Alumni Updates: Summer 2018

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1967

William Slomanson A&S ’67 received the 2018 Thomas Jefferson School of Law Student Bar Association’s Lewis & Clark Award for Teaching Innovation; a 2017 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award; and the 2015 San Diego Law Library Justice Foundation’s Bernard E. Witkin Award for Excellence in Legal Education. He is an emeritus faculty member at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Calif.

Nan Tynberg A&S ’67 published Shape: Reading in Three Dimensions (CreateSpace), a collection of essays that examines a diverse range of novels, short stories, and poetry.

1972

Wayne G. Miller BUS ’72G published Quincy Massachusetts: A Shipbuilding Tradition (Quincy Historical Society). It is his second book on the history of the maritime trade in the coastal city.

Dorel Watley A&S ’72 was promoted to southeast regional vice president of BRAVO! Group Services, a leading janitorial services firm. He will oversee daily operations throughout Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

1973

Dennis Palumbo A&S ’73 published Head Wounds (Poisoned Pen Press), a thriller set in Pittsburgh.

1975

Betsy Aiken A&S ’75, BUS ’76G has been appointed executive director of the Westmoreland Land Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of open space in Westmoreland County, Pa.

Eric “Rick” Hursh BUS ’75G is now managing director of Huntington Bank’s new Capital Markets Institutional Sales and Trading office in Indianapolis, Ind.

1976

Francis Feld A&S ’76, EDUC ’85G, a registered nurse anesthetist, was deployed to Texas and Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to aid relief efforts following Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria. In 2017, Pittsburgh Magazine named him an Excellence in Nursing honoree.

Bobbi Jo “BJ” Leber A&S ’76 joined the Pennsylvania Commission for Women by invitation of Gov. Tom Wolf. Chosen for her dedication to Pennsylvania women and girls, Leber was sworn in by Pennsylvania Secretary of State Robert Torres in October 2017.

Joan Such Lockhart NURS ’76, ’79G, ’92G published Nursing Professional Development for Clinical Educators (Oncology Nursing Society), which provides guidance on staff development for nurses. She serves as clinical professor and master of nursing degree coordinator at Duquesne University.

Lynda Waggoner A&S ’76 retired as vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and president of Fallingwater after nearly 40 years of service. She remains active in advancing Fallingwater’s application to the UNESCO World Heritage list of significant cultural landmarks.

1977

Krish A. Prabhu ENGR ’77G, ’80G is now a special strategic advisor to Cloudify, and open source cloud orchestration framework. He previously served as president and chief technology officer of AT&T Labs.

Yolanda Avram Willis A&S ’77G published A Hidden Child in Greece: Rescue in the Holocaust (AuthorHouse), which details her experiences during World War II and chronicles the good deeds of the Greek families who risked their lives to hide her family from the Nazis.

1980

Dennis B. Ledden A&S ’80G was promoted to assistant teaching professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, where his scholarship focuses on the writings of Ernest Hemingway.

1981

Patrick Camus ENGR ’81, ’86G was promoted from director of research and innovation to director of engineering for EDAX, a materials analysis provider in Mahwah, N.J.

1982

Daniel Dunmyer GSPH ’82, ’96 was named CEO of Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, W.Va. He previously served as CEO of Vibra Hospital of Charleston in Charleston, S.C.

Amy Jonas SOC WK ’82 was named executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Beaver County, Pa. Her duties include fundraising, outreach, and overseeing the administration of programs.

1983

Rich Sedory A&S ’83, LAW ’86 won the Charlotte Business Journal’s award for 2018 Outstanding General Counsel of the Year in the small company category. He has worked at Wastequip, a waste management equipment company, since 2013.

1985

Gladys M. Brown A&S ’85, LAW ’88 was named 2017 Government Lawyer of the Year by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She serves as chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and has dedicated her career to public service.

1988

Michael Herron MED ’88 is now executive officer of the Operational Hospital Support Unit at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. Robert Debski ENGR ’88 was named president of Graboyes Smart Buildings, a Philadelphia-based building performance firm.

1991

Kathleen Getz BUS ’91 was named one of the Daily Record of Maryland’s 2018 Top 100 Women. She is dean of the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University Maryland.

Steve Suroviec GSPIA ’91 was selected to serve as president and CEO of ACHIEVA, a national leader in services for children and adults with disabilities. He previously served as chief operations officer and director of intellectual/developmental disability services at the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association in Harrisburg, Pa.

