Hope, Change and Yap - Queens University of Charlotte

QUEENS
WINTER 2016
THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE
Hope, Change
and Yap
ON A CLUSTER OF ISLANDS IN THE
PACIFIC, PROFESSOR REED PERKINS
AND HIS STUDENTS WORK TO
CHANGE THE WORLD, ONE MAP AT
A TIME
Also
New York Times editor
Eleanor Randolph ’64
Writing for Star Wars
The $2 Million Preyer Gift
Michael Kobre on Ireland
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2015-2016
Michael Marsicano, Chair
Michael Tarwater, Vice Chair and
Chair-Elect
Sallie Moore Lowrance ’70, Vice Chair
Kathryn Winsman Black ’93, Secretary
Howard Bissell III
Jan Hall Brown ’73
Jeff Brown EMBA ’03
Deborah Butler Bryan ’68
Kevin Collins
Christine Louttit Crowder ’82
Jesse J. Cureton, Jr., EMBA ’02
Elizabeth Rivers Curry ’63
David C. Darnell
Carlos E. Evans
Anthony Fox
Ophelia Garmon-Brown
Carson Sloan Henline ’81
David Jones
Sandra P. Levine
Thomas L. Lewis ’97
Catherine Parks Loevner ’71
J. Michael McGuire
Katie B. Morris
Michael W. Murphy II ’95
Bailey W. Patrick
Elizabeth Hunter Persson ’00
Larry Polsky
Myrta Pulliam ’69
Michael Rizer
Mary Anne Boldrick Rogers
David V. Singer
Caroline Wannamaker Sink
Cynthia Haldenby Tyson
Ruth Anne M. Vagt ’69
Pamela L. Davies, ex officio
Susan L. McConnell ’83, ex officio,
Alumni Association President
Campbell Corder ’16, Student
Liaison to the Board
Life Trustees
Irwin “Ike” Belk
Dorothy McAulay Martin ’59
Hugh L. McColl, Jr., Chairman
Emeritus
John H. Sykes ’55
Virginia Gray Vance ’49
F. William Vandiver, Jr.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
WINTER 2016
SHOP
the
L AT E S T
QUEENS GEAR
TO D AY
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Rebecca Anderson EMBA ’13
editor@queens.edu
PRODUCTION AND
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER
Jessie Laney
MANAGING EDITOR
Laurie Prince
CONTRIBUTORS
Aleigh Acerni
Rebecca Anderson
Regina Betz
Virginia Brown
Tamara Burrell MSOD ’13
Pablo Carvajal ’09
Adelaide Anderson Davis ’61
Laura Beth Ellis MSOD ’11
Cindy Manshack
Jen Tota McGivney
Lisa Noakes
Laurie Prince
Adam Rhew
Evan Sprinkle ’08
Laura Sutton
Jodie Valade
ART DIRECTOR
Paige Gialanella
SENIOR DESIGNER
Laura Belanger ’13
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Laura Belanger ’13
Regina Betz
Tricia Coyne
Jason Fararooei MA ’09
Max Millington ’16
Earl Wilson
QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF
CHARLOTTE BOOKSTORE
Trexler Student Center | 1900 Selwyn Avenue
queensushop.com
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preserved for the future
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CONTENTS
2
3
8
10
11
16
21
44
Departments
Interpreting the Times
ELEANOR RANDOLPH ’64 BECAME A JOURNALIST DURING THE
CIVIL RIGHTS ERA. TODAY SHE’S ON THE EDITORIAL BOARD
OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND IS WRITING A COMMISSIONED
BIOGRAPHY OF MICHAEL BLOOMBERG. AFTER 50 YEARS IN
JOURNALISM, THE PROJECTS KEEP COMING
From the President
2
Campus News
3
Investing in Queens
8
By Virginia Brown
Happenings
10
Chuck Wendig Finds the Force
Alumni News
21
THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW STAR WARS TRILOGY TALKS
ABOUT WRITING
Class Notes
24
By Adam Rhew
Parting Thought
44
Hope, Change and Yap
ON A CLUSTER OF MICRONESIAN ISLANDS, PROFESSOR REED
PERKINS AND HIS STUDENTS WORK TO CHANGE THE WORLD,
ONE MAP AT A TIME
11
14
16
By Jen Tota McGivney
Eric Richard ’15 holds up a GPS unit to record his location on Yap. The information is entered into a geodatabase.
Queens students, under the leadership of Professor Reed Perkins, have made a significant contribution to the
research and documentation of conditions on the Yap Islands. Yap is one of the Federated States of Micronesia
where English is the official language. See the story beginning on page 16.
WINTER 2016
On the Cover:
1
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Your Letters
The cover story of the summer 2015 issue looked at
Queens’ unprecedented success at the NCAA-D2
swim finals in March. Inside the issue, other
stories covered the rise of school spirit at athletic
events; the genesis and growth of The Learning
Society, which celebrated its 25th season; and the
Hunter Hamilton Love of Learning Award,
won by professor and chaplain Diane Mowrey.
President Davies with faculty Mike Wirth (left) and Stephanie
Lawrence-White (right).
Dear Alumni and Friends,
My first visit to Queens was 15 years ago as a candidate for dean of the McColl
School of Business. I walked the campus and talked with students about what
they most appreciated about Queens. Their answers, consistently, revolved
around their faculty.
Today I travel the country meeting with groups of alumni who span seven
decades of shared Queens experience. When I ask what they remember most
about their alma mater, they recall many things: beloved traditions, cherished
friendships and a beautiful setting. But, first and foremost, they talk about their
faculty—they recall professors who believed in them, challenged them and
inspired them.
Queens has long been blessed with an exceptional faculty, and that has
never been more true than it is today. The hallmark of a Queens professor is
a genuine passion for the success of his or her students and the talent to help
those students reach their potential.
You’ll find many examples throughout this issue of the Queens Magazine.
Alumna Eleanor Randolph arrived on campus in 1960 and now works at The
New York Times. She recalls the influence of Professor Roberta Chalmers, whose
ideas about the power of words have lasted a lifetime (see page 11). Our cover
story will introduce you to a professor who leads students in a research project
that serves others halfway around the world (see page 16). And the wise counsel
of Professor Michael Kobre directly influenced the career path of a student in
the 1990s. Chuck Wendig ’98 just completed his first novel in an authorized
Star Wars trilogy (see page 14).
I hope you’ll take the time to read these stories and reflect on your own
memories of a special professor who touched your life in a meaningful way.
We’d love to hear from you.
Best wishes,
QUEENS MAGAZINE
Pamela Davies, PhD
President
2
We’d like to
hear
from
you!
Please send your letters to:
editor@queens.edu
Rebecca Anderson
Marketing & Community Relations
Queens University of Charlotte
1900 Selwyn Ave | Charlotte, NC 28274
Letters should include your full name, address and class year or Queens affiliation.
Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
Kudos to our phenomenal swim teams (both
men and women). Coach Jeff Dugdale is not only
a champion coach himself, but also an exemplary
mentor to all of his student athletes—inspiring
life skills as well as exceptional swimming.
–Don and Frances DeArmon Evans ’59, Charlotte,
North Carolina
Lawrence Bell’s enthusiasm reminded me of
the packed gym at the Oven during my years
playing basketball in the early ’90s at Queens.
There was a time when a Lazy Boy couch was
brought in at home games and placed at a
strategic location next to the basketball court.
A contest was held to determine who sat on
the couch; it drew students to the game and
encouraged a new level of school spirit. This
provided a remarkable home court advantage
and our team appreciated the support.
–Yogi Leo ’96, Charlotte, North Carolina
As a founding member of the Learning Society,
I want to compliment your excellent overview
of our organization’s origin and development.
Twenty-seven years ago when Clyda Rent was
looking for sponsors, there was absolutely no
way I would have envisioned the success her
vision has achieved. My husband Marc and
I both feel like proud parents when we see
160 members—and the membership growing
every year—plus the excitement of friends
who ask who will be speaking.
–Mattye Silverman, Charlotte, North Carolina
Having been a student and worked alongside
Diane Mowrey for a span of almost 10 years,
I can easily say there isn’t anyone who is more
deserving of this award. No one knows the
amount of time, love and genuine care that
Diane pours out day after day to every student,
staff and faculty person she walks alongside.
It’s truly her presence that, for me, embodies
the best of Queens. My life is better for having
had her as a professor, a mentor and a friend.
–Alice O’Toole Marleaux ’07, Charlotte, North
Carolina
Photo by T. Ortega Gaines
CAMPUS NEWS
Interning with the Stars
AT SEACREST STUDIOS, MAX MILLINGTON ’16 DISCOVERS THAT THE BIGGEST STARS ARE SMALL
Senior Max Millington finds joy during a broadcast at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte.
I
to do it now,” says Millington. “I’ve
become a more confident person
through this, and I’ve become better
on air.”
But the internship provides
more than professional experience
and celebrity sightings. More
impactful to Max than Ed, Demi,
Ryan or Vance was a little girl he
befriended over the phone. She’d
been in the hospital for months, and
her favorite days were Wednesdays:
bingo day at Seacrest Studios. She
loved bingo. She wasn’t able to join
the game in person, so she’d play
from her room and call the studio
to talk with Max. One Wednesday,
she came down to join the studio
game. The Seacrest team celebrated
by asking her to host bingo that day,
and she was thrilled. It was shortly
before she died.
“The spotlight was all on her, and
it was a day we’ll all remember,” says
Mamie Shepherd, Seacrest Studios
program coordinator. “It’s wonderful
that Queens students had a chance to
make that happen.”
When Millington began the
internship in January 2014, he
planned to stay a semester. He’s not
exactly in need of résumé fodder: he
interns with Queens’ marketing and
community relations office, serves as a
Queens Ambassador and is president
of Project Airwaves, the radio and
multimedia club. Yet, two years later,
he returns each week.
“Two years ago, I didn’t really
know what I wanted to do [with my
career], but seeing how everything
works has given me the ability to say
that this is what I want to do,” says
Millington. “To do radio and TV in
that environment—what more could
you ask for?”
WINTER 2016
f you ask Maxwell Millington ’16
about the celebrities he’s met while
interning at Seacrest Studios, he’ll
give you a list of names. Ed Sheeran.
Demi Lovato. Ryan Lochte. Vance Joy.
But if you want him to light up,
ask him about the kids.
Seacrest Studios isn’t your usual
broadcast studio. It’s within Levine
Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, where
small patients face large challenges:
chemotherapy, radiology, dialysis. To
give these kids much-deserved fun, the
studio—funded by the Ryan Seacrest
Foundation — brings entertainment
to them. Patients can watch games,
celebrity interviews and in-studio
performances from their room TVs,
or they can visit the studios to join the
action. When they do, Max is one of
six Queens interns who is often at the
microphone or behind a camera.
“This is work that I want to do
[after graduation], and I actually get
—Jen Tota McGivney
33
Briefly
Noted
A ROYAL EVENING
On October 15, 2015, Queens
welcomed world-renowned pianist,
composer, Syrian native and alumnus
Malek Jandali ’97 to the 26th Annual
Royal Society Dinner. Jandali played
the piano, shared his story and thanked
Royal Society donors for the financial
support they provided in making his
Queens education a reality.
HEART WALK
In alignment with the Blair College
of Health’s health education initiative,
206 faculty, staff and students from
13 fundraising teams participated in
the American Heart Association’s 2.5
mile Heart Walk on September 19.
Queens raised more than $8,000 to
fund heart disease and stroke research.
Photo by Jeff Siner
CAMPUS NEWS
Malek Jandali ’97 at the Royal Society Dinner October 15, 2015.
MCCOLL WELCOMES NEW DEAN
On July 1, Richard Mathieu began
his tenure as dean of the McColl
School of Business. Prior to Queens,
Mathieu served as an associate dean
for academic affairs in the College of
Business at James Madison University,
where he demonstrated his aptitude
in leadership and strategic planning.
He has a PhD from the University
of Virginia in systems engineering
with a specialization in management
information systems.
QUEENS FUNDRAISING
RANKED NATIONALLY BY
ST. JUDE
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
named Queens the third highest
fundraising school in the nation
for the hospital’s 2014 Up ’til Dawn
event. The student-led project raised
QUEENS MAGAZINE
Crowds of walkers, including 13
Queens teams, converged on Uptown
Charlotte for September’s Heart Walk.
4
ENSEMBLE IN RESIDENCE
The Bechtler Ensemble has been
named Ensemble in Residence at
Queens. The musicians will perform
at Queens each semester and utilize
the university’s facilities for practices
and rehearsals. The ensemble often
combines slides of art from the
Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
with period musical compositions.
Charlie Michelin ’16 and Pat Taft at the
St. Jude Collegiate Leadership Seminar.
$26,000, which helps fund the
research hospital. Charlie Michelin
’16 of the executive board and Pat Taft,
director of Queens’ Center for Active
Citizenship, were recognized during
the St. Jude Collegiate Leadership
Seminar in July.
Mayoral candidates during the debate
at the Queens Sports Complex.
CAMPAIGN FOR MAYOR
Queens played host to two major
events leading up to the city’s
mayoral election on November 3.
The Charlotte Observer and WBTV
hosted candidates on September 2
and the SouthPark Chapter of the
Charlotte Chamber held a candidate
discussion on October 7. At both
events, candidates were asked essential
questions that allowed them to pitch
their campaigns.
—Regina Betz
Jasmyn Lindsay ’16 (left
middle) and fellow softball
teammates—all seniors—ham
it up on the field. Clockwise
beginning upper left: Samantha
Martinez, Taylor Rosenbalm,
Miranda Cummings, Catelyn
Presley and Lyndey McCurry.
Leading On and Off the Field
CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP HAS GIVEN JASMYN LINDSAY ’16 IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE
M
its leadership council. Her success there brought
encouragement to apply for the NCAA’s Division II
committee. “I didn’t think I’d get it,” she says, “but I did.”
Lindsay, a Hope and Pat Hall Scholar, is one of 27
student-athletes from the 24 Division II conferences and
the sole member from the South Atlantic Conference. She
gives a voice to each of the 12 schools in the conference,
speaking for them on NCAA matters and voting on NCAA
legislation at the national convention.
“I love it,” she says. She loves being in a leadership role
and speaking for her peers. “When you have an institution
of 1,600 undergrad students, there’s no way everybody’s
voice can be heard, but I try. I like to take the interest of
not just the athletes, but students in general,” she says.
Her involvement has led her to ponder a career in
politics, as a political adviser. Helterbran says she’s destined
for a role like the one of fictional character Olivia Pope
on the TV series “Scandal” (minus all the scandal, of
course). If not that, then Lindsay hopes she has a career
in collegiate athletics as an athletic director or compliance
director.
