Class Notes - Fall 2018
News from Spartans around the world
1950s
DENNIS L. BLUE, ’57 (Social Science), has published his memoir entitled, Running the Good Race, A Story of Faith, Ford and Fishing, recounting his life as a corporate executive, missionary pilot, and fisherman.
1960s
EDWARD DEEB, ’60 (Communication Arts and Sciences), was recognized by the Michigan Department of Natural resources by naming a street on Belle Isle after him in honor of his lifetime achievement. He has helped improve the Detroit area in numerous ways, including the creation of Detroit Youth Day.
ELIZABETH B. UNGER, ’61 (Engineering, Honors College), MS ’63 (Natural Science), has had a complex of buildings named after her by Kansas State University.
JOHN F. SCHAEFER, ’65 (Communication Arts and Sciences), JD ’69 (Law), has been recognized by DBusiness Magazine in its 2018 Top Lawyer list under the category of Family Law. He delivered the MSU College of Law’s commencement address for the law school’s 2018 spring and summer graduates.
VIRGINIA L. MATUREN, ’67 (Nursing), has received the Distinguished Service Award – Community Volunteer from the University of Michigan Health Systems, Cancer Center. Maturen has volunteered at the Patient Education Resource Center in the Cancer Center for the past 10 years.
MICHAEL E. GERHARDT, ’69 (Business), has published a book with his six grandchildren, ages 6 to 14, entitled, The Incredible Cousins and the Magic Caboose.
1970s
JANE DIVITA WOODY, PhD ’70 (Arts and Letters), has published a new book, Lucky Girl: Growing up Italian-American in Appalachia: A Memoir. Her book offers a loving testimony to parents, family, community, and life in a small West Virginia coal town.
KEITH A. ASHMUS, ’71 (James Madison, Honors College), MA ’72 (Social Science), a Frantz Ward partner, has been honored at the inaugural Crain’s Cleveland Business C-Suite Gala for his work as board counsel for Vocational Guidance Services. He was also recently appointed to the Regulatory Fairness Board as a representative from Region V, covering Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
CAROL E. SPRING, MA ’72 (Education), current Alumnae Panhellenic president of Tallahassee, volunteered with the MSU Panhellenic and her sorority Alpha Xi Delta while a graduate resident advisor in Wilson Hall. Today, PATRICIA SCOTT, ’75 (Education), and Carol work together to foster women’s leadership through sorority and Panhellenic activities in Tallahassee. As two retired MSU grads, they have enjoyed sharing this connection since so few Spartans live in the area!
DEBORAH STEVENS, ’73 (Agriculture and Natural Resources), recently released two books titled The Serpent’s Disciple and Holy Predator, both set in Italy and based on factual events.
WANDA HERNDON, ’74, MA ’79 (Both in Communication Arts and Sciences) ’18 (Honorary Degree), who has been instrumental in building the Starbucks brand, was selected to speak at MSU’s Spring Convocation on May 4. She also received a Distinguished Alumni Award.
ROBERT WILLIAMS, MA ’74, PhD ’80 (Both in Social Science), will be selling Hardy Kiwis at the West Seattle Farmers Market in October. There are four types of kiwis available for purchase, including the “Michigan State” variety, complete with a Spartan green color.
DENISE CRITTENDON, ’75 (Communication Arts and Sciences), recently began publishing The Xtras, a group of graphic novel comic books about preteen superheroes who live alternative lifestyles and have menta lhealth-related characteristics. This series’ non-traditional approach is intended to empower young people who feel disenfranchised.
PATRICIA SCOTT, ’75 (Education), was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority at MSU, serving as her chapter’s treasurer. A teacher for 38 years, she moved to Tallahassee in 2016 from Fort Myers, FL. She has served as vice president and will be president for 2018-19 of the Lee County (FL) Alumnae Panhellenic.
PRABHAT SHUKLA, ’75, PhD ’81 (Both in Engineering), founder of Fluorotherm Polymers Inc., received the 2018 Red CedarCircle Award in Chemical Engineering and Material Science from MSU's College of Engineering.
JAMES SUSAN, ’75, MS ’77 (Both in Engineering), president of Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber, Inc., received the 2018 Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering.
WILLIAM E. BARRICK, PhD ’76 (Agriculture and Natural Resources), recently announced his retirement from his position as executive director of Bellingrath Gardens and Home in Mobile, Alabama.
SCOTT BALES, ’78 (Social Science, Honors College), the Chief Justice for Arizona, recently received the Chief Justice Robert W. Holmes Award of Merit from the American Judges Association.
