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Connections

Class Notes

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Class notes are the perfect way to share your news with friends and classmates. Read about your classmates in this issue of GSU Magazine, then share your own news, achievements, accomplishments and photos. Mail your class notes to GSU Magazine, P.O. Box 3983, Atlanta, GA 30302-3983 or e-mail them to winman@gsu.edu.

1960s

  • Kenneth P. Davis (M.A. '68) was 2010 recipient of the John L. Wolfgang Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership to Scouting in the National Capital Area Council. Having earned an Eagle Scout Badge and the Air Explorer Silver Award in his youth, he has been involved with scouting for 55 years. Davis was a career U.S. Army officer, retiring from military service with the rank of colonel in 1999. He retired from civilian service with the General Services Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency in 2002.

1970s

  • Debra Atkins (B.S. '77, M.Ed. '80, Ed.S. '86) retired after 30 years as an elementary school media specialist and is currently the children's librarian at LaGrange Memorial Library in LaGrange, Ga.
  • Brenda Fitzgerald (B.S. '72) was recently named director of the public health division of the Georgia Department of Community Health. She will oversee the division's seven main program areas: health promotion and disease prevention; maternal and child health; infectious disease and immunization; environmental health; epidemiology; vital records; and the state public health laboratory. She will also direct the state's 18 health districts and 159 county health departments.
  • Parker H. "Pete" Petit (M.B.A. '73), namesake of GSU's Petit Science Center, was inducted as a fellow in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The NAE has more than 2,000 peer-elected members and foreign associates, senior professionals in business, academia and government who are among the world's most accomplished engineers.

1980s

  • Richard Clement (B.A. '89), a Grammy-winning tenor, recently joined the Southern Cresent Chorale in a presentation of Mozart's "Requiem" at Spivey Hall. Clement is currently an assistant professor and artist-in-residence at Georgia State University.
  • Nancy Kassel (B.Mu. '85), cantor at Temple Beth Tikvah in Roswell, was one of 20 American cantors chosen to perform in November at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs in Rome. The group, made up of members of the American Conference of Cantors, sang works by prominent Jewish composers and also held discussions with Vatican officials and other clergy.
  • Ron McBride (Ed.S. '82, Ph.D. '90), professor of education technology and coordinator of the graduate program in education technology at Northwestern State University, has been named the first recipient of the Melba Law Steeg Endowed Chair in Educational Technology Leadership in NSU's College of Education and Human Development.

1990s

  • Heather Alhad (B.S. '98) is a senior transportation planner in Perkins Will's Atlanta Urban Design practice, where she moved last year after serving as the City of Atlanta's director of transportation planning.
  • David G. Allen (Ph.D. '99) was promoted to full professor at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics in Memphis, Tenn. A three-time recipient of the Suzanne Downs Palmer Professorship award for research, Allen is past president of SHRM-Memphis, and he was recently elected to the Division Chair Track for the HR Division of the Academy of Management.
  • Bill Balzer (B.I.S. '98) and his wife, Peggy, were honored with the Turner Downtown Leadership Award from Central Atlanta Progress. The award recognizes those who step forward to do good work on behalf of downtown Atlanta. 
  • Gregory Derian (B.B.A. '98) recently joined the Oradell (New Jersey) Board of Education. Derian is employed with UPS in system development, and he will serve on the Board of Education through the April election.
  • Lynda Ellis (B.A. '90) recently joined Olde Town Gallery and Studio in Conyers, Ga., as education coordinator for public art classes at the gallery. She teaches adult classes in acrylic, oil painting, watercolor and drawing.
  • Adolph "Dolph" Ward Goldenburg (B.S.W. '94, M.P.A. '99) is executive director of the Living Room, a housing information, placement and financial assistance agency for low-income people who are homeless or risk homelessness due to HIV/AIDS.
  • Lidija Polutnik (Ph.D. '94) is a professor of economics and division chair at Babson College near Boston. Her research interests are strategic cost management, labor economics and public finance, and she examines the role of institutions in countries in transition.
  • Andrew Sullivan (M.B.A. '93) was recently recognized as a top financial advisor and named to the LPL Financial Executive Council. This distinction is based on a ranking of all registered advisors supported by LPL Financial LLC, the nation's largest independent broker-dealer, and is awarded to less than 1 percent of the firm's more than 12,000 advisors nationwide.
  • Jeff Weikert (M.B.A. '91) has been named vice president of Sales for RewardsNOW, a leader in integrated, turnkey loyalty programs for financial institutions. Weikert brings with him over 30 years in the financial services industry in a variety of executive roles.
  • Elizabeth "Liz" White (M.B.A. '95) has been named president of Peachtree Special Risk Brokers LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc. White joined Brown & Brown when Peachtree Special Risk Brokers LLC was founded in December 1999. White attained "Lifetime 'Top Gun'" status for her sales production in 2004, 2007 and 2008 for Brown & Brown Wholesale. In 2009 she was named "Mentor of the Year" by Brown & Brown.

