2015
twelfth Annual Pro-Life Science and Technology Conference
Saturday, September 12, 2015
The University of Dayton's John F. Kennedy Memorial Union
300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469
All biographies current at time of conference.
Debbie Nieport
Opening and Invocation
Debbie has worked at Elizabeth’s New Life Center since 1999. She retired as the Director of Development in December 2014; but remains as a volunteer serving the organization as their Planned Giving Officer. After attending the University of Albuquerque, she spent years as a stay-at-home mom raising her two children. Her son, her first child, was born in 1977 at 28 weeks and weighed 2 pounds, 1 ounce and was 12 inches long. Two years later she saw a poster of a newborn baby that read, “Kill her now, and it’s called murder. Kill her three months ago and it’s called choice.” Seeing that poster changed something for Debbie. “While I was pro-life in my thoughts and beliefs, that poster convicted me to be pro-life in my actions by volunteering and financially supporting pro-life ministries.” Debbie has been married to Mike for 16 years. Together they have five adult children and five grandchildren and four in heaven (miscarried).
Debbie's favorite quote is: “…Do not be afraid to engage in the good fight of the faith. We preach the liberating message of Jesus Christ; we are offering words of life to the world…” - St. John Paul II.
Dr. Michael Manhart is the Exeuctive Director of Couple to Couple League International.
After receiving his doctorate in Microbiology from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine, Dr. Manhart embarked on a career in Research & Development with Procter & Gamble. While there, he held numerous management roles of increasing responsibility in various global health care and pharmaceutical organizations; he retired in 2008 as a Director of R&D.
He and his wife have served as volunteer CCL teachers for 30 years. Michael also served on the CCL Board of Directors from 2007 to 2009. In July 2009 he was appointed executive director. He resides in Cincinnati and is the proud father of four and grandfather of four.
Greg Schutte, MSW, LISW-S
Marriage Works! Ohio
Supporting the Culture of Life through Strengthening the Family
Greg Schutte achieved a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Dayton and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Ohio State University. He also has an Independent License in Social Work. For over 20 years, he has worked as a Therapist in many different fields of counseling. These include: Hospital Discharge Planner, Hospice Counselor, Crisis Counseling, Mental Health Therapist, & Marriage/Family Therapy. Currently, he is the Director of Marriage Works! Ohio which is a department of Elizabeth’s New Life Center in Dayton, Ohio.
The Elizabeth New Life Center received the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) third largest grant in the United States to do Marriage Education. With this, they created Marriage Works! Ohio. In 2009, Marriage Works was selected by the ACF’s Office of Family Assistance as one of eight Promising Practices in Marriage Education in the United States.
Greg is also the author of the new Catholic marriage enrichment program: “Discovering Our Deepest Desire”, which is based off of his years of working with married couples and his research of the Theology of the Body. This curriculum received an imprimatur from Bishop Binzer of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in November 2013 (and again in 2015 for the Spanish version), and received funding assistance for promotion and further development from this same diocese.
Over the past several years, Greg has had a passion for building healthier relationships and reducing the divorce rate in America. He is actively doing this in his role at Marriage Works! Ohio. Greg has been married for nearly 22 years and has 7 children. Greg has also played music with his band ROMANS since 1996, producing two CDs: Come to Life and High Fidelity.
Scott Schulze
Lead Design Engineer, Emerson Climate Technologies
The Connection Between Darwinism and the Culture of Death (Awarded best presentation)
Scott is a Lead Design Engineer at Emerson Climate Technologies in Sidney. He earned his Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering and his Masters Degree in Business Administration both from the University of Dayton.
Scott, along with his wife Laura, presented in 2008 on Natural Family Planning and in 2009 on the Effects of Hormonal Contraceptives on Women.
Scott is a former Treasurer for Miami County Right to Life, and a trained Natural Family Planning (NFP) instructor. He and his wife have one son.
Wendy Gerstner is certified in Sexual Risk Avoidance and has been teaching Sexual Risk Avoidance and other At Risk Behaviors for Family & Youth Initiatives for the past four years. She teaches to grades six through twelve at seventeen different schools in two counties.
