Class notes

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70s

Ellen Belzer (M.P.A. ’76, Bloch School), of Kansas City, Mo., authored the book Skills Training in Communication and Related Topics, Part 1, Dealing with Conflict and Change. The book is the first of a three-part series. Belzer is president of Belzer Seminars and Consulting, LLC.

Bob Carpenter (B.A. ’75, College of Arts and Sciences) of Tulsa, Okla., was named one of Wall Street Journal’s chattiest baseball announcers. Carpenter is currently a television play-by-play announcer for the Washington Nationals.

David F. Duncan (B.A. ’70, College of Arts and Sciences), of Bowling Green, Ky., is president of Duncan & Associates, a consulting firm that provides behavioral and policy study research and data collection advice. Duncan is also a clinical associate professor in the department of community health at Brown University School of Medicine.

Hugh O’Donnell III (J.D. ’73, School of Law), of Kansas City, Mo., was named president of the Collaborative Law Institute of Missouri. CLIM is an association of attorneys who specializes in collaborative family law. O’Donnell has been in private practice for more than 20 years and focuses on mediation and collaborative law, civil, criminal and domestic relation cases.

Thomas A. Holcom (B.B.A. ’72, Bloch School), of Kansas City, Mo., was named Executive of the Year–Financial Services at the seventh annual American Business Awards in June. Holcom is president of Pioneer Financial Services in Kansas City, Mo. He has worked for more than four decades in banking and finance.

Beverly Hurley (B.A. ’79, College of Arts and Sciences), of Raleigh, N.C., is the editor/publisher of Triangle Gardener, a gardening newspaper distributed tin the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill areas of North Carolina.

Karen A. Plax (J.D. ’76, School of Law), of Leawood, Kan., was named dean of the Trial Bar by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. She was also honored as the 2009 Kansas City, Mo., Best Lawyers in America Family Lawyer of the Year.

Nathan Rosen (J.D. ’79, School of Law; B.A. ’77, College of Arts and Sciences) of New York City, N.Y., was named information resource manager for the New York law firm Morrison & Foerster. Most recently, he served 11 years as vice president of Credit Suisee’s legal and compliance department.

80s

Damon Bryant (B.A. ’88, College of Arts and Sciences), of Kansas City, Mo., received a Mid-America Emmy nomination in the Advanced Media-Interactivity category. Bryant is vice president of creative services at WDAF-TV Fox 4 in Kansas City, Mo., and is also president of the UMKC Alumni Association.

Timothy M. Buie (M.D. ’84, School of Medicine), of West Roxbury, Mass., was one of six individuals named Professional of the Year by the Autism Society of America. Buie is a pediatric gastroenterologist at the Mass General Hospital for Children and a pediatrics instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Susan Fertig-Dykes (B.A. ’82, College of Arts and Sciences), of Washington, D.C., completed her master of public administration degree at Norwich University in Vermont. Fertig-Dykes is currently communications director for The Fall Church in Anglican, Va. She retired from the U.S. Agency for International Development in January after six years as a team leader.

Marianne M. Hill (J.D. ’86, School of Law), of Liberty, Mo., joined the Kansas City law firm of Armstrong Teasdale LLP as a contract attorney in the business litigation practice group.

Karen King Mitchell (J.D. ’84, School of Law), of Columbia, Mo., was named director of the Missouri Department of Revenue. Previously, Mitchell worked nearly 20 years in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

Susanne Mitko (B.A. ’85, College of Arts and Sciences), of Kansas City, Mo., was named the 2009 Missouri Teacher Year, as well as the Teacher of the Year for the Lee’s Summit (Mo.) R-7 School District. She also won the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Teaching Award last spring. Mitko is a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Bernard Campbell Middle School.

Gay Tedder (J.D. ’86, School of Law), of Kansas City, Mo., was elected to serve a one year term as treasurer by the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers. She previously served on the MODL’s Board of Directors. A partner with Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, Tedder practices primarily in agribusiness and food safety and product liability litigation.

