Behrend Magazine - Spring 2020

BEHREND M A G A Z I N E PENN STATE

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TAKE A SEAT (and a selfie) p. 6 Behrend Lion bench boosts Penn State Pride

Vision of a Behrend Graduate Penn State Behrend has a history and future of developing thinkers, creators, and innovators who build opportunities out of challenges, competence out of curiosity, and proficiency out of potential.

Success begins with a vision.

What personal and professional attributes, shaped by their student experience at Penn State Behrend, best position our graduates for lifelong success?

That’s a question we set out to answer last year in developing a statement we’ve titled “Vision of a Behrend Graduate.” Over the course of several months, a committee of faculty, staff, and students gathered input from their peers and others, including parents of current students, alumni, guidance counselors in the region, and employers of our graduates.

The vision statement you see here is a distillation of the perspectives of hundreds of the college’s constituents, gained through conversation, surveys, open forums, and individual responses. The committee gathered and assessed the input, weighed and ranked the responses, and considered numerous iterations of the statement to arrive at this vision.

Our next step is to integrate the philosophy and aspirations of this vision into the education of our students and the larger life of the college. We plan to use the Vision of a Behrend Graduate as a guidepost as we make decisions about academic planning, learning experiences, and student life—and the many things we can do to best support student success.

I am pleased to share this vision with you. As always, I welcome your thoughts and ideas.

We produce graduates who are prepared for success in their professions, passionate about their work, and committed to lifelong learning; who are open to new experiences and diverse perspectives; and who possess interdisciplinary knowledge and a global and ethical outlook–all critical to thriving in an ever-changing world.

We empower our students through highly engaged instruction, research, and out-of-class opportunities, combined with a distinctive Open Laboratory model of learning and discovery that connects students to business, industry, alumni, and community partners–giving them realworld experiences while benefitting these partners.

With purpose, we develop graduates who are widely recognized for the contributions they make to their professions, their communities, and the world around them.

Chancellor Ralph Ford rmf7@psu.edu Vol. 37 No.1 Penn State Behrend Magazine is published twice a year and provided free to alumni and friends of Penn State Behrend by the Office of Strategic Communications. Executive Editor: William Gonda wvg2@psu.edu. Editor: Heather Cass hjc13@psu.edu. Contributors: Robb Frederick ‘92, Kristin Bowers. Photos: Rob Frank ‘06, Matt Kleck. Change of address/Unsubscribe: Development and Alumni Relations at 814-898-6089 or amm74@psu.edu. Correspondence: Behrend Magazine, 207 Glenhill Farmhouse, 4701 College Drive, Erie PA 16563-1902. Phone 814-898-6419.

Copyright ©2020 Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. This publication is available in alternative media on request. Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. U.Ed. EBO 20-271.

BEHREND M A G A Z I N E PENN STATE

ON THE COVER

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John Jarecki, Student Government Association president, led the campaign to bring a Lion bench to Behrend. The life-sized statue of Penn State’s mascot, wrapped in a scarf, saves a seat for anyone who wants to sit a spell. The Behrend Lion bench is near the entrance to Senat Hall, in the recently expanded Ben Lane Plaza. It was purchased by the Student Government Association, with a goal of connecting Behrend students to the larger Penn State identity. Learn more on page 6.

Photo by Jaret Kelly

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IN THIS ISSUE The Art of Science ....................................................................3 Behrend a Partner in $26M Research Initiative.......................7 Students Discover Invasive Shrimp in Erie..............................8 On the Fast Track to a Career in Coasters.............................10 History is Not Necessarily Set in Stone..................................12 Alumna Starts Mentorship Program in NYC..........................14 Students Finding Success in Classrooms and Beyond.........16 Student Competes in Dog Sled Competition.......................18 The Latest News from Athletics..............................................20 The Impact of Giving...............................................................23

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In Brief

Bloomberg Terminals added The Black School of Business has added ten Bloomberg Terminal subscriptions to its finance lab in Burke Center.

The Bloomberg Terminal provides real-time and historical financial data, analytics, and market news for every class of assets.

An eleventh new terminal has been installed in Trippe Hall, the college’s newest residence hall. That brings the total number of terminals at the college to twelve.

“In terms of business data, Bloomberg is the gold standard,” said Dr. Greg Filbeck, director of the Black School of Business.

“There is no more comprehensive database of news, market data, and financial information.”

Bloomberg was founded in 1981, creating an electronic network long before investors had access to the internet and 24-hour financial news networks. The platform integrates real-time data and research in every market and asset class, from fixed income to equities, commodities, and derivatives. Bloomberg’s color-coded keyboard allows users to quickly complete common actions.

A colorful collaboration Behrend’s plastics engineering technology program has the largest academic plastics processing lab in the country and has produced its share of impressive projects. The latest work, undertaken in collaboration with the college’s Arts Administration program, might take the cake: a public art project.

As part of Penn State’s Campus Arts Initiative, Clevelandbased sculptor Lauren Herzak-Bauman used the lab to create, mold, and fabricate the materials needed for “Colorwalk,” the site-specific art project she installed outside Behrend’s Reed Union Building. The project features thousands of plastic discs stacked in colorful pink vertical bars, spaced throughout a tree line.

The Behrend project is unique in how it achieved the cross-disciplinary mission of the Campus Arts Initiative.

Arts Administration students assisted with the selection of the artist and helped document and promote the project, while Plastics Engineering Technology students and faculty members worked alongside the artist to fabricate the plastic discs.

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Penn State Behrend was the first college in the region to have a Bloomberg Terminal. “It was being used constantly,” Filbeck said.

“People were coming in at all hours, including late in the evenings, to have access to it.”

The new terminals will improve student access to the Bloomberg network: Faculty members will now be able incorporate Bloomberg data in their inclass teaching. Students also can earn a Bloomberg Market Concepts certification by completing an e-learning course.

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In Brief The art of science Science and the arts might seem to be very different disciplines, but the scientific method and the creative process have a lot in common; inquiry is at the heart of each.

“People sometimes think science is about memorizing facts, but it’s really about making discoveries and wringing answers out of nature,” said Dr. Pam Silver, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of biology at Penn State Behrend.

“When you have a scientific question, it takes a lot of creativity to find the answer to it.”

Scientists are, by nature, creative individuals, and the School of Science recently added two works of art that illustrate that.

Ties that bind

Fractal in flight

A colorful quilt, titled “A Way of Knowing,” was created by Silver and hangs in Hammermill Hall.

High overhead at the entrance to Roche Hall is another work of art—a stage-5 Sierpinski tetrahedron that models a fractal with infinite triangles—created by student members of the School of Science Math Club under the direction of club president Thomas Galvin and Dr. Joe Previte, associate professor of mathematics.

Each color in the quilt represents a scientific discipline taught at Behrend—biology, chemistry, environmental science, nursing, physics, mathematics, and mathematics education.

A spiral in the quilt represents the net movement of scientific discovery from observation to hypothesis to testing to understanding.

“A fractal is a self-similar structure with recurring patterns at progressively smaller scales,” Previte said. “Fractals are useful in modeling natural structures such as plants, coastlines, or snowflakes.”

Some natural objects appear to be completely random in shape, but there is an underlying pattern that determines how these shapes are formed and what they will look like, according to Previte. Mathematics can help us to better understand the shapes of natural objects, with applications in medicine, biology, geology, and meteorology.

Students built the fractal using Zometool construction parts.

It consists of 2,050 white balls and 6,144 red and blue struts.

Furthermore, the underlying geometric design “symbolizes that the building blocks of science are not individual disciplines, but the discoveries to be made by merging diverse ideas, points of view, and approaches to form a strong and unified way of knowing with the goals of wisdom and the power to enact that wisdom,” Silver said.

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In Brief Alumna Priscilla Hamilton named Alumni Fellow Dr. Priscilla Hamilton, a U.S. Army colonel (retired), received plenty of awards during her three decades of military service, but an honor this fall from Penn State left her “tremendously honored and humbled.” Hamilton, ’78, was named one of sixteen Penn State Alumni Fellows for 2019.

