Keepin’ Up with
Communication
Winter 2013
Communication Studies & Theatre Department at Kutztown University Alumni Newsletter
Table of Contents:
Letter from the Chair
1
Alumni Spotlight
John Acquavita2
Jillian Lentz3
Holly Hubbard4
Kristen Nonnemacher
5
Jessica Parsell5
Alumni: Where are they now?
3-6
Communication Studies Interns 7
Intern Spotlight: Megan Soucy
8
Dean’s List from Spring 2013
9
Fall 2013 Scholarships
9
Sharadin Award Fall 2013
10
Evan Krum to speak at graduation 10
New Faculty in the department
11
Alumni Survey12
John Scannell (‘69)
reflects on his career
Like many 1969 graduates of Kutztown
State College, I am on the brink of
retirement. After teaching for three years
in PA, I moved to Seattle for grad school
in 1972, and taught HS English and
Drama at Newport HS in Bellevue, WA. I
left teaching in 1985 and I commenced a
career in publishing as a national language
arts consultant: first with Macmillan, then
McGraw-Hill, and currently Pearson. As
a national consultant, I have traveled 3.9
million air miles, and I have been to all 50
states and six foreign countries.
However, I’m proudest of my four
children—all college-educated
professionals: Michelle is a landscape
architect; Amanda is a family-practice
physician; Rebecca is a CPA for KPMG;
and Ben is a computer expert building a
new platform for ESPN. My first wife and
I wanted to build worlds of possibility for
our children. I believe we did. I hope they
do the same for their children.
A Letter from the Chair of the
Department, Dr. Claire Van Ens
Welcome to the first edition of the Communication
Studies online newsletter. We are very excited to
connect with our alumni and to hear all about what you
are doing since leaving Kutztown University. For some
of you, it’s only been a year or two – for others you can
count the decades since graduation! You will notice
that we now are the Department of Communication
Studies, not the Department of Speech and Theatre.
Sadly, theatre was one of the programs placed in
moratorium four years ago due to budget constraints.
Spring 2014 will be our last theatre production. We
will still offer Introduction to Theatre (THE15) as a
general education course, and we, fortunately, are able
to have Professors Robert Smith and Roxanne Rix teach
in Communication Studies starting Fall 2014. Professor Johanna Forte will continue
teaching THE15 plus remain as Director of the KU Honor’s Program. We changed our
name to Communication Studies almost two years ago, a change that was well past due.
Over the past two years we have experienced a tremendous growth in our majors, going
from approximately 140 majors in Fall 2011 to 300 majors currently, and still growing!
We are thrilled with the growth, and we also are experiencing growth pains in teaching
more students with fewer faculty. We will include information in the newsletter about
what our current students are doing in both classes and internships.
I want to encourage you to send us photos and short summaries of what you’ve been up
to. Also please make certain that we have your current contact information – especially
a current email. Find us on Facebook (and “like” us!) Have good holidays, whichever
ones you celebrate, and we’ll be back in May 2014!
Claire Van Ens, Ph.D., Chair
vanens@kutztown.edu
484.646.4396
Please send along your news, notes, and suggestions to gambler@kutztown.edu.
Alumni: Where are they now?
John Acquavita (‘96) shares what he’s been up to since
atttending classes in Rickenbach in the 20th Century
If you approached me as a K.U.
undergraduate and told me in 15 years that
I’d be living in Ohio, married to a redhead
who gave me a son, and had a serious
bro-mance with an adopted stray cat from
Baltimore, I’d probably never believe you.
But it all came true.
After graduating from Kutztown in 1996
with a major in Speech Communication
and minors in Public Relations and
Russian, I began my career working in PR
in Doylestown. Doylestown wasn’t exactly
a social mecca for a young professional, so
I focused on moving to Philadelphia.
I obtained work as an editor at PR
Newswire, an international news
distribution organization. It was my
responsibility to edit and proofread press
releases and media advisories for clients.
It was during my tenure there that I would
meet the girl whom I would eventually
marry, Shauna.
As skilled as I was in the editing job,
something was nagging at my conscience.
I initially enrolled at Kutztown as a
Secondary Education major with a
concentration in Russian. It was only when
I experienced the differences between
learning the Russian language in high
school and in college (with the intention
of teaching it to those who didn’t know
it) did I realize that teaching wasn’t in the
cards for me. With the encouragement
of Reno Unger, I changed my major to
Speech Communication, assigned him as
my advisor, enrolled in every course that
he taught, and was satisfied with each of
those decisions.
But the teaching bug was still in my system
years later. In addition to my editing
position, I was teaching Sunday school
to youngsters at my wife’s church. The
students’ parents strongly encouraged me
to pursue teaching as a profession. Shauna
was supportive of the idea, and I enrolled
in the Master of Education program at
Holy Family University in Philadelphia.
I soon found work as a proofreader at a
composition company in Baltimore. The
company declared bankruptcy two years
later, laid off 90 percent of its staff, and I
was out of work again. It was time to brush
up the resume!
John with his wife, Shauna, and son,
Matteo.
I didn’t perceive the program’s classes
as too difficult; in fact, I received all A’s
and one B+. (The B+ was in Classroom
Discipline. As the kids on the Internet like
to say, “SPOILER ALERT.”)
Shauna and I moved from our apartment
in Abington to our first house in
Baltimore. I was hired to teach fourth
grade in an elementary school five minutes
from our home, and Shauna enrolled at
the University of Maryland to pursue her
doctorate in social work.
