His latest new thing is the invention of what he calls “runyaking” a combination of running and kayaking. Basically, runyaking is kayaking a distance, then getting out of the water and running back to the starting point.

McLincha just completed a runyaking expedition he called “Horseshoe to Horseshoe.” He began in the source waters of the Flint River, at Horseshoe Lake in Oakland County, Michigan. He ended up in Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario. McLincha kept a record of his adventures on the Flint River Watershed Coalition’s blog. The entire process took four years. In all, the trip covered 700 miles. McLincha has covered that distance both in the water and on foot. “You’re still limited by how far you can run,” McLincha remarked.

Over the four years, McLincha had the opportunity to experience kayaking on many different waterways and the Great Lakes. The first year was spent on Michigan rivers. “It’s all current,” said McLincha. The second year, he was out in the open water of the Great Lakes. The third year “was quite a challenge.” The cliffs and bluffs along Lake Erie left him without many places to land his kayak. Once he even had to climb up and down a rope to access the lake. This year, he was mostly kayaking along beaches and sand dunes.

The adventure was not without its perils. McLincha runyaked alone, and had a couple of close calls. On his first day in the Great Lakes, he flipped over in his small kayak. He also took some risky chances that worked out well, like climbing down boulders and rocks on the bluffs on the shore of Lake Erie to put his kayak in the water. “My wife was always worried when I was out there,” McLincha notes. He thinks kayaking alone is worth the risk, though. His experiences on the water have given him a more complete perspective on the ecology of the rivers and lakes he traversed. “Another thing I like about kayaking alone is that you see four times the wildlife,” he said.

McLincha started kayaking in 2005, when he got a little beginner’s kayak. He used this kayak in his expedition, even on the Great Lakes. “It’s basically for kids,” he said. Unlike a larger vessel,“You do a lot more paddling, especially when you get into the Great Lakes.” He’s paddled the Flint River on our very own campus, and mentions that there are “great views there from the river.”

Now that this adventure is complete, McLincha has more ideas, but he’s not talking about them yet. “Once I say I’m going to do something, I have to do it,” he said. We can’t wait to hear what his next adventure holds.

Saturday March 30th
Isabel Hall, Flint Institute of Arts 1120 East Kearsley St., Flint
1-4 pm

Presenters include:

• Amanda Kimberly, Dual Major in Spanish and Art History “Hitler’s War on Art”
• Heather Workman, Major in History “Caravaggio and Tenebroso”
• Sean Parvin,  Major in Studio Art  “The Outsider and the Artist”
• Marlenn Arambula, Major in Visual Communications “Art without Borders: Immigration and Cultural Identity in Contemporary Art”
• Mary Kelly, Major in Studio Art “The Columbia Exposition of 1893: Native American Identity and Buffalo Bill”
• Timothy Godek, Major in Psychology “Personifications of Columbia: An American Manifestation”
• Wesleyann Johnson, History Alumna “Can You Love an Eagle: Transnationalism and the Art of Jean-Michael Basquiat”

For more information contact the symposium organizer at: sarlipp@umflint.edu

This project is supported by the generosity of the UM-Flint Annual Fund and its donors.  The Annual Fund is a major source of unrestricted giving to the University of Michigan-Flint.  It provides resources for program development, faculty research, equipment and book purchases, scholarship assistance, and other projects not covered by University funding. Make a gift to the annual fund by clicking here. 

University of Michigan-Flint student Robert Burack has been selected by Michigan Campus Compact (MICC) to receive their Outstanding Community Impact Award. Only six students in the state will be receiving this award, and the review panel selected this year’s recipients from a pool of over 430 nominees

“This MICC award is a distinct honor, given that the review committee focused on cumulative breadth and depth of service, capacity for meaningful reflection, and partnership building,” noted Burack. “This kind of service work is challenging, but incredibly meaningful. It has changed who I am in a fundamental way. I believe it has become my life’s focus.”

The Outstanding Community Impact Award honors up to five undergraduate and one graduate student in Michigan who have made service an integral part of their college experience by their significant contribution to community resources. The recipient’s efforts build partnerships between their campuses and communities, and demonstrate personal reflection and a commitment to lifelong engagement. Winners receive $200 to donate to the organization of their choice.

