The Magazine of St. Ambrose University | Fall 2013

Endowed Gifts: Keeping Our Roots StrongALSO INSIDE: Legacy Scholarship Will Help Alumni Children

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8SceneThe Magazine of St. Ambrose University

Fall 2013 | Volume XXXIX | Number 3

Managing Editor

Linda Hirsch

Editor

Craig DeVrieze

Staff Writer

Jane Kettering

Staff Assistant

Darcy Duncalf ’12

2 Under the OaksThe life of Munir Sayegh ’11 has come full

circle as he circles the globe for his alma mater;

the award-winning SAU Dance Marathon

gears up for another year; and a professor’s

chemistry with St. Ambrose extends well beyond

the classroom.

Contributing Writers

Kate Anderson

Susan Flansburg

Steven Lillybeck

Ted Stephens III ’01, ’04

Designer

Sally Paustian ’94

www.sau.edu/scene

scene@sau.edu

Photo and illustration credits

John Mohr Photography: front cover, inside front cover, pages 4–5, 8, 14–15,

22; Dan Videtich: front cover, pages 6–7, 10–13, 16–19, 21, 24.

Scene is published by the Communications and Marketing office for the alumni,

students, parents, friends, faculty and staff of St. Ambrose University. Its purpose

is to inform and inspire through stories highlighting the many quality people and

programs that are the essence of St. Ambrose’s distinguished heritage of Catholic,

values-based education. Circulation is approximately 28,000.

St. Ambrose University—independent, diocesan, and Catholic—enables

its students to develop intellectually, spiritually, ethically, socially,

artistically and physically to enrich their own lives and

the lives of others.

St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St.,

Davenport, Iowa 52803

Features

12 Lighting the WayKeeping the light of educational opportunity burning

at St. Ambrose is a mission for endowment donors like

Daniel Broderick ’82, MD.

14 Rooted to the FutureThe St. Ambrose endowment fund and the generous

donors who help it grow will keep the university

financially secure and ready to share its mission with

generations of Ambrosians yet to come.

17 Reaching BackMany of the donors who endow scholarships at

St. Ambrose remember the hand they were extended

when they were students. Now, it is their turn to give a

hand up to students in need.

22 Jane’s GiftFor much of her adult life, the late Jane Folwell

worked in Washington DC. As a noted QC

philanthropist in the second chapter of her life, she

endowed the first academic chair in SAU history.

Alumni Profile

24 Dedicated to DiversityThomas Mason IV ’91 felt welcomed at St. Ambrose, an

experience he remembers still “as the best thing that ever

happened to me.” He is working to help future Ambrosians

feel that way now.

26 Alumni NewsMeet three St. Ambrose graduates who became college

presidents; see how a positive attitude produced a positive

life for Jennifer (Vaughan) Kennedy ’03, ’04 DPT; learn how

a scholarship awaits every child of SAU alumni who enrolls

here beginning next year; and read how love grew through

basketball for two Fighting Bees couples.

30 Class Notes

About the Ambrosian…If you wondered if your September copy of the Ambrosian

was lost in the mail, wonder no more. We have discontinued

publication of the newsletter you had been receiving three

times each year in favor of focusing on more regular means

of communicating news about St. Ambrose.

If you don’t subscribe to the monthly AmbroseZine

e-newsletter via email, we encourage you to do so. Also

check out our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

To find links to SAU e-media, visit sau.edu/scene.

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In a matter of minutes at the Davenport NAACP’s annual Freedom Fund Banquet in September, members stepped up to support a new St. Ambrose NAACP campus chapter.

“They raised $920 on the spot,” said Ryan Saddler ’95, ’06 MEd, the recently appointed SAU director of diversity. “In five minutes. It was really, really neat.”

Banquet attendees were responding to a request by speaker Kameron Middlebrooks, who noted the ongoing battle for equal rights won’t be won by an aging older guard.

“One of the main things this speaker emphasized is that many of the struggles through the years were fought by college-aged youth,” Saddler said. “I think that’s what they’re looking at. Who has the voice and the energy? It’s the youth.”

The creation of the first NAACP campus chapter in several years will continue an intentional effort to increase diversity at St. Ambrose. Saddler said starting a campus chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) also is under consideration.

Read more about diversity at St. Ambrose at sau.edu/scene.

When Pope John Paul II visited Iowa’s Living History

Farms in 1979, Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant ’80, PhD, then

a St. Ambrose student, served as an acolyte for the

outdoor Mass.

It was during that visit that Fr. Grant—and the world—

heard the first articulation of environmental theology

by a pope. “Catholic environmental theology was born,”

said Fr. Grant.

Fast-forward to 2013, when, despite the efforts

of many individuals, “We live in a society that is

unsustainable,” according to Fr. Grant.

One of the organizers of the 2013–14 St. Ambrose

project series on Sustainability, Fr. Grant sees the

lectures, concerts, projects and discussions as having

‘Fr. Bud’ Brings Sustainable Living

to Forefront

NAACP Student Chapter

Wins Community Support

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one chief objective: to heighten awareness and,

hopefully, help bring about change.

“Environmental issues are so grave and so rapidly

advancing, the whole global community must be

mobilized to address them on an infrastructure and

governmental level,” he said.

Among the topics that will be addressed during the

project series are sustainable agriculture, a shift from

coal and oil to alternative energy sources, and the use

of carbon trades and other examples of collective and

corporate sustainability initiatives.

This spring, theologian John Haught, widely

recognized as a contributor to the dialogue about faith

and science, will give the Chair of Catholic Studies

lecture. Baecke Lecturer Wes Jackson will discuss his

research into native plants as food sources. There

even will be a “Sustainability Concert,” featuring a

new composition by Music Department Chair William

Campbell, PhD, said Fr. Grant.

In the end, living in a more sustainable way—

individually and collectively—fits the St. Ambrose

mission to enrich lives, Fr. Grant said.

“We have an obligation to intentionally reduce our

standard of living and to shift the burden from those

suffering the most as a result of ecological damage,

to we who have caused it,” he said. “Christ set a clear

example of this kind of ‘redistributive suffering.’”

Read more about the Sustainability project at sau.edu/scene.

f not for the good work of an international recruiter, Munir Sayegh ’11 wouldn’t be here.

An international recruiter brought Sayegh’s father, Atallah, from his native Palestine to Hesston College in Kansas in 1979. Two years later, Atallah transferred to Kansas State in nearby Manhattan, where he met his future wife, Gwen.

Munir was born in Wichita, Kan., a few years later, starting down a path that led to an undergraduate career at St. Ambrose. Now, a serendipitous twist in that path has led him back to SAU as his alma mater’s first full-time international recruiter.

“It’s kind of funny how things have come full circle for my family,” Sayegh said. “I always knew I wanted to do something to be a bridge between the United States and the Middle East.”

Sayegh spent a year in Egypt as a US Fulbright student between his junior and

senior years at St. Ambrose. His busy passport already included numerous stamps from the Middle East. Growing up, he frequently visited his father’s family in Jordan. As an SAU undergrad, he also spent a study abroad semester in Morocco.

Now, he will travel the world in search of new Ambrosians as SAU builds on recent efforts to grow its international student population.

John Cooper, St. Ambrose vice president for enrollment management, said Sayegh was a perfect fit for the position. “His knowledge and passion for St. Ambrose, combined with his experience internationally, make him the perfect person to get this important initiative launched,” Cooper said.

The plan is to increase the number of international students to 120 within the next three years. Sayegh said the current total of 72 international students

represents just 1.3 percent of SAU’s total enrollment, while US colleges and universities average 3 percent.

Sayegh, who traveled to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq in September and to China in October, speaks English and French—his SAU minor—as well as two dialects of Arabic. He is certain the value of the St. Ambrose experience will translate across the globe. And he is confident new and diverse student perspectives will prove valuable here at home.

“It would be an enriching experience for our students,” he said. “International students bring different culture to campus. It is a good initiative all-around.”

Read more about International Admissions at

St. Ambrose at sau.edu/scene.

Around-the-World Assignment Brings Recruiter Full CircleI

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The presence of Fulbright Scholar Ngan Hoe Lee, PhD, at St. Ambrose is providing a unique learning opportunity for

students in the SAU School of Education.Lee was selected by the Fulbright

program as one of only 800 foreign faculty and education professionals funded to teach or conduct research in the United States this year.

“To be selected as a host school for a Visiting Fulbright Scholar in Residence

is quite an honor,” said Tom Carpenter, PhD, director of the

School of Education. “We are pleased to have Dr. Lee with us this year and our students are taking full advantage of his expertise.”