The lifelong title of Alumni Fellow is the highest award given by the Penn State Alumni Association. It’s a perfect fit for Hamilton, whose connection to Penn State has indeed been lifelong.

is giving back to the Penn State community. In 2018, she established the Priscilla Hamilton Open Doors Scholarship at Behrend. For Hamilton, the Open Doors program—which at the time came with a two-to-one match from the university—was an opportunity to help students who might otherwise not be able to afford college to find a path to higher education.

Her parents were Penn State alumni, and her father was an instructor in the former Continuing Education program at Penn State Behrend. Her grandfather, a Ukrainian immigrant and coal miner in central Pennsylvania, was a longtime Penn State supporter.

Hamilton’s own Penn State experience reflects her family’s emphasis on the importance of education.

Hamilton, who grew up in Erie County, attended Penn State Behrend for two years before graduating from University Park with a bachelor’s degree in science. She earned a doctoral degree in dental medicine from the University of Pittsburgh, and later received several master’s degrees. Her family’s experience— her father was a Navy veteran— also influenced her decision to join the military, which culminated in her role as the commander of DENCOM, the Army’s dental care system.

Now, having retired after a thirtythree-year career that included U.S. Army Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Meritorious Service awards, Hamilton

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< Dr. Priscilla Hamilton in uniform.

world, and perhaps a little different way of thinking about something.”

She’s also giving back in terms of her time: She has taken on an active role on Behrend’s Council of Fellows, including

“...being a Penn State alum is pretty special thing.” on the Development Committee, and she brings her unique life experiences to the council’s board of directors.

“I hope I bring some temperance, and no silo thinking” to the Council, Hamilton said. “There’s a wider

Hamilton is coming full circle, helping to shape the future of an institution that was so formative in her own life: She started her military career by helping to establish the ROTC program at Behrend, and later became the University’s first female cadet brigade commander. She received a strong educational foundation from the “nurturing environment” at Behrend. And she developed lifelong ties with her fellow a students—particularly through ROTC. “I’m sure the folks who graduated from Ohio State University and from Alabama and from Auburn or wherever feel the same way about their school,” Hamilton said, “but being a Penn State alum is a pretty special thing.”

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In Brief

In Memoriam

Two longtime friends and advocates of Penn State Behrend passed away in recent months.

Patricia “Pat” Yahn, an Erie artist and business owner, died August 28, 2019. She was 91.

Yahn began her career as a commercial artist, working for the Trask department store in downtown Erie and later for the Boston Store, where her drawings regularly appeared in newspaper advertisements for the store’s clothes.

For generations, Yahn mentored and supported young artists. She created endowments for annual art shows at Penn State Behrend and Mercyhurst University.

She and her husband, Walter Yahn, were married for 66 years. They raised four children together.

In the 1960s, as president of the Junior League of Erie, Yahn raised funds for the construction of the Erie planetarium.

The astronomy theater was moved to Penn State Behrend in 2014 and expanded with support from the Yahns. It was renamed to honor the Yahn family.

In the 1980s, Yahn opened Interiors of Erie, which provided materials and consultation for residential and commercial properties and projects. In her free time, she continued to paint, often in watercolor.

One of her paintings is on permanent display in the Lilley Library gallery at Behrend. < Greg Yahn, a member of Penn State Behrend's Council of Fellows, sits with his mother, Patricia Yahn, at the college's 2018 Glenhill Society dinner.

William M. “Bill” Hilbert Sr., former president, CEO, and chairman of the board of PHB Inc. in Fairview, died Sunday, November 3, 2019, in Erie. He was 83.

Hilbert was also the former chairman of the board of Reddog Industries in Erie. He was a member of Penn State Behrend’s Council of Fellows and was actively involved in the Erie business community, including serving on the boards of Saint Vincent Health Center and The Erie Community Foundation.

^ Bill Hilbert, center, and his wife, Martha,

top right, were longtime advocates of In 2000, Hilbert and his the Young People's Chorus of Erie. wife, Martha, created the William M. and Martha M. Hilbert Family Scholarship Endowment, and the couple also supported the Reddog Industries, Inc. Scholarship Endowment at Behrend. To date, the funds have generated more than $200,000 in scholarship awards to Behrend students.

The Hilberts also have been longtime advocates of the Young People’s Chorus of Erie (YPC), an outreach program of the college’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Since 2009, when YPC was established, the Hilberts’ philanthropic support has provided tuition assistance to students participating in the program and also funded uniforms, sheet music, instruments, and other supplies.

Mark your calendar now and join us for a full weekend of family fun, Behrend-style, at Parents, Families & Alumni Weekend on October 2-4, 2020!

A celebration for young and old alike, it offers plenty of things to do for students, alumni, parents, brothers and sisters, extended family—everyone!

There is a lot to celebrate at Penn State Behrend: a beautiful campus, talented faculty who foster academic excellence, a wide variety of extracurricular activities, the opportunity to develop close, lasting friendships, and much more.

Visit behrend.psu.edu/weekend and click on the event link for more information!

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New Lion Bench Boosts Penn State Pride E

very Penn State campus has a shrine to the Nittany Lion.

Like others across the commonwealth, Behrend’s Lion is a three-quarters-scale replica of the original statue, which was cut from limestone and dedicated in 1942.

SGA also created the Civility in Discourse Forum, where students can explore divergent political views in an open, respectful setting.

“Behrend is big enough for us to have our own identity,” said John Jarecki, the SGA president. “We have our own traditions, and unique majors, and a culture that has developed over the last seventy years. But it’s still important to recognize our connection to the larger University whenever we can.”

“You have to realize that you are a temporary steward of student trust,” he said. “The reward is when a project goes right. When you accomplish something that benefits a larger group of people, and that extends beyond your own time here, there is nothing more exciting than that.”

“I think we’ve made some really important strides,” Jarecki said. “Last year, we talked a lot about engagement, and how Five campuses – University Park, Lehigh Valley, York, Berks, not to get pigeonholed into any one group. Everybody has and now Behrend – also have a Lion bench, where a lifetheir own focus, and their own goals for their organization. size statue of the mascot, In student government, our job is wrapped in a scarf, and “It's one more place where people can to bring all those different ideas sometimes a Santa hat, together, to sit the right people saves a seat for anyone who meet and develop friendships. That’s around a table and have that wants to visit. It’s a selfie what college is all about.” conversation. station for a new generation “It gives you a bird’s-eye view,” he of Penn Staters. said. “That, in turn, gives you the opportunity to integrate The Behrend Lion bench is near the entrance to Senat yourself in the larger community, because you are involved in Hall, in the recently expanded Ben Lane Plaza. It was a way that not everyone is.” purchased by the Student Government Association, Jarecki is likely to use that skill later in life. His major is with a goal of connecting Behrend students to the political science. larger Penn State identity.

Jarecki, a senior, has led SGA to several recent successes: In addition to the Lion bench, the group advocated for a commuter lounge in Smith Chapel.

“That’s one more place where people can meet and develop friendships,” he said. “That’s a big part of what college is all about.”

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He posed for photos with the new Lion on the day the bench was dedicated. Years from now, long after he has graduated, he hopes to come back, with his family, to continue a tradition that he helped begin.

“Behrend is a special place,” he said. “It’s really important that we make it as good as we can while we’re here.”

Behrend Becomes Partner in $ 26 Million Erie Research Initiative

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enn State Behrend is poised to play a pivotal role in a partnership that will establish the new Magee-Womens Research Institute in Erie (MWRI Erie), a $26 million initiative that will bring locally focused clinical medical research trials to the region, improving the health of generations of women.

As the academic research and commercialization partner for MWRI Erie, the college will co-locate faculty members and students at the institute’s downtown facility, which will be affiliated with UPMC Hamot, and at a new biomedical commercialization and translational research lab in the college’s Knowledge Park.

MWRI is the largest research institute in the United States devoted exclusively to women's health and reproductive biology. Since 2007, the Pittsburgh-based institute has led the nation in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for reproductive health research. MWRI Erie is expected to draw significant research funding from federal agencies, including NIH, and from national foundations, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and others involved in clinical research.

The institute expects to attract up to $50 million in new funding over the next ten years. The initial funding for MWRI Erie includes a $6 million grant from The Erie Community Foundation. Of that, $1.1 million will be utilized by Penn State Behrend to build the research and commercialization lab in Knowledge Park and create a new instructional lab in the School of Science. The college will also develop new minors in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering.

