Winter 2022
On a cold day, this drone’s-eye view highlights the frosting on top of campus and the surrounding area.
BY WAY OF BUCKNELL
On a cold day, this drone’s-eye view highlights the frosting on top of campus and the surrounding area.
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.
by Eveline Chao
During the pandemic, April Htut ’15 became an overnight food entrepreneur, launching Myanmar Food USA, a website selling imported Burmese food products such as pickled tea-leaf salad and instant milk tea. Soon the fun side project turned into a booming family business, receiving up to 100 orders a day.
Htut, who completed her MBA at Duke and now works for tech multinational SAP, handles financial reporting and marketing. “It’s a lean, bootstrap business, but we work fast. Orders ship out within 12 hours, so if you live on the East Coast, it’s faster than Amazon Prime,” Htut says.
During the pandemic, April Htut ’15 became an overnight food entrepreneur, launching Myanmar Food USA, a website selling imported Burmese food products such as pickled tea-leaf salad and instant milk tea. Soon the fun side project turned into a booming family business, receiving up to 100 orders a day.
Htut, who completed her MBA at Duke and now works for tech multinational SAP, handles financial reporting and marketing. “It’s a lean, bootstrap business, but we work fast. Orders ship out within 12 hours, so if you live on the East Coast, it’s faster than Amazon Prime,” Htut says.
by matt hughes
Jack Robinson ’17 started his legal career like many new attorneys, with a judicial clerkship in a United States courthouse. In his case, that court was a 40-hour plane journey from the continental U.S., with layovers in Tokyo and Guam.
After graduating from Boston University School of Law in May 2020 (when “nobody was hiring”) the political science and classics double major sought a remote corner of the world to ride out the pandemic while building courtroom experience. From January 2021 to January 2022, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Wesley Bogdan of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Superior Court on Saipan.
Jack Robinson ’17 started his legal career like many new attorneys, with a judicial clerkship in a United States courthouse. In his case, that court was a 40-hour plane journey from the continental U.S., with layovers in Tokyo and Guam.
After graduating from Boston University School of Law in May 2020 (when “nobody was hiring”) the political science and classics double major sought a remote corner of the world to ride out the pandemic while building courtroom experience. From January 2021 to January 2022, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Wesley Bogdan of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Superior Court on Saipan.
Gateway
FAN FARE:
Your fall issue is fantastic! The articles and pictures bring back memories and make me proud to be a Bucknellian.
High Springs, Fla.
When BUCKTRAN Was in Vogue
Thank you for printing the brief note “An Earlier Computer” in the Summer 2021 issue. I graduated in 1966 with an electrical engineering degree that beautifully prepared me for the rest of my career and life. I remember well programming the Burroughs E-101 computer, literally in machine language. On its right end were five boards, each of which had 15 rows of 16 pinholes. We inserted a pin for a 1, while no pin indicated a 0. This meant that the maximum-length program contained 75 instructions, for example: TST, JMP, ADD and NEG.
We students also programmed the IBM 1620 in BUCKTRAN, an elementary version of the FORTRAN scientific programing language. We used its typewriter to enter our program and data, and to receive the results.
To go even further back, Professor Honor Webb taught us electronics laboratory, in which we programmed analog computers, the predecessor of digital machines. One assignment was to simulate the action of the suspension system of an automobile wheel assembly as its driver ran off a curb.
Chapel Hill, N.C.
More Thoughts on Jewish Life
I was moved by the Summer 2021 article on Joe Blaustein ’47. I was also heartened to hear that there are currently almost 200 Jewish students at Bucknell.
I was very active growing up in my conservative synagogue in western Massachusetts. I was the cantor in our junior congregation around my bar mitzvah age and attended Jewish summer camps as a camper and counselor for 11 years. During college, I worked summers in the Catskills, the Jewish borscht belt.
I was completely naïve when it came to applying to college. My parents took me on a trip through the Pennsylvania private schools: Lafayette, Lehigh, Franklin & Marshall, Bucknell. For some reason, I thought that growing up in western Massachusetts and going to school in Pennsylvania was adventurous.
I thought Bucknell’s campus was the prettiest. Turns out Bucknell was prioritizing geographical diversity and wanted people from my high school, so I was accepted early decision in the fall of my senior year. It was a very good school and within driving distance from my home.
