clarion
u n i v e r s i t y

m a g a z i n e

winter 2014

We’re all that.
And ready to own it.
Meet our new brand.
Hooray for
Homecoming

Clarion’s Own

Monuments Man
Putting

innovation
to Work

Clarion university
Clarion Magazine
magazine
Fall 2014

1

Share Your Heritage withClarion

easiest

IT’S THE
MAJOR GIFT
YOU CAN MAKE TO US.

that’s not

AND
THE BEST PART.
“We met at Clarion, we trained for our 36-year teaching careers at
Clarion, and we made many lifetime friends at Clarion. For those
reasons, we remembered Clarion University in our will. We owe
much to Clarion, and it’s our chance to give back.”
MAKE CLARION UNIVERSITY PART OF YOUR HERITAGE BY INCLUDING
CLARION UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION, INC., IN YOUR ESTATE PLANS.
Remembering Clarion in your will builds our long-term financial strength, and it’s
the easiest major gift you can make. Why?
IT’S REVOCABLE
If your plans or circumstances change, you can easily revise the bequest.
Richard and Nancy (Coax) Malacarne
Both Clarion University Alumni Class of 1963

IT’S SIMPLE
You can set up your gift with a single paragraph in your will, or a simple one-page
amendment (a “codicil”).
IT’S FLEXIBLE
You can leave us a specific asset, or a share in your estate’s net remainder. Your
bequest can support a specific program or whatever needs are most relevant when
your gift is received.

2

JOHN MUMFORD ’73, ’76
DIRECTOR OF PLANNED GIVING
814-393-1926
JMUMFORD@CUF-INC.ORG
WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

To learn more about making Clarion University part of your heritage
by naming Clarion University Foundation, Inc., in your estate plans,
visit WWW.CLARION.PLANNEDGIVING.ORG.

clarion

w i nte r 2 0 14
Volume 1
Number 1

departments
2

features

Letters

4 Clarion Digest
Beauty matters – especially when it’s the focus of
Clarion’s annual cultural series.
Plus: Clarion artists on exhibit • Faculty make
news • Clarion serves veterans • and more

12

Meet Our New Brand
We took a hard look at what distinguishes us from
our competitors. It all comes down to three words:
Courageous. Confident. Clarion.

20

Clarion’s Own Monuments Man
A modest Clarion grad – Steve Kovalyak (’42) – traveled
4,400 miles from his alma mater to help save the
cultural history of Europe.

24

Innovation Incubation

10 Homecoming 2014
34 Sports Roundup
Kristin Day makes a splash in the diving well and
in the classroom. Plus: Saying goodbye – and
hello – to Clarion coaches • Camp Kazakhstan •
Memorial Stadium’s metamorphosis • and more
40 Alumni News & Class Notes
48 Courageous Endeavors
Clarion gave her the confidence to be a great
teacher – and the courage to launch an entirely
different second career.

It’s all under one roof: Clarion’s commitment to
industry-academic partnerships that strengthen our
regional economy – and students’ résumés.

12

30

Broadcasting
Success
Clarion students get their
first real experience – and,
often, their first big break–
at Clarion’s professionalcaliber radio and TV
stations.

On the Cover
Courageous: Abhijit Shinde (‘11) traveled from
India to Clarion to earn his bachelor’s degree in
international relations.
confident: He is now pursuing an MBA at Clarion.

Clarion university
magazine

1

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education
Board of Governors
Chair: Guido M. Pichini
Vice Chair: Laura E. Ellsworth
Vice Chair: Ronald G. Henry

CLARION
UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE

President: Karen M. Whitney
Executive Editor: Tina Horner
Co-Editors: Rich Herman (sports); David Love (’86, ‘87)
Design: Mind Over Media
Contributors: Chris Rossetti, Michelle Port,
S.C. Nolan (’14)
Photographers: Rich Herman, David Love (’86, ’87),
George Powers (’81), Carol Roth, Jason Strohm (’01,
MFA ’05), Brett Whitling
Address comments and questions to:
Clarion University Magazine
Center for Advancement
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
840 Wood St.
Clarion, PA 16214
Email: alumni@clarion.edu
Visit Clarion University on the Web at

Sen. Richard Alloway II
Rep. Matthew E. Baker
Jennifer G. Branstetter, designee for Gov. Corbett
Gov. Tom Corbett
Marie Conley
Carolyn C. Dumaresq
Christopher H. Franklin
Todd Garrett
Chelsea E. Getsy
Rep. Michael K. Hanna
Jonathan B. Mack
David M. Maser
Joseph F. McGinn
Robert S. Taylor
Aaron A. Walton
Sen. John T. Yudichak
Council of Trustees
Chair: James L. Kifer (’83)
Acting Vice Chair: Howard H. Shreckengost (’83)
Vice Chair: J.D. Dunbar (’77, M.S. ’79)
Secretary: Milissa Bauer (’84)
Dr. Syed R. Ali-Zaidi
Susanne A. Burns
The Honorable R. Lee James
The Honorable Donna Oberlander (’91)
Randy Seitz (’09)
Jeffrey J. Szumigale (’82)
Darren Young, student trustee

www.clarion.edu.
Clarion University Magazine is published by the
Division for University Advancement for alumni,
families of current students and friends of Clarion
University. Alumni information is also located at www.
clarion.edu/alumni.
Clarion University of Pennsylvania is committed
to equal employment and equal educational
opportunities for all qualified individuals regardless
of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, affectional
or sexual orientation, age, disability or other
classifications that are protected under Title IX of
the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, and other pertinent state and
federal laws and regulations. Direct equal opportunity
inquiries to: Assistant to the President of Social
Equity, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, 216 Carrier
Administration Building, Clarion, PA 16214-1232. 814393-2109.

Alumni Association Board of Directors
President: David Bailey (’65)
President-Elect: Deborah Eckelberger (’07)
Secretary: Jean Mills (’59, ’74)
Treasurer: Jonathan Catanzarita (’11)
Floyd Barger (’58)
Daniel Bartoli (’81)
Amanda Blackhurst (‘06)
Angela Brown (’80)
Jeffrey Douthett (’79)
Merrilyn Dunlap (’93)
Elisabeth Fulmer (’64, ’80, ’97)
Lee Grosch (’62)
Sandra Jarecki (’69)
Terri (Tiki) Kahle (’87)
Nancy Lendyak (’75)
Ronald Lucas (’82)
Ashley McCauley (’06)
David Reed (’09)
Adam Ruffner (’06)
Virginia Vasko (‘88)
Daniel Zangrilli (‘07)
Ashton Simonette
Eagle Ambassadors President
Karen M. Whitney, ex officio
President, Clarion University
Laura King (’09), ex officio
Executive Director, Clarion University Alumni
Association

2

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

editor’s note
Dear Clarion family,
In your hands you hold the debut issue of
the redesigned Clarion University Magazine.
The fresh, modern and energetic look of
the magazine is intended to reflect those
qualities that separate and elevate our
alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends:
Courageous. Confident. Clarion.
During the past couple of years, the
university has been taking a good, hard
look at itself, understanding what we do
better than other institutions of higher
learning. What we’ve learned is that our
family is uniquely comprised of people
possessing grit – the courage to challenge
ourselves to reach goals – and grace –
the ability to adapt and thrive in those
circumstances.
In the pages ahead, you’ll read
about an alumnus whose courage and
confidence earned him a place in history,
and the many alumni who, from their
first days on campus, bravely jumped in
to take advantage of Clarion’s unlimited
opportunities and, as a direct result, are
enjoying career success. You’ll learn how
the university is contributing to science
and to the local and regional economy, as
well as the educational resources available
to students through those contributions.
Perhaps you’ll see familiar faces
(maybe even your own) as you peruse
Homecoming 2014 photos.
We hope that as you read, you will see
yourselves in the stories, because YOU are
Clarion. Your grit and grace have made us
who we are today, and we’re very proud of
that.
Tina Horner
Executive Editor

letter from the president

Dear friends,
I hope you love the new Clarion University Magazine!
As you know, Clarion has been in rapid change mode for a few years, and it is nice to
begin seeing the fruits of our labor, including the magazine you now hold in your hands.
Redesigned and reimagined, the new publication more strongly reflects Clarion and its
mission, vision, values and goals. So does our new brand, which captures our inspiring
story in three big words: Courageous. Confident. Clarion.
In typical Clarion fashion, rather than just saying that at Clarion we understand, respect
and nurture acts of courage, and engender confidence, this magazine will show you,
through the stories of our alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends. The stories in this
issue are of Clarion courage in the face of war, the pursuit of scientific inquiry, and the
achievement of excellence in one’s chosen profession.
These stories and others are not surprising because our very founding in 1867 was
an act of courage. Just two years after the end of the Civil War, the Clarion community
came together and founded what today we call Clarion University. I marvel at that
accomplishment and our 147-year history of learning, teaching and sharing.
Fly Eagles Fly!

Karen M. Whitney
President, Clarion University

Say

cheese!

More than a few folks frolicked in the photo
booth as Clarion launched its new brand at
a fun-filled community celebration. Read
about it on page 12.
Clarion university
magazine

3

beauty matters
Mary Seifert’s passion for learning
and the arts continues with a bold
exploration of beauty.

Mary L. Seifert, whose rich family
history with Clarion University can be
traced to 1907, loved music and the arts.
As an investment in young people, she
endowed a culture and lecture series at
Clarion University to ignite the passion for
learning that she encouraged. Through
that endowment, the Mary L. Seifert
Cultural Series Endowment of the Clarion
University Foundation, Inc., was established
to provide the Clarion community with
cultural experiences that inspire learning
through thoughtful discussions.
Past series explored the themes
“Realities of Race” and “In God We Trust?”
and brought to Clarion the late Dr. Maya
Angelou, Spike Lee and a weeklong visit by
Tibetan monks.
This year, the Mary L. Seifert Cultural
Series will explore “Beauty Matters,” a
theme that encourages us to explore
beauty and the ways in which beauty
matters. The theme is expansive, with the
potential to include topics as diverse as
the environment, the body, the arts or the
social context. It opens up questions of
values, of choices, of perception and of
critiques.
The series kicked off Oct. 28 with a visit
by author, poet and disability advocate
Stephen Kuusisto, who discussed his
memoir, “Planet of the Blind,” and how
he views the world around him. Kuusisto
has been featured on shows such as “The
Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Dateline NBC” and
NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.”
Chinese acrobats visited Nov. 6,
performing a routine of contortions, foot
juggling, plate spinning, Chinese yo-yo
and group acrobatics. They presented
information about the Chinese culture and
customs.
Spring events will include a visit by Stacy
Nadeau, one of six women who, in the
summer of 2005, made national news when
they appeared on a Times Square billboard,
dressed only in their underwear. While
other nearby billboards featured actresses
and supermodels, this one, promoting Dove
brand products, promoted “real women
with real curves.”
Visit www.clarion.edu/seifertseries for
information.

4

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

campus news I clarion digest
Living Artfully

The art department’s exhibition, “Working
Artists,” which combines artwork from
faculty and alumni of the art department,
will run through Dec. 12 in the university
gallery at Carlson Library. “The idea of
‘Working Artists’ is to show the university
and community that the alumni are still
continuing art, even after graduation,”
said Melissa Kuntz, the art professor who
coordinated and will participate in the
exhibition. Each Clarion faculty artist chose
two or three alumni to contribute. Included
in the exhibit are:

Faculty Artists
Jeremy Boyle, Vicky Clark, Kaersten ColvinWoodruff, Mark Franchino, Gary Greenburg,
Melissa Kuntz, Jim Rose.

Alumni Artists

head of the

Marian Barber (’10), Jesse Caggiano (’13),
Lori Grunick (’95), Mackenzie Lenhart (’14),
Sundas Matloob, Rick Minard (’97), Anna
Murray (’10), Marisa Lee Norwood (’13),
Dan Perryman (’08), Kathy Rhoades (’95),
Jennifer Rockage (’06), Stacey Roy (’14),
Nicole (Herzing ’05) Simpson, Michael Stek
(’96), Jason Strohm (’01, MFA ’05), Nicholas
Sullivan, Adele (Boring ’05) Vensel, Jacob
Yale (’04).

class

Programs rise
to the top
CoBAIS receives
prestigious accreditation
The College of Business Administration
and Information Sciences received
reaccreditation by the Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
International, a prestigious designation
bestowed on only five percent of schools
offering a business curriculum. AACSB
analyzes faculty qualifications, research
and a commitment to stay current on best
practices in business. AACSB also looks
at faculty research to ensure they are
staying current with issues in the field, as
well as how schools respond to changes
in the marketplace. Innovation and trend
setting are two important factors in
reaccreditation. “AACSB International is
the most rigorous accrediting body in the
field and has the highest standards in the
industry,” said David Hartley, associate
dean of the college.

Professor Emerita
Catherine Joslyn

Education programs earn
state certification
The Pennsylvania Department of Education
has recertified Clarion’s professional
educator programs, and the university
will continue to be licensed to prepare
students to become teachers. In addition
to the required certification, Clarion’s
education programs are among 19
Pennsylvania teacher preparation programs
to have earned accreditation through
the National Council for Accreditation of
Teacher Education. “It’s a professional
acknowledgement, on a national basis,
that we have an exemplary program,”
said Bruce Smith, Ph.D., chair of Clarion’s
education department.

Clarion makes ‘Best
Colleges’ list
According to MONEY magazine’s website,
Clarion is one of the best colleges for your
money! It’s great news for us, but what
does it mean? MONEY looked at 1,500
four-year colleges, less than half of which
met criteria for key positive indicators, such
as an above-average six-year graduation
rate. MONEY then ranked on 18 factors
in three categories: quality of education,
affordability and outcomes.

Clarion university
magazine

5

faculty news I clarion digest
in the

interim

McAleer puts
skills to work for
Venango College.

