York College Magazine 2019 Volume 3

COLLEGE MAGAZINE 201 9 VOL. 3

PLASTIC IN PARADISE STUDENT RESEARCH IN HAWAII

Biology major Ana Chew ’20 stands on Bellows Beach on Oahu’s east shore. She interned this summer at the University of Hawaii, working for the National

Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on a field study researching the effects of plastic in our oceans.

CO N T EN TS

Photo taken by Marco Garcia.

COMMUNITY 4 Around Campus

Fighting for Survivors

5 Meet Amie Scheidegger, PhD

Hannah Waterman Dec. ’19 conducted research on trauma-informed practices in higher education.

8 Overheard 10 Engaging York

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12 Spartan Sports

PURSUITS 14 Research

Treatment of LGBTQ+ Community in Healthcare

15 Hands-On

Senior and Graham Innovation Scholar Kasey Drzewiecki analyzed the healthcare treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals. < PAGE 14

FEATURES 16 Is Plastic Killing Aquatic Life?

22 In Focus: First-Years in Foam 24 Entrepreneurial Spirit

Innovation Education Alexander Smith ’18 says, “I have the power to implement new ideas without the constraints of a typical office worker. There are risks for a start-up, but fresh out of college is the best time to take those risks.”

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CONNECTIONS 28 Alumni News

Kelley Gibson ’96

29 Alumni Spotlight

As the President of the Cultural Alliance of York County, Gibson oversees the grants and fundraising needed to sustain the organization and represents the diverse cultural community of the city.

33 A Glimpse of Our Past

< PAGE 29

On the cover: Five of the world’s seven species of sea turtles make their home in Hawaii’s waters and are affected by plastic in the ocean.

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VIE W FRO M M Y WIN DOW

YORK COLLEGE

President Pamela Gunter-Smith, PhD

FO RU M

Provost and Vice President, Academic Affairs Laura Niesen de Abruña, PhD

This issue of the York College Magazine features articles about YCP students doing their part to create a more sustainable world. Senior Biology major Anna Chew expanded her independent study research this past summer at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), investigating the effects of microplastics on embryonic fish in Hawaii (pages 16-21).

Plastics are not only recognized as harming marine life, but are a growing concern for contaminating our food chain. The YCP student chapter of the American Society of Chemical Engineers (ASCE), worked with Civil Engineering Professor Josh Wyrick and Ted Evgeniadis of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association to clear vegetation at our nearby Codorus Creek. They did so by hand rather than using pesticides to protect the environment (page 10).

Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Mary Dolheimer Vice President, Enrollment Management Daniel Green, DMA Vice President, Campus Operations Kenneth Martin, PhD Vice President, Student Affairs Joseph Merkle, MA Vice President, Business Affairs and CFO C. Matt Smith, CPA Dean, Center for Community Engagement Dominic DelliCarpini, PhD

is now smoke- and tobacco-free. Reusable water bottles were distributed to new

Head of School, York Country Day School Christine Heine, EdD

students at orientation and water bottle filling stations added around campus.

YORK COLLEGE MAGAZINE

A summer class project developed an Ocean Plastics’ program for new

Director of Editorial Services Gail R. Huganir

And there’s more. In response to a Student Senate initiative, our campus

student orientation to increase awareness of incoming students about plastics.

Our dining facilities have removed all single-use plastic disposables.

These are small, but important, steps for our community. Additional initiatives are under consideration. A new student group, Spartans for Sustainability, is investigating composting leftover food from our dining hall and creating a pollinator garden. This summer, a faculty group proposed installing solar energy and green roofs. Both our Student Senate and Academic Senate are organizing around this effort and I have formed a campus-wide task force, The President’s Task Force for Campus Sustainability (PTFCS), to coordinate activities and recommendations from the various groups. My charge to the PTFCS is to not only position the College to join other institutions in signing the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments1, but to take action and monitor progress.

Needless to say, YCP is following the national trend across campuses with a call for sustainable practices and, most recently, internationally with the call to action by Global Climate Strike 2019.2 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has taken similar action in joining the U.S. Climate Alliance.3 I applaud our students for their call to action. Why is this effort so important to our students? The future belongs to them and their descendants. They are using their educational experience to help craft their future. According to an African proverb, “He who learns teaches.” We have a lot to learn from our students!

Pamela Gunter-Smith, PhD President, York College of Pennsylvania secondnature.org/signatory-handbook/the-commitments nytimes.com/2019/09/20/climate/global-climate-strike.html 3 governor.pa.gov/newsroom/pennsylvania-releases-state-climate-action-plan-join-u-s-climate-alliance 1 2

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Vice President, Development Troy Miller

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Director of Creative Services Lance A. Snyder ’05 Design Consultant Skelton Sprouls Photographer Mike Adams Writer Colleen A. Karl Senior Administrative Assistant Colleen M. Adamy Summer 2019 Interns Corrine Longenbach ’20 Samantha Sabatini ’20 CHANGE OF ADDRESS Send address label along with new address to: Division of College Advancement York College of Pennsylvania York, PA 17403-3651 717-815-1410 or email yorkmag@ycp.edu York College Magazine is published three times a year (May, August, December) by the Division of College Advancement, York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA 17403-3651. Periodicals postage paid at York, PA, and additional mailing offices. Permit No. 174. © 2019 York College of Pennsylvania. Printed in U.S.A. We welcome your news and comments at yorkmag@ycp.edu. York College of Pennsylvania does not discriminate because of race, color, religious creed, disability, ancestry, national origin, sex, or age in employment or in recruitment and acceptance of students.

SHOULD WOMEN EARN EQUAL PAY? Susan Klinedinst, EdD Assistant Professor, Sport Management

Women should receive equal pay for equal work. Currently, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is suing the U.S. Soccer Federation over pay equity and working conditions. This challenge to the status quo is commendable because the lack of equal pay in women’s sports has been perpetuated by our societal foundation in patriarchy and male dominant ideology. This ideology legitimizes male power over women and the work they do. Economically, men have control over the major social institutions, which combined with capitalism, makes gender inequality pervasive. Sport strongly maintains these patriarchal gender relations, which in turn marginalizes women in sport. This marginalization is used to justify that the significant source of revenue generation from broadcasting rights and sponsorship dollars, deserve to go to men’s sports.

Insoo Cho, PhD Assistant Professor, Economics

All jobs should be paid based on the level of skill, experience, responsibility, and working conditions regardless of whether the jobs are done by men or by women.

Despite a variety of anti-discrimination laws such as the Equal Pay Act, on average equally qualified women still do not receive equal pay for equal work.

Recent government statistics show that female full-time, year-round workers are paid only about 80 cents for every dollar earned by a male. While reasons for the gender pay gap are multifaceted, it is crucial to understand that unfair gender pay gap hurts directly not only women and their families, but also our society as a whole. Unequal pay also has long-term negative effects on women’s incentives to invest in skills, training, and education.

Laura Steck, PhD Associate Professor, Sociology/Behavioral Sciences Chair, Applied Behavioral Sciences Dept.

As mandated by the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), women and men performing the same types of work, with similar levels of educational attainment and employment seniority, should be compensated equitably. However, while federal Equal Employment Opportunity legislation prohibits sex discrimination against employees and applicants for employment, the gender pay gap in America persists. Many wonder how this is possible given the existence of such legislation. There are three primary reasons. First, many employers draft policies that prohibit employees from sharing information about their wages and salaries with coworkers. If we are unable or unwilling to talk about these inequities, it is difficult to reduce or eliminate those inequities. Finally, employees experiencing sex discrimination must bring a legal case against their employers and the burden of proof is on the employee. For many employees the costs of pursuing legal proceedings are prohibitive. Only through greater willingness to openly address the gender pay gap and more consistently enforce existing legislation, will gender inequity in pay be eliminated.

“ Recent government statistics show that female full-time, yearround workers are paid only about 80 cents for every dollar earned by a male.”

— INSOO CHO, PHD

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COMMUNITY

MEET AMIE SCHEIDEGGER, PHD Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Chair, Criminology and Criminal Justice Department

A RO U N D CA M P US

She conducted research on traumainformed practices in higher education, where she examined how schools can better serve students who were survivors of trauma. She presented her findings at the Mid-Atlantic Human Services Conference as well as on campus at the 2019 Undergraduate Research Showcase and says the response has been very encouraging.

This past summer, Waterman interned with T. W. Ponessa & Associates Counseling Services in York and Lancaster. Wherever her path takes her, she sees herself advocating for survivors.

This summer, Bisbal competed at the USA Triathlon National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, where he placed 46th in the country in his category. When asked if he would do anything differently, Onasis said, he’d “try to be more calm about the race, and not be as nervous because everyone else is nervous about it.” In September, he received his rankings in the 18–19 age category, and says he is 63rd in the country, and second in the state of Pennsylvania. — C.L.

TRIATHLON TRAINING

FIGHTING FOR SURVIVORS Hannah Waterman, who graduates in December 2019 with a BS in Human Services, was a high school freshman when she was sexually assaulted by a man on a subway train. Waterman, from Brooklyn, New York, is taking that horrific encounter and turning it into a source of power as a survivor’s advocate.

“I want to be what I needed in that moment for someone else,” she says.

At YCP, she found help and support from counseling services, the Career Center, and from her academic advisor as she sought guidance. The Victim and Survivor Advocacy class showed her advocacy was an area where she could have a real impact. She believes she can draw on her experience and relate to other survivors while connecting with them in a deeper, more meaningful way.

“There are situations where people just need someone to fight for them or help them through things,” she says. “That’s just always the person I’ve been.”

E V EN TS

D. WATKINS: WE SPEAK FOR OURSELVES, WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

February 6, 2020 7:00 p.m.

DeMeester Recital Hall Writer-in-Residence, D. Watkins is one of the nation’s leading voices on issues of race and poverty.

