YSU Magazine Spring 2016 by Youngstown State University

SPRING 2016

A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

ASHLEY ORR, RHODES SCHOLAR Page 6

SUCCESS IS BREWING Page 14

ELECTION PERSPECTIVES Page 19

O N T H E COVER

On Stage in Carnegie Hall

Senior Ashley E. Orr, YSU's first Rhodes Scholar, stands outside DeBartolo Hall on the university campus. Get to know her in our Cover Story, Page 6.

YSU President

The Dana School of Music Wind Ensemble had the honor of performing in Carnegie Hall in New York City, one of the world's preeminent concert venues, on the day after Thanksgiving. In the photo below, Stephen L. Gage, professor of Music and director of Bands and Orchestra, conducts the 55-student ensemble. It was the wind ensemble's second appearance in the iconic concert hall – the group was invited back 10 years after its debut performance there.

James P. Tressel

YSU Board of Trustees Chair Carole S. Weimer, ’89 Vice Chair Leonard Schiavone Charles R. Bush, ’71 Delores Crawford, ’68 David C. Deibel, ’75 James B. Greene John R. Jakubek, ’79 Harry Meshel, ’49 James Roberts, ’70 Secretary Franklin S. Bennett Jr. Student Trustees Samatha Anderson Bryce A. Miner Associate Vice President, Shannon Tirone, ’94 University Relations Director, Office of Catherine Cala Alumni Engagement ———————————

Public Information Officer

Magazine Editor

Photographer

Sports Contributor

Layout Design

Ron Cole Cynthia Vinarsky Hixenbaugh Joel Lewis Trevor Parks Web & Creative Services

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 2152-3746), Issue 23, Spring 2016, is published twice a year by the YSU Office of Marketing & Communications. For address changes, letters to the editor, ideas and comments: Call 330-941-3519 Email universitymagazine@ysu.edu Or mail to: Youngstown State University Office of Marketing & Communications One University Plaza Youngstown, OH 44555 Youngstown State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/ or expression, disability, age, religion or veteran/military status in its programs or activities. Please visit www.ysu.edu/ada-accessibility for contact information for persons designated to handle questions about this policy. 8-001

Student musicians gathered outside Bliss Hall to say goodbye before leaving on their bus trip to New York’s Carnegie Hall. Participating in the send off were, front row, from left, Michael R. Crist, interim dean of the College of Creative Arts and Communication, Stephen L.Gage and Jim Tressel, YSU President.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

'16 S P R I N G

in this

Fast Facts – Our designers take a graphic look at some YSU facts and bragging points.

Philanthropy: Million Dollar Gifts – The YSU Foundation celebrates three new $1 million gifts to the university.

6 9

update

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Help YSU stay in touch with you. Visit our new, interactive site to update your contact information.

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COVER STORY: Ashley E. Orr, Rhodes Scholar – We’re proud to introduce the first YSU student to be awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Around Campus – Enrollment is up this Spring Semester, the first semester-to-semester increase in five years. The story leads our university news roundup.

Melnick Makeover – Get a glimpse of renovations that created a shiny new studio for WYSU-FM and an expanded headquarters for the YSU Foundation.

Success is Brewing – YSU alumni succeeding in the beer industry run the gamut – from operating their own craft beer breweries to working behind the scenes for some of the country’s best known beer makers.

Election Perspectives – Two professors write about Ohio’s historic role in national elections, a journalism grad covers the presidential race and two students are honorary GOP delegates.

Alumni Spotlight – Read about three exceptional grads: Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, ’51, ’56, retired federal judge, attorney and author; Kevin Petro, ’93, who takes command of the Army’s psychological operations in the Middle East this summer; and Kim Anderson, ’15, whose experiences as a foster parent have inspired a new career in mid-life.

Faculty/Staff Bookshelf and Art – Proudly celebrating the achievements of faculty and staff who have recently published books or had their work featured in art exhibitions.

Carnegie Hall photo by Claudia Gage, student

ALUMNI

issue

DEPARTMENTS 2 28 30 32 34

President’s Message Student Success Stories Alumni News Penguin Sports Class Notes

SPRING 2016

Raising Expectations, Rhodes and Beyond What do these people have in common – John B. Oakes, Frank Wells, Kris Kristofferson, Bill Bradley, Rachel Maddow, Susan Rice and Bill Clinton? They were all Rhodes Scholars. Oakes went on to become editorial page editor of the New York Times; Wells was president of Warner Brothers and the Walt Disney Co.; Kris Kristofferson became a popular American songwriter; Bill Bradley played for the New York Knicks in the NBA and served in the U.S. Senate; Rachel Maddow is a talk show host on MSNBC; Susan Rice advanced to become the first African American woman to serve as U.S. ambassador James P. Tressel President

to the United Nations; and Bill Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States. You can now add to the list Ashley Orr of Columbiana, Ohio – a senior economics and mathematics major at Youngstown State University, president of YSU Student Government, award-winning researcher and one of the smartest, kindest and most driven young people to ever grace the YSU campus. In this issue of YSU Magazine, we recognize and congratulate Ashley for becoming the first YSU student to ever receive the Rhodes award, widely considered to be the world’s most prestigious scholarship. The Rhodes program was established in 1904, and YSU is only the fourth public university in Ohio to have a student so honored. First and foremost, the scholarship speaks volumes about Ashley – her determination, commitment, intelligence, awareness and the bright, influential future that she certainly has before her. But it also says something about YSU – that our best students are able to compete and measure up with the best across the nation, and the world. While the Rhodes Scholarship is especially exciting, our students are constantly winning awards and making a name for themselves, and for YSU. Just this past winter, a team of our students placed second in the national Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. We had two students achieve national rankings in Moot Court competitions. And two student journalists for The Jambar newspaper won reporting awards at the National College Media Convention. Individually and collectively, these students and many more like them are increasing our excellence, raising expectations and making all of us YSU…and Proud.

Go Penguins,

James P. Tressel, President

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

founded in

1908

STUDENT - FACULTY RATIO

$8,100 TUITION based on the 2015-16 tuition and fees.

MILLION

T O TA L

FINANCIAL AID distributed to YSU students last year.

12,361

16:1

Annual YSU In-State

OVER $125

Total Enrollment of

STUDENTS

145 ACRE

Has been named a Tree Campus USA

CAMPUS

since 2009.

NEARLY

THOUSAND

ALUMNI

Working, Learning and Living All Over the World.

MILLION

IN GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS GgG

awarded to YSU students last year.

+ 3.14 STUDENT 190 ORGANIZATIONS

1,160

PETE'S PRIDE

THE AVERAGE

MEMBERS

HIGH SCHOOL GPA

of the fall 2015 freshman class, and the highest in university history.

Support YSU from 33 different states.

SPRING 2016

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

A million...times three

Three $1 Million Donations Historic for YSU

Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata speaks with print and electronic news media representatives after YSU announced her $1 million gift to the university.

As 2015 ended and 2016 commenced, something unprecedented happened in the 100-plus year history of YSU – the university announced three $1 million donations in four months. First, in a meeting Nov. 16 with university donors on campus, Ellen and Jim Tressel pledged $1 million to help expand student employment opportunities at YSU. On Feb. 22, Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata announced her own $1 million gift to fund initiatives to enhance student success and also to continue a scholarship endowment that she established earlier. And in between, YSU accepted an additional $1 million gift from an anonymous donor. “To have three gifts of this significance in such a short period of time is certainly historic for YSU and an indication of the continuing strong and widespread support for the university and our students,” said Paul McFadden, president of the YSU Foundation, the designated philanthropic arm of the university. The gift from YSU President Tressel and Mrs. Tressel, a YSU alumna, will create the Ellen and Jim Tressel Student Work Opportunity Endowment Fund, which will increase campus jobs for students. “Research shows that students with part-time campus jobs are more successful in the classroom and have

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Philanthropy better chances of graduating on time, not to mention the benefits of earning extra money for the variety of expenses that college presents,” Jim Tressel said. The donation is yet another significant gift from the Tressels. Past gifts have included $500,000 to the YSU Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS) and $125,643 to the YSU Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Tressel became YSU’s ninth president in 2014. He previously served as head football coach at Ohio State University and at YSU. Meanwhile, Linsalata, a native of Youngstown and a two-time graduate of YSU, said she is grateful for the opportunity to support her alma mater. “The initiatives that President Tressel and Paul McFadden have launched will take this university to the next level of excellence YSU President Jim Tressel and his in scholarship, professional wife, Ellen, pledged $1 million training for its students and to create more student jobs on community impact,” she said. campus. Linsalata grew up on Youngstown’s West Side, graduated from Youngstown Chaney High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree in French and Education and a master’s degree in Business Administration, both from YSU. “We thank Jocelyne for this generous gift that will help YSU students succeed in their academic endeavors, graduate

on time and advance to success in their careers,” Tressel said. “Jocelyne’s commitment to and support for YSU is unmatched; we are fortunate to have her as a leader of the Penguin community.” Currently, Linsalata, who lives in Cleveland, is vice chair of the YSU Foundation. She also is a member of the YSU Williamson College of Business Administration Visiting Committee and the YSU President’s Council. In 2014, she received the WCBA's Outstanding Alumni Service Award. In the Cleveland area, Linsalata serves as secretary of the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital Foundation at University Hospital, where she co-led the philanthropy and advised on the design for a new $40 million Emergency Department for University Hospital in 2012. The anonymous gift will be used to fund a scholarship endowment and “Research shows that also will go students with parttoward a new time campus jobs are endowment to increase more successful in the the number of classroom ...” campus jobs – Jim Tressel for students, McFadden said.

Business Alum Donates $350,000 to YSU

John A. DePizzo

John A. (Jack) DePizzo Jr., founder and vice president of Jadco Enterprises Inc., has donated $350,000 to Youngstown State University. DePizzo, a 1971 graduate of YSU, received the Outstanding Business Alumnus Award from the Williamson College of Business Administration in 2009. He was a founding member of the Sigma Pi social fraternity and a member of Alpha Tau honorary accounting fraternity. “I truly feel indebted to the university and am happy to make this gift,” DePizzo said. “Without YSU, there would have been no way for me to receive a college education. YSU was there for me, and now I want to do my part and be there for YSU.” “On behalf of the entire university, we want to thank Jack for this extremely generous gift,” President Jim Tressel said. Jadco owns several senior care facilities, most of which are located in Ohio. DePizzo is currently developing state-of-the-art senior care communities along the west coast of Florida. DePizzo has previously made significant donations for the construction of the YSU Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center and the new Williamson College of Business Administration building, as well as gifts to Intercollegiate Athletics and to the annual JAD Scholarship Endowment Fund.

SPRING 2016

Road to the Rhodes: Following the Journey of YSU’s First-Ever

Rhodes Scholar by Andrea Tharp

This fall, Youngstown State University senior Ashley Orr will join a

112-year-old list of exceptionally accomplished scientists, politicians, authors and athletes as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. She is YSU’s first – only three other public universities in Ohio can claim such an honor – but she’s blazing a trail for generations of future Penguins to follow.

he course of Ashley Orr’s life took a distinct turn the last day of October 2015. The YSU senior from Columbiana, Ohio, had just learned that she’d been named a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, a rank no other YSU student had ever before reached. “I was in my Jedi costume when I got the email,” Orr recounts. “It was Halloween, I was volunteering at the Rich Center for Autism, and I’m crying, and the kids are confused … it was just a great day.” Out of the 2,000 U.S. college students who had sought out endorsements to apply for the scholarship that year, and the 869 who received them from 316 different universities across the country, Ashley had been chosen to advance to the final step of the selection process. Her next stop would be to Chicago to interview for one of the most revered international fellowship awards in the world and then, if selected, to Oxford University. Only 32 American college students are selected each year to join 57 other students from around the world in representing a new class of Rhodes Scholars. Funded through The Rhodes Trust, a British charity established on behalf of Cecil J. Rhodes, the post-graduate award offers a two-year, all-expenses scholarship valued at nearly $100,000 to study at Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. “Rhodes Scholars are chosen not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements,” says Elliot F. Gerson, American Secretary of The Rhodes Trust, “but also for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead.” Since 1904, just over 300 U.S. colleges and universities have been represented in the prestigious group of scholarship recipients. This year, YSU puts its stamp on that list, joining only three other Ohio public institutions that have ever celebrated a Rhodes Scholar: The Ohio State University, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. Orr first considered applying for the scholarship last summer. The Mathematics and Economics double major was studying abroad in London and decided to take the one-hour train ride to visit Oxford for the first time. She fell in love with the environment there – she calls it “academic heaven” – and immediately phoned her boyfriend (now her fiancé) to tell him. But when he suggested she apply for the Rhodes, she hesitated at first, convinced she didn’t stand a chance. “He kept telling me, ‘No, I think you should and I think you’ll get it,’” Orr said. “And when the people I think the world of suggest something to me, I try to listen to them.”

Leading with a ‘Servant’s Heart’

It had been a whirlwind three years leading up to that Oxford introduction, and Orr didn’t waste a second in kicking them off. “Ashley immediately became immersed in the YSU and Youngstown communities,” remembers Amy Cossentino, director of the YSU Honors College. “In fact, she took on the task of coordinating a major service project before her first day as a freshman.”

The project, Penguin Pen Pals, was an idea that needed a leader. The goal was to connect YSU students with local elementary students to help them with their writing skills and foster a college mindset. Orr graduated from high school in May 2012; she had her first meeting with Cossentino on project development in June. By fall, 40 YSU volunteers were signed up, and the program still thrives today. “She hasn’t stopped that pace yet,” Cossentino said. “She’s only accelerated.” Described as “extraordinarily active” in volunteerism by The Rhodes Trust and involved in Student Government Association as president, the Honors College, academic societies and Mahoning Valley initiatives, it’s clear Orr has had a plan from the start. But it’s never been about her. “I approached my freshman year very grateful,” said Orr, who earned the Leslie H. Cochran University Scholarship, YSU’s top, full-ride award. “I went into that year thinking, I will make sure, with all my might, that everything I do will be almost as great as the gift they’re giving me.” Giving back has always been Orr’s philosophy. She keeps her car stocked with thank you notes, ready to hand out to a friendly store clerk or helpful professor, and her calendar tells the story of a dedicated volunteer who makes it her mission to impact others. As a junior, she co-founded the Poverty Awareness in Youngstown Organization to inspire student collaboration with the community toward the goal of poverty awareness – a topic that has also carried into Orr’s research and career plans. It’s a mission that doesn’t surprise Cossentino. “She epitomizes what it means to have a ‘servant’s heart.’”