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“As the Erie region’s research university, we are uniquely positioned to support MWRI Erie,” Chancellor Ralph Ford said. “We can provide the academic programs and the pipeline of student talent that will sustain this initiative. By adding biomedical commercialization and support for the start-up companies that will develop from MWRI Erie, we will fuel economic growth well beyond the original vision for the institute.”

Penn State Behrend, Hamot Health Foundation, UPMC, and the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation each have committed to investing a minimum of $5 million in MWRI Erie. The college is working to raise additional private funds, which will be matched by Penn State through the economic development matching gift program of the University’s A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence campaign.

The commercialization lab will be located in the college’s Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Center, which offers 60,000 square feet of shared academic and industry space. The partnership with MWRI Erie is reflective of the college’s Open Lab model of learning and discovery, in which faculty members, and students engage with external partners in research and product development as teams.

Faculty members, MWRI Erie researchers, and start-up ventures will use the labs to develop medical discoveries into products such as diagnostic tests and surgical devices. The Knowledge Park lab also will provide space and instrumentation for bench experiments, including human genetic studies, data analytics, and medical-device prototyping.

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Students Discover Invasive W

said Dr. Ivor Knight, associate dean ith their first throw of the net near midnight at Lampe Marina for research and graduate studies.

“Hemimysis are small—maybe 2 or on Presque Isle Bay in Erie, three 3 mm long—and their bodies are Behrend science students caught mostly clear, something that had “...if you love where you live and so it isn’t easy to see them never been you want to protect it, you need in the water. seen in Testing for Pennsylvania to know what's out there.” eDNA could waters: a tiny, provide evidence that the shrimp are black-eyed shrimp known as or recently had been in a sample Hemimysis anomala. of water.”

The species, also known as the Knight and Dr. Matthew Gruwell, bloody red shrimp, is native to the associate professor of biology, Black Sea. It appeared in Lake secured a $177,000 grant from the Ontario in 2006, likely carried Great Lakes Protection Fund to in the ballast water from study the effectiveness of eDNA a freighter. Within the in detecting invasive species. They year, it had spread hope to develop a method of testing to New York’s ballast water in ships that enter lakes Oneida and that are not yet contaminated.

Seneca lakes.

With help from the student In the years researchers, they set up twenty-four since, Hemimysis ten-gallon fish tanks and added had been found in Hemimysis DNA. In half of the tanks, Lake Erie waters near they added actual shrimp; in the Dunkirk, New York, and others, they added a slurry—water Ashtabula, Ohio. that had included shrimp, which had To catch the shrimp, since been removed. That allowed the Behrend students them to test how long Hemimysis first traveled to Geneva, DNA remains in the water after the New York, where they shrimp are gone. met with a Hemimysis To populate the tanks, the team expert at Hobart and needed Hemimysis, which were William Smith Colleges. shipped, frozen, from a lab in The team—Kyle Michigan.

Deloe, a senior from “We needed a lot of them,” Deloe Knox; Noel Moore, a said, “and we were having trouble sophomore from Lock Haven; and getting enough. We figured if we Emily Dobry, a graduate student from could collect them ourselves, it would Erie—was studying the potential use be easier to run the tests.” of environmental DNA, or eDNA, for detecting invasive species. The So they traveled to Geneva where approach has been used to detect they met with aquatic biologist Dr. other species, including Asian carp.

Meghan Brown at Hobart and William “It’s traces of DNA, basically, like what you might find at a crime scene,”

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Smith. She helped them identify the environment the shrimp prefer: rocky

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Species in Pennsylvania Waters shoreline crevices with minimal vegetation and a depth between 6 and 10 meters. She offered one other tip: The shrimp are most active at night.

A few nights later, the students drove to Lampe Marina.

Wearing red headlamps, they dropped a net into the water. When they pulled it up, they saw a swarm of Hemimysis.

“In the light from the red headlamp, their eyes glow, like little taillights in the water,” Dobry said. “We knew immediately that we’d found them.”

Gruwell identified the microscopic features that define the species. Knight took a sample of the shrimp to Dr. James Grazio, a Great Lakes biologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, who confirmed the identification.

DEP biologists had searched for Hemimysis.

They had even looked in Lampe Marina. The Behrend students tried a different approach, however, waiting until later at night.

It isn’t yet clear how Hemimysis will affect the ecosystem in Lake Erie. In Europe,

the shrimp have reduced the algal and zooplankton biomass in lakes and reservoirs, altering the feeding patterns of larger species, including fish.

The first step in understanding the potential impact of any species is determining that it is, in fact, present.

That makes the Behrend team’s discovery significant, Dobry said.

“People see these and think, they’re so tiny, they can’t be a threat,” she said. “The truth is, we just don’t know yet. But if you love where you live and you want to protect it, you need to know what’s out there.”

^ From left, Dr. Ivor Knight, Kyle Deloe, Emily Dobry, and Noel Moore.

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A Career in Coasters

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^ William Friedlander

W

illiam Friedlander, a senior Mechanical Engineering major, can pinpoint the exact moment he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. It was 2006, he was in the second grade, and his big brother was seated next to him on the Phantom’s Revenge, a steel coaster at Kennywood Park near his hometown of Pittsburgh.

“My brother was sort of terrorizing me and telling me how scared I was going to be as we climbed the first hill,” Friedlander said. “But the second we crested and started to fall, I was hooked. It was exhilarating.”

As did K’NEX, the building toy.

When he was in fifth and sixth grade, he commandeered an entire room in his home to build an elaborate amusement park, using more than 20,000 pieces of K’NEX. “My parents were very understanding,” he said. “I just let my imagination run wild.”

But Friedlander didn’t just dream, he prepared. When he was in middle school, he e-mailed roller coaster design companies to ask for advice on being a coaster engineer.

They suggested he get a mechanical engineering degree and any experience he could working with roller coasters.

By fourth grade, he had talked his parents into taking him to Cedar Point, the “roller coaster capital of the world,” in As a teen, he got a job as a Sandusky, Ohio. He was too short “The second we crested and ride operator on Phantom’s to ride the biggest coasters, but cut Revenge, the coaster that had his teeth on the Maverick, his first started to fall, I was hooked.“ ignited his passion. The next propulsion launch coaster. Then, with year, he worked on the ride’s wobbling knees, he boarded the Top maintenance and operations team, where he got an upThrill Dragster, which takes riders from zero to 122 miles close look at the mechanics and safety features. per hour in 3.8 seconds for an adrenaline-packed 17-second ride.

Friedlander chose Behrend for several reasons: “It offered “When I got off the Dragster, I had the same feeling that I did the first time I rode Phantom’s Revenge,” he said. “It just fed my obsession.”

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M.E., had a reputation as one of the top undergraduate engineering schools, and offered the smaller class sizes I wanted,” he said.

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By the numbers

In the fall semester of his junior year, he did his first internship/ co-op at Premier Rides, a roller coaster design company in Baltimore, Maryland.

“I learned they had internships available and I called them weekly for three months. Kathy in Human Resources and I became pretty good friends,” he said with a laugh.

Another popular misconception about roller coasters?

He did an internship in Premier’s parts and service department. The position involved monitoring coaster parts inventory and assisting clients, but he also had the opportunity to analyze the braking system for one of the company’s rides.

“They never leave the track. Ever,” he said. “It may feel that way because your body experiences zero gravity or negative gravity, in which you lift up off the seat, but the car is actually secured to the track by wheels on both the top and bottom.”

“I had no background in pneumatic systems at all, so it was a great educational experience,” he said.

Premier was so impressed with Friedlander and his work that it sponsored a senior capstone project. Friedlander and three other Mechanical Engineering majors— Hailee Crimbchin, Dakota Hetrick, and Kaitlin Peterman—are designing a measurement system to analyze forces and stresses on coaster components and come up with a set of standards.

This past summer, Friedlander returned to Premier, where he worked as a project engineering intern.

“I was involved in redesigning, prototyping, and testing a lap bar for a restraint system and evaluating rider containment with another intern who had started the project before I got there,” he said.

Friedlander wants you to know that roller coasters are safer than your average automobile.

