Ever wonder what happened to that kid who sat beside you in Shakespeare class who knew all the words to the speech at Agincourt ... and just kept reciting them? Or, how about the girl with the blue hair who sat in front of you in rhetoric and raised her hand for everything? Or the guy with the thick glasses who swore he'd get a Nobel Prize for literature before he was 60?
Well, we wondered too. The last time we saw all of you, you were wearing the torn T-shirts you picked off the floor from the night before, were carrying so many books you walked with a stoop, and were living on coffee, cigarettes and cookies. But all of you had a dream, and we'd like to know how you're doing.
So many people answered the last time we sent out e-mail that we decided to make this a regularly updated feature of the English Department Web site.
Take a few minutes, tell us how life's treating you, and, yes, send photos. All the teachers you remember really would love to see you in your adult no-holes-in-the-T-shirt guise.
Send an e-mail to Shirley Mathews (mathewss@uncw.edu), and we'll add you to our list.
1966 / 1977 / 1981 / 1982 / 1985 / 1991 / 1992 / 1993 / 1994 / 1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008
| 1966 | ||||||
| Jack Loftus graduated from Wilmington College when it was only three buildings. After the Army, he moved to Atlanta to work for United Press International, a news wire service, where he met his wife, Beth. In 1970, he moved to Washington, D.C., as a reporter for a television trade publication, covering Congress, and the couple’s first daughter, Rachel, was born. After that, his career included CBS, Madison Square Garden and Nielsen Media Research (the TV ratings company), all in New York. A second daughter, Clare, arrived. The family lived in Scarsdale, N.Y., for almost 18 years, and during that time he became a volunteer firefighter for the community. After 19 years at Nielsen, he retired in 2008 as SVP and chief communications officer, and now is back in Atlanta with Beth, their two daughters and three grandchildren. “When I’m not playing tennis (which is most of the time), I am with the grandchildren while the parents go shopping or whatever.” Jack would like to share his e-mail address: Loftus.Jack@gmail.com. “I hope everyone is remarkably well and happy. I wish my classmates much joy.” | ||||||
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| 1977 | Back to top | |||||
| Linda S. Tucker (Houghton) has been principal of the Jared Eliot Middle School in Clinton, Conn., for six years. She has a master’s degree from Wesleyan University and a sixth-year degree in Educational Administration from the University of Connecticut. She has been in education for 26 years as a teacher, department chair, assistant principal and principal. She has been married for 28 years to Scot Tucker, and they have one daughter, Pamela Maree, who is a freshman pre-med student at Duke University. They live in Westbrook, Conn., and have a yellow lab named Aubrey. If anyone would like to reach her, please e-mail ltucker@clintonpublic.org. |
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| 1981 | Back to top | |||||
| Alisa (Lisa) Bryant, or to some, LB, worked in the cafeteria while at UNCW for PFM, the food management company that contracted the food service at that time. After graduating she worked for 10 years for the company at different schools throughout the North and Southeast. She is now in South Florida, where she has lived for the past 15-20 years. In 1989, she went back to school and graduated with a nursing degree in 1991, and is practicing in West Palm Beach. Her two sons are 13 and 15, and one hopes to be a Gator football player. Her husband is a firefighter for Palm Beach County, and she is interim director of the Emergency Department at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach. “Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with you and the English department at UNCW as those were some great years of my life. … If I were ever to move back to North Carolina, Wilmington would be my choice.” | ||||||
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Linda Curtis lives in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., and works for a non-profit in Apex, where she hones her English skills as an “audio describer” for Arts Access Inc. of Raleigh. She has traveled to Australia, New Zealand, China and Cuba. “I love hiking.” |
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| 1982 | Back to top | |||||
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Jennifer Gaugler (Wilson) was a personnel officer in the Air Force for seven years, serving in Guam, Alabama and Virginia. “I am married to a Navy helicopter pilot, Ted, and have two children Connor, 11, and McKenna, 2. We currently live in Guam (again). I'm now a stay-at-home mom working on a master's degree in human relations from the University of Oklahoma. We love to dive and travel. We've been to Palau, Australia, the Caicos, Belize, Cozumel, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg in the last couple of years.” | |||||
