Proud - Youngstown State University

On June 23, Arden Bement Jr., director of
the National Science Foundation, visited
YSU's College of Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics.
"Students [at YSU] do graduate-level research and
Ph.D.-level research [and are] energized and eager
and so excited about what they’re doing. This is a real
success story as far as I am concerned."
look who's talking
. . . about YSU
Arden Bement Jr.,
Director of the
National Science
Foundation
“At many universities, undergraduate
students don’t even
get in the laboratories, let alone
get close to the equipment. Here,
they’re encouraged to do that
and encouraged to participate
in research.”
“NSF is proud to partner with YSU to promote discovery and
innovation. With partnerships seeded by federal funding, a region
can quickly build competitive research capacity that in turn sparks
new companies, new jobs, and a more robust economy.”

ON THE
Cover
YSU alumnus Carl Fisher (’75, Engineering)
holds a hand-crafted polymer clay marble
he created, featuring YSU’s Pete the Penguin.
An engineer by profession and employed by
the IBM Corp., Fisher has developed a national
reputation as a contemporary marble artist.
Read about him and other exceptional YSU
alumni in Alumni Spotlight, Pages 44-50.
YSU
President
———————————
David C. Sweet
4
6
IN
issue
THIS
Rippling Muscle Research – YSU associate biology
professor Gary Walker and YSU alumnus Dr. Carl
Ansevin are working with students to research a rare
neuromuscular disease. Twelve years into the study,
their findings are getting noticed by doctors and
scientists internationally.
YSU’s Next 100 Years – As YSU continues its Centennial Celebration,
seven individuals with close ties to the university speculate on what’s in
store for YSU’s next century.
Vice President George McCloud
for University
Advancement
News Manager Ron Cole
Graphic Artist Renée Cannon, ’90
Editor Cynthia Vinarsky
10 A New Home for Williamson College –
Looking ahead to construction of the new
$34.3 million, state-of-the-art building
for the Williamson College of Business
Administration, with a groundbreaking
ceremony planned for October.
Assistant Director Jean Engle, ’86
Photographers
Sports Contributor
Bruce Palmer
Carl Leet
Trevor Parks
Chief Development Paul McFadden, ’84
Officer
Executive Director of Shannon Tirone, ’94
Alumni Relations
and Events Mangaement
YSU Board of Trustees
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Secretary
Student Trustee
Scott R. Schulick
Larry DeJane
Millicent Counts
Sudershan K. Garg
Harry Meshel
Dianne Bitonte Miladore
John L. Pogue
H.S. Wang
Franklin S. Bennett Jr.
Stephen W. T. Foley
Youngstown State University is accredited by the
Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the
North Central Association.
YSU Magazine is published twice a year by the Office of Marketing
and Communications at Youngstown State University.
Any comments or questions should be directed to Marketing
and Communications, Youngstown State University, One University
Plaza, Youngstown, Ohio 44555. Call 330-941-3519 or
e-mail universitymagazine@ysu.edu for more information.
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
12
14
34
38
42
44
51
Grow Home Campaign Beckons Alumni Entrepreneurs – U.S. Rep. Tim
Ryan rolls out the red carpet for alumni entrepreneurs willing to start or
expand a business in the Mahoning Valley.
Around Campus – A comprehensive look at campus news, events
and programs.
Early College – Four students earn associate degrees while still in high
school as part of the first graduating class of Youngstown Early College.
Sports – The Penguin women’s track and field teamcontinues
its dominance in the Horizon League,
winning the outdoor title this spring.
Centennial Campaign – The largest fundraising
campaign in YSU’s history reaches two significant
milestones.
Bethany Anderson
Alumni Spotlight – YSU Magazine introduces
“Alumni Spotlight,” a new feature profiling nine fascinating and
accomplished YSU graduates and a part of our expanded alumni news
and feature section.
Class Notes – Updates and achievements of YSU alumni from the
1950s to today.

President’s Message
Looking Toward 2108, Creating YSU’s Future
For centuries - from Nostradamus to Alvin Toffler, H.G. Wells to Arthur C. Clarke – the
human race has had a fascination with predicting the future. What lies ahead? What wonderful
inventions and technological advances are to come? What will the world be like for my grandchildren,
and their grandchildren?
In 1908, prognosticators of the day looked to the year 2008 and – quite correctly, it turns out –
envisioned airplanes filling the skies with around-the-world flights, routine human organ transplants
and people walking the streets talking on wireless “pocket” telephones.
So what is in store for the next 100 years? What will the world – and, more specifically, what
will Youngstown State University look like in the year 2108?
In this, YSU’s Centennial year, we have had many occasions to pause and reflect on our proud
David C. Sweet, past – from our beginnings at the YMCA in downtown Youngstown, through the hard work of
President
men like Skeggs, Wick and Jones, to the modern facilities and programs of today’s YSU.
In this issue of the Youngstown State University Magazine, we look to YSU’s second century.
We asked seven individuals, including Youngstown Mayor and YSU alum (1994, BSBA) Jay Williams, to
write short essays on YSU’s next 100 years. Their musings begin on Page 6. We also look to the future with an
article on the upcoming construction of a new, state-of-the-art building for the Williamson College of Business
Administration (see page 10).
Speculating on the future is a dicey proposition. As that famous prognosticator Yogi Berra once said, “It’s
tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” On the other hand, Peter F. Drucker, the Austrian-born
writer and self-described “social ecologist,” once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
At YSU, we are creating a future that I believe bodes well for the university and for the Mahoning Valley
in general.
We recently received a full, institution-wide accreditation renewal from the Higher Learning Commission.
The renewal, which specifically cited YSU’s growth in enrollment and diversity and the university’s commitment
to partnerships with the community, positions YSU well as it enters the 2010s and beyond.
We are closing in on the $44 million goal for the Centennial Capital Campaign, the largest fund-raising
project in the university’s history. The effort will help assure YSU’s continued ability to offer top-notch academic
programs in modern, 21st century facilities at affordable prices. We have already raised $13.2 million for student
scholarships, nearly double the campaign’s goal.
Also sure to have a significant impact on YSU’s future is the creation of a community college in the Mahoning
Valley. Sparked by discussions initiated by the YSU Board of Trustees nearly three years ago, the state of Ohio
hopes to begin offering community college courses in the Mahoning Valley as early as fall 2009. In time, the
new college should increase college-going rates in the region, creating a higher-educated workforce that is better
equipped to excel in the increasingly high-tech global marketplace.
And speaking of high-tech, YSU this summer hosted a visit by Dr. Arden L. Bement Jr., the director of the
National Science Foundation and the nation’s top science official. Dr. Bement’s visit was a celebration and recognition
of YSU’s increased and successful research efforts over the past 10 years. Bement was brought to YSU by
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, who has played a significant role in YSU’s emergence as a research leader. Over the past five
years, the congressman has helped secure nearly $10 million for a variety of university initiatives, including the
Center for Transportation and Materials, the Center of Excellence in Industrial Metrology & 3D Imaging Research
and the CyberEnabled Industrial Innovation Center. In the years ahead, as we build on these successes, YSU’s role
in research and development and its economic influence on the Mahoning Valley and the entire Northeast Ohio
region is sure to grow.
Abraham Lincoln, whose actions created a future that we as a nation still enjoy today, once said that “the best
thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.” Hour by hour, day after day, year to year, YSU has
worked for the past 100 years to serve the educational needs of the Northeast Ohio region. We will continue to
build on that proud past, creating a promising future for our students, the region and beyond.
Sincerely,
David C. Sweet
2 Youngstown State University

Dear Editor:
Please keep YSU Magazine coming! It’s a great way to
stay informed on what’s happening and learn something new
every time I read it. My wife, Darlene, and I are both YSU
grads. Our son, Jonathan, is now there as a Music Education
major at the Dana School. His presence, and your publication,
has given us good incentive to get re-connected. We
moved out of town in 1986 to pursue other interests and had
unfortunately lost touch with things in Youngstown. But, over
the last couple years, I’ve been coming back more frequently
for football games, concerts and music performances (and
have enjoyed every moment on campus).
I truly enjoyed the recent article on “The Evolution of
YSU.” I remembered a little of that history but never knew
it was once named the Youngstown Institute of Technology.
Given the need for better programming on science and math
skills in the K through 12 levels, it would be neat to bring the
Youngstown Institute of Technology back as an outreach program
for elementary and high school programs in the region.
Thanks for listening. Keep up the good work.
LETTERS TO THE
Editor
John M. Lischak, ’83
New Philadelphia, Ohio
(Editor’s Note: Lischak is director of quality improvement and corporate
compliance officer for Union Hospital in Dover, Ohio.)
Dear Editor:
I am a YSU alumna and retired YSU employee. Your
magazine is wonderful and I look forward to receiving it.
I did notice an error on page 29 in the winter edition
under information about President John Coffelt. If he was
born in 1924 and died in 1988, that would make him only 64
years old (not 67). I first came to the university in 1968, when
he was president.
Thanks much and keep up the good work.
H. Marlene Dailey, ’87
(AAB), ’90 (BS), ’96 (MBA)
YSU employee (1968-2006)
(Editor’s Note: Our sharp-eyed reader is right; Coffelt was not 67
when he died. Born in December 1924, he was 63, a few months
from his 64th birthday, when he died in September 1988. Coffelt
came to YSU in 1968 as Vice President of Administrative Affairs and
was named president in 1973. Dailey was an administrative assistant
to the Provost when she retired and earned all three of her degrees
while working full-time at YSU.)
Dear Editor:
Thank you for your
article about (YSU psychology
professor) Dr. Stephen
Flora’s book, Taking America
Off Drugs (Winter Issue 2008). Two research studies,
one at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada, and
one with the city of St. Paul, Minn. Worker’s Compensation
and Risk Management Division, showed that by using mental
techniques with positive emotion, chronic “incurable” pain
as well as acute pain can be substantially reduced or totally
eliminated, safely, rapidly, and in many cases it’s lasting.
Besides the obvious safety issues with drugs and surgery,
these methods are financially fruitful in reducing healthcare
costs. In 1998, using non-invasive techniques, St. Paul, Minn.
saved over $1 million in worker’s compensation costs. This
work was featured in an article published in The California
Worker’s Compensation Endeavor.
Another interesting note to this research was that it was
observed that when the patients/athletes were shown how to
control their pain by using their minds, empowering themselves,
their behavior changed quickly, permanently and in a
balanced, positive way.
Although much more work and research is needed, the
mental side to physical health appears to be very useful and
very much under-utilized. I am glad to see an article of this
nature. Keep up the good work.
Dr. Raymond J. Petras, ’72 BE
Scottsdale, Arizona
(Editor’s Note: Dr. Petras is a performance and pain specialist and owns
Pain Management & Elite Sports Performance in Scottsdale.)
Dear Editor:
THANK YOU! Wow! I was so excited to see that
the YSU Magazine was not “afraid” to publish an article
regarding issues of drug use with ADHD, OCD, depression,
and other psychological problems.
With the drug companies and their billions of dollars
spent on locating more people to drug, it's terrific
to see someone not afraid to speak out.
Cindy Garner Granger, ’81
Columbus, Ohio
F R O M T H E
Editor’s
DESK
It’s been six months since I joined YSU’s Office of Marketing and Communications, and working with
the creative team on this, my first complete issue of YSU Magazine, has been an honor and a thrill. We
hope you’ll like the changes we’ve made. I’m especially proud of our expanded, 13 pages of alumni news
and features, starting off with profiles of nine exceptional grads in Alumni Spotlight (p.44). They make
me proud to be part of YSU.
Write and let us know what you think. Letters must include your name, graduation year, a telephone
number or e-mail address for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit letters for space
and clarity. Submit letters by mail to: Cynthia Vinarsky, Editor, YSU Magazine, One University Plaza,
Youngstown, OH 44555; email to: cevinarsky@ysu.edu; or Fax to 330-941-1704.
Cynthia Vinarsky, Editor
Summer 2008 3

Rare Disease Fascinates
YSU Research Team
Findings result in speaking engagements around the globe
Outside of medical circles, most people have never heard
of rippling muscle disease. Very rare, neither crippling nor
life-threatening, it’s never been a newsmaker.
But a YSU biology professor and a Boardman neurologist
just might change that. Their painstaking, 12-year
research of the rare neuromuscular disorder has already
caught the attention of medical doctors and scientists around
the world.
Gary Walker, an associate professor of molecular biology
and microbiology at YSU, and Dr. Carl Ansevin, a 1971 YSU
alumnus, believe they’ve discovered a link between one form
of rippling muscle disease and myasthenia gravis, a serious
and chronic neuromuscular ailment.
Walker and Ansevin have chronicled the progress of their
research in a series of published papers. They’ve been invited
to present their work at scientific and medical conferences
across the U.S. and in London, Rome, Naples and Norway.
“It’s a recognized phenomenon now,” Ansevin said of their
findings. “But when we started, people hadn’t seen it before.
It was brand, spanking new.”
Rippling muscle disease is generally inherited and causes
involuntary skeletal muscle contractions that produce a visible
rippling effect. “It’s not terribly disabling, just annoying,”
Walker said.
The YSU research team is studying an even more rare
form of the disease, however, one that is not inherited and
can be a precursor to myasthenia gravis. There is no known
cure for myasthenia gravis, a disease in which the body’s
immune system forms antibodies that disrupt nerve impulse
transmission to muscles, resulting in symptoms such as
drooping eyelids, problems with swallowing, talking and
breathing, as well as weakness in the limbs.
Ansevin proposed the research project in 1996 after one
of his patients was diagnosed with a severe case of myasthenia
gravis a few years after coming to him with rippling
muscles. Ansevin, who is also an assistant professor at the
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, recognized
that the case was unusual.
The patient’s rippling muscles were probably not genetically
inherited, he theorized, because there was no family
history of rippling muscle disease in any of the patient’s
nine siblings. Ansevin and Walker agreed that the case
suggested a possible autoimmune connection between the
two disorders.
Walker had been looking for a research topic since arriving
at YSU the year before and he was intrigued by Ansevin’s
proposal. “It was serendipitous that Dr. Ansevin came along
when he did,” he said. “I had some other ideas, but this one
fascinated me.”
Since then, Walker has been able to involve numerous
undergraduate students, five graduate students and three doctoral
students in the research team, capitalizing on a growing
interest and emphasis on research in YSU’s new College of
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
“Research is a great way to teach. It opens up a whole
new world to students, knowledge that’s not in books yet,”
said Walker. “It’s the acquisition of new knowledge, and
that’s what science is all about.”
When Ansevin published the first paper describing his patient
with myasthenia gravis and rippling muscles, he received
reports of two other patients with the same dual diagnoses in
Munich, Germany. The German patients later agreed to assist
in the research, as did Ansevin’s patient, by donating blood for
the study.
So far, the YSU study has identified the antigen protein
associated with the non-inherited form of rippling muscle
disease, isolated it, cloned it and infected bacteria with the
protein to manufacture more of it.
“Research is a slow process, and the knowledge is built in
layers and steps,” said Walker, who earned his undergraduate
degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed
his Ph.D. at Wayne State University. “There’s a practical
angle now, but it took years to get to this point.”
Studying a rare disorder instead of high-profile problems
such as lung cancer or breast cancer can be advantageous for
YSU, Walker remarked, because it usually means less competition
from large, wealthy labs. There has been some competing
research in this case, but Ansevin reported that clinical
data “from Harvard to Germany and back” has supported the
YSU lab’s conclusions.
The work has already expanded the researchers’ understanding
of myasthenia gravis, rippling muscle disease and
healthy muscle function, and Walker said future research may
lead to the development of intellectual property that could be
of commercial value to the Mahoning Valley.
For now Walker and Ansevin are eager to move from
the theoretical to the practical by using the protein to create a
diagnostic test for non-inherited rippling muscles, a procedure
which may also help diagnose myasthenia gravis in its earliest
stages. “Myasthenia gravis is quite treatable,” Ansevin noted.
“If a diagnostic test can be developed, these disorders may be
diagnosed and treated earlier and more effectively. That’s the
goal the YSU team is working for.”
4 Youngstown State University

Dr. Carl Ansevin, left, and Gary Walker, associate
professor of molecular biology, examine an
electrophoretic gel used to study proteins
in their research.
Summer 2008 5

Looking Ahead:
YSU's Next
YEARS
The past two issues of YSU Magazine celebrated the university’s
Centennial by recalling our proud past – from its beginnings at the YMCA
in downtown Youngstown to the campus growth and expansion of the
1990s and 2000s. In this edition, we pull out the crystal ball to speculate
on YSU’s next 100 years. We asked seven individuals, all with strong
ties to YSU and the Mahoning Valley, to speculate on what
lies ahead in Youngstown State University’s
second century. Here’s what
they had to say:
Jay Williams
Mayor, City of Youngstown
Having graduated from
Youngstown State University in
1994 with a B.S.B.A., majoring
in Finance, I distinctly recall
a well-established tenet in the
study of the financial markets
which states in effect, “Past
performance does not guarantee
future results.” However, when
applying that principle to the
future of YSU, I would confidently
assert that the university’s
proud and inspiring past 100
years should unquestionably give rise to great expectations
for an even more promising and exciting future.
I was afforded the privilege of giving the commencement
address at YSU’s Spring 2008 Centennial graduation
ceremony. During the address, I reflected on attending a
recent leadership conference in Europe during which the
first participant, a man from Kosovo whom I happened to
engage in conversation, was eager to make mention of YSU.
His brother was a YSU graduate with a master’s degree in
chemistry. (Ironically, we met before I’d had the opportunity
to introduce myself as being from Youngstown. He had previously
read my bio and made it a point to find me.)
As a result of our conversation, I recounted to the audience
how I was overcome with a greater appreciation of
what a powerful force the graduates of YSU have been in
our society over the past 100 years. As our world becomes
increasingly interconnected, interdependent, and in need of
effective leadership, the future graduates of Youngstown State
are poised and prepared to make even more valuable contributions
than ever before. This belief is reinforced often
through my interactions with various YSU faculty, staff,
students and alumni.
I conclude, as did in my commencement address, with
a quote from former President Bill Clinton who once said,
“The future is not an inheritance; it is an opportunity and an
obligation.” Because of the proud and triumphant preceding
100 years, prospective YSU students will forever matriculate
with both the opportunity and obligation to ensure that past
performance does indeed guarantee future results.
Andrea Wood
President, Youngstown Publishing Co., Co-founder,
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, The Business Journal,
Youngstown
In the next 100 years, Youngstown State University
transforms the Mahoning Valley into a center for education
and technical innovation. Youngstown becomes a college
town where students, faculty and professionals revitalize the
city with vibrant residential and commercial neighborhoods
and an eclectic arts and entertainment district downtown.
Outreach programs and partnerships developed by the
Williamson College of Business Administration in the last
decade of the 20th century evolve into standard operating
procedures for companies thriving in a regional economy that
remembers steel as the historical turning point in its diversification.
YSU graduates see opportunities to build their futures
here, one of America’s new garden spots created with climate
changes that place a premium on real estate in this oasis of
learning and culture.
Buildings on campus, such as the Williamson
College of Business Administration now under development,
are updated and then updated again to keep
up with technology and
instructional methods
we can only imagine.
Inside and outside
the classroom - and yes,
there will be classrooms
- the one thing
that will not change is
how students learn. It
will still come down to
teachers’ lectures, just
as it has since Plato’s
academy, since the rise
of universities in Italy
in the 1300s.
6 Youngstown State University

