Cleveland State Univer sity College of Liberal Ar ts and Social Sciences

Fall

2012

10.9Dr. John A. Flower WCLV Faculty Concerts Dedication

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 from 6:00 – 9:30 pm

Music and Communication Building, Drinko Recital Hall

10.19The Galleries at CSU Opening Celebration

Friday, October 19, 2012 at 6:00 pm

The Galleries at CSU (1307 Euclid Avenue)

Film Festival for CSU Students

Friday, October 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm

Music and Communication Building 10.26

A Midsummer Night’s Dream*

Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 7:30 pm

CSU Arts Campus, Allen Theatre Main Stage at PlayhouseSquare

Keyboard Conversations 25th Anniversary Concert

Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Music and Communication Building, Waetjen Auditorium

11.811.11

GroundWorks Dance Theater*

Friday, October 26, 2012 at 7:30 pm

CSU Arts Campus, Allen Theatre Main Stage at PlayhouseSquare 10.26

For more information on these events

please visit csuohio.edu/fallarts.

*There is a cost for these events. Visit csuohio.edu/fallarts for more information.

Fall into the Arts at CSU

Visit us online at www.csuohio.edu/class/innerlink

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Dr. Gregory Sadlek, Dean

Dr. Joyce Mastboom, Associate Dean Dr. William Morgan, Associate Dean

Creative Director Lesley Lang

Editor Jody Milkie

Contributors Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt

Jane McCrone Peter Meiksins

Robert Thurmer Ruth Peterson ’69 & ’73

Paul Wolansky

What’s new with you? Let us know what you’ve been doing!www.csuohio.edu/class/alumni

Table of Contents2 Keeping up with CLASS and The Making of a Small State: Populist Social Mobilisation and the Hindi Press in the Uttarakhand Movement by Anup Kumar

3 Letter from the Dean

4 Featured Alumna, Dr. Ruth D. Peterson

5 History Department, History of Medicine Series

6 The Galleries at CSU are Now Open

7 The Arts and Sciences and Civic Engagement at an Urban Public University

8 Student Highlight, CLASS Alumni Updates

9 ad•vance Welcoming Paul Wolansky

In 1994, the reactionary student agitation against OBC reservations metamorphosed into a jan andolan (populist social mobilisation) for the creation of Uttarakhand state. This study conceptualises jan andolan as a non-party populist political process that temporarily claims public space and often relies on the press to get its voices heard in the corridors of power. The mobilisation for Uttarakhand was led by social activists and civic

leaders, who formed the Uttarakhand Samyukta Sangharsh Samitis, and was supported by the Hindi press, particularly the Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran.

Moving beyond explanations based on electoral caste politics, The Making of a Small State traces the roots of the political imagination of Uttarakhand in the series of socio-ecological protests, such as dhandaks (peasant protests) and Chipko. The study suggests that the new regional movements are manifestations of political and economic deprivation. They highlight developmental regionalism and the demand to restore the community’s control over jal, jungle and zameen.

However, the paradox of the jan andolan was that the samitis, inspite of their wide social base, failed to emerge as a political alternative. The study suggests that internal contradictions in the samitis, the dependency on the press and the news culture opened the opportunity for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress to co-opt the movement for statehood and undermine the core socio-ecological issues by colonising the public space that was created by the andolan.

This book is for both academic and general readers who are interested in news media research, populist mobilisation, and the political imagination of new regional identities.

Anup Kumar is Assistant Professor of Communication in the School of Communication, Cleveland State University.Overview provided by the Publisher, Orient BlackSwan.