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| Emily Ann Dotson is at the University of Kentucky in the last stages of her Ph.D. dissertation on food and dining in Victorian novels. She holds an M.A. in English from Murray State University and graduate certification in both social theory and women’s studies from the University of Kentucky. She is the assistant director of The Writing Initiative, the office that facilitates the University of Kentucky Writing in the Disciplines program. She fondly remembers Dr. Mike Wentworth, whose inspiring teaching led her to a love of British literature, and Agnes McDonald, whose support and encouragement gave her the confidence to pursue that path. | ||||||
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| 1985 | Back to top | |||||
| Beth Gandy Cassidy lives in Mocksville and married Todd Cassidy '86 in 1988. They have two children, Sam, 17, and Katie, 13. Beth has worked as a journalist off and on for the past 18 years, for the same two newspapers, the Davie County Enterprise Record and the Clemmons Courier, and has won several N.C. Press Association and Women's Press awards. Their home is 20 rambling acres with a second home in the North Carolina mountains. “I think often about Dr. Stokes, Dr. Clifford and Dr. Seiple, my three favorite UNCW teachers, but especially Dr. Stokes, with whom I had many enjoyable classes, and who always encouraged me to write, write, write.” |
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| 1991 | Back to top | |||||
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Gena G. Winstead is a real estate broker for Intracoastal Realty Corporation in Wilmington and volunteers for several charities, including the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association. She has also swung a hammer at a Habitat For Humanity house, been a volunteer mentor at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, English/grammar tutor for the Communities In Schools PaSS program, runway model for a Domestic Violence Shelter fundraiser, played Lucille Ball at the MDA gala and performed onstage at Thalian Hall for two Carousel Center fundraisers. "I got over my fears of water and heights on the same day on an adventure tour in Costa Rica and would jump back on that zipline right now and the next time go head first down the river while whitewater tubing." She spent four years in New Orleans (pre-Katrina) "where I learned that nothing surprises me. Except when I’m able to break 100 playing golf." |
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| 1992 | Back to top | |||||
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Lisa Mincey Ware worked in the English department as a graduate assistant while getting earned her M.A. in 1998, and she produced the very first issue of Tidelines in 1997. She also worked with Philip Gerard as his assistant during the inaugural year of the M.F.A. program. “It was an exciting time to be in the English department.” In 1999, she married John M. Ware ('97 M.A.), and they moved to Chapel Hill while he pursued a doctorate in English at UNC. In 2006, they moved to Spartanburg, S.C., and now both work at Wofford College. John is an assistant professor, and Lisa manages web content and e-mail marketing for the alumni and annual giving offices. “We feel fortunate to have landed in such a terrific school, but we miss Wilmington!” They have no children, “but our three dogs and one crazy cat keep life interesting. I keep in regular contact with Dr. Keith Newlin, who was my thesis advisor and the person who introduced me to web design. Go Seahawks!” |
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| 1993 | Back to top | |||||
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Amy Petrocelli Johnson taught English in the Czech Republic for six months. “When I returned to the states, I married David Johnson ‘93, worked in communications and public relations for nine years and taught an ESL writing course for Wake Technical Community College for a semester. I gave birth to twin girls in 2004. Currently, I work on a contract basis as a grant writer for Special Olympics North Carolina while staying at home with my girls.” | |||||
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Denise Sutton went on to East Carolina for an M.A. in English and then went to Clark University for a Ph.D. in Women's Studies (2004). Between the master's degree and the doctorate, she was director of communications at the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City. She taught and was an administrator at the New School University and the College of New Rochelle and now works as a writer. Her first book will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2009. Globalizing Ideal Beauty is the working title. “I was fortunate to have the most fabulous professors at UNCW – they all encouraged me to go on to graduate school. Dr. Lewis Walker, my advisor, and Dr. Andrea Deagon (Foreign Languages), Dr. Patricia Lerch (Anthropology) and Dr. Barbara Waxman all influenced my writing and teaching -- and still do. The first time I taught a class, I made a list of all the things that these professors had done that inspired me in the classroom -- that's how I created my own teaching philosophy!” Denise married Peter Metzger in 2005, and they live in Brooklyn, N.Y. |
