I’ve forgotten many of the stories that my mother told me as a child. But I remember all of the stories that she told me about her mother. These stories started vaguely. At first, they were loose collections of facts that were appropriate for the sensibilities of a five-year-old. “Your grand-mother loved America,” my mom would tell me when I was a kindergartener. “Every day she would thank God that she was al-lowed to come here.”

This was my mom’s way of introducing me to my grand-mother. She had died before I was born and I knew my grand-mother only through these sto-ries. As I grew older, the gaps in the narrative grew narrower. With the passing years, I learned that my grandmother had made a long journey by boat to a place called Ellis Island. I eventually understood that she was a refu-gee from genocide.

When my mom was about 12 years old, as she recalls, she began to learn more of the details of her mother’s young life—details that she would one day share with me. She learned some of what had happened to her mother in the Old Country. And with each new story that she heard, my mom would tremble

and sob. My grandmother didn’t shelter her crying daughter from her stories. Instead, she gently scolded her for responding with tears. “My daughter,” she would say to her in Armenian, “Stop crying. I’m not telling you this so that you’ll cry. I’m telling you so that you’ll understand. I just want you to know what hap-pened.”

These words echoed in my subconscious for years: I just want you to know what hap-pened. I suppose these words must have informed my decision, years later, to leave my law prac-tice in Hartford, Conn., and move to Armenia. It’s sometimes diffi-cult to understand why we make life-altering decisions. Like my grandmother, I also wanted to let the world know what had hap-pened. And, just as importantly, I wanted to assure that the history and culture of the Armenian na-tion wouldn’t be lost.

And so, like many Buck-nellians who travel the world af-ter graduation to do their part to help improve the lives of others in some way, I eventually found myself traveling and working in Armenia, the land that had been home to all four of my grand-parents before they each sought refuge in the United States about a century ago.

At first, I worked with the

PHOTO COURTESY OF BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

F

www.bucknellian.netThe Bucknellian@thebucknellian

THE WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

THE BUCKNELLIANSUMMER 2017 REUNION ISSUE

see

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for the alumni association awards

Telling our storyWELCOME CLASSES OF

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AND 2012

The BUAA Welcomes You

On behalf of the Bucknell University Alumni Associa-tion (BUAA) Board, I am de-lighted to welcome you back to Bucknell! Whether you visit often or haven’t visited in a while, you will likely notice some very positive changes and improvements to the cam-pus and downtown areas.

Campus visits unleash a flood of memories, often re-sulting in a smile, similar to the smiles of pride, excite-ment and joy that we feel off-campus when a Bucknell bumper sticker or Bucknell T-shirt crosses our path. That’s because the Bucknell alumni family is 50,000+ people strong, and there is a unique bond that we feel, and identify with, when we proudly wear orange and blue!The BUAA – Who We Are, What We Do

The BUAA Board con-sists of 50 alumni and 10 stu-dent members from different

class years, majors, and geo-graphic locations, enabling a diversity of resources within our common bond. We meet in person three times a year, typi-cally on campus, with a fair number of conference calls between meetings.

We work very closely with the University to orga-nize events like First Night (welcoming first-year stu-dents into the alumni fam-ily), the Sophomore Brunch (exposing sophomores to the power of networking), Junior Mock Interviews (helping students get ready for real-world interviews), Senior Sunset (commemorating the final days on campus as a stu-dent), and off-campus events that are in conjunction with Bucknell’s regional clubs that are situated around the world and touch on social, educa-tional, networking, and com-munity opportunities. Every-thing that we do is focused on inspiring engagement among Bucknellians.

We also organize the

Alumni Awards Program and provide funding for scholar-ships, grants to campus orga-nizations that bring alumni and students together, and financial support for summer Bucknell Public Interest Pro-gram internships. We volun-teer our time, talent, and re-sources to participate in these events and activities because we love Bucknell, and want to continue to make it the best it can be.

On behalf of the BUAA Board, I am so glad you made the journey back to Lewis-burg for Reunion Weekend, and hope that when you get back home you will consider ways that you might open doors for Bucknellians in the workplace, volunteer for lo-cal Bucknell events, give back through your time or treasure, engage with other Bucknell-ians, and of course return to campus whenever you can!

To learn more about the BUAA and its many opportuni-ties to participate, please visit:www.bucknell.edu/BUAA.

Tara Garrity Lebda ’94President, Bucknell University Alumni Association

If only he could talk…

“Bucky,” a mock stuffed bison head, arrived on the Bucknell campus during the era of the Sony Walkman, telephones attached to walls, cameras using film which took days to process, MTV playing music videos, and the cam-pus bookstore in what is now the student space across from the Bison. During my senior year (1987), he was displayed proudly above the mantle in the 6th Street House that most recently was known as “Fire Escape” until its demise two years ago.

From this vantage point, Bucky listened to vinyls and cassette tapes blasting through three-foot-tall speakers, play-ing the hits of The Talking Heads, The Bangles, Bon Jovi, Huey Lewis & the News, and

Dexys Midnight Runners’ one-hit wonder, “Come on Ei-leen.” He endured continually changing attire, which was typically related to an upcom-ing holiday or campus event. Bucky listened intently to the regales of evenings at Bull Run, The Towne Tavern and late-night trips to “Curlys.”

He watched as the in-habitants giggled over photos in the student directory (“Pig Book”), Bucknell’s original paperback Facebook. And he heard the bemoaning of long lines at the computer lab wait-ing to type and print papers, or the awful one or two choices in the “UC” cafeteria that day. Bucky witnessed tears of laughter, joy and sorrow and the development of deep bonds of friendship, tested time and again by life’s inevi-table trials and tribulations.

After graduation in 1987, Bucky found a new proud

place above the mantle in the rental home of six Bucknell alumni on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase, Md. For five years, he continued to watch as the women he’d known as young college students ma-tured into respectable profes-sionals and eventually got mar-ried and moved away. He spent the next 22 years hanging in a basement rec room, watching children grow, and every once in awhile got a visit from one of those original girls.

In 2014, Bucky returned to campus, where he got to experience life in the Mods! Again, he hung proudly on the wall, witnessing all of the comings and goings of a new generation of Bucknell-ians. Junior year he lived in Edwards House (or the “Cu-linary House”), where 20 housemates and their friends regaled him with their daily STORY CONTINUES ON A2

Katherine LuncefordBU ‘87

Matthew E. KaranianBU ‘82

STORY CONTINUES ON A2

A2 | SUMMER 2017 THE BUCKNELLIANREUNIONA bridge, a river, and

a misread note

This story could have ended very differently. It could have been a calamity because two exhausted 18-year-olds misread a note.

In the spring of 1956, I was going through Hell Week with my pledge class at Lambda Chi Alpha. We got through the first couple of days in reasonably good shape, but the lack of sleep finally caught up with us at last when we had to go on a note hunt.

I was paired up with my pledge brother and close friend, Bill White ’58. We worked our way through the first few items we needed to secure but we were puzzled by the last one. Finally, in our sleep-deprived state, we somehow decided that the note was located at a certain portion of the railroad bridge which spanned the Susquehanna River in downtown Lewisburg.

We arrived at the bridge in the very early morning and we could barely see the bridge or the water passing underneath. At this point, we had some second thoughts about whether this was really the spot where we should be. After a brief rereading of the hints on the note, we agreed it was, so we headed for the Lew-isburg side of the tracks.

We did have small flash-

lights and as we headed out onto the bridge, the sky was brighten-ing and we could now make out the river below. We looked at each other in disbelief because instead of the placid, slow-mov-ing stream we knew, we saw the water surging by with waves and small white caps. It looked more like the Colorado River than the Susquehanna.

I will never understand why we continued to move forward on that bridge. If one or both of us slipped in that water we wouldn’t have had a chance of survival. It was an entirely dif-ferent body of water that spring.

We started looking in obvi-ous places where we thought the note might be, but after we had moved about a quarter of the way out on the bridge with no suc-cess, I called it quits. Our only way to escape would be a small platform on the side of the bridge, but I wasn’t at all convinced we could get there in time. I started to explain to Bill, but he had reached the same conclusion and we quickly made our way back to shore empty-handed.

Back on dry land, we found a place to sit and rest. We were both exhausted from the lack of sleep and the stress of be-ing on that bridge. We sat there and slowly regained our senses and realized how stupid we had been and that our brothers-to-

be would never have purposely sent us out there and possibly risked our lives.

No more than 10 minutes after we had gotten off the bridge we heard a whistle. Within five more minutes, a train appeared on the opposite shore and moved rapidly cross the bridge. It was a long freight train and as we sat and watched, we reflected on what could have happened if we hadn’t turned around 10 minutes earlier.

The brothers at Lambda Chi couldn’t believe where we ended up. There was a simple explanation of where we should have been and it was a much smaller bridge with a creek un-derneath and no train tracks. It took two very tired minds to end up where we did.

We were very lucky and very young that early morning. If there is a lesson to be learned, I guess it was for us to try very hard in the future to avoid getting into positions where we couldn’t make logical decisions.

Bill White died about 10 years ago. We remained very close lifelong friends and we had many wonderful memories over the years. We talked often and almost always in our conversa-tions we got back to that night on the bridge. After all, the only people who could truly under-stand that frightening night were the two of us.

Bill ScottBU ‘58

IF ONLY HE COULD TALKCONTINUED FROM A1

drama, and they wondered if that strange phone hanging on the wall actually worked. One night, the housemates caught a visitor trying to leave with Bucky in his arms!

Now, 30 years since he first arrived on campus, Bucky is once again part of the senior scene, living on St. Catherine Street, where he still gets dressed up in festive attire throughout the year and listens to the daily tales of life at the University. He sees life play-ing out through Instagram, SnapChat, FaceTime and text messages. And he listens as his current seniors lament their frozen laptop, the incred-ibly slow speed of the internet or the lack of cell reception.

He still listens to the stories of Bull Run and The Towne Tav-ern, now with late-night stops at The Flying Bison. Luckily for Bucky, this senior year will not be his last. From here he will join Katie’s brother, Ben-nett, who will be a sophomore next year. Who knows, maybe 30 years from now he will be a senior once again!

Bucky has seen Bucknell through the eyes of two gen-erations. At a recent Family Weekend, as current Buck-nellians and their parents (several of us alumni) enjoyed a backyard BBQ, “Come On Eileen” blared through a small wireless speaker playing Spo-tify playlists from an iPhone. We realized that while many

tangible things on campus and in the world have changed since 1987, at Bucknell so many intangibles have stayed the same.

