Welcome to this issue of  Wright State University Magazine.

There have been many new developments on campus since our last issue. I am so pleased to inform you that Wright State University now has a seventh Ohio Center of Excellence—in the arts! The excitement of this announcement last October was only surpassed by a congratulatory message from none other than two-time Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks.

A longtime supporter of Wright State, Tom graciously gave of his time to film a brief video that was shown at our news conference announcing the latest Center of Excellence. Tom even went one step further and made a 30-second TV spot, encouraging people to come discover the future of the arts at Wright State University. If you haven’t seen these wonderful testimonials by Tom, which were edited and produced by Wright State motion pictures graduate Evan Nesbitt, please take a moment to visit our website. You will be beaming with pride!

Receiving praise from someone of Tom Hanks’s caliber speaks volumes about the quality of education Wright State provides. It is also a reflection of the continued commitment to excellence by our faculty, staff, and students.

In this issue, you will read about how Wright State is changing lives every day through education, research, and community service. With our innovative degree programs, service-learning opportunities, and real-world research experiences for students, it’s little wonder why Wright State is drawing praise from our hometown
to Hollywood.

Of course, none of this would be possible without you—our esteemed alumni, lifelong friends, and generous supporters. Here’s to another great year of working together to change the lives of our students and the communities we serve.

Warmest regards from campus,

David R. Hopkins

President

Wright State University

Undergraduate researcher Jonathon Ali wants to wipe out pesky honeysuckle.

They are developing insect-sized aircraft. They are looking for ways to control invasive plants that choke out native species. They are working on preventing back injuries to military pilots and health care workers.
They are Wright State researchers—and they are only undergraduates.

Under the guidance of devoted faculty members, undergraduate research at Wright State is growing.

“Our faculty puts plenty into this,” said Provost Steven Angle. “They do it because they care about our students. They teach them how to think and how to address problems.”

Angle said conducting research enables students to see the relevance of what they are learning in class. “They catch fire,” he said. “In some cases, it’s like flipping a switch.”

And he said undergraduate research is not just for A students, but can also be for those who initially struggle a bit academically. “If you give them a chance to shine, sometimes they’re the most hardworking, the most creative. They make up for the classroom challenges they may lack in the beginning by working five times as hard,” he added.

The provost pointed out that in many cases, the role of faculty is to get students to believe in themselves, to dig deep and make that extra effort. “They amaze themselves. The faculty oftentimes knows the student is capable of this, but the student doesn’t know.”

Dominique Belanger, director of undergraduate research, said faculty members can make the experience. Many are eager to take young researchers under their wing and watch them grow. There are faculty members who would love to have more freshmen in their labs because some of the lab work doesn’t necessarily need to be preceded by classroom courses. “By the time they are seniors, they are independent researchers and may have gotten published,” Belanger explained.

Wright State’s multifaceted research programs mirror those of other universities around the country. At Northwestern University, undergraduates check and analyze data on depression and anxiety. They research oceanography and marine ecology at the College of William and Mary. And at the University of Wyoming, they use observatories to investigate star formation within the Milky Way.

Belanger said giving undergraduates the opportunity to conduct research enables them to apply what they learn in the classroom, likening the experience to adjusting the lens on a camera to the point where it all suddenly comes into focus. “It connects the dots,” she explained.

Dr. Goswami’s team

Tarun Goswami, joint associate professor of biomedical engineering and orthopaedic surgery, estimates he has overseen the research of 50 undergraduate students at Wright State over the past six years.

Goswami said the involvement of the faculty is critical at the beginning stages, but that the bulk of the work is done by students, who gain the experience. One of his students, Michael Robertson, used his undergraduate research as a springboard into medical school.

Michael Robertson

Robertson, Wright State’s 2010–11 Presidential Scholar and currently a first-year student at Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine, investigated the stress on the neck’s vertebra, especially in trauma cases.

“Involvement in this research is one of the reasons that led me to medical school,” said Robertson, of Cincinnati.

In years past, faculty and graduate students conducted the lion’s share of research in higher education. But undergraduate research has grown tremendously over the past two decades, according to national undergraduate research conference studies.

“Campuses are realizing the benefits of undergraduate research in terms of student engagement,” said Nancy Hensel, former executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Undergraduate Research.

The council is composed of colleges and universities that have undergraduate research programs or are looking to start them. The organization currently has about 620 institutional members and 7,000 individual members, which represents a growth of roughly 40 percent over the past five years. Proponents believe using undergraduates to help conduct research enhances learning by basing it on inquiry, problem solving, and creative accomplishment, instead of acquiring knowledge passively.

Engineering, nursing, and science and mathematics at Wright State boast
strong undergraduate research programs. However, research projects have also sprung from the fields of art, psychology, and social work. And the performing
arts engage students in scholarly activity through plays, concerts, and other creative expression.

Suzanne Bock with her sculpture Aten. Photograph by Skip Peterson

Fine Arts student Suzanne Bock is an example of such research. She conducted her research in physics, studying light waves, the laws of reflection and refraction, and experimenting with ways to manipulate light through various transparencies. The result will be “Aten,” an angular, eight-foot-high sculpture that cocoons illuminated mirrors, creating a kaleidoscope effect.

“When I first came to Wright State, I knew I was going to attempt to combine sciences and art,” said Bock, of Fairborn. “Art is not really a stand-alone entity. It’s a reflection of our world and everything in it. It cannot exist in a vacuum.”

Wright State undergraduate Corrine Welch is creating 3-D medical images in order to detect the forces acting on the spine to help prevent spinal injuries. “I feel that I’m actually doing something with my major rather than just coming and studying all the time,” Welch said. “I actually get to be a part of helping people with my engineering skills.”

Don Cipollini, biology professor and director of the Environmental Sciences Ph.D. program, has three undergraduate researchers working under his guidance this year. “It is one of the most important hands-on learning experiences they will have,” Cipollini said. “Many of them will tell you they learned more in the process of doing the research than they did in class. This is a mechanism of teaching, and it does take a lot of time.”

Cipollini’s student researchers work not only in the lab, but in the greenhouse and the field as well. They must come up with ideas, write proposals, establish experimental designs, interpret data, write it up, and present it.

Student Jonathan Ali is working in Cipollini’s lab investigating the interactions and effect of invasive honeysuckle on native species. Invasive species can come to dominate parts of the ecosystem, suffocating the regeneration of native plants and trees and outcompeting more desirable plants that would increase the diversity of native species.

Invasive species are among the top three threats to biodiversity. They hurt agricultural and forest productivity and cost the nation an estimated $120 billion annually in control efforts and loss of productivity, according to Cipollini. Ali is investigating whether honeysuckle uses a kind of fungi in its roots that make it more competitive than native plants. That information could help restore native plants once the honeysuckle is removed.

Ali said the research has improved his scientific method and increased his interest in the field. “It is time consuming, but rewarding because I’m producing something,” he said.

According to Sherri Foster, “Undergraduate research will give me an edge against my peers, since many will not have the research background I will have.” Foster is researching musculoskeletal disorders in health care workers. “With the economy, everyone needs an edge right now,” she added. She then recalled that after settling on her research project, she realized, “Wow. We’re going to make an impact on something.”

Wright State senior Alex Woodward examines some invasive plants that are being grown for research in a lab on campus. Photograph by Skip Peterson

Daniel Hyman researches diabetic conditions.

Roberta Pohlman still recounts Daniel Hyman’s first visit in a surprised tone.

“He walked into my office a year ago and said, ‘I want to do research.’ He was a freshman,” said Pohlman, Ph.D., associate professor of biological
sciences in Wright State’s College of
Science and Mathematics.

Hyman, of Tucson, Ariz., wasn’t even one of Pohlman’s students. But the freshman honors student and biology major had learned that Pohlman directed the Exercise Biology Program in the Department of Biological Sciences and conducted research in the Boonshoft School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

He developed a project with Pohlman and Mariana Morris, Ph.D., distinguished professor of research and chair, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Soon, an undergraduate freshman was doing real laboratory research that could lead to new ways to treat human patients.

The project studied how mice that had been fed special diets to make them diabetic got better with regular exercise. Hyman’s work showed that having mice swim as little as one hour per day, three days per week, improved their
diabetic conditions.

He presented a poster on his work in October 2011 at the Ohio Physiological Society’s regional meeting at the University of Cincinnati, and he has submitted another abstract for a national research symposium in Washington, D.C.

Hyman is among the rapidly growing number of undergraduates at colleges and universities who are donning lab coats, according to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

Now a sophomore, Hyman has his sights set on an MD degree from Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine. He said he knew the stiff competition for medical school acceptance meant he would have to distinguish himself. Even being in the Honors Program, as he was, would not guarantee it.

“I knew if you’re serious about medical school you’re going to do biomedical research,” he said. In the lab, Hyman found himself setting up experiments, making observations, writing reports, and even training other undergrads who followed him through Pohlman’s door.

“I was surprised at how fast I was incorporated into the research program,” Hyman said. “I thought I was going to be a helper. I didn’t realize how much real research I was going to do.”

Calamityville Facilities and Operations Manager Bud McCormick and Major Karey Dufour

Working closely with the U.S. Air Force, Wright State has developed the nation’s first master’s program focused on flight and disaster nursing.

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, military and civilian emergency workers labored side by side to treat the wounded and evacuate the refugees. Despite their mutual determination to help others, the two groups had little experience working together and quickly learned that they didn’t speak the same language. The communication gap between the military personnel and civilian first responders often bred anger and frustration, hindering their life-saving mission.

In the aftermath of Katrina, the United States government recognized the need for increased understanding and cooperation between members of the military and their non-military counterparts. The Department of Homeland Security even issued a directive to standardize the training of emergency responders.

Meanwhile, the United States Air Force was looking for additional educational programs for its flight nurses. It already taught a six-week course in flight nursing, but what the branch really needed was a graduate degree program to give its nurses more concentrated, in-depth training.

Then the Air Force announced it would move its School of Aerospace Medicine from Texas to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure. With Wright State in Wright-Patt’s backyard, the pieces began to fall into place.

The university accepted the challenge of addressing both the flight and disaster needs for the nursing field by developing a unique specialization in its already successful clinical nurse specialist (CNS) program.

“Wright State was really perfect for this,” said Gail Moddeman, Ph.D., R.N., director of the CNS program. “We have a close working relationship with the base and excellent nursing programs.”

Professors from the College of Nursing and Health worked closely with the Air Force to develop the specialization’s curriculum, traveling to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois to learn about the military.

Students in the flight and disaster specialization come to the program with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and at least two years of flight experience. Military candidates are chosen by the Air Force Institute of Technology while civilians apply directly to Wright State.

The specialization launched in Fall 2010 and its first student will graduate this spring: Major Karey Dufour.

“Military members and their families have given so much to this country, in the U.S. and abroad, and they deserve the best that the Air Force aeromedical evacuation community can give them,” Dufour said. “With the advanced skills I’ve learned in the program, I feel more confident in providing the best care to all my patients.”

Students in the program complete all the requirements of the regular CNS master’s degree program. A CNS is an advanced practice nurse, a clinical expert in a specialized field.  They may provide training for other nurses or teach patients and their families to help manage their health at home. A CNS can also write protocols for their hospitals and clinics or conduct medical research.

CNS students wishing to specialize in flight and disaster nursing take additional classes on caring for patients in a crisis and during air transport. They gain clinical experience in settings such as hospital trauma units, CareFlight or military aeromedical units. The specialization prepares students to manage critical care patients in unstructured environments.

“We look at some of the unique challenges that flight nurses face, things like altitude physiology,” said Moddeman. “The air pressure in an airplane changes how the body and our equipment behave.”

“You can’t just take a patient and throw them on an airplane,” added Dufour.

Students in the program take hands-on disaster preparedness courses at the Calamityville Tactical Laboratory, a component of the Wright State University National Center for Medical Readiness, an Ohio Center of Excellence. There they can practice caring for patients in a variety of situations from natural disasters to terrorism
and combat.

“There is no other program like this across the country,” said Dan Kirkpatrick, an Air Force veteran and Wright State clinical instructor who teaches the disaster courses in the program. “Wright State is really on the cutting edge of this.”

The program is still evolving, based in part on feedback from Dufour. “Being the first person in the program, I’ve been able to work very closely with the faculty,” said Dufour. “They have been really receptive to my comments and we’re shaping this program as I go along.”

Dufour believes that one of the program’s biggest strengths is improving understanding between military personnel and civilians in a crisis. Commissioned since the day she graduated college, Dufour has had limited exposure to what she calls “the civilian world.” “I have a lot to learn on the military side, but I have even more to learn on the civilian side,” she said.

Dufour has already put her education to good use. Though the CNS program does not require students to complete a thesis, Dufour began researching communication tools that military staff and civilians use when handing off patients for air transport.

Evacuating patients during disaster and combat situations is fast paced, hectic and often dangerous for those involved. Ground medics and nurses may not have time to fully brief the evacuation team on each patient, and flight nurses rarely have time to go through each patient’s chart.

“We often only have minutes to land and load patients,” said Dufour. “Most of the time we don’t even turn off the plane’s engines.”

Based on what she had learned in the program and by reviewing best practices in use throughout the military, Dufour came up with her own tool. The Situation Background Assessment Recommendation (SBAR) tool functions as a sort of checklist to quickly communicate important patient information in a simple, visual format.

Dufour’s SBAR was adapted from five different communication tools, including other variations on the SBAR model. It was developed and tested by Dufour and a group of other researchers in conjunction with a study funded by the Air Force 711th Human Systems Wing.

The potential value of Dufour’s SBAR tool is already being recognized. Dufour won third place for her project at the annual Association of Military Surgeons of the United States Conference, and the tool is currently under trial implementation in the Air Force.

Wright State student and inventor Dave Campbell

Dave Campbell always wanted to be an inventor. But first he had to reinvent himself.

The Springboro resident is doing just that with the help of a new Wright State program that is geared to turn engineers into business professionals and entrepreneurs.

Campbell is enrolled in the Master’s in Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship program (MEIE). Through this program, he is learning the business side of what it takes to turn an idea into a commercial product.

He is building on the bachelor’s degree in industrial technology he earned in 2006 from Ohio University in Athens. That degree helped him land a job first in the boating industry in Florida, and in 2008 at BEHR Dayton Thermal Products, where he works today as a continuous improvement process engineer.

Campbell said he enjoys his job at BEHR and is happy to be back in the Dayton area, where he and his wife are raising two small children.

But he says he always has had an entrepreneurial itch to invent new gadgets and sell them to the world.

“My ideal job is to come up with new products and get them to market,” he said.

He envisioned creating a small business in parallel to his current one. But it was an itch his undergraduate courses didn’t teach him how to scratch. “It’s tricky. The big part is understanding who wants what and how to get it to them,” he said.

Campbell knew he needed to learn more about business development and technology commercialization. He signed up for weekend courses in Wright State’s MBA program in 2009. Wright State rolled out the MEIE program that same year, and Campbell switched to it in the middle of 2010.

For Campbell, the MEIE program was the best of both worlds. It offered a master’s degree in his chosen field of engineering, but it also exposed him to the business world—and, more importantly, where the two meshed.

The program is a collaboration between Wright State’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Raj Soin College of Business. Its aim is to boost economic development in Ohio by creating a pool of graduates with the blend of engineering and business skills needed to help corporations and entrepreneurial firms speed products to market.

“The breakneck pace of technological advancement makes it imperative that Ohio’s labor force be equipped with both the technical and engineering skills needed to foster the innovation of the next big thing and the entrepreneurial and business knowledge that is necessary to guide innovation and speed its diffusion throughout the market,” said S. Narayanan, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Developing graduate programs in technological entrepreneurship and industrial innovation “is a powerful tool to help stem the tide and reverse the condition of long-term economic decline,” said Robert Premus, professor of economics, who co-directs the program with Narayanan.

The MEIE program requires students to produce a product or service, said Mary Fendley, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the program’s advisor. Campbell’s project is a new product, an innovative charger for cellphone batteries.

Students typically team up with local businesses for their projects, Fendley said, but Campbell is working with other MEIE students to form their own business. The charger will be the first of several products they have in mind.

“We started looking at the market and said, ‘This is a big market. This is a useful device, and nobody else is making it,’” Campbell said. The group meets regularly with the Small Business Development Center office in the Entrepreneur Center in downtown Dayton, halfway between Campbell’s home in Springboro and Wright State’s main campus.

“This is an example of the true entrepreneurial spirit of the MEIE program,” Fendley said.

Learning the secrets of entre-preneurship has not resulted in any “eureka” moments, Campbell said, but “I’m seeing how the pieces fit together.”

One thing he has learned is how much work it can take to do seemingly simple chores—patent research, for example. “That was a real eye opener. It’s really laborious,” Campbell said. “I thought you could just do a Google search.”

In addition to his full-time job, his master’s program, and his business-building project, Campbell has taken on an internship with the Ohio Board of Regents as a member of its Technology Commercialization Task Force. He said he is one of 20 students around the state charged with finding new ways that universities can partner with businesses to aid economic development.

“The state has an incentive to get technology out of university laboratories and into the marketplace,” Campbell said. “It parallels what we’re doing in the MEIE program. It’s technology commercialization.”

Campbell sees his work on the task force as a way to help pay back the state university system for the help it is giving him through the MEIE program. But he admits it is also a good way to build business connections for his future company.

According to Campbell, his participation is another way the MEIE program is creating new career options for him. “It’s opening a lot of doors and creating opportunities,” he said. “I can speak both languages, engineering and business. I think that’s the benefit of the program.”

Kyle Hughes (above right)

Like many students, Kyle Hughes (above right) entered college wanting to change
the world.

Hughes has been able to transform that vague desire into a career plan as an early graduate of an innovative Wright State University master’s degree program.

In December, Hughes received a Master of Science in Renewable and Clean Energy from Wright State’s College of Engineering and Computer Sciences. For his master’s thesis, he worked on a Department of Energy–funded research project to develop a software tool for designing geothermal heating and cooling systems.

“I want to live on this earth and do something positive. I feel like the best way to do that is in renewable and clean energy,” he said.

The Renewable and Clean Energy degree is the first of its kind in Ohio and one of approximately 10 nationwide. It offers an unusually broad palette of courses, thanks to a collaborative approach that includes other regional institutions.

Hughes, who hails from near Winchester in southeastern Ohio, said he chose Wright State for his undergraduate degree after visiting his sister on campus while she was enrolled in the university’s nursing program. “I liked the area, and the university was fairly well known for its engineering program,” he said.

Among the courses he took for his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering was one on solar energy taught by Jim Menart, Ph.D. (above left), professor of mechanical and materials engineering and director of the Renewable and Clean Energy program.

