Message from the Director
It is my pleasure to introduce you to our alumni student group - The Presidential Ambassadors. At Kutztown University, the Presidential Ambassadors are an elite group of undergraduate student leaders who actively support the work and mission of the Alumni Relations Department, the KU Foundation, and the Office of the President.

Their involvement with the alumni office and our many on and off campus events requires that they interact and work closely with students, campus and community leaders, alumni donors and volunteers, and even national and world celebrities. 

Ambassadors represent the many facets of our campus life through their variety of academic majors and multi-cultural backgrounds.  They are often leaders in other student organizations and many, over the years, have been scholar athletes.  Each year, through a campaign to bring awareness of the group to faculty and staff, candidates are nominated for membership by professors, staff and friends. They then complete an application and interview process for selection into the group. 

The Presidential Ambassadors at KU are also involved in a variety of community service and fundraising projects showcasing the very best that Kutztown has to offer to our peer institutions and our surrounding communities and neighbors.  They helped host a successful blood drive in September, and they have participated in Operation Snowflake, helping elderly residents shovel during the winter months. 

We now have about 85 alumni who were Presidential Ambassadors over the seven plus years that I have been the Alumni Director.  These young people have continued on the life journey they started at KU as physicians, educators, Fulbright scholars, Marine Corps Officers, mothers, attorneys and business entrepreneurs.  You’ll find former Ambassadors making a difference on your KU Alumni Board, in politics, as coaches, accountants, researchers and in the front office of the Philadelphia 76’ers!

There are no limits to the contributions KU Presidential Ambassadors will make to their alma mater, their communities and their country.  I am so very proud to serve as the co-advisor to this very special group of students and honored to call them friends as alumni.

Here are some photos that will further introduce you to Kutztown University’s Presidential Ambassadors.  Enjoy!

Thanks, Ambassadors!

Best Regards –

Director of Alumni Communications
Godshall@kutztown.edu

Meet the Rest of Your Alumni Team!

Meet Your Alumni Board

Visit Our Website

Nominate a KU Student for
the Presidential Ambassadors!
We are now accepting applications for new Presidential Ambassadors. To nominate an outstanding student, please call the Alumni Office at (610) 683-4110, email cook@kutztown.edu or visit our webpage for more information.

KU Tops 10,000 Students This Fall
The KU campus has become bigger and busier these days. With about 1,980 newly enrolled freshmen this fall, Kutztown University has surpassed the 10,000 student mark in its undergraduate and graduate programs, making it one of the fastest-growing universities in the PA State System of Higher Education.

As Director of Admissions, William Stahler, explains the recent growth is a direct result of university decisions to increase enrollment, diversity, and the academic quality of incoming students at KU. “Kutztown University made growth a goal, and the admissions office has developed strategies to meet those goals.” For example, the KU admissions office centers on accessibility to prospective students, offering programs and tours everyday, even Saturdays. Marketing and recruitment efforts yielded close to 9000 applicants this past year!

Read more

Q & A with Dr. Tom Schantz
Since retiring in 2004 after 35 years of teaching design, media, and animation at KU, Dr. Tom Schantz remains occupied with the visual and performing arts and his former students, who he calls his “large extended family.” Here’s how Dr. Schantz answered some of our questions recently:

1. What was the last book you read? – I read non-fiction books on art, travel, etc. For fun, I read stacks of magazines.
2. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Indonesia, in general. Bali, specifically.
3. What is your proudest accomplishment? – Having been a good teacher
4. What is your favorite movie? – This is impossible for a film buff to answer.
5. What was your first car? – a used ‘6? Chrysler
6. What was your first job? – As a preadolescent, delivering newspapers. As a young professional at age twenty-five, teaching at KU.
7. Who is your hero? – In film, Stanley Kubrick; in politics, John F. Kennedy; in human rights, Martin Luther King Jr.; in contemporary art, William Kentridge and Jenny Saville; and in animation, Nick Park and Jan Svankmajer.
8. What is your best characteristic? – compassion
9. What is your worst characteristic? – sarcasm (which is simultaneously one of my best)
10. What is your favorite thing about Kutztown University? – the students

To send letters to Dr. Schantz, please email alumni@kutztown.edu and we will forward them to his home.