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Onasis Bisbal ’22 of York, Pennsylvania has been competing in triathlons for two years. Over the summer, he spent his days off from his part-time job at the York College Bookstore training from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. During that time, he swam two to three miles, biked 30 to 50 miles, and ran four to eight miles.

Bisbal attributes a smooth start to participating in triathlons to his athletic background including competitive swimming in high school and an enjoyment of mountain biking and running. Still, he spends a lot of time training, normally between 25 to 30 hours per week.

During the semester, Bisbal is focused on his academic and athletic goals and decreases his training to accommodate his studies as a Biology major. Training no more than 20 to 25 hours per week, Bisbal admits, “sometimes I get really tired, but I try my hardest to push through it and get things done.”

ART SMASHING TYRANNY, TARING PADI

March 24–May 23, 2020 Marketview Arts Taring Padi is an underground activist artist collective in Indonesia that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

► YCP.EDU/CULTURAL-SERIES

What areas of Criminal Justice/ Criminology do you specialize in and what about the field most interests you?

I consider myself a generalist in these areas. Both are fascinating and throughout my career, I have enjoyed teaching a multitude of courses ranging from Deviant Behavior to White Collar Crime. Often people think crime is the primary focus of my discipline. I, on the other hand, believe justice is a more compelling area to study. What drives me is the desire to evaluate critically all areas of the justice system and call attention to injustices that exist. Confronting injustice is paramount to maintaining fairness and equality within society.

What kind of work/projects have you been recently involved in with your students?

One of the classes I teach is Research Methods in Criminal Justice. Because of teaching the course, I have had the opportunity to work with many students on a number of research projects after the semester has ended. Most recently, I have been working with a student on a project that looks at K-9 police officers.

We are working on surveying K-9 officers and comparing them to non-K-9 officers in relation to work stress, job satisfaction, and career goals.

“Students’ perceptions of how the justice system operates are often influenced by crime dramas that set unrealistic expectations of careers in criminal justice. ” — AMIE SCHEIDEGGER

In your experience, how has the media or recent crimes influenced your field and the way you design your curriculum to adapt?

MAKING INSECTS: A GUIDE TO RESTORING THE LITTLE THINGS THAT RUN THE WORLD

March 26, 2020 7:00 p.m.

DeMeester Recital Hall Dr. Doug Tallamy will describe simple changes to our landscape and attitudes to support insects that play an essential role in our lives.

The media has a significant impact on the public’s understanding of the justice system. The result has been a spread of both information and misinformation. Students’ perceptions of how the justice system operates are often influenced by crime dramas that set unrealistic expectations of careers in criminal justice. Part of my job is to dispel the myths and provide a more accurate understanding. A vast

number of documentaries, series, and podcasts take a critical look at the inner workings of the justice system. When incorporated into class, they can provide students with a deep understanding of complex issues. Netflix, for example, has some excellent programming related to criminal justice issues. Often, I connect course material with the latest bingewatching trend, making information more relatable to students. — C.K.

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A RO U N D CA M P US

PAGEANT LESSONS

E V EN TS

Madison Kennelly ’20, a senior Mass Communication major from Woodbine, New Jersey, knows some people think her sport is just a contest to see who is the prettiest, but that hasn’t been her experience in 18 years of pageant competition. “It’s about how you present yourself,” she says. Every competition considers a candidate’s social impact initiative. For Kennelly, that’s her chance to share her passion for volunteering with her pet therapy dog, Peanut.

Kennelly and Peanut have volunteered at libraries, hospitals, and nursing homes. She’s seen the impact her dog can have on people. It’s why she’s grateful to compete in pageants because they allow her to share her experiences and raise awareness for pet therapy.

Competing in pageants has taught her time management, public speaking, networking skills, and how to be comfortable with all kinds of people. It’s also helped her financially.

Scholarships she earned through the Miss New Jersey competition paid her way through three study abroad courses in Africa, Costa Rica, and India.

This year, during a production number at the

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A FUTURE RESHAPED In May 2017, Madison “Maddie” Davis was diagnosed with Juvenile Myositis (JM). Diagnosis of the lifethreatening autoimmune disease meant weeks of hospitalization followed by rehabilitation. It also meant her dream of joining the military was over.

Today, Davis, from Millersville, Maryland, is a sophomore studying Education at York College. The disease changed her physically, but the challenges she had to overcome also changed her outlook on life – for the better. Through living with JM, she has gained a new sense of empathy and compassion.

Davis is a teen advocate for Cure JM, a nonprofit raising awareness and funding research for JM. Helping others has given meaning to her own experience. She says, “It makes it seem like I went through all this for a reason.” She has plans to write an autobiography about her experience with JM and beyond. “I have so much to

“I have so much to share, JM definitely changed me for the better.”

— MADISON DAVIS

share,” she says. “JM definitely changed me for the better.”

Her dream used to be joining the United States Coast Guard Academy.

Now, Davis’s dream job is running a charter school, being on a board of education, or becoming a lobbyist.

She wants to make the kind of big changes she thinks could benefit the education system.

As a Graham Innovation Scholar, Davis has already started on her dream of making big changes. This summer, she began testing a summer program for children in York that encourages innovation and entrepreneurial ideas at YCP’s Graham Innovation Zone. She believes helping children grow up and deal with their problems and supporting them is one of the things that is essential to have in a school system.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

A SHAYNA MAIDEL

March 26, 2020 7:00 p.m.

Humanities Center 218

March 26-28, 2020, 7:30 p.m. and March 28, 2020, 3:00 p.m.

Waldner Performing Arts Center

With Director Joshua Oppenheimer. An optometrist confronts the men who killed his brother during the 1965 Indonesian genocide.

YO R K C O L L E G E O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING FUELS DRIVE

Miss New Jersey competition, contestants wore clothes from their colleges. “It was really great that I got to show off my York College pride,” she says.

Kennelly learned about York College from her mother, Mary Jo (Stolz) Kennelly ’88. When the two visited campus for an alumni dinner, Madison knew she’d found her future home.

As a Mass Communication major, she’s learning how to use her creativity to tell stories through videos. What she really wants is to become a film producer.

“That’s the big dream,” she says.

The reunion of two sisters, one a concentration camp survivor and the other a modern career-girl in NYC. ► YCP.EDU/CULTURAL-SERIES

After a spark of electricity fried every circuit at Mikayla Trost’s house in Baden, Pennsylvania, she enjoyed helping her dad fix each outlet and electronic, learning by taking things apart, switching configurations, and soldering components.

It was no surprise that she later decided to pursue Electrical Engineering in college. She also knew she wanted to be more than just a number in a classroom and that’s why she chose York College.

Before she even enrolled, she received emails from Kala Meah, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “They made me feel like I’d have a place here. They knew my name, they wanted me to come here,” she says.

YCP’s small class size and personal attention allows for successful

project-based hands-on learning. In Introduction to Electrical Engineering, Trost and her classmates worked in pairs to develop a way for a client with a disability, who could only lift his legs seven centimeters off the ground, to turn on a fan. Trost was excited they built a solution for a real-life problem.

Sophomore Trost applied her classroom knowledge again when she worked on a project influenced by another realworld problem. Professor Meah tasked his students with creating a light that could run for six hours and be dirt/ water-resistant. To save battery power, the light needed to sense when the environment was dark in order to turn on. It touched on a personal goal of hers – to create sustainable energy solutions.

She is applying to several renewable energy co-ops for next summer. For now, she’ll continue to grow and learn by doing surrounded by peers and professors who know her name.

BALANCING ACT Work-life balance can be tricky to manage when you have a job with a high level of responsibility. But, graduate student Paul Maruszewski is taking on the challenge while also pursuing his Master’s in Business Administration at York College.

“It’s called waking up early and having a coffee maker on an automatic timer,” he says with a smile.

It’s all about prioritizing. “One of the best things the MBA program did for me was really forcing me to prioritize,” Maruszewski states. His first priority is family. He says, “I know that when I come home from work, I have a certain amount

THE CHINA-RUSSIA RELATIONSHIP AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WEST

of time until my kids go to bed.” Allowing some time for rest, that leaves him study time from 8:00 p.m. to 6:45 a.m. when he leaves for work.

So, why take on school? The opportunity presented itself to him at the perfect time. With his promotion to Director of IT with Shipley Energy, he had to stop being an IT guy focused on infrastructure uptime and start viewing IT as a strategic asset to the business. “I had a BS in Computer Science,” explains Maruszewski.

“Every single one of these [MBA] classes have absolutely provided a lot for me and my professional development.”

He plans to improve his leadership and department with the help of the experiences he’s gaining from the YCP graduate and professional studies program. In the classes, “we have a wide range of experience,” Maruszewski explains, with students ranging from the COO of York Water Company to someone who literally just graduated from college. In addition to what he learns in class, Maruszewski is also enjoying learning from those who are studying with him. — C.K.

MARTINI, MOZART, AND MENDELSSOHN: A SPRING CHORAL CONCERT

March 31, 2020, 6:00 p.m.

Weinstock Lecture Hall

April 19, 2020, 3:00 p.m.

Waldner Performing Arts Center

Tom Røseth, PhD, explores the implications of the China-Russia relationship for Europe and the U.S.

Grace Muzzo conducts as York College choirs perform sacred gems from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods.

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OV ERH E A RD

“Red-flagging for further review is ‘absolutely’ the norm at colleges nationwide. We’re judged, rated, and ranked based on retention rates, and for good reason. If we can’t provide the services you need to complete the degree in a timely manner, we’re not doing our job.”