“I said, this is the kind of thing I want to do,” Hughes said. He signed up for a senior engineering project on geothermal energy that Menart advised, and Menart offered him a graduate assistantship for a geothermal research project. “I took it and it snowballed from there,” he said.

Menart said interest in the program has been strong since the university launched it in January 2009. Beginning with four students in its first year, the program’s enrollment grew to 11 in its second year and 26 in its third. The first few graduates of the two-year program have found positions in their fields or chosen to pursue doctoral degrees, Menart said.

Menart defines renewable energy as energy sources that are replenished as fast, or faster, than we use them, so that we never use them up. Solar energy is a good example. Clean energy refers to energy sources and technology that are more environmentally friendly than our current use of fossil fuels. A good example there is geothermal energy.

Menart said the Renewable and Clean Energy program is in response to a recognized need for solutions to America’s energy problems, especially its heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

“We wanted to focus on this issue and try to start driving two things in this area,” Menart said. “One was to drive the education, and that is to put out engineers to fulfill a demand that we saw and that we feel is going to grow in the future. Two was to drive research. We need to lower costs in renewable and clean energies. In order to do that, you need to get some research going.

“So, what better place to start than at the master’s level for a Renewable and Clean Energy program? At the master’s level, we’ve got the education aspect going on and the research aspect going on, whereas at the undergraduate level you would only get the education but not the research. I think we have hit the sweet spot.”

To create a program that would be robust from the start, Wright State conceived it as a collaborative effort with the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Central State University, and the University of Dayton (UD). “We have 22 Renewable and Clean Energy courses, which is one of the largest selections across the country,” Menart said.

The collaborative approach takes advantage of each institution’s strengths. Wright State excels in computation, while AFIT offers a course on nuclear energy, Central State offers courses on clean coal technology and hydropower, and UD is strong in energy efficiency courses. Students at either Wright State or UD
can earn the degree, but they must take more than half of the courses at their
home institution.

Menart said the Renewable and Clean Energy program appeals to the desire of young people to make a difference in the world. “We get a lot of people who are interested in the field, and that’s great. I love to see so much interest. A lot of students who come in the door have a passion for doing this. It’s not just, ‘I want a degree to get a job.’ They feel this is an important issue, as I do, and they’re pursuing it for that reason.”

The program produces more than graduates alone. For his master’s thesis, Hughes was a part of a research team that developed a software tool that engineers can use for research or to design geothermal energy systems for homes or commercial buildings. Funded by the Department of Energy, the tool will be available for anyone to use, Hughes said.

Raised in a hilly, rural area where energy choices are limited and many families heat their homes with propane, Hughes hopes to help make geothermal energy more widely available, saving money for households as well as reducing their dependence on a fossil fuel.

Menart said the outlook is bright for careers in Renewable and Clean Energy. “The industry is here, it’s large, and it will grow. Prices are coming down, and that’s what needs to happen. If you look at solar energy, in the last 20 years the price of solar energy has come down, and I still see price decreases happening,” Menart said. “I feel there will be a strong penetration of different renewable energies into our economy in the future.”

Vikram Sethi

Scary reports of computer hacking make headlines almost daily. The tales of woe range from the theft of personal information and credit card numbers to the highly sophisticated infiltration of computer systems to spy on and even sabotage industrial facilities.

One of the most infamous cyber attacks was that of the so-called Stuxnet computer worm in 2009, which destroyed centrifuges that Iran was thought to be using to make nuclear weapons. Stuxnet proved that malicious computer code is not just a threat to data or computer systems; it can be used as a weapon to attack industrial plants.

The possibility that Stuxnet-like worms could be unleashed against oil refineries, nuclear power plants, or even military weapon systems worries Vikram Sethi, Ph.D., director of Wright State’s Institute of Defense Studies and Education (IDSE).

“It’s almost ironic that we built this interconnectivity between industrial control systems and networks in order to make it easy for us to be able to control all this equipment at a remote distance,” he said. “And now, all of a sudden this interconnectivity, which a lot of times is through public networks, becomes a source of weakness because it allows people without authorized access to control them as well.”

The need for cyber defense is fueling a boom in information security jobs. A 2011 market survey report by Frost & Sullivan projected the ranks of information security professionals in the Americas will grow from just over 1 million in 2011 to more than 1.785 million by 2015, and the worldwide job market will grow from 2.28 million to nearly 4.2 million.

Wright State is responding with new certification programs in cyber security—the first of their kind in Ohio. A master’s degree program is also in the planning stages. “Every day, we tweet about cyber attacks, loss of data, loss of privacy,” Sethi said. “Some of them are individual efforts, some of them really are state-sponsored efforts, yet they are more cohesive, they are more connected at targeting either certain agencies or organizations, and they keep increasing in complexity and frequency of attack.”

While the need for cyber security is growing, few information technology professionals are trained to meet it, Sethi said. Cyber security professionals typically migrate from the fields of information systems or computer science without the benefit of a structured educational program. “That’s what prompted us to begin offering these programs,” he said.

Beginning in March, IDSE will offer two, six-month certification programs in cyber security. The fundamentals certificate in cyber security prepares students to take four certification exams. The advanced certificate in cyber security builds on the Fundamentals Certificate and provides accelerated training. It also prepares students to complete the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Sethi said IDSE would offer the programs jointly with the Center for Professional Education. The bulk of the curricula will be the same, but some IDSE courses tailored for the military will include classified content. IDSE works closely with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, located nearby, to help it meet its training needs.

A key feature of the programs is that they prepare students for several certifications, Sethi said. “You don’t have an option of taking just one because that is just not what we see in a cyber security professional. We don’t want them to become one-dimensional and focus on a single exam, but really learn the wider body of what cyber security is about.”

Another program is training for secure software development—designing security into the software instead of adding security patches later. “The new battlefield is the cyber security battlefield. Having people who know how to write secure software is incredibly important,” said Ed Adams, chief executive officer of Wilmington, Mass.–based Security Innovation (SI). IDSE worked with SI to develop its secure software certification program, which students can take online. Adams said the program puts Wright State in the forefront of cyber security education.

Sethi said Wright State’s programs would make the Dayton area one of a few regions in the country with professional cyber security training programs. The idea is still new, and only a few universities around the country have begun to offer
such programs.

“One of the wonderful things Dayton offers us is such close proximity to Wright-Patterson, to the Air Force Institute of Technology located on the base, and to other groups within the base who have a lot of knowledge in this field. There is actually a very rich pool of people who have very specialized skills,” Sethi said.

The collection features the Wrights’ own technical and personal library, as well as family papers such as letters, diaries, financial records, and genealogical files. It also includes awards, certificates, medals, albums, recordings, and technical drawings. Perhaps the most valuable pieces in the collection are the thousands of photographs documenting the invention of the airplane and the lives of the Wright family.

The Wright Brothers Collection was deeded to the university in 1975 by the Wright family. Since that time, numerous pieces have been donated to the collection, making it the most complete collection of Wright brothers material in the world. Here are a few selections from the collection.

Orville Wright report card, 1888

Wright School of Aviation, Huffman Prairie, 1911

Wright Flyer en route to Hunaudieres Race Course, Le Mans, France, 1908

Postcard from Wilbur Wright to his niece, Ivonette Wright, 1907

First controlled powered flight, Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, December 17, 1903

Orville Wright driver’s license, 1948.

Wrights receiving Aero Club of America medals, White House, June 1909

Wilbur Wright report card, 1876

Orville Wright identification card, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1942

Wright pilot, Walter Brookins, inspecting flyer, Huffman Prairie, 1910

The thrills of water sports have been part of Cole Robinson’s life since he was five years old. Growing up in Jamestown, Ohio, with a lake in his backyard, he began waterskiing and barefooting, and eventually moved into wakeboarding, which uses a single, wider board rather than skis. “It’s like snowboarding on the water,” he explained.

In 2007, Robinson entered his first wakeboarding competition, a state championship hosted by the National Wakeboarding League. He placed second which was enough to qualify for national competition.

“I ended up winning the national championships at 17 years old. That kicked off my desire to pursue it a little more seriously. It’s pretty fun, when you’re standing on top of the podium,” he said.

In wakeboarding, competitors are pulled behind a motorboat or along a cable system, called cable riding. After winning the national championship, Robinson began to focus on cable riding, perfecting his techniques. In Michigan, he competed in Stokestock, a music and wakeboarding event, beginning the day with boat competition and ending with cable.

“At the professional level, I won both the boat and cable, which is really unusual for one rider to win both.” After the event, he also earned his first sponsor, Humanoid Wakeboards.

Now a recognized leader in cable and boat wakeboarding, Robinson competes as often as he can, ending his last season with seven consecutive first-place finishes at the professional level. In his free time, he mentors future wakeboarding competitors at Wake Nation in Cincinnati and works on his freelance internet marketing and website design jobs.

Cole Robinson

A senior in the Raj Soin College of Business, Robinson is fascinated with internet marketing. His parents are successful entrepreneurs and his brother a business and MBA alumnus. Business runs in his blood. He and his family discuss business for hours, as he shares what he is studying and how it applies to his parents’ businesses and his brother’s endeavors.

About following in his brother’s footsteps in his decision to attend Wright State, Robinson smiled as he proudly stated, “I never applied anywhere else. I knew this was where I wanted to go.” His younger brother also will be attending Wright State, although not in the business school. “My brother is a really smart kid. He is on track to be valedictorian and will be going into the engineering program here. I guess you could say he has had enough business education from the rest of us.”

Thinking about his future, Robinson said he hopes to get an MBA from Wright State. He believes that his undergraduate studies have helped him build the foundation for a successful career in business and also have taught him more about himself.

“Many of my professors have shared great lessons. My entrepreneurship class project allowed me to learn to create an entire business plan with internet marketing. My professor, Kendall Goodrich, was able to help me define some skills, weaknesses, and strengths that will help me with my freelance business and anything I plan to pursue in the future,” he said.

Flushing with a blend of humility and determination, Robinson observed that while some call him a professional wakeboarder, he sees his future profession as business and marketing.

“Everything I’ve accomplished, from wakeboarding to my marketing education, has helped to make me extremely well rounded. The more I’ve learned about marketing, the more I’ve applied it to my wakeboarding. Wakeboarding is all about self promotion. I love marketing. Everything is marketing. I’m creating a brand for myself, and promoting that brand.”

Sally and Howard Stevens

Like an artist working on a masterpiece, Howard and Sally Stevens consider their involvement with Wright State University a continual work in progress. As their connections to the students, faculty, and staff have expanded over the years, so have their commitment and investment.

While Howard and Sally are both graduates of the University of Dayton, their relationship with Wright State began before the university even had a name. Howard taught a course in psychology back in the days when Wright State was known as the Dayton Campus of Miami University and Ohio State University.

When the couple formed their own company, Chally Group Worldwide, in 1973, they turned to Wright State for assistance. Founded through a grant from the Department of Justice, Chally was charged with the task of developing selection assessments to measure the skills and motivations of candidates for law enforcement positions.

The Civil Rights Act had just passed by that time, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had yet to be established.

“They [the Department of Justice] needed to be sure that whoever they brought on board could do the job,” Sally recalled. “Our job was to come up with some measures that would not have any adverse impact on protected groups. Different races would pass equally, and males and females would pass equally so there wasn’t discrimination put into the hiring process by what was used as a screening tool.”

Gathering data before the invention of the internet proved to be challenging. Since the project required large amounts of computer power, the Stevenses worked with Bev Tall, who at that time directed Wright State’s computer science program, to utilize university computers. The business partnership with Tall would evolve into a personal friendship. Tall even invited them to one of the first Madrigal Dinners hosted by Wright State.

Years later, Howard and Sally became friends with Mary Ellen Mazey, the current president of Bowling Green State University and former dean of Wright State’s College of Liberal Arts. The friendship increased the couple’s interest in the arts at Wright State. During that time, Howard and Sally became well acquainted with the abundance of talented students in the performing arts. “We were impressed with the theatre department, because it was just so good,” said Howard. It was only natural that those performances would set the stage for the Stevenses’ involvement with ArtsGala, an annual fundraiser for student scholarships. They have served on the host committee for the event since 2006.

The Stevenses are more than happy to play a role in providing a quality education for Wright State’s gifted young artists and preparing them for their future careers. “I am so proud of the employment rate among our grads in the performing arts—one of the most competitive industries in the country,” said Sally.

That correlation between education and job creation is particularly important to the them. “The most useful legacy you can leave is the improvement of the education of other people,” said Howard. “We are concerned about unemployment in this country,” he continued. “Our percentage of college graduates keeps decreasing. If we don’t change that, we’re going to lose our edge. Education is the key.”

“Giving people an education helps provide jobs, and that stimulates our economy and helps us to be a world leader versus a follower,” said Sally.

Through their company, they have taken their commitment to education one step further by providing internships for Ph.D. candidates in industrial/ organizational psychology. “It’s been to our mutual benefit. We’ve been able to support some of the students and they’ve been able to do some of the work that we do,” Sally explained. The Stevenses have even hired graduates from Wright State’s program. “The neat part is they have been able, at a very early time in their career, to do some pretty sophisticated work that positions them well to work with us afterwards, or work elsewhere,” said Sally. “They’re getting the kind of real-world experience during graduate school that most graduate students don’t get.”

That commitment to student success is a primary motivation behind their ongoing support of internships, scholarships, and the performing arts at Wright State. It also influences Howard’s contributions to the Wright State University Foundation, where he serves on the Board of Trustees.

But for all they have given to Wright State, Howard and Sally Stevens say they have received so much more in return. “If you get involved, you’re going to meet some interesting people,” said Howard. “You’re going to be part of the great things that get accomplished. You will gain access to things that you wouldn’t have otherwise seen.”

Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Jim Petro

Arts earn an Ohio Center of Excellence and an endorsement by Tom Hanks

In October, Wright State University’s Center for Collaborative Education, Leadership, and Innovation in the Arts (CELIA) was named an Ohio Center of Excellence. CELIA is Wright State’s seventh Ohio Center of Excellence, joining centers in human-centered innovation, neuroscience, disaster readiness, product reliability, micro air vehicles, and knowledge-enabled computing.

The announcement was punctuated by a message from Academy Award–winning actor Tom Hanks. Hanks gave a glowing endorsement of Wright State’s arts programs in a video message that appeared in local television commercials and movie theaters during the holidays.

“Wright State is training the artists of tomorrow. I know because I’ve worked with some of Wright State’s alumni, and they’re among the best in their fields,” Hanks said. “Wright State not only has one of the most outstanding arts programs in Ohio, but one of the best in the entire nation.”

Wright State’s Military Appreciation Night

Third year as Military Friendly School

Military Advanced Education, as well as G.I. Jobs, a premier magazine for military personnel who are transitioning into civilian life, gave Wright State University the designation of Military Friendly School for the third consecutive year.

The 2012 Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 20 percent of colleges, universities, and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members and veterans as students. Wright State helps support nearly 700 military students on campus.

Wright State offers resources to help military-connected students transition to campus. The university awards educational credits for military training and experience and has designed courses open only to veterans and military students. It also delivers high-quality career services to best put military experience to work and helps veterans connect with other students through campus events, housing options, and student clubs.

Honors students sort donations for Homefull.

Top 10 in community service

In September, Washington Magazine released its national rankings of 258 universities. In their community service participation and hours served category, Wright State ranked eighth in the nation, prompting the Huffington Post to name Wright State to its “Top 10 Colleges That Give Back to Communities.” The Post specifically cited Wright State’s We Serve U program as the primary reason for the ranking.

The group’s effort to raise school supplies for Dayton’s Westwood Elementary School in the fall was mentioned in the news article. Since then, We Serve U has helped collect donations for Blue Star Mothers to send to troops overseas and volunteered at the 2012 Science Olympiad Invitational hosted by Wright State in January.

We Serve U’s spring quarter 2012 project is Wright State’s Relay for Life fundraiser.

President Hopkins announces aerospace initiative

Wright State to lead $11.4 million aerospace initiative

In July, the Wright State Research Institute (WSRI) was named to lead an $11.4 million initiative to bolster Ohio’s aerospace and defense workforce.

The initiative includes the creation of the Wright State Defense Aerospace Graduate Studies Institute, designed to work with other schools across Ohio’s university system to build an aerospace curriculum. The university and WSRI joined a coalition of industry partners who pledged to create 250 jobs for aerospace and defense.

First Wright brothers day

First Wright brothers day

For the first time, the Wright State community channeled its collective, inner Orville and Wilbur Wright in a day of commemoration to the brothers’ achievements and inspiration. The first annual event was held on Oct. 5, the anniversary of Wilbur’s 40-minute flight at Huffman Prairie in 1905.

Organized by the Wright State Marketing Club, the event took place in the Student Union and featured historical artifacts and modern-day, cutting-edge technology.

A series of exhibits and activities featuring a Wright Flyer simulator and several examples of current innovative Wright State projects were on display in the Atrium.

The event was kicked off by Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, who read an executive resolution from Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The proclamation declared Oct. 5 Wright Brothers Day across Ohio.

BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey and students

Former Wright State educator named president at Bowling Green

In July, Mary Ellen Mazey, Ph.D., former dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State University, was named president of Bowling Green State University. Mazey had been provost and vice president for academic affairs at Auburn University before she was hired as BGSU’s 11th president.

Mazey served for seven years as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State University. She was founding director of the Center for Urban and Public Affairs at Wright State and served in that capacity for 11 years, from 1983 to 1994. During that time, she was the university’s representative to the Ohio Board of Regents’ Urban University Advisory Committee. In addition, she served as chair of the Department of Urban Affairs and Geography and led the creation of a Master of Public Administration Program. From 1993 to 1996, Mazey held the title of Distinguished Professor of Professional Service at Wright State.

Bouldering Competition at Adventure Summit

2012 Adventure Summit, Alumni Reunion Weekend, and Parents & Family Weekend converged on campus

For three days in February, campus was quite a bit busier than usual as three of Wright State’s biggest annual and semi-annual events converged on one weekend. After a year off, the Adventure Summit was back with perennial favorites like the Bouldering Competition at the Wright State Climbing Wall and new activities like the Canoe Battleship Competition at the Wright State Natatorium. Alumni Reunion Weekend featured a fun-filled Blast from the Past party prior to a men’s basketball game and, as always, the College Outstanding Alumni Awards luncheon. Parents & Family Weekend kept things light with a Double Dare Game Show event, Monte Carlo Night, and Breakfast with Wright State President David R. Hopkins, where Bobbi Warrington, a single mother from Wellston, Ohio, was named Parent of the Year.

