Spring 2022
It’s spring at Bucknell, and the blossoms are a-poppin’.
BY WAY OF BUCKNELL
It’s spring at Bucknell, and the blossoms are a-poppin’.
If you would like a reprint of this photo, please fill out the form at bucknell.edu/bmagazine. We will send you a complimentary 8-by-10 print.
Pathways
by Bryan Wendell
Flora Beleznay ’25 was born in the U.S. but spent her summers in Hungary. She remembers meals with extended family, water polo matches on TV and rousing discussions about physics.
Pretty much everyone on Beleznay’s father’s side is a physicist, including her grandmother.
“For her to be in such a vigorous scholastic field and pursue it amid the struggles of being female is really what influenced me to pursue this major,” Beleznay says.
Pathways
Flora Beleznay ’25 was born in the U.S. but spent her summers in Hungary. She remembers meals with extended family, water polo matches on TV and rousing discussions about physics.
Pretty much everyone on Beleznay’s father’s side is a physicist, including her grandmother.
“For her to be in such a vigorous scholastic field and pursue it amid the struggles of being female is really what influenced me to pursue this major,” Beleznay says.
Pathways
by Patrick Broadwater
Bob Rhein ’85 was a junior at Bucknell when he began building the momentum that has been the catalyst of his career in industrial sales.
Rhein played soccer for four years at Bucknell and joined the lacrosse team for his final two years, playing in memory of a childhood friend killed by a drunk driver. Rhein credits the encouragement he received from his future wife, Cheryl Conrad ’86, and Hall of Fame lacrosse coach Sid Jamieson, among others, with helping to refocus his grief and instill much-needed discipline.
Pathways
Bob Rhein ’85 was a junior at Bucknell when he began building the momentum that has been the catalyst of his career in industrial sales.
Rhein played soccer for four years at Bucknell and joined the lacrosse team for his final two years, playing in memory of a childhood friend killed by a drunk driver. Rhein credits the encouragement he received from his future wife, Cheryl Conrad ’86, and Hall of Fame lacrosse coach Sid Jamieson, among others, with helping to refocus his grief and instill much-needed discipline.
Gateway
LOVING THE QUIZ KIDS:
Thanks for the [winter issue] ‘College Bowl’ story. In 1963, it was a very big deal at campuses across the U.S.
Naples, Fla.
Recalling the Harrisburg 7
I was very surprised to not see any mention of The Harrisburg Seven trial in the fall issue’s “Living History” story. I was a freshman at Penn State in 1970, but I transferred the next year to Bucknell in part because of the federal indictment of antiwar activists that included Philip Berrigan and five other Roman Catholic nuns or priests.
The group stood accused of plotting to raid federal offices, blow up U.S. Capitol steam tunnels and kidnap Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in a bid to end the war in Vietnam. The defendants were represented by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and renowned civil-liberties lawyer Leonard Boudin, and the much-publicized trial, held in Harrisburg in spring 1972, ended with a hung jury.
Berrigan was imprisoned in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, where he was befriended by another inmate, Boyd Douglas, who was on work release at Bertrand Library. Douglas, a convicted forger who became the government’s chief witness, had portrayed himself on campus as an antiwar activist as he involved students in the smuggling of letters to Berrigan. Bucknell librarian Zoia Horn was jailed for several weeks after refusing to testify for the prosecution, citing academic freedom.
Bucknell students, faculty and staff, including me, attended the trial. I learned more there about conspiracy law, jury selection, illegal wiretapping and other government misconduct than in any college political science class.
Northampton, Mass.
A New Path
I’m sure most of us have known someone who helped us believe we could do the improbable. For me, it was my brothers, Dale and Gary, who were 19 and 16 when I was born. They were the first in our southwestern Ohio farm family to pursue higher education, and there was never any question that I would join them on the college track.
