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Class Notes
CLASSNOTES
Dr. Mike Wilson stood to be recognized at one of Northwest’s spring commencement ceremonies in May after completing his bachelor’s degree in theatre performance..
ACTIVE LEARNING
Retired faculty member returns to earn theatre degree at Northwest
Dr. Mike Wilson ’75, ’22, set a new example for lifelong learners when he graduated this spring from Northwest – nearly 50 years after receiving his fi rst degree from the University and a decade after he retired from it as a faculty member.
A teacher of accounting, economics and fi nance at Northwest for 27 years, Wilson retired in 2011 but returned in 2019 to be a student again and – at age 70 on May 7 – completed a bachelor’s degree in theatre performance. He became interested in acting a few years ago as a way to share an activity with his granddaughter, who was taking a class offered by the Rubidoux Resident Theater in St. Joseph, Missouri. Wilson enrolled in a class for older adults and caught the acting bug while performing in a Rubidoux production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” His interest in theatre was enough that he decided to pursue a degree in it at Northwest. “It was one of those things where I was getting in some plays in St. Joseph and I didn’t feel like I was really that good,” he said. “I wanted to try to get better.” Although, Wilson had the unique perspective of being a retired faculty member when he returned to the classroom – and in some cases having former colleagues as his instructors – he wanted no favors and asked to be treated the same as his classmates. “I said I wouldn’t give up my faculty parking place,” he joked, before adding, “I was a student. I did everything that the students did. I said from day one that I was going to be a student.” Joining the long-standing tradition at Northwest, Wilson participated with other fi rst-year theatre students in the Freshman/Transfer Showcase to open the 2019-20 academic year. Among other productions, he appeared in “A Memory of Spoon River: A Tribute to Edgar Lee Masters,” a fi lm the Department of Fine and Performing Arts produced last year when the COVID-19 pandemic limited live theatre. For it, Wilson fi lled three roles, wrote two monologues and was a location scout. Now with his newly earned degree in hand, Wilson says he intends to not only continue acting at the Rubidoux Resident Theater but wants to try his hand at more directing. “Northwest has taken good care of me and my family,” Wilson said. “The theatre department was a revelation to me. All of the faculty there are just superb. You won’t fi nd a department anywhere that cares for the students like they do. What a dedicated group of people they are. I learned so much about theatre and life from them.”
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’59
’70
Jerry and Beverly Myers Wetzel will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary Aug. 24. The couple was employed with Bedford and Wayne high schools in Iowa where Jerry was a teacher and girls basketball coach for 36 years, and Beverly taught home economics. They now reside in Kansas City, Missouri.
1960s
Roger Schlegel ’67 was honored last October as a 2020 inductee into the athletic hall of fame at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He spent nearly 10 years as a baseball, football, and track and field coach. As head baseball coach from 1972-1977, he compiled a record of 98-53, led the program to two NCAA regional appearances and was named NCAA District Coach of the Year in 1975. As head coach of the track and field team from 1980 to 1982, he led the program to three consecutive Midwest Conference outdoor championships and two indoor championships.
1970s
Deborah Goodwin Menke ’72 was inducted into Iowa’s Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame in June in recognition of her success as an educator and coach. She began her career as a teacher in the North Scott School District, where she spent 25 years serving as a physical education teacher, girls volleyball and basketball coach, and athletics director. She then was associate principal and later principal at Pleasant Valley High School until 2009. Viola Hoffman ’74 was honored last year by the Western Slope Veterans Coalition in Colorado for her military service. She served in numerous roles with the U.S. Army from 1975 until 1996 with duty assignments that included Augsburg, Germany; Fort Gordon, Georgia; Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas; Okinawa and Hawaii. She later worked as a contractor for General Dynamics for 17 years and then for Leidos and Criterion Systems until retiring to Colorado. Brent Harmon ’75 retired from broadcasting in December after 44 years in radio with KTNC in Falls City, Nebraska, and KFEQ and Q-Country in St. Joseph, Missouri. Brian Heath ’79 retired in December with 40-plus years in leadership roles with LA-CO Industries, Dixon Ticonderoga and General Motors, for which he developed sales teams and served on several advisory boards. Marcus Johnson recently retired after a 47-year career in facilities management and energy conservation. He worked with numerous universities and cities throughout the country as well as the U.S. Navy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He resides in Dallas-Fort Worth area with his wife of 37 years, Pat.
