centralight fall 2015 WELCOME BACK BONAMEGO RETURNS TO CMU FOR HIS DREAM JOB centralight fall 2015 on the cover CMU’s newest head football coach, John Bonamego, couldn’t be happier to back at his alma mater doing the job he loves. PHOTO BY STEVE JESSMORE ’81 6 12 features 12 22 Get fired up! Virtual tour There’s so much more than football If it’s been awhile since you’ve visited happening on campus this homecoming campus, you might be surprised to see how weekend. it’s grown and changed. 14 40 Take your pride on the road Do you remember? More than 8,000 grads, employees, fans Alumni Field was home to all sorts of sports and students are wearing their CMU for decades. Do you know what sits in its “heart” on their license plates across place today? Michigan. Executive Editor and Executive Director of Alumni Relations Marcie Otteman Grawburg, ’87 20 Editor Betsy Miner-Swartz, ’86 Managing Editor Robin Miner-Swartz Graphic Designer Amy Gouin Photographer Steve Jessmore, ’81 Writers departments Cynthia Drake, M.A. ’08 Terri Finch Hamilton, ’83 4 CMU Today Andy Sneddon College of Medicine launches its Saginaw facility with a grand opening Research Associate Bryan Whitledge 32 Hidden Central Editorial Assistants CMU’s Biological Station on Beaver Island Vicki Begres provides opportunities for hands-on Lori Conroy coursework, research and student employment. Communications Committee Rebeca Barrios 34 Alumni news Kevin Campbell, ’74, M.A. ’76 The Transportation Security Administration’s Tom Wrobec new leader is a Chippewa. Vice President of Development and External Relations 38 In Memory Kathleen M. Wilbur Associate Vice President of University Communications Sherry Knight, ’86 32 For advertising information Call Cindy Jacobs, ’93 (800) 358-6903 stay connected Send change of address 22 information to: Alumni Relations Carlin Alumni House Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 Phone: (800) 358-6903 Fax: (989) 774-7159 Email: [email protected] Web: cmich.edu/alumni/Centralight Body contains 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, and entered at the Midland Post Office under nonprofit mailing. CMU, an AA/EO institution, provides equal opportunity to all persons, including minorities, females, veterans and individuals with disabilities (see cmich. edu/ocrie). Copies of Centralight are distributed to alumni and friends of the university who are paid Gold Members or donors to CMU. A virtual edition of the magazine is available free online at alumni.cmich.edu/centralight. UComm 9369–25,000+ (8/15) centralight fall ’15 1 CMU, an AA/EO institution, provides equal opportunity to all persons, including minorities, females, veterans and individuals with disabilities (see cmich.edu/ocrie). UComm 9229 Calendar Welcome home. We missed you. September By Marcie Otteman Grawburg, ’87 21 Executive director of alumni relations Great Lakes Bay Region Scholarship Golf Outing, I was walking in front of Warriner Hall on a beautiful Apple Mountain, Freeland afternoon this summer when I ran into four women snapping photos and discussing where to go next on 26 campus. I stopped and introduced myself and asked if CMU at MSU, East Lansing they were back for a visit or reunion? TBD Art Prize, Grand Rapids I discovered they were roommates during their time on campus in the late 1970s and had been getting together for many years to spend a few days together. One of the October four was back for the very first time since graduation. 3 Homecoming weekend, Mount Pleasant campus “What did you do with my CMU?” she asked. 3 We all had a good laugh about the changes here, but that got me thinking about 50-year class reunion, Mount Pleasant campus how we embrace change as progress and opportunity, yet we still long for things 9 to be the same. New York Philharmonic, Ann Arbor In this issue, we’ll take you on a virtual tour of your campus and show you some 17 of the shiny new things right along with the old haunts – the places you CMU vs. Buffalo, Mount Pleasant campus remember and love the most from your days here. 18 We also will travel back a few decades to recount our tradition of homecoming Jersey Boys, Wharton Center, East Lansing kings (now Gold Ambassadors) and how those men joined the women in being 23-25 recognized for their leadership every fall. We will introduce you to John Mackinac Island Alumni Weekend, Bonamego, CMU’s new head football coach and the first alum to lead the Mackinac Island program since 1966. We will learn about Bono’s dream to coach for his alma mater and how it came true when he was hired in February after a career November coaching in the NFL, most recently two seasons with the Detroit Lions. 