Welcome to the Central Pennsylvania Torch Club

Art Goldschmidt is Professor Emeritus of Middle East History at Penn State. He is the author of a widely used textbook, A Concise History of the Middle East, now in its 12th edition. He is currently working with another professor on the 13thedition. He has also written two general histories of Egypt, the Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt and the Historical Dictionary of Egypt, and a translation of the memoirs of an Egyptian nationalist leader. Between 1965 and 2000, he taught courses in Middle Eastern, European, non-Western, and world history, as well as a freshman seminar on the history of Penn State. He held fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, the Social Science Research Council, Durham University, and the American Research Center in Egypt. He twice taught on the Semester at Sea. He has served this club as secretary or as corresponding secretary since 2012. He currently serves on the Central Committee of the project to write a history of the International Association of Torch Clubs. He is married to Louise, and they have two sons and a granddaughter.         

Born and raised in Port Huron, Michigan, I was a Geek in High School where I was on the Debate Team and was known for my aggressive moves on the chess board. After receiving a BSc degree in Psychology at Michigan, I earned a PhD in Psychobiology at Indiana University for my work investigating the effects of psychomotor stimulants and antipsychotic drugs on the neurochemistry and neurophysiology of the mammalian brain.  I did my postdoctoral training at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, where I received an NIH National Research Service Award. I am currently Emeritus Professor in Penn State’s College of Medicine.  During my tenure at Penn State over the past 30 years, my research was aimed at elucidating the functional organization of neural circuits in the mammalian forebrain.  While at Hershey from 1990 to 2011, I taught neuroscience to thousands of medical students and co-authored a textbook entitled Medical Neuroscience, which was named one of the “Best Books in the Health Sciences” by Doody’s Book Review in the year 2000.  This textbook was translated into Frenc and Italian, and in 2005 the College of Medicine awarded me the title of Distinguished Educator.  In 2011 I moved my research lab to University Park where I became a faculty member in the Center for Neural Engineering and an adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology.  During my last five years at University Park, I was the Director of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at the Huck Institute. I am married to Cathi Alloway, who was Director of the Schlow Public Library from 2010 to 2021. We have two children.  Our daughter played field hockey for Penn State while earning a degree in Hospitality, and our son Christopher was a Schreyer honors student while earning a BSc degree in mechanical engineering.

Jeffry D. Wert (born May 8, 1946) is an American historian and award-winning author specializing in the American Civil War. He has written several books on the subject, which have been published in multiple languages and countries.  Wert's interest in history first began after an eighth grade school field trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield. After high school he graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Lock Haven University, and a M.A. from The Pennsylvania State University, both in History. He worked for many years as a history teacher at Penns Valley Area High School in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania. He lives in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania.  

Bob Hendrickson was born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota.  He earned a BS in zoology from North Dakota State University, an MED Degree at Indiana University, Bloomington and a DED degree majoring in Higher Education Administration with a minor in Law.  He held administrative positions in Student Affairs at the University of Wisconsin -Whitewater and Northwestern University.  He held faculty positions in Higher Education Administration at Montana State University and The University of Virginia.  In 1984 he and his family moved to State College to become an Associate Professor in Education.  While at Penn State he served as Professor in Charge of the Higher Education Program, Department Head of Education Policy Studies, and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs.  He retired as an Emeritus Professor in 2013.  Bob and his wife Linda, who taught in the State College Area School District, have 2 sons and 4 grandchildren.  Bob’s hobbies include wine making, woodworking and building historic model ships.

I grew up in State College, graduated from Penn State, and the law school of the University of Pennsylvania.  After law school, I served two years on active duty in the Army including one year in Vietnam as a captain with an artillery battalion which was based in Cu Chi, near the Cambodian border.  Among my military awards, I received two bronze stars.

After the Army, I practiced law for forty-eight years in Lock Haven as a member of Snowiss, Steinberg & Faulkner, including serving as solicitor of Clinton County for forty years.  In 2001, I was honored as the Pennsylvania County Solicitor of the Year.  I have also represented the City of Lock Haven, FergusonTownship, and numerous economic development authorities and organizations including being appointed by the governor as an original member of the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority.   In 1999, I was recognized by the Clinton County Economic Partnership with the O’Reilly Award “given annually to the person who has done the most to improve Clinton County.”  Currently, I serve as the chairman of the Ferguson Township Planning Commission.

My most significant professional achievement was representing the Lock Haven Area Flood Protection Authority. Over a number of years, the Authority was responsible for all necessary actions to acquire the necessary property and construct a dike and levee system around the City of Lock Haven. The purpose of this project was to prevent future devastation as that which had resulted from the effects of Hurricane Agnes in 1972.  (This project was also helpful in putting our children through college.)