’74
Dr. Allen Reavis was honored in April by the Kansas Dental Association as its Dentist of the Year. He has practiced dentistry for 38 years in Atchison, Kansas, and recently retired from Atchison Dental Associates after 37 years of ownership. He has been active in numerous dental organizations, including a term as president of the Kansas Dental Board. He now works parttime at the Atchison Community Health Clinic FQHC as dental director and provides care to underserved people.
’79
Lisa Wiseman Kannapel ’88
and her husband, Chris, recently took ownership of The Bake Shoppe in Windsor Heights, Iowa. She spent the previous 32 years as an elementary school teacher.
1980s
Jeffrey Cook ’80 married Susan Penn Aug. 19, 2021, in Boonville, Missouri. He is employed with Alorica as a senior project manager for its infrastructure telecom and unified communications sector. The couple resides in Gladstone, Missouri. Kevin Rosenbohm ’80 was reappointed by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to the Air Conservation Commission. He has owned and operated Rosenbohm Farms, a diversified agriculture operation, since 1978. He also has owned and operated Graham Seed Cleaning and Graham Seed, LLC since 1994. Dr. Kim Osborn Jones ’83 retired in June after 27 years with Lewis Central Community Schools in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Most recently, she was director of curriculum and instruction and had served as a teacher and assistant principal in the district. Virginia Broyles Craig ’86 was appointed in January as vice president of individual underwriting at Mutual of Omaha. She had served previously as vice president and chief underwriter at Pacific Life Insurance, senior vice president of life operations at Aviva/Global Atlantic Life Insurance Company, and vice president of new business and underwriting at Transamerica. Margaret Harriman Haynes ’89 recently was named president and chief executive officer of RiseMark and Right at Home, an in-home senior care brand. She has more than 25 years of senior management experience, including a decade on the
Dr. William
Nunez began work in January as vice chancellor for finance and administration at Texas Christian University. Previously, he was vice chancellor for business and finance at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he had served in various leadership roles since 2003. He has worked more than 30 years in postsecondary education leadership, finance and administration roles.
Chris Johnson has accepted a position as the senior aerospace instructor for the Air Force Junior ROTC program at Cheyenne East High School. He and his wife, Nicky, and children, Aleksia, Heath and Gage, have lived in Wyoming since he retired from the active duty as a lieutenant colonel with the Air Force in 2019. Most recently, he was police academy director at Aims Community College in Windsor, Colorado.
leadership team at Right at Home, eight of which as chief operating officer.
1990s
– Tiffany Grunert
STRATEGY TITAN
Grunert achieves success as president, CEO of animal foundation
Fulfilling a lifelong passion for animals, Tiffany Grunert ’97 is spearheading one of the world’s largest nonprofit animal health research organizations and has been recognized as one of Colorado’s Top 100 CEOs. Grunert was named the president and chief executive officer of Denver-based Morris Animal Foundation in 2018 after stints as its vice president of brand strategy and interim CEO. She is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the organization, which operates with a $90 million endowment and $18 million annual budget, while managing more than 50 employees and ensuring the majority of funds raised by the Foundation are directed to support animal health. “Everything I’ve done has been more of a servant leader role and making sure that my team has what they need to succeed, and we’ve really been able to push a lot of initiatives forward,” she said. The Titan 100 title recognizing Colorado’s Top 100 CEOs and C-level executives in private and public sectors for exceptional leadership, vision and passion, has enabled Grunert to learn from other leaders and grow her knowledge. “It’s really created a network of people who have differing expertise and are looking out for each other,” Grunert said. “I also feel like the core tenant of being a Titan is that everyone has a relentless pursuit of achieving their goals.”
