Spring 2012
Connections

Class Notes

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

  • William Buchanan (B.A. '68), professor in the Department of Library Science at Clarion University, has published "St. Jerome and the Vulgate Bible," in the December 2011 issue of Catholic Library World, one of the major professional journals in the field of librarianship.

1970s

  • Joe A. Hastey (M.B.A. '74) has joined STV, a leading engineering, architectural, planning, environmental and construction management firm, as a senior vice president and director of corporate development.

1980s

  • Guido H. Brun (B.B.A. '84) has been appointed director of sales and marketing for the Emory Conference Center Hotel. Prior to accepting this position, Brun was director of sales and marketing for the Atlanta Marriott Gwinnett Place Hotel.
  • Dennis Buttimer (M. Ed. '81) and his wife, Angela, recently co- authored the book "CALM: Choosing to Live Mindfully." The husband and wife duo are counselors and coaches, registered yoga and meditation teachers, group facilitators and workshop leaders, speakers and writers. They founded and currently practice at Buttimer and Associates, LLC, in Atlanta.
  • Alexandra Faer Bryan's (B.S. '81) book, "Green Kitty," placed as a finalist for "Best Books 2011," one of six finalists in children's fiction by USA Book News.
  • Catherine Ivy (B.S.W. '89) has been appointed deputy director of long-term care at the Georgia Department of Community Health in Atlanta.
  • Wes McDowell (B.B.A. '82) vice president and CIO for the Georgia region of Southern Company, was named Enterprise CIO of the Year by the Georgia CIO Leadership Association. McDowell serves on the board of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Technology Association of Georgia, Smart Grid Society of Georgia and the University of Georgia Management Information System.
  • Kevin M. Murphy (M.B.A. '87) has been named president and CEO of ONYX Graphics, Inc., a leader in wide format digital printing solutions.
  • Evelyn Wynn-Dixon (B.S.W. '88), mayor of Riverdale, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. She also serves on Gov. Deal's Transit Governance Task Force, the American Red Cross Minority Recruitment Board and the board of directors of the National Association of Black Mayors.

1990s

  • Mary Femi Ayadi (M.A. '96, Ph.D. '01), assistant professor of healthcare administration at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, was recently named a Fulbright Scholar. Next year she will lecture at Covenant University in Sango-Ota, Nigeria.
  • Gale Buckner (B.A. '99) was recently appointed to commissioner of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice by Gov.  Nathan Deal. She has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Georgia State and the Secretary of State Outstanding Leadership as a Georgia Woman in Public Safety Award.
  • Anton Flores-Maisonet (B.S.W. 92), co-founder of Alterna, a missional community of U.S. citizens and Latin American immigrants in LaGrange, Ga., recently served a church leader in residence at Hesston College in Hesston, Kan.
  • Ramona Hasan (B.S.W. '98) will serve as a data integrity specialist for the State of Georgia.
  • Hugh Jacobs (M.B.A. '98) was recently named president and CEO at Enterprise Bank of Florida. Jacobs brings more than 20 years of financial executive experience to Enterprise Bank.
  • Paul White (Ph.D. '90) recently published a book co-authored with Gary Chapman titled "Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People" (Northfield Press, Chicago).

