July 2006

Fever for hay relief

Duane Plessinger, a farmer in Trotwood, Ohio, is using his skill to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina whose own farms have suffered.
Since last October Plessinger, who works in the UD facilities management maintenance and operations group, has organized a project through the Montgomery County Cattlemen's Association and with the help of a dozen other farmers to donate 35 acres of hay to more than 50 farmers who lost their crops and livestock in the hurricane.
"Most of the work right now is coordinating the transportation of the donations that keep coming in," he said. Coordinating and paying for shipping occupies much of the volunteers' time, and money is still needed for delivering hay, he added.
Plessinger said that he still receives phone calls every day regarding the volunteer effort. He spent the week of April 16 visiting the affected farmers and assessing their situation. "A big problem they still have is waiting for more rain to make the soil good again," he said.
Donations made payable to MCCA Hay Relief are being accepted at Brookville Building and Savings Association, 510 Arlington Road, Brookville, Ohio 45309.

by Caroline R. Miller '07 7-31-06

'Put whoever is in charge on the line'

Raphael Tsu ’56 got stuck on Ellis Island while traveling from England to Dayton to attend his father's alma mater. That's when Father Charles Collins, S.M., got involved. To hear Tsu tell his story, click the image. (Requires Quicktime.)
Tsu told this story to classmates at the Class of 1956 party during Reunion Weekend 2006. His and other stories told that weekend were recorded for UD's pilot oral history project, now in its second year and sponsored by the National Alumni Association.

by Matthew Dewald 7-26-06

Korean Madonnas

Instead of seeing the blue-eyed blondes made famous by Renaissance artists painting the Madonna and child, one will see in the Marian Library an exhibit of a Korean Holy Family depicted in a traditional Korean art form. "Madonnas of the Morning Calm: Sacred Images of Korea" by O-Sek Bang is on display through Sept. 15 on the seventh floor of Roesch Library.
The 30 paintings use bright, rich colors, particularly in the elaborate clothes. Korean characters frame the borders of a gown in shades of blue in "Holy Mother the Queen of Korea, Mother Full of Love" (Korean paper and Korean color ink, 1975), shown left.
One particularly touching artwork, "Jesus the Child That Came Down to Us," depicts Mary lovingly holding the baby close. Both are dressed in white and have their eyes reverently closed.
Bang is visiting UD this week. She will make a public presentation at 8 p.m. Friday, July 28, in Kennedy Union east ballroom. Information the exhibit can be found at The Mary Page.

by Caroline R. Miller '07 7-24-06

Ptolemy Taggart

The first sculpture to greet readers entering the Dayton Metro Library downtown is "Ptolemy Taggart, the Reading Frog." Ptolemy sits on a large red mushroom and reads a book to the smaller frog perched on his knee, both with black-spotted green skin, webbed feet and amphibian-like red eyes.
Ptolemy and the other enormous and colorful papier mache Egyptian gods, animals and dinosaurs were created by Patterson-Kennedy Elementary School students for the exhibit "A Walk Through Time: A History Hunt for All Ages," funded by a grant from UD.
The art is scattered throughout the library and can be found while browsing books on the first floor, checking out a tape on the second, or researching some magazines on the lower level.
The students even included a papier mache near life-size Rudy Flyer who greets patrons entering the lower level.
Children who visit the library receive a pamphlet to help them hunt for 13 sculptures and the turn in a questionnaire for a prize.
The exhibition is on display at the library on Third Street through July 30.

by Caroline R. Miller '07 7-21-06

Don't make me hunt you down

You can run but you can’t hide from the Class Notes Queen. While diligently fact-checking for the upcoming issue of the UD Quarterly, I noted that Tanya Wenning Corso '97 wrote she was expecting a baby boy in July. It was worth a phone call to see if the Corso’s Future Flyer had arrived in time to meet the Class Notes deadline. My question was answered even before Tanya said hello. I could hear the well-developed lungs of Elliott Augustine who had arrived just the day before. She answered my call from her hospital room. So if you haven’t sent in a class note lately you better get with it -- don’t make me hunt you down. Read all about Tanya and many other classmates in the next issue of the Quarterly due to mail in early September.

by Jeaneen Parsons 7-18-06

Oh say, can you sing ...