Tom Shipka
Professor and Chair Emeritus
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Had we lived in 1908, who among us would have correctly
predicted that the next hundred years would see the
Great Depression, two world wars, television, organ transplants,
computers, 9/11, cell phones, space travel, or Viagra?
It is inherently risky to predict the future but it is still fun to
try. So, in fear and trembling, I hazard this forecast about the
YSU of 2108:
• Due to rising ocean levels caused by global warming,
which brought an influx of millions of east coast residents
to Ohio, enrollment at YSU will top 50,000.
• Online instruction and other yet-to-be-invented technologies
will reduce the number of traditional on-campus
classes to a small fraction of the total.
Bruce Beeghly
President of Altronic Inc., Girard, Ohio
Member, Ohio Board of Regents
Former Chair, YSU Board of Trustees
As YSU enters its
second century of service
to the Mahoning Valley,
many changes, challenges
and opportunities lie
ahead. In its first century,
the university has had to
serve as the access point
to higher education for its
region offering certificate,
two-year and four-year
degrees and professional
graduate degrees. With the
establishment of a public
community college in the
• There will be no tenured
faculty at YSU, as tenure
will have passed from the
higher education scene as
part of cost containment
and program flexibility.
• Due to a steady decline
in state appropriations to
YSU as a percentage of
operating costs, YSU will
have gone from statesupported
to state-assisted
to state-located. With the
economic burden having
shifted to students and
their families, tuition and
fees will exceed $100,000 a year.
immediate future, YSU’s mission will change. Most or all of
the remedial and two-year degree programs will eventually
become the province of the community college.
At the same time, much opportunity awaits YSU in the
new environment. Freed from the task of bringing students
up to basic “college prep” status, the main YSU campus can
concentrate on college-level instruction to students prepared
for same, with program quality and faculty research receiving
more attention. The opportunity for more specialized undergraduate
and graduate level degrees will increase. Additional
PhD programs will be possible. In the past, these have not
always been welcomed from YSU in Columbus. But in the
era just ahead, YSU is being challenged to become the driver
of the region’s economy. The university will need to establish
its priorities and areas of specialization and excellence.
Those seeking advanced degrees are our best and brightest,
and the future YSU will help retain more of them here in
the Mahoning Valley by offering more such programs. This
is essential to a rebirth of the local region in the 21st century
knowledge economy.
Germaine F. Bennett
President, YSU Alumni Society
Retired Assistant Superintendent of Human
Resources, Youngstown City Schools
The growth of Youngstown State University will be
phenomenal. We will witness an expansion in all six colleges,
with all of them offering doctorates and innovative degrees to
meet the needs of the 22nd Century.
Travel to space may become an event anyone can experience,
and with that will come degree programs to fit our
availability to the universe. The college of STEM, especially,
will undergo a huge metamorphosis
in the departments that deal
with science and technology.
The helping professions
represented in the colleges of
Education, Liberal Arts and Social
Sciences, Health and Human
Services will adapt their colleges
to serve humanity with the use of
technology and, of course, human
contact. The Williamson College
of Business Administration
(continued on page 8)
Summer 2008 7

omising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future
Germaine Bennett, continued from page 7
will find itself entrenched in technology, working to meet
the demands of the world and the companies that will exist.
The College of Fine and Performing Arts will still focus on
students’ artistic talents, but the entertainment will probably
be delivered through some new and as yet unknown forms
of technology.
The campus itself will expand with new buildings, and
YSU will also expand its outreach by adding satellite campuses
and online degree programs.
Unfortunately, the classroom will look different because
of long distance learning, online courses and perhaps even an
instructor that may be a hologram.
The computer was my generation’s big challenge, but
generations to come will adapt faster and Youngstown State
University will be there with a “Proud Past and a Promising
Future” to assist them.
Tom Humphries
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber
Over the next 100 years, it’s going
to be hard to see where the campus of
Youngstown State University ends and downtown
Youngstown begins, because they are
going to join to become one vital, dynamic
symbol of the Mahoning Valley’s future. And
as YSU expands in size, reaching further into
downtown, more students will want to live on
its energized campus.
But the campus expansion is only the beginning.
Undoubtedly, the College of Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
that was founded just last year will develop
into a program that other communities will
want to emulate.
And as health care begins to play a key
role in the education system at YSU over the next century,
the university will establish even closer relationships with the
health care institutions in our Valley. In that same arena, robotics
programs that are gaining momentum in our local high
schools are going to shift to become part of
a core college curriculum that explodes with
the possibilities of what that knowledge could
mean in the operating room. Robotics is just
now being introduced in our hospitals, but
the field will become much more high profile
and widely used as time goes on, and YSU’s
students could lead the charge.
Finally, U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan has
shared his vision of a “Tech Belt” between
Cleveland and Pittsburgh to spur economic
development through shared collaboration.
YSU will not only be a key partner in establishing
this tech corridor, but the university
will play an essential role in training the
people who will generate new ideas and
technology.
It may be the next 100 years, but it’s only the beginning.
Erianne R. Raib
Former Student Member, YSU Board of
Trustees, Spring 2008 YSU graduate
We can observe Youngstown State University’s proud
past with pleasure, and we can all be sure of its promising
future.
In the next 100 years, YSU will prosper, with students
receiving a valuable, but affordable, degree. The value of
YSU to its community will be utilized, striving to reach
higher enrollment and graduation rate. My alma mater will
continue to push the edge of innovation, providing modern
and functional facilities and grounds.
However, many of the hopes I hold for this institution
for the next 100 years are already in place today. We are a
prospering university. Our enrollment and graduation rates
are reaching record heights. The university has up-to-date
classrooms and award-winning grounds.
So, just as I hold high hopes for the future of the university’s
ability to adapt to
its community’s needs,
I know that the tradition
of YSU will still
hold strong in the next
100 years. “The Rock”
will hopefully still stand
in the core of campus,
with its peeling layers of
paint, and the strength
of meaning and purpose
that I felt when I was
handed my diploma will
still be felt in the hearts
of graduates to come.
8 Youngstown State University

J
HOWARD
ones REMEMBERED
Abronze sculpture of Howard Jones,
YSU’s first president, was unveiled
in May as part of the university’s
Centennial Celebration. The sculpture
is located between Tod Hall and Ward
Beecher Science Hall at the entrance to
the campus core. In photos above and
at left, workers install the statue.
Mary and Tony Lariccia of Boardman,
standing in the photo below, applaud
the new addition. The Lariccias i and
their daughters, Natalie and Dana,
commissioned the statue. Below, left,
Marilyn Chuey, Jones’ daughter,
comments on the sculpture, while
YSU President David Sweet reacts. “He
lived his life for Youngstown University.
He gave all of his energies to serving
this university,” Chuey said of her
father. “He really did love this place.”
Summer 2008 9

A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A
Williamson College:
Bridging Campus,
Business Community
Imagine a business college that houses much more than
classrooms - a regional business resource center where tomorrow’s
business leaders cross paths daily with today’s executives
and entrepreneurs.
The new $34.3 million Williamson College of Business
Administration building will be just that.
Designed to bridge the campus and downtown
Youngstown, the state-of-the-art facility is the centerpiece of
YSU’s Centennial Master Plan and will be a cornerstone for
the university’s second century.
“The new building will provide the spaces, technologies
and professional environment necessary to keep YSU
competitive in recruiting and retaining the best students and
faculty,” said Betty Jo Licata, dean of the business college.
“It will enrich the teaching-learning environment and will
support business services to the region.”
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for October,
culminating the university’s Centennial Celebration. Construction
will begin in January 2009, and the building is
scheduled to open in June 2010. It is the largest single capital
expenditure in YSU’s history, and nearly half will be funded
through private gifts.
Licata said the three-story, 106,000-square-foot building,
located on Rayen Avenue on the far-south end of campus,
will be about twice the size of the school’s present home on
Lincoln Avenue.
“We spent a lot of time talking about connecting the
campus to the community, creating a building to be a resource
for the community as well as our students and faculty,” said
the dean, describing the collaborative planning process that
involved students, faculty, campus and community leaders.
“Every space is designed to further the mission of the
college and to demonstrate our commitment to education, the
professional development of our students and the economic
development of the region.”
The expanded emphasis on business community outreach
will place YSU in a unique position among business schools
nationwide, said Jeff Ziebarth of Perkins & Will, an international
architecture and planning firm that designed the building
in collaboration with Strollo Architects, Youngstown.
“While community outreach efforts are becoming more
prevalent for business colleges, YSU has more physical space
dedicated to creating community connections than we typically
see,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity for YSU to enhance services to
the business community and to give students greater access
to business professionals,” Ziebarth added. “We think it will
make YSU one of the best and most unique business schools
Betty Jo Licata
Architect’s rendering of
the new Williamson
College building.
in the country.”
Licata said the new classrooms are designed to support
an interactive learning process, with the inclusion of small
group meeting rooms to encourage teamwork and discussion.
Three computer labs are planned, along with a financial
services lab, a professional sales/communications lab and a
student business incubator to encourage entrepreneurship.
Hanna Kassis, who graduated from YSU in May with a
bachelor’s degree in accounting, was among the students involved
in the planning. He likes the first-floor location of the
student organization office, which will house student chapters
of national professional organizations.
“We wanted that office to be very visible to encourage
more students to get involved in networking,” said Kassis,
now an associate accountant with Packer Thomas in
Youngstown.
Several of the college’s business outreach centers will
also be on the first floor to allow for more synergy, joint
programming and coordination of services. The Ohio Small
Business Development Center, the Williamson Center for
International Business, the Center for Nonprofit Leadership,
Partners for Workplace Diversity, SCORE small business
counselors and the Monus Entrepreneurship Center will all be
housed there.
Other amenities include a 200-seat auditorium and a
four-room conference center for workshops, conferences,
business meetings and presentations. A café with outdoor
10 Youngstown State University

Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Futur
seating, an industrial history gallery and a sky-lit atrium will
make the WCBA an attractive meeting place for business
professionals and students alike.
The new building site takes up most of a city block
bordered by Rayen Avenue, North Hazel Street, Phelps
Street and Wood Street, strategically located to establish a
strong physical link between the YSU campus and downtown
Youngstown.
“We’ve oriented the building on a diagonal because we’d
rather have people walking through it than walking around
it,” said Greg Strollo of Strollo Architects. “The idea is that
business people, faculty and students can bump into each
other there.”
The design also includes numerous environmentallyfriendly
features, noted architects Strollo and Ziebarth, to
qualify for certification under the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design U.S. Green Building Council Rating
System. “YSU is taking a leadership role in meeting LEED
criteria for a ‘green building,’ to their credit,” Strollo said.
“As architects, we like to see public dollars spent that way.
It’s the responsible thing to do.”
Steven R. Lewis, chief executive officer of First Place
Bank, said the Williamson College relates to two of the
bank’s top priorities: education and economic development.
The First Place Foundation contributed $500,000 to the
Centennial Capital Campaign for the project, the largest
corporate gift to date.
“We made that investment because we’re interested in
Youngstown’s renaissance, and YSU is a key component in
that renaissance,” said Lewis. “We keep hearing about the
exodus of our young people. This building will be a tool to
change that.”
The new business college pushes YSU’s campus border
closer to downtown Youngstown, and Garry Mrozek, a YSU
business alumnus and area president of National City Bank,
expects it to inspire more development of the surrounding
properties. National City gave $300,000 for the project.
Mrozek said the building will give YSU a competitive
advantage with students. “We’ve got a great business school,
and now we’re adding a state-of-the-art physical facility,”
Mrozek said. “When students are choosing a college, that
matters a lot.”
YSU has committed $18.3 million in state dollars to the
new building, with the remaining $16 million to be raised
through private gifts as part of the Centennial Capital Campaign.
To date, private gifts total more than $12.8 million,
including a $4 million gift from campaign chairman Tony
Lariccia and his wife, Mary.
The new business building will be named in honor of
the family of the late Warren P. Williamson Jr., founder of
WKBN Broadcasting Corp. In 2006 the family announced
its $5 million contribution to the project, the largest gift in
university history.
Summer 2008 11

e A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A
Campaign Beckons Alumni Entrepreneurs
HOME
BRINGING YSU ALUMNI BUSINESSES
TO THE MAHONING VALLEY
Come home to grow. That’s
the message U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan
is sending out to YSU alumni
entrepreneurs living outside the
Mahoning Valley who might be
contemplating a business start-up
or expansion.
The congressman is spearheading
a campaign called “Grow
Home,” in conjunction with
Tim Ryan
YSU’s Centennial Celebration and in partnership with the
Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber. Its goal is to give
alumni an inside track to benefits the Mahoning Valley can
offer new and expanding businesses.
“The Grow Home campaign is an effort to encourage
successful YSU alumni to invest in their home community,”
said Ryan. “I can’t tell you how often I run into people
from Youngstown, now living in Miami, or Chicago or
Cleveland, who stop me and say, ‘Yeah, I may live here, but
Youngstown will always be my home.’ This is an opportunity
for those people to play an active role in our future economic
success and to reverse our community’s brain drain.”
The Grow Home campaign dovetails with YSU’s commitment
to advancing the regional and state economies,
remarked George McCloud, vice president for advancement.
“We’re hoping this partnership with Congressman Ryan
and the Regional Chamber will inspire many of our alumni
to investigate the business potential here in the Mahoning
Valley,” McCloud said. “We want them to consider locating
their companies in the Youngstown-Warren area, not just out
of loyalty for their alma mater, but because there are real opportunities
for them here.”
YSU alumnus Gary Wakeford is a case in point. The
president of Syncro Medical Innovations, a start-up medical
equipment company that opened its world headquarters in
downtown Youngstown last October, made location an issue
when Norwich Ventures, a Massachusetts venture capital
firm, offered him the job.
“I told them I’d take it on one condition. The company
had to be headquartered here,” said Wakeford, who earned
his bachelor’s (’83) and MBA (’94) degrees from YSU.
That was 20 months ago, and while Wakeford stressed
that Syncro is still an early-stage start-up, he said local, state
and federal government officials have done their best to support
its growth.
For example, Ryan earmarked $500,000 in federal
defense funds to expand military use of the magnet-guided
feeding tube Syncro is developing for the treatment of very
sick or seriously-injured patients.
The state of Ohio awarded Syncro a $350,000 Third
Frontier grant to fund clinical trials at three hospitals, including
St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown.
The Youngstown Business Incubator has been generous
with business advice and grant assistance, Wakeford said,
and the city is discounting the lease on Syncro’s spacious
office suite.
“The timing is right,” Wakeford said. “All levels of government
are really pulling together to encourage companies to
move here and helping them to succeed when they get here.”
Alumni entrepreneurs can learn more about Grow
Home by logging on to the campaign Web page,
www. ysu.edu/growhome. The page is linked to the Regional
Chamber’s Web site, with its database of available
commercial and industrial properties and an array of project
incentives such as tax abatements, tax credits and low-interest
project financing.
The Web page includes an e-mail reply form to connect
alumni to the Chamber’s Economic Development Action
Team. Its representatives will respond quickly to provide print
materials, answer questions, arrange meetings or tours of
available sites.
“Many YSU alumni who left the community after graduation
might not know about the positive economic news that
is occurring as we speak,” said Walter Good, the Chamber’s
interim executive director of economic development. “Grow
Home is a great mechanism for us to get the word out.”
Gary Wakeford
12 Youngstown State University

Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promi
Centennial Spring Commencement
Celebrating YSU’s proud
past…. and promising future
Nearly 1,100 graduates
received diplomas
at YSU’s Centennial
Spring Commencement
in May.
Photos clockwise
from the right: President
David C. Sweet presents
an honorary degree to
alumna Anu Shukla,
chief executive of
Offerpal Media. Shukla
spoke at the graduate
commencement in
Stambaugh Auditorium.
Alumnus and
Youngstown Mayor Jay
Williams addresses the
undergraduate commencement
ceremony in
Beeghly Center. Williams
and Shukla were
presented Centennial Medallions, representing YSU’s promising future.
Alumna Marilyn Chuey, the daughter of Howard W. Jones, the first president
of Youngstown College, prepares for the ceremony. Chuey received a Centennial
Medallion as part of YSU’s proud past.
Janet E. Del Bene, chemistry professor emeritus and YSU alumna, carries the new
YSU ceremonial mace into the graduate ceremony. The mace was designed under the
leadership of Greg Moring, associate professor of art.
And, in the photo below, alumnus Nathaniel Jones, retired judge of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, receives the Centennial Medallion as part
of YSU’s proud past. Presenting the medal are George McCloud, left, vice president for
university advancement, and John Pogue, former chair of the YSU Board of Trustees.
Summer Winter 2008 13

Around Campus
Around
C A M P U S
YSU Campus and Beyond
Forty education and community leaders from across the
region are implementing a plan to bring community college
education to the Mahoning Valley, the only metropolitan area
in Ohio without such a college.
The committee began meeting this spring in Youngstown,
and Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents,
said he expects the community college to be up and running
by fall 2009.
Speaking at a press conference following the initial
committee meeting, Fingerhut thanked YSU and President
David C. Sweet for leading the effort to identify and
understand the importance and value of providing a
community college education in the Mahoning Valley.
“This is probably the best news the Mahoning Valley
has had in decades,” added U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. He said
the community college initiative is critical for the future
economic growth of the region.
The concept for expanded access to community college
education in the Mahoning Valley started more than two years
ago, when YSU began studying the feasibility and demand
for such a program. The university completed several studies
which demonstrate that citizens, employers and community
leaders believe a community college will offer the type of
education that will help rebuild the region’s workforce
and economy.
Fingerhut said the
effort to bring community
college education to
the Valley must be a
collaboration between
existing institutions
of higher education,
including YSU, Kent State
University and Jefferson
Community College.
“This commitment to
raising the educational
attainment for our citizens
will not only help the
Mahoning Valley, but
will help the state of
Ohio compete on a global
scale,” the chancellor said.
14 Youngstown State University
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, left, and Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio
Board of Regents, chat before a news conference concerning a new
community college in the Mahoning Valley.
NSF Director Opens Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance Chemistry Lab
Arden L. Bement Jr., director of the National Science
Foundation, visited YSU on June 23 to celebrate the
university’s increased and successful research efforts over
the past decade.
And it’s fair to say he liked what he saw.
Bement, the nation’s leading science official, met with
faculty and community leaders at a breakfast in Moser
Hall, made remarks to a standing-room-only crowd in
Ward Beecher Hall, helped cut the ribbon on the new
NSF-funded Analytical Materials Instrumentation Facility
in the chemistry department, and spent about an hour
viewing and listening to faculty and student research
presentations,
“Students [at YSU] do graduate-level research and
Ph.D.-level research [and are] energized and eager
and so excited about what they’re doing,” Bement said.
“This is a real success story as far as I am concerned.”
He added, “At many universities, undergraduate
students don’t even get in the laboratories, let alone get
close to the equipment. Here, they’re encouraged to do
that and encouraged to participate in research.”
Bement, accompanied on the visit by U.S. Rep. Tim
Ryan, visits only a handful of university campuses every
year. Ryan, who has helped secure nearly $10 million in
federal funds over the past five years for a variety of YSU
initiatives, said the opening of the instrumentation facility
and Bement’s visit are another sign of “our region moving
from older industries to science and research based jobs.”
YSU President David C. Sweet said Bement’s visit is
a reflection of the strides YSU has made over the past
several years in institutionalizing a culture that supports
and encourages faculty and student research. “With the
leadership of the NSF and Congressman Ryan, and the
considerable talent we have amongst our faculty and
After two years of study
and assessment, YSU this
summer was awarded a full
renewal of its accreditation
through the Higher Learning
Commission of the North
Central Association of
Colleges and Schools.
“This is a critical step in
the academic future of the
institution,” President David
C. Sweet said.
The purpose of the
regularly scheduled, period
renewal of accreditation
is to reconfirm that YSU
is operating effectively
within its stated mission
and goals. The Higher

staff in the sciences and
engineering, we believe
YSU can become a center
of excellence in the area of
molecular science, sparking
educational and economic
development opportunities
throughout the region,”
he said.
Over the past five years,
the NSF has provided
$2.1 million to YSU’s
mathematics, science
and engineering research
efforts, including $475,000
for the new Analytical
Materials Instrumentation
Facility.
The visit by Bement was
a highlight of a banner
inaugural year for YSU’s
new College of Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics. The
STEM college, the first of its kind in Ohio, combines the
engineering, technology, science and mathematics disciplines
into one academic unit. Martin Abraham is the college’s
founding dean.
In January, the U.S. Department of Transportation
announced a $2 million grant to the college to create the
YSU Center for Transportation and Materials Engineering.
In April, NSF announced that the College of STEM would
receive a $600,000 grant to fund STEM scholarships. And
later in the spring, the Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program
awarded $848,250 to the STEM college as part of a statewide
Around Campus
Arden L. Bement Jr., center, director of the National Science Foundation,
is joined by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, left, YSU President David C. Sweet and
several students and faculty during a visit to campus in June.
mathematics preparedness effort. To top it off, the Ohio Third
Frontier Commission announced in late June that the STEM
college was being recommended for a $2.1 million award
to establish a Center for Excellence in Advanced Materials
Analysis.
“These awards illustrate the role the new College of STEM
is already playing in community outreach and regional
development,” said Stephen Rodabaugh, interim associate dean.
Learning Commission is responsible for accrediting colleges
and universities in a 19-state region from West Virginia to
Arizona.
As part of the accreditation process, dozens of faculty,
staff, students and community members participated in
developing a four-volume, three-inch-thick report that
outlines the university’s strengths and challenges in
everything from enrollment and diversity to effective
teaching and learning and engagement with the community.
The process was led by Bege Bowers, associate provost;
Janice Elias, professor and interim dean of the Bitonte
College of Health and Human Services; and Sharon Stringer,
director of assessment and professor of psychology.
An evaluation team of 10 faculty and administrators from
universities across the north central United States visited
YSU in February as part of the accreditation process. The
HLC’s Board of Trustees approved the accreditation renewal
in late June.
In addition to the accreditation renewal, the board
approved a new doctor of physical therapy degree. It is
YSU’s second doctoral program.
Sweet thanked Bowers, Elias and Stringer for leading
the team that put together the self-study for the HLC team
site visit.
“All of us at the university are grateful for their
commitment and hard work that have made this process a
success,” he said.
Sweet also thanked the dozens of individuals on and off
campus “who served on committees, attended countless
meetings and dedicated themselves to the preparation of the
self-study report.”
“And, finally,” Sweet said, “I want to thank every member
of the faculty and staff for their honesty during this process
and their continued commitment to the success of the
university and its students.”
More than 200 car enthusiasts and experts from around
the nation came to YSU in late April for “The Automobile in
Our Culture,” a symposium exploring the past, present and
future of America’s love affair with the automobile. Part of
Summer 2008 15

