Foundations Fall 2015

R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E > F A L L 2 0 1 5

Foundations

OUTPERFORMING THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

RMU GALLUP RESULTS INSIDE

8TH PRESIDEN

T

ANNOUNCED

D E A R A L U M N I A N D F R I E N D S ,

It is my pleasure to introduce to you Dr. Christopher B. Howard,whom the Board of Trustees has named the eighth president ofRobert Morris University. Dr. Howard, currently president ofHampden-Sydney College in Virginia, will join RMU on Feb. 1.

You can read more about Dr. Howard on page 12, but first permit me to share my personal observations. I was fortunate to spend a good bit of time with Dr. Howard during the search process, and I was impressed that he views RMU as having gained a strong position to be an institutional leader inAmerican higher education in the 21st century. He cited our relevant strengths in both teaching and the liberal arts approach to critical thinking, combined with a track record of success in professionally focused education.

I believe Dr. Howard demonstrates the intellectual vision, insight, and passion to partner with the facultyand administration to help us meet our goals for enhancing our quality teaching and academics whilemaking our applied, engaged learning experiences even more relevant and pervasive among all types ofstudents. And he will be taking the helm of RMU at the perfect time. Many of you participated last year inthe first RMU Gallup Survey, and as you will read on page 20, the results are in: Robert Morris graduatesare more likely to be employed full time, to be engaged in their jobs, and to enjoy personal well-being thantheir college-educated peers nationwide.

What’s more, thanks no doubt to the university’s Student Engagement Program, more graduates than ever before report that they had meaningful internships at RMU, were deeply involved in extracurricularactivities, worked on projects that took a semester or more, and had close and supportive personalrelationships with faculty — all experiences that Gallup has found to predict professional success andpersonal well-being.

RMU launched the Student Engagement Program in 2009 along with the Student Engagement Transcript,which documents for students their participation in activities including professional experiences,community service, undergraduate research, and study abroad. At commencement in May, a record 57 graduating students earned the Renaissance Award for completing activities in all seven categories of the Student Engagement Transcript. The Student Engagement Program will be one of the most lastinglegacies of Dr. Howard's esteemed predecessor, and in recognition of that fact, the university has renamed the Renaissance Award the Gregory G. Dell’Omo Renaissance Award.

The past 10 years were a period of unprecedented growth and transformation at Robert Morris, and our success owes much to the hard work of our faculty and staff and the generous support of alumni such as you. I have relied on both while leading the university during our time of transition, and I know Dr. Howard is counting on all of us to help him raise RMU to even greater heights. Please join me in welcoming him and his family to Robert Morris University.

Sincerely,

D A V I D L . J A M I S O N , J . D .I N T E R I M P R E S I D E N T A N D P R O V O S T

FALL}15 Foundations

Leadership for the Future . . . 12Christopher Howard has made his mark as a distinguished educator, dedicated public servant, decorated veteran, football star,and co-founder of an international children’s charity. Now he plans to change more lives as RMU’s eighth president.

Sharing Stories from Across Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . 16As the U.S. ambassador in Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders D’10 found the amazing women who became first her doctoral project and now a book.

Changing Lives Through Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Maria Kalevitch earns national recognition for inspiring women and minorities inscience, engineering, and mathematics.

No Nonsense, No Regrets . . . 14When basketball coach Andy Toole agreed to stay at RMU after leading the team back to March Madness, it was a win for both players and Colonials fans.

10 Questions . . . . . . . . 36Racing her handcycle in marathons in New York and Alaska, Ashli Molinero D’04 is miles ahead of what she once thought she was capable of.

Bold Movesp. 22Taking risks is what Mike Welsh ‘06 M’06 knows best.

CREDITS

EDITORMark Houser

CONTRIBUTORS Joe Bendel, Alan Buehler '13 M'15, Kimberly Burger Capozzi, Jonathan Potts M’11, Dennis Roddy

ART DIRECTORAmy Joy

PHOTOGRAPHY/ILLUSTRATIONS Front Cover: Kyle FasenmyerBack Cover: Joe AppelOther Photos/Illustrations: Joe Appel, Jason Cohn, Dave DeNoma, Kyle Fasenmyer,iStock, Mitch Kramer ‘08, Sandy Lee, Robin Renee Sanders D’10, Jodi Vasalani ‘92, Michael Will ‘08

PRINTING Heeter Direct

FOUNDATIONS ONLINE RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONSAlan Buehler '13 M'15

Foundations (ISSN 1934-5690) is published twice a year by the Office of Public Relations and Marketing in conjunction with the Office ofInstitutional Advancement and mailed free ofcharge to alumni, donors, trustees, faculty, staff,and friends of Robert Morris University. Theopinions expressed in the magazine do notnecessarily reflect the official policies of Robert Morris University.

Contributions to Class Notes and addresschanges may be sent to:Office of Alumni RelationsRobert Morris University6001 University BoulevardMoon Township, PA 15108-1189Phone: (412) 397-6464 Fax: (412) 397-5871Email: [email protected]

It is the policy of Robert Morris University to provideequal opportunity in all educational programs andactivities, admission of students, and conditions ofemployment for all qualified individuals regardlessof race, color, sex, religion, age, disability, nationalorigin, and/or sexual preference.

02 CAMPUS REPORT

06 POLLING INSTITUTE

08 SPORTS

24 UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

26 CLASS NOTES

37 UPCOMING EVENTS

DEPARTMENTS

2 • R M U . E D U / FOUNDAT IONS

> Teaching the Teachers RMU is now one of only five universitiesnationwide to offer onlinegraduate degree programsto educators through theNEA Academy, whichallows members of theNational EducationAssociation anywhere inthe nation to earn anadvanced degree at a reduced rate. More information is at RMU.EDU/NEA.

CAMPUS REPORT>Still the BestOnlineThe university’s online degree program

brought home another nationalaccolade, ranking 17th inTheBestSchools.org Top 50 BestOnline Colleges for 2015-16. It isthe second year in a row that

RMU was recognized among thetop online schools, having ranked

17th in the 2014-15 study as well.Rankings are based on extensive researchin online education, and they consideracademic excellence, scholarly strengthof faculty, online teaching methods,tuition costs, reputation, awards,financial aid, and range of degree

programs offered.

Nationally, online degree programshave become extremely popular, nearlyquadrupling in the past ten years. RMUOnline was launched in 2011 and currentlyenrolls more than 700 students. Learnmore at RMU.EDU/ONLINE.

>Game ChangerThe RMU Board of Trustees has approved plans for the university to raise $50 million to fund an events center that will be home to the Robert MorrisNCAA Division I basketball teams and volleyball team. Plans call for abuilding of up to 135,000 square feet, with an arena seating up to 4,500 people. The facility, tentatively slated to open in fall 2018, will also be used for concerts, conferences, meetings, and other special events, including annual commencement exercises.

With a new arena built, Sewall Center can be used as a recreational and intramural gym. That in turn will allow the gym in John Jay Center to be convertedinto classroom, laboratory, and office space for theSchool of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. The school will have John Jay to itself once the newbuilding for the School of Nursing and HealthSciences opens this fall.

Page:RMU AlumniURL:facebook.com/RMUalumni

> > FIND US ON FACEBOOK

R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y FOUNDAT IONS • 3

> Strength in NumbersThe Uzuri Think Tank, in cooperation with the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, held a three-day symposium at the Fairmont Hotelin Pittsburgh in April dedicated to increasing diversity in STEM career fields.

The conference attracted 130 scholars, entrepreneurs, advocates, and policy makers to discuss why African Americans make up only 6 percent of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math careers, and to think about how best to improve those numbers. As part of theprogram, symposium attendees toured STEM classrooms and laboratories at the RMU campus, spoke with faculty, and explored product manufacturingvia 3-D printing.

The Uzuri Think Tank is focused on research investigating the success factorsthat can raise African American male student achievement and educationalattainment. Find out more about Uzuri and see a full report of the symposiumat RMU.EDU/UZURI.

>New BusinessLois Bryan, D.Sc., is now theinterim dean of the School ofBusiness. An accountingprofessor, Bryan replaces John Beehler, who left to

become president of JacksonvilleState University in Alabama.

Her master of science in taxation anddoctorate in information systems andcommunications are both from RobertMorris; Bryan also has a master’s degreein accountancy from the University of Denver.

>Welcome toColonial Country

The School of Communicationsand Information Systemsnamed AnnMarie LeBlanc,M.F.A., as its new dean.LeBlanc was interim dean of

the College of Communicationand Information at Kent State

University. She is an expert in color theory and traditional and digitalillustration, and her work has been inmore than 50 national and internationaladjudicated exhibitions and is in morethan 300 private and corporate collectionsin the United States and abroad.

LeBlanc holds a master of fine arts fromBowling Green State University, a masterof arts from Purdue University, and abachelor of fine arts from Louisiana StateUniversity. She succeeds Barbara Levine,Ph.D., who has been SCIS dean since 2008and will return to the faculty.

> Paying for College 101RMU has launched the College Affordability Academy, a training initiative for admissions counselors, financial aidofficers, faculty mentors, and student support staff to make the college financing system as transparent as possible forprospective students. Fifty RMU faculty and staff completed

the eight-week program, working in teams to developcapstone projects that help translate what they learn to prospective students and their families.

More information about the College Affordability Academy,including animated video shorts about planning for collegecalled “A Tale of Two Students,” can be found at

RMU.EDU/AFFORDABILITY.

> FOLLO

W U

S O

N TW

ITTER @

RM

U FO

R TH

E MOST U

P-TO

-DATE N

EWS.

> Changing theLives of Students

At commencement theuniversity recognized the contributions andachievements of fivelongtime facultymembers who haveretired this year.Professors NellHartley, Jim Vincent, Jim Leone, Valerie

Powell, and Michael Yahr now join theranks of faculty emeriti.

>Moscow in the SpringtimeMedia arts professor Ferris Crane, M.F.A.,spent time this spring asvisiting faculty atLomonosov MoscowState University,Russia’s biggestinstitution of higherlearning. Crane gavea combination ofthree research papersabout “the digitalized human” to graduatestudents and faculty, including formerRooney Scholar Victor Khroul.

>Research That Changes LivesMechanical and biomedical engineering professor Rika Carlsen, Ph.D., co-authored “The Importance ofStructural Anisotropy in Computational Models ofTraumatic Brain Injury” in the journalFrontiers in Neurology.

The paper explores howcomputational models of traumaticbrain injury can be improved with the goal of helping to manageand minimize the impact of suchinjuries. Carlsen collaborated with Nitin P. Daphalapurkar of Johns Hopkins University.

Before joining the RMU faculty in 2014, Carlsen spent twoyears at Carnegie Mellon as a postdoctoral research fellow in nanorobotics. She also has done research at Sandia National Laboratories and Johns Hopkins University.

English professor John Lawson,Ph.D., presented a paper,“Poetry as (Neurotic)Enactment: A HorneyianPerspective,” at the College English AssociationConference in Indianapolis in March.

Organizational leadership professorBeatrice Kunka, Ed.D., presented a paper on diversity in organizations at theInternational Conference onKnowledge, Culture and Change in Organizations at the University of California,Berkeley, in February.

