05/20/2025
In a world of screens and cell phones, checking the time is no harder than finding the latest trend on TikTok. But for more than a decade Brockway Hall was missing a very different kind of tick tock.
The clock atop Brockway was an original part of the building built in 1949. It served as a public timepiece that kept students on schedule through one Cold War, three Woodstock music festivals and a new millennium, before it eventually succumbed to the ravages of rust and passing years.
Its hands wandered unpunctual for more than decade. And as the uncounted seconds turned to lost months, then missed years, an accurate chronometer on campus because a distant memory.
But while time stood still on the northmost reaches of campus, Don Rohel ’72 decided it was the moment to act.
“I come up for Reunion on a regular basis every year,” Rohel said. “I got up to that part of the campus and I noticed that it’s been out of order there for a relatively long time. And somebody told me that it’s been many, many years.”
Most in his mind was the clock’s very visible location near the top of Brockway Hall as it faces the rest of campus.
“It does not give a good image of Cortland to have something not working that’s so prominent,” he explained. “So it became my goal was to try to get it repaired. I brought it to the attention of our Development Office and they looked into it and got all the wheels turning so that it could be repaired.”
Thanks to Rohel’s gift, the clock, now officially named after Rohel’s mother and known as the Irene Louise Peppard Rohel ’40 Clock, or Rohel Clock for short, resumed its function on March 24.
Workers upgraded its electrical 76-year-old power supply and replaced internal mechanism that drives the Rohel Clock’s arms. Future maintenance of the clock is also ensured by Rohel’s gift.
“The rest of the clock still contains all the original hardware,” said Steve Mize, associate program coordinator for Facilities Planning, Design and Construction, and manager of the Rohel Clock project. “I knew it had been broken for some time and was delighted when I heard of the opportunity to investigate a possible repair for it.”
Mize was able to find a local man, Chad Sopp, willing to tinker with the gears of an analog machine far removed from the technology of today.
Sopp, owner of local business Timesmith Antiques, has had an interest in time and clocks since he was young, and specializes in older models. He identified the clock as an “impressive” model made by IBM long before the company was known for computers.
He has done maintenance on other older clocks in the area but found the Rohel Clock to be an enticing project. With current upgrades, he expects it to run as long, or longer, than it did before without a need for repairs.
“A building piece like that was a first so I had to think it over for a while, but I was definitely up for it. It was an opportunity to get to work with something in my hometown,” Sopp said. “It was more than just a job, you know. It has a lot of meaning when I get to drive by and see that running. And I know that it means a lot to so many others who've been looking at it since 1949.”
Now, with the hands of time finally moving forward above Brockway Hall once again, Rohel will see the results when he visits this summer for Alumni Reunion 2025 and is recognized by the university for his help. A plaque will commemorate the new name.
Rohel described his mother Irene, a teacher and fellow Red Dragon alum, as a person with the power to inspire others, often guiding them into a career in education.
“She always motivated other people, and I have tributes that have been written to her by people who knew her or had her in class,” Rohel said. “So I thought that she deserved to be recognized for her work, and she deserved to be recognized for being a really good representative of education from Cortland.”
As a student, Rohel began his own legacy at Cortland as a member of the Board of Governors, predecessor to the current Student Activities Board and majored in secondary education social studies and history, going on to a career in higher education for more than 40 years as a student center and student union director. In 2019 Don was awarded an honorary lifetime membership by the Association of College Unions International board of trustees.
His other support for Cortland includes its football team, the William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education at Raquette Lake, his fraternity Lamba Phi Delta, the Parks Alumni House, Student Emergency Fund, student activities and concert commemoration. In 2021 he created the Don Rohel ’72 Student Activities Leadership Fund.
“Looking back on my experience at Cortland, it opened a whole new world to me,” Rohel said.