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Eastern Hires Alumni Affairs Director
Michael Stenko, former managing director of the University of Connecticut (UConn) Alumni Association, has been named Eastern’s director of alumni affairs. Stenko will plan and manage the direction of the University’s relations with its alumni and coordinate services provided by the Alumni Association. As part of the University’s Institutional Advancement team, he will also assist in planning and implementing the University’s comprehensive fundraising program.
At UConn, Stenko managed the activities of nearly 40 alumni groups around the country, including homecoming, reunions, scholarships, and student programming. He also served as the staff liaison to the Alumni Association’s Nominating, Strategic Planning, and Outreach and Programs Committees, and the Committee on Diversity and Opportunity.
Stenko held positions with National Education Centers and the Pennsylvania Department of Aging before being named executive director of the Greater Berwick, PA, chapter of the American Red Cross in 1988. He held a similar position in New Castle, PA, before moving to the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1993, where he served as director of emergency services and chief operating officer for a Red Cross service delivery area spanning 58 Connecticut towns serving nearly one million people. His primary responsibilities included management oversight of the chapter’s Departments of Emergency Services and Health Services, as well as administration of the chapter’s five branch offices.Stenko is a native of Berwick, PA, and a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Lunar Eclipse at Eastern
On Feb. 20, Russell Sampson, professor of physical science, hosted a public presentation about the lunar eclipse for a packed house at the Robert K. Wickware Planetarium. After the show, Sampson and Tanner Hill, one of his astronomy students, set up their telescopes outside Webb Hall to view the actual eclipse. About 100 hardy students, faculty, staff, and community members stood in the cold to view the eclipse. As a bonus, the planet Saturn was near the eclipse, and the visitors peered through the telescopes at the Rings of Saturn.
The orange coloration is caused by the same
thing that causes our sunsets and sunrises to
be orange: light passing though the thickest part
of earth’s atmosphere.
The moon was mostly eclipsed
by 9:45 p.m.
The complete lunar eclipse occurred
around 10 p.m.
On Feb. 25, noted author and prominent legal theorist Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. presented the African American History Month Distinguished Lecture, “Racial Fatigue and Racial Amnesia: Is Brown v. Board of Education Still Relevant?” Ogletree, the Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard University, spoke before a packed audience in the Betty R. Tipton Room and opined that the topic of race “is a bittersweet one.”
Ogletree pointed out that while the unanimous 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education enabled many African Americans to pursue higher education, the words used in the decision, “with all deliberate speed,” enabled policymakers nationwide to take their time in removing barriers to segregation. “The word ‘deliberate’ actually means slow,” said Ogletree, and the decision to end segregation “turned out to be no speed at all.” He cited numerous federal legislative initiatives that did not occur until the 1960s to indicate the slow reaction to Brown, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He noted that while school segregation was outlawed in 1954, segregation is actually more entrenched in 2008 in almost every urban community than it was 50 years ago.
Ogletree encouraged a group of young African American students who had traveled from the Granville Academy in Waterbury to answer racism and discrimination by being exceptional students in the classroom. “Talent matters. Integrity Matters. Excellence Matters. That is the way to lift up your community and make it better.” He also challenged the Granville students to write essays about the impact of school founder William Granville on race relations, and offered $1,500 scholarships to the two best essays.Ogletree’s books include From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and The Death Penalty in America, co-authored with Professor Austin Sarat of Amherst College; All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown v. Board of Education, a historical memoir published in 2004; and Brown at 50: The Unfinished Legacy, co-authored by Professor Deborah Rhode of Stanford University.
“11 Things: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
For the past two years, Tim Sullivan, formerly of Portland and now a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, has been concerned that more people need to better understand the message of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sullivan has been writing a column on the civil rights leader. A recent column, titled"11 THINGS: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” cites 11 philosophical opinions of the late civil rights leader. Library Director Pat Banach enlarged the quotes and placed them on an easel at the front entrance to the library. “Each of the 11 quotes on this poster is a powerful, thought-provoking statement. We wanted to share the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with all who enter our doors,” she said.
Eastern to Send Relief to Tornado-Stricken University
For the
past three weeks, Andrew Powaleny ’09, a political science major from Lyme, has been spearheading a fundraising effort to help those impacted by deadly tornados at Union University in Jackson, TN. Three of Union University’s residence halls were destroyed by tornados and many more buildings were damaged. Nineteen students were trapped when the buildings collapsed and nearly 50 people were sent to the hospital with severe injuries. Powaleny has started relief efforts at every residence hall on Eastern’s campus. Each hall will have an envelope located in its office to collect funds. He is urging all students to give at least $1 for the relief activities in Tennessee. He also has met with about 20 business representatives as part of a program with the Office of Career Services. To date, the effort has netted nearly $5,000. “So far students have been wonderful, with Windham Street Apartments and Occum giving the most to date,” said Powaleny. “In addition we've had two local churches give, including Abundant Life Community Church which helped raise $1,600. This effort on behalf of Union University’s disaster relief funds demonstrates that Eastern Connecticut State University cares about its brothers and sisters in Tennessee.” The final check will be cut during the first week of March. In a conversation with Powaleny, Randy Ford, communications director for U.S. Rep. John Tanner (TN), noted Eastern is the first university in the United States to acknowledge and send relief to assist those students were devastated by the tornado.” Powaleny is a resident assistant in Occum Hall.
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