I began my teaching career in September
of 2005; my last day of employment as a
professional educator was October 1, 2005.
(While teaching was a colossal failure
for me, I do not have an entire chapter
dedicated to me in Katy Farber’s book
Why Great Teachers Quit.)
“I will forever cherish
the lessons and values
I learned there. I have
made lifelong friends
at K.U....”
- John Acquavita, ‘96
I again found work as a proofreader, this
time at an ad agency in Baltimore. By
this time, Shauna had earned her Ph.D.
and completed a two-year, post-doctorate
position at Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, consistently ranked as
the best location in the United States for
research by US News & World Report. Also,
she gave birth to our first child, Matteo
(the name means “gift from God” in
Italian). Matteo’s godfather is Christopher
Milnes, my neighbor across the hall from
me in 1992-1993 in Lehigh Hall.
Shauna was offered and accepted a
job teaching social work classes at the
University of Cincinnati, but I needed to
find work before we moved. TriComB2B,
a multiple “Best Place to Work” winner in
Ohio, was seeking a proofreader. I flew in,
aced the interviews and proofreading test,
and the rest is history.
Shauna, Matteo, Furball (our adopted stray
cat from Baltimore) and I live in a cul-desac in Miamisburg, a suburb of Dayton.
I entered Kutztown University a cocky
kid from Staten Island with an accent
that reminded people of Tony Danza,
and graduated with a degree in Speech
Communication. I will forever cherish
the lessons and values I learned there. I
have made lifelong friends at K.U. and am
grateful to Facebook that I can remain
in contact with many of them. I know I
represent the school every time I walk out
my front door, and take great measures
to carry myself in a way that would make
Professor Unger and my other instructors
proud.
Article submitted by John Acquavita.
2
Alumni: Where are they now?
Kutztown University Communication Studies and
Theatre Department alumni can be found all over
the world, contributing in many different ways. Do
you have an interesting alumni story to tell? Share
it with us at gambler@kutztown.edu.
Jillian Lentz (‘07) hits the
road as a Tour Manager
John Acquavita ’96 Proofreader at TriComB2B
Cynthia Angst ’80 Drama Teacher at The Baldwin School
Abby Barlok ’06 Communications Special at Industrial and
Systems Engineering Department at Lehigh University
Tristin Bates ’11 Marketing Coordinator at South River
Restoration
Rachel Beck ’07 Owner of Rachel Beck Photography
Amy Behl (Lindauer) ’97 English Teacher at Perkiomen
Valley School District
Kerr y Bodernman (Callahan) ’94 Education Manager at
Advertising Specialty Institute
Shawn Born ’94 Tube Mill Manager at Judson A. Smith Company
Greg Bott ’09 Director of Development at Lehigh Valley
Center for Independent Living
James Brendlinger ’94 Chairman of Arts and
Communication at Lake Howell High School
Janelle Bristol (Hendershot) ’11 Client Relations and
Marketing Coordinator at One Financial Services
Tara Brogna (Kohan) ’02 HR Administrator at Sanico, Inc.
Rachael Bryan ’12 Sales & Marketing Management Trainee
at Rentokil North America
Marilyn Cerase ’76 Office Administrator at the United
Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Julie Choma ’05 Collections Manager and Senior Registrar
at Ursinus College and the Philip and Munel Berman
Museum of Art
Andrea Cintronl ’04 Claims Team Manager at Liberty Mutual
Jennifer Clarke ’96 Director of Estate and Gift Planning at
the American Cancer Society
Kelsey Cleverly ’12 Sales Associate at Bear Creek Mountain
Resort
Margaret Davis (Langan) ’05 Sales at Sanoti Pasteur
Brad Decker ’07 Motor Coach Marketing Coordinator at
Sands Bethlehem
Timothy DelaMotte ’06 Area Sales Manager at Groupon,
Inc. He moved to Chicago in 2008 and worked to become
a comic actor and writer. He has been reviewed in the
Chicago Tribune twice.
Desireé DeNicola ’69 Mayor of the Borough of Roseto, PA
Jillian Lentz graduated in December of 2007. Like many college
graduates, she was unsure of what she wanted to do at first. She
always had a passion for music, so she started researching radio
stations in the Philadelphia area. In January, Lentz was offered
a job as a phone screener for the morning show on WXTU,
Philadelphia’s Country Station. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but it
got her foot in the door.
Within months, Lentz’s title went from phone screener to
associate morning show producer. Before her one year anniversary, she had worked her way up to full time morning show
producer.
Realizing that she wanted to work more with artists, musicians,
and live events, Lentz left the radio station in 2010 and moved
into the position of Talent Coordinator at the House of Blues in
Atlantic City, NJ. She got to work with Tour Managers to make
sure everything was perfect for their show and stay in Atlantic
City. She had the privilege to work with Alice Cooper, 311, Diddy, Guns n’ Roses, Buddy Guy, Blondie, Billy Idol, The Flaming
Lips, and more. Lentz loved working at the House of Blues, but
after two years she needed to move onto bigger things.
Revel, the newest hotel and casino in Atlantic City, was being
built and had a music venue twice the size of House of Blues.
“For me, this meant bigger names in music,” said Lentz. She
found the manager of the venue on LinkedIn and sent him
a message. Lentz was hired as the Entertainment Specialist
at Revel. The first month was extremely memorable working
with Maroon 5, The Black Keys, and four sold out shows with
Beyoncé.
In September of 2012, the Eagles played two nights at Revel.
