John Grogan, '79, Talks About His Bad Dog, Marley, and the Best-Seller He Inspired
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Central Michigan University Winter 2006 John Grogan, ’79, talks about his bad dog, Marley, and the best-seller he inspired. 2,007by Help us. Help yourself. CMU Gold Member Gold CMU 2007The CMU Alumni Association is within striking distance of reaching its goal to recruit 2,007 new Gold Members by the year 2007. Our campaign will end in less than a month. Can we count you in? We invite you to join the hundreds of CMU alumni who already are enjoying Gold Member benefi ts, including reduced prices on hotels, travel, apparel, entertainment, and more. Think of it this way: The discounts will more than cover your $35 annual membership. To learn more about Gold Member benefi ts, see www.alumni.cmich.edu. Your $35 annual membership supports: • Homecoming Weekends • Statewide and nationwide alumni activities such as social networking events and football tailgate receptions • Student Alumni Association events that offer students opportunities to network with CMU alumni 2,007 by 2007. We’re counting on you. Become a Gold Member today! (800) 358-6903 (toll free) www.alumni.cmich.edu Click on “Gold Membership” CMU is an AA/EO institution (see www.cmich.edu/aaeo). Centralight Volume 75 • Number 4 • Winter 2006 Executive Editor and Director of Alumni Relations Mary Lu Yardley, ’90 MSA ’92 Editor Barbara Sutherland Chovanec Photographers 4 10 13 Robert Barclay Peggy Brisbane Writers Cynthia J. Drake Don Helinski, ’96 On the cover Matt Park Scott Rex 6 A muse named Marley Rob Wyman Alumnus John Grogan shares how one good book came from one bad dog. Graphic designer Sydnee MacKay, ’98 Features Communications Committee Kevin Campbell, ’74 MA ’76 3 Crime fighter Darcy Orlik, ’92 MSA ’95 Meet Andrew Arena – on the watch for the FBI. Shirley Posk, ’60 24 Honor roll of donors Judy Smith, ’65 CMU’s annual thank-you to university supporters. Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Departments Michael Leto 2 Take Five Associate Vice President Professors address energy costs and infertility; other for Public Relations and Marketing campus briefs. Rich Morrison 4 Journeys For Advertising Information For the first time ever, CMU students and professors are call Cindy Jacobs, ’93 tackling HIV/AIDS in South Africa. (800) 358-6903 9 Sports Meet CMU Tigers and get geared up for winter sports. 12 In Support Donors blast through a $50 million goal as New Vision of Excellence campaign ends. Stay Connected 14 Maroon and Gold Your alumni association source. Send change of address information to: 38 Alumni in Action Alumni relations 40 In Memoriam Carlin Alumni House Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 Phone: (800) 358-6903 Fax: (989) 774-7159 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.cmualum.com Centralight is published four times each year by the Central Michigan University Office of Alumni Relations. It is printed by Village Press Inc., Traverse City, and entered at the Traverse City Post Office under nonprofit mailing. CMU (an AA/EO institution) strongly and actively strives to increase diversity within its community (see www.cmich. edu/aaeo). CMU provides individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in the activities, programs and services announced in this publication. Individuals with disabilities requiring an accommodation to participate in a program should call the event sponsor. Winter 2006 Centralight 1 TAKE FIVE Lowering power costs through wind, French fries In the wake of sky-high gas prices, two CMU professors are examining alternative energy sources as ways to lower the campus gas and power costs. Frederick Phelps, associate physics professor, is embarking on a two-year $12,000 project Infertility research looks to worms for answers to determine whether the campus experiences enough wind velocity to make wind-powered Tiny worms may one day smooth out obstacles similarly to humans – in hopes of discovering ways generators feasible. to fertility. of reversing infertility in organisms. Dale LeCaptain, assistant chemistry Jennifer Schisa, assistant biology professor, has Recently she logged a possible breakthrough when professor, is exploring efficient been researching Caenorhabditis elegans worms – she injected sperm proteins into infertile worms, ways to make bio-diesel fuel simple organisms whose cells and proteins operate restoring fertility characteristics to the eggs. from used cooking oils “I’m pretty excited about it,” and greases. He hopes says Schisa, who received a eventually to fine- three-year, $195,964 grant tune the process from the National Institutes enough to allow the of Health. university to recycle used cooking oils While her findings show from its residence promise, her basic hall kitchens for use in research is only laying the