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Welcome alumni! After several years we finally have gotten our act together and updated this page. We promise to be more diligent and will add your stories within a week or two of receipt.If you have time, we would truly appreciate your filling out our alumni questionnaire. Knowing what you know now, what lessons should we be incorporating into our courses?
ALUMNI NEWS
News as of May 2007:
CLASSES OF 1970-79
Doug Rucker (1979) and Jan Deatherage, a colleague from The Richards Group, took the leap and started their own advertising agency, R&D Thinktank.
CLASSES OF 1980-90
Nick Hoover (1981) went from Trinity to the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He progressed from being a budget/policy analyst in the office of the Governor of Texas (focusing on Mental Health and Substance Abuse issues), to Senior Budget Analyst for the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, to presently being a Public Health Planner for the Texas Department of Health. I primarily research and write reports concerning a variety of topics dealing directly or tangentially with Public Health.
Jeanne McGee Culver (1982) shares the following: "I worked for an advertising company in Los Angeles as an Administrative Assistant for two years. I then was the managing editor for a financial newsletter in Santa Barbara , CA . For six years I worked in Dallas in Commercial Real Estate. I became a partner in that firm and was Executive VP of Business Development. I quit working full time four years ago and do sporadic contract work for them. I quit to stay home with my kids full time."
Bill Tucker (1988) writes: "I jumped ship and got a Master’s in Computer Science at Arizona State University and then went into industry for 6 years with UniKix Technologies as a UNIX systems administrator and software design engineer. I left my corporate job, traveled for a year around the world (in mostly 3rd world countries), and now I’m in South Africa (married to a local) lecturing Computer Science at the University of the Western Cape . This is a “black” university of the apartheid days and a Trinitonian would think it’s more of a high school than a university but for me it’s a challenge. We are introducing computer technology to people who barely know what electricity is. Anyway, because the school is in such a mess, I’ve been championing the department and get most of the research money, teach the graduate level courses, etc."
CLASSES OF 1990-94
Carole Stewart (1990) received her Master of Health Administration degree from Saint Louis University in 1993 and a law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans in May of 1999. She passed the Louisiana and Texas bar exams in 1999 and 2000, and is presently a health care attorney in Houston .
From Virginia Seguin Mika (1991): My current job title is Faculty Associate at the Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. I am a project coordinator for a randomized controlled trial on depression and assist other faculty members in preparing submissions to the Institutional Review Board. I also have a Master’s degree in Public Health.
From Lynn Jones (1991): "I am happy to see this page, which shows the diversity of outcomes of the department! I agree with Meg Johnson on the U. of Arizona being a bit too competitive, but I managed to hang in there by avoiding much of the politics and earned by Ph.D. in December of 1999. I left in 1998 to accept a position at the University of Scranton in PA. After three years of teaching WAY too many classes, having too little support for research, and facing the depressed city (?) life, I decided to look elsewhere. I just moved to Flagstaff , AZ to accept a position as Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University . I will be teaching courses on the sociology of law (which nicely overlaps with my dissertation research on activist lawyers) and on understanding differences (gender, race, age, and other sociological variables in the justice system. I am much happier in this job as it provides a better balance of teaching and research, and provides support for both! I also love Flagstaff and would happily take visitors!"
Cynthia Dehner (1992 Anthropology and International Studies) has returned to the States after spending 4 years in Guatemala , where she ran a business and worked with small business development programs. Now residing in Austin , she is getting read to start her MBA…"after long consideration, decided against PHD in Anthropology."
From Stephanie Folse (1992): "I found nothing to do with my Anthropology BA. I ended up doing temp work for two years, then giving up and going to graduate school at the University of Denver in Anthropology and Museum Studies. With the education and internships I got at DU, I ended up with first a one-year assignment as a curatorial assistant for the South Dakota State Historical Society, then an assistant curator here in the slide collection of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M, and finally just got the position of Slide Curator in the College of Architecture ."