Engineering professor Ben Campbell,Ph.D., spoke at the Silicon Happy ValleyConference in State College in April. Campbellpresented examples of his research in electricalengineering and computer science, and spokeabout RMU’s recent development of a minorin mechatronics, which combines mechanicalengineering and software engineering withadditional electrical engineering content.

> RMU on Tour

4 > KUNKA

> Kids Art for the CapitolMedia arts professor Jon Radermacher, M.F.A., associate dean of the Schoolof Communications and Information Systems, was invited by U.S. Rep. TimMurphy to be a juror for the 2015 Congressional Art Competition. Since1982, members of Congress have held annual contests within their districtsto choose winning pieces of art by high school students. First place artworkfrom each district will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol complex for one year,and the students will be invited to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremonyin Washington, D.C.


>Outstanding inTheir Fields

Actuarial science professor JasonHong, Ph.D., received a $17,500grant through a competitionsponsored by the four majoractuarial organizations in

North America: the ActuarialFoundation, the Actuarial

Foundation of Canada, the CasualtyActuarial Society, and the Society ofActuaries. He shares the grant with RyanMartin at the University of Illinois atChicago; the two will collaborate on aproject titled “Flexible BayesianNonparametric Credibility Models.”

Mathematics professor MonicaVanDieren, Ph.D., recently learned thattwo of her published research papers areranked among the most cited papers in theJournal of Mathematical Logic, one of the topjournals in her field. One of those papers,“Galois-Stability for Tame AbstractElementary Classes,” is the seventh mostcited of all papers in the journal and thesecond in VanDieren’s branch of research,called model theory. (Read more aboutVanDieren on page 20.)

>We Built This CityThe RMU-produced documentary “We Built This City: How theAllegheny Conference Remade Pittsburgh” has taken home a slew ofawards: three Bronze Telly Awards for documentary program,writing, and directing; and two Silver Reel Awards for writing and

documentaries/shorts.

The film, which celebrates the 70th anniversary of the public-private partnership, was directed by Michael DiLauro,M.F.A., director of the Academic Media Center, andwritten by David Jamison, J.D., provost and interimpresident. Seven students and two RMU alumni alsoworked on the project, and broadcaster and documentaryproducer Beth Dolinar, an adjunct faculty member, wasassociate producer and research director. The documentary

was funded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and isnarrated by Jim Cunningham of WQED-FM.

Go to RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS to watch “We Built This City.”

recycle this magazineGive it to a neighbor who’s in high schooland help spread the word about RMU.

Victoria Snyder, director ofmulticultural student services,

recently presented at the Northeast GreekLeadership Association Conference in Hartford, Conn.

Media arts professor Christine Holtz,M.F.A., gave a presentation

about her ongoing project “50 GreenspaceDumpsites” at the Societyfor Photographic Education

national conference in New Orleansin March.

> SEE TH

IS M

AGAZIN

E AND EX

TRA FEA

TURES

AT R

MU.ED

U/FO

UNDATIO

NS.

6 • R M U . E D U / FOUNDAT IONS

14%SAY THEY

ARE UPPER MIDDLE CLASS

TAKING AMERICA’S PULSE

MOVING ON UPA class system exists in America, according to most people (86%), and it is more determined by income than by power, education level, or job. Asked which they belong to, most say the middle (39%) or working class (30%), while at the extreme ends, three times as many say they are lower (10%) as upper class (3%).

59%WANT

COLLEGE TO BALANCE

ACADEMICS ANDJOB SKILLS

SYLLABUS SENSELarge majorities across all demographic groups saycolleges should balance their focus equally between coreacademics and job training. Among the minority who wouldprefer a college curriculum to emphasize one over the other, the only ones favoring academics over career prep are retirees (21% vs. 20%) and those with a graduatedegree (26% vs. 20%).

26%MIGHT

CANCEL PAY TV

CUTTING THE CABLE More than a third of respondents (38%) said they alreadywatch streaming video such as Netflix in addition to payingfor cable or satellite TV. Almost half (49%) have canceled pay TV at some point in the past because of cost. Just over two-thirds (69%) know how to watch streaming video online.

Highlights of the latest surveys by the Robert Morris UniversityPolling Institute Powered by Trib Total Media:


> Polls in National SpotlightA story in the New York Times in January abouthead injuries in youth football cited the results of anRMU poll in which nearly half of respondents said boys should not be allowed to play tackle football until they reach high school.And RMU polls about class consciousness in America and aboutfracking have recently made the front page of USA Today.

ABOUT THE ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITYPOLLING INSTITUTE POWERED BY TRIB TOTAL MEDIA

The polling institute conducts national

and regional opinion polls on current

affairs in areas of interest and expertise

to RMU faculty. It provides nonpartisan

polling on a range of issues, including

health care policy, the environment,

health and wellness, economic policy,

higher education, and gender equity. The

institute works under the direction of the

faculty through an advisory board

including representatives from each of

the five academic schools.

Polls are typically conducted using an

online survey measuring the opinions

of 1,000 U.S. adults, and have a +/- 3.0

percent margin of error at a 95 percent

confidence level on a composite basis.

Percentages shown here are rounded.

To see all the survey questions and learn

more about the Robert Morris University

Polling Institute Powered by Trib Total

Media, go to RMU.EDU/POLL.

BECAUSE NECOLast fall nobody in all of NCAA Division I men’s soccer scoredmore goals than Neco Brett.

The Jamaican forward netted 15 goals and 3 assists his juniorseason for the Colonials, earning his second Northeast ConferencePlayer of the Year award. That followed a sophomore effort of 14 goals and 8 assists that gave Brett the highest points-per-gameaverage in the nation.

Now a top prospect for the 2016 Major League Soccer draft, Brettsays he has an even more ambitious personal target for his senioryear: 20 goals, 5 assists, and a title for Robert Morris, who last won the NEC Tournament in 2005.

Coach Bill Denniston says Brett is the best player he’s had in 16seasons with the team. “He’s a super athlete, super strong, superskillful, super fast, and super angry,” Denniston says. “Actually,competitive is the nice way to say it. But when somebody tries tobully him, they’re picking on the wrong guy. That’s when hiselbows get sharp. That’s when he really competes — when it getstough. That’s when Neco’s at his best.”

The native of Kingston caught the eye of college scouts by scoringfive goals for the Jamaican national under-20 team. One of them, a30-yard screamer against Honduras in a 2011 World Cup qualifierthat just eluded a diving goalkeeper’s fingers to sneak under thecrossbar, looks a lot like another goal Brett poached from longrange last year against George Washington’s keeper. By the end ofthat game, the GW goalie had to watch three more goals blow past him off Brett’s boot.

He believes he was born for soccer. “Mom says when I was a baby,when I’d finish my feeding from the bottle, I would be kicking it allover the house until I was hungry again,” Brett says. The youngestin a big family even by Jamaican standards — 14 brothers and half-brothers and two half-sisters — he says he learned a lot fromwatching his siblings and depended on them growing up.

Bigger college programs recruited Brett, but he chose RMU because three of his Jamaican national teammates were on theColonials roster. Playing for his country is a thrill the managementmajor says he won’t ever forget, and one he hopes to repeat. “To hear your national anthem for the first time, playing overseas, when you’re in the starting 11? Massive!”

Those Jamaican teammates have since graduated. Now in his finalyear, Brett smiles at the thought of what the future could bring. “I realize how close my dream is, to be a professional soccer player. But yet I know I have to work much harder than before.”

WRITTEN BY MARK HOUSER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON COHN

8

9

SEE SOME OF NECO’S HIGHLIGHTS

ON RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIO

NS.

FOOTBALLThe brains and brawn of senior center Nick Faraci

could be what the football doctors ordered for a Colonials team looking to improve on last year’s 1-10 record.

The 2014 NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year has anchored theoffensive line for 33 consecutive games, the longest

active streak for the Colonials. With a GPA of 3.94, the nursing major was a Capital One second-team

Academic All-American. His leadership is a must as second-year coach John Banaszak vies for more victories.

THE BIG GAMEOCT. 10 VS. SACRED HEART

A supreme test. Last season the Pioneers won their second straight NEC title. Sacred Heart had a conference-record six players namedto the 2015 All-NEC Preseason Team,including quarterback R.J. Noel.

BIGGAM

ETHE

SOCCER

MEN VS. DUQUESNESUN., SEPT. 27, 1 P.M.

WOMEN VS. FAIRLEIGHDICKINSONSUN., NOV. 1, NOON

Pull on those Colonialssweatshirts and prepare for an action-packed fallsports season. We pick the big weekend games andbreak them down for you. Let the tailgating and thegood times begin.

FOOTBALLVS. SACRED HEARTSAT., OCT. 10, NOON

VS. LIU BROOKLYNSAT., OCT. 31, 1 P.M.

VOLLEYBALL

10

YARDS PENALIZED/GAME

ROBERT MORRIS............................44.8WAGNER..........................................57.5BRYANT ...........................................64.0

A former Steeler and former Marine, Banaszak is a stickler for discipline. That manifested itself in 2014

as the Colonials were the least penalized team in the NEC.

HOLD THOSE FLAGS

SEASON TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW

Call (412) 397-4949 to get the best deal on season tickets for RMU football. Be there in the stands for all the action as John Banaszak leads the Colonials on their quest for another title. Don’t miss excitingpromotional giveaways at the gate this season,

including a team replica jersey and CoachBanaszak bobblehead to name a few.

BASKETBALL

MEN’S HOME OPENERVS. BUCKNELLWED., NOV. 18, 7 P.M.

ROWINGHEAD OF THE OHIOREGATTASAT., OCT. 3

MEN’S SOCCERThere might not be a bigger show-stopperon the soccer field than Neco Brett. TheJamaican forward and two-time NECPlayer of the Year led the nation in goalslast season with 15 a year after recordingthe NCAA’s highest points-per-gameaverage with 14 goals and 8 assists. A topprospect for the 2016 Major League Soccerdraft, Brett has set his sights on leadingthe Colonials to their first NECTournament title in a decade.

VOLLEYBALLOn the precipice of their first NEC Tournament championship since 2003, the Colonials

lost last year to powerhouse LIU Brooklyn in the finals as the Blackbirds won their ninth title in 11 years. RMU will need new leaders

to return to its 17th consecutive tournament, sinceseven players graduated this spring.

THE BIG GAME SEPT. 27 VS. DUQUESNE

The Colonials look to avenge last season’s 4-1 road loss to their city rival.

The Blackbirds have haunted the Colonials by eliminating them in each of thepast two NEC Tournaments. RMU looks toreturn the favor in this Halloween clash.

THE BIG GAMEOCT. 31 VS. LIU BROOKLYN

STARS TO WATCH

#6 KAYLA KELLEYWOMEN’S SOCCERA star defender, Kelley was named first-team All-NEC as a freshman and was instrumental inhelping the Colonials seta team record with a 1.25goals-against average.

