Alumni Spotlight Archive
School of Nursing & Health Studies
Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda (N'02)
Professor and Community Health Advocate
Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, assistant professor at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, attributes her interest in health advocacy to her undergraduate years at Georgetown, where she worked with underserved communities in Washington, D.C. "The value of social justice was reinforced by Georgetown and the Jesuit tradition," she says. Watch her talk about her current research as co-author of The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, a report commissioned by the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
11 Mar 2012
Photo by Lori Heddinger, TheGrio.com
Traci Lester (F'87)
Educator and Childhood Literacy Activist
As a former public school teacher, Traci Lester is intimately aware of the educational needs of school children. She uses her knowledge to have an impact on underprivileged communities in her role as executive director of Reach Out and Read of Greater New York. Lester’s branch of the nonprofit reaches out to 280,000 children a year and helps children succeed in school by partnering with doctors who prescribe books and encourage families to read together.
15 Feb 2012
© World Economic Forum
Sushant Rao (F'96)
Economist
As senior director and head of Asia for the World Economic Forum, Rao is involved with international economic policy planning at the highest level. A graduate of the School of Foreign Service, Rao most recently organized the India Economic Summit, bringing together delegates from 40 countries to discuss economic development for the region. Read his comments on how the summit addresses India's most pressing challenges today.
23 Jan 2012
CNN International
Ellana Lee (C'94)
Vice President and Managing Editor, CNN International Asia Pacific
Ellana Lee credits her time at Georgetown as instrumental to her career, explaining that it helped her understand where she fit in the history of the world. Lee began interning at CNN while a senior at Georgetown and worked her way up from there to vice president, overseeing 10 news bureaus. She was recently named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and helped launch The CNN Freedom Project.
6 Jan 2012
Courtesy Dan Addison
Tyler Spencer (G'09)
HIV/AIDS awareness advocate
Motivated by his volunteer experience with HIV prevention programs in South Africa, Tyler Spencer recruited 40 student-athletes from Georgetown and began what has grown into The Grassroot Project. The program uses sports, games and student-athlete mentors from Division 1 teams to promote HIV/AIDS education among at-risk youth in Washington, D.C. A Rhodes Scholar and Udall Fellow, Spencer has also served as coach of the United States Deaf Tennis team.
21 Dec 2011
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Susan Hockfield, Ph.D. (G'79)
President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In 2004, Susan Hockfield was selected as the first woman and first life scientist to hold the title of president at MIT. Under her guidance, MIT is pursuing an energy research initiative to help transform the global energy system and anticipate the energy needs of the future. In her illustrious career as an educator and neuroscientist, her research has focused on brain tumors and cancers. Hockfield previously served as professor of neurobiology and dean of the graduate school at Yale University, and more recently as the university's provost.
7 Dec 2011
Peter Holden (C'76)
Community Health Advocate
Peter Holden is the current President and CEO of Jordan Hospital and Jordan Health Systems. This summer, Mr. Holden participated in the DreamRide campaign to raise funds for the Plymouth Education Foundation to support local schools. Using DreamRide as a start, Mr. Holden is now focusing the hospital's resources on developing community-wide health and wellness initiatives for "better health, better healthcare, and better value".
21 Nov 2011
Alexandra Cousteau (C'98)
Environmentalist
Alexandra Cousteau grew up in a family that fostered her love of the environment. She was educated on water ecosystems and conservation by her grandfather, the illustrious Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Having travelled extensively with her family on environmental expeditions, Cousteau's recent projects have focused on creating awareness about water supply and conservation issues. Through Blue Legacy, the organization that she founded, Cousteau has focused on documenting environmental change, and using emerging technologies to inspire and shape social dialogue around critical water issues.
7 Nov 2011
Masaharu Nakagawa (F'73)
Bureaucrat
Nakagawa is currently the minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in the cabinet of Yoshihiko Noda, the newly-appointed prime minister of Japan. Nakagawa has also served as the senior vice education minister under the two preceding prime ministers. Having spent his early career at the Japan Foundation, an organization that promotes international cultural exchange, Nakagawa continues to work on improving overseas education and language education.