2000s

  • Coy Bowles (B. Mu. '04) plays guitar, piano and organ as a member of the Zac Brown Band. The group was nominated for four 2011 GRAMMY Awards: Best Country Album for "You Get What You Give;" Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for "As She's Walking Away" (with Alan Jackson); and Best Country Song and Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "Free." The group took home the GRAMMY for "As She's Walking Away."
  • Arefeen Chowdhury (B.S. '09, M.S. '10), a former Ronald E. McNair scholar and Ty Cobb Education Foundation scholar, joined GSU's University Research Services and Administration as a chemical safety specialist.
  • Robyn Cox (M.A. '07, Ph.D. '09) is an assistant professor of economics in the Department of Economics at Spelman College in Atlanta. She moved to Spelman upon completion of her appointment as a post-doctoral associate at Duke University's economics department.
  • Jerry Gonzalez (M.P.A. '05) is the first executive director of GALEO, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, where he develops a legislative agenda and directs programs that promote the involvement of the Latino/Hispanic community in the legislative process. He also is a member of the Class of 2010 for Leadership Georgia. Maria Duarte (B.S. '09) works with Gonzales as program coordinator for GALEO.
  • Daniel T. Hall (M.A. '06, Ph.D. '10) recently joined the faculty of High Point (N.C.) University as assistant professor of economics in the Earl N. Phillips School of Business. In his new role, Hall is responsible for teaching principles economics courses as well as an environmental economics course.
  • Carlton Harvey (M.Ed. '02) recently published a new book, "Echoes of a Whisper," with CBH Products.
  • Wesley C. Lindsey (M.B.A. '01) recently joined Great Basin Corporation as director of product development. Lindsey previously had served as the associate director of Assay Development, Infectious Disease.
  • Diana Mwai (M.P.A. '08) is national coordinator for the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect, a nonprofit based in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • David W. Pitts (Ph.D. '05) received the School of Public Affairs Award for Outstanding Teaching at American University in Washington, D.C., where he is an assistant professor of public administration and policy.
  • Josef Roberts (M.B.A. '08) has joined Albany Door System's North America team as controller. In his new role, Roberts will have responsibility for financial management and reporting in North and South America.
  • Marcela Szymanski (M.A. '00) in January became the new head of communications at Cabinet DN, a political communications consultancy located in Brussels' EU Quarter.
  • Jennifer Zuiff (B.Mu. '09) is the winner of the 2010-2011 Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta Scholarship. The scholarship, awarded through an annual competition, allows the recipient to attend the Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Institute in Salzburg, Austria.

2010s

  • Mike Dockins (Ph.D. '10), an Atlanta poet, recently read at the Aiken (S.C) Center for the Arts. Dockins lives in Decatur, where he is a professor at Georgia Perimeter College. His poems have appeared in "Crazyhorse," "The Gettysburg Review," "Quarterly West," "Indiana Review," "Gulf Coast" and "Willow Springs." They have been reprinted in "Poetry Daily," "Verse Daily" and in the 2007 edition of "The Best American Poetry." His first book, "Slouching in the Path of a Comet," is currently enjoying a second print run.
  • Steven Gooden (B.Mu. '10) and Rick Neff (B.Mu. '10) had the opportunity to participate in a masterclass with the Berlin Philharmonic String Quartet in January. Both alums are first-year master's students at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. Since completing their degrees at GSU, they have continued to play chamber music together while in school in Chicago.