Burack said his donation is going to Break Away, an Atlanta-based non-profit he works with as a program assistant and facilitator. Break Away’s mission is to “train, assist, and connect campuses and communities in promoting quality alternative break programs that inspire lifelong active citizenship.”

MICC will honor all award recipients at an awards brunch on April 13, at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.

UM-Flint students who have previously been recipients of this award include Heath Toliver (2011) and Ja’Nel Jamerson (2010).

Michigan Campus Compact is a coalition of 43 college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the public purpose of higher education. MICC promotes the education and commitment of Michigan college students to be civically engaged citizens through creating and expanding academic, co-curricular, and campus-wide opportunities for community service, service learning, and civic engagement.

By: Mel Serow

When Ericca Stamper started at UM-Flint, she declared a philosophy major.“I signed up for a class in biology as an elective because I thought it sounded interesting,” she said. Little did she know that she would find her career.
“In that class Ernie Szuch taught a section on ecology and evolution, and his lectures were so interesting and engaging that I could not stand to miss a single minute of it,” Stamper said. “It was because of this class that I changed my major to biology.”

Her new-found interest in biology was encouraged at UM-Flint, and she was particularly influenced by Dr. Joe Sucic. “He is such a wonderful and dedicated teacher and has made the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology program at UM-Flint a huge success,” she said. “His classes prepared me for doing independent research outside of the classroom setting. He also gave me the opportunity to do independent research in his lab, where I worked for several years.”

Through this hands-on experience, Stamper discovered she liked doing research. “Doing research with Dr. Sucic is how I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in biological research. Dr. Sucic gave me the opportunity to succeed at UM-Flint, and inspired me to pursue a career in molecular biology and research.”

Stamper has accomplished a lot since that first biology class. She graduated with a degree in Biology in YEAR. She’s backpacked through Central America, gotten married, worked as a lab tech at the Ann Arbor campus of the university, and now is pursuing her PhD. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California-Berkeley.

“During my undergraduate studies at UM-Flint, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in scientific research in the area of molecular biology or a related field, and I knew that I wanted to go on to graduate school,” Stamper said.

Before she headed off for graduate school, she also wanted to have an adventure. “I decided to take a break from school and from science, in order to travel and experience a bit of the world while I had the opportunity.” She set off by herself to backpack through Central America. She started in Mexico, and ended up in Colombia. “I was gone for over a year, hopping around from place to place , doing and seeing amazing things along the way,” she said. She had a “wonderful life-changing experience.” She even found romance in her travels. “Along the way I also fell in love with a wonderful Panamanian man, who is now my husband,” she said.

But now, Stamper is back to science. She started at UC-Berkeley in 2008, and after a year of laboratory rotation, she joined Abby Dernberg’s lab. “The lab studies chromosome behavior during meiosis, a specialized cell division program essential for sexual reproduction, using the nematode C. elegans as a model system,” Stamper explains. She’s working on her thesis, which focuses on the initiation of meiotic DNA recombination.

Stamper is enjoying her research. “I enjoy studying chromosomes and meiotic recombination – I find the research topic extremely interesting and important,” she said.

Stamper has one more year left before completing her Ph.D. From the other end of the graduate school tunnel, she offers this advice for UM-Flint students:

“[T]ake advantage of as many opportunities that UM-Flint has to offer as you can. You won’t really get another chance to learn about such a wide array of topics and to have such different learning experiences as you do at college. Take as many classes in different areas that interest you as you can. Do research. Get involved in student clubs and organizations. Volunteer. And get to know your professors and teachers – don’t be afraid to ask them questions and engage them in discussion. In this way you can broaden your knowledge and experience base so that you can make more informed decisions about your future career, and also become an all around better person.”

By: Megan Donahue

When asked why he likes being an emergency pediatrician, Dr. Andrew Hashikawa is quick to joke, “I’m probably a kid myself.” He likes kids, and he likes helping them in the difficult circumstances that bring them to the emergency department of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “A lot of what happens isn’t their fault,” he says of the accidents and illnesses he encounters every day. He’s glad to be there, and to help parents when they are in the moments every parent dreads.

