The Alumni Association's Ambassador program opened my eyes to a world outside the classroom ...

36 Pages·2007·6.15 MB·English

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Thank You for
Opening My Eyes

“The Alumni Association’s Ambassador
program opened my eyes to a world outside
the classroom. It made me a better, more
responsible person, and prepared me
for life after graduation.”

Sharien Amarnani
Student Ambassador, 2006
The Student Ambassador program
is just one of the
important programs that your membership makes possible.
The USF Ambassadors is a student organization that serves as a link between alumni and current
students. Through your membership, the Alumni Association provides financial support and
mentoring for students to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve as student
representatives in welcoming visiting dignitaries to USF, assisting with events hosted by the
university president, hosting prominent alumni, programming student-driven outreach activities,
planning and implementing campus events for the student body, and more.
W W W. U S F A L U M N I . O R G
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a publication by & for usf alumni association members C O N T E N T S

President’s Message 2 Greetings from Jeff Spalding, `87, President of the USF
8
Alumni Association Board.
News Roundup 3 A brief recap of the top news and research from USF.
Where’s Rocky? 5 Take Rocky on your vacation and send us your photos.
Letters to the Editor 5 Alumni Voice welcomes your comments, criticism
and conjectures.
12
Movers & Shakers 6 USF faculty, staff and administrators are making their
mark in the community.
Alumni Feature 8 Ed Baird, `82, is at the helm of the winning yacht in the
32nd annual America’s Cup.
Q & A 12 John Wiencek, the College of Engineering’s new dean
talks about his passion for science and running marathons. 16
Chapters & Societies 14 See what fun your fellow alumni are having and find out
how to get involved.
Share a Memory 15 Read excerpts of memories from USF alumni over the past
50 years.
Alumni Profile 16 FedEx CIO Rob Carter, MBA `90, talks about the company’s 24
role in the emerging electronic era.
Blast from the Past 18 A look at USF and the world in 1990.
That Was Then; This is Now 19 Senior Natalie Shultz shares some insight on what
Homecoming means to students now compared to
“back in the day.”
32
Alumni Profile 24 Joe DiMisa, MBA ’92 talks about the College of Business
and his book, The Fisherman’s Guide to Selling.
Class Notes 26 See who’s opened a business, written a book, had a baby
and more!
Athletics 32 Former Bulls football players work on their
moves in the NFL Europa.
Calendar 33 Events and activities coming up at USF in
the next few months.
COVER STORY
Homecoming SuperBull XI Break out your
lasso, cowboy hat and boots for our
Southwestern-style party.

PAGE 20
OCTOBER 2007 I ALUMNIVOICE 1
Alumni Voice
USF Alumni Association
Gibbons Alumni Center
University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Avenue, ALC100
Tampa, Florida 33620 president’s message
[email protected]
USFalumni.org
Alumni Voice magazine is published
four times a year in January, April, Hello Fellow Alumni,
July and October by and for members
of the USF Alumni Association. A $40
membership fee includes Alumni Voice
magazine as a member benefit. Homecoming… it’s that time of the year. Remember
your days on campus? Fall semester represented a new
Alumni Voice Magazine Editorial:
Karla Jackson, school year, new opportunities to meet new friends,
[email protected] or parking nightmares and yes, even some cooler weather.
Rita Kroeber [email protected]
It also represented Homecoming. When was the last
Advertising: Rita Kroeber, 813-974-6312
time you visited USF or attended a Homecoming?
or [email protected]
Design: McShane Communications
I remember watching the parade, playing golf and hanging
Contributing Authors in this Issue:
• Lorie Briggs out with good friends. This year we have lots of activities
• David Hein for you and your entire family culminating with a football game against Big
• Natalie Shultz East rival Cincinnati. We are expecting thousands to join us to participate in
Alumni Association Contact Bulls Roast, the annual Parade Watch Party and the local Golf Scramble. I’m
Information coming down from Charlotte this year and would love to see you there.
Executive Director: John Harper, ‘76
Membership: 813-974-2100 or Please take a few minutes to read through this special Homecoming issue
800-299-BULL
and learn what your fellow alumni are doing these days. Hear from Ed
Alumni & Student Programs: Baird, `82, about his exciting win as helmsman for the Alinghi during the
813-974-2100
32nd America’s Cup; read what it’s like to lead the business world into the
General Alumni
electronic age from FedEx CIO Rob Carter, MBA `90, and get the scoop
Email: [email protected]
Giving/Scholarships: on former Bulls football players who paid their dues playing for the now
[email protected] or defunct NFL Europa.
[email protected]
USF Bulls License Plate: Plus, find out everything you need to know about Homecoming. Isn’t it time
www.BullsPlate.org to come back and see for yourself how USF has grown and learn about the
Alumni Association Web site:
benefits of membership in the Alumni Association?
USFalumni.org
Letters to the editor are encouraged. I’m looking forward to coming back to Tampa to share my passion and pride
Please write to Karla Jackson at in USF with fellow Bulls. I hope to see you there! Go Bulls!
[email protected] or mail to
the address at the top of the page.

