S U MMER 2018
West Chester University MAGAZINE
EASING THE TRANSITION From Military to College Life
IN THIS ISSUE
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On the Cover: Easing the Transition
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Everyone handles their military service differently. Some people can do their tour, come back and adjust well into society. But some need help. Cover photo: Eileen Reider Glenn ’69, M’99.
Alumna Profile: Colonel Deborah J. Chase (Ret.) ’76
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During her stellar 27-year Army career, she flew both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
WCUAA Distinguished Alumni Nominations
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The WCUAA Awards Committee seeks candidates to be selected and recognized for this prestigious honor.
WCUAA Board of Directors Nominations
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or the first time, West Chester University students who completed their degree requirements at the Philadelphia campus were able to celebrate together under one roof as they participated in undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies at the DoubleTree hotel in Philadelphia. Lizette Lewis, who received her bachelor of social work degree, was the featured speaker during the undergraduate ceremony, and Brian Burman, who received his master of social work degree, delivered the address for the graduate ceremony. Pictured is Maisaloon Dias (center) who graduated with a master of social work degree during the ceremony held in Philadelphia on May 14.
The Nominating Committee of the WCUAA is accepting nominations for the Association’s Board of Directors.
4 University News 10 WCU Profiles 12 Cover Story 16 Sports News
17 WCU Events 18 Chapter News 21 Director’s Message 22 Alumni Notes
wcupa.edu/socialmedia Digital version of the WCU magazine is available at issuu.com/wcuofpa.
SUMMER 2018
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
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record number of WCU graduates walked across commencement stages in both West Chester and Philadelphia this spring to receive bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. With every wide smile and firm handshake, I thought about the excitement that awaits each individual as they test new waters and face compelling adventures. Through hard work, perseverance, and passion, more than 3,000 dreams came true on May 12 and 14. The freedom to dream and the will to make anything possible are enviable privileges. While Facebook posts capture the fun memories of recent fireworks displays and Independence Day parades, we should continue to remember, celebrate, and honor those who pay and have paid the price for our many freedoms. Their sacrifices make a significant difference in the quality of our daily lives and in our ability to secure a public higher education that is second to none. Veterans deserve our attention in this issue of West Chester University Magazine. In the pages that follow, you will read about a proud alumna who recognizes the sacrifices made by WCU student veterans and who has graciously offered to help support some of their most critical needs. Equally inspiring is a highly decorated alumna who served the U.S. Army for 27 years, earning the Legion of Merit award and gaining a stellar reputation as a leader in program management and acquisition at senior levels in the U.S. Department of Defense. The top-secret mission of an 86-year-old student veteran will also intrigue and awe those readers interested in learning about Vietnam’s very early days. These are just a few highlights of a summer issue that has been written to honor WCU military Rams who defend, protect, and serve. Know that we are Ram proud forever! Sincerely,
Editor & Executive Director of Communications Nancy Santos Gainer Associate Editors Matt Born Loretta MacAlpine Design JoAnne Mottola Contributor Bruce Beans President Christopher M. Fiorentino Vice President for University Affairs John Villella Director of Alumni Relations Debbie Cornell Naughton
WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES The West Chester University Magazine is published three times a year for the alumni, families, students, and friends of West Chester University. We welcome letters concerning magazine content or issues pertaining to the University. Letters must be signed and kept to one typed page. Please include address and daytime phone number. Send correspondence to: Editor, The WCU Magazine, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383 West Chester University Magazine is published by the West Chester University Office of Communications
www.wcupa.edu
Christopher M. Fiorentino President
In addition to graduating from WCU on May 12, 2018, Cadets Zachary Nelsen, Robert Rawley, and Colin Yabor were commissioned as second lieutenants in the United States Army during the 9 a.m. undergraduate commencement ceremony. The three newly appointed officers completed the requirements of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. Commissioned off-site as second lieutenants after completing the required training were Cadets Jonathan Skursha and Adam Pezdirtz.
WCU is an AA/EEO institution
Thomas A. Fillippo ’69 (chair) Barry C. Dozor ’71 Christopher Franklin ’87 Jonathan Ireland ’95, M’03 Stephen Kinsey ’81 The West Chester University Foundation Board of Trustees Officers Paula D. Shaffner ’80 (president) Deborah J. Chase ’86 (vice president) Kathy Leidheiser (treasurer) John H. Baker ’74 (secretary) Susan Vanscovich (interim executive director) Jennifer Coffey (assistant treasurer and CFO) Trustees
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Keith Beale ’77 R. Lorraine Bernotsky, ex officio Frank Branca ’70 J. Alan Butcher ’88, M ’92 Millie C. Cassidy
Edward N. Collison ’93 Zebulun R. Davenport, ex officio Paul D. Emrick ’88 Thomas A. Fillippo ’69, Council of Trustees Representative Christopher Fiorentino, ex officio John A. Gontarz Maury Hoberman David P. Holveck ’68 Joan M. Kaminski ’69 Donald E. Leisey ’59 Sandra F. Mather ’64, M’68 Todd Murphy, ex officio Tahany Naggar John N. Nickolas ’90 Michael Peich Robert H. Plucienik Lewis Raibley, III ’83 James Shinehouse ’80 May Van M’89 John Villella, ex officio Roger B. Ware Jr. ’82, Christine Warren ’90, M ’99
Christopher A. Lewis J. Adam Matlawski ’80 (vice chair) Marian D. Moskowitz (secretary) Eli Silberman Robert M. Tomlinson ’70 West Chester University Alumni Association President Lisa Wright Bryant ’87 Vice President Nick Polcini ’00, M’05 Treasurer TBD Secretary William Scottoline ’74 Past President Matt Holliday ’09 Directors Lauren Bolden ’12, M’14 Lisa Wright Bryant ’87 Mark Drochek ’86 Robert Fanelli ’60, M’66 Dean Gentekos ’07 Jamie W. Goncharoff ’82 Matt Holliday ’09
Jonathan Long ’03 Alison Maguire ’07 Elaine Mann ’91 Edward Monroe ’89 Stephen Nicolai ’08 Patrick O’Connor M’92 Alyssa Polakowski ’09, M’11 Nick Polcini ’00, M’05 William Scottoline ’74 Denise Bowman Trigo ’98 Andy Truscott ’09 Ruthann Waldie ’80 Emeriti Carmen Evans Culp ’52, M’64 (deceased) Janice Weir Etshied ’50 (deceased) Karl Helicher ’72, M’82, M’87 Joseph F. Kienle ’72, M’74 Richard D. Merion ’59, M’69 John F. Murphy ’43 (deceased) Luther B. Sowers ’49
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UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY NEWS NEWS
WCU Continues to Be One of the Safest U.S. Colleges COLONEL DEBORAH J. CHASE (RET.) ’76 former Director of Program Management for Raytheon
2018 COMMENCEMENT
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record 3,299 students graduated from WCU in May. For the first time ever, the 145th commencement ceremonies also featured separate events for the 87 graduate and undergraduate students who completed their degrees at the Philadelphia campus. On Saturday, May 12, 2,639 students were honored at the undergraduate commencement ceremonies at Farrell Stadium. During the morning ceremony, students in the College of Business & Public Management, College of Health Sciences, and the School of Interdisciplinary Studies heard from Col. Deborah J. Chase (Ret.) ’76. For 27 years she served in the U.S. Army, where her leadership in program management and acquisition led to the redesign of the Comanche helicopter. “By being part of something bigger and more important than myself, I found a path and a purpose that was rewarding in ways that I had never ever imagined,” said Chase, who retired last year as director of program management for Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor. At the afternoon ceremony, graduates of the College of Arts & Humanities, College of Education & Social Work, College of the Sciences & Mathematics, and School of Music were addressed by Jack Devine ’62, whose roles with the Central Intelligence Agency over a 32-year-career included directing CIA operations outside the United States. His 2014 book, Good Hunting! An American Spymaster’s Story, was a New York Times bestseller. “If you want to lead the pack in your career, allocate time daily
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to think strategically about your life and work,” advised Devine, now a founding partner and president of The Arkin Group, LLC, an international risk consulting and intelligence firm. During the evening, 550 master’s degree candidates and 23 doctoral candidates gathered in Hollinger Field House to hear from Chip Smith ’70, M’81, a member of the U.S. Secret Service for 24 years. “Never be afraid to make a decision,” counseled Smith, now the president and co-founder of the Fedora Security Group. “Mistakes were a main source of learning for me. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’ ” Separate graduation ceremonies for the 55 students who completed their bachelor’s degrees and the 32 students who completed their master’s degrees at the Philadelphia campus were held Monday, May 14, at the DoubleTree hotel in Center City. Lizette Lewis once was a teenage mother who repeated the 11th grade. “But I stand here before you today as a proud mother, grandmother, wife, assistant pastor, nurse, founder of a nonprofit organization, and now a BSW degree recipient,” she told her classmates. “… Our degrees will help us to serve in our community and fight for justice without backing down.” Brian Burrell, who received his master’s of social work degree, told his classmates, “I hope that we can take our stories and the knowledge we have gained from our experiences at WCU to … create positive change in the communities where we live and work.”
