Alumni News and Notes 28 Trees Serve as Living Tribute 12

Alumni NEWS

Meet the Alumni

Penn State Behrend alumni are making their mark on the world in a variety of ways. We caught up with several of them to learn what they’ve been up to since graduation.

MaryGrace Everett ‘19

BIOLOGY GRAD PUBLISHES TWO CHILDREN’S BOOKS

MaryGrace (Myers) Everett, a 2019 Biology graduate, recently published her second children’s book, The Good Bugs. She wrote and illustrated the book that introduces kids to the “good” bugs that protect people, clean up waste, pollinate flowers, and more.

Everett said her appreciation for insects grew in entomology classes at Behrend taught by Dr. Matthew Gruwell, associate professor of biology.

By day, Everett works with a different kind of “bug.” As a clinical lab assistant near Washington, D.C., she has spent the past year testing hundreds of patient samples for COVID-19 every day.

Everett published her first children’s book, Suited to Survive: The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection for Kids and Some Adults, in 2020. Both are available from Lilley Library or purchase on Amazon.

ALUMNA JOINS THE NEW YORK URBAN LEAGUE

Jacqueline Jackson ’02, who earned concurrent degrees in Marketing and International Business, is the new chief operating officer of the New York Urban League (NYUL), which serves New York’s African-American and underserved communities. In her new role, Jackson, who founded her own nonprofit youth mentoring program (The Royalty Project), has the charge of leading the organization to Jacqueline Jackson ‘02 improve business processes and drive operational efficiency in all initiatives and partnerships.

Before joining NYUL, Jackson worked in corporate retail management for Ralph Lauren, Coach Inc., Gap Inc., and Kate Spade NY.

“I am truly inspired by the New York Urban League’s legacy of civil rights service and community advocacy and I’m excited to be joining the team,” said Jackson, who is a native New Yorker and volunteered with NYUL for two years before being hired to lead the organization.

CARTOONIST WINS SECOND NATIONAL AWARD

For the second year in a row, artist and humorist Dave Blazek has won the prestigious National Cartoonists Society (NCS) Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Panel Cartoon. Blazek ’79 (1975-77) was honored for his cartoon, Loose Parts, which is nationally syndicated by The Washington Post. The Reuben is the “Oscar’s award of cartooning” and Blazek’s work was recognized by hundreds of the Dave Blazek ’79 world’s best cartoonists, illustrators, graphic novelists, and Hollywood animators.

“I’m not sure words, or pictures, can adequately express how simultaneously gratifying and humbling this award is,” Blazek said. “As someone who only began cartooning in middle age, I’m in awe of the giants and other pros who wander around the NCS. To be recognized by them leaves me flabbergasted.” Loose Parts celebrated its twentieth year in 2020. Blazek, an Erie native, and his wife, Eileen ’79, live in Valley Forge, Pa.

ECET GRAD RECOGNIZED AS YOUNG LEADER

Kevin Josue, a 2018 Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) graduate, was chosen by Control Engineering magazine as one of their 2020 Engineering Leaders Under 40. Josue, 25, is a field services engineer for Control Station, Inc. In Manchester, Connecticut. “I can comfortably say now that the ECET program has taught me all the practical skills I needed to succeed, and it Kevin Josue ‘18 gave me the purpose in life I was looking for,” Josue wrote in an email to one of his favorite professors, David Loker, associate professor of engineering in the ECET program.

Josue is still a Penn State student. He’s enrolled in the Master of Engineering Management program offered online through World Campus.

Jotham Austin II ‘96

ALUMNUS PUBLISHES PSYCHOLOGICAL TECHNO-THRILLER

What if you had the memories of 110 people stuffed into your brain? How would you know who you really are? Those are the central questions in a new fiction novel, Will You Still Love Me If I Become Someone Else?, by Jotham Austin II, a 1996 Biology graduate.

The premise: The passengers of Flight 2164 all lose their memories—all of them except for Brian, who not only retains his own conscious past but gains the memories of everyone else who was on the plane. As Brian begins recalling the past histories of the other passengers, he soon finds himself unable to separate his memories from theirs.

The roster of characters, their intertwined relationships, and scientific discoveries in Austin’s novel will throw you for a loop more than once.

As a student at Behrend, Austin was named the undergraduate researcher of the year for work he did with Dr. Michael Campbell, distinguished professor of biology. He subsequently went on to earn a Ph.D. and is now a research assistant professor at the University of Chicago, where he directs the Advanced Electron Microscopy Facility.

Do you have news to share in the next Behrend Magazine? Email hjc13@psu.edu.

GRAD COMES “HOME” FOR MCC GALA

Gibbs, center, posed with Educational Equity and Diversity Programs director Andy Herrera, right, and assistant director Walaa Ahmad, left, at the Multi-Cultural Council’s Spring 2021 Gala event in McGarvey Commons.

Behrend alumna Dr. Pamela (Sumah) Gibbs was the guest speaker at the college’s Multi-Cultural Council Gala in April. Gibbs holds three degrees from the Black School of Business: Marketing ’05, International Business ’06, and an M.B.A. ’07 and earned a Ph.D. in Information and Interaction Design from the University of Baltimore.