Finding Her Field

At seven years old, Orr announced that she was going to do math for the rest of her life. A bold statement for a second grader, but she excelled far beyond her classmates in the subject. Her grandmother encouraged her talent, making a game of who could add the cost of food items in their grocery cart the fastest and letting Orr watch her balance the books for the office she managed. But while Orr’s natural abilities in math would lead her to her first major at YSU, it was her drive to pay it forward that would eventually demand a recalculation. She was completing a Research Experience for Undergraduates at Texas A&M the summer after her freshman year when she noticed how the algorithm she was studying could be applied in a practical way to the business world. Top of Page 6, Ashley Orr in the University Archives at Maag Library; lower Page 6, she accepts a resolution in her honor at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus; and at right, Orr stands outside the London School of Economics on the final day of her study abroad experience.

professor of Mathematics and Statistics at YSU. “Everyone was “That was pivotal,” she recalls. “It taught me that my so proud of her, no matter the outcome, just that she was willing research had to have human impact for it to be meaningful to reach that high.” to me.” The advice was not lost on Orr. The field of economics became her solution. “Dr. Wakefield pointed out that, before I came to YSU, I “Studying economics is like studying the pursuit of was too scared to apply to an Ivy League school like Harvard, happiness,” Orr explains. “If we can come up with models which was a goal of mine since eighth grade – luckily, because that replicate what humans want in order to be happier, it can I’m extremely happy here at YSU – but change policy and change lives.” between then and now, I’d developed Shifting her math strengths to a that courage to try,” she explained. support role, Orr quickly hit her stride “I have to thank him for that.” and progressed in a field that seemed Orr did apply; became a finalist to be made for her. She’s since taken for the Rhodes Scholarship and for on extensive research projects with the two other major national awards, the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Marshall and Truman scholarships; Authority and the city of Youngstown, and finally got the nod that made the a study abroad experience at the Rhodes official. London School of Economics and an The first person from the Orr internship at the Federal Reserve Bank family to go to college was now the of Cleveland. first student in YSU’s 108-year history “There’s no doubt Ashley is the best to be accepted into one of the most student I’ve had in 10 years,” attests Ou prestigious scholarship programs in Hu, associate professor of Economics the world. at YSU and advisor for Orr’s senior Ashley Orr capstone project. “She’s not only smart, but hard Orr will graduate from YSU this spring with her bachelor’s working; sometimes I wonder where she gets the energy to do in Mathematics and Economics before entering the Rhodes all she does.” Scholar Class of 2016 in August. She’ll join a student body at Orr’s research has largely centered on quantifying factors Oxford that represents 140 countries and territories; an alumni related to the poverty problem in order to better understand group that includes 26 Nobel Prize winners, 120+ Olympic its causes and potential solutions. She is currently expanding medalists and more than 30 modern world leaders; and an her study on the preferences of public housing participants academic history that dates back further than the Aztec Empire. to include additional factors such as neighborhood property “For YSU, having a Rhodes Scholarship recipient serves as values, school quality and crime. validation of the quality of educational experiences available to “Research is not a chore to her, or something she does our students,” said Cossentino. “It shows what we have to offer just for the course credit,” Hu said. “She has a genuine passion students, like Ashley, who are determined to take advantage of for researching public issues, which she’ll be studying further every opportunity.” at Oxford. Solving the world’s poverty problem – what an Wakefield agrees. “Our students can go head-to-head admirable pursuit.” against the most elite universities and come out on top, and I believe that firmly. But this is the real evidence.” He added, A letter to Harvard was penned and posted by a math“We’re so proud of Ashley. She likes to give credit to other minded eighth grader from Columbiana who had just people, but she did this. This is her honor.” decided to be the first person in her family to graduate Orr plans to pursue her MPhil in Economics, equivalent from college. Her grandmother took her to the post to an American master’s degree, before progressing to the office to mail it. The letter was requesting admissions DPhil program. The doctorate would take an additional materials. two years to complete, for which Orr will be able to apply The girl never did get a response from Harvard. for extended funding through the Rhodes program. She is And years later, she never would apply to the eager to become involved with Oxford’s Poverty and Human university, convinced she didn’t stand a chance. Development Initiative and noted the university’s work with the United Nations on poverty reduction. The Rhodes committee almost never saw Orr’s application. Above all, she’s excited about what the award can inspire For all the vigor she brought to her work and service, Orr in her YSU peers. “There are brilliant students here who are initially lacked confidence when it came time to apply. Her extremely competitive on a global scale. I hope I can show them professor and advisor, Thomas Wakefield noticed the hesitation. that if I can do this, they can do it too.” “We met several times, and I just wanted to support her and encourage her to take that risk,” said Wakefield, associate

Oxford Bound

Big

Fish, Ocean Big

Rhodes

Scholar

Around C

In the Works: New Student Housing on Rayen Avenue Construction on University Edge, the new 162-bed student apartments on the West Side of campus, is well underway. The four-story apartment building along Rayen Avenue between Fifth and Belmont avenues will open for the start of fall semester, the first new student housing at YSU in six years. Hallmark Campus Communities, which has developed student housing at universities across Ohio, will pay for

Enrollment Climbs for First Time Since 2011 Significant increases in the number of international students and graduate students helped elevate YSU’s Spring semester enrollment totals, resulting in the first semester-to-semester enrollment increase since 2011. The university has 12,361 students enrolled this semester, up 0.33 percent, or 41 students, over spring 2015. Gary Swegan, associate vice president for Enrollment Planning and Management, said continued growth is expected for Fall semester. Overall graduate enrollment is up by 6 percent to 1,295 students, while the number of international students is up 18 percent to 282. Swegan said he believes the combination of YSU’s wide-range of nationally accredited programs and relatively low cost – the lowest tuition among Ohio’s largest public comprehensive universities – is increasingly attractive to students.

the construction and will manage the apartments. With the new project, YSU will have nearly 1,700 student beds available in five university residence halls, the university-owned Courtyard Apartments and three private apartment complexes. In addition, the Board of Trustees in December authorized leasing land for a retail/student apartment complex on Wick Avenue, between Lincoln and Rayen avenues. That lease still requires the approval of the state.

Frozen: Room and Board Charges Won’t Go Up COST OF LIVING ON CAMPUS

YSU will freeze students’ YSU’s annual room and board fees for the room and board charges 2015-16 academic year are the lowest among public universities in the state. for next academic year, ensuring that the university Institution Cost* maintains its position as the Miami of Ohio.......................................$11,898 least expensive Ohio public Univ. of Akron.......................................$11,626 university for students who Ohio State..............................................$11,522 live on campus. Kent State...............................................$11,014 “We are committed to Univ. of Cincinnati...............................$10,750 providing a full, rewarding Cleveland State....................................$10,608 university experience for all Univ. of Toledo......................................$10,403 of our students at a value Shawnee State......................................$9,526 price,” said Eddie Howard, Central State..........................................$9,447 YSU associate vice president Bowling Green......................................$9,424 for Student Experience. Wright State...........................................$8,996 Students living in YSU YSU............................................... $8,990 residence halls will pay *Double room with a full meal plan $8,990 for next academic year. That amount is unchanged from this academic year and the lowest cost among Ohio’s comprehensive, four-year public universities. The university has five residence halls that house nearly 870 students, plus Courtyard Apartments on the east side of campus with 408 beds.

SPRING 2016

Retiree Volunteers, Earns College Credit for Grandson YSU alumna and retiree Paula Kacir, ’65 BSEd of Hubbard, has invested 90 hours of her time as a volunteer tutor and mentor. Very soon, when her tally reaches 100 hours, she’ll receive a three-credit-hour free tuition waiver that she plans to give to her grandson, a YSU freshman. Kacir is participating in a pilot program – called GIVE back. GO forward. – that allows volunteers age 60 and older to earn free college credit that they can use themselves or gift to a student. A joint initiative between the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the Ohio Department of Aging, the program awards tuition waivers to YSU or Eastern Gateway Community College. Retired after working more than 30 years as a child care provider, Kacir volunteered as an after-school tutor for Youngstown Community School pupils through the United Way Success After 6 program; now she’s working as a reading tutor with another program, Project MORE. She plans to award her first three-hour tuition waiver to her grandson Michael Kacir, a civil engineering major, and hopes to earn another waiver to benefit another grandson, Nicholas Kacir, now a high school sophomore. To learn more about GIVE back. GO forward., visit www.ohiohighered.org/gbgf.

YSU Magazine Wins in National Competition

Silver

YSU’s alumni magazine, YSU Magazine – a Magazine for Alumni and Friends, has been recognized with a Silver Award in the national 2016 Collegiate Advertising Awards competition. It’s the second time in three years that the magazine, published biannually by YSU’s Office of Marketing and Communications, won national recognition in competition with print publications produced by other universities nationwide with enrollments in the 10,000 to 20,000 range. Cynthia Vinarsky Hixenbaugh is magazine editor, and the staff includes: Ron Cole, YSU public information officer; Joel Lewis, university photographer; Andrea Tharp, assistant editor, new and social media; Angela Ireland, advertising and publications coordinator; and YSU’s Web and Creative Services team. The award-winning issue, published in Fall 2015, features a cover story titled “Entrepreneurial Spirit, Penguin Style” and profiling 10 YSU alumni entrepreneur business owners. The Collegiate Advertising Awards is an elite national competition that seeks to recognize talented university marketing professionals. More than 900 entries were received for this year’s competition. 10

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

YSU Professor Qi Jiang, left, and Rachel Sun of Tractus Asia work the YSU booth at a college expo in China.

YSU’s Next Frontier? YSU is expanding its global reach by reaching agreements with five universities in China, setting the stage for a range of educational collaborations. A six-person YSU delegation spent two weeks in China in the fall, visiting five cities and nine universities. Martin Abraham, YSU provost and a member of the delegation, signed memoranda of understanding with five universities: Beijing Jiaotong University, China University of Petroleum Beijing, Beijing Northern Investment Group (representing 18 colleges with 200,000 students), Chengdu Technological University and Communication University of China in Nanjing. “There are tremendous opportunities in China for YSU to build relationships and establish partnerships,” said Abraham. “We believe, over the long haul, that they could be extremely beneficial for our students, faculty and the greater Youngstown community.” In addition to the signed agreements, the delegation made three recruitment presentations, met with recruitment agencies and specialists, presented a lecture and showed a video about YSU’s additive manufacturing program, hosted a dinner for YSU alumni in Shanghai, and participated at an education expo. About 75 students completed inquiry cards to get more information about attending YSU.

University Programs Collect Accolades From its employee health program to the survey it uses to learn what employment and educational choices alumni make after they graduate, YSU has accumulated a sizable list of accolades over the last few months. Here are the highlights: • Affordable Colleges Online included YSU on its national list of the Top 50 Most Affordable Online Colleges for 2016. YSU is ranked 17th on the list and is the only university from Ohio that made the rankings. • YSU won the Healthy Ohio-Healthy Worksite Gold Level Award for 2015 for its commitment to employee health. It’s the fifth consecutive year that YSU has won the award and the first time the university has received the Gold Level Award – previously the university won two Silver Awards and two Bronze Awards.

Freshening Up His Flock

• YSU’s Office of Career Services was awarded a Gold Badge for its Graduate Career Outcome Survey data collection efforts by GradLeaders, a leading network for matching students and employers. The graduate survey provides comprehensive information about the employment and continuing education decisions made by YSU students after they graduate.

YSU alumnus Bob Barko Jr. returned to campus to freshen up his flock – the 84 Pete and Penny fire hydrants all around the YSU campus that he painted in 1993, the year he earned his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. Now employed as Superintendent of Public Affairs for the 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Barko had returned in 2002 to repaint some of the hydrants and was brought back again this summer to give his designs another facelift. Some hydrants have unique features, like the one outside YSU’s new Veterans Resource Center, in photo, that’s painted with a helmet and military camouflage.

• YSU was one of just three schools nationwide to receive a Starfish 360 Award for improvements in student course completion rates after implementing the Starfish student retention program in 2012. Starfish allows faculty to flag students who are behind academically and connect them to peer mentors and student support staff. • Beta Gamma Sigma, YSU’s business honor society, has earned highest honors on the Beta Gamma Sigma International Collegiate Chapter Honor Roll based on the high acceptance rate of invitees. During 2014-15, the BGS Chapter inducted 52 new members – only the top 10 percent of juniors and seniors and the top 20 percent of MBA students are invited to join.

‘White Coat Ceremony’ is New Nursing Tradition

YSU’s Department of Nursing began a new tradition this year with its inaugural “White Coat Ceremony” for 112 sophomore nursing students. Participating students were presented with white coats and pins from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation representing humanism and excellence. YSU President Jim Tressel and Joe Mosca, dean of the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services, also took part in the event. Nancy Wagner, associate professor and chair of Nursing, said white coat ceremonies are a common medical school tradition. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is encouraging nursing schools to add the event to their calendars as well as a way to mark the student nurses’ transition into their clinical experiences. YSU was among 60 schools of nursing nationally awarded $1,000 grants from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, in conjunction with AACN, to support the White Coat event.

SPRING 2016

Jambar Wins Top Reporting Award

Jambar editors Gabby Fellows, left, a junior from New Springfield, Ohio, and Graig Graziosi, a senior from Boardman, accept the Pinnacle Award that the YSU student newspaper won for Best Breaking News Story at the National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas. The awardwinning story was a report on campus union negotiations co-authored by Graziosi and Liam Bouquet of Liberty, Ohio, who graduated this past spring. There were more than 100 entries in the breaking news category.

Welcome Welcome

STEM and CLASS New Deans

YSU’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences are both welcoming new deans this spring. Wim F.A. Steelant, vice president of Research and dean of Science at St. Thomas University in Florida, began his new position March 16 as dean of STEM, the university’s second-largest college with nearly 3,200 students. Kristine L. Blair, professor and former chair of English at Bowling Green State University, has been selected the new dean of CLASS. Blair will start her new position on May 16, pending approval by the YSU Board of Trustees.

Wim F.A. Steelant

Kristine L. Blair

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

NEOMED Program to Focus on Family Docs A new educational partnership between YSU and the Northeast Ohio Medical University aims to increase the number of primary care physicians serving medicallyunderserved populations across the region. The YSU-BaccMed program, which will enroll its first cohort of students in Fall 2016, allows individuals who want to become primary care physicians to earn both bachelor’s and medical degrees within a variety of timelines, including a compressed, seven-year period. The Fall 2016 class will include 20 students; the second class, to start in Fall 2017, will include 40 students; the third class begins Fall 2018 and will include 70 students. “YSU-BaccMed is built on the premise of finding talented students who want to enter the field of primary health care, set up practices for people in rural, urban, and economically disadvantaged areas, and/or do research related to and supporting primary care and medically underserved communities,” said Stephen Rodabaugh, associate dean of the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and the YSUNEOMED liaison officer. For more information on YSU-BaccMed, visit the YSU STEM website.

New Scholarships to Honor, Memorialize Qualifying YSU students will have five more scholarships to compete for, thanks to recent philanthropic gifts from the Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation and from YSU Provost Martin Abraham and his wife, Nancy. The Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation has pledged $174,000 to establish the following three scholarships at YSU: • A dental hygiene scholarship, which honors Alice D. Guerra, a professor emeritus in the Department of Health Professions at YSU. • An MBA scholarship for graduate students that honors Michael S. Senchak, president and chief executive of the foundation. • An undergraduate business scholarship, honoring Michael Vallas, board director of the foundation. Meanwhile, Martin and Nancy Abraham have donated $50,000 to YSU to establish scholarships in memory of their parents. Their gift creates the Herbert S. and Agnes T. Wallis Scholarship, honoring her parents, for undergraduate students majoring in electrical engineering technology, and the Sam E. and Barbara Abraham Memorial Scholarship, honoring Martin Abraham’s parents, for undergraduate students in the computer science or the information technology programs. For more information, call the YSU Foundation, 330-941-3211.

