HOMECOMING
ALUMNI NOTEBOOK
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James H. Benedict, '50, of Cincinnati, Ohio, has been chosen chair of the American Society for Testing and Materials committee on pesticides. Retired from Procter & Gamble, Benedict is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Martin Richard Gluck, '53, '50,'48, writes that he has retired from the faculty of the University of Texas Medical Center where he was associate professor and associate program director of the graduate program in clinical psychology. Jeffrey Huberman, '69, is dean of the College of Communications and Fine Arts at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He has taught at the school since 1985 and has directed and produced more than 80 plays for university and professional theaters. Stefi Rubin, '71, an associate professor at Wheelock College in Boston, was recently awarded the Cynthia Longfellow Teaching Recognition Award. Michael Yablonski, '76, of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, has joined the law firm of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP. Mary Kane, '83, a reporter for Newhouse Newspapers in Washington, DC, is the winner in the wire service category of the New York State Society of CPAs' Excellence in Financial Journalism Award. Kevin Sasinoski, '78, a lawyer in Pittsburgh, has been appointed public defender for Allegheny County. Eileen Stack McLaughlin, '84, writes, "I am presently the director of the Developmental Center of Carolinas Hospital System (in Florence, South Carolina) and have an 18-month-old daughter, Kallimarie." Richard Avon, '88, has joined the architectural firm of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates in its Butler, Pennsylvania, office. Celeste Steffen, '88, is product development specialist for ERI Services in Pittsburgh. Nancy J. Ristau, '91 (Pitt-Bradford), is a 10th grade English and drama instructor at Westmoreland County School District in Montross, Virginia. Steven Urbaniak, '91, received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and a scholar-athlete award for academic excellence and participation in organized sports. Michael McCombs, '92, received the doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and an award for ability in the field of cardiology. Brian Saracino, '92, was awarded the doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and received two awards for capabilities in osteopathic philosophy. Christine Cavalier, '93, writes that until she saw a friend's name in class notes recently, she thought the section was more an "Old Fogies League." Now, she says, "Sucking in my pride and stretching out my aging fingers, I step up for my own rite of passage, an update in Homecoming: Gary Purpura ('93) and I have a wedding planned for June 1997. Gary is in his fourth year of a PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania, and I am in the midst of a master's at Temple."
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Orah Miller might be called a dreammaker by those who have had their fondest wish come true--to become a parent.
Miller (Social Work '79) is codirector of Adopt-a-Child, a Pittsburgh agency that has completed almost 250 adoptions of children in Russia, Bulgaria, and China.
"People who want to adopt are so vulnerable, and everything looks
scary," Miller says. "So it's helpful to have an agency that walks them through everything, and that's what we do--from the initial paperwork to picking up the child.
"In Russia, for instance, we have drivers and translators who stay with the couple the whole time. We also assist the couple during the court review process."
To begin the adoption process, a couple must get Immigration and
Naturalization Service approval and file an orphan petition to
guarantee citizenship for the child. After that, it's time to process the
foreign documents and look at tapes of available children, many of
whom are in orphanages.
"Most kids don't hit milestones in an orphanage like kids do here--at
12 months, they're probably not walking yet because they're spending
20 out of 24 hours a day in a crib," Miller says. "But they will walk."
Miller says new families report that the first six months are the
hardest.
"After a year, though, people feel like they've always had their kids.
You don't adopt and live happily ever after; people adopt and join the
rest of us who are dealing with parenthood. It gives me a lot of
pleasure to see that."--Sally Neiser
Super Bowl Sunday last year turned out to be more exciting than the game for two Pitt alums. That was the day they became millionaires.
Patricia and John DiNardo of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, both 1978 Pitt nursing grads, won $10 million when representatives from Publishers Clearinghouse arrived on their doorstep during half-time celebrations.
"I'd had a terrible day at work," Pat recalls, "and when I got home, I'd put on my old fuzzy bathrobe. I heard the doorbell ring, and John said, 'You'd better come out here.'
"When I got to the door, I could see cameras and lights and people holding a big cardboard check, and I thought, 'Oh, no!'....I guess everyone in America saw me in my bathrobe that day."
After visiting Publishers Clearinghouse headquarters recently, Pat has some advice: "When you get that letter saying, 'You may have the winning number,' that's literally true. A computer picks the number and stores it away. In my case, the holder of that first number never sent the envelope back."
As to the future, Pat and John both agree that their lifestyle won't
change significantly. The win does, however, open up opportunities. For
John, a nurse anesthetist, it meant a trip to Ecuador recently as part
of a surgery team. "Since team members pay their own costs, I couldn't
have gone before," he says.
Pat, a nursing instructor, thinks three children, a farm, and their
careers will keep them busy for the foreseeable future. "The plan is
that we'll keep on working till the kids are in college. After that," she
says, "it should be all downhill."--Sally Neiser
Counselor Robin Connors (Education '86, Social Work '79) first began to understand self-injury and its connection to past traumatic events while working as a counselor at Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR) in the early '80s. Some of her clients were responding to their trauma by, in turn, injuring themselves.
