N N IAL CEL O - Youngstown State University

YSU’s
100th.
See pages
30-37.
Centennial Celebration

Your
Success
Is Our
Story
Introducing the
Bachelor of
General Studies
A flexible way to complete your
bachelor’s degree that allows you to
use already-completed course work.
“The Bachelor of General Studies means a lot
to me. It has allowed me to fulfill a dream I
set for myself years ago — to finish my college
degree. I always encouraged my daughters to
get more education, and now I plan to go on for
a graduate degree and begin a second career
in social work after I retire from GM.”
Don Terrell, BGS, ’06
For more information about the General
Studies program or to request an
evaluation, please contact Molly Burdette,
mmburdette@ysu.edu, 330-941-2311,
www.ysu.edu/genstudies.
www.ysu.edu
On the
Cover
An historic academic reorganization has
taken place at Youngstown State University,
with the creation of two new colleges – the
College of Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM) and the College of
Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS). On
the cover, Brittny Humphrey, a senior chemistry
major, illustrates a STEM student at work, while
Joseph Miles, a senior Spanish major, is intent
on learning just the right sentence for his next
trip abroad.
This reorganization creates exceptional
opportunities for students while they’re in
college and when they graduate. See page
26 for the complete story.
YSU President
Special Assistant to the
President for University
Advancement
———————————
David C. Sweet
George McCloud
Magazine Editor Wendy Wolfgang, ’90, ’94
News Manager
Ron Cole
Graphic Artists Renée Cannon, ’90
Kathy Leeper, ’85, ’99
Assistant Director Jean Engle, ’86
Sports Contributor
Photographers
Trevor Parks
James Evans
Carl Leet
Contributing Writers Karen Schubert, ’05, ‘07
emery Boyle-Scott, ’08
Chief Development Paul McFadden, ’84
Officer
Director of Shannon Tirone, ’94
Alumni Relations
YSU Board of Trustees
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Secretary
Student Trustee
John L. Pogue
Larry DeJane
Donald Cagigas
Millicent Counts
Sudershan K. Garg
harry Meshel
Dianne Bitonte-Miladore
Scott R. Schulick
h.S. Wang
Franklin S. Bennett Jr.
Erianne Raib
YSU Magazine is published twice a year by the Office of Marketing
and Communications at Youngstown State University.
Any comments or questions should be directed to Marketing
and Communications, Youngstown State University, One University
Plaza, Youngstown, Ohio 44555. Call 330-941-3519 or
e-mail universitymagazine@ysu.edu for more information.
Youngstown State University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination
on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, national
origin, disability, sexual orientation, or identity as a disabled
veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era, in respect to students and/or
to applicants for employment, and to organizations providing
contractual services to YSU.
8-001
2
4
8
9
24
26
i n
issue
t h i s
Message from the President – President David C. Sweet discusses the
legacy the late Provost Robert K. Herbert spearheaded with the creation of
two new colleges at YSU – the College of Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM) and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
(CLASS).
Debating Discrimination – The University of Kansas Press publishes YSU
Political Science Professor Paul Sracic’s book, “San Antonio v. Rodriguez and
the Pursuit of Equal Education: The Debate over Discrimination and School
Funding.” The book, which is the only one ever written about this landmark
case and has won widespread praise, explores the 1968 class-action suit filed on
behalf of Mexican-American school children in San Antonio, Texas.
Hip Musician – Associate Professor of Jazz Studies David Morgan is
commissioned by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra to compose music for jazz great
Joe Lovano. The piece, “The Surprise of Being,” is just one of many pieces
Morgan has composed for Lovano.
Around Campus – A comprehensive look at university news, events
and programs, including a tribute to the late Robert K. Herbert, YSU provost.
Achieving the Extraordinary – For the third straight year, YSU students
receive prestigious Goldwater and Phi Kappa Phi scholarships. YSU is the only
public institution in Ohio with that distinction.
New Colleges, New Opportunities – YSU undergoes a major academic
transformation. The new College of Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics is the first of its kind in Ohio and one of the few in the United
States. The new College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is the cornerstone
of the university, offering nine academic majors and general education
requirements.
30 Centennial
Celebration
– Explore the
university’s last
100 years through a
timeline, memories
from graduates, the
archives collection
and Centennial
events.
41
Sports – The
Penguins take on
the Ohio State
Buckeyes in the
season opener in
September.
These women work off the pressures of their academic courses
in a 1954 physical education field hockey class. See page 30
for more historic photos and events in a timeline celebrating
YSU’s 100th anniversary.
This issue of the YSU Magazine was printed with soy-based inks on Productolith paper, which contains 10%
post-consumer recycled fiber, sourced from pulp which is elemental chlorine free (ECF) or totally chlorine free
(TCF). Soy-based inks are low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are made from a renewable resource, and
are more easily stripped from paper during the de-inking and recycling process.

President’s Message
Academic Transformation
Benefiting YSU in Years to Come
L e t t e r s t o t h e
Editor
In the early 1990s, Youngstown State University disbanded the College of Applied Science
and Technology (CAST) and created the College of Health and Human Services. The new college
brought together those academic departments and programs such as nursing, the medical technologies,
social work, and criminal justice in recognition of the growing importance of these professions
to the region and society as a whole.
The wisdom of this organizational change has been borne out by the tremendous growth
of the college, now named the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services in honor of the
contributions of Dr. Dominic A. and Helen M. Bitonte. The college now has the largest enrollment
of any academic college at YSU with more than 3,600 students in its undergraduate and graduate
programs. Through the initiative and leadership of the faculty and staff, the college has brought to
David C. Sweet, YSU important new programs such as the master’s of social work and bachelor’s in forensic science.
The college has led YSU in the delivery of courses and programs through distance learning
President
technology and in the development of collaborative programs with other institutions such as Lorain County Community
College.
YSU is now on the verge of its second major academic transformation in 20 years. Beginning this academic year,
two new colleges will be created out of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Rayen College of Engineering and
Technology. The College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) will include 10 academic
departments – biological sciences, chemistry, computer science and information systems, geological and environmental
sciences, mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical and
industrial engineering, the School of Technology, and civil, environmental and chemical engineering. The College of
Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) will consist of nine academic departments – economics, English, foreign
languages and literatures, geography, history, philosophy and religious studies, political science, psychology, and
sociology and anthropology.
STEM will be the first of its kind in Ohio and one of the few in the United States. Its creation has garnered
positive notice at the state level. By consolidating these departments under the STEM umbrella, YSU will be better
positioned to effectively meet the national and regional need for more graduates in these fields of study; take better
advantage of opportunities for external funding; and create innovative new programs that blend the sciences with
engineering and technology. A long-range goal is to construct a much-needed building for the new college.
CLASS will be able to focus not only on the further development of its academic majors, but its critical role as
the primary provider of general education courses to all first- and second-year students. General education is the foundation
upon which future academic and professional success is based through the development of writing, speaking
and thinking skills and understanding of global, societal and human issues.
This academic transformation was led by the late Dr. Robert K. Herbert, YSU provost and vice president for academic
affairs. Dr. Herbert died tragically in a drowning accident while vacationing with family in Costa Rica in July.
A tribute to Bob appears on page nine of this magazine. The YSU family and the Youngstown area will miss Bob’s
leadership, vision, integrity, and commitment to academic excellence.
The new STEM and CLASS colleges are featured in this edition of the YSU magazine, including cover photos of
Brittny Humphrey, a chemistry major, and Joseph Miles, who is studying Spanish at YSU. They represent the faces
of the new colleges. The magazine also introduces the two outstanding academic professionals who have been named
founding deans of the new colleges: STEM Dean Martin Abraham, former dean of the College of Graduate Studies at
the University of Toledo; and CLASS Dean Shearle Furnish, former head of the Department of English, Philosophy
and Modern Languages at West Texas A&M University.
I join all YSU alumni and especially graduates of the departments in the new colleges in looking forward to this
exciting transformation that will benefit Youngstown State in the years to come.
DEAR EDITOR:
I wanted to tell you how very much I enjoy the
Youngstown State University Magazine. I don’t live in Ohio
any longer, and it’s nice to read articles about home.
I used to work with the late Hildegard Schnuttgen in
Maag Library and still have lots of contacts there. Also, my
cousin is Coreena Casey, President David C. Sweet’s executive
administrator. It’s nice to feel in touch, and the magazine
is the vehicle that allows me to feel connected. Thank you
again for such a nice magazine.
Carla Wilson Buss, ’79
Watkinsville, Ga.
Wilson Buss is originally
from Fowler, Ohio.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Carla Wilson Buss is now curriculum
materials and education librarian at the University of
Georgia in Athens, Ga.
DEAR EDITOR:
I can’t tell you how offended I was by the cover of
your Winter 2007 Youngstown State University Magazine,
with Mr. Tony Lariccia offering his Twinkies®.
As a graduate of YSU and a gay man, I was truly
outraged! The cover brought to mind when Supervisor
Harvey Milk was brutally and senselessly gunned down
in San Francisco by Dan White, who later used the now
famous, “Twinkie® defense.”
Bob Casanta, ’74
New York
EDITOR’S NOTE: We appreciate Mr. Casanta’s letter. We
certainly did not intend for the cover to offend anyone. Using
the Twinkies® on the cover was the idea of the magazine
editors, not Mr. Lariccia. Mr. Lariccia’s generosity stems,
in part, from his father, who taught him as a child to share
with others, even if that means offering half of his pastry to
a friend.
DEAR EDITOR:
My name is Brian Kluchar, and I am a 1991 YSU graduate.
Currently I am living and thriving in San Diego with my
wife and three sons.
I love to catch up with my alma mater, and the Winter
2007 issue was one of the best yet. An especially interesting
article to me was one about YSU’s composting program.
I work as a project engineer for CP Manufacturing, and we
manufacture recycling equipment.
Keep up the good work!
Brian Kluchar,’91
San Diego
DEAR EDITOR:
Thank you for a great article on the Cushwa/Commercial
Shearing fellowship program in the Winter 2007 issue of
Youngstown State University.
Charlie, my brother who passed away and a former member
of YSU’s Board of Trustees, would have been so pleased
with the progress of the fellowship. This is exactly what we
had in mind when we established the program.
We spent almost 25 years trying to find a way for YSU to
impact the future of the Valley, without notable success. Then
we transferred the funding to the fellowship, and, hurray,
success.
Our thanks go especially to Deans Hirtzel and Bolla, with
significant assistance from Reid Schmutz, president of the
YSU Foundation. My thanks to you all.
It is nice to win one.
William Cushwa
Granger, Ind.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We would like to thank Mr. Cushwa for
taking the time to write us this letter. It’s nice to know that the
university is using funds in a way that meets donor approval
and helps students. We would also like to note that Dr. Robert
Bolla is former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and
Dr. Cynthia Hirtzel, executive director of the YSU Center for
Transportation and Materials Science, is also a former dean
of the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology.
Youngstown State University
Sincerely,
Write To Us
Submit letters to wawolfgang@ysu.edu, fax, 330-941-1704, or mail, Wendy Wolfgang, One University Plaza,
Youngstown, Ohio 44555. Each letter must include a name and a telephone number for
verification purposes. Submissions are subject to editing.
YSU Magazine will not print or post on the web site letters that libel others or threaten harm.
The editor reserves the right to reject letters that do not follow policy.
Summer 2007

Youngstown State University
Debating
Discrimination:
Are American
Public Schools
Funded
Properly?
Dr. Paul Sracic poses
at the Seventh District
Court of Appeals in
Youngstown. His book,
“San Antonio v. Rodriguez
and the Pursuit
of Equal Education,”
has received many
accolades, including a
nomination from the
American Bar Association
for the best work
of legal scholarship.
T
o the average reader, the title of Paul Sracic’s new book
– “San Antonio v. Rodriguez and the Pursuit of Equal Education:
The Debate over Discrimination and School Funding”
– may seem a little daunting.
But the “average reader” is exactly who Sracic intended
to reach because that’s who the school-funding issue continues
to impact today.
Sracic, a professor of political science at YSU, said
more than 30 school-funding cases are currently being debated
in state courts across the country, including Ohio.
The 176-page book, published by University Press of
Kansas, explores the 1968 class-action suit filed on behalf of
Mexican-American school children in San Antonio, Texas,
claiming inequality of education funding.
Sracic’s book, which has been nominated for the
American Bar Association’s Scribes Award for “best work of
legal scholarship published during the previous year,” is the
only one that has ever been written about the landmark case,
which essentially argued that quality education, not basic
schooling, was a fundamental right protected by the Constitution.
In addition, the book was nominated for the C. Herman
Pritchett Award, an annual award for the best book on
law and courts written by a political scientist; the Ralph J.
Bunche Award, an annual award for the best scholarly work
in political science; the American Bar Association Silver
Gavel Award; and the American Political Science Association’s
Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section Best Book Award.
The book has won widespread praise and has been adopted
for classroom use by several universities, including the
University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of Texas at
Austin, University of California at Berkeley, St. Louis
University and the University of Oklahoma.
Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas
System and a participant in the Rodriguez case, reviewed
the book, and said it is the best work he has ever read on the
case. “Sracic has done his homework, and it shows on every
page.”
Some of Sracic’s “homework” consisted of interviewing
Arthur Gochman, the lawyer who argued the case before the
Supreme Court, and Demetrio Rodriguez, the parent whose
name headlined the original suit, among others.
When the case was first filed in 1968, Rodriguez was
hot on the heels of the ground-breaking 1954 federal
case, Brown v. the Board of Education-Topeka, where
the Supreme Court interpreted the 14th Amendment to
prohibit racial segregation in public schools and other
facilities.
In the Rodriguez case, a Texas district court agreed
with the parents who filed the case, deciding that inequality
of education funding existed in the Lone Star
State, and this inequality violated the 14th Amendment.
But, when the case went before the Supreme Court, the
district court’s decision was overruled, 5-4, with the
Supreme Court declaring that education is not a fundamental
right under the Constitution.
Justice Lewis Powell, who had sat on the Virginia
Board of Education and written part of the state’s Constitution,
argued that if funding had to be equalized, it
would more than likely be equalized down.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, who had been the NAACP’s
chief counsel for the plaintiffs in Brown, disagreed. He
argued that the Texas funding scheme violated the 14th
Amendment, which requires states to provide equal protection
under the law to all persons within their jurisdictions.
“Essentially, the Supreme Court told the states it was
constitutional to fund schools as they had been funded – that
the Constitution does not demand equal funding for education,”
said Sracic, who earned a Ph.D. in political science
from Rutgers University.
“The case established parameters of the equal protection
clause – what will be seen and what will not be seen as a
violation of the clause. Those who want to challenge existing
school funding schemes know that they have to rely on their
own state constitutions, since the Supreme Court has already
denied relief under the federal Constitution.”
Sracic, who lives in Boardman, Ohio, noted that the
book emerged from his classroom lectures on how courts
interpret the 14th Amendment. “It always surprises students
that there’s no federal right to an education,” he said.
Sracic’s book is part of the University Press of Kansas
series, “Landmark
Law Cases
and American
Society.” Approximately
1,300 copies of
the 2,500 total
printed have already
been sold.
The book,
which costs
$29.95 for cloth
and $15.95 for
paper, is available
at the YSU
Bookstore, all
major bookstore
chains, and
online at www.
kansaspress.
ku.edu.
School Funding in Ohio
Ohio might be able to lay claim to
one of the oldest school-funding cases,
beginning in 1921.
1923 Miller v. Korns
1979 Cincinnati v. Walter
1994 DeRolph v. State of Ohio
1997 DeRolph I
2000 DeRolph II
2001 DeRolph III
2003 DeRolph IV
Note: In this case, a majority of the Ohio
Supreme Court announced that it had
changed its “collective mind,” regarding
the plan in DeRolph III. The Court
reaffirmed its holding in DeRolph I and
DeRolph II. DeRolph IV ended more
than five years of litigation without
any resolution. In May 2003, the Ohio
Supreme Court granted the state’s request
to end any further litigation in the
DeRolph matter.
Source: “San Antonio v. Rodriquez and the
Pursuit of Equal Education” by Paul A.
Sracic, pages 135-140.
For a review of Sracic’s book visit
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/lpbr/reviews/2007/04/san-antonio-v-rodriguezand-pursuit-of.html.
SUMMER 2007
Summer 2007

trust in your team
YSU Installs High Ropes Course at Rec Center
Imagine you are walking
across a swaying fourinch
wide balance beam,
attached to steel bars in the
ceiling by a black rope. All
that’s stopping you from
falling almost 20 feet to the
ground is a nylon full-body
harness strapped around
your legs, waist and chest.
Close to you are 10 to
15 of your friends, some
walking through swinging
tires and others climbing
through a cargo net.
You feel your heart racing
as you take another step,
knowing that if you falter,
Alissa Goist, a rec center student at least one of those friends
staff member, walks through tires would be there to help you
in YSU’s new high ropes course at
regain your balance.
the rec center.
Are you having a bad
dream? No.
You are on Sky Trail, a high ropes obstacle course at
YSU’s Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center, the
only retractable course of its kind in Northeast Ohio.
“For some students, there will be an element of fear,”
said Jack Rigney, director of campus recreation/intramural
sports. “The course is nearly 20 feet off the ground. I’d
recommend not looking down until you feel comfortable, if
heights make you queasy.”
But, there is much more to the high ropes course than
overcoming fear.
The Sky Trail, installed last winter in the ceiling high
above the basketball and volleyball courts in the rec center,
aims to further enhance adventure-based learning opportunities
for YSU students, which encourage teambuilding, trust
and shared leadership.
“We are not going to require students to participate in
the course,” said Mike Bowman, administrative assistant II in
campus recreation/intramural sports. “Our credo has become
‘challenge by choice, with encouragement.’”
The $82,000 Sky Trail, installed by Ropes Course Inc.,
consists of six steel retractable cages bolted to the trusses
of the ceiling of the rec center, with seven interchangeable
obstacle course activities installed between each platform.
A collaborative effort by six departments under the
Division of Student Affairs allowed for the course to be
funded and the installation and certification for instructors,
Rigney said.
In addition to balance beams, swinging tires and a cargo
net, the course features wooden planks, tightrope wires and a
section of wall grips on a flat platform. More elements can be
added at a later date, Rigney noted.
When the programming is complete this fall, the staff
will be prepared to offer high ropes courses to fraternities
and sororities, student government, athletics, emerging leader
groups, student peer assistants, the ROTC, students in residence
halls, and student employees in general. In addition,
faculty and staff from campus departments and offices will be
able to sign up for the course.
Joy Polkabla Byers, assistant director of programs
and special events at the rec center, said major goals of
the program include developing student leadership
and preparing students to be engaged in their communities
and for future
employment.
“The programs
will also be
designed to help
develop integrity
and learn conflict
resolution, stress
management and
critical thinking
skills,” added Matt
Morrone, rec center
assistant director.
Each program
will be a minimum
of at least two
hours.
Five members
of the professional
rec center staff
– Rigney, Morrone,
Polkabla Byers,
From left - Students Keith Hernstrom,
Michael McGiffin, Renee Gilson, Alissa
Goist, and Travus Dusz break in the
“taco” cargo net.
Bowman, and Brandy Fagnano, coordinator of fitness and
wellness programs – have received one-year certification
as ropes course facilitators. Jackie Clifton, a full-time staff
member in housing, also received certification.
Three rec center student staff members have also been
trained and certified, as well as a graduate assistant in YSU’s
Office of Student Activities. While many colleges and universities
across the nation have ropes courses, YSU’s is unique
in that participants only have to “hook in” once to
the tracking system that encompasses the entire challenge
course, rather than hooking in and out before moving to
another activity.
“This also makes the course safer – there is less of a
chance of hooking back in again incorrectly,” said Rigney.
For more information on the ropes course and other rec
center programs, visit http://www.ysu.edu/reccenter/ or call
330-941-3488.
Alissa Goist (left) and Marielena
DeFelice demonstrate two of the
many objectives – teambuilding
and trust – that can be achieved
by participating in the high
ropes course.
Youngstown State University Summer 2007