Whichever path she chooses, Helterbran is sure you’ll
hear of her, soon.
—Jodie Valade
WINTER 2016
aybe you haven’t yet heard of Jasmyn Lindsay.
Maybe you don’t know about her very busy
schedule, the one in which she is a political
science major, plays softball, is a resident assistant, a Royal
Ambassador who gives tours to prospective students, is
president of the political science honor society, and, most
recently, was selected for the prestigious honor of serving as
a representative for the South Atlantic Conference on the
NCAA’s Division II Student Athletic Advisory Committee.
Queens softball coach Melanie Helterbran is confident
everyone will know Lindsay in a matter of time. “In the
next 15-20 years, she’s going to come back and be a
commencement speaker,” Helterbran says. “She’s going to
go off and do really great things for whomever’s life she
touches.”
Look at what she’s done, already.
During Lindsay’s freshman year, Helterbran had to
nominate someone to serve as a representative on Queens’
student athletic advisory committee, the group that gives a
voice to student-athletes on campus. Lindsay, a Cornelius
native, was Helterbran’s obvious choice. Even as a freshman,
Lindsay exhibited leadership qualities that couldn’t be
taught, Helterbran says.
Lindsay became such an outspoken and respected
member of the committee that she was named to
Photo by L. Wolff Photography
CAMPUS NEWS
55
CAMPUS NEWS
In the Classroom
FANTASY NBA
KINS 464
TEXT
Photo by Joe Glorioso
Students use news outlets, Forbes
indexes and multimedia. The class breaks
down financials by player, team and
league. The class also views episodes of
ESPN’s Broke, a sobering documentary
of once-wealthy athletes who have gone
bankrupt. Students routinely conduct
research online to record NBA statistics
and track player news.
SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS
• Client Tax Assessment: Using a player’s
salary and professional background,
students calculate state taxes, including
the amount for multiple states, federal
taxes, Medicare and social security.
• Pricing Survey: Items from the Queens
bookstore are analyzed for price and
branding appeal, and then compared to
similar items in the market to determine if
a price is elastic or inelastic. Students also
issue a questionnaire to peers to identify the
fair value of the item.
• Team Valuation: Students determine
the value of a team’s assets and debt to
calculate real value.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
FACULTY
6
Robert Lyons has 14 years of teaching
experience in sport management. He
has published and presented papers on
sport marketing, sport leadership, critical
thinking and teaching methods topics.
He is a member of the board of directors
for Winning Edge Leadership Academy,
a mentoring program for African
American sport management and
communication majors. Lyons earned a
BS from St. Mary’s College of California,
an MS from Grambling State University
and a PhD in sport administration from
the University of New Mexico.
Ben McLemore, shooting guard for the Sacramento Kings, was drafted as
the 7th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft in 2013.
L
os Angeles just grabbed your top pick. You have $12 million to
spend on a center, but you could spread that thin on a two-player
package deal. You also have to consider the future of your injuryridden point guard. If you keep your top scorer healthy, there are big
hopes for the playoffs.
These are the thoughts racing through the minds of students in
Professor Robert Lyons’ sport finance and economics course as they build
their NBA teams on draft day. The draft simulation sets the groundwork
for a semester-long project that reiterates the importance of economic
principles, ethics, strategic planning and budgeting within the sports
industry.
Students consult real-life statistics to compare their team roster’s
performance with other teams in the class as they compete. They also
evaluate revenue, purchase sport stocks, track expenses, debate insurance
and negotiate sponsorships. As league commissioner, Lyons requires
each team to abide by regulations and function ethically.
Although unpredictability is one of the immediate lessons learned
about the players, Lyons believes that the greatest lesson his students take
away from the course is the necessity to think critically about financial
resources for sports teams, companies and leagues.
—Regina Betz
As league commissioner,
Lyons requires each
team to abide by
regulations and
function ethically.
Professor Robert Lyons
CAMPUS NEWS
Creating a Connected Community
KNIGHT SCHOOL CONVENES CHARLOTTE INSTITUTIONS TO CLOSE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Bruce Clark (left) at the Best Minds Conference hosted by Queens on campus in
March 2015.
T
he K n i g h t S c h o o l o f
Communication has high
aspirations of increasing
digital and media literacy in Charlotte
and the surrounding area.
It comes as no surprise that the
school and Dean Eric Freedman have
worked to convene more than a dozen
organizations on a steering team to bring
affordable Internet access to the region.
Those in underserved communities lag
behind in acquiring the skills to live in
an increasingly networked world.
The steering team, which includes
the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg
County, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library,
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, the
Urban League of Central Carolinas,
Goodwill Industries of the Southern
Piedmont, Knight Foundation, the
Media Democracy Fund and Charlotte
Hearts Gigabit, has hired Charlotte’s
first digital inclusion project manager,
Bruce Clark, to spearhead the effort.
Clark brings to the role experience
in campaign management and
grassroots initiatives in digital media,
most notably as executive director of
The PPL, an independent media hub
formed during the 2012 Democratic
National Convention that was held in
Charlotte.
“One of the greatest challenges of
our generation is to create opportunities
for everyone to be connected to
broadband in the home and have the
resources to take advantage of it,” says
Clark. “We have a unique moment
in time in Charlotte to galvanize
community-wide support for closing
the digital divide, and we must act now
to grow our competitive advantage.”
—Lisa Noakes
HUNTERHAMILTON
Love of Teaching Award
Call for Nominations
T
Clockwise from right: The late Dr. James
Pressly Hamilton, Grey Hunter Hamilton ’62,
daughter Isabel Hamilton Owen ’92 and son
Hunter Hamilton.
WINTER 2016
he Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award honors those teachers
who uniquely inspire the potential of students. It is given to a Queens
faculty member based on nomination letters from alumni, faculty and
current students. The cash award is divided between the recipient and an
academic department or program selected by the recipient. It is announced at
commencement in May.
Nominations can be submitted by email to awards.hamilton@queens.edu,
or on the web at www.queens.edu/Hunter-Hamilton or by mail to HunterHamilton Teaching Award, Office of Academic Affairs, Queens University
of Charlotte, 1900 Selwyn Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28274. Please include
your class year. Nominations are due on March 1.
This award is made possible by a gift from the late Dr. James Pressly
Hamilton and Grey Hunter Hamilton ’62 in honor of their parents, Buford
Lindsay Hamilton and Frances Pressly Hamilton, servants of their Lord for
42 years as missionaries in Pakistan, and Richard Moore Hunter and Isabel
Reid Hunter. Their faith, hope and love for their children had no bounds.
7
INVESTING IN QUEENS
The Preyer Fellows and Preyer
Honors Program
THE FAMILY OF PROFESSOR NORRIS PREYER
HONORS HIS LEGACY WITH A $2 MILLION GIFT
By Laura Sutton
Professor Norris Preyer (with his wife Kathryn in the 1970s) specialized in
several categories of American history and supported numerous Charlotte
cultural institutions. As chair of the history department at Queens, he inspired
students for 33 years, including his daughter Janet, a 1977 graduate.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
D
8
r. Norris Preyer’s passion for history and teaching
made him a favorite of students throughout his 33year career at Queens. Margaret James Wilbanks ’69
was among them. “When I was a freshman, Dr. Preyer was my
first advisor. He helped me discover my interests and plan a
major in psychology. He was a wonderful man and a dedicated
teacher.”
The late Dr. Preyer’s zest for living and passion for history
were developed through rich personal experiences, and his life’s
work was sharing these with his students and the community.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill with a BA in history, he biked through post-war
France, then spent a year interning in business and a summer
at Yale studying German. He earned master’s and doctorate
degrees in American history from the University of Virginia.
He arrived at Queens in 1957 after teaching at Guilford
College. As chair of the history department and a Dana Fellow,
he specialized in Southern history and the Revolutionary and
Early National periods of American history. He led students
on insightful tours of the Old South, traveled in Africa and
developed courses in African-American history. His academic
work was widely published. He was also a valuable resource
to Charlotte, serving many of the city’s history-oriented
nonprofit organizations. He was a founding board member
and president of Historic Latta Plantation, on the Charlotte
Nature Museum board that founded Discovery Place, on the
committee that founded the Levine Museum of the New
South and on the board of the Charlotte Museum of History.
Dr. Preyer and his wife Kathryn were beloved on campus
and contributed generously to the Queens community, often
in quiet ways. Both enjoyed art, architecture and music, and
they sought a better understanding of other cultures, ideas and
ways of life through travel and reading. Kathryn’s love of fine
arts and learning inspired her to create Friends of the Library,
Friends of Music and Friends of Art. Her selfless service
earned her accolades as a distinguished Algernon Sydney
Sullivan Award recipient in 1974. Both Dr. and Mrs. Preyer
were named Honorary Alumni by the Alumni Association, he
in 1992 and she in 1979.
Their legacy has continued with their daughter, Janet
Preyer Nelson, a 1977 graduate of Queens. Janet remembers
her time at Queens fondly. “I feel fortunate to have been a
Queens student at the same time my dad was teaching in
the late ’70s. It was humbling to see firsthand the respect
and admiration he earned on campus from his colleagues and
students, both as a historian, but more importantly, as a kind
and caring professor.”
Dr. Preyer, who passed away in 2013, was especially
passionate about enriching the educational experience
through an honors curriculum and an internship program in
partnership with archives, museums and historic sites around
the world.
On October 4, 2015, Queens announced the
establishment of the Preyer Fellows and Preyer Honors
programs made possible by a generous $2 million endowed
gift from Kathryn, Janet and her brother, Dr. Norris Preyer,
Jr. The announcement was made at a Preyer Lecture Series
discussion featuring historian and author Mark M. Smith.
President Pamela Davies expressed deepest gratitude to the
Preyers, who were present. The gift was made through the
Beyond Our Imagination: the Legacy Campaign for Queens, a
campaign to strengthen Queens’ endowment in support of
student scholarships and campus programs.
The Preyer Fellowship is a competitive award supporting
research for undergraduate students majoring or minoring in
history or the humanities on a level that has not been previously
possible at Queens. The Preyer Honors program will enable
intellectually curious and academically capable students to
engage with faculty through classroom, research and travel
opportunities. Both strengthen academic opportunities at
Queens, solidifying Dr. Preyer’s legacy for years to come.
INVESTING IN QUEENS
Beth and Ravenel Curry share a moment with their son Marshall before he received an honorary doctorate and delivered
Queens’ 2015 commencement address in what was a red letter day for Beth and her family.
Remembering Beth Curry
BELOVED ALUMNA AND TRUSTEE INVESTED IN WHAT MATTERED MOST TO HER
By Tamara D. Burrell MSOD ’13
T
In 1998, she and Ravenel, her business partner and husband of
52 years, successfully co-founded and managed an investment
firm, Eagle Capital Management, as well as a charitable
foundation.
Upon the news of her death, former Queens colleague
Richard Rankin wrote, “Beth was such a marvelous person….
she combined the qualities of a lady and a strong, successful
businesswoman perfectly.”
“Beth was one of the greatest people I ever knew,” said
Queens President Pamela Davies. “She was successful in
every facet of her life—her family, her faith, her business,
her volunteer leadership, her friendships, her character—in
every way she embodied all that Queens hopes to instill in
its graduates.”
The extensive list of Beth’s accomplishments and awards
tells a meaningful story. Queens is especially grateful she
served as a member of our Board of Trustees for more than
27 years.
At her funeral service on November 23, a resounding theme
was her adoration for her grandchildren, whom she called “the
magnificent seven.” With thoughtfulness and intentionality,
Beth created a lasting legacy to benefit others. She invested in
what mattered most: the people and places she loved.
WINTER 2016
here are a thousand ways to describe what made Beth
Rivers Curry ’63 special. She found great joy and
wonder in the world around her, especially in people.
She was beloved by all who knew her, and when we learned of
her passing on the morning of November 16 after an extended
illness from a recurrence of breast cancer, we knew a light had
gone out in the world. Beth would be the first to remind of us,
though, of the beauty yet to see, the kindness yet to share and
the work yet to do.
Beth was an English major from Chesterfield, SC, who
arrived at Queens in 1959 with a keen intellect, an insatiable
curiosity and a generous spirit. Kent Anderson Leslie ’64 writes,
“Coming from a tiny town in South Carolina, Beth combined
all of the graciousness and warmth of her original family with
a rare intelligence, a superb Queens education and leadership
skills to rival Eleanor Roosevelt.”
After graduating as valedictorian, Beth married Ravenel
Boykin Curry III, started her family, and began volunteering in
her community. One particular project—a nonprofit day care in
New Jersey she helped launch—spurred her interest in financial
management. In 1979 she returned to Queens for her MBA.
Empowered with new knowledge, she took her unique
South Carolina values and applied them in the financial arena.
9
H APPENINGS
the other
of
LEVINE
COURTYARD
QUEENS
You know Diana and her fountain, but how well do you know Queens’ other
courtyards, including one with a mind-twisting sculpture, one doubling as an outdoor
classroom and another guarded by a lion?
—Jen Tota McGivney
Some books require fresh
air. Here, students can study
around the Billy O. Wireman
Fountain encircled by an
engraved inspiration:
“Noble lives, productive
careers, and global
citizenship.”
QUEENS MAGAZINE
It’s a new stop on the campus tour.
When prospective students walk
by, they can’t resist a selfie with
Rex. When they return as
freshmen, they get an even
better shot—this time
holding a sign that
says, “I am a Royal!”
10
WATERS COURTYARD
While Diana adorns the south side
of Burwell Hall, the Waters women
give name to the north. This stately
courtyard honors four generations
of one family who graduated from
Queens between 1883 and 2010.
LIBRARY
COURTYARD
KATHRYN L. GRIGG ’87 COURTYARD
& OUTDOOR CLASSROOM
It’s what students wait to hear from
professors on a pretty day: “Let’s have
class outside.” Here they can gather
at the base of the Evans Clock Tower
amid mounds of begonias.
ANN TARWATER
COURTYARD
If you look at the sculpture from the
doorway of Rogers Hall, it resembles a
DNA double helix. But view it from the
Belk Chapel doorway, and you may see
angel wings instead. Optical illusion or
miracle? Depends on your doorway.
Interpreting the Times
Eleanor Randolph ’64 became a journalist during the Civil Rights era. Today she’s on
the editorial board of The New York Times and is writing a commissioned biography of
Michael Bloomberg. After 50 years in journalism, the projects keep coming.
