John Leavitt (D.M.A. ’90)
Conservatory of Music and Dance
A musician, composer, teacher, conductor and author, Leavitt is a regularly featured artist for the Manhattan concert Production’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Series in Washington, D.C., and a regular guest conductor of the New York Mid America Productions Carnegie Hall Concert Series. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, he was commissioned to write a new choral work for the 150th anniversary of the state of Kansas.
William Giannobile (M.S., D.D.S. ’91)
School of Dentistry
Formerly on faculty at Forsyth Institute and Harvard University, Giannobile is now the Najjar Endowed Professor of Dentistry and director of the Michigan Center for Oral Health at the University of Michigan. He serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Dental Research and is also a consultant to the American Dental Association Council of Scientific Affairs and the National Institutes of Health.
Patricia Walters (B.S.D.H. ’89, M.S. ’91)
Dental Hygiene
Walters serves as global oral care scientific information manager for Procter & Gamble. She helps to lead the company’s global oral care professional and scientific relations and is accountable for responding to world-wide technical and scientific questions about products and for sharing research about the science of the company’s products.
Suzanne McCanles (M.A. ’97)
School of Education
McCanles is head of school at Oakhill Day School in Gladstone, Mo., a position she’d not held long when a tornado devastated the school in the summer of 2008. In just 109 days, McCanles had the damaged school open in time for fall clases. Community and school officials credit her leadership in the recovery from that disaster and in building the school’s many new community partnerships, including Kansas City’s first Farm to School Lunch program.