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Elise Gallivan lives in Cary with her husband, Jason, and four cats. After graduation, she went back to school at N.C. State, took computer science classes and eventually got a job as the Web master for Duke University financial services. She was Web developer at various companies for a number of years and was also elected to be the Web master for the Libertarian Party of North Carolina at its state convention. “I was a member of the executive committee and voted to sue the state of North Carolina for unconstitutional ballot access laws in 2005. That lawsuit has been underway for several years now.” Working for Cisco Systems as a Web developer led to her present job as a technical editor at NetApp, a computer storage company in Research Triangle Park. “My parents still live in the Wilmington area and I come down to visit fairly often. I would love to move back there to be close to family and the beach one day!” |
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| 1994 | Back to top | |||||
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Christie Faircloth-Dixon earned her M.A. in 1996 and married Fred Dixon, a chief in the United States Coast Guard, in 1997. “I have been the senior women’s administrator for Athletics and the student athlete success director for Charleston Southern University in beautiful Charleston, S.C., for eight years. I also teach English for the university as an adjunct when the call of the wild beckons.” | |||||
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Sheila Devaney ('94 M.A.)is a data services and business reference librarian at the University of Georgia Libraries.She earned a M.L.S. from North Carolina Central University in 1999 and then moved to Athens, Ga., later that year. She wound up staying in Athens and at UGA for seven years and then moved back to Chapel Hill for two years to manage a library for UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. However, she couldn’t resist Athenian life and moved back down to Georgia in 2008. Sheila is now staying put in Athens and just bought a house. When not answering reference questions, staffing the reference desk or working on home improvement projects, she spends vast amounts of time on the tennis courts. She also recently took up golf and is working on her short game. Sheila also travels a lot as her schedule allows, going to Seattle, Denver and the new Yankee Stadium in the last eight months. She also spends a lot of time in Savannah and at Tybee Island. (It’s not Wrightsville, but it suffices well.) Her e-mail is: sheila.devaney@gmail.com “A big hello to Dr. Waxman, Dr. MacLennan and Dr. Walker!” |
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Mandy Powell (Sams) works at RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem as a trade marketing promotion deployment analyst in Trade Marketing Development. She married Harrell Powell III (Trey Powell), and they have three children: Carson, 10, Noah Kiger, 8, and Ella Pearl, 4. “We love to travel and frequent Disney World, where we have a timeshare. We are big amusement park enthusiasts (Carowinds, Disney, Pigeon Forge). We fell in love with skiing, so we bought a chalet on Beech Mountain, and we also enjoy camping in our RV. We have two dogs -- Chaney, a toy poodle, and Mabel, an English Bulldog – a cat, Jonas (Jo Jo), and a hermit crab, Hermie.” |
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Michelle Kern Hines loves her work in University Relations at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she writes features for the UNCG alumni magazine, Web features and press releases. She is awaiting publication of two poems -- "The Latch of Theda's Room" and "The Three Ages of Woman" -- in the March volume of The Journal of Poetry Therapy. She lives in Greensboro with her husband of 15 years, Norman Hines Jr., MA '96, BA '85. Norman enjoys working as a serials technologist in UNCG's Jackson Library, where he works with both print and online academic journals. The Hineses are currently waiting to bring home a baby Hines from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, through international adoption. This will be their first child. They also have two dogs, Mackie and Libby. “A special hello to Dr. Walker and Dr. Wentworth!” |
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| 1995 | Back to top | |||||
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Diana Dietzschold Bourgeois made a career of marketing after getting her M.A. in English from Clemson University. She started Magic Marketing USA, which specializes in online marketing, social media and mass marketing, and it has grown in just three short years. By the end of 2009, she hopes to finish her book. “I guess that is where marketing and my degree in English meet. I am a complete blogger! Another leftover from my English degree! My love of marketing was mentored by an incredible boss, and it taught me to be good to the people who work for me. We are a great team of individuals who love to succeed for others. But, more importantly, I have hired students seeking their English degree from Clemson (as they are local to our area) to pay back the opportunities I received from my degree and give them new ideas for how they can use their English degree to provide a path to success.” She is celebrating her 20th wedding anniversary in 2009, and she and her husband have traveled all over the world, “but we still call the Carolinas home with our three dogs.” |
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| 1996 | Back to top | |||||
