Alumni Letters | Page 3
| Kristin (Barnett) Hickman, 1991: I graduated with majors in business administration (accounting) and history. Since then, I spent five years practicing as a certified public accountant in Denver and then Dallas, three years in law school at Northwestern University School of Law here in Chicago, a year clerking for a federal judge in Washington, D.C., three more years here in Chicago practicing as a tax attorney with Skadden, Arps, a large international law firm, and now finally I have entered the academy as a law professor, first back at Northwestern for the current academic year in a visiting position, and starting this summer in a tenure track position at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. I'll be teaching administrative law (think law governing federal administrative agencies - lots of separation of powers stuff, but some statutory aspects as well) and tax law courses. Strangely enough, more than a decade after I decided to pursue a career in tax rather than in history, because of the trend toward multi-disciplinary work in the legal academy, I'm now back to contemplating pursuing a PhD in history (although instead of the early modern European history I studied at Trinity, I would probably focus now on the Progressive and/or New Deal eras in American history, since it was during those time periods that our current income tax system and administrative state took shape). On a more personal note, my husband, Trey, and I are expecting our first child - a boy - in a few weeks, and we're looking forward to spending time restoring a 1921 Arts & Crafts-style house that we're buying in St.Paul, MN. Always happy to hear from a fellow alum!
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| Karen Ellingson, 1992: After graduating in 1992, I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan, teaching English to middle and high school students. When I returned, I worked for a year teaching English at a language institute in Houston. For the past two years, I haved worked as a program manager for the Houston READ Commission's national Literacy*AmeriCorps project. I will be leaving my position shortly, though, to begin work as a public school teacher in New York City, while studying for a Masters degree in English as a Second Language.
Contact:3110 Poplar Place Sugar Land, TX 77479 | Email |
| Patrick Griffin, '92: A very nice TU history department website! The following missive is a somewhat brief update on my life since leaving Trinity University with majors in history and economics. Gary Kates was my history advisor. Wanting to learn more about Asia, I spent my first year working in Singapore for the United States Foreign Commercial Service writing research reports as well as assisting with trade shows. After traveling in Southeast Asia and Russia, I moved to Evansville, Indiana to work for Escalade Sports as an international business development analyst. A fun job since it included trips to Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, Thailand, and Mexico. Recognizing that I missed school after three years, I enrolled at the University of Michigan to complete an MBA as well as an MA in Southeast Asian Studies. I put my TU history degree to work in Ann Arbor completing my MA thesis on the historical evolution of native Indonesian entrepreneurship. I spent a summer studying Indonesian at Arizona State and another summer working for DHL in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jill Gunderson '92 and I married during our stay in Ann Arbor. She spent her time completing an MBA as well as an MS in Industrial Engineering. We spent the summer after graduate school traveling in Europe and Asia. We then moved on to Wichita, Kansas where I spent about a year working for Koch Industries, a large privately held oil and gas company, in their strategic planning group focusing on international issues. We did enjoy some good Mexican food as well as some outstanding steaks in Wichita, but found the flatness challenging. Keeping up with fashion, I soon caught the internet bug and went to work for a local Wichita startup called bottomdollar.com which is a comparison shopping site. I am now the Director of Sales and Business Development. Try it out for your Christmas shopping at http://www.bottomdollar.com/ Jill and I recently moved to Austin and I now telecommute. We are happy to be back in Texas and are enjoying great margaritas, fine weather, and many TU friends. I have found my history degree to be very useful in my work since it enabled me to develop critical thinking and writing skills as well as a broader framework for understanding other cultures. I'm glad to see that the History Department is still thriving. Email |