Within the first month, I realized how different Bucknell was from my previous world. There were four students, including me, who went to a very small, old temple in Sunbury, Pa., for the high holidays. Given that there were probably 50 members of Sammy [Sigma Alpha Mu] and a smattering of other Jewish students, I estimate there were probably 70 Jewish students at Bucknell, about 2% of all students compared to 15-18% at Lehigh. I did have an experience where a girl’s father told her she couldn’t go out with me because I was Jewish. Socially, Bucknell was a bust mostly because the ratio of males to females was 2-to-1. Very different from my experience in high school.
I’m so glad there are more Jewish students and a much better support system for them on campus. And for all of those courses in Judaism!
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Magazine Is a Role Model
I have enjoyed Bucknell Magazine and its predecessor, Bucknell World, for many decades now. When I took on the editor’s assignment at Bluefield State College, Bucknell Magazine became my model. The Blue & Gold is nowhere near the quality of your magazine, but it’s a far sight better than its defunct predecessor. I get to enjoy rave reviews for clearing a bar set far lower than Bucknell’s. This has become the most satisfying assignment of my career. I have given this small college something it never had before. All of its audiences are grateful.
And I am grateful that my Bucknell education continues to generate returns through this, the most unexpected of opportunities.
Bradenton, Fla.
Letters Policy
Bucknell Magazine welcomes letters to the editor addressing topics covered in the magazine. Although criticism of the University and its policies is acceptable, no letters containing potentially libelous statements or personal attacks will be printed.
The editors reserve the final decision to publish and edit any letter — there is no guarantee that all letters received will be published.
All letters must be signed. The maximum length is 300 words. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and space. Writers may be asked to submit revised versions of letters or to approve editorial changes made by the Bucknell Magazine editor. After two issues, the debate on any topic will conclude. Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the official views or policies of the University.
magazine
Volume 15, Issue 1
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
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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An Impactful Pledge
by Matt Hughes
FOR MICHAEL PASCUCCI ’58, P’81, P’87, G’21, G’22, a Bucknell education was an opportunity.
Born in Manhasset, Long Island, N.Y., Pascucci was the first member of his immediate family to attend college. When he arrived at Bucknell, Pascucci poured his own sweat and devotion into making the most of his shot at success.
Bucknell enabled Pascucci to succeed — to a degree he could never have anticipated at age 17. Now, he’s made a commitment that will unlock the life-changing opportunities afforded by a Bucknell education for thousands of future students and for generations to come.
Pascucci has pledged more than $40 million to Bucknell, the largest one-time commitment in the University’s history. Of this historic pledge, $30 million will support unrestricted, need-based financial-aid endowment through the Pascucci Family Scholarship, providing a transformative boost for the University’s No. 1 fundraising priority.
Over $10 million more will enable improvements in and around Christy Mathewson–Memorial Stadium. In recognition of Pascucci’s historic commitment to both financial aid and athletics, the area of campus that includes the stadium and the Christy Mathewson Gates will be named the Pascucci Family Athletics Complex.
News Ticker
’burg and Beyond
Neptune City, N.J.When pandemic safety measures caused an uptick in single-use plastics on campus, an inventive team of student engineers launched Ray’cycle, a campaign that turns waste into Bucknell-themed keepsakes for classmates. The initiative caught the eye of plastics manufacturing CEO Ben Smith ’08, whose company, Flexcraft, may soon help expand the operation.
’burg and Beyond
Penns Creek, Pa.Long before pesticide-free food became a national trend, Paul and Betty Keene started one of America’s first organic farms in 1946. Walnut Acres Organic Farm quickly formed close ties with nearby Bucknell, from hosting international student dinners to providing an immersive setting for science courses. Now students are helping preserve the farm’s history through projects supported by Bucknell’s Center for Sustainability & the Environment.
Two Birds, One Seed
To help curb climate change and protect local waterways, the partnership’s aim is to plant 10 million trees across Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 2025. As a tributary, Miller Run pours into the Susquehanna River, which provides half of the Chesapeake’s freshwater inflow. The stream is one that also frequently floods due to inadequate forestation and practices that have removed the natural flood-plain areas.
