LYCOMING COLLEGE SUMMER MAGAZINE 2023

93 John Dyer , who has served as health and safety director for Veolia North America’s Environmental Solutions and Services over the past seven years, has been named 2022 Region III Mentor of the Year by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). John is a recognized national leader in creating safe, regulation-compliant work environments for industries of all sizes and types. As a VPP mentor, he was asked to evaluate and assist with OSHA safety evaluations at four different businesses and utilities in Pennsylvania over the past year. As a mentor at each location, he assists with a VPP gap analysis of the facility and guides the team on implementing VPP safety processes and standards. He advises on purchasing VPP marketing items, coaching employees with interview questions for VPP inspections, and providing training on the VPP program as a whole. 95 Mark Archambault has left his professor role at the University of Lynchburg Doctor of Medical Sciences program to pursue physician assistant (PA) education consulting full time. His business, Archambault Consulting LLC, has also expanded through the creation of AccreditationCoachTM that provides faculty development available to the nation’s 300 PA programs. Offerings focus on supporting program’s accreditation review process, backward design of competency-based medical education curricula, and building faculty capacity for accreditation-related projects.

96 Zachary Rubinich was selected by his peers as one of Main Line Today ’s 2023 Top Lawyers for his expertise in workers’ compensation law. The honor recognizes attorneys at the highest level of professional excellence who

practice in Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania. Zach is a partner with the law firm of Rawle & Henderson with more than 20 years of experience in the field of workers’ compensation. He was also recognized by Rawle & Henderson for being recertified as a specialist in the practice of workers’ compensation law by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Section on Workers’ Compensation Law as authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Zach earned his initial certification in 2013. There are fewer than 185 attorneys in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who have achieved this Workers’ Compensation Law Specialist certification.

98 Stacie (Greene) Sprechini shared that her loving husband, Gene Sprechini, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, passed away on May 5, 2023. Gene served on the Lycoming College faculty for 42 years doing what he loved — teaching! While he was originally hired as a statistician, he later developed and served as the founding coordinator of the interdisciplinary actuarial science major, which launched in 1996. He conducted interdisciplinary research with other members of the faculty, serving as the statistics anchor for numerous published papers. Gene loved bowling and game nights, and he was a member of the Christian Apostolic Church in Williamsport where he served as an interim pastor since 2022. He showed great kindness to animals and enjoyed spending time with his beloved dog, Lily. Gene and Stacie would have celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on May 18, 2023.

(L to R) Rebecca (Moyer) Rudinsky ’97 , Lauren Marie Conrad ’98 , Stephanie (Fetterman) Sausser ’99 , and Joy Graeff ’97 enjoyed a New Year’s celebration together

86 On June 13, 2023, Jim Minick gave a workshop on collecting and using oral histories for the Humanities Research Center at Lycoming College. Later that afternoon, he gave a presentation and reading from his new book, “Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas.” On May 25, 1955, an F5 tornado struck Udall, Kan., at 10:35 p.m. There was no warning. In roughly three minutes, it destroyed most of the buildings, toppled the water tower, and killed 82 people. The Udall tornado was, and still is, the worst in the history of Kansas and one of the worst in U.S. history. “Without Warning” tells the story of this town’s destruction and rebuilding through the eyes of those who survived, and this story provides insights into how we might move forward into our climate-changed future. Jim said he was looking for a new book project and heard of the story of the Udall tornado from his sister-in-law who grew up in this small town. “She and her mother introduced me to many survivors, and when I began to hear and collect these incredible stories, I knew I had to try to capture their power in this book.” Jim shared, “The foundation of my education and time at Lycoming was based on close relationships with several professors, especially Emily Jensen and David Rife. They spent hours working with me both in and out of the classroom, and now that I’ve taught for more than 30 years, I realize how special and time-intensive that kind of work is. Returning to campus is a small way of showing gratitude and paying it forward, and also another way to support the work of the Humanities Resource Center to demonstrate the great interconnection between all disciplines. I hope Lycoming students understand that interconnection and the value of their time at Lycoming.” Learn more at www.jim-minick.com.

(L to R) Kristen (Montgomery) Dufner , Julia (Auses) Wittkopp , Dana (Lewis) Eberz , Sonia (Mattson) Linteris , and T.J. (Klahre) Hirsch enjoyed a Class of 1998 girls’ trip to Miami

35 www.lycoming.edu

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