Lentz met Marc Robbins, the director of touring for Azoff Music Management. Two months later, Lentz sent him her resume,
followed up, and let him know that she was serious about leaving Revel to take a position on the road. Her patience paid off.
Marc offered her a job in April that led to a three month tour
with Steely Dan in July. The tour ended October 8th with seven
sold out shows at the Beacon Theater in New York.
Since April 2013, Lentz has worked with Kanye West, the New
Orleans Jazz Festival, the Governor’s Ball in New York City, JD
& the Straight Shot – who opened for ZZ Top, Willie Nelson,
the Eagles, and Steely Dan. “I feel so grateful and blessed that
I get to tour the country by doing something I feel so passionately about. I have seen some amazing cities and have met some
wonderful people,” said Lentz.
3
Alumni: Where are they now?
Holly Hubbard (‘09) scores full-time
job after internship with
Philadelphia Eagles
After graduating in May of 2009,
Holly Hubbard interviewed with the
Philadelphia Eagles for the Public
Relations intern position. She was
offered the job and started in July of
2009. In that role, she was responsible
for assisting the Senior Vice President
of Public Affairs and Government
Relations with all promotion and
execution of non-football events.
While the Eagles are a football team,
they are also a business, so they
support PR efforts surrounding corporate
sponsorships, marketing campaigns and
the community work the team does off
the field with the community relations
department and the non-profit wing,
Eagles Youth Partnership. The internship
was a full-time, 12 month, post-graduate,
paid internship, so Hubbard would be
done in July of 2010.
A few weeks before her internship was
to end, someone in the community
relations department left the organization,
leaving an open position in the field she
most enjoyed. Hubbard interviewed
along with outside candidates and was
offered the job. She started in her new
and current position in July of 2010. As
the Community Relations Coordinator,
she is responsible for organizing and
executing all off-the-field efforts. These
include but are not limited to: volunteer
opportunities for the players once a week
during the season, any player-related
community events, carrying out League
initiated programming at the local level
and planning and executing large scale
off-season events with attendance varying
from 50 to 5,000 fans and supporters.
AmyDiaz (Eppley) ’05 Associate Director
of Strategy at Omnicom Media Group
Lauren DiSanto ’01 Content Producer at
NBC 10
Deanna DuBree (Torak) ’95 Talent
Acquisition Operations Manager at
QVC
Michael Ervin ’11 Recruiting Specialist at
Toll Brothers, Inc.
Cortney Fegley ’13 Trainer/Bartender at
Texas Roadhouse
There are three annual large-scale events.
The weekly community events feature
Eagles players volunteering with local
non-profit organizations in some type of
hands-on activity. They’ve sown pillow
cases at a pajama party with patients at The
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, built
houses with Habitat for Humanity, held
family game night at Ronald McDonald
House, helped coach a youth football
practice and even cleaned up a park
across the street from the Eagles’ practice
facility. These events are always the players’
favorite as they really get into working
the same way the non-profit’s volunteers
operate on a daily basis.
The other large part of Hubbard’s job
is scheduling all player appearances for
corporate partner, premium service,
season-ticket holder and marketing events.
This involves booking the player ahead
of time, giving them all of the pertinent
details, reminding them beforehand,
and ensuring that they arrive on-site.
Scheduling player appearances also
includes planning and helping to execute
anything they’d like to do on their own
such as a back-pack drive or non-profit
fundraiser.
Katharine Ferguson ’04 Teacher of
ESL, Social Studies and Theater
for Aarhus Academy for Global
Education. She lived in Houston, TX
for two years, moved to Tokyo, Japan
for two years, back to Texas for
three years, and then to Belgium for
a year. She now lives in Denmark.
Ben Fisler ’95 Associate Professor of
Theatre at Harford Community
College
Drew Fredericks ’93 Director at the
County of Lancaster Youth
Intervention Center
Amanda Garcia (Learn) ’08 Stay at home
mom with first child, Alexander
James, born 7/8/13
PeggyGernard (Hunt) ’82 Professional
Performer and singer/songwriter.
With husband, Eric (also KU alum),
they perform as Maggie Spike. They
sing and write songs in alternative
folk with Celtic world rhythms. They
have produced four CDs together
and are currently working on
another.
LauraGoad (Diehl) ’09 Human Resource
Representative at Cabela’s
Matthew V. Gotwalt ’91 Company Show
Manager/Wardrobe Supervisor at
American Music Theatre
Teri Greszczak ’07 Talent Acquistion
Specialist at Vocus
Laura Hain ’10 Business Development
Account Representative at
Carpenter Technology
Marissa Hann ’10 Public Relations
Account Manager at White Good.
She is also the PR Chair for the
Junior League of Reading.
John C
hristopher Hardin ’02 English
Teacher at Palisades High School
4
Alumni: Where are they now?
Kristen Nonnemacher (‘07)
Education Marketing Manager at Crayola, LLC
As the Education Marketing Manager, Kristen is responsible for managing
Crayola's presence at national educator shows and implementing their
Champion Creatively Alive Children Grant and relationships with exemplary
schools around the county. She also works closely with Regional Education
Marketing Managers to assure consistent national and regional support
for Art-Infused Education in schools and collaborates with Activation and
Platform Marketing teams to align on advertising and product priorities.
Previously Kristen was the Social Media Specialist for Crayola, LLC.
