Class Notes

Melissa Barrett’s first collection of poetry, Moon on Roam, was published in August 2019 by Gold Wake Press.

Haley Warden is the new director of membership and communications for the Indian Hill Winter Club in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Lauren Snider Thompson of Dexter, Michigan, is an assistant principal and graduation coach with Dexter Community Schools. She recently completed a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and currently serves as an assistant instructor in the program.

Doug Schantz, director of Wittenberg’s Office of Student Financial Services, received the 2019 Student Financial Services Award from the Student Financial Services Council of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in March 2019. Founder of CheapScholar.org, Schantz is a nationally recognized expert in financing a college education.

In March 2019, Sharon Koster Safley was one of four recipients of the 20 9 Excellence in Teaching Award sponsored by the Springfield Rotary Club, Ohio Edison, the Springfield Foundation, and the Chamber of Greater Springfield. She is a music teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Springfield, Ohio, and a piano teacher for Wittenberg’s Center of Music Development.

After 10 years in banking, Harold “Skip” Ivery, an insurance agent for Allstate, opened his first insurance agency in 2016 in Worthington, Ohio, which has been ranked in the top 10 percent for both customer service and sales performance each year. In 2018, they ranked in the top one percent in the company. He opened his second location in 2019 in Hilliard, Ohio.

Myra Pierce Smith was married on July 13, 2017. Her family includes three children.

Jennifer Powell Gifford has joined Fluvanna Schools in Palmyra, Virginia, as a librarian and media center specialist. She holds a master’s degree in education with a concentration in library science from Longwood University.

Aaron Shaffer has been named athletic director for Greenville High School in Greenville, Ohio.

Francoise Labrique Walusis, founder of Madame Delluc Artisan Chocolatier in Oakwood, Ohio, opened a second shop in the 900 North Michi gan Shops in Chicago in December 2018, which was included in a Forbes.com Mother’s Day Gift Guide on “The Best Dark Chocolates” in April 2019.

Kelly Klopfer Rager, who has nearly 20 years of experience in financial and business management, was hired as a business development assistant vice president by Century National Bank.

Rachel Lillie Johnson has been hired as an admissions coordinator for Friendly Home, a senior living community in Rochester, New York. She has 1 5 years of short-term and long-term care experience.

Kara Denny Czanik has joined Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a commercial litigation partner. Previously, she had practiced for 13 years with Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP.

Stephanie Ricca has been promoted to editorial director of Hotel News Now (HNN), a division of STR. She previously served as HHN’s editor-in-chief since 2015.

Kevin Lydy was recognized as a 2018 recipient of the Yale Educator Award, an annual honor bestowed upon outstanding educators by the Yale Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Lt. Col. Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl, associate professor of economics and business at Virginia Military Institute, has received a 2019 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Heather Rosebrock Rogers was elected as the first female managing partner of Davidson Fink LLP in Rochester, New York. She has been with the firm for more than 16 years and has practiced law for more than 20 years.

Megan Porter, associate professor of biology in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, was featured in the PBS documentary Living Volcanoes, which premiered in February 2019. In collaboration with Annette Summers Engel ’95, she has discovered new species of animals that live inside lava tubes on Hawai’i Island.

Ingrid Loeffler Palmer’s contemporary young adult novel, All Out of Pretty (Creston Books, 2018), was shortlisted for the In the Margins (ITM) Book Award and chosen as an ITM Recommended Fiction Title for 2019.

Michael “Mickey” Graham was named general manager of the Traverse City Pit Spitters, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Northwoods League, in March 2019. Previously, he spent 14 years as director of marketing and media for the West Michigan Whitecaps.