Muskingum News

When Cliff Wiltshire '86 arrived at Muskingum for freshman orientation, he was 600 miles from home—and seeing the campus for the very first time. 

A senior in high school in Connecticut, Cliff had been unsure where his college path would lead. His youth pastor, Rev. David Van Dyke '75, introduced him to Muskingum and helped open doors, particularly when it came to making college financially possible for Cliff and his family. 

For Cliff, whose single mother was raising three children, that support was a blessing that would ultimately change the trajectory of his life. 

As he moved into Moore Hall 101, where he would live for his first two years, Cliff made a decision. 

He was going to lean into everything this new place had to offer. 

And he did. 

Cliff became involved in Student Senate, eventually serving as president; Muskingum Christian Fellowship; Kappa Sigma fraternity; the Black & Magenta student newspaper; and residence life, first as a resident assistant and later as resident director of Patton Hall. 

"It was a rich and deep experience that taught me much about myself and prepared me well for the future in front of me," Cliff said. 

Four decades later, the threads of those experiences remain woven throughout his life. 

Cliff is married to his "favorite Muskie," Carla Stalder Wiltshire '89. Together they have two adult children and four young grandchildren who live nearby. The couple has called the Clintonville area of Columbus home for 35 years. 

Much of Cliff's professional life has been spent in community journalism. After stepping away for five years to raise funds for a local nonprofit, he returned to journalism in 2017 by starting his own monthly community newspaper. In 2020, he added a second. 

It's work that fits naturally with another important part of Cliff's life: service. 

He is active with Kiwanis International, supports local schools in a variety of ways, and remains involved with his church. That desire to strengthen the communities around him is also part of what brought him to Muskingum's Alumni Council. 

For Cliff, serving Muskingum is connected to remembering the people who made his own experience possible. 

"I continue to be very aware of the Muskies before me who helped pave the way and built the institution and made it possible for families of very modest means to be able to send their children to college," he said. "Such a 'pay it forward' attitude directly changed the trajectory of my life." 

Serving on Alumni Council, he hopes, is one small way he can help continue that legacy for someone else. 

Cliff is also passionate about ensuring alumni engagement means more than asking Muskies to make a financial contribution. 

"As vital as those are to the mission of the University, it is when we fellowship together and serve together that we can rekindle the special feelings we have for the school," he said. 

Those connections have been a natural part of Cliff's life since graduation. There is the fantasy football league he and fellow Muskies started nearly 40 years ago. There are fraternity reunions, encounters with Muskingum graduates, and conversations in which he finds himself encouraging friends to consider Muskingum for their own children. 

"There are many black and magenta threads woven into who I am," Cliff said. 

That lifelong connection is one reason he believes alumni engagement matters. Life gets busy, and alumni are constantly pulled in different directions, but Cliff believes there is value in remembering the impact Muskingum had on each graduate—and considering how they might help make that experience possible for someone else. 

"We know how powerful our Muskingum experience was and how meaningful it can be for future generations." 

Cliff also credits his Muskingum liberal arts education with giving him the tools to navigate a world that looks remarkably different from the one he entered after graduation. 

An English and Religion double major, he left New Concord with the ability to read, research, think critically, and continue learning throughout his life. 

"As much as our world has changed during the past 40 years, being an English and Religion double-major who was prepared to read, research, and think has been invaluable." 

It's one of the reasons Cliff hopes that, even as Muskingum evolves to meet the needs of new generations of students, that foundation remains. 

He is excited by the University's growing role in health and wellness, particularly in southeast Ohio, while recognizing that today's students will graduate into a world that will continue to change in ways none of us can fully anticipate. 

When asked what being a Muskie means to him today, Cliff's answer extends far beyond a diploma or a college memory. 

It means making eye contact and saying hello when you pass someone on the sidewalk or step onto an occupied elevator. It means thinking critically about the information you encounter. It means caring about people, communities, and the environment—and being willing to do something to make the world around you a little better. 

In many ways, it's the same approach Cliff took when he first arrived in New Concord: engage, participate, learn, and contribute. 

There isn't one particular college day he would choose to relive. There were simply too many good ones. 

But the place where those days happened remains home. 

"Muskingum will always be home because it is a place I can return to at any time and be taken back to the people and memories and experiences which shaped me in so many ways," Cliff said. 

It's where he met Carla and some of his best lifelong friends. It's where he developed skills that would become important throughout his career. And it's where a young man from Connecticut, arriving on a campus he had never seen before, began to find his footing. 

"Muskingum is where I...found my footing to launch more confidently into adulthood." 

Forty years later, Cliff is helping make sure other Muskies have the opportunity to do the same. 

Lightning Round 

Coffee or tea? Coffee 

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise 

Favorite campus food: Late-night Earl's Pizza—with an honorable mention for midnight bowls of Frosted Flakes from the Patton Hall cafeteria during his days as RD. ("I had a master key!") 

Favorite study spot: The balcony at Patton Hall 

Favorite professor: Dr. Joe Elkins, Philosophy 

Song that reminds him of college: Money for Nothing by Dire Straits 

Favorite vacation destination: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 

Dog or cat? Cat 

One word friends would use to describe him: Positive 

Favorite Muskingum tradition: "Rushing the Hill," when new fraternity, sorority, and social club pledges would meet active members on the Patton-Kelley Hill after bids were opened.