1970s

Cynthia S. Haggard, B.A.’75, M.A.’80, Ed.D.’86, is associate professor of educational foundations and policy studies at West Chester (Pa.) University. A member of the Association of Teacher Educators, she chairs the organization’s Leadership Foundation for Teacher Educators. Outside of the classroom, Haggard sings in the Main Line Ecumenical Choir, a choir made up of members from 36 different churches along the Main Line region of suburban Philadelphia.

The Ashland University Alumni Association has awarded Michael L. Hupfer, M.A.’79, the 2019 Dr. Glenn L. Clayton Award. The award is presented to a university employee or retiree who demonstrates exceptional leadership qualities, embodies the mission of the university, and goes above and beyond by representing the university in a positive manner. Hupfer retired from Ashland University in 2015 after 18 years as director of the Center for English Studies and a further 18 years as assistant/associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He lives in Ashland, Ohio.

Award-winning author Clifford W. Garstang, M.A.’79, J.D.’81, combines his international experience and Virginia roots in his first novel, The Shaman of Turtle Valley, published in May 2019 by Braddock Avenue Books. The book explores the healing of wounds—in families, nations, and landscapes— and the challenges in bridging cultural gaps. After graduating from college, Garstang spent two years in the Peace Corps teaching English in South Korea. He is a former international lawyer and author of the story collections In an Uncharted Country and What the Zhang Boys Know, and editor of the anthology series Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet. Garstang lives in Staunton, Va.

After a two-year stint as a freelance marketing communications consultant, Kaylene Riemen Rickett, B.A.’93, is now communications manager for Indianapolis-based certified public accounting firm Katz, Sapper & Miller. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Christopher A. Rickett, B.A.J.’97, who is Hamilton County (Ind.) editor for The Indianapolis Star.

The Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation’s class of 2019–20 fellows includes IU alumni Jason A. Shaw, B.S.’03, M.B.A.’12, managing director of client services at @Work Solutions Inc.; Jennifer D. Banner, B.A.’98, C.E.O. of SmallBox; Stephanie D. Bothun, B.S.’08, vice president of Strategy Ascend Indiana; and Keeley R. Stingel, M.P.A.’14, executive director of the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana. Each fellow was selected based on their vision for driving change in Indiana and beyond as demonstrated by their personal and professional achievements. “We see the passion, energy, and potential in these leaders and look forward to supporting them as they help lift the arc of progress in Indiana,” said Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation board chairman Ryan Kitchell.

Listed among Essence magazine’s top 10 summer reads, Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. Ford, B.A.’02, Ph.D.’11, is described as a story of “desire, access, conformity, and black innovation.” In the book, Ford explores “Afros and dashikis, go-go boots and hot-pants of the sixties, hip hop’s baggy jeans and bamboo earrings, and the #BlackLivesMatter-inspired hoodies of today.” Into this discussion, Ford weaves her personal experiences as a black girl growing up in a Midwestern city and the impact of fashion on those experiences. Ford has previously written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Elle.com. 

Paige M. Gray, B.A.’05, published Cub Reporters: American Children’s Literature and Journalism in the Golden Age (SUNY P, 2019). The book considers the intersections between children’s literature and journalism in the United States during the period between the Civil War and World War I and includes works by such writers as L. Frank Baum, Horatio Alger Jr., and Richard Harding Davis, as well as unique journalistic examples such as the children’s page of the Chicago Defender. Gray is a professor of liberal arts at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. For more information about her academic and journalistic writing, visit paigemariegray.com. 

Lost Hammond, Indiana, the first book by Joseph S. Pete, B.A.’06, was published in April 2020 by the History Press of Charleston, S.C. He has signed a contract with Reedy Press in St. Louis for his second book, which is tentatively titled 100 Things to Do in Gary and Northwest Indiana Before You Die. Pete lives in Dyer, Ind., with his wife, Meredith Colias-Pete, B.A.’06, and is a business reporter and Sunday columnist at The Times of Northwest Indiana, the second largest newspaper in the state. In addition to being an award-winning journalist, Pete is an Iraq War veteran, book reviewer, photographer, poet, playwright, and frequent guest on Lakeshore Public Radio. His literary and photographic work has appeared in more than 200 literary journals and publications, including Free Lit Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Seattle Times, and he was named poet laureate of the Chicago BaconFest.

Indiana attorney Adam J. Sedia, B.A./B.S.’06, hosted a book launch reception and continuing legal education event at the Lake County Bar Association in October 2018, where he presented his third poetry book, Visions Beyond. At the event, he read from his poetry, signed books, and held a continuing legal education program on copyright law. Sedia received undergraduate degrees in chemistry and English from IU in 2006 and a law degree from DePaul University in 2009. He currently practices as a civil and appellate litigator at the firm of Hoeppner, Wagner & Evans in Merrillville, Ind. He has published two previous collections of poetry, The Spring’s Autumn (2013) and Inquietude (2016). Sedia’s poems have been published in Indiana Voice Journal, Tulip Tree Review, The Chained Muse Review, and Northwest Indiana Literary Journal. He has also published short stories and law-related articles and composes music, which may be heard on his YouTube channel.