Alumni Notes

Winter 2010-2011

1970s

Julius Whittier (MPA ’76), The University of Texas at Austin’s first African American football scholarship recipient, was highlighted recently. View the story here.

Albert Hawkins (MPAff ’78)was named senior policy advisor by Texas House Speaker Joe Strauss in April 2010. Hawkins previously was Texas Health and Human Services executive commissioner, and earlier served as senior White House aide to President George W. Bush for two years.

Richard Wiggans (MPAff ’79) will retire as director of finance from Albemarle County on February 1, 2011. He was appointed to the position in May 2004. Prior to employment by the County, he held budget and finance positions in Cedar Park, Arlington, and Dallas.

1980s

Robert Downes (MPAff ’80) currently is posted in Nicaragua with the U.S. Department of State.

Teresa (Tess) Nira (MPAff ’82) is chief operating officer of At Ease At Peace, which provides veterans and their families treatment through energy psychology techniques. She also staffs Frontline Faith, a nonprofit organization providing thousands of prayer-loaded MP3 players to military personnel at war. Find out more here.

Dr. John Bartle (MPAff ’83) has been elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Bartle is the David Scott Diamond Professor of Public Affairs and director of the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

Charles Patton (MPAff ’86) is president and chief operating officer of Appalachian Power in Charleston, West Virginia. Read the December 27, 2010 profile in the Charleston Gazette here.

1990s

Alexis Senger (MPAff ’90) is chief analyst in the State of Colorado Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting.

Greg Wortham (MPAff ’90) was quoted extensively in the Austin American-Statesman article published on December 18, “Report: Texas should revise school tax break incentives,” concerning wind farm development in West Texas. Wortham serves as mayor of Sweetwater, Texas and executive director of the trade group Texas Wind Energy Clearinghouse. Read the article here.

Walter Moreau (MPAff ’94) was featured by the Austin American-Statesman on December 25, 2010. Read more about the executive director of Foundation Communities here.

Dr. John Horrigan  (PhD ’96) is vice president of policy research at TechNet, Washington, D.C. Dr. Horrigan previously worked on the National Broadband Plan at the Federal Communications Commission.

Jose Carrillo (MPAff ’97) works for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund.

Laura Lazo (MPAff ’97) is a Senior Budget Analyst at Fairfax County’s Department of Management and Budget.

Mark Zaineddin (MPAff ’97) is the associate for community and youth development at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Heath Prince (MPAff ’98)recently left Jobs for the Future in Boston to join the workforce development division of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Law and Social Policy. He also is working on his doctorate in social policy at Brandeis University.

2000s

Michelle Kelso (MPAff ’01) took a new position as assistant professor of sociology and human services at The George Washington University.

Mary Whittle (MPAff ’01) is an attorney with the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Cassius Johnson (MPAff ’02) formerly education policy director at Jobs for the Future in Boston and Washington, D.C., is now public policy director of College Summit in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth (Leah) Kegler (MPAff ’02) is a lobbyist with Advanced Medical Technology Association in Washington, D.C.

Susan Vermeer Lopez (MPA’02) is a lead consultant with Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Denver, Colorado.

Carolina Freire (MPAff ’03) was selected as a 2010-2011 Central America Leadership Initiative (CALI) Fellow. Learn more about the CALI Fellowship here.

Jeff Hamilton (MPAff ’03) is a commercial officer in Dolonia Juarez, Mexico, with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Alexandra Ritchie (MPAff ’03) is a management and program analyst with the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management in Washington, D.C.

Larry Warshaw (MPAff ’03) is a principal with Constructive Ventures Inc., participating in the Austin Seaholm-area redevelopment project. He was quoted in a December 25, 2010 article about the project in the Austin American-Statesman. Read the article here.

Rajasvini Bhansali (MPAff ’04) was the keynote speaker at the Women’s Programming Alliance of UT, a celebration of National Young Women’s Day of Action on October 28. Her talk was titled “We are all Manorama: Stories of young women’s creativity and courage from India and South Africa.” Bhansali currently is executive director of the San Francisco-based social justice grant making organization, International Development Exchange. Read more here.

Mina Dadgar (MPAff ’04) is a doctoral student in economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Sarah Looney Oldmixon (MPAff ’04) joined the Advisory Committee for the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources in October 2010.  She is director of workforce initiatives at the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region and an advisor to numerous local, state and national workforce initiatives. At the Community Foundation, Sarah manages the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, a coalition of grant makers that helps low-income, un-, and under-employed adults throughout the Greater Washington region obtain good jobs through direct service, capacity building, policy advocacy, and research investments.

Michael Blood (MPAff ’05) is a program manager with The Humpty Dumpty Institute in New York City.

David James (MPAff ’05) is a software developer with Sunlight Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Chan (MPAff ’06) is a program examiner for the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C.

Eric Panketh (MPAff ’06) left the Office of Management and Budget to work as national security staff at the White House as director in All Hazards Preparedness and Grants.

Michael MacVay (MPAff ’07) is a legislative associate with the Austin firm Focused Advocacy.

Ian T. Brown (MPAff ’08) is a Foreign Service officer in Washington, D.C. He will begin an assignment in El Salvador in summer 2011.

Livier Cabezas (MPAff ’09) is SHIC project manager in Health Insurance Studies at UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Her team recently published a study on the number of Californians without access to employer-based insurance. Read the policy brief.

Jennifer Clymer (MPAff ’09) is employed by the Washington, D.C.-based ICF International, working remotely from Austin.

Steven Goldman (MPAff ’09) is a postgraduate fellow at the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Wastewater Management, Water Permits Division, State and Regional Branch.

Jamie MCAllister (MPAff ’10) recently accepted a position as a business analyst with ICF International, based in Fairfax, Virginia.

Greg Pardo III (MPAff ’10) was profiled by St. Mary’s University in October 2010. He currently is completing training as a foreign services officer in Washington, D.C. as part of the U.S. State Department Rangel Fellow program. Read the article here.

David Wogan (MPAff ’10) writes, “I have taken a job at Austin Energy working in the Distributed Energy Services division to help administer a $10 million federal grant for energy efficiency and conservation efforts here in Austin.”

Wedding Bells, Babes, etcetera

Michael Blood (MPAff ’05) and wife Hayden welcomed their first child, a daughter, Ainsley Penelope, on June 16, 2010.   

Passings

James (Jim) Chote (MPAff ’91) passed away on December 8, 2010. Read the obituary.