MSU Alumni Magazine, Fall 2004 issue - MSU Alumni Association ...

STATE’SSTARS
Leif E. Peterson, ’70, U.S. Air
Force Material Command Civilian
Personnel
Chief, Wright-
Patterson AFB,
OH, has been
named Deputy
Director. In his
new role, he will
be responsible for personnel
matters for all 90,000 military
and civilian workers across the
country in the command. Peterson
has worked in personnel
functions for the Air Force since
he took his first job at the Pentagon
in 1971. He has had assignments
in bases in the United
States, Germany and England.
Deborah Crabbe, ’82, assistant
professor of medicine, Temple
University,
Philadelphia,
PA, has received
a grant from the
National Heart,
Lung and Blood
Institute to support
her project “Sex-Based Differences
in Post Infarction Remodeling.”
Crabbe underwent
postgraduate medical training in
cardiology and internal medicine
and received advanced subspecialty
training in nuclear cardiology
and adult cardiac
ultrasound imaging. She has
completed a research postdoctoral
fellowship in physiology at
Temple.
Ameen Najjar, ’84, legal counsel
for the City of Indianapolis Police
Department
(IPD), has been
named director
of enforcement
with the
NCAA, Indianapolis,
IN.
Najjar first joined IPD as a patrol
officer in 1984. He joined
the legal counsel office in 1987
and served as assistant counsel
for more than five years before
assuming his current position in
1993. Since 1994, he has also
served as a part-time associate attorney
with Miller, Waters, Martin
& Hall, Indianapolis, IN.
Najjar is a life member of the
MSUAA.
David Kapolka, ’72, mathematics
teacher at Forest Hills Northern
High
School, Grand
Rapids, has been
awarded the Albert
Einstein
Distinguished
Educator Fellowship.
A math teacher for over
30 years, he has taught at Forest
Hills since 1980 and has served
as dept. chair since 1989.
Among his many honors, Kapolka
was an Eisenhower National
Clearinghouse Presidential Ambassador
in 1997 and a NASA
Newmast Educator in 1998. He
is active in many mathematics
and education organizations and
is a life member of the MSUAA.
Christine Ervin, MA ’81, director
of corporate communications,
Kellogg
Co., Battle
Creek, has been
named director
of communications
and public
affairs (western
Michigan area), for Comcast,
Grand Rapids. In her new position,
Ervin will oversee community
and media relations initiatives
of nearly 400,000
customers and more than 500
Comcast employees. She has
held previous public affairs assignments
with Bayer Corp. and
General Motors Corp.
David Stephens, ’83, forensic scientist
for the Michigan State Police
(MSP) Forensic Science Lab,
Bridgeport, has been named laboratory
supervisor
at the MSP
Forensic Science
Lab, Marquette.
Stephens has
provided expert
testimony in
over 200 felony cases and participated
in more than 3,000 criminal
investigations. He helped establish
forensics labs in Haiti,
Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo and
Uganda, and has served as a consultant
and instructor for the
U.S. Dept. of Justice and the U.S.
Dept. of State.
Gary Minish, ’66, professor of
animal and poultry sciences,
Virginia Polytechnic
Institute
and State University
(VT),
Blacksburg, VA,
has been named
dean of the College
of Agricultural Sciences at
Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale. During his 35-year
tenure at VT, he served as professor,
assistant dean and assistant
director of resident instruction
and also as associate dean and director
of development and agriculture
technology for the agricultural
college. Minish also
served as head of the animal and
poultry sciences dept. from
1994-2001.
Mark A. Davis, ’84, attorney
with Howard & Howard,
Bloomfield
Hills, has been
elected president
and CEO.
Davis has been
with the firm for
14 years, concentrating
his practice in the areas
of real estate, business, securities
and tax law. From 1987-91
Davis was associated with E.F.
Hutton and subsequently with
the Michigan Corporation and
Securities Bureau. He is a member
of the State Bar of Michigan.
Natasha Williams, MA ’95, of
Peekskill, NY, is the grand prize
winner of Kraft’s
1st Annual
“New Voices of
Gospel” Talent
Search held in
New Orleans,
LA. Over 700
entries were received for the first
round of this nationwide competition.
Williams received
$25,000 in prize money, an audition
with Sony Music and a live
performance during the Essence
Music Festival with some of the
world’s most popular R&B performers.
James Anhut, MBA ’85, vice
president, Brand Management,
Staybridge
Suites, has been
named senior
vice president,
Brand Development
for the
Americas of InterContinental
Hotels Group
(IHG), Atlanta, GA. Anhut has
more than 25 years of industry
experience, and more than 14
years in senior management positions.
He currently serves on
the Visibility Committee of the
Board of Directors of the Atlanta
College of Art, and was recently
appointed to the Board of Directors
of the School of Hospitality
Management at MSU. Anhut is
a member of the Presidents Club.
Rick Gosselin, ’72, sports columnist
for the Dallas Morning
News, has won the 2004 Dick
McCann Memorial Award for
long and distinguished career reporting
professional football.
Gosselin was honored earlier this
year at the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in Canton, OH. Gosselin
worked for United Press Interna-
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FALL 2004
MSUALUMNIMAGAZINE