TED HALM, ’78 (Communication Arts and Sciences), has been inducted into the Mecosta County Sports Hall of Fame in Big Rapids, MI, to recognize his various sports career accomplishments as an athletic director, coach, and player.
RAY ANDRECHECK, ’79 (Arts and Letters), was cast as Vincentio in First Folio Theatre’s world premiere production of SHREW’D, a new musical based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The show ran from July 14 to August 19 in Chicago.
BRADLEY BORGMAN, ’79 (Agriculture and Natural Resources), vice president of engineering for the TWT Group in Seattle, received the 2018 Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering.
1980s
GERALD (GARY) ANKLEY, ’82 (Agriculture and Natural Resources), is a finalist for the 2018 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals program. He currently serves as research toxicologist for the EPA.
MARGO L. MACPHERSON, ’83 (Natural Science), DVM ’90 (Veterinary Medicine), has been installed as president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners.
PENNY WIRSING, ’83 (Engineering), was recently named president of the 30,000-member Society of Women Engineers (SWE), a group which she has been an active member of since she was a student at MSU.
DAVID DIETERLE, PhD ’85 (Education), has had his book, Economics: The Definitive Encyclopedia from Theory to Practice, named a Top 10 Reference Book of 2018 by Booklist. He currently serves as a professor in the Finance and Economics Department at Walsh College.
ANN S. FRISCH, PhD ’85 (Social Science), has been named one of six Rotary People of Action: Champions of Peace for her efforts to protect people in violent conflicts. She has presented her work at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to an audience of UN officials, philanthropists, and Rotary members.
NANCY O’NEILL, ’85 (Communication Arts and Sciences), was named one of the Top 5 Teachers of the year by Jackson Magazine for her dedication and hard work at St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Jackson.
CHARLES T. FIELD, ’87 (Business), joins Penn Community Bank in Doylestown, PA, as their new CFO after 30 years of experience with various corporations and financial institutions.
JULIE KILLIAN, ’87 (Business), has been named a shareholder at Clayton & McKervey, a public accounting business advisory firm in Southfield.
DARIUS ADAMCZYK, ’88 (Engineering), chairman and CEO of Honeywell, received the 2018 John D. Ryder Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering.
SUE BEEBE, MA ’88 (Education), has received the 2018 Parthenon Award from the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International for her outstanding service at the University of Florida.
SCOTT RUHL, ’88 (Engineering), recently led the global production efforts for the all-new 2019 Acura RDX SUV at Honda Motor Company.
TRACY CAMP, ’89 (Engineering), professor and head of the Colorado School of Mines computer science department, received the 2018 Computer Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering.
1990s
MITZI M. MONTOYA, ’90 (Engineering), PhD ’95 (Business), the Sara Hart Kimball Dean of the College of Business at Oregon State University, received the 2018 Applied Engineering Sciences (AES) Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering.
ROBERT J. SAMSON, ’90 (James Madison), has been named regional president for the Midwest Region of Wells Fargo Advisors.
LISA A. STRONG, ’91 (Communication Arts and Sciences), owner and director of marketing/brand management of underground distillery S.D. Strong Distilling, was recently featured on Cision’s blog where she shared 5 tips for differentiating a brand. S.D. Strong Distilling was also featured in Southwest Airlines Magazine.
LISA SPARROW, ’93 (Engineering), president and CEO of Utilities, Inc., received the 2018 Mechanical Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Engineering.
JIAN CHANG “JC” MAO, PhD ’94 (Engineering), received the 2018 Claud R. Erickson Distinguished Alumni Award, which is the highest honor presented to an alumnus by MSU’s College of Engineering.
KELLEY J. BARNETT, ’95 (Social Science), a Frantz Ward partner, has been elected to the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel.
ELYSE B. KAYE, ’98 (Communication Arts and Sciences), is the founder and CEO of Bloom Bras, a patented, fully-customizable sports bra designed to empower women of all shapes and sizes to feel good when exercising.
ELIZABETH T. CLEMENT, ’99 (Social Science), JD ’02 (Law), Governor Rick Snyder’s chief legal counsel, has been named to the Michigan Supreme Court.
2000s
DAWN JAMISON, ’00 (Communication Arts and Sciences), recently released two motivational books titled Reckoning Day: #MeToo Stories that Inspire You and The 8 Mistakes Women Make.
