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On the Cover YSU’s new president Cynthia E. Anderson has some fun with students and university mascots Pete and Penny Penguin during a photo session in the lobby of Tod Hall. Read more about our seventh president in the cover story, page 8. ———————————
YSU President
Executive Director of Marketing & Communications
Director of University Communications
Magazine Editor
Layout Design Artist
Photographers
Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications
Sports Contributor
Chief Development Officer
YSU Board of Trustees Chair Vice Chair Secretary Student Trustees
Cynthia E. Anderson, ’73 Mark W. Van Tilburg
Ron Cole
Cynthia Vinarsky Renée Cannon, ’90 Bruce Palmer Carl Leet Jean Engle, ’86
Trevor Parks
Paul McFadden, ’84
Scott R. Schulick Sudershan K. Garg Millicent Counts Delores Crawford Larry DeJane John R. Jakubek Harry Meshel Leonard Schiavone Carole S. Weimer Franklin S. Bennett Jr. Lyndsie Hall Ryan Meditz
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 5, Summer 2010, is published quarterly by the YSU Office of Marketing and Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Periodicals Postage Paid at Youngstown, Ohio. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Youngstown State University, Office of Marketing and Communications, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555. Direct letters to the editor, comments or questions to the address above, call 330-941-3519 or e-mail universitymagazine@ysu.edu. Youngstown State University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or identity as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era, in respect to students and/or to applicants for employment, and to organizations providing contractual services to YSU. 8-001
YSU Named a Tree Campus USA University This majestic white oak on the east side of Maag Library is one of more than 1,800 trees that shade the YSU campus and that helped to earn the university the title “Tree Campus USA University.” The Arbor Day Foundation presented the Tree Campus designation to YSU in recognition of the university’s dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship (see story, page 20). The tree pictured above has been the nesting site for a family of red-shouldered hawks for several years.
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Around Campus – News and photographs of what’s happening on campus. COVER STORY – Meet YSU’s New President – Cynthia E. Anderson takes time for a Q&A to share her thoughts, plans and aspirations. Working-Class Studies – This YSU center has become an information source for journalists and scholars worldwide. East Campus Gateway – Get a look at improvements adding curb appeal to the main campus entrance. Medical Missions – Nursing students get hands-on training through medical mission trips to developing countries.
24 Chet Cooper – Meet a YSU
biology professor who’s also an umpire-in-chief.
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Alumni Spotlight – Profiles of three exceptional YSU Alumni.
DEPARTMENTS 2 20 21 22 25 30
President’s Message YSU Foundation University Development Sports News Alumni News Class Notes
Check out YSU Magazine's online edition at
www.ysumagazine.org
summer
President’s Message
A new era of ‘Student Success and Academic Excellence’
Cynthia E. Anderson President
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As a native of the Mahoning Valley and a proud graduate of Youngstown State University, I cannot begin to express what an honor it is to be president of an institution that has been so very close to my heart for so many years. I take great comfort in knowing that YSU is just as important to all of you – our proud YSU alumni. I guess that is part of what is so special about our university – we truly are one big family. Over the past several years, our university has grown – in both numbers and reputation. Enrollment is up, diversity has been improved, the campus physical plant has been upgraded, our academic structure has been enhanced, and we have developed strong partnerships across the community, the state and even the world. We will seek to build on those successes as we move forward. As president, I will also seek, however, to ensure that our focus returns to our historic roots – to develop healthy minds, bodies and spirits. We will do this by putting at the center of everything we do those that have made this university great for more than 100 years – students. “Student Success and Academic Excellence” will be our mantra. Through the offering of quality academic programs, taught by some of the nation’s best faculty, in state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, and with the support of dedicated advisors, mentors, counselors and other staff, our students are and will continue to be absolutely second to none across the country. Every decision we make – from academic programs to facility improvements – will have students at the core. This “success agenda” will also mean that we will strive to showcase like never before the achievements of our wonderful students and alumni. The world will know that a degree from Youngstown State University means the bearer of that diploma has completed a rigorous curriculum and is ready for a rich and productive life. As I told students, faculty, staff and community members who were present at a welcoming ceremony on my first day as president, we cannot accomplish anything alone. All of us – and that includes our more than 82,000 alumni across the world – must join forces in order to ensure “Student Success and Academic Excellence” becomes reality. I thank all of you for your past support and your commitment to our alma mater, and I look forward to succeeding together as YSU moves into the second decade of the 21st century.
Sincerely,
Cynthia E. Anderson President
Scott R. Schulick, Chair of the YSU Board of Trustees, announces the appointment of Cynthia E. Anderson as the university’s seventh president after the nine-member board voted unanimously for her selection. Seated at right, Board Secretary Franklin S. Bennett Jr. and Trustee Larry DeJane were part of the standing-room-only crowd of more than 400 students, faculty, staff and community members who attended the special Feb. 17 board meeting at Kilcawley Center, greeting the announcement of Anderson’s appointment with resounding cheers and applause. Anderson is the first woman, the first Youngstown-area native and the first YSU graduate to serve as president in the university’s 102-year history.
Executive Assistant to President Appointed YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson has appointed Shannon Tirone, the former executive director of YSU Alumni and Events Management, to serve as executive assistant to the president. “I’m very honored. I’ve always believed in Dr. Anderson, and I think Shannon Tirone she’s truly an example of what we mean at YSU when we talk about student success,” Tirone said. “I see this job as extremely exciting. It
will allow me to work with community leaders and with faculty and staff in the university to help further the goals of our new president.” A YSU alumna, Tirone earned a BS in communication in 1994 and two years later was hired as assistant director of the YSU Alumni Association, which was then an independent nonprofit. When Alumni was incorporated as part of YSU in 2001, Tirone became director, and she was promoted to executive director of Alumni and Events Management when the two departments merged in 2008.
Opening Soon for Business A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15, for the new, $34 million home of YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration. Designed by Strollo Architects of Youngstown in collaboration with Perkins & Will, an international architecture and planning firm, the three-story glass and brick building is located on Rayen Avenue on the far-south end of campus overlooking downtown Youngstown. The building will be open for the start of fall semester classes on Aug. 23 and will be featured in the fall edition of the YSU Magazine. Visit www.ysumagazine.org for a video on the WCBA’s new home.
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Solar Panel Array Planned for Moser Will Be Among Largest in NE Ohio
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and YSU have announced plans to install a 10,000-square-foot solar panel array on the roof of Moser Hall – a major investment in clean, energyefficient technology on campus. “YSU is once again proving to our state and our nation that innovation, job creation and energy independence can happen right here in our own community,” Brown said. “With the right federal and state investments, our cuttingedge companies and innovative public-private partner- ships can strengthen Ohio’s role as a national leader in clean energy.”
Governor Appoints Two to YSU Board of Trustees
Gov. Ted Strickland has named Delores Crawford, community affairs director at WKBN, to a nine-year term on the YSU Board of Trustees, and appointed YSU student Ryan Meditz to a two-year term as a Delores Crawford student trustee. Crawford, a 1968 YSU graduate, replaced John Pogue, whose term on the board had expired. Her term will expire in 2019. Meditz replaced Student Trustee Dan DeMaiolo, whose term had also expired. Meditz’ term will expire in 2012. Crawford has been at WKBN since 2005 and hosts a weekly community affairs program, “Sunday Morning with Dee.” She previously was director of Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services/Child Support, minority coordinator for the YSU Urban Studies Department, and vice president Ryan Meditz of planning and allocations for the Youngstown/Mahoning Valley United Way. Meditz is a 2008 graduate of Canfield High School and is studying Spanish and International Marketing at YSU. He is a University Scholar and a member of the YSU Student Government Association, American Marketing Association, Spanish Club and Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity. He volunteers as the Canfield High School Band photographer, an assistant for the Canfield Varsity hockey team, a participant in the Shantytown homelessness awareness project, and StreetScape 2010. 4
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The solar panel array is being funded by Carbon Vision, a Cleveland-based renewable energy developer, at no cost to YSU. YSU will, in turn, purchase from Carbon Vision the electricity generated by the solar panels. The installation, the first at YSU and one of the largest of its kind in Northeast Ohio, is expected to take place later this summer and early in the fall. The solar panel installation is YSU’s latest effort to improve energy efficiency on campus. The university recently committed to $10 million in energy efficiency upgrades, resulting in a campus-wide 20 percent reduction in energy consumption and savings of $500,000 per year in lighting costs alone. The project includes more efficient lighting, improved steam traps, increased insulation and more efficient chillers. In a single year, the improvements will save YSU enough electricity to power 2,000 single-family homes. YSU also hosted the second-annual Sustainable Energy Forum June 6-8, an international conference featuring presentations and discussions on topics ranging from wind and solar energy to biofuels and carbon capture. Participants at the forum included contingents from China and Israel.
YSU, BizVeo Partner for Video Production
YSU’s Telecommunication Studies program has launched a collaboration with Youngstown Business Incubator company BizVeo LLC to provide television and video content. Fred Owens, professor of comFred Owens munication, said this is the College of Fine and Performing Arts’ first ongoing collaboration with an Incubator company. BizVeo provides corporate education and communication to employees and customers through a secure Internet portal. For example, through BizVeo’s products, a hospital system can deliver a personalized educational video to a patient, then provide additional support documents, conduct a patient survey, and link that patient to other training videos. Under the collaboration, YSU telecommunications student Bill Rusu is serving a professional residency at BizVeo. Rusu, a senior at YSU, is an accomplished television and video producer and director and is providing television and video content using YSU’s field and studio facilities in Bliss Hall, as well as production personnel from the Telecommunication Studies major. “It is no surprise that YSU continues to provide excellent interns for companies like ours,” said Tony Acentis, chief executive officer of BizVeo, noting that BizVeo is also working with two interns from the YSU Williamson College of Business Administration, 2010 graduate Rose Shaffer and senior Chuck Housteau. For more information on BizVeo, visit www.BizVeo.com.
Around Campus
YSU Cuts Ribbon to Launch Third Frontier Research Lab
Gov. Ted Strickland was on campus to cut the ribbon in April on YSU’s new $2.1 million Center for Advanced Materials Analysis, an Ohio Third Frontier research facility designed to help local companies with developing new products and creating new jobs. Located in Ward Beecher Hall, the center features two new electron microscopes, one with the capability to magnify materials by 1.5 million times their original size, allowing researchers to analyze the internal chemical structures of materials. It is a joint project between researchers in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and at Fireline TCON Inc. (FTi), a subsidiary of Youngstown-based Fireline Inc. “Third Frontier is helping to keep our young people here in Ohio where they can build their caGov. Ted Strickland, flanked by state legislators, tours the Center for Advanced reers,” Strickland said, adding that the lab will create Materials Analysis in Ward Beecher Hall. new opportunities for Ohioans who have already built “A world-class laboratory of this caliber provides an array their lives in the state as well. of new opportunities for research for our faculty and the commuTim Wagner, YSU chemistry professor and director of the nity,” he said. “Also, our undergraduate students will get handsnew YSU Center for Advanced Materials Analysis, said equipon experience working on equipment that only graduate or Ph.D.ment in the lab provides analysis capabilities that few, if any, level students would be exposed to at other universities.” predominantly undergraduate universities in the nation have.