SUMMER 2015
Photography by Earl Wilson
By Virginia Brown
11
11
She graduated in 1964 and
worked in journalism during
the Civil Rights era, reporting
hard news before many women
were taken seriously as political
reporters. Her first break was
with the local newspaper back
home in Pensacola. “I wanted
to work for the Atlanta JournalConstitution,” she says, but when
she asked about a job, she was
told, “We already have enough
women.”
But Randolph isn’t one to
take no for an answer. From
work at Florida’s St. Petersburg
Times, she made her way to the
Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago
Tribune, and then went on to
the Los Angeles Times and The
Washington Post, finally reaching
The New York Times in 1998.
“Being a woman in journalism
leanor Randolph has written a book about life in at that time—whereas before at the Atlanta Journal it had
Moscow, covered Jimmy Carter’s campaign trail and seemed a hindrance—it became an advantage,” she says.
spent decades on the editorial board for The New York “People wanted a woman on their political teams.”
Her reporting and writing didn’t go unnoticed. She
Times—and she can’t understand why anyone would want to
attributes that, in part, to her formative time at Queens,
write about her.
Originally from Pensacola, Florida, the modest journalist specifically from Associate Professor of English Roberta
who worked her way through the newspaper ranks to the Chalmers. “She talked about language in a way that has stayed
Times recalls her first memories of heading to Queens. “My with me forever,” says Randolph. “It was so infectious. She
parents were horrified, because it was so far from home,” she taught that every word mattered. It’s hard to be a journalist
and a poet, but you’ve got to at least appreciate the words.”
says.
Words are especially important when they’re being used
It was 1960. Randolph went anyway.
“My father gave me a hundred dollars,” she says. “And he to shape the opinions of a nation. On The New York Times
says, ‘If you want to join a sorority, this is about how much it’s editorial board, Randolph explains, about 15 editors meet
going to cost.’” She didn’t need to join a sorority; instead, she several times a week to discuss the day’s pressing topics—the
Iraq war, abortion. “And there are
bonded with a group of friends whom
these two portraits of two old Times
she met in Morrison Hall where she
editors staring down at you as you sit
lived. “I was thrashing around trying
She talked about language in around and talk about the issues,” she
to figure out who I was,” she says, “and
jokes. This group, this select few, is
here were these people—they were
a way that has stayed with me charged with writing the opinion for
so interesting and thoughtful and
the whole paper.
nonjudgmental.”
forever, it was so infectious.
That
respected
political
One of those people was
Beth Rivers Curry ’63, who was a
commentary has brought her to a
lifelong friend. “She was just such an
recent transition. She’s cut back
independent, forward thinker,” Curry said last year. “We were on full-time editorial board work in order to tackle a
living in that transition period between the 1950s and ’60s, biography of Michael Bloomberg. “It’s a crazy thing to
wearing pony tails and Bobby socks, and here was this girl do, to do part time the job you did full time,” she says. “You
dressed in all black. This was the time of freedom marches and end up doing the same amount of work in the part-time
the Cuban Missile Crisis. She really opened up a new way for hours.”
The project took awhile to get off the ground. After
me to think and question, and it’s had a lifelong impact on me.”
As for the hundred dollars her father gave her, Randolph Simon & Schuster published Waking the Tempests, her
book about ordinary Russians struggling to cope with new
used it to buy a horseback-riding outfit.
Headstrong in her pursuits, she left Queens after her freedoms, she and her editor decided to start brainstorming
sophomore year to transfer to Emory University in Atlanta, other ideas. “At the time, I was too busy,” she says. “But as
which had begun accepting women less than a decade earlier. I got closer to retirement, I could see a path to writing a
QUEENS MAGAZINE
E
12
1) Eleanor Randolph hands in an assignment
to a Queens professor. 2) An article written
by Randolph for the Chicago Tribune in 1974.
3) Michael Bloomberg, former New York
mayor and the subject of Randolph’s current
book. 4) From the yearbook: Randolph
(middle) with fellow student government
association executive committee members
Nancy Abel (Hall) ’63 (left) and Kent
Anderson (Leslie) ’64 (right).
1
2
3
4
his life now, the post mayor phase. He has returned to run
his global enterprise with a hand in philanthropic issues
and politics. She hopes to wrap up the first section this
winter.
She admits she’s tackled a big subject. “It’s one of those
projects that, once you get into it, it looks bigger and bigger.
You have to really love the subject,” she says. Although it’s
not an authorized biography, Bloomberg has promised to
give extended interviews as she starts to close the book.
Writing a biography about someone who is still alive
has unique challenges, she says, “because there’s no final
chapter.” As for her own next chapter, when many of her
colleagues are starting to take it easy, Randolph says she
and her editor are already talking about another book idea.
She’s looking forward to the next chapter.
WINTER 2016
book.” They discussed several projects and, the more they
talked about Bloomberg, the more excited they became.
These days she spends about five hours a week in
the New York City archives, sifting through all of the
materials from the Bloomberg administration, and so far,
she’s organized her findings into several sections. The first
covers Bloomberg’s youth and education, his early years on
Wall Street and the creation of the Bloomberg machine
that changed the way Wall Street operated. His first run
for mayor in 2001 and the early years at City Hall define a
second segment. A third examines how he ran the nation’s
largest city, from education to police. A fourth category
examines the billionaire philanthropist. “[He] always says
that when he dies, he hopes that his check to the funeral
home will bounce,” Randolph observes. The final section is
13
QUEENS MAGAZINE
Queens grad signs on to write a Star Wars trilogy
14
ot so long ago, in a galaxy not
so far away, Chuck Wendig
posted a message on Twitter
about wanting to write a Star Wars book.
Little did he know that The Force was
with him.
“I had ‘the force’ for about two
minutes one day, and somehow used it
to get a job,” he says with a laugh.
Wendig, who earned an English
degree from Queens in 1998, became
a Star Wars devotee as a child. “I’m a
huge fan, have always been a huge fan.
I saw Empire Strikes Back when I was
four.” So when he posted the message
online, and when an editor working on
a trilogy of new, authorized Star Wars
books followed up, Wendig jumped
at the chance to leave his mark on
the series. He met the project’s editor
at Comic-Con, a massive annual
convention of comic book fans. “A lot
of networking happens at Comic-Con,”
Wendig says, “so it’s not totally unusual
to come away from the weekend with a
job, but it is pretty rare to show up and
land something as high profile as Star
Wars.”
The first book in the trilogy,
Aftermath, came out in September. It
tells the story of what happens between
the Star Wars movies The Return of the
Jedi and The Force Awakens. “This is
maybe a little myopic and narcissistic,
but my goal was to write for me as a
fan, first,” he says. “The story that I put
forth is a story that lived in my head
and sort of satisfied all my fan boxes
and all the things I wanted to see.”
He calls the plot a traditional Star
Wars adventure with a ragtag group
of people thrown together to save the
galaxy. He had to be careful to satisfy
serious fans. “You can’t please everyone,
and certainly with Star Wars fans, it’s
not one single thing,” he explains. “It’s
lots of circles, and sometimes there’s
crossover, but a lot of times there isn’t.”
At the same time, Wendig says he
sought to make the plot accessible to
regular readers, people who may not
have movie lines memorized, to folks
just looking for a good story. “It was not
written for the die-hard fan. There are
things in it for the die-hard fan, but you
don’t have to be one to read it.”
Aftermath was one of three books
Wendig wrote that were released within
a month’s time during the fall. He also
published ZER0ES, a novel that tackles
the issue of government surveillance via
a group of hackers who face off against
a self-aware national security program,
and Blackbirds, whose main character
can see how people are going to die by
touching them.
I H A D ‘ T HE FORCE’ FOR ABOUT
T W O M I NUTES ONE DAY, AND
S O M E H OW USED IT TO GET A
JO B
Chuck Wendig ’98 (above) says
that while a student at Queens
in the 1990s, Professor Michael
Kobre encouraged students to
respect a variety of literary
genres.
Today, Wendig w r ites—quite
literally—from a shed in Pennsylvania.
The brown structure, all 160 square feet
of it, sits at the back of his property, close
enough to his house that the Wi-Fi works,
but far enough away that he can actually
be productive. Inside, beadboard walls are
painted clean white below the chair rail
and deep cobalt above. In one corner is an
L-shaped wooden desk, which looks out
on the woods surrounding his home.
It is here, enveloped by brilliant
autumn colors dropping from the trees,
that Wendig sat down to start the second
volume of the Star Wars trilogy, likely to
come out in 2016. It’s also where he’ll
work on the third for release the following
year.
If all goes well, The Force will stick
around.
—Adam Rhew
Aftermath is the first of a
trilogy of authorized Star
War novels.
WINTER 2016
“If you’re going to make a living
as a writer, doing it as a genre writer
isn’t a bad way to go about it,” Wendig
says. While many writers of traditional
literature spend years crafting a single
work, while also teaching at a university
or participating in a fellowship, genre
writers typically write multiple projects
almost simultaneously. Each of his books
is published in its own font, something
Wendig says he’s “persnickety” about
with his publishers.
Wendig credits one of his Queens
English professors, Michael Kobre, with
opening his eyes to the world of genre
writing, to expanding his view of what
could be considered good prose. “He
never gave the sense that he felt things
like comic books or science fiction were
outside literature,” Wendig says. “We
would read Ulysses but then would have
a conversation about the Fantastic Four.”
15
YAP
hope, change, and
ON A CLUSTER OF MICRONESIAN ISLANDS, REED PERKINS AND
STUDENTS WORK TO CHANGE THE WORLD, ONE MAP AT A TIME
QUEENS MAGAZINE
By Jen Tota McGivney
16
The islands of Yap are in danger.
Located in the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines, this cluster of islands is highly vulnerable to
the effects of climate change: sea level and storm surges are rising, and land elevation is low. Taro,
Yap’s staple crop for 3,000 years in this tropical climate, grows poorly in coastal farmland infiltrated
by salt water.
Less land, less food? It’s a crisis in the making. The problem of climate change is so big and the
islands of Yap are so small—just 40 square miles of land mass with a population of 11,000 people—
that the situation can seem overwhelming.
ENTER QUEENS.
“You can’t get paralyzed by doubt,” says Reed Perkins, the Carolyn G. and Sam H. McMahon
Professor of Environmental Science at Queens. “When you’re paralyzed by doubt, the gig’s up. You’re
done. I have hope for Yap, but it’ll mean change.”
But how does one create the change needed to address this uniquely daunting situation? And
what if—even more daunting—there’s nothing unique about Yap’s situation?
Because there’s the rub. Yap isn’t an exception; it’s a canary in a coalmine. It’s not alone in its
susceptibility to climate change—just ask anyone in the coastal Carolinas about the effects of rising
storm surges. But the islands’ isolated location and economy leave the Yapese vulnerable more quickly
than most. Yap needs a solution, and that solution may offer the potential to help others.
WINTER 2016
After a long day of mapping burned areas on the island of Rumung, Queens
students and Yapese counterparts head home in May 2014. The island is
forbidden to tourists, but the Queens group received permission from the
local chief because of their work’s benefit to islanders.
17
So for the past 14 years, Perkins and his students have
visited Yap to work with residents on adaptations to combat
challenges related to climate change. They come armed with
mapping technologies, persistence and hope.
FOR PERKINS,
THE GIG’S NOT UP.
Perkins describes his work with an economy of words:
“Shockingly boring.” It’s low on drama, perhaps. But changing
the world largely rests on showing up and getting to work,
which Perkins and Queens students have done year after
year. They arrive with GPS and GIS mapping technologies
that allow them to collect data to help the Yapese adapt. The
resulting maps bring together information on soil, streams,
plants, fire history, food production and more. In this data is
hope: hope for finding new areas suited for food production
and homes.
Through these years of work, close relationships
developed. For many years, hosting Queens was a formal
line item in the Yap state budget, requiring a considerable
investment. The Yapese know Perkins by name; they have his
phone number. Before each trip, Perkins sends his contacts in
Yap the names and pictures of the students who are coming.
When the group arrives and walks down the street, the Yapese
honk their horns and yell, “Hi, Queens! Hi, Queens!”
This work gives a personal angle to a global issue. Perkins
and these students don’t see climate change as an intangible
force in a distant future. Instead, it’s a problem facing people
they know, people seeking immediate solutions. And they
come to support the Yapese in whatever manner they need.
“The goal is not for us to do the work, it’s to provide
[the Yapese] the experience so they can do it themselves,” says
Perkins. “We’ve never tried to steer the canoe; we’re just the
paddlers. We’re just paddling the canoe as hard as we can in
whatever direction they set.”
This work has already had an impact, creating data sets
that have become official government records. When Typhoon
Sudal hit Yap in 2004, FEMA officials needed information
on roads, streams, village locations and power lines to guide
their relief efforts; they turned to the data collected by Perkins
QUEENS MAGAZINE
“[YAP] IS AT A NEXUS OF A LOT
OF INTERSECTING FORCES
AND TRENDS,” SAYS PERKINS.
“TRADITION AND MODERNITY.
ISOLATION AND GLOBALISM.
POVERTY AND WEALTH.”
18
On the first morning of each trip, students and faculty hike to
the top of Mt. Madeqdeq to watch the sunrise.
and his students for their emergency response. When the
US Forest Service wanted to calibrate computer models in a
study of fire on Pacific islands, they turned to this team’s data
as well. Perkins doesn’t ask students to observe; instead, they
join him as active participants in research that already plays a
vital role in a vulnerable area.
“[Yap] is at a nexus of a lot of intersecting forces and
trends,” says Perkins. “Tradition and modernity. Isolation and
globalism. Poverty and wealth.”
And for the students with him, the Yap trip comes at
the nexus of academic and professional life. Of youth and
adulthood. And, also, of work and play.
“I tell my students that if they signed up for the
Micronesia trip to play, I’m also going to make them work.
And if they signed up for the Micronesia trip to work, then
I’m also going to make them play. Queens has a lot of students
who would do nothing but service projects 24 hours a day,
but it’s important to have fun, too. The Yapese are the most
fun-loving people I’ve ever met. To not have fun would be
missing out on Yapese culture.”
Macie McGuffin ’16 admits her interest in Yap began
with play. With scuba diving, in particular. What sold her
on the experience, however, was that it would extend much
farther.
“The more I learned about the trip, the more I learned
there was so much more to it than going to have fun. It was so
service based, and [on my study abroad trip], I wanted to do
something that was about giving back, not about, ‘I’m going
to go be an American in another country.’”
McGuffin was one of 13 Queens students in Yap in
the summer of 2014. The group bonded immediately, which
seems alternately inevitable and unthinkable considering they
Amy Moore ’14 (right) and a Yapese woman
map the location of a newly constructed
Head Start facility.
Queens students indicate that everything is okay
while scuba diving during the 2007 trip. Yap is one
of the top dive destinations in the world.