Michael Thorp, Associate Vice President for Enrollment, York College, was quoted in the article, “A College Applicant Writes About Mental-Health Challenges. Should Admissions Red-Flag That File?” by Alexander C. Kafka, August 22, 2019, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“It seems to me whatever is going to be done with [the monuments] should be done as part of an inclusive process of community engagement. How do we want to tell these stories, not just that Taney was a force for promoting systems of racism in Civil War-era America, but also what it means that the city sought to honor him in the post-Civil War decades?”

Associate Professor of History Corey Brooks, PhD, was quoted in The Baltimore Sun, September 26, 2019 article, “Baltimore’s Confederate statues were removed in the dead of night. 2 years later, they languish on a city lot,” by Colin Campbell.

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“It is clear that our democratic process is challenged. And born from that is the Democracy Challenge, created to demonstrate how a shift in discourse is needed to advance our democracy in the face of ever-changing trials and priorities.”

Kevin Schreiber ’02, President of the York County Economic Alliance (YCEA) was quoted in the article “Former Pa. governors to debate in ‘Democracy Challenge’ at York College next month,” by Logan Hullinger, York Dispatch, August 21, 2019. The September 18 event was held on campus and former Governors Ed Rendell and Mark Schweiker had one hour to craft a compromise to provide a solution to immigration reform.

“The trouble with the ‘college is not for everyone’ message is not in the recognition that the trades are a necessary part of our life. It is the message that college is only for ‘some’ people.”

Rory Kraft, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, was an opinion contributor and wrote “College is not for everyone? Here’s what that mantra gets wrong,” Opinion, September 2, 2019.

WITH A YORK COLLEGE OF PENNSYLVANIA GRADUATE DEGREE YOU CAN CONNECT YOUR PROFESSIONAL GOALS WITH OPPORTUNITIES THAT CAN SHAPE YOUR FUTURE FROM DAY ONE. NEW GRADUATE PROGRAMS • Diversity and Student Resilience (MEd) • Integrated Marketing Communication (MA) • Leadership (MA) • Music Industry Studies (MA) – Fall 2020

“Few people think of karate as a sport folks over 50 should embrace. I shock people when I tell them I’m a seventh-degree black belt . . .The quick reflexes you need in ping pong complement the sparring you do in karate.”

Kenny Markanich ’78, CEO of an apparel company, was featured in The Wall Street Journal’s article, “A Karate Master’s Secret Weapon: Ping Pong,” by Jen Murphy, July 21, 2019.

• Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MSN) • Public Policy and Administration (MPPA)

Discover our full graduate program portfolio: ycp.edu/graduate

“ One of my goals is to help patients open up to their providers with questions and concerns. I feel that the College is preparing me to have better discussions with my patients.”

Cheryl-Ann Daley, Nurse Practitioner candidate and working professional, Landover, Maryland

EN G AGIN G YO RK

Peter Bottros, community leader, musician, and Director of the Shine Foundation, led a musical celebration in September to start the year’s activities for Generating Hope.

GENERATING HOPE

ASCE STUDENT CHAPTER AND CODORUS CREEK BANK CLEANUP The American Society of Chemical Engineers (ASCE) student chapter cleared vegetation on the banks of the Codorus Creek in August. Professor of Civil Engineering Josh Wyrick, PhD, joined the students and Ted Evgeniadis, who works for the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association and coordinates volunteer efforts like this, and said manually clearing vegetation helps to eliminate the need to use pesticides.

Left to right: Josh Wyrick, PhD, Becky McCloskey ’20 (Pottsville, PA), Wyatt Kennedy ’20 (Rising Sun, MD), Tanner Yanick ’20 (Dover, PA), SabrinA Vicente ’20 (Southampton, PA), Tom Tabatneck ’20 (Fairfield, NJ), Tim Dell’Orefice ’20 (Glen Mills, PA), Paul Pope ’20 (Manchester, MD), Dan Cook ’20 (Jacobus, PA), and Evgeniadis.

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In 2018-2019, the York College Center for Community Engagement (CCE) featured York’s Hidden Figures, providing York College and the York community with a better understanding of the role of people of color and other under-represented groups in the past and present of our community.

In 2019-2020, the CCE will turn toward the future, focusing on ways that we might make visible and improve the trajectory of lives in our community by Generating Hope and expanding opportunities for success among York’s future generations.

Our year’s activities began on September 21 with a musical celebration led by community leader, musician, and Director of the Shine Foundation, Peter Bottros. The Shine Foundation’s mission is to inspire, uplift, and give hope to York’s youth.

At this event, Bottros showcased the talents of our local youth and the CCE presented key initiatives and partners in this work – including the YWCA’s Quantum Opportunities program at William Penn High School, led by Mike Smith, that has been helping disadvantaged students find their way into higher education for many years.

Throughout the year, Generating Hope will 1) focus upon, and support, grassroots efforts by community champions toward a more equitable York for its most vulnerable residents; 2) support and fund teams of York College faculty, students, and community members to develop project- and community-based learning research projects that study key local challenges – and models for overcoming them; 3) sponsor regular conversations and events with local and national experts on issues related to social equity, social mobility, and support for younger generations.

Generating Hope will form the basis of the CCE’s 2019-2020 research, programming, and other efforts toward equity and social justice. Faculty grants supported by the Powder Mill Foundation will allow the study of ways

to improve our community. Scholars and service programs will focus efforts on “generating hope” in future generations. Speakers and art exhibits will demonstrate ways forward. The CCE’s Arthur J. Glatfelter Institute and Institute for Social Healing will support the collection, analysis, and circulation of useful research, including through project-based learning classes.

“The CCE is proud to be a partner with so many inspired community leaders in York – some known, and some who quietly make this a better community every day,” said CCE Dean Dominic DelliCarpini. “We are in this for the long run and believe our efforts can help lift up the many champions that are moving us toward a more equitable community.”

“The CCE is proud to be a partner with so many inspired community leaders in York – some known, and some who quietly make this a better community every day.”

— DOMINIC DELLICARPINI

More information about events and projects can be found at www.ycp.edu/generatinghope or by contacting the CCE at cce@ycp.edu or 717-815-1213.

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SPA RTA N SP O RTS

Left to right: Head Coaches Michael Scappa ’98, David Boslough, Jr. ’15, Ryan Weber ’06, Evan Scheffey ’09, and Duane Bastress ’06.

U P CO MIN G

Left to right: Chris Ports ’08, Jerry Bowne ’08, Kristen (Daly) Morris ’08, Jeff Young ’04, Josh Papsan ’06, Amanda (Lomberg) Dion ’07

DECEMBER 6–7 New Standard Corporation Invitational One of the best and deepest in-season wrestling tournaments on the East Coast comes back to M&T Bank Field House for the 10th edition of the event. The event will be a two-day tournament for the second straight year after expanding last winter.

DECEMBER 18, 7:00 PM Men’s Basketball vs. Cabrini The final home game for the Spartan men’s team in the month of December.

JANUARY 3 Women’s Basketball vs. Eastern The Spartan women kick off the 2020 portion of their schedule with a home game against future MAC rival Eastern.

ALUMNI COACHES SHARE SPARTAN SPIRIT At York College, student-athletes work hard in their classes as well as in their sports as they develop and grow. This is just one of the reasons why some alumni are drawn back to campus to become Spartan coaches.

Five alumni who are head coaches shared why they chose to return to campus. What stood out for them was the small community feel, the strong focus on the program, the hard work of student-athletes, and seeing those athletes mature and grow. “This group of 10 seniors will be my first full recruiting class that will be graduating,” said Head Men’s Soccer Coach Evan Scheffey ’09. “Seeing each one of them grow and develop over their four years and then graduate this spring will be an awesome accomplishment.”

While athletics is a strong focus on campus, student-athletes are expected to not only stay on top of their game, 12

YO R K C O L L E G E O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

“You have to be dedicated, determined, disciplined, and it will also teach you how to deal with setbacks and how to bounce back.”

— DUANE BASTRESS ’06

but also on top of their grades. “You have to be dedicated, determined, disciplined, and it will also teach you how to deal with setbacks and how to bounce back,” said Head Wrestling Coach Duane Bastress ’06. According to Head Baseball Coach Mike Scappa ’98, “Our players have been very successful in their careers regardless of what field they enter.”

Alumni coaches remember what it was like to be a YCP student and they draw on that experience to help motivate their students to do their best. Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach Ryan Weber ’06 said, “Coaching

the men’s and women’s tennis team has been challenging and rewarding and I’m glad I was able to continue to be involved and contribute after my days of playing here were over.”

As alumni, these coaches have a special connection with students. They share how the program has developed over time as well as unique qualities of being a Spartan. “It definitely allows me to connect with our student-athletes because I was in their shoes not too long ago,” said Head Golf Coach Dave Boslough ’15. “As far as recruiting goes, I do have many experiences that I can share about my time as a student-athlete here at York, which may give potential students a better understanding of the YCP student-athlete experience.”

One thing is definite, alumni head coaches enjoy the community and appreciate their many experiences both as students and now as coaches. As the wrestling motto goes, “Commit to the Spartan.” And they are strongly committed to their Spartan family. — C.K. ► YCPSPARTANS.COM

JANUARY 4–5 Men’s Basketball hosts the York College Spartan Classic For the first time in three years, the Spartans will host an in-season tournament as they welcome Marymount, Albertus Magnus, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to Wolf Gym for the two-day classic.

FEBRUARY 7 Wrestling vs. Messiah – Senior Night The Spartans will honor their senior class before taking on Messiah in a big regional matchup at Wolf Gymnasium.

► YCPSPARTANS.COM

ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME EXPANDS BY SIX The York College Athletic Hall of Fame inducted six former Spartan student-athletes during the annual ceremony on October 4. Gerald “Jerry” Bowne ’08 (wrestling), Amanda (Lomberg) Dion ’07 (women’s soccer), Kristen (Daly) Morris ’08 (women’s basketball), Joshua “Josh” Papsan ’06 (men’s lacrosse), Christopher “Chris” Ports ’08 (men’s soccer), and Jeffrey “Jeff” Young ’04 (baseball) comprise this year’s class, the 29th class in the history of the Athletic Hall of Fame.