“There are lots of industry standards for how ride dynamics are measured,” he said. “But not many standards for measuring components of the coaster,” he said. “That’s what we are developing. I want to be clear, though, that there are already many calculations and simulations to ensure components are safe, but a means to measure after-the-fact is another way of verifying the calculations.”

Friedlander’s myriad experiences in all facets of coaster culture from operation to design to maintenance has helped him nail down exactly what he hopes to do after his graduation in May.

“You’d be surprised to see all the safety standards and the daily inspection that occur,” he said. “Every single restraint is tested every day.

And there are several fail-safes, which are backups for any safety feature.

So even if one thing did fail, there would be two or three other means of preventing disaster.”

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Times Will Friedlander has visited Cedar Point

Consecutive rides on Steel Vengeance coaster (Cedar Point)

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Amusement parks he’s visited

Roller coasters he’s ridden

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20,000

Pieces of K’NEX used in the room-size amusement park he built in fifth grade

Recommended riding Friedlander has ridden nearly 300 coasters. His two favorites?

Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, and X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles.

V Will’s first time at Cedar Point in 2007.

“I’d like to be a field engineer for a roller coaster design company,” he said. “This is the onsite engineer who builds the coaster and solves any onsite issues. People are so stressed out today. I want to build rides that give them some joy and let them escape their worries, even if only for a minute or two.”

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History: A Work in Progress Revisiting, revising, rewriting the “facts” of our past

T he ra

here are few things we can be certain about in this world. History is one of them. What happened is what happened. Facts are facts, right?

“Well, no,” said Dr. Glenn

m Kumhera, Penn State Behrend Ku nn associate professor of history. e l ^ Dr. G

“The book that I wrote (‘The Benefits of Peace: Private Peacemaking in Late Medieval Italy’),” Kumhera said with a wave toward his office bookshelf, “will be out of date eventually. But it will help to build a bigger picture; it’s another piece in the puzzle.”

New pieces are always being fitted into place.

“A hundred years ago, historians would not have considered asking a woman, or an African-American, or a recent immigrant how they felt about anything or considered their lives to have historical value,” Kumhera said. “Their perspectives are completely missing from the history books. Much of what we have been taught are nationalistic histories.”

“History is, and always has been, a human account of what happened, and if you ask fifty people about an event that occurred last week and write a historical account based on their comments, you will have fifty "There's more creativity involved in different narratives and you’ll history than people care to admit.” have to make some choices — Dr. Glenn Kumhera, associate professor of history based on what evidence is accessible.”

Historians have been doing this since the time of cave drawings: Making decision about what to record and who to believe.

“There’s more creativity involved in history than people care to admit,” Kumhera said.

While cave drawings may have been set in stone, history is not. New discoveries and evidence, changing attitudes, correlations, and biases revealed, can—and frequently do—lead to a rewriting of history.

Today, we can add missing parts to our history when new artifacts are uncovered or by taking a fresh look at an old narrative.

Case in point: Vikings. “They went from terrorists to tourists,” Kumhera said. “Initially, we only had the victim’s voice—the literate monks whose monasteries were pillaged. But, over time, historians looked at it from the Viking perspective and our view of them changed from bandits to explorers, and then to a mix of the two.”

Is it discomforting to historians to stand on such shaky ground?

Kumhera smiles. “I think history attracts those who enjoy the uncertainty. It’s exciting, and it’s what I love most about studying history. It’s an ongoing quest for information, an attempt to figure things out with maybe 30 percent of the pieces of the puzzle, if we are lucky.”

There are a lot of holes. Historians use the information they have to fill them in and then test those hypotheses by making their interpretations and evidence available to other historians to critique and revise.

“People don’t think of progress in history,” Kumhera said.

“They relate it to science and technology, but history is continually evolving and changing. New discoveries or revelations are made every day that change the way we see our past.”

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Good Science = Great Wine Next time you enjoy a glass of wine, consider this: Behind every great bottle of vino is a scientist.

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ood and beverage production is a science and also a potential career path for students like Roni Stefanick, a senior Biology major, who recently completed a semester-long internship at Mazza Vineyards in North East, Pennsylvania.

She learned about the opportunity from Dr. Mike Campbell, professor of biology and director of Penn State’s Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center (LERGREC), a 40-acre research facility in North East.

“Dr. Campbell knew I had an interest in food science, and he saw the Mazza lab internship as a great opportunity for me to get hands-on experience in the industry,” said Stefanick who was responsible for running experiments on wine and juice to be sure it fit within the proper parameters for pH, sulfur content, and sugar levels.

Stefanick said her internship at Mazza drove home the lessons she learned in the chemistry labs at Behrend.

“When I was doing labs at school, I was trying to earn a good grade and I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that the skills I was learning could be applied in the real world,” she said.

“I had no idea that all the titrations (a quantitative chemical analysis) I did in my chemistry labs would be so useful later. During my internship, I titrated nearly every day, testing for the amount of free sulfur in each tank of wine or determining the titratable acidity of grapes/wines.”

From vineyard to vino Grapes are big business in the Erie Concord grape belt, which stretches from Erie County, Pennsylvania, to Chautauqua County, New York, and scientists play an important role in the industry, from the vineyard to the lab.

Penn State Behrend faculty members and students along with area farmers work together at LERGREC to improve crops, thwart pests, and explore new varieties and growing techniques. The center has been operating for more than sixty-five years.

Sometimes, as in the case of Stefanick’s internship, several goals can be met all at once.

Learning on the job “My supervisor, Mario Mazza, helped me shape a research project from past data the winery had collected related to an analysis test known as Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen (YAN),” Stefanick said.

“I was trying to find out if there was a correlation between fermentation time and YAN, which is the nitrogen available for the yeast to begin fermentation.”

“It’s tricky to figure out,” she said, “because there are a lot of factors, such as wine variety and nutrient addition, that play a role in how fermentation proceeds.”

Stefanick also learned how to properly taste wine.

“It’s much more than swirling it around in the glass and sipping it,” she said. “It involves picking up on aromas that may be slightly off or sensing when the wine has just the right amount of sugar added. Tasting wine involves all of your senses.”

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Royal Ambition

Alumna forms nonprofit to mentor, inspire youth of color

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^ Jacqueline Jackson â&#x20AC;&#x2122;02 (in hat) with some of her Royalty Project mentors and mentees.

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acqueline Jackson ’02 can’t remember a time she wasn’t mentoring someone.

“It’s important because it holds me to a higher standard,” Jackson said. “Knowing there are people who look to me as an example encourages me to push harder.”

As a student at Behrend, Jackson, who earned concurrent degrees in Marketing and International Business, served in several leadership roles—as a resident assistant, as president of the Association of Black Collegians, in student government, and on the Multi-Cultural Council, among other activities.

launching before The Royalty Project was officially recognized as a 501(c)(3).

“All is well now, though,” she said. “Mistakes were corrected, and lessons were learned.”

When she graduated and began her career in corporate retail, she continued reaching back to help others achieve Such is life and business—a series of lessons learned the hard as well. She has a special interest in empowering young way. In any case, who could fault Jackson for her enthusiasm people, which is why, three years ago, she formed a and eagerness to help young people? nonprofit organization, the Royalty Project, a cultural enrichment initiative in Harlem, About the Royalty Project New York, serving youth of “Children are fearless, unbiased, “The name was chosen to convey color ages 10 to 14. and natural risk takers. They are a ‘ascension,’” Jackson said. “The painful “Mentoring kids is the history of African Americans has huge inspiration to the adults who produced a large amount of self-doubt fountain of youth,” Jackson said. “Children are fearless, embrace and engage with them.” in our community. Considering ourselves unbiased, and natural risk royalty conveys that we are called to a takers. They are a huge higher standard.” inspiration to the adults who embrace and engage with The Royalty Project is an eight-week program offered twice them. Mentoring is truly rejuvenating.” a year, in the spring and fall. Students participate in Saturday workshops that include activities and discussions about the Labor of love history and culture of African descendants. They also go on a The Royalty Project is a side venture for Jackson, who has group field trip before the class culminates with a graduation spent the past seventeen years working for retail brands ceremony, dubbed “The Crowning.” such as The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Coach, and Kate Spade.

