Arthur L. White BS ’57, Worthington, Ohio, retired after 44 years of service with the Ohio State University in Columbus. White is planning an international consortium for research in science and mathematics education in Costa Rica.
Patricia “Patti” Boles AB ’61, Colorado Springs, was honored in October 2017 by the Pikes Peak Arts Council with the Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 40 years contributing to the arts and dance programs in the Pikes Peak Region. Boles was honored in November 2016 by the Carson, Brierly, Griffin Dance Library at the University of Denver as a Legend of Dance in Colorado.
Richard Ballou BA ’66, Bremerton, Wash., taught for 40 years in California, Arizona and Washington and coached track and cross country. Ballou trained two High School All American athletes, two NCAA Champions and one Olympian. Michael
“Mike” Peters BA ’68, Greeley, has written The Cornfield, a true story about the 1977 case of UNC graduate Mary Pierce, who was working temporarily at a 7-Eleven store in Greeley when she was kidnapped and murdered. The book is about that investigation, the presence of a psychic in the case and the trial.
Brent Weigner BA ’72, Cheyenne, Wyo., recently set the world record for running the most marathons in the most countries. When Weigner set the record, he had run marathons in 134 countries and on all seven continents. Since then, his total has risen to marathons in 152 countries. This summer, Weigner will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his first marathon.
Severin L. Blenkush MA ’75, Bowerville, Minn., has been a Lions Club member for more than 20 years and served six as secretary. In June 2017, Blenkush received the Melvin Jones Fellow award for dedicated humanitarian service.
H. Don McCormick MA ’75, Levelland, Texas, was given the William Truax Founder’s Award, the highest award given by the Texas Counseling Association. The award was presented to McCormick to recognize his significant contributions to the counseling profession over his career.
Fore Leads UNICEF
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed UNC alumna Henrietta Fore MA ’75, as UNICEF’s seventh executive director. Fore, an accomplished international affairs leader, previously served as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and as Director of United States Foreign Assistance in the U.S. State Department. “I am honored to be joining such a remarkable organization, which I have known and admired for many years, and look forward to continuing UNICEF’s work to help save children’s lives, fight for their rights and help them realize their potential,” said Fore in the official UNICEF release.
Clementine (Washington) Pigford MA ’76, Centennial, is a historian for Denver’s Zion Baptist Church, one of the oldest churches in the Rocky Mountain Region. Pigford has written a number of articles and self-published books about Colorado African Americans who have made significant contributions to the world. She is the founder and CEO of Imagine Scribe Service Corporation, whose mission is to address the dearth of information about African Americans in the West. Pigford is a retired Denver Public Schools educator and a current educator with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Her books can be found in various libraries including the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, Central Denver Public Library, the History of Colorado Library and the Library of Congress.
Honored for Making Colorado Healthier
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper proclaimed December 15, 2017 as Pete Bialick Day, in honor of alumnus Peter Bialick MA ’77, BA ’75, founder of the Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution (GASP). Bialick founded GASP in 1977 to reduce Coloradans’ exposure to secondhand smoke. Hickenlooper stated that Bialick’s “relentless focus and hard work over 40 years have been instrumental in championing sweeping clean indoor air policies that have dramatically reduced exposure to secondhand smoke and associated health risks throughout Colorado.”
Mary Ernster-Andrews BA ’78, Northbrook, Ill., is appearing in the Broadway production of War Paint.
Mark (MS ’78) and Kay (MA ’79) Richards, Scottsdale, Ariz., have both retired.
Mark Agnes BA ’80, New York, N.Y., is working on the Broadway production of War Paint. He also worked wardrobe on The Greatest Showman.
Arlen Hofer MME ’81, Canton, S.D., was inducted into the South Dakota Bandmasters Hall of Fame at the All- State Band concert in Sioux Falls on March 25, 2017. Hofer retired in 2014 after 40 years of teaching. During his 22-year tenure in Canton, 261 of his students qualified for the South Dakota All-State Band and All-State Orchestra.
Denise Burgess BA ’82, Denver, took the gavel as the first African-American to chair the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Jurgutis V. Daukantas MA ’82, Boston, Mass., received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the field of technology and special education.
