Message from the Director
It was a bit of a different holiday season for the Godshall household this year. We didn’t end up packing and repacking the car with kids, gifts, and food and traveling all over the county Christmas day to make sure we saw everyone. Two of my three daughters are now married and the one still “living at home” is engaged to be married. Since these new relationships come equipped with their own family traditions and visiting priorities, Bev and I needed to be sensitive to and considerate of three new extended families and their many needs and requests for quality time together over the holidays.

For the first time in about 24 years just Bev and I enjoyed Christmas day in the quiet comfort of our home. We had our Godshall family Christmas on December 23rd and we managed to get together with all my in-laws on December 27th. It was actually quite nice and it helped bring into focus that the spirit of loving and giving, which the holiday season is supposed to be about, is not at all about just one day.

I hope your holidays were filled with the closeness of friends and loved ones, the spirit of giving, the promise of peace and the joy of new beginnings. I also hope that these comforts and revelations remain in your heart all the year long.

Best Regards –

Director of Alumni Relations
Godshall@kutztown.edu

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KU Divides Spring Commencement Day into Thirds
Kutztown University’s spring graduation, heretofore held in the football stadium rain or shine, has usually commenced under shine. In fact, organizers of past ceremonies have had to worry more about sun-beat bleachers or wind-blown chairs than excessive downpours. However, about half-way through the ceremony this past May 13th, it was all rain.

“We were ready with a shortened program, but the students insisted on finishing,” says Camille Bartlett, director of Administrative Services. As Alumni Director Glenn Godshall remembers, each time it seemed the ceremony would be truncated the students put up a holler to continue. And so, in the absence of lightening, a considerably drenched Class of 2006 was announced to the last.

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Q & A with Dr. Robert Martin
Dr. Robert Martin has taught at KU since January 1984, developing courses in World Regional Geography and Geographic Information Systems. He has served as chair of the Geography Department since 1989. Here’s how he answered some of our questions recently:

Where did you grow up? – Gary, Indiana
What was the last book you read? – The last book I read was Frank Rich’s “The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth since 9/11 to Katrina.”
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? – I would love to travel to the Patagonia area and the glacier areas of Argentina.
What is your proudest accomplishment? – My two sons.
What is your favorite movie? – “Saving Private Ryan”
What was your first car? – A 1960 MGA sports car that I purchased in 1971 and rebuilt from the frame up.
What was your first job? – My first job out of college was as Personnel Clerk in the Classification and Assignment Unit, United States Army Europe in Heidelberg, Germany. After the military and before I went to graduate school, I worked as a member of a train crew for the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad in the United States Steel Plant in Gary, Indiana.
Who is your hero? – My late father, Novo Martin, who flew 25 missions over Europe between 1943 and 1944 as a pilot of a B-17 bomber without losing a single member of his crew.
What is your best characteristic? – My sense of humor and my willingness to listen.
What is your worst characteristic? – I get impatient with fools.
What is your favorite thing about Kutztown University? – The fine people (students, faculty, staff, and administrators) with whom I have had an opportunity to work.
What current projects are you working on? – Professionally, I am working on a paper dealing with aspects of incorporating GIS into the learning environment. On the personal level I continue to build scale model aircraft for free flight and radio control.
What are your plans for retirement? – Enjoying myself wherever I am.

Non-traditional enrollments are not extremely rare at KU. In fact, there are about a dozen students over the age of 60, who take courses and earn credits on Kutztown’s campus. However, for Penelope Sablack, 64, part-time study wasn’t enough. She opted for the total college experience, dorm room and all!

After retiring from Doylestown Hospital and the medical profession, Sablack enrolled in photography courses at Bucks County Community College just for fun. “One thing lead to another – learning became a hobby,” she explains. Sablack didn’t quit. She accumulated course credits and confidence over 17 semesters at BCC, earning an associate’s degree in liberal arts and a certificate in women’s studies in 2005. For her bachelor’s degree, Sablack set her sights on Kutztown University because of its bucolic setting, its proximity to her children in NJ, and the opportunity it provided to live on campus. Enrolling in 2006, Sablack requested housing in Old Main, but received accommodations in Golden Bear Village South where she rooms with Elena Ilie, a 23 year old exchange student from the Netherlands. “She’s a delight,” says Sablack of her roommate. “But, we have our privacy, our own bedrooms, and we’re on different schedules. Elena goes out at night with her friends and I’m up at 5 a.m. most mornings.”