If he could talk, the one thing we know for sure that Bucky would tell is of the deep bonds of lifelong friendships and connections that form on this campus. These are the kinds of friendships that never change; whenever you see each other, it’s like you were never apart. Friendships that stick with you forever, knowing that you are always there for each other, no matter what life brings, or how many miles sep-arate you. That’s what being a Bison is all about, and will be for generations to come.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHERINE LUNCEFORD

My dad has this great saying: “Katy and I are closet introverts.” You would never guess that my dad and I need alone time to recharge and brainstorm ideas. We are en-thusiastic conversationalists, enjoy presenting to large au-diences, and tell some great jokes (me, not my dad). We don’t “look” like the stereo-typed introvert. However, af-ter a while, we need to retreat to quiet and solitude.

To a closet introvert—even most extroverts—the thought of professional net-working seems daunting, even

dreadful. At least that’s what I thought when I heard the tour guide boast about the strength of Bucknell’s alumni network outside the Career Develop-ment Center (CDC) over four years ago. I inwardly groaned at the prospect of giving el-evator pitches to strangers in a massive auditorium all in hopes of gaining professional experience. What I didn’t yet know or comprehend was how critical—even vital—Buck-nell’s dedicated alumni net-work has been to my profes-sional development.

As a naïve freshman from Georgia rolling up to Harris Hall on move-in day, I was utterly clueless about what I wanted to do after graduation.

I didn’t even buy a winter coat with a hood! Professional net-working and Bucknell alum were low on my to-learn list. After bonding with my hall-mates, which one can call the first step of networking, I learned that my friend’s fa-ther was the director of staff for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. As a newly minted political science ma-jor, I jumped at the opportu-nity to speak with him. After mustering the courage to con-tact him (and getting every-one in my family to proofread the email), I spoke with him about the Hill, working for Congress, and opportunities for internships. After some much-needed help from the

CDC polishing my cover let-ter, I was able to secure a sum-mer internship position with the committee—all from one Bucknell connection.

Those introductory les-sons in networking came to a head in my junior year during my search for “the internship.” As many juniors self-pro-claim, an internship between the junior and senior years of college is of the utmost im-portance: it could lead to a full-time offer from the com-pany, connect to a contact for a full time opportunity, or help break into an industry. Feeling the pressure, I began sending out applications left and right. However, as winter break ar-rived, I was without the gov-

ernment internship I coveted.Then, while perusing the

aisles of Nordstrom in Decem-ber, a Bucknell alum reached out to me to ask if I was in-terested in working at his federal agency that summer. I couldn’t believe it; success-ful alumni never reach out to undergrads with opportunities students might be interested in, but it happens at Bucknell. After the vetting and inter-views, I secured an internship with the Federal Housing Fi-nance Agency in Washington. In addition to the numerous hard skills I gained last sum-mer, I also networked with the Bucknell Club of D.C., whose members were so generous with their advice and seemed

genuinely interested in what my passions were. This closet introvert was beginning to see that networking didn’t have to be so intimidating when the stranger was a Bucknell alum.

As a CDC intern finishing up her senior year at Bucknell, I see many fellow closet intro-verts walk through the doors. I have a secret for them—one that I wish someone told me when I was terrified of leap-ing into the trenches of profes-sional development. It really is all about our network, and once you understand what a unique privilege it is to have so many fellow Bucknellians at your back, the job-search journey becomes both man-ageable and enjoyable.

Katy ThompsonBU ‘17

A closet introvert’s tip for finding a job after Bucknell

newly-formed private sector of Armenia. During 70 years of So-viet occupation, Armenia did not have a private sector. Now, there was much work to do to bring Armenia up to speed with the rest of the world.

I later taught international law and managed the law pro-gram at the American University of Armenia for several years, so that the country would have trained lawyers who could assist with writing the laws that were needed.

Through it all, I always kept my eye on what I consid-ered the prize of Armenia: its culture. I wanted to help assure that its unique culture would not be forgotten. I wanted to help tiny Armenia be as recognized and appreciated by the world

as it was by me. And so when I wasn’t teaching, I was traveling the countryside, documenting the ruins of thousand-year-old monasteries, photographing the remnants of ancient settlements, and reminiscing with the rural folk who comprised half of Ar-menia’s population. I published much of my research from these trips throughout the years. And when I did, I sometimes reflected on my college days as an editor at the Bucknellian, when I first started telling stories in print.

In 2015, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the genocide of the Armenian na-tion, I published a book about a part of Armenia that even many Armenians weren’t sure still ex-isted—the part of the nation that was overrun by Ottoman Turkey

during the genocide of 1915. For me, this was the ultimate story—a story that has been buried and dug up, but mostly buried, for a century.

This book could have eas-ily become something else. But I was steadfast in my resolve to restrict the book to celebrating Armenian culture. Part of this celebration included telling the story of the so-called Hidden Ar-menians—the Armenians who survived the genocide, found themselves living in a foreign and often-hostile country, and who had kept their identities there a secret in order to avoid persecution.

When the book was pub-lished, I recognized that I had also given a voice to my grand-mother. I had also told our story.

TELLING OUR STORYCONTINUED FROM A1

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Editor-in-ChiefMorgan Gisholt Minard ’17

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THE BUCKNELLIAN

Being in the Bucknell bubble, it’s scary to think about how much will change when we are no longer students. I won’t be able to walk five minutes to see my friends, I won’t have endless group mes-sages to figure out lunch plans, I won’t be able to walk across campus and see a friendly face. The thing that gives me hope through all of these moments of commencement are when I see alumni reunite during

Homecoming, or a stranger hears Bucknell and a connec-tion is immediately made, or a family friend chooses Bucknell as their new home.

I’ve watched older friends graduate and have the comfort of the Bucknell network in their new cities. The groups expand to fit new ones. Our circles will no longer be composed of just those in our activities here on campus, but of the common bond of being a Bucknellian.

As a graduating senior, I hear continuous notes from my fellow classmates that we

are now “washed up.” Cling-ing onto the last date party, the last class, the last time to spend your entire night in Ber-trand. There is a feeling that somehow this is our peak, that Bucknell will be the best years of our lives, and that the real world is a scary, stressful world and we must savor the last mo-ments of freedom. If being a student member on the Buck-nell Alumni Association for the past four years has taught me anything, it’s that our time at Bucknell is not our peak. It is just the beginning.

The ‘Bucknell Bubble’Holly GrosholzBU ‘17

Driving onto campus last fall with my teenage son and seeing Rooke Chapel for the first time in years transported me back in time to when I was a high-school senior visit-ing Bucknell for the first time. Like many parents, Stacy (Son-theimer) Nicklow ’93 and I feel that it’s our responsibility to support him in navigating his college search to help him find his right fit, and we wanted his search to include our alma ma-ter. As we drove around cam-pus, I found myself reflecting on my own journey through higher education and on how challenging the search process is from my dual roles as father and a college president.

Following graduation from Bucknell, I was imme-diately commissioned as an engineering officer with the U.S. Public Health Service. My engineering career was off to a great start; I enjoyed the location, the work, and the many relationships I had the opportunity to build. But it did not take long for me to realize something was miss-ing. I needed to feed a crav-ing for teaching and learning and for research that I didn’t even realize existed, until it was gone. I credit my research experiences and work as a teaching assistant at Bucknell for igniting the passion that ultimately led to a Ph.D. and a fulfilling career in higher edu-cation.

After earning my Ph.D., I began my teaching career at Southern Illinois University. And today, following nearly 20 years of work in higher education as an engineering faculty member and college administrator, I currently serve as president of the Uni-versity of New Orleans. As a professor of civil engineer-

ing, I nurtured a passion in student learning and engage-ment and for the innovative discoveries through research and creative scholarship. And as a president, I find even greater fulfillment in provid-ing students an opportunity to improve their quality of life and improve the commu-nities in which they live and serve. Providing access to a degree, particularly for those who would not otherwise ex-perience college, means far more than just opening doors to economic prosperity; it is in an integral part of a produc-tive society and the way to inspire a responsible citizenry.

As a president, one of my responsibilities is to direct strategy that drives student enrollment and success. I have a strong team of individuals that implement a variety of demand analytics, marketing campaigns, scholarship and aid leveraging strategies, ap-plication drives, and more. Undoubtedly, colleges have had to become more savvy and strategic in recruitment efforts as the number of high school graduates has declined and the market has become evermore competitive. Students today also have many more tools at their disposal: online search platforms that allow filtered recommendations based on a wide variety of criteria are the norm for any high school stu-dent today—a far cry from the tools available to my genera-tion. As college administra-tors, we engage in all of these activities and work to be one of the schools on each stu-dent’s selective, filtered list of preferred colleges. Until now, I had not fully understood what that meant for a parent: a deluge of marketing materials, selective information sharing, multiple deadlines, intricate differences in application re-quirements, etc.

As a parent, I’ve seen the

deluge in full force. My son’s college information folder has grown from a single manila envelope to two file drawers, with accompanying spread-sheets that contain important deadlines and requirements for each school. The positive message here is that today’s students have far more oppor-tunities afforded to them. The challenge, however, is that it has become considerably more complex to navigate through all of this informa-tion to determine whether an institution is really a strong fit. Consider the thousands of rankings that exist for uni-versities; each college has in-centive to highlight those that serve it well. And each institu-

tion is highlighting particular aspects of its campus through creative imagery and phrases that they believe will give it an edge among its competi-tors.

As a family, we’ve sifted through much of the market-ing materials to extract infor-mation that really matters—quality of degree program, employment opportunities after college, retention rates, student engagement oppor-tunities, and curriculum de-tails. I sometimes find myself asking very detailed and re-vealing questions on college tours—much to the annoyance

of my son and the tour guide.This process has given

me a new appreciation for the families with whom I interact on a daily basis and has made me particularly cognizant of those who don’t have access to the insider knowledge that I have. It has reminded me that, as a college administra-tor, I need to be accommodat-ing and especially supportive of students and their families who don’t have familiarity with the enrollment process. It’s my job to support stu-dents through the enrollment process, navigating from ap-plication to registration and from the student’s first day on campus to graduation. It is important that we are honest, direct, and authentic with our students if they are truly go-ing to find the best fit for their future academic career.

The search process has also reiterated for me some lessons that I’ve long shared with parents—be proactive in your child’s search, but let them direct the effort. It is never too early to begin talk-ing about your child’s inter-ests in college and ways to finance them. But ultimately, the child needs to be honest about where they would like to be and what they prefer to study. I’ve seen too many engineering students in my career that struggle academi-cally or personally because their parents are pushing them toward a degree they are not passionate about. Without passion for a major and an institution, the child’s motiva-tion to succeed is limited, and it doesn’t often end well.

At this point, our son’s list of possible schools is still long. It’s exciting to explore and consider the possibilities. But wherever he decides is a good fit, Stacy and I will be there to support him. It’s what parents—and college admin-istrators—should do.