The class was the largest since the nine-member induction class of 1991, a nod to the sustained excellence of the York College Athletic Department.

Nominations for the 30th Hall of Fame class will be accepted through the end of February 2020. Nomination forms are available through the Athletic Department office.

SPARTAN ATHLETICS DOMINATES CAPITAL ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (CAC) ACADEMIC AWARDS The York College Athletic Department capped a wildly successful 2018-2019 year by sweeping the top academic honors.

The CAC had 1,445 student-athletes earn CAC All-Academic honors. To earn the all-academic honor, a studentathlete must participate in one or more CAC-sponsored championship sports and attain a cumulative 3.20 grade point average for the academic year.

The Spartans once again led the way in the CAC as they placed an impressive 278 student-athletes on the squad. The Green and White had 74 more student-athletes on the list as compared to second place.

York also led the way with a staggering 67.5 percent of their student-athletes on the list as 278 of their 412 studentathletes in CAC-sponsored sports earned the honor. York’s percentage was 10.4 percent better than second place St. Mary’s as the Seahawks had 165 of 289 student-athletes earn a spot on the team.

York’s percentage gives them the best mark in the conference for the last four academic years. York has never finished below third in percentage in the history of the award.

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PURSUITS

H A N DS- O N

TREATMENT OF LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN HEALTHCARE

TOURNIQUET PROJECT York College’s mechanical engineering students are working hard to solve a difficult problem in the medical field.

Currently, there is no set international standard to measure whether a tourniquet applies sufficient pressure to stop the flow of blood, but this project may lead to a solution.

The project captures the challenge of open-ended problems and the necessity of marketable skills while offering students real-life experience in the classroom. Marcos Rivera ’20 (York, PA) notes how important teamwork was in successfully working on the project. He says, “It really challenged me in how to extract the best ideas from the team and how to brainstorm solutions to seemingly impossible problems.”

HP White Laboratories in Maryland reached out to Steve Kuchnicki, PhD, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, for help with the project.

By working for a real client, students enrolled in the project gained new skills they can market to employers in the future while simultaneously putting the knowledge they have learned in their classes to use.

Jeana Latshaw ’20 from Sicklerville, New Jersey, said the biggest thing she learned was “listening to and applying your client’s needs.” She adds, “Having opportunities with a client in our junior year at York gives us real-world experiences while we’re still in school.

We can take what we did here and apply it to our co-ops now or in our future careers. I also loved knowing that what I was doing was possibly going to help people in the future.”

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“ I’m not working on a problem that’s already been solved, but I’m pioneering something new and unique.”

— MARCOS RIVERA ’20

Dr. Kuchnicki knows how important project-based learning is for students.

“Projects like this help our students see how what they learn in the classroom gets applied to real engineering situations. It’s easy for students to think of mechanical engineering as just big, heavy items – cars, airplanes, air conditioners. But, it’s always valuable to get our students the opportunity to see the sort of work they can do in a different context since engineers are involved with more aspects of our daily lives than many people realize,” he says.

The importance of the project is not lost on the students. Knowing he is working on a life-saving piece of equipment makes Rivera feel that “the engineering work I’m doing matters.

I’m not working on a problem that’s already been solved, but I’m pioneering something new and unique. It truly makes me feel like the work I’m doing can make an impact.” — C.L.

The transgender population is made up of people whose sense of personal identity does not correspond with the gender assigned to them at birth. The terms “gay” and “lesbian” used to be umbrella terms to describe the LGBTQ+ community. However, more people within many communities are speaking out about their true identities and more research is being completed on both the nomenclature and physical variations of sexual identities and orientations. This rise in awareness is leading to further exploration, education, and acceptance of this population, including in the healthcare field. There are still some complications from both the healthcare provider and the LGBTQ+ patient side of healthcare, but realizing self-bias

and increasing education practice can help to limit these issues. My research focuses on the history of the transgender population, its progression in healthcare, and current controversies and problems from the patient and provider views, as well as suggestions on how these problems can be solved.

“The U.S. National Transgender Discrimination Survey revealed that 28 percent of transgender adults have experienced harassment in medical settings, 19 percent reported being refused care, and 28 percent postponed care because of discrimination,” according to Matthew W. McCarthy in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine.

Overall, many people within the transgender community are refusing and postponing care due to disrespect, ignorance, and the fear of having their

“ 28% of transgender adults have experienced harassment in medical settings, 19% reported being refused care, and 28% postponed care because of discrimination.”

— THE U.S. NATIONAL TRANSGENDER DISCRIMINATION SURVEY

exam conducted in an improper or awkward manner. It is common for them to conceal their identity, further declining their level of accurate care.

From the healthcare point of view, the main issue is the lack of proper training to conduct exams. The professionals are uncomfortable and nervous.

Therefore, they come off as biased and disrespectful, even though they do not always mean to be. Fixing the discomfort of patients can be done by adopting inclusive intake procedures, asking about gender identity, and conducting a physical exam in a manner that is most comfortable for patients according to A. B. Alpert in the Journal of Homosexuality.

Senior and Graham Innovation Scholar Kasey Drzewiecki is from Baltimore, Maryland.

She writes about her research that was mentored by Professor Laura Steck who says, “Kasey Drzewiecki’s analysis of the healthcare treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals draws significant attention to an intensely marginalized population in American society. Health and wellness should be understood as a basic human right, yet not all healthcare professionals possess the will, knowledge, or resources to provide effective medical care for members of the LGBTQ+ community. It is vital that the growing body of research Kasey highlights reach the institutions and professionals responsible for providing healthcare. Kasey’s efforts to bring visibility to this pioneering research has the capacity to enhance general public awareness of the inequities faced by the LGBTQ+ community as well.”

Molly Hayes Sauder, EdD Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Sport Management and Sport Media, Molly Hayes Sauder, EdD, sets students up for success in their future careers by connecting them with real-life experience, from liaising with alumni at a Philadelphia Phillies networking event to volunteering for the Super Bowl.

What drew Hayes Sauder to teach at York College was the strong Sport Management program. She has always appreciated the positive impact that sport can have on people and this developed into her passion. She says “impacting students and helping them achieve their goals” is what drives her to build upon the program’s success.

She continually helps create a curriculum including hands-on projects that give students real-world experience by getting them out of the classroom and into the industry where they learn exactly what they’ll be doing in their everyday careers.

Students engage with various sport organizations throughout the MidAtlantic and several projects involve working with the local community.

Her Women in Sport class volunteers

Assistant Professor Hayes Sauder talks to Sport Management students in the press box overlooking Graham Field on West Campus.

Left to right: Hayes Sauder, Kevin Sheaffer ’20 (Millerstown, PA) who interned with the Wells Fargo Center and the 76ers; and Ryan Hussey ’20 (Severna Park, MD) whose many internships included one with the Orioles.

with Girls on the Run and hosts the York chapter’s 5K on the College campus. Her Sport Behavior class traditionally assists with the Southern York branch of the YMCA and, this year, students will be helping to create a program with the Championship Community Center and US Lacrosse.

Hayes Sauder explains that these projects expand students’ networks and allow them to have experience they can share with future employers.

Organizations benefit from up-todate research and best practices that can enhance what they do as a result of the students’ work. In addition to overseeing project-based learning, Hayes Sauder mentors student researchers and says, “It’s been fantastic to see them get their work accepted at conferences and compete in case study competitions.” — C.K.

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COVER STORY

ST U D EN T RESE A RCH

IS PLASTIC KILLING AQUATIC LIFE? STUDYING MICRO­ PLASTICS IN THE OCEAN

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FACT 1

FACT 2

FACT 3

FACT 4

About 8 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually. Of those, 236,000 tons are microplastics – tiny pieces of broken-down plastic smaller than your little fingernail.

Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans. By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (by weight).

Many marine organisms can’t distinguish common plastic items from food. Animals who eat plastic often starve because they can’t digest the plastic and it fills their stomachs, preventing them from eating real food.

Sea turtles within and around the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can have up to 74% (by dry weight) of their diets composed of ocean plastics.

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Source: earthday.org

BY ANDREW M Y ERS P H OTO G R A P H Y BY MARCO GARCIA

York College senior Ana Chew is a Biology major.

She grew up in New London, Pennsylvania, a bucolic-but-land-locked township southwest of Philadelphia. She attends classes in a town surrounded by lush farms and forests. Neither community is what anyone would call seaside, or even marginally coastal, for that matter. > >

ST U D EN T RESE A RCH

NONETHELESS, ANA CHEW RECENTLY SPENT THREE MONTHS LIVING IN HONOLULU COMMUTING TO FORD ISLAND, SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF HISTORIC PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII. HER JOB FOR THE SUMMER WAS AS A RESEARCH INTERN IN THE NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION’S (NOAA) YOUNG SCIENTIST OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM. And how, exactly, does one from such decidedly nonmarine surroundings land such a plumb assignment in one of America’s most iconic marine settings? By following her passion and working hard on her capstone independent research project at the College.

Chew is passionate about plastics in the ocean – especially very tiny particles of plastic and their impact on embryonic fish who often mistake those bits of plastic for food, swallowing them whole and sending ripples all across the food web, potentially even reaching humans.

Ana Chew sifts through plastic found on Bellows Beach, Oahu.

