Class Notes

Jason Day was selected as a member of Apple Distinguished Educator class for 2017. Since 1994, Apple has selected 820 individuals from the Americas. The program recognized educators that are using Apple technology to transform teaching and learning.

Writes in to share he was inducted into the Apple Distinguished Educator program with the 2017 class. This program was started by Apple in 1994 and currently has 820 individuals from the Americas and 2133 individuals globally that have received this distinction. More about the program can be found by visiting

Jason J. Day ’02 was recognized by the University of Cincinnati Provost Office at the 2017-18 Faculty Awards with the eLearning Program of the Year award as being part of the iPad Implementation Team in the UC Athletics Program. Additionally, he was accepted into the MSIS Program at the University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business.

Writes in to share that he graduated from the University of Cincinnati – Carl H. Lindner College of Business with a Master of Science in Information Systems on April 27, 2023.

retired from my job as executive assistant at Xerox UK in January 2014 and am enjoying the opportunity of relaxing while deciding what to do next.

is accepted into graduate school @ e-Troy University majoring in strategic communications.

writes in to share that in 2016 he graduated from Troy University with a M.S. degree in Strategic Communications, is employed with FEMA as an ASL interpreter, and he got married to a d Costa Rican.

Whitney Black Dee ’00 has joined Summit Pediatrics in Maryville, Tenn. She is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and formerly worked at Maryville Pediatric Group.

Mary Denmark ’93 has moved to Clarksville, TN after accepting a position as Academic Recovery Coordinator at Austin Peay State University.

Staff Sgt. Giovanni Dezuani, a flight paramedic in the Tennessee Army National Guard 1-169 Medivac unit, helped rescue a 66-year-old hiker in critical condition in the Smokies. See the Guard’s press release here:

Kim Dolce ’79 is still working as a genealogy and reference librarian in Daytona Beach, FL. The library where she works had damage from Hurricane Irma in Sept. 2017, and the building was closed for renovation and repair for 8 months. Thankfully no materials were lost, and the library reopened in May 2018 to rave reviews. If in Daytona, she would love to show you around.

Ray and his wife just sold their home of 34 years in Maryland and will be living in New York temporarily until their new home in Maryland is built in mid 2016.

Writes in to say that he and his wife will be moving into their new home in Ellicott City, MD some time during the summer of 2016.

I am submitting information relating my Maryville College experience (Jan 1959 to May 1962) to my Peace Corps experience (June 1962 to July  1964).   My Peace Corps experience in Ethiopia was the defining time of my life.  After those two years I gave some thought to entering the ministry (two months at San Francisco Seminary) before deciding not to go in that direction.  The government then found a job for me.  In 1965 I was drafted and spent a year in Vietnam with the First Infantry Division working as a chaplain’s assistant.  I returned home in 1967, got married in 1969, and had a 25-year business career that took me to New York, California, and Maryland.  In 1998 (I think) I became an Associate Member of Westar Institute (https://www.westarinstitute.org) and have devoted much of my time to it since then.  They do most of their work through seminars, originally beginning with the “Jesus Seminar” in 1985 (I think).  Many seminars later they are now initiating something called the “Christ Seminar.”  No one knows what that may become.  On January 25, 2023, one of their Zoom programs was called “When Jesus became Plato.”  The presentation was well received, and some questions were raised.   The next day the executive director of Westar replied to eight of the questions.  He began by saying:

“One comment to make before we begin is that Jesus is not Plato, and there is no particular time when people thought about Jesus as one might think about Plato.  What we see in the historic transition of Christ communities into an official religion of an empire is the progressive molding of the memory of Jesus to fit the categories of Platonic philosophy.”

You may wonder how I got from the Peace Corps to Plato.  I applied to the Peace Corps in 1962 after graduating from Maryville College (where most of the classes were seminars) with a major in Philosophy and Religion.  After Maryville, the Peace Corps and Westar have been the focus of my life.