Wendy is a Catechist at St. Joseph Church in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Wendy has been teaching junior high PSR (Parish School of Religion) & CCD for the past thirteen years and along with her husband, Ron, has been teaching Marriage Preparation for the last fourteen years. She has organized the parish March for Life trip for the past eight years.
In the summer of 2013, Wendy conducted a twelve-week radio program on Radio Maria on The Battle for Purity.
Wendy presents speaking engagements all over the area to youth groups, parents, churches, and civic leaders and is currently booking speaking engagements for 2015-2016.
Wendy and Ron have four children.
Dr. Jeff Koloze has taught academic skills courses for undergraduate and graduate students, Communications, undergraduate and graduate English, and Humanities courses since 1989 at several colleges and universities in the Cleveland, Columbus, and Springfield, Ohio metropolitan areas. His most recent administrative position was Campus College Chair for the College of Humanities, the College of Natural Sciences, and the College of Social Sciences from 2005-2011 at the Columbus, Ohio Campus of the University of Phoenix. In 2009 he was appointed one of twelve senior research fellows for that university. His most recent full-time teaching position was Associate Professor of English at the Cleveland, Ohio Campus of South University, where he was appointed as a Curriculum Scholar in 2013. Early retirement provided by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio has enabled Dr. Koloze to continue teaching at institutions of his choice, including Catholic Distance University, Lorain County Community College, Notre Dame College, and Walsh University.
Dr. Koloze's primary research interest is the presentation of the right-to-life issues of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia in literature; most of his publications are available in conference proceedings and on the web. He has presented over fifty papers before academic and professional organizations on these topics, most recently at conferences at Fordham University (2014), Harvard University (2010 and 2012), Ryerson University (Toronto, 2009), the University of Notre Dame (2011), and the University of San Francisco (2013). He is the author of An Ethical Analysis of the Portrayal of Abortion in American Fiction: Dreiser, Hemingway, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Brautigan, and Irving (Edwin Mellen, 2005).
Dr. Koloze is president and founder of Koloze Consultants, whose objective is to assist faculty and students “to conduct research on the life issues for presentation and publication.”
Dr. Koloze spoke previously in 2004 on Logical Fallacies in the Literature on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research; in 2005 on Educational Resources on Cloning for Contemporary Students; in 2006 on Investigation of the success of the pro-life service LifeSiteNews.com; in 2007 on Newman’s The Idea of a University and Engineering Programs in Today’s Universities; in 2010 on Terminology to Assault Human Life and Life-Affirming Responses; and in 2014 on Technology Meets Rhetoric: A Rogerian Methodological Review of the Visual Rhetoric of Websites and Social Media Vehicles Concerned with the Life Issues.
Dr. Koloze invites colleagues and students to join him on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter and to consult the University Faculty for Life blog (http://uffl.org/blog). He can be emailed at DrJeffKoloze@att.net.
Pastor Walter S. Moss was born in Canton, Ohio. He attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and was one of the founders of the Gospel Voices of Faith choir. He graduated in 1977 with a B.S. Degree and spent one year at Ashland Theological Seminary. He has since received a Master’s Degree in Theology from Jacksonville Theological Seminary in 2003.
Pastor Moss has been a pastor for 22 years and has served 39 years in ministry. Pastor Walt has traveled to many nations doing short term mission work. He has been in Cuba 35 times where he assisted in founding a school of ministry. He has performed mission work in many other Caribbean Islands, including the Dominican Republic of Haiti. In Martinique, he assisted in planting a Foursquare Church. He has also ministered in Africa (Kenya, Togo and Niger). He has an extended Prison Ministry at the Stark County Jail and at state prisons in Ohio. He is the President of the IMA (Interdenominational Ministers’ Association) Pastors and Ministers of Greater Stark County and Vicinity.
Pastor Walt has served on the Founding and Advisory Board of what is now the Pregnancy Support Center of Stark County and Northeastern Ohio. He has also served on the Advisory Board of Stark State College. He is currently the chaplain for Forty Days for Life and a Pro-Life Ambassador. He is associated with the National Black Pro-Life Coalition. Pastor Moss continues to work with many youth groups in Stark County and throughout Ohio to promote spiritual growth and positive attitudes among youth. He has spoken as a motivational speaker to many diverse groups.