Lee is from Singapore, where he serves as an assistant professor at

the National Institute of Education. Besides teaching, Lee is involved in international comparative studies in

the fields of teacher education and mathematics curriculum development. He consults with curriculum planners and teachers from Bhutan to Chile, from the United Kingdom to China.

Lee knows math. But it’s not just math—it is Singapore Math, a methodology increasingly being adopted by school districts across the United States. Among other distinctions, Singapore Math encourages a creative, interactive approach to problem solving.

“Many people see math as a lonely, individual journey,” said Lee. “I see math as a social activity, a beautiful picture.”

Lee’s time at St. Ambrose includes working with students in the teacher education program, collaborating with faculty, making community presentations and providing in-services to local k–12 schools. Lee also is quick to articulate his own desire to learn from his year as a Fulbright and from his experience at St. Ambrose.

Among the things he most wants to impart to students is his passion for mathematics.

“I want to excite them,” said Lee. “Every subject is a beautiful picture.”

Learn more about Singapore Math at

sau.edu/scene.

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Fulbright Scholar Paints Pictures with Numbers

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Associate Vice President for Advancement Ed Finn ’94 MBA remembers when the O’Rourke family offered its financial support for SAU’S assistive technology showcase house.

Jim’s Place was dedicated in memory of the O’Rourke’s beloved brother and son. “That was an example of a very joyful giving experience,” Finn said. “Through their gift, they are impacting the lives of others in very meaningful ways.” Finn on Philanthropy

From the Greek: philos: loving + anthrōpos: man

“In advancement, we get to witness philanthropy, love of

humankind. Watching someone change lives by sharing

what they have.”

What is Giving?“I believe that everything we have is from God, on loan

to us,” Finn said. “We share what we have and help

others.”

An Influential ReadAs a shy and introverted teenager, Finn discovered Dale

Carnegie’s iconic book, How to Win Friends and Influence

People. “That was a life-changer,” he said. “My whole

outlook changed and I started to realize that I could

make something of myself with God’s help.”

Getting ‘Batty’ at the Alumni House Finn, whose office is located in the historic Alumni

House, reports he occasionally receives an unexpected

visitor—and it’s not an alumnus. Confused bats are

captured and then released.

Finn Facts> Early-on, worked at Marycrest College, “quite the rival

of St. Ambrose at the time.”

> Hired by SAU in 1991.

> Works out every day—usually at 5 a.m.

> Leads the children’s liturgy at his parish.

> His brother Steve is general manager of Sodexo Food

Service on campus.

> He considers St. Ambrose not just an employer, but

family.

Who

is S

AU

? Ed

Finn

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St. Ambrose had a problem.

Windows as old as Ambrose Hall itself

needed replacing. The problem was, many

of the building’s wooden-framed windows

were rounded at the top, and new energy

efficient, aluminum-framed windows don’t

meet those specifications.

Lucky for St. Ambrose, Jeff Menke ’99,

a senior engineering team leader for Pella

Windows and Doors, was ready to put to

work problem-solving skills he had learned

as an engineering student while sitting

beside those very same windows.

Menke developed the process that

helped Pella create an assembly line to

build one-of-a-kind replacements that

were rectangular on the interior, but with

a custom-built curved exterior upper sash.

The windows are being installed as part

of the extensive exterior renovation of

Ambrose Hall that is nearing completion.

Among Menke’s many Ambrosian

memories are classroom hours in the

wintertime, sitting near those same drafty,

single-paned, century-old windows with his

heavy coat on.

“The radiators ran all the time,” he said.

“That will go away with the product we are

providing. These windows are definitely

energy savers.”

Engineering A SOLUTION

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MOL Program Challenges and InspiresAs a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team in the early 1980s, Greg Stokes learned a few things about leadership and teamwork. Stokes recently learned quite a bit more about both of those important topics through the St. Ambrose Master of Organizational Leadership program.

The graduate-level degree program, begun in 2000, will graduate its 400th student at winter commencement. The program is designed to help students develop leadership and people skills that will help them succeed and advance in the workplace.

Through once-per-week, nighttime classes and eight-week courses, the program also is built to

accommodate working adults. A unique partnership provides SAU classes at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which is where Stokes earned his MOL degree in 2011.

Debbie Schwiebert ’07 MOL was looking to cross an item off her bucket list when she enrolled in the program in her early 50s. Classroom discussions with fellow students 10, 20 and even 30 years younger were a highlight of her MOL experience. “The combination was stimulating, inspiring and substantive,” she said.

Best New Dance MarathonAward-winning

Dance Marathon Thinking Big

Neon orange shirts and lime green shorts were a mark of Ambrosian distinction at the Quad City Marathon in September. That was the uniform of

the day for 68 SAU students who ran the race to raise

awareness of the SAU Dance Marathon.In July, last year’s event was named the Best New

Dance Marathon in the nation after raising $48,000 for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.

“We were up against some giant schools,” Dance Marathon Executive Director and senior nursing student Amanda McClure said. “To be able to get that recognition at a conference with 300 other Dance Marathon groups in attendance was just wonderful.”

Now, get used to seeing the neon shirts and shorts. Involvement on campus is growing for the 2014 Dance Marathon, which will be held April 5. At Club Fest in September, more than 300 students signed up to learn more about the cause.

The Dance Marathon group got started on achieving an ambitious goal of raising $60,000 with a “For The Kids Week” fundraising push in mid-

November.“Last year our goal was $15,000 and we ended up

with almost $50,000,” McClure noted. “So who knows what we’ll raise this year?”

More about St. Ambrose Dance Marathon at sau.edu/scene.

The substance surrounds the important distinctions between leadership and management, the value of strategic thinking, planning and communicating, and the power of teamwork in pursuit of agreed upon objectives.

A global manager of marketing and sales for Deere and Co., Schwiebert found that focus applicable to her professional and personal life. “I felt I could not only develop myself but also develop the people who report to me,” she said.

Jake Montague, a 29-year-old student on track to earn his MOL degree in December 2014, came to his job as a supply management specialist at Deere two

years ago, intent on never again holding a supervisory position.

Now, having studied concepts such as conflict management, decision making and team building, he feels prepared to lead again in the workplace.

“Because of what the MOL has taught me, challenged me with, forced me to look at within myself,” he said, “I believe I can not only do the job, but I can do the job well and effectively.”

Learn more about the MOL degree program at sau.edu/scene.

I felt I could not only develop myself but also develop the people who report to me.—Debbie Schwiebert ’07 MOL

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“I’m on your side and, together, we are going to master this stuff.”

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facultyPROFILE

by Craig DeVrieze

ook this man lead billing on The Last Comical

Chemist Standing.

“Two sodium atoms are walking down the

street,” Art Serianz, PhD, began with the dry, halting delivery that has been a staple in St. Ambrose chemistry classrooms since 1975. “One of them says to the other, ‘Oh my gosh. I’ve lost my electron.’ The first one says, ‘Are you sure?’ And the other one says, ‘Yes. I’m positive.’”

The punch line might not immediately register with non-science types. (“When an atom loses its electron, it becomes positively charged,” Serianz readily explained.) But, trust this SAU classroom icon: that old standard positively kills in Chemistry 101 and it has for nearly 40 years.

Because the years haven’t remotely dulled his passion for science, his dedication to his students, nor his devotion to St. Ambrose, Serianz said he will be mixing a small dose of cornball humor with large dashes of basic and advanced chemistry concepts for at least a couple more years.

And that is great news for incoming SAU students. Serianz twice has been a nominee for Faculty Member of the Year, and he currently is serving his fifth multi-year term as chemistry department chair.

His approach to teaching demands attention to detail in an admittedly complex subject, but he also said, “I try to communicate to the students: ‘I’m on your side and, together, we are going to master this stuff.’”

Serianz seemingly was bound for a career in the sciences since he immigrated to the United States with his parents six years after he was born in post-war Germany in 1946. “He blew up many things in his parents’ garage,” shared his wife, Rachel Serianz, PhD, a longtime professor of education at SAU. “He does have a strong passion for science.”

That passion, however, is one among many. This prof’s personal chemistry includes a mix of roles as husband, father, chemist, educator, political party leader, fundraiser and avowed supporter of the liberal arts.

Serianz’s imprint on St. Ambrose also goes far beyond the classroom. He has chaired or served on numerous SAU work groups, including a 10-year stint on the strategic planning committee. He currently is a member of both the institutional prioritization committee and the planning committee for the new Master of Physician Assistant Studies program. The first MPAS cohort, which is expected to start this coming summer, will continue an impressive expansion of the St. Ambrose health sciences curriculum. That is something Serianz is pleased to note has helped raise the profile of the undergraduate science programs.

True to his eclectic nature, however, he hopes such growth won’t come at the expense of other departments or programs.

“I’m thinking about philosophy, English, music, art and theatre—those core liberal arts,” he said. “I would love to see more humanities and liberal arts majors than there are.”

