'06 Grad Wins Teacher Of The Year...Twice!

Sarah Belkofer '06 has been teaching for only six years, yet she has already won the Huntington Teacher of the Year award - twice! For five years she has taught at Huntington Elementary School in Brunswick, Ohio, and says she loves every day. For the second year in a row, Belkofer has been recognized for her outstanding work with students.

While working toward her bachelor's degree at BW, Belkofer took a special education class that required her to assist in a special needs classroom. She told a reporter for a cleveland.com article, "After that class, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I love interacting with kids and I love helping children grow. It is a very rewarding career."

BW Alumnus Inducted Into NEO Business Hall Of Fame

Courtesy of Eric Mull - Inside Business

If you were to take a glance at 1972 BW graduate Bill Summers' resume, then the fact that he has been chosen for The Northeast Ohio Business Hall of Fame would, most likely, not surprise you.

Summers went from working in a garage as a "grunt" to working as the CEO of McDonald Investments; but he fondly recalls the older days in the garage, and he pays credit to the humble experiences that have shaped him.

In an article in the 2013 November/December issue of Inside Business magazine, Summers remembers BW as playing a key role in his success. A former Chairman of BW's Board of Trustees, Summers also co-chaired two of his alma mater's  most successful capital campaigns.

The five 2013 Hall of Fame inductees, including Summers, were selected by a blue ribbon committee of business and civic leaders. They were recognized as "men and women who have helped to create Northeast Ohio’s industries and shaped the area’s economic landscape."

BW MBA Alumnus Shares Success Story with BW Community

BW MBA alumnus, Keith Wyche '86, recently came back to campus to share his success story with students and faculty. Wyche has more than 30 years of experience in some of the best-known corporations in the country. An expert in corporate turnaround, Wyche led Pitney Bowes, as well as two large divisions of SuperValu, through impressive change. 

As a nationally recognized leader and dynamic public speaker, Wyche has brought his insight and experience to some of America’s leading corporations and institutions, including Harvard, Northrup Grumman, Home Depot, Cargill, Microsoft, NY Life, and GE. He is also a bestselling author of two books, including Amazon bestseller Good Is Not Good Enough: And Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals.

A native of Cleveland, Wyche currently serves on the Corporate Board of Directors of WMS Industries and the National Black MBA Association and resides in the Philadelphia area. 

BW Students Work With Music Legends

BW Conservatory composition students notched quality time with some musical giants this month. Béla Fleck, a ten-time Grammy award-winning banjo legend, and Brooklyn Rider, members of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, hailed as the "future of chamber music," led an intimate composition workshop, as well as a concert and Q & A session at BW.

The extraordinary opportunity was made possible through the generosity of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which gave the Tuesday Musical Association in Akron $40,000 to host innovative programs like this one.

BW Honors Program Recognized by National Council

The BW Honors Program recently earned top national awards from the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). 

Award-winning BW Honors Program website

In the NCHC student-judged website competition, the BW Honors Program website took first place out of 23 honors programs across the country. The judges applauded "the focus on the students, and what they have done" as well as "the comments and insights from the students' perspective."

Meanwhile, BW also received first place in the NCHC’s Newsletter Contest, in the student and administrator collaboration category, for The Honorable Mention.

BW was recognized with both awards at the NCHC’s National Conference in New Orleans.

BW Students Present at Renowned Public Health Conference

Amanda Feairheller '15

Robert Hood '14

Two BW Public Health students were among a select group of undergraduates to present projects at a highly esteemed national conference. Amanda Feairheller '15 and Robert Hood '14 joined researchers and clinicians who showcased their work at the recent American Public Health Association (APHA) annual conference in Boston.

Feairheller presented a poster showcasing research into "Barriers to using Telemedicine for Preventing Mental Illness in Rural Maine."

Hood's research poster presentation was titled "Self Reported Health Status and Barriers to Self-Management of Chronic Diseases Among an Undeserved Community in Rural Maine: Preliminary Findings."

The student research was based on an ongoing Community Based Participatory Research partnership between BW's Public Health program and the small fishing village of Lubec, Maine. The student research is mentored by Swagata Banik, Ph.D., associate professor and public health program director.

