’Mid the Pines Podcast

Join us for an inspiring chat with Lissa (Swanson '10) Yanak about her journey from Grove City College to a career as a Licensed Professional Counselor, and her recent shift into Life Coaching.  Lissa is passionate about empowering others and explores how our mindset, attitude, and habits transform adversity into opportunity – something she's learned from her own journey as a two-time Cancer "Thri...

Rob Kunst '19 graduated with a major in Finance and an Analytics minor, and he's now working at Protiviti as a Senior Consultant for the Risk & Compliance practice in New York City.  How did Rob go from Butler, PA to a consulting job in NYC?  In this episode, Rob will share how he took the vision and values of the Wolverine Football team off the field and networked with alumni to land his current...

2013 Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement Award winner Dr. Randy Wilber '76  is a senior physiologist at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. He has served Team USA athletes at 11 Olympic games, including elite athletes like Michael Phelps, Apollo Ohno, Katie Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, and many others. His work with athletes focuses on altitude training, heat/humidity acclimatiza...

Laura Fryan '11 and Aubrey Patton's '10 friendship has taken them from Grove City College to Northeast Ohio, where they have supported each other as their families have grown and are now working together to grow their shared hobby of interior design into a start-up consulting business, the Love Living Here Design, Co. We’re going to explore their experiences together in business and also be sure t...

After completing his degree in Business Management at Grove City College, Falco Muscante '20 went on to law school at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh where he is currently completing his Juris Doctor degree and working as a Summer Associate for K & L Gates, a multinational law firm spanning five continents, one of the top international law firms in the world. While the pandemic provided an unexp...

Bill Smith, class of 1969, is one of our most accomplished alumni and is a past recipient of the Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement Award. After graduating from Grove City College with a degree in Business Administration, Bill launched his career with companies like RCA Computer Systems, Xerox Data Systems, and Rockwell International Corporation before co-founding Smith Micro Software, Inc....

Dr. Don Shockey, class of 1963, has lived a life that many people would consider fascinating, and that Don himself calls “The Improbable Journey.” How did this Pennsylvania farm boy find himself researching shock wave physics and materials fracture science, working for the Stanford Research Institute, consulting for NASA, and pursuing hobbies like working with the ski patrol at Lake Tahoe and divi...

Grove City College Alumni Association president and member of the class of 1979, Carol MacGamwell Yannuzzi, has had great success combining her business and fundraising skills with a personal passion for the issue of type 1 diabetes.  She has been promoting the research, education, and advocacy of diabetes through her roles at the American Diabetes Association and JDRF, formerly known as the Juven...

Christopher Parker, class of 1993, has served as a music educator for 14 years, and he’s also been a high school principal, and even a substitute teacher for a time. Chris is married to Tracy, and they share their lives in Rochester, New York, with their 3 beautiful children, a 10-year-old son and 9-year-old twins, a son and daughter. Today’s podcast focuses on the story of Chris’ prolonged battle...

Dr. Andy Sems '95 is one of our most accomplished alumni who will soon be returning to campus for the College’s 142nd Commencement to address our Class of 2022. After graduating from Grove City College, Dr. Sems completed his medical training at The Ohio State University and his orthopaedic surgery residency at The Cleveland Clinic, with fellowships in Austria and at the University of Minnesota/He...

We caught up with Jake Loosararian '13, founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics to talk about his journey from "Grover to Gecko" and points in between. Find out more about Jake and his quickly expanding company that now has a presence in the Netherlands, a brand new 70,000 square foot Pittsburgh headquarters at Nova Place, and the largest 2022 investor funding round ($73M) in the Pittsburgh region to da...

Our guests on the ‘Mid the Pines podcast are a husband-and-wife team, Nate Mucha, class of 2008 and Amy Fisher Mucha, class of 2009. Nate and Amy live and work in Kent, OH, each owning a growing business while raising a young family together. In work and life, this couple has surrounded themselves with a community of Grove City College alumni!

Amy Evans from Grove City College is joined by alumna Karin (Hawkins) Reed, class of 1992.  Karin is an Emmy award-winning journalist and CEO of Speaker Dynamics, a corporate communications training firm, featured in Forbes. While speaking through a webcam might be relatively new to much of the world, Karin has been teaching business professionals how to be effective on-camera communicators for ne...

