Marathon runner Ryan Shay '02 collapsed and died November 3 while competing in the U.S.
Olympic team trials in New York City. An All-American track star at Notre Dame, Shay won the
NCAA national title for 10,000 meters in 2001. After graduation he became a five-time national
road-racing champion. Hundreds of mourners wearing blue-and-gold lapel ribbons with the ND
logo attended his three-hour funeral in East Jordan, a tiny town in northern Michigan. Speaking
at the funeral, Joe Piane, Shay's ND coach, said "focus, discipline and sacrifice" were the words
that best described the young athlete. . . . Rohan Gunaratna '97, the author of Inside al Qaeda:
Global Network of Terror and an associate professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological
University, testified for the prosecution as an expert witness at the trial of Jose Padilla, accused
of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb." . . . In November, Indianapolis Colts punter Hunter Smith '99 appeared on the cable TV Gospel Music Channel program Front Row Live.
Performing as the Christian acoustic rock duo Connersvine, Smith and a friend played music
from their recently released debut CD. . . . Christina Rodriguez '90 was featured in the July
2007 issue of Money magazine. The story deals with her struggle with multiple sclerosis and
managing personal finances. . . . James Otteson '90, professor of economics and philosophy at
Yeshiva University, received the 2007 first place Templeton Enterprise Award for his book Actual Ethics. The annual award from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute is presented to
scholars under 40 for the best books and articles in humane economics and culture. . . . Alison
Bryant '00 recently qualified for the U.S. Women's marathon Olympic team trials, to be held in
Boston in April. In 1999, she was the Big East Conference 10,000-meter champion and an
NCAA All-American. . . . Harry Oliver '83, who became a legend when his last second 51-yard
game-winning field goal defeated Michigan in 1980, died of cancer in August. . . . William
Sadlier Dinger '63 and his wife, Maureen Dinger, received the Catholic Guardian Society's
Child of Peace Award in September. Dinger is president of the catechetical publishing company
William H. Sadlier, Inc. . . . Mark Hexamer '94 recently launched the Internet company
swaptree.com, which allows people to freely trade their old books, dvds and video games. . . . William H. Turner '71 M.A, '74Ph.D., chair of the Appalachian Studies Program at Berea
College, was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in September. . . . Illinois
Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas '74 received an apology and a reported $3 million out-of-court settlement from the Kane County Chronicle in October. The former Fighting Irish and
Chicago Bears kicker sued the newspaper over two columns that he contended had libeled him. .
. . F. Joseph Loughrey '71, president and chief operating officer of Cummins, Inc., was recently
honored by the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States at its 2007 American Celtic
Ball. . . . Scott Friedman '94 has been named weekend morning anchor at KXAS-TV, the NBC
affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth. . . . Neil Punsalan '00 founded the Internet entertainment
company black20.com, which features short videos ranging from comedy sketches to live music.
The entertainment website recorded 25 million hits in its first nine months of operation. . . . Thomas F. Degnan Jr. '73, manager of breakthrough and new leads technology at ExxonMobil
Research and Engineering Co., was named a "Hero of Chemistry" by the American Chemical
Society, recognizing his achievements in catalytic chemistry. . . . Jian Yi '98M.A. was awarded
the Bronze Zenith Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival for his fiction feature film Dong
Sun (Bamboo Shoots). The independent filmmaker will begin a Starr Foundation artist-in-residence fellowship from March to August 2008 under the auspices of the Asian Cultural
Council. . . . Chandra Johnson '96, former assistant to then-Notre Dame President Edward A.
Malloy, CSC, and former associate director of campus ministry, has become the executive
director of the An-Bryce Foundation in McLean, Virginia. The group works to cultivate future
leaders from amongst society's most socio-economically disadvantaged young people. . . . Joseph Tedesco '72 has been named the new dean of the University of Houston's Cullen
College of Engineering. . . . Coquese Washington '92, '97J.D., is the new women's head
basketball coach at Penn State University. . . . And Billy Taylor '95, former men's head
basketball coach at Lehigh University, is now head coach at Ball State University in Muncie,
Indiana. . . . Also named a head basketball coach is Kristin Cole '94. The former Fighting Irish
player now heads the University of New Hampshire's women's team. . . . Maura A. McCauley
'98, a director in Heartland Human Care Services, Inc., was recognized as a "young, emerging
leader in the fight against racism and poverty" by the Community Renewal Society of Chicago.
She has worked with the homeless for 10 years. . . . The History News Network has named
Baylor University associate professor Thomas Kidd '01Ph.D. a Top Young Historian. He is a
specialist in 18th century North American history, especially evangelical Christianity in colonial
America. . . . Renee LaReau '96, '00M.Div., recently won three writing awards from the
Catholic Press Association. "Uncommon Choir," about the Notre Dame Folk Choir, won first
place for best feature in the national newspaper category and second place for best reporting on
young adults. She won a second place award for her profile of a documentary filmmaker. . . .
Architect Patricia A. Craig '82 was featured in the July/August issue of Natural Home magazine in a story about her environmentally friendly home design. She also was featured in
the November issue of Cooking Light magazine as the architect of the magazine's 2007 "Fit
House." . . . Dr. Frederick C. Morin III '72 has been named dean of the University of
Vermont's College of Medicine. Previously he had been chair of pediatrics at the University of
Buffalo. . . . Col. Daniel Bruno '81 recently was named garrison commander at the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point. With the new assignment, he serves essentially as the "mayor"
of West Point. . . . Chicago Mayor Richard Daley recently named former Irish and Chicago
Bears defensive tackle Chris Zorich '91, '02J.D., to the Chicago Public Library Board. . . . Selim Ilter '78MBA is the new dean of the Ronald L. Bittner School of Business at Saint John
Fisher College in Rochester, New York. . . . Scott Demorest '93MBA, co-founder of ACME
Business Consulting, has been named by the U. S. Small Business Administration as Oregon's
2007 Small Business Person of the Year.
(January 2008)