| Rebecca (Becky) Wolf Marks has lived in Boston/Cambridge, Mass., for the last 10 years and works as a franchise sales coordinator for Au Bon Pain. She earned an M.A. from Emerson College and Harvard University Extension. She married Jamie Marks in 2003. “We have a beautiful and very active 14-month-old daughter, Riley Jeanne.” She is also working on launching her own business, The Happy Magpie, an eco-friendly maternity T-shirt and onesie company. | ||||||
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Chase T. Brockstedt is an attorney with the firm of Bifferato Gentilotti, LLC in Lewes, Del., and is a trial lawyer, practicing civil litigation. He and his wife, Kelly, and daughter, Sawyer Laken, are expecting the latest addition to the family—a second daughter—any day. | |||||
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Karen Southerland Jackson taught English at Hoggard High School in Wilmington, married Jarrett Jackson and is mom to identical twin boys, Will and Zach, born in 2000. They moved to the Triangle in 2003, and she is currently teaching English at Middle Creek High School in Apex, N.C. | |||||
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Wendi Christner lives in Tampa, Florida, with her husband, Mike, and son, Evan. “In recent years, I've pursued my dream of becoming an author. I won the 2008 Linda Howard Award of Excellence and RWA's Duel on the Delta contest for one of my romance novels. My coming-of-age story, The Water Bearer, was released earlier this year in e-book and print. Life's treating me very well!” | |||||
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Anne Beasley Weber married Chris Weber ‘96 in 2003, and the couple’s daughter, Ruby Lee, was born in May 2005. They moved to San Clemente, Calif., in 2000, where Anne got two dream jobs: launching Surfing Girl magazine as associate editor, and later launching Surf Life for Women magazine as editor-in-chief. She surfed, traveled, met and worked with some of the best women surfers in the world. While in California, she maintained her position as event director of the East Coast Wahine Championships, an annual all-women’s surfing contest held every August in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. That event began in 1997, she became director in ’98 and in 2008, announced her retirement. She is staying on as a consultant and Web master of eastcoastwahines.com. They moved to Seattle, Wash., in 2005, shortly before Ruby Lee was born. “A fond memory is the time we were visiting Seattle before moving here full time, and I saw that Kevin Canty was reading from his new book. I had taken his class, magazine writing, at UNCW. I remember him being cocky and a tough teacher—but after years of working as an editor of a magazine, I can only imagine how terrible our articles must have been! I have never been the greatest writer, but all those group sessions of sitting around commenting on each other’s work and bringing out the real juice of a story, helped me become a pretty good editor!” Anne is a full-time mom and secretary at her daughter’s cooperative pre-school and volunteers with the Seattle Surfrider Foundation and its large annual surfing contest, The Clean Water Classic. Her husband, Chris, has a computer security business and has co-authored and edited computer/hacking books, as well as speaking at many security conventions around the country. | |||||
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| Barry Wood lives in Mechanicsburg, Penn., and married Tracey on Wrightsville Beach in 2005. His stepchildren are Dennis, 17, and Courtney Harner, 19. He works for Gallagher Bassett Services, an international third-party administrator, as claims representative, handling general liability claims investigation, coverage analysis, contract interpretation, litigation, negotiation/settlement and general claims management. He serves in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, ranked as Specialist (E-4) and will start training in Officer Candidates School in March 2009. He trains in karate and is currently ranked a Yondan (fourth-degree black belt) by Sensei John Maisenhelder out of Wilmington, N.C. “Still reading and writing for personal pleasure, old habits die hard!” | ||||||
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| 1997 | Back to top | |||||
| Amy Glass is engaged and will be moving to Wilmington, Del., after she graduates from John Marshall Law School in Atlanta. “Anyone who wants to contact me can reach me at aglass2769@yahoo.com.” | ||||||
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Sara Condrey (Scheidemann) lives in Atlanta, Ga., and works at Fiserv as a vice president in the IT organization. “I run the Fiserv Enterprise Technology PMO (Project Management Organization). I’ve been with my company for eight years.” | |||||
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Kristen Smith (Socker) lives in Wilmington, was married in 2007, and has a 5-year-old stepson, Caleb, and a 14-month-old son, Jesse. She is a stay-at-home mom and the office manager for her husband's heating and air company, CBS Mechanical Services. She keeps her writing skills up-to-date by doing freelance editing jobs, many online, and some for various law enforcement offices throughout the state. “I live for my kids and love playing with and reading to them. I did get open water certified in scuba diving on my honeymoon and have had close encounters with stingrays and other such cool marine life.” | |||||
