on campus

Spring Commencement 2009 Wilkes University held its annual spring commencement on May 16 at Wachovia Arena. It was a day to celebrate for more than 700 undergraduate and graduate students. John Brooks Slaughter, president and CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, delivered the commencement address “Building Your Future.”

A commitment to EXCELLENCE is unquestionably important.You who graduate today, in particular, must recognize that the FUTURE is what you will make it to be. It depends upon what you do today and every day and tomorrow thereafter. Your DESTINATION IN LIFE will be determined

Top right: Commencement is a reason to smile for Caitlin Dukas and Wayland Davis, who graduated by your acts and not by your intentions. with degrees in psychology. – John Brooks Slaughter, Inset: Tricia Stefanick receives her doctor of president and CEO, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, pharmacy degree from President Tim Gilmour. PHOTOS BY MICHAEL P. TOUEY Spring 2009 Commencement Speaker

Leadership Program for Youth who will participate in a Leadership Day sponsored by the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership. Highlights Outstanding Leaders Forum The program, now in its third year, brings students When Elie Wiesel was a teenager, he and his family endured the horrors of from about 10 high schools in the region for a day the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Years later, Wiesel of leadership training. chronicled his experiences in the memoir Night . His story comes to Wilkes In order to allow as many students and University when Wiesel—now a Nobel Laureate—is the guest speaker for the community members as possible to hear Wiesel annual Outstanding Leaders Forum on Nov. 17. speak, tickets to the public lecture on Nov. 17 Night has been translated into more than 30 languages and has sold millions are $10. The lecture is at 8 p.m. in the F.M. 9 0

0 of copies since its original publication in 1956. It is required reading for many Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. 2 l l a

F of today’s high school and college students. For more information, please contact the | High school students in northeast Pennsylvania will have a special Wilkes University Special Events Office at S E

K opportunity in conjunction with Wiesel’s visit to Wilkes. He will interact in a (570) 408-4306 or 4330. L I

W question-and-answer session with about 120 students from area high schools

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Lawrence Reed of the Foundation for BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPROVES Free Enterprise to Deliver Kirby Lecture NEXT PHASE OF LAW SCHOOL PLANNING INITIATIVE The Foundation for Economic Education is Wilkes University’s Board of Trustees one of the oldest and most approved the proposal for a new law school respected institutes in the United on June 5, setting the stage for the next States. Its president, phase of planning for the professional Lawrence Reed, will school. The board’s action clears the way for deliver the Allan P. Kirby the administration to develop a business plan Lecture in Free Enterprise to secure the necessary financial resources, and Entrepreneurship on identify a suitable building for the new Oct. 8, 2009. He will speak school and seek final board approval. The at 7:30 p.m. in the Dorothy proposal was approved contingent on the Dickson Darte Center for University being able to raise the necessary the Performing Arts. The funds without taxing the university’s other Kirby Lecture kicks off schools, programs or priorities. Homecoming Weekend Tim Gilmour, Wilkes president, said he activities at Wilkes. hopes to seat the inaugural class of 60 full- The foundation, based in time students and 25 part-time students in Irvington, N.Y., promotes Lawrence Reed of the Foundation for and researches free-market, Free Enterprise will deliver the Kirby 2011. “Creating a law school for Lecture on Oct. 8. classic liberal, and libertarian northeastern Pennsylvania is a once-in-a- ideas. The foundation publishes the journal , for which Reed lifetime opportunity that will have a writes the column “Ideas and Consequences.” In 1998, he was elected significant impact on Wilkes University and chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees and re-elected chairman in the surrounding communities by increasing 1999 and 2000. graduate-level educational opportunities, Before assuming this role, Reed served as president of the Mackinac creating jobs, and speeding the region’s Center for Public Policy for its first two decades and remains president economic recovery,” says Gilmour. emeritus of the center. Under his leadership, the Mackinac Center The new law school curriculum will emerged as the largest of over 40 state-based free-market think tanks incorporate Wilkes’ emphasis on building in America. close relationships between students and As a freelance journalist, Reed’s interests in political and economic mentors. It will also stimulate the region’s affairs have taken him to 69 countries on six continents since 1985. From firsthand experience, he has reported on in South America, economy by creating new jobs and bringing voodoo in Haiti, black markets behind the , reforms and hundreds of students to downtown Wilkes- repression in China and Cambodia, recent developments in Eastern Barre and will supply talented lawyers to Europe, and civil war inside Nicaragua and Mozambique. lead the region’s law firms, businesses and Reed holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Grove City government entities. College and a master’s degree in history from Slippery Rock University, Initial work on the project began in 2004 both in Pennsylvania. with discussions that led to the formation of a preliminary feasibility committee. In May 2008, Loren D. Prescott Jr. was appointed dean of the Wilkes Law School