Most mornings....”Today I woke up late,” she chuckles, “I guess the stress of finals is hitting me.” Like many other students at KU, Sablack faced 5 course finals in mid-December, finishing out her first semester as a full-time college student. She expects to graduate with a degree in English Professional Writing and Women’s Studies in May 2008. “I’ve always enjoyed writing, and when I took a course in women’s studies, I became very interested in how women’s status has evolved.”

Sablack can trace the evolution of women’s opportunities in her own life. Growing up in a working class community 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, she never considered college as an option after completing high school in the 1960’s. “It’s not a regret, it’s just something I was never encouraged to do at that time.” Instead, Sablack married and raised her four children, working off and on in the medical profession to supplement her income. Her children and grandchildren visited campus during Family Day in September. And, they turn to her for college advice: “I’m helping my second grandson apply to schools.”

Despite being older than most of her professors, Sablack is in many ways a typical college student. She studies, she tries to catch episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, she works part-time in the Health and Wellness Center, and she swaps music with her classmates. “In my magazine writing class, we’re learning about each other’s music.” She even subscribes to Rolling Stone magazine.

Sablack is also involved in extracurricular activities such as SADD and the Women’s Center. And, she’s scheduled to travel to D.C. to help deliver food to the needy as part of Alternative Spring Break next semester. Her background in health education is coming in handy too. Sablack plans to develop a seminar on the topic of women and smoking. As a reformed smoker herself, she wants to help make KU a smoke-free campus.

As for the future, Sablack has many goals. “I’d like to learn Spanish, and I’d like to try taking a calculus course, just to see if I can do it.” After graduating, her options are still as open-ended as many of her younger counterparts. “Writing can take you anywhere, but I wouldn’t mind staying in the area, volunteering in a Hospice....maybe pursuing a Master’s Degree in Library Science.” More than anything, Sablack just hopes to inspire others to reach their potential: “Learn everything you can,” she exhorts, “don’t wait until you’re my age!”

Within the next seven years, Kutztown University hopes to improve two of its most important arts buildings – Sharadin Art Studio and Schaeffer Auditorium. The Berks County portion of the Capital Campaign to support renovations to Sharadin was kicked off on November 21, 2006. Overall, the KU Foundation hopes to raise close to $4 million for the Sharadin Arts Building, with construction starting as early as March 2007. The current building will remain, but new additions will provide office and classroom space in a more comprehensive facility. Work on Schaeffer Auditorium, one of KU’s original structures, will take place later in the seven year plan to improve campus space for the visual and performing arts. As Vice President of Advancement, Bill Sutton explains, “Our programs have a wonderful regional and national reputation and they need to be operating in facilities that will maximize learning opportunities for our students.”

To hear Vice President for Advancement, Bill Sutton, discuss the capital campaign plans, please follow this link to his WEEU interview which was broadcasted in November.

The Early Career Excellence Award (Young Alumni Award) recognizes alumni who have graduated within the last 15 years, and who have achieved notable success in their chosen career. The Rothermel Award recognizes the distinguished achievements of alumni in their professional life 16 years or more after graduating. Visit our website at to download and print your nomination forms. All nomination materials are due by February 1, 2007.

Kutztown University is currently collecting stories for the new KU coffee-table book which will cover the school’s history and legacy. As alumni and friends, you are already a part of that history, so we invite you to share your memories and anecdotes about KU. Please send your stories by April 1, 2007 via email to alumni@kutztown.edu with subject heading “Alumni Story.” Or, send them via post to Alumni Office, Kutztown University PO Box 730 Kutztown, PA 19530. Your story may be included in this upcoming publication!

Please note: all sent stories become property of the KU Alumni Office and may be edited and reproduced as we see fit. Submission does not guarantee publication. You will be contacted if your story is selected in part or in full for the book.

Here are some things that myspace alumni remember about KU!

“The chicken”

“The Cliffs”

“The Halloween Party – bring it back!”

“The photocopier in the library that gave unlimited free copies if you pressed the start and coin return buttons at the same time”

“Not to walk on the tiles in front of South Dining Hall when it’s raining”

“Paradise Lost used to be a bank”

“Exactly how long it takes to get from GB to Lytle Hall”

“Mamma’s number by heart”

If you hear someone humming the Johnny Cash hit “I’ve Been Everywhere” in the quiet environs of the Basilica of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, it might be Friar DenysMaria di Monte Carmelo Gaston, OFM (formerly Dennis Lee Gaston ’70). Gaston, 58, has certainly traveled a long and varied road since his days in Kutztown State College art classes. He began his studies in 1966 at York Junior College, but transferred to Kutztown after one year. Receiving his BS in Art Education with a minor in psychology in 1970, Gaston began graduate work towards the MFA but changed direction to complete the MS in Education.

