YSU Alumni Magazine Fall 2012 by Youngstown State University

ON THE COVER This photo illustration depicting the evolution of news reporting in a digital age features YSU journalism students, from left: Kacy Standohar of Girard; Christopher Kochera of Austintown; Shee Wai Wong of Hong Kong; Chris Cotelesse of Stoneboro, Pa.; and Caitlin Cook of Charleston, W.Va. Read more in our cover story, starting on Page 10.

YSU President

Cynthia E. Anderson, ’73

YSU Board of Trustees Chair Vice Chair Secretary Student Trustee

Sudershan K. Garg John R. Jakubek, ’79 Delores Crawford, ’68 David C. Deibel, ’75 James B. Greene Harry Meshel, ’49 Leonard Schiavone Scott R. Schulick, ’94, ’96 Carole S. Weimer, ’89 Franklin S. Bennett Jr. Joshua Michael Prest Melissa Wasser

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Magazine Editor

Cynthia Vinarsky

Director of University Communications

Ron Cole

Executive Director of Marketing & Communications

Mark W. Van Tilburg

Layout Design Artist

Renée Cannon, ’90

Photographer

Bruce Palmer

Interim Director, Office Jacquelyn LeViseur, ’08 of Alumni and Events Management Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications

Jean Engle, ’86

Sports Contributor

Trevor Parks

Youngstown State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association. Youngstown State University – A Magazine for Alumni and Friends (ISSN 2152-3754), Issue 14 online edition, Fall 2012, is published quarterly by the YSU Office of Marketing and Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Periodicals Postage Paid at Youngstown, Ohio, and additional mailing offices.

Taking the Field YSU Penguins make their traditional entrance onto Dwight “Dike” Beede Field at an early autumn home game this season in Stambaugh Stadium. The team’s entry run is a feature of pregame activities at every YSU home football game.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Youngstown State University, Office of Marketing and Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Direct letters to the editor, comments or questions to the address above, call 330-941-3519 or email universitymagazine@ysu.edu. Youngstown State University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or identity as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era, in respect to students and/or to applicants for employment, and to organizations providing contractual services to YSU. 8-001

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Around Campus – Read about the James and Coralie Centofanti Charitable Foundation’s $1 million gift to YSU, and other news happening on and around the YSU campus. Faculty Photo Feature – A profile of Helene Sinnreich, associate professor of History and executive director of YSU’s Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. Student Success Stories – A regular feature highlighting the achievements of YSU students. COVER STORY: Journalism at YSU – Getting the Story in a Digital Age. Featuring YSU’s nationallyknown, award-winning journalism program and how it’s training students to find and present the news in a fast-paced digital world. YSU’s Role in National Manufacturing Initiative – Youngstown is selected as headquarters for a new manufacturing institute, and YSU will play a leading role. Faculty/Staff Bookshelf – Celebrating faculty and staff who have recently published books or displayed their art and photos in major exhibits. Alumni Advice @ Facebook – A sampling of the comments that YSU alums offered on the first day of classes for students new on campus this fall. Alumni Spotlight – Profiles of three exceptional YSU alumni: Trevor Graff, ’99, a planetary geologist for NASA; Lannie Marsh, ’07, a systems engineer for the FAA who flew across the Atlantic in a single-engine plane; and Tracey Hughes, ’03, ’08, CEO of a computer software research firm and a prolific author.

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ALUMNI

President’s Message Penguin Sports Philanthropy at YSU Alumni News Class Notes

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FALL 2012

President’s Message

Educating the Newsroom Leaders of Tomorrow

Cynthia E. Anderson President

Newspapers were a big part of my life growing up. My father was in the news business – he was production manager in the composing room at The Vindicator for many years – and the people who worked with him at the paper were like family to me. My dad had a passion for his job, and he believed strongly in the First Amendment. I probably still have a little bit of ink in my veins from those years. Since then, however, the newspaper industry as my father knew it has changed dramatically. News reporting still plays an important role in America’s democracy, but ink and newsprint are being replaced by a digital format. Computerassisted reporting, the Internet and the influence of social media have added new dimensions to the way news is gathered. Higher Ed has also felt that paradigm shift. Journalism programs at colleges and universities across the country have had to self-evaluate and redefine, or risk becoming irrelevant and defunct. At YSU, there was a time that the question was asked: Should we even continue teaching journalism? Our cover story in this edition of YSU Magazine examines that question and chronicles the way we reached our answer: Yes, we will teach journalism, but we will reinvent the way we teach it, we will develop progressive solutions and we will create an innovative approach to 21st century journalism education. The result? In just a dozen years, the journalism major at YSU has grown in numbers and evolved into a respected and nationally recognized program lauded for its cutting-edge mix of classroom learning and real-world experience. The transformation of the program – led by a small group of enthusiastic and committed faculty members – has been nothing short of amazing. At the center of this remarkable success is TheNewsOutlet, a program that YSU journalism faculty founded in 2009 and that now provides investigative reporting opportunities for student journalists at YSU, Kent State and the University of Akron. Just this fall, the prestigious John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded a $300,000 grant to TheNewsOutlet. Major publications like The New York Times, Inside Higher Education, the American Journalism Review and the Columbia Journalism Review have published stories that cite TheNewsOutlet’s creative approach. Most recently, Pro Publica, a nationally-renowned center for investigative reporting based in New York, selected YSU for a pilot program in which its veteran reporters work closely with our students on reporting projects. The Pro Publica effort, TheNewsOutlet experience, along with the student-run newspaper The Jambar and the *Yo Magazine, are exposing our students to 21st century journalism that we could not have imagined two decades ago. What the Knight Foundation and Pro Publica like about TheNewsOutlet, and what is winning the J-school faculty accolades far beyond our campus borders, is that our students are engaged in their community, getting real-life experience in writing and reporting stories that matter. This is not a journalism program where students sit behind their desks and work on writing assignments that only their professors see. Our journalism students are out in the field, asking questions, writing stories that are published and heard, making a difference. They are the newsroom leaders of tomorrow, and I know they’ll make YSU proud, wherever they go from here. Sincerely,

Cynthia E. Anderson, President 2

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

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Centofanti Foundation Gives $1 Million to YSU

The James and Coralie Centofanti Center of Health and Welfare for Vulnerable Populations will be created at YSU under a $1 million gift announced recently at a campus news conference. The new center, funded with a gift from the James and Coralie Centofanti Charitable Foundation, will expand and improve the ability of the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services to positively impact health and welfare challenges throughout the region. “I want to thank the Centofanti Foundation for this generous gift,” YSU President Cynthia E. Celebrating the James and Coralie Centofanti Charitable Foundation’s $1 million gift to YSU are, from left: Mark Graham, executive vice president of Farmers National Bank and a member of the foundation’s Anderson said. “But even more distribution committee; Joseph Centofanti, brother of James and a member of the committee; Carol Potter, important, I want to thank and director of financial development and marketing for the YMCA and a member of the committee; David commend the foundation for its Centofanti, the Centofantis’ son and a member of the committee; YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson; Dante Zambrini, retired superintendent of Canfield Schools and a member of the committee; and Joe support in improving the health Mosca, dean of the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services at YSU. and welfare of our community.” James Centofanti of Canfield, a successful business owner, philanthropist and horseman, died in 2010; his wife, The Center’s functions will include: Coralie, died in 1999. Centofanti was a long-time member of • The Centofanti Symposium, featuring nationally the Board of Directors of Farmers National Bank in Canfield, recognized speakers on topics regarding the needs of a generous supporter of numerous educational and commuvulnerable populations. nity-based activities in and around the Canfield area, and the • Undergraduate and graduate level scholarships for sturecipient of numerous awards for his humanitarian efforts. dents in the Bitonte College of Health and Human “Jim always had a soft spot for the underdog and the Services pursuing careers that will impact at-risk underprivileged that was reflected during his life through populations in the region and beyond. his generosity and his hands-on involvement in working to • Undergraduate stipends and graduate assistantships for improve the lives of people, especially those with special students engaged in service or research addressing health needs,” said Mark Graham, executive vice president of Farmand human services concerns experienced by regional ers National Bank and chair of the Distribution Committee organizations and/or their service recipients. of the Centofanti Foundation. “He would be very proud to • Support for faculty, including research grants and have his family’s name associated with a center that focuses educational seminars. on improving the health and welfare of people throughout the • Educational training and workforce development to Mahoning Valley.” engage YSU faculty and students in local social The new James and Coralie Centofanti Center of Health service and nonprofit agencies conducting research and Welfare for Vulnerable Populations at YSU will provide and expanding their effectiveness in working with student scholarships, internship stipends, graduate assistantat-risk/vulnerable population groups. ships, faculty research grants and workforce development The Bitonte College of Health and Human Services ofinitiatives designed to evaluate and respond to the needs fers more than 25 majors, including criminal justice, health of the region’s health and human service organizations and professions, human ecology, human performance and exercise agencies, said Joe Mosca, dean of the YSU Bitonte College science, nursing, physical therapy and social work. The colof Health and Human Services. lege is committed to preparing students for competent entry “The Center will enhance the level of engagement belevel and advanced practice employment in the health and tween our students, our faculty and professionals employed human services professions. For more information, visit in health and human service organizations throughout our http://web.ysu.edu/bchhs/. region,” Mosca said.

FALL 2012

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YSU Honors WATTS Donors YSU opened the doors of the Watson and Tressel Training Site for a special event to celebrate nearly 350 individuals, families and organizations who pledged more than $4 million to make the indoor athletics practice facility a reality. Major donors are, in photo, from left: Jim and Ellen Tressel, Phyllis and Anthony M. Cafaro, Norma and Frank Watson. The WATTS, which opened last fall, was named after the Tressels and the Watsons, who donated a combined $1 million. The track and lobby were named in honor of the Cafaro family, which also donated $1 million. In addition, Candy and Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. donated $750,000 for the playing surface, Ray and Jan Travaglini gave $253,000 and the YSU Penguin Club pledged $250,000. Making $100,000 donations were the Schmutz Family, Robert and Marilyn O’Leary and the Lariccia Family – Tony, Mary, Natalie and Dana. The WATTS, located east of Stambaugh Stadium, is used I N primarily by YSU’s intercollegiate athletic teams, including baseball, football, soccer, softball, golf and men’s and women’s track.

New Minor Offered in Social Media YSU’s Department of Communication introduced a new minor course of study in Social Media Campaigns this fall. The department, said chair Adam Earnheardt, hopes to harness the energy and desire students have to understand these new communication platforms. “Our new minor introduces students to various social media outlets and how to use them to comAdam Earnheardt municate with various audiences,” Earnheardt said of the program, which was approved in the spring by the Academic Program Committee of the YSU Academic Senate. For more information about the social media minor, contact Earnheardt via Twitter (@adamearn), Facebook (www.facebook.com/ adamearn), or email (acearnheardt@ysu.edu).

WYSU Fall Fund Drive Sets New Record WYSU-FM raised $115,759 during its recently completed Fall Fund Drive, meeting its goal and setting a new record. A total of 1,082 listeners contributed, including 98 new members. The 72-hour fund drive featured numerous giveaways and incentives. Listener Richard Brobst of Villa Maria, Pa. won the grand prize, a trip for two to Ancient Peru and Machu Picchu. Corporate and Foundation support for the drive was provided by: Internet Data Management Inc.; The Law Firm of Mansell & Andrews; YSU, and its new master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Communication; Park Vista Retirement Community; Go Ahead Tours; Stambaugh Auditorium; The Frances and Lillian Schermer Charitable Trusts; The Youngstown Symphony; and The Nathalie and James Andrews Foundation. 4

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Visit www.ysumagazine.org for video of the WATTS donors.

M E M O R I A M Mary B. Smith

Mary B. Smith, who contributed to the life and growth of YSU for more than 30 years, died Sept. 28 at Park Vista Retirement Community, Youngstown. She was 100. Smith came to Youngstown College in 1939 as an instructor of biology and served as head of the Department of Health and Physical Education, assistant registrar, college recorder, registrar, assistant to the Dean of Admissions and Records and director of Career Planning and Placement. She retired in 1983. She was a member of the Penguin Club, was inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame and was presented the YSU Heritage Award. Smith Hall on Fifth Avenue is named in her honor. Contributions may be made to the Mary B. Smith Scholarship Fund at the YSU Foundation.