2000s

  • Jason Airman (M.S.W. '08) has been promoted to a START director of Family & Children Services for the Georgia Department of Human Services.
  • Tricia Bonner (M.P.A. '08) is a governmental affairs specialist for AGL Resources, a natural gas distribution, marketing and energy services Fortune 1000 corporation headquartered in Atlanta.
  • Benita Booker (B.S.W. '04) has been appointed social worker for the Cambridgeshire County Council in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Joshua Bornstein (M.P.A. 05) is an emergency management and security manager for the U.S. Department of Labor in Atlanta.
  • Jae S. Brown (B.S. '04), an emergency response coordinator for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Select Agents and Toxins, was recently featured  in the "40 under 40, Georgia's Best and Brightest" by Georgia Trend in October 2011.
  • Sonji Brown (M.S.W. '06) will serve as volunteer coordinator at AseraCare Hospice in Atlanta.
  • Matt Cochran (M.B.A '02) is an account executive at Cookerly Public Relations. Prior to joining Cookerly in 2008, he interned at The Heritage Foundation in Washington.
  • Vicki D. Coleman (M.P.A. '04) was named director of the Department of Development for the City of Chamblee, Ga. Also the principal of Coleman Consulting, which she founded in 2008, Coleman joined Chamblee from Fulton County's Economic Development and Business Services.
  • Bradley "Brad" Colwell (B.F.A. '02) has redesigned the Paramount intro, one of the most recognized corporate trademarks in the world, in celebration of the movie studio's 100 years. The new logo premiered in theaters worldwide with the release of "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol."
  • Rachel Ezzo, (B.A. '02) recently accepted a new position as development director for Kate's Club, whose mission is to empower children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling.
  • Travis Gilbert (B.S. '01) owns a popular entertainment business, Fonix Entertainment, that he began while attending GSU. Specializing in weddings, Gilbert was awarded the 2010 Bride's Choice Award as one of the Best Wedding DJs in the Atlanta area.
  • Jerry Gonzalez (M.P.A. '05), executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, recently spoke at an event given by the Young Leaders of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization affiliated with GSU and the Robinson College of Business. The topic was "Federal and State Immigration Law."
  • Joshua Gruber (M.P.A. '04) has been hired by Beaufort County, S.C., as a staff attorney. Gruber has worked for the Ohio attorney general's office, in private practice and most recently, as assistant county attorney for Berkeley County, S.C.
  • Tracie Herold (M.S.W. '09) is the family service director at Our House, a childcare and support center for homeless families in Decatur, Ga.
  • Bertha Harris (B.S.W. '08) recently accepted a position with the Georgia Board of Regents as an executive assistant.
  • Robert Hartley (B.A. '08) is a savings and credit association's specialist for HOPE International in Knoxville, Tenn.
  • Lanelle Henderson (B.S. '01) has recently been promoted to regional development director for Georgia by Constant Contact, a marketing advisor to more than 450,000 small businesses worldwide. Henderson is a member of the Atlanta Visitors and Convention Bureau, and previous president of the Hospitality Alumni Club at Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality at Georgia State University.
  • Brian James (M.S. '01) was promoted to assistant director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Strategic Issues team. For over a decade James has served as analyst-in-charge with GAO on a range of engagement topics.
  • Andrew Keenan (M.B.A. '03) has been named head of client services for breensmith, an independent advertising agency in Atlanta. Keenan is also president of the board of directors at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.
  • Jody Ma Kissling (M.B.A. '03) has been appointed vice president of marketing for Lancope, Inc., a leader in flow-based security and network performance monitoring. She will be responsible for the company's global marketing and communications strategy.
  • Erin Lewis (M.P.A. '06) has been promoted to associate vice president at the University of Iowa Foundation, where she has been since 2008.
  • Matitu Cliff Muga (B.A. '08) is a senior budget office for the Ministry of Finance of Tanzania. He has worked at the ministry, which is located in Dar Es Salaam, for the last decade.
  • Brian K. Nichols (J.D. '03) has been elected a shareholder with Modrall Sperling, a full-service law firm in New Mexico. Nichols practices primarily in litigation, with focuses on energy, natural resources and Indian Law. Before joining Modrall Sperling, Brian clerked for the New Mexico Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Brian is licensed in New Mexico, Arizona and the Navajo Nation.
  • Taylor Flory Ogletree (B.A. '07) has been awarded a James A. Michener Fellowship in Creative Writing from the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers, one of the five most highly selective creative writing programs in the country. Ogletree's fiction was chosen out of over 900 submissions in fiction, playwriting, poetry and screenwriting.
  • Mindy Pillow (J.D. '05) has joined the firm of Davis, Matthews and Quigley, PC as an associate in the domestic relations and family law group. She represents clients in all aspects of family law, including divorce, legal separation, paternity, legitimization, child custody, adoption and prenuptial agreements.
  • Kyle Proctor (B.B.A. '08) was recently named interactive managing editor at WFXL-TV in Albany, Ga.
  • Angela Raub (M.B.A. '09) was recently promoted to vice president of business development at Hotel Equities. Raub joined Hotel Equities as the director of business development in December 2010. Previously she held the position of director of corporate relations at Georgia State's Robinson College of Business.
  • Marci Reed (M.P.A. '08) is executive director for AIA Georgia, an Association of the American Institute of Architects. She also serves on the board of EarthShare of Georgia, which she chairs, and the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership.
  • Mohamed Rinzan (M.S. '04, Ph.D. '06) has joined Inficon as a physicist for the thin film business line after completing his post-doctoral fellowship at Georgetown University.
  • Tourgee D. Simpson Jr. (B.S. '05) has been recently accepted into a Ph.D. program at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, where he intends to study career training and development.
  • Stacey Sinclair (B.S.W. '01) was recently appointed to clinical liaison for the Southern Crescent Hospital for Specialty Care in Riverdale, Ga.
  • Charles Sterne (M.S.W. '07) was recently promoted to director of basic needs for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, where he had previously served as investments manager.
  • Rachel Tobin (M.A. '07),a former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the  recent  president of the Atlanta Press Club, joined Jackson Spalding's communications team in December.
  • Delores Varner (M.S.W. '01) has been promoted to a children and families program specialist for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Atlanta, where she has been 20 years.

2010s

  • Robert Hay Jr. (M.P.A. '10) recently accepted the position of chief administrative officer for the Hi-Hope Service Center, a nonprofit organization that serves adults with developmental disabilities located in Lawrenceville, Ga.
  • Maurice Jackson (B.A. '11) is the founder and president of The Jackson Consulting Group in Decatur, Ga. His firm specializes in strategy mentoring, research and analysis, strategic planning and education consulting.
  • Timothy Libby (M.P.A. '11) was recently promoted to project manager at the Atlanta Housing Authority where he has worked for five years.
  • Erin A. Marsh (M.S. '11) is in the Ph.D. program in Criminology and criminal justice at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. She presented two papers at the Southern Criminal Justice Association Conference in Nashville, Tenn. She is also scheduled to present at the American Criminal Justice Services conference in New York.
  • Wanda Rainey-Reed (M.S.W. '10) was named vice president of operations at CaringWorks, Inc., a nonprofit social service agency that supports residents of affordable housing properties in Atlanta. The organization has been featured on "TBS STORYline."
  • Anna Tam (M.S.W. '11) has been appointed to program coordinator for the Center for Pan Asian Community Services in Chamblee, Ga.
  • Randall Wynne (B.S. '10), a Professional MBA candidate through the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, is a revenue analyst for TriBridge Residential, LLC, a full-service multi-family real estate operating platform in investment, management and development that is headquartered in Atlanta.