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| 1998 | Back to top | |||||
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Lara Keaton Barber has been teaching high school English at West Bladen High School for the past six years. She has been married to Jeremy for eight years, they have a 4-year-old daughter, Tamia, and live in Whiteville, N.C. She is also a NC Teaching Fellows alumni. | |||||
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| 1999 | Back to top | |||||
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Shannon Kelly Hibbard earned her master’s in 2002 and recently moved to Raleigh, where she works as an e-clinical specialist for Cornerstone Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company in Cary. “I write code because in my former life and during grad school I started doing Web pages. My thesis was actually about rhetoric and advertising on the Internet, so it was a natural progression.” She also teaches part time online at the University of Phoenix. | |||||
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| Phylis Diana Black earned a master's of liberal arts in History from Auburn University in Montgomery in 2006 and teaches English composition, literature and public speaking to cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. She is a captain in the Air Force and has served in California, Alabama, Iraq and (currently) Colorado. In fall 2009, she'll begin a master’s in English literature. “For my former profs: I'd like you to know that I enjoyed your classes tremendously—even when I felt I was suffering. I still think of you from time to time, and I remain inspired by your various approaches and attitudes to teaching, to writing and to literature. So many parts of my life are a blur, with names and faces I don't remember well or at all. My time at UNCW is an exception to that rule. Thank you all for what you gave me. If I can do the same for even one of my students, I will die knowing I lived well.” | ||||||
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| 2000 | Back to top | |||||
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Kim Small lives in Wilmington and Whiteville and is a Spanish teacher at Southeastern Community College in Whiteville, after working seven years at New Hanover High School. Kim is the first New Hanover County National Board Certified Spanish teacher and taught ESL part time with Cape Fear Community College from 2002-2004. She also taught Health Care English to migrant workers in the former Migrant Center in Rocky Point, N.C. She has studied in Peru and Ecuador for graduate credit. She earned her MALS degree with a concentration in Hispanic Studies in 2007 from UNCW and won the Ralph Brauer Award in order to do research in Ecuador on Manuela Saenz for the MALS final project. | |||||
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| Michelle Britt also earned her M.A. from UNCW in 2003 and teaches literature and composition classes at UNCW and Cape Fear Community College. “I traveled a lot since then ... hitting my 30th country in March -- Peru. Yippy!” She is not married, but has two cats “that are my kids.” | ||||||
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| 2001 | Back to top | |||||
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Ebony Freeland Bryant married Kevin Bryant in 2006, and welcomed “our little blessing, Sanai Brielle, to the world on Christmas Day (her due date!).” Sanai weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 17.5 inches. “She was born with her eyes open and alert and not a peep! She's the most beautiful baby in the world, even if I am a bit biased!” | |||||
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| 2002 | Back to top | |||||
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Rachel Urban was a student-athlete, participating in varsity women’s soccer under Head Coach Paul Cairney. “Although it feels like just yesterday that I was roaming the halls of Morton, I realize after gathering my thoughts on career paths, relationships and life in general that it has been over six years since I was a student.” She moved to hometown Greensboro, N.C., and got a lateral entry teaching position at Page High School, the school that she attended. She moved back to Wilmington and began teaching exceptional children at New Hanover High School. After two years, she was offered a position at a local mental health agency that specialized in Therapeutic Foster Care, for the most severely abused and neglected children. She is now working for the Department of Public Health, specifically the state's Department of Cancer Coordination and Control. “I completed the Richmond Marathon in Virginia in November 2008. The 26.2-mile journey is another experience that I will never forget ... my legs won't either. Professors, to answer your question on how we all turned out: Life is good. Thanks so much, and I love and miss UNCW!” | |||||
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| Yoko Tanaka works in Japan and has a small private English teaching practice with a handful of good students. “My free schedule allows me time to take care of my grandparents.” | ||||||
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| 2003 | Back to top | |||||