Right to Move Reaches Across Income Barriers
Iannucci is currently preparing to introduce Right To Move as a campus-based nonprofit volunteer organization, YSU physical therapy professor Marleen Iannucci spent recruiting projects and volunteers via its website. While the last decade thinking about ways to provide physical the group is still in its infancy, it has already tackled therapy to people who can’t afford the help they need. several projects. Now, she’s created a volunteer organization called Right Community-based volunteer efforts thus far include a To Move that is focused on the intersection of movement, campaign to help nursing home residents file tax returns and disability and poverty. The an education initiative to engoal, she said, is advocacy, courage the hiring of workers education and service on with disabilities. international, national, state On a grander scale, and community levels. Right To Move made its first “Movement disability international effort last sumcould mean any disability mer when Iannucci accomaffecting a person’s ability panied Weiqing Ge, assistant to physically move at home professor of Physical Therapy, or in the community,” and five third-year graduate Iannucci said. “We are adstudents on a trip to China. dressing situations where The group visited an impoverthis disability is further ished village and assessed the constrained by poverty.” availability, or lack thereof, Right To Move was of therapy options for the introduced two years ago disabled. as a part of YSU’s Doctor “Issues of poverty are Professor Marleen Iannucci presents a Pete the Penguin doll to a brain injury of Physical Therapy curongoing and occur everyin a village outside of Xian, China. The girl was one of the patients riculum. Students enrolled victim where,” Iannucci said. “FlashYSU PT faculty and students assessed during their trip to China last year. in the class participate in in-the-pan efforts just won’t community service projects and work to make do anymore. We as educators and scholars need to link into advancements that will promote the overall development community engagement and hook people through whatever of the organization. they are passionate about.”
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Around Campus
Auto Dealers Auction Benefits YSU Autism Center
The Automobile Dealers Association of Eastern Ohio generated a record $47,873 for the Rich Center for Autism at a charity auction held this spring as part of its President’s Gala. The amount raised brings the 12-year total of charitable contributions raised by the annual event to $399,088. The Rich Center, located in Fedor Hall on the YSU campus, is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with autism and their families through innovative educational programs designed to help the individuals achieve their full potential. The dealers’ organization annually conducts this collective effort as a way of assisting others in the community. ADAEO was founded in 1964 and includes new vehicle dealerships and related businesses in Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana Counties.
students spend a weekend in November living as homeless. Since its inception 12 years ago, the project has logged nearly 23,000 hours of volunteer time and raised nearly $36,000 in monetary, food, personal needs items and clothing donations for area agencies.
NewsOutlet Gives Students Real-World Journalism Experience
TheNewsOutlet.org is a new facet of YSU’s journalism program in which students produce in-depth, community- focused articles, video and audio news pieces for publication and broadcast in The Vindicator, Youngstown’s daily newspaper, its Web edition Vindy.com and WYSU 88.5 FM. Students selected for the program can create clip files that include front page newspaper articles, video journalism stories and on-air radio news spots. Created in September 2009 with the help of a grant from the Raymond John Wean Foundation, TheNewsOutlet.org is the vision of YSU journalism director YSU Earns Kudos for Alyssa Lenhoff and Community Service journalism professor YSU has been named to the Tim Francisco. President’s Higher Education Com“The news media munity Service Honor Roll, the is changing,” said highest federal recognition a college Francisco, “and we or university can receive for its needed to start better commitment to volunteering, serpreparing our students vice learning and civic engagement. to engage in multiKatelyn Carusso, right, a YSU journalism major and member of The Honor Roll, launched in platform media.” TheNewsOutlet.org team, works on a project as journalism professor 2006, annually recognizes instituTim Francisco observes. The project has tions of higher education for their produced stories commitment to and achievement in on topics ranging from lottery ticket sales to revitalization community service. Honorees are chosen based on the scope efforts in area neighborhoods. The Vindicator has published and innovation of service projects, percentage of student parseveral articles by the NewsOutlet team, many of which have ticipation in service activities, incentives for service, and the appeared on the front page. extent to which the school offers academic service-learning “Overall, it’s been everything I hoped for in that the courses. students are eager and fun to be around,” said Todd Franko, More than 5,000 YSU students participate in community editor of The Vindicator. “The day-to-day aspects can be a services of some kind, said Ron Shaklee, director of the YSU challenge, but just when a day or an issue becomes a headUniversity Scholars and Honors Program. About 500 students ache, up will pop a result from a student that reinforces what participate in at least 20 hours of community service per this mission is and what it can be.” semester, and the total number of service hours engaged in by WYSU-FM also joined as a founding media partner. YSU students adds up to about 75,000, he said. The station is incorporating the student reports into regular YSU’s honor roll application highlighted the annual NPR news programming such as Morning Edition and All Shantytown homeless awareness project, developed by stuThings Considered. dents in the Leslie H. Cochran University Scholars Program. The project has also been noticed outside the Mahoning The project involves the construction of a cardboard box Valley. Lenhoff said Wright State University in Dayton is city near the Lyden and Cafaro house residence halls where interested in using YSU as a model for its own program, 6
Youngstown State University
and YSU has been trading ideas with the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.
Students Win Scholarships, Awards and Honors
Harris, Yiannaki receive YSU Heritage Award
Around Campus
Two distinguished former YSU employees – Professor Emeritus Ann Harris and Administrator Emeritus Harold Yiannaki – were presented Heritage Awards in May, the most prestigious honor bestowed upon former faculty and administrative staff recognizing their outstand- Ann Harris ing contributions to the university. Harris joined YSU’s Department of Geology as an adjunct instructor in 1961 and advanced through the ranks over the years to a full professorship. Since retiring in 2000, she has continued as professor emeritus, and since 1977 she has served as a professional consultant to many engineering firms as well Harold Yiannaki as to local, state and federal officials in the areas of abandoned deep coal mine stabilization in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. Her book, Geology of National Parks, has been used as a text for courses at many colleges and is sold in many national parks. Yiannaki served YSU in various capacities from 1969 until he retired in 2002, including assistant director of Admissions, director of Admissions, registrar, director of Enrollment Services, executive director of Campus 2000, part-time instructor, and executive director of External Relations. After his retirement in 2002, the YSU Board of Trustees conferred upon him the title Administrator Emeritus.
For the fifth time in six years, YSU students won recognition from the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship program. Hillary Howard, a double major in biology and medical laboratory technology, won the Goldwater Scholar Award, and Lisa Curll, a double major in applied mathematics and biology, was selected for Goldwater Honorable Mention. It was the first time that YSU has had more than one student honored with Goldwater recognitions in the same year, and YSU was one of only four public universities in Ohio to have students earn Goldwater Scholar recognition. Other YSU students also took home a host of awards and honors recently: • For the second time in three years, YSU accounting students placed first among 20 teams from universities across the region in the Best Practices competition at the Beta Alpha Psi Midwest Region meeting in Chicago this spring. Tarik Awad of Canfield, Ryan Garman of Sandusky and Matthew Pollock of Lowellville presented “Chapter Sustainability” as their Best Practices topic. The students now qualify to compete at the national Beta Al• YSU’s Student Chapter of pha Psi meeting students who placed first in a best practices competition are, the American Society of Civil Enin August in San Accounting from left, Matthew Pollock of Lowellville, Ryan Garman of Sandusky, and gineers placed in the top three in Jose, Calif. Tarik Awad of Canfield. five competitions, including two • The YSU first-place finishes, at the annual ASCE Ohio Valley Student Women’s Club awarded six student scholarships based Conference at the University of Kentucky this spring. Twenon academic performance, financial need and community ty-two YSU engineering students competed, led by YSU involvement. Recipients of the $1,000 scholarships were: JesASCE faculty advisor Scott Martin and practitioner advisor sica Cartwright and Justine Cullen, both of Boardman; Jenna Adam DePizzo. YSU teams competed and won awards in Hallapy of Hubbard; Rodney Carson of Sharpsville, Pa.; Emseveral civil engineering competitions, including first-place malee Torisk of Struthers; and Richard Trimbur of Girard. finishes in the environmental design and concrete bowling • Lisa Curll, who won the Goldwater program honorcategories. YSU also placed second in the steel bridge-buildable mention, was also one of nine undergraduate students ing competition and third in the concrete canoe and technical nationwide selected to receive a 2010 National Institute for paper competitions. The YSU Steel Bridge Building team Mathematical and Biological Synthesis/Undergraduate Biolqualified for the National Steel Bridge Building Competition ogy and Mathematics award to attend a national symposium for the eighth time in the last nine years. on quantitative biology undergraduate education.
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YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson is flanked by portraits of her predecessors, clockwise from bottom left, David C. Sweet , Leslie H. Cochran, Neil D. Humphrey, John J. Coffelt, Albert L. Pugsley and Howard W. Jones. Visit www.ysumagazine.org for video on Dr. Anderson’s first day.