WINTER 2016
19
The 2014 Queens team poses
behind the Yap ground sign in
Colonia, the capital.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
In this 2004 photo, Professor Perkins (right) works
with students and their Yapese counterparts to map
an invasive grass species, Imperata cylindric. Their
efforts have led to the most successful eradication
program of this grass in the Pacific.
20
spent one month sharing one room with no air conditioning
and only cold water. That summer, they mapped burned areas,
as well as a potential site for World Heritage designation.
While there, McGuffin met students at the Yapese high
school who challenged her thinking. Here were students
living on an isolated island with few resources, yet they
worked hard towards big futures, either on Yap or far away.
“They realize that there’s more to the world than just
where they are right now,” says McGuffin. “And they really
helped me figure that out…to think long term and plan
accordingly. It’s funny that 16-year-old Yapese kids helped
me figure that out.”
Will Massey ’08 also left Yap transformed. As a Queens
junior who’d never been out of the country, he chose Yap
as his study abroad experience, realizing, “I might get to
Europe eventually, but when might I get the chance to go to
Micronesia again?”
Massey fell in love with the people of Yap and the beauty
of the islands. When he returned to Queens to finish his
degree, he dreamt of going back. With Perkins’ guidance,
Massey found his way back to Micronesia sooner than he
thought: after graduation, he taught English at Yap High
School for four years, becoming chair of the department.
He now teaches high school in Indiana and credits Perkins’
mentorship with helping him chart his course.
Perkins returns to Yap regularly to continue his
commitment to the change that fuels his hope. On a global
scale, his work may create a model to help small-island
developing states adapt to the effects of climate change. And
on a personal scale, his work introduces students to an exotic
island where they learn about perseverance and the power of
personal relationships. They also discover, in a place halfway
around the world, the potential they had all along. n
ALUMNI NEWS
Family Weekend
E
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eekend. (Left to
ther for Family W
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to
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imons
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ilie
fam
’01, Caroline Fit
(Above) Legacy
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’18
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Jasmine Woods
Caroline Matthew
r
hte
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da
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Matthews ’78
nnah Mixer ’17.
and daughter Ha
ach fall, Queens hosts Family
Weekend, an opportunity for
families to visit their students and
learn more about life on campus. Family
Weekend 2015 took place October 2-4.
The fun included men’s and women’s
soccer games and the Blue and Gold
Talent Show featuring student musicians,
singers and performers. Families also
learned about life-changing experiences
available to their students, such as
service opportunities, study abroad and
internships. The Scholarship Showcase
highlighted examples of research projects
students completed in collaboration with
faculty. The full weekend ended with a
student-led chapel service.
—Laura Beth Ellis
Fresh
man A
llison
“Allie
” Eng
the ta
el per
lent s
forme
how.
d at
om
cond fr
hey (se
rp
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) and
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ft
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n (far le
an Ann
ters, Eri
Freshm
lleen
is
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,
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parents
h her tw
ir
it
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and Joh
WINTER 2016
Junior Shomari Ingram with his parents,
Bernard and Sharon Ingram.
21
ALUMNI NEWS
ROYALS HALL
OF
FAME
CLASS OF 2016
Celebrating the
Victories
ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME
HONOREES TO BE INDUCTED
Don and Frances
DeArmon Evans ’59
Ned and Adelaide
Anderson Davis ’61
Heather Honeycutt
Bostic ’97
Alex Tack ’07
Iain Hall ’08
Daniel Kanyaruhuru ’08
Erin Schulz ’08
Want to Go?
The induction of Athletic
Hall of Fame honorees will
be held Friday, February
12, at the Queens Sports
Complex at 7:00 p.m.
A dessert reception will
follow. Register at
connect.queens.edu.
A
lex Tack still remembers
the first time he stepped on
the lacrosse field at Queens.
His new teammates in the first-year
program were good. He started to
wonder just how well he would fare in
his collegiate lacrosse career.
“You see guys who seemed more
talented,” Tack said recently. “I was
never the most physically gifted player.”
Four years littered with achievement proved his initial humble
thoughts wrong: He was a two-time
all-America selection, three-time allconference, an academic all-American
in 2007 and remains Queens’ career
points leader with 108 goals and 72
assists (180 points).
And now, Tack will be inducted
into the Royals Hall of Fame. He joins
a class that includes softball pitcher
Heather Honeycutt Bostic (1997),
golfer Iain Hall (2008), track and
field and cross country runner Daniel
Kanyarahuru (2008) and women’s
lacrosse player Erin Schultz (2008),
along with Dr. Billy O. Wireman
Award recipients Ned and Adelaide
Davis and Francis and Donnie Evans.
Queens’ Online Master’s Programs
Fit into Your Work-Life Balance
Alex Tack ‘07 (above left) was a top
lacrosse player who will be inducted
into the Royals Hall of Fame in
February.
All will be inducted during festivities
February 12-13.
It’s a big step for Tack, who
initially wasn’t even sure he would
play lacrosse in college. The Maryland
native had been playing since third
grade and thought he might love
basketball more—but opted to stick
with the sport where he had the best
opportunity to earn a scholarship.
He still lives in Charlotte, where he
works as a medical device salesperson.
He keeps in touch with a handful of
his teammates and friends from school.
He met his wife at Queens and doesn’t
regret for a second his decision to
continue his lacrosse career in college.
“It was one of the better decisions
I’ve made in life,” he said.
—Jodie Valade
Alumni receive 10%
off tuition for their
first class
Master of Business
Administration
QUEENS MAGAZINE
Master of Arts in
Communication
Master of Science in
Nursing
Master of Arts in
Educational Leadership
Online programs allow you
to make your own schedule
while engaging with
colleagues, students and
professors.
22
Visit online.queens.edu for more information, or call admissions at 866.313.2356.
ALUMNI NEWS
Learning on the
Baltic Coast
N
ineteen alumni and friends
embarked on an academic tour
of the Baltic’s Amber Coast
this past July aboard the Sea Cloud II, a
cruise liner built in the fashion of a tall
ship. The fare included guided tours
throughout the 11-day voyage. Groups
from the Harvard alumni association, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale
Educational Travel joined the Queens
travelers in learning about history,
culture and architecture at ports of call
in Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden,
Estonia, Finland and Russia.
—Laura Sutton
(Back row, left to right) Lowell Nelson,
Janet Preyer Nelson ’77, John Cato,
Jane Cato, Fred Wagner, Katy Bullock,
Ritchie Rea Battle ’69, Brian Speas, Bob
Davies and Jordan Epstein. (Front row,
left to right) Myrta Pulliam ’69, Harvey
Gossett ’12, Adrienne Gossett, James
Bullock, President Pamela Davies, Dale
Halton and Marsha Miller Harper ’69.
School Work
THE ALUMNI BOARD GETS
DOWN AND DIRTY
T
importance of volunteering for our local
schools, organizations and institutions
that seek to uplift and serve people.
Other board members prepped the
five garden plots run by undergraduates,
touched up murals, organized the book
room and arranged individual classroom
libraries. Helping is contagious and truly
empowering, and I am sure one day those
who took note of our presence will be
serving others.
—Pablo Carvajal ’09
(Top left) Valentine Ndambiri ’16 and
Patti Gammage Wells ’83 get down
and dirty in the Sedgefield garden.
(Above) Pablo Carvajal ’09 helps out in
a classroom.
WINTER 2016
he Alumni Association Board
of Directors came together this
past fall to spend an afternoon
working at Sedgefield Elementary
School. Queens began a strategic and
sustainable change partnership with
Sedgefield five years ago. Students,
faculty and staff have served in many
facets of the school, including as lunch
buddies, pen pals, tutors and mentors.
Queens students support an ongoing
garden as well as provide leadership for
the student garden club.
Knowing this, alumni board
members were eager to spend part of the
day volunteering. I had the opportunity to
help a teacher in her classroom; she and
the students were so appreciative of our
presence there that day, highlighting the
23
C LASS NOTES
Thank you to everyone who sent a note to stay connected with classmates. We love hearing from you!
To submit your class note, go to www.queens.edu/class-notes.
Questions or comments? Contact the Office of Alumni Relations, 704-337-2504 or alumni@queens.edu.
1942
The class expresses sympathy to Dorothy
Ballard Brown and Virginia Ballard
Clinard ’46 on the death of their sister,
Margaret Ballard Cook ’45, who passed
away on March 14, 2015. Sympathy also
goes to Dorothy on the loss of her husband,
Barton C. Brown, on June 13, 2015. They
were married for 70 years.
1943
The class expresses sympathy to Jean Hunt
Graeber on the death of her sister, Doris
Hunt McInturff, who passed away on April
2, 2015.
1944
On May 24, 2015, Miriam Smith Whisnant
and her husband, Rodney, were awarded the
Lifetime Service Award by their church,
Mount Zion Methodist in Cornelius, N.C.
1950
Queens, they have endowed the Dorothy
Folger Pence Scholarship at Queens.
1951 65th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Rebecca Scholl Schenck continues to be
busy with new activities at Sharon Towers as
well as keeping up with Queens and Myers
Park Presbyterian Church friends.
Frances Harris Kennedy has four married
children, 10 grandchildren, and one greatgrandchild named Irish Eleanor Madole.
1952
Dot Folger Pence and her husband, Jay,
welcomed their first great-grandchild on
February 4, 2015, Kileigh Karsen Hope,
daughter of grandson Riley Russell Hope
and his wife, Nikki Anthony. This was a big
year for Dot and Jay. Two granddaughters
graduated from college in May, and they
celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in
July. They met in Burwell Hall on a blind
date in November 1949 and married on
July 10, 1954. With special appreciation for
1953
The class expresses sympathy to Jeanne
Harrison MacDonald on the death of her
sister, Margaret Harrison Austin ’41, who
passed away on March 23, 2015.
In March 2015, Carmen Carter Waschek
was thrilled to hear the world premiere
of A Night in New Guinea, a tone poem
composed by her husband, Brownlee, an
ethnomusicologist. The composition is based
on music Carmen and Brownlee collected
in Papua, New Guinea, from indigenous
1945
The class expresses sympathy to Betty
Gravatt Alverson on the death of her
husband, M. Sydney Alverson, who passed
away on June 22, 2015.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
1948
24
Billie Morton Clark continues to enjoy
her mountain home in good weather. She is
involved with various activities at Aldersgate
Retirement Community, where she has lived
for seven years. She travels with a group from
Queens every year to wonderful places. Her
twin grandsons turned 13 years old this past
May.
Peggy Phillips Crowder is having a lot of
fun with her 15 grandchildren, 24 greatgrandchildren and their families.
The Class of 1955 enjoyed catching up at their 60th reunion this past April
at Queens: (seated left to right) Emilia Barksdale, Nan Dorr, Ara Griffin and
Brandon Stephens; (standing left to right) Phyllis Thacker, Jane Gage, Mary
Lois Bynum and Caroline Myers.
ALUMNI PROFILE
World Service
MARY LINDSAY ELMENDORF ’37
LOOKS BACK ON A CAREER
IMPROVING THE LIVES OF
OTHERS
A
(Above) Mary Elmendorf with
her husband, John, in 1941 before
leaving for Paris.
(Right) Cast and crew of World Our
Hands Can Make, a documentary
film featuring Elmendorf’s work in
Mexico which won the Cannes Film
Festival Award in 1960.
well-drilling projects during her eight
years as director.
Challenged to do more, she went
on to earn a PhD in anthropology in
1972. A decade later, she received the
Margaret Meade Award for connecting
anthropology to social and cultural
issues. She has been a consulting
anthropologist to the World Bank and
has written a memoir.
After seven decades working to
improve the lives of others, these days
she relaxes in her condominium in
Sarasota, Florida, reflecting as she
takes in her view. “I see a mimosa tree,”
she says, “and then I look over the
mimosa tree, and I see the bay. It’s
pretty.” She has spent a lifetime looking
outward—and traveling far beyond a
small North Carolina town—to make
the world a better place.
— Virginia Brown
WINTER 2016
s the world watches thousands
of refugees flood Europe,
escaping their hostile homelands this year, it is a familiar scene to
Mary Elmendorf ’37. Seventy years ago,
she was in Paris helping Spanish
refugees during World War II.
Originally from St. Pauls, North
Carolina, and first in her high school
class, Mary Lindsay graduated early
and came to Charlotte for college. “I
wanted to go to Queens because my
mother had gone and had enjoyed her
time so very much,” she recalls. The
president, Rev. Byrd, knew her mother
and took special care of the young
student.
In 1935, she transferred to UNC
Chapel Hill. There, she met her future
husband, John. “We met while walking
to breakfast on the very first morning,”
she recalls. “John and I were both
Quakers.”
Following their studies, the couple
went to work in the slums of Boston
and surrounding cities. Globally, a
war was brewing. She worked for the
Putney School of Vermont during
World War II, and then went to Paris
1945-1946 to work for a Quaker-led
program for Spanish refugees. “We
were helping them find ways to live,”
she says. “The whole world was in a
terrible way.” The group would go on
to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1947, the year she turned 30.
After the war, Mary became
involved with the Cooperative for
American Remittances to Europe
(CARE). A world citizen, she believed
that all people should have the
opportunity to live well. By 1952, she
was appointed the first woman director
of CARE in Mexico City, where she
worked to ensure locals had running
water. “I’ve always felt that water wells
and toilets are the two most important
things,” she says. She organized 114
25
CLASS NOTES
Barksdale, Jane Faires Brock, Mary Lois
Ridings Bynum, Nan Breymann Dorr,
Jane Basinger Gage, Ara Brown Griffin,
Brandon Taylor Stephens, Jo Ann Jones
Manning, Caroline Love Myers, Ginger
Allen Still, Phyllis Scutt Thacker, and
Jean Phillips Whipple. Four members of
their sister class (1956) also attended: Mary
Archibald, Betty Reinhardt Millsaps,
Mitzi Plonk Folk, and Beth Lowdermilk
Whitfield. They all enjoyed the campus
activities, especially the Saturday dinner
party arranged by Caroline Myers and Jane
Gage. The class president, Jacque Jetton
Coxe, was unable to attend, but she added to
the festivities by providing a beautiful dessert
tray and some high quality wine.
We would like to extend our sympathy to
Jane Faires Brock on the loss of her husband,
Jim, in April 2015.
Miss Anne and Dan
F
or many years the charming and whimsical statue of Miss Anne
and her dog, Dan, stood proudly in the front yard of Anne Beatty
McKenna ’48 who lived on Colville Road, near Queens. After Anne’s
death in 1999, Queens was pleased to learn that Anne had left the sculpture
to her alma mater. Her good friend Hugh McColl personally delivered it to
campus in his pickup truck and oversaw the unloading and installation on
Selwyn Avenue.
