George W. Albee, '49, '47, professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, has been honored with an endowed lectureship by the World Federation for Mental Health. The first Albee lecture was given in Dublin, Ireland, in August 1995. George A. Brinsko, '50, has received the Emerson Medal from the Water Environment Federation for his contributions to the wastewater collection and treatment industry. W. Carver Collins, '50, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, was honored recently with Wyoming Seminary's Frances and Louis Maslow Award for teaching excellence. In addition to teaching English literature and writing courses, he is also head of the seminary's drama program. Ernest Sosa, '65, '63, who has taught philosophy at Brown University since 1964, is the Donald J. Cowling Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. Paul Zolbrod, '67, '62, '58, professor emeritus of English at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, reports: "I have done interesting work in the field of native American poetry, especially among the Navajo. In my publications I explain how my Pittsburgh boyhood prepared me for my research among the Navajo." George McKenzie, '69, writes: "[My wife and I] recently opened our fourth Subway Restaurant in San Antonio. I also founded a consulting firm to help executives improve their presentation skills." McKenzie was a former professional baseball player and TV sportscaster, winning the "Best Sportscast in Texas" award three times. Mary Jane Trunzo, '72, has been named Outstanding Professional in the State of Arizona by the Arizona Head Injury Foundation. Trunzo is clinical director for the Arizona Institute for Communication and Cognitive Disorders. Melanie Spewock, '75, says, "[After graduation], I drifted north and west to Minneapolis where I'm growing old gracefully. I like Pitt Magazine a lot." Francis Terrell, '75, '72, recently earned promotion to professor of psychology at the University of North Texas. Larry Platt, '76, writes that he recently joined the Washington, DC, office of Kirkpatrick and Lockhart as a partner. Steven Vance, '79, says he's in the performance business in Pittsburgh with Steven Vance Strolling Violins. "I've performed for former first lady Barbara Bush, for Governor Tom Ridge's 50th birthday party, and for Coach Johnny Majors, who asked me to play 'The Impossible Dream' as the theme for his second season." Caroline Woolf, '82, has completed a one-year graduate certificate from the Program for Women in Politics and Government at UMass Boston. Lisa Dvorchak, '84, is vice president of marketing for AIM (USA), an automatic data collection trade association in Pittsburgh. Christopher Bosso, '85, '80, has been named chair of the Northeastern University political science department. Yvonne Steele Hudson, '89, of Cliffside Park, New Jersey, and publications manager for the Yeshiva University alumni magazine, reports: "I was elected vice president for student affairs of New York Women in Communications. I still book and perform my Theatre Arts master's thesis project 'Mrs. Shakespeare,' a one-woman show about Anne Hathaway and Will S." Russell Leigh Moses, '89, '84, writes that, for the past three years, he has been professor of international relations at the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies at Nanjing University in China. ["I've ] traveled widely in Asia and Russia, and [my] book, Freeing the Hostages, about the Iran hostage crisis will be published in the spring of 1996 by the University of Pittsburgh Press." Daniel Thayer, '92, writes that he has taken a teaching job in Raleigh, North Carolina, and that he is also the assistant high school soccer coach. Scott Abel, '93, is account executive with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. Bruce Boul, '93, a writer for Allegheny General Hospital's communications department, says, "It takes more than a college degree to land a job in PR...internships, volunteer work, and freelancing really pay off." Boul interned at the hospital during his senior year and also wrote public relations ad campaigns for a local nonprofit group. Greg McLauchlin, '93, a first-year medical student, has been chosen as one of eight presidential scholars at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Christopher Shellito, '94, reports that he is in his second year of law school in Akron, Ohio.

"I guess it's always been my life to serve," Brosky says. "My view has always been that the good Lord gave me some talents and abilities not to be used for selfish purposes. If I can help others and they call on me, I don't want to miss that opportunity."

For this generosity of spirit, Brosky has received a great deal of recognition. In 1995, for his many contributions to the Western Pennsylvania area, he was awarded two honors that were particularly meaningful.

He was selected as the "1994 Man of the Year in Law and Government" by Vectors/Pittsburgh, a professional organization of business and community leaders, a distinction much appreciated. However, perhaps the greatest honor came when August 24, 1995, was declared "General John G. Brosky Day" in Allegheny County by the Board of County Commissioners. That day, Brosky, a former Air National Guard major general, received the Pride of Pennsylvania Award for his work as chairman of the Western Pennsylvania Coalition, a group that worked to save a local Air Force Reserve wing and an Army support center.

The judge's ongoing community involvement also includes Pitt. An active alumnus for 54 years, he serves on the law school's Board of Visitors and participates in University activities whenever he can. In fact, his three children, John, Carol, and David, are all Pitt grads.

Brosky, who lives in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Rose, has another claim to fame: He is an accomplished horseshoe pitcher, coming in seventh recently in the world championships.--David W. Matta

Back in 1930, when Michael A. Gross was a civil engineering student, he was involved in a senior project to measure the effect of wind on the Cathedral of Learning. Gross says several ways of measuring the building's swing were considered, but the method chosen consisted, in principle, of simply looking up at a target fastened in the center of one of the high-rise elevator shafts on the 36th floor and actually watching the building sway.

"We had to lie on our backs to sight up the elevator shaft to read the target," Gross remembers. "We placed an anemometer on top of the building's water tank to measure wind velocity and direction, and when the device malfunctioned, we had to climb a skinny ladder at night. At that time, the building had not been completely enclosed, so the climb could be precarious." In the end, test results showed that although a light gust of wind could sometimes move the building farther than a strong breeze, Cathedral movements follow no set pattern.

More recently, Gross, an amateur artist, presented a painting to Pitt's civil engineering department. "I often visit the Southwest where I travel to locations of rugged beauty," he says. "A couple of years ago, near Lake Powell in Utah, I photographed the greatest natural bridge in the world, known as the 'Rainbow Bridge,' one of nature's civil engineering wonders."

The bridge, which spans 270 feet and rises to a height of 290 feet, became the subject of an oil painting by Gross that now hangs in the offices on the ninth floor of Benedum Hall.

Gross, who lives in Pittsburgh, enjoyed a 65-year career as a civil engineer. He has been a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and was recently presented a special award for service to the organization.--Sally Neiser