Alumni Life

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James Sell, BS ’59, Clive, Iowa, wrote: “Hurricane Harvey destroyed our home in Orange, Texas. We escaped with a few
personal belongings and now live in Iowa.”

60

Carole (Painter) Kane, BS ’62, Hudson, Ohio, wrote: “Sixty years after meeting as KSU freshmen in 1958 and being roommates in Terrace Hall and Prentice Hall until our 1962 graduation, we remain close friends. All three of us were teachers and married teachers.”

Pictured (l to r): Nancy (Myers) McFarland, BS ’62, Commerce, Texas; Barbara (Ujcic) O’Donnell, BS ’62, Rocky River, Ohio; Carole (Painter) Kane.

Stephen Hanzely, BS ’62, Youngstown, Ohio, wrote: “As a retired Youngstown State University professor of physics and astronomy and former Fulbright Scholar, I was honored to receive the YSU Heritage Award, the highest honor Youngstown State can bestow on its former faculty and staff. I also received a 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award from the New Mexico State University Alumni Association.”

William Green, BA ’63, MA ’67, Lexington, Ky., received the Kentucky Political Science Association’s 2018 Distinguished Political Scientist Award at the annual meeting. A Morehead State University faculty member for 34 years, he received MSU’s Distinguished Research Award in 1991, Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005, and the Faculty Internship
Award in 2013.

Barbara Gregorich, BA ’64, Chicago, has published Charlie Chan’s Poppa: Earl Derr Biggers, a biography of the golden-age-of-mystery author from Warren, Ohio, who was known around the world for creating the Chinese-Hawaiian police detective, Charlie Chan.

Robert Margolis, BS ’68, MA ’69, Arden Hills, Minn., wrote: “After completing a PhD in audiology at the University of Iowa in 1974 and a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in 1975, I held faculty appointments at UCLA, Syracuse University and the University of Minnesota, retiring from Minnesota in 2016.

I started Audiology Incorporated in 2000 to develop improved hearing tests which are licensed to hearing equipment manufacturers. Funded by grants from The Rotary Foundation, I participated in service projects in Chile, India, and currently in Mexico, where I’m pictured (above) at the San Felipe, Mexico Hearing Clinic, created through a grant from The Rotary Foundation.”

Richard Margolis, BS ’69, Rochester, NY, wrote: “I’m currently exhibiting ‘About Books’ — my homage to André Kertész — gelatin silver prints (from film) that are available in my studio/gallery and on the website www.RichardMargolis.com (see picture above). My studio is open on the first Friday of each month from October through May. I’d enjoy meeting friends who are visiting Rochester.”

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David Strahle, BS ’72, Fenton, Mich., is a physician and founder of Regional Medical Imaging (RMI), one of the leading breast MRI centers in the nation, recognized by the American College of Radiology. Dr. Strahle has developed an alternate breast-screening method for women with dense breast tissue. After seven years of research, his Rapid Breast MRI screening study was published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment in 2017. Findings show that his screening method has the ability to detect breast cancer up to six years sooner than other current technology. Since his study was published, several institutions have installed the Rapid Breast MRI protocol.

Robert Taylor, BS ’72, Painesville, Ohio, wrote: “After a 30-year career in the classrooms of Painesville City Local Schools and retiring with no further plans than to enjoy life, I’m now serving as a Trustee/Board of Director for the International Women’s Air & Space Museum at Burke Airport in Cleveland, Ohio. At last, a blending of my love of history and aviation history.”

Carter Strang, BS ’73, MEd ’79, Shaker Heights, Ohio, wrote: “I am a partner at Tucker Ellis LLP and recipient of the 2014 KSU Distinguished Alumni Award. I currently serve on the KSU Honors College Advisory Committee. I recently was named to the Cleveland Council of World Affairs Board of Directors, was elected vice president of special events of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation and was elected to the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Central Committee.”

Fred Jermyn, BS ’74, San Diego, wrote: “I wrote the Kent State University Men’s Club & Varsity Soccer Media Guide & Record Book of 1949-1980 to preserve the historical data of the program. More than 3,040 articles from digital copies of The Daily Kent Stater newspaper were referenced in rebuilding the results from each year. Details were also secured from numerous other sources to include post-season honors, team and player records, plus photos. The 530-page book is available for free download via request by email to fred.jermyn@hotmail.com.”

William Speer, PhD ’76, Henderson, Nev., was selected for the 2018 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mathematics Education Trust. He is currently in a 22-year career at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as director of their Mathematics Learning Center, following a 20-year career at Bowling Green State University. Speer is a former recipient of the KSU EHHS Distinguished Alumni Award and Hall of Fame member.