Gibbs is a researcher with Google, having held positions previously with Walmart, Northrop Grumman, and Bank of America. Of her time at Behrend, particularly her experiences with MCC, she said, “In these walls, I learned to cultivate my voice, honed my leadership skills, and made lifelong connections. I’m able to speak up and advocate for others today because of the things I learned in MCC and at Behrend.”

Living Memorials Beautify Campus

The beautiful wooded property on which Penn State Behrend sits was gifted to the University in 1948 by Mary Behrend in tribute to her late husband, Ernst, who owned Erie’s Hammermill Paper Company.

Before his death, Ernst and Mary traveled the world, often bringing back trees as living mementos of their trips. While that likely would not happen today, as importing non-native species can have disastrous consequences (see the American Chestnut story on page 18), it was not uncommon then—and it’s because of the Behrends’ journeys that the campus is now home to more than 200 species of notable trees and is recognized as an arboretum by the American Public Gardens Association.

Among the specimens are those made in memory or honor of family, friends, or associates by alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the college.

“My mom loved trees, so I thought it would be a good way to remember her,” said Lauren Piera-Jowell ’04, who donated a Wildfire Black Gum tree in honor of her mother, Andrea Piera. It’s planted near a main walkway on campus between Niagara Hall and Kochel Center.

Behrend’s natural environment is stunning—the gardens and flower beds, the variety of habitats from wetlands to forests to grasslands to the gorge—but it’s the trees that knit it all together. In the spring, the flowering varieties steal the show, and in autumn, the brilliant fall colors are a sight to behold.

It’s fitting that those who want to commemorate a loved one or, sometimes, a life event of their own would choose to plant a tree on campus, where it can be a living monument for decades. Recent campus tree gifts include: • A Fort McNair Chestnut tree near the wooden footbridge beside Turnbull

Hall, donated by Tod and Helen Martin and Roman and Kathleen Bielski in memory of Helen’s and Kathleen’s father, John Lewandowski. “Dad loved gardening, trees, and Penn State,”

said Helen Martin. “What a fitting memorial for a life well lived.” • Four Flower of Kent apple trees— donated by Roger Knacke, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy and former director of the School of

Science, with additional funds from

Larson Texts—planted near the Otto

Behrend Science Building. Flower of Kent trees are often referred to as “Newton” trees; physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton is said to have been lounging under a tree of this variety when he was struck by an apple, which legend holds inspired his theory of gravity. • A Japanese maple, which was installed behind Senat Hall by members of the college’s Maintenance and Operations staff in memory of staff member

Mike Devine, who died last year. “He was a great employee and friend,” said Kevin Engle, grounds foreman at Behrend. “He once found a large wild Japanese maple in that area, so we thought it would be fitting to add another down the wood line from the tree he found.” • An Appalachian Red Eastern Redbud tree planted on the east side of the

Health and Wellness Center by

This Chestnut tree was placed near Turnbull Hall in memory of Joseph Lewandowski

members of the center staff in memory of Kelley Wilke, a staff member who died in 2019. The tree will bloom for decades near the place where Wilke helped care for Behrend students.

If you’d like to purchase a tree in memory or recognition of someone who has made your world a more beautiful place, e-mail the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at aeg128@psu.edu or call 814-898-6345.

Leave your mark at Behrend

Celebrate your connection to Penn State Behrend with an inscribed paver at the Mary Behrend Monument Walk. The Mary Behrend Monument Walk honors Mary Behrend’s gift of her family’s Glenhill Farm estate to Penn State. The monument is a nine-foot granite obelisk surrounded by benches, trees, gardens, and a paver walkway. Installed on campus in fall 2015, it’s located next to what was once Mary’s painting studio, now the college’s Studio Theatre. Pavers can be inscribed with up to three lines for $150. You can find full details and order your paver at behrend.psu.edu/monument.

With resilience and creativity, grit and grace … WE DID IT.

As one Penn State Behrend community, working together—advancing our mission of teaching, research, and service.

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Behrend Theatre P-E-R-S-E-V-E-R-E-S

How do you put on a musical during

a pandemic when you can’t have a show indoors and audience (and cast) members can’t be within six feet of one another? You put up tents in the Wilson Parking Lot on campus and hope for decent weather. In April. In Erie.

It probably goes without saying that Emily Cassano, assistant teaching professor of music, theatre, and visual arts, was more stressed than usual trying to pick and pull off a spring musical.

Cassano needed a show with a small cast that would have limited physical interaction with one another. She chose “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” by Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn. The musical is a celebration of twitchy middle-school awkwardness: One contestant, beset with allergies, traces the letters with his foot as he spells each word. Another speaks six languages and can say “hello” in seven more but can’t manage even a basic conversation with a boy.

The show, which is typically set in a middle-school gymnasium, required minimal staging. Cassano made one adjustment to maintain physical distancing: Rather than sit the “contestants” on bleachers, where they would wait their turn to spell, she positioned them in chairs, spaced nine feet apart. The audience members sat seated socially distanced in a second tent.

The show was a hit with all but one performance sold out, from the first one when it snowed to the last one, three days later, when it was 60 degrees. That’s just April in E-R-I-E.

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Emily Cassano, assistant teaching professor of music, theatre, and visual arts, needed a show with a small cast that would have limited physical interaction with one another. She chose “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”