26 Oct 2011
Newseum
James C. Duff (L'81)
Museum president and legal educator
James C. Duff recently became president and CEO of the Freedom Forum, an independent, nonpartisan foundation that champions free press, free speech and free spirit. The foundation operates the First Amendment Center, the Diversity Institute and the Newseum, a Washington, D.C., museum dedicated to the role of news, media and technology. In addition to his previous role as chief administrative officer of the U.S. court system, Duff has taught constitutional law at Georgetown for 10 years.
20 Sep 2011
Scott Council
Clarence "Chuck" Baker (B'91)
Founder and CEO, Fileblaze
Featured on the August cover of Black Enterprise Magazine, Chuck Baker is a digital media entrepreneur. His company, Fileblaze, a cloud-based file storage and streaming service, is attracting attention from advertisers to music producers as a way to securely share content. Baker credits his Georgetown friends, including investors Rhahime Bell (B '91), Alonzo Mourning (C'92), Malcolm Lee (C'92) and Adrian Mebane (C '91), for his company's successful launch. Hear his start-up advice.
31 Aug 2011
Stephanie Seek Onguka, M.D. (M’07)
Doctor and missionary
Stephanie Seek Onguka and her husband founded OneLife Africa, a nonprofit Christian mentoring and scholarship program to support at-risk young people in high school. With a background in family medicine and HIV care, Onguka is serving on a mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya, where she will provide health care to slum communities and displaced groups of people while also continuing her youth ministry.
5 Aug 2011
Issa Jeries Albandak (G’10)
Hospital CEO
Originally from the West Bank, Issa Jeries Albandak came to Georgetown through a Pedro Arrupe Scholarship for Peace to pursue a master’s degree in health systems administration. In May, Albandak became CEO of Caritas Baby Hospital, an 84-bed children’s hospital in Bethlehem. With a long history of dedication to health system reform and improving emergency services, the father of three says that he hopes to apply global best practices to helping young patients.
29 Jun 2011
Lt. Gen. John R. Allen (G’83)
Future commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan
Lt. Gen. John R. Allen was recently appointed to take command of the war in Afghanistan, succeeding Army Gen. David Petraeus. Lauded as a strategic thinker, Allen likely will be tasked with reducing troop levels and handing over responsibility to Afghan security forces. He is a graduate of the national security studies master’s program and if confirmed by the Senate this summer, would be the first Marine to take the helm in Afghanistan or Iraq.
24 May 2011
© 2011 Erica Leone & Erin Kornfield/Elk Studios
Soraya Darabi (C’05)
Digital strategist
Soraya Darabi is co-founder and head of business development at Foodspotting, "a visual food guide that makes it easy to share and discover good foods around you." Darabi helped launch the site—named one of TIME's 50 Best Websites 2010—after successfully leading the social media presence of The New York Times. Today, Foodspotting has nearly one million users and partnerships with the Travel Channel, Bravo Network and Zagat.
6 May 2011
Aimee Mullins (F’98)
Global Ambassador for L’Oréal Paris
Aimee Mullins’ career as an athlete, model and actress is a testament to what she calls “the opportunity of adversity.” While attending Georgetown on a full academic scholarship, Mullins became the first woman with prosthetic legs to compete in the NCAA. From setting world records in track at the 1996 Paralympic Games to walking the runway for Alexander McQueen, L’Oréal’s newest spokesperson leads by example as an advocate for positive self-image.
13 Apr 2011
Frank Jones (L’48, L’52)
Founder, Georgetown Chimes
Former college football player Frank Jones might seem an unlikely founder of Georgetown’s most iconic singing group. Jones played for Yale before heading into the service during World War II and then enrolled at Georgetown Law. He missed the harmony and brotherhood of Yale’s a cappella groups, so he recruited the best singers on campus and started the Georgetown Chimes. Shortly after his 90th birthday, Jones led a rousing rendition of the Georgetown Fight Song at this year’s Cherry Tree Massacre, the Chimes’ annual concert series.