Parents & Family Weekend’s Monte Carlo Night

More Wright State in the news:

Wright State was awarded a UAV contract worth up to $5 million
www.wright.edu/uav

Four women from Wright State were named to the Dayton Daily News list of 10 top women in the Dayton region
www.wright.edu/tenwomen

Celebrating the first 100 Ph.D.’s for Wright State’s Doctoral Engineering Program
www.wright.edu/first100

Sharon Benedict (B.F.A.) has completed a three-year mural project on the stage backdrop of the Clifton Opera House. The mural includes Clifton Gorge, Clifton’s historic buildings and homes, a covered bridge, a stage coach stop, and opera house performances. She is the outreach manager for the Greene County Public Library.

Class of 1974

Michael R. Schock (B.S.) is the 2011 recipient of the A.P. Black Research Award from the American Water Works Association. The award is given to recognize outstanding research contributions to water science and water supply rendered over an appreciable period of time. Schock is a chemist with the U.S. EPA in Cincinnati.

Class of 1975

Steve DeVito (M.S.) is senior director for regional teams for IHS Inc. Based in the company’s Houston office, he covers the Latin America and Frontier North America regions, and is responsible for overseeing critical information development scouting and reports. With experience on six continents, DeVito has held positions with Mobil, Enserch, Esso, Union Texas, and Texas American Resources.

Class of 1976

Claire Orologas (B.S.Ed., M.Ed. 1982), who directs education and public programs at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., has been named executive director of the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Fla. Her appointment is effective Feb. 1.

Class of 1977

Cynthia Preston (B.S.B.) has been promoted from associate professor to professor at the University of Northwestern Ohio. She currently teaches finance and economics courses.

Class of 1980

Jim Bennett (B.S.B., M.B.A. 1984) has been appointed the director of Revel Consulting’s mobile discipline. Bennett brings nearly 20 years of experience in the wireless industry as a senior executive and consultant to his new role.

Kieva Prema Irelan (M.S.) of Middletown, Ohio, has recently been included in Strathmore’s Who’s Who Registry for her outstanding contributions and achievements in the holistic health care field.

Eric Jacobson (B.A.) has received the green light from TELETOON Canada, Inc., to begin production on 26 episodes of Camp Lakebottom. Co-created by Jacobson and Betsy McGowen, the show is an animated comedy for six- to 11-year-olds. The half-hour series is slated for delivery in late fall 2012.

Chris McAtee (B.S.B.) will become managing principal of Brower Insurance Agency LLC in January. McAtee is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and a construction risk and insurance specialist. McAtee is on the board of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, a member of the Institute of Management Accountants, the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the AICPA.

Class of 1982

Tony Aretz, Ph.D. (M.A.), president of the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, was appointed to the board of directors of the Council of Independent Colleges for a three-year term. Aretz is a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.

Class of 1984

Mike Meade (B.S.) is the new manager of laboratory services at Clinton Memorial Hospital. Most recently, Meade worked for Decypher Technologies as a consultant in transitioning the United States Air Force Epidemiology Laboratory from San Antonio, Texas, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He was formerly the laboratory director at Dayton Heart and Vascular Hospital and a laboratory supervisor with Kettering Medical Center.

Class of 1985

Ventriloquist Ian Varella (B.A.) and magician Todd Diamond performed recently in San Marcos, Texas, as a way to give back to their hometown. They have been seen all over the world, including TV specials in Asia, Last Comic Standing, MTV, Penn & Teller’s Sin City, Showtime, and more.

Class of 1986

Fernando Viera (B.A.) has been appointed as Stedman Machine Co.’s Latin America sales manager. Viera will be responsible for selling crushing equipment and systems throughout Latin America.

Class of 1987

Joseph M. Gordon, CPA, (B.S.) is a partner at Flagel, Huber, Flagel & Co. CPA’s.  He was formerly a partner at Dohner, Louis & Stephens CPA’s until the two firms merged in January.

Mia Jarrell (B.S.) joined Colliers International Tampa Bay as managing director of office services. Jarrell will focus on tenant representation and landlord representation for office users and owners. She works on assignments for national, regional, and local clients with unique needs, such as law firms, professional service firms, multi-market clients, and clients with complex leasing issues.

Mark Steiner

Mark Steiner, PE, LEED AP BD+C, (B.S.) has been promoted to manager of the Dayton office of architecture and engineering firm Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and Cannon, Inc.

Michael Wallace (B.S.B.), InfoSystems’ director of software services, has co-authored the book IT Governance: Policies and Procedures. Wallace has worked as an application developer, systems analyst, and technical and business consultant and has assisted the state of Ohio in developing statewide information technology policies.

Class of 1988

Alfredo A. Sandoval (M.B.A.) is a member of the Board of Visitors of the United States Air Force Academy. He resides in Indian Wells, California.

Judy Wyatt

Judy Wyatt (B.A.) has funded a geriatric study of the Patient-Centered Medical Home for People Living with Dementia. Larry Lawhorne, M.D., chair of the Department of Geriatrics at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, is spearheading the study to help people stay at home longer and live in a safer environment.

Class of 1989

Doug Bowling (B.S.) is the new dean of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College’s Center for Innovative Technologies. Bowling had been serving as associate dean at the center, which houses eight academic departments in information and engineering technologies and offers majors in 27 technology fields.

Robert Campbell (B.S.B.) was promoted to senior vice president and chief sourcing officer of Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati. Prior to joining Fifth Third in 2010, he worked at New Page Corporation, General Electric, and MeadWestvaco.

Marilyn McCauley

Marilyn McCauley (B.S.B.) established the Boots to Books Veterans Support Fund at Wright State University to help veterans and their dependents meet monetary needs that would otherwise prevent them from graduating. She is a Fairborn City Councilwoman and runs McManagement Group, a consulting business that helps defense contractors meet industry standards on project performance management issues and systems.

Charles Powell (M.S.) is the new CEO of The Centers, a mental health facility in Ocala, Florida. He is the former CEO of South Georgia’s Behavioral Health Services.

Michael Zoglio (M.D.) is a psychiatrist based in Sacramento, Calif., who also sees adult clients at Oaklawn in Elkhart, Ind., via telepsychiatry.

Class of 1990

Terry Bouquot (B.S.B) has been named senior director of business operations for the Northern Cincinnati market by Cox Media Group Ohio. He has been with Cox for more than 18 years in various sales and management roles, beginning at the Dayton Daily News and including stints at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and CMG Ohio’s Southwest Ohio Newspaper Group.

Kimberly DeWeese (B.S.B.) has been named treasurer of the Wilmington City Schools. She is the former treasurer of New Lebanon Local Schools.

Class of 1991

Heather Douglas (B.F.A.) teamed up with her mother, Charlie Douglas, to direct the musical Cats at Presentation Academy in Louisville. Heather Douglas, who had performed for two years in a London production of Cats 10 years ago, was hired to be the choreographer and co-director for the show. Before coming to Louisville, she was in Beijing working on a production for a London company. After the show, she returned to London to work on a holiday-related theatrical project.

Thomas D. Reed, Ph.D., (M.S.) is co-founder and chief science officer of Intrexon Corp., a Blacksburg-based biotechnology company with major facilities in Maryland and North Carolina. A molecular geneticist, Reed is an inventor with numerous patents.

Class of 1993

Jennifer Frey (B.S.E.E., M.D. 2007) has joined the obstetrics and gynecology practice of Dr. Keith Watson in Yellow Springs.

Jennifer Gillespie (M.Ed.) was spotlighted as Educator of the Week in the Neighbors section of the Dayton Daily News. She teaches vocal music in the fourth and fifth grades at Fairborn Intermediate School.

Robert “Bobby” Rubin (M.A.) received the 10th annual International Education Award from the University Center for International Education at Wright State University. He is a senior lecturer of English and director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Rubin has directed and taught the Ambassador program to Costa Rica for nearly 20 years.

Class of 1994

Monaqui Porter Young

Monaqui Porter Young (B.F.A.) is the president and CEO of MPGlobal Connect Inc., an import distribution company that offers green tea and nutrition education, in New York City.

Class of 1995

Kevin Bell (B.S.Ed., M.Ed. 1998) was named interim superintendent of Trotwood-Madison Schools. He will continue to be assistant superintendent, director of curriculum and instruction.

Class of 1997

Kavita S. Hatwalkar (B.A.) earned a Ph.D. in English from Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. Hatwalkar, a former Wright State Honors Scholar, is a tenure-track assistant professor of English at Central Methodist University in Fayette, MO.

Tom Mayor

Mike King

Adam White

Tom Mayor (B.F.A.) released a documentary, Call of the Scenic River: An Ohio Journey, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. He is an educational film and video producer and runs his own film production company, The Message Shop. The documentary was filmed by Ohio cinema-tographers and fellow Wright State motion pictures graduates, (B.F.A. 1991) and Adam White (B.F.A. 1995), with underwater footage by Mayor. Public screenings are scheduled throughout select Ohio cities.

Class of 1998

Josh Egbert (B.S.) has been named as continuous improvement director for Elgin Fastener Group, Versailles, Indiana, and will focus on lean manufacturing improvements at all of its divisions. He holds a membership in the Association for Manufacturing Excellence.

Lisa Whittaker (B.S.Ed.) of Blacklick has joined Porter Wright as an associate in the firm’s labor and employment department. She will focus her practice in all areas of management-side labor and employment law.

Class of 1999

Rick Wiecek (M.D.) was elected vice chief of staff at Memorial Hospital in Fremont, Ohio. Wiecek has served on the medical staff since 2005. He will serve as chairman of the Patient Care Evaluation Committee, and will also serve on the Medical Executive Committee and the Joint Conference Committee.

Class of 2000

Wanda J. Franklin (M.S.) recently became an assistant professor and chair of the Community and Global Health Department at Ashland University. Her teaching expertise includes community and public health nursing, cultural dimensions, and competency in nursing, nursing policy, and beginning nursing courses.

Sherrie Niedermeier (M.Ed.) has been promoted to assistant vice president at Fifth Third Bancorp in downtown Cincinnati. She serves as a senior project specialist.

TyKiah Wright (B.S.B., M.B.A. 2001) was honored with five others at “Celebrating Visionaries” in November. Presented by the Columbus Young Professionals Club, the awards program and gala benefited the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Class of 2001

Noel McKinney (M.S.) has joined Obama For America as a database engineer.

Joseph Okolo (M.D.) has joined the cardiology department at the Jackson Clinic in West Tennessee. Okolo is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and board-eligible for the American Board of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Class of 2002

Debbie Conn (B.A.) received the Caring More Award from Crossroads Hospice. She is a social worker and resides in Fairborn, Ohio.

Brian Popp (M.S.) was welcomed as a new assistant professor of organometallic chemistry at West Virginia University’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Class of 2003

Chad Creviston

Chad Creviston (B.S.) has been named a San Diego co-chair for the 2012 Mitt Romney Presidential Campaign, where he will support advancement of the campaign’s fundraising efforts in California.

Beth Graves (B.S.B.) has been chosen by Prime Controls, Inc., of Dayton to be the new marketing manager. Graves will be responsible for brand management, company communications, market research, distribution expansion strategy, as well as sales and engineering support.

Class of 2004

Susan Abouhassan (M.D.) has joined Group Health Associates in their allergy/immunology practice, seeing patients at the Anderson Township, Clifton, Kenwood, and Mason, Ohio, offices.

Cliff Towner (M.M.) became Georgia College’s director of band activities in July 2011. Towner oversees the university’s jazz and pep bands, and wind symphony.

Class of 2005

Andrew Groeber (B.S.) is the regional aftersales manager for Generac Power Systems.

Rachel Danielle Peterson (B.A.) received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Poetry from Ashland University. A poem from her manuscript, entitled “Ink,” will be featured in the upcoming issue of Literary Imagination, which is published on behalf of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers.

Class of 2006

Jesse Coleman (B.F.A.) plays the Cowardly Lion and farmhand Zeke in the national tour of The Wizard of Oz. Coleman has been in his role since September 2009 and has completed some 300 performances, wearing a 30-pound costume. He has performed in each state except Hawaii.

Class of 2007

Jeffrey Crace (B.A.), a singer-songwriter in Springfield, Ohio, released his melancholic second CD, Monarch.

Karen Strider-Iiames (M.P.A.) received the Best Local Society Newsletter and Editor Award from the American Hosta Society. She is the director of brand development and integrated communications at Wright State, vice president of the Englewood (Ohio) Administrative Board for Planning and Zoning Appeals, and serves on the Friends of Aullwood executive board, supporting Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm.

Class of 2008

Grant Shirley (M.S.), an occupational medicine physician, has joined Blount Memorial Hospital’s medical staff and its business health program. He will see patients at the Blount Memorial Occupational Health Center at Springbrook in Alcoa, Tennessee.

Class of 2009

Carrie Cook Bray (M.B.A.) has joined Buckingham Financial Group in Dayton as a senior wealth manager. Bray leads their marketing and public relations strategies, including social media. She also manages comprehensive financial planning for individual clients.

Erin E. Martin (B.S.B.) has been promoted to regional sales manager at Nexstep Commercial Products in Paxton, Ill.

Jesse Thomas

Jesse Thomas (B.F.A.) took first place in the juried show “Launch,” a York Art Institute contest for emerging artists. Thomas is currently an M.F.A. student at the University of New Hampshire.

Will Xue (B.S.), owner of Yoba Frozen Yogurt in Beavercreek, plans to open a second location this summer.

Class of 2010

David Durkin (B.S.) is a police officer with the Beavercreek Police Department.

Tyler Pottkotter (A.T.S., A.A. 2011) was named to the Wright State University police force at the Lake Campus. Pottkotter is a graduate of the Grand Lake Law Enforcement Academy and serves as a reserve officer with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office.

Class of 2011

Christine Retherford (B.S.) is a paralegal with Ohio Legal Rights Service in Columbus.

Hope R. Snead (B.S.N.) was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps during a recent ceremony. She earned her degree through the Nurse Enlisted Commissioning Program and graduated magna cum laude. After completing the Air Force Nurse Transitioning Program at Scottsdale, Arizona, Snead will report to her first assignment as a commissioned officer and registered nurse at David-Grant Air Force Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, California.

"Things Fall Apart," Jesse James Thomas, B.F.A., ’09

"Call of the Scenic River," Tom Mayor, B.F.A., ’91; Mike King, B.F.A., ’91; Adam White, B.F.A.,’95.

An antique lover and avid collector of historic books and documents, Wright State College of Nursing and Health (CoNH) alumnus Nelda Martinez gave one of her most cherished pieces to her college—a first edition textbook written by famed nurse Florence Nightingale.

On campus for Alumni Reunion Weekend in February, Martinez gave the CoNH what she called “a gift from the heart” before she was awarded the college’s Outstanding Alumni of the Year at a luncheon the next day.

“I started thinking about what I can give back to Wright State and also honor my parents, who helped me so much when I was first starting my nursing career here,” said Martinez, who also holds a Ph.D. in nursing from Ohio State and is currently serving as dean and professor of nursing at University of Texas–Brownsville.

Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment, in 1860, of her nursing school at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, the first secular nursing school in the world. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

“She was one of the first nurses to begin identifying key areas of care to another person and she wrote a timeless book about it, Notes on Nursing,” said Martinez.

Sharing stories with current students and educators in the CoNH computer lab, Martinez explained how she chose Wright State University and later became the first Hispanic American to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the university in 1978 and then a Master of Science in Rehabilitation/Community Health Nursing in 1982.

Martinez and others spoke about how Nightingale’s analysis and conclusions in the book are still relevant to the profession today. She noted it was similar to how her education from Wright State in the ’70s and ’80s is also still relevant to her career.

Martinez and 10 other Wright State alumni were honored Saturday, Feb. 11, at the 12th annual College Outstanding Alumni Awards Luncheon at the Wright State University Nutter Center. During the ceremony, each college recognized former students who have gone on to make exceptional contributions to their professional fields while giving back to their communities.

The moment had arrived, and this time Cassandra Lloyd was ready to make up for near misses at NCAA regionals as an underclassman, ready to run focused but loose, and ready to claim her spot at NCAA nationals.

Before settling into the blocks in Bloomington, Ind., at last year’s NCAA East Regional, Lloyd, a junior Wright State hurdler at the time, said a little prayer and then unleashed all of her preparation, technique, sinewy strength, and explosive athleticism. “I really wasn’t paying any attention to anyone else that day,” said Lloyd. “I just went.”

With the starter’s gunshot, Wright State’s first Division 1 All-American exploded from her crouched position. Staying low in her start, Lloyd pushed hard in the drive phase for her first five strides before arising fully erect just as she reached the first hurdle. She cleared the aluminum obstacle in a blur of flailing limbs and the race was on.

Three steps, jump, three steps, jump, repeating the same motions almost unconsciously, clearing the last hurdle and sprinting upright to the finish. Feeling as if the moment itself carried her through, Lloyd likened it to a near out-of-body experience. She notched her best-recorded time in her strongest event, the 100-meter hurdles. Lloyd needed only 13.18 seconds to qualify for nationals.

“I don’t know how that happened,” said Lloyd. “I was just thinking, ‘let’s do this.’ I really wanted to make it to nationals, so I said to myself, ‘Just get in these blocks and go all out’,” said Lloyd.

That day Lloyd had a great start, but was nowhere close to finished. Fueled by sour memories of watching upperclassmen take her spot at nationals the previous two years, Lloyd had been building her training regimen with a year-round crescendo of practice and preparation, all the while counting down the 365 days, 8,760 hours, and 525,600 seconds to that one event.

Lloyd is undoubtedly Wright State’s greatest track star of all time and may be the university’s finest athlete ever. The Springfield South product came from a basketball family and seemed destined to excel in that sport but decided to try her hand at track in high school. She finished her high school career as a Division 1 state champion in the 100-meter hurdles and began her college career with a flurry, winning the league title in the same event. She was ultimately named the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year as a freshman.

Last year, as a junior, she was named the Horizon League Track Athlete of the Year for indoor and outdoor track and field after setting school records in the 60- and 100-meter hurdles. Lloyd has never lost a hurdle event at the Horizon League championships and has accumulated six indoor and outdoor titles in three years. She placed 14th in the 100-meter hurdles at nationals last year and led Wright State to its best finish ever in the league, fourth place.

In her final year at Wright State, Cassandra’s training is being constructed toward a goal that is one step further. “I want to be up on that NCAA champions’ podium,” said Lloyd. When asked what she wants to accomplish this year, Lloyd, humble but confident, ticked off her goals as if reading a grocery list. “I want to make it to indoor nationals in the 60-meter hurdles. In outdoor I want to run under 13 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. I think that’s attainable,” Lloyd added with a change in tone that indicated just how routine this conversation has become for her. “I want to make it to the top eight at the outdoor championships.  I also want to make it to the Olympic trials.”