Hashikawa graduated from UM-Flint in 2000, with a double major in Chemistry and History. He went on to medical school at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and remained there for a pediatric emergency residency. He then studied pediatric emergency medicine in a fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin. After finishing school, he returned to Michigan to work in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Mott Children’s Hospital.

Hashikawa’s UM-Flint education is still helping him today.“I got a really good foundation for the basic sciences, which I use daily,” he said. He counts knowing how science works and how scientists think as an important part of his training that started at UM-Flint. He uses the broad thinking of his history studies as he interacts with people.

While a student at UM-Flint, Hashikawa had the opportunity to participate in real-world experiences. Hashikawa found these experiences at UM-Flint useful in several ways. “It’s much easier to learn and understand,” he noted of being out in the world, exploring, and observing.“You learn things you can’t learn in the classroom or lab.” He points out that these real-world experiences also make UM-Flint students stand out from the crowd; as an Honors Program student, he went to Australia to do research, hardly a typical undergraduate project. He found that all of these real-world experiences “made me realize what I wanted to do and what I didn’t.”

The UM-Flint faculty was a big part of Hashikawa’s success. He credits Dr. Maureen Thum, director of the Honors Program, with teaching him to write, and giving him major support. “She was a huge part of why I was so successful,” he says. He also enjoyed Dr. Roy Hanashiro’s teaching in the History Department, “He’s a great teacher, a great friend,” he said.

Hashikawa finds UM-Flint in a unique position. It has a good reputation, faculty, alumni, and students, without the price tag of other universities. “You get more than what you pay for,” says Hashikawa. With rising student debt poised to be a major economic issue in the future, he thinks UM-Flint is a great value for students. “You can get where you need to go without putting yourself in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt,” he says. “It got me where I needed to go, beyond where I thought I could go.”

Hashikawa offers the following advice for UM-Flint students. “Identify a mentor,” he says, “The sooner you do this, the better.” He recommends students find mentors in a couple of areas that interest them, in order to explore more thoroughly. “Get organized,” he says, “Have a plan that’s flexible, of what you want to do when.”

Finally, he advises students to take full advantage of the undergraduate educational experience. “Think broad,” he says, “Don’t just focus on requirements.” He notes that while requirements are important, there is no other time in life to study as broad a range of subjects as you can during an undergraduate degree. “Become a more well-rounded person,” he says. Hashikawa notes that in his interviews for medical school and various scholarships, his history degree always came up, and seemed to make him more interesting to interviewers.

In the 13 years since he left UM-Flint, Hashikawa has accomplished a lot. In addition to working the emergency room, he serves as the American Academy of Pediatrics Chapter Child Care Contact, working with local child care professionals to give training in pediatric issues like injuries and infectious disease. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have three daughters, and live in Dexter, Michigan.

By: Megan Donahue

Photo: Brent Nickola

Provost Voland and Regent Bernstein laugh while jockeying for a cup of coffee.

With a big smile and energetic handshakes for everyone in his path, regent Mark Bernstein worked his way across the Chancellor’s waiting room on the morning of March 8th. Bernstein was on campus as part of a visit coordinated by former regent Olivia Maynard. The visit included a breakfast with university officials, a campus tour, and a presentation by Bernstein to the Flint Rotary Club. A three-time graduate of the University of Michigan, Bernstein is one of two new regents that joined the Board of Regents in January.

Olivia Maynard, a former regent and long-time friend of the Flint campus, orchestrated the visit in an effort to endear Bernstein to UM-Flint and the Flint community.

“It was a positive and energetic meeting Friday morning. It was great to have Mark come to campus and learn about the many assets at UM-Flint. Mark was very engaged and, I think, also impressed”, said Maynard.

Bernstein spent his breakfast speaking with Deans and Executive Officers about several topics, including UM-Flint’s successful Genesee Early College, the transfer agreements with community colleges to ensure seamless transitions for students, and UM-Flint’s innovative K-12 initiatives with numerous school districts, such as the duel enrollment educational opportunities (DEEP) program. Much of the conversation focused on these and other unique opportunities for engaged learning offered to UM-Flint students, and the benefit of that approach to students, communities, and employers alike.