Poetry Path Gets An Update
by Brooke Thames
Inaugurated in 2012 by the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts, the path features 10 stops at culturally significant Lewisburg sites — from a barn that served as a station on the Underground Railroad to the historic town cemetery to a 19th-century church. At each destination, pedestrians can find a marker featuring a poem selected for its thematic resonance with the location. The poem placed at a Civil War memorial, for example, reflects on the enduring scars of war, while the piece at Bucknell’s student center ponders the power of knowledge.
What I’m Listening To
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH — FILM/MEDIA STUDIES
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Vienna Philharmonic)
I am, in part, obsessed with opera. While most of my time with this art is spent via audio recordings, the liveness of its performance wonderfully complements my more far-reaching fascination with film. The same goes for how I treat each (cinema = eye/opera = ear). I was 30 when I attended my first: Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin at Met Opera. Much else of his has been performed there since then, including the current season’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The finale of this opera’s Act 2 thrills with chaos.
Benjamin Britten, Peter Grimes (London Symphony Orchestra)
Marietta, Summer Death
What I’m Listening To
Ken Eisenstein
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Vienna Philharmonic)
I am, in part, obsessed with opera. While most of my time with this art is spent via audio recordings, the liveness of its performance wonderfully complements my more far-reaching fascination with film. The same goes for how I treat each (cinema = eye/opera = ear). I was 30 when I attended my first: Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin at Met Opera. Much else of his has been performed there since then, including the current season’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The finale of this opera’s Act 2 thrills with chaos.
In various subgenres, Benjamin Britten has been on my periphery since I approached the classical world. But his opera Peter Grimes, which dominated my headphones’ entire year, is simply unbelievable. Its tender reaches vanish as quickly as they arrive. Churned up among “the treason of the waves” and “out of the hurly burly,” how do we hold on to a line like Act 1, Scene 2’s “My only hope depends on you, if you take it away, what’s left?” when voiced in such a way that its last two words gasp and drown?
In my 20s, the genre of emo (especially the bands Mineral, Lifetime and Cap’n Jazz) was my opera. YouTube’s “Midwest emo mixtapes” have gotten me back into the swim of this tide’s present groups: TTNG, Tiny Moving Parts and Sport. To pick one album to take us out, let’s go with Summer Death by Marietta. Tingly guitars, multivocals and great change-ups; temperamental and whiny in the best whimpering senses. As a line from “Chase, I hardly knew ya,” goes: “A place I knew before I knew it.”
Matt ’89 and Kelly
Bugle Elvin ’89
Matt ’89 and Kelly Bugle Elvin ’89 left behind careers in law to train dogs and their people. After practicing law for a decade, Kelly founded TipTopTails Dog Training in Kalamazoo, Mich. Matt, who practiced law for 14 years, has been a certified missing animal response technician since 2007, when he trained a dog to search for lost cats. Matt and Kelly developed the Puppy Day School program and are instructors for the dog*biz Dog Walking Academy.
Hairdos, Piercings and Tattoos
Body and Identity
Anthropology
As a foundation seminar, this course is designed to help students master the art of engaged learning as well as different genres of writing, from reflections on their own experiences to in-depth research essays.
Expecting the Unexpected
Not only did the squad start the season 0-3, but five players were sidelined for quarantine during the COVID-abbreviated, six-game regular-season campaign.
How to Manage Your Finances
Professor Stacy Mastrolia, accounting, teaches a hugely popular personal finance course for students of all majors. The class starts with balancing a checkbook, developing a budget and reading a rental property lease, and progresses to the intricacies of IRAs, 401(k) plans and mutual funds. With the credo “debt is bondage,” Mastrolia advises that seniors considering grad school take a gap year or two to work and save money before enrolling. Here, she shares insights relevant to everyone, not just soon-to-be graduates.A Multigenerational Moon Shot
hen he was in grade school, Peter Carrato ’76 remembers his mother waking him early to watch the first men blast off to the moon. “I’ve loved space ever since I was a kid,” he says. “Watching NASA launches has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.” Now, as Carrato nears the end of a successful career as a civil engineer with construction giant Bechtel, those launches are about to become an even bigger part of his life. He is helping to oversee the design for a new mobile launch tower that will send astronauts back to the moon once more.
Below: Kevin MacLeod ’09 spearheaded the design of the ML2.