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THE ENEMY WITHIN hese so-called “microplastics” that Chew studies are only just now coming into focus as a potential environmental hazard. Microplastics are interesting to researchers for a number of reasons. First, their small size makes them hard for small fish to distinguish from the typical plankton that usually comprise their diets. Scientists surmise that these tiny bits of otherwise indigestible plastic essentially clog the gastrointestinal systems, leading to malnutrition or even outright starvation. Likewise, microplastics are also known to attract and latch onto heavy metals and other molecules that are considered pollutants. It is thought that in the digestive tract these toxins leach out of microplastics and into the bloodstream. Those fish then grow and become food for some larger organism and the toxins get perpetuated.

The origin of microplastics is no mystery. They come from two sources, Chew explains. The first is the virtual flotilla of large plastics floating in the ocean. These could be anything from plastic bottles, buckets, and bags to toys and tools that have been discarded carelessly and washed into the sea.

These plastics are not biodegradable and, if left undisturbed, will last hundreds of years in the water. Over time, however, due the ravages of wind, sunshine, and saltwater, they often break into even smaller pieces. When those pieces reach 5 millimeters or smaller, they become what Chew and fellow researchers would deem to be microplastics.

The second source is a little less obvious, but perhaps more insidious. These microplastics are manufactured to be small from the start. They range from tiny bits of glitter on a party hat to the fine plastic beads used in household soaps and toothpastes as abrasives. Many of the products millions of us use every day contain billions of tiny microplastics to improve their scrubbing and exfoliant effects.

These beads get washed down the drain and right into water systems all across the world. Once in the watershed, they head downstream and straight into the ocean.

“Independent research is something special about the York experience. Ana made the most of her opportunity.”

— BRIDGETTE HAGERTY, PHD

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A

AN INDEPENDENT SPIRIT

nd so it came to be that, early in her junior year, Chew began working as a research assistant with Wendy Boehmler, PhD, a professor of molecular and cell biology. Years earlier, Boehmler had begun to study the neurological systems of zebra fish, a popular model in biological research because they are vertebrates, like humans, and the larva are more or less transparent, for easy study under the microscope.

Here, in Boehmler’s group, Chew began to learn the fundamentals of biological research and was first encouraged to think independently about how she might apply those skills in a research project of her own making. Such independent research projects are an opportunity all York Biology students enjoy, pairing them with a scientific mentor who instills in them the key skills of research and guides them as they do original work. They write a research proposal and work with faculty to shape their research.

“Independent research is something special about the York experience,” says Chew’s academic advisor, Bridgette Hagerty, PhD, a professor of Biology. “Ana made the most of her opportunity.”

In contemplating her project, Chew first came up with the notion of studying the impact of certain environmental toxins common to microplastics.

She brought her ideas to Boehmler – a specialist in neurobiology, not toxicology. The mismatch caught Boehmler off guard at first. “Her ideas were a bit out of my comfort zone, but she was passionate and eager to work on microplastics, so we worked together to craft a project,” Boehmler says. “Actually, Ana kind of pushed me in a new direction, which is nice.”

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When plastic pieces reach 5 millimeters or smaller, they become microplastics.

Chew’s job is to separate the particulates and to categorize them. She’s intently interested in the plastic bits and the embryonic fish. She carefully dries, organizes, and photographs the microplastics and details them in a database. She cataloged some 12,000 plastic samples during the summer.

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FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH

er specific experience working with Boehmler on embryonic zebra fish was what first caught the attention of Chew’s advisors at NOAA. They were in the midst of a project to learn if there was an increase in microplastics in embryonic fish surrounding Hawaii over the past 20 years.

As a baseline, the NOAA scientists had data from several dozen water samples – known as “tows” – along the west coast of Hawaii taken two decades ago. As the moniker implies, each tow involved a research vessel dragging a mesh to collect samples of the particulates in the water. Particulates can include everything from sand, insects, and plankton to plastics and, of course, embryonic fish. The NOAA team is doing a number of present-day tows to compare how things have changed in the ensuing 20 years.

Chew’s job is to separate the particulates and to categorize them. She’s intently interested in the plastic bits and the embryonic fish. She carefully dries, organizes, and photographs the microplastics and details them in a database. She cataloged some 12,000 plastic samples during the summer. And, just as carefully, she separates, identifies, and organizes the embryonic fish found in each tow. The sorting of embryonic fish alone has been quite eye-opening for Chew.

RESEARCH FINDINGS SIZE Most microplastics that are found in plankton slicks are in 0.1-0.5 mm in length, much smaller than the designated 5mm. Meaning that new categories of nanoplastics have to be observed and designated.

COLOR Plastics that were found in dissected fish were blue in color, which is also the color of their prey, copepods. This suggests that larval fish are targeting these blue plastic pieces for food, without gaining any sustenance.

TOXINS Plastic additives, such as UV stabilizers and fire retardants accumulate in organism tissue, bioaccumulating up the food chain.

The concentration of plastic toxins compounds with the amount of fish eaten, leading to potentially higher concentrations of toxins in fish for human consumption.

LARVAL STAGE There is a higher amount of plastic, nutrients, and larval fish found in plankton slicks than in the ambient water surrounding them, making them ideal nurseries for larval fish.

The most crucial life stage is the larval stage and it is being jeopardized with the addition of plastics, mistaken for actual food.

“There is way more variety of fish in Hawaii than in Pennsylvania,” she says.

The tows are not done indiscriminately. Chew’s mentors at NOAA are specifically combing through areas known as “slicks,” surface waters that appear like darker patches on the surface of the water. These are not oil slicks, but rather areas of convergence where ascending water from below meets descending water from the surface. It is here, in these nutrient-rich slicks, where embryonic fish congregate to feed and to grow. Microplastics naturally collect here, as well, and the line between plastics and embryonic fish is clearly drawn. For Chew and her NOAA colleagues, it is an ideal place to gather data.

“In some samples, we’re finding that plastics outnumber larval fish by seven to one,” Chew says of some preliminary findings.

Another of Chew’s mentors, York professor Jessica Nolan, PhD, a marine biologist by training, says such findings raise the natural question of what can be done about the problem of microplastics. She says that, among the many lesser suggestions, the only viable possibility she sees is to allow fewer plastics in the ocean. As evidence, she points to studies that show microplastics tend to clump together – to “flocculate,” as Nolan puts it – which then sink to the bottom where they can remain for long periods of time. With fewer plastics entering the water, she says, the ocean might possibly cleanse itself.

“The sort of baseline research Ana is doing is important for building the case for new policies that would limit plastics in the environment,” Nolan says.

Reflecting on the connection between her experiences at York College and in Hawaii, Chew says that she is looking forward to continuing her research in her senior year. With graduation so near, she says she would love to pursue microplastics research in graduate school or, perhaps, in a professional capacity. In that regard, she is grateful to her mentors at York, professors Boehmler, Hagerty, and Nolan, for inspiring her and giving her the opportunity to pursue her interests so freely.

“My advice to anyone at York interested in research is to find and really connect with your mentors. They were in my corner and really supported me,” Chew says.

They, in turn, are equally effusive about Chew.

“Ana has been able to carve out her niche through her own initiative and her independent research,” Nolan says.

“Ana came to me with ideas, passion, and skills – exactly what you want in a student,” Boehmler adds.

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IN FO CUS

FIRST-YEARS IN FOAM First-year students, left to right, Isabella Lee-Hauser (Elizabeth, PA), Mikaela Domingo (Levittown, PA) (in front), Griffin Cox (York, PA), and Andrew Zanoni (North Wales, PA) cool off in a foam pit during the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Backyard Birthday Bash,â&#x20AC;? celebrating the beginning of their York College academic year. Sponsored by Counseling Services, events are held throughout the year, engaging students in interactive activities to boost self-esteem, gain healthy coping methods, and manage stress.

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T H E B USIN ES S O F IN N OVAT IO N ED U CAT IO N

Entrepreneurial Spirit

BY S A R A H AC H E N B AC H

Any entrepreneur knows that what you call a company matters. More than merely announcing what a company does, a great name injects the mission into the messaging.

The name of York College’s entrepreneurship department within the Graham School of Business – Strategy and Entrepreneurship – is both intentional and aspirational.

Most college entrepreneurship programs across the country (there are some 3,000 programs today, according to the Kaufmann Foundation, compared with 100 or so in the 1970s) simply use the term “entrepreneurship” for their programs.

At YCP, though, the department name captures the spirit behind its academic program and its vision for what the students, faculty, and alumni – and the ever-growing partnerships with Central Pennsylvania’s business and nonprofit communities – can and do accomplish. “We’re helping students recognize that entrepreneurship is not just starting a business, it’s a philosophy of life,” explains Professor Jay Azriel, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy and Chair, Strategy and Entrepreneurship Department. “It’s the way you take advantage of problems and how you use what you’ve learned to figure out a solution.”

Entrepreneurship without innovation, though, doesn’t go very far. “The act of creativity in and of itself doesn’t result in anything,” adds Azriel. “It’s the innovation that brings it to the market. Innovation is the application of creativity.”

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United Electric Supply, Inc. at its regional distribution center in Jessup, Maryland. Today, he’s using his entrepreneurial acumen to help revamp its warehouse.

“I’ve introduced a new way of thinking and strategy. I thrive on continuous process improvements and looking at what we, as a company, are doing now, analyzing the results, and then entrepreneurially thinking about how we can strategize and improve outdated processes to produce better results.”

YCP’s three-pronged approach is also leading-edge as entrepreneurial innovation continues to drive the American workforce. Per the Kaufmann Foundation, startups less than five years old have created 85 percent of the new jobs in the U.S. and 35 percent of new net wealth. The skills students are learning – resilience, authentic leadership, problem-solving, creativity, a sense of community – are essential in any industry or career, startup or otherwise.

This year, there are 70 majors across the three entrepreneurship programs, and 20 Entrepreneurial Studies minors. Enrollment is increasing each year. Students choose from more than 10 courses, a course breadth and depth that other colleges’ programs often can’t match with what Azriel says are typically only two or three entrepreneurial courses. Majors are required to take a minor as well, with professors encouraging students to do so outside of the department to gain the perspective of another discipline and add to their skill set.

