Newsletter of the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Published continuously since 1999 / Summer 2017
Political Science Academic and Campus Honors for
2016-2017
At our annual dinner at Pappy’s on April 20, 2017, two students were inducted into the Kappa Beta Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society: Haleigh Heaton, a seniorfrom Huntingdon PA who graduated magna cum laude in political science in May; and Alexandra Skelly, senior from Johnstown who graduated magna cum laude in history with a political science minor also in May.Haleigh, who garnered this year’s all-campus Faculty Student Athlete Award (as an intercollegiate volleyball player) will attend Widener Commonwealth Law School this coming fall. Alexandra was named the College Scholar in History for 2017 and will begin graduate study in foreign policy studies at American University. Our College Scholar for 2017 isJohn W. Smith, Jr. from Johnstown, who is now taking a fifth year to complete a third major in sociology (after political science and history) before going to law school. In other honors, Eden Cohen, a dual major in political science and journalism, was named the College Scholar in Journalism and received the Black/Dickson/Stevens Journalism Award and the Albert P. Vannucci International Studies Award. She studied communication and media at Charles University in Prague two summers ago. Senior Kyle Maguire, who served as the President of the Student Government Association during 2016-2017 received the Charles Kunkle, Jr. Leadership Award and this fall is also headed to Widener Commonwealth Law School. He was succeeded in the Student Government Presidency by Joseph Evanko ’18, a dual major in political science and history.
Undergraduate ResearchPresentations in Political Science at SPACE 2017
Five political science seniors presenteda poster sessionon their senior thesis topicsat the Pitt-Johnstown Undergraduate Research Symposium (SPACE) in the Living-Learning Center Heritage Room on campus on April 12, 2017. Similar to previous years, each had been assigned to complete a legal prospectus on the prospect of an upcoming exhibition of works by a controversial artist, mostly contemporary artists, in a genre of their own choosing. Presenting posters this year were:Josephine Bagnato on photographer Nathalie Daoust’s S&M portfolio ‘Tokyo HotelStory’; Eden Cohen on tableau photographer Gregory Crewdson and the banality of ordinary life; Haleigh Heaton on depictions of adolescence by controversial Australian photographer Bill Henson; Steven Paterini on interpretations of the design of the Shaw Memorial to the Massachusetts 54thand other Civil War memorials; and Alex Taylor on the exhibition of Kimberly Peirce’s 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry as a reflection of how society sees and reacts to hate crime.
Alumni News
The following information on political science alumni is based on recent individual contacts, professional and other information available on-line, a scattering of Facebook scrounging and supplemental information already reported in previous issues of the Federalist Papers. Alumni not mentioned here or in recent issues may have defied discovery (we’ve been searching). Pitt-Johnstown political science alumni now number over 600 and beginning in 1999, the Federalist Papers was mailed every summer to all of those alums for whom we had a known current address. Beginning with the 2012 issue, the newsletter went ‘paperless,’ with all issues now posted only on-line via the Pitt-Johnstown Political Science Department website. Each year we attempt to notify all alums for whom we have a current email address that the current edition has been posted. Comments on the newsletter can be sent to .
1970s
Jerry Cartwright‘75, long-time practicing attorney in Lawrence County, northwest of Pittsburgh, now servesas the magisterial district judge in Elwood City (PA).
1980s
Carlos Buford ‘83 is founder/owner of Carlos S. Buford Associates LLC in East Stroudsburg, and works as a senior CAPA engineers with MAETRICS;Kelly Enders ‘88 is now Managing Partner at Caroselli, Beachler & Coleman in Pittsburgh;Jeff Silka‘89 is now Manager of Robinson Township outside Pittsburgh;Kimberly Skelly Gilmore ‘82 is an attorney with the U.S. Department of Interior based in Pittsburgh;William F. Quinn‘81 has now founded Quinn Holdings LLC in Philadelphia.
