1962

Phillip K. Tompkins, Ph.D., and his co-author, Greg Larson, won the Top Paper Award from the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association in 2003. He also has a new book, "Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: The Decline of the Space Program," out from Roxbury.

1972

Michael Turchen, Ph.D., will step down as chair of the University of South Dakota Communication Department on May 15. He will officially retire on Aug. 15.

1973

Sandra Stroope Hochel, Ph.D., a professor emerita of Communication at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach Intercultural Studies and Business Communication at the College of Communications in Budapest, Hungary, during the Spring 2004 semester.

1976

Kathy P. Leistner, B.A., is currently living in Long Island, N.Y., and working as an exercise physiologist and freelance photographer for the Long Island Herald. She received an M.S. in education/physical education from Adelphi University in 2002.

1977

Michael J. Hyde, Ph.D., a university distinguished professor of communication ethics at Wake Forest University, has two new books being published: "The Ethos of Rhetoric," (University of South Carolina Press, 2004) and "The Life-Giving Gift of Acknowledgment: A Philosophical and Rhetorical Inquiry," (Purdue University Press, 2005).

1983

Betsy Wiersma, B.A., of Wiersma Event Marketing, has been hired to create and manage grassroot event charity prescreenings for a new movie, "Bobby Jones -- Stroke of Genius." She will manage premiere events for the movie in Atlanta, New York City, Los Angeles, and St. Andrews, Scotland.

1985

George Cheney, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, delivered the 7th annual Michael Osborn lecture on rhetoric and communication at the University of Memphis on Feb. 23.

Tracy Hine-Bullion, B.A., is the director of corporate underwriting at Star 88.3 Radio in Fort Wayne, Ind., a not-for-profit Contemporary Christian station. She has been married to Gregory D. Bullion (IE 1987) since 1987 and has three children. She also is a 4-H horse and pony leader in Allen County.

1988

Melinda Sousa, B.A., joined Bodkin Associates Inc., a minority-owned integrated marketing firm, as an account coordinator. In addition to coordinating client projects, she is involved in creative concept development for Bodkin. She previously worked in college textbook publishing sales and marketing.

1989

Rob Kessler, B.A., is director of Employee Communications at Enterprise Rent-A-Car in St. Louis, Mo.

Twanda (Duncan) DeBorde, B.A., founded CMD and Associates Executive Search Firm in 1990, after working in various management positions for Mobil Oil Corp. and Target Corp. She also was one of the alumni that helped revitalize Minnesota’s Twin Cities Purdue Alumni Club! She lives in Minnesota with husband Mark and son Connor.

1992

Amy Hertz Stoehr, B.A., was promoted to executive vice president of STAR POWER Systems Inc., a leading real estate professional training and motivational organization.

Melissa M. Spirek, Ph.D., was inducted into the Beta Tau Circle of the Omicron Delta Kappa Society on March 19. ODK is the national leadership honor society for college students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni that recognizes and encourages superior scholarship, leadership and exemplary character. She also was one of three scholars who received a $1,000 reward from the 2004 Symposium on Democracy's Public Opinion Division for her meta-analysis of the published 9-11 survey research.

Christopher M. Sanchez, B.A., worked for Cable & Wireless, USA and Schlumberger in a joint venture called Omnes for four years. He is currently consulting for a joint venture for Chase and SBC Global, which involved meetings in Geneva, Switzerland and Milan, Italy with the telecom companies Telecom Italia and WIND. These meetings coincided with his one-year wedding anniversary.

1993

Michael Clark, B.A., worked at Saturn for 5 years within Sales, Service & Marketing department. After completing Vanderbilt's executive MBA program, he joined Dell's consumer marketing department. He has responsibility for all consumer direct mail and catalogs for the top 10 U.S. cataloger. He is happily married with two boys.

Bey-Ling Sha, B.A., has accepted a position as assistant professor in the School of Communication at San Diego State University, starting fall 2004.

1997

Kelly McClure, B.A., joined Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc., a full service engineering firm in Chicago, Ill. that provides professional services to the transportation industry, architects and builders, as marketing manager.

Jennifer Bataille-Kosfeld, B.A., is an account executive with Bader Rutter & Associates advertising agency in Milwaukee, Wisc.

1998

Michelle Kuhn-Clark, MA, joined the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles as a trainer for the Department of Security and Operations Support.

2001

Katherine Currin, B.A., is the marketing and community relations representatiave at Whole Foods Market in Willowbrook, Ill. She was one of the two Midwestern marketing reps chosen to attend the National Marketing Meeting for Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas, in January 2004.

2003

Brooke Wilson, M.A., is an applications administrator at Purdue University's Information Technology for WebCT and Vista, Purdue University's online course management systems.