#8 NIC LAMICAFOOTBALL Lamica switched midseasonfrom linebacker to widereceiver and had 30receptions for 362 yards and2 touchdowns, including anRMU freshman record 8catches for 112 yards and aTD against CentralConnecticut.

#3 KRISTIN THOMPSONVOLLEYBALLThompson posted the tophitting percentage in NECcompetition at .378 lastseason, earning second-team All-NEC honors.

> CHECK RMUCOLONIALS.COM FO

R THE LA

TEST ON GAME TIMES, VENUES, AND SCORES.

1 1

NECO BRETT, RMU...............................15ANDY CRAVEN, NORTH CAROLINA....15CAMERON PORTER, PRINCETON ......15

Neco Brett is one of the premier goal-scorers in NCAA Division I. His 15

goals put him in a three-way tie atopthe national standings last season.

GOALSPLAYER

BEST FOOT FORWARD

1 2 • R M U . E D U / FOUNDAT IONS

Christopher B. Howard, D.Phil., has been named the eighth president of Robert Morris University. Howard, 46, is a distinguished educator,

dedicated public servant, and decorated Air Force veteran who is currently presidentof Hampden-Sydney College, a private Virginia college for men and one of thenation’s top liberal arts institutions. He will join Robert Morris on February 1.

“Dr. Howard is a high-energy, charismatic, and visionary leader who believes in the power of mentorship– a perfect fit for RMU,” said Gary Claus ‘74, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees.

“In the future, it is those higher education institutions truly committed to providing the foundational tools of criticalthinking, written and oral communication, and a deep understanding of the world we live in, coupled with the

LEADERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE

opportunity to delve deeply into theprofessions, that are poised forsuccess,” said Howard. “RMU is an ‘all of the above’ university bolsteredby an exceptional faculty, able staff, engaged alumni, dedicated board,supportive friends, and bright and motivated students.”

Howard added, “Just as importantly, members of the RMU community have demonstrated a willingness to innovate in a manner rarely seen in the academic world, resulting inremarkable growth and success. I am both honored andhumbled by the opportunity to serve as its eighth president.”

Richard Harshman ‘78, vice chairman of the RMU Board of Trustees and chairman of its Presidential Search Committee,said Howard rose to the top of a national list of candidatesbecause of his vision, energy, and charisma, as well as hisrecord of success at Hampden-Sydney.

“The Search Committee was impressed with the way Dr. Howard was able to build on the traditions of his currentinstitution and to translate those traditions to contemporaryand more diverse generations of students,” said Harshman, the chairman, president, and CEO of ATI.

Howard has been president of Hampden-Sydney since 2009,during which time enrollment and retention have grown,alumni giving has reached 33 percent, and the grade-pointaverage of the incoming freshman class has risen. In 2011-12, Hampden-Sydney climbed 17 spots in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, the largest jump amongany Top 100 liberal arts colleges. During Howard’s tenure aspresident, Hampden-Sydney produced its first Truman andGoldwater scholars in 20 years, as well as a Rhodes finalist and numerous Fulbright and Rotary scholars – thanks in partto the Office of Fellowship and Advising the college createdunder his leadership. Hampden-Sydney received the largestgift in its 240-year history under Howard, and the college willsoon break ground on a new student center.

“Dr. Howard has experience both within and outside of highereducation, having worked in the corporate world and having adistinguished career in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve,”said Claus. “He has experience with and insights into differentmodels of education, from Ivy Leagues to large publics, fromsmall, liberal arts institutions to military academies. And, onthe more personal side, his own background reflects thecharacter and values we see in RMU’s students and alumni.”

Howard was raised in Plano, Texas, where he was a starrunning back in high school and captain of the statechampionship football team. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and received theCampbell Trophy, the nation’s highest academic honor for a

senior collegefootballplayer. Heearned anM.B.A. with Distinctionfrom the Harvard Business School and aD.Phil. in politics from Oxford University while on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Howard served as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve,and earned a Bronze Star for military service in Afghanistan.He served as U.S. Reserve Air Attaché to Liberia and asintelligence operations and places officer with the elite Joint Special Operations Command. In 2011, President BarackObama appointed Howard to the National Security EducationProgram Board.

Howard previously was vice president for leadership andstrategic initiatives at the University of Oklahoma, and hasworked for General Electric and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He isthe co-author of the book Money Makers: Inside the New World ofFinance and Business and a member of the Board of Directors ofthe American Council on Education, the NCAA Division IIIPresidents Council, the Baylor University Board of Regents,and the prestigious Young Presidents’ Organization.

Howard co-founded the Impact Young Lives Foundation, anot-for-profit organization that brings South African studentsof color to the U.S. for summer educational and cultural tours.His wife, Barbara Noble Howard, is the foundation’s executivedirector; she is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa.They have two sons, Cohen, a senior at the University of the South, and Joshua, a freshman at Middlebury College.

Howard succeeds Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D., who leftRobert Morris in June after 10 years to become the president of Rider University in his home state of New Jersey. SinceDell’Omo’s departure, RMU has been led by David Jamison,J.D., who is also the university’s provost.

WRITTEN BY JONATHAN POTTS M’11PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOE APPEL

R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y FOUNDAT IONS • 1 3

The visiting locker room had a five-alarm feel to it. Unfastened objects went airborne.Eardrums quivered. Strong young men quaked. With his team down six points in the biggest game of the year, coach Andy Toole channeled his inner Bob Knight in a

run-for-cover, blistering diatribe. It was not for the faint of heart. “Coach was snapping! He got in my face for the first time ever,” says former Colonials guard

Karvel Anderson, recalling that halftime explosion in 2013. “It was something to see.”

As were the next 20 minutes of basketball. That halftime deficit transformed into a pulsating 77-75 victory over host Bryant University. It also clinched a Northeast Conference regular-season title for the Colonials. Moments later, in that same locker room, a milder version of Toole was front and center in a dance contest with star guard Lucky Jones. It was quintessential Toole, a man who embraces a tough love approach.


NO NONSENSE, NO REGRETS

“He can be tough, but he also cares about you, and he bringsout the best in you,” says Anderson, who now playsprofessionally in Italy. “That game spoke about who he is, how he leads. He knows how to build winners. That’s whyRobert Morris is competitive every year.”

In Toole, you get intensity and intellect, competitiveness andcompassion, madman and maestro. It’s an all-encompassingpackage featuring a 34-year-old who is among the hottestyoung coaches in college basketball. This offseason brought the standard “Will he stay or will he go?” queries, which gotdecidedly amplified after he guided the Colonials to his firstNCAA Tournament in five years.

Toole had come close to making the Big Dance in 2011, ‘12 and‘14, but his Colonials lost each time in the NEC tournamenttitle game. Not this year. RMU won the title at St. Francis,Brooklyn, then defeated North Florida in a First Four NCAAmatchup before losing to eventual national champion Dukein the second round.

And as for that job-jumping speculation? Forget about it. In April, Toole signed a contract extension that runs throughthe 2019-20 season. It put those inescapable headlines of “Tooleto Fordham,” “Toole to Penn,” “Toole to You-Name-It-U,” to rest, at least for now.

“I understand the rumors, and it is a compliment to ourprogram, to our kids, and to our staff that people recognize our success,” Toole says, sitting in his office at Sewall Center.“But people don’t know the vision and direction that we havefor this program. And that’s not to say that there aren’topportunities out there that would excite me or would bedifficult to say no to, but I just think a lot of the rumor mill stuff and gossiping about the coaching carousel is just wayoverrated. We have a lot more to do here at Robert Morris; we want to keep winning, keep getting to the NCAATournament. That’s what my focus is. The other stuff, thecoaching speculation, gets to be too much.”

Don’t even get Toole started on those folks in the Twitterverse.“Everybody knows what you’re going to do before you evendo it,” he says, his voice slightly rising. “The idiots can uniteand solve the world’s problems in 140 characters. I understandthat it’s part of the job, but I’ve dreaded the spring the lastcouple of years.”

Toole leans forward at his desk, which is surrounded bymotivational quotes, basketballs commemorating pastColonials NCAA Tournament teams, photos of his wife andtwo young boys, and a shot of his beloved Jersey Shore, wherehe spent his youth. Directly over his right shoulder hangs aplaybill from the Billy Crystal one-man Broadway show “700Sundays.” Toole says the show left an indelible impression.Crystal estimates that he spent 700 Sundays with his father, butsadly, their final conversation ended in an argument. “It’s areminder of how fragile time can be, whether it’s four years of

college or another season passing by,” Toole says. “Thingsmove quickly, and when they’re over, there are usually regrets.You do your best not to have them, but it’s a challenge. Themessage just really hit me hard.”

No regrets. No cutting corners. No nonsense. These arecornerstones of Toole’s approach. It has buoyed him through a sizzling career that is already filled with a number of eye-catching snapshots, such as leading the University ofPennsylvania to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments as a starguard; becoming, at age 29, the youngest coach in Division Iafter replacing his former boss, Mike Rice; amassing a 110-66record at RMU (66-23 NEC) that includes two NEC regularseason titles, two trips to the NIT, and one to the Big Dance;and overseeing one of the great victories in school history, a 59-57 upset of defending national champion Kentucky in a2013 first-round NIT game at Sewall Center a few weeksafter his locker room explosion at Bryant.

It would be a stretch to say Toole has put Robert Morris on thecollege basketball map, given the Colonials have been to eightNCAA Tournaments, including back-to-back trips in 2009 and2010 under Rice. But what makes Toole’s success unique is thathe wins despite heavy player turnover. Eleven Colonials havedeparted via transfer, dismissal, or leaving the sport the pasttwo seasons. That includes freshman guard and NEC Rookie ofthe Year Marquise Reed, who transferred to Clemson thisspring. To his credit, Toole is pragmatic — and unapologetic —about the departed athletes. “We believe there’s a right way todo things,” says Toole, known for his high-intensity, high-volume practices. “And the guys who have lasted and continueto be here and who have continued to have success, shared asimilar belief to us. For some of the others, this just isn’t theright fit. It’s something that we have to accept.”

Toole’s mentor and former college coach at Penn, Fran Dunphy,was aware of Toole’s win-at-all-costs mentality long ago. He saw it manifest itself during timeouts, when Toole wouldrace to the bench and suggest spot-on plays. The dynamicguard was, undeniably, a coach in waiting. “If he called a play,we’d run it, and it usually worked,” says Dunphy, now thecoach at Temple. “I’m not even a little bit surprised at what he’s done as a coach. He played through injuries, he challengedteammates, he had a great understanding of the game. He’s on a nice path and there are a lot more things that he’llaccomplish before he’s finished.”

Where Toole ultimately finishes is far from certain. Perhaps itwill be as a championship coach in a Power Five conference. Or maybe as the leader of an NBA franchise. The future is wide open, but for now, he is Andy Toole, head coach of Robert Morris University. And that’s the way he likes it. “This university has been great to me,” he says. “I feelfortunate to be here.”