Melnick Makeover –

New Home for WYSU, YSU Foundation WYSU-FM 88.5 and the YSU Foundation have moved into fresh new quarters in the recently renovated Melnick Hall on Wick Avenue, next door to YSU’s Veterans Resource Center. The Foundation relocated its offices from Fok Hall, formerly the Alumni House, across the street to the first floor of Melnick. “The new offices are a wonderful addition to our operations as we continue to expand and upgrade our development activities on behalf of the university,” said Paul McFadden, Foundation president. WYSU-FM is now broadcasting from stateof-the art soundproof studios on the second floor of Melnick after moving from the lower level of At the reception desk in the YSU Foundation's new office suite in Melnick Hall are, Cushwa Hall. from left: Chris Bosela, accounting liaison; Kaitlyn Pinter, development associate; and David Lee Morgan Jr., development officer. Meanwhile, the Rose Melnick Medical Museum’s collection of historic artifacts and displays is on view in Cushwa Hall, home of the Bitonte College of Health and first for the station. “We are a public service of the university Human Services. The museum had been housed in Melnick and we reach more people than any other entity on campus since it opened in 2001. – around 40,000 listeners per week – but people didn’t know The $4.65 million where we were,” he said. “We think the sign is a really Melnick important part of the project.” renovation was The Foundation’s move from Fok Hall accommodates funded with a an expanded workforce. In November 2014, the Foundation combination and the university reached an agreement that transferred all of state, development functions to the Foundation – a change expected university to save YSU $1 million a year. and other funding Since then, the Foundation has grown its staff from four sources. The YSU to a total of 13 to accommodate its expanded role, and the Foundation pre-paid Melnick office suite includes space for continued growth. With 15 years of rent at $1 more than $225 million in assets, the Foundation’s endowment million to help fund is the largest of any public university in Northeast Ohio and the project; WYSU provides more than $7 million in scholarships for YSU students donors contributed every year. $558,000 toward the Tricia Perry, funding officer for WYSU, stands in front of the foyer display wall total. in the radio station's new quarters in Gary Sexton, Melnick Hall. WYSU director, said the station supporters' gifts were used to furnish its offices and studio suite. He said the YSU Board of Trustees approved naming the space The Art and Helen Wolfcale Broadcast Facility in recognition of a generous gift from longtime WYSU member Art Wolfcale. WYSU, with nine employees, had been broadcasting from the basement of Cushwa Hall for 40 years; before that, since it went on the air in 1969, it was housed in the former Valley Park Motel on Wick Avenue. “This is the very first time that space was prepared specifically for the radio station,” said Tricia Melnick Hall, former home of the Rose Melnick Medical Museum, Perry, WYSU funding officer. now houses the YSU Foundation and WYSU. Sexton said the improvement plans also call for installation of a WYSU sign that will be visible from the street – another

SPRING 2016

U ALUMNI S Y

IS BREWING Alumni Explore Exciting Careers in the Beer Industry By Cynthia Vinarsky Hixenbaugh

ven in college, Jason Camerlengo had discriminating taste in beer. He couldn’t afford to buy the beer he liked, so he learned to make it himself. At first, the ’07 YSU business information systems grad shared his home-brewed beer blends with close friends and family, tweaking the recipes to create distinctive flavors with traces of caramel, chocolate, coffee or citrus. “People started showing up at my garage asking if they could buy my beer,” the Brookfield, Ohio, native recalls. “That’s when I started thinking that maybe we could do something with this.” Now, his craft beers are the drawing card for Brewtus Brewing Co., the thriving new brewpub and restaurant that Camerlengo and his partner, John LaRocca, opened in downtown Sharon, Pa., last summer. People enjoy the gourmet burgers and pizza on the menu, but Camerlengo says his customers make it clear that beer is what’s making Brewtus Brewing a destination. Brewtus Brewing has a range of house-brewed light and dark selections on tap, many with colorful names – such as Gum Shoe, Stool Pigeon and Haymaker – an ironic reference to America’s Prohibition Era. The craft beer brewery is adjacent to Sharon’s bustling Three-Bythe-River entertainment complex, but Camerlengo doesn’t worry about the competition. “We all complement each other,” he says. “We’re unique. We’re not like any of the other bars downtown.” 14

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Brewtus Brewing co-owner and brewmaster Jason Camerlengo, right, stands at the brew pub's refurbished bar in downtown Sharon, Pa. Posted on the chalkboard behind him are the names of some of his craft beers available on tap that day, all produced with a reverse osmosis water purification system. "To make good beer, you need good water," he says.

Beer drinkers around the country are clamoring for craft beer – defined as beer produced in small batches by independent brewers – and the specialty beer business is booming. Craft beer now makes up more than 11 percent of total beer sales in the United States, according to the Brewers Association in Boulder, Col., and craft beer production grew 17.6 percent in 2014, compared to a half-percent increase for all beers. YSU Magazine talked with several Penguin alumni who, like Camerlengo, are pursuing exciting careers in the burgeoning beer and craft beer industry: John Chandler, ’99, is using his expertise in technology and communications to own and operate Paladin Brewing, a new microbrewery in Austintown, Ohio. Bridget Gauntner, ’10, is a scientist who studied biology at YSU and now monitors product quality as a field quality specialist for Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Mich. Halley Moore, ’08, is a chemical engineering grad who lives in Milwaukee and travels the country as a corporate staff brewer for MillerCoors, the second largest brewer in the nation. Karen Stangl, ’08, earned an MS in biology at YSU and is quality manager at Southern Tier Brewing Co. in Lakewood, N.Y.

‘Beautiful and Delicious’ Career Karen Stangl had her eye on a career in public health or medical research when she came to YSU to pursue a master’s degree in molecular biology. A serious student, she had already earned three associate degrees from Niagara County Community College in New York, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wells College – paying her way through all those years of school by working as a bartender.

Karen Stangl

caption

SPRING 2016

“Bartending my way through college, I became very familiar with the craft beer scene,” she said, remembering two years she worked at the former University Pizzeria near the YSU campus. “At one point, we had over 100 craft beers, and we planned events around them.” She completed her graduate degree and landed a job as a lab assistant at the Mahoning County District Board of Health, but Stangl wanted a position where she could use more of her managerial and molecular biology background. Driving home for a family visit in western New York two summers ago, she spotted Southern Tier’s newly constructed brewery, checked Twitter and discovered the company had a job posting that fit her qualifications almost perfectly. “Everything just fell into place,” she said. In December 2014, Stangl was hired as lead quality technician for Southern Tier, a craft brewer best known for its Pumking beer – she calls it “a pumpkin pie in a glass.” Last month she was promoted to quality manager. “My job is to

Karen Stangl stands on the production floor at Southern Tier Brewing, holding a bottle of beer fresh from the production line.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

make sure that our beer is always as perfect as it can be when it gets to the consumer,” she said. “I’ve never worked in a more beautiful and delicious place.” Much of her work requires scientific expertise and operating complex instrumentation, such as the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, a device that can quantify fermentation byproducts down to the parts-per-billion level. But some work is subjective – she also has to taste the beer. “We train ourselves and other key players to identify good aromas and tastes,” she said. “We taste test every single batch at multiple stages – last year, we brewed over 330 batches. We want to make sure that things happen according to the recipe, every time. I think that attention to quality and detail is what makes Southern Tier special.”

A Dream Interrupted Like Stangl, John Chandler got into the craft beer business quite by accident. With a BS in Information Technology from YSU, Chandler landed an IT job right out of college and spent nearly 13 years in industry, working as an IT specialist, purchasing and account manager. In 2008, he went to visit a cousin who had relocated to Colorado, among the top five states for craft brewing, and was fascinated by the number of breweries there and the crowds they attracted. “It was fantastic,” Chandler remembers. “People were so excited about craft beers, there were brew house taverns opening up everywhere and they were packed every night.” He returned from Colorado raving about the craft beer scene there, so his in-laws bought him a home brewing kit. Chandler started making his own beer as a hobby, experimenting with different recipes, and found he had a talent for it. “I was making a lot of good beer.” Chandler had a dream: to open a brew house where he could make and sell his own craft beers. He stepped down from his manufacturing job, put together a complex, 36-page business plan, researched company names and came up with the title Paladin Brewing – defined as a “paragon of chivalry” – to reflect his fascination with the Medieval period. He found a vacant, 5,000-square-foot building on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown, withdrew cash he’d saved in retirement accounts and secured a business loan to buy and refurbish the building, with a tavern decorated in Old English style overlooking shiny steel storage and fermenting tanks. Paladin Brewing was scheduled to open in March 2015, and Chandler was working feverishly toward that goal, when his plans were interrupted by catastrophic news. Medical tests revealed that the severe headaches he’d been suffering for weeks were symptoms of a fastgrowing sinus cancer, adenocarcinoma. He needed surgery, followed by a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation.

Friends and family stepped in to help, and a determined Chandler emerged from the Cleveland Clinic after surgery in a fraction of the expected recovery time and directed the final construction details from his wheelchair. He was there for the grand opening in August – and thrilled when more than 1,000 patrons stopped by that first weekend. Soon after, he took time off for seven weeks of chemo and radiation treatment, and now he’s back at work, a patch covering his right eye, slowly regaining his strength. Paladin Brewing has 12 of Chandler’s craft beers on tap, and he’s also distributing his craft beer in kegs to 20 bars and restaurants across the region. “What drew me to the craft beer industry was the camaraderie, sharing with friends, trying new beers, and the camaraderie between brew masters and brewery owners,” he said. “It’s the opposite of what I experienced in business in the past, and that’s what I love most.”

Paladin Brewing owner John Chandler, above, shows off a stainless steel beer fermenter at his Austintown Township brewery. At left, Paladin beer is sold by the glass and in two types of carryout containers: bottles known as "growlers" and cans that are filled and sealed at the bar.

Beer: Like Liquid Bread Bridget Gauntner knows first hand about that brewer camaraderie because, as a field quality specialist for regional craft brewer Bell’s Brewery, she travels all over Michigan and Wisconsin, educating bar and restaurant owners and managers and beer distributors on how to maintain beer quality. “It’s about solidarity. Ensuring draught beer quality for one brewery can help the whole industry,” she said. “We’re all on the same playing field with education, so when I preach best practices, I’m not just helping Bell’s, I’m helping everyone.” Gauntner grew up in Austintown and earned a BS in biology at YSU, not sure where Bridget Gauntner, a field quality specialist for Bell's she would go Brewery, in top photo, enjoys a pint off the clock with with the degree. her husband, Jacobe Johnson, who also works for When she saw Bell's in sales. In bottom photo, Gauntner checks the tap at an outdoor beer festival. an opening for a lab technician at Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland, she decided to apply and was hired immediately. “It’s the biggest craft brewer in Ohio, only an hour from home,” she said. “It was like working in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.” She spent five years at Great Lakes, then moved to Kalamazoo where she accepted a newly created position as a field quality specialist at Bells’s Brewery; her husband, Jacobe Johnson, also works at Bell’s in sales. Most breweries have quality assurance programs, she explained, but Bell’s added her post as part of an effort to maintain product quality after its beer leaves the plant. “Beer is like liquid bread,” she said. “When you buy bread in a store, you want to be sure it’s fresh. The same is true with beer, but it’s harder to tell just by

SPRING 2016

looking at a six-pack if it’s fresh. Beer has to be rotated just like any food product, and protected from light, heat and oxygen. Even a brown bottle can’t do it all.” Now living in Southwest Michigan, Gauntner works out of a home office, preparing presentations and planning her travel. She and her husband spend a lot of their work time

on the road, but one of their favorite activities when they do have time together, ironically, is brewing beer at home. She also serves on a national panel for the Brewers Association – the Draught Beer Quality Subcommittee – working with brewery representatives from around the nation to find new technologies for improving draught beer quality.

From Craft Beer to Major Brewer

VOLUME GROW TH

Halley Moore clearly recalls the day she realized that a chemical engineering degree could open doors to a career in the beer industry. A Columbiana, Ohio, native, she was considering a career in cosmetic product development until the day she heard Douglas Price, associate professor of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, make a comment about engineering career options that she still remembers wordfor-word: “He said, ‘You could work in the paper industry, you could work in petroleum, or you could make beer for the rest of your life.’” Moore’s ears perked up. Beer was part of her family tradition – her father brewed beer at home, her grandparents made wine. “I even had an uncle who made moonshine,” she quipped. “I like cooking and baking, and I always loved the whole food-science aspect of beer. It just clicked for me.” She finished her YSU engineering degree, then moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she was the only woman enrolled in a graduate program at Heriot-Watt University, home of the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling. She earned her master’s degree in brewing and distilling and was pleased to find work as a brewer and crew supervisor for BrewDog PLC, an award-winning Scottish craft brewer, but soon after she decided to return to the U.S. Hired by MillerCoors, the second largest brewer in the country, she started out in 2010 as a brewing supervisor and has advanced through the ranks to her present position as a corporate staff brewer. “To be honest, I wanted to work for a large company OVERALL because there’s just a wealth of opportunity,” BEER she said. % Now based in Milwaukee – which she calls “the (197,124,407 bbls) birthplace of American brewing” – she serves as a % technical liaison between breweries and corporate brewing, focused mainly on the technical aspects CRAFT (21,775,905 bbls) of brewing. Moore visits MillerCoors breweries across seven IMPORT states, spending at least 50 percent of her working BEER hours on the road, but she never gets lonely because % she’s made so many friends in the beer industry. (29,430,185 bbls) She, too, talked about the camaraderie in the beer business. % “The brewing community is amazing. You make EXPORT CRAFT BEER friends everywhere you go,” she said. “It’s not an (383,422 bbls) industry, it’s a community of people. Sure, there’s OVERALL BEER MARKET business competition, but at the end of the day the philosophy is that, if the industry is doing well, $101.5 BILLION CRAFT BEER MARKET we’re all doing well.”

Halley Moore, a corporate staff brewer for MillerCoors, tours one of the company's new facilities in Golden, Colo.

0.5 17.6 6.9

CRAFT

11% Share in 2014

IMPORT

(29,430,185 bbl)

(21,775,905 bbls)

DOMESTIC

(145,918,317 bbl)

$19.6 BILLION 22% DOLLAR SALES GROWTH

Source: Brewers Association, Boulder, CO

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

'The Path to

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

' Ohio

Runs Through

Paul Sracic, left, professor and chair, Politics and International Relations, and Bill Binning, chair emeritus, Political Science.

