey (UTCTC ’86), Toledo, April 18 at 67. Black Student Union president.

Mark D. Kelley (Bus ’86), Toledo, May 3 at 45.

Marcia J. (Rybka) Michalkiewicz (UTCTC ’86), Temperance, Mich., April 11 at 67. *Victoria R. (Flanagan) Montz (NRS ’86), Toledo, April 30 at 59.

Deborah A. (Seaman) Stager (MEd ’86), Oregon, April 26 at 56.

Daniel Hermes (A/S ’87, MPA ’88), Topeka, Kan., June 1 at 43.

Jane C. (Roberts) Kramer (MEd ’87), Lewis Center, Ohio, May 16 at 66. *Michelle M. (Mitchell) Griffin (A/S ’88), London, Ohio, April 3 at 41.

Russell F. Vanderhorst Sr. (UTCTC ’88), Toledo, May 30 at 61.

Trudy R. (Hodges) Schade (Ed ’89, MEd ’00), Maumee, March 3 at 55.

’90s

**Suzanne E. (Volgyesi) Hageman (A/S ’90), Toledo, June 4 at 72.

Robert E. Lagrange Jr. (Univ Coll ’90), Toledo, May 18 at 85.

Linda K. Keister (Ed ’91), Sylvania, May 5 at 60.

John T. “JT” Wilson (Eng ’95), Sandusky, March 10 at 57.

Gilbert R. Taylor (UTCTC ’98), Toledo, April 6 at 56.

’00s

Frank F. Allen, Willoughby, Ohio, a senior in the College of Engineering, May 23 at 23.

Faculty, staff & friends

Monroe L. Billington PhD, Las Cruces, N.M., professor of history at UT from 1966 to 1968, died May 13 at 80.

Carolyn E. Border, Toledo, who worked from 1982 to 1996 as a UTCTC clerk, died March 22 at 86.

Carl H. Boyer, Toledo, associate professor of business technology at UTCTC from 1967 to 1985, retiring as emeritus, died April 3 at 89.

Marlene D. Doerner, Waban, Mass., who held several positions in general studies at UTCTC, died April 2 at 75. She joined UT in 1967 as an instructor, earning promotions to assistant professor,

44

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

acting chair and program chair.

Helen V. Douglas, Oregon, who worked in Personnel from 1967 to 1987, retiring as benefits coordinator, died May 26 at 87.

Lola French, Toledo, a cashier in the Finance Department from 1982 until 1993, died May 1 at 83.

Linda Graves, Toledo, who worked in Central Distribution at the former MCO from 1974 to 2003, retiring as a supervisor, died April 17 at 58.

Dorothy E. Harrison, Perrysburg, who worked in environmental services at the former MCO from 1988 to 1993, died March 30 at 78.

Mary (Wright) Hartsfield, Toledo, who worked at UT’s library for almost 30 years, died April 29 at 90. She joined the University in 1953 as chief catalogue librarian, retaining that title when she became associate professor of library administration in 1973.

She retired in 1981 as professor emerita.

Clarence F. Hyrne Jr., Springfield Twp., who was an assistant professor of law from 1949 until 1961, returning in 1975 as associate professor, died April 4 at 89. He retired as emeritus in 1988.

Sidney J. Kaplan PhD, Laguna Woods, Calif., professor emeritus of sociology, died March 6 at 84. He joined the UT faculty in 1962 and served as chair of the former Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work for 17 years and as president of the UT Faculty Club. He retired in 1989.

Evelyn M. Kaczmarek, Perrysburg, who worked in the Billing Department at the former MCO, died March 24 at 90.

William H. McCarter, Toledo, a custodial worker at the former MCO/MUO from 1988 to 2005, died May 14 at 55.

Marvin H. Rorick Jr., Fort Myers, Fla., who served on UT’s Athletic Board of Control, died March 20 at 84.

Lawrence L. Rowley, Toledo, a UT employee who did maintenance work at Parks Tower from 1969 to 2001, died March 3 at 71.

Barbara A. Shirk (Univ Coll ’84), Sylvania, an assistant in the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections in Carlson Library from 1984 to 1996, died May 14 at 73.

