president’s
letter
Greetings!
elcome to the first digital edition of Wilkes magazine, which we are very proud to share with our alumni and friends. The past several months have been rich with activities and experiences, and felt more like the vibrant, pre-COVID campus that we all remember. Throughout our history, Wilkes has been dedicated to creating life-changing opportunities for our students. That passion for student success has been captured in our new branding focused on At Wilkes, You Will.
In October we completed the multi-million dollar renovation to the River Street Corridor of Stark Learning Center. Dedicated at Homecoming, the Griggs Pharmacy Center greatly enhances collaboration and increases capabilities for the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy.
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WILKES MAGAZINE
- University President
Greg Cant - Associate Vice President of Marketing Communications
Gabrielle D’Amico ’04 MFA ’17 - Editor and Director of Communications
Patricia DeViva - Design
Kara Reid - Digital Production
Vertiqul - Marketing Communications
Brad Barry
Cory Burell
Kelly Clisham MFA ’16
Ashleigh Crispell ’15
Richard Ermeus ’21, graduate assistant
Mandy Pennington
Cody Raspen ’06
- University President
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PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
- Executive Assistant to the President
Bridget Giunta Husted ’05
- Executive Assistant to the President
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DIVISION OF ADVANCEMENT
- Vice President of Advancement
Kevin P. Boyle - Director, Alumni Relations
Mary Balavage Simmons ’10, MBA ’16
- Vice President of Advancement
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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS
- President
Matthew Berger ’02 - First Vice President
Michael Noone ’97 - Second Vice President
Kristin Hake Klemish ’04 - Secretary
Neal McHugh ’86 - Past President
Cynthia Charnetski ’97 - Historian
Ellen Stamer Hall ’71
- President
Wilkes University is an independent institution of higher education dedicated to academic and intellectual excellence in the liberal arts, sciences and professional programs. The university provides its students with the experience and education necessary for career and intellectual development as well as for personal growth, engenders a sense of values and civic responsibility, and encourages its students to welcome the opportunities and challenges of a diverse and continually changing world. The university enhances the tradition of strong student-faculty interactions in all its programs, attracts and retains outstanding people in every segment of the university, and fosters a spirit of cooperation, community involvement, and individual respect within the entire university.
contents
Features
Contact patricia.deviva@wilkes.edu
or Wilkes magazine, 84 W. South St., Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18766.
The Bonner Leader Program Begins Second Year and Welcomes New Students
In the Bonner Leader program, students dedicate six to eight hours to service each week and participate in leadership training throughout their four years at Wilkes. The goal for each student is to focus on one volunteer site, build a relationship with the program and its staff and to bring awareness of the service organization back to the Wilkes community.
Highlights from the First-Year Class
Wilkes Receives $2.5 Million Grant for Dorothy Dickson Darte Center
The grant will be used to complete the first phase of what is envisioned as a multi-phase project to enhance the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center. These funds will specifically support the accessibility of the theater through newly installed ramps, an enhanced entrance, ADA seating and parking as well as improved lobby space and a new interior elevator.
Wilkes University President Greg Cant said that the grant will allow for more members of the greater Wilkes-Barre community to enjoy extraordinary programs, lectures and performances offered on the Wilkes campus.
New, Bright Spaces on Campus
- The largest campus project was the extensive work done in Stark Learning Center for the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy and the engineering program. Highlights include the newly-dedicated Griggs Pharmacy Center (read the full story), the new robotics lab and new enclosed breezeways with bright, modern areas for teaching and learning.
- Henry’s Dining Hall on the third floor of the Henry Student Center got a significant makeover, with a fresh new look, new equipment, food stations and even a blue and gold pizza oven.
Faculty and Staff Recognized with President’s Awards for Excellence
The President’s Award for Excellence in Innovation was presented to Donald Mencer, professor of chemistry, and Marie Roke-Thomas, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, who, together, made possible new academic offerings in cannabis studies. The pair secured $350,000 in state funding to purchase state-of-the-art equipment and to provide critical services for the broader community.