Hip
Musicians at YSU?
You Bet There Are.
For Joe Lovano, Grammy Award-winning jazz
saxophonist, life can be summed up in one sentence –
“people who are hip are hip.”
And to Lovano, David Morgan, a YSU associate professor of
jazz studies since 2001, is definitely “hip.”
Morgan was recently commissioned by the Cleveland Jazz
Orchestra to compose a 50-minute suite featuring Lovano, as
well as arrange several of Lovano’s original compositions.
Since the late 1990s, Morgan, who earned a doctorate of
musical arts from the University of Texas in 1996, has been
playing with and writing for the Jazz Unit, a subset of the CJO, as
well as with the main orchestra.
The piece for Lovano, titled “The Surprise of Being,”
premiered in November 2005 at the Cleveland Bop
Stop and was performed next in July 2006 at
Birdland, a famous jazz club in New York. A
CD, titled “The Surprise of Being: Live at
Birdland,” a live recording of the four gigs at
the club has been released and is available at
cdbaby.com.
“I’ve had the opportunity to play with
many people in the music business,” said
Morgan, a Cleveland native. “But Lovano is
really special – he is the Zen master of improvisation.
It was a huge honor for him to want to
take the piece to the Birdland.”
Morgan’s honors don’t start and stop
with Lovano. In 2003, he won an
Award of Achievement from
Northern Ohio Live magazine
for transcribing the music of
Frank Zappa, which was performed
at the TriC Jazz Fest
in 2002. “Three Vignettes
for Alto Saxophone and
Orchestra,” another one
of Morgan’s pieces, was
recorded by Beethoven
Festival Orchestra of Krakow,
Poland, this year and released
internationally.
Most recently, Morgan was
commissioned to write a piece for the
American Wind Symphony Orchestra, which
was premiered at the Yale Festival of Ideas in
June 2007.
David Morgan
Associate Professor of Jazz Studies
In MeMorIaM
Robert K. Herbert
Around
C A M P U S
YSU Campus and Beyond
Harry Meshel of Youngstown, former Ohio State
Senator and former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party,
has been appointed to a nine-year term on the YSU Board of
Trustees by Gov. Ted Strickland.
Meshel, a 1949 graduate of Youngstown College with a
bachelor’s degree in business administration, replaces William
Bresnahan, whose term expired in May.
“Harry Meshel has served as one of YSU’s finest ambassadors
for more than a half century,” YSU President David
C. Sweet said. “We look forward to Mr. Meshel’s continued
work on behalf of the university.”
Meshel, who also taught at YSU, said he is honored to
be appointed. “I have a long love and a great deal of affection
for YSU over many, many years, as a student, a teacher and a
supporter,” he said. “The university is an important asset for
Youngstown and the entire region, and I look forward to serving
it now in this new role as trustee.”
A Youngstown native, Meshel was Student Council
president while at YSU. In 1950, he earned a master’s degree
in urban land economics from Columbia University.
YSU mourned the death this
summer of Dr. Robert K. Herbert,
YSU provost and vice president for
academic affairs, who drowned in July
while vacationing with family in Costa
Rica.
“Strong advocacy for academic
standards, integrity, effective leadership,
and commitment to student
Robert K. Herbert
success were hallmarks of his tenure at
YSU,” said YSU President David C. Sweet.
Herbert was married to Dr. Barbara Nykiel-Herbert, a
faculty member in YSU’s English Department. They have
two sons, Ian and Sebastian, and a daughter, Veronica.
Bob’s love for and pride in his family were evident to all
who knew him.
Herbert became YSU’s provost in July 2005. His
legacy to YSU includes the development of a comprehensive
Academic Strategic Plan, the continued development
of the Youngstown Early College, and the creation
of two new colleges: the College of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the College of
Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS). The new colleges
are the focus of the cover story of this edition of the
YSU Magazine.
Before coming to YSU, Dr. Herbert served as dean
of liberal arts at Stephen F. Austin State University in
Nacogdoches, Texas, and chairperson of the Department
of Anthropology at the State University of New York in
Binghamton. He had taught at institutions throughout the
world, and his extensive scholarly work on linguistics and
South African languages achieved national and international
recognition.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Herbert received a
bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Queens College (City
University of New York), a master’s degree and Ph.D.
in linguistics from Ohio State University, and a master’s degree
in higher education administration from the University
of Michigan.
He will be missed by friends and colleagues not only at
YSU, but throughout the world.
In 1970, Meshel was elected to the
Ohio Senate from the 33rd district, serving
until 1993. From 1993 to 1995, he was the
chair of the Ohio Democratic Party.
Meshel is a member of the YSU
President’s Council and has endowed five
scholarships as well as an endowed award
in Greek language at the YSU Foundation.
In 1977, he received an honorary doctor
of humane letters from YSU and spoke at Harry Meshel
summer commencement.
In 1986, due to his efforts to secure funds for construction
of YSU’s new technology center, the university named
the building Meshel Hall.
Meshel also was instrumental in the establishment of
the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in
Rootstown and the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry
and Labor.
A delegation from YSU, led by President David C.
Sweet, visited China and Taiwan from May 21 to June 6 to
develop new and stronger academic ties and opportunities
with universities in the region.
Wen Fang Yen, the president of Lunghwa University,
who was part of the delegation that visited YSU in April,
formally invited Sweet to visit his university.
Sweet also received a formal invitation from Lin Zhengfan,
president of Hangzhou Normal University in Hangzhou,
China, who visited YSU in January 2006.
Youngstown State University
Summer 2007 9

Around Campus
Around Campus
YSU President David C. Sweet and Lin Zhengfan, president of Hangzhou
Normal University in Hangzhou, China, take a moment to pose with
colorful dragons during Sweet’s visit to China and Taiwan this spring.
Thomas J. Cavalier
YSU’s Distinguished Citizen
Thomas J. Cavalier, chair, president & CEO of Butler
Wick Corp. and its subsidiary, Butler, Wick & Co., Inc.,
since 1985, has been selected for YSU’s Distinguished
Citizen Award.
“The Distinguished Citizen Award has become a
cherished tradition throughout its 27-year existence,”
said Shannon Tirone, director of the Office of Alumni
Relations.
Cavalier, a 1976 YSU graduate with a bachelor of
science degree in education, was chosen for YSU’s highest
mark of distinction for his exceptional service to the
greater community, for outstanding professional achievement
and personal commitment for helping to enhance the
interdependence between the economic and educational
institutions of society.
He began his career at Butler Wick in 1975. Since he
became president, Butler Wick has formed Butler Wick
Trust Co., Butler Wick Investment Management Group,
Butler Wick Capital Markets Group and Butler Wick Insurance
Group. Butler Wick Corp., through its two subsidiaries,
has 200 employees in 19 offices throughout Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
In addition to his position at Butler Wick Corp.,
he also serves on the board of Butler Wick Trust Co., a
Butler Wick Corp. subsidiary, and on the board of United
Community Financial Corp., a bank holding company.
10 Youngstown State University
The delegation from YSU included Sweet’s
wife, Pat; George McCloud, special assistant to
the president for university advancement, who has
fostered many of the university’s current Far East
exchange programs; and Florence Wang, who has
spearheaded YSU’s relationships with universities
in Taiwan and China.
Travel expenses were financed through private
funding. This was Sweet’s first trip abroad in his
seven-year presidency.
The stops included Beijing Technology and
Business University in Beijing, and Hangzhou
Normal University in Hangzhou and Lunghwa
University in Taipei, Taiwan. While in Taiwan,
the delegation also visited an elementary and high
school, met with the Taipei Chamber of Commerce
and hosted a dinner for YSU alumni.
In 2005, YSU and Lunghwa University signed
a contract of cooperation to exchange students and
faculty members. Four Lunghwa students were enrolled
in undergraduate courses at YSU last spring.
He’s the current chair of the board of the YSU Foundation
and a member of the University Housing Corp.
In 2005, the YSU Board of Trustees nominated
Cavalier as the YSU community member to the board
of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
(NEOUCOM), and he currently serves as vice chair of
that board and chairman of the finance, fiscal policy and
investment committee.
He serves on the board of the Butler Institute of
American Art and is a past
president of that board.
He also serves on the
board of the Tri-County
Regional Board of Make-
A-Wish Foundation.
Cavalier is a member
of the Securities Industry
and Financial Markets
Association (SIFMA)
Regional Firms and a
member of the SIFMA
Group A CEO Roundtable.
Cavalier and his
Thomas J. Cavalier
wife, Christina, reside
in Canfield and have five
children and one grandchild.
From left – Norma Watson, President David C. Sweet and
Frank Watson. The Watsons were selected as 2007 Friends
of the University.
Frank and Norma Watson are the recipients of YSU’s
2007 Friends of the University award.
The award was started in 1997 to recognize alumni,
friends and donors who have had a significant impact on YSU.
The Watsons have supported YSU for more than 30
years. The All Sports Complex campaign, the Watson Sports
Media Center, the Scholarship Loge program and the YSU
Foundation are just a few of the projects that have benefited
from their contributions.
Watson, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering
from YSU, spent most of his career with Youngstown
Welding and Engineering Co. He served in the Navy in
the Pacific during World War II. Upon his retirement from
Youngstown Welding and Engineering, he was city manager
of Canfield from 1989 to 1991.
He served on the YSU Board of Trustees from 1978
to 1987 and is an original member of the YSU Foundation
Board and continues to serve in that capacity today. He
received an honorary doctor of science degree from YSU in
August 2003, the same year he was selected as the Distinguished
Citizen by the YSU Office of Alumni Relations.
Mrs. Watson has devoted her life to her family and
community, serving as a volunteer for many area organizations,
including the Federated Women’s Club and the Fellows
Riverside Gardens.
The touring exhibit of “Love Makes a Family:
Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
People and their Families” visited YSU in June.
The exhibit came to the university with the help of
YSUnity (YSU’s Gay-Straight Alliance), and the offices
of Equal Opportunity and Diversity and Student Diversity
Programs. The Youngstown Area PFLAG (Parents, Families,
Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapter, and the Pride Center
of Greater Youngstown, in partnership with the Equality Ohio
Education Fund, also helped bring the exhibit to YSU.
Studying Abroad in India
The Williamson College of Business Administration
offered a 10-day study tour to London, England, Dublin,
Ireland, and Bombay, India, in January.
Five faculty members and 22 students spent their
semester break participating in the study tours.
This is the second year YSU students have traveled
abroad to visit businesses. Last year, WCBA students and
faculty went to Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Czech Republic
and Turkey.
“A critical component of our students’ business
education is the opportunity to develop knowledge and
skills beyond the classroom,” WCBA Dean Betty Jo
Licata said.
During the trip to India, three faculty members and
11 YSU students toured Infosys, the leading software
company in Bangalore, India; the World Trade Center
at Bombay; the Bombay Stock Exchange; the Securities
and Exchange of India; the National Stock Exchange;
and the Small Industries Development Bank of India. The
trip was part of the WCBA’s Emerging Market Initiative
Grant, supported by the U.S. Department of Education.
In London, two faculty members accompanied 11
YSU students to the Microsoft EMIA Headquarters in
Ireland, and the BP Corporate Headquarters and IPC
Systems, Inc., also in London.
IPC Systems Inc. is part of the Mountbatten Internship
Programme, which provides a range of practical
training opportunities during a one-year work assignment
in or near London with a British-based sponsor company.
From left – Scott Domes, Victoria Lerman, Courtney
Means, Rosanna Zarzycki-Miller, Lindsay Berger, Dr.
Stanley Guzell, Joel Evans, Dr. Ram Kasuganti, Michael
Perry and Timothy Moyers stand outside the Taj Palace
Hotel in Bombay during a study tour to India, sponsored
by the Williamson College of Business Administration.
Summer 2007 11

Around Campus
Around Campus
From left – Brian Wells and Jonelle Beatrice, Center for Student
Progress, and Christi Campf, president of YSUnity.
The touring photo-text display was created by the awardwinning
Family Diversity Projects of Amherst, Mass.
“Ohio is not a welcoming place for LGBT people and
their families,” said Christi Campf, president of YSUnity.
“We hope these photos will help cut through all the political
arguments right to the heart of the issue by showing the love,
caring and connection that are so basic to all families.”
Photographs by Gigi Kaeser depict a variety of LGBT
people and their families of all races in familiar family settings.
The photos are accompanied by text edited by Peggy
Gillespie from in-depth interviews she conducted with each
family member.
To show support to fellow students at Virginia Tech and
their families, sympathy books containing the signatures of
more than 1,100 YSU students and employees have been sent
to the families of the 33 victims of the Virginia Tech shootings.
The book was the idea of YSU graduate student John
Paul DeSimone of Poland.
In addition, the families also received a small penguin
doll from the YSU bookstore.
Anna Boyd, YSU freshman, with YSU President David C. Sweet in
the background, during a prayer vigil for the victims of the killings at
Virginia Tech University.
12 Youngstown State University
The project was funded by donations from people and
organizations who signed the book and by the work of more
than 50 volunteers.
The book was also sent to 22 Virginia Tech students who
were injured but survived the shooting and are recovering.
YSU Student Government also helped organize the signing
campaign, which lasted for four days on campus.
The Center for Nonprofit Leadership is offering more
than 15 paid internships at nonprofit organizations with support
from the Raymond John Wean Foundation.
For more information, call Jane Reid, campus director
for Center for Nonprofit Leadership and professor of marketing,
at 330-941-1870.
About 100 education faculty and graduate students
from five universities across Ohio attended the fourth annual
Educational Resource Exchange at YSU in March.
Graduate students from Central State University, Cleveland
State University, Kent State University, the University of
Akron and YSU presented research on topics including special
education, school funding, accountability, poverty and education,
counseling and the use of technology in education.
Gunapala Edirisooriya, YSU professor of Educational
Foundations, Research, Technology and Leadership and chair
of this year’s ERE, said the purpose of the event was to give
graduate students an opportunity to present their research and
to develop research connections and cooperation among the
universities.
Dr. James E. McLean, university professor and dean
of the College of Education at the University of Alabama,
presented the keynote address.
Two original operas created by students in YSU’s
SMARTS program were performed in May at the Ford Family
Recital Hall in downtown Youngstown.
The two short operas, “The Princess Fiesta:
Revenge of the Muffin Man” and “Mysterious
Hawkeye: Child Defender,” were created by 30 firstthrough
12th-grade students from the Youngstown
region.
SMARTS students participated in the class
for three months handling all aspects of the opera,
including documenting the project with photography
by fifth-grader Eilish Deuley, whose images were
shown during the opera.
Becky Keck, SMARTS director, credited the
teachers – Lynn Anderson, Amanda Beagle, Diana
Farrell, Corinne Morini, Craig Raymaley and
Angela Speece – for their leadership in helping the
students create quality operas.
SMARTS – Students Motivated by the Arts – is
an arts education partnership among YSU’s College
of Fine & Performing Arts, the Beeghly College of
Education, the Youngstown City Schools, and the many vital
arts organizations in the community.
Youngstown area SMARTS students perform in the original
opera, “The Princess Fiesta: Revenge of the Muffin Man” at the
Ford Family Recital Hall.
The St. Anthony’s Society of Struthers has donated
$33,588.45 to YSU.
The Society, founded in the late 1920s as an Italian
immigrant social club, donated the money from its John J.
Spano-Frank Quattro Scholarship Fund, which was established
in the early 1980s as a way to help Struthers High
School students seek a college education.
“We are honored to receive this very special donation,
and we look forward to continuing the Society’s proud tradition
of helping students attend YSU,” said Paul McFadden,
YSU chief development officer.
For more information, contact Nick Visingardi at 330-
536-8537.
Faculty and Staff
Philip Hirsch of Girard and Philip A. Snyder of Boardman,
two retired, long-time YSU administrators, received
YSU’s Heritage Award at the 26th Annual Awards Dinner
in May. The Heritage Award is among the highest honors
bestowed by YSU.
Hirsch came to YSU in 1973 as
the first director of Kilcawley Center.
An ambassador for YSU, he brought
prominence to the university through his
extensive participation in the Association
of College Unions-International.
Hirsch was chief negotiator for the
university for several non-faculty union
contracts. YSU achieved success in
negotiated collective bargaining agreements
with YSU-ACE, YSU-APAS and
Philip Hirsch
YSU-FOP due to Hirsch’s efforts.
Prior to his retirement, he was also asked to serve in
an interim capacity as special assistant to the president for
development and community affairs.
Snyder served the university for more than a quarter
century, joining the professional/administrative staff in 1966
as director of university relations. A native of Savannah, Ga.,
Snyder graduated from YSU in 1952
with a bachelor’s degree in advertising
and public relations.
During his 26-year tenure at YSU,
he wrote a history of the university, organized
the records and data of hundreds
of former and present faculty and staff,
and planned and coordinated all groundbreakings
and dedications of university
Philip A. Snyder
buildings until his retirement in 1992.
Administrative Distinguished Service
Awards, retiree and service awards were also presented
at the dinner. For a full list of the award recipients, visit
http://www.cc.ysu.edu/hr/.
Eugene P. Grilli is YSU’s new
vice president of finance and administration.
Prior to joining YSU, Grilli was associate
vice president for administration
and finance at California University of
Pennsylvania. He served at CUP since
1972.
As YSU’s chief financial officer,
Grilli provides leadership to finance, Eugene P. Grilli
facilities and support services, which
includes supervision of more than 150 full-time employees.
“I am confident that Mr. Grilli’s extensive experience
in higher education will be a strong asset to our university,”
YSU President David C. Sweet said.
More than 20 candidates from across the country applied
for the cabinet-level position. Grilli was part of several
Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education committees,
including the committee that developed the first formula to
allocate legislated funds to the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania
state system.
The American Physical Therapy Association selected
Nancy Landgraff, associate professor and chair of YSU’s
Physical Therapy Department, as the
recipient of the Dorothy Briggs Memorial
Award for Scientific Inquiry.
The award, named after the late
Dorothy Briggs, an educator and an
active investigator at the University of
Wisconsin, was presented to Landgraff
for an article she published in 2006
in the professional journal, Physical
Therapy.
Nancy Landgraff
Summer 2007 13