WRITTEN BY JOE BENDEL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON COHN



In April of last year, Eziafo died. But she and 21 other womenare remembered, celebrated and, perhaps most importantly,explained in a one-of-a-kind book by Sanders, Legendary UliWomen of Nigeria. Sanders met the Uli women while workingon field research for her Doctor of Science in InformationScience and Communication, a Robert Morris Universitydegree program that draws mid-career professionals anddiplomats. Her extraordinary research paper on Uli, advised by Rex Crawley, Ph.D., became the basis for a book that hashad launch events in both Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and inWashington, D.C., at the Smithsonian National Museum ofAfrican Art and the World Affairs Council.

Frederick G. Kohun, Ph.D., one of the founding professors of the doctoral program, says Sanders broke new ground in her dissertation about the combination of symbols, customs,religion, and artistic motifs she encountered in Nigeria,classifying Uli as a “communication expression,” somethingthat has the virtues of language without formally being one.

So what is Uli? In many respects, it is a way of life practiced bywomen of the Igbo community, with a combination of symbolsrepresenting everything from lizards and snakes to the kolanut. In some instances, it also venerates traditional deities — atie that has caused its rejection by devout Christians among the

Before Robin Renee Sanders D’10 left theNigerian village of Ogidi, one of the womenshe would later call “legendary” had aparting request. “Take my official photo,”said Eziafo Okaro. “I want to beremembered when I die.”

Among the Igbo people of Nigeria, Eziafo earned herlegendary status by keeping alive a cultural practice called Uli. Pronounced “OO-lee,” it is a tradition of adornment,traditional religion and customs, and painting symbols thatconvey meanings that transcend mere decoration, but don’tquite fit the definition of a language. Now, in a place whereChristian churches are often the center of community life, Uli has begun to vanish as the last of its matriarchs pass on to join their ancestors.

“I have a really soft space in my heart for Nigerian women, and African women writ large,” says Sanders, the former U.S.Ambassador to Nigeria. “They’re the farmers. They’re the onestaking care of the home. In the conflict areas they are the onesthat suffer the most — women and children.”

Sharing stories from across cultures


Igbo. In one town thefragility of Uli’s future wasevident. Five young women

had been decorated with Uli symbols as part of a welcomingceremony for Sanders, but as she is careful to note, these wereadornments only. The young women, all Christians, do notpractice Uli, and they would not go near a local shrine thatelderly women decorated with Uli symbols.

Sanders’s foreign service career stretches more than twodecades, and took her around the world. Prior to Nigeria, she had served as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Congo.The child of a career military man, Sanders was born atLangley Air Force Base and raised in various parts of thecountry and overseas before attending historically blackHampton University, where she majored in communications.She later earned two masters degrees — communication/journalism and international relations/Africa studies — from Ohio University.

Her connections to RMU began with a letter — seemingly outof the blue — from Kohun, who was seeking out successfulprofessionals seeking to add to their skill sets. “I really didn’tpay any attention,” she recalls. “Then I got another letter fromhim again, saying they were coming to Washington.”

While enrolled in the doctoral program, Sanders was namedambassador to Nigeria, so she had to complete her dissertationwhile in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. But her cohort — thegroup with whom she studied and bonded — stayed close totheir cyber classmate. One weekend when the cohort wasmeeting on campus, Kohun was in the lobby at the nearbyhotel where students were staying, and noticed three or four

of them having a glass of wine and talking to alaptop computer. “Then I look and there’s Robin, inAbuja,” says Kohun. A day later, Robin’s classmateslugged the computer to lunch so she could join them again.

Robert Morris is not merely a degree to Sanders. It is a secondcalling. “I make sure it’s always front-and-center in whatever I do,” she says. Now a member of the university Board ofTrustees, she delivered the graduate commencement address in 2011, and on the night of this interview she was playing host to Kohun and his team as they sought out the next class of doctoral candidates in D.C. While her meeting forprospective RMU doctoral students took place at a hotel, theuniversity now hosts prospects at the Army and Navy Club,one of Washington’s most storied private clubs, whereAmbassador Sanders is a member.

Although she has left the State Department, her emphasis onAfrica has continued. Today she directs FE3DS, an advisingfirm, and the FEEEDS Initiative as part of an advocacy effort topromote food, environmental, economic, and political securityin sub-Saharan Africa. Sanders is also working on a book about her life as a diplomat. She recalls the words of one of her RMU advisors, who said, “You have at least four books from this dissertation.”

WRITTEN BY DENNIS RODDYPHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY ROBIN RENEE SANDERS D’10

Robin supports the rex crawleymemorial fund and several

other university programs.

CHANGING LIVES THROUGH EMPOWERMENT

TO SEE THE INTERVIEW WITH KALEVITCH IN INSIGHT INTO DIVERSITY

MAGAZINE, GO TO RM

U.EDU/FOUNDATIONS.

Maria Kalevitch, Ph.D., the dean of RMU’sSchool of Engineering, Mathematics andScience, has been named to Insight IntoDiversity magazine’s “100 Inspiring Women of STEM.” The national honorrecognizes Kalevitch’s efforts both to attractwomen and girls to careers in science,technology, engineering, andmathematics and to build the ranks of RMU faculty in those fields.

In an interview in the magazine’sSeptember issue featuring Kalevitch andtwo other female STEM deans, one fromCalifornia Polytechnic and one from New York Institute of Technology,Kalevitch discusses RMU’s new Women’sLeadership and Mentorship Program. “I think having mentorship and guidancealong the way is really something thathelps to sort of inoculate your self-confidence,” Kalevitch says in theinterview. “I think a network of mentorsand people you can go to who can guideyou is essential to building self-confidence.”

Kalevitch is one of only 28 female deansamong the 466 four-year schools ofengineering in the United Statesapproved by the Accreditation Board forEngineering and Technology (ABET),according to statistics from the BeverlyWillis Architecture Foundation. Sheearned her Ph.D. in biology from theLithuanian Academy of Sciences and hasbeen a strong supporter of gender andracial diversity efforts at RMU sincearriving in 2002 as the only femalescience professor on the faculty. She wasnamed dean in 2010.

“The glass is always half full, and we always have a can-doattitude in SEMS to change things for the better,” Kalevitchsays of the school she heads. She says she is grateful for thenational honor and recognition of her leadership, andattributes school successes to the dedication and hard work of SEMS faculty and staff.

She notes that while only 6 percent of the nation’s topengineering schools have female deans, one-third of her facultyand staff are women, including several professors she has hiredrecently. Those include engineering professor Rika Carlsen,Ph.D., an expert in using microdevices to understand traumaticbrain injury; mathematics professor Heather Hunt, Ph.D., whostudies functional equations and group theory; and scienceprofessor Melissa Hillwig, Ph.D., whose focus is on genetics.Tamiko Youngblood, Ph.D., who founded RMU’s first student

chapter of the National Society of BlackEngineers, was another inspiring femaleprofessor and has been deeply missedsince her death in March from cancer atthe age of 46, Kalevitch says.

Kalevitch points to Khulood Al Ali ‘15, a female biomedical engineering studentwho at graduation this spring won thePresidential Transformational Award,RMU’s top honor, as an example of theschool’s successes with female students in STEM. Al Ali was one of four RMUstudents accepted in a new linkageprogram between RMU and CarnegieMellon University, where she will beearning a master’s degree in biomedicalengineering.

Under Kalevitch’s leadership, the RMUSchool of Engineering, Mathematics andScience has expanded outreach programsto local schools, including a focus onattracting more girls to STEM fields, with strong mentorship and advisingcomponents. Kalevitch also recentlycollaborated with RMU’s Uzuri ThinkTank to co-chair “Strength In Numbers,” a three-day Downtown symposium thatfocused on increasing the number ofAfrican Americans in STEM careers.

Kalevitch’s grandmother and father wereboth research professors at the RussianAcademy of Sciences, and she credits

growing up in a family where science and academics wereregular topics of conversation around the dinner table forstarting her on her career path. “When you are engaged inthose conversations, you feel bold and empowered that youcan do it too some day,” she says.

WRITTEN BY MARK HOUSERPHOTOGRAPHY BY MITCH KRAMER ‘08


INSIGHT INTO DIVERSITYMAGAZINE ASKED

MARIA KALEVITCH, PH.D., WHY SOME WOMEN IN SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY FIELDSSTRUGGLE WITH SELF-DOUBT.

HER RESPONSE:

“THESE THINGS ARE REALLYCOMMON TO ALL HUMAN NATURE.

WE HAVE THIS STRIVING FORPERFECTION, BUT WE ALSO HAVE

VERY STRONG SELF-DOUBT. I THINK HAVING MENTORSHIP AND

GUIDANCE ALONG THE WAY ISREALLY SOMETHING THAT HELPSTO SORT OF INOCULATE YOURSELF-CONFIDENCE. … I THINK ANETWORK OF MENTORS ANDPEOPLE YOU CAN GO TO WHO

CAN GUIDE YOU IS ESSENTIAL TOBUILDING SELF-CONFIDENCE. BUTI THINK ALL OF US, BOTH MENAND WOMEN — BUT WOMENPROBABLY MORE — HAVE

EXPERIENCED THIS TYPE OFFEELING AND THIS STRUGGLE.”

WORKING FULL TIMEOne of the most positive findings from the RMU Gallup Survey is that RobertMorris graduates are 22% more likely to beworking full time for an employer than theaverage college graduate. Seventy-sevenpercent of RMU graduates do, compared to 63% of all U.S. graduates.

And male andfemale RMUgrads areequallylikely towork full time,unlike theaverage U.S. collegegraduategendergap.

Working full time for an employer [women vs. men.]

More engaged in their jobs than the average U.S. college graduate.

More engaged in their jobs than American full-time workers.

Robert Morris University alumni are more likely thangraduates of other universities to be working full time,engaged in their jobs, and thriving in their personal well-being, according to a recent Gallup survey of 1,500 RMU alumni from 1970 to 2014.

The new study provides a glance at how RMU alumnicompare to a national sample of more than 30,000 collegegraduates surveyed by Gallup. It also allows for comparisonsover time to examine how graduates in the last five yearscompare to those from decades ago.

Survey results validate RMU’s focus on engaged learning,professional experiences, and supportive personal

relationships with faculty mentors. Combined with RMU’s emphasis on making college affordable,

they demonstrate RMU’s commitment toproviding strong returns

on an investment in higher education.

For more details, or todownload a copy of the

full RMU GallupReport, go toRMU.EDU/GALLUP.

Gallup defines engagedemployees as involved in,enthusiastic about, andcommitted to their work and contributing to their organization in apositive manner. They are psychologically committed and emotionally connected to their jobs. Of RMU alumni, 44% are engaged, according to Gallup, 16% greater than the national average forcollege graduates and 47% greater than the national average for all full-time workers.

OUTPERFORMING THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

RESULTS FROM THE RMU GALLUP® SURVEY

12%

77

%

56

%

77

%

71

%

20 • R M U . E D U /FOUNDATIONS

WELL-BEINGMore than 9 in 10 RMU alumni say they are satisfied with their personal lives.

Gallup also asks specificquestions about howpeople feel about fiveaspects of their personallives: PURPOSE, SOCIAL, FINANCIAL,COMMUNITY, andPHYSICAL.

Among RMU graduates,12% are thriving in all five elements

of well-being,33% higher than the average forcollege graduatesnationally.

