1990s
Lorna Hernandez Jarvis, MA ’90, PhD ’93, Spokane WA, was named the first vice president for institutional equity and diversity at the University of Puget Sound, effective July 1, 2021. She previously served as chief diversity officer and associate vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion at Whitworth University in Spokane. She also served on the Spokane Human Rights Commission, the College Success Foundation Regional Board and the Hispanic Business and Professionals Association.
A cognitive psychologist, Hernandez Jarvis has an extensive background in intergroup dialogue, has conducted and published research in acculturation processes and psychological well-being in adolescents, and is a published author in the field of semantic development in young children, bilingualism and bilingual education.
Brian Schubert, BSE ’90, Bellevue, OH, retired after 16 years as the athletic director at Bellevue High School. His father was athletic director at Bellevue for many years and Schubert, a 1986 Bellevue graduate, was a three-star athlete (baseball, basketball, golf). He went on to star at Kent State in baseball and was the 1990 Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year. His professional baseball career was cut short by a shoulder injury. After teaching for two years at Sidney High School, Schubert returned to Bellevue and taught math. He was promoted to assistant principal before taking over as athletic director.
Melvin J. Gravely II, MBA ’91, Cincinnati, OH, a civic leader and CEO at TriVersity Construction Company, published Dear White Friend: The Realities of Race, the Power of Relationships and Our Path to Equity [Greenleaf Book Press, July 2021]. The book is structured around three critical questions: 1) What is really going on with race in our country? 2) Why must we care? 3) What can we do about it together? The book is candid yet collegial, thought-provoking yet full of practical solutions and direct without placing blame. At the end, he calls upon readers to ask themselves, What is my role in all of this?
He is the majority owner of TriVersity, which is among the largest construction companies in the Cincinnati region. He has chaired the board of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, served on the board of the United Way, was a founding board member of the Cincinnati Regional Economic Development Initiative and was vice chairperson of ArtsWave, the largest community arts fund in the nation. He co-chairs the Cincinnati Regional Business Committee, a group of 100 middle-market CEOs working collectively toward meaningful civic action. He is also a board member of two private companies.
Gravely earned a bachelor’s in computer science from the University of Mount Union and a PhD from the Union Institute and University. He has written eight business books. Learn more at www.DearWhiteFriend.com.
David Murray, BA ’91, Chicago, IL, recently published An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half (Disruption Books, 2021). Murray is a bestselling author, executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association and editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day, an 85-year-old collection of the best oral communication in the US and the world. He has been a prominent commentator on communication issues for 25 years.
In his new book, Murray shares his observations about how Americans could communicate more effectively with family, co-workers and those with political and other differences. The book has been endorsed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Gen. David Petraeus, David Kusnet (President Bill Clinton’s chief speechwriter) and more.
Mark Nolan, BA ’91, Cleveland, OH, launched The Mark Nolan Show on iHeart Media Cleveland’s Majic 105.7 in March 2021, a revamp of The Majic Morning Show that Nolan joined in 2014. The new show broadcasts weekdays, 5 to 10 a.m., and Nolan and his two contributors play classic music from the ’70s and ’80s, discuss current events and promote all things Cleveland. Nolan has more than 25 years of broadcast experience, including nearly 20 years as a television meteorologist and anchor. He previously held positions at local television stations WKYC and WOIO. Throughout his career, he has received seals of approval from the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Service.
John Paxton, MBA ’91, Charlotte, NC, was appointed CEO of Material Handlers Industry Association on Dec. 31, 2020. He was named MHI COO/CEO Designate in August 2018. He brings over 30 years of experience, including more than 20 years of executive leadership at Demag Cranes and Components. Paxton previously had been recognized for his volunteer leadership at MHI, including serving as president of the Crane Manufacturers Association, president of the Hoist Manufacturers Institute and as the chairman of the board of MHI. He holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University.
Leandra Drumm, BFA ’92, Akron, OH, was honored by Summit Artspace with a 2021 Arts Alive award as Outstanding Visual Artist. She earned a BFA in graphic design from Kent State and has grown her brand, Leandra Drumm Designs, over the past two decades. Her artwork—which includes pewter jewelry and glassware etched with her designs—combines visual storytelling and whimsical imagery with functional purpose.
