Mekile came to ESU right after Notre Dame High School, where she graduated second in her class. Now a senior, graduating this spring, Mekile has held three internships: the first with DSM Nutritional Products in Belvidere, N.J.; one with Johns Hopkins University; and the latest one, last summer, at the University of Pennsylvania, which provided her with a research project that proved Mekile to be an award winner.

“My project was titled: The Role of TRIM2 Polymorphisms in Restricting Junín Infection,” Mekile explains. “Junín is a virus that is the causative agent of Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever and TRIM2 is a human gene involved in restricting the infection. There are many polymorphisms, or forms, of this gene that occur naturally in the human population, and the goal of my project was to investigate if any polymorphisms were better or worse restriction factors than the wild type TRIM2 – that is, the form that occurs most often in the population.”

Mekile’s research was selected for a poster presentation in San Jose, Calif., at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). Nearly 4,000 people were in attendance, with more than 1,700 students presenting either oral or poster presentations. Mekile’s project won her an award in the microbiology discipline, which came with a one-year membership in the American Society for Microbiology.

It was Mekile’s second internship, at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied the effects of cancer on genes that peaked in her an interest in oncology. With a 3.99 GPA, she will enter a program allowing students to go directly from a bachelor’s degree to study for a Ph.D.; Mekile plans a doctorate in cell and molecular biology.

No one can promise the future, and a cancer cure seems always beyond human grasp. Hope, however, is a constant we all embrace. It will come, one day; when is yet another constant. Even with people like Allatah Mekile, that day of discovery remains an unknown – to suggest otherwise is to place far too heavy a burden on anyone’s shoulders. But with such people working on our behalf, we have good reason to see the light of our hope burn that much brighter.

“East Stroudsburg was just everything to me from then on,” says Tretola. All her questions were answered and everywhere she went she felt the campus was a happy place to be. Now a junior, she is an English, secondary education major, a choice she made because she loved reading and writing. “But I probably should have gone into college undeclared,” she says, with hindsight. “I really had no idea what I wanted to do.”

Tretola’s student jobs as resident adviser and orientation leader, and just working with the student affairs folks helped clear things up. “People who work at a college seem so happy,” she says. “They love their jobs and love being around students and care about them – even just getting students to know what they want to do with their lives. And there’s something going on every single day, especially on weekends.

“Ultimately, I would like to work in resident life,” she continues, “maybe starting out as a resident director and moving up from there.” Tretola is considering her next steps which may include a master’s program in counseling with a concentration in student affairs and higher education. “A lot of it [would be] talking to students and getting them over the “freshman hump” and through the “senior battle”, she says. “I just think that’s really cool.”

Among other accolades, Tretola holds a 3.9 GPA and membership in Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honors society. “I work very hard at academics,” she says. “I like to show my mom I’m doing the best I can. And now, with my sister moving out, it’s just my mom and me here. We’re very close, and I like to make her happy.” If being the ESU success story she is constitutes happiness, Tretola can rest easy – her mother is indeed happy.

ESU Junior Designs Tennis Outfit To Be Worn By Jelena Jankovic

A tennis outfit designed by an East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) student will be worn by one of the top female tennis players in the world at an upcoming competition. Samantha Swank, an ESU junior, recently won a contest sponsored by sportswear company FILA. She designed a tennis outfit that will be worn by Jelena Jankovic from Serbia, the top player for FILA , who will compete in the 2013 Sony Open in Miami. Swank will attend the competition, which will take place from March 18-31, 2013.

Swank, from York, Pennsylvania, is majoring in communication studies with a concentration in public relations. Prior to enrolling at ESU, she attended The Art Institute of Philadelphia where she graduated with an associate’s degree in fashion. Before she graduated, her Art Institute adviser suggested that she enter the contest. She found out she was a finalist in June 2012.
Her family is her inspiration in all of her designs. The back of the outfit was made to resemble a human spine. Her father is a chiropractic neurologist and growing up, Swank had always been amazed by the human skeleton and its organs. The way the back of the design wraps around to the front resembles and is inspired by human nerves.

