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National Peace Corps Association > News > Community News > Cameroon, Colombia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Micronesia, Niger, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Thailand
Cameroon, Colombia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Micronesia, Niger, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Thailand
By JoAnna Haugen on Monday, February 21st, 2011
CAMEROON
Pamela White (71-73) has been appointed by President Barack Obama as the ambassador to The Gambia. She joined the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1978. Her first position was as a community liaison officer in Burkina Faso, then she served as deputy executive officer in Senegal and Haiti and the executive officer in Haitian, Egyptian and South African Missions. In Washington, D.C., she was USAID’s deputy director for East Africa, and in Mali, she was the deputy and mission director. Most recently, White served as the USAID mission director in Tanzania and then in Liberia. She is a graduate of the University of Maine, the School for International Training and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
COLOMBIA
The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has appointed Phillip Singerman (65-67) as the associate director for innovation and industry services. In this position, he will lead NIST’s external partnership programs. Singerman’s past positions include senior vice president at B&D Consulting and assistant secretary for economic development at the U.S. Commerce Department during the Clinton administration. He has 30 years of experience leading regional technology development and transfer organizations as well. Singerman received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and his doctorate from Yale University.
ETHIOPIA
Ambassador Dane F. Smith, Jr., (63-65) has been appointed as the senior U.S. diplomat to Darfur. He has a long history in the Foreign Service dealing with African affairs, including experience as the deputy chief of mission to Sudan, ambassador to Guinea and Senegal and special president envoy for Liberia. Smith served as the National Peace Corps Association president from 1999-2003.
ETHIOPIA
Kyle Henning is cycling across Africa to raise funds and public awareness for The New Day Children’s Centre in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The expedition, known as Low2High: Africa, will begin on the shores of Lake Assal, Djibouti, and will then traverse more than 3,000 miles through Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania to the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. At the end of his bicycle ride, Henning will summit the highest point on the African continent. The money raised through Low2High: Africa will help build a new compound for the New Day Children’s Centre. Henning is a graduate of SUNY College at Fredonia. He served in AmeriCorps before joining the Peace Corps.
MALAWI
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) awarded E. Jackson Allison Jr., MD, FACEP, (66-69) with the John G. Wiengenstein Leadership Award, the highest honor given by the organization. Allison is a professor of emergency medical care in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Western Carolina University. He has held several leadership positions in the emergency care industry including serving as president of ACEP, one of four founding presidents and first presiding president of the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, chair of the Emergency Medicine Foundation and founding president of the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine. Allison has served as chief of staff of the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, N.C., and chief of staff at the VA Medical Center in Syracuse, N.Y. While at Syracuse, he also served as associate dean and professor of emergency medicine at the Upstate Medical University of the State University of New York. Allison received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and his master’s and medical degrees from the UNC School of Public Health.
MICRONESIA
Michael Moots (71-73) has been appointed as executive director of the Jamestown Community College Foundation. In this position, he will be responsible for planning, organizing and directing fundraising campaigns for all sectors of the organization. Moots will also oversee donor recognition and the distribution of foundation funds. Prior to this position, he worked for the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County, where he served as the executive director since 1990. Moots is a member of the Rotary Club of Jamestown, chairman of the Chautauqua County Emergency Food and Shelter Program board, member of the JCC board of trustees and member and past officer of the Jamestown Elks Lodge #263. He received the “Friend of Labor” Award from the Jamestown Area AFL-CIO Central Labor Council in 1998.
NIGER
Gretchen Beck’s artwork is currently being displayed at the Sandstone Gallery. The collection of drawings, paintings and collage is called “Dumi Dumi,” which means “a variety of things” in the West African Djarma language, and is based on her association with people in the Djarma and Fulani cultures. An art professor and chairperson of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, Beck has exhibited her work in the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
SAMOA
Kevin V. Daley (86-89) recently released his first book, South Pacific: Survivor in Samoa, which was published by Novels Plus, an imprint of DMI. The book is a character-driven thriller with information about Samoa’s history and culture. Daley is also working on two other novels and a memoir. He studied fiction writing at UCLA and is a graduate of Northeastern University and the Howard University School of Law.
SIERRA LEONE
Nancy Grant (81-83) has been named as the new executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. She has been the coalition’s board president for the past two years and has been an active member on the board since 2005. Grant founded the North Yarmouth Safe Bike and Walk Ways Committee, served as a founding member of Bowdoin College’s Commute Another Way Committee, was a part of the coalition’s delegation to the National Bike Summit and served on the Portland Bicycle Network Advisory Group. In addition, she rides with the Women’s Portland Velo Club, is an educational technology consultant at Bowdoin College and has served as a staff advisor to the college’s bicycle sharing program.
THAILAND
Alan Abramowitz (90-92) has been appointed as executive director of the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Office in Florida. He has most recently been directing the statewide Family Safety Program Office for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Prior appointments include managing a variety of regional and statewide offices and serving as chief legal counsel for the department. Abramowitz has also been an assistant public defender for the Tenth Judicial Circuit and assistant state attorney for the Eighteenth Circuit. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kansas State University, a master’s degree from University of Central Florida and a law degree from the Florida State University College of Law. Abramowitz has served in the United States Army Reserve and the Florida Army National Guard.
