Alumni classnotes, fall 2024

Western Michigan University recognizes alumni achievements and announcements submitted during fall 2024.

• Drew Allbritten, BA ‘68, MA ‘70, SpE ‘77, EdD ‘82, published his historical fiction book, “I, Soldier: A Voice from the American Civil War.”
• Vinod Thomas, BA ‘70, MA ‘71, published “Risk and Resilience in the Era of Climate Change” (2023, Palgrave Macmillan). Thomas, former senior vice president of independent evaluation at the World Bank and director general of Independent Evaluation at the Asian Development Bank, is a board member of the International Evaluation Academy and a distinguished fellow at the Asian Institute of Management.
• Elaine Lee, BA ‘73, published “Go Girl 2: The Black Woman’s Book of Travel and Adventure,” a sequel to the travel guide for African American women, “Go Girl: The Black Woman’s Book of Travel and Adventure,” which includes travel tales, poems and photos.
• Lawrence Pfaff, MA ‘77, EdD ‘80, completed his first book, “52 Seeds: A Guide to Self-Discovery, Personal Growth and Meaningful Change.”
• Robert (Bob) S. Kaiser, BBA ‘78, owner and CEO of Kaiser Enterprise, made an additional investment in the sales lab that bears his name at Western, the Robert S. Kaiser Sales, Negotiation and Leadership Lab.
• Dr. Ollie G. Barnes III, BS ‘81, MA ‘83, EdD ‘90, a trusted organizational performance consultant and founder of Impact Performance Consultants, has authored a new book titled “Diagnosing Toxic Leadership: Understanding the Connection Between Personality Disorders and Toxic Leader Behaviors” (Impact Publishing Company, 2024). With over 25 years of experience, Barnes has collaborated with global Fortune 500 companies to transform leadership and enhance team dynamics.
• Jay Martin, BS ‘84, was appointed as the new executive director of the Battleship North Carolina.
• Carolina. K. Dawn (Davis) Grapes, BM ‘88, released in August “Dowland,” a biography in Oxford University Press’ Composers Across Cultures series.
• Suzanne Lezotte, BA ‘89, of Westlake Village, California, published her first memoir, “Raising Owen: An Extra-Ordinary Memoir on Motherhood” about raising her son who was diagnosed with Down syndrome. It has won four book awards.
• Stephanie Burrage, BA ‘90, was named CEO of Collaborative Student Transportation, a Saint Paul, Minnesota-based company that’s helping homeless and at-risk youth get access to education by providing them with safe and reliable transportation.
• Christina L. Corl, BS ‘91, a partner in the Columbus, Ohio, office of law firm Plunkett Cooney, was included in the 2025 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America.”
• Jason Dunn, BA ‘97; Lucas Freudenburg, BBA ‘05; Daniel Lotz, BSEM ‘04, MBA ‘16; and Brian Mandock, BS ‘04, were 2024 graduates from the U.S. Army War College, each earning a master’s in strategic studies.
• Lisa Williams, BA ‘98, MA ‘04, a WMU Board of Trustees member and principal of The School at Marygrove, received the Spirit of Detroit Award during a Detroit City Council meeting and was honored for her commitment to public education and for demonstrating outstanding service or achievement to the citizens of Detroit.
• Loren Khogali, BS ‘98, of Plymouth, Michigan, was appointed to the state’s Indigent Defense Commission by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
• David Charles Coffey, PhD ‘00, and Kathryn Norton Coffey, MA ‘01, both of Spring Lake, Michigan, self-published their book “Designing Math Adventures: Using Design Thinking to Support the Teaching and Learning of K-8 Mathematics” in April 2024.
• Nicholas W. Angel, BA ‘03, accepted a position as superintendent of Grass Lake (Michigan) Community Schools.
• Ryan Cumback, BA ‘05, was named executive director of the High School Learning Community for Charleston County (South Carolina) School District.
• Lindsay Gorham-Pflug, BS ‘02, served as an elementary school teacher for Cassopolis (Michigan) Public Schools before accepting the position of high school principal in 2021. In 2023, she also assumed the role of athletic director.
• Kevin Barry, BA ‘06, is the recipient of the 2024 James B. Binko Award for Outstanding Geography Educator of the Year. This prestigious award honors teachers who have significantly advanced geography education in Maryland and inspired students to develop a deep appreciation for the world around them.
• Andrew Towlerton, BS ‘06, was promoted to assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at Lake Orion (Michigan) Community Schools. Towlerton has worked in the school district for 19 years.
• Amanda Rachelle, PhD ‘06, published a full-length poetry collection, “Rituals for to Call Down Light,” from Finishing Line Press.
• Brittany Darga, BA ‘07, published her first children’s book, “If a Petoskey Stone Could Talk,” in June 2024 through Mission Point Press. She has previously worked in journalism, public relations and corporate communications.
• Simon A. Thalmann, BA ‘08, was named vice president of the Board of Directors for the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. Thalmann also published “Blaze Goes to Camp,” his third children’s book in the award-winning “Blaze Goes to College” series, this past spring through Kellogg Community College.
• Matt James Newton, BBA ‘10, was hired at Old Dominion University as assistant vice president of business optimization and custom relationship management architect.
• David Ajoku, BSE ‘16, Aware.ai’s founder and chief executive officer, was selected as a semifinalist from more than 3,000 companies nationwide for the prestigious $1 million Black Ambition Pitch Prize.
• Ateeb Syed, MA ‘16, PhD ‘20, is the deputy director, senior analyst-economic modeling, at the State Bank of Pakistan. He is responsible for generating quarterly projections for the main macroeconomic variables and the policy rate path for the monetary policy committee’s decisions in Pakistan.
• Juliane Sormain, BA ‘19, MA ‘21, is a senior associate at Berkeley Research Group in Tallahassee, Florida.
• Casey Dubina, MA ‘19, was sworn in as the next president of the Michigan American College Personnel Association, serving in the position to promote college student educators in the state. Dubina will continue serving as the director of advising and career services at Lake Michigan College-Benton Harbor.