KeepingCLASSup

with

The Making of a Small State:Populist Social Mobilisation and the Hindi

Press in the Uttarakhand Movement By Anup Kumar

Chairs and DirectorsBirch Browning Chair, Department of Music

Lonnie Helton Interim Director, School of Social Work

Maggie Jackson Interim Chair, Department of Anthropology

Antonio Medina-Rivera Director, Linguistics Program

International ScholarsEva Rus Women Studies Program

Yuxin Wu Department of Political Science

Ronglan “Patricia” Zhu Department of Modern Languages

Tenure-Track ProfessorsMatias Martinez Abeijon Department of Modern Languages

George Tsagaris School of Social Work

Valerie Wright Department of Sociology and Criminology

College LecturersJeffrey Bolt School of Communication

Melanie Gagich Department of English

Aycan Kocsal Department of Economics

Deborah Layman Department of Music

Jessica Schantz Department of English

Michael Skladany Department of Sociology and Criminology

Phil Wanyerka Department of Anthropology

Victoria Winbush School of Social Work

Visiting Professors and InstructorsFrank Giampietro Department of English

Jeneen Hobby Department of Political Science

Todd Nelson Department of Political Science

Jody Timko School of Social Work

Sarah Watts Department of Music

StaffPaul Wolansky Director for Advancement

Letter from the DeanMuch of the public discourse about higher education recently focuses upon the role of higher education in preparing workers for today’s knowledge economy. This is, of course, a very important university responsibility, not only for the good of our students but also for the good of the state and local economies. Nevertheless, a true university education encompasses much more than vocational training. For example, it offers a student the chance to increase crucial transferable skills in such areas as written communication and critical thinking. It also offers life-changing international experiences and the broad background knowledge in the sciences, arts, and humanities that is essential for today’s educated citizenry. (For an example of the richest kind of CSU education available, see the article on our Anthropology student, Dick Powis.) But many first-generation students from working class families have a hard time seeing the broader benefits of a liberal education and community engagement. That is why Peter Meiksins’ new faculty reading group, financed by a grant from the American Association of Colleges and Universities and focusing on Ann Mullen’s Degrees of Inequality, is so important to CSU. Faculty and administrators from across the university will gather to discuss the arts and sciences curriculum and community engagement in order to raise awareness of the full benefits of a well-rounded undergraduate education. For further information on this important discussion series, see the article on p. 7.

As CSU orients itself ever more strongly toward education in medicine and in the health sciences, it is important that the contributions of the humanities to this kind of education are not forgotten. The Department of History has embraced the idea of medical humanities, and its lecture series on the History of Medicine will make it a fully contributing partner in this strategic CSU effort. All the lectures in this series are free and open to the public, and I invite you to learn more about this important series by reading the article on page 5 within.

This fall contains a particularly intense celebration of the arts at CSU, entitled “Fall into the Arts at CSU.” Beyond our normal arts offerings, we have six high-profile events that celebrate specific milestones in our progress in the fine arts. We have, for example, dedicated our WCLV faculty concert series to the memory of former president John A. Flower. We will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of our most popular and effective community-outreach musical series, the Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel. In addition, we will inaugurate our artistic partnership with one of the premier professional Cleveland dance companies, GroundWorks, and we will also stage our first performance on the Allen Theatre Main Stage, Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Moreover, we will showcase the creative film-making talents of our Communication students in a campus Student Film Festival.

Finally, we will celebrate the opening of the new CSU Art Gallery, which we have now named the Galleries at CSU. Located on the corner of 13th and Euclid, this new space has already won a rave review in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. You can read more about this wonderful space on page 6, and you can see a calendar of all the “Fall into the Arts” events on the inside cover of The Innerlink. As I have said before, the fine arts play a predominant role in the civic life of Cleveland, and CSU will continue to build not only its reputation for excellence in the arts but also its partnerships with other Cleveland arts organizations.

Finally, as you can see on p. 2, CLASS welcomes a large group of excellent full-time faculty, visiting professors, and international scholars, thus, enlarging and enriching resources for the academic discussions that take place in our halls and classrooms daily. In addition, we welcome a top-notch new development officer, Paul Wolansky. Paul promises to take our fund-raising efforts to new heights, and this will allow us to expand the educational opportunities for all CLASS students. These are busy and exciting times at CSU.

Best wishes, Gregory Sadlek Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

The Innerlink | Fall 2012 | Page 3

Featured Alumna Congratulations to Dr. Ruth D. Peterson

in the spring of 1967 and two years later received my bachelor’s degree in one of CSU’s first graduating classes—a first for my family. After working at Tri-C, I returned to Cleveland State to pursue a master’s degree in the Sociology Department’s newly established graduate program. Once again, I was in one of the first classes of a program at CSU. Because of these coincidences of firsts for Tri-C, CSU, and for me, I have always felt that the fate of my academic career is tied to the success of Tri-C and CSU.