THE BIG SIXCOLLEGEEXPERIENCES

Gallup’s national researchshows that people who have had these “Big Six” experiences incollege are more likely to be engaged at work.

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITYThe worry caused by a heavy load of student debt can make it very difficult for graduates to enjoy their lives to the fullest extent. Gallup found that alumni with no student debt are nearly 10 times more likely tobe thriving in all five areas of well-being — purpose, social, financial, community, and physical — thangraduates with more than $50,000 of student debt.

Helping to ensure that more graduates can thrive after graduation is why Robert Morris University has created the CollegeAffordability Academy. It trains members of theuniversity community on topics such as how families arechallenged to finance higher education, how RMU’s

investment in students is noted in the public, and howthe benefits of an early connectionwith the career center can lead to

lifetime employability.

“I’m satisfied with my personal life.”

WithRMU’s strong

focus on engaged learning,personal attention, and mentoring, more and more of today’s graduates have experienced each of Gallup’s Big Six.

EXCITED ABOUT LEARNING

PROFESSORS CARED

MENTOR ENCOURAGEMENT

SEMESTER PROJECT

INTERNSHIP

EXTRACURRICULARS

ALUMNI | 2009-14

ALUMNI | 1970-01

No debt Under $25K $25K-$50K Over $50K

Thriving in all five well-beingmeasures

More thriving in all five well-beingmeasures.

72

%12%

9% 34

%

30

%32

%

37

%35

%

ILLUSTRATIONS BYKYLE FASENMYER

Mike Welsh ‘06 M’06 knew when he left Pittsburgh for a job at Facebook’s SiliconValley headquarters in 2011 that the social media giant liked its employees to takerisks. The company motto at the time, after all, was “move fast and break things.”

That didn’t make the opportunity for a dramatic career switch any less daunting when it arose. Welsh had been hired towork in risk operations, protecting against financial fraud. But he got a surprise offer to join the human resources team

after being an “overeager participant, raising my hand, and engaging the facilitator” at a company training. Welsh had no experience in HR whatsoever. But if you’re not going to be bold at Facebook, then where?

“I felt supported to take the leap, that Facebook was supporting me to take that leap,” Welsh says. “Facebook in generalsupports that sort of mobility and being able to try something totally different, and to develop you as an employee.”


BOLD MOVES

MIKE SUPPORTS THEPRESIDENT’S FUND FOR

ENGAGED LEARNING.

He is now a Facebook “learning and development partner,”charged with keeping the company’s famously open,unconventional corporate culture alive and well. It has turnedout to be a great fit for Welsh, who in fact had a personalinterest in the field. “I love to read about leadership, emotionalawareness, management. As soon as I graduated from college I was reading those things,” Welsh says. “I never realized therewas a career in that. I was trying to be the best I could be. I wasdoing due diligence. I’m a learner by nature.”

Welsh had envisioned a future groundedin numbers, not people. He graduatedfrom RMU’s integrated five-yearbachelor’s/master’s in accounting andwent to work in the Pittsburgh offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers, then McCrory & McDowell, becoming a CPA, certified fraud examiner, andcertified valuation analyst.

The skills he learned still serve him well in his current position. “I don’t doaccounting at all now,” he says, “but theanalytical way of thinking I learned atRMU, now that I’m in what’s perceivedas more a ‘touchy-feely’ field, I’m stillvery analytical. So I’m able to draw on that way of thinking and creating aframework that was at the heart of what the professors were teaching us.” A logical, data-driven approach playsespecially well with a company ofengineers and computer scientists. “That helps me connect really well with the audience that I’m training and developing, because they tend tothink that way too,” he says.

His day-to-day tasks include developingtraining programs that focus on effective,straightforward communications, andworking with managers to tweak theirorganization or involve other teams on aproblem. He also organizes off-siteretreats, where co-workers bond over a climbing course or tower-building challenge. He speaks at HR conferences and meets with members of other organizations to discuss Facebook practices.

A McMurray native, Welsh returns to the area once a year or so to visit family in Pittsburgh and Ohio. But he says San Francisco now “feels like home,” and he takes fulladvantage of the natural scenery and opportunities to hike,bike and run. In April, he completed the Big Sur InternationalMarathon, and plans to run his eighth marathon in San Francisco this summer. He also competes in trail races,

including a recent half-marathon under the redwood trees.Welsh has been around for some high-flying times at Facebook,including an IPO in 2012 and growth to more than 10,000employees — four times the 2,500 there when he arrived. The company boasts 936 million average daily users as it hasdeveloped its mobile services and purchased other social apps.It recently announced groundbreaking partnerships with majornews media to publish their reports on the Facebook site.

While some things have changed, Welshsays the open culture endures. Founderand CEO Mark Zuckerberg still hostsweekly Q&As with employees, and evenresponded personally to an email fromWelsh seeking clarification on a wordingchange to a company value. That mightseem like minutiae, but at Facebook, suchcompany slogans can end up on postershanging on office walls.

Long before joining Facebook, Welsh wascomfortable with putting himself outthere. At RMU, he completed fiveinternships and helped revive theAssociation of Future Accountants. InPittsburgh, Welsh signed onto a charitybiking team at PricewaterhouseCoopersand became friendly with several muchmore senior members of the firm. He’snow an M.B.A. student at U.C. Berkeley’sHaas School of Business, partly to growhis West Coast network.

“I never thought of myself as anetworking type,” Welsh says. “I’mactually an introvert, but I networkeffortlessly because I’m looking for realand solid connections with people. I tend to build relationships because I pay attention to what matters to people. And I’m really good at keeping in touchwith people,” through e-mail, phone callsand, of course, Facebook.

As for the potential for Facebook and other social media tothreaten personal connections, Welsh says it’s all about balance.“I try to be intentional and be present. If I’m talking tosomeone, I don’t want to pull out my smart phone and belooking at it. I make a conscious choice to not fall into thathabit,” he says. Instead, he uses social media to buildrelationships. “I find that it’s so useful to have the informationthat people are willing to give to you. It helps you to have amore robust connection with people. I see it as an aid.”

WRITTEN BY KIMBERLY BURGER CAPOZZIPHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDY LEE


SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FROM A

FACEBOOK INSIDER

CAREER-CHANGING LEADS AND REFERRALS USUALLY COME

FROM THE “WEAK TIES” IN A BIG NETWORK,

NOT YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS.

FOLLOW UP A WORK MEETINGWITH A FRIEND REQUEST,

BUT PERSONALIZE ITWITH A REFERENCE TO

SOMETHING YOU DISCUSSED.

KEEP YOUR NEW NETWORK LINKS INVESTED IN YOU

BY SHARING THINGS THAT WILLAPPEAL TO THEM PERSONALLY.

CONNECT PEOPLE IN YOURNETWORK WHO CAN BENEFITFROM KNOWING EACH OTHER.

PAY ATTENTION TOINTERNATIONAL LINKS.

IN JAPAN, FACEBOOK IS TREATEDAS A PROFESSIONAL TOOL.


A 30-mile round-trip commute might not seem too difficult, but when youdo it on a bicycle through the hilly terrain of Pittsburgh, it’s no small feat.Monica VanDieren, Ph.D., a professor of mathematics and co-director of the University Honors Program, bikes from Franklin Park to RMU four daysa week, even through the winter. When she’s not pedaling to work, sheserves on two nonprofit boards to advocate for safer streets for pedestriansand cyclists, and she competes in long-distance races. “With all thecommuting I do, I can jump on my bike and do 100 miles without thinking about it,” she says.

VanDieren’s field of expertise is mathematical logic, which has connectionsto computer science, infinity, and philosophy. In her Calculus III class, she uses a graphing program to turn simple math problems into 3-D animations, helping students visualize concepts. She has received three recent grants — $134,000 from the National Science Foundation, $6,000 from Amazon’s Educators Grant Program, and $1,500 from theAssociation of Women in Mathematics — to study how studentsunderstand math better through 3-D visualization.

She also co-teaches a research methods class to help honors students identify their thesisproject and do preliminary research.“We’re helping students take theirpassions and turn them intoeducational experiences,” VanDierensays. “Figuring out what they canbe doing as an undergraduate thatwould go above and beyond thestandard curriculum, to boost theirapplication into graduate school or to land a competitive job.”

FACULTY PROFILEMonica V

anDieren

UPCLOSE AND PERSONAL


Before college, Torrie McLaughlin spent eight years in the Army, serving in SouthKorea, Afghanistan, and Iraq as a liaison to local military and civil service personnel.In between tours, she and her then-husband had two children, a son and a daughter.Then she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a librarian, and picked RMUbecause its participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program meant tuition and other costs were covered.

“I went for information systems because now librarians need to be tech savvy andgood in IT skills,” says McLaughlin, a Sewickley resident. After taking a COBOLcomputer programming class, she discovered she had an exceptional talent forworking with IBM mainframes; she finished in the top 10 of over 15,000 contestantsin IBM’s national “Master The Mainframe” contest. Professors persuadedMcLaughlin to pursue an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree in data analytics, and during her study she interned at PNC as a systems programmer.

The mother of two says she couldn’t have done it without naptime. “Naptime and bedtime werekey in my house. Naptime gave me two hours to do homeworkand bedtime gave meanother two hours.”

Upon graduation thissummer, McLaughlinwill work full time atPNC as an associate in the technologydevelopment program,making sure applicationsfrom ATMs to “virtualwallets” function properly.She still wants to be alibrarian one day. But for now,after spending several yearskeeping her country secure,McLaughlin will focus on doing the same for PNCcustomers’ bank accounts.

STUDENT PROFILE Torrie McLaughlin

rmu .edu/foundationsUPCLOSE AND PERSONAL

Written By:Alan Buehler '13 M'15


CLASS NOTES

1980sSTEVEN CUMMINGS ‘81 M’94joined Otis Eastern Service inWellsville, N.Y., as CFO. Hepreviously was the global director of project accounting at CH2M Hill.

NOREEN O’MARA PARKER ‘81 isgeneral manager of SinclairBroadcast Group’s WZTV-Fox andWUXP-MyNet in Nashville. Shepreviously was general managerof Sinclair’s WTTA-MyNet inTampa.

EVAN KAFFENES ‘83 wasappointed vice president and CFOof Versatex Building Products. Hepreviously was the director ofglobal finance at Werner.

JIM KEENER ‘83 joined theUniversity of Hartford as anassistant director for strategicprograms in alumni relations.Keener had spent more than 30 years in administrative roles in the university’s department of athletics.

DANIEL CROOKSHANK ‘84was named director of investorrelations at Calgon Carbon. Hepreviously was the director ofinvestor relations at RTIInternational Metals.

1950sJOSEPH PALMIERO ‘58, vicepresident of Honda North inButler, was named 2015 TimeDealer of the Year at the NationalAutomobile Dealers AssociationConvention and Exposition in SanFrancisco.

1970sFRANK DANYO ‘70 wasnamed vice president ofcorporate counsel forCivil and EnvironmentalConsultants.

