Alumni & Friends
The Great Conversation - April 9, 2008, Houston Country Club
The Great Conversation is The Honors College’s primary community fund raising event each year. The evening simulates the Human Situation class – complete with thought-provoking exchanges of ideas – without the homework! A faculty member leads a conversation on a pre-announced topic at each table. Topics come from a range of disciplines taught at the University, including history, philosophy, art, and science. Attendees may also select a professor who will prompt conversation about sports, politics, drama, wine, or film. The proceeds from The Great Conversation provide scholarships to many of the College's approximately 1,100 students.
We hope you will consider joining us for this unique celebration of The Honors College. For more information on underwriting a table or purchasing tickets to the event, please contact Shannon Parrish at 713.743.9973.
Honors College Alumni Notes
1988-1993
Therese Browne Johnson ('88, Psychology; ’91, M.Ed. Guidance and Counseling) is an academic advisor at St. Xavier University. She was a stay-at-home mom for seven years. Theresejoh@aol.com
Shelton M. Vaughan ('88, Music & Political Science) and Yone Vaughan, along with big sister Ashley and big brother James, are happy to announce the birth of a new little brother, Lucas Collins Vaughan, who was born on June 29, 2004. svaughn20@houston.rr.com
Sandra Hiesser Emerson ('89, Journalism; '93, MS Mathematics) lives in Medina, Ohio where she has been teaching Mathematics at Lorain County Community College as a full-time, tenure-track instructor. Her husband Matt Emerson (’90, French) is currently working for a contractor at NASA Glenn Research Center. They welcomed their first son Timothy on June 30th. sandra@thoughtstuff.com
Kevin O’Gorman (’89, German) has joined Fulbright & Jaworski practicing international arbitration and dispute resolution. Kevin and his wife, Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith, recently became the parents of twins. kogorman@fulbright.com
Diane Hawthorne Scardino (’92 Marketing & Organizational Behavior and Management) is an Assistant Director at Texas Children’s Health Centers in the Texas Medical Center. dhscardi@TexasChildrensHospital.org
Chanda Greissel (’93, Biology & Chemistry) received her M.D. at the University of Iowa, and then went on to do her residency at Tulane Medical School. Chanda is now continuing her work in Ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic. chandaannette@hotmail.com
Nels P. Highberg ('93, English) has joined the Department of Rhetoric, Language, and Culture at the University of Hartford as an assistant professor after earning a Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. highberg@hartford.edu
Matthew Karafa ('93 Chemistry) completed his doctorate at Case Western Reserve University in 2003. He is currently with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio and will be heading a team of statistical programmers in the clinic's Biostatistics and Epidemiology Department. mkarafa@wideopenwest.com
Thomas P. Dalton ('93, Finance; '97, J.D.) moved from Chicago to London to do investment banking for Bank of America Securities Private Placement Group. Thomas.Dalton@BankofAmerica.com
Anneke Larson (’93, French & English) is working for Central Texas Speech Pathology Services in Austin. alslp03@hotmail.com
Lydia Potoczniak (’93, Political Science & Russian Studies) graduated from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. After passing the bar, she is currently contracting at the firm Phelps Dunbar in the area of insurance and reinsurance law. lpotoczniak@yahoo.com
Scott Sonsalla ('93, Operations Management) lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and kids. He received a Master of Liberal Arts from Louisiana State University and was selected as a Joint Chiefs of Staff Intern with the U.S. Army. He received a Masters in Policy Management from Georgetown University in May. In the spring he worked as Military Intern to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. sonsallas@earthlink.net
Nichol Bradford (’94, Marketing) is a Senior Global Brand Manager for Vivendi Universal Games. Nichol.Bradford@vugames.com
Don Donnelly (’94, History) served in active duty on a Navy gunboat for a year in the Iraqi war. He sent a U.S. flag and two Navy medals to The Honors College in appreciation of his years here. He plans to pursue a Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies. dondonnellyiii@hotmail.com
1995-1998
William L. Barnes, Jr. ('95, Political Science & German) is taking a break from a career in law to concentrate on writing fiction. His wife, Elena Romanova (’96, Accounting) is a tax lawyer with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York. Elena graduated with high honors from New York University School of Law in 2002. Elena and Bill reside in New York City. eromanova@cgsh.com
Matt Brawley (’95, Radio and Television) was awarded the Houston Press Club’s Lone Star Award for Photojournalist of the Year for 2004. In addition to this award, Matt was nominated by the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) in three categories for the year 2004: Feature Story, Editing portfolio, and Videography portfolio, winning the award for Feature Story. Matt currently works for KUHT as a videographer/editor and is the director of InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse and The After Party. mbrawley@kuht.uh.edu
Stephanie Felts (’95, French) and Donald Dement (’95, Psychology & Sociology; ’96, MA Psychology; 98’ Ph.D. Psychology) have returned to the Lone Star State this past summer. They spent four years in Florida, and Donald’s recent promotion is taking them to Humble. Stephanie taught French for 3 years at Rockledge High School in Florida. skdement@yahoo.com
Monica Jacobs (’95, Economics) was named a Texas Rising Star for 2004 by Law & Politics Media, Inc. The Rising Stars are considered the top 2.5% of attorneys who have been practicing for 10 years or less. Monica practices environmental and natural resources law with a concentration on water issues in the Austin office of Bracewell & Patterson, L.L.P. monica.jacobs@bracepatt.com