The path through

Editor’s Note: When it comes to political science on the YSU campus, no two individuals stand taller than Bill Binning and Paul Sracic. Now they’ve combined forces to author a new book about something they know a lot about – “Ohio Government and Politics.” YSU Magazine asked them to provide some context as Ohio, and the nation, move toward the general election in November.

by Paul Sracic and William Binning

August 2, 1923 marked the end of an era. On that date, President Warren G. Harding,

a native of Blooming Grove, Ohio, died in office. If you count William Henry Harrison, who was born in Virginia but later moved to Ohio, Harding was the last of eight presidents to come from the Buckeye State. As anyone who pays attention to American politics knows, however, the fact that Ohio is no longer supplying presidential timber has not diminished the state’s importance in presidential campaigns. (Continued on pg. 20)

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As we edge closer to Election Day in November, the media will continue to remind both voters and candidates that, for more than 50 years, no one has been elected as president without winning the State of Ohio. Also, no Republican has ever been elected as president without first earning the support of Ohio voters. Perhaps this is why research shows that, in 2012, the state of Ohio led all the other states in

the number of campaign events held after the national conventions. To understand why Ohio is so important in presidential campaigns, think back to the basic government classes that you took in high school or college. When Americans go to the polls to cast their vote for president, they will not actually be voting for the candidate whose name appears on the ballot. Instead, they will be casting their ballots for a set of “electors.” Each state is awarded the same number of electors as they have members in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. That adds up to 18 for Ohio. Those electors will travel to Columbus in December to cast vote for president. These 18 electors are not free agents, however: they will be selected based on which presidential candidate receives the most votes in Ohio on Election Day. Eighteen may not seem like a very large number. In fact, when compared to California with its 55 electors, or Texas with 38 electors, Ohio’s number seems rather small. But this is deceptive. Only five states have

more votes than Ohio. Moreover, Ohio’s votes take on additional importance because of Ohio’s position as a toss-up or swing state. After all, before anyone votes in November, we can usually predict that California will side with the Democratic candidate, while Texas will be voting for the Republican. But who will win Ohio? Right now, it is impossible to predict. And Ohio is one of only about a dozen states whose results are unpredictable. To put it another way, it is only in states like Ohio that presidential campaigns really matter. That’s why more 2012 campaign commercials (over 200,000!) ran in Ohio than in any other state. It is also why YSU can be fairly confident that our campus will be hosting a visit from one or both of the nominees between now and November. In looking at Ohio’s presidential results from past elections, the only conclusion we can safely draw is that the vote will be very close. Why? Because it is always close in Ohio. For example, between 2000 and 2012, over 21 million votes were cast for president in Ohio. When you total all the Democratic votes for president during that period, and then compare that

Two Seniors to Serve as Honorary Delegates at GOP Convention

Kelly Motika, left, and Sara Pretoka

Campaign 2016 20

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

YSU seniors Sara Pretoka of Austintown and Kelly Motika of Hubbard know where they’ll be spending at least three days of their summer vacation this year – at the Republican National Convention. Pretoka, a criminal justice major, and Motika, a communication studies major, have been selected as honorary delegates to the convention July 18-21 in Cleveland. “It’s great,” Motika said. “I didn’t know this opportunity was even available.” “I’m really excited to see more of what goes on in the political process,” added Pretoka. Honorary delegates are guaranteed lodging with Ohio’s official delegation and are invited to exclusive delegate-only

functions, including daily breakfasts with national GOP officials, a luncheon honoring major donors and access to a number of other events. Honorary delegates also get priority consideration for passes to convention sessions. Pretoka, a 2012 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, is president of Alpha Xi Delta sorority at YSU, is a member of the YSU College Conservatives and works at the Candy Counter and in the marketing offices in Kilcawley Center on campus. Motika, a 2012 graduate of Hubbard High School, is the field director at YSU for Turning Point USA, a student movement for free markets and limited government. For three years she also hosted her own program on the student-run Rookery Radio station on campus.

number to all the corresponding votes for the Republican candidate, you find a difference of about 150,000 voters, or less than one percent. Since these are roughly the results that one might expect from flipping a coin 21 million times, Ohio really is the ultimate “tossup” state. Given both the undecided nature of Ohio, and its position as a “mustwin” state in November, it is not

surprising that the GOP selected the city of Cleveland this year to host its national political convention. It also makes sense that the current Ohio governor, John Kasich, decided to seek the Republican nomination. In the end, both the Democrats and the Republicans know that the path to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. runs through the state of Ohio.

(Bill Binning joined the YSU faculty in 1970 and chaired the Political Science department for 30 years, along the way establishing himself as an active and successful political analyst, commentator, teacher and academician. Paul Sracic, who followed Binning as department chair in 2007, served as a prestigious Fulbright Scholar in Japan and is a regular op-ed author and commentator in media across the globe, from USA Today to CNN to Reuters.)

Alumni Journalist: Not Much Glamour in Presidential Campaign Reporting Ask Henry Gomez how he got so interested in politics, and he’ll take you back to Sunday mornings when he was only eight years old. “I remember getting up, turning on the TV, and there’s this public-access show with this crazy-looking guy, with this weird hairdo and wild voice,” Gomez recalls. It was Jim Traficant – sheriff, congressman, convicted felon, local folk hero and politician extraordinaire. “He was one of those people you never forget,” said Gomez, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Journalism from YSU in 2003. “I was fascinated.” More than 20 years later, Gomez now finds himself engulfed in politics of the highest order – the 2016 presidential election. As chief political reporter for Cleveland.com, with his reporting and musings appearing regularly in The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Gomez has been hot on the campaign trail – from New Hampshire to Michigan to South

Carolina, from Trump to Kasich to Sanders – covering the antics, town halls, and the ups, downs and inside outs of what has turned out to be a wacky 2016 presidential campaign season. “If you like politics like I do, it’s great to get to see the election unfold right before your eyes,” he said. A native of Boardman, Gomez cut his journalistic teeth as a reporter and later editor of YSU’s student newspaper, The Jambar. He worked as an intern at the Indianapolis Star and the Sacramento Bee, before taking a job at Crain’s Cleveland Business. Eighteen months later, in 2005, he landed a reporting position at The Plain Dealer, where he covered city hall and county government and eventually became a politics writer in 2011. He got his first taste of the big time in 2012, covering the presidential campaign. Now he’s at it again. With Ohio Gov. John Kasich as a candidate and the GOP convention in Cleveland in July, Gomez’s coverage is particularly

John Kasich and Henry Gomez

relevant this time around. So much so that he’s a regular source of interview requests from national outlets like Sirius XM Radio and MSNBC. “My parents still live in Boardman and get a kick out of it when they see me on TV,” he said. But it’s not as glamorous as you might think. “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also living out of a suitcase for four, five or six days on end, and for weeks on end,” he said. “It’s getting a rental car at the Manchester airport in New Hampshire and fumbling your way around a state that you have absolutely no clue how to navigate.” Read Gomez’s posts at http://connect. cleveland.com/user/hgomez/posts.html. Follow him on Twitter @HenryJGomez.

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

Introducing Three Extraordinary YSU Grads Alumni Spotlight profiles in this edition feature: Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, retired federal appellate judge who shares his insights on the civil rights movement in his new book; Kevin Petro, who takes command of the Army's psychological operations on the Persian Gulf this spring; and Kim Anderson, who takes the knowledge she gained as a foster parent into her new career in social work.

Judge Calls Civil Rights Effort a 'Continuous March' Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, â&#x20AC;&#x2122;51 AB, â&#x20AC;&#x2122;56 JD

Judge Nathaniel R. Jones

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

alumni SPOTLIGHT

“Answering the Call,” Judge Jones’ autobiography, is scheduled for release this spring.

Nathaniel R. Jones was nine years old, sitting front-and-center in what was then known as Youngstown’s “colored” YMCA, when he first heard a civil rights activist speak. That day, the small boy from a poor black family began thinking about a career in law. Jones became one of the first African Americans to serve as a federal appellate judge, appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, with jurisdiction over Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky. A graduate of Youngstown College and its School of Law, he has played a key role in advancing civil rights, both in the United States and in South Africa. Thinking back, Judge Jones credits his mother for sensitizing him at an early age to issues like segregation and discrimination. She was a member of the ladies auxiliary at the segregated YMCA and poured tea for the nationally recognized civil rights leaders who spoke there on Sunday afternoons. “I never knew why my mother took me to those meetings instead of one of my three siblings,” he said, pensively, “but it made a big difference in my life. That’s where I understood the role the law could play in accomplishing change.” Now 89 and living in Cincinnati, Jones has authored a book of his memoirs that spans his 70-year law career and America’s Civil Rights Movement, titled Answering the Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America and set for release in April. “I think the book makes the point that we’ve come a long way, but an ominous shadow still hovers,” he said. “We still have serious issues that must be addressed. It’s a continuous march.” The autobiography traces his early years, growing up during the Great Depression on Youngstown’s South Side, playing football for South High School and serving as president of the city's Youth NAACP chapter. “Even in high school, I started getting involved with issues of race and discrimination, and there were many,” he recalls. An Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, he used GI Bill benefits to help pay his way through college and law school, also working as a printer and editor at The Buckeye Review, a newspaper founded by his friend and mentor, J. Maynard Dickerson.

Jones was a young attorney, just a few years out of law school, when Attorney General Robert Kennedy appointed him an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland – the first African American in Ohio to hold that position. Seven years later, following a series of violent race riots in Detroit and Los Angeles, another honor: Jones was named assistant general counsel to the Kerner Commission, a panel formed by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate causes and solutions for the racial unrest. In 1969 he was recruited to be general counsel for the NAACP, where he served for 10 years, arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, battling the idea of “separate but equal” and coordinating national efforts related to school segregation and racial discrimination. He gave up his activism a decade later, however, when he was appointed to the federal judgeship. “It was a moment of indescribable joy,” he says, remembering the honor. “But my whole life changed. Under the code of judicial conduct, I had to withdraw from any activities that could be perceived as affecting my opinion in deciding a case.” He continued to be involved in civil rights matters elsewhere in the world. Jones consulted with drafters of the South African constitution that abolished apartheid and served on a team of observers for the first democratic election there. He has taught at Harvard Law School, the University of Cincinnati College of Law and the North Carolina Central College of Law and serves as honorary co-chair and board member of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Jones retired from the federal court in 2002 after serving more than two decades – but he still goes to work every day. The judge is senior counsel in the Cincinnati office of Blank Rome LLP, a national firm. “People ask me when I’m going to retire,” he said. “I say, retire to what? I don’t have any plans to retire.” Profile by Cynthia Vinarsky Hixenbaugh

Youngstown’s second federal courthouse at 10 East Commerce Street was named the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Judge Jones’ honor in 2003.

SPRING 2016

alumni SPOTLIGHT

Next Assignment: Psychological Operations, Qatar Kevin Petro, ’93 BS ■ Uncle Sam put his first call in to a young Kevin Petro in the 1970s, in a small corner of Ohio’s Trumbull County. A Hubbard native, Petro was a frequent visitor of the nearby air base in Vienna Township. He would take trips with his family up State Route 193 to watch spectacular air shows, glimpse historic military aircraft and tour the ground displays. But among the sights, a few paper pamphlets earned his fullest attention. “I would pore over the brochures and literature from the Kevin Petro recruiters there,” Petro remembers. “Growing up, it was the only thing I wanted to do – be in the military.” Those pamphlets would shape his ambitions, but years sociology and other social sciences. My job is to synchronize later it would be Petro influencing audiences across the global employment of our unique influence forces.” globe, from Latin America to the Middle East, His responsibilities will be expanding this as a colonel in the Army’s Psychological spring, as he takes command of a task force Operations branch and chief of Military in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar for a Information Support Operations at yearlong tour of duty. It’s a leadership U.S. Special Operations Command role that will bring him to the top of his (USSOCOM) headquarters. profession, but the colonel takes it all Petro’s official start with the in stride. military came right after high school. “It’s funny sometimes,” Petro Joining the Army in 1986, Petro describes a night at home, sitting at advanced from private to sergeant the dinner table, the news on in the in three years, with his sights always background, “I’ll see an update flash on higher. – Kevin Petro the screen about something happening “It was my goal to be an officer, and overseas and think, ‘Well, looks like I’ll be I knew a degree could open that door for dealing with that in the office tomorrow.’” me,” he said. Returning home, he traded his Responsibility on a global scale has always dog tags for textbooks on an ROTC scholarship at been an honor to Petro, who couldn’t see himself YSU. He graduated four years later, earning his bachelor’s in doing anything else. combined science and his commission as a second lieutenant. “It’s never easy, not necessarily fun – but always From there, Petro advanced through a career in rewarding.” military logistics that took him from armed intervention Petro sees a future in counseling veterans, an audience and humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, to peacekeeping he’s familiar with from his earlier days as a student employee operations in the Sinai. A traveler at heart, he loved the in YSU’s Veterans Affairs office. adventure and soon climbed the ranks to major, transferring “When I think of my college years, I remember the to a position that would see numerous deployments professional and military education I received, but also the throughout Latin America and Afghanistan. camaraderie of the ROTC program and how instrumental His new assignment: psychological operations. the instructors and staff were in our lives,” he said. “My “It’s about using truthful information to influence foreign experience at YSU set me up for success in the Army.” audiences – governments, organizations, individuals – to In addition to his undergraduate degree from YSU, Petro think and act in a way that’s beneficial to U.S. interests,” holds an MS in Counseling from Long Island University explains Petro, now colonel and current branch chief at and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War USSOCOM headquarters, MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. College in Carlisle, Pa. He and his wife, Wendolin, live in “We use theories and techniques from disciplines such Tampa; he has a son, Tim, and a stepdaughter, Linda. as communications, advertising, marketing, psychology,

‘‘My experience at YSU set me up for success in the Army.’’

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Profile by Andrea Tharp

alumni SPOTLIGHT

Foster Parenting Inspires a New Career Path Kim E. Anderson, ’15 BSW

Kim E. Anderson

■ Twenty children have called Kim Anderson “Mom” since she became a foster parent eight years ago, and the experience has radically changed her retirement plans. “So this is my life, part two,” said Anderson. “I’m retired, I just graduated from college, I’ve started a new career and I’m getting ready to adopt a toddler.” Inspired by the Trumbull County Children Services social workers she met caring for foster kids, Anderson enrolled in YSU’s Social Work program as a nontraditional student and, four years later, graduated magna cum laude with a BSW. Now she’s launching career No. 2 as an intake caseworker for Summit County Children Services, commuting to Akron from her home in Liberty Township. Anderson started working right out of high school as a children’s photographer for Lifetouch Portrait Studios at J.C. Penney, advancing to a management position and retiring after 37 years. She had never considered college because of her demanding retail hours, but early retirement suddenly made it possible. She continued as a foster parent throughout college, sometimes sharing her home with as many as four children at a time. “There was one period when I had four foster kids with me, all under the age of 5, and I was going to school full time,” she remembered with a laugh. “Now that was a busy time.” Anderson threw herself wholeheartedly into student life – she served two internships at Summit County Children Services, volunteered for the Red Cross, served as president of YSU’s Student Social Work Association, and always excelled in the classroom. In her senior year she brought honor to her university when the National Association of Social Workers named her Ohio Social Work Student of the Year; previously, she had been named NASW’s Student of

the Year for the Northeast Ohio region. As a foster parent, and now as a social worker, Anderson tries to forge relationships with families and help them to see her as an ally, not a threat. “My supervisor describes me as an optimist, because I see the potential in people,” she – Kim E. Anderson said. “I want to believe that, if we give people the resources they need, they can change. And I try to always treat people kindly and with respect. I think everybody deserves that.” Drawing on her previous experience as a family photographer, she likes to get professional photos taken of the foster children in her care and shares the photos with their parents. “The parents love that,” she said. “It helps them feel closer, and the kids grow so fast.” Many of her foster relationships have become success stories – she’s kept in contact with most of the children she’s cared for over the years, and some of their families. But there is one child, a little boy who came to her at three-months and is now nearly two, that Anderson doesn’t want to let go. She has decided to adopt him, if the legalities can be worked out. “When I signed up for training to be licensed as a foster parent, another parent suggested that I get the 'fosterto-adopt' certification. She said I might need it someday,” she said. “I guess I’m glad now that I did that, because it’s happened to me. The heart wants what the heart wants.” Anderson has two adult children, both living in the Mahoning Valley. Her daughter, Alexis Schmidt, earned a bachelor’s degree in Education at YSU and teaches in the Austintown Schools, and her son, Adam DeRaud, is a junior studying business at YSU.

