CAA Championship Mound After putting together a four-game winning streak, the Tiger baseball team took home the 2013 CAA Championship title and also earned an NCAA bid, their first since 1991. What’s more, senior catcher Andrew Parker and senior pitcher Mike Volpe signed free agent contracts with the Atlanta Braves. This was a storybook season where how hard work and perseverance paid off. Now it’s your turn to go to bat for the team. Visit www.towsontigers.com/supportbaseball. DISCONNECTED 8 Students are disconcerted when forced to disconnect from social media. DREAMS + DRIVE = MAKING A DIFFERENCE 11 FEATURES Renee Foose ’93 leads one of Maryland’s highest-achieving school systems. WINNING WORDS 14 Towson’s nationally ranked debate team uses strategy and spin to out-argue Ivy League rivals. IN HIS SHOES 18 Take a 400-mile walk in South Africa with Jay Simpson ’09, a National Geographic Young Explorer. COMMAND DECISIONS 22 Long before Greg McClinton ’86 became commander of Aberdeen Proving Ground, he had to choose a life in the military. PRESIDENT’S LETTER 2 NEWS AND NOTES 3 ALUMNI NEWS 25 Hospitality and a Hero Distinguished Alumni and Deans Recognition Awards DEPARTMENTS Golden Reunion for Class of 1963 PHILANTHROPY 32 Phonathon Fundamentals Addressing the Wage Gap CLASS NOTES 36 Full of Life A Motivator and Mentor Keynote Instructor Stand-up on the Spectrum FIND MORE ONLINE magazine.towson.edu owson has witnessed an explosion of activity this spring and summer, welcoming new people or opening the doors of new or renovated buildings. T In May, we inaugurated Tiger Arena with our 148th Commencement, followed in June by the basketball wizardry of the Harlem Globetrotters. Two months later, the sports complex became SECU Arena following an agreement with State Employee Credit NOTES Union—Maryland’s largest state-chartered financial cooperative— & giving it exclusive naming rights. After a nationally competitive search, we welcomed Tim Leonard NEWS as the new director of athletics. A strong administrator with 21 years experience, most recently at Southern Methodist University and the University of Central Florida, he is the 2012 recipient of the Athletic Fundraiser of the Year award from the National Association of Athletic Development Directors. He shares our philosophy of creating and supporting opportunities for our student-athletes to develop their full academic, athletic and leadership potential. By July the new Public Safety Building on Towsontown Boulevard opened, offering the latest in safety technology and police equipment. It is also home to campus locksmiths and access control systems, Envi- ronmental Health and Safety and the emergency preparedness unit. Construction of the long-awaited pedestrian bridge over Osler Drive began in September. It will connect the academic center with the West Village Commons and residence halls. MESSAGE Off campus, we celebrated the groundbreaking of Towson University S ’ in Northeastern Maryland. Opening in fall 2014, the facility, on the grounds of Harford Community College, allows students to finish their bachelor’s degrees without having to drive to Towson for classes. Construction of Josianne Pennington was appointed vice president of the newly reorganized Division of Marketing and Communications. Under her the long-awaited PRESIDENT ““ leadership, among other developments, the Great Expectations. pedestrian bridge Realized. ad campaign will now include television spots produced over Osler Drive by our own Electronic Media, and Film students. Each of these endeavors enriches what students experience each began in September. day at Towson, an energy that improves their education and their lives. This is just a small part of our ongoing commitment to Towson students and our alumni. Please stay connected to us and visit the campus often to see and learn how we are educating tomorrow’s leaders and preparing them to make positive change with their careers and their lives. MARAVENE LOESCHKE, PRESIDENT BOX TOWSON Using 49,573 lbs. of Utopia Two sheets saves the following: Maravene Loeschke Assistant Photographer Published three times a year by the President’s President DeCarlo Brown Office for Towson University’s alumni, faculty, staff SAVED: 53 TREES and friends. Please send comments and contribu- Ginny Cook Contributors NET ENERGY: 21.8 MILLION BTUs tions to Towson, Marketing and Communications, Editor Christine Collins, Wanda Towson University, 8000 York Rd., Towson, MD GREENHOUSE GASES: 39,758 LBS CO2 Lori Armstrong Haskel, Hannah Kaufman, 21252-0001. Telephone: 410-704-2230. WASTEWATER: 24,471 GALLONS Emily Koch, Jan Lucas, Kate Please send address changes to Alumni Relations, Associate Vice President, Towson University, 8000 York Rd., Towson, MD SOLID WASTE: 1,551 POUNDS Alumni Relations Lyons, Gay Pinder and Pete Schlehr ‘71 21252-0001. Environmental impact estimates were made Lori Marchetti using the Environmental Defense Paper Calculator. Art Director/Designer Office of Alumni Both the cover and text pages of Towson are Relations Kanji Takeno printed on forest-friendly Utopia Two