President's Letter
From the Alumni Director
On Campus
Applause
From Pac-Man to Haute Cuisine
Fairman, Nisbett and Wall
Homecoming Roundup
The Wacky World of Patents
And the Top Reason for Doing an Internship is...
Bulldog Bites
The Sailor Home From the Sea
Rocket Man
Beyond the Basics
Class Notes
In Memoriam
Alumni Events

ASC Receives Excellence Award

Arlene Krellwitz (Left) and Jane Pole, Academic Support Center co-supervisors, traveled to Atlanta to receive the 2003 Tutoring Program Excellence Award on behalf of the ASC and University College.

Cilibraise Trades His Bulldog Badge for Clerical Collar

DPS Director Martin Bledsoe (R) named Mike Cilibraise as the department's first-ever chaplain.

   When someone makes a career change from law enforcement to something else, usually they’re done hearing confessions. Not Mike Cilibraise.
   After spending more than 20 years working for Ferris’ Department of Public Safety, Cilibraise has entered the seminary in order to become a Catholic priest.
   “After the age of seven, I really had no connection with the church,” he said. “It was only within the last couple of years that my strong relationship with God and the church has gradually developed.”
   According to Cilibraise, his faith grew even stronger after going through a divorce. “After that, I started to sense more of a presence of God,” he said. “As my relationship with God developed, I noticed there seemed to be parts of me slipping away. For example, I was not focused as much on possessions or had the inclination to get involved in a serious relationship.”
   Because Cilibraise was not married in a Catholic ceremony, he was able to have the marriage annulled—making him eligible to pursue his vocation in the church. From his marriage Cilibraise has two sons, Ryan, 22, and Christopher, 18.
   Cilibraise, who worked for Ferris from 1982-2003, is now studying at the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill. He hopes to be ordained by June 2008.
   Before then, Cilibraise will serve a one-year internship with the Grand Rapids Diocese, which is sponsoring Cilibraise’s spiritual studies. After his ordination, Cilibraise would like to return to the Big Rapids area.
   Despite leaving Ferris, Cilibraise will continue to have a role with the University. The new Director of DPS, Martin Bledsoe, appointed him Ferris’ first-ever police chaplain.
   “The staff will be able to telephone and e-mail me, but for the most part, I will not be coming back to Ferris,” he said. “In case of something major, the seminary would allow me to return.”
   Work in law enforcement is nothing new to Cilibraise. In 1978, he graduated from the police academy in his hometown of Olivet. He then graduated from Ferris in 1982 with his bachelor’s degree in Social Work.
   Cilibraise rose through the ranks at DPS from patrol officer to patrol sergeant to assistant director. Upon the departure of former Director Stan Dinius from Ferris in August 2002, Cilibraise took over as interim director. Bledsoe’s appointment this last year provided Cilibraise with the opportunity to pursue his new vocation.

Fifth Annual Foundation for Excellence Benefit Sets Record

Last fall the annual foundation for Excellence Benefit raised a record $75,000.

   More than 320 supporters of Ferris State University made it to the fifth annual Foundation for Excellence Benefit Nov. 7 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids. The benefit raised a record $75,000 in funds, which will be used to support the Foundation for Excellence Scholarship program, Exceptional Merit Grants Award program and other University endowments.
   Ferris Foundation Board of Directors Chair David W. Drake welcomed the many Ferris supporters to the evening’s festivities.
   Joshua Gold, a Foundation for Excellence Scholarship recipient, and Robert Buckingham, director of clinics at Ferris State’s Michigan College of Optometry and one of the Exceptional Merit Grant recipients, were featured speakers at the event.
   Three Men and a Tenor, a Michigan-based a cappella group who were recently in a PBS concert special and have performed with Dionne Warwick, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and more, provided the entertainment for the evening.
   Ferris President David Eisler was the evening’s master of ceremonies.
   The University and the foundation would like to express their gratitude to the following businesses and individuals for their support:
   Gold Star Sponsors: Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, Inc.; Huntington National Bank; and Morgan Stanley.
   Silver Star Sponsors: Diane and Brian Brady; Chevron Energy Solutions; Carol and David Drake; Ice Mountain; Saga Communications, Inc.; and Wolverine Power Marketing Cooperative.
   Bronze Star Sponsors: A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.; Albert Kahn Associates, Inc.; All American Ford Lincoln Mercury of Big Rapids; Big Rapids Realty, Inc.; Capitol National Bank; Chemical Bank West; The Christman Company; Davison Dietsch & McCarthy, Inc.; Essilor Lenses; Fund Evaluation Group, LLC; Granger Group of Companies; HUB International Midwest; Marie and Gary W. Kadlec; Rhonda and Brian McDonald; Mika Meyers Beckett & Jones PLC; Peter Basso Associates, Inc; Plante & Moran, PLLC; Barbara and Kenneth Reuther; Rogers Printing, Inc.; and Systems & Computer Technology Corporation (SCT).
   Table Sponsors: Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, Inc.; Jennifer and Richard Cochran; DTS Architects; Patsy and Dave Eisler; Fifth Third Bank; Granger Construction Company; Lacy, Linkfield & Cross; Neumann/Smith & Associates; Nancy and Randall Phelps; and Veldheer, Long, Mackay & Bernecker Group of Merrill Lynch.

Santer Preserve Celebrates Nature, Ferris Presidents

Helping to dedicate a plaque to the vision of former Ferris President J. William Wenrich at the Santer Nature Preserve are (L-R) Geology Professor Fred Heck, Ferris History Task Force Chair Harry Dempsey, Richard Santer, Ferris State President David Eisler, Pharmacy Professor Robert Krueger and Health Management Professor Michael Ells.

   Richard Santer, the Ferris State professor emeritus of Geography who was honored by having the University’s 22-acre nature preserve rededicated in his name at the time of his retirement in 1996, is in turn honoring the presidents who served during his teaching career at Ferris (1969-96), as well as founder Woodbridge N. Ferris.
   Santer has asked former Ferris State presidents and their descendents to choose representative nature quotes, which will be the text for bronze plaques mounted on native rocks to be placed around the perimeter of the preserve that bears his name.
   Those asked to contribute nature quotes for the project are David Spathelf, son of Victor F. Spathelf, president from 1952-70; Patricia Smith Shaffner, daughter of John R. Smith, interim president from 1970-71; Robert Ewigleben, Ferris president from 1971-83; Roy Tiede, interim president from 1988-89; Helen Popovich, president from 1989-94; and William Sederburg, president from 1995-2003.
   Santer believes the project will “help provide the students and community with a higher level of understanding and respect for nature’s enduring value to life.”
   To date, Santer and his family have donated two bronze plaques that have been set in place at the preserve in 2001 and again in 2003. One honors Woodbridge Ferris and the other William Wenrich, president from 1984-88. The project is tentatively slated to be completed in 2005.