24 Mar 2011
Tara Handron (G’08)
Addiction awareness advocate
After graduating from the Communication, Culture & Technology program, Handron expanded her master’s thesis into a one-woman play, Drunk with Hope in Chicago. The play humorously yet poignantly explores the path women take from alcoholism and addiction into recovery. Handron was recently named regional vice president for Caron Treatment Centers in the Washington, D.C., area, where she will continue to raise awareness of the disease.
9 Mar 2011
Mary Ann Forbes (G’91)
Senior Program Officer for Iraq and Palestine, AFL-CIO Solidarity Center
Organizing workers after the fall of an autocratic regime is risky business, but Mary Ann made it her life’s work. She logged 19 years traveling across five continents, helping once-imprisoned activists rebuild their unions and training the poorest of laborers to negotiate for safe working conditions. Meeting Nelson Mandela and supporting Iraqi oil workers during the American occupation are just a few of her inspiring career highlights.
16 Feb 2011
Brian Westerholt/Sports on Film
Tom Walter (B’91)
College Baseball Coach
Tom Walter is Wake Forest’s head baseball coach, but for one college freshman he’s also a lifesaver. Walter recruited rising talent Kevin Jordan to play baseball last year, but a devastating kidney disease forced Jordan on the sidelines to wait for a transplant. Remarkably, Walter was a match, and on Feb. 7 he donated his kidney to his player. Read their amazing story.
10 Feb 2011
Christine Brown-Quinn (SLL’82)
Author and Consultant
Balancing a high-powered career with an active family life is no easy task. Christine Brown-Quinn recently wrote the manual on this—Step Aside Super Woman! Her consulting business, The Female Capitalist, helps professional women achieve career-family success and guides organizations in maximizing the benefits of their female talent. Watch her recent Georgetown webinar, or join her in London on Feb. 8.
4 Feb 2011
Courtesy the Washington Post
Tom Sietsema (F’83)
Food critic
Tom Sietsema is the undercover food critic for the Washington Post. After studying language, economics and political history at the School of Foreign Service, he landed a job testing thousands of recipes for the newspaper’s food section. Find his recent dining reviews or join in the Ask Tom Live Q&A.
11 Jan 2011
Taryn Voget (B’97)
Model Learning
Taryn Voget is founder and CEO of Everyday Genius Institute, which creates educational products that tap into masters of a craft and teach their strategies to others. The company’s newest release, Straight A+ Students, features Georgetown freshman Alex Freeman (C’14). Watch a video about the program or read about the students.
13 Dec 2010
David Francis (G ’10)
Olympic Sport Liaison
Sports Industry Management alumnus David Francis serves as a government relations coordinator on the U.S. Olympic Committee, where he develops policy initiatives and stages events that build relationships between the White House, Congress, federal agencies and Olympians and Paralympians.“I am working to put together the world’s largest athletic event that unifies us all through sport,” Francis says. Read about the Georgetown School of Continuing Studies’ SIM program.
24 Nov 2010
Photo © Katja Reich
Christopher Reich (F’83)
Suspense writer
New York Times best-selling author Christopher Reich graduated from Georgetown in 1983 and later attended business school. With no job offers in sight after the stock market crash of 1987, Reich moved to Switzerland, got a position at a bank and started writing espionage thrillers. “It was the best move I ever made,” he says. Visit his website to read about his recent book, Rules of Betrayal.
9 Nov 2010
Courtesy Compass Partners
Neil Shah (B’10) and Arthur Woods (B’10)
Social entrepreneurs
Inspired by their own experience trying to start a business, Georgetown alumni Arthur Woods (B’10) and Neil Shah (B’10) formed Compass Partners, a venture that provides education, training and networking for undergraduate social entrepreneurs. The newly-launched company gives 15 freshmen at five universities, including Georgetown, the chance to launch their own socially conscious businesses during college. Compass Partners is featured in Fast Company.