Colleen A. McAleer, Ph.D., is serving as
interim executive dean of Venango College,
Oil City. The position became vacant with the
departure of Christopher Reber, now president
of the Community College of Beaver County.
McAleer will serve on an interim basis while a
national search is conducted.
“This is an opportunity for me to
provide leadership for Venango College, a
college with faculty and staff who have a
tremendous amount of vision, energy, vitality
and enthusiasm for a quality educational
experience,” said McAleer, who currently chairs
the department of communication sciences
and disorders.
“Colleen McAleer brings experience and
skills to the position that will enable Venango
College to continue being an integral part
of both Clarion University and the Oil City
community,” said Ronald Nowaczyk, provost.
McAleer started at Clarion in 1982, rising to

full professor in 1990 and department chair
in 1999. Under McAleer’s leadership, the
departmental undergraduate enrollment
increased from fewer than 100 students
to more than 300 students. Enrollment in
the speech language pathology graduate
program has also grown significantly.
McAleer guided the department through
two major specialized accreditation
reviews.
McAleer holds a bachelor’s degree in
psychology from Penn State University, a
master’s degree in speech pathology and
audiology from Clarion, and a doctorate
in audiology from Kent State University. A
36-year member of the American SpeechLanguage-Hearing Association and a 32year member of both Pennsylvania Speech
and Hearing Association and American
Auditory Society, she has been licensed to
practice audiology and speech pathology
in Pennsylvania since 1984.

More Faculty News
Linda Lillard, Ph.D., associate professor
of library science, held an invited Skype
presentation for librarians at Nazarbayev
University Library, Astana, Kazakhstan.
The presentation was on embedded
librarianship, the focus of her research.
Embedded librarians have a presence in
an online course and can provide pointof-need library services for students at
a distance from campus. The librarians
at Nazarbayev University sought Lillard
for her expertise and insight in the field.
Lillard has been working with embedded
librarianship for 15 years, and the students
in her Virtual Services class at Clarion had
the opportunity to be embedded in classes
at Central Michigan University last spring.
Brenda Sanders Dédé, Ph.D., associate
vice president for academic affairs, was
presented with the National Conference on
Blacks in Higher Education’s 2014 Public
Service Award. The award goes to those
whose public lives and careers have been
superlative with regard to addressing
policy issues relating to the welfare of black
Americans. Dédé is a charter and current
member of AABHE. At Clarion, Dédé is
the student advocate/ombudsman and
has mentored many students. On campus,
she is involved with Alpha Kappa Alpha

6

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

sorority, Lift Every Voice Gospel Choir,
NAACP, Brothers and Sisters of Christ,
GEMS, Martin Luther King Jr. celebration
and Juneteenth celebration. Her service
to the Clarion community is extensive,
including being an elected member and
vice president of Clarion Borough Council.
Jeanne Slattery, Ph.D., professor of
psychology, was reelected public interest
board chair of Pennsylvania Psychological
Association. In this position, she will serve
on PPA’s board of directors; oversee
six committees (ethics, multicultural,
gerontology, forensics and criminal justice,
colleague assistance, and disaster response
network); and serve on the board for
Pennsylvania Psychological Foundation.
Slattery was also recently appointed as
representative from the board of directors
to PPA’s executive committee. She has
taught at Clarion University since 1984.
Robert S. Balough, Ph.D., professor of
economics, and Rose M. Logue, director
of administrative services, are recipients
of the 2014 American Association of
University Administrators Jerome L. Neuner
Award for Excellence in ProfessionalScholarly Publication for their article,
“Strategies for Successful Implementation

of Responsibility Centered Budgeting
in Mid-Sized Universities.” The award is
given annually to the author(s) judged to
have written the overall finest manuscript
published during the preceding year in the
Journal of Higher Education Management.
Selection criteria includes overall
intellectual, scholarly and professional
quality, as well as the extent to which the
manuscript advances discussion of the
current issues, problems and challenges
facing higher education.
Greg Clary, Ph.D., professor of
rehabilitation and human services, was
one of 19 delegates to visit Cuba in May
as part of a delegation from the Council
on Rehabilitation and Education. The
purpose of the visit was to examine social
justice and ethical issues in health and
rehabilitation in Cuba. The delegation
interacted with a variety of Cuban physical
and behavioral health care professionals,
students, community activists, artists,
university faculty and government officials.
Visits were conducted to a comprehensive
community health care facility, mental
health clinic, a school for deaf and hard-ofhearing students, and a regular education
elementary school. Environmental and
sustainable agriculture initiatives were also
conducted through site visits.

building progress I clarion digest

Digging Clarion’s
future
Construction and
renovation ready
Clarion for the
future.

On Tap for Tippin

Starting in spring 2015, Waldo S. Tippin
Gymnasium and Natatorium will be
transformed into a new, multi-use space
that will better serve intercollegiate
athletics, fitness, nutrition and academics.
The $41.9 million project will include
the construction of 49,000 square feet,
and the existing 112,000 square feet will
be extensively renovated. Inside, the
structure will include a new natatorium,
and the existing gym will be transformed
into an arena. Outside, plans call for
removing much of Tippin’s brick exterior
and replacing it with glass to open it up
to the community. The project is funded
entirely through $41.9 million in state
capital appropriations, and the budget
also includes an additional $3 million
for furniture, fixtures and equipment.
Pennsylvania Department of General
Services will manage the project, which
will be done in six sequences, so use of the
building can continue during renovation.
The university is hoping for a fall 2017
completion. A new recreational pool,
funded separately, will be attached to the
Student Recreation Center.

A Better Becht

In its 100-year life span, Becht Hall –
formerly Navarre Hall – has been a
residence hall, dining hall and home to
various programs and offices. Currently
under extensive renovation, Becht will
reopen in fall 2015 as a Center for Student
Success, housing Admissions, Student
Financial Services, Registrar, Residence Life,
Health and Counseling Center, Learning
Technology Center, Career Development
Center, Judicial Affairs and International
Programs. The exterior will maintain the
original California Mission Revival-style
architecture originally designed by Allison
& Allison architects from Pittsburgh in
the early 20th century, with a pantile
roof, Spanish gables and light colored
brick. The building’s wood frame is being
replaced with a steel frame, and Clarion’s
first geothermal heat pumps, which take
advantage of underground geothermal
conditions for heating in winter and cooling
in summer, are being installed. Construction
is being completed in accordance
with LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification
guidelines.

The Suite Life

Construction has begun on two new, suitestyle student housing units, which will
replace the 43-year-old Wilkinson and Nair
traditional residence halls, which will be
demolished. The same 728-bed capacity is
being maintained. The $61 million project,
being built along both sides of Main Street,
east of Still Hall and West of Wilkinson, will
include university-related services such
as the university bookstore, Starbucks,
a university theater and food service
on the ground floors. The buildings are
intentionally designed to complement and
support Clarion Borough. Clarion University
Foundation, Inc., in partnership with Clarion
University, has developed and is building
the project, funded entirely by student
housing fees. The first unit will open in fall
2015, and the other will open in spring 2016.

Clarion university
magazine

7

Best for Vets

Veterans and activeduty service members
face unique challenges
as students. Clarion
eases the transition
from military service to
higher education through
multiple resources, from
innovative academic
programs to social
support systems like
our Student Veterans
Association. How are
we doing? Let’s see the
numbers.

38

Our online MBA program ranked
38th in the nation in U.S. News &
World Report’s list of the best online
programs for veterans.

28

Our online M.Ed. program ranked
28th in the nation in U.S. News &
World Report’s list of the best online
programs for veterans.

100%

of Clarion’s academic programs are
approved under the GI Bill.

7

Clarion has been named a Military
Friendly School for the seventh year
in a row, an honor earned by only 20%
of the nation’s colleges, universities
and trade schools.

Student journalists cover
Flight 93 service in Shanksville

Clarion University student media members Amerigo Allegretto, Kyra Ammon and Matthew Catrillo
shoot video Sept. 11 for a news report on the Flight 93 National Memorial.

8

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

Three student journalists traveled to
Shanksville, Pa., the site of the Sept.
11, 2001, crash of Flight 93, to cover
the Flight 93 National Memorial’s 13th
commemorative service.
Amerigo Allegretto and Kyra Ammon,
editor in chief and features editor,
respectively, of The Clarion Call student
newspaper, with Matthew Catrillo of CU-TV,
Clarion’s television station, traveled to the
Somerset County site with The Clarion Call
advisor Laurie S. Miller, Ph.D. The students
obtained National Park Service press
credentials and teamed up to cover the
event.
This year’s commemoration was
highlighted by the first public display of
the Congressional Gold Medal, which was
presented to Flight 93 National Memorial
by U.S. House and Senate leaders. Dennis
Hastert, house speaker at the time of the
terror attacks, delivered remarks along
with Gov. Tom Corbett and Gordon Felt,
president of the Families of Flight 93.

passhe news I clarion digest
PASSHE adopts policy for
protection of minors
Dedicated to the safety and security of
the thousands of preschool, elementary,
middle and high school-aged children
who participate in programs held on
Pennsylvania State System of Higher
Education university campuses and other
properties each year, the PASSHE Board of
Governors has adopted a comprehensive
policy on the protection of minors, effective
Dec. 31. The new policy combines existing
practices with new measures designed to
ensure the safest possible environment
for all children on campus. The policy also
integrates provisions included in new and
anticipated state laws intended to protect
children from physical and sexual abuse.
“This is a very serious issue for every
university in every state in the country,
and one we are addressing in the most
comprehensive way possible,” said state
system Chancellor Frank T. Brogan. “We
have conducted a broad review of policies
nationally in order to identify best practices
and have integrated those with state and
federal laws to develop a very strong
policy. We are dedicated to protecting
minors on campus.”
The new policy will apply not only to
PASSHE administrators, faculty, coaches,
staff and students, but also to outside
contractors and volunteers involved with
university-sponsored programs or who
come onto campus to offer programs
independent of the university.
The policy includes a detailed “code
of conduct” that spells out expectations
for everyone on campus who works
with children. All adults or program staff
who work with minors of any age will
be required to be trained on policies
and issues related to minor safety and
security. They also will be subject to
criminal background screenings. Program
administrators of nonuniversity groups will
be required to certify that they and their
employees have satisfactorily completed
required training before being allowed to
use university facilities.
To view the new policy, go to:
www.passhe.edu/protectionofminors.

spotlight on:

Bachelor of
Science in
Nursing
Clarion student joins PASSHE
Board of Governors
The state senate has confirmed Todd
Garrett, president of the Clarion University
of Pennsylvania Student Senate, to serve
on the Pennsylvania State System of Higher
Education’s Board of Governors.
Garrett, of Mercer, joins the 20-member
board, which has overall responsibility
for planning and coordinating the
development and operation of PASSHE,
which comprises Pennsylvania’s 14 public
universities. The board establishes broad
fiscal, personnel and educational policies
under which the universities operate.
Garrett, a junior political science major
with a 3.6 GPA, expects to graduate in May
2015. He was elected university Student
Senate president last May and is a member
of the Clarion Students Association Board
of Directors. He also is a board member of
the Newman Club and Clarion Students for
Life and previously was secretary of the
Campus Ministry Board. He is a member of
Young Conservatives of America.
He is the recipient of numerous
scholarships and has attended various
student leadership conferences, including
the Students for Life National Conference
and the National Youth Leadership State
Conference. He is currently an intern for
Judge Quinn in Clarion.

Why it’s hot
This brand-new residential program
met its enrollment target – 30
students – in its first year.
What it’s got
Approved last January, the
program integrates high-impact
educational practices such as
clinical experiences, collaborative
assignments and a capstone
project. Simulation laboratories,
volunteer experiences in health
care agencies, and creative,
hands-on experiences such as
live standardized patient labs and
research studies are in place in the
freshman through junior years as
components of clinical learning
to support senior-level clinical
preparation. Capstone courses are
offered in the final two semesters
of the program and will result in a
completed research project.
What’s next
Slated to grow to 75 new students
by 2016, the program is offered
through the newly organized
School of Health Sciences and
taught on the Clarion campus.

Clarion university
magazine

9

homecoming 2014

Senior secondary
education major
Andrew Bourizk and
senior accounting major
Stephanie Warner
reigned as Homecoming
king and queen.

Alumni and friends celebrated Clarion
University under warm and sunny
skies Sept. 27. Cheerleaders and Ernie
the Eagle upped the Golden Eagle
spirit as visitors awaited the start of
the Autumn Leaf Festival Tournament
of Leaves parade.

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WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

The family of Tony
Banner presented
a check toward the
Tony Banner Memorial
Scholarship during
halftime of the
football game.

Alumni voted via
Facebook for whom
they wanted to see
undergo the ice
bucket challenge.
The cold shower
was awarded to
Todd Pfannestiel,
Ph.D., dean of the
College of Arts,
Education and
Sciences, who
donned a wrestling
singlet for the
occasion.

Clarion university
magazine

11

Chelsea Signorino
Senior
Communication Major
She’s confident her Clarion
experiences – from an
internship to leadership roles
to sports anchor on CU-TV –
will bring her goal into reach:
working in community relations
for a sports team.

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ur ageous
o
C

.

confident.
clarion.

We promise!

There’s more to
our brand than a
tagline. Read on.

it’s

who

WE are.

rising to a challenge?

that’s courageous.

working hard to achieve it?
that’s confident.

it’s why you chose clarion.
And why our

new brand speaks volumes.
Clarion university
magazine

13

It was a sunny, unseasonably warm day in late September,
more reminiscent of summer than fall, when Clarion University
officially unveiled its new tagline. Printed on a 10-by-12-foot banner
and covered with canvas, the tagline’s unveiling was to be the
highlight of the day, a celebratory launch of Clarion’s new brand.
Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately, as it turned out – a series of
“canvas malfunctions” resulted in premature unveilings: The canvas
kept sliding off the banner prior to the big reveal, almost as if the
new tagline couldn’t wait to make its debut.

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WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

1

Tradition of Excellence. Clarion
supports an environment of
academic excellence, marked by
dedicated faculty and innovative
programs, that motivates students to meet
and transcend the challenges of the 21st
century.

Brand
Promises
What is it about Clarion
that matters most?
Our constituents have
high expectations of
Clarion – and we have
every intention of
meeting them.