Jack D. Bakos Jr.

Jack D. Bakos Jr., 71, retired longtime professor and chair of YSU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, died Oct. 16. Bakos received several awards for teaching and service throughout his career at YSU. He was chosen by YSU Student Government in 1994 as the first recipient of the Smith-Murphy Award, and students elected him Engineering Professor of the Year five times during his teaching career. He also received a host of national engineering and engineering education awards. The family requests that material tributes in his memory be given to the Dr. Jack D. Bakos Scholarship Fund at YSU and mailed to: Heather Chunn, YSU University Development, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.

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Fundraising Begins for New Veterans Resource Center YSU has launched the public phase of a $1.25 million fund-raising campaign to construct a Veterans Resource Center on Wick Avenue that will help military veterans and service members succeed as university students. The campaign has already garnered $300,000 in donations and pledges, leaving $950,000 to be raised. YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson said creation of the center is yet another step in the university’s continued commitment to serve the special needs of veteran and military students. “It is imperative that we do all we can do to ensure that these individuals, who have served their country with honor, are successful in reaching their educational and career goals,” she said. If the funds are raised, a two-story building will be constructed on the site of the former Peck House on Wick Avenue, between the Pollock House and Melnick Hall. It will house the YSU Office of Veterans Affairs and will provide a space for students to gather, interact with other veterans and receive assistance with admissions, financial aid and other related services. The Office of Veterans Affairs is currently based in Tod Hall. A 13-person cabinet that includes retired military personnel with close ties to YSU is leading the fund-raising campaign. Cabinet co-chairs are Carl Nunziato, a 1961 graduate of Youngstown University, Army veteran of the Vietnam War and former vice president of National City Bank Trust, and Bernie Kosar Sr., a 1959 graduate of the Rayen School of Engineering at YSU and a veteran of 15 years in the Army reserves. To donate or make a pledge, contact the Office of University Development at 330-941-1363.

Carl Nunziato

YSU Planetarium Premieres New Film An original film entitled “Cosmic Castaways” and created by faculty and staff at YSU’s Ward Beecher Planetarium, along with astronomers at two other institutions, will soon be available for online viewing. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the 22-minute film was first shown at a planetarium fundraising event in October, said John Feldmeier, associate professor of astronomy. The film examines intracluster stars – the stars that are removed from galaxies because of galactic collisions – and is based partially on research by Feldmeier and Pat Durrell, associate professor of astronomy and planetarium director. The show’s narrator is Pamela Gay, a professor at Southern Illinois University. Cosmic Castaways will be available online for free viewing by year’s end on the website Science on the Half Sphere at: http://cosmoquest. org/blog/scienceonthehalfsphere/. Visit www.ysumagazine.org for A trailer previewing the production a trailer previewing the film. is available now on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kHToAtcRu4.

Bernie Kosar Sr.

Melissa Wasser Named Student Trustee

Melissa Wasser of McDonald, Ohio, a YSU political science and philosophy major, has been named a student member of the YSU Board of Trustees. Gov. John Kasich appointed her in September to a two-year term that expires in 2014. Melissa Wasser A 2010 graduate of McDonald High School, Wasser is a member of the Leslie H. Cochran University Scholars and Honors Program at YSU, a representative of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences for the YSU Student Government Association and a member of the Delta Zeta sorority. Also a YSU student employee, she works at the Candy Counter in Kilcawley Center.

FALL 2012

Around C

Edward Krol

Vegetarian-Friendly Menu Comes to Christman Dining Commons

With gourmet entrees such as Brazilian vegetable stirfry with plantains and Moroccan couscous, YSU Dining Services is launching a new vegan/vegetarian-friendly menu called Green Cuisine at the Christman Dining Commons. “Variety is what it’s all about,” said Executive Chef Edward Krol. “We’re giving the students options.” Krol said his staff created the new menu options in response to students who asked for healthier food choices. “It’s called Green Cuisine because we didn’t want it to be a station just for vegans or vegetarians. We wanted to offer fresh local produce for the masses here on campus,” he said. Some other universities were forced to raise prices when they began offering vegan and vegetarian options year-round. Not so at YSU, Krol said, because he keeps costs down by buying local food, when available. “Right now, when the harvest is coming in, we have a very high percentage of local products,” he said. “As the winter goes on, that drops back a bit, but I can still get chicken, local herbs, mushrooms, apples and potatoes through the winter.” The Green Cuisine station is open for lunch and dinner on weekdays and is available to faculty, staff and guests. For more information, including menus and hours of operation, visit http://www.ysu.edu/dining-services/index.shtml.

Alumnus Volunteer Paints Stadium Seats At age 70, YSU alumnus Dan McCauley keeps fit by walking almost daily around the university campus, and sometimes he spots a chore that need doing. When he noticed last summer that the red paint spelling out “YSU” on Stambaugh Stadium seats had become worn and faded, he offered to repaint them himself. “YSU paid for the paint and the brushes, and I did the work,” said McCauley. “It was pretty simple, but it took some time.” McCauley, of Youngstown, earned a BS in social work at YSU in 1964, an MSW from Catholic University of America and credentials as a funeral director and embalmer from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. An avid Penguin fan, he retired two years ago from his architectural antique business but still works occasionally at his family’s business, McCauley & Sons Funeral Home in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

NSF Grant to Purchase

Electron Microscope

YSU’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics has been awarded a $444,555 grant from the National Science Foundation to purchase a new, variable pressure, scanning electron microscope. Virgil C. Solomon, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, said the new VP-SEM would give YSU equal footing among other established research universities. A climate-controlled lab to house the microscope is now under construction in Moser Hall, and the VP-SEM is expected to be in place in about a year. Solomon said the VP-SEM will compliment YSU’s two other electron microscopes. “This is important research instrumentation not only for materials science or inorganic materials, but also for organic material for biology, medicine and even forensic science,” he said. A native of Romania, Solomon joined the YSU faculty as part of the 2009 Ohio Third Frontier grant, which brought him to campus to oversee the creation of YSU’s electron microscopy facility.

Accreditation Reviewers Praise Dana School of Music

The National Association of Schools of Music, the nationwide accrediting agency for music and music-related disciplines, found in its recent review that YSU’s Dana School of Music has an excellent faculty dedicated to teaching, research, creative activities and community involvement and students who are engaged and highly qualified. NASM voted earlier this summer to re-accredit the Dana School of Music for an additional 10 years. The next full review will be in the 2020-21 academic year. “Receiving re-accreditation from NASM provides for all of our programs a level of credibility that maintains our position among the elite music schools in the nation,” said Mike Crist, director of Dana.

Helene Sinnreich Associate Professor of History and Executive Director, YSU Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies Helene Sinnreich had big shoes to fill when she accepted the position as executive director of the Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies here at YSU. Her predecessor, Saul Friedman, was a pioneer in the field and helped YSU become one of the first institutions in the country to offer such a program. Not only has Sinnreich filled Friedman’s shoes, she has helped foster the program’s growth and driven it with forward-thinking research. Her recent essay contribution to the book Sexual Violence against Jewish Women During the Holocaust helped to win it accolades as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards in 2011. Sinnreich, now an associate professor in the History Department, came to YSU in 2005 after having taught at the University of Mississippi, Brooklyn College in New York and the University of Lodz in Poland. In addition to her duties at YSU, Sinnreich also serves as executive director of the Ohio Council for Holocaust Education and as editor in chief of the Journal of Jewish Identities, perhaps the project she enjoys most. Now in its fifth year, the bi-monthly journal boasts a circulation of about 2,000 and spans all manner of topics, from the Holocaust to Russian and Latin American Jewry. “I love the journal. Jewish identity is something that has changed over time, and the journal really explores what it is to be a Jew,” said Sinnreich. Currently on sabbatical, Sinnreich is working on several new projects, including the translation and annotation of the diary of Hersz Fogel, a Holocaust survivor who kept a wartime journal of his experiences as a 19-year-old living in the Lodz ghetto. Other projects include a monograph on the Krakow Ghetto and an exhibit in conjunction with the Jewish Community Relations Council on Holocaust survivors of the Mahoning Valley. Sinnreich also spoke this fall at the International Conference of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Cleveland, discussing the value of teaching about the Holocaust in the 21st century. “We are teaching 65-plus years after the Holocaust,” said Sinnreich. “We are speaking during a time when fewer and fewer survivors of the period exist, but I find that students today are still extraordinarily moved by the story of the Holocaust.” Profile by Robert Merz

FALL 2012

s t u d e n t

successes

Highlighting the achievements of exceptional YSU students

Stori

Internships Lead to Scholarships

Industrial engineering major TaiJaune Robinson and pre-med major Cheyenne Cato gained valuable career experience this summer and earned YSU scholarships at the same time, thanks to a new STEM Outreach Initiative Program at YSU. Robinson, a Youngstown Early College graduate and Youngstown resident, interned at M-7 Technologies, where she practiced measurement technology and 3D design and worked on a special project for the company. “Working in my field with engineers everyday has helped me to confirm that this is really what I want to do,” Robinson said. Cato, also a Youngstown resident and Early College grad, served her internship at St. Elizabeth Health Center, where she worked directly with patients. “I’m interested in becoming a TaiJaune Robinson and Cheyenne Cato doctor,” she said. “This internship was beneficial because it allowed me to experience working in a hospital environment.” Funded by a $20,000 grant from the AT&T Foundation, the STEM Outreach Initiative Program provides internships for qualifying high school students making plans to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Those who complete an internship and enroll in a STEM-related discipline at YSU receive a $1,500 scholarship.

a e s rch

Researchers Study the Woolly Opossum

Joseph Rupert

YSU graduate student Joseph Rupert spent this past summer, machete in hand, hacking his way through Costa Rica’s dense tropical rainforest in search of Caluromys derbianus, an arboreal species of opossum known as the Central American Woolly Opossum. Rupert’s trip to Costa Rica is part of YSU assistant professor of Biomechanics Michael Butcher’s research studying the prehensile tail structure and function in opossums. Butcher and Rupert spent nearly a year planning his research team’s expedition in July to find and trap the elusive marsupial. The team spent eight days at a biological reserve in the Northern Central rainforest performing muscle biopsies on the tail muscles of Caluromys. They worked with a wildlife veterinarian to ensure the animals were completely fit to return to their habitat when released. Rupert completed his YSU undergraduate degree in biological sciences in 2010 and expects to graduate this spring with a master’s degree in biological sciences with a concentration in muscle biomechanics.

Concrete Canoe Ranks Among Top 10 in National Contest

A concrete canoe designed by YSU students finished in Brookfield; Kim Klonowski of Canton, Mich.; Justin Amthe top 10 at the 25th annual National Concrete Canoe Combrosio of Cortland; Sentel Rodgers of Youngstown; Daniel petition in Reno, Nev. YSU’s team finished ninth, ahead of Phillips of Geneva; Chad Kolat of Brookfield and Kevin Lang schools such as the University of California Berkeley, Clemof Poland. Adam DePizzo was the team’s advisor. son University, Oregon “We were very happy and State and Rutgers. Caliproud to compete with the best fornia Polytechnic State engineering schools in the nation University finished first. and finish in the top 10,” Knapp The YSU team was said. “This accomplishment demcomprised of: project onstrates that YSU is clearly one manager Nathan Knapp of the top engineering schools in of Warren; Joe Reedy of the nation.” Austintown; Samantha The American Society of Rovnak of Austintown; Civil Engineers sponsors the YSU students paddle their winning canoe. Allison McMillen of East three-day competition. Palestine; Mike Kaldy of

student success

YSU Takes Top Prize in National Engineering Contest

A YSU student engineering group bested teams from 18 other universities, including Penn State and Purdue, to take first place in a national Green Energy Challenge competition in Las Vegas. The 13-member YSU team won the top prize with an energy saving plan they designed for the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, located on West Wood Street on the YSU campus. They presented the plan before a panel of judges at the National Electrical Contractors Association Annual Convention in September. “Once again, our students shone on the national stage against competitors from prestigious engineering schools around the country,” said Theodore R. Bosela, a profes-

sor of Engineering Technology and the team’s advisor. “Their performance is another indication of the caliber of students at YSU, the quality of our Engineering Technology and Engineering academic programs, and reflective of YSU's emerging role as an urban research institution.” In photo, YSU NECA Chapter team members accepting the first place award are, from left, front row: Bosela; Kalen Wallace, Mike Currao, Jarrett Scacchetti, Dave Wright, Ethan Parks, NECA president Dennis Quebe, Jacob Tibbits and Nick Gealy; second row, Bob Page and Jason Nutt. Students not pictured who participated in the written proposal included Nicholas Brown, Michael Sammartino, Matthew Biedka and Drew Duraney.