Candy Coated, BFA ’93, Sullivan, OH, (née Candy Depew), multimedia artist and current Akron Soul Train resident artist, exhibited at the Akron Soul Train Gallery from July 14 to Aug. 28, 2021. In Interwebbing, she explores the interconnectedness among nature, humans and objects.
Driven to combine many media—including ceramics, fabric, pattern, print, vibrant color and reflective surfaces—she notes, “Such combinations visually and energetically speak about growth, nature, place, metaphysics/alchemy, compassion and issues of being a human(itarian) in these twilight-zone times of our lives.”
She was an artist-in-residence over the past several years in Pennsylvania, California and China before the pandemic brought her back to her native Ohio.
Ray Gargano, BSE ’93, Cincinnati, OH, was named vice president of community investments for ArtsWave, the nation’s largest community arts campaign and the greatest source of local arts funding for many organizations. Working closely with businesses, civic and arts stakeholders, Gargano will lead the grantmaking process and help ArtsWave advance its 10-year Blueprint for Collective Action, a strategy used for allocating and evaluating its funding investments.
Strong funding for the arts has allowed Cincinnati to become a national draw and regional asset. ArtsWave will manage $7 million the city has allocated to support performing arts organizations and public performances and invest as part of the American Rescue Plan.
Most recently, Gargano was the grants program officer for the city of Sacramento, where he worked to advance cultural diversity, equity, inclusion and access initiatives, including the management and distribution of $10 million in government funds through CARES Act funding.
Lillian Kuri, BS ’93, BArc ’94, Cleveland, OH, was promoted to the newly created position of executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Cleveland Foundation, effective March 1, 2021. In this role, Kuri, a 14-year veteran of the foundation, oversees day-to-day operations of the foundation’s headquarters and development of a new strategic plan. The plan will include place-keeping and place-making strategies designed in partnership with the community as part of the foundation’s upcoming move to the intersection of the Midtown corridor and Hough neighborhood. She also serves as the vice chair of Cleveland’s Planning Commission.
Mulatu Lemma, MA ’93, PhD ’94, Savannah, GA, professor of mathematics at Savannah State University, was honored as a top decorated mathematical researcher by Marquis Who’s Who in 2021— his 10th award as an educator. His number of publications has now reached 145, and he says his success is a result of his education at Kent State. According to Lemma, his goal is “to expand research activities by working with my students and encouraging them to go to graduate school. I am highly committed to improve the representation of African Americans in mathematics.”
Karen Patterson, BSE ’93, MEd ’95, PhD ’03, Jacksonville, FL, was named provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of North Florida, effective April 17, 2021. Patterson oversees an integrated academic affairs, student affairs and enrollment management structure as part of UNF President David Szymanski’s senior leadership team.
Patterson co-chairs UNF’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion. She is a former chair of the Department of Exceptional, Deaf and Interpreter Education and is an Outstanding Teaching Award recipient. She started at UNF in 1999, serving in roles that include associate vice president for faculty development, leading the Office of Faculty Enhancement, dean of undergraduate studies and associate vice president for faculty resources.
Her research focuses on improving practices for underserved students, college students with disabilities, collaborative partnerships and parental involvement for students at risk for failure.
Curtis Searcy, BBA ’94, St. Louis, MO, was named president of the Trust and Family Office division of Parkside Financial Bank & Trust. He is responsible for establishing strategic direction, building a high-performing division, attracting top talent and supporting existing team members as they develop their skills and expertise. He also serves on the Parkside board of directors.
Searcy previously served as market leader, senior vice president, for US Bank Private Wealth Management in St. Louis. He earned an MBA from Eastern Kentucky University in 2001 and is a certified financial planner.