JACK DEVINE ’62 Founding Partner and President of The Arkin Group, LLC
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CU has once again been named one of the Safest College Campuses in America by The National Council for Home Safety and Security, a trade association composed of home security professionals from across the United States with headquarters in Washington, DC. The National Council for Home Safety and Security developed the 2018 ranking using the most recent data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting and the Campus Safety Security Survey put out by the U.S. Department of Education. The Council assessed four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. with a student population of 10,000 and above. The highest-ranked university campuses on the list boast low total campus and local area crime. For 2018, West Chester University ranked 39 on the Council’s list of the Safest College Campuses in America. WCU was one of only four universities in Pennsylvania named to the 2018 list; this is the second consecutive time that WCU has been ranked among the list’s top 100 safest college campuses in the U.S. “West Chester University police take pride in making sure that the campus is a safe environment for all students, faculty, staff, and members of the greater West Chester community,” says Jon Brill, interim director of public safety and chief of police. “All of us partner and work together. Because of our proactive approach to policing, the opportunities for criminal activity to occur on campus are significantly reduced.” WCU’s Department of Public Safety collaborates often with the West Chester Police Department on initiatives designed to curtail crime. The University’s Department of Public Safety employs 25 full-time commissioned police officers who have received their primary training under the Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Act (PA Act 120). This is the same training that is required of all municipal police officers throughout Pennsylvania. Police officers on campus participate in annual in-service update police training according to PA Act 180.
CHIP SMITH ’70, M’81 President & Co-founder of the Fedora Security Group
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UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
WCU Offers Businesses Continuing Professional Education and Access to State Funding
W Spring Concert on the Quad
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or the second year, the University Symphony Orchestra hosted a spring concert on the Academic Quad and invited campus and community members to bring a picnic and enjoy the music. Giveaways and free popcorn added to the festive atmosphere. The WCU Steel Drum Ensemble — did you know we had one? — and the WCU Latin Jazz Ensemble kept the audience entertained before the main concert. Joseph Caminiti directed the concert of music with Latin and American themes, including selections from West Side Story and Phantom of the Opera, plus Suite Latina, featuring the Dalí String Quartet, and Danzón No. 2. The quartet, whose members are from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the U.S., joined WCU’s School of Music as the Quartet-inResidence this year. Like most of the School of Music’s performances, the concert was Livestreamed.
PepsiCo Zero Impact Grant Helps WCU Enhance Sustainability Efforts
The Gala at 35:
Three Friends Each Earn a WCU Presidential Scholarship
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hree first-year students who met last summer during an Honors College campus experience found their friendship enhanced when they realized they were not only Honors students but were also named WCU Presidential Scholars for 201718. Recognized at the University’s annual Presidential Scholarship Community Gala on April 7 were Cameron Ducey, a nursing major from Eldersburg, MD; Madison James, a cellular molecular biology major from York, PA; and Jennifer Knerr, a special education and early grades prep dual major from Slatedale, PA, who is also a Pennsylvania Society Scholar. “We are all very different majors with different interests and habits but through both the Honors College and this scholarship,
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we were able to become closer friends,” notes James. She competes in the pentathlon and heptathlon on the women’s track team, and Ducey is on the women’s swim team so the pair have spent time working out together. All three live on the same floor in the residence hall and continue to get together. A renewable, four-year award, the Presidential Scholarship is one of WCU’s largest scholarships that is funded entirely by private donations. To honor the students and the donors, Hollinger Field House was transformed into a European-inspired formal garden highlighting the Gala’s emerald anniversary as well as the University’s focus on sustainability.
WCU has received a $10,000 grant from PepsiCo Recycling to install and test a novel solar-powered reversible heating and air conditioning system. It will partly offset the consumption of grid electricity at WCU’s Office of Sustainability. PepsiCo is the campus’ soft drink and beverage provider. PepsiCo Recycling’s Zero Impact Fund supports eco-innovations that increase sustainability efforts on college campuses. The solar-powered system, which should be operational by September,
reflects WCU’s climate action plan. “Using renewable energy to power high-efficiency heating and cooling devices can help the University reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” says John Pisciotta, the associate professor of biology who wrote the grant proposal. Now in its second year, the PepsiCo fund received proposals from more than 60 U.S. colleges and universities during the 2017-18 academic year. WCU was one of just 19 schools chosen for their unique and innovative proposals.
CU’s Continuing Professional Education (CPE) program offers customized employee training programs and workshops to manufacturers, IT and CPA firms, and a wide array of other businesses and organizations. In addition, thanks to Pennsylvania’s 20-year-old Workforce & Economic Development Network (WEDnet), eligible Pennsylvania firms interested in having their employees update their skill sets may be able to access free training dollars. “Every year, we introduce dozens of new companies to the WEDnet grant,” says Eileen Jenkins, CPE director. The educational sessions, which WCU offers throughout the tri-state area as well as online, are conducted by WCU faculty, staff, and subject matter experts. “With such a varied client base, we undoubtedly bump into WCU alumni along the way who reminisce and inquire if their favorite professor is available to deliver their training request at their place of business, church, or Rotary club,” says Jenkins. “It’s wonderful to help facilitate such reunions and to create another WCU memory for both parties involved.” To learn more about WCU’s CPE program and to review the course catalog, please go to www.wcupa.edu/ cpe, or contact Jenkins at ejenkins@ wcupa.edu or 610-425-7435. To take advantage of the WEDnet grant program, companies may apply through August at https://isaac. wednetpa.com/.
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UNIVERSITY NEWS
UNIVERSITY NEWS
Absolutely Bananas Over Banana Day
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anana Day was a bash with nearly 5,000 students coming out for WCU’s extra special rite of spring on April 18. Students doled out more than 3,000 free bananas, peeled around corners in banana and gorilla costumes, competed in banana-themed games to win coveted limited-edition t-shirts, and even made sure that thousands of leftover banana peels were composted. CBS 3 (KYW-TV) Morning Show Features Reporter Pat Gallen ’07 (pictured center below) even came back to campus to film some live Banana Day fun at 5 and 6 a.m. in the Student Rec-
reation Center. Among those whom he interviewed was none other than Rodolfo “Rudy” Tellez ’96, legendary founder of Banana Day some 22 years ago. The tradition can’t be beat. WCU’s Student Activities Council submitted a video of the University’s ritual to the National Association for Campus Activities’ (NACA) “Your Best Campus Tradition” competition for 2018, and won first place among universities that enroll 5,000+ students. The award was presented to WCU’s Student Activities Council during the 2018 NACA National Convention in Boston, MA.