Team Presents Research at International Conference

Six YSU undergraduate students spent their summers on research combining the disciplines of mathematics and biology and then presented their findings at an international conference, the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Society of Mathematical Biology. In photo below, the student researchers are, from left: Joelle Ballone, Mark Radetić, Robert DeVita, Sarah Ritchey and Matt Pierson. Estee George is not pictured. Math majors Ritchey, of Sharon, Pa., and George, of Boardman, presented a poster titled “Modeling Butanol Production by Clostridium beijerinckii.” DeVita, a biology major from McDonald, was a co-author. Biology major Ballone and math major Pierson, both from Youngstown, did their poster on research titled “Mathematical Modeling of Growth and Selenium Metabolism of S. maltophilia O2.” Radetić, a biology major from Austintown, was a co-author. “Conducting interdisciplinary research and presenting results at an international conference is a great experience for students,” said George Yates, an associate professor of Mathematics and Statistics and one of four faculty members who advised the two student teams. “It gives them opportunities to exchange research ideas with a worldwide audience and to see what others in mathematical biology are investigating.” Scientists, mathematicians and undergraduate students from 23 countries and 35 states participated in the conference, held at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and hosted by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. The YSU students are participating in a research program in mathematical biology and undergraduate research at YSU funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

FALL 2012

Journalism at YSU: Getting the Story in a

By Ron Cole

was a shot heard in journalism circles around the country. The leaders of six prominent foundations that provide financial support to college and university journalism programs nationwide issued an open letter earlier this year outlining in no uncertain terms their vision of the future. Simply put: change, or die. “Schools that favor the status quo…risk becoming irrelevant,” the leaders said. Journalism schools, they added, must recreate themselves. “Some leading schools are doing this, but most are not.” Put YSU in the former category. While reluctant journalism schools at many universities go kicking and screaming into the new media age, YSU’s budding and relatively new program finds itself firmly planted on the leading edge of a discipline and pro

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

fession teetering on the digital divide. From the American Journalism Review and Inside Higher Education to the Columbia Journalism Review and even the New York Times, YSU’s journalism program is being lauded for its innovative, cutting-edge approach to teaching and preparing students for the constantly changing and ever-expanding realities of the 21st century journalism landscape. Under the guidance of an enthusiastic core faculty, the journalism major at YSU has exploded from a handful of students to nearly 100 in the span of only a dozen years. But, more importantly, the department has prodded and pressed the envelope of journalism curriculum and practice, creating inventive, hands-on programs that help launch graduates into successful careers in a variety of fields. “We’re always talking about what we can do next, what we can do better,” said Tim Francisco, associate professor of journalism/English. Alyssa Lenhoff, assistant professor and director of the

A journalism program, added: “We have a strong desire to be innovative, to try new models and to try to become leaders, and not necessarily just mirrors of the profession.” When Lenhoff joined the YSU faculty 12 years ago, the bachelor’s degree in journalism had just been approved. Journalism at YSU, however, had a place on campus for decades. The Jambar student newspaper started in 1931. The university offered a minor course of study in journalism, and for several years students could cobble together classes for an ICP – individualized curriculum plan – in journalism. But it was not until 2000, under the leadership of then journalism director Dale Harrison, that a full bachelor’s degree program was approved. Harrison left the next year, leaving Lenhoff with a fledgling program of only a few students. “We recognized that if we wanted to be taken seriously on campus, we had to have more than just a few majors,” said Lenhoff, who joined academe after a 20-year career as an awardwinning investigative reporter at newspapers in California, West Virginia and, finally, The Tribune Alyssa Lenhoff Chronicle in Warren, Ohio. Meanwhile, the world of print journalism was crumbling – newspaper readership was plummeting nationwide, many dailies newspapers shut down, others were bleeding badly, as online news emerged as the source of choice. The paradigm was shifting.

N A

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A former editor of YSU’s student newspaper details the career path that led to her position as production associate for “Washington Journal,” a weekday morning political television program in Washington D.C. broadcast nationally on C-SPAN.

Chelsea Pflugh •

’10 BA, Journalism with minor in Telecommunication Studies

•

Production Associate for C-SPAN, Washington, D.C.

When I first stepped into C-SPAN’s Washington D.C. headquarters as a YSU intern in 2009, I finally knew what I wanted to do: television and news. It was the fast-paced environment I was looking for, with the thrill of deadline pressure that I so enjoyed in print media. Working and living in the epicenter of American politics wasn’t so bad, either. Chelsea Pflugh The job market for news positions was bleak when I graduated. For every 20 resumes and cover letters I sent out, I got maybe two or three responses. Newspapers simply weren’t hiring, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to break into broadcast journalism. Finally, because I stayed in constant contact with people I had networked with during my internship, I learned about a full-time opening at C-SPAN. In March 2011, I was welcomed back into the department where I interned – Book TV on C-SPAN2. Book TV features 48 hours of programming centered around nonfiction authors and book-related events, such as live festivals and book signings. In my 17 months with Book TV I traveled to Los Angeles for programming from the University of Southern California, answered live phone calls from around the country for authors Michael Moore and Ann Coulter and joined the C-SPAN marketing team on trips to New York and Chicago. This summer a new opportunity came along. I accepted a position as production associate for C-SPAN’s live, three-hour morning program, “Washington Journal.” It’s my job to compile the daily show rundown that producers and hosts use every morning and to assist in segment production that includes guests discussing the news of the day, public policy experts and members of Congress. The past three months have been a blur of activity related to the Presidential campaign – debates, grassroots events and battleground state call-ins. It’s a learning experience, a great challenge, and I feel like I’m neckdeep in the news world again, like when I was at YSU. I couldn’t be happier. Even though I’m roughly 300 miles away from YSU now, the university is never that far away in my mind or my work. I still read The Jambar online and am very proud to see how distinguished TheNewsOutlet has become. The discipline I learned while working at The Jambar for four years, as well as the learning outside the classroom with professors like Mary Beth Earnheardt, Tim Francisco and Alyssa Lenhoff, taught me what to expect in the “real world” media environment. They were advisors as well as teachers. The YSU faculty and my news reporting classes molded my mind to dig for the “meat” of a good story – and that’s helped me during my time at the “Washington Journal” – especially during a Presidential election.

FALL 2012

“Universities at the time were asking the question, ‘Should It also proved that YSU students could report and write we even be teaching journalism anymore since there aren’t stories that legacy media outlets like The Vindicator and going to be any jobs?’ ” said Gary Salvner, recently retired others needed. longtime chair of the YSU English department, which houses It was a light bulb moment, and two years later Lenhoff the journalism program. and Francisco were ready for the next big step – the creation “Journalism programs could do one of two things. They of TheNewsOutlet. could allow themselves to go into decline and handle maybe The concept: YSU students, under the guidance of jouronly a few students who were rabid about journalism, or they nalism faculty, would work hand-in-hand with professional could be reborn and try to find a way to revisit what media editors to develop investigative and enterprise stories for journalism was and to understand and adapt to the changes publication and broadcast. It gave YSU students tremendous that were upon us.” opportunity to experience reporting in the real world and gain It was a crossroads, Salvner said, and the entire program valuable news clippings, while also providing in-depth news could have easily gone away. content that many media outlets could no longer afford to “But, rather than just saying, ‘Well, newspapers are going generate, given the economic condition of the industry. away, so let’s just let our journalism program go away,’ we “We wanted to produce high-impact stories that were believed that journalism still had and always will have an investigative in nature, that had value to the community, and important role to play in society. So, then the task stories that legacy media were not doing because they became not watching it die, but remaking it.” did not have the time,” Francisco said. And remaking it meant, first and foremost, The Vindicator jumped on board, as well helping the Lenhoff team to move the as the Beacon Journal in Akron, WYSUprogram forward. FM (YSU’s National Public Radio affiliFrancisco, like Lenhoff, had been ate) and Akron’s Rubber City Radio. a career reporter, working for newspaWith funding from the Raymond John pers and business magazines in New Wean Foundation, it wasn’t long York and Connecticut before heading before TheNewsOutlet and its team off to the University of Alabama for of seven paid reporter interns were his Ph.D. in Renaissance studies. He producing stories for print, radio and came to YSU in 2003, where he has the Web, tackling topics ranging from mastered teaching a combination of the polluted Mahoning River and the his two loves – journalism and Shakelack of grocery stores in Youngstown speare. Mary Beth Earnheardt, a journalto unsolved murder cases and combat ism instructor and adviser to the student veterans suffering from post traumatic newspaper at nearby Clarion University stress disorder. of Pennsylvania, came aboard three years “The opportunity to go out, report later. Rounding out the J-faculty team was on serious stories, work with Stephen Engelbert, center, managing editor Tom Pittman, and most recently, Marc established editors out in the field, and of ProPublica, with Tim Francisco, left, YSU associate professor of Journalism. Seamon, a veteran of radio and newspato get those stories published – there’s per. In addition, the program brought on a just no better experience and training handful of media professionals – reporters, editors and than that,” said Doug Livingston, YSU senior and one of photographers – to share their expertise in the classroom. TheNewsOutlet’s first staff writers. But it’s been the Lenhoff-Francisco-Earnheardt triumvirate, TheNewsOutlet took off like wildfire. In 2010, journalism which Salvner refers to as “ the dreamers and actors,” that has students at Kent State University and the University of Akron led the dash forward to redefine and reinvigorate the program joined the program. That same year, the prestigious Knight – beefing up the curriculum, but also developing real-life and Foundation awarded a $79,000 grant, followed last year with challenging journalism experiences for students. an additional $62,000, and then a $300,000 grant this year. In 2007, Lenhoff and Francisco led a group of 14 journalNewsOutlet reporters produced major projects on poverty and ism students to Sago, W.V., to write stories tagged to the spent several days in Texas to report and write articles on frackone-year anniversary of a disastrous coal mine explosion ing, a controversial drilling technology that makes it possible to that killed 12 men. reach natural gas reserves that underlie much of Ohio. Earlier “We took them out of Youngstown, out of their comfort this year, the Ohio Associated Press awarded a NewsOutlet zone, pushed them out into the hollers of West Virginia and story a first place prize for investigative reporting. In Septemtold them, ‘Go find stories,’” Lenhoff said. ber, The New York Times cited TheNewsOutlet in a major busiThe resulting articles, ranging from profiles of victims’ ness story about successful partnerships between journalism families to examinations of the rescue devices used in the programs and local daily newspapers. mines, were published in The Vindicator in Youngstown and “It sounds very much like they’re improving the quality of the Charleston Gazette in West Virginia, and then picked up local news, and that’s very impressive,” said Michael Schudson, by the Associated Press. a professor in the Columbia University Graduate School of “It was an awesome experience, because it proved to us Journalism. “This isn’t a bunch of kids blogging. They’re being that it could be done,” Lenhoff said. trained as professional journalists, and there are standards they 12

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

have to uphold. They have to produce.” He added, “In journalism schools, students are very eager to write something that matters. They can get very involved in a classroom project and take it very seriously, and nobody but the professor ever sees it. These NewsOutlet stories are being published. They matter. There are consequences.” Jeff Glebocki, president of the Wean Foundation, agreed. “During these times when the legacy media, especially newspapers, are going through a tumultuous change, projects like The NewsOutlet are a way to keep quality information in the community for people to read and deliberate,” he said. “Newspapers today have fewer staff and less money to do investigative reporting. Their staffs have been sliced and diced, and so has the news coverage that they used to provide. TheNewsOutlet has stepped into the fray to help maintain quality reporting on important issues.” Vindicator Editor Todd Franko and WYSU Director Gary Sexton said TheNewsOutlet has been beneficial to their news operations. “Providing local news remains a strategic goal of ours, but it’s a goal difficult to fulfill without a news department,” Sexton said. “The stories we receive from the NewsOutlet are of consistently excellent quality. I’m hopeful we can continue to expand the partnership.” As TheNewsOutlet garnered national attention, the rest of the journalism program at YSU also flourished. Enrollment jumped. The Jambar student newspaper introduced an interactive online version and began to produce video news stories. The Jambar staff excelled at national and regional competitions, receiving six awards at the Ohio Newspaper Association Convention earlier this year. Earnheardt, Jambar advisor, was elected executive director of the Society for Collegiate Journalists, the nation’s oldest organization designed solely to serve college journalists. With the appointment, SCJ’s national headquarters moved to the YSU campus. Momentum for the journalism program continued late last year when YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson stepped up and made a significant leadership gift to the program in

N A

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A recent YSU grad writes about the path she followed to discover her dream job – living in New York and working as an interactive copywriter for Condé Nast, home to some of the world’s best known media brands.