Around Campus
YSU’s Centennial Celebration, the event featured national,
regional and local speakers and scholars. Martin Apfel,
executive director of global manufacturing and planning for
General Motors and former director of GM Opel Division
Eisenach and Bochum plants, gave the keynote address. The
symposium also included tours of the GM Lordstown plant
and the National Packard Museum in Warren, as well as a
Classic Car show on the YSU campus.
Joel Stigliano, a senior theater major, performs a song from the
musical “Little Women” during a press conference announcing
the 2008–09 season of University Theater.
University Theater Celebrates 45th Year
From farcical comedy to tragic drama, University
Theater’s 2008-09 season has something for everyone.
“True to our stated mission, the 2008-09 University Theater
season continues to present a wide variety of quality theatrical
experiences, ranging from very contemporary issues of the
Middle East conflict, to works based on literary classics, to
broad improvisational comedy,” said Frank Castronovo, chair
of the Department of Theater and Dance at YSU.
The 2008-2009 season marks the 45th year of University
Theater’s existence as a co-curricular theater producing agency
on the YSU campus. Season tickets are available through the
University Theater Box Office by calling 330-941-3105.
University Theater 2008-2009 Season
September 4 -7, 2008
DEARLY DEPARTED, Comedy
October 2-5 and 10-12, 2008
HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, Drama
November 13-16 and 21-23, 2008
LITTLE WOMEN, Musical
January 22-25, 2009
ALMOST, MAINE, Comedy
February 12-15 and 20-22, 2009
THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, Farce
March 26-29 and April 3-5, 2009
MISS JULIE, Tragic Drama
April 16-19, 2009
THE TENDER LAND, Opera
April 30 and May 1, 2, 2009
YSU DANCE ENSEMBLE
John DeWitt of the University of Arts in Philadelphia presents a
session on “Hot Rods, Kustom Kars and High Art” during “The
Automobile in Our Culture” symposium in April.
Fifty-seven pieces of art created by elementary, middle
and high school students throughout the Mahoning Valley
were unveiled during the Partners in Art celebration in
April in Beeghly Hall, home to YSU’s Beeghly College of
Education.
“The idea of this project is to provide an opportunity for
the university and the Beeghly College of Education and the
schools to partner and collaborate,” said Alison Harmon,
associate dean in the college. “It’s an outreach to the schools
to get more involved in the college and to celebrate the talent
of the students throughout the region.”
Partners in Art dates to 1998, when Beeghly Hall was
opened. With a brand new building but bare walls, the college
entered into a partnership with school districts throughout
the region to get students to produce artwork to hang in
the building. In 1999, a celebration was held honoring the
student artists, their families and their art teachers. The
project was conducted again in 2000 and 2004.
“We still have lots and lots of wall space,” Harmon said.
So, in recognition of YSU’s 100th birthday, the college
again launched the project, with nearly 60 pieces of art from
various students throughout the Mahoning Valley, from first
graders to high school seniors.
16 Youngstown State University

Around Campus
Ohio State Sen. Ray Miller gave the keynote address at
YSU’s first Diversity Leadership Recognition Celebration
in April at the D.D. & Velma Davis Education & Visitor’s
Center in Youngstown.
The event, sponsored by KeyBank, celebrated and
embraced diversity at YSU and in the community. Leaders
were recognized in three categories:
• Leader of Tomorrow: Christine Campf, president
of YSUnity; Keith Logan, YSU graduate assistant;
Carrington Moore, YSU urban intern student.
• Campus Leadership: Jean Engle, assistant director,
Marketing and Communications; Philip Ginnetti, dean,
Beeghly College of Education; Brenda Scarborough,
library media technical assistant; Rosa Maria Vega,
student services counselor/Federal Work Study Program
— Financial Aid and Scholarships.
• Community Leadership: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Planning Committee; YSU Foundation; Germaine
F. Bennett, retired assistant superintendent of human
resources, Youngstown City Schools; Marilyn Montes,
human resource director for Mirkin & Associates /dba
Comfort Keepers; Vincent E. Peterson, officer in charge,
Intensive Supervision Program, Trumbull County Adult
Supervision.
Ten Williamson College of Business Administration
undergraduate and graduate students, three faculty members
and one YSU staff member traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil
as part of the WCBA’s Emerging Markets Initiative.
Their goal was to develop an understanding of the dynamic
business environment in Brazil and to gain insights into
the distinct business opportunities and challenges in this
emerging market.
During the 10-day stay in Sao Paulo, faculty and students
attended lectures at the University of Sao Paulo and toured
Brazilian-owned companies, the stock exchange and
futures market, as well as offices of Brazilian and U.S.
government agencies.
The Emerging Markets Initiative is funded by a federal
YSU faculty and students pose at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
From left, in front row: Natalya Schenck, R. Pandian, Ying Wang,
Linda Balogh, Bernadette Januszek, and Marcelo Felippe. Back row:
Suhad Awad, Aamir Iqbal, Daniel Maamoun, Dare Oluwasen, Jef
Davis, Ram Kasuganti, Dustin Kudler and Severina Dimova.
grant sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education
and the WCBA. Jef Davis, director of the YSU Center
for International Studies and Programs, joined the tour to
establish connections with other universities in the Sao Paulo
area and to help recruit students to YSU.
WYSU 88.5 FM, YSU’s public radio station, raised a
record $102,058 during its recently completed spring pledge
drive. Nearly 1,000 listeners contributed to the station during
the drive, including 113 new members.
“We had a lot of help,” said Gary Sexton, station director.
“The concern for our continued success expressed by so much
of the community inspires all of us. This great staff and I will
continue to serve the wonderful region the best we can.”
Corporate support for the drive was provided by Go Ahead
Tours, Internet Data Management Inc. (IDMI.net), Butler
Wick & Co. Inc., and The First Unitarian Universalist Church
of Youngstown, all of which provided partial matches during
drive time pledge periods. Visit www.wysu.org.
Student Success
Two YSU students have again
won prestigious national awards.
Tyler Drombosky of Boardman,
a junior math major, received the
Goldwater Scholarship, while Chad
J. Miller of Poland was awarded a
fellowship from the Honor Society
of Phi Kappa Phi.
This marks the fourth consecutive Tyler Drombosky
year that YSU students have received
the Goldwater Scholar and the Phi
Kappa Phi fellowship. YSU’s four
Goldwater awards are the most by
any public university in Northeast
Ohio during that period.
“Our success as an institution in
these two awards is a tribute to the
students at YSU and to the faculty
who mentor and guide them along
Chad Miller
their chosen academic path,” said
Ron Shaklee, director of YSU’s University Scholars and
Honors Program.
The Goldwater program was designed to foster and
encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields
of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The
award is $7,500 a year.
“The faculty at YSU is truly incredible,” Drombosky said.
“They are always there to help me and motivate me to be the
best possible student. Without them, I know that none of what
I have accomplished would have been possible.”
Miller is among only 60 students nationwide selected to
receive the $5,000 Phi Kappa Phi fellowship. He graduated
summa cum laude from YSU in December 2007 with a
bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology and currently
Summer 2008 17

Around Campus
is pursuing a master’s degree in chemistry from YSU.
Shaklee said YSU’s recent string of successes with the
Goldwater and Phi Kappa Phi awards is a reflection on the
quality and commitment of students and faculty.
“We have definitely been very successful in recruiting and
retaining high ability, high performing students at YSU,”
he said. “These students have both the necessary drive
and intellect to make them competitive with students from
institutions across the United States.”
Adrienne Sabo of Youngstown, who graduated in May
with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, received the Arthur
H. Barlow National Student Journalist of the Year Award.
Former editor–in–chief of YSU’s student newspaper, The
Jambar, Sabo received the award at the Society for Collegiate
Journalists Biennial National Convention in Wilson, N.C.
The Barlow Award, instituted in 1994, honors an SCJ
student chapter member who has represented the spirit of the
First Amendment by making an outstanding contribution to
student journalism.
Mary Beth Earnheardt, YSU assistant professor of
journalism, nominated Sabo for the award. Earnheardt,
who has a Ph.D. in communication studies from Kent State
University and a master’s degree in communication from
Clarion University of Pennsylvania, also was elected to a
second term as national president of SCJ.
The Integrated Marketing Communications Campaigns
Team at YSU placed fourth in the District 5 American
Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising
Competition in Lexington, Ky.
AOL (America Online) challenged student advertising
teams from across the nation to develop an integrated
marketing campaign for their AIM Messaging and AIM
Social Media products. The YSU class created the “What’s
Your AIM?” campaign for AOL throughout the spring
Members of the Integrated Marketing and Communications Campaigns Team, from left,
front row: Jessica Fraley, Kim Hanley, Sarah Conklin and Nicole Caravella; second row:
Jordan Moore and Lou Liguore.
semester, complete with market research, creative design,
promotional strategies, and media plans.
The presentation team consisted of Jessica Fraley of
Lagrange, Kim Hanley of Oregon, Sarah Conklin of
Wellington, Nicole Caravella of West Pittsburgh, Pa., Jordan
Moore of Boardman, and Lou Liguore of Poland. Also
making the trip to Lexington were Chris Bellino, Rob Bole,
and Joe Foos.
A team of YSU students won an Outstanding Award at
the 2008
International
Mathematical
Contest in
Modeling.
Of the
1,162
participating
teams from
universities
across the
world, only
nine were
deemed
“outstanding,”
including
teams from
Harvard and
Duke. The YSU Mathematices team members, from left,
award placed Matthew Alexander, Erica Cross and David Martin.
the YSU team
in the top 0.77 percent of the teams worldwide.
Members of YSU’s team were: David Martin of Warren,
Erica Cross of Mineral Ridge and Matthew Alexander of
Espyville, Pa.
“They outperformed many prestigious universities and
exemplify the quality of YSU students in
mathematics,” said George Yates, YSU
associate professor of mathematics and
statistics.
The students were advised by Yates,
with assistance from YSU mathematics
faculty members Angela Spalsbury,
Paddy Taylor and Jay Kerns, and Hazel
Marie, a faculty member in mechanical
and industrial engineering.
In the online competition, teams
of students researched, modeled and
submitted a solution to one of two
modeling problems. YSU’s “outstanding”
team worked on a problem that asked
teams to develop an algorithm to
construct Sudoku puzzles of varying
difficulty.
18 Youngstown State University

Around Campus
YSU theater major Brandon Martin will be directing
a play titled Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison
Uprising at the prestigious New York
International Fringe Festival this
summer.
Written by Niles attorney and
civil rights activist Staughton Lynd,
with co-authors Gary Anderson
and Christopher Fidram, the
controversial play suggests five
prison inmates have been unjustly
Brandon Martin
sentenced to death row for their
roles in a riot at the Southern Ohio
Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Ohio, 15 years ago.
Martin, a Youngstown resident who graduates with a
bachelor’s degree this summer, directed and played a small
role in a three-performance run of Lucasville at Bliss Hall
as his senior project in April. YSU Geology professor Ray
Beiersdorfer, who acted as his faculty advisor, proposed that
they try submitting a videotape and the script to the Fringe
Festival, and it was accepted.
Martin’s production, one of 200 acts to be staged at the
12th Annual Fringe Festival, was chosen from more than 800
plays competing for inclusion in what is billed as one of the
largest multi-arts events in North America. The cast of 12
includes four YSU students, including Martin.
Frank Castronovo, chair of the Department of Theater and
Dance, said Martin’s place on the Fringe program speaks
well of the YSU program. “It’s an indication that our students
are learning their craft, and learning it well enough to do it in
a professional setting,” he said. “We’re proud of Brandon for
this achievement.”
FringeNYC, as it’s also called, has been a launching pad
for several successful theatrical projects, including the Tony
Award-winning musical Urinetown. “The Fringe Festival is
sort of a theater contest, so there will be judges and awards.
You never know what could happen,” Martin said. “It’s a
really good place to do theater.”
An Ohio Historical marker celebrating the life of renowned
philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine was dedicated
in June thanks to the efforts of YSU student Chad Miller.
The marker was placed at Oberlin College, where Quine
earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy in
1930 before going on to receive a Ph.D. in philosophy from
Harvard University in 1932.
Miller, who graduated from YSU in December with a
bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology and is now
studying chemistry as a graduate student, led the effort to
get the historical marker approved by the Ohio Historical
Society as part of his senior capstone project. “Quine is
arguably the most important philosopher of the 20th century,
and philosophers don’t get many monuments,” Miller said.
“Acknowledging him makes us feel very proud.”
Miller submitted a 330-page application to the Ohio
Historical Society based on Quine’s contributions to
philosophy and logic, among other fields. He said the
lengthy application was necessary to prove from a historical
perspective why Quine was important.
Students in YSU’s Williamson College of Business
Administration placed first at the Midwest Regional Beta
Alpha Psi Meeting earlier in Chicago. Beta Alpha Psi is the
honorary student organization for accounting, finance, and
information systems professionals.
The team of Nicole Mraz of Austintown, Jaime Kudary of
Mineral Ridge and Hanna Kassis of Girard placed first in the
category of “Best Practices – Financial Literacy for College
Students.”
In all, students from 43 universities and colleges
participated in the meeting. Raymond Shaffer, professor
of accounting and finance and faculty advisor for the YSU
chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, also attended.
Beta Alpha Psi team members were, from left, Jaime Kudary,
Hanna Kassis and Nicole Mraz.
Faculty and Staff
Ikram Khawaja, a member of
YSU’s faculty and administration
for 40 years, has been named
provost and vice president for
academic affairs.
Khawaja has served as YSU’s
interim provost since August
2007 when he replaced Robert K.
Herbert, who died in July 2007.
His permanent appointment to the Ikram Khawaja
position was effective June 20. “It is
with a great deal of pleasure and
pride that I accept this position,” Khawaja said. “I have
dedicated my professional life to YSU for four decades, and
I look forward to continuing to move the academic division
Summer 2008 19

Around Campus
The following faculty members were recognized as 2007-08
Distinguished Professors at the 49th annual YSU Honors
Convocation at Stambaugh Auditorium in April:
For excellence in teaching
Stephen W. Ausmann, Dana School of Music
Jeffrey M. Buchanan, Department of English
Tom N. Oder, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Matt E. O’Mansky, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Kimberly A. Serroka, Department of Nursing
David E. Stout, Department of Accounting and Finance
For excellence in scholarship
Rebecca A. Barnhouse, Department of English
Paul R. Carr, Department of Educational Foundations, Research,
Technology and Leadership
Alina Lazar, Department of Computer Science and
Information Systems
Zbigniew Piotrowski, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Jane S. Reid, Department of Marketing
Michael Theall, Department of Teacher Education
For excellence in university service
Stanley D. Guzell Jr., Department of Management
Hazel Marie, Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering
Salvatore A. Sanders, Department of Health Professions
Raymond J. Shaffer, Department of Accounting and Finance
Nancy A. White, Department of Psychology
For excellence in public service
Kevin E. Ball, Department of English
Raymond E. Beiersdorfer, Department of Geological and
Environmental Studies
Carol Hawkins, Department of Human Ecology
Alfred W. Owens, Department of Communication
David H. Pollack, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Howard W. Pullman, Department of Teacher Education
Watson Merit Awards
The Watson Merit Award is given to outstanding department
chairpersons for administrative performance. This year’s
recipients were Gary M. Salvner, Department of English, and
Jalal Jalali, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
forward and serving our students.”
YSU President David C. Sweet noted Khawaja’s extensive
and varied experience and called him a proven, respected
campus leader. “His distinguished service and leadership
during his term as interim provost makes him the most
qualified candidate for this position,” Sweet said.
Khawaja joined YSU’s faculty in 1968 and served 17 years
as chair of the Department of Geological and Environmental
Sciences. He was director of faculty relations from 1997
to 2000 and served as interim dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences from July 2001 to July 2002 before retiring in
December 2002. He returned to YSU as interim dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences from July 2005 to July 2007.
John Yemma, a YSU alum who has led YSU’s Bitonte
College of Health and Human Services as dean since the
college was created in 1992, retired
in July with 37 years of university
service to his credit.
“All I wanted to do was to make
a positive difference, and I think I
did that,” Yemma said, noting that
the Bitonte College has grown 60
percent over the last decade and is
now the university’s largest college
with more than 3,500 students and
John Yemma
eight departments.
“We put in many new programs
during this time, and I wanted to offer everything a
student would need to get into the job market,” he said.
“The university has always supported me, and we have a
wonderful faculty. They’re so cooperative. That’s why we’ve
been able to achieve what we have.”
Yemma earned a bachelor’s degree in education from YSU
in 1961, then went on to pursue a master’s degree in biology
from Vanderbilt University and a doctorate in cytochemistry
from Pennsylvania State University. He has published 36
scholarly articles.
He joined the YSU faculty as a biology professor in 1971
and was the first chairman of the Allied Health Department
when it was formed in 1976. He served briefly as dean of the
former College of Applied Science and Technology before it
was restructured, then assumed his duties as dean in 1992.
George McCloud
George McCloud has been
named vice president for University
Advancement.
McCloud came to YSU in 1997
as dean of the College of Fine
and Performing Arts and has been
special assistant to the president
for University Advancement since
2005, overseeing the university’s
marketing and communications,
development, events management,
alumni and government relations
20 Youngstown State University

Around Campus
functions, as well as WYSU–FM.
“Under Dr. McCloud’s leadership, the advancement
division has made remarkable strides in advancing the fundraising,
public and community relations, and government
relations functions of the university,” YSU President David
C. Sweet said. “This change in title is an appropriate and
deserved recognition of his efforts.”
Prior to coming to YSU, McCloud was dean of the School
of Arts and Communication at William Paterson College
of New Jersey, director of strategic planning and executive
counsel to the president at Eastern Michigan University,
special assistant to the provost at Eastern Michigan,
and dean of the Graduate School of Communications at
Fairfield University.
In Memoriam
William A. Wood, 56,
professor and director of
YSU’s School of Technology,
died May 27 at his home in
McCandless Township, Pa.,
following an extended illness.
William Wood Wood joined YSU’s faculty
in September 1988. He was
named Outstanding Professor in the YSU School
of Engineering Technology in 1997 and 2001.
He held bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil
engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D.
and MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
Jim Tressel
Former head football coach Jim Tressel and the late
Anthony S. Leonardi, a long-time member of the faculty at
the Dana School of Music, received the Heritage Award at the
annual YSU Faculty and Staff Awards Dinner in May. The
Heritage Award is among the highest
honors bestowed by YSU.
Tressel was appointed YSU’s head
football coach in 1986 and led the
Penguins to NCAA Division I–AA
national championships in 1991,
1993, 1994 and 1997. A native of
Mentor, Tressel graduated from
Baldwin Wallace with a bachelor’s
degree in education and earned a
master’s degree in education from
the University of Akron. He compiled
Anthony Leonardi
an overall record of 135–57–2 and was a four-time pick as
the Division I–AA National Coach of the Year before leaving
YSU to take the head coaching position at Ohio State in
2001.
Leonardi, who died in 2001, served on the faculty of
YSU’s Dana School of Music for 22 years, teaching classical
string bass and jazz studies, before retiring as professor of
music in May 2001. Leonardi grew up in Syracuse, N.Y.,
served in the military and attended Ithaca College in
New York before launching his music career. From
1958 to 1968, he played in theater restaurants in New
York for stars such as Nat King Cole and Sammy
Davis Jr. In 1968, he enrolled in the Dana School of
Music and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
music. Prior to joining the YSU faculty in 1979, he
was band director at Poland Junior High and Canfield
Middle Schools. He was the first coordinator of
Jazz Studies at YSU. Under his leadership, the YSU
Jazz Ensemble earned numerous honors and made several
recordings.
Janet E. Del Bene of Howland,
professor emeritus of chemistry,
received the prestigious 2008
Morley Medal from the Cleveland
Section of the American Chemical
Society at a ceremony in May in
Cleveland.
Del Bene, who earned bachelor’s
degrees in education and chemistry
from YSU before receiving a Ph.D.
in chemistry from the University of
Janet Del Bene
Cincinnati in 1968, is the first woman
to receive the award.
The award, established in 1966, is given annually to a
chemist for outstanding contributions to chemistry made
while residing in an area within a 250-mile radius of
Cleveland. The award’s list of recipients includes two
Nobel Laureates.
Del Bene, who retired from YSU in 1999, is a theoretical
chemist who is internationally recognized as an expert in the
field of hydrogen bonding.
Summer 2008 21