Both women and men serve as mentors for the This year, she pivoted from fashion to home décor, joining Royalty Project.

West Elm in New York City as director of inventory planning for decorative accessories.

“Everything we do is co-facilitated by a male and female team,” Jackson said. “We partner to prepare for and lead She formed the Royalty Project with friends, many of whom the activity together. It’s a great way to exhibit cooperation serve on the board of directors for the organization. between genders.”

“We had been casually discussing ways to contribute to our It’s an important, if subtle, life lesson. It’s just one of many community and culture for some time and came up with the that Jackson and her volunteers hope to convey. idea of a mentor program,” she said. “We developed the idea, branded the concept, solicited community partners, “Self-awareness leading to self-esteem grounded in the and organized a launch party in less than a year. Fortunately, substance of legacy is the special sauce,” Jackson said. it was well received and successful even though I was “We work to share and embody the beauty that comes impetuous. We made some rookie mistakes that took years from a painful past by telling our own history. So often, our to correct.” history and culture are depicted and narrated by people or groups who aren’t a part of it. It’s important that we narrate Among those mistakes was getting a web address with a our own stories.” dot-com domain instead of a dot-org address—and

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STUDENT SUCCESS

Penn State Behrend students succeed in and out of the classroom. Here are just some of the many students recording remarkable accomplishments and achievements this academic year.

FIRST GONG OF 2020 Students in Penn State's Schreyer Honors College strike a gong at the completion of their thesis. Ben Gauge, who graduated in December with dual degrees in Creative Writing and History, was the first to ring Behrend's gong this year. He celebrated his accomplishment on January 3.

PUBLIC RELATIONS STUDENT OF THE YEAR Marketing major Jaret Kelly won the PR Student of the Year Contest, sponsored by the Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Kelly and other area college students were challenged to apply public relations fundamentals to a realistic scenario and demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to plan, organize, implement, and evaluate a single public relations campaign.

He not only received recognition for his winning campaign, but also a $500 cash prize. Kelly also won an award for “A Behrend Story,” a holiday video featuring student volunteers that he wrote, directed, filmed, and produced for the college.

GRADUATE STUDENT PRESENTS RESEARCH WORK John Black, a Master of Manufacturing Management student, gave a presentation about his independent research project “Dynamic System Modeling and Simulation in Mid-Size Manufacturing Facilities” at the Midwest Decision Science Institute’s mini conference this past fall.

“The purpose of the project is to explore all of the potential applications and benefits of simulation and system modeling in smaller companies in order to help them maintain a competitive edge and keep pace with a corporate industry environment,” said Black, who is working on the project with Honeywell Smart Energy in Geneva, Ohio.

Presenting at the conference gave Black an opportunity to get feedback and answer questions that helped him hone the focus of his project.

“The end objective of this project is to provide a strong argument for how simulation and advanced modeling techniques can keep companies of limited size and resources profitable and competitive in today’s market,” he said.

Black works full-time as a design engineer at Advantage Puck Technologies in Corry, Pennsylvania, while he pursues his master’s degree.

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STUDENT WINS BRONZE IN STATE EQUESTRIAN COMPETITION While many college students spend their weekends working or catching up on sleep, one Penn State Behrend Marketing major spends her free time in a saddle, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Faith Wheeler, a first-year student, has been riding horses since she was in preschool. She began participating in 4-H horse shows when she was ten years old.

“I started out showing a little pony that I got for Christmas,” Wheeler said. “I still have him!”

It was Ziggy, however, Wheeler’s faithful quarter horse, on which she rode to third place in Pennsylvania in the Ranch Horse Pleasure division of 4-H equestrian competition last month. The two also placed fifth in the state in Reining.

You can read more about Wheeler and Ziggy at behrendblog.com.

SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS FUNDED Three students, all interns for Behrend’s Sustainable Food System program and Sustainable Behrend, were awarded grant funds from Penn State’s Student Engagement Network to pay for learning and growth opportunities that they will use to, in turn, enlighten and enrich the Behrend community.

Celeste Makay, senior Environmental Science major > "Studying the Impacts of Climate Change while Rebuilding Homes" Makay will travel to the Bahamas on spring break to help devastated communities rebuild after Hurricane Dorian. Hands-on volunteer work is only part of her mission, however. Her primary goal in this endeavor is to hear the stories of those who are already facing the calamitous burdens of climate change—voices that she feels are too often drowned out in our world. She aims to record the experiences of folks who are struggling, and present them when she returns to Behrend.

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< Aydin Mitchell, senior Environmental Science major "Growing Engagement at Behrend and Beyond" Mitchell has designed a new, community-oriented garden space that will begin to be installed at Behrend this spring. This funding will help Mitchell and fellow students create a welcoming, inclusive, interactive space that is intended to generate enthusiasm for outdoor engagement and food systems education. The expansion will also allow for increased food production, boosting the amount of fresh, organically grown produce offered to the campus community.

Pearl Patterson, junior Psychology major > "A Semester of New Learning" Patterson is taking a semester off from Behrend to attend several highly regarded retreat centers, where she will immerse herself in studying meditation. She will also travel to New Zealand to volunteer on organic farms. "My intention is to clarify my academic and professional aspirations, as well as give back to people who are working to create a sustainable culture,” Patterson said. She will blog about her experience throughout her immersion and share her experiences with the Behrend community when she returns.

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Six Feet Are Better than Two

ATHLETICS

Student-athlete participates in Sled Dog World Championships in Sweden

^ Emily Ferrans and her dog Marge in a canicross event.

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hen you think of dog sledding, you probably picture a hardy Alaskan bundled in fur riding a clattering sled pulled by a team of hulking huskies over frozen terrain.

What you might not imagine is a fit young woman, furiously pedaling a mountain bike through the woods behind a dog strapped to the bike stem pulling full-speed ahead. It’s called bikejoring, and it’s a form of dog mushing done on dryland.

It's one of two events, the other being canicross—crosscountry running with a dog tethered to your waist—that Emily Ferrans, a member of the Behrend Lions cross-country and track teams, competes in with her dog, Marge.

“We work together,” said Ferrans, a first-year student from Cranberry, Pennsylvania. “People sometimes assume the dog is doing all the work, but that is definitely not the case, especially not in dryland events.”

They make a great team. In fact, they are so good that the two recently competed on the world stage. Ferrans and Marge were selected by the United States Federation of Sled Dog Sports to represent Team USA at the 2019 IFSS Dryland Sled Dog World Championships in Sweden in October.

There, they competed with teams from more than two dozen countries. It was Ferrans’ goal just to get to the world championships, and she and Marge worked hard to secure a spot on the thirteen-member U.S. team.

“In the U.S., Marge and I dominate in our events, but it was different in an international setting,” she said. “The Nordic teams are very athletic and their dogs are a different breed; they run Greysters, which are a German shorthaired pointer and greyhound mix bred for sprint racing. It was humbling and awesome to even be on the trails with them.”

One thing dryland dogs share with their arctic counterparts? Hyperfocus on the job at hand.

“Not even deer will distract a dog who is racing,” she said. “We ran over a beaver last year. A beaver! Marge didn’t miss a beat. She won’t stop until she gets to the finish line.”

Pressing pause Marge reached the pinnacle of her racing career in Sweden. At almost nine years old, it’s time for her to slow down a little.

“She’ll be living the good life at home with my parents,” Ferrans said. “I will still be doing a handful of fun races with her, but without any pressure. She’ll probably retire fully in a few years.”

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^ Ferrans and her dog bikejoring.

Ferrans, who is majoring in Marketing at Behrend, plans to continue in the sport.

“I’m sure I’ll continue competing, but I won’t get another dog until after I graduate from college,” she said.

Until then, she’ll stay in shape running the hills of Behrend as a member of the track and cross-country teams.

A pup with too much energy

“Dryland mushing has a lot of hills, much like a cross-country course,” she said.

How does a young woman from the suburbs of Pittsburgh end up dog mushing on the world stage?

Is running harder or easier without being tethered to a dog?

Enter Duchess, a high-energy mutt and Ferrans family pet that needed to burn off some energy.

