Class notes are user-submitted and edited by the College of Arts and Sciences. To submit your own class note for future publication online, visit this form.
The class notes below are organized by decade and, following that, alphabetically.
Class notes are user-submitted and edited by the College of Arts and Sciences. To submit your own class note for future publication online, visit this form.
The class notes below are organized by decade and, following that, alphabetically.
Carl Boyd (B.A. ’62, M.A. ’63, History) writes: “One of the most substantial foundation stones in my career as a university professor is my days at IU, in particular two Professors of History stand out among several, Robert H. Ferrell and C. Leonard Lundin. Professionally it goes without saying they were top notch in their areas of historical specialization, but I maintained an ongoing correspondence with them, especially with Bob Ferrell, over the decades and enjoyed meeting them at history conferences and on other professional occasions. Their professional advice assisted my career enormously long after the IU classroom.”
Michael Owen Jones (M.A. ’66, Folklore, Ph.D. ’70, Folklore/American Studies) published Frankenstein Was a Vegetarian: Essays on Food Choice, Identity, and Symbolism in July 2022.
Tom Kubat (B.A.J. ’69, Journalism) recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. He retired in 2008 after a 40-year career covering sports for the Lafayette Journal & Courier, as well as for USA Today and Gannett News Service. He has received numerous first-place national and state writing awards (including the Hoosier State Press Association’s award as Best Sports Columnist). He covered Purdue men’s basketball and football for 28 years, the Indianapolis 500 for 25 years, and many Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Pacers games. He also was part of the GNS team that covered the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. He authored a book about former Purdue football coach Joe Tiller titled Tiller: Not Your Average Joe, and he also was one of several ISSA Hall of Fame sportswriters to write several chapters in the book The 25 Greatest Sports Stories in the History of Indiana. Kubat was inducted into the ISSA’s Hall of Fame in 2007, has been a member of the ISSA’s Board of Directors since 2009, and has served as the association’s president since 2014. Since taking over as president, the ISSA’s membership has more than doubled, as has the attendance at the association’s annual hall of fame banquet. The main reason for his involvement with the ISSA since his retirement is his desire to give back to the profession. And, after all these years, he writes that he’s still a huge fan of Indiana University and the IU School of Journalism.
Susan A. Lang (B.A. ’68, English) recently published a book, a memoir about growing up in rural Indiana. The title is Looking Back, and it is available on Amazon.
Roger Alan Yockey (M.A. ’65, Journalism) writes, “I have written my third book, Harvesting Justice With Farm Workers, the story of the women and men who work in the fields and packing houses. They are the workers who feed us. It is also about the farm worker unions, community organizations, and people in faith communities who seek better working conditions, pay, and housing for agricultural workers. The book is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
In 2021, Robert Bartlett (B.A. ’74, Ph.D. ’84, Political Science) published Democratic Norms of Earth System Governance: Deliberative Politics in the Anthropocene, co-authored with Walter F. Baber (Cambridge University Press). Bartlett has retired from the University of Vermont and now lives with his spouse Sally (B.S. ’73) in Valparaiso, Ind.
Karen Cherie Cogane (B.A. ’76, Telecommunications) was recently inducted into the “Marquis Who’s Who” for her career achievements in the performing arts. Cogane was selected for teaching ballet and jazz dance, choreographing, dancing, and writing more than 90 stories, poems, scripts, and the book, The Poodles of Park Avenue.
Neil Goodman (B.A. ’76, Fine Arts, Religious Studies) retired from teaching in 2017 as a professor emeritus of fine arts at IU Northwest, where he was one of the founding members of the fine arts department. Goodman has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally and has had numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the country, and he recently gave a lecture at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, which you can read more about here.
Allan Grafman (B.A. ’75, Slavic Languages and Literatures) was re-elected to be chair of the audit committee of IDW Media Holdings. He also was recently re-elected to the board of a REIT.
Lawrence Hogan (Ph.D. ’78, History) is a professor emeritus of history at Union College in New Jersey, the author of The Forgotten History of African-American Baseball, and the principal author and editor of Shades of Glory, published by National Geographic. He is also executive director of the documentary Before You Can Say Jackie Robinson: Black Baseball in America in the Era of the Color Line. Hogan writes that, “This moving and informative program celebrates that history, and gives back to these great ballplayers, so often overlooked, some of the acclaim that they so deserved.”
After retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1994, the National Weather Service in 2002, and the National Weather Association in 2010, Cynthia (Cee Cee) Nelson (B.A. ’71, Geography) has kept busy as a Lakeville Volunteer Fire Department firefighter and in the American Legion. As a fire policewoman, she has held the position of fire police captain in her fire department and currently is the vice president of the County Fire Police Committee. Nelson was commander of Harrison-Lee American Legion Post #283 for 10 years, recently stepping down. She served as the commander of the NY Livingston County American Legion for 2012-2013. Subsequently, she has held the position of adjutant in County Legion for eight years. The adjutant is responsible for all communications and written documents for the County Legion. This year Nelson was elected as the vice-commander for the NY’s American Legion 7th District. In addition, she was recently selected to chair the NY American Legion Department’s (State) Committee on Law and Order and First Responders. Nelson regularly writes articles for the local newspapers celebrating first responders and high school senior winners of her legion post’s essay contests.
Mary Ann Steinke-Moore’s (B.A. ’78, English) young adult novel, Mandy’s Song, was published in April 2020 by Watershed Books, Pelican Book Group. “It’s timely,” Steinke-Moore writes, “because the main character models getting help for a suicidal friend.” More details are available at maryannsteinke-moore.com.
