Alumni Newsletter
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Alumni Newsletter Spring Edition Newsletter Designed and Developed By: Carolyn Bacon — Editor; Dennis McNaboe — Layout and Design Barbara McClain — Typing & Proofreading Anthony Anastasia — Proofreading A message from the President By President Danny Finuf First and most importantly, I hope all of you and your families are staying healthy during the very unusual time in our world. The COVID-19 virus has impacted the University in many ways but I am pleased to inform you that we are doing well. All of our students were sent home in March as the Governor of West Virginia issued a Stay at Home order for all non- essential businesses. It was at this time that all of our students moved from campus-based instruction to online instruction. We are fortunate as a University to already have a full online teaching platform in place, thus the transition was fairly smooth. I am specifically thankful to our academic leadership and our faculty for making this transition as easy as possible for our campus based students. Unfortunately, the stay at home order resulted in the cancellation of our spring sports teams which was very disappointing. However, our athletic leadership, coaches and students handled it very well. I am proud of all of them and for how hard they worked to ensure the health and safety of our student athletes. I am also proud of our faculty and staff who worked tirelessly to ensure all individuals at the university were properly cared for, especially due to how quickly this came upon us. As Alumni, we care for you as well. Knowing you are safe and healthy is important as we all manage our lives through this unprecedented pandemic. Please keep us up to date by reaching out at any time to our Director of Alumni Relations, Car- olyn Bacon or our Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Dennis McNaboe. We are now planning for the fall semester and our 2020/2021 academic year. Although we understand that there are still decisions to make regarding travel, social distancing and athletic events, we are focused on the future while we adhere to our health experts and governmental authority. We are planning some improvements around campus during the summer months while our students are away. Residence Hall upgrades, soccer field and softball field upgrades, replacing the con- crete paths around the campus and improved lighting for safety, just to name a few. We still have to secure some funding to complete this and we believe that will be in place by the end of May. We did have a very good 2019/2020 academic and athletic year. Many of our students continue to shine in their academic studies and in our athletic programs. The improvements in some of our fall athletic teams were terrific and our spring teams started out with great success, even though their seasons were shortened due to the COVID-19. The continued im- provement our coaches have made in recruiting, academic excellence, game excellence and compliance have been out- standing. We are proud of each of them and the terrific young men and women underneath their leadership. Letter from the President — Cont’d Now as we face the beginning of a new academic year, the key question remains, what new guidelines must everyone fol- low to ensure the safety and health of everyone on our campus. Our faculty and staff are our greatest resource, and our students are our highest priority. We expect to have a full set of updated standards in which we must adhere to, which will put the safety and health of all who come to Salem as our top priority. Even with these new standards, we believe an exciting year is ahead of us. We appreciate all of you who have passed through this great University and the legacy you have left for others to follow. This has been a tough few months, but we expect to manage through it and to come out stronger than ever. We want you to continue to be a part of Salem University in any way you desire. Whether that is being an active part of our alumni base, a volunteer at various events or by donating to the foundation to increase the scholarship opportunities of our current and future students. You can reach out directly to Dennis McNaboe, Dean of Student Affairs by email at [email protected] or by phone at 304-326-1482 if you would like additional information. You may also reach out to Carolyn Bacon, Director of Alumni Rela- tions [email protected] Thank you for your continued partnership and support. Stay safe and go Tigers! New Years Eve Celebration Our 3 families have been celebrating New Year's Eve together since 1970. In the early days, our 3 couples with 7 children under 7 stayed overnight and we rotated houses for the celebration. Now these "kids" are middle aged with families of their own and WE don't like to be out after dark. So we celebrate "New Year's Eve" early in December with lunch. Gordon's wife Judy who was an important part of this group passed away Back Row: Mary Cartright Steesy '62, Janet Clough Isabelle '64, John Isabelle '64. Front row: Walt Steesy '62 and N Gordon in 2006. Gray '64. All except Mary were Humanics Grads. Janet Isabelle Where Are They Now —The 1990’s Kim Bergoine; Class of 1990 BS Athletic Training/Psychology MS degree — WVU Worked as athletic trainer for 13 years Youth Mental and Behavior Health — 16 years Resides in Cokeburg, PA Traci Bonsall; Class of 1991 BS-Athletic training and physical education Minor in Health Education/Safety Education Physical Therapist for 20 years Resides in Bridgeport, WV Page 2 2021 ALUMNI TRAVEL Patrick Haun ‘71 Your Alumni Association is developing plans to offer domestic and foreign travel opportunities for its members, their families, and close friends! We need your help to narrow our destination choic- es. Listed below are several destinations, but your vote/feedback will be helpful in moving toward making the travel arrangements happen. Let’s think positive and assume we will have a vaccine or medical solutions leading to freedom from CV19 or other similar maladies in 2021. We ask you to select your top 3 destinations from those listed below, then email your selection to ([email protected]) by June 15, 2020. Past Association President, Patrick Haun ‘71, has agreed to Chair this committee and or- ganize the various journeys. Each trip, whether domestic or foreign, will be inclusive. That means MOST travel expenses would be included in our cost: 4 star hotel accommodations, 2 meals (sometimes 3 meals) per day, travel insurance, ground journey transportation via private coach, entrance fee’s to itinerary attractions, professional tour guide, all gratui- ties. By August 1, 2020, we will announce the Salem Alumni Travel and contract with experienced professional travel plan- ners to coordinate our trip details. Here are some present possibilities. Select your top 3: Las Vegas and Grand Canyon (5 day) NYC Theater and New England Fall Tour (5 day) Mississippi River cruise (7 day) Ireland (12 day) London, Paris, Rome (14 day) Rhine River cruise (12 day) Caribbean cruise (7 day) “The Old Salem College Facebook Page” I attended Salem College from 1965 to 1969. During that time I had a lot of classmates and met a lot of folks not only from the college but also a lot from the town of Salem. Lots of those have been friends for a long time. After graduation I have tried to stay in touch with a lot of alums. I attended several Homecomings over the years. I tried to stay in touch also by telephone calls. This lasted until the Social media era arrived. So now we are in contact over the media called Facebook. A few of us talked about using this method to get in touch with other classmates and friends that we met while attending Salem College. In January 2010 we started the Old Salem College group site. The purpose of this group is to connect with individuals who attended Sa- lem College. It is also opened to all who attended any of the former named Salem College's and now Salem University. Who wants to share in fellowship, friendship, and memories, stories, pictures of their times at Salem? The way we all remembered what it use to be like at Salem. We are now over 1300 plus in membership. Just in the last month we have grown about 130 members. Our group site has a lot to offer members through Photos, Stories and lots of Memories of our times at Salem to share with others. I want to thank all of the members of our group for all your contributions in making the Old Salem College group site successful. Please spread the word to all of your former classmates and friends that you have met while at Salem about our Old Salem College group site on Facebook. If interested in becoming a member: Go to the Facebook page.. then key in “old Salem college/ West Virginia.” Questions: Email [email protected] or call or Text 1-804-690-3368. Thanks for all your help, Woody Page 3 Alumni Council President Update On behalf of your Alumni Council, I hope you and your family are safe and well during this virus outbreak. Those of us who are retired probably only notice a slight change in our daily routine but those of you who are still working or have children at home are experiencing a life style change.