Summer 2015

Class Notes 1950s

1960s

James Welch (BS73, MA80) has honored the memory of his brother by publishing, “For Eddie: Cancer Survivor.” The book contains 63 poems, one for every year of Eddie’s life. This is the first book for Welch, who is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Here’s a sample:

1970s

We Met The Challenge Like David, taking that first step on a campus, giant

All new students had to learn from personal experience

Testing and mastering subject matter self- reliant

And also sports, evidenced their brilliance

We can only do what other EMU graduates have done On school histories back we lay Many a career battle we have won Long after graduating on our way

We all had varying struggles, this, one knows is true

Yet EMU students took on the challenge, to show what they could do

If all the successful and renowned graduates could return, you’d see

A thousand, thousand, covering the hills of Eastern Michigan University

From “For Eddie: Cancer Survivor.” Reprinted with permission.

30 Eastern | SUMMER 2015

alumni

The career path of Jim Murdock (BS59, MA66) keeps evolving. Murdock, an Alabama native, taught physical education, American history and American government for 17 years in Michigan before earning a chiropractic degree and practicing for 19 years in Georgia. He is now an author and lives in Athens, Ga. Learn more at jimmurdock.com.

James Lowry (BS63) writes that he is a “proud member” of the Kappa Phi Alpha fraternity and is now selling real estate in Canadian Lakes, Mich., located in Mecosta County. Lowry is a retired Chrysler executive who went on to manage four auto supply plants in three states after his retirement. He holds an MBA from Wayne State University.

Share Your News Eastern Michigan University Office for Alumni Relations, 234 McKenny Hall, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, or use our online submission form at emich.edu/alumni. All Class Notes submissions should include your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, degree(s) and year of graduation.

Hon. Milton L. Mack, Jr. (BS72) was appointed to the State Bar of Michigan’s Task Force on 21st Century Practice. Task force members identify ways to better serve and protect the public in the face of a rapidly changing legal marketplace, and their report will be published in March 2016. Mack is the chief judge at the Wayne County Probate Court in Detroit, a position he’s held since 1998.

Kirk Profit (BS75) is the director/owner of Governmental Consultant Services, Inc. (GCSI)—a multi-client lobbying firm that was ranked the “best and most effective” in a recent Capitol Insiders Survey done by a Lansing-based research company. Profit is also a trustee for the EMU Foundation Board.

“Go Blue! Michigan’s Greatest Football Stories” (Triumph Books) is the first book written by Stephen G. Kornacki (BS78) and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the University of Michigan football program. Hall of Fame Coach Lloyd Carr wrote the foreword. Kornacki is currently a feature writer for the University of Michigan and his work can be read at mgoblue.com. He has also written for The Ann Arbor News, the Detroit Free Press and FOXSportsDetroit.com.

Dr. Suzanne Wilhelm (BS83) was named dean of the Huether School of Business at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. She was previously associate dean and professor of law in the School of Business Administration at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Co., and is a former international legal adviser to the Congress of Peru.

1980s

Mike Hawks (BBA83) was voted the third most effective lobbyist in Michigan, according to a Capitol Insider Survey done by a Lansing-based research company. His firm—Governmental Consultant Services, Inc. (GCSI)—was named the “best and most effective” firm in the state. Hawks is a director at GCSI and is an EMU Regent.

“I encourage my fellow alumni to donate their time and talents to service within their communities,” writes Kenneth Krauter (BS84), an active Lions Clubs International member and the new district governor of the Lions of District 25B in Indiana. “It will be my responsibility to steer the district in a positive direction and try to encourage growth.”

Colonel Thomas Slade (BS85) was selected to serve as chief of the Medical Logistics Division for the Defense Health Agency (DHA), an integrated combat support

agency that enables the Army, Navy and Air Force medical services to provide a medically ready force in both peacetime and wartime. Colonel Slade will also serve as chair of the Defense Medical Logistics Proponent Committee and as co-chair of the Defense Medical Logistics Supply Chain Council Board.

William McGary (BBA86) has worked for the Michigan Department of State since 1996 and was promoted to Region 1 Manager in January 2015. He oversees 26 branch managers in southeast Michigan, including all Detroit

Secretary of State offices. “We have a great team working hard for the citizens of Michigan,” he says. McGary is also a part- time firefighter for the city of Novi.

1990s

Patricia Majher (MS90), editor of Michigan History magazine, just published her second book, “Great Girls in Michigan History.” The inspiration came from her earlier work on the book, “Ladies of the Lights: Michigan

Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service.”

“In that book, I wrote a brief vignette about Maebelle Mason, the 14-year-old daughter of a lighthouse keeper, who saved a man from drowning in the Detroit River while her father was away from the light. Maebelle’s story made me wonder if there were other stories about girls in Michigan who did something amazing before they turned 20,” she says.

She was able to unearth 30 stories before paring the list down to 20 for the final manuscript.

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