BILL POSTMA ‘70 is aproject manager withGates, a generalcontracting firm withoffices in Florida, North Carolina,

and Panama. Bill has 40 years of experience in the constructionindustry. He resides in Naples, Fla.

RAY BOYER ‘77 is chief financialofficer at SDC Nutrition, where he was an investor andindependent board member. Ray recently retired as CFO ofBechtel Plant Machinery. He resides in Fox Chapel.

EMANUEL DINATALE ‘77 M’89 is atax partner with BDO USA and was named an outstandingalumnus by Community Collegeof Allegheny County EducationalFoundation at its 2015 Legends inLeadership awards banquet. Hewas a 1976 graduate of CCACbefore continuing his education at RMU.

> JACK BALLANTYNE ‘70

published Edgar Allan Poe

Live…On Stage, a book of

Poe’s stories adapted into

theatrical stage scripts,

all of which have been

subsequently produced.

> MOVERS &SHAKERSSeveral RMU alums serve on

the Pittsburgh Airport Area

Chamber of Commerce,

including three on the

executive committee:

ALISA FAULK ‘99 is immediate

past chairwoman of the

chamber. She is general

manager at Courtyard by

Marriott Pittsburgh Airport

at Settlers Ridge.

MIKE BELSKY ‘82 is a vice

chairman of the chamber and

new business development

manager at Columbia Gas of

Pennsylvania.

DON SMITH M’88 is a vice

chairman of the chamber,

and is associate director of

athletics, event management,

and facilities at RMU.

In addition, H. ROCHELLE

STACHEL ‘91 is on the board

of directors of the chamber.

She is president of HRV

Conformance Verification

Associates.

> CHANGING LIVES IN CLEVELANDJACQUELINE MYEROWITZ TRAVISANO ‘90 chaired the Royal

Dames Tiara Ball in Fort Lauderdale, which raised $400,000 to

benefit Nova Southeastern University’s Rumbaugh-Goodwin

Institute for Cancer Research. Jackie is executive vice president

and COO of Nova Southeastern University and was recently

honored as a 1,000+ Club 2015 Woman of the Year.


CLASS NOTESJOSEPH HOGAN M’84 joined Align Technology as president,CEO, and director. He is anaccomplished chief executive with extensive experience inhealth care and technology, most recently as CEO of ABBin Zurich.

HELEN KAVOULAKIS MCCRACKENM’84 joined WaynesburgUniversity as the director ofgraduate programs in education,where she oversees all degree,certification, endorsement, andadvanced studies programs aswell as student recruitment,retention, and advising.

GEORGE ROSATO ‘87 of ConsolEnergy is the winner of the ChiefInformation Officer ChoiceAward, an honor bestowed byfellow CIOs and tech executivesacross Western Pennsylvania andpresented by the PittsburghTechnology Council and GreaterPittsburgh CIO Group. The awardrecognizes innovation andcreativity in planning anddeploying information systems,and service to the industry andcommunity.

AMY RECKTENWALD BAIR ‘88 issecretary of the Pittsburgh LegalAdministrators Association and alegal administrator for Wayman,Irvin & McAuley. Amy resides inBethel Park.

BOB MENTE ‘88 was published inthe “Parascope” newsletter for thePittsburgh Paralegal Association.He works in the outsourced legalservices industry and is a licensedham radio operator. Bob and hiswife, Joyce, live in CollierTownship on his grandparents’homestead.

DAWN CURELLTA ORR ‘88 is chieffinancial officer of WealthEngine.For 20 years she has been growingand managing technologycompanies such as Saga Software,Legent Corp., and Bridgewerx.Dawn and her husband, STEPHEN ORR ‘87, live in Ashburn,Va., with their three children.

1990sRICHARD ALFERA M’90 ispresident and managingpartner at Goff BackaAlfera & Co. Richard was named aPittsburgh Smart 50 Award winnerby Smart Businessmagazine.

BRENDA MARSHALLHENWOOD ‘90 ispresident of FTBA, aPittsburgh electricalmaintenance and testing firm. Thecompany has been certified as aDisadvantaged BusinessEnterprise.

JOSEPH STROMEI ‘90joined the board ofadvisors for the

CONVENIENTGRADUATEPROGRAMS

RMU.EDU/GRAD

36 PROGRAMSONLINE OR ON CAMPUS

FLEXIBLE 8-WEEK SESSIONS

Whether you want your graduate degreefully online or on campus,

let you promote yourself at your convenience.

(cont.)

BE PART OF SOMETHING YOU CAN BELIEVE INFor just $84 a month, President’s Council members are part of something important. They give the gift of opportunity to RMU students. They invest in the future prosperity and growth of our region.

They change lives.

To find out more about joining the President’s Council, please contact JEN YOUNGat 412-397-5452 or [email protected].

RMU.EDU/JOINPC

“I made a lot of personal and professional connections at Robert Morris,

and they’ve enhanced my career opportunities.Considering what I received, I am pleased to return

something to the university each year.”– TOM MARCHLEN M’08

CLASS NOTES

Homeless Children’s EducationFoundation. Joseph is vicepresident of treasury managementat Dollar Bank in Pittsburgh.

KARA MOSTOWY ‘91 M’06 joinedMaher Duessel as chief operatingofficer. She previously wasexecutive director of The EarlyLearning Institute.

DAVID DEROSE ‘93 joined CentegraHealth System as director ofsupport services, where he willassist in planning and constructionof a third acute care hospital beingbuilt in the Chicago area.

WILLIAM LEVY ‘94 is director ofticket operations and sales advisorfor the Fort Myers Miracle minorleague baseball team. Bill waspreviously the manager of theAcadiana Cane Cutters, acollegiate summer baseball team in Louisiana.

RICHARD PHIPPS ‘94 is the vicepresident of new businessdevelopment in North America forPicsolve International in Orlando.


LORIANN PUTZIER M’94wasrecognized by the PittsburghBusiness Times as a 2015BusinessWomen First Awardwinner, which honors top femaleexecutives. Loriann is president of IntegraCare, which operates 13 senior living facilities inPennsylvania and Maryland.

SHANNON VARLEY ‘94 M’97wasnamed director of curriculum,instruction, assessment and staffdevelopment of Keystone OaksSchool District in the South Hills.Previously she was director ofcurriculum and instruction forAvonworth School District.

HEATH BAILEY ‘96 M’06 is theacademic principal at Abu DhabiEducation Council in the UnitedArab Emirates. Previously he wasan assistant principal in Canon-McMillan School District.

NANCY STAMPAHAR ‘96 is director of customer service andorganizational development atBurns & Scalo in Pittsburgh.

DANA STEWART M’96 is senior vice president and director of theproject management office for FirstNational Bank of Pennsylvania. He was previously managingdirector at BNY Mellon.

JAY LUCAS M’98 is the engineeringmanager for PennsylvaniaAmerican Water.

GREGORY LUSTY M’98waspromoted to director of productmanagement at Centria, amanufacturer of metal wall and roof systems. He will beresponsible for marketing andnew product development. Greg resides in Ambridge.

> TODD SHULENBERGER ‘94

was named the Washington

State University head soccer

coach after spending two

seasons as the associate head

coach at Texas Tech. Todd also

coached at Missouri and

Clemson.

WHAT YOUMISSEDHere’s a look at a few of the alumni events we’ve featured since the last Foundations.

These are just some of the highlights of what has been a very busyAlumni Events calendar in recent months. We see more and more of you each time, but plenty of alumni still haven’t experienced all the fellowship and fun.

Make sure you don’t miss the next big thing. Stay tuned to the alumni events calendar at RMU.EDU/ALUMNI.

ALUMNI TOURMadrid, Seville, Toledo. Memories for a lifetime.

ALUMNI COUNCIL MEETINGMore great ideas from the RMU alumni family.

RMU NIGHT AT PNC PARKThe Bucs won, and Diane’s hubby caught a foul ball.


CLASS NOTESVICKI MCNAMARA MARSH ‘98is a tax manager at BDO USA in Pittsburgh.

NANCY HARHAI M’99 received aJefferson Award for Public Serviceand a $1,000 donation to herchosen charity, the NationalOvarian Cancer Coalition. Nancyis a lead business analyst ofreimbursement administration and finance for Highmark. She resides in Ross Twp.

JENNIFER FARLAND PARSONS ‘99 M’02 created “Pathway to Your Future” to help high schoolstudents and their familiesnavigate the world of life beyondhigh school through seminars,workshops, and consulting. Her husband, DONALD PARSONS‘97 M’01, is manager of financebusiness systems at Dick’sSporting Goods.

2000sDAVID BUCKISO M’00 isexecutive vice presidentof wealth services forFirst Commonwealth Bank. He previously was senior vicepresident and managing directorat FNB Wealth Management inPittsburgh.

SHAWN HANLON M’00was elected vicechairman of Goodwillof Southwestern Pennsylvaniaand is a partner atPricewaterhouseCoopers.

MARY SOROKA M’00 isdirector of theAllegheny CountyDepartment of Budgetand Finance, where she prepares

the annual comprehensive fiscalplan and oversees operating,capital, and grant budgets.

MICHAEL R. SCHULTZ ‘01 is ownerof the personal coaching businessHighland Training, which workswith endurance athletes, mainlycyclists, all over the world.

CHRISTINE IZAJ VANN M’01was named treasurer of thePittsburgh chapter of NAIOP, the commercial real estatedevelopment association. She istax senior director at BDO USA.

JASON YOUNG ‘01 is businessdevelopment manager atExhibitpro, a trade show exhibitdesign and production company.He previously spent 13 years inthe hotel communicationindustry, most recently as director of event technology at PSAV in Moon.

DANIEL HORGAN ‘02 was thekeynote speaker for the ColonialLeadership Conference in March.

Dan is CEO of D. G. HorganGroup, a leadership andperformance consultant, andauthor of the inspirational bookTell Me I Can’t, and I Will. He lives in New York City.

SCOTT KOSKOSKI M’02 isexecutive director of constituencydevelopment at Ohio University.Previously Scott was director ofphilanthropy and staff liaison tothe board of trustees for MorrisAnimal Foundation.

> JOELENE HESTER

HOLDERNY ‘99 M’11 was the

recipient of the Promising

Practitioner Award at the

Pennsylvania Association for

Middle Level Education

Conference in State College

in February. Joelene is a

family consumer science

teacher at David E. Williams

Middle School and Montour

High School in the Montour

School District. She lives in

Ross Township with her

family.

> THOMAS L. STERLING ‘99

was named to Auberle board

of directors. He is the vice

president of global HR

shared services for Mylan.

> PATTY MCGOUGHRAN

‘95 was named vice president

for IT and U.S. application

support for Enstar Group in

St. Petersburg, Fla. She was

previously an IT director at

Feld Entertainment in

Vienna, Va.

> KRISTY KENNY TAGG ‘98

joined Grane Home Health

and Hospice as the director

of business development for

the Pittsburgh region. Kristy

lives in Whitehall with her

daughter, Adeline, and

son, John.

> RUSH PEDDER ‘03

married Nicole Will on May

10, 2014. The wedding party

included DOMINIC

GRENALDO ‘03 and BOBBIE

JO BELUS ‘03. Rush is a

package center supervisor for

United Parcel Service. The

couple resides in Latrobe.