WCU Faculty Member Receives Gates Foundation Award
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he Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant to WCU Assistant Professor of Health Chiwoneso Tinago and her research colleagues. The purpose: to develop and test a communitybased peer support intervention that lessens the stigma of adolescent motherhood in Harare, Zimbabwe. The intervention is specifically designed to develop coping, parenting, and communication skills. It builds on previous research conducted by the team with adolescent girls and young women in Zimbabwe. Tinago’s collaborators include: Edward Frongillo, director of global health initiatives, and Andrea Warren, postdoctoral associate, both of the University of South Carolina; Dr. Florence Muchirahondo, psychiatrist, University of Zimbabwe; and Martie Bernicker, executive director of SpeakUp!, a Delaware Countybased nonprofit organization.
West Chester University Named a Top School for Veterans
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est Chester University is among the top 100 schools for veterans according to a new ranking entity, The College Consensus. The College Consensus aggregates rankings from US News, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and others and averages those with student reviews from websites including Cappex and Niche. Among the requirements colleges must meet are participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program; having a student veterans organization; and having a dedicated support contact on staff for veterans, service members, and families. WCU already ranks #36 on the US News 2018 Best Colleges for Veterans list and has received the Military Friendly School designation from GI Jobs and Top Colleges and Universities designation from Military Advanced Education & Transition from 2014 through the present.
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L-R are Jen Bacon, dean of WCU’s College of Arts and Humanities; Jesse Waters, poetry conference interim director; Chad Abushanab, 2018 Donald Justice Prize winner; and creator of the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Awards Kean Spencer.
POETRY CONFERENCE AWARDS
WCU Honors Students for Their Poetry
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ine undergraduate and graduate students won awards for their poetry during the 2018 West Chester University Poetry Conference in June. Chad Abushanab, a doctoral candidate at Texas Tech University, was awarded the Donald Justice Prize for Deliberately Lost, his unpublished manuscript. Morgan Ome, a rising senior at Johns Hopkins University, won first place in the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Awards, created by Kean W. Spencer in honor of his mother, a reader and community servant.
Emily Stepp, a rising junior at University of North Carolina at Asheville, won second place. Daniel Garcia, University of North Texas, won the Myong Cha Son Haiku Award. Runners up were: Haley Beasley, West Texas A&M University; Jemma Fisher, Sarah Lawrence College; and Yvette Ndlovu, Cornell University. The Rhina Espaillat Award was awarded again to last year’s winner, Alejandro Lemus Gomez, a senior at Young Harris College. Mayra Arrevalo of Augustana College also won the award.
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FACULTY PROFILE
STUDENT PROFILE
John J. Kennedy
Lowell Gardenhour
86-year-old Student One of First Americans to Serve in Vietnam
John J. Kennedy:
Helping Convince the State Supreme Court to Strike Down Political Gerrymandering
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n January 22, 2018 John J. Kennedy, professor of political science, was in his first day of classes for the spring semester when he heard the news: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had declared that the state’s congressional districts unfairly violated the state constitution. “It was the first time in American history that a legislative map had been struck down for political gerrymandering,” Kennedy told his students. His interest in the ruling was more than just academic. The author of four books on Pennsylvania government and politics, Kennedy was one of four state and national experts who had prepared reports and testified in December before the state Commonwealth Court on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. Their input helped lay the foundation for the state Supreme Court’s ruling and its redrawing of the state’s 18 congressional districts for the 2018 and 2020 election cycles. “To be able to extend beyond the classroom and directly impact our political system was the pinnacle of my professional career.” Gerrymandering — drawing political districts that favor one party — has been a fact of American politics for more than two centuries. Armed with unprecedented data technology, in 2011 Republicans — who controlled both the state legislature and the governorship — redrew the state’s congressional districts. Since then, even though registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by more than 800,000 voters, the GOP has repeatedly captured 13 of the 18 congressional seats.
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Kennedy had testified that, at an unprecedented level, the existing districts violated one fairness criteria by dividing, and thus diluting, the voting strength of communities of interest. Montgomery County, the state’s third most populous county and now predominantly Democratic, had been divided into portions of five different congressional districts — with no congressman living in the county. Residents of the Lehigh Valley, where Kennedy grew up, were also split apart. Allentown shared a district with Hershey. The most egregious example of politicians picking their voters rather than vice versa? The 7th congressional district, which sprawled across five counties west of Philadelphia. Only a thin strand of Coatesville Hospital and the parking lot of a King of Prussia restaurant connected some of the district’s sections to each other. “Such partisan gerrymandering,” says Kennedy, “has contributed significantly to our more polarized electorate and government, which also plays out in the media. Political moderates who attempt to reach across party lines are considered sellouts by many in their party’s base, and are becoming rarer.” He believes that the map the state Supreme Court created, which makes most of the Philadelphia suburban counties contiguous districts, significantly levels the playing field. However, unless proposed legislation to create a nonpartisan citizens redistricting commission results in a constitutional amendment by 2020, the mapping disparities could reoccur. Whatever the outcome, Kennedy — and his students — will be watching.
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n January 1954, Lowell Gardenhour, a U.S. Air Force crew chief from Waynesboro, PA, was re-supplying cargo flights flying from Japan to U.S. troops in South Korea. The nearly 20-year-old was then ordered to prepare for a highly secret mission — the clandestine support of the French military in what is now Vietnam. “It’s a remarkable story,” says Robert Kodosky, chair of the History Department and the faculty mentor of the 86-year-old senior computer science major. “He was one of just 186 U.S. servicemen sent there to support the French. Their loss later that year at Dien Bien Phu led to the French getting out and the U.S. getting involved in Vietnam.” Twice daily at an air base in the port city of Haiphong, Gardenhour helped load his American cargo plane, which was repainted with French insignia, with food, clothing, ammunition, weapons, barbed wire, and gasoline. French pilots dropped the supplies to encircled French soldiers at Dien Bien Phu, nearly 250 miles west. Nightly, the Viet Minh also tried to penetrate the Haiphong air base. “We each carried M1 rifles and .45 caliber pistols all the time because they said, ‘If you get captured, we can’t come and retrieve you,’ ” Gardenhour recalls. With a 35-mm camera he purchased in Japan, he took more than 500 photographs of his service time in Asia, including nearly 100 photographs he shot in Vietnam. Included are photos
of his disguised cargo plane, napalm bombs, and an image of him sitting on six 500-pound French bombs. Last year, after Gardenhour retrieved the photos from his basement, the Francis Harvey Green Library digitized some of them and other memorabilia. Some photos, along with other artifacts he collected, are displayed on the library’s second floor. “Considering how few Americans were involved and the low probability of others taking and preserving them all this time, his photographs are truly unique,” says Kodosky. “They offer insight into American involvement in Southeast Asia which people then and now have been largely unaware of.” Gardenhour left Vietnam in June 1954, shortly after the French surrender, and retired from the Air Force as a staff sergeant the following year. After retiring from his 32-year position as a research technician with E.I. Du Pont in Wilmington, DE, in 2003, he began taking classes at WCU, and has taken one class each semester since 2008. He doesn’t just audit courses, either. He fully participates, including completing reading and writing assignments. “I don’t want to become a couch potato. I want to stay alive,” explains the Garnet Valley resident. He should ace his next course with Kodosky: The History of the Vietnam War. In April, WCU and the Chester County Veterans Affairs Office honored Gardenhour with certificates — an event that both 6ABC Action News (WPVI-TV) and KYW Newsradio (CBS) covered. “It’s been mind boggling,” Gardenhour says of his recent recognition. “I’m not a war hero. I’m just an ordinary serviceman who dedicated four years to my country.”