Hands-On Training

Departmental Distinctions York College’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation program also expands the definition of who is an entrepreneur for its three undergraduate Business Administration degree programs: Entrepreneurship and Innovation; the four-year-old Social Enterprise and Not-for-Profit; and the newest Music Production and Entrepreneurship Management. Yes, the program attracts students who dream of their own startup. And more and more students enroll at the College with a business (or two or three) already under their belts. But, YCP’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation program also caters to those who plan to work in a family business and those who will be intrapreneurs or employees at a larger organization who apply entrepreneurial thinking to their job.

“The reality is that not every student is going to start his or her own business,” explains Jeff Vermeulen, Assistant Vice President for External Relations at York College and the former Executive Director of the College’s J.D. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. “We create an environment where students are empowered to think and behave entrepreneurially and become themselves.”

William Shanklin ’19, BS Entrepreneurship and Innovation, does just that as a product specialist with

Each Entrepreneurship and Innovation course, like its counterparts across the York College curriculum, has a common thread. “YCP has been ahead of the curve with experiential learning,” Vermeulen says. “We’ve evolved into a project-based learning model which allows for students to apply what they are learning in real-time with academic rigor.”

In Azriel’s popular Introduction of Entrepreneurship class, students immerse themselves in a three-week startup.

“We give them the experience of what it’s like to identify an opportunity, solve a problem, and create a business model,” says Azriel, who has taught the course for 12 years.

Interestingly, only about 30 percent of the first-year students who enroll in Azriel’s class are Business majors.

The rest are Criminal Justice, Nursing, Engineering, Computer Science, and a variety of other YCP majors.

“On a practical level, the course does count as one of the required general education courses, but I would like to think that they are interested in learning about the entrepreneurial mindset,” he says.

Given the trends in U.S. employment, it’s an important mindset for every graduate to have. A 2018 NPR/Marist poll of workers across all industries revealed that one in five jobs in the U.S. is held by a contract worker. Researchers forecast that contractors and freelancers could comprise half of the American workforce within the decade. “We focus on teaching students to cope with change,” Azriel says. “One day, they will be a 1099 employee.”

Illustrations by Miguel Davilla

Another class project is to interview an entrepreneur in an area of interest to the student. Over the years, several of these class projects have resulted in actual employment.

For Entrepreneurship and Innovation major Jimmy King ’13, it was Professor Gerald Patnode’s Innovation and Creativity class that instilled an invaluable entrepreneurial habit: keeping an idea journal. “Writing in it prepped my brain to be on the lookout for problems in our everyday lives. That class taught me that there is value in becoming a problem-solver.”

“We create an environment where students are empowered to think and behave entrepreneurially and become themselves.”

— JEFF VERMEULEN

On-Campus Opportunities Experience, of course, is an excellent teacher. Entrepreneurship and Innovation students consult with business and nonprofit owners in the greater York community as class projects. They participate in internships, shadow experiences, and student-led entrepreneurship clubs such as Enactus (formerly Students In Free Enterprise).

And, since 2010, they’ve made on-campus connections through YCP’s business incubator, the J.D. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. Located in the historic Kings Mill Depot, the Center is a hub for outside companies and budding entrepreneurs to leverage the intellectual capital of YCP’s professors and the skills of its students.

Leverage is a bit of an understatement. In nine years, the J.D. Brown Center has incubated 21 companies and hosted more than 100 internships for YCP students.

Longtime client Dataforma, for example, routinely hosts 15-20 interns annually. For the first time, the Center is at full capacity for its nine leased spaces. And, to date, the Center has created 45 jobs.

The Center hosts signature programs for any YCP student, including the annual Henry D. Schmidt Lecture Series in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The studentrun YCP Hacks, a 36-hour hackathon, has been held each fall for the past four years where upwards of 150 hackers (YCP student developers, students from other colleges, designers, and entrepreneurs from across the country) create innovative applications to solve real-world problems.

Each program is open to the larger community, part of YCP’s mission to connect its innovative entrepreneurial spirit beyond campus boundaries. For the past two years, the J.D. Brown Center’s 3 Day Start-up (3DS), co-sponsored with the Center for Community Engagement, has thrown together students and community members to experience six months of business start-up and research over the course of one weekend. Participants develop ideas, conduct live market research, and create prototypes guided by mentors and the 3DS team. While it has Shark Tank-like YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 19 V O L . 3

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Entrepreneurs-at-a-Glance Students and alumni involved in YCP’s Entrepreneurship program share their experiences and advice.

TeAsia Lewis ’21

Samantha Ferguson ’10

Entrepreneurship major

BBA Entrepreneurship

Plans: Own her own business or several.

elements – attendees pitch their products to a panel of local leaders and entrepreneurs – it’s not a competition.

“It’s intense,” says Oscar Winters ’14, the J.D. Brown Center’s Associate Director, who organizes the programs.

“3DS more than doubled from year one to year two. It’s fun to watch students and community members come together.”

There are many success stories, but consider the entrepreneurial spark Alexander Smith ’18, BS Computer Engineering, is making as Chief Technology Officer of startup Fire Solutions Group (FSG), a J.D. Brown Center client.

Smith’s software engineer talents could’ve taken him anywhere. Because of FSG’s connection with the J.D. Brown Center and Smith’s entrepreneurial passion, he was recently hired to develop a new augmented reality tool for the fire industry. “Engineering is all about learning the process of designing and building a product from scratch,” Smith explains. “Entrepreneurship is the business end of marketing that product and making a company out of it. These parallels are what drew me to learn about new perspectives of technologies I already know so much about.”

York College’s unique approach to entrepreneurship is one that Paul Schiffbauer, Jr. ’16 believes equals that of the best schools on the East Coast “Business professionals that I have met who have attended big state schools cannot relate to my experience working alongside C-Level executives [in a class],” he says. “Shadowing, building relationships, and ultimately providing business recommendations to key organization stakeholders was priceless.”

For Azriel, the biggest reward has little to do with the industry or type or size of the company post-York College.

He has the same goal for any student, any major, who embraces the College’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation program. “My mantra has always been that people should be able to earn a living doing what they love doing.”

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On goals: “I was a licensed cosmetologist before college, which inspired me to own a business. I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

YCP was the only college [in my search] that offered Entrepreneurship as a major.

I participated in the Brown Center’s 3 Day Start-up program, which is basically a lab for entrepreneurs. I was able to get hands-on experience from primary research to pitching ideas and networking skills.”

Advice: “Never be afraid of taking a risk, because it just may pay off.”

Kate Kennelly ’21 Computer Science and Mathematics double major Plans: Software Engineer On internships: “I have worked at Becton Dickinson and York Exponential, a start-up, and worked in the Brown Center with Kleancierge. I learned technical things I carried into the classroom and formed ideas about what type of work environment I wish to work in.”

Advice: “At the 3 Day Startup, I met people who followed their dreams to start their own companies. Hearing their ups and downs taught me that pushing through the bad times [with a start-up] is what makes great success.”

Career: Strategist and Founder, Wm. Penn Insurance, LLC, established 2017, York, Pennsylvania. Also owned a hair salon and does real estate investing and e-commerce.

On pre-co-op connections: “Co-ops as they exist today were not yet fully formed [when I was at YCP]. For a class project, I interviewed a successful entrepreneur and ended up being interviewed as well (without even realizing it). She asked me to do research on what blogs would be best for her marketing goals and, during my senior year, I worked for her. Hand-inhand experience working next to an entrepreneur while taking courses was mind-blowing.”

Advice: “Jump right in! Get your hands dirty. Experience is the best teacher.”

David Giuliani ’22 Biology major Plans: Master’s in Physical Therapy, then join his family’s physical therapy practice.

On shifting gears: “Some people might say that only having worked for my parents is a weakness, but I see it as a strength. I know what I want to do and how I want to do it.

Everything that I am learning in the classroom is applied directly to what I’ve learned in the workplace and to my goal of taking over the business.”

Advice: “Expect to work hard [in a family business].

Hard work is what made that business successful and hard work is what is going to keep it running and growing.”

Paul Schiffbauer, Jr. ’16 BBA with a concentration in Marketing and Management Career: Marketing Strategist and Owner, Schiffbauer Consulting Group, established 2018, York, Pennsylvania.

Last year, sold NOIR Gallery, an online home décor start-up he co-founded in 2015 as a student.

On authentic disruption: “I provide disruptive change for business owners and entrepreneurs to make their professional and personal lives better through the strategies I implement. Dr. David Greisler’s Total Quality Management class taught me to think about processes the way that I do, and I’ve mirrored his habit of transparency as an individual. Entrepreneurship is not only encouraged in the business program at YCP, but also challenged constructively. Professors are willing to question students to get the most out of them [intellectually] and as young men and women who aspire to change their communities.”

Advice: “Get obsessive. There will be weekends that you’ll have to give up if you want to build something bigger than you, and that’s what entrepreneurship really is at the end of the day. Don’t like the sound of that? Go and work for someone who has already built something bigger than themselves.”

Alexander Smith ’18 BS Computer Engineering Career: Chief Technology Officer, Fire Solutions Group, Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania On entrepreneurial freedom: “I didn’t want some boring desk job with little tasks to

complete. Influencing the development of a start-up is the perfect match for me. I have the power to implement new ideas without the constraints of a typical office worker. There are risks for a start-up, but fresh out of college is the best time to take those risks.”

Advice: “Keep your mind open to new ideas and perspectives.

Every experience can teach you something new that can be applied later in life.”

