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2001 Alumni Newsletter

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Suliman Al-Hanaki is working at the Ministry of Petroleum. His last project was reviewing and analyzing President Bush's National Energy Policy which came out on May 17th. In addition, Suliman was recently blessed with a second child, Abdullah. (s_alhanaki@hotmail.com) 

Jon Bathgate (M.S. 1992) is a GIS Specialist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Survey Office, in Carbondale, Illinois. He's married to Leslie Duram and they have a son, Kyle (age 4) who already likes to draw maps --but mostly he likes to play baseball with his Daddy.

Patricia Ann Bennett (M.A. 1996) completed her comprehensive exams for the doctoral program in geography at the University of Iowa and is now "ABD" status. She traveled to Argentina last summer and Germany the January before doing some preliminary research on international environment and development projects. This summer, she is working at the Iowa Social Science Institute writing grants, conducting surveys and analysis for a range of projects and clients such as the Aspen Institute and the State Department. (patriciabennett@altavista.com) 

Cheryl Blake traveled to China over Christmas, with fellow KSU alums Kelly and Karen Gregg. She has been employed with National Imagery and Mapping Agency for 17 years! She continues to pursue hobbies of surf fishing, travel, and needlework. (blakec@nima.mil) 

Sergio Camberos (M.A. 2000) decided to pack up and move to Texas after graduating in December 2000. His girlfriend received a job teaching at a college in south Texas and he got a job teaching at a Jr. High School, shortly after. He enjoys working at the school and is surrounded by wonderful people. He currently lives in Pharr which is one of the southernmost locations in the contiguous U.S. (sergio_camberos@hotmail.com)

Rick Craven (M.A. 1984) has just completed the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island where he received a Masters in "National Security and Strategic Studies” with the Nations future military leaders. Rick was one of only seventeen civilians that were allowed to attend the college this year. He is now reporting to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's Asia/Oceania Division, based in St. Louis, Missouri. (Mcngman@aol.com)

Leslie Duhram (M.A. 1991; Ph.D Colorado 1994) is a tenured Associate Professor of Geography at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Her research focus is organic farming and local watershed management. She is married to Jon Bathgate and they have Kyle (age 4) and Baby (expected Jan 2002). (duram@siu.edu)

Shawn Hutchinson (M.A. 1997; Ph.D. 2000) will join the KSU geography faculty beginning the Fall 2001 semester. Shawn and his wife Stacy left Georgia and returned to Manhattan last year as faculty members in Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Their first child, Mitchell Owen, was born on April 10, 2001. (shutch@ksu.edu)

Cliff Kinder (attended KSU from 1989 to 1991) received his BS in Geography in the fall of 94 from Illinois State University. He has been teaching geography, and working with the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education as a Teacher Consultant for the last 6 years, and this year was awarded a Distinguished Teaching Award from the NCGE. (isugeog@aol.com)

Carol Kriebs (B.S. 1999) began working for Shawnee County in December of 1999 as a GIS Technical Support Specialist. She belongs to the Kansas Mapping Association and is on the program committee for the Wichita Conference in September. Carol is pursuing an MBA at Baker University.

Jeanenne Leven (B.S. 2001) will enter the masters program at KSU in the fall. Her interests are natural hazards and rapid response/mitigation. She is currently working with Dr. Bimal Paul on a grant involving rapid response to the recent Hosington tornado. (jrl9265@ksu.edu)

Richard Lisichenko (M.A. 1993) accepted a tenure-track position in the Geosciences Department at Fort Hays State University. (rlisiche@fhsu.edu)

Tadesse Kidane-Mariam (M.A. 1974) successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Iowa and will be awarded the degree in July. The title of his dissertation is "Changes and Continuities in Africa's post-independence Environmental and Habitat Management Paradigms and Policies: The Case of Ethiopia and Ghana". Tadesse's family lives in Iowa City, where his daughter is a student at the University of Iowa and his sons are at West High School. In August Tadesse will join the geography faculty at Southern Illinois University. (tkidanem@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu)

Ray McDonald (B.S. 1987, B.A.1994) is currently working as a GIS contractor for Alliant Energy.

John P. McKenzie (M.A. 1997) is currently working at a pharmaceutical non-profit in the Washington, DC area where he helps put educational courses together. Although this is not quite geographical, he said the chances are good that he will gain managerial experience and hopefully become a program manager for some international organization, and return overseas in a few years or so. (jmckenzie72@yahoo.com)

Stacy Lynn Meredith (B.S. 2000) finished her first year in the MPP program at the University of Chicago, where she is focusing on environmental policy. This summer she is working with a lobbying firm emphasizing environmental policy. She will graduate with her masters in June of 2002. (stacym@midway.uchicago.edu)

Teresa Nusbaum. (B.S. 1998) lives in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. She works for P.A.W.S. (Preservation and Wildlife Society) Farm Nature Center as an environmental educator and special events coordinator. (ksugirl@home.com)

Brian Parr (M.A. 1998) is currently living in Redlands, California with his wife Brandy. He works for ESRI as an education specialist (technical writer) for the Virtual Campus team and also as a software instructor. (bparr@esri.com)

Laura C. Peck (B.S. 1977) retired from the Navy as a lieutenant commander in 1997 at which time she went back to school and received an Associate of Arts and Technology degree in computer application technology and Microsoft Certification for System Engineer in 1999. She was hired by Peninsula College, and taught basic computer skills courses. Currently she has two applications for doctoral candidacy in Adult and Continuing Education at Western Washington State University, and Kansas State University. (lckansas@hotmail.com)

Barbara Potts (attended KSU from 1966 to 1970) has four children who are spread out across the United States and soon to reach across seas when her oldest daughter and son-in-law will be moving to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in October. Barbara is currently the office manager for her husbands world wide company, Test Measurement Systems, Inc. (www.tmsi-usa.com). His company provides them both with the opportunity to travel frequently; most recently Korea and Japan. (bpotts@neo.rr.com)

Brad Rundquist (Ph.D. 2000) is currently an assistant professor of Geography at the University of North Dakota. He has been enjoying the challenges of university research and teaching thus far. 

Kristen Rundquist (M.A. 2000) is a Geographic Information Systems Specialist working for Tesseract Technologies, a company based in Fairfax, Virginia, that contracts with the U.S. Air Force to develop computer mapping and database applications in support of Air Force Air Mobility Commands. She is currently working with government personnel at the Grand Forks Air Force Base located 20 miles from Grand Fork, North Dakota.  

Tom C. Schafer (Ph.D. 2000) is an Assistant Professor at Fort Hays State University, teaching classes in GIS, Regional Geography, Geology, and Cartography. He is a member of the Governor's Geographic Information Systems Advisory Board and the Ellis County Regional GIS Organization (ERGO) Operations Committee. In April, he delivered a paper at the Kansas Academy of Science concerning tuberculosis incidence rates in high risk groups in Southwestern Kansas. His contribution to the volume "Fluid Arguments; Water in the American West" was published this Spring. (tschafer@fhsu.edu)

Kay Weller (1990 M.A. Geog. 1993 Ph.D. Curriculum & Instruction KSU) is currently the Coordinator of the Geographic Alliance of Iowa. She was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Northern Iowa and is also the editor of the Journal of Social Studies Research. She has been continuing her research on Kansas Black Towns and what caused their disappearance. (weller@csbs.csbs.uni.edu)