| Allison Andrews Albert has been teaching English for five years and earned her master's in English Education from UNC Greensboro in 2006. She currently teaches ninth- and tenth-grade English at Westchester Country Day School in High Point, N.C. She married John Albert in 2008, and they live in High Point. | ||||||
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Kristin Crowson lives in Chicago, where she moved after graduating from UNCW. There she works in marketing and international business development. For the past two years, she has managed the Midwest region and Canada for The Datamyne, Inc., an international trade research firm. “I work closely with clients and help with market analysis using our global trade resources.” | |||||
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| Christina Adams Burchette lives in Kernersville, N.C., and works for a local church as a media assistant. She is married to Anthony Burchette, who also graduated from UNCW. They have two wonderful dogs. Her greatest adventure: “A mission trip to Kenya. I learned more in 10 days than I ever thought possible!” | ||||||
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| 2004 | Back to top | |||||
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Rebecca Germain (Lanham) married Talin downtown on The Henrietta almost five years ago “and life is great!” She and her husband moved back to Raleigh, where she wrote marketing collateral for IBM's Human Ability and Accessibility Center. After four years, she went back to school for a master’s and is back at UNCW studying for an MFA in Creative Writing. “I'm so happy to be back at UNCW doing what I love: writing. 2008 was a big year for us, with graduate school and moving, but it was a huge year because we also opened our first business in Wilmington, a car repair shop called Import Performance.” | |||||
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Erika Veth lives in Girdwood, Alaska, with her partner, Phil McGovern, and their dog, North. She earned a M.A. in English in 2008 at the University of Alaska Anchorage and was hired as UAA English faculty as a full-time instructor of literature and composition. “I feel extremely blessed!” She also advises UAA's chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, as well as Understory, UAA's creative arts magazine. “Phil and I are expecting our first child in May 2009 and eventually plan to head back East at some point.” | |||||
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Kara Brooke Still works in the film industry in Wilmington as a script supervisor. She recently won an Indie Award for Merit for her feature film, Altared, which she both wrote and directed. Take a look at the trailer for Altared at www.myspace.com/themoviealtared. Kara recently got engaged and plans to marry in September 2009. | |||||
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Kenneth Luck lives in in Greensboro, N.C., and is an account executive at RLF Communications, a public relations and marketing agency in Greensboro. He earned a M.A. in Communications from UNC Charlotte and won the 2008 Outstanding PR Campaign Award—Tar Heel PRSA Spinks Awards. |
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Heidi Thompson (Belcher) married Eli Thompson ‘04, and they have a 4-year-old son named Asher. “I am now teaching third grade at Roger Bacon Academy in Leland, N.C., and could not be happier. Although teaching was not the direction I intended to go in, I'm so happy I found it. My family and I live in Leland and are very happy.” | |||||
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Bambi Weavil is CEO and Publisher of Out Impact, Inc. and CEO of Out Impact Productions. Out Impact is a national gay online magazine focusing on making a positive impact in the gay community. She also produces events that help raise awareness and partial proceeds for various non-profits. She manages and is the publicist for clients in the sports and entertainment fields. “I stay busy, busy, busy.” She was featured on the front page of the local/state section of the Wilmington Star News on January 4, 2009. | |||||
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| Ginny Gaweda received an M.A. in European history in 2007 with a specialization in medieval history. Now, she teaches history courses for a community college and loves every minute of it. “I blend my love for literature into my lessons, so that my students may also realize the significant role literature has played in reflecting society at various points in history. Literature will always be a passion of mine, and I have found a place for it in my life. History taught me how to ask questions and define the ‘facts,’ but literature revealed that there was so much more depth to being human. It added a layer of richness to my life that I hope other students will one day learn to appreciate.” | ||||||
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| 2005 | Back to top | |||||
| Elizabeth Dodd is an attorney in Knoxville, Tenn., for the firm of Howard & Howard, P.C. | ||||||
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| Ceri-Louise Mobley (Frid) lives in Florida and enjoys her work with the PGA TOUR. “We have really revamped our features for this season, and I am also going to be taking on some additional editorial duties. I'll be managing the section for the Nationwide Tour, which includes coming up with story ideas, managing the freelancers and formulating a content budget.” |
