Don’t be shy Alumni! We’d like to include your news and photos in Class Notes. Send in your information to: kjackson@admin.usf.edu or you can mail your information & photo to: Karla Jackson USF Alumni Association Gibbons Alumni Center University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave., ALC100 Tampa, FL 33620-5455
Kim C. Brown, MBA `95, is chief financial officer
of CallMiner, a company that provides enterprise speech analytics solutions for managers and executives. As CFO, Brown is responsible for CallMiner’s finance and legal operations. He was previously a CFO of Attitude Network, where he was a senior member of the team that grew from start up to a $43 million acquisition in three years. In addition to his financial background, Brown is a licensed attorney and serves as CallMiner’s in-house counsel.
Ricardo Contreras, M.A. Applied Anthropology
`97 & Ph.D. `05, accepted a tenure-track position in the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University in which he will help develop a medical anthropology program. He had been previously teaching at the University of Tampa.
Lucia Martínez Gonzalez, M.A. Library and Information Science `91, is the 2010-2011 president of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. Gonzalez, a Cuban immigrant, has had a successful library career, and is also a storyteller and puppeteer, as well as a Pura Belpré Award winning author. She was honored at USF in 1998 with the Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award. Erick Grolemund, Mass Communications `97, is a sales executive at Prudential Tropical Realty in Trinity. Grolemund has experience in both the mortgage and real estate industries. Allison Groulx, Special Education `95, is a teacher with the Florida Virtual Program. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in brain-based teaching from Nova Southeastern University. As an educator in Florida, she has taught courses at both the middle school and high school levels, both in the traditional classroom setting and as a K-12 virtual teacher. Groulx is certified in Social Science for Middle Grades (5-8), Social Science (6-12) and Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum (5-9). In addition, she has her endorsement in Gifted Education. This school year, she is teaching middle and high school students and working with the Advanced Learner Program.
Ardis Hanson, M.A. Library and Information
Science `90, is director of USF’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Library. She was recently installed as the 2010-2011 president of the Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL). Hanson also received an ACURILEANA STAR Award for excellence in research. She was one of six recipients of the award.
Jennifer Highland, MPH `95, is executive director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County.
The organization’s goal is to improve the health and well-being of pregnant women, infants and young children by assuring that they get needed care and services.
David Klement, M.A. Mass
Communications `96, has joined Manatee County government as an organizational development manager. His role is to analyze Manatee County government programs and services and map out policies and business strategies that will more effectively ensure quality services are being delivered to taxpayers. Klement retired as editorial page editor for the Bradenton Herald in 2007 to become director of the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership at the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus. He worked at the Herald from 1975 to 2007. His journalism career began in 1962 at The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City and he worked as night metro editor, deputy business editor and photo editor for The Detroit Free Press from 1966 until 1975.
John Legg, Social Work `95, R-Port
Richey, was named as Speaker pro tempore in November by Speaker of the House Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park. Legg, who represents parts of Pasco County, was first elected to the House in 2004 and served as deputy majority whip.
Rich Mercadante, M.A. Communication `92
is a Communications instructor at St. Petersburg College. He joined SPC in 2006 and has taught for 25 years. He currently teaches courses in Speech Communication, Philosophy, and Interdisciplinary Studies (honors). He has served as president of the Florida Communication Association (FCA) and is currently chair of the Clearwater Faculty Council. He is completing his Ph.D. dissertation which explores the topics of casuistry, ethics and communication. His communications career began in his native state of Massachusetts, as a radio news anchor and disc jockey at several radio stations, including WBMT, WNBP and WHAV. Mercadante has over 20 years of teaching experience at Jesuit High School, Hillsborough Community College, USF, Father Lopez High School, Bethune-Cookman College, Northeastern University and Our Lady of Grace Seminary. He has taught a variety of courses including Speech Communication, Critical Thinking, Logic, Ethics, Philosophy, Contemporary Social Problems, Biblical Literature, World Religions, Humanities, and Homiletics. He also created a professional development course, Communication Skills for Teachers, along with several summer seminars on value debate. In 2004, he received the FCA Teacher of the Year Award and in 2007 he received the FCA Outstanding Service Award. He has been awarded competitive research and education grants from the National Endowment for
the Humanities (Philosophy and Medicine in Ancient Greece), the Council for Basic Education (Aristotle on Friendship), and the National Science Foundation (Vico’s Rhetorical View of Mathematics). In both 1999 and 2006, he was elected president of the FCA, a 75-year-old state organization that focuses on best practices for professional teaching and research in Speech Communication. His hobbies include attending local auctions and selling books and antiques on eBay.
Virgil “Pete” Moberg, Ph.D. Communications
`95, is an associate professor of Communications at Jacksonville University. He was married to Jan Brown in May. She practices elder law in Harrisburg, PA, half the year. The couple lives in St. Augustine Beach during the semester and at their 20-acre farmhouse near Berkeley Springs in the Alleghenies during breaks and holidays.
Melissa Mousseau, Education `96
& M.A. `06 is a tutor for Armstrong Tutoring. She specializes in Social Studies courses, including A.P. U.S. History. She has over 13 years experience as a Social Studies teacher and has a Social Studies Grades 6-12 Florida teaching certificate. She has been a presenter at both the Florida Council for Social Studies and the National Council for Social Studies conferences.
Randy B. Nelson, M.A. Criminology `93, founded
21st Century Research and Evaluations, Inc. in 1997, with the vision of finding solutions for today’s societal problems, particularly those affecting disadvantaged communities. Dr. Nelson’s educational background includes a B.A. degree in Sociology from Eckerd College, an M.S. degree in Corrections Administration from USF and a Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Florida State University. Dr. Nelson has influenced various evaluation projects throughout the state of Florida. As a result of his well-documented evaluation of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Hillsborough County Disproportionate Minority Confinement Pilot Project, the Florida Legislature funded other disproportionate minority confinement projects throughout Florida. This project was one of Florida’s earliest efforts to find solutions for the over-representation of minorities in Florida’s juvenile justice system. Having served as an adjunct professor at Florida State University and Florida A&M University for a number of years, Dr. Nelson stays on the cutting edge of research and evaluation techniques. He also provides law enforcement training in the areas of community policing strategies and concepts to law enforcement academies and agencies.
Judy Nolasco, M.A. English `96, is the academic dean of the Hillsborough Community College SouthShore campus. JANUARY 2011 | ALUMNIVOICE
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