21 Oct 2010
Courtesy jenosullivan.com
Claudia Gilmore (C’09)
Breast cancer advocate
Faced with a dangerous genetic mutation that gives her an 85 percent lifetime risk of contracting breast cancer, Claudia Gilmore chose to take preventative action. Gilmore plans to undergo a double mastectomy on Jan. 11, 2011, and is documenting her journey with the help of fellow Georgetown grads Maureen Dolan-Galaviz (C’08) and John Scanlon (L’92). Visit Gilmore’s previve campaign and watch her on NBC’s Nightly News and Today shows.
7 Oct 2010
Carol Padden (C’78)
Linguist and “genius” grant winner
Dr. Carol Padden recently won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award for her pioneering research on the unique structure and evolution of sign languages. Padden, a professor at the University of California, San Diego and the first deaf MacArthur Fellow, says her interest in linguistics and culture is rooted in her early experiences of “moving between different worlds and languages.” Read about Padden’s research and watch a video profile of her.
30 Sep 2010
Photo by Judith Burrows
Rupa Marya (M’02)
Doctor and musician
Dr. Rupa Marya spends half her year as a practicing physician in San Francisco, and the other half touring with her band, Rupa & the April Fishes, whose mix of French chanson, Latin grooves, Gypsy swing and Indian ragas has been called “ecstatic and powerfully evocative” by the Los Angeles Times. Watch an ABC News profile of Marya, listen to her songs and watch a video of the band.
15 Sep 2010
Courtesy Food Network
Melissa d’Arabian (MBA’93)
Winner of The Next Food Network Star
As the winner of the Food Network’s summer cooking challenge, The Next Food Network Star, d’Arabian is the host of the new show Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d’Arabian. Read more and about her big win here.
28 Aug 2010
Kim Askew (L’83)
Head of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary
This top Dallas lawyer testified at Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.
7 Aug 2010
Billy Sherry (C’75)
Abstract artist
Billy Sherry, an abstract artist who works primarily with steel sculpture, has been living and working in Nantucket, Mass., for more than 30 years. A retrospective featuring his work will show at Art Cabinet Nantucket August 13-17. Read more about Sherry’s work and show and watch a YouTube video of Sherry discussing his life and craft.
2 Aug 2010
Jim Whitaker (C’90)
Filmmaker and Director, Project Rebirth
When Jim Whitaker visited New York City Shortly after 9/11, he saw an opportunity to chronicle the strength of the human spirit coping with disaster. In Project Rebirth, a feature-length documentary, he combines time-lapse photography recording the minute-by-minute redevelopment of the World Trade Center site with the intimate stories of 10 people grieving from the trauma. Read more.
20 Jul 2010
Missy Schwen Ryan (F’94)
Member of the National Rowing Hall of Fame
Former Georgetown Rower Missy Schwen Ryan was recently inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame. Read more about this accomplished athlete who donated a kidney to her brother between winning Olympic medals in 1996 and 2000.
30 Jun 2010
Courtesy Chicago magazine
Tim King (F’89, L’93)
Founder and CEO, Urban Prep Academies
Tim King founded Urban Prep Academies, a nonprofit operating the only all-boys public schools in Illinois, in 2002. The first senior class graduated this year with great success: 100 percent of Urban Prep seniors were admitted to a four-year college. Watch the recent Good Morning America interview with King and some of the 107 graduating seniors who describe the success of the school and its students.
17 Jun 2010
Patricia Grady (N'67)
Director, National Institute of Nursing Research, NIH
Patricia Grady is marking her 15th year as director of the National Institute of Nursing Research, one of the 27 institutes that comprises the National Institutes of Health. Read more about how she helps shape policy that places nursing research at the forefront of health care.
4 Jun 2010
Courtesy Save the Children
Mary Beth Powers (F’84)
Campaign Chief for Survive to 5 Campaign
Mary Beth Powers leads Save the Children’s initiative Survive to 5, which seeks to reduce the number of child deaths worldwide. She has worked for nearly 20 years to support child and maternal health programs around the world. Recently, Mary Beth initiated a national multimedia Ad Council campaign that highlights heroic female health workers and their daily quest to save children’s lives. Read more about the “Good Goes” campaign that launched just before Mother’s Day.
