special issue: inauguration 2009 - National Peace Corps Association

Community News
Recent achievements of our community
by JoAnna Haugen
ARGENTINA
The National Park Service recently
named Kate Hammond (92-94)
as superintendent at Little Bighorn
Battlefield National Monument. She
has worked with the U.S. Interior
Department for 14 years. Hammond
received her bachelor’s degree in history
and environmental studies from Yale
University and her master’s degree in
environmental management from the
Yale School of Forestry.
BULGARIA
Susan Chestnut (06-08) and Jason
Penarelli (06-08) are producing a
documentary about volunteerism with 2
Travel A Dirt Road Productions. It seeks
Susan Chestnut
to answer the question of why ordinary
people choose to do extraordinary work
for the benefit of others around the
world. The two are traveling around the
world to visit grassroots organizations
working to combat some of the world’s
most critical issues.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Robert Foster (85-88) was recently
appointed as the deputy chief of party
for the USAID Afghanistan Water,
Agriculture and Technology Transfer
Program in Kabul. He is an associate
director in the College of Agriculture
at New Mexico State University and
also a program manager at the Institute
for Energy and Environment in the
College of Engineering.
ECUADOR
Author Eve Brown-Waite (88-
89) recently signed a contract with
Broadway Books, a division of Random
House, for her memoir, which will
be published in spring 2009. Brown-
Waite began writing her stories when
her husband took a job with CARE in
Uganda. She earned her master’s degree
in public health from Hunter College.
Former high school classmates
Rob Meyer (05-07) and Ben Stone
launched Papa Spuds Organics, a
unique service that delivers local,
fresh produce once a week to their
Robert Foster
growing list of clientele. They opened
the company in February 2008.
Meyer learned about alternative
farming as a Peace Corps volunteer
and has applied a simple business
model he learned there to Papa Spuds
Organics: grow and sell goods in the
same community.
HONDURAS
The Vogels may appear to be your
average cyclists when they whiz by on
their bikes, but this unique family of
four is on a mission. Their goal? Pedal
from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia,
Argentina. It will take approximately
30 months and 20,000 miles for John
Vogel, Nancy Sathre-Vogel (84-86) and
their sons, Davy and Daryl to achieve
this task. The family left in June 2008
and is currently in Texas. Sathre-Vogel
and her husband have been teachers for
several years, and now their boys are
enjoying an education of a lifetime—as
well as the title of “Youngest Person
to Cycle the Pan-American Highway”
when they reach their final goal.
KOREA
Kathleen Stephens (75-77) was
appointed as U.S. ambassador to Korea
in September. Known also by her Korean
name, Shim Eun-kyung, Stephens has
been with the Foreign Service since 1978.
She has served in a variety of positions in
China, Trinidad and Tobago, Belgrade,
Zagreb, Ireland and Portugal. Her
appointment as ambassador to Korea
will be her first ambassadorial posting.
Stephens holds a bachelor’s degree from
Prescott College and a master’s degree
from Harvard University.
MADAGASCAR
Last year a team of scientists was chosen
to help preserve part of Madagascar’s
44 Spring 2009