SHU Family Legacies

With a 100th Anniversary theme of “Legacy,” a Siena Heights education has been a family affair for many over its distinguished history. Reflections Magazine asked alumni to submit their family legacy stories, and the response was fantastic! Over the following pages, learn about how “The Siena Effect” impacted the lives of these families in so many ways.

Jacob Chi, Maurice Chi, Margaret Chi and Jane Chi.

Chi Family

Legacy names: Margaret Chi ’82 (aunt); Jane Chi ’82 (aunt); Maurice Chi ’84 (nephew); Jacob Chi ’85 (nephew).

Our Siena Heights legacy: from Maurice Chi—The Chi legacy started with my Aunt Margaret Chi, who received a full scholarship from Siena Heights College in 1948. It was her dream! But because of the civil war in China at the time, she was not able to obtain the passport. Soon after when the country changed its political system and shut off from the world, so did her dream. It was not until 1978, thirty years later, did she finally have the courage to write to Siena Heights College. The sitting president, Dr. Louis Vaccaro, welcomed her not only with her scholarship reinstated, but also granted her sister, my other aunt Jane, a full scholarship. Together they came, and both pursued their Master’s degree in education. They graduated in 1982. Then in 1981 my brother Jacob and I also attended SHC. I completed a double major in math and CIS with the Outstanding Male Student Award in 1984. Jacob received his B.A. in music a year later. Without the generous financial support from the college, none of these would be possible. We built successful careers thereafter: Jacob held the baton for the Pueblo Symphony and led other orchestras across the continent, and I became an IT professional in corporate Americas like IBM and Thomson Reuters. We are forever grateful to the college for the knowledge, the friend-
ships, the fulfillment, the value of being, the faith to God, and the love from the Dominican Sisters who enlighten us all.

One on One With . . . Norm Bukwaz

Editor’s Note: Norm Bukwaz is the assistant to the Dean for the Graduate and Professional Programs and Director of the Bachelor of Applied Science Degree Program for more than 45 years. He was be honored with the Honorary Alumni Award during Homecoming Weekend 2019. Reflections Magazine sat down with him to discuss his distinguished career at Siena Heights.

How did you first come to Siena Heights?

I decided that I wanted to come back to Michigan. I was in Illinois, and had taken a one year appointment. Siena Heights had an opening and at the time I thought I was going to be forever-after a sociology professor. I came to Siena in the fall of 1974 and taught one year in the sociology department. And I also coordinated the internship programs for the whole division of the Social Sciences and the Humanities. That connected me to administrators that forever after changed the types of things I did for Siena.

How did you go from a sociology professor to what you are doing now?

It’s an interesting question. Nobody plans on administering off-campus programs. When I got involved with the internship program, I became fairly close (with the director of cooperative education). Well he was leaving … so I decided when I asked ‘Do you want to administer that for a year?’ and build that into the role… I was asked if I could possibly build that into the role because that involved a connection with a Detroit school called RETS electronic school. … Before long the university continued to do thinking about reaching out into the larger community. In 1975-76 I started working with taking courses to the Metro Detroit area. We originally offered courses at a number of corporate sites. That was a result of our being asked by students who were driving 70 or 80 miles to Adrian to take an evening course. (They asked) what if you were able to get a bunch of students, would you be willing to bring classes to us? That was sort of the beginning of that.

Lasting Legacy

After More than 42 Years, Fred Smith Leaves an Indelible Mark on SHU Athletics

By Doug Goodnough

In more than 30 years of coaching, Fred Smith never needed to use a whistle.

His booming voice, commanding personality and imposing 6-foot, 5-inch frame were more than enough to get the attention of his student-athletes, coaches, referees and anyone else within earshot.

After more than 42 years representing Siena Heights University Athletics as a coach and administrator—including the last 36 as athletic director—Fred Smith retired on June 30, 2019.

That means it will be a little quieter on the Siena Heights University campus.

But his indelible legacy will not be silenced.

His 21-year men’s basketball head coaching career included 527 wins, the most in the institution’s history. During his tenure, Siena Heights was one of the winningest small-school programs in the country. The Saints recorded five 30-win seasons, 12 appearances in the NAIA National Tournament and eight WHAC titles. His 1996-97 squad finished as the NAIA Division II national runners up, losing the title game to Bethel College 95-94.