‘‘I want to believe that, if we give people the resources they need, they can change. ’’

Profile by Cynthia Vinarsky Hixenbaugh

SPRING 2016

F A C U LT Y - S T A F F B

Faculty Members Display Their Latest Books, Art Every spring, YSU Magazine sends out a call to university faculty and staff, inviting them to announce their newly published books, computer applications, musical recordings, art and photo exhibitions. Our editors are always impressed by the number, intellectual depth and diversity of the works submitted for the Faculty-Staff Bookshelf and Arts on Display. Read on, and find out why our dedicated YSU faculty and staff members make us so Penguin Proud! The Genius of Scotland: The Cultural Production of Robert Burns, 17851834, by Corey Andrews, professor, English, and director, Literature Program. Published by Brill/Rodopi, March 2015, 290 pages. The text explores the wide-ranging reception history of Robert Burns by examining the sources of his reputation as the "Genius of Scotland" in the Scottish Enlightenment and beyond. Primarily intended for an academic audience of graduate students and professors, the text is also designed to appeal to general readers interested in Robert Burns, Scotland and/or British history. Wonders of the Invisible World, by Christopher Barzak, associate professor, English. Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers, September 2015, 352 pages. In his third published novel, the author writes about an Ohio teen growing up in a small, cattle ranch community who discovers that he has a unique ability to see into the spirit world. The book was included on the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list and won a Stonewall Book Award. Poems and Their Making, moderated by Philip Brady, professor of English. Published by Etruscan Press, May 2015, 240 pages. The book is a collection of original poems and essays by a diverse cast of contemporary American poets who discuss the origin and development of poetic thought, line and structure. Each poem is followed by an essay providing insight into current poetic practices and encouraging dialogue between poetry and critical prose. To Banquet with the Ethiopians, A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet, by Philip Brady, professor of English. Published by Broadstone Books, June 2015, 168 pages. The book, the author’s fourth poetry collection, is a genre-defying verse epic that blends Homer's discovery of the alphabet with 26

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

a man's return from near death and a boy's struggle to see the adult world through the prism of an ancient epic. Italian Americans of the Greater Mahoning Valley, by Donna DeBlasio, professor of History and chair of YSU’s Center for Applied History; and Martha I. Pallante, professor and chair, Department of History. Published by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Images of America series, November 2015, 128 pages. From 1890 through1924, Italian immigrants flocked to Ohio's Mahoning Valley, looking for work in the region’s burgeoning iron and steel industries. Italian Americans ultimately prospered and made a distinctive mark on the region. The book explores the immigration experience of Italian Americans, their community, workplace dynamics, celebrations, worship and heritage. The ESPN Effect: Exploring the Worldwide Leader in Sports, co-edited by Adam C. Earnheardt, associate professor and chair, Department of Communication, with John McGuire of Oklahoma State University and Greg Armfield of New Mexico State University. Published by Peter Lang Publishing, July 2015, 333 pages. For 35 years ESPN has been the premier sports information source for millions around the world. In The ESPN Effect, leading sports media scholars discuss ESPN’s impact on culture, sports journalism and the business of sports media. Switch-A-Wish, by Mary Beth Earnheardt, associate professor, English, adviser of The Jambar and director of Journalism. Published by Three Worlds Press, September 2015, 275 pages, available in print and ebook. The novel, Earnheardt’s first, follows an outwardly happy couple whose lives are unraveling. Their marital problems are about to split them apart when they make a bedtime wish that forces them to live the life of the other person, and the role reversal becomes a revelation. Originally classified as a work of women’s fiction, the book breaks genre boundaries, crossing over into chick lit and fantasy.

Hip-Hop Raps in Earth Science, by Alan Jacobs, professor, Geological and Environmental Sciences. Published by Kindle Direct Publishing, 2015, 177 pages. The book features a collection of rhyming verses on Environmental Science, Geology and Oceanography. Its appendix includes lyrics from "An Enemy of the People," a musical theater production that was performed at YSU and other northeast Ohio venues in 1998. Geology, An Introduction, Second Edition, by Alan M. Jacobs, professor, Geological and Environmental Sciences. Published by Kendall-Hunt Publishing, 2014 and 2015, 162 pages. The book is an introductory textbook in general geology, with laboratory exercises and a 38-specimen set of minerals and rocks. Environmental Science – Sustainability for the 21st Century, by Alan M. Jacobs, professor, Geological and Environmental Sciences, and Wayne O. Porter, retired Portage County Health Commissioner. Published by Kendall-Hunt Publishing, 2015, 203 pages. The book is an introductory textbook in environmental science. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence, paperback version, co-edited by Michael Jerryson, associate professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, with Mark Juergensemyer and Margo Kitts. Published by Oxford University Press, November 2015, 672 pages. The 40 original essays in this volume include overviews of major religious traditions, showing how violence has been justified within the literary and theological foundations, how it is used symbolically and in ritual practice, and how social acts of violence and warfare have been justified by religious ideas. Originally published in 2013, the publisher’s decision to republish in paperback indicates that the hardcover version created considerable sales and interest.

Designing for Eternity: Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas, co-authored by Patricia Sarro, professor of Art. Published by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2015, 100 pages. The book was published in conjunction with an art exhibition of the same name that opened in New York last October with Sarro serving as consultant. Exploring small-scale architectural effigies placed in tombs and shrines in the Precolumbian Americas, the author writes about the insights they provide into their makers’ daily lives, beliefs and rituals. Concept Mapping: A Critical-Thinking Approach to Care Planning 4th edition, by Pamela Schuster, professor, Nursing. Published by FA Davis, 2016, 193 pages. Concept mapping is a clear, visual and systematic method for constructing care plans for any patient, in any setting, based on the American Nurses Association Standards of Care. A concept map lets students visualize the relationships between medical and nursing diagnoses, assessment data, medications, laboratory results and treatments. A Hidden Diary from the Lodz Ghetto, 1942-1944, edited by Helene J. Sinnreich, professor, Department of History, Clayman endowed professor of Judaic and Holocaust Studies and director of YSU Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. Published by Yad Vashem Press, December 2015, 175 pages. The book is a diary by Hersz Fogel, a young man trapped in the Lodz Ghetto whose brother was deported to the Nazi death camps. Hersz and his sister are ultimately the family’s only survivors. Sinnreich provides an introduction to the book, contextualizing the diary within the Holocaust, and offering scholarly annotations to the text. Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis, 7th edition, co-authored by David E. Stout, professor and Andrews chair, Accounting and Finance, with Paul Juras and Gary Cokins. Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2016, 928 pages. The text aims to help students understand the broader role of cost accounting in helping an organization succeed – not just the measurement of costs. While including coverage of traditional costing topics, the book’s primary strength is in linking those and other more contemporary topics to organization strategy.

Intermediate Interactive Design, an interactive application for smart phones, by Robert J. Thompson, assistant professor, Graphic + Interactive Design. Published by Apple App Store, July 2015. The author’s course app features a detailed course syllabus, project and assignment details, class schedule, required reading and student design work samples. History and Theory of Graphic Design, an interactive application for smart phones, by Robert J. Thompson, assistant professor, Graphic + Interactive Design. Published by Apple App Store, February 2015. The author’s course app features a detailed course syllabus, project and assignment details, class schedule, required reading, and student design work samples. Learning Economics and Business Statistics with Excel, 3rd Edition, by Ebenge Usip, professor and graduate program director, Department of Economics. Published by Cengage Learning, Summer 2015, 240 pages. The textbook offers a concise, step-by-step presentation on how to use Microsoft Excel for applied statistics. A variety of economic and business data are used to illustrate applications, sample problems are solved, and the results in Excel outputs are fully discussed. Restorative Free Will: Back to the Biological Base, by Bruce Waller, professor and chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies. Published by Lexington Books, the academic division of Rowman & Littlefield, October 2015, 235 pages. The book proposes a biological understanding of free will that incorporates the evolutionary development of the key elements of free will and their function in a variety of species. Rejecting the belief that free will belongs exclusively to humans, the author draws on resources from primatology, biology, psychology and anthropology. Introduction to Human Gross Anatomy: A Regional Guide, by Mark D. Womble, professor, Biological Sciences. Published by Van-Griner Publishing of Cincinnati, 466 pages. Used as a textbook for the author’s “Introduction to Human Gross Anatomy” course, the book is designed for pre-medical, pre-physical therapy, predental, pre-veterinary and forensic science students. It is being used in the classroom for the first time this spring.

Arts V I S U A L

D I S P L AY

Good Timing, by Dragana Crnjak CHROMA (A) CHROMA, a three-person exhibit at the University of Wisconsin – Stout’s Furlong Gallery, featured the work of Dragana Crnjak, associate professor of Art; the work of Robert Atwell of UW and Matthew Kluber of Grinnell College was also included. The exhibition was developed around the theme of color, with artists exploring the power of color through both its presence and absence, and Crnjak installed “Good Timing,” a site-specific acrylic and charcoal drawing, on the gallery walls. apreciselysharpenedimplement, by Joseph D’Uva Intuitive Repetition, a portfolio collection of North American printmakers including the work of Joseph D’Uva, associate professor and area coordinator, Printmaking, was exhibited at the 7th International Lithographic Symposium in Valkenswaard, Sweden, last summer and is now part of the permanent collection at the Dutch Museum of Lithography. D’Uva also participated in the Signs for the Public Sphere Project in Knoxville, Tenn., and is one of 100 printmaker/educators nationwide invited to participate in a traveling exhibit titled “East/West, A Survey of Contemporary Printmaking” that has been displayed at more than a dozen institutions nationally, most recently at Arts Visalia in Visalia, Calif. Silver Lining Keepsake Container by Missy McCormick TOOL, a Medalta International Exhibition inspired by the processes and tools of our trades, included three earthenware pieces created by Missy McCormick, assistant professor, Art. The show was Sept. 3 – Nov. 30 at Yuill Gallery at Medalta, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. McCormick’s work was also displayed at “Shifting Perspective," a solo ceramic art exhibition presented Aug. 31 – Oct. 9 in the Foster Art Gallery at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., and she demonstrated and exhibited her work at Michigan Mud 2015, a national ceramic conference presented by the Michigan Ceramic Art Association Oct. 23 and 24 at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Mich.

SPRING 2016

student

success S T O R I E S Highlighting the Achievements of Exceptional YSU Students

Nursing Student Completes Akron Children’s Internship

Five Business Majors Named

B E E G H LY F E L L O W S

Five students in the Williamson College of Business Administration were selected as John D. Beeghly Fellows. The program provides paid fellowships working with the Ohio Small Business Development Center and the International Trade Assistance Center at YSU. Recipients are, from left: Jessica Marando of Hubbard, a senior marketing management major and accounting minor who completed a marketing internship for Vapor Stockroom. Corey Patrick of Struthers, a senior finance and marketing double major who completed a financial advisor internship with Edward Jones Investments. Jerry Dugan of McDonald, a senior accounting major who completed a tax/audit internship with Novogradac and Co. in Dover, Ohio. Fadi El Chammas of Poland, a senior international business management student with a marketing minor. Alex McFarland of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a senior business economics major who completed a payroll associate internship at Future Systems Inc.

Olivia Millsop, a junior nursing major at YSU, was one of 12 university students selected to serve in the prestigious Akron Children’s Summer Pediatric Research Scholars internship program. One of 146 applicants, she was the only nursing student selected – the others were all pursuing medical degrees. Throughout the 10-week internship she had the opportunity to jobshadow professionals Olivia Millsop, left, with her internship mentor, working in various Dr. Elena Rossi. specialties, such as trauma services, pediatric intensive care and neonatal intensive care. She also worked with a mentor on a research project, the results of which will be submitted to a national pediatric conference later this year. A Medina native, Millsop is in her fourth year at YSU and her junior year in the YSU nursing program. After graduation her goal is to pursue a master’s degree and become a pediatric nurse practitioner.

PT Students’ Research at National Conference Research by three students in YSU’s doctorate of Physical Therapy program has been accepted for presentation at a prestigious national conference in physical therapy. The students are, from left: Drew D. Snyder of Macedonia, Ohio; Jeremy C. Oller of Creston, Ohio; and Teale K. Bennett of Aurora, Ohio. They were scheduled to present “Attitudes Towards Controversial Issues in Healthcare Policies in Doctor of Physical Therapy Students” at the American Physical Therapy Association’s Combined Sections Meeting, conducted in mid-February in Anaheim, Calif. Their research was also presented at the Ohio Physical Therapy Association’s Fall Scientific Symposium. 28

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

student SUCCESS

Diversity Council Honors Grad Student YSU’s Student Diversity Council honored Tyler Brentley of Austintown with its Graduate Student Achievement Award, presented annually to a candidate who maintains an excellent academic record Julian J. Jones, Student Diversity Council while serving as a positive president, left, presents the award to Tyler Brentley. and visible role model outside the classroom. A Pittsburgh native, Brentley earned an undergraduate degree in pre-law in May, and he’s now pursuing an MSEd in Student Affairs and College Counseling, with plans to graduate in May 2017. A graduate assistant in the Williamson College of Business Administration, he serves as an academic advisor, assists with research and professional practice. Previously, he served as a tutor, mentor and residential director for Upward Bound. In 2013 Brentley was crowned YSU’s Homecoming King and was awarded the Upward Bound Mentor of the Year Award. Last year he was named to Who’s Who Among College Students in American Colleges and Universities, and in May his 4.0 GPA qualified him for the YSU President’s List.

Scholarship Funds Semester in New Zealand Sophomore Leah Bayer is spending spring semester in New Zealand after receiving a $2,500 scholarship to study abroad. The scholarship to attend the University of Canterbury was awarded by the Education Abroad Network. Bayer, who is majoring in applied mathematics Leah Bayer and biology with a minor in chemistry at YSU, left for New Zealand in February and expects to return in late June. The Brookfield, Ohio, resident has a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the Leslie H. Cochran University Scholars program, a part of the new YSU Honors College.

Respiratory Care Major Wins National, State Scholarships Respiratory care major Karissa Kuneli was recently awarded two highly selective state and national scholarships by the Ohio Society for Respiratory Care, the American Respiratory Care Foundation and the National Board for Respiratory Care. The OSRC scholarship is a statewide award given annually to up to three students enrolled in accredited respiratory care programs in Ohio. Kuneli Karissa Kuneli received the highest monetary award in 2015. She was the sole recipient of the national award and will receive a scholarship, a certificate of recognition and a paid trip to Tampa, Fla., where she will be honored at the American Association for Respiratory Care Congress awards ceremony. Kuneli is a senior pursuing registered respiratory therapist and polysomnography credentials.

Jake Kucek with the first place award.

Communication Students Excel at Philly Convention Three students in YSU’s master’s program in interdisciplinary communication took first place honors at the Eastern Communication Association Convention in Philadelphia. Jake Kucek, Patrick Bascom and Donald D’Alessio worked together to create a research poster, titled “Rescue Mission Audit,” that placed first out of 22 posters presented at the conference. The students completed a communications audit of the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. Kucek presented the poster at the convention.