Never Failing to A-Maze
Features
Features
Features
Indigenous
Origins
Photograph by Dustin Fenstermacher
Indigenous
Origins
Photograph by Dustin Fenstermacher
Woman of the West
Quick! How many people do you know who can not only design and craft elaborate and richly hued Indigenous ribbon skirts and long-fringed ceremonial shawls but also can perform Native American dances at powwows and conduct field research on sea birds? Take a scroll through the photos on the Instagram account of Sierra Pete M’22, and you’ll see that sewing and dancing are just one dimension of this multitalented biology graduate student.
There are photos of her scaling a steep, flat rock face during a recent expedition in Nevada and cradling a sea bird (subject of her research with her adviser, Professor Morgan Benowitz-Fredericks, biology). She also shares photos of her elegant and original ceramic work, which features animals, insects, birds and Native American imagery.
It’s no wonder, as she moves into her final semester of graduate school, that she’s confused about which avenue to pursue next. Scientist? Artist?
Troubled Waters
Forty million people. Seven states. And just one river to fill drinking glasses, bathe children and irrigate farmland.
Those who don’t live in the Colorado River Basin states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming might think of the Colorado River as a whitewater playground cut right into the heart of the Grand Canyon. Included in Outside magazine’s list of the world’s 10 best whitewater rafting destinations, the Colorado River attracts visitors from around the globe.
Jack Schmidt ’72 understands the appeal. He still remembers his first rafting trip down the Colorado River in 1980 — an adventure the New Jersey native calls one of the highlights of his life. Forty years later, Schmidt still loves floating down the Colorado, but now the trips have a decidedly more urgent purpose.
Vice Shines Its Spotlight
In August, Vice News Tonight, the Emmy-winning TV program that showcases in-depth and often underreported stories, aired a six-and-a-half-minute report that focused on the Colorado River and how its reduced flow will affect millions. As of press time, more than 1.5 million people have watched the digital version of the report on YouTube.
Schmidt was a central character of the piece, appearing on screen to talk with Vice News correspondent Josh Hersh as Schmidt rowed a camera crew down the Colorado River.
“We have lived with the imagination that there is more water to develop, and so we can increase development, and it won’t hurt anybody,” Schmidt tells Hersh. “But it is a zero-sum game. There’s not any more extra water to develop.”
As Schmidt and Hersh talked in front of the camera, another Bucknellian worked behind the scenes to craft the piece: producer Sarah Svoboda ’10.
Bowling
for
Answers
Bucknell team made the leap
to national TV
On June 9, 1963, Bucknell matched wits with the defending champs from Temple University. The team of captain Robert Pringle ’65, Richard Bochinski ’64, Carl Minnier ’63 and John Polk ’65 had knuckled down double hard to prepare. During more than three months of Saturday-afternoon practice sessions in Room 101B in Coleman Hall, they (and alternates Herb Asher ’66 and Sally Carleton Barucchieri ’65) bested 80 other Bucknell undergrads to win seats on the squad.
Rivers Enrich Our Past, Present and Future
Cultivating Cultural Understanding
“When you live on a small island, you can’t really travel or see a lot of things,” he says from his home in Wisconsin. “The way I experienced different cultures and met different people was through the pages of books.”
Submit your own photos to Bucknell Magazine by contacting your class reporter or emailing classnotes@bucknell.edu
The Joy of Painting
Bob ‘Chris’ Christianson ’73
After four decades, it comes down to John McEnroe. Sometimes, when lying awake at night, I can still hear McEnroe screaming at me over and over again.
To set the stage, it’s 1982 in Louis Armstrong Stadium at the U.S. Open. The sold-out evening session crowd radiates energy, buzzed primarily on vodka and Stella Artois. The man they call “Superbrat” is losing to Gene Mayer and has chosen me as the reason. Yes, I’m scared, more accurately terrified and self-conscious. I’m well aware of the raucous crowd, photographers and TV cameras, not to mention a worldwide television audience. But I’m also just doing my job, and accurately, in my view. As this was my first brush with the greats of tennis, this episode remains the most memorable of an officiating career that has spanned 45 years.
A CAREER IN TENNIS
Grateful for the Journey
A Happy Specialty
Then he reconsidered: “I realized that I loved having an ongoing relationship with patients. As an OB-GYN, you see patients for 9 months at the least, but typically every year after that.”
