California University

VOLUME 13, NUMBER 15 MAY 2, 2011

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Alumni Will Address Graduates

wo distinguished alumni with strong local
ties will share their thoughts with students
when Cal U holds Commencement
ceremonies this week.
Degrees will be awarded to 888 undergraduates
and 294 graduate students in separate ceremonies.
Banking industry executive Daryl Zupan ’77
will address master’s degree candidates at 7 p.m.
Friday in Hamer Hall Auditorium.
Zupan, a native of Charleroi, Pa., is the
president and CEO for the AFCO and CAFO brands
and Prime Rate Premium Finance Co. of BB&T
Corp., one of the the largest and oldest companies
financing property and casualty premiums in North
America.
During the ceremony, master’s degree candidates
will be vested in their academic hoods.
A leader in the energy industry, Raymond
Milchovich ’71 will speak to undergraduates, rain or
shine, at 10 a.m. Saturday in Adamson Stadium at
Roadman Park.
Milchovich, originally from Roscoe, Pa., retired
from Foster Wheeler AG in 2010. He currently is the
non-executive chairman of the board for Foster

Parking will be available for the evening
ceremony Friday in Lot 4 (the River Lot).
On Saturday, families may park in the Vulcan
Garage (Lot 22) or in Lots 14, 15, 17 and 19 on the
main campus. Free shuttles will transport guests to
and from the stadium.
Gates at Adamson stadium will open at 8 a.m.,
and guests should be seated by 9:15. Families are
reminded that early arrivals will find the most
convenient parking and the best seats in the
Charles S. Pryor ’73
Raymond
Daryl Zupan ’77
stadium’s “home side” bleachers.
Milchovich ’71
The outdoor ceremony will be held rain or shine.
Wheeler, a global engineering and construction firm
In case of inclement weather, ponchos will be
with offices in 25 nations around the world.
provided. To avoid obstructing the view of others,
An honorary doctorate will be awarded during the
guests are asked not to open umbrellas in the bleachers.
undergraduate ceremony to Charles S. Pryor ’73, who
CUTV will broadcast both ceremonies live on
has had a distinguished 37-year career in the
Armstrong Cable (Channel 61 Armstrongconstruction and architectural/engineering business.
Connellsville) and Atlantic Broadband
The vice president of business development for
Communications (Channel 17).
L.R. Kimball, he is responsible for business
More information about Commencement, including links
development and cross-divisional sales for the firm’s
to directions and parking information, is available at
architecture and engineering, civil and environmental,
www.calu.edu/events/commencement . For more
transportation, and communications technology
information, contact Jodie Rooney, academic events
divisions.
coordinator, at 724-938-1584 or rooney@calu.edu .

Josh Snyder and
Nicole
Kemmerling
build their
cardboard
house on the
Quad during
Habitat for
Humanity’s
annual Box Out
event. Bad
weather on the
night of April
15 forced
students inside
Coover Hall, but
the project still
raised
awareness of
the issue of
homelessness,
according to
organizers.
Proceeds from
the Box Out will
help benefit
Japanese
tsunami
victims.

Rain Ruins Boxes, But Not Spirits

A

s torrential rain and high winds ripped through campus
the night of April 15, students participating in Habitat
for Humanity’s annual Box Out had to evacuate their
cardboard box homes and move indoors for safety.
“As head of the event, I made the executive decision to
move all the participants to Coover Hall for the night to keep
them out of the storm,” said Devin Cunningham, student
president for Cal U’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Although the storms damaged their cardboard shelters, it
did not dampen the participants’ spirits.
The annual Box Out event on the Quad is intended to raise
awareness of homelessness by having participants live in
cardboard boxes for 24 hours.
“There are a lot of people who walk through (the Quad),
and maybe it will make them realize how some people are
forced to live,” said senior Ryan Bucklad, an event participant
and member of the Tech Ed Club of California.
Not only does the event raise awareness, it also raises
donations through registration fees and student contributions.
Donations usually are given to the local Habitat for Humanity
affiliate, but this year’s collection will help benefit Japanese
tsunami victims.

