News From Bear
Joe Fox, who sends me email messages from time to time, asked me to write this to bridge the generations of those of us who have passed through Kappa. Most of you know that I officially retired from Penn State in June 2002. I loved my job and it is probably the only one I could have carried out. When I was still an active Werner Bush's Dad visited. I remember his saying, "Enjoy your college years because you can never recapture them." I thought if I can't recapture them, I will not leave, so I called on Ken Nelson, then chairman of the Accounting Department, an asked "What can I do so that I can stay." He said if I pursued a PhD at a Big Ten School he would hire me back and so he did. I retired only because I maxed out on my pension and realized that pension income is not subject to state, local, or FICA taxes.
Nonetheless, I still have my office, advise three student organizations (including Phi Sig), serve as chair of the Undergraduate Policy Committee, and serve on the faculty selection committee for the Schreyer Honors College. I am able to time these activities so that I can travel more. I will be spending 10 days in Cancun over Thanksgiving. Last fall from late October until mid December, I taught on the Singapore campus for INSEAD, the top rated French Graduate School of Business.
A number of us are actively working with the chapter. John Benedict '73 and I are co-advisers. Dick Doherty, Bill deGrandis, Dan Stearns, Geoff Brugler, and Matt Hilbert in addition to John and I are active Alumni Board Members. Mike Vereb arranges tail gates at Hilbert's RV. John Carfagno '94 is now working for Penn State and has been helping with the tail gates and will volunteer for some other duties. Ben Jarmul '81 treated me to lunch on a recent trip through State College. We discussed the work that needs to be done on the house and various ways of financing. About a week ago, I saw Perry Russ at the Faculty/Staff Club. He had a tee time scheduled.
On October 19, Jeff McGraw '88 led a chapter retreat for the actives. They came away with a renewed sense of the values of our traditions and the importance of maintaining their leadership responsibilities.
Various groups of Kappa alumni hold get togethers throughout the year. These range from tail gates to the annual reception for Baltimore/Washington alumni to the still continuing New Year's Eve parties hosted by Rich Weaver, Bill Warfel, Paul Church for the class of '71.
During the weekend of October 24-26, the early to mid 70's actives held, what I believe to be the 4th reunion of those who lived in the house at that time. As their adviser, I am honored to have been invited to these gatherings even though I am a little bit older than they are. We met at the Skeller on Friday evening,
watched the Penn State Iowa game together at Champs, and met later for cocktails and dinner in the Penn State Room of the Nittany Lion Inn. On Sunday Dan and Melinda Stearns hosted brunch at their house. About 20 alumni and 6 wives traveled from near and far including Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. These folks have a genuine concern for each other's welfare and for the welfare of the fraternity as they follow each other's lives through the decades.
Please check Kappa's web site regularly. I have enjoyed reading the messages and up dates. I am a low tech guy; but I have been able to access the site at www.2stayconnected.com/phisig-psu/. There are directions to guide you in selecting a user name; the site will assign you a password. I was especially impressed with the number of Phi Sigs who traveled to Australia for Steve Berg's wedding.
We received The President's Special Achievement Award for Alumni Programs at the Phi Sig convention in Savannah in August. Jim Schmitz, our National President, cited our web site, our new