CLASS NOTESPATRIK MCKAIN ‘02M’05 and DANIELLEMCKAIN M’08 werehonored in April byAllegheny CountyCouncil for starting Jameson’sArmy, a nonprofit that hasraised more than $400,000 toaid the fight against congenitalheart defects. Their sonJameson was born without theleft side of his heart, andDanielle lived at Children’sHospital of Pittsburgh for twoyears to watch over him as hereceived a heart transplant andsix open heart surgeries.Danielle stays at home in Cecilwith her sons Jameson andColin, and Patrik works forSDLC Consulting.

JENNIFER WEISGERBER FILES‘03 was recently promoted toshareholder at Yount, Hyde &Barbour in Virginia, where sheleads the forensic accountingand governmental auditpractices. Jennifer and herhusband, ADAM FILES ‘02,reside in Winchester, Va., with their two daughters.

MIKE HOUGH ‘03 is co-founder,director, and producer atSteady State Media inPittsburgh.

MICHAEL HEPLER ‘04 waspromoted to audit projectmanager within the contractmanagement and paymentsdirectorate at the Departmentof Defense Office of InspectorGeneral. Michael justcompleted an RMU onlinegraduate certificate in groupdynamics and conflictresolution. He lives inColumbus, Ohio.

AARON R. MILLER ‘04 waspromoted to vice president,regional sales manager at FirstNational Bank of Pennsylvania.

JEFF BLASKO ‘05 washired as tight end coachat the University ofPennsylvania after threeseasons coaching at Kansas.

JEFFREY DEVLIN M’05was named CIO of theYear in Education by thePittsburgh TechnologyCouncil in March. He is chiefinformation officer at CarlowUniversity.

BOB FITTIPALDO M’05 is adirector of facilitymanagement for Burns & Scalo Real EstateServices. Bob has more than 20 years experience as asenior manager, most recently for real estate, facilities, andconstruction management atGiant Eagle.

KENYA BOSWELL M’06 was namedpresident of the BNY MellonFoundation of SouthwesternPennsylvania in January. Shejoined the foundation ascharitable giving manager in 2008 from Duquesne Light. In2014, Kenya was recognized bythe Harlem YMCA as a BlackAchiever in Industry for herprofessional accomplishments,community involvement, andcommitment to diversity.

LAURI FINK M’06 was elected tothe board of the MentoringPartnership of SouthwesternPennsylvania. Lauri is seniorprogram officer of HillmanFamily Foundations.

DANIEL LUCHESA ‘06marriedJodie Ilgenfritz on October 18.Daniel is senior manager offinance for UPMC Health Plan.

HOWARD B. SLAUGHTER JR. D’06was appointed in October to theboard of the PennsylvaniaEconomic DevelopmentFinancing Authority. He ispresident and CEO of ChristianManagement Enterprises, aPittsburgh entrepreneurialmanagement consulting firm.

> MARK NISKACH ‘03 &

MEGHAN DOWNEY NISKACH

‘06 welcomed son Parker on

December 9. Mark is an

account executive of group

sales for the Pittsburgh

Pirates, and Meghan is an

administrative assistant for

student information

resources at the Association

of Theological Schools. The

family lives in Moon.

> TAMARIA BINION ‘05

M’11married Jann Kelly-

Council on July 27, 2014.

Tamaria is assistant to the vice

president for public relations,

marketing, and alumni

relations at RMU.

> BECKY PAXTON ‘04

and Weston Rocheford were

married in Riviera Maya,

Mexico on October 24. Becky

is a channel account manager

for Shavlik in Chicago,

where the couple resides.

Bridesmaids included

BRITTANY JOCHMANN

BREEZE ‘04, LISA BORCHART

‘04, and JENNIFER STOESSEL

SALVADOR ‘04.

> JANELLE STEIGERWALD

RECK ‘07 and her husband,

Jeremy, welcomed son Carter

James on February 28, 2014.

The Recks live in the

North Hills.


CLASS NOTES

He is the Army National Guardcounterdrug liaison to U.S.Northern Command.

DANA VOJTKO M’07 BSN’14 is aregistered nurse in the medicalsurgical orthopedic unit at UPMCMcKeesport.

STEPHANIE JAVORSKI ‘08 waspromoted to director of sales andmarketing for carbon materialsand chemicals at Koppers, whereshe has worked since 2001.

DANIELLE COHEN KNOLL ‘08 wasinducted into the 2014 Sports Hallof Fame at Cherokee High Schoolin Marlton, N.J., where she was anall-state pitcher. Danielle works atUSG Insurance Services and livesin Pittsburgh.

JEANNA COOPER M’08 D’08 wasthe fall commencement speaker atPenn State Greater Allegheny,where she formerly taughtbusiness and information scienceclasses. Jeanna is manager of e-services for Consol Energy.

DOMINIC CINCOTTA M’09 DS’14was named marketing manager atPittsburgh International RaceComplex. He is also the chiefmarketing officer and owner ofCoStar Brewing.

LAUREN LANCIA ‘09 joined RMU asdigital marketing specialist in May.Previously she was a media buyerand planner with Gatesman+Dave.

LAUREN PARKER M’07 was namedthe Breitling Energy FutureIndustry Leader in March duringthe Northeast Oil and GasAwards. Lauren is a civil engineerat Civil and EnvironmentalConsultants in Moon and lives inWexford.

TODD PATNESKY M’07 waspromoted to colonel on January 9in a ceremony at Peterson AirForce Base in Colorado Springs.

> ANGELA VEDRO ‘06 and

DAVID HAMILTON ‘07 were

married on October 11 and

honeymooned in Maui.

Angela is director of

enrollment services at the

Community College of

Beaver County, and David is

product manager and

lighting designer at Star

Design Lighting.

> JACI GOEHRING BARKER

‘07 and her husband, Brad,

welcomed son Bennett

George Barker on July 28,

2014; Bennett joins big sister

Adalyn. Jaci teaches third

grade at Artman Elementary

School in the Hermitage Area

School District.

> KEVIN FORSYTHE ‘08 &

KAYLA MILLER ‘09 were

married on June 21, 2014, in

Rockwood, Pa. Kevin is a

merchandising manager for

Dick’s Sporting Goods, and

Kayla is a senior associate at

Duff & Phelps. They live in

Philadelphia.

> AMY ZALLO ‘08married

Chris Rowsick on November

8. Amy works at AT&T

Mobility.

> DAVE TOOLE ‘08 M’14

starred in the professional

production of the two-person

musical “The Last 5 Years” at

the New Hazlett Theater in

May.

> LOUIS BASCIOTTA III ‘09

and LINDSAY MCARDLE ‘06

will be wed on September 19

at St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Church in Baldwin. Lou is a

customer billing analyst at

Highmark and Lindsay is an

executive assistant at

Fragasso Financial Advisors.

> ALYSSA CIOFFI ‘09

married Josh Jacobs on

October 11 in their hometown

of Essex Junction, Vt. Alyssa

works as a high school nurse

in Burlington, where the

couple resides.


CLASS NOTESBRYAN LINVILLE ‘09 donated achildren’s book that he wrote andillustrated, You’ll Always Be MyLittle Sunshine, to the Ellwood CityPolice Department for use whenthey interact with abused children.

LAURI REIMER LISANTI ‘09waspromoted to manager of clientaccount services at Goff BackaAlfera & Co., where she hasworked since 2003.

SCOT RUTLEDGE ‘09 is digitalmarketing manager at theCommunity College of BeaverCounty. Scot was formerly digitalmarketing specialist at RMU.

2010sAMY MARCHLEN M’12 M’14 is asenior compensation analyst atUniversity of Chicago Medicine.Previously she was an executivecompensation associate with AonHewitt. Amy lives in Chicago and is the daughter of THOMASMARCHLEN M’80 and JUDITHBREEDLOVE MARCHLEN M’87.

BRENDAN NELSON M’12 and hiswife, Janna, welcomed daughterSummer Mary on October 14.Brendan works as the manager ofacademic and student support atEdAssist. He previously was anenrollment manager at RMU.

NOAH PURDY ‘12 joined SmithBrothers Agency as a digitalcontent creator, and also works asa freelance commercial andeditorial photographer.

TYLER MONTABON ‘13 andSTEPHANIE BRITTNER ‘13were married September 21. Both are employed at Cigna; Tyler also is pursuing his M.B.A. at Duquesne University andreceived Duquesne’s 2015 James J. Byrne Award forResponsible Leadership inrecognition of his volunteerefforts. The couple lives in Shaler.

SHAWN STOEBENER M’13 is thedirector of technology for Pine-Richland School District. Hepreviously had a similar positionat Avonworth School District.

> ED ALBERT ‘12 and

CHELSEY FREY ‘12 were

married on October 28

at Rogal Chapel. The

couple currently lives in

Mt. Lebanon.

> MARISSA NARR D’13

and her husband, Andrew,

welcomed son Grady Juno

on December 12. Marissa

is a nurse practitioner at

Children’s Hospital of

Pittsburgh and a part-time

faculty member in the School

of Nursing and Health

Sciences at RMU. The family

lives in Pleasant Hills.

> JESSICA SHARIK ‘12

and Scott Vargo welcomed

son Easton Scott on

December 9. Jessica is a

stay-at-home mom.

> NICK DOUTY M’15 and

SAMANTHA MONTY ‘12 were

married Nov. 30, 2013, in

Hershey. Nick works at PNC

Bank, and Samantha is an

R.N. at UPMC Passavant.

> JAMI SPRINGER ‘11

married Cody Eckman on

December 13. Jami is an

actuarial associate in

retirement practices at

Mercer. The couple resides

in Leechburg.

> ALREADY A SUCCESSASHLEIGH FRIEDAY ‘10 waspromoted to event servicesmanager at The Conferenceand Event Center in NiagaraFalls, N.Y.

JEFFREY GEISINGER M’10 isnational strategic salesdirector of RedVision, a titleand real property search firm.Previously he was assistantvice president at SLK Global.

JIMMY LANGHURST ‘10is an assistant coach for theIndiana University ofPennsylvania men’sbasketball team.

LUKE MOHAMED ‘10 ismanager of corporatepartnerships for D.C. Unitedof Major League Soccer. He previously was a salesdevelopment coordinator at Ironman.

PETER NUGENT ‘10 waspromoted to box officemanager for the AkronRubberDucks minor leaguebaseball team.

KELLY HILDERBRANDROBINSON ‘10 was promotedto supervisor at MaherDuessel, where she hasworked since completing her internship.


CLASS NOTESCALEEM L. “JAY” JABBOUR ‘60of West Mifflin passed awayDecember 22 at the age of 82.

JEANNINE RUSSELL WALLACE ‘61passed away December 30 from multiple myeloma. She is survived by her husband,Stephen, whom she married in 2009.

MARNE MILAKOVIC SWANSON ‘62of Butte, Mont., passed awayJanuary 5 at the age of 72.

ELEANOR LINEMAN LEWIS ‘63of Roswell, Ga., passed awayFebruary 24.

