04/16/2026
"Scholarships are a quiet vote of confidence... and a belief in humanity." Temple University alum Chris Barnett summed up our feelings eloquently at last night's scholarship celebration in Mitten Hall.
I was there with Mary T. Sabia Ciammetti and Kathy Neary to celebrate scholarships named for colorful, vibrant people dear to our hearts: Christian Ciammetti and Mary Connelly Graff.
Christian was a Temple University junior, landscape architect major, and an avid skier and outdoorsman who died of alcohol poisoning at age 20 in 2015.
Mary was an award-winning journalist and Temple professor who helped young journalists (including my husband and several friends) hone their writing, editing, and investigative reporting skills. She passed in 2019 at age 87.
It was a joy to be among hundreds of scholarship donors to honor their lives and think of their passions--landscape architecture and journalism, respectively--being carried forward.
And speaking of celebrations, there's this:
With a $55 million gift, the largest in Temple’s history, Barnett and his family endowed the newly named Christopher M. Barnett College of Public Health, solidifying his belief that public health education and service can transform lives. Don't Stall, Just Call