“Due to the recent tragedies in Japan, we have decided it is
our responsibility to help assist in the (relief) efforts,” said
Cunningham. “Because our mission is to eliminate poverty and
homelessness, we felt the Box Out event would be the perfect
fit to raise money for the cause.”
Participants also had the chance to win cash for themselves.
Each team’s house was designed and decorated in the style
of a particular era and judged on creativity, design and overall
construction. Designs ranged from a 1920s speakeasy to a
colorful, disco-themed house reminiscent of the 1970s.
Winning teams were awarded a cash prize separate from
funds raised during the event. First place went to the Chemistry
Club. Second- and third-place prizes went to the FIJI/Theta XI
team and Hispanic Student Association, respectively.
Even with the rain, Cunningham believes participants had
fun and the event helped to highlight the issue of homelessness
among members of the Cal U community.
“We do this event every year to help raise awareness of
poverty in America,” he said. “Each year we are able to get
more participants to help Habitat for Humanity spread
awareness, and our goal is to get all students to be educated on
this subject and help make a difference in this world.”

Seniors
‘Leave
Mark’ on
Hydrants

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efore they graduate, members of
the Class of 2011 want to leave
their mark on Cal U. So seniors
have painted the campus fire hydrants
with distinctive designs, using school
colors of red and black.
The Leave Your Mark project was
organized by Cal U’s “senior envoys,”
members of the Class of 2011 who also
serve on the Senior Gift Drive
fundraising committee.
The idea behind Leave Your Mark is
“to create a tangible and sustainable
tradition” for members of the graduating
class, said Ryan Jerico, coordinator of
student and young alumni programs in
the Office of Alumni Relations and
Annual Fund.
“The Senior Gift Drive supports
scholarships. It’s a way for graduating
seniors to ‘pay it forward’ and help other
students get a Cal U education,” he said.
“The Leave Your Mark project is all
about fun. Participating seniors literally
changed the look of the campus in one
small way before they graduated.”
The project opened with a Concert
on the Quad, which was relocated to the
Natali Student due to the threat of rain
on April 25, with performances by the
Cal U Jazz Ensemble, Vulcanize,
Acappella Stella and Cal Singers.
Students received T-shirts with the Leave
Your Mark logo, along with food and
other giveaways.
Before the project started, grounds
— Continued on page 2

Undergraduate
Research
Conference a
Success
Dr. Sarah Downey (left), an
assistant professor in the
Department of English, listens to
Josh Solomon (right), Veronica
Kerekes and Rich Williams present
‘Latin Lexomics: Using
Computational Linguistics to
Identify Borrowed and
Interpolated Material in Medieval
History Texts.’ Doug Raffle also
was part of the panel. The
presentation was part of the
Undergraduate Research
Conference, which was held April
15 in the Performance Center. The
event was co-hosted by the
Honors Program at Cal U and
Robert Morris University.

Online
Calendar
Connects
Facebook

G

ot friends? Now the Cal U
website can tell you whether
they plan to attend a concert,
lecture, comedy show or other event on
campus.
The new feature has been added to
the online events calendar on the
Cal U homepage.
Visitors who click to learn more
about an event can log in to their
Facebook account right from the
calendar’s “Event Details” page. If you
join the event, you’ll see icons showing
which of your Facebook “friends” also
plan to attend.
Calendar visitors can click a button
to share event details through e-mail or
social media.
“We wanted to make the online
events calendar more interactive,” said
Greg Buretz, the University’s social
media coordinator. “Now anybody with
a Facebook account not only can find
out about an upcoming event but see
who else is going to be there.”
More people are using the calendar
every month, says Bryan Engel, a
member of Cal U’s Web team and the
events calendar manager.
In March, for example, the site
registered nearly 46,500 “click-throughs”
to details about campus events.
“There’s always a lot of interest in
the free movies at Vulcan Theatre, along
with club activities, performances and
even academic deadlines,” Engel said.
“The calendar also provides links to
relevant information — a performer’s
own website, for instance, or maybe a
YouTube video.
“There’s so much going on at Cal U.
The calendar raises awareness and
provides information — and now it
helps people make social connections,
too.”
To see the online events calendar, visit
www.calu.edu and choose “Events” at the
bottom of the homepage.

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‘Hip-hop Is Who You Are’

“H

ip-hop is not something
you do as much as who
you are. It’s a lifestyle,”
says Doug E. Fresh, the pioneering hiphop artist who originated the “beat box”
vocal percussion technique.
Fresh joined American Book Award
winner Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, an
ordained minister and a sociology
professor at Georgetown University, for
the keynote panel of Cal U’s sixth
annual Hip-hop Conference, held April
22 in the Performance Center.
More than 200 Cal U students joined
faculty, staff, out-of-state guests and a
busload of students from four Pittsburgh
high schools for a freewheeling
discussion of hip-hop culture, the
influence of contemporary music and
the power of words.
Fresh’s 1985 release La Di Da Di,
with rapper Slick Rick, is considered a
hip-hop classic. The artist described
practicing his groundbreaking beat box
vocals — imitating drums, bass and
other instruments — as he walked to
and from school in Harlem.
Graffiti, fashion, break-dancing, the
music on his older siblings’ cassette
tapes, even the poems of Langston
Hughes that he learned in class –
“everything collectively was hip-hop,”
Fresh said, performing snippets of beat
box to loud applause.
“Now, in 2011, you all have your
own expression of what is hip-hop to
you,” he told the students in the
audience.
Dyson said he first heard the music
as a college student in Knoxville, Tenn.
“I identified with the substance of hiphop. (The songs) began to help me
understand … the relationship between

