McMicken College Honors Outstanding Alumni

The McMicken College of Arts and Sciences presented its Distinguished Alumni Awards as part of homecoming celebrations last month. The awards recognize UC alumni who have made significant contributions in their fields. UC is proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of this year’s winners.

Mary Sargent

Mary Sargent may not have finished her degree, but that hasn’t kept her from making her mark.

If you’ve ever used Ivory soap, Crisco shortening, or Jif peanut butter, then you’re familiar with Mary Sargent’s work. For over 40 years she worked in the labs of Procter and Gamble, helping to develop products that many of us use every day. She was also the first female technician in P & G’s research and development department, where she blazed a trail that many women would follow.

Born on a farm in Pendleton, Kentucky, Mary Sargent was the second of 10 children. When her family lost the farm in the Great Depression, they moved to Tennessee, where they lived in a log cabin in the woods, often barely able to make ends meet. Although lack of money and transportation often made it difficult to attend school as a child, Mary was diligent in her studies and managed to earn a small scholarship to Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where she studied before transferring to the University of Cincinnati to study organic chemistry and mathematics.

Mary was enrolled in her final semester here at UC in the fall of 1943 when she learned that her mother had been killed by a drunk driver. In order to help support her nine brothers and sisters, Mary reluctantly withdrew from university and went to work. For the next two years she contributed to the war effort on the home front, first sewing rucksacks and parachutes, then later assembling tiny transistors for military electronics.

In 1945, just two days after the end of World War II, Mary began working for Procter and Gamble in their quality control lab. She was told it was a temporary position, and to expect that it would soon be filled as young men returned home from the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. Five years later she would be called into her supervisor’s office —for a promotion.

Mary was assigned to the Research Management and Development division – she was the first woman to work in the department. P&G was unsure that a woman could excel in the highly technical, male-dominated department, but Mary quickly laid those fears to rest, and within a year several other women were hired to the department. Mary herself would remain there for five years before being transferred again, this time to the new Miami Valley Laboratory (now the Miami Valley Innovation Center), where she worked until she retired in 1988 - her “temporary” position at P&G finally ended after 42 years.

Although she’s moved out of the laboratory and into retirement, her legacy is carried on by the many women who have followed in her footsteps working in highly technical and scientific fields at P&G, including her own daughter, who was born while Mary was still attending UC. Mary’s life and career are a celebration of education, dedication, achievement, and progress, and the University of Cincinnati is proud to call her one of our own.

Frederick Merkel

Dr. Frederick Merkel has been on the cutting edge of transplant surgery for the last 50 years. A founding member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Dr. Merkel has given lectures around the world and been a driving force in his field. But what has become his life’s work all started with a summer job that no one else wanted.

Frederick Merkel studied as an undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati, earning himself a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University. But like so many students he still needed to work to support himself, so he went looking for a summer job.

“They told me that they were giving some grants to students who would work in the animal research lab during the summer,” Merkel remembers. “Not too many students were interested in doing that, but I took the job.”

As it turned out, the lab was run by Mr. Vivian Thomas. Thomas was the long-time assistant to the chief of surgery at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Alfred Blalock. Blalock and Thomas had gained global renown for their pioneering techniques in cardiovascular surgery – the Emmy-winning 2004 HBO film “Something The Lord Made” chronicled their work together.

While working in the lab, Blalock suggested that Merkel work on an experiment involving liver transplants in canines. Merkel accepted, and before long he had become deeply involved in transplant research. When the time came for Merkel to pursue his internship, Dr. Blalock recommended he work with Blalock’s protégé, Dr. William Longmire, at UCLA. Their first meeting would be memorable.

“I got down to the operating room,” Merkel recalls. “I saw the enraged Dr. Longmire, who was apoplectic, throwing a blond resident through the doors and screaming ‘Don’t you ever come back!’

“And so Dr. Longmire looked at me and said, ‘And who are you?’ And so I meekly said, ‘Well, I’m Fred Merkel.’ He said, ‘Where are you from?’ I said, ‘Johns Hopkins.’ So he softened a little bit and I added that I was a medical student two or three days ago, I’ve just started my internship. He said, ‘Well you’re all I’ve got, scrub in.’

”So we did the surgery and the patient did well. Dr. Longmire then took a shine to me. My life after that at UCLA was much better.”

