By AMASA SMITH
Contributing Writer
Allegheny College’s Board of Trustees welcomed five new members during their Board Meeting in October. Jennifer Daurora, ’99, Tony Dias, ’86, Roger Gurner, ’63, Jim Wible, ’71 and Nancy Yovetich, ’87 joined the board after being invited by the Trusteeship Committee and then approved by the full Board of Trustees for a term of four years. Allegheny’s Board of Trustees is the governing body of the College that sets policy and oversees fiscal management. It can include up to fifty members, but currently they number 41.
“It is the Board’s job to make sure that Allegheny is as strong an institution in the future as it is today,” said The President’s Chief of Staff Gilly Ford.The Trustees’ academic responsibilities include approving the school’s academic mission, monitoring academic programming and approving the promotion and tenure of faculty. Their fiscal responsibilities are managing endowments, approving the operating budget, planning and approving capital projects and long-term debt, and planning and participating in capital campaigns.
Dias noted the importance of the Board guiding the institution as a whole and making sure that it has strong faculty, great facilities and relevant education that meets the needs of employers and graduate schools. In addition, the Board is also responsible for electing new members to the Board, hiring and evaluating the President and approving all graduates and honorary degree recipients. The entire Board convenes three times a year; however, some committees come together more frequently.
Daurora lives with her husband in Pittsburgh, Penn. A 1999 graduate of Allegheny with a degree in Economics, she now works for McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores, a family business, which has three retail stores in the Pittsburgh area. Daurora volunteers in her community and is the National Vice President of the sorority Alpha Chi Omega. She was honored as one of Pittsburgh’s “50 Finest,” as well as “40 under 40” in Pittsburgh Magazine and “Fast Trackers” in the Pittsburgh Business Times. Before becoming a member of the Board, she served on Allegheny’s Alumni Council.
Dias graduated from Allegheny in 1986 with a degree in mathematics, then studied at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is now a partner at Jones Day, a large law firm in D.C., where he practices in the areas of product liability and recalls, consumer protection, industry-wide litigation and corporate conduct and practices, and is the Practice Leader of the Firm’s Global Financial Institution’s Litigation and Regulatory Practice. Dias lives with his wife, also a lawyer, and has two sons, one of whom is a freshman at Allegheny. He was recognized in Pittsburgh Magazine’s “40 Under 40” and Pittsburgh Business Times’ “Fast Trackers.” He works to prevent child abuse and neglect, and was awarded the Parental Stress Center’s Frieda Shapira Friend of the Family Award.
Gurner is a 1963 Allegheny graduate with a degree in geology and earned an MBA from Central Michigan University. He graduated with honors from the Defense Systems Management College. Gurner is a former colonel in the U.S. Air Force and was involved with information technology and weapons acquisition. He now works for CoVant as Executive Vice President. The company makes and oversees targeted equity investment in companies protecting advanced solutions for the national defense, homeland security, information technology and government technology services markets.
Wible graduated from Allegheny with a degree in economics in 1971 and then received an MBA from Xavier University. He co-founded American Colors, a custom color house, in 1975. Today, Wible serves as president of the company, which has three manufacturing plants and sales offices and provides colorants, toll manufacturing and intermediate products to other industries. Since graduating, he has served Allegheny College in multiple ways as a volunteer. He and his wife, Norma, ’73, currently live in Sandusky, Ohio.
Yovetich graduated in 1987 magna cum laude with a degree in psychology from Allegheny. She received her master’s degree and then her doctorate from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, in Experimental Social Psychology. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and two children. Yovetich is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Rho Inc., where she is the Principal Investigator of a contract with the the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
The job of a Trustee requires an individual to be engaged and willing to commit a great deal of time and effort in order for the Board as a whole to accomplish its job. Yovetich’s motivation to be involved at Allegheny is rooted in the experience she had as a student at Allegheny.
“I guess I’ve been an Allegheny advocate for a long time,” Yovetich said.“It sounded like a very appealing opportunity for service and for personal growth.”
Dias also noted the importance of Allegheny in his life.
“This is my opportunity to give back to the College by using the experiences I’ve had to help Allegheny move forward in how it provides education for students,” Dias said.
Daurora said that “there was no greater honor” in being chosen as a member of the Board. Each of the five new Trustees brings unique perspectives, ideas and talents to the Board, and each has his or her own goals for the next four years.
“I want the students’ perspective to inform my participation in the Board of Trustees,” Yovetich said.
Dias said he is eager to “get others excited about the College and the accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff and alumni.”