Haley Courtney ’18 BBA Entrepreneurship Career: Management Trainee, Enterprise Rent-a-Car On choosing YCP for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program: “My father is an entrepreneur, which has inspired me. One of the first classes I took was the Entrepreneurship class where I had to create a new business on-campus with a few classmates. As a freshman, that was so much fun and scary at the same time, but it really pushed me straight into the major and helped to make sure that this was the path I wanted. I did an internship at Enterprise, which went so well that they offered me a full-time position. I’m getting management experience and saving up before I take a more entrepreneurial career path.”

Advice: “Take advantage of everything at YCP. By the time I graduated, I had started an on-campus business, consulted for several companies in my consulting class, written business plans and marketing plans that I sold to my father’s business, and got leadership experience when I taught high schoolers how to write business plans in Enactus [formerly known as SIFE].”

Tim Dexter ’19 BBA Entrepreneurship Career: Co-Owner, Dexterity Depot, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania; Founder, York College Parkour; Graham Innovation Scholar On lessons from American Ninja Warrior: After 10 years of competing, I’ve learned that you’re going to fail, but it’s important to learn from your failures. You can’t be scared to try something new.

At YCP, I was a Resident Assistant, Parkour Club founder, in a fraternity, a Graham Innovation Scholar and more. I was able to master time management skills and learn more about my limits.”

Advice: “Never give up.

You are going to face countless challenges while opening a business, some of which you can control and some of which you can’t.

Keep pushing forward.”

William Shanklin ’19 BS Entrepreneurship and Innovation Career: Product Specialist, United Electric Supply, Inc., Jessup, Maryland, Regional Distribution Center On choosing YCP’s program: “In 2015, even some of the larger universities were only either just starting Entrepreneurship programs or did not have them (and still do not). I knew since high school that I wanted to be a serial entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is encouraged in many ways [at YCP]. The Office of Student Activities and Affairs encouraged me to start my own radio show on YCP’s radio station 88.1 FM WVYC. Through serving on Student Senate, I learned

to step away from the status quo, and that is all entrepreneurship is about.

Why continue to follow the same processes and achieve the same results when you can develop a better process to achieve better results?”

Advice: “Trust yourself and only yourself. It may be hard, but sometimes in order to achieve your wildest dreams and start that new business or make the change that you know will produce better results, you have to go against what others say.”

Jimmy King ’13 BS Entrepreneurship Career: Founder and inventor, Side Bottle, Frederick, Maryland On pursuing the Big Idea: “When the idea for Side Bottle [a water bottle that holds a smartphone] first sparked, I was a sales manager for Life Time Athletic. I was in the perfect environment to gather real-life feedback on the idea and implementation of Side Bottle. After I quit to go all-in on [my invention], it became clear I overestimated how quickly I could get the company up and running. I took a sales job with Carrier Enterprises to support Side Bottle growth. Everything I do has a planned, specific purpose related to its growth.

I have proven there is a need and created an elegant solution. More importantly, because I enjoy the [fitness] industry and know that I will learn so much by committing to seeing this through.”

Advice: “Learn sales! A lot of success will boil down to your ability to close a deal. In the most genuine way possible, you need to be always closing.”

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CONNECTIONS

A LU M NI SP OT L IGH T

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CONNECTIONS SHARE YOUR UPDATE AND SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE Throughout the year, York College graduates share milestones and successes from around the world.

From wedding, engagement, and birth announcements to job promotions, creative projects, travel, and fun, Class Notes show what’s happening in the professional and personal lives of alumni.

Class notes are published three times per year in an electronic format. Submissions are subject to edits and space restrictions. To view Class Notes or to submit your news, please visit www.ycp.edu/alumni. Any questions? Email alumni@ycp.edu.

DONOR REPORT Every year, York College recognizes our donors with the publication of our annual Donor Report. This year, the Donor Report will be published online only. Please go to ycp.edu/donorrelations to view this year’s report. If you would like a printed copy of the report, please contact Sarah Mason ’19 at 717-849-1697.

Our sincere appreciation to all of our donors who help make a York College education affordable and accessible.

After graduation, Watson worked in Criminal Justice for seven years.

In 2004, he returned to the College to study History, another interest of his. “I had a very successful career, but it’s not the sort of work that leaves a person with a lot of energy when the day is over, and I started to worry that my literary ambitions had fallen by the wayside.” He found himself working closely with his mentor Professor Kay McAdams.

In 2007, Watson decided to take another risk and moved to the West Coast to work in Hollywood’s entertainment industry. “It was a very eye-opening experience, because in this town, plagiarism, exploitation, and double-dealing are considered normal behaviors,” he says. “But for all that, the experiences I’ve had out here have been incredible.”

His first novel, Cage Life, was released in 2016 and has received numerous awards. The book received a Runner Up medal in Shelf Unbound

“I haven’t lived a conventional life and there have been times when others have questioned my choices – and times when I’ve questioned them myself.”

— MILES WATSON ’97

RISK-TAKER Taking risks is in the nature of Miles Watson ’97 and led him to where he is now. “I always knew I was going to be a writer,” he says. “One day it occurred to me that many of my favorite authors, like Orwell and Hemingway, had lived dangerous, exciting lives prior to becoming famous, and that those experiences were what made them such great novelists.” Watson considered careers other than writing and chose to major in Criminal Justice.

He saw it as a way to “gain a lot of life experience quickly, so that my fiction would have more grit and authenticity.”

Miles Watson ’97 with actress Jennifer O’Dell at the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Awards in Hollywood.

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Magazine’s Best Indie awards. Zealot Script Magazine named it Book of the Year in 2016 and awarded it the Best Indie Book award in the category of Mystery/Suspense/Thriller in 2018.

Watson has subsequently released a sequel, Knuckle Down, and his short story collection Devils You Know is an Eric Hoffer Awards Finalist for 2019.

“I haven’t lived a conventional life and there have been times when others have questioned my choices – and times when I’ve questioned them myself,” he says. But, the experience he’s gained from being a risk-taker has led him to a fulfilling life and career. — C.K.

UNDERSTANDING JUVENILE JUSTICE Growing up in a financially struggling single-parent family that endured some scrapes with the law showed Lisa Layden ’07 how a police officer can impact a young person, for better or worse. “I saw very cold, not compassionate responses, and I saw police who were caring, kind, and competent,” she remembers. These experiences sparked an early interest in law enforcement, to help young people in similarly difficult circumstances.

Hired at 28 by the Southwestern Regional Police Department in York County, Layden wanted to set an example for her two sons that she didn’t have growing up: that education matters. She applied for evening classes at YCP. After being invited to talk to a juvenile justice class, she saw the white tent set up for graduation and thought, “I want to be here as a student.”

At YCP, Layden learned how to help juveniles facing the criminal justice system. “I’d already been a police officer for eight years when I took a Case Law and Constitutional Law class taught by Dr. Gary Willis,” she says. “This helped me understand social justice and led to my senior research project.” This project, under the direction of Dr. Eric Ling, focused on juvenile justice programs. (continued on page 30)

KELLEY GIBSON ’96 President, Cultural Alliance of York County Kelley Gibson found many unexpected twists and turns on her way to becoming President of the Cultural Alliance of York County.

“Just because you can’t see a clear pathway from where you are to where you want to go, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a path,” she states. Each position leading to her current role helped her to gain “valuable knowledge that helped me identify what is most important to me, so I could move forward to accelerating leadership roles to get me where I am today.”

Gibson discovered York College when accompanying her friend on a campus visit. At the time, she was looking to pursue a career as an English teacher. She says, “I just fell in love with the campus, the small class size, and its communications/education program. I did not end up pursuing a career in teaching, but my bachelor

Photo courtesy of Paul Chaplin/Our York Media

“I get to see the impact of our work in creating a vibrant, thriving arts and culture community every day.” degree in English has served me well in my PR/Communications career.”

Thanks to classes at YCP, Gibson found her path and credits her success to the help of caring faculty. “I learned a lot from Dr. Brian Furio and Dr. David Polk,” she says. “They really connected me to my work, helped me improve my messaging, and helped give insight into the impact of actions.”

This guidance led her to want to stay connected with her alma mater. She has served as a guest speaker for many classes and was named an honorary member of the Public Relations Society of America student chapter.

“I know that I really appreciated hearing from people who were in the field during classes,” remembers

Gibson. “I wanted to make sure I gave that same experience back to next generations.” And, often, she says she learns just as much from students as she hopes they learn from her.

Today, as the President of the Cultural Alliance of York County, Gibson oversees the grants and fundraising needed to sustain the organization and represents the diverse cultural community of the city. “I get to see the impact of our work in creating a vibrant, thriving arts and culture community every day,” she says. “I’m representing our artists and arts organizations and the things they do every day to make York the place where we want to live, work, and play.”

Gibson looks forward to continuing to stay connected with the College and continuing to be part of growing the arts and cultural community of York. “I’m excited,” she says, “to see the expansion of the arts and culture community during my tenure as Cultural Alliance President, and to see how York transforms itself over the coming years.” — C.K. YO R K C O L L E G E M A G A Z I N E • 2 0 1 9 V O L . 3

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“As a patrol officer,” Layden says, “the knowledge and understanding gained at York College helped me use more discretion, rather than always just ‘throwing the book’ at juveniles in trouble.” She sometimes recommended social services rather than punishment. “I took those opportunities to show these kids they can make their lives what they want,

“As a patrol officer, the knowledge and understanding gained at York College helped me use more discretion, rather than always just ‘throwing the book’ at juveniles in trouble.”

— LISA LAYDEN ’07

but not if they make mistakes now.”

This year, Layden became West Hempfield Township’s first female police chief. She says being a woman in law enforcement was never an issue at York College and hasn’t been one in her 24 years as a police officer. Rather, York College’s strong curriculum allowed her to blaze her own trail.