Alumnus Publishes Colorful Film Art Book

BW Alumnus Matthew Chojnacki '97, a lifelong film fan, was tired of seeing enhanced head shots of famous movie actors on promotional posters. So, to "bring 'the art' back to the one-sheet," he collected a variety of different posters from over a hundred different artists, and placed them into his new book Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art From The Underground. The book has gained a number of positive reviews, including this write-up in Fast Company and in Cleveland Scene.

Graduating from BW in 1997, and adding an MBA two years later, Chojnacki is Vice President of Finance for Hugo Boss by day. However, when not at work, he invests much of his time into his love of film. This is his second book. His first was the award-winning ’80s vinyl cover art collection, Put the Needle on the Record.

Religion Students Experience Monastic Life

Students in Religion Professor Alan Kolp's seminar class spent a weekend finding out what it's really like to live in a monastery. The students fully engrossed themselves in the culture of the trappist monastery during the weekend at the Thomas Merton Center at Bellamire University in Louisville, Kentucky and at Merton's monastery--The Abbey of Gethesemani near New Haven, Kentucky.

"Visiting Gethsemani inspires a beautiful combination of rejuvenation and exhaustion," observed Sophia Viglione '14. "It is spiritually invigorating, but the schedule that the monks follow is somewhat draining. I think following the liturgy of the hours with the monks helped many of us appreciate Merton, monasticism, and Catholicim in a new light."

"Gethsemani is like a separate world, and in the axis of prayer upon which that world turns, I experienced a sense of fully inhabited faith," added Matt Gesicki '14. "To be in the presence of men of such a magnitude of faith, if only for a single luminous day, was profoundly humbling."

Click here to see more photos from this eye opening trip.

BW Seniors Earn Scholarships to Pursue MBA

Jill Borling '14, a Computer Information Systems major with a minor in Management, and Cory DePiero '14, a 3/2 Accounting major minoring in Business, were honored with the Project Management Institute Northeast Ohio Chapter (PMINEO) Project Management Scholarships during BW's Kerzner Lecture. The PMINEO Project Management Scholarship is a program that financially aids students in their pursuit of a Master's Degree at a college that specializes in the course of Project Management.
The Kerzner Lecture was established in recognition of Harold Kerzner Ph.D., who has been serving BW as a full-time and emeritus faculty since 1976 and a pioneer in Project Management.

BW Trustee Honored with Humanitarian Award

Applauded as a "remarkable" champion for the cause, Chris Zito ’80 was honored with the Ninth Annual Our Lady of the Wayside’s Starlight Guardian Humanitarian Award.

Our Lady of the Wayside recognized Zito, President of Zito Insurance Agency, Inc. and BW Trustee, for his tireless devotion “to the advancement of The Wayside’s Mission and Vision.” Zito also serves as a member of the Lady of the Wayside Board of Trustees and is past president of the BW Alumni Association.

The award was presented by The Shamrock Companies at a luncheon hosted by WTAM’s Bill Wills at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven yesterday. You can read and watch coverage of the event on WEWS TV-5.

Our Lady of the Wayside is a nondenominational, nonprofit, residential service provider for children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities.

Dance Marathon Leaders Motivate with "Stories of Hope"

Baldwin Wallace University's Dance Marathon leaders were recently highlighted on the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF) website in a story recognizing their creativity while motivating students to support the annual fundraiser. During the marathon, BW students dance for 12 hours to raise money for the foundation, with the goal of creating an AIDS free world.

Throughout the planning process this year, Student Director Chelsea Lewis (pictured) and other BW Dance Marathon leaders are carrying a picture of an individual affected by HIV/AIDS to help students connect to the cause. Anyone interested in participating in Dance Marathon 2014 can register here.

BW Business Professors Weigh in on HR and Inflation

The news media recently called on two professors in Baldwin Wallace's Business Division to provide expertise on HR and finance issues in the news.

Featured in a Cleveland Plain Dealer article, Dr. Lori K. Long offered her knowledge on the growing trend of employee sabbaticals in professional careers.

Sabbaticals, which are "an extended leave of absence," were viewed as an opportunity for professionals in academia to pursue their own scholarship outside of their career.

However, now that employers outside of academia are utilizing sabbaticals, Dr. Long said, "Some organizations offer sabbaticals as a component of a comprehensive work-life balance initiative."

 Meanwhile, Dr. Kevin Jacques, BW's Boynton D. Murch Chair in Finance at BW, spoke to NPR's Marketplace on how inflation may affect the US economy. Although many people view inflation as a negative aspect of the economy, the government may actually promote inflation after the government shutdown.

