Choosing The Write Path: Alumni Share Experiences Of The Writer's Life March 23

Chestertown, MD, March 7, 2002 — The Washington College Alumni Council invites all alumni, students and the community to learn more about the professional writer's life during Life After Liberal Arts, Saturday, March 23, 2002, at 1:30 p.m. in the College's O'Neill Literary House. The program will feature four Washington College alumni who have made successful careers through writing—as editors, advertising copywriters, publishers, journalists and novelists. This is a free, open forum—all are encouraged to attend. Reception to follow.

Alumnus Brandon Hopkins of the Sophie Kerr Prize in 1997 and, since graduating, has worked in the editorial and managing editorial departments of Scholastic, Penguin Putnam and Macmillan. Currently a development editor at Educational Design, a Manhattan publishing house specializing in test preparation and educational products, Hopkins is also a freelance copywriter.

Lee Ann Chearney '81 is founder and creative director of Amaranth, an independent book producer established in 1995. Amaranth specializes in developing general nonfiction and popular reference content for publication through both print and electronic media. Chearney has held positions as assistant publisher at The Putnam Publishing Group and as associate publisher/senior editor at Ecco Press, a prestigious small publisher where she worked with renowned Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. She also served as managing editor of the literary magazine, Antaeus. While executive director of The Philip Lief Group, Inc., Chearney developed and produced a diverse range of titles from The American Medical Association's Women's Complete Healthbook (Dell) to The National Gardening Association Dictionary of Horticulture (Viking).

Sue DePasquale '87 has served as editor of Johns Hopkins Magazine since 1994. Under her editorship, the magazine has earned top honors from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for writing, design and reporting on higher education issues. In 1998, it was named the top college/university magazine in the nation by Newsweek. DePasquale joined Johns Hopkins University in 1988, soon after completing her master's degree at the Columbia University School of Journalism. In addition to her work at the magazine, she squeezes in freelance writing assignments and she serves as consulting editor to The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Magazine. Sue lives in Lutherville, MD, with her husband, John Musachio '87, a research chemist at NIH, and her two young sons.

David Healey is a 1988 graduate and English major. He is now the managing editor of the daily Cecil Whig newspaper in Elkton, MD, and he teaches journalism at Cecil Community College. He is the author of the Civil War novel, Sharpshooter.

P. Trams Hollingsworth to Recieve 2001 Washington College Alumni Service Award

Chestertown, MD, February 6, 2002 — The Washington College Alumni Association is proud to honor P. Trams Hollingsworth '75 M '95 as recipient of the 2001 Alumni Service Award. She will receive the award Friday, February 15, 2002, during the Alumni Service Award Dinner held at Washington College.

"Each year, as part of the College's week of Washington's Birthday celebrations, our Alumni Association recognizes an individual whose outstanding and continued support enriches the experience of our undergraduates and inspires our alumni," said Susan Stobbart Shapiro '91, president of the Washington College Alumni Council. "We consider Trams to be an exceptional alumni role model, and, with this award, honor her selfless example of alumni stewardship."

A 1975 graduate of Washington College, Trams worked as a travel agent and as a nightclub manager on the Caribbean island of Montserrat before making Chestertown her permanent home. She joined the Washington College staff in 1986 as a special events coordinator and one year later was named director of alumni affairs. Trams devoted the next fourteen years to the care and nurturing of the alumni body, employing a creative, energetic approach that endeared her to everyone. She reorganized the Alumni Council to operate more effectively, cultivated relationships with prominent alumni, and breathed new life into alumni programming. Among the popular outreach programs she devised were the Life After Liberal Arts series, the Birthday Toast Around the World, Wild About WC Zoo Tours and WC Odyssey Faculty-Guided Tours of Museums and Other Cool Places. In a daring mission in New York City in 1998, Trams and her associate Kristina Tatusko Henry '88 appeared on the Today Show, plugging Washington College to Matt Lauer as the home of the Division III national lacrosse champions.

Trams also raised the standards for Reunions, introducing thematic programming, dinner and dancing under the stars, and fireworks. She also worked to establish new alumni chapters and to engage chapters more fully in the mission of the college. She was instrumental in establishing the Kent and Queen Anne's Chapter Flea Market to provide scholarship support for local students.

A former English major, Trams is also a gifted writer. Her story about her experiences as an adoptive mother first appeared in the "Washington Post Magazine" and was later reprinted in the "Washington College Magazine." She briefly considered fulfilling a book contract before turning her attentions back to Washington College. Trams earned her master's degree in psychology from Washington College in 1995.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Alumni to Discuss Careers in the Arts during Fall Family Day

Chestertown, MD, October 18, 2001 — Washington College's Alumni Council will host a Life After Liberal Arts Symposium to coincide with Fall Family Day on Saturday, October 27 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in the Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall. Students, parents, alumni and the community are invited to this event to interact with and learn from alumni who have put their degrees to good and sometimes unusual use in the working world. This symposium will focus on "The Performance of a Lifetime: Careers in the Arts" and will feature alumni John Harris '94, Vicco Von Voss '91 and Michele Volansky '90 discussing the challenges, lessons, opportunities, and successes that they have encountered through careers in the arts. Drama Department Chairman Dale Daigle will moderate the event.