To get me started, Gary bought me a cobalt-blue IBM Selectric typewriter and my first camera, a Canon AE-1, giving me the physical tools to pursue a journalism degree — and potential career. I had the tools, but wasn’t convinced I had the talent.
It was Dale’s faith in me that led me to take those tools and begin building a career. When I was 19, and home one weekend, I wrote a personal reflection on a massive blizzard that had buried my northwestern Ohio campus. Uncertain though I was about my writing talent, I gave Dale the essay to read. I was surprised when he asked to keep it. And even more surprised to later learn that he took it to the editor of the paper of record, The Dayton Daily News. Standing in his office doorway, essay in hand, Dale pled my case: “My sister wrote this. It’s good. You should publish it.”
He didn’t, but Dale’s belief in me provided the confidence to approach a different editor the next summer, and he retained me as a freelance writer and photographer. By then, my dear Dale was dead of a heart attack, but the breath of confidence he’d given me helped me press on.
Thanks to my brothers’ early push, and my own will to work hard and improve, I have had the career I always wanted: first with daily newspapers, then editing alumni magazines for three colleges and one university. My dedication to evocative storytelling remains strong, as does my love of orchestrating the total reading experience — from choosing the best writers to the best artists and photographers, all in the service of advancing a compelling narrative for our readers.
But like many others during these pandemic years, I pondered passions I’d not pursued, and a new path became clear to me: public service.
Perhaps ironically, it was my concern for a Bucknell family that helped me reach that conclusion. When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August, my friend, Professor Jamie Hendry, management, told me she was trying to help the family of Yasameen Mohammadi ’20 and her brother Omid ’24 flee Kabul.
My own efforts to help them led me to Church World Service (CWS), one of nine national organizations working with the U.S. government to resettle the 76,000 Afghans lucky enough to reach our country. Although the exiles did not include the Mohammadis, I wanted to aid other Afghans in building new lives in America.
Another Bucknell connection, Religious Studies Professor Brantley Gasaway — an Anabaptist like me — helped me forge a partnership between his church and mine. I enlisted one more congregation, and soon found myself leading a three-church welcome team, working with CWS to resettle a young Afghan family of four in Carlisle, Pa. The dad, 27, is a film studies graduate of the University of Kabul who worked with the U.S. military. Thanks to a generous donation from another Bucknellian, Lewisburg Photography Club President and Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Dan Hyde, our Afghan dad now has a Canon Rebel camera with all the trimmings.
After this issue, I’ll be leaving Bucknell Magazine to focus more fully on this initiative. For me, this move into public service is not a retirement but a repurposing — and again, one inspired by my brothers. Dale helped troubled youths through the Big Brothers program, and Gary, an oncologist, started the Cancer Foundation For Life. Although he died in 2018, the Texas nonprofit, which enhances the quality of life for cancer patients through exercise and healthy eating habits, is still thriving.
Like Peyton Manning, I feel I’m leaving my team at Bucknell at the top of my game — not limping off the field. I’ll always be a writer, just not a full-time one. I’ll miss my Communications Division colleagues — and all the readers I’ve come to know these last nearly seven years. I’m a better writer, editor and person than I was before I arrived at Bucknell. And I hope, through my work, I have enriched your lives in some small way as well.
Appreciates ‘Indigenous Origins’
The articles in the Winter 2022 edition about the Susquehanna River and the Indigenous people who lived on the land before Bucknell came into being were both very good — and interesting! I guess it’s fun to observe and think on how very naive we as Bucknell students were about the area and who lived there before the University was founded.
