1980s
José González-Taboada, DBA ’81, Caguas, Puerto Rico, wrote, “August 13 marked the 50th anniversary of the day in which I entered a classroom for the first time as an instructor. This 50-year academic career includes almost nine years teaching accounting at KSU, as well as brief teaching experiences in Spain and the Dominican Republic. At the University of Puerto Rico I have served as chair of the Accounting Department for seven years and dean of the College of Business for three years. Having fulfilled my dream of a 50-year career, I look forward, God willing, to continue educating future accountants to serve the profession and society. Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity.”
Thomas Knestrict, BS ’83, Mason, Ohio, was promoted to full professor and appointed director of the Middle and Early Childhood Education program at Xavier University, where he has taught for the past 17 years. After a 15-year career in public schools, Knestrict earned his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati in 2001 and previously taught at Miami University and the College of Mt. St. Joseph. He also published his first book in 2020, Controlling Our Children: Hegemony and Deconstructing the Positive Behavioral Intervention Support Model, Peter Lang Publishing. He is married to Christine (Cigolle) Knestrict, BS ’83, and they have three children, Aaron, Olivia and Ally.
Beverley Laubert, BA ’84, Lewis Center, Ohio, State Long-Term Care Ombudsman for Ohio, wrote, “I was selected from over 800 applicants to serve on the 25-member Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes. The independent commission is tasked to identify and recommend best practices in infection control and care delivery and identify opportunities to leverage new sources of data to improve infection control policies and enable coordination across systems. My Kent State education in gerontology launched a rewarding career through which I have seen and heard older adults’ experiences with long-term services and supports. Participation in this commission will allow me to contribute these experiences to important public policy dialogue and decisions.
Michael E. McFarland, BBA ’84, BA ’87, Twinsburg, Ohio, received degrees in marketing and graphic design from Kent State and honors veterans with his artwork. He makes print-on vinyl murals, which he calls "Warrior Walls,” for VA Medical Centers and intends to create 50 nationwide. While the Veterans Administration cut procurement of artwork in 2015, they accept donations of murals, so McFarland is trying to acquire donors for the murals. If interested in donating, contact your local VA center or log onto Mcfarland studios.
Stephen Saracino, MFA ’84, Buffalo, NY, professor of design (metalsmithing) at SUNY Buffalo State, gave a virtual artist and scholar lecture at KSU’s School of Art on October 2, 2020. Saracino has been an educator and exhibiting artist for three decades. His (often satirical) narrative pieces reflect personal or political concerns and have been featured in more than 50 exhibition throughout the US and Japan. His work was recently featured in the exhibition “Constructed Answer” at the Center for the Visual Arts Gallery at Kent State, which centered around the 50th commemoration of the May 4 shootings. See stephensaracino.com.
Stephen L. Hupp, MLS ’85, Parkersburg, W.Va., library director at West Virginia University at Parkersburg, has published his fifth novel, On a Sunday in May. The three most important events in international motorsports frequently occur on the Sunday of the American Memorial Day holiday: the Grand Prix of Monaco, the Indianapolis Five Hundred, and a Six Hundred Mile race at Charlotte, North Carolina. On a Sunday in May presents three stories based on these events. Readers will find on-track action and glimpses into the private lives of the competitors. The book is a sequel to the author's first racing novel, Born to the Breed. Both books are available as e-books and paperbacks on Amazon. In addition to his two motorsports novels, Hupp has also published the thrillers Daughter of the Valley and Wings in the Night, both set in the Mid-Ohio Valley, and Of Gods and Spirits—all available on Amazon. You may contact the author at 304-482-3176 or stephenlhupp@gmail.com.
Matt Fantin, BS ’86, MA ’88, New Philadelphia, Ohio, retired from the JC Penney Company after a 30-year management career. He is now the business manager at Sacred Heart Parish in New Philadelphia.
Joanne J. Kim, BS ’86, Peninsula, Ohio, who has been a voice for change at Marcus Thomas LLC, leading the Cleveland-based agency through a seminal period of growth and transition, has announced her retirement effective October 1. A 30-year veteran of the agency, she was one of five partners who joined the agency in the 1990s and grew it from 35 employees, based in Youngstown, Ohio, to over 200, based in Cleveland and Buenos Aires. As the agency’s longest-standing creative head, she not only evolved the agency’s creative culture but also pushed the agency toward early adoption of social media, digital communication, and most recently, diversity and inclusion, as well as multicultural marketing.
Over the course of her career, Kim’s leadership has extended to the industry and the local community. From 2016 to 2018, she served as president of the board of directors for the Marketing & Advertising Global Network (MAGNET), a worldwide community of independent agency CEOs and principals. In 2016, she was selected as a juror for the Effie Awards, the pre-eminent marketing awards program that recognizes effectiveness in marketing. She also has served on the board of directors of several nonprofit organizations, including The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio, Center for Arts-Inspired Learning, Northeast Ohio public radio station WKSU, and Greater Public, an organization dedicated to providing resources to public media.
Karin Boesler, BA ’87, Fairview Park, Ohio, was featured in the spring 2020 issue of The Circle, a publication of Omicron Delta Kappa Society. She was one of three society members active in the entertainment industry who were profiled in the article “The Actors’ Range” by Tara Singer. Boesler shared some highlights from her years at Kent State University and in the broadcast news industry, where she received Emmys for two community service/news reports about victims of violence that she produced and was featured in at WUAB-TV. In the 1990s, she began working in films with such notable actors as John Travolta, Matthew McConaughey and Katie Holmes. Films in which she’s appeared include Criminal Activities (2015), The Land (2016) and White Boy Rick (2018).
Jeff Richmond, who attended Kent State from 1980 to 1988, New York, NY, is the executive producer of Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend, which was nominated in the Outstanding Television Movie category of the Television Academy 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards. A producer, director, and composer, Richmond also composed the music for the Kimmy Schmidt interactive special. Previously, Richmond served as executive producer and composer for the regular Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt series which ran on Netflix from 2015-2019.
Richmond received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from KSU in 2013. A three-time Emmy Award winner for his work as a producer on NBC's 30 Rock, Richmond has been nominated for 17 Emmy Awards for work as a composer on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and 30 Rock, as a producer on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and 30 Rock, and as a writer for the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special. Richmond is also the composer of Mean Girls The Musical and in 2018 he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score.
Barbara F. Schloman, MA ’89, PhD ’98, Stow, Ohio and her son, William Schloman, BS ’98, Mantua, Ohio, co-authored A Century of Flight at Paton Field: The Story of Kent State University’s Airport and Flight Education (The Kent State University Press, 2019) to mark the airport’s centennial in 2020. Notable aviators and events marked the airport's early years when it operated as Stow Field. The pre-war and wartime federal programs brought collegiate aviation to Kent State and led to purchase of the airport in 1942. Andrew Paton's vision for a university-run aeronautics program that made educational use of its airport was fully realized in 1966. Today, the airport is the longest surviving, public-use airport in Ohio.