Planning Initiative (proposed). 9 0 0 2 l For more information about the law l a F

school initiative, contact Prescott at | S E

[email protected] or visit www.law.wilkes.edu . K L I W

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Wilkes pharmacy students Kevin Brittain, left, and his brother, Alex, work at Triangle Pharmacy, in Mountain Top, Pa., their hometown. PHOTO BY VICKI MAYK

attended the Wilkes School of Pharmacy. Two other families have had three siblings attend Wilkes School of Pharmacy. The Breznak family includes Valarie, Pharm.D. ’08; Daniel, Pharm.D. candidate class of 2010; and Christina, Pharm.D. candidate class of 2013. The Graver family includes Kristen (Graver) Rudelitch, Pharm.D. ’03; Kimberly Graver, Pharm.D. ’07; and David Graver, Pharm.D. candidate class of 2011. In the case of the Brittain brothers, the Wilkes connection extends to their father, attorney Robert R. Brittain Jr. ’70, and Jeff’s wife, Kristy (Hulings) Brittain, Pharm.D. ’05. Jeff says he chose the career after working at Triangle Pharmacy. “I liked the job, saw the relationship that the owners had with their customers and thought I’d give it a whirl,” he says. Kevin followed in his Family Legacies Mark brother’s footsteps working there and soon found himself First Decade of Wilkes choosing the same career path. School of Pharmacy “Seeing the impact that At Triangle Pharmacy in Mountain Top, pharmacists can have on patient Pa., customers know what to expect: care convinced me,” he says. personal service, a friendly staff—and, for Their younger brother Alex the last decade, one of the Brittain brothers says he “looked at pharmacy working behind the counter. schools all over the east coast,” Jeff Brittain, Pharm.D. ’05, and his but found the best choice was brothers Kevin, Pharm.D. candidate class close to home at Wilkes. “I like of 2010, and Alex, Pharm.D. candidate that the classes are not large. Jeff Brittain, Pharm.D. ’05 and wife Kristy (Hulings) Brittain, class of 2012, have all worked at the Pharm.D. ’05 are part of the Brittain family legacy at Wilkes. You can get to know people pharmacy in their hometown. And all PHOTO COURTESY JEFF BRITTAIN and your professors on a more three have gone on to study pharmacy at Wilkes. personal level,” Alex says, echoing a sentiment As the School of Pharmacy prepares to voiced by his siblings. Almost 10 celebrate its 10th anniversary, marking a decade After graduating from Wilkes, Jeff served three since graduating the first class, legacy families years as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. He now PERCENT already abound in the professional school. works as a clinical pharmacist at Medical University According to Bernard Graham, dean of the of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C. His wife, of our graduates are Nesbitt College of Pharmacy and Nursing, about Kristy, is teaching at the university. He says attending 25 pairs of siblings have graduated or enrolled in Wilkes—a relatively new School of Pharmacy—had RELATED to the professional program. advantages. “Everything was current and based on each other, not “Almost 10 percent of our graduates are the latest practice in the field.” related to each other, not counting marriages,” counting marriages. Graham states. The statistic is surprising for a program that accepts only 70 students annually. Attend the Pharmacy Reunion during The Brittains are among three legacy families 9 – Bernard Graham, Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 9-11. 0 0 2 in the pharmacy program with a special l dean of the Nesbitt College of

l See page 19 for details! a F Pharmacy and Nursing distinction: three siblings in the same family | S E K L I W

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5 WILKES | Fall 2009