2010s
Karie McMillen, BBA ’10, Dover, OH, was elevated from manager to principal at the Dover, Ohio, office of Novogradac, a national accounting and consulting enterprise that specializes in affordable housing, community development, historic preservation and renewable energy, with 51 principals in more than 25 cities nationwide.
McMillen has several years of experience in providing tax and various audit and attestation services to real estate partnerships. She works with the low-income housing tax credit, tax-exempt bond financed developments, nonprofit organizations and those subject to the auditing requirements of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She also works with upper-tier tax credit equity funds and tax credit syndicators. In addition, McMillen specializes in LIHTC consulting and financial modeling. She also has significant experience in conducting HUD Multifamily Accelerated Processing and Healthcare Quality Control and Construction Loan Administration reviews.
McMillen holds a master’s degree from Salem International University. She is licensed as a certified public accountant in Ohio.
Joe Manofsky, BSE ’11, Newburgh Heights, OH, is the co-founder of One Step Ahead, a Northeast Ohio nonprofit foundation. The mission of OSA is to ensure that local citizens as well as donors know exactly what their tax-deductible donations are funding. They currently facilitate three outreach programs: Heroes of Hardships, Trade School Scholarship Fund and Brown Bag Breakfast. Click here for information on how to help the local community grow, or email direct request to info@1-stepahead.org.
Jeffery L. Pellegrino, MPH ’13, Hudson, OH, an assistant professor of emergency management and homeland security in the Department of Disaster Science and Emergency Services at The University of Akron (UA), recently became the first non-Canadian inducted into the Order of the Red Cross, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian Red Cross. Over the past 34 years, he has served the American Red Cross and Canadian Red Cross in various capacities, including disaster volunteer and first aid instructor, scientific expert, policymaker and author of first aid guidelines and practices.
Pellegrino, editor in chief of the International Journal of First Aid Education, is also the lead author of an important paper that appeared in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, in October. The paper, “2020 American Heart Association and American Red Cross Focused Update for First Aid,” provides updates to several first aid procedures, including the immediate treatment of life-threatening bleeding, the use of aspirin for chest pain, the recognition of stroke, and cooling techniques for hyperthermia and heatstroke. The updated procedures and guidelines are being adopted by the American Heart Association, American Red Cross and UA’s College of Health Professions in their educational materials.
Taléa R. Drummer-Ferrell, PhD ’14, Kent, OH, was appointed dean of students at Kent State on July 1, 2020, the first Black woman to be named to the position. (In Kent State’s history, Milton E. Wilson was the first Black man named dean of student affairs in September 1978.)
Drummer-Ferrell serves as the university’s primary student advocate and assists Lamar Hylton, vice president for student affairs, in leading the Division of Student Affairs. Prior to her appointment as interim dean of students on Oct. 1, 2019, she served as director of Kent State’s Student Multicultural Center, starting in October 2016.
Drummer-Ferrell oversees advocacy, support and well-being, including recreation and wellness services, the Center for Sexual and Relationship Violence Support Services, the Office of Student Conduct, psychological services, parent and family engagement, basic needs and students in crisis. She also has focused on coordinating emergency resources for students during the pandemic.
Drummer-Ferrell recently was appointed to the AVP Steering Committee for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. Her term runs from March 23, 2021-April 4, 2023.
Terri Brown Lenzo, PhD ’14, Findlay, OH, is a trustee of The Ohio Music Education Association and the editor of TRIAD: The Official Publication of OMEA. She co-presented a research session at the National Association for Music Education’s Music Research and Teacher Education Conference in February 2021: “’We Performed Our Own Piece!’ Composition in Middle School Band through Integration of Orff Schulwerk and Chrome Music Lab Song Maker.” Lenzo is an assistant professor of music education at Ohio Northern University.
Kristie Graybill, BS ’15, Kent, OH, has been named a full-time contributor to “The Fred Show,” which airs from 5 a.m. to noon weekdays on the iHeartMedia Top 40 station known as KISS FM. Until November, Graybill had spent two years as morning co-host at KSLZ in St. Louis. A native of Louisville, Ohio, she began in radio at WDJQ in Canton, Ohio, and later worked for WKFS in Cincinnati.
Tyler Hostetler, BSN ’15, MSN ’20, Chardon, OH, worked for two years in a Level 1 Trauma ICU after receiving a degree from the Kent State Geauga Campus in 2015. He returned as a part-time student in graduate studies at the Kent Campus in 2017, while working full-time in University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center’s Emergency Department. He completed the adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner program and graduated in 2020. He plans to return to the ICU as an acute-care nurse practitioner.
Curtis Cofojohn, BA ’17, Mantua, OH, is founder and managing partner of AllCollegeRentals.com, a site that serves the needs of both students and landlords for off-campus housing. The site gives students a chance to walk through properties virtually via 3D tours, compare properties side by side and apply for housing. In addition, students can download a lease, sign it and save it in their device rather than having a paper lease. Cofojohn started the business with listings in Kent, but now the company, which has been active for over a year, has extended beyond Ohio to New Jersey, Michigan, Texas and California.
He is also co-founder and partner of Buy360Tour LLC, which facilitates creative content creation through 3D virtual reality photography and video along with standard professional photography and drone photography for all industries.
Marissa “Rissa” Durbin, AA ’17, Twinsburg, OH, self-published Awakening Shadows (Lilac Daggers Press LLC), the first in a series of fantasy novels under the pen name Sydney Hawthorn, in September 2020. She imagined the book’s fantasy world when she was 8 years old, as an escape from being constantly bullied, and at age 12, she wrote the book’s first draft, which she revised years later.
Awakening Shadows is about a princess saving her kingdom from darkness, but it’s also “about finding yourself and realizing, whether you believe it or not, you are strong enough and always will be,” says Durbin. The second book in the series, Whispering Shadows, is due to be released in summer 2021. The books can be purchased through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and several other retailers, such as The Learned Owl in Hudson, Ohio. Merchandise and signed copies of her book are available on her website.
Morgan Mervenne, BS ’17, Grand Rapids, MI, recently joined Burco as sales and marketing coordinator of the Michigan-based automotive mirrors and windshield racking systems manufacturer. She previously held positions as a corporate merchandiser and e-commerce specialist at Forever 21 and Air Waves LLC.
Jack Murphy, BS ’17, Kent, OH, was appointed global account manager at Akron Dispersions. Murphy had served in research and development as a chemist at Kent Adhesive Products Co. (dba Kapco), with product development and account responsibilities, for the past six years. Akron Dispersions, founded in 1958, manufactures water-based dispersions and emulsions of chemical ingredients for the polymer industry and employs various processing systems for dry chemical processing. He is on the executive board of the Kent Jaycees and was Jaycee of the Year in 2019.
N.J. Akbar, PhD ’19, Akron, OH, was elected president of the Akron Public Schools Board of Education for 2021. He had served as vice president in his first year on the board. Akbar, an associate vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion at Kent State, is heading the board’s initiative to develop a racial equity policy for the Akron school district.
Hallee Larissa Smith, BBA ’19, Sandusky, OH, a marketing major with a graphic design minor, has amassed 1 million followers on the social media app TikTok since last December, after her freelance design business dried up when the coronavirus hit. She has accrued most of her following since June, and is also on Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. She also started a consulting/coaching business, Hallee Media & Design LLC, where she consults with business owners over how to grow their social media footprint, specializing in short-form video content creation. See her Instagram account @hallemedia and Facebook group.