It’s one of two works by artist Elsie Shaw in the neighborhood—the
other is of Hugh McManaway, which holds court two blocks from Queens.
Anne’s brother Dick Beatty says, “The Beatty family really loves that Anne’s
statue is now at Queens where so many people can enjoy it as they walk and
ride down Selwyn Avenue.”
Sadly, Elsie Shaw passed away in June in Gastonia. The 85-year-old
daughter of former Charlotte mayor Victor Shaw leaves behind public art
works in other cities, including Tallahassee and Daytona, Florida.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
—Adelaide Anderson Davis ’61
26
people living in remote jungles, along the
rivers, and deep in the mountains. Using
a skill Carmen learned in a Queens night
class, she photographed the people, their
villages, handmade instruments and dances
while Brownlee interviewed the performers
and recorded their music. The poem was
chosen as the introductory piece in the
Golden Jubilee concert celebrating Georgia
Perimeter College’s first 50 years (Brownlee
established both the orchestra and the music
department).
1955
The class expresses sympathy to Emilia
Hutchinson Barksdale on the death of her
son, David A. Bourne, who passed away on
July 17, 2015.
The class of 1955 celebrated their 60th
Class Reunion on April 17-18, 2015.
Twelve members attended from Florida,
Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and
South Carolina: Emilia Hutchinson
Caroline Love Myers has agreed to serve
on the advisory committee for Beyond Our
Imagination: the Legacy Campaign for Queens.
They are inviting alumni to become members
of the Albright Legacy Society by including
Queens in their estate plans. If you would
like more information, please give Caroline
or Adelaide Anderson Davis ’61 a call.
Adelaide’s number is 704-337-2329.
1956 60th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Sylvia Stuart Gordon and her husband,
John, are still involved in the arts. Both show
their work. John is a photographer, and she is
an oil painter and pastelist. They are still in
their same house in Raleigh after 50 years.
Sylvia continues to be proud of the forward
movement of her alma mater.
The class expresses sympathy to Beth
Lowdermilk Whitfield on the death of
her mother, Helen Lowdermilk Hall, who
passed away on June 24, 2015.
1957
In August 2015, Evelyn Copelan Edwards,
Susanne Branch McCaskill, Sarah-Ann
Smith, Sara Bee Craig Johnson, Betty
Murchison Brown, Jean Fleming Reynolds,
Merrill Jennings Wood, Evelyn Christopher
Fooshe, SuBette Shelby Strand, Mary Miller
CLASS NOTES
Brueggemann and Joyce Alexander Sandler
enjoyed another mini-reunion in Montreat,
N.C. Everyone enjoyed reminiscing, discussing
favorite books, sharing meals and talking to
Lindsay Marshall Green by phone.
The class expresses sympathy to Anna
McAlpin Fesperman upon the death of her
brother, Ken McAlpin, in Blackshear, Ga.,
on August 22, 2015.
1958
Eleanor Ballenger Richardson is living the
quiet life in beautiful Oconee County with
grandchildren, children, friends and pets.
The class expresses sympathy to Sophie
Leventis Trakas on the death of her
husband, Perry N. Trakas, who passed away
on July 11, 2015. Perry was the father of
Maria Barry Trakas ’92 and grandfather of
Anna Trakas ’14.
1959
The class expresses sympathy to Mabel Baird
Morris of Shelby, N.C., on the death of her
sister, Martha Blackley, who passed away on
August 18, 2015.
1961 55th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
The class of ’61 reunion committee is having
a great time planning their 55th Reunion,
April 15-16, 2016. Thanks to this group:
Sue Ross, Harriett Sloop, Kit Lyon,
Adelaide Anderson, Kitty Sprinkle, Susan
Brooks, Henri Taylor, Carolyn Rogers,
Ann Vandiver, Gwen Corbett, Lynn
Woodward, Polly Thompson and Agnes
Marks [all maiden names for old times’
sake]. They are so looking forward to ALL
their class returning to this special event.
In September, Sue Ross and Adelaide
Anderson Davis went on the Queens
Alumni and Friends trip to Italy with
Professors Emeriti Jane and Charles Hadley.
They visited Rome, Florence and the
countryside of Tuscany.
Mary Lue Long Finch is a retired
elementary special ed teacher. She recently
joined the Columbia Daughters of the
American Revolution and the Philanthropic
Educational Organization. She has been
singing in the church choir for many years.
She and her husband love to travel and have
two trips planned for the summer.
The class of ’61 is proud to have seven
named, endowed scholarships at Queens.
A picture of five classmates who attended
the Scholars Luncheon was included in last
fall’s Impact Report: Gwen Corbett Fox,
Sue Fields Ross, Susan Brooks Kirkland,
Ann Vandiver O’Quinn, and Adelaide
Anderson Davis. Judy Cochrane GilmanHines and Lou Finch Jones also have
endowed scholarships.
1963
Brenda Carpenter Boozer, Kathleen
Berry Read ’66, and Carol Larson Gant
got together with their retired Presbyterian
minister spouses about six times during the
last year to eat, fellowship and have a session
of prayer. They visited Montreat and other
various historical sites. In September, they
visited the new Fountain Park in downtown
Rock Hill and celebrated Sanders’ birthday.
In May, Harriette McMichael Majoros
and husband Bill returned to Ireland for the
third time for a three-week trip. They were
joined by daughter Rebecca Majoros ’02,
who flew to London for a week and then
toured Ireland with her parents. Among the
highlights were Malin Head, the highest
WINTER 2016
(Left to right) Harriette McMichael Majoros ’63 and her daughter, Rebecca Majoros ’02, visited the windy Cliffs of Mohr,
Ireland, during a May 2015 trip.
27
CLASS NOTES
Sandra Cash Jones’ ’65 grandsons
smile for the camera at their home
in Illinois in August 2015. Luke is
on the left, and Jack is on the right.
Fran Milton Patterson ’64 and her husband Tom celebrated their 43rd
anniversary at Anthony’s in Atlanta, Ga., on July 20, 2013.
sand dunes in Europe, to look for arctic
rocks; the Cliffs of Mohr; worshiping in
Limerick’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, which has
been a place of worship since 1128; and
visiting the Hunt Museum where a Gauguin
and Renoir reside in drawers. Harriette and
Rebecca walked through the Dark Hedges—
Rebecca was the fourth generation on her
maternal grandfather’s side to do so.
The class expresses sympathy to Roseanne
Eubanks O’Rear and Frances Eubanks
’67 on the death of beloved husband and
brother-in-law, Patrick O’Rear, who passed
away on April 23, 2015.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
1964
28
It’s been an interesting summer for Nancy
Clotfelter Hildreth. A neighbor’s tree fell on
the house and crushed her car. She went to
Maryland to get a new one and drove back to
Georgia staying with Queens friends Nancy
Adams Clark and Jane Beckett Bradley
along the way. Nancy just returned from Tybee
Island where she visited Linda Thigpen Van
Huss ’65. She always tells Linda that she is
not leaving! She was invited to the 1965 class
reunion and loved being there.
Fran Milton Patterson shares that the older
she gets, the more she realizes how much
she loved Queens and valued her four years
there.
The class expresses sympathy to Louise
Blackwelder Sanford on the death of her
husband, Claude Sanford, who passed away
on April 13, 2015.
1965
Margaret Walters Miyake expresses
thanks to Queens who called to see if
was coming to the reunion. In lieu of
appearance, she made a donation to the
from the Class of 1965.
her
she
her
gift
Sandra Cash Jones continues to work in
residential real estate in beautiful Winter
Park and the Orlando area. Her mom, now
98, enjoys a good quality of life and charms
those who know her. Sandra’s greatest joy
comes from her daughter, Jaime, and Jaime’s
husband, Scott, and her two grandsons,
Luke and Jack. All were sad in September
when Jaime lost Britney, her sweet dog of
14 years. God’s blessings and good health
to all!
1966 50th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
The class expresses sympathy to Sue Barker
McCarter and Katherine Barker Sims
’69 on the death of their mother, Maujer
Moseley Barker ’41, who passed away on
April 22, 2015, and their aunt, Elsie “Tet”
Moseley Henley ’43, who passed away on
May 26, 2015.
The class expresses sympathy to Grace
Anderson Nichols on the death of her
brother, Tom Anderson, who passed away as
the result of a brain tumor on June 23, 2015.
The class expresses sympathy to Nancy
Dorrier on the death of her grandson, Eli
Hickson, who passed away on March 9,
2015. Eli is the son of Alice-Lyle Hazel
Hickson ’94.
1967
Keith McKenna Pension was awarded the
Gesu Spirit Medal on May 7, 2015. The
medal is given to an individual who has
shown extraordinary commitment to the
Gesu School, a private nonprofit school for
inner-city children in Philadelphia.
CLASS NOTES
Connie Gill Rogers is excited to announce
that after waiting for more than four years,
Al’s and her house in Vermont has sold,
and they are heading to live in Charlotte.
They planned to arrive mid-October to find
and settle into a property quickly. Both are
looking forward to doing volunteer work at
Queens and exploring the wonderful city
that has just blossomed since she lived there.
With a great airport close by, they can see
their family so much more easily than they
were able to in Vermont. Whoopee—lots to
look forward to!
1968
After 25 years in Chapel Hill, Kay Burgess
and her family moved to a small town
outside of Asheville. They have been there
for 15 years, with their adult children joining
them five years ago. She now has three
grandchildren with another on the way in
November 2015. Having family so close has
been a dream come true.
Susan Jones McNeely’s son passed away
unexpectedly on April 11, 2015. He was 43
years of age.
Sidney Walker Pease and husband Norman,
along with Janie Hamilton Radcliffe and
Mary Jane Reynolds Brown, dropped by
Queens to tour the Levine Center and to
visit friends on campus on a Thursday in June
(see p. 31).
(Left to right) Marion Boozer, Kathleen Berry Read ’66, Sanders Read, Brenda
Carpenter Boozer ’63, Bob Gant and Carol Larson Gant ’63 enjoyed quality
time together at Fountain Park in Rock Hill, S.C., this past summer.
being born on New Year’s Eve. Sage has a
2-year-old sister, River. On August 15th,
Anne-Lynn’s oldest daughter, Raegan,
married Kevin Prior at the Rancho Valencia
Resort in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. She and
Steve continue to enjoy their Goldwing
Motorcycle and ride every weekend (weather
permitting) with chapter members.
The class expresses sympathy to Chris
Sprenkle Jones on the death of her
husband, Bill Jones, who passed away on
May 27, 2015.
Janie Hamilton Radcliffe had the
opportunity to visit Queens’ campus this
past spring and was so impressed by the
The year started off with Anne-Lynn
Stahl Teal’s second granddaughter, Sage,
(Left to right) Gene Burton ’66, Dr. Chris Allegretti, Professor Ruth Stephenson,
Lindsay Tice ’05, Dr. Joyce Hayes Shealy and Dr. Cherie Clark celebrated Dr.
Shealy’s birthday last winter in Winston-Salem, N.C.
WINTER 2016
Nancy Day Rodger and her husband, Don,
rented a cabin on the lake at Highland
Lakes, N. J., for a month this past summer.
Both of their parents had summer cottages
there in the ’50s and ’60s; Nancy and Don
met there as teenagers. After 40+ years
apart and raising separate families, they
reconnected in 2002 after attending a lake
reunion. They married in 2010. While at
the lake this summer, they had a surprise
encounter with a 450-pound black bear,
who fortunately was more interested in
the garbage than them. On the drive from
Florida, they stopped in Charlotte and
spent a few hours looking at the Queens
campus. How lovely it still is.
29
ALUMNI PROFILE
Harry Berkowitz (left) and Donna Dean ’73 in 2010 when they visited Queens to attend the annual Royal Society
Dinner.
Making a Way for Future Students
THE HARRY BERKOWITZ AND DONNA DEAN ’73 ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
QUEENS MAGAZINE
D
30
onna Dean graduated near
the top of her class in 1973,
leaving Queens for the next
chapter in life with plenty of good
friends and memories. She thrived
on campus as a Dana Scholar and
English literature major. As president
of the Day Student Council and a
member of the Student Government
Association, she became known
among her classmates for leadership
and service.
She couldn’t have known then
how her deep affection for her alma
mater would inspire her involvement
in the years to come. Her legacy has
been established throughout campus
in meaningful ways, and in 2013
she was presented with the Alumni
Service Award. “I don’t think that
in all my years at Queens I’ve ever
asked Donna to serve in a role that
she has turned down,” says Adelaide
Anderson Davis ’61, associate
vice president of alumni relations
and planned giving. Donna’s roles
have been numerous: member and
president of the Alumni Association
Board, a 14-year trustee and a
gracious hostess for Queens’ alumni
events in New York. She has managed
Queens’ endowment as chair of the
investment committee, sharing the
business acumen she’s gained as an
investment officer for Yale University
and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Donna’s longtime partner Harry
Berkowitz knew well of her love for
her alma mater; in appreciation, he
made a bequest to Queens in her
honor. When Harry passed away in
2014, Donna in turn wanted to honor
his memory in a way that would reflect
his passion for life and consideration
of others. Harry applied the same
enthusiasm and talent that brought
him success in a 30-year career as a
retail executive with Neiman Marcus,
Saks Fifth Avenue and the Zale
Corporation in his involvement with
Princeton, his alma mater. Harry
founded the Princeton Alumni Corps,
created to connect recent graduates
with internship opportunities at
Connecticut nonprofit organizations.
Harry’s friends have described him
as inquisitive and insightful, with a
genuine interest in others.
She honored him in 2015 by
adding to his bequest, creating the
Harry Berkowitz and Donna Dean
Endowed Scholarship, an award
based on financial need. “It makes
me happy to know that our names
are linked in perpetuity with the
goal of helping to provide a Queens
education for deserving students,”
Donna says. The scholarship will
assist students in their educational
pursuits for years to come.
—Laura Sutton
CLASS NOTES
new Levine athletic facility. Also, after
playing golf for 20+ years, she made her
first hole-in-one this summer. She will be
in Pawleys Island with some of her Queens
friends this fall.
The class expresses sympathy to Imogene
Hill Covington on the death of her husband,
Howard W. “Champ” Covington Jr., who
passed away on March 21, 2015.
1969
Billie Dismer and Mike Baldauf got
married on June 27, 2015, at the Meriwether
Springs Vineyard in Charlottesville. Bobby
Vagt, husband of Ruth Ann Maxwell
Vagt, officiated the ceremony. Carolyn
Williams Bricklemyer and her husband,
Keith, were there to witness the event.