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th YSU’s President Keeps Student- Centered F ocus was April 1971, and Cynthia E. Anderson was a People started approaching me about two years ago, tellYSU sophomore campaigning to be vice president ing me that I should consider the presidency. I began thinking of the university’s Student Government. Her platto myself, why not? I am a student-oriented individual, we form? Student rights. are in the business of education at YSU and that has everyBack then, Anderson and her presidential running mate thing to do with students. I decided to throw my hat in the promised to work for a slate of student-friendly changes. ring about 6 months before the actual search began. They wanted a pass-fail grading system, Student Government control of parking lots, better health services and a day-care Q. You’ve been around the YSU campus for a good share of center on campus. your life – as a student, a professor and an administrator. Students liked their ideas, and they won the election How will that help you as president? by a healthy margin. A. I think the advantage I have is that I know the culture For Anderson, that was the beginning of a passionate of this institution and I’m very proud of that culture. I am commitment to putting students first that has driven her part of that culture. I don’t have to start from scratch, looking successful 32-year career as an educator and administrator to see where our challenges are. I know much of the history at YSU. of Youngstown State, beginning in the late 1960s. There is And now, as YSU’s newly appointed seventh president, always history and background as to why some things were Anderson has promised that the same student-focused phidone, some actions were taken, and why others were not. losophy will be the foundation behind every decision in her The fact that I know the culture, the people, and the comnew administration. “Student Success and Academic Excelmunity plays to my advantage because I know to whom to go lence” is the theme of her presidency. for answers. A year from now I’m hoping that we will have Anderson made history when she moved into the YSU made some very significant, forward accomplishments, rather president’s office in Tod Hall on July 1. Chosen from among than just having plans in place. 300 candidates in a national search, she is the first woman and the first YSU graduate to Q. You’ve said that students will come first in Installation serve as president in the university’s 102-year your administration. How will that philosophy Ceremony for history. She replaces David C. Sweet, who be reflected in your presidency? YSU President retired June 30 after serving 10 years at the A. I believe every president has a style which Anderson university’s helm. personifies something that is both very unique Anderson talked about her philosophy, her and important to them. Obviously, mine has been 1 p.m., Sept. 24 goals and aspirations as president in this Q&A a focus on students, from minute one. I don’t Stambaugh with YSU Magazine editor Cynthia Vinarsky: intend to sit behind my desk in my office at Tod Auditorium Hall. I intend to be working out in the recreation Q. When did you first start thinking about center, attending Student Government meetings Public Invited the presidency? when they invite me, walking around on campus A. The holistic student experience has talking with students and my colleagues. always been my interest. When I first began my teaching While my position at the university has changed, my career, I thought the only way to have an impact on students desire to help students reach their goals and attain their was in the classroom. Then, as I moved into administration, I dreams has not changed. I hope that students will still want to realized that an individual can affect students as a director of know me and stop in to talk to me and speak to me when I’m planning or vice president for Student Affairs. You see things on campus. I hope that the community will see that all of our that you would like to accomplish, that you would do differdecisions will be made in the interest of students. The more ently, that you would consider a priority. opportunities that we can provide to our students to talk with
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faculty, staff, and the president, and express their concerns, the better we will be able to serve their needs. Q. What is the biggest challenge facing your presidency? A. Unfortunately, it’s the same one that every university president will talk about: We are going to be facing some major budgetary challenges in 2012. Along with those budgetary challenges, we are all well aware that our funding formula has changed. Thus, our institutional mindset must also change. For as long as I can remember, we have been judged and funded by the number of students applying and registering for our classes. As, we know, that isn’t going to be the case. Now, our funding will be based on the number of students who complete courses and graduate. And I do support outcomes funding. What does that mean for us? We’re going to have to be methodical and cognizant of the needs of our incoming students on every level. Every student comes to the university with different needs. We’ve done a wonderful job in so many areas – in our academic advising, our support services, our faculty who are providing research opportunities to our students, our accessible online admissions and financial aid registration processes – but we’re going to have to step up our efforts even more. We are going to have to collaborate across campus in a new way. We know that students who are engaged on campus, who work on campus and who get involved are more likely to stay and to graduate than students who are not involved and engaged. A part of our challenge is to provide such opportunities for our students; and a part of the challenge becomes taking our budget and setting priorities within that budget which help to ensure student success and persistence. Q. What’s first on your agenda? A. There are some initiatives that we need to pursue and complete quickly. One is pursuing a new strategic plan. The last strategic plan went through 2010, so I’ll be setting up a working group to begin a new plan. We intend to call people together from all areas on our campus, and we’ll be doing a lot of listening in my first couple of months in office, listening to strategies and new directions for our campus. Along with that, I intend to pursue a one-stop student enrollment center. That means coordinating all of our student enrollment services together in one location. We’ve made some progress over the years. Formerly, a student had to come to campus three or four times to be admitted, tested, and 10
Youngstown State University
registered; and we had to develop a formal freshmen orientation process. Now, I’d like to take our enrollment services to the next level by creating a friendly environment for students, making the coordination of enrollment services seamless. We are evaluating several campus venues for such a location. Several enrollment-related offices are currently located in Meshel Hall; and as those offices are relocated, it provides the opportunity for the Computer Science and Information Systems Department to enhance their course offerings and services. Q. Would you talk about your long term goals? A. I don’t want to be the only one deciding what our long-term and short-term goals should be. I have many ideas, but I’d like to make that determination collaboratively with my colleagues and our students across campus. Of course, I’m never going to sway from my emphasis on students. Student success has to be at the forefront of our decision making in everything we do at YSU. And that certainly does not stop at graduation. We know that many of our students want to stay in this area with their families and to raise their own families right here in the Mahoning Valley. We must continue to work together for economic development to create the jobs in this area that will allow those students to stay. If we want to engage students, we must provide an environment conducive to that engagement. That may mean classrooms, study lounges, services, and activities which enhance the learning process. Past administrations have done a wonderful job improving the exterior of our campus and the areas surrounding the university. If you look out of any window of any building, you can see what a great job has been done. I believe that there are some internal and student areas in our buildings that we need to work on next that will enhance student learning. Another goal is to stabilize our budget so that we are able to fund new initiatives. Working to truly become an Urban Research University, we’ve got to increase the number of internships and graduate assistantships and to develop some new academic programs. Q. What’s your leadership style? A. I would describe it as collaborative, and I believe I’m a servant leader. I don’t ask other people to do things I wouldn’t be willing to do. I also put others’ needs very much ahead of my own. I’ve always been that way.
Career Profile Q. YSU recently completed a very successful capital campaign, raising $53 million in contributions. What do you see as the president’s role in raising support for the university? A. I believe that people give to a university because they believe in the direction in which the university is going, they believe in the mission and the programs. I’m very hopeful that individuals in our community will continue to give on behalf of our students. I don’t know at this point what buildings we’ll be constructing in the near or longterm future. What I do know is that college is becoming more difficult to afford for more and more students, and so I will be looking for contributions for student scholarships to make college much more accessible for students. That will be my focus.
YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson Education:
B.S. in business education, YSU - 1973 M.A. in business education, Ohio State University - 1976 ED. D. in educational administration, University of Akron - 1990
Employment History:
1995 to July 1, 2010 – YSU Vice President for Student Affairs
2000 to July 1, 2010 – YSU Professor, Marketing and Public Relations
1994 to 2000 – YSU Associate Professor of Marketing and Public Relations
1993 to 1995 – YSU Assistant Provost for Academic Planning
Q. Shortly after you were chosen as president, you made a $100,000 contribution to YSU’s scholarship fund. What motivated you to do that? A. I’ve had the privilege to serve as the vice president for Student Affairs for the past 15 years now and in that role I’ve seen first-hand and heard of the struggles that students go through. I wanted to come full circle and give back to the university that facilitated my success. In fact, I intend to continue to contribute and to raise funds for the Lawrence R. and Garnet P. Anderson Scholarship Fund. My mother and father would have been very proud.
1990 to 1993 – YSU Associate Professor of Business Education and Technology
1985 to 1990 – YSU Assistant Professor of Business Education and Technology
1979 to 1985 – YSU Instructor of Business Education and Technology
Q. Student enrollment has increased steadily over the past decade. Do you think that trend will continue, and what ideas do you have to make it happen? A. That’s a difficult question. I do believe YSU has put into place many of the right enrollment-related programs and processes. The academic programs which we offer, the marketing, the advertisements, the magazine, our recruit-
YSU Initiatives that Anderson created or helped to implement as vice president for Student Affairs:
1978 to 1979 – Administrative Assistant in Marketing, Ailtech, Division of Eaton Corp.
1973 to 1978 – Business Education Teacher, Westerville High School
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Realigned Enrollment Services to create a one-stop Enrollment Center.
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Initiated Office of Student Diversity Programs.
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Facilitated creation of the YSU Metro College. • Co-authored YSU’s Student Recruitment Plan. • Established YSU’s first New Student Orientation Program. • Initiated the first New Student Convocation Program. • Established YSU Office of Veteran Affairs. • Established Center for Student Progress. • Authored YSU’s Cradle Thru Enrollment Recruitment Initiatives Plan. • Established Office of Student Ombudsperson. • Established Office of Campus Recreation and Intramural Sports.
• Initiated assessment planning process for Division of Student Affairs. Anderson chats with retired YSU women’s basketball coach Ed DiGregrio and his wife Edith at YSU's Staff and Faculty Awards Dinner.
• Collaborated with VP of Academic Affairs to establish Committee for Student Success.
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ment plan and visits, the admissions and registration processes, our website presence – they are all the right things to be doing, and I hope they will sustain us. Realize, however, that when the economy is struggling, enrollment tends to increase; when the economy improves, people tend to make education less of a priority. That’s just a trend. I certainly hope that our enrollment will continue to rise, however, more importantly, we must be successful in retaining our students and getting them to complete their coursework and to graduate. Q. The state of Ohio has designated YSU an “urban research university.” What does that mean to you? A. There seem to be several different definitions for “urban research university.” To me, it means faculty, staff and students working collaboratively with the community on issues, challenges and problems which face our specific region and beyond. That can mean economic development, social problems, health issues, or various other challenges. An urban research university will need to have the graduate and undergraduate programs to really push us forward in the 21st century, whether that be sustainable energy, technology and computer science, health and human services areas, international business, fine and performing arts – just to name a few. We are, absolutely a research engine for this area, and I see opportunities for every college on campus to play a major role. Q. This magazine is read largely by our 83,000 YSU alumni all over the world. How do they fit in? A. In the corner of my office, as well as at my home, there are two boxes filled with letters from alums, faculty and staff, and community members who love YSU and sent letters of congratulations to me. All of these people spoke fondly about their memories of YSU and their wonderful experiences here. There wasn’t one negative letter. It is clear that our alums are very proud of their alma mater. Our YSU alums are our best marketing tools. They’ve gone through the YSU educational process. They know our strong points, and they can be tremendously helpful in sending us suggestions for the improvement of the university, as 12
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well as sending us prospective students. They can certainly make many positive contributions to their alma mater. It is my hope that our alums will visit the campus often. I hope they know that they are always welcome. Q. You have a home in Liberty Township now. How do you feel about moving into the historic Pollock House on campus, the new presidential residence, after it’s renovated? A. When completed, it will be beautiful, and it will be very convenient to host receptions and meet with students and their families. Years ago, my family owned and operated a dairy farm in Fowler, Ohio, in Trumbull County. My father and uncle delivered dairy products to the family living in the Pollock House. Q. Let’s talk about your family. Who will move into the Pollock House with you? A. Well, it will be my better half, Brian Williams. I anticipate having our nephews and nieces visit often, as they currently do. We have four nephews and three nieces who spend time with us. We are very proud of Austin, 15; Kristen, 13; Zachary, 12; Brandon, 11; Hunter, 10; Isabella, 3; and Olivia, 1. Most of them are taller than me and that really gets to me. (laughs) I know most of the people in the Student Affairs Division know them by name. They’ve grown up and been involved here at YSU. Q. Traditionally at YSU we’ve had male presidents, and their wives have played an important role in the university. Your partner Brian Williams must be wondering what his role will be. A. Brian owns a construction company and is a very, very hard worker. I believe that he epitomizes the work ethic of the Mahoning Valley. He works six days, sometimes seven days a week, and believes in Youngstown State University and the revitalization of Youngstown. There will be many activities at YSU in which he will participate. And he’s interested in starting some new initiatives designed to raise money for student scholarships. He is very dedicated to his nieces and his nephews as well as to helping young people succeed. He is a dedicated supporter of Youngstown State University.