13-16 As I left my four new friends in front of Warriner, still home to CMU’s Second annual Alumni Cruise, Bahamas administration, I walked right into three more coming from the Bookstore, where they had picked up some new CMU gear. I again asked the women if they were December here for a reunion. “Sort of,” they said. “We came up for the Keith Urban concert at Soaring Eagle.” They, too, were all college roommates still connected, 12 years 3 Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers, after leaving campus in 2003. Bags in hand, they were headed to grab something Ford Field, Detroit to eat at the iconic Bird Bar & Grill downtown before going to the show. 16 While some things do change, some remain steadfast. The lifelong connections Straight No Chaser, Fox Theatre, Detroit made at CMU are as constant as Warriner Hall and its striking collegial architecture. As fall returns and classes are back in session, it’s comforting to know that no This is a small sampling of the many alumni events throughout the U.S. Please visit alumni.cmich.edu matter how much the campus changes, we are all forever maroon and gold. for a comprehensive list. Happy homecoming, centralight fall ’15 3 CMU, an AA/EO institution, provides equal opportunity to all persons, including minorities, females, veterans and individuals with disabilities (see cmich.edu/ocrie). UComm 9229 CMU Today See videos and more at our virtual magazine, alumni.cmich.edu/centralight CMU football player dies after College of Medicine launches two-year cancer battle Saginaw facility with grand opening Derrick Nash, a 20-year-old redshirt freshman cornerback from Simulated exams, procedures, surgeries and state-of-the-art Saginaw, died of leukemia on June 22. technology were on display in June as the CMU College of Medicine hosted the grand opening of its new educational Nash was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2013 building in Saginaw. as a high school senior, after signing his national letter of intent to play football for CMU. President George E. Ross welcomed more than 200 guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 46,000-square-foot facility, which Following chemotherapy in the summer and fall of 2013, Nash was completed in May. Members of the College of Medicine’s joined CMU in January 2014 and took part in spring practice. He inaugural class of 64 students, who started in 2013, began their played in the Chippewas’ annual Maroon and Gold Spring Game third year of studies in the facility in July. at Kelly/Shorts Stadium and was on schedule to claim a spot on the active roster for the 2014 season when his cancer returned. “Our founding class … will be at St. Mary’s, they will be at Covenant, He served as CMU’s honorary captain for the 2014 Popeyes they will be with community physicians,” says George Kikano, dean Bahamas Bowl. of the College of Medicine. “By next June, all 64 students will have done clinical rotations in Saginaw. We have really committed to this “Derrick fought a great fight, and building. This is going to be the hub for training for our students.” • he will never be forgotten,” CMU head coach John Bonamego says. “I never got to coach Derrick on the football field, but I am proud to have been his coach the last few months. He is one of the toughest young men I have ever known, and the determination and resolve he showed is how we will always remember him. • Search launched for VP of advancement President George E. Ross announced plans this summer to separate the development and external relations functions at CMU as fundraising efforts accelerate on behalf of students, the colleges and the university as a whole. At the same time, CMU will see heightened work with political leaders and communities. A search for a vice president of advancement began this summer. Kathy Wilbur, who has served as vice president of development and external relations since 2011, will become VP of government and external relations once the new advancement leader is appointed. In her new role, Wilbur will focus on policy matters in Lansing and in Washington, D.C., and direct the university’s community relations efforts, including those with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. “Kathy has done an extraordinary job serving in this combined role for more than four years,” Ross says. “She has been and continues to be a vital, effective player in bringing CMU to new prominence. This is a time of great momentum for CMU.” • STEVE JESSMORE PHOTO BY 44 centralight fall ’15 CMU Today Children experience campus through GrandparentsU CMU hosted the eighth annual Grandparents University, a summer camp that brings grandparents and their grandchildren together for three days of fun on campus.