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COVER STORY
“Thank you for making this milestone, which few other universities have, possible at West Chester,” Graf Eggers ’17 told her. The experience of Eggers, who spent most of his four years in the Navy as a religious program specialist at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, CA, illustrates the need for such help. Two years after he left active service in 2012, Eggers and two other motorists saved the lives of a family of five from drowning after their vehicle flipped upside down into a retention basin near the Christiana Mall in Delaware. Eggers dove into the water to pull the temporarily lifeless body of the driver out of the submerged car. The three Good Samaritans were rightfully hailed as heroes. The experience, however, eventually triggered post-traumatic stress disorder in Eggers, who had arranged numerous funerals and memorial services for Marines who had either died in Afghanistan or Iraq, or who had taken their own lives. As a result, after he had enrolled at West Chester to complete a degree he had begun at Delaware County Community College, the Media native began struggling personally and was on academic probation.
He turned himself around, however, after a WCU graduate student in counseling urged him to seek expert counseling at the Veteran’s Medical Center in Wilmington. In turn, Eggers and other members of the University’s Student Veterans Group began supporting the idea of hiring a certified veterans counselor — a priority that WCU President Christopher M. Fiorentino has also strongly embraced. “I was touched by his story,” Glenn says of Eggers, who recently was hired as a purchasing agent by WCU’s Purchasing Department. “Everybody is thrilled at what people do when they are active in the military. ‘Thank you for your service’ and all of that. But then when people come home, there are a lot of systematic problems that go with being in the service: young people who don’t make much money, who don’t get a chance to put down roots, and who sometimes suffer from both physical and mental problems. “If we send people [into military service], we should support them when they come home.” Glenn majored in health education and played basketball and ran track at WCU at the height of the growing conflict over the Vietnam War. She remembers watching the annual draft lottery on TV which determined, based on young men’s birth dates, whether or
Easing the Transition From the Military to College Life
E
ileen Reider Glenn ’69, M’99 met in May with several WCU students and graduates who are U.S. military veterans at the University’s Greg and Sandra Weisenstein Veterans Center. They thanked her for her pledge of $1 million to endow a new, ongoing position for a licensed professional counselor dedicated to the specialized needs of the University’s nearly 300 student veterans.
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COVER STORY
ROTC cadets gather at the Involvement Fair.
Her brother-in-law is also a former Marine, and his sonnot they would be drafted. Those attending college could qualify for a deferment, but Glenn recalls that young men in-law is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who recently who drew low draft numbers and were not doing well retired from the Navy SEALs as a lieutenant commander. academically were vulnerable. Girlfriends of hers were “We’ve had a lot of long discussions, not just about active anxious over whether their boyfriends duty but about what happens when you or fiancés would be drafted. “It was very leave,” Glenn says. “He’s been very active “If we send personal,” she remembers. “People literin trying to develop programs for retired ally left classes and went into the service SEALs, and that got me interested.” people [into and we never heard from them again. In 2012-13, her family’s Terry and Eimilitary And we truly didn’t understand what it leen Glenn Foundation donated a total service], was all about.” of $32,000 that funded graduate assiswe should Her late husband Terry, who ultimatetants to staff the WCU Veterans Center. support ly became a Merrill Lynch executive, West Chester’s participation in the naserved in the U.S. Army Reserves. Her tional Troops to Teachers program also them when mentor, the late Dick Yoder ’59 — the impressed her. “What a great idea!” she they come legendary WCU coach, athletic direcsays. “The skills that veterans hopefully home.” tor, professor of kinesiology, and West come back with — leadership, knowing Chester mayor — served six years in what is expected of you and fulfilling the Marine Corps. Yoder convinced her to complete her those expectations, being responsible for yourself and the master’s degree in sports and athletic administration three people around you — are skills I’d love to see in the front decades after earning her bachelor’s. She did so during of a classroom or elsewhere. the early part of her 20-year tenure as the athletic director “They deserve all the help we can give them to reinforce at the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, from those traits.” which she retired in 2015.
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COVER STORY
Lillian Morrison (left) and Eileen Reider Glenn ’69, M’99
It was a conversation she had last year at WCU with Kenneth D. alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy. “The WCU Veterans Witmer, Jr., dean of the College of Education and Social Work, Center provides a good, safe place for students to come and that convinced her to do more. Witmer told her about a friend be among other veterans who understand what they are going of his who had not handled the transition to through,” she says. “But sometimes, life hits civilian life well. kind of hard and it will be very helpful to have Currently, the WCU Veterans Center has a dedicated counselor who can walk and talk “Some a memorandum of understanding with the them through that hard part in their life.” people can Montgomery County Vet Center in NorrisWilliam Todd is a senior criminal justice do their town. It provides readjustment counseling major and the Student Veterans Group’s partour, come services for traumatic brain injury and military liamentarian. Todd’s four years of active duty sexual trauma to eligible veterans and their with a U.S. Army military intelligence unit back and families. The counselor whose salary will be included serving in Iraq and Kuwait during adjust well funded by Glenn, however, will have a much the Gulf War in 1990-91. “I personally didn’t into society. broader mandate. have any problems,” he says, “but veterans can But some “This person will also be able to provide asseem somewhat displaced and at a loss trying need help.” sistance for post-traumatic stress issues and to make the transition from a very structured, many other challenges our student veterans organized, and disciplined environment to may be facing,” says Lillian Morrison, the veta civilian organization that isn’t nearly so erans center coordinator. structured. “Having a counselor who understands the military “Everyone handles their service in the military a little differ- culture and that dynamic will really help veterans succeed.” ently,” she adds. “Some people can do their tour, come back and The counselor is expected to start working with student veterans adjust well into society. But some need help.” in August 2018. Morrison is a retired Air Force captain who spent the last two “My hope,” says Glenn, “is that my donation will make the task of her eight years in the Air Force as an admissions officer at her of returning a little lighter.”
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WCU EVENTS
SPORTS NEWS
WCU EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS
SEP 21
SEPTEMBER 6 Knauer Gallery: David Jones Opening Reception 21 Planetarium Series: A Planetary Alignment
Planetarium Series:
A PLANETARY ALIGNMENT
OCTOBER 12-20 Theatre & Dance: Antigone
19 Planetarium Series: Spectacular Saturn
20 President’s Speaker Series: Steve Forbes
26-28 Brandywine Ballet: Balanchine, Barber, and Brandywine
OCT 20
NOVEMBER
WCU Wins 2017–18 Dixon Trophy the winningest program in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), WCU earned the 2017-18 Dixon Trophy. This is the fourth time that WCU has won the award in the past six years. The PSAC awards the Dixon Trophy annually to the institution that accumulates the top score based on results of conference playoffs and regular-season records. Each sport champion earns 18 points based on the league’s membership total and descending point values are awarded for respective placement. WCU dominated in both men’s and women’s sports throughout the year to produce an overall average of 13.75. WCU claimed team titles in women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s swimming, and field hockey. The Golden Rams appeared in the title game in football and softball while finishing second as a team in women’s golf. The Golden Rams women produced an astonishing average of 15.88 points. The trophy is named in honor of F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., former chairman of the Board of Governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
As
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Softball Team Ranked 8th Nationwide
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he Golden Rams softball team was ranked 8th in the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association’s final 2018 Division II Softball Coaches Poll. With an overall record of 45-15 (14-2 PSAC), the team won its fifth straight PSAC East regular season title; finished second in the PSAC Tournament; and went 5-0 to capture the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament — earning the team its second appearance ever, and the first since 2014, in the NCAA Division II National Finals.