As the canvas began to drop for a third
time, the Golden Eagles cheerleaders, who
had been entertaining and conversing
with the crowd, jumped into action and
formation. Before the canvas could hit the
ground again, the cheerleaders swooped
into place and flanked the banner, making
sure no further inadvertent unveilings
would occur. The cheerleaders, saving the
day, held the canvas in place until Clarion
President Karen Whitney completed the
official unveiling. All was right with the
world. In fact, the cheerleading squad
embodied the just-revealed tagline:
Courageous. Confident. Clarion.
These Clarion students felt confident
they could make a difference, had the
courage to take action, and achieved
results that proved their instincts correct.
They displayed grit and grace. That is the
essence of Clarion – and of our new brand.

2

Courageous Vision.
Clarion creates powerful
partnerships with business
and industry, serving as
a catalyst for economic innovation and
ensuring that our graduates are well
prepared to meet the needs of the region’s
employers.

T

he minor hiccup with the banner did
nothing to deter from an otherwise
festive day. Hundreds of alumni
and friends attended the brand
launch during the parade reception, which
ended with the reveal of the tagline in the
parking lot of Hart Chapel. Invited guests
enjoyed refreshments, camaraderie with
former classmates and conversations with
representatives of Clarion and its student
organizations. Everyone shared a sense of
excitement of what the day would bring.
The excitement did not end with the
reception and unveiling. Throughout the
day, the new brand was evident: during
the parade; as part of Eagle Endzone, a
special location where alumni could view
the homecoming game; during the Fifth
Quarter, a concert that brought alumni and
friends of all ages together to hear a local
band, just to name a few.
The day was an opportunity for alumni,

3

Inspiring Confidence.
Clarion is driven by a deep
sense of responsibility to
our students. Engaged
teaching and mentoring empowers
students to think and explore outside
their comfort zones – the foundation for
reaching their full potential.

4

Transformative
Experiences. Clarion
delivers innovative, handson learning experiences
on and beyond campus, ensuring that
students graduate with the skills to fulfill
workplace demands and the drive and
ingenuity to leverage those skills over a
lifetime of success.

friends, students, faculty and staff to tell
their own Courageous. Confident.
Clarion. story. A video crew, in “manon-the-street” style, interviewed dozens
of individuals who talked a bit about
themselves in order to create testimonials
that will inspire the next generation of
Clarion students. Individuals throughout the
weekend were given the same opportunity
and were encouraged to share their stories
on a website designed specifically to
capture new success stories for the launch
of the new brand and website. At press
time more than three dozen individuals had
shared their stories and photos via email.
(A video of the day’s events is available at
clarion.edu/CUbrandlaunch.)
Continued on page 18

Clarion university
magazine

15

telling

Jeff James (’90)

Special agent, U.S.
Secret Service
“At Clarion, I was never allowed
to take a shortcut, never allowed
to make an excuse. To see that
attitude of accountability
and responsibility – that you’re
responsible for your actions and your
work – stuck with me.”

Jessica Grills

Junior • Secondary
Education Major
“My job as a community assistant in
Nair Hall has changed everything. I’m
a natural introvert, but this job has
made me blossom as a person. My
newly found confidence has
carried over into my academic studies
and pushed me to do the best
that I can.”

Jamie Wolf Jackel (’07)
PH.D. in
molecular genetics
“How could I, a girl coming from such
a small school, succeed with students
from large universities? What I truly
found was that Clarion prepared
me on so many levels. I learned
to think critically and was extremely
well prepared for a graduate career.”

Nicholas Essock

Senior • Speech
Pathology Major
“Clarion has shaped me into the
person whom I strived to become. I
have taken on leadership positions,
learned about a wide array of
subjects, and even created my own
student organizations. My professors
and fellow students have both
challenged and inspired me to
better myself.”

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WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

our

story
President Whitney
shares her vision for
the Clarion brand.
In today’s increasingly competitive
marketplace, it is critical that Clarion
convey its true character to the world in
a compelling and consistent manner. We
must distinctively define the university
in the minds of students who might
attend and faculty who might join Clarion
University. We must prove our value to the
constituents who influence our funding
and the donors and friends who give
generously of their time and resources.
We must promote our benefits to the
businesses and organizations whose
partnerships are so vital to our success.
And we must continue to be the Clarion
that our alumni – who know us best –
chose for their educations.
Our new brand – a platform for creating
a cohesive, consistent image of Clarion
in the marketplace – helps to ensure that
Clarion University is well positioned for
the future. To develop our new brand,
we embarked on an intensive, yearlong
research and branding process to better
understand how to communicate more

precisely and powerfully what makes us
who we are and how that is different than
other universities. Countless hours of
discussion and the surveying of more than
2,000 members of the university family led
us to a defining ethos – Courageous.
Confident. Clarion. – that embodies
the hardworking and collaborative way we
approach our lives and work.
Our brand is more than a tagline. It is a
translation of our competitive advantages
into words and images that authentically
and persuasively capture the essence of
Clarion University. You can see the Clarion
brand at work, in the newly designed
magazine you hold in your hands – and in
your own Clarion story.
—Karen M. Whitney, President

ur ageous
o
C

Partnering with Clarion to develop our new brand was Mind
Over Media, a Pittsburgh-based marketing and media company.
We sat down with Kristen Creighton, vice president for research
and brand strategy at Mind Over Media, to talk about the power
of branding in today’s competitive marketplace.

What is branding?
A brand is all the associations the audience
has with the institution. The goal is to
influence the associations people have
about you. Rather than be passive and let
people learn about us in ways we can’t
control, we put the message out, focusing
on the benefits and positives of the
institution that we want people to have at
the top of their minds.
Why should Clarion periodically
re-brand itself?
An institution is always evolving. You want
to make sure you’re keeping ahead of the
word on the street. A lot of times we find
institutions have a time period when they’ll
get a lot of recognition for something.
Over time that changes, but the perception
lingers. Re-branding is about staying
ahead of your reputation, making sure that
the messages you’re putting out and the
channels where you’re putting them will
have the most impact.
How often should re-branding occur?
It’s a question of re-branding vs. refreshing
a brand. An ideal situation is that you have
a brand that can stick with you for a long
time, 15 to 20 years. Sometimes a brand
doesn’t keep pace with the changes that
are occurring. It’s nice to re-evaluate every
five years – that’s enough time to measure
progress. At that time, the decision might
be made to refresh the brand and evolve
the messaging, or sometimes it’s time to
do something new because of a different
direction for the institution. Clarion hit
it right on the mark. Its brand had been
around for a while; it did its job. Then the
institution really started changing.

confident.

.

Why Branding?
Why Now?

clarion.

Why do organizations use a firm such
as Mind Over Media to conduct a
branding study?
Partly it’s because of our national
experience. We have done this kind of
work with more than 250 colleges and
universities over our 30-plus-year history,
so not only do we have a tried-and-true
process, but we also have a good sense of
how branding can bring people together
and impact an institution’s success. Also,
it’s important to have an objective party
do this kind of work. We put a lot of effort
into making it a participatory process that
gets to the heart of a university’s authentic
strengths, and as an outside entity
we aren’t encumbered by any internal
affiliation or bias.

What did you learn?
Something that rose to the top was this
idea of persistence, perseverance and
hard work. It’s what President Whitney
describes as a true sense of grit. Another
very important attribute was the sense of
the Clarion community being a friendly,
trustworthy, caring group of people. We
felt that marrying those two qualities really
spoke to a benefit of being at Clarion:
The university is very friendly, and it’s
proud of that, but more importantly it
offers strong, relevant academic programs
that attract hardworking people. Clarion
has a lot of people with big dreams, and
they’re willing to work hard to meet them.
The staff and faculty are dedicated to
making those dreams come true.

How did Mind Over Media develop
Clarion’s brand?
We spent time with people, listening to
them, meeting in person, having focus
groups, conducting one-on-one interviews.
We spent time on campus to get a feel
for the place and the people. We took
the ideas and themes that arose from
those discussions and tested them with
a much larger audience, in the form of an
online survey that was completed by more
than 1,200 current students, prospective
students, alumni, staff, faculty and
administrators. We got some really solid,
compelling data as to where the institution
is doing well and where it could use some
improvement in terms of perceptions.

How did that become “Courageous.
Confident. Clarion.”?
For me the idea of courageous is the
special idea about Clarion that came out. It
truly applies to everyone. It’s not only the
courage that the institution has in evolving
with the times, but also the courage every
person has within, his own pursuit and his
own journey. Over and over people talked
about that journey. Combined with the
sense of confidence there, the idea felt
so right for Clarion. It truly embodies the
institution.

Clarion university
magazine

17

We really did
our homework!
Identifying and articulating the Clarion
brand took a year of market research and
creative development. Along the way,
we consulted with the people who know
Clarion best: folks like you.

431

prospective & current
students shared their
impressions of Clarion.

1,870

people were surveyed on
their awareness of Clarion
in the marketplace.

1,223

137

Clarion supporters
gave their opinions
about potential brand
concepts.

campus & community leaders
attended workshops, interviews
and open forums.

Continued from page 15

Even without a new brand, Clarion would
be collecting stories that resonate with our
key constituents. The added bonus is that
the brand is designed to facilitate these
activities. In fact, allowing students, alumni
and others the opportunity to tell their
own stories – in an authentic way without
the filter of a writer – is an opportunity to
collect more stories from a wider pool of
individuals.
Students, including senior
communication major Adam Reynolds,
are embracing the call to action. “When
I searched for schools, I was looking
for information on students who are
succeeding there,” Reynolds said. “If
someone who is like me could find success
at Clarion, I felt confident that I could do so
as well.”
Current students Georgia Yamalis and
Prince Matthews were also among the first
group of students to share their stories as
part of the new website. Each captured the
spirit of the new brand in different ways.

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www.clarion.edu

“Clarion has made me a stronger, more
confident person in so many ways,” said
Yamalis, an early childhood and special
education major. “I have had so many
professors who have been with me every
step of the way through my college career.
They believe in me and want me to become
the best teacher I can possibly be.”
Matthews, a political science senior, has
set courageous – and lofty – goals. Are
they realistic? We think so. “During my
senior year in high school, I really didn’t
have one specific major in mind,” Matthews
said. “One thing I knew for certain was
that I wanted to become a world leader of
some sort.” Matthews believes it is possible
as a result of what he’s learned at Clarion
and the opportunities he’s been granted.
“Clarion has given me the courage to
pursue this goal. As a result, I am aiming
high and am working toward being mayor
of Pittsburgh and, ultimately, president of
the United States.”

And the stories keep coming. (See page
48 to share an alumna’s story about how
her career has taken a twisty, fulfilling,
courageous turn of events.)
In summary, a brand is an organization’s
commitment to its constituents. There
are promises attached to all brands, and
Clarion’s brand is no different. (See page 15).
“We have strategically decided to
make this change to respect our heritage
while moving the university to a place
that more clearly conveys what we offer,”
said President Whitney. “The idea of
Courageous. Confident. Clarion.
is woven into the foundation of what we
stand for and who we will be, moving
forward.”
So, by saving the day, the cheerleaders
set in motion – and set an example of –
how the Clarion brand and tagline can
come alive. We are confident this is just the
beginning.

“

Determination. Perseverance.
Reflection. Tenacity.
These characteristics are
often higher indicators of
student success than SAT
scores. The idea of grit fits
us. I hear our alumni talk
about how Clarion gave them
opportunity and pride in hard
work. If you look at western
Pennsylvania – the rural ethos
– our new brand fits. Our
message reinforces the best
of our regional culture.”
—Karen M. Whitney, President

Clarion university
magazine

19

Photos courtesy Smithsonian Archives of American Art

clarion’s own
Monuments Man

Safely removing artworks
from the mines of Altaussee
required Kovalyak (far
left) and his colleagues to
exercise some ingenuity. A
pulley system was devised to
transport Michelangelo’s huge
Bruges Madonna and Child.

Steve Kovalyak risked his safety so that works of art
would endure to impact and educate future generations.

If you saw George Clooney’s film “The
Monuments Men” this year, or read the
critically acclaimed 2009 novel by Robert
M. Edsel, you probably experienced a
gripping tale of duty, honor and sacrifice.
What you may not have known, however,
is that among these rescuers of Europe’s
cultural treasures during World War II was a
Clarion alumnus.
Steve Kovalyak, a Punxsutawney native
and a member of the Monuments, Fine
Arts, and Archives (MFAA) subcommission
during World War II, graduated from
Clarion University in 1942 and joined the
United States Army. There, he served with
the Second Infantry Unit until 1945, when
he was assigned to the MFAA, an unlikely
military unit whose members included

20

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

museum curators, architects, art historians
and archivists.
The MFAA had one mission: to collect,
protect and preserve artworks and other
cultural artifacts amidst the devastation of
World War II. As the Nazis forced their way
through Europe, they plundered museums,
churches and private homes and hid the
stolen loot across the continent. During and
after the war, these 345 men and women
from 13 countries embarked on what would
be called “the greatest treasure hunt in
history.” Fanning out across Europe, the
Monuments Men tracked down, uncovered
and returned more than five million stolen
items, cultural treasures ranging from the
goldwork reliquary bust of Charlemagne
to the stained-glass windows of a

French cathedral and masterpieces by
Michelangelo, Rembrandt and da Vinci.
“Works of art are worth far more
than their monetary value,” said Vicky
Clark, art historian and professor of art
at Clarion. “They are part of our cultural
heritage, revealing important beliefs and
ideas from every era and every place.
The events of World War II proved this
as Hitler and his people attempted to
control not only what artworks were
seen but even what was considered art.
They ‘collected’ what they considered
degenerate art – proving that art has the
power to affect viewers in powerful ways
– putting it on view as an ‘educational’
lesson to their people; and they even
forbid many artists to make work. In

“

Works of art are worth far more than
their monetary value...They are part
of our cultural heritage, revealing
important beliefs and ideas from
every era and every place.”
—vicky clark
art historian and professor
clarion university

addition, they looted an incredible amount
of art, primarily taking it from Jewish
families.
“Many museums took extreme
measures, hiding works in caves in the
European countryside until it was safe
to retrieve them,” said Clark. The Nazis,
too, took advantage of such underground
repositories, including tunnels and
abandoned mines, when stashing their
treasure troves. The MFAA located more
than 1,500 repositories of stolen work
throughout Europe, many containing
thousands of paintings and sculptures.
One of the largest caches was found in a
network of salt mines in Altaussee, Austria,
where, along with lieutenant commanders
George Stout and Thomas Carr Howe,
Steve Kovalyak helped to unearth, pack and
ship a collection of 6,500 paintings and
other artworks, many of them masterpieces
that Hitler had earmarked for his own
Führermuseum.

