Mike Rupert, PR/CC ’09, is the Communications Manager for the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs in Washington, DC. Mike also recently started localgovchat.com and Twitter chat #localgovchat to unite local government communications professionals.

Major Myles Caggins III, PR/CC ’08, is Public Affairs (Media) Officer, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division currently stationed in Iraq.  During his final semester, Myles was a military fellow at the Center for American Progress and co-authored a major report on the 21st Century Military.  His outstanding efforts resulted in his selection to Council on Foreign Relations’ elite Term Member program.  Myles was also one of only four Army officers in the prestigious White House Social Program.  He served the Bush and Obama families at over 40 events including the Inauguration.

Jessica Hayes, Journalism ’08, is a general assignment reporter for CBS News 10 WTHI –TV in Terre Haute, Indiana. Prior to joining the team at WTHI, Jessica worked as an assignment editor at WUSA in Washington, DC.

Nan Morrison, BALS ’99; MALS ’02, is an accomplished artist at Columbia Pike Artist Studios as well as a board member of the Arlington Artists Alliance. Nan conducts lectures and tours around the Washington, D.C. area. Her master’s thesis was The Cultural Values of the Horse and the Rider; An Iconological Examination of Equestrian Statuary. 

Josh Arinze, MALS ’07, shares news of passing the Oral Assessment session in March, the most “grueling” part of months of assessment and additional security and medical clearance for selection into the State Department Foreign Service.  

James Claude Benton, MALS ’08, begins doctoral study at Georgetown this fall in the history department. His concentration is United States History with a specific focus on 20th Century labor history and deindustrialization. His recent MALS thesis, “Economic Change and the ‘City of Looms’: Trade Adjustment Assistance in the American Community,” is cited in a soon to be released Tennessee Press book by Timothy Vanderburg, Gardner-Webb University history professor. His book and Benton’s thesis focus on the economic crises of the Cannon Mills Company and its successor, the Pillowtex Corporation.

Susan Bond, BALS ’03, combines teaching and working toward a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at George Mason University.
Recent MALS ’08 graduate, Jeff Blumberg and his wife served as Peace Corps volunteers in a small coastal village in Belize 2004-2006. He operated a Legal Information Bureau in the village and initiated the first high school mock court program in Belize. His Peace Corps journal provided a backdrop for his thesis, “The American Dream through the Window of Peace Corps Memoirs.” Jeff and his wife started a non-profit (The Blumberg Fund for Belizean Youth, Inc., www.BFBY .org) that helps talented but disadvantaged Belizean youth pay for their high school educations.

Mario Cader-Frech, MALS ’92, serves as Vice President of Public Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility MTV Networks Latin America. Cader-Frech also serves as Honorary Consul of El Salvador in the U.S. His previous awards include Distinguished Salvadoran and a Ten Year recognition from the National Gallery of Art. 1983 MALS graduate,

Dwayne Eutsey, MALS ’97, presented his paper “Waking from this Dream of Separateness: Hinduism and the Ending of No. 44, ‘The Mysterious Stranger,’” in August at Elmira 2009: The Sixth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies in Elmira, NY. The paper is now a submission for publication in The Twain Center Journal. The University of Missouri School of Medicine presented its most prestigious awards on April 2, 2009 in Kansas City, MO .

David Fleming, M.D., MALS ’08, was awarded the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. He is founding director of the MU Center for Health Ethics and a professor of health services management and internal medicine at MU.

Elizabeth Foxwell, MALS ’90, edited John Buchan: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction written by University of Ghent English professor Kate Mac- Donald, McFarland & Co., Jefferson, NC , publisher. It is a comprehensive guide to the work of Scottish thriller author and politician John Buchan (1875-1940). The book is the first in the McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction series, which will produce solid reference works on often neglected and significant authors in the mystery field.

Norman Grandstaff, MALS ’99, had painting installations in a recent exhibition at the Caelum Gallery in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. His paintings will be part of an art exhibition in San Francisco in the Fall.

Mindy Williams Hollar, MALS ’98, recently joined the Stanford University School of Education as Associate Director of Development. This position builds from her previous work as Associate Director of International Development at the London office of the University of Chicago. Her daughter joins her as a future Hoya, class of 2012.

Dr. Richard Greggory Johnson III, MALS 2000, has been awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in the Leadership and Policy Studies Department, The University of Vermont (UVM). Also on the UVM faculty is Robert Nash, MALS ’84.

Rachelle Johnson, MALS ’08, has been awarded the Mike Mansfield Fellowship by The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. Rachelle is a senior legislative assistant with the U.S. Senate. The award provides a year of full-time Japanese language and area studies training in DC followed by a year in Japan to explore Japan’s political structure and policy making processes and the effect Japan’s policies have on U.S. strategic interests in Asia.

Thomas Kerch, BALS ’03, Ph.D. ’08, joined the Graduate Liberal Studies Faculty this summer offering, The Citizen and the Regime: The Convergence of Politics and Ethics. He is scheduled to teach one of the Thesis Proposal Workshops in the Fall term.

Sharon Kugler, MALS ’98, Yale University Chaplain, was the guest preacher at Georgetown’s Christian Unity Vespers Prayer Service sponsored by the Office of Campus Ministry on April 20th.

Richard LaMagna, MALS ’96, is an online safety and investigations consultant to Pfizer and eBay along with work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding online child safety.
The first book of poetry by John S. McClenahen, MALS ‘98, “Eight Mile: Selected Poems”, was reviewed in the Spring 2009 issue of the St. Lawrence University Magazine. St. Lawrence is John’s undergraduate alma mater. His second book of poems, “Not Only Explorers”, recently released.

Jessica Neagle, MALS ’09, earned the Certificate of Apprenticeship in Teaching offered by the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship. Soon after her graduation Jessica served as one of the organizers for the Sacred DC festival, DC’s first gathering of local artists, musicians, and activists who participated in yoga, meditation, and music to promote community healing as well as self-healing.

Kathy Pomerenk, MALS ’09, also earned the Certificate of Apprenticeship in Teaching offered by the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship. With perfect timing - following graduation - she was offered the position of membership manager for the Hillwood Museum. She shares that one of the most appealing components of the position is the designing of educational programs for children and families that will promote their interest in museum membership.

Jackie Titus, PR/CC '09, is a Digital Strategist with the Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence team in Washington, DC.  While at Georgetown, Jackie was selected to represent the Center for Social Impact Communication (CSIC) as the CSR/Sustainability Communications Fellow.  Read Jackie's blogpost titled Facebook Bootcamp Redux: Creating A Conversation Calendar For Your Brand.

Do you have news to share? Please E-mail Patrick Brennan with updated information on your latest accomplishments and endeavors.