Around Campus
Around Campus
Yulanda L. McCarty-Harris is the
new director of the YSU Office of Equal
Opportunity and Diversity.
McCarty-Harris previously served
as procurement administrator for Lucas
County Jobs and Family Services in
Toledo.
She graduated from Southern Methodist
University School of Law in Dallas
in 1998 and moved to Toledo two years
later. After a stint with a private law firm,
Yulanda L.
McCarty-Harris
she worked as a prosecutor and a labor and employment
attorney for the city of Toledo, among other positions with
the city.
Norma Stefanik of Youngstown, urban designer in
YSU’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies, received the
Mahoning Valley Historical Society Directors’ Award of
Achievement at the Society’s annual meeting in June.
Stefanik came to YSU in 1995 as a staff architect in the
facilities department and began working in the Center for
FACULTY HONORS
At YSU’s annual Honors Convocation in April, the
following faculty members were recognized as 2006-07
Distinguished Professors:
For Excellence in Teaching
Rangamohan V. Eunni, Management; Timothy
Francisco, English; Jean T. Hassell, Human Ecology;
Debbie Juruaz, Health Professions; G. Jay Kerns,
Mathematics and Statistics; and Zara Shah Rowlands,
Human Ecology.
For Excellence in Scholarship
Salvatore Attardo, English; James J. Carroll,
Physics and Astronomy; Kelli A. Connell, Art; Stephen
E. Rodabaugh, Mathematics and Statistics; and Mark F.
Toncar, Marketing.
For Excellence in Public Service
William R. Buckler, Geography; Iole Checcone,
Foreign Languages and Literatures; Patrick R. Durrell,
Physics and Astronomy; Cary Horvath, Communication
and Theater; Victoria E. Kress, Counseling and Special
Education; Anne M. McMahon, Management; Sharon
P. Shipton, Nursing; and Victor Wan-Tatah, Philosophy
and Religious Studies.
Urban and Regional Studies in 1997.
She developed the Sacred Landmarks
Program, which included a survey
of all the religious institutions in a threecounty
area and a web site with photos
of each church, synagogue or temple.
She also served as restoration
architect for two houses for the North
Side Citizens’ Coalition in Youngstown,
as well as project manager for the Cortland
Comprehensive Plan, in which she
Norma Stefanik
advocated that the city designate a National Register Historic
District for their many well-preserved houses along their
main streets.
Stefanik was also recipient of a Getty grant that produced
a five-speaker series composed of nationally known
figures in New Urbanism, neighborhood revitalization, and
commercial redevelopment.
She also facilitated the Historic American Buildings
Survey documentation of the Olive Arms home of the MVHS
and encouraged the adaptive reuse of the Peck and Sacherman
houses on the YSU campus. She was also architectural
For Excellence in University Service
Annette M. Burden, Mathematics and Statistics;
Gung-Hwa (Andy) Chang, Mathematics and Statistics;
William D. Jenkins Jr., History; Stephanie Smith, Art;
and William G. Vendemia, Management.
Watson Merit Awards
The Watson Merit Award is given to outstanding
department chairpersons for administrative performance.
This year’s recipients were Joseph J. Mistovich, Health
Professions, and Susan C. Russo, Art.
From left – Bege Bowers, associate provost, Victor Wan Ta-
Tah, professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Tim
Francisco, assistant professor, English, donned academic
regalia for Honors Convocation in Stambaugh Auditorium.
consultant for the nomination of four Wick Avenue churches
to the National Register of Historic Places and formed a nonprofit
group to work on the Welsh Congregational Church
that was damaged by a fire.
Rick Shale, professor of English,
and co-author Carol Potter, were recently
honored in Cleveland by the Ohio Parks
& Recreation Association with an Award
of Excellence for their book, “Historic
Mill Creek Park.”
The book received a superior rating,
the highest award in the category for
print publications. Shale and Potter
received the award at the OPRA 2007
convention.
David Stout, the John S. & Doris M.
Andrews Chair of Accounting in the Williamson
College of Business Administration,
received two prestigious national
and state awards.
He was named the recipient of the
2007 R. Lee Brummet Award from the
Institute of Management of Accountants
(IMA) and the 2007 Outstanding Ohio Accounting
Educator Award sponsored by The
David Stout
Ohio Society of CPAs and the American Accounting Association
– Ohio Region.
Brenda Crouse, an academic advisor
in the Rayen School of Engineering and
Technology, has received an outstanding
advisor award from Sigma Alpha Lambda
National, a national leadership and honors
organization.
Crouse is the first chapter advisor.
In May, the students who founded the
Brenda Crouse
organization on campus graduated. More
information is available at http://sigmaalphalambda.org.
Student Success
Alaina-Marie Hershman, a student
in her final year of YSU’s physical
therapy program, received the $5,000
Mary McMillian Scholarship, the most
prestigious student award given by the
American Physical Therapy Association.
The national award, which is
presented to a student for academic excellence,
leadership and participation in the
profession, is named after the late Mary
McMillan, a dedicated pioneer of physi-
Rick Shale
Alaina-Marie
Hershman
In Memoriam
Robert D. Fitzer
Robert D. Fitzer, instructor
of clarinet at the Dana School of
Music, died May 16 of cancer.
Fitzer had a distinguished
25-year career as a clarinetist and
music educator. After making his
Carnegie Hall debut at the age of
19, he played for two years with
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
with whom he recorded the Robert D. Fitzer
Grammy-award winning Four
Symphonies by Johannes Brahms.
He played on various motion picture soundtracks
in Hollywood and played in many long-run Broadway
shows. Fitzer also performed on stage with jazz great
Dizzie Gillespie, rock bands Yes, Styx and many other
top entertainers.
He was also a member of Cleveland’s Lakewood
Band and served as soloist in 2004 with the YSU Symphonic
Wind Ensemble. He was a private school band
director for four years, and spent several years serving
as a first-call substitute teacher in all 31 Youngtown
city schools.
Aside from his work as a musician and teacher,
Fitzer was extremely active in Youngstown-area
community and civic affairs and is credited with saving
several historic Youngstown buildings from the
wrecking ball.
In support of Fitzer, the Dana School of Music
Clarinet Studio raised more than $3,000 for the American
Cancer Society in this year’s Youngstown Relay
for Life, in an effort called “Bob-ing for a Cure.”
cal therapy, the founding president of APTA and an esteemed
teacher. Hershman received a bachelor’s degree in biology from
YSU in 2004.
The YSU student chapter of the International Institute
for Electronics and Electrical Engineers won first prize in the
IEEE Region 2 Student Activity Conference at the University
of Cincinnati.
The YSU team placed first in the “Brown Bag Design
Competition.”
The team consisted of Aaron Schott of Harmony, Pa.,
Edward Sutphin of Cranberry Twp., Pa., Kevin Carney of
Poland, Ohio, and Carl Rossler of McDonald, Ohio.
14 Youngstown State University
Summer 2007 15

Around Campus
Around Campus
From left – Engineering students John French, Matthew
Mosko, Matt Corsale and James Shuster with a circuit they
created in a class for display at the annual engineering showcase
in Moser Hall.
The Brown Bag Design Competition requires each team
to design and assemble a circuit to solve a given problem us-
YSU Penguin Productions, created last fall, is a new
YSU student group whose goal is to stage events to better
serve YSU students and the community. The group’s first
event – a concert in April by Grammy Award-winning performer
Ludacris – drew more than 3,000 people
(including a fare share of YSU students) to the
Chevrolet Centre in downtown Youngstown.
For Mike McGiffin, Penguin Productions is
more than a way to have a good time.
“Someday, I want to work in the music
industry and supply and promote concerts,” said
McGiffin, a YSU finance and accounting major.
“So, this is great experience.”
Penguin Productions, which is run by a
board consisting of 12 students and 12 advisors,
hopes to sponsor its next event this fall, tied to
YSU’s homecoming and the celebration of the
university’s centennial, said Joy Polkabla Byers,
assistant director of programs and special events
in Campus Recreation and Intramural Sports.
But the group is about much more than putting
on a good show. Students learn marketing
techniques, advertising and public relations, networking,
budgeting and business management.
ing certain number of components, supplied in a brown bag,
in a predetermined time frame.
Two YSU
political science
students, Emery
Boyle-Scott and
Stephen Foley,
recently traveled
to Geneva,
Switzerland, to
participate in the
World Model
United Nations
conference sponsored
by Harvard
University.
The conference
brings
Putting On A Good Show and More
16 Youngstown State University
Stephen Foley and Emery Boyle-Scott,
political science majors, in Geneva,
Switzerland, at the World Model United
Nations conference.
together students from colleges and universities across the
globe to debate issues that confront the current international
political system.
Foley and Boyle-Scott are active members of the YSU
Model United Nations club and participated in the club’s
Washington D.C. trip to Howard University’s and Converse
College’s Model NATO conference in February. They also
McGiffin, for instance, worked on promoting the Ludacris
concert, which included distributing flyers and banners.
For more information, visit the Penguin Productions web
site at www.ysu.edu/penguin_pro.
From left – student Wilson Okello; Jack Rigney, director, Campus Recreation
and Intramural Sports; Melanie Koontz, SCOPE coordinator; student Amanda
Polles; Shannon Reesh, coordinator, Center for Student Progress; student Carrie
Anderson; and Joy Polkabla Byers, assistant director of programs and special
events, Campus Recreation and Intramural Sports. Penguins Productions,
which sponsored its first concert in April, is run by a board of 12 students and
12 advisors.
Last spring, University Theater presented “Theophilus North” by Matthew
Burnett, based on the novel by Thornton Wilder, in the Spotlight Arena
Theater in Bliss Hall. “North” is one of nine YSU student, faculty and staff
performances produced by University Theater in 2007. Pictured above
from left are Tony Scarsella, Roxanne Hauldren and Andrew Kim, who
starred in the play. Several more productions are coming up in 2008. For
tickets, call 330-941-3105 or visit www.fpa.ysu.edu/theater and click on
University Theater Season.
volunteered for YSU’s Middle School Model UN day in
March.
The trip was financed in part by Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez,
YSU professor of philosophy and religious studies,
through a donation to the Global Education Program.
A team of YSU engineering students finished first in the
construction speed category at the National Student Steel
Bridge Building competition at California State University,
Northridge.
The YSU team competed against 43 teams from universities
across the nation. The steel bridge is an 18’4” long by 36”
wide by 29.5” high bridge designed, fabricated and constructed
by students. In the competition, students race to build the
bridge, which is then load-tested with 2,500 pounds. Each
bridge is judged on aesthetics, construction speed, lightness
and deflection.
The YSU team constructed the bridge in 2 minutes and
20 seconds. The speed of other teams ranged from 2 minutes
and 45 seconds to 18 minutes and 28 seconds.
YSU’s team qualified for the national contest by placing
first in the steel bridge competition at the American Society
of Civil Engineers 2007 Ohio Valley Regional Conference at
Ohio State University.
Members of the YSU steel bridge team are Kevin Lynch of
Shelby, Ohio, Mike Lyda of North Lima, Bill Pitoscia of Hubbard,
Bryan Kopachy of Youngstown, Mike Grumley of Girard,
Nick Sanford of Conneaut, and Mike Meder of Freedom, Pa.
The Jambar, YSU’s student newspaper,
won a first place award in the 2007 American
Scholastic Press Association competition
for college newspapers.
The Jambar was one of five universities
to earn the ASPA award. In awarding the
prize, the judges singled out The Jambar’s
content and its “general plan” as its top
strengths.
In addition, Jambar
editor Maysoon Abdelrasul
won both first and
second place awards
in the national contest
of the Society for
Collegiate Journalists.
Two other Jambar staff
members, Ashley Tate
and Jeremy Lydic,
won honorable mention
Maysoon
Abdelrasul
awards.The SCJ contest is the only collegiate
journalism contest that is judged entirely by
professional journalists. Nine YSU students
were inducted into SCJ in a ceremony this
past fall.
YSU’s chapter of the American Marketing
Association received an award for “Outstanding Collegiate
Chapter for 2006-2007” at the AMA’s Annual Collegiate
Conference in New Orleans.
The award is presented to chapters that exemplify overall
excellence in membership, community service, fundraising
and professional development activities.
Peter Reday, an assistant professor of marketing, is the
faculty advisor. Several students also attended the conference.
More than 83 schools from across the United States,
Canada and Puerto Rico attended the AMA conference.
YSU and the Dana School of Music has released a new
CD by the YSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble, “Tipping
Points.” Stephen L. Gage is the conductor.
It is the fifth in a series of recently released CDs beginning
in 1999.
The SWE is Dana’s top of three concert bands, and it
consists of 55 woodwind, brass, and percussion undergraduate
and graduate students from the music school.
The ensemble has performed at regional, state and
national conventions throughout its history, including a performance
at the 2005 New York Wind Band Festival in New
York’s Carnegie Hall.
The group’s fourth CD, “Spin Cycle,” was Downbeat
Magazine’s 2004-05 University Symphonic Recording of the
Year.
“Tipping Points” includes solo performances by five
Dana faculty members: Kathryn Thomas Umble, flute; the
Summer 2007 17

Around Campus
Around Campus
late Robert Fitzer, clarinet; Misook Yun, soprano; Caroline
Oltmanns, piano, and David Morgan, string bass.
The SWE CD projects are supported by the Dana School
of Music, University Development, the Youngstown Symphony
Society and Friends of YSU Bands.
All of the CDs are available for purchase at the university
by contacting slgage@ysu.edu or 330-941-1832.
Programs and Initiatives
WYSU-FM has gone HD.
The public radio station, operated by YSU, recently began
broadcasting in high definition, a new technology that broadcasts
crystal clear, CD-quality sound. WYSU-FM is among
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Digital Grant. An additional
$38,000 came from the 2005 Power Run Campaign,
in which individuals made pledges for Sexton’s 50-mile race
in Michigan.
HD radio broadcasting is hailed by many in the industry
as the most significant advancement in radio broadcasting
since the introduction of FM stereo more than 50 years ago.
The technology offers dramatically higher quality audio, far
more programming choices and new wireless data services.
In addition, HD radio includes MetaData, which means
that information such as song titles, artists, program information
and even weather conditions will be displayed automatically
on the radio screen.
There are currently more than 1,100 HD radio stations
in the nation, including nearly 60 in Ohio. The number of
stations nationally is expected to grow to more than 3,000 in
the next few years.
sociate executive director of student life and director of
CSP.
Open admission, urban institutions such as YSU
typically retain first-year students at a rate of about 64
to 67 percent, Beatrice said. YSU’s rate for 2005-06
was 68 percent. That means that 68 percent of first-year
students enrolled in fall semester 2005 returned in fall
semester 2006.
Students who use the services of the CSP – including
peer mentoring and tutoring – were retained at a rate
of 74 percent. On the other hand, students who did not
use the CSP were retained at a 20 percent rate.
YSU’s retention rates are generally higher than
those at other public universities in Ohio as reported by
the Ohio Board of Regents.
For more information, visit the CSP website at
http://cc.ysu.edu/csp/.
The staff of the Center for Student Progress. Seated – Jonelle Beatrice,
Pat Shively. Second row – Nakisha Ingram, Gina McGranahan, Jain
Savage, Linda Frattaroli, Shannon Reesh, Noreen Yazvac, and Chris
Khumprakob, Back row – Becky Varian, Robin Sakonyi, Debbie Campana,
Tysa Egleton, Michael Beverly, Kellie Mills Dobozi, Brian Wells,
and Angela Kearns.
Announcer Mike Cervone, right, and broadcast engineer
Ron Krauss in the studio at YSU’s public radio station, WYSU-
FM, in Cushwa Hall, which recently began broadcasting in
high definition.
only a handful of radio stations in the Mahoning Valley that
have made the switch to HD.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to maintain excellent
service to a very supportive audience,” said Ron Krauss,
WYSU chief engineer. “By pursuing state-of-the-art technology
like HD, it is one more opportunity to further enhance
those services.”
David Luscher, program director, said HD is already taking
a strong hold in the television broadcasting market, and it
is only a matter of time before HD radio follows suit.
Luscher said that WYSU listeners will need an HD radio
to receive the new, higher-quality signal. These radios are
now available at most major electronic retailers. Listeners
without an HD radio will continue to receive the regular
analog signal.
WYSU’s switch from analog to HD started in 2003 and
cost about $190,000, culminating with the move to a new HD
transmitter in December 2006. Gary Sexton, station director,
said WYSU was able to secure significant local funding
from the Raymond J. Wean Foundation, as well as a $75,000
18 Youngstown State University
The YSU Center for Undergraduate Research in
Mathematics officially opened in April with a conference
attended by nearly 100 faculty, students and alumni.
CURMath was created in part to the
due to the generosity of Doug Faires, a
1963 graduate of YSU who joined the
mathematics faculty in 1969 before retiring
last year.
Faires provided about $40,000
in upfront money in proceeds from
textbooks he has authored. He also is
donating his entire extended teaching
salary over the next three to five years
to endow the new center. That amounts
to about $100,000. Many of his former
students have also donated to the center.
Doug Faires
CURMath is designed to assist members of the YSU
Department of Mathematics and Statistics to promote the
professional development and research activities of undergraduate
students interested in mathematics. Typical
activities of the Center will include support of the Pi Mu
Epsilon Student Chapter and the Mathematical Association of
America Student Chapter, student participation at MAA/PME
regional and national meetings, problem-solving seminars
and participation in mathematics competitions.
YSU’s Center for Student Progress received the
Educational Policy Institute’s 2007 Outstanding Student
Retention Program Award.
The award was presented at Retention 2007, an international
conference on student retention in San Antonio, Texas.
Jonelle Beatrice, CSP director, and Pat Shively, CSP associate
director, accepted the award, which is presented annually
to an institution that exhibits excellence in the development
and implementation of a student retention program.
“This award is the result of the diligent efforts of the
CSP staff on behalf of students,” said Jonelle Beatrice, as-
Conducting Cutting-Edge Biotechnology Research
The National Science Foundation has
awarded $475,000 to YSU’s chemistry
department to purchase a new nuclear
magnetic resonance spectrometer, a piece
of equipment that will help faculty and
students conduct cutting-edge research in
biotechnology and nanotechnology.
“The NSF is again recognizing us
as a national leader,” said Allen Hunter,
chemistry professor and principal investigator
on the grant. “This is an important
tool needed for research.” NMR spectroscopy
is one of the most powerful tools
available to chemists to identify unknown
substances and to characterize specific
arrangements of atoms within molecules.
“Access to state-of-the-art NMR
spectrometers is essential to chemists
who are carrying out frontier research,”
the NSF said in awarding the grant that
was written by a team from YSU, led by
chemistry Professor Peter Norris, and its
partner institutions.
This will be YSU’s second NMR
spectrometer. The university’s current piece of equipment
is approaching 15 years old, and the new one will include
better electronics and allow for more advanced and sophisticated
experiments and easier student use, said Daryl Mincey,
chemistry department chair. The university will keep and
continue to use the magnet from the old spectrometer, he
said.
“Competition for the funding was fierce, so the university
deserves high praise for this achievement,” U.S. Rep.
Tim Ryan said about the grant. “Research in these areas
Ashley Malich, a chemistry graduate student, works on the spectrometer in Ward
Beecher Hall. The NSF awarded funds to YSU for a new spectrometer, which assists in
identification of unknown substances.
hold enormous promise of revolutionizing the healthcare
and manufacturing industries throughout our nation, and the
Mahoning Valley is well-positioned to lead the development
of this cutting-edge technology.”
Mincey said the equipment will be open for use by
chemists from universities across the Midwest, including
Muskingum College in Ohio, Harold Washington College in
Chicago and Delta College in Michigan.
The award comes on the heels of a $1 million federal
earmark that Ryan landed for YSU late last year for the
CyberEnabled Industrial Innovation Center, led by Hunter.
Summer 2007 19

Around Campus
Around Campus
YSU journalism and telecommunications students traveled
to Sago, W.Va., last spring to report stories about the
community one year after 12 men died in one of the nation’s
worst mining accidents.
The 14 students covered a variety of stories, ranging
from profiles about victims’ families to examinations of communications
and rescue devices in mines.
Tim Francisco and Alyssa Lenhoff, journalism faculty
members who led the trip, said they chose Sago for YSU’s
first reporting field project because of the many unanswered
questions surrounding the disaster and because people of the
town have become comfortable talking with reporters.
Francisco and Lenhoff, who both worked as newspaper
reporters and editors before joining the YSU faculty, said
getting real-world reporting experience is a critical part of a
quality journalistic education.
YSU’s Center for Working-Class Studies helped fund the trip.
Campus Visitors
Futurist Alvin Toffler, the author of “Future Shock,”
whose writings have influenced leaders around the world,
spoke in March at Stambaugh Auditorium as part of YSU’s
Paul J. and Marguerite K. Thomas Colloquium on Free Enterprise.
Toffler and his
wife and co-author,
Heidi, have written
such classics as “The
Third Wave,” “Powershift”
and “War
and Anti-War.” Their
newest book, “Revolutionary
Wealth,”
attacks key features
of conventional
economics as it paints
the emerging global
“wealth system” of
the decades ahead.
Steven Levitt,
the author of
“Freakonomics,”
spoke at YSU in
Alvin Toffler, author of “Future Shock,” spoke at
YSU in March. His wife, Heidi, who is co-author of
his books, joined him on campus.
March at Stambaugh Auditorium as part of YSU’s Paul J.
and Marguerite K. Thomas Colloquium on Free Enterprise.
“Freakonomics” has been on the New York Times Bestseller
list for over a year.
Levitt is the Alvin Baum Professor of Economics and
director of the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the
University of Chicago where he has been on the faculty since
1998.
He earned a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1994 and graduated from Harvard
Steven Levitt, author of the best-seller “Freakonomics,” visited
campus in March. The economist is known for using simple
questions to reach startling conclusions.
University summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree
in economics in 1989.
He is the author of hundreds of articles that have been
published in both academic and non-academic journals.
Terry Green and Nori-zso Tolson of “22 product,” a
world-renowned motion graphics and interactive
company, lectured at the McDonough Museum of
Art in April.
The work of “22 product” appears as title
design, broadcast identity, motion graphics for
commercials and prototyping for web sites.
Green and Tolson have worked with corporations
such as Nike, NEC, Adobe Systems, IBM,
Levi Strauss & Company, MTV, America Online,
Yahoo!, Apple Computers, Sony and Hewlett-
Packard.
The free lecture was sponsored by the art
department.
Mike Jackson, former vice president of
marketing and advertising at GM North America,
presented “Riding the New Media Wave . . . the
Thrill of a Lifetime” as part of the Williamson
Symposium Series, an executive-on-campus
program designed to bring international speakers
to campus to network with students. Jackson visited YSU in
March.
Jackson, a Youngstown native, became GM North
America vice president of marketing and advertising in March
2006. Jackson was the regional general manager of GM’s
Western Region, where he led the sales, marketing and distribution
efforts for the region’s 16 member states. He joined GM
in February 2000 as executive director of sales and marketing
support. Among other honors, he received the distinguished
Chairman’s Honors in 2002 for being a leader in the “Keep
Mike Jackson, former vice president
of marketing and advertising at GM
North America, spoke at YSU as part
of the Williamson Symposium Series.
America Rolling”
program.
Jackson also
held leadership positions,
spanning more
than 20 years, in a
variety of sales and
marketing assignments
at Coca-Cola,
Pepsi-Co. and Coors
Brewing Co.
Ohio Gov. Ted
Strickland visited
YSU in June to
celebrate passage of
the two-year state
budget, which calls for
significant increases in higher education funding.
“We want to make sure we reinvest in higher education,”
Strickland told a crowd of about 50 students and employees
in the Board of Trustees’ meeting room in Tod Hall. “(YSU
President) Dr. (David C.) Sweet has done a remarkable job
with this institution,” he added.
The state budget includes a two-year tuition freeze for
undergraduate Ohio students, increases in state funding for
higher education and increases in scholarship funding. Later
in the day, the YSU Board of Trustees approved the two-year
tuition freeze. As part of the budget bill, YSU will receive $2.9
million in additional
state funds in fiscal
year 2008 and $4.1
million in fiscal year
2009. YSU’s tuition
will remain the
lowest among the
public, comprehensive
universities in
the state.
Sweet hailed
the governor’s efforts.
“After several
years of flat funding
for higher education,
it is encouraging to
see state lawmakers
and the governor approve
a budget that
Gov. Ted Strickland, left, receives a
penguin from President David C. Sweet
during a campus visit.
recognizes the important role that higher education must play
in the economic revitalization of Ohio,” Sweet said.
Dr. Najma Najam, vice chancellor of Fatima Jinnah
Women University in Pakistan, visited YSU in February
to explore establishing academic linkages and exchanges
between the two universities.
Fatima Jinnah, in Rawalpindi,
was founded in 1998 as
the first public university in
Pakistan exclusively for women.
Najam, who received a master’s
degree and a Ph.D. in neurosciences
from Bowling Green
State University in Ohio, was
the founding vice chancellor of
the university and oversees all
university operations.
Fatima Jinnah and YSU
signed an agreement in 2005 setting
the groundwork for student
and faculty exchanges and joint
research projects. Najam’s visit
was aimed at further exploring
what specific projects to pursue
under that agreement. Ikram
Khawaja, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has
served as a visiting professor at the Pakistani university.
Penguin Envy?
Najma Najam, vice chancellor
of Fatima Jinnah Women
University in Pakistan, came to
the university to establish academic
linkages and exchanges
between the two universities.
A family of Red Shoulder hawks have made YSU their
home – for at least part of the year.
The hawks selected a tree outside the 6th floor of Maag
Library as the place to nest for the last two years. This year,
those who work in the library reported seeing the parents
begin to “refurbish” the nest in March. Two chicks hatched
this year – last year, there was just one.
Red-shouldered hawks are large, broad-winged hawks with
relatively long tails and heavy bodies, meaning that females
are larger than males. The tail of the both immature and mature
red-shouldered hawks is dark brown with white bands.
At the end of June, both “fledged” (left the nest), but were still
coming back “home” to feed on small mammals or birds and
insects brought to them by both their parents. Visit http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Buteo_lineatus.html
for more information.
20 Youngstown State University
Summer 2007 21

