Alumni Notes
Mary Anne (Piene) Hitt (’97), along with her colleague, Bruce Niles, has been named to POLITICO 50 in 2015. POLITICO Magazine calls the list their “guide to the thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics in 2015.” Hitt and Niles were included for their leadership of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Others on the list included Pope Francis, Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel laureate), Janet Yellen, Bernie Sanders, and Justice Anthony Kennedy. The honorees were recognized at a gala at the Kennedy Center.
Profile link:
politico.com/magazine/politico50/2015/mary-anne-hitt-bruce-nilles
You can learn more about the Beyond Clean Coal campaign at content.sierraclub.org/coal/about-the-campaign
In April 2015, John Rader (’08) was appointed as Policy Analyst and Counsel on the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under Chairman Bob Corker (Republican, Tennessee). In this role, Rader’s portfolio includes the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere policy, as well as advising the Chairman on terrorism and human rights issues, ambassadorial appointments, and judicial confirmations.
Drew Holbomb (’03) and his wife Ellie received the Alumni Promise Award in fall 2015. Drew Holcomb is the lead singer in the band, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors.
Kevin Burdette (’97) has been nominated for a 2015 ArtImpulse Theater Award for his performance as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Boston Lyric Opera.
Garrison Keillor selected Lisa Coffman’s (‘85) poem “Everybody Made Soups” to read on The Writer’s Almanac on Monday, January 18, 2016.
The audio can be found at writersalmanac.org/episodes/20160118/
The poem was published in Less Obvious Gods (Iris Press, 2013)
Clinton Elmore (’14) received the Master of Science degree in communications in May 2016. His master’s project, the documentary film, Reaching Recovery, was screened on WBIR on March 10, 2016.
The film can be viewed at landgrantfilms.org/reaching/
Current Scholar Hannah Marley was one of the producers.