Cristina Cala • ’08 BA, Professional Writing and Editing, Journalism concentration • Interactive Copywriter for Condé Nast, New York My first draw was poetry. I liked words, rolling like marbles across my tongue. I liked stories, pieced together with bits of language to evoke emotion. Cristina Cala The decision to study writing was a no-brainer. As for my medium, I was wide open. When a YSU professor encouraged me to interview for a job on The Jambar and faculty advisors hired me, the genuine possibility struck me: I could do this for a living. A few years later, when I interviewed for my position as an interactive Web copywriter at Condé Nast, the question I was anticipating surfaced: Why should a major media player’s digital advertising agency hire someone with a background in journalism? I found out that the best early-career move writers can make may be to sample their passions. At YSU and at The Youngstown Vindicator after graduation, my training was in news media; as founding editor of The *Yo Magazine, part of YSU’s journalism program, my taste was for magazine journalism. When I moved to New York in 2009, I was a traditional-media job candidate with a daily newspaper internship under my belt, but like any reporter, I needed an angle. For the next two years, I tested out brand journalism and personal branding, working for a career-services Web company. That branding gig led me to copywriting. In my first year at Condé Nast I wrote digital ads and promotional websites for more than 70 luxury advertisers. Some wanted interactive games on social networks, others asked for simulated makeovers for big-time beauty brands. My experience in brainstorming and developing editorial concepts for The *Yo was very close to the creative ad-concept work I do now. The workplace needs creative people. My writing degree and journalism background have helped me successfully transition to creative positions in branding and advertising. What I’ve learned working for a business producing branded content and for a publishing company that partners with advertisers is that, now, brands are publishers and publishers are brands. The content era of marketing is a great place for a journalist because we have the core foundation and skills to explore new disciplines in media. Employers are looking for writers who can distinguish between journalism and advertising and know how to tap into both voices to find a balance. As a copywriter for a publisher’s ad agency, I do that every day.

FALL 2012

honor of her late father, Lawrence, a long-time Vindicator staffer. Anderson’s uncle also made a significant donation, and the program was officially named the Lawrence R. Anderson Journalism Program. And, just earlier this fall, ProPublica, the nation’s leading investigative reporting organization, announced a first-of-its-kind initiative to help students in YSU’s advanced reporting course learn the latest investigative journalism techniques. “I occasionally meet with university students around the country and speak to journalism classes,” Stephen Engelbert, ProPublica’s managing editor, said during a visit with students this fall. “But what we’re doing with YSU is new, it’s an experiment, and it’s much more hands-on.” Even with all the innovations, accomplishments, growth and accolades, the push and pressure to redefine and remain relevant is constant. Journalism today is about more than print – it’s about video and audio and the Internet and graphics and producing stories in multiple formats for multiple audiences. Lenhoff calls it “platform-agnostic.” It’s about being entrepreneurial. And it’s changing – day-to-day, week-to-week. From an educational standpoint, keeping up can be daunting. “We’re reinventing the wheel, and we don’t think we even know what it looks like,” Earnheardt said. “I’m pretty certain that I don’t know what I’m going to be teaching even five years from now. You have to kind of throw out the rule book. The boundaries and limitations change so fast.” It’s like the Wild West, Francisco said. “Everybody’s trying different things and new models,” he said. “Everybody’s trying to figure out what’s going to work. But I think that’s exciting, especially for students. It’s appealing because there’s a sense that they can help make and reshape journalism.” And part of that reshaping, Lenhoff said, is rethinking and re-marketing exactly what a journalism degree means. Journalism graduates can no longer be pigeonholed into traditional journalism jobs. After all, the number of those kinds of traditional reporting jobs is expected to drop by another 8 percent in the next eight years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “What we are offering in a journalism degree today are skills that are very valuable in an array of careers,” she said, including law, politics, education, communications and public relations. “We are informed, smart people who know how to access information, who know how to compile it and know how to communicate it. I would argue that that is the most important set of skills for virtually all but a very few specialized disciplines and professions.” What the YSU program doesn’t want to do, Lenhoff said, is to get so wrapped up in the latest greatest new technological ways to deliver news that it loses sight of the core values of journalism – the importance of journalism in democracy, the value of the watchdog role.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

“That’s still very important and has to be the driving force of everything we do,” Lenhoff said. “We teach information gathering. We teach interviewing and reporting and how to find documents and public records. We teach how to spot a good story, how to ask questions and how to tell stories. And we teach how to tell those stories across many media. But the minute we begin focusing solely on and teaching technology, we become irrelevant and dead as a discipline.” She added: “We see ourselves as evangelists for journalism. We are definitely reverent of journalism’s past, but also excited about it’s future. That enthusiasm, we think, can be contagious.”

Melnick Hall to Become Communications Center The YSU Board of Trustees has selected an architect to transform Melnick Hall on Wick Avenue into what Provost Ikram Khawaja calls a “media communications incubator.” Preliminary plans for the interior renovations of the building and fund-raising to finance the work are being developed. Under the preliminary plan, the journalism and telecommunications programs, now in DeBartolo and Bliss halls, respectively; The Jambar student newspaper, now in Fedor Hall; TheNewsOutlet, currently housed in Smith Hall; Rookery Radio, now in Kilcawley Center; and WYSU, which is in Cushwa Hall, would be relocated to Melnick Hall. Khawaja said his hope is that bringing the university’s media entities together will create a positive synergy for students and faculty. The Rose Melnick Medical Museum, currently on the first floor of Melnick Hall, will be moved to space in Cushwa Hall, which houses the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services. More details will be released as plans are developed.

Melnick Hall

Photo courtesy of The Vindicator

YSU Plays Lead Role in National Manufacturing Initiative

If the hierarchy of academic research was akin to a Thanksgiving dinner, the place for YSU, with its historic open-admissions tradition, has almost always been near the end of the table. Not any more. When high-ranking officials from the Obama administration announced this summer that the new $70 million National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute was coming to Youngstown, YSU’s standing among research universities in the region took an immediate leap forward. As Darrell Wallace, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, puts it: “Not only is YSU at the adults’ table, we’re helping to carve the turkey.” Wallace and YSU played a lead role, in partnership with internationally-renowned research universities like Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve, in developing the proposal to bring NAMII to the Mahoning Valley, beating proposals from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech, among others. “Working hand-in-hand with business and industry, YSU has positioned itself as an increasingly significant and successful center of research and education excellence,” said YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson, who helped cut the ribbon for NAMII. “Our involvement in this project is yet another indication of our evolution into a research institution on the grow.” Martin Abraham, dean of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, added, “YSU’s focus on applied research programs, our strong

connection with area businesses, the quality of our student body, and especially our graduates, has made us a desired research partner for major initiatives such as this.” Located in downtown Youngstown, NAMII seeks to advance technological development in additive manufacturing, a process that uses 3-D printing to produce complex components through “building” the piece layer-by-layer, instead of carving or machining the part from a single source material. Experts say that additive manufacturing is among the areas where the United States has the greatest chance to excel, and use of the technology could produce a revolution in production methods that can be used across many industries and platforms. In all, 12 universities, eight community colleges and more than 50 industries and economic development organizations are involved in the project. Wallace and Abraham said YSU would have unprecedented access to NAMII and its resources, helping expand learning and research opportunities for students and faculty. NAMII will also allow YSU to partner with large contractors like Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin and RTI International. “Here in Youngstown, with our rich manufacturing heritage, it is fitting that we begin the next chapter of the story of modern manufacturing,” Wallace said. In photo above, Michael Hripko, director of STEM research and technology-based economic development at YSU, explains the additive manufacturing process to YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson. At left, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan talks about Youngstown’s selection as the site for a major federal institute for manufacturing innovation.

FALL 2012

House

Pollock History at YSU’s front door

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

The renovation and restoration of the historic Porter and Mary Pollock House on Wick Avenue was completed this fall. The 16-room mansion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by noted Youngstown architect Charles Owsley and was constructed in 1893 for Margaret Wick, the widow of Paul Wick. In 1897, Wick’s daughter, Mary, married Porter Pollock, scion of the Pollock family who owned and operated the William B. Pollock Co. Owsley enlarged the original mansion to accommodate the newlyweds. They lived in the house until Mary succeeded Porter in death in 1949. The Pollock family gave the house to YSU in 1950. The old house was used for YSU offices and classrooms until 1986, when a private developer constructed a 64-room addition and opened it as the Wick Pollock Inn. The inn closed in 1998, and renovation and re-use of the house was included as part of YSU’s master plan. In February 2010, the YSU Board of Trustees agreed to renovate the house and use it as the residence of the university president. The addition was deconstructed in July 2010, and restoration of the original house began about a year later. Interior photos on these two pages show the main level of the house, which includes an office, three sitting rooms, a dining room and kitchen, as well as an outdoor patio. The second level consists of a kitchen, living room and four bedrooms. The third level consists of unfinished rooms that could be used for storage.

FALL 2012

F A C U LT Y BOOKSHELF

Frederick Douglass: Reformer and Statesman, by L. Diane Barnes, professor, History. Published by Routledge (Historical Americans Series), September 2012, 240 pages. This volume offers a short biographical exploration of Douglass’ life in the broader context of the 19th century world, and pulls together some of his most important writings on slavery, civil rights and political issues. The author is also associate editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers and editor of the Ohio History journal. Peaceweaver, by Rebecca Barnhouse, professor, English. Published by Random House, 2012, 325 pages. This young adult novel, a stand-alone companion to Barnhouse’s The Coming of the Dragon (Random House, 2010), tells the story of a girl in sixth century Scandinavia who is forced to marry into an enemy tribe in an attempt to bring about peace. Both novels are inspired by events described in the classic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. Birds and Birthdays, by Christopher Barzak, assistant professor, English. Published by Aqueduct Press, August 2012, 110 pages. The book contains three stories and an essay, written as a tribute to artists Varo, Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning, painters who flourished in male-dominated modernist surrealism. Russian Exploration: From Siberia to Space, by Brian Bonhomme, assistant professor, History. Published by McFarland & Co., 2012, 232 pages. The book provides a narrative survey and critical analysis of geographical exploration by Russians and others in Russian service from 1580 to the present, seeking to more fully establish Russia’s place in the history of world exploration and connecting its exploration to Russian national identity, past and present. The Art and Science of Quality Learning, Second Edition, by Karen A. Becker, coordinator, Reading and Study Skills Center. Published by LEAP Learning Solutions, August 2011, 332 pages. Written as a collaborative effort by the author and YSU’s part-time Reading and Study Skills instructors, the book combines a studentfriendly writing style with a flexible and balanced

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

YSU Magazine publishes the Faculty Bookshelf once a year to celebrate the successes of our faculty and professional staff who have recently published books, released new musical recordings or had art or photos featured in solo exhibitions.

approach to learning at the college level, including a website with activities and videos.

review questions and rap lyrics (rhyming couplets) that review all topics covered.

Second Language Acquisition Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching, by Steven Brown, professor, English, and Jenifer Larson-Hall. Published by the University of Michigan Press, 2012, 199 pages. The authors use current research to refute eight common myths about the learning of a second language or foreign languages and address classroom implications of the research.

They Call Me Fat Zoe, Helping Children and Families Overcome Obesity, co-authored by Don Martin, professor, Counseling and Special Education, with Magy Martin, Paige Krabill and illustrator Kathy Voerg. Published by New Horizon Press, 2012, 48 pages. Told from the point of view of an overweight puppy, the book follows the journey of the dog and its young master toward a healthier lifestyle, demonstrating necessary dietary and behavioral changes.