Former regent Maynard, Chancellor Person and Regent Bernstein setting down with Deans and Executive Officers for breakfast.

After a quick tour of campus, Bernstein visited the Flint Cultural Center Campus for lunch and to speak at the Flint Rotary Club on the topic of college affordability.

“UM-Flint fits into a very diverse, complex, and elite institution,” Bernstein told members of the audience.

He went on to speak about the challenges facing higher education in our state.

Don Rockwell, UM-Flint Alumnus and Flint Rotary Club President, presents Bernstein with certificate of appreciation for speaking.

Following the presentation, Bernstein spent another half hour speaking with individual Rotary members and posing for photos with guests.

Bernstein’s passion for the University of Michigan, its regional campuses, and the Mid-Michigan region was apparent throughout his visit. Don’t be surprised if seeing him on campus becomes a regular part of his term as a regent.

Story and photos by: Brent Nickola

There’s a name for people who endlessly roll up their sleeves to improve the places they work and live.

Amy Krug calls them “serial volunteers.”

Krug is the Executive Director of Priority Children and a serial volunteer known for her willingness to pitch in, even on less-than-glamorous tasks. She graduated from the University of Michigan-Flint in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in general psychology, and is working to complete her Master of Health Education degree thesis.

Her altruism stems both from her education and her upbringing, said Krug, who grew up seeing parents Bob and Sherrie Krug involved in school, athletics, scouting, charitable organizations and local government.

“Both my parents are amazing volunteers,” she said.

Krug’s grandfather, Ray Dillard, has also been “incredibly active” in national, state and local organizations, such as the Flint Masonic Temple, even into his 80s.

“I didn’t learn to be a volunteer because somebody told me about it, I learned because I saw it every single day,” Krug said.

She found her own chance to volunteer while at UM-Flint. “It would have been very easy to go to class, turn around and go home. By finding something else to get involved with, it just provided the opportunity to get to know more people.”

Krug also became part of a local service-oriented sorority, Alpha Theta Chi (now the national Sigma Sigma Sigma). The leadership roles she tried on as a student became the underpinnings for Krug’s focus on benefaction.

Along with running Priority Children and events such as the Children’s Champion Awards Breakfast, Krug currently serves on UM-Flint’s Alumni Society Board of Governors, which she recently chaired. She is a director of the Rotary Club of Flint, serves on the board of directors for Resource Genesee and the Genesee County Drug Court Foundation, and is involved in multiple other efforts, including Sloan-Longway’s After Hours Under the Stars school planetarium programming fundraiser and the Flint Institute of Music Annual Auction. With two nephews and two dogs, Krug is passionate about causes for children and animals.

Originally, graduating from UM-Flint wasn’t her plan. Krug had been accepted at larger universities and planned to move on after two years.

“Once I got to UM-Flint, I liked it so much I never thought about transferring,” said Krug, who has formed lifelong connections across the county. She counts classmates and sorority members among her close friends and rubs elbows with some staff, faculty and administrators she knew as an undergrad.

University of Michigan-Flint’s Zeta Tau Chapter of Theta Chi Fraternity is receiving national recognition for its recent philanthropic and student accomplishments in the Flint community.

For the first time, the local fraternity has earned Theta Chi Fraternity’s “Howard R. Alter Award for Chapter Excellence.” The award selection is based on members completing thousands of hours of community service, raising money for local organizations such as the Salvation Army and Priority Children, and achieving the highest fraternity GPA over the previous school year at UM-Flint.

“We’re extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication to the Flint community recognized. Often times what we accomplish flies under the radar, so the recognition is definitely humbling,” stated Theta Chi President Mike Whalen.

In an age where fraternities aren’t always represented positively, the Zeta Tau Chapter is proving the stereotypes of hazing and binge drinking wrong.

Theta Chi members lending a hand at Flint’s North End Soup Kitchen

In addition to this recognition, the chapter has been selected by the national fraternity to host its first-ever Mid-Year Leadership Conference at the University of Michigan-Flint in late January. The conference annual two-day event is organized by the national fraternity, and hundreds of members of Theta Chi Fraternity from throughout Midwest are invited. Local hotels, restaurants, and downtown businesses will benefit from the conference according to Whalen.