While she attended The Art Institute, Swank had an internship at Ariela-Alpha International. She loved working with people in the public relations department, which motivated her to study in this major. Swank is a member of the student-run ESU Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Her future plans are to work for a public relations company and open her own boutique featuring her own designs. Her dream job would be to work for Timo Weiland, who is her favorite designer.

PRSSA’s mission is to provide students with an understanding of current theories and practices, encourage the highest ideals and principles, instill a professional attitude, encourage students to network with public relations professionals and obtain an accredited PRSA membership. PRSSA meets Tuesdays in Stroud Hall, room 302, at 2 p.m.

For more information about the FILA contest, contact Mariah McAndrew, treasurer of PRSSA, at 570-335-3424 or by email at Mem0644@live.esu.edu, or Cem Zeytinoglu, associate professor of communication studies, at 570-422-3911 or by email at czeytinoglu@esu.edu.

Ramirez grew up in the Pocono Mountains and, as most mountain dwellers, is an outdoors person. From early childhood, he and his brothers were given first-hand lessons in a love of the natural world. “My parents always taught us how important it is,” Ramirez confirms. “I developed an appreciation for the earth and everything in it.”

Another thing Ramirez learned from his parents was to be of service to others. Ramirez’s parents, Edward and Leticia (herself an ESU grad, with a degree in sociology), have “always been service oriented.” As a result, while Ramirez is still searching for the specific area in which to immerse himself, he knows now his life work has a bottom line: to be of service to humankind and to the earth, including, of course, animals.

Ramirez already had a good list of service-related jobs before college. But as a resident adviser at ESU, he found true fulfillment. “Some of my best experiences have been as an RA,” he says. “My fellow RAs, their support and what I learned from them, has helped me be as successful as I am.”

Ramirez’s first goal is graduate school; one option he’s considering for that is with the Peace Corps’ Master’s International program. The program’s website says that it integrates service overseas while allowing volunteers to earn their advanced degree. The master’s project actually grows out of Peace Corps work. Students come home with “the skills . . . to continue to make a difference.”

In any case, once Ramirez settles on a direction he is bound to give much, and receive much from those to whom he gives. “I look at my heart and who I am as a mosaic,” Ramirez says. “You take a piece of yourself away and you replace it with the people you interact with and you grow. So, I consider myself a product, not just of myself, but also of the experiences with the people I’ve met. I try to keep that in my head all the time.”

Just 18 and filing for the first time, Weber went toe to toe with state and federal tax regulations; and decided to help make the process easier for others in his situation. As a freshman, he created his first website – a free portal of easy-to-understand information on filing taxes.

Weber has worked his way from freelance web developer to business owner, and now boasts almost a quarter million visits to his websites every week. Now 21, and a double major in computer sciences/computer security at East Stroudsburg University, Weber finds himself on the cusp of taking some major strides in the business world.

A junior come this fall, Weber entered the Annual PASSHE [Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education] Business Plan Competition with a plan for a new web startup. He took first place, winning $10,000 to support business development, and a year’s office space in ESU’S Business Accelerator Program located in the ESU Innovation Center.

His new startup, e-Dentified People Search, is a powerful people search engine. Weber developed proprietary search algorithms that can create a full profile of an individual’s internet presence and internet identity by using a single piece of information about the individual — like an email, username, handle, etc. His algorithms link pieces of information until it finds the true identities behind an online persona. As with his tax site and all of the sites owned by him, the emphasis of Weber’s newest venture is to help educate others with practical information.

The $10,000 certainly helps, but what truly excites Weber is his office at the ESU Business Accelerator, and connecting with the CEOs and entrepreneurs he meets through it.

Before winning the PASSHE competition, Weber wasn’t aware of the Business Accelerator program at ESU. He feels that may be true of many others and he is passionate about getting the word out. “I know there are many other students who have ideas like me,” says Weber. “And the ESU Innovation Center and Business Accelerator program provide great opportunities for people in just about every field.”

Given his youth, energy and feel for what people want and need – as well as his new student interns and office in ESU’s Innovation Center, Weber will no doubt learn much and succeed often. “College is about far more than just classes,” said Weber. “The experiences and opportunities I’ve found at ESU go above and beyond anything I had expected.”

McClanahan, chair and associate professor of the communication studies department at ESU, was one of a dozen people selected to attend a weeklong Feminist Intensive Workshop in June.