Grunert has maintained a firm belief in continued education since graduating from Northwest with her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. A transfer student, she played with the Bearcat volleyball team and gained profession-based experiences as a member of Bearcat Productions and the Student Broadcast Association. “Fred (Lamer, an assistant professor of mass media) was amazing,” Grunert said. “He taught a lot of different courses but also really gave us the hands-on experience that we needed in terms of having a production company. Those were experiences that you just can’t get anywhere else.” Grunert began her career as a broadcast journalist with stints in St. Joseph, Missouri, and Casper and Cheyenne, Wyoming, before transitioning to advertising and public relations with the Wyoming Division of Tourism. She then secured a position in the Westminster, Colorado, city manager’s office, where she handled communication for four years and earned a master’s degree in political science from the University of Colorado Denver as well as certifications in business, economics and governance. Eventually, Grunert found her in niche at the Denver Zoo, where she led marketing and communication from 2004 through 2017. Her desire to lead an animal-focused nonprofit organization landed her with Morris Animal Foundation. Founded in 1948, it works to bridge science and resources to advance the health of animals. “I championed the development of core values for Morris Animal Foundation, and those are very important to me in terms of ensuring that everyone is on the same page for expectations of how we do our work and how we treat each other, and that has made a big difference at Morris Animal Foundation in terms of improving morale,” Grunert said. Grunert credits her successes, in part, to the problem-solving skills she developed at Northwest. “At Northwest, there was a lot of considering all the things that go in to making decisions as a journalist and doing quality work,” Grunert said. “I think Northwest Missouri State University really laid the groundwork for that growth mindset.”
’98 ’99 ’01
Kerry Ann Wells Masoner was appointed last year as the head of lower school at Charleston Collegiate School in Charleston, South Carolina. Angie Bayne was named assistant director of public services at the Missouri River Regional Library, which serves Cole and Osage counties. She has worked with the library for 13 years and received the 2014 Missouri Library Association Show Me Youth Services Award. Sara Kaden Brunsvold completed her debut novel, “The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip,” which was released July 5. She resides in Mission, Kansas.
has more than 25 years of finance, accounting and audit experience with the company, which he joined in 1993. Marcos Garcia ’94 retired after 27 years in a variety of executive roles at Cerner Corporation and resides in Weston, Florida, with his wife, Florencia, and daughters, Sofia and Lucia. Dr. Marlie Saxton Williams ’97, ’03, ’06, is retiring this summer from the St. Joseph (Missouri) School District after serving as its assistant superintendent of academic services since 2016. She previously worked in the district as a high school principal and in Liberty Public Schools.
2000s
Mark Anderson ’01, ’04, has been appointed assistant principal at Spring Garden Middle School in St. Joseph, Missouri. Dr. Kara Anderson ’01, ’07, was named assistant director of special programs in the St. Joseph (Missouri) School District, where she previously was principal at Bessie Ellison Elementary School. DeAnn Davison ’03, ’20, began work in April as the city of Maryville’s first director of tourism. Her previous work included marketing roles with Mosaic Medical Center-Maryville, Northwest and Northwest Campus Dining. Erin Fent ’03 has been hired as the elementary principal for the Nodaway-Holt (Missouri) R-VII School District. She was an elementary school teacher for 19 years. Megan Kroll ’03 has been named the principal of North Star High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. She has worked the last 19 years at North Star, most recently as an associate principal. Previously, she was an instructional coordinator and taught math. Dr. Logan Lightfoot ’03, ’06, began work July 1 as superintendent of the Maryville R-II School District. He spent the last four years as superintendent of Anselmo-Merna (Nebraska) Public Schools and previously served as a high school assistant principal in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and a high school principal in Weston, Missouri. Dr. Jason McDowell ’03, ’10, ’18, has been named principal at Minnie Cline Elementary in the Savannah (Missouri) R-III School District. He previously was an elementary principal, high school principal and interim superintendent in the Northeast Nodaway R-V School District. Troy Steensen ’03 recently was promoted to vice president of marketing with Sioux City, Iowabased Security National Bank. He joined the bank as its marketing director in 2016 and previously worked with e-commerce platforms and multimedia advertising sales in print and television. Dr. Jessica Gibbons ’04, ’05, graduated from Drake University in December with her Ph.D. in educational leadership. She is employed as a dual credit English instructor with the Winterset (Iowa) Community School District and resides in Winterset with her husband, Warren, and sons, Miles and Max. Bart Hardy ’04, ’13, has been appointed principal at Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, Missouri. He previously was an assistant principal. Josh Kleinlein ’04 was named in February as chief financial officer of Triumph Foods in St. Joseph, Missouri. He joined the company in 2016 as vice president of finance and accounting. Previously, he was as an auditor. Burnea Lester ’04 was named