Serianz routinely has helped put money where those sentiments lie, having served as a part-time grant writer for any number of university projects and programs virtually since his arrival in 1975.

Significant successes include a $1.5 million Title III technology grant in 1994, a $1 million Kresge grant to assist construction of the Rogalski Center and countless grants for smaller but no less vital sums in support of academic programs and student scholarships.

“You can’t go many places on this campus without seeing something that his grant writing brought us,” Rachel Serianz said. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that.”

Barry Ferm, PhD, chemical hygiene officer and laboratory coordinator at Lewis Hall, said that lack of recognition likely is a byproduct of Art Serianz’s understated nature.

“He is so low key,” Ferm said. “He kind of runs beneath the radar.”

With a dry wit and wry comedic repertoire to match.

“A patient comes to see a psychiatrist,” Serianz began again, wearing a mischievous grin. “He says, ‘I’m a teepee. I’m a wigwam. I’m a teepee. I’m a wigwam.’ The psychiatrist says, ‘Relax. You’re two tents.’”

He’s here all week.

Read more about the St. Ambrose Chemistry

Department at sau.edu/scene.

BImpact Beyond the Classroom

A

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full academic scholarship at St. Ambrose

allowed Daniel Broderick ’82, MD, to go on to medical school

at the University of Illinois nearly debt-free.

He left, instead, with a different sense of indebtedness.

“St. Ambrose was really there for me when I needed them,”

said Broderick, now a staff neuroradiologist at the Mayo Clinic

in Jacksonville, Fla., and a member of the St. Ambrose Board

of Trustees. “Since I am in a place now where I can afford to be

charitable, I want to give my money where I know it is really

going to matter. I want other students to have an opportunity

for a St. Ambrose education.”

Although endowed gifts can impact brick-and-mortar

projects, academic programming and research, and, in some

cases, even help to purchase books and computers, the

essential truth is that every dollar loyal alumni and valued

friends of St. Ambrose dedicate to the institution ultimately

will impact students.

The endowment fund at St. Ambrose has quintupled since

1999 and undergraduate enrollment has grown as well. From

his seat on the board, Broderick can see how increasingly

interdependent those two areas of growth have become.

“Since I have been on the board, I read the news differently,”

he said. “Before, I didn’t read about college admission rates or

the cost of higher education or the increasing indebtedness of

students. A college education is really becoming out of reach

for a lot of American families.

“And I really believe in the value of a college education.”

That is why he is joining the growing number of friends

of St. Ambrose who are endowing scholarships and helping

grow the endowment fund — to ensure and assist future

generations of Ambrosians.

Well over half of St. Ambrose’s 80-plus endowed

scholarships were added in the past five years, with another

20-plus estate-based endowed scholarships pending.

For many students, scholarship assistance opens a door to

opportunities they weren’t sure they could experience. Senior

biology major Jennifer Rushton plans to follow Broderick into

the medical profession as an applicant for the first cohort of

SAU’s new Master of Physician Assistant Studies program. She

likened the scholarship help she received as an undergraduate

to finding “light in a dark room.”

Endowment donors such as Dan Broderick believe the

opportunity to gain a St. Ambrose education is a light that

never should be dimmed.

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The Endowment: Investing in the Future

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Endowed giftsThe Roots of Our Mission

by Ted Stephens III ’01, ’04

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You can grow an oak tree from an acorn.

It just takes time.

m The oak is a slow growing tree, often needing three

or more decades before it can begin to provide

shade. Before it sprouts upward, the oak’s roots dig

deep, as far as five feet in its first year alone.

m Today at St. Ambrose, mighty oaks stand that

were mere saplings when Ambrose Hall was

built 128 years ago. They tower now over our

campus icon, held in place by roots that provide a

foundation firm enough to stand up to a storm.

m As St. Ambrose University grows in ways its

founders might never have imagined, it also must

rely on roots that will keep it strong and able to

withstand inevitable challenges.

m A healthy, well-supported and growing

endowment fund can be the roots that keep a

university growing into the future.

Endowed giftsThe Roots of Our Mission

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“A strong endowment says definitively that the alumni and friends who support St. Ambrose intend for this place of higher learning to be here permanently,” said Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, president of St. Ambrose. “It means that our supporters believe that the education provided and the lives enriched here are so incredibly significant that they are ready to commit to future generations. They want students 50 or 100 years from now to receive our uniquely Ambrosian education.”

A strong and growing endowment also adds value to graduates’ degrees, Stangle added.

m The landscape today

Figures published this summer in U.S. News and

World Report listed the St. Ambrose University endowment at just over $105 million in 2012. That is well above other regional private colleges and universities but just below schools like Augustana College and Luther College (graph at right).

Grinnell College in central Iowa, which ranks as the 52nd wealthiest educational institution of any size in the country, reported an endowment of more than $1.38 billion, thanks in part to billionaire Warren Buffet’s role managing finances as a former longtime member of the Board of Trustees.

Buttressed by rising investment earnings in a strengthening economy, the St. Ambrose endowment rose to approximately $118 million by June of this year. But Mike Poster ’88, vice president for finance, cautioned that the number fluctuates with the market, “meaning these days it changes all of the time.”

Wrapping your head around

the concept of an endowment—

what it actually is and

what it can do for a university

like St. Ambrose—can be difficult. “In many cases, an endowment is intangible—

it’s not like a building you can see or touch after a successful capital campaign,” said Jim Stangle ’82, vice president for advancement. “But I think if we look closely, we do see the benefits of our endowment on the faces of the students who walk on our campus, in the faculty who teach in our classrooms, and in the alumni who live our mission throughout the world.”

A strong endowment—built around other philanthropic support—is the foundation of the institution’s future, Stangle said.

“Quite simply, our university’s viability depends on our supporters,” he said. “Whether it is the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised through the St. Ambrose Annual Fund each year, a campaign to build or renovate buildings, or one of our endowed scholarships and funds, each ensures that this great place will be here long after all of us are gone.”

In strictly financial terms, a university’s endowment is made of a set of investment funds from which regular withdrawals from investment earnings —not typically the principal—can be used for board- or donor-designated purposes. Endowments are funded by donations, which may be tax deductible.

For a university like St. Ambrose, a strong endowment also is an indication of strength and stature.

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College and university endowments nationwide, including SAU’s, recently have bounced back from the tumultuous economic downturns that rocked institutions of higher education in 2008 and again in 2011. Elite private institutions like Harvard University and Princeton University, which rely heavily on their endowments for operating funds and scholarships, were among those hardest hit, forcing serious cuts in personnel and building projects.

St. Ambrose’s daily operations came out relatively unscathed, even with temporary investment losses. That is partly because the university has had a strategy in place for decades that did not rely upon the investment earnings from the endowment to pay for operations.

Poster said SAU’s strategy is to determine what it can budget based mostly on enrollment projections, as well as contributions brought in through the St. Ambrose Annual Fund. Five percent of the earnings accrued from endowed scholarships, which make up roughly 10 percent of the institution’s total endowment, are used to fund scholarships that have been started by donors and friends.

“We could spend a percentage of our total endowment, moving the investment earnings into resources that we can use,” said Poster. “But at St. Ambrose, we intentionally have not done that. Reinvesting the earnings back into the endowment has in turn grown it and strengthened the institution’s

financial stability for the future.” Poster works with the president and the Finance and

Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees—a group made up of financial advisers, entrepreneurs and accountants—to review the university’s financial

position on a quarterly basis.

Private Midwest College and University Endowments

* Source: U.S. News and World Report, 2014 Best Colleges

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The university’s money management firm, Goldman Sachs, meets with Poster even more often to discuss St. Ambrose’s investments and make recommendations on how to continue to diversify the portfolio.

“Diversity really is the name of the game, as it is for any long-term investor,” Poster said. “We balance making investments that come with some risk with investments that continue to show a strong rate of return. This can soften the impact the fluctuating market has on our funds. One of the important roles of the finance committee is to make our investment policy sound—to ensure that we are appropriately aggressive without putting our strong financial position at risk.”

m Nurturing philanthropy

Growing the university’s endowment is a priority because not only does it signal to prospective students and parents the strength and sustainability of the institution, it also ensures that future Ambrosians will be able to receive the financial support they may need to realize their educational dreams—something to which most donors can relate.

“In our Board of Trustee and Cabinet meetings, we are discussing how we can continue to bolster the academic support and extracurricular programs that we offer, retain and recruit innovative faculty members and welcome the best and brightest students to Ambrose,” Stangle explained. “Increasing our endowment makes possible all of these goals.”

With intensified discussions nationwide about

A strong endowment says… our supporters believe

that the education provided

and the lives enriched here

are so incredibly significant

that they are ready to

commit to future generations.”

—Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD

19

access to higher education, Poster said, “affordability will also continue to be critical for St. Ambrose. Endowed scholarships mean that we can slow the rate of tuition increases, which means more students have an opportunity to earn a degree here.”

Almost anything the university is currently doing—or wants to do in the future—can be endowed, Stangle said.

Benefactors can choose to endow academic programs, faculty chairs and research, international programs or scholarships. When the annual cost to operate a program or hire a faculty position is endowed, it helps ensure the future viability of that program or position. It also frees up funds that can be used to improve other university programs.

At St. Ambrose, a scholarship is considered endowed when it reaches $50,000 in cash gifts. Because the university can use 5 percent of the earnings of an endowed fund, some funds are endowed at a higher level based on what donors are hoping to fund out of the earnings. Academic chairs are considered endowed at $1.5 million, giving the university approximately $75,000 in cash to use each year in perpetuity (assuming a 5 percent annual return).

m An opportunity for growth

Alumni giving at St. Ambrose University currently is at 8 percent. That means that 92 percent of St. Ambrose alumni do not give back financially to the institution at this time. A 2012 survey published by the Council for Aid to Education reported alumni giving averaged 9.2 percent nationwide.

“It’s an opportunity for growth,” acknowledged Stangle, who just completed his first year as vice president for advancement. “What’s important to all of us at the university, first and foremost, is that we are reaching our alumni base more and responding to their needs and offering continued services that support them.

“Secondly, we must continue to enhance the way we engage with our alumni philanthropically and through volunteer opportunities,” he added. “I sense that there is a mistaken idea that if you can’t give a large gift, then you shouldn’t give anything. Here, it isn’t all or nothing. Giving at any level makes a difference in our students’ lives. A gift of $1000 makes a difference, as does a gift of $10.”

There are steps the university is taking to increase its alumni giving rate—not necessarily how much alumni give, but rather, ensuring that they understand the impact giving has and hoping they might participate in some way.

Today, every single Advancement staff member works to re-engage, and in some cases, re-introduce alumni to St. Ambrose. Alumni are also joining forces to help, gathering together as Ambrosians in cities across the country through events like Bee Happy Hour. New approaches to class reunions are bringing more and more people back to the university during Homecoming and other times of the year.

“It’s going to take some time, and a lot of effort,” Stangle noted.

Which is also what it will take to ensure that the acorn buried in the ground will one day become an oak tree—and stand tall forever.

20

Stan Coin ’51 rose to shake hands with a guest. It was a simple act, yet one that Coin waited years to be able to accomplish. In fact, he spent a large

part of his boyhood unable to stand or walk. Osteomyelitis struck him at seven years of age. He didn’t walk again until he returned to school, on crutches, in the 10th grade. Missing ball games, parties and other adventures, Coin learned instead to read novels carefully thanks to a devoted private teacher, to tell great stories

and to value the kind of hard work he longed to be able to do.Today a successful banker, Coin not only has overcome his hard

start, but now is reaching back to help those who, like him, just need a helping hand.

Like so many others who endow scholarships at St. Ambrose or plan to, Stan Coin is extending that helping hand through higher education.

“I was trained to share what I had,” Coin said from the other side of his massive desk at American Bank and Trust. Retired from his position as chairman of the board, he now works “only 40 hours a week.” He’s proud of his experience, which includes a stint following his graduation from SAU as president of his family’s bakery in downtown Rock Island.

“My family had a rule at the bakery,” he said. “If anyone came in and was hungry, you had to give them a loaf of bread. We gave away a lot of bread.”

But, he added, “I’m not too enthused about just giving free meals. My wife and I believe if you only give a man a fish, you give him a meal. But if you teach him to fish, you give him a livelihood. He can feed his family.”

Coin has made a provision through his estate to endow a scholarship to St. Ambrose for future business majors in need. It is a way, the Coins believe, to teach those students how to “fish.”

Like Coin, Karen (Clark) Brenot ’01, DO, credits some of her success to the generosity of others. Today a Quad City physician—she practices in obstetrics and gynecology at UnityPoint Clinic—Brenot also is reaching back to help SAU students.

Why? Because she needed the help herself.

Brenot grew up near Knoxville, Iowa, in a close-knit family that ate, worked and played together. Few school friends lived nearby. So the Clarks made their own fun, riding bikes near their rural Iowa home, pulling weeds in the huge vegetable garden, piling into the family car for Mass on Sundays and enjoying brunch afterwards. Brenot’s love of science was beginning to grow, too, and she looked for any chance to learn more.

SAU’s excellent science department was replete with a cadaver lab (“nobody else had one.”) It filled the bill for this budding doctor, but not without help.

“I couldn’t have attended St. Ambrose without a scholarship,” she said. “And I worked three jobs.”

Despite long hours working at three different jobs, Brenot couldn’t afford as a student to accompany her classmates on a study abroad trip to Italy led by Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant ’80, PhD.

Through the Center for the Study of Saint Ambrose of Milan, the annual trip later became the focus of an endowment gift made by Brenot and her husband, Matt, along with four fellow St. Ambrose graduates—Dorothy Anello ’02, Deanna Bott ’01, Ted Stephens III ’01, ’04 and Matt Ehlman ’02.

“We didn’t think it was right that only wealthy kids could go on that amazing trip,” Brenot said of the adventure she and Matt finally experienced as adults in 2011. “I learned more about my faith in those two weeks than I had in my entire life. We wanted to make sure other kids could do the same thing.”

Craig ’98 MBA and Debbie Mrkvicka also were born into families that valued hard work. Taking full-time jobs in their hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as soon as they could—Debbie right out of high school, Craig after earning a two-year associate degree in engineering technology—the young people followed their expectations, if not their hearts.

That would change when Debbie and Craig met 15 years later and discovered love—for each other, for academia and for the children they would mentor.

Ambrosians Who Had

Helping Hand Reach Back

To Offer One

21

“We were non-traditional students,” Debbie said. They also were the first in their families to earn four-year degrees. Although Craig completed his bachelor’s degree at 37 shortly before the couple met, Debbie earned hers at their kitchen table. As she studied there, Craig decided he wanted to study for yet another degree.

“Dr. John Collis accepted me as an MBA student,” Craig said. “He was very encouraging and welcoming. He was very respectful of me and my time. It broadened my world. It got me out of the engineering box. It built my confidence.”

Ultimately, it pushed him to leave an industry that never captured his heart.

“That MBA changed the course of my life,” Craig said. “St. Ambrose made me feel I could be a leader. I retired from engineering and have been blossoming

ever since.”Today, the Mrkvickas both teach at Kirkwood

Community College. They sponsor five international children, helping rescue them from lives of poverty. They work with students who need extra help learning communications skills. And through their estate, they will provide an endowed St. Ambrose scholarship to help the non-traditional students they themselves once were.

“Life has been rough for so many people,” Debbie said. “If we have a chance to change one student’s life, we want to try. Sometimes it’s a word of encouragement. Sometimes it’s financial. We feel so tremendously blessed to be able to help.”

Lisa and David Bluder ’93 MBA remember

the generosity of others as being key to their connection to St. Ambrose and, ultimately, their success. To begin with, they needed help getting the job in 1984 that would launch Lisa into her current position as head women’s basketball coach for the University of Iowa.

It was a tough order. Dave was already employed at Davenport Bank and Trust, but Lisa couldn’t get so much as an interview in her field. Although she had experience as a player—she was a three-year starter at the University of Northern Iowa—the new graduate had no experience as a coach. And that was the job she wanted. She just needed someone to take a chance on her.

“I had applied at all the area schools,” Lisa remembered. “Nobody even replied to my applications. Then I found out that the head coach had resigned at the last minute from St. Ambrose. I sent off my resume and had interviews with Jim Fox and Ed Rogalski, who was vice president at the time. They hired me even though I was unproven. They took a risk on me, oh yeah.”

Today, the Bluders take risks on other unproven students by way of their endowed scholarship for women basketball students who show leadership skills.

“We’ve set some parameters for the endowment, but we typically don’t know the students who receive it,” said Lisa, who also has made provisions with her husband for an endowment gift through their estate. “That’s part of the joy of giving back. Taking a risk on someone who needs the help without knowing who they are or vice versa. Just giving for the joy of giving.”

The Coins, Brenots, Mrkvickas and Bluders surely embody the Ambrosian values of academic excellence and social justice for all. They also provide an example for generations to come: despite—or perhaps because of—the challenges they faced as young people, they are reaching back to lend a hand up to others.

by Susan Flansburg

I couldn’t have attended

St. Ambrose without a

scholarship. And I worked

three jobs.”