A3 | SUMMER 2017 THE BUCKNELLIANREUNION

When I was a student at Bucknell, I never stopped growing. I discovered my passion for nonfiction writ-ing, wrote travel pieces for The Bucknellian, and worked as a peer tutor in the Writing Center. When I first stepped on Bucknell’s campus as a first-year in 2008, I was lost. I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted to do as a career. I only knew I loved writing, and I trusted I would find myself and my answer during my time at Bucknell.

What I learned in my four years at Bucknell was signifi-cant. Never stop chasing your dreams.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been back on campus, but I think about my time at Buck-nell often and how it shaped me. After graduating in 2012, I worked for a nonprofit in Washington for three and a half years before deciding to go af-ter the career I really wanted. I am now a freelance writer

and blogger, working predomi-nately for a triathlon coaching company.

Recently, after struggling to find an answer to health is-sues plaguing me for several years, I learned I have chronic Lyme disease. Lyme disease is transmitted by tick bite, and Pennsylvania is now number one in reported cases of Lyme. During my time at Bucknell I was an avid cross country run-ner, and while there is no tell-ing when I was bitten, I won-der all the time.

Running and writing are great passions in my life, and to a certain extent, Lyme disease stole these from me for several years. Because diagnosing is so complex, it makes me angry thinking about all the time and money I spent chasing wrong answers down endless rabbit holes. So, I want to make a dif-ference for others struggling to get diagnosed accurately.

On Nov. 2, 2017, I will be running the 57 miles from Penn State to Bucknell to raise money for Global Lyme Alliance—a nonprofit fund-ing research, education and

advocacy for Lyme disease. This 57-mile run is a men’s cross country tradition, and every spring a cross country senior makes the trek before graduation. The cross country program is very special to me because many of the individu-als I met here are some of my best friends today (not to men-tion I met my husband through the XC team!). I see no better way to honor those who have supported me all this time than through the 57-mile journey to Bucknell’s track, where I spent endless hours of my under-graduate time.

This run is an enormous endeavor. I am excited and afraid. And it is okay. Dreams which scare you let you know just how important they really are, and I choose to believe I can succeed. My time at Buck-nell helped me realize it is okay to dream and to go after the challenges in life.

(If you want any more in-formation on my 57 mile char-ity run, you can go to https://runningwhere.wordpress.com/57-miles-from-penn-state-to-bucknell/)

Allison (Donaghy) D’AlessioBU ‘12

The 57 miles to Bucknell

A home away from home

Choosing a college was not an easy decision. I visited multiple schools of similar size and location, but I was still unsure which one I preferred. After all, I knew this decision would determine the next four years of my life. This fact made the decision even more dif-ficult. However, after reflect-ing, I know I would not have wanted to attend any other uni-versity. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to attend Bucknell and be a part of this remarkable community. Reflecting on my experience has reminded me of how many amazing people I have met while at Bucknell and the last-ing impact these relationships have had.

College has allowed me to form lifelong friendships with my peers, people who used to be complete strangers I now could not imagine living with-

out. In addition, I am grate-ful to have had such genuine professors who sincerely care about their students inside and outside of class. I have been to more than one of my profes-sors’ houses for dinner to cel-ebrate our work and the end of the semester. I even had one professor who invited us to her house for Thanksgiving dinner for those of us who were unable to go home for break. She ex-tended this invitation to the en-tire class, which astounded me, but is just one more example of how friendly and welcoming our professors can be.

My supervisor at the Ca-reer Development Center is another individual who has had a remarkable impact on my life during my time here. I consider her not only my boss but also my mentor. I have learned so much from working with her in terms of professionalism, inter-personal communication skills, and event planning. Being able to work with such talented and

intelligent people who give advice to others for a living has shown me the value of our education and the potential we have to pursue endless opportu-nities after graduation.

I have worked as an intern for Alumni Career Services for three years now, and am still amazed by the dedication I see from Bucknell alumni who continue to engage with current students and fellow alums. I am repeatedly surprised by the time and effort that Bucknell alumni are willing to dedicate to stu-dents who are curious, slightly lost, or searching for advice. As Bucknellians, we all have something in common—which goes beyond the school’s name on our diploma. We spent four years in a unique place with phenomenal people. As we move onto this next chapter of our lives, in a sense we may be leaving Bucknell behind, but we will always be a part of this community and will always be Bucknellians at heart.

Catherine OrientaleBU ‘17

In 1947, I was writing headlines for The Bucknellian. This lasted two years before I found myself failing in calcu-lus and German. So ended my extracurricular activities.

Getting back on track, I worked in Larison Hall as a dishwasher, in the bookstore, and as a lab assistant for First-year Chemistry. I finally grad-uated in August 1951. Most of my classmates had been in the

armed forces, more mature and dedicated to getting a diploma. They had wives and children to support off-campus. Those of us who came out of high school had trouble adjusting to the new environment.

When I look back on my years at Bucknell, I was taught to follow the evidence. I found that the elements of heat trans-fer, condensation, mixing and filtration of solids from liq-uids all had applications in the industrial complexes of the world. I was hired into the

explosives department of Du-Pont. We made dynamite, “Ni-tramon,” and other products for blasting rock and minerals used in the war effort. As the needs of commerce were not in the use of explosives, the company slowly changed to the manufacture of chemicals for retail consumption.

At age 89, I am using my education to dig deeper into areas of interest, my own chronic illnesses and limited mobility. I envy you who can attend Reunion.

Bob WatkinsBU ‘51

Odyssey of learning

Presidential parentJohn NicklowBU ‘92

”

“I’ve seen too many engineering students

in my career that struggle academically or personally because

their parents are pushing them toward a degree they are not passionate about.”

“

WEEKENDSCHEDULEHIGHLIGHTS

I am writing this from the front porch of a wooden bun-galow in a tropical oasis in the remote northwest corner of Thailand in the final week of a two-month solo trip around Thailand and Burma (now Myanmar). This place and the trip are emblematic of my four years at Bucknell which, along with my New England Yankee roots, shaped my life as a happy and curious outsider.

I arrived at Bucknell a naive seventeen-year-old who wanted to leave her rural town outside Boston to explore other worlds. What I found was intel-

lectual stimulation that opened doors to ways of living, un-derstanding, and possibilities I never imagined. My mediocre marks did not reflect the im-mense learning I experienced and the subsequent benefits of that liberal arts education.

But I failed to make it so-cially, or so it seemed at the time when I had no sorority bids or dates. My social failure was heightened by the fact that my two first-year roommates were wildly popular in ways that counted then—belonging to the in-crowds in the right so-rorities and dating the cool boy-friends in the right fraternities.

I eventually found my people among other outsid-

ers and artsy people. And I learned the very important les-son of defying and ignoring peer pressure and going my own way. This meant traveling and living in Europe for four years after graduation, never marrying or having children, finding my career in feature newspaper writing at age 38, much more independent solo travel including two years around Latin America, and a satisfying life as a single woman including the last 35 years in the Seattle area.

The intellectual curios-ity that has sustained and nourished me all my adult life started when I was an outsider at Bucknell University.

A life of intellectual curiosityDeborah WoolstonBU ‘60

THURSDAY, JUNE 16:15 – 10 p.m.

Reception, dinner and social for Emeritus classes and the class of 1967

Weis Center Atrium Lobby

FRIDAY, JUNE 212:30 p.m.

Alumni Golf TournamentBucknell Golf Club

6 – 9 p.m.Welcome Picnic and Live Music!

Sojka Lawn9 p.m. – midnight

Class Decade PartyGerhard Fieldhouse

SATURDAY, JUNE 311 – 11:45 a.m.

President’s Update & Alumni AwardsWeis Center for the Performing Arts

11:45 – 12 p.m.Spirit Parade

From Weis Center to Sojka Pavilion12:30 – 3 p.m.Class Festival

featuring the band Antigone RisingSojka Lawn6 – 9 p.m.

Class Receptions and DinnersSee guidebook for locations

9 p.m. – midnightBison Blast, Jazz Bar and Fireworks

Tent next to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium

SUNDAY, JUNE 48 a.m. – 1 p.m.Farewell Brunch

Bostwick Dining Hall, 1st Floor, ELC10 – 11 a.m.

A Service of Worship, Remembrance and CelebrationRooke Chapel

Like many members of the Class of 2002, I benefited greatly from Bucknell’s com-mitment to small class sizes and the University’s emphasis on teaching. I was able to build meaningful relationships with a number of faculty members while studying in Lewisburg as a result. Prior to Reunion 2017, I had the opportunity to recon-nect with Dr. Jamie Hendry, who was one of the professors I most admired and valued as a teacher.

Dr. Jamie Hendry, profes-sor of management and chair of the Managing for Sustainabil-ity Program, arrived in Lewis-burg in fall 2000. Hendry holds degrees from Virginia Tech, The Darden School at the Uni-versity of Virginia, and George Mason University. She teaches courses in the Managing for Sustainability Program and core management courses in-cluding Management 101, The Stakeholder Organization and The Strategic Organization. In 2014, Hendry was nominated by faculty, staff, students, and alumni from across the Uni-versity for the Class of 1956 Lectureship, which recognizes those who exceed the expecta-tions of the University’s teach-ing standards and inspire stu-dents across campus.

You arrived at Bucknell in fall 2000. What are the three most significant chang-es you have experienced since you first arrived?

The University is more diverse overall. As a result, the students and faculty have be-come more open-minded and there is a wider array of per-spectives within the Bucknell community. The University has attracted and retained President John Bravman and Provost Barbara Altmann, who are val-ued leaders in the field of higher education and who are commit-ted to making Bucknell even stronger through a solid vision. I have great confidence in their leadership. Bucknell will of-ficially launch its College of Management in July 2017. A new management curriculum has been in place since 2011, which has been very positive for both faculty and students. I believe the College of Manage-ment will be an excellent com-plement for Bucknell’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and College of Engineering.

You have taught Genera-tion X, Generation Y, and now Millennials. How have the stu-

dents at Bucknell changed?The students are more

service-oriented and inter-ested in making the world a better place. Certainly some of them are eager to work in nonprofit, governmental, and semi-governmental organiza-tions; but this orientation in-cludes many aspirations in the for-profit business world. “Be-ing the good by doing well” is very much a part of the student mindset now.

How do you think the University will continue to evolve?

Right now, campus is alive with activist activities centered around marginalized groups. We are witnessing a level of understanding and support from students from more privi-leged groups for those who have not come from privileged backgrounds. I think that’s a positive thing.