Views expressed in the Alumni Voice
Your Friend,
magazine do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the USF Alumni Association,
the University of South Florida or the
editorial staff.
New Address? Moving?
Update your official USF alumni
record at myUSFbio.org or email your
correction to [email protected]. Jeff Spalding, `87
You also may remove the label and
Life Member
send it with your correct address to
Charlotte, N.C.
Alumni Voice, USF Alumni Association,
4202 East Fowler Ave. ALC100, Tampa,
FL 33620.© 2007 All rights reserved.
2 ALUMNIVOICE I OCTOBER 2007
news
roundup
Florida’s Big 3 Win Tuition Increase to create the Donald A. Adam Comprehensive Melanoma Research
Center. Melanoma is the fastest-growing cancer in the U.S. and a
The University of South Florida, FSU and UF were granted a much-
particular threat to people in sunny states such as Florida.
needed tuition increase in June.
Five days earlier, the center was awarded an $8.95 million grant from the
A new state law allows all three Level 1 research universities to raise
National Cancer Institute to research new cancer drugs. Moffitt, located
undergraduate tuition gradually over the next several years, beginning
on the USF campus, is one of the nation’s top three cancer centers
in 2008.
by volume and holds two spots in U.S. News & World Report’s list of
Gov. Charlie Crist had vowed to veto the legislation, but relented after America’s Best Hospitals.
meeting with the presidents of Florida’s 11 public universities, who

unanimously supported the increase, even though most of their schools
would not benefit. HIV Prevention Cream
in Clinical Trials
Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship, which covers 75 percent to 100
percent of resident tuition and fees, will not cover the increase. Physicians with USF’s Department of Pediatrics have
begun a clinical trial of a topical vaginal microbicide
Additionally, all state universities are being asked to trim between
that holds great promise for preventing the sexual
4 and 10 percent of their budgets for the 2008-09 year.
transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Microbicides are substances designed to reduce or
A Bold 5-Year Plan prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections when applied topically to the surface of the vagina. With almost
In spite of the lean budget outlook,
half of all people infected with HIV/AIDS being women, and the alarmingly
USF plans to hire hundreds of professors
steady increase in HIV rates among women younger than 25, researchers
and conduct more ambitious research that
have focused their attention on this population.
will call for a $1.2 billion investment over
the next five years. The Microbicide Trials Network and the Adolescent Medicine Trials
Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions will test the microbicide SPL7013 Gel
In June, the Board of Trustees approved a long-term plan that USF’s
(VivaGel™) in sexually active young women. VivaGel is being developed by
leaders say will usher USF into the invitation-only academic corps known
Starpharma Pty.Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia. The study of the product’s
as the Association of American Universities.
safety, acceptability and ease of use is being conducted at USF and the
Entry to the elite association depends on the university winning millions
University of Puerto Rico in San Juan.
in federal research dollars in that time, and the only way to do that is to