The couple honeymooned in Bermuda
and almost stayed there, but they are back
in Charlottesville (sort of retired but not
really). They hope anyone in the area will
stop by and see them.
The class expresses sympathy to Mary
McMillan Horton on the death of her mother,
Ella Kerbow McMillan, who passed away on
September 8, 2015. Ella was the mother-inlaw of Shelly Spears McMillan ’73.
In May 2014, Becky Bovell, former tourism
director of Florida’s Charlotte Harbor
Visitor & Convention Bureau, was inducted
into the Charlotte County Tourism Hall
of Fame. The Hall of Fame was created to
honor people whose body of work in tourism
has been exceptional and diverse. Becky’s
career includes service in the U.S. Senate
and the White House. She provided tourism
leadership for 25 years, including 16 years as
deputy director of tourism for the State of
Rhode Island.
Mary Ann Pittman Gregory, Sally Bates
Griffith and Helen Buchanan Stone got
together in Greensboro, N.C., towards the
end of November 2014. They had a great visit.
Paxon McLean Holz got re-certified for
scuba diving with her daughter. They dove
together in St. Croix and the Cayman
Islands. Don’t be old farts, girls!
Heather also serves as a lecturer in the art and
design department and the coordinator of the
Historic Preservation Certificate program at
Salem College in Winston-Salem.
Emily Harris Fearnbach’s daughter,
Heather Fearnbach, authored WinstonSalem’s Architectural Heritage, published in
May 2015. The book is the culmination of
an eight-year survey and research project
financed by the State Historic Preservation
Office and the City of Winston-Salem.
The class expresses sympathy to Katherine
Barker Sims and Sue Barker McCarter
’66 on the death of their mother, Maujer
Moseley Barker ’41, who passed away on
April 22, 2015, and their aunt, Elsie “Tet”
Moseley Henley ’43, who passed away on
May 26, 2015.
WINTER 2016
Virginia McLeod Bales and husband Steve
welcomed granddaughter, Nora Kathleen
Bales, on December 16, 2014. She and her
parents, Jason and Maureen Bales, live in
Durham, N.C.
(Left to right) Sidney Walker Pease ’68, her husband Norman, Janie Hamilton
Radcliffe ’68 and Mary Jane Reynolds Brown ’68 posing in front of Rex after
their June 2015 tour of the Levine Center.
31
CLASS NOTES
1970
Margaret Hackett Murphy found out in
May that she had to replace both shoulders,
having lost the cartilage between the ball
and socket in a mere 17 months. Therefore,
she retired October 18. She also has a few
other surgeries of lesser note to do, too. In
due course, Margaret believes she will be an
overhauled woman!
1971 45th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Dottie Huneycutt Burnside is expecting
her first granddaughter in September.
Morgan Roberts ’13 married Kevin Jordan
on November 1, 2014. Kevin is the son of
Ammie Lee Jordan.
The class expresses sympathy to Karen
Conway Stark on the death of her son, Will
Ross, who passed away on March 9, 2015.
Ann Webb Stretch is a first-time grandma.
Lucille (Lucy) Ann Stretch was born on
December 20, 2014, to son Charlie Stretch
and his wife Jen. Charlie is a major in the
United States Air Force. Ann’s younger son,
James, is a political organizer/campaign
manager. Ann enjoys traveling to visit family
and friends and has upcoming trips to places
she has always wanted to see—Albuquerque
and Cuba. At home in Arlington, Va., Ann
volunteers as a patient companion at VA
Hospital Center in the chaplain’s office, a
volunteer job inspired by the death of her
mother in September 2014.
mother-in-law, Ella Kerbow McMillan,
who passed away on September 8, 2015. Ella
was also the mother of Mary McMillan
Horton ’69.
The class expresses sympathy to Azu
Ocampos Jorgensen on the death of her
husband, Carl Jorgensen, who passed away
on October 9, 2014.
The class expresses sympathy to Nancy
Townsend Barr on the death of her father,
David D. Townsend, who passed away on
June 15, 2015.
1972
Eleanor “Bunny” Huske Alexander and her
husband are enjoying living in Indianapolis
where he is a Presbyterian minister and she is
a pastoral counselor. They have three grown
children and a 10-month- old granddaughter.
Bunny enjoys getting together with Ann
Hinson and Myrta Pulliam ’69.
The class expresses sympathy to Janice
Arnold Higginbotham and Joan Arnold
Hearn ’78 on the death of their father,
McAlpin Arnold, who passed away in April.
1973
The class expresses sympathy to Shelly
Spears McMillan on the death of her
1975
Though Jana Johnson Fine missed her
reunion this past April, she is happy that
her classmates had a wonderful time. She
has fond memories of her years at Queens,
which provided her with a wonderful start in
life and her career. Jana sends her best wishes
to all.
1976 40th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
1977
John and Donna Volney Michaux’s
children have created a “house divided”
for them. Their oldest son, John Macon,
attends E.C.U. as a sophomore majoring
in logistics, while daughter Savanna, who
graduated from the N.C. School of Science
QUEENS MAGAZINE
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CLASS NOTES
1983
Carolyn York Bennett is traveling to Italy
in April to celebrate her 30th wedding
anniversary to John Bennett.
1984
The class expresses sympathy to Lori Brown
Ellsworth on the death of her mother-inlaw, Betty Ellsworth, on June 28, 2015.
Allison Gilbert Holmes’ sons are juniors in
high school, and both run cross country. The
family is gearing up for college tours. Allison
has been a wine sales rep for several years and
specifically sells South African wines. She is
having a fun time with it!
Carolyn Jenkins Carter ’87 visited Mississippi State with her sons Brennan
(center) and Grant (right) in May 2015 for Brennan’s commissioning as a
second lieutenant in the Army National Guard Reserves.
and Mathematics in Durham, N.C., began
her freshman year at U.N.C. Chapel Hill
this fall. John and Donna have just returned
from fulfilling Donna’s 33-year-old dream
of swimming with whale sharks, the largest
fish on Planet Earth, in international waters
off of Cancun, Mexico. They explored the
jungles, rain forests and caves in Belize
and dove on the second largest reefs in the
world. Donna is currently an elementary
PE teacher; she received a national grant
enabling her to meet President Obama
this fall. She is also the “Turtle Lady” on
Oak Island, working with loggerhead sea
turtles during the summer to ensure that
hatchlings have a safe passage to the ocean.
1979
Ellen Clark visited Juliet Fleming
Ingegneri and her family for the graduation
of Juliet’s daughter, Rachael, from the
College of Charleston in May 2015. It was
a fun weekend!
abroad in Germany. As always, she enjoys
seeing and hearing from Queens friends!
The class expresses sympathy to Kalaina
Flagg Schmidt on the death of her husband,
Dan, who passed away last summer.
Rita Mabes has enjoyed playing the organ
at Blair Road United Methodist Church in
Mint Hill and teaching piano at Charlotte
Academy of Music. She still lives in
Matthews with her husband, Tim. They
celebrated their 30th anniversary in April!
Daughter Christine lives in Richmond, Va.,
and her son, Alex, is finishing up college in
Charlotte. Rita’s father, D.R. Stone, former
Charlotte police chief, passed away two
years ago.
Cynthia Spraker Mills enjoyed a number
of milestones in 2015 with the birth of a
third great-granddaughter, the marriages
of a granddaughter and a goddaughter, the
rebranding of The Leaders’ Haven (www.
theleadershaven.com) and the launch of
her first book. The Empty Front Porch: Soul
Sittin’ to Design Your Porch to Porch Plan was
written as a gift to share with those desiring
to understand their place in the world and
their relationship to a loving Creator.
Carol Troutman Wiggins was one of the
music composers for the newest children’s
educational curriculum publication, Preschool
Music Lessons, by The Fun Music Co. in
Adelaide, South Australia. It consists of a
book of 20 lesson plans for preschool music
teachers and a five-CD set of the song
performances, backing tracks and data. In
July 2015, Carol signed a two-year contract
with the company to compose children’s
songs and create lesson plans for Platinum
Preschool Lesson Plans program, an
international monthly subscription program
for music teachers.
1985
1981 35th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Susan Wilkinson Woerner is happily
married, retired and traveling. Her daughters
are 22 and 20 years old. She is happy to be
a Queens graduate along with her uncle,
Coit Auten ’48, one of the first males—if
not THE first—to attend and graduate from
Queens. Also a graduate was Susan’s piano
teacher, Arlene Alexander. Go Queens!
The class expresses sympathy to Ann Daniels
Bryant, Merrill Gowdy ’88, Laura-Leigh
Gardner Mohr ’94 and Leslie Daniels ’95
on the death of beloved mother, mother-inlaw, and grandmother, Carol Ethridge, who
passed away on June 22, 2015.
WINTER 2016
1980
Peggy Davis Marshall lives in Charlotte
with her two precious dogs, Lucky and Cody.
One is a pug mix, and the other is a cocker
mix. Her daughter, Margaret Gracie, lives in
Charlotte while her son, Hunter, is studying
The class expresses sympathy to Tova
Gunter on the death of her mother, Diane
Gunter, who passed away on August 1, 2015.
33
CLASS NOTES
1986 30th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016 1990
The class expresses sympathy to Jeanne
Barringer Adams on the death of her
mother, Jo Ann Barringer, who passed away
on May 25, 2015.
1987
Carolyn Jenkins Carter’s
firstborn,
Brennan, graduated from Mississippi State
on May 9, 2015. He was then commissioned
as a second lieutenant in the Army National
Guard Reserves on May 15th. He proposed
to his girlfriend a few weeks later, and a June
2016 wedding is planned. Carolyn is thrilled!
Her second born, Grant, will graduate
from Mississippi State in May 2016 with a
degree in accounting and then plans to go
to graduate school. She is a proud momma.
1988
Katja Reed Lackey attended her German
exchange students’ high school graduation
in Frielassing, Germany, in late June. After
the celebrations, she hopped on a train
to Switzerland to see her old roommate,
Suzanne Manzer Muskin, in Concise,
Switzerland. They ran through the local
vineyards, swam in the lake, and spent the
day in Vyoire, France. They plan to race the
Sierre-Zinal 31K next August.
Clare McClure Mooneyhan lives in
Mountain Rest, S.C., with her husband, Jeff,
and two boys, Clay, 14, and Renshaw, 6. She
is an art teacher at an elementary school.
They like to go camping in their Volkswagen
bus, and she still loves to go see live music
when she can. She also makes tie dyes as a
summer job.
1991 25th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Paige “Duffy” Lewis got a new job as an
adjunct professor of history at The Citadel in
Charleston, SC.
1992
Jennifer Garner has been living in the United
Kingdom long enough that Her Majesty
has granted her U.K. citizenship. Jennifer
continues to enjoy her job as development
director at Trinity College Cambridge, and
recent travels have taken her to Copenhagen,
the Amalfi Coast and Venice. She also went
sky diving for her 45th birthday.
At home in Cambridge, England,
Jennifer Garner ’92 displays her
excitement over her May 2015 U.K.
citizenship.
The class expresses sympathy to Maria Barry
Trakas on the death of her father, Perry N.
Trakas, who passed away on July 11, 2015.
Perry was also the husband of Sophie
Leventis Trakas ’58 and grandfather of
Anna Trakas ’14.
The class expresses sympathy to Merrill
Gowdy, Ann Daniels Bryant ’85, LauraLeigh Gardner Mohr ’94, and Leslie
Daniels ’95 on the death of beloved mother,
mother-in-law, and grandmother, Carol
Ethridge, who passed away on June 22, 2015.
1989
QUEENS MAGAZINE
The class expresses sympathy to Donna
Caldwell Kerns on the death of her father,
Donald Caldwell, who passed away on
August 12, 2015.
34
The class expresses sympathy to Robin
Boggs and Karen Boggs Perrin ’93 on the
death of their mother, Carol Boggs, a former
sociology professor at Queens, who passed
away on March 8, 2015.
(Left to right) Former Queens roommates Katja Reed Lackey ’88 and Suzanne
Manzer Muskin ’88 met in Switzerland for a reunion this past summer.
ALUMNI PROFILE
Seizing the Day, Every Day
RESTAURATEUR BONNIE WARFORD ’85 PAVED HER OWN WAY—AND ENCOURAGES OTHERS TO
DO THE SAME
W
Photo by Deborah Triplett Photography
Carpe Diem, the restaurant Bonnie Warford ’85 owns with her sister, is
a Charlotte institution. The Art Nouveau interior is rich with mahogany
and copper details, providing an elegant setting for delicious fare. The
restaurant has made Zagat’s America’s Top Restaurants list every year
since 2005.
been real estate speculators,” she
laughs.
In 2014, the duo opened Earl’s
Grocery down the street, a casual
eatery and bodega named for their
father. It offers everything from
cheese and charcuterie to prepared
foods, a coffee bar, and freshsqueezed juices. “We can be more
playful at Earl’s,” she says.
The restaurateur has a message
for other would-be entrepreneurs at
Queens: make it happen. Seize the
day. “I still believe that Charlotte has
so much opportunity,” she says. “As
an entrepreneur, if you’re thinking
about something you want and you
can’t get it, then you ought to open
it. It’s like, ‘What do I want that I
can’t get? And how can I make that
happen?’ You can be very creative
here.”
—Aleigh Acerni
WINTER 2016
hen most people face a
watershed moment in
their lives—like choosing
what college to attend, for example—
they take their time coming to a
decision, carefully
deliberating,
weighing the pros and cons, and
ultimately making a choice that feels
grounded and thoughtful.
Bonnie Warford isn’t most
people.
It’s not that she isn’t thoughtful
or deliberate. It’s just that Bonnie—
who co-owns and operates Carpe
Diem and Earl’s Grocery, both on
Elizabeth Avenue in Charlotte—is
refreshingly straightforward, with
a spirited decisiveness that proves
she just really doesn’t need all that
pesky deliberation. Paired with
an approachable manner and a
lighthearted attitude, she instantly
conveys the special conviction that
has contributed to her success as an
entrepreneur.
And, it seems, she’s always
been this way. “I studied business
at Queens,” she says. “And I always
knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur.”
Further proof: The Miami
native chose Queens sight unseen.
Before she arrived as a freshman in
1981, she’d never set foot in North
Carolina, let alone in Charlotte or on
the Queens campus. “I just wanted
to be in a completely different place
[than Miami],” she says. “I applied to
two places, and one of them was just
to make my mom happy.”
