by Deborah Rieselman

As the nation sought answers to ease its fears following Sept. 11, the University of Cincinnati responded by doing what it does best, offering words of wisdom.

With school not yet in session, the PR office quickly put together a list of 20 UC experts willing to help reporters around the country. In particular, UC terrorism expert Ed Bridgeman stayed awake for more than 24 hours handling a steady stream of media interviews.

By the week's end, the assistant criminal justice professor at Clermont College had given 57 interviews, including one for the Baltimore Sun. Within another week, he and colleagues from political science, history, religious studies, psychology and other areas had accommodated more than 100 inquiries.

Yet words were not enough for the fire service program director at the College of Applied Science. Patrick Reynolds, a native New Yorker who had worked for the N.Y. fire department for 20 years, knew his place was working next to the men who had once called him lieutenant. Taking a week's leave of absence, he hopped in his car and headed north to lend a hand.

In the meantime, staff and administrators were trying to assist faculty and students stranded overseas, international students unable to enter the country and co-ops barred from entering New York to report for new jobs. On campus, athletic games were being rescheduled, a memorial service was being planned, and the "Horizons" staff, which was nearly ready to send the magazine to the printer, started looking for alumni.

With the Foundation's help, we discovered 170 graduates living in Manhattan, but, unfortunately, that was one less than the previous week. Cathy Salter, A&S '86, formerly of Mount Lookout, worked for the Aon Corp. on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center's second tower.

University records show six other alumni also worked in the towers, but their companies reported they were safe: Dorothy Hirshman, DAAP '75; James Lee, A&S '68, JD '71; Theresa Snyder, CCM '81; Lyndelle Phillips, '77 MS (CCS); Linda Tiano-Prusock, A&S '78; Sunil Rajani, ENG '83.

In Washington, D.C., we lost another alumnus -- Lt. Col. David Scales, CCM '79. Commissioned through Army ROTC while a student, Scales took an assignment at the Pentagon in '95 and continued to use his keyboard and composition skills performing at local coffeehouses.

Although time and space constraints were tight in this issue, we look forward to receiving alumni letters, first-person viewpoints and memorials for the next magazine.

"Sure, the world is full of trouble,
but as long as we have people undoing trouble
we have a pretty good world." -- Helen Keller