The University is spend-ing a lot of time and resources building new facilities, but leadership is also showing a commitment to renovating and repurposing buildings. As a faculty member focused on sustainability, I hope the Uni-versity will continue to repur-pose and renovate spaces to accommodate the needs of the University.

Yours was the first class I attended after 9/11. You were around the age that mem-bers of the Class of 2002 are now. What do you recall from those days?

There was a lot of immedi-ate concern that day because so many students and faculty were from the New York area. I re-member the community com-ing together and trying to help one another through it. I think what we saw that brought us to-gether as a nation also brought us together as a University. I had not seen that level of emo-tion from students ever before in my career and have not seen it again until the current level of activism on campus.

How has the University supported you, initially as a junior faculty member and now through your career?

My sense of junior fac-ulty support at Bucknell is ex-tremely strong. The tenured faculty team around me helped ensure that I stayed on track with both teaching and schol-arship and helped guide me to become more involved in ser-vice when I was ready for it. I have been blessed with having really good faculty colleagues and have been able to do a lot of interdisciplinary work on

the teaching side, research side, and even service side. Bucknell is very good at “interdisciplin-ary” and was well ahead of its time in this regard.

Since I have had tenure, I have also felt very supported. I think there have been some growing pains in the mindset of the overall faculty around the College of Management and what it will mean to the University, but I am hopeful it will be seen as positive as both the College and the University evolve.

How has the focus of your courses changed since 2000?

I was always very focused on the natural environment and management. I have come to realize that we will never get people to focus on the environ-ment without also addressing sustainability “writ large,” by which I am referring to human issues such as social justice, poverty, mass incarceration, and economic opportunities. Clean water, for example, is both an environmental and social issue.

Why was Bucknell the right fit for you in terms of academic community?

The University genuinely balances its focus on teaching and scholarship. Faculty are typically granted tremendous autonomy in course content, design, and pedagogy. We have

opportunities for team teach-ing, interdisciplinary teaching, teaching courses to all first-year students, and more. In addition to teaching required courses, we can design new courses even more closely aligned with our expertise and interests. It’s great fun! On the scholarship side, the University appreci-ates a wide array of scholarly contributions. When I came to Bucknell in 2000, I had recent-ly completed my dissertation, which sought to understand how and why environmental non-governmental organiza-tions (NGOs) attempted to in-fluence for-profit businesses. At the time, many universities did not value this research, but recently, I had a very well-re-spected scholar in my field tell me that my work was founda-tional for a line of inquiry that is now surging in the academy. I am grateful that Bucknell could see my early scholarship as valuable and that the Univer-sity has been so supportive of my work over the years.

In your opinion, how can alumni help today’s students?

One of the biggest chal-lenges we face is helping stu-dents who are not interested in working on Wall Street or work-ing in a major public accounting firm. As I mentioned, today’s students are more service-ori-

ented than those in the past and more interested in engaging in activities that will make the world a better place. Even many accounting and financial man-agement majors want to apply their degrees to work that fo-cuses on a better future, such as microfinance, impact investing, socially responsible investing, and so on. Managing for sus-tainability majors want to learn about how to position them-selves to become social entre-preneurs, how to get impactful jobs in nonprofit organizations, how to connect with and join for-profits that have social and environmental sensibilities, etc. Markets, innovation and design majors want opportunities to design innovative products that meet real needs, not just random wants. Global management ma-jors want to understand more about how organizations around the world are able to help pre-serve local cultures while serv-ing the needs of local citizens. To all of those ends, I’m sure students would love to have alumni panels discuss work op-portunities in a wide variety of fields: health care, building de-sign, alternative energy, micro-finance, etc.

What is Bucknell’s great-est opportunity?

I would say faculty and student involvement in local

communities could be more frequent and deeper. Students do a decent amount of volun-teer work, and many courses use service learning as a peda-gogy for some portion of the course. The University has some work of various types go-ing on with Geisinger Medical Center, and we have been do-ing some work with the “local” (49 minutes away) coal com-munity of Mount Carmel. But the potential for involvement in nearby communities of Milton (five miles away), Mifflinburg (15 minutes away), Montgom-ery (22 minutes away), and oth-ers is nearly untapped. In each of these communities, Buck-nell students and their faculty mentors could get involved in a wide range of activities, such as developing programs to in-terest high school students in attending college and helping them with college applications; designing websites, Facebook pages and other social media outreach activities for local organizations; improving op-erating efficiency and effec-tiveness through redesigning processes, creating volunteer training programs, developing marketing plans, etc.; offering after-school programs with a range of activities (e.g., theater, dance, music, math, engineer-ing, etc.) and so forth.

A4 | SUMMER 2017 THE BUCKNELLIANREUNION

Dena Ebert PattersonBU ‘02

An interview with Dr. Jamie Hendry

Learning the “normal way” has always been a strug-gle for me. I was unable to read until sixth grade—my mom will tell you it was actu-ally seventh grade. My chal-lenges with learning were of-ficially documented in second grade when I was diagnosed with dyslexia. It took enor-mous effort on the part of my parents to bring my reading skills to a mainstream level. Their effort paid off when I was able to attend a main-stream high school. Gaining admission to Bucknell in 2013 would have been impossible without their help.

Once at Bucknell, I con-tinued to excel thanks to the skills my parents developed as well as the generosity of my professors. Over the past four years, I have never had a professor who did not support my learning disability. I could list positive experiences with

all of my Bucknell instructors, but I would like to highlight one particularly impactful ex-perience.

Professor Stacy Mas-trolia teaches accounting in the school of management. I had the pleasure of taking two classes with her over my four years, and each time, she went above and beyond to accommodate my learning disabilities. I cannot master a subject by reading alone. The best way I gather informa-tion is through conversation and verbal instruction. With a subject like accounting, this meant a lot of time spent in office hours and asking ques-tions in class. Professor Mas-trolia was always welcoming and accommodating of all my questions—even the most ob-vious ones.

But the most meaningful thing she did was the structur-ing of exams. Professor Mas-trolia allowed me to take part of the exam in Bucknell’s test-ing center and the remaining part with the class. (Of course,

I was only allowed to work on one section at a time, and could not go back to the prior section.) For someone who has had to take tests separated from their class for their entire academic career, the opportu-nity to sit with my peers was awesome. A second thought for most, the moments before a test are often a time of ca-maraderie, and the moments following the exam a time for commiseration. The opportu-nity to share this experience with my peers—a relatively small group of accounting majors—is a gift I will not soon forget.

After four years, I believe relationships characterize the learning experience at Buck-nell. Students are pushed to perform by instructors who care. Students push each oth-er because communities are formed among classmates. I am thankful to have had the chance to capture these expe-riences. I am especially thank-ful to those who helped me along the way.

Business management ma-jors at Bucknell University hear the stories of successful Bucknell alumni who have founded major businesses in various disciplines or who had long, successful ca-reers in finance. Inspired by that level of achievement, it’s hard to not measure your own experience by those who came before you without desiring the same results. Today we live in a time where it seems that everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, and it’s “cool” to be a success in business. A Buck-nell business education is shining brighter than it ever has before.

For me, the tendency to-ward entrepreneurialism started at an indoor track meet during my sophomore year. I was in-jured and unable to compete and was watching the events with a teammate of mine, Koran Evans ’06. He had this crazy idea of having a delivery service avail-able for the students on campus that could be used to order food (or anything for that matter) from anywhere in town. After all, the best pizza, Original Italian Pizza

(or OIPs as we called it), didn’t offer delivery and you couldn’t get there without a car. I didn’t think Koran was crazy and told him that we should start a busi-ness. We opened Dorm Delivery Express in the fall of 2005 and the business successfully served and employed Bucknell students for three years, including the year following my graduation.

Like many management majors, I started my career in the world of finance with a major in-vestment bank. I put on hold my desire to own a business and fol-lowed a path that seemed a more immediate path to guaranteed success, or at least what I thought was success at the time. Then, in the fall of 2008, the financial cri-sis hit and the industry changed.

By 2010, I was lost. I missed Dorm Delivery Express and the energy that came from owning and operating a small business. It was time to find a way to feed my entrepreneurial spirit. By 2012, I co-founded a natural gas vehicle development company with my dad and brother while simultaneously launching a ca-reer in real estate. This is some-thing I never thought I would do

after starting my career on Wall Street. There was something about the education I received at Bucknell and the experience of running a (very) small business during college that prepared me for what I’m doing today.

Coincidentally with rekin-dling my inner-entrepreneur over the past five years, I also strengthened my relationship with Bucknell. I began volun-teering for the Bucknell Club of Northern New Jersey and now find myself on the Buck-nell Alumni Association Board of Directors. Maybe it’s not a coincidence, since Bucknell is where that spirit was developed.

I have a long way to go before my name will be men-tioned in the hallways of Taylor Hall among those of Ken Lan-gone, Richard Johnson, Doug Lebda, or even fellow Class of 2007 graduate Matt Hornbuck-le, who successfully launched an exceptional men’s clothing company called Stantt. I do know two things for sure—the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well within me, and I will continue to stay closely con-nected to my alma mater.

Defying dyslexia with relationships

Bucknell and the entrepreneurial spirit

Jack FitzpatrickBU ‘17

Matt BonelliBU ‘07

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMIE HENDRY

A5 | SUMMER 2017 THE BUCKNELLIANREUNIONTo Spain and backlessons learned abroad

The Bucknell community extends well beyond the lim-its of Lewisburg. In fact, for me, the Bucknell community has been with me around the world and back again. My ju-nior spring semester, I studied abroad in Granada, Spain with 20 other Bucknellians. Being in a different country, speaking a foreign language, and liv-ing with a host family can be a bit overwhelming. However, I was lucky enough to have the Bucknell community that I could always rely on, which provided me with a sense of comfort and belonging.

During the five months that I lived in Spain, I real-ized that the Bucknell bond is like that of no other school. Some of my favorite memo-ries include group trips to Se-

ville, Cordoba, Barcelona, and Madrid and playing on an in-tramural soccer team that we formed. Being able to share these experiences with fellow Bucknellians made my experi-ence more special than I ever could have imagined. In addi-tion to meeting new friends, I was fortunate to have Bucknell faculty in residence in Granada that continued the academic rigor of my education.

After returning to Buck-nell for my senior year, I con-tinued to foster and strengthen the relationships that began in Spain and continue thinking about the myriad of lessons that I learned abroad. I am forever grateful for the oppor-tunities that Bucknell has con-tinued to afford me and I am comforted by knowing that I have a lifelong community that will bleed orange and blue no matter where I go in the future.

Lauren Gambardella BU ‘17

I drew political cartoons for The Bucknellian during the 1970s while double majoring in English and Studio Art. No tar-get was immune from my crow quill pen, dipped in India ink. I drew strong, clear lines with a light touch, trying to capture the mood of the campus.