Celebrating her first day in office July 1, far left, Anderson walks across campus with her partner, Brian Williams, members of her cabinet and YSU mascots Pete and Penny Penguin. After addressing the crowd of more than 500 attending the welcoming ceremony, center, Anderson climbs the steps to Tod Hall for a reception in her honor; near left, she stops to pose for a photograph with a group of YSU athletes.
Q. What do you do to relax? A. We like boating. We love muscle cars, and we have some “hot rods” we enjoy riding around in. I do like to read – especially non-fiction. Currently, I’m reading a book for the second time, Symptoms of Withdrawal, by Christopher Kennedy Lawford which focuses on his own story of the addiction struggles of his life. I also just started Boom by Tom Brokaw. Q. Is there anything else that you’d like our readers to know about you? A. I’m a fairly open book. What you see with me is what you get. And I hope what you see is a person honored by my
appointment as president and ready to lead our institution to the forefront of higher education. I also want everyone to know that I plan to put my major emphasis on the students of this university, and all that goes along with the student agenda – the academics, the access, the social and academic development – in other words, the entire student experience. That’s what I am all about. That’s where my passion is. That’s where my expertise is. I will work very, very hard for Youngstown State. I believe in our university and our community. I believe in people. My colleagues at YSU are truly my second family.
Mission Accomplished: Search Advisory Committee Celebrates Members of the YSU Presidential Search Advisory Committee celebrate completion of the national search that began in July 2009 and culminated with the selection of Cynthia E. Anderson as YSU’s seventh president. Committee members are, from left: front row, Mary Slaven, Scott Schulick (Trustee chair and Search Committee chair), Marilynn Butler (administrative assistant to the committee); second row, Reid Schmutz, Trustee Harry Meshel, Amy Cossentino, Trustee Carole Weimer, Chet Cooper, Trustee Millicent Counts, Don Cagigas (committee vice-chair); third row, Zach Brown, Bill Binning, Peter Kasvinsky, Anthony Cafaro Jr., Nancy White, Germaine Bennett, Sunil Ahuja; back row, Student Trustee Daniel DeMaiolo, Franklin S. Bennett Jr. (Trustee secretary and committee secretary) and Phil Hirsch. Committee members not pictured are: James Cossler, Hugh Earnhart, Trustee Sudershan Garg and Diane Vettori. The YSU Board of Trustees appointed the 22-member committee, which was charged with identifying four finalists from among candidates from around the nation who applied for YSU’s top job.
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‘Youngstown’s story is America’s story’
YSU’s Working-Class Studies: A Source for Journalists and Scholars Worldwide The black-and-white photo of three smiling female coal miners – faces smeared with soot, wearing dented helmets, grasping large metal lunch buckets and dressed in blackened clothes and big steel-toed boots – hangs on the wall outside John Russo and Sherry Linkon’s offices. Nearby is another photo – this one of a girl, no more than 8 or 9 years old, a braid trailing down her back, her tiny fingers carefully feeding cloth into an industrial sewing machine in a textile shop. And across the room is another photo – four male factory workers, long-haired and bearded, one wearing a Harley-Davidson cap, an opened can of Pepsi at his feet. They sit on a dock, staring emotionless and reluctantly into the camera. These are the faces of the working class – past and present. The coal miner and autoworker. The meat packer and retail clerk. The waitress and the homehealth aide. As the founders and co-directors of YSU’s Center for Working-Class Studies, Russo and Linkon study, listen to, advocate for and celebrate the lives of working-class people from around the nation and world. Along the way, they have caught the attention of scholars, journalists and others and created a whole new discipline – new workingclass studies – that is now catching on at universities from California to New York, Germany to Istanbul. “What we have tried to do is to create an academic community that bridges the gap between academe and the rest of the world in which activists, scholars from all different kinds of fields, labor organizers and all of these people can come together, learn and better understand the working class and the challenges facing them today,” said Russo, a one-time autoworker who earned a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts studying public-sector labor relations. He came to YSU in 1980. The Center, which celebrates its 15th birthday this year, started with $5,000 in funding from then YSU Provost James Scanlon. “The only thing he said was – ‘Get other people involved,’” Russo said. Since then, hundreds of scholars, students and others on campus and across the world have participated in Center activities. And, the Center has received 14
Youngstown State University
funding totaling more than $600,000 from the prestigious Ford Foundation. “That certainly was a validation of the work we were doing,” Russo said. Among the Center’s many successes: • Russo and Linkon have become “go-to” sources on working-class issues for reporters at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Financial Times and National Public Radio, to name a few. • From Kalamazoo and Omaha to Dublin and Jerusalem, Russo and Linkon have lectured on topics ranging from WalMart to working-class literature.
Sherry Linkon and John Russo, co-directors of the YSU Center for Working-Class Studies, pose among the exhibits at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor.
www.ysu.edu
England, who is at YSU through October. • The Center’s annual lecture series, the longest-running “It’s amazing and brilliant and unique,” Rhodes, whose of its kind at YSU, has attracted scholars and others from research focuses on the sociologiaround the world. cal aspects of Youngstown boxing • The “DeFacto Unemployment champion Kelly Pavlik, said about the Rate,” the Center’s analysis of the real Center. unemployment rate in the United States, “We’ve become an orphanage, has garnered national attention. really, for people across the coun• The Center’s blog (http://worktry and the world who study issues ingclassstudies.wordpress.com/), titled related to working-class culture and “Working Class Perspectives,” offers life and really had nowhere to go to weekly commentaries from academics, validate their work,” Russo said. journalists and political insiders. And the field continues to grow. • “Steel Valley Voices,” an archive According to a national survey by the of the stories and memories of the -Sherry Linkon, co-director, YSU Center for Working-Class Studies University of Chicago, nearly half Youngstown area’s diverse communiof Americans identify themselves as ties, includes hundreds of photographs working class. Politicians have tagged and writings. working-class people as an important • The Center also has partnered voting bloc. Even marketing firms are showing increased with the YSU journalism program to develop opportunities interest in targeting working-class buyers. for student journalists to report and write about issues facing Yet there remains no clear definition of exactly what working people. “working class” is, said Linkon, who earned a doctorate in • The Center’s extensive website (http://cwcs.ysu.edu/) American Studies from the University of Minnesota in 1990 gets 5,000 to 6,000 hits per month. and came to YSU that same year. • And the Center has hosted 10 visiting scholars over “We try to avoid crafting simple definitions, because the years, including James Rhodes, a Simon Research Fellow class and working class are always evolving,” she said. and professor of sociology at the University of Manchester in Income, education, power in the workplace and power in society all contribute to your status as working class. Linkon said part of the goal of the center is to help the working class understand themselves, and to help others understand the working class. “I want people not to assume that all of the working class are selfdeluded, inherently racist, all white, all male, all blue collar,” she said. “I want them to understand the incredible diversity of this group.” And, Russo said, there’s no better place than Youngstown in which to do that. “You always start where people are,” he said. “This is a great place to study work, to study labor unions, to study the working class. And there’s a great sense of community here. As we said in our book, Steeltown USA, Youngstown’s story is America’s story. For what we do, this is the center of the world.”
I want people not to “assume that all of the
working class are selfdeluded, inherently racist, all white, all male, all blue collar.
”
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East Campus Gateway Gets Curb Appeal New and prospective students and other visitors to the YSU campus are getting a better first impression, now that a three-year improvement project at YSU’s East Campus Gateway is complete. Located at the intersection of Wick Avenue and University Plaza on the East Side of campus, the gateway is YSU’s main entrance. A new glassed entryway and atrium give a modern look to Tod Hall (right), which houses the university’s administrative offices. The $572,000 project was funded through the state capital budget and private gifts, including a $50,000 donation from the Tod family. Coffelt Hall (top far right) was renovated to become the home of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, a $750,000 project that was also state funded. A stone-walled entry (center right) and traffic circle, new lighting and landscaping, banners and a new visitors’ parking lot were added. Finally, a fully-digital LED marquee sign outside Bliss Hall (bottom right) adjacent to the East Campus Gateway entrance will be used to advertise musical and theatrical performances, art exhibits and other events in the College of Fine and Performing Arts.
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www.ysu.edu
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MEDICAL Missions A
N E W
A N G L E
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S T U DY
A B R OA D
Holly Shalabi got plenty of clinical training as a nursing student at YSU, but she says the best learning experience of her college career was a week of providing much-needed medical care to people in the tiny village of San Quintin, Mexico. “It was a total shock to see how people are living, to see them walking for miles to get to the clinic, and to see how thankful they are,” said Shalabi, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. “It was, absolutely, the best thing I did at YSU.” Medical mission trips like the one Shalabi experienced in April are giving a whole new meaning to the term “study abroad” for students in YSU’s Department of Nursing. Faculty members have led medical teams on four such trips in four years – one to Nigeria, three to Mexico – and another trip to Mexico is scheduled for September. “The need is huge, and our students learn more than they could ever learn in a classroom,” said nursing professor Pamela Schuster. “Our college is really focusing on study-abroad experiences for our students, and this is another type of study abroad. It’s working with people, communicating through interpreters; it’s critical thinking and team building.” That explains why Schuster and Dorcas Fitzgerald, also a professor of nursing, are working with others in the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services to encourage all health profession majors to consider participating in medical mission trips. “Our aim is to integrate the entire college into the study-abroad programming that we’re doing,” said Fitzgerald. Nursing faculty organized the first medical mission trip to Maize, Mexico, in 2007 and since then have been working in San Quintin, a poor farming village about five hours south of San Diego. Fitzgerald said they have forged a relationship with a pastor in San Quintin who allows them to use his church for their temporary medical clinics.
Posing with children from the Nigerian village of Dikenafai are, far left, YSU nursing student Tonja Watkins, back row center, nursing student Amanda Shipsky, and front row right, YSU nursing professor Pamela Schuster. The medical mission team treated more than 1,000 people there in January.
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Nursing student Tonja Watkins, left, checks a patient’s blood pressure in the front yard of a church in San Quintin, Mexico, where a YSU-sponsored medical mission team set up a health care clinic in April. Below, nursing student Holly Shalabi checks a patient’s blood glucose level inside the clinic.