Merkel went on to the University of Minnesota where he continued to explore the still-fledgling field of transplant surgery. In 1966 he was tapped to present a case on pancreas transplants to the inaugural meeting of the Transplant Society in Paris, France. 

“So when I went to Paris to give my talk Tom was there and he introduced me to some of the people he knew and then I had to give my talk. And I got up and I couldn’t speak. I had never given a talk before a large group and I just couldn’t say a word.

“And so Peter Medawar said, ‘Drink this glass.’ He gave me a glass of water. He said, ‘Drink this and then tell, give us your talk.’ So I gave the talk, and then that was it. After that, I’ve been talking ever since.”

Merkel went on to spearhead the creation of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, which today boasts membership including more than 2,000 transplant surgeons, physicians, scientists and allied health professionals from around the globe. Merkel himself would go on to become the ASTS’s fifth president, serving from 1978-79. Since then he has continued to be at the forefront of his field, working to expand the field of transplant surgery and helping to mentor the next generation of transplant surgeons.

“I just think that transplantation is such a wonderful field,” he says. “It covers so many different areas and, and mentorship is important, teaching is important, we need to continue this. We need to be able to help people.”

Urban Meyer

Long before being named head coach of the Ohio State University football team, Urban Meyer began his coaching career on a smaller scale here in Cincinnati. Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School was the first place the University of Cincinnati alum utilized his coaching skills as an intern in 1986.

After graduating from Saint John High School in Ashtabula, Ohio, Meyer spent two years playing minor league baseball for the Atlanta Braves. However, upon entering the University of Cincinnati, Meyer dove into football, playing defensive back for the school’s team before graduating in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Following his graduation from UC, Meyer attended the Ohio State University and worked with Coach Earle Bruce’s staff for two years as a graduate assistant. During this time, Meyer coached tight ends and receivers.

In December 2009, both Sporting News and Sports Illustrated named Meyer the “Coach of the Decade.” Meyer’s success is exemplified in the success of his former players. For example, 30 of his former players at the University of Florida were chosen in the NFL Draft.

Meyer has coached a number of college teams across America including University of Utah and the University of Florida, before he returned to Ohio and the university where he first coached. However, this time he would be joining the Ohio State University as head coach.

Meyer distinguished himself as a coach even further by assisting his players to be successful in life after football. Meyer’s program at OSU, “Real Life Wednesdays,” allows players to learn more about the importance of completing their degrees and reaching academic goals; attend leadership seminars; prepare for job interviews; as well as gain information about financial management and entrepreneurship. Some of the program’s speakers include Harley Davidson CEO Keith Wandell, Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis, and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Meyer, who is in his 29th season as a collegiate coach, has been consistently successful in his career. He is the collegiate football coach with the highest winning percentage, -.837; 128-25, of any active coach with at least 10 years of experience. In 2012, Meyer’s coaching skills were recognized when he was named the Ohio College Coach of the Year.

Additionally, Meyer’s team at OSU set a school record with a 24-game winning streak – the fourth longest in Big Ten history. He has coached his teams to double-digit winning streaks five times in his career at Bowling Green State University, University of Florida, University of Utah, and the Ohio State University. 

The University of Cincinnati was also home to most of Meyer’s family. Meyer is married to Shelley Mather, who graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing in 1987.  Meyer’s father, the late Urban F. Meyer, Sr., as well as Meyer’s sisters, Gisela “Gigi” Escoe and Erika Meyer Judd, also attended the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

Gigi Escoe

For Gisela “Gigi” Escoe, the decision to return home was easy.

This year’s McMicken Distinguished Alumni Awards are a family event for Escoe. After being nominated by her sister, and fellow UC graduate, Erika Meyer Judd, Escoe and her brother, Urban Meyer, will be recognized by the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I came to UC at a very young. I was only 16 years old,” Escoe, current and first Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, said. “Being in a college setting was incredibly exciting. I could become whoever I wanted to be.”

During her time at UC, Escoe maintained two different worlds – one academic, in the physics program, and one social, with her sorority. At the time the UC Physics Department was much smaller, and Escoe was the only woman in her class. She often surprised her classmates and friends because she was able to maintain a serious academic life in addition to being active in her sorority.

Escoe attributes a large portion of her success to her involvement in the college’s honors program. Having access to smaller classes and the opportunities that came with the honors program helped Escoe to be successful at UC and beyond.