The Villages, Fla.
magazine
Volume 15, Issue 2
Vice President For Communications
Heather Johns
Editor
Sherri Kimmel
Design
Amy Wells
Associate Editor
Matt Hughes
Assistant Editor
Bryan Wendell
Class Notes Editor
Heidi Hormel
Contributors
Brad Tufts
Emily Paine
Brooke Thames
Mike Ferlazzo
Editorial Assistant
Kim Faulk
Website
bucknell.edu/bmagazine
Contact
Email: bmagazine@bucknell.edu
Class Notes:
classnotes@bucknell.edu
Telephone: 570-577-3611
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Bucknell Welcomes New Chief of Public Safety
by Mike Ferlazzo
VETERAN LAW ENFORCEMENT leader Anthony Morgan began work as Bucknell’s new chief of public safety in February. Most recently chief of police at Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, Calif., Morgan brings 19 years of law enforcement and community policing experience to the University.
“Chief Morgan has a proven track record of implementing practices that enhance the public’s trust between law enforcement and the community,” says President John Bravman. “He is well-prepared to both maintain safety within our campus community and provide vision and direction for key departmental diversity initiatives moving forward.”
At Bucknell, Morgan will lead a University public safety department of 24 full-time staff composed of commissioned and armed police officers, communications officers, a parking coordinator, an administrative assistant, and supervisors for traffic, safety and medical transportation.
Morgan’s past roles include 14 years in the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Department of Public Safety and leadership of police departments in Mount Rainier, Md., and Covington, Va. — cities that desired community policing. In each agency, Morgan implemented significant reforms and enhanced the trust between law enforcement and the community.
News Ticker
LEARNED-SOCIETY LEADER
EARLY-CAREER COMMENDATION
HONORING BISON VOTES
’burg and Beyond
Calexico, Calif.In her workplace at the U.S.-Mexico border, Noreen Mastascusa ’83 climbs into cargo truck trailers and digs through boxes of green onions, leafs through bunches of kale, pokes around bales of hay. But Mastascusa, an agriculture specialist with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, isn’t looking for smugglers (who she hopes are caught at a previous X-ray inspection). Instead, Mastascusa’s eye is trained on insects, ticks, blight, weed seeds and soil-borne diseases.
How She Got There
After Bucknell, the biology major earned a second B.S. in horticulture from Penn State, then studied for an M.S. in horticulture at Texas A&M. But before finishing her thesis, Mastascusa joined the Peace Corps, serving nearly three years in the Dominican Republic. Preparing for her latest job as an ag specialist required two months of Department of Agriculture training in pest identification and regulation, then seven weeks at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Ag specialists spend a shorter time in law enforcement training than officers because they are not armed and learn only defensive tactics.
’burg and Beyond
Lewisburg, Pa.When Professor Collin Smith, markets, innovation & design (MIDE), heard that interactive exhibits at the Lewisburg Children’s Museum needed reimagining, he knew the perfect group of innovative thinkers for the task. In December, students in Smith’s Design Realization class added enhancements to the museum’s nature-themed Tree House exhibit.
What They Did
The original exhibit left little to explore for curious and energetic visitors. Activity was limited to a small campfire setup and a treehouse that kids could climb into, with an attached slide for swift and easy exit.
Re-engineering ENGR 100
Intro course aims to better prepare students for a new reality
PAY NO ATTENTION to the job title in the email signature.
Today’s engineers must be multi-talented and able to partner with colleagues on projects that span traditional dividing lines.
At Bucknell, a reimagining of the College of Engineering’s cornerstone course aims to better prepare students for this new reality. ENGR 100 immerses students in hands-on, project-oriented assignments that help them experience multiple engineering disciplines and understand the ways they overlap.
Google Award Fuels Study of Bias in Prison Decision-Making
by MIKE FERLAZZO
THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT relies on an algorithmic tool known as Pattern to help decide who gets a shot at early release from prison and who must remain behind bars. But, as NPR reported in January, it turns out the predictive algorithm used to determine someone’s risk of a return to criminal behavior appears to give biased results, treating people of different races differently.
Three Bucknell professors are now at work probing the roots of this algorithmic unfairness. Professors Darakhshan Mir, computer science; Vanessa Massaro, geography; and Nathan Ryan, mathematics, were awarded a $60,000 Google Award for Inclusion Research. Their yearlong project will compare quantitative data collected on 280,000 incarcerated individuals during the last 30 years from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections with the realities incarcerated people describe when interviewed for the project.