It seems that even after Zeta Tau Chapter members graduate, they want to keep “giving back.”

In December, alumni members of the fraternity created the non-profit Zeta Tau Foundation. It is already collecting tax-deductible donations to provide grants, scholarships, and other financial aid to students at the University of Michigan-Flint, and to assist with educational improvements to housing through educational grants and other financial aid.

“Our motto is ‘an assisting hand,’ and we try to make it a point to help anyone in need. The Foundation is just another outlet that will allow us to do that,” said Wade Merril, Zeta Tau Foundation President.

By: Mel Serow

Tina Nies, who serves on the University of Michigan-Flint Alumni Society Board, works to make each commencement experience memorable, honoring families and graduates who have committed their time and resources to earn a UM-Flint education. Nies, a volunteer coordinator of the Chancellor’s Commencement Corps, writes about why she volunteers at commencement and plans to continue her volunteer leadership for years to come.

When Brent Nickola, Alumni Relations Manager, asked me to welcome new graduates into the UM-Flint Alumni Society, it seemed like a no-brainer.

“Sure, I can help out,” I said, not realizing how that simple response would completely change my outlook on graduation traditions.

Prior to my first volunteer gig at a UM-Flint commencement, I had always felt indifferent to commencement. I just didn’t get why anyone would want to go through the formality of walking across a stage to receive a piece of paper that wasn’t even the real deal. My actual diploma would be mailed to me in about a month.

I don’t even remember my high school or university graduations. It would be easy these days to blame it on aging, but the truth is, at the time I just didn’t care. Immediately after high school I entered the university as a traditional student. By the time commencement came around four years later, I was already enrolled in grad school. Commencement was just a formality I attended to humor my parents, who desired – and insisted – I walk across the stage. After all, they had just paid for four years of tuition, provided room and board, and other support ─ they had earned it.

Now I see how much it meant to my parents. I see it on the faces of the parents, spouses, and friends of new graduates every time I volunteer at commencement. I feel it in their energy and excitement as I help them take family pictures, direct them to the best seats to watch their graduate, and give them tissues to wipe their tears.

I was a legacy student following in the footprints of my father, who graduated from UM-Flint in the late ‘70s. He earned his undergraduate degree as a working, married man with two young children, yet graduated with high honors! Seeing the jubilance of graduates, families and friends reminded me of the pride of my father’s parents, my mother and my family as they attended his ceremonies and witnessed him receiving his honor cords.

By December of 2010, when I stood on the commencement stage as the alumni speaker, my father had sadly already passed away. I finally felt the significance of the ceremony, and what it meant to my parents to watch me walk across the stage, with pride and excitement for what would lie ahead in my life.

I was touched to be on that stage, 21 years after my own graduation, sharing the pride felt by each of the families and students I was honored to induct as new alumni.

Now I continue to volunteer at every commencement I can. As the procession begins, I stand on the concourse and watch the smiling graduates march in and take their seats. It’s especially touching to see the faces of the non-traditional students, like my father, who sacrificed so much to meet their goals. It brings tears to my eyes every time. The only way the experience could get any better would be if my father was right there with me, watching our new fellow alumni walk across the stage.

Please join me as a volunteer at the next commencement on December 9^th and experience commencement in a whole new way.

Tina Nies, B.B.A. ‘89

Tina’s experience serving as a volunteer in the Chancellor’s Commencements Corps has inspired her to take a leadership role in the program by coordinating the volunteers on commencement day. If you are interested in helping at the Dec. 9 commencement ceremony, please contact Tina at tina@tinanies.com  There is also a Facebook event here.

Commencement Volunteer Details:

• Shift start times include 10:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 3:00.
• What will you do?  Help families take photos, handout programs,  hand out programs, collect tickets, sign up new alumni leaders, and more..

Nevermind the NHL lockout. Quench your hockey cravings at Flint’s first-ever Carburetor Cup, when UM-Flint will face off against rival Kettering University. The puck drops at 8 p.m. at Perani Arena.

The traveling trophy is expected to fuel a rivalry that began heating up even before 2009 graduate Tom Garavaglia started UM-Flint’s hockey club.