Paul Zolfaghari LAW ’91 is now managing director of operations at Carrick Capital Partners, LLC, a technology-focused investment firm based in Newport Beach and San Francisco, Calif.

1996

Gregory Gromicko BUS ’96G is now a client services manager for the engineering and consulting firm POWER Engineers, Inc., at its York, Pa., office. The Central Pennsylvania Engineers Week Council selected him as 2018 Engineer of the Year.

1997

Norman Hainer Jr. A&S ’97 published ABC’s with Jakee (Ouskirts Press), an educational children’s book inspired by the author’s son, Jakob. Hainer is a patent attorney at Smith & Nephew, Inc., and resides in Westlake, Ohio.

1998

Steven Singer A&S ’98, EDUC ’03G published Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform (Garn Press). Singer, an eighth-grade language arts teacher, was also a finalist for the 2018 Champions of Learning Award in Teaching, sponsored by the Consortium for Public Education in Pittsburgh.

1999

Charles Grindle SCI ’99G, ’14G joined Kentucky’s Commonwealth Office of Technology as its new chief information officer. He also serves on Gov. Matt Bevin’s executive cabinet and previously served as associate professor at the U.S. Army Wat College in Carlisle, Pa.

2000

Michael A. Malia LAW ’00 advanced to partner at the New Jersey-based law firm of Peri & Stewart, LLC. His areas of expertise include complex insurance coverage matters, personal injury, and civil litigation.

2005

Melanie Linn Gutowski A&S ’05 published Kaufmann’s Department Store (Arcadia Publishing), a pictorial history of the Pittsburgh landmark, as part of the Images of America series.

2006

Guiping Hu ENGR ’06G, ’09G, an associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems at Iowa State University, is creating a new digital application technology to increase manufacturing efficiency. She collaborates with companies like Boeing and John Deere to build systems that can be integrated into individual IT frameworks.

Daniel Sumner BUS ’06G was voted chief financial officer of Westinghouse Electric Company by the Westinghouse board of directors. He has served as acting director since May 2017.

Nathaniel Dutt A&S ’07 joined the law firm of Shuffield, Lowman, & Wilson, P.A., in Orlando, Fla. His practice areas include tax and corporate law.

2008

Laura DelFratte LAW ’08, BUS ’08G joined Eckert Seamans at its Pittsburgh office and business division. A certified public accountant accredited in business valuation, she focuses on tax and estate law.

Kenneth D. Hackman LAW ’08 was elected partner by the Philadelphia-based law firm Dechert LLP, where he represents investment banks, commercial banks, life insurance companies, institutional investors, specialty finance companies, real estate investment trusts, and private equity funds.

Emily G. Hannigan A&S ’08 advanced to senior associate at the law firm of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP in Albany, N.Y. Hannigan’s practice includes representing public sector labor unions and litigating personal injury cases.

Yi Hong ENGR ’08G, an assistant professor of bioengineering at University of Texas Arlington, won a National Science Foundation Early Career Development program grant in support of his research designing biodegradable and elastic conductive materials, which could be used for muscle, neuron, and heart repair and regeneration.

2009

Kenneth Krause BUS ’09G won the Pittsburgh Business Times 2017 CFO of the Year Award for the western Pennsylvania region. He is vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer of MSA Safety, a global safety equipment manufacturer.

2012

Nicole Pezzino PHARM ’12, ’14G was named 2017-2018 Academia Practice Director of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association. She is an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Wilkes University’s Nesbitt School of Pharmacy.

2013

Claire Eckroate A&S ’13 is an account executive at the BGB Group, a New York City-based medical communications agency.

Kristen R. McGuire A&S ’13 was named an associate at the York, Pa.-based law firm Stock and Leader. Her areas of practice include estate planning, estate administration, elder law, and fiduciary planning.

2014

Adam Dove A&S ’14, a Pittsburgh-based writer, authored The Truth, a serialized novel sent to readers via email.

Soyapi Mumba MED ’14 presented a talk at TEDGlobal 2017 on his work at the Baobab Health Trust in Malawi, where he is now director of public health informatics. As a software engineer, Mumba worked to create the East African nation’s electronic medical record system for HIV treatment.

Hannah Thyberg NURS ’14 contributed a chapter to Reifying Women’s Experiences with Invisible Illness: Illusions, Delusions, Reality (Lexington Books), a book targeted toward students in the health communications field.

Jessica Vamos BUS ’14 is the new executive director of the Humane Society of Cambria County in Johnstown, Pa.

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