Jessica Parsell (‘08)
Event Manager at Event Strategy Group
Jessica Parsell works with an innovative and elite team of planners to create
memorable experiences for clients. Through work, she has had the opportunity
to plan events and travel all over the country—these events include incentive
trips, road showcases, industry events, internal corporate meetings,
conferences and much more. According to Jessica, one of the best parts of
her job is seeing all of the hard work culminate into reality—for example,
working with our graphics and production team to take a Las Vegas restaurant
and transform it into a tech oasis that hosts customers, press conferences,
celebrities, bands, media, and tech gurus from around the world.
Jessica Harrison ’05 Account Manager at
Staffmark
Karli Hausman ’03 Assistant Athletic
Director of Marketing and
Promotions at St. John’s University
Caitlynne Hicks ’12 Market ManagerDirect Sales at Cintas Corporation
Elaine Hilbert ’97 Art Teacher at
Fleetwood Area High School
Meghan Holobetz ’12 Marketing/
Membership Director at Schuylkill
Country Club
Holly Hubbard ’09 Community Relations
Coordinator for Philadelphia Eagles
Stephen Iannello ’07 Account Manager at
USM, Inc.
Danielle Irwin ’08 Teacher in the School
District of Philadelphia
Kelli Keegan (Schwabe) ’94 Director of
Smile Distribution at Charley Girl
Designs
Monaé Kelsey ’06 Associate Director
of Student Engagement at Salus
University
Stephen Kenney ’08 Guest Services
Manager at Penn National Gaming
Inc.
Audrey Latshaw (Hoffman) ’97 First
Grade Teacher at Upper Perkiomen
School District
Kristin Kern ’05 Insurance Agent at
Murray Securus Insurance
Anne Lawrence (Stear) ’90 Wedding
Officiant. She performed one of the
first five wedding ceremonies for
same-sex couples in NYC.
Kristopher Klinger ’07 Provider Relations
Representative at Preferred One
Health Insurance
Pam Knitowski ’90 Director of
Development at CASA
Regina Kocher (Burzynski) ’98 Account
Manager at TEKsystems
Alyson Komyanek ’09 Director of
Communications at Woods. She
also writes two monthly columns for
Bucks Happening Magazine.
Heidi Kuser ’10 Data Entry Clerk at East
Penn Mfg.
Lauren Kutz ’11 Cart Reporter-Voice
writer at Sargent’s Court Reporting
Services, Inc.
Ken Lager ’95 Rigging Installation
Supervisor at Pook Diemont & Ohl,
Inc.
Justin Lax ’09 Brand Strategist at Cecilian
Worldwide
James Learn ’13 Management Trainee at
Enterprise Holdings
Robert Lella ’06 Branch Manger at
Entreprise Rent-a-Car. He was
ranked #1 Branch Manager for the
#1 ranked regions in the world.
Jillian Lentz ’07 Tour/Road Manager
Katy Lido (Spinks) ’95 Communications
Manager for Special Olympics New
Jersey
Christopher Logan ’07 News
Photographer for FOX News- TV
Show: Chasing New Jersey
Jennifer Lomerson ’10 Marketing
Coordinator at Blue Cross
5
Aileen Luklanchuk ’07 Credit
Administration Support Coordinator
at First National Community Bank
Elizabeth Lutz ’02 Account Manager at J.
Knipper & Co.
Brian Noll ’05 Marketing/IT Supervisor at
Norris Sales
Kristen Nonnemacher ’07 Education
Marketing Manager at Crayola, LLC
Lauren Scrafano ’11 Major Accounts
District Manager at Automatic Data
Processing (ADP)
Karissa Sevensky ’11 Cashier at Panther
Valley Pharmacy
April Maddona ’08 News Videographer/
Editor at WFMZ-TV 69 News
Joe Ostrander ’91 Communications
Director at Community Action
Association of Pennsylvania
Michael Maleshy ’08 Manager Retail Sales
at Verizon Wireless
Nicole Ottinger (Koerbler) ’08 Stay at
home mom
Keri Shultz (Vangreen) ’03 President of
Reading Musical Foundation
Jill Marra ’99 Director of Sales at Calvin
Klein
MitchOwgang ’81 Supervising Producer
at Thirteen
Jeffrey Slupski ’99 Consultant at Verizon
Todd Mavreles ’94 Press/Media Writer at
KM Delaney & Associates
Irene Paige (Spencer) ’06 Registered
Nurse at Reading Health System
Russell McAndrew ’00 Cosmetologist/
Hair Stylist at VSL Hair Design
Julie Parry (Urbansky) ‘00 Merchandiser
at Sprint. She earned the Kutztown
Early Career Excellence Award
2011.
SarahMcBee (Fennimore) ’01 Group
Fitness Manager and Marketing
Coordinator at Universal Athletic
Club
Kevin McGrath ’06 Account Manager at
Stryker
Jennifer McGuire ’05 Senior Manager of
Product Public Relations at Daiichi
Sankyo
Blake Miller ’98 Human Resource Analyst
for the Commonwealth of PA
Jennifer Miller (Hirschfeld) ’94 St. Basil
the Great School
Barry Minora ’80 Physician at Prime Med
Co.
Wendy Mirto ’09 English Teacher at
Roberto Clemente Charter School.
She is directing The Full Monty at
the Forge Theater in June 2014.
MariaMogford (DeVera) ’96 English and
Education Professor at Albright
College
Alexandra Morrill-Carpenter ’10 Inside
Account Manager at Penn Veterinary
Supply
Piera Moyer ’05 Assistant Property
Manager at Bozzuto Mgmt. Co.
