Tom Merriman '84, an investigative reporter
with WJW-TV in Cleveland, won the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University
Award, considered the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism.
The award honored his investigation into the Cleveland Municipal
School District's transportation department, which found millions
of dollars in waste, mismanagement, and the use of inflated data
in state funding reports. . . . A short story by Tony
D'Souza '00MFA, "Club Des Amis," appeared in the September
5, 2005, edition of The New Yorker. . . . Robert
Henke '88 is the new chief financial officer and assistant
secretary for management of the Veterans Affairs Department. .
. . Enrique Marshall '80M.A., '87Ph.D., general
manager of the Chilean central bank, was nominated by Chile's
president to serve on the bank's board of directors. . . . Judge
Kathleen Blatz '76 retired from her position as the first
female chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. She said
she wanted to spend more time with her three sons and husband.
. . . Sarah Badics '03 and her fiancé,
David Wieland '01, won $100,000 on a special
engaged-couples edition of the TV show Who Wants
to Be a Millionaire. The episode aired last November. . .
. Regis Philbin '53, host of Live with Regis
and Kelly and the original host of Millionaire, has
agreed to host ABC's revival of the classic show This Is Your
Life. . . . Mary Wittenberg (nee Robertson) '89J.D.
was race director of this past year's New York City Marathon.
. . . Congressman Peter King, '68J.D., R-NY,
was selected by House leaders to lead a committee seeking to determine
how federal funds are distributed to help communities prepare
for terrorist attacks and natural disasters. . . . Amy
Carroll '96 was named staff director of the Environment
Technology and Standards Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives'
Committee on Science. Her areas include the Environmental Protection
Agency, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. . . .
Paul '94J.D. and Jamie Moses '94J.D. appeared
on The Today Show and other TV shows to promote their
book Opposite Schmopposite: Opposites Attract But Complements
Last. The book aims to help families maintain healthy relationships
and understand why like people are a better fit in the long run.
. . . Fashion magazine Elle wrote about Kate
Robinson '02, who has started her own clothing label,
Evie Kilcline, available in the retail stores Wink in Houston
and Montmartre in New York. . . . Tasha Gutting Alexander
'92 returned to Notre Dame to promote her first book,
And Only To Deceive, a novel set in Victorian England
with a plot involving stolen antiquities. The book has already
entered its second printing. . . . The opening track of pop singer
Shakira's newest CD, Oral Fixation vol. 2, features Seraphic
Fire, a professional chamber choir founded by Patrick
Dupre Quigley '00. . . . The Seattle Post profiled
John "Jack" Steidl '41, age 86, one of the few
remaining military veterans able to play taps on a bugle at military
funerals. . . . The PBS series Mini-Med School TV featured
a heart operation performed by Patrick McCarthy, M.D.,
'77. of Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital. McCarthy
operated on a South Bend man who had been told he needed a transplant.
McCarthy instead performed three surgeries in one -- a triple
bypass, repair of two leaky hear valves, and reconstruction of
the heart wall to remove an aneurysm. . . . Ryan Yurcaba,
'04M.Arch. and Kelly Andrews Scibona '02 are
members of the architectural firm Historical Concepts of Peachtree
City, Georgia, which designed this year's Southern Living Idea
House. The concept appeared in the August 2005 issue of Southern
Living Magazine. The design is a for a new traditional neighborhood
in Atlanta called Glenwood Park. . . . Jeffrey Brenzel
'92M.A., '01Ph.D. was appointed Yale's dean of undergraduate
admission and financial aid. . . . The Press & Dakotan
newspaper in Yankton, South Dakota, wrote about Shaunti
Althoff '00, '02M.Ed. and her work in organizing relief
for Mercy Cross Middle and High School in Biloxi, Mississippi.
She taught there as part of Alliance for Catholic Education program
from 2000 to 2002. . . . Joseph P. Pons '44, whose
family business, Country Life Farm, is the oldest commercial thoroughbred
breeding farm still operating in Maryland, died at 83. The farm's
notable thoroughbreds included Cigar, the 1995 and 1996 Horse
of the Year and North America's all-time leading money winner.
. . . Robert Smith '72M.A. and Air Force Major
Anne Skelly '82 work together as the speech-writing
team for the new deputy secretary of defense, Gordon England.
. . . The international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP named John
F. Farraher Jr. '90 a new shareholder of its Boston office.
. . . Rabindra Kar '83 wrote a guest column for
Asia Times, "The flip side of outsourcing to India."
. . . Conseco insurance hired Christopher J Nickele '79
as executive vice president for new product development.
. . . 1st Source bank promoted Senior Vice President Joseph
Kuzmitz '95MBA to manager of the Business Banking Group.
. . . James G Berges '69 retired as president
of Emerson, an engineering and technology company based in Saint
Louis. He had been president for almost 30 years. . . . Chicago
Magazine named Paula M. Dwyer '82 a 2005
Illinois Super Lawyer for her work in elder law. . . . The
Buffalo News profiled the Rev. Michael H Burzynski
'79M.A., '81Ph.D., who is said to have one of the largest
collections of relics of saints in the country. . . . Richard
J. O'Melia '39, former vice chairman of the Civil Aeronautics
Board, died at the age of 88. . . . Martin Kress '70 was
named was named executive director of the National Space Science
and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He had been deputy
director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. . . . King
County Judge Mary Yu '93J.D. was named state
judge of the year in Washington by the Washington chapter of the
American Board of Trial Advocates.
(January 2006)