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Elizabeth Jean Tingen (Biggs) is a policy analyst for North Carolina Farm Bureau and lives in Youngsville, N.C . She got married in October 2008 at Topsail Island. | |||||
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| Kerry Freeman (Fryar) teaches language arts at Hardin Park and lives with her husband in Blowing Rock, N.C. Her husband is in ministry, and they met in an English class they both took at UNCW “and have been together ever since.” They married in 2006, at Orton Plantation while she was teaching at Trask Middle School in Wilmington. “The mountains do have their appeal, rolling purple in the vast sky and sunsets every imaginable color stretching from Charlotte to Pilot Mountain. I carry fond memories of the professors that I had at UNCW and am actually teaching how to use diagramming trees instead of the old school diagram, thanks to Dr. Veit. Thank you to all the professors and English peers who, even though they may not know it, continue to teach me on a daily basis. God bless!” | ||||||
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Teresa Kleitches moved to Raleigh in 2006 to take a job at the North Carolina Supreme Court Library, in which she works in the technical services department, and bought a home the same year. “When I'm not working, I co-organize a community support group and attend concerts everywhere from Chapel Hill to Atlanta. My next goal is to pursue a master's degree in Library Science.” | |||||
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| Mallory Brady is in law school at the University of South Carolina and will graduate in May 2009. She is engaged and plans to move to West Virginia in May and take the bar exam. | ||||||
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| Allison Hope Knight traveled around Europe for four months after graduation, visiting friends whom she had met during her study abroad experience in Swansea, Wales, during the spring of 2003. “I explored over 20 countries, and I had an incredible experience!” She lives around Hillsborough and devoted several years to helping her grandmother, Elizabeth Allison, who was a vibrant 91 and still enjoyed going to the mountains and beach. “I am so grateful for the special times that Granny Elizabeth and I shared.” Allison works at the Orange County Public Library and at libraries in Hillsborough and Cedar Grove, and she has also worked as a courier, distributing books to branches at Carrboro, Person and Caswell. She works part-time at Kerr Drug in Hillsborough. | ||||||
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Heather Cline teaches high school English in Asheville, N.C., after a three-year stint of teaching at Topsail High, near Wilmington. “I am not married, do not have any children and have developed a strong passion for travel; I even chaperoned a trip to Europe with a group of students! I am enjoying my new home in the mountains and plan to stay here for at least a little while.” | |||||
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| Hunter Alexander moved back to Atlanta and in late 2006, he was hired by BellSouth Intelligent Media Ventures as a Web site editor. A year later, he accepted the position of project manager with a company owned by a family friend, then returned to BellSouth (AT&T Advertising and Publishing since AT&T took over) in the summer of 2008. He was married in 2007, and the couple lives in the Virginia-Highlands area of Atlanta. “We have three dogs, which makes the house seem like a barn at times but it's also a whole lot of fun. I do miss living at the beach, but Atlanta is home. We have lots of friends and family close by, and there's always something fun to do here.” If anyone would like to contact Hunter, his e-mail address is phunteralexander@yahoo.com. | ||||||
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| Jennifer Dauphinais (Bradshaw) lives in Wilmington with her husband, Paul, and dog, Duke. She works with the American Cancer Society as a community manager for four surrounding counties. | ||||||
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Shelley Smith moved home to Salisbury after graduation where she worked briefly for the hometown newspaper, The Salisbury Post. After four months of living with mom and dad, it was time to move on, and she was hired at The Avery Journal-Times in Newland, N.C., where she has been since April 2007. "Most people have never heard of Newland; however, Newland is the county seat of beautiful Avery County (home to Grandfather Mountain, Linville Falls, Blue Ridge Parkway, ski resorts ... you get the picture). I never thought I'd get used to moving from the coast to the mountains, but I absolutely love it up here." Shelly spends her spare time being outdoors, taking photographs and driving along the Parkway. She is thinking of taking the GRE and applying to grad school and would love to become a literature professor. |
