In his new role, he is responsible for servicing the compliance needs of UMACHA members, as well as conducting ACH audits and ACH and Remote Deposit Capture risk assessments. He holds the Accredited ACH Professional (AAP) designation. 2001 Aurora (Buss) Heard is the county administrator’s assistant for Lyon County. She lives near Cottonwood with her husband, Jody. 2002 Travis Barringer has been selected as the principal of River Crest Elementary in Hudson, Wis. Barringer applied for the position during his sabbatical, when he taught fourth grade in Jakarta, Indonesia. Before teaching abroad, Barringer was an elementary teacher and a K-12 math and science specialist. He will be returning the United States to live in Cottage Grove, Wis., with his wife, also a teacher, and his two daughters. Edward Evans, former Professor of Art at SMSU, won the Purchase Award, the highest-paying award from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. He won the award for his painting entitled “Flight of Matta,” which was also on display at an exhibit in New York City at the time. He is the curator of Gallery 705 in Stroudsburg, Penn., and his wife, Connie, is the Gallery 705 director. Ryan Martin ran his second wheelchair basketball camp this year in South Windsor, Conn. Martin also works as a mentor at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, Minn. Amy (Cox)Vincelli and her husband, Nick (‘01) welcomed twin baby boys, Elijah and Will, on September 13, 2010. They live in Owatonna where Nick is an optometrist at Horizon Eye Care.
Whitlock ’76 on the big screen Isiah Whitlock, Jr. ’76 (right) is starring with John C. Reilly (left), Ed Helms (center) and Anne Heche (not pictured) in the upcoming comedy Cedar Rapids from Fox Searchlight Films. The movie was an official selection for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It opens Feb. 11 nationwide. summer when school is out. He lives in Queen Creek, Ariz., with his wife, Sara Negen (’03).
previously served as an admissions representative for MTI.
2007 2004 Edward Dunn (M.S. Education) JoDee (Ryan) Driggs is now a lives in Sioux City, Iowa, and works high school English teacher at at Western Iowa Tech Community Yellow Medicine East High School College and KWIT radio. He has in Granite Falls. Driggs formerly been a professional musician since served as a substitute teacher for the he was a teenager, playing mostly district but will now be a full-time bass guitar and vocals. In recent teacher for three English classes at years he has played mostly under the high school. the name of the Eddie Dunn Bill Northey (MBA) was reProject. He joined with four others elected as Iowa Secretary of to play the Cherokee (Iowa) Jazz Agriculture in the November 2010 and Blues Festival on Jan. 7, 2011. elections. Before Northey was elected in 2006, he served as president of the National Corn Grower’s Association. He now lives in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Zeb Prairie works at North Star Mutual Insurance of Cottonwood and recently completed the requirements leading to the completion of the Associate in Andrea Kopfmann is the Walser Insurance Services program. He Foundation manager for Walser began working for North Star in Automotive Group in the Twin June 2005 and is a claims Cities. Walser was a part of the All representative for the Auto Claims Day Blizzard Blitz for Better Department. Hearing held January 17 on Lake Waconia. The ice fishing contest 2006 featured Adrian Peterson and other Josh Junker is the head baseball members of the Minnesota Vikings coach at Redwood Valley High and benefitted the Starkey Hearing School in Redwood Falls. He is also Foundation and Peterson’s All Day 2003 a substitute teacher in the district. Foundation. Andrea is pictured Jacob Rozema is a member of the Amanda (Patzer) Neppl married above with Vikings’ running back Mesa, Ariz., Police Department and Greg Neppl, an instructor at Adrian Peterson. participated in the Summer Tactical Mitchell Technical Institute (MTI), Lee Trotman is the gardening Enforcement Action in Mesa located in Mitchell, S.D., in June and greenery manager for the New (STEAM) program, an effort to 2009. Amanda became Career York City Housing Authority. quell criminal activity during the Services Coordinator at MTI. She
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2008 Kara Brockett works at the Future Leaders Institute (FLI) Charter School in New York City, formed in 2005. Darci Tietz, a first-grade teacher at Milroy Charter School and currently living in Lucan, Minn., is participating in the school’s travelling pet project using a tan stuffed puppy named Ralph. Her students take Ralph home on the weekends and report on his travels, which are fully documented in the class’s memory book. Amy (Blum) White works as the Manager of Culinology at UniPro Foodservice in Atlanta, Ga. White lives with her husband, Todd, in Smyrna, Ga.
IN MEMORIUM Charter faculty member/ administrator Dr. Robert D. (Bob) Johnson died on Monday, Dec. 20 at the Golden Living Center in Battle Lake. He was a vice president at Southwest for more than two decades, filling a number of roles. Bob was passionate about the university and played a key part in its growth and development. Associate Professor of Education Dr. Winston Gittens, who was in his fifth year at SMSU, died unexpectedly Dec. 17, 2010 after he landed in his home country of Barbados to visit his family. His passing made national news in Barbados where he was well-known as a prominent scholar and educator. Barbados is a small island of 288,000 people in the southern Caribbean.