DeSales University 50 Years of Memories This DeSales University 50th Anniversary Memories Edition of the Magazine Includes: The Faculty and Staff Who’ve Inspired You Photos Through the Years Your Memories of Your Time on Campus letter from the president I attended the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s performance of Les Misérables—it was the finest produc- tion in the history of DeSales University and it vividly Fall 2015 announced that the University has “come of age” just Editor in time to celebrate 50 years of excellent contributions Laura R. Zielinski to the people of the Lehigh Valley (and beyond). As our Photographers 50th Anniversary Year continues, here are the upcoming Amy Hertzog ’10 Phil Stein events for the spring semester: Printing January 24 - 28, 2016: Alcom Printing Group, Inc. A special Heritage Week celebration honoring our 50th On the Cover: anniversary hosted by the Salesian Center for Faith and The sun breaks through Culture. The week will include Mass with the Bishop of the clouds in the late Allentown, a forum featuring CEO’s from local hospital afternoon sky over the DeSales University networks, a seminar on law and society, a town hall on social communications, Center. 50 years in and a lecture by the editor of Civilta Cattolica & papal interviewer. Visit www. and the Center Valley desales.edu/salesian for the complete schedule. campus just gets more and more beautiful. Spring 2016: We will dedicate a new statue, Jesus the Teacher, and we will honor the bishops, clergy, and people of Allentown as having called us into being from the “Heart President of the Church” (Ex Corde Ecclesiae). The date will be announced in early 2016. Fr. Bernard F. O’Connor, OSFS Vice President for Institutional March: The annual Dinner Dance on Saturday, March 19, 2016. Advancement Thomas L. Campbell April: The Marcon Lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 6, with Michelle Malkin, journalist and Fox News contributor. Executive Director of Communications Tom McNamara ’92 May: On May 21, Commencement will begin with a parade of the flags for each graduating class carried by alumni from each class. The Most Reverend Joseph Kurtz, D.D., Archbishop of Louisville, Ky., and president of the American Bishop’s Conference will offer the address. Bishop Kurtz is a native of the Lehigh Valley and an early member of the Board of Trustees of Allentown College. June: The Annual Convocation of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales will be held from June 20-23, 2016. We will officially conclude our year of celebration with the dedication of the statues in front of the Connelly chapel to the world-wide congregation of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and in particular to the mem- bers of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province for responding to the gracious invitation of Bishop Joseph McShea to create our University. Fr. Aldino Kiesel, OSFS, and his general council will be present. The DeSales University Magazine is published twice a year by the Institutional Advancement Office for the alumni and friends of the University. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please address all correspondence to Laura Bernard F. O’Connor Zielinski, editor, DeSales University Magazine, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034. President Phone: 610.282.1100, ext. 1359; fax 610.282.2059; or e-mail [email protected]. 2 Contents 4 The Faculty and Staff Who’ve Inspired You We asked our alumni to tell us about the faculty and staff who have touched their lives. Enjoy these beautiful tributes to the men and women who’ve given so much to DeSales. 12 A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words View the photos and captions submitted by alumni documenting their college years. 16 Your Memories Get nostalgic with memories submitted by alumni about their time in Center Valley. 23 Your Dreams for the Next 50 Years 24 Message From the Alumni Office 24 Class Notes 29 DeSales Creates New Monthly Giving Program 33 Help Us Find our Lost Alumni: over the years, we’ve lost touch with some of our alumni. If you have contact information for any of these alums or are still in touch with them, help us reconnect! Dooling Hall under construction. 