paper, 410-704-2234 or www.towson.edu Staff Photographer using Eco-Pride inks. 800-887-8152 www.towsonalumnimagazine.com 2 Planting the Seeds of Science TU instructors teach science to preschoolers—with dance NOTES & The “tree dance” just might root the next generation in science. NEWS In April, preschoolers from Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary imitated trees through movement and dance taught by instructors in Towson’s dance department. The children compared how the cycle of their day is similar to the cycle of a tree’s seasons. The bending and swaying kicked off Moving to Learn: Grow Up Great with Dance and Science, a program of TU and Port Discovery Children’s Museum that is backed by a $17,000 grant from the PNC Foundation. The program integrates develop- mentally appropriate dance meth- TU instructors teach children the “tree dance” at Port Discovery Children’s Museum. odologies with key concepts in pre-K standards in environmental science that improve school readi- ness and science proficiency for Classroom Auditions children ages 2 through 5 years old. Moving to Learn is funded as UTeach program offers ‘Teaching Tryouts’ part of PNC Grow Up Great, a $350 million, multi-year bilin- We’ve all heard “Towson UTeach introduces ed people who don’t gual initiative that helps prepare “Try it: You’ll like realize that they could children from birth to age 5 for it.” But sometimes them to classroom teaching be fantastic teachers,” success in school and life. an opportunity— in their first semester, much she says. “Towson The curriculum was designed by or a bit of cajol- earlier than would be typical UTeach introduces the Department of Dance’s K-12 ing—is all it takes in a traditional teacher- them to classroom Education Program and Towson to discover some- teaching in their first University Community Dance, thing we really education program.” semester, much earlier using concepts that are part of the like. That’s the –Christine Roland than would be typical Maryland public school curricula. premise of Towson in a traditional teach- Led by certified dance instruc- UTeach, a collaboration between the er-education program. It’s an invitation tors and interns, children use dance College of Education and the Fisher College to discover or connect to their ‘inner and movement to investigate the of Science and Mathematics now enter- teacher’ in a low-pressure environment.” Earth’s resources and to recognize ing its second year. Roland says UTeach’s common-sense the cause-and-effect relationship. The UTeach model, which originat- approach has succeeded in recruiting so “Through the Moving to Learn ed at the University of Texas at Austin, many math and science teachers that it’s program, we are transforming STEM encourages freshman mathematics and been adopted by more than 30 colleges (Science, Technology, Engineering science majors to explore teaching careers and universities nationwide. About 65 and Math) into STEAM (Science, by—you guessed it—teaching. Towson students are now enrolled in Towson Technology, Engineering, Arts and UTeach offers participants a one-credit UTeach, which currently partners with the Math), providing our youngest field experience that is, in fact, a crash Baltimore County Public School system to www.towson.edu learners with an arts-infused “leg course involving real classrooms and provide teaching and mentoring in seven up” in school readiness,” says Jaye real pupils. area elementary and/or middle schools. www.towsonalumnimagazine.com Knutson, TU dance professor. n Christine Roland, a master teacher at “Of course not everybody will fall in Towson Uteach, says the program aims love with teaching,” Roland emphasizes. to recruit students who might not have “But for those who do, UTeach is a life- considered teaching. “There are talent- altering experience.” n 3 Walter says that the simulated NOTEBOOK Ethical Win crises felt more “real” than any Circle of classroom experience, and called Excellence NOTES A team composed of College the Berg Cup a valuable chance & of Business and Economics stu- for students to use what they Lunden Hawkins, a TU family dents took home the silver this 15 Times have “practiced and rehearsed” studies and community develop- NEWS March, placing second in the through their coursework. ment major, received the Circle They are the nation’s best col- University of Pittsburgh’s Berg of Excellence scholarship from legiate dance team. And they’ve Cup ethics competition. Mer- the Maryland Daily Record. Giv- been the best for 15 years. edith Walter, Sandrine Emambu, en to one female college student In April, the hyper-paced pre- An Tran and Shaun Kravitz were Horse Sense in the state, the $3,000 award cision moves of Towson’s Dance awarded $2,000 for mastering recognizes academic achieve- Team wowed the judges and the cup’s three case studies. Like many TU students, Gabby ment, outstanding leadership in brought home the trophy from Walter, a member of TU’s Gaudet attended the Preakness the community and a commit- the 2013 National Dance Alli- Project Management Associa- last May.