“Words cannot express how the week invigorated me in my research and activism in Women’s Studies,” she said upon returning to campus and reporting that the workshop was a life-changing event.

The week was organized by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, activists and authors of two books McClanahan uses in her courses: “Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future” and “Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism.”

Only 12 people — faculty of women’s studies programs and staff of women’s centers — were selected to attend, giving each a chance to get close to people and organizations working on women’s rights.

“We were really able to connect and discuss issues,” said McClanahan. “I met women from across the country — some of whom I am already speaking to about collaborative research projects.”

Steinem, journalist and activist known as a leader of the national women’s liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s, was just one of the well-known feminists who met with workshop participants.

Among the others were Sheila Tobias, known for her focus on women in math and science; poet and author Robin Morgan, another key women’s rights activist in the 1960s; Anu Bhagwait, known for her work fighting sexual assault and harassment in the military; and Joanne Sadler, former executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women.

The workshop included a number of discussions on media issues, and meetings with the Women’s Media Center, Equality Now, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and Women’s World Banking.

Feminism, McClanahan reports, is now experiencing its third wave. The first wave brought about women’s suffrage in 1920. The second wave — the fight for women’s rights including career and reproductive choice — ran from the 1960s through the early 1990s.

Today’s third-wave feminism is defined more broadly, with issues like race, class, age, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender all playing a role in how women define themselves, she said. But one reason people may not be aware of the current movement is that there is no single “big” issue.

But there are many obstacles remain for women, she said, especially overseas.

“If people knew what was still happening to women in other countries, they would realize that feminism is still important,” McClanahan said. “Even in our own country we have issues that are still impacting women — human trafficking is a huge issue. And reproductive rights are, once again, under attack — from the rates of unnecessary C-sections to issues like birth control and abortion.”

There is also more focus on the media, as today’s feminists work to show how perceptions of reality are shaped, and that media images can be and often are damaging, she said.

McClanahan’s research is in this area, specifically how the genders are represented in news reports and entertainment. She puts this to work teaching courses such as Gender Differences and Communication, Feminist Theory, Senior Seminar in Women’s Studies and Introduction to Women’s Studies.

Since returning from the workshop, McClanahan has been rethinking how she approaches these courses. “The day focused on global feminism made me realize that I need to spend more time in the classroom speaking about the importance of knowing what is happening globally to women,” she said.

The second day of the seminar was focused on media. “Everything I learned that day will impact my teaching, from learning new statistics to helping students view media stories a little differently.”

“I really believe having the opportunity to speak to people like Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan — two groundbreakers during the second wave — and Richards and Baumgardner — the two individuals who are really credited with creating the primary text on third-wave feminism (“Manifesta”) — has shaped the way I look at things around me and made me realize that even if I’m discouraged at times, I can and should continue the fight.”

The experience also showed her that the famous feminists she met are normal people “who have an extraordinary commitment to fighting for what is right for women.” Steinem, she said, told the group, “Life is your textbook.”

“Feminism comes from a personal place. Sometimes it is sparked from experiencing an injustice, witnessing a debate, or, like me, reading the writing of a very strong woman who isn’t afraid to speak out,” McClanahan said. “It doesn’t matter how people come to feminism — just that people realize that the fight isn’t over yet.

“The last chapter in the textbook has not been written.”

Shaw and faculty mentor Dr. Jane Huffman, distinguished professor of biology, came up with the idea to develop a tick-testing kit that would be available to the general public. Shaw developed a business plan and her vision won first place in ESU’s Student Business Plan Competition.

After many months of work with the staff of ESU’s division of Research and Economic Development, ESU signed a non-exclusive license agreement in April with Garrett Hewitt International LLC to commercialize Lyme-Aid, a kit for the general public to use to send suspicious ticks in to ESU’s Wildlife DNA Lab to determine whether or not a tick is a carrier of Lyme disease.

ESU licensed the trademark and negotiated a license fee in addition to a running royalty per unit, as Garret Hewitt identifies retailers to purchase and sell the product beginning this fall.

The intention is to have Lyme-Aid kits on sale in more than 20 states by this spring, so anyone can find out if a tick they’ve discovered on themselves or a pet might be a carrier for Lyme disease, before symptoms appear.

