Alumni Notes

This page is updated four times annually. It was last updated Aug. 27, 2025.

• Warren Slodowske ’62 was honored by Jefferson County, Colo., as a “senior hero.” He received this award in gratitude of his achievements during 11 years of volunteering at Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, Colo.
• Billy Brown ’66 celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting 80 friends from worlds of singing, poetry, mathematics education, music; son with two granddaughters from Los Angeles, brother from Virginia; a dozen entertainers; cooking almost all of the food. Brown is still teaching, singing, writing and publishing poetry and baking cookies.
• Greg Boughton ’70 was recognized by the Michigan High School Coaches Association for his over 50 years of coaching golf at Whitehall (Mich.) High School. Boughton was elected to the Michigan High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 2012, as well as the Whitehall Athletic Hall of Fame. He coached 50 seasons with boys and seven with girls.
• Gary Dorrien ’74 mentioned Alma College in a book he recently wrote and saw published, “Over the Union Road: My Christian-Left- Intellectual Life.” The full-page description includes: “At Alma College, (Dorrien) began to develop his signature blend of post-Kantian philosophy and progressive Christian theology …”
• Dale Nester ’75 is fully retired from 45 years of dentistry in Ithaca, Mich. He practiced for 27 years with Martha Bamfield ’87. With his wife, Marion Broadwell ’75, they celebrated 50 years of marriage in May 2025. They have three children and one grandson. Nester will start the Cultivating the Gift of Preaching project at Alma in June 2025.
• Jeff Leestma ’78 recently retired from a 45-year career in the automotive industry. He and his wife, Tracy, now live in northern Michigan. He recently chronicled his first year of living in the woods in his book “Our Nest in the Universe” (Mission Point Press).
• David Smeltzer ’79 was appointed to the Michigan Tree Fruit Commission in March. Smeltzer, of Bear Lake, Mich., has owned West Wind Orchards, LLC since 2007 and was a partner at Per-Clin Orchards, Inc. for 28 years prior. He currently serves as chair of the Michigan Cherry Committee.
• Eric Blackhurst ’83 was elected to serve as independent chairperson of Horizon Bancorp’s board of directors, effective May 1. Blackhurst has been a company director at Horizon Bancorp for over seven years. He has served as chairperson of corporate governance and member of the compensation committee. He retired from a 35-year career at The Dow Chemical Company and recently served as interim president of Alma College.
• In December 2023, a book co-authored by Christina Botbyl ’89 was published: “Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership: A Guide for Educators, Allies, and Advocates.” Botbyl is a facilitator with the National School Reform Faculty organization and chief academic director at an international school.
• Kelly A. Myers ’90 of Myers & Myers, a real estate and business law firm in Howell, Mich., has been named one of Michigan’s “Influential Women of Law” for 2024 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.
• Heather Cummings ’93, an attorney and founding partner at Cummings Law Group PLC, was appointed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the Board of State Canvassers. Cummings specializes in union-side labor law and employment rights at the state and federal level.
• Jim Schneberger ’96, president of New Berlin Plastics in New Berlin, Wisc., has been named chair of the board of directors of Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP), a mission-driven nonprofit dedicated to the success of Wisconsin manufacturers.
• Priority Health in Detroit has appointed Carrie Kincaid ’97 to oversee government markets for the organization. In her expanded role, Kincaid will oversee the Individual, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid businesses, as well as population health and health equity. She has been with Priority Health for more than 18 years.
• Christopher Trebilcock ’97 was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to serve the Michigan Court of Appeals, Second District, in April. Trebilcock is the first court of appeals appointee born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
• Ryan Webb ’00 recently published a novel, “Saving Will,” about the life of his friend, the late Eric Didocha ’00. Didocha tragically died in 2004 due to injuries suffered in a car crash. His parents donated his organs to five different recipients and the Eric M. Didocha Memorial Merit Award is given annually to students in his memory.
• Melinda Booth ’02 joined Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester Hills, Mich., as its director of marketing and communications. Founded in 1939, and with nearly 200 employees and about 1,000 volunteers, Leader Dog is entirely donor-funded and offers free programs that help people who are blind or low vision gain greater independence.
• Shannon Klonowski ’05 was named health officer for the Health Department of Northwest Michigan.
• Megan (Hlavaty) Calderon ’05 has, with co-author Sue Meier, published a book, “The Goodness Garden: A Story about the Power of Spreading Goodness” through A&M Imagine Books. The book is Calderon’s second, following 2018’s “Goodnight Little Orcas: A Counting Book.”
• Janine Kwapis ’06, Paul Berg Early Career Professor in the Biological Sciences and assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, has been awarded the 2024 McKnight Brain Research Foundation Innovator Award in Cognitive Aging and Memory Loss by the American Federation for Aging Research and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation. This three-year, $750,000 grant will support Kwapis’ research project, “Improving cognitive flexibility in old age by fixing the transcriptome within memory cells.”
• Lisa Molina ’09 was named by Pueblo Community College Southwest as its 2024 employee of the year. Molina, director of student services, was honored in the administrative, professional and technical category.
• Amanda Cruickshank-Willoughby ’11 qualified for the Roller Derby World Cup — the highest-ranking event in the sport — in Innsbruck, Austria, in July 2025.
• Chelsea Sauve ’12 was appointed by Midland (Mich.) Public Schools to serve as principal of Central Park Elementary School.
• Luke Kanine ’13 is Michigan’s only winner of the prestigious national Milken Educator Award in the 2024-25 season. Kanine works at E.F. Rittmueller Middle School, in Frankenmuth, Mich., where he teaches Spanish and physical education to students from sixth through eighth grade and works as a part-time behavior interventionist.
• Joshua Zeitler ’14 (MFA ’24), an undergraduate and MFA in Creative Writing alumni, had their debut poetry chapbook, “Bliss Road,” selected for the Rane Arroyo series from Seven Kitchens Press.
• Trevor McCready ’16 was hired by Health- Quest Physical Therapy in Algonac, Mich., as a physical therapist.
• Kylie Hamilton ’17 was appointed as an associate attorney to the construction and leasing practice group of Smith Debnam, a North Carolina-based firm. Hamilton earned her Juris Doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2020.
• Joel Collinson ’20 was honored by the State of Michigan with a Lifesaving Award in April 2025. Collinson received the award on account of his heroic actions the previous June; when a young boy became trapped under a collapsed sand dune at Silver Lake State Park, in Mears, Mich., and Collinson saved his life. Collinson has served as a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Officer since 2023.
• Maris Fett ’22 accepted the position of union organizer at the Michigan Nurses Association, the largest union and professional association for registered nurses and healthcare professionals in Michigan.
• Trevor Wregglesworth ’22 is the varsity baseball coach at Onaway High School, his alma mater.