Lifelong athlete Joni (Covert) Moore
of Salado, Texas, ’88 BA in Psychology and Social Work, is training to compete in the Ironman World Championship, set for Oct. 11 in Kona, Hawaii. A U.S. Army veteran, she’s raising funds for the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, a nonprofit that provides college grants and financial assistance to surviving children and spouses of U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. To donate, visit her Web site, http://www.elitefeat.com/. Moore has completed 10 Ironman triathlon contests and her sixth place finish in Ironman Arizona this year qualified her for the championship competition for the second time. She owns the Hodgepodge Massage Lodge, a massage therapy clinic in Salado. among the top 40 global innovators by Manufacturing Business Technology, and Boston Women’s Business named her among its “Five Women to Watch” in 2007. Selanik Meisner has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Kenyon College and a master’s in business administration from Case Western Reserve University.
Jeffrey Ferezan
of Ashville, N.C., ’78 BS, has joined Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in the newly created position of vice president of college initiatives to lead collegewide new ventures. Jeffrey Ferezan Ferezan had been associate vice president for community and legislative relations at Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio. Ferezan earned a master’s degree in business administration from Franklin University and is completing a doctorate in higher education administration with a concentration on leadership and systems from The Union Institute and University in Cincinnati.
80s
Melanie D. Jones
of Warren, ’80 BS in law enforcement, administration and sociology, was named to the Trumbull County African American Melanie Jones Achievers Association’s Hall of Fame. Jones is a licensed social worker, a certified family assessor
52
Youngstown State University
and a certified surrogate parent for students with learning disabilities. She is employed by Northeast Ohio Adoption Services as a permanency planning specialist where she was also named the agency’s Social Worker of the Year for 2008.
Maureen K. Grapes Yambar
of Youngstown, ’80 AAB, and ’93 BA, recently retired from YSU’s Payroll Office after 30 years of public service. Yambar started as a student office assistant in the office, and from 1996 until her retirement she was an administrative assistant, responsible for the payment and reporting for more than 4,500 employees.
James M. Kerrigan of Hubbard, ’81 Associate in Arts, has been the owner of Kerrigan Insurance Agency in Hubbard, Ohio, since 1982. David Gemmel
of Boardman, ’86 BA, has been named senior director of medical education and research for Humility of Mary Health Partners where he will direct the graduate medical educaDavid Gemmel tion residency programs at St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, and St. Joseph Health Center, Warren. Gemmel, formerly director of research for HMHP, has master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Akron and Kent State University, respectively.
Elsa Higby of Youngstown, ’87 BA in
speech communications and music, is the founder of Grow Youngstown, a new organization that promotes the growth of food, forage, forest and fuel in the Mahoning County region. Higby recently moved back to the Mahoning Valley from Manhattan, N.Y., where she was involved in a similar cooperative. Visit growyoungstown.org.
Sharon Rae North of Atlanta, ’87 BA,
presented a $400 donation to the American Diabetes Association Southeast Division office in Atlanta. She raised the contribution by donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of her CD, “The Way You Make Me Feel.” North also sang the national anthem for the July 4th celebration at the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. last summer. A popular performer in the Atlanta area, she has been invited to sing in Shanghai, Taiwan, Portugal and at Croatia’s Jazz in Lapidarij Festival.
Gary White of State College, Pa., ’88
BS, was awarded the 2008 Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship, presented annually by the American Library Association. White is head of the Schreyer Business Library at Penn State University in State College, where he is a Ph.D. candidate. White holds a master’s degree in library science from Kent State University, and an MBA from the University of Akron, has edited three books and published more than 28 journal articles. He is editor of the Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship.
Karen Cohen of
East Palestine, ’89 BSBA in accounting, ’90, MBA, was named the 2008 YoungstownWarren area ATHENA Award recipient in May, selected from a field of 32 nominees on the basis of her professional achieveKaren Cohen ments and community service. Cohen is a certified public accountant and partner at Packer-Thomas, a regional accounting firm with offices in Youngstown and New Castle, Pa.
Migdalia Diaz McClendon of
Boardman, ’89, BSBA, was awarded the Shero/Hero of Health Award by the Ohio Commission of Minority Health. The award recognizes her efforts to narrow health disparities for Migdalia Diaz McClendon minorities, her leadership in the ethnic community and her work with collegebound students and their parents. McClendon is assistant director of YSU’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions and a volunteer bilingual radio announcer for weekend programs on 1500 AM-WGFT the Gift and WYSU-FM. She is also a former volunteer board member for Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana Inc. and the Mahoning County Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes Inc.
Susan Moorer of
Susan Moorer
Austintown, ’89 BA in speech communication, was presented the Edna K. McDonald Award for Cultural Awareness in April, in recognition of her contributions to cultural diversity on the YSU campus. She also received her