What I’m Reading
PROFESSOR, PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
ASSOCIATE DEAN OF FACULTY, COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit
Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here
Sandra Boynton, Barnyard Dance
What I’m Reading
Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit
I have been very puzzled and, frankly, disturbed by the rise of nationalism around the world. I looked to political philosopher Michael Sandel, whose work I have followed for years, for some clarification. In this book, he argues that meritocracy, even a perfect one, exacerbates social inequality, leading the “winners” to “breathe in the meritocratic hubris” while the “losers” are left demoralized and looking for scapegoats. The latter outcome contributes to xenophobia, racism and the rise of nationalism. He also argues that the meritocratic selection process upheld in higher education entrenches privilege rather than provides social mobility, which in turn corrodes democratic values.
The author, whose first name is commonly associated with white males, recounts her experiences growing up as a Black Christian woman in Ohio. My personal background (Asian, from China) doesn’t have much overlap with hers, and yet the stories Brown tells are relatable, raw and illuminating. They also remind me of the intersectional lens through which we can observe the clash of power and privileges.
I have probably read this book aloud more than 50 times. The author engages readers, old and young, with melodic prose and whimsical illustrations of her characters — a bunch of dancing barnyard animals. The opening paragraph is particularly suitable for practicing body coordination: “Stomp your feet! Clap your hands! Everybody ready for a barnyard dance!” This is my 1-year-old’s go-to book. It brings a distinct sense of joy and simplicity after a long day of work.
Andrew Meyer ’71, P’08
Meyer ’71, P’08
The Producer
Comic Book Histories of the Middle East
What Class?
of the Middle East
Pulling His Weight
That’s because he and his brother, Mitch ’20, started their wrestling careers — at the encouragement of their father — in elementary school with “mad dog” matches in the living room.
“We definitely broke a lot of things,” Zach Hartman remembers. “We were always horsing around. It was a great time.”
How to Manage a Home Contractor
Richard Mold ’81, P’14 majored in art & art history at Bucknell before shifting gears and launching a 40-year career in the construction trades. After decades of working on smaller projects, he is now site supervisor on the construction of a $3 million vacation home in the Catskills. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.Connecting with the Land
n Sam Pring ’23’s first visit to the Bucknell Farm, biology professor and farm adviser Mark Spiro plucked a ripe cob of corn off the stalk and grilled it up for Pring on the spot. It was one of Pring’s earliest experiences at Bucknell during first-year Orientation, and it “made a really good first impression to have a professor make us fresh food,” Pring says.
Pring’s interest in the farm grew through the Environmental Residential College, which engages first-year students in the planet’s most pressing sustainability and climate issues through immersive experiences in nature. Now, the biology and linguistics double major is just one of many students pursuing hands-on education in one of Bucknell’s most dynamic living laboratories.
An Ocean of Stories
Features
Features
Features
A Flood of Memories
50 years later, the Bucknell community reflects on a deadly storm’s impact
Illustration by Matt Rota
“Before Agnes” and “After Agnes.” That’s how many longtime Lewisburg-area residents talk about their communities in the central Susquehanna Valley. History got split into two distinct eras. In 1972, massive floods spawned by Tropical Storm Agnes decimated the hearts of many river towns. The recovery has been long and arduous. Scars from Agnes and landmarks of resilience are visible if you know where to look.
In June, Bucknell and local communities will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Agnes. The storm killed at least 128 people in several states, including 48 Pennsylvanians. It destroyed 70,000 homes and left hundreds of thousands without electrical power, telephone service or clean drinking water. President Richard Nixon declared that it was “the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States.”
“Before Agnes, people in Lewisburg and other river towns thought they were prepared because they did take precautions,” says Professor Andrew Stuhl, environmental studies & sciences. “If floodwaters collected in a location, they knew from experience to move their things out of harm’s way to the second floor or even evacuate their house. They thought it couldn’t get any worse than the flood of 1936, the most damaging one on record at that time.”