The suggestion of an Olympic push murmurs in the background of Lloyd’s more immediate goals, but appears to be attainable. If she finishes in the top eight at nationals, she likely will be invited to the Olympic trials. “I don’t see why she couldn’t get any faster because for the past three years she has improved a lot each year,” said Wright State track and field coach Fabien Corbillon. “Does she surprise me every year? She sure does.”

Corbillon, a French transplant in America, is willing to talk about the Olympics, but said Lloyd still has much to improve. “Technically she is not where I’d like her to be,” said Corbillon. “To me, she’s the slowest fast hurdler I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Noting Lloyd’s ability to markedly improve each year, Corbillon observed that her sprint technique still holds her back, particularly her propensity for popping up too fast in her start and getting “tight in the shoulders” during a race. The result is a chain reaction that throws off her lower body’s efficiency, slowing her sprint. Up to this point, she has been able to make up for it with superb hurdling ability, “But she should be faster than she is on the 60- and 100-meter dash. She’s often half a second slower than hurdlers at her level on the flat, and there is no reason for that,” according to Corbillon.

Reminded about this all-too familiar critique from “Coach Fabe,” as Lloyd calls him, she takes it all in stride. Responding to Corbillion’s slowest fast hurdler remark, Lloyd said with a laugh, “I don’t know why, but I am. In high school I never really focused on sprinting. They just said, go do these hurdles, so that’s what I did. My sprint form is just all messed up. We’re trying to work on that.”

She continues to trim her times. In her freshman year, Cassandra improved in the 100-meter hurdles by .4 seconds. She shaved off another .4 seconds in the event her sophomore year and then another .3 seconds last year. If she takes it down another .3 seconds, she’ll begin to join the ranks of some of the fastest hurdlers in the world.

To make the Olympic team, Corbillon said, “She’s basically the perfect age, because she’s just about out of college and she can get ready for four years, focusing only on the next Olympics (in 2016, Rio de Janeiro).”

As Lloyd’s final collegiate track season approaches, her focus is trained on the podium at nationals. “Anything is possible,” said Lloyd.

All are highlights from a successful 2011 season, which are helping to embolden the 2012 Wright State baseball Raiders, who began a new season in February. The Raiders return every starting position player but one from a squad that finished second in the nation in batting last year. Calling themselves the Raider Gang, their own expectations are high. However, with the 2012 season underway, this team knows last year’s successes don’t mean much, said Head Baseball Coach Rob Cooper.

“The 2012 team has a lot of guys back. It’s a senior-laden team,” said Cooper, who has led the Raiders to the league championship game five times in six years and to three NCAA regionals. “So to the outsider looking in, they’ll assume it’s pretty much the same team, but it’s not. Every team is different and has its own personality.”

Though his team appears to be loaded, Cooper’s goal, as always, is steeped in the mantra “practice and fundamentals.” “We want our guys to be the best practice and preparation team in the country,” said Cooper.

2011 Horizon League Player of the Year

The 2012 Raiders appear to be loaded with hitters. Leading the offense are senior outfielder Tristan Moore; senior third baseman and Horizon League tournament MVP Zach Tanner; clutch-hitting junior shortstop Justin Kopale; and Hibberd, the senior first baseman who led the Horizon League in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in as a junior.

The Raiders suffered a blow to their pitching staff when they lost Casey Henn, the team’s No.1 pitcher for the last two years, to Tommy John surgery. But Cooper says the staff as a whole remains strong and will be backed by a superb bullpen.

All-American closer Michael Schum

Wright State returns side-arming senior closer Michael Schum, who went 9-2 in 2011 with nine saves and a 1.37 earned run average. The performance earned Schum All-America honors. He was also named the Horizon League Relief Pitcher of the Year.

Cooper is cautious entering 2012; “I know this team is close, but we haven’t faced much adversity yet. When we were down 3-1 in the league championship game last year, I was never sitting there thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to lose this game,’” said Cooper. “Just because of the way these guys were going, they never flinched.”

In his first three years at Wright State, Hibberd played in three league championship games. With expectations for 2012 just as high, he said, “This might be my last year playing baseball, and this is going to be the last year for a lot of our seniors. So I think our motivation is pushing our limits to see how far we can take this team. It’s going to be a pretty special team.

“I believe we can get right back to the point where we were last year.”

Work has begun on the $4.2 million renovation of the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Hall in Wright State’s Creative Arts Center. The name honors the renowned cardiologist and his late wife, longtime supporters of the arts at Wright State and throughout the Dayton region. The concert hall, which has hosted thousands of musical performances by Wright State’s students, faculty, and guest artists, celebrates the Schusters’ generous philanthropy and their lifelong love of the arts.

Tara Purvis

At Wright State University, faculty and students are joining forces in innovative curricula that improve teaching effectiveness by providing hands-on learning.

“Service-learning engages students, faculty, and community members in a partnership to achieve academic learning objectives, meet community needs, and promote civic responsibility for all parties involved,” explained Cathy Sayer, director of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement at Wright State.

One of the faculty leaders in service-learning courses is Hunt Brown, director of sustainability and senior lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences. The devastation left after Hurricane Katrina provided the backdrop for his first service-learning course, titled “Working Toward Sustainability.” The 2007 Honors intersession course dealt with sustainability issues as they related to post-Katrina cleanup in New Orleans and culminated with a trip to the ravaged area. Brown and his students put attic insulation into homes that survived Katrina in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward. The experience was life changing.

“The service-learning activities in New Orleans had a major impact on everyone, the faculty member and students alike,” Brown said. He shared these student reflections:

“We have, as an academic and spiritual exercise, imagined ourselves in their shoes, imagined what they must be feeling through all of this, tried to understand what our help might mean to them.”

“The Holy Cross neighborhood was the epitome of courage and strength in hard times. I can honestly say that this trip was a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

This spring break, a group of Honors students and freshmen will travel to New Orleans as part of a course titled “Rebuilding New Orleans/Campus Community Connections.” The class, taught by Brittany Boyne, Dayton projects coordinator for Ohio’s STEM Ability Alliance in the College of Science and Mathematics, and Galen Crawford, student activities graduate assistant for programming and community service, examines the Hurricane Katrina tragedy as highlighted in the 2011–12 Wright State Common Text, Zeitoun. The social justice studies will give students a hands-on experience of helping to physically and emotionally rebuild a city.

Brown also has incorporated a trip to Appalachia into a service-learning course that he co-teaches with Sarah Twill, Ph.D., associate professor of social work. Since 2010, students in the Honors course “Environmental and Social Sustainability in Appalachia” have spent their spring breaks participating in service projects in rural Appalachian communities near Athens, Ohio.

The course introduces students to the environmental, social, and economic challenges affecting the people of Appalachia. They partnered with Good Works, a social service organization in Athens, which helped coordinate the group’s activities with other community partners.

Students assisted low- and fixed-income seniors and people with disabilities with home improvement and repairs. While visiting with the homeowners, students learned their personal stories and family histories. Another activity involved working with the Monday Creek Restoration Project, an organization seeking to reduce the impacts of acid mine drainage on area waterways.

“The trip was interesting because it had us interacting with a variety of people, helping out with various needs, and just immersing us into the Appalachian way of life,” remembered Christian Cone-Lombarte, a senior Mechanical Engineering major who went on the 2011 trip.

Twill and Brown believe that integration of classroom work and service-learning, using a multidisciplinary approach, leads to a deeper understanding of complex issues. “We rotate the students so that they have both environmental and social service experiences,” Twill explained. Brown added, “We want them to truly experience the interdisciplinary nature of the problems they are addressing.”

For Brown, developing an affinity for the Appalachian people was one of the greatest benefits of the trips. “We want our students to understand the people in Appalachia the best they can in the short period that they are down there,” he said. Through service-learning, he noted, “You learn their stories, and the social, economic, and environmental challenges they face.” Both he and Twill believe that this familiarity breaks down stereotypes, builds empathy and trust, and inspires students to become more involved citizens.

“When you’re teaching with service-learning, the students bring what they’re experiencing into the classroom,” Sayer pointed out. “They tell you their stories. They tell you what they are learning from it right then.” Understanding the social issues surrounding the problems that community partners are trying to solve enhances these experiences.

Service-learning experiences help students develop important skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, Sayer added. It often helps them decide what major is right for them. Community members tell Sayer that they value the energy and vitality that service-learners bring to their organizations. “We have to get students out there in the community and let them see the assets, problems, and issues for themselves,” she noted.

Jonathan Blaza. Photo by Christian Cone-Lombarte

Tara Purvis, Wright State’s first student to earn the Citizen Scholar Certificate, was just such a student. “The most impactful aspect of my education at Wright State was the service-learning opportunity at Westwood School,” she said. “When you’re one on one with a student, you truly see their needs.”

For her capstone project, Purvis focused on troubled youth, evaluating a gardening project at Miami Valley Juvenile Rehabilitation Center. After graduating with a bachelor’s in social work, she was hired as the service-learning and civic engagement coordinator for youth and literacy programs at the university. Today she is the liaison with Westwood PreK–8 School in Dayton, where over 200 Wright State students tutor and volunteer annually.

Service-learning projects across campus are helping to solve problems. A public relations class provided research for Energize Clinton County after DHL, the area’s major employer closed, eliminating 8,000 jobs. While working on her Master of Public Administration degree, Lindsey Jarvis interned with East End Community Services. Her service-learning capstone project was instrumental in getting a grant that helped create Dayton Works Plus, a deconstruction and job training program. She is now a program coordinator with East End Community Services.

“Service-learning really addresses all aspects of Wright State’s mission statement to transform the lives of our students and the communities we serve,” Sayer concluded. “We are truly changing lives through our innovative instruction, our research, and our community service.”

Welcome to Wright State University Magazine.

You may have noticed that we have adopted a new name and design. Community Magazine served the university well for many years, but Wright State University Magazine instantly identifies who we are and further reinforces the Wright State brand.

With our new name and look comes a new focus—a more in-depth reporting magazine about students, faculty, and staff who make Wright State the innovative university it is today. We will keep you informed of all of the great things happening at Wright State, to help you feel more connected to campus and the many exciting initiatives under way. We’ll also keep you up-to-date on our latest partnerships with business, government, and industry to promote economic development and enhance the quality of life in our region.

One recent development we’re proud to share in this issue is the creation of Wright State’s Independent Scholars Network. Believed to be the only program of its kind in Ohio, it provides a fresh start for students coming directly out of foster care to Wright State.

As you learn more about this unusual program by reading our cover story, you will also meet Adrian McLemore. A young man with a troubled past, Adrian has overcome the challenges of growing up in a string of foster homes to become a dedicated student, a nationally recognized advocate, a loving surrogate father to his niece and nephew, and a person determined to make a difference in the lives of other foster children.

Adrian’s journey will inspire you, as will the stories of other students, faculty, and alumni who are changing lives around the world.

Warmest regards from campus,

David R. Hopkins

President

Wright State University

Author Paul Lockhart at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Lockhart gave the Fourth of July Oration, a regular event since 1783 that has featured orators such as John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and John F. Kennedy. photo: Michael dwyer

A school library book on the Civil War whetted his appetite at age 6. A painting he saw at age 7 in a Boston museum depicting a Revolutionary War battle clinched it. Paul Lockhart was hooked on American history.

Today, the Wright State University professor has just finished writing his sixth history book—an account of the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill called The Whites of Their Eyes (HarperCollins Publishers).

“I wanted to do a battle book for a long time, and Bunker Hill sucked me in when I was a kid,” said Lockhart, adding that Bunker Hill is often mentioned in the same breath with the historic Civil War battle at Gettysburg and the D-Day invasion of World War II. “Bunker Hill is mythic. It’s a major integral part of American historical mythology.”

The 48-year-old Lockhart, a history professor specializing in European military history, spent 18 months researching Bunker Hill, the battle in Boston that marked the beginning of the American Revolution against the British. He combed the Commonwealth of Massachusetts archives and records at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

What Lockhart found shattered a commonly held belief that Bunker Hill pitted a resourceful group of Americans against an experienced, battle-seasoned Redcoat army that was simply ignorant of the rebels’ unconventional fighting tactics.

“Those images in many cases are seriously flawed, and yet even very careful historians have clung to them,” he said.

Instead, Lockhart found evidence that the British were well aware of the Americans’ wilderness-warfare techniques, but that both rebel and British forces were inexperienced and that the battle amounted to a clumsy engagement fought by two raw armies.

“We almost forget that Bunker Hill was an American defeat,” Lockhart said. “And it’s not even close to being one of the more important battles of the American Revolution. The most you can say about Bunker Hill is that it gives the Americans a boost in confidence and it convinces King George III and Britain that this is something serious.”

Lockhart’s interest in Bunker Hill followed a childhood in New York’s Hudson Valley, which is filled with reminders of the American Revolution such as homes built in the 1700s and gravestones dating back to the 1600s. Lockhart was encouraged by his parents—who both worked for IBM—to pursue a career in something about which he was passionate. (Lockhart’s brother, Keith, is conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.)

Lockhart obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees in history at Purdue University before coming to teach at Wright State. A string of history books followed—four on early modern Scandinavia and then a biography of Prussian Revolutionary War hero Baron de Steuben called The Drillmaster of Valley Forge.

Then came Bunker Hill—and Lockhart was able to use his experience, knowledge, and writing skill to bring the battle to life.

“Writing about battles is easy because they are inherently dramatic,” he said. “You have to be able to imagine it and then write what you see.”

Lockhart was helped by his knowledge of muskets, 18th century tailoring, and close-order drill.

“I know what it’s like to have sweat running from a fur-felt hat in your eyes when you’re trying to march elbow to elbow while carrying fairly heavy equipment and having burrs and thistles ripping at your hands and your knees,” he said.

In the book, Lockhart writes about how the American army was extremely well fed, with soldiers receiving generous rations of bread and fresh meat daily. He writes about how cannon fire from the British would only kill a few American soldiers, but had a crippling psychological effect because of how it would destroy bodies. He writes about how the British were able to burn down the sniper-filled Charlestown neighborhood by firing red-hot cannonballs from harbor gunships into the tinder-like wooden structures.

And he crafts a fascinating passage describing a British bayonet charge.

“The Americans watched in awe as the long red lines—about five hundred yards away—moved slowly in their direction. …No matter how they hit the American line, the Redcoats were going to be marching straight into enemy fire. To modern eyes, these tactics appear costly, even suicidal. But 18th-century tacticians knew a different truth, a truth that had been proven again and again on European battlefields: bayonet charges worked, even in a frontal assault, even against an entrenched and determined enemy.”

Lockhart said one reason he wrote the book was to pay tribute to the common, unsung American soldiers who fought at Bunker Hill.

“Although it’s right to remember George Washington, John Adams, and the conventional cast of characters, for every Washington there were hundreds if not thousands of people who contributed just as much and sacrificed just as much and got nothing out of it and didn’t ask for anything,” he said.

Lockhart took his message and insights on the road. He embarked on a lecture-and-book-signing tour with stops in Williamsburg, Va., and Boston, including an appearance at the Bunker Hill monument. He also gave the Fourth of July Oration at Faneuil Hall in Boston. The Oration has been a regular event since 1783 and has featured orators such as John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and John F. Kennedy.

Lockhart says the most significant historical impact of Bunker Hill is that it condemned the colonies and Britain to a long war.

“There was no turning back, and those who had hoped to appeal to the king’s sympathy would soon find themselves without a shred of hope,” he wrote in Whites of Their Eyes. “There could be no olive branch now that the rebels had taken such a fearsome toll on the king’s soldiers.”

They’re overachievers in the classroom. They’re leaders in extracurricular activities. They’re creative, curious, ambitious, dedicated. They’re honors students. As it nears its fourth decade, the University Honors Program has grown to more than 1,000 students. The current group includes 182 high school valedictorians, 60 salutatorians, and 44 National Merit Scholarship recipients— a virtual small college-size group within a public university-size campus.

“We’re extremely proud of the program,” said Wright State University President David R. Hopkins. “It grows every single year as we continue to attract some of the brightest students from around the world.”

The program seeks to provide serious students with an enhanced university experience through innovative teaching, learning, service, and research.

To qualify, incoming freshmen must meet two of the following criteria: a high school GPA higher than 3.25, a ranking in the top 10 percent of their class, or a score in the 90th percentile on the SAT or ACT.

As part of the program, students take at least eight honors courses, three of which must be honors sections of General Education courses. Two of the eight classes must be UH 400 seminars. These special courses are designed to let upper-level honors students explore contemporary topics in depth.

“Going into an honors class, where everyone is already at a higher level and from completely different backgrounds and majors, brings a lot of perspectives to the table,” said Tiffany Watts, who graduated as a University Honors Scholar in June.

Honors classes are kept small, typically limited to 20 to 25 students. Faculty emphasize discussion instead of lecturing.

The workload is different, explains Watts. You definitely do a lot more independent reading and writing than you would in a normal class.

“You really go a lot further into the material,” she said.

Another feature of honors classes is that they are designed to present the material in an interdisciplinary way, giving students the broad spectrum of education often associated with small, liberal arts schools.

“We don’t want students to be wrapped solely in the cocoon of their major,” said Susan Carrafiello, Ph.D., the program’s director.

In addition to taking honors courses, about two-thirds of students in the program elect to do an independent research project. The project could take many forms, depending on the individual student’s interests. An English major may write a novel. A business major may create a marketing plan for a local company. A biology major may do traditional laboratory research.

For Watts, the project gave her a chance to go even deeper into the journalism field she’s passionate about.

“My honors project was to improve the copy editing process at our student newspaper, The Guardian, where I was editor-in-chief,” she said. “It allowed me to look closely at how we work and how we could make that better.”

The projects give students hands-on experience that can be used in portfolios and job interviews.

Honors students enjoy a host of benefits beyond their classes and projects. They get first priority during registration and extensive assistance when applying for prestigious scholarships and fellowships.

Students in the honors program have the option of living in the Honors Community. Among the dorm’s many amenities, it boasts an honors professor living in the building. English senior lecturer Jane Blakelock, the current faculty-in-residence, teaches honors courses, sponsors special programs, leads field trips, and is available for counsel on academic issues.

Honors learning communities are open to first-year honors students in the fall quarter. Consisting of 20 to 25 students taking the same two to three classes together, these communities introduce students to the honors experience and make the transition to college easier.

The annual Honors Institute is a multi-track learning experience that includes classes based on that year’s theme, a service-learning project, and a keynote address delivered by a figure of national prominence. The institute culminates with a symposium for the entire community.

“It grew out of an attempt to expose our students to an academic conference setting,” said Carrafiello. “We pick contemporary, interdisciplinary themes so that participants leave thinking about the topic in multiple ways.”