On Sunday evenings, The Bucknellian’s staff crowded into a little boiler room in the basement of Roberts Hall. Its walls, big old steam pipes, even the metal grate over the single window high on the wall, were painted with thick green enamel. Time was pre-cious, so we got right down to business. I had free range for my cartoons, the sillier and more irreverent, the better.

Once, I depicted then-Pres-ident Gerald Ford as a pixelated Uncle Sam, hands crossed in front of his cutaway suit, slip-ping tiny flags with a message of pardon to Richard Nixon with one hand, and amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers with the other. Our times were confusing. Ford was roundly criticized by both the right and left for his de-cisions, which cost him the 1976 election against Jimmy Carter.

President Ford followed his own stars, as freely it seemed, as I drew my cartoons. Grant-

ing Nixon’s pardon showed compassion, yet also quietly indicted trust betrayed. Ford of-ficially ended the Vietnam War in April 1975, loudly cheered at Bucknell and everywhere else. Ford announced that those who evaded the war by fleeing to Canada could now come home. He cared so much more about the country than his own ambi-tion. I felt embarrassed when my cartoon was published, because I already admired the president. He mollified a coun-try weary of war and Tricky Dick. Nonetheless, my drawing was well received. My thoughts soon turned to other events, to papers and projects, friends and dates and dances, strolling on that glorious campus through all the seasons. I drew other cartoons, of course, but they weren’t as memorable.

Several years later, former President Gerald Ford spoke at Bucknell. He strode onto Vaughan Lit Auditorium’s stage, wearing a navy blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. He resembled a typical well-dressed father of a typical Bucknell student. He cheerfully greeted the assembly of about 300, charming the audi-ence with his casual Midwestern friendliness. When a lone heck-ler shouted, hoping to stir up the crowd, Ford politely asked him to be quiet, and the young man sat down. The 38th president

talked about making decisions that he realized would be un-popular with many.

“I simply did what was right, and what had to be done,” he said. “I always got a good night’s sleep after I decided.” His confidence and wisdom struck a chord, and the audience cheered and applauded.

Afterwards, the crowd spilled out of Vaughan Lit onto the quad. The sun was sinking behind Rooke Chapel, and it was getting cold. I wanted cof-fee before my drive home, and headed down the walkway to the (now) Langone Center. Turn-ing to glance up the hill, I saw a group approaching. President Ford, hatless, in a long overcoat

with the collar turned up against the chill, towered over his secret service detail.

The much shorter agents surrounding him wore sunglass-es against the fading sunset, and chattered into walkie-talkies. They were absurdly conspicu-ous, trotting to keep pace with their charge. Grinning, I waited for them to catch up to where I stood. A little boldly, I extended my hand, to the president, and introduced myself, stating that I enjoyed his speech, omitting the fact that I once lampooned him in The Bucknellian. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Julie,” President Ford said. His blue eyes twinkled, and his hand-shake was warm.

Julia (Holladay) MannBU ‘77, M ’78

My Bucknellian cartoon

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN GAMBARDELLA

CARTOONS COURTESY OF JUL IA (HOLLADAY) MANN

March 18, 2005. Most Bucknellians probably don’t know the significance of that date offhand, but if given a min-ute or two, they would prob-ably venture a guess—that’s the day Bucknell knocked off Kansas. The game fell during spring break, and I had the joy of spending my time off in the much-sought-after destination of DuBois, Pa.—my home-town. After the team pulled it off, I was at the home of a childhood friend, and someone asked me why I hadn’t gone to the game. My response, which seemed obvious, was “the game was in Oklahoma City.”

Fast forward almost a year, and the team looked poised to win the Patriot League title again and return to the Tourna-ment. My conversation from the year before had stuck with me, and I started to think that it wouldn’t be so crazy to make the trip to a first-round game. A few of my friends agreed, and Will Bricker ’07, Erin (Foley) Bell ’07, Brody Selleck ’07,

and I decided we would hit the road if the team made it, assum-ing we could realistically get there in a car.

In the final few weeks of the season, with the Patriot League post-season approaching, I played bracketologist, turning to Joe Lunardi daily and trying to figure out where the team would end up if they made the Tournament. A couple of possi-bilities—Salt Lake City and San Diego—seemed definitely out of our reach. A few others—Philly, Dayton, and Greensboro—were certainly doable, but not that ex-citing. Jacksonville sounded in-teresting, and Dallas was prob-ably our limit and perhaps a bit of a stretch.

After the team demol-ished Holy Cross in the Patriot League Championship, it was time to see where the pieces fell. Bucknell—at a very respectable No. 9 seed—landed in Dal-las to take on No. 8 Arkansas. A daunting 21-plus hours from Lewisburg, Pa., Dallas was a reach for the four of us, but af-ter the announcement came, we exchanged a few texts, and ev-eryone was in.

We saddled up in a trusty Chevy Malibu and drove straight-through. Living in the pre-smartphone age, we were true Road Warriors, relying on each other to pass the time. Once in Dallas, we met up with other Bucknellians, consumed as much Tex-Mex as possible, visited Dealey Plaza, and most importantly, witnessed the team win a Tournament game for the second year in a row, beat-ing Arkansas 59-55. We stuck around for the team’s second game, against No. 1 Memphis. Although the team lost, the guys made an incredible run, and I remain grateful to have seen it firsthand.

To say the trip was a blast is an understatement. Those few days remain one of the high-lights of my time at Bucknell. Our Dallas expedition captures what is, in my view, one of the University’s greatest assets—its ability to foster strong and long-lasting relationships. Thank you to my fellow weary trav-elers and Bucknell (as well as the men’s basketball team) for this—and so many other—in-credible memories.

Hitting the roadCarl MarchioliBU ‘07

Over the years there have been many debates about col-legiate athletics and its place in higher education. Some have argued that its intrusion into the student-athlete’s academic pursuits is highly disruptive to the core focus that universities attempt to provide to their stu-dents. There have been some very public arguments regard-ing athletics’ place in a liberal arts collegiate experience, and in particular at Patriot League Schools.

Being a former student-athlete, I can unequivocally state that my experience at Bucknell was significantly en-hanced because of my experi-ences as an athlete. To attend a liberal arts university means to be promised a holistic experi-ence where you grow and are molded by different perspec-tives outside your intended area of expertise. The goal is that you use those alternative thought processes and experi-

ences to help shape your per-spective and problem-solving abilities in your area of exper-tise. As a student-athlete, I was able to gain an additional per-spective and set of character-istics that I would argue made me more prepared to enter the adult world.

When I was a senior pre-paring for graduation, I knew that Bucknell prepared me to be a successful, high-function-ing member of society. With the community of successful Bucknellians who have come before me, I felt the weight and gravity of need to con-tinue the legacy. But this was not the first time that I felt that same weight and gravity of appropriately representing Bucknell. I felt that every day during my four years of being a student-athlete and member of the Bucknell University Softball Team.

Looking back over my 10 year post-graduate career, I have endured an eight-year ca-reer on Wall Street beginning in turmoil during the housing market crash and ensuing eco-

nomic downturn to a relatively new career in collegiate athlet-ics. When I was interviewing for my job at UBS, I remem-ber answering all questions with experiences from the softball field. There I learned teamwork, responsibility, time management, respect, perse-verance, thick skin, and so many other key characteristics it takes to be successful.

Now that I am a collegiate softball coach, I have come to appreciate and value my student-athlete experience so much more. I was able to bal-ance academics and athletics at the highest level, receiving a top-rate education and an athletic experience at one of the highest levels of athletic play, Division I. Looking back over my experiences, I can undoubtedly say that I would not have been as successful had I not been both a student and athlete while at Bucknell. I can only hope to nurture my current student-athletes to de-velop the same characteristics that helped me throughout my post-baccalaureate years.

A certain chap came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to find my ‘sweet spot’—that place where I can do what I love for a living?” He’s told, “Seek God and His kingdom … Glorify God and do whatever you please … I am The Way … Know that God exists and that He rewards those who honestly seek Him.”

At first, that made Chap very happy, for he wanted nothing more than to please God and make that his life’s calling. But along The Way, this hard-working chap lost the trail—his calling and God’s leading. To find his way back—or forward—he tracks all meaningful jobs, relation-ships and life events to see where they point. To find or affirm your life purpose, to make tough choices, to extend your legacy, you may want to do the same.

To help the reader follow this open-ended life story, four “decades” are delineated. Re-told here as an allegory—an extended parable with many points for you to identify with—my life post-Bucknell is told in the present tense and refers to myself in the third person, as Chap.

1st Decade: Hope discov-ered, deferred. At Bucknell, this Chap is a mild-mannered sports reporter for The Bucknellian and WVBU, but the Vietnam War Protest Era radicalizes him. At the time (1968-72), loss of dreams and heroes and trust—MLK, RFK, Watts, Kent State, Watergate—causes him to look elsewhere. He searches for hope and love in all the wrong places—Woodstock, girls in Bucknell’s annual “Pig Book,” frat parties. This era (and the Holy Spirit) also ushers in the Jesus Movement, which sweeps across college campuses, even Bucknell. Swept up in that, this Chap enjoys a life-changing experience of God. Buoyed by peak religious experiences, his career path plows through fields of Campus Ministry in Min-neapolis, and climbs ranks to Senior Leadership to Madison, Wis. But after a decade of thriv-ing with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), his ministry

goes South—off the trails into unchartered waters, dumping him into a spiritual Dry Gulch.

2nd Decade: Divorce re-covery, rediscovering grace. With no obvious rock-solid cairns or signposts to rely on, he traverses a trackless terrain, suffering through Valley of Divorce, then Heartbreak Hill and Pit of Despair. In despair, he holes up in Man Cave (10 years in his basement), wait-ing for God to show up … On rough roads of Rebound and Recovery, Renewal and Remar-riage, he returns to Bucknell Basecamp and revisits trusted classmates from IVCF (Tim Keller ’72, Dick Herman ’73, Jim Kirkley ’74, Jim Pocock ’75). Those four R’s beget two more: Reading and ’Riting. With Promise Keeper guides, he collaborates on 45 different men’s books and Bible projects. Rhythms of grace keep him on track. Now a stay-at-home dad with kids growing up and career taking off, Chap again thrives, not just survives.

3rd Decade: Connecting others for good. Chap directs fledgling nonprofit Middle-ton Outreach Ministry (sub-urban Madison, Wis.) to New Heights. There he connects neighbors for good, extending the same comfort he has re-ceived to other broken people. Once again Chap is enjoying spiritual growth and success, personally and professionally. Life is good, God is good.

