1964
Don Newsom ’64 was inducted into the Mt. Pleasant, Texas, Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2024. Pictured from left to right are Judd Marshall, Superintendent of Mt. Pleasant ISD, Don, and Don’s wife Carol Campbell Newsom ’62, MAT ’71, a 1997 Distinguished Alumna.
1965
James E. Deans Jr. ’65 would like to let everyone know that he and Catherine Upshaw ’64 are still around, just a bit “creakier.” James retired in 1997 after a 30-year career with Texas Instruments.
1966
Sheryl Stice Ross ’66 retired after 50 years of nursing, with 20 years as a pediatric ER nurse and the remainder in management. She shares that she has loved her career, a highlight of which was working in the camps in Albania and Bosnia during the war.
1969
Jean Dodge Holland ’69 retired in 2004 from Spring Branch ISD after 32 years. She then retired again in 2020 after 16 additional years.
1970
Rev. H. Sharon Howell ’70 enjoyed a 40-year career with the Kansas East and Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church from 1972 to 2012. During that time, she held positions as pastor, district superintendent, president of the Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville, and president of Saint Paul School of Theology.
1972
Barbara Bailey Parker ’72 of Collinsville, Virginia, was elected chair of the Virginia Commission for the Arts Board of Commissioners for the 2024–2025 year. She was appointed to the VCA in 2019 by thengovernor Ralph Northam. Barbara served for 19 years as Director of Programs for Piedmont Arts, an accredited museum and arts center in Southside Virginia. A passionate advocate for the arts, she has served as a board member of the Virginia Presenters Network and the North Carolina Presenters Consortium and is one of the founders of TheatreWorks Community Players in Martinsville, Virginia.
After the death of her daughter, journalist Alison Parker, in 2016, she founded the For Alison Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing arts opportunities for youth in southern Virginia.
Dr. Carmen Tafolla ’72 was awarded the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Institute of Letters. The Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 1936 to recognize distinctive literary achievement and is the highest honor given by the organization.
1973
Newt Cunningham III ’73 was elected Fannin County Judge in November 2022 and took office January 1, 2023.
1977
Julie Hayes ’77 retired from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2022. She served as chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and then as Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts for 10 years. This winter saw a new milestone, with the publication of her fourth scholarly book, Women Moralists in Early Modern France, from Oxford University Press (2024).
1980
Michael Noss ’80 has retired to San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico after a career as a psychiatrist.
1984
Mark Barcus ’84 has been named Assistant Chief Immigration Judge for Training and Management by the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. In this new role, Mark will coordinate and supervise all judicial, legal, and staff training for immigration courts nationwide. He will also supervise the new West Los Angeles training court.
1985
H. Denyse Seaman Rodgers ’85 retired from Baylor University Libraries after a 37-year career. She and her husband, David, will continue to live in Waco, Texas.
Lynn Northcutt Vega ’85 has had a year of exciting changes. On December 29, 2023, Lynn retired after 32 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development. During her time with the agency, Lynn served as a career foreign service officer and worked to promote national security and foreign policy through social and economic development initiatives in more than 20 countries around the world. She served long-term assignments in Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Colombia, and Moldova. A week after retiring, she took on exciting new responsibilities as Representative of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in Washington, D.C. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest Native American nation in the United States, with over 225,000 tribal members. Lynn will work to advance the Choctaw Nation’s priorities and programs before the U.S. Congress, the executive branch, and other stakeholders in our Nation’s capital. Lynn also had exciting news on the family front. Her second grandchild, Daniel Alexander Vega, was born in June 2024. He joins his older sister Olivia Rose and parents Wiley and Carlota Vega.
1988
University Medical Center and Texas Tech Physicians recognized Dr. Mike Ragain ’88 with the naming of The Mike Ragain, MD Endowed Professorship in Medical Excellence in Family Medicine. This naming is an acknowledgment of his commitment to UMC and Texas Tech Physicians. He serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for UMC Health System.
1989
Tim Newsom ’89 has become a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is also the Immediate Past President of TEX-ABOTA, a 1,400-member regional organization of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
1991
Le Anna Brun ’91 was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church on January 24, 2024, at St. James Episcopal Church in Taos, New Mexico, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Michael Hunn on behalf of the Diocese of Texas. In November 2023, Le Anna was called to serve as the Missioner for Christian Formation for the Diocese of the Rio Grande and will be serving diocesan youth and parishes in New Mexico and far West Texas.