Susan and I had two children.. Our son, Michael, is deceased, survived by our daughter-in-law and are two grandsons.  Michael was a partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm.  Our daughter, Naomi, is the Vice President for Advocacy and Policy for HIAS, an international refugee and resettlement agency based in Washington, D.C.

Ford Risley is a Distinguished Professor in the Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State where he has been on the faculty since 1995. He teaches Mass Media History, Mass American Journalism and other courses. His research centers on mass media history, especially Civil War-era journalism. He is the author, co-author, or editor of five books.  His book, Abolition and the Press: The Moral Struggle Against Slavery(Northwestern, 2008) won the American Journalism Historians Association’s award for the best book on media history. He also has published articles, essays, and book reviews in American Journalism, Civil War History, Georgia Historical Quarterly, and Journalism History.  He served as associate dean for undergraduate and graduate education in the Bellisario College from 2014-2020. Prior to that, he was head of the Department of Journalism from 2002-2014. He holds a B.A. from Auburn University, a M.A. from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Centre County Historical Society and is co-editor of the Centre County Encyclopedia of History & Culture. He and his wife, Mary, have two daughters and one granddaughter

John Golbeck is Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The Pennsylvania State University. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Valparaiso University, and his Ph.D. in biological chemistry from Indiana University, the latter under the supervision of Prof. Anthony San Pietro. His postdoctoral studies were carried out at Martin Marietta Laboratories, Baltimore, MD, with the biophysicist Dr. Bessel Kok. John has taken sabbatical leaves at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1984), the Centre d’Etudes Nucl´eaires de Saclay in Paris (1991), the Freie Universität, Berlin (2002), and Brock University in St. Catharines, ON (2017). He is an Emeritus Fellow of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany. John’s research specializes in iron containing proteins called ferredoxins in photosynthesis. Over the past 50 years, he has edited two books and published 247 peer reviewed scientific papers, and he graduated 20 Ph.D. students and 10 M.S. students. Although John retired in 2022, he continues to do research and publish. His outside interests include amateur radio (callsign W3JHG), helium picoballoon global circumnavigation, and photography (https://quantumphotography.godaddysites.com). He and Carolyn are enjoying their retirement years by traveling on Amtrak in the US and ViaRail in Canada. John was recruited as a member of Torch Club in 2017 by Roy Hammerstedt and served in the positions of vice-president and president in 2020/1 and 2021/2, respectively.

Larry Ragan is a retired educator and thought leader in the field of instructional design and online learning. His passion for education and technology led him to pursue a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems at Penn State University, where he specialized in the use of technology for the design and development of learning systems. He earned his PhD from Penn State in 1993. Larry retired in 2018 after 34 years with Penn State where he served in various leadership roles.

Larry has maintained a lifelong passion for all things natural flora and fauna and environs. Nurturing a strong interest in birds and wildlife he has explored Ecuadorian and Australian rainforest, African plains and a few places in between.

Although he continues to consult on educational equity projects his passion and pursuits are gardening, fly fishing, and supporting St Rita’s primary school in Buea, Cameroon. He and his wife Laurie have three adult children. Larry and Laurie reside in State College, PA.

The Rideau Canal is a series of rivers, lakes and connecting locks and canals that form a continuous waterway from Kingston to Ottawa, in eastern Ontario, Canada. It is 202 kilometres (125 miles) long, of which about 19 kilometres (12 miles) is man made (locks and canal cuts), the rest are natural waters. There are 45 locks in 23 lockstations along the main route of the Rideau plus 2 locks that link the Tay Canal to the Rideau. From Lake Ontario at Kingston the canal rises 50.6 metres (166.2 feet) to the summit of Upper Rideau Lake and then descends 83.8 metres (275 feet) to the Ottawa River at Ottawa. Water depths range from 1.5 metres (5 feet) to 90 metres (300 feet).

 It is the oldest continuously operated canal in North America. Most of the locks are still operated by hand, using the same mechanisms that were used to operate the locks in 1832. As you travel the Rideau, you are viewing living history. The Rideau isn't just a canal cut (only 10% is man-made), it's a waterway combining canals, rivers and lakes. This makes the Rideau a wonderful blend of urban, rural and natural landscapes. You can see million dollar homes, quaint cottages, and loons swimming in a sheltered, undisturbed bay, all in the same day.

The Canal crosses the Frontenac Axis, which is a crystalline rock connection between the Canadian Shield and the Adirondacks.  Where it crosses the St. Lawrence River it is manifest as the Thousand Islands.  There is an exposure of an angular unconformity near Elgin, ON, which is the type of feature encountered by James Hutton, a British Geologist, at Sickar Point in northern Scotland, which caused him to appreciate the depth of geologic time.

TBA