Alumni News 2008

(please sent updates to louden@wfu.edu, Also love to receive photographs)
Earlier Alumni News can be found at Alumni Updates

Pictures from the 2008 Alumni Gathering, April 2008 (Click for full Album)
Alumni2008FriReception
Alumni2008PublicDebateEvent
Alumni2008Banquet
Alumni2008Brunch


Julian Burroughs


Alan Coverstone


Doug Elam


Jason Gronberg


Jo Chaldler Holcomb


Katelyn Sophia Grace

Sarah Ann Prestes


Donny Rich Layne


Mark Rubinstein


Jennifer Burlingham Wamelink

Gloria Cabada-Leman (’88) is owner/operator of Carolina Sauce Co., an online retailer of specialty foods with a focus on N.C. products. She recently launched “Operation Sauce Drop”
(carolinasauce.stores.yahoo.net/opsadr.html) to deliver a taste of home to U.S. military
personnel stationed abroad. Military personnel with an APO or FPO address can choose from among seven free gift boxes of hot sauces, BBQ sauce and more.

Julian C. Burroughs ('51), the longtime communication professor who led the growth of radio station WFDD into the modern era and introduced film studies into the curriculum 40 years ago, died May 7 in Winston-Salem. He was 80. Julian attended Wake Forest College after enlisting and serving 13 months in the U.S. Army in Korea. He was student manager of WFDD radio station on the old campus from 1950 to 1951 before earning Master' s and Doctorate degrees at the University of Michigan. His dissertation on educational television at Michigan was one of the pioneering studies in what was then an emerging field.
In 1958, he returned to Wake Forest University as an assistant professor of speech communication and manager of WFDD, which he directed until 1981. Julian was among the station representatives who helped to create National Public Radio in the late 1960s, and WFDD became a charter member of NPR in 1971, the first radio station in North Carolina to do so.
In the 60s and early 70' Julian often helped Franlin Shirley out with the debate team, traveling to many tournaments over the years and helping host tournaments and workshops on campus.. Wake Forest University remberance. WFDD audio story

Scott Burton (’82, JD ’86) has joined the corporate practice group of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP in Atlanta.
Alan Coverstone ('91) was elected to the Nashville School Board, winning a five way race in Nashville's District 9. Be sure to check out media interview and campaign webpage
Dr. Richard Frederick Curlee (’64)  Quality is not an act. It is a habit,” said Aristotle. No truer words could be spoken about the late Dr. Richard F. Curlee, who died January 29, 2008 in Tucson, AZ.  Dr. Curlee’s habit of high-quality personal and professional contributions was not happenstance; it was a choice that he made as a student as well as during his long tenure as professor, interim Head and Associate Dean at his beloved University of Arizona. Dr. Curlee received his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Southern California.

He was a natural leader.  Fellow students flocked to him for guidance.” A recipient of the Malcolm Fraser Award from the Stuttering Foundation of America, Dr. Curlee was a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, from which he had also received its highest award. Curlee was well regarded for his early scholarly attempts to apply and/or test the tenets of learning theory relative to stuttering research/treatment.  These ahead-of-their-time scholarly contributions were followed by several textbooks, aptly described by Dr. Ingham as classic, treatises that have stood the test of time in terms of relevance and impact. Dr. Curlee remains, to this day, one of the first to apply “expert system” technology to the diagnosis of early childhood stuttering, another contribution far ahead of its time
Douglas B. Elam ('48) passed away Aug. 16, 2008. He served in Merchant Marines WWII, founder of Buckhead Brokers, Inc. Real Estate and Buckhead International, commercial Real Estate and Development in Atlanta. He was active with the Urban Debate League in Atlanta. In 1999 Doug sent a rememberance about his debating days at Wake Forest and how they intersected with WWII. Link
Bill Evan ('83) after 20 years as professor of Economics at the University of Maryland is now Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics at Notre Dame University in Indiana. His professional career is of note: www: www.nd.edu/~wevans1
Jason Gronberg passed away Nov. 8 at his residence in Locust Grove Virginia at the age of 28 He was an Eagle Scout, a member of Cameron United Methodist Church in Alexandria and a graduate of Thomas Edison High School in Fairfax, and attended Wake Forest University. During high school and college, Jason enjoyed policy debating.

Brad Hall (BA 06, MA '08) has been selected work with Al Gore as a research assistant for his next book about solutions to global warming. His duties will include research, writing, planning summits of experts, travel, and other duties geared toward ending the climate crisis. He will be living in Nashville and traveling the world.