Dr. Estevan Garcia ’91 recently began working as the inaugural chief health and wellness officer at Dartmouth College.
1997
Dr. Stuart Borrett ’97 is serving as a program director at the National Science Foundation for the 2024-2025 academic year. He will be working with the Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) program. Stuart is excited to serve in this capacity, to learn more about the national research and development ecosystem, and to address systematic barriers to increase participation and capacity in STEM.
1999
Justin Miller ’99 was elected to serve as president of the League of Minnesota Cities for the 2024-2025 year. The League represents over 800 cities across the state, and as president, Justin leads the Board of Directors, comprised of elected and appointed officials from across the state. The League of Minnesota Cities advocates for cities at the state and federal level, provides training for local officials, and serves as the primary insurance option for most Minnesota cities.
2004
Lindsey Lumsford Drake ’04 has been awarded the Corporate/Transactional Attorney of 2024 award by Travis County Women Lawyers Association. Lindsey also teaches elder law in her role as an adjunct professor at University of Texas School of Law.
Abbas Ravjani ’04 was recently promoted to director of privacy and public policy at Meta. He and his wife and two children (8 and 5) live in Arlington, Virginia.
2005
Dr. Kayla Smiley Tallant ’05 left her current chiropractic practice in November 2023 after almost 10 years and opened Tallant Chiropractic in Oak Cliff, near the Bishop Arts District. Her goal is to provide accessible, affordable chiropractic care to the community she lives in and loves. She says it has been a breath of fresh air to venture out on her own, run her business, and care for her patients at the highest level.
2007
Dr. Rachel Aker ’07 has earned a master’s degree in Theatre Studies from University of Houston (2015) and a Ph.D. in Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, and Dramatic Theory and Criticism from Louisiana State University (2024). She is currently working as a career coach for the College of Music and Dramatic Arts at LSU’s Olinde Career Center. Aker has taught undergraduate courses in introductory theatre and acting at LSU and was previously a high school theatre teacher in Temple, Texas. She has experience as a dramaturg, set designer, scenic artist, and educator with companies in Houston and Baton Rouge, including Houston Shakespeare Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Main Street Theatre, Swine Palace, and Playmakers.
Dr. David Savage ’07 finished his fellowship in hematology/oncology at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California, in June 2024. He accepted a position as assistant professor at the University of New Mexico’s Comprehensive Cancer Center in Albuquerque in August 2024.
2009
Lisa Emery ’09 has been selected for the Communities Foundation of Texas Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program 2024-2025 cohort. Lisa is senior coordinator of community relations for Fluor Corporation in Irving, Texas.
2012
A play by Ayvaunn Penn ’12, Why Ain’t a Grape a Berry? The Colored Thespian Complex When Progress—Gets Hairy, has been published in Stonecoast Review, a Pushcart Prizewinning literary journal. Her play For the Love of Uvalde: A Play Inspired by the Robb Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas was a semi-finalist for the 2023 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship and made the 2024 Yale Drama Series Short List, an honor conferred by Broadway playwright and competition judge Jeremy O. Harris, who selected the play to be in the top 10 scripts from over 2,000 submissions. Ayvaunn also directed dwb (Driving While Black) for Fort Worth Opera during Black History Month 2024, and was named an Arts Influencer by Patron Magazine in 2023.
2014
Truman Word ’14 has earned a Ph.D. in Materials Science from The University of Texas-El Paso, and has begun a job with SpaceX as a materials engineer.
2017
Chelsea May Law LaRue ’17 became a board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. She earned her Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2020.
Rebecca Rogers ’17 has earned a M.A. in International Affairs and Political Analysis from American University in 2023. This is her second master’s degree; the first was an M.Sc. in Development Studies from London School of Economics in 2018. Prior to attending American University, Rebecca spent two years in South Korea teaching English. She currently works as an analyst at the Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C., where she has authored reports on public transit counterterrorism grants, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and a variety of other topics.
2018
Nancy Asusena Coto ’18 began a new position as a kindergarten Spanish language arts teacher at YES Prep Public Schools—East End Elementary in August 2024.