Walter Craig Cooper BA ’83, Colorado Springs, superintendent of the Cheyenne Mountain School District in Colorado Springs since 2006, was named 2018 Colorado Superintendent of the Year by the Colorado Association of School Executives.
Dion Harris BA ’92, New Orleans, La., oversees the new Renaissance Writing Clinic at KIPP Renaissance
High School in New Orleans. Lisa Mallory BA ’93, Denver, was hired as the vice president
of marketing at the Denver Center of Performing Arts.
Michael V. Kelly BA ’95, South Jordan, Utah, is the IT Security Director for Clearlink in Salt Lake
City, Utah. In 2017, Kelly earned his Internal Security Assessor and PCI Professional
certifications.
Clara (Kroeger) Smith BA ’95, Arvada, graduated with a Ph.D. in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity from the University of Colorado at Boulder in December 2017.
Beth Malone BA ’96, New York, N.Y., has been cast in the Broadway Revival of Angels in America.
James E. Jirak DA ’96, Boise, Idaho, received the Excellence in Education Award from the city of Boise.
Autumn Hurlbert BA ’02, Bozeman, Mont., will appear in Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods reunion concert at NYC’s Feinstein’s/54 Below in July.
Adam Flemming BA ’03, Los Angeles, Calif., is an Imagineer for the Walt Disney Company, adjunct faculty with UCLA’s School of Theater Film and Television, and a national freelance projection designer.
Kathryn Sherell BA ’03, Seattle, Wash., has been hired as a music associate on the national tour of Hamilton.
Erica Sweany BA ’03, Thornwood, N.Y., has been cast in the Broadway revival of the play M. Butterfly starring Clive Owen and directed by Julie Taymor.
UNC Alumna Named Colorado Teacher of the Year
Christina Gillette Randle BA ’03, who teaches first grade at Soaring Eagle Elementary School in Harrison School District, joined an ever-growing list of UNC alumni to receive the state’s highest honors for teaching — the Colorado Teacher of the Year Award.
Randle, who graduated with a degree in Elementary Education, has taught in the Harrison school district for 15 years. She will represent Colorado in the running for the National Teacher of the Year Award.
Kristin Skye Hoffman BA ’04, Pueblo, has been named the new director of the Durango Arts Center.
Christopher Stroppel BA ’04 and Danielle (Findley) Stroppel BS ’09 were married in September!
Randy Brothers BA ’06, Aurora, wrote a book titled Start It, Build It, Grow It: The Contractor’s Guide to Success.
Chad Chisholm BA ’08 and BA ’05, Denver, recently published Imbibe Worldwide, a cocktail cookbook of 70 recipes from around the world.
Kurtis Hout BA ’08, Chapman, Kan., former UNC football player and active duty Army wrote Cold Steel Seoul under his pen name, Turk Van Buren.
Jodie Grundin BA ’10, Tarzana, Calif., accepted a position for No Limits for Deaf Children, a non-profit organization. Grundin will coordinate their national theater touring program.
UNC Alum presented the Governor’s Creative Leadership Award
Armando Silva ’10 is the recipient of the 2018 Governor’s Creative Leadership Award. The Colorado Creative Industries is proud to play a role in celebrating excellence in creative industries across the state. Each spring, during the Creative Industries Summit, Creative Leadership Awards are presented to community members who have demonstrated a significant commitment to Colorado’s creative landscape through civic leadership and volunteerism including advocacy, vision, collaboration or innovation. This year the summit was held in the Greeley Creative District.
Cody T. Havard Ph.D. ’11, Collierville, Tenn., is featured in a book about sport fandom. Havard, an associate professor of sport commerce in the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management at The University of Memphis, was featured in the book Superfans: Into the Heart of Obsessive Sports Fandom, written by Pulitzer Prize winner George Dorhmann.
Tyler Ledon BA ’11, North Hollywood, Calif., joined the Hogwarts Frog Choir at Universal Studios in Hollywood.
Danielle Lubbers BA ’13, Centennial, celebrated three years in the Marriott International Corporation. Margaret Heffernan BA ’15, Boston, Mass., accepted a new position as production manager for WGBH-TV.
Jackie Honold BA ’16, Colorado Springs, accepted a position at Discovery Canyon Middle School.