Around Campus
TheCity of Angels
From
To The Big Apple
From left – John L. Pogue, Board of Trustees chair, Joseph
Vergara Martinez, honorary degree recipient, Bege K.
Bowers, associate provost, and David C. Sweet, YSU president.
New Degree and Certificate Highlight Spring Commencement
Spring commencement in May was highlighted by two
firsts at both the undergraduate ceremony in Beeghly Center
and graduate ceremony in Stambaugh Auditorium.
The first graduates of the new master’s degree in
American Studies program received their diplomas,
while the first two Nathan and Frances Monus
Entrepreneurship Center Certificates in Enterprise
Resource Planning were awarded.
Jamie Bartholomew,
Krista Wagner, and Jason
Sotlar earned the
first master’s
degrees in
22 Youngstown State University
Below – Shauna Hartline received a bachelor’s
degree in computer information systems
on a Saturday and the next week started a
new job in Virginia.
American Studies, which started in fall semester 2005. Tim
Moyers and William Leek were presented with the first
Certificates in Entrepreneurship.
Joseph Vergara Martinez, a physicist who helped
found the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and
Native Americans in Science, spoke at both ceremonies and
received an honorary doctor of science degree at the morning
event.
The group Martinez helped found received the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics
and Engineering Mentoring in 2004.
Stephanie Marie Mateja, a bachelor of science degree
in education graduate, spoke at the undergraduate ceremony.
Carrie L. Brumit, who received a master’s degree in
education, spoke at the graduate event. In all, more than
1,100 students received degrees.
Visit http://www.ysu.edu/grads/commencement.shtml
for more information.
F&PA Visitors Board Connects College with Arts Community
From left – Atty. Paul Dutton, Assistant to the Dean and Outreach
Coordinator Silvia Jimenez-Hyre and Dean Joseph Edwards lead
the F&PA Board of Visitors. They are posing in front of one of the
gates depicting Youngstown’s roots in the steel industry. The gates,
created by Greg Moring, a YSU art professor, are part of the
addition to Bliss Hall, located in the back of the building.
With members from Los Angeles to New York and almost
everywhere between, YSU’s College of Fine and Performing Arts
depends on its Board of Visitors to provide current information to
the college and its students about the art world.
The 18-member board has met twice a year for the last four
years and is chaired by Atty. Paul Dutton, a former member of the
YSU Board of Trustees and Ohio Board of Regents.
Dutton, whose law degree is from Case Western Reserve, has a
long history with YSU that started in 1965.
“I really enjoy that the BOV has different orientations toward
the arts,” said Dutton, who earned a BA in 1969 from YSU. “Some
are artists and performers, while others have an appreciation for the
arts. Dean Joseph Edwards and former Dean George McCloud were
wise in their selections.” For Dutton, of the law firm Harrington,
Hoppe and Mitchell, it’s important that F&PA graduates find employment
in the “real” world.
“Without question, the board has helped us provide students
what they need to know to compete in the professional art world,”
said Edwards.
The group is the result of an initiative of YSU President David
C. Sweet, who, in 2004, requested that each dean in YSU’s six colleges
establish an external board to serve as advisors on community
issues, service and strategic planning.
This group has taken that mission to heart. It was at one of
the board’s meetings where the discussion began for the college’s
Dana School of Music to become an All-Steinway school. Soon
after, nearly 70 Steinway pianos were purchased. Now, the
school shares the Steinway designation with about 60 other
music schools in the world.
In addition, the board donated and identified other donors to
support the performance of the YSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
at Carnegie Hall in 2005. Many of the board members attended the
performance and the reception at Steinway Hall.
Another BOV-initiated project resulted in a recording studio
and a degree in music recording and production thanks to member
Bob DiPiero, Nashville musical composer and producer, and former
member Bill Bodine, also in the music business.
Members are Silvia Jimenez-Hyre, F&PA; Judge Theresa Dellick;
Bob DiPiero, musical composer and producer; Atty. Paul Dutton,
Harrington, Hoppe and Mitchell; Presley Gillespie, KeyBank,
vice president of community development lending; Atty. Michael
Morley; Patricia Fleck Kavic, Youngstown Opera Guild; Gina Marinelli,
WYTV news anchor; Suzanne Teaberry, art graduate; Stephanie
Shaw, Embarq Corp., business marketing manager; C. Gilbert
James Jr., Forge Industries, owner; Dr Y.T. Chiu; Elba Navarro,
retired teacher; Dr. John L. Dunne, Ohio Sports and Spine Institute;
Kelly Stevens, HOT-FM 101; Helen Stambaugh, community leader;
Patricia Syak, general manager, Youngstown Symphony Society;
and James Weidman, jazz pianist/recording artist.
Summer 2007 23

Achieving the
Extraordinary
Three’s A Charm for Goldwater and Phi Kappa Phi Scholarships
For three consecutive years, Youngstown State University students have been selected for prestigious Goldwater and Phi
Kappa Phi scholarships. This distinction has not been achieved by any other public higher education institution in northeast Ohio.
Matt Ward
When Matt Ward came to YSU in 2004 from
Central Square High School in Brewerton, N.Y., he
was a music major.
In fact, he played the euphonium in the Symphonic Wind
Ensemble during its performance at Carnegie Hall in 2005.
However, the junior University Scholar with a 4.0 grade
point average, soon discovered his true passion was for mathematics.
That translated not only into a new major, but being
named a 2007-08 Goldwater Scholar, one of the nation’s most
prominent awards for undergraduate sophomore and junior
math, science and engineering students.
YSU is the only public higher education institution
in northeast Ohio to receive a Goldwater over the past
three years.
“The Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious
award of its kind,” said Ron Shaklee, director of the university
scholars and honors program. “Matt’s recognition speaks
to the quality of the instruction he has received at YSU.”
Ward is one of only 317 Goldwater Scholars nationwide
for 2007-08 to receive the $7,500 scholarship. Since 2005,
YSU has had two Goldwater Scholarship recipients. Last
year, Ward received an honorable mention.
Ward said that’s what gave him the confidence to
reapply. But he really didn’t need that nod to have faith in his
abilities – the physics minor had a perfect score on the AP
Calculus test.
His twin brother, Jeff, who attends Clarkson University
in Potsdam, N.Y., was also awarded a Goldwater scholarship
this year for math. He and his brother also gave talks at the
2006 summer Mathfest, and both presented posters on their
National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experiences
for Undergraduates at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in
January 2007. Matt won an outstanding award for his poster
and Jeff won the same for his talk.
In addition, Matt’s article, “An Initial Inquiry into LC-
Loops,” has been accepted for publication in the American
Journal for Undergraduate Research.
“Matt is one of the best students I have known in 40
years of teaching,” said Douglas Faires, a professor emeritus
of mathematics.
Ward’s parents, Randall and Lorraine, reside in
Brewerton.
Louise Popio
The only person in Louise Popio’s life surprised to find
out that she had been selected to receive a $5,000 Phi Kappa
Phi Graduate Fellowship was Louise herself.
Popio of Canfield was selected as one of only four students
at an Ohio university to receive the fellowship.
“It is amazing what Louise has accomplished in her four
years at YSU,” said Ron Shaklee, director of the university
scholars and honors program. “She has combined her intellectual
pursuits with an abundance of on-campus activities and
leadership positions and embodies the overall qualities one
hopes to find in a college student.”
This is the third consecutive year that a YSU student has
received this honor.
Popio, a senior in the University Scholar program with a
4.0 grade point average, graduated in May.
A computer information systems major, Popio starts her
doctorate program and graduate assistantship at Pennsylvania
State University in August.
“I was honored when I found out about the scholarship,”
said Popio, who served a two-year term as a student member
of the YSU Board of Trustees. “I am really going to miss
YSU, but I am looking forward to the future.”
One of only 60 students nationwide to receive the award,
Popio was selected by the YSU Local Chapter 143 Phi Kappa
Phi executive board to receive the award.
The other Ohio institutions that had Phi Kappa Phi scholarship
recipients were Bowling Green, Ohio University and
Ohio State University.
Popio said that Karen Duda, the recently deceased chairperson
of computer sciences and information services, had a
profound influence on her and served as her mentor.
In addition to her coursework, Popio worked on research
projects with Duda, was a peer tutor in YSU’s Center for
Student Progress, a student employee in the CSIS department
and worked with members of the mathematics faculty
developing workshops for elementary and secondary school
math teachers.
“Louise is a remarkably gifted and dedicated student,”
said Tom Bodnovich, current CSIS chair. “Her positive effect
on the department will remain long after she has left us.”
Popio is a 2003 Canfield High School graduate. Her parents,
Loren and Kathleen Popio, have a younger son, Danny.
About the
Goldwater Scholarship
The Barry M. Goldwater
Scholarship and Excellence in
Education Program was established
by Congress in 1986 to honor
Senator Barry M. Goldwater,
who served 30 years in the
U.S. Senate.
The purpose of the program
is to provide a source of
scientists, mathematicians,
and engineers by awarding
scholarships to college students
who intend to pursue careers in
these fields. More information
can be found at http://www.act.
org/goldwater/.
About
Phi Kappa Phi
Founded in 1897, Phi
Kappa Phi is the nation’s
oldest, largest and most selective
all-discipline honor society.
The Society has chapters
on nearly 300 select colleges
and universities in North
America and the Philippines.
Membership is by invitation
only to the top 10 percent of
seniors and graduate students
and 7.5 percent of juniors.
More information can be
found at http://www.phikappaphi.org/.
Louise Popio, Phi Kappa
Phi Fellowship and
Matt Ward, Goldwater
Scholarship
24 Youngstown State University
Summer 2007 25

New Colleges, New Opportunities
Introducing YSU’s new College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM) and College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS).
CLASS: The Cornerstone of the University
The new College of Science
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics includes
10 academic departments:
• biological sciences
• chemistry
• computer science
and information systems,
• geological and
environmental sciences
• mathematics and statistics
• physics and astronomy
• civil, environmental and
chemical engineering
• electrical and computer
engineering
• mechanical and industrial
engineering
• The School of Technology
The Rayen School of
Engineering and Technology
was established as a unit of
the new STEM college.
STEM: Sparking Synergy
Under most circumstances, the paths and
academic endeavors of YSU faculty members
Hazel Marie, Gary Walker and Jay Kerns
would likely not cross.
Marie, an assistant professor of mechanical
and industrial engineering, hunkers down
in an office on the second floor of Moser Hall.
Walker, professor of biological sciences,
does most of his teaching and research on the
fourth floor of Ward Beecher Hall.
And Kerns plies his trade as an assistant
professor of mathematics and statistics in
Cushwa Hall.
Despite their diverse locations and the
seemingly wide divide in their chosen areas
of academic expertise, the trio is teaming up
to apply for a grant from the National Science
Foundation to research the mechanics of human
tissues.
As a biologist, Walker’s role is to prepare
the tissues. As an engineer,
Marie will examine the tensile
strength of the tissues.
And, as a statistician, Kerns
will measure the outcomes of
the research.
“The biologist working
with the engineer working
with the mathematician,”
Walker said. “It’s really the
wave of the future.”
In an effort to ride the
leading edge of that wave,
YSU has created the new
College of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM.
The new college, the first of its kind in
S- Ryan Paul, graduate student,
mechanical engineering
T- Sara Schaefer, senior, physics
E- Mark Barlow, graduate student,
electrical engineering
M- Srinivasa Manam, graduate student, math
“If we want to
compete in a global
economy, we have to be
able to go beyond those
boundaries. We cannot
continue to function in
the way we have while
the world around
us changes.”
-Jalal Jalali, Professor
Ohio, merges YSU’s engineering and technology
programs with the sciences to form
a single academic entity that YSU leaders
believe will spark a synergy among faculty
and students and position the university as a
leader in the increasingly important fields of
science, technology, engineering and math.
Jalal Jalali, professor and chair of
electrical and computer engineering, said
the traditional academic model – in which
engineers and biologists, chemists, physicists
and other scientists work in separate worlds
– is out-dated.
“If we want to compete in a global
economy, we have to be able to go beyond
those boundaries,” Jalali said. “We cannot
continue to function in the way we have while
the world around us changes.”
YSU’s transition to a new STEM college
comes at a time of increasing calls across the
nation and state for high
schools and universities
to beef up their production
of graduates in STEM
disciplines.
Nationally, the number
of jobs in STEM fields is
growing at five times the
rate of other occupations,
according to the Council
on Competitiveness, yet
the number of Americans
receiving college degrees
in STEM fields is on the
decline. Ohio currently
ranks 36th in the nation in the percentage of
undergraduate students earning degrees in
continued on page 28
By most accounts, YSU’s new master’s
degree offering in American Studies has been
a success.
The program rewarded its first three
diplomas in May. Fifteen students are enrolled.
And those students are involved in a variety
of community outreach projects helping local
museums, schools and other institutions in a
variety of innovative
ways.
“One of the great
things about our program
is that it connects the
academy to the community,”
said Stephanie Tingley,
professor of English
and director of the American
Studies program.
“But, because we are a
small program in a large college on campus, we
exist under the radar of most people.”
Tingley and others hope that the formation
of the new YSU College of Liberal Arts
and Social Sciences changes that.
Under the previous structure, liberal arts
and social science disciplines such as history,
political science, sociology, philosophy and
English were lumped together in the College
of Arts and Sciences with science disciplines
such as biology, chemistry and physics. The
new structure splits the liberal arts and social
sciences into their own separate college.
“I think this will help us focus our
energies, promote the continued importance
of the liberal arts and draw more attention to
some of our successful smaller programs like
American Studies,” said Gary Salvner,
English department chair.
C – Colette Mace, senior,
psychology
L – Carrington Moore, junior,
political science
A – Adrienne Sabo, senior,
journalism
S – Emery Boyle-Scott, junior,
political science
S – Chad Miller, senior,
philosophy
and psychology
“Change is always
hard, but change also is
a great opportunity to
use our imaginations...
We will no longer be
defined by the old arts
and sciences model.”
-Gary Salvner, Professor
“Change is always hard, but change also
is a great opportunity for us to use our imaginations.
We will no longer be defined by the
old arts and sciences model. We need to ask
how we can re-make ourselves.”
YSU is not the first university to form
a separate college for liberal arts and social
sciences. Cleveland State University has a
CLASS college, as do the
University of Houston,
Georgia Southern University
and Savannah State University
in Georgia.
“By grouping disciplines
that have common
interests, it’s a bit easier
to find consensus and to
find common goals,” said
Bruce Waller, YSU chair of
philosophy and religious studies. “We’re more
likely to be more familiar with each other’s
work.”
Jane Kestner, CLASS associate dean, said
the old College of Arts and Sciences was huge,
with 15 departments and 230 full-time faculty.
“When you have so many people, it’s sometimes
hard to get things done,” she said. The
new CLASS college has nine departments and
117 full-time faculty.
“The streamlining of the operations may
have a positive effect,” Waller said.
The college’s smaller size will not, however,
diminish its importance on campus. The
college remains home to many of the university’s
general education requirements, courses
required of all students to earn a degree in any
discipline.
“Liberal arts are the cornerstone of the
continued on page 29
The new College of Liberal
Arts and Social Sciences
includes nine academic
departments:
• economics
• English
• foreign languages and
literatures
• geography
• history
• philosophy and
religious studies
• political science
• psychology
• sociology and
anthropology
26 Youngstown State University
Summer 2007 27