Around Campus
Programs and Initiatives
Expect to see more students
and faculty in military uniform
on campus this fall, now that YSU’s
Army Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps has been restored to the host
battalion status it lost in 1990.
YSU’s Army ROTC will stand
alone, no longer a partnership Michael Stull
program of Kent State University as it has been since 1995.
The change will mean more full-tuition ROTC scholarships
available to YSU students and more ROTC staff.
Army Major Michael C. Stull, officer in charge of ROTC
on campus, said the battalion status comes with higher
expectations. The program had 38 cadets enrolled last year
and has commissioned 17 second lieutenants over the past
three years. As a battalion, he said, its new goal is to enroll
at least 60 cadets this fall and to commission 12 officers
annually, beginning in 2012.
“The Army has charged us with that mission, and it will
provide us with the resources we need to do the job,”
said Stull.
YSU ROTC will offer eight full-tuition scholarships this
fall, double the number offered last year, for students willing
to make a commitment to military service after graduation.
Reinstatement of the YSU ROTC battalion is a victory for
members of the YSU ROTC Alumni Chapter who fought to
keep the program when it was targeted for elimination in the
early 1990s due to federal defense budget cuts.
Alumnus Carl Nunziato, a retired bank
attorney and disabled Vietnam War veteran,
said he worked to keep the program in
the 1990s because he saw the value of its
leadership training, both for military officers
and in the private sector.
“One reason I was so anxious to help is that,
in my experience in banking, I saw how ROTC
training gives an understanding of the concept
of leadership responsibility and dedication,”
Nunziato said. “When I hired a young man or
woman with ROTC or military training, I was
never disappointed.”
Stull said YSU was selected for reinstatement
because of the support it receives from the
university and the community along with the
ROTC program’s propensity to commission
more quality officers.
The YSU English Festival marked its 30th
anniversary in April with an array of authors,
contests and a special dinner to celebrate three
decades of spreading the joy of reading and
writing. Among the guests was Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of
the Ohio Board of Regents.
In all, about 3,000 junior and senior high school students
from a record 175 schools in Northeast Ohio and Western
Pennsylvania participated in the event on the YSU campus.
To participate, students must read seven books on the
festival’s book list. At the festival, students hear lectures from
the authors and attend workshops and labs on writing, poetry
and journalism.
Since the festival’s founding in 1978 by YSU professors
Thomas and Carol Gay in memory of their 13-year-old
daughter, Candace McIntyre Gay, nearly 80,000 students
have attended the annual event, reading more than 350 books.
“Over 30 years, the English Festival has become part of
the academic fabric of the community,” said Gary Salvner,
festival co-chairman. “It has been recognized near and far
as one of the premier literature celebrations in the nation for
young adults. We’re looking forward to another 30 years
and more.”
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a
$421,505 grant to YSU’s Rich Center for the Study and
Treatment of Autism for Distance Learning Technology
and Programs.
The Rich Center for Autism is one of five institutions in
Ohio to receive a 2008 congressionally-directed grant. More
than 300 grants were awarded nationally.
“We are very grateful to U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan for his belief
and support of our programs,” said Georgia Backus, director
of the Rich Center. “There is a critical need for increasing
and improving services for individuals with autism and their
families. This grant will establish the Rich Center for Autism
as a benchmark facility nationally for teaching, serving,
supporting and researching the syndrome of autism.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan stands with the children and staff of YSU’s
Rich Center for Autism to celebrate a grant for distance learning.
The photo was taken at the entrance to the center in Fedor Hall.
22 Youngstown State University

Around Campus
The Rich Center will use the grant to develop a distance
learning course sequence incorporating web-based learning
modules involving children with autism.
YSU’s McDonough Museum of Art is seeking YSU art
graduates to participate in the 2009 Alumni Exhibition.
The juried art exhibit, set for Feb. 20 to March 20,
2009, includes $3,000 in cash prizes. The juror is Mary
Antonakos, director of I space Gallery at the College of
Fine Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The exhibit is open to all YSU Department of Art
alumni. Eligible work includes painting, drawing, mixed
media, prints, photography, digital photography, sculpture,
installations, ceramics, textiles, glass, metalwork, graphics
and multimedia.
For information on submission deadlines and details, visit
http://mcdonoughmuseum.ysu.edu/ or contact Robyn Maas at
330-941-1546 or remaas@ysu.edu.
The U.S. Election Assistance
Commission has awarded
$25,278 to YSU to recruit
students to serve as poll
workers during the November
presidential election.
“This is going to be a
monumental election, and
we thought it was a great
opportunity for our students to
get more involved in the political Cryshanna Jackson
process,” said Cryshanna Jackson, YSU assistant professor of
political science.
The award, through the Help America Vote College
Program, was one of 27 made to colleges and nonprofit
organizations from 18 states. In all, about 8,800 college
students will become poll workers as a result
of the grants.
Jackson said YSU hopes to recruit and train 40 to
50 students to work the polls in Mahoning and
Trumbull counties.
“Recruiting, training and retaining poll workers continue
to be a challenge,” EAC Chair Rosemary E. Rodriguez said.
“The need for these dedicated Americans will be even more
crucial in November, when we expect a record turnout.”
YSU’s Respiratory Care Program received the
Excellence in Respiratory Therapy Education Award from the
Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care.
CoARC is the national agency that recommends
accreditation for two- and four-year respiratory therapy
programs. The award is given to the respiratory care program
that is a designated national leader, demonstrating excellence
in respiratory care education.
YSU’s program was chosen from among 14 finalists from
across the nation. The YSU program was started in 1977
and has graduated nearly 500 students. Louis Harris led the
Cinco de Mayo
Dancers perform at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in May in Kilcawley
Center. It is one of many annual events on the YSU campus that recognize
the diverse cultures of students, faculty and staff at the university
and in the community.
program for 31 years before retiring this spring.
“I am proud of the exceptional efforts of the students, the
clinical facilities, the administrative support and the full- and
part-time faculty that have served the program over the last
three decades,” Harris said.
Campus Visitors
Artist Fred Wilson, whose installations have appeared
at museums around the world, gave the Skeggs Lecture in
March in Bliss Hall. Wilson’s work can be found in public
collections nationwide, including the Baltimore Museum of
Art, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum,
Artist Fred Wilson chats with Stephanie Smith, chair of YSU’s art
department, before Wilson gave the Skeggs Lecture in March.
Summer 2008 23

Around Campus
the Jewish Museum in New York, Memphis Brooks Museum
of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Established in 1966, the lecture series was started in
recognition of Leonard T. Skeggs Sr., one of the founders of
YSU.
As part of the YSU Center for Working-Class Studies’
2007-08 Lecture Series, Aaron Fox, director of the Center for
Ethnomusicology at Columbia University, presented a lecture
in April on “Real Country: Music and Language in Working-
Class Culture.”
Fox is an associate professor
of music and the director of the
Center for Ethnomusicology at
Columbia University. His 2004
book, Real Country: Music and
Language in Working-Class
Culture, was published by
Duke University Press.
The YSU Center for
Working-Class Studies is a
multidisciplinary teaching and
research center devoted to the
study of working-class life and
culture.
A group of journalists from
South Korea visited YSU
this spring to discuss the
Members of a delegation of South Korean journalists
attend a meeting in the Butler Institute of American Art
as part of a visit to YSU and Youngstown.
U.S. presidential election. The journalists, whose visit was
sponsored by the East West Center, held a series of meetings
at the Butler Institute of American Art and at Youngstown
City Hall. The delegation met with local journalists, political
representatives, Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and a
citizens group led by John Russo and Sherry Linkon,
co-directors of the YSU Center for Working-Class Studies.
The journalists also participated in a discussion of campaign
financing moderated by Sunil Ahuja, assistant professor of
political science.
Rachel S. Harris, director
of Hebrew at State University
of New York at Albany,
presented “Jerusalem of Gold:
Representations of Jerusalem” in
April on the YSU campus.
The program was sponsored
by the Center for Judaic and
Holocaust Studies at YSU.
Harris discussed representations
of the city of Jerusalem from
ancient times to modern day. The
program focused on depictions
of Jerusalem in Jewish and non-
Jewish literature and was being
offered in honor of the 60th
anniversary of the establishment
of the State of Israel.
On the Campaign Trail ...
The Mahoning Valley has drawn a lot of attention during the
2008 presidential campaign and is sure to draw even more as
the general election nears in November. Nominees for both
parties – Democrat Barack Obama, left, and Republican John
McCain – visited YSU during the primary season. Obama’s
rally was in Beeghly Center in February, while McCain hosted
a town hall meeting in Kilcawley Center in April.
24 Youngstown State University

evidence
reveals
Forensics
Enrollment
Growth
Prompts
Department
Name
Change
Criminal Justice major
Eric Miller dusts for
fingerprints.
Forensics scientists are making headlines—cracking
high-profile “cold” cases,
foiling terrorist plots – and the positive press
has bolstered YSU’s Forensic Science degree
Tammy King program. Enrollment has grown more than
400 percent in five years.
Now the department that houses the major has been
given a new name, the Department of Criminal Justice and
Forensic Sciences, to reflect its growing emphasis on the
forensic science discipline.
Tammy A. King, associate professor of Criminal Justice
and former department chairperson, said 128 undergraduates duates
were majoring in forensic science this spring, up from just 31
when the degree program was created in 2003.
Overall student numbers for graduates and undergraduates
in what was formerly known as the Department of Criminal
Justice are also on the rise, totaling about 767 in the fall
semester, its highest level since the mid-1970s.
Faculty members are working with the Department of
Computer Science and Information Systems to create a second
baccalaureate forensic science major program, Computer
Forensics. “It’s a changing world, law enforcement is becoming
more technical and science based,” King said. “We’ve got
to keep up.”
Planners expect the new Computer Forensics program to
be approved by YSU’s Board of Trustees, university administrators
and the Ohio Board of Regents by Spring 2009, she
said, but students interested in the major will be permitted to
start taking coursework as early as next fall.
Forensics typically involves working in crime labs, performing
drug analyses and toxicological studies, comparing
DNA, analyzing fingerprints, conducting ballistics tests and
preparing courtroom evidence, she said.
Computer forensics differs in that it deals
with cyber crimes such as computer system
hacking, child pornography, embezzlement and
identity fraud.
By collaborating with the Department of
Computer Science and Information Systems,
King explained, planners were able to adapt
some computer courses already offered to create
the new Computer Forensics curriculum. Working together
to utilize another department’s faculty, course offerings and
equipment was more cost effective than developing separate
courses and hiring additional staff exclusively for the
Department of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.
Faculty used a similar strategy to create the program for
Forensic Science majors, she said, forming partnerships with
the Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Anthropology and Sociology
and Health Professions departments to develop the
appropriate curriculum without having to add many courses
or staff. “It was a unique collaboration of five departments,”
King said. “Most of the courses were already there.”
Summer 2008 25

YSU Sophomore
completes
Ironman
France
For YSU sophomore Kaleb Kaschalk, June 22 was a
red-letter day. The Cleveland criminal justice major spent 15
hours, 17 minutes and 29 seconds of that day pushing toward
the finish line of the grueling Ironman France triathlon in
Nice, France.
At 19, he was the youngest of 2,500 athletes competing
in the contest, known for having more participants
than any other Ironman because of its
scenic locales – a 2.4-mile swim in the Mediterranean
Sea, a mountainous 112-mile bike
route and a 26.2 mile shoreline marathon.
“It was a very long day, and finishing
the race was emotional,” said Kaschalk, who
dedicated the race to his late grandfather. “It
wasn’t just completing the Ironman, it was
completing a six-month journey of physical
training and fundraising and talking about my
experience with my grandfather.”
Kaschalk entered the Ironman in January
as a way to honor his grandfather, Frank
Kaschalk, a retired LTV Cleveland steelworker
who died of cancer two years ago at
age 78. He used the contest to raise funds for
cancer research and to build awareness about
the disease that took his grandfather’s life.
The student athlete trained vigorously for months,
cycling and running across campus and in Mill Creek Park,
swimming at the Beeghly Natatorium and working out on
stationary bikes at Lyden Hall.
But there were challenges Kaschalk couldn’t prepare for:
26 Youngstown State University
Kaleb Kaschalk trains on campus.
the hazards of swimming with a crowd of competitors; the physical
strain of cycling a mostly-uphill course for seven and a half
hours; and then, six hours of running in 86-degree heat.
“The bike course, by itself, was the most difficult thing I’ve
ever done,” he said. “You’ve got to stay positive, you can’t think
about the pain, or how hard it is or how far away the peak of the
mountain is.”
Kaschalk traveled to France for the race
by himself – he took out a $4,000 loan just to
pay for transportation, lodging, Ironman fees
and other expenses, so bringing a companion
was out of the question. There were fans at the
finish line, but no friends or family.
“I just hobbled back to my hotel room
alone,” he said. “But I thought of my grandfather,
especially at the finish line. Thinking of
him looking down, watching me, that was a
powerful moment.”
Kaschalk set up a Web site,
www.firstgiving.com/kaleb, and has raised
$4,500 so far for the V Foundation of Cancer
Research, co-founded by ESPN and Jim Valvano,
the late North Carolina State University
basketball coach.
He’ll be working as a resident assistant at YSU’s Kilcawley
House this fall, and will continue to raise funds for cancer
research. “I’ve thought about swimming from Cleveland to
Canada,” he said pensively. “Maybe next summer.”
IRON WOMAN: YSU alumna Joni Moore, ’88, of Salado, Texas, will
compete in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, this
October. Read more in Class Notes, page 52.

Sunil Ahuja
Associate Professor,
Political Science & Pre-Law Center
Sunil Ahuja is the first faculty member ever at
YSU to be selected to participate in the American
Council on Education’s Fellows Program.
The program is designed to strengthen institutions
and leadership in higher education by identifying and
preparing promising senior faculty and administrators
for positions in college and university administration.
Thirty-six individuals were selected in a national
competition. Ahuja, an associate professor of
political science, was nominated by YSU President
David C. Sweet.
“Dr. Ahuja’s steady leadership on campus,
particularly as chair of the Academic Senate, and his
accomplished academic record make him an ideal
candidate for a successful career in higher education
administration,” Sweet said.
Ahuja said is honored to be selected. “I will
represent YSU proudly,” he said.
Also this spring, Ahuja’s latest book, Congress
Behaving Badly, was published. The 175-page book
by Praeger Publishers documents the rise, causes and
consequences of incivility on Capitol Hill.
Ahuja, the editor or author of eight books, earned
a Ph.D. in political science from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln in 1995 and served on the faculties
of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Seton
Hall University before coming to YSU in 2002.
He is the former co-editor of the Legislative Studies
Quarterly, a leading international scholarly journal
on legislative studies. He also is past president of the
Northeastern Political Science Association.
Summer 2008 27

Recruiting Efforts Expand
Student, Employee Diversity
YSU students,
clockwise from
top left,
Fatima Alhadi,
Aaron Logan,
Dominique Price
and Luis Esparra.
Ten years ago, diversity was a big concern for YSU. A
Higher Learning Commission site team reported minorities
were under-represented among students, faculty and staff,
and campus leaders were brainstorming for solutions.
But what a difference a decade has made.
The number of minority students on the YSU campus
has more than doubled since 1998, totaling 2,338 last fall –
that’s 17 percent of the student body. Full-time minority faculty
numbers and minority staff numbers have also increased
substantially.
“We’ve made great strides,” said Yulanda L. McCarty-
Harris, director of YSU’s Office of Equal Opportunity and
Diversity. “But we have to be careful about patting ourselves
on the back. We still have many challenges to meet.”
She said members of a site team for the Higher Learning
Commission of North Central Association of Colleges
and Schools were impressed with the university’s vastly-improved
diversity numbers when they visited the campus this
year. The commission awarded YSU full continued accreditation
in July.
University President David C. Sweet pushed diversity
to center stage when he arrived at YSU in July 2000, making
it one of his top three priorities, along with enrollment and
community partnerships. Diversity is also part of YSU’s mission
statement and the university’s Centennial Strategic Plan.
“But besides all that, it’s the right thing to do,” McCarty-
Harris said. “You cannot build the leaders of tomorrow unless
you build all the leaders. And in Youngstown, with its high
concentration of minorities, it makes good business sense.”
Admissions counselors in YSU’s Office of Undergraduate
Admissions focus a good share of their efforts on minority
student recruitment. They’re on the road from September
through November, representing YSU at college fairs that
target school districts with high minority populations across
28 Youngstown State University

Ohio, western Pennsylvania and
beyond.
“We’re the soldiers, but
we’re also sales people,” said
Migdalia “Maggie” McClendon,
assistant director. “We’re selling
an intangible product, education,
the idea of a better lifestyle, that
it’s doable, and what they have
to do in high school to prepare.”
Many minority students
are the first in their families to
go to college, she explained, so
she likes to meet with them and
their parents early, ideally when
they’re freshmen or sophomores
in high school, so they can start
to prepare academically and financially.
But
college
fairs are
just the
beginning,
said Susan
Davis,
director of
Undergraduate
Admissions.
Her
office uses
online
tools such
as blogs,
YouTube,
Facebook
and e-mail to reach out to
prospective students, along with
a series of letters, postcards,
brochures and phone calls.
“We try to get them on campus,”
she said. “It’s a beautiful
campus, and a friendly campus,
and even a lot of our local
students haven’t been on a tour.
The campus sells itself.”
Several YSU offices partner
with Undergraduate Admissions
to help minority students adjust
and succeed when they get here,
Davis added, including Student
Diversity Programs, the Office
of Financial Aid and Scholarships,
and the Center for Student
Progress, which provides men-
Minority Representation at YSU
Between 1998 and 2007 the number of minority
students on the YSU campus more than doubled.
The number of minority faculty and staff also rose.
Here are the numbers:
Fall Fall
YSU Campus 1998 2007
Minority Students 1,162 2,338
Percentage minority 10.7% 17%
Minority Faculty 60 104
Percentage minority 7.8% 11.4%
Minority Staff 92 128
Percentage minority 10.8% 13%
tors and tutors. “It’s a collaborative
effort,” agreed McClendon.
Other tools are being used to
increase the number of minority
faculty and staff. A Strategic
Hires Policy initiated by the
late Provost Robert Herbert has
helped the university to add
12 minority faculty members,
McCarty-Harris said, in addition
to 15 minority faculty members
added recently through standard
hiring procedures.
YSU also advertises more
job openings with publications
and agencies that serve minority
populations, she said, and
requires search committees to
justify any
Source: Ohio Board of Regents
decision not
to interview
a qualified
minority
candidate.
As an
open-access
institution,
increasing
diversity
brings some
unique challenges
for
YSU, said
McCarty-
Harris, such
as the need
to improve
retention rates for minority
students and to increase professional
development opportunities
and support for minority faculty
and staff.
She’s also focused on engaging
the community in the diversity
effort with initiatives such
as the communitywide Diversity
Leadership Recognition Celebration,
held for the first time at
YSU in April. “I think a key part
of any initiative is awareness,”
she said. “We’ve got to think
about diversity, talk about it, and
recognize people who are really
going out of their way to make it
happen.”
Center Aims to Boost
International
Student Numbers
YSU enrolled 160 international students
in 2007-08, bringing an array of cultural
viewpoints to the classroom and adding
diversity on campus.
That number could triple over the next
five years, said Jef C. Davis, director of the
Center for International Studies and Programs,
as his staff works to make the university more
attractive to students planning to study abroad.
International graduate student applications to
YSU are already up 30 percent this year.
“Bringing students from other countries
into the college classroom gives students
here an opportunity to understand how other
cultures view the world,” Davis explained. “That’s
especially important for students who don’t
have the opportunity to travel abroad.”
But there’s room for growth. He said YSU’s
international student numbers average
1 percent of total enrollment, compared to 3.1
percent for the University of Akron, 4 percent for
Kent State and 5.6 percent for Cleveland State.
Central to the center’s expansion plan is
the recent addition of a full-time international
admissions/immigration coordinator to improve
the way YSU leads international students
through the admissions process.
Students planning to study abroad often
make a commitment to the first university
that accepts them and issues the necessary
visa eligibility documents, Davis said. Having
a person on staff dedicated to speeding that
process along is expected to increase the
number of internationals enrolling at YSU.
Looking ahead, the center staff also
plans to participate in international student
recruitment fairs and to send representatives to
visit schools in other countries to promote YSU.
Davis expects to see a response, as well, to
an ad for YSU that he placed in the handbook
used worldwide by students who want to take
the standardized Test of English as a Second
Language, a standard for most students who are
considering study abroad in the United States.
YSU is one of just 30 colleges represented in the
handbook.
29