10 May 2010
Courtesy Smith College
Stephanie Cutter (L’97)
Assistant to the President for Special Projects
Having spent the last two decades in public service, Stephanie Cutter has most recently focused her efforts on White House initiatives. She served as an advisor to the First Lady surrounding the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative and as the political and communications strategy advisor to President Obama around the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Read more about her latest appointment as assistant to the president for special projects.
28 Apr 2010
George Mishtowt, M.D. (C’38, M’42)
Former Medical Director, U.S. Department of State
George Mishtowt, first in his class all four years at Georgetown School of Medicine, went on to become medical director at the U.S. State Department. Read more and watch a video of Dr. Mishtowt describing his career and life in the 1930s during the Great Depression, World War II and his service in the 82nd Airborne.
6 Apr 2010
Col. Francis X. Kane (G'49, G'53, G'60)
50th Inductee into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame
Col. Francis Kane, known as the father of military GPS and a pioneer in the development of many space programs and systems, was inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame on March 2. Read more about his work on Air Force air, missile and space strategies and his contributions to flight and space education.
17 Mar 2010
Laura Chinchilla (G’89)
President-elect of Costa Rica
Laura Chinchilla, a 1989 graduate of Georgetown Public Policy Institute, was voted President-elect of Costa Rica on February 7, 2010. Previously serving as vice president, she will be the first female leader of Costa Rica when she assumes the presidency in May. Read more.
1 Mar 2010
Joseph Almeida (C’05)
Winner of Teach for America’s National Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award
More than 320 Georgetown alumni have completed or are currently in the Teach For America program that places recent college graduates in underserved urban and rural public schools. Joseph Almeida is one such alumnus and the recipient of the 2007 National Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award. Read more and watch a video of Joseph describing his experiences.
17 Feb 2010
Courtesy Gothamist
Missy Robbins (C’93)
Executive Chef at A Voce Restaurant in New York City
Acclaimed young chef Missy Robbins began her career cooking at 1789 while she was a student at Georgetown. Since then, she has risen to high esteem in the restaurant world, peppering headlines in the last year as she moved from Spiaggia in Chicago to A Voce in New York. Read this New York Times article about Missy’s latest venture and watch a video of her preparing a mouth-watering pasta dish during a recent appearance on The Today Show.
21 Jan 2010
Courtesy SustainUs
Therese Miranda (F’09)
Fellow for Energy and Climate Change at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference
SustainUS, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States, selected Therese Miranda as one of 25 people, ages 19 to 26, to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18. Read more about Therese here.
14 Dec 2010
Joan Burggraf Riley (N’76, G’97)
Professor of human science and nursing at the School of Nursing and Health Studies
Selected from a pool of more than 300 top professors in the United States, Joan Riley was named the 2009 District of Columbia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Read more about Joan and the tribute to her teaching here.
3 Dec 2010
Courtesy Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C.
Prince Turki al-Faisal (B'68)
Saudi Arabia’s Former Ambassador to the U.S.
Read more about what this former ambassador and current head of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies envisions for achieving Middle East peace.
4 Nov 2009
Andrew Natsios (C’71)
Former Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), 2001–2006; Former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, 2006-2007; Distinguished Professor, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Watch a video of Andrew Natsios and learn how early lessons at Georgetown prepared him for a career in international relations specializing in the diplomacy of disaster response.
13 Oct 2009
Courtesy HBO
Michael Sucsy (F’95)
Director of the Emmy-Winning HBO Film “Grey Gardens”
On September 20, Sucsy’s “Grey Gardens” won six Emmys including best TV movie, lead actress Jessica Lange and supporting actor Ken Howard. Read more about Sucsy and his adaptation of the 1975 Maysles brothers’ documentary.
28 Sep 2009
Ted Leonsis (C’77)
Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Vice Chairman Emeritus of AOL
Watch a video interview with Ted to learn more about the achievements he credits to Georgetown and how his philosophy on creating a successful company, sports team and film stem from the teachings of Georgetown’s Joseph Durkin, S.J.
15 Jul 2009