Shake-UP: Moving Beyond Therapeutic Impasses by De-Constructing Rigidified Professional Roles, by Audrey E. Ellenwood, associate professor, Counseling and Special Education, and Lars Brok, M.D.; edited by Kenneth L. Miller, professor, Counseling and Special Education, and Stacy Lynn Osborn. Published by C & E Limited, May 2012, 256 pages. The book is a provocative read for those in the mental health field, encouraging readers to reflect on their personal growth and to rethink their positions within a therapeutic session, thereby promoting long-term professional development. Taking the Fight to the Enemy: Neoconservatism and the Age of Ideology, by Adam Fuller, assistant professor, Political Science. Published by Lexington Books, 2012, 284 pages. The book examines six “neoconservative” intellectuals and ways their thinking is influenced by communism, fascism, progressivism, the dominant American culture, and even capitalism. Environmental Science – Health Impacts, by Alan M. Jacobs, professor, Geological and Environmental Sciences, and DuWayne Porter. Published by Kendall Hunt, 2012, 134 pages. Topics include sources of environmental risk, air quality, water supply and quality, pests and pesticides, risk assessment and sustainable populations. Need to Know in Environmental Science, by Alan M. Jacobs, professor, Geological and Environmental Sciences. Published by Kendall Hunt, 2012, 138 pages. This study guide includes a summary of the environmental science topics,

Civility in Politics and Education, edited by Deborah S. Mower, assistant professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Wade L. Robison. Published by Routledge Studies as part of its Advances in Contemporary Philosophy Series, 2012, 271 pages. The book examines multiple accounts of civility and its contribution to citizenship, deliberative democracy, and education from Eastern and Western as well as classic and modern perspectives. Calculus with Applications and Calculus with Applications, Brief Version, 10th editions, by Nathan Ritchey, professor and chair, Mathematics and Statistics, with Margaret Lial and Raymond Greenwell. Published by Pearson Education, 2012, 706 pages and 523 pages. Both texts are application-oriented introductions to calculus for students majoring in business, management, economics or the life or social sciences that connect mathematics to career and everyday life situations. Finite Mathematics, 10th edition and Finite Mathematics and Calculus with Applications, 9th edition, by Nathan Ritchey, professor and chair, Mathematics and Statistics, with Margaret Lial and Raymond Greenwell. Published by Pearson Education, 2012, 517 pages and 989 pages. The first book provides an application-oriented introduction to finite mathematics, the second adds calculus as well, for students majoring in business, management, economics or the life or social sciences.

Arts V

Bring Down The Sky, by Karen Schubert, writing instructor, English. Published by Kattywompus Press, 2011, 22 pages. This book of poems looks at the world through the lens of art, and through artists such as photojournalist Larry Towell and sculptors James Turrell and Tony Armeni. The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia, by Ron Shaklee, director, University Scholars and Honors Program, and professor, Geography. Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, July 2012, 112 pages. The book targets middle school audiences with a story about the travels of a Bahamian hutia, a furry brown rodent native to the Bahamas that has almost disappeared due to coastal development and predation by other animals. Shaklee has been visiting San Salvador Island with students since 1984 and has published two previous books and several journal articles "Untitled," by Dragana Crnjak about the island.

D I S P L AY

Recent Work and The Day It Rained Silver, both by Dragana Crnjak, assistant professor, Art, were displayed January through May and July through September, 2011, respectively, at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Mich. “Recent Work” was an exhibition of eight new paintings based on visual exploration of pattern and space in relation to the concepts of displacement and memory; “The Day It Rained Silver” was the first exhibition in the Urban Institute’s new building and featured a site-specific wall drawing. One to Another, also by Crnjak, was displayed in January 2012 at the Roy B GIV gallery in Columbus, where the artist developed a site-specific wall drawing using charcoal and gold acrylic paint.

Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis, by David E. Stout, professor and Andrews Chair in Accounting, with Ed Blocher, Paul Juras and Gary Cokins. Published by McGraw-Hill, September 2012, 960 pages. The text offers integrated coverage of strategic management topics in cost accounting, helping students to learn why, when, and how cost information is used to make effective decisions that lead a firm to success.

Rural Interpretation, by Joseph D’Uva, assistant professor, Art, and area coordinator, Printmaking, and his wife, multi-media sculptor Summer Zickefoose, was displayed this March and April at the Safety-Kleen Gallery at Elgin Community College in Elgin, Ill. The work featured rural and suburban landscapes and cultures. D’Uva participated in a weeklong artist workshop in conjunction with the exhibit, demonstrating printmaking techniques, presenting a lecture on his work and creating a new piece through the college’s collaborative print program. "Shamrockheights," by Joseph D'Uva

Child Health Nursing: Reviews and Rationales, Third Edition, by Nancy H. Wagner, associate professor, Nursing, with Mary Ann Hogan, Judy E. White and Tiffany Johnson. Published by Pearson Education, February 2012, 384 pages. This textbook provides an up-to-date review for effective child health nursing. It can be used by current nursing students for NCLEX-RN licensure preparation or by practicing nurses for a review of the discipline.

Private Moments: Real and Imagined, by Joy Christiansen Erb, associate professor, Photography, was exhibited in September 2012 at the Fawick Art Gallery at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. The exhibit included narrative photos that investigate and question memory, and others that reflect on the personal and universal experiences of motherhood. Down the Hill by the Stomp Pass the Water Pump Make Right, by Dragana "Blackberry Stain," by Joy Christiansen Erb Crnjak, assistant professor, Art, was featured this summer in an exhibition titled “Multiple Propositions: a Look at Contemporary Drawing” at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, one of the nation’s top art schools. Crnjak, one of nine artists invited to participate, developed the 15-foot-square site-specific drawing directly on the gallery wall. Her work investigates drawing and painting practices within a contemporary context, using charcoal as her primary medium. Crnjak was presented the Individual Excellence Award by the Ohio Arts Council in 2011 and in 2008.

Against Moral Responsibility, by Bruce N. Waller, professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies. Published by MIT Press, 2011, 352 pages. The author draws on contemporary research in psychology and biology to argue that moral responsibility is incompatible with our contemporary naturalistic worldview and is an impediment to our understanding of human behavior.

www.ysu.edu

FALL 2012

penguin sports news

Celebrating 31-17 Win Over Pitt in Season Opener

Penguin football started the season with a decisive 31-17 victory over the University of Pittsburgh – YSU’s first-ever win over the BCS and Big East Conference member team. In photos, at right, redshirt freshman Andre Stubbs (No. 4) celebrates a score with sophomore Christian Bryan (No. 2). At far right, top photo, Coach Eric Wolford reacts to a YSU touchdown; bottom photo, after the game, players lined up to share the victory with exuberant fans at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

YSU Men Set Sights High for New Season

Coming off its first winning season in 11 years, the YSU men’s basketball team has been projected to finish fourth in the Horizon League this season, its highest preseason ranking since joining the league in 2001-02. The Penguins are no longer flying under the Horizon League radar after finishing the 2011-12 season with an overall record of 16-15 and a 10-8 mark in the league. The 16-win total is the team’s highest since 2000-01. That eight-win improvement in the Horizon League marks the best one-year turnaround since the league went to 10 teams and the second-best in league history. Leading the team this season is junior guard Kendrick Perry, a 2011-12 All-Horizon League First-Team selection and 2012-13 preseason all-league first-team pick. Kendrick Perry Last season, Perry became just the fifth player in Horizon League history to lead the league in scoring and steals in the same season. He averaged 16.8 points and 2.4 steals per game against conference opponents and led the league in overall scoring. Joining Perry in the backcourt is senior Blake Allen, who averaged 12.8 points per game and led the Horizon League with 91 three-pointers last season. Allen ranks seventh in school history with 138 career three-pointers made and needs just 61 more to break the record. 20

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Brandi Brown

penguin sports news

YSU Athletics Connects with Social Networks Penguin sports fans are making tens of thousands of connections with YSU through social media. On Facebook alone, YSU Athletics reached 74,194 people in the first week of YSU’s football season, Aug. 27 through Sept. 2. Here are more social media stats for that week:

YSUsports.com •

The website received 50,471 hits, including 2,676 hits on its game recap from YSU’s win over Pittsburgh.

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57 percent of traffic came from new visitors, and 58 percent of traffic came from search engines – up from a 41.9 percent average last year.

Twitter

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“Youngstown State” was the eighth most tweeted term nationally at one point in the fourth quarter of YSU’s opening game with Pitt.

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A YSU tweet acknowledging that the Penguins were trending nationally was retweeted 264 times, and the final score was retweeted 248 times. Typically, 10 retweets would be considered high.

Facebook •

YSU Penguins received 402 new likes the weekend of the Pitt game – previously, the daily high for new likes was 25.

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A graphic saying “Thank You, Fans” reached 14,656 – the previous high was 5,050 for a post – and 2,537 people created a story from the graphic through a like, comment or share.

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More than 1,520 viewers clicked on a video of the team singing the fight song in the locker room; 1,180 watched a video of the team’s celebration with fans.

Home Basketball Game Schedules

Brown is Focal Point of Penguin Offense The YSU women’s basketball team has been building momentum over the past two seasons under head coach Bob Boldon, and its mission for 2012-13 is to advance into the upper half of Horizon League standings. The Penguins are returning preseason all-league selection Brandi Brown and two other starters from last year’s squad that won 10 games, the most since 2007-08. Brown will be the focal point of YSU’s offense again, after averaging 15.9 points and 9.3 rebounds last year as a junior. She’s on track to finish in the top three in school history in both career points and rebounds, and she’s determined to complete the program’s turnaround in her senior campaign. Brown will be joined in the frontcourt by sophomore Heidi Schlegel, who averaged 9.7 points last season. In the backcourt, junior Liz Hornberger started 23 games last year and is one of three players who could step in to replace fouryear starting point guard Macey Nortey. Junior Monica Touvelle, who made 53 of YSU’s school-record 275 three-pointers last season, is the team’s top returning outside threat. Although the team would have liked to see more wins, they definitely made progress in competitiveness last season – seven of the Penguins’ final 10 losses were by five points or fewer. YSU lost games by an average of 2.9 points last season, and its improved scoring margin over the past two seasons is the best in the country.

All YSU men’s and women’s home basketball games are played at Beeghly Center, except for the Dec. 8 contest, which will be at Covelli Centre in Youngstown. Times are subject to change. Call 330-941-1978 for ticket information. Scan the appropriate QR code below for the latest information on the men’s and women’s Penguin basketball programs. Men’s Basketball Nov. 16 Saint Francis (Pa.), 7:05 p.m. Nov. 28 Kent State, 7:05 p.m. Dec. 6 Geneva, 7:05 p.m. Dec. 8 Hiram, TBA, Covelli Centre Dec. 29 Marygrove, 2:05 p.m. Jan. 10 Detroit, 7:05 p.m. Jan. 23 Wright State,7:05 p.m. Jan. 26 Cleveland State, 2:05 p.m. Jan. 30 Valparaiso, 7:05 p.m. Women’s Basketball Nov. 18 Bryant, 12:05 p.m. Nov. 30 Stony Brook, 7:05 p.m. Dec. 9 Wilmington (Ohio), 3:05 p.m. Dec. 20 Akron, 7:05 p.m. Dec. 29 Bucknell, 4:35 p.m. Jan. 17 Milwaukee, 7:05 p.m. Jan. 19 Green Bay, 7:05 p.m. Jan. 26 Loyola, 4:35 p.m. Feb. 7 Detroit, 5:15 p.m.

Steve Gillispie

Feb. 7 Feb. 10 Feb. 15 Feb. 17 Feb. 23

Loyola, 7:45 p.m. UIC, 2:05 p.m. Milwaukee, 7:05 p.m. Green Bay, 2:05 p.m. TBA (ESPN BracketBusters)

Feb. 21 Feb. 28 March 2 March 4

Cleveland State, 7:05 p.m. UIC, 7:05 p.m. Wright State, 7:05 p.m.

Valparaiso, 7:05 p.m.