W

ith 4,400 miles between
the salt mines of Altaussee
and the foothills of western
Pennsylvania, it’s hard to believe that only
a few years before, Kovalyak had been
a student at Clarion, studying English,
lettering four times in football and serving
as a wrestler and coach for the 1941
championship wrestling team. The 1942
yearbook describes Kovalyak as “one of the
most popular boys on our campus,” and
notes his interest in singing. He was also
mentioned frequently in 1940s editions of
the Clarion Call, where his football stardom,
wrestling prowess and accomplishments on
the acting stage were often touted.
But Kolvalyak’s post-college course was
detoured by World War II. Along with many
of his fellow 1942 graduates, he answered
the call to serve, albeit in an unusual
fashion. As a first lieutenant with the MFAA,
Kovalyak spent most of his tour of duty in
the field, working hands on to excavate the
artwork hidden by the Nazis. According
to the Monuments Men Foundation,

a

1946

year at clarion

Clarion’s own Monuments
Man spent his post-war career
in Harrisburg, working for the
Department of Education. But
bridging his war service and
his public service was the year
Kovalyak returned to Clarion, 1946,
to coach football and wrestling.
Frank Lignelli (’50), who both
wrestled and played football under
Coach Kovalyak, remembers him
as a dedicated coach, describing
him as “very personable” and “a
very humble individual.” It was
Kovalyak who told Lignelli after
football practice, “I’m going to
make a wrestler out of you,”
leading to Lignelli’s successful
collegiate career in the 175-pound
weight class and his eventual
position as a student-coach.
Another alum who remembers
him is Kay (Ordiway) Clark (’61),
who was six when he and her
mother dated. The Clarion football
coach “could really sing,” she
remembers. “And Kovalyak could
whistle. He’d be whistling down
the road coming to see my mother.
Of course, I always thought he
was coming to see me.” Although
he shared little about his time in
the service, he did give her a few
keepsakes, including a packet
of cards from German cigarette
packs, featuring works of art and
historical images, and a children’s
textbook from France.
She also recalls the former
lieutenant telling her that he had
to go into caves – a fact that
resonates now that his history with
the Monuments Men is known. “I
was a little girl and I thought that
was really scary,” Clark said. “I was
really
impressed.”
Clarion
university
magazine

21

Kovalyak (left) confers with
fellow MFAA members Lamont
Moore and Thomas Carr Howe
in Berchtesgaden in July 1945.

Kovalyak helped to repatriate countless
artworks discovered by Allied forces in
Nazi repositories in Siegen, Bernterode,
Berchtesgaden, Nuremberg and Altaussee.
Among these was the Veit Stoss
Altarpiece, a national treasure of Poland
that had been stolen by the Nazis and
spirited back to the Third Reich. The theft
of the world’s largest Gothic altarpiece
during the 1939 blitzkrieg had been “a shot
across the bow of the art world,” writes
Edsel, an early declaration that Hitler
aimed to dismantle the cultural heritage
of Europe. Discovered in the cellars of
Nuremberg Castle, the altarpiece was
rescued by the MFAA and returned to St.
Mary’s Basilica in Krakow. Helping to pack
the ornate panels and life-sized statuary
of the three-story altarpiece was Kovalyak,
who would later be honored by the Polish
government for his work.
No cache was more impressive than that
found in Altaussee, where Hitler stored the
works he would display in the sprawling
museum he planned for his hometown of
Linz. For more than two years, the Nazis
stockpiled a staggering array of art – not
only paintings and sculptures, but also
furniture, tapestries, and more – in an
underground labyrinth of 137 tunnels,

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WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

some a mile deep. Discovered by the
MFAA in May 1945, the hoard included
Michelangelo’s two-ton marble Bruges
Madonna; Jan van Eyck’s 1432 masterwork,
the Ghent Altarpiece; and a collection
of jewels stolen from the Rothschild
family. As part of the three-man Special
Evacuations Team, Kovalyak helped to
pack and transport these and other great
European masterpieces.
After his art-heist adventures in Europe,
Kovalyak, who died in 1997, led a quieter
life, working in Harrisburg for the state’s
department of education. For his greatniece, Debbie Norris, many memories of
her Uncle Steve occurred at family dinners
and get-togethers when she was a young
girl. “He was always polite, always well
dressed, and always singing or whistling,”
she remembers, describing him as “a very
smart man” who was “a go-getter. He
was always doing things the right way – a
happy guy.”
Kovalyak presented Norris’ mother, his
first-generation niece, with a wartime
artifact, an Army coat. “It was old and
worn and had a bullet hole in it,” Norris
said. Although her Uncle Steve provided
little context for the gift, eventually,
Norris was able to speculate as to why it

may have been important to the former
Monuments Man.
Stout, Kovalyak’s commanding officer,
explains Norris, “tended to do things, not
in an illegal way, but in unconventional
ways that sort of got around the rules.” On
one occasion, lacking sufficient packing
materials, Stout repurposed German gas
masks and sheepskin coats to cushion the
precious cargo. That’s why Norris thinks
her great-uncle’s coat “was used to wrap
and cover paintings to get them out of
different areas.”
Just as a bullet-pocked coat helps to tell
one man’s story, the artworks rescued by
Kovalyak and his fellow MFAA heroes are
nothing less than the cultural history of
Western civilization. “The Monuments Men
worked hard to find, preserve and return
the works,” says Clarion art professor Vicky
Clark. By 1951, the MFAA had established
the provenance and returned to the
rightful owners more than 5 million stolen
treasures, from paintings and sculptures to
religious relics and the contents of entire
libraries. “Their service preserved our
common cultural heritage, ensuring access
for future generations.”

Lt. Comdr. George Stout (far left)
considered Kovalyak (far right) a
key assistant, admiring his energy
and resourcefulness. Stout,
renamed “Frank Stokes,” was
played by George Clooney in the
movie “The Monuments Men.”

Clarion university
magazine

23

24

WINTER 2014
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Innovation

Incubation
From idea to implementation

F

our years ago, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony
for the Gregory Barnes Center for Biotechnical
Business Development, Gov. Ed Rendell announced that Clarion University was starting

a technology-based, economic-development initiative
between academia and industry. This initiative had
actually begun a year prior, with the relocation of the
Clarion University Small Business Development Center to
the Barnes Center, the university’s technology incubator
and accelerator. The SBDC, which receives support from
university, state and federal funds, works with companies
in the region to provide business support.

Clarion university
magazine

25

success

Stories
1. NanoBlox, Inc.,

a start-up company focused on
nanodiamond production, turned
to Clarion for contract research and
support. CARIPD helped the Clarionbased company with the development
of scale-up purification techniques of
bulk nanodiamonds, the automation
of a chemical vapor deposition
furnace, market research assessment
of nanodiamond-motor oil additive,
and production of carboxymethyl
functionalized nanodiamonds.

is

caripd central
to our vision
for technology-based,
academic-industry
partnerships.

2. Neilson Laboratories, Inc.,

of Denver is a start-up company
focused on supercapacitors, a highcapacity electrical component. The
company worked with Benjamin Legum,
a Clarion professor, on the development
of a dielectric for their supercapacitor
and with CARIPD to receive a Keystone
Innovation Grant to develop their
intellectual property.

3. SynerWaste, Inc.,

of Ridgway, a natural-gas industry
support company, has turned to Legum
to advise on intellectual property and to
act as collaborator for the Marcellus shale
innovation grant.

4. The International Group,

a wax-manufacturing company based
in Titusville, has contracted CARIPD
to automate its quality-control system
for assessing whether its hundreds of
products are within specifications.

5. Drucker Diagnostics, Inc.,

of Phillipsburg has looked to CARIPD
for process streamlining services for their
production line of medical diagnostics
disposable tube line.

26

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

ideas into a tangible products and services.
The question at the time was, “How
Even more importantly, all applied research
does one foster support to start-up tech
and educational efforts are conducted
companies?” To encourage technologyto industry standards and with industry
based clients to flourish, the Center for
partners. Among the services CARIPD
Applied Research and Intellectual Property
can offer to industry partners are private
Development was born. It also was the
and shared
beginning of
laboratories;
a three-year
Clarion University was
shared
journey to
awarded a $300,000
prototyping
receive and
Discovered and Developed in
equipment
implement
and research
state support
PA Program grant to support
grade facilities;
for the
innovation in north-central and
grant writing
construction
northwestern Pennsylvania.
support for the
of one of the
development
most-high-tech
of academic-industry partnerships; applied
laboratories available to industry partners
research consultation services; contract
in Pennsylvania, the Clarion University
research; and intern support/staff support.
Innovation Laboratories. All of these
Home base for CARIPD is the Gregory
economic engines – the SBDC, CARIPD,
Barnes Center, a 23,000-square-foot
and Innovation Laboratories – are now
building designed as a centerpiece with the
located in the Barnes Center.
potential to adapt three more wings. The
CARIPD and the Innovation Laboratories,
first floor is occupied by the SBDC. The
coordinated by Benjamin Legum, an
second floor is office and laboratory space,
assistant professor, are part of the
and the third floor houses CARIPD and
university vision to become a hub for
Innovation Laboratories.
manufacturing- and technology-based
The Innovation Laboratories are designed
companies in northwestern Pennsylvania.
to be a versatile one-stop shop. They
To do this, CARIPD offers physical and
include a centralized, shared laboratory and
intellectual resources to help transform

Continued on page 29

Center of Innovation
Creating powerful partnerships with industry
drives economic growth – and prepares Clarion
students to meet the real needs of regional
employers. Here’s how we do it.
Gregory Barnes Center
for Biotechnology
Business Development

is a 23,000-square-foot hub for technology-based, academicindustry partnerships that serve as an economic engine across the
region. Within the center are three collaborators.

1

Innovation
Laboratories
is a 2,500-square-foot
facility designed for
academic-industrial
integration and is one
of Pennsylvania’s mosthigh-tech laboratories.

2

Small Business
Development
Center works with
entrepreneurs looking
to start or grow their
companies, providing
education, information
and practical tools for
business success.

3

Center for Applied
Research and
Intellectual Property
Development offers its
partners the physical spaces
and intellectual expertise
to help transform ideas into
products and services.

Coordinating CARIPD and
the Innovation Laboratories
is assistant professor Ben
Legum: He puts these
resources to work for industry
partners and Clarion faculty
and students.
Clarion university
magazine

27

Her work as a CARIPD
research assistant teaches
senior Kat Warner valuable
skills – and looks great on her
medical school application.

Transformative Experiences:

Student Scientists of CARIPD
Benjamin Legum remembers the student
who tried to update a –80-degree freezer.
He drilled into a line and broke the $5,000
piece of equipment. Repairing the freezer
would cost almost as much as replacing it.
Legum, an assistant professor overseeing
the student interns at Clarion’s Center for
Applied Research and Intellectual Property
Development (CARIPD), saw the situation
not as a disaster but as a teachable
moment: The student worked with the local
vo-tech school to have the freezer repaired
within budget.
“Students are here to get their hands
dirty,” says Legum, a specialist in business
and applied research. “When they break
something, they learn how to fix it so
they won’t get fired in the real world.” For
Clarion students, practical ability is just
as important as academic knowledge:
Employers are looking to hire self-starters
who can address problems, troubleshoot
systems and come up with creative and
cost-effective solutions. It’s one of many
learning opportunities students have when
they intern at CARIPD.

28

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

CARIPD helps to coordinate internship
and employment opportunities for students
with industry partners; Legum first makes
sure he is confident in a student’s skills
before making a recommendation. One
such success story is Joshua Cowher (’14),
who excelled throughout his internship
with the Drucker Company of Port Matilda,
the largest manufacturer of centrifuges
in the United States, thanks to his handson experience at CARIPD. The company
offered him a full-time position halfway
through his internship, an offer the recent
graduate accepted.
Participating in real-world research
was so important to Katherine Warner,
a biology/pre-med major, that she
volunteered at CARIPD. She worked
cooperatively with students majoring in
physics and chemistry to test a new coating
for dental implants. “I focused on the
biological aspect, testing how well human
gum cells adhere to titanium,” she explains,
while her fellow student researchers
worked on developing the coating.

Stepping up and volunteering opened
doors for Warner. Not only did she gain “a
lot of independence and responsibility,”
she was hired as a research assistant, a
position that she will continue throughout
her senior year at Clarion. This experience
is invaluable to the Port Matilda native,
who plans to apply to medical school and
become a doctor. Admission to medical
school is competitive, and she wants to
make sure her application stands out.
What better way to prove her potential
as a leader and an innovator than to have
contributed to a tangible product that will
advance health care?
Originally, said Warner, she didn’t realize
that the product she was working on would
have “such relevance. I found that I got
really involved and could see the potential
for real-world applications.” Being part of
the process boosted her confidence. “At
CARIPD, there are a lot of opportunities
that give students the chance to work in
real-life research situations and give them
great experience for future endeavors.”