How did CSU and your degree field prepare you for your life and career? Given my choice of pursuing an academic career, my preparation at CSU has been fundamental. First, and foremost, my work at CSU stimulated my interest in pursuing an academic career, and set me on a course for trying to better understand the differential impact of structural features of society on the life chances of groups and individuals from different walks of life. Second, my degrees and accomplishments at CSU facilitated my gaining entry into a top 5 Ph.D. program in sociology (the University of Wisconsin), which, in turn, situated me for academic appointments first at the University of Iowa and then at Ohio State University. Third, my first publication was based on the master’s degree thesis from CSU. Finally, and most generally, my experiences at Cleveland State gave me the substantive and methodological underpinnings for undertaking research on a variety of important societal concerns.

What are your fondest memories/impressions of your time at CSU? I was 20 years old when I arrived at CSU, just a few years away from my upbringing in the then segregated South. Thus, I remember CSU as an integrated environment, where one could have associates and friends from many different backgrounds. I also remember it as a time of exposure to knowledge, knowledge-bases, and experiences that were simply “eye-opening.” And, I remember many of the specifics of books that I read, concepts that captured my attention, and general facts that shaped my thinking about the workings of society and my place within it.

What would you like to say to current students if you could do it over again? First, I would encourage them to enjoy their time at CSU. Being a college student is hard work, but it is also a time for exploring ideas and interacting with people from different walks of life in a relatively safe environment. Second, I would say to them to think of CSU as a second home that always welcomes them back for whatever reason: refresher courses, advanced degrees, events, etc.

What are your proudest achievements in your career? Besides completing my doctorate, in my academic career, I am most proud of three achievements: (1) developing a data base for examining the interrelationships among structural conditions, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood crime, that is now available through the Interuniversity Consortium of Political and Social Research for use by researchers worldwide in a variety of areas (2) writing, in collaboration with Lauren J. Krivo, the book Divergent Social Worlds: Neighborhood Crime and the Racial-Spatial Divide, and (3) for organizing, in collaboration with Lauren J. Krivo, the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network.

Ruth D. Peterson earned both her bachelor and master’s degree at Cleveland State University. She is currently Emeritus Professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University. Dr. Peterson returned to CSU to celebrate Homecoming and to receive the CLASS Distinguished Alumna award for 2012. Beginning in spring 2013, Dr. Peterson will be contributing her expertise to CSU as a new member of the CLASS Visiting Committee, the Dean’s advisory board. She shared some of her thoughts on what it has meant to her to be a Cleveland State University alumna.

What degree(s) did you obtain from Cleveland State University? I received both my bachelor’s degree (1969) and my master’s degree (1973) in sociology.

What is your current occupation & employer? I recently retired from Ohio State University. Until then, I held the following titles at Ohio State: Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Professor of Sociology; and Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center.

Why did you choose CSU? In one sense, I felt that CSU chose me. I am a first-generation college student, who, like many graduates of CSU, matriculated first to Cuyahoga Community College and then to CSU as a natural progression in pursuing a bachelor’s degree. I arrived in Cleveland from a small rural town in Georgia, in the summer of 1963, the same year as Tri-C opened its doors, and the year prior to the founding of CSU. With the help of my aunts, Dot and Shirley, I began my academic career at Tri-C. I then transferred to CSU, which afforded me the opportunity to continue pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Thus, I enrolled at CSU

The Innerlink | Fall 2012 | Page 5

In the spring of 2011, the History Department at CSU held the inaugural lecture in its History of Medicine Series. Part of a larger initiative to demonstrate the importance of dialogue between the humanities and the health professions, the series has regularly attracted large audiences from across the university and the local community.

The series began with a presentation by Dr. Holly Tucker of Vanderbilt University whose work examines the early history of blood transfusions in France. Her lecture revealed that medical practitioners in the seventeenth century asked many of the same questions that bioethicists today ask about new medical procedures and treatments.

In spring 2012, we welcomed Dr. Martin Summers of Boston College. Dr. Summers’ scholarship examines the treatment of African Americans for mental illness in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through his study of the records of a hospital in Washington, DC, Dr. Summers exposes the complicated nexus of race, politics, and public health in this period.

