Jack Zenger
1955 | John H. “Jack” Zenger (BS ’55, MBA University of California, Los Angeles ’57, DBA University of Southern California; Holly Olsen [’61]; Midway, Utah) was the 2011 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Workplace Learning given by the American Society for Training & Development. He is the cofounder and CEO of Zenger Folkman, a global consulting firm. He also serves on the executive committee of the board of regents for higher education in the state of Utah.
1961 | Lola Van Wagenen (’61, BA Vermont College ’82, MA New York University ’84, PhD New York University ’93; Shelburne, Vt.) produced and directed development of the online history exhibit Creating History: Lowell Thomas and Lawrence of Arabia through her company Clio Visualizing History (browse the exhibit at www.cliohistory.org/thomas-lawrence/). She has served as a commissioner for United Nations International Year of the Child, a board member for the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, and a board member for the National Audubon Society.
1963 | V. Lane Rawlins (BS ’63, PhD University of California ’69; Mary Jo; Lewiston, Idaho) became the 15th president of the University of North Texas in December 2010 after first joining the university in May 2010 on an initial one-year appointment. He has also served as the president of the University of Memphis, the vice chancellor for academic affairs for the University of Alabama System, the vice provost of Washington State University, and the chair of the Department of Economics at Washington State University.
1969 | Satyendra P. Gupta (MCE ’69, PhD ’72; Manju; Chhattisgarh, India) has been appointed the vice chancellor of the ICFAI University, Raipur, a new campus of the university sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India. The position is comparable to president of an American university.
1970 | W. Jan Hall (BA ’70, MA Utah State University ’98; Alyson Ford [BA ’71]; Lewiston, Utah) was named the Utah High School Activities Association’s 2010 Athletic Director of the Year. He started coaching and teaching in 1979 at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah. He has served as the school’s athletic director since 1996.
Madison Sowell
1975 | Ann N. Madsen (MA ’75; Provo) has released a DVD, Opening Isaiah, through which she teaches about the prophecies of Isaiah. She is a senior lecturer in ancient scripture at BYU and has been teaching for more than 35 years. She was a writer for the Church Curriculum Committee and lived and taught at the Jerusalem Center for nearly five years. Nancy Noble (BS ’75, MA ’81; Victorville, Calif.) has been elected to the California Council for the Social Studies (CCSS) board of directors. She is a former executive director of the UCLA Conference Center and of Bruin Woods Family Resort. She was named the California Outstanding Middle School Social Studies Teacher in 2010 and was Teacher of the Year for Victor Valley Union High School District. Madison U. Sowell (BA ’75, MA Harvard University ’76, PhD Harvard University ’79; Debra Hickenlooper [BA ’75]; Buena Vista, Va.) has accepted the position of provost at Southern Virginia University. He is a professor emeritus of Italian and comparative literature at BYU. At BYU he was director of the honors program, associate dean of undergraduate education, and chair of the Department of French and Italian. He was also a BYU Alcuin Fellow, a Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor, and the Scheuber and Veinz Professor of Humanities and Languages.
Daniel Harris
1978 | Daniel L. Harris (BA ’78, JD University of Oregon ’82; Susan; Ashland, Ore.) was named the 2010 recipient of the Wallace P. Carson Jr. Award for Judicial Excellence, given each year by the Oregon State Bar to a member of the judiciary who has made significant contributions to the judicial system. He is an Oregon circuit court judge.
1981 | Don R. Welty (BS ’81, MM Westminster College ’84; Carol Sokol [AS ’79]; Stafford, Va.) is serving a one-year assignment in Afghanistan for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service. He will be helping to rebuild Afghanistan’s agricultural sector. He is a financial services expert.
1982 | Thomas S. Martin (BS ’82; Loretta; Santa Fe, N.M.) has accepted limited partnership at Edward Jones Investments. He has also been elected to a second term as president of the Santa Fe Civitan Club. Stephen E. Thompson (JD ’82; Donna; Naples, Fla.) has been selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers magazine as one of the top attorneys in Florida for 2011. He is a partner at the firm of Roetzel & Andress.
1984 | John T. Clemons (BA ’84; Vanet; St. George, Utah) has purchased and renovated St. George’s historic Main Street Theater and Ballroom (originally the Wadsworth Theater) to accommodate LearnKey, his growing business. Scott M. Freebairn (BA ’84; Doris; Layton, Utah) completed a documentary based on John Bytheway’s book series Supersonic Saints, in association with Deseret Book and Digital Bytes. The film received three Telly Awards. Donald R. McClellan (BS ’84, MD Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences ’88; Elizabeth Hale [AS, ’84]; Gilbert, Ariz.) retired from the Army after 26 years of service and accepted a position as pediatric endocrinologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
1985 | Brent A. Duncan (BA ’85, MA University of Phoenix ’99, MA Fielding Graduate University ’09; Penny; Misawa, Japan) was recognized by Faculty Matters magazine for his work in organizing and supporting relief projects for families and communities affected by the March earthquake and resulting tsunamis. Duncan serves as the lead faculty administrator on the Misawa Air Base for the University of Phoenix School of Business in Japan.
1989 | Laif E. Meidell (BS ’89; Cara Zollinger [BS ’89]; Reno, Nev.) launched an actively managed exchange traded fund through Advisor Shares in June. He is also the commissioner for the Nevada Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the father of five children. Jeff S. Mumford (BS ’89; Diane Lefteruk [BS ’77]; Cypress, Calif.) has been promoted to area manager of Vanir Construction for the Orange County area. He is a registered professional engineer, a certified construction manager, and a construction manager-in-training mentor. Jennifer L. Wasick (BA ’89, MLS Florida State University ’92; Wichita, Kan.) published her first book,The Ram God: Eternal Lessons from the Eye of Ra. The book reconsiders polytheistic interpretation of Egyptian religion, creating an unusual proof for Jesus Christ.