Robert J. Somogye EdD (EdD

Catch-22

’73), Sylvania, who held a number of positions on UT’s Scott Park Campus, died May 30 at 78. He joined UTCTC in 1968 as director of counseling and assistant professor of general studies. Following his subsequent promotions to associate professor and professor, he was named associate dean of Student Support Services in 1980, where he served until his 1989 retirement. He also did service as director of the UTCTC Student Support Center.

Teresa Steele, Gainesville, Fla., died Feb. 25 at 91. She was a nursing assistant and later a supply technician at the former MCO, retiring in 1981.

Barbara M. Surprise, Toledo, who worked more than 20 years in Telecommunications at the former MCO, retiring in 1989, died April 29 at age 85.

Casper F. Urzykowski, Toledo, a UT custodial worker from 1975 to 1996, died May 9 at 95.

Julian Wohl PhD, Naples, Fla., professor emeritus of psychology and former director of the Clinical Psychology Training Program, died May 25 at 80. He joined UT’s Psychology Department in 1961, later serving as chair. He played an integral role in establishing UT’s doctoral program in clinical and experimental psychology. He retired in 1987.

George “Bill” Woodworth, Oregon, who worked at UT as a locksmith from 1974 to 1987, died April 23 at 82.

Ernest A. Ziemkiewicz, Lambertville, Mich., who taught percussion in the Music Department in the early 1960s, died March 10 at 69.

Elizabeth A. Zepf, Toledo, an area activist who served on the UT Board of Trustees for 13 years and received an honorary doctorate from the University in 1969, died June 6 at 104.

A touch, a kiss A blink, a shrug A twitch, a curve A wink, a swerve A tilt, a shake A turn, a veer A rub, a rustle A look, a gaze I’d be damned if this is not a bait!

A walk, a trot A gazelle, a deer A river, a lake A tree, a vine A drink, a wine A fruit, a feast A beaut, a beast I’d be damned if it’s not you!

Abdul-Majeed Azad, associate professor, chemical and environmental engineering

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

in memoriam

’84), Springfield, Va., May 4 at 48.

Law Review editor.

Mansour S. Bey (UTCTC ’86), Toledo, April 18 at 67. Black Student Union president.

Mark D. Kelley (Bus ’86), Toledo, May 3 at 45.

Marcia J. (Rybka) Michalkiewicz (UTCTC ’86), Temperance, Mich., April 11 at 67. *Victoria R. (Flanagan) Montz (NRS ’86), Toledo, April 30 at 59.

Deborah A. (Seaman) Stager (MEd ’86), Oregon, April 26 at 56.

Daniel Hermes (A/S ’87, MPA ’88), Topeka, Kan., June 1 at 43.

Jane C. (Roberts) Kramer (MEd ’87), Lewis Center, Ohio, May 16 at 66. *Michelle M. (Mitchell) Griffin (A/S ’88), London, Ohio, April 3 at 41.

Russell F. Vanderhorst Sr. (UTCTC ’88), Toledo, May 30 at 61.

Trudy R. (Hodges) Schade (Ed ’89, MEd ’00), Maumee, March 3 at 55.

’90s

**Suzanne E. (Volgyesi) Hageman (A/S ’90), Toledo, June 4 at 72.

Robert E. Lagrange Jr. (Univ Coll ’90), Toledo, May 18 at 85.

Linda K. Keister (Ed ’91), Sylvania, May 5 at 60.

John T. “JT” Wilson (Eng ’95), Sandusky, March 10 at 57.

Gilbert R. Taylor (UTCTC ’98), Toledo, April 6 at 56.

’00s

Frank F. Allen, Willoughby, Ohio, a senior in the College of Engineering, May 23 at 23.

Faculty, staff & friends

Monroe L. Billington PhD, Las Cruces, N.M., professor of history at UT from 1966 to 1968, died May 13 at 80.

Carolyn E. Border, Toledo, who worked from 1982 to 1996 as a UTCTC clerk, died March 22 at 86.

Carl H. Boyer, Toledo, associate professor of business technology at UTCTC from 1967 to 1985, retiring as emeritus, died April 3 at 89.

Marlene D. Doerner, Waban, Mass., who held several positions in general studies at UTCTC, died April 2 at 75. She joined UT in 1967 as an instructor, earning promotions to assistant professor,

44

Toledo Alumni Magazine | Fall 2008

acting chair and program chair.