For the national Marketplace report, Jacques, a former U.S. Treasury Department economist, said that inflation "gives businesses some room to raise the prices on their products... That gives prices on real assets the opportunity to go up, which would make, for example, consumers feel wealthier because their homes are now worth more."

BW Arts Management Program in the Spotlight

The Arts Management program at Baldwin Wallace tops the list of program profiled in MajoringInMusic.com's article, "Career Paths in Arts Management." BW's Arts Management program is among the longest-running of the 40 undergraduate and 60 graduate programs in the world that are members of the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE).

BW students choose a business major or minor and combine it with an arts major or minor. Program director Bryan Bowser says, "We try to work with each student to identify their interest areas, passion and strengths that align to a career path." The profile on MajoringInMusic.com also notes BW's vibrant partnership with Cleveland's Playhouse Square, the second largest theater complex in the US, as well as strong partnerships with arts organizations across the nation.

Arts Management alum Cory Isler '12 at Cleveland's Severance Hall where he scored a highly competitive internship

Students Gather Election Results for Channel 5

Brianna Johnson '17 works in the WEWS-TV newsroom

Gathering election night results is an enormous job for news organizations, and four BW students were in the middle of the information-gathering hubbub in the WEWS TV-5 newsroom last night.

The group of students consisted of Education major Courtney DeSchepper '14, Political Science major Brianna Johnson '17, Broadcasting and Mass Communications major Liz Miller '15 and Political Science major Tiffany Artis '15. 

The students manned computers in the newsroom and helped to collect and turn around results for Cleveland's ABC affiliate, as their professor, Tom Sutton contributed on camera analysis to the election night coverage.

Liz Miller '15 crunches election numbers

Sutton, who is chair of BW's Political Science Department, serves as a year-round independent political analyst for Channel 5, providing WEWS with periodic analysis of local and national politics.

Tiffany Artis '15 processes 2013 election results for WEWS-TV

All-Star BW Alumnus Trains 2013 World Series Champs

Photo by Evan Drellich, Masslive.com

Rick Jameyson '92 has had many reasons to celebrate this year... most recently his team's win in the World Series. In his 12th year in the majors, Jameyson, the head athletic trainer of the Boston Red Sox, also was honored to be chosen as one of just two American League trainers serving at this year's MLB All-Star Game.

Jameyson, a Wellington, Ohio native, has made (more than) good on his dream of succeeding as athletic training major, earning a position in the Indians' minor league system right after graduation from BW.

He worked his way up to the major leagues, serving as an assistant with the Indians until the Red Sox came calling in 2012. According to an ESPN article at the time, the Sox management was looking for a trainer who could do oversee the healing of more than just player injuries. Jamyeson says he's succeeded by cultivating trust with the players.

BW Alumna and Adjunct Professor Publishes Book

Lori Zoss, BW alumna and adjunct professor in the Communication Arts & Sciences department, publishes her children's book A Bed For Fred this month, celebrating the book release on Saturday, November 16, at Strosacker Student Union.

The story is about a dog named Fred, a basset hound who goes on a journey to find his missing bed. Along the way, he meets a frog, mouse, cricket, and owl, not realizing until later in the story that he has strayed too far from home without telling his owner.

Zoss, who is corporate support director for Ideastream, the "parent" of WCPN-FM and WVIZ-TV, holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Arts from BW.

More details on her new book can be found on abedforfred.com.

Where The Jobs Are: BW Education Insight

Courtney DeSchepper '14 with fellow classmate (Courtesy of WEWS)

Courtney DeSchepper '14 has wanted to be a special education teacher since she was in the second grade.

"I was in a classroom with my mother, who is a one-on-one aide in our special education classroom back home," DeSchepper  told WEWS TV in a report on the future of teaching jobs, "and she was having me work with a student on a puzzle. It took her a whole month to put a fifty-piece puzzle together, but that day when she got her very last piece in, she was so excited, and it was right then I knew that this was what I wanted to do."

Along with DeSchepper, Dr. Karen Kaye, chair of the Education Department, explained that the market for teaching jobs can be bright for students who are studying fields such as special education, math and science.

Deschepper remains hopeful for employment for all aspiring teachers. "The best teachers," she says, "will always have a job."