He has received a plethora of community awards including The Path Finder Award from McKinley High School, The Stark NAACP Humanitarian Award, and awards from the Stark County Pregnancy Support Center and the Stark County Social Workers’ Network.
Pastor Moss is married to Pastor Darleen Moss. They have two married daughters, Mari (Christopher) and Shannon (Dontae) and eight natural and spiritual grandchildren (Aniya, Kashmeir, Calia, Sophia, DeiOra, Marcos, Matthew, and Isabella) who, to their delight, call them grandpa and grandma.
Mary Pyper
The Media is the Message - Making the Most of your Mission & Message in the Media
Mary Pyper has been involved in mass media communications and Pro-Life initiatives for over 25 years. Through her work as Comptroller for Great Trails Broadcasting, a midsized broadcasting company with radio and tv stations, she gained valuable experience in all aspects of media and the impact it can have on people and communities. In her vocation as wife and the mother of 5 boys, Mary has been active in a variety of church ministries and in her local community. Mary also has developed and implemented ministries for children and adults as well as organizing retreats, seminars, conferences, and pilgrimages. Mary currently serves as Chair of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s Communication Commission.
Mary has served as President and Chairman of the Board of Radio Maria USA for 6 years and is currently serving as Treasurer of the Board in charge of Development. Radio Maria has more Pro-Life Programs than any Network and effectively proclaims the Pro-Life message in the United States and around the world in over 70 countries touching hearts and minds, and saving lives through these radio broadcasts.
During a Medical Mission to Ethiopia with the Coptic Medical Association, Mary joined with the Coptic Evangelization Young Adult Team from Egypt to minister to the people of Ethiopia including speaking to a gathering of over 200 medical students. She was invited to attend and teach at the Coptic School of Evangelization in Cairo, Egypt. This has inspired Mary to start a School of Evangelization initiative which will specialize in training Young Adults to work through social and mass media.
Driven by her passion to help families live a better life, Mary continues her work in her Parish, the southwestern Ohio community, and nationally with the World Family of Radio Maria to communicate whenever and wherever possible the Pro-Life message of the dignity and beauty of every human life.
Mary presented in 2007 along with Jim Meyer on Radio Station Techniques.
Dr. Gary L. George and his wife Jean have been married for 28 years and have been blessed with 5 children. Gary graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Biology. He received his M.D. from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He served for 24 years in the United States Air Force.
Dr. George completed his radiology residency at the University of Washington in Seattle where he served as Chief Resident. He served as an Air Force radiologist at the Air Force Academy, at a regional medical center in Germany, and at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He served as the Chief of Radiology in the United States Air Force during his final two years on active duty.
Dr. George has worked at the Miami Valley Medical Center since 2003 where he has served in various capacities to include being chairman of the medical imaging department for 4 years and is currently a member of the ethics committee.
Dr. George is the president of the SW Ohio Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. He has a variety of hobbies to include recently becoming a bee keeper.
Joshua Danis
Promoting a Pro-Life Agenda in Culture and Politics
Joshua Danis graduated with degrees in Theology and Philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2006. He then opened the Office of Evangelization for St. Michael’s Parish in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he served for three years. Having returned to Ohio with his wife and two children in 2009, he spent time studying social media and advertising as the business manager of a local law firm. He now serves the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as the Northern Area Coordinator for the Family and Respect Life Office.
Josh spoke in 2012 on A New Evangelization approach for the Pro-life Movement: How anyone can make a Personal difference through Social Media and in 2013 on The Key to Life in a Modernized Society and served as emcee in 2014.
Ennis Dodd, M.S.
Advisory Board for Dayton Right to Life
Problematic Vaccines
Ennis Dodd has a BA in Biology from the University of Kansas and a Masters in Horticulture from Kansas State University. He works as a scientist in pomology – the study of tree fruits.
He is a member of the Legion of Mary at St. Albert the Great church in Kettering and distributes communion at The Oaks of Kettering. He is also a member of the Knights of Columbus.
Ennis serves on the Advisory Board for Dayton Right to Life.
Ennis and his wife, Gloria, are godparents to 24 godchildren.