its motor pool. groundwork for a human infertility cure that is at “That’s where the new sources least two decades away. • are going to be developed – doing research into alternative energies,” LeCaptain BERT BARCLAY BERT O R said. “Every little bit is going to help.” • A collection These aren’t your mother’s dorms to stir your taste buds Poet Henri Coulette wrote: “Recipes are like poems; they keep what kept us.” The public can now page through the evolution of what kept Michigan cooking more than 150 RISBANE years, thanks to an archive of 1,500 regional B EGGY cookbooks at CMU’s Clarke Historical Library. P BY S O “Michigan Cookbooks: 150 Years of Mostly Good T O Meals,” an exhibition featuring 70 of the books PH from the Maureen Hathaway Michigan Culinary With the opening of the two brand new Fabiano • Students can grab a plate of food from the Archive, is on display through Dec. 21. and Celani residence halls this fall, more students complex’s new Mongolian-themed restaurant, “This increase in the Clarke’s holdings occurred are scrambling to live on campus. Here’s why: and they have the option of dining in a cozy meeting room with two fireplaces at a time when scholarly opinion about cookbooks • The halls accommodate 456 students arranged was changing dramatically,” said Clarke Historical in suites with four bedrooms, a living area, • For late night munchies, residents can hit the Library Director Frank Boles. “Scholars have kitchenette, and two bathrooms Fresh Market convenience store begun to use cookbooks as windows allowing • Suites include air conditioning and climate control • A new fitness center boasts the latest in them to view social history that is otherwise in each room, high-speed Internet connections in workout equipment difficult to see.” • each room, and wireless networking • A beautiful water fountain highlights the • Two classrooms inside the halls make going to landscaping surrounding the halls, and in winter class a cinch – plus one of the classrooms is when the fountain freezes, students can ice super-mediated with 3-D interactive technology skate on it. • 2 Centralight Winter 2006 Crime fighter Kidnappers, gangsters, and tax evaders beware. Andrew Arena is on the job. By Barbara Sutherland Chovanec Arena, ’85, is special counterterrorism division. He transferred to agent in charge of the New York City in 2004 as his eighth assignment criminal division of the with the FBI. FBI in New York City. “This has been a great experience,” he says The division handles about working in NYC. “We really have taken to PHOTO crime in three categories: the area. It’s a great city.” white collar crime; He also has worked in Syracuse, New York; Los courtesy organized crime; and Angeles; and Youngstown and Cleveland, Ohio. gangs, criminal enterprises, and violent crimes. Banking, corporate fraud, and Internet crimes fall Arena said one of the biggest cases he worked into this area – such as the ImClone and Martha on was breaking up a complex system of public Stewart case. corruption and organized crime in Youngstown. He and his team helped convict 70 people in two “There’s no shortage of crime. It’s good job years and included the case against Jim Traficant security,” Arena says with a chuckle. Jr., the Ohio Congressman convicted of taking Each morning he drives the 40-mile commute bribes, filing false tax returns, and racketeering. from Branchburg, N.J., into the city. Arena has devoted his life to protecting the After an early workout at the gym, he gets public and upholding the Constitution. started on his tightly scheduled days filled “This work is really kind of your life – I don’t with news conferences, meetings with the U.S. consider it a job,” he says. “I’m one of the few attorney’s office, the New York Police Department people I know who really loves what they do. In staff, and other law enforcement agencies. 18½ years, there haven’t been very many days As special agent in charge of the criminal when I have not wanted to go to work. I think division, Arena oversees 500 agents, 40 squad there are very few people who can say that.” supervisors, and three assistant special agents. However, Arena admits that the job, and all its “I take care of the people who work for me,” he associated moves, has been unsettling for his says. “I take that seriously. They’re putting their family. He and his wife have three girls, ages lives on the line every day.” 14, 3, and 1. Don Ackerman, one of Arena’s assistant special Arena grew up in Riverview, Michigan, with a agents, says “morale is really up” in the division, brother, sister-in-law, and uncle all as Detroit thanks to Arena. police officers. “He has excellent interpersonal skills, he’s laid He wanted to study history in college, and back, dynamic, and down-to-earth. And he’s he first learned about CMU when he saw the serious when he has to be,” Ackerman says.