Susan Kay, BS ’77, Mentor, Ohio, has joined the local office of Home Instead Senior Care of Lake and Geauga counties as community relations manager. She will be instrumental in maintaining and expanding the scope of personalized home care available from this franchisee of the company’s multinational network.

James Russell, BA ’77, Bloomington, Ill., associate executive director for the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB), retired from the nonprofit association on January 1, 2018. Russell ends a 43-year career in communications and publications, including 17 years at IASB and 26 years as a newspaper editor in Illinois and Ohio. He also taught journalism at Eastern Illinois University, judged college newspaper contests and served on the Illinois Press Association foundation board of directors.

Tim Tracey, BFA ’77, Warren, Ohio, played an integral role in introducing a bill to the United States Congress, H.R. 1553–American Patriots of WWII through Service with the Canadian and British Armed Forces Gold Medal Act of 2017. He was inspired to act when researching his father’s military history for a book he is creating. The bill calls for the recognition of thousands of Americans (including Tracey’s father, Edward) who volunteered to serve with the Canadian and British Armed Forces prior to the United States’ entry into WWII.

Ruth Ava Lyons, BFA ’78, Charlotte, N.C., received a 2018 Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte. With the fellowship, she will attend an underwater photography workshop on a liveaboard in Raja Ampat, in the Indonesia archipelago, which she hopes will advance her ongoing Oceanic Alchemies series.

Douglas Smorag, BBA ’79, MBA ’88, Cleveland, has been promoted to chief operating officer and executive vice president at CM Wealth Advisors in Pepper Pike, Ohio, where he has been employed since 1998. He serves on a number of charitable foundations and associations, and he was recognized with the University Hospitals Distinguished Advisor Award in 2016.

Jeffrey Yaw, BS ’79, West Chester, Ohio, retired in May 2017 after a 20-year career as a special education teacher at Lakota Local Schools, New York City Public Schools and Hamilton City Schools. He received an MBA from Xavier University (Cincinnati) in 1986 and worked in the IT industry from 1985-2002. He and Nita, his wife of 35 years, reside in West Chester, Ohio.

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James Collver, MEd ’80, Akron, Ohio, wrote: “I started the Celtic Club of Ohio in 2002. We recently celebrated the 14th Annual Celtic Club St. Pet’s Day, which was held this year at the Richardson Elementary School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on March 9, 2018. The event is intended to help increase awareness and appreciation for rescued pets.

In the weeks prior, we held a pet food donation drive at both Richardson and Cuyahoga Falls High School, with all pet food going to the Humane Society of Summit County. The Celtic Club handed out Irish items (green derbies, shamrock head boppers, green beads, etc.) and an Irish band, Celtic Rush, played for the students, teachers and parents.

Eleven of the teachers at Richardson Elementary are Kent State graduates from the College of Education, Health and Human Services, and I arranged for a photo of them in Kent State shirts to run in the Record Courier and the Cuyahoga Falls News Press.”

Pictured front row (l to r): Lisa Stacks (member of Celtic Rush), Venus Rehs, BS ’98, MEd ’12, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Lindsi (Ollinger) Sorgi, BS ’11, MA ’14, Hudson, Ohio; Stephanie Petit, BS ’94, Norton, Ohio; Maria Kirkpatrick, BS ’06, MEd ’11, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Barbara “Bobbi” Huston, BS ’86, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Back row: Nancy Barber, BS ’87, Silver Lake, Ohio; Tara Bultrowicz, MEd ’98, EDs ’00, Aurora, Ohio; Cheryl Bruce, BS ’87, MEd ’13, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Jessica Oberhauser, BS ’03, MEd ’10, Canton, Ohio; Katherine “Katie” (Huston) Fetterman, BSE ’10, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Jessica Moore, BS ’00, MEd ’07, Stow, Ohio. Photo by James Collver, MEd ’80

Margaret “Peggy” Blood, AAS ’81, Vestavia Hills, Ala., a registered nurse, received the 2018 VAD Coordinator Leadership Award from the ASAIO (American Society for Artificial Internal Organs) for her efforts in the improvement of VAD (Ventricular Assist Device) care.