David McKinnon
1991 | A. David McKinnon (BS ’91, MS ’96, PhD Washington State University ’03; Christine Zupan [BS ’94]; Richland, Wash.) has been named winner of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL) Fitzner-Eberhardt Award for outstanding contributions to science and engineering education. He is a senior research scientist at PNNL and an adjunct faculty member at Washington State University, where he teaches computer science. Eric J. Stone (BA ’91, JD Baylor School of Law ’94; Eagle Mountain, Utah) received a nomination for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, for his story “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made,” which appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact. The Nebula Awards are voted on by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
1992 | Michael G. Squires (BA ’92; MS Columbia University ’97; Lara Phalp [BA ’00]; Las Vegas) was editor of the Las Vegas Sun’s award-winning investigative series Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas. The series was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize, the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award in investigative reporting, and the National Headliner Awards Grand Award for print journalism.
1995 | Cynthia Watte Connell (BA ’95; Richard [BA ’97]; Silverdale, Wash.) has been asked to serve, along with her husband, as cochair for the BYU Former Student Officers Society. They will encourage alumni members, family, and friends to adopt the leadership model of former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, who challenged leaders to develop “kindness, civility, decency, honesty, and integrity.” She teaches Native American cultural education for the Central Kitsap school district. Armondo DeCarlo (MEM ’95; Ogden, Utah) has transferred to the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command at Hill AFB, Utah. He is a mechanical engineer supporting the Joint Direct Attack Munition program.
1997 | Richard O. Connell (BA ’97; Cynthia Watte [BA ’95]; Silverdale, Wash.) has been asked to serve, along with his wife, as cochair for the BYU Former Student Officers Society. He is employed by the Department of Defense. Michael M. Vance (BM ’97; Waldorf, Md.) developed an iPhone application called Bible Audio Pronunciations, which contains more than 1,000 audio recordings of challenging names, places, and terms in the Bible. It has been featured in MacNews, the iPhone App Review, Christian iPhone Apps, and many other online sources.
Michele Tolley
1998 | Marianne Monson (BA ’98; Portland, Ore.) researched, wrote, and published a historical fiction novel based on the life of one of her ancestors who emigrated from England in the mid-1800s. The book, The Water Is Wide, is the first in a series. She teaches English and creative writing at Portland Community College. Michele Woodland Tolley (BS ’98; Evan [’95]; Corona, Calif.) published her second paranormal young-adult novel, titled Indelible, under her pen name Lani Woodland. Indelible is the second in the Yara Silva trilogy.
1999 | Michael C. Benjamin (BS ’99, MSW ’02; Natalia Alvarez [BS ’99, MA ’07]; Rochester, Minn.) was hired as an outpatient psychiatric social worker in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology at Mayo Clinic.Jorge E. Pulleiro (BA ’99, MEd Eastern Oregon University ’08; Charlotte Kennington [BS ’97]; Canyon City, Ore.) has been awarded a Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange grant to teach in Cardenas, Mexico. He will teach English as a second language at the Universidad Popular de Chontalpa.
2002 | Brian J. Burns (BS ’02, MD University of South Florida ’06; Mindy Weisenburger [BA ’01]; Sahuarita, Ariz.) completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Arizona in 2009. He has begun work as an internist/hospitalist for CareMore at St. Mary’s Hospital in Tucson, Ariz., and was promoted to regional medical director.
2003 | Tyler S. Moselle (BA ’03, ALM Harvard University ’06; Washington, D.C.) was interviewed by Forbes magazine as part of a leadership forum. He has served as acting executive director at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Patrick W. Ross (BS ’03; Angela Tygerson [BS ’04]; Mountain House, Calif.) graduated from Princeton University with a PhD in astrophysics. He is working for National Security Technologies at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
2004 | Steven A. Clay (BS ’04; Jennifer; Lynchburg, Va.) was appointed the naval reactors representative to Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, where he oversees the manufacture of the reactor cores used to propel aircraft carriers and submarines. He and his wife have three children.
2005 | Brent Leavitt (BA ’05; Rachel; Maricopa, Ariz.) has released a new animated short titled The Decision through his media company, Sun Swing. The film is adapted from a story that first appeared in the Friendmagazine and uses Church doctrine to talk to children about pornography.
2006 | Daniel M. Woods (BA ’06, JD Texas Tech University ’09; Pago Pago, American Samoa) is working as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General of American Samoa. He will be assigned to the civil division.
2007 | Jay H. Oakey (BS ’07; Melissa Andrews [BA ’05]; Great Falls, Mont.) earned his doctorate of dental surgery from the University of Oklahoma in June 2011. He will be practicing as a general dentist in Great Falls, Mont. Daniel K. Sperry (BS ’07, MD State University of New York Upstate Medical University ’11; Orem, Utah) will be doing his three-year residency in family medicine at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah.
2009 | Michael L. Cope (BS ’09; Valerie Chapman [BA ’07]; Temecula, Calif.) graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a master’s degree in prosthetics and orthotics. He is an orthotics resident at SCOPe Orthotics and Prosthetics.
2010 | Penny Barfuss Johnson (BGS ’10; Chad [BS ’77]; Baraboo, Wis.) has been elected to a three-year term as the fiscal officer for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a national division of the American Library Association. She will serve on the YALSA executive committe, as well as on the board of directors. She is also the teen specialist at the Baraboo Public Library.