John Harris, a 1994 graduate in music, is a trombonist who decided to pursue a career in business, joining an Annapolis-based company manufacturing and marketing small wooden boat kits. He eventually bought the firm, Chesapeake Light Craft Company, and has made it one of the largest wooden boat kit companies in the nation, but he has not given up his love of music. John pursues a second career as a jazz musician and has created a small jazz ensemble that plays at music festivals, including Chestertown's Saturday Evening Concert series. John credits Washington College with fostering his love of the arts while helping him develop writing skills and business acumen.

Vicco Von Voss is a 1991 graduate who majored in art. During college, Vicco worked with a local furniture restorer and discovered his love of wood, bringing natural forms into functional existence. After college, Vicco began a three-year carpentry and furniture-making apprenticeship in Germany and returned to the Eastern Shore to pursue his dream as a master furnituremaker. Vicco credits the art department with encouraging his love of the visual arts and natural forms, an appreciation that inspires the function and unique aesthetics of his handmade furniture.

Michele Volansky is a 1990 graduate who currently works for the Philadelphia Theatre Company and lectures in drama at Washington College. An English major with a devotion to theatre, Michele pursued a masters in theatre and dramaturgy from Villanova University. She has been a guest dramaturg at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Victory Gardens and Next Theatre, in addition to serving on the staff of Actors Theatre of Louisville and as dramaturg/literary manager at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Her play "Whispering City" was produced as part of the Steppenwolf Arts Exchange Program in 1999, and she is currently at work on a musical adaptation of Thulani Davis' novel "1959". Michelle serves on the advisory board of" Theatre Forum" magazine and is an artistic consultant for the Chicago-based Serendipity Theatre Company.

Life After Liberal Arts is sponsored by the Washington College Alumni Council.

Susan Stobbart Shapiro Named Alumni President

Susan Stobbart Shapiro '91 has been elected President of the Washington College Alumni Council. Ms. Shapiro is an attorney with the firm Council, Baradel, Kosmerl & Nolan, P.A., in Annapolis, Md.

Ms. Shapiro was a double major in English and business management at Washington College. After completing her bachelor's degree, she attended the Villanova University School of Law where she received her J.D. in 1994. Ms. Shapiro's practice has been devoted primarily to civil litigation, including emphases on employment law, family law and corporate law. She is active in many trade associations, including the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce and the Marine Trades Association of Maryland, where she serves on the Board. She joined Washington College's Alumni Council in 1995 as co-president of the Annapolis chapter.

"As president of the Washington College Alumni Council, I hope to increase alumni involvement in the life of the College and to promote support of the strategic plan set in place by President Toll and the Board of Visitors and Governors," said Ms. Shapiro. "To that end, the Council recently revised its goals and strategies for the next five years. The council hopes to build on the success of the annual Alumni Birthday Toast to George Washington and the very successful 'Life After Liberal Arts' seminars, in addition to creating new traditions for the college and its alums."

Alumni Return with Advice for Life after Liberal Arts

Chestertown, MD — Successful Internet entrepreneurs will return to the school that gave them their foundation for success at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday March 23, in the Casey Academic Forum on the campus of Washington College. Linda Ferguson '88, Eva Kaplan-Leiserson '98 and Brandon White '94 will talk about how their liberal arts background helped them in their current careers and will answer questions from Washington College students.

Linda Ferguson is the president and CEO of Relicorp, Inc., a web development company. Relicorp Inc. is also the parent company of CoolOldStuff.com, an on-line antiques and collectibles shop where Web surfers can buy vintage clothing, pottery, jewelry, and other scarce items.

Eva Kaplan-Leiserson is the English and Reading Department Chair for Tutornet, an on-line real-time tutoring company. The start-up firm is "the Internet's first virtual classroom designed to connect real teachers and students from their home, school or anywhere there is Internet access."

Brandon White owns worldwideangler.com, a complete Internet fishing site offering products, articles, advice, and links to fishing magazines and sites from all over the world.

Life After the Liberal Arts was organized to offer current Washington College students an opportunity to interact with and learn from alumni who have put their degrees to good and sometimes unusual use in the working world. This is the second year the symposium has been offered. Each year features a different field of endeavor.

The symposium is sponsored by the Washington College Alumni Council.