From the Desk of
Martin Abraham
Martin Abraham, the founding dean of YSU’s new STEM
college, comes to YSU after three years as dean of the College
of Graduate Studies at the University Toledo. A chemical
engineer whose research involves hydrogen fuel cell catalysts,
Abraham has a strong record of scholarly publications and
research, including more than 60 refereed publications and
nearly 150 technical presentations. He shares his thoughts on
the new STEM college.
Youngstown State University has taken the innovative step
of merging science and engineering to form a single college
with the ability to take a concept from basic fundamentals
through application. Engineering disciplines apply scientific
principles for the design of products and services, thereby providing
natural connections for the
programs that will now be housed
within our new STEM college.
Such an alignment is consistent
with the way that research and
development is conducted in
industry and leading academic
organizations, and places YSU in
a unique position to capitalize on
trends in science and engineering
education. We should be able
to use our position in support of
state goals to increase enrollment
in STEM disciplines, and to support
economic development in the
Youngstown area.
We will look to opportunities
to take advantage of the inherent
synergies of this novel structure,
in education, research and economic
development. Our unique
structure will benefit our faculty
in the development of collaboration
that support their teaching
Martin Abraham, STEM dean
and research missions. In teaching, we will look for innovative
ways to integrate science and engineering principles that enhances
student learning. It will be easier for our faculty to form
research partnerships across disciplines now housed within the
STEM college, providing them with an advantage in competing
for state and federal funding. And community entrepreneurs
and business leaders will be able to approach faculty teams
from multiple departments within the college who will be able
to work across academic disciplines to address their needs at
multiple levels, and from varying directions.
With the state’s emphasis on STEM education, and with
the deep national need for more technically trained individuals,
we are now poised to become a regional and national model
for engineering and science education. I strongly believe that
this new organizational structure provides the best opportunity
for students and faculty to excel, benefiting the university, the
community, the state and our national agenda.
STEM Continued from page 26 CLASS Continued from page 27
STEM fields, according to the Ohio Research Experiences to
Enhance Learning.
The Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive
officers of leading U.S. companies, recently released a report
that calls for doubling the number of STEM college graduates
by 2015. To meet this goal, Ohio colleges and universities must
graduate 16,660 science and engineering students in 2015, up
from 8,330 graduates today. Ohio’s recently approved two-year
budget includes $100 million in college scholarships specifically
targeted to students studying in STEM fields.
“The merger of science and engineering through the new
STEM college creates opportunities at YSU that other universities
will not be able to duplicate,” said Martin Abraham, former
dean of the College of Graduate Studies at the University of
Toledo and the founding dean
of YSU’s STEM college.
Tom Oder, YSU assistant
professor of physics, said he
believes the new STEM college
will help faculty as they apply
for research grants.
For instance, Oder and
other physics faculty have
teamed up with faculty in
electrical engineering, biology
and chemistry to apply for
a $370,000 equipment grant
from the National Science
Foundation. The grant would
help purchase instrumentation
for nano-science and chemical
analysis.
Oder said NSF – a strong
supporter of STEM collaborations
– is likely to view the
application more favorably
because of YSU’s STEM
initiative.
“When the NSF and other agencies fund projects, they
want to see that there is already in place a network of collaboration
and support,” he said.
That collaboration was apparent in the spring in a class
taught by Oder – Condense Matter Physics. The class included
students from every one of the STEM disciplines. Ryan Paul, a
graduate student studying mechanical engineering and a member
of the class, said the new STEM college will make such
collaborations more common.
“My best experiences in graduate school have been working
with other students and faculty who are not in engineering
– understanding their perspective, seeing them at work,” said
Paul, who hopes to seek a Ph.D. in materials science after
grad school.
“Even though we have our own areas of focus and specialization,
there is a lot of common ground.”
university,” Waller said. “Literature, psychology, religious
studies, sociology– these are the heart and soul of an education
that goes beyond career education. It’s an education that
makes life fuller, that makes life rich and worth living.”
While there is a growing emphasis on disciplines in the
applied sciences and engineering, Kestner said the liberal
arts and social sciences are experiencing a resurgence of
their own and will continue to have a strong presence on
university campuses.
In fact, according to Fortune magazine, as many as 40
percent of chief executive officers majored in liberal arts in
college. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that future
chief executives may require a broader liberal arts education
that provides a foundation to better operate in an increasingly
complicated, global and fast-moving business arena.
Individuals with educations in liberal arts and social
sciences are more likely to be team players, analytical
thinkers and good communicators with creative solutions
to complex problems.
“What employers need are employees who are able to
change and can learn new skills, and those are the hallmarks
of an education in the liberal arts and social sciences,”
Kestner said. “They’ve learned a lot about people. They’ve
learned a lot about culture and civilizations and how to adapt
to the changing world around them.”
Shearle Furnish, CLASS dean
From the Desk of
Shearle Furnish
Shearle Furnish, the founding dean of YSU’s new CLASS
college, comes to YSU after six years as the head of the
Department of English, Philosophy and Modern Languages
at West Texas A&M University near Amarillo. A scholar
of medieval literature who earned a Ph.D. in English from
the University of Kentucky in 1984, Furnish has authored
many journal articles, book reviews and conference papers
and made dozens of presentations at academic conferences
throughout the nation. He shares his thoughts on the mission
of the new CLASS college.
I am eager to take up the position of Founding Dean of
the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, immerse myself
in learning the institutional culture of YSU and knowing
the faculty, and involve myself in the greater community. As
we address the identity and mission of the new college, I find
my thoughts sorting into four questions:
What is CLASS to its students?
What is CLASS to its faculty?
What is CLASS to the university?
What is CLASS to the region?
In its large commitment to general education and early
advising, CLASS is in a position to affect first-year success
and retention of students. CLASS is likely to be a first home
for entering students who do not immediately declare a major.
It seems logical and profitable for CLASS to embrace this role
as first home, to impart the identity of CLASS student to
undeclared majors, to make sure they have an academic
home in which to feel welcome and bonded. That way,
they may be more likely to declare a major, more likely
to declare a major in a CLASS discipline, to persist,
thrive, graduate, and be placed in a career or program of
graduate study that pleases and fulfills them.
Smaller than the College of Arts and Sciences,
CLASS may also feel to that degree less an institution
and more a home to its faculty. At any rate, I will try
to encourage the growth of such a feeling. In CLASS,
we are bonded by centuries-long common traditions of
liberal and general education, and by the mission to cultivate
citizenship. In other words, we are bonded by the
common mission to do the work of democracy. Bound by
long common traditions, we should be capable of fellowfeeling,
brotherhood – even-though the idea may seem
trite or saccharine, identity as a family.
The university and region will appreciate CLASS if
we fulfill these potentials. We have much to do already
in educating majors and graduate candidates in our
several disciplines. Successful in these and in the broader
missions I have discussed, we will be relied upon to
improve the preparation and skills of majors in other
colleges, to give the broadest and most basic parts of
preparation to new employees and professionals for the
region, and to contribute problem-solving skills, wisdom,
and prosperity to society.
28 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 29

Our first
years
1908
The YMCA
in downtown
Youngstown
offers its first
college-level
course in
commercial
law, with an
evening class
of nine men.
1916
The Youngstown Association
School is incorporated. Both college
and high school-level courses
are still held at the YMCA.
1920
The Law School of the
Youngstown Association School
offers bachelor of law degrees for
the first time.
The School of Finance and
Commerce is established.
From a class of nine men in a commercial law course at the YMCA in downtown
Youngstown to hundreds of classes filled with students as diverse as the community it’s
located in, the 100-year history of Youngstown State University has been extraordinary.
With more than 85,000 alumni in a variety of professions and places around the world,
the university’s next 100 years promise to be as remarkable as the first.
This timeline highlights notable events that brought YSU
from nine students, one building and one degree to
13,000 students, 50 buildings and more
than 30 associate, bachelor,
master and doctoral
degrees.
1925
John C. Wick Mansion at the corner of
Wick and Lincoln avenues is purchased
as a classroom facility.
1921
The Youngstown Association
School is renamed the Youngstown
Institute of Technology.
The first liberal arts courses
are offered for teacher
preparation.
1922
The Youngstown Institute of
Technology awards its first
college degrees in law.
The Bonnell Mansion on
Wick Avenue is leased to
house the collegiate division
of the Youngstown Association
School, the Youngstown
Institute of Technology. This
is the first movement to Wick
Avenue and out of the downtown
area.
1924
Youngstown Institute of Technology
is authorized by the State of
Ohio to grant commercial (business)
degrees.
1927
A day school is authorized by the
YMCA Board of Trustees to offer
liberal arts courses.
Red and gold are selected as
school colors.
The athletic program begins
with the creation of the school’s
basketball team.
1928
The Henry Wick Mansion on 416
Wick Avenue is leased for additional
classroom space and later renamed
East Hall.
The institution’s
first yearbook is
published,
Technician 1928.
1930
A music program
begins.
1931
The Board of Trustees
designates
the college division of the YMCA
as Youngstown College.
Youngstown College’s Main Building,
now Jones Hall, is completed.
The Jambar student newspaper
begins publication.
1933
The YoCo basketball
team are called
Penguins for the
first time.
Youngstown
College receives
accreditation from
the Ohio
Department of
Education to
teach education
courses.
1935
Howard W. Jones is appointed
the first president of Youngstown
College.
1936
The college’s official seal is adopted.
1937
The Board of Governors officially
incorporates
Youngstown
College.
1938
Youngstown
College’s football
team and marching
band take to
the field for the
first time.
1941
Buechner Hall, a
privately owned dormitory, opens
its doors to female students.
The Dana Musical
Institute merges with
Youngstown College.
YoCo’s football
coach, Dwight
“Dike” Beede,
invents the
penalty flag.
Pete,YoCo’s first
live penguin mascot, drowns at
Crandall Park. He is later succeeded
by four other penguins, the last
dying in 1972.
1942
Youngstown College begins offering
accelerated degree programs as
the United States enters the Second
World War.
1944
Youngstown College becomes
independent of the YMCA to receive
accreditation from the North Central
Association.
1945
Youngstown College’s colors are
changed to red and white.
1946
The Rayen School of Engineering
is founded with classes held in the
leased Rayen Hall.
Post-war attendance begins to
skyrocket due to benefits offered to
veterans through the GI Bill.
1949
Youngstown Sheet and Tube presents
a 10-ton boulder to the class of 1949.
After paying $500 to have the rock
moved, it is presented to the college
as a gift
and placed
in front of
Jones Hall,
where it
remains.
1950
The George
W. Pollock
house is
donated to
YoCo.
1951
The Ford Homestead on Wick
Avenue is donated to YoCo by
Judge John W. Ford and his sister,
Josephine Ford Agler.
1953
The new Youngstown College Library
opens, which is now Tod Hall.
1955
Youngstown College
is renamed the
Youngstown
University.
1958
The Youngstown
University
celebrates 50 years
of higher education in
the Mahoning Valley.
1959
A new science building opens, now
part of Ward Beecher Science Hall.
1960
The School of Education is founded.
1964
A multi-million dollar campus
expansion plan is made public.
1966
Kilcawley Student
Center opens.
President Jones
retires after 35 years
of service. Dr. Albert
L. Pugsley is
named president.
The Youngstown Education
Foundation, now
the YSU Foundation, is
founded. Howard W. Jones
is named first president.
1967
Youngstown University becomes
Youngstown State University, a public
institution of higher education.
The Kilcawley Rock receives its
first coat of paint.
30 Youngstown State University
Summer 2007 31
A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising F

A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promi
1968
The Engineering Sciences Building,
now Moser Hall, is dedicated.
The Graduate School and the Technical
and Community College are
founded.
1969
WYSU-FM begins broadcasting
over 88.5 FM.
YSU’s Board of Trustees files
an application with the Federal
Communications Commission to
establish an educational television
station. This would later become
public television station WNEO/
WEAO, Channels 45 & 49.
1970
Williamson Hall is completed.
East Hall is demolished to
make way for a new library.
Beeghly Physical Education
Center opens.
1972
A parking garage opens on the corner
of Lincoln and Fifth avenues.
YSU faculty unionize under the Ohio
Education Association.
1973
President Pugsley
retires and is
succeeded by Dr.
John J. Coffelt.
The Northeastern
Ohio Universities
College of Medicine
(NEOUCOM)
is founded through
a consortium among
YSU, Kent State and the
University of Akron.
1974
The College of Fine & Performing
Arts is founded.
The Academic
Senate is founded.
1976
The William F.
Maag Jr. Library
is dedicated.
1977
Bliss Hall opens as
home to the College
of Fine and
Performing Arts.
1978
A new building to
house the Technical
and Community
College, later
renamed Cushwa
Hall, opens.
The College of
Arts and Sciences
moves to its new building,
DeBartolo Hall.
1982
Dominic
“Dom”
Rosselli, YSU’s
head basketball
coach, retires
after 43 years.
Stambaugh
Stadium is
dedicated.
1983
The institution commemorates
its 75th anniversary.
President Coffelt goes on medical
leave. Vice President Neil D. Humphrey
takes over as acting president.
The Myron Israel Arms home is
renamed Alumni
House, becoming
the headquarters of
the YSU Alumni
Association.
1984
President Coffelt
retires. The YSU
Board of Trustees
appoints
Humphrey
as president.
1986
Meshel Hall
opens as a hightechnology
learning center.
It’s named in recognition of Ohio
State Senator Harry Meshel.
1989
The YSU faculty goes on strike,
which is settled after one day.
1990
YSU purchases the Wick and Weller
homes for student housing.
Lyden House opens as a residence
hall for students.
1991
The Penguins win their first NCAA
Division 1-AA football championship
title. Additional titles will be
won in 1993, 1994 and 1997.
1992
President
Humphrey
retires. Dr.
Leslie H.
Cochran is
chosen to
succeed him.
1994
For the first time, YSU students selfregister
by computer for classes via
the SOLAR system.
1995
YSU awards its first doctoral degrees
in educational leadership.
YSU launches its first-ever Capital
Campaign, with a goal of $22 million.
The campaign raises $23.6 million
and wraps up two years ahead of
schedule.
Jim Tressel is named NCAA
Division 1-AA “Football Coach
of the
Year.”
Campus
2000, an
ambitious
plan to
renew and
revitalize
YSU, is
unveiled.
1996
The
Veterans
Memorial
Plaza is
dedicated.
1998
Beeghly Hall opens as the new home
to the Beeghly College of Education.
YSU’s women’s basketball team is
selected to particpate in the NCAA
Tournament, the first YSU team to
participate in the event. The team
upsets Memphis, 91-80, in
the first round.
2000
President Cochran
retires. Dr. David
C. Sweet is named
president.
YSU’s quarter system
is replaced by
an academic calendar
based on semesters.
2002
YSU becomes involved with the
Youngstown 2010 initiative, a
development plan to rebuild and
revitalize the city.
2003
The University Courtyard Apartments
open in Smoky Hollow.
The Bliss Hall addition is
completed, featuring a new foundry
and gates depicting Youngstown’s
steel past.
2004
The Penguin Parade, a
fundraising effort involving
the adoption and painting
of penguin statues,
is launched.
Youngstown Early
College, a
partnership
between YSU and
the Youngstown City
School District, opens
on the YSU campus
with 68 ninth-graders.
It’s the only high school
of its kind on a college
campus in Ohio.
2005
The faculty
and classified
staff go
on strike.
The Andrews
Student Recreation
and Wellness Center
opens, constructed almost
entirely by private
donations.
2006
The Williamson Family donates
$5 million to YSU, the largest
gift ever to the university. Shortly
after, the Lariccia family donates
$4 million, launching the
public phase of the $43 million
Centennial Capital Campaign.
The centerpiece of the campaign
is a $30 million building for the
Williamson College of Business
Administration.
2007
The College of Arts and
Sciences and the Rayen
College of Engineering and
Technology are reorganized
into the College of Liberal
Arts and Social Sciences
(CLASS) and The College of
Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (STEM).
Sources: YSU Archives and Special Collections, Professor of
History William Jenkins and “Steel Valley University:
The Origin of Youngstown State” by Alvin W. Skardon.
32 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 33

A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promi
Preserving the Past
Archivist, Staff Create YSU Historical Collection
100
ears in 12 Minutes
By Emery Boyle-Scott
Artists’
rendering of
new archives
area in Maag
Library.
When S. Victor Fleischer came to YSU seven years
ago, no formal archive collection existed at the university.
Items were scattered across campus in storage rooms
or file cabinets, including minutes from meetings, news
releases, photographs, scrapbooks and publications that
were not being preserved or made accessible.
Essentially, those days are gone thanks to Fleischer
and his staff members, Brian Brennan, Mary Ann Johnson,
Emily Lockhart and Lisa Giarofali, who are working
to digitize the voluminous collection of historical records
that now reside in archives.
Fleischer, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees
in American history, in addition to a master’s in library
and information science from Kent State University, was
hired to establish the archives and as the first director and
curator of the Rose Melnick Medical Museum on Wick
Avenue.
After establishing the medical museum, he focused
his attention toward the archives in preparation for the
university’s centennial.
“There has been a 75 percent growth in historical
items since we started collecting materials five years
ago,” he said. “The intent of the archives is to serve as a
historical resource for both the campus and off-campus
communities,” said Fleischer, adding that a goal is to get
more students interested in university history and using
the archives.
In addition to the physical archives, the staff created
a digital archives that is a searchable database of university
history that currenlty includes thousands of historical
photographs, newspaper clippings and yearbooks. It’s
available at http://digital.maag.ysu.edu.
In fact, the Archives and Special Collections area,
located on the fifth floor of Maag Library, has been
undergoing major renovations that are expected to be
complete this summer. A grand opening is being planned
for November.
The newly renovated 4,000 square-feet of space
will include expanded storage and work areas, an exhibit
gallery and a space to host receptions and public events.
Exhibits planned include traditional displays, including
one on past and present YSU traditions, and electronic
displays incorporating PowerPoint presentations on flat
panel televisions. Prominent alums, from former Cleveland
Browns owner Carmen Policy and actor Ed O’Neill
to astronaut Ron Parise and sports figure Ron Jaworski
will also be featured on the television displays.
For more information on the archives, call 330-941-
3487 or visit http://www.maag.ysu.edu/archives.
Four students have
compiled 100 years of
YSU history into oneminute
TV spots that will be
used to celebrate the university’s centennial.
The public service announcements were researched
and written by three graduate and one undergraduate
student in the spring semester 2007 Topics in Applied History
class taught by YSU history professor Bill Jenkins.
“The students seem to be pretty enthusiastic about it;
they seem to enjoy the combining of history with actually
producing a public service announcement,” Jenkins
said, who is retiring from YSU after more than 40 years
of service. “It’s a very different thing for students to do.
In this instance, they’re having to be more creative than
usual. They’ve got to do things like make a judgment of
how well something fits in 60 seconds.”
The 12 video spots were produced by Prodigal Media
to provide a quick glance at YSU’s history from its beginnings
at the YMCA in 1908 to today. The spots will be
used as PSAs as YSU marks its 100th birthday in 2008.
The year-long celebration begins at YSU’s homecoming
in October.
“I’ve learned some
things about the university
that I didn’t know before,
but I’ve also learned how
to take history and apply it
to public service announcements.
I hadn’t done this
before,” said Jenkins.
All of the 12 the announcements
are complete.
“One is about the beginnings
of YSU at the YMCA
and how the Y is about an
educational grab-bag for the
area. The Y offered courses
in a wide variety of areas for
people who needed education
but weren’t college
educated at the time. It’s
not about the founding,
but when YSU began,”
Jenkins said.
In October, the PSAs
will be released.
Students in the class read Alvin Skardon’s book,
“Steel Valley University” and Frederick Blue’s book,
“Mahoning Memories,” to learn about the history of the
university and help them along with the project.
The students developed the scripts, story, text and
images, while Prodigal worked on arranging the sound
and visuals. Most of the work went on outside of the
class, where there was a lot of compiling of ideas
and photographs.
Students say that trimming 100 years of history into a
dozen, 180-word segments is difficult.
“We don’t get a chance to go into a lot of detail,”
said Mike Shepherd, a graduate student studying history
and former ticket manager at Stambaugh Stadium “Interesting
little minute facts are so hard to incorporate into
general history.”
“It is so hard to find what you want to say in 180
words,” said Greg Weimer. “As a history major, I’m not
really trained in brevity. With this project, I am not only
being trained to keep it short, but I’m also learning how
to think visually.”
History professor Bill Jenkins, center, works on the Centennial PSA project with graduate
students, Mike Shepherd, left, and Greg Weimer in Maag Library’s Special Collections room.
34 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 35

A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promising Future A Proud Past A Promi
emoies
Dr. Ronald E. Domen, ’72, BA
One of my fondest memories at YSU was of Dr. Elmer
Foldvary, a chemistry professor, who taught me three quarters
of organic chemistry.
During our first laboratory session, he said, “Class,
Youngstown is the most dangerous place between Cleveland
and Pittsburgh. Pay attention to your experiments.”
It wasn’t long after that pronouncement that a student
succeeded in creating an explosion in the laboratory.
Dr. Foldvary was very approachable and took an erstwhile
student under his wing and encouraged me to do the
best I could. Eventually I earned an “A” in the third class of
his that I was enrolled in, and he wrote me an excellent letter
of recommendation for medical school.
I attended YSU between 1968 and 1971, before I headed
off to Mexico to go to medical school. I will be forever
indebted to YSU for providing me with an opportunity to
succeed. Thank you.
(Dr. Domen of Hummelstown, Pa., is a professor
of pathology, medicine, and humanities and associate dean
for graduate medical education at Penn State University
College of Medicine.)
Jennifer Suhovecky Gallo
’99, BSAS, ’04, BSE,
’05, MPH
My favorite memories
at YSU all stem from one
defining semester when I took
Dr. Kathy Akpom’s human
sexuality course.
I had yet to determine
what major I was going to
pursue. But after having such
an amazing professor – who
truly cared about her students
– I knew what I wanted to
do with my life. I wanted to
strive to be like Dr. Akpom.
After that class, I declared community health as my major
and then went on to obtain an MPH as well, all because I
had an educator who made students eager to learn because of
her enthusiasm and passion.
The fact that my future husband, Justin Gallo, ’00, was
also in that class was an added bonus.
Thank you, Dr. Akpom, and Youngstown State for providing
me with the education I needed to follow my dreams.
(Gallo, who resides in North Ridgeville, Ohio, is a health
educator and outreach coordinator for Family Planning Services
of Lorain County.)
The staff of the YSU Magazine want to hear more memories about your
university for the special centennial issue to be published in Winter 2008.
Don’t miss your opportunity to share your memories in the Centennial
issue of the YSU Magazine. Forward memories to universitymagazine@ysu.edu,
call 330-941-3519 or fax 330-941-1704.
36 Youngstown State University
Graduates Share Memories of
Youngstown State Years
Tom Fabek, ’50, BA
A special memory of mine has
to do with an instructor, Pauline
Botty. Ms. Botty taught statistics
for non-engineering students. She
challenged us to use more than 10
percent of our brain power.
I also have fond memories of
Dr. Dykema, who examined why we
all speak differently. Mary B. Smith,
who worked at the university for
decades, became a dear friend.
I also remember having classes
in the main building (now Jones Hall).
I enlisted in the Navy on July 1, 1944, while I was in the
11th grade, before I graduated from South High School. I was
a minesweeper in the Pacific.
While I was in school, I worked steady nights at the telephone
company, then worked for Ohio Bell for 40 years. Most
of my career was in Cleveland as the plant supervisor.
Because everybody treated us so well at the college, I
established three scholarships.
I also have donated dozens of books to Maag Library.
I feel very fortunate to have five great kids that I raised on
my own and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Dr. F. John Naples, ’33, BA
I have many memories of my time
at Youngstown College.
After graduating from Rayen
High School in 1929, I enrolled at
Youngstown College.
The Great Depression was a factor
– my only expenses would be tuition
and lab fees.
It also helped that, as a freshman,
I won a $50 prize from a national
chemistry contest. Tuition was $75 a
semester.
Classes mainly were held in one of two mansions on Wick
Ave., with chemistry laboratories in the basement of the business
college.
I started advanced chemistry courses in my sophomore
year, when I met Dr. Eugene D. Scudder. He decided to convert
the kitchen into a lab.
In 1933, I accepted a scholarship to the University of Vermont,
earned a master of science degree in physical chemistry
in one year and a doctorate in organic chemistry by 1936. In
1937, I was appointed head of the Chemistry Department at
Springfield Junior College in Illinois.
Three years later, President Howard Jones offered me a
full-time position as associate chemistry professor. In another
three years, the draft board intervened, and I accepted a position
as a research chemist at Goodyear in Akron and stayed
until 1977, when I reached the mandatory retirement age.
C e l e b r a t i n g
100 Years
Banners, special music, parades, reunions and parties are
among the many special events planned to celebrate YSU’s
100th birthday.
The Centennial Celebration clock starts ticking – literally –
at halftime of the annual homecoming football game on Saturday,
Oct. 20, in Stambaugh Stadium. At that time, a large digital clock
will officially start the Centennial Celebration and will count down
to homecoming on Oct. 28, 2008, the official end of the year-long
celebration.
Centennial Celebration Kickoff/
Homecoming, Oct. 20, 2007
• Homecoming Parade, 2 p.m., Fifth Avenue,
• Alumni Terrace Dinner, 2:30 p.m., Stambaugh Stadium
• Special pre- and post-game tailgate parties.
• YSU vs. Illinois State, 4 p.m., Stambaugh Stadium
• Original Centennial music composition, halftime.
• Centennial Celebration clock countdown, halftime.
• 50th reunion, 11 a.m., Oct. 21, Stambaugh Stadium.
Alumni will receive more information soon about other
Homecoming 2007 events. For more information, contact
Alumni Relations at 330-941-3497 or www.ysu.edu/alumni.
Centennial Banners
To help recognize YSU’s 100-year presence in Youngstown,
a 45 feet wide by 80 feet long banner will adorn the front of
Stambaugh Stadium on the YSU campus. It is one of three banner
projects underway to celebrate the university’s Centennial. Similar,
smaller banners, at right, will be hung throughout the campus core
and around the campus perimeter. In addition, These 100 Years
‘Art’ Over, a project that includes 50 banners with original artist
designs, will debut at the Summer Festival of the Arts in July 2008.
Centennial Music
Several months ago, YSU put out the word for
composers to create an original fanfare to commemorate
the university’s centennial. Nearly
20 musicians entered the contest, and the
composition will debut at halftime of
homecoming on Oct. 20.
Summer 2007 37