Each kit contains a patented tick remover, an alcohol wipe, a specimen bag, labels, a tick/Lyme test form and a pre-addressed envelope. Kits will include instructions on how to remove ticks and how to prepare each specimen for mailing to ESU’s lab.

Once a specimen arrives on campus, staff will test the tick using a fast and accurate molecular test that identifies the DNA of the Lyme-causing pathogen, and then quickly respond by email or phone to the person who sent in the specimen. The suggested retail cost of each kit will be $5.99, and the fee for testing each tick is $39.95.

Store locations and a website for kit orders will be announced this fall. Kits will be sold in a water-resistant plastic case that can be kept handy in a backpack, medicine cabinet or auto, or in fishing, camping, hunting and hiking gear.

Shaw said the kits can help doctors and veterinarians provide prompt treatment before symptoms appear or become severe. Results of the testing are quick and 99.9 percent accurate, she says. The kits can also prevent unnecessary treatment as help avoid side effects associated with antibiotic treatment.
Early detection of Lyme disease is important. Some symptoms may include paralysis of the face muscles; abnormal muscle movement; memory disorders; pain or swelling of joints; muscle weakness; nerve damage; heart palpitations; speech problems and sleep disorders.

Symptoms can be severe and persist for months or years after initial infection, and if left untreated, the disease can spread to the brain, heart and joints.

Lyme disease has also been reported in dogs, who experience symptoms similar to humans. In places where the disease is endemic, 41 percent or more of dogs have been reported to be infected.

For more information about Lyme-Aid, contact (570) 422-7885 or www.lymeaidkit.com.

In May, Anthony, 24, earned her master of education degree in instructional technology at East Stroudsburg University — and got a job in June — but she has been connected with the university since 1999. That year she was chosen as one of the top 10 students of Prince Hall Elementary School in Northeast Philadelphia, which put her in the running for a full scholarship to ESU.

In order to be one of two students each year chosen for ESU’s Prince Hall scholarships, Anthony had to continue to get good grades and keep ESU informed of volunteer work and other activities. She recalls the first time she attended the yearly brunch with faculty and Prince Hall scholars at ESU.

“I thought the campus was humongous,” Anthony says. “I was so excited. After that whenever anyone talked about college, I would say, ‘I’m going to East Stroudsburg University,’ ” she said. “It made me strive and continue to do well academically.”

She was tapped for the full scholarship and got her bachelor’s degree in communications studies and English. When she decided to go for a master’s degree, she chose the instructional technology program on the advice of Dr. Beth Sockman, coordinator of the graduate program.

Anthony received a Frederick Douglass Institute Scholar graduate assistantship, which took care of her tuition and paid a stipend. In exchange, she supervised the current and future Prince Hall scholars and worked on the Race Relations Project that holds discussions on diversity on campus. Throughout it all, she’s been able to count on guidance from her mentor, Dr. Patricia Graham, the head of the Prince Hall Scholarship and chairwoman of the Intercultural & Interdisciplinary Studies Department.

Last summer Anthony interned with a pharmaceutical company where she created online training courses for its employees. This year, she interned at MTV in New York City. Eventually, Anthony wants to start her own public relations firm.

She gives her Graduate College professors, especially Beth Sockman, high marks.  “She’s been just incredible,” Anthony said. “She’s pushed me to go above and beyond.”

In June, she accepted a job with Intelladon, a Tampa, Fla., company that helps companies such as the Hard Rock Café and AOL and agencies like the IRS establish online training courses for their employees. The position as an E-Learning Support Specialist requires her to show businesses how to create and set up online training and then act as a troubleshooter in case of questions or problems.

“I love it down here,” Anthony said. “I love my job. My coworkers are very friendly and knowledgeable. There is a lot of room for growth in the company.”

“I’m so happy I had the education from East Stroudsburg,” she said.

Good’s father, Dr. Kenneth Good, an anthropologist, had lived among the Yanomami for 12 years. Somewhere in that time he fell in love with a young Yanomami woman and married her according to tribal customs; marriage vows they repeated later in the United States. Eventually, Dr. Good asked his wife, Yarima, to return to New Jersey and live with him “in his village.” Yarima, perhaps a bit nervously, since she had never ventured much farther than the next village, accepted. Dr. and Mrs. Good did not make the plane flight alone, however, for Yarima was pregnant, and just a few months shy of giving birth to David.

