Undergraduate

1William Rice, a member of the first Wilkes wrestling team, turned 100 on Sept. 6, 2025. Rice also has an endowed scholarship at Wilkes, the William H. Rice ’48 Scholarship, which is awarded each year to a student in the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy.

2George Pawlush MS ’72 published a new book, They Came To Play, available on Amazon. It profiles 45 athletes and others with Rusyn ancestral roots, who reached the highest level of their sport. A few found fame as professional boxers, but most gravitated to America’s most popular team sports in the 1920s and 1930s — football and baseball.

Christine Sulat was elected vice-president of the Arnot-Ogden Medical Center Auxiliary, where she has been volunteering since retirement. The medical center includes two hospitals in Elmira, New York.

Mitchell Gouze retired with his wife, Barbara, to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2022 after a 40-plus year career in compensation and benefits.

3Craig Jackson met with several Wilkes graduates at the Jersey Shore to catch up.

Susan Ross moved to Gulfport, Missouri. Ross and her husband previously lived in rural Arkansas. They are enjoying being closer to family, conveniences…and the beach!

4Allan Knox retired from federal civil service in August after 37 years and 244 days of service. This included 20 years of active and reserve service with the United States Air Force and the remainder with the Department of the Air Force, United States Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a civil servant. Knox retired as the acting program manager for the U.S. Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking Program — one of the most successful national life-saving programs and a significant contributor to the International Cospas-Sarsat Program.

5Tom Obrzut Jr. announced the launch of his website NEPAHometownHeroes.com, dedicated to honoring the veterans of northeastern Pennsylvania. This digital platform serves as a lasting tribute, preserving the legacy of veterans’ banners displayed in towns across the region. With a deep commitment to recognizing the sacrifices and service of local heroes, NEPAHometownHeroes.com offers a centralized, online gallery showcasing banners that line the streets of our communities. Each image tells a story of courage, commitment and patriotism.

Sarah Yoder MS ’08 accepted a position with the Chester County (Pennsylvania) Intermediate Unit as director of innovative educational services after a highly successful four-year stint as the superintendent of schools at the Pottsville (Pennsylvania) Area School District.

6Attorney John A. Bednarz Jr., whose law office is located in Dallas, Pennsylvania, has again been selected a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 2025. Bednarz is also pleased to announce that, for 18 years, Philadelphia magazine has named him as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in the field of claimant’s workers’ compensation law. Only five percent of all Pennsylvania lawyers obtain the status of Super Lawyer. Since 1991, Bednarz has also been a board-certified civil trial attorney as recognized by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, an organization approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to certify lawyers.

7Mark Congdon Jr., PhD, won a global award for community-engaged teaching and scholarship in November of 2024. He was one of two professors in North America to win the 2024 Uniservitate Global Service Award for service-learning experiences in higher education. This award included a trip to Rome to present his work at the V Global Symposium Uniservitate and to Vatican City to meet Pope Francis. Congdon was also recently awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of communication & media at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

8Brie Friedman MA ’25 started working at Wilkes University in January 2023 in the advancement division, serving as associate director of alumni relations. In June 2024, she transitioned to the marketing communications team and is currently the associate director of communications. In September 2025, Friedman celebrated a milestone, earning her master of arts degree in fiction from the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University. She is continuing in the program to pursue her master of fine arts degree.

9Megan (Martz) Grim, CPA, graduated from Leadership Harrisburg Area’s Community Leadership Series Class of 2025. She has over 15 years of public accounting experience and specializes in providing accounting and auditing services to clients across various industries, including manufacturing, construction, employee benefit plans (EBPs) and other closely held businesses. She is a key member of the Firm’s EBP Audit Group.

Brian Switay MBA ’12 started as the director of admissions, applicant research and strategy at Rutgers University-Newark after spending seven years at The College of New Jersey as the associate director of transfer and international students.

Jonathan Kadjeski began serving as the president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Organization for Student Success, effective July 1, 2025.

Woodly Augustin was appointed head coach of the Hanover Area varsity girls basketball team.

10Christina (Harrison) Luksic and her husband welcomed their first baby in May of 2025. She also started her fourth year at SHS and earned tenure.

11Nicole (Olver) Hagan and Joshua Hagan ’18 are excited to announce that they are expecting their first child in May. The couple met in the Wilkes University Marching Colonels in 2015 and have now been married for almost four years.

A local filmmaker is filming a script of Adam Seiwell‘s titled The Garden. He recently held a reading for his children’s book Noseferatu, at the Teachers as Parents Fair in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Brandon Thomson just graduated from the Pennsylvania State Police Academy. He is now a state trooper and has been assigned to Troop H in Harrisburg. He first established the connections that led him down this path through his academic advisors at Wilkes.