“Running with a canicross dog can definitely be more painful and physically demanding,” she said. “But the result is a much faster time than I could ever achieve on my own. A well-trained dog can take one to two minutes off your mile time. The challenge is learning to go with the dog and maintaining good form at a much higher speed.”

“My dad is a commercial pilot and he was in Sweden one time and saw dogs pulling skiers, and he wondered if it was something we could do with Duchess,” Ferrans said.

“He began researching different type of dog mushing and Duchess took right to it. We ran her for years.”

Ferrans began dog mushing when she was just 13, and got her first official sled dog, Marge, when she was 15.

“Marge was five and already trained when I got her,” she said. “She is a Eurohound, which is a pointer-Alaskan husky cross bred specifically for sprint races of less than five miles.

These types of dogs have the drive and pulling instinct of the husky, but the intelligence, sleekness, and shorter coat of the pointer, which is better for the warmer temperatures of dryland racing.”

Ferrans said she runs nearly every day, but limits canicross runs with Marge to once a month.

“Canicross puts a lot of stress on the body and it can lead to injury if you aren’t careful,” she said. “However, I can say canicross has made me a much better runner. It exposes my legs and lungs to speeds that would otherwise not be attainable, and that muscle memory and foot speed is a tremendous help during cross-country and track.”

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PRIDE OF THE LION Lions start strong After three AMCC championship titles in men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and women’s cross-country this fall, Penn State Behrend is in the lead for the 2019-20 President’s Cup title. The Lions collected 55.5 points out of a possible 67, for a league-high percentage ranking. A few highlights from the fall season:

ATHLETICS

Record-breaking time achieved Junior Savanna Carr won the AMCC Championship for the second time with a record-breaking time of 22:10.4 and was named AMCC Runner of the Year.

Additionally, she was the first cross-country runner from Behrend to qualify for the NCAA Championships twice during her athletic career, finishing in eighth place at the NCAA Mid-East Regional to qualify for the championships with a career-best time of 21:52.7 to earn All-Region honors. She finished eighth in the championships.

500th win

Dave Niland, head basketball coach, recently ^ 2019 AMCC Champion cross-country team achieved his 500th career win, making him the second-winningest coach at Penn State Behrend behind head baseball coach Paul Benim.

Highest winning percentage

The men’s soccer team won its tenth AMCC title, finishing with nineteen wins and two losses. The team was ranked nationally the entire season and finished with the highest winning percentage in the nation before falling to the No. 9 ranked Kenyon Lords in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament in November.

^ 2019 AMCC Champion soccer team

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^ 2019 AMCC Champion volleyball team

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Alumni Inducted into Hall of Fame Six former student-athletes, all 2009 graduates, have been added to the Penn State Behrend Athletics Hall of Fame.

They are, from left, Phil Stuczynski (track and field), Julie Koman Gasdick (softball), Brittany Hennessy Falkenham (volleyball), Nikki Frisbee Gailey (soccer), Nicole Kaschauer Wingertsahn (softball), and David Koerbel (baseball). The inductees are joined by Brian Streeter, senior director of Athletics, far right.

Endowments help generations of student-athletes

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hen longtime Penn State Behrend men's basketball coach Dave Niland earned his 500th career victory in December, he received an unexpected gift.

He learned that more than fifty former players, team supporters, and friends had collectively given more than $41,000 to establish an athletic endowment in his name at Behrend.

“I was extremely humbled and grateful for the generosity of our alums and supporters,” Niland said. “It was something that I was totally surprised to receive, and the more I found out about it, the more emotional I got.”

“I started thinking about all the people who have been part of my time here, and it’s really touching that they did this in my name,” he said. “It means a lot, and I hope it helps our studentathletes for a very long time to come.”

The Dave Niland Men’s Basketball Endowment is the fourteenth athletic endowment created at Behrend.

Division III studentathletes like those

at Behrend are not eligible for sports scholarships, so endowments are really the best way to support their athletic endeavors, said David Johnson, associate director of Development and Alumni Relations. Endowments can be directed to the athletic department in general or to a specific sports program.

of Athletics, and supporters can also make ongoing contributions to established endowments.

“Because budgets for Division III sports are limited, most of the funds allocated to athletics programs have to be used to cover the basics like uniforms. They don’t cover expenses like travel, additional equipment needs, and the cost of food and accommodations on the road,” Johnson said. “So, for the teams to travel, they have to fundraise a good amount of that money themselves.

Endowments help offset these costs.”

“Endowments are a great way for former teammates and team supporters who love the sport and the school to give in a way that will impact generations of athletes,” Streeter said. “Our student-athletes play Division III sports, not for scholarship money, but because they love the experience of being on a team and competing together. By creating an endowment, you're helping those teams succeed not just now, but for years to come.”

The largest athletic endowment at Behrend came in the form of a $2 million gift from Ted and Barbara Junker in 1997, but most involve much smaller amounts. While the minimum amount to establish an endowment is $25,000, there's no minimum on the number of people who can contribute, said Brian Streeter, senior director

In total, about 340 student-athletes compete for Behrend each year across twenty-four teams. The goal is to establish athletic endowments for every one of those teams.

Alumni and friends interested in learning more about establishing an athletic endowment or contributing to an existing endowment should contact David Johnson at 814-898-6780 or at dbj6@psu.edu.

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^ Bob Yerkey ’70 is pictured at upper left with the 1966 Behrend baseball team.

Alumnus Boosts Basketball With Endowment

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leadership for developing the athletic program that exists today at Behrend.

As a freshman in 1965, Yerkey ’70 began serving as student manager of the baseball team under coach Roger Sweeting.

Yerkey’s allegiance to the sport at Behrend is reflected in his personal

ince Bob Yerkey’s days as an undergraduate at Penn State Behrend, his fondness for the college and its athletic programs, particularly men’s basketball, has been a constant.

“My personal favorite has always been men's basketball,” he said, “and coach Dave Niland has us at or near the top on a regular basis.”

“As NCAA Division III athletes, Behrend’s student-athletes don't play for scholarships or TV and press coverage,” Yerkey said. “They play for the love of the game and that makes them very special to me. I hope to inspire others to support Behrend Athletics. It is one of the most rewarding things I have every done.”

After graduating from Behrend “Our home field was with a degree in Mechanical “As NCAA Division III athletes, a rough affair next to Engineering, Yerkey launched Behrend’s student-athletes don't play for his career with Pratt & Whitney a GE parking lot,” he recalled. “Now look at scholarships or TV and press coverage.” and then joined Rehrig Pacific, the beautiful on-campus with stints in both Erie and New facility we have. Back Hampshire. Today, he rents out then, we were a few hundred kids and cottages that he built himself along philanthropy. He recently opted to four buildings. It’s amazing to see just Chautauqua Lake in western New York. leverage the annual minimum required how awesome we have become in our He’s proud of his handiwork in building distribution from his Individual seventy years.” the cottages and equally pleased with Retirement Account (IRA) to the O gauge model train layout that Yerkey credits Brian Streeter, senior establish the Robert L. Yerkey Men’s he built above his garage—all 1,500 director of Athletics, and Behrend Basketball Endowment at Behrend square feet of it. with a $50,000 gift.

Alumni and friends who have an interest in supporting Behrend athletics programs through their personal philanthropy are encouraged to contact Kevin Moore, director of Development and Alumni Relations, at 814-898-6159 or kem7@psu.edu.

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THE IMPACT OF GIVING Support generates success

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he success of every Behrend student hinges on the support and involvement of a host of others: parents, faculty members, college leaders, and staff members. Unquestionably, that success relies too on the many alumni and friends whose gifts enrich the learning, research, and service experiences of our students and also advance the college’s outreach to the region.

Within the University’s current fundraising effort, A Greater Penn State for 21st Excellence, Penn State Behrend is focused on philanthropy to support four key priorities:

Encouraging Our Students

Enhancing Our Campus

Scholarships, both need-based and merit-based, bring talented students to Behrend from every background —and help them graduate on time and on track to successful careers and lives.

Students choose Behrend for world-class learning and for enriching experiences that allow them to grow and develop. Gifts to the college’s Financial Services Lab, Nursing Lab, and new Fitness and Recreation Center will support this goal.