Trauma is defined by the loss of control over one's body, emotions, and/or sexuality, explains Connors. Feelings of helplessness, personal disconnection, betrayal, confusion, and overstimulation can feed self-injury. Self-injury, then, is fundamentally an attempt to regain control.
In 1994, Connors and PAAR employee Kristy Trautmann created a
workbook for self-injurers to help them understand and overcome their
need to hurt themselves. The workbook launches self-injurers on a
journey of self-discovery and, for some, helps them to explore
alternatives to self-inflicted violence--funnelling their rage into a
drawing or journal, or using markers to draw on the body parts they
would otherwise harm.
But Connors is also helping therapists to better counsel self-injurers. "Historically, self-injury has been understood in a way that is fairly blaming and pejorative," she explains. Well-meant but useless advice--like "Stop banging your head against the wall, that's not going to help you"--discounts the fact that those who self-injure may not want to stop, or may not feel able to stop, says Connors. "People do things for a reason. Somewhere inside of them, it makes sense."
While maintaining a private therapy practice in Pittsburgh, Connors
offers self-injury sensitization workshops for therapists.
"At the core," says Connors, "I want to help people make sense of self-injury."--Christine McCammon
The myth is that sports fans want nothing less
than national championships. Well, a championship would be nice, but it's not
the title that fills seats. Excitement fills seats. Competition. A chance
to win.
With the appointment of a new athletic director, 39-year-old Steve
Pederson, the University has found someone with that competitive spirit.
"One thing that stood out for the search committee was Steve Pederson's
high level of energy and his enthusiasm for moving the athletic program
forward in swift fashion," says Assistant Chancellor Jerry Cochran, who
chaired the committee that recommended Pederson.
Pederson honed his competitive success at three large university
programs--Tennessee, where he was hired by some guy named Johnny Majors;
Ohio State, where he helped build a football program so good that it beat one
Western Pennsylvania team 72-0; and, most recently, as associate athletic
director with two-time football champion Nebraska.
And the same tradition of excellence is what lured him to Pitt. "Since I've
been named athletic director," Pederson says, "I've received phone calls from
all over, and they have the same message: Pitt is a great school with a great
reputation. And when I look across the stadium to the school and the medical
center, I want the athletic program to match those great
institutions."
Pederson's enthusiasm also translates into ambitious goals, and those goals,
he says, are simple: "I want Pitt to return to its days of glory as the top athletic
program in the eastern part of the United States."
And, Cochran adds, not just in football and basketball: "Steve's priority is to
be competitive in the Big East, in every sport."
Sounds lofty, right? Don't be too sure.
"I believe in setting attainable goals," Pederson says, "and there is simply
no limit to what we can attain at Pitt."--Mark Collins
Benjamin Flagler Foote (Arts and Sciences '42) of Redondo Beach, California, died
March 9, 1996. He served in World War II on the staff of General James Doolittle and, as a B-24 navigator, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. Contributions in his name may be made to the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Memorial Fund.
Charles W. L. Foreman (Arts and Sciences, '38, '35) of North Granby, Connecticut,
died May 9, 1996, at age 83. A former English professor at Pitt, he joined UPS in 1941.
Under his leadership, the UPS Foundation established endowments at major research
universities.
Harry J. Friedman (Arts and Sciences '56), of Honolulu, died May 10, 1996. His wife,
Cappy, writes: "Harry taught political science at the University of Hawaii for 34 years."
He was a member of the American Political Science Association and the American Society
for Public Administration.
John E. "Jerry" Holt (Medicine '54) died May 13, 1996, in Sun City West, Arizona. At
the time of his retirement in 1987, Holt was medical director of the East Pittsburgh
Division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. His wife, Lois, says, "After retiring, we
directed and taught bridge on cruise ships around the world. We had 25 wonderful years
together."
Vigdor Kavaler (Business '50, '48) died January 17, 1996, in Pittsburgh at the age of
70. He was executive secretary of Rodef Shalom Congregation for more than 30 years and
taught economics at the University of Pittsburgh and at Carnegie Mellon. He walked to
work every day, in good weather and bad, and never drove a car.
Karen Ruth Logue (Nursing '65) died June 19, 1996, of pancreatic cancer. In her
career, she rose through the ranks at Johnson & Higgins, a national insurance brokerage
and consulting firm, and in 1989 was promoted to the company's headquarters in
Manhattan. She was a member of the Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, the
American Association of Nurse Attorneys, and the American Society of Health Care Risk
Management.
Bernard Luczak (Engineering '36) a retired brigadier general who helped pioneer the
Army's air-defense missile and rocket programs, died in his Rancho Bernardo, California,
home on April 17, 1996.
E. Samuel Overman (Public and International Affairs, '83, '78) professor in the
Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver, died June 25,
1996, at the age of 44.
Michael Zofchak (Engineering '32) of Coral Springs, Florida, died in December 1995.
Born in Czechoslovakia, he was a lieutenant colonel in the US Army during World War II.
After graduating from Pitt, he worked as an electrical engineer for Westinghouse until his
retirement in 1972.
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