Connections

Class Notes

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60s

  • Lee Armstrong (B.A. '68) and Dr. Peggy Duke (B.S. '73) were honored as Outstanding Alumni by Georgia State University's College of Arts and Sciences. This is the first year the college has bestowed this award. 
  • Dr. William Buchanan (B.A. '68) was a featured speaker at the 2009 Conference on Library and Information Society hosted by Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, Taiwan.  Dr. Buchanan has been on the faculty of the Department of Library Science at Clarion University since 1993.
  • Kay Cothran Craigie (B.A. '68) was elected president of the American Radio Relay League, Inc., the national association for amateur radio in the United States.
  • Jerry T. Kendall (B.B.A. '67, M.B.A. '72) has joined Universal Surveillance Systems, a manufacturer of loss prevention technology, as senior vice president of global sales and service. Kendall formerly was president of the Americas for Sensormatic.
  • Caron St. John (Ph.D. '88, M.B.A. '84) is the new dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She previously was associate dean for research, graduate programs and outreach in the College of Business and Behavioral Science at Clemson University.
  • Eric J. Joiner (M.B.A. '69, B.B.A. '66) received the 2010 Poultry Industry Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Poultry and Food Distributors Association. Joiner, who is co-founder and vice chairman of AJC International, serves on the board of councilors of the Carter Center and the board of advisors of GSU's J. Mack Robinson College of Business.

70s

  • Kenneth G. Byers, Jr. (M.B.A. '72) has been appointed 2010 chair of the board of councilors of the Carter Center. He is president and founder of Byers Engineering Company and a director of the Atlanta Rotary Club.
  • Robyn Spizman (B.A. '76) and Justin Spizman (J.D. '06) recently released a new book, "Don't Give Up... Don't Ever Give Up" with Sourcebooks.
  • Michael D. Weisman (B.A. '75) has joined the Boston law firm of Davis, Malm & D'Agostine, P.C as a shareholder in the Litigation Practice area. Weisman has been a trial lawyer for more than 30 years, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

80s

  • Carmen Bernal (M.A.T. '82), former part-time instructor in the Modern and Classical Languages department, has been announced as a recipient of the 2010 Governor's Award of the Humanities. The award recognizes people and organizations doing exemplary work in the field and encourage them to serve as role models for their peers.
  • Mary Ann Brown (M.A.S. '81) has been promoted to executive vice president, corporate development at Pacific Life Insurance Company. A Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Brown previously was senior vice president of finance and product development at Pacific Life.
  • Linda DiSantis (J.D. '88) received the Linda T. Muir Award for Business and Law from the Georgia Women's Institute for contributions to the profession and the advancement of women.
  • Layne E. Eggers (B.S. '84) is the new assistant dean of dean of hospitality at Pennsylvania College of Technology.  Previously he was director of sales and service, innovation and culinary excellence for Gate Gourmet International/Gate Group.
  • Osmo A. Hautanen (M.B.A. '87) has been appointed to the board of directors of Geos Communications, a developer and distributor of mobile applications and services. He is CEO of Magnolia Broadband and owner of Cosmos Consulting, Inc.
  • Robert Puechl (M.B.A. '80) has been elected a corporate officer of Sonoco. Puechl, who is vice president and general manager of global plastics, joined the company in 1986.
  • William Scarborough (M.Tx. '80, M.P.A. '93) recently successfully completed the requirements for the certified management accountant (CMA) professional designation. Scarborough is employed as an associate chief accountant in the enforcement division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C.
  • Cindy Troyer (J.D. '89) has been appointed the Municipal Judge for Farragut, Tenn.
  • Alan Wind (M.Ed. '88) has been selected as the Georgia State Daughters of the American Revolution American History Teacher of The Year. He was honored at the State Convention in March, and competed in national competition in April.
  • Lawrence Young (J.D. '86) was reappointed to his second, four-year term as judge of the Municipal Court of Sandy Springs, Ga. 

