Class Notes

Our son, Ian, and wife Vickie expect their first child, our first grandchild, in December. After a quarter-century in southern California, my husband, Gene, and I planned to move to Pinehurst, N.C., where we’ll be closer to family. I hope to continue my part-time Weight Watchers career, maintain my involvement with an American Association of University Women book club, and practice tai chi, Pilates, and Zumba.

Carol Ekern Connors and husband Paul of McLean, Va., have son Brendan, a U.Va. School of Law graduate and Virginia Bar Association member. Carol is director of government affairs at the Washington, D.C., energy law firm Mogel & Sweet. She held a 16-year senior staff position at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, representing them before Congress, addressing constituent concerns in areas like natural gas transportation and hydroelectric power facilities, and much more.

Nicki Hutton LoCascio, associate dean of the Marshall University Honors College, was named interim dean in June. Barbara O’Brien is director of global expense management and sourcing for Manulife, a division of John Hancock Financial Services, in Boston. She paints in oils and en plein air, travels to Mexico a couple times a year, is on the steering committee of the New Hampshire Star Island Conference on the Arts, spends time in her Maynard, Mass., ArtSpace studio, and had a recent piece on exhibit at Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House in Concord.

Kim Ballard has master’s and doctoral degrees in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in learning technologies from the University of Minnesota. An instructional designer for the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education, she helps professors translate courses to online environments. She designed an award-winning German I course, won an international award for her dissertation’s contribution to distance education research, and spoke at a May Center for Transportation Studies conference. Kim has daughters Anne and Amy and grandson Aiden, all of Minnesota. She visits her parents at the Jersey Shore, where she’s vacationed for 34 years.

After FEMA called Elizabeth Wright for help with the Irene/Lee tropical storm recovery effort in Albany, N.Y., she was deployed in July and wasn’t sure when she’d return. She said helping the community heal makes the long hours worth it. She also was asked to assist in an effort of the national survey of bicyclists and pedestrians in Alexandria, Va. Lina Scott Woodall and Jon’s daughter, Sarah, is pursuing a master of tourism administration at George Washington University’s School of Business and was selected by the Greenland Tourism and Business Council for a four-month research internship.

Thanks to everyone who submitted news. I look forward to receiving more!