Kimberly Sewell, JD '96, has been promoted to executive director of the labor relations and human resources division at TriMet in Portland.

Emily Moon, BA '96 (political science), was appointed city administrator for the Issaquah City Council in Washington.

Bonnie Fedge, BA '99 (international studies), is the director of ELS Education Services, Manhattan, an international English language school in New York City.

Shannon Pruitt, BA '97 (Japanese), MBA '01 (general business), has been named chief marketing officer for the Honest Company, a California-based consumer goods company specializing in natural baby and beauty products.

Michael Belisle, BA '02 (English), JD '05, was inducted into the 2018 Hall of Fame class for Marshfield High School, Coos Bay.

The Umatilla City Council has hired David Stockdale, MPA '07 (public policy and management), as city manager.

Kathy Hoffman, BA '09 (Japanese), was elected Arizona superintendent of public instruction in November.

Jeff Sass, BS '89 (political science), has joined Hendrickson, a global manufacturer of heavy-duty suspensions, as vice president of marketing.

Jennifer McGuirk, BA '97 (journalism: magazine), a Clark Honors College graduate, won the election for Multnomah County auditor.

Courtney Hall, MS '97 (exercise and movement science), received a 2018 Distinguished Faculty Award from East Tennessee State University.

Starz, a Lions Gate company, added Darren Nielson, BS '98 (environmental studies), to its international digital networks team as senior vice president of distribution and business development.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has named Whitney Baume, JD '11, director of contract development and standards.

Colin Kelly BA '03 (Political Science) was appointed to the City of Long Beach (Cal.) Marine Advisory Commission by Mayor Robert Garcia in December 2018. Overseeing issues related to beaches, marinas and the coast, Colin will use his experience as a water quality attorney and father of two young children to improve the safety and experience as the City prepares to host events for the 2028 LA Olympics.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (PRWEB) JULY 17, 2018

Award-winning author Linda Vigen Phillips launches her second young adult novel, Behind These Hands, about a teenager’s world upended by Batten Disease. Her first book, Crazy, depicts a teenage girl secretly struggling with her mother’s bipolar disorder in the sixties. This highly ranked book is a Junior Library Guild selection. Both books, based on real-life perils, are written as novels-in-verse.

As a third-grade teacher, Linda Vigen Phillips faced the plight of a young boy, starting to stumble and lose his sight. One day, his devastated parents told her of his sudden diagnosis of Batten disease, a rare, fatal, inherited disorder.

Batten disease strikes ages five to ten years. The child will become blind and bedridden with a steady decline in cognitive abilities. Little hope exists for survival out of his or her teens.

Within weeks, Ms. Phillips, still in shock, learned that her pupil’s younger brother, by only two years, received the same diagnosis, Batten disease. Further, a third-grade girl, across town at another school, also joined the ranks of those hit by this frightening disease.
"Those stories just touched my heart,” said Linda Vigen Phillips. "I wrote Behind These Hands as a fictional story about a young girl, a piano prodigy, who struggles to reconcile the joy that music brings to her life while her little brothers succumb to an early and ugly death.

"I wanted to highlight the celebration of life for families when they realize that the clock is ticking. I hope Behind These Hands speaks to the children and their families who are dealing with rare diseases.”

Kirkus Starred Review lauds the book as "a richly woven, unforgettable symphony of feeling and words,” while praising the story for bringing "awareness with sensitivity and grace to a rare, always fatal disease.”

Behind These Hands is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound.

About Linda Vigen Phillips

Linda Vigen Phillips is an award-winning author of young adult fiction. Her first book, Crazy, is a multiple award-winner, including the 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award, Gold Winner for Young Adult Fiction; New York Public Library Best Books for Teens 2014; Junior Library Guild selection; and BookRiot’s 100 Must-Read YA Books in Verse. She is a nationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop presenter. As a staunch advocate for mental health, she co-founded Providence Place in Charlotte, North Carolina, providing social and cultural enrichment support for families dealing with mental health. She also serves on the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-Charlotte). She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Oregon and her K-6 Teaching Certificate from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNCC). Website is http://www.lindavigenphillips.com. Twitter is https://twitter.com/lvigenphillips.

Contact:
Juliette Weiland
Public Relations Consultant
704-843-0325
http://www.lindavigenphillips.com

Susan Kay Anderson's (B.S. Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1984; M.A., M.F.A. English Lit. & Creative Writing) book of poems, Mezzanine, is available for ordering through Finishing Line Press (shipping date is March 2019). Work in this collection has been published in Caliban Online, Timothy Sweeney's Internet Tendency, Tom Clark Beyond The Pale, and other places.

Praise for Anderson's writing:


"The glittering poems…talk amongst each other, and shape a world informed by the refusal to look away…â€

—Jennifer Boyden, author of The Mouths of Grazing Things



"…narratives of people and places in the West…offering up a meticulously observed collection of uncommon depth and heart.â€

—James Crews, author of Telling My Father and The Book of What Stays



"This brilliant book is both stylistically innovative and an emotionally moving experience.â€

—Lawrence R. Smith, author of The Plain Talk of the Dead, Editor and Publisher of Caliban Online




"…interlocking images through word play and rhythm that yield new meaning with each reading — taking the reader along with her ’so close to the sky’.â€

—Jonathan Chant, author of The Great Quest Of Celtic Mystery



"…a wonderful sense of the natural landscape, especially of the far West and North. Not just landscape portrait, but urgency, threat, and more than ever a need for solidarity.â€

--Fred Marchant, author of Said Not Said


https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/mezzanine-by-susan-kay-anderson/

Margie (McBride) Lehrman, BA '66 (English), has been honored by Columbia University as a recipient of a 2018 Alumni Medal in recognition of her work on behalf of the university for more than 10 years.

Joseph Yogerst, MS '80 (journalism), published his first novel, Nemesis, a murder-mystery set in 1880s San Diego, then a Wild West boomtown.

U of O graduate, Sylvia Verange is in the middle of a national book tour for her recently published book: Two Breaths,One Step: Hiking Across the Himalayas.
Check out the website at www.TwoBreathsOneStep.com to see Book Events in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado.......

"I realized I was alone and the trail had completely disappeared. I had no idea where it was, nor did I know where I had ventured off from it. I was lost, and I had backpacked enough to know this was not a good sign, not a good sign at all."

In 1984, Sylvia Verange set off on a 500 mile journey across the Himalayas of Nepal. Hiking through the breathtaking scenery, remote mountain villages, and treacherous, freezing conditions, Verange's story lays out both a historical snapshot of the region, as well as an epic travelogue of a once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Part Elizabeth Gilbert, part Paul Theroux, Two Breaths, One Step follows one woman's hike through the Himalayas as she endures nature and comes to know herself.

Born in California, Sylvia Verange has long wandered remote corners of the world, using her journeys to further understand both herself and the world in which she lives. When not on an adventure in wild and beautiful places, Ms. Verange paints, writes, and teaches in northern California.
Two Breaths, One Step is available at your favorite bookstore and on-line.

Jim Eyres, BA '66 (economics), and Richard Lawrence, BA '66 (economics), at a banquet dinner for a Columbia University class reunion at the Palace Hotel in New York last spring

Sue, BS '63 (elementary education), and Ed Kingzett, BS '70 (marketing), met a Ducks fan at Wadi Rum in southern Jordan May 17. He wanted to go to an Oregon football game this fall but wouldn't fit into a seat at Autzen Stadium.