“In particular, Dick Friedman, who’s getting his award the same night, ran the honors program back then,” Escoe said. “I always felt that he took special care of me because he knew how young I was.” 

After graduating from UC’s physics program with college honors, Escoe briefly left Cincinnati to pursue a master’s degree and Ph.D. in economics at the Ohio State University.

“I received a great education at UC so I was ready for what I wanted to do next,” Escoe said. “I think my growth at UC was very balanced. I developed socially from a 16-year-old into a young woman, and intellectually at the same time.”

While in the process of completing her graduate degree, Escoe began working as an economic analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1991, she returned to the university, joining UC’s Department of Economics.

“It’s quite a privilege to go back and make a difference where you went to undergrad,” Escoe said.

Escoe’s work ethic and devotion to UC paved the way for a successful career. From 2000 to 2001, Escoe served as the Head of the Department of Economics before she entered the role of Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs for McMicken.

Following that position, Escoe worked as Senior Associate Dean from 2005 to 2006, then as Vice Provost for Assessment and Student Learning from 2007 to 2010 before beginning her current role. Escoe was the first person to work in her last two roles at the university.

“We were created for each other,” Escoe said about her jobs. One of Escoe’s favorite aspects of these roles is that they are student-centered. “I think the one reputation I’ve always had is ‘students first.’”

When asked about her proudest accomplishment, Escoe responds not with an award or career accomplishment but instead with a heartfelt answer: “My family.” Referring to her husband, Jim, and daughters, Brianna and Maria.

Having a family history in Cincinnati, Escoe’s roots run deep through the city. And Escoe enjoyed her time as a student at UC so much, her younger siblings, Urban Meyer and Erika Meyer Judd, also attended UC.

“My relationship with UC is so much different than many other people’s because my grandfather went here, my father went here, I went here, my siblings went here,” Escoe said. “UC always took care of me.”

Richard Friedman

After completing an impressive 42-year run, Richard “Dick” E. Friedman left the University of Cincinnati. Friedman accomplished a number of things while working at the university; however, his latest return will be under a new title – one of McMicken’s distinguished alumni.
 
Upon entering the University of Cincinnati as a student, Friedman found a strong support system to help him through his time in the department of philosophy. Friedman recalls how he found the family he was looking for in a number of professors within the department.

“The divorce of my mother and father made my home life particularly difficult,” Friedman said, “so I found UC, following my graduation from a strong college preparatory program at Walnut Hills High School, to be quite welcome and found it to be the ‘home’ I did not have elsewhere.”

Friedman graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1968. And in 1971, Friedman returned to the university joining the faculty in the department of philosophy.

Additionally, Friedman remained dedicated to the college he attended as a student, later serving as Assistant Dean of McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. For a time, Friedman also directed the campus-wide McMicken Honors program and advised many undergraduate students.

“Being someone who was given a serious inside look at the academy of higher education,” Friedman said, “I found the mentoring that I received from the faculty to be so inviting and so intellectually inspiring that I concluded that higher education was the niche in life for me.”

By the time Friedman retired from the University of Cincinnati in 2013, he had a remarkable record of achievements as both a faculty member and administrator. He served as assistant to President Joseph Steger for 14 years where the two worked together on issues regarding administrative, faculty, and student matters. Friedman also worked in the university as Interim Assistant Vice Provost of Student Affairs and Senior Assistant Dean for Alumni Affairs.

While working as a faculty member, Friedman remained dedicated to providing students with the same great education he received during his time at UC. He taught numerous philosophy courses and even developed an online learning module in the philosophy of sports that is now a core course offering in UC’s sports administration program.

Friedman remains active in creating a better community today, playing a large role in both the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame and the Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati.

His commitment to achieving professional and civic accomplishments was recognized by numerous organizations including Cincinnati Kollel, the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education and the Mideast Honors Association. 

In addition to being recognized by McMicken as a distinguished alumni award winner, Friedman has been awarded the Mayor’s Friendship Medallion, which was presented by the Cincinnati Human Relations Council.

“My proudest accomplishments are my students, my mentees, my advisees.” Friedman said. “I have on many occasions said that I viewed my role as a central administrator at the university was to see to it that my ‘kids’ had every opportunity to be successful. The significant successes of so many of my ‘kids’ is and continues to be the proudest moments of all time for me.”