After decades of practice as a leading reproductive endocrinologist and fertility expert, Keenan is convinced he chose the “happiest” specialty of all. “I’ve had patients who I’ve helped have children, and then those children have come to see me as adults,” he says.
Between teaching courses at the University of Tennessee and co-running his own fertility center, Keenan is president and medical director of the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, Tenn. In February 2020, he set a record when a baby girl was born from an implanted embryo that had been frozen nearly 30 years earlier. It was the longest-frozen embryo to culminate in a live birth.
The New Must-See TV
As executive vice president of the Turner Sports division of WarnerMedia, Funk works with brands to design innovative, organic ways to reach target audiences through live sports.
Companies such as AT&T, Coca-Cola and Capital One want their names in front of the right customers at the right time, but doing that has become more challenging as the entertainment landscape expands. On a Thursday night 20 years ago, advertisers knew where to find everyone: at home watching Friends. But the practice of viewing a program at a scheduled time has largely vanished — with one exception: live sports.
“If you have a product launch on Friday, and there’s an NBA game on TNT on Thursday night, you need to be in front of those people on Thursday night,” Funk says. “There’s no substitute for that.”
A Healthy Addiction
a competitive water skier
“It felt like my hand was going to shatter every time I hit a forehand,” she recalls. “So I had to step back because it was just plain painful to play at that point. And that was when water skiing started.”
Ecountabl
The banking and shopping app allows users to rank their values — such as environmental sustainability or gender equality — and quickly find companies whose practices best align with those principles.
“Ecountabl gives me a chance to work on a dozen social and environmental issues that are important to society,” he explains.
The data that drives Ecountabl has been available to Wall Street for a long time, Burr says. The company has simply devised an innovative way to democratize it. “Companies know that younger consumers are looking for this sort of information and accountability,” he says.
Contemporary Conversations
“What drew me in was the idea of longevity — that this art had withstood the test of time and was still relevant now,” says Graham, who double majored in art history and creative writing. “The courses I took and the brilliant people I studied with really fueled my desire to continue tumbling down the rabbit hole.”
IN MEMORIAM
1944
1946
1947
1948
Ruth Williamson McKee, July 31, Spring Hill, Fla.
Melvin Phillips P’78, Aug. 23, Bethlehem, Pa.
1950
Robert Loudenberg, Aug. 14, Norman, Okla.
Joe Rubinstein, June 16, West Lafayette, Ind.
1951
Wayne Harrison, Aug. 7, Fairfield, Conn.
Lorraine “Lorry” Yaufman McBride P’88, G’05, July 20, Bay Head, N.J.
D. Jean Grumbling Miller, July 5, Lexington, Mass.
Ron Rinehart, Aug. 27, San Diego
Gray Rogers G’09, G’13, June 25, Vero Beach, Fla.
1952
Natalie Isaac Henkelman P’78, P’79, P’81, G’11, G’11, June 18, Lake Waynewood, Pa.
William Worth, June 10, Ambler, Pa.
1953
Mary Jane Webber Van Buskirk P’78, G’09, G’13, Aug. 15, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
DO
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All That Jazz Since ’71
Capturing Creativity
“We want to showcase what our students think makes Bucknell special,” says Leah Mallett, associate director of digital & social media. “We want to see Bucknell from the perspective of our students — a day in their life or behind the scenes at places like soccer practice, theatre rehearsal or a group meeting. We want to see a diverse set of views of life at Bucknell.”
Just two days after the new account launched in late August, one video had been viewed more than 125,000 times, making it the most-viewed organic social media post in Bucknell history. — Bryan Wendell
Witty Winners
A Hand-built Tennessee Lighthouse
As a child in Haiti, JEFF MAREK ’73 dreamed of one day living in a lighthouse. When the mechanical engineering major began drawing up plans for a lakeside home with his wife, Cindy, in Kingsport, Tenn., he left space for a future full-size lighthouse addition attached to one side.
A Hand-built Tennessee Lighthouse
As a child in Haiti, JEFF MAREK ’73 dreamed of one day living in a lighthouse. When the mechanical engineering major began drawing up plans for a lakeside home with his wife, Cindy, in Kingsport, Tenn., he left space for a future full-size lighthouse addition attached to one side.
Back Cover
photo by April Bartholomew
Back Cover
photo by April Bartholomew