Biology Major Awarded YSU-OEA Heritage Scholarship Megan Healy, a YSU biology major, is this year’s recipient of the Academic YSUOEA Union Heritage Scholarship award. Healy, of LaGrange, Ohio, is employed on campus as a resident assistant at Lyden House. She is president of the YSU Biology Megan Healy Club, secretary of the Residence Hall Association and a member of the Student Conduct Board. An avid horsewoman, Healy has been showing horses since she was very young, and she hopes to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, specializing in equine sports medicine. She is serving an internship as a veterinary assistant at Cleveland Equine Clinic in Ravenna and expects to graduate in spring 2016.

SPRING 2016

alumni news

The YSU Alumni Society wants YOU! Show your Penguin pride by becoming a member of the YSU Alumni Society. Membership is a great way for alumni to stay connected to their alma mater and to fellow graduates. It also offers many benefits, including networking opportunities, invitations and preferred pricing for Alumni Society events, and discounts on hotels and auto rentals. Membership dollars also support the YSU Alumni Legacy Scholarship, which is awarded to children of Alumni Society members. For more information, visit: www.ysu.edu/alumni.

e v a S Date! THE

Tuesday, April 5, 7 p.m. – Skeggs Lecture Series speaker Raymond Kelly, former NYPD commissioner and national security expert, at Stambaugh Auditorium. The event is free but tickets are required. Contact Jackie LeViseur, University Events, 330-9412136 or jmleviseur@ysu.edu.

Sunday, April 10, 2 p.m. – YSU Alumni Society Life Member Reception at Youngstown Historical Center for Industry and Labor. Invitations will be mailed. Wednesday, May 4, 6 p.m. – Beeghly College of Education Alumni Dinner, at McKay Auditorium. Invitations will be sent, reservations required. For information or reservations, call 330-941-3269. Saturday, May 21, 5 p.m. – Tau Kappa Epsilon 60th Anniversary Red Carnation Ball, in the Williamson College of Business Administration Atrium. Reservation deadline March 30, tickets $29 per person. Sunday, July 10 – Half Century Reunion for YSU alumni who graduated in 1966 or earlier. Includes brunch with President and Mrs. Tressel at the Pollock House, planned in conjunction with YSU’s Summer Festival of the Arts. (For more information about these events, contact Catherine Cala, Alumni Engagement, cacala@ysu.edu or 330-941-3119.)

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Past Homecoming Kings, Queens Celebrate Event’s

75th Anniversary

YSU Homecoming Kings and Queens representing every decade dating back to the 1960s returned to campus Oct. 17 as guests of honor for the 75th Anniversary Celebration of YSU Homecoming. Among many attending the event, in photo at left, clockwise from rear center, are past queens Krista Cunningham, ’10, Columbus, Ohio; Alyssa Pignatelli Armeni, ’91; Maria Wright Ceraolo, ’04, ’08, Vienna, Ohio; Annette Pucci Castor, ’87, Florida; and Kristin Serroka Garesche, ’02, Virginia. At right, former kings Jeremy McGhee, ’12, and Kingsley Ansah, ’13, pose with former queen Melissa Wasser, ’14.

YSU alumni have been taking YSU’s beloved Pete the Penguin mascot to vacation spots around the world since YSU Magazine began asking grads to capture photos for the “Take Pete Along…” feature. Lisa (Gentile) Farrall, ’76, took Pete along on two different vacations over the past year. She and her husband, David, traveled to the mountains of North Georgia last summer where Pete accompanied them on a hike to Raven Cliff Falls. Later in the year, the Melbourne Beach, Fla., couple took our intrepid mascot to Oregon for a hike to the summit of Spencer Butte. “It was very cold, icy and windy, but Pete loved it,” she quipped. Farrall is a contracts manager with the Harris Corp.

Longtime friends Mary Alice (Dykes) Wilson, ’70, of Fairhope, Ala., and Cindy (Reedy) Baringer, ’71, Canfield, took a three-week trip to Europe last year that included time in London and Portugal. Wilson is an instructor at Faulkner State Community College after retiring from a career as a training manager for utility companies, and Baringer is a retired business education instructor. They’ve taken several cruises together over the years.

Cindy Baringe r, le Alice Wilson in ft, and Mary Lisbon, Portuga l.

l in Orego

Lisa Farral

Lisa Farrall in

North Georgia

alumni news

Dumpling Dinner in Shanghai First Reunion for Dana Alumni

A YSU delegation led by Provost Martin Abraham visited China for two weeks in October as part of the university’s continuing effort to expand its global reach. Attending an alumni dinner in Shanghai at Din Tai Fung, a restaurant known for its dumplings, are from left: Mike Crist, interim dean, College of Creative Arts and Communication; Patrick Bateman, associate professor, Management; Harry Yang, ’76; Neit Guo; Ann Gardner, assistant director, YSU Center for International Studies and Programs; Rachel Sun; Trish Reider, ’90, ’98; Craig Reider; Qi Jang, professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology; Hazel Marie, associate professor and chair, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; and Abraham.

Welcoming New Alumni Board Members

New members of the YSU Alumni Society Board of Directors who took office in January are, from left: Penny Pavelko, ’70; Towana Stevens, ’08; Paige Rassega, ’15; Diana DeVito ’75; Marly Kosinski, ’95; and Karen Bankston, ’76. David J. Moore, ’74, ’77, president, leads the board, and Maureen A. Drummond, ’85, is president-elect.

Columbus Boasts Active Alumni Chapter More than 50 Columbus, Ohio, alumni ventured out on a frigid January evening to meet and greet YSU President Jim Tressel and learn about the latest developments at YSU. Columbus has an active alumni chapter, led by Eric Boldan, ’94, ’01. To make sure you don’t miss the next area event, visit www.ysu.edu/alumni and select “Update Your Information” to provide your current contact information.

Help Us Stay in Touch

Students and volunteers representing each YSU college will be participating in an INFO-na-thon in the coming months, calling alumni to update their contact and employment information. Accurate alumni data is a critical component of YSU mail, telephone and electronic communications. The caller ID will read “YSU,” so please pick up when we call!

YSU graduates from 10 states gathered for the Dana School of Music’s first all-alumni reunion Nov. 28 at Stambaugh Auditorium. The evening included dinner, live music, dancing and a “Decades Display” featuring photos, music programs, yearbooks and Dana memorabilia. In the photo, planning committee co-chairs, Martha Young, ’79, ’91, and Ken Young, ’78, ’91, at left, presented prizes to the most recent alumni to attend: Philip Monrean and Scott J. Miller, both ’15 graduates.

Donors Create ROTC Scholarship Celebrating the establishment of a new ROTC scholarship at the Veterans and ROTC Alumni Reunion Dinner in November are, from left, ROTC Cadet scholarship recipients Brandon Gromada and Zachary Marr; Major Robert Davidson, YSU chair of Military Science; and scholarship donors, Colleen Tropea and Retired Lt. Col. Rich Tropea, ’78. Lt. Col. George Hammar, ’95, was keynote speaker, and Raymond Courtney received the Cincinnatus Award in recognition of his service to the U.S. Army and to the community.

SPRING 2016

penguin sports news

Penguin Football Season Tickets Now Available Season tickets for YSU’s 2016 football season are now available. The Penguins’ six-game home schedule will feature contests with Duquesne, Robert Morris, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, Southern Illinois and Indiana State. Reserved seat ticket packages for the season are priced at $99; general admission packages are $77. Season tickets allow fans to save almost $5 per ticket on the regular game day ticket price. Purchase tickets at the YSU Athletic Ticket Office, located on the north end of Stambaugh Stadium, or order by phone at 330-941-1978. Visit YSUsports.com for game times.

2016 Penguin Football Schedule Sept. 1 Sept. 10 Sept. 17 Oct. 1 Oct. 8 Oct. 15 Oct. 22 Oct. 29 Nov. 5 Nov. 12 Nov. 19

vs. Duquesne* at West Virginia vs. Robert Morris* vs. South Dakota* at Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa* at South Dakota State vs. Indiana State* at North Dakota State vs. Southern Illinois* at Missouri State (* Indicates home game)

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Impressive Year for Senior Runner Austin McLean Senior nursing major and cross country runner Austin McLean had an outstanding and memorable fall season for the Penguins – he was named the Horizon League Cross Country Men’s Athlete of the Year and was voted YSU’s 2015 Homecoming King. At the Horizon League Championships, McLean finished first to cap an impressive year on the cross country circuit. The West Jefferson, Ohio, native posted a remarkable time of 24:37.43 in the 8k race and received First-Team All-League honors as well. McLean competed in six of the seven races during the season, missing only one meet – it was scheduled on the same Runner Austin McLean took several honors, day as YSU’s 75th annual Homecoming including the Horizon League’s Cross Country football contest against South Dakota Men’s Athlete of the Year. State in October. He started off the season by placing sixth at the Duquesne Duals with a time of 26:23.7. At the Tommy Evans Invitational, McLean posted a time of 20:01 in the four-mile event to take first place, missing the course record by one second. At the All-Ohio Championships, McLean finished eighth out of nearly 600 runners with a time of 24:52.68 and was recognized as a first-team Division I AllOhio selection for his efforts. At the Disney World Cross Country Classic, McLean led the Penguins as they earned a team win and took second place in the event with a time of 24:43.20. He finished the year with a 66th-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional to place the Penguins at the event. YSU finished 17th, one of its best team finishes at the Regionals in school history. McLean was named YSU’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year following a strong cross country and track and field performance in 2014-15. YSU’s men’s cross country team had an outstanding season overall, finishing second at the Horizon League Championships and posting school-best placing at the Great Lakes Regional.

Named YSU’s 2015 Homecoming King his senior year, cross country standout Austin McLean served with two Homecoming Queens – seniors Gianna Marinucci, left, and Ashley Milligan – due to the first voting tie on the king/queen competition in YSU history.

penguin sports news

Zaborsky Earns All-American Title Steve Zaborsky, a Penguin defensive tackle from Mineral Ridge, was recognized by the College Sports Information Director of America as a second-team Steve Zaborsky CoSIDA Academic All-American at the end of the 2015 season. Zaborsky, a senior last fall, completed his bachelor’s degree in Engineering with a 3.71 GPA and is now pursuing an MBA at YSU. He is the first Penguins football student-athlete since 2010 to be named Academic All-American and the seventh YSU football player to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American. Placekicker Stephen Blose was the last to win the title in 2010. A first-team Academic All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honoree in 2015, Zaborsky started all 11 games

at defensive tackle during his final campaign in 2015 for Head Coach Bo Pelini. He posted a career-high 34 total tackles, including 15 solo stops. In conference play he was credited with 23 tackles.

Racquetball Club Players Take Conference Tournament Honors

Nawal Maotassem

YSU’s Racquetball Club team earned team and individual accolades in recent tournament play, including a top ranking by player Nawal Maotassem in the U.S. Racquetball World Championship in Minneapolis last fall. Maotassem was relatively new to racquetball – she’d only been playing 18 months – when she took

gold in the Women’s D Division at the world championship event. A 2015 YSU graduate, she earned her MS in Computing and Information Systems in August. YSU’s racquetball club team also took honors at the Mid Eastern Racquet Conference, with the men finishing in third place and the women placing second. The YSU club team hosted a MERC tournament at Stambaugh Stadium in mid-January. Racquetball is a club sport at YSU, mostly self-funded through tournament fundraisers, with 10 men and eight women on the squad. For more information, or to donate to the club, contact Coach Jim Leone, 330-402-3900.

Penguin Women’s Soccer Welcomes New Coach Fabio Boateng, a native of Ghana who led a Mississippi team to a conference championship last year, has joined YSU’s athletics staff Fabio Boateng as head coach of the women’s soccer program. The sixth head coach in program history, he comes to YSU from Mississippi Valley State University, where he led the Devilettes to a regular-season Southwestern Athletic Conference championship with an 8-1-1 record and an overall mark of 13-7-2. Boateng sees a bright future for YSU women's soccer. “There are a great number of good student-athletes who are eager to win, be successful and work hard,” he said. “The work ethic has to continue if we are going to be successful. I am excited about this opportunity." The new coach spent the past two seasons as the head coach at Mississippi Valley State. In 2015 at MVSU, he coached the SWAC Player of the Year and had six players named to the allconference team. MVSU also led the nation with 3.86 goals per game, 3.09 assists per game, 10.82 points per game, total goals with 85 and total points with 238; the Devilettes ranked second in the nation with 68 total assists. Prior to MVSU, Boateng spent four years as the head coach at Lincoln University from 2010-13, gradually increased the Division II team's win total from one in 2010 to eight in 2013. He also served coaching positions at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Ghana. Boateng holds a BA in political science, with a minor in the study of religion, from the University of Ghana. He earned two graduate degrees – an MS in sports leadership and an MBA in Risk Management – both from Virginia Commonwealth University.

SPRING 2016

’50s

class notes

Michael LaCivita of Youngstown, ’51 BSBA, is 91 and still writing a regular monthly retrospective column for the Youngstown Vindicator that is published in the newspaper’s editorial Michael LaCivita pages. Retired in 1986 from Commercial Intertech, where he served as corporate safety and security director, LaCivita enjoys photography, writing, gardening and inventing. His book, Rag Man, Rag Man, has been placed in 17 notable historic archives around the country, most recently in the Smithsonian Institute Library in Washington, D.C. A Navy veteran of World War II, LaCivita has been inducted in the Ohio Veteran's Hall of Fame and the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame. Angelo Pezzuolo of North Beaver Township, Pa., ’59 BS in Education, was recognized for his years of service to the Lawrence County Historical Society at the group’s annual dinner in Angelo Pezzuolo September. Pezzuolo was a longtime member of the society board and chairman of its Sports Hall of Fame. He earned a master’s degree from Westminster College, was a teacher, head football and track coach for the Mohawk Area School District, served as a guidance counselor for the Lawrence County Vocational Technical School and then worked in a succession of administrative roles for the Lawrence County Schools and the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV. He is a member of the YSU Penguin Club, the Football Alumni Board of Trustees, the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame and the Lawrence County Sports Hall of Fame.

’60s Frank P. Frankovich of Hermitage, Pa., ’63 BS in Education, recently returned from his fourth trip to Ireland, and he has traveled to Europe 20 times over the past three decades. A retired educator, Frankovich also earned a master’s degree in education from Edinboro University. He began his career teaching social studies in the Fowler-Vienna Schools, and then spent 20 years with the Ohio Education Association, working out of offices in Youngstown, Liberty and Howland.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Al Bright of Youngstown, ’64 BSEd in Art and a professor emeritus of Art at YSU, hosted a Black History Month lecture at the Butler Institute of American Art in February, discussing works Al Bright created by African American artists that are included in the Butler’s collection. Bright is an internationallyrenowned artist who is considered a pioneer in creating artwork in front of an audience. William Weimer of Youngstown, ’69 AB, was named president of the American Pyrotechnics Association Board of Directors. Weimer, an attorney, is vice president and general counsel at B.J. Alan Company, a leading distributor of consumer fireworks based in Youngstown. He earned his law degree from the University of Akron School of Law.

