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• Students Launch Arts and Entertainment Magazine
• Five Trustees Appointed to Board

Students Launch Arts and Entertainment Magazine

“My first attempts at creating an arts and entertainment magazine were what you might call an epic failure,” quipped Rich Hackman ’08. Being actively involved in the theatre department, music and the visual arts, Hackman recognized the need for more journalistic coverage of music, theatre, film and arts events produced by Albright students and faculty. “I wanted people to develop an appreciation, if not a love, for theatre. Even beyond that, I wanted to give an identity to all forms of artistic expression and aesthetic experimentation on campus,” he said.

Hackman succeeded in his senior year when he pushed his vision for a student arts magazine into high gear with the help of Michael Weekley ’09 and 15 other students. Their mission and slogan became “Waking up the Arts,” and they met weekly to begin producing their new magazine, Albright AM. They covered events such as Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA) talent shows, Domino Players productions and Freedman Gallery exhibits. By the spring semester, the Student Government Association had given them the go-ahead to print.

Staff members wrote, reviewed and edited articles to create a premier edition complete with “vibrant colors to create the feeling of waking up,” said Weekley, president of the magazine. “We’ve been a very tight group that believes in giving credit to artistic development on campus.”

Events covered in the first edition include the Domino Players production of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, the SGA-sponsored Boys Like Girls concert at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center, and the Freedman Gallery opening of Trace Miller Nature: Invitation for Renewal.

A premier party on May 2 featured music, prizes and free copies of the magazine.

Five Trustees Appointed to Board

Sherry K. Sidhu, Jeffrey J. Joyce ’83, June T. Maier’76, George E. Minnich ’71 and John “Jack” K. Roessner III ’61 were recently appointed to the Albright College Board of Trustees. They will all serve three-year terms.

Sherry K. Sidhu is active in several charitable organizations. A member of the board of the United Way of Berks County, she served as chair of the 2007 Annual Fundraising Campaign, raising $8.7 million.

She is on the board of Berks Talk Line, and she’s a former board member of both the Reading Public Museum and the Berks Visiting Nurse Association. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Guru Nanak University, India, and a master’s degree from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia. In 2006 she and her husband, Jay, were presented with the National Liberty Museum’s Heroes of Liberty Award.

Jeffrey J. Joyce ’83 is the CFO of Booth Creek Management Corporation, a privately held company that oversees a number of other businesses, including the Swift and Company meat operation, six ski resorts, and the NHL’s Montreal Candiens.

Joyce earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Albright and a master’s degree in business administration from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.

June T. Maier ’76 served on the National Advisory Council for Student Affairs and the Task Force on Student Life (Commission on the Future of Albright College), and is an active member of Phi Delta Sigma and the Freedman Gallery Friends.

A former certified home economist, Maier is a member of Peace Trust 100, the inaugural leadership giving group of Berks Women in Crisis, and a long-time trustee of the Lancaster Country Day School in Lancaster, Pa.

She and her husband, Andrew Maier II, a trustee since 1987, have long supported the College’s programs and financially backed its mission. Together they are Gold Circle members of Albright’s Lifetime Giving Society.

George E. Minnich ’71 retired as CFO and senior vice president of ITT Industries, White Plains, N.Y., in July 2007. Before joining ITT, Minnich had served as vice president and CFO at Otis Elevator Company and Carrier Corporation (both affiliated with United Technologies Corporation), controller of United Technologies, chairman for Price Waterhouse’s Aerospace and Defense Industry Accounting and Auditing Services, and audit partner at Price Waterhouse.

Minnich received a bachelor’s degree in accounting/economics from Albright. He has served on an advisory committee at Wake Forest University, and he has supported the University of Connecticut and the United Way of Hartford, Conn.

John “Jack” K. Roessner III ’61 is president and chairman of E.J. Brooks Company, Livingston, N.J., the world’s leading manufacturer of tamper-indicating security seals, locking devices and metering-related products.

Roessner is a former trustee of the Clara Maass Health Care System, serving as chairman from 1997 to 2000. He has been actively involved in a private inner-city school in Newark, N.J., and he has served as a member of the Harding Township Board of Adjustment and as president of the Rotary Club of Newark.

Roessner received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Albright and a master’s degree in business administration and marketing from Indiana University. As a trustee of the Roessner Family Foundation, he has helped provide grants to elementary education facilities, health care institutions and hospitals in New Jersey.