Just this fall we held the third lecture in the series, a presentation by Dr. Gerald Kutcher of Binghamton University. Dr. Kutcher, a Ph.D. in Physics and History, studies the history of cancer treatments in the US. His lecture, “Research in the Wild: Recent Controversies in the US War on Cancer,” illuminated the complicated world of cancer research. Researchers, government agencies, philanthropists, and others have similar goals—the eradication and treatment of cancer—but viewed in historical perspective, it becomes clear that their additional endeavors and agendas shape their pursuit of these results.

All of these lectures have attracted attention from outside CSU, including other local universities and the Dittrick Medical Center and Museum. Most significantly, this fall the Cleveland Clinic joined us as a co-sponsor of this series. We are already enjoying a productive partnership with our colleagues there.

This series, then, demonstrates the significance of adding a historical perspective to our understanding of contemporary medical developments and debates. The ability to view

H i S t o r y D e p A r t m e n t At C S U p r e S e n t S :

the change over time of medical concepts, treatments, and controversies heightens our ability to think critically about the medical field and health professions in the present day. The Department is currently expanding its emphasis on the history of medicine to include a broader look at the field of medical humanities. By including bioethics, theater, literature, and other fields, these examinations will promote reflection, empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving, and cross-cultural perspectives in the study of medicine.

History of Medicine Series

Gerald Kutchner from his lecture at CSU Photos by The Cleveland Stater

The Galleries at Cleveland State University, located at 1307 Euclid Avenue in the heart of PlayhouseSquare opened their doors to the public for the first time on September 7, 2012 with the exhibition appropriately titled ‘1307 Euclid Avenue: The First Exhibition.’ The exhibition presents a confident and optimistic counterpoint to ‘2307 Chester Avenue: The Last Exhibition,’ which was a poignant farewell to the old venue that had served the gallery program for over 30 years.

Whereas the ‘Last Exhibition’ was an Alumni show, celebrating the success of former students, this ‘First Exhibition’ by contrast, is a forward-looking celebration of possibilities, welcoming the future. The exhibition presents who we are now and where it is possible to go. It is the first faculty group exhibition in 15 years highlighting the enormous talent and sophistication of our contemporary studio art faculty. Also included are works by teaching staff – part-timers, who are often in the front lines of teaching our essential curriculum. The object of this exhibition, as of any faculty show, is to give current and potential students as well as the public, an insight into the esthetic sensibilities of the individual artists and by extension the Department as a whole and to prominently feature the areas of research that are being pursued here.

Additionally, in the South Gallery, we present works by internationally recognized photographer Jennie Jones, who recently bequeathed 22,000 of her best images to the Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections.

Formerly known as the ‘Art Gallery,’ we are now the ‘The Galleries at Cleveland State University.’ With this subtle but significant name change the ‘Galleries’ announce to the world a rededication of purpose and a slight shift in programming, as well as reflecting the new arrangement of spaces and amenities. We now have three Galleries that can be programmed separately – the South, Center, and North Galleries – each with its own character and purpose, from graceful

and elegant to intimate and informal. The venue also features a multi-purpose media room, tentatively called the ‘Time Space,’ to present time-based projects such as video and sound installations. We also have a small but potentially significant research library and a most hospitable meeting place – a conference area with seating for 18. Beside the marble floors and 18-foot high ceilings, the salient characteristic and most memorable attribute of the new venue is the beautiful northern-exposure daylight that filters into the space, providing a welcome link with the natural world. These features, we hope, will make the Galleries a popular destination on campus and in Downtown Cleveland.

With this new and improved gallery space we intend for the Galleries to operate with a multiplicity of purposes. No longer limiting our purview to Fine Art, we intend to include Design, Media Art, and Visual Culture in our programmatic strategy, providing a variety of cultural experiences, in order to serve a diversity of audiences, and engage with the larger, heterogeneous discourses of contemporary art and culture. We hope to accomplish this by providing an opportunity to our students and the public to experience both material objects and cultural phenomena that would not otherwise be available for viewing or study in this region.

Serendipitously, the next exhibition scheduled in the new venue is the ever popular ‘People’s Art Show’ a well-liked Cleveland tradition that goes back to 1983. Every person, regardless of training is invited to contribute 2 works of art for a celebration of diversity, creativity, and imagination. Anyone who has ever held a pencil for a purpose other than writing down a phone number is invited to become an exhibiting artist. Drop off dates are October 26 and 27 from 10am to 4pm – come and be an artist and share your vision with us. All our programs are free and open to the public.