Carpe Diem, the veritable
institution on Elizabeth Avenue
that Bonnie owns with her sister,
Tricia Maddrey, celebrated its 25th
anniversary last year. The restaurant
has survived the kind of challenges
that would cause plenty of business
owners to pack it in—including being
forced to move twice—but Bonnie
shrugs it off. “[Tricia and I] should’ve
35
CLASS NOTES
1993
Angela Rushton works for Lockheed
Martin Aeronautics Company as associate
general counsel for labor, employment and
compliance. She spends much of her free
time on the soccer field as the proud “soccer
mom” of four children: Sarah, 15; Emily, 13;
Mary Katherine, 8; and Jack, 6, who all play
soccer for Furman United Soccer Club in
Greenville, S.C.
The class expresses sympathy to Abigail
Obermiller on the death of her father,
Harold Obermiller, who passed away on
January 28, 2015.
Melissa Cliett Levesque was the sole featured
artist for the month of October at the Saul
Alexander Gallery in downtown Charleston,
S.C. Her monochromatic photographic
series, Lowcountry Landscapes: Travels Along
Highway 17 was displayed. This series was
featured in South x Southeast photomagazine
March-April 2015 and One Twenty-Five
Magazine August-September 2015.
The class expresses sympathy to Karen
Boggs Perrin and Robin Boggs ’89 on the
death of their mother, Carol Boggs, a former
sociology professor at Queens, who passed
away on March 8, 2015.
1994
Brandy Rowell and Laura Beth Boyd were
happy to announce their engagement on
November 20, 2014, in Paris, France. They
currently reside in New York City and coown Rue Boudoir Photography Studio.
Brandy continues to perform stand-up
comedy, and the effervescent couple plan on
getting married May 20, 2017.
The class expresses sympathy to Alice-Lyle
Hickson on the death of her son, Eli Hickson,
who passed away on March 9, 2015. Eli is the
grandson of Nancy Dorrier ’66.
The class expresses sympathy to LauraLeigh Gardner Mohr, Ann Daniels Bryant
’85, Merrill Gowdy ’88 and Leslie Daniels
’95 on the death of beloved mother, motherin-law, and grandmother, Carol Ethridge,
who passed away on June 22, 2015.
1995
The class expresses sympathy to Leslie
Daniels, Ann Daniels Bryant ’85, Merrill
SAVE THE DATES
ALUMNI & FRIENDS EVENTS:
Charlotte, January 21
New York City, January 28
See queens.edu/alumni-events for details
QUEENS MAGAZINE
HOMECOMING AND
ROYALS ATHLETICS
HALL OF FAME INDUCTION:
36
February 12 – 13
Learn more and register at
queens.edu/homecoming
REUNION:
April 15 – 16
Learn more and register at
queens.edu/reunion
Gowdy ’88 and Laura-Leigh Gardner
Mohr ’94 on the death of beloved mother,
mother-in-law, and grandmother, Carol
Ethridge, who passed away on June 22, 2015.
1996 20th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Roger Wilson and his wife of 10 years, Seng,
welcomed John Andrew Wilson into the
world in February 2015. The family, including
son Henry, 4, resides in Spartanburg, S.C.,
where both Roger and Seng enjoy careers as
nurse anesthetists.
1997
Emily Hanson Scofield had her first book
published, CoCo & Dean: Explorers of the World.
It fills a void in the children’s environmental
genre as it raises awareness of global issues
through the realistic and engaging adventures
of siblings CoCo and Dean. The book is
available from Emily, Warrenpublishing.net,
Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is ideal for
children through middle school age, teachers
and Scout leaders.
1998
Eida and Wayne Smith celebrated their
CLASS NOTES
Joyce Godfrey ’98 has moved from
Asheville, N.C., to Harrisburg, Pa.,
where she works at Penn State
Hershey Medical Center. Enjoying
life as a new grandmother, she’s
pictured here in spring of 2015
with her grandson, Andrew, in
Newtown, Pa.
Wayne Smith ’98 and his wife, Eida, watch over daughter Amelia Norah during
her Aqiqah ceremony in Penang, Malaysia, on July 21, 2015.
daughter Amelia Norah at her Aqiqah
ceremony in Penang, Malaysia, on July 21,
2015. Amelia was born December 3, 2014, in
London, England.
the racquetball courts or at the D.C. branch
of the Trapeze School of New York.
2000
Janice Gabriel is currently teaching theater
and English at Newtown High School in
Sandy Hook, Conn. She loves her job, and
it takes up most of her time, but she still
manages to sneak in a few shows of her own.
She hopes to travel to Greece and Italy next
summer.
Elizabeth Hunter Persson, husband
Klas and their son Ellis were overjoyed to
welcome a baby girl, Sofia Rose, to the family
on April 6, 2015.
2001 15th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
2003
Shawn Bowers Buxton continues to teach
in the English and general education
departments at Queens. Her work on
sketchnoting (a form of visual notetaking)
was featured in the Charlotte Observer and
Raleigh’s News & Observer. Her twin boys
are also keeping her busy.
Erin Walsh Mandell has enhanced her
communications skills further with a
certification to teach meditation from
Deepak Chopra’s Center for Well Being in
San Diego, Calif. For individual or group
instruction in using meditation to reduce
stress, enhance communications and bring
more peace and joy into life, contact Erin.
2002
2004
Dustin Benedict has been working as a
contractor on behalf of the U.S. Government
in Afghanistan for the last several years.
He’s held various communications and PR
positions within the aid sector, including
civilian assistance, civil society and ministry
training programs. He is currently leading
Kelly Thomas Schleicher and her husband,
CW2 Phillip Schleicher, are currently
stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., with their
two children, Ethan, 8, and Kenlee, 4.
Chief Schleicher returned from his fourth
deployment in February 2015. Kelly is
currently serving as the second vice president
of Fort Riley Protestant Women of the
Chapel and as treasurer for the 1st Engineer
Battalion, Delta Company Family Readiness
Group.
2005
Sarah Donnelly, daughter of Julie
Hancock Donnelly ’74, and Sylvain Le
Net were wed in St-Brieuc, France on July
19, 2014, and in Raleigh, N.C., August 23,
2014. Bridesmaid Kristin Garber ’04 was
in attendance at both weddings. Megan
Burns Argabrite and Eric Argabrite
attended in Raleigh. The bride and groom
recently bought an apartment in Paris, and
had a visit from her Queens professors Dr.
Diane Mowrey and Dr. Eric Lien!
WINTER 2016
Misha Heard is still living it up in the
nation’s capital and loving every minute of
it. She recently took a new position at Naval
Sea Systems Command, moving away from
lifecycle work for amphibious warfare and
into acquisition of special mission ships. In
her free time, she can most likely be found on
a team to develop video, photography
and written content to help highlight the
government’s accomplishments. A recent
highlight was a snowboarding trip in the
northern part of the country.
37
CLASS NOTES
Queens alumni Kristin Reardon-Mattox,
Jackie Parker, Nat Dietrich, Marty
O’Connell, Mel Hinkle and Michael
Stamat II.
Julie Johnson Rediker and her husband
Michael welcomed Camille Fraser Rediker
into the world on Father’s Day, June 21,
2015. Big sister Grace is thrilled with the
new addition.
2007
Outside her home in Austin, Texas,
Jacqueline Harp ’04 enjoys a
spring day in March 2015 with
her daughter, Rose. Jacqueline
is a store manager for outdoor
equipment retailer REI.
Lindsay Tice serves as the regional longterm care ombudsman in Mecklenburg
County with the Area Agency on Aging,
advocating for the rights of residents in
long-term care. Last winter, she and some
other Queens folks made their annual trip to
Winston-Salem to celebrate Dr. Joyce Hayes
Shealy’s birthday.
The class expresses sympathy to Kathy
Browning and former McColl School of
Business Dean Peter Browning on the death
of their daughter, Christina Browning, who
passed away on May 20, 2015.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
2006 10th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
38
Victoria Gonzalez graduated with a master’s
degree in higher education administration
from Vanderbilt University on May 8, 2015.
During her two years in Nashville, Vicki
worked as a research assistant for the Peabody
College of Education and as a special projects
assistant for the Owen Graduate School of
Management Admissions Department. She
is looking forward to her next professional
endeavor and hopes to return to the
Charlotte area someday.
Jenni Nettleton and Claire Rutkauskas
married on July 11, 2015, in Claire’s
hometown of Memphis, Tenn. They were
thrilled to be joined by family, friends and
Alice O’Toole Marleaux and her husband,
Evan Marleaux, are expecting their first child
in March 2016. They’re excited to welcome
this little Royal into the world!
Winston-Salem native Khrystina Morrison
graduated with a doctorate degree in physical
therapy from Florida Agricultural and
Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Fla.,
on May 2, 2015. She plans to complete her
master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling
from Winston-Salem State University,
with future plans to open a comprehensive
rehabilitation center. She was sitting for the
national licensure exam in late July 2015. She
plans to live in North Carolina for two years,
then transition into a traveling physical
therapist.
Katherine Morgan Bryce ’11
married Josh Bryce ’07 on
October 18, 2014, in Clarksville,
Tenn.
2008
Rene Ballowe received a master’s in business
administration from Lynchburg College in
June 2014. Rene was recognized as one of
Central Virginia’s Top 20 under 40 for her
business acumen and community outreach!
Amber McClain-Merrell recently completed
her pediatric residency program and will stay
as a pediatrician in Orlando for the year.
From there she will be going to Salt Lake
City, Utah for her pediatric gastroenterology
fellowship. Amber recently wed Jim Merrell;
fellow Queens cross country alumni
Whitney Dennis and Katie Carman ’09
were there to celebrate!
Jenna Wise received the Master of Arts in
Communication from Queens in August
2015. She attended via the online program
and is thankful for the support and dedication
provided by her cohort and Queens faculty.
It’s all smiles in Fort Riley, Kansas,
on a February day in 2015.
Kelly Schleicher ’04 (right) and
children, Ethan, 8, and Kenlee,
4, welcomed home husband and
dad CW2 Phillip Schleicher from
deployment.
ALUMNI PROFILE
NCAA Dream
AKEEM MISKDEEN ’08 HAD THE GAME OF A LIFETIME LAST MARCH AS ASSOCIATE COACH FOR
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
Akeem Miskdeen ’08 at the Hampton vs. Virginia men’s basketball game
on November 26, 2013.
A
became team captain and won honors
as a two-time Defensive MVP and
All-Tournament Team recipient. In
2008 he graduated with a degree in
communication, which would help
him relate to his players, and he
began pursuing a coaching career.
His dream of participating in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association’s tournament championship was
realized in March 2015. As associate
—Evan Sprinkle ’08
WINTER 2016
keem Miskdeen grew up in
Chicago, where basketball
became his passion while
playing at St. Joseph’s High School
under head coach Gene Pingatore,
the winningest coach in Illinois
high school basketball history. After
a two-year stint at Laramie County
Community College in Cheyenne,
Wyoming, he transferred to Queens
to join the men’s basketball team. He
head coach for Hampton University’s men’s basketball team, Akeem
recruited and prepared the scouting
report on each of the Pirates’ opponents. His attention to detail paid off
for the historically black university
of 4,300 students on Virginia’s southeast coast. Despite a losing record in
the regular season, Hampton captured
the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
tournament championship, earning a
trip to the Big Dance.
Even though the team had
struggled, Akeem remained hopeful.
“I am a positive person and have high
hopes,” he says. “We could’ve had
zero wins going into the conference
tournament, and I would’ve still
believed in our guys. As a lower seed,
we didn’t have any pressure on us.”
Their first round opponent was
Manhattan College, whom they beat
to advance to the second round. “I
was very confident in our ability to
beat Manhattan. I felt it,” he recalls.
His team would eventually succumb
to the Kentucky Wildcats, but
Akeem is proud he had the chance to
coach in an event he revered during
his playing career. “I saved a bag
full of goodies from the tournament
that I will share with my kids and
grandkids in the future. I want them
to know what we accomplished last
year, and how special an experience
coaching in the NCAA tournament
was for me and the rest of our staff.”
Although it was a dream realized,
he and his squad are far from content
with last season’s run. The coaches
are pushing this year’s team with
increased intensity, hoping to make
another trip to March Madness. “We
are already getting up at 5:45 each
morning, trying to get better as a
team.”
39
CLASS NOTES
currently living in Bologna, Italy, for the first
year, to be followed by a year in Washington,
D.C. In addition to her studies, she has been
researching all of the gelato flavors that Italy
has to offer.
2011 5th Reunion - April 15-16, 2016
Holding up the Queens colors in Washington, D.C., (left to right) Dylan
Evans ’16 and Will Riley ’16 celebrate the finish of the Journey of Hope
bike ride in August 2015 with fraternity brothers Hunter Kirstner ’15, Ian
Kowalski ’09, Conner Brown ’15, Matt Mozzo ’11, and Justin Lafreniere ’11.
The cross-country ride is sponsored by Pi Kappa Phi on behalf of people
with disabilities.
2009
Elisabeth Podair celebrated her wedding
to Alex Blum on October 10, 2015, at
the McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte.
Bridesmaids included Keatin McKenzie
’09, Ellie Ramm ’09 and Allison Fiske ’08.
The couple plans to honeymoon over the
holidays in Hong Kong and China.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
Mary Ashley Davino and LaQueita Carter
’13 began teaching at the new Charlotte Lab
40
Morgan Roberts Jordan ’13 and
Kevin Jordan with their dog,
Cami, in Greenville, S.C., in
October 2014.
School this past August. Located in uptown
Charlotte, it is a charter school serving 280
students in kindergarten through fourth
grade. They look forward to being a part of
this innovative, new experience.
Stephanie Phipps is pursuing a master’s
in international relations with a focus
on economics and international law and
organizations from Johns Hopkins School
of Advanced International Studies. She is
Meredith MacLeod has had an exciting
year. She graduated with honors from the
University of Tennessee with a master’s
in social work and a certificate in trauma
treatment. In addition, she welcomed her
first baby, Princeton Chance Jaulin.
2012
The class expresses sympathy to Scott
Marsicano on the death of his grandmother,
Christine Sharp Marsicano, who passed away
on May 26, 2015. She was the mother of
Board of Trustees Chair Michael Marsicano.
2013
Megan Bates began a job with Boosterthon,
an organization that helps schools fundraise
while teaching students fitness, leadership
and character building. Previously, Megan
was a teacher at Eastover Elementary but
was inspired to join Boosterthon after seeing
the impact it made at her school. She looks
forward to this new endeavor.
Sara Parks Hanback ’11 and Clay Hanback ’11 were married on August 15,
2015, in Warrenton, Va. Clay and Sara met at Queens their sophomore year.