One of the most informative check-ins comes from Joseph Peckham (1992), who writes: "I attended Albany Law School of Union University in Albany , NY from August 1992 through May 1995. I graduated from Albany in May 1995. I was admitted to the Texas Bar in November 1995 and the New York Bar in January 1996. From February 1996 to July 1997 I was an Assistant Public Defender in Watertown , NY . I represented indigent criminal defendants on all levels of charges in all courts. From July 1997 until March 1999 I was an Assistant Country Attorney in the Broome County Attorney’s office in Binghamton NY . My primary duties were litigation of civil matter and general legal practice for certain country departments. From March 1999 through the present I have served as the Risk and Insurance Manager for the Broome County . My responsibilities include oversight of all aspects of Risk Management and self-insurance including: employee safety, workers’ compensation, liability, employee benefits, and employee deferred compensation."
LaTanya Perkins (1993) accepted a job as Director of Operations for the WINGS Program, Inc. in Palatine , a northwest suburb of Chicago . WINGS provides trasitional housing, case management, and career development for homeless women and their children.
By sheer chance, Kearl ran into Niki Dickerson (1993) at a local Jim's following Fiesta Week 2004. Niki is doing great, having completed her Ph.D. in sociology at Michigan. She currently is an assistant professor at Rutgers.
CLASSES OF 1995-99
Melissa Wharton (1995) has much to share: “I landed a job as an editorial assistant in the publications department at Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Company, a firm that provides credit analysis and ratings for asset-backed, financial services, industrial, real estate, telecommunication and utility sector. I coordinated, edited, and designed several of the company’s rating reports and publications, including weekly news magazine. At this point, I entered the public relations industry. I currently worked as senior account executive at Brukoff-Chaffee Marketing Communications, where I manage seven business-to-business accounts—all in the field of commercial real estate. I write press releases and feature articles, and I pitch story ideas to business journals, daily newspapers and local, regional, and national trade publications. We also plan events, usually related to the construction or completion of new office, industrial or retail facilities. Interestingly, I will be leaving Brukoff-Chaffee after this week to join Dome Newmark Wolf Communications, another local pr agency. I look forward to handling a few consumer accounts, including IGA, Sara Lee Corp. and College Illinois."
Asma Ali (1996) remains in Chicago, where she first worked for the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). In the Fall of 2002 she began a Ph.D. program in Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois. Asma also landed a fellowship at the Center for Urban and Economic Development.
Kaselehlia Sielken (1996) was most newsy: "I worked for about 7 months at Boysville Children’s Home as a Relief Houseparent. I moved states shortly afterwards and eventually wound up in a job that was perfect from me—working at the International Center at the University of Virginia . There I was manager of a house that served as a temporary lodging facility for international students and faculty, as well as offering a variety of cultural programs—language partners, a speaker’s bureau, a host program for international students, and many other programs. I worked there for a year and a half until my husband and I moved again. This time I found a job at the Visiting International Faculty Program in Chapel Hill , NC . I am still working for this company now, and am about to celebrate 2 years with them, although my position has changed throughout my time there. The company is an independent cultural exchange organization that hosts international teachers, k-12, in the U.S. for up to 3 years. This year we are starting a new “wing” of our program and providing the opportunity for teachers from the US to go to teach in England for two years. I am the U.S. Recruitment Representative, responsible for recruiting the U.S. teachers to go to England ."
Susan Wohletz (1997) writes: "After I graduated I took a position as a youth director at a church in Minnesota . I worked with young people in grades 4-12 as well as their families. I planned group activities for youth of various ages (some social and some community service) and helped with Sunday School, confirmation, Bible studies, etc. I also did quite a bit of individual contacts with students and their families. Now I am looking at a similar position at a new church and will probably be going back to school part time in the fall and hopefully enter a graduate program in fall of 2000."
From the University of Virginia Erin Baxter (1998) checks in: "I’m TAing, working part time at Monticello , and will be digging a Spanish mission in Santa Fe this summer."