4th Decade: Choices and confusion, challenges and chap-laincy. Happy Trails once again become a hapless trial with many dead-ends. In Forest of New Challenges, he searches for a clearing, a way forward. Trying short-term gigs from Church (High Point) to Census (2010) to Camping (REI sales) to Chaplaincy (hospital and hospice), he’s left underem-ployed and underappreciated, looking for more. More Dead-ends, Detours, Delays. More Clinical Pastoral Education, a.k.a. School of Hard Knocks. Just beyond that CPE horizon, what looks like the Summit, turns into false hope and false summits. While offering a help-ing hand to many, Chap looks for a helping hand himself. At times mental fog envelops this chaplain-hiker-tracker, swirling

his mind like unrelenting verti-go. Out of deep fog—both men-tal and environmental—Chap prays and probes here and there for clarity of cairns to appear. As he wanders, he wonders, “What if life is just made up of so many detours?”

5th Decade: Current chap-ter in Chap’s story. Trail junc-tion unfolds Left as volunteer gigs (e.g., barrios in Domini-can Republic, refugee camps in Germany) and opens to the Right as professional stints. One is an avocation, the other a vocation. Roadblocks become, by faith, stepping stone oppor-tunities. Each opportunity, in turn, branches into a promis-ing job lead, fun Rabbit Trails, or more detours. Chaplain-in-the-making takes one fork to La Crosse, Wis., doubles back to Madison; then onto Fond du Lac, Wis., and back, a Bucknell reunion-inspired pullback from Retirement to “take the hill” in Pardeeville, Wis.,… Lansing, Mich.,… Mpls Minn.,… Maus-ton, Wis.,—all in search of an enduring call. Back in Madison to stay—now a part-time medi-cal transport driver, in addition-al to being a benevolent fund coordinator for his local church.

This allegory has no tidy ending. The end game is really the ongoing process of discov-ery. It’s not about me, after all. Calls come and go for Chap, but the Caller remains true, always there, all along. I’ve learned to trust the One who calls.

I invite you readers to ap-ply this extended parable to your own situation. Track your life on a timeline, clustering the years into meaningful “de-cades” as I have; then try to fit your story into God’s larger story. Journey inward to dis-cover the desires and passions He has placed within; then jour-ney outward to the community of unmet needs God puts before you. Record significant events and influences on your life and work. God-moments are where preparation and opportunity meet, also where your deep joy intersects the world’s deep hun-ger. What is that point for you?

Connect the dots, cairns or signs. Step out, and “make ev-ery effort,” by faith, to confirm where God is calling you and gifting you with “everything we need” (2 Peter 1:3,5,10).

Monica HarrisonBU ‘07

Dietrich GruenBU ‘72

Tossing the ball for 10 years

Chap in search of a call... finds the Caller

A6 | SUMMER 2017 THE BUCKNELLIANREUNION

I could smell asphalt melt-ing beneath me as I ratcheted my borrowed bike shoe against the pedal of my borrowed bike. With sweat dripping onto the handlebars, I lurched forward and told myself to focus on the horizon ahead. I resolved to ride continuously through the California desert until I figured out how to clip in, unclip, and dismount like a seasoned pro. Then I fell.

Just a few weeks earlier, in the summer of 2007, I was sit-ting in my apartment in Wash-ington, scrolling through Craig-slist job listings. My Bucknell classmates turned roommates, Patty O’Malley ’07 and Kyle Rosendale ’07, let me know that a spot had just opened up on a cross-country bike race in which they’d recently enlisted. The race, Pat explained, was a fundraiser with Bucknell and Penn alumni cycling teams aiming to raise $1 million for each school’s general scholar-ship fund. A professional cy-clist committed to the Bucknell team had just broken his collar-bone in competition.

I was conflicted. Having graduated in May, I was grow-ing desperate to land a full-time job. With every passing week, I felt I was falling further be-hind my classmates in starting a career. I also wasn’t much of a cyclist. In fact, I didn’t own a bike. Still, my girlfriend Kim didn’t see how I could pass up the opportunity.

I signed on to drive the support van and maintain the race’s fundraising website.

Only after we met the race or-ganizer, Frank Arentowicz ’69, at his house in Los Angeles did I realize how little any of us knew about each other. Frank had invited three 23-year-olds to join his extensively-planned endeavor after a 20-minute phone call.

At the house, we met Walt McConnell ’53, who joined the race at a spry 76 years young. As the doctor on Frank’s high school football team, Walt con-vinced the young tailback to attend his alma mater.

We started the race from the Santa Monica Pier before dawn, then rode through East Los Angeles before reaching the Ten, where trucks whizzed by inches from our shoulders in the scorching heat. After the first day, Frank could see I was itching to join the fun, and he let me ride a leg on his brand new Cervello. I rode every day after.

It didn’t take long for Frank’s detailed plan to go awry. We thought we lost Walt in Compton. We got in shout-ing matches with members of the Penn team over logistics. It also didn’t take long for five Bucknell alumni separated by 50 years to become friends. We relayed across the otherworld-ly landscapes of Sedona and Monument Valley. We summit-ed the Continental Divide de-spite burning calves and busted chains. The team watched with pride as Walt coasted from the top of the Rockies all the way to eastern Colorado, grinning like a kid.

We biked at a 45-degree angle against the wind as we churned across Kansas. In Ohio, we stopped at a pumpkin

festival and enjoyed flat terrain before tackling endless hills of West Virginia.

Motorists flipped us off and ran us off the road, but more often, we were greeted with kindness and hospitality. People stopped to offer help as we changed bike tires. At a diner in Illinois, a patron inter-viewed us for the local paper.

The joy of seeing Amer-ica by bicycle is in the pace. We moved quickly enough to watch the landscape change, yet slow enough to breathe in our surroundings. Along our route, we witnessed a nation in flux. We saw endless wind farms in sorghum fields and billboards promising clean coal in Appalachia. With an election year looming, we

read signs espousing all sorts of values. We saw the diver-sity of our nation’s landscapes matched in beauty only by the diversity of its people.

When we arrived at the in Atlantic City after nineteen days in the saddle, we dashed into the ocean, elated. I was amazed by how happy Frank was for us. He opted out of the lavish dinner parties many men of his stature hold when they turn 60, and instead led us on a genuine adventure. He didn’t just do it for himself, or for Walt, or for three young men he barely knew. He suc-ceeded in raising $1 million for Bucknell’s General Schol-arship Fund, affording more young men and women oppor-tunities to better themselves

through education the same way we had.

Before flying to Los An-geles, Pat and Kyle had scarce-ly been across the Rockies. During the course of the race, all three of us realized that we had been hurtling down very narrow paths of what our lives could be.

After a few years, we each moved from D.C. and embarked on new adventures of our own. Kyle is now the fisheries biologist for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. After start-ing up an English academy in South Korea for the past five years, Pat is currently working on another school project in China. Kim (now my wife) and I live in Portland, Ore., where I lead communications for an

environmental non-profit. We each ride our bikes to work as often as possible.

Like many in the Class of 2007, I’m trying to process what just happened in the last 10 years. All I know for sure is that it’s been more of an ad-venture as a result of a lucky break and the generosity of a fellow Bucknellian.

If you’re graduating this May, congratulations. Try not to lose too much sleep over starting your career. Like clip-ping into a bike, you can’t force it. Focus instead on be-ing as bold and as generous as you can. It’ll all fall into place, then fall apart, then back into place again, and down the road you’ll go. Enjoy the view and the company along the way.

Jay KosaBU ‘07

Alumni bike race: 10-year retrospective

Bucknell’s Alumni Ca-reer Services (ACS) is an-swering face-to-face career questions during Reunion Weekend at our annual Career Café at 7th Street Café. Stop-in on June 3 from 1-3 p.m. for a quick conversation and get solid tips about your career path. ACS can help you strat-egize about how to rediscover your passion for work, devel-op and utilize your network, and transition to new career fields. However, if you know you need more than a 10-min-ute chat, you can schedule a one hour individual appoint-ment by calling us at 570-577-1238 or emailing acs@bucknell.edu.

When Reunion con-cludes, ACS continues to have a full schedule deliver-ing career programming to alumni around the world. With a mix of individual career counseling appoint-ments, webinars, and on-lo-

cation group programming, ACS provides assistance to graduates of Bucknell look-ing to help them Move Their Careers Forward. Best of all, our services are free for life! Whether you’re just starting your first professional posi-tion, thinking about changing careers, rejoining the work-force, or contemplating re-tirement, ACS is here for you.

In addition to individual career counseling, ACS of-fers exclusive access to on-line resources and webinars. Join us on www.BucknellCa-reerConnect.com–your com-prehensive site to network and access career resources. It houses our job board ex-clusively for Bucknellians to post/view job opportunities for/from fellow Bucknellians. Keep in mind that a providing a career opportunity to a fel-low alumnus/a is an excellent way to give back to Bucknell!

Did you know….• This year, Gallup Clifton Strengths Finder has been added to our career assess-ments? Contact ACS if you would like to discover your talents and build on them for success in your career.• ACS is not just for alum-ni? It’s true! ACS prepares the senior class with life

skills programming as part of the year-long Life After Bucknell series. Seniors attend programs on proper business etiquette, person-al finance management, professional networking, and more. • You can access jobs and stay connected by join-ing our career community through www.BucknellCa-reerConnect.com. Simply log on and join using your LinkedIn account. We invite you to share advice about your industry, post jobs to the job board, and network!•We post our cool jobs on @BucknellACS! Follow us on Twitter for instant updates.• You can join the con-versation with more than 13,000 fellow alumni on the Bucknell Alumni LinkedIn Group! Watch for Throw-back Thursday posts about Bucknell nostalgia and jump in.

Finally, we thank all of our alumni who have as-sisted alumni and students with questions about their careers this year, along with those who have contributed to the programming ACS has sponsored for alumni. We look forward to another great year—‘ray Bucknell!

Julee Bertsch, Ed.D. Director of Alumni Career Services Working with Class of 2014 and earlier

Rachel Redmond, NCC Assistant Director of Alumni Career Services - Working with Class of 2017, 2016, 2015

PAUSE and contemplate your career!

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAY KOSA

As I sit in Miami Interna-tional Airport, on the tail-end of a whirlwind trip to Florida to update our Fairfield Uni-versity alumni in the sunshine state about all that is happening on campus and introduce them to our interim president, I am able to reflect on the concept of alumni engagement and its im-portance to an institution and to its alumni as well. I met so many alumni in Florida, some for the first time, and as we chatted, it became very apparent to me the need to keep alumni engaged.