A KU Love Connection
Tycelia (White) Santoro ’65 and Larry Santoro were just married in 2003, although they first met 40 years ago at Kutztown! Larry Santoro, who transferred to KU but later received his degrees from Temple and Villanova, claims he fell for Tycelia after first seeing her in his downtown Kutztown apartment building in 1963. The pair dated a few times as students, but drifted apart when Tycelia graduated in 1965 and Larry entered the Air Force that same year. By the end of the decade, Larry was out of the service and happily married in Philadelphia, while Tycelia attended graduate school in Montreal. In the 70’s, Larry received a voicemail message from Tycelia, which he never returned. He wouldn’t hear about her again for another 25 years.

Larry was single and living in Chicago in 1999 when he was contacted by an old Kutztown friend for an interview about student writers who continued to publish into their adult years. Coincidentally, Tycelia had also been interviewed for the same story. She was also single, but living in Maine. Larry received her number from the mutual friend and eventually decided to call her. Larry and Tycelia were able to rekindle their friendship and romance through letters, emails and visits for the next three or four years. They were married in Chicago in 2003.

Do they regret the lost time? “While part of me laments the 40 lost years, I also know that at that time, we were not ready for a serious relationship,” explains Santoro. “Had we gotten together then, Tycelia and I would be a distant memory, I think. I miss those 40 years, but I’m happy we’re together today.”

Larry and Tycelia currently reside in Chicago, where Tycelia teaches French and Spanish at the Notre Dame High School for Girls. Larry’s novel Just North of Nowhere is due out this November.

Dr. Michael Gabriel of the history department received the 2006 Wiesenberger Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching at the President’s Opening Breakfast on August 28th. The Wiesenberger Award, which has been bestowed upon outstanding professors since 1996, represents the highest honor for teaching at Kutztown University.

Gabriel has taught military and early American history at Kutztown University since 1994. He currently serves as the department chair and coordinates student internships. On receiving such a high honor, Gabriel said “There are so many strong teachers here, I was just pleased to be nominated.” Perhaps, one of the most humble faculty members at Kutztown, Gabriel is also one of the most deserving. “I’m really honored to receive this award because I think teaching is so important,” he said recently. Gabriel resides in Kutztown with his wife and two year old daughter.

{Photo: Alumni Board President Tracy Garnick, Dr. Michael Gabriel, and Dr. Cevallos}

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.

As a part of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania’s five-year remembrance of the 9-11 attacks, a 2,738 flag display was set up on North Campus for observance on Monday (9/11/06). The 2,738 flags represented those lost in the tragedies by nationality (2,529 Americans; 209 from more than 40 other countries).

The flags were positioned to form the figure 9-11. The top of the nine represented the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; the bottom of the nine represented the field near Shanksville, Pa., which was the crash site of Flight 93; and the 11 represented the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City.

The display was sponsored by the KU Young Republicans. A memorial service was held near the display at 8:30 a.m.

The College of Business is hosting an alumni reception from 11:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Kutztown Tavern.

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Alumni Networking Panel 9-11 a.m. in the SUB Alumni Auditorium.

College of Visual and Performing Arts - Stepping Out and Starting Up – The Business of Art Live Alumni Panel Presentation 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m, Sharadin Art Building Room 115

College of Education Networking Breakfast 9 – 11 a.m. in the SUB Room 250

85th Anniversary of Library Science Dedication of Computer Lab, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Rohrbach Library

Read more

These K-town pals still remain friends and get together from time to time. From left to right: Brian Copenhaver ’86, John (JD) Loy ’87, Patrick Woolley ’86, and Dina (Lacovara) Copenhaver ’86.

If you have recent alumni gathering photos, please email them to the alumni office. We love to hear from you!

Attention all KU Zeta Omicron chapter members of Phi Sigma Sigma:  Please join your fellow sisters for a Homecoming Reunion on Saturday, October 21, 2006.  Class years 1991, 1996 and 2001 will be honored at this all day event featuring a rock-a-thon, face painting, reconnecting and lots of fun!  Please contact Jennie at jabbr972@kutztown.edu or Lori Long at long102492@yahoo.com for more details.

Meet Your Alumni Board

Visit Our Website

Win a Kutztown Alumni Assn. T-shirt!
Congratulations to Amanda Follin ’99 who was the first to answer the following questions correctly in August:

	What was the original name for KU (in 1866)? Keystone Normal School
	In 1960, what did the Department of Education change the institution’s name to? Kutztown State College
	In what year did Kutztown attain university status, becoming Kutztown University? 1983

This Issues 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.