Development
A lasting imprint
Tressels and Watsons Donate $1 Million to Centennial Campaign
In 15 successful years as the head coach of YSU’s
football team, Jim Tressel left a lasting imprint on the
Mahoning Valley.
In July, that imprint grew even larger as YSU announced
that Jim and, his wife, Ellen, and her parents,
Frank and Norma Watson, donated a combined $1 million
to YSU’s Centennial Capital Campaign.
“We are appreciative to the Watsons and Tressels for
their continued generosity and support of Youngstown
State University and its students,” YSU President David
C. Sweet said.
The gift will be used to help fund a new $3 million
indoor practice facility for YSU’s Intercollegiate Athletics,
particularly the baseball and football squads, women’s
soccer and softball teams, and the men and women’s track
programs.
The indoor facility will also serve as a university and
community resource, providing a large, climate-protected
venue for events and a training facility for local youth
organizations and high schools.
In recognition of the gift, the facility will be called the
WATTS Center (Watson And Tressel Training Site). YSU
has yet to identify a location for the facility.
“YSU will always hold a special place in my heart,”
said Tressel, who left YSU in 2001 to take the helm
of the Ohio State Buckeyes. “We believe in paying
forward, and it is our pleasure to be able to give back
to a university that has meant so much to us and to
help a project that will serve students for years to
come.”
U P D A T E
YSU’s Centennial Capital Campaign
continues to march forward to its overall goal
of $43 million. Of this amount, $19 million
is targeted to build endowments, $21 million
for capital improvements, and $3 million to
elevate annual giving.
At the time of this publication, the campaign
stands at $31,968,963 or 74.3 percent
of its goal.
YSU salutes the alumni, corporate friends,
foundations and individuals whose generosity
has propelled this success.
For information, contact the Office of
University Development at 330-941-3119 or
visit http://www.ysu.edu/givetoysu/.
From left – Jim and Ellen Tressel and her parents, Norma and
Frank Watson, together donated $1 million for an indoor
practice facility, which will be called the WATTS Center (the
Watson And Tressel Training Site) in recognition of the gift.
Dialin’&Smilin’
Phon-A-Thon Continues to Grow
Jacquelyn Daniel, annual giving coordinator, and Vince Gliatta, a
senior safety on the football team, celebrate his first pledge of the
night with the “daisy game.” Each time players received a pledge,
it became a competition among them to wear the daisy crown. The
student callers raised $88,000 for the YSU 2007 Annual Phon-A-
Thon. Sponors were Alltel, Nike, Wedgewood Pizza and Union
Square Sparkle Market. Funds go to programs and scholarships.
National City Bank has donated $300,000 to the Centennial
Capital Campaign. It is National City’s largest gift ever
to a public university in Ohio.
“National City has been a generous supporter of YSU for
many years, and this gift is further proof of the bank’s commitment
to the future of this university, its students and the
entire Mahoning Valley,” said President David C. Sweet.
From left – Betty Jo Licata, WCBA dean; Garry Mrozek, president,
National City Bank, Northeast; YSU President David C. Sweet;
and Ted Schmidt, National City senior vice president of
corporate banking.
Development
YSU In First Place For ‘Common Sense Investment’
First Place Bank Community Foundation has donated
$500,000 to YSU’s Centennial Capital Campaign to help
construct a new building for YSU’s business college. It is
the largest corporate gift to the Centennial Capital Campaign
thus far.
“First Place Bank’s long-standing, generous support
of YSU reflects the bank’s commitment to the university,
Youngstown and the entire Mahoning Valley,” said David C.
Sweet, YSU president.
“First Place is committed to investing in
YSU, the renaissance of the city of Youngstown
and the people of the Mahoning Valley,” said
Steven R. Lewis, chief executive officer of First
Place Bank. “This is our home, where we live
and work, and we are committed to sustaining
and improving the quality of life for everyone
here in the Valley.”
Over the past nine years, First Place has
contributed over $200,000 to YSU, including
the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness
Center, the Northeast Ohio Robotics Competition,
the Mahoning River Education Project,
the Rich Center for Autism, student scholarships,
the YSU Sponsorship Program, Homework
Express and Run with the Penguins.
Don Cagigas, a 1963 YSU graduate and a member of the
YSU Board of Trustees, is a member of the First Place Bank
Board of Directors, as are Ronald Volpe, YSU professor of
accounting and finance, and YSU graduates Tom Humphries
and Robert Wagmiller. Dave Jenkins, executive director of
the First Place Bank Community Foundation, is a 1973 YSU
graduate. In addition, 81 First Place employees are alumni or
are currently attending YSU.
Left front–Tony Lariccia, Capital Campaign chair; Betty Jo Licata, WCBA dean;
Steven R. Lewis, chief executive officer, First Place; David C. Sweet, YSU
president; and Don Cagigas, First Place Board of Directors; and YSU grads
who have a connection with the bank.
National City: Supporting YSU’s Special Vibrancy
The gift will go toward the construction of a new $30
million building for YSU’s business college.
“Our bank has been serving individuals and families in
this region for more than a century and a half,” said Garry
Mrozek, president of National City Bank, Northeast, who
earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business
administration from YSU. “Taking care of our communities
and their outstanding institutions is a responsibility that we
take quite seriously,”
National City has a long tradition of support for YSU,
including $25,000 to help fund the work of the YSU Operations
Improvement Task Force and $100,000 for the
construction of the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness
Center. The bank also provides numerous annual gifts,
including an endowed scholarship for business students.
National City is a key sponsor of the Williamson College
of Business Administration’s Annual Alumni Banquet, and
hires business interns and business graduates for full-time
positions. Mrozek is a member of YSU’s Business Advisory
Council and the President’s Council. Ted Schmidt, senior
vice president of corporate banking, is a member of the
college’s Nonprofit Leadership Community Advisory
Council and the Finance Advisory Committee.
38 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 39

Foundation
colarsis
The Lions Club of Youngstown
Special Education Scholarship
The Lions Club of Youngstown Special Education
Scholarship was established in 1987 by the Lions
Club of Youngstown and provides a one-year award to
a junior or senior student majoring in special education.
Recipients are selected by Beeghly College of Education
faculty and staff. For information on how to apply, contact
330-941-3211 or visit http://www.ysu.edu/finaid/.
Francine Dimitriou of Beechwood, Ohio, BSE,
’00, said that she is often asked by staff and colleagues
at the Cleveland Clinic Center
for Autism about her educational
background. “I am always proud
to state that I am a graduate of
YSU.” She has been the coordinator
of education services at the
center for six years.
A recipient of the Lions Club
scholarship, Dimitriou said she is
Francine Dimitriou thankful for the support because
it allowed her to concentrate on
studies and worry less about finances.
To Loraine Pavalko Stanfar of Canfield, BSE, ’89,
it was an honor to be awarded the Lions Club scholarship.
“I was further honored
when I was asked to say a few
words about the scholarship
at their annual luncheon. That
really made an impression on
me as a student,” said Stanfar,
a teacher at Canfield Middle
School.
She also said she is glad
she majored in special education.
“Eventhough I began my career with traditional
Loraine Pavalko Stanfar
students, my special education background helped to
prepare for today’s inclusion of special needs students.”
Keeping Grads in
Their Fields
Two scholarships that were established at least 25 years ago at YSU, The Lions Club of Youngstown Scholarship
for special education majors and the Doris Burdman Scholarship for social work majors, have helped graduates pursue
careers in these fields.
Departmental selection committees have chosen hundreds of students, who have received more than $100,000
throughout the years for the awards.
These graduates, profiled below, received the YSU Foundation scholarships and have achieved success in their
respective fields. Call the Foundation at 330-941-3211 or visit www.ysu.edu/ysufoundation.
The Doris Burdman Scholarship
The Doris Burdman Scholarship was created in
1983 to honor Burdman, a social worker, for her work
with mentally, physically and emotionally handicapped
persons. Recipients are selected by social work faculty
and staff. For information on how to apply, contact 330-
941-3211 or visit http://www.ysu.edu/finaid/.
For Melissa Carney of
Rodgers, Ohio, BSW, ’99, it’s all
about making a positive difference
in people’s lives.
She credits her receipt of the
Doris Burdman Scholarship as
part of the reason she is able to
continue her education today as
Melissa Carney
a candidate for a master’s degree
in social work at YSU.
“A professor told me that I
was academically worthy, which gave me the confidence
to apply. Thanks to the scholarship, I did not incur debt
as an undergrad.” She then moved into a position with
Children’s Services of Columbiana County.
Currently, Carney works for AmeriCorps, where
she tutors East Palestine Elementary School students.
She also held a one-year graduate assistantship in the
social work department and has about two years left
before she finishes her degree.
Catherine Zapka of Warren,
BSW, ’00, decided to go to YSU
after her children finished their
degrees. A social worker at Catholic
Charities in Trumbull County
with the COACH (Case Management
Outreach Advocacy of Our
Community’s Homeless) program,
Zapka received the Doris Burdman
Scholarship.
Catherine Zapka
“I am determined to make a difference in the lives
of the homeless,” said Zapka, who has been with Catholic
Charities for four years.
NEWS
Vindy Athletes Honored
at Annual Banquet
A record crowd attended YSU’s 20th annual Scholar-
Athlete dinner to celebrate Quin Humphrey and Bethany
Anderson’s naming as Vindicator YSU Male and Female
Athlete of the Year in May.
In addition to senior basketball player Humphrey and junior
track and field thrower Anderson, recipients of endowed
athletic scholarships and a record group of 162 student-athletes
who have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 or
higher were also recognized.
The women’s tennis team, with a cumulative grade-point
average of 3.60, and the baseball team, with a GPA of 3.10
were also honored. Alfreeda Goff, associate commissioner of
the Horizon League, presented the “Raise Your Sights” team
awards for classroom performance.
Humphrey of Ellenwood, Ga., becomes the second
men’s basketball player to earn the award. A two-time All-
Horizon League selection, he scored 1,707 points, grabbed
674 rebounds and had 253 assists during his four-year career.
Overall, he ranks eighth in scoring in school history.
With six 30-plus point performances, he finished his
career as the school-record holder in minutes played and
games played.
Anderson of Jamestown, N.Y. is the fourth track and
field Vindicator athlete, but the first non-runner to take
female honors.
Anderson is a 10-time Horizon League Champion, a
four-event school-record holder, a two-event Horizon League
record holder, a two-time HL Field Performer of the Meet
and a two-time HL Field Newcomer of the Meet.
The YSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee presented
leadership awards to track and fielder Emily Wollet and
football player Jeremiah Wright.
Male and Female Athletes of the Year, Quin Humphrey and
Bethany Anderson, with Vindicator sports editor, Rob Todor.
NCAA Certification
YSU’s Department of Intercollegiate
Athletics has earned full certification from the
National Collegiate Athletic Association.
“We are proud that this review shows that
YSU’s intercollegiate athletics meets the highest standards
as outlined by the NCAA,” said YSU President David
C. Sweet, adding that the purpose of this program is to help
ensure integrity in YSU’s athletics operations.
The certification includes a review of governance and
commitment to rules, academic integrity, and equity and
student-athlete well-being. The certified designation means
that YSU athletics operates in substantial conformity with
the operating principles adopted by the NCAA Division I
membership.
Subcommittee chairs of the peer-review committee
included Jane Kestner, Tom Maraffa and Ron Chordas.
All Division I universities and colleges are required to
undergo NCAA certification every 10 years. YSU successfully
completed its first certification self-study in 1998.
A New Radio Home
All YSU athletic contests and
events have a new flagship radio station.
YSU sporting events will remain
on Clear Channel Radio Youngstown,
but move to 5,000-watt WKBN 570
AM from 1390 AM WNIO and 106.1 FM WBBG.
YSU also extended its contract with Clear Channel
through June 30, 2011, maintaining a current four-year deal.
All YSU football, men’s basketball games, select women’s
basketball games, special events and the “Penguin Playbook
Coaches Show,” featuring Jon Heacock, Jerry Slocum and
Tisha Hill, will air on 570 WKBN.
“YSU is grateful to have the chance to be on one of the
Valley’s most recognized stations,” said Rick Love, associate
director of athletics.
Bob Hannon will return for his 17th season of doing
play-by-play for Penguins football, as will “The Coach,”
Dick Hartzell. YSU Assistant Director of Athletics Robb
Schmidt continues as the voice of Penguins men’s basketball
for the sixth year. Clear Channel Sports Director Jim Campbell
returns for his third year to handle the women’s basketball
play-by-play.
Clear Channel Radio Youngstown became the home of
YSU athletics in fall 2002.
40 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 41

Sports News
Penguins vs. Buckeyes
Penguins Take On Buckeyes for Next Two Season Openers
Two years ago, it was a visit to Heinz Field to clash with
the Pitt Panthers. Last year, it was a trip to Beaver Stadium in
State College, Pa., for a game with Joe Paterno’s Penn State
Nittany Lions.
And, to top it off, YSU’s football squad this year visits
“The Horseshoe” at Ohio State University – the center of college
football in Ohio.
“The opportunity to play a tradition-rich program like
Ohio State in consecutive
years benefits the
entire Valley,” said
Executive Director of
Intercollegiate Athletics
Ron Strollo.
The Penguins open
this season on Sept. 1, at
Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
Kickoff is slated for
noon and will be aired
on the Big Ten Network.
The two teams open
against each other again
in 2008. That game is set
for Aug. 30.
The two teams are
coming off successful
yet bittersweet seasons.
The Penguins posted an
11-3 record and won the
Gateway Conference
championship, but fell
one game short of reaching
the NCAA Division
Football Championship
Subdivision championship
game. The Buckeyes posted an undefeated season and
won the Big Ten championship before losing to Florida in the
national championship contest.
The match-up pits Jim Tressel, former YSU head coach
Penguin Football 2007
Sat., Sept. 1 Ohio State, Noon
Sat., Sept. 8 South Dakota State,* 6 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 15 Stony Brook,* 4 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 22 Lock Haven,* 4 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 29 Missouri State,* 6 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 6 Southern Illinois, 3 p.m.
and current Buckeye coach, against his old team. During
15 years at the helm of the Penguins program from 1986 to
2000, Tressel amassed a record of 135-57, including four
national titles.
Since YSU moved to the Division FCS ranks in 1981, this
will be the 41st time that the Penguins have played a
Division Football Bowl Subdivision foe. YSU’s record in
those games is 19-20-1.
Photo of Ohio Stadium, “The Horseshoe,” where the Penguins
will take on the Buckeyes at the season opener on Sept. 1. Next
year, the teams will open against each other again on Aug. 30.
The match-up pits Jim Tressel, former YSU head coach and
current Buckeye coach, against his old team. For more
information, call 330-941-1YSU.
Sat., Oct. 13 Southern Utah,* 4:30 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 20 Illinois State, * 4 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 27 Northern Iowa, 5:05 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 3 Indiana State, Noon
Sat., Nov. 10 Western Illinois, * 1 p.m.
*Stambaugh Stadium
25 Years at the Ice Castle
September is the month that the YSU Athletic Department
begins the official celebration of the 25th Anniversary
of Arnold D. Stambaugh Stadium.
Originally dedicated in September 1982, the upcoming
2007 season marks the 25th anniversary, but the 26th year of
play at the Ice Castle.
Youngstown State’s all-time record
at Stambaugh Stadium is 125-41-1. The
25-year attendance total is 2,149,390,
which covers 167 regular-season and
playoff games.
“We are very proud to
center our 2007 football
marketing efforts
around the 25th
anniversary of our
great stadium,” said
Ron Strollo, executive director of athletics,
adding that as a former player, he knows that
the home field really provides an advantage.
“And the tremendous atmosphere that
Penguin tailgaters and fans bring to this
campus every Saturday in the fall
doesn’t hurt.”
YSU has partnered with Medical
Mutual of Ohio, a long-time sponsor
Smart. Leader. Competitive. Gritty.
Tom Zetts is all of them. But, above all else, he’s a winner.
of YSU Athletics, on many activities throughout the coming
fall home campaign.
The 25th-year activities began in March when the Athletic
Department asked fans to vote for the 25 greatest YSU
players in Stambaugh Stadium history and for the five greatest
games ever played there.
The voting lasted all summer and the
results will be released prior to the season
opener.
YSU will also bring back members from
the 1982 football team, the first to ever play
at Stambaugh, along with players from the
four NCAA National Championship squads.
Then, the university will invite the 25
greatest fan-voted players to a home game this
fall, and the group will be honored at halftime.
Also, a special commemorative poster will be distributed to
fans at that game.
In addition, YSU will offer a Stambaugh Stadium replica
figurine, which will be given away when the Penguins play
host to Southern Utah on Oct. 13.
The Penguins are coming off an 11-3 season in which
they captured the Gateway Conference Championship and
advanced to the national semifinals. Last year at Stambaugh
Stadium, Youngstown State was an impressive 7-1 after posting
a 6-0 mark in 2005.
Tom Zetts: From 10 to 1, a winner all around
A product of Boardman High School, Zetts is a fifth-year senior at YSU and, for the fourth consecutive
season, the quarterback of the Penguins football squad. Number 24 is one of the key returning
players to a team that is seeking its third straight Gateway Conference championship. All that, and
he’s a top student as well.
As he heads into his final season, here are Zetts’ “Tom” 10 Memorable Accomplishments:
10. Two-time member of the Football Championship Subdivision Academic All-Star Team
9. Two-time Academic All-Gateway Conference selection
8. Ranks first in YSU history in passing percentage (58.9 percent)
7. Has thrown for more than 200 yards in a game on 11 occasions
6. Ranks second in school history with 44 touchdown passes
5. Tied the school record with four touchdown passes at Liberty (2005)
4. Threw for a career-high 314 yards in playoff win over James Madison
3. Ran for a career-best 334 yards and four touchdowns in 2006
2. Ranks third in school history with 481 completions and 817 attempts
1. Guided the Penguins to 19 wins the past two seasons, including 11 in 2006
Sports News
42 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 43
Tom Zetts

