Transitions

• 1970s
• 1980s
• 1990s
• 2000s
• Deaths

Editor’s note: Transitions are submitted by alumni and are not verified by the editors. While we welcome alumni news, The Mason Spirit is not responsible for information contained in Transitions.

1970s

Bart Kramer, BA Physics and Math ’70 and MEd ’74, retired from the Fairfax County Public Schools as an administrator and now teaches part time at Mountain View High School in Centreville, Virginia. Kramer is also the founder and CEO of Bart’s Time for Travel (www.bartstimefortravel.com).

Jim Danoy, BA Government and Politics ’79 and MA History ’90, was promoted to senior defense intelligence analyst for Europe and NATO issues at the Pentagon. His daughter, Katie, is a sophomore at Mason this year.

Donald A. Miller, BA Biology ’79, was selected for promotion to commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.

1980s

David L. Smiga, JD ’80, was elected chair of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Environmental Section in Pennsylvania.

Larry Packett, JD ’82, is proud to announce that his daughter, Jessica, graduated from Mason’s Law School in 2007 and has passed the Florida Bar.

Wendy Breeden, BSN ’83, was named a Great 100 Nurse for 2007. She is one of three RNs from the Cape Fear Valley Health System to win the prestigious honor of being one of North Carolina’s best 100 nurses.

James C. Rousseau, BA International Studies ’83, and Esther Chai-Yen Tan are proud to announce the birth of their son, James Clements IV, born on October 4, 2007. Baby James is said to be looking forward to attending Mason, as did his father, and competing on Mason’s award-winning Forensics Team.

Joseph A. Esposito, MA History ’88, is editor of The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: What to Look for and Where to Find It, which is available nationwide. He previously was deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Education.

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, MS Physical Education ’88, is a professor of sports management and tourism studies at the George Washington University School of Business and has developed a very popular elective course in the program, International Experience: Behind the Scenes at the Olympic Games.

Nicole Korkolis, BA Communication ’89, is the managing director of Carmen Group, as well as a stand-up comedian and writer. In August, she performed a one-woman show at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

David Reininger, BS Decision Science ’89 and MA Telecommunication ’92, has worked as a spotter for Andretti Green Racing for over five years, during which time they have won the IndyCar Series championship in 2004, 2005, and 2007. This year, he also worked on Sam Schmidt Motorsports team and was on Dario Franchitti’s winning team at the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

George Harold Waxter, MS Electronic and Computer Engineering ’89, spoke at the World Conference of Mensa in Orlando, Florida, on the history and culture of New Zealand and his experiences working in the medical system there as a locum tenens physician.

1990s

Angelo Barone, JD ’92, became managing director of Lifeline Theatre in Chicago in August 2007 as the company kicked off its 25th anniversary season. Barone will oversee all nonartistic functions for the Lifeline.

Amy Leahy Shutts, BA International Studies ’93, and husband, Stephen, welcome twins, Colleen and Cooper, into their lives. The twins were born on July 20, 2007, joining big brother, Connor (4). The family resides in Richmond, Virginia, and Amy is co-owner of Launch! College & Career Planning.

Cynthia Henry Thurlow, BA International Studies ’93, and her husband, Todd, welcomed their second son on October 5, 2007, who joins his big brother, Jackson.

Stephen K. Gallagher, JD ’94, was named to the Best Lawyers in America annual legal rankings guide.

Sirin Tekinay, PhD Information Technology ’94, received the National Science Foundation Director’s Award for Program Management Excellence on June 19, 2007.

Henry “Skip” Wood, BS Administration of Justice ’95, completed 30 years of police work in Northern Virginia and has retired to a real estate career in the North Carolina mountains, which helps to get his three kids through college.

Robert J. Finan III, BS Accounting ’96, earned a JD from Villanova University Law School in 1999 and works as an entertainment attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. He married Jennifer Stiles in April 2007.

