The Odum School of Ecology established its first Alumni Board of Members and selected the inaugural members, who will take office July 1.
The group includes:
• Katharine Bleau, BS ’13 (U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.)
• Elizabeth Blood, PhD ’81 (ret.National Science Foundation, Pawleys Island, South Carolina)
• Juliet Eden, AB ’21 (Second Helpings Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia)
• Peter Griffith, PhD ’88 (Goddard Space flight Center, NASA, Baltimore, Maryland)
• Rebecca Haynes, MS CESD ’06 (National Audubon Society, Columbia, South Carolina)
• Shafkat Khan, PhD ’16 (Detroit Zoological Society, Royal Oak, Michigan)
• Marirosa Molina, PhD ’01 (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Carrboro, North Carolina)
• Michael Paul, MS ’94, PhD ’99 (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Carrboro, North Carolina)
• Emma Rosi, PhD ’02 (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Lake Leeanau, Michigan)
• Virginia Schutte, PhD ’14 (Real Life Science Media, Glassboro, New Jersey)
• Ethell Vereen Jr., PhD ’10 (Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia)
• Brian Watts, BS ’11 (The Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C.)
• Stephanie Yarnell-Mac Grory, MD, PhD, MBA; BS ’06 (Sanofi, Cary, North Carolina)
“I am continually amazed by our alumni and their trailblazing paths,” said Interim Dean Sonia Altizer, Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Ecology. “I’m so grateful they remain connected with the Odum School.”
The board members will contribute to the Odum School in several ways, according to Altizer. They’ll serve as mentors and guides for students and recent graduates; help foster communications, strengthen community connections, and celebrate the career paths and accomplishments of alumni; build community among alumni and between the school and alumni; and help guide and advance the mission of the school.
Creation of the board follows more than a year of foundational work completed by the school’s volunteer alumni board working group, which drafted bylaws, selected inaugural members and nominated the first executive committee. That group included Blood, Khan, Molina, Paul and Rosi, in addition to Matt Bonds, PhD ’08; David Bowne, MS CESD ’97; Tim Carter, PhD ’06; Andrew Durso, BS ’09; Jack Liu, PhD ’92; Kyle McKay, PhD ’14; Calley Mersmann, BS ’11; Diane Sanzone, PhD ’01; Hayley Schroeder, BS ’18; Buck Trible, BS ’13; and Irene Wright, AB ’21.