Faculty B O O K S H E L F
44 Youngstown State University
Student Workbook for College
Physics: A Strategic Approach,
Volumes 1 and 2. By Jim Andrews,
Professor, Physics and Astronomy. Addison-
Wesley, 2007, 2006 pp., $118.50. “Accompanies
College Physics: A Strategic
Approach Volume 2.” Coauthored
by Randall Knight,
Brian Jones, and Stuart
Field. These workbooks help
students before attempting
end-of-chapter problems
and provide short problems
and exercises that focus on
developing particular skills.
Geology of National
Parks, 6th Edition.
By Ann G. Harris,
Professor Emeritus,
Geology. Kendall/
Hunt, 2004. 882
pp. $115.54. The
book covers the
geology of all 58
national parks in
the United States.
Each chapter is divided into geologic
setting, geologic features and geologic
history. Sold in many of the national
parks, it is also used as a textbook at
universities and colleges throughout
the U.S. and Canada. It is designed so
that the general public can understand
it, yet found useful by geologists.
The first edition came out in 1975,
with a 7th edition in the works. It also
includes a CD-ROM with photos of all
the national parks. The two co-authors,
Sherwood D. Tuttle and Esther Tuttle,
are deceased.
Creating Competent
Communication.
By Cary Horvath,
Professor, Communication.
Kendall/Hunt, 2005.
$61.95. Contents range
from an introduction to
communication to critical
thinking and verbal and
nonverbal communication.
This user-friendly textbook can
help students become comfortable
communicators. Co-authored by L.
Hugenberg, S. Wallace and D.Yoder.
Counseling Students Who Have
Been Sexually Assaulted and
Counseling Students Who Self-
Injure. By Victoria Kress, Professor,
Counseling and Special Education. R.
and J. Lippincot. American Counseling
Association, 2006. $55.95. Articles
appeared in Special Populations in
College Counseling, pp. 129-141. First
article co-authored by R. Williams
and R. Hoffman; second article coauthored
by H. Trepal, A. Petuch and
S. Hancock.
Challenges and Solutions
in the Delivery of Clinical
Cybersupervision, The Underlying
Dimensionality of the Survey of
Cultural Attitudes and Behaviors.
Leaders and Legacies: Contributions
to the Profession of Counseling.
By Kenneth Miller, Professor,
Counseling and Special Education.
First article appeared in Online
Instructional Modeling: Theories and
Practice. Edited by S. Ferris and R.
Zheng. Idea Group, Inc., 2007. Coauthored
by S. M. Miller. Second
article appeared in Facet theory:
Design, Analysis, and Applications.
Edited by W. Bilsky and D. Elizur.
FTA, 2005. Co-authored by S. M.
Miller and A. Cohen. Third article
appeared in Philadelphia, Pa: Brunner-
Routledge/Taylor & Francis, pp.
259-264. Eds. Bruce Shertzer, D. L.
Bubenzer, C. Osborn, and J. D. West.
Calculus with
Applications and
Calculus with
Applications,
Brief Version, 8th
editions.
By Nathan
Ritchey, Chair,
Mathematics and
Statistics. Addison-
Wesley, 2005. $128.00. Brief
version is $121.33. Both provide
application-oriented introduction
to calculus for students majoring in
business, management, economics,
or social sciences. The text provides
an application-oriented introduction
to calculus for students majoring in
business, management, economics,
or the life or social sciences and
poised to become the market leader.
MyMathLab, a complete online
course, will be available with both
texts and available with the 8th edition
of Finite Mathematics and the Finite
Mathematics and Calculus. For the
first time, a comprehensive series of
lectures on video will be available.
Co-authored by Margaret Lial and
Raymond Greenwell.
Finite Mathematics,
8th edition.
By Nathan Ritchey,
Chair, Mathematics
and Statistics.
Addison Wesley.
2005. $128.00.
The text provides a
solid, applicationoriented
introduction
to the topics that have become known
as finite mathematics for students
majoring in business, management,
economics, or social sciences. Widely
known for incorporating interesting,
relevant, and realistic applications, this
text offers many real applications citing
current data sources. Co-authored
by Margaret Lial and Raymond
Greenwell.
Finite Mathematics and Calculus
with Applications, 7th edition.
By Nathan Ritchey, Chair, Mathematics
and Statistics. Addison-Wesley. 2005.
$140.00. Provides an applicationoriented
introduction to finite
mathematics and calculus for students
majoring in business, management,
economics, or social sciences. Widely
known for incorporating interesting,
relevant, and realistic applications,
this text offers many real applications
citing current data sources. There
are a wide variety of opportunities
for use of technology, allowing for
increased visualization and a better
understanding of difficult concepts.
Co-authored by Margaret Lial and
Raymond Greenwell.
Cost
Management:
A Strategic
Emphasis. By
David Stout,
Professor and
Endowed Chair,
Accounting.
McGraw-Hill/
Irwin, 2008.
$123.25. The overall goal of Cost
Management is to provide cost
accountants with the tools to provide
relevant data to facilitate managerial
planning, control and decision making.
The text uses a strategic emphasis to
make connections between concepts
and procedures clear to students.
Supplements include a case/readings
manual; PowerPoint slides for each
chapter, a test bank, student study
guide, ABC software and both Wordand
Excel-based solutions manuals.
Co-Authored by Edward Blocher,
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Gary Cokins, SAS/Worldwide
Strategy and Kung Chen,University of
Nebraska – Lincoln.
Lester Left
Town. By YSU
Jazz Ensemble
1. Directed by Dr.
Kent Engelhardt,
six of the YSU
Jazz Ensemble’s
best pieces are
featured on the
CD, which was released in 2006. The
CD is dedicated to Tony Leonardi, a
deceased jazz professor who is credited
as the “father” of YSU’s jazz program.
Instructor’s Manual. By Margaret
Gittis, Professor, Psychology. Atomic
Dog Publishing. 2007. The manual
accompanies “Hand in Hand: Research
Design and Statistics in Behavioral
Science” by Sandra Webster.
The Power of Reinforcement.
By Stephen Ray Flora, Professor,
Psychology. State University of
New York Press. 2004. $22.95.
Flora describes that reinforcement
is a powerful tool for improving the
human condition despite often being
dismissed as regarding people as less
than human and as “overly simplistic.”
This book addresses and defends the
use of reinforcement principles against
a wide variety of attacks. Countering
the criticisms, and misrepresentations
of reinforcement, the author shows
that building reinforcement theory on
basic laboratory science is a strength,
not a weakness, and allows unlimited
applications to human situations as it
promotes well-being and productivity.
General
Psychology. By
William Rick Fry,
Steve Ellyson,
Jeffrey Coldren,
Peter Beckett and
Jane Kestner,
Professors,
Psychology.
Kendal/Hunt 2005
$79.95. The text
provides an introduction to psychology,
covering its history, methodology and
major content areas. Each chapter
incorporates activities related to the
material covered.
You Decide!
Series. Ed.
Bruce N. Waller,
Professor and
Chair, Philosophy
and Religious
Studies. Each
published by
Pearson Longman.
Current Debates
in Introductory
Philosophy, 2007, 332. This anthology
addresses seminal and contemporary
in topics in introductory philosophy.
Current Debates in Contemporary
Moral Problems, 2006, 301. This
anthology addresses relevant and
controversial moral issues of our time.
Some topics covered include free
speech, animal rights and military draft.
Current Debates In Ethics, 2006, 327.
This anthology addresses timeless and
universal issues in ethical theory that
still resonate with students today. Some
topics covered are consequentialism
and friendship and moral responsibility.
Iqbal. By Mustansir
Mir, Professor,
Philosophy and
Religious Studies.
Oxford University
Press, 2006, 147.
This accessible and
informative book
discusses the life
Muhammad Iqbal,
a distinguished poet, philosopher and
statesman of South Asia who lived
from 1877 to 1938. His ideas played a
vital role in the movement to establish
Pakistan, where he is revered as the
country’s spiritual founder.
The Great White North? Exploring
Whiteness, Privilege and Identity in
Education. By Paul R. Carr, Assistant
Professor, Education. 2007. SENSE
Publishers. $115.89. This book, which
includes over 20 leading scholars,
explores the problematic and contested
issue of non-white people speaking
about whiteness, and of white people
writing and working against racism.
Topics include a range of provocative
educational issues. With a large
majority of white teachers working in
increasingly diverse classrooms, this
book shines light on the implications of
addressing issues of racial identity and
difference in schools, universities and
communities. An additional editor and
contributor was Darren E. Lund of the
University of Calgary.
Summer 2007 45

Accomplished alumni
A Vice President and a
Philanthropist
Karen DelSignore, ’90
Karen DelSignore
was not pressured to go
to college by her parents
after she graduated from
Hubbard High School in
the mid-1980s.
Regardless, Del-
Signore, a first-generation
college graduate, had
no doubt she was going
to continue her education
at YSU.
“My education
helped me do well in my
career,” said DelSignore,
who graduated magna
cum laude in 1990 with a bachelor of arts degree in organizational
communication and a business minor.
DelSignore of Poland was hired by Alltel right out of
college as the company’s first telemarketer. Now the vice
president of business solutions, she is one of only six vice
presidents of business solutions in the company. Alltel employs
15,000 people nationwide, including 1,300 in Ohio and
many of them YSU graduates. DelSignore supervises 130
people, with 11 directly reporting to her.
Throughout her career, Alltel has had five owners.
“Though Alltel has experienced five name changes since I’ve
been here, I was able to persevere and grow,” she said. “To
me, that’s a major accomplishment, which I attribute to the
work ethic I developed while I was at the university.”
While at YSU, she worked part-time at a grocery store.
In addition, she served as the vice president of the Golden
Key Honor Society and was part of Phi Eta Sigma, an academic
organization.
DelSignore said she especially appreciated the personal
relationships she developed with several of her professors.
In her major, she said that Daniel O’Neill, professor in
the Department of Communications, and the late James P.
LaLumia, a professor of communication studies, stood out.
“Though they had different teaching styles – Dr. O’Neill
was laid back, but very effective, and Dr. LaLumia was more
structured in his approach – both always made time for me
out of the classroom,” she said.
Because DelSignore said YSU gave her so much, she
believes it’s important to give back. A long-time donor to
YSU’s Annual Fund campaign, she conceived of the idea for
Phon-A-Thon workers to use Alltel mobile phones to make
their calls. “The university goes beyond educating students
and does a lot of good in the community.”
A Launch Pad to A Better Life
Carl Alexoff, ’50
Though Carl Alexoff, a 1950 graduate with a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering, retired from a successful career
in 1989, his services are still sought by several different
companies to serve as a consultant on a variety of projects.
From 1960 to 1970, Alexoff of Haddenfield, N.J., was a
project manager for occupied and unoccupied space exploration
systems and equipment supplied by RCA to NASA and
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Cal-Tech in RCA’s Aerospace
Project Management Office in Camden, N.J.
In the 10 years he was at NASA, he worked on the Project
Ranger, an unoccupied lunar probe that mapped possible
moon landing sites for the Apollo program, and the Apollo
Extra Vehicular Communication System.
“I have always felt my degree was my launch pad to a
better life. Coming to Youngstown College represents the best
investment I have ever made, and the return has been incalculable,”
said Alexoff, who returned to YSU in 2006 for a visit.
Alexoff was also instrumental in designing scratch off
lottery tickets in the early 1980s and starting the Pennsylvania
Lottery and other state lotteries – including Ohio’s in 1974
– throughout the 1970s. This was while he worked at System
Operations Inc., a gaming subsidiary of Mathematica, a policy
research and management consulting firm in Princeton, N.J.
Alexoff merged Mathematica with Webcraft, an in-line
forms printer in North Brunswick, N.J., and founded Webcraft
Games Inc., becoming its president. The company printed
the scratch-offs with a process that was an industry first and
remains the industry standard.
While he was at the firm, the New Jersey State Lottery
Planning Commission selected Mathematica to conduct studies
regarding the lottery, which led to the establishment of the
first legal state public lottery in the United States in 1970.
The Campbell native became president of SOI, which
was the principle consultant in the ’70s to state governments
wanting to legalize state
lotteries.
He credits his
achievements to YoCo,
where, in 1946, his was
the first class to enroll
for the full engineering
course load.
Alexoff also said he
deeply respected Louis
A. Deez, the dean of
engineering from 1942
to 1950.
She’s The Real Deal
Iris Crespo, ’83
Iris Crespo has lived
in Youngstown since
she was eight-years old.
Though her Puerto Rican
parents had minimal education,
it was their dream
that she, her two brothers
and four sisters would all
graduate from college.
In Crespo’s case, the
dream came true – she
graduated from YSU with
a bachelor of science
degree in education with
an emphasis on special
education in 1983 and
has been a teacher in the
Youngstown City School District for nearly 24 years.
Crespo said she is proud of her alma mater and its
reputation. “Sometimes people don’t appreciate what they
have in their own backyard,” she said. “I felt blessed to have
gone to YSU.”
While she was in school, the YSU Foundation helped
cover some of her educational costs, and she also worked at
a local creamery. In addition, she worked in YSU’s minority
student office where she stayed until she graduated.
Crespo said Professor Ivania del Pozo especially inspired
her. del Pozo, who is still in the Department of Foreign Languages
and Literatures, was the advisor of the Spanish Club
when Crespo was a student.
“She was very involved in the Hispanic community.
It was nice to see a Latino woman achieving that level
of success.”
Jobless after graduation, Crespo went to Hawaii to help
with her brother’s new family. But a week before the new
school year, she was hired as a special education teacher at
St. Patrick’s School on Youngstown’s South Side.
“Because of YSU, I was able to get a job and stay in
Youngstown. It’s once you get into the field, you find out the
real deal,” she said.
After a few years at St. Patrick’s, she returned to YSU to
graduate in 1989 with a master’s in special education.
Crespo then worked at Martin Luther King Oak Huntington
School for 19 years until it closed, and then moved
on to Harding elementary, where she works now.
She still lives with her parents and is very connected to
her family.
“If I didn’t go to YSU, I don’t know what I’d be doing,”
she said. “I know I wouldn’t have been a teacher. The university
helped me become more professional and proficient in
my field and provided me with a good foundation.”
The Doctor with A Heart
Christine Zirafi, ’80
Alumni News
Dr. Christine Zirafi’s life has been distinguished by a
lot of “firsts.”
A first-generation college graduate, Zirafi received a
bachelor of science degree in 1980 from YSU.
A few years later, she graduated with the second class
of the Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine, and
became a doctor. Zirafi, now an interventional cardiologist,
was the first to establish high-risk cardiac catheterization
laboratories and an open heart program at Parma Community
Hospital.
Another major first was using a high-speed multi-detector
ct scan that allows doctors to examine the heart without a
catheterization. Zirafi of Rocky River, Ohio, said she’s been
working with it for about a year and a half. Her Cleveland
practice was the first one with the machine.
Zirafi’s “thirds” aren’t so bad either – she was the third
female heart surgeon in the world to perform a cardiology
procedure in 1992 at Cleveland’s Southwest General Hospital.
“Cardiology is still very much a male-dominated field,” said
the Girard native.
Zirafi said she attributes these accomplishments, and
many others, directly to YSU. “I received such a good education
and was so well prepared. While I was at YSU, I was able
to work part time as a phlebotomist, which gave me practical
exposure.”
Zirafi said she also appreciated being taught by professors
at YSU instead of teaching assistants. Janet DelBene, a
professor emeritus of chemistry, was especially inspiring to
her. “Dr. DelBene was very supportive. All the professors I
had at YSU were always available to help.”
However, though she wanted to be a doctor since she
was four-years old, Zirafi didn’t start out at YSU as a medical
student.
She had four years of a five-year chemical engineering
degree completed when she got accepted into NEOUCOM.
Because it was important to her to have her degree from YSU,
she wrote a letter to then
Arts and Sciences Dean
Bernard J. Yozwiak and
explained her situation.
He waived a foreign
language requirement,
enabling her to graduate
from YSU.
Then, she accepted a
seven-year residency and
fellowship at the University
of Texas.
Currently, she is the
medical director of the
largest cardiology practice
in Cleveland.
46 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 47

Alumni News
On the Job to
Make a Difference
Jimmy Hughes, ’80
To Youngstown
Police Chief Jimmy
Hughes, the best part of
the job is being in a position
to make a difference.
“Every day I go
into work, it’s my goal
to make Youngstown a
better place to live and
make sure my officers
work in a positive atmosphere,”
said Hughes.
When Hughes
was appointed by
Youngstown Major Jay
Williams two years ago,
the mayor wanted a
candidate with a
master’s degree and a wealth of experience.
That opened the door for the chief, who earned a
master’s degree in police administration from YSU in 1999,
and has been on the job for 31 years.
Hughes also has a bachelor’s in police management and
an associate degree in applied science from YSU and is a
graduate of the FBI National Academy.
Hughes of Youngstown said that his education at YSU
has served him well. “I earned each degree while I was working.
I often took on a second job to pay tuition.”
The degrees, he said, coincided with the kind of work he
was doing while he moved through the ranks of patrol officer,
sergeant, detective, lieutenant, captain and chief. “I was gaining
the skills I needed at just the right time.”
Hughes said he would advise today’s criminal justice
majors to look at a variety of areas in law enforcement. “It’s a
broad field, so don’t narrow your scope,” he said.
Some career choices the chief mentioned include probation/parole
officer, federal agent, investigator in a unit outside
of law enforcement, administrator/supervisor, crime scene
technician, evidence analyzer or educator.
He also suggested minors such as computer science,
Spanish, psychology and sociology. “These kinds of areas
give police science students additional skills and insights. My
education at YSU opened my eyes to those possibilities.”
Hughes said he has respect for the faculty in the criminal
justice program at YSU and has often turned to them for support.
“The professors have a history in law enforcement,” he
said. “We work together on real-life incidents.”
Although he said his free time is limited since he
became chief, he is involved with the Shriners and the
Prince Hall Masons. He also said he spends time on his
boat on Mosquito Lake.
From the YSU Hill to A
View From the Top
Sue Stricklin, ’84
Sue Eckenrode Stricklin said that one of her fondest
YSU memories is of meeting friends on “the hill” outside of
Kilcawley after classes.
“In fact,” said the 1984 graduate with a bachelor of science
degree in business administration, “I must have been a
frequent visitor to the hill — a cover of a YSU publication in
1981-82 has a photo of students relaxing on the hill, and I’m
right in the middle of them.”
These days, she is the vice president of marketing at
Home Savings and Loan in Youngstown.
While at YSU, Stricklin studied marketing, management
and accounting. “Once I graduated, I knew I wanted to stay
in the Youngstown area so I began to look for a solid company
and a position that would allow me to put my education
to good use,” she said. On a neighbor’s tip, she applied at
the bank.
That tip led her to a long-term career that allowed her
to stay in the area. But her vice presidency wasn’t handed to
her – she became a mortgage loan officer and then worked
throughout the branch network in a variety of jobs,
including assistant branch manager, branch manager and
assistant vice president.
“Even though I did not hold marketing positions during
that time, my marketing education played an important role in
providing me with the skills necessary to effectively ask for
business and close the deal, as well as techniques for providing
exceptional customer service,” she said.
In addition, Stricklin said she remembered learning at
YSU the importance of seeking business rather than waiting
for it, so she and a co-worker developed a Realtor® program
in which they met regularly with local real estate companies
in an effort to build business relationships and develop a
referral base.
Her current responsibilities
include
overseeing the advertising,
public relations and
market research for the
company.
Because she
believes that community
involvement is
important, Stricklin of
Boardman serves on
marketing committees at
her church, as well as on
boards of several local
non-profit organizations.
Classnotes
50s
Angelo Pezzuolo of New Castle, Pa.,
’55, BSE, is retiring after spending
52 years in the field of education.
The last 15 years, he’s been executive
director of Midwestern Intermediate
Unit IV, the agency that provides
educational services to public schools
in Mercer, Lawrence and Butler counties
in Western Pennsylvania. While
at Youngstown College, he was a
member of the football team and was
inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall
of Fame in 2004.
Anita DeVivo of New Castle, Pa.,
’58, BA, has had the book, “New
Castle and MahoningTown,” published
through Arcadia Publishing. The
128-page book is part of the Postcard
History Series and is available online
at www.arcadiapublishing.com.
60s
Joseph Plecnik of Long Beach, Calif.,
’69, BE, has been awarded the
third Dr. Frank A. Cassis
Award by the Western
Chapter of the American
Composites Manufacturers
Association. Among his many
accomplishments include the
analysis and design of the
world’s first and largest free
standing composite stacks, the
Dr. Frank A. Cassis Award for
Exceptional Achievement in
the Corrosion and Composites
Industry was first awarded to
its namesake, Dr. Frank A.
Cassis in 2003. The next award
will be given in 2009.
70s
Joe Brimmeier of Ross Township,
Pa., ’70, BSE,’71, MSED, has
been the CEO of the Pennsylvania
Turnpike Commission since 2003. He
and his assistant initiated the first program
in the country by a transportation
agency that helps find missing children
by teaming up with the National
Center for Missing and Exploited
Children. Now, missing children’s
photos are displayed in the 21 service
plazas along the turnpike. Prior to his
appointment, he worked in a toll booth
for a week to better understand what
his 2,400 employees face daily.
George Muter of Indian River,
Mich.,’70, BSBA, helped fundraising
efforts for the Special Olympics
by jumping in Burt Lake in Northern
Michigan. The temperature was below
zero, with a wind chill of -14. After
the plunge, the former member of the
swim team put on his YSU penguin
sweatshirt sent to him by his nephew
Ross Montgomery, who is a current
student.
Ken Perich of Chantilly, Va., ’72,
BSBA, ’81, MBA, who works for
Rolls-Royce, was a presenter at the
Western Regional of the National Aviation
Heritage Invitational. He stood
alongside aviation heroes, such as Neil
Armstrong.
Robert Budinsky of Poland,’74, BA,
has been the court administrator at
the Seventh District Court of Appeals
in Youngstown since 1987, where he
oversees
operation
of the
court,
including
managing
cases,
setting
budgets and
supervising
15 staff
members.
Previously,
he served
as a staff
attorney.
He earned a
law degree
from the
University of Akron School of Law in
1978. He met his wife, Diane DiPiero,’75,
BSE, on campus. She has been
a teacher for the Girard City Schools
for 30 years. Their son, Robert, is a
third-year medical student at the University
of Toledo College of Medicine.
Robert Budinsky, ’74
Bill Young of Green Springs, Ohio,’74,
BSE, was recognized as Teacher of the
Year for 2007 for the Northwest Ohio
Region by the Ohio School Board
Association. He is a social studies
teacher at McPherson Middle
School in Clyde, Ohio.
John Gildard of Hovland, Minn., ’75,
BA, has been retired for several years
and recently moved to a new home in
Minnesota that he built. On his property,
he sees moose, black bear, deer,
eagles and gray timber wolves.
Jonathan Herrmann of Cincinnati,’75,
BSE, has been named director of the
National Homeland Security Research
Center in Cincinnati.
Robert Allan
Horvath of
Broussard,
La.,’75, BE,
has recently
had his first
novel, “The
Clone,”
published
by Millenial
Mind
Publishing.
He has been
a petroleum
engineer for
Schlumberger
Ltd.
for 30 years.
Robert Allan Horvath,’75
James Saker of Omaha, Neb.,’75, MM,
is a professor of music and director of
bands at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha. He has been chair of the music
department since 2001. In 2005, his
marching band was selected as the
Nebraska representative in the
Presidential Inaugural Parade in
Washington, D.C.
Paul S. Denton of Columbus,’76, BS,
became the Ohio State University
chief of police in 2006. He spent 28
years with the Columbus police, most
recently as commander assigned to
the Technical Services Bureau of the
Columbus Division of Police. He has
a master of business administration
from Xavier University, a master of
science and criminal justice from Tiffin
University, and a certificate of training
from the FBI National Academy at the
University of Virginia. He also holds a
48 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 49