Continued from page 26

200-, 500- and 2,500-square-foot, private,
wet laboratories. Using a medical device
backbone, a prototype room features a 3-D
printer, computer numerical control mill,
computer-aided-design software, furnaces
and chemical hood. Once a prototype is
developed, in vitro testing can occur in the
cell culture room. The next step is to walk
down the hall to the vivarium, or animal
facility. The last step to test feasibility of
the product is to sterile-package the device
in the class 10 clean room.
The versatility of this model is that a
company does not need to be developing
a medical device. The prototype room
can be utilized by any company in the
region; the biology room can be used
for anyone working on a novel biological
or pharmaceutical compound; and the
animal room is a completely self-contained
environment that can simulate sunrise and
sunset, ideal for scale-up biomass studies.
The clean room provides air so pure that
one could manufacture microchips or
pharmaceuticals.
Since its inauguration, CARIPD has
conducted contract research and grantsupported research with 11 companies
and six individual entrepreneurs, and
provided initial consultations for an
additional eight potential entrepreneurs.
More than $300,000 has been brought
in through grants to support applied
research for them. All of the equipment in
the Innovation Laboratories is research or
industry caliber.
Faculty and students are encouraged
to use the laboratories for both classes
and research. Over the past four years,
37 science interns (majoring in biology,
chemistry, physics and computer
information systems) interconnected with
eight business interns have worked through
CARIPD to support industry partners and
university-sponsored intellectual property
endeavors.
In addition to contributing to the success
of regional industry partners, CARIPD also
supports the research-based innovations
of Clarion’s own faculty and students.
Legum, for example, has patented a

CARIPD has
conducted contract
research and grantsupported research
with 11 companies
and six individual
entrepreneurs, and
provided initial
consultations
for an additional
eight potential
entrepreneurs.

diamond-coated dental implant. Seven
Clarion students participated in researching
this novel product, which has recently
entered into preliminary discussions for
commercialization, and Legum currently
is working to develop a nanodiamondmacroscale copper alloy for heat sinks for
computers.
The success of the collaboration of SBDC,
CARIPD and the Innovation Laboratories
is astounding, but it does not stop with
just being there to help. Together, they
have also been conducting outreach and
economic development through Gov. Tom
Corbett’s Make It in PA initiative. Clarion
University was awarded a $300,000
Discovered and Developed in PA Program
grant to support innovation in north-central
and northwestern Pennsylvania.
The proposal brings together an
all-encompassing support program
for inventors and small companies.
Awards of up to $15,000 and support
from CARIPD, SBDC and Clarion County
Economic Development Corporation are
offered. This support system breaks the
boundary between local and regional
economic development groups, while
also providing complementary business
support, prototype/research facilities and
applied research support. To date, the
program has awarded $47,500 to four
first-round applicants. The applicant pool
expanded from Butler to McKean and
Crawford to Center counties. The second
round of applications closed at the end of
November.
These pieces of the puzzle have
taken four years to put together and
implement. Clarion University has shown
its commitment to be a support structure
for existing businesses and a helping hand
for entrepreneurs. The support structure
is complete, and fantastic results are
occurring with start-ups, regional partners
and, most importantly, our students.

Clarion university
magazine

29

Broadcasting Success

Students learn real-world media
operations at Clarion’s on-campus
radio and TV stations.

Long before “service learning” or “high-impact educational practices” became
buzz phrases in the educational environment, Clarion’s communication department
knew that experience is the best teacher. Nearly 40 years ago, communication
professors Al Larson, Henry Fueg and Carmen Felicetti, under the direction of
James Cole, dean, designed the undergraduate communication program, based on
what professionals in communication fields said students need to know.

30

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

At the top of the list was professional
facilities in which to train students. Clarion’s
first television and radio studios were in
Davis Hall, before a cafeteria in Becker Hall
was transformed into a TV studio. “It’s one
of the best studios in the PASSHE system,”
says Scott Kuehn, communication professor
and advisor of WCUC radio. “It’s so big. No
one could beat what we had.”
Word spread quickly. Clarion expected to
enroll about 100 students in the program
in the first three years, but instead that
number grew rapidly to 250. WCUC was an
integral part of that growth. Its popularity
was due to the foresight of Larson, Fueg
and Felicetti, who “designed the program
based on the needs of the industry,”
Kuehn says. “Students were trained in
paraprofessional practices while they were
here.”
WCUC, set up like a mini KDKA, provides
real experience. Students then and now
learn what the radio station needs to do
to operate as a business. CU-TV operates
the same way, and that is what drew to
Clarion Jasmine Monroe (’13). At Clarion,
Monroe gained valuable experience as a
news anchor and host of the “CU-Talk”
variety show at CU-TV, and she was news
director at WCUC radio. Now she puts
that practical experience to work as news
reporter at NBC affiliate WFMJ Channel 21
in Youngstown, Ohio.
Among Clarion’s best-known
communication alumni is Larry Richert
(’81).
“Clarion was just right for what I was
looking for,” Richert said. He cites the
writing-intensive curriculum and the
opportunities for broadcast with Clarion’s
radio stations as being integral to his
career. He was a disc jockey at WCCB, a
predecessor to WCUC, and he became
sports director and general manager for
WCUC. He co-hosted the first television
show that the school delivered to the town
via cable.
Richert, now public address announcer
for Steelers’ home games, was the voice
of Golden Eagles football during his
sophomore, junior and senior years. He
has been narrating NFL films and Steelers
highlights since 1985 and has had a long-

standing affiliation with KDKA-TV, where he
was weather anchor for 10 years, and KDKA
NewsRadio 1020, for which he currently
hosts KDKA Morning News.
Dan Zangrilli (’07), who covers the
Pirates as pre-game and post-game host
for CBS radio and KDKA’s 93.7 The Fan,
knew in high school that he wanted to have
a career in broadcasting. He seized the
opportunities available then by announcing
his high school’s football games, and he
started to look at colleges.
“Clarion’s reputation as a broadcasting
powerhouse preceded it. Once you looked
into it further, you find out it’s all that
and then some,” said Zangrilli, who was
working at Clarion’s TV 5 on day one. He
continued announcing high school football
games on Friday nights and added Clarion
football games on Saturday afternoons.
Like Richert, Zangrilli later became sports
director of WCUC, then general manager
of the station for two years. “The hands-on
experience I got, and what I was able to do
on a daily basis, especially at WCUC, is why
I’m able to do what I’m doing,” he said.
“The students go through intense
training. It’s called ‘DJ training,’ but it’s
much more,” Kuehn said.
Zangrilli cites learning editing,
engineering, sales and marketing and how
to be an on-air personality among the
skills he acquired at Clarion, and he’s not
an exception. Anyone who works at the
station learns about its overall operation.
“We set them up to be decision makers,”
Kuehn said.
WCUC is an FCC-licensed facility, and
the faculty run it like a learning lab. As part
of their training, students learn that they
must do station identification (recorded by
Richert) at the top of every hour, certain
topics are off limits, and swearing is
prohibited.
“Our station is a hub for the Emergency
Broadcast System. We pass on the
warnings to other stations, and students
need to learn to manage the system,” he
said.
Kuehn said he sees students from
various programs of study – not just
communication – becoming involved with
broadcast. In fact, only about 20 percent of
the students involved with the radio station
are communication majors. In addition to
managers, around 45 other students are on
the air.

Richert, now public address
announcer for Steelers’
home games, was the voice
of Golden Eagles football
during his sophomore, junior
and senior years. He has
been narrating NFL films
and Steelers highlights since
1985 and has had a longstanding affiliation with
KDKA-TV, where he was
weather anchor for 10 years,
and KDKA NewsRadio 1020,
for which he currently hosts
KDKA Morning News.

Clarion university
magazine

31

DAN ZANGRILLI

Pirates Host
CBS Radio & KDKA 93.7

“I do what I love.”
When Dan Zangrilli (’07) reflects on
his favorite part of his job, covering the
Pittsburgh Pirates as their pre-game and
post-game host for CBS radio and KDKA’s
93.7 The Fan, he has a bit of difficulty
narrowing it down to one aspect. “There’s
so much: The fact that I get to come to a
place like PNC Park every day and follow
a team that’s on the rise. To be on the
radio before and after every game. To live
and breathe with Pirates fans. To interact
with the players and be on the beat. It’s a
unique position. It allows me to do what I
love – broadcasting and reporting – and on
a sport I love – baseball.”
Zangrilli got his start at Clarion’s TV5,
announcing football and basketball games
for the university. “It’s some of the most
fun I’ve had in my life,” he says. It’s also
the reason for his success. “The hands-on
experience, on a daily basis, especially
at WCUC, is why I’m able to do what I’m
doing,” he said. “I lived at the radio station,
learned editing, engineering, sales and

32

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

marketing, how to be an on-air personality
– it’s doing it and getting the experience.”
Along the way, he was building his
résumé. “You’re in the trenches, working
hard and making yourself more marketable.
You don’t understand the value at that
moment,” he said. Two of his most
influential professors were Bill Adams and
Bruce Exley. They “taught me the technical
side of radio,” says Zangrilli. “It’s an
important skill set I have that others may
not.”
His mentors were Rich Herman and
Chris Rossetti, Clarion’s sports information
director and assistant sports information
director, respectively. “I worked closely with
them. They were so supportive,” Zangrilli
said. “They are employees, but they might
as well be professors. Their impact was
substantial. My friendships with them are
ongoing, seven years after I graduated.”
To show his thanks to Clarion for helping
him reach his goals, he recently became
a member of the university’s Alumni
Association Board of Directors. “Everything
I’ve done in my career I can directly link
back to the university. I feel I’m in debt to
them, in a sense,” he said. “I want to make
sure Clarion is as good a place for other
students as it was for me.”

“You’re in the
trenches, working
hard and making
yourself more
marketable. You
don’t understand
the value at that
moment,” he said.
“Everything
I’ve done in my
career I can
directly link
back to the
university.”
—dan zangrilli

Jasmine Monroe
News Reporter, WFMJ-21

“Challenge yourself from day one.”

“

I learned to
communicate
with the
sweetest people
to the most
difficult people.
Being a reporter,
you never know
what kind of
people you
are going to
interview.”

From an early age, Jasmine Monroe (‘13)
would tag along with her mother to her
job as producer of “The Real Deal with
Marty Griffin,” a morning show on KDKA
radio in Pittsburgh. Following in her mom’s
footsteps, she is now a news reporter
with WFMJ Channel 21, an NBC affiliate in
Youngstown, Ohio.
When it came to choosing a college,
Clarion was foremost in her mind, based
on the reputation of the communication
department and the facilities it offered. “I
fell in love with the TV station (CU-TV),”
she said. “Clarion was the first and only
campus I visited.”
She credits numerous communication
department faculty members who helped
her learn organization and appreciation for
education. She gained valuable experience
as a news anchor and host of the “CU-Talk”
variety show at CU-TV, was news director
at WCUC radio, president of the Minority
Interracial Association of Communicators
and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha
sorority.
Service in the sorority had Monroe
working with a myriad of personalities,
which served as a good primer for
her duties as a reporter. “I learned to
communicate with the sweetest people
to the most difficult people,” Monroe said.
“Being a reporter, you never know what
kind of people you are going to interview.”

Through the communication department,
she also participated in a co-op at KDKA
during school breaks, and she experienced
just how fast news cycles shift. While
preparing for a carefully planned 9 a.m.
show, news broke of the Sandy Hook
Elementary School massacre, requiring
updates to listeners as the story developed.
Monroe expanded her student
experience through an internship at BET
in Washington, D.C., opening her eyes to
how expansive television media really is.
“I learned about music law, and that has
already helped in my current job,” Monroe
said.
Also instrumental to her success was
Naomi Bell O’Neill’s human communication
class, which taught her the benefits of
direct communication. Personal, positive,
voice-inflected invitations to potential
guests are much more successful than
email requests. “They are much more
willing to come in to WFMJ at 5 a.m.,” she
said. “You have to make every guest feel as
important as the next.”

—jasmine monroe
Clarion university
magazine

33

A

day

in the

Life
Diving in to
two national
championships

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WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

sports roundup
Winning a national title in any sport is
hard. Winning it when you have a fear of
the exact thing you have to do to win that
title is nearly impossible. But don’t tell
Clarion senior Kristin Day that. Day won
a pair of NCAA Division II national titles
in diving last year, including a divisionrecord-setting performance in the 3-meter
competition.
Yet, Day has a fear of falling – not a fear
of heights, she is OK with heights – but the
fear of actually falling, or in her case, diving
off the 3-meter board. “It’s scary,” Day said.
“It’s 10 feet, and you have to climb up and
stand there and look down and see how
high you actually are. And then you have to
jump off that, flip and land.”
Despite that fear, Day put up the highest
score ever seen off the 3-meter board in
Division II competition, recording a 539.35
and winning the event by an incredible 52.9
points. How did she do it? Quite simply,
she tried not to think about it. “If you start
thinking, you get too scared,” Day said. “It’s
1-2-3 go.”
Clarion’s nationally renowned diving
coach Dave Hrovat, the NCAA Division
II men’s and women’s Coach of the Year
last year (he has 23 Coach of the Year
awards), had a lot to do with her getting
over, or at least controlling, her fear. “Coach
Hrovat is very, very good at working the
progressions, so you’re ready for anything,”
Day said. “You do a lot of build-up, so you
do it on the 1-meter and you know you do
the same thing on the 3-meter with maybe
just adding a half flip or a dive out of it.
He’s very good at it.”
Coach, as Day refers to Hrovat, is a
big reason, she believes, she has gone
from diving just two years in high school
to winning a pair of national titles as a
junior in college. “I didn’t start diving
until my sophomore year in high school,”
Day remembered. “I then didn’t dive my
junior year because I wanted to focus on
trampoline and artistic gymnastics. But
I came back my senior year because I
wanted to break the school record.”
By the time she was a senior, Day was
looking hard at Clarion for a few reasons,
but the main reason was Hrovat. “I really
wanted to work with Coach because I knew
he would get me where I could go,” Day

said. Adding his own accolades for Hrovat
was former Clarion diver Logan Pearsall
(’10), from whom Day took lessons while
in high school. “He told me Coach Hrovat
could help me majorly.”
Clarion had additional intriguing
qualities. “I was looking for a Division II
program,” Day said, explaining that Division
I programs “often put sports first, and I
wanted school first. That’s very important
to me.” Day has thrived academically at
Clarion, carrying a perfect 4.0 in chemistry
with a concentration in biochemistry and
being named the Capital One/CoSIDA
NCAA Division II Academic All-American of
the Year in the At-Large Division. She plans
to become a doctor.
“I’ve got everything I’ve needed to get
from Clarion,” Day said. “Each and every
one of my professors is very helpful in
everything. I’m going for interviews for
med school this fall, and I’m looking into
orthopedics. Even if it weren’t for diving, I’d
choose Clarion.”
Day’s competitive nature, both in diving
and in the classroom, manifested in a
challenge she made to the Clarion men’s
team last season: Let’s get a Golden Eagles
sweep of the men’s and women’s diving
titles. Meeting that challenge were Heath
Calhoun (’14) (3-meter) and Collin Vest
(1-meter), who joined Day on top of the
podium with gold medals.
“We weren’t really expecting the men to
win the 1-meter,” Day said. “After I won the
3-meter and Collin won the 1-meter, I was
like ‘Oh, man, we’ve really gotten moving
now. Let’s keep it going.’ So, I told the guys,
‘I’m going to try and get the 1-meter title
if you guys can get the 3-meter title.’ We
really wanted to do it for Coach, and we
are a competitive team. I was trying to get
them riled up so we could sweep the whole
thing.”
There it was again, the overriding “do it
for Coach” mentality, which helped Day,
Calhoun and Vest become Clarion’s 39th,
40th, 41st and 42nd national champions
in Hrovat’s 24 years as head diving coach.
“The tradition is so big,” Day said. “It means
so much, and Coach doesn’t even look for
it. He just wants you to do your best.”