Empowering Our Faculty

Enriching Our Community

Top-ranked academic programs begin with top-tier faculty. Endowed professorships, early career professorships, endowed chairs, and support for faculty-undergraduate research aid in efforts to sustain accomplished academic talent.

With private support of our Knowledge Park, Innovation Commons ideation lab, and STEAM community programs, we can continue to create regional programming and forge partnerships with local business and industry.

If you’d like to learn more about any of these fundraising priorities or other giving opportunities, contact Kevin Moore, director of Development and Alumni Relations, at 814-898-6159 or kem7@psu.edu.

GIVING UPDATE

Penn State is more than halfway through the fundraising effort, A Greater Penn State for 21st Excellence, which began July 1, 2016, and was recently extended to June 30, 2022. Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends of the college, Penn State Behrend has excellent campaign results to report (as of December 2019).

45/60 million

$

Campaign gifts and commitments against goal

9.6 million

$

Current value of new scholarship funds

344,800

$

New scholarship monies awarded since campaign start

35 11,536

New scholarships since the start of the campaign

Number of gifts made by nearly 2,800 unique givers

No. 10

Behrend’s rank, measured in terms of campaign goal, among the 43 fundraising units across the University

2,436,904

$

Total of scholarship awards made to students in 2018-19

1,041

Individual scholarships awarded from endowments and annually funded accounts in 2018-19 SPRING 2020

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Once a Nurse, Always a Giver H

elping others comes naturally to most nurses, and often, that can be seen in other aspects of a nurse’s life as well. That’s certainly true of a donor to Penn State Behrend who has established a scholarship to benefit Behrend nursing students.

After she and her husband had raised their four children, our donor, who wants to remain anonymous, became a registered nurse through the Saint Vincent School of Nursing in Erie. She said she has always valued her own education and recognizes the importance of nursing students getting a solid education in the field.

“Penn State Behrend has the best reputation for nursing education in the tri-state region,” she said. “I wanted to help young people pay for that outstanding education and make a difference in the lives of others. In helping students become nurses, my hope is that they will pay it forward helping others in turn. That will make it a win-win for me.”

A grandmother of 10, she created a fund she named Granmaz Dream Scholarship

for Nursing to help reduce the financial burden on high-achieving students pursuing their degrees in nursing at Behrend.

“Our donor is keenly aware of the important role that nurses play in the recovery of their patients,” said Kevin Moore, director of Development and Alumni Relations. “She is a great example of philanthropy, asking for nothing in return for establishing the scholarship other than the promise that Penn State Behrend continue to provide the best possible nursing education to its students.”

Alumni and friends of the college wishing to provide scholarship support can contribute, in any amount, to existing funds such as Granmaz Dream Scholarship for Nursing or establish their own fund.

To learn more, contact Moore at 814-898-6159 or kem7@psu.edu.

Bequest Honors Alumnus’ Late Wife and Memories of Behrend In the mid-1950s, Clifton (Clif) Merchant spent his freshman year as a Penn State student at what was then known as Behrend Center before transferring to the State College campus to pursue a degree in electrical engineering.

When a friend asked him to return to Behrend for homecoming weekend in his sophomore year—and even found him a blind date for the dance—he decided to make the trip back to Erie.

It was the best decision he ever made.

His blind date that weekend, Linda Hamer, would become his wife. The Merchants were married for 58 years, from December of 1958 until Linda’s passing in July of 2017.

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“It was a special marriage,” he said from his home in State College. “It was a really good marriage, and it all started at Behrend.”

Linda attended Behrend for a year before transferring to the State College campus and graduating with a degree in speech communications. She returned to school in the 1980s, earning her Ph.D. in education. A longtime teacher, she subsequently joined the faculty of the University’s College of Education, specializing in language and literacy while supervising the work of student teachers.

Linda’s time at Behrend held many good memories for both of them, Merchant said. Among the best was meeting him, he said, jokingly. She also had fond memories of living with

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Herbert Family Giving Bolsters Research Award

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or nearly 30 years, Penn State Behrend students have been receiving the John and Jane Herbert Undergraduate Research Award, which recognizes students who demonstrate outstanding academic and research achievement while pursuing their degrees at Behrend.

The award was created by the late John and Jane Herbert and has continued to grow with support by the couple’s daughter and son and by additional donors. Today, gifts to the fund total more than $130,000.

John and Jane Herbert’s connection to Penn State Behrend dates back to the early 1960s. That's when they moved to the Erie area for John Herbert to take a vice president of operations position for what was then known as General Telephone of Pennsylvania.

John Herbert was a 1932 Penn State graduate in engineering, and his loyalty to the University was strong, said his daughter, Mary Lou (Herbert) Pae ’63.

“When they first moved to Erie, he had to drive to a high spot to be able to listen to the football games in his car because no radio stations in Erie broadcast Penn State games,” she said.

That kind of commitment to supporting Penn State led him to seek out connections to Penn State Behrend when the couple settled in Erie, Pae said. He went on to become a member of the college’s Council of Fellows.

“Dad really got involved at Behrend and loved that connection,” she said.

By the time the Herberts moved to Erie, Pae and her brother, George Herbert ‘58, were grown. She was already a student at Penn State, and George was serving in the U.S.

^ From left, John ’32 and Jane Herbert and George ’58 and Jory Herbert.

Air Force. But while neither have spent much time in the Erie area, both have continued to contribute to the John and Jane Herbert Undergraduate Research Award as a way to honor the legacy of their parents.

“I do it out of memory and respect for my parents,” said Herbert, from his home in Orchard Park, New York.

Pae, who lives in State College, said she saw firsthand how a scholarship could make a difference to a student. Her husband, Dick Pae ‘62, played football and baseball for Penn State from 1958 to 1961 on an athletic scholarship.

“Because of that, I’ve always appreciated how scholarships can make a difference in students’ lives,” she said, “so I was pleased to see my parents establish the scholarship fund at Behrend, and I'm pleased that it continues to grow. To think that it is helping students meet the cost of getting a degree is very satisfying.”

about 25 other young women in Glenhill Farmhouse and starring in the play “Our Town.”

As a lasting tribute to his wife and their memories of Behrend, Merchant created a bequest to endow the Clifton Merchant and Dr. Linda (Hamer) Merchant Endowed Legacy Fund.

Established with an estate gift of $50,000, the fund will provide scholarships to Behrend junior status students from either the School of Engineering or the School of Humanities and Social Sciences who are actively involved in extracurricular activities. The first preference for the scholarships will go to current or past participants in the college’s theatre productions.

“We both carried a lot of good memories from our Behrend days,” Merchant said. “This fund is a way to honor Linda’s legacy and her time there.”

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Czulewicz Scholarship Honors A Good Life Cut Short

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oger Czulewicz came into the world on May 30, 1970, and, in his 48 years, blazed a bright path that won’t be forgotten by his family, friends, and associates. Czulewicz passed away last February following a fierce year-long battle with cancer.

To celebrate his life, his parents, Francis “Shelly” and Shirley Walsh Czulewicz, created the Roger Alan Czulewicz Scholarship at Penn State Behrend. Each year, Behrend students will benefit from the love and generosity that inspired his scholarship.

“We wanted to be sure that Roger’s life would be remembered and forever celebrated at Penn State,” Shelly Czulewicz said. “We wanted to honor him for the kind, caring, and loveable man he was, always willing to help others, oftentimes with no compensation for himself.”

Roger Czulewicz graduated from Erie’s St. Luke Elementary School and Cathedral Preparatory School followed by Penn State, where he was a member of the Alpha Chi Rho social fraternity. He later earned his juris doctor degree at Dayton University School of Law and, in Erie, worked diligently on behalf of his clients. Shortly before his diagnosis, he was notified that he had passed the Washington, D.C., bar exam and was looking forward to expanding his career.

“Shelly and Shirley know the unbelievable pain of losing a child and have been incredibly generous in their time of grief,” said Kevin Moore, director of Development and Alumni Relations. “We are honored to be entrusted with his memory at Penn State, and we look forward to celebrating his life with the first scholars next fall.”

Students who graduated from Cathedral Preparatory School or Villa Maria Academy in Erie and are enrolled at Penn State Behrend in any major are eligible for the Czulewicz Scholarship.