Dr. Kelton Edmonds (right) introduces Doug E. Fresh, originator of the human
beat box, at the sixth annual Hip-hop Conference.

art and social expression.”
Dyson, the author of at least 16
books, is credited with establishing black
American culture as a legitimate field of
academic study. He has written about
public figures from Malcolm X and Dr.
Martin Luther King to Bill Cosby, as
well as the role of race and class in
contemporary American life.
“I used the tools I had learned in the
academy to study hip-hop” beginning in
the 1980s, he said. “Just as jazz had
been viewed as skepticism, so was hiphop. I was a fan of hip-hop because I

loved great music, and this music had
something to say.”
Dyson discussed the raw language of
many hip-hop songs, including a
common racial epithet. Fresh pointed
out that hip-hop can be used to educate,
as well as entertain, citing his own “rap
and read” children’s book, Think Again,
that encourages kids to look beyond
racial stereotypes.
“Hip-hop is already in your school,
so it should be utilized to teach,” Fresh
said. “Hip-hop is bigger than what you
think.”

Seniors ‘Leave Their Mark’ on Fire Hydrants

— Continued from page 1

crews gave the campus fire hydrants a fresh coat of
white paint, creating a blank slate for the student
artists.
Seniors who presented an acceptable design were
assigned one hydrant each on a first come, first served
basis. Painting began last week, and today is the last day

for them to put the finishing touches on their hydrants.
Greg Harrison, chair of the Department of Art and
Design, is leading a team of Art Department faculty who are
judging the finished designs. All hydrants will be
photographed this week, and the three winning artists will be
acknowledged in the record of the project that will be kept in
the Kara Alumni House. Cal U for Life prize packages also
will go to the winning artists.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes
More than 130 men donned high-heeled shoes on April 21 and clumsily paraded across campus as Cal U participated for the third consecutive year in the international program known as Walk a Mile
in Her Shoes. ‘It is intended to serve as an outlet for men to come together as allies and partners in ending violence against women, especially Cal U women,’ said Kay Dorrance, coordinator and
victim advocate at the End Violence Center on campus. ‘Together today in your high heels, you’re a united group of men saying that sexual assault, dating violence and stalking are unacceptable.’ The
event was sponsored by the End Violence Center to raise awareness about sexual violence and men’s role in preventing it.

After Work, These Staff Members Rock

W

Michael Anderson and his band, Crosstown, have rapidly
developed a following, with many fans from the Cal U community.

hat began as casual conversation while
working on Cal U’s grounds crew has
become a rocking reality for Michael
Anderson and Bob Houston.
Longtime Cal U employees, Anderson is an auto
mechanic supervisor and Houston is a utility plant
operator II. After their busy days on campus, these
two — along with Bobby Houston Jr. ’05 and local
musicians Bill Johnson and Scott Kennedy —
frequently appear at local clubs, where they entertain
crowds as the band Crosstown.
Both Cal U workers performed in bands in the
late ‘60s and early ‘70s. After discussing playing
together for many years, Anderson, Houston and his
son started turning talk into music at the Houstons’
home garage in Roscoe.
Anderson invited Kennedy and former Amber
Band member Johnson to stop by.
“We just started jamming and having a good
time,” said Anderson. “Bill said we sounded great, so
we practiced with them for a couple of months and
took it on the road.”
Playing cover songs from classic, southern rock
and country bands, Crosstown rapidly developed a
following. The group plays at area clubs and every
other month at the Long Branch Saloon in Oakland,
Md. Crosstown is scheduled to perform at the Hard

Rock Café in Station Square, Pittsburgh, in
September.
Anderson plays rhythm guitar and sings. The
elder Houston is the drummer. Bobby Houston plays
bass, and Johnson handles lead guitar and vocals.
Kennedy plays guitar, harp and banjo.
“I thought they were awesome, and I liked them
so much I got their autographs,” said Sue Bittner, a
Cal U custodian who saw the band at the Roscoe
Slovak Club. “If people hear them, they will be
hooked.”
Alumna Regina Musar ’01 recently checked out
the new group at the Friendship Lounge in
Richeyville. She learned about the band through
Facebook and word of mouth.
“I was very impressed,” she said. “There were a
lot of Cal U people there. I would definitely go see
them again.”
Anderson said he has contacted the Student
Activities Board in hopes of playing someday at a
Cal U event. The group even has tossed around the
idea of hooking up with another Cal U musical
success — University police officer George Kyle and
his band, Brother Jeep and the M.V. Express.
“We’ve always been interested in music,”
Anderson said, “and we want to give people a good
time with it.”