ART INSTRUCTOR CREATES A
“Museum ithout
alls”
Art instructor Jack Carlton stands by
as workers install his latest piece of
“drive-through art.”
Jack Carlton stood at the curb near a busy corner in
downtown Youngstown, craning his neck to watch as workers
stretched a billboard-sized art print high across the brick
exterior wall of an adjacent building.
“This is one of the few drive-through art exhibits in
America,” the YSU printmaking instructor and artist quipped,
with a glance at traffic streaming by the work site.
Carlton was supervising the latest addition to “Museum
Without Walls,” a grassroots effort he launched in the mid-
1990s as a way to help revitalize the city’s downtown by
exhibiting art in unexpected places.
Workers spent several hours that April morning, attaching
the 14-foot by 18-foot vinyl copy of “Tidings,” a modern
collage by Romare Bearden, on a building opposite the
DeYor Performing Arts Center. The new mural was positioned
between two other large reproductions Carlton had
hung in previous years – “Snap the Whip” by Winslow
Homer and the baseball-themed “Minor League” by
Clyde Singer.
In all, Carlton said, he’s installed eight large vinyl
artwork reproduction murals on building walls and hung hundreds
of sepia-toned historic photos on vacant store fronts.
“I love the idea of using art in alternative places where
you don’t expect to see it. I just want to give people something
to look at if they’re walking or driving by on the
street,” explained Carlton, a Girard resident who grew up in
Youngstown. “That’s the joy of it. That’s the payoff.”
The exhibition idea came to Carlton in the mid-1970s
when he spotted a large mural, a Bearden reproduction, on
the side of a building in New York City. The juxtaposition
of art surrounded by the clutter of billboards and neon signs
created such a contrast that it made a long-lasting impression
on him.
When he moved back to Youngstown two decades later
in the early 1990s he was shocked and saddened to see that
department stores and many of the small retail shops he
remembered from boyhood were boarded-up and vacant.
Carlton and his wife, Paula Jasper, who teaches art
history and drawing at Allegheny Community College in
Pittsburgh, decided to improve the landscape by hanging
art and historic photos in some non-traditional places, like
building walls and empty storefronts.
Over time Carlton has negotiated with the Butler
Institute of American Art, the Youngstown Historical
Society, the Melnick Medical Museum, the Steel Museum
of Youngstown and YSU’s McDonough Museum of Art,
securing permission to copy images from their permanent
collections.
“The Murals Project: Museum Without Walls” is a
nonprofit corporation, under the umbrella of YSU’s Mc-
Donough Museum of Art, and relies on grant funds to pay
for the photo and mural production and installations.
30 Youngstown State University

F
‘A Small Miracle’
orums Spark Dialogue,Awareness
in Jewish, Muslim Communities
Mustansir Mir, a Muslim and a native of Pakistan, and
Helene ene Sinnreich, a Jew and a native of New Jersey, aren’t
fooling themselves.
Mir, the director of the YSU Center for Islamic Studies,
and Sinnreich, the director of the YSU Center for Judaic and
Holocaust Studies, know that the political chasms that exist
between some Muslims and Jews in the Middle East are not
easily bridged.
They realize that the misunderstandings and distrust
run deep.
“But the role of a university, first and foremost, is to
spread awareness,” Mir said. “We just can’t bury our
heads, throw up our hands and give up.”
That’s why, three years ago,
Mir and Sinnreich came together
to create “Studying the Jewish
and Islamic Traditions,” a series
of regular forums held on the
YSU campus aimed at bringing
together members of the community,
faculty and students to
discuss the similarities and differences
of the two traditions.
Since then, Mir and
Sinnreich have led a dozen
study forums on a variety of
topics, including “The Story
of Joseph,” “Exodus,” “Revelation,”
“The Afterlife” and
“The Concept of Evil.” In each
session, the topic is sliced and
diced from both the Muslim and
Jewish perspectives, focusing
on specific texts
from the Qu’ran and Hebrew
Scriptures.
While there are no written
ground rules for the discussion,
politics is avoided. “We don’t
talk about the state of Israel or
conditions in the Middle East,”
Sinnreich said. “That’s not our purpose.”
“Anything we can do to help learn more about each
other’s religion is positive,” said Ramsey Ahmed, a YSU
graduate now studying medicine at Xavier University who
has participated in the study sessions.
“It’s a nice interchange,” said Rabbi Joel Berman of
Ohev Tzedek Congregation in Boardman, who has participated
in the study sessions. “Anything that opens up dialogue
and builds pathways to discussion is good. The fact that it
exists at all is a small miracle.”
The existence of such a dialogue, which Mir and Sinnreich
said is unique among universities in the United States, is a
credit to the Islamic and Judaic centers at YSU.
The Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies traces its
beginnings to the 1970s, when YSU was one of the first universities
in the nation to offer a course on the Holocaust. Created
under the leadership of now-retired Professor Saul Friedman
and the financial support of local Jewish families and trusts, the
Center today publishes an academic journal, hosts a bi-annual
academic conference, sponsors study trips and runs an annual
Jewish Film Festival. Sinnreich, who earned a Ph.D. from
Brandeis University, joined the YSU faculty in 2005 and took
leadership of the program.
The Center for Islamic Studies
was created in 1995 through an endowment
set up by the local Muslim
community. Mir, who earned a
Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the
University of Michigan, came to
YSU in 1996 to run the program.
The Center publishes an academic
journal, Studies in Contemporary
Islam, and co-publishes a quarterly
bulletin, Iqbal Quarterly. Mir said
the Center also has launched a
series of scholarly articles called
“Youngstown Papers in Islamic
Religion, History and Culture.”
The Jewish-Islamic study
forums are the first time the two
Centers have collaborated, and
both Mir and Sinnreich said they
hope for more joint efforts in the
future, possibly even a new academic
course in Jewish and Islamic
traditions.
For now, though, they are
pleased with the forums, which
Mustansir Mir and Helene Sinnreich
attract as many as 35 to 40 people
per session, and they hope they
can continue to foster improved relations between Jews and
Muslims.
“I’m not so idealistic as to think that this is going to bring
two worldwide communities together,” Mir said. “But the very
fact that Jews and Muslims are coming together and sitting in
the same room and talking is progress.”
“The process of communities coming together is a
long one,” Sinnreich added. “We have achieved much in
three years.”
Summer 2008 31

HOSPICE VISITS TEACH STUDENT NURSES
EMPATHY, COMPASSION
Facing death. It’s a reality for everyone, but even more
so for health care professionals who inevitably encounter
end-of-life issues as part of their workday.
Student nurses at YSU start preparing for that reality
very early, in their sophomore year, by partnering one-on-one
with critically ill patients who are under the care of Hospice
of the Valley or MVI HospiceCare.
Each student is assigned to spend several hours weekly
as a companion to a hospice patient, said Pamela Schuster,
professor of nursing. “One thing they discover is that hospice
patients are like any other patients,” she said. “They’re just
trying to make the best of every day.”
Corey Velk, a student from Lake Milton, said her hospice
patient was a 61-year-old woman suffering from end-stage
kidney failure who spoke little during their visits. Sometimes
they would watch a game show or listen to the patient’s audio
tapes of the Bible. Velk generally stayed two or three hours,
well beyond the required time.
“One day, as I was leaving, she said: ‘I know we don’t
talk much, but I really appreciate your company.’ That made
me feel it was all worth it,” said Velk.
Students Jennifer Hunter and Melinda Maloney, both of
Boardman, were companions to a grandmother in her 80s,
a nursing home patient.
“We loved to gossip like a couple of teenagers,” said
Hunter with a laugh, describing the friendship that grew
between her and the patient. “She didn’t like the food at the
nursing home, so she was always after us to bring her food. I
like to bake, so I’d bring cookies;
Melinda brought her spaghetti.”
Matthew Bishop’s experience
was much different. His
patient was a woman in her 60s
with an advanced case of Alzheimer’s
disease who couldn’t
communicate verbally, so he and
a student partner would read her
stories and poems. They knew
that she had been an animal
lover, so they’d tune in television
programs featuring animals.
“There wasn’t a lot we could
do,” said the Struthers student,
“but sometimes she’d look at me
and just grin. I felt like I really
did something to make her life
better.”
Schuster collaborated with
a colleague, clinical faculty
member Donna Bricker, to add
the hospice program to YSU’s
eight-hour Professional Nursing I course about 10 years ago
as a way to teach therapeutic communication skills.
Students spend some classroom time studying death and
dying, the grieving process and how it relates to coping and
stress before they start working with their patients. In one
classroom exercise the students write their own eulogies. “We
bring a lot of Kleenex that day,” the instructor said.
The students often form relationships with patients and
their families, continuing their regular visits even when the
course requirements end. Many have attended the funerals of
their patients and even offered to sing or speak at the funeral
services.
“There’s a place for every type of person in nursing,”
remarked Schuster. “But the ones with the most empathy and
compassion are the ones who shine in this program, and they
will be the shining nurses.”
Working with hospice patients also gives the students
a chance to interact with other professionals, such as social
workers, chaplains and therapists. “They’re learning a tremendous
amount,” she said.
The community benefits too. YSU student nurses
contribute thousands of volunteer hours a year to health care
facilities in the region, Schuster said, through the hospice program
as well as through the community service components
that have been incorporated into every course in the nursing
program. Nursing is one of YSU’s fastest growing programs.
New admissions average 100 per year, more than triple the
number of students enrolling in the program in 2001.
Nursing students participating this spring in the Hospice companion program included,
from left, Melinda Maloney, Corey Velk, Jennifer Hunter and Matthew Bishop.
32 Youngstown State University

Building
Bridges
YSU engineering students
designed, fabricated and
constructed an 18.5-foot-long
steel bridge capable of supporting
2,500 pounds as part
of the American Society of Civil
Engineers’ 2008 Ohio Valley
Student Conference. YSU’s
ASCE chapter sponsored the
conference April 3 to 5, which
brought more than 300
students from 14 Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Kentucky
colleges to the YSU campus.
Summer 2008 33

Early College Students Get
Jump-Start on YSU Credits
TaQuaesa Toney was an eighthgrader
at Volney Rogers Middle School
on Youngstown’s South Side when
she first heard about Youngstown
Early College.
“It sounded too good to be true,”
Toney said.
Go to high school in a building on
the YSU campus. Take a combination
of high school and college classes. And,
four years later, graduate with not only
a high school diploma, but also an
associate degree.
“It was a great opportunity,” said
Toney, whose goal is to attend medical
school and become a doctor. “I couldn’t
pass it up.”
In the spring, Toney was among 40
students in the first graduating class of
Youngstown Early College. In addition
to receiving their high school diplomas,
all graduates earned at least some college
credits from YSU, with 13 students earning
25 college credits or more. Toney
and three other students garnered enough
college credits to earn associate degrees
and participate in YSU’s commencement
in Beeghly Center in May.
YSU President David C. Sweet said
the graduation was a historic moment for the
Youngstown City School District and YSU.
“The success of these students is a reflection of their
hard work and perseverance and the dedication of dozens
of educators who have committed themselves to making the
early college concept work in this community,” he said.
YEC, opened in August 2004 as a partnership between
the city schools and the university, is a public high school
located in YSU’s Fedor Hall that is designed to provide a
transition to college for city school students who might not
otherwise seek a post-secondary education.
Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, it was the first school of its
kind at a public university in Ohio.
Of the 40 students in the first class, nearly three-fourths
are expected to enroll at YSU this fall.
“Youngstown Early College represents what a united
effort between a secondary school system and an institution
of higher education can do to accelerate the educational
achievement of students,” said Wendy Webb, superintendent
of the Youngstown city schools.
“The accomplishments of these first graduates are clear
Four members of the first class of Youngstown Early College who also earned associate
degrees from YSU are, from left, Misti Mraz, TaQuaesa Toney, Kristi Mraz and
Cherise Benton.
evidence that Early College High Schools can help young
people from all backgrounds succeed in higher education,”
said Chad Wick, president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks
Foundation, an education philanthropy that supports a network
of Early College High Schools across Ohio.
In the 2007-08 academic year, YEC enrolled 240 students.
That number is expected to jump to about 280 next
academic year.
John Wilson, formerly a principal in the Warren City
Schools, was hired this past year as dean of YEC. And Alison
Harmon, former professor of teacher education and educational
leadership at Eastern Michigan University, was hired
as associate dean in YSU’s Beeghly College of Education, in
part, to help oversee and improve the school.
The two have worked closely to help improve communication
and collaboration between the school district and
the university and to improve the transition from high school
courses to college courses.
“The Early College High School concept is new, and we
have had much success,” Wilson said. “We want to be even
more successful.”
34 Youngstown State University

Cindy Martin
Head Coach, YSU Women’s Basketball
Expect to see Coach Cindy Martin and her staff spending
off-season weekends out in the community, tackling service
projects arm-in-arm with members of the YSU women’s
basketball team.
Martin, appointed head women’s basketball
coach in April, will be hosting weekly team study
halls for the Penguins as well.
It’s all part of what she calls Coach Martin’s
Three C’s: Community, Classroom and Court. She
and her assistant coaches plan to hold the studentathletes
accountable in all three categories.
“We want our ladies to develop in every aspect
while they’re here at YSU, both on and off the basketball
court,” said the Florida native.
Martin initiated the “Three C” strategy at her previous
assignment as head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
where the team completed 28 service projects in three
years and achieved a three-season 70-23 win/loss record under
her leadership.
This spring, she was named the Women’s Basketball
Coaches Association’s 2007-08 Division II East Region
Coach of the Year after IUP won two back-to-back conference
championships and made two consecutive appearances at the
National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.
The coach believes that working side-by-side on service
projects builds unity among the teammates, helps the community
and increases support for the university. “Working
together out in the community is going to be a great experience.
It’s important to teach our ladies to have a sense of
pride about the area that we live in,” said Martin
A 1999 graduate of the University of Florida, Martin
holds a baccalaureate in exercise and sports sciences. Her
coaching experience prior to IUP includes four years as top
assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at West Virginia
University and one season each at Santa Fe Community College
and Seminole Community College, both in Florida.
Martin’s coaching staff comprises: Bernard Scott,
top assistant and recruiting coordinator, formerly assistant
coach for the University of Arizona; and assistant
coaches Jen Duhnke, former top assistant at IUP, and
Shannon Sword, former graduate assistant at Ashland
University.
Summer 2008 35

Faculty BOOKSHELF
36 Youngstown State University
The Living Classroom: Teaching and
Collective Consciousness, by Christopher
M. Bache, professor, Philosophy and
Religious Studies. State University of New
York Press, 2008. The book explores the
dynamics of collective consciousness in
the classroom, combining scientific research
with personal accounts collected
over 30 years. The author examines the
subtle influences surrounding teachers
as they work, and one-third of the text
is devoted to essays written by YSU
students. Bache has written two previous
books which have been published in
four languages.
Artisan Workers in the Upper South:
Petersburg, Virginia, 1820-1865, by
Diane Barnes, associate professor, History.
Louisiana State University Press,
2008. The book
rejects the notion
of the antebellum
South as a semi-feudal
planter-centered
political economy
and provides
abundant evidence
that some areas of
the South embraced
industrial capitalism
and economic
modernity as readily as communities
in the North. Barnes is co-editor of the
Frederick Douglass Papers Series.
One for Sorrow, by Christopher
Barzak, fi ction writing instructor, English.
Bantam Books, 2007. An
alumnus who earned his master’s
and baccalaureate degrees
at YSU, the author was teaching
at the university part-time
while writing the first draft of
his first novel, a coming-ofage
story set in the Mahoning
Valley. The story is told from
the viewpoint of a 15-year-old
boy growing up in a troubled,
working class family who is
plunged into a haunted world when one
of his classmates is murdered. Barzak’s
second novel, The Love We Share Without
Knowing, is scheduled for release
by the same publisher later this year.
Judging Athlete Behaviors: Exploring
Possible Predictors of Television
Viewer Judgments of Athlete
Antisocial Behaviors, by Adam C.
Earnheardt, assistant professor, Communication.
VDM Verlag, 2008. The
book is based largely on the findings in
the author’s doctoral
dissertation,
which explored
fan perceptions of
athlete behaviors,
including the use
of recreational
and performanceenhancing
drugs,
illegal gambling,
sexual misconduct,
murder and more. Earnheardt’s primary
research focus is on sports fans and
the media.
Sports Mania: Essays on Fandom
and the Media in the 21st Century,
edited by Adam C. Earnheardt, assistant
professor, Communication, with
Lawrence W. Hugenberg, retired professor
of Communication and Theater,
and Paul M Haridakis. McFarland and
Co., 2008. Thirty of
the leading scholars
in sports communication
tackle a wide
range of subjects,
including the ways
in which people root
for their teams, consumption
of sports
information and uses
of technology to cultivate
fan communities. Taking an interdisciplinary
approach, the collection
explores modern fans, their motives
and culture, and their identification
with sports and individual teams.
First Steps for Math Olympians, by
J. Douglas Faires, professor emeritus,
Mathematics and Statistics, and chair
of YSU’s Center for Undergraduate
Research in Mathematics. Mathematical
Association of America, 2008. The
book aims to promote interest in
mathematics by providing students
with the tools to attack problems posed

in mathematical
problem-solving
exams, leveling
the playing field
for those who do
not have access
to the enrichment
programs that are
common in the
top academic high
schools.
General Psychology, Third Edition,
by Psychology professors Steve L.
Ellyson, Jeffrey T. Coldren, William
Rick Fry; assistant Psychology professor
Frank Ragozzine; professor and
Psychology Department chair Vernon
F. Haynes; Jane Kestner, associate
dean, College of Liberal Arts and
Social Sciences; and the late Peter A.
Beckett, former professor emeritus of
Psychology. Kendall/Hunt Publishing
Co., 2008. The 15-chapter introductory
psychology text includes writing
exercises and
objective quizzes
designed to demonstrate
concepts
through student
participation,
assess student
knowledge, prepare
students for
larger tests and
highlight important
content.
Everywhere at Once, by William
Greenway, professor, English. University
of Akron
Press, 2008.
The book is the
ninth full-length
poetry collection
for the author and
recounts a tragic
period in his life
when his wife fell
seriously ill while
the couple was
on sabbatical in
Wales. Greenway also published the
book Twice Removed, Main Street
Rag, 2006, a poetry collection relating
his experiences during a year of
dislocation while living in Wales, his
grandfather’s native country.
Understanding the Islamic
Scripture: A Study of Selected
Passages from
the Quran,
by Mustansir
Mir, professor,
Philosophy and
Religious Studies.
Pearson Education,
2008. The
book is a study of
37 passages from
the Quran and
includes translations, commentaries,
highlights of literary features of the
passages and, in some cases, discussion
of Biblical comparisons.
When Devon Met Oz: Helping
Children Cope with Depression, by
Don Martin, professor, Counseling &
Special Education, with co-authors
Magy and
Erin Martin.
New Horizon
Press, 2008.
This children’s
book for young
readers ages
4-8 uses the
fictional story
of a boxer dog
and a young boy to provide reassuring
advice and tips for children and parents
who are coping with the problem of
childhood or adolescent depression.
NCLEX-RN: 1,000 Questions to
Help You Pass, by Patricia McLean
Hoyson, chair and associate professor,
Department of Nursing, and Kimberly
A. Serroka, BNS coordinator and associate
professor, Nursing. Jones &
Bartlett Publishers, 2008. A guide and
review text for
nursing students
preparing to take
the NCLEX-RN
licensure examination,
the book
includes review
questions and
rationales covering
all subject
areas, as well as
guidelines for preparation, study skills
and test-taking strategies.
Math Cycles: Problems
and Quizzes
that Strengthen Math
Skills, by Hy Kim,
professor, Department
of Teacher
Education. Good Year
Books, 2008. The
text strengthens math
concepts and skills
for grades 3 and 4 and can be used for
homework or review practice for tests.
Each of the 12 concepts addressed in
the book includes 12 math problems to
reinforce the concept.
Teaching the
Selected Work of
Robert Cormier, by
Virginia Monseau,
professor emerita,
English. Heinemann
Publishing, 2008.
Drawing on the
experiences of two
high school teachers,
the book offers
classroom-tested ideas, lessons and
assignments that enrich the study of
Cormier’s works and encourage their
inclusion in the middle and secondary
school curriculum. Monseau joined the
YSU faculty in 1986, where her roles
included director of graduate studies
for the English Department and coordinator
of English Education. She retired
in 2005.
A History of Engineering at
Youngstown State University, Second
Edition, by Daniel H. Suchora, professor
and chair, Mechanical & Industrial
Engineering, and
Frank A. D’Isa,
professor emeritus
and chairperson
emeritus, Mechanical
Engineering,
Youngstown
State University,
2007. The text is a
revision of D’Isa’s
original 1996 history of the Rayen
College of Engineering. The electronic
version of the book is housed in YSU’s
Maag Library.
Summer 2008 37