Alumni and friends interested in making a gift to the Roger Alan Czulewicz Scholarship should contact Moore at 814-898-6159 or kem7@psu.edu

Memorial Tribute Will Benefit Engineering Students Ron DelPorto retired from Penn State Behrend in 2017, but the former lecturer in engineering has remained close to the college.

DelPorto joined Behrend following a career with AMSCO (now STERIS) and taught computer programming to scores of students during his eighteen years teaching full time and fifteen years part time.

In retirement, he continues to attend Behrend lectures and events, including the Fasenmyer Engineering Design Conference—the School of Engineering’s senior capstone presentation

event—as well as alumni association and Behrend retiree gatherings. He and his wife, Carole, have also found a way to ensure that the DelPortos’ impact on students and the college will continue into the future.

With an estate commitment of $130,000, the DelPortos are creating the Ronald W. and Carole R. DelPorto Scholarship in Memory of Christopher DelPorto and Donald Yusz.

The scholarship will provide crucial financial support to Behrend students majoring in computer science or software engineering and will also serve as an enduring tribute to the DelPortos’ late son, Chris, and their late son-in-law, Donald, the husband of their daughter, Lori.

Alumni and friends who might be interested in making an estate gift as the DelPortos are doing—a gift that honors or memorializes loved ones while also supporting the success of Behrend students are encouraged to contact Kevin Moore, director of Development and Alumni Relations, at 814-898-6159 or kem7@psu.edu

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ALUMNI NEWS 1950s Lorelei (Gaylord) Summerville ’54

(Behrend 1950-51) recently retired from teaching after fifty years in education, first as a high school science teacher, then as a supervisor of science for two counties in Maryland. She is now a consultant to the National Institutes of Health in Baltimore, where she serves as an animal advocate on the Animal Care and Use Committee. She and her husband, Joel Bastow, reside in a retirement community in Silver Spring, Maryland. lee@thebastows.com

1980s Richard Irr ’89 is the president and

founder of J Cubed Financial Advisory Group, Inc. in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. The firm, which derives its name from Irr’s three sons (Jason, Jake, and Joey) specializes in wealth management was well as retirement planning for small businesses. Irr resides in Moon Township with his wife, Heidi. rirr@jcubedfinancial.com

1990s

Making a Change for Climate Change & Justice, a film about climate justice and how communities can address it. See Esser’s environmental videos on YouTube (enter “Diane Esser” in search box). dianesser@hotmail.com

2000s Rob Cooney ’01 completed an open

water swim race across the Straits of Mackinac between the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan this summer. He reports that it was “fun, but challenging thanks to a side current and waves.” He took second place in his age group and was the twentieth finisher out of 405 swimmers. rcooney@plastikoserie.com Eldridge McNair ’04 is working in

commercial real estate as a property operations manager at PS Business Parks in Seattle, where he resides with his wife of nearly two years, Anne. eldridgejmcnair@gmail.com

Tommy Phillips ’07 is currently working

vice president of underwriting for Erie Insurance’s west region. She joined Erie Insurance in 1991 as an underwriter and advanced to roles in management and leadership, most recently serving as vice president and commercial product manager. christine.lucas@erieinsurance.com

on his fifth sports-related book.

Previously published books include “Nifty Nineties: The Stories of an Amazing Decade in Pro Football History,” “Sundays at the Masters: From Jack to Tiger,” “Tribute to Troy: The Stories of USC’s Bowl Victories,” and “Packers vs. 49ers: A Golden Rivalry.” He is an avid Green Bay Packers fan who lives in Pittsburgh. packersfootball3@yahoo.com

Diane Christin Esser ’98 has founded

Carl A. Sizer ’11 was recently chosen

Christine Lucas ’91 was named regional

two Erie-based environmental organizations—Plant it Forward Community Tree Planting Initiative and a children’s environmental education program, I Am Planet Kid. She recently finished work on a documentary, The Green Connection Documentary

How to interpret these class notes • All alumni whose names are in bold type spent some or all of their Penn State years at Penn State Behrend.

• For those who completed their studies elsewhere in the University, years at Behrend are shown in parentheses after the graduation year.

• Regular type indicates a Penn State graduate who did not attend Behrend—most often the spouse of someone who did.

• If no state is given after a city name, that city is 1) in Pennsylvania, 2) in the state referred to earlier in the class note, or 3) a major city requiring no further identification.

Find Alumni News on the web: • On Facebook: “Penn State Behrend Alumni” • On LinkedIn: “Penn State Behrend Alumni Society” • On Twitter: Follow us at “BehrendAlum”

Now let’s hear from you!

Email your class note information to Kristen Comstock at kristencomstock@psu.edu, mail it to her at Penn State Behrend, Metzgar Center, 4701 College Drive, Erie PA 16563, or submit it online at behrend.psu.edu/classnotes.

to receive the Joan M. McLane Recent Alumna/Alumnus Award from Penn State. The award recognizes a recent graduate who has provided exemplary volunteer service to the Penn State Alumni Association. Learn more at alumni.psu.edu/awards.

SPRING 2020

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SPRING 2020

PARTING SHOTS

Girls gather STEAM

This summer, Behrend welcomed fifty seventh- and eighth-grade female students who attended Wabtec Girls With STEAM, a weeklong science, technology, engineering, and math camp where attendees are paired with female mentors from Wabtec Corporation. Lab and classroom sessions were led by female faculty members and Wabtec engineers.

WE ARE…always happy to welcome > family “home” Penn State Behrend welcomed hundreds to campus for Parents, Families & Alumni Weekend this past fall. Attendees enjoyed a beautiful fall weekend on campus and lots of fun activities and events. Thanks to all who joined us. Mark your calendar for the 2020 weekend scheduled for October 2-4.

< Behrend honored for commitment to community Penn State Behrend was recently recognized with the Commitment to Erie Award for large businesses. The award, given annually by GoErie.com | Erie Times-News, honors businesses and nonprofit organizations for the commitment that they make to the Erie region in the form of jobs, service to constituents, and economic and social impact. Dr. Ralph Ford, Chancellor, at left, accepted the award at a banquet this fall.

Sustainable dining in Trippe Hall > This fall, students in the Global Boarders and Tree House Special Living Option programs in Trippe Hall hosted a farm-to-table dinner. They even made their own desserts—mason jar cheesecakes! For more information about Behrend Special Living Options, visit behrendcampusliving.psu.edu.

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^ “Glenhill Farm: The History of a Family Estate” is available for purchase at the Penn State Behrend bookstore, or at Amazon.com.

New Book Details History of Glenhill Farmhouse A new book by Richard Hart, director emeritus of the John M. Lilley Library, explores the history of Glenhill Farmhouse, the country home of Ernst and Mary Behrend, whose donation of the property created what is now Penn State Behrend.

Hart, who retired in 2017, began researching the book, “Glenhill Farm: The History of a Family Estate,” after a co-worker discovered thousands of letters, documents, and architectural drawings in files at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg.

“There was a gap in the college history,” Hart said. “It kept coming back to me that as much as we honored the Behrends and the farmhouse, we really didn’t have an understanding of the context in which it was built.”

He found answers in the correspondence between the Behrends and their architect, R. Brognard Okie. The letters are revealing, both in context and through the style in which they were written. Ernst Behrend’s letters were short and to the point, and focused on technical issues. Most were written by an assistant. Mary Behrend’s letters were longer, and written by hand; she often included sketches for features she hoped the home would include. Once, she even built a model, which she mailed to Okie’s office in Philadelphia.

Okie, then 56, was an acclaimed architect who had built homes for the DuPonts, a Supreme Court justice, and the governor of Delaware. He had even done restoration work on the Betsy Ross house.

The home Okie built for the Behrends cost approximately $300,000 – roughly $5 million in today’s money. The family spent their first night there during the Thanksgiving week of 1932.

Ernst Behrend died eight years later. Mary Behrend spent less time at the home after that, preferring her residence in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 1948, she visited Glenhill during a cross-country trip; from the window, she saw two men walking near the pool. They were from Penn State, and their meeting that day would begin a very different history for the Behrends’ home, which, even then, was “admired by all who come to see it.”

A group of early graduates gathers outside Glenhill Farmhouse. >