1990s
Len Benning ‘95, after nine years at General Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington DC, is moving to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as its Emergency Manager;Brent Davis ‘93 is Executive Director of Contact Optimalization at Comcast Cable in Philadelphia; Kelly Hoover Thompson ‘96 is Executive Director of PA eHealth Partnership Authority in Harrisburg;Heidi Kordish Haynes ‘98 has her own practice in tax law in Clifton VA; Martin Lawther ‘99 is a cyber threat analyst with FireEye, Inc. in VA;Lance Phaturos ‘90 is principal of Holbrook (AZ) High School;Matt Proctor ‘92 is currently DOJ Analytics Advisor at SAS Software, Washington DC;Joann ReberDevich ‘85 works in Academic Affairs at Penn State Berks and has a son graduating from Pitt next year;Anthony Santiso ‘96 is school counselor with the Kane Area School District;Kirsten Rafferty Taylor ‘92 has been promoted to Professor of Political Science at Berry College (GA);Tammy Sarver ‘90 Professor of Political Science at Benedictine University (IL) is serving now as Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences;Chad Serena ‘96 (right) has been promoted to Senior Political Scientist atRAND and was a recipient of GSPIA’s 4 Under 40Award at a reception in the Pitt Alumni Hall on October 7, 2016; Tara Stricko ‘99 was married last December to Eric Myers and is living in Suwanee GA.She continues as an Associate Professor of Political Science at Kennesaw State University (GA) and is now Honorary Secretary of Shakerag Hounds, a horse-and-hounds hunting club; Patrick Werner ‘98 is regional vice president at P.W. Campbell in Pittsburgh.
2000s
Toni Bauer ‘09 completed her MA degree in Professional Counseling at Carlow University in 2014 and is with Diane Bauer & Associates in West Mifflin;Douglas Bench Jr. ‘03(right)is now with Goldman, Scarlato Penny, P.C. in Conshohocken PA (suburban Philadelphia);Sarah Bloom ‘08 is now operations manager with Bombardier Transportation in NJ;Sarah Breyer ‘09 completed both her JD 2015 and LLM 2016 at Regent University School of Law (VA), is currently domestic policy advisor to Shared Hope International, and had a piece from her thesis on the abuse of Haitian restaveks (children farmed out by their parents to serve as domestic servants) published in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review (2016);Corrin CochranLinkes ‘03 just completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Management (Educational Policy) at Drexel University; Dan Connelly ‘02 is with the Office of Personnel Management in Arlington VA;Trisha Cruz ‘00 is now claims counsel with Travelers in Philadelphia;Kristen Denne ‘00 is now Manager of Calm Township in Thorndale PA;Sarah Factor Mineiro ‘03 was part of the U.S. delegation to the biennial Latin American Aerospace and Defense Expo (LAAD) in April and is now Staff Lead, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee; David Harbin ‘01 is now President of the Washington County (MD) Criminal Defense Bar;Amy Hewitt Thomas ‘09 (left)received her JD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 and is an associate with Urban & Blattenberger in Hollidaysburg;Wesley Hunt ‘09 (right)is now Northern Florida Regional Manager for Evergreen Lifestyles Management in Jacksonville FL;Jeremy Intihar ‘05 is now senior compliance associate with Brighthouse Financial, a spinoff of MetLife in Charlotte NC; Matt Leonard ‘07, has moved from the Governor General’s Office in Harrisburg and is now a Government Affairs and Regulatory Specialist with the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association; Matt Mazonkey‘05, named the first recipient of the Pitt-Johnstown Young Alumnus of the Year Award in 2015, is now a government relations lobbyist for Airbus Group in Washington DC, and serves on the John P. Murtha Foundation that developed and opened the John P. Murtha Center for Public Service and National Competitiveness on campus on April 6, 2017; Keli(Knapp‘03) and Kevin Neary ‘03added a daughter Bridget Ann to the family last June;Jeannette Owens ‘07, after six years as a subcontracts administrator with CTC, is now a contracts administrator with the Defense Contract Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense;Danielle Parks ‘07 (left)is now an employment/unemployment litigator with Kraemer Manes & Associates in Pittsburgh;Mica Pilz Harbin ‘01 is taking a year off from the State Department’s Russia desk to serve as a Brookings Institution Legislative Fellow in the Office of Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN); Patricia and Adam Primi ‘00 have a new son Matthew Aaron;Paul Rutledge‘03, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of West Georgia, also serves as director of his town’s recreational soccer program; Jason Sarlouis ‘09 completed his MBA and is now Operations Manager for Caterpillar in Atlanta GA; Chris Solomon ‘06 and his wife Macrinahave a new daughter Elise, born in March of 2016, and he continues his defense consultancy monitoring reporting on the Middle East and is now a contributing writer for the Raddington Report, most recently a July 2017 piece on the enduring impact of Lebanese government’s 1949 execution of Syrian Social Nationalist Party leader AntounSaadeh; Joe Weidner ‘06 (right)has just been appointed District Director for Congressman Keith Rothfus (R-PA 12th District).