In March 1936, heavy downpours and melting winter snows flooded most of Lewisburg and other river communities.
But Agnes was worse — a lot worse.
Shaping
the
Future
photograph by Darren Elias
Shaping the Future
photograph by Darren Elias
Alumni are making a difference in higher education
1. Alumni are making a difference in higher education
“We’re educating people to be good citizens and great leaders,” says Karin Wilkins ’84, dean of the School of Communication at the University of Miami.
Professor
in the
House
photographs by Dustin Fenstermacher
A Maxwell Award for All at Bucknell
By giving our 2020 graduates a ceremony, albeit a delayed one, we’re once again demonstrating, as we have many times during the last two years, that we’ll not let the wily virus have the last word.
Making STEM Cool for Girls
As she shared fun STEM lessons with the youngest students — kindergarten, first grade, second grade — Foster noticed that the girls were just as eager to raise their hands as the boys. But something was concerningly different when she moved to fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms.
“The girls were a little more reserved at that point,” Foster says. “They weren’t jumping in as often as the boys were. It really surprised me to see that gender gap happening so early.”
Foster saw an opportunity for change.
A Force for Good
Force For Good, founded in 2016, creates short films based on Sprout’s instrumental music, which he calls “New Age Classical.” A team of fellow artist/activists works with Sprout. So far, international film festivals have shown 67 of the films, 19 of which have won awards.
“Our films reflect my belief in the importance of protecting the natural world while promoting gender and racial equality. It’s not just what you do in life, but how you do it,” explains Sprout, a third-generation Bucknellian. “I hope the work my team and I do uplifts the organizations and people who are doing heroic things in the world.”
Sprout has performed more than 6,600 concerts since his first appearance — at Rooke Chapel — and he credits the late Chaplain James Gardner for nudging him onto the stage.
Submit your own photos to Bucknell Magazine by contacting your class reporter or emailing classnotes@bucknell.edu
Photo: Ally Balakian ’23
Following a Literary Legacy
Jan Balakian ’83, a professor of English at Kean University in New Jersey, teaches American drama and modern American literature, inspired by Bucknell’s legendary English professor, Jack Wheatcroft ’49. Her most recent play, Dreams on Fire, is set before the 2016 presidential election and explores the experiences of college students, mental health and the transmission of trauma across generations. It premieres April 20-27 at Kean.
1. How did Bucknell shape your career?
2. What class opened your eyes the most?
3. If you could go back to college, what would you do differently?
Encore Renewable Energy
by Lori Ferguson
As founder and CEO of Encore Renewable Energy, Farrell is knee-deep in the fight. A leader in the field of community-scale clean energy generation projects, including solar project development, brownfield redevelopment and energy storage, Encore is committed to demonstrating that renewable energy is practical, competitive and economically feasible.
A Familiar Face
“It had been a running joke among my family and friends that I was the ‘unofficial mayor,’ ” says Alvarez who immigrated to the area from Trinidad at age 5. “They’d kid that if you need something, just call Kendy — she’ll make it happen.”
After running unopposed in the 2021 mayoral race, Alvarez’s status as the community’s go-to resident is no longer unofficial. In January, she was sworn in as the new Lewisburg borough mayor, succeeding Judy Wagner M’71. Alvarez is Lewisburg’s second woman and first woman of color to hold the position and is among the youngest to lead a Susquehanna Valley town.
Career Clusters
EMILY MERINGOLO ’16
By sophomore year we were not just friends but roommates. When I told Kate that I wanted to study Mandarin and double major in international relations and East Asian studies, without missing a beat, she said, “Emmy, that’s the thing about you: Once you set your mind to something, you go out and do it!”
