2014 Spring – Alumni News and Notes: 1970s, 1980s

1970s Angelo L. dos Santos ’70 (ED), ’73 JD, a senior judge on the Windham District Superior Court in Connecticut, received in October the Americo S. Ventura Lifetime Achievement Award from the Portuguese Bar Association of Connecticut; the Our Lady of Fatima Appreciation Award; the Outstanding Member Medal from the Portuguese Club of Hartford; official […]

1970s

Angelo L. dos Santos ’70 (ED), ’73 JD, a senior judge on the Windham District Superior Court in Connecticut, received in October the Americo S. Ventura Lifetime Achievement Award from the Portuguese Bar Association of Connecticut; the Our Lady of Fatima Appreciation Award; the Outstanding Member Medal from the Portuguese Club of Hartford; official citations from the State of Connecticut Senate, the General Assembly, and the Office of the Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill; and an official statement from the Office of Connecticut Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman.

Stanley F. Battle ’75 MSW is professor of social work at the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Conn., and founding director of the master’s degree in social work program, which will be offered at the university in the summer of 2014. He previously worked in higher education administration at Central Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Coppin State University.

Tom Ingrassia ’75 (CLAS) is the co-author, with Jared Chrudimsky, of One Door Closes: Overcoming Adversity by Following Your Dreams, published by Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing in October. The book is available at amazon.com.

Lynn Segal Mark MA ’75 received the 2013 Tomko Award for Outstanding Achievement from the South West Ohio Rehabilitation Association in December, in recognition of her lifetime achievement in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities. She previously served as a senior vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state of Connecticut and later became a senior vocational rehabilitation counselor in the state of Ohio.

1980s

Sarah Degnan Kambou ’80 (CLAS), president of the International Center for Research on Women, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., was honored by the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area in December with the Perdita Huston Human Rights Award, which recognized her outstanding work improving human rights around the world. In 2012 President Barack Obama named her to the President’s Global Development Council. That same year, she was named by former President Bill Clinton as an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Ken Martino ’80 (BUS), ’82 MBA was elected to the board of directors of Kid’s Chance of America, a nonprofit based in Pottstown, Pa., that provides educational opportunities and scholarships for the children of workers seriously injured or killed on the job. He has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry and recently started his own company, Injured Workers Pharmacy, a service that helps people injured in accidents return to a productive life by collaborating with the legal, medical, and insurance communities.

Denise E. Wilbur ’80 MA is interim vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She previously served as vice president for academic affairs and professor education, chief academic officer of the Gwynedd-Valley College in Gwynedd-Valley, Pa.

Lisa Begin-Kruysman ’81 (CLAS) is the author of Dog’s Best Friend: Will Judy, Founder of National Dog Week and Dog World Publisher, to be released in July by McFarland, and Around the World in 1909: Harriet White Fisher and Her Locomobile, to be released in September by American History Press. She lives in New Jersey and writes a blog at nationaldogweekbook.wordpress.com.

Carol Masheter ’83 MA, ’88 Ph.D., the world’s oldest woman at age 65 to have reached the top of every one of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, completed three more summits in 2013: Nepal’s Island Peak (20,340 feet) last April, Mount Rainier (14,441 feet) in Washington state in July, and Mont Blanc (15,770 feet) in the French Alps in August.

David Schejbal84 MA, 91 Ph.D., dean of continuing education, outreach and e-learning at University of Wisconsin-Extension in Madison, Wis., received the Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership in March from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, which also welcomed him as the association’s 2014-15 president-elect. The award recognizes unusual and extraordinary contributions to the cause of continuing education on the regional, national and/or international level.

Rich J. Antous Jr. ’85 (CLAS) is downtown UNIT (Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team) coordinator for the Office of Neighborhood Assistance in Danbury, Conn. He is responsible for policy/enforcement and the well-being of the downtown for Mayor Mark D. Boughton.

Drew Maciag ’85 MBA is the author of Edmund Burke in America: The Contested Career of the Father of Modern Conservatism, released in April 2013 by Cornell University Press.

Allen Gary Palmer ’85 (CLAS) is partner at law firm Halloran & Sage LLP in Connecticut. He also is the Region 1 representative for the American Bar Association Family Law Section Council and the vice chair of the Connecticut Bar Association Family Law Section.

Robin Petgrave ’85 (SFA), founder and chief pilot of Celebrity Helicopters as well as founder and executive of Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum, a nonprofit flight academy and after-school program in Compton, Calif., was named one of the nation’s most influential African-Americans in EBONY Magazine’s 2013 “Power 100” list this past October.

Geoffrey Silverstein ’85 (BUS) and Amy Rabinowitz married on Oct. 27, 2013.

Nicholas S. Zaharias ’85 (CLAS), vice president for marketing and philanthropy at Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence, Mass., has won 16 national/regional health care marketing and advertising awards since 2011.

Joseph Nigro ’86 (CLAS), executive vice president of Exelon and CEO of Constellation, Exelon’s Baltimore-based competitive retail and wholesale business, was elected to the board of directors of the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

James Purcell ’86 (ENG), technical director of the New Jersey Asphalt Pavement Association, is vice president of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying’s Northeast Zone, and will serve on its board of directors and as the zone’s administrative officer through 2015.

Andrew M. Klos ’87 (CLAS) is project chemist for the Tucson, Ariz.-based office of Conestoga-Rovers and Associates, an international engineering and consulting firm, where he provides data-validation services to several U.S.-remediation projects for Freeport McMoran, a large international mining firm.

Chris LaRoche ’88 (CLAS), a usability consultant at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., is a member-at-large of the User Experience Professionals Association’s International Board of Directors. He will serve a three-year term.