Former Clarion University 2012
NCAA Division I All-American
Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (’12) made
a huge statement in September,
earning a bronze medal at the
2014 FILA World Championships,
hosted in his hometown of Tashkent,
Uzbekistan, and wrestling for
Uzbekistan, his native country.
Competing in the freestyle category
at 70 kg, he won his bronze-medal
match, defeating his opponent
7-3. Abdurakhmonov wrestled at
Clarion University at 165 pounds in
the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
As a senior in 2012, he posted a
record of 36-5, was EWL and PSAC
champion and posted a 5-1 record
at the NCAA Division I Nationals
to become an All-American with a
third-place finish. He was 38-12 at
Clarion his junior season, including a
3-2 record at nationals, losing in the
All-America round. He finished his
Clarion career with a record of 74-17.

Clarion university
magazine

35

new coaches
on campus

Sean Esterhuizen
Women’s Soccer
Taking over for Rob Eaton, Esterhuizen, 55, has an
extensive soccer background. A native of South Africa, he
is a 1984 grad of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he scored 53
career goals, 35 career assists and a Northeast All-America
selection. He coached both men’s and women’s programs
at Clarke College and had a women’s record of 23-12-5 and
a men’s record of 19-19-2 from 2006 to 2011. Esterhuizen
also has an 18-year high school record of 326-81.

Marcess
Williams
Men’s Basketball

Keith Ferraro
Wrestling
Ferraro, 33, was named interim wrestling coach after former
head coach Troy Letters stepped down in September. An
assistant coach at Clarion for two seasons, Ferraro was
responsible for two strong Golden Eagles recruiting classes.
His first, for the 2013-14 season, was ranked ninth best class
in NCAA Division I by Amateur Wrestling News. A native
of nearby Brookville and the son of legendary coach Lenny
Ferraro, he is a 1999 graduate of Brookville High and a threetime District Champion wrestler. He was an assistant coach at
Brookville from 2006-2012 before coming to Clarion.

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Jana Ashley
Women’s Basketball
The new mentor for the squad
replaces long-time head
coach Margaret “Gie” Parsons.
A 1998 grad of Gadsden (Ala.)
High, Ashley, 33, played four
years at North Alabama and
graduated in 2003. Ashley
has 11 years of NCAA Division
I coaching experience. She
came to Clarion from Iona,
where she helped the team
to a 26-6 record last year and
an NIT bid. Prior to that she
spent five years at Radford
(including a trip to the NIT
in 2008) and five years at
George Mason.

A native of New Brighton, Williams,
34, is a 2002 graduate of LaRoche
College. Replacing legendary head
coach Ron Righter, he comes to
Clarion following a successful stint
as the head coach at Penn State
– Beaver. Williams took over the
losing program and produced a
nine-year record of 158-99. Over
the past six years his teams were
129-39 and won six straight PSUAC
Western Division titles and the
overall championship in 2009,
’10 and ’11. Williams is LaRoche’s
fourth all-time leading scorer (1,359
points) and fifth in rebounds (561)
and was inducted into the LaRoche
Hall of Fame in 2013.

$4,346

was raised this year
by the Golden Eagles
for the Cancer Care
Center at Clarion
Hospital. That brings
the teams’ four-year
total to more than

$15,000.

sports roundup

The
End
of
Two
Eras:
Righter and
Parsons Retire

Ron Righter and Gie Parsons have left
Clarion basketball with a legacy that
will be hard to match in the decades to
come. Stepping down as coaches over the
summer, their combined 51 years at Clarion
is a true legacy. Their teams performed
at the highest levels, but ask the duo
what’s really important about their tenures
and their response couldn’t be clearer.
Both viewed their tenures at Clarion as a
mission to help develop character, poise
and honesty in their players and turn
them toward society, ready to accept the
challenges of daily life.
“The winning and championships are
nice, reflecting back on it all,” said Parsons,
the coach of the women’s team, “but it’s
about so much more than that. My main
goal, from day one, was to be successful in
teaching life lessons to young girls, while
turning them into women of high character,
morals and values that would last a lifetime.
I would consider myself a success if I
accomplished that and didn’t win a title.”
But she did win titles. In her 25 years as
the Golden Eagles’ head coach, she had
a record of 352-336 and led her teams to
five PSAC-West titles (1991-95), three PSAC
championships (1991, ’93, ’94), two trips to
the NCAA D-II Elite 8 (1991, ’94) and two to
the “Sweet 16” (1992,’93). During that run
the Eagles were 117-33.
Personal honors came as well. She was
named PSAC-West Coach of the Year four
times (1991, ’92, 2005, ’08), and among
her honors are inductions into the Western
Pennsylvania and Thiel College sports halls
of fame.
Parsons’ path as a player and a coach
was not an easy one. A 1967 graduate of
Gateway High in Monroeville, she helped
organize her high school girls’ basketball
team and was a player/coach her senior

year. Those were the very early days of
women’s basketball. Programs and coaches
were hard to find and were not supported.
“In those early days,” she said, “I
remember how I was always told I couldn’t
do it, or someone would be negative
toward women’s athletics.

When I was told I
couldn’t do something, it
just seemed to inspire me
more. I couldn’t wait to
prove them wrong.”
A pioneer in women’s basketball, Parsons
graduated from Slippery Rock in 1971, went
to Australia and New Zealand to play and
coach from 1975-80, and eventually started
her collegiate coaching career at Thiel
(1982-89) before being hired by former
athletic director Frank Lignelli to come to
Clarion in 1990.
Who was Parsons’ role model? “John
Wooden,” she replied immediately,
referencing the legendary UCLA coach,
“and he still is today. He embodied
everything that is honorable and ethical
about athletics and life. I know I was
a tough coach, but being strong and
disciplined was the sure way to help our
women reach their full potential.”
Righter, a native of Doylestown and
a 1970 graduate of Central Bucks West,
played basketball and baseball at Duke
for two years before transferring to St.
Joseph’s and putting together a Hall of
Fame career. He averaged 13 points per
game as a junior and was team captain,
averaging 17.8 points per game as a senior.

Righter’s first head coaching experience
came in two seasons at Wilkes (1980, ’81),
but then he got the call to be a Division
I assistant with George Raveling, first at
Washington State (1982, ’83), then at
Iowa (1984, ’85, ’86) and two years at USC
(Southern Cal) before getting his Clarion
call from Lignelli.
“I was making background calls on
Clarion, and all I heard were great things,”
Righter said. “Al Jacks, Bob Bubb, Frank
Lignelli, Gene Sobolewski – all highcharacter guys were here, and people
praised them. I wanted to get back to
Pennsylvania, and after those calls, I knew
Clarion was the place I really wanted to be.
I have no regrets.”
Righter, the men’s basketball mentor for
26 years, finished with a record of 402-299,
won three PSAC-West titles (1997, 2000,
’05) and one PSAC title (2001), had 18
winning seasons, and, most importantly,
got to teach the game of basketball and
raise his family in a great place.
“I value the role of teaching young men –
whether it’s basketball or the game of life –
more than anything else,” Righter said. “In
the teaching role we get a chance to teach
them about basketball, but that is just a
vehicle to teach them how to live their lives.
The winning is a byproduct of the teaching,
but becoming a man and contributing
positively to society is the ultimate goal.”
When asked if they would do it all over
again, both coaches voiced no hesitation.
Said Parsons: “Absolutely no regrets.” Said
Righter: “No question. Three things are
important in life: faith, family and friends. I
had all that and more in Clarion.”

Clarion university
magazine

37

Camp
Kazakhstan
Player spreads goodwill

Matt Shuey, a 2013 PSAC-West AllConference defensive tackle at Clarion,
likely never saw himself as the foreign
ambassador type, but a trip to Shymkent,
Kazakhstan, in May 2013 presented a
challenging, yet rewarding, opportunity.
Matt’s brother Bill, who served as an
English teaching assistant for the Fulbright
U.S. Student Program from 2012 to 2013 in
Kazakhstan, approached him with the idea
of hosting an American football camp at
Miras University. The Johnsonburg native
accepted the challenge.
Kazakhstan, the ninth-largest country in
the world, is situated in Central Asia and
is currently independent after centuries of
occupation and war. An emerging Muslim
country that was most recently part of
the Soviet Union, it struggles with issues
of human rights, equality, poor education,
corruption and women’s rights.
“When Bill first approached me with
this idea, he had several goals in mind
that he wanted to accomplish,” Shuey
said. Students in Kazakhstan “rarely have
extracurricular activities and typically
do not take leadership roles. They have
low self-esteem and low exposure to
leadership. Along with that, there is a class
system where only certain [privileged]
kids are at the top of the class order.
Disadvantaged kids and girls are at the
bottom. We hoped to use football and
American culture to help outline that
everyone can be a leader and give these
kids a platform to understand equality

38

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

and empowerment. So every activity we
planned had a goal-oriented objective –
but we also had a lot of fun.”
A three-year starter and a senior on the
Golden Eagles defensive line this year,
Shuey arrived in mid-May of 2013. His
mission: to run a Clarion-style football
camp for 30 kids at Miras University. “I
taught them everything I could about
American football,” he said. “We ran threea-day sessions, almost like when we are in
camp here at Clarion. We just wanted to
teach as much as we could, focusing on the
basics skills of offense, defense and special
teams, along with blocking, tackling and
throwing and catching a football.”
Shuey was equipped with audiovisual
aids for teaching purposes, along
with game videos of Clarion football
games, which included clips of his own
performances.
While the Miras University campers
were learning the game, they also helped
Shuey run a mini-camp for about 35
disadvantaged youths, designed to teach
leadership skills to the university students
and show them how to be mentors.
Miras University hosted an American
football game between teams coached
by Matt and Bill Shuey, along with
cheerleaders organized by Bill’s colleague,
Holly Shelton, and another Shuey, sister
Kelly. “My team was the Golden Eagles,”
said Huey, noting that the eagle is the
national animal of Kazakhstan. “We lost
the game to my brother’s team, but the
kids had a great time.” The game also had
pageantry, with a halftime, a homecoming
court and new Kazakh royalty crowned.
What most struck Shuey was his
interaction with the people of Kazakhstan,
the adults and the kids, and the differences
in their perceptions of Americans. “It’s a
little scary when you first get there, even
though my brother had prepared me
for everything he could. There is a lot of
corruption,” he said. “I was advised to carry
my passport at all times, and sure enough, I
had a police officer ask me for my passport
and $20. And some of the adults come
right up to you and tell you they hate

Americans, or give you a long stare.”
Then there are the kids. “The kids love
Americans,” Shuey said. “They loved that
I was 6'3", 275 pounds, and they would
reach out and touch me. There’s no one
that big over there. They asked a lot of
questions about America and what it’s
really like. They would all like to come to
America. Those talks were a lot of fun and
you can tell they are on the Internet and
love Facebook.”

“They loved that I was
6'3", 275 pounds, and they
could reach out and
touch me. There is no one
that big over there.”
The disadvantaged and deaf kids he
visited with on his trip really touched him.
“These kids are at the absolute bottom of
the class structure there,” he said. “They
were so happy to see us all the time.
Spending time with them was special
and just made my day.” Since Shuey is
able to use sign language, he was able to
communicate with the deaf students. “They
taught us new words and how to sign their
names,” he recalled.
Shuey expects to graduate from Clarion
with a degree for teaching mid-level
math, but he wants to go on to graduate
school and earn a master’s degree in
special education. Involved with Special
Olympics since the 9th grade, he feels he
has a calling. “I want to teach math, coach
football and work with special needs kids,”
Shuey said. “It is so rewarding hanging out
with those kids. They always make you
laugh and feel like you are having a good
day.”
Is he in contact with the kids from
Kazakhstan? “Yes. We’re in touch on
Facebook. Even kids I’ve never met from
there are friending me now. The president of
Miras has inquired about coming back this
summer. I would love to go back – we’ll see.”

sports roundup

earn

Two Clarion scholar-athletes
Academic All-America honors
Kristin Day, entered in the At-Large
category, which includes 13 sports,
was named the Capital One At-Large
Academic All-American of the Year.
The honor recognizes Day as the top
Academic All-American in all of Division
II. Day, a junior, holds a 4.0 GPA in her
major, chemistry with a concentration in
biochemistry, and was named the NCAA
D-II Diver of the Year after winning both
the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at D-II
nationals. She set an NCAA record with
539.35 points in winning the 3-meter and
won the 1-meter with 497.05 points.
Emilee Gysegem, also the PSAC Champion
Scholar for 2014, was voted a second team
Academic All-American. She carries a
perfect 4.0 GPA while majoring in business
management at Clarion. The junior,
who swims the individual medley and
backstroke for Clarion, was second at the
PSACs last year in the 400 IM and fourth in
the 200 IM. She holds the school record in
the 400 IM and was a 2012 All-American,
placing 10th at nationals.