2 WCU Live!: ArtRAGEous
8 Holocaust & Genocide Lecture Series: 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht
President’s Speaker Series: STEVE FORBES
8-15 Theatre & Dance: My Fair Lady 9-10 Theatre & Dance: Revival, a dance concert
10 WCU Live!: The Stevie Wonder Experience
For a full schedule of events please visit Cultural & Community Affairs at wcupa.edu/oca & the College of Arts & Humanities at wcupa.edu/arts-humanities/ eventsCalendar.aspx.
NOV 2
WCU Live!: ArtRAGEous
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CHAPTER NEWS For more information about any chapter or its events, contact the chapter directly or the WCU Alumni Office at alumni@wcupa.edu.
Make sure you LIKE us on Facebook: WCU Chester County in order to be aware of the latest updates and upcoming summer events.
BALTIMORE METRO AREA ALUMNI
FRIARS ALUMNI
The chapter is gearing up for its new elections for leadership. Join us for our annual meeting at an Aberdeen IronBirds game on August 10 at 7 p.m. Contact the Alumni Office to register. Follow us on Facebook: BMAC WCU.
BANDS ALUMNI
Mark your calendars! Homecoming is November 2-4, 2018, and the Bands Alumni group is looking forward to being a part of all the festivities. Are you an alumnus of WCU Bands interested in getting involved with this chapter? Find us on Facebook: WCU Bands Alumni Association.
BLACK ALUMNI CHAPTER
The 8th Annual Friars’ Society Alumni Association Golf Outing was held on Friday, May 4. A great success, the outing raised nearly $1,700 to help support our undergraduate brothers’ mission of community service. Follow us on Facebook: Friars’ Society Alumni Association.
WASHINGTON, D.C., CHAPTER
Looking ahead to continuing the legacy of our nation’s capital alumni chapter, we will be hosting elections this August. For more information on how you can join this chapter or take on a leadership role, contact the WCU Alumni Office: alumni@ wcupa.edu. Follow us on Facebook: WCUAA, Washington D.C. Chapter.
Alumni gathered for a painting party during Alumni Weekend.
The spring football game tailgate party is enjoyed by alumni and friends.
Audible for Autism and First Responders led the team back on the field after halftime.
More than 85 alumni attended the Annual Murder Mystery Dinner produced by the WCU Theatre Department.
The first annual Rammy Egg Hunt was enjoyed by alumni parents and their children.
The Class of 2018 was welcomed into the Alumni Association at graduation.
YORK COUNTY CHAPTER
The BAC is proud to announce the following scholarship recipients who were recognized at our BAC 2nd Annual Scholarship Banquet on May 5. This year we awarded $1,600 in scholarships and $1,600 in book awards, doubling last year’s awards. BAC book awardees: undergraduates Devynn T. Gray, Elliot Mason, and Raynell Peacock, and graduate student Christina Gantt ’17. The Tyrone Patton Memorial Scholarship recipient was Reginald McGee and the Black Alumni Chapter Scholarship recipient was Edwin Jacks. Congratulations to all of our awardees! Follow us on Facebook: WCU BAC for updates on future events.
CHESTER COUNTY CHAPTER
Congratulations to our 2018-19 Executive Board! The following Rams will hold seats July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019: President Kyle C. Rheiner, Vice President Andrea Jones, Secretary Andrew Sweet, Treasurer Mike McKnight. We meet monthly and hope to see you at the next event.
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The York County Chapter awarded two $1,000 scholarships to Isatou Sawaneh and Sarah Sepic, and two $500 scholarships to Emma Sadowski and Bryce Gable. To learn more about the longest-running WCU Alumni Association chapter, participate in community outreach, or attend future events, visit our website, www.yorkwcualumni.org. Interested in getting involved in a local chapter or in starting a new one? Check out our chapter page, www.wcualumni. org/chapters, to see how you can reconnect with your fellow Golden Rams! For more information or answers about how you can become an active member of the WCU Alumni Association, contact Brigid Gallagher, assistant director of alumni engagement, at bgallagher@wcupa.edu.
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Colonel Deborah J. Chase (Ret.) ’76: Flying High with the U.S. Army
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hortly after Deborah J. “Deb” Chase ’76 graduated with her B.S. in health and physical education, she visited U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force recruiters. She wanted to be an officer — and to fly. “I was completely and utterly unprepared for their reaction,” Chase recalled as part of her WCU undergraduate commencement address this May. The Wynnewood, PA, native’s father was Grafton Chase, a world-class nuclear science researcher and professor at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Her mother Alice was a nurse. “My parents had taught my siblings and me that we were only limited by our combination of aptitude and fortitude,” Chase said.
“There was never a suggestion from them that gender would be an issue. It had never occurred to me that the opportunity to be a military pilot would not be available to me, nor that I would be laughed at for having the temerity to suggest such a career path for myself.” Instead, she took a job as a teacher’s aide with developmentally delayed preschoolers. Inspired by the unshakeable persistence of a five-year-old boy with cerebral palsy in her class, a year after her first rejections she talked to an Army recruiter who suggested pursuing air traffic control as a way to ultimately get into a cockpit. Joining the Army, she performed so well in air traffic control school that she was retained to train others. “I attribute my success as an
instructor to the Methods of Instruction course I took at West Chester,” she says. During her stellar 27-year Army career, she flew both helicopters (ranked 4th in her flight school class and was the only female among 80 graduates) and fixed-wing aircraft. More significantly, she played a major role in the Army’s research & development and acquisition of cutting-edge technology involving air traffic control, night vision, helmet-mounted displays, and helicopter cockpit systems. After leading a team responsible for 20 percent of the Army’s research & development and procurement budget, she retired as a colonel and worked, until last year, for a decade with Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor. Her executive roles involved providing: command & control integrated systems to U.S. military units, including in Iraq and Afghanistan; a perimeter security system for four major NYC civilian airports; and an air command and control system for 11 NATO members in Europe. Of her Army career, she says, “I had opportunities in the military that didn’t exist elsewhere for many women in the mid-1970s and ’80s, and that allowed me to do a lot of interesting and challenging things.” At West Chester, Chase had played field hockey and swam for WCU as a freshman and played lacrosse four years. During her senior year, she also was president of her sorority, Delta Zeta. A University Sturzebecker Hall of Fame 2013 inductee and a 2015 recipient of its President’s Award, Chase has served on the WCU Foundation Board of Trustees since 2013. “I’m so impressed with where West Chester is these days,” says Chase, who recently moved to Rehoboth Beach, DE, with her spouse Terry. “The students are of high quality, and West Chester gives them an opportunity for a quality education they might otherwise not be able to afford.”
A Message from the Director Debbie Cornell Naughton
Debbie Cornell Naughton
Alumni Volunteers Needed
W
ould you consider giving back to WCU by volunteering to be interviewed by a student?
We are conducting a pilot program called the First Year Experience (FYE) which is a new, semester-long course for incoming WCU students. The objective of the course is to set up new students for success in college and help them to build the relationships needed for a great education and career. We are looking for WCU alumni who are willing to be interviewed by FYE students, one-on-one, during the fall semester. Interviews can take place in person or by phone, and will last about 30 minutes. Please contact Johnna Capitano at jcapitano@WCUPA.edu. Thank you for helping our students.
