Alumni notes from the winter 2009–10 issue of News & Views
Alumni are designated by (degree ’entering year)
1970s
Tom Chapel (MA ’78) has a new role at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta after a stint as interim chief performance officer. He now is the chief evaluation officer in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
1980s
Scott H. DeLisi (MA ’80) was nominated by President Obama for the role of Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal within the U.S. Department of State.
Tom McSteen (MA ’85) left University of Minnesota Physicians in December for the position of chief privacy officer at Medtronic.
Bruce Messelt (MA '88) left the City of Moorhead to become city administrator for Lake Elmo.
Sarah Stoesz (MA ’85), president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, wrote two commentary pieces for Minnesota Public Radio in December. “What kind of health care reform takes away access women already have?” (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/12/01/stoesz/) and “An overlooked solution in Copenhagen: family planning” (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/12/18/stoesz/).
 Kevin Wolf (MA ’88) has been nominated by President Obama for the position of Assistant Secretary of Commerce (export administration) in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
1990s
Peter Armstrong (MP ’94) has a new position as community development project coordinator for the City of Berkeley, California.
Jen (Romslo) Augustson (MA ’97) is the senior manager of operations for HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education.
Carol Dallman (MA ’93) teaches social studies at Wellstone International High School in Minneapolis.
Scott Leitz (MA ’00) began a new role in December as director of child health policy and advocacy at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
Sarah Lynch (MPP ’99) wrote to say, “After six months conducting risk management work at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, I’ve accepted a transfer to its Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Biomass Program.”
Laura (Olson) Waterton (MURP ’99) is the senior planning officer in the Department of Enforcement for Chiltern District Council in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England.
David Stamm (MP ’94) has a new position as project manager for Renaissance Planning Group in Orlando, Florida.
Mariia Zimmerman (MP ’95) was honored as woman of the year by the Women’s Transportation Symposium (WTS), Washington, D.C., chapter. The award honors a woman who is an outstanding role model and has contributed to the advancement of women and minorities in transportation. Find out more about WTS here.
2000 to 2004
Irma Arteaga (MPP ’04), a graduate student in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, won a best poster award in November from the Association for Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) in Washington, D.C., for her conference poster describing her research titled “Non-instrumental Variables Approaches for Modeling Attrition: The Case of the Long-term Effects of Early Education.” This research is part of Arteaga’s dissertation directed by Associate Professor Judy Temple.
Linnea (Betzler) Mirsch (MPP ’04) is deputy county administrator for St. Louis County, Minnesota.
Nathan Franzen (MURP ’01) is general manager at Westwood Renewables, LLC, in Minneapolis.
 Haeil Jung (MPP ’01) is an assistant professor at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) in Bloomington. His area of specialization is applied econometrics and program evaluation, crime policy, and public policy for low-income families. Haeil completed his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 2009.
Sida Ly-Xiong (MS–STEP ’01) left the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota in December for a new role at the Center for Asian Pacific Islanders (CAPI), where she is the manager of impact and innovation. Ly-Xiong’s roleis to lead CAPI’s gender equity, action learning, and coalition building efforts. She has worked with nonprofits locally and nationally for more than 10 years in such areas as creating youth leadership programs for immigrant communities in Wisconsin, mediating civil and consumer disputes with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, and researching sustainable community economic development models in Botswana.
Thomas More (MPP ’00) works at HDR Engineering in Minneapolis.
Carolyn Sampson (MPA ’03) is the communications manager for the Minnesota Rural Electric Association
 Cecily (Schrader) McChalicher (MURP ’04) is a program associate at Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) in Boston. McChalicher assists with NEEP’s administration and operation of the Regional Evaluation, Measurement, and Verification Forum.
Prior to joining NEEP, McChalicher worked as the conservation programs associate for the Minnesota Land Trust, where she assisted with land protection projects, administered the volunteer program, and managed conservation easement stewardship activities. She also played a key role in the Minnesota Land Trust’s successful application to become one of the first accredited Land Trusts in the country.
Kate Theisen Bartelt (MS–STEP ’02) was promoted to senior associate at Richardson, Richter & Associates, Inc. She provides high-level public outreach, facilitation, mediation, and conflict resolution for a variety of stakeholders.
Rosa Tock (MPP ’01) wrote a piece about the Census 2010 in the Vol. 9 No. 12 issue of Eventos. Read the article on page 30 at http://www.eventosnews.com/.
2005 to present
Xue (Mandy) Bai (MPP ’05) is the training program manager for the University of Minnesota’s China Center and a part-time student in the University’s Carlson School of Management MBA program.
Daniel Bernard (MPA ’05) is a program officer II at Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs in New Maadi, Egypt.
Kim Borton (MPP ’05) was recognized for her work as a board member with the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota at the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ National Philanthropy Day. Borton has served in her governance capacity with the organization for more than three years, leading the Public Policy Committee and Social Change Grantmaking Committee.
Kelly Lehr (MPA ’05) has a new position as senior program evaluator for Ramsey County Human Services in St. Paul.
William Lightner (MURP ’06) is working for the Washington County Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
Zijie (Bill) Peng (MPP ’06) is programofficer for health programs at the Yale–China Association in New Haven, Connecticut.
Virginia Rutter (MPP ’05) is a financial consultant for Public Financial Management in Minneapolis.
Patrick Smith (MURP ’05) is an environmental specialist with Geronimo Wind Energy in Edina.
Gabriel Vogt (MPP ’06) is on staff in the Budget Department for the U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Management Division.
Lisa Wissbaum (MPA ’05) has a new role as administrative director for the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Party (CCEFP), a center within the University of Minnesota’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.
New additions
Natalie Hoover (MPP ’05) and husband Samir welcomed daughter Lara on September 10, 2009.
Simon Mudge (MPP ’00) and wife Joann welcomed a boy, Lachlan Kale, on November 24, 2009. He joins siblings Jackson and Lauren.
Kelly Scanlan (MA ’95) and husband Jevon Anderson had a boy, John William, on November 21, 2009. He joins big sister Ginger, age 2.
Passings
Dr. Jerome Kaplan (MA ’49) passed away on December 20, 2009, in Mansfield, Ohio. He was an internationally renowned gerontologist. Early in his career he served as an aide to then Minneapolis Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey and as a special assistant to Minnesota Governor Orville L. Freeman.
Dr. Vera Likins (MA ’53) passed away on May 1, 2009.
John E. Walker (MA ’75) of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, passed away in July 2009. |