Throughout the year, the honors program presents Honors Dialogues, presentations and discussions on various topics led by honors faculty. The program also organizes service-learning projects and study-abroad trips. This winter, Carrafiello and Blakelock will lead a group of honors students on a tour of Italy.

The honors program has a great deal to offer its students, but it is the students who really make the program shine.

“Certainly, honors students focus a lot of effort on their academic success,” said Carrafiello. Practically all honors students receive some sort of academic performance scholarship.

“But more than that, they’re the kind of students who are looking beyond the classroom,” she said. “They have an intellectual curiosity beyond just themselves, and they tend to think big.”

Most honors students are involved in a number of extracurricular activities, often serving as leaders in student organizations or volunteering in the community.

“Honors students interact with the entire campus, which brings a whole new dimension to everything that we do,” said Hopkins. “We know they are the future leaders of this world.”

Living Honorably

The Honors Community is a residence hall with three wings and 384 beds—the perfect place for scholastically inclined students to settle down for their college career. The community features extensive quiet hours, helpful resident assistants, and a member of the university faculty in residence.

Designed to be a total living-learning community, the building boasts several unique features. There are a classroom and a computer lab on site, lounges, the Bridge Café, and the C-Store. A fitness center is available 24 hours a day.

Testimonials from students paint the Honors Community as a fun place to live.

With a wealth and diversity of students and activities, the Honors Community is never boring. In its halls, decorated with everything from superheroes to Far Side comics, fun and education exist side by side.

John Nonamaucher has an internship at Newport Aquarium.

College internships evoke images of brewing coffee, making copies, and performing other trivial tasks. For interns from Wright State University, not so much.

Raiders across the country are participating in exciting internships such as working in Congress, feeding sharks, or helping private eyes track down suspects.

Besides the fun-and-fascinating element to these internships, students use them to build career experience, pad their résumés, and give themselves a leg up in a competitive job market.

“There is an internship for every student no matter their major or career interest, and they should snap up the opportunity,” says Kim Jungdahl, assistant director of Career Services at Wright State. Internships give students a unique way to promote and market themselves upon graduation, she adds.

Swimming with sharks…literally!

Wright State student John Nonnenmacher has always been interested in the water and what lives in it. His driving passion is sharks. He records the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week programs religiously.

“They’re amazing animals,” he said. “I think they’re awesome.”

Nonnenmacher followed his aquatic interests into an internship at the Newport Aquarium, where he can be seen in full scuba gear at the bottom of the shark tank, feeding the aquarium’s two shark rays, Sweetpea and Scooter.

Where other divers might find this task intimidating, Nonnenmacher shrugs. “Shark rays aren’t the ones with teeth,” he said. “They’re more of a bone crusher.”

Nonnenmacher feeds the rest of the sharks, including zebra sharks, nurse sharks, and sand tigers, from above the tank. He said he enjoys his work and believes it is preparing him well for a career in marine biology.

Investigating a future career

Mandy Hooper, a criminal justice major, is another student who feels that her internship has enabled her to advance her career path. During her internship with Stealth Investigations, LLC, Hooper earned her State of Ohio Private Investigator’s License.

That license will allow Hooper to operate as a private investigator, tackling head-on all the tasks she assisted with as an intern, such as going through surveillance videos in search of suspects.

“My favorite thing was being nosy and looking at all the photographs and the video that [my supervisor] took,” she said. Occasionally, she was able to accompany her supervisor into the field on surveillance assignments.

“The best part was actually getting out of the office and watching people,” she said with relish.

Now that she has finished her internship and her licensure, Hooper said she’s eager to start work as a P.I.

“I’m actually going to go to Career Services so they can help me apply to a whole bunch of different investigative jobs,” she said.

Washington insider

A number of Wright State students find internships each year through The Washington Center, a nonprofit educational institution that matches students with internships in Washington, D.C.; London and Oxford, England; and Sydney, Australia.

Students work with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies. During their internship semester, they also take an academic course and attend seminars featuring prominent business leaders, government leaders, and diplomats.

Wright State graduate Shashrina Thomas participated in the The Washington Center program as a congressional legislative intern. She worked with former Congressman Louis Stokes, the first African American on the House Appropriations Committee.

“This experience provided me with the opportunity to work with students from Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton,” said Thomas. “I developed the guts, sweat, and excitement necessary to compete with the best and brightest in the world.”

The program helped Thomas launch a career in the federal government. She currently serves as deputy chief of staff to U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).

Tiffany Fridley participated in the Disney College Program in 2009.

Making magic

One of the most magical internships available to Wright State students might be the Disney College Program. It provides students with months of working and playing in the Disney Parks, and years of benefits.

Disney has high name recognition and rigorous business standards, said Debra Wilburn, the Wright State University liaison for the program since 1998. That has a strong positive impact on potential employers.

“They know that if a student succeeded at Disney, then that student can follow through on commitments,” Wilburn said.

Tiffany Fridley participated in the Disney College Program in 2009 as an entertainment cast member. She danced in parades, walked on stilts, and brought smiles to the faces of thousands of people.

“I absolutely loved my experience,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade my job for anything in the world.”

Fridley returns to Walt Disney World each spring to work for a week, retaining her status as a seasonal worker. “If you can take advantage of the many things that Wright State has to offer,” Fridley said, “your life is going to be enhanced.”

From Dr. Phil to NASCAR

Here are a few more examples of internships:

• Barnes & Noble
• Battelle & Battelle
• BradyWare
• Buckingham Financial Group
• Cargill
• CareSource
• Clark, Schafer, Hackett
• Clear Channel Radio
• Cox Media Group Ohio
• Dayton Ballet Association
• Dayton Dragons Professional Baseball Team
• Deloitte & Touche
• Department of Defense
• Dr. Phil Television Show
• Emerson Climate Technologies
• Goodrich Corporation
• Hewlett Packard
• LexisNexis
• MacAuley Brown
• MeadWestvaco
• Morris Home Furnishings
• Mound Laser and
• Photonics Center
• NASA Glenn Research Center
• NASCAR
• Nationwide Children’s Hospital
• NewPage Corporation
• NY Fashions
• Proctor & Gamble
• Reynolds & Reynolds
• Speedway
• Standard Register
• TeraData
• WinWholesale
• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
• Yahoo.com

Photo credit: Andy Snow

Last spring, audiences got a once-in-a lifetime chance to see the most complex and controversial work of composer Leonard Bernstein in a production that boasted nearly 200 of Dayton’s most talented performers, including more than 100 Wright State students and faculty.

Bernstein’s MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers fused the talents of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) and the Wright State University’s departments of Music and Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.

“This was really a major event for the Dayton region,” said DPO Music Director Neal Gittleman, who pointed out that patrons from at least 10 states came to the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center for the performances.

The piece uses the structure of a Catholic Mass to tell the story of a personal spiritual journey. Though portions of the show are sung in Latin, English lyrics by Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell) provide much of MASS’s humor and irony. It was first commissioned by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of the national arts center named in honor of her late husband, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The work premiered as part of the Kennedy Center’s opening festivities on September 8, 1971.

MASS is rarely performed in its entirety due to its massive scope. The Schuster show featured a chorus of 60 singers, 19 actors in a “street chorus,” 10 dancers and a 19-member children’s choir. Musicians included a 90-piece orchestra, a five-piece rock band and a three-piece blues band.

“It was a huge challenge logistically to put it all together,” said W. Stuart McDowell, chair and artistic director of Wright State’s Department of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.

Pulling off a production of such epic proportions required a creative team from several disciplines. DPO’s Gittleman conducted both sold-out performances. Wright State’s faculty involvement included choral direction by Hank Dahlman of the Department of Music, as well as stage direction by Greg Hellems, choreography by Gina Gardner-Walther and scenic designs by Pam Knauert, all of the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.

The production also included the Kettering Children’s Choir under the direction of Natalie DeHorn and noted tenor John Wesley Wright in the crucial role of “The Celebrant.”

“Even though MASS was written in the ’70s, there’s not anything in the show that isn’t relevant today,” said Hellems. For example, he pointed to a lyric about “oiling the seas,” recalling how eerie it is in the wake of the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

While MASS gave Wright State students an excellent chance to perform with a professional arts organization, it also gave them a rare opportunity to work with their fellow students.

“The music and theatre departments are both so busy that we don’t get the chance to work with each other very often,” said Dahlman. “This is probably the largest collaborative effort between the two departments, at least in my memory, and I’ve been here 20 years.”

“When different facets of the arts come together, it makes for a truly unforgettable experience,” said Samantha Helmstetter, a musical theatre major who performed in the show’s street chorus. “MASS was unlike any other performing experience I’ve ever had, and I’m grateful to have been part of it.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s a shark tale that’s been told around the world. And a
Wright State scientist and student were right in the middle of it…

Following one of the largest finds ever made of an Edestus fossil, a jawbone from a prehistoric shark, the experts in Kentucky needed an expert of their own. They found one at Wright State University.

“I work on sharks. Especially really old sharks,” said Chuck Ciampaglio, Ph.D., researcher and associate professor of geology and paleontology at the Wright State Lake Campus.

But this shark tale doesn’t begin with Ciampaglio or even his master model-making student Mike Taylor. It begins in rural Kentucky with 25-year-old Jay Wright, holder of a sharp pickaxe and a sharper eye.

On the afternoon of February 24, Wright was 700 feet underground in Webster County Coal’s Dotiki Mine bolting a roof in the shaft.

“I noticed some flaky rocks in the roof, and a small piece of rock fell,” said Wright. “When I used a pry bar to remove some more of the rock, I caught sight of something else. Part of it was already loose. All I had to do was grab it and pull it out.”

“When I got it out I thought, gosh, what is this thing?” said Wright.

It was the jawbone of a shark that lived 300 million years ago, known to paleontologists as Edestus, a controversial species in paleontology circles for its theoretically circular orientation of its numerous and vicious teeth.

“It’s probably one of the strangest animals that ever lived,” said Ciampaglio.

Edestus’ teeth appear to have protruded from its mouth unlike any other animal known to man. After some fossils were found that show the teeth rolled up in a circular pattern, some scientists believe Edestus’ teeth rolled up into a wheel of teeth that it might have extended from its lower mouth to kill or catch prey.

“Having a wheel of teeth that goes from the inside and whirling and whirling around…the mechanics are unknown. The placement of the teeth in the mouth is unknown. It’s a really weird shark and a real interesting thing,” said Ciampaglio.

Much is unknown because shark anatomy is mostly composed of cartilage, which decays fairly fast. Bone and teeth do not.

Rarely do shark fossils give scientists such insight into the anatomy of the species because the teeth are often separate from the bone, or the fossils are too small.

Millions of years ago the western Kentucky terrain resembled a shallow ocean at times, and at others, a fresh water/salt water swamp. It’s believed that Edestus sharks would feed off of large amphibians and insects and would sometimes get trapped in the shallows.
Over time, the sharks would be entombed in layers of shale and coal. That’s why many Edestus fossils are found in western Kentucky mines, just none this big.

In this case, the jawbone is 18 inches long with teeth two inches in height and width, and unlike fossils from the species ever found before.

“This thing is big, really big for such an old shark and it has big serrated teeth. That’s something you don’t see for a shark of that age,” said Wright.

It was three months later that Wright State got the call. Experts from the University of Kentucky said Wright wanted to keep the fossil but would let them make a cast of it for study. Wright was willing to let them keep a smaller piece of bone also found with the primary fossil.

The UK scientists called Ciampaglio, one of the only paleontologists still doing research on prehistoric sharks in the region.

“I think they’re really interesting and hardly anybody is working on them anymore in the U.S. There are people from Europe that come over here to do it, but I’m really one of the only ones,” said Ciampaglio.

It just so happened that Taylor, one of Ciampaglio’s best lab technicians and an English major with 30 years of model-making experience, was available too.

The pair went to Kentucky in June. In a whirlwind, two-day visit, they made six casts in all. The models are almost identical to the genuine article.

“It was really an awesome experience examining that jawbone up close,” said Ciampaglio.

But it’s not the first time he’s been tapped for help on a high profile prehistoric shark project. Ciampaglio spends about three months a year in the field working across the country and brings students along whenever he can.

Ciampaglio is a prolific publisher on the subject and often co-authors the papers with undergraduate researchers.

Ciampaglio might be best known for his work with the National Geographic channel last year. He didn’t have to go nearly as far from home for that project.

“I did some work on megalodon—a giant prehistoric shark from about 10–15 million years ago,” said Ciampaglio. “It was as big as a Greyhound bus and we know it ate whales.”

The National Geographic channel filmed two segments with Ciampaglio in his lab at the Lake Campus for their Prehistoric Predators series.

Large predators always draw a lot of interest but Ciampaglio says this find should draw even more.

“Scientists have been postulating about this thing for over 150 years,” he said. “It was a very big predator for its time. And it was from around here.”

“We’re finally going to learn a lot more about this species because of this find,” said Ciampaglio. “It could be a real game changer.”

Growing up was a rocky road for Adrian McLemore. His mother and father divorced. He fought with his parents and teachers. He ran away from home a lot. And then there was the string of foster homes…

By the time McLemore emancipated from foster care at age 18, he was left largely on his own to navigate and survive in an unfamiliar and unforgiving world.

Today, the 25-year-old McLemore is preparing to graduate from Wright State University in political science and readying himself to launch a career in public service. He spent two years raising his 2-year-old nephew and 4-year-old niece, tutors students at Dunbar High School in Dayton, and is helping develop an innovative program at Wright State to nurture, educate, and graduate emancipated foster students like himself.

A low percentage of the nation’s emancipated foster youth graduate from college, and they experience a greater rate of homelessness and joblessness as a result of their lack of preparation to face the challenges of the world.

Wright State officials believe their new Independent Scholars Network—which provides foster students with a living and learning community, life-skills enhancement, opportunities for employment, and a higher education experience—just might be the answer.

“It breaks the cycle of poverty, limited education, and the cycle of minimized opportunity for these students,” said Sonseeahray Ross, former graduate assistant, Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. “It transforms and changes lives, but it also gives hope.”

Each year, more than 1,000 youths age out of foster care in Ohio. While a few universities around the country have similar foster student programs—including the University of Alabama, Central Florida, and Texas-El Paso—Wright State’s program is the only one of its kind in Ohio.

“This is an extremely wonderful and unique program,” said Crystal Ward Allen, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, a nonprofit membership organization for each of the county’s child welfare agencies. “No other campus in Ohio I am aware of has the same type of setup. It’s tremendous.”

Ross said many foster students arriving at college have moved multiple times in their lives, resulting in a fragmented academic experience. They may also not have had opportunities to practice life skills such as cooking and housekeeping and may have had limited social interactions.

“Now they’re forced to engage and interact with people from diverse backgrounds, from diverse cultures, from diverse life experiences,” Ross said. “It’s very scary for them because it’s all new. They’ve stepped into a new big world, one where they know no one.”

McLemore said foster care took a toll on him.

“I didn’t like changing homes. I didn’t like some of my foster siblings. I didn’t like some of my foster parents,” he said. “It’s just a really, really, really tough system.”

McLemore described himself as mouthy, sarcastic, and constantly challenging authority. He said his anger was further fueled by his mother placing him in foster care, separating him from his two sisters.

“That was a traumatic experience because I felt like she didn’t want me,”
he said.

Teachers and caseworkers saw promise in McLemore, telling him he was smart and needed to focus his energies on the positive. Embarrassed one day at school because he was wearing dirty clothes that smelled, McLemore began wearing coats and ties. It’s a practice that filled him with confidence and continues to this day.

McLemore’s high school principal took him under his wing, teaching him how to be a leader. McLemore learned to put others before himself, how to get to the root of people’s problems, and went so far as to memorize the full names of all of the students at the high school as they came and went over three years.

Patriotism courses through McLemore’s bloodstream. He wants to be president of the United States one day and has surrounded himself with inspiration.

In the living room of his apartment, McLemore has created his own Oval Office, replete with desk and a black leather chair emblazoned with a “United States of America” seal. An American flag hangs from the ceiling, and McLemore’s framed snapshots of the White House and Capitol Building look down from the walls. The ringtone on his cell phone? The Star-Spangled Banner.

From his first day at Wright State, McLemore realized that college for someone with a foster background was going to be a challenge.

While everyone else was moving into the dorms accompanied by their parents, McLemore arrived in a sticking-out-like-sore-thumb county van, carrying one suitcase, in the company of foster agency officials.

McLemore said foster students some-times have to battle a misguided belief by some people that they are troublemakers, that it is their fault they were placed in foster care, and that they aren’t smart enough to go to college. As a result, they try to blend in with fellow college students.

“They just want to feel normal, and it’s kind of hard,” he said.

When McLemore’s roommate would leave on the weekends to visit family and enjoy home-cooked meals, McLemore remained in his dorm room surrounded by all of his earthly possessions. While his fellow students had been driving for years, McLemore had to go through driver’s education and then obtain his license. He worked a full-time job at a steakhouse to pay for school.

“I’d come home and instead of doing homework, I would just pass out on my dorm room floor and sleep almost until the next day,” he recalled.

Academics were a struggle. McLemore was placed on academic probation and was once temporarily dismissed from school for academic reasons. But he returned and persevered.

McLemore recalls the day he took custody of his niece and nephew. It came following a telephone call from the sheriff’s office, telling him there had been a situation with his sister and that the kids would be turned over to a child welfare agency unless he came and picked them up.

“My fear was that they were going to be placed in foster care,” he said. “It’s a very scary thought when you take two people that young and place them in a stranger’s house indefinitely. After I saw the perils of foster care, I really didn’t want to repeat
the cycle.”

During a recent evening at McLemore’s apartment, his niece, A’Rayiah, and nephew, Tyiaun, were an energy-packed blur, each vying for their uncle’s undivided attention. When not peppering him with questions and comments, they were on the balcony bouncing balls or slurping blue ice pops. A swordfight with their uncle featuring plastic weapons is a regular ritual.

“I’m very strict in structure, but you have to find time to have fun,” McLemore said. “They just need someone to be there to climb on, to talk to, to be in their face 24/7, and to listen to them. My mission statement in life is to become the protector of my children and to be a great father.”

McLemore’s days often begin at 6 a.m. and don’t end until nearly midnight. In between, there was getting the kids to daycare, going to classes or work, tutoring high school students, attending various board meetings, picking the kids up from daycare, feeding them, and doing homework.

He said the biggest challenge was juggling all of his responsibilities.

Simone G. Polk, assistant vice president for student services, Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, said the new Independent Scholars Network is an effort to assist the underserved foster student population and provide them with tools necessary to support their academic achievement and social cultural development.

“We want to do the best possible job in transforming and changing their lives to enhance their success and to prepare them when they graduate for an increasingly competitive global employment market-place,” Polk said.