“The Criminal Justice curriculum is strong. Every professor was an outstanding teacher, very encouraging and available,” she says, adding York College’s high standards for writing and research helped her succeed in getting her master’s degree and put her well on the way to a PhD. “My two boys, both now college grads, and my mom watched me graduate from York College,” she says. “I still remember where I parked that day, and still have my letter of acceptance as a non-traditional student.”

“I can’t take my own father to the World War II Memorial, but I can take someone else’s.”

— DUANE SWARTZ ’92

HONORING VETERANS Duane Swartz ’92 started a program in 2011 to honor veterans. It involves Northeastern High School’s Honor Buses filled with veterans and bound for the war memorials in D.C. and Virginia.

The day is dedicated to the veterans, thanking them for their service. Student and adult volunteers with the program, called guardians, are there to ensure the safety and comfort of the veterans.

Swartz, a Northeastern High School social studies teacher, heard about a similar program in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and felt compelled to bring it to York. His father had served in World War II, but died in 1990. “I can’t take my own father to the World War II Memorial,” he says, “but I can take someone else’s.” Every year since the program began, he’s organized a spring and a fall trip to honor those who’ve served. His son Jacob, a York College senior, has been volunteering for almost all of them since he was 15. Jacob has followed in his father’s footsteps and is devoted to thanking veterans through the Honor Bus program.

Photo courtesy of Caleb Robertson/Our York Media

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STRATEGIC THINKER Robert F. Lambert ’94 planted the seeds for his career with a part-time job in high school. Over the years, he was lured in various directions, but he always came back to where he started: the public libraries in his hometown of York. Along the way, he built a résumé in library operations that would lead him to his current post as President of York County Libraries.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from York College in Speech Communications, Lambert joined the library system full-time. He learned that to pursue a career in the field, he’d need a master’s degree in Library Science, so he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh and completed the program in nine months. “I came right back to York and got involved in the business side of running a library,” he says.

Lambert started working on a Master’s in Public Administration at Penn State University. Moving up the ranks, he was named Director of Strategic Partnerships, managing the library system’s $2-million portfolio.

Photo courtesy of Paul Chaplin/Our York Media

“People love their homes, their jobs, and their libraries. We provide that space where people come and gather socially. Libraries are not about books. They’re about people.”

— ROBERT F. LAMBERT ’94

Duane Swartz ’92 (right) and his son Jacob Swartz ’20.

For some, this trip is an opportunity to see the memorials dedicated to their service. For others, it’s a chance to heal old wounds. A few years ago, Duane got a call from the wife of a man who’d been a part of the Honor Bus trip in 2015. The woman told Swartz that her husband, a Vietnam veteran, had never talked about the war before the trip. After it though, he’d started to open up and talk about his experience.

It changed his life. Shortly before he died of cancer, the man told his wife he wanted to be buried in his Honor Bus T-shirt. That phone call has stuck with Swartz. “Just imagine the impact this is having for some,” he says. — S.S.

York College’s 1968 Society honors donors who consistently provide bedrock support for the College by making consecutive gifts for three or more years. These generous individuals understand that consecutive annual investments, no matter the size, transform lives. Join or renew your membership in the 1968 Society by making a gift this year.

If you would like to learn more about your personal history of giving to the College, please contact Sarah Mason ’19 at 717-849-1697.

He was elected York’s Controller in 2008. He served six years and worked with the Mayor and City Council to get dedicated money for the libraries. He acknowledges the struggles libraries face, and says, “Funding for libraries across the Commonwealth and libraries, period, is challenging.” Still, York County Libraries is now in a growth cycle, conducting a $10-million capital campaign to build a new library in Hellam Township, expand in Red Lion, and improve Martin Library in York.

In September, Lambert brought his strategic thinking and financial expertise to the Board of York Traditions Bank. “It’s just a tremendous opportunity to be part of a bank that has such a visible force in the community,” he says.

Libraries are vital to a community, and Lambert believes they will survive because of their strong social component. One example is the PA Forward program, which teaches residents literacy in information, civics and society, health, and finances.

“People love their homes, their jobs, and their libraries,” he says. “We provide that space where people come and gather socially. Libraries are not about books. They’re about people.”

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A G L IM PSE O F O U R PAST

SCHOLARSHIP NEWS As husband and wife, Jeff Hines and Patti Stirk share a love for a number of things. Their love of running, for instance, brought them together.

They also are both alumni and active supporters of York College. They have combined their passion for the College with their shared commitment to supporting women as professionals, particularly in nontraditional industries like engineering (his background) and technology (hers), to establish the Frances Platt Hines Scholarship Fund at York College.

The couple donated $100,000 to establish the endowed scholarship, which is named in honor of Hines’s mother who passed away several years ago. “My mom worked at a New Jersey shore ice cream parlor during World War II,” Hines said. “She was the first woman to work there when all the men went off to fight. She later went on to work as a nurse. At that time, women who needed to have a career kind of had two options: teacher or nurse. This scholarship is our way of trying to give women more options, particularly in science and engineering.”

Beginning in fall 2019, any female student who enrolls in a major in the Kinsley School of Engineering, Sciences and Technology will be eligible for the scholarship. Preference will be given, if possible, to a resident of York City.

“We want to incentivize students to come to York College,” Hines said.

“York has incredible programs in the Kinsley School, is very reasonably priced, and many programs require co-ops, which are a tremendous benefit for the student and the community.

Our hope is that this support will bring talented students, particularly women, into the STEM programs.”

Patti Stirk was herself a firstgeneration student in a STEM major when she chose to study computer programming at York College in 1983.

She first earned an associate degree in 1985, took time off for back surgery, and then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer information

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“This scholarship is our way of trying to give women more options, particularly in science and engineering.”

— JEFF HINES PE, ’97 MBA

systems in 1987. She returned to York and earned an MBA in 1999.

Stirk’s LinkedIn profile might best describe her career: “High-tech business development expert turned art house cinema startup creator. Angel investor. Freelance photojournalist.”

She worked for a year as a software engineer for Automated Technology Associates in Indianapolis before returning to York to serve as director of commercial automation for Soft Systems Engineering, Inc., a position she convinced management to create.

In 1989, Stirk became her own boss, and her entrepreneurial vision led to the establishment of several IT consulting companies. She served as president and CEO of Star Systems Engineering, Inc., then sold that to Business Information Group. Her current passion is another start-up, Small Star Art House in downtown York, which presents feature-length independent, documentary and foreign films at their release dates.

“My friends and I would leave town – and not spend our money supporting York – to see art-house movies,” she said. “I bought the building, which originally housed Star Systems, in 2002 when Jeff was deployed.”

In addition to her business venture, Stirk is also very active in the community and with her alma mater. She was appointed to the Pennsylvania Commission for Women

by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015. She serves on the board of the York County Community Foundation and the Rotary Club of York, and as board secretary of the York Industrial Development Authority and of Downtown York.

She formerly served on the board of the Appell Center for the Performing Arts and as a member of the York College Collegiate Council. She is also founding chair of the Graham School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council and an advisor to the Graham Innovation Scholars Program at York College.

Hines attended Bucknell University on a ROTC scholarship, and graduated in 1984 with a degree in civil engineering. He served as a combat engineer officer for the U.S. Army and then spent 17 years in the U.S. Army Reserves. During his 30-year tenure with The York Water Company, he held several positions before being named President and CEO in March 2008. He will retire in March 2020.

Hines has been active in various facets of York College life. He has been a member of the Collegiate Council, Engineering Industry Advisory Council, Enactus Advisory Board and the Business Administration Campaign Steering Committee.

He has served as a trustee for 10 years, and began serving as chair on July 1. He received a Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 2010.

Hines and Stirk definitely agreed the scholarship should honor Jeff’s mother. “She was an untiring advocate for women professionals and self-sufficiency,” Hines said. “We also look at this scholarship as our effort to help recruit and retain our community’s future leaders,” Stirk added. “We believe in York College, and we want to support women studying in the Kinsley School. And we have the opportunity to honor someone very special to us.” — M.D.

CURIOUS LANDMARKS, PART TWO

THE WHITELEY COLUMNS: PORTALS OF THE PAST Nestled in the shade of the trees that border the quad in front of Schmidt Library, there are four marble columns, each representing a season of the year. These understated pillars have witnessed over 100 years of students passing by: their original home was in Memorial Hall of the York Collegiate Institute (YCI).

Built in 1887, the school, the second in YCP’s lineage, was located on College Avenue and Duke Street.

For 75 years, students of YCI and, in 1941, York Junior College (YJC), mingled in this great hall, perhaps leaning on the marble columns on their way up the stairs to class.

So, how did these four pillars get to York College? We can thank a 1907 graduate of the York Collegiate Institute: E. Purdon Whiteley.

E. Purdon Smith was born in 1890 and attended YCI from 1905 through 1907. She married George Whiteley in 1911. Purdon had a keen interest in York history, so when she learned that the venerable old YCI building was going to be razed in 1962, she acquired four of its marble pillars, embellished them with antique statuary and installed them on the grounds of her York estate, “Box Hill.”

When Purdon passed in 1979, her family established a scholarship and donated the pillars to York College, the school which had evolved from YCI and YJC. Without ceremony in the summer of 1979, the four marble columns and their statuary were placed on either side of the quad that leads to the library. They’ve stood in tribute to York College’s lineage and its students for 132 years. Purdon Whiteley’s marble pillars on YCP’s campus are, indeed, portals of the past.

Clockwise from top: One of four marble pillars embellished with antique statuary; George and E. Purdon Whiteley; the original marble columns in YJC Memorial Hall.

Photo courtesy of Purdon F. Hobbs

York College’s Archives welcomes donations of college-related materials.

Contact Karen Rice-Young at kriceyou@ycp.edu, 717-815-1439 for more information.

­— Karen Rice-Young ’92

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