Karen Eck, MA ’95, PhD ’98, Norfolk, VA, assistant vice president for research at Old Dominion University, has been named a 2021 Fellow of the National Organization of Research Development Professionals, in recognition of her significant contributions to their professional mentoring program over the past seven years. A NORDP Fellow is the organization’s highest professional distinction and only 1% of NORDP members are named annually. Eck has been a member of NORDP for 11 years, serving as president from 2018-2019 and co-chair of the strategic alliances committee. In 2020, she helped launch NORDP onto the international stage when it gained membership in the International Network of Research Management Societies.
Heather Gooch, BS ’95, Seville, OH, has been promoted to editor-in-chief of Pest Management Professional magazine by North Coast Media. Gooch advances from her role as editor of PMP, a business-to-business brand she has served for more than 25 years. She joined PMP in 1995 as assistant editor and has been promoted three times.
PMP is pest control’s leading integrated media brand, encompassing monthly print and digital editions, a website, several e-newsletters, a blog, several social media channels, the industry’s premier recognition event (PMP Hall of Fame) and an exclusive buyer-seller networking event (PMP Growth Summit). Over the past eight years, PMP has garnered 53 Azbee Awards of Excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Tai (McLemore) Green, BA ’95, Mesquite, TX, is the new development officer for the Dallas and East Texas division of Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services, which offers foster care and adoption services and assists families in crisis. Green earned a master’s degree in human resources management, personnel administration, from Dallas Baptist University, and nonprofit leadership certification from Southern Methodist University.
Willietta Bunch Marbury, AAB ’95, Ashtabula, OH, celebrated her 80th birthday in style on April 12, 2021, wearing a gold-colored “80 and Fabulous” sash and crown while being treated to dinner by a dear friend at her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her children celebrated with her via Zoom.
Marbury, known to many in the community as “Mrs. Bunch,” is a retired housing manager at the Ashtabula Metropolitan Housing Association and a retired greeter at Ducro Funeral Services, where she worked until two years ago. She is a substitute aid at Buckeye Local Schools and a substitute lunch aid at Ashtabula Area City Schools. She serves as director of Christian education at People’s Baptist Church. She has been an avid walker for decades.
Ron Christy, AAB ’96, East Liverpool, OH, was celebrated by Hill International Trucks in honor of 25 years of employment. He was recruited at a Kent State job fair after graduating with an associate degree in business and computer technology. He served in the US Army as a procurement specialist. He has held several positions within the Hill parts department, from counterperson to core and warranty administrator. At his anniversary celebration, remarks by company leadership were followed by an award presentation, with cake and refreshments served to employees and guests.
Frank Holiday, attended Kent State 1992–1996, Lusby, MD, was named the 2021 Maryland Association for Career and Technical Education New Teacher of the Year by the Maryland Career and Technical Administrators. A North Point High School welding teacher since 2019, Holiday got his start in welding at a steel mill in Ohio, following in his father’s footsteps. After college, he joined the US Steel mill in Lorain, Ohio, where for 20 years he learned all aspects of the field, working his way up to operations management. Holiday holds over 15 welding certifications and is an American Welding Society certified welding inspector. He is also a certified welding educator and has taught at the Auburn Career Center in Ohio and at the College of Southern Maryland.
Kelly Sims Horter, BA ’96, Brecksville, OH, celebrated the 11th anniversary of Kelly’s Café in May 2021. A native of Cleveland Heights, Horter grew up in the restaurant business; her father owned three restaurants. In a 2010 article in Cleveland.com, Horter notes, “My folks sent me to Kent State trying to change my mind about being in the restaurant business. They wanted me to have a normal job, so I have a degree in Spanish and international relations. It didn’t change my mind.” It did give her a break and the chance to travel, however.
According to a recent article in the Akron Beacon Journal, she spent some time living in Europe, but while living in Chicago in the 1990s, she was inspired by all the great savory crepes she discovered in the city. In 2010, she opened Kelly’s Café in Brunswick, Ohio, focusing on ice cream and coffee, with 10 crepe choices. The café now offers more than 30 crepe varieties, including sweet, savory and vegan options. The food is fresh and made to order, so it takes a little time. “It’s not fast food. It’s slow food,” Horter says. “I actually love that about my place.”