Remembering Agnes:
50 Years Later
The walking tour exhibit was designed to provide visitors with a brief history of some of Wilkes University’s historic buildings that were most affected by Hurricane Agnes. The tour consisted of 12 designated campus stops, showing how the campus community came together to recover and rebuild our Wilkes after Agnes.
New Leadership at Wilkes
Kevin P. Boyle, Vice President of Advancement
Ellen Gallagher, Vice President of Finance and Chief Operating Officer
Elizabeth Leo, General Counsel and Title IX Coordinator
New Branding Initiative Launched at Wilkes
“At Wilkes, you will” is the foundation of the Wilkes University story. It encompasses these truths: “Wilkes is the place where people are given a chance. Where those who show incredible resilience are encouraged to take risks, explore new facets of themselves and create the life they want. It’s where all faculty and staff are unified in their dedication to give every student their all. And where academic quality isn’t reserved for the privileged few.”
In the past few months, the new language, vibrant images and graphics displayed on campus, on the website and in publications have been overwhelmingly embraced by the Wilkes community.
New Academic Structure Implemented
- The College of Arts and Sciences consists of programs in the performing arts, humanities, behavioral and social sciences, environmental sciences and natural sciences. It also includes chemistry, math, physics and computer science. The College of Arts and Sciences is led by Paul Riggs, who joined Wilkes in 2015.
Loyal to the End
Top right, from left: Nancy Adams, Doris Adams, Paul and Jean Adams, daughters Caroline and Lindsay.
Right: The Pickering Hall and New Men’s Dorm, circa 1967.
The son of a Methodist minister, Adams had learned about Wilkes when his father was assigned to a church in Forty Fort, Pa., during the 1960s. It was the era of the college’s legendary Golden Horde football team and Adams—a self-described “sports nut” during his childhood—became a fan. When the time came for college, Adams, who played high school football, chose Wilkes with thoughts of continuing to play.
“I never really found my intellectual curiosity when I was in high school, so I wasn’t a great student,” Adams recalls. “And as the story was with so many young people, Wilkes took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity.”
A Marriage Made at Wilkes
“I thought about leaving. ‘Oh, man,’ I thought. ‘Maybe this isn’t for me,’ ” Paul recalls. Paired with a senior electrical engineering student, Simon Davos, for a roommate, Adams made it through his first year.
When he returned the next fall, still wondering if Wilkes was the right place, he visited his roommate’s girlfriend in Catlin Hall. It was there that he met her new roommate, Jean Reiter, a freshman from Emerson, N.J. “And that was it: case closed,” says Paul with a chuckle. There was no more talk of homesickness or of leaving Wilkes.
Jean doesn’t remember every detail of that meeting, but she does remember Paul made a positive impression.
President
Biden Visits
Wilkes University
And a momentous occasion at Wilkes University began. As the United States Marine Band played “Hail to the Chief” under a massive American flag and to the cheers of more than 700 attendees, Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown introduced the 46th President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
At just past 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2022, Wilkes faculty, students and staff packed the Arnaud C. Marts Center to hear President Biden address his Safer America Plan, which aims to further reduce gun violence and crime.
It is the first time in 50 years that a sitting president has visited Wilkes University. In 1972, President Richard Nixon came to Wilkes to announce a $4 million grant in support of the University’s Agnes Flood recovery efforts.
He Digs Rocks
way to somewhere else, not a destination. Unless you’re
Matthew S. Finkenbinder, associate professor of geology at
Wilkes University. Finkenbinder, or Dr. F, or “Fink” as some
of his students call him, shows his students that on this
weathered strip of road, there is a tall rock face that serves
as a fascinating map to the past—and it measures time not in
centuries, or millenia, but millions of years.
