centralightcentral michigan university alumni magazine summer 2011 learn here. Lead everywhere. Graduates – past and present – work to create global awareness and change centralight summer 2011 on the cover 10 features 4 15 Graduation Day Nuclear reaction More than 3,500 people became a Learn what CMU faculty say about part of the CMU legacy this spring the future of energy in the aftermath of Japan’s nuclear crisis. During the 9:30 a.m. Spring 6 Commencement ceremony, Master Faculty awards 18 of Business Administration graduates Celebrate the research and A virtual reality Jiyuan Hu, Wei Zhang, Elissa Richmond teaching recognized through Explore how a professor-led CMU team is and Kristina Griffus give recognition – CMU’s awards of excellence. creating an at-home physical therapy option and a quick wave – to their families. for people with traumatic brain injuries. COVER PHOTO BY PEGGY BRISBANE 10 Through the lens 24 Take a journey with CMU senior Libby Redefining community March as she travels to Haiti. Meet Norm Plumstead, ’95, and see why he decided to run 253 miles 14 in 12 days across Ethiopia. Translating success See how a state grant will give CMU 26 students the opportunity to further their A creative process cultural proficiency in a global economy. Get an art associate professor’s perspective on how recent travels to Italy benefit CMU classrooms. Executive Editor and Executive Director of Alumni Relations Marcie Otteman, ’87 Photographers 20 Robert Barclay Peggy Brisbane Graphic Designer Amy Gouin departments Writers 2 CMU Today 33 Connections Sarah Chuby, ’03 M.A. ’11 See how one CMU researcher is Your alumni association source. Dan Digmann making a big impact on the shrimp 36 Alumni News Communications committee industry; read about CMU recognizing Jeffrey L. Benjamin, ’86 two golden anniversaries of endeavors 39 In Memory Kevin Campbell, ’74 M.A. ’76 for peace and freedom; learn how two 40 I Am Central Kevin H. Richman, ’93 entrepreneurs won $30,000 to launch their business; and more. Vice President of Development and External Relations 9 Up Close With … Kathleen M. Wilbur Olympic gold medalist and humanitarian Ron Freeman Associate Vice President for University Communications 29 Giving Renée Walker, ’00 See how alumnus Dick Enberg is immortalized in the Events Center and For advertising information how students expressed gratitude to Call Cindy Jacobs, ’93 scholarship donors. 800-358-6903 30 Sports Take pride in field hockey’s national stay connected recognition for academic excellence; Send change of address relive the excitement of the successful information to: women’s basketball season; and more. Alumni Relations 2 Carlin Alumni House Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 Phone: 800-358-6903 Fax: 989-774-7159 E-mail: [email protected] 18 Web: cmualum.com 30% post-cosumer waste Centralight is published four times each year by the Central Michigan University Office of Alumni Relations. It is printed by Quad/Graphics, Midland, Mich., and entered at the Midland 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. UComm 8507–25,757 (5/11) centralight summer ’11 1 CMU Today Giant impact on shrimp business Philip Hertzler’s research has the According to Hertzler, the shrimp power to transform the shrimp industry is looking to maximize its industry. economic potential, just as the beef, pork and chicken industries have The CMU biology professor – used traditional breeding methods to using CMU’s new laser scanning improve the quality and production of confocal microscope – is focusing their animals. on the selective breeding of shrimp to help the industry “This makes a huge economic impact,” produce better shrimp. says Hertzler, who is working with his students to isolate genes from shrimp Australia’s Commonwealth that are known to be involved in germ Scientific and Industrial Research cell specification in other animals. Retired Peace Corps volunteer Michael Lavoie Organization recently awarded shares a statement of gratitude with CMU President Hertzler an AU $450,000 grant Hertzler’s research is part of a larger George E. Ross and his wife, Elizabeth G. Ross. over three years, marking the first collaborative project among the time CSIRO has awarded projects University of Queensland, University Honoring two anniversaries to groups outside of Australia. of Newcastle, Simon Fraser University (Canada), CMU and CSIRO partners. • The Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the country of Burkina Faso had a lot to celebrate. The 50th anniversaries of the establishment of the Peace Corps and the independence of Burkina Faso were a few months apart. To honor the occasion, the Friends of Burkina Faso held celebratory events across the African nation. Central Michigan University joined in the festivities, recognizing the dual anniversaries and donating $1,000 to repair an ambulance in the commune of Dargo. Michael Lavoie, retired Peace Corps volunteer and president of the Friends of Burkina Faso, says the words of the wife of the Colonel Ouedraogo, Great Mayor of Dargo, struck him, “She said, ‘I think it’s a great thing because it will save lives.’” “It was the right thing to do,” says CMU President George E. Ross. “This is a small world. I say to my students all the time on this campus, ‘We’re a small planet, and we have to experience other people, other cultures.’ The ideas of freedom, the ideas of loving and caring are universal ideas.” • Student entrepreneurs win start-up funds Two CMU students think they can change the way people pay for merchandise and services, and they recently won $30,000 to see if they’re right. Entrepreneurship majors Daniel Pearson and Tyler Gostinger received first place in the College of Business Administration’s inaugural New Venture Competition with their business plan for HybridPay, which will allow consumers to integrate multiple credit and rewards accounts onto one simple and secure smart phone application. “We’re going to use the $30,000 prize money to start and develop our application, our software,” says Gostinger. “In our projections, we have for the next three months the development stage,” says Pearson. “After that, hopefully we do a soft launch here on campus and make sure the system works right. After that, we’re off to the races.” A total of $45,000 was awarded in the competition, with graduate students Jason and Mick Baird winning the second-place prize of $10,000 and Benjamin Prentiss, ’10, and biology student Tony Johnson receiving the third-place prize of $5,000. • alumni.cmich.edu/centralight for more 2 centralight summer ’11 CMU Today Education and Human Services Building takes top honors The Construction Association of Michigan has named Central Michigan University’s Education and Human Services Building as the state’s top project of 2010. The award, which was announced at the Michigan Construction and Design Trade Show in Detroit, was the result of an online voting competition that highlighted 12 projects across the state. More than 6,200 online votes were cast, with CMU receiving nearly 40 percent of the total. “We are thrilled that our Education and Human Services Building was named as the state’s top project,” says Kathy Koch, interim dean of CMU’s College of Education and Human Services. “This facility represents the future of education in its emphasis on technology in the classroom, teaching spaces that encourage active student engagement, and attention to the importance of our environment as it influences teaching and learning.” Completed in June 2009, the $50 million, four-story, 137,000-square-foot building enhances the learning and classroom atmosphere for thousands of CMU students. The design process began in early 2006 and includes state-of-the-art academic instructional spaces, classroom labs and a child development center. • MHTV earns 10th straight Station of the Year honors For an unprecedented 10th consecutive year, the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts’ MHTV has been named College TV Station of the Year by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. “It’s a tribute to the unit as a whole, it’s also a tribute to the individual students’ achievements, their wins in categories that collectively come together to determine who gets Station of the Year,” says Peter Orlik, director of the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts. A large part of CMU’s continued success is the accomplishments of News Central 34, the only student-run hour-long newscast in the state and one of the few in the country. In this year’s MAB awards, News Central 34 took the top two places in the Daily Newscast category. CMU also won the Talk Show, Public Service Announcement, Sports Play-by-Play and Station Activities Report awards. • alumni.cmich.edu/centralight for more centralight summer ’11 3 teXT BY SARAH CHUBY, ’03 M.A. ’11 Whether the ceremony took place 50 years ago PHOTOS BY ROBERT BARCLAY or today, graduation marks the culmination AND PEGGY BRISBANE of a demanding, yet satisfying, journey. Soon-to-be CMU alumni hear their names called in recognition of their hard work and achievement. They sing the Alma Mater. They hear congratulations from family, friends and favorite professors. The Spring 2011 commencement welcomed 3,574 degree and certification recipients to join the CMU alumni family, which is more than 200,000 people worldwide. From locations in Mount Pleasant, across the nation, in Canada and Mexico, there were a combined 2,314 baccalaureate degrees, 1,132 master’s degrees, 74 doctoral degrees, 21 specialist degrees, and 33 graduate certificates awarded.