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Heather Brown enrolled in the Ph.D. program in English at the University of Maryland and is now in the third year and on track to finish by spring 2010. Her focus is in rhetoric and composition, and her dissertation is currently titled "Personal Testimony, Emotional Evidence, and Public Debate: A Case Study of the Post-Abortion Movement." She lives in Takoma Park, Md., with her partner, Jake Hinkson, MFA '06. He also teaches at the University of Maryland. | |||||
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Jerilyn Slate Turkovich did a brief stint at a Wilmington public relations firm before being offered a teaching position with Onslow County Schools. Since January 2007, she has been a 10th grade English teacher at Richlands High School in Richlands, N.C. “In North Carolina, the standard course of study for the 10th grade is focused on writing -- one of the reasons I love the job.” She married in 2008 and visited him in the Kingdom of Bahrain for Christmas -- he was on assignment with the Marine Corps. They are expecting their first child, and they will be moving to Johnstown, Penn., in July 2009. | |||||
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Heather Noelle Bauer is service coordinator for Home Instead Senior Care, which includes scheduling, handling confidential information and performing quality assurance and client care visits. She helps create newsletters and has done write-ups about some of their caregivers. From time to time, she writes for The Village Idiot (a North Carolina entertainment pub). “I work part time at Elijah's as a waitress and have become an aunt twice in 20 months! Here's to 2009. Last, but not least, I am really enjoying working for the Cape Fear Literacy Council as a tutor. My student is an adult learner in his 40s whom I've spent approximately 50 hours with thus far. I am enjoying life! I hope you all are doing the same.” | |||||
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Krista Jevons moved back to her hometown of Rensselaer, N.Y., where she got into rehabbing homes and being a landlord. She is currently the pre-kindergarten coordinator for the Rensselaer City School District and is attending the College of Saint Rose for a master’s in education. “I am also working on writing children's books, which I hope to start sending out to publishers soon!” She and her husband are restoring their 1830s home. “Happy and healthy, but miss the beach!” | |||||
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Wendy Chilcote graduated with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and went back to UNCW and earned her licensure in middle grades language arts and social studies from the Watson School of Education. She recently accepted a position at Topsail Middle School where she teaches language arts and social studies to eighth-graders. | |||||
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Satu Harris has worked as a freelancer for the Wilmington Star-News and has shown her landscape photographs at a few exhibitions and displays. Her musician photos have been published in magazines including The Beat and Wilma. She works for Verizon Wireless as a customer service representative. “I absolutely love it there! My kids are officially teenagers (13, 14 and 15), and they are all taller than me now.” | |||||
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| Evan Andrews has worked as a contractor, done some freelance writing work and in 2009, plans to teach SAT prep courses in Richmond, Va. He has written a couple of screenplays and is trying to put together an independent feature film. | ||||||
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| Katie Glaken lives in Wilmington and works at a pre-school/child care called SOLA, just a few minutes from UNCW. She is not married and doesn’t have any kids (except the ones she teaches). “I have one female roomie -- my 6-month-old puppy, Cioppino (like the Italian seafood stew) whom my boyfriend and I adopted from PetSmart in late September. She is a beautiful mutt who is a joy to play with and watch as she grows and changes.” |
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Tracy Lee LaFon is a writing specialist instructor with the English department at Cape Fear Community College, working in the learning lab and mostly tutoring in English. She has started teaching workshops on creating professional documents such as resumes, proposals, letters of application and interest, and grant writing. She also works with Portals, the students’ literary and artistic publication, as well as doing some editing, writing and production work for other publications. “I am enjoying some traveling that was otherwise cost preventative while I was in school with trips this year to Florida (DisneyWorld—accompanying the seniors of Pender High School on their annual trip), New England, Ohio (Lake Erie and Cedar Point—the rollercoaster capital of the world), Oregon, California and Mexico, as well as the mountains of North Carolina. It has been a very good year!” | |||||
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| Molly DeWitt parleyed a UNCW internship at the Jacksonville Daily News into a full-time job after she graduated. She is the city/county government reporter and is putting all the skills she learned in her UNCW English classes to work. “I've even been fortunate enough to dabble in the area of column writing, which, it turns out, is my favorite part of the job, and I hope to do more of it in the future.” | ||||||
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