Casey Harrigan (MA '08) is the new debate coach at the University of Georgia

The Rt. Rev. Clarence Hobgood (1936), Episcopal Bishop for the Armed Forces, Retired, 93, of Charlotte, NC, died Friday, February 29, 2008 He was a graduate of Wake Forest College, Yale Divinity School and Command and Staff College, Air University. He also studied at Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge, MA and received a Doctorate of Divinity from Episcopal Theological School, Lexington, KY.

He served as Pastor of First Baptist Church, Hertford, NC, Associate Rector of Church of the Good Shepherd and Chaplain, NC State College, Raleigh NC, and Rector of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Wilson, NC.

He began his military career as a Chaplain in the U.S. Army Air Corp in the China-Burma-India theater during WWII. He served in the Air Force in Thule, Greenland during the Korean Conflict, and in many other assignments including Senior Chaplain, Headquarters Command, Washington D.C. and Senior Chaplain, USAF Europe, in Weisbaden, Germany. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel, having served as National Chaplain for Civil Air Patrol and Command Chaplain for Strategic Air Command. Among his commendations are the Bronze Star, the Four Chaplains Award for Interfaith Relations and two Meritorious Service Medals.

He was elected Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces and consecrated in the National Cathedral in 1971. He oversaw Episcopal chaplains serving in the Armed Services, the Veterans' Administration and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and ministered to Episcopal service personnel and their families worldwide. Following retirement in 1978, he served as visiting Bishop to the Deocese of of North Carolina and Southern Virginia.

Dr. Josephine Chandler Holcomb of Nashville, formerly of Fayetteville, N.C., died Wednesday, May 19, 1999. She was a retired College Admnistrator.
Han Hsiang Hsaio ('07) is working for a retail/trading company called Testrite in Taiwan. In June he will enroll in the Taiwanese Compulsory military services
Audrey Johnson ('00, MA '02) and husband DeVante welcomed a new daughter into their lives Katelyn Sophia Grace, April 1, 2008. Audrey lives in Kernnersville and works for Wachovia.
Sara Traigle van Geertruyden ('95) added to her family welcoming 2nd child Joseph Traigle van Geertruyden to the family November 10, 2007. Sara works at Patton Boggs law firm in Washington, DC.
Chris Mills ('00) graduated from Duke law, worked for a law firm in D.C. and now is doing a clerkship with a Federal District Court Judge in Los Angeles. He adventures with, for example, hiking the 900 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Sean Nowak ('98 ) finished law school at Notre Dame, the worked at Latham & Watkins in New York City, where he practiced patent litigation for the past 6+ years.  This coming fall Sean is going to business school at Wharton -- planning on making a transition to venture capital / investing in intellectual property.  This summer he is going to work for a small venture capital fund in Kigali, Rwanda. 
  Douglas Osborne, Jr (’71) passed away at age 59 in Eden NC. He was a U.S. Army veteran and a member of First Baptist Church of Leaksville. He was a graduate of Wake Forest University Law School and a past member of several organizations including the Lion's Club, Fraternal Order of Police, American Bar Association, and the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity.
Dr. Ed Panetta (M.A. '85) is the debate coach at the University of Georgia.  He recently received the Coach of the Year Award, and his top squad won last year’s Copeland Award.  This school year marks his twentieth year as UGA’s debate coach, and to celebrate, Georgia debate alumni recently endowed the Ed Panetta Permanent Debate Fund, which will help ensure the long-term viability of intercollegiate debate at UGA.  Upon his arrival in Athens, Ed took over a program that was not competitive with other national collegiate debate programs and he quickly brought it to national prominence.
  Brian Prestes ('97) and wife Amy welcomed into their family Sarah Ann Prestes, born Jan 5, 2008. 
Mark Rubinstein (MA) is living in Hong Kong where he lawyers with Lehman Brothers. Mark has spent the last 11 years in Asia -- 3 in Korea, 4 in Hong Kong, 3 in Japan and now 1 in Hong Kong.
  Donny Layne Rich Sheridan ('78) is has a large real estate agency in Ogden Utah, a beautiful area just north of Salt Lake City. www.laynesheridan.com
  Shane Stafford (MA '89) will be teaching and coaching position at the Blake School in Minneapolis
  Jennifer Burlingham Wamelink ('92) works as Asst. Director of Housing n at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
  Mark Yopp ('01) will marry Laura Millendorf at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NY on May 13, 2008