11 minute read
Class Notes
ClassNotes
1940s
1 NANCY LIBERMAN RATLIFF ’48 shares her gratitude for her GPS education, especially for the five years of Latin she was required to take. “Our eighth-grade teacher was Mary Stuart Becking, a young, inspiring teacher who brought Latin off the pages of a book and into real life. It truly helped when I took Italian in college, and I taught Latin in the public high school in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and in the Presbyterian and Catholic high schools. In the past few years, I have taught vocabulary classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program at the University of Southern Mississippi. It is such fun to open a whole new world of words to adults who never took Latin and never before knew how to pick words apart to find the root meanings. (I use both Latin and Greek roots.) As our language introduces new words almost every day, we can trace them back thousands of years and make more sense of what is being said. Challenge: Find the root of the word "vaccination," and it will floor you how/why we use it. Through our deep GPS involvement in Latin, we also had a good foundation in Greek and Roman mythologies, and I have taught classes in that in high school and at OLLI. I (taught a class) this spring, and the title I assigned to it is: ‘Latin Isn't Dead; It's Immortal.’ I am 91 and going strong, always looking to learn something new. Here's to my GPS education and to the girls attending now and in the future!”
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1990s
2 TAMARA HINES STEWARD '98
was appointed by Mayor Tim Kelly and confirmed in March as Chattanooga’s first Chief Equity Officer. “I am deeply honored and excited to join the city and Mayor Kelly in service to our community, its residents, and visitors as we work together to realize his vision for One Chattanooga,” she stated in a release. “Through building bridges, removing barriers, and enabling access, I will work to ensure that Chattanooga is a place where all residents and neighborhoods can thrive and have their voices heard.”
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2000s
3 Research by MAITHILEE KUNDA '02, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University and Director of Vanderbilt’s Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and Visual Analogical Systems, was recently featured in an article in the The New York Times. Professor Kunda and her colleagues created a video game called “Film Detective,” piloted this spring, where the player wakes up in the year 3021 and has to assist a scientist to catch a villain who is stealing items from the Museum of Human History. The game is designed to be played by those with autism, many of whom have “superior visual thinking but have a lot of difficulty with social action,” Kunda said. Through the use of artificial intelligence, Kunda was able to use gaming with movie clips to ask players why characters act how they did and what was their thinking behind it. Kunda also directs Vanderbilt’s Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and Visual Analogical Systems and is a researcher at Vanderbilt’s Frist Center for Autism and Innovation.
4 MICHAL HOWICK ’03 recently completed a two-year graduate school program in strategy at Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter and has started a position as the Associate Director, Strategic Enrollment and Communications at Brandcenter.
5 MEREDITH A. NEAL ’05 was nominated by her organizational group in TVA, Power Operations, for Engineer of the Year for TVA. “I took AP Physics B with Mr. Connor. I had never been exceptionally good at science or math up to that point, but the logical way he taught us really changed my life,” she said. “Mr. Conner helped me realize that I could be good at science, and the next year when I was in his AP Calculus class, I realized that I was good at math, too. His classroom was a huge turning point for my entire life.”
COLLEEN BAILEY ’06, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.
6 KRISTINA SELZER ’08, DVM, recently completed her doctoral program at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.
LAUREN BAILEY ’08 works as a certified Head Vet Tech at Eye Care for Animals in Chicago, Illinois.
2010s
7 In October 2021, STACI THOMPSON BRUCE ’10 was promoted to Vice President of Compliance at Environmental 360, Inc. Bruce has been with the firm since graduating magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in environmental science. She serves clients across the country by ensuring their compliance with federal and state environmental regulations.
PAYTON LEECH THODE ’10 graduated residency this year from the University of Cincinnati. She will be an emergency medicine doctor at Morton Hospital in Taunton, Massachusetts. She recently relocated to Barrington, Rhode Island, to be closer to her husband’s family.
8 RAEWYN ARCADIA DUVALL ’12
and her team made news all the way across the pond on BBC.com with their work on a tiny wheeled robot called Iris, which could become the first uncrewed rover sent by the US to explore the Moon. Iris has not been built by experienced engineers at NASA or a large aerospace company but by students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The robot was recently secured to its lunar lander, ahead of a launch scheduled for mid-2022.
In May, MARY REBECCA “BECKY” GARDNER ’13 graduated from Columbia Law School, where she served as President of the student body during her second year. In the fall, Gardner will begin work for a boutique Boston law firm that represents labor unions.
9 HANNAH GEERLINGS ’15, a secondyear master’s student studying English at the University of Tennessee, was selected for a 2022-23 Fulbright student award. She will be teaching English at a university in Romania while working on a research paper about public memory in Romanian museums. “I’m most excited to learn more about international education, as I hope to teach English internationally. I also focused on Central and Eastern European history as an undergraduate, so I’m excited to spend time in a country that I’ve studied before but have never actually visited,” said Geerlings.
MACKENZIE HOBBS ’15 graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee College of Law and was recognized at the gold level for pro bono distinguished service.