—Karen (Clark) Brenot ’01, DO

Service

22

Jane Folwell spent decades working behind the scenes

in the halls of the US Congress. She then devoted another

40 years to quietly serving her native Quad Cities as an

active volunteer and earnest philanthropist.

Those two very distinct chapters of a proud life of service seamlessly came together in 2001 when Jane Folwell generously endowed the first academic chair in St. Ambrose University history.

Today, the Frank and Jane Folwell Chair in Political Science and Pre-Law at SAU is among 15 endowed funds targeted to enhance academic programs and study opportunities at St. Ambrose.

And when Jane Folwell died in May at the age of 88, she left behind a perfect template for other dedicated and generous St. Ambrose donors to follow, said Bill Parsons, PhD, a professor of political science and leadership studies who has occupied the Folwell chair for the past nine years.

“You couldn’t ask for a better example of what the perfect philanthropist would be for our university,” said Parsons. “The one thing I will miss the most is that our students from here on won’t have the opportunity to meet her.”

Folwell stepped up quickly when Steve Goebel, former assistant to the president for planned and deferred giving at St. Ambrose, presented a plan to endow five academic chairs in ways that would honor the life of SAU’s namesake saint.

“She said ‘Steve, I would like to be the first to endow one of these chairs and I would like to do it in political science because that is the one nearest to my heart,” Goebel recalled.

Folwell, who was recognized with an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from St. Ambrose in May of 2001, began her life in public service as a legislative aide in Des Moines. She went to the nation’s capital in 1951 to work on the staff of Iowa Republican Sen. Bourke Hickenlooper.

She subsequently worked for several legislators, before retiring in 1972 as the office manager for the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. While in Washington DC, Folwell met and married Robert Borth, a powerful lobbyist. They retired together to her native Davenport.

Following Borth’s death, she married well-known QC retailer Frank Folwell, an active civic volunteer and philanthropist. The Folwells were annual donors to St. Ambrose for years, but Jane Folwell became more involved with the university following Frank’s death in 1997, Goebel said.

She was a member of the Planned Giving Advisory Council when she came forward to endow the Folwell Chair. “She said, ‘Steve, I just feel St. Ambrose

by Craig DeVrieze

Quiet Champion

of

23

Endowed Academic ProgramsSome examples of endowed academic

programs at SAU

Baecke Endowment for the Humanties

A gift from Albert and Rae Marie

DeJonghe Baecke has supported

education in the humanities since

1981. It provides annual grants for

faculty research and supports an

annual lecture series.

Kokjohn Endowment for Catholic

Peace and Justice

Established in 2007 from a donation

by Rev. Joseph E. Kokjohn ’50, PhD,

the endowment supports visiting

scholars, teaching, research and

service activities committed to the

Catholic Intellectual Tradition and

peace and justice.

Hauber Endowment for Biology

Established in 1975 in honor of Msgr.

U.A. Hauber, SAU’s fifth president

and a well-known teacher of biology,

this endowment supports the annual

Hauber Biology Lecture.

Geiger Endowment for History

The endowed lecture series was

funded by alumni in honor of retiring

history professor Richard E. Geiger in

2001. This endowment funds lectures,

history activities and study abroad

trips.

Learn more about endowing programs at

St. Ambrose at sau.edu/scene.

is of a stature now that it should have an endowed chair,”’ Goebel recalled.

Parsons said Folwell was an interested but unobtrusive partner in planning the programming her endowment funded. “It was collaborative but she was not one to say, ‘This is what you have to do,”’ he said.

The endowment has funded the Mock Trial and Model UN teams at St. Ambrose and it has helped Parsons and other faculty build student internships through area law firms and political office holders. It also created the annual Folwell Lecture Series, which brings top speakers to campus to address relevant issues of the day.

Jane Folwell attended each of the Folwell lectures, as well as a pre-event dinner with the speaker and a select group of students, until a few years ago, when her health began to decline.

At the first such dinner in 2003, Jennifer (Kislia) Kincaid ’03 witnessed a memorable conversation between Folwell and the inaugural series speaker, former Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice and SAU Board of Trustee emeritus Linda Neuman, JD.

As the two women discussed the challenges of “trying to break through the glass ceiling” in male-centric professions, Kincaid sensed in Folwell a dignified pride in both her early professional accomplishments and her later efforts to enhance the community.

“She just had a quiet poise about her,” said Kincaid, an attorney in Silvis, Ill. “I don’t think she lauded her accomplishments. She let them speak for themselves.”

Parsons said Folwell had a front-row seat to significant moments in history during her time in the nation’s capitol.

“You’re going through the aftermath of World War II, the Cold War, the Sixties, Vietnam and Watergate,” he said. “She was part of all that and came through seeing the value of public service, genuinely and rightly so.

“Truly, she was part of that Greatest Generation, for whom serving your country in these capacities was second nature. You’re supposed to do it, and I think her interest in this endowment was in hope that students would see the same value.”

Many have, including Miles Chiotti ’11, who participated in the Mock Trial and Model UN programs. Chiotti went on to obtain his Master of Public Administration degree from American University in Washington DC, where he also spent 18 months working for John Deere Public Affairs Worldwide in their DC office.

“As someone who went straight out of St. Ambrose into a master’s program at a top 10 school, I certainly was well-prepared,” he said. “The instruction and the resources provided by the Folwell endowment were certainly helpful in that.”

24

by Steven Lillybeck

St. Ambrose always fostered diversity and tolerance. That was true

when I was a student and it still is today. That’s what makes it such a great place.”—Thomas Mason IV

25

Founded in 1988 to honor SAU’s first African-American professor, the scholarship fund has provided nearly $150,000 in tuition assistance to 500 minority students through the years, including 98 first-year or transfer students this fall.

Jim Collins ’69 played a pivotal role in establishing the Diversity Work Group that is leading efforts to permanently endow the Pollard scholarship fund. He said Mason is a tireless ally in that effort.

“I’m amazed at the time and energy Thomas puts into his work at SAU in addition to his leadership role in his workplace and the raising of his family,” said Collins. “It’s truly a labor of love.”

Currently, the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship is an unfunded endowment, meaning it receives support via annual budget considerations, in addition to outside fundraising efforts and donations.

But perhaps not for long. Collins and Mason are leading the effort to solicit $1 million from alumni to permanently endow the Freeman Pollard Scholarship fund by 2020.

For Mason, the commitment to diversity at St. Ambrose affirms his faith in his alma mater and its mission.

“St. Ambrose was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Mason said. “It has spiritually guided me and changed my outlook on life. Yes, I received an excellent education while I was there, but it was also a great nurturing experience. As a result, I want to give back. I feel I have to do good. I not only have a duty to do that, but an obligation.”

Read more about the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship at

sau.edu/scene.

As Thomas Mason IV ’91 joins an effort to enhance diversity on the St. Ambrose campus, he considers it a case of making a “great place” better.

“Yes, St. Ambrose is making a conscious effort to increase diversity, but St. Ambrose always fostered diversity and tolerance,” he said. “That was true when I was a student and it still is today. That’s what makes it such a great place.”

Diversity is more than a question of color, Mason said. Gender, ethnicity and culture also are key to understanding and promoting diversity and St. Ambrose continues to work toward enhancing its representation on all of those fronts.

“We have a female president,” Mason said. “Diversity is understanding that everyone must be accepted and St. Ambrose is doing that. St. Ambrose welcomes everybody and everybody is treated with dignity and respect.”

A successful sales representative for Rilco Inc., in Rock Island, Ill., Mason has been an active member of the SAU Alumni Association Board of Directors for the past decade.

Last year, Mason was asked to focus his energy and commitment to helping a campaign to permanently endow the Freeman Pollard Minority Scholarship. He readily accepted and was a key influence in the Alumni Association’s decision to support that effort by agreeing to commit $1,000 annually to the fund through 2020.

alumniPROFILE

Thomas Mason IV Works to Pay SAU Opportunity Forward

26

alumniNEWS

Community College in Galesburg, Ill. And, in March, Clay McDonald ’97 MBA, PhD, DC, was named president of Logan College of Chiropractic in Chesterfield, Mo.

For McDonald, the call to higher education administration evolved because he wanted more education—a realization that came while he was a chiropractor in a small, isolated town in Montana.

“As a chiropractor, it became clear to me that I could make an impact on a number of people’s lives,” McDonald said. “But I could impact thousands more by becoming a faculty member. As a teacher, I quickly understood that I could alter how students learn by becoming an administrator.”

So while working as the dean of clinics at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, McDonald turned to St. Ambrose for his master’s degree. “Up until that time, I would argue with the Chief Financial Officer on how to run things—I was blessedly ignorant,” he said. “I figured I’d earn an MBA so that I could finally explain all the reasons I

As a young student growing up in Sterling, Ill., Kenneth Yowell ’69, EdD, consistently found himself surrounded by Ambrosians: teachers and coaches who were products of a St. Ambrose education. They also were the people Yowell most admired and with whom he most identified.