Peter McCabe, BS ’83, Redington Beach, Fla., wrote: “Class of 1983 Air Force ROTC grads break bread in Cocoa Beach, Florida.” Pictured from left to right, front row: Renee (Licavoli) Elton, BS ’83, Cocoa Beach, Fla.; Denise (Randell) McCabe, BSN ’83, Redington Beach, Fla.; Katie (Yunker) Brewer, BSN ’83, Charleston, W.V.; back row: Neil Elton, BS ’83, Cocoa Beach, Fla.; Peter McCabe.

Mary (Zettelman) Greer, MEd ’83, Ravenna, Ohio, has published two volumes of poetry, Cry in the Ears of Jerusalem/To the Horizon Always There (2017) and Poems: Selected and New (2017). Both collections reflect a love of Earth and the human journey. Greer credits KSU’s professors—especially Ted Lyons, David Hassler and Maj Ragain — for her move from “forty years of private art” to a public role as an Ohio poet. Greer reads in Kent, Ohio. She also helps others map their paths through the obstacles that block success for poets.

Karen (Hawkins) Bankston, BSN ’84, Cincinnati, wrote: “I was appointed executive director of The Child Poverty Collaborative Hamilton County, while retaining a part-time faculty role at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing.”

James Michael Kaler, MA ’84, New Orleans, La., graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in May 2018. Prior to becoming a physician, he earned an MBA from National University (1987) and a JD from the University of San Diego School of Law (1992) and practiced litigation and patent law for 18 years. He says his career change is the result of a decades-long dream to practice primary care medicine in a rural and medically underserved community, much like the West Kentucky community in which he grew up.

Beverley Laubert, BA ’84, Lewis Center, Ohio, was appointed by Governor Kasich as interim director of the Ohio Department of Aging.

Shelley (Landis) Rogers, BA ’85, MEd ’93, Carrollton, Ga., wrote: “I have been promoted from associate professor to professor at the University of West Georgia, where I am the senior cataloger.”

Joe Wendel, PhD ’85, Euclid, Ohio, is the author of Justice Denied: An Historical Sojourn (Archway Publishing, 2017), a history of Germany and German Americans, with a
focus on the two 20th century world wars from the viewpoint of a German American
who lived in Austria during World War II. It offers information unfamiliar to most Americans, including the personal stories of German Americans sent to American internment camps in World War II.

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Michael Lanstrum, BS ’91, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, wrote: “I presented ‘Historical Women in Mathematics’ at the Dwyer Memorial Senior Center in Bay Village, Ohio, in March 2018.”

Seth Thomas, MBA ’91, Ijamsville, Md., wrote: “My wife Jennifer Himes Thomas, MBA ’91, and I met at Kent State in 1989 while pursuing MBAs. We married in 1992 and recently celebrated our 25th anniversary. We have two children—a son (Penn State junior) and a daughter (Ohio University freshman). Jen earned her bachelor’s degree at Penn State, and I earned mine at OU.”

Jodi (Benedictis) Groh, BS ’92, North Royalton, Ohio, wrote: “I am currently a channel marketing manager at Kichler Lighting, and was previously marketing director at Nanofilm. I was honored in February with an Achievements in Excellence award by the National Sales and Marketing Executives (NSME) Akron/Canton for my professional experience and achievements as well as community involvement.”

Neil Colby, MS ’94, Macedonia, Ohio, has been promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer at CM Wealth Advisors in Pepper Pike, Ohio. He started with the firm in 2014 as director of operations and led the sourcing and implementation of a new comprehensive reporting system, among other achievements. He retains his role leading the operations team and other responsibilities on behalf of the firm and its clients.

Francisco Owens, MArc ’94, Los Angeles, has been promoted to principal at the Los Angeles office of SmithGroupJJR, one of the world’s preeminent integrated design firms. A member of the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles chapter, he is currently serving as lead designer on the new $20 million, 150,000-square-foot Caltech Chen Neuroscience Research Building and a senior designer on the new $150 million, 179,000-square-foot Multidisciplinary Research Building at the University of California, Riverside, slated to open fall 2018.

T. Douglas Clifford, BA ’95, Norwalk, Ohio, an attorney, received the American Chemical Society Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation as recognized by the Chemistry and the Law Division of the ACS. This designation is to recognize proficiency in forensic toxicology in criminal and DUI defense.

Kevin Louise (Hoop) Schaner, MLS ’95, Cleveland, wrote: “Last year I published Dinner by Candlelight: Comfort and Joy for Advent with Xulon Press. Perfect for personal reflection or small group study, the essays invite conversation towards a positive approach to the Advent season. How we celebrate Christmas may have changed—with loss of parents and relationships or absent adult children—but we can continue to treasure our traditions while considering new ways to celebrate Christ’s birth. Available from Amazon.”