Madlon Laster, PhD Education ’96, will have her book, Brain-based Teaching for All Subjects: Patterns to Promote Learning, released by Rowman and Littlefield in early 2008.

Betsy Andrews, MFA Creative Writing ’97, was one of 18 poets who received $7,000 fellowships from the New York Foundation of the Arts.

Sheri Patterson Buttarazzi, MBA ’97, and her husband, Joe, announce the birth of their third son and seventh child, Dominic Augustus, born on March 20, 2007. The family lives in Baltimore.

Gary M. Clemens, MPA ’97, the clerk of the circuit court in Loudoun County, was elected president of the Virginia Court Clerk’s Association.

Bryant Risque Hutter, BA History ’97, MEd ’00, and MEd Leadership ’07, and his wife, Kristen, announce the birth of a son, Declan Michael Risque, on July 14, 2007.

Deborah Barfield Williamson, MPA ’97, was hired as the Virginia Network of Nonprofit Organizations’ first full-time executive director.

Robert C. Steele, MA Telecommunication ’98, recipient of the 2002 Outstanding Telecommunications Alumnus award, was hired as president and CEO of Smart Perfusion, a biotech start-up company based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

2000s

Ruby Chawla, BS Marketing ’00, married Prasad Hedge in a ceremony at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Both work in New York, where she is divisional merchandise manager for the U.S. unit of the French Connection clothing company.

Max Donley, MBA ’00, was promoted to vice president of human resources at MedImmune. Donley is a certified senior professional in human resources through the Society for Human Resource Management.

Angie Goff, BA Communication ’01, left reporting in Columbia, South Carolina, at WIS-TV to become the morning traffic reporter for Channel 9/WUSA in Washington, D.C.

William Preston McLaughlin, MA American History ’01, a colonel in the Marine Corps, assumed command of MCSF B unit in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 10, 2007.

Della Cavey (formerly Delaram Mokhtar), BA Communication ’02, is a U.S. diplomat working in the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi. She is married to David Cavey of Maryland and has a 2½-year-old daughter.

Mark Finney, MS Conflict Analysis ’02, wed Erin Jurich on August 18, 2007, in Boulder, Colorado. He completed his doctorate in mass communication at the University of Colorado and is now a tenure track faculty member at Adams State College.

Jess Anthony, MFA Creative Writing ’04, sold her first novel, The Convalescent, which will be published by McSweeney’s/Grove in 2008.

Brian Brodeur, MFA Creative Writing ’05, won the 2007 Akron Poetry Prize, judged by Stephen Dunn, for his manuscript poetry collection Other Latitudes. Brodeur received a $1,000 honorarium, and Other Latitudes will be published by the University of Akron Press in October 2008.

Danielle Deulen, MFA Creative Writing ’05, was named the 2007–08 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.

Nancy K. Pearson, MFA Creative Writing ’05, was awarded a second-year fellowship for 2007–08 at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Robert Drummond, MFA Creative Writing ’06, won the 2007 Arts & Letters Fiction Prize, judged by Robert Boswell, for his short story, “The Unnecessary Man,” an excerpt from his novel in progress.

Ryan Effgen, MFA Creative Writing ’06, had his story, “The Inappropriate Behavior of Our Alleged Loved Ones,” published in the 2007 anthology Best New American Voices. The story is being adapted for a short film by Toboggan Films.

Wendy Wagner, MS Bioscience Management ’06, married Gavin de Windt, MS Bioscience Management ’05, on October 13 in Chautauqua, New York. She is a project manager at Battelle in Washington, D.C., and he is an operations and investor relations manager at CEL-SCI in Vienna, Virginia.

Deaths

Donna L. Adams, MEd ’75, February 11, 2007

Kathleen Beamer, BSN ’88, August 1, 2007

Steven Delorge, BS Economics ’93, July 19, 2007

William C. Leaman, BS Business ’76, June 18, 2007

Judith S. Miller, MAIS ’01, February 12, 2003

Julius Knox Singleton, MEd ’80, September 3, 2007