Alumni Notes
Nita Farahany (Ph.D. Philosophy ’06) was appointed to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.
Benjamin F. Fisher (Ph.D. English ’69) edited Poe in His Own Time (University of Iowa Press), a collection of commentary and recollections by those who knew the writer and poet.
John B. Guerard Jr. (A.M. Economics ’76) edited The Handbook of Portfolio Construction: Contemporary Applications of Markowitz Techniques. He is director of quantitative research at McKinley Capital Management in Anchorage, Alaska.
Hedibert Lopes (Ph.D. Statistical Science ’00), currently associate professor of econometrics and statistics at the University of Chicago Booth Business School, has been elected Treasurer of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA: http://bayesian.org/), the world’s leading professional organization for Bayesian statistics and related disciplines. Lopes will serve as Treasurer of ISBA for a 3-year term, 2011-21013 inclusive.
Roger J. Lucey (A.M. Liberal Studies ’10) is a South African musician, songwriter, journalist, and filmmaker. His documentary, Aria del Africa, about two young opera singers from the South African townships, was screened at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies in April.
Tommie Morton-Young (Ph.D. Education ’77) has received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, where she was the first African American to receive a master’s degree. During her career, she has held many positons in government and higher education as a librarian and professor of English. She is the author of 10 books.
Jonathan Rosenberg (Ph.D. Computer Science ’83) has written a memoir titled Who Says I Can’t (Bascom Hill Books). He often participates in long-distance bike rides and open-water swims, despite having lost a lung and leg during treatment for cancer. He also is an entrepreneur who has launched several high-tech start-up companies.
Fabrizio Ruggeri (Ph.D. Statistical Science ’94), currently Research Director of Istituto di Matematica Applicata e Tecnologie Informatiche in Milan, Italy (Italy’s leading national research center for mathematical sciences and its applications), has been elected President of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA: http://bayesian.org/), the world’s leading professional organization for Bayesian statistics and related disciplines. Fabrizio will serve as President Elect of ISBA in 2011, President in 2012 and Past President in 2013 (http://www.mi.imati.cnr.it/~fabrizio/).
John G. Selby (Ph.D. History ’84) was named John R. Turbyville professor of history at Roanoke College. A specialist in post-Civil War American history, he is currently editing a collection of Civil War memoirs titled War Tales of Confederate Veterans, vol. 2 (University of Virginia Press).
Sarah Stanbury Smith (Ph.D. English ’80) has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship that will allow her to work on her manuscript Creole Things in Chaucer’s World, a study of the ways in which everyday household objects were represented by Chaucer and his 15th-century successors. She is professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
Gordon E. Stanley (Ph.D. Education ’80) was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the College Board. He is director of counseling at Marist School in Atlanta.
Gov. Bev Perdue has appointed Gabriela Zabala (M.A. Liberal Studies '09 ) as Director of the Office of Hispanic/Latino Affairs. For the past fifteen years, Gabriela has served as a public health consultant for Hispanic health programs and other minorities in the state of North Carolina. In her role as a Senior Public Health Consultant for Latino Policies and Programs at the Department of Human and Health Services Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, she served as an advocate for effective health programs, policies and services to Hispanic and other underserved populations in North Carolina.