3 faculty & staff who’ve inspired you DE SALES Faculty AND Staff WHO’ve INSPIRED YOU The following tributes were submitted by our alumni in honor of DeSales faculty and staff, past and present, who inspired their students. Would you like to add your voice to the discussion? E-mail [email protected] and your submission will be added to our anniversary web page—WWWW.DESALES.EDU/50. DR. GREGG AMORE, student life staff and I signed up for Organic Chemistry in a crazy, accelerated six- psychology faculty week format at another university. (When I eventually earned Submitted by Colleen Gavin ’13 an A in this—by far, the hardest class I had yet taken—I right Dr. Gregg Amore is passionate about away wrote a note to Dr. Berg thanking him for being such a his job. He cares about the students great professor and for giving me such a solid foundation in and strives to build character in chemistry that he helped me ace a class 20 years later). Halfway each person in his classes. I am lucky through OChem, though, my fellow students were starting to enough that I had the opportunity to complain: take several of his classes. He became a Ted: This isn’t fair, they’re expecting us to remember stuff mentor and life role model for me. He from Intro to Chem. That was way back, like last is not only successful, but he embodies the values taught at semester! DeSales University. Will: That’s nothing. It’s worse for me, I took Chem 101 the semester before last. There’s no way I should be DR. RODGER BERG, chemistry faculty expected to remember what we learned back then. Submitted by Teresa (Messineo) Manidis ’95 This is just nuts. We’re never going to pass. Dr. Roger Berg is a wonderful professor Me: How old are you? who positively impacted my life. Will: [Proudly, puffing out his chest, this lady thinks I’m just It had been 20 years since I earned a teenager, I’ll show her] I’m twenty. my bachelor’s degree from DeSales (in English, biology, and theology) Me: I took Intro to Chem the year before . you were born. and now I was taking pre-requisite classes, again at DeSales, toward a LEON BOLICH, economics faculty second career in medicine. The courses I took back in the ’90s were serving me well—even after my long hiatus, I found Submitted by The Hon. Stanley C. Wisniewski, Ph.D., J.D. ’69 myself getting As in classes like Microbiology and Anatomy & While there were a number of faculty and staff who made Physiology. a positive impression on my life—initially as teachers or 1965 -2015 4 DE SALES Faculty AND Staff WHO’ve INSPIRED YOU counselors and later as colleagues— there is one in particular I would like to acknowledge: Leon Bolich. Bolich was my first economics I signed up for Organic Chemistry in a crazy, accelerated six- professor. He was also the first week format at another university. (When I eventually earned chairman of the economics department an A in this—by far, the hardest class I had yet taken—I right while simultaneously serving as the away wrote a note to Dr. Berg thanking him for being such a treasurer for the college, all at an age not so far removed from great professor and for giving me such a solid foundation in my own. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the Catholic chemistry that he helped me ace a class 20 years later). Halfway University of America (CUA). With his encouragement and through OChem, though, my fellow students were starting to support throughout my student years at the college, I followed complain: in his footsteps, earning my Ph.D. in economics at CUA, and he welcomed me back to the college as a faculty member. Ted: This isn’t fair, they’re expecting us to remember stuff DR. RODGER BERG, chemistry faculty from Intro to Chem. That was way back, like last Later, when I became chair of the economics department, Bolich & DR. JOSEPH COLOSI, biology faculty provided encouragement and support for the various new semester! Submitted by Gregory Roth ’88, MD, CPE, FACEP initiatives I proposed that ultimately led to the establishment Will: That’s nothing. It’s worse for me, I took Chem 101 I entered Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales in the of the new accounting and business programs at the college (as the semester before last. There’s no way I should be Spring of 1985 as an accounting/business major. Shortly described in Fr. Pocetto’s faithful history of the early days at the expected to remember what we learned back then. after that, my career choice changed to medicine. For college, Drawing Out The Goodness (2005) at pp. 110-111). This is just nuts. We’re never going to pass. various reasons, I decided to keep my business track but What Leon Bolich did for me was not accompanied by stern focus all of my electives on the sciences. Me: How old are you? lectures or great fanfare; rather it was marked by quiet generosity Dr. Rodger Berg and Dr. Joseph Colosi immediately Will: [Proudly, puffing out his chest, this lady thinks I’m just and a simple willingness to help someone. I can only hope that became extremely influential in and supportive of my a teenager, I’ll show her] I’m twenty.