FALL 2012

hilanthropy

Y O U N G S T O W N S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

Scholarship Honors Memory of Teacher, Athlete

Bill Knight started out in the 1930s as a record-setting Bill Knight was a member of the Fitch High School class athlete for Austintown Fitch High School, then dedicated of 1940, served in the Army in World War II, then earned 37 years of his adult life to the school as an industrial arts bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education. Marty Dyer, teacher. In 2010, the year he died, Knight was posthumously a Fitch alumnus and active fundraiser for the Hall of Fame, named to the Fitch High School Athletic Hall of Fame. said Knight is best known athletically for returning a 99-yard Now, the Hall of Fame Committee has decided to honor interception for a touchdown in the late 1930s, still the school Knight once again by creating the William B. Knight Athletic record for the longest interception return. Hall of Fame Scholarship, to be awarded annually to a Fitch “Bill Knight will always be among the top 10 Fitch athHigh School student athlete letes,” said Tim Kelty, making plans to attend YSU. Fitch principal and chair Preference will be given of the Fitch Athletic Hall students pursuing a career in of Fame Committee. K-12 education. Proceeds from the Dr. Chris Knight, a annual Fitch High School hematologist and oncologist Athletic Hall of Fame practicing in Youngstown banquet will continue and Warren and son of to build the William B. the honoree, made a signifiKnight Athletic Hall of cant gift to the endowment, Fame Scholarship knowing that his father endowment, and would be pleased to have a individual contributions college scholarship named in are also welcome. his honor. “Even though my For more information, Dad was a very good athlete, contact YSU’s Office of he always stressed academUniversity Development, Planning details of the William B. Knight Athletic Hall of Fame Scholarship ics over sports,” he said. 330-941-3119. are, from left, Marty Dyer, Dr. Chris Knight and Tim Kelty.

Steelmaker Creates $100K Scholarship Endowment McDonald Steel Corp. has established a $100,000 endowment at the YSU Foundation to provide scholarships for students enrolled in the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. “McDonald Steel has been an integral part of the Mahoning Valley community and economy for more than 30 years,” said YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson. “We are honored to accept this donation as a sign of its continued commitment to the future of the region.” Tim Egnot, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said the community supported the efforts of founders Daniel Roth, David Tod and David Houck when they were putting together a business plan to start McDonald Steel 31 years ago. “This scholarship is a way of giving back to the community, and giving an opportunity to a local student to obtain a degree and ultimately a career that may otherwise might not have been possible,” he said. “It is our hope that recipients of 22

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

this scholarship will be able to pursue a career in the Valley, thereby contributing to the local economy and providing technical expertise to a Youngstown area business, perhaps even McDonald Steel.” Founded in 1981 and located in McDonald, Ohio, in Trumbull County, McDonald Steel is a leading domestic provider of highly engineered hot rolled steel special shapes. The scholarship is designed for full-time students enrolled in YSU’s STEM college. Preference will be given in the following order: employees and descendants of McDonald Steel, residents of McDonald and residents of the Mahoning Valley. Scholarships will be given annually and may be renewed. Selection will be made by a committee in the STEM college. For more information on the scholarship, contact Heather Chunn in University Development at hrchunn@ysu.edu or 330-941-1363 or Paul McFadden at the YSU Foundation at 330-941-3211.

Fraternity Recognized for Kilcawley Improvement Gift

A computer lab at YSU’s Kilcawley Center has been renamed in honor of the Theta Chi fraternity, recognizing alumni of the Epsilon Delta chapter who raised $100,000 in pledges and donations for future renovations at Kilcawley. Fraternity alums and their families celebrated the naming of the Theta Chi Computer Lab on the second floor of Kilcawley at a reception this summer. Theta Chi was active on the YSU campus from 1956 through 2010 and is the first fraternity to have a room on campus named in its honor. Paul G. Perantinides, ’66, a Theta Chi alumnus and Akron attorney, initiated the fundraising effort in October 2011. Paul Zaffaroni and Angelo Ford, both 1969 graduates, motivated support for the $100,000 goal by launching an email campaign to chapter alumni nationwide. YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson, who attended a Theta Chi reunion dinner in Sarasota, Fla. in March, said it was “truly inspiring” to hear the fraternity alumni share stories of their experiences at YSU. “At that gathering, it was clear that the friendships created on campus were genuine and lasting,” she said. “I’m so pleased that the members wish to support YSU by establishing a campus legacy for their fraternity.” In all, 74 Theta Chi brothers contributed, and several made additional gifts in memory of 13 deceased members. A donor plaque is displayed in the room, listing the donors’ names and the deceased members in whose names memorial gifts were given. Theta Chi, a part of the Greek system, was founded in 1856 and is one of the oldest men’s college fraternities in North America. It has more than 160,000 members and 220 chapters nationally and internationally.

YSU Provost Ikram Khawaja, in photo above, presents a resolution by the YSU Board of Trustees naming the Theta Chi Computer Lab in Kilcawley Center to Theta Chi members, from left, Angelo Ford, Paul Zaffaroni and Paul Perantinides. In photo at right, Maureen O’Hara Barber, sister of deceased Theta Chi member Kevin O’Hara, accepts a rose in his memory from William J. Gambrel, ’71.

Consider Philanthropy By R. Scott Evans, Vice President for University Advancement

It is an honor to be on board as a new member of President Anderson’s executive team! I have had the opportunity to meet hundreds of members of the university community in my first few R. Scott Evans weeks. The rich history, unwavering pride and generous spirit of YSU are self-evident. The charge that has been given to me is two-fold. First, the Division of University Advancement will work to create more connections among our 84,910 alumni across the globe and to increase participation in the life of the university. Second, we will continue to build the longstanding tradition and culture of philanthropy and aim for new levels of achievement in every category. I have been overwhelmed by the willingness of our alumni and friends to help the university grow. You are the living proof that the notion of YSU is a good one and one that works. Therefore, you are the best ambassadors. Help your alma mater by introducing prospective students, volunteering for alumni activities and encouraging others to join us. We are off to a tremendous start in philanthropy. We ask you to consider three things in this area. First, please give to the Annual Fund appeal every year in order to provide scholarships and program enhancements. Second, consider a special gift for a specific project, such as the construction of the new Veterans Resource Center or the renovation of Melnick Hall. Third, please remember YSU for the future with a planned gift via bequest, trust, retirement funds or life insurance. I look forward to our work together in the coming years as we lift YSU to new heights. Best wishes for an enjoyable fall season. Editor’s note: R. Scott Evans assumed his duties as vice president for University Advancement in July. He has helped to raise $100 million over his 19-year career in university advancement.

FALL 2012

alumni news Breaking news: Mixer Planned for Jambar Alumni, Current Staffers Veterans of YSU’s student newspaper, The Jambar, will have their second chance to reconnect with old friends and with this year’s Jambar staff at a mixer, set for Dec. 6 at Inner Circle Pizza, across from campus on Lincoln Avenue. The date coincides with the publication of the staff’s final newspaper in 2012. Forty alumni representing every decade going back to the 1950s attended a Jambar reunion lunch this summer. “The outpouring of positive responses from alumni around the country who couldn’t attend that first event was far greater than what we had anticipated,” said Mary Beth Earnheardt, Jambar advisor and assistant professor, English. “The program clearly still matters to our alumni, and we plan to keep them informed.” Earnheardt is working with YSU’s Office of Alumni and Events Management to establish a Jambar alumni group. More than 1,000 students have worked on the newspaper during its more than 80-year history. Jambar alumni can stay connected with one another and with The Jambar by joining the Jambar Retirement Community group on Facebook and by providing Alumni and Events Management with an email address for receipt of the group’s online newsletter. Complimentary campus parking reservations will be made for alumni who RSVP for the next Jambar mixer by Dec. 3. For more information or reservations contact Mary Dota, Jambar business manager, mfdota@ysu.edu or 330-941-3094.

Jambar alumni and newspaper staffers attending a luncheon in their honor are, from left: Nick Young, ’12, Ellsworth; Joe Landsberger, ’98, New Middletown; Jambar advisor Mary Beth Earnheardt; Jordan Uhl, student staffer; Justin Mitchell, ’09, Boardman; Josh Stipanovich, ’12, Austintown; Dan Pompili, ’11, North Jackson; Chris Cotelesse, student staffer; Lamar Salter, ’12, Youngstown; Jeanette DiRubba, ’09, Girard; Bud Ross, ’54, Boardman; Samuel Dickey, ’87, Youngstown; Dorothy Kaglic, ’90, Youngstown; Jambar business manager Mary Dota, ’79, Canfield; retired business manager Olga Ziobert, ’81, Austintown; Lynn Nickels, ’98, ’99, ’08, Painesville; David Harasym, ’75, Euclid; Maraline Kubik, ’94, Canfield; George Nelson, ’88, Niles; and Bob Coupland, ’89, Niles.

‘Drop By Alumni’ Event Draws a Crowd Nearly 300 people, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, gathered on the Alumni House lawn in August for the first annual “Drop by Alumni” event, part of a slate of Welcome Week activities celebrating the start of fall classes. Sponsored by Alumni and Events, the day included tours of the house, free Penguin gear, refreshments and entertainment by the YSU Marching Pride.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

alumni news

Starting a New Tradition with Youngstown Day Colorado Dozens of alumni and friends met in September near Denver for the first annual Youngstown Day Colorado, an event modeled after the popular Youngstown Day event held in Sarasota, Fla. every year. YSU alumni and other former Youngstown-area residents now living in Colorado were invited to the luncheon, and plans for a second event in the fall of 2013 are already underway. If you’re a YSU alum living in Colorado and didn’t receive an invitation this year, please update your contact information at alumni.ysu.edu/info.

Y SU ALU M N I:

Alumni and friends attending Youngstown Day Colorado, in photo above, from left, There are 404 YSU Penguins front row: Keith Evans, ’64, of McDonald; Deepak Gautam, ’04, Aurora, Col.; Sande 4 living in the state of Denver 26 Colorado Fitzpatrick, ’67, Centennial, Col.; Patty Archer, ’62, and Don Archer, Lakewood, Col.; Springs Colorado, with the Gladys Gilida, Castle Rock, Col.; Judith Poulson, ’63, Parker, Col.; Sharyn Landis, 73 largest concentration ’67, Highlands Ranch, Col.; Susan and Michael Martin of Lyons, Col.; Nona Looby, living in Denver. ’84, and Dr. Lawrence Looby, a retired YSU Vice President, both of Parker. Second row: Dick Crosbie, ’63, and Marsha Crosbie, both of Highlands Ranch, Col.; Carol Witala and Donald Witala, ‘69, both of Pueblo, Col.; Darren Rabosky, ’02, Golden, Col.; Rich Pagan ’95 of Castle Rock; Carole Namesnik, ’63, Longmont, Col.; Bernie Bartoszek, ’73, Parker, Col.; Judy Reddick, ’60, Aurora, Col.; Brian Sobnosky, ’03, Denver; Jack Chugden, ’57, Centennial, Col.; Frank Namesnik, ’63, of Longmont, Col.; John Poulson, ’59, Parker, Col.; Dave Morris, ’91, Castle Rock; Ken Landis, ’66, Highlands Ranch, Col.; Nick Gilida, ’64, Castle Rock, Col.; Geoff Evans of Longmont, Col.; Dave Moore ’74, ’77 of Canfield; Jennifer Hare of Aurora, Col.; Matthew Evans, Denver; Colleen Robinson and Jim Robinson, ’68, Lakewood, Col.

C o lo r a d o4 0 4

Gift Idea: Alumni Society Membership An Alumni Society membership makes a great gift! The Office of Alumni & Events Management is happy to coordinate the purchase of memberships to be given to alumni family or friends. You can purchase single or joint memberships for one year, four years, or for life. A payment plan is available for those wishing to purchase a life membership. Call 330-941-3497 for more information.

Save Date! the

Alumni Join Day of Caring

YSU alumni and friends made playground improvements for Easter Seals and worked with children at the agency’s preschool as part of the United Way Day of Caring on Sept. 7. Participants included, from left: Shelly LaBerto, ’90, Alumni Society board president; Tom Ramos, ’65, ’77; Keith Evans, ’65; Ed Brannan, ’79; Mollie Hartup, ’02, ’04, assistant director of Alumni Relations; Heather Belgin, events coordinator; Mary Dimitriou, coordinator; Bruce Sherman ’70, Alumni Society board member.

Nov. 24, 6 p.m. – University Scholar Alumni Reunion. Dinner and dancing at the Georgetown in Boardman. Jan. 25, 7:15 p.m. – YSU Night with Phantoms Hockey, tickets $11 per person, includes game, parking and food voucher. March 3 – Youngstown Day luncheon for YSU alumni and friends at the Hyatt in Sarasota, Fla.