Heath Horton, BA ’96, Brecksville, OH, became principal of Kensington Intermediate School on Aug. 1, 2021. Horton has more than 15 years of administrative and teaching experience, including the last four years as an assistant principal at Rocky River High School. He was an assistant principal at Brooklyn High School from 2012-2017 and taught language arts in the South Euclid/Lyndhurst City Schools from 2006-2012.
In addition to a bachelor’s in middle childhood education from Kent State, he holds a master’s in educational administration from Ashland University and a superintendent’s license from Cleveland State University. He is working toward a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Findlay.
Jennifer (Sanftner) McGraw, MA ’96, PhD ’99, Grove City, PA, has been a psychology professor at Slippery Rock University for 20 years. Her study and research focus on eating disorders, disordered eating and body image. Over the years, she says she’s learned that almost all women struggle with body image at some point because we live in a culture that is toxic for women’s ability to love and accept themselves as they are.
She is chair of the psychology department and directs the department’s internship program. She also is founder and director of the Slippery Rock chapter of the Reflections Body Image Program. McGraw is a member of the President’s Commission on Mental Health and is involved with the women’s and gender studies work at the university. She recently co-authored the book, Multifamily Therapy Group for Young Adults with Anorexia Nervosa, (Routledge, November 2020).
Amy McKenzie, BS ’97, Washington, MI, associate chief medical officer of provider engagement for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, was appointed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the Certificate of Need Commission. McKenzie will serve for a term that began March 11, 2021 and expires Jan. 1, 2024.
She earned a Doctor of Medicine from Northeast Ohio Medical University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Matthew Welsh, BS ’97, Columbus, OH, has been hired as the new athletic director at Madison-Plains Local School District, effective June 15, 2021. After more than 20 years in the corporate world, Welsh went back to school to earn a master’s in athletic administration at Ohio University. He holds an MBA from Ohio Dominican University and a bachelor’s in health and physical education/athletic training from Kent State. While his position at Madison-Plains will be his first job in education, he has completed internships at some large high schools and says he is ready for the challenge of being a full-time athletic director.
Eric G. Williams, MEd ’97, Milwaukee, WI, serves as the assistant vice provost for student diversity and scholarship programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has spent his career improving equity, inclusion and diversity in higher education.
Williams, who received the Presidential Award for Community Multicultural Enrichment when he was an undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University, played a central role in the 1988 founding of VCU’s Office of Minority Student Affairs, today called the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
Following his graduation from VCU with a bachelor’s in African American community and cultural studies, Williams earned a master’s in higher education and college student personnel at Kent State and a PhD in educational leadership and policy studies at Virginia Tech. He has served in positions related to equity, inclusion and diversity at Radford University, Virginia Tech and Marquette University.
Williams says he is proudest of improvements in the retention and admission of students of color at the universities where he has worked and improved hiring practices of faculty and staff. He says the establishment of affinity groups at those schools has not only helped students, faculty and staff navigate challenges together, but also has led to better institutional practices.
Jeremy Drummond, BS ’99, BArc ’99, MArch ’99, Media, PA, has joined Formcraft as the company’s design principal. Formcraft is a premier office design and renovation firm based in Center City, Philadelphia. Drummond, a registered architect with LEED Building Design + Construction certification, is a former principal at L2P with more than 22 years of experience in interior architecture, design and management.
He has designed more than 4 million square feet of curated workplace environments across several market sectors, including financial, legal, marketing/design, professional services, pharmaceutical and technology industries. His design philosophy is to develop an understanding of business goals, culture and work styles to successfully translate each client’s vision into a uniquely branded environment.
Doug Henderson, BA ’99, San Francisco, CA, recently published The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club (University of Iowa Press, April 2021). As one reviewer notes, “Henderson has created something special—part Hobbit and part Breakfast Club—a bittersweet story of love and friendship that tackles big subjects like homophobia, social anxiety and coming out, with a touch of magic.”—K.M. Soehnlein, The World of Normal Boys. Henderson won the 2019 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and made his short story debut in the Iowa Review.