People in San Quintin generally earn only a few dollars a day as farm laborers – there is no industry there – and the tiny, for-profit hospital in town is off limits for most because it accepts only cash payments. When the YSU group sets up a clinic, people walk as far as 20 miles on the dirt and gravel roads and wait in line for hours, if necessary, to get care. In April, the mission group of 18 included several health-care provider volunteers from the Youngstown area, in addition to YSU students and faculty. There was a doctor, a dentist, a social worker, a registered nurse and a retired pharmacist. The team treated more than 400 patients. “We have to improvise a lot,” said Fitzgerald, describing how the team had to find a way to effectively sterilize dental instruments without the usual equipment. “We consulted with the pharmacist to see what was appropriate, and we were using bleach and boiling the equipment. It’s not the same standard that we would do here, but it’s all we had.” Mouth infections are common in San Quintin, she said, along with diabetes, high blood pressure and vision problems. Team members generally know only a little Spanish, so they use handwritten notes and paid interpreters to help them communicate with their patients. Schuster said the Bitonte College is in the early stages of developing an elective, interdisciplinary course in conjunction with the medical missions – to date, nursing majors get clinical credit for participation but no course credit. Diane Burkhart, an instructor in YSU’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, was also part of the YSU team this spring, and that department is creating a course tied to the study-abroad medical mission trips as well. In January, Schuster joined Christian Onwudiwe, a YSU assistant professor of criminal justice, in leading a two-
week trip to Nigeria, Africa, for nursing and criminal justice students. The nursing students and faculty set up a clinic and treated more than 1,000 people in the small town of Dikenafai, while the criminal justice students studied Nigerian law enforcement services. Two medical doctors who worked with the team in Nigeria have since volunteered to accompany future groups working in Mexico – one joined the group that went in April; the other, an optometrist, plans to go in September. Financing the medical mission trips has been a challenge. Participating students pay a fee to cover their transportation and lodging costs, but the teams must raise additional cash to pay for medicine, equipment, shipping and interpreters. They’ve used spaghetti dinners, garage sales and an art show to raise funds, said Schuster, and have also received donations of equipment and supplies. Annette El-Hayek, assistant director in YSU’s Center for International Studies and Programs, said the studyabroad medical mission trips are just one aspect of an increasing, campus-wide interest in long- and short-term study-abroad experiences. The Department of Art, for example, offered a short-term study-abroad program in Venice this summer, she said, and the Williamson College of Business Administration offered a program in London. Short-term trips offer opportunities for students who might not have the time or resources to spend a semester in another country, she said, while encouraging some others to consider a longer experience next time. “Many departments across campus are developing new courses and programs that will allow students to earn credit toward their majors and to also gain some study-abroad experience,” El-Hayek said. “That’s what the globalization of YSU is all about.”
Story by Cynthia Vinarsky
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Foundation
Fleming Endowment Provides Scholarships for Non-Traditional Students Mary L. Fleming knows what it’s like to be a single parent, struggling to get by financially, juggling home, school and work responsibilities in pursuit of a university degree. She’s been there. Now a YSU alumna, Fleming established a $10,000 endowment in 2006 to provide scholarships for non-traditional students pursuing a degree, and more recently she has committed to add $50,000 more to that endowment in increments over the next five years. “I was the first in my family to get a degree, and I just can’t say enough about the wonderful experiences I had at YSU,” she said. “Now that I’m able to, I want to do this.” Fleming grew up in Austintown, married early and then divorced. The single parent of two toddlers, she was determined to get a college degree, believing it would open the job doors she needed to support her family. But money was tight. “The people in YSU’s financial aid office helped me so much,” she recalled. “They helped me find grants, scholarships, whatever was available to get me through.” She started by taking two years of secretarial studies courses at YSU and was hired as an executive secretary at the General Motors complex in Lordstown. Fleming stayed at GM for nine years, but she hadn’t lost her desire to earn a degree. In 1987, she accepted a GM buyout and returned to YSU as a full-time student, graduating in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and theater. The degree paid off. Fleming was hired as a medical resident recruiter for internal medicine at Forum Health in Youngstown, where she also served as a liaison between Forum and the Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine. In 1991, she met and married her husband, Tom
Mary L. Fleming, ’89 BA in communications and theater, has established an endowment to provide scholarships to qualified non-traditional students at YSU.
Fleming. The couple created a blended family – each brought two children to the marriage – and they now have seven grandchildren. Housed in the YSU Foundation, the Mary L. Fleming Endowment awards renewable, one-year scholarships to non-traditional students attending YSU full-time or part-time and who maintain a 3.0 GPA or better. For more information, contact the YSU Foundation, 330-941-3211.
YSU designated a Tree Campus The Arbor Day Foundation has designated YSU as a Tree Campus USA University for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship. With more than 1,800 trees on its 145acre urban campus, YSU is among only four universities in Ohio and 74 nationwide to earn the Tree Campus USA University designation. Lola Lewis, regional urban forester at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, presented the Tree Campus USA plaque to former YSU President David C.
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Sweet during a ceremony on campus June 21. Sweet retired on June 30. At the same ceremony, Sharon Letson, executive director of Youngstown CityScape, presented the CityScape Beautification Award to YSU. CityScape is an organization committed to revitalizing downtown Youngstown and its gateways through beautification, education and preservation. A recent inventory by Davey Tree Expert Co. identified 1,847 trees and 78 species on the YSU campus, with an estimated value of $2.26 million. YSU launched a Campus Beautification Initiative last year after
Development
What a Finale!
YSU Centennial Campaign Hits $53 Million Mark YSU’s Centennial Campaign, the most successful fundraising effort in the university’s 102-year history, officially closed its books in June with a donation from YSU alumnus Alan W. Cope of Salem. The campaign, led by the YSU Office of University Development, raised $53 million for student scholarships and capital improvements, including construction of the new building for the Williamson College of Business Administration. That total far exceeded the $43 million goal set for the campaign when it began six years go. The fund drive featured six gifts of $1 million or more, including lead gifts of $5 million from the family of the late Warren P. Williamson Jr. and $4 million from Tony and Mary Lariccia of Boardman. In addition, the campaign received 58 gifts of $100,000 or more. “I am forever amazed and humbled by this community’s support for YSU,” said Lariccia, a 1966 YSU graduate and chair of the Centennial Campaign Cabinet. “I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this important effort and to the cause of improving opportunities for youth and making our city and the Mahoning Valley a better place to live and work.” Paul McFadden, chief development officer, said funds raised in the campaign will be used to establish an endowment for undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, need-based scholarships, minority scholarships, endowed faculty chairs and professorships. In addition, funds are being used for student facilities, including the new state-of-the-art WCBA building now under construction, improved engineering and science facilities and the new Watson and Tressel Training Site, an indoor athletics practice facility now under construction. Cope’s gift, his second to the Centennial Campaign, also helped the university meet the Kresge Challenge. President of Cope Farm Equipment, Cope is a 1963 YSU graduate, a lifetime member of the YSU Alumni Society,
serves on the WCBA Business Advisory Council and is a member of the YSU Foundation Board of Trustees. In December 2008, the Kresge Foundation of Troy, Mich., committed a $1.2 million challenge grant to the campaign, charging YSU with raising $2.4 million to meet the challenge. Cope’s gift put the YSU portion over the $2.4 million mark.
Brick Campaign Extended, Deadline Sept. 1 There’s still time to order a personalized brick, now that University Development has extended its Centennial Circle Brick Campaign to Sept. 1. “We’ve sold more than 400 bricks but we have room for more, so we have decided to extend the campaign,” said Catherine Cala, development director. The bricks are being placed around the bronze sculpture of Howard W. Jones, YSU’s first president, at the entrance to the campus core. Dedication of the site, to be named Centennial Circle, is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 29 during Homecoming Weekend. All brick donors will be invited. Proceeds from the brick campaign benefit the Campus Beautification Initiative to help sustain YSU’s 1,847 trees and its green spaces for future generations. Call Cala at 330-941-2752 for a brick order form or purchase online at www.ysubricks.com.
USA University two summer storms in 2007 and 2008 destroyed 70 campus trees. The goal of the initiative is to establish an endowment to help preserve campus trees and green spaces. Donors can generate funds for the endowment by sponsoring memorial trees, benches and bricks for the campus. In November 2009, the first two donor trees were planted on the campus core, and two more were planted in June. For more information on the Campus Beautification Initiative, or to make a donation, visit www.ysu.edu/treesbenches/ or contact University Development at 330-941-3119.
YSU alumna Susan Centorame, ’79, ’95, center, stands with her son Mike, ’07, daughter Katie and grandson Michael Joshua in front of a magnolia tree that was planted in the memory of their late husband and father, Youngstown Police Capt. Kenneth Centorame, a 1974 YSU alumnus. The tree planting was part of the Campus Beautification Initiative. Susan Centorame holds the plaque that will be placed under the new tree.
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sports Cafaro Family Donates $1 Million for YSU WATTS
The Cafaro family has donated $1 million toward the construction of the Watson and Tressel Training Site, an indoor practice facility now under construction along Elm Street and the Madison Avenue Expressway, on the site of YSU’s former outdoor track. “It has been so impressive to watch the growth of the Youngstown State campus in recent years,“ said Anthony Cafaro Sr., left, presents a $1 million gift to YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson during a July 6 news conference. Also pictured, from the left, are YSU head football coach Eric Wolford, Anthony Cafaro Sr., the recently retired president of The Cafaro Company former YSU head football coach Jim Tressel, and Scott Schulick, chair of the YSU Board of Trustees. and son of company founder William The Cafaros’ support for YSU dates to the 1960s. With M. Cafaro. “We are thrilled to continue this gift, the family has donated nearly $2.5 million to YSU, our ongoing commitment to YSU.” including a $1 million gift to name Cafaro House residence The track and the lobby of the Watson and Tressel Trainhall on the north end of campus, $250,000 for the construcing Site, also known as WATTS, will be named in honor of tion of the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center the Cafaro family. in 2003 and a $100,000 gift to the YSU nursing program to “This gift represents the Cafaro’s continued faith in the name the Betty Nohra Room in Cushwa Hall. The family has future of YSU, our students and in the entire Youngstown also annually supported the William and Alyce and the John community,” said YSU President Cynthia E. Anderson. Cafaro Scholarship at the YSU Foundation. WATTS is an $11.4 million indoor practice facility that The WATTS is named after Jim and Ellen Tressel and will be funded through a combination of private donations Ellen’s parents, Frank and Norma Watson, who donated a and university bond financing. The facility, scheduled for combined $1 million when fundraising for the project began completion by the end of this calendar year, will be used prithree years ago. Tressel was head coach of YSU’s football marily by YSU’s intercollegiate athletic teams, accommodatprogram for 15 years, winning four NCAA FCS national ing team practices, intramural sports, campus-wide activities championships before taking the head-coaching job at Ohio and special events. State University in 2001. The Cafaro Foundation is a charitable entity established To see photos, a video of the architect’s renderings and by the Cafaro family in memory of William M. Cafaro, and a live webcam of the WATTS construction site, visit www. The Cafaro Company is one of the nation’s largest privately ysusports.com/watts. held real estate development firms.