’70s Bruce Sherman of Boardman, ’70 BSBA in Accounting, and his wife Carol Sherman, ’70 BS in Education, were named Outstanding Volunteer Philanthropists by the MahoningShenango Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The Shermans support 88.5 FM-WYSU and assist with the radio’s fundraising drives, are active with Pete’s Pride, and are active with numerous other philanthropic causes on and off campus. They own Sherman Creative Promotions in Boardman, a distributor of promotional products. Joe Spera of North Lima, Ohio, ’70 BA in Psychology and Pre-Medicine, has retired from his career as a psychologist and now serves as a certified chaplain at Caprice Health Care Joe Spera Center, where he is also a resident. He provides weekly chapel services at the center and has published a Bible study manual, “The Caprice Manual of Bible Studies for Seasoned Seniors,” available through Amazon. Spera has graduate degrees in Clinical Psychology from Western Michigan University and Nova Unversity. He founded Church Counseling Services in 1987, and the Visiting Ministers Association in 2008. Terry Lawrence of Vancouver, Wash., ’71 BSBA in Advertising, operates TL Consulting, a consulting business specializing in telecommunications, casino development and hotel management. Lawrence has also written four books on poetry, including the most recent, titled He So Loved. All four are available through Barnes & Noble.

Leonard Perry of Canfield, ’71 AB in Biology, received a Dean’s Appreciation Award this spring at the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services Sixth Annual Alumni Recognition Dinner. In 2004, after 33 years of service, he retired as director of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety at YSU. George Dubec of Boca Raton, Fla., ’74 BSBA, a selfemployed Internet media consultant, radio show host and WebAwards judge, was named "Outstanding Judge" in the George Dubec 2015 WebAward Competition for the 12th consecutive year. The competition is presented by the Web Marketing Association. Previously, Dubec was senior vice president of corporate sales and marketing for Securenet Systems. Elizabeth Nocera Davis of Medina, ’75 BS, a partner in the Roetzel law firm and based in its Akron headquarters, has been named a 2016 Ohio Super Lawyer in the field of Medical Malpractice Elizabeth Nocera Davis Defense by Ohio Super Lawyers magazine. Davis earned her law degree from the University of Akron School of Law.

Training Facility, Golf Outing Memorialize Alumnus The legacy of YSU alumnus David Constantinovich continues in his hometown of Hilliard, Ohio, four years after brain cancer took his life at the age of 51. American Electric Power, his employer for 29 years, honored him in October by naming its David Constantinovich new training facility the Dave Constantinovich IT Telecommunications Training Center. The company also sponsors an annual DCon Memorial Golf Outing that has raised close to $50,000 to benefit the American Brain Tumor Association. Constantinovich, ’81 BS in Electrical Engineering, also earned an MBA from the University of Dayton. He was an electrical engineer and IT Managing Director of Customer Support Services at AEP.

Class Notes

Williamson College Honors Exceptional Alumni The Warren P. Williamson, Jr. College of Business Administration recognized four exceptional alumni for their professional achievements and community contributions. The awards were presented at the WCBA’s annual alumni dinner. Chris Allen, North American talent acquisition manager of Vallourec USA Corporation, was presented the Outstanding Service Award. Allen, ’92 BA, began his career with Vallourec Star in 2013 as HR staffing manager of the Youngstown Operations and was later promoted to his current position to expand recruitment of external talent from Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. Allen has served as a mentor for WCBA students, has been involved with enrollment, career development and community outreach efforts for the college, is a member of Pete’s Pride and an executive board member for the American Red Cross, Lake to River Mahoning Valley Chapter.

Northern States Metals in Youngstown as president and chief executive officer. He has served on the board for the American Composites Manufacturing Association, the Advisory Board of Directors for Factory Mutual Insurance Company, the Ashtabula County Civic Development Corporation and the Ashtabula County YMCA Board of Directors. Melanie Cann, vice president of Human Resources for the Cafaro Company, was presented the Outstanding Recent Alumna award. Cann, ’08 BSBA, ’14 MBA, joined the Cafaro Co. in 2000. Following a succession of promotions, she was named to her current position as vice president of Human Resources and Business Aviation Director. Recognized recently as a 40 Under 40 honoree by the Mahoning Valley Young Professionals, she is a former Warren Junior Women’s League president and now serves as an executive board member for Goodwill Industries.

Anthony Vross, co-owner of Simon Roofing, was named Outstanding Business Alumnus. A 2001 BSBA graduate, Vross joined Simon Roofing in 1979 and is recognized as the inventor of the company’s Fume Recovery System, which is used nationwide in schools, food processing plants, hospitals, and other odor sensitive environments. He has developed other innovative concepts and technologies used in the roofing industry, has authored several articles in national publications and serves as a national speaker on roof-related topics. Vross is a member of the Cortland Banks board of directors. A strong believer in community involvement, he has spearheaded corporate support and involvement to many nonprofit organizations and service programs. Thomas Meola, president and chief executive of Northern States Metals and Solar Flex Rack, was named Outstanding MBA Alumnus. Meola, ’80 BSBA in Accounting, ’93 MBA, started his career at Premix Inc. in North Kingsville, where he served as controller, chief financial officer and ultimately, as president and chief financial officer. After four years in the top job at Premix, he came to

Dr. Mark Squicquero of Beaufort, S.C., ’76 BS in Biology and English, is a dentist working in a new dental office in Beaufort, one of several Howard Family Dental offices serving South Carolina and Georgia. Squicquero earned his doctorate at Ohio State University College of Dentistry and previously taught embryology, anatomy and physiology at YSU. Susan Burgess-DeMarco of Knoxville, Tenn., ’77 BA in Political Science, was a speaker discussing “Current Issues in the Wireless World” at the 2015 Claims and Litigation Management Alliance Conference in Atlanta. An attorney, she is a claims consultant for Pennsylvania Lumbermens/Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Co. She earned her law degree at Catholic University School of Law and previously practiced law in Washington D.C. and Virginia. Martha I. Pallante of Niles, ’77 BA, and Donna M. DeBlasio, ’71 BA and ’76 MA in History, presented at a conference last fall commemorating the 20th anniversary of Teesside University’s Centre for Regional and

Dean Betty Jo Licata, far left, celebrates with graduates recognized at the Williamson College of Business Administration alumni dinner. Honorees are, from left: Chris Allen, Outstanding Service Award; Anthony Vross, Outstanding Business Alumnus; Thomas Meola, Outstanding MBA Alumnus; and Melanie Cann, Outstanding Recent Alumna.

Local History, located in Middlesbrough, UK. Pallante and DeBlasio are both History professors at YSU, and Pallante is also department chair. Pallante holds an MA from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a PhD in American History from the University of Pennsylvania; DeBlasio completed her PhD in History at Kent State. In their conference presentation, they examined YSU’s management relationship with the Ohio History Connection at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor. Edward Udovich of Akron, ’77 BSBA, has retired as assistant corporate secretary of FirstEnergy Corp., where he was employed for nearly 40 years. He joined Ohio Edison’s customer accounting department in 1976 and subsequently worked in the controller, budget and corporate departments. He was elected assistant corporate secretary in 1998, shortly after FirstEnergy was created from the merger of Ohio Edison and Centerior Energy. Udovich is a director of the FirstEnergy Family Credit Union and a former director of the International Institute of Akron.

Don Beatty of Martinsburg, W.Va., ’79 BE in Mechanical Engineering, has been named FirstEnergy Corp.’s external affairs manager for Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland. Beatty Don Beatty will be based at the company's Oakland, Md., service center. He joined the company in 1979 and most recently served as manager of customer support to the Potomac Edison utility.

’80s William T. Hull of Warren, ’81 BSBA in Accounting, was appointed chief financial officer of Orion Energy Systems, based in Manitowoc, Wis. Hull came to the company from RTI International Metals in Niles, where he was chief risk officer, chief financial officer and chief accounting officer. He is also a certified public accountant.

SPRING 2016

Class Notes

Vicki Mazurek of Titusville, Fla., ’81 BS in Business Administration, is an information technology manager for The Boeing Company, where she has been employed since 1989. She Vicki Mazurek is responsible for IT infrastructure services for Boeing space exploration employees working at the Kennedy Space Center, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and in Houston, Texas. Justin Dunaway

PT Grad Works to Provide Rehab Care for Haitians Five years after co-founding a non-profit that brought teams of physical therapist volunteers to hurricane-ravaged Haiti, YSU alumnus Justin Dunaway has expanded his mission. Now, as president of a new organization called STAND, The Haiti Project, he is working to create a sustainable system of permanent clinics across the impoverished country, providing orthopedic rehabilitation to the people. The plan is to have the clinics staffed by Haitian clinicians who will be trained by STAND volunteers. Dunaway, ’06 BS in Exercise Science, ’09 DPT, moved to Arizona after completing his YSU doctorate degree in Physical Therapy and is employed as a physical therapist at One Accord Physical Therapy in Phoenix. In 2012 YSU honored him with its prestigious Alumni of the Year award for his work in Haiti, and he continues to work with the university and its department of Physical Therapy. He was on campus to speak and meet with students last fall, and has taken 10 PT student volunteers to Haiti over the past five years. For more information, visit http://www.standhaitiproject. org. Tony Lozzi of Naples, Fla., ’81 MSBA in Marketing Management, ’84 MBA in Finance, relocated to begin a new career working for Florida Home Realty in Naples. He helps customers, Tony Lozzi many of them from the Youngstown area, to locate winter homes, investment rental properties or year-round homes. Previously, Lozzi spent more than 20 years working for Fortune 100 companies in sales and marketing positions on the East Coast. Lozzi’s wife, the former Celeste Corso, is also a YSU graduate with an ’81 BSBA in Retail Marketing.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Robert Pavlik of Hudson, Ohio, ’82 BS in Advertising and Public Relations, has joined Quez Media Marketing as vice president. Quez is a marketing, strategy and web design advertising agency in Cleveland. Robert Pavlik Previously, Pavlik was vice president of marketing at Bank of America and MBNA Corp., serving there from 1995 to 2013. He has an MBA from John Carroll University’s Boler School of Business. Mary Pat Salomone of Charlotte, N.C., ’82 BS in Civil Engineering, was appointed to the board of directors for Intertape Polymer Group Inc., a developer and manufacturer of Mary Pat Salomone tapes and packaging systems. Salomone, who holds an MBA from Baldwin Wallace College, also serves on the boards of TransCanada Corp. and the YSU Foundation. In 2013 she retired as senior vice president and chief operating officer for the Babcock & Wilcox Co., concluding 31 years of service to the company. Valerie O’Dell of Warren, Ohio, ’85 BS in Nursing, received a $16,684 Nursing Anesthesia Traineeship grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources Valerie O’Dell and Services Administration, Department of Nursing. The grant offers scholarship assistance to nurse anesthetist students who intend to work in health professional shortage areas after completion of the MSN anesthesia program. O’Dell is a professor and MSN director in YSU’s Department of Nursing who joined the YSU faculty in 1985. Besides her YSU degree,

she holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Case Western Reserve University and an MS in Nursing from Kent State University. Ron Bayne of Medina, Ohio, ’87 BSBA in Business Administration, is the owner of The UPS Store in Ashland, Ohio. The store is a radio sponsor of the Cleveland Indians, and Bayne was Ron Bayne chosen to throw out the first pitch at the Cleveland Indians game on May 27. Eric Weis of Alamo, Calif., ’88 BS in Management Information Systems, was named a consulting partner in Armanino LLP, an independent accounting and business consulting firm and one of the largest of its kind in the country. He joined the firm’s Governance, Risk & Compliance practice. Previously, he was a partner at Crowe Horwath and worked with more than 60 companies in the Bay Area.

’90s Dr. Charles P. Sammarone Jr. of Hubbard, Ohio, ’91 BS, has been chosen as a master faculty member by the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. The college bestows the honor on a select number of physicians teaching at its clinical campuses, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the college. A 1995 graduate of Heritage College, Sammarone operates a medical practice in Hubbard and serves as a clinical associate professor with the college’s department of family medicine, affiliated with its clinical campus at St. Joseph Health Center in Warren. Kevin Carlini of Pleasant Gap, Pa., ’93 BSBA in Advertising Art, has joined Penn State University’s Office of Strategic Communications as a visual communications specialist. He provides graphic design and creative expertise for the university's print, Web and new media communications. Previously he was creative director for Woolrich Inc.’s direct-to-consumer division, and before that he was creative manager for Nashbar Direct in Youngstown. Scott R. Schulick of Youngstown,’94 BSBA in Accounting, ’96 MBA, has been named Rotary Club District 6650 Governor for 201819. Previously, he served twice as president of the Scott R. Schulick Youngstown Rotary. Schulick is vice president/investments and an investment advisor for Stifel Financial Corp. He served as a member of the YSU Board of Trustees from 2004-2013.

Class Notes

Jeffrey D. Thomas of Clarksville, Tenn., ’94 BSBA, was named chief financial officer for Gateway Medical Center in Clarksville. Previously, Thomas was a CFO at Heartland Regional Medical Center, and Jeffrey D. Thomas he has 22 years of accounting and healthcare experience. Rochelle Robinson of Douglasville, Ga., ’96 BSBA, took office in January as mayor of Douglasville, the first woman and the first African American ever to serve in that capacity. She was elected Rochelle Robinson to a four year term as mayor. Previously, Robinson was a city council person in the small rural community. Her 30-year career in public service also included an honorable discharge from the Ohio Army National Guard and several years in Washington, D.C. with the Central Intelligence Agency. R.J. Multari of Buffalo, N.Y., ’97 AB in Communication Studies and Political Science, was recognized for his achievements as assistant dean for Undergraduate Education at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning. He was presented the school’s Partners in Education Award for his work in aligning the college’s architecture technology program with the Buffalo school’s undergraduate program last spring. Multari joined the university in 2001 and holds two master’s degrees, one in educational administration and one in social science with an urban studies specialization, both from UB. He is completing his dissertation for a PhD in educational leadership at UB and also teaches there as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Scott Sheffield of Parkersburg, W. Va., ’97 BE in Mechanical Engineering, has joined MGM Industries, a maker of painted vinyl windows and doors, as president. He will oversee its operations in Hendersonville, Tenn. Previously, he was a vice president of Deceuninck North America’s Ohio facility. Besides his YSU degree, Sheffield holds a Six Sigma Green Belt designation from Villanova University and is a graduate of the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management Leadership Development Course in Chicago. Jason G. Beckham of Atlanta, ’98 BA in Political Science, has re-joined the law firm of Burr & Forman LLP as legal counsel in the Atlanta office. Beckham is a member of the lending practice

group. He earned his law degree from Emory University School of Law. The firm is regional, with nearly 300 attorneys and nine offices in cities across the Southeast. Sherri Harper-Woods of Youngstown, ’98 BSW, was honored at the YSU’s 18th annual Research Recognition Luncheon for her achievement in obtaining external funding for the Sherri Harper-Woods 2014-15 fiscal year. Harper-Woods is the university’s ombudsperson, director of Upward Bound and a part-time faculty member in the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in formational counseling from Ashland Theological Seminary and an MS from Case Western Reserve University. Jennifer Johnson of Lowellville, ’98 BSBA in Business Administration, ’01 MBA, was appointed area manager for the Struthers Division of Aqua Ohio, the largest investor-owned Jennifer Johnson drinking water and wastewater utility in the state. Previously, Johnson was communications and human resources coordinator and customer field services manager for Aqua. In 2001 she was recognized by YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration as its Outstanding Recent Alumna. A Struthers Rotarian, she leads Aqua’s local philanthropy efforts and serves in leadership roles in several nonprofit and philanthropic programs.