The Galleries

at CSU are

Now Open!

The Innerlink | Fall 2012 | Page 7

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, in collaboration with the Colleges of Science and Health Sciences and the University Honors Program, is sponsoring a faculty seminar on “The Arts and Sciences and Civic Engagement at an Urban Public University.” Dr. Peter Meiksins, Director of the Honors Program and Professor of Sociology, submitted a successful grant proposal to AAC&U’s “Bringing Theory to Practice” Program, which is providing financial support for the Faculty Seminar. AAC&U established the program to encourage a nationwide dialogue about the arts and sciences, civic engagement and their role in promoting students’ intellectual development, success and well-being. The program supports campus-based initiatives that demonstrate how uses of engaged forms of learning that actively involve students both within and beyond the classroom directly contribute to their cognitive, emotional, and civic development.

The co-sponsors have invited a group of approximately 30 faculty, staff and students to participate in a discussion of the role of the arts and sciences and the meaning of civic engagement at universities such as CSU. Participants will be provided with a copy of Ann Mullen’s study, Degrees of Inequality, which contrasts the experiences of students at an elite private university (Yale) and an urban public university (Southern Connecticut State College). Mullen finds that

students at elite private universities typically major in arts and sciences disciplines and engage voluntarily in civic activities, seeing both as essential to their career goals. Students at urban public universities, however, express more narrowly vocational ambitions and see both arts and sciences requirements and civic engagement as unrelated to or even as obstacles to their aspirations.

An initial seminar meeting will be devoted to a discussion of this book and its implications for understanding how CSU’s students think about and interpret the arts and sciences and civic engagement and whether they see these as compatible with their vocational ambitions. A second meeting will be devoted to discussing how CSU might make the arts and sciences more meaningful to CSU students and what forms of civic engagement are likely to resonate with CSU students. The goal is to draft a set of suggestions, to be sent to Faculty Senate, regarding questions about which the University needs more information and/or about directions in which the University might consider movement to foster greater civic engagement on the part of its students. The sponsors hope to invite Dr. Mullen to come to campus in Spring to continue and broaden the discussion of these issues at CSU.

The Arts and Sciences and Civic Engagement at an Urban Public University

UpdatesCLASS Alumni

Carole Ballard (’79 BA Social Work) is a social worker for the Cuyahoga County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services. Carole was quoted in the Plain Dealer article, “Public Square in public spotlight as city focuses on safety of patrons.”

Mark C. Bluhm (’84 BA Art) is the bassist for the music group, Inner Ring Conspiracy, who recently released their CD “Gray Day.”

Michael Olszewski (’84 BA Communication) was quoted in the Plain Dealer article, “New Cleveland radio station to aim for hyper-local approach.” Mike is also the curator and archivist for the Ohio Broadcast Archive and Museum, a statewide project at the University of Akron documenting the history of Ohio’s radio and television.

William Zurkey (’86 MMusic) is the Director of Choral Activities at Avon Lake High School. William is also the Choral Director for the new Cleveland Pops Chorus for concerts mainly at Severance Hall and PlayhouseSquare to debut in November, 2012.

Shawn D. Hood (’88 BA Social Work) is the boys’ varsity basketball coach at Westlake High School.

Liza Grossman (’93 BMusic) is the founder and conductor for Contemporary Youth Orchestra, the ensemble in residence at CSU. The Contemporary Youth Orchestra was named one of the first-place winners of the ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming (2011-12) at the League of American Orchestra’s annual conference this past June. The ensemble received first place in the youth orchestra category for programming of contemporary music.

Cavana Faithwalker (’94 BA Art) is the Poet Laureate for Cleveland Heights and helped, along with the nonprofit group, Heights Arts, in developing the idea of “Pop-Up Poetry” that aims to bring free verse to the community and engages residents and visitors with the literary arts.

Scott Longert (’00 MA History) was featured in the Plain Dealer article, “Teaching Kids Civil War History.” Scott is a park guide at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor.