They now live in San Antonio, Texas, with their sweet puppy, Maple. Alumni
involved in the celebration included Alex Wesenberg ’11, Travis Speer ’11,
Allison Gaskins ’11, Kayla Gossett ’11, Ashton Dorsett ’11, Amelia Farmer ’12,
Maureen Danaher ’12 and Ryan Stansley ’12.
CLASS NOTES
Eric Klocke will be graduating from St.
Thomas University School of Law in Miami,
Florida, this December. He intends to
pursue a law career in sports, representing
professional athletes.
Alecia Payne got engaged to Brandon Davis.
They will marry in June of 2016.
Morgan Roberts married Kevin Jordan
on November 1, 2015. Kevin is the son of
Ammie Lee Jordan ’71.
2014
Kaitlyn Patterson and Christian Pfuhl met
at a Queens scholarship event in February
2010. They shared their first kiss in the Chi
Omega gazebo and are now planning their
wedding, which will take place on July 30,
2016, at Queens.
Emma Schultz is working towards a master
of science in marine sciences at Savannah
State University. This summer she traveled
to St. Croix to conduct her thesis research
investigating the genetic relatedness,
migration and population dynamics of
green sea turtles. Emma’s research is in
collaboration with The Nature Conservancy
under a research permit from the U.S.
Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife
Endangered Species.
The class expresses sympathy to Anna
Trakas on the death of her grandfather,
Perry N. Trakas, who passed away on July 11,
2015. Perry was also the husband of Sophie
Leventis Trakas ’58 and father of Maria
Barry Trakas ’92.
2015
Since graduating, Rebecca Hankla has
started working at FusionHealth with
patients who have sleep apnea. Her
psychology degree from Queens has given
her great skills in working with these
patients, providing support in a telemedicine
counseling role.
Abby Pettit accepted a position with
MetLife Insurance in Charlotte, N.C., as an
internal sales associate.
Megan Whisnant, a North Carolina
Teaching Fellow, landed her first teaching
job at the elementary school she grew up in,
located in Belmont, N.C. Megan is teaching
second grade and describes it as hard but
rewarding. She strives to prepare her students
to be engaged for learning and to know they
are loved.
Rebecca Howard has committed to one year
of service with AmeriCorps VISTA program
starting November 2015. She will be the
workforce development program manager
Kaitlyn Blakey ’12, Shannon
Casey ’12, Brittany Philip ’12 and
Caitlin O’Rourke ’11 spent a girls’
weekend in Upstate New York
this past summer touring the
wineries, boating on the Finger
Lakes and even attending a
NASCAR race.
of social enterprise for the Madison House
Autism Foundation at Madison Fields in
Maryland. Rebecca is excited to begin her
post-graduate career fulfilling the Queens
motto, “Not to be served, but to serve.”
Artists
Calling All
If so we want to hear about it! A 2016 issue of Queens Magazine will
be devoted to the arts, and we’re collecting story ideas now.
Please share your accomplishments with us by contacting
Queens Vice President Rebecca Anderson, editor@queens.edu.
WINTER 2016
Do you have a great career related
to the performing or fine arts?
41
CLASS NOTES
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
The class expresses sympathy to Katherine
Hannan Paul MED ’91 on the death of her
son, James Alan Paul, Jr., who passed away on
April 27, 2015.
The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation
recently announced the winners and finalists
of the 2015 Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana
Authors Award. Clifford Garstang MFA ’03
has been selected as an Emerging Author
Finalist. The winner receives a $5,000 prize
and the opportunity to select an Indiana
library for a $2,500 grant.
those that have come back to the city
“boomerangs.” As of July 1, 2015, she is the
program administrator for the Oakland
Transportation Management Association.
She manages both programs and construction
projects. She couldn’t be happier about being
back home with her family!
Maggie Brashear MBA ’11 was recently
promoted to associate director at Jones
Lang La Salle. She is a senior manager
with the Americas’ Employee Learning and
Development team.
Susan Rivers MFA ’07 will have her first
novel published by Algonquin Books. The
Second Mrs. Hockaday is scheduled for release
in fall 2016. Rivers is currently at work on
a second novel about life in a Southern
milltown in the early 1900s. She lives in
Cherokee County, S.C.
Elizabeth Mercer McNabb MED ’11
changed careers this past summer. After
teaching second grade at Myers Park
Traditional School for 10 years, Elizabeth
has chosen to join HM Properties as a
broker/Realtor for the Charlotte area. She is
excited about her new adventure.
After graduating, Marilyn Gaston MFA
’08 went on to acquire a second degree in
dance on a full teaching fellowship at the
University of Oklahoma, finishing in 2012.
She now has three books in publication and
a fourth on the way: two novels and one
ballet textbook. Find them on Amazon.
com under M. Z. Gaston and Marilyn Z.
Gaston.
Sharon Findlay MSOD ’12 followed
her entrepreneurial spirit and launched
Momentum Growth, a trauma recovery
program for young women (www.
momentumgrowth.com). Sharon truly feels
like this program embodies the 3 C’s that
the McColl School focused on during her
MSOD studies. Her new program is located
outside of Asheville, N.C. She would love to
say hello to anyone passing through the area.
Patricia Domonkos MSN ’13 recently
moved to the Wake Forest area to be closer
to her grandchildren.
In January of 2015, Jina O’Neill MSOD
’10 returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh,
Pa. In the city of Pittsburgh they call
Mardi Link MFA ’14 was busy
signing books in Lansing, Mich.,
last summer. Her second memoir
(and fifth book), The Drummond
Girls, was published in July 2015
by Hachette’s Grand Central
Publishing. It’s about her best
friends and two decades of trips to
a remote northern Michigan island.
Michael Brantley MFA ’14, a visiting
assistant professor at North Carolina
Wesleyan College, had his first book, Memory
Cards, published in June 2015 by Black Rose
Writing. It is a memoir about growing up in
eastern North Carolina. The book has been
well received, and he’s doing readings and
signings across the state.
Erin Payton MS ’14 had quite the busy
summer. She went to Paris in June and got
engaged to her fiancee, Nate, at the top of
the Eiffel Tower. They married in October
and are moving to Baltimore, where Nate is
getting a Ph.D. from University of Maryland,
Baltimore County.
QUEENS MAGAZINE
In Memory
42
Sarah Keiger Bagley ’39, 4/14/2015.
Julia Miller Alexander ’42, 3/23/2015.
Gloria Leimkuhler Roddey ’43, 4/25/2015.
Nanette Sherard Hamilton ’39, 3/24/2015.
Jeane Rourk Wallace ’42, 6/5/2015.
Carolyn McAllister Moose ’44, 3/10/2015.
Anne Purnell Heath ’39, 8/19/2015.
Becky Patton Wood ’42, 6/23/2015.
Margaret Ballard Cook ’45, 3/14/2015.
Annie Powers Boothby ’40, 5/11/2015.
Sally Hillis Brennison ’43, 5/24/2015.
Kathleen Carter Daniel ’45, 4/9/2015.
Margaret Harrison Austin ’41, 3/23/2015.
Elsie “Tet” Moseley Henley ’43, 5/26/2015.
Ruth Hough Demand ’45, 8/26/2015.
Maujer Moseley Barker ’41, 4/22/2015.
Doris Hunt McInturff ’43, 4/2/2015.
Josephine Wrenn Rice ’45, 8/30/2015.
CLASS NOTES
Betty Clinton Lampke ’46, 4/1/2015.
2015-2016 Alumni Association
Martha Todd Dillard ’48, 3/16/2015.
Board of Directors
Ella Hardee Griffin ’48, 7/28/2015.
Executive Committee
Doris MacDougall Winn ’48, 6/11/2015.
Mary Florence Hilliard Young ’49, 8/29/2015.
Lib Calhoun Brice ’50, 3/25/2015.
Trish Abernethy Edlund ’51, 7/3/2015.
Betty Prosser Tumlin ’51, 4/20/2015.
Sarah McMahan ’52, 6/15/2015.
Carolyn Purcell Barton ’53, 5/4/2015.
Jeanne West Foster ’53, 4/17/2015.
Davy-Jo Stribling Ridge ’54, 5/11/2015.
Kathryn Myers Carpenter ’55, 3/27/2015.
Dianne Chipley Cushman ’56, 5/29/2015.
Doris King Jacobs ’56, 4/19/2015.
Patricia McDaniel Daugherty ’61, 7/26/2015.
Frances Jerman Reed ’61, 8/29/2015.
Susan McConnell ’83 MS ’13, President
Patti Gammage Wells ’83, Secretary
Michelle Holl Manha ’94, Chair, Signature Events Committee
Staci Benson McBride ’92, Chair, Alumni Engagement & Outreach Committee
Dee Gaffney Malone ’71, Chair, Development Committee
Members-at-Large
Pablo Carvajal ’09
Phyllis Acree Mahoney ’76
Nick Cheek ’01
Martha Woods Mallory ’62
Scott Clemente ’06
Alice O’Toole Marleaux ’07
Phyllis Merry Crowell ’60
Jenny Matz ’99 MA ’10
Steve Gonzalez ’09
Cathy Mitchell ’90
Betty Cobb Gurnell ’69
Erin Pitts ’98
Monica Thomas Hamilton ’93
Jane Hughes Redding ’84
Gay Henry ’75
Mary Anne Lee Saag ’84
Mary Coker Highsmith ’70
Juwaun Seegars ’04
Jason Holland ’00
Winston Sharpe ’05
Kathryn Keeton ’08
Bryan Stevens ’02
Yogi Leo ’96
Kristin Wade ’90
Shannan Kelley Lentz ’93
Teri Jimison Walker ’69
Christine Wink MacKay ’84
Clay Lewis MBA ’09, Ex-Officio Member
Jeanne Ashley Jones ’62, 5/23/2015.
Beth Rivers Curry ’63, 11/16/2015.
Cornelia Graham Robinson ’64, 4/18/2015.
Mary Ellen Ellis ’66, 5/29/2015.
2016
Meta Willis Frischkorn ’66, 6/15/2015.
Dorothy Corrine Strain ’67, 3/26/2015.
Glenda Brown Shuler ’70, 4/29/2015.
Elizabeth Morrow Arnold ’76, 3/12/2015.
Ettie Minor Luckey ’76, 5/1/2015.
Karen True Tilly ’84, 7/13/2015.
Robin Waitman Fulp ’04, 8/14/2015.
Erin Roberts Bozeman ’11, 4/4/2015.
Lauren Reilly ’13, 3/20/2015.
Griffin Kelton ’17, 5/20/2015.
Classes ending in 1 and 6 will celebrate
milestone Reunions!
Learn more and register at
queens.edu/reunion
WINTER 2016
Brittany Suggett ’08, 7/16/2015.
SAVE THE DATE
April 15 - 16
43
P ARTING THOUGHT
Standing in the crowd to the left, Professor Michael Kobre joins the Bloomsday celebration at Glasnevin Cemetery. A troupe of
actors reenact a scene from James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses.
Bringing the Ghosts to Life
DURING A TOUR OF IRELAND, GREAT WRITERS EMERGE FROM THE PAST
By Michael Kobre
QUEENS MAGAZINE
I
44
was halfway down the stairs in the
narrow Georgian house on Usher’s
Island in Dublin, on that first jetlagged day of our Queens study tour,
when the question hit me: whose hand
had also touched this bannister where
my hand was now? The house itself
had been lived in by the novelist James
Joyce’s aunts over a century before, and
Joyce’s memories of holiday celebrations
there had later inspired his story “The
Dead,” arguably the greatest short
story in the English language. It begins
when “Lily, the caretaker’s daughter [is]
literally run off her feet” as she races up
and down these same stairs to greet the
guests arriving for Christmas dinner.
Joyce himself had surely held on to this
bannister too, and it was impossible not
to feel his presence as I stood in the house
at that moment.
But, then, there were ghosts
everywhere on our tour of Ireland. Our
group of students and faculty had spent a
semester studying the works of Joyce and
the poet William Butler Yeats, and in
June 2015 we’d traveled to Dublin, Sligo
and Galway to see the places that had
shaped and inspired them. So how could
we not feel such presences? We could
hear those ghosts rustling through the
trees above us as we walked the paths of
Coole Park, the estate of Lady Augusta
Gregory, where Yeats retreated often to
write poetry. There, he, Lady Gregory
and others envisioned a revival of Irish
art and culture. We saw such ghosts come
to life in Glasnevin Cemetery, where
Yeats’ great unrequited love Maud Gonne
is buried. We visited on Bloomsday, June
16, the date on which the events of Joyce’s
epic novel Ulysses take place and which is
now an annual celebration of Joyce’s work
and of Irish literature. Fact and fiction
mingled together in front of our eyes as
we stood near the graves of Gonne and
Joyce’s father, watching a troupe of actors
reenact the funeral of the fictitious Paddy
Dignam from the sixth chapter of Ulysses.
Great stories and poems are
often embalmed as “masterpieces”—you
know, the books you should read, those
difficult books by long-dead authors
which are supposed to be good for you
if you can force yourself to finish them.
Consequently, we forget sometimes that
these books were written by real men
and women living and struggling in
specific times and places. Yet nothing
makes the words on their pages feel
more vividly alive than to follow in the
paths of the men and women who wrote
them, whether it’s a love-struck young
man wandering the streets of Dublin
after his first date with a chambermaid
from Finn’s Hotel or a poet meditating
on the bullet holes in the walls of the
General Post Office after the failed
rebellion of Irish Nationalists on Easter
1914. At such moments, in such places,
with their words ringing inside us and
the ground they stood on beneath our
feet, the ghosts always come to life.
Michael Kobre is
Dana Professor
of Literature
and Chair of
the Department
of English and
Creative Writing
at Queens
University
of Charlotte.
His essays and stories have appeared in
Michigan Quarterly Review, Tin House,
TriQuarterly, West Branch, MAKE and
other journals. He’s the author of Walker
Percy’s Voices.
IN GOOD COMPANY
When junior Shelby Suffridge looked under the Horowitz piano during its
visit to the Queens campus, she was startled to see dozens of signatures. The
James Glenn Music Scholar took a Sharpie and added her own, after playing
a Debussy arabesque. “I wanted to see how expressive I could be, how the tone
sounded,” she said. The Raleigh native, who is completing a double major
in music and human service studies, was one of many to play the revered
instrument during its September tour.
The nine-foot Steinway & Sons piano is an international star. It
accompanied Vladimir Horowitz to concerts, lifted by crane from his Manhattan
apartment. Its celebrity status has continued since the concert pianist’s death
in 1989. The current tour marks the anniversary of Horowitz’s late-in-life
triumphant return to Moscow after fleeing as a young man in 1925.
—Laurie Prince
PHOTOGRAPH BY TRICIA COYNE
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