Kimberly Munro (Rush) ’87 Owner/
Director of Blue Grass Purple Cow
Nursery in the United Kingdom
Sara Jane Munshower (Stengle) ’70
Spiritual Companion/Director
Kristina Myers ’98 Business and
Community Relations Coordinator
at the Lancaster County Career and
Technology Center
Lindsay Nell ’09 Operations Coordinator
at Rodale, Inc.
LindaNicholas (Curreri) ’90 Project
Coordinator at Brown Brothers
Harriman
Jessica Parsell ’08 Event Manager at Event
Strategy Group
Corrina Passaro ’04 Marketing and Public
Relations Manager at Lehigh Valley
Community Foundation
Kristine Petre (Keifer) ’91 Senior Medical
Librarian at Lehigh Valley Health
Network
Lauren Pinto ’08 Recruitment Manager at
Nursefinders
Andrea Shivery (Kless) ’04 Professional
Technical Recruiter at TEKsystems
Dana Smith ’95 Senior Pastor at
Immanuel Church
Lyndi Smoluk ’11 Events Coordinator/
Staff Development at Springfield
Country Club
Jonathan Solinsky ’04 Project Director at
Evoke Health
Theresa Spencer ’02 Operations Support
Specialist at TD Bank
Kimberly Stahler ’89 Instruction/
Reference Librarian at Reading Area
Community College
Christina Steffy ’06 Librarian at Joseph
F. McCloskey School of Nursing.
She has recently helped launch a
scholarly, open access library journal.
Michael Pladus ’80 Superintendent of
schools for past 12 years
Elaina Stein ’06 Public Relations Associate
at Cooper Pest Solutions and BedBug
Central
Amy Redding (Miller) ’03 Property
Manager of 55 apartments
Denise Strohmayr ’91 Faculty of Oral
Comm. at Berks Technical Institute
Judy Reinford (Tilghman) ’89 Owner of
Judy Reinford Photography
Allison Tirpak (Berchtold) ’06 7th/8th
Grade Language Arts & Reading
Teacher at Jim Thorpe Area School
District
Rachel Roland ’89 Senior
Communications Specialist at Air
Products and Chemicals
Curin Romich ’02 Investment
Professionals Inc.
Darlene Royer ’86 Paralegal at Blakinger,
Byler & Thomas, P.C.
Staci Saeger ’08 Marketing Coordinator at
NAI Summit
Amy Saul (Wagner) ’00 Associate Dean
of Students/Director of Career
Development at Moravian College
John Scannell ’69 National Literacy
Consultant at Pearson
Kristen Scatton ’07 Secretary to the Office
of Admissions at University of the
Arts in Philadelphia
SeanaSchanken (Litt) ’04 Publishing
Representative at Balfour
JennaSchreiber (Hornberger) ’07
Account Executive/Digital Manager
at Reese Integrated Marketing
Maximo Torres ’89 Special Projects
Coordinator at Disney Consumer
Products
Brian Trupp ’82 School Teacher at Eastern
Lebanon County School District
Jennifer Whitcomb (Robertson) ’97
Operations Manager of Dining
Services at Messiah College
Jere Williams ’94 Administrative Assistant
at Forest Laboratories, Inc.
Emily Willier ’09 HR Assistant at Einstein
Healthcare Network
Chelsea Winot ’10 Master Control/
Operations at WGGF-TV (ABC 40/
Fox 6)
Nicole Zarefoss ’05 Continuity of
Operations Program Manager at
Pennsylvania Treasury Department
Mandy Zerr ’02 Document Production
Analyst at Highmark
Brian Ziller ’10 News Producer at WNEPTV
6
Communication Studies Interns
Kaitlyn Amodei, Navmar Applied Sciences Corp.
Paige Black, Gray’s Florist
Jillian Boyer, The Hillside School
Nicole Brumbley, C.H. Robinson
Alexander Centeno, Goggle Works
Caitlyn Comunale, The Noveau Image
Chelsea Drob, Special Olympics of PA
Rachel Dziedzic, Family Health Council of Central PA
Alexander Centeno
Luke Ferracone, GCI Ltd.
Gina Finio, Berk’s Counseling Center
Stephanie Fritz, Sovereign Center
Brooke Hamm, Small Business
Development Center
Kellsey Hatt, Small Business
Development Center
Katherine Hughes, The Blue Ridge Flea Market
Jenessa Keller
Afasen Igyor, Seventh House International
Kerry Joy, Jersey Surf Inc. A NJ Non-Profit Corp.
Jenessa Keller, Kid Stuff Coupon Books
Evan Krum, Downtown Bethlehem Association
Michael LaFrance, Cumulus Media
Jessica Lebron, Berks County Living Magazine
Dante Moyer, Campus Entertainment
Emily Nobile, Turkey Hill
Stephen Ogden, Stacy’s Got Greek
Chelsea Drob
Abigail Schrecengost
Kevin Pollock, Brownstone PR
Samantha Rooney, Alexander Insurance
Emily Schmidt, Fleck Consulting
Abigail Schrecengost, Holiday Inn
Emily Schurstein, Buxmont Academy CSF
Kristen Scopino, Big Machine Agency
Kelsey Sedlacek, Wilmington Blue Rocks Baseball Club
Jenna Shikoff, Sorrelli
Stephanie Fritz
Sandra Soliman, The Chamber of
Commerce, Allentown, PA
Megan Soucy, ACES: North America
Amanda Sowa, Children’s Specialized Hospital
Amanda Spess, Kraemer Textiles
Cara Swetsky, Reese Integrated Marketing
Phillip Thomas, Community Action Program
Jeffrey Toole, Aerotek
Michael Viscomi, Da Vinci Science Center
Daniel Watts, Clear Channel Inc.