recruit high-powered professors. The five-year plan also calls for stepped-
up fundraising and admitting more graduate students. Undergraduate Orthopedic Residency
enrollment will have to be carefully managed, with most of the growth Returns
primarily at USF’s regional campuses: St. Petersburg, Lakeland and
After a hiatus of more than a decade,
Sarasota Manatee.
USF Health is rebuilding its orthopedic
Much of the investment in the five-year plan will come from the
surgery program.
university’s foundation, which has assets now totaling more than $330
A national accrediting agency surveyed the
million. The university is planning a fundraising campaign to raise more
program and ruled that USF could begin
than $500 million.
recruiting residents this past summer.
The College of Medicine has been without
Moffitt Has a Banner May
an orthopedic residency program since 1989, when 13 orthopedic surgeons
In the course of one week in May, the H. Lee resigned after a dispute over creating an on-campus clinic.
Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Rebuilding the program was a top priority for medical school Dean Stephen
received nearly $30 million to advance its Klasko, who was hired in 2004. Last fall, Klasko hired a prominent San Diego
fight against deadly cancers. surgeon, Robert Pedowitz, to lead the school’s orthopedic surgery department.
The center received its largest gift ever – a Orthopedic surgery residents must train for at least five years after they
$20.4 million donation – from Texas cable, graduate from medical school.
banking and construction entrepreneur Don
A. Adam on May 22. The gift will be used
OCTOBER 2007 I ALUMNIVOICE 3
news
roundup
CONTINUED
Earn a Business “We’ve lost a year now,” said Lakeland CEO Marshall Goodman.
Degree in Singapore In related news, Lakeland’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved
changing the name of the new 16,000-student campus to USF Polytechnic,
USF’s College of Business is partnering
to better reflect its focus on a polytech education and broaden its student
with Broward Community College and
base. The new name becomes official if the university’s main board of
the Center for American Education to
trustees approves it, as well as the state board of governors.
offer a four-year business degree in
Singapore.
Weight loss-
The first classes began in August. The bachelor’s degree in business Alzheimer’s Link
administration has concentrations in international business and marketing,
allowing students in Singapore to earn an American degree without New findings show unexplained weight loss
leaving the region. The partnership also allows the university’s U.S.-based that precedes dementia by more than 10 years
business students to study abroad, paying USF tuition rates and earning is associated with the severity of Alzheimer’s
credits towards a stateside USF degree. changes in the brain.
Using data from the Nun Study, a prospective
study of the causes of dementia in Catholic
USF Trains Bahamian
sisters, USF researcher James Mortimer, Ph.D., reported that the most
Librarians likely cause of the unexplained weight loss is the severity of the Alzheimer
The first group of graduate students from changes in the brain, rather than an eating disorder or other condition
The Bahamas to earn master’s of arts associated with declining cognition.
degrees from USF’s School of Library and Dr. Mortimer presented the findings in August at the 2007 Alzheimer’s
Information Science graduated in August. Association International Conference on the Prevention of Dementia in
The accredited master’s degree program was offered to students at The Washington, D.C.
College of The Bahamas. This is the first grad program of its kind offered
by a USF department and the first collaborative program between USF New Eggs in Older
and The College of The Bahamas. Women “Unlikely” to the
Students took two courses each semester, both online and in the classroom. It’s highly unlikely that older women generate
The program culminated with the class coming to the Tampa campus for a new eggs, USF researchers say, countering
10-week summer term, during which they took their last two courses and the controversial findings of reproductive
engaged in supervised fieldwork in local libraries. endocrinologist Jonathan Tilly, Ph.D, and his
The goal of the program is to provide the island nation with a core team of Harvard scientists.
of professionally trained librarians who can lead the country in its Tilly reported the discovery of stem cells
development of an enhanced information infrastructure. capable of migrating from bone marrow to
mouse ovaries and generating new eggs there. The research fueled hopes
that a new treatment – such as bone marrow transplantation – might one
USF Lakeland Needs
day help older women regain their fertility.
Double
But USF researchers David Keefe, M.D., professor and chair of Obstetrics
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed USF and Gynecology at USF, and colleague Lin Liu, who also holds a post at Sun
Lakeland’s $10 million request to build Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, say they can find no evidence to
a new campus in the spring, but campus support Tilly’s hypothesis that women may generate new eggs.
officials are undeterred. In fact, they
”Despite using the most sensitive methods available, we found no evidence
plan to ask for $20 million next year.
of any egg stem cells in human ovaries, demonstrating that Dr. Tilly’s findings
In 2004, the Williams Corp. donated about 500 acres along Interstate 4 in mice do not apply to women,” Dr. Keefe wrote in the study, published in
at the Polk Parkway for the campus. The company could exercise a clause the March 2007 issue of the journal Developmental Biology.