’00s Darren Hudach of Uniontown, Ohio, ’00 BS in Computer Science, recently joined Cleveland HeartLab as chief operating officer, responsible for strategic development, Darren Hudach international expansion and operational excellence. Cleveland HeartLab is a clinical reference laboratory that offers scientifically proven and medically relevant bio-markers that are predictive of cardiovascular risk. Lashale Pugh of Campbell, Ohio, ’00 BS in Biology and BA in Geography, ’02 MS in Biology, was keynote speaker at the 31st Annual Trumbull County African American Achievers Hall of Fame Banquet in Warren. Pugh, an assistant professor of Geography at

Jason G. Beckham

YSU, specializes in community health initiatives, food justice and health and disease patterns. She earned her PhD in Geography from the University of Maryland and has been working Lashale Pugh recently on the Years of Potential Life Lost project for Mahoning County. Mark Melnik of Jamaica Plain, Mass., ’00 BA in Sociology, has been named director of the Economic and Public Policy Research group at the UMass Donahue Institute, University of Massachusetts. Melnik holds

Mark Melnik

Paige Rassega

New Grad Honored as HR Student of the Year Paige Rassega of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, ’15 BSBA in Human Resources, was named 2015 Northeast Ohio Human Resources Student of the Year, an award presented annually to recognize HR professionals in the region who have demonstrated excellence in the field of human resource management. As a student, she was president of the Society for Human Resource Management and of Enactus, an entrepreneurship group at YSU. She was awarded a prestigious national HR scholarship and worked as a peer mentor at the Center for Student Progress. As a new graduate, Rassega is a member of Pete’s Pride and recently accepted a position on the YSU Alumni Society Board.

SPRING 2016

Class Notes

a doctorate of philosophy in sociology and an MA, both from Northeastern University. He specializes in demographic, socioeconomic and labor market issues and Gina Melnik has been working in applied social research settings over the past decade, most recently as deputy director for research at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. His wife, Gina Melnik, is also a YSU alumna and 2000 grad. After earning her BS in Psychology at YSU, she earned a PhD from Tufts University and is employed as an engineering psychologist for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Erica Machel of Bedford, Ohio, ’02 BA in Psychology, spent summer 2015 studying cheetah physiology and ecosystem management with the Cheetah Conservation Fund Erica Machel in Namibia. An arbitration specialist at Progressive Insurance in Bedford, Machel participated in the global field course in Namibia as part of pursuing a master’s degree at Miami University of Ohio. Thomas P. Wakefield of Boardman, ’02 BS in Mathematics, ’02 AB in Economics, has been recognized as a Fellow by the Society of Actuaries, which is the society’s highest honor, and YSU received $7,500 Thomas P. Wakefield from the society on his behalf. Wakefield was recognized as an Associate in the society in 2011, an unusual accomplishment for an academic. An associate professor in YSU’s Department of Mathematics & Statistics, he earned his PhD and MA, both in Mathematics, from Kent State University.

Nihal Ulus of Houston, Texas, ’02 MA in Economics, is a forecast analyst whose position allows her to telecommute for her employer, Energy Services Group, based in the Boston Nihal Ulus area. A mother of twins, she works from home, traveling to Boston for business periodically, and maintaining regular daily contact with the company through email and telephone. She earned her undergraduate degree in business economics from the University of Nebraska. Eric L. Ewell of Duquesne, Pa., ’03 BA in Communications, is the pastor of Divine Restoration Church of God in Christ in Duquesne, which he founded in his hometown in 2013. He is employed as a community specialist at Propel Schools and also serves as Jurisdictional Young People Willing Worker president in his denomination’s Washington District. Katie M. Solvesky of Boardman, ’03 BSBA, employed as a wealth management advisor with Jones Wealth Management of Merrill Lynch’s Canfield office, recently earned the Certified Private Katie M. Solvesky Wealth Advisor certification awarded by the Investment Management Consultants Association. She joined the company in 2001. Ketuan Baldwin of Seattle, ’04 AAS and ’06 BSAS, both in Computer Information Systems, ’12 MBA, has accepted a promotion with Microsoft as an application Ketuan Baldwin development manager. He provides Microsoft Enterprise customers access to product and application development support to produce successful business applications. Previously, he was a software engineer with Microsoft.

Alumni Author Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation is the title of Jamie Marich’s newest book, published by Skylight Paths Publishing. Marich, ’00 BA in History and American Studies, is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, operates a private clinical practice in Howland, called Mindful Ohio & the Institute for Creative Mindfulness, and conducts training and retreats on trauma, addiction and mindfulness worldwide. Marich has a PhD in counseling studies from Capella University and a master’s degree in counseling from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Kenneth Onderko of Liberty Township, Ohio, ’04 BE in Mechanical Engineering, has been appointed an executive vice president for GE’s Middle River Aircraft Systems and Aircelle that produces jet engine solutions for integrated propulsion systems. Onderko joined GE in 1986 and has held a succession of design, project engineering and management positions. He holds an MBA from Xavier University and is a certified black belt in Lean Six Sigma business improvement methods. Thomas Lyden of Youngstown, ’05 BSBA in Accounting, ’15 MBA, has joined the Cleveland Clinic as a payroll systems analyst. Previously, he held a succession of positions with Mahoning County government, most recently serving as payroll supervisor. O’Neil Johnson of San Salvador in the Bahamas, ’06 Associate of Art in Social Sciences, is employed as a technician by the Bahamas Communications Company Ltd. and O’Neil Johnson has been working with crews after work hours to restore cell phone service to southeastern island areas damaged by Hurricane Joaquin in 2015. Amy Plant of Wellsville, Ohio, ’06 BA in Psychology and Sociology, ’13 BA in Gerontology, ’15 MA in Gerontology, collaborated with the National Council on Aging and Mercy Health System to facilitate activities as part of a national program observing National Fall Prevention Day last September. The event included a group demonstration on proper procedures for falling, fall prevention exercises and tips for home and travel safety. Plant is a part-time faculty member at YSU, teaching Gerontology courses. Janet Gbur of Canfield, ’08 BE in Materials Engineering and ’11 MSE in Mechanical Engineering, was awarded a $10,000 American Society for Testing and Materials International Graduate Scholarship for the 2015-16 Janet Gbur academic year. A doctoral candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, she received the award in Tampa, Fla. in November. In addition to the ASTM honor, Gbur received the Ruby Leigh Organ Founders Grant in the amount of $9,000 by the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation. Nine grants are awarded annually to members pursuing post-baccalaureate education.

Class Notes

Kyle Conway of Sewickley, Pa., ’09 BSBA in Accounting, recently began a position as an investment analyst for Carnegie Mellon University. Conway holds his CPA license in two states and has previous experience working in public accounting and auditing. Erin Sayre of Cary, N.C., ’09 BS in General Studies, has joined Cherokee Media Group, a fullservice media and event management company, as sales support and media coordinator. She will Erin Sayre primarily provide support services for the company’s automotive and B2B media.

’10s Kellie Brautigam of Denver, Colo., ’10 BSEd, was in the Central American country of Belize this summer, studying diverse terrestrial, coastal and coral reef communities as part pursuing her master’s degree in Miami University’s Global Field Program. The study trip was part of the university’s Earth Expeditions global field course. Brautigam, formerly an English teacher at Canfield High School, is now teaching at Highlands Ranch High School in Denver. Daniel Scaglione of Alliance, Ohio, ’11 BS in Nursing, graduated with honors from the Ohio University Family Nurse Practitioner program in the spring of 2015. He is now employed providing hospice care as a Certified Nurse Practitioner in the Canton, Ohio, area. Corban Baker of Howland, Ohio, ’12 BA in Telecommunication Studies, joined 33WYTV News, an ABC News affiliate in Youngstown, as evening anchor for its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Corban Baker broadcasts. A Marine Corps veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baker previously worked at KMIR Channel 13, an NBC affiliate in Palm Springs, Calif., where he was a production specialist, reporter and news anchor. He’s also performed as an actor and comedian at locations across California. Daneen MaceVadjunec of Berlin Center, Ohio, ’12 MS in Health and Human Services, was promoted to musculoskeletal service line director for Mercy Health in Youngstown. Daneen Mace-Vadjunec Also a graduate of St. Elizabeth School of Nursing, she has a

Marble Artist’s Work on Display Carl Fisher of Temecula, Calif., ’75 BE in Civil Engineering, had his hand-crafted marbles featured in an exhibition of rare vintage and contemporary marbles that opened last November at the Temecula Valley Museum. Fisher also conducted a marblemaking day for museum visitors as part of the exhibit. Fisher and his contemporary marble art were featured on the cover of YSU Magazine in the summer of 2008. He is a cloud storage specialist and a 31-year veteran of the IBM Corp. Formerly of Poland, Ohio, he relocated to California seven years ago.

BS from Jacksonville University in Florida. Previously, she served as program director for Trauma and Neurosciences. Krista Bittengle of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., ’13 BS in Early Childhood Education, is a fifth grade teacher in St. Johns County School District in St. Augustine, Fla., where she was selected by her colleagues to represent Wards Creek Elementary School in the county’s Rookie Teacher of the Year competition. The competition recognizes an exemplary educator who has taught for fewer than three years. Bittengle will be competing with 45 other RTOY candidates in hopes of being awarded the district-wide 2016 Rookie Teacher of the Year title. She is also pursuing an advanced degree in School Psychology. Marva Kay Jones of Lorain, Ohio, ’14 EdD in Educational Leadership and Administration, has joined the Lorain City Schools as director of teaching and learning for elementary education. She Marva Kay Jones began her career as a teacher in the Canton City Schools, served administrative positions there and in the Massillon City Schools, and most recently spent four years as superintendent of the Warrensville Heights Schools. In addition to her doctorate from YSU, she earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from the University of Akron.

Carl Fisher

Chris Gill of Hermitage, Pa., ’00 MSEd, ’15 PhD in Educational Research, has completed his doctoral degree from YSU. He is principal of Hickory High School in Hermitage and also holds a bachelor’s degree from Edinboro University and a superintendent’s certificate from Gannon University. Tommy Marshall of Lexington, Ky., ’15 BA in Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, has joined L’Escalade Fitness, a climbing and fitness gym in Lexington, as its outdoor programming Tommy Marshall director. While at YSU he completed a climbing wall and teambuilding internship in the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Ian Olson of McDonald, Ohio, ’15 BSBA in Accounting, has joined the accounting firm Rea & Associates as a staff accountant on the government team. He will be working in the firm’s New Philadelphia headquarters, one of its 12 offices in Ohio. Olson completed an internship in the internal auditing department at YSU, where he gained experience working with the government sector.

SPRING 2016

Class Notes

Penguin at YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

How We Met… Since the summer of 2013, YSU Magazine has been inviting married YSU couples to share their love stories in our Penguin Mates feature. We invite you to visit our magazine website, ysumagazine.org, to see each couple’s complete story and more photos.

Dana Alumni Featured In Top Holiday Album Joyful Jazz, a holiday album recorded by the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra co-conducted by YSU alumnus Sean Jones, was named one of the six best holiday albums of the year in December by The Wall Street Journal. Two other Dana grads – trombonist Jeff Bush and jazz pianist Alton Merrell – are also featured on the album. Jones,’00 BM in Classical Trumpet Performance, is artistic director of the Pittsburgh and Cleveland Jazz Orchestras and chair of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He also holds an MM in trumpet performance from Rutgers University. Jones lives in Newtonville, Mass. Merrell, ’00 BM, ’02 MM, earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from YSU and a PhD in Jazz Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Merrell lives in Pittsburgh and is director of worship ministries at Allegheny Center Alliance Church in Pittsburgh. Bush, ’98 MM in Trombone, also earned a master’s from the Manhattan School of Music. He lives in New Kensington, Pa., and is a part-time faculty member at West Virginia Wesleyan College and Duquesne University.

The YSU Magazine staff wants to share your career news in Class Notes. Visit ysumagazine.org, the magazine website, click on the “Tell Us Your Story” icon and complete the form online. Or, mail your news to: YSU Magazine, Marketing and Communications, Youngstown State University, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Please include your degree, graduation year, and an email address or telephone number.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY

Sol Watson Gully, ’67 BE in Electrical Engineering, and Nancy Ann Botak Gully, ’65 BA in Psychology, were married Aug. 28, 1965, in Youngstown. He retired as senior vice president and vice president of engineering for the former ALPHATECH. They celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2015 and now live in Cape Cod, Mass. Bob Semple, ’76 BSBA, and Deb Helsing Semple, ’75 BS in Education, were married in March 1974 in Poland, Ohio. They are the owners and founders of Teddy Bearskins. com, a retail business specializing in children’s clothing, shoes and toys. They live in Rhode Island. Ralph W. Morris, ’79 BA and ’81 MA, both in Economics, and Marietta Stathis Morris, ’81 BM and ’94 MA, both in Music Education, were married in Warren, Ohio, on July 10, 1983. He is an economist for the Federal Aviation Administration, and she is retired after a 25-year career as a music teacher for the Fairfax County Public Schools. They live in Springfield, Va., near Washington D.C. Chez Allison, ’13 BA in Telecommunications, and Tiiona Miller Allison, ’08 BS in Nursing, were married May 27, 2007, in the Rose Garden at Mill Creek MetroParks. He is a fireman and sports writer for the Buckeye Review newspaper in Youngstown; she is a nurse, employed by St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. Jerry Hunter, ’09 MS in Chemistry, and Rena Meadows, ’08 MS in Biology, were married at the Tyler History Center in Youngstown on Aug. 8, 2014. He is completing his PhD in Biochemistry at Indiana University School of Medicine; she has a PhD in Medical Neuroscience, also from Indiana University School of Medicine. They live in Indianapolis. If you and your spouse are both YSU graduates, we’d like to share your story in Penguin Mates. Tell us how you met, and a little about your life today, in 300 words or less, and email or mail with one or two wedding photos and/or a current photograph. Be sure to include your degrees, graduation years, city of residence, an email address and phone number so that we can contact you. Email to: cevinarsky@ysu.edu or mail to Editor, YSU Magazine, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.

Show your Penguin Pride by joining Pete’s Pride, a volunteer program aimed at recruiting new students, mentoring current students and promoting YSU.

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Make personal connections with potential students at on-campus events, like Crash Day and orientation. Join the ongoing letter-writing campaign from the comfort of your home.

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Become a part of the Career Mentor Network.

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Welcome students, alumni and visitors at a host of campus events and activities.

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Presidential Race, 1968 An enthusiastic crowd of YSU student volunteers calling themselves the “Humphrey Girls” turned out to rally support for Democratic presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey when he made a campaign stop in Youngstown on Nov. 2, 1968. The event, captured in this photo from the University Photo Archive at Maag Library, was on the steps of Stambaugh Auditorium near the YSU campus. A few days later, Humphrey would lose the presidential election to his Republican challenger, Richard M. Nixon, by a narrow margin. Humphrey’s long political career included a four-year term as vice president under President Lyndon Johnson, and he also served as mayor of Minneapolis and as a U.S. senator representing Minnesota. Several other presidential candidates have campaigned on the YSU campus in recent years, including Barack Obama, John McCain

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and Hillary Clinton. Starting on Page 19 in this issue, YSU Magazine takes a look at the 2016 election through the eyes of a recent YSU Journalism grad who is covering the national campaign and from the perspective of two professors, co-authors of a book exploring the role Ohio plays in national elections.

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