“Kettering is absolutely a rival team for us,” said Michael Schunot, a former player now in his first year as the team’s head coach. “The schools are close together and a lot of these guys grew up playing against one another.”

The club is 6-1 this season. Players recently won 6-5 over Michigan State University’s club team in a shootout, and twice defeated Oakland, a team they’d beaten only once before this year. About 80 percent of the team hails from Genesee County schools.

Schunot said he is expecting strong efforts from several players, especially senior goalie Kirk Allen, senior forward Matt Murdock, junior forward Dan Cowan, junior defenseman Brian Gibbons, and junior forward Will Dawson.

“All the players are leading forth on the team. They do a great job contributing both offensively and defensively,” Schunot said.

The Michigan-Flint club is now in its sixth year. In the 2009-2010 season, the club joined Division 3 of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and later the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC).

Team General Manager Bill Golling said expectations were high that first year. Enthusiasm for the sport didn’t translate into wins, though. The team went 1-32 the first year and won two games the second year.

“Sports teaches us different lessons — not always the most important lessons — but it does teach lessons along the way,” said Golling, who coached the team the first four seasons.

Assistant coach Don Edwards of Linden said by the third season the team started winning some games, providing a lift and some much-needed motivation.

“A combination of a lot of things have helped us improve: Players who have been with us from the beginning have gotten much better, new kids have added to the talent. And we’ve gone from not just competing, but competing to do the best,” Edwards said.

Last year the team made it to the regional playoffs, and was one win away from a bid in the national tournament.

Kirk Allen, president of the UM-Flint hockey club, has seen a noticeable shift during the five years he’s been goaltending with the team.

“Our team has gotten better, our record has gotten better, the team chemistry has gotten better,” said Allen, noting players take practices seriously and have strengthened team cohesiveness. “It’s very exciting to be part of the team through all the changes.”

Allen, 22, is studying elementary education at UM-Flint. He started skating at 2, became a goalie when he was 8, was a goaltender for Swartz Creek, and has been coaching youth hockey the past seven years. UM-Flint proved a perfect fit for his educational, hockey, and youth coaching goals.

“I looked at UM-Flint right away because it was close to home, I could play hockey, stay involved with the community and maintain a social life on campus,” said Allen.

Sponsorship from Golling Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Bloomfield Hills helps offset the cost to players, who pay $250 a month during the season, and participate in club fundraisers. Support for the program has come from other corners, too, Golling said, such as UM-Flint Chancellor Ruth Person and Club Sports Coordinator Dillon Thorne.

This is Schunot’s sixth year with the program. He joined as a player while completing graduate studies in social science and served as an assistant coach before taking on the role of head coach this year. He’s also a teacher at Grand Blanc Middle School.

Schunot has high hopes for continuing the season’s success. “We’re looking to carry that momentum forward to win the MCHC conference, the Big 10 tournament and make it to the nationals for the first time in the program’s history. If we can do those things we’ll consider it a successful season.”

Both Schunot and Allen are looking forward to the Carburetor Cup. Kettering is always one of the first teams players look for on the schedule, said Allen.

“There is that cross-town rivalry, and we get a good turnout,” said Allen. “Regardless of how our season or their season is going, it’s always an intense game.”

The Cup is a phenomenal opportunity for UM-Flint alumni and students to watch the ice heat up and witness history in the making as the two teams compete for the first trophy. A portion of gate fees will go to support the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Flint. The Office of Alumni Relations has reserved the Blue Line Room, a private suite overlooking the game, for alumni and students. Free pizza and soft drinks will be served. The puck drops at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, at Perani Arena.

Carburetor Cup

What: First Carburetor Cup, winning team is awarded traveling trophy

Contenders: UM-Flint vs. Kettering University

When: 8:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2

Where: Perani Arena & Event Center, 3501 Lapeer Road, Flint

Who: Open to all; free to UM-Flint students and faculty and to children 12 and younger

Cost: $5 adults / $3 seniors 60 +

Partners: Boys & Girls Club of Greater Flint, University of Michigan-Flint Hockey Team, Kettering University Hockey Team, University of Michigan-Flint Office of Alumni Relations.