NEWS
Penguin Dominance
To say the YSU women’s track and field team has been dominant over
the past five years would be a huge understatement. Since 2004, the Penguins
have captured seven Horizon League indoor and outdoor championships.
The latest crown came in May, when the squad won the league outdoor
championship, led by jumper Alisha Anthony, sprinter Breanne Romeo and
thrower Bethany Anderson. Earlier in the spring, the team also won the
indoor championship.
The outdoor event was hosted by YSU, the first collegiate track
meet on the YSU campus since 2001. It also was the first time
that the Horizon League’s outdoor championship was held
outside of Indianapolis. Head coach Brian
Gorby was named the Women's Coach of the
Year for the 15th time in his career.
Pole vaulter Stephanie
Jarvis competes in the
2008 Horizon League
Outdoor Track and
Field Championships
at YSU.
38 Youngstown State University

Sports
Freshman Named Horizon
League Golfer of the Year
Katie Rogner
Soccer Team Sweeps
Caribbean Swing
Caribbean beaches, island cuisine and
a three-game sweep – what more could the
YSU women’s soccer team ask for?
The team visited the Caribbean islands
of Trinidad and Tobago in May, on a nineday
trip that combined competition with
sightseeing.
Head coach Anthony James, a Trinidad
native, said the team accomplished two
goals: arriving home undefeated and learning
to win on the road. “By the end of the
trip I felt we were even closer as a team,”
he said. “We all had a tan and a lifetime of
memories to enjoy.”
The YSU squad first played San Juan
Jabloteh, one of the island’s top private club
teams. YSU won 3-2. The team collected
its second win, 2-0, against the Trinidad
and Tobago U-17 National Team. After a
glass-bottom boat ride and snorkeling in
the oceans of Tobago, the team picked up
its third win, 3-0, over the Trinidad and
Tobago U-20 National Team.
Freshman golfer
Katie Rogner turned in a
remarkable first year on
the links.
Rogner was named
the Horizon League’s
Golfer of the Year and
Newcomer of the Year and
won medalist honors at
the 2008 Horizon League
Championships.
She posted a teambest
78.5 average per 18
holes for the season and
led the squad in all 11
tournaments. She capped
the year with a comefrom-behind
victory at the
Horizon League Championships
in April. She
was just the second golfer
in school history to take
medalist honors at the
league championships.
Beeghly Center Gets Floored
Within hours of the conclusion of spring commencement,
work crews started replacing the floor in the main gymnasium
of Beeghly Center. It is the first time the floor has been
replaced since the gymnasium opened in the 1970s. The
project is expected to be completed in time for summer
commencement in August.
Diedrich Sets New Marks for
Home Runs, RBIs, Total Bases
Erich Diedrich was one of the best power hitters in school
history, even up to his final swing.
The fifth-year senior ended his career at the Horizon League
Baseball Championship in May by hitting his school record 27th
career home run on the last pitch he saw as a collegiate student-athlete.
Diedrich also retired
as YSU’s record holder
in career runs batted in
and total bases; he ranks
second in career hits.
A three-time team
captain, Diedrich led the
Penguins in both home
runs and RBIs for three
years and is the only
player in school history
to have at least 75 hits in
back-to-back seasons.
Erich Diedrich
Summer 2008 39

Sports
30
Outlook Promising for YSU Football
The Penguins’ football team comes off an up-and-down season last year, battling
through injuries and some heartbreaking defeats in route to a seven-win record.
For the second consecutive year, this year’s season kicks off against Ohio State in
Columbus.
The 2008 squad features a wealth of talent – some experienced and others looking to
step into key spots in the lineup.
The biggest question will be at quarterback with the loss of four-year starter Tom Zetts.
Three Penguins will contribute at the position: Todd Rowan, Brandon Summers and Paul Corsaro.
In the backfield, tailbacks Kevin Smith, Jabari Scott and Brandon Nicholson return after
combining for 1,302 yards and 18 touchdowns last year. The wide
receiver spot features Ferlando Williams – 2007 Gateway Newcomer of
the Year. Headlining the offensive line is 2007 second-team All-America
40
selection Brad Samsa. He is joined on the line by fellow seniors Tyler
Booth and Nhemie Theodore.
On defense, the front line will anchor the unit, led by All-American
Mychal Savage and Torrance Nicholson. On special teams, the placekicker,
holder, snapper, punter, kickoff specialist, primary punt returner
and kick returner all return from last year’s squad.
Also new this season is the name of the league in which YSU
competes. In the spring, the presidents of the Gateway Football
Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference approved an initiative
that changes the football conference name to the Missouri Valley
Football Conference.
Members of the new conference remain the same: Illinois State,
Indiana State, Missouri State, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, South
50
Dakota State,
Southern Illinois,
Western
Illinois and
YSU.
Penguins Football 2008
Aug. 30 @Ohio State Noon
Sept. 6 @South Dakota State 7 p.m.
Sept. 13 Central State 4 p.m.
Sept. 20 North Dakota State 6 p.m.
Sept. 27 Liberty 6 p.m.
Oct. 4 @Southern Utah 3 p.m.
Oct. 11 @Missouri State 2:30 p.m.
Oct. 18 Southern Illinois 4 p.m.
Oct. 25 Univ. Northern Iowa* 4 p.m.
Nov. 1 @Illinois State 2:30 p.m.
Nov. 8 Indiana State 1 p.m.
Nov. 22 @Western Illinois 2:05 p.m.
Home games in italics *Homecoming
Penguin football
standouts include,
above, No. 67,
Brad Samsa, and
left, No. 96,
Mychal Savage.
McKenzie Bedra Concludes
Stellar Softball Career
Athletes of the Year
Senior volleyball player Jessica Fraley and senior football player Tom
Zetts, 2007-08 YSU Vindicator Scholar-Athletes of the Year, accept
congratulations from Rob Todor, center, Vindicator Sports Editor.
40 Youngstown State University
Senior McKenzie Bedra’s name is etched
throughout the YSU softball record book.
Bedra is the school’s all-time leader with 34
home runs, 119 runs batted in and a .619 career slugging
percentage. She’s also tied for fourth place with
a .333 career batting average, tied for fifth with 36
doubles and tied for sixth with 166 hits.
In 2008, Bedra was named to the All-Horizon
League First-Team for the second consecutive season.
She is just the third player in school history to earn
back-to-back first-team all-conference honors.
Academically, Bedra turned in just as an impressive
season. A 2007 Academic All-Horizon League
selection, Bedra was named to the ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA
Academic All-District Third-Team,
boasting a cumulative 3.36 grade point average. Bedra
is just the second softball player to earn academic
all-district laurels.

Foundation
FOUNDATION GOAL:
Keeping
Endowments
“Significant” for Generations
Reid Schmutz
Howard W. Jones set some
ground rules when he and 37 other
community leaders established the
Youngstown State University Foundation
in 1967. Jones, YSU’s first
president, charged the foundation
with making sure that its endowments
remained “significant” for
future generations.
Financial experts have a name
for that principle today – they call
it “intergenerational equity” – and it means endowments
should provide at least the same value 20 years or 40 years
down the road as they did starting out.
YSU Foundation president Reid Schmutz said that
goal is still a priority. “We have scholarship endowments
that date back to our Youngstown College days,” he said,
“and we want to make sure that those
scholarships are still significant.”
But intergenerational equity is
tougher to achieve these days, he said,
for the same reasons that many households
are finding it difficult to get ahead:
investment earnings on stocks and bonds
have declined, and tuition has increased,
even though YSU has been recognized as
one of the most cost efficient universities
in Ohio.
“How can you achieve an historic
payout and still minimize risk with the
foundation’s investments?” Schmutz
asked. “We’re asking that question all the
time. How much risk do we want to take?”
With assets of $170 million, the YSU Foundation
invests its funds in government securities, corporate bonds,
common and preferred stocks. It administers between 350
and 360 endowment funds and distributes more than $5
million annually, income generated from the principal,
most of it in the form of scholarships.
The foundation’s board of trustees, with an eye toward
declines in the value of financial standards such as the Dow
and the S&P 500, gave the foundation staff permission in
February to look into investing one percent of its assets
in “alternative assets,” funds with more growth potential
coupled with increased risk.
If we lose money,
that means
some students
won’t get their
scholarships, and
we take that
very seriously.
- Reid Schmutz
Larger university foundations, such as Harvard, Yale
and Stanford, have been investing millions of endowment
dollars in hedge funds and other high risk investments for
years, Schmutz noted, and some have lost millions on the
gamble. The YSU Foundation is moving very cautiously.
“You have to consider that 83 percent of our budget is
scholarships, unlike other foundations that pay into things
like building and improvements, so our tolerance for risk
is probably less than some other college foundations,” he
said. “If we lose money, that means some students won’t
get their scholarships, and we take that very seriously.”
On average, foundation-funded scholarships and
programs affect 3,500 to 3,800 students each year. Students
must apply for assistance through YSU’s Office of
Financial Aid and Scholarships.
Looking toward the YSU Foundation’s future,
Schmutz said one of his primary goals is communicating
to potential donors the great need for
scholarship funds. “One of the hardest
parts is making people understand
what today’s students go through,”
he related. “I see kids who work two
jobs and go to school, parents who
work two jobs to send their kids to
school. I think people would be more
generous if they realized the sacrifices
that some of our students make
to get an education.”
Most charitable gifts come to the
YSU Foundation in the form of cash,
but there are several other options.
Donors can realize a tax advantage
by donating securities, or they can make a planned gift
by including the Foundation in their will, by purchasing a
charitable gift annuity, or by creating a trust.
Donors can establish a named scholarship with a
gift of $10,000 or more, or a named University Scholar
scholarship for a gift of $200,000. Naming opportunities
are also available for department chairs, colleges and
buildings. For more information, visit the YSU Foundation
at www.ysu.edu/ysufoundation/index.shtml or call
330-941-3211.
Summer 2008 41

Development
Centennial Campaign Doubles
Scholarship Goal, Annual Fund
Tops $1 Million
YSU’s Centennial Capital Campaign reached two major
milestones this summer – nearly doubling the goal for student
scholarships and surpassing the $1 million mark in the Annual
Fund.
“I want to
thank everyone
for their continued
generosity,”
YSU President
David C. Sweet
said at a news
conference to
celebrate the
accomplishments.
“These
two fund-raising
milestones are
reflective of the
continued strong
support for YSU
and its mission.”
The $43 Jacquelyn Daniel, Annual Giving Coordinator
million Centennial
Capital Campaign, started four years ago as a partnership
between YSU and the YSU Foundation, is the largest fundraising
effort in YSU’s 100-year history.
A major component of the campaign is endowments
for undergraduate student scholarships. The
university initially set a goal of $7 million for
scholarships. The total raised thus far is
$13.2 million.
“It is hard to adequately express our
thanks to the donors,” said Reid Schmutz,
president of the YSU Foundation. “With
the economic challenges faced by today’s
students, our job is not yet done. These
gifts will help make higher education
more accessible to thousands of students
across the region.”
The Centennial Capital Campaign
also set a goal of raising $1 million a year
in the university’s Annual Fund by the
end of fiscal year 2009. The campaign has
reached that goal a year early, raising $1.07
million in fiscal year 2008, the highest annual
total in university history.
In the last four years, the amount of money
raised through the Annual Fund has doubled, from
Scholarships
29%
Athletics
7%
$535,104 in fiscal year 2004. Donors to the Annual Fund have
directed their gifts to specific colleges, departments, programs,
scholarships and a variety of university activities.
“Our donors see the Annual Fund as a vehicle that has a
direct and immediate impact on the lives of YSU students,”
said Jacquelyn Daniel, annual giving coordinator.
The Centennial Campaign is now entering its fifth and
final year with all campaign components either on schedule
or ahead of schedule. Key objectives for the final year of the
campaign include a broad-based solicitation to all alumni and
a direct appeal to YSU employees.
“From the beginning, we have known that this final year
would be the most important as we reach out to all of our
alumni and employees with an invitation to participate,” said
Tony Lariccia, a 1966 graduate of Youngstown University and
chair of the Centennial Campaign.
The largest part of the campaign is for construction
of a new building for the Williamson College of Business
Administration. Fund-raising on the WCBA component is
on schedule with nearly 80 percent of the $16 million goal
already received.
FY 2008 Annual Fund Distribution
College of Science,
Technology,
Engineering and
Mathematics
13%
Area of Greatest Need
9%
Bitonte College of
Health and Human
Services
2%
Misc. Programs
16%
Williamson College of
Business
Administration
7%
Beeghly College of
Education
3%
College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences
5%
Fine and Performing
Arts
9%
42 Youngstown State University

Dr. Earnest Perry was just eight years old when he started
working alongside his father in what he likes to call the family’s
“recycling business,” picking up other people’s discards
and finding ways to reuse them. It was a
simple, honest living, and it paid Perry’s
way through college and medical school.
Now chief of surgery at Forum
Health Northside Medical Center in
Youngstown and a YSU alumnus, Perry
hasn’t forgotten the sacrifices his father
made to help him reach his goals. He’s
determined to do the same for aspiring
YSU students who can’t afford college.
Perry and his wife Doris, a longtime
teacher in the Youngstown City
Schools, have established a scholarship
endowment to benefit minority students
attending YSU. It’s the second endowment
for the Perrys – they created their
first in 1997.
“We decided to do it again for the
university’s 100th year,” Perry said. “To
whom much is given, much is required,
so you do what you can to help.”
The Liberty Township couple contributed $25,000,
and the YSU Foundation matched their donation to create the
Dr. Earnest Perry and Doris Perry Diversity Scholarship
endowment.
Paul McFadden, YSU’s chief development officer, said
the first scholarship will be awarded this fall. To qualify, an
applicant must be a minority student attending YSU full- or
part-time and maintain a 2.7 or better GPA. Preference will be
Development
Dr. and Mrs. Perry Create Diversity Scholarship Endowment
Dr. Earnest and Doris Perry
The William B. and Kathryn C. Pollock Foundation and
the Pollock Company Foundation have together pledged
$500,000 to Youngstown State University’s Centennial Capital
Campaign and earmarked the funds for the Williamson
College of Business Administration.
The Executive Board Room in the new building will be
named for the Foundations in recognition of the gift.
“Having the Pollock Foundations join YSU in the construction
of our new business school building is just another
example of their commitment to the professional and intellectual
renaissance currently taking place in Youngstown,” YSU
President David C. Sweet said.
The Pollock gift is part of YSU’s $43 million Centennial
Capital Campaign, the largest fund-raising campaign in the
university’s 100-year history, and brings the campaign total to
$42 million.
“The Trustees of the Pollock Foundations recognize
Youngstown State University’s importance to the Mahoning
Valley,” said Franklin S. Bennett Jr., co-trustee of the Foundations.
“The Foundations’ trustees are pleased to continue the
given to students who live in the Mahoning Valley.
“We’re not going to sit here and say the students have to
have a 4.0 GPA,” Mrs. Perry said. “We want the scholarships
to go to students who are really committed
to getting their education, and
they’re struggling hard, but the finances
aren’t there.”
Perry earned his baccalaureate in
pre-med in 1959 from Youngstown
University and his medical degree from
Meharry Medical College in Nashville.
“It was very gratifying to see my dad in
the audience the day I graduated from
medical school,” Perry recalled. “He
always wanted me to have better opportunities
than he had.”
A general surgeon, Perry has a private
medical practice on Youngstown’s
North Side and is an associate professor
at the Northeastern Ohio Universities
College of Medicine.
Doris Perry retired in 1988 after
30 years as a first grade teacher in the
Youngstown Schools, but she’s back in the classroom, teaching
and mentoring other teachers. The couple has been married
44 years.
A philanthropist in her own right, Mrs. Perry established
a nonprofit organization called Women Hand in Hand in 1986
which awards YSU scholarships to young mothers in financial
need. The program paid the tuition for three women attending
classes in the 2007-08 academic year and she expects to
double that number this fall.
Pollock Foundations Pledge $500K to Capital Campaign
Pollock family’s legacy of support to
this most important institution.”
A native of Youngstown and a
graduate of Yale University, William B.
Pollock II became president and chief
executive in 1931 of the Pollock Co.,
an iron and steel equipment production
company his grandfather founded in
1863. Pollock was active in the region’s
business and civic communities and
served on the boards of several institutions,
including YSU. He died in 1990
at the age of 84.
The Pollock Foundations are longtime
YSU supporters and have contributed
to the Andrews Student Recreation
and Wellness Center, McDonough
Museum of Art, Mad About the Arts
and the Beeghly College of Education.
Kathryn C. Pollock
William B. Pollock
Summer 2008 43

Alumni
SpotlighT
CELEBRATING ACCOMPLISHED GRADUATES
Around the world, across the
country, and right here in
Northeast Ohio, YSU alumni
are making their mark. We
profile nine of those exceptional
grads, each with a fascinating
story to tell.
Dance Played
a Role in Her
Career Success
Kim Katsaras, ’89
Kim Katsaras
Kim Katsaras spends a good share of
her workweeks driving scenic Pacific Coast
highways, stopping off to inspect the women’s
apparel displays at Macy’s stores in some of
the nation’s top destination cities.
The 1989 YSU alumna is West Coast Account
Executive for the Suit Division of Jones
Apparel Group, a leading fashion design and
marketing firm. She loves wearing the latest in
women’s business attire, checking out the suit
collections at close to 200 stores and flying to
New York City four times a year to meet with
buyers.
But every spring, without fail, Katsaras
heads back home to the Mahoning Valley to
participate in a family tradition: the annual
Judy Conti Dance Studio recital.
Katsaras’ parents are Dennis and Judy
Conti Katsaras, and she’s been performing
in her mother’s dance recitals at Stambaugh
Auditorium since she was two years old. This
year she came home in May to rehearse her
part in “New York, New York,” a studio classic,
then returned in June for the recital.
Her husband, Myke Aaron, has also immersed
himself in the tradition. The owner
of SoundCubed Recording Studios in Hollywood,
he’s been editing music for the studio’s
recitals since the couple married six years ago.
Katsaras sees a direct connection between
her dance background and her career success.
“My mother’s entire philosophy with the
dance studio is that she’s not concerned about
creating dance stars, but more about teaching
discipline, poise and confidence, the ability
to enter a room and speak confidently in front
of a crowd,” she said. “I really feel that dance
was a great foundation for my career.”
44 Youngstown State University

Alumni Spotlight
Growing up in Campbell, Ohio, Katsaras was teaching
dance at her mother’s studio by the age of 14, spent
summers studying dance in New York City with world-renowned
instructors and later danced professionally with the
Youngstown Pride basketball team.
She credits mentor Debi Novak Leo, a former Judy
Conti dance teacher, YSU alumna and entrepreneur, with
helping her land a life-changing internship with a New York
retail group. “I did an accessory trade show,” she recalled,
“and that’s where the retail bug bit me.”
Katsaras earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communications
and marketing at YSU and spent 12 years with
Macy’s before joining the Jones Apparel Group as midwest
account executive. Two years later she transferred
to Los Angeles to oversee a sales territory that stretches from
Seattle to Las Vegas.
Living in the Hollywood suburb of Los Feliz and spending
90 percent of her workweeks traveling comes naturally
for Katsaras, she said, because of all the travel she did as
a young dancer. The ethnic diversity of her hometown
also helped. “Growing up in a culturally diverse place like
Youngstown, I knew about wedding soup, pieroghies and
spanicopita (a Greek spinach pie.) We’re not exactly country
bumpkins here in Youngstown,” she said, laughing, “so it was
an easy transition when I moved to L.A.”
Education:
A Lifelong Passion
Martha Irene Bruce, ’51
Every Saturday the children came, crowding into
Martha Bruce’s cement block-house in Nigeria for what
she called Auntie Martha’s Story Time.
At its peak the weekly story hour drew as many as
135 children and earned the 1951 Youngstown College
graduate a nomination for the United Nations Literacy
Prize.
Those Saturday afternoons were a highlight of
Bruce’s 57-year career in education, and she’s managed
to keep in touch with some of her Nigerian pupils –
including two pediatricians and a pharmacist.
But Bruce, 79, doesn’t spend much time reminiscing.
Retired from the Youngstown city schools in 1996, she
now serves as its part-time Adopt-A-School coordinator.
Students and staff alike know her as Dr. Martha. “I
don’t think many people around here even know my last
name,” she said with a grin.
And the woman who’s presented academic papers
in nine countries on six continents has found another way
to reach out to young readers. She’s authored six children’s
books, all with African themes and titles, and a seventh book
is awaiting copyright approval.
“I have a number of other story ideas in my head,” she
added. “I just need some time to sit down and write them.”
A native of Farrell, Pa., Bruce was stricken with polio
at the age of 15. Since then her left hand and arm have been
partially paralyzed, and more recently her right arm has also
been affected. She credits the Shriners for accepting her for
rehabilitation in their Erie, Pa., hospital in an era when few
hospitals would treat African Americans.
“The Shriners were wonderful and I’m so grateful.
Without them, I would have just laid in bed,” she said. “They
are in my will.”
Determined not to let her disabilities control her destiny,
Martha Bruce
Bruce earned a baccalaureate in education from Youngstown
College before it became YSU, and later added a master’s in
education from Westminster College and a doctorate from the
University of Pittsburgh.
A teacher, reading specialist and administrator in the
Youngstown schools, she spent her Christmas vacation in
Africa in 1976 and decided she wanted to live there. Bruce quit
her job and accepted a position as an instructor at a teacher’s
college in Nigeria. “I didn’t know anybody at all in Africa, but I
just had no fear,” she recalled.
Her neighborhood story hours began soon after she arrived,
she said, and produced many lifelong friendships in the nearly
seven years she stayed in the West African country.
Travel is still her favorite hobby, and Bruce has visited 26
countries, most recently traveling to Thailand, Singapore and
the Philippines. “I’d go back in a heartbeat,” she said, “But of
course, I want to go back to everywhere I’ve ever been.”
Summer 2008 45

