(Vol. 114 No. 1) Text (PDF) - Spelman College: Home

NewsmakersA Spelman alumna was among15 outstanding corporate professionalselected to receive a 1999CareerFOCUS Eagle Award.Yvonne R. Jackson, C’70, issaluted in the November/December1999 issue of CareerFOCUS for “triumphantlybalancing her professionaland community leadership.”Ms. Jackson is currently Senior VicePresident, Human Resources, Organizationand Environment at Compaq inHouston, TX and a member of the SpelmanCollege Board of Trustees.In industry and professional publications, Brenda C. Siler, C’75, wasrecognized as one of the country’s 12 leading African Americans in PublicRelations by PR Week in its February 22, 1999 issue. With more than 20years’ experience in communications and nonprofit/association management,Siler is director of public relations for the AmericanSpeech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Greer L.Geiger, M.D., ‘76, is the sole subject of a recent GreaterBirmingham Edition of M.D. News, a business and lifestylemagazine for physicians. Geiger is an ophthalmologist specializingin retina surgery and the medical management ofretinal diseases, a field in which there are very few AfricanAmerican women. In addition to private practice, she is presidentof the Alabama Academy of Ophthalmology and chairof the National Medical Association Ophthalmology Section,among other professional memberships. (See page 14.)The Baptist Standard and Texas news sources covered the graduation ofCassandra A. Jones, C’79, the first African American woman to receivea doctor of philosophy degree at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary inFort Worth, Texas. Her degree is in the area of administration.Even on the World Wide Web, Spelman alumnae are making their presenceknown. The St. Louis Post on-line publication, found at www.postnet.com,offers a captivating Arts & Entertainment Special Report, “TheDenise Thimes Story.” This indepth,five-part series finds aPost reporter and a photojournalistfollowing actress andsinger Denise Thimes, C’84,as she travels from her St. Louishome to spend time in NewYork City in an effort to grabhold of her dream to performon Broadway. In addition to theW I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 0 0series of articles, you can also access story photographs, as wellas listen to excerpts from Thimes’ performances. And inAugust 1999, a creative profile on Kim Stinger, C’93 couldbe found at www.hallmark.com, the Web site of Hallmark. Inthe profile, Stinger shares her thoughts as editor of the company’ssummer promotion of the Certainly Lord card line,which captures the beliefs and spirit of African Americanfaith.Although the Spelman scope is an international one,more than one-third of the College’s 9,500 alumnae liveand work in metropolitan Atlanta and Georgia. So, asstudents, faculty and staff bring greater recognition tothe College from within the gates, the achievements ofalumnae attest to the worthiness of our mission in the surroundingcommunities. In August, Teree Caldwell-Johnson, C’78,made headlines when she was the top candidate for Fulton County Manager,a position she ultimately decided not to accept. In September, NewJersey native Karen Calloway Williams, C’88, was profiled in TheAtlanta Journal-Constitution “Arts & Books” section when she came totown with the stage production of Riverdance. She is the first female todo the production number,“Trading Taps.” DeborahJohnson Mitchell, C’80,was named the 1999-2000Atlanta Public SchoolsTeacher of the Year. The subjectof a touching article inthe CITYLIFE section of theThursday, October 7, 1999 editionof The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Mitchell is alanguage arts, mathematicsand science teacher at Slater Elementary School. She rose to the top of adynamic group of 91 other teachers, and won out over the top middleand high school teachers. She has been named a CNN Teacher of theMonth and an Atlanta Braves Teacher of the Year. And in November,Juanita Blount-Clark, C’74, was called a “builder,” a “problemsolver” and an “energetic innovator” in news reports upon being nameddirector of the division of Family and Children Services by Georgia GovernorRoy Barnes.The Clayton Neighbor profiled community activist Gail Davenport,C’70, in the People section of the Wednesday, December22, 1999 edition. A resident of Clayton County, Georgia for morethan 40 years, Davenport is lauded for her many efforts on behalfof her community. Among other involvements, she is presidentand founder of the Concerned Black Citizens’ Coalition of ClaytonCounty, which organizes voter registration drives and spearheadsthe Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration in Clayton County.31