Kelsey Sedlacek
Natalie Yuengel, Computer Aid, Inc. in Allentown, PA
7
Soucy tells of her experiences
Internship Spotlight: Megan
in the Dominican Republic
The internship I participated in this summer was three and a half weeks long. It was
with two volunteer based organizations.
The organization I spent my first week in
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with
was ACES North America. When I arrived
to the Dominican Republic, I did not know
what to expect. My overall experience
and the things I was able to be a part of
was remarkable and truly life changing.
My first week in the DR consisted of a lot
of meetings. The first full day of my trip
was spent at a coffee plantation in Peralta,
DR. There I met with the community, and
we saw for the first time what third world
poverty really is. We discussed with the
community the possibility of exporting
their coffee organically and through ACES.
As of now, they go through many buyers,
sellers, roasters, and baggers. By the time
they see any money from their product,
it is little to nothing. I then sat down with
my two supervisors and talked about
exporting their product.
The rest of the week consisted of doing
manual work at the baseball academy in
the community. We spent our time there
cleaning and scraping paint. We had a
meeting with the school district to discuss
special needs children. Unfortunately,
there is not enough room in schools in
poor communities for children who do
not have special needs. So up until recently
special needs children were not a priority.
When they opened a school specifically
for special needs, there was such a huge
turnout and they had to turn people away.
This meeting was in a town that was home
to a school called the Cabon School, which
is next to the second worst: battery polluted area in the world. For years, a battery
company was burying old batteries in a
field which lies on the highest point in this
town. Because of this, the poor communities that live in the houses downhill of this
battery site have terrible medical problems
and pollution in their crops. My supervisor
who runs ACES in the DR, worked with
the town to raise attention to this problem
and got the government to come in and
dig up a lot of the old batteries. Unfortunately, they did not dig deep enough, so
the field that is attached to the school and
the people who live around it are still not
safe.
The rest of our trip was like a completely
different internship. It was spent in Las
Terranas with the Foundation Mahatma
Gandhi. Las Terranas is a beach community and the remainder of my stay was held
to a much stricter schedule. Every morning was spent at a library helping with
summer camps. At the summer camps,
I had the opportunity to help with the
literacy program, team building activities, and arts and crafts. The camps were
free and open to any child who wanted to
participate. The second week of camps,
we had the opportunity to create our own
session, so another volunteer and I taught
music classes. After that we did work at
the library. We painted a mural and the
outside of the library, sanded tables, organized books, and cleaned. On Tuesdays
and Thursdays, we met with a community
near Casa Paz, the volunteer house we
stayed in, and spent time with the children doing activities. One Saturday, we
helped at a women’s workshop. Girls were
invited to come to the library and listen
to a guest speaker. It was a very beautiful
and sad experience. Women in the DR do
not have much of a life in the lower class.
Women are mothers. They do not usually
work and if they do it is prostitution, so
to talk to the younger girls about this was
really powerful.
Before the trip, my belief was that I was
going to take these three and a half weeks,
and I was going to change the world. I had
so many expectations and images in my
mind of what we would be doing and how
great it would be. It turns out none of these
images and expectations were met. The
people here have lived this way their whole
lives, and I am just now beginning to get a
grasp of what that means. I quickly learned
that it is nearly impossible to engage in
communities outside of our own without a
shield of our own culture.
When I came here, I intended to come
free of judgments of the things I would see
and experience. The problem is everyone
is judgmental. It is human nature in order
to try and make sense of things we can’t
understand. I stopped seeing parts of the
Dominican Culture as sad, confusing, frustrating, or uncomprehendable. I started
asking questions. What sort of reasons
would parents have to keep their kid out of
school? How could a mother prostitute her
daughter? Why is their garbage everywhere? I will never have answers to these
questions because I am not a Dominican.
I have not lived through what parents and
children have lived through here. I do not
know the streets, the expectations, or the
context. So how can I say that the things
I see are not right, okay, or good? Realizing the Dominican Republic is a different
world from my own pushes me to judge
freely in order to learn and to observe
without expectations and negativity. I now
realize that this is not something that has
to stay here when I leave.
Article submitted by Megan Soucy.
8
Communication Studies & Theatre Dean’s List Spring 2013
Jillian Boyer
Laurel Brandt
Nicole Brumbley
Jessica Brygier
Lizabeth Calligaro
Megan Cheng
Amira Coleman
Dominique Conquest
Angela Cutrone
Erin Dixon
Charles Eskin
Luke Ferracone
Kirk Griffiths
Kimberly Hess
Lindsey Hobson
Katherine Hughes
Ellyn Kershner
Evan Krum
Joseph Lawville
Adam McClellan
Amanda McCrorey
Destiny Phillips
Vincenzina Piazza
Nina Reynolds
Ashton Rosenberger
Maxwell Rothstein
Samantha Sayles
Amanda Schoell
Kristen Scopino
Mary Smith
Megan Soucy
Amanda Spess
Cara Swetsky
Victoria Tagliamonti
Joel Thomas
Phillip Thomas
Jeffrey Toole
Alexander Vigilante
Elaine Waldron
Richard Warmkessel
Christina Wolfe
Natalie Yuengel
The Dean’s List Reception was held on
October 24. Above, students pose for a picture with Dr. Van Ens and Dean Mowder.