From his first day at Wright State, McLemore realized that college for someone with a foster background was going to be a challenge.

Word has spread beyond Montgomery County about Wright State’s new program, and the university will have about a dozen foster students from four Ohio counties this fall.

Polk said the background of the foster students should be a diverse educational learning opportunity for other Wright State students.

“Oftentimes we look at ethnicity, culture, nationality, ability, veterans and military connected status, but we don’t often look at the life experience diversity of our individuals,” Polk said. “And if we value individuals, we have to value the life experience they bring to campus.”

Don & Gloria Graber

Don Graber’s road to corporate CEO began in Braceville, a small town in northeastern Ohio that wasn’t big enough for a traffic light. After his high school graduation, Don headed to Ohio State to begin studying for his undergraduate degree in engineering. Meanwhile, most of his male classmates went straight to work in the local mills.

“They were making $15 to $20 an hour, and I was hitchhiking to Columbus to go to college,” he reminisced. “But if I look back, education has been a huge differentiator in my life. Had I not gotten the education, I would have ended up like a lot of my classmates.”

Unlike the prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s when Don was growing up, the steel, rubber, and automotive industries in his hometown have now been decimated. Most of his graduating class of 44 students worked for these companies.

The importance of earning a college education had been instilled in Don from a very early age.

Don’s father was a school superintendent and coach, and his mother was a teacher. “Education was a big deal in the family,” he explained. “The dinner table discussion was never if you’re going to college, it was always when.”

Don went on to earn an M.B.A. at Ohio University, worked 16 years at General Electric, and then spent 12 years at Black & Decker. In 1996, he moved to Dayton to join the Huffy Corporation, where he would serve as chairman, president, and CEO until his retirement in 2004.

After relocating to the Miami Valley, Don and his wife of 46 years, Gloria, were introduced to Wright State University theatre by their friends Howard and Sally Stevens.

Gloria Graber remembers being wowed by a production of Carousel. “I will never forget that. I was blown away by the talent of these students,” she said.

“I am awed by what these students can do in the theatre at Wright State. I’ve seen Broadway plays, but some of them here blow me away,” said Gloria.

The Grabers began attending more theatre performances on campus, and Don joined an ad hoc theatre advisory group at Wright State. He also served on the university’s Board of Trustees for nine years, including two years as chairman. His term ended in June 2011.

The Grabers’ involvement with Wright State would ultimately evolve into helping sponsor the annual ArtsGala and making a financial commitment to the expansion and modernization of the Creative Arts Center.

“If our theatre, dance, and motion pictures are going to stay one of the top five programs in the United States, they’re going to have to have top five facilities to attract the quality of students they want to attract,” Don explained.

From the beginning, the Grabers have been nothing but impressed by the quality of the performing arts at Wright State.

“It’s something that is leading edge and something that I would like to see stay leading edge going forward,” said Don. “It is kind of amazing. You go to some of those shows and you almost think you are on Broadway.”

The Grabers would know. They have traveled around the world and have lived outside of New York City and Toronto, two cities that are highly regarded for their outstanding theatre and arts.

“I am awed by what these students can do in the theatre at Wright State. I’ve seen Broadway plays, but some of them here blow me away,” said Gloria. “Every year we see how the students progress and I like to follow that.”

While they both joke that they have no artistic abilities of their own, the Grabers have always been fascinated by those who do.

“In this world, you need a balance. The arts are important,” Don advised. “People want to live in an area that is well balanced. If you want to bring new businesses to the Miami Valley, there needs to be the right kinds of things that people enjoy—and the arts are one of those.”

The Grabers believe in giving back. When choosing Wright State as one of the beneficiaries of their philanthropic and community activities, two of their great loves came together: education and the arts.

“I’m proud to give these students an opportunity to further their education in motion pictures, dance, and theatre, because I never had that opportunity,” said Gloria.

Don and Gloria were attracted to Wright State because of its high percentage of first-generation college students and the number of students coming from the lower end of the economic spectrum.

“We need to have universities that also serve that clientele,” said Don. “It’s all about the students—to give them the chance to be whatever they can be.”

And that is exactly what Don and Gloria Graber are doing—from attending almost every Wright State musical and play to championing the next generation of performing artists with their generous financial support.

“From the first time that I met Don and Gloria Graber, these two marvelous people have proven to be key supporters of the arts at Wright State,” said Stuart McDowell, chair of the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.

“Don has been, from the get-go, a big fan of musicals in our department, and was a founding member of the Board of Advisers for Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures. They’re a rare combination of enthusiasm, participation, and philanthropy!”

After retiring from the United States Marine Corps, a 20-year career that took him to 32 countries and into combat operations Desert Storm in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, John Bowers has once again charged forth into unfamiliar territory.

This time, that territory is a college campus.

“I came to Wright State because everyone here makes veterans feel very comfortable,” said Bowers, now an accounting major at the university.

“It’s a welcoming, supportive environment,” he said. “I’m often thanked by faculty and staff for my service, a really nice gesture.”

For three consecutive years, Wright State University has been named a Military Friendly School by G.I. Jobs Magazine. The magazine recognizes institutions that do the most to help America’s veterans and their families succeed in higher education.

That national recognition is no accident. It’s the result of a conscious effort to support our nation’s heroes.

In early 2010, Wright State established a 24-member Veteran and Military-Connected Student Committee. The committee created a two-year strategic plan to advocate for military-friendly policies across campus.

The committee builds on many of Wright State’s strengths. Located near a major military base and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the university is home to two ROTC regiments and more than 300 military veteran faculty and staff.

“Wright State has had a long and fruitful relationship with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” said Jacqueline McMillan, Ph.D., vice president for Enrollment Management.

“We are proud to work with and serve our diverse student population of enlisted and veteran military personnel,” she said. “We’ve spent the last several years researching and planning, building a foundation and implementing a number of large initiatives that have a positive effect on this group and on the university itself.”

Some of these initiatives include:

• Awarding college credit for military service
• Launching a Military and Veteran Student Center website
• Not penalizing service members who are called up for active duty mid-quarter
• Offering special housing and roommate matching with other military students
• Helping students write resumes that showcase their military experience
• Offering online orientation
• Creating a section of English 101 specifically geared toward veterans
• Designing a first-year seminar focused on helping military students
• transition to college.

“We’re fortunate to have an office devoted full-time to the success of military students,” said Amanda Watkins, assistant director of the Wright State Office of Veterans Affairs.

“As a retired vet, I’m always trying to reconnect, to meet people who share that experience,” said Bowers.

The office plans a number of social events throughout the year including a welcome-back reception at the start of Fall Quarter and a Veterans Day celebration.

Enrollment of students receiving educational benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has doubled to more than 730 since 2008, bringing more than $4 million in federal funds to the university. That growth is projected to continue as more troops return home.

“Our veterans dedicate their lives to protecting our country and our freedoms, allowing us to pursue our dreams,” said Watkins. “We are honored to serve those who have served us.”

In December, Wright State University announced it had been selected as the site for the 2013 National Science Olympiad Tournament, which pits teams of bright young students from around the country in science and engineering competitions. Wright State is also scheduled to host a second lead-up invitational tournament in January.

May Daze, 1979

With the pending quarter-to-semester conversion coming to Wright State in Fall 2012, the 2011 May Daze festival was the last of its kind. The on-campus celebration will continue next year in April with a different name.

Wright State became the latest university to join the student food bank trend. The food pantry provides students in need with 48 hours of emergency meals. It also provides student parents with formula, wipes, and diapers. Food pantry volunteers refer students to community programs that provide longer-term food assistance and help with other needs. Contact cathy.sayer@wright.edu for information.

In April, Yi Li, Ph.D., was named dean of the College of Science and Mathematics.

Li came to Wright State from the University of Iowa, where he served as the mathematics department chair since 2007. During that time, he was also a professor in informatics and applied mathematical and computational sciences.

“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Li to the Wright State family,” said Wright State Provost Steven Angle, Ph.D. “His wealth of experience in higher education will complement the strengths of our university.”

Under Li’s leadership, the University of Iowa’s mathematics department made great strides in enhancing its diversity.

In 2005, the department was honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President George W. Bush for its work with minority students.

Li has dedicated his mathematical research during the past 20 years to the study of nonlinear problems and their applications in physics, geometry, biomedical engineering, medical research, and molecular physiology.

His work has been published in more than 70 peer-reviewed publications.

A native of China, Li earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Xi’an Jiaotong University. He earned his doctoral degree, also in mathematics, from the University of Minnesota.

In July, Rosalie O’Dell Mainous, Ph.D., APRN, NNP-BC, associate dean for graduate programs and research at the University of Louisville, was named dean of Wright State University–Miami Valley College of Nursing and Health.

“I am looking forward to working with Mainous,” said Provost Angle. “She brings a great depth of experience and energy to the dean’s position at Wright State. Having excelled as a nurse, a nurse practitioner, a researcher, and an administrator, she is well positioned to lead.

Mainous became an instructor at the University of Louisville’s School of Nursing in 1987, an associate professor in 1993, and was named coordinator of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program in 1998.

Mainous was appointed interim associate dean for graduate academic affairs in 2006. She later became the associate dean for graduate programs and, in 2009, the associate dean for graduate programs and research.

She worked at University of Louisville Hospital as an R.N. in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and at Kosair Children’s Hospital as a neonatal nurse practitioner. She has been in the academic environment for over 25 years and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Mainous was appointed a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation executive nurse fellow in 2009 and is in the Leadership America Class 2011.

She obtained her associate degree in nursing from Eastern Kentucky University, her bachelor’s from the University of Louisville, her master’s from Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis, and her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. She did a neonatal nurse practitioner post-masters option at the University of Louisville.

Also in April, Bonnie K. Mathies, Ph.D., was appointed dean of the Wright State University–Lake Campus. She has served as interim dean since August 2010, following three years as associate dean of the Lake Campus.

“Dr. Mathies has shown her dedication to this university and its students for more than three decades,” said Provost Angle. “Her excellent reputation as an educator and administrator make her an excellent choice for this role.”

Mathies began her career as a teacher in Oberlin City and Toledo Public Schools, where she spent 10 years.

In 1974, she came to Wright State as an instructor in the College of Education and Human Services (CEHS). She became chair of educational technology and allied programs in 1988 and assistant dean for communication and technology in 1994.

Mathies served as associate dean of the CEHS from 2000 until her move to Lake Campus in 2007.

She has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career, including the Faculty Excellence Award from the Southwestern Ohio Council of Higher Education, the Jan Schneider Award for Excellence in Educational Technology from the Southwestern Ohio Instructional Technology Association, and an Award of Merit from the Ohio Educational Library Media Association.

Mathies has also been published in several academic publications.

Mathies earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Toledo. Her teaching areas include educational technology leadership, school library media, and educational computing.

You could see the genuine appreciation on the students’ faces as they graciously thanked Doreen Mogavero at an informal after-graduation gathering at Rike Hall in June. Mogavero had just been named an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at Wright State University’s 73rd Commencement. But her friendship with the Raj Soin College of Business, and notably the Finance Club, has been strong for years.

Each year Mogavero takes the time out of her busy schedule to meet with students from Wright State’s Finance Club during their annual trip to New York City and escort them to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, giving them a rare inside look at the operations of the age-old institution.

“It would be impossible for our students to even see the inside of the NYSE if it weren’t for Doreen’s willingness to so graciously host us, especially post 9/11,” said Marlena Akhbari, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Finance and Financial Services.

In 1980, at age 25, Mogavero became a member of the New York Stock Exchange. At the time she was the youngest member on the floor.

“When I walked through the doors of 11 Wall Street for the first time as a member and saw all those men, all older and certainly more seasoned than I was,” said Mogavero, “I had to make a choice. Do what I came there to do. Or leave and relinquish my dream. I chose to walk in the door, and I have never looked back.”

In 1989, she founded Mogavero, Lee & Co., Inc., the first and only floor-based direct access firm to be wholly owned and operated by women. Mogavero bought her NYSE seat in 1994 and was the only woman working on the floor to own her seat when the NYSE Group went public.

In 2003, Mogavero was the first woman from the floor to be appointed to the NYSE Board of Executives. During her tenure on the board, she served as one of only two floor representatives appointed to the Regulation Enforcement and Listing Standards (RELS) Committee.

Mogavero is a frequent market commentator on CNBC and Fox Business News, as well as Bloomberg Radio and TV. She was also featured on a Nightline special on the global financial markets in 2008. Later that year Mogavero appeared in a CBS special on women executives in the financial industry, Women at the Top.

Mogavero is also an active participant in many philanthropic organizations. She serves as the New York Area Coordinator for the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and is on the Corporate Advisory Boards of Inwood House, Fordham University Business School, and the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Ohio will invest $11.4 million in the effort over two years with funding contained in the biennial budget signed by Gov. John Kasich.

The Wright State Research Institute, through its Defense Aerospace Graduate Studies Institute, will work with its sister institutions of higher education to build an aerospace curriculum that links education and training, research, technology commercialization, and new job creation for the Dayton region and the state of Ohio.

State Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, said the funding will build on the successes already achieved to create high-quality aerospace and defense jobs in the region.

“With Wright State’s leadership, this money is aimed at increasing research that results in the commercialization of aerospace technology and at boosting graduate education to fill the pipeline with talent to feed emerging and growing businesses,” Widener said.

“This is a great example of how a university can partner with private businesses in order to fuel economic development,” said Jim Petro, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. “Wright State University will serve as the lead for institutions in the University System of Ohio along with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in developing programs for an emerging workforce that align with aerospace and defense-related needs.”

“Through our Wright State Research Institute, Wright State is honored and pleased that the Ohio Senate and the State of Ohio have asked us to serve as the lead on this important workforce development initiative with our regional and state partners to create new jobs,” said Wright State President David R. Hopkins. “We accept the challenge and will work aggressively to turn this research funding into new technologies, products, and jobs.”

It pulls at her heart. A family walks into a homeless shelter and for the first time must spend the night with strangers under a strange roof, thinking darkly about the future. Their faces are rouged with the look of defeat.

For Leigh Sempeles, a Wright State graduate and former executive director of St. Vincent de Paul, this scene happened all too often.

“The toughest part for me is watching somebody become homeless,” Sempeles said. “I mean these people have lost everything and have suffered so many losses.”

Sempeles, who turned history and law degrees into a successful career at global information broker LexisNexis, later helped wage a crusade against homelessness and poverty. And she recorded victories.

In the four years Sempeles was with St. Vincent, the Catholic lay organization grew from 80 to 112 employees—“the most caring, hard-working, dedicated people,” she says—and increased its annual operating budget from about $6 million to more than $8 million.

St. Vincent de Paul has played an integral part in the community’s plan to end chronic homelessness. And perhaps most touching, Sempeles saw once-homeless people get back on their feet and then donate a sizable chunk of their newly earned income to St. Vincent in an effort to give back.

“I just enjoy the mission,” says Sempeles. “It is the most gratifying job I’ve ever had.”

Named among distinguished alumni of Wright State’s College of Liberal Arts for 2011, Sempeles (B.A. History, ’79) graduated from Fairmont East High School in Kettering. She commuted to Wright State, working restaurant jobs at Antonio’s and the Cambridge Inn Cafeteria to pay her way through college.

It was at Wright State that Sempeles fell in love with history. Actually, she was already halfway there.

All of Sempeles’ grandparents came to Ellis Island from Greece, and she grew up with a love of ancient Greece and Greek history. And Sempeles’ mother had a passion for American history. She would take her children on trips to historic sites such as Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, and Monticello.

“To this day, that’s what I like to do when I travel,” Sempeles says. “When my husband and I planned a trip to Chicago a couple of years ago, he says, ‘I’m going to pick the historical site.’ Guess where he picked? He took me to Wrigley Field, which is a historical place. I bought that.”

At Wright State, Sempeles had set her sights on becoming a history teacher. Then, history professor Carl Becker suggested she go to law school, citing her strong writing skills and analytical thinking.

So after graduating from Wright State magna cum laude, Sempeles attended law school at the University of Dayton. Right after law school, she took a job at Mead
Data Central.

“They were just starting this major project called LexisNexis,” she recalled. “I would sit and read cases on second shift all night and determine if it was a bankruptcy case or a tax case or a federal securities case.”

After getting her law degree and working for a few years at Hyatt Legal Services, Sempeles found herself back at Mead Data Central, in a marketing position.

Sempeles climbed the corporate ladder, working in both product development and market planning and strategy. She watched Mead Data Central morph into LexisNexis, which grew into a global giant of online legal research services.

“Right here in Dayton, Ohio, they revolutionized the practice of law,” Sempeles said.

By 2006, Sempeles was a company vice president. But her heart was beginning to wander.

“I wanted to do something different in my life,” she said. “I was looking for a place where I could give back to my community, help my community.”

When St. Vincent reached out for someone from the business management world, Sempeles was there.

For the next four years, Sempeles operated out of a small office in The Job Center, a sprawling one-stop employment and training complex. On her desk during an interview were the trappings of a businesswoman on the go—a bottle of sparkling water, a cup of yogurt, eyeglasses propped on a calculator.

“It’s been a really good marriage in terms of the skill sets I’ve been able to bring, especially in these tough economic times,” she said.

Last year, St. Vincent’s homeless shelters saw a 30 percent increase in homeless men, women, and children.

Besides two homeless shelters, St. Vincent operates The Job Center, two food pantries, a thrift store, and the Deconstruction Depot, which disassembles unoccupied, deteriorating homes and sells old lumber, fireplaces, stained glass, bathtubs, doorknobs, and other items.

But it’s not the last chapter in Sempeles’ career. In April, she left St. Vincent for an opportunity in New York City, hired as a market planner with Bloomberg Law.

Sempeles made the move to play a role in launching a new system that she says will revolutionize the practice of law by integrating online legal information with company and client information, as well as proprietary news. In addition, it was a chance for Sempeles and her husband to live on the East Coast, which is rich in historical sites.

“My life in the legal information industry has come full circle,” Sempeles said, “but I will always treasure the time and experience in the nonprofit world that has had such a profound impact on my life.”

It was a never-to-be-forgotten life lesson for Gary McCullough. Plummeting to earth after having just jumped from a plane during Army training, McCullough’s parachute failed to open.

The chute came out, but never caught air—a frightening phenomenon known as a cigarette roll. Fortunately, the 19-year-old McCullough had a reserve chute and landed safely. But he was required to make one more jump to earn his wings.

“The question all day was would I make the fifth jump that evening. I figured the law of averages said that I was pretty much done with cigarette rolls, and so I did the jump,” McCullough said. “It was a close call, and I think I’ve always had an attitude that nothing’s guaranteed; nothing’s a given.”