John Caparulo, BA ’98, Calabasas, Calif., stand-up comedian, has a residency at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, which began May 10. Jamie (Kelly) Caparulo,
BA ’08, is producing the show.

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Amber Jimenez Fonseca, BA ’01, Fort Smith, Ark., wrote: “I became a new financial advisor with Edward Jones of Fort Smith, Arkansas, in May 2018.”

Shawn Hoke, MEd ’01, Shippenville, Pa., wrote: “I was recently promoted to assistant vice president for student affairs at Clarion University and received a PhD in administration and leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in May.”

Jason Zygadlo, BBA ’02, Brunswick, Ohio, wrote: “I took a new position with Biotronik as a sales rep selling cardiac rhythm management and vascular interventional devices.”

Brad Gable, BS ’04, MS ’05, Columbus, Ohio, a physician who specializes in critical care medicine, has been elected as chair of the Graduate Medical Education Committee at Riverside Methodist Hospital.

Bryan Flachbart, BS ’06, Danville, Ky., was selected as the principal of Cedar Grove Elementary in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.

Timothy Jarome, BA ’06, Niles, Ohio, has been named assistant professor of animal and poultry sciences in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His research examines the neurobiology of learning and memory, focusing on how memories for aversive experiences are stored in the brain and shape future behavior.

Marianne Riggenbach-Senvisky, BA ’08, Kent, Ohio, was hired as business development manager for Hope Homes Foundation in Stow, Ohio. The Foundation’s mission is to provide safe, affordable and accessible housing to individuals with special needs.

Nicholas DiSabatino, BA ’09, Sommerville, Mass., wrote: “I recently started working as a publicist at the MIT Press in Cambridge, Mass. I spent five years at Beacon Press working my way up from assistant to associate to publicist. I think back to my time at KSU fondly and know I couldn’t have done it without the support of my professors and faculty advisers, especially Kim Winebrenner.”

Laura Kordalski, BS ’09, Evanston, Ill., was recently recognized as a ‘2018 Top 200 Retail Housewares Executive’ in Housewares Executive Publication. She is currently the buyer for cookware, cutlery, ovenware and food for Crate and Barrel.

Andrea Piasecki Legg, MLIS ’09, Dover, Ohio, has written her first children’s book, Flap Your Wings, Little Robin, which was released to major retailers from Mascot Books in February 2018. It’s “an encouraging animal tale with an important message for children with disabilities,” according to Kirkus Book Reviews. Visit www.andrealegg.com to purchase signed copies, obtain ASL resources and learn about upcoming promotional events.

Jenniffer Omaitz, MFA ’09, Cleveland, a painter and installation artist, participated in a recent exhibition, “Illustrious Decay,” at the Cleveland West Art League Gallery, from September 21, 2018 through October 19, 2018.

Kristina Deckert, BS ’10, Brooklyn, NY, has been promoted to art director of the National Audubon Society. Previously she worked for three years as a designer of the nonprofit environmental and bird conservation organization’s Audubon magazine and affiliated print products. Pictured left at her office at the National Audubon Society in Manhattan. Photo by Caitlin (Saniga) Hawksley, BS ’09

Talea Drummer, PhD ’14, and Colin Ferrell, BA ’07, MA ’15, married at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center on February 10, 2018. They met while working together with the Kent State Football team in 2013. Photo by Jason Garrett, BA ’12

Hillary (Smith) Nauer, BS ’12, MEd ’15, and Christopher Nauer, BA ’08, MEd ’16, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, met at Kent State during graduate school for School Counseling in 2013. Christopher proposed to Hillary at White Hall on June 3, 2017. The couple celebrated their marriage on June 23, 2018 at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center. Photo by LMAC Photography

Sarah Lack, BS ’12, and Steve Habbyshaw, BSE ’14, Athens, Ohio, got married on October 21, 2017, at Brookside Farm in Louisville, Ohio. Photo by Renee Lemaire Photography

Sneha Jose, BS ’11, from Varanasi, India, and Daniel Cogan, BA ’11, from Canton, Ohio, met at Kent State in December 2011, a week before graduating and Sneha’s move to Texas. They got married in Varanasi, India, on June 17, 2017, in the presence of their families and close friends from KSU. Photo by Sambhavna

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Arthur Shulsky, BBA ’10, MBA ’11, Lakewood, Ohio, a CFO, financial literacy specialist and author, published The Powerful Entrepreneur: 21^st century entrepreneurial lessons told through the greatest stories from world history in November 2017. Available through Amazon.com.