Scholarships awarded
for Fall 2013
Byron Copeland
Theatre Scholarship Fund
Erin Dixon
Theatre Scholarship
Eric Eldred
Sean Christopher Cieri Scholarship
Abby Hoy
Mazzaferri Speech & Theatre Scholarship
Krysta Maida
Theatre Scholarship Fund &
the Deanna Lenhart Memorial Scholarship
Danielle Strunk
SPE Com Endowed Scholarship
Nina Reynolds
APSCUF Scholarship
9
What’s going on in the Department
Rick Vito performs at Kutztown
Love Your Body Day 2013
Rick Vito, Kutztown University Speech & Theatre Department
alumnus, performed at the reopening of Schaeffer Auditorium
on October 24. Vito attended Kutztown
from 1967-1971.
Sponsored by the Women’s Center, Love Your Body Day was held
on October 17, 2013. The goal of the daylong event was to boost
the body image with different activities.
There was free chocolate, food, yoga,
massages along with key speaker Kristin
Pedemonti.
Grammy-nominated guitarist and performer, Vito was a member of Fleetwood
Mac from 1987-1991. He also received the
W.C. Handy Award. He currently has eight
solo CDs and two solo DVDs in stores.
“I was here at Kutztown at a really great
time in musical pop history,” Vito said
photo from rickvito.com during an interview on KU Radio. In 1968,
he drove to the Electric Factory in Philadelphia with a group of friends to see the original Fleetwood
Mac. This performance inspired him to become the musician
that he is today.
His first professional music gig was at the first annual KU Blues
Festival where he performed with the Wright Brothers Band to
open for Muddy Waters.
His advice for aspiring musicians is to make up your mind.
“For most people, success results from hard work,” said Vito. He
suggests that you create a plan and stick to it. He also warns to
stay true to yourself and don’t give up.
Look at his website for additional information, rickvito.com
Award-winning, International Storyteller and motivational speaker Kristin
Pedemonti spoke to the group at 3 pm.
She performs worldwide at different
festivals, conferences, schools and other
special events sharing tales of hope, understand and joy.
Ms. Pedemonti is the founder of Literacy Outreach Belize. She has donated
programs for 33,000 youth and has trained 800 teachers on how to
use cultural stories in the classroom. This year, she expanded the
program to Kenya, Ghana and India.
TED Talks 2013 Worldwide Talent Search finalist, Ms. Pedemonti is
affiliated with the National Storytelling Network, the Lehigh Valley
Storytelling Guild and the Storytelling Center of New York City.
According to her website, her other passions include sharing free
hugs, blowing bubbles on subways and helping others release their
Inner Superheroes.
You can find more information on her website, storytellerkp.com
And the Sharadin Award
goes to ...
Evan Krum chosen as December
Commencement Speaker
Ms. Laurel Brandt is the recipient
of the 2013 Communication Studies and Theatre student Sharadin
Award. Aside from being academically strong, Laurel is very active
on campus. She is the Dean’s Liaison for the College of Visual and
Performing Arts, a member of the
KUSSI Board of Directors, Marketing Chair for the Kutztown
University Student Government Board, and the CVPA Representative for the Kutztown University Student Government Board.
Laurel has helped the department greatly by hosting interested
parents and students on KU Open House days.
Evan Krum was born in Allentown,
Pennsylvania in 1992 to Julia Bisbing and
Kenneth Krum. He is a 2010 graduate of
Parkland High School where he served
as class president during his time. He
obtained two associates degree’s from
Lehigh Carbon Community College, an
A.A in General Studies and an A.A in
Communications. At Kutztown University,
he serves as one of the school mascots,
and he is also a disaster relief responder
for the American Red Cross. After college
he hopes to pursue a career as an officer in
the United States Coast Guard.
Ms. Johanna Forte, Associate Professor of Theatre, won the 2013 Sharadin
Award for service in her field, outside of
the University.
Since 2000 Johanna Forte has been an
assistant to film designer Ann Roth.
She assisted her on over a dozen movie
projects including Julie and Julia, Mr.
Popper’s Penguins and The Village.
Krum chose to apply to be the December commencement speaker
as a way to give back to a school that has given him so much. He
has always had an interest in public speaking. “Certainly without
the amazing faculty and student body at Kutztown University I
wouldn’t have grown into the individual I am today,” said Krum.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to represent my class
during this semester’s commencement ceremonies.”
Currently she works on the set of Law
and Order SVU as a wardrobe personal
assistant, primarily for Ice-T.
Newsletter designed and written by Brooke Hamm ‘14
10
Welcome to the Department: New Associate Dean & New Professors
Diana Ebersole has a bachelor’s
of journalism and a master’s in
communication studies from the
University of Texas at Austin. She earned
her Ph.D. in communication arts and
sciences from Penn State University in
2012.
Michelle Kiec, Associate Dean in the
College of Visual and Performing Arts at
Kutztown University, enjoys a career both
on and off the stage. She has performed
with the Harrisburg Symphony, Harrisburg
Opera, West Virginia Symphony, Kentucky
Symphony Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and
Breckenridge Music Festival. Solo appearances include the International Clarinet
Association, Northern Plains Clarinet Symposium, Montana-Idaho Clarinet Festival,
Midwest ClariFest, University of Oklahoma
Clarinet Symposium, Penn State Single
Reed Summit, Fargo-Moorhead Clarinet
Extravaganza, and Millersville Single Reed
Symposium.