Campus BRIEFS
Hummel ROTC Speaker

Honor Society Adds Members

Freshmen Join ALD

Dr. Michael Hummel will be the guest speaker for
the Cal U Department of Military Science
commissioning ceremony at 10 a.m. Wednesday in
Steele Hall Mainstage Theatre. ROTC cadets James
Cooper, Zachary Drysdale, Joseph Hummel, Konrad
Kearcher, Nicholas Messina and
David Schott will be commissioned
as second lieutenants.
A professor and past chair of
Cal U’s Department of Justice,
Law, and Society, Hummel served
as the acting dean of the College of
Liberal Arts for two years before
returning to the classroom this
semester. He is also a retired,
Dr. Michael Hummel decorated military law
enforcement officer. Hummel commanded a law
enforcement unit at Fort Campbell, Ky., and served as a
Special Reaction Team commander, responsible for
high-risk situations and counter-terrorism operations.
Besides teaching, he also directs the newly established
Linda and Harry Serene Leadership Institute.

The Nu Omicron Chapter of the Kappa Omicron
Nu (KON) National Honor Society inducted four new
members on April 3. Sophomores Kirstie Pistner and
Rebecca “Becky” Barnhart, junior Brittany Ferguson
and faculty member Adam Annaccone are the newest
members of KON, which is recognized by the
American College of Healthcare Sciences.
At the ceremony in Old Main Chapel, this year’s
officers — president Kaitlyn Sipplel and vice president
Jason Pirl — were given gold medallions for their
leadership service. Senior members received white-andmaroon honor cords to wear at Commencement.
Members learned that faculty member Mary
Popovich will receive the award for outstanding
leadership at the annual Health Science Awards
Banquet in May. Emily Obenauf will be honored for
scholarship and Katie Ramsdell for research.
KON adviser Dr. Joni Roh, a professor in the
Department of Exercise Science and Sport Studies,
opened the event. Associate provost Dr. Bruce Barnhart,
the guest speaker, discussed the importance of honor
societies, both at Cal U and nationwide.

More than 100 Cal U freshmen recently were
inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta, a nationally
recognized academic honor society for freshmen
who maintain a grade-point average of 3.5 and are
in the top 20 percent of their class during their first
year.
Students must maintain at least a 3.25 GPA to
remain in the organization throughout the
remainder of their college careers. Members also
must complete one service project per semester,
along with one Career Advantage Program activity.
ALD chapter president David Denne and
advisers Karen Posa and Dr. Michael Amrhein led
the ceremony. Also inducted were honorary
members and SAI staffers Nicole Arthur, Lisa
Hartley and Tonya Kirkland. Rhonda Gifford,
director of Career Services, and Diane Williams,
director of Cal U’s new Center for Civic
Engagement, were the guest speakers.

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Institute Summer Camps Geared to Teens
Offers
H
Programs
for Police,
Lawyers

C

al U’s Institute for Law and Public
Policy is offering two professional
development programs next month,
one for police and the other for lawyers.
• Police and Media Relations: Formulating
an Effective Response is designed to make
members of police agencies more
comfortable, credible and effective when
working with the media.
Participants will learn how to control the
interview instead of being controlled, how
to disarm negative reporters, when to speak
and when not to speak, and how to manage
body language. The course encourages
police to look more objectively at the media
and to view news reporters as conduits for
telling the intended story.
Presenter is Diane Richard, public
information officer and spokesperson for the
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. Contributing
instructors are retired Cmdr. Ron Freeman,
formerly of the Pittsburgh Police; and Ralph
Iannotti of KDKA-TV News.
The course will meet from 8:30 a.m.4:30 p.m. May 18-19 at the Cal U
Southpointe Center in Canonsburg, Pa. Cost
is $150 for the two-day session.
• Geology for Lawyers: The Marcellus Shale
Phenomenon addresses issues related to
mineral rights and natural gas drilling.
Presenter is John J. Interval ’86, a
certified petroleum geologist. He has spent
his career performing geological engineering
evaluations for drilling programs, including
computerized stratification models, well
completion designs, production plans, frac
designs and geological mapping for all types
of well drilling.
With operations considerations in mind,
Interval will discuss, in an open forum,
logical divisions for the various rock layers
that comprise Pennsylvania’s geology and
the proper terminology for separating these
units.
The seminar is approved for continuing
legal education by the Pennsylvania
Continuing Legal Education Board. The course
will meet from 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. May 20. Cost
is $99; lunch will follow the presentation and
is included in the fee.
Both programs require advance
registration. For more information or to
register, call 724-597-7401 or e-mail
manderino@calu.edu .
To learn more about the Institute for Public
Policy and its professional development and
training programs, visit http://institutes.calu.
edu/ilpp . Or visit the Cal U homepage,
www.calu.edu , look for “Information for …
Business and Community,” and click on
“Institute for Law and Public Policy.”