David Reed (‘95, Political Science), a former National Merit student, writes software and is Director of Product Development at Prudential Real Estate Services Company. He and his wife study martial arts and volunteer at their local mosque. DReed@eRealty.com
A.J. Rader ('96, Physics & Mathematics) has been in Pittsburgh for more than a year working on post-doctorate research in biophysics with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Computation Biology and Bioinformatics. rader@pitt.edu
Pamela Thacker (’96, Accounting) is working as an attorney for Ware, Snow, Fogel, and Jackson, L.L.P. after graduating from Duke Law School. pamelathacker@waresnow.com
April Erickson Feick (’97, Chemical Engineering) and her husband, John, recently welcomed the first addition to their family. John Charles Feick VIII was born on February 19th. april.l.feick@exxonmobil.com
Dean King (’97, Management; ’99 MBA) is currently the Executive Director for the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists. ldking@iacprx.org
Beth Cherry ('98, English) is currently working on her MFA in the Design and Technology Program at New York's Parsons School of Design. beth.cherry@thestudyofdesign.com
Gregory Grabiec (’98, Biology) finished his Masters of International Management at the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, AZ. He has also received his MBA in Finance from the Bauer College of Business. ggrabiec@hotmail.com
Shasta Jones (’98, Sociology & History) received her Ph.D. in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania in May. She is staying in South Africa for three to four years to continue her research. She will direct a research project focusing on HIV intervention with adolescents. shastaj@pop.upenn.edu
Rai St. Julien ('98, Mathematics) is a navy pilot in Jacksonville, Florida. His missions range from search and rescue to armed helicopter escort and patrol services. raistj@comcast.net
Joel Westra ('98, Political Science) received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in June. Joel is currently Visiting Lecturer in the Committee on International Relations at The University of Chicago. He plans to begin a post-doctoral position in the fall. jhwestra@hotmail.com
2000-2001
David A. Berntsen, (’00, Optometry; ’02, O.D.) is a Graduate Teaching Associate at the Ohio State University College of Optometry. He completed a two-year Cornea and Contact Lens Fellowship and a Master's in Vision Science in June. He will be staying at OSU to begin his Ph.D. in Vision Science. DBerntsen@optometry.osu.edu
Jenny Fransson Bjorndal (’00, Accounting & Finance) works for the National Financial Management Authority in Sweden where she is involved in analyzing the government economy. In July, she married Tomas Bjorndal whom she met outside the Honors College in 1997. Jenny.Fransson@esv.se
Michael Johnson ('00, Biology) graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville in May. He has begun his residency at Baylor in the internal medicine/pediatrics combined program. Mierjo@aol.com
Emily Leung (’00, Chemical Engineering) finished her J.D. at the University of Chicago in June and is now working for a law firm in New York. eleung2@uchicago.edu
John Averill (’01, Management Information Sciences) was hired as Senior Planning Analyst with the Baylor College of Medicine. jpaverill@hotmail.com
Patrick Dennis (‘01, Political Science) graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a J.D. with honors in May. After graduation he will begin working as an associate for Vinson & Elkins, LLP in its Houston office.
Oscar Herdocia (’01, Mechanical Engineering) has traveled the world working for BP Exploration & Production since graduating from the Honors College. He is currently working for BP on a project that has relocated him to Paris, France. herdocog@bp.com
Hután Hejazi Martínez (’01 Cultural Anthropology) completed his third year in the Ph.D. program in Cultural Anthropology at Rice University. hhm@rice.edu
Megan Lee (’01, Political Science) was accepted into the MFA in Creative Writing program at Texas State University and will begin the program in the fall. Trevonac20@aol.com
2002-2004
Neeta Dhall Darnule (’02, Electrical Engineering) is a junior device fabrication engineer for MicroLink Devices, Inc. Her husband Amit Darnule ('99, Biochemistry) is at Northwestern Memorial Hospital doing his residency in anesthesia. The two met during their years in the Honors College, and they live in downtown Chicago. ndhall98@hotmail.com adarnu@yahoo.com
John Grace (’02, Finance & Entrepreneurship; ’04, MS Finance) graduated last spring with a Master’s in Finance from UH and is now a Financial Analyst with Shell Oil in Houston.
Chris De Young (’02, Electrical Engineering) spent the summer of 2003 in Nigeria teaching classes in computer science and computer repair skills at Hilltop University. He has begun work on his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. This summer he is researching DR antennas in Hong Kong at the City University of Hong Kong.
Ben Fasenfest ('02, Electrical Engineering; '04 Master's in Electrical Engineering) is working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at the University of California. He received his Master's degree in the spring and plans to pursue a Ph.D. part time. bfasenfe@mail.uh.edu
Steve Jackson (’02, Computer Science) is working in Virginia Beach at SFA, a tech company whose work is primarily contracted from the defense department. His current project involves radio room automation for a new aircraft carrier. action8@hotmail.com
Tanya Fazal ('03, Advertising) lives in Houston and is Marketing Director at Prime Communications, a premier agent of Cingular Wireless. tfazal@primecomms.com
Paul Klinger (’03, Creative Writing) has been selected to teach an honors section of an introductory poetry workshop at the University of Arizona in the fall. lekling@cox.net
Pamela Klekar (’04, Political Science) is working in the Political and Economic affairs department for the Consulate-General of Japan in Houston. pamela.klekar@cgjhou.org
Justin O’Neill and Magda Szczesniak (’04, Music) married in August after graduating from the Honors College. Magda is currently in an MA/MBA program at SMU while Justin is busy with the Plano Symphony and the Beaumont Symphony. twoviolins@gmail.com