90s

  • Larry Arney (M.B.A. '94) is the new executive director of the Midlands Housing Alliance. Previously he was deputy director of programs for the South Carolina Housing Finance and Development Authority.
  • Keisha Bottoms ( J.D. '94) was sworn in as a member of the Atlanta City Council, 11th District on Jan. 4, 2010. She has been elected Vice-Chair of the Transportation Committee and appointed Chair of the MARTA Sub-Committee. She also serves on the Public Safety and Zoning Committees.
  • Victoria S. Chin (M.A. '94) recently published her first children's book entitled "Dragon Girl: An Interactive Forks-of-Life Adventure" with Royal Fireworks Press.
  • Wain Kellum (M.B.A. '91) has joined Vocalocity as CEO. He comes to the voice-over-Internet-protocol provider from Omnilink Systems. Kellum serves on the board of directors of NETtime Solutions and is chair emeritus of TechBridge.
  • Alicia Avrett Kelly (B.A. '98) and her husband, Christopher Kelly recently welcomed the birth of their first child, Kieran Paul. They live in Atlanta.
  • Lance LoRusso (J.D. '99) received the 2010 Serving Others and Achieving Results (SOAR) award from the Georgia State University College of Law's Public Interest Law Association for his outstanding pro bono work among veterans and law enforcement officers.
  • Marsha Morgan (B.S. '93) recently completed her doctorate degree in Child Development, and she is currently working as a Child Development Fellow in the Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University.
  • Richard J.Muller Jr. (M.S. '99), biosafety officer for Georgia State University, is now a Registrant of the National Registry of Certified Microbiologists and is certified as a Specialist Microbiologist in Biological Safety Microbiology. 
  • Winsome Packer (M.P.A '90) recently published a novel, "A Personal Agenda," with CreateSpace publishers. 
  • Alice Wheatley Padgett (J.D. '90) has been appointed Associate Probate Court Judge of Columbia County, Ga. 
  • Philip A. Patterson (M.H.A. '96) is the new CEO of Bon Secours Charity Health System. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
  • Randy Patterson (B.B.A. '98, M.B.A. '01) has joined Recall North America as vice president, human resources.  Patterson comes to the information lifecycle management firm from The Home Depot, where has was director of human resources for store operations, sales and service. Patterson serves on the board of directors of GSU's Alumni Association.
  • Machelle Redmond (J.D. '98) has been named to the 2010 Georgia Rising  Stars list for the state's attorneys. Redmond leads the Redmond Real Estate Institute, a nonprofit organization providing continuing education courses to realtors and promoting real estate education within the community.
  • Teo Sagisman (M.S. '97) and Heather Abraham (M.A. '09) recently launched a web site with daily blogs about comparative religion called ReligionNerd.com
  • Richard Szatkowski (M.B.A. '93) has been appointed general manager of two business units of Local.com, a local search site and network. In his new position Szatkowski will oversee network and sales and advertiser services. Most recently he was senior vice president, advertising and business development for Autobytel.
  • Scott Tracey (M.B.A. '97) has been named vice president and general manager, Europe of Polymer Group Inc. He has been with the company for six years and most recently was vice president, sales, marketing and business development
  • Joe Uriz (B.A. '96) was honored as Georgia's K-12 Foreign Language Teacher of the Year by the Foreign Language Association of Georgia.
  • David Winters (M.B.A. '98) is the new CEO of IntelliOne Technologies Corporation.  He previously was CFO and executive vice president of the traffic and location services provider.  Prior to joining IntelliOne Winters  was CFO at Pure Med Spa and the McCauley Companies.

00's

  • Scott Anderson (J.D. '94) and his partner, Paul Whiting, are proud to announce the birth of their twin boys, Mitchell and Nathan, via gestational surrogate. Scott is a litigator at Ballard Spahr LLP in Atlanta where he specializes in the enforcement of intellectual property rights in a variety of technologies.
  • Hank (J.D. '06) and Kathleen  Askins (J.D. '06) are proud to announce the birth of their son, Harold William Askins IV.
  • Patrick Burns (M.A. '06) Vice President of Public Affairs at Duffey Communications, has been selected to serve as the Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Southeast Public Affairs Working Group in 2010.
  • Chris Conway ( J.D. '08) and his wife Andreja, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter Nora Hope Conway.
  • Gerry Depken (M.H.P. '02) recently published "Fort Oglethorpe," with co-author Julie Powell. Published by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Popular Images of America series, the book features over 200 vintage photographs.
  • Jennifer Dorris (B.B.A. '93, M.B.A. '01) has been appointed president of Prommis Solutions. She had been CFO of the financial services processing firm.  Dorris is a member of the board of directors of Express-1 and chair of its audit committee.
  • Donna Ennis (M.P.A. '07), project director of the Georgia Minority Business Enterprise Center, has been named one of Atlanta's Top 100 Black Women of Influence by the Atlanta Business League.
  • Ryan Finch (J.D. '05) recently joined McCalla Raymer LLC as bankruptcy associate specializing in creditor's rights.
  • Angela M. Forstie (J.D. '09) joined Howick, Westfall, McBryan & Kaplan LLP as an associate in the commercial litigation practice group.
  • Corey Francis (M.Mu. '06) has been accepted into the Doctorate of Music Arts in wind conducting program at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was also awarded a graduate teaching assistantship.
  • Adam Knight (B.Mu. '04) has been named  jazz studies instructor at the University of South Carolina Upstate, and guitar instructor at Spartanburg Community College.
  • Katherine Koehler (M.Mu. '09) won the Perry C. Daniels Encouragement Award in the South Carolina District of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.
  • Ryan Landers  (J.D. '07) and Andrea Espie (J.D. '07) were married in Roswell, Ga. on July 3, 2009. Ryan is a staff attorney at the Eleventh Circuit and Andrea is a staff attorney with Atlanta Legal Aid.
  • Douglas Tozzi (J.D. '02)  has formed Tozzi Law Group, LLC, a law firm in Decatur, Ga. concentrating in commercial collections for business creditors, including law firms, from business debtors located in the State of Georgia and the representation of commercial building owners in landlord-tenant matters.
  • Chris Vasbinder (M.B.A. '01) recently joined Lincoln Harris, a full-service corporate real estate company, as Vice President of Retail Brokerage.
  • Melissa Bell Wheeler (M.P.A. '08) recently eared the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certification. Wheeler was also recently promoted to Senior Staff Accountant at the Atlanta accounting and advisory firm of Gifford, Hillegass & Ingwersen.
  • Trey Wright (M.Mu. '02) has been named a lecturer of jazz studies and jazz guitar at Kennesaw State University, and instructor at Atlanta Institute of Music.