Trio take next step in their medical careers

Kate Saulcy Baumgartner and Ali Gustafson McDonald came to Monmouth College’s attention during the mid-2010s, as coaches and admission counselors recruited the Class of 2019. During that process, the two high school seniors — who did not know each other — rose to the top of their incoming class, each receiving the College’s top academic scholarship.

Four years later, as their time at Monmouth drew to a close, the two Fighting Scot student-athletes had become so well-acquainted they could finish each other’s sentences. They even selected the same school for the next step in their journey — the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford.

Earlier this year, the alumnae — along with Stephanie Saey ’18, another student-athlete — reached another milestone, making it to Match Day, the day when the National Resident Matching Program releases results to applicants seeking residency and fellowship training positions in the United States.

Saey, who attended Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, was matched for internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Baumgartner will practice both internal medicine and pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, while McDonald is traveling the farthest, heading to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to practice family medicine.

Saey chose Mayo as her match because of its “phenomenal schedule. Their program just blew me away. Mental health and wellness are important to me, and they’re important to Mayo, too. They really take care of their residents. They see me as a learner, not a workhorse.”

McDonald took a moment to reflect on her journey in higher education.

“It is so surreal to be nearing the end of my medical education,” said McDonald. “It feels like I just stepped onto Monmouth’s campus for the first time in 2015. Match Day was a culmination of many, many years of hard work for myself and all of my classmates.”

Like Saey, Baumgartner competed for the Scots in track and cross country. When talking about completing her med school stint, she said, “There are a million metaphors for life that you can take from running.”

“I still run to this day,” she said. “One of

“Their program just blew me away. Mental health and wellness are important to me, and they’re important to Mayo, too. They really take care of their residents. They see me as a learner, not a workhorse.” the big things that running teaches you is accountability. Another that I learned from being on the team is leadership skills. A medical team is composed of so many folks, and even though you’re the doctor, you can’t be the bossy one in charge. You need to be the glue and lead from behind. Overall, my time at Monmouth taught me how to be an adult and provided me skills that I’ve carried forward.”

1963

Chick Hattman of Ocean View, N.J., is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his business, Sheltered Cove Marina. The marina was established with his son after Hattman retired from the Kimble Division of Owens-Illinois Glass after 34 years. Located 25 miles north of Atlantic City, Sheltered Cove is a premier marina with 250 wet slips, five boat dealerships and a full service department located on 22 acres.

1966

Gerald Young recently moved back to the St. Louis area, settling in Wentzville, Mo. He spent the previous 33 years in the Washington, D.C., area, where he served as the pastor of two churches, as an adjunct faculty member and, in retirement, as an interim pastor.

1970

Debbi Hook Sumner of Tinley Park, Ill., operates The Hook & Eye: Original Threads by Debbi.

1975

Bill and Terry Burke Murschel ’79, who live in Wheaton, Ill., were among the many alumni who returned to campus in May for the 75th anniversary celebration of Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Illinois Gamma chapter. Murschel, who helped promote the event, called it “most likely the largest gathering of Illinois Gamma brothers on campus in our lifetimes.”

1978

Brandon “Bear” Abear of Port Townsend, Wash., has retired but is serving as a substitute teacher. He’s also started a band called the Elderberries.

1980

Don McKillip received the Illinois Teacher of the Year Award for Driver Education for his work at Lockport Township High School. Officials said McKillip received the award because of his leadership and abilities in teaching teens to drive and motivating them to be safe on the road. In May, he became president of the Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association.

Mark Spring was named managing director of San Diego operations for Danforth Advisors. A 25-year veteran of the life sciences industry, Spring will oversee growth and service to the life science companies in the region. “Danforth has carved out a unique role in the ecosystem, bringing together the right services and skills sets to form a flexible business foundation for clients,” said Spring.

WE WELCOME NEWS AND PHOTOS related to your career, awards, reunions or travel with your Monmouth College friends, and any other information of interest to your classmates or alumni. We also welcome announcements and photos of alumni weddings and births, as well as alumni obituaries. Please see page 38 for submission guidelines.

1983

Steve Bloomer retired on Jan. 1 from his second career in advancement, which followed his retirement from the military in 2007. He has returned to the Monmouth area, settling in rural Abingdon.

Paul and Judi Poettgen Luepke live in Memphis, Tenn., where Paul is interim associate dean of clinical affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Dental School. Judi finished a doctorate in educational leadership and social policy at Marquette University.