MONA HANNA-ATTISHA, MD ’02 (Human Medicine), ’16 (Honorary Degree), recently published her new book, What the Eyes Don’t See, highlighting her personal experience with the Flint water crisis. The book received praise from many audiences and landed a spot on Oprah’s Top Books of Summer 2018 list.
MICHAEL J. FRANTZ, JR., ’03 (Social Science), has been named a partner at Frantz Ward, LLP in Cleveland, OH.
KATHERINE L. PULLEN, ’03 (Natural Science), has been named a partner at Warner Norcross & Judd, in Southfield.
NICHOLAS J. THOLE, MBA ’04 (Business), has been named Amway’s new chief financial officer.
CANDICE C. MOORE, ’05 (Engineering), has been named a “Rising Star” by the Detroit chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and DBusiness Magazine.
LEAH H. WASBURN-MOSES, PhD ’05 (Education), has published a new book: The Teacher’s Innovation Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning and Achieving Your Goals. It’s meant to help educators/administrators get their ideas from point A to point B.
JOHN A. GILMOUR, ’06 (Business, Arts and Letters), has been named communications director of the Broadway musical, Hamilton: An American Musical.
BRITTANY KAPLAN MCGUIRE, ’06 (Communication Arts and Sciences), was a member of the ChicagoKent College of Law team that won the 2018 Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition championship.
JOSH LEE, ’09 (Business), CFO of CJ Chemicals, has helped quadruple his family-owned and operated chemical distribution company since its formation in 2010.
ASHLEY SOLTYSIAK, ’09 (Natural Science), has been named the Utah Chapter director of the Sierra Club. The chapter works throughout Utah on multiple environmental and conservation fronts such as clean air and public lands.
2010s
EMILY FOX, ’11 (Music), MA ’13 (Communication Arts and Sciences), joined MSU’s WKAR station as the Capital Region host and local producer for NPR’s Morning Edition on 90.5 FM.
CHAD M. DUSCHINSKY, ’13 (James Madison), JD ’17 (Law), has joined the Detroit office of Gallagher Sharp, as an associate.
CAITLYN GAMBINO, ’13 (Arts and Letters), established Aum Journeys LLC to provide a travel booking service catered to each client’s “traveler personality.”
MATTHEW J. PARADISO, ’13 (James Madison), has joined the Detroit office of Hall, Render, the largest health care-focused law firm in the nation.
KELECHI UCHENDU, ’13 (Social Science), is the owner of Kay Kay’s Fashion in the metroDetroit area, and has been featured in several issues of British Vogue and Tatler, in addition to Medium.com, HouseOfCoco.net, and Ayiba Magazine within the first year of launching the business.
ALEXANDER B. POTESTIVO, ’14 (James Madison), has been promoted to associate attorney with Potestivo & Associates, P.C. out of the Chicago office assisting with matter related to Creditor’s Rights Litigation and Foreclosure.
ANDREW STINAVAGE, ’14 (James Madison), was recently awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant for the 2018-2019 academic year as he teaches at the University of Cotonou in Benin.
DEREK A. BLALOCK, ’15 (Communication Arts and Sciences), has published his debut memoir, The Heart to Ride, detailing his 7,000 mile solo bicycle trip across the country to raise money for teen heart health.
AMBER R. MORSON, ’15 (Social Science), has started her own business as a life coach and has published her first book, No Prayer, No Power.
ESSENCE WILSON, ’15 (Business), was selected as one of 50 urban leaders worldwide to attend the Next City Vanguard conference where her team’s winning proposal was chosen to transform an abandoned train station in Newcastle, Australia.
RACHEL BURNARD, ’16 (Communication Arts and Sciences), has been promoted to account executive at Franco, a Detroit-based public relations, marketing, and social media firm.
PIERRE S. CHARLES, III, ’16 (Music), jazz pianist and composer, has produced his debut album, Better, which has charted in the Top 50 iTunes Jazz charts.
KATHERINE ANDREWS, ’17 (James Madison), accepted a position as the marketing director for Drummond Island Tall Ship Company, LLC.
LORYN BAUGHMAN, ’17 (Agriculture and Natural Resources, Social Science), was recently named U.S. communications associate for Oceana, a global ocean conservation nonprofit that protects and restores oceans through winning policy campaigns.
JENNIFER MARTIN-GREEN, ED.D. ’18 (Education), has been appointed superintendent of Southfield Public Schools after previously serving as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent in schools across the metro Detroit area.
RACHEL NANZER, ’18 (Arts and Letters, Honors College), was recently named assistant account executive at Martin Waymire in Lansing.