Athletic Department Launches Brand-New Website
YSU’s Athletic Department website, www.YSUsports.com, has a brand new look. The Sports Information Office worked with PrestoSports of Rockville, Md., to redesign the site. “This website was enhanced to help the media, our fans, alumni, other athletic departments and prospective recruits find anything and everything about Penguin Athletics,” said Trevor Parks, YSU Sports Information Director.
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New Coach Named for Women’s Basketball
Northeast Ohio native and experienced assistant Bob Boldon has been named YSU’s sixth head women’s basketball coach. Boldon spent three seasons as a collegiate head coach and was an assistant at the college level for 10 years, most recently as the top assistant coach at Division I Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla. “When I talked with some of Coach Boldon’s peers in the coaching profession, they all praised him as an up-and-comer who just needed a chance. We’re excited to give him that Bob Boldon chance,” said Ron Strollo, YSU executive director of Intercollegiate Athletics. Boldon, 34, grew up in the Canton, Ohio, area and said he’s eager to spearhead a rebirth in the women’s basketball program at YSU. In his most recent head-coaching stint, Boldon orchestrated the best season in school history in 2008-09 at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn. Lambuth was the runner-up for the national title, and Boldon was recognized as the Association of Independent Institutions Coach of the Year.
Hall-of-Fame Event Scheduled Oct. 30
YSU Seniors Chosen in Major League Draft Seniors Jacke Healey and Eric Marzec had boyhood dreams fulfilled when they were selected on the second day of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June. Healey, an infielder from Tunkhannock, Pa., was chosen by the Houston Astros. Marzec, a pitcher from Canton, Ohio, was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers. They are the first pair of Penguin players to be drafted in the same year. “I’m thrilled for both Jacke and Eric for being rewarded for all of the hard work that they’ve put in,” YSU head coach Rich Pasquale said. “They will both represent YSU in the most positive way and be great ambassadors for our program.
Jacke Healey
Eight alumni will be named to the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame at a breakfast Oct. 30 prior to the YSU football game against the University of Northern Iowa. This year’s honorees are: football – Adrian Brown (1996-99) and Tim Johnson (1999-2000); volleyball – Heather Luben (1993-96); baseball – Chris Durkin (1989-91); basketball – Leslie Majewski (1996-2000); track and field – Kofi Owusu-Ansah (1996-2000); and former football videographer Pat Strollo (contributor). For more information, contact the Athletic Department, 330-941-7208.
Penguin Football 2010 Eric Marzec
Track and Field Athletes Win Honors Two Penguin Track and Field athletes, senior thrower Aaron Merrill of Leetonia, Ohio, and distance runner Samantha Hamilton of North Jackson, Ohio, won honors this summer. Merrill was named Second-Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America in a vote of the College Sports Information Directors of America. Also a Third-Team Academic All-America selection in 2009, Merrill is the first YSU student-athlete to earn Academic All-America accolades two years running. Merrill, who won six individual Horizon League titles in his standout career, graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Hamilton finished fifth at the 2010 U.S. Junior Track & Field Championships in late June in Des Moines, Iowa, posting a time of 11:29.18 in the event. Hamilton was the Horizon League Outdoor Champion in the event as a freshman.
Date Sept. 4 Sept. 11 Sept. 18 Sept. 25 Oct. 2 Oct. 9 Oct. 16 Oct. 23 Oct. 30 Nov. 6 Nov. 13
Opponent at Penn State vs. Butler vs. Central Connecticut State vs. Southern Illinois* at Missouri State* vs. North Dakota State* at Western Illinois* at South Dakota State* vs. UNI* (Homecoming) at Illinois State* vs. Indiana State*
Time Noon 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 4 p.m. 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 7 p.m. 3 p.m. 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 1 p.m.
* Missouri Valley Football Conference
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Chet Cooper
Biology Professor, Umpire-in-Chief Chet Cooper was just getting settled in, ready to watch his 11-year-old son play a Little League baseball game, when the word went out: “We need an umpire.” And everyone looked at Chet. That day 16 years ago in League City, Texas, a small town between Houston and Galveston, was the start of a career that today sees Cooper suiting up to umpire 70 to 80 games a year – Little League, high school and even some college-level. “So now, instead of sitting in the stands and listening to parents complain, I stand out on the field and listen to parents yelling at me,” he joked. Cooper wears many hats at YSU – professor of biological sciences, director of the YSU Center of Excellence for Applied Chemical Biology, National Science Foundation-funded researcher, chair of the Academic Senate, two-time recipient of the Distinguished Professor Award, faculty advisor to Student Government and the university’s NCAA Faculty Representative. And, every Christmas, he dons his Santa outfit to play St. Nick at the annual Faculty and Staff Holiday Breakfast. But away from campus, the hat that seems to fit best is the black cap of the umpire. “It’s the best seat in the house,” he said. “It gives me the chance to focus on something completely different, and it makes me forget the other challenges of the work day.” As umpire-in-chief for Ohio District 2, Cooper is in charge of all rules, interpretations and umpire assignments during Little League tournaments for a three-county area. He has umpired nearly a dozen state Little League tournaments and, in 2005, umpired behind the plate at the Little League Midwest Championship game televised on ESPN. He’s hoping one day to work the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Cooper once took a foul ball off his mask that nearly knocked him out. He’s thrown out his fair share of coaches and even admits to a blown call or two. But no matter how bad the call, he said, “The sun always comes up the next day.” “The old saying goes that the umpire is the only person on the field who has to be perfect from the start, and get better as the game goes on,” he said.
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Youngstown State University
Bitonte College Honors Outstanding Alumni Eight outstanding alumni representing the eight departSocial Work – Theresa Swindler,’89, BSW ments in the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services Internship Coordinator, Youngstown State University. were honored recently at the annual awards dinner in Military Science – Maj. Gen. Matthew L. Kambic,’82, Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus. Ohio Army National Guard. Dean Joseph Mosca presented Dr. Dominic A. Bitonte Next year’s Bitonte College Alumni Awards Dinner with an award of appreciation for his ongoing commitment is scheduled for May 20, 2011, in the Chestnut Room at to the college, and department chairs recognized the eight Kilcawley Center. Call the college, 330-941-3321, for more alumni honorees for their efforts to create safe and information. healthy communities. More than 140 alumni, friends and faculty attended the event. The following alumni, listed under their respective colleges, were honored this year: Criminal Justice and Forensic Science – Jimmy F. Hughes,’91,’92,’99, Chief, Youngstown Police Department. Health Professions – William E. Brown, Jr.,’77, Executive Director, National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. Human Ecology – Debra A. Filimon-Demyen,’84, Supervisor, Mahoning County Educational Service Center. Human Performance and Exercise Science – Matthew Kostek,’97, Director, Laboratory of Muscle & Translational Therapeutic Research, University of South Carolina. Nursing – Sharon Hrina, ’69, ’73, Vice President of Operations, Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley. Alumni honored recently by the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services Physical Therapy – Timothy B. Duble Jr.,’01, Suare, from left, front row: Theresa Swindler, Sharon Hrina and Debra A. Filimonpervisor of Inpatient Physical Therapy, St. Elizabeth’s Demyen; back row: Jimmy F. Hughes, Timothy B. Duble Jr., William E. Brown Health Center. Jr. and Maj. Gen. Matthew L. Kambic. (The eighth alumni honoree, Matthew Kostek, is not pictured.)
Virginia Alumni Cheer on the Norfolk Admirals YSU alumna Chelsea Kelley, right, poses with guests, from left, Johncy Rajan and Kristin Rho, at a YSU Alumni dinner in Norfolk, Va. They were among 58 alumni, friends and family attending the March event, which included a Norfolk Admirals hockey game. Kelley, who graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, lives in Virginia Beach, Va.
spring 2010
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Alumni News
Alumnus Honored Posthumously for Military Heroism In August 1967, YSU alumnus James H. Brahney flew a U.S. Air Force helicopter into a dense Vietnamese jungle, braving heavy enemy ground fire to rescue two wounded Navy Seals. He was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism for that daring mission, and now it has earned him a place in Ohio military history. Lt. Col. Brahney died Sept. 11, 2009, and was inducted posthumously into Ohio’s Hall of Fame for Valor on May 7. Born and raised in Youngstown, Brahney earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at YSU in 1962, then entered the Air Force Officer Training School. He was credited with saving nine lives during his tour as an Air Force rescue helicopter pilot and was awarded the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, a second Distinguished Flying Cross and seven Air Medals for meritorious achievement in flight. Brahney earned a master’s degree in systems management at the University of Southern California and a doctorate in higher education at the University of Pittsburgh, and he was associate editor for Aerospace Engineering magazine. While a student at YSU, Brahney was president of Kappa Sigma Kappa social fraternity, and he remained active with a group of his 1960s-era fraternity brothers for almost
Lt. Col. James H. Brahney, ’62 BE, was inducted posthumously into the Ohio Hall of Fame for Valor. The photo below shows him while he was in pilot training in 1963.
50 years. Brahney taught a management course at YSU, and he had several other YSU connections. His wife, the former Carolyn Peluso, and a son, Scott Mitchell Brahney, are both YSU grads; his sister, Kathleen Brahney Dragoman, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at YSU and taught at the university.
Y S U A lumni:
Meet YSU’s New Assistant Director of Alumni Relations
Mollie (McGovern) Hartup has joined YSU as assistant director of Alumni Relations. She’ll be making connections and planning events for YSU alumni, especially those no longer living in the Youngstown area. Hartup earned two degrees at YSU – a BA in telecommunications Mollie Hartup and geography in 2002 and an MBA in 2004. Previously, she was news assignment manager for WFMJ-TV in Youngstown and hosted and produced a program called “Young in Youngstown.” As an alumna, Hartup serves on the WYSU-FM Advisory Board, the YSU Magazine Advisory Board and the YSU Heritage Committee, and she helped organize the all-scholar alumni reunion in 2007. “I’m excited to be back on campus,” she said, “and I’m looking forward to connecting with and meeting as many alumni as possible.” Contact Hartup at 330-9413086 or at mahartup@ysu.edu.
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Youngstown State University
There are 1,674 YSU alumni now living in the region that includes Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.
D GTON, N I H S A W 44 ✪
IA V I R G✪I N 1,005
✪
.C.
AND M A R Y2L5 6
Mark your calendar Williamson College of Business Administration Alumni Reception: 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30. Come tour the new building and learn about the latest innovations. Reservations required, call 330-941-1591. Homecoming 2010, October 24 – 31: Check out some of the Homecoming festivities on the inside back cover. Alumni Terrace Dinners: Served 90 minutes prior to each home YSU Penguin football game. Enjoy a hearty buffet with fellow Penguin fans before cheering the team on to victory. Reservations are required. Call 330-941-3496.