HALEY RICHARDSON TREADWAY
’15 recently graduated from the University of Tennessee with her master’s degree in landscape architecture and started a new position as a Hamilton County Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent. 10 A University of Tennessee honors economics student, AMEERA BHATTI ’18 recently started a career as a Public Sector Financial Services Analyst at Guidehouse in Washington, D.C., after completing her BS in business administration with a concentration in international business.
11 After earning a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a minor in communications from East Tennessee State University, MEGAN DELANEY ’18 heads to graduate school this fall to become a speech therapist.
12 KYLI ERWIN ’18 starts graduate school this fall to become a behavioral therapist after obtaining a BS in psychology with a minor in family science from Belmont University.
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SHARE YOUR NEWS WITH US AT ALUMNEWS@GPS.EDU!
13 After graduating from Tusculum University with a BS in criminal justice and a BA in psychology, TAYLOR FLOYD ’18 began federal law enforcement training in May.
14 HOLLIS GAFFNEY ’18 recently began her career as a Sales Management Associate with PepsiCo-Frito Lay after graduating with a degree in marketing and collateral in human resource management from Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
15 MAGGIE HILL ’18 graduated from Auburn University with a BA in communication and spent her summer at Camp Merrie-Woode as Head of the Waterfront, a lifelong goal! ELLEE JACKSON ’18 recently started a criminal justice master’s program after completing a BS in criminal justice at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
16 TATIANA POGGI ’18 recently graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University with a BA in political economy and a BSM in legal studies in business, completing an honors thesis in political economy titled “Trends in Nearshoring and Regionalization: U.S. Supply Chain Shifts in Mexico and China” with the guidance of committee members, Dr. Patrick Egan, Dr. Thomas Oatley, and Dr. James Huck. She was honored to receive the Tulane 34 Award as part of the Murphy Institute, as well as the Charles H. Murphy Prize in Political Economy and the award for Senior Honors Scholar in Political Economy. Poggi was also excited to have been inducted into Tulane’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter. This August she will make her new home in Mexico. 17 After her graduation from the University of Alabama with a BS in economics, a BA in history, and a minor in Spanish, HANNAH PRESCOTT ’18 will begin graduate school this fall at Alabama working toward an MBA specializing in business analytics.
18 After graduating with a BS in hospitality management from the University of Mississippi, CHARLOTTE SMITH ’18 will complete an internship with Willow Tree Planning in Cleveland, Tennessee, before relocating to Bradenton, Florida.
19 KATHERINE STAMEY ’18 will advance to the master’s program this fall at her alma mater after earning her BS in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama.
SHELBY WALTERS ’18 recently graduated from Duke University with dual degrees in biology and evolutionary anthropology. She will go on to get a master’s in kinesiology before medical school. Walters also played softball for the Blue Devils for four years, finishing their final season as the #12 national seed in the NCAA tournament.
20 This fall HANNAH SANDERS ’19 will begin pursuing her masters in international affairs at Penn State University after graduating cum laude in three years with her bachelor’s degree in intelligence and national security studies plus a double minor in political science and pre-law from Coastal Carolina University.
21 After graduating summa cum laude in three years with her BS in biology on a pre-med track at Kennesaw State University Honors College, KAITLYN SONGER ’19 started dental school at the Dental College of Georgia Augusta University, her top choice.
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On-Campus Alumnae Updates
22 PATRICE HOBBS GLASS ’88 returned to GPS in January as the Director of Advancement Services. She applies her vast experience in identifying funding opportunities through wealth screening, prospect research, and analytics, stewards close to 100 endowed funds, and works to oversee the pipeline to run both small and large fundraising campaigns.
23 KATYE ADAMS COUCH ’92 has been named the inaugural Dean of Teaching and Learning and will lead The Teaching and Learning Center that supports all students while providing professional development opportunities and support for faculty members.
24 BETH CRESWELL WILSON ’96 began her role as our Head of Upper School on July 1. Previously the Upper School Assistant Principal at The Galloway School in Atlanta, Georgia, Wilson brings to GPS a wealth of knowledge and experience in academic programming and curriculum development that focus on the whole child.
25 AUGUSTA GLENDENNING WEBB ’98, who joined GPS last fall as a member of the arts department and an admission associate, will transition fully into teaching this fall. This spring she shadowed the legendary Isabel Bryan McCall ’69 and will add ceramics beginning in August to her middle school art teaching load. Additionally, Webb will teach a Biblical Ethics course next year as well as serve as a club sponsor for Christian Forum.
26 LAUREN LAWRENCE SWANSON ’09 was recently promoted to Director of Belonging and Community Engagement where she will continue to work to ensure that each girl feels valued, loved, and supported throughout her tenure at GPS. Swanson will also add Dean of the Freshman Class to her role this fall.
27 RACHEL DURHAM FINCH ’13 was recently hired as the Director of Annual Giving within the Development Office. Finch comes to GPS from her most recent role as Development Specialist at the United Way of Chattanooga, where she crafted and improved annual fund functions, processes, and community engagement opportunities.