director of communication and community relations at SITE Improvement Association, which offers public policy advocacy, labor relations support, safety and leadership training, and professional networking to the construction industry in eastern Missouri. She also is co-founder of The Art of Adaption, a consulting firm that trains and advises organizations on diversity, equity, inclusion, company culture and psychological safety. She spent the previous 11 years working in various higher education roles. Dr. Larry Linthacum ’04, ’09, retired from his education career June 30 and is beginning work as president and chief executive officer of Special Olympics Missouri. He worked 27 years in education, including the last seven as superintendent of the Jefferson City (Missouri) School District. Previously, he was superintendent of the Maryville R-II School District and the South Harrison R-II School District in Bethany, director of the North Central Career Center at South Harrison, and he taught and coached, beginning his career as a business teacher at Jefferson City High School. Daren Roberts ’05, ’07, was named plant manager for Kendall Packaging in Pittsburg, Kansas. He worked previously for 10 years with Johnson Controls, most recently as plant superintendent in Parsons, Kansas. Joey Salomone ’06 recently published his second book of poems, “Drop of Atom,” a follow-up to his first collection, “Zero Percent of Something,” released in 2020. A former high school English teacher, he now practices as a nurse in Kansas City, Missouri. Heidi Beatty ’07, ’08, has been named principal for the Northeast Nodaway (Missouri) R-V School District. She was assistant principal during the past year and previously taught at Northeast Nodaway, in Savannah and at Northwest’s Horace Mann Laboratory School.
Todd Shalz ’07 has been named principal of Belair Elementary in the Jefferson City (Missouri) School District, where he had been principal at Callaway Hills Elementary School. His previous work also includes teaching various grades and serving as an instructional coach and curriculum coordinator in St. Joseph. Dr. Heather Beaulieu ’08 was named deputy superintendent of the Jefferson City (Missouri) School District. Most recently, she was assistant superintendent of elementary education and has served as an elementary and middle school teacher, assistant elementary principal and elementary principal during her 26-year career. Nicholas Triche ’08 and his spouse, Brittany, welcomed a son, Ty David, on March 20. They reside in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where Nicholas is a major with the U.S. Army. Erica Whittle ’08 has been named learning coordinator of secondary schools and PK-12 math supports for the Johnston (Iowa) Community School District. She has worked in the West Des Moines Community School District since 2015, most recently as principal of Stilwell Junior High and previously as associate principal of Valley High School. Prior to that, she was as an instructional coach in Dallas Center-Grimes and an eighth and ninth grade math and science teacher. Christopher Hall ’09, ’10, ’11, recently became co-owner of the Dickinson County News, Spencer Daily Reporter and Le Mars Daily Sentinel newspapers in Iowa. He also is owner of the Charles City Press and New Hampton Tribune. Mallory Stanton Arellano ’09 has completed her fourth year as an assistant professor with Newman University’s teacher education outreach program. Previously, she was an elementary and early childhood teacher for eight years in Garden City, Kansas, where she resides.
2010s
Jeffery Sullivan ’10 was appointed assistant principal at Central High School in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he previously was in the same role at Truman Middle School. He also has served as a principal of Bishop LeBlond High School. Dr. Alex Tomes ’10 has been appointed assistant principal at Benton High School in St. Joseph, Missouri. Previously, he was a biology instructor at Central High School. Jacob Kretzer ’13, ’19, has been appointed assistant principal at Hosea Elementary in St. Joseph, Missouri. He previous was a behavior interventionist in the school district. Dr. Margaret Sebastian ’13 recently completed Ph.D. degrees in higher education and student affairs leadership and in applied statistics and research methods from the University of Northern Colorado. She is employed at Salisbury University as the TRIO program director in Salisbury, Maryland. Alisha Blake Wagner ’13 is a manager at Cass County Abstract Co. Inc. in Atlantic, Iowa, where she resides with her spouse, Tyler, and daughter, Spencer. Brent Barnett ’15 recently joined Brownfield Ag News as an anchor and reporter, based in Pella, Iowa. Sara Waggoner ’16 is employed as an office manager with Agri-Pulse Communications Inc. in its Camdenton, Missouri, office. Previously, she handled payroll and accounting for a kitchen cabinet manufacturer. Christine Prussman ’17 has been named assistant principal at Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, Missouri, where she previously was an English teacher and department chair. Haley Fitzpatrick ’18 joined Fox 44 KWKT in Waco, Texas, last year as a meteorologist. She began her career as a meteorologist with WCBI-TV in Columbus, Mississippi. Hannah Bell ’19 began in January as the finance director for the city of Beatrice in Nebraska. She has worked for the city in various roles in 2014. Amber Ohnmacht ’19 is stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, as a medical service corps officer with the U.S. Air Force. In April, she completed training for health services administration and was honored with the Air Education and Training Command Commander’s Award in recognition of superior academic achievement as well as high standards of character, leadership and teamwork.
