A-Z; Summer at the 'Ville

While activities on Millersville’s campus may have slowed down a bit for the summer, the faculty and staff are keeping very busy.  Here’s a snapshot of what faculty and staff are up to this summer, from A-Z.

A- Dr. Cathleen Ardrey, assistant professor of music, will be enjoying her garden, reading and directing music at Wayside Presbyterian Church this summer.

B- Michele Boté, assistant director of Experiential Learning and Career Management, will ride her bicycle as much as possible to rack up miles for the National Bike Challenge (Team MU) and take part in the technical crew for the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic, while co-directing two local amateur bicycle races. She will also travel to Oregon in late July for the Oregon Brewers festival.

C- Dr. Changfu Chang, professor of communication and theatre, will travel with his family to Madison, Vancouver and Alaska. Then he is going to China where he will be scouting for his next 5-year documentary project.

D-   Dr. Dennis Downey, professor of history and director of the Honors College, will spend his summer running the University Honors College and preparing for a sabbatical leave in the fall.  In addition to teaching a graduate course in June, he will make occasional research trips to Philadelphia archives and complete a long-overdue book manuscript before a family vacation.

E-  Eric Horst, director of Weather Information Center, will be vacationing and rock climbing for a few weeks with his family in Europe after a long, hard winter of weather forecasting.

F- Dr. Kerrie Farkas, associate professor of English, plans to teach two summer business writing courses, travel to the Florida Keys with her family, prepare proposals for a brand new writing major, continue her research on empathy and writing, and try her hand at gardening.

G-  Dr. Gary Zoppetti, associate professor of computer science, is teaching a 9-week CSCI course at Millersville and will vacation in New England to enjoy cooler weather afterwards.

H- Dr. Leroy Hopkins, professor of German, recently retired and intends to devote some time to research and writing as well as working to help ease the transition of our Center for Pennsylvania German Studies onto campus.

H – Deb Herlocker, executive assistant to the president, will be visiting family in Illinois and hopefully connecting with her California niece and nephew while there. She will visit the Welland Canal and 1000 Islands with other family, possibly a romantic weekend with her best friend/hubby, and maybe a day or two to work on her next children’s book.

I-  Dr. Stacey Irwin, associate professor of communication and theatre, will go on a camping trip with her Girl Scout troop, do lots of kayaking, have fun with her family, teach online classes and finish the final manuscript of the book she is writing.

J- Dr. Justin García, assistant professor of sociology/anthropology, plans to get married, move into a new house and teach summer classes.

K- Kay Keen, interim receptionist in human resources, will be traveling to historically rich nearby cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., etc. and spending time relaxing by a fire with family and friends.

L-  Dr. Julie Lombardi, associate professor of wellness and sports sciences, plans to finish her Summer Session 1 course, do a little traveling for both business and pleasure, be as active outside as possible, and hopefully go to the beach.

M-   Michelle Pérez, associate vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, will be completing her dissertation.

N-  Dr. Susan Northwall, medical director of Health Services, will be enjoying a locally grown community supported vegetable share, continuing to cook/eat more macrobiotic foods, swimming and walking, traveling to Iowa and Wisconsin to see family and having family and friends visit with her and her husband.

O- Adam Owenz, executive director of University Marketing, is planning to knock out some home improvement projects, teach his 3-year-old daughter to ride a bicycle, teach his 5-month-old son to walk early and, during every other waking moment, he will find creative ways to tell the Millersville story and build our brand.

P-  Dr. Vilas Prabhu, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, looks forward to a safari in the Serengeti of Tanzania, in addition to getting ready for the new academic year.

Q-  Dr. Wilfredo Valentín-Márquez, assistant professor of Spanish, will be teaching an exciting graduate course on the culture of the Hispanic Caribbean, and then he is traveling to Puerto Rico.

R-  Jeri Robinson-Lawrence (professor/co-director of the Entrepreneurship Minor) will be visiting family in England this summer.

S-  Dr. Greg Seigworth, professor of communication and theatre, will be spending the summer planning an international conference to take place at the Ware Center in October, teaching two or three summer classes, eating at as many restaurants as possible with his wife and daughter and trying to keep his pool from turning completely green.

T-  Dr. Todd Sikora, professor of meteorology, will be spending his summer investigating night-time thunderstorms, and related phenomena at a field experiment in Kansas.

U-  Dr. Ron Umble, professor of mathematics, presented a paper at the Lehigh Geometry/Topology Conference on May 23 and is presently coauthoring three papers – one with Dr. Zhigang Han and two MU undergraduates, one with F&M professor Barbara Nimershiem, and one with professor Samson Saneblidze from the Mathematical Research Institute in the Republic of Georgia.  He will teach two courses during Summer Session 2 and he will attend Mathfest in Washington D.C. during the first week of August.

V-  Dr. Victor Capecce, associate professor of communication and theatre, is designing the scenery for the musical “La Cage Aux Folles” at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center, working with the production manager and recent MU graduate, Michael Wiltraut.

W- Dr. John Wallace, professor of biology, has already assisted with a local biological inventory at Climbers Run, helped his students get their research projects started and soon will graduate his eldest from high school and take him to college orientation. Later in the summer, he will write a grant proposal, a book chapter, two journal manuscripts, work security for a rock festival and conduct research on rainbow and brown trout diets with long line samplers in Ennis, Mont.

X- Dr. Ximena Catepillan, professor of mathematics, is traveling to Bolivia to study Inca ruins on the Inti Raymi solstice, followed by the publication of her first book in Etnomathematics. Her summer will culminate with a trip home to visit her family in Chile.

Y- Lydia Yeager, manager of ticket sales, is hoping to spend some time at the beach, catch up with family and sell tickets, of course!

Z-  Dr. Nazli Hardy, associate professor of computer science, looks forward to summer days with Zuzu and Zaavi (and their Dad) that bring her back to her core; swimming in the ocean, hiking under the endless sky, food with good friends, playdates at the pool, s’mores at the backyard fire pit, reading in the tree fort, running through the sprinklers, spontaneous adventures with curious hearts, writing with an unencumbered mind, evenings beneath the stars…