2004
Maylin Machado, B.A., Florida Academic Center, was selected as the 2004-2005 “Rookie Teacher of the Year, Poinciana Park Elementary School (Region III), Miami, Florida; and will compete with Ollie Wheeler, B.A. 2004, who received the same honor in Region II.
Patrick Weart, B.A., Sacramento Academic Center, was selected Peace Officer of the Year by the Amador County, California Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and honored at an awards dinner October 30, 2004 at St. Sava Mission in Jackson. Hired in 2000 as a deputy sheriff, Weart developed “Crime Free Lease Addendum,” a program to assist landlords with their rental properties by creating an addendum to the lease that prohibits criminal activity, thereby allowing law enforcement to work closer with the landlords; originally developed as Weart’s senior project. He was promoted in 2001 to Field Training Officer; and in August 2003 to sergeant within the patrol division where he is currently assigned—with duties including: a member of the Sheriff’s Office Dive and Swift Water Rescue Team, one of the Search and Rescue coordinators, and a member of the Amador County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team.
Ollie Wheeler, B.A., Florida Academic Center, was selected the 2004-2005 “Rookie Teacher of the Year”, Hibiscus Elementary School, Miami, Florida (Region II); and will compete with Maylin Machado, B.A. 2004, who received the same honor in Region III.
Ruth Woods, B.A., Sacramento Academic Center, an officer of Folsom Police Department, Folsom, California, is involved in the training of new officers. She was selected to go to Japan in September 2004 as part of a Group Study Exchange program sponsored by Rotary International, a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
2003
Victoria Napolitano, B.A., Sacramento Academic Center, was featured in The Mercury News, San Jose, California, July 20, 2004, regarding her life and work as a San Jose police officer. See http://www.tui.edu/news/network/Network_Spring_2003.pdf
Tonya A. Sharrett-Shoemaker, B.A. and Franklin Shoemaker, B.A. 1994, distance learning program, Cincinnati Academic Center, are co-administrators of the Boys Ranch, Las Nutrias, New Mexico, one of five divisions of The Ranches, which promotes opportunity and help for struggling children and their families through multi-denominational Christian programs offering children a safe place to live, a personalized plan to address their needs and goals, and individualized education and counseling. The couple, who both studied child psychology at UI&U, became child advocates while serving as house parents to six troubled teenagers in a group home in Brooklyn, New York. See: www.theranches.org
2001
Martha Jean Kwiatkowski, B.A., Cincinnati Academic Center, was featured in an article, “Loving Your Gay Children”, March 2004, City Beat, Cincinnati, Ohio. Kwiatkowski is the local chapter president of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a support group for the parents, family members, and friends of gay children.
2000
Sangeeta Kumar, B.A., Center for Distance Learning, earned her M.Ed., specializing in humane education, graduating in 2003 from Cambridge College in Massachusetts. At that time, Kumar was only the second person in the country to receive that specialized degree offered by the college in partnership with the International Institute for Humane Education. See: www.iihed.org
1995
Tania Jimenez, B.A., Florida Academic Center, was selected as 2004 Teacher of the Year, Springview Elementary School, Miami Springs, Florida.
1994
Franklin Shoemaker, B.A. 1994, and Tonya A. Sharrett-Shoemaker, B.A., distance learning program, Cincinnati Academic Center, are co-administrators of the Boys Ranch, Las Nutrias, New Mexico, one of five divisions of The Ranches, which promotes opportunity and help for struggling children and their families through multi-denominational Christian programs offering children a safe place to live, a personalized plan to address their needs and goals, and individualized education and counseling. The couple, who both studied child psychology at UI&U, became child advocates while serving as house parents to six troubled teenagers in a group home in Brooklyn, New York. See: www.theranches.org
1989
Nancy Rudolph, B.A., Cincinnati Academic Center, displayed her acclaimed black-and-white photographs in an exhibition, “Bearing Witness to the Human Spirit,” October 15 through November 12, 2004, in the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery, University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB), in Odessa, Texas. She delivered an illustrated lecture on October 25 in conjunction with the exhibition. Marianne Woods, Ph. D. 2000, Assistant Professor of art history at UTPB, organized and presented the event. The exhibition “Bearing Witness to the Human Spirit” has also been seen in New York City and Cincinnati.