ALUMNI NEWS
AE Newsletter - Spring/Summer 2000
Marc Bowen, P.E. ’94, Associate, Assistant Department Head, Hillier Engineering and Technologies, Scranton, PA.  Project Manager for office buildings for Smith Kline Beecham and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Approximately 200,000 sq. ft each.  My wife, Susan, and I celebrated the birth of our second son in December ’99.  Their names are Kyle and Derek…Nathan Marton, P.E., ’93, Associate, Business Development Specialist, Cannon Design, Grand Island, NY.  Developing opportunities for future work for the corporation.  Transitioned from Structural Department to Marketing Department in January 2000…Chris Bellanca, ’94, President, Bellanca Construction LLC, Alexandria, VA.  Recently left a seven-year career with Bovis Lend Lease to start Bellanca Construction working primarily on small build outs…Todd Brandt, ’95, Moving in July 2000 to Mozambique in Southern Africa for two years to be a missionary.  A slight change from structural engineering…Robert L. Hunsicker, ’42 retired Construction Contractor, 1947 to 1985 with L.W. Hunsicker Company...Robert A. Young, ’84 M.S. A.E., Received tenure at University of Utah Graduate School of Architecture and was promoted to Associate Professor effective July 1, 2000.  Currently teaching the environmental controls courses as well as historic preservation and project finance courses.  I am Director of the historic preservation program…Brad Geinzer, P.E., ’91, Principal Mechanical Engineer, J.B.A. Consulting Engineers, Las Vegas, NV...Bernard Kazmierski, P.E., ’87, Electrical Engineer V.P., K.E.M. Engineers, Inc. St. Petersburg, FL.  Electrical Engineer in charge of design…Christine (Tina) Callista Subasic, ’89, self-employed, working at home doing consulting and technical writing in the masonry industry.  Husband, Shawn Subasic, ’89, with Bovis Lend Lease.  Currently working as Project Manager on Duke Hospital Children’s Clinic.  Third son, Noah Patrick, born on March 12, 2000…Steven DiBartolo, ’80, Project Executive, Gilbane Building Company, Lawrenceville, NJ.   Steve and Gilbane were just awarded the Associate General Contractor’s 2000 Build America Award for their work on the New Jersey State House Dome and Rotunda Restoration Project…Richard R. Reese, ’77, working for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. as an Engineer-Consultant.  Investigating structural and waterproofing problems in existing buildings and specifying repairs...Danielle (Gnecco) Dempsey, ’98, married Sean Dempsey on June 3, 2000 in a private ceremony in Las Vegas, NV.  Residing in Allentown, PA, recently promoted to Training and Development Engineer with Lutron Electronics, Coopersburg, PA, focusing on product training for all employees and customers…John E. Sadlik, AIC, ’87, Director, Design and Construction with Science Applications International Corporation, McLean, VA…William (Billy) Hodges, ’95, working with Kaplan Partners Architectural Lighting, Los Angeles, CA.  I am also teaching a course "Lighting 101" at UCLA to students from their interior design program.  On June 10, 2000, I married Denise Disney Hodges, an Architect from the University of

 

Kansas and currently employed by Frank Gehry.  No, we didn't meet through work, we met on the Ultimate Frisbee Field!  Hope all is well in Happy Valley!…Jerry Walker, '92, returned to IUP after obtaining P.E. to become certified to teach math and physics.  Currently working as a math teacher during the school year in Frederick, MD and as an engineer primarily during the summers at Rathgeber/ Goss in Rockville, MD.  Truly the best of both worlds!…Here's the latest from some of us in the Great Pacific Northwest. Beth (Kern) Jensen, ’84 and Tom Jensen, ’84, live in Kirkland, Washington.  Beth is a partner with a 70-person structural/civil consulting firm in Bellevue with branch offices in Everett and Spokane, WA and Portland, OR.  Tom is a Plans Examiner for King County and designs residential architecture on the side.  Our two sons, Zander (6) and Ben (3) are the joys of our lives!  We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on June 30.  We see Steve Van Vleet ’84 and Bryce Taylor ’85 and their families often - come visit us in the Pacific Northwest! bjensen@dci-engineers.com  and thomas-ddes.Jensen @metrokc.gov…Jeffrey Sears, ’86, Senior Electrical Engineer, Kling-Lindquist, Philadelphia, recently promoted to Associate.  Currently working on $400 million, two-million sq. ft office campus for Merrill Lynch in Hopewell, NJ…Heidi K. Pfennigwerth, ’94 Keith and I had a perfect baby girl.  Chloe Nikole was born on March 30, 2000 weighing 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 21 inches long…Mark Fisher, ’84, left SVA (35 person M/E firm) in Baltimore after seven years as electrical department head and associate/partner.  Moved to Silicon Valley to team up with my old Penn State buddy Dave Kaneda, ’81, who started Integrated Design Associates (IdeAs) less than a year ago.  We are dedicated to providing high quality EE and lighting design.  We are up to 9 employees including Greg Lee, ’99, and we are always on the lookout for Penn State grads.  Condolences to Rich Apple, ’79, for not taking over for him as Cubmaster of Pack 333.  Also spent the last 12 years teaching Fundamentals and Advanced Lighting Design Courses for Maryland Section of IES.  Married to Joyce (Balawejder), ’84 Sp.Ed., and spend my free time chasing sons Stephen, 10 (’12 AE) and Timothy, 6 (’15 Theater)!… John J. Durdan, Jr., ’91, joined Hillier Engineering and Technologies, the engineering division of Hillier International, as senior project engineering and assistant head of the Mechanical Engineering Department. Responsibilities include project management, engineering and design on major projects, facility assessment, energy analysis, engineering master planning, and department scheduling and training…Scott A. Hoover, ’85, Co-Owner and Vice-President of Advanced Technical Solutions, Inc. in Annapolis, MD.  Responsible for sales, marketing and operations.  My partner and I founded ATS in 1993 to design/build high tech facilities for IBM and their clients.  In 1999, we were approved to provide our services to IBM on a national scale.  We also have a division specializing in the computer room raised flooring business, which complements our design build services…Matt Weirich, ’92, Project Manager, Gilbane Building Company,  Currently, working in the D.C. area out of Gilbane’s Mid-Atlantic Region, overseeing two $20+million projects. Received Gilbane’s Annual Builder of the Year Award for 1999 - the youngest person to receive this award.  Married Rochelle Flavello July 31, 1999…
CLASS OF 1975 REUNION
The AE Class of ’75 held its 25th reunion on the weekend of August 25-27, 2000. Early arrivals also enjoyed a Seafood Extravaganza Buffet at the Nittany Lion Inn on Friday, August 25.  On Saturday morning, current AE students hosted an open house in the AE Department.  Gifford Albright, AE Professor Emeritus, also hosted a get together of the AE Class of 1975 Reunion attendees, and AE faculty members at his home in State College, PA, on Saturday evening.  AE Professors Moses Ling and Kevin Parfitt, also alums of the class of 1975, coordinated the plans for the reunion. 
OBITUARY
We are sad to report that Gary L. Johnston, AE class of ’70, age 53, died Tuesday, August 1, 2000 at Centre Community Hospital, in State College, PA. For the past 15 years he as served as President of Gary Johnston and Associates engineering consulting firm in State College, PA.
He is survived by wife Elaine (Castellani) and son Brett at home.  Memorial contributions can be made to the Centre Community Hospital, 1800 East Park Avenue, State College, PA  16803.

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