Contact the Office of Alumni and Events Management at 330-941-3497 for more information about any of these events.

FALL 2012

Alumni Advice

@Facebook

We asked more than 10,000 people who have “liked” YSU on Facebook to offer advice for students new on campus this fall. Here’s a sampling of what they said:

GO GREEK!! Best thing I ever did and I made some of the best friends that I still have today. Karen Maughan, ’00 BSBA

Visit your professor as soon as you start having trouble in a class. It’s easier for them to help then. Marianne Lloyd, ’96 BS

Make your college advisor your best friend … Surprises and changes within your major will happen, but if you’re in touch with your advisor often, you won’t get off track. Danielle Long, ’11 BSBA

Network to meet new people ... you never know if some day the guest speaker, the person you ride in the elevator with or the classmate that sits next to you will be on the other side of the interview table. Matthew Pollock, ’11 BSBA

Enjoy every moment. Your time at YSU goes way too fast! Sarah Gavalier, ’09 BSAS

Never forget that college ends. Have a plan for after graduation. Make contacts, network, apply for internships. And above all, do something you love. Joni Koneval, ’10 BA, ’12 MA

Don’t walk around campus texting or on the phone all the time. Look up, see people, experience life.

Don’t just come to class and then go home. Take advantage of the library, say “hi” to professors during office hours, get coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts. Be a part of the campus community. Marie Meeks, ’10 BS, ‘12 MSEd

When you need help, seek it. There are people in every department that want to see you succeed, and their passion is helping students … See your academic advisor every semester. That is so important to graduate on time. Amber Roden, ’08 BSEd

Park in the Wick Avenue parking deck and walk to class. Don’t fight the traffic. Edward Stredney, ’08 BSBA

Go to the Beat Coffee House. Try everything. Taryn Dalesandro, ’11 BSAS

Holly Wells, ’88 AB

YSU HAS CONNECTIONS There are so many ways to stay in touch with YSU:

/youngstownstate

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@youngstownstate @youngstownstate

/youngstownstate

www.ysu.edu

alumni

SPOTLIGHT

C E L E B R AT I N G A C C O M P L I S H E D G R A D U AT E S

His Mission:

Investigating Mars Trevor Graff ’99 The next time there’s a national news report on Curiosity, the NASA rover exploring the surface of Mars, feel free to brag that YSU graduate Trevor Graff plays a key role in the groundbreaking study of the “red planet.” Graff is a planetary geologist at the Johnson Space Center, working with a team of scientists to interpret research data the rover has been transmitting since it landed on Mars in August. Employed by Jacobs Engineering and Science Group of Houston, he works closely with NASA research scientist Richard Morris, the co-investigator for two of Curiosity’s 10 information-gathering instruments. For example, the unmanned rover is equipped with a chemistry camera that works by blasting laser beams at rock surfaces on Mars, creating visible plasma plumes. Graff and other scientists replicate that procedure on various types of Earth rocks in a specially designed laboratory chamber where the atmospheric pressure and gasses are similar to those on the surface of Mars. By comparing the resulting plumes, they can determine which Earth rocks are most similar to those on Mars. Graff is also charged with traveling the world to gather rock and soil samples for testing and comparison. “Hawaii is one of the most interesting locations because of the volcanic material, and I’ve had the difficult task of going there many times,” he quipped. Recently, he was chosen to serve on a five-member crew that simulated a human mission to an asteroid, living and working in a model space vehicle for three days. Even though NASA’s space shuttle program has been retired, the agency is working to send a manned vehicle to an asteroid by 2025, said Graff, and is building a rocket that could one day get us back to the moon, or even Mars. Researchers focused on the study of Mars are also pushing for a NASA program that could return Mars soil and rock samples to Earth, he said. “That’s the direction we’d have to go to really determine if there is, or has ever been life on Mars.” Graff said he was “a nature geek” growing up, an Eagle Scout who enrolled at YSU with plans to study forestry or environmental engineering. He changed course after taking an

Trevor Graff works in a simulated NASA space vehicle.

elective geology class and found a mentor in Ray Beiersdorfer, professor of geological and environmental sciences. Beiersdorfer was doing some research work at NASA at the time, and he recruited Graff as a student intern in his junior and senior years. “If it wasn’t for Dr. Ray (Beiersdorfer), I would never have had the opportunity to work with NASA,” he said. Graff earned two bachelor’s degrees at YSU in 1999, a BS in geology and a BA in earth science. He’s certain that his references from NASA scientists he worked with as an undergrad helped him gain admission to Arizona State University’s highly respected planetary science graduate program, where he earned a master’s degree in geology. Graff stayed on at Arizona State for another four years, working in partnership with NASA scientists on the first generation of Mars rovers, the Spirit and the Opportunity, and that experience paved the way for what he’s doing now. Besides being a scientist, Graff serves in the Army Reserves. He was commissioned as an officer in YSU’s ROTC program, and his 16 years of Reserve service have included deployments to Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. He and his wife, Paige, live in Friendswood, Texas, a Houston suburb, and she shares his adventurous spirit. They are both certified SCUBA diving instructors and have dived together in exotic locales around the world. They also enjoy kayaking, wind surfing, camping and backpacking. Profile by Cynthia Vinarsky

FALL 2012

alumni SPOTLIGHT

Transatlantic Flight:

Trip of a Lifetime Lannie Marsh ’07 Engineering alum Lannie Marsh comes from a long line of aviators. Her grandmother, Marie Barrett Marsh, a 1941 Youngstown College alumna, was one of the first women ever to fly an American military plane. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for her service during World War II. Lannie is an accomplished pilot herself. Licensed for private, commercial, multi-engine and instrument-rated flight, she recently logged 1,000 hours of airtime. Her father, Jim (’78 BSBA), and sister, Katie (’05 BSBA), are also licensed pilots. So when Lannie was looking for a way to spend some quality time with her dad, she thought a flight across the North Atlantic in her single-engine turbo plane would fit the bill. “I wanted to do a big trip this year,” she said. “The way I pitched it to my dad was that I’d do the flight planning and research if he’d go with me.” Creating the flight plan and stocking up on the necessary safety equipment, maps and provisions for the adventure took several months. A single engine plane doesn’t have the fuel

Tracey Hughes

Lannie Marsh and her father, Jim, pose in the Cirrus single-engine plane they flew across the North Atlantic.

capacity or the radio power to fly non-stop across the ocean, she explained, so their route included landings in frigid locales like Greenland and Iceland, and they had to wear specially-designed rubberized immersion suits to weather the extreme cold. Customs regulations also vary from country to country, along with rules that pertain to filing flight plans, and they could never assume that the Internet would be available at every stop. “By the time we took off we had 20 pounds of

Software Researcher Aims to Serve Tracey Hughes ’03, ’08 Tracey Hughes has a 100-piece-and-growing robot collection that lives on her office desk at home. She has two computer science degrees from YSU, is chief executive officer of CTEST Laboratories, a non-profit software research facility she founded with her husband, and she’s a prolific co-author of computer programming and robotics books. But according to Hughes, she’s not a typical “computer person.” “I’m not the kind who lives for computers and considers nothing else,” she said. “I think we all have the responsibility to be involved with changing society no matter what our work is.” That’s the philosophy driving Hughes’ professional aspirations to better her community with her groundbreaking software research. She began her research in the 1990s when she and her husband, Cameron – now a professional software developer and staff programmer/analyst at YSU

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

alumni SPOTLIGHT paperwork,” she said. The father-daughter duo set off on May 25 for the trip of a lifetime, a 16-day journey that included 51 hours of airtime and visits to eight countries – from tiny fishing villages in Greenland and Iceland to the cities of London, Paris and Dublin. There were a few harrowing moments – flying over forest fires and through turbulent thunder storms, and circling over Scotland in heavy clouds and changing weather while another pilot struggled to land. Ironically, Marsh said, one of the scariest experiences for her was not in the air but on land, driving a manual-transmission car on the narrow, winding and hilly roads of Ireland. Overall, the trip went smoothly. “It was an amazing experience and I absolutely would do it again – but not in my plane,” she said, “I’d rather take a faster plane and spend more time in Europe.” Marsh lives in Arlington, Va., and recently accepted a position as a systems engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C. There, she is working to develop a new infrastructure of lighting systems and pilot navigation aids for airports nationwide. A native of Hubbard, Ohio, she majored in engineering at YSU because of her aptitude in math and science but didn’t find her niche until she took flying lessons her sophomore year. “I fell in love with aviation,” she said. She earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical – moved here to begin working toward undergraduate degrees at YSU. Former high school sweethearts from Detroit, they had both earned associate degrees from Community College of Philadelphia and were already making plans to publish their first book on the computer programming language C++. Seven more books would follow. Unlike their writing material, though, their research was focused less on programming practice and more on theory. For the past 20 years, Hughes and her husband have continued their work designing and implementing a knowledge representation scheme they call “knowledge spaces.” “Our research at CTEST Labs, and even when we were students at YSU, has been on computational epistemology – or representing knowledge in the computer,” said Hughes. “We investigate techniques in acquiring knowledge from different sources, representing it in software, and then analyzing the quality of the knowledge.” She and Cameron create software that can reach conclusions about whether or not a proposition in a specific context is true – or, if it can be considered “knowledge.” Hughes explained that much of today’s software extracts information, or facts, from text or documents rather than the supported knowledge she is attempting to represent with her software. Much of the data the couple gathers for their research comes from interrogative documents, such as court trial transcripts.

engineering at YSU in 2007, and a master’s degree in technology aeronautics from Kent State, then worked as a senior consultant for a defense contractor before starting with the FAA. Owning a plane has allowed Marsh to stay in touch with her close-knit family through frequent flights home. She also enjoys marathons, and she’s training for her first triathlon in December, an event that includes running, swimming and bicycling. “The triathlon is in Key West, Fla., so I can fly down,” she said. “My biggest challenge now is, how do I fit a bike inside my plane?” Profile by Cynthia Vinarsky

Alumna Lannie Marsh stands overlooking the London skyline with her father, Jim, also a YSU alum.

“Say there’s a trial transcript of a civil case against a cigarette manufacturer where the plaintiff claims cigarettes cause cancer,” said Hughes. “Both sides bring in experts who present arguments to prove their side. We take the transcripts and extract the propositions. Our software can analyze the quality of each argument and determine which argument was supported.” It’s a concept that could have a major future impact on how documents can be analyzed and interpreted. Hughes and her husband would like to use their software to help non-profit organizations in the Youngstown area and beyond. “I’m not interested in making a billion bucks,” she said. “I’m more interested in solving problems for the greater good.” Right now, for example, they’re applying data mining techniques and their epistemic structures to data they acquired from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, working to determine the relationship between fracking, a process used in oil and gas drilling, and earthquakes. Eventually, they want to create a website that would process data generated by Ohio government agencies for public use, and they can envision many other applications stemming from their research. Hughes and Cameron live in Youngstown and have three children – two daughters and a son – and five grandchildren. Profile by Andrea Armeni

FALL 2012

class ’60s

notes

Janet E. Burrows of Gibsonia, Pa., ’63 BS in elementary education, has retired after a career of nearly 40 years as a public school educator working in Pennsylvania and West Virginia school districts. Her son, Timothy Paul Stoops, graduated from YSU in August with an Ed.D. in educational leadership.

’70s Robert L. Skruck of Hubbard, Ohio, ’77 BSAS in law enforcement administration, was promoted to certified environmental systems manager for the Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Materials, an agency of the Department of Defense, after completing two years of training and testing. A 25-year veteran of the DLA, Skruck now manages all environmental remediation at the agency’s sites in Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania in compliance with EPA regulations. Sharon Shanks of Boardman, ’78 BA in English, was presented the International Planetarium Sharon Shanks Society Service Award at the group’s annual conference in Baton Rouge, La. A lecturer at YSU’s Ward Beecher Planetarium, Shanks has served for six years as executive editor of Planetarian, the quarterly IPS professional journal, and was named an IPS Fellow. She has received two distinguished service awards as an employee at YSU.