McCullough has also landed safely in the corporate world.

Today, the Wright State University graduate is president and CEO of Career Education Corporation (CEC), a for-profit secondary education company that takes in roughly $2 billion in annual revenue and employs about 14,000 workers.

CEC operates fully accredited universities, including online institutions; 17 culinary schools; 38 allied health schools that teach surgical technology, nursing, dental hygiene, etc.; and art and design schools that teach interior design and related skills.

McCullough’s ascent in the corporate world began at the Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, where he spent time in marketing and later ran the company’s laundry detergent business in Venezuela. Next, it was on to chewing gum at Chicago’s William Wrigley Jr. Company, where he oversaw 3,300 employees and was responsible for the business in North and South America. Then, he ran a division of Abbott Laboratories called Ross Products, a world nutrition leader with 5,300 employees and more than $2.6 billion in annual sales.

When McCullough (B.S.B. Management, ’81) arrived at Career Education Corporation as CEO in 2007, the company was experiencing earnings disappointments and other turbulence. McCullough determined that CEC’s rapid growth had resulted in costs rising faster than revenues.

“So what I’ve done over the course of the last couple years is rebuild the leadership and management structure and work to take unnecessary costs and bad business habits out of the business and ultimately make sure the culture is one that puts students first,” he said. “And with those things, we’ve managed to get ourselves back on track.”

McCullough said the most surprising thing about running CEC is the sheer volume of decisions he faces daily—decisions that affect employees, shareholders, constituent groups, and others.

“You have to be pretty nimble,” he said. “You have to be able to compartmentalize things.”

McCullough has learned some painful, but valuable, lessons in his corporate career.

“I’ve been faced with failure, and fortunately I’ve been able to bounce back because I’ve looked at myself in the mirror and tried to be objective as much as I can about what caused the issue,” he said. “You can shrink from it, or you can rise above it.”

McCullough grew up in a military family. His father, a Dayton native, was in the Army. McCullough spent most of his boyhood in Germany, where his father was stationed. There were also stints in Virginia and Kentucky.

McCullough started college, but then dropped out. He began working as a door-to-door salesman and eventually returned to the family home in Dayton.

“My mother made me promise I would go back to college,” he said. “When I told her I would do it, she said she wanted me to do it that day.”

McCullough ended up enrolling at Wright State. He took morning classes so he could work jobs in the afternoons and evenings. He also joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).

“I think back and it’s clear to me that my experience at Wright State changed my life,” McCullough. “I got a solid foundation from a business point of view by going to the business school. But I also got a solid foundation of leadership experience by participating in ROTC.”

McCullough went on to become a lieutenant in the Army, first serving as an infantry officer and then with the Presidential Honor Guard. He pulled duty at the White House and Pentagon, and commanded the ceremonial guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

Then it was on to grad school at Northwestern University; then the corporate world.
McCullough said he’s faced adversity over the years, suffered disappointments, been passed over.

“But what I’ve told people is that the race ultimately is won by the people who are strong and the people who are well prepared and who are willing to take risks,” he said.

McCullough applauded Wright State and other business schools for emphasizing ethics and morality.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to teach those things, but I think that’s missing in many schools,” he said. “What I’ve learned over the course of the years is if you focus on quality, if you focus on the best product, if you focus on doing the right things, it comes back around in positive business benefits.”

McCullough said the most valuable leadership lesson he’s learned over the years is the importance of supporting your employees and recognizing that they come to work trying to do their best.

That lesson harkens back to McCullough’s Army days at Fort Bragg, N.C., when one cold and rainy February day a commanding general came to review the troops. The general asked one of McCullough’s drivers what he thought of the field exercise.

“He said, ‘Sir, it really sucks,’” McCullough recalled. “He said, ‘I don’t think this is infantry weather. I could sure use a Snickers bar.”

A few days later, a box with 30 Snickers bars arrived for the driver. A note from the general said, “Share these with your buddies.”

“Now, I don’t send out a bunch of Snickers bars,” McCullough said, “but I think if you’re attuned to what people need and are looking for, you can motivate them in ways that sometimes even they don’t understand.”

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Randall Solomon (B.A.) has been appointed by the Supreme Court of Ohio to chair the state’s Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure. He has served on the commission for five years and has chaired its Rules of Evidence subcommittee for the past three years. Solomon is a trial lawyer for Baker Hostetler who concentrates his practice in complex commercial litigation and in the defense of mass toxic tort cases.

Class of 1977

Sharon Haas (M.Ed.) has been promoted to the position of outsource accounting specialist at Clark Schaefer Hackett accounting firm.

Class of 1981

Jerry Tritle (B.A. ’81, M.B.A. ’83) is vice president of Peerless Technologies Corporation. He has 30 years of government and industry acquisition and engineering experience, working on mission-critical aeronautical, space and missile, and information technology programs. He teaches public speaking and is an oral presentation and sales expert. Tritle received a Master of Divinity from Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and is active in his church, the Dayton–Wright Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, and the Wright State University Alumni Association.

Class of 1982

Christopher Danis (M.D.) was named president and CEO of Health Specialists of Dayton, Inc. Danis is responsible for leading the strategic direction and daily management of the physicians group. He has more than 20 years of medical and management experience with the Hand and Reconstructive Surgeons Inc. of Dayton, as its former managing physician and president.

Dennis Mullins (B.S.B.) has been named a senior portfolio manager for U.S. Bank’s Institutional Asset Management Group. Mullins is responsible for providing customized investment solutions for U.S. Bank Institutional Trust & Custody clients, making use of strategic and tactical asset allocation, income and growth strategies, including equities, fixed income, commodities and real estate, and both traditional and alternative investments.

Rose (Romanick) Plummer (B.S.B., ’89 M.B.A.) was promoted to CFO at Projects Unlimited, Inc., in Dayton, Ohio. Projects Unlimited, Inc., is a contract manufacturer for the electronics industry, focusing mainly on the aerospace and defense market. Plummer holds an active CPA license in the State of Ohio and is member of the Ohio Society of CPAs. She joined Projects Unlimited as a controller in June 2006.

Shernaz Reporter (B.A.) served as HIV program manager at the Greene County Combined Health District for the four-county area until 2011. Reporter is currently working on a special grant with three area universities to target HIV risks.

Class of 1985

Swadeep Nigam (M.B.A., ’86 M.S.) was appointed by Governor Brian Sandoval to the State of Nevada’s Equal Rights Commission. Nigam has worked for the Las Vegas Water District for 20 years. Prior to that, he was a financial manager for a national home health care company. Nigam has over 30 years of experience in accounting, finance, economics, and investment management. Along with his regular volunteer work with numerous organizations, he established a scholarship program at the Nevada Policy Research Institute for graduating high school students in Clark County.

Oluseyi Senu-Oke (M.D.) was appointed by Delaware Governor Jack Markel to serve on the Delaware Health Information Network Board. He is also serving a third term on the Delaware Board of Medical Practice.

Class of 1986

Cheryl Davis (B.S.) has been chosen as the new plant manager for The Timken Company plant in Pulaski, Tennessee. The Timken Company provides innovative friction management and power transmission products and services. Davis has been employed at Timkin since 1990, where she has held several positions in engineering, quality, metallurgy, and manufacturing. Prior to the current appointment, Davis served as plant manager of Timken’s Altavista plant in Virginia.

Class of 1988

Lisa Stabler (M.S.) was elected president of the Pueblo, Colorado-based Transportation Technology Center, Inc., effective Oct. 7. Stabler has been vice president of operations and training for TTCI since arriving from the BNSF Railway, where she was assistant vice president of quality and reliability engineering. While at BNSF Railway, she chaired the Advanced Technology Safety Initiative Program, the industry-wide initiative that redefined the way that freight car maintenance is performed. She was also director of marketing, planning, and administration at Delphi Corp. in Dayton, Ohio.

Class of 1989

Nancy Brown Diggs (M.Hum.) wrote Hidden in the Heartland: The New Wave of Immigrants and the Challenge to America, published by Michigan State University Press.

Class of 1991

Scarlett Rains (B.A.) released Promises of the Heart and Seduction of a Bluestocking, the first two books in her “Sisters of the Heart” historical romance series. Both books are now available in Kindle and print form. ARTEMIS Books plans to release the third book of the series, Betrayals of the Heart, in fall 2011.

Class of 1994

Yvette Kelly-Fields (B.S.) was hired as executive director of Updayton. Kelly-Fields has leadership experience in fundraising, project management, and event planning.
Class of 1998

Erika A. Smith-Goodwin, Ph.D., ATC (M.A.) was named the interim vice president of academic affairs/dean of the faculty at Wilmington College. Goodwin currently serves as the associate vice president for academic affairs and is also a tenured professor of athletic training for Wilmington College.

Class of 1999

Angela Yake (B.S.B.) is one of 65 fellows selected for the inaugural class of the Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowship. Yake received a $30,000 stipend to complete a special intensive master’s program at the University of Cincinnati. Every fellow makes a commitment to teach for at least three years in a high-need urban or rural school in the state of Ohio.

Class of 2000

Tyffani Monford Dent (Psy.D.) wrote Girls Got Issues: A Woman’s Guide to Self-Discovery and Healing, a self-awareness book assisting women in defining the issues they face, why the issues exist, and how to move beyond them.

Class of 2002

Michael Altvater (B.A.) has joined Stark & Knoll as an associate in the Akron, Ohio, law firm’s Litigation and Employment Group. He is a graduate of The University of Akron School of Law.

Class of 2003

Sarah Hackenbracht (B.A.) serves as the vice president of public policy for the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association (GDAHA). In this capacity, she works closely with the president and CEO on a number of local, state, and federal public policy issues that impact the region’s hospitals. Hackenbracht manages the Ethics Consortium, Human Resources Directors Committee, and Public Affairs Committee, as well as the GDAHA website. She also coordinates the organization’s communications to member hospitals and their employees through grassroots advocacy and social media.

Class of 2004

Singer/songwriter Leslie Irene Benson (B.A.) is part of a new “piano pop cabaret” group called Irene & Reed. The group recently released its first album, Closer to Home. A former editor for The Guardian at Wright State, Benson graduated with a B.A. in English.

Class of 2005

Aaron M. Schmid (B.M.), a Navy seaman, completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. During the eight-week program, Schmid completed training that included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety.

Kevin St. John (B.S.B.) is executive director of Wright Nursing and Rehabilitation in Fairborn, Ohio. A Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, he has managed long-term care facilities in Celina, Ohio, and Columbus, Ohio.

Nick Verina (B.F.A.) sang the national anthem at a Washington Nationals Major League Baseball game. Verina was featured in the recent production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies at the Washington, D.C. Kennedy Center. He portrayed “Young Ben” opposite Bernadette Peters and Elaine Page. Verina and the entire production are moving to Broadway with an opening date scheduled for early September. He has also performed in the New York production of Forbidden Broadway: SVU and the national tour of Grease.

Class of 2007

Kiran George (Ph.D.) is an assistant professor of computer engineering at California State University, Fullerton.

Brian Lawrence (B.S.B.) has been promoted to the position manager accountant at Clark Schaefer Hackett accounting firm.

Class of 2008

Stephanie Jergens (B.S.B., M.Acc. ’09) has been promoted to the position senior accountant at Clark Schaefer Hackett accounting firm.

Class of 2009

Dustin Tobe (B.S.B., M.Acc. ’10) has been promoted to the position staff level II accountant at Clark Schaefer Hackett accounting firm.

Class of 2010

Nick Camilleri (B.S.) competed for Malta in the Games of the Small States of Europe and advanced into the quarterfinals of the tennis singles competition before falling to Benjamin Ballaret of Monaco. In doubles, Camilleri partnered with Matthew Asciak to win a bronze medal for Malta, giving the country its first medal in men’s tennis in five editions of the games.

Sam Phu (B.A.) completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. The eight-week program included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety. An emphasis was also placed on physical fitness. The capstone event of boot camp is “Battle Stations,” an exercise that gives recruits the skills and confidence they need to succeed in the fleet.

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The word “retire” is simply not in Anna Gee Blackwell’s vocabulary.

Blackwell graduated from Wright State in 2005 at age 76 with a master’s degree in piano performance. While at Wright State, she served as an accompanist for the Paul Laurence Dunbar Chorale. At 82, she obtained her second master’s degree, in special education, online from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. She currently works as a substitute schoolteacher in Springfield, Ohio.

Blackwell worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for 34 years before retiring as a budget analyst in 1984. She helped raise five children, became certified as a licensed practical nurse, and also taught piano lessons to help put her children through school. Two of her children earned degrees from Wright State: Barrett, a master’s in guidance and counseling; and Cynthia, a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering.

“Wright State has impacted my life through the years by challenging me to go beyond even my own expectations, to continually encourage young people to strive for an education that will prepare them for tomorrow and to believe that all things are possible through hard work, dedication and a belief in oneself,” Blackwell said.

Becki & Josh Ordway are training for a shot at the 2012 Olympics.

“I was terrified of it. I called it the M-word,” says Becki, laughing. “One of my goals in life was to never run a marathon. I thought there was no way I could race that far.”

But the collegiate miler and steeplechaser met an exercise physiologist after college who told her she was biomechanically suited to the 26.2-mile race.

Not entirely convinced, Becki ran her first competitive distance race at the Parkersburg Half-Marathon in West Virginia in 2007, a race that would change her life.

On the shuttle to the starting line, she met fellow American distance runner (and future husband) Josh Ordway, a medical student at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine.

“I could tell she was nervous,” Josh said. “I had run this race before, so I told her about the course, how to attack it—like don’t try anything for the first three miles—and when to take fluids,” he said.

The pep talk calmed Becki’s nerves, and Josh’s strategy worked. Both won the race for the Americans. Two weeks later, Becki drove from Akron to Dayton for their first date.

By 2008, Josh had proposed—on a running track, of course—and the couple’s racing careers were taking off.

Josh won the 2008 Columbus Marathon. Both competed in the 2008 Austin Marathon, where Becki placed second—her first marathon—with a time of 2:43:42, qualifying her for the 2008 Olympic Marathon trials. Josh had also qualified for the 2008 trials, having notched a 2:15:39 PR, or personal record, in the Chicago Marathon in 2006.

Now married, the Ordways are once again Olympic hopefuls, headed to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon team trials in January in Houston, Texas.

The couple lives and trains in the Dayton suburb of Bellbrook, threading long miles around their neighborhood, through the Greene County countryside, on local bike paths, and over the hilly trails of Sugarcreek Metropark.

“We love living and running here in Dayton,” Becki says. “We’re really blessed here to have the trail systems and the Five Rivers MetroParks system, and you can get hills anywhere you want.”

Among the top marathon runners in the country, the Ordways maintain intense training schedules despite the demands of their work.

Becki, 28, worked as assistant coach for Wright State University’s men’s and women’s distance runners and cross country teams. She coached Wright State runners to personal bests and several school records during her tenure.

Josh, 31, is in his second year in Boonshoft’s family medicine residency program at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton and runs more than 100 miles per week. During medical school, he often ran twice a day, starting as early as 4 a.m.

“Life is pretty much all running, all the time, and work,” says Becki. “But we’re content that running takes up the majority of our time.”

It helps to have the support of a spouse who is a runner, the Ordways say.

Both started running as pre-teens and come from running families from opposite ends of Ohio (Becki is from Alliance in the northeast, Josh from Holgate in the northwest).

Both specialized in the same event in college: the steeplechase, a 3,000-meter event that involves jumping barriers and a pit of water (Josh at Princeton, ’03; Becki at University if Akron, ’06).

Josh moved naturally into the marathon. He had an affinity for cross-country in high school and is an Ohio cross-country state champion. With a 5K road PR of 14:34, Josh was the 2006 Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) national 5K Champion. He also has multiple RRCA National Half-Marathon championships.

While doing his pre-med stint at The Ohio State University and training with the OSU track team, he started running road races and decided to give the marathon a shot. He upped his mileage, and won in his first attempt at a half-marathon.

“I thought, ‘there may be something to this’,” he said. Josh ran his first marathon in Columbus in 2005 and won it.

Becki, however, always considered herself a sprinter. She ran a 4:54 mile in college, and in 2006 was All-Ohio steeplechase champion.

“Even though I was putting in the mileage, I still fought it tooth and nail,” she said. But before the 2008 Olympic Trials, she was running hundreds of miles per month, and the marathon made her feel “invincible.” In 2009, she placed 13th in the USA Women’s Championship Marathon, with a time of 2:40:16.

Now with their sights set on the “race of races,” the Ordways are looking forward to racing together at the trials in January.

And there will be at least three running bibs at the Olympic trials bearing the name “Ordway,” and possibly a fourth. Josh’s brother, Jason, is also running the trials, and their sister, Jen, is hoping to win a qualifier this fall to get her there.

“It’s a much different league, and you feel like a celebrity,” Josh says. “You look around and go ‘that person was on the cover of Runner’s World; that person has an Olympic medal…’ You just can’t believe you made it there.”

The Raiders won the regular-season Horizon League title, hosted and won the post-season tournament, and advanced to the NCAA Regionals in College Station, Texas, where they were shut out by Texas A&M and Arizona. Finishing the season 36-19, it was the most wins posted by Wright State since going 36-22 in 2007. Prior to that, the Raiders had not won more than 36 games since recording 39 wins in 1994. Jake Hibberd, Corey Davis, Michael Schum, Zach Tanner, Tristan Moore, and Justin Kopale were named to the All-Horizon League First Team, while Dan Marsh was chosen for the Second Team. Hibberd was named the League’s Player of the Year; Schum Relief Pitcher of the Year, and Davis Newcomer of the Year. Head coach Rob Cooper was named Coach of the Year as he posted his 200th career coaching win. Schum, Hibberd, and Moore were named All-Mideast Region players, while Schum and Hibberd were selected as Louisville Slugger All-Americans. Hibberd was voted an Academic All-American and Marsh as a regional Academic All-American.

Softball

The Raiders finished the season 26-29. Senior third baseman Louie Haney was named to the All-Horizon League First Team, while Mollie Berry, China Frost, Justine Shilt, and Chelsea Archer were named to the Second Team. Archer and Kacie Rapshus were selected to the All-Newcomer Team. Haney led the league in hits (64), triples (5), and total bases (92). She finished fifth in batting average (.346) and seventh in runs scored (32).