CONNECT WITH US www.wcualumni.org 610-436-2813
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quality assurance with Ajinomoto Windsor, Inc., and was interviewed by the Food Safety Matters Podcast.
Loscalzo ’79
Thomas ’81
Wolfson ’93
Forsell ’99
Karen Shisler Doxey ’77 was elected to the 2018 Class of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Hall of Fame and was honored at the Hall of Fame banquet on April 30. Claudia Hellebush ’77, M’93, president and CEO of the United Way of Chester County, was inducted into the Chester County Business Hall of Fame.
Romano ’00
Offner ’05
1970s Michael Matsinko ’70, pianist, presented a concert of Civil War music on May 27 in Gettysburg. Jeffrey Thomas ’70, M’74 and wife Linda Sechrist Thomas ’70 celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 16 with a pontoon boat excursion on Rehoboth Bay with their son, daughter, spouses, and three grandchildren. Richard Miller ’73 was named manager of the year for the 2017 season in the Northwest League and led the Vancouver Canadians, an affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, to the championship of the Class A short season league.
LaFratte ’15
Starr ’16
rial Association (DCVMA) education committee chairman. Murphy is a U.S. Army veteran and a Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient. He has been a DCVMA board member since 2012. Ian Marshall ’76, M’83, professor of English and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona, edited Reading Shaver’s Creek: Ecological Reflections from an Appalachian Forest (Penn State University Press), a “best-of ” collection from the first decade of a 100-year nature writing project that Marshall initiated at PSU’s Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center.
Kenneth Beale ’74, retired U.S. Army Reserve chaplain, was this year’s keynote speaker for the annual Eden Prairie, MN, Memorial Day ceremony.
Cindy Timchal ’76 became the first Division I lacrosse coach to win 500 games after the Navy women beat Holy Cross on March 31. Timchal coached at Northwestern and Maryland before going to Annapolis. She worked at Maryland from 1991 to 2006 and won eight national championships, including seven straight from 1995 to 2001.
Dennis Murphy ’75 was appointed Delaware County Veterans Memo-
Michael Cramer ’77 is currently the senior director of food safety and
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Theresa Loscalzo ’79 was recently elected by the partners of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP to the firm’s governing body, the executive committee. Loscalzo is also comanaging partner of the firm and co-chair of Schnader’s e-commerce and technology practice group.
1980s Elizabeth A. (Claghorn) Austin ’80 accepted a position with NHS Solutions as an interim clinical education specialist at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, CA. Austin is co-author of Pediatric Perioperative Nurses and the Ethics of Organ Donation After Cardiac Death. Kathleen Thomas ’81 joined High Swartz LLP law firm. Wendy Bowditch ’82 was named the new chairman of the Easton, CT, Republican Town Committee. Chris Heivly ’82, MapQuest cofounder, was the keynote speaker at the Startup Alleghenies “Right Here. Right Now.” conference. Kenneth Sherry ’83 was selected from the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) and the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) as
the recipient of the 2018 AAPA/ PAEA Preceptor of the Year Award. Tim Sherry ’86 and Paul Isenberg ’87 were honored at the 2018 WCU College of Arts and Humanities Recognition Reception for their work with the charitable organization Bringing Hope Home. Trudy Atkins ’87, M’02 was recently named director of instructional innovation for East Brunswick Public Schools, East Brunswick, NJ. Prior to serving as a central office administrator, Atkins was the K-12 science supervisor in East Brunswick. Lisa Wright Bryant ’87 published her first work You Are Enough: Keeping It 100 With Yourself! This book encourages people of all ages to face the potentially paralyzing traps of their past and/or present that could stop them from living the life that they were created to live. Wright Bryant was also appointed president of the WCU Alumni Association for 2018-2019. James Alan Butcher ’88, M’92 was named executive vice president and chief business officer at AMAG Pharmaceutical, Inc. Catherine Shutack ’88 was promoted to senior vice president of claims at the Doctors Company. Ralph Jackson ’89 was named one of the 10 finalists for the 2018 GRAMMY Music Educator Award. Jackson teaches at Bridle Path Elementary and Montgomery Elementary Schools in the North Penn School District, PA, where he conducts a total of 200 students in four orchestras. Kurt Larsen ’89 won his third term to represent the 4th District on the Watertown, WI, Common Council. The win will have Larsen serving his third and final consecutive term.
1990s Lisa Wong ’91 was named director of choruses for the Cleveland Orchestra. Adelle Schade ’93 was inducted into the Berks Hall of Fame. Schade was a four-year starter in basketball at WCU. She is the girl’s basketball coach at Conrad Weiser High School and is the president and founding member of the 3 Point Goal organization. Brett Wolfson ’93 was selected by the Philadelphia Support Center for Child Advocates to chair Rawle & Henderson LLP’s child advocacy practice group. Wolfson is a partner in Rawle & Henderson LLP’s Philadelphia office. Dianne Pearce M’93 received two awards in May 2018 from the Delaware Press Association for her anthologies Halloween Party 2017 and Solstice. Pearce is the founder and publisher of Devil’s Party Press, a publishing company that publishes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, in short form anthologies and manuscript length, from writers over the age of 40. Michele Maffei ’95 and her husband John opened a Philly Pretzel Factory in Riverview, FL. Jessica Levin Martin ’95 was named chief operating officer of NephCure Kidney International. NephCure is a nonprofit that accelerates research into chronic, debilitating kidney diseases Nephrotic Syndrome and FSGS. Chris Day ’97 joined La Salle University’s women’s basketball program as associate head coach. Allen Dori ’97, a Tredyffrin, PA, police officer, was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the patrol division.
Robert Gregory ’97 was appointed interim superintendent of the Newark, NJ, Public Schools. Gregory has been instrumental in significantly increasing graduation rates over the last two years and has led the charge in establishing a culture of college attendance throughout the district. Melanie Ellixson ’99 from Linwood Elementary School was the February 2018 winner of Teachers Are Heroes program. Michelle Forsell ’99 received the 2018 Adjunct Teaching Award from Cedar Crest College on May 11. She teaches in the college’s Department of History, Literature and Languages.
2000s Kathy Romano ’00 hosted 95.7 BEN FM’s Her Story luncheon at the Arts Ballroom in Philadelphia on April 14. Rachael Ray, multiple Emmy Award-winning celebrity cook and host of the nationally syndicated entertainment program, The Rachael Ray Show, was the keynote speaker. Gina Tophoney ’00, M’09 was promoted in April to recreation supervisor at the Lower Merion Township, PA, Parks and Recreation Department. Scott McMicken ’01 and Toby Leaman ’01, founding members of Dr. Dog, a Philly five-piece rock band, celebrate the release of their 10th album, Critical Equation. Meaghan McHugh ’01, speech language pathologist at Byram Lakes Elementary School in Stanhope, NJ, was one of the recipients of the Governor’s Educational Services Professional award.
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Rebecca Obert-Thorn ’01 was named the 2017 Axalta All-Pro Teacher of the Year. She is a seventhgrade science teacher at Pennwood Middle School in Yardley, PA. Chad Smith ’01, a saxophonist, was the special guest soloist during the New Holland Band’s opening season concert, “Celebrating America,” on April 8. Joseph Meade ’02 was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2018 “40 under 40” list. Meade is the chief of staff to La Salle University President Colleen M. Hanycz and executive director of government and community affairs at the university. Donald Shorter Jr. ’02 was featured in a performance on May 31 in NYC. Ryan Staub ’02 was hired as the new principal of Neshaminy High School. Andrea Wehler ’02 was appointed creative director of Transwestern to oversee all marketing and communications initiatives in the commercial real estate firm’s North Texas operations. Wehler will be responsible for overall creative strategy, business development, brand management, media relations, and internal communications.