Most of the people who attended our receptions were extremely excited to meet repre-sentatives from campus, able to garner some information on all the progress and change back in Connecticut, and all were thrilled to meet other alumni who lived and worked in their area. There’s a connection there, an almost fraternal bond that makes any-one who attended Fairfield University, no matter the age, linked through this commonal-ity. There’s a comfort about that … and, if that four-year experi-ence was a positive one, there are memories that evoke a multitude of good feelings.

So, as I look back on my own relationship with Bucknell over the last 39 years, I can more fully understand Bucknell’s endeavor to keep me engaged, and can appreciate the efforts of everyone on campus and those volunteers who, over the years, reached out to me to keep me involved. It all started, though, during my time as a student. I am certainly someone who has always been a “joiner,” so my life on campus included a va-riety of extra activities in addi-tional to the rigorous curriculum of an accounting major.

I believe my involvement with the fledgling phone-a-thon program during “Jan Plan” was the start of my new career (30 plus years later) in Alumni Re-lations. Reaching out to alumni for donations to Bucknell was a wonderful learning experience. I enjoyed their stories, and cer-tainly felt that connection with

those who had passed through Lewisburg years before me.

So, what does this mean for the institution? It appears to be a relatively straightforward formula: engage alumni in ac-tivities, let them hear from you for things other than giving, and they will be more inclined to give. They will feel appreciated and valued, not only for their treasures, but for the talents and time as well. Time, treasure, and talent: the 3 T’s of engage-ment that are so important to any institution’s success. Alum-ni do not want to hear from their alma mater only for a donation; they want to hear from us for other things as well. They want to share their experiences, their talents, and their knowledge with current students and fel-low alumni. They want to share their stories.

I have been asked, and there have been discussions at Fair-field University, about a pipeline for alumni engagement. I do believe that alumni engagement begins on campus. Our “First Night” program at Bucknell sets the stage for students to see the University as a lifelong relation-ship and understand the impor-tance of its presence in their lives after college. They are surround-ed by alumni, and they are able to understand the lifetime connec-tions and relationships that come from their time in Lewisburg. Then, after graduation, these connections are strengthened by the regional alumni chapters. The chapters keep those young alumni and others connected to campus and have the ability to reinforce those lessons learned on campus about the importance of giving back.

Recently, I was included in a conference call with the Class of 1982 Reunion Committee at Fairfield University. I was asked by a member of the committee how best to motivate alumni to give back to Fairfield. I thought a lot about that question and how it related to me, person-ally, as a member of the Alumni Relations team at Fairfield Uni-versity as well as Pat Perazzini, Bucknell Class of 1982 reunion committee member. I wanted to share with them my heartfelt and

personal feelings. I have para-phrased my answer here:

As for the giving: I sug-gested that committee members be forthright and explain why it’s so important to give back to Fairfield. The beautiful new health sciences center (and oth-er buildings), the many grants for extended research, the new classroom technologies—they are not covered by tuition. Those great additions to the campus and academic life can only be completed by the generosity and support of our alumni and friends. And, they are a necessity … to keep Fairfield current and competitive academically.

I know we talked about U.S. News and World Report and the alumni participation rate. Alumni participation is a metric used to measure alumni satisfac-tion, and is part of the formula used in college rankings. So, as Fairfield University increases its alumni participation, it can only help in those rankings. When you reach out to your class-mates, help them to recall those great times, and, hopefully, en-courage them to rekindle those wonderful friendships formed here and motivate them to help current and future Stags experi-ence the same. It’s the ultimate “pay it forward.”

I recently had a wonderful conversation with a Bucknell se-nior, a young lady who, I know, is a campus leader. We talked about giving back, and the edu-cation process that needs to be-gin during a student’s four years on campus. She is a legacy as well, so she has grown up with Bucknell in her veins! She re-lated to me her experience with the LEAD group on campus, a student organization that raises awareness for alumni contribu-tions through donations and hon-ors student leaders on campus.

We talked about transpar-ency, and how it is essential for students to be educated on why giving back to Bucknell is so important. It’s that education that will sustain Bucknell Uni-versity as these student lead-ers graduate to become alumni leaders and are able to commu-nicate and champion for Buck-nell for years to come.

Why alumni engagement mattersPatricia PerazziniBU ‘82

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A7 | SUMMER 2017 THE BUCKNELLIANREUNION

Dial-a-Feminist Reflections

During the time that I spent at Bucknell (1983-87), I seized many of the growing opportunities to learn about women’s issues. As a Dana Scholar, I assisted Professor Mary Hill with her work on her books about Charlotte Per-kins Gilman. I helped to put together a regional calendar of women’s events, belonged to a group called “Women Working for Change” (take that two ways if you’d like), and earned a minor in wom-en’s studies. Bucknell further aided in increasing my aware-ness by sponsoring a lecture series celebrating 100 years of women’s education at the University. Through this se-ries, a steady stream of femi-nist scholars came to campus. I attended many of their lec-tures and, in fact, still have the advertising posters to prove it.

In the mid-80’s, Buck-nell invited many speakers who pushed the boundar-ies of then-current feminist thinking. Radical feminist theologian Mary Daly spoke on “Be-witching: Re-calling the Courage to Sin.” His-torian Gerda Lerner gave a presentation on “The Institu-tion of Patriarchy.” Professor

Johnnella Butler from Smith College discussed an “over-due partnership” between eth-nic and women’s studies, and Ruth Hubbard, a professor of biology at Harvard Univer-sity, talked about “The Social Construction of Women’s Bi-ology.” Most memorable was the debate sponsored by the Bucknell Student Lectureship Committee between Eleanor Smeal and Phyllis Schlafly titled, “The Feminist Move-ment: A Threat to the Fam-ily Tradition?” At that time, Smeal was in her third term as the president of the National Organization for Women, and Schlafly was the founder of the Eagle Forum, a conserva-tive interest group and an out-spoken opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment.

For the Feb. 28, 1986 is-sue of The Bucknellian, I re-ported on Heidi Hartmann’s lecture, “Pay Equity for Women: Wage Discrimination and the Comparable Worth Controversy.” Hartmann, a feminist economist who worked at the National Re-search Council in Washing-ton, concentrated her research on employment issues related to women and minorities, par-ticularly those concerned with discrimination. She saw com-parable worth policies as a way to further society’s com-

mitment to equal opportunity for all women.

Then, in the March 18, 1986 issue, I reported on an interesting call-in radio show on WVBU that fea-tured Karen Dugger, assistant professor of sociology, and a panel of students. This show, “Dial-a-Feminist,” encour-aged students to call in to add comments and to ask ques-tions. Although the topic was women’s issues, most of the callers were male, and only one of them openly expressed support for feminist concerns. Nevertheless, Professor Dug-ger calmly responded to questions regarding women’s contributions to society, com-parable worth, and healthy relationships between men and women.

I know that the experi-ences that I had at Bucknell helped to shape my view of the world. Considering what was and what now is, it truly is interesting to see how far we have come dur-ing our lifetime in the quest for equal rights for all. But, I think that it is even more in-teresting to trace back to our time at Bucknell and reflect on how specific educational experiences continue to influ-ence our own personal views concerning this increasingly egalitarian world.

Michele YenserBU ‘87, P ’16, P ’19

My friend Raj from the Alumni Board said that since I am on the Alumni Board and it is my reunion year, I have to write an article about a memo-rable time at Bucknell. I felt like saying, “have you checked my family background?” but here goes.

My mother, Elinor (Freit-ag) Gregg ’44, was a Bucknell-ian. She was at Bucknell when Pearl Harbor was bombed and she said everything changed. The sacrifice she had in the war seemed to be that all the men left college (not sure I would brag about that as a sacrifice, mom). At this time, she had a single in Hunt Hall and so did her good friend, Marie Wil-liams Ruggerio. Shortly after the start of the way, they appar-ently made one of their rooms the bedroom and the other the living room and invited a girl who had dropped out of Bucknell to stay with them. My mom said the non-student stayed a month (really, mom?). When the Dean of Women fi-nally found out about the ar-rangement, she announced that “Bucknell is not a hotel that you can check in and out of,” sent the girl home, separated my mom from her friend, and

moved her uphill.My mother was not an

active alumna and when they called during the fundrais-ing drive, she would give the student on the other end of the phone a lecture about how tough her life was and that she was at Bucknell when Pearl Harbor was bombed. She did not encourage me to apply to Bucknell. But when I was 16, we were driving across Pennsylvania and she decided to show me the campus. She proceeded to drive around a fraternity house three times where young men were play-ing football on the lawn. She then pulled the car over and wanted to walk around. As a 16-year-old teenage girl, I re-fused to get out of the car in front of my mother in polyes-ter clothes with these frat boys looking on. My mother was highly annoyed and declared that Bucknell was not the school for me.

But at the last minute of my senior year, I decided to apply. Back in those days, you had to write away for an ap-plication with a self-addressed stamped envelope. I didn’t have enough time to get an application turned around be-fore the deadline, but one of my friends had just gotten into Colgate early decision and she gave me her application. Sim-

ple twist of fate that changed my college decision. I had been a decent cross country runner in high school and I was given some money to run at Bucknell and it sealed the deal (thank you, Title IX).

So despite my mom telling me that she didn’t think Buck-nell was the school for me, she and my brother took me to Larison Hall for my freshman year. Immediately, I was struck by how “together” all the other families seemed compared to my family raised by a single mother with my father gone. I was a kid trying to find a place in the world without much of a support system so some of the social life issues seemed silly. Plus I wanted to run and some injuries were limiting my success. After my first year, I wanted to leave and I signed up for a year off. When I called my mother to tell her, she said that she never thought Bucknell was the school for me anyway because I wouldn’t get out of the car that day. Plus, Bucknell is not a hotel you can check in and out of.

Well, it didn’t take long working without a degree while living at home to realize I was missing out by not finishing this journey. I saw the way people looked at me in the working world when I said I had left Bucknell. By this point, my

grandfather had passed away and specifically left money for mine and my brother’s educa-tion and my first-year grades were not going to let me trans-fer to an equivalent university. I had one good opportunity and a gift. So I called the Registrar’s Office, cut my year leave of ab-sence to a semester, packed up my stuff, and went back with the idea that like it or not, I had to graduate with this degree or I was a fool. As my mother took me back to school, she re-minded me that Bucknell is not a hotel that you can check in and out of.

But I did check back into life at Bucknell and it became easier because I spent the end of my time living above the Bull Run Inn in town and bal-anced town and campus life. We used to call Sunday nights Amateur night and never called it Dunkles. I did enjoy my dou-ble major liberal arts classes, running and biking through the beautiful countryside and made some good friends, many of whom are still good friends today. I stayed the summers, which were wonderful in Lew-isburg, and made up the missed semester and graduated with my class. And after graduation, I got in the back of my aunt’s and uncle’s car, arrived in D.C., and started life as a grown-up. Far from liberal arts, I ended

up getting an MBA in account-ing and a CPA and now have my own outsourced accounting business. I truly believe that my English and Economics classes made me a better accountant, able to understand more dimen-sions of my clients’ business, and perhaps I was ahead of the Bucknell curve of the cross-dis-cipline major. Looking back, it was a gift in ways my grandfa-ther, who was a traditional CPA, couldn’t imagine.