George Pawlush ’69, MS ’72 (See 1969 undergrad)

Gerald Gurka MA wrote and directed his new play, The Cross of Decision, which was presented on April 11, 2025, at St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville, Pennsylvania. He also wrote and starred in Human & Pet Treats for season four of the Diocese of Scranton’s fundraising series, Rectory Set Cook, which helps feed the homeless.

Sarah Yoder ’98, MS ’08 (See 1998 undergrad)

Lori M. Myers MA recently produced and acted off-Broadway in That’s (Not) All She Wrote, a creative format she created showcasing women playwrights. Several of her plays have been or will be produced, including Ruthie Lives Here (Westchester Collaborative Theater), Civil Disobedience (Axial Theater) and A Stand-Up Guy (Philipstown Depot Theatre). Ruthie Lives Here was chosen for The Best 10-Minute Plays 2025 and will be published by Smith & Kraus.

Sandee Gertz MA, MFA ’12 had a creative nonfiction essay about her north/south divide, titled, “Nashville, Pennsylvania,” appear in Pittsburgh Quarterly magazine. She also had three poems recently published in Cafe Review literary journal.

Sandee Gertz MA ’11, MFA ’12 (See 2011 graduate)

Vicki Mayk MA, MFA ’13 recently published two flash nonfiction pieces: “Throat Chakra” in the journal Bending Genres and “What I Wanted To Say” in Cleaver. She was one of Cleaver’s featured readers for its Issue No. 49 reading. In addition, her essay “April 22” will be anthologized in Big Table Press’s This Year: 2025. This spring she taught the community workshop Places and Spaces in Nonfiction for the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Mayk also was interviewed about her work on the show “Troubadours and Raconteurs” on Radio Free Brooklyn.

Brian Switay ’10, MBA ’12 (See 2010 undergrad)

Vicki Mayk MA ’12, MFA ’13 (See 2012 graduate)

Austin Bennett MA, MFA ’15 presented “What Freedom Do the Unplaced Have?” at the annual College English Association conference. He finished his first year as the director of the Montana State University Billings (MSUB) Honors Program. In the fall, he took on additional duties as chair of the general education department for MSUB City College.

Elizabeth (Corcoran) Troxell MS was recently named a finalist for Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, and the Centre Daily Times published an article recognizing this honor. Troxell was honored to receive this recognition and viewed it as a reflection of the continued growth and learning she has experienced through her master’s degree program at Wilkes. The courses, support and leadership preparation she received at Wilkes played a valuable role to help her refine her practice and advocate more effectively for students and colleagues alike.

Austin Bennett MA ’14, MFA ’15 (See 2014 graduate)

12Kimberly Behre Kenna MA ’15 released the latest book in her Brave Girls collection, Lola Gillette and the Summer of Second Chances, on March 3, via Willow River Press. The novel follows a 13-year-old girl grieving the loss of her twin sister while spending the summer in her quirky agoraphobic uncle’s unique castle home.

13Janet A. Williams, DNP, MSM, CNM, FACNM, released her second book, Transitions: A Midwife’s Pregnancy Reflection Journal, for expectant parents, their support persons and providers.

Toni-Lyn Sorger MA, MFA ’21 co-created Artium, a literary journal, through Lackawanna College with Kevin McDonough and John Baldino. They accept submissions from emerging and established authors in poetry, fiction and nonfiction from across the country, and hopefully farther in the future.

Between his master of arts degree in nonfiction and master of arts degree in poetry, Michael Hardin MA, MFA ’22 has created a hybrid form which he thinks of as prose poems, but editors accept as creative nonfiction (CNF). He has had short form CNF recently accepted by BODY, Moon City Review, Lunch Ticket, LANGUAGE and others.

Toni-Lyn Sorger MA ’20, MFA ’21 (See 2020 graduate)

Michael Hardin MA ’21, MFA ’22 (See 2021 graduate)

Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar MA, MFA ’24 has had multiple publications: the short horror story collection Keeper of Corpses and Other Dark Tales (Velox Books, 2024), the middle-grade mystery The Hidden Diary (Baynam Books Press, 2024), the horror novella Close the Door (Baynam Books Press, 2025) and the young adult thriller Lake of Secrets (Horrorsmith Publishing, 2025). Additionally, she curated and edited the Bram Stoker Award-nominated multi-author volume of horror scholarship, No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes (Vernon Press, 2024) and Wicked Universe: A Wicked House Publishing Anthology (Wicked House Publishing, 2024). She was also promoted to professor of English at the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania.

Michelle Polizzi MA wrote the essay, “States of Exploitation,” which received runner-up and publication in the 2025 Witness Magazine Literary Awards. She also received a grant from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project to write a reported essay about housing loss and mental health.

Cody Marsh MA ’22, MFA ’24 (See 2022 graduate)

Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar MA ’23, MFA ’24 (See 2023 graduate)

Brie Friedman ’10, MA ’25 (See 2010 undergrad)