Lee Chilcote, III (’02 MA English, ’03 MPA) is the Development News Editor for Fresh Water, a weekly e-magazine and website that reports on What’s Next? in and around Cleveland. Their focus areas include technology, innovation, diversity, local food, and entrepreneurship.

Tricia Heise Crane (’04 BMusic) began a new job as minister of youth and music at Divinity Lutheran Church in Parma Heights. She also works with the church’s popular praise band, Chosen. Her husband, Ian Crane (’06 BMusic) works in the music department at Holy Name High School.

Robert H. Leonard (’05 BA Political Science) is an office manager for Hills Stern and Morley, LLP in Washington, DC.

Ryan Dennis Otto (’08 BA Communication) recently graduated from the Ashland Seminary with his Master’s of Divinity degree.

Matthew Skitzki (’10 MMusic) produced and presented Jazz at Severance Hall, a first-time event showcasing nine of Cleveland’s up-and-coming jazz musicians. Matthew is also owner and pianist for Professional Piano that specializes in events, lessons and accompanying.

Juan D. Vergara (’11 Certificate in Graphic Design) is the owner of Barroco Grill, offering great Columbian food, in Lakewood, OH.

Ashley Lambrakis (’12 BA Journalism & Promotional Communication) last year completed a highly sought-after internship with the G4 Network (a division of NBC Universal), in Los Angeles. Ashley has been accepted to CSU’s graduate program in Communication for the fall of 2012.

Eric Shilling (’12 BA Film & Digital Media) received a highly sought-after internship with the Discovery Channel. Eric has been accepted to the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s program in Education and Technology.

Jaclyn Bradley Palmer (’12 Post-Baccalaureate Music Therapy Equivalency) was featured in the Plain Dealer article, “Following her music and her bliss, singer finds herself helping others.” Jaclyn works as a music therapist at the University Hospital’s Connor Integrative Medicine Network at Ahuja Medical Center.

Five CLASS alumni struck a chord with GuitarMania®, a Greater Cleveland community public art project that benefits the United Way of Greater Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s education programs. Congratulations to these alumni, and look for their guitars that can be seen around downtown Cleveland: Joseph Borsuk (’87 BA Art), George Kocar (’77 BA Art), Daniel E. Loy (’05 BA Art), Eric Ortiz (’11 BA Art), and Gil Reis (’06 BA Art).

Dorothy Jane Mills (non-degree alumna in English) recently published a new historical novel, Drawing Card (McFarland). Drawing Card has already created a buzz among those interested in baseball history. It’s the story of a woman who signed a minor-league baseball contract, which was then cancelled by the Commissioner of Baseball, and what she did about it. In addition, Dorothy also signed a contract to write another nonfiction eBook for Thinker Media, Inc.

It’s All About the StudentsMeet Richard “Dick” Powis, an Anthropology student who recently traveled to Dakar, Senegal for a French language immersion program with Washington University in St. Louis.For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to go to Africa. It took me about three days in Dakar to truly grasp that I was actually there. I lived in an apartment with six students, none of whom were anthropology students and all of whom were younger than me. We took field trips to various holy cities, historic landmarks, and colonial strongholds in order to supplement our History, Politics, and Culture course. We visited Gorée Island (where slaves were held before their departure to the New World), Thiès (the location of the national tapestry museum), Keur Moussa (where there stands a Catholic monastery amidst a population that is 97% Muslim), and many other sites, cities, and monuments. In addition to a Conversational French course and the History, Politics, and Culture course, we all had unique research projects which were centered on fieldwork. For six weeks, I interviewed academics, politicians, doctors, healers, and “Average Joes” about their knowledge of traditional medicine, biomedicine, and a particular plant they call, “dengidëk.”

There is a reason that Senegal is called the country of “Teranga,” which means hospitality. Nearly everyone I met went out of their way to make sure that I was comfortable or had what I needed. Strangers wanted to make sure that I got to where I was going, or neighbors were often inviting us to join them for tea – nightly, in fact! I met a biologist who knew nothing about my research, but made it her personal goal to exhaust every resource for me while I was there. When I stumbled with French, most people were patient enough to help or correct me, and everyone made sure that I understood them. Many people were excited to teach me the major indigenous language, Wolof, which I found to be relatively easy (compared to French, of course).

