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Winter 2016
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TOWER
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RISLEY HALL
WALTER P. RISLEY
(1907—1971)
A 1931 graduate of East Stroudsburg State Teachers College, Risley was an
assistant professor of health and physical education and coach of intercol-
legiate athletics at KSTC and KSC for more than 25 years. He first came to
Kutztown as a physical education instructor with the U.S. Army Air Force
from 1943—1944. He then went on to coach at Kutztown High School before
coming to KSTC in 1945. He was head of the health and physical education
department from 1945—71 and served as athletic director from 1945—63.
Risley also coached football, soccer, track, men’s basketball and baseball.
His 1966 baseball team won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title.
He was named the 1971 PSAC Coach of the Year, an award that is now named
in his memory. Risley died in 1971 and the gymnasium was named in his
memory in 1973. Risley was named to the KU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.
SHARADIN ARTS BUILDING
HENRYWILLIAMSHARADIN ’91
(1872—1966)
Sharadin graduated from KSNS in 1891
and then went on to study at the New
York Metropolitan School of Art, Philadel-
phia’s Pennsylvania School of Industrial
Art and in Europe. Sharadin taught art in
the Reading School District for 12 years
before joining the faculty of KSNS in 1907.
In 1916 he would leave the school for a
three-year period when he taught art in
the Allentown School District, returning
to the college in 1919 as chair of the Art
Department. He retired from the college
in 1939 and the Sharadin Arts Building was
dedicated in his name on Oct. 28. 1960.
He died in April 1966 at the age of 93.
O’PAKE FIELDHOUSE
MICHAEL A. O’PAKE
(1940—2010)
Born in Reading, Pa., State Senator O’Pake was the longest-serving member
of the Pennsylvania General Assembly at the time of his death in 2010. He
was first elected as a representative in 1968 and then to the senate in 1972.
He graduated from St. Joseph’s University in 1961 and the University of
Pennsylvania Law School in 1964. O’Pake held honorary doctorates from
both KU and Albright College. The fieldhouse was dedicated in his memory
in September 2011.
Henry William Sharadin ’91
STRATTON ADMIN. CENTER
LAWRENCE M. STRATTON
(1924 — 1987)
Born in Duluth, Minn., in 1924,
Stratton received a bachelor’s and a
master’s degree from the University
of Michigan and a doctoral degree
from Rutgers University. He served
as president of KU from 1969—1987,
guiding the institution from a state
college to university status just prior
to his death. Before coming to
Kutztown, Stratton was vice presi-
dent of student affairs, dean of
administration and professor of
education at Rhode Island College
in Providence. He was assistant
dean and associate dean of the
Graduate School of Education at
Rutgers University.
At Kutztown, Stratton is noted for
doubling the academic programs
available and growing the campus
with the addition of the Beekey Edu-
cation Center, the fine arts annex of
Sharadin Arts Building, the adminis-
tration building and Bonner, Lytle and
Keystone Halls. Stratton Administra-
tion Center was named in his honor
in 1987. While the naming occurred
after his death, Stratton had been
told of the honor before he died.