In fact, it’s the absence of digital screens and gadgets—and being outdoors—that makes these outings so important to students. “A common attribute of students that are in environmental science and geology is a curiosity about nature and the love of the outdoors,” said Finkenbinder. Multiple field trips throughout the term are an important part of geology coursework.
Meeting Demands of a Budding Industry With Serious Science
According to reports, officials discovered marijuana plants in an academic facility on campus. They took immediate action, collecting the plants, properly disposing of them in an autoclave and starting the project all over again after filing the necessary crop loss report with the Department of Agriculture.
“We’re not running some type of clandestine operation,” says Will Terzaghi, professor of biology. The Homecoming incident was part of ensuring that Wilkes University’s two hemp farms, numbered 3057 and 3058, remain in compliance with state and federal law. Wilkes holds a permit to grow hemp, but when the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the plants hits 0.3%, the plants are considered medical marijuana and must be destroyed.
The Roads Less Traveled
Alumni Association Welcomes New Board Members
The new directors share some thoughts about their Wilkes experience and what they hope to contribute as directors.
Meet the 2022 Alumni Association Scholarship Recipient: Michael Nowak
2020 and 2021
Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees
2020 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees
Hassan Shah ’05 (Men’s Tennis)
HOMECOMING WEEKEND
Sept. 30 – Oct. 2
New Griggs Pharmacy Center Dedication
Setting the Bar
In Memoriam
BARBARA FARLEY ’50
Barbara Medland Farley died on April 3, 2022. She attended Bucknell Junior College (now Wilkes University), where she met her husband, Robert Coates Farley, son of then college president Dr. Eugene S. Farley.
CHARLES JACKSON ’51
Charles F. Jackson died on Feb. 28, 2022. Dr. Jackson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from Wilkes, where he excelled as an athlete, serving as captain on the soccer, baseball and basketball teams.
RONALD A. RITTENMEYER ’72
Ronald Rittenmeyer died on October 11, 2022. Ron, of Plano, Texas, lived a legacy of leadership at the helm of 15 companies across numerous industries.
RANDALL MARK ’81
Randall “Randy” Mark, alumnus and former trustee, died on July 8, 2022. He graduated from Wilkes with a bachelor of science degree in business administration, and was the president and owner of Pulverman, a global manufacturer of precision metal components.
Friends of Wilkes
ESTHER DAVIDOWITZ
Esther “Essy” Davidowitz died on May 17, 2022. Mrs. Davidowitz’s service to the University’s Board of Trustees began in 1973 and continued until 2006, at which time she was given emerita status.
JOHN G. REESE
John Reese, legendary Wilkes former wrestling coach, director of athletics and teacher, died on Feb. 28, 2022. Coach Reese served as Director of Athletics at Wilkes for 34 years (1958-1992) and as head wrestling coach for 42 years.
SANDY RIFKIN
Sandy Rifkin died on Sept. 11, 2021. Sandy and her husband, the late Arnold Rifkin, president of A. Rifkin Co., were dedicated supporters of Wilkes University. Together they donated Rifkin Hall, the lobby of Evans Hall and the Rifkin Cafe in the Henry Student Center.
ATTORNEY HAROLD ROSENN
Harold Rosenn died on June 2, 2022. Rosenn initially partnered in the practice of law with his brother, the late Judge Max Rosenn, then went on to co-found Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, now the largest law firm in northeastern Pa.
JOHN OREHOTSKY
John Orehotsky, longtime faculty member in the College of Science and Engineering, died on March 23, 2022. During his tenure at Wilkes, he received two Fulbright Scholarships and numerous research fellowships.
calendar of events
Calendar Highlights
Basketball Alumni Game
Wrestling Alumni Gathering
Giving Day
Rosenn Lecture featuring Jill Lepore, award-winning author, historian and journalist. Visit wilkes.edu/rosenn to register.
Annual Scholarship Luncheon
Athletics Hall of Fame Ceremony
Spring Commencement
Founders Gala