Gaston pursued various degrees and certifications at 8-9 different colleges and universities and spent three years as a Fulbright Scholar. While working on his dissertation at Penn State University, Gaston switched gears again, entering the Order of the Friars Minor in the Custody of the Holy Land. But, his academics didn’t stop there. After over three years of coursework in Washington D.C. at the Dominican House of Studies and Catholic University of America, as well as service posts in Nazareth and Bethlehem, Gaston plans to resume his theological studies in Jerusalem. However, at times, the accumulation of another 155 credits towards the Masters in Divinity gives Fra. Gaston pause. “I’m 58 years old, and studying (as the oldest seminarian in Israel) does not come easy anymore,” he explains. As for those who knew him as a Kutztown student, they might be surprised to see him now. “I don’t think anyone would recognize me wearing a religious Franciscan habit.”

Hall of Fame Inducts Six Members
Kutztown University added six new members into its Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 20. This year’s induction class included (pictured, left to right): John Gabriel ’78, a men’s basketball player who went on to become a National Basketball Association (NBA) General Manager; Lorie (Erie) Schmalzle ’98, an All-America short stop in softball; Kevin Kelly ’99, a multiple All-America decathlete in men’s track & field; Tom Roth, son of the late Dr. Dennis Roth, a long time administrator and track & field and basketball coach; Linda Garber, daughter of the late Clyde Rothenberger ’31; one of Kutztown’s first champions in men’s track & field; and Barb (Bergstresser) Dietrich ’86, a record-setting forward for the field hockey team.

KU Rugby Ranked 7th by USA Rugby News
Kutztown University Men’s Rugby Football club competed for the East Penn Rugby Union (EPRU) Collegiate Championship against #8 University of Delaware on November 4 at 12:30 PM on the campus of Ursinus College. KU began the season ranked #18 by USA Rugby News and, after compiling a 9-1 record, is currently ranked #7. The KU B-side Squad completed an undefeated season (10-0) and were crowned EPRU B-side champions for the second consecutive year by defeating University of Delaware B-side 18-10 in the championship game.

Women’s Cross Country, Volleyball Reach New Heights
A trio of Kutztown University women’s sports teams brought excitement to the start of the 2006-07 athletic year this fall. Women’s Cross Country won the East Regional, women’s volleyball won its second consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division title and advanced to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history. In addition, women’s soccer made another post-season run.

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College of Education - The 9th annual KU Children's Literature Conference will be Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21, 2007. This year's featured authors are: Brian Selznick, Doreen Rappaport, Joseph Bruchac and David Shannon. Teachers attending the full conference will receive six Act 48 credit hours. Cost is $60 for the full conference, $20 for Friday night and $50 for Saturday only. For registration and more information on the conference please click on this link.

Ladies Holiday Tea – December 6, 2006

Holiday Gathering – Stirling Guest Hotel, Reading – December 8, 2006

Holiday Gathering – Hotel Bethlehem – December 9, 2006

Please click here to view more from the alumni photo album!

Good Friends/Alumni Stick Together!
“My name is Kim Checolo (Archbold ’86), and I recently remarried in June, 2006. Two of my former KU roommates and best buddies, Stacey Ellis (Vogel ’85) and Shelby Kimmelshue (’85) traveled from Texas and Pennsylvania respectively to attend my sunset wedding in Fort Myers, FL. Needless to say it was an incredible time for me and my new husband, Tom. But, the fact that both of my Kutztown girls traveled so far to attend my wedding made it so much more special. But that wasn’t all! In 2004, we all traveled to Texas for Stacey’s wedding too! Both occasions proved to be a great get-together with old friends.” Pictured above: Kim Checolo (left), Stacey Ellis (right), and Shelby Kimmelshue (center).

If you have a photo and story to share about your own KU Alumni reunions please send them to alumni@kutztown.edu

New Trivia - Remember you must be the first to answer all three questions correctly!!

	What is the name of the ghost who allegedly haunts Old Main?
	What is the title of the prominent painting on the south wall of the Georgian Room?
	The Old Main clock tower was a gift from which graduating class?

Email your answers to alumni@kutztown.edu.