Daniel Cogan, BA ’11, Bedford, Texas, ran
and won for City Council Place 2 in Bedford, Texas, a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He says his time at Kent State has inspired
him to be the change he wants to see, starting right in his adopted hometown. He lives in Bedford with his wife and fellow KSU alumnus, Sneha Jose, BS ’11. (See photo on previous page, bottom right.)

Noah Plymale, BS ’11, Washington, DC, joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) as a research staff member in IDA’s System Evaluation Division. IDA is a nonprofit corporation that provides objective analyses of national security issues and related national challenges. He received a doctoral degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and is a member of the American Chemical Society.

Jameel Davis, BA ’13, Cleveland, wrote: “Upon leaving KSU, I have written and published several books, and currently speak at elementary, middle and high schools, colleges, universities, and organizations, lifting others up and shining rays of hope. I have my own publishing company and am inspiring children, adolescents and adults with my latest book, Cultivating Minds to Own Thyself.”

Ryan Collins BS ’13, Lakewood, Ohio, has been promoted to the role of assistant director of admission at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.

Quanice Floyd, MM ’14, Washington, DC, recently received the 2018 American Express Emerging Arts Leader Award from Americans for the Arts at their convention in Denver on June 16, 2018. Currently a doctoral student at Drexel University, she is a public-school music educator and the founder and director of the Arts Administrators of Color Network, an organization committed to empowering artists and arts administrators in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas.

David Distelhorst, MLIS ’15, Massillon, Ohio, is now the genealogy specialist at Massillon Public Library. He previously worked in the circulation division at the main library of Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Angelina Bair, MLIS ’17, University Heights, Ohio wrote: “I was a semifinalist in the Cleveland Leadership Center Accelerate competition. I won $2,000 to start a special needs toy-lending library with my employer, the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library.”

Ellen Sears, BA ’17, Dayton, Ohio, was accepted into the Peace Corps to serve as an English and gender education volunteer in Togo, West Africa. She departed in May 2018.

In Memory

1940s

Annamary (Strand) Acerra, BS ’48, August 29, 2017

1950s

Monte Mack, BBA ’50, November 23, 2016

Merle Risher, BArc ’51, December 19, 2015

James Collins Jr., BA ’51, April 28, 2018

Thomas Pexton, BA ’53, MA ’60, March 28, 2018

Norman Smyke, BA ’55, July 11, 2018

Nancy Ann Miller, BS ’58, November 9, 2017

Andrew Holko, BS ’59, November 25, 2017   

1960s

Myrna Lee (Pat Prewett) Quatraro, BS ’60, February 13, 2018

A. Charles Dolce, BS ’61, MEd ’64, March 30, 2018

Ruth Ann (Zurn) Briggs, BS ’63, December 13, 2017

Susan Young, BA ’68, October 15, 2017

Daniel DuChez, MEd ’69, March 1, 2018

1970s

Dale Ralph Payton, BBA ’73, March 3, 2016

Phillip Locker, BFA ’73, April 26, 2018

Patricia Callahan, MA ’74, January 18, 2018

Mary Schultz, MA ’74, October 11, 2016

Lydia Cooper, BS ’76, February 2, 2018

David Aaron Bradshaw, ’78, January 19, 2018

1980s

Karen Koch, BBA ’80, October 26, 2016

Mark Eagle, BBA ’81, July 19, 2018

Jacqueline (Tabet) Coury, BS ’85, November 1, 2017

Karen (Manzo) Reynolds, BSN ’87, July 18, 2018

1990s

Lavina Johnson, PhD ’91, March 6, 2018

Carol (Baron) Burch, BA ’92, April 26, 2018

Rita Brzezowski, MEd ’94, February 8, 2017

Joseph Greco, PhD ’99, January 4, 2018

2000s

Malcom Mathis II, MA ’11, February 15, 2018

FACULTY/STAFF

Maj Ragain, PhD ’90, part-time lecturer (1981-1992), part-time instructor, Department of English (1993, 1997-2008), April 19, 2018

Ron Ganim, BS ’68, gymnastics coach at Kent Campus (1966-1972), December 10, 2017

Frank Lukas, photography instructor at Kent Campus (early 1940s), April 13, 2017

E. Thomas Dowd, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology (1995-2009), January 6, 2018

Christopher Darling, assistant professor of illustration and
digital design, School of Visual Communication Design (2014-2018), June 17, 2018