Brenda Crouse of Cortland, Ohio, ’81 associate in marketing, ’96 BA in philosophy and religious studies, ’00 MSEd in counseling higher education, was selected as the 2011-12 Outstanding Brenda Crouse Advisor for Sigma Alpha Lambda, a national leadership and honors organization. Crouse is a senior academic advisor in YSU’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and has served eight years as advisor for YSU’s Sigma Alpha Lambda Chapter. Christopher G. Gesing of Pittsburgh, ’84 MSE in civil engineering, was appointed director of National Environmental Policy Act Services for Michael Baker Corp.’s rail and transit operations nationwide. Gesing has more than 30 years of transportation industry planning, engineering and environmental compliance experience and is nationally known for leading large, complex studies.

Joseph Andrew Castrodale of Cleveland, ’80 BA in political science, was recently selected by his attorney peers Joseph Castrodale for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2013, a referral publication for the legal profession. He earned his law degree at Harvard Law School and is an attorney for the law firm of Ulmer & Berne, where he represents large corporate clients in federal and state courts.

Susan Stricklin of Boardman, ’84 BSBA, has been promoted to vice president of marketing at Simon Roofing in Youngstown. She came to the company in 2010 as director of marketing with more Susan Stricklin than 25 years of marketing and managerial experience, most recently at Home Savings in Youngstown. She serves as a member of the campaign cabinet and leadership team for the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, an advisory board member for Goodwill Industries and a board member for Potential Development Program Inc.

Carl G. Swabek of Cincinnati, ’80 BE in industrial engineering, is director of customer and product support for GE Aviation. He recently moved to Cincinnati from Montreal, Canada, where he had been an account executive at Bombardier Aerospace for GE Aviation.

Jacquelyn H. Wolf of Houston, ’84 BA in organizational communications, recently joined LyondellBasell, a plastics, chemical and refining company, as senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Previously, she was senior vice president of human resources at Celanese

’80s

Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse of New York, N.Y., ’80 MBA, was appointed president and chief executive officer of McGraw-Hill Education. He is a former CEO of Harcourt Education and had a distinguished, 26-year career at IBM, serving as general manager of E-Business Services and president of its Asia Pacific Services Corporation. He earned a BS from Pennsylvania State University.

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Corp. in Dallas. Wolf earned a doctorate and a master’s degree in organizational and human systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, Calif., and holds a master’s degree in management from Baker University in Overland Park, Kan. Sam Calabria of Ypsilanti, Mich., ’88 AAS in drafting and design, is a principal designer for Yazaki North America, a tier-one supplier for the auto industry, designing wiring harnesses for Chrysler vehicles. His most recent work has been with the 2010 and 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the 2011 and 2012 Chrysler 200. Doris L. Zimmerman of Warren, ’89 MS in chemistry, ’92 ME in materials engineering, was awarded the E. Ann Nalley Regional Award for Volunteer Service by the American Chemical Society in recognition of her years of service Doris L. Zimmerman and leadership. A society member for 48 years, she has served in national, regional and local leadership positions, organized workshops and other events to engage the community in the study and application of chemistry.

’90s Sam Darghous of Phoenix, ’90 BE in civil engineering, was named vice president and national director of customs and border protection for the Michael Baker Corp. He has more than 20 years of experience in civil engineering and project and program management supporting federal projects. Katrina Hughes Walker of Youngstown, ’91 BS in social work, has been named regional diversity officer for Humility of Mary Health Partners. Previously, she was outreach coordinator to the Katrina Hughes Walker African-American community for Hospice of the Valley. Walker is an Ohio-licensed social worker and has been taking graduate courses in social work at YSU since 2010. Karen L. Morrison of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, ’92 associate in arts, is co-owner of MCR Medical Supply. Founded in 2008, the company’s goal is to deliver quality first aid, CPR and disaster preparedness products, including instructional materials. MCR counts state, federal and Fortune 500 companies among its clients.

Class Notes

Sam Santilli of Kirtland, Ohio, ’92 BS in education, is in his 21st year as a business teacher and his second year as department chair at Euclid High School near Cleveland.

Authors

alumni

Scott Schulick of Youngstown, ’94 BSBA in accounting, ’96 MBA in finance, was recently Sam Santilli named Vice President/ Investments for Stifel, Nicolaus and Co. He began his career as a financial advisor for Butler Wick & Co. in 1994, later served as a vice president of investments for Butler Wick Trust Co. and, for its predecessor Farmers Trust Co., as chief investment officer. Scott Schulick Schulick is a member and former chair of the YSU Board of Trustees, and also served as a student member of the board. He is a board member for the YSU Penguin Club and a past board member of the YSU Foundation and the YSU Alumni Society. Lynn Wyant of Columbiana, Ohio, ’94 BSBA in marketing management, has been promoted to director of development for the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley in Youngstown. Wyant joined the mission staff in 2006 and recently earned her Certified Fundraising Executive certification at YSU.

John F. Greenman reported news from 25 countries on five continents before he made the move to academia as a journalism professor at the University of Georgia. Now he hopes to raise professional standards for travel writing with his new book, Introduction to Travel Journalism: On the Road with Serious Intent, a peer-reviewed academic text published by Peter Lang as Volume John Greenman 5 in its Mass Communication and Journalism series. Greenman, of Columbus, Ga., ’72 BA in American studies, is the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Distinguished Professor of Journalism at UG’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Previously, he was an editor, publisher and corporate officer for Knight Ridder, where he helped lead a team that won the Pulitzer Prize.

Robert “Zero Angel” Richardson of Negley, Ohio, ’07 BA in mathematics, has released his first novel, titled The Throne of Ao, the first in a superhero fantasy series he’s calling War of the Ages. Richardson, ’07 BA, ’09 MS, both in mathematics, is an adjunct YSU faculty member in YSU’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The book is available on Amazon.com and BN.com.

Lynn Wyant

Lori A. Pittman of Westlake, Ohio, ’97 BSBA in management, an attorney with Ulmer & Berne in Cleveland, was recently selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2013, a highly-regarded referral publication in the legal profession.

’00s

Lori A. Pittman

Marcy Melanson of Slatersville, R.I., ’02 AB in psychology, ’07 MSEd in higher education student services administration and counseling, is manager of the continuing education department at Brown University. She joined the university in 2011. Her department operates an extensive summer program, adult education programs, and recently added an executive MBA program and an executive master’s degree program in healthcare leadership

Tony Spano

Tony Spano of Youngstown, ’04 BSBA, founder and executive director of the Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, was presented a presidential citation this summer at Phi Kappa Tau fraternity’s national convention in Nashville in recognition of his service to the community. The foundation raised nearly $11,000 to benefit terminally ill children last year at one of its signature events, the Game of Hope Charity Basketball Classic. Spano is also employed as a vehicle operator for YSU’s Parking Services.

Robert E. Casey of Poland, Ohio, ’63 BA, has written a memoir, titled An Irish Catholic Remembers and Reflects, that explores his Irish Catholic roots, starting with his parents’ experience as Irish immigrants who came to Youngstown in the 1920s. Casey, who earned a law degree from the University of Akron, is retired from a career in government service that included several years as director of the Mahoning County Child Support Enforcement Agency. Robert Casey

Bill Mehalco of Manhattan, N.Y., ’05 BS, was recognized recently by YSU’s Bitonte College of Health and Human Services as the Department of Human Ecology Alumni of the Year. Mehalco is general manager of the Hotel Indigo New York City – Chelsea, a new, 122-room hotel in the heart of the city. In September he also began managing the historic Garden City Hotel in Long Island.

Kris Doran of Girard, ’05 BA in telecommunications, was recently named interactive multimedia instructor at the Trumbull County Career & Technical Center in Warren, and previously held the same position at the Ashtabula County Technical and Career Center. After completing an undergraduate degree at YSU, Doran earned two master’s degrees, one in instructional technology and the second in career and technical education, both from Kent State University. Bill Mehalco

FALL 2012

Class Notes

Diana L. Awad Scrocco of Poland, Ohio, ’06 BA in English and psychology, is employed at Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant teaching professor and associate director Diana L. Awad Scrocco of the Global Communication Center. She recently completed her Ph.D. in English from Kent State University, where she also earned an MA in English in 2008. Amanda Basile of Austintown, ’07 BS in Education and BS in general studies, is a reading teacher at Warren G. Harding High School in the Warren City School District, where she is helping to implement a program that will aid struggling readers in improving comprehension, fluency and other reading skills. Robert Bole of Jacksonville, Fla., ’08 BSBA in marketing management, was promoted to associate at Deutsche Bank Securities in February and continues to work in the company’s Markets Prime Finance division. Jeneane Hugus of Canfield, ’08 BS in middle childhood education, ’11 MSEd in curriculum and instruction, is a sixth grade math teacher at Boardman Glenwood Middle School and is in her fifth year of teaching. Jeneane Hugus The former YSU cheerleader serves as the cheerleading coach for the 7th and 8th grade cheerleaders at Glenwood Middle. She has also completed 30 semester hours of coursework beyond her master’s degree in the field of education.

’10s Justin Waite of Twinsburg, Ohio, ’08 BA in telecommunications, is director of account management for SageQuest in Solon, Justin Waite an award-winning technology company. He joined the company in 2010. Joe Iesue of Daejeon, South Korea, ’09 BA, is a lecturer for the SolBridge International School of Business and Woosong University. Besides teaching business, he is also an Joe Iesue assistant debate coach, coordinator of the model United Nations and supervising coordinator of the debate research team. He started working in South Korea in January 2011. Autumn Izzo of New Castle, Pa., ’09 BS in criminal justice, is a community service supervisor for Community Corrections of Mercer County, Pa. She maintains a caseload of 180 clients and is responsible for conducting drug screens, mentoring clients and making community service assignments. Nathan Porter of Cranberry Township, Pa., ’09 BSBA in human resource management, was recently promoted to regional team member relations manager at

Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh and earned his Professional in Human Resources certification. He was hired as a human resource manager at Giant Eagle in 2009. Ashley Altiero of Poland, Ohio, ’11 MSEd in counseling, is working for Eastern Gateway Community College in a grant funded position as a life coach with Project Hope. Altiero is also employed at YSU as an adjunct faculty member Ashley Altiero through the Department of Counseling and Special Education, teaching Advanced College Success Skills for the Reading and Study Skills Center, and she is the volunteer communications coordinator for the Safe Zone Advisory Council at YSU. Lora I. Werkmeister of Bloomfield, Pa., ’12 MEd, has accepted a position as clinical dietician with the Veterans Administration Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Previously, she spent the summer working as a part-time clinical dietitian at the Lora Werkmeister Weirton Medical Center in West Virginia, after completing her student teaching assignment at New Castle Junior/ Senior High School in New Castle, Pa.

TELL US

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story Nathan Porter

Two Dana Alumni Mark Milestones at USC Dana School of Music alumnus Gary Glaze of Los Angeles, who is celebrating his 20th year as a professor at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, had the opportunity to mentor another YSU alum, Matt Miles, ’10 BM in vocal performance, who completed his MM in vocal performance at USC in May.

Gary Glaze

Tony Spano

Matt Miles

Glaze, ’60 BM, chaired the USC Department of Vocal Arts from 1993-2005 and last year received the Dean’s 2011 Award for Excellence in Teaching. He spends his summers in Italy, teaching at the Tuscia Opera Festival International Lyric Academy, and some of his former USC students have appeared in leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, opera houses in Manheim, Leipzig and Bologna, and as soloists at Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall. He has served as a judge for the Zachary Society Competition in New York, the Bel Canto Finals Auditions in Providence and the Liszt International Competition in Los Angeles. Miles will continue at USC to earn a graduate certificate in performance. Miles will be in Youngstown this fall to perform in the Opera Western Reserve’s production of “The Barber of Seville.”

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Youngstown College bought this house on Wick Avenue in 1946 to serve as a residence for Howard Jones, the university’s first president. Constructed in 1917 by Henry A. Butler, a steel executive and investor, the home was directly adjacent to the Butler Institute of American Art. This photo, showing students relaxing on the home’s park like front lawn, was taken in the spring of 1958 and featured in the Neon, the university’s yearbook. When Jones retired in 1966, the house was remodeled and used as an executive office building, and in 1976 it was demolished to make room for the new Maag Library. The Porter and Mary Pollock House on Wick Avenue has been renovated to serve as YSU’s new presidential residence. For photos of the newly renovated home, see Page 16.

The President’s Residence, 1958

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