Alumni Spotlight
Submit an ND alum for their outstanding accomplishments.

	Elizabeth “Libby” Beussink, Class of 2002, took her first vows in August, 2010.  Sister Elizabeth joined the Franciscan Sisters, TOR, of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother in Toronto, OH.
	Matt Buttrey, Class of 1995, will be in a featured spot on "Live with Regis and Kelly" December 21st.  The show begins at 9am CST on KFVS.  Matt will be skating with Kelly and introducing her to the Disney Princesses.  Matt is a performance director for Disney on Ice.
	Jonah B. Sacha, PhD (Class of 1997) was awarded a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Exploration grant to research a novel HIV vaccine that he developed. The award is $100,000 with the opportunity to receive $1,000,000 later in the award.  http://www.news.wisc.edu/17248
	Nancy (Westrich) Blattner , Ph.D., Class of 1976, has been named the new president of Caldwell College, a Catholic University in Caldwell, New Jersey. Nancy assumed her duties as Caldwell’s eighth president July 1, 2009 and is the first lay president in Caldwell College’s 70-year history. Previously, she held the position of Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs at Fontbonne in St. Louis.
	Kimberlee (Jones) Joos recently took command of the Misawa Security Operations Center (MSOC) and the 373rd Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Group, located at Misawa Airbase, Japan.  The MSOC is an integrated operations center consisting of Joint service personnel providing intelligence to national policymakers and military commanders.  In both roles, she commands over 800 Air Force, Navy, and Army personnel located in Japan and Alaska.  She was also recently promoted to Colonel, United States Air Force.
	Joe Essner worked on the team that put NASA's recently launched satellite (Suomi NPP) into space.  This Earth-observing satellite, outfitted with VIIRS (Visual Infared Imager Radiometer Suite)  technology, has now been credited with capturing the "most amazing high definition image of Earth so far - Blue Marble 2012."  A similar image was captured in 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17.  This new image, with the advancement of technology, is a much more enhanced and sharpened photo of Earth as it appeared on January 4, 2012.
	Sarah Gaines completed her dietetic internship at St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham, Illinois and received her Masters in Dietetics at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.  During this time, she was selected to recieve a Williams Travel Grant for her research titled, Effect of a Walking Program on University Students' Levels of Physical Activity.  The award recognizes excellence in graduate research and supports travel to present at regional and national conferences.  She presented her research at the American Dietetic Association Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Boston, Massachusetts.  She passed her Registered Dietician exam and is currently a Nutritionist 3 with the State of Missouri in Jefferson City.  She works with daycares that are using the Eat Smart program.
	Starting forward Ryan Willen has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District II men's basketball team.  A neuroscience major with a 3.30 GPA, Willen has 905 career points and 380 rebounds, looking to become the 37th player in Lafayette history to score 1,000 career points.  Willen was a Patriot League All-Rookie selection in his first season and earned All-PAtriot League Second-Team honors as a sophomore when he also secured a place on the All-Patriot League Tournament Team.  The Patriot League led all Division I conferences with four men's basketball players named to the Capital One Academic All-District Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America