ALUMNI
Benito County, CA, Chamber of Commerce. Jill Gleeson ’04 was named the 2017-18 Teacher of the Year at Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren, NJ. Jennifer Rossi Long ’05 was named the director of the Twardowski Career Development Center at West Chester University. Gregory Offner Jr. ’05 was elected to a four-year term as a Democratic committee person in Philadelphia, PA. Offner will represent the approximately 600 constituents of Ward 39 Division 31 while serving as a member of the City Democratic Executive Committee. This is his first time in elected office. Offner is a director of Exude Inc, a Philadelphia-based organizational health and strategy company.
Nathan Mohler ’09 was named the 2018-19 Teacher of the Year at Indian River High School in Dagsboro, DE.
2010s Kiera Smalls ’11 was named executive director at Philly Startup Leaders. Erin Dorney M’12 published her debut collection of poetry, I Am Not Famous Anymore, with Mason Jar Press (Baltimore, MD).
NJ, police officer in April at a City Council meeting. Anthony LaFratte ’15, joined Belfint, Lyons & Shuman, PA, as a staff II accountant in the rotational development program. Caitlin Cheruka ’16 is running across America to fight against cancer. She hopes to raise a dollar for each of the 4,500 miles she runs from San Francisco to Baltimore. She will run 10 to 16 miles per day for 49 days and stay at community centers, churches, and college dorms while also camping in national parks. Her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and both grandparents on one side of her family passed from cancer.
Jason Smith ’05 recently published To Master the Boundless Sea with UNC Press.
Brittany Rosenfeld ’12 joined the Tredyffrin Township, PA, Police Department.
Kayleigh Jardine ’16 was one of four singers to perform the national anthem prior to the Michigan and Loyola-Chicago NCAA Final Four game on Saturday, March 31. Jardine is a University of Michigan graduate student.
Michelle Mongiovi Prota ’06 was featured in “15+ Women In Leadership Roles at Awesome Companies You’ll Want to Work For” on FindSpark. Prota currently serves as global chief talent officer at Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners in NYC.
Natalie Dietterich ’14 will have compositions performed by the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) during the upcoming 2018-2019 season.
Tyler Starr ’16 recently earned his certified public accountant (CPA) license. Starr is a staff I accountant at Belfint, Lyons & Shuman in its rotational developmental program.
Christina Diehl ’03 was named president of the Lancaster County Library System.
Kyle Mullins ’07 won the Democratic primary for state representative in Pennsylvania’s 112th District in Lackawanna County.
Jonathan Long ’03 was named a 2018 Top Lawyer by Main Line Today magazine. Long serves clients at Buckley, Brion, McGuire & Morris, LLP’s litigation and governmental/ municipal land use practice groups.
Mary Shuttlesworth M’07 served on the Academic Honors Society panel discussion held each spring semester by the Mount Aloysius College Academic Honors Societies Committee on February 8.
Ana Putegnat ’03 was named the new executive director of the San
Matt Weiser ’07 was inducted into the Berks County Aquatic Hall of Fame.
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Matt Holliday ’09 was honored with the 2018 Outstanding Young Professional Award in Public Administration from the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (CPC-ASPA). Holliday is the sitting prothonotary of Chester County.
Philip Hagstotz ’14 was recently hired as a police patrol officer for the Hatfield Township, PA, Police Department. Josh Kowalski ’14 was sworn in as a new Upper Makefield Township, PA, police officer. Harvey Nicholson ’14 recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence about how the abuse of opioids affects both whites and blacks equally. Julianna Rote ’14 was sworn in as a new City of Brigantine Beach,
Marriages Sandy Choi Imai ’09 to Samuel Imai in March 2018
Engagements Joanna Volpe ’13 to Josh Yoder ’13
In Memoriam 1933 Lillian Shockey Shively 1940 Anna Summers Hart 1948 Eileen Urban Scheirer 1949 Peter Mirsch 1949 Barbara Muench Smith 1952 Robert Homonay 1954 Anna Young Bjornberg 1954 Henry Loewen, Jr. 1957 Joseph Motta, Jr. 1961 Mary Anne McGinty Hague 1964 Carolyn Cooper Bream 1966 Charles Bassett 1968 Peggy Herr Grove 1968 Roger Grove 1969 David Eavenson, Jr. 1970 Grace Spaziani Ovelman 1972 Raymond Fields 1984 Kathy Bird Gouck 1994 Stephen Misetic
DEATH NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE Contact the Alumni Relations Office with a copy of the decedent’s obituary from a newspaper or the internet, or a copy of a letter or email from a family member of the deceased. Please note: Death notifications will not be accepted via telephone.
SUBMIT your class notes to the Office of Alumni Relations to alumni@wcupa.edu.
Celebrating Theatre! Forty years ago, Kurt Weill’s music filled the Studio Theatre at West Chester with the Department of Speech, Communication, and Theatre’s April 1978 production of The Threepenny Opera. Director Bob E. Bytnar and a group of theatre alumni returned to campus for the WCU production of Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill, a Musical Voyage and to celebrate the friendships forged, experiences shared, and professional skills honed through the numerous, remarkable, and memorable opportunities to perform and work in all aspects of theatre production at West Chester. Seated: Bob E. Bytnar. First row, from left to right: Ferna Majewicz, Susan Perrone Walthall ’79 M’89, Betsy Waldron Spina ’80, Paul Parente ’79, Terry Byrne Doemling ’79, Steve Mulch ’79, and Maxine J. Tiger ’78. Second row, from left to right: Michael J. Macknis ’81, Brandon Doemling ’81, Annmarie Kelly Davis ’81, Pierce Vincent Eckhart ’80.
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2018
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2018
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
RONALD DEMKEE ’65 M’70
NANCY STEVENS ’76
R
onald Demkee taught at Freedom High School, Bethlehem, PA, from 1967 to 1997, where he was band and orchestra director and chair of the Fine Arts Department. He has also taught at both Muhlenberg and Moravian Colleges. Since 1980, Demkee has been the principal tuba of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO), where he is also associate conductor and pops conductor. He has conducted the ASO in classical subscription concerts, young peoples’ concerts, pops concerts, holiday concerts, and — partnering with the Repertory Dance Theater of the Lehigh Valley — full performances of The Nutcracker. Demkee, who joined the Allentown Band in 1964 as its tuba soloist, has served as its conductor since 1977. Under his direction, the band has recorded 31 volumes of Our Band Heritage, reaching all 50 states and 24 foreign countries. These recordings are frequently heard on local radio stations and as far away as Sydney, Australia. The band annually averages 45 performances, including two important education outreach components that reach thousands of students via youth concerts for elementary through middle schoolers and Side by Side Concerts with regional high school musicians. Under Demkee’s leadership, the band made four concert tours in Europe, where they performed in Switzerland, Austria, and France. They also played Carnegie Hall in 2007 and 2016 and the Kennedy Center in 2010. In addition to guest conducting numerous high school honor bands and orchestras in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Demkee has been privileged to guest conduct all the premier military bands in Washington, D.C. His awards include National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence; John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Legion of Honor; Allentown’s Arts Ovation Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Performing Arts and the Allentown Arts Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award; National High School Band Directors’ Hall of Fame; and a Muhlenberg College Honorary Doctor of Music.