Alumni
SpotlighT Celebrating Accomplished Graduates
Starting Life Over as a University Professor Lashale Pugh, ’00, ’02
When Lashale Pugh dropped out of junior college midway through her first semester 20 years ago, she never dreamed that one day she would be a university professor with a Ph.D. behind her name. A difficult job loss when she was a thirty-something single parent forced Pugh to rethink her career path. Relying on loans, grants, campus jobs and the generosity of family members, she went back to college as a non-traditional student, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from YSU and a doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park. Now an assistant professor at YSU and one of the newest faculty members in the Department of Geography, Pugh said her own life journey has given her a passion for education and for making her geography classes compelling to her students. “My challenge is getting students to actually learn something. Some are excited to be here, some are just here to get the credits, and some are trying to do as little as possible,” she said. “I want them all to understand that they can get a very good education here at YSU. It just depends on how much effort a student is willing to put forth.” Pugh grew up in Chicago with a mother who encouraged her to earn a degree, and she registered at Joliet Junior College right out of high school. When her car’s transmission blew out two weeks before finals that first semester, however, she didn’t think about notifying her professors to work out a solution. Thinking she had no other recourse, she dropped out of school. She spent the next 17 years living, working and partying in the Windy City. “It’s probably not uncommon, but much of my youth was spent partying,” she said. In 1994, corporate downsizing eliminated her job, despite her 15 years’ seniority with the company. But Pugh wasn’t taken completely off guard. Realizing that a layoff was possible, she had begun to consider going back to school, and because she was fascinated with animals, she decided to major in biology. Pugh’s mother and stepfather had relocated to Youngstown, her mother’s hometown, so Pugh joined them here with her 9-year-old daughter, Joncquil Hope, and signed up for a full-time schedule of classes at YSU. She was 35. “At my age, I knew the only way I could get through was to go to school full-time,” she said. She took her first geography class as an elective and liked it so much that she took every other available class in that subject, enough for a double major, and in 2000 earned
Lashale Pugh
dual bachelor’s degrees – a BS in biology and a BA in geography. Pugh wasn’t interested in the kinds of jobs that were available to her with a bachelor’s degree. “I didn’t want to be stuck in a lab all day,” she explained. She decided to continue her studies, earned an MS in biology at YSU in 2002, and then headed east to complete a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Maryland. She was completing her doctoral dissertation, a study of the West Nile Virus, when YSU’s Geography Department invited her to apply for an open instructor position. She got the job, moved back to Youngstown in 2007 and began her career as a professor of human geography — the study of human behavior patterns and how they relate to the environment. This spring, she was recognized by her peers at YSU with the Geography Department’s Outstanding Alumni Award. Pugh lives in Campbell, Ohio, with her daughter, now a senior business major at YSU, her granddaughter Jaleah Harris, 3, and a puppy they call Tank. Still intrigued with anything involving animals, Pugh likes to spend her free time bird watching, visiting zoos and aquariums. Profile by Cynthia Vinarsky
SUMMER 2010
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Alumni Spotlight
A Browns Fan Transformed Growing up in Dennison, Ohio, alumnus Seth Hooker was an avid Cleveland Browns football fan and a devotee of Transformers, the popular Hasbro toy line introduced in the mid1980s. Today, his dream of designing his own line of Transformer robots has evolved into a bright career as a software developer for his beloved Browns. When he arrived on the YSU campus, Hooker, Class of 2003, didn’t know what he wanted to major in, much less where his career path might lead. “When I got to college I didn’t have a clue about what I should study,” he recalled. “Since I’d always liked computers, I thought I’d try computer science until I could figure out what I really wanted to do. After Seth Hooker about a year at YSU, I was really into it and realized it was right for me.” Hooker credits a number of professors and student advisors for making his time at YSU “a great experience, both educationally and socially.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and immediately accepted a position with SOS Integration, an engineering and automation company where he worked for five years before joining the Browns as a software developer in 2009. NFL franchises are as competitive in finding effective ways to manage data as their players are when they line up against each other on Sunday afternoons, Hooker said. An enormous volume of statistics and other information must be processed and made available to coaches, managers and scouts to give them an edge in making player recruitment and game-day decisions. That data must be delivered to fit the specific needs of every coach and decision maker. This is where Hooker’s expertise and his passion for Browns football have serendipitously collided. “I work with the coaches, the scouting department, the salary cap people and the medical people, anyone that touches the football side of the business. I develop the software that they use,” he explained. “And it’s important to maintain a close user/developer relationship with the coaches and scouts. If I develop software that doesn’t work for them, then it’s junk. So I spend a lot of time with them, showing them new tools, getting their feedback and making adjustments.
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Youngstown State University
Photo courtesy of the Cleveland Browns
Seth Hooker, ’03
The system is constantly changing and improving. I could be here for 30 years and there would still be more work to be done.” As a lifelong fan, Hooker said the opportunity to be around players and coaches and to help them do their jobs better is a huge plus. “I have a lot of creative freedom. I have a different challenge every day. I really am lucky because I’ve landed in an industry that I’m passionate about,” he said. “Even though I really do like software development, I’m not passionate about software development in general. But I’m passionate about football. So if I can apply my skill set and knowledge to something I care so much about, that makes my job even better.” And being passionate about what you do is vital in professional football, he said. “It’s a grind. A lot is expected of you. There are long hours, there’s a lot of work and you give up things,” Hooker said, “but at the end of the day, if you love it, it’s a really great job.” While he may not be designing the latest Transformer robot line, Hooker is hoping that his work with the Cleveland Browns may help transform them into a championship-level team in the near future. What could make a true fan and a true professional happier? Profile by Mark W. Van Tilburg
Alumni Spotlight
Video Animation Brings His Art to Life Joe Tucciarone, ’76 BS
He’s an internationally known space and dinosaur artist he lives now with his wife, Jennifer, and their daughters, whose clients include household names such as National April, 13, and Lily, 11. Geographic and The History Channel, but Joe Tucciarone But newer projection systems and digital art have has put away his paint brushes. These days, he creates art changed the way planetarium scenes are created, and paint through computer video animation. is no longer part of the process. “It’s a lost art,” he said of “It’s like the dark side in “Star Wars.” Computer animathe way scenes used to be painted, then photographed and tion has taken me over,” he joked. “I haven’t painted for projected on the dome. years, but I’m enthralled. I have so much fun. It’s like what I Tucciarone divides his time between his own home-based used to do, but the pictures move.” freelance art and video business, Interstellar Illustrations, and Tucciarone has been drawing and painting dinosaurs and his job as an artist at the Brevard Community College planspace imagery since he was old enough to pick up a pencil. etarium. He works on a computer, building scenes with threeGrowing up in Hubbard, Ohio, he spent Saturday morndimensional applications, and then using a virtual camera to ings in art classes at the Butler Institute of American Art in create realistic movement. Youngstown. Tucciarone’s “They video animations wanted me to were featured paint bowls of recently on three fruit and landNational Geoscapes, but I was graphic television only interested in specials and on the drawing dinoHistory Channel saurs and space,” series “Universe.” he said with a The Science Photo laugh. “I checked Library in London out every book at is showcasing his the library about work, giving dinosaurs and him interspace, read them national and re-read them. exposure. I guess you Meancould say I was while, obsessed.” TucTucciarone’s ciarone fascination with sells his prehistoric creadinosaur and tures, stars and space imagery Artist Joe Tucciarone creates space images like this one for clients around the world. planets has never art and digital faded. By the time he reached college age, he understood that videos through his Interstellar Illustrations website www. a science degree would best prepare him for the art specialty joetucciarone.com. “Even though I don’t paint anymore, my he desired. dinosaur art is still used regularly by customers all over the He majored in physics at YSU, earning a BS in physworld,” he said. ics at YSU in 1976 and a master’s degree in physics at the The YSU Board of Trustees recognized Tucciarone’s University of Toledo two years later. The physics background lifetime of achievements in the field of science illustration in gave him the expertise to paint his favorite subjects with the 2000, awarding him an honorary Doctor of Science Degree. precision and accuracy that museums, planetariums, science The Butler Institute honored its former student that year, too, magazines and journals require. “Even to this day, I use the featuring his work in an exhibit entitled “Visions of physics I learned at YSU in my projects,” he said. the Universe.” Tucciarone’s first full-time art position took him to Tucciarone’s favorite pastime is spending time with Memphis, where he painted space scenes for the Memphis his family and enjoying the Florida climate. “We ride bikes Museum Planetarium. He had a succession of planetarium together, go to the beach and local parks and have cookouts in artist positions over the next 25 years at facilities in Richthe back yard – you can do that almost year-round here,” he mond, Va., Bradenton, Fla., and finally in Cocoa, Fla., where said. “About the only thing I miss about Ohio is ice skating.” Profile by Cynthia Vinarsky
spring 2010
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class 60s
Rudolph “Rudy” A. Schlais Jr. of Sandusky, Ohio, ’63 BE in electrical engineering, has been named to the board of directors for Viryd Technologies Inc., a Texas-based wind turbine technology company. Schlais is executive chairman for China Auto Electronics Group Limited, and previously served as the company’s president and chief executive. He spent more than 42 years in senior management positions at General Motors, capped by his role as president and CEO of General Motors Asia Pacific. He also graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from YSU. John Sumansky of Dallas, Pa., ’66 BA in economics, has been named professor of business and chair of the business department at Misericordia University, where he also serves as John Sumansky director for the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurship Education. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Pennsylvania State University and previously served as chief information and planning officer at Misericordia. Paul Meese of Longboat Key, Fla., ’68 BSBA, was recently presented the Pittsburgh Stock and Bond Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his 40 years as a financial advisor for UBS Financial SerPaul Meese vices. Meese retired from UBS in 2007 as a financial advisor and branch manager of its Pittsburgh office, and he is a security industry arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
70s
Jim Graham of Warren, ’72 BSBA, was named to the Warren G. Harding High School Hall of Fame in April. Graham began working at the General Motors Complex in Lordstown, Ohio in 1968, and he has been president of United Autoworkers Local 1112 at the plant since 1997. Frederic Morano of Boardman, ’73 BA, recently completed his 30th year as a violinist with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
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Youngstown State University
notes
Daniel Dunn of Hatfield, Pa., ’74 BS in mechanical engineering, has joined Brooks Instrument in Pa. as director of customer service. Brooks came to the company from Aviza Technology where he was responsible for worldwide customer service, including product support, field engineering, technical training and logistics. Joseph Carson of Westport, Conn., ’75 AB, ’76 MA, was a featured speaker in a Professionals in Residence presentation at Hobart and William Smith Colleges this spring, discussJoseph Carson ing his experience as a Wall Street economist. Carson is senior vice president and director of global economic research for AllianceBernstein, a New York-based investment firm. Previously, he was chief economist of the Americas for UBS Warburg. He earned a Ph.D. at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Robert D. Baird of Miamisburg, Ohio, ’77 BE in civil engineering, has completed the process to become a LEED Green Associate under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy Robert D. Baird and Environmental Design program. A registered professional engineer in three states, Baird is an assistant project manager and civil engineer in the Dayton office of Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon. He joined the firm in 2006. Frank Dixon of New Springfield, ’77 BSBA, has been named to the boards of directors for First Place Financial Corp. and First Place Bank. Dixon is a CPA and a partner in Cohen & Company. In 2007, he was named an outstanding alumnus by YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration.