that allows it to take back the property if construction doesn’t progress.
4 ALUMNIVOICE I OCTOBER 2007
where’s
rocky?
Rocky the Bull admires the fountains in front of the Bellagio Hotel
and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Submitted by Diana Michel, ’88. (She hinted that the gambling was not
so good for Rocky….)
Did you spot Rocky or a Bulls logo on your vacation? Submit your photos, and
perhaps you'll see them in this magazine or on our website! Email high resolution
photos (300 dpi) to [email protected].
campus security could show up within minutes of the
letters
assembly of 10 war protesters, the fact that they could
miss more than 100 streakers on campus still amazes me.
Gerry Detty
editor
Class of 1974
to the
You Really Like Us!
I finally managed to get to some of my mail and came
Bulls in the Nude
across my July issue of Alumni Voice. Since you asked
I sat down to peruse the July issue of Alumni Voice last for feedback, here you go: LOVED IT!!!
night to discover a most shocking miscarriage of history.
I really intended to set it aside to read through later, but
On Page 8 the featured article was “A Blast from the Past.” each page became more interesting and I managed to find
At the bottom of the page it noted that the first reported the time to cruise all the way through.
incident of streaking on campus occurred in 1974.
There must have been a great deal of research to put this
I arrived on campus in the fall of 1970. Many things together. Please commend the staff on a great job!
occurred throughout the 1970-1971 school year. There
Jim Fee
were the obvious war protests on campus that kept the
USF Head Golf Coach
“greenies” (campus security) busy. The Shah of Iran was
Class of 1985
also in his final days and many of the Iranian engineer-
ing students wore ski masks to hide their identity from
government (theirs) picture takers. In the evenings We Want to Hear from You!
particularly, streaking was not an uncommon occurrence.
Alumni Voice welcomes your comments, compliments, criti-
I can vividly recall more than one occasion where several
cisms and conjectures. You can email publications editor
hundred streakers ran across campus (me included.)
Karla Jackson at [email protected] or write to us
By 1974 the incidents of streaking were few and far at: USF Alumni Association, Attn: Karla Jackson, 4202
between. While I was never surprised that a hoard of E. Fowler Ave. ALC100, Tampa, FL. 33620-5455.
OCTOBER 2007 I ALUMNIVOICE 5
movers
shakers
President Genshaft is Business selected by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations
Woman of the Year (NECO) to receive the award based on their dedication and
leadership qualities in community service.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal named
USF President Judy Genshaft as Business Dr. Patel, a board certified cardiologist, and his wife, pediatrician
Woman of the Year in August. Dr. Pallavi Patel, have been generous supporters of USF, funding
a charter school and The Patel Center for Global Solutions, a
President Genshaft is involved in several
civic and economic activities. She is the non-profit organization that develops and funds a wide variety
2007 chair of the Tampa Bay Partnership and the 2007 of programs in health, education and arts & culture.
chair-elect of the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce. The Patels also funded a school and conservatory for the
USF is one of the largest employers in the Tampa Bay performing arts, a heart research hospital and numerous
region and has a $3.2 billion impact on the regional
schools, hospitals and community projects in Patel’s home
economy.
village of Mota Fofalia and throughout Gujarat.
New USF Alumni Association
Goforth Replaces Stavros on USF
Leadership
St. Petersburg Board
John Harper, `76, was named executive
Stephanie Goforth was appointed to the USF St. Petersburg
director of the USF Alumni Association
Campus Board in July. She replaces Dr. Gus Stavros, who
in June. He served as the interim director
resigned in February to accept a gubernatorial appointment
since April 2006.
to the Florida Board of Governors.
Harper brings a wealth of communications and leadership
experience to the job. He formerly served as chairman of the Goforth is a senior vice president and wealth strategist
association’s board of directors and as the first chairman of the manager for the west coast of Florida for Northern Trust. She
board’s communications committee. is based out of the downtown St. Petersburg office where she
is responsible for managing all aspects of the region’s trust
Harper retired in 2001 from Verizon where he worked for 28
sales activities.
years. His final position was director of commercial marketing.
Goforth earned her B.A. from USF, where she majored in
At the association’s June board meeting, Jeff Spalding, `87, was
business management. She holds the series 7, 6, 63 and 66
elected president of the board of directors. He replaces Charley
licenses and is a certified financial planner. She is a current board
Harris, who is now immediate past president and remains an
member and treasurer of All Children’s Hospital Foundation,
active member of the board of directors.
the CASA Board of Trustees, the Heroes of St. Petersburg Board
Spalding is executive vice-president of market operations at
and the St. Petersburg YMCA. She is also past president of the
Peak 10 in Charlotte, N.C. He has served on the association’s
Suncoaster’s Festival of States Organization.
board of directors and the awards & nominations committee,
and been actively involved in several service organizations in
Gullette is New Director
Charlotte. His wife Sara, `88, also is a USF alumna.
of Media Relations