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N
ancy Stevens graduated summa cum laude from WCU with a B.S. degree in kinesiology and earned her master’s degree in sports psychology from Penn State University. While at WCU, she played four varsity sports: field hockey, lacrosse, badminton, and indoor track. She helped lead the 1975 WCU field hockey team to the AIAW Division l National Championship. The team was inducted into the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016. Stevens represented the United States in the 1975 World Championships and was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1974 to 1978. Stevens also served as head coach of the U.S. Under-19 National Team (named USA Field Hockey’s “Team of the Year”) and the head coach of the U.S. Under-21 National Team. She has also led two collegiate programs to the nation’s number one ranking: Northwestern University in 1985 and University of Connecticut in multiple years. Stevens is a legend in the field hockey world. She is the alltime leader in Division 1 for games coached and victories. Currently the head field hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, Stevens coached the team to three NCAA Division l National Championships in 2013, 2014, and 2017. She was also named the Division l National Coach of the Year each of those years. As a head coach, she has taken 13 teams to the NCAA Final Four and 25 teams to the NCAA Elite Eight. Among her other accomplishments, Stevens has trained 45 First Team All-Americans; was inducted into the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014; served on the U.S. Olympic Committee (Membership Committee); was vice president of USA Field Hockey; and was also vice president of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. Stevens is the founding member of the Women & Philanthropy Network at UConn, which is dedicated to mentoring students, serving the community, and transforming lives through scholarship support.
2018
2018
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
ALUMNI AWARD FOR SERVICE
SUSAN WELDON ’86
EDWARD MONROE ’89
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ue Weldon is the founder and CEO of Unite for HER (UFH), a vibrant, growing non-profit organization that annually serves more than 1,200 women who have been newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Fueled by the powerful impact that complementary therapies had on her recovery following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2004, she founded UFH. Its mission focuses on bridging the gap between the medical and wellness community, funding and delivering complementary therapies to all breast cancer patients, regardless of income, for a full year. In just over eight years, what started as a small program at Paoli Hospital has grown to a partnership with 31 hospitals and affiliates that has served more than 4,000 women in the Philadelphia region. Weldon is a respected leader in the community and an effective proponent of integrating traditional and holistic modalities to provide a comprehensive plan to treat the whole woman. She is known for her energetic leadership style and her ability to envision and create successful outcomes in programming and fundraising. She is greatly humbled by the enormous role and expertise her staff, board, and volunteer teams play to move the mission and success of Unite for HER forward. She has received numerous awards for her impact on the breast cancer community, including the Norma E. Ciccarone Award of Hope by Cuddle My Kids. She also was named a Top 23 Power Women Local Game Changer as well as one of the Top 20 Philanthropists Who Care in Main Line Today. In addition, Philadelphia magazine named her its 2016 Health Hero Challenge winner for her work as a wellness advocate. Prior to founding UFH, Weldon had a career in advertising sales and spent 25 years as a coach at AJS Pancott Gymnastics. She graduated with a degree in communications from WCU, where she was a member of the women’s gymnastics team. Her greatest love and passion are her husband and three children, who inspire her each and every day.
E
d Monroe has been a respected and valued member of the WCU community since he graduated in 1989 with a degree in criminal justice. For 13 years, he has been serving the WCUAA, initially as a volunteer, and later as a member of the board. Appointed to the WCUAA Board of Directors in 2008, Monroe was elected to the board to serve two terms. He served as president for two years (2010 to 2012) and as past president for two years. He has been an instrumental member of several committees, including the Affinity, Finance, Strategic Planning, By-Laws, Chapter Development, and Executive Council Nominating committees. He established the Outreach Committee and developed numerous successful programs for the association. He founded signature alumni events such as Rams in the Sand, which is an all-alumni reunion at the New Jersey and Delaware beaches, and the Sarasota Polo Match, which attracts alumni on the west coast of Florida to come together each spring. These events are in their 11th and 8th years, respectively. Monroe also expanded the Senior Day program, which welcomes the newest graduating class to the Alumni Association, and enhanced the football tailgate competition into a coveted bragging right. Monroe was also involved in developing the Greek Life Committee on campus to bring together students and alumni in fraternities and sororities. In his professional life, Monroe was a Lower Merion police officer for more than 25 years. In addition to serving WCUAA in his spare time, he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Lower Merion Township Memorial Day Parade Committee, director of security for The Philadelphia Maccabi Games, and a member of the SWAT teams for the Papal Personal Protection Team and the U.S. Open Player Personal Protection Team. He also was president of the U.S. Motorcycle Escort Detail at numerous events; a former trustee of F.O.P. Lodge #28; former secretary of the Southeast (PA) Tactical Association; and a member of the National Tactical Officers Association.
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2019 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD NOMINATION FORM
ALUMNI
2019 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD NOMINEES SOUGHT
Name of Nominee_________________________________________________
Name of Nominee_________________________________________________ Class Year(s) _____________________________________________________ Street Address ____________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ____________________________________________________ Phone __________________________________________________________ Email __________________________________________________________ Nominated by ____________________________________________________ Class Year(s) _____________________________________________________ Street Address ____________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ____________________________________________________ Phone __________________________________________________________ Email __________________________________________________________ Please mail this form to: WCUAA AWARDS COMMITTEE c/o Alumni Relations Office 202 Carter Drive West Chester, PA 19382 To submit this form electronically, visit www.wcualumni.org. Nominations must be received by 4 p.m. on October 1, 2018.
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2019 WCUAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOMINATION FORM
The Distinguished Alumni Awards have been presented by the West Chester University Alumni Association annually since 1963. The WCUAA Awards Committee seeks candidates to be selected and recognized for this prestigious honor at the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration. The WCUAA Awards Committee is looking for candidates who have: Achieved outstanding recognition in their chosen professions; Rendered unusual service to a particular segment of society either vocationally or avocationally; Achieved outstanding recognition or rendered unusual service by volunteering in a non-profit organization; or Positively influenced large numbers of people throughout the candidate’s career. If you would like to nominate a deserving alumnus, please complete and mail this form to the Alumni Relations Office at WCU. You may also submit a nomination online at www.wcualumni. org. Nominations must be received by 4 p.m. on October 1, 2018. Upon receipt of a nomination, a packet will be sent to the nominator for completion.
Class Year(s) _____________________________________________________ Street Address ____________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ____________________________________________________ Phone __________________________________________________________ Email __________________________________________________________ Nominated by ____________________________________________________ Class Year(s) _____________________________________________________ Street Address ____________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ____________________________________________________ Phone __________________________________________________________ Email __________________________________________________________ Please mail this form to: WCUAA Nominating Committee c/o Alumni Relations Office 202 Carter Drive West Chester, PA 19382 To submit this form electronically, visit: www.wcualumni.org. Nominations must be received by 4 p.m. on October 1, 2018.
Nominations are now being accepted for the WCUAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Nominating Committee of the West Chester University Alumni Association (WCUAA) is accepting nominations for candidates who wish to serve on the Association’s Board of Directors for the 2019-2022 term. Please review the following information prior to submitting your nomination. Nomination forms must be completed and received by 4 p.m. on October 1, 2018. The form below will also be available online at www.wcualumni. org. There are six seats on the WCUAA Board of Directors up for election each year. Board members are expected to serve the full three-year term for which they are elected. The terms of the newly elected members will begin on July 1, 2019. There will be a minimum of six (6) and a maximum of twelve (12) candidates on the election ballot. Board elections ballots will be available in the next issue of the WCU Magazine. You may nominate yourself to run for the Board of Directors. After all nominations are received, nominees will receive a biographical form/application to complete and a detailed description of duties associated with being a board member. This must be completed in its entirety to finalize the nomination.
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