80s
William L. Brown of New Castle, Pa., ’80 BSBA, was named president-elect of the Northwestern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Institute
William L. Brown
of Certified Public Accountants. Brown, a CPA, is a sales manager for Precision Feedscrews Inc. and an individual practitioner in New Castle. He is also a musician at the New Castle Playhouse and formerly served on the Shenango Area School Board.
John S. Gulas of Austintown, ’80 AB, was named president and chief executive officer of Farmers National Banc Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Farmers National Bank of Canfield. He was also appointed John S. Gulas to the company’s board of directors. Gulas joined the bank in 2008 as chief operating officer and has more than 25 years experience in bank management. After completing his undergraduate degree at YSU, he earned a law degree from the University of Toledo. Ruth Williamson of Columbiana, ’80 AAS, ’83 BS in nursing, is a registered nurse in the outpatient cardiac rehabilitation department at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. Certified in cardiac rehabilitation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, she has been employed at St. E’s since 1980. She is a past member of the Columbiana Board of Education, and her twin children, a son and a daughter, also plan to attend YSU this fall. Kimberly Ward Anderson of Lexington, Ky., ’81 BE in chemical engineering, has been awarded a research professorship by the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees and plans to use the award to expand her research on cells and proteins, specifically investigating the physical properties of cancer cells. Ward Anderson, who earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is an engineering professor at UK and was the first female faculty member in its College of Engineering. William J. Tarka of Brecksville, Ohio, ’82 AAS, ‘86 BSAS, received a master’s degree in engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Formerly the assistant director of construction services at CWRU, Tarka has joined URS Corporation in Cleveland as supervising discipline engineer in the William Tarka
Class Notes
electrical department. He is a registered professional engineer in Ohio and Michigan.
Richard A. Mattiussi
Richard A. Mattiussi of Austintown, ’86 BA, earned a Ph.D. in theology from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka, Ind. He teaches in the theology department of Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown and as an adjunct professor at Walsh University, Canton. His Ph.D. dissertation addressed the need for reconciliation between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and it has been published as a book by Eastern Christian Publications. His wife, Lisa Mattiussi, (BS ’87, MA ’92) is also a YSU graduate.
Suzanne P. Land of Cincinnati, ’87 BA in economics and political science, has joined the Dinsmore & Shohl LLP law firm as a partner in the Corporate Department and member of the Family Wealth Planning Practice Group. Land came to the firm from the law firm Greenbaum, Doll & McDonald, where she was also a partner. Land is an adjunct professor teaching courses in estate planning and gift and estate tax at the University of Cincinnati School of Law and is board Suzanne P. Land chairman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. She earned her law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America and Ohio Super Lawyers.
90s
Deon Miller of Buffalo, N.Y., ’91 BSBA in marketing, was named vice president of sales, Americas, for Reichert Technologies, a designer and manufacturer of instruments for the eye-care profession. Miller was previously director of sales, critical care, at B. Braun Medical and has more than 15 years experience in the medical products field.
Jo Ann C. Green
Jo Ann C. Green of Tampa, Fla., ’92 BSN, is a critical care nursing consultant and clinical education specialist at Tampa General Hospital. She has 16 years of professional experience and previously served as a preceptor for graduate nursing students at Florida Southern College. In addition to her YSU bachelor’s degree in nursing, Green has a master’s degree in nursing, with a concentration in clinical and critical care nursing, from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
Keith Slater of Canfield, ’92 BS in computer information systems, has been promoted to vice president and general manager of Henry Schein Medical Systems, a Fortune 500 company, and will be based in Youngstown. He joined Team Schein in February 2009 and assumed leadership of its medical systems division the following September. Slater previously spent more than 20 years working in the health-care sector. Rocky Riviella of Apex, N.C., ’93 BSBA in accounting, recently moved his family to North Carolina from his hometown in Niles to accept a position as business manager of the McAllister Heart Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Previously, he was employed for 11 years as administrator for Trumbull County Engineer John Latell.
Alumni YSU alumna Brenda Y. Person of Winter Garden, Fla., ’68 BA in sociology, has authored the book Second Time Around, describing her experiences as a grandmother raising her grandson. The book is available at Barnes and Noble stores and on Amazon.com. Person has a master’s degree in student personnel/counseling services from Slippery Rock University and a Ph.D. in educational administration from the former Orlando University. She was previously employed as a limited services instructor at YSU and is now a retired parenting education consultant. Brenda Y. Person
William Tyson of Walpole, NH, ’72 BSBA, is the author of a new book for higher education entitled Pitch Perfect: Communicating with Traditional and Social Media for Scholars, Researchers and Academic Leaders and published by Stylus William Tyson Publishing LLC. The book offers practical guidance on how to successfully communicate a message to traditional news media and social media. Tyson is the owner of Morrison & Tyson Communications, a national media relations firm serving colleges, universities, policy institutes and foundations.
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Class Notes
Mike Cochran of Girard, ’94 BA in exercise science, has joined the University of Akron as strength and conditioning coach for the football team. Previously, he held similar coaching positions at Marshall University, Ohio State University and at YSU, where he worked under Coach Jim Tressel. As a student, he played football for the Penguins, and he was named to the YSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. Joseph A. Berquist of Twinsburg, Ohio, ’95 BE in chemical engineering, has been promoted to vice president and managing director of Quaker Chemical’s North American operations, where he has more than 13 years experience. Previously, he was senior director of commercial for the company. Berquist earned his MBA from Case Western Reserve University. Justin Terlecki of Minneapolis, ’97 BFA, recently completed the Jerome Emerging Printmakers’ Residency at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking. Terlecki creates stone and plate lithographs using his own sketches of his travels to India and Spain. His latest work and that of the two other printmakers in the residency program, were on display at the Highpoint Center in late July. Brad Allen Shonk of Biloxi, Miss., ’99 BS in education, was named 2010 Mississippi Teacher of the Year in April by the Mississippi Department Brad Allen Shonk of Education. Shonk is a fourth-grade math, science and Mississippi history teacher and joined the Biloxi Public School District teaching staff 11 years ago. As the state’s Teacher of the Year, he was awarded a $5,000 salary supplement and will represent the state in the national competition in Dallas. Kristen Oliva Whited of Boardman, ’99 BS in applied science, has been appointed assistant director of nursing at Shepherd of the Valley in Boardman, where she previously served as restorative nurse. She has an associate degree in nursing from Mercy College of Northwest Ohio.
www.ysu.edu
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Youngstown State University
00s
Joshua Kollat of State College, Pa., ’03 BE in civil and environmental engineering, graduated in May from Penn State University with a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, a minor in Joshua Kollat high-performance computing, and a specialization in water resources. He has accepted a position as a research associate in Penn State’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Kollat’s work at Penn State was funded in part by an EPA Science to Achieve Results graduate fellowship, and he has published several articles in leading peerreviewed scientific journals. Angel Rivera of Lyndhurst, N.J., ’03 BA in fashion studies, has launched his own collection of bridal gowns, to be available starting this fall at specialty bridal boutiques across North America. The founder of Angel Rivera Couture LLC, Rivera has been designing couture bridal gowns for six years and designed the gown that actress Essence Atkins wore in her Pasadena, Calif. wedding last September. Leslie Wagner of Batavia, Ohio, ’04 BA in American studies, is a curatorial assistant at the Cincinnati Art Museum. She is currently working on an exhibit of circus posters from the Strobridge Lithographing Company, a 19th-century Cincinnati printing company.
Previously, he was a consultant for Ernst & Young in West Palm Beach, Fla. He has a master’s degree in health-care administration from Ohio State University. Jonathan Kinser of Wayne Township, Ohio, ’07 MA in history, has received a full scholarship from the History Department at Case Western Reserve University and plans to Jonathan Kinser begin working on his Ph.D. there this fall. While a graduate student at YSU, Kinser’s graduate research thesis revealed that Clarence Darrow, a celebrated attorney, defended Warren gangster James Munsene. Kinser also earned a screenwriting certificate from the New York Film Academy, worked as a casting director for the television program “Deal or No Deal,” and recently developed a short comedy film as an employee for Yellow Creek Filmworks. John W. Matune of Mercer, Pa., ’08 MBA, has joined PNC Financial Wealth Management as a trust adviser and assistant vice president, serving clients in northwestern Pennsylvania. Matune, who has a bachelor’s degree from Westminster College, was previously employed by First National Bank of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Mercer County Young Professionals and is active with the United Way of Mercer County.
Ben Shaker of Orlando, Fla., ’05 BA in economics, is a senior consultant for Navvis & Company, a management consulting firm specializing in the health-services industry.
GOT GOOD NEWS?
Let YSU Magazine include it in the Class Notes column. When you write, please include your YSU graduation year and degree, city of residence and a contact phone number or e-mail address. E-mail class notes to universitymagazine@ysu. edu or mail to: YSU Magazine, Marketing and Communications, Youngstown State University, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555.
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
HOMECOMING SUNDAY, OCT. 24 through SUNDAY, OCT. 31
Make plans now to return to campus for Homecoming 2010, reconnect with friends and participate in the many campus activities that are planned. Homecoming events include: • WCBA Awards Banquet – 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 29 • Homecoming Parade – 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 30 • Alumni Terrace Dinner – 11:30 a.m., Oct. 30 • Homecoming Game vs. UNI – 1 p.m., Oct. 30 • Half Century Club Reunion – reception at 11:30 a.m., luncheon at noon, Sunday, Oct. 31
For more information, call the Office of Alumni and Events Management, 330-941-3497, or visit www.ysu.edu/alumni.
S TAT E
UNIVERSITY
Office of University Development One University Plaza Youngstown, Ohio 44555-0001
Anybody Look Familiar? YSU’s new president and alumna Cynthia E. Anderson is among the student leaders pictured in this Student Council photo from the 1971 edition of The Neon, YSU’s student yearbook. Seated in the front row, far right, Anderson campaigned on a student rights platform that spring semester to win a seat on Student Council. She served in the university’s Student Government in 1972 and completed her undergraduate degree in March 1973. First published in 1931, The Neon chronicled campus life in photographs for 60 years, ceasing publication in 1992. After a 12-year absence, The Neon briefly resumed publication in the 200304 and 2005-06 academic years. (To view more historical photographs in the University Archives at Maag Library, visit http://digital.maag.ysu.edu.)