It didn’t take long to real-ize once you were out in the real world how lucky you were to be surrounded by the people you were at Bucknell. Where they used to only seem con-cerned with silly social things, now they suddenly seemed smart, ambitious, and hard-working. When some Buck-nell alumni events came up in the D.C. area, I started to attend. I met people from my own class that I didn’t know at Bucknell and others from other classes I never would have met otherwise who became close friends. I attended reunions and actually enjoyed talking to everyone. Now I am honored to be on the Alumni Board. I gained far more in friendships, insight, and personal growth than I ever gave in time or money to Bucknell. I became so proud to be part of the Buck-nell community in ways I could

never have imagined as a stub-born, angry college student. I want everyone to know that if I can become the poster child for Bucknell Alumni involve-ment, anyone can get involved and enjoy it. It is never too late.

I hope as this is published that the Class of ’82 is celebrat-ing having the most attendees at a 35th Reunion than any other class ever has at reunion. But the crowning jewel of my Bucknell involvement since graduation will always be in 1994 when I took my mom to her 50th Reunion. I met many of her classmates from the greatest generation; President Sojka and his wife charmed my mother and she had a great time. It ended up being one of the best weekends we ever had together and one of the last be-fore her Alzheimer’s set in.

So the moral of the story is this. You don’t get involved as an alumna/us at Bucknell to relive the past and to embellish some act of youth. You get in-volved with Bucknell because of the future, the new people you will meet, and the personal growth being with other Buck-nellians brings to your life. You can always check back into Bucknell as an alumni even if you haven’t been involved for years or didn’t always fit the Bucknell mold. And yes mom, Bucknell was the school for me.

Bucknell is not a hotel you can check in and out of

Susan RiceBU ‘82

Share your Reunion experience on social media! #BucknellReunion

@BucknellU @BucknellAlumni @BUAlumniNews

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Alumni Association Awards

Outstanding Achievement in a Chosen Profession

Lori H. Greeley ’82

The Bucknell University Alumni Association confers annual awards to distinguished alumni. This year, during Reunion Weekend 2017, the following recipients will be honored. The awards will be presented during the President’s Update and Alumni Awards event at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 3 at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts.

Awarded to a member of the alumni community whose professional accomplishments and achievements are exceptionally noteworthy and distinctive in his/her profession.

Lori Hartman Greeley ’82, chief executive officer (CEO) of Serena & Lily, is widely recognized for her extensive experience in the retail industry, as well as for her strong skills in merchandising, marketing, brand development and team building. Founded in 2003, Serena & Lily is an upscale home-furnishings brand headquartered in Sausalito, Calif. The company sells its merchandise inspired by a coastal lifestyle through its catalog, online and more recently in its interior design shops in East Hampton, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Westport and Newport Beach.

Before joining Serena & Lily, Lori served as CEO of Victoria’s Secret Stores, the largest premium intimate apparel brand in the world, from 2007 to 2013. Over the course of her 24-year career at Victo-ria’s Secret, her roles grew from entry-level positions in merchandising to Executive Vice President and General Merchandising Manager of Lingerie and an executive committee member of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret. During her tenure, Lori oversaw the development and launches of some of the most highly recognized lingerie sub-brands in the history of the business including Body by Victoria, Dream Angels, Very Sexy and Victoria’s Secret Sport.

Upon leaving Victoria’s Secret in 2013, Lori explored opportunities to apply her love of brand build-ing to other product categories and businesses. She was appointed to the boards of directors of Caleres, a global footwear company that owns and operates multiple footwear brands — including Famous Foot-wear with more than 1,000 stores nationwide — and New York & Company, a fashion apparel and acces-sory brand, which sells its products online and in mall-based retail stores. She is also advising the Silicon Valley startup, ThirdLove, which uses technology to improve the experience of buying bras through their unique fit-finding app and online store.

Lori attributes her career success to a supportive family and hometown foundation strengthened by her rich experiences at Bucknell, and career growth opportunities at Victoria’s Secret encouraged by Grace Nichols one of the first female CEO’s of a large retail brand. She continues to learn from colleagues on the Caleres and New York & Company boards.

Lori attended Bucknell University on a full scholarship to play field hockey and was also a cheerlead-er and lacrosse player. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology in 1982. Lori remains an active volunteer for her alma mater, serving as a member of the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy advisory board and as a speaker for the Institute for Leadership in Technology and Management program.

Lori splits her time between Sausalito and Charleston, S.C., with her husband David and dachshund Owen. Her daughter, Amanda, shares her love for brand building and founded Thelma, a contemporary collection of Italian-made loafers, in 2016.

Loyalty to Bucknell Award

Ronald L. Benjamin ’67, P’94, P’98Awarded to a member of the alumni community whose service, dedication and commitment

to alma mater are extraordinary.Ron Benjamin’s ’67, P’94, P’98 multi-faceted volunteerism and commitment to Bucknell

University has spanned several decades. In 1995, he began a 19-year term as a Board of Trustees member, chairing the compensation, audit and finance committee. Ron also served as a member of the Bucknell University Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1991 through 1996. The Bison Club, Annual Fund, College of Engineering and School of Management are just a few of the areas across campus that have benefitted from Ron’s involvement as a volunteer. He has displayed his Bucknell pride by contributing matching dollars to drive the Class of 1967’s Reunion giving efforts. He also hosted a reception in Kansas City to cheer on four Bucknellians — Walter Mc-Connell ‘53, Frank Arentowicz ‘69, Pat O’Malley ‘07 and Kyle Rosendale ‘07 — during the 2007 Bucknell-Penn Alumni Bike Race Across America which raised more than $1 million in scholar-ship support for Bucknell students. Ron currently serves as a Trustee Emeritus and chairs the 50th Reunion committee for the Class of 1967.

Ron attributes his undergraduate and graduate education opportunities to the generosity of others. He attended Bucknell University on an athletic scholarship and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. Ron played football and was president of both Sigma Chi and the Interfraternity Council. He held leadership roles with Omicron Delta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, and also served as editor of the Bucknell Engineer magazine. He attended Harvard University on a full academic scholarship and received a master’s of business administra-tion in 1969.

Over his 44-year career, Ron has used his entrepreneurial and innovative skills to succeed in seven business endeavors across various industries. All included successful exit strategies that have allowed Ron to repay the generosity that was extended to him during his student years by mentoring others in their entrepreneurial efforts, and by contributing to the formation, leadership and growth of several nonprofit community initiatives.

Ron and his wife Patricia have three children, Brenden ’94 (spouse Michele ’94), Jonathan ’98 and Anna, and reside in Leawood, Kansas, where he is an active member of the community and managing director of GreenEarth Cleaning. Earlier this year, Ron was the recipient of the Bucknell Athletics Leadership Institute’s Alumni Achievement Awards.

Young Alumni Award

Muyambi Muyambi ’12Awarded to a member of the alumni community who graduated in the last 15 years whose

professional accomplishments, service to alma mater, and/or selfless and caring work to benefit society are distinctive.

In 2008, as a first-year student at Bucknell, Uganda native Muyambi Muyambi set out to improve the standard of living in rural Africa. With a vision and seed funding from the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), Muyambi founded Bicycles Against Poverty (BAP). The nonprofit’s lease-to-own model provides bicycles to rural African communities to improve access to clean water, health care, schools and town resources. Muyambi has biked across the U.S. and Uganda to raise money for the effort and to date the organization has distributed 2,000 bicycles (read more in the winter 2015 issue of Bucknell Magazine).

Muyambi was one of five students invited to attend the annual CGI conference in September 2008. His partnership with CGI continued as a two-time mentor in the area of transportation and as a CGI University conference presenter. Muyambi also served as the keynote speaker for the 2011 Millennium Campus Conference.

Before coming to campus, Muyambi attended the last two years of high school in Norway at the Red Cross Nordic United World College, a school aimed at promoting international understanding. Myuambi graduated from Bucknell in 2012 with dual degrees in civil engineering and economics. He is a grantee of the esteemed Burma-Bucknell Bowl Award, received a personal letter from President Barack Obama acknowledging BAP, and was recognized as a 2013 National Geographic Traveler of the year. Other distinctions include being named the 2009 Bucknellian of the Year, placing as an east coast finalist for the national Stay Classy Volunteer of the Year award and receiving the Bucknell Agent of Change award, among other leadership awards.

Muyambi worked in the civil department at Clark Construction for nearly four years. His first project was the $1.2 billion Dulles Corridor Metrorail project in mid-2013. Currently Muyambi is pursuing a master’s of business administration at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business with a focus on finance. He continues to work with Bicycles Against Poverty in his free time.

Service to Humanity Award Matthew E. Karanian ’82

Awarded to a member of the alumni community whose selfless and caring work and deeds benefit society and humankind.

California attorney Matthew Karanian ’82 has dedicated a significant part of his career to promot-ing human rights and developing of the rule of law in Armenia, the ancestral home of his grandparents.

Matthew spent several years as an associate dean and professor of the law program at American University of Armenia. He launched the Armenian Law Review, Armenia’s first English language law review, and shortly after Armenia had re-established its independence in 1991, he served as an advo-cate for the interests of the country’s newly formed non-governmental organizations.

As a legal scholar, Matthew served as a Caucasus specialist while conducting research at George-town University. He started his legal career a decade earlier as a litigator with Hartford’s Halloran and Sage, the largest trial practice in Connecticut.

Matthew has published several books about Armenia. His latest publication, Historic Armenia After 100 Years, was recognized by the Independent Book Publishers Association as the top history book of 2016. This groundbreaking work is the first historical guide to Western Armenia — which is the designation used by Armenians to refer to Armenian lands that were ravished by genocide during World War I. It has been credited with introducing a lost part of Armenia to a new generation.

Matthew’s contributions to the development of cultural relations between the U.S. and Armenia were recently recognized by the Republic of Armenia. He received the nation’s prestigious Arshile Gorky Medal during a ceremony at the Armenian Consulate in Los Angeles on Armenian Indepen-dence Day, Sept. 21, 2016.

Matthew graduated from Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1982. He holds law degrees from Georgetown University Law Center and McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. While at Bucknell, he honed his photojournalism skills as a writer for and editor of The Bucknellian. He was also news director for WVBU-FM. Matthew practices law and resides in Pasadena, California.