A message from the president
I’m amazed at how often I feel the inspiration of the Sisters of Mercy who founded this school – like when I was privileged to watch our own Sister Mary Matthew Baltus fy o ver campus. What a joyous – and well-deserved – moment that was for her. I’ve also been thinking about Sister Maura Smith lately as I watch our Autism/Asperger Initiative at Mercyhurst (AIM for short) build a national reputation. Her dream led Mercyhurst to create a program for students with learning dif erences more than 20 years ago. She was convinced that serving those students was a natural outgrowth of our Mercy mission.
We were pioneers in the feld then, just as w e were in 2008 when we added a program to serve college students on the autism spectrum. Now, thanks in part to the parents of one of our AIM students, we’ve launched a Career Path Program to make sure these talented students are ready for the job market. You can learn more on pages 3-5. Then there’s the photo on the cover of this magazine, one of my favorite images from fall term at Mercyhurst this year. That’s football coach Marty Schaetzle holding a giant spoon aloft for each player to touch on his way onto Tullio Field. Laker football didn’t do very well early in the season. As the losses piled up, Marty scrambled to fnd something t o motivate the team to perform as he believed it could. I have to think it was the Sisters of Mercy (Sister Damien, perhaps?) who inspired him to use a sort of parable to make his point. Check out the story on page 21 to read his message to the team – and to learn how the rest of the season unfolded. Let’s just say he seems to have started a wonderful tradition here on the Hill. As you may have heard, I’ve decided to step down as Mercyhurst’s president at the end of this academic year. You can read about that, and the search for the university’s next leader, on page 6, but I’m going to wait until the spring magazine to refec t a bit on the past 10 years. I wish you and your families a happy and blessed holiday season and a wonderful new year. God bless you and God bless Mercyhurst University.
Thomas J. Gamble, Ph.D. President, Mercyhurst University
Associate Vice President for Advancement Ryan Palm ’07 rpalm@mercyhurst.edu
Contributing Writers Susan Hurley Corbran ’73 David Leisering ’01 Amy Lombardo ’96 ’01 Deborah W. Morton
We’d love to hear from you. Send your story ideas, suggestions and comments to scorbran@mercyhurst.edu . Send changes of address to: Alumni Relations Mercyhurst University 501 E. 38th St. Erie, PA 16546 alumni@mercyhurst.edu
The Ofc e of Marketing and Public Relations publishes Mercyhurst Magazine twice a year.
(800) 845-8568 (814) 824-3320
Magazine Editor Susan Hurley Corbran ’73 scorbran@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-2090 Design/Photography Jeremy C. Hewitt ’07 jhewitt@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-3022
Contributing Photographers Jennifer Cassano Matt Durisko ’14 Jeremy C. Hewitt ’07 Caitlin Ewing ’14 Ed Mailliard Frank Rizzone Vice President for External Afairs Monsignor David Rubino, Ph.D. drubino@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-3034
Director, Alumni Relations Tamara Walters twalters@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-3350 Class Notes Editor Debra Tarasovitch dtarasovitch@mercyhurst.edu (814) 824-2392
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