90s

Matthew J. Beem (M.P.A. ’95, Bloch School) of Independence, Mo., was named president and chief operating officer of Hartsook Companies, Inc., a national fundraising consulting firm. Beem is currently working on a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Bloch School.

Marsha Chappelow (Ph.D. ’95, School of Education), of St. Louis, was named superintendent of the Ladue School District Board in St. Louis. Previously, she served as associate superintendent with the Ladue schools.

Ann Karty (M.D. ’94, School of Medicine, B.A. ’92, School of Biological Sciences;), of Overland Park, Kan., was named medical director of continuing medical education for the American Academy of Family Physicians. Prior to joining AAFP, Karty served as an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences College of Osteophathic Medicine and served as vice chair of the college’s Continuing Medical Education Committee.

John LaNear (J.D. ’94, School of Law), of Kansas City, Mo., was named president and chief operating officer of Grantham University, a Kansas City, Mo., based institution offering online courses only. Previously, LaNear served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Ellis University in Chicago.

Matt McClelland (B.A. ’98, College of Arts of Sciences), of Kansas City, Mo., received a Mid-America Emmy nomination in the Interview Discussion category. McClelland is the studio coordinator at KCPT in Kansas City, Mo.

Kathy Pfeifer (M.A. ’95, School of Education), of St. Louis, Mo., was named principal of Wyland Elementary School in the Ritenour School District. She previously served as the school’s assistant principal in the Ritenour schools for more than a decade.

Linda Siy (M.D. ’90, School of Medicine; B.A. ’89 School of Biological Sciences), of Fort Worth, Texas, was named Philanthropist of the Year by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. Siy is a family physician at the JPS Health Network.

Charles R. Struby (Ph.D. ’92, School of Pharmacy), of Chicago, was named CEO and president of IVAX Diagnostics, Inc. Struby has more than 25 years of senior executive experience in the life sciences industry.

Catherine (Kaiser) Winters (M.S. ’98, School of Dentistry), of Oshkosh, Wis., received her Ph.D. in continuing and vocational education and educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Joseph C. Vitek (LL.M. ’92, School of Law), of Chicago, joined the law firm of Arnstein & Lehr LLP as a partner in the estate planning and probate administration practice group. Most recently, he was a partner at Pedersen & Houpt.

00s

Scott Harlan Brownlee (M.A. ’04, School of Education), of Kansas City, Mo., was named president and CEO of the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City. He most recently served as executive director for Kansas City Young Audiences.

Wendy Churchill (D.D.S. ’04, School of Dentistry), of Anthony, N.M., was named vice president of the New Mexico Dental Association. She is only the second woman to hold this position. Churchill practices dentistry at La Clinica de Familia Dental Center in Anthony.

Jennifer Crane Dennis (B.A. ’02, School of Biological Sciences), of Grand Prairie, Texas, is working as a postdoctoral research associate at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Her research is focused on the development of spinal cord tumors in young children.

J. Grant Dennis (M.B.A. ’01, Bloch School; B.S. ’00, College of Arts and Sciences), of Grand Prairie, Texas, is a financial controller for Leggett & Platt and currently works in the Store Fixtures Group in Fort Worth, Texas. Dennis has been with the company since 2003.

Heather Kenney (M.A. ’02 and B.A. ’02, School of Education; B.L.A. ’02, College of Arts and Sciences), of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was named Outstanding New Principal by the Kansas City Suburban Elementary Principal’s Association. Kenney has served as Summit Pointe Elementary School’s principal since 2007.

Mike Marusarz (B.A. ’04, College of Arts and Sciences), of Kansas City, Mo., received a Mid-America Emmy nomination in the Sports-Story category. Marusarz anchors NBC Action News Today weekends and is a general reporter throughout the week for KSHB-TV 41 in Kansas City, Mo.

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