Teresa Exline (B.A.J. ’82, Journalism) was honored by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb with the Circle of Corydon Award upon her retirement from a 34-year career at Indiana State University. The former editor of the Sullivan Daily Times served in a variety of communications and marketing roles at Indiana State including university spokesperson, assistant vice president for communications and marketing, and chief of staff in the Office of the President. She was also recognized with a joint resolution from the Indiana General Assembly for her service to Indiana State and the Terre Haute community, where she co-founded a local 100+ Women Who Care philanthropy giving circle and served in volunteer leadership roles for several non-profits. Following her retirement, Exline moved to Westfield, Ind., where she plans to continue her writing career on a part-time basis.
Chris Gentry (B.A. ’82, History) recently retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a major general with over 35 years of service. He also retired from his civilian career in law enforcement after 29 years of service. Currently, Gentry is pursuing his doctorate in education from Vanderbilt-Peabody College, focusing on leadership and learning in organizations.
Attorney Stephen P. Griebel (B.A. ’86, History) has moved the primary office of the Griebel Law Office LLC from Churubusco, Ind., to downtown Fort Wayne, Ind., in the Lincoln Tower (Suite 524).
An article by Robert Montgomery (M.A. ’88, Ph.D. ’94, History) titled “Bato-Dalai Ochirov: A Buryat Activist at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” has appeared in Sibirica Vol. 21, No. 2 (Summer 2022).
Brian Stack (B.A., ’86, Telecommunications) was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Stack previously won an Emmy for writing at Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Judge Cotton Walker (B.S. ’88, History, Political Science) has been added to the faculty of Missouri’s Judicial College for 2022. Judge Walker serves as a circuit court judge in Missouri’s state capital, Jefferson City. He previously served as associate circuit judge and municipal judge, first serving on the bench in 1994.
Paige Gray (B.A. ’05, English) recently had her chapter “‘Let Us Make the World Know That We Are Living’: African American Weeklies and Black Youth Identity published in A Centennial Celebration of The Brownies’ Book from University Press of Mississippi. Part of this work was previewed in an article she wrote for The Conversation. A professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Gray is currently working on a book project about Black youth and periodicals in the twentieth century. Her first book, Cub Reporters: American Children's Literature and Journalism in the Golden Age (SUNY Press) considers the intersections of youth fiction and newspapers during the period between the Civil War and World War I. She serves on the executive committees of the Children’s Literature Association and the Modern Language Association’s Children’s and Young Adult Literature Forum.
Sheila E. Schroeder (M.A. ’92, Telecommunications, Ph.D. ’99, Mass Communications) was an embedded filmmaker with the Women in Turf Team at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at historic Pine Needles Golf Course. Along with one of her students, she captured the work of this 31-person team as they helped prepare and maintain the course for the most revered golf tournament of the year. Using social media, they told stories about the team in an effort to raise awareness of women in the turf industry, where they make up approximately 2 percent of the workforce. Using the hash tag #seeitbeit, they helped create a strong following and gained exposure for this team of volunteers. Now Schroeder has turned her attention to creating a web series with the content gathered from this week working behind the scenes with this team. Along with four students she hired through Project DU F.I.L.M., she will be directing the series. Schroeder started Project DU F.I.L.M. (a film initiative linking mentors) in 2015 to help change the face of filmmaking in front of and behind the camera by telling stories of underrepresented people. This experiential learning project has completed two award-winning fiction shorts and will now be branching out into docu-series production.
Andrew Straw (B.A. ’92, English, Philosophy) has fought for health care and compensation for the infant victims of U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp LeJeune poisoning, and writes that there are finally tangible results. The SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act, H.R. 3967, passed the U.S. House in March 2022 by a vote of 256-174 and in June 2022 passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 84-14. This PACT Act contains the Camp LeJeune Justice Act of 2022. Straw’s mother died of a Camp LeJeune cancer while he was attending IU’s Maurer School of Law and Straw has disabilities of his own from that poisoning that have caused others to discriminate against him as a lawyer and disability rights advocate. Straw is the founder of Disability Party and worked for the Indiana Supreme Court from 2000 to 2002. He currently lives in the Philippines. For more information, visit Straw’s websites at andrewstraw.com and 2022.andrewstraw.com.
Colin Atkinson (B.A. ’03, Criminal Justice) was hired as assistant director, facilities planning & management, at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Julie Duhon (B.A. ’06, Mathematics) and Haddie Katz (B.A. ’09, Gender Studies) are co-founders of the nonprofit Tandem Community Birth Center and Postpartum House. Tandem's first phase of operation in Bloomington is now open, including a community space for perinatal supportive services and midwifery-led gynecology services. They have raised over $250,000 in grants and donations since launching in 2020, including a 2022 $100,000 National Project Grant from the Gannett Foundation, which will fund renovations for the birthing suites in their facility, planned for 2023.
Christin Nance Lazerus (B.A.J. ’00) was recently named the metro editor of the Post-Tribune, covering Northwest Indiana a.k.a. the Region. She has worked at the Post-Tribune since 2000 in various roles, including working as a reporter, designer, and editor.
Jason Martin (B.A.J. ’06, Journalism, Ph.D. ’11, Mass Communication) is an associate professor at DePaul University and was elected for a third term as journalism program chair in the university’s College of Communication.
Ruth Reichard’s (Ph.D. ’15, History) book, Blood and Steel: Ryan White, the AIDS Crisis, and Deindustrialization in Kokomo, Indiana, was shortlisted for the Indiana Authors Awards in the nonfiction category. The Indiana Authors Awards honor the best books written by Indiana authors in the previous two years.
Wanyu Zhang (B.A. ’13, Telecommunications) was recently promoted to brand director at NPR. Read more about the promotion here.
If you have any questions, please contact the College of Arts and Sciences' Director of Alumni Relations Vanessa Cloe.