The board also elected Michele Norris, `79, of Lutz, as
president-elect. As district sales manager for OfficeMax, Norris Ken Gullette, formerly director of media
brings a strong focus on customer service, leadership and fiscal relations for ACT, Inc. in Iowa, is now
responsibility. She has chaired the Student and Young Alumni, USF’s director of media relations. During
Involvement and ACT committees and has served as alumni
his tenure, ACT testing volume rose
homecoming chair. She is also a founding member of USF’s
dramatically in non-traditional areas and the company increased
Women in Leadership and Philanthropy.
its annual media impressions from 120 million to over 1 billion.
From 1975 to 1997, the Eastern Kentucky University graduate
Dr. Patel Receives Ellis
Island Award worked as a reporter, anchor, assignment editor and producer
before rising to the position of news director, a position he
Physician and philanthropist Dr. Kiran C.
held at KCAU-TV in Sioux City, WOI-TV in Des Moines
Patel was one of six Americans of Indian
and WHBF-TV in Rock Island, IL. Gullette worked in public
descent who were recipients of the Ellis
relations at Bawden and Associates in Davenport, Iowa from
Island Medal of Honor awarded on May 12,
1997 to 1999 and owns a web-based media relations coaching
2007 at Ellis Island. The honorees were
business he started in 2006.
6 ALUMNIVOICE I OCTOBER 2007
Dr. Goswami Wins Two Africa’s nations at the African Institute for Economic
Prestigious Energy Awards Development and Planning conference held in June in Dakar,
Senegal. His message came on the heels of a pledge by world
One of the world’s leading scientists and
leaders at the G8 Summit in Germany to help lift Africa out
experts on solar energy is adding two
of poverty and fight disease there.
more accolades to his resume.
Gyimah-Brempong, chair of the economics department
D. Yogi Goswami, Ph.D., the John
at USF, presented the keynote address at the conference
& Naida Ramil Professor of Chemical Engineering and
organized by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
co-director of USF’s College of Engineering Clean Energy
(NEPAD) and the United Nations Economic Commission
Research Center, has received two of the highest honors in
for Africa. Attendees included finance ministers from Africa’s
the field of solar and sustainable energy: the American Solar
53 countries and representatives from Africa’s 14 Regional
Energy Society’s (ASES) 2007 Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award and
Economics Communities.
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) 2007
Frank Kreith Energy Award. He has been a consultant for a number of international
advisory groups, including the African Capacity Building
Foundation’s Parliament Technical Advisory Council and the
The Hottel Award was presented at the organization’s National
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute project on
Solar Energy Conference held in Cleveland in July. The Kreith
“Defense Budgeting Processes in Africa.” His research focuses
Award will be presented at ASME’s International Mechanical
on economic growth, corruption, income inequality and
Engineering Congress in Seattle in November. Goswami is a
human capital in Africa.
Fellow in both organizations and holds more than 50 awards
and certificates from major engineering and scientific societies.
Lindsay is new Sarasota-
Manatee Campus Board
FMHI Has New Dean
Member
Dr. Junius J. Gonzales, M.D., M.B.A.
Elizabeth Lindsay, former chair of the
became the new dean of the Louis de la
Florida Board of Regents and USF alumna,
Parte Florida Mental Health Institute on
was selected as a new member of the USF
Aug. 1. Dr. Gonzales brings 17 years of
Sarasota-Manatee Campus Board in July.
experience in both the public and private
She also serves on the Board of Advisors of USF’s College
sectors, having worked across multiple
of Business, the Florida House Board of Directors and the
disciplines to integrate science, practice and policy in the
House Renovation & Construction Committee.
field of mental and behavioral health. He has held significant
leadership positions at Abt Associates and the National Lindsay joins Lynette Edwards, Charles Baumann, Jan Smith,
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) as well as teaching and and Chairman Cliff Walters on the USF Sarasota-Manatee
clinical positions at George Washington University and Campus Board.
Georgetown University.
Dr. Sinnott Wins Leadership
The son of Peruvian parents, Dr. Gonzales is a first-generation
Florida Award
college graduate who has won several significant awards and
has received funding from multiple agencies, including the Professor John T. Sinnott, M.D., director
National Institutes of Health (NIH). His area of expertise of the Division of Infectious Disease and
expands beyond mental health and includes issues of general International Medicine at USF Health,
health, science and technology. received the 2007 Leadership Florida
Distinguished Member Award.
Gyimah-Brempong Speaks to The award recognizes a Leadership Florida graduate whose
Africa’s Leaders activities exemplify the highest standards of the organization and
have achieved results or set an example of statewide influence.
Economic aid alone will not bring
sustained economic improvement to Dr. Sinnott is a 2003 graduate of the 900-member Leadership
the African continent. USF economics Florida Institute, an organization created by the Florida
professor Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong Chamber of Commerce in 1982 to identify and train leaders
delivered that message to leaders from who will collectively create a powerful resource for the state.
OCTOBER 2007 I ALUMNIVOICE 7
Feature Story
8 ALUMNIVOICE I OCTOBER 2007