1

2

3

4

Alumni, boosters and friends of Clarion University...

NCAA recruiting

rules you should know
Clarion University is committed to full compliance with all NCAA and Pennsylvania
State Athletic Conference rules and regulations. It is our responsibility to ensure
that boosters are in compliance with the NCAA guidelines. If Clarion University
and/or anyone associated with the university (e.g., booster, alumnus, faculty, staff
or coach) violates an NCAA rule, the following penalties may be applied:
• The student athlete may be declared ineligible to represent
Clarion in intercollegiate athletics
• Clarion may have to forfeit a conference and/or NCAA title
• The NCAA may place Clarion on probation (i.e., ineligible for
championship participation)

General recruiting rules
Division I (wrestling): Only coaches are permitted to be involved in the off-campus
recruitment process. No one else is permitted to contact a prospective studentathlete or members of his/her family by telephone, letter or in person for the
purpose of encouraging participation in athletics at Clarion University.
Division II (all other Clarion programs): Only coaches and certified athletics
department staff are permitted to recruit off campus.
Telephone calls and correspondence from individuals outside the athletics
department must be coordinated by the coaching staff of each individual program.
For more information, visit clariongoldeneagles.com.

Memorial
Stadium sports
a fresh new
look, with the
installation this
past summer
of AstroTurf to
replace Sprinturf
that had been
installed in
2003.
Clarion university
magazine

39

Steve Kovalyak (seated, right) had yet
to make his mark in history as one of
World War II’s famed Monuments Men,
but he was already making a name
for himself as a Clarion football player
and wrestler.

40

fall 2014
WINTER
2014
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Alumni
Notes
winter 2014
1979

Edward Patosky is a retired teacher/
adjunct professor. He resides in Punta
Gorda, Fla. He has two daughters, Heather
and Erica.

1981

Jim Spencer was recently elected president
of the Gift Planning Council of New Jersey.
He is director of development and planned
giving for The College of New Jersey in
Ewing. Jim resides in Cherry Hill and has a
daughter, Abby.

1983

Sandra (Pratt) Holick is a purchasing
manager. She resides in Lake Hopatcong,
N.J., with her husband, David, and
daughter, Rachel.

1985

Kathy LeMunyon is principal usability
engineer for Dell SecureWorks, Atlanta, Ga.
She resides in Alpharetta.

1986

Michele (Lewis) Kimbrell is employed with
the Centerville City Schools, Centerville,
Ohio. She resides in Dayton with her
children: Joshua, Jessica and Jordan.

1987

Jon Malanoski is a firearms supervisor for
Army and Air Force Exchange Service,
Offutt, Neb. He resides in Omaha.

1989

John Straitiff is executive director for
Pennsylvania Great Outdoors Visitors
Bureau, Brookville. He resides in DuBois
with his wife, Diana.

Quazi Anwar was recently named chief
technology officer for Montgomery College,
Rockville, Md.

1990

Michael Estep is a high school principal for
Juniata Valley High School in Altoona. He
resides in Altoona with his wife, Leslie.
Nitin and Michele (Hibbard ’91) Sahney
reside in Cincinnati with their daughters,
Meera and Mona. Nitin has been appointed
CEO-elect of Omnicare in Cincinnati.

1991

Felice (Walker) Shannon is a flight
attendant for Horizon Air. She resides in
Portland, Ore., with her husband, Stephen,
and daughter, Nina.

1994

Sheila (Anderson) Mikkelson is director of
the Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library
in Sewell, N.J. She resides in West Deptford.
Sue Steis is a graduate nurse at VA
Pittsburgh Healthcare System. She resides
in Kittanning.

1995

Kelly Beatty (’95, ’02) recently received a
master of education from George Mason
University. She resides in Fairfax, Va., with
her husband, Chuck Wu.

Shad Sahm is a building code official for
BIU INC of Pennsylvania. He resides in
Denver, Pa., with his daughters, Teagan and
Rylan.

1996

Chad Wilkinson is an executive television
producer for Newsmax Broadcasting in
New York City. He resides in Upper Darby.

1997

Matthew and Elizabeth (Saglio) Morris
reside in Portersville with their daughter,
Liliana. Matthew has been appointed senior
associate of Gannett Fleming in Pittsburgh.
Elizabeth is a director of human resources
for Werner Co. in Greenville.
Dan Shevock and Dr. Mercedes (’99)
Boggs reside in State College. Dan recently
presented research on music improvisation,
democracy and critical pedagogy at the
NAfME national conference in St. Louis;
the PMEA conference in Hershey; the New
Directions conference in East Lansing,
Mich.; and the SMEI conference in Dublin,
Ireland. Dan is a doctoral candidate at Penn
State University.
Erin (Dispennett) Dusenberry is a 5th/6th
grade learning support teacher for the
Seneca Valley School District in Harmony.
She resides in Pittsburgh with her husband,
Stephen.

Marlon Worthy is a truancy interventionist
for Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 in Easton.
He resides in Easton with his sons, Tristen,
Darius and Miles.

Clarion university
magazine

41

we want to

know about you!

And so do your Clarion classmates. It’s easy to share your latest personal
milestones and professional accomplishments in the pages of Clarion
University Magazine. Just send us a note!
Visit www.clarion.edu/alumni-update

1999

Mark Watts is a director of education for
Elitefts.com in London, Ohio. He resides in
Bexley with his wife, Nikki, and daughters,
Claire and Abigail.

2000

Kelly Teets has joined the public
accounting firm Cottrill, Arbutina
& Associates, in Beaver, as a senior
accountant.

2002

Tina (Beer) Tolkacevic is employed with
Mt. Lebanon School District. She resides in
Crafton with her daughters, Macy and Lyla.
Michael Ziegler is a senior chemist for
Eurofins/Lancaster Labs in Leola. He
resides in Ephrata.
Michael McCormick is a senior ERP
programmer/analyst for Gorbel Inc., in
Victor, N.Y. He resides in Mount Morris with
his daughter, Mylah.

2003

Kristin (Kneib) Herr is an account services
coordinator for Clipper Magazine. She
resides in Leola with her daughter, Alexis.
Mackenzie (Maggie) Wagner is an
executive assistant for Advance Care, LLC,
in Richmond, Va. She resides in Midlothian
with her husband, Eric.

2004

Meghan (Knotts) Gabrielson is an activities
coordinator for The Winds at Mattern
Orchard Assisted Living. She resides in
Altoona with her husband, Edward.

42

winter 2014
WINTER
www.clarion.edu

2005

Patrick Chovan was recently named
company president of Omega Incorporated,
West Middlesex. He is also chairman of St.
Joseph Parish Religious Education Board
and a board member of Prince of Peace
Center (Farrell). Patrick resides in Sharon
with his wife, Kyleigh, and daughters, Pearl
and Kathryn.

2007

Evan Carr is photographer/editor for the
Washington, D.C., bureau of NBC News. He
resides in Arlington, Va.
Kelsi (Wilcox M.Ed. ’13) Boyles is an
educational programs specialist for
Riverview Intermediate Unit 6 in Clarion.
She resides in Emlenton with her husband,
Charles.

2010

Danielle (DiPerna) and Michael (’11) Bryan
reside in Mercer. Danielle is an admissions
counselor/transfer coordinator for Grove
City College in Grove City.

Stephanie Martini is a 12th grade English
teacher in the Penn Trafford School District
in Harrison City. She resides in Irwin.
Michelle (White) Walter is a teller for
WesBanco in Monaca. She resides in
Monaca with her husband, David, and her
daughter, Annabel.
Thomas Crissman is a student support
assistant for Clarion University. He resides
in Clarion.

2012

Jamie Zadra has joined the law firm of
Duffy and Partners in Philadelphia as an
associate.
Katie Anderson is a reporter for WBOYTV in Clarksburg, W. Va. She resides in
Clarksburg.

2013

Meghan Jacobs is a speech language
pathologist for EBS Healthcare. She resides
in Jacksonville, Fla.

Craig and Samantha (Petroff ’11) Butler
reside in Philippi, W. Va., with their son,
Theodore. Craig is a sports information
director for Alderson Broaddus University
in Philippi.

Christina Loscar is a weekend news editor
for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh. She resides in
Allison Park.

2011

Rachel Farkas is a staff writer for
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in Pittsburgh.
She resides in Darlington.

Bethany (Koch) and Joseph (’04, M.B.A.
’10) Agostinelli reside in Lakeland, Fla.
Bethany is a 1st grade STEM teacher for
Polk County School Board in Lakeland.

In Memoriam
1930s

Ruth E. Corbett ‘36, June 12, 2014
Ralph C. Summerville ‘37, Aug. 26, 2013

1940s

Franklin H. Mohney ‘42, March 1, 2014
Lorna F. (Bloom) Feveryear ‘48, Jan. 18,
2014
Nathalie E. (Neverla) Monk ‘48, Feb. 23,
2014

1950s

Merle P. Sheffer ‘51, Feb. 25, 2014
Cecil David Willoughby ‘51, April 3, 2014
Esther D. McNeal ‘52, Dec. 13, 2013
Shirley P. (Perry) Rogers ‘52, Sept. 15, 2013
Wells B. Stockwell ‘52, March 11, 2014
Salvatore John Russo ‘52, May 15, 2014
Allene C. Crissman ‘53, Sept. 6, 2013
Merle J. Conrad ‘53, Feb. 28, 2014
Robert A. Hoover ‘53, March 18, 2014
David S. Dunn ‘53, June 7, 2014
Elizabeth C. (Blough) Amanecer ‘54, May
23, 2014
James N. Servey ‘55, March 3, 2014
Beverly M. (McDowell) Morris ‘57, Feb. 16,
2014
Frances B. McGuirk ‘57, June 15, 2014
Charles M. Marshall ‘57, June 28, 2014
Judith (Dunn) Rupert ‘57, July 19, 2014
James C. Galbraith ‘58, Feb. 6, 2014
Theodore Paich ‘58, Feb. 23, 2014
Theodore Kukich ‘58, April 29, 2014
Richard H. Danielson ‘59, July 2, 2014
Blanche P. (Piatt) Miller ‘59, July 18, 2014

1960s

Roland F. Davis ‘60, Sept. 21, 2013
Mary Lou Raybuck ‘60, July 17, 2014
Ruth L. Kenemuth ‘61, Aug. 21, 2014
John C. Boor ‘62, April 22, 2014
Richard Ellen Grabiec ‘63, Sept. 6, 2013
Raymond A. Ganoe ‘64, April 10, 2014
Charles Joseph Terrana ‘64, July 16, 2014

Jacqueline A. (Jones) Garland ‘65, Sept. 20,
2013
C. Darrel Sheraw ‘65, March 27, 2014
Edwin Kaye Doverspike ‘65, May 25, 2014
Benjamin Harold Schwabenbauer ‘65, July
27, 2014
John E. Byers ‘65, Aug. 9, 2014
Ed T. Ganoe ‘66, March 27, 2014
Gail F. (Fulton) Grejda ‘66, May 13, 2014
Frederick L. Smeigh ‘67, April 10, 2014
Terry M. Peterson ‘67, April 18, 2014
Janet F. (Shoup) Grove ‘69, March 13, 2014

1970s

Rodger R. Buzard ‘70, July 23, 2014
William L. McDaniel ‘71, Aug. 23, 2013
Kathy F. Glenn ‘71, Feb. 15, 2014
Donald Roy Wingard ‘72, Sept. 20, 2013
Dolores F. (Fleming) Meier ‘72, Jan. 28,
2014
Jack Irwin Lowe ‘72, June 17, 2014
Ronald L. Larimore ‘73, March 9, 2014
Pamela E. Hartley ‘73, March 30, 2014
Glenn L. Blair ‘73, July 11, 2014
Nancy W. (Wetzel) Kaufman ‘74, Feb. 24,
2014
Mary Christine (Kendrick) Scott ‘74, June
3, 2014
Calvin G. Holloway ‘75, March 5, 2014
Sandra S. Gustafson ‘78, April 3, 2014
Michael J. Rich ‘78, April 11, 2014
Randy Harp ‘79, March 28, 2014

1980s

Karen Hessney ‘80, March 18, 2014
Jacalyn A. (Silagyi) Thomas ‘80, April 9,
2014
Michael S. Destephano ‘81, April 4, 2014
Annette L. (Packard) Smith ‘81, April 7, 2014
James P. Flaherty ‘81, June 19, 2014
Ann M. Peslak ‘82, Aug. 30, 2013
Jeanne I. Winger ‘83, April 14, 2014
Nancy F. Carner ‘84, Feb. 18, 2014
Christine E. Rankin ‘87, July 28, 2014
Betty J. Stephens ‘88, Sept. 17, 2013
Jeffrey B. Rankin ‘88, April 30, 2014
Scott C. Hall ‘88, Aug. 14, 2014

1990s

Ronald Craig Lieb ‘91, July 31, 2014
Gary J. Massaglia ‘92, Feb. 25, 2014
Eric Howard Rapp ‘92, March 29, 2014
William R. Miller ‘94, May 2, 2014
John W. Skehan ‘96, April 26, 2014
Daniel Lee Foxwell ‘97, Sept. 19, 2013

2000s

James H. Clarke ‘02, March 5, 2014
Scott Allen Greene ‘06, June 22, 2014
Gretchen L. Hayes ‘07, Aug. 2, 2014