“I thought that if I attended St. Ambrose, maybe I would come out at least half of the person they were,” he said.

His years at St. Ambrose began a lifelong passion for higher education that spanned more than three decades, including 23 years as president of Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio.

Higher education is a career path more and more St. Ambrose graduates are taking, with 485 of the alumni who have shared employment information with the Office of Alumni Engagement currently reporting that they work at colleges and universities.

A select few have risen to the top. Yowell recently retired from his long career at the helm of Edison. Lori Sundberg ’03 DBA is president at Carl Sandburg

Presidential Impact: Alumni leading colleges and universities

by Ted Stephens III ’01, ’04

2727

was right. Instead, I discovered that most of the time I was wrong. The MBA program showed me that I needed to think more broadly and laterally about what I was doing and to be inclusive.”

It is something McDonald said he is using every day as president of Logan, where he said the organizational behavior coursework he had at St. Ambrose has molded his presidential approach.

“Higher education is a culture that requires team behavior,” he said. “You work with people who are really bright—and many who have very strong opinions. You really need to be a servant leader and, if you are, you can get the institution to move with you fairly readily.”

Sundberg understands that. Now in her fourth year as president of Carl Sandburg, she has become a leader well versed in the national agenda for community colleges.

“Community colleges have a power and a reach that no other institution of higher education really has,” she said. “We are open door and not selective.

We take people wherever they are—whether 18, 45 or 64—and give them an opportunity at post-secondary education.”

Sundberg said her tenure thus far has been nothing short of invigorating, especially as her college listens to the needs of the community and region and responds to industry’s needs.

“Adapting to the changing educational landscape is something that has been a challenge,” she said, “but also incredibly fulfilling. It is something Carl Sandburg College can be very proud of.”

As he reflects on his time at Edison, Yowell—

who retired two years ago—said that his greatest

contribution lives on through the school’s thousands

of graduates.

“More than anything else,” he said, “what I hope

happened is that the education we offered was a

conduit for personal change in our students’ lives.”

Lori Sundberg ’03 DBAPresident, Carl Sandburg Community College

Clay McDonald ’97 MBA, PhD, DCPresident, Logan College of Chiropractic

28

alumniNEWS

Big Bottle of Wine Fetches Big Donationhe 18-liter bottle of fine Cabernet donated by Jim and Cris Wendling

and four other couples fetched a hefty price at the 2013 Wine

Festival Dinner live auction last April.

This, of course, pleased Jim and friends. Their support for the

festival and its cause of building the St. Ambrose scholarship fund is

unwavering. Still, they couldn’t help but yearn for just a taste of that

specially created product from California vintner Joe Donelan.

Jim Wendling, a Davenport financial adviser who has a

longstanding friendship with the winemaker, was able to obtain the

second of two such bottles Donelan created in 2008 at cost.

An 18-liter bottle of wine is called a “melchior,” and is the equal of

two cases, or 24 bottles. Because of its size, the wine likely will age

better than standard-sized bottles of wine, Wendling said.

Tom Mnich purchased the 2008 Donelan Cuvee Moriah for $2,700,

all of which will be used for SAU scholarships.

The Wendlings were donors along with Dick ’87 MBA and Linda ’05

Eisenlauer, Bill ’78 and Carol Brockway, Kevin and Gina Takacs, and

Dave and Jana Steil.

Among them, the couples have sent five children to SAU.

“The neat thing is that all five couples have connections to SAU,”

said Dick Eisenlauer, whose wife is the director of the Center for

Instructional Design and Technology at St. Ambrose.

St. Ambrose Alumni Director Anne Gannaway called the three-

part festival “a model for volunteer engagement” at St. Ambrose,

with a dedicated group of 30 alumni having helped raise more than

$600,000 for SAU scholarships through the years.

Planning for the 2014 festival—which begins with the March 1

Wine at the Warehouse—already is well underway, Gannaway said.

2013 Sunday, Dec. 1 Feast of St. Ambrose and

McMullen Awards

Saturday, Dec. 7 Children’s Christmas Party

Tuesday, Dec. 10 50s Holiday Luncheon

Wednesday, Dec. 11 60s Holiday Luncheon

Friday, Dec. 13 Hooding Ceremony

Saturday, Dec. 14 Winter Commencement

2014 Saturday, Jan. 18 Winter Trivia Night

Saturday, Feb. 22 Galvin Dinner Theatre

Saturday, March 1 Wine at the Warehouse

Friday, March 14 Southern California Alumni

Golf and Dinner Outing

Tuesday, March 25 Freeman Pollard Breakfast

Saturday, March 29 Spring Trivia Night

Saturday, April 12 Wine Festival Preview Dinner

Saturday, May 10 Spring Commencement

Saturday, May 17 Wine Festival Wine Tasting

Alu

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29

Their father, Kevin Curran ’88, was a resident adviser at Ambrose Hall and, later, he and his wife, Karen, were wed by Rev. George McDaniel ’66 in Christ the King Chapel.

The family’s feelings for SAU clearly run deep, but Kevin Curran said he didn’t have to actively encourage his son to choose his alma mater.

“We had visited a few times over the course of the years, and we always stopped by the grotto,” he said. “I think Brady just felt at home there. He had heard my stories on how there are so many good people there, and how there’s always someone looking out for you. It is kind of like an extended family.”

It is a family that grows through legacy families like the Currans, but Kevin said it is much more than loyalty that gives him reason to trust his children to his alma mater.

He and Kelly looked at comparable schools in the region this past fall, but he said they both saw no reason to look further once they toured a campus that almost has doubled in size since 1988.

“St. Ambrose is hands down better with everything they are doing,” Kevin said. “Once you get there, you think ‘This is as far as I want to go.’ It is peace of mind for a parent.”

And, as a legacy parent, he said the Fr. Robert Welch Legacy Scholarship is welcome news as well.

“That’s fantastic,” he said. “That’s always music to a parent’s ears with a kid going off to school.”

alumniNEWS

Children of St. Ambrose University alumni who enroll as first-year or transfer students at SAU automatically will receive a Fr. Robert Welch Legacy Scholarship beginning in the fall of 2014.

“We think this is the best thing we have done to acknowledge legacy status,” said Jim Stangle ’82, vice president for advancement. “If you are an alumnus and you have enough faith to trust us with your ultimate gift, your children, we want to recognize that.”

Legacy students made up more than 5 percent of the first-year and transfer students who enrolled at St. Ambrose this fall, and John Cooper, vice president for enrollment management, wants to increase that percentage in the years to come.

Awarding every such student $1,000 for each year of their undergraduate career

won’t be inexpensive, but Cooper said it is a small price to reward loyal alumni.

“I always like to think of alumni as our mission in action,” he said. “They are the ones out in their communities day to day enriching the lives of others.”

As a St. Ambrose graduate himself, Stangle is not surprised fellow alumni trust their children’s education to SAU. He is, though, impressed by the depth of the commitment many Ambrosian families have to their alma mater. “It is not only generation to generation,” he said. “We have multiple siblings from the same family at the same time.”

Brady Curran, a sophomore majoring in exercise science, followed his father to St. Ambrose—as well as an aunt, an uncle, a grandfather, a great uncle and a cousin.

His sister Kelly, a senior at Annawan (Ill.) High School, already is making plans to enroll at St. Ambrose next year. Another sister Meghan, a high school freshman, also has her sights set on SAU.

The Gift of GivingScholarship Awaits

Alumni Children

Alumni are the St. Ambrose mission

in action, out in their communities

day to day, enriching the lives of others.

The Curran family, left to right: Meghan, Kevin, Brady, Karen, Kelly

30

classNOTES

60The Sixties

James Martin ’69 wrote and

published the final book in his trilogy

of Poland. The Warsaw Conspiracy

completes the stories based on the

diary of a Polish countess in the

1790s.

80The Eighties

Brett Lohman ’82 was appointed

to the board of directors of Central

Banc, Inc., the holding company of

Central Bank Illinois, headquartered

in Geneseo. Lohman is an owner

of Lohman Companies Insurance

as well as vice president of the

company’s commercial insurance

division. The company is a third-

generation family business.

Ernst and Young LLP promoted Jeff

Custer ’86 to partner in its Nashville,

Tenn., location. Custer has more

than 16 years of experience with the

Atlanta-based company.

90The Nineties

Bryan Hanson ’92 MBA was

named chief operating officer and

senior vice president of Exelon

Generation’s 10 nuclear facilities.