Track

The women’s track team placed fourth at the Horizon League Championships. Junior Cassandra Lloyd won the 100-meter hurdles, breaking the conference record with a time of 13.38. Lloyd was a member of the winning 4×100 relay team, earning Outstanding Runner accolades for the tournament. Heather Parrish finished second in the 100-meter dash and Emily Folino second in the 400 hurdles. Lloyd was selected as the Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Female Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Horizon League female track athlete to earn the honor in both the indoor and outdoor seasons in consecutive years. She became the only Horizon League track All-American in 2011, finishing 14th in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Ranked 21st in the 100-meter hurdles at the end of the regular season, Lloyd shattered the school record in the event on four occasions, lowering the mark to 13.38 seconds. She also broke the school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.87 and was a member of the 4×100 team that broke the record three times, the final being 46.68.

Golf

The golf team placed second in the Horizon League, just seven strokes off first place. The team’s score of 301 was the best round for any team in the tournament, which was held at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. Jordan Higgins led the way for Wright State, shooting a 71 in the final round to finish third with a three-round score of 225, just one stroke off the lead. Scott Thompson tied for fifth with a 230. Both were named to the league’s All-Tournament team. The second-place finish was the highest for the Raiders since also placing second in 2005.

Men’s Tennis

The men’s tennis team finished 17-10 and captured third
place in the Horizon League Championships. The Raiders closed out the season in dramatic fashion, overcoming a 3-0 deficit and winning the final four singles matches to claim a 4-3 victory over UIC in Indianapolis. Jan Alafriz was named to the First Team All-Horizon League.

Women’s Tennis

The women’s tennis team finished 14-10, wrapping up the season with a 4-0 win over Milwaukee to finish fifth at the Horizon League Championships in Indianapolis. Kenisha Webb, the lone senior on the squad, led the way for the Raiders in her final collegiate match. She teamed with Masha Peresetsky to win 8-6 in first doubles and then posted a 6-1, 6-2 decision in third singles. After placing second in Division I during the 2009–10 campaign in winning percentage improvement (9-13 after going 3-18 in 2008–09), Wright State continued its climb this year. This year’s fourth-place Horizon League finish during the regular season was the highest for Wright State since also finishing fourth during the 2003–04 season. Kayla Tuscany was named to Second Team All-Horizon League.

Young but athletic. Those are the watchwords as Wright State’s women’s basketball team prepares for a new season.

Wright State posted one of its best seasons ever in 2010–11, winning 20 games for the first time as a Division I member and advancing to its first Division I postseason tournament. But the Raiders have lost five seniors from last season’s team, including LaShawna Thomas, a guard who set a school record for most points by a senior.

“We don’t have LaShawna to lean on at crunch time, so we will need to be a little more balanced on offense,” coach Mike Bradbury said. “We will be very young and inexperienced. With that said, our talent level and athleticism will be very good.”

The Raiders have reloaded with talent-ed recruits.

They include Katrina Blackmon, a 6-0 forward from Marion, Indiana, who averaged 20.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game her senior high school season; Kim Demmings, a 5-8 guard from Richmond, Indiana, who averaged 19.9 points and 10.2 rebounds; and Ciara Leak, a 5-6 guard who played the past two seasons at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri, where she averaged 
13.4 points.

“We have added depth, speed, and athleticism to an already talented class,” Bradbury said.

In Bradbury’s first season as head coach last year, the team finished 20-13 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational before falling 75-73 to Manhattan. The appearance in the WBI was the first Division I postseason action ever for the Raiders. The 20 wins were the most for Wright State since moving up to Division I in 1987–88 and the second-most in school history.

Thomas was a First Team All-Horizon League selection and set the school record for most points by a senior, with 614. She finished second on Wright State’s all-time scoring list, with 1,653 points.

Besides Blackmon, Demmings and Leak, the Raiders have the following
new players:

—Teonia McCune, a 6-5 center from Louisville, Kentucky, who averaged 16.1 points, 16.3 rebounds and ranks No. 4 all-time statewide in blocked shots, with 515.

—Mylan Woods, a 5-11 guard/forward from Strongsville, Ohio, who transferred to Wright State from Northwestern, where she appeared in eight games off the bench. Woods was the Ohio Division II Player of the Year in 2008–09 and 2009–10, averaging 15.4 points per game as a senior.

—Tayler Stanton, a 6-0 forward from Cincinnati Walnut Hills, competed last season at Kent State and finished second on the team in blocked shots, with 19.

—Breanna Stucke, a 6-0 guard/forward from Tipp City who averaged 12.4 points and 6.8 rebounds.

—Abby Jump, a 5-5 point guard from Florence, Kentucky, averaged 12.2 points, hit 72 three-pointers, and shot 81 percent from the foul line.

—Cierra Triplett, a 6-6 center from Dayton Carroll, averaged 8.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and three blocks per game.

—Sarah Hunter, a 5-7 guard from Mason, Ohio, averaged eight points, 3.3 assists, and 2.3 steals.

Plus, the Raiders’ overall schedule is the most daunting in years, with battles against Cincinnati, Charlotte, Ohio University, Air Force, and Butler, which last season went to the national championship game for the second straight year.

And with the loss of veterans Vaughn Duggins, N’Gai Evans, Troy Tabler, and Cooper Land, there won’t be a Wright State player with more than one year experience as a Raider.

But there are reasons for optimism, starting with the coaching excellence of Billy Donlon. And a pre-season trip to Italy gave Wright State some badly needed experience and a chance to bond.

Wright State opens in the four-game Global Sports Shootout, facing Ohio State, Florida, and North Florida on the road, and Jackson State at home in the Nutter Center.

They open the season at Ohio State Nov. 11. The Buckeyes finished the 2010–11 season 34-2 and with the nation’s second-best Rating Percentage Index (RPI), which is used to rank teams based upon wins, losses, and strength of schedule. Wright State will then host Jackson State Nov. 16 before traveling to play Florida on a neutral court in Tampa Nov. 21 and at North Florida Nov. 23.

“I’m excited to participate in this event, as we will have a chance to compete against two of the best teams in college basketball in The Ohio State University and the University of Florida,” Donlon said.

Donlon believes that North Florida and Jackson State will compete for their league championships, so the games will be good preparation for Horizon League play.

“Our team will need to grow up quickly, and we’ll get the opportunity to do that by playing some of the best,” Donlon said.

Florida finished 29-8 last year, with the nation’s eighth-best RPI. North Florida advanced to the championship game of the Atlantic Sun Tournament, while Jackson State of the SWAC ended the season at 17-15.

Returning Wright State players:  Johann Mpondo, a 6-8 forward from Cameroon; 6-9 forward A.J. Pacher; 6-7 forward Armond Battle; 6-7 forward Cole Darling; 6-5 guard Matt Vest; and 6-3 guard Vance Hall.
New recruits include 6-4 guard Kendall Griffin, 6-8 forward Alex Pritchett, 6-9 forward Tavares Sledge, 6-3 guard Julius Mays, 6-3 guard Jason Cuffee, and John Balwigaire, a 6-2 guard from Mesa (AZ) Community College.

Terry Brumfield’s lion cubs, given to him by a friend to help him cope with depression, are cubs no longer.

John Adkins came to Wright State with a vague idea that he would like a career in film or video. He didn’t realize he would graduate with an enduring passion for documentary filmmaking. Or that he would go on to start a production company with one of his colleagues and produce the award-winning documentary The Elephant in the Living Room, which tells the story of exotic animal ownership in the United States.

John Adkins

When Adkins transferred to Wright State from the University of Cincinnati, he didn’t know that he would be arriving in the program at the same time that renowned filmmakers Julia Reichert and James Klein joined the faculty. “It was a little program when I was here,” says Adkins. “We used to be in a little corner of Millett Hall.”

Adkins’ journey to success began when he made a short documentary with fellow Wright State students Steven Bognar and Tim Ballou, titled If It Bleeds, It Leads. “My love for documentaries really started here [at Wright State],” explained Adkins. “The best thing I had to show for my time at Wright State was a documentary.”

After graduating with a B.F.A. in motion picture production in 1986, Adkins got a job with a corporate video company. When his position was scaled back due to budget cuts, Adkins and co-worker Mark Morgan started their own company, Mainsail Productions. Michael Webber joined the company soon thereafter.

Though Mainsail does many television spots and internet pieces, and has produced several theatrical films, Adkins still brings his documentary experience to bear on many of Mainsail’s projects. “A lot of the things we do at Mainsail are, in one way or another, documentary oriented,” he said. “That business of ‘how do you tell a story appropriate to the content,’ though it was taught in the film program, really applied to video.”

The Elephant in the Living Room was the idea of Michael Webber, who wanted to bring the controversial issue of exotic animal ownership into the public view. Webber got about 200 hours of footage, which then had to be cut down to feature length.

“For me,” said Adkins, “it was a lot of late nights, but it went down that alley of what I really enjoy, which is trying to tell a story with people’s words, instead of trying to make up words about them.”

The Elephant in the Living Room, which began the festival circuit in February 2010 and premiered in Dayton in March 2010, has been hailed by Academy Award–winning director Michael Moore as “one of the scariest, most entertaining and technically perfect films.

It has won two best documentary awards, one from Moore himself at the Traverse City Film Festival, which he founded. The film has also received an award for “best socially conscious film” from the Burbank International Film Festival and an ACE Award from SilverDocs, the Discovery Channel’s documentary festival.

Police officers like Tim Harrison must intervene when exotic pets turn dangerous.

The film follows Tim Harrison, a police officer, firefighter, and paramedic who has dedicated much of his career to policing the exotic animal trade in the United States, and Terry Brumfield, an animal lover who was given two African lion cubs to help him cope with depression. In the film, the lions are fully grown, but their size does not diminish Brumfield’s love for them.

Both sides of the issue of exotic animal ownership are presented with compassion for those involved: the people who own and love the animals, and the police officers who must intervene when the situation grows dangerous.

Reviewers have called the film “impressive and moving,” “a must see,” and “eye opening and heart stopping. The very best in documentary film making.”

When asked if he has any advice for film students at Wright State, Adkins admitted that what he has to say is not very glamorous, but it will help students perfect their technique in the long run.

“This doesn’t sound very profound, but do as much production as you can,” he said.

Adkins also encourages students to work with other filmmakers and to get involved with a variety of different types of filmmaking. Experience, he says, is key. “The theory side of things is really valuable, but really you just have to go out and do stuff.”

Following youngest son Matt’s battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the Neitzke family (clockwise from top left—Christine, Sam, Jim and Matt) established The Dragonfly Foundation to bring comfort and joy to kids with cancer.

A can of Coke sat in the car of Jim and Christine Neitzke on that cold Friday night in February 2010. It belonged to their 10-year-old son Matt.

Matt had grabbed the can of pop before he left home, headed for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He couldn’t drink it now. He had to wait until after his test—a CT scan—a follow-up to his recent bout with pneumonia.

Matt left his Coke in the car. He’d be back in a few hours to drink it. After all, it was just a simple CT scan.

Seven hours later, Christine drove home alone with the can of Coke.

It was every parent’s worst nightmare come true.

Matt had cancer.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Stage three.

Matt and Jim stayed in the hospital that night while Christine took care of the couple’s older son, 12-year-old Sam. The next morning, Matt underwent biopsy surgery.

The biopsy revealed a mass the size of a baseball next to Matt’s right lung as well as smaller masses on his spleen.

The Neitzke family was about to embark on a seven-month-long journey of chemotherapy, radiation, and what seemed like a never-ending stream of overnight stays in the hospital.

It was a journey that would change their lives forever.

Sam Neitzke (right) embraces his younger brother Matt.

An outpouring of love and support

Following the devastating news of Matt’s cancer diagnosis, family and friends rallied around the Neitzkes.

“It got us through this,” said Christine. “Immediately, we just felt embraced by so many different communities.”

Help came from their neighbors, their church, the boys’ schools, and Matt’s baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

“Friends started making meals for us right away. We had people here all the time, cleaning and cooking,” said Jim, a 1978 magna cum laude graduate of Wright State University with a dual degree in accountancy and finance. He is senior vice president of finance and accounting for Luxottica, the world’s leading manufacturer of premium fashion, luxury, and sports eyewear.

Then there were the little things. Small acts of kindness that brought Matt big moments of joy.

A couple of Matt’s baseball coaches arranged for an autographed baseball bat from Matt’s favorite player, Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco. It arrived in a big glass case, a welcome site in Matt’s hospital room as he underwent chemo.

Another autographed bat came from the Detroit Tigers. Hall of Famer Joe Morgan stopped by for a visit, along with other professional baseball players and mascots.

“It really helped Matt a lot,” said Jim. “He loves baseball.”

As Christine recalled, “He would cry at night and say ‘I just want to play baseball, Mommy.’”

There, watching all of the ups and downs was Matt’s big brother, Sam. “It was as hard on Sam as it was on Matt,” said Jim. “He was worried about his brother dying.”

During flu season, Sam could not visit his brother in the hospital. The two boys would Skype to stay in touch.

Prayer and a sense of humor got the Neitzke family through many tough days and nights. Playing Nerf basketball games and making water balloons out of latex hospital gloves provided some much-needed stress relief.

“We were lucky. We were there only three months. Some families are there for years, going through this,” said Christine.

The lessons they learned would last a lifetime.

“Never take anything for granted. That’s the number one thing,” said Jim.

“It’s so important to have your health and your children’s health,” Christine said. “Embrace every moment.”

In September 2010, after four rounds of chemotherapy and three months of radiation, the Neitzke family received the news they had been praying for. Matt was in remission.

They couldn’t walk away

The Neitzkes have nothing but words of praise and appreciation for the doctors and nurses at the Cancer & Blood Diseases Institute of Cincinnati Children’s.

“They saved Matt. They were our lifeline,” said Christine. “The quality of the staff and the care we received there was outstanding.”

But while the Neitzkes were in the hospital, they identified many needs that could improve the quality of life of patients.

Unlike Matt, who had a community of love behind him, some of the children and families at the hospital did not have the same network of support.

One day, as Christine walked down the hospital hallway, a three-year-old child in another room was crying for blue Play-Doh. Due to infection control measures, children are unable to share Play-Doh or reuse a can.

As Matt was starting to get better, Christine began talking to the staff in Child Life, who oversee the playroom and provide distractions for the kids as they undergo treatment.

They discussed coordinating drives for new DVDs and other items the hospital needed. As the wish list grew, the Neitzkes started tossing around the idea of creating their own nonprofit foundation.

In August 2010, The Dragonfly Foundation was born. Its mission: to bring comfort and joy to kids and young adults with cancer and blood diseases.

Matt (left) and Sam (right) Neitzke proudly display their Dragonfly Foundation T-shirts. “It’s great to want to help kids who are going through what I went through,” said Matt, of the foundation established in his honor. “It’s taking a bad thing and trying to make it a good thing.”

“The dragonfly represents strength and courage,” Christine explained. “In one Indian language, it means bringing comfort to kids. It was perfect.”

The foundation works in partnership with the Cancer & Blood Diseases Institute of Cincinnati Children’s to provide distractions that help ease the pain and fear patients and their families experience on a daily basis.

When Caron Bergen’s 14-year-old son, Kyle, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma last summer, it was a huge shock to Bergen and her family.

“When you are a parent of a pediatric cancer patient, you are completely overwhelmed,” said Bergen. “You live in a world of ‘can’t’. People can’t visit. You can’t go out in public. You’re always looking for a distraction that will bring a smile to your child’s face.”

When The Dragonfly Foundation learned that Kyle was a fan of Adam Richman from the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food, they arranged for Kyle to meet Adam when he was in town for a speaking engagement.

“My son had the biggest smile on his face. It was the greatest gift,” said Bergen. “In all of the horribleness, we found a lot of light shined in our lives and The Dragonfly Foundation was one of them.”

Along with arranging celebrity visits, distributing tickets to families for special events such as Disney on Ice, and securing supplies for the hospital playroom, The Dragonfly Foundation is providing laptops so patients can watch DVDs in their hospitals rooms and Skype with their family, friends and celebrities. To date, they have arranged for the donation of 25 laptops and hope to provide 30 more to the hospital.

The Dragonfly Foundation is also creating several programs to support patients (age 0-35) and their families from when they enter Cincinnati Children’s to the time they leave. These include a buddy system for parents, a wall décor program and the “I Am Still Me” program—a program to help patients cope with the trauma of losing their hair due to treatment.

In April, they will launch the Beads of Courage project. Already in existence in more than 80 hospitals nationwide, the program provides each child with a strand of beads spelling out his or her name, along with a Dragonfly bead. Beads are added to mark each treatment milestone. For example, a glow-in-the-dark bead represents a radiation treatment. It is not unusual for some children to amass 30, 40, 50 or more feet of beads.

Having a child with cancer or a blood disease is draining—mentally, physically, emotionally, and often financially. “Part of what we’re doing is trying to identify those families with less wherewithal to buy them meal and gas cards,” said Jim.

The challenges are even greater for single parents and for families who must travel great distances for medical treatment. According to John Perentesis, M.D., director of the oncology division at Cincinnati Children’s, 45 percent of patients come from outside the region.

“Having a child with cancer just turns your world upside down. Words can’t describe what a wrenching experience it is for any family,” said Perentesis. “The Dragonfly Foundation helps catch people and help them move forward. We can’t thank them enough for what they’re doing. They have touched many lives in a short period of time.”

Ria Davidson serves as vice president of The Dragonfly Foundation. Davidson and Christine Neitzke met at a public relations agency 20 years ago. They have been best friends ever since.

“To see Matt go through the horror of chemotherapy and radiation was extremely difficult. To visit a 10-year-old in the hospital and then see babies, teenagers, and young adults with cancer is more than you can stand,” said Davidson. “That’s just as an outsider. I can’t even imagine what it would be like as a parent to see your child suffer.”

With Cincinnati Children’s focused on research, treatments, and cures, The Dragonfly Foundation fills a niche that a nonprofit hospital cannot. “If we can help them put together programs that will benefit patients, those are resources that can be applied to curing and fixing kids so that hopefully, someday soon, children won’t have to go through what Matt went through and what other kids are going through.”

Aside from getting married and having her own children, Davidson said working with The Dragonfly Foundation is “the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

Since its launch in August, the Dragonfly Foundation already has nine project teams and hundreds of volunteers. Within a few years, Davidson and the Neitzkes hope to expand The Dragonfly Foundation’s programs to Cincinnati Children’s sister hospital, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, and eventually to hospitals nationwide.

“It’s great to want to help kids who are going through what I went through,” said Matt, of the foundation established in his honor. “It’s taking a bad thing and trying to make it a good thing.”

Matt celebrated his 11th birthday in December 2010. Today, he is a happy and healthy fifth grader. But there are a few milestones left to go before he is considered “clean.” Over the next five years, he will undergo periodic tests and scans to make sure he remains in remission.

And he’ll be on the baseball diamond, playing the sport he loves to his heart’s content.

More on the Web:

Visit www.thedragonflyfoundation.org to watch videos and read more stories of how they are bringing comfort and joy to kids with cancer.