Wesley Gillespie, left, and Presley Gillespie
KeyBank, Cleveland, Ohio
46 Youngstown State University
Brothers Make
Their Mark in
Banking
Presley Gillespie, ’92,
& Wesley Gillespie, ’92
Presley and Wesley Gillespie were
just nine or ten years old, growing up on
the mean streets of Harlem, when they
made up their minds to be bankers.
Identical twins, they’d tag along with
their father on banking errands, and they
liked what they saw. Wesley was impressed
with the imposing New York City
bank buildings and their striking architecture.
“As a young boy in Harlem, working
in a bank seemed like an unbelievable
dream,” he recalled.
Presley remembers the bankers, always
impeccably dressed in business suits
and ties. “They looked good, they smelled
good,” he said. “I thought that looked like
a good job to have.”
The Gillespie brothers accomplished
many of their goals together. They graduated
from YSU in 1992, where both earned
baccalaureate degrees in organizational
communications, and now they’re both executives
for KeyBank, one of the nation’s
largest financial service companies.
But their paths diverged for several
years after graduation, long enough to develop
distinctly different career objectives.
Presley Gillespie is a vice president
and community development lender for
KeyBank, based in Youngstown and serving
the bank’s Eastern Ohio District.
Wesley works out of Key’s Cleveland
headquarters and was promoted in January
to senior vice president, area retail
leader, managing 13 bank branches in that
city’s southern suburbs.
Presley started his career at the
former Integra Bank and worked at a succession
of larger banks until his brother
recruited him to KeyBank in 2005.
In 18 years of banking Presley hasn’t
forgotten his urban roots. In fact, he’s
dedicated much of his career to community
development lending in economically
disadvantaged areas, putting together
financing packages for commercial
construction projects in the urban core of
cities such as Youngstown, Warren, Akron
and Cleveland.
“I grew up in those kinds of communities.
I understand the challenges
they face, how tough it can be to raise the

Alumni Spotlight
capital for projects,” he said. “I decided early on that I didn’t
want to be just another banker. I want to better the community.
I want to help make things happen.”
Presley said he has generated more than $40 million in
commercial projects for the greater Youngstown area over the
last five to seven years, including apartments, town home and
condo projects in urban markets and senior citizen developments
for low- to moderate-income families.
For him, KeyBank’s size has been an advantage. “If you
want to make a significant impact with community development,
you have to find a big enough bank,” he explained.
“Because KeyBank is so big, we have the ability to focus on
projects that have a large impact on a community, multi-million
dollar projects.”
Wesley spent the first three years of his career at Bank
One, completing the company’s management training program
and working in branch management until he was recruited by
KeyBank. “I spent the first five years with Key as a lender,
hustling, looking for deals,” he said.
Since then he’s moved up the management ladder, from
managing a lending office to managing managers. He spends
much of his workday on the road, traveling from branch to branch.
“My mission, my desire, is to help people be the best that
they can be, in whatever organization inside the bank I’m running,”
said Wesley. “I still have to hit my numbers, but what
really drives me is helping people to excel.”
Both brothers are married. Presley and his wife, Nora, have
two school-aged children and live in Youngstown. Wesley is
married to the former Desiree Irby, also an YSU alumna. They
have a daughter and live in Cleveland Heights.
The brothers still look alike, enjoy the same kind of music
and entertainment, and share an unusual hobby – collecting
designer watches.
They talk a lot about the bond they feel as twins, and they
seem to enjoy the stir they cause because of their identical looks.
“We’re still as close as two brothers can be,” said Presley. “And
when I go to visit my brother in the Cleveland office, it’s mass
confusion.”
Karen Conklin
Building a Home for
the Animals
Karen E, Conklin, ’70
For 16 years, Karen Conklin lived and breathed Girl
Scouting. As executive director of the Niles-based Lake-to-
River Girl Scout Council, she was proud to say that the region
had more active scouts during her tenure than ever before in
its history.
Then it ended. A scouting district reorganization eliminated
Conklin’s position.
“I’ve got to admit, it was absolutely devastating, but you
pick up the pieces,” said Conklin, who earned her baccalaureate
in business administration at YSU in 1970. “I knew I had
all these skill sets, and there had to be somebody out there
who needed them.”
Turns out that “somebody” was the Humane Society of
Greater Akron, and some 400 abused, neglected and abandoned
dogs and cats that are packed in every nook and cranny
of its shelter, built 50 years ago to house just a fraction of that
number.
Conklin took over as executive director of the nonprofit
in October 2007, just in time to oversee construction of a
new, $7 million animal shelter and to head up an ambitious
fund-raising drive to pay for it. A philanthropic lender has
agreed to front the money needed for construction so the
project doesn’t have to wait.
Workers broke ground in May on the 25,000-square-foot
facility in Cuyahoga Falls, a “green” design that will accommodate
400 animals when completed, probably in early 2009.
Conklin wishes it could be bigger, because the number of
abused and abandoned animals keeps growing.
She’s also working to increase the center’s pet adoption
numbers and attract more volunteers. “I believe in the
mission, but as the manager my job is to run the place like a
business,” the director related.
Conklin commutes to the Akron center from the Liberty
Township home she shares with her husband Gary E. Offerdahl
and their two dogs, both “rescued.” The couple met
pursuing a mutual avocation – she is Ohio’s only female high
school wrestling referee, and Offerdahl is a 30-year referee
veteran. They created a blended family with six children, now
ranging in age from 16 to 32, when they married in 1998.
Conklin is a member of YSU’s Alumni Society Board of
Directors and sits on the Nonprofit Leadership Committee at
the Williamson College of Business Administration.
Summer 2008 47

Keeping Vintage
Planes Aloft
Kenneth P. Perich, ’72, ’81
Kenneth Perich
Calling Ken Perich a good salesman is the ultimate
understatement. He’s tallied an eye-popping $4 billion in
sales over the last two years as a vice president for Rolls-
Royce North America Inc. – make that $10 billion since
he joined the company 20 years ago.
Perich, who earned his baccalaureate in business
management at YSU in 1972 and his MBA in 1981, sells
jet engines to the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers
– a primary market for Rolls-Royce since it sold off its
signature luxury automobile division in the early 1970s.
The company was on a roll in 2007, finishing the year
with a $47 billion order backlog, the largest in its history,
but Perich is quick to share credit for the sales boom. “It’s
Global VP Makes Friends
Around the World
Juliet Evans, ’93
Juliet Evans always packs her running shoes when she
travels, and she’s tried them out in cities all over the globe.
The 1993 YSU alumna is global vice president of people
management for UTi Worldwide, a $3.5 billion global supply
chain corporation based in Long Beach, Calif. She was recruited
to create and operate a worldwide leadership training
and development program for the company’s 20,000 employees
in 65 countries.
When Evans plans a leadership development seminar, it’s
not the typical weekend retreat at a cushy hotel. She brings
groups of 40 leaders together from several continents for intensive,
two-week sessions in some unlikely places – a cabin
in the South African bush country, for instance, or a monastery
in Madrid where Spanish is the only language spoken.
Just mixing management trainees from several countries
is an education in itself, she said. “We have people from all
over the world coming into a class – Europe, Mexico, Asia,
the U.S. It’s hilarious. Our company looks like the United
Nations.”
Evans travels internationally for two weeks out of every
month, on average, and often stays with friends – it’s a part
of the corporate culture at UTi. In turn, she frequently has
friends from other countries staying in her home.
“Life happens when you travel globally,” Evans
explained. “You miss flights, you get sick. You see people
in a very human state. It’s comforting, when you get off a
plane after a 20-hour flight, to know you’re going to be with
friends.”
Evans grew up in East Palestine, a small town in
Columbiana County, and was one of a handful of students in
her high school class to head straight for college after graduation.
She credits YSU psychology professor Steve Ellyson
with providing some crucial career advice.
Ellyson encouraged Evans to consider graduate school,
helped her gain needed research experience at YSU, and recommended
she look into organizational psychology, a discipline
that uses principles of psychology in the workplace. “I
took one course, and I loved it. I bet my whole career on that
one course and Dr. Ellyson’s advice,” she recalled.
She earned a YSU baccalaureate in psychology, a master’s
degree in organizational behavior at Claremont Graduate
University and expects to complete her Ph.D., also from
Claremont, by year’s end.
Prior to joining UTi she worked with Toyota, where she
said her “claim to fame” was being the youngest female to be
promoted to a junior executive position in the automaker’s
financial service division.
Evans and her husband, Steven Park, met in graduate
school, and the home they share in Long Beach, Calif. is decorated
with an eclectic mix of art from many nations. Besides
sailing and spending time with their dog, Peanut, she also runs
marathons. “It’s the one exercise you can do on the road,” she
explained. “All you have to bring is running shoes.”
Juliet Evans, Taj Mahal, India
48 Youngstown State University

not just me,” the VP stressed. “No one person can do billions
of dollars in sales. I’m like a conductor of an orchestra. It
takes dozens and dozens of people to make these sales happen.”
When Perich wants to entertain his Rolls-Royce clients,
he gives them an experience they’ll never forget: a bumpy
ride in a World War II vintage airplane, complete with a
fighter pilot’s uniform and an open-air machine gun turret.
“Out of all the events Roll-Royce does – including the
Master’s golf tournament and the Indy 500 – our customers’
favorite is flying in those vintage planes,” he said.
Aerospace sales has been a dream job for the Warren
native, who fantasized about flying since his father, a professional
photographer, took him along on an aerial photo shoot
as a small boy. Now a jet-rated commercial pilot, he started
flight training at 16 and had his first pilot’s license at 18.
For Perich, the Rolls-Royce position has opened doors to
pursue another passion – preserving and showcasing vintage
Alumni Spotlight
aircraft, like the old World War II bombers.
He’s founder and executive director of the National
Aviation Heritage Invitational, held annually in Reno, Nev. to
spotlight refurbished aircraft dating back to the 1920s, ’30s
and ’40s. It’s presented by Rolls-Royce in partnership with the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National
Aviation Hall of Fame and the Reno Air Foundation.
The event has put him on a first-name basis with aerospace
greats who share his passion, such as astronauts Neil Armstrong
and Jim Lovell. “I look at myself, a kid from Warren
Ohio, and I’ve had the chance to share the podium with a lot of
aviation legends,” he mused. “I think it’s pretty cool.”
Perich lives in Oak Hill, Va., with his wife, the former
Judy Popovich, also a YSU grad (’74) with a bachelor’s degree
in medical technology. So far, only one of the couple’s three
daughters, Regina, has caught the flying bug. She’s business
coordinator for the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, a nonprofit
operation near Dallas that restores vintage aircraft.
Met Debut Gives
Operatic Career a Boost
Gary Lehman, ’87
Growing up in Niles, Ohio,
Gary Lehman knew exactly what he
wanted to do with his life. He’d join
the Navy, and then he’d follow his
father and brother to work at RTI
Niles, a local titanium mill.
But Lehman had a surprising
change of heart. Encouraged
by his high school chorus director
and his YSU voice instructor David
Starkey, he earned a baccalaureate
in vocal performance from YSU’s
Dana School of Music and set out to
become an opera singer.
Now the 1987 alumnus performs
operatic roles around the world. His
career reached a peak in March when
he was tapped to perform the male
lead in a production of “Tristan und
Isolde” – one of the most difficult
tenor roles ever written – at the Metropolitan
Opera in New York.
Lehman said his debut at the
prestigious opera house has given his
career a major boost. “I’ve been performing
all over the world, and I’ve
been paying the bills,” he related,
“but things have really started to pick up since my debut at
the Met.”
Lehman’s Metropolitan Opera debut was serendipitous.
He’d been recruited to serve as a second cover, ready to fill in
as Tristan, the male lead, if the first cover could not perform.
Lehman had recently prepared to serve as first cover for the
same opera in Los Angeles, though he was never called on to
sing the role there.
Remarkably, the lead male singer
Gary Lehman
and the first cover both became ill
on the same evening, and Lehman
stepped in to sing the role. That same
night the lead female singer also got
sick and left the stage in the middle
of the performance, to be replaced
by an understudy. Lehman and his
female counterpart received rave
reviews for their performance of the
five-hour opera before a Met crowd
of 3,500.
“I was in the right place at the
right time, and I was prepared,” he
said of that fateful night.
Lehman’s operatic career has
spanned two decades and included
leading roles in cities such as Los
Angeles, Boston, Orlando, Philadelphia,
Dallas and St. Louis, as well
as performances abroad in Germany,
Finland and Montreal, Canada.
He remembers taking some
ribbing from family members in the
early days of his career. “My parents
would suggest I try teaching. They’d
ask how I could expect to make a living
just singing,” he recalled. “And it
didn’t happen overnight.”
Lehman met his wife, Susan
Foster, a Cortland, Ohio, native and also an opera singer,
when both were enrolled in a training program at the Chicago
Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at The Lyric Opera of
(continued on page 50)
Summer 2008 49

Alumni Spotlight
Making Magnificent
Marbles
Carl Fisher, ’75
Carl Fisher started collecting vintage marbles just to
pass the time while his wife browsed for hours at antique
shows, but the 1975 YSU alumnus couldn’t bear to pay
hundreds of dollars for a single collectible marble. Instead,
he started making replicas, not of glass but of polymer clay,
to serve as “placeholders” in his collection.
Now, just two years later, the civil engineering grad
is building a national reputation as a contemporary marble
artist, with collectors watching Internet auction sites for
his ever-changing assortment of antique replicas and
original designs.
These aren’t the clear glass cat’s eye marbles that sell
by the bagful at dollar stores. Fisher’s marbles, like the
costly glass collectables they imitate, feature brilliant swirls
of colors and intricate designs in a tiny package – most are
just ¾ of an inch in diameter.
What makes Fisher’s clay creations virtually indistinguishable
to the eye from vintage glass marbles is a
concoction the artist uses to glaze the finished marbles in
what he calls his “top secret process.”
His marbles are lighter, softer, warmer to the touch and
much more durable than glass.
“My motivation is to make affordable clay marbles
that look exactly like the most expensive, most collectable,
rarest marbles – there’s an antique marble on eBay selling
for $800, I make a replica for $20,” Fisher explained. “I
believe I’m the only one in the world making clay marbles
at this level.”
He started out duplicating collectable classics, but
now about half the marbles he makes are his own unique
designs. Fisher sells his work at antique and collectable
shows across the Northeast, online auction sites, on Webbased
marble collectors’ sites and at his own Web address,
www.carlfishermarbles.com.
Now living in Aurora with his wife Francesca, Fisher
grew up in Youngstown, one of eight children – six of them
are YSU alumni. He decided to study civil engineering at
YSU because two older brothers were also engineering
grads. “I had to pay my own way through college, and
it was cheaper because they already had the books,” he
quipped.
Kidding aside, Fisher said he’s always had an affinity
Carl Fisher
for math, so engineering has been a good fit for him. He recently
marked 22 years with the IBM Corp., where he designs and sells
data storage systems for large corporations.
“I always plug the engineering aspect of my marble making
too,” he said. “There’s a lot of math and science in the process,
and I document everything I do so that I can reproduce the
marbles exactly, in the exact same weight and size every time.”
Fisher said marble collecting has become more popular in
recent years, especially in communities surrounding Akron – the
city was considered the toy marble manufacturing center of the
world 100 years ago, and vintage marbles are still being discovered
in basements and attics across the region. “Six years ago,
it would be rare to see a marble display anywhere,” he said. “I
went to a Canton antique show this year and almost every other
table had some marbles.”
Fisher is counting on retiring baby boomers to help fuel the
growth of marble collecting, but he’s working on designs that
will allow him to market to other audiences as well. “I’ve got
enough ideas to keep me going for years,” he said, grinning.
Gary Lehman, continued from page 49
Chicago. “We grew up 10 miles from each other, and I had to
go to Chicago to meet her,” he said with a laugh.
Both are self-employed, freelance performers, he said,
so they move from company to company and often live
apart for months at a time. They’re looking forward to this
fall’s opera season when they’ll be together at their home on
Staten Island and will be working together at the Met for the
first time.
“We remember years ago, we would look at each other
and ask: What are we doing? It was tough, not knowing when
the next job was coming, not seeing your wife or your dog for
great lengths of time,” he said. “I think things are happening
for us now because we were just too stubborn to give up.”
50 Youngstown State University

Classnotes
Class Notes
50s
James R. Lewis of
Warren, ’58 BS Education,
was named to the
Warren High Schools’
Distinguished Alumni
Hall of Fame in May.
Lewis is retired after
spending his career as
a teacher and principal
James Lewis in the Warren City
Schools. He is also a
former instructor in YSU’s Beeghly College
of Education.
60s
David L.
Quarterson of
Columbiana, ’62
BSBA, has retired
as senior director
of Laurel Mountain
Partners LLC, a
merchant banking
firm based in
Pittsburgh. Prior David Quarterson
to joining Laurel
Mountain, Quarterson was a regional vice
president of Waste Management Inc. and
chief executive of Florida Recycling Inc.
Bert Dawson of
Calcutta, ‘63 Bachelor
of Engineering
in Civil Engineering,
was named Urban
County Engineer of the
Year by the National
Association of County
Engineers. Dawson,
now serving his 10th
consecutive term as
Bert Dawson Columbiana County
engineer, is the longest
serving county engineer in office in the state
of Ohio. He earned a master’s degree in civil
engineering from Carnegie Mellon University
in 1965. He is vice-chairman of the
Ohio Board of Registration for Professional
Engineers and Surveyors and will serve as
chairman of that board in 2009.
Anthony Lariccia
of Boardman, ’66
BSBA, was awarded
the prestigious
Ellis Island Medal
of Honor in May
by the National
Ethnic Coalition of
Organizations. The
coalition presents
the medals annually
to a select group Anthony Lariccia
of distinguished
American citizens who exemplify hard
work, self-improvement, community service
and distinguished service to humanity. A
Struthers native, Lariccia is a vice president
at Merrill Lynch and a generous philanthropist.
He and his wife, Mary, have given
more than $11 million to various causes in
Mahoning and Trumbull counties, including
$5 million to YSU.
John Sumansky
of Dallas, Pa.,’66
BA in Economics,
has been named a
Fulbright Scholar
and will teach
entrepreneurship
and economics this
fall to students in the
Republic of Macedonia.
Sumansky,
chief information
and planning officer
at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa.,
and director of its Center for Economic
and Entrepreneurship Education, is one of
about 800 educational professionals who
will be teaching or conducting research in
140 countries under the Fulbright Scholar
Program.
70s
Alan W. Brass of
Toledo, ’70 BA, has
been appointed to a
10-year term on the
board of trustees for the
Ohio State University.
Brass is chief executive
officer of ProMedica
Alan Brass
Margaret A.
Kerrigan of Hubbard,
’72, BA in Spanish,
teaches Spanish I
through IV for the
Brookfield Local
Schools in Brookfield,
Ohio. She earned a
master’s of education
in curriculum and
instruction from
Gannon University
in 2001.
Loretta K.
“Lori” Pugh of
Youngstown,’75, BA
German education,
has been appointed
director of mission
integration for Humility
of Mary Health
Partners, based at
St. Elizabeth Health
John Sumansky
Health System, based
in Toledo.
Margaret Kerrigan
Loretta Pugh
Center. Former chaplain and bereavement
coordinator for Forum Health at Home
Hospice, she has a master’s degree in
theology and pastoral studies from LaSalle
University in Philadelphia.
Patricia Selanik
Meisner of Upton, Mass.,
’76 MA biochemistry,
was inducted in May to
the Warren High Schools’
Distinguished Alumni
Hall of Fame. She was
founder and chief executive
of RedTail Solutions
Inc., a software supplier
that this year was named
Patricia Selanik Meisner
Photo courtesy of Maag Library
In Memoriam
Ronald A. Parise, ’73
Ronald A. Parise, 56, a space shuttle astronaut
and the first YSU alumnus to fly in space,
died May 9 at his home in Silver Springs, Md.,
following a three-year battle with brain cancer.
A Warren native, he earned a YSU baccalaureate
in physics in 1973, and in 1996 the university
presented him with an honorary Doctor of Science
degree. He also earned master’s and doctorate degrees
in astronomy from the University of Florida.
Parise was named a payload specialist for
NASA in 1984 and flew two space shuttle missions,
logging more than 614 hours and 10.6
million miles in space.
The Parise family has established a scholarship
in his memory for students pursuing physics
or astronomy degrees at YSU. Preference will be
given to students living in Mahoning or Trumbull
counties. For more information, or to donate,
call 330-941-1363 or write: University Development,
Youngstown State University, Dr. Ronald
A. Parise Scholarship, One University Plaza,
Youngstown, OH 44555.
Summer 2008 51