Steven Oswald ’95 MBA has

relocated to Dallas as regional

manager-southwest for Timken’s

US industrial distribution business.

Oswald has worked for the company

since 1989 and leads regional sales

teams.

Nick Mattis ’97 was named the

2012–13 Women’s Cross Country

Coach of the Year by California

Community Colleges. Mattis is head

track and cross-country coach at

De Anza College in Cupertino, Calif.

Stephanie (Erickson) Woods

’99 joined Russell Construction,

Davenport, as an accountant.

Medford Therapy and Fitness, in

Memorial Health Center, Medford,

Wis., welcomed Corrie Searles ’99

MPT as director of therapy services.

Ryan Soedt ’99 ’04 MBA joined

DHCU Community Credit Union

as mortgage operations manager.

Soedt oversees the processing,

underwriting and servicing

operations of DHCU’s mortgage

lending portfolio.

00The Zeros

Smith Fertilizer and Grain named

Chad Lynch ’01 marketing manager

and lead graphic designer. The

company is based in Knoxville, Iowa.

Jim Putnam ’01 is an attorney at

McCausland, Barrett & Bartalos, PC,

located in Columbia, Mo.

Jeremy Koch ’02 is a country

representative for World Learning

Corporation, representing Ethiopia.

World Learning is a non-profit

organization advancing leadership

and offering educational programs

at the high school, undergraduate,

graduate and professional levels in

more than 60 countries.

The Corporation for National and

Community Service named Jesse

Hurley ’04 MOL deputy region

director for unit leadership. The

company is located in Vinton, Iowa.

Sarah (Silhan) Koehler ’04 earned

her Master of Arts in English from

Governors State University in 2012.

She is entering her fourth year of

teaching English at Grant Park High

School in Grant Park, Ill. She and

her husband, Tony, reside in Oak

Lawn, Ill.

Rev. Ross Parker ’07 MOL

celebrated his first Mass as the main

officiant in Indianola, Iowa, after he

was ordained in June at St. Ambrose

Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa.

Ohio State University hired

Christopher Spartz ’07, ’13 MOL as

recruiting coordinator and assistant

director of basketball operations.

Farmers National Bank, in Geneseo,

Ill., appointed Steve Taets ’07

assistant vice president of lending.

Brandon Oldaker ’08 MACC was

promoted to tax manager for

Deloitte Accounting in Davenport.

Oldaker specializes in providing

federal and state tax services to

public and middle market companies

in the manufacturing industry.

The United Way of Muscatine

(Iowa) announced the promotion

of life-long Muscatine resident

Shane Orr ’09 MBA as the new chief

professional officer.

10The Teens

Mason Tangen ’10 was named

assistant track and field coach at

Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.

Muscatine (Iowa) High School

named Jonathan Ryan ’12 as director

of vocal activities.

Kyle Morey ’12 is a fifth grade

mathematics teacher at Millikin

Elementary School in Geneseo, Ill.

It will be his first year as a full-time

teacher. He also will work with the

freshman football team and high

school girls track team.

The City of Muscatine, Iowa, hired

Hannah Wilke ’12 as director of the

Muscatine Convention and Visitors

Bureau.

Jessica Jacks ’13 joined DHCU

Community Credit Union as a

financial service officer at the

Moline, Ill., member service center.

Tim McNicholas ’13 is a reporter at

Hoak Media of Nebraska-KHAS TV,

in Hastings, Neb.

The VagnHall Galleri in Bishop Hill,

Ill., displayed the work of Catherine

Moneysmith ’13. “Swedish

Immigrants” is a collection of

paintings of her family lineage.

■Marriages

Kristina Sellers ’08 and Shane Kern,

Moline, Ill.

Nick Palczynski ’09 and Jessica

Kohn ’10, Bloomington, Ill.

Dan Haverkamp ’10 and Lisa

Wiggers ’10, ’12 DPT, Davenport

Stacy Schivley ’10, ’12 MBA and

Chris Banfield ’12, Long Grove, Iowa

Lauren Waiflein ’11 and Jeff LaPietra,

Cayman Islands

Shiobhan Bausal ’12 and Jerry

Burkhead, Davenport

31

classNOTES

■Births

Calista (Heinz) Kelly ’98, ’01 MPT

and her husband, Casey, celebrated

the birth of daughter Aislin Elizabeth

on Feb. 1, 2013. Aislin joins Declan in

the Kelly family.

Nathan Becker ’00 and his wife,

Rothtida, welcomed their daughter

Annalise on Aug. 21, 2012.

Seth Kouba ’00 and his wife, Grace

(Hardi) ’04, are proud to announce

the birth of their twin daughters

Savannah June and Marlowe Lillian

on April 4, 2013.

Katie (Heinzman) Kester ’01, ’02

MBA and her husband, Nick, added

a son Alex “AJ” to their family on

Nov. 27, 2011. Jack is little brother to

Elisabeth.

Gina (Ryan) Schlicksup ’02 and

her husband, Tony ’04, welcomed

daughter Maya on April 13, 2013.

She joins siblings Noah, William and

Josephine in the Schlicksup clan.

■Deaths

Glenn Brown ’29, Viola, Ill., Sept. 21,

2013

Richard Von Korff ’38, Minneapolis,

June 11, 2013

James Spaeth ’43, Davenport,

Aug. 23, 2013

Edward Otten ’45, Rock Island, Ill.,

July 13, 2013

Robert “Bob” Devine ’47, Lockport,

Ill., May 21, 2013

Thomas Aiani ’48, Mesquite, Nev.,

May 18, 2013

Positive Outlook Yields a Positive OutcomeJennifer (Vaughan) Kennedy was a candidate for a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree and an intern in Mississippi in the fall of 2004 when a handsome prosthetist attending to her patient caught her eye.

And she caught his. When he inquired about the new intern, his informant replied,

“You know she’s an amputee?”As it turned out the partnering prosthetist, Brad Kennedy,

was, too. He soon became her gym partner, friend and kindred connection.

Early on, Brad offered her a “free” pass to work out at his gym. A happy marriage and two daughters later, Jennifer knows that Brad actually paid for that gym pass.

That’s appropriate, perhaps, because Jennifer Kennedy ’03, ’04 DPT certainly did not get a free pass to the happy life she is living. She earned it, instead, with an outlook so positive that SAU Assistant Vice President for Admissions Meg Halligan ’89 still remembers her as “an angel sent to St. Ambrose to live up to our mission.”

Kennedy graduated high school a valedictorian, talented gymnast and cheerleader. She was bound for SAU on scholarship, with plans to enroll in the DPT program and eager to join the cheerleading team.

During her senior year of high school, however, she developed a blood clot in the main artery behind her right knee. Complications the following summer led to amputation.

She sought prayer, loving support, online education, and physical therapy to endure the darkest time of her life. But it wasn’t dark for long. Kennedy reported to St. Ambrose having missed only a semester. And she did indeed lead cheers, sporting a bee-decorated prosthetic leg and a contagious smile. She also earned her DPT degree, of course.

Kevin Farrell, PhD, Kennedy’s DPT adviser, said she never considered what she “couldn’t do.” Instead, she always examined what she had already done, merely as a checklist for the things she hadn’t done yet.

At age 13, Kennedy began researching the best colleges to study physical therapy. One physical therapist told her, “Ambrose teaches their students to think better.” But by the start of her senior year of high school, she had begun to wonder if she was committing to a career too soon.

In her personal tragedy, Kennedy found her answer. “When I lost my leg,” she said, “it was like God flashing a neon sign that therapy is what He wanted me to

do; helping others who were experiencing a life-altering experience as I had.” In return, she found a husband and a wonderful life.

Ambrose teaches their students to think better.”

