Alumni - Class of 1997

See what your former classmates and other Honors graduates are doing now. If you are a graduate of the Honors College and are not listed, please click here to add your information.

Select a Year - All Years 1968 | 1969 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |

Anna Wilkinson (now Chester) (1997 - Foreign Languages)
Currently working as a Communications Assistant for Key Energy Services in Midland, TX, specializing in cellular communications and blackberries. Married to Scot since 2001, and daughter Ceili was born in 2003.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Christina Johnson (now Stevens) (1997 - Exercise Physiology)
currently works as Wellness Coordinator for Astronaut Health and Wellness at Johnson Space Center. She married Brian Stevens (USM, BA '98) in December 1999.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Clay Armstrong (1997 - English)
B.A. (English), USM; M.A. (English Literature), University of Victoria (Canada); Ph.D. (English Literature), USM. English Professor at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Married to Brooke Martin, with three beautiful daughters--Lily, Emma, and Addison.
Last Updated: May 2009

Danielle Thomas (1997 - Radio, Television, and Film)
works for WLOX-TV in Biloxi.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

David Redd (1997 - Anthropology)
graduated in 1999 with a M.A. in anthropology from McGill University in Montreal. Since then, he has been working in Atlanta, GA at an organization called World Relief, a refugee resettlement agency. As a caseworker, he helps newly arriving refugee families begin their lives in the U. S. He works with families from Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Bosnia, and Vietnam. In this position, he also frequently acts as a French interpreter.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

David Arrington (1997 - Chemistry)
recently received his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama and is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Natural Sciences at Troy University. In 1997-98, he was chosen for the Future Faculty Fellows Program at the University of Alabama.
Last Updated: Jan 2009

Derek Ross (1997 - Biology)
completed his MA in English at Virginia Tech. He is a doctoral candidate at Texas Tech University studying environmental rhetoric.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Gretchen Zehender (now Parker) (1997 - Speech Pathology)
received her Master\'s in Speech-Language Pathology in 2000 from the University of Memphis. Gretchen married Bill Parker, a fellow USM alum, in April 2001. She works as a Speech Pathologist for the Petal School District from 2000-2007. Gretchen moved to Austin in June 2007 and is currently staying at home to care for her two year old daughter Grace and newborn son Liam.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Jeff Fitzgerald (1997 - Biological Sciences)
earned his MD from LSU in 2002 and is current Chief Resident in Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University Medical Center.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Jennifer Krause (1997 - Business)
works as a contract specialist with NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. She received her M.B.A. in May 2000 from Loyola University in New Orleans, LA.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Kathy Burns (1997 - Chemistry and Biochemistry)
was accepted into the National Institutes of Health's Medical Scientist Training Program. She is working on a dual medical degree/doctorate program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Kimberly Turnage (now Slater) (1997 - Accounting)
After graduation from USM, Kim worked in the area of State and Local Tax Consulting for two international public accounting firms--Arthur Andersen, LLP and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP in Tulsa, OK. She later moved back to Mississippi and worked as an internal auditor for USM. Currently, she educates her three daughters at home near Monroe, Louisiana enjoying country living and service to her community.
Last Updated: Jan 2009

Leighia Lynn (now Hammond) (1997 - Mathematics)
Hammond is originally from Louisiana. She earned a Master of Science degree in counselor education from Mississippi State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Southern Mississippi. While pursuing both undergraduate and graduate studies, Hammond managed student housing communities at Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Hammond is currently the Associate Director of Housing at Valdosta State University, and she has been in this position since the Fall of 2005. She is primarily responsible for overseeing the housing operations component of the department. Hammond was first employed by VSU in 1999 as a residence hall director, and in 2002, she joined Ambling Management Company as a property manager at North Georgia College and State University. Then, she served as the Director of Customer Support at Ambling Management Company before coming back to join the staff at VSU.
Last Updated: Mar 2009

Nicole Lally (1997 - English)
enrolled in the University of Tennessee College of Law in fall 1998 after serving as a staff assistant in the Washington, D.C., office of Senator Trent Lott.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Peter Talluto (1997 - Accounting)
is a CPA working in the International Banking practice of his firm KPMG, LLP in New York City.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Rebecca Gray (1997 - Speech and Hearing Sciences)
completed a M.A. in speech pathology at the University of Memphis in May 2000 and currently works for the Madison County School System. She and her husband, Ross, announce the birth of their first child, Evelyn Faye, born on July 5, 2001.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Robyn Brooks (1997 - History)
received her M.A. in history at the University of California at Berkeley in May 2000 and now lives in Michigan. She received a Mellon Fellowship (the first awarded to a USM graduate) and the Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship in 1998. She and her husband welcomed their first child, Caroline Elizabeth (9 lbs., 13 oz.; 21.5 inches long -- no drugs from mom) on October 14, 2002.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Ross Gray (1997 - Banking and Finance)
completed his juris doctorate at the University of Memphis in May 2000 where he served as Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Journal of Practice and Procedure. He is licensed in Mississippi and Tennessee and currently serves as Vice-President of Legal Affairs for AIR2LAN, Inc. in Jackson, Mississippi.
Last Updated: Apr 2008

Tracy Englert (1997 - Library Science)
has been awarded the Tom and Roberta Drewes Scholarship by the American Library Association. She will attend teh University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to start work on her Master of Library and Information Science degree this fall where she has received a graduate assistantship on the Rapid Cataloging Team in the Technical Services Division of the University Library there.
Last Updated: Apr 2008