Ray Donaldson
Maryville College        Jan   1959 – May 1962
Peace Corps Ethiopia June 1962 – July  1964

retired from teaching in June 2019 after a 42 year career and is currently pursuing volunteer opportunities in Blount County.

writes in to share that he is doing well after receiving a pacemaker on 12/7/2018.

writes in to say that Alexandra Douglas, daughter of Steven C. Douglas (MC ’74) and Deborah Welch Douglas (MC ’77), graduated from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York City on 5/13/2016, receiving a Master of Public Health Degree and her Medical Doctor degree. She will begin a 4 year residency in OB-GYN at the Albert Einstein Hospitals in the Bronx, NY beginning on 7/1/2016.

was appointed as the Chief Infor,arion Officer for the Bureau of TennCare for the State of Tennessee in Nashville.

Nancy Allen Dunne ’94 is delighted to announce that over the past year she has self-published a trilogy of fantasy novels, the Nature Walker Trilogy, available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. The next book in that series is due out in the summer of 2019. She and Simon have also added another Irish wolfhound to their family (Ciaragh), joining Bryn and their terrier mix, Willow.

Robert F. Durant has retired as professor emeritus in public administration and policy from American University, in Washington, DC. He now resides n Marietta, Georgia, with his wife, Jennifer. His latest book, Building the Compensatory State: An Intellectual History and Theory of American Administrative Reform, will be published by Routledge Press in Fall 2019.

Why Public Service Matters: Public Managers, Public Policy, and Democracy. Why Public Service Matters conveys the importance, purpose, and nobility of a career as a civil servant in the United States. It does so, however, with an unflinching eye on the realpolitik that drives public administration in America’s “compensatory state” and on the pitfalls of reformers’ focus on bureaucratic, rather than democratic, administration. The book links the nation’s ability to handle contemporary policy problems with the strategic, tactical, and normative quality of public management. In doing so, it offers newcomers a rare, concise, and accessible overview of the field. Readers will gain an appreciation for the challenges, choices, and opportunities facing public managers as they help advance a sense of common purpose informed by democratic constitutional values in twenty-first century America.

Another Great Baldwin Hall GIrls Reunion was held Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 at Lake Tansi Resort, Crossville. Attending were Pat Dobbin Chambers, Knoxville; Michelle Ann Douglas Sabine, Crossville; Martha E. Cook, Farmville, Va.; Gail Smith Stinnett, Crossville; and Elenora Easterly Edwards, Clinton. Whee!

is living and Interpreting in NYC. She is currently interpreting 6 days per week, working three days of the week with New York’s Department of Education and free lancing the other three days. This free lancing is with Empire Interpreting Services in NY. In addition to interpreting, she is taking advantage of living in NY and joined a Deaf Theatre group, the New York Deaf Theatre. Their first show, Jekyll and Hyde opened November 7, 2014. She is the assistant stage manager and reportedly is “loving it so much!” She has met and worked with incredible deaf actors and the entire play is in ASL.

Shelby and Tyler met in 2010 at Maryville College, both students of the ASL-English Interpreting program. After graduating in 2013, Tyler and Shelby moved to New York City and, shortly after, founded their own interpreting agency for the Deaf- Inclusive Communication Services (ICS). To date, ICS remains a pillar in the NYC community as a leading agency for affordable equal-access accommodations for the Deaf, Deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing. In 2021, Shelby and Tyler launched their second business together, Eclipse Scheduling, LLC, an innovative online software focused on improving how interpreting and caption agencies manage their services and providers. Shelby and Tyler are eternally grateful to MC for their rounded liberal arts education, to Peggy Maher for providing such exceptional professional training and career readiness, and to the universe/fate for having introduced the two and leading them to where they are today.

Coach Don Eili retired in Oct. 2016 from coaching after 46 years as a wrestling coach at the collegiate level. He began his career as wrestling coach at MC. He coached for ten years with a record of 93-35 and 4 ties. His thirty-one yeas at Carson Newman College netted a record of 376 wins, 243 losses and 3 ties. He completed six more years at ETSU with a record of 53-39-0 where he retired in 2016. He is one of only seven coaches in the history of collegiate wrestling to reach or surpass 500 wins. He was inducted in the MC Wall of Fame and the NAIA National Hall of Fame in 2000, the NCAA National Hall of Fame in 2007 and accumulated 41 consecutive years with at least one wrestler to qualify for the National Championships through the Regional Qualifiers. In all, 203 wresters got to participate in the National Championships with 28 earning All-American honors and 21 others won National Championships.