32

Edward Burke ’48, Bettendorf, Iowa,

Sept. 8, 2013

Eugene Costello ’48, Dallas,

June 29, 2013

Peter DeDecker ’49, Geneseo, Ill.,

Aug. 22, 2013

Donald Firer ’49, Charlottesville,

Va., Sept. 5, 2012

John “Red” McManus ’49, Omaha,

Neb., July 23, 2013

Joseph Roels ’49, East Moline, Ill.,

May 29, 2013

William Romine Jr. ’49, Davenport,

Aug. 5, 2013

Barry Foley ’50 Academy,

Davenport, Sept. 14, 2013

James Grothusen ’50, Davenport,

Aug. 25, 2013

William Lawrence ’50, Rock Island,

Ill., Sept. 2, 2013

Richard Lenahan ’50, Normal, Ill.,

July 19, 2012

Clifford Squire Jr. ’51, Rockford, Ill.,

June 25, 2013

William Touhey Jr. ’51, Wilmington,

Del., May 24, 2013

Paul Wolfe ’51, St. Petersburg, Fla.,

Aug. 19, 2013

Robert Lamprecht ’52, Jupiter, Fla.,

June 5, 2013

Eugene Zajdel ’52, Wharton, NJ,

Aug. 29, 2013

John Giacomin ’53, LaVerne, Calif.,

Aug. 6, 2013

Patrick May ’53, Mesa, Ariz., May 9,

2013

Edward O’Donnell ’53, Davenport,

Aug. 14, 2013

Donald Riley ’54, Davenport,

Sept. 9, 2013

Edward Wilkinson ’54, Bettendorf,

Iowa, June 20, 2013

Daniel Boyle ’55, Iowa City, Iowa,

June 8, 2013

Janice (Strathman) Stender ’56,

Davenport, Aug. 13, 2013

William Arnold ’57, Coal Valley, Ill.,

Oct. 27, 2012

Colleen McCaffrey ’57, Amboy, Ill.,

Aug. 25, 2013

Br. Matthew (James) O‘Meara ’57,

OSB, Subiaco, Ark., June 3, 2013

Martin McMahon ’60, East Moline,

Ill., June 17, 2013

Dennis “DJ” Murphy ’60, Boerne,

Texas, April 20, 2013

David Lundy Sr. ’62 Academy,

Bettendorf, Iowa, Aug. 13, 2013

Mary “Jean” Boxwell ’63, Peoria, Ill.,

May 25, 2013

Richard d’Autremont ’63, Omaha,

Neb., July 5, 2013

Raymond Linden ’63, Prince George,

Va., April 15, 2013

James Duda Jr. ’64, Austin, Texas,

Mar. 27, 2013

Henry Greiner ’64, Palo Alto, Calif.,

May 17, 2013

Sr. Benita Reavy ’64 OSB, Rock

Island, Ill., Aug. 20, 2013

Charles Sheridan ’64, DeWitt, Iowa,

June 29, 2013

Thomas Tulley ’64, Sebring, Fla.,

June 18, 2013

Daniel Kieler ’65, West Point, Iowa,

Aug. 8, 2013

Alum, Decorated Marine Highlights Military Appreciation Day

Marine Lieutenant J.J. Konstant ’03 was third in command of an August 2005 campaign that neutralized a terrorist cell intent on disrupting parliamentary elections in Afghanistan the following month.

He earned a Bronze Star and received a Purple Heart for his participation in a three-day battle pitting 60 Marines against an untold number of Taliban insurgents.

Gravely wounded in that battle was Ahmad Shah, the insurgent leader who had been targeted a month earlier in a mission that led to the deaths of 19 US Special Forces members.

Konstant is featured in a book about the two related battles in eastern Afghanistan, Victory Point: Operations

Red Wings and Whalers — the Marine Corps’ Battle for

Freedom in Afghanistan.

He will return to his alma mater for SAU’s second annual Military Appreciation Day on Feb. 1, 2014, and will participate in a program at a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader that day. He will speak the night before with a message shaped toward athletes and the 115 post-9/11 veterans now enrolled at SAU.

The weekend is being organized to honor all veterans by Office of Veterans Recruitment and Services Coordinator Andrew Gates ’11.

Now an investment banker in suburban Chicago, Konstant had considered a military career before he enrolled at SAU to pursue a bachelor’s degree in finance and to play basketball for the Fighting Bees. “Then 9/11 took place my junior year,” he said.

Konstant promised his parents in the aftermath of that tragic day that he would graduate. He did, and said his education served him well overseas, as he led men and planned missions.

“At St. Ambrose, I learned about looking for the best way to figure things out,” he said. “That became important in the military because the best answer was always what we were looking for.”

Learn more about St. Ambrose Veterans Recruitment and Services at

sau.edu/scene.

classNOTES

33

Michael Duncan ’66, Jacksonville,

Fla., Oct. 13, 2012

Nyle “Nick” Holdt ’66, Davenport,

June 3, 2013

Robert “Bob” DeSmet ’66,

Davenport, Aug. 30, 2013

Raymond Bustos III ’67, Morrison,

Ill., July 26, 2013

William “Bill” Barr ’69, East Moline,

Ill., June 17, 2013

David McDaniel ’70, New York City,

June 29, 2013

Ronald Whitebread ’70, Chandler,

Ariz., Aug. 11, 2012

Sr. Phyllis McMurray ’71, OSB, Rock

Island, Ill., Aug. 3, 2013

Robert Hauman ’72, East Moline, Ill.,

June 16, 2013

Brian Martin ’74, Denver, Dec. 15,

2012

Robert “Bob” St. Clair ’75,

Henderson, Nev., Feb. 21, 2013

Rev. Lawrence Morlan ’82, Streator,

Ill., Aug. 31, 2013

John “JD” Steinhafel ’89,

Oconomowac, Wis., Sept. 13, 2013

Wayne Zimmerman ’89, Bettendorf,

Iowa, Sept. 6, 2013

Howard Litke ’92 EdS, Davenport,

June 9, 2013

Claire Nemeth ’93 MBA, Bettendorf,

Iowa, July 1, 2013

James “Sam” Kuehnel ’94, Rock

Island, Ill., July 13, 2013

Larris Larsen ’95 MBA, Sandwich,

Ill., July 27, 2013

Scott Teerlinck ’96, Geneseo, Ill.,

June 14, 2013

Jason Scriven ’05, Davenport,

July 28, 2013

Laura (Brammeier) Yoho ’05,

Grimes, Iowa, July 23, 2013

Board of Trustees

Bernard J. “Jerry” Hank Jr., Moline,

Ill., June 27, 2013

What’s New? Let us know what

you’ve been up to! Drop us a note at

Alumni Engagement, St. Ambrose

University, 518 W. Locust St.,

Davenport, Iowa 52803 or go online

to share updates. Include your full

name, class year and phone number

or email where we can contact you

to verify your information.

online extra: tell us what’s new at

sau.edu/scene/keepintouch

Hoops Lead to Altar for Ambrosian Quartet Justin Blondell ’13 is standing by his story. The future Mrs. Blondell—aka St. Ambrose senior women’s basketball player Lauren Cash—remains unconvinced.

On their first official date two years ago, Blondell, then a starting guard for the Fighting Bees men’s hoops squad, invited Cash to select a movie from his collection of DVDs. When she declined, his story goes, it was only through a very random process of eenie-meenie-miney-mo that he settled on a flick.

Yes. It was Love and Basketball.

“I swear it was random,” he said. “She thinks I had to have had it planned.”

Love and basketball will be a winning combination in 2014 as Justin and Lauren plan for their Aug. 30 wedding. Meanwhile, Lauren’s sister Megan Cash ’11, a former Queen Bees guard herself, will be readying for her May 31 marriage to Brett McGinnis ’12, her high school sweetheart and Blondell’s former SAU teammate.

Both couples became engaged on Aug. 4 in a fairy-tale fashion that even Blondell won’t deny was scripted. The young men took the sisters by surprise, crashing a Cash family vacation in Orlando, Fla. Their proposals were made a mere 90 minutes apart and in virtually the same spot.

“Disney World,” Lauren said. “Both right in front of the castle.”

Father Bill Cash’s plea for a double wedding has been denied. But the couples will marry in the same Pekin, Ill., church and will host their receptions at the same hall.

Initially, Megan wasn’t sure about Blondell dating her sister, but she warmed to the idea as the younger couple’s relationship grew.

That growth was fostered by the common bond of basketball at St. Ambrose, where Lauren, who transferred to SAU as a sophomore, said the men’s and women’s programs are particularly supportive of one another.

Megan and McGinnis first “dated” in fifth grade and then reconnected as high school seniors. She hadn’t planned to play basketball in college, but followed her heart and McGinnis to SAU and was a three-year Queen Bees starter.

Love and basketball. Some things are meant to Bee.

Non-Profit Organization

US Postage

PAID

Rock Island, ILPermit No. 85

518 West Locust Street

Davenport, Iowa 52803

Sunday, Dec. 1

Feast of Saint Ambrose

and Presentation of

McMullen Awards

6:30 p.m., Christ the King Chapel

Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 7–8

CHILDREN’S MUSICAL Toy Camp

3 p.m., Galvin Fine Arts Center

Saturday, Dec. 7

Alumni Family Christmas Party

5 p.m., Rogalski Center

Sunday, Dec. 8

Christmas Showcase Concert

7 p.m., Adler Theater, Davenport

More information and tickets at sau.edu/scene.

Please help us reach you The St. Ambrose University

Office of Alumni Engagement

is eager to keep your contact

information current. If you

have a seasonal address

in addition to the one we

currently have on record, or if

you have recently relocated,

let us know. Contact us at

800-SAU-ALUM, email us at

alumni@sau.edu, or visit

sau.edu/scene/newaddress.