AMBER HOPKINS ‘14 is an expressmeeting manager at DoubleTreeby Hilton Pittsburgh Airport. Shealso is on the recreation and eventstaff for Moon Parks andRecreation.

KELLY JOY ‘14 is a key accountbusiness analyst for LakeshoreOutdoor Sales representing The North Face in Chicago.

ERIN KISAK M’14 joined theMcQuillan Group as a taxdepartment supervisor.

MAXWELL RICKARD ‘14 M’15joined Henderson Brothers as anaccount analyst for thecommercial lines department.

MICHAEL SMITH ‘14 M’14 is aproperty andcasualtyactuarial analyst at NationwideInsurance in Columbus.

In Memoriam DAVID WESTERMAN ‘57 ofCoraopolis passed away January15 at the age of 81.

Class Notes would love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].

> GETTING RECOGNIZEDTwo RMU alumni were

named to Pittsburgh Magazine

and PUMP’s 40 Under 40,

which recognizes young

people committed to shaping

our region and making it a

better place. JAMES MURPHY

‘10 is an HRIS analyst at

FedEx Ground and an active

volunteer and former

treasurer for the Pittsburgh

chapter of the National

Society of Black Engineers.

BRIANNE MCLAUGHLIN

BITTLE ‘11 is a goalkeeper for

the U.S. hockey team and a

spokesmodel for Haute

Athletics.

Three alumni were honored

in the “Pittsburgh’s 50

Finest” gala for the Cystic

Fibrosis Foundation in

August. JOEL ACIE ‘02,

DANIELLE N. WHITE ‘06, and

CANDACE HAYWOOD ‘10 were

recognized for their career

success and community

involvement.

> JULIA KYSELA M’13 was

named 2015 National Guard

Spouse of the Year for her

volunteer work for veterans’

charities and as the family

member support director for

Steel City Vets. Julia is a

senior account analyst at

BNY Mellon.

> MONDA WILLIAMS M’12,

was named a Greater

Pittsburgh Dignity and

Respect Champion

in October in recognition of

her active volunteer work

and passion for creative

change in her community.

She is a caseworker for

Allegheny County Child and

Youth Services and a certified

life coach.

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY

AT RMUThink about how Robert Morris

changed your life. Then consider how your legacy gift to Robert Morris can change

the lives of future students.

Contact Vice President for Development Kim Hammer at (412) 397-6413 or

[email protected] to learn how you can leave a legacy through your will or with a planned gift of retirement savings,

life insurance, cash, stocks, or other assets.

RMU.EDU/LEGACYGIFT


CLASS NOTESVICTORIA GUARINO STODART ‘82of Stockton, N.J., passed awayJanuary 5.

MICHAEL YUROSKO ‘83, formerassistant director of residence lifeat RMU, passed away January 2following a lengthy illness.

CHRIS NATTO ‘09 of Dormontpassed away unexpectedly onJanuary 7 at the age of 27.

SCOTT TURNBELL ‘11 of South Fayette passed awayunexpectedly on January 16

at the age of 34. He is survived by his wife, Amy, and hischildren, Will and Alec.

ERIK STEIN D’15 passed away on May 20. He was the assistantdirector of residence life atEdinboro University and hadpreviously worked in residence

life at RMU.

TANYA HAGENpassed away on June 11 at the ageof 45. She was a former teamphysician for the Colonials andalso served the same role forseveral local university andprofessional sports teams,including the PittsburghPenguins.

Class Notes would love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].

> PHI DELTS MEETBrothers of Phi Delta Mu, seen here at their reunion last year at Seven Springs, held this year’s reunion at RMU during Homecoming. The chapter was founded in 1968 as Phi Delta Mu and went national with Delta Tau Delta in 1971.Pictured are the Phi Delta Mu Brothers and wives who attended Robert Morris from 1966 through 1975.

The brothers pictured are: 1st Row: JOHN BORCHIN, TOM BOWSER, RON HELFRICH, and DICK SEMBOWER. 2nd Row:STEVE POUNDSTONE, BOB ROZELL, JERRY WOODWARD, GARY KOVAC, DAN HLASNICK, CHRIS WILBERT, RICH PARKER, and DALE HARRISON. 3rd Row: BOB BROWN, ROD QUARTZ, DAN BECK, BILL MORRISON, TOM WALLS, DAVE ROSE, BOB BAYLOR, and RANDY KOLESAR. Wives: Left to right: BRENDAJENKS SEMBOWER, NANCY PLUNKETT WOODWARD, ELLIE BURTTBOWSER, SHARON O’BRIEN HELFRICH, JOYCE BACHER ROZELL,JANET BARSTOW KOVAC, and DIANE VANDERHOOF HARRISON.

TAMIKO YOUNGBLOOD, Ph.D., an

engineering professor and mentor

to many students, passed away on

March 20 at the age of 46 from

cancer. In honor of her life and her

commitment to students, the

Tamiko Youngblood Memorial Fund

has been established at RMU, and

gifts in her honor can be made at

RMU.EDU/YOUNGBLOOD.

Make smart choices about paying for college.

Watch Bobby Mo’s friendly tips and learn the basic dos and don’ts at

RMU.EDU/AFFORDABILITY

BEST VALUE

As the new director of the UPMC Disability ResourceCenter, which provides assistive technology for patients

and visitors throughout the regional hospital network, Molinero focuses on helping people get equal treatment regardless of their physical limitations. She is also an accomplished handcyclist, competing in marathons in Pittsburgh, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami… and this summer, Alaska. Her father, Frank Molinero ‘72, is on the Board of Trustees, and Ashli Molinero takes her role as a legacy seriously, supporting university initiatives like the President’s Fund for Engaged Learning and Women of RMU, and joining two RMU Alumni Tours to Ireland and Italy.

10QuestionswithAshli Molinero D’04

After several years as a professor at Pitt’sSchool of Health and Rehabilitation

Sciences, are you excited about yournew job at UPMC? I’m so lucky tohave this opportunity. It’s everythingthat I like to do in one position —teaching, helping people advocate,and helping people to understandassistive technology and why it’simportant.1

Is there a story behind thespelling “Ashli”? My mom saw it in Glamourmagazine and liked how it looked. But I wasgoing to be Ashley

whether I was a boy or a girl. Mom’s favoritemovie was “Gone With The Wind.”

Written By Mark Houser36

10

You have spina bifidaand walk with

crutches. How has thatmade you the person

you are? My parentstaught me to be a reallygood self-advocate. They

said there were going to be people telling me I couldn’t do things I wanted to do, so I wasgoing to have to be able to articulate not onlythat I wanted to do something, but how. And by articulating that extra step, it would helppeople to realize, yeah, I probably could do it.

Your doctoral work at RMUa decade ago was about

making the Internetaccessible, particularly forpeople who can’t see. Have there

been improvements? I thinkthere’s more awareness, and that’s apositive thing. I think there are still issues,and part of the problem is user-generatedcontent. If you have a Facebook page, areyou going to make sure all your videos areclosed-captioned? Probably not. Google’sdone a great job of creating tools that willhelp, but unless you’re aware of this issue,it’s always going to be a tricky balance.

You’ve been on two RMU Alumni Tours.Do you do a lot of traveling? I’ve been traveling since high

school, and I’ve been to 17different countries. With RMU, I got to go to Slovakia when Iwas in the doctoral program and I also went to Paris with my

doctoral peers. The trips I took withRobert Morris to Italy and Ireland, my parents were on them too, and oneach trip one of my nieces came. So it was fun to be ableto experience

that withmy family.

Do youhope others

might beinspired by

what you’veaccomplished? It’s hard for anybody to say they want to get in shape. People

shouldn’t put limitations on themselves. Liveyour life the best you can. Don’t worry abouthow you’re doing it, just get out there and participate.

3

How did you get into handcycling? In 2000 I had younger nieces and nephews learning how

to ride bikes, and I knew abouthandcycles from our researchcenter, since we do a lot ofdevelopment for adaptive sportstechnology. I started out only doingit recreationally with my nieces and nephews, at the park or on theboardwalk at the beach. I didn’t

compete in my first race until 2012.

So what made you start racingcompetitively? I was getting near

40 and starting to think maybe it was time to transfer from crutches to a wheelchair. But first, I thought, maybe I’ll go to the gym and see if I can lose some weight and get more

mobile and healthy. And it’s so muchfun. You have a whole new social

network of people. It’s justamazing what it can do for a person.

What’s the thing you enjoy mostabout it? I like the speed. Oh my gosh,it’s just so exhilarating! You’re justflying. It’s amazing. Downhill thefastest I’ve clocked is 54 miles per hour;on the flat I can do maybe 23-24 mph.

What’s your favorite movie? “Star Wars.” I was the only little girl withan “EmpireStrikes Back”

lunchbox.7

2

4

86

9

5

See a WPXI-TV interview

with Molinero atrmu.edu/foundations.

Upcoming Events

FOR MORE INFORMATION on these and other upcoming events, visit the Events page at RMU.EDU/ALUMNI.

> NOVEMBER 4 Dr. Sanjay Gupta Pittsburgh Speakers Series Heinz Hall, 8 p.m.

5 Fall Wine Tasting HYP Club, Downtown, 6 p.m.

11 Colonial Theatre presents Love’s Labour’s Lost Massey Theater, 7:30 p.m. Through Nov. 15 (2 p.m.)

> OCTOBER 3 Alumni Association Open Meeting Hopwood Hall, 10 a.m.

7 Career ExpoSewall Center, Noon-4 p.m.

7 Colonial Theatre presents Avenue Q Massey Theater, 7:30 p.m. Through Oct. 11 (2 p.m.)

14 Novelist and screenwriter John Irving Pittsburgh Speakers Series Heinz Hall, 8 p.m.

> DECEMBER 2 Diplomat and author Dennis Ross Pittsburgh Speakers Series Heinz Hall, 8 p.m.

3 President’s Council Dinner West Club Lounge, Heinz Field, 5:30 p.m. Get on the guest list! rmu.edu/joinpc

CHECK OUT THE

NEW ALUMNIWEBSITE

MORE STORIES. MORE EVENTS.

MORE CLASS NOTES.

Find it all atRMU.EDU/ALUMNI.

FOUNDATIONS ONLINE

READ THIS ISSUE ON YOUR TABLET.

WATCH VIDEOS AND OTHER ONLINE

EXCLUSIVES.

SHARE YOUR FAVORITE FEATURES ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

ACCESS A COMPLETEMAGAZINE ARCHIVE.

DO IT ALL AT:RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS

Robert Morris University6001 University BoulevardMoon Township, PA 15108-1189

RMU.EDU

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPittsburgh, PAPermit No. 280

MEET THE NEW PRESIDENT

After mingling with faculty,

staff, and students on the day

of his announcement as

the 8th president of RMU,

President-Elect

Christopher Howard, D.Phil.,

sat down with Interim President

and Provost David Jamison, J.D.,

for a 30-minute interview

streamed live on the Periscope app,

featuring questions from

students and live viewers.

Watch the full interview

on RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS.

Documents

Foundations Fall 2015