2010s
Stephenie Anderson ‘12(below), named a Truxall Scholar by the Pittsburgh Foundation and having served as the senior managing editor of the law review, completed her JD at the University of Pittsburgh and is now an associate with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Pittsburgh;J.T.Bandzuh ‘14 has co-authored a study of mosquito-borne diseases in Costa Rica in the Journal of Latin American Geography (July 2017) and continues doctoral study in geography at Florida State;Matt Bugli ‘17 will attend Widener Commonwealth Law School this fall;Jeff Burtner ‘10 is now Senior Team Development Specialist at AFS Intercultural Programs attempting to create a bipartisan intercultural education caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives;Devon Casti Malloy ‘10 is an associate with Stofko Law in Johnstown; Ashley Eppley ‘16 will begin graduate study at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh this fall;Alison Jones ‘13 is a political communications professional with Five Corners Strategies in Washington DC;Brandon Jordan‘13(right)completed his JD at Widener Commonwealth and is studying for the PA bar exam;Matthew Kirk ‘15 completed his Masters degree in political science at Ohio University and has been accepted into the doctoral program at SUNY/Albany;Tyler Mentzer‘12 has been admitted to doctoral candidacy in political science at West Virginia University and is working on his dissertation prospectus;Brandon Metroka‘11 has completed his PhD in political science at Syracuse University, receiving the University Dissertation Award for his work on free speech and the Roberts Court, and has been named assistant professor of political science at theUniversity of the Incarnate Word (UIW), a private liberal arts university in San Antonio TX;Gabrielle Morrison ‘15 has been admitted to the Drexel University Kline School of Law;Max Pavlovich ‘16 has won the Republican nomination for District Judge in a magisterial district covering five boroughs and three townships surrounding Johnstown;Angel Ramos ‘16 plans to begin graduate study in political science at the University of Chicago this fall;John Richard ‘15 and Moriah Howell (Pitt-Johnstown, writing ‘15), were married in July, he having completed his MPIA at the University of Pittsburgh and she her MFA in creative writing at Temple;Andrew Scott ‘15 is currently a community monitor in the Community Intensive Supervision Program (CISP), a juvenile probation program of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, and plans to begin graduate study in business at Point Park University in the fall; Ian Shirt‘10 completed his Masters degree in Public Health and is now pursuing his MBA at Tulane University, where he continues to serve as an admissions counselor for the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Phillip Steinberg ‘15 completed his MPIA at the University of Pittsburgh and has taken a position at the GAO in Washington DC;Alex Taylor ‘17 won the Democratic nomination for tax collector in Cecil PA (Washington County, suburban Pittsburgh);Russell Turner‘14, currently entering his second yearat Duquesne Law School, spent last summer in Ireland studying human rights law at Queens University(Belfast) and international arbitration/EU law at Trinity College (Dublin); Drake Watters ‘13 (left)is now the MHA Practice Manager at Medical Thoracic Associates at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; Christopher Zimardo ‘17 will begin graduate study in public management at the University of Pittsburgh this fall.
Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Cook on his promotion to the rank of Associate Professor of Political Science with tenure. He continues to serve as director of international studies at Pitt-Johnstown.
A note of appreciation to all of you who have made contributions to Pitt-Johnstown through the Johnstown Educational Foundation and dedicated your gift to political science, international studies, or the Albert P. Vannucci Study Abroad Scholarship Fund.Those extra funds help us to develop and present current affairs symposia on campus, to support current students traveling to events in Pittsburgh or to Model United Nations competitions, or to support students studying abroad.