Class Notes
Class Notes
Certified Law Enforcement Executive
designation.
Patrick Berarducci of Boardman,’77,
BSAS, has been named the chief
of the Boardman Township Police
Department. Berarducci is a native of
Youngstown’s South Side and worked
for four years as a city police officer
before joining the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms. Berarducci
graduated from Wilson High School.
Henry Guzman of Columbus,’77, BS,
has been appointed to serve as the
director for the Ohio Department of
Public Safety by Gov. Ted Strickland.
In this cabinet-level position, Guzman
advises the governor and staff on issues
relating to the eight divisions within the
ODPS, including Homeland Security.
Previously, he was director of the City
of Columbus Department of Public
Service and served as acting mayor.
Mary Saathoff of Lubbock, Texas, ’78,
BM, co-owner of George Robinson
Violins, was named executive director
of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra,
after serving in an interim position.
Carla Wilson Buss of Watkinsville, Ga.,
‘79, BA, has been promoted to curriculum
materials and education librarian
at the University of Georgia in Athens,
Ga. She joined the faculty at UGA in
1997 as a reference librarian in the main
library. Originally from Fowler, Ohio,
Buss earned a master of library science
in 1997 from Kent State University.
80s
Joseph A.
Castrodale of Westlake,
Ohio, ’80, BA,
recently was named
an Ohio Super Lawyer
for 2007. The
annual statewide list
was published in the
January 2007 issue of
Cincinnati Magazine,
Joseph A. Northern Ohio Live
Castrodale, ’80
magazine and in
Ohio Super Lawyers magazine. Only
5 percent of Ohio lawyers are selected
as Super Lawyers by their peers for
outstanding professional achievements.
Castrodale is with Ulmer and Berne
LLP, a major Ohio-based law firm.
He represents large corporate clients
in business and commercial disputes
and litigates cases in federal and state
courts. He received a juris doctorate
from Harvard Law School in 1983.
Peyman Givi of Pittsburgh, Pa.,’80, has
been selected as Engineer of the Year
by the Pittsburgh Section of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers.
He is being recognized for his many
contributions, including over 165 publications
and nearly 170 presentations.
Givi has also served as editor or editorial
board member for five different
journals. The William Kepler Whiteford
Professor at the University of
Pittsburgh, Givi was honored by YSU
with the Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished
alumnus award.
Dan Pecchia of
Canfield, ’84,
BA,’89, MA, established
Pecchia
Communications
in 2005 after
13 years at two
public relations
firms. He was
most recently
vice president and
part owner of Innis
Dan Pecchia, ’84
and ’89
Maggiore Group. More information
is available at the firm’s web site,
www.pecchiacomm.com.
David Capretta of Rustburg, Va.,’87,
AAS, has been named IT department
manager of Wiley & Wilson, a company
that provides professional consulting
services. His duties include company
responsibility for all IT functions. In
addition to his YSU degree, Capretta
received a bachelor of science in
industrial technology from Kent State
University.
Ed Leonard of Columbus,’87, BSBA,
has been appointed to serve the
remainder of Ohio Treasurer Richard
Cordray’s unexpired term as Franklin
County’s treasurer. Since March 2003,
he has served as special counsel to the
county treasurer’s office. Leonard plans
to run in the November 2008 election
for a full four-year term. He received
a law degree from Cleveland-Marshall
College of Law in 1990.
Ted Schmidt of Canfield,’87, BSBA, has
been named head of corporate banking
at National City Bank for a five-county
region encompassing Youngstown and
the Ohio Valley.
Schmidt joined
the bank in 1988
and has served in
various executive
capacities including
vice president
of corporate banking
and senior
vice president and
regional manager
of corporate
banking.
Michele K. Yoder of
Youngstown,’88,
BSE, has joined
The Webb Law
Firm in Pittsburgh
as a patent agent.
In her position,
she drafts and
prosecutes patent
applications,
prepares foreign
amendments and
Ted Schmidt, ’87
Michele K. Yoder,
’88
shares expertise in the area of international
applications. She is also certified
as a registered patent agent.
Gregory D. Ellis of Newton Falls,’89,
BA, has recently been named continuous
improvement engineer at PTC Alliance
in Alliance. His new duties include
divisional lean manufacturing, continuous
improvement, and educational
responsibilities for six manufacturing
plants in five Midwestern states. Prior
to the new position, he spent seven
years at RMI Titanium in Niles in both
production and technical roles.
He received a master’s degree from the
University of Akron and has his Six
Sigma Black Belt and project
management certification.
90s
Michael Archibald of Houston, Texas,’91,
BSE, is currently president and
CEO of Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery
in Houston. After graduating
magna cum laude and finishing top in
his class, he joined General Electric’s
Manufacturing Management Technical
Leadership Program, then assumed
manufacturing operations leadership
with GE in their plastics and transportation
divisions. Once he joined Siemens
in 1999, he received consistent promotions
until he became president in 2005.
Jason Van Hoose of Youngstown,’93,
BFA, has recently won Best of Show in
the Area Artist’s Show for his painting
“Shale and Storm” at the Butler Institute
of American Art. Van Hoose’s work
has been shown in galleries in Cleveland,
New York City and local venues,
with many of his large oil paintings in
corporate and private collections from
Los Angeles to New York. His work
can be viewed at Tiptopgallery.com.
Art work of Jason Van Hoose, ’93
Kat Ricker of
Dallas, Or.,’93,
BA, has had a
book of poetry
and short stories,
titled “Something
Familiar,”
recently published
by Trillium
Press. The book
Kat Ricker, ’93
includes illustrations
by Kate Ramunno-Finney of
Youngstown, ’86, BFA, a recipient of
the Margaret Evans Award from the
Butler Institute of American Art, where
she now serves as docent. Top Amazon
reviewer Rebecca Johnson says “this is
one of the top 10 books you should read
in your lifetime.” Visit mightykat.net
for more information.
Michele
McCaughtry, ’94
Michele
McCaughtry of
Lowellville,’94,
BSE, has recently
published a teacher
resource book
through Scholastic,
a top publisher
of educational
materials. Titled
“Independent
Reading Management
Kit: Literary Elements,” the book
is geared towards students in grades
4-8. She is a reading teacher at South
Range Middle School.
Michael Beverly of
Youngstown,’95,
BA,’02, MA,
has served as
the coordinator
of Multicultural
Student Services
in the YSU Center
for Student
Progress since Michael Beverly, ’02
2003. He currently
coordinates YSU’s Summer Bridge
Program. In 2005-06, he was presented
with YSU’s Edna K. McDonald
Cultural Awareness Award. His many
activities at YSU include serving as
a History Day judge on the annual
student awards committee and on the
Div-ersity Banquet Committee. Prior,
he was at Eagle Heights Academy for
four years.
Chris Barzak of
Youngstown,’98,
BA,’03, MA, had
his first novel,
“One for Sorrow,”
published in
August. The book,
which he categorizes
as a ghost
story/coming of Chris Barzak, ’98
age novel set in
Youngstown, was
published by Bantam Books. The 31
year-old Johnstown Township, Ohio,
native is an adjunct faculty member
in YSU’s English department. He is
currently working on his second novel,
“The Love We Share without Knowing.”
It is set in Japan, where he spent
two years teaching English. More
information about Barzak and his work
can be found at christopherbarzak@
wordpress.com.
00s
Derrick Marsh
of Norwalk,
Ohio,’00, BE, has
recently received
the designation of
registered professional
engineer.
Marsh has worked
at KS Associates’
Land Development
Group, a
Derrick Marsh, ’00
civil engineering
and land surveying firm, headquartered
in Elyria, Ohio, since 2000.
Alan Miner of Cleveland,’01, BSBA,
recently graduated from The James J.
Nance School of Business Administration
at Cleveland State University, earning
a master’s in business administration
with a concentration in operations management
and business statistics. He has
also recently accepted a new position as
an operations manager with the Danaher
Corporation at its new Fluke Biomedical,
Radiation Management Services Division
in Solon, Ohio.
Melinda M. Hicks of Morgantown,
W.Va.,’03, MA, has been named an assistant
professor at West Virginia University,
where she is also a doctoral degree
candidate. Hicks specializes in economic
and gender history in her major field of
Colonial American history. She is co-editor
of the book, “Defining Security in an
Insecure World: Historical Perspectives
on Radicalism, Terrorism, and State
Responses,” published by West Virginia
University Press.
Megan A. Kerrigan
of Hubbard,’03,
BS, recently
graduated with a
master of education
degree in
curriculum and
instruction from
Gannon University.
She is Megan A. Kerrigan, ’03
currently teaching
first grade in the Slippery Rock Area
School District in Slippery Rock, Pa. She
is also working on her master’s in library
and information science at Kent State
University.
Carmella Williams
of Hubbard,’05,
BSBA, became
the coordinator
in YSU’s Office
of Associate
Degree and Tech
Prep Programs in
2005, assisting
in marketing and Carmella Williams, ’05
facilitating the transition of
and academic progress for secondary and
post-secondary College Tech Prep students.
She earned a certificate in American
Humanics from YSU in 2007 and is a
candidate for a master’s degree in public
administration, a consortium program
between YSU and Cleveland
State University.
50 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 51

Alumni News
lumni
A• N e w s
22nd Alumni Society
Golf Outing
At least 90 YSU alumni and friends participated
in the 22nd Annual Alumni Society Golf Outing in
May at the Tippecanoe Country Club in Canfield.
The outing featured a buffet luncheon, evening
social hour and prizes awarded throughout the day.
“Whether golfers were dusting off their clubs
for the first time this season or ready for competition,
those who participated said what they most enjoyed was
the camaraderie the outing provided,” said Shannon
Tirone, director of the Office of Alumni Relations.
President David C. Sweet talks with
Nydia and Henry Guzman, ’77, during
the Columbus Alumni Reception in May.
Dallas Alumni
La Hacienda Ranch restaurant was
the place to be for Dallas-area Penguins
in March. Approximately 50 alumni and
friends visited with each other to catch
up on the latest news at the university.
“A small group of alumni in the
Dallas area has been socializing for a
number of years,” said Heather Belgin,
Alumni Relations coordinator. “This
event allowed more grads to connect
and begin to plan for future times
to socialize.”
52 Youngstown State University
From left to right – John Africa, ’62; Keith Evans, ‘65,
Nick Pupino; Rich Crepage, ’78, ’78, ’99; Larry Richards, ’70;
Shannon Tirone, ‘94, Alumni Relations director;
Heather Belgin, Alumni Relations coordinator; and
Bruce Sherman, ’70, Alumni Society Board president.
Columbus Alumni Welcome
President Sweet
In May, over 100 alumni and friends connected at the Buckeye
Hall of Fame Café for an evening that included reminiscing and
learning about campus developments from President David C. Sweet.
Sweet highlighted successes in enrollment, diversity and partnerships,
while also addressing challenges the university faces because
of the way higher education is funded.
He invited everyone back to campus to attend Centennial
Celebration events in 2008. “The enthusiastic group participated in
a question and answer session with the president, showing that
Penguin spirit is alive and well in Columbus,” said Shannon Tirone,
Alumni Relations director.
Alumni from the Dallas area
at a reception on March 28.
Red & White Game
Penguin football fans gained a sneak preview of the
2007 team during the Red & White Game in April.
Alumni and friends enjoyed an indoor tailgate party in
Stambaugh Stadium prior to kick-off. With full stomachs
following a hearty picnic, Penguin faithful cheered for both
sides in anticipation of the upcoming season.
Coach Jon Heacock presented this contest for the 7th
year, as the culmination of the team’s spring drills.
Streetscape 2007
Photo above: Over 40 YSU alumni, family members
and friends joined more than 300 other volunteers
for Streetscape 2007 in downtown Youngstown
on June 2. Youngstown Cityscape organizes this
beautification project to plant flowers, mulch and
remove debris in downtown areas. “Communityminded
alumni have lent their green thumbs to
this worthy endeavor for the past three years,”
said Heather Belgin, Alumni Relations coordinator.
“After a day of hard work and fun, alumni can drive
through downtown and take pride in their effort.”
Scrappers vs. Doubledays
The annual YSU Alumni Night was June 25 this year at
Eastwood Field. The Mahoning Valley Scrappers faced
the Auburn Doubledays, and YSU alumni were there to cheer
on the Scrappers.
Alumni and friends enjoyed box-seat
tickets and a picnic of hamburgers, hot
dogs, chicken sandwiches, baked
beans, potato salad, chips and soft
drinks.
Bruce Sherman ‘70, Alumni
Society Board president, threw
out the first pitch during Alumni
Night with the Scrappers.
Alumni
Tailgate Party
Watch your mailbox for
YSU/OSU tailgate party
information. More details
about the tailgate, sponsored by
Alumni Relations, will be
available soon
by calling 330-941-3497.
Awardees Selected for
Legacy Scholarships
YSU has a rich tradition of family attendance and
graduation. “The legacy of a child following in the footsteps
of a parent/guardian toward attaining a degree from
the same alma mater is indeed a cherished tradition,” said
Shannon Tirone, Alumni Relations director.
The YSU Office of Alumni Relations is committed to
fostering relationships between graduates
and YSU and is proud to offer four
$1,000 Legacy Scholarships to children
of current Alumni Society members.
Legacy Scholarships for the 2007-
08 academic year have been awarded to
Dana Rae Vlock, Michael Gans,
Jessica Balent and Heather Drennen.
Penguins at
Appalachian
State
Penguin faithful traveled
to Boone, N.C. for the
NCAA FCS playoff game
against Appalachian
State in December. Although
the Penguins
fell 49-24 against
the Mountaineers,
YSU fans, including
Richard Bremer,’74,
enthusiastically displayed
their support
and pride throughout
the entire game.
The Office of Alumni Relations
would like to bring campus organizations
back together to celebrate the special bonds
developed through participation in extracurricular
activities during the Centennial Celebration in 2008.
Alumni members of various groups, such as
cheerleaders, Jambar staff, University Scholars,
fraternities and sororities, etc., are needed
to help plan these reunions.
If you would like to reunite with members
of your organization and are interested in
volunteering, contact Alumni Relations at
330-941-3497 or alumni@ysu.edu.
Reuniting: It Feels So Good
Summer 2007 53

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With advanced smart devices, business applications and a high-speed
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Shop the YSU Bookstore on the web at
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or call 330-941-3589.
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Take advantage of Free Business Checking with more free
transactions than any other bank in town!
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54 Youngstown State University Summer 2007 55

It’s Time for Teachers to Tailgate
Who ?
What ?
Where ?
When ?
Why ?
Beeghly College of Education Alumni.
Centennial Celebration tailgate party.
The tailgate lot next to McDonald’s on Fifth Ave.
Noon, Saturday, Oct. 20 before the
Homecoming game.
To celebrate university’s centennial
with fellow graduates.
Refreshments will be provided.
Call 330-941-3215 for details.
Time For A Change?
Graduate Programs for Career Mobility
Master’s Degrees
American Studies
Biology
Business Administration
Chemistry
Computing and Information
Systems
Counseling
Creative Writing
Criminal Justice
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English
Engineering
Environmental Studies
Financial Economics
Health & Human Services
History
Mathematics
Music
Nursing
Physical Therapy
Public Health
Special Education
Social Work
Teacher Education
Leah Nakley, a senior chemical engineering
student, and Ryan Paul, a mechanical
engineering master’s candidate and
Cushwa Fellow, analyze fracture features
using YSU’s scanning electron
microscope.
Graduate Certificates
Applied History
Autism Spectrum and Related Disabilities
Bioethics
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) new!!
Environmental Studies
Health Care Management
Literature for Children and Young Adults
Professional Writing and Editing
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Teaching of Writing
Working-Class Studies
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership
Williamson College of Business Administration
Preparing Leaders for business, nonprofit organizations, government, and society
• Flexible MBA Program
• Extensive Internship Program
• Certificates in Entrepreneurship, Nonprofit
Leadership, and Enterprise Resource Planning
• International Study Tours
• Consulting, research, and training services
for regional business
56 Youngstown State University
THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS
IN THE WORLD
2007 Recipient of the
Governor’s Excellence
in Exporting Award
For heightening awareness of
exporting as a vital component
of the State’s economy.
Mark Your Calendar
12th Annual WCBA
Oct. 19
Alumni Banquet
www.ysu.edu/gradschool

1947
Peace Caravan
The year is 1947. Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Truman Doctrine is implemented, gangster Bugsy Siegel is
murdered and “A Streetcar Named Desire” opens on Broadway starring a young actor named Marlon Brando. And at
Youngstown College, a Peace Caravan of the American Friends Service Committee visits the campus. In this photo, members of
the Peace Caravan answer questions from Dr. Clarence Gould’s class in constitutional history on the steps of Jones Hall. Gould
was head of the history department. Members of the caravan are Helen Vanderkoii of Denton, Texas, and Howard James of
Topeka, Kan., left foreground, with Dr. Gould, center, and Everett Mattlin of Columbus and Corrinne Booth of Columbia, Mo.
The photo graces the cover of a new book by Donna DeBlasio and Martha Pallante, members of the YSU history faculty. The
name of the book is “Youngstown State University: From YoCo to YSU,” and it celebrates YSU’s centennial in 2008.
To browse additional historical photographs in the University Archives, visit http://digital.maag.ysu.edu.
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