Joanie Baumgartner from Grove City College talks with alumna Kathy Hunt, class of 1991, also known as “Kitchen Kat.” Kathy is a professional writer, blogger, a trained chef, a cooking class instructor, and lecturer. She’s a lifetime learner with 2 master’s degrees and culinary school rounding out her Grove City College degree.  She’s accomplished all this while also being a consummate world travel...

Christine (Bittler '97) Keener receives the Jack Kennedy Alumni Achievement Award at Homecoming 2021.  She is vice president of operations, in Europe and North America, for Alcoa, Inc., where she is responsible for the operational performance of 10 production facilities in Europe and North America employing over 6,300. Most recently, she served as VP Commercial & Strategy where she led marketing,...

Dr. Brian Pall '94, director of Global Clinical Science, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., accepts the Jack Kennedy Alumni Achievement Award at Grove City College's Homecoming 2021. Dr. Pall leads a team of research clinicians who are developing the next generation of contact lens products. Throughout his career, he has focused on soft contact lens product development from prototype to global l...

A. Christopher Bakken III '82 accepts the Jack Kennedy Alumni Achievement Awards award at Homecoming 2021. He is the executive vice president of nuclear operations and chief nuclear officer at Entergy Nuclear and is responsible for plants in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Michigan, and Nebraska. An enterprise leader, he builds relationships with stakeholders and the nuclear industry, and is...

Grove City College President Paul McNulty '80 and his wife Brenda '80 recount their unique experiences of 9/11 as a family in the public eye. Paul arrived at work at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as the first planes were crashing in New York City. Events unfolded quickly, and within days, Paul was appointed the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, ultimately resultin...

On 9/11, Steve Frank '74 was a full-time Army National Guard LTC assigned as Director of Public Works, U.S. Army Engineer Corps. He was on a phone call with the Pentagon when he heard a loud "bang" and the line went dead. He had heard Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon in real-time, and was immediately deployed to Ft. Hood, Texas to assume command of the 4th Infantry Division’s Rear Operations Cent...

Jim Hogan '79 was retired from the Air Force and working as a civilian employee in the Freedom of Information Office at the Pentagon on 9/11. He recounts his miraculous evacuation from the building that day.   This audio interview was conducted by Grove City College Archivist Hilary (Lewis '09) Walczak. These recordings are the property of Grove City College and may not be used without permission....

Tom Gregg '80, former Vice President of Operations, shares his memory of campus life during the events on 9/11.  He recollects his day and how the events unfolded, as well as the response from the campus community that day and years later.    This audio interview was conducted by Grove City College Archivist Hilary (Lewis '09) Walczak. These recordings are the property of Grove City College and ma...

Todd Gibson '02 was a senior Political Science student and captain of the football team at Grove City College on September 11, 2001.  Todd shares his recollection of the day, from hearing about the news to recognizing the impact across campus.  He also shares the impact 9/11 had throughout the week with events cancelled or postponed, including football practices and games.   This audio interview w...

Former Dean of the Chapel (1999-2018), Stan Keehlwetter, shares his memory of 9/11 on-campus.  Stan recalls the student's response as the most moving experience in his 19 years of service at Grove City College.   This audio interview was conducted by Grove City College Archivist Hilary (Lewis '09) Walczak. These recordings are the property of Grove City College and may not be used without permissi...

Listen in to the recording of Grove City College's Chapel service on Thursday, September 13, 2001 - featuring Roger K. Towle '68 (Then-Vice President of Financial Affairs at Grove City College).   This audio interview was conducted by Grove City College Archivist Hilary (Lewis '09) Walczak. These recordings are the property of Grove City College and may not be used without permission. Contact coll...

Listen in to the recording of Grove City College's Chapel service on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - featuring then and current Professor of Music, Beverly Carter.   This audio interview was conducted by Grove City College Archivist Hilary (Lewis '09) Walczak. These recordings are the property of Grove City College and may not be used without permission. Contact collegearchives@gcc.edu for more info...