I now have foreign language immersion and fieldwork experience to build my education on. I had this opportunity because of a thoughtful mentor, Dr. Barbara Hoffman, the incredibly supportive Department of Anthropology, and a handful of scholarships for students who want to study abroad. The best part is, anyone can do this – the door is open, all you have to do is walk through.

The Innerlink | Fall 2012 | Page 9

How are we moving forward?• In August, the University welcomed the largest freshman class in its history, with 1,580 students. This represents a 20-percent increase over last year’s enrollment figures.

• The academic preparation of our incoming students is rising. The average high-school GPA of our first year students was 3.19. The average ACT score was 21.8, which is above the national average.

• The first year class includes six high-school valedictorians.

• Freshman applications reached a 30-year high, and the percentage of accepted students who enrolled at Cleveland State was the second-highest in Ohio, at 43 percent.

• Our new students come to us from ever more distant locations. We have seen a 20-percent jump in out-of-state freshmen and a 27-percent rise from outside Cuyahoga County.

With over 23,000 CLASS alumni world-wide, you, too, have a role in helping us to move CLASS forward – bringing the College and CSU to new heights.

How can you help?• Be proud to be a Viking. Wear your CSU sweatshirt to the grocery store. Put a CSU sticker on your car window. Get a CSU license plate.

• Connect with CLASS and CSU via Social Media. Engage with us on our CLASS Facebook and Linked In pages as well as the general University pages.

• Make a gift to support student scholarships or your favorite academic department. Students today are not that much different than you were at that age – they’re still working hard to finish their degrees and achieve their dreams. The faculty is still doing incredible work in the classroom – teaching, advising and guiding students – often with very modest resources. Let them know you care by including CLASS in your annual charitable giving. All levels of support are welcome!

• Come back to CSU! The campus has changed – why not see it for yourself? Join us for one of our upcoming alumni tours, or a theatre or dance performance or perhaps one of our many lecture series. Alumni and friends are always welcome to have a “homecoming” of their own.

CSU and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences are advancing. We need you more than ever to help move us forward. It’s going to be a great ride - and you might even hear the faint sounds of the music of your time at CSU echoing through the Student Center.

Paul Wolansky, Director for Advancement for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Please contact him for information on how you can help to move the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences forward by supporting, and investing in, today’s students, faculty and programs at CSU. He may be reached at p.wolansky@csuohio.edu.

ad·vance / verb (used with object) to move or bring forward

On a long ago September day, I first stepped foot on the Cleveland State University campus – I won’t tell you the date - but it’s enough to say that the Go-Go’s were still playing on the Rascal House sound system and you could still get a beer at The Shire. Returning to campus this past August as the new Director for Advancement for CLASS – all these years later – feels like a homecoming of sorts, but that long-ago “home” of memory has had some impressive upgrades.

Walking through today’s campus and seeing the splendid new Student Center, a glass-enclosed Main Classroom Building, an amazing series of residence halls and the stunning Arts Campus comprised of the Middough Building, The Galleries at CSU and the Allen Theatre, among many other enhancements, makes me realize how far Cleveland State has come in the last few years. CSU is advancing.

welcomeCLASS would like to welcome Paul Wolansky as Director for Advancement. Paul will work with Dr. Gregory Sadlek, CLASS Dean and the Division of University Advancement to develop and implement fundraising and alumni programs.

A native Clevelander, Paul attended Cleveland State University and holds a bachelor’s degree from Baldwin-Wallace College and a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University. His 24-year career includes experience in development, external relations, alumni and student affairs. Most recently, he was the senior director of alumni relations at Colorado State University where he oversaw outreach efforts to 43,000 alumni in Denver resulting in significant increases in fundraising participation, admissions efforts and career networking, reinvigorated national alumni chapters reaching 100,000+ alumni and served as project manager for the creation of a new Denver Center. He has also worked at Oberlin College as well as Northwestern University, where he received a University “Innovation Award.”

What’s new with you? Let us know what you’ve been doing!We want to know how our CLASS graduates are doing. Are you getting new jobs or promotions? Are you having your own art show, performing live or receiving awards? We would also like to know who is continuing their education. Let us know what Master’s or Doctorate programs you have been accepted into.

www.csuohio.edu/class/alumni

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences2121 Euclid Avenue RT 1822Cleveland, OH 44115-2214