Before they toss the first pitch at the Great American Ballpark this Wednesday, all will rise and remove their caps while Marisa Minor sings the national anthem. This will be the second time Minor, a UD junior public relations and music major from Fort Recovery, Ohio, has sung before a Cincinnati Reds home crowd. The game, the second of a three-game series against the New York Mets, starts at 7:10 p.m.
Minor started her summer "vacation" with a five-week summer study abroad in Italy, then jetted back home for the Miss Ohio Scholarship Program competition. Minor -- the reigning Miss Northwestern Ohio -- placed in the top 10 July 8, receiving the Mao Community Service Award. Her talent: operatic vocal solo, "Gira con Me."

by Michelle Tedford 7-18-06

Computer as big as her living room

During Reunion Weekend 2006, four former student workers from the Class of '56 got together for a pilot oral history project, now in its second year and sponsored by the National Alumni Association. They talked about the job they shared working in a computer room in the basement of Chaminade Hall on "The Project." It was one of the coolest places to work on campus. (Click the image for a video excerpt. Requires Quicktime.)
The Project developed into the UD Research Institute, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.
From its start, the Project relied on students, including these four women -- this at a time when female students couldn't live on campus because there was no housing available to them.

by Matthew Dewald 7-14-06

Dateline: UD

For every story we write about UD alumni, there are many more we could write. News about our alumni pops up every day in online tools like Google news alerts. Here's a typical sample, all from this past weekend, of the kinds of stories we read every day:
· Chemical engineering graduate Michael "Pete" Peters '77 was interviewed about his research using human embryonic stem cells.
·  Rita Hawk '81, who earned her master's in theological studies, celebrated her 50th anniversary of vocation to religious life with the Sisters of Charity.
· Law school graduate Laurie Miller '01 was elected to the board of governors of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia.
·  Computer science graduate Greg Carmichael '85 was named chief operating officer of Fifth Third Bancorp.
· Former UD basketball player and two-time NBA all-star Jim Paxson Jr. '79 joined his brother John at the Chicago Bulls front office as a consultant.

by Matthew Dewald 7-11-06

Flyers and Dragons and cheers, oh my

More than 250 alumni, faculty, staff and family members turned out for the first-ever UD School of Business Administration night at Fifth-Third Field June 26 to watch the Dayton Dragons take on the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. (Click photos to see more, by Julie Miller-Walling). Dan Sadlier, chair of the UD board of trustees, and Dean Pat Meyers addressed the crowd at a pre-game party that included dinner, complimentary Dragons baseball caps and door prizes. Flyers filled most of Section 116, and families with small children spread blankets along the third base line to watch the game. The summer evening of SBA fun and networking at the ballpark was made even sweeter, watching Dragons pitcher Travis Wood toss seven shutout innings and blank the Devil Rays 3-0.

by Deborah McCarty Smith 7-10-06

I spy in Thailand something UD

One of the best places to view the green pitches of Germany's World Cup is from the white sandy beaches of Thailand. Chuck Hohenstein ’86, who lives in Seoul, South Korea, wrote the Dayton Flyer Fans listserv to prove yet again that you can never travel so far as to forget UD.
"I'm down here in Thailand vacationing and there are PSAs on TV about not gambling on the World Cup. Well, get this: The person they show betting on the World Cup (face blacked out) is wearing a UD hat!!!!!!! I am not kidding. I nearly fell into my Singha beer when I saw it."
He'll watch Sunday's final at 1 a.m. local time via Malaysian TV, which offers English commentary.

by Michelle Tedford 7-7-06

Coach Blackburn

Today's basketball players compete on Blackburn Court at UD Arena. An earlier generation played for Tom Blackburn himself.
During Reunion Weekend 2006, members of the Class of 1956 and others got together to talk about life at UD for a pilot oral history project, now in its second year and sponsored by the National Alumni Association.
Two of Blackburn's former players, Bob Jacoby ’56 and Jim Paxson ’56, talked about playing for coach Blackburn. (Click the image for a video excerpt. Requires Quicktime.)

by Matthew Dewald 7-5-06

Unwanted art

Artist Henry Sugimoto knows what it feels like to be the unwanted ingredient in America’s melting pot.
The Japanese native arrived in the United States at age 19, but when he was 42 — and World War II was raging — he spent three and a half years at internment camps in Arkansas. “The experience irreversibly affected how he viewed himself, his art and the Japanese American experience,” according to the Japanese American National Museum.
Much of Sugimoto’s artwork depicts life in the camps, and 29 of those images are on display at the McGinnis Center (click thumbnails to see more).
They are poignant works capturing such powerful scenes as a family standing below a large sign reading “No Japs Wanted Anymore.” Many are haunting, such as “Bewilderment,” in which a Japanese girl holding a suitcase looks up, a tear falling from her eye. “Innocent Babies” depicts a group of cheerful youngsters — one of them waving a small American flag — playing beneath a sign reading “Jerome Relocation Camp” as an American military policeman walks by the nearby barbed-wire fence.
Ironically, many of the images portray Japanese families sending off, coping without or mourning their sons and husbands as the families are forced to reside in the camps. For example, in “Thoughts of Him,” a mother sits nursing a baby next to a table on which sits a picture of a man in a military uniform and a postcard. “My Son — Hurt in Action” shows a soldier’s father reading a letter as the mother looks on, distressed.
The exhibit will be on display through the end of the fall semester, when a variety of educational programs based on the exhibit will be held.

by Kristen Wicker 7-3-06