Her dissertation is entitled, “There is no
manual to this mess”: Parent-adolescent
communication patterns, privacy
management, and talks about substance
use” and it
involved
in-depth,
individual
interviews with
parents and
one of their
adolescent
children in 40
families.
Emily Cripe earned her BA from Pur-
due University in Communication and
Philosophy, and her PhD from Arizona
State University in Communication, where
she taught for several years before coming to Kutztown. She teaches courses in
Public Relations, Health Communication,
Organizational Communication, Communication Theory, and Research Methods,
among others.
Dr. Emily Cripe studies organizational and
Diana studies
health communication in her research.
interpersonal
Her dissertation used both qualitative
and family
and quantitative methods to explore how
communication with emphases on
social support helps encourage health
individual and relational health and
behaviors in breastfeeding support groups.
well-being, privacy and deception, and
She has also worked on a grant exploring
substance abuse prevention. She has
Dr. Kiec is a frequent conference presenter been published in Communication
relationships between hospitals and organ
in the areas of distance education, instrucdonation networks and conducted a study
Monographs and the Journal of Family
tional technology, curriculum developof stay at home fathers and the identity
Communication, and has presented
ment, student recruitment and retention,
challenges they face. General research
her research at numerous national
assessment, and yoga for performing
issues include social support, work/life
and international communication and
artists. Recent conference presentations
issues in organizations, and how health
include College Music Society, Association prevention conferences. Courses that
and organizational life intersect.
Diana has taught include Fundamentals
for Institutional Research, Association for
In her free time, Dr. Cripe enjoys reading,
Technology in Music Instruction, National of Oral Communication, Gender,
Nonverbal Communication, Interpersonal
rock climbing, art, and baking. She enjoys
Association of College Wind and Percustravel, and has been to 19 countries outside
sion Instructors, Pennsylvania State System Communication, Communication
Research Methods, Effective Group
of the US thus far. She also enjoys relaxing
of Higher Education Academic Departat home with her partner and their 2 cats.
ment Chairs, North Dakota Music Educa- Discussion, and Lying and Deception.
tors, Minnesota Music Educators, South
Dakota Music Educators, and International
Clarinet Association.
Keith Massie (Ph.D., University of Utah) is an Assistant
Dr. Kiec earned master’s and doctoral
Professor in the Department of Communication Studies
degrees in clarinet performance at Peaat Kutztown University. He teaches and researches in the
body Conservatory of Music of The Johns
areas of new media, visual communication, philosophy
Hopkins University. She holds bachelor’s
of language, critical theory, representations of identity
degrees in saxophone performance and
in the media, methodology, and public speaking. He has
German from the State University of New
published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, has a
York at Buffalo. Previously, she taught
book chapter in Online Gaming in Context: The Social and
woodwinds and music theory at Clarion
Cultural Significance of Online Games, and is author of
University and University of Mary, where
Communication Connections: From Aristotle to the Intershe also served as the Coordinator of Asnet. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing, spending
sessment and Accreditation for the School
time with family, and watching movies.
of Arts and Sciences.
11
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES & THEATRE SURVEY
1.
Name: (last)____________________________________ (first)_____________________________
Maiden:______________________________
2.
Home Address: (street)____________________________________________________________
Spouse’s Name :_____________________________
City:____________________________________State:_____________Zip:___________________
Home Phone: (area code)_________ Phone:___________________________________________
3.
Employer:___________________________________________________
since:______________
Title:________________________________________________________
since:______________
Company Addresss: (street)________________________________________________________
City:___________________________________State:______________Zip:__________________
E-Mail:____________________________________________
4.
Year of Graduation:_________________________________
5. What was your major at Kutztown? SPEECH/COMMUNICATION__________
6.
Are you currently employed? (If no, go to 10) YES__________ NO__________
7.
Are you employed: FULL TIME_____________ PART TIME_____________
8.
Are you working in a degree related field? YES___________ NO___________
9.
Did you do an internship while at Kutztown University? YES____________ NO____________
If you did are you currently employed or have you ever been employed by that internship? YES_________ NO__________
10.
If your job is non-degree related, what is the primary reason that you are not working in the field?
_____ (1) FEW OR NO JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE FIELD
_____ (2) INABILITY OR LACK OF DESIRE TO CHANGE GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS
_____ (3) AVAILABILITY OF HIGHER PAYING POSITIONS IN NON-RELATED FIELDS
_____ (4) OPTED FOR GRADUATE STUDY
_____ (5) OTHER (please specify)___________________________________________________
11.
Job Distance from Kutztown: _____(1) 0-50 MILES
_____ (4) 300-500 MILES 12.
Have you enrolled in any programs for graduate study? YES________ NO________
SCHOOL:_______________________________________________________________________
DEGREE PROGRAM:______________________________DEGREE AWARED:__________________
YEAR:_________________
13.
Were you employed in the field at graduation? YES________ NO________
14.
Please bring us up to date about yourself. Include information that you would allow us to publish in our newsletter. (ex: promotions, job changes, moves, awards, marriage, births, etc.)
THEATRE__________
_____ (2) 50-10 MILES
OTHER ________
_____ (3) 100-300 MILES
_____ (5) OVER 500 MILES
Our goal is to have this newsletter become 100% electronic, so please send us your email address. Feel free to update us by filling out
the above survey and send to Stacey Gambler at gambler@kutztown.edu.
12