2010s

James Robert Rowland ‘11, July 8, 2014
Erika C. Lawrence ‘13, July 10, 2014

Friends

Genevieve Krier, Sept. 20, 2013
Robert E. Case, Sept. 21, 2013
Dean A. Farnham, Nov. 7, 2013
James Holden, Nov. 9, 2013
Leroy Burgason, Nov. 24, 2013
Arnold Cooper, Dec. 5, 2013
Pauline Baluh, Jan. 12, 2014
J. Telford Bachman, Jan. 15, 2014
William A. Kendrick, March 3, 2014
Rosemary E. Troese, March 14, 2014
Ardelle E. Marks, March 30, 2014
Ruben Hoffman, April 2, 2014
Joan R. Huber, April 10, 2014
Dale Haugh, April 11, 2014
Lois J. Chernicky, April 14, 2014
Anne Kerle, April 17, 2014
Jean Rumsey, May 14, 2014
Gwendolyn M. Bays, May 15, 2014
Henry Ray Pope, June 12, 2014
Carol Hartley, June 29, 2014
Elizabeth J. Henry, July 22, 2014
Raymond Siegel, July 29, 2014
Charles Myron, Aug. 2, 2014
Jennifer Alden (Wesner) Shaw, Aug. 17,
2014

Clarion university
magazine

43

births

Patrick (’05) and Kyleigh Chovan, a
daughter, Kathryn Elizabeth, Jan. 11, 2014
William (’00) and Shannon Reinking, a
son, William Patrick, Jan. 10, 2014

marriages

Thomas (’06) and Kerri Misko, a son,
Brayden Thomas, March 8, 2014

Michael (’11) Bryan and Danielle (’10)
DiPerna, May 25, 2013

David and Michelle (White ’11) Walter, a
daughter, Annabel, March 27, 2014

Ben Gross and Annette (’07) Tarary,
Sept. 28, 2013

Peter (’09) and Courtney (Leamer ’09)
Zielinski, a son, Parker, March 31, 2014

Eric Wagner and Mackenzie (’03) Maggie,
Oct. 5, 2013

Tina (Beer ’02) Tolkacevic, a daughter, Lyla
Grace, April 16, 2014

Stephen Dusenberry and Erin (’98)
Dispennett, Nov. 28, 2013

Matthew (’97) and Elizabeth (Saglio ’97)
Morris, a daughter, Liliana Elise,
Oct. 22, 2013

Chuck Wu and Kelly Beatty (’95, ’02),
April 5, 2014

Jesse and Deserie (Vendetti ’09) Sayre, a
son, Francis Alvin, April 9, 2014

Edward Gabrielson and Meghan (’04)
Knotts, June 7, 2014

Craig (’10) and Samantha (Petroff ’11)
Butler, a son, Theodore James,
June 24, 2014

aubrey nicole yi

babes:
welcome to the world!

bib

oliver wesley wozniak

Our gift to all “baby Eagles” born to Clarion
alumni is a dashing new bib. We’d love
to see your little one sporting his or her
Clarion swag. Send a photo and tell us
something about your new addition to the
Clarion family. We’ll run it in the next issue
of Clarion Magazine. Send your Bib Babes
submission, including a digital photo, to
alumni@clarion.edu.
Aubrey Nicole Yi knows how to put her gift
to good use. She was born Jan. 6, 2014,
to Paul Jisoo (’13) and Nicole Marie Yi of
Winchester, Va.
Oliver Wesley Wozniak hangs loose. Born
Feb. 24, 2014, he is the son of Steve and
Amy (Thompson ’02) Wozniak and resides
in Clarion.

44

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

1
Jamie Wolf Jackel ’07
Diving
7-time NCAA Div II champion

Hall of

Fame
Seven Clarion
athletics stars
join 150 prior
inductees
Clarion University’s Sports Hall of
Fame gained seven new members
this past May, bringing the total
number of athletes honored to
157. Nearly 250 guests attended
the induction celebration at Eagle
Commons, which included a
banquet and ceremony honoring
the 2014 class of inductees, the
26th since 1989. Our new Golden
Eagle hall of famers are:

[

3

Taryn Carter
Wyche ’81
Women’s Track
Most-decorated
women’s track star

5

[

Sports

Alvin Slaughter ’99 • Football
Most-prolific receiver in Clarion history

7

2

Les Bressler ’72 • Wrestling
Two-time NAIA All-American

4
Kim Niedbala ’96
Football
Star player and football coach

6
Richard Taylor
Men’s Basketball
Coached the team to five
straight winning seasons
from 1983–1988

Robert “Bob” Carlson • Athletics
Served as both athletic director (1990–2005) and
associate athletic director (1987–1990)

Michelle Searle Honored
for Music Education
Michelle Searle (’96) was awarded
the 2014 Maryland Music Educators
Association Outstanding High School
Music Teacher Award. The award is given
annually to one teacher at the elementary,
middle and high school levels who is
considered to be the best music educator
in Maryland. Searle is choir director and
swing dance instructor at Seneca Valley
High School, Germantown, Md. In 2012, her
choir performed for President Barack and
First Lady Michelle Obama.

Clarion university
magazine

45

gabrielle scrofano:
one with courage

This Clarion grad
found the courage to
forge a new path – and
now helps vulnerable
children to do the same.
Each day, when Gabrielle Scrofano
(’13) goes to work at West Virginia Child
Advocacy Network (WVCAN), whose
mission is to restore the lives of abused
children, she is choosing to fight injustices
against the innocent and vulnerable. Her
Clarion University education equips her to
confront the challenges of this difficult –
but rewarding – career.
“Clarion gave me more than just
courses and professors. It allowed me to
gain experiences that have helped me to
fully understand my skills and abilities,”
Scrofano said. “I am confident I can
learn quickly and think on my feet when
necessary.”
Scrofano, an honors student, came to
Clarion focused on getting a business
degree and applying to law school. Early in
her college career, however, she enrolled in
an introductory women and gender studies
class that redirected her academic path.
“I thought ‘feminists’ were bra-burning
man haters,” Scrofano said. “Although I

46

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WINTER
www.clarion.edu

believed in equal rights and often was
upset by double standards and unfair
treatment, I did not realize that those
ideals were the very core of feminism.” The
class, taught by Dr. Deborah Burghardt,
now retired and the former director of
the Women and Gender Studies Program,
ignited in Scrofano a passion for advocacy,
not just for women’s rights, but for human
rights as well.
“When I graduated from high school,
college was about what would make me
the most money, but instead of following
that path, I decided to follow what I
was passionate about,” she said. She
changed her major to liberal studies with
a concentration in women and gender
studies, and also completed a minor in
business administration.
She was heavily involved in
extracurricular life at Clarion, as a member
of the Emerging Leaders program and as
co-founder of Clarion VDay Project, which
educates women on issues regarding
relationship violence and raises funds for
local rape crisis and domestic violence
shelters. As Clarion’s representative in the
Harrisburg Internship Semester during
her senior year, she did extensive research
in the Senate Minority Research Office,
culminating in a thesis paper, “Gangs,

Government and Girls: An Analysis
of Gangs in Pennsylvania, Senate for
Democratic Research.”
These experiences returned immediate
dividends when she was offered a position
with AmeriCorps VISTA as part of WVCAN,
where she builds financial capacity
promoting its current “One With Courage”
and related “Stand Up, Step Forward”
campaigns. She also writes grants, solicits
corporate donors and organizes fundraisers
utilizing social media, press releases and
conferences.
Scrofano is grateful for all of the support
and encouragement she found at Clarion,
especially among the women who served
as her mentors. Along with Burghardt,
her role models include Kelly Ryan,
who coordinates the Emerging Leaders
program, and Dr. Hallie Savage, advisor of
Clarion’s Honors Program.
“These phenomenal women urged me
to follow my heart, take responsibility and
give a voice to the voiceless,” Scrofano
said. “Because of these women, I was not
afraid to move away from everything I
knew, enter into a job and be willing to
learn while taking on lots of responsibility.
Growth can only happen if you venture
outside of your comfort zone.”

Matt Morris named
senior associate at
Gannett Fleming
Matthew B. Morris (’97), P.G., has been
appointed a senior associate of Gannett
Fleming, a global infrastructure firm that
provides planning, design, technology and
construction management services. Based
in the firm’s Pittsburgh office, Morris is a
senior engineering geologist and project
manager.
Morris has more than 14 years of
experience with Gannett Fleming, where
his primary areas of professional interest
include soil and rock slope stability
design and mitigation and construction
geology. Morris has worked for a variety
of federal, state and local government
agencies, including U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation, West Virginia Division of
Highways and New Mexico Department of
Transportation. Morris also has provided
geological services for private clients in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, West
Virginia, Tennessee and Arizona.
Morris holds a bachelor of science
in geology from Clarion University of
Pennsylvania and a master of science
in engineering geology from Kent
State University. Active in professional
associations, he is the immediate
past president of the Association of
Environmental and Engineering Geologists,
a member of the International Association
of Engineering Geologists, American
Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh
Geological Society and Pennsylvania
Council of Professional Geologists.

connect with

Clarion

Have you seen Clarion’s
new website?
It’s worth a visit! There’s a spot just for
alumni and friends of Clarion, and it’s chock
full of info and opportunity. Here are a few
highlights.
Alumni Association:
Be part of Clarion’s alumni network –
51,000 strong and growing.

Alumni Benefits:
Learn about resources, from career services
to special discounts, just for Clarion alumni.
Events Calendar:
Find out what’s happening on campus –
and come for a visit.
Check it out!
www.clarion.edu/alumni-and-friends

Spirit Merchandise:
Get your Clarion gear, including apparel,
license plates, screen savers and more.

Clarion university
magazine

47

Courageous

endeavors

Allison (Miller) Sayers ’87

“

Clarion
wasn’t just a
place for me
to learn. It
also helped
me grow as a
person.”

48

WINTER 2014
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I remember receiving boxes of college
brochures during my junior year of
high school and having grand ideas of
attending schools in tropical climates or
big cities. When it came time to fill out the
applications, I only sent one. I knew Clarion
was really the right fit for me. It was close
enough to home for Mom and Dad to drop
by for dinner, but still far enough away to
assert my independence. One of my best
friends would be my roommate, and, best
of all, I could carry on a family tradition.
My mom, Emma Allison Miller, was a 1964
graduate who had always shared her love
for Clarion with me, recounting stories of
living in Becht Hall, dressing for familystyle dinners, and working together on a
campaign to spend only silver dollars in
the community to show the impact Clarion
students had on the local economy.
It’s hard to name just one thing that
makes me Clarion proud. One of the
biggest factors has to be the quality of my
instructors. My advisor and children’s lit
professor, David Klinedinst, gave me a love
of books and showed me the power they
give children. Other instructors from the
education department, such as Liz Brown,
Jay Moorehouse and Robert Baldwin,
shared the importance of hands-on
learning and child-centered activities. They
showed me how to be creative with limited
resources and gave me the background
to teach my students through multiple
techniques. Through them, I learned that
I must find the special way to reach every
child.
Clarion wasn’t just a place for me to
learn. It also helped me grow as a person. I
went out of my comfort zone to join several
groups on campus and become involved in
Greek life. I was a part of the recolonization
of Phi Sigma Sigma sorority and share
many fond memories with my sisters.
I returned to Clarion for graduate classes
and attended the Penn Rivers Writing
Project with Charles Duke in the summer of

1994. Our class spent the summer exploring
writing, crafting our personal styles and
developing unique units to use with
students. It wasn’t just a six-credit class;
it was a family of learners who became
longtime friends over the love of writing
and the bond of Clarion.
I am now in my 26th year of teaching.
The foundational skills I received at Clarion
have served me well in a challenging and
rigorous profession. I mentor student
teachers from Clarion and hear of their
belief in the quality of education they are
receiving.
Because of my experiences at Clarion,
I gained confidence in myself, honed my
organizational skills, and developed a work
ethic that has enabled me to launch a
second career.
In the spring of 2013, I opened
re.invent.ed, a custom furniture and
home decor business in my hometown
of Luthersburg. I am a trained retailer for
Chalk Paint® Decorative Paint by Annie
Sloan, an international paint brand, and
use my teaching background as I conduct
various painting workshops in my studio.
Shortly after opening, I had the opportunity
to join my friend Katrina Horner ’04, M.Ed.
’08, the executive assistant to Clarion’s
dean of arts, education and sciences, and
her husband Andy as a vendor in their new
business, The Nomadic Trading Company,
a 40,000-square-foot antique shopping
experience in Punxsutawney. We Clarion
grads know how to work together, provide
new experiences to the community and
enrich our own lives in the process.
Clarion University has certainly been a
big part of my life. I wouldn’t be the same
person today without the experiences it
has afforded me.
I am definitely...
Courageous. Confident. Clarion.

SHARE

your

STORY

Courageous. confident. Clarion.
is the new tagline associated with the university’s
new brand.

It is about the perseverance and passion – in
a word, the grit – of Clarion University students,
faculty and alumni who are striving to meet, headon, the challenges of the 21st century.

Read Allison’s story

It’s also about the strength and resilience –
the grace – that they exhibit as they adapt and
innovate not only to achieve personal success but
also to further the greater good of the region and
the state.

you can see the stories of how Clarion
students, faculty, and alumni help each
other – in both big and small ways – to
reach a goal, overcome an obstacle, or just
open a new door.

At www.clarion.edu/shareyourstory

We’d love to hear your Courageous.
Confident. Clarion. story, too.

Send it, plus a photo of yourself, to
myclarionstory@mindovermedia.com.

Want to see an example? Read Allison
(Miller) Sayers’ ’87 story on page 48.
Clarion University is an affirmative action equal opportunity employer.

Clarion university
magazine

49

nonprofit org.
u.s. postage
paid
permit no. 2
clarion, pa

840 Wood Street
Clarion, PA 16214-1232
www.clarion.edu

Welcome

all
Clarion Alumni

Mid-Winter golf
in sunny Florida

Jan. 19-20, 2015

SPONSORED BY ALPHA GAMMA PHI

MONDAY, JAN. 19, 2015

TUESDAY, JAN. 20, 2015

RIVER CITY GRILL,
PUNTA GORDA

KINGSWAY COUNTRY CLUB,
PORT CHARLOTTE

Cocktails and Dinner

50

WINTER 2014
www.clarion.edu

Lunch, Golf and Dinner

RSVP to attend by Jan. 14

Wayne Norris 1-888-327-0280
Jack Bertani 941-627-0162
Shawn Wood 814-393-1832