KATE, THE ENCOURAGER
IN MEMORIAM
1943
1944
Dorothy “Dot” Sonn P’75, Sept. 22, Stamford, Conn.
1945
Cal Sholl P’70, Nov. 10, Peterborough, N.H.
Richard Skibbens, Oct. 17, North Canton, Ohio
1946
1947
Mary Walter Ruggieri, Sept. 14, Kennett Square, Pa.
Bea Dobbs Shoemaker P’80, G’16, Oct. 12, East New Market, Md.
1948
Milton Mensch, Oct. 7, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Anita Rosenberg Millar, Nov. 27, Champaign, Ill.
1949
Bill Frederick M’49, P’78, P’80, G’08, G’09, G’10, G’13 Oct. 29, Allentown, Pa.
1950
Larry Saphier, Oct. 18, Venice, Fla.
Leanne “Le” Freas Trout ’50, P’74, G’99, G’01, G’06, Feb. 9 in Fort Myers, Fla.
Dick Villforth G’94, Nov. 17, Wyomissing, Pa.
Lauren “Larry” Breakiron ’52, H’09, G’09
His notable contributions to Bucknell include funding of the Breakiron Engineering Building and numerous scholarships.
“When it opened in 2004, the Breakiron building made an immediate and significant impact on what we could do with programs and students,” says Erin Jablonski, interim dean of the College of Engineering. “It was immediately 100% occupied. Sentiments at that time were, and continue to be, incredibly thankful that Larry Breakiron made such a much-needed investment in our college.”
Leanne “Le” Freas Trout ’50, P’74, G’99, G’01, G’06
For more than 50 years, Trout poured her heart into her alma mater, endowing multiple scholarships, giving enthusiastically to capital projects and cheering on the Orange and Blue through her generosity to Bison Athletics in honor of her late husband, David ’50, P’74, G’99 G’01, G’06.
But her most significant impact will forever be felt in the Department of French & Francophone studies.
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The Art of Fabric
The Bucknell Japanese studies major has spent most of her life immersed in Japanese art and culture. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including in New York City and Tokyo, and is held in private and corporate collections around the world. Faeder’s miniature amulets also will be featured in an art book, due out in April through Pretzel City Press, which is owned by fellow Japanese studies major Marian Wolbers ’75.
An Artful Look at Death
The exhibition runs until June 12 in the Downtown Gallery of the Samek Art Museum, 416 Market St., Lewisburg.
Witty Winners
The ‘Noble Rose’ Sculpture
After retiring from clinical duties in 2017, neurosurgeon ROBERT MARTUZA ’69 put his skilled hands to use as a sculptor while also continuing research on oncolytic viruses for cancer therapy. Of the sculptures he’s created in his workshop in Marblehead, Mass. — where he lives with his wife of 50 years, S. JILL PFIFER MARTUZA ’69, whom he met their first year at Bucknell — one of his favorites is Noble Rose: Beautiful Forever.
Inset: Martuza’s Noble Rose: Beautiful Forever sculpture.
Inset: Martuza’s Noble Rose: Beautiful Forever sculpture.
The ‘Noble Rose’ Sculpture
After retiring from clinical duties in 2017, neurosurgeon ROBERT MARTUZA ’69 put his skilled hands to use as a sculptor while also continuing research on oncolytic viruses for cancer therapy. Of the sculptures he’s created in his workshop in Marblehead, Mass. — where he lives with his wife of 50 years, S. JILL PFIFER MARTUZA ’69, whom he met their first year at Bucknell — one of his favorites is Noble Rose: Beautiful Forever.She lived to be two weeks shy of 103. I made Noble Rose: Beautiful Forever in honor of her 100th birthday. In Lithuanian, her name is Adele Roze; in English, it’s Adeline Rose — “noble rose.” The sculpture is of two arthritic hands holding a wilting rose, representing my mother going through the process of aging and showing its beauty.
Back Cover
photograph by EMILY PAINE
Back Cover
photograph by EMILY PAINE