Helen V. Douglas, Oregon, who worked in Personnel from 1967 to 1987, retiring as benefits coordinator, died May 26 at 87.

Lola French, Toledo, a cashier in the Finance Department from 1982 until 1993, died May 1 at 83.

Linda Graves, Toledo, who worked in Central Distribution at the former MCO from 1974 to 2003, retiring as a supervisor, died April 17 at 58.

Dorothy E. Harrison, Perrysburg, who worked in environmental services at the former MCO from 1988 to 1993, died March 30 at 78.

Mary (Wright) Hartsfield, Toledo, who worked at UT’s library for almost 30 years, died April 29 at 90. She joined the University in 1953 as chief catalogue librarian, retaining that title when she became associate professor of library administration in 1973.

She retired in 1981 as professor emerita.

Clarence F. Hyrne Jr., Springfield Twp., who was an assistant professor of law from 1949 until 1961, returning in 1975 as associate professor, died April 4 at 89. He retired as emeritus in 1988.

Sidney J. Kaplan PhD, Laguna Woods, Calif., professor emeritus of sociology, died March 6 at 84. He joined the UT faculty in 1962 and served as chair of the former Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work for 17 years and as president of the UT Faculty Club. He retired in 1989.

Evelyn M. Kaczmarek, Perrysburg, who worked in the Billing Department at the former MCO, died March 24 at 90.

William H. McCarter, Toledo, a custodial worker at the former MCO/MUO from 1988 to 2005, died May 14 at 55.

Marvin H. Rorick Jr., Fort Myers, Fla., who served on UT’s Athletic Board of Control, died March 20 at 84.

Lawrence L. Rowley, Toledo, a UT employee who did maintenance work at Parks Tower from 1969 to 2001, died March 3 at 71.

Barbara A. Shirk (Univ Coll ’84), Sylvania, an assistant in the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections in Carlson Library from 1984 to 1996, died May 14 at 73.

Robert J. Somogye EdD (EdD

Catch-22

’73), Sylvania, who held a number of positions on UT’s Scott Park Campus, died May 30 at 78. He joined UTCTC in 1968 as director of counseling and assistant professor of general studies. Following his subsequent promotions to associate professor and professor, he was named associate dean of Student Support Services in 1980, where he served until his 1989 retirement. He also did service as director of the UTCTC Student Support Center.

Teresa Steele, Gainesville, Fla., died Feb. 25 at 91. She was a nursing assistant and later a supply technician at the former MCO, retiring in 1981.

Barbara M. Surprise, Toledo, who worked more than 20 years in Telecommunications at the former MCO, retiring in 1989, died April 29 at age 85.

Casper F. Urzykowski, Toledo, a UT custodial worker from 1975 to 1996, died May 9 at 95.

Julian Wohl PhD, Naples, Fla., professor emeritus of psychology and former director of the Clinical Psychology Training Program, died May 25 at 80. He joined UT’s Psychology Department in 1961, later serving as chair. He played an integral role in establishing UT’s doctoral program in clinical and experimental psychology. He retired in 1987.

George “Bill” Woodworth, Oregon, who worked at UT as a locksmith from 1974 to 1987, died April 23 at 82.

Ernest A. Ziemkiewicz, Lambertville, Mich., who taught percussion in the Music Department in the early 1960s, died March 10 at 69.

Elizabeth A. Zepf, Toledo, an area activist who served on the UT Board of Trustees for 13 years and received an honorary doctorate from the University in 1969, died June 6 at 104.

A touch, a kiss A blink, a shrug A twitch, a curve A wink, a swerve A tilt, a shake A turn, a veer A rub, a rustle A look, a gaze I’d be damned if this is not a bait!

A walk, a trot A gazelle, a deer A river, a lake A tree, a vine A drink, a wine A fruit, a feast A beaut, a beast I’d be damned if it’s not you!

Abdul-Majeed Azad, associate professor, chemical and environmental engineering

www.utoledo.edu/alumni/

Alumni Association - MS 301 The University of Toledo 2801 W. Bancroft St. Toledo, Ohio 43606-3390