1984

Clay Vass coached the Illini Bluffs boys basketball team to its first supersectional appearance in 42 years, where his Tigers fell 45-44 to eventual state champion Waterloo Gibault. Vass, who has won 501 games in 31 years on the bench, hopes to take the Glasford, Ill., school even further next season, when four starters will return.

1986

Victoria Carr-Brendel has been named to the Vicarious Surgical Board of Directors. Vicarious is a next-generation robotics company seeking to improve the cost, efficiency and outcomes of surgical procedures. Carr-Brendel has nearly 25 years of medical device development experience leading research and development, as well as new product and business development functions. She also serves as the group vice president of cochlear implants at Sonova Group, as well as president of the Sonova company, Advanced Bionics.

1990

Eric Miller of Seguin, Texas, is an architect for PGAL.

Juan and Vicki Martin Mitchell ’88 live in Batavia, Ill. Juan was recently promoted to divisional sales manager at RIA & Regional Bank.

1991

Formerly the curator of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., where he worked for 27 years, Ray Doswell has taken over Greenwood Rising, which educates on the once-thriving Black community in Tulsa, Okla. The new $20 million facility serves as a brick-and-mortar remembrance of the May 31, 1921, mob attack that obliterated a bustling cultural haven for Blacks in Tulsa.

1992

Hiroyuki Fujita was featured in a four-minute video recently released by the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan. An immigrant from Japan, Fujita is the founder and CEO of Quality Electrodynamics, a global developer and magnetic resonance imaging technology manufacturer. In the video, Fujita offers several words of advice for his “recipe for success,” including the necessity to put dreams and ideas into action using his motto, “One step at a time.” Soon, he says, “When you look back, you are going to be amazed by the distance you walked.” Fujita, who is also chair of the Ohio State University Board of Trustees, was also featured in Kizuna, the official magazine of the Japanese government.

1994

Felicia Tank Fechtmeister of Alpharetta, Ga., recently started working as director of human resources for a tech firm in the Atlanta area.

1995

Dave and Beth Doty Mann of Metamora, Ill., attended the 40th anniversary activities at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., held Veterans Day 2022. Dave took place in the “Reading of the Names,” a portion of the Veterans Day event that was held for just the seventh time. Among the 60 names he read was the name of his father, David R. Mann, who was killed in action two months before Mann was born.

1996

Gina Tillman of Pekin, Ill., is the administrative assistant for the Peoria branch of Mad City Windows & Baths.

1999

In January, the Geneva (Ill.) School District 304 Board of Education unanimously selected Andrew Barrett as its next superintendent of schools. Barrett, who is married to his Monmouth classmate Sarah Pasquini, was previously the district’s assistant superintendent for learning and teaching. He’s been with the district since 2006.

2001

Joe O’Neill of Tempe, Ariz., co-edited The Aeneid and the Modern World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vergil’s Epic in the 20th and 21st Centuries. A teacher at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University, O’Neill also authored an essay in the book, titled “Daedalus in D.C.: Vergil and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.”

2004

Dusty ’03 and Autumn McGee Scott live in Galesburg, Ill., where Autumn was recently named vice president of Carl Sandburg College. She is assuming many of the duties of the outgoing vice president of student services.

2005

Michael Oblinger has been named athletics director at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Oblinger previously served as the athletics department’s chief revenue officer at the University of Connecticut. He’s also held related collegiate positions at Louisiana State, Nevada, Memphis and Ohio State.

2006

With his wife, Paul Bancherau has opened Petit Three Doughnuts, a scratch-made gourmet doughnut shop in Aurora, Ill.

2007

Silvia Fabela of Washington, D.C., has been appointed senior adviser for the Office of the Secretary by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fabela came to the USDA from Local Progress, where she served as program director. Previously, she held roles at the Center for Popular Democracy, AFL-CIO and United Food & Commercial Workers Union.

Brad Swanson has been named the head basketball coach at Harvard (Ill.) High School.

Felicia Roberts Wachob of Tulsa, Okla., is a business account executive at ImageNet Consulting, offering unique IT solutions that improve efficiency, control budgets and maximize profits.

2010

Jonathan Peterson of Folsom, Calif., has published a “scary story” anthology titled Unhappily Ever After. It is available through major bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and online platforms, including Amazon.

2011

Kanisha Lampkin of Galesburg, Ill., is a qualified intellectual disability professional for DD Homes. She is also working on a book of poetry, including a poem that was published in Coil during her time as a Monmouth student.