Lifelong athlete Joni
(Covert) Moore
of Salado, Texas, ’88
BA in Psychology and
Social Work, is training
to compete in the
Ironman World Championship,
set for Oct.
11 in Kona, Hawaii.
A U.S. Army veteran,
she’s raising funds
for the Children of
Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, a nonprofit that provides
college grants and financial assistance to surviving
children and spouses of U.S. soldiers who lost their
lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. To donate, visit
her Web site, http://www.elitefeat.com/. Moore has
completed 10 Ironman triathlon contests and her sixth
place finish in Ironman Arizona this year qualified her
for the championship competition for the second time.
She owns the Hodgepodge Massage Lodge, a massage
therapy clinic in Salado.
among the top 40 global innovators by
Manufacturing Business Technology, and
Boston Women’s Business named her
among its “Five Women to Watch” in 2007.
Selanik Meisner has a bachelor’s degree in
biology from Kenyon College and a master’s
in business administration from Case
Western Reserve University.
Jeffrey Ferezan
of Ashville, N.C.,
’78 BS, has joined
Asheville-Buncombe
Technical Community
College in the
newly created position
of vice president
of college initiatives
to lead collegewide
new ventures.
Jeffrey Ferezan Ferezan had been associate
vice president
for community and legislative relations at
Northwest State Community College in
Archbold, Ohio. Ferezan earned a master’s
degree in business administration from
Franklin University and is completing a
doctorate in higher education administration
with a concentration on leadership
and systems from The Union Institute
and University in
Cincinnati.
80s
Melanie D. Jones
of Warren, ’80 BS
in law enforcement,
administration
and sociology,
was named to the
Trumbull County
African American Melanie Jones
Achievers Association’s
Hall of Fame. Jones is a licensed
social worker, a certified family assessor
and a certified surrogate parent for
students with learning disabilities.
She is employed by Northeast Ohio
Adoption Services as a permanency
planning specialist where she was
also named the agency’s Social
Worker of the Year for 2008.
Maureen K. Grapes Yambar
of Youngstown, ’80 AAB, and ’93
BA, recently retired from YSU’s
Payroll Office after 30 years of
public service. Yambar started as a
student office assistant in the office,
and from 1996 until her retirement
she was an administrative assistant,
responsible for the payment
and reporting for more than 4,500
employees.
James M. Kerrigan of Hubbard,
’81 Associate in Arts, has been
the owner of Kerrigan Insurance
Agency in Hubbard, Ohio,
since 1982.
David Gemmel
of Boardman,
’86 BA, has
been named
senior director of
medical education
and research for
Humility of Mary
Health Partners
where he will direct
the graduate
medical education
residency
David Gemmel
programs at St.
Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, and
St. Joseph Health Center, Warren. Gemmel,
formerly director of research for HMHP,
has master’s and doctorate degrees from
the University of Akron and Kent State
University, respectively.
Elsa Higby of Youngstown, ’87 BA in
speech communications and music, is the
founder of Grow Youngstown, a new organization
that promotes the growth of food,
forage, forest and fuel in the Mahoning
County region. Higby recently moved back
to the Mahoning Valley from Manhattan,
N.Y., where she was involved in a similar
cooperative. Visit growyoungstown.org.
Sharon Rae North of Atlanta, ’87 BA,
presented a $400 donation to the American
Diabetes Association Southeast Division
office in Atlanta. She raised the contribution
by donating a portion of the proceeds
from the sale of her CD, “The Way You
Make Me Feel.” North also sang the
national anthem for the July 4th celebration
at the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation in
Greensboro, Ga. last summer. A popular
performer in the Atlanta area, she has
been invited to sing in Shanghai, Taiwan,
Portugal and at Croatia’s Jazz in Lapidarij
Festival.
Gary White of State College, Pa., ’88
BS, was awarded the 2008 Gale Cengage
Learning Award for Excellence in Business
Librarianship, presented annually by the
American Library Association. White is
head of the Schreyer Business Library at
Penn State University in State College,
where he is a Ph.D. candidate. White holds
a master’s degree in library science from
Kent State University, and an MBA from
the University of Akron, has edited three
books and published more than 28 journal
articles. He is editor of the Journal of Business
and Finance Librarianship.
Karen Cohen of
East Palestine, ’89
BSBA in accounting,
’90, MBA, was named
the 2008 Youngstown-
Warren area ATHENA
Award recipient in
May, selected from a
field of 32 nominees
on the basis of her
professional achievements
and community
Karen Cohen
service. Cohen is a
certified public accountant and partner
at Packer-Thomas, a regional accounting
firm with offices in Youngstown and New
Castle, Pa.
Migdalia Diaz
McClendon of
Boardman, ’89,
BSBA, was awarded
the Shero/Hero of
Health Award by
the Ohio Commission
of Minority
Health. The award
recognizes her
efforts to narrow
health disparities for
minorities, her leadership
in the ethnic
community and her work with collegebound
students and their parents. McClendon
is assistant director of YSU’s Office of
Undergraduate Admissions and a volunteer
bilingual radio announcer for weekend
programs on 1500 AM-WGFT the Gift and
WYSU-FM. She is also a former volunteer
board member for Organizacion Civica y
Cultural Hispana Americana Inc. and the
Mahoning County Treatment Alternatives
to Street Crimes Inc.
Susan Moorer
Migdalia Diaz
McClendon
Susan Moorer of
Austintown, ’89 BA
in speech communication,
was presented
the Edna K. Mc-
Donald Award for
Cultural Awareness in
April, in recognition
of her contributions
to cultural diversity
on the YSU campus.
She also received her
52 Youngstown State University

Class Notes
master’s degree in organizational leadership
from Geneva College in May, and was
a 2008 Athena Award nominee. Moorer
joined the Office of Equal Opportunity and
Diversity as coordinator of diversity initiatives
in March 2006.
90s
Gary Hall of Youngstown, ’91 BA in
journalism, English, and speech/communications,
was promoted in February
to assistant vice president, field marketing
director for Home Savings and Loan,
Youngstown. He joined the bank in 1999,
was named assistant vice president in 2004,
and received the bank’s Chairman’s Award
on three occasions. Hall also serves on
the board of Second Chance Animal Rescue
in Austintown.
Sheryl P. Gumino
of Howland, ’95
BS, has been appointed
manager
of radiology for St.
Elizabeth Boardman
Health Center
and St. Elizabeth
Emergency and
Diagnostic Center
in Austintown.
Gumino also attended
the Western
Sheryl Gumino
Reserve Care System School of Radiologic
Technology and earned a master’s degree
from Geneva College. She was formerly
employed as general manager and national
operations trainer for NYDIC Medical
Imaging.
Richard Tisone of Liberty Township, ’96
BA in law enforcement administration and
business management, was named interim
Liberty Township Police Chief in June. A
22-year member of the police department
with a 25-year career in law enforcement,
Tisone had achieved the rank of captain
before the promotion.
Mary Maloney Toepfer of Howland,
’96 MA in English, has earned a doctor
of philosophy degree in curriculum and
instruction with an English education
concentration from Kent State University.
Toepfer also holds a bachelor’s degree in
English from Hiram College. She started
her teaching career at Ursuline High School
in Youngstown.
Margaret Baker
of Lisbon, ’97 BS
applied science,
was appointed
director of oncology
services for
Humility of Mary
Health Partners,
responsible for the
Cancer Centers
at St. Elizabeth,
Margaret Baker
St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth Boardman
health centers. Baker also holds an associate
degree in radiologic technology from
Kent State University and a certificate in
radiation therapy from Community College
of Allegheny County. Prior to her
appointment, she was manager of oncology
services for HMHP.
Willis Marshall of Aurora, Col., ’98 BA
in advertising and communication, is now
in his eighth season as a wide receiver and
defensive back with the Arena Football
League, most recently with the Cleveland
Gladiators. While at YSU he was a fouryear
football letterman for the Penguins
and a member of three Division I-AA
Championship teams. Marshall also played
a running back on the silver screen, participating
in the filming of Disney’s “The
Game Plan” with Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson.
Brett Miller of Silver
Spring, Md., ’99
BM, composed 45
concert etudes based
on the works of R.
Strauss, Mahler and
Brahms which were
reviewed recently by
Dr. Jeffrey Snedeker,
president of the International
Horn Society.
The review was
published in the May
2008 issue of Horn Call, the Journal of the
IHS. Miller earned a doctorate of musical
arts from the University of Maryland in
May 2007, and the etudes were composed
for his dissertation. He is a hornist with
the U.S. Air Force Band in
Washington D.C. Fourteen
of his original compositions
for various brass instruments
and ensembles have
been published, and his
Six Moods for Euphonium
and Piano was featured on
Danny Helseth’s 2007 CD
release, “Snapshots.”
Bonita Starkey of
Youngstown, ’99 BA
psychology, celebrated the
opening in February of
her independent insurance
office, Bonita Starkey Insurance
Services LLC, in the
National City Bank Building,
downtown Youngstown.
She is the first owner-agent
in Youngstown for Farmers
Insurance Group and was
recently awarded the company’s
Blue Vase Award,
recognizing her successful
sales and life insurance
awareness efforts.
Brett Miller
Fran Vitullo of McDonald, ’99 Associate
in Applied Science, office information
systems, was named manager of patient
advocacy for St. Elizabeth Health Center,
Youngstown. She also
earned a certificate in
respiratory therapy
technology from YSU
in 1981 and is pursuing
a baccalaureate in
health administration
from Warren National
University in Agoura
Hills, Calif. She
previously was
employed as a patient
representative at Fran Vitullo
St. Elizabeth.
Dan Lowry
of Columbiana,
’91 BE and ’04
MS, electrical
engineering,
had a NA-
SCAR race
named after
him when he
won first place
in a marketing
promotion
by The Crown Royal Co. Lowry, a project engineer for
Bechtel Plant Machinery in Monroeville, Pa., and an
avid NASCAR fan, beat out more than 10,000 other
contestants. In his honor, the former Richmond 400 was
renamed Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400.
Lowry was grand marshal for the race, held in May at
the Richmond, Va. International Raceway. “It was just a
blast,” he said. “I got to meet all the drivers, guys who
make millions of dollars a year, and they were just like
anybody else, very polite, very down to earth.”
Summer 2008 53

Class Notes
00s
Douglas A. Lindh of Belleville, Mich.,
’00 BA criminal justice, is a medical claims
adjuster for Farmers Insurance Co.
in Michigan.
Matthew G.
Vansuch of Howland,
’02 BA in Political
Science, received the
University of Akron
Law Alumni Association’s
2008 Alumni
Publication Award for
an article he had published
in the Seton Hall
Legislative Journal.
Matthew Vansuch The article was titled
“Icing the Judicial
Hellholes: Congress’ Attempt to Put Out
‘Frivolous’ Lawsuits Burns a Hole Through
the Constitution.” Vansuch is an attorney for
the Warren law firm of Harrington, Hoppe
& Mitchell, Ltd. He is married to Deena
DeVico, a 2002 YSU alumna, and earned
his law degree from UA in 2005.
Christian Aleshire of Mineral Ridge,’02,
BA in telecommunications, was recently
promoted to program director of WWIZ-
Rock 104, a Cumulus Media radio station
in Youngstown. Aleshire also serves as
program director for two other Cumulus stations,
WBBW and ESPN 1240, where he’s
on the air regularly. He fills in on the Y-103
morning show and is the play-by-play voice
of the Mahoning Valley Thunder indoor
football team. He joined Cumulus Media in
2003.
Laura Clark of Columbus, ’03 BS in
Biology, graduated in June from the Ohio
State University College of Pharmacy with
a doctorate degree in pharmacy. While a
student at OSU, Clark was vice president
of her pharmacy class, a two-time winner
of the American Pharmacists Association/
Academy of Student Pharmacists Patient
Counseling competition and went on to
compete on the national level. She has
accepted a pharmacist position with Kroger
in Columbus.
Timothy N. Oberle of Salem, ’03 AB,
Jennifer A. Snyder of Cortland, ’03 AB,
Megan M. Graff of Youngstown, ’04 AB,
Rebecca A. Royer of Canfield, ’04 AB and
Elizabeth A. Nemes of Cuyahoga Falls, ’05
AB, earned their Juris Doctorate
degrees in May from the University of
Akron School of Law.
Megan A. Kerrigan of Hubbard, ’04 BS in
education, is a kindergarten teacher for the
Slippery Rock Area School District in Slippery
Rock, Pa. She earned a master’s degree
in curriculum and instruction from Gannon
University in 2005 and a master’s degree in
library and information science from Kent
State University in 2007.
Charlene Arendas
of Columbus, ’04 BS
in biology, earned a
doctorate degree in
veterinary medicine
in June from the
Ohio State University
College of Veterinary
Medicine. In January,
Arendas joined a
group of American
Charlene Arendas
veterinarians who traveled
to Peru to study
a llama and alpaca research facility, and she
later gave a presentation about the trip at the
International Camelid Health Conference
for Veterinarians. She hopes to return to the
Youngstown area to establish her veterinary
practice.
Jason Perry of
Orlando, Fla., ’07
BSBA, a former
YSU football
standout, is in his
first year with the
Arena Football
League, playing
as a defensive
back with the
Orlando Predators.
A second-team All- Jason Perry
American and firstteam
All-Gateway selection while at YSU,
Perry was a team captain his senior year
and started 38 games
during his college career.
Army Maj. George L. Hammar IV, ’95 BA History, was awarded the
Combat Action Badge for combat operations in southern Iraq. Hammar, a maneuver
adviser to the 4th Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, was with a platoon of
Iraqi soldiers and three other U.S. soldiers on Dec. 10, 2007, when the unit came
under small-arms fire from insurgents.
They returned fire, dispersing
the insurgent force. “We were
shot at all day, actually,” Hammar
said. “Luckily, I was with a great
group of Iraqi soldiers who did
their job to the highest standards
imaginable.”
Hammar earned a master’s
degree in military studies, land
warfare and international studies
from American Military University
in 2007. He plans to move his
family to Fort Carson, Col. and to
join the 4th Infantry Division when
he completes his service in Iraq
this fall.
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Let YSU Magazine share it with your
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When you write, please include your YSU
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universitymagazine@ysu.edu or mail
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44555.
54 Youngstown State University

A lumni
• N E W S
Legacy Scholarship Winners Announced
The legacy of children following in the footsteps of their parents or
guardians to attain a degree from the same alma mater is a cherished tradition
at Youngstown State University.
The YSU Office of Alumni and Events Management has helped to keep
that tradition alive and to foster strong relationships between graduates and the
university by offering four $1,000 Legacy Scholarships to children of current
Alumni Society members. To qualify, at least one of the recipient’s parents or
guardians must be a YSU graduate and a member of the Alumni Society.
Legacy Scholarship winners for the 2008-2009 academic year, listed with
their YSU alumni parents, are:
Nora Davine Campana of Canfield (mother, Mary Ellen [Walsh] Campana).
Emily Devon of East Liverpool (parents, William and Susan Devon).
Caitlin Glenn of Lisbon (mother, Deborah Glenn).
Kyle Hoffman of Newton Falls (parents, Mark and Aprile Hoffman).
Red & White Game
Penguin football fans enjoyed a sneak preview of
the 2008 team during the Red & White Game in April,
along with a visit with alumnus Ron Jaworski, ESPN
analyst and former NFL quarterback.
Alumni and friends enjoyed an indoor tailgate
party in Stambaugh Stadium prior to kick-off. Coach
Jon Heacock presented this contest for the eighth year,
as the culmination of the team’s spring drills.
Life Member Reception
Draws Record Crowd
A record crowd of more than 200 Life
Members of the YSU Alumni Association
and their guests celebrated the university’s
Centennial with a reception in the Archives
and Special Collections area of Maag
Library. Following a buffet dinner, those in
attendance took a behind-the-scenes tour of
the archives reading room, processing room,
manuscript and storage areas, and had the
opportunity to view memorabilia and records
from the university’s 100-year history. Life
Members of the Alumni Society are honored
annually with a reception recognizing
their special dedication to Youngstown State
University.
✘
Ron Jaworski
Mark
Your
Calendar
Sigma Tau Gamma
Alumni Support All
Alumni Reunion
Alumni of Sigma Tau Gamma
demonstrated their close ties to YSU
with a recent $1,500 contribution to
the All Alumni Reunion. John Africa,
’62, left, and Bill Kish, ’63, presented
Heather Belgin of the Office
of Alumni and Events Management
with a check on behalf the Sigma
Tau Gamma alumni. The Sigma Tau
alumni sponsor a golf outing each
July and are also active in other
alumni events.
0 21
Half Century Reunion
Sunday, October 26 - 11:30 a.m. reception,
noon luncheon, DeBartolo Stadium Club -
Graduates of 50 years and more are invited
to attend this special event in honor of their
milestone e anniversary.
Terrace Dinners
n
Held 90 minutes before each home football game
on the
Stambaugh
Stadium Terrace, weather
permitting. (In case of inclement weather, held at
Stambaugh Stadium). Join fellow Penguin fans
for “civilized tailgating” before the game!
26 27 28
Call the Office of Alumni Relations at
330-941-3497 for more information.
Summer 2008 55

the All Alumni Reunion
Hundreds of YSU alumni joined the university's Centennial Celebration at the first All Alumni Reunion on the YSU campus July 12.
Clockwise, from left: alumna Patricia Archer ('62) and her husband Donald, from Lakewood, Colo., visit with President David C. Sweet
at the Alumni Dinner; a fireworks display and a live concert by the country band Ricochet were featured at Forte' on the Fifty; one young
visitor checks out a snake exhibit at the Beeghly
College of Education; alumni and family members
enjoy displays and demonstrations in the College of
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
and the Bitonte College of Health & Human Services.
56 Youngstown State University

Come on
Home!
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
Be part of the festivities at YSU’s Homecoming 2008.
Join nearly 20,000 alumni and friends at this annual campus celebration.
WCBA Alumni Banquet, 6 p.m., Oct. 24
Homecoming Parade, along Fifth Avenue, 2 p.m., Oct. 25
Alumni Relations Terrace Dinner, 2:30 p.m., Oct. 25
Homecoming Game - YSU vs. Northern Iowa, 4 p.m., Oct. 25
Half Century Club 50th Reunion, 11:30 a.m., Oct. 26
2008
More information about Homecoming 2008 will arrive in mailboxes soon. o
Contact
t
the Office of Alumni and Events Management at 330-941-3497 or www.ysu.edu/
alumni for more information.

1968
“Humphrey Girls”
1968 was a significant year in U.S. history. The war in Vietnam raged, sparking the largest war protests in the nation’s history.
Assassins gunned down civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Bob Dylan, The
Beatles and the Rolling Stones revolutionized music. Hippies. Black Power. 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Mexico City Olympics.
In the fall of 1968, Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey brought his presidential campaign to Youngstown, and there to greet him
on the steps of Stambaugh Auditorium were a group of enthusiastic Youngstown State University students known as “Humphrey
Girls.” Humphrey was accompanied at the rally by Chubby Checker, who performed his hit song, “The Twist.” Humphrey lost
the election to Richard M. Nixon.
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