Family life was happy though; Dr. Good was teaching, and eventually the couple added two more children to their small tribe. David spent his childhood, at least it’s first five years, with feet in two cultures, playing stick-ball with his American friends one month and toting his bow and arrow through the jungle to hunt lizards with his Yanomami cousins the next. The family made four or five lengthy visits to Yarima’s village; but eventually homesickness became too much and David’s mother made the heartrending decision to return to the jungle, alone, to stay.

Fast forward 19 years to July, 2011. David is now an ESU grad, with his bachelor’s degree in biology. He is also a young man who, though for a long time struggled with what he saw as “abandonment,” has come to terms with his mother’s need to return to life in the jungle and her vastly different culture; one she had known for nearly 45 years.

But the need to see her again was all-consuming and David, with much training and a bit of help, embarked on a journey down Venezuela’s Orinoco River to his mother’s village. “I love my mother with all my heart,” says David. “When we were finally together we held each other and wept. I knew the cultural barrier could not dissolve our bonds. The past is in the past. I’m completely at peace with this now.”

In the three months he spent with his relatives, David never felt treated as an outsider, or “nabuh,” in the Yanomami language. “I was one of them,” he says. “I felt a deep connection with my people.” Perhaps that feeling of belonging reinforced David Good’s decision to continue on for his master’s degree in biology, for which he is already in his first year at ESU’s graduate school. His goal is to return to the Rainforest to live and work among his people.

Those who feel the outside world’s influences most keenly are the young. One concern David has is that western culture could completely smother the Yanomami way of life. During his stay, many of the tribe’s teenagers asked David why he would come to the jungle when he lives in America, which they view as a kind of wonderland. “I told them,” he says, “that ‘the Yanomami are a proud and great people, and I come here because I am half Yanomami and am proud of that.’ I was happy to see their faces light up.”

But modern civilization does spread change – not all of it bad, of course. Although, doctors sometimes do clash with the Yanomami health system, a system based on shamanism. “The doctors have a real need to communicate and to gain my people’s trust,” David says. “There are lives at stake. My dream, like my dad’s, is to live in two worlds for extended periods. I’m just a novice now, but when I’m a bit older and have this education, I believe I can serve as a bridge.”

Bob Moses came to ESU in 1976 as assistant dean of students responsible for the first co-ed dorm on campus. He was named Director of Residence Life in 1998. Besides the residence halls, Mr. Moses is involved in many campus and community committees and organizations most of which are human services oriented.

His work with students over the years with various student organizations including Students Organized Against Rape, the Residence Hall Association, ESU Colleges Against Cancer has often been characterized as education outside the classroom. It’s all about getting students involved in experiences that carrying with them “life lessons,” such as reducing the university’s carbon footprint, litter control, and other environmental issues associated with the president’s Commission on Sustainability

Bob’s ability to connect in a meaningful way with students and others ultimately led the Resident Advisor Staff to form the Moses Society in his honor in 1998. The Moses Society is an organization that seeks to enhance the quality of life for students within the residence halls and the University Apartments. An RA Scholarship is awarded annually by the society.

Mr. Moses was recently honored with ESU’s prestigious annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. award in January.

His relationship with students doesn’t end when they graduate. He continues, to be thought of as a good friend by so many of those whose lives he has touched. He’s often invited to the weddings of former students, and continues to receive birth notices, and holiday cards from alumni going back any number of years.

It’s difficult to put in words but I’ve had the great pleasure to associate with many excellent students during my time at ESU, I hope I have influenced them in a positive manner and that I have had some impact on their lives.

Mr. Moses attended the State University of New York at Albany in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, completing both a Bachelor or Arts degree in sociology, with minors in English and History, and a Master of Science degree in Counseling and Student Personnel Services.  He has been married for 42 years to his childhood sweetheart, Kathy, who retired from teaching four graders at the Pocono Elementary Center in Tannersville, PA. They have two sons, Jeff and Chris, who are both Penn State graduates.