2020s
Toree Hamilton ’21 was a finalist for the 2022 Eisinger Teacher of the Year awarded by the Jefferson City (Missouri) School District. She is a school counselor at Belair Elementary School where she has worked in various roles for 22 years, including as a classroom teacher to paraprofessional. Dean Streed ’21 has been appointed principal at Clopton High School in Clarksville, Missouri. He previously taught high school physical education and health in addition to coaching softball in Bowling Green, Wentzville and Winfield in Missouri.
’17
’18
Kody and Carrie
Egnatowski Rawson
welcomed their first child, Stella, on Sept. 12, 2021. Kody is employed with Target Corporation, and Carrie is a stay-at-home mom while she pursues a master’s degree in psychology from Eastern Kentucky University. They reside in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.
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Courtney Thomas, pictured in a microbial cell lab at Institut Pasteur as she extracted DNA from animal fecal samples, is a scientific writer. She completed a Ph.D. in microbiology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.
SCIENCE WRITER
Alumna advances education, career through doctorate program
The foundational profession-based experiences she gained as an undergraduate student at Northwest have helped alumna Courtney Thomas ’15 advance her education and further her passion for biological sciences.
Thomas now is a scientific writer and recently completed a Ph.D. in microbiology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. “Courtney was always an outstanding student and a great person,” Dr. James Campbell, a Northwest associate professor of biology, said. “We were able to attract her to Northwest as one of our Distinguished Scholars in the marine biology program, and she has certainly lived up to that title. We are all really proud of her accomplishments, and it is inspirational for current students to see a Bearcat go on to do great things.” In 2012, Thomas arrived at Northwest to obtain a bachelor’s degree in marine biology. As a student in Campbell’s general microbiology course, she found an interest in the science of microbes. “I got more interested in marine microbes and how the microbes interact with larger eukaryotic organisms,” Thomas said. “Because of that I started working in Dr. Campbell’s lab for a semester, and he encouraged me to apply for graduate school.” Thomas, who went on to obtain a master’s degree in marine sciences from the University of Georgia, attributes her success to the Northwest faculty and people with whom she collaborated in the Department of Natural Sciences and Marine Biology Society. She found a supportive community at Northwest. Additionally, she was president of the Marine Biology Society, taught as a general biology supplementary instructor and worked as a
microbiology tutor at the Student Success Center. Northwest’s Department of Natural Sciences also offers a summer program that allows marine biology majors to study at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. There, Thomas took marine biology courses, networked with Southern Mississippi’s faculty and conducted field-based projects that provided an invaluable professional experience. “The summer program that marine biology students do in Mississippi is fantastic, and that was a transformative experience for me because it was the first time that I was living and studying very far away from home,” Thomas said. “It taught me about time management, organization and living as an adult for the first time.” “The summer program that marine In December, Thomas defended her biology students do in Mississippi dissertation at the Institut Pasteur. She now works as a scientific writer for Integrated is fantastic, and that was a DNA Technologies, where she writes to transformative experience for me.” educate scientists and non-scientists about the company’s tools and devices. Courtney Thomas Thomas relocated to Paris at the end of her master’s program at the University of Georgia. She studied 250 animal species’ fecal samples to investigate the lifestyle of methane-producing archaea living in the animal’s intestine, aiming to understand microbes’ evolutionary trends and adaptive abilities to live in the animals. “The thing we overlook often is microbes rule the world,” Thomas said. “They’re responsible for many things in our everyday life and play an important role in our health and states of disease. We have this human-centric approach to life when in reality there is so much, biologically speaking, that we can’t see that are foundational blocks of our lives. I think that’s fascinating.”
