Alumni Accolades May 2015

In 2014, the state of South Dakota established Jolene’s Law in honor of Jolene Loetscher (1997) that created a task force to study child sexual abuse. Despite opposition by some legislators in 2015 to continue the task force, South Dakota’s Governor announced an executive order in March 2015 allowing Jolene’s Law to continue its work. “In my estimation, this work is too important,” Daugaard said. “I’ve heard that from many in the past couple of days who urged that it continue.” The task force is developing recommendations for changes to K-12 curriculum, reporting of child sexual abuse, undergraduate and graduate programs and training for adults to better understand and report child sexual abuse. “I’m so relieved that people cared and that they were able to have their voice heard. There are a lot of people that have suffered that pain that I have, and they want to be sure it doesn’t happen to someone else.” said Jolene.

Molly Himmelstein (2008), who works for Google in New York City, won 2 Sports Emmys in the categories of Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Event Coverage and Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Programming with her team from the London Olympics.

Katie Wesler (2010) is touring over the next few months throughout the United States and Japan as part of the National Tour of Pippin. Click here to see if she’s coming to a city near you. Katie and her boyfriend Benjamin are pictured above in front of the Fox Theatre before her last Pippin show in Atlanta. “I had a friend take a pic as I was heading to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on Saturday—and Coca-Cola was on the marque! So many thanks to Coca-Cola for helping to sponsor the Atlanta Broadway Series! And I’m thrilled to be a part of this tour!” said Katie.

Dr. Andrew Kayes (1991), Medical Director of Maui Diagnostic Imaging, was recently named the Intersociety Private Practice Representative for the American College of Radiology. This title holds a 2 year term that will have him traveling to the mainland for conferences that now puts a Hawaii representative on the front line of all things radiological. Andrew is the first Hawaii radiologist to ever hold this title. “It’s an honor to be chosen to represent the private practice sector and it’s a special moment to have radiologists from Hawaii involved in shaping our field of expertise nationally” he said.

Alissa Anderegg (2012) was selected as a woman leader of the Alzheimer’s Association’s newest national campaign, Maria Shriver’s Wipe Out Alzheimer’s Challenge, alongside female leaders including Ann Romney, Brooke Shields, and Senator Barbara Mikulski. “This campaign is especially exciting to me because it focuses on the fact that 2/3 of those affected by Alzheimer’s are women. For this achievement, I earned Duke’s inaugural WomC National Impact Award for improving the lives of women on a national scale.” said Alissa.

Erin Muffoletto (2003) was named by Albuquerque Business First as a Woman of Influence, an award that names some of the most powerful and innovative women in New Mexico. Erin discusses her greatest professional achievements, leadership ability, and how she gives back to the community in Erin Muffoletto.

Scholly, a social enterprise co-founded by 2010 Scholars Christopher Grey and Bryson Alef that allows people to search for college scholarships, is partnering with President Obama’s organization My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, which will supply participants free access to the app.

John Paul Adrian (2003) won the The Arthur S. Flemming Award, a national award given by George Washington University in honor of his work with the Air Force. John Paul is currently in charge of the U.S. Defense Forces in Africa.

Kaitlyn Chana (2009), who works for WLBZ in Bangor, ME, will serve as the Master of Ceremony at the 4th annual Celebrating Survivors High Tea for breast cancer survivors hosted by Caring Connections.

Steven Maheshwary (2008) has received a Fulbright Scholarship to be an English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia in 2016.