Misti Haines (1999): "My job title is “park ranger,” a kind of ambiguous (ironic?) nomenclature seeing as I neither work in a park ( I work for the Bureau of Land Management, DOI) nor am a Law Enforcement or Interpretation (the two typical ranger types) Ranger. I have spent seasons at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park (north rim), and Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (all NPS) doing everything from archeological survey to restoration ecology to trailwork to historical structure condition assessments since graduating from Trinity in 1999. I would thoroughly recommend any of them."
From Jessica Biddle (1999): "I have moved to Austin and am working for the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. My official title is an intake specialist. I just started on Monday and am going through the training process, which is fairly intense. My job (I think) involves the initial intake of cases of suspected abuse and neglect of children, the elderly, and disabled persons. The intake is statewide, and I have to report to several agencies including CPS, APS, and the agency responsible for childcare and residential care licensing."
CLASSES OF 2000-2005
Claudia Chittim (2000): "I am still at the Sotheby’s Institute/University of Manchester as a postgraduate in London . So far the program has been very useful for my plans to become an attorney in antiquities law. At the moment, I am serving as a research assistant for the Institute of Art and Law. The purpose of IAL is to research and report to parliament on issues concerning cultural property. I am researching the ethics of human remains repatriation in the EU and commonwealth states. My final dissertation will discuss the effects of human remains repatriation on museums and education or scientific institutions.
Nicole Dickson (2000), the last we heard, was applying to graduate school. She writes: " I played softball at Trinity After graduation, I moved to Nashville , TN to work for Dell Computer Corporation. However, this opportunity did not work out for me. Now, I am employed at the University of Houston as an assistant softball coach. I have found a profession I truly love. Coaching at the college level is something I definitely want to pursue, maybe even at Trinity some day. So, I would like to obtain my masters degree in education for physical education/sports administration from the University of Houston ."
Tricia Miranda (2001) has completed her Masters and begun work on her Ph.D. at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. She reports "Amy Schulz is my mentor here, and I work on the Healthy Environments Partnership where she's the P.I. (http://www.sph.umich.edu/hep is our site). We're looking at the effects of the social and physical environment on urban minority communities, and include biomarker measurements as well. ...I'm really interested in the influence of the social environment on health, particularly how segregation can facilitate the social marketing of alcohol, tobacco, and junk foods to minority communities. Starting in the fall I'll be on a grant from the National Institute on Mental Health with David Williams, who is well known for his work on race and health."
Melissa Kirby (2001) writes "I am working at Child Protective Services in Dallas . I really enjoy what I am doing so far (I’m still in training though), and the pay is pretty good for someone with a sociology or psychology degree right out of college for those interested in the money."
Bianca Bekker (2001) has begun a Masters of Counseling program at UTSA, a two-year program that will certify her to be a school counselor.
From Erin Rausch (2001): "I am settling into graduate school at UWF ( West Florida — Pensacola ) and my job as the outdoor adventure GA. I just recently completed my summer internship with the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice and my work with the national boycott against Taco Bell."
Shaina Adams (2005): writes "After graduation, I traveled on an Interfaith Peacebuilders Delegation to Israel and Palestine with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. We learned about and met with peace and social justice organizations working for reconciliation. I then served a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer beginning in August 2005. I served for 6 months with the SHARE Food program and 6 months with Project SHINE. As for the future, before I left for Morocco, I applied to Masters in Social Work programs so this will hopefully be my next step. With training in social work, I would like to work to help immigrants and refugees gain access to resources.
CLASSES OF 2006-2010
Sarah Castro(2007): will be serving with the Peace Corps in Ecuador with the Youth and Families program doing Urban Youth development and community service.
Bradley Dusing(2007): will be traveling to Catorce, Mexico in an orientation program with the Auris project for the community liasion position. He will then travel to Guadalajara, Mexico to become certified to teach English as a foreign language.
Please take a moment to let us know what you have been doing. To be sure that we receive your message, please type in the box, then press submit. Be sure to include your year of graduation.
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