igh school students with an
interest in technology can
attend the Cal U Robotics or
Graphic Communications and
Multimedia camps offered through the
Office of Lifelong Learning.
The summer sessions will be held
from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. June 20-24.
Both programs are designed for
students entering grades 9-12. Robotics
campers must have completed prealgebra class and achieved a grade of
C or higher.
The robotics program includes
hands-on experience in computer-aided
drafting (CAD) and prototyping,
analog and computer-aided machining
(CAM), electronics and circuits,
microcontrollers and programming,
and assembly and testing.
Participants will build a robot from
start to finish, which they will be able
to keep.
The graphic communication and
multimedia program will provide
hands-on experiences utilizing your
digital camera, developing a story
board, creating motion graphics and
more. Participants will leave with a
physical book and a digital book after
working extensively with digital video
and photography, motion graphics,
screen printing and offset
programming.
Registration can be completed in
person or by mail. Forms are available
by calling 724-938-5840 or online —
visit www.calu.edu/academics , then

Yuval Krimer (left) and Dr. Mark Bronakowski work on a project at last summer’s Cal U
Robotics Camp.

click “Lifelong Learning Programs”
and look for “High School Camps.”
The fee is $199 for each camp,
payable by check, cash, money order,
Master Card, Visa or Discover.
Payment must accompany the
registration form. Checks should be
made payable to “California University
of Pennsylvania.”
Completed registration forms
should be mailed to: California

University Office of Lifelong Learning,
250 University Avenue, Box 12,
California, PA 15419.
For students too young to attend
these camps, the University offers
SEEK, the popular Summer
Educational Enrichment for Kids
program. Open to students in grades
1-8, SEEK’s two sessions will take
place June 20-24 and July 18-22 on the
Cal U campus.

T-shirt Sales Boost Scholarship Fund

T

he Student Government Association recently
presented a $2,000 check to President Angelo
Armenti, Jr. to support the Ryan Jerico Student
Leadership Scholarship.
The funds were generated through the sale of “Armenti’s
Army” T-shirts, a project begun by Ryan Jerico ’09 during
his student days.

“Armenti’s Army was formed in 2008 as the ultimate
student fan group,” Jerico told the Cal U Review last year.
Jerico now is coordinator of student and young alumni
events in the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual
Fund.
This is the SGA’s third contribution to the scholarship.
Members expect it to reach endowed status next spring.

Pottery Sale
Begins Today
Ben Eisaman sets up pottery
pieces for the annual Cal U
spring Student Pottery Sale, to
be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
today and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
tomorrow and Wednesday in
the Ceramics Studio, near
Vulcan Hall. The sale gives
members of the Cal U and local
communities a chance to shop
for unique, reasonably priced,
handcrafted gifts ideal for
Mother’s Day on Sunday.
Handmade items for sale
include mugs, bowls, pitchers,
jars and vases of all sizes. For
more information, contact
Professor Richard
Miecznikowski at 724-938-4083
or Cal U’s Department of Art
and Design at 724-938-4182.

The California Journal is published weekly by California University of Pennsylvania, a member of The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Dr. Angelo Armenti, Jr.
University President

Dr. Charles Mance
Vice President for University Technology Services

Craig Butzine
Interim Vice President for Marketing and University Relations

Geraldine M. Jones
Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs

Ron Huiatt
Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations

Christine Kindl
Editor

Dr. Lenora Angelone
Vice President for Student Affairs

Robert Thorn
Interim Vice President for Administration and Finance

Bruce Wald, Wendy Mackall, Jeff Bender
Writers

Office of